Today I am so pleased to welcome DJ Jamison to Joyfully Jay. DJ has come to talk to us about her latest release, Heart Trouble. She has also brought along a great giveaway. Please join me in giving her a big welcome!
I fully intended to end my Ashe Sentinel Connections series at Book 5. Then Ben happened.
A secondary character, Ben was designed for one purpose: to get his heart broken. Rather cruel of me, in retrospect. And when Book 5 was finished and released, Ben wasn’t willing to fade away so easily. He spoke to me, and I had to listen.
The story came swiftly, and I happily gave Ben his book. Though it’s part of a series, it can easily be read as a standalone. “Heart Trouble” has the slimmest ties of all the Ashe Sentinel Connections series to the central point of the series: the newspaper. This story focuses on Ben, a nurse, and a journalism instructor who happens to be a tad accident prone, landing him in the ER.
The story resonated with me so strongly, I intend to launch a spin-off series called Bedside Manner, which will focus on secondary characters we meet in Heart Trouble.
I hope you’ll give Ben’s story a chance. Below, you’ll see from the book blurb and the excerpt, that he is a man who has been burned and is skittish about love. He and Gage has to work hard for their happy ending, but I hope you won’t have to work hard to read it!
Excerpt
Ben was quiet on the way back to his house, and Gage was almost certain he was going to change his mind. But when he pulled into the drive, Ben glanced over with a mischievous smile.
“Coming in?”
“Hell, yes!”
Ben laughed at his enthusiasm, eyes bright. Gone was the distant, tense man who’d kicked Gage out of his bedroom the morning after they’d first hooked up.
“Come on, then.”
Gage followed him inside. His blood thrummed with anticipation, and he was almost more anxious than the first time they slept together. It had been fantastic before, but that also meant there were high expectations.
Ben headed for the kitchen, so Gage trailed after him like the lovesick puppy he was.
“Bruiser! Here kitty!”
He grabbed a bag of cat food from the pantry and began pouring a bowl. From the back of the house, Gage heard a quiet meow and the thump of a cat jumping to the floor.
“He’s not going to attack my feet again, is he?”
Ben cast a look over his shoulder, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. “There are no guarantees. But you like to live dangerously, right?”
“No,” Gage countered, circling the kitchen island to snag Ben around the waist and pull him flush against his body. “You just tell yourself that so you don’t have to give me a chance.”
Ben pulled away. “Are we going to do this now?”
Gage cocked his head, watching Ben move so that the breakfast bar was situated between them once again. It didn’t stop Gage from noticing the rigid set to Ben’s shoulders or the flush in his cheeks that was sadly not from arousal.
“We can do anything you want,” he said carefully.
Ben relaxed a fraction. “You mean that, don’t you?”
Grabbing an orange from the bowl of fruit on the counter, he tossed it from one hand to the other, giving away his nerves.
“You’re not angry about what happened last time you were here?”
Gage shrugged a shoulder. “A little at first, but mostly I was disappointed.”
Bruiser finally slunk into the kitchen behind Ben, ignoring Gage completely to his relief, and sniffed around his bowl. He looked down at the food as if he was far too good to eat it — though maybe that was just the impression his squashed face gave — before turning to give Ben a plaintive meow.
Ben dropped to a crouch and stroked his hand down Bruiser’s body, starting at his head and running down this spine to the very tip of his tail. Bruiser arched into his touch, looking far more tame than the last time Gage saw him.
“I’m sorry,” Ben said finally, without looking up from Bruiser. “I’m amazed you even talked to me after that.”
“Don’t get me wrong. I’d rather it didn’t happen again.”
Ben stood, turning to face him. Bruiser sneezed loudly behind him and tucked into his dinner.
“So, what are we doing, Gage? Dating?”
“Technically, we’re already dating,” he pointed out. “I asked you to consider these outings dates. To see where things might go.”
“True, but …”
Ben trailed off, nibbling on his bottom lip. Gage had already noticed he did that whenever he was nervous.
Gage didn’t want to have this talk with a barrier between them. He edged between Bruiser’s swishing tail and the counter so he could take Ben’s hands in his own. Lifting them, he kissed his knuckles.
“What do you want, Ben?”
Ben looked up, brown eyes intent. His voice was hardly more than a whisper when he admitted the truth. “I want you.”
Gage dropped his head to kiss him, and Ben slid his arms around his neck.
“Whatever you want,” Gage murmured against Ben’s cheek.
“Can we just not do the whole define the relationship thing. Just see where it goes?”
It wasn’t everything Gage wanted, but it was a hell of a lot more than he expected to get when they began the drive to Ben’s place. He could be patient. Eventually, Ben would give in. He had too much heart to do anything else.
“Anything you want,” he repeated, before kissing him again.
Blurb
When Gage Evans gets a look at his hot nurse, he’s smitten immediately. Too bad he’s given the nurse the impression he’s some kind of daredevil. It couldn’t be further from the truth. Gage is a college journalism instructor writing a series of guest columns that require him to jump into new experiences — a fun bucket list, but one that does nothing to convince Ben he’s not an adrenaline junkie.
