Today I am so pleased to welcome Lily Morton to Joyfully Jay. Lily has come to talk to us about her latest release, Risk Taker (which I reviewed here and loved). She has also brought along a great tour wide giveaway. Please join me in giving Lily a big welcome!

Hi, I’m Lily Morton. I write MM romances with a huge dose of snark and sass. ‘Risk Taker’, which is a best-friends-to-lovers story, is the third book in the Mixed Messages series which follows the lives and loves of a group of London men. It can be read as a standalone.

In honour of the new release, here are five fun facts about the series that you might not know:

Originally there wasn’t supposed to be a series at all. When I first started writing I wrote an MF series that followed a rock band. The stories were so interwoven that I needed to do a timeline every time I wrote something, and it was exhausting. I was therefore determined to do a standalone story for my next book. Leslie Copeland, my friend and beta reader, read the first draft of ‘Rule Breaker’ and immediately demanded more Jude. Readers then loved him, and boom – another series!

I hate doing a huge amount of planning before writing. I prefer to have a vague outline in my head and see where the characters take me. Even then the vague outline often takes a knock. When I wrote ‘Deal Maker’ I’d originally intended for Jude and Asa to share their histories with each other and then the next day a story would be sold to the press about Asa. Asa would blame Jude for it and throw him out. However, by the time I got to this point in the story their relationship had developed very differently and Asa had this innate understanding of Jude that no one else did. There was no way that he would have believed this of him, so I had to do some hasty re-plotting and the story went a different way. It might make me contrary, but I like it when that happens.

Asa was originally supposed to be American.

I am terrible with character names and have discovered that if unchecked I have a tendency to name all my characters Matt or Phillip. I have no idea why that is. I therefore keep a baby naming book on my desk which gave my husband palpitations the first time he saw it.

The emails at the start of ‘Rule Breaker’ were a quick, off-the-cuff addition to the book. I knocked them out while I was watching Strictly Come Dancing! However, they were such a hit that they’re now a feature of the series. So, in ‘Deal Maker’ we have Jude’s replies to Asa’s fan letters while he was pretending to be the worst assistant in the world, and in ‘Risk Taker’ there are Henry and Ivo’s letters to each other that span the years they’ve been best friends.

Blurb

Being in love with your best friend is hard.

Henry’s the odd man out. All his friends are settling down, and his reputation as the Hook-Up King of London seems more like a curse than a blessing these days. Especially when it keeps photojournalist Ivo, his best friend and the brilliant man he’s loved since they were fifteen, at arm’s length. But that’s where Ivo wants him, right? Putting aside his feelings, Henry decides to give up casual sex and look for the real deal. After all, he has no chance with Ivo – or does he?

Henry is everything to Ivo. Best friend, soul mate, the one person who has never let him down. The one person he is loyal to above everything and everyone. But Henry’s in a box marked best friend and that’s where Ivo’s kept him for nearly twenty years, despite steadily falling in love with the gentle man. And besides, why would Henry want to date Ivo? Burned out and injured, he’s the walking embodiment of damaged.

Distance has helped Henry and Ivo keep a lid on their attraction, but when they find themselves in the same city for a change—Ivo hurt and needing assistance, and Henry more than willing to provide it—the two best friends grow closer than ever, forcing a realization, and a decision. Risk their friendship for their hearts? Or can they have both?

From the bestselling author of Rule Breaker and Deal Maker comes a tender love story about two best friends who are perfect for each other, and always have been – if only they knew it.

This is the third book in the Mixed Messages series, but it can be read as a standalone.

Bio

Lily writes contemporary romance novels, and specialises in hot love stories with a good dose of humour.

Lily lives in sunny England with her husband and two children, all of whom claim that they haven’t had a proper conversation with her since she bought her first Kindle.

She has spent her life with her head full of daydreams and decided one day to just sit down and start writing about them. In the process she discovered that she actually loved writing, because how else could she get to spend her time with hot, funny men!

She loves chocolate and Baileys and the best of all creations – chocolate Baileys! Her lifetime’s ambition is to have a bath in peace without being shouted by one of her family.

Giveaway

Lily has brought a $10 Amazon Gift Card to give away to one lucky reader on her tour. Just follow the Rafflecopter below to enter. 

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