A warm welcome to author Jude Sierra joining us today here @Love Bytes on their blog tour for What It Takes,
Welcome, Jude!
Author Name: Jude Sierra
Book Name: What It Takes
Release Date: January 14, 2016
Pages or Words: 274 pages
Publisher: Interlude Press
Cover Art: Nelli I
Cover Design: C.B. Messer
Blurb:
The connection was instantaneous.
Mere moments after Milo Graham’s family relocates to Cape Cod, he meets Andrew Witherell—launching a lifelong friendship built on a foundation of deep bonds, secret forts, and plans for the future. When Milo is called home from college to attend his domineering father’s funeral, he and Andrew finally act on their mutual attraction. But doubtful of his worth, Milo severs all ties with his childhood friend. Years later, the men find themselves home again, and their long-held feelings will not be denied. But will they have what it takes to find lasting love?
Categories: Contemporary, Gay Fiction, M/M Romance, New Adult, Romance
Thank you for having me today!
Well I read like a maniac. Seriously. If you follow my Goodreads you’ll see me updating what I’m reading and often posting reviews. But in addition to fiction, which I devour like it’s nobody’s business, I read a lot for my MA work, which focuses on Cultural Rhetorics. On the side, I do a lot of researching for my own personal academic interests. That’s a backburner hobby though because academics takes up so much of my time.
When my hands are cooperating I crochet. I make hats and scarves and sell them. I used to make blankets. I am sure if I had lots of free time I’d do all kinds of artistic stuff, but with little kids when I was at home there just wasn’t a lot of space of time for that sort of thing. I’m one of those people who LOVE the painting party type things. You know, when you go with friends and drink wine and they have you paint something step by step?
I am also that person who takes themselves on movie dates. I love going to the movies by myself. Time to do that is a rarity, seriously, but it feels like a great self care splurge.
My husband and I watch specific TV shows together. We’re both introverts and so a lot of times decompressing by being quiet in a room together watching a show is our married time. We love The Voice! We also watch Game of Thrones, Walking Dead and American Horror Story together. We watch Shark Tank and I have to be the bad news bear every time he comes up with an idea for a new invention.
In the spring and summer I go on gardening tears. I do the best I can on a small budget and limited time, but I do enjoy it and look forward to having more time to spend on it now that my kids are old enough that they don’t require constant supervision.
Andrew gladly lets Milo drive his car; he hates driving, especially when he can play radio DJ and watch the scenery go by. He looks at Milo: the way the fading light before dusk changes the tone of his skin; the way the muscles of his arms stand out and his lips curl as he sings along, awfully, to the radio. Milo smiles at him and Andrew flashes a brief one back, wonders how obvious he’s being, and looks back out the window at the slipping sand that spills onto the road and the ramshackle businesses along the road.
“So what got this bee in your bonnet?” he asks suddenly.
Milo shrugs. “You sound like my grandma.”
“Awesome; I like her. Let’s focus.”
“So… okay.” Milo clears his throat and his fingers tighten on the wheel. “I um, think I have something to tell you. But I’m—”
“Is everything okay?” Andrew interrupts, scanning his memory for any signs of additional distress Milo might have displayed in the last few months.
“Yeah. Well. I mean, um… whatever. But I—”
“What? You’re worrying me.”
Milo sighs and pulls into the parking lot of a restaurant with a giant crab on the roof. “I can’t do this and drive.”
“Okay,” Andrew says slowly, then unbuckles his belt and turns to face him. Milo’s face is a little drawn.
“So, I think I might be gay,” Milo blurts. “I mean, I know. I know I am.”
There’s a full minute of silence in the car while Andrew tries to work the words out. Static screeches in his ears, fleetingly numbing his reaction. Focus. He has a few seconds to control his face, to tamp down that sprout of irrational hope seeding despite the chaos, and be ultimately supportive.
“Um.” Andrew licks his lips and tries to pull himself together. That seedling wants to grow into something bigger, and he can’t let it. He looks at Milo’s face, which has morphed into something more vulnerable and worried. Hope is a hollow bell in his chest, ringing loud and dissonant; he wants to vibrate out of his skin with the inappropriateness of his own reactions. This is about Milo, not him. “You aren’t worried that I’m mad or something, are you?” he manages to say.
“I don’t know. Um, your face is doing… a thing,” Milo replies.
Reflexively Andrew puts his hands to his cheeks. His fingers are cold. Okay, so he definitely doesn’t have his face under control. “No, I… wasn’t expecting it, that’s all.” Andrew’s brain, sometimes faster than his mouth, is careening backward. “Maybe I should have had a clue.”
“Oh?”
“Well, for starters, you kissed me back.”
Buy the book:
Barnes & Noble
Jude Sierra began her writing career at the age of eight when she immortalized her summer vacation with ten entries in a row that read “pool+tv.” She first began writing poetry as a child in her home country of Brazil, and is still a student of the form.
As a sucker for happy endings and well-written emotional arcs and characters, Jude is an unapologetic bookaholic. She finds bookstores and libraries unbearably sexy and, to her husband’s dismay, is attempting to create her own in their living room. She is a writer of many things that hope to find their way out of the sanctuary of her hard drive and many that have found a home in the fanfiction community.
She is currently working on her Master of Arts in Writing and Rhetoric and managing a home filled with her husband, two young sons, and two cats. Her first novel, Hush, was published in 2015 by Interlude Press.
Where to find the author:
What It Takes will be published by Interlude Press on January 14, 2016. Connect with author Jude Sierra at JudeSierra.com, on Twitter @JudeSierra, on Goodreads at goodreads.com/Jude_Sierra, and on Facebook at facebook.com/JudeMSierra.
Tour Dates & Stops:
14-Jan: Book Lovers 4Ever, Lee Brazil, Inked Rainbow Reads
15-Jan: Havan Fellows, Love Bytes, Hearts on Fire
18-Jan: Elisa – My Reviews and Ramblings, A.M. Leibowitz
19-Jan: Velvet Panic, Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words
20-Jan: Wicked Faerie’s Tales and Reviews, The Novel Approach, Kirsty Loves Books
21-Jan: Molly Lolly, MM Good Book Reviews
22-Jan: BFD Book Blog, Happily Ever Chapter
25-Jan: Nautical Star Books, My Fiction Nook
26-Jan: Emotion In Motion, Bayou Book Junkie
27-Jan: Full Moon Dreaming, Alpha Book Club, QUEERcentric Books
Rafflecopter Prize: $25 Interlude Press web store gift card + WIT ebook; plus__5 eBook editions of WIT
Friends to lovers is one of my favorite trope, and thus I find the blurb intriguing. Adding this to my shelf! 🙂
Thank you so much!! I hope you enjoy it 😀
My ideal hideaway would be a little cabin with a veranda overlooking the ocean, a lake or the rainforest. I would have a large comfy seat on it the cabin would be filled with books. And it would have internet, Perfect.
This sounds amazing. I’d like a hideaway with a secret library. The kind with the rolling ladder, and a view of lush green trees.
my hideaway would be a cabin in the woods with no tv or phone so i can read
I just want a hideaway where I can have some peace and quiet.
As a mom with 2 young kids, I feel this deep in my soul. I often think I’d like to have reading parties with like-minded people. The only noise is the sound of pages turning.
Congrats on the new release! I can’t wait to read this book!
My hideaway would be where there’s only my pets without family or friends or anynone around, maybe a house in the beach or something like that.
I hope you enjoy it! Thank you. A beach house is a total dream goal. When I win the lottery that’s so on.
Thank you for hosting me!