Blog Tour, Exclusive Excerpt & Giveaway:
Forever After by Marie Sinclair
Finding Forever, Book 3
After a fire destroys his apartment, Diego has no choice but to move in with the person least likely to welcome him with open arms: Alex, the recently divorced, presumably straight guy who didn’t take kindly to Diego hitting on him at a friend’s wedding.
Unfortunately, Alex can’t exactly complain about the living arrangements. After his wife cheated, he moved across the country to San Francisco to start over. The place he’s living belongs to a friend, so when Jake also offers Diego a room, Alex needs to figure out how to deal with the exceptionally hot, sex-positive, queer youth counselor whose gaydar has picked up that Alex isn’t as straight as everyone thinks he is.
Forced to live in the same house, Alex and Diego are about as combustible as fire and gasoline. But when Alex’s thirteen-year-old comes out as trans masc and moves into the house with them, Alex begins to see another side of Diego, and Diego realizes this sullen, complicated man has a heart of gold that’s been stomped on a few too many times.
Once the walls start to come down, Alex and Diego realize they have a lot in common. Not to mention an attraction that blazes hotter the more they get to know each other.
Forever After is an enemies-to-lovers, forced proximity, bi-awakening story. It is Book Three in the Finding Forever series but can be read as a stand-alone novel.
Please use the Look Inside feature to read the book’s trigger warning.
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You’re kidding, Alex thought as he stepped into the kitchen.
Diego and…whomever…had obviously tried to cook something after they returned from the club. The stovetop was covered in a sticky residue, there were pots full of water and soap bubbles soaking in the sink, and the distinctive odor of char lingered in the air.
With a growl, Alex grabbed the sponge from the sink but recoiled as soon as he touched it. There was food—was that cheese?—caked on the sponge. Alex dropped the offending blue rectangle in the trash and went into the pantry to retrieve a fresh one, only to discover where the dynamic duo had begun their activities and left the evidence behind.
“Are you kidding me?” Alex muttered as he grabbed what he wanted and turned back to the mess in the kitchen. He might be willing to clean up after Diego—again—but he wasn’t touching a used condom.
Alex cleaned up the mess on the counters and stove, then tackled the scorched pans in the sink. Cursing out loud when he realized one of the pans was his perfectly seasoned cast-iron griddle. Alex gritted his teeth and tried to clean it without removing the protective layer that usually kept it pretty much nonstick.
Wrapped up in thoughts of the slow death he’d like to inflict on his housemate and wondering if Jake would pay for another renovation on the guest room so he could get Diego to leave, Alex didn’t hear the man in question showing his guest out. It wasn’t until Diego walked into the kitchen—wearing only a pair of boxers, for crying out loud—and helped himself to the coffee Alex had just made that he knew he was no longer alone.
“I would have taken care of that in the morning,” Diego said and sipped at the coffee. He made an appreciative hum that grated on Alex’s nerves.
“You don’t soak cast iron,” Alex growled. “Not only do you destroy the seasoning, iron rusts.”
“I didn’t know.”
“What did you cook…? You know what, never mind. Just stick to using your cheap-ass pans, and leave my stuff alone if you don’t know how to take care of it.” He bent back over the pan, trying to loosen a lump of…was that caramelized sugar? With another curse, Alex stomped into the pantry, retrieved the baking soda, and returned with the box. He poured a layer into the bottom of the pan, added enough water to cover it, and set the pan on the stove.
When Diego started to turn away, Alex called him back. “You can also clean up what you left in there.” He jerked his head toward the pantry then concentrated on the next pan, which was stainless steel and could be scrubbed to remove the char.
“Sorry about that, dude,” Diego said. “I guess we got a little carried away.” He rubbed his hand across his chest and yawned loudly without covering his mouth. As he stretched, Alex got a good look at the colorful tattoo inked across Diego’s right shoulder blade. It was a Day of the Dead skeleton, foot resting on a gravestone as it played a guitar.
Realizing he was staring, Alex turned his attention back to the pan, scrubbing as if his life depended on it.
