Saugatuck Summer virtual blog tour {Review, Guest Post & Giveaway}

One summer can change everything.

Hi, I’m Topher Carlisle: twenty-one, pretty, and fabulous. At least, that’s what I keep telling myself. But let’s get real. Walking the fake-it-til-you-make-it road to independence and self-respect isn’t easy. Especially since my mom’s a deadbeat alcoholic, and most of my family expects me to turn out just as worthless. Oh, and I’m close to losing my college swimming scholarship, so let’s add “dropout” to the list.

My BFF has invited me to stay at her beach house on the shore of Lake Michigan. That’ll give me one summer to make money and figure out what I want to do with my life. So of course I decide to have an affair with my BFF’s married, closeted dad. Because that always works out.

Now I’m homeless, friendless, jobless. Worthless. Just like my family expects, right? Except there’s this great guy, Jace, who sees it differently. He’s got it all together in ways I can only dream of—he’s hot, creative, insightful, understanding. He seems to think I don’t give myself enough credit. And if I don’t watch out, I may start to believe him.

Topher Carlisle is at a turning point in his life. On break from school and with his financial aid almost at an end, he wonders how he will continue. He accepts his best friends offer to come stay at her beach house for the summer and look for a job there. It's the perfect set up really. A tourist town is sure to afford him a job, free room and board and the endless water to practice his swimming so he doesn't loose his scholarship and spot on the swim team. But a problem arrises in the form of the red haired and alluring older man, his best friends father.

Before Topher climbed into bed with the worst possible choice in lovers, he had a one night fling with a visiting artist, Jace. From their first meeting on the beach, Topher was taken with the mans lithe body, pale skin, dark hair, and redder than red lips. After the one night though, Jace is gone back home. But he took a piece of Topher with him with a collection of erotic photos he took. So when Topher seeks solace after the affair ends, he winds up at a local gallery and low and behold, there on the wall, are the pictures that Jace took of him.

Through a series of happy circumstances, Topher and Jace rekindle their romance and grow really close. Topher flourishes in his job at the art gallery, but he dreads the day he will have to tell Mo about his idiocy, that he'd slept with her father. And then, just as Topher always feared, everything falls apart. Mo finds out about the affair when she finds Topher's pictures in her father's office, his mom is dying and he has to go home, his sister is still an unbelievable bitch. But through it all there is one constant. Jace, he is unwavering and attentive, never leaving Topher's side. Can Topher trust Jace enough to give him his heart? He fears that he'll be hurt again, left alone again, just like he always is.

What a fantastic read about a cinder-fella sort of story where he meets his dark night, so to speak, and they may or may not ride off into the sunset together. Both men are so perfectly flawed and raw, especially Topher, he has made more than his fair share of mistakes. The one thing he has never experienced is unconditional love, and Jace can give him that. And the passion between these two jumps right off the pages and reaches deep into your gut. There is a bath house scene that is so sweaty, sticky and steamy that I had to turn the air down a notch. WOW! But it's not just about the passion with these two, it's about love and endearment as well. 

The writing is essential in the story as well. Gormly created something sort of broken in the character of Topher, so broken he thinks that he doesn't deserve to be loved. And some of the mistakes he makes are a direct result of this assumption. And to balance out that self loathing she brought him Jace, to love an nurture him and show him he was worthy of every drop of affection that Jace doused him in. 

Must read for all us hopeless romantics that just love when the two imperfect characters get THEIR perfect ending. Definite 5 star read. 

Hi, and welcome to the Saugatuck Summer blog tour! Thank you to TTC Books and more for hosting me today! For those of you who have seen me talking about it on social media for the last nearly year and a half, you know that Saugatuck Summer was a labor of love far beyond what I would normally claim for one of my books. Of course I love them all, but Saugatuck Summer came from my very soul. Actually, I’m not certain it came from me at all.

Basically, here’s what happened: One day I was driving along, running errands, and Topher Carlisle whispered one line of dialogue in my ear. Just one. When I asked him what I was supposed to do with that, he promptly took over my brain for fifteen absolutely insane days and at the end I had the first draft of Saugatuck Summer.

Topher’s story of recovery, hope, making mistakes, and growing up just told itself, and the experience of being the conduit for that was at times grueling and heartbreaking, but also euphoric and wonderful. It was one of those experiences that, as a creator of some form of art, be it musical, visual, or literary, you have once or twice in a lifetime if you’re extraordinarily lucky, when you know you’re creating something magical. I’m not sure it will ever happen to me again, but I feel absolutely blessed that this book has come of it.

This week on the Saugatuck Summer blog tour, I’ll be sharing some bonus content from the book and a sneak peek at another upcoming book in the Saugatuck universe. I’ll also be having a heart-to-heart discussion with Marie Sexton about our experiences as adult children of alcoholics and how they translated into writing our ACOA characters from Saugatuck Summer and Family Man, giving you a peek at some of “Jace’s” art, and I’ll be sharing the official Saugatuck Summer soundtrack from a brilliant singer/songwriter of my personal acquaintance, Casey Stratton.

And finally, all week long I’ll be asking trivia questions from Saugatuck Summer and this week’s blog tour articles, and each correct answer emailed to me offers you a chance to win your choice of any of my backlist titles!

So put on your sunscreen and let’s go!

