Love Bytes gives a warm welcome to author DJ Jamison who is joining us today and shares an exclusive excerpt of new release “Operation Makeover”, part of the succesfull Hearts and Health series.
DJ also brought a giveaway with her for our readers so make sure to participate in that!
Welcome DJ 🙂
Blurb:
Will a makeover bring his fantasy to life or lead him to a love he never saw coming?
As a professional X-ray tech, Ridley has come a long way from the geeky kid Jace took under his wing in high school. Not that his best friend has noticed. Tired of pining, Ridley decides to show Jace what he’s missing. And what better way than with a newer, more sophisticated look?
Cole’s clients at the salon where he works love him dearly. Men? Not so much. He has dated one mistake after the next, and he’s beginning to wonder if a guy exists who can handle his fabulousness. Then Ridley lands in his chair.
Cole agrees to be Ridley’s makeover guru, and they click effortlessly. But when Cole offers to help Ridley with his sexual confidence, passion flares and boundaries blur.
Ridley’s had his heart set on Jace a long time, but when he’s with Cole it feels too real to deny. Now he has a choice to make: the friend he’s always wanted or the man who’s given him a whole new lease on life.
Operation Makeover is part of the Hearts and Health series, but can be read as a standalone.
Cole lost count of how many drinks he’d had. Also lost track of Gabriella and Anita, who seemed to drift in and out of the room getting refills and snacks. At some point, Cole found himself alone for the first time in a few hours. Impulsively, he pulled out his phone and sent Ridley a text message.
Buy Link:
Cole: Sry about today
Ridley: You don’t need to apologize. I’m just not good at taking compliments
Cole: You need practice. Soon you’ll accept that you’re hot!!! <drooling emoji>
Ridley: If I’m delusional maybe
Cole: You said it’s been three years since you’ve dated?
Ridley took his time answering, but just as Cole wondered if he’d gone too far, another message appeared.
Ridley: Yeah, sadly.
Cole: You’ve forgotten how it feels to be apprciated
Ridley: I guess
Cole: I’m gonna keep complimenting u
Ridley: I’ll try to tolerate it <laughing emoji>
Ridley: It really has been a long time tho. Even if I could get Jace to say yes to a date, I’d probably run him off with a sloppy ass kiss or something
Cole: U need practice <winky emoji>
Ridley: You volunteering?
Cole: I wouldn’t mind
Ridley: Yeah, right. Well, that still won’t make me any less awful in bed
Cole: You’re awful in bed??!! Nooooo. Guy like u would be genrous lovr
Ridley: I can’t believe I’m talking about sex with you. No, I’m not awful. At least, I don’t think so. But again, it’s been a long time, and I don’t have the experience he does.
Cole: Sweetie, don’t worry. Most sex is crap!
Ridley: Uh ok
Cole: Stranger hookups never as good as sex with someone u like
Ridley: Oh
Cole: But if u want some practice …
Ridley: What? You’re offering that too?
Cole sent over a smiley face and was preparing to respond with another flirty comment when his phone was whipped out of his hand.
“Hey!”
“Oh, Cole, no,” Anita said. “You can’t do this!”
“Is it the ex?” Gabrielle asked.
“It’s the crush, and Cole is offering to let the guy practice his fucking skills on him so he doesn’t fall short with his true love. What the fuck, Cole? Do you want this guy to stomp all over your heart?”
“I didn’t say those exact words,” Cole protested weakly.
Cole’s phone buzzed, and he made grabby hands. “Lemme see what he said.”
Anita held his phone out of reach. “Uh-uh. You can’t be trusted. I’ll send him a reply, and then you’re crashing on the sofa. You can have your phone back in the morning.”
Cole gasped. “That’s theft.”
She was unmoved.
“That’s phonenapping. Phoneduction. That’s a federal offense!”
Gabrielle laughed at them, standing close to read the phone over Anita’s shoulder.
“At least tell me what he said,” Cole begged.
Gabrielle answered him. “He said, ‘I couldn’t ask you to do that. There are favors and then there are favors.’ ”
“Tell him—”
Anita interrupted. “I’m telling him, ‘I drank too much and need to crash.’ You’ll thank me tomorrow when you’re horrified by this exchange.”
Cole slumped with a pout. “Fine.”
“Fine.”
“Good.”
“Yep.”
“He’s a really nice guy,” Cole said almost pleadingly.
“A nice guy who’s in love with someone else.” Anita stroked his hair. “Don’t do this to yourself. Don’t walk into another doomed relationship.”
Cole nodded morosely. “Okay.”
“If it’s really meant to be, he’ll change his mind about that friend,” Gabrielle said gently. “Maybe he’ll choose you.”
He tried to smile. “No one ever chooses me.”
DJ Jamison is the author of more than a dozen m/m romances, including the Ashe Sentinel series and the Hearts and Health series. She writes a variety of queer characters, from gay to bisexual to asexual, with a focus on telling love stories that are more about common ground than lust at first sight. DJ grew up in the Midwest in a working-class family, and those influences can be found in her writing through characters coping with real-life problems: money troubles, workplace drama, family conflicts and, of course, falling in love. DJ spent more than a decade in the newspaper industry before chasing her first dream to write fiction. She spent a lifetime reading before that, and continues to avidly devour her fellow authors’ books each night. She lives in Kansas with her husband, two sons, one snake, and a sadistic cat named Birdie.
DJ’s social media
Facebook Group: DJ and Company (www.facebook/com/groups/DJandCompany)
Newsletter: www.tinyurl.com/DJandCompany
Twitter: @Dj_Jamison_
Book Bub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/dj-jamison
Wesbite: www.ReadingDJ.Com
Thanks for the excerpt, the book sounds great.
Congratulations, DJ. I love this series
Flirty goodness!
Love this series! Loved Cole and Ridley! Not entering the giveaway. Already own the series and have read them all.
Thank you for the excerpt! It sounds fantastic!
Congrats! I would love to read this series.