A warm Love Bytes welcome to author Posy Roberts joining us today on her blog tour for new release Silver Scars.
Welcome Posy 🙂
Author Name: Posy Roberts
Book Name: Silver Scars
Release Date: June 22, 2015
Publisher: Labyrinth Bound Press
Cover Artist: Natasha Snow
Pages or Words: 86,700 words
Blurb:
A bomb destroyed high-powered lawyer Gil Lemieux’s seemingly perfect life, and PTSD has ruled every decision since the explosion that left him scarred inside and outside. Moving home with his mom is meant to be a temporary measure, just like proofreading for a medical institution is only meant to be a stopgap. But two years after taking on the wrong court case, he’s still living in fear.
Keith Kramer might be based 1,500 miles away from Gil, but their shared work brings them together—a chance meeting that’s life-changing. Gil is drawn to Keith’s good looks and intelligence, but it’s his innate understanding that Gil is more than the scars on his skin that is truly attractive. He’s everything Gil used to be and more. It blows Gil’s mind that his attraction might be returned.
Only doubt could widen the distance between them. Keith’s hopefulness, borne out of surviving some tough challenges of his own, isn’t enough to bridge the distance alone. Gil will need to believe he has as much to offer as Keith if they’re to build a life together.
Categories: Contemporary, Gay Fiction, M/M Romance, Romance
Buy Links:
Amazon UK | Barnes & Noble |All Romance Ebooks | Kobo | iTunes
Thanks for hosting me today. I’m excited to be here to talk about my new book, Silver Scars and to share a short excerpt.
I’m often the first person who rolls her eyes when people start up conversations about the transformational power of gratitude journals and positive thinking. It’s not that I don’t see the value. In fact, I think they truly help most people. I just don’t want to hear about other people’s gratitude, but maybe that’s just a Midwestern privacy thing I deal with. 🙂
This makes me sound like a cynic, I realize. In fact, I’m a realist who was raised by a woman who was such an optimist that I learned to be upset about situations for very short times before it was time to move on. I think my mom feared me getting stuck in a rut of pessimism. The reason she was such an optimist is because of how she grew up, very poor on a slow-to-recover post-depression farm. Sometimes all she had was her good outlook on life to get her through.
Optimism and gratitude help in hard times. But what happens when your life gets blown to smithereens, which is exactly what my latest book is about?
In Silver Scars, Gil Lemieux and Keith Kramer have both had their lives turned upside down, each from a different tragedy: Gil survived a bomb intended to kill him, and Keith… I’ll let you find that one out when you read the book. 😉
Gil struggles with PTSD and anxiety eighteen months out from the explosion. Keith is six years out from his life-changing event, so his healing is further along, but he’s much more of a pessimist than Gil. I loved this dynamic.
When I wrote Gil, I found out very early on just how much gratitude helped him through his struggles. Focusing on the good helped him look away from his overwhelming anxieties, some that created such violent reactions he could barely breathe.
Gil doesn’t write his gratitude down on paper like Oprah suggested we all do sometime in the 1990s. Instead, he thinks of these things when he struggles and fears he’ll fall apart, and they help him keep going. Gratitude helps him stay in the moment. Here’s a tiny taste of how that works. This happens after Gil woke up from a horrific flashback/dream while on a flight and then later had to contend with an overly crowded airport.
I notice Katie and her son sitting at a table nearby. I weave my way toward them and smile when they both greet me with friendly hellos. I need to do this.
“Thank you for helping me back there.” I force myself to look into her eyes and then her son’s.
“You’re welcome. It’s what I would hope anyone would do for me or Isaiah in the same situation. If you’d like to join us…?” She offers a chair with her extended hand.
“Thanks, but I should get to my gate. I have a long day of work ahead of me, and I can’t miss my plane.” I try to appear unruffled, but there’s so much residual adrenaline rushing through me I don’t think it works. I make my smile bigger to overcompensate.
“Have a good flight.”
“You too. And thanks again. You too, Isaiah.”
As I walk away and take a sip of my coffee, I’m grateful for the barista, the extra hit of caffeine, and for the opportunity to thank Katie and Isaiah.
I’m grateful for my new job.
I’m grateful for new opportunities.
Even if they terrify me.
In that excerpt Gil finds the act of thanking Katie and Isaiah terrifying but also healing. It helps get him out of his head and back in the moment that he needs to face. Life must go on.
Do you find focusing on things you’re grateful for helps you too? How?
Check out Donna’s review on Silver Scars HERE!
Posy Roberts writes about romantic male love. Whether these characters are family men, drag queens, or lonely men searching for connections, they all find a home in her stories.
Posy is married to a man who makes sure she doesn’t forget to eat or sleep; her daughter, a budding author and dedicated Whovian, helps her come up with character names. When Posy’s not writing, she enjoys crafting, hiking, and singing spontaneously about the mundane, just to make normal seem more interesting.
Where to find the author:
Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/posyroberts11
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PosyRoberts
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/posyroberts/
Facebook Author Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/757618490928296/
Website: http://posyroberts.com/
Tour Dates & Stops: June 22 – 26, 2015
22-Jun
Elisa – My Reviews and Ramblings
Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words
23-Jun
24-Jun
Sinfully Addicted to All Male Romance
Vampires, Werewolves, and Fairies, Oh My
Wicked Faerie’s Tales and Reviews
25-Jun
26-Jun
Two Chicks Obsessed With Books and Eye Candy
Rafflecopter Prize: $25 Amazon Gift Card
[…] Gratitude & Living […]
This sounds nice and angsty =D Just like I like them! Looking forward to reading it.
Oh! And congrats! (Didn’t see the giveaway thing until after I posted! Whoops!)