Today I am so pleased to welcome CJane Elliott to Joyfully Jay. CJane has come to talk to us about her latest release, Sand-Man’s Family: An M/M Coming of Age Romance. She has also brought along a great giveaway. Please join me in giving her a big welcome!
Hi, there! I’m CJane Elliott. Thank you, Joyfully Jay, for having me on share the re-release of my 3rd Wild and Precious novella, Sand-Man’s Family. First time in KU! The first book of the series, Wild and Precious, is on sale for $0.99 for a few more weeks.
I’m particularly fond of Sand-Man’s Family because of its coming-of-age theme. Sandy is only eighteen at the start of the story and he shows a lot of courage in leaving his old life behind.
On Sandy’s way back to his old home for Thanksgiving he runs into Jade and they pick up where they left off in high school. This scene takes place after they’ve reconnected, emotionally as well as sexually, and are headed back, Sandy to Portland and Jade to Seattle.
Excerpt
“Don’t look now, but there’s Mrs. Carmichael.” Jade tilted his head toward the front of the bus. They had boarded the shuttle to O’Hare and were sitting side by side. Their high school chemistry teacher paused by their seats.
“Why, Sandy, how good to see you. We’ve missed you in church. Hello, Jade.”
“Hi, Mrs. Carmichael,” they chorused as she moved along and sat behind them a few rows back.
“Great,” Sandy muttered. “We have a witness.” His thoughts of holding Jade’s hand died a quick death.
Jade tsked. “Oh well, pumpkin, that’s Rockford for you. Be glad we’re both escaping.”
“Yeah.” But Sandy had wanted to lay his head on Jade’s shoulder and snuggle up to him. This was their last hour together. Once they got to the airport, they’d be going in different directions to get to their flights. He stole a glance at Jade, who was studying his gold nails with a frown. “Jade?”
“Hmm?”
“Are we—” His phone buzzed. “Wait. Brittany’s calling.” He smiled at Jade’s raised eyebrow and answered the call. “Hey there. You headed back to school?”
“Yep.”
“Good. I thought maybe we’d see you on the shuttle.”
“No, I hitched a ride with my friend Cara. So who’s we?”
“Jade and me. He’s going to Seattle.”
“Ohhhh. You and Jade, huh? That’s sweet.”
Sandy laughed. “Shut up.”
“Why? I’m going to claim you guys as my best matchmaking ever. And I want to watch sometime. Did I ever tell you I’m a voyeur? I bet you guys are totally hot together.”
“Jeez, stop.” Sandy grinned, feeling his cheeks flush, and put his hand over his face.
“Never. I’m so proud of the monster I’ve created. Sandy, the sex monster.”
“<em>You’re</em> the sex monster, not me.” Sandy remembered Mrs. Carmichael and lowered his voice. “Now you’re getting me in trouble. Mrs. Carmichael is on this shuttle.”
Brittany’s laugh rang in his ears. “Give her my love. Thank fuck I’m never going to have to take chemistry again in this lifetime. Oops, gotta go, we’re pulling into a Starbucks. Talk to you soon. Call me.”
“Okay. Talk to you later.”
Sandy put down his phone with a smile. “That girl is crazy.” He turned his head to find Jade slouched in his seat, face stony, eyes closed. “Jade?”
“Yes?”
“Um, are you tired?”
“Not really. Just resting my eyes.”
“Oh.” Sandy drew his eyebrows together, at a loss. He wanted to talk, but Jade seemed to have put up a wall. Sandy reviewed his side of his phone call with Brittany. <em>Oh</em>. All Jade had seen and heard was Sandy laughing and blushing and talking about sex monsters.
He poked Jade in the arm. “Hey.”
Jade opened his eyes. “Hey, what?” His face softened a fraction as he gazed at Sandy.
“How’s your girlfriend?”
“She’s not my girlfriend. And she was teasing me about—” Sandy glanced over his shoulder and leaned closer to whisper. “—you and me. I told her about us.”
