A warm welcome to author Ada Maria Soto joining us today here @Love Bytes on her blog tour for Bowerbirds.
Welcome Ada!
Author Name: Ada Maria Soto
Book Name: Bowerbirds
Series: Nested Hearts #2
Release Date: August 26 2015
Pages or Words: 60,790 words
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Cover Artist: Paul Richmond
Blurb:
Two very different men have a chance at happiness, but only if they can let go of their painful pasts and allow love to take precedence.
After spending his teens and twenties raising his son, James Maron is now dating Gabriel Juarez, the wealthy and sophisticated CFO of the TechPrim technology empire. But after a life of proudly holding his head above the poverty line with the ethos of work, priorities, responsibility, and thrift, he is not looking for a Sugar Daddy, he does not need to be rescued, and Gabe’s wealth is as terrifying as feeling love for the first time.
Gabe has never been good at balancing his high pressure job with his relationships. Money usually clears most of the bumps, and when a boyfriend walks away, Gabe figures it’s for a good reason. But James isn’t like other boyfriends. He doesn’t want Gabe’s money for one, and if Gabe wants to keep his relationship together he will have to finally face the ghosts of his own past and reconsider his priorities.
Categories: Contemporary, Gay Fiction, M/M Romance
Today I’m very lucky to be interviewing Ada Maria Soto author of Bowerbirds. Hi Ada, thank you for agreeing to this interview. Tell us a little about yourself, your background, and your current book.
Hi, it’s nice to be here. I’m Ada. I’m a born and raised Californian who has been living in New Zealand for the last decade. I studied theater, film, and television and worked a little in each. Currently I’m an almost full time mom to a two year old and I write when I can. In my tiny scraps of free time I do things like knit and make jam. I’m also a sports fan but I’m not great at picking winning teams to support.
Bowerbirds picks up pretty much right where Empty Nests left off. James and Gabe are properly together now but they still come from very different worlds each of which brings its own baggage. Gabe is very much a fixer and wants to ‘fix’ James’s life to make up for how busy he is with work. James is very proud and does not want or need a sugar daddy to fix anything. He’s also terrified at the very idea of being in love since it’s something he’s never done before.
What’s the easiest thing about writing?
I find making up characters to quite easy. I honestly have a whole army of little half formed people living in my head. The tricky part is working out if I can make a story around them or if they fit into someone else’s story.
Name one author (living or dead) you’d like to write with?
I would have liked to have met Terry Pratchett but I could never have begun to write at his level. I’d like to maybe do something with Steven Fry. I’d love to be in the writers’ room for Hannibal even though I know it’s not getting another series.
Tell us about your cover and how it came about.
Empty Nests and Bowerbirds was originally one very long and difficult book. I always had a very clear idea of what I wanted for the cover art for Empty Nests, with the two cars, but when the book split I had zero ideas for Bowerbirds. Oddly enough cell phones and types of cell phones are rather important in Bowerbirds so I had some half assed idea involving those adding a note that I’d be willing to go with anything they thought would be better. The Dreamspinner Press art department passed it on to the massively talented Paul Richmond who came back with the beautiful cover I have now.
Is this book part of a series? Do you have ideas that could make it into a series? If it is a series, tell us a little about it.
Bowerbirds is the second in a series with Empty Nests as the first book. I’ve gotten pokes from friends who have read both about writing a third but I have ZERO ideas for a third book that don’t involve breaking the characters up and burning the Lemon Drop Wonder down to its wheels. I’ve lived with these guys in my head for five years now, I need a bit of distance from them.
Word association. Tell us the first thing that comes to mind when you read these words.
Ketchup – Fries
Flakes – Dandruff
Elastic – Hair ties
Timer – Cookies
Google – The thing tracking my very weird search history. I’m a writer, it’s perfectly normal to look up X-Files episodes and Victorian sex toys in the same day.