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HOW TO WIN YOUR CHOICE OF ANY SINGLE BOOK FROM MY BACKLIST (all-in-one volumes not included):

At each stop along the blog tour I’ll be asking a trivia question from Saugatuck Summer. Yes, this means some familiarity with the book is required, whether you purchase a copy, have an ARC, or employ the Kindle or B&N lending programs. If you visit some of the other blog tour stops, you might also find the answer in some of the excerpts.

PLEASE DO NOT ANSWER IN THE COMMENTS. Instead, send the answer to me privately by using this contact form. Each response will enter you into the drawing and three winners will be picked. The more questions you answer, the more entries you get. You can choose from any of the following titles:

Inertia (Impulse, Book One)
Acceleration (Impulse, Book Two)
Velocity (Impulse, Book Three)
The Laird’s Forbidden Lover
An Inch at a Time (The Professor’s Rule #2)
Inch by Inch (The Professor’s Rule #3)
Every Inch of the Way (The Professor’s Rule #4)
To the Very Last Inch (The Professor’s Rule #5)
Strain

(Note: Giving an Inch (The Professor’s Rule #1) is already available free at Riptide, and my pre-Saugatuck novella, The Field of Someone Else’s Dreams, is available for free at Amazon, All Romance eBooks, and elsewhere.)

Again, please do not post your answer in the comments, but submit it to me privately.

To give people time to read and respond, the contest will remain open for one month after the release of Saugatuck Summer. It will close on June 19, and the drawing will be held on June 20.

Today’s Saugatuck Summer trivia question:

Chapter 37, what does Jace propose they do when Topher returns to school?

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Amelia C. Gormley may seem like anyone else. But the truth is she sings in the shower, dances doing laundry, and writes blisteringly hot m/m erotic romance while her son is at school. When she’s not writing in her Pacific Northwest home, Amelia single-handedly juggles her husband, her son, their home, and the obstacles of life by turning into an everyday superhero. And that, she supposes, is just like anyone else.

Her self-published novel-in-three-parts, Impulse (Inertia, Book One; Acceleration, Book Two; and Velocity, Book Three) can be found at most major online book retailers, and be sure to check Riptide for her latest releases, including her Highland historical, The Laird’s Forbidden Lover, the The Professor’s Rule series of erotic novelettes (co-written with Heidi Belleau), the post-apocalyptic romance, Strain, and her upcoming, New Adult contemporary, Saugatuck Summer, available now.

You can contact Amelia on Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, BookLikes, Tumblr, or contact her by email using the form at http://ameliacgormley.com/about/

** Thank you SO much Amelia Gormley for stopping by the blog today, sharing some more insight into this fantastic book and offering up goodies for giveaway! Until next time... **

Bonus content!! I just read the companion novella, The Field of Someone Else's Dreams, here are my thoughts...

Chris Boyden loved Matt VanderVeen since junior high. But growing up gay in the Bible belt of west Michigan was difficult, and unlike Matt, he wasn’t brave enough to face the prejudice head-on. Especially when his family told him over and over that he wouldn’t be able to attend college without a scholarship.

Back in high school, he worried that coming out would get him kicked off the baseball team or make recruiters reluctant to scout him. Eventually, Matt broke up with him when he couldn’t handle being Chris’s secret boyfriend any longer, but college has given them a second chance — if Chris has the courage to take it.

When a terrible injury puts Chris's baseball scholarship in jeopardy, it reminds Chris of all the reasons he stayed in the closet to begin with, and his ultra-masculine father's expectations and thoughtless homophobia aren't helping. Baseball has always been Chris's hope for the future, but now that dream could cost him Matt's love.

NOTE: This eBook novelette is a re-release. It was originally published by the Goodreads M/M Romance group as part of their Love Has No Boundaries event in June 2013.

Chris and Matt have been in a relationship a couple times now. First in high school, but Matt left Chris when he wouldn’t come out. Now in college they are trying to make a go of it again. But the same issues that drove a wedge between them before are not yet resolved. Can Chris come to terms with his sexuality and be honest with his conservative family about who he really is? Or will he allow his pride and appearances to cause the man he loves to leave him alone, again.

Chris Boyden loves baseball, he loves everything about it. The rush, the feeling and the sound when he holds that bat in his hand and hits the ball. But his reasons for playing may not be all self serving. He feels the need to provide for his family, he doesn’t want to let them down. This is a huge factor in why he hasn’t told anyone he is gay either. But the time has come to make a decision. Either Chris comes out and lives his life in the open with Matt, or he stays in the closet and looses the one thing that matters most, Matt’s love.

Matt VanderVeen has loved Chris since they were teenagers. But he wants to love him out loud. He wants to hold hands in public, kiss him whenever he wants and take vacations together. Not lie about where they are going, who they are with or what they are doing. When Chris is injured and finally comes out to his family, it would seem that Matt is getting his wish. But the regret and the backlash may be more than his lover can handle.

This book pissed me off! But not for the reason you may think. My heart broke for Chris and the struggle he was going through. The conversation with his mother in the hospital literally floored me. I wanted to reach into my kindle and strangle her! Kudos to Gormley for making the emotions and words jump off the pages and really resonate with me. Matt was as understanding as could be expected, in his situation. And it’s not often that I read a story where the character is completely honest about his feelings. Matt told Chris straight up that he loved him and he would hold on, until he couldn’t hold on anymore. 

Another 5 star read from Amelia Gormley!

Grab your copy of The Field of Someone Else's Dreams now FREE through Amazon.