Knave of Broken Hearts(Love in Laguna Series, Bk #2)
by Tara LainBlurb:
Jim Carney has a full time job—running from himself. Since he walked out on his wealthy family at sixteen because he’d wrecked his best friend’s life over some yaoi graphic novels, Jim has lived a macho, blue-collar existence of too much booze and too little responsibility. Then Billy Ballew, the man Jim most admires, gives Jim a chance to come through as his construction supervisor. For once, Jim is determined to make someone proud. Then Jim goes in for a physical for his new job and his yaoi dream comes to life in the form of cardiologist Ken Tanaka. Jim discovers he has two heart problems—a wonky mitral valve and a serious attraction to his doctor. But Ken is a major player, and Jim might be just a notch on the doc’s stethoscope. To Ken, Jim is unforgettable—but the living embodiment of his traditional family’s worst nightmares.
How come the minute Jim decides to be responsible, he finds himself taking care of his kid brother, getting a proposal from a wealthy woman, making a deal with the devil, and winding up in the hospital—when all he really wants is the Knave of Broken Hearts?
For Love of Yaoi
Hi! I’m Tara Lain and I write the Beautiful Boys of Romance. I’m so happy being here to celebrate the release of my new novel, KNAVE OF BROKEN HEARTS. In the story, my construction worker hero, Jim Carney, falls in love with his cardiologist, Ken Tanaka. He’s first attracted to Ken when he sees him on the dance floor and realizes he looks a lot like a yaoi hero he loved as a teenager and used to jerk off to with his best friend, Hiro.
Some of my readers have told me that yaoi is new to them, so I thought I’d share a little about it (although I’m no expert myself). I recently discovered that yaoi is an acronym created in the 1970s for yami nashi, ochi nashi, imi nashi – kind of a pejorative for bad manga. But it came to stand for Boy’s Love or BL. Usually we in the west just think of it as gay manga, but like so much of gay romance, yaoi is created mostly by female artists for female readers. Also like gay romance, it has some male fans as well. (There’s another whole line of gay manga called bara that’s drawn largely for men). Some fans refer to the more explicit yaoi as hentai yaoi but most westerners just say yaoi for the whole genre.
In yaoi, there are clear seme (tops) and uke (bottoms). The seme generally pursues the uke and has more clearly defined masculine features although many artists change it up. At the same time, both characters are usually very androgynous – and very beautiful. That may be where I come in.
If you’ve read any of my books, you know that I love androgynous characters. Virtually every story I write has at least one of the men who is strikingly beautiful, and frequently in an almost feminine way. I may have created more drag queens and cross dressers per number of books than any MM novelist – I’m not sure – but naturally I’d be the one who created Kenji Tanaka who looks like a yaoi hero!
I think there’s power in androgyny. It’s like the yin yang symbol where in the heart of each is the other. Maybe as women we see ourselves in these pretty men, while still finding the otherness that fascinates and attracts. Who knows? And who cares? I’ll just keep on writing the beautiful boys of romance.
Images & information to use for the guest post. The information MUST be included with the image:
Title: Yellow
Writer: Makoto Tateno
Publisher: Digital Manga Publishing
Resource Link: http://www.yaoicon.com/
Title: Orochi no Kishi: The Hourglass
Writer/Artist: Itoshi & Aldaria
Publisher: B/L Publisher Yaoi Revolution
Website: http://www.yaoi-revolution.com/hourglass
Follow the artist: http://aldariia.deviantart.com/
Follow the author: www.facebook.com/OrochiNoKishil
Resource Link: http://japanreviewer.blogspot.com/2015/08/yaoi-article-orochi-no-kishi-hourglass.html
Ken Tanaka standing in the door to the inner office. The doc came to get Jim
himself.
You look upset?”
exactly.”
in?”
walked through the door, inhaling Tanaka’s spicy/sweet scent that filled his
head like smoke. God, he felt disoriented, like he didn’t know which world he
lived in—one where he went out on dates with a rich woman, or one in which he
gazed into the beautiful eyes of Yaoi Man and got a hard-on. Hell, both of them
had to be fantasyland.
into a private office that wasn’t an examining room. “Please, take a seat.”
guest chair in front of Ken’s desk, and the doc walked all the way around to
sit in his big leather chair. Very professional. Very distant. Very not a good
sign. “So I got back the results of your echocardiogram.”
they should take another test right now. The way his heart hammered in his
ears, he’d sure as fuck fail.
valve prolapse is what I would call moderate to severe. It’s difficult to tell
exactly without doing surgery.”
a severely, shall we say, floppy valve is corrected.” He smiled tightly.
out like a squeak.
recommending surgery now. We’re going to observe over the next few months. I
want you to let me know any problems, arrhythmic heartbeats, racing heart,
chest pains, anything irregular that might occur, okay?”
was so regular for him, and he was so not going to tell Tanaka that. He nodded.
