09/22/2014

Andrew

Sep 22, 2014

New Release – Love and the Real Boy, by J.K. Hogan Tour and Giveaway

New Release: Love and the Real Boy (Coming About, Book 2), by J.K. Hogan

One of the fun things about being a Pride Promotion blog, is getting to interview authors I’ve never met before. Today is one of those days. So please welcome J.K. Hogan to the blog and find out a bit more about her and her new release – Love and the Real Boy.

Welcome, J.K., why don’t you start by telling everyone a bit about yourself.

I’m a pretty simple girl, really. I live with my husband and our almost two year old son (and our two dogs and one cat) in the rural southern ‘burbs. I love writing, it keeps me sane. I squeeze it in between toddler gym and meals with the fam, and I get my best ideas while driving. I’m also an unrepentant book whore, so I do a lot of supporting of my fellow authors! I’m a contraction in terms, being a country girl who enjoys things like horseback riding, camping, and recreational shooting (I’ve even been known to pick up a bow), I’m also an outspoken liberal democrat and marriage equality activist. People always look at me funny when they hear that stuff, but what can I say? I’m an enigma. 😉

Talk a bit about your latest book Love and the Real Boy.

This book is about a cold, angry young man who’s been let down by everyone in his life, including the guy he thought he was in love with. The book delves into his past from his drug addicted mother to trying to survive the child welfare system. Along the way, he meets a man who sees past all of his rage and pain to the man underneath. Everyone deserves a second chance, right?

**Did you need to do much research to write your book or did you have a working knowledge of sailboats before you started Love and the Real Boy?**

Both, actually. I grew up on a large lake (we always lived on the waterfront) and we were constantly going back and forth to the coast. My dad being a recreational fisherman, we always had motor boats. I learned how to drive a boat when I was just a little kid, and boats have always been as much a part of my life as cars. I’m very at home on the water.

On the other hand, my family wasn’t really into sailing, although I saw it happening around me a lot living on the lake. The closest I ever got was tagging a ride on my parents’ windsurfer. I’ve been sailing several times, but just as a passenger. I’d really love to have my own sailboat someday.

The main research I had to do was about the repair and restoration of the sailboat, which the plot was centered around.

Where did the inspiration for Rich and Patrick come from?

Honestly, Rich wasn’t supposed to be anybody. He was a foil for the main character in the previous book, I Survived Seattle, and when I created him, I had no intention of him getting his own book. As I moving towards the end of I Survived Seattle, I started wondering what would cause him to act the way he did—and then he started speaking to me. I knew at that point his redemption would have to be a part of it, because no one would be able to get behind him as the hero in his own story if it wasn’t. Listening to him kind of changed the whole trajectory of the series arc.

Patrick took longer to come to me. I started dissecting Rich’s past, figuring out his behavior and what he really needed. The answer was someone didn’t depend on him, but who he could lean on—and also someone who wouldn’t take his shit like everyone else did. After that, Patrick was ‘born,’ so to speak.

What part of the book was the most fun to write and why?

Definitely the rugby scene. Rich gets dragged to Sunday dinner with Patrick’s huge, loud Irish family—two parents, five brothers, a sister, various spouses, and kids, oh my! They end up having an impromptu rugby scrum in the back yard, and the boys are out for blood! I only had a basic knowledge of rugby so I had to enlist friends to help, but it was so fun to write.

What part made you struggle them most?

Just the overall task of redeeming Rich in the readers’ eyes. If you haven’t read I Survived Seattle, Rich did some pretty nasty things to the main characters, but I didn’t go very far into the reasoning behind it, mainly because at first even I didn’t know. I intentionally set him up to be hated, thereby creating a challenge for myself.

If I had to pick a scene, it would be the one where Rich has his big meltdown and finally allows himself to grieve over his past. I don’t want to say too much and ruin it, but it was really emotionally draining to write.

Tell us something interesting that is not in the blurb?

The USS Lady Washington, one of the ships that ‘played’ the HMS interceptor in the Pirates of the Caribbean, makes a cameo in the last chapter.

I was actually able to ride one of the other ships used as the Interceptor, the HMS Bounty, on my honeymoon. She was unfortunately sunk in a hurricane a few years later.

Have you ever based characters on anyone you know?

LOL. *shifty eyes* Um, yes… No main characters, though, just secondary characters. When you have to make up a lot of random people that don’t have very big parts, sometimes it’s easier to draw from real life. Hell, I even used my own description for one of the fatalities in my first novel. It’s also a good way to blow of some steam over someone I don’t like. An unfortunate former coworker may have made a brief, annoying appearance in my third book.

What’s your favorite part of the writing process?

Dialogue. I love slipping into the different character’s minds and figuring out how they would react in a conversation. It’s a real challenge to give each one a distinct voice and to take my own out of it. It’s fun, and I get the opportunity sometimes to ‘say’ things that I wouldn’t necessarily say in polite company. 😉 I’ve been told I’m pretty good at it, but I’ll let y’all be the judge.

What’s your least favorite?

Anything that’s not part of the actual creating of the story, like writing blurbs, and editing. I’m also not a fan of outlines, or synopses…Basically I just want to sit down and play with my imaginary friends. LOL

Since there is always another story to tell, what are you working on now?

