Cross to Bare (Men of London book 5) by @SusanMacNicol7 blog tour

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Title: Cross to Bare

Series: Men of London

Author: Susan Mac Nicols

Publishing Company: Boroughs Publishing Group

Release Date: November 10, 2015

Tough in business but romantic at heart, fashion designer Lenny James isn’t hiding his masculinity behind his super successful female alter ego, but a vulnerability that only handsome financier Brook Hunter will be man enough to reveal…and worship.

TWO OF A KIND

It’s amazing what a little mascara and lipstick, a blonde wig, false boobs, and top-notch female fashion can hide. Not that Lenny James is hiding his masculinity. He uses his normal voice when he’s Laverne, and he’s not particularly camp as a man. His reasons for creating his alter ego are locked deep in his past. He is who he is: tough in business, and a romantic at heart. What he’s hiding is vulnerability. He wants a man to accept both sides of him.

Gorgeous, commanding, and dark as sin, Brook Hunter meets Lenny and knows nothing about Laverne until fate pushes her into his path. Cross-dressing is as far from Brook’s reality as fashion is from his world of diplomacy and high finance. Understanding and truth take time, and trust doesn’t come easy. But Brook is about to show Lenny that there are no sides to true love, just the place where they meet in the middle.

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Tams 5 Star Review *****

Lenny James is confident and successful in both his personal life as Lenny, and his professional life as high profile Designer Laverne Debussy-Smith. The one thing that still eludes him is someone to love him and her, both Lenny and Laverne. When Lenny was in college he decided to dive head first into his passion to design clothes by not only making clothes for men and women, but wearing them as well. Now Laverne is just as much a part of him as Lenny is. No one seems to want the job of juggling their passion for both personas though.

Brook Hunter was an almost boyfriend that Lenny decided to kick to the curb over a comment that he read too much into. Brook as well is talented and successful, as wall as tall, dark and oh so handsome. When Brook accidentally learns the truth about Lenny and Laverne, the designer thinks Brook will duck and run, unable to handle the commitment to them both. But Brook surprises Lenny in more ways than one, and he won't be tossed aside so easily, even if his feathers are ruffled by Lenny assuming he would be daft enough to walk away.

The relationship between Brook, Lenny and Laverne had its share of ups and downs, both men saying or doing things in the heat of the moment that they regret when having a clearer head. But neither one is willing to throw in the towel. I think it was the determination from both men that really gave this story credence for me. There was a struggle for Brook early on, not to accept Laverne per say, but to accept the danger he perceived Lenny was putting himself in when he went out as Laverne. This caused some issues and misunderstandings, but like most adults would do, they talked about it, they worked it out together. I really, really loved that aspect of the story, the communication that rivaled only the passion that these two shared.

If you are a fan of this series or the author, then this is a no-brainer for you, of course you'll enjoy it. There is passion and a super fun stage appearance by Laverne, there is a bit of danger as well, but there is zero angst which, in my humble opinion, makes this a must read. I'm very excited for book 6 now, someone please tell Susan MacNicol to write just a skoch bit faster please!

Guest Post with Author Susan Mac Nicol...

Tammy asked me to write about how I came to write Cross to Bare, where the inspiration came from and how I did the research. There are some great details behind this so I was happy to oblige…

When writing Suit Yourself, which was set in the fashion industry, and featured the cheeky and effervescent Leslie Scott, I needed an owner for Debussy’s, the place at which Leslie works. ‘Lavernny’ as I call him/her, a combination of Lenny the man and Laverne the woman, simply wrote herself into the manuscript and stayed.

I’d recently been embroiled in an online education about drag queens and their terminology and antics with a friend of mine, plus another friend was talking to me about the Boylesque he was doing, and his wearing of corsets, so I think perhaps these conversations spilled into my sub conscious. I believe therefore I have Warren Allen (a drag queen aficionado) and Johnny O’Connell (performer and the beautiful model for Leslie on the front cover of Suit Yourself) to blame- sorry, to thank, for Laverne’s creation.

Lenny is not a drag queen- he’s a cross dresser, or transvestite. He’s a man who feels comfortable, both physically and psychologically, wearing women’s clothes. Once again my friend Johnny came to my rescue. He gave me a wonderful insight into why men wear women’s clothes, how it feels to do so, and what it means emotionally. This insight is what I used to create the birth of Lenny into Laverne.

