Today I am so pleased to welcome Leta Blake to Joyfully Jay. Leta has come to talk to us about her latest release, Mr. Frosty Pants (which I reviewed here and really enjoyed). She has also brought along a great tour wide giveaway. Please join me in giving Leta a big welcome!
Inspiration can come in the strangest ways, but it often comes to me in the form of music. I’ve had the idea for Mr. Frosty Pants in mind for years but I had to wait until I could fit it into my writing schedule. The song that inspired the book is “Home for the Holidays” by Emmy the Great and Tim Wheeler. I love the video for it, too. It’s totally LGBT inclusive and I just absolutely adore it.
Home for the Holidays — > https://youtu.be/URCNMEbgd_w
Parts of the song that helped inspire Mr. Frosty Pants include “Did you ever write that book?” and a line about a bench where the couple used to meet and hide their cigarettes. I included a bench like that for Joel and Casey, and I made Joel an aspiring writer.
The theme of the song is a new adult or young adult person returning to their hometown and being flooded with memories of their first love, wondering about them, feeling that tug of longing and nostalgia. I wanted to explore a situation where two young men never completely understood their feelings for each other as teens, but were able to meet again as new/young adults to make it right.
When it came to the setting of the book, I decided to place it right here in my hometown of Knoxville, Tennessee. The holidays here are a special time and I wanted to explore and acknowledge some of the ways that Knoxville as a city celebrates the winter holiday time.
Overall, this book is about love healing all. It heals the hurt places in families, between lost friends, and in the souls of the main characters. It’s about love making people stronger together, helping them learn to stand up for their dreams and let go of the attachments that keep them from growth. It’s about the Christmas Miracle that happens when you let someone love you, too. Because it’s not always about loving, but also about allowing yourself to be loved.
I hope you enjoy this book! I think Casey and Joel are pretty special and hope you find them special too.
Blurb
Can true love warm his frozen heart?
When Casey Stevens went away to college four years ago, he ghosted on his straight best friend, Joel Vreeland. He hoped time and distance would lessen the unrequited affection he felt, but all it did was make him miss Joel more. Home for the holidays, Casey hopes they might find a way to be friends again. But Joel’s frosty reception reminds Casey of just how hard he had to fight to be Joel’s friend in the first place. It’s going to take a Christmas miracle to get past that cool façade again.
Joel isn’t as straight as Casey believes, and his years of pining for Casey have left him hurting and alone, caring for his abusive father and struggling to get by. Unable to trust anyone except his rescue dog—and with no reason to believe Casey is interested in him for more than a holiday fling—Joel’s icy heart might shatter before it can thaw.
Can Casey and Joel’s love overcome mistrust, parental rejection, class differences, and four long years apart?
Mr. Frosty Pants is a stand-alone, Christmas gay romance by Leta Blake featuring a virgin hero, childhood friends-to-lovers, second chance romance, and romantically steamy scenes.
Bio
Author of the bestselling book Smoky Mountain Dreams and the fan favorite Training Season, Leta Blake’s educational and professional background is in psychology and finance, respectively. However, her passion has always been for writing. She enjoys crafting romance stories and exploring the psyches of made up people. At home in the Southern U.S., Leta works hard at achieving balance between her day job, her writing, and her family.
Giveaway
Leta has brought a backlist ebook to give away to one lucky reader on her tour. Just follow the Rafflecopter below to enter.
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