Blog Post: Exclusive Excerpt & Giveaway L.J LaBarthe – Book, Line, and Sinker

A warm welcome to author L.J LaBarthe joining us today to talk about her new release Book, Line and Sinker
L.J also brought along a wonderful giveaway for our readers 🙂

Welcome L.J!

Blurb:

After seventeen years serving in the Australian Army, Ash returns to his childhood home in the outback town of Quorn. Filled with the desire to live a happy life in peace and with loved ones, Ash is grimly determined to beat his PTSD and tackle his flashbacks.

What Ash isn’t prepared for is Jaxon, the new librarian in Quorn. Jaxon is calm, gentle, kind, and a rock for Ash’s battered psyche. Ash finds himself falling for the handsome newcomer, even as his mind and memories of the past torment him.

When he has the idea for a mobile library to bring books and entertainment to remote communities in the far north, Ash is delighted that Jaxon is with him every step of the way. But though the library, called Book, Line, and Sinker, takes off, Ash’s past continues to plague him. Can Jaxon’s love be enough to keep them together until Ash is strong enough to stand on his own?

 

Buy Links:

Dreamspinner Press Ebook

Dreamspinner Press Paperback

Amazon

 

L.J. LaBarthe is a French-Australian woman, who was born during the Witching Hour, just after midnight. From this auspicious beginning, she went on to write a prize-winning short story about Humpty Dumpty wearing an Aussie hat complete with corks dangling from it when she was six years old. From there, she wrote for her high school yearbook, her university newspaper, and, from her early teens to her twenties, produced a fanzine about the local punk rock music scene. She loves music of all kinds and was once a classical pianist; she loves languages and speaks French and English and a teeny-tiny smattering of Mandarin Chinese, which she hopes to relearn properly very soon. She enjoys TV, film, travel, cooking, eating out, abandoned places, urbex, history, and researching.

L.J. loves to read complicated plots and hopes to do complex plot lines justice in her own writing. She writes paranormal, historical, urban fantasy, and contemporary Australian stories, usually m/m romance and featuring m/m erotica. She has won a Rainbow Awards Honorable Mention and another award for Best Historical Gay Novel.

L.J. lives in the city of Adelaide, and is owned by her cat.

Social Media: Twitter: @brbsiberia

Instagram: @ljstar239

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lj.labarthe.9

Blog: http://misslj_author.livejournal.com/

Website: http://www.ljlabarthe.com/

“Hello, son.”

Ash turned to see his dad sitting opposite. Ed held a pint glass full of water, and he was looking at Ash with concern.

“Hi.”

“You all right?”

Ash nodded. “I’m good. I figured Jax could fill Evie in about our trip north.”

“We heard you had a bit of a problem at the Leigh Creek Tavern with one of the patrons.”

“Yeah. We’re fine, though.”

“Hm. Still, it must have surprised you.”

Ash chuckled. “Yeah, it did that; if I’d seen it coming, I’d have hit him back. As it was, Jaxon turned into Jackie Chan.”

Ed smiled. “So he said. But without describing himself as Mr. Chan.”

“We did all right, I think. Truck’s being delivered soon by freight, and then I can get to work on her. I’ll go to the mechanic’s and see if they’ll let me do the respraying and other things there, or if we can work something out, rent the equipment, stuff like that. It’ll all be good.”

“And how are things with Jaxon?”

Ash wished his father had stuck with the topic of the Land Rover. He hesitated for a moment, toying with the label on his beer bottle. Finally, he sighed and looked up. “Good, I think.”

“But you’re not sure?”

“I like him a lot. I’ve got no doubt that he feels the same way. But I wonder if I’m not rushing things.”

Ed sat back in his seat. “Did someone suggest that you were?”

“Well, no….”

“So this is your own feeling, then?”

“Yeah.”

“I see. Well, son, all I can do is give you the advice my dad gave to me when I met your mother. He said, ‘Follow your heart. If your heart’s confused, listen to your gut. And if your gut’s confused too, then you better go see a doctor, because instinct is what’s important.’”

Ash laughed softly. “Grandpa was pretty wise.”

“He was.”

“I don’t think my heart or gut are confused so much as my head. I think too much. And I have flashbacks, which I don’t want to go into.”

“But you’ll go into them with the doctor?” Ed’s gaze was direct and Ash squirmed a little.

“Yes, sir, that’s first on my list.”

“Good. All right. Jaxon is a nice young man. He obviously cares about you, even I can see that. He gets along well with everyone. He’s kind, he’s thoughtful, he’s intelligent, and apparently a ninja—”

Ash burst out laughing.

“—and though I can’t tell these things, your sister and mother assure me that he’s quite good-looking. If he makes you happy, that makes me happy. That’s all we’ve ever wanted for you kids, to be happy. Now, when you told us you were gay, all those years ago, I won’t lie and say we weren’t surprised. But I think we had an idea, your mum and I, when we talked about it late into the night and realized that you’d been giving signs of this all your life. When you joined the Army, we were worried about how that might affect you, and we were right to, because you have these flashbacks. But never think that we were disappointed in you or ashamed of you. If some part of your hesitation about Jaxon is due to a lingering worry about your family, you can cross that one off your list. You’re our son, we’re proud of you. You’re Evie’s brother and she adores you. And you and Jeff are getting along. Your family has your back, kiddo.”

Ash blinked rapidly. Tears of gratitude welled behind his eyes, but he didn’t want to break down and cry. So he nodded and said nothing, swallowing the emotion.

“Enjoy your beer,” Ed said, standing up. “And enjoy your life. We only get one, after all.”

“Thanks, Dad,” Ash managed.

Two lucky readers will each get an ebook copy of “Book, Line, and Sinker.”

Please leave a comment to the post to go into the draw!