The next challenge was writing a book where a lot of the scenes took place from the female perspective – Laverne. I didn’t want too much of the book to be from a female perspective, using female pronouns. I thought this would throw both me and my readers out of the integrity of the story between two big, strapping men.

I wanted to write about two men falling in love. I did an online poll and invited all my Facebook friends – transgender, bisexual, asexual, lesbian, gay, questioning, those who were undecided - to give me feedback on writing the scenes where they took place from Laverne’s point of view, as Lenny, using male pronouns. The consensus was almost unanimous -it was fine and nobody thought anyone would take offence. I made this clear in the Author Notes as well. So with that niggling doubt out of the way, I set off to write Lenny and Laverne’s story.

It seemed to have charmed people, as readers appear to like it, and accept the way it was written. I’m pleased about that of course. It also set the precedent for another book in the series, still to be written. In Cross to Bare, I introduced a man called Ryan Bishop, who’s also a drag queen called Delilah Delish in a West End show. In book eight, Hard Climate, I’ll employ the same method of writing using male pronouns for the few Delilah scenes I have, as I did for Laverne.

I hope you enjoyed this little bit of insight into the inner workings of a writer’s mind and of course, if you haven’t already read the book, perhaps check out Cross to Bare and see it for yourself.

** Hold up!
This excerpt is a bit naughty and definitely explicit. So, children, please leave the room! **

Brook smiled. “The chemistry is still there, though. No doubt about that.” His brows furrowed. “And if I remember from our last window encounter, you promised to return the favour,” he murmured as he reached out and removed the glass from Lenny’s hands. He put the whisky down on the table by the window then dipped his finger in the cool liquid. Brook’s finger came up, and he slid it across Lenny’s bottom lip, slowly. He thought he was going to shoot in his pants with the eroticism of that gesture. The whisky flavour burned into his lips and he slid his tongue out and sucked the finger caressing his mouth. Brook’s eyes widened in lust, the pupils expanding. His lips parted and Lenny wanted to thrust his tongue and his cock inside the hot, wet heat of that mouth.

“Let’s get this over with, shall we, because obviously neither of us can wait,” Brook whispered, as his tongue slid into Lenny’s ear. His hands slid under the red jacket, tugging the shirt from his trousers, and then caressing the heated skin beneath. “Otherwise we’ll not enjoy my wonderful Chicken Cacciatore that I slaved over all day. Let’s fuck first, talk later.”

Lenny agreed wholeheartedly. With a low moan, he mashed his mouth against Brook’s and took possession of it. Familiar and wanton in return, Brook’s questing tongue slid into Lenny’s mouth. The slippery sensation of that deliciously heated organ, currently on a quest to drive him crazy, took him back to those passion fuelled days when he and Brook had been together. The feel of strong fingers against Lenny’s skin and the heat of that body pressed against his – it was if they’d never been apart. Lenny wasn’t one for insta-love but insta-lust he could definitely understand.

“I’d forgotten how damn good you taste and feel,” Brook gasped as his hands fumbled with buttons, opening Lenny’s trousers. He cried out as Brook’s hand slid inside his silk boxers and slid fingers down his hardened and wet cock. “This - this is what I want, you inside me.”

That phrase made Lenny thrust his cock harder into the tight confines of Brook’s hand.

“You keep saying that and I won’t have anything to fuck you with because you’ll make me come,” he managed to get out. “Turn around, face the glass.” He didn’t wait for Brook to obey, simply spun him round hard and slammed him against the cold, silken wall. “You’d better hope this is one way glass, because otherwise your neighbours are going to see you being royally skewered this time.” Lenny kicked off his trousers and underwear, giving a sigh of relief as his cock sprung free.

Susan Mac Nicol is a self-confessed bookaholic, an avid watcher of videos of sexy pole dancing men, geek and nerd and in love with her Smartphone. She is never happier than when sitting scribbling down words and making two men fall in love.

In an ideal world, Susan Mac Nicol would be Queen of England and banish all the bad people to the Never Never Lands of Wherever -Who Cares. As that’s never going to happen, she contents herself with writing her HEA stories and pretending, that just for a little while, good things happen to good people.

Sue is a member of Romance Writers of America and Romantic Novelists Association in the UK. She lives in the quaint village of Bocking in Essex, set in the countryside and not far from the sea should she get the yen to eat crab or oysters on the Cromer Pier.

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