Today I am so pleased to welcome Lexi Ander to Joyfully Jay. Lexi has come to talk to us about her latest release, Cherish. She has also brought along a great giveaway. Please join me in giving her a big welcome!

Thank you for having me today! I’m absolutely thrilled about Cherish’s release. I got an interesting question from my editor (she had a few) about the GyrFalconi last names. She wanted to know why stags didn’t share the same last name with their bonded. When batore bonded and went to live with their chantelle, they took their bonded’s last name. But when stags leave their parent’s nest to live with their bonded, they don’t share a last name.

The answer is both simple and complicated, having to do with genetics and family trees. Batore don’t contribute genetics to the chicks. They are males who can be either aromantic or romantic asexual. (They also have physical characteristics that set them apart from chantelle and stags.) They carry the eggs for their chantelle until it’s time for the egg to hatch. Their culture is such that their identity is wound around their chantelle, something that the some modern batore are struggling to break away from. They are the ‘dahen’ (father) to the chicks, but the chick doesn’t carry any genes from their dahen. In this society, it is not uncommon for the batore’s origins (family tree) to be lost, unless they come from a powerful family who have connections. But that’s neither here nor there. So when batore nests with their chantelle, they share her family name.

Stags, on the other hand, bond with three or more stags. When they leave their parent’s roost, they move into an all-stag rookery. They don’t take on one surname to designate their roost since their family lines could potentially be lost like a batore’s. Tracking genetics is important to the matriarchal society. Some chantelle will do a bit of research and choose who she asks to dance carefully, while others who are not so discerning, will fly around the stag rookery, eyeing the members of each roost who proposition her. There is a registry scanner at each stag rookery that records the parentage of successful egg fertilizations. The government tracks it all but doesn’t interfere with the chantelle’s choice. Saying that, I feel I need to also say that stags can choose to turn down a chantelle. Stags are quite randy, and the chantelle have certain preconceptions of a stag’s role in society (that is explained more in the book) but stags are free to choose who they dance with without repercussions.

Whew! This was a hard topic to stay on! I kept veering off to describe the different aspects of the relationships between the three. I kept needing to back track because y’all don’t need possible spoilers. LOL! I hope you found this interesting! This is a bit of geeky-fun for me. Check out Cherish and don’t forget to enter the giveaway.

Blurb

Saving a life can change the course of history.

Destin is torn away from his chicks and his bonded when the Terrens invade Aries 7. Experimented on in Terren labs, and made to work their mines, the GyrFalconi struggle to survive. Destin becomes their caretaker, endeavoring to save as many as possible, despite the emotional toll. Amidst the battle for survival, the universe shines on him and he bonds with not one but four people who give him a reason to keep fighting. When Valespia sends its Legions to the GyrFalconi’s aid, Destin and his bonded are eventually freed, only to face new cruelties from their own people.

Freedom comes with its own trials, though, as a divide forms in GyrFalconi society between the winged and the wingless. Destin and his bonded are given a chance at true happiness and they keep what they claim, no matter what.

Buy Links:

• Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09KS83P2B/
• B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/cherish-lexi-ander/1140535667
• Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/cherish-29
• Tolino: https://www.thalia.de/shop/home/artikeldetails/A1062657099
• Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1115867
• Liminal Fiction Link: https://www.limfic.com/book/cherish/
• QueeRomance Ink Link: https://www.queeromanceink.com/book/cherish/

Bio

A two-time Rainbow Award recipient, Lexi has always been an avid reader and started reading (secretly) her mother’s romances (the ones she was told not to touch) at a young age. She was the only teenager she knew of who would be grounded from reading. Later, with a pencil and a notebook, she wrote her own stories and shared them with friends because she loved to see their reactions. A Texas transplant, Lexi now kicks her boots up in North Carolina with her Yankee husband and her 80-pound puppy named after a vacuum cleaner.

• Author Website: http://www.lexiander.com
• Author Facebook (Personal): http://www.facebook.com/lexi.ander.9
• Author Facebook (Author Page): https://www.facebook.com/Lexi-Ander-1808012509319412/
• Author Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/LexiAnder1
• Author Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lexi.ander.9/
• Author Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6521302.Lexi_Ander
• Author Liminal Fiction (LimFic.com): https://www.limfic.com/mbm-book-author/lexi-ander/
• Author QueeRomance Ink: https://www.queeromanceink.com/mbm-book-author/lexi-ander/
• Author Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Lexi-Ander/e/B009PT22GM/

Giveaway

Lexi is giving away three $20 Amazon gift cards with this tour:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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