FOR THE millionth time, a load of baseball gear left by the apartment door nearly sent James tumbling. It was one of the very few things he would not miss when Dylan left for college. He checked his watch and saw it was pushing five in the afternoon. He could technically still make it to the laundromat and get a couple of loads through, but the place filled up quick after five and it became difficult to get the good machines. Ada Maria Soto
Dylan came out of his room, his hair sticking up at odd angles from his postpractice shower. “Hey, Dad. I was starting to worry. How did the concert go last night?”
As a last-second surprise, Gabe had gotten them tickets to the California Honeydrops at the Fillmore. After a couple glasses of wine, Gabe had even talked him into dancing. “It was good. Stop leaving your gear by the door.”
“Good?” Dylan tried for a scolding look, but there was too much humor in his eyes. “No, just good does not end with you coming home… um… twenty-one hours later than expected.”
Dylan had been nagging him about getting a social life and a boyfriend for years, but James hadn’t realized he would become so nosy about it once it happened.
You’d think he was the parent here. “The concert ran a bit late, and we got a room in the city.” Then they decided not to leave that room until a few hours after the normal checkout time, followed by a late lunch.
“Which hotel?”
“Does it matter?” James asked as he picked up Dylan’s baseball gear.
“It might.”
“The Saint Francis,” James muttered, deciding to risk a Monday wash.
“Again? Well, here’s to scoring a sugar daddy.”
“What?” James froze for a second as he tucked a baseball bat under his arm.
Dylan headed for the kitchen and rummaged around the fridge. “I mean, a guy with a steady job is a good thing these days, but one who can score you concert tickets and hotel suites on a whim is a pretty sweet deal.” He pulled an apple from the veggie bin.
“He’s not—”
James felt his phone buzz in his pocket. He juggled around the gear until he could pull it out and saw he had missed a call ten minutes earlier.
“He’s not what?
“Hi. It’s me. Stuck in traffic. Seriously, traffic on a Sunday. I think the Niners are playing or something. Don’t worry, I’m on the hands-free setup. Just wanted to say I had a really nice time this weekend. The concert was a lot of fun. The other activities were fun too. Don’t know how busy I’m going to be this week, but I’d love to be able to come up there for lunch or dinner. Catch a movie or something. Oh, Tamyra left me nine messages, the last one informing me that I’m getting ‘Genie in a Bottle’ for my new ringtone. I’m hoping I can pass it off as a postmodern ironic statement or something. Oh look. Traffic is moving. Well, I’ll talk to you later. Drive carefully. Bye.” Bowerbirds
James kept the phone to his ear even after the message ended. Dylan stared at him, one eyebrow raised. He had a funny feeling Dylan practiced that look in the mirror. James hung up the phone. “You know what? My love life is none of your business.”
Sales Links:
ADA MARIA SOTO is a born and raised Californian Mexican-American currently living as an expat in the South Pacific with her toddler and partner.
She has studied and worked in theater, film, and television with all the usual crummy side jobs of a struggling artist. She has dysgraphia and phonological dyslexia but refuses to let that slow down her writing.
She is a sports fan dedicated to the Oakland A’s, San Jose Sharks, Auckland Blues, USA Eagles, New Zealand All Blacks, New Zealand Black Caps, and the Chennai Super Kings.
She loves to hear from her fans, or really anyone who has read her work.
Where to find the author:
Tour Dates & Stops:
26-Aug Prism Book Alliance, Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words
2-Sep Happily Ever Chapter, Divine Magazine, Jessie G. Books
9-Sep Multitasking Mommas, Bike Book Reviews
16-Sep Love Bytes, Molly Lolly
23-Sep Bayou Book Junkie, Mikky’s World of Books, Inked Rainbow Reads
30-Oct MM Good Book Reviews, Foxylutely Book Reviews
7-Oct Carly’s Book Reviews, BFD Book Blog
14-Oct My Fiction Nook, Reviews by Jessewave
Rafflecopter Prize: E-copy of ‘Bowerbirds’
Congratulations, Ada! It sounds intriguing…
Congratulations Ada on Bowerbirds , loved the first book.
Congratulations on Bowerbirds.
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Congratulations on the Bowerbirds! It sounds really good.