Today I am so pleased to welcome Kaje Harper to Joyfully Jay. Kaje is here to talk about her latest release, Changes Going On. Please join me in giving her a big welcome!

 

Thanks Jay, for giving me the chance to post here. I’m Kaje Harper, and today is the release day for my latest novel, Changes Going On, book 2 in the Changes duo. This M/M/M mystery is the sequel to Changes Coming Down.

In the first book, we met Casey, a retired Marine and county sheriff, faced with a murder that hits home for one of his two boyfriends. Will is a ranch foreman whose world is shaken when the couple who own the ranch are killed in a hit and run. Scott, a talented young hockey player, tries to be there for his two men as much as he can, while chasing his dream of playing in the NHL. They’re a solid trio, but deeply in the closet. Unfortunately, life is about to rip the door off that safe space, and they all face major changes coming down.

The new book, Changes Going On, begins after the HFN where book 1 left off. In the aftermath of exposure and murder, these men will have to reshape their lives, and their relationship. For three strong-willed guys whose careers matter deeply to them, it’s not going to be as simple as just being in love, especially when another murder pulls Casey into a new investigation, just as Scott needs him most.

~*~

I’ve been asked what’s the hardest part of writing a trio, as opposed to a couple. Is it the sex scenes, with an overabundance of body parts and pronouns?

Well, I won’t deny that juggling “he” and “his” in an intimate entanglement can be a challenge. There are moments of “wait, whose hand was that?” But to me the real challenge of these books is balance outside of the bedroom.

With three men, you really have four relationships going on, rather than one. There’s the trio, but also Scott-Casey, Scott-Will, and Casey-Will. The men interact differently in pairs than as a trio, and they have frictions and joys that become altered when the third person is around. For the trio to work, there has to also be solid ground between the pairs. And yet, for the trio to work, it’s also important that the pairs are not so perfectly satisfying that it seems unneeded to add a third.

Will and Casey can share quiet moments, away from Scott’s high energy conversation, but they also clash, with Will’s quiet personality leading him to give way to Casey when he should stand firm. Scott and Casey are passionate about each other and life, but sometimes they need Will to mellow down the energy level. And Will and Scott, with thirteen years of age gap, are two men at different points in their lives. Sometimes it takes Casey, between them, to help them connect with each other’s experiences.

Balance also means trying to give each man’s problems and challenges equal play, and to give readers an understanding of each man’s life, history, and mindset. When I decided to do these as a mystery, that added more challenge, because Casey, the law enforcement professional, is intimately involved in solving the cases. For balance, the mysteries in both books had to spill over into other two men’s private lives too. But I didn’t want amateur sleuthing that would be out of character, so the connection had to feel natural.

Add the fact that I’m a total pantser, with this process more subconscious than planned out, and the books have been a challenge. But also a joy, because I fell for these three men. Writing as a pantser is fun, because I never know what will be revealed next. In this book, we get a bit more of Will’s background, and I enjoyed finding out what made him the self-contained, sometimes closed-off, but kind, man that he is.

I hope readers will enjoy the conclusion to the Changes duo with Changes Going On that they will come out of the book believing that these three men work together, on every level. I hope the HEA will let readers close the book satisfied that Scott, Casey, and Will have found the balance that will take them through the rest of their lives, together.

– Kaje Harper

March 2020


Blurb

Three men, one summer of media, mentorship, and murder.

There’s a reason Scott Edison came out as gay and poly on national TV— now no one can try to push him back into the closet. But as his men and his hockey team deal with the fallout from fans and paparazzi, moving forward isn’t as easy as he’d hoped.

Will Rice was looking forward to a quiet summer, sharing the work with his guys and giving Scott a refuge from the spotlight. He’s hired a couple of young ranch hands, and finally feels ready to give back some of the mentoring that turned his life around decades ago. But good fences won’t be enough to keep trouble off the ranch.

Casey Barlow left the Sheriff’s Department on his own terms, out and proud. But when the new sheriff is murdered— and Casey’s one of the few with a watertight alibi— he’s asked to investigate, and he can’t resist. He’s determined to solve the murder, and still take care of his men on the home front. Then one murder becomes two…

It’s a summer of risks and challenges, and working together is the only way they’ll make it through.


Bio

I get asked about my name a lot. It’s not something exotic, though. “Kaje” is pronounced just like “cage” – it’s an old nickname, and my pronouns are she/her/hers. I’ve been writing far longer than I care to admit (*whispers – forty years*), although mostly for my own entertainment. I write M/M romance, often with added mystery, fantasy, historical, SciFi, paranormal… I also have Young Adult short stories (some released under the pen name Kira Harp.)

It was my husband who finally convinced me that after all the years of writing just for fun, I really should submit something, somewhere. My first professionally published book, Life Lessons, came out from MLR Press in May 2011. I now have a good-sized backlist in ebooks and print, both free and professionally and indie published, including Amazon bestseller The Rebuilding Year and Rainbow Award Best Mystery-Thriller, Tracefinder: Contact. A complete list with links can be found on my website “Books” page at https://kajeharper.com/books/.

I’m always pleased to have readers find me online at:

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