Fresh off his latest heartbreak, nurse Ben Griggs is wary when one of his patients shows an interest in him — especially when that patient showed up in the ER after a motorcycle accident. Ben’s last sex partner was a biker, a friend with benefits, and he dropped Ben cold when someone more interesting came along. Ben isn’t the kind of guy who can hold the interest of an adrenaline junkie like Gage Evans for long. The last thing he wants is to lose his heart to the wrong man again.
The more Ben gets to know Gage, the harder he is to resist. He can only hold on for the ride and keep his guard up as much as he can. But Ben’s lack of trust seriously gets in the way of building a relationship, and Gage will only be patient so long. Can he trust Gage enough to give him heart, or are they destined to have a fling that goes nowhere?
Buy link: Amazon
Bio
DJ Jamison spent more than a decade working in newsrooms, which helped immensely in her development of the Ashe Sentinel Connections series about a small-town newspaper staff, their sources and their readers. She has several news series in the works, as well. DJ loves connecting on social media. Join her group DJ and Company for fun teasers, giveaways and other tidbits.
Giveaway
DJ has brought a $10 Amazon gift card for one lucky reader. Just leave a comment at the end of the post to enter. The contest ends on Thursday, October 13th at 11:59 pm EST.
- By entering the giveaway, you’re confirming that you are at least 18 years old.
- Winners will be selected by random number. No purchase necessary to win. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning.
- If you win, you must respond to my email within 48 hours or another winner may be chosen. Please make sure that your spam filter allows email from Joyfully Jay.
- Winners may be announced on the blog following the contest. By entering the contest you are agreeing to allow your name to be posted and promoted as the contest winner by Joyfully Jay.
- Prizes will be distributed following the giveaway either by Joyfully Jay or the person/organization donating the prize.
- All book prizes are in electronic format unless otherwise specified.
- By entering you are agreeing to hold Joyfully Jay harmless if the prize or giveaway in some way negatively impacts the winner.
- Readers may only enter once for each contest. Duplicate entries for the same giveaway will be ignored. In the event of technical problems with the blog during the contest, every effort will be made to extend the contest deadline to allow for additional entries.
- Void where prohibited by law.
Looking forward to this book! I really enjoyed Hard Press! Congratulations on your newest release!
I have never read a book of Jamison and would love to give it a try.
I loved this book!
Congrats on the new release! I had a great time reading this book. Thanks or the giveaway!
My favorite in the series so far. Ben and Gage were hilarious. Looking forward to Zane’s story. Thank You for the chance.
The book sounds great, I can’t wait to read it. ?
I just finished Hard Press and am now starting Heart Trouble. I love this series and am excited to learn that there will be a new spin off series!
This book seems like a true HEA…
I am halfway through and I am loving it. I don’t want it to end!
can’t wait to read this book!
Wow, this book sounds really good! Congrats on your new release!
I like the blurb (nurse!!) and am now quite intrigued. Thanks for the post and congrats on your new release.
Congratulations on your new release D J I have the book on my wish list.
I’m glad you listened to the voice that told you to write this book. It’s a great example of how we should all listen to that creative voice.
Such a sweet excerpt!
Congrats on the release & thanks for the excerpt!
Can’t wait to read.
Thanks for the excerpt. 🙂
I’m glad Ben demanded his story.
Look forward to reading a medical based M/M romance book. Being a nurse myself, this makes it a bit more enjoyable to see something written in the medical field.
Heart Trouble is a great book. I’ve enjoyed all of the book of yours that I’ve read so far and I’m looking forward to more!
books of yours not book – I hate when I make typos!
Thank you for the post. I’m looking forward to giving this a read.
I haven’t gotten to start this series yet, but am anxious to pick them all up and stage a sit in, or out. The weather is finally starting to cool, and I’d love to drag the lounge chair around to the back of the apartment and read for days. This is on my TBR list and I’m pushing it to the top. Thanks for a chance in the giveaway.
I loved loved loved the first 5 books! I’m so glad Ben got his story, and Gage sounds like just the man to mend his heart 🙂 Can’t wait to read the spin-off series, I’ll probably devour it too!
And of course you must write Zane’s story now! Your “5 books only” series clearly does not want to be contained! I’d buy them as long as you keep writing them 😀
This series has been in my TBR list for a while now… I must get to it as soon as I can. It sounds really good.
Wow, you guys, thanks for all the positive feedback! I’m glad those who have read Heart Trouble are enjoying it!
Thanks for the excerpt. I’m looking forward to reading this book.
Congratulations on the new release, DJ, and thanks for sharing the excerpt.
I love it when secondary characters demand their own story and this one sounds good! Thanks for the post and congrats on the new book.
I enjoyed the excerpt and haven’t heard of this series before so nice to be introduced to it.
I really enjoyed the excerpt! I have a couple Ashe Sentinel books lurking on my kindle somewhere… I need to bump them up, methinks!