Alex felt a sudden flush of heat run up his right arm and blinked at his wrist several times before his brain registered that Diego had taken hold of it. He jerked away and growled. “What?”
“I think it’s clean.” Diego tried to hide his grin but failed when Alex glanced down at the pan, which was now so shiny he could almost see his reflection in it.
To celebrate the release of Forever After, Marie is giving away an e-sets of the Finding Forever Series (3 eBooks) PLUS the bonus prequel!
Enter the Rafflecopter giveaway for your chance to win!
Check out the rest of the
Finding Forever Series
Book 1: A Kind of Forever
Ry and Cart were inseparable in college: two innocent kids in love who thought they could take on the world. But when a photograph of the two of them at an LGBTQ protest outed Ry to his conservative family, his parents forced him to leave college and convinced Cart their relationship was something Ry regretted.
Twelve years later, they’re given a second chance.
Since they last saw each other, Cart has moved on. Sort of. He relocated to San Francisco, became a human-rights lawyer, and fell in love again and got married, only to lose his husband to cancer. Still reeling from the loss, he’s devoted himself to the struggling LGBTQ youth center his late husband founded. Then Ry joins the law firm where Cart works. The moment they see each other, Cart can tell Ry’s changed. Gone is the sensuous and enthusiastic lover Cart remembers, and in his place is a man who looks at Cart with disgust. The last thing Cart needs is having to figure out what’s going on with his former lover, but he can’t ignore the strong emotions resurfacing between them.
When Ry returned to his hometown of San Francisco, he knew being near his parents again was going to be a challenge. For twelve years, they’ve been manipulating him with threats of being disinherited and losing his trust fund. It worked when he was younger, getting him to leave college and agree to conversion therapy in the hopes of getting away and returning to Cart. But the camp caused him so much trauma, he can’t even look at another man without experiencing a panic attack. Now his goal is to beat his parents at their own game by pretending to be the dutiful, straight son they want. Two more years, and he’ll succeed. Then he sees Cart again and realizes what really matters to him. He just needs to find a way for Cart to realize it too.
Trigger Warnings: This book contains references to attempted suicide, conversion therapy, depression, and self-harm, as well as depictions of PTSD and panic attacks.
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Book 2: Nothing Like Forever
Jake and Micah met at eighteen and formed a deep connection the instant they saw each other. That was the easy part.
Nothing Like Forever is a soul mates-to-partners, can’t-live-with-him/can’t-live-without-him unconventional love story in which Jake doesn’t want romance or a happily-ever-after, and Micah wants it all. With Jake. For twenty years they’ve been in and out of each other’s lives trying to get it right. They fail, retreat, disappear from each other’s lives for years at a time, and then fate (or a friend’s wedding) brings them back together for another attempt at making it work. Their connection always runs deep, but no matter what it takes for them to stay together, one thing’s certain: these guys have a unique path to finding their HEA, and when they get there, it might not look the way either of them expect.
This novel is about learning what you can and can’t expect from your partner and what you can and can’t accept for yourself in a relationship, what lines you’re willing to cross, what compromises you’re willing to make, and where you have to stay true to who you are no matter how you feel about the other person. It features an aromantic MC and a guaranteed HEA that’s as unique as these two men and the journey it takes them to find forever.
Trigger warning: this novel has mentions of alcoholism and dementia. It also features MCs who are consensually non-monogamous, but there are no on-page depictions of Jake and Micah with anyone except each other.
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About the Author:
Marie Sinclair is a queer writer living in San Francisco. Though she’s been a writer all her life, it wasn’t until she stumbled upon MM romance that she knew she’d found a home for herself and all the characters in her head.
Her focus is on contemporary romance, usually on the steamy side. While HEAs are guaranteed, it will always take some work for the couples to get there, and it might not look the way they expected at the beginning. As a member of the LGBTQ+ community, Marie believes in rooting her stories in the real world of queer culture and showing how love can survive even in challenging times.
Connect with Marie:
Facebook group: Marie’s Sin Bin
Instagram: marie.sinbooks
Twitter: @marie_sinbooks
Website: www.sinbinbooks.com