A warm Love Bytes welcome to author Shae Connor joining us to talk about her newest release “Accendental Fall”
Welcome Shae 🙂
My Kind of Town
First, thanks to Dani for hosting me today! Always happy to visit.
When I originally wrote Accidental Fall, I’d just been back to visit Chicago again. It’s one of my favorite cities for several reasons, and when the idea for the story arose, I knew that’s where I wanted to set it. Chicago has several colleges in and around the city, which worked perfectly for a roommates-to-lovers plot.
I’ve made a dozen or more to Chicago over the years, and sometimes, they run together in my mind. But I remember the first: Labor Day weekend of 1999, my sister and I drove from Atlanta to Chicago in my old Dodge Neon, which had no cruise control. As one of our local traffic reporters used to say: oh, my achin’ toe! The first day, we actually drove only as far as Urbana to spend the night before driving on into Chicago the next day. We met up with several of my friends—people I’d originally met through “The X-Files” fandom—and went out for Chicago-style pizza that night.
The next day was the reason for the trip: we went to a day game at Wrigley Field. My sister and I did the full baseball-tourist thing: walking on Waveland, taking pictures in front of the famous marquee and the Harry Caray statue, staring with wide eyes at the fabled ivied outfield wall.
I can’t even remember who the Cubs played that day or who won. It didn’t matter. That day was all about the ballpark.
We couldn’t hang around long after the game. We drove back to Urbana that night and then to Atlanta the following day. We had no time off and not much money, so cramming in the trip had been struggle, but neither of us ever regretted it. Not even when we got back home at 2 a.m. and my feet were swollen like sausages.
Both of us have taken several return trips to Chicago since then—in fact, when this post appears, my sister will be in Chicago with her husband. During the dozen or so other trips I’ve taken, I’ve seen much more of the city, from the Lakeshore to the western suburbs, the Magnificent Mile to Boystown, both airports and many, many restaurants. I’ve been to Market Days and IML, the Field Museum and Millennium Park—which features in Accidental Fall as a date location—and I’ve taken a boat tour on the Chicago River and out onto Lake Michigan. I have decidedly not been up in the Sears… excuse me, “Willis” Tower, but I have a pretty cool picture of it from the boat tour (wish I could find it to share).
Just writing this post has been jonesing for another trip to the Windy City. Maybe I’ll try to work it into my travel plans for next year. Hmmm, isn’t there a romance conference up that way? 😉
Title: Accidental Fall
Author: Shae Connor
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release date: September 21, 2016
Length: Novella Words (19,192 words)
Edition: 2nd (previously published as Accidental Love by Amber Allure in 2012)
Blurb:
When it comes to relationships, college roommates Greg and Keith are polar opposites. A recovering addict, Greg avoids sex because it’s too closely tied in his mind with the alcohol and drugs he gave up. In contrast, Keith protects his heart by limiting sex to one-night stands and weekend flings.
As the two get to know each other better, they feel drawn together, and slowly they take tentative steps toward something real. Their attraction soon flares hot, but Greg’s fears overwhelm him, sending him running. It’s up to Keith to help Greg learn to trust in himself—and in the way they feel about each other.
Buy links:
Shae Connor lives in Atlanta, where she’s a lackadaisical government worker for a living and writes sweet-hot romance under the cover of night. She’s been making things up for as long as she can remember, but it took her a long time to figure out that maybe she should try writing them down.
A member of the Romance Writers of America, Shae was first published in 2010 and has a lineup of short stories, novellas, and novels published and a host of anthology appearances, most notably in Playing Ball, which won the 2014 Rainbow Award for Best Anthology/Collection. Her novel Unfortunate Son was a 2015 Rainbow Award finalist for Best Gay Erotic Romance.
Shae is part Jersey, part Irish, and all Southern, which explains why she never shuts up. When she’s not chained to her laptop, she enjoys cooking, traveling, watching baseball, and reading voraciously, and she’s an annual volunteer as director of the Dragon Con on-site publication, the Daily Dragon. You can find her hanging out on Twitter most any time @shaeconnor, but for the more direct route, you can email her at shaeconnorwrites@gmail.com or visit her website at shaeconnorwrites.com.