Hi, everyone! Kimber Vale here.  First of all, a huge thank you to the lovelies at MM Good Book Reviews for hosting me on this, the release day of my new book Hard Act to Follow. I’m so excited to be here chatting about the ABC’s of romance, because, hey–why not? The alphabet never gets old, and romance is the greatest thing since flushing toilets.

Yeah, I needed a shtick.

So, without further ado, allow me to start at the beginning.

Hard Act to Follow

(Shooting Stars 03)

by

K. Vale

Kyrie is an actor with a physical aversion to telling lies, a one-eyed cat, and horrible taste in men. His ex-brother-in-law and best friend, Greg, harbors a secret crush he can’t shake. After denying his feelings for Kyrie for too long, Greg finally gives in to desire one drunken night. Come the morning, the facts get twisted. Kyrie pretends he doesn’t remember a thing—a lie that eats him alive—and Greg can’t stop thinking about how he screwed up the best thing in his life.

Before they can clear the air, Kyrie follows his dreams to New York City, but could he also be running away?

A mistake from Kyrie’s past detonates their silence, and Greg is forced to confront the man he loves. Is their new truth strong enough to support a relationship, or are they doomed to crumble under old fears? Their friendship could evolve into something a million times stronger, but maybe Kyrie’s act is just too hard for Greg to follow.

http://www.lsbooks.com/hard-act-to-follow-p937.php

K. Vale chats A….

A is for afterglow. What? You were expecting anal, there? Ass? Yeah, I write MM, but the secret to romance isn’t in the backdoor. No, no, no. Of course, the kind of romance I write involves bedroom shenanigans, but it’s what happens after the booty business that makes it romantic. It’s the sweet pillow talk. The cuddles and caresses after the sexy times when you know the characters aren’t laying on the honey just to get a piece. It’s real and it’s romance.

In my book, Hard Act to Follow, Kyrie and Greg don’t get a ton of pillow talk. At first, they don’t even want to admit that they had sex. Later, they mostly end up getting busy in places without pillows. 🙂 This is the closest example I could come up with:

Excerpt

“I’m gonna go take a shower. Gotta get ready for work,” he whispered, and the bed rocked as Liv apparently repositioned a few feet above Greg.

Greg fixed his pants and rolled out of bed. He made a pit stop at the bathroom before meeting Kyrie in the kitchen. They brewed a pot of coffee together—Greg filling the water while Kyrie scooped grounds into the filter.

“If you want, there’s a dry cleaner two blocks over. You could probably get your clothes cleaned up while I’m at the diner. Or, you could come for breakfast—oh wait, you already did that.” He smirked.

Greg had witnessed Kyrie in the morning on multiple occasions over the years, but Kyrie in the morning after Greg had spent the night loving him was heart-meltingly adorable. Their friendship had always been watertight until that one night together took its toll. Something about this intimacy, though, made Greg’s chest ache with a mix of euphoria and fear that this new bond was only temporary. Every time he thought he couldn’t possibly fall any harder for Kyrie, Greg was proven wrong by a look, a smile, or a word. In less than twenty-four hours of playing house, he was in so deep he couldn’t see a speck of light from above.

“Maybe I can do both. Where’s the diner?”

“I’ll write down directions for ya.” Kyrie pulled a pad and pen out of a drawer and scribbled for a moment. “You take 36th Ave to 11th Street. It’s right there on the left, across from a dentist office. Oh, and I’ll write down the dry cleaner addy, but it’s really close.” He put pen to paper again. “I’ll save ya a seat at the diner. I would love to serve you, sir.” Kyrie purred as he grabbed Greg’s ass.

Greg was pouring coffee, and he slopped a bit over the side. He turned to Kyrie and handed him the cup. “Careful, or you’ll never get me to leave.”

“Excellent.” Kyrie took a sip, gave Greg a blinding flash of teeth, and turned for the bathroom.

—————

On another note, how appropriate is it that an afterglow, in the scientific sense, is the arc of color in the sky resulting from an excess of particles in the environment, most frequently after the eruption of a volcano. Coincidence? Oh, I think not.

About Kimber

Vale writes erotic romance of all stripes, from hot hetero to mouthwatering manlove. Find her MF work published under Kimber Vale. Come for the sex. Stay for the story. Stalk Kimber on Facebook and Twitter @KimberVale, and check her site for updates, new releases, and freebies at http://www.authorkimbervale.com. The blog: http://www.kimbervale.me.

Links:

Buy Hard Act to Follow at Liquid Silver Books: http://www.lsbooks.com/k-vale-c421.php

Kimber’s Amazon page: http://www.amazon.com/Kimber-Vale/e/B006HMAY06/ref=la_B006HMAY06_pg_1?rh=n%3A283155%2Cp_82%3AB006HMAY06&ie=UTF8&qid=1407284280

All Romance: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/storeSearch.html

Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/k.-vale

Add Hard Act to your Goodreads list:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22662993-hard-act-to-follow?from_search=true

Giveaway!

Kimber is giving away a $25 Amazon gift card to celebrate the release of Hard Act to Follow!

Enter via Rafflecopter below:

K. Vale Rafflecopter giveaway!

(19th September 2014)

Review

Title: Hard Act to Follow

Series: Shooting Stars 03

Author: K. Vale

Genre: Contemporary

Length: Novella (171pgs)

ISBN: 978-1-62210-133-7

Publisher: Liquid Silver Books (18^th August 2014)

Heat Rating: Moderate – Explicit

Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥ 4 Hearts

Reviewer: Pixie

Blurb: Mistakes from the past, feