Today I am so pleased to welcome Kris T. Bethke and Nell Iris to Joyfully Jay. Kris and Nell Iris have come to talk to us about their latest release, Falling Into Love. They have also brought along an exclusive excerpt and a great giveaway. Please join me in giving them a big welcome!

 

Hey Everyone! Thanks for stopping in, and a special thanks to Jay for letting us hijack the blog this morning!

Kris: It all started with an email. I’d been a fan of Nell’s work, and I thought that we’d have a blast writing together. So I sent her a note asking her if she was interested in trying. I figured the worst case scenario would be that she’d say no. And best case would be a fun writing partnership. I never expected to find my soul sister all the way across the world. Not only did we match on what we wanted to write, but we also found out that we had basically everything in common. A true friendship and a series were born in a matter of days.

Nell: I read my first book by Kris T. Bethke back in 2015 when I stumbled upon “Pumpkin Rolls and Porn Sounds” and bought it based on the name only–I don’t think I even bothered to read the blurb. I was happy to discover that not only was Miss Kris excellent at coming up with awesome titles, she was also a fabulous writer. I became a fan and read her books and fangirled about them all over Twitter. Once, when she answered with a kind word and a heart emoji, I was super excited, so you can imagine how I felt when I woke up one morning back in February to an email from her. With the subject line “Want to write a book with me?” I’m glad I didn’t faint, and that I dared to reply, because not only did I find a fantastic writing partner, but I also found a friend. Someone I’ve come to trust and love over these past months…and we haven’t even met face to face.

Kris: Truth is, we got all the details nailed down within a couple of days. And by the time we sat down for our first planning session, we knew what we were going to write. Because there are 2 of us, we had to do a bit more planning then either of us were used to. But at the end of a marathon 8 hour session we had our main characters, all the pertinent details, and the first book plotted. Writing it was nearly as easy, going back and forth and sending each other chapters. Real life got in the way a little bit, but within a few months we had a fully drafted book we are very proud of. Falling Into Love hits shelves tomorrow September 1st!

Nell: We agreed we should make sure we could actually work together and that time differences (I live in Malaysia, Kris lives in the US: 12 hours time difference) or work processes didn’t pose a problem. But when we both suggested created family as a trope for our story, we knew we were talking a series, even though we tried to pretend otherwise. “We’ll start with Liam and Austin and see how it goes,” we said. Snort. When Kris says that we had our main characters after our first planning session, she means that we had our main characters for FOUR books planned. Luckily, we really do work together as well as we suspected we would. Both of us are really flexible and understanding. And we agree on most things, really, whether on a professional or a personal level. Except food. Our tastes in food are vastly different! (She doesn’t like pineapple! Who doesn’t like pineapple??)

Kris: People who are smart, that’s who. Who wants pineapple in their mouth? But food aside, we found a true partnership. And that’s what spawned this book. And the series to come. We hope you enjoy the first book in the Family Found Series!


Excerpt

“Still works. If I hadn’t gotten injured way back then, I wouldn’t have the guys. And if I didn’t have the guys, we wouldn’t have opened V Wilderness Adventures. And if we hadn’t started the business, you wouldn’t have been on the hike. So there.”

Austin pulled back, and his expression changed. Gone was the passion of only a few seconds before. He looked serious. “Liam, those are pretty words but—”

I cut him off by pressing a finger to his lips. I had a pretty good idea of what he was going to say, and I didn’t want him to worry about that right now. I might be ready to jump in with both feet, but he clearly wasn’t. That was okay, as long as he was moving forward with me.

“Too much too soon, huh?” I smiled and slid a little closer. “Considering we haven’t even kissed yet.”

Austin’s breathing picked up, and just like that, he was back with me. His gaze dropped to my mouth, and I purposefully licked my lips. He made the tiniest sound, and satisfaction sung through my veins.

“We should, uh, we should fix that.”

“Definitely,” I whispered, and dove in.

The moment our lips touched, Austin let out a soft sigh and melted against me. I slid my fingers into his hair, tilting his head a little more, and sealed my mouth to his. I didn’t want to push too fast, so I showed him with lips, teeth, and tongue just how much I wanted him. His fingers scrabbled on my back before he pulled me closer.

Yes! God, I wanted this. With the slightest pressure from me, Austin lay on his back, dragging me with him so I covered his body with mine. He was shorter than I, so even though we were fused at the mouth, his hard cock pressed into my belly. I ground down so he’d have something to rub against, and he took me up on the silent invitation. He broke our kiss long enough to gulp a breath, then he pulled me back as he undulated his hips.

I wanted our clothes gone. I wanted to feel all his skin pressed against me. Already I felt on the verge of combusting, and we were only making out. I wanted more. I wanted it all.

I tore my mouth from his, then used my nose to nudge up his chin. I pressed biting, sucking kisses down his throat, and when I found a particularly sensitive spot above his collarbone, I stayed there, working it. Austin let out greedy, needy whines and wrapped his legs around my hips so he could hold me tighter.

“Austin,” I murmured, and the wash of my breath over the wet spot on his skin made him shiver. “Baby, you gotta tell me what you want. Because this is about to go further, and I need to know—”

“You,” he panted, hooking his ankles together at the small of my back. He shoved his fingers into my hair, and tilted my head. His lips looked dark and swollen, and his eyes glassy with lust. “You in my bed. In me.”


Blurb

Liam O’Donoughue is happy with his life. He runs V Wilderness Adventures with his best friends, his chosen brothers, and gets to spend his days hiking in the gorgeous Adirondacks. What’s not to love? But when he meets Austin on a hike, he thinks he’s found something he didn’t even know was missing.

Austin Jock is content with his work as a radiology tech and playing bass in a cover band. Someday he wants to find his forever person but doesn’t believe in romantic fireworks and isn’t sure it’ll ever happen. Then Liam comes crashing into his life, igniting sparks. Huge, life-altering sparks.

The connection between the two men is instant, and things move fast. But Austin isn’t sure what to do with everything he’s feeling inside. Can Liam convince him falling in love is the easiest thing in the world?


Bio

Kris T. Bethke has been a voracious reader for pretty much her entire life and has been writing stories for nearly as long.  An avid and prolific daydreamer, she always has a story in her head.  She spends most of her free time reading, writing, or knitting/crocheting her latest project.  Her biggest desire is to find a way to accomplish all three tasks at one time.  A classic muscle car will always turn her head, and naps on the weekend are one of her greatest guilty pleasures.  She lives in a converted attic with a way too fluffy cat and the voices in her head.  She’ll tell you she thinks that’s a pretty good deal. Kris believes that love is love, no matter the gender of people involved, and that all love deserves to be celebrated.

Find her on her site https://kristbethke.comFacebook, or on Twitter

 

Nell Iris is a romantic at heart who believes everyone deserves a happy ending. She’s a bona fide bookworm (learned to read long before she started school), wouldn’t dream of going anywhere without something to read (not even the ladies’ room), loves music (and singing along but, let’s face it, she’s no Celine Dion), and is a real Star Trek nerd (“Make it so”). She loves words, poetry, wine, and Sudoku, and absolutely adores elephants!

Nell believes passionately in equality for all regardless of race, gender, or sexuality, and wants to make the world a better, less hateful, place.

Nell is a forty-something bisexual Swedish woman, married to the love of her life, and a proud mama of a grown daughter. She left the Scandinavian cold and darkness for warmer and sunnier Malaysia a few years ago, and now spends her days writing, surfing the Internet, enjoying the heat, and eating good food. One day she decided to chase her lifelong dream of being a writer, sat down in front of her laptop, and wrote a story about two men falling in love.

Nell Iris writes gay romance, prefers sweet over angst, and wants to write diverse and different characters.


Giveaway

Nell and Kris have brought two giveaways — one winner gets a backlist book from Kris and the other a backlist book from Nell. Just leave a comment at the end of the post to enter. The contest ends on Tuesday  September 4th at 11:59 pm ET.

  • 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.