Love Bytes says hello and welcome to author Kelly Jensen joining us today to talk about the release of the complete Counting series in one volume.

Check out Kelly’s guestpost and giveaway she has going for this release!

Welcome Kelly 🙂

The Future is Happy and Shiny

The Complete Counting Series is now available in one volume!

In the many blog posts I’ve written for the Counting series, I’ve often talked about the fact I never expected to write three novellas for these guys, or the three short stories that fit in between and after. But given the opportunity to continue what started on the side of a road in upstate New York, I could hardly refuse. I love writing happy ever afters, and if ever a couple deserve one, it’s Henry and Marc. I trapped them in a blizzard. Then a basement. Then an attic. I messed with their emotions. I made Henry sing karaoke. Marc had to come out to his parents, knowing they wouldn’t accept him.

These two worked hard for their relationship, and it gave me such pleasure to write another epilogue story for them, to give them an even stronger happy ever after. To see them planning for a future that’s so shiny, it almost hurts to look at it. But look they will, because this is Henry and Marc. Marc’s a forward thinking dude and Henry, despite his staid nature, is a sweet little optimist.

So what does the future hold for these two?

Truthfully, I don’t know. I’m not sure I’ll write any more stories for them, although I’ll be tempted to. Never has a thread been so easy to pick up as it has been for every new adventure I write for these two. Over the course of their novellas and short stories I’ve come to know them so well that writing them is almost effortless. And, with a writer’s curiosity, I want to know what they’re doing next.

How will this Christmas differ from the previous one? Will Henry go into a panic attack if Beck and Meyer send them on a job the week beforehand? It makes me giggle to think about him booking three different modes of travel and installing weather alerts on his phone. Meanwhile, Marc is probably packing a bag with everything he needs to survive a night on the road with Henry: himself, some snacks, and a blanket. He’ll leave Henry to sweat the other details, then calm him down with kisses and loving.

What about the holidays after that? Will they start a new tradition of daring the weather to strand them somewhere? Will they visit basements of odd buildings on a tourist venture no one has ever thought of before? When they finally decide to upgrade from Henry’s first apartment, will they chose another one with an attic? I can imagine Henry walking around the new apartment checking all the closet doors while Marc examines the trash chute with exaggerated care, calling out that they should watch out, because while both of them might fit down there together, there’d be no climbing back up.

One of my favorite futures to imagine is them in a house with a small, neat yard, and a dog—or maybe a cat. No, a dog, because I have a feeling Henry would really love a dog and that Marc, despite thinking the smell of wet dog on a fall day isn’t all that, would love watching Henry play with it. Then he’d start thinking about getting a small human. Or, in simpler terms, raising a family with Henry. And though I think he’d love to replicate Henry’s sweet handsomeness, order up a child of their own, Henry would talk him into adopting, and Marc would see the sense in giving a home to someone who needs their love, companionship, and family as much as he once needed Henry.

Henry’s parents would be delighted, but what about Marc’s?

Well, this is my world and these are my guys and I’ve decided that as the years pass, Marc’s parents will miss him. They probably do already. They know they’re in the wrong, that they ejected their son from their home for abhorrent reasons. Reconciliation between Marc and his family won’t be simple, or easy. But I’d love it for them. For the future for everyone involved in this story to be bright and full of happiness and love.

And, why not? It’s at the end of a romance novel that the real work truly begins: two people learning how to grow together. Building a life they didn’t want to live apart. While I love imagining all the wonderful things that will happen for Henry and Marc, I can acknowledge that they’ll struggle. They’ll have different opinions and they’ll fight. Henry’s shyness will always bother Marc, who doesn’t really understand it, and Henry will always envy Marc’s forthrightness.

But because they love each other, because they chose each other, I believe they’ll fight hard to stay together. To continue to be in love and to live happily ever after, with their family and their extended family. And their kids and their dog, and the rabbits from the hutch Marc’s going to build at the back of the garden, and the hamster they’ll inherit when their daughter starts second grade… and so on, and so on, forever.

To read the extra stories I’ve written for Henry and Marc, visit the Counting Series page on my website.

Thanks for following the tour for The Complete Counting Series! At the end of every post, I’ll be asking a question. Leave a comment with your answer (and your email address). Every comment throughout the tour counts as an entry in my giveaway. One winner will receive $15 (US or equivalent) to spend at the Dreamspinner Press store. Giveaway open internationally.

1. Cat, dog, or something else? Which pet should Henry and Marc adopt first?

 

The Complete Counting Series

Henry Auttenberg and Marc Winnamore have an interesting approach to dating. Bare acquaintanceship gives way to a mutual attraction as Marc confesses he’s not exactly straight—while they’re trapped in a rental car on the side of the road during a Christmas Eve blizzard. Back in Boston, they try an actual date, only to spend New Year’s Eve locked in a basement, exploring every avenue of escape… and the deepening attraction between them.

Then, after two months apart, their fledgling relationship held together by flying visits, phone calls, and text messages, a joint assignment in Washington DC serves up more togetherness than Henry and Marc might be able to handle. But the real test isn’t the assignment. When Marc finally lays his heart on the line, can he count on Henry to be there for him, in every way that matters? And can he do the same for Henry when Henry needs him the most?

Follow Henry and Marc’s journey from work colleagues to lovers, from roadside disaster to locked basements, to a final ultimatum in the three novellas of the Counting series: Counting Fence Posts, Counting Down, Counting on You

Amazon | Dreamspinner Press

About Kelly

If aliens ever do land on Earth, Kelly will not be prepared, despite having read over a hundred stories of the apocalypse. Still, she will pack her precious books into a box and carry them with her as she strives to survive. It’s what bibliophiles do.

Kelly is the author of eight novels, including the Chaos Station series, co-written with Jenn Burke, and several novellas and short stories. Some of what she writes is speculative in nature, but mostly it’s just about a guy losing his socks and/or burning dinner. Because life isn’t all conquering aliens and mountain peaks. Sometimes finding a happy ever after is all the adventure we need.

Connect with Kelly: Twitter | Facebook | Website Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/czGhYz

 

Thanks for following the tour for The Complete Counting Series! At the end of every post, I’ll be asking a question. Leave a comment with your answer (and your email address). Every comment throughout the tour counts as an entry in my giveaway. One winner will receive $ (US or equivalent) to spend at the Dreamspinner Press store. Giveaway open internationally.

 

9/20    Joyfully Jay “A Story in Three Parts”

9/20    Love Bytes “The Future is Happy and Shiny”

9/21    The Novel Approach  “Exclusive Excerpt from Counting Out”

9/21    The Dreamspinner Press Blog “The Counting Series Playlist”

9/21    TTC Books and More “Read Between the Stories”