Book Name: Foundation of Trust & Stand by You
Goodreads Links:
Foundation of Trust: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22437210-foundation-of-trust
Stand by You: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22852756-stand-by-you
Author Name: A.M. Arthur
Author Bio: A.M. Arthur was born and raised in the same kind of small town that she likes to write about, a stone’s throw from both beach resorts and generational farmland. She’s been creating stories in her head since she was a child and scribbling them down nearly as long, in a losing battle to make the fictional voices stop. She credits an early fascination with male friendships (bromance hadn’t been coined yet back then) and “The Young Riders” with her later discovery of and subsequent love affair with m/m romance stories.
When not exorcising the voices in her head, she toils away in a retail job that tests her patience and gives her lots of story fodder. She can also be found in her kitchen, pretending she’s an amateur chef and trying to not poison herself or others with her cuisine experiments.
Author Contact:
Contact her at am_arthur@yahoo.com with your cooking tips (or book comments). You can also find her online (http://amarthur.blogspot.com/), as well as on Twitter (http://twitter.com/am_arthur), Tumblr (http://www.tumblr.com/blog/am-arthur), and Facebook (A.m. Arthur). A.M. Arthur’s work is available from Samhain Publishing, Carina Press, Dreamspinner Press, and Musa Publishing.
Publisher:
Foundation of Trust: Samhain Publishing
Stand by You: Carina Press
Cover Artist: Foundation of Trust: Lyn Taylor
Buy Links:
Foundation of Trust:
Stand by You:
Two books on one day! Are they related? Tell us a bit about the characters in your books.
They’re releasing on two consecutive days, but sometimes it feels like the same day. Foundation of Trust and Stand By Me are not related to each other, but they are both continuations of a series.
Foundation of Trust is the fifth book in my Cost of Repairs series with Samhain Publishing. It’s a fairly standalone book, so it isn’t really necessary to have read the previous books in the series to enjoy FoT. David Weller is a professional party planner who prefers one-night flings to anything serious, and he guards his heart from everyone except his few close friends. Four years ago, he was abruptly dumped by his forever guy, Owen Hart, and he always believed it was because of a medical diagnosis. Then one night Owen reappears with desperate apologies and an explanation so unbelievable that it must be true. David will have to decide if it’s worth giving Owen a second chance.
Stand By Me is the final book in my Belonging trilogy with Carina Press. While this book can standalone, I definitely recommend you read the entire trilogy (No Such Thing, Maybe This Time) to really get a sense of who the main characters are, as well as the history of the supporting couples. Romy Myers has hit rock bottom at the start of the book—broke, crashing with friends, and suffering from severe PTSD after escaping an abusive relationship. Brendan Walker is an ex-college football player, a professional janitor, and seriously in the closet. From the moment he meets Romy, all he wants is to protect him from the world—until those feelings start to become more.
What was your writing process like with these? Both at once, one and then the other? Did it work for you?
I can only draft one book at a time. It’s how my brain works best. I wrote Foundation in the summer of 2013 and submitted it not long after. Stand By You, though…I wrote that book in just over a month last fall because the story demanded to be told. It seriously took over my life. And sometimes books do that. The characters get in my face and don’t leave me alone until they get their HEA. It’s a lot of fun, but also kind of exhausting.
Have you written characters in a book that were inspired by people in your real life?
Yes and no. I will often use a quirk or a habit from people I know, but complete characters are never based on people I actually know. Foundation of Trust does have one of my most personal characters in David. The disease that he is diagnosed with is in my own family tree, and it was kind of cathartic writing a character who deals with something that close to my heart. While the events that happen in David’s past are completely fictional, the emotions are still the same.
What do you eat or drink while writing? Do you like quiet or noise?
I rarely eat while I’m writing, unless I’m having a meal in front of the computer. In the morning, I’ll drink coffee. Any other time of the day it’s water. I’m so boring. Mostly I drink water and coffee. I’m experimenting with teas, though. Quiet or noise? It depends. A lot of the time lately I’ve been wanting quiet, which for me means white noise from a running fan and nothing else. Sometimes, though, I want to listen to music. Usually if I need to set some kind of mood and I need a little help doing so.
Describe your perfect relaxing day… Home? Spa? Beach? Mountains?
Nice cabin somewhere. Sleeping in with the windows wide open, just cool enough that it’s chilly so I can bundle under blankets. Waking up to a lovely sunny day by a gorgeous mountain lake. A day spent reading, swimming, maybe a little bit of fishing. A hike if I feel like it. Good, fresh food someone else cooks for me. I grew up near the beach, so getting away to the mountains is my perfect vacation from real life.
Are you working on your next book? What will it be?
Absolutely! I have an edit-ready draft for the second book in a new trilogy with Carina Press (book one, Getting It Right, comes out next March). This new trilogy is a spin-off from the Belonging series, with a few familiar faces as well as some new characters. I’m also in the beginning stages The World As He Sees It for Samhain, which is the sequel to another new series that starts in February (The Truth As He Knows It), and I am super-excited for these books. World, in particular, is going to be an interesting challenge because of the limitations of one of the main characters. I can’t wait!
