A warm welcome to author Anna Martin joining us on her blog tour for her new release “Five Times My Best Friend Kissed Me”.
Welcome Anna 🙂
Hello! Thank you for joining me at Love Bytes so I can talk about my new book, ‘Five Times My Best Friend Kissed Me, and One Time I Kissed Him First’.
This is the last stop on my Five Times Blog Tour! The book has been out for just under a week now, so it’s probably a good time to reflect on this whole experience.
I started writing ‘Five Times’ with the idea of a friends-to-lovers romance since I’ve never written one of those before. That was the key theme that led to everything else—the pining (on both sides!), the heartache, the warm familiarity when they finally discover what had been missing for so long.
I’ve talked a little bit before about the five and one concept, which led to the fairly unusual structure of the book. The story is told in six sections, rather than chapters, and each section focuses on one of those kisses from the title. That idea really helped me focus on the storytelling—I wanted each of the sections to stand alone as a short story, so they could, in theory, be read separately.
It probably goes without saying that I love to write. It’s something I’ve been doing with at least a small amount of focus for about half of my life now—I started writing Harry Potter fan fiction short stories when I was fifteen, and I just turned thirty. I’ve never really had any desire to write any type of fiction other than romance. As my friend and colleague Damon Suede can often be heard saying, “Romance is the literature of hope.”
That sense of hope and inevitability is something I really hope comes through from the novel. Even when all the odds are stacked against them, Evan and Scott figure out a way to make their relationship work, and that’s something I really love about this story in particular.
I suppose I should tell you a bit about what I’m doing next!
I haven’t written as much in the past six months as I usually do, due to a whole bunch of different factors. Later this year you’ll hopefully see at least a novella from me, and maybe another novel towards the end of the year or at the beginning of 2017, depending on how the scheduling works out. That book is still in it’s early stages so I won’t say too much yet, but I am probably more excited to write this story than I have been about anything else. How’s that for a teaser?!
Thank you so much to everyone who has stopped by on this blog tour to read my little ramblings about the story, and to everyone who entered the Rafflecopter giveaway. I’ll be announcing the winner on my blog and social media over the weekend.
If you haven’t read the book yet, here’s a little teaser of what you can expect!
Scott’s apartment was nice. Really nice. It was only a little smaller than Evan’s house, and he immediately felt a rush of something, shame maybe, in his belly. They’d come out of the same high school with similar grades, and Scott had ended up here, when Evan had only just managed to make it out of his hometown.
A tiny, plaintive cry stole Evan’s attention.
The cat was a beauty—a gray-and-white striped tabby with a white chin and bright green eyes. Evan immediately crouched down and let her come to him, holding his hand out for her to sniff. “Hey, Princess,” he murmured.
After a second, she seemed to decide to trust him and nuzzled her neck against his wrist.
“Let me get out of my jacket, and then I’ll spoil you,” he said.
There was a closet just inside the door, but Evan decided to throw the jacket over his arm and wander through the apartment instead. Princess followed him.
The kitchen was black and chrome, modern and minimalist, and the stack of mail at the end of the breakfast bar told Evan Scott’s neighbor was stopping in fairly regularly. There were two silver bowls the floor next to the fridge, one with plenty of water and the other full of kitty kibble. So she’d been fed.
Evan checked the cupboards, noting good plates that seemed like they got used, kitchen utensils that also showed signs of wear, and a baffling array of gadgets. It took a few minutes to locate the cat food and treats—in a high cupboard that made sense—and Evan grabbed the little pouch of treats.
He startled when a soft head butted against his wrist. Princess nuzzled him again, and he couldn’t help but grin at her low, steady purr.
The family room had big windows that looked out over the street below, a black leather sofa with a fluffy blanket over the back, and a huge flat-screen TV. The remote for the TV lay on the arm of the sofa, so Evan grabbed it to switch it on, then pulled off his shoes and swung his legs up onto the seat.
“Princess,” he called, feeling stupid.
She immediately appeared and started clawing at his jeans. Evan scratched behind her ears and reached for the packet of kitty treats. He pulled one out and let her nibble at it. He flicked through the TV channels until he found a home renovations show he watched from time to time and settled in to spoil Scott’s frankly adorable pet.
It was one of those days that never seemed to get to full brightness— the sun hidden behind too many layers of thick, dark clouds. Scott’s apartment was warm, his couch comfortable, and the weight of the cat on his lap nudged him into an unfamiliar feeling of contentment. Evan had never considered getting a pet before, but now….
He woke to the sound of his phone ringing and startled, not even realizing he’d fallen asleep.
Blurb:
When you realize you want to marry your best friend at age six, life should follow a pretty predictable path, right? Maybe not.
As a kid, Evan King thought Scott Sparrow was the most amazing person he’d ever met. At seventeen, his crush runs a little deeper, and nothing seems simple anymore. Scott is more interested in football and girls than playing superheroes, and Evan’s attention is focused on getting into art school. A late-night drunken kiss is something to be forgotten, not obsessed over for the next ten years.
When life suddenly brings them back together, it doesn’t take much for the flame Evan carried for Scott nearly all his life to come roaring back, and Evan discovers that life sometimes has a strange way of coming full circle.
Book buy links
Anna Martin is from a picturesque seaside village in the south- west of England and now lives in the slightly arty, slightly quirky city of Bristol. After spending most of her childhood making up stories, she studied English Literature at university before attempting to turn her hand as a professional writer.
Apart from being physically dependent on her laptop, Anna is enthusiastic about writing and producing local grassroots theater (especially at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where she can be found every summer), going to visit friends in other countries, baking weird and wonderful sweets, learning to play the ukulele, and Ben & Jerry’s New York Super Fudge Chunk.
Anna claims her entire career is due to the love, support, pre-reading, and creative ass kicking provided by her best friend Jennifer. Jennifer refuses to accept responsibility for anything Anna has written.
Social Media links
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/annamartinfiction
Twitter: @missannamartin or https://twitter.com/missannamartin
Website: http://www.annamartin-fiction.com/
