Today I am so pleased to welcome Vanessa North back to Joyfully Jay. Vanessa has come to talk to us about her latest release, Rough Road. She has also brought along a great tour wide giveaway. Please join me in giving Vanessa a big welcome!

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How the Obergefell Decision Ruined my Research (in the best possible way)

Writing almost exclusively queer genre romance since 2012, I’ve spent a lot of time researching what “Happy Ever After” might look like for my characters. Nearly every book I wrote, I had to ask “Do I want them to get married?” and “If I want them to get married, can they do it where they live?” and “If they can’t, where can they get married?”

Rough Road was the last book I wrote before Obergefell v. Hodges was decided where these questions were vital to the narrative. At the beginning of the story, Eddie’s best friend, Ben, announces he’s getting married. And then *I* went “oh shit, research time.”

While I was writing Rough Road, Florida had not yet legalized marriage for all, but South Carolina, where Ben’s fiancé had lived before moving to Lake Lovelace, had.  The law in Florida changed over the course of the writing and editing process—but I decided a Charleston destination wedding sounded lovely anyway. I planned the little details of the wedding and who would attend, and my research was done. Yay!

Shortly after the book was finalized and months before publication, marriage equality became the law of the land in all fifty states—making some of the conversations in the story feel a little “so last year” and this kind of research mostly a thing of the past. I have never been so happy to have my research rendered obsolete.


Blurb

RoughRoad_600x900Eddie Russell is many things: A wealthy pillar of the community. An outrageous flirt. A doting best friend. A masochist with a kink for brawling with his bedmates. But he is definitely not a man who invites intimacy. His friends are close but few, his lovers rarer still.

When Eddie runs his Mercedes off the road on a hot July afternoon, Wish Carver comes to his aid—and leaves his number in Eddie’s phone. Wish, a road crew worker half Eddie’s age and sexy as sin, seems fascinated by Eddie’s different sides. Mutual attraction and compatible kinks ignite the sheets, but it’s their connection outside the bedroom that Eddie begins to crave.

When the two come down on opposite sides of a local issue, Eddie finds his growing feelings for Wish at odds with his business interests and his devotion to his best friend, local wakeboarding legend Ben Warren. Torn between old loyalties and his new love, Eddie is reluctant to make a choice. But he knows he can’t make Wish wait too long to make up his mind.


Bio

Author of over a dozen novels, novellas, and short stories, Vanessa North delights in giving happy-ever-afters to characters who don’t think they deserve them. Relentless curiosity led her to take up knitting and run a few marathons “just to see if she could.” She started writing for the same reason. Her very patient husband pretends not to notice when her hobbies take over the house. Living and writing in Northwest Georgia, she finds her attempts to keep a quiet home are frequently thwarted by twin boy-children and a very, very large dog.

Connect with Vanessa:


Giveaway

Every comment on this blog tour enters you in a drawing for $25 in Riptide Publishing store credit. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on October 3rd. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries. Don’t forget to leave your email so we can contact you if you win!

  • 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.
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