Blurb:
Foundation of Trust:
David Weller thought he had it all—a loving partner who gave him a ring, a steady job he didn’t hate, and so much hope for the future. But in the wake of a devastating diagnosis, everything he thought was solid and real lay in pieces at his feet.
Four years later, he’s still sifting through the rubble of his life. His catering partnership occupies his days, while his nights are filled with dangerous sexual hookups and very bad decisions. Then the last person he ever expected to see again walks back into his life.
Owen Hart’s single biggest regret is the way he was forced to leave David behind—no explanations, no chance to make it right. Until now. Finally free of eight years of lies, Owen’s back for the only man he’s ever loved.
An incendiary encounter in a club proves that time hasn’t weakened their physical connection, but David’s wounds run deeper than Owen’s deception. And if David can’t first forgive, Owen doesn’t have a second chance in hell.
Warning: This book contains an Australian transplant with a head full of secrets, a party planner with enough baggage to sink a battleship, and a surly teenager who just wants them both to get over themselves.
Foundation of Trust:
A shadow drifted across Owen’s face—the same shadow that had been there almost constantly that first year. An angry shadow that had diminished under the brilliance of their love for each other. “We had to, me and my son both. Michael was born Benjamin Hadley Swenson.”
“But why?” David needed to know why he’d been lied to for so long. Why he’d fallen in love with a man whose name he never really knew.
“To protect us from the man who killed Michael’s mother and grandfather.”
“You told me his mother was killed during a home invasion.”
“I used parts of the truth to fashion the lie. Makes it easier to remember. She was killed by a man who had no business in that house, but he wasn’t there to rob anyone. He was a dangerous man, and I did what I had to do to protect my son.”
Blurb:
Stand by You
Three months after his rescue from an abusive boyfriend, twenty-two-year-old Romy Myers has landed his first legitimate job—bussing tables at his friend’s new coffee shop. The job has brought him some stability after years of abuse have left him feeling damaged and broken. He’s working hard on his panic and social anxiety, and those things are often tempered by the big, burly presence of Brendan Walker.
From the moment ex-football player Brendan helped rescue Romy from his ex’s abuse, he’s wanted to protect him. And he does, from a distance, with joking text messages, a new gym routine to toughen him up and a genuine friendship. So far it’s been easy—but Brendan’s feelings aren’t just friendly anymore…
When an argument spirals out of control, a hot and heavy make-out session causes Romy’s friendship with supposedly straight Brendan to reach a new level. The last thing Romy wants is to fall for another guy who could potentially shatter him, but Brendan also wakes up a part of him he thought had been destroyed by violence—his heart.
Stand by You
“So make a plan for yourself.” Romy was getting excited over the idea of Brendan going back to college—maybe because Romy had never gone and probably never would. He didn’t even have his GED. And here he was giving Brendan career advice when the longest job he’d ever held in his life was as a hooker. “Figure out what it will cost to go back and finish. Figure out how you’ll save the money. Nothing is impossible, Bren, not if you want it bad enough.”
Brendan looked at him, chocolate brown eyes catching his, and something in that moment changed. Like a snap or a zing, Romy couldn’t describe it. Only that his words had touched something in Brendan, and that something leapt across the space between them and right into Romy. His pulse raced.
Oh crap.
Romy broke eye contact first, using the untwisting of his bottle cap as an excuse to kill the odd charge between them. Not happening. Not again, and not with Brendan. Brendan wasn’t even gay!
Was he?
Tour Dates/Stops:
10/20: Emotion in Motion, Multitasking Mommas
10/21: Amanda C. Stone, MM Good Book Reviews
10/22: Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words, Velvet Panic
10/23: Wake Up Your Wild Side, Smoocher’s Voice
10/24: The Novel Approach
10/27: Hearts on Fire, Because Two Men Are Better Than One, The Blogger Girls
10/28: Iyana Jenna, Foxylutely Book Reviews
10/29: Love Bytes, My Fiction Nook
10/30: Prism Book Alliance, Cathy Brockman Romances
10/31: Parker Williams
11/3: Book Reviews and More by Kathy, All I Want and More Books
11/4: LeAnn’s Book Reviews
11/5: Havan Fellows
11/6: Romance the Night, Queer Town Abbey
11/7: Crystal’s Many Reviewers
Rafflecopter Prize: PDF copy of Foundation of Trust
Congrats, A.M.! I loved reading Stand by You! Can’t wait to read Foundation of Trust. Thank you for the giveaway <3
Congratulations, A.M. Just finished reading Stand by you and I loved it. Count me in for the giveaway. TY
Congrats! B&N listed “Stand by You” as I recommended read, so I bought it a few days ago. Looking forward to starting it!
Congrats!
Lots of work I’m sire, but worth it!
Congratulations on both of new release! Here’s to many m
Oops hit post to soon. The rest of my comment was here’s to many more new releases.
congrats AM on your new releases
Thank you, everyone!