Well of course I’m working on book 3 in the Coming About series. I won’t say much about that one yet except we’ll get to see all our old friends from the first two books again in some capacity.

I’m also working on something a little different for me: it’s sort of an m/m romantic suspense crime thriller with a light paranormal element. I know it’s kind of a weird concept, there being varying degrees of paranormal, but since there are certain paranormal things that are commonly believed to exist in our real-life society—like psychics, ghosts, and such—it makes sense to me. So this story could probably be enjoyed by those who wouldn’t normally read paranormal. Keep an eye on my website www.jkhogan.com for more news.

What have you read lately that most people haven’t read but should?

Release by A.M. Sexton (another pen name of Marie Sexton). It’s a dark, dystopian fantasy and it’s just incredibly written and so imaginative. I wish I could world-build like her!

I also just read Glitterland by Alexis Hall and it was freaking amazing.

As far as outside the m/m genre, I’ve been reading a lot of H.G. Wells lately. If you haven’t read The Time Machine or the Island of Dr. Moreau, you should.

If you could meet any writer, alive or dead, who would it be and why?

Gah, how rude! How could I pick just one? I’ve been lucky to meet quite a few of the authors I love, especially after going to GRL.

I would love to pick Michael Crichton’s brain, or meet Peter Benchley (Jaws). I’d also love to chat with Larissa Ione, who was my inspiration while writing my m/f paranormals.

What’s a fun – non-writing – day for you?

Doing something with the hubs and the kiddo, like going to the park or taking a stroll. If I’m not writing, I’m usually mothering. LOL

Besides reading and writing, what else do you enjoy?

Going to dog agility trials with my fam and friends. Hubby and I both used to compete our dogs, but since I’m usually with the kiddo now, he competes ad we watch.

If not doing that, then spending a leisurely day on the lake with my parents’ boat, or camping in the mountains.

Last question is all yours – feel free to talk about anything you want your readers to know about you, your book, anything at all.

So last year, I went to GRL for the first time ever. I just attended as a reader so I could skulk about mingle and stalk chat up my favorite authors. My motto is ‘everyone fangirls over someone.’ This year will be my first time attending—any con actually—as an author and I’m sooo nervous. I’m painfully shy in new situations but once I get comfortable, I promise I’m a hoot! So puh-lease feel free to come up and introduce yourself whether you’ve read my books or not. I’m going to try my best not to be a wallflower!

Blurb:

How much heartache can one man take before he breaks? Rich Langston asks himself that question every day.

A Seattle advertising exec who uses his designer suit and showy car like a suit of armor, Rich refuses to let the world get to him. His traumatic childhood has ruined any faith he had in people, friendship, and love. After a meltdown that led to him alienating everyone in his life, Rich agrees to help with the restoration of an antique sailboat as a form of penance.

Roped into heading up with the boat repair by his mother, marine restorer Patrick O’Dowd finds himself having to babysit a moody, spoiled rich boy with absolutely no carpentry experience. His easy-going nature is sorely tested, but he quickly realizes that things are not always what they seem; sometimes a fancy suit is nothing but an elaborate deflection from what’s real.

Through unavoidable personality clashes and fierce attraction, both Rich and Patrick explore their hidden pain and inner demons, and they end up finding with what really matters—love.

Goodreads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22756605-love-and-the-real-boy

Publisher: Wilde City Press

Cover Artist: JK Hogan (KHDGraphics.com)

Sales Links:

Amazon:

Wilde City Press:

Excerpt:

Rich forced himself to relax. Why shouldn’t he give his brain a little mini-vacay? He was of a stressful nature—he had to constantly stress over work, over making enough money to keep himself in suits and expensive toys to remind himself he wasn’t homeless anymore, that he wasn’t going to end up like his mother. He stressed over the wrong people finding out he was gay, while stressing that he might just go mad from lack of companionship—and that was just the tip of the crazy-berg.

Underneath it all sat his pent-up grief, anger, and guilt from his stolen childhood, cowering like a beast in the dark, a sleeping monster. That was Rich’s biggest, most constant fear—that one day he would no longer be able to contain it. What would happen then? Would he lose his mind?

So all things considered, why shouldn’t he just let it go for one night? What was wrong with letting a big, burly Irishman take him in hand—heh—and drive the boat for a while.

Categories per the author: Contemporary, Fiction, Gay Fiction, M/M Romance, Romance

Author Bio:

J.K. Hogan has been telling stories for as long as she can remember, beginning with writing cast lists and storylines for her toys growing up. When she finally decided to put pen to paper, magic happened. She is greatly inspired by all kinds of music and often creates a “soundtrack” for her stories as she writes them. J.K. is hoping to one day have a little something for everyone, so she’s branched out from m/f paranormal romance and added m/m contemporary romance. Who knows what’s next?

J.K. resides in North Carolina, where she was born and raised. A true southern girl at heart, she lives in the country with her husband and young son, a cat, and two champion agility dogs. If she isn’t on the agility field, J.K. can often be found chasing waterfalls in the mountains with her husband, or down in front at a blues concert. In addition to writing, she enjoys training and competing in dog sports, spending time with her large southern family, camping, boating and, of course, reading! For more information, please visit www.jkhogan.com.