One of the early reviews I got for Digging Deep commented that the reader had never read a romance book quite like it. I think this was mostly about there being an MC with a chronic health condition that affected their bowels, and by extension their bathroom habits and sexual activity and preferences. Perhaps not things we tend to discuss or weave into the narrative of a romance story. And exactly the reasons I focussed on it, I suppose.
Not that we want all our stories to be like this, we need and love variety, but there is definitely a place for representation of the wider community in our romance stories that extends to health issues that we don’t want to talk about, as well. And there are great romance books out there already that do just that⎯books about physical challenges, mental health issues, hearing and sight impairment and a host of other issues that challenge people in their romantic lives. This is just another of those, this one focussing on the deeply personal and sensitive issue of bowel/alimentary disease, which has its own brand of social stigma.
I used a fair bit of humour in the story, partly as a counterpoint to the stigma and the seriousness of the condition, but also because the people with Crohn’s I talked to said that that’s often how they dealt with it themselves. If you couldn’t laugh about some of it on your own or more importantly with family and support people, you may as well shrivel up in a ball and disappear, they said. And the same went for their partners. Call it black humour or whatever, it was one of the first things I noticed when we talked. Nothing was off limits and their humour shone through. It was a major coping mechanism for dealing with a condition that had enormous implications, including repeated hospitalisations and often ongoing surgeries over a lifetime.
But finding love was possible through it all, something I was left in no doubt about. And that’s why it’s important to have lots of stories like this one, as well as all the others. I hope I did some justice to the stories of those who live with Crohn’s. Let me know.
A Digging Deep Story
Drake Park has a complicated life. As a gay male midwife, he’s used to raising eyebrows. Add Crohn’s disease and things get interesting—or not, considering the sad state of his love life. Experience has taught Drake that most men are fair-weather sailors when it comes to handling his condition—gone for dust when things get rough. Staying healthy is a full-time job without adding in any heartbreak, so a little loneliness is a small price to pay. If he says it often enough he might even believe it. One thing for sure, the cop who arrested him isn’t about to change that.
Caleb Ashton does not have a complicated life. A senior detective with the Whangarei Police Department, he likes his job and is good at it. He works hard and plays hard, happy to enjoy as many men as he can while he’s still young enough—or at least he was. These days he feels adrift for the first time in his life, and the only thing sparking his interest—a certain prickly young midwife.
But can Drake find enough faith to risk opening his heart again? And does Caleb have what it takes to cope with the challenges Drake’s condition presents?
Jay Hogan is a New Zealand author writing in m/m romance, romantic suspense and fantasy. She has travelled extensively and has lived in quite a few countries. She has a BA degree in Nursing and in Theology, and in another life, she was an Intensive Care Nurse, Counselor, and a Lecturer.
She is a cat aficionado especially of Maine Coons, and an avid dog lover (but don’t tell the cat). She loves to cook- pretty damn good, loves to sing – pretty damn average, and as for loving full-time writing -absolutely… depending of course on the day, the word count, the deadline, how obliging her characters are, the ambient temperature in the Western Sahara, whether Jupiter is rising, the size of the ozone hole over New Zealand and how much coffee she’s had.
She has complex boys telling stories in her head that demand attention and a considerable number of words to go with them. Their journeys are never straightforward and even surprise Jay. She does her best to plot things out ahead of time but those pesky characters seem to have a mind of their own. Go figure.
You can find Jay at:
https://www.facebook.com/JayHoganAuthor
https://twitter.com/jayhoganauthor
jayhoganauthor@gmail.com
 |
| Hosted By Signal Boost Promotions |