Mitral valve prolapse is quite common. Most people never have any real
difficulty. Just follow my directions. Don’t drink excessively, eat healthy
food, even organic would be advisable, and avoid stress.”
opened, then closed. He was okay on the drinking thing so far, although this
news made him want to down a bottle of Jack. Still, on the other stuff, the doc
might as well say fly to the moon and bring back some green cheese. Hell, even
being around Tanaka could give him a fucking heart attack. Sitting here
thinking he might die any moment, and his cock still wanted to escape his jeans
just from looking at the doctor’s lips. Maybe that’s how he’d go out. Lean over
and kiss Ken Tanaka. Bye-bye, Charlie.
seem doable?”
“Does, uh, that mean I don’t get the insurance?” Jesus, that would be bad.
you, mitral valve prolapse is common. I’ve signed the papers and turned them
in. You should get the approval with no problem. You’re officially no longer a
patient.”
good and bad. “Thanks, man.”
I say, it’s not an inherently worrisome diagnosis.” Ken sat back in his chair.
“So you’re hooking up with our sexy landlord, huh?” He smiled, but something
seemed phony about it.
just talking to me about how to build out her suites. And she, uh, has some
more work for us.”
walked toward the door of his office. “I don’t know, buddy. I’d look out for
her. You could find yourself hooked.”
much. You told me to avoid stress.” He walked over to the door, looked at Ken,
then glanced away. “You seem to have a new boyfriend. Cute guy.”
mother fixed us up.”
snorted a laugh.
are not Japanese, or you’d understand.”
Japan?” Ken had no accent at all.
in Costa Mesa, but—well, it’s complicated. So don’t worry about your heart. My
office manager is gone, but she’ll call you to make an appointment in about two
months. Meanwhile, I’m serious about contacting me if anything unusual occurs.”
health, crazy man.” He smiled, and this time it reached his eyes.
had no excuse to see Ken Tanaka for two months. Hell, that was good news. Maybe
he’d get his feet back under him, if he didn’t die of a heart attack first.
helping me with the architect thing.”
eyebrow. “Is it working out with Willings?”
assigned one of the young guys in his office to handle the drawings, and he’s
great. He’s really saved my ass.”
helped relieve your stress.” He sounded sad.
out his hand. Ken took it, and heat traveled up Jim’s arm all the way to his
heart. “Guess I’ll see you in two months.”
guys you don’t want to marry.” He tried to grin.
“I’ll try.”
About the Author
Tara Lain writes the Beautiful Boys of Romance in LGBT erotic romance novels that star her unique, charismatic heroes. Her first novel was published in January of 2011 and she’s now somewhere around book 23. Her bestselling novels have garnered awards for Best Series, Best Contemporary Romance, Best Ménage, Best LGBT Romance, Best Gay Characters, and Tara has been named Best Writer of the Year in the LRC Awards. In her other job, Tara owns an advertising and public relations firm. She often does workshops on both author promotion and writing craft.
Always so honored to be at Love Bytes! Thank you for having me! : )
Tara, I’ve been a fan of your books since first read. Thank you for giving the explanation of what Yaoi is! I appreciate it. I love it and have read it…but didn’t know the stuff behind it! Congrats as always and I’m going to be getting this!
Nikki
Nikki, dear — Thank you so much! You’re an inspiration. ; )
Thank you for hosting!!! 🙂 Awesome information about yaoi!!
I really enjoyed the blurb and the excerpt and can’t wait to read the book.
Thank you, Sherry. I hope you enjoy it! : )
Love everything you’ve written Tara! Can’t wait to read this one.
Thank you so much, Laurie!!Jim and Ken can’t wait too! LOL : )
Thanks for the info. now that have read the blurb looking forward to reading this book .
Thank you Denise. I hope you enjoy my beautiful guys! : )
I love yaoi and I love to hear authors introduce it to their audience (new and those who are a veteran to it). Great post and I’ looking forward to giving Knave of Broken Hearts a read.
H.B., i got two wonderful yaoi books from the publisher of the beautiful graphic above and i love them so much!! Hope you enjoy Knave! : )
I just finished Knave of Broken Hearts. It was awesome. Love this series. I always know a book is good when I don’t skip any pages to get to the good parts. All of it was excellent. Thank you and I’m looking forward to the next in the series.
Thank you so much for reading KNAVE. So happy to have no parts skipped!! Honored. *hugs* : )