A warm welcome to author Ann Gallagher joining us today here at Love Bytes to talk about her new release A Bluewater Bay Story “All The Wrong Place”

Welcome Ann 🙂

Welcome to the Riptide Publishing/Ann Gallagher blog tour for All The Wrong Places!

So is there anything I won’t write?

Once upon a time, there lived a wannabe author in the wilds of Seattle-area suburbia. She dreamed of writing fantasy novels and rolling in money (shut up, she was like 14). And maybe she’d dabble in horror, or science fiction, or historical. But not romance. No way.

“I could see myself writing almost anything,” she said, and with a wrinkle of her nose, added, “but not romance.”

Many, many years later, when she had hit the ripe old age of twenty-eight, romance suddenly had an appeal. Why? Because the wannabe author had made the impulsive decision to attempt NaNoWriMo – writing a 50,000 word novel in a month – with only two weeks left to plot and plan the story she was to write. Since all her ideas were convoluted tomes of speculative fiction, the answer seemed clear: write a contemporary romance. After all, this was an exercise in discipline and getting in the habit of writing, and a contemporary romance did seem much simpler to plot and execute than a doorstop fantasy novel. Didn’t mean she was going to keep writing romance.

“I’ll write one now,” she said, and with a knowing nod, added, “but then it’s back to fantasy.”

NaNoWriMo came and went, and the wannabe author suddenly had two things: a finished contemporary romance manuscript, and a much greater respect for the genre and those who write it.

“They’re simpler than a fantasy novel,” she said, and with an exhausted wipe of her brow, added, “but they’re definitely not easy.”

And more than that, they were addictive. After finishing one romance, she jumped into another. And another. Soon, gay romance was added to the mix, and she decided romance was her new cup of tea.

“I still love fantasy, and maybe I’ll revisit it someday,” she said, and with a wipe of her eye because she’d gotten an eyelash in it at an ill-timed moment, she added, “but contemporary erotic romance is my thing from now on.”

Henceforth, she continued to write contemporary romances of the gay and straight variety, and soon, paranormals and thrillers were added to the mix. Historicals looked like too much work, though, and Christian romances were hardly in her wheelhouse. But the historical bunnies came a-hopping, and they wouldn’t be ignored, so she wrote them, and so too came the cyberpunk and steampunk and rock stars and billionaires, and she gave up on ruling anything out. Well, almost anything.

“I’ll write anything,” she began to say on panels and in interviews, and with a tone that suggested she knew what she was talking about, she added, “but I won’t write Inspirational or Regency.”

The Muse, the bunnies, and the powers that be have a sense of humor, though, and in 2013, a gay Christian romance plot bunny landed betwixt her ears and refused to shut its cakehole, and suddenly there was Lead Me Not. Later came

“Fine,” she said, and with an exasperated sigh, she added, “I’ll never write a #1 New York Times Bestseller.”

Your move, universe.

Ann Gallagher is the slightly more civilized alter ego of L.A. Witt, Lauren Gallagher, and Lori A. Witt. So she tells herself, anyway. When she isn’t wreaking havoc on Spain with her husband and trusty two-headed Brahma bull, she writes romances just like her wilder counterparts, but without all the heat. She is also far too mature to get involved in the petty battle between L.A. and Lauren, but she’s seriously going to get even with Lori for a certain incident that shall not be discussed publicly.

ALL THE WRONG PLACES

Blurb:

Three cheating girlfriends in a row have given skateboarder Brennan Cross the same excuse: he wasn’t meeting their needs. Desperate and humiliated, he goes to the professionals at the local sex shop for advice.

Zafir Hamady, a sales clerk at Red Hot Bluewater, has an unusual theory: he doesn’t think Brennan is a bad lover. In fact, he doesn’t think Brennan is heterosexual. Or sexual at all, for that matter. He also can’t stop thinking about Brennan. But even if he’s right and Brennan really is asexual, that doesn’t mean Zafir has a chance. Brennan’s never dated a man, and Zafir’s never met anyone who’s game for a Muslim single father with a smart mouth and a GED.

Brennan’s always thought of himself as straight. But when sex is explicitly out of the mix, he finds himself drawn to Zafir for the qualities and interests they share. And Zafir can’t help enjoying Brennan’s company and the growing bond between Brennan and his son. They work well together, but with so many issues between them, doubts creep in, and Brennan’s struggle with his identity could push away the one person he didn’t know he could love.

All The Wrong Places is available June 13^th from Riptide Publishing.

Amazon buy link

Every comment on this blog tour enters you in a drawing for a choice of two eBooks off my backlist (excluding All The Wrong Places, but including books written as L.A. Witt or Lauren Gallagher) and a $10 Riptide Publishing store credit. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on June 20^th, and winners will be announced on June 21^st. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries.