Today I am so pleased to welcome L.A. Witt to Joyfully Jay. L.A. has come to talk to us about her latest release, Afraid to Fly. She has also brought along a great giveaway.  Please join me in giving her a big welcome!

Afraid to Fly Tour Banner

 

Welcome to the Riptide Publishing/L. A. Witt blog tour for Afraid to Fly, the second book in the Anchor Point series!

Every comment on this blog tour enters you in a drawing for a choice of two eBooks off my backlist (excluding Afraid to Fly) and a $10 Riptide Publishing store credit. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on January 21st. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries.

Military Romances & PTSD

Every now and then, someone asks me why so many of my military characters have PTSD. It’s a valid question, too. Fact is, I do write a lot of military characters, and PTSD is a common theme.

The short answer is that a lot of people in the military have PTSD. Not all. Most? I don’t know. But many. Thinking back to the last few bases where we’ve lived, and running through the names of people I’ve known, it doesn’t take much to come up with at least a dozen who I can guarantee have some degree of it. There are undoubtedly more who have it, but didn’t show it in a way that telegraphed PTSD to me. The takeaway, though, is that in the military world—particularly when peacetime is a distant memory—PTSD is as much a fixture as boots and camouflage.

So for me to write a series about a military base and not include PTSD in at least some of the stories would be unrealistic. And for that matter, the service members who’ve experienced trauma in combat or otherwise are as deserving of happy endings as anyone else.

That’s not to say all of my military characters have it, and not every Anchor Point book will address it at all. In some stories, it will be a minor thing, if it comes up at all. In others, it’ll be front and center. In the case of Afraid to Fly, PTSD is very much front and center. Travis is deeply traumatized by a personal tragedy, not to mention the plane crash that nearly killed him. Though it’s been years since both of those events, they’re not going away.

Clint’s wounds are fresher. He tried to self-medicate with alcohol, and wound up losing his marriage. When the story starts, he’s just beginning to get back on his feet. Doubly complicating matters is the fact that the traumatic incident happened while he was flying a drone. Not only can he not talk about it with anyone because it’s super double secret squirrel classified, but no one really takes him seriously anyway since it happened while he was in a cushy air-conditioned office 5,000 miles away from the combat zone. But drone pilots—or RAPs, as they prefer to be called—are absolutely susceptible to PTSD relating to their jobs, and Clint is no exception.

Both men have been battered by their jobs, and relationships aren’t easy when they’re peppered with flashbacks, nightmares, and unexpected triggers. Just like Travis’s chronic pain, the PTSD will always be there to some extent.

Question is, can Clint and Travis make it work? Only one way to find out…


Blurb

Afraid to FlyOnce a fearless fighter pilot, Commander Travis Wilson is now confined to a desk. It’s been eight years since the near-fatal crash that grounded him, and it <em>still</em> rules his life thanks to relentless back pain.

Lieutenant Commander Clint Fraser almost drowned in a bottle after a highly classified catastrophe while piloting a drone. His downward spiral cost him his marriage and kids, but he’s sober now and getting his life back on track. He’s traded drones for a desk, and he’s determined to reconcile with his kids and navigate the choppy waters of PTSD.

Clint has been on Travis’s radar ever since he transferred to Anchor Point. When Clint comes out to his colleagues, it’s a disaster, but there’s a silver lining: now that Travis knows Clint is into men, the chemistry between them explodes.

It’s all fun and games until emotions get involved. Clint’s never been in love with a man before. Travis has, and a decade later, that tragic ending still haunts him. Clint needs to coax him past his fear of crashing and burning again, or their love will be grounded before takeoff.


Bio

L.A. Witt is an abnormal M/M romance writer who has finally been released from the purgatorial corn maze of Omaha, Nebraska, and now spends her time on the southwestern coast of Spain. In between wondering how she didn’t lose her mind in Omaha, she explores the country with her husband, several clairvoyant hamsters, and an ever-growing herd of rabid plot bunnies. She also has substantially more time on her hands these days, as she has recruited a small army of mercenaries to search South America for her nemesis, romance author Lauren Gallagher, but don’t tell Lauren. And definitely don’t tell Lori A. Witt or Ann Gallagher. Neither of those twits can keep their mouths shut…

Website: http://www.gallagherwitt.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/GallagherWitt


Giveaway

To celebrate the release of Afraid to Fly, one lucky winner will receive $10 in Riptide Publishing credit and two books of choice from L.A. Witt’s backlist! Leave a comment with your contact info to enter the contest. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on January 21, 2017. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries. Thanks for following the tour, and don’t forget to leave your contact info!

  • 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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