Today I am so pleased to welcome Tara Lain and Eli Easton to Joyfully Jay. Tara and Eli come to talk to us about their latest release, Schooling the Jock. They have also brought along a great giveaway. Please join me in giving Tara and Eli a big welcome!

schooling the jock teaser

 

Hi Jay and everyone. Thank you for inviting us! This is Tara Lain (with Eli Easton coaching from the background) and we’re delighted to be here today to celebrate the release of our first co-authored collaboration, SCHOOLING THE JOCK. We’re also excited to tell you that this book is the first in a series called Nerds vs Jocks, so be watching for the next two stories, COACHING THE NERD and HEAD TO HEAD.

So how do two longtime MM romance authors with more than 85 books between us decide to partner up? With trepidation! After so many stories, an author gets pretty set in her ways. But Eli and I started as fans of each other’s work. We actually met at a small conference a number of years ago and I walked up to her and introduced myself. I was such a fan, I thought she’d started writing way before me, but it turned out we began around the same time—around 2012/2013. And we had a lot in common, stylewise. No matter how angsty or sexy our books get, we both tend to have a sweetness, a lot of humor, quirky and unique characters, and very happy ever afters.

Still, being friends and having a compatible style didn’t mean we could work together compatibly.

Eli had an idea for a series that both of us loved. Lots of authors and screenwriters have taken on the nerds vs jocks idea, but it still seemed readymade for us. We’ve both written lots of campus romances, we’re good at nerds, have wrapped our arms around jocks, have a romcom style, and decided we could bring something new and fun to the trope. A lot of successful co-authors live in different time zones so one can write while the other sleeps. Eli and I don’t have that benefit since we’re in the same time zone, plus I have a day job I do three days a week, so we decided to alternate writing chapters, Eli writing Dobbs (the nerd’s) point-of-view and me writing Jesse (the jock’s) point-of-view, and see if we could make progress. Wow. It only took us a week to realize that having the other person writing alternate chapters took away what Eli calls the “horror of the blank page”. Writing together enhanced creativity and propelled the story forward, plus knowing the other person was waiting for our chapter assured maximum productivity. We edit each other’s work, add and subtract, but the original author of the chapter has final say. We split up the technical, editing, and marketing tasks amicably.

We’ve had a great time creating SCHOOLING THE JOCK and have plunged happily into writing the other books planned for the series. Another advantage of writing together is we can get a book done twice as fast, so we plan on all three books being out by May. We hope you love them!


Blurb

schooling the jock coverNerds Vs Jocks, Book 1

Only an unfair universe makes a guy who’s that gorgeous so damned obnoxious.

A-hoe!
Poindexter!
Snarky, superbrain Dobbs and snooty football star Jesse stare at each other from their rival frat houses on opposites sides of the street — and opposite sides of everything else.

Alpha Lambda Alpha and Sigma Mu Tau have been sworn enemies for decades. Then one disastrous prank proves to be the last straw, and the college dean blows his cork!

Work together or lose both your houses.

Question – -How can Dobbs win his coveted Quiz Bowl championship with when he’s forced to put a dumb jock on his team?
Answer — Lots of personal schooling.

But when personal becomes very personal, Jesse risks causing his overtaxed family one more huge worry and the running back starts running.

Will Dobbs give up on the shocked jock, or show him that the answer to the big question is, Yes?

SCHOOLING THE JOCK is an enemies-to-lovers, opposites attract, campus romance – with one hell of a lightning round.

Universal Link

Goodreads | BookBub


Bios

Eli Easton bio photoAbout Eli

Coming from a background in computer game design, Eli has written over 35 books in m/m romance since 2013. The Mating of Michael (2014) and A Second Harvest (2016) both won The William Neale Award for Best Gay Contemporary Romance, and Eli’s books have won many awards from the Goodreads M/M Romance Group’s Reader’s Choice Awards. She is best known for her Christmas romances, the Howl at the Moon series of rom coms featuring dog shifters, and her Sex in Seattle series, which revolves around a sex clinic in Seattle.


Connect with Eli:

 

tara lain bio photoAbout Tara

Tara Lain believes in happy ever afters – and magic. Same thing. In fact, she says, she doesn’t believe, she knows. Tara shares this passion in her stories that star her unique, charismatic heroes and adventurous heroines. Quarterbacks and cops, werewolves and witches, blue collar or billionaires, Tara’s characters, readers say, love deeply, resolve seemingly insurmountable differences, and ultimately live their lives authentically. After many years living in southern California, Tara, her soulmate honey and her soulmate dog decided they wanted less cars and more trees, prompting a move to Ashland, Oregon where Tara’s creating new stories and loving living in a small town with big culture. Tara loves animals of all kinds (even snakes), diversity, open minds, coconut crunch ice cream from Zoeys, and her readers.

She has around 57 books published or scheduled for publication.

Connect with Tara:


Giveaway

To celebrate the release of Schooling the Jock, Eli & Tara are giving away a $20 Amazon Voucher. Enter the Rafflecopter giveaway for your chance to win!

A Rafflecopter Giveaway


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  • By entering you are agreeing to hold Joyfully Jay harmless if the prize or giveaway in some way negatively impacts the winner.
  • Void where prohibited by law.
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