The color rose in Jade’s cheeks, and a smile curved his lips. “Oh, did you, now?”
“Aye, that I did. And she’s all proud, like she’s the reason.”
Jade wrinkled his forehead. “What does Brittany have to do with anything?”
“She’s the one who made me ask you last year about… you know… getting together. We’d been talking about experimenting, and….” Sandy’s words trailed away at the look on Jade’s face.
“Oh, really.” Jade’s voice was flat as a pancake, his mouth a grim line. “That’s nice.”
“Jade, stop.”
Jade shook himself and gave Sandy a brittle smile. “Stop what? I’m glad I was able to help you with your experiment, pumpkin.” He yawned and closed his eyes again. “I think I’ll try to snooze for a bit. Wake me up when we get to the airport.”
Sandy felt like tearing his hair out. Or Jade’s. “Don’t fall asleep on me. I want to talk to you.”
“What about?”
Sandy leaned closer so he could lower his voice. “Getting with you wasn’t just Brittany’s idea. I’ve always been attracted to you.”
Jade opened his eyes and stared at him. “Really?”
“Yes. But I’m a nice Catholic boy and had to get through my Catholic guilt first.”
“Faith and begorra, lad. That Catholic guilt’s a heavy load.”
“A load of crap, you mean.”
They giggled, then shifted closer so their shoulders touched. Relief spiked through Sandy as they launched into an easygoing conversation that lasted until the shuttle pulled up in front of the terminal.
Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy this series. To keep up with what’s happening in my writing world, sign up for my newsletter at http://www.cjaneelliott.com/newsletter-sign-up.
Blurb
It isn’t easy to leave a family that hurts. But what if it’s the start of finding a love that heals?
High-school senior Sandy’s Catholic parents are furious to discover he’s had sex before marriage. But when he blurts out he’s bisexual, they go ballistic. To avoid conversion therapy, Sandy runs away from Rockford, Illinois to move in with his gay uncle in Portland and start a new life.
He leaves behind Jade, the fabulous out gay kid in their Catholic high school. They hooked up—once—to confirm Sandy’s bisexuality. Jade had never expected to get that far with star athlete and altar boy Sandy. But he was crushed when Sandy disappeared without even telling him.
A year later Jade and Sandy run into each other on the train going home to Rockford for Thanksgiving and form an alliance to help Sandy confront his parents. Will they keep building where they left off or will their spark turn to dust?
If you like coming of age stories, queer kids finding the courage to be themselves, and the comfort of found families, you’ll love Sand-Man’s Family.
Bio
After years of hearing characters chatting away in her head, award-winning author CJane Elliott finally decided to put them on paper and hasn’t looked back since. A psychotherapist by training, CJane writes sexy, passionate LGBTQ romances that explore the human psyche. CJane has traveled all over North America for work and her characters are travelers, too, traveling down into their own depths to find what they need to get to the happy ending.
CJane is bisexual and an ardent supporter of LGBTQ equality. In her spare time, CJane can be found dancing, listening to music, or watching old movies. Her family supports her writing habit by staying out of the way when they see her hunched over, staring intensely at her laptop.
CJane is the author of the award-winning Serpentine Series, New Adult contemporary novels set at the University of Virginia. Serpentine Walls was a 2014 Rainbow Awards finalist, Aidan’s Journey was a 2015 EPIC Awards finalist, and Sex, Love, and Videogames won first place in the New Adult category in the 2016 Swirl Awards and first place in Contemporary Fiction in the 2017 EPIC eBook Awards. Her contemporary novel All The Way To Shore was runner up for best bisexual fiction in the 2017 Rainbow Awards.
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Giveaway
CJane has brought a backlist book and a $10 Amazon gift card to give away to one lucky reader on her tour. Follow the Rafflecopter below to enter.
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Welcome, CJane, and thanks for sharing the excerpt. Best wishes for the success of Sand-Man’s Family!
Thanks for the excerpt. The book sounds very good.