It has been such a blast doing this tour with Debbie McGowan for our Leaving Flowers release that I...er...sort of forgot to announce on my own blog that the book had come out!
Um, well, the book is out! ^_^
And if you'd like to follow along with the tour and enter for your chance to win a $20.00 Amazon.com giftcard, all the links are available below.
~ ~ ~
Author Name: Debbie McGowan & Raine
O’Tierney
Book Name: Leaving Flowers
Release
Date: May 1, 2015
Pages or Words: 67,000 words
Categories: Contemporary, Fiction, Gay Fiction, M/M Romance, Romance
Goodreads
Publisher: Beaten Track Publishing
Cover Artist: Debbie McGowan
Blurb(s):
Shy and awkward since childhood, Aidan Degas is now a man
lost. His twin—Aidan’s other half, Nadia—died tragically young, leaving him
with nothing to get him through his days but his job at the prestigious Grand
Heights Luxury Apartments and the flowers he lays upon her grave. When Aidan is
assaulted on the job by a tenant, it’s the graveyard he turns to for strength
and solace.
Patrick loves being assistant
groundskeeper at the sprawling cemetery where he tends graves and offers a bit
of comfort to mourners. When he sees a sad young man lingering over an old
grave, his curiosity is strangely piqued for reasons he doesn’t understand.
He’s never done this—struck up a friendship with a mourner. But soon that
friendship blossoms into a romance.
It’s not going to be easy for
the pair. Aidan is so damaged, like petals crushed in an angry fist, and even
with Patrick’s warm heart and Irish charm, it might not be enough to bring him
back from the edge.
Excerpt:
Somehow,
in spite of the need to go home and shower off the grottiness of digging earth
for half a day, Patrick didn’t feel he could take his usual subtle approach.
Nadia’s passing was not recent; her grave was not new; yet here was this young
man, kneeling at her feet, his eyes closed, hands resting in his lap, oblivious
to the sun’s slide from the sky, the increasing briskness of the breeze,
Patrick’s presence…
“Hello
there,” he said quietly, stopping on the path a few feet away. The man was too
far into his own mind to startle. Instead, he slowly came to, his shoulders
lifting slightly as he twisted to see what had disturbed his meditation.
Patrick smiled. “I’m afraid we’re locking up for the evening.”
“So
soon?”
“It’s
going on for seven o’clock, sir.”
“Seven…”
The man’s voice petered away, his expression indicating he had no idea how long
he had been kneeling there. If he doubted Patrick’s word, the confirmation came
when the man tried to stand, and staggered, numb-legged. He automatically
reached out to steady himself, catching hold of the front of Patrick’s
coveralls, and then almost collapsed again, unable to bear his own weight.
Without
a second thought, Patrick quickly grasped the man by the forearms to steady
him. “There’s no rush now. You just take your time. All right?”
The
man nodded and swallowed hard. “Thank you. I only came to leave the tulips.” He
gestured toward the vase of closed tulips in front of the grave and in the
midst of the red and white carnations.
Patrick
kept his hold on the man and looked down at the flowers. “They’re beautiful,”
he said. “Really lovely.”
“Thanks.
Nadia loved flowers so much.” A glimmer of a happier time lit up the man’s
features for just a second, before it was blotted out once more by the heavy
cloud of sorrow.
Patrick
felt that sorrow in his heart. He wanted to offer comfort, warmth, security, to
soothe with his touch, his kiss… Oh
my—no, no, Patrick. You’re way over the line. You’re standing at the grave of this
man’s wife, and all you can think of is kissing him? But it wasn’t that sort of kiss he had in mind. It
wasn’t about passion, or lust; just a desperate desire to take away the pain.
The
man seemed a little more steady on his feet and Patrick gently released him.
“OK now?”
“I
think so.” He took a long, deep breath and exhaled slowly. “Thank you for your
patience. I’m sure you’re eager to go home. It can’t be fun working here.”
Patrick
shrugged and smiled. “I love my job. Fresh air, peace and quiet—”
“But
it’s a cemetery.”
“Well,
yeah,” Patrick said, the slightest hint of a chuckle in his words. It was
enough to prompt the other man to lift his head. For the first time, his eyes
met Patrick’s, and something bloomed inside, a heat radiating from somewhere he
couldn’t quite pinpoint. It rose up through his chest, into his throat, filling
his mouth and his nose, as he gazed into those incredible steel-gray eyes.
There was so much pain there, and loss—anger—and yet there was more, so much
more, that Patrick could almost hear the emotion, like a distant cry for help
from someone who was drowning.
About
the authors:
DEBBIE
MCGOWAN is an author and publisher based in a semi-rural corner of Lancashire,
England. She writes character-driven, realist fiction, celebrating life, love
and relationships. A working class girl, she ‘ran away’ to London at 17, was
homeless, unemployed and then homeless again, interspersed with animal rights
activism (all legal, honest ;)) and volunteer work as a mental health advocate.
At 25, she went back to college to study social science— tough with two
toddlers, but they had a ‘stay at home’ dad, so it worked itself out. These
days, the toddlers are young women (much to their chagrin), and Debbie teaches
undergraduate students, writes novels and runs an independent publishing
company, occasionally grabbing an hour of sleep where she can!
RAINE O’TIERNEY lives outside of Kansas
City with her husband, fellow author, Siôn O'Tierney. When she's not writing,
she's either playing video games or fighting the good fight for intellectual
freedom at her library day job. Raine believes the best thing we can do in life
is be kind to one another, and she enjoys encouraging fellow writers! Writing
for 20+ years (with the last 10 spent on gay romance) Raine changes sub-genres
to suit her mood and believes all good stories end sweetly. Contact her if
you're interested in talking about point-and-click adventure games or about
which dachshunds are the best kinds of dachshunds!
Homepage: Raineotierney.com
Tour Dates & Stops:
1-May
4-May
5-May
6-May
7-May
8-May
11-May
12-May
13-May
14-May
15-May
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