Today I am so pleased to welcome S.A. McAuley to Joyfully Jay. S.A. McAuley has come to talk to us about her latest release, Out of the Shade. She has also brought along a great giveaway. Please join me in giving her a big welcome!

 

Where do you draw the line in your private vs public life?

It’s a question we all seem to be wresting with, on some level, nowadays and one that I struggle with a lot. I’m a deeply private person in a second career that demands public visibility. While my online persona is all me, I don’t post pictures of my family and rarely of my close friends. I talk vaguely about my day job and much, much more about the books, TV shows, and movies I love. My “real life” persona mirrors this approach in many ways.

Which makes my decision to publish my newest book, Out of the Shade, baffling to even me.

I started writing it seven years ago, when I was in the midst of my own long, drawn-out epiphany cascade. Jesse, Chuck, and this story have grown with me, making this the most personal story I’ve told to date.

Out of the Shade tells the story of Jesse and Chuck—two men of the same age in polar opposite times in their lives who are both on the cusp of change. Change that neither of them sees coming and will fundamentally alter them—as individuals and as a couple—forever. It’s a story of confusion, heartbreak, and hope. Of resilience.

It grapples with reconciling who we are at our core with who the world wants or expects us to be. How much do we keep private? How much do we open ourselves up? There are no easy answers to how Jesse and Chuck achieve the “right” balance in their lives, and their paths aren’t the same. Yet, they still find their way to common ground.

My own answer is still evolving. Regardless, I’m ready to let this book go.

I hope it helps others find common ground.



Blurb

Jesse Solomona has always tried to be the perfect straight guy—a cocky sports fan who drinks more than he did in his fraternity days and an expert at one-night-stands. That he hooks up with just as many men as he does women is a secret Jesse’s been hiding for years, fearful of losing his family and tight group of friends. He’s a Kensington boy—a group of guys that grew up in the same neighborhood and somehow all ended up back in their hometown. They, and his family, are the only things that still matter in his otherwise soul-sucking life.

Chuck Dunn, a tattooed and pierced sports photographer, has refused to step back into the closet since he was disowned by his family, but he keeps choosing men who can’t fully be with him. Finally free from a long-term relationship he should’ve ended years ago, he quits his high-profile gig in favor of getting back to the art of sports photography—documenting a local boxing club that works with at-risk teenagers. He may not have the same swagger anymore, but he’s working to be happy with who he is.

When Chuck joins one of the Kensington boys’ community center sports leagues, Jesse’s self-imposed rules are systematically demolished. But there’s one barrier Jesse can’t find the strength to break through—coming out to the other Kensington boys. Chuck knows hooking up with Jesse is a bad idea. Falling for him even worse. But he can’t stay away.

Chuck is damaged by his past. Jesse is frightened about his future. But, together, they may just be able to come out of the shade.


Bio

Author S.A. McAuley is a wandering LGBTQ author who sleeps little and reads a lot. Happiest in a foreign country. Twitchy when not mentally in motion. Her name is Sam, not Sammy, definitely not Samantha. She’s a dark/cynical/jaded person, but hides that darkness well behind her obsession(s) with shiny objects.

Connect with her:


Giveaway

Celebrate the release of OUT OF THE SHADE with author S.A. McAuley by entering this giveaway for a chance to win 1 of 3 $10 Amazon Gift Cards! Just follow the Rafflecopter below to enter. 

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