Promises and Lies

 

Promise and Lies

by Rowena Sudbury

Blurb:

When Sean Murphy meets Jeff Hayes in a park one day, he's charmed by the simple pleasure Jeff finds in walking his dog, and despite Jeff's guardian, Jesse, hovering over them, a friendship is born. Sean realizes there’s something different about Jeff, something that would explain his timid nature and fear of disappointing Jesse, and he suspects Jeff has been a victim of abuse.

Sean works hard to earn Jeff's trust, but there are so many challenges to meet: Jeff's unusual dependency upon Jesse, Sean's devil-may-care attitude toward the past, and old nightmares and disabilities that continue to haunt Jeff to this day. Their growing love might not be enough. Jeff will have to find courage from somewhere deep within to take control of his life and decide if he wants Sean to be a part of his future.

Links to excerpts:

One

Two

Three

Promises and Lies is available at Amazon and Dreamspinner Press .

 

Promises and Lies

Stop by my blog to check out inside information on Promises and Lies, due out on November 29, 2010. So far I've left information on four characters and a dog. I am planning to have a giveaway of a personally signed copy of the book sometime in the month of December, and the information I'm posting in the blog is the key to winning the book :)

Promises and Lies

Promises and Lies by Rowena Sudbury November 29

When Sean Murphy meets Jeff Hayes in a park one day, he's charmed by the simple pleasure Jeff finds in walking his dog, and despite Jeff's guardian, Jesse, hovering over them, a friendship is born. Sean realizes there’s something different about Jeff, something that would explain his timid nature and fear of disappointing Jesse, and he suspects Jeff has been a victim of abuse.

Sean works hard to earn Jeff's trust, but there are so many challenges to meet: Jeff's unusual dependency upon Jesse, Sean's devil-may-care attitude toward the past, and old nightmares and disabilities that continue to haunt Jeff to this day. Their growing love might not be enough. Jeff will have to find courage from somewhere deep within to take control of his life and decide if he wants Sean to be a part of his future.

 

Touched

A first affair gone disastrously wrong leaves Ryan in a pit of depression so deep, he finds himself hospitalized with pneumonia. His fever is blazing in the night when he's visited by a mysterious stranger who gives him a reason to live. The question is, did he imagine it -- or not?

The GLBT Bookshelf's September 2010 Rummage Sale is in its final days, stop by to stock up on some amazing reads! Of course, my own story (above) is on the Shelf!

The GLBT Bookshelf September 2010 Rummage Sale

The King's Tale

Because The King's Tale  gets a lot of  2 star reviews I'd like to address some of the things that I think people take issue with.

**Spoilers**

First of all the character of Marged. This is a medieval tale, and as such the only way for the king to get an heir was to sleep with a woman. Granted I could have chosen to have this actually happen "off camera", but I didn't mainly for character development reasons. Sure once would have been enough, but a lot of times my characters come alive in my head and they wanted it more than once. I kept the scenes short. Christopher is very intense, he does nothing by halves. He loves Marged, but never in the same way he loves Dafydd. And Dafydd is gentle and accepting, so he realizes Marged is no threat. In a lot of ways the fact that Christopher went straight from Marged's bed to Dafydd's that first night tells all about his feelings. He leaves Marged, virtually a stranger to his household, alone in his bed and seeks Dafydd's bed where he tells Dafydd that he feels safe with him. A strong emotion for a king to reveal.

Secondly, the language. I grew up reading Medieval romances, and I always lost myself in the language. In fact, I like it when the language is historically correct. It's not completely correct in this book, but there are aspects of it that are. Along with that are some of the names. I admit, I don't even know the correct pronunciation for "Lysnowydh" but it doesn't matter. I always tell my students that when I come to words I can't pronounce my mind just slips over them like water over rocks. I'm not reading it out loud so I don't have to know how to pronounce it.

One thing that always puzzles me is the knock that the book has "too much sex and not enough plot". I simply don't understand this criticism. I agree there are a lot of sex scenes, but I do not agree that there isn't a plot. However, these are opinions and so each is entitled to their own opinion.

And finally, the historical accuracy. King Christopher is not a real character. During that time there were no lesser kings. I chose to make him a king because it suited me. Also, I have done research and I know that homosexuals in Great Britain at that time were not accepted. If discovered they were subject to the Papal inquisition, and likely put to death. They would never be allowed to live openly in the way I depicted. I chose to ignore that because above all the story is a romance. Apart from that the rest of the history is as accurate as I could get it. I researched hand-fasting rituals, and medieval medicine. The rest of the feel came from my memories of all the medieval traditional romances I read while growing up.

September Digital Rummage Sale

The GLBT Bookshelf is holding another Rummage Sale to raise funds for the Wiki. The good news is that you, dear readers, are the winners. So much good fiction available for not a lot of money. In buying these yummy titles you keep the Bookshelf running, and it is an excellent source for GLBT literature.

Stop by to find titles by Mel Keegan, P.A. Brown, Nicole Gordon, Laura Baumbach, Sara Lansing, Gillibran Brown, Lydia Nyx, Sarah Black, Cecilia Tan, Fabian Black, DM Sands, Eden Winters, Jayne DeMarco, Neil Plakcy, Kal Cobalt,  and Rowena Sudbury! In all there are 29 titles. You can choose to purchase them individually, or there are a few bundles available.

A first affair gone disastrously wrong leaves Ryan in a pit of depression so deep, he finds himself hospitalized with pneumonia. His fever is blazing in the night when he's visited by a mysterious stranger who gives him a reason to live. The question is, did he imagine it -- or not?

GLBT Bookshelf September Rummage Sale

As if that wasn't enough good news, Dreamspinner Press is holding a Labor Day Sale this weekend, all titles are 20% off. Stop by and check them out!

Dreamspinner Press Labor Day Sale

Testing out my RSS Feed

Amazon Author's Central informed me that I would no longer be able to post a blog directly on my page there and that I would have to make use of an RSS feed. I've opted to send the feed from this journal, testing to make sure everything connects, so this is a repeat of news for this journal, but all new for my Amazon page.

Toward the end of July my manuscript Promises and Lies was accepted for publication by Dreamspinner Press. This new book is a contemporary romance pieced together from a series of short stories I wrote nearly ten years ago. It is just a straight romance. Sean is a successful business man who turned his wild youth into a promising career. As he enters his 30s he decides it is time to settle down. One day he spots Jeff, a troubled young man in his early 20s, walking his dog in the park. A friendship is born between them, and eventually the friendship turns to love. The story follows them as they work their way through the ups and downs of Jeff's dyslexia, an attempt to adopt a child, and eventually everything comes to a head when Jeff's appendix ruptures. Both men change and mature and through it all their bond grows stronger.

The story needs some editing, and I'm working through that now. Good news for readers of The King's Tale is that I have six chapters written for the sequel entitled The King's Heart. I usually don't make outlines for my stories, I let them flow on their own, but The King's Heart seemed to form in my head during the past year as I struggled through a change in my teaching career. As such, I wrote a very detailed outline, so once I get the chance to start working on it again it should flow fairly quickly.

Thanks again for your support and positive comments. Each one means the world to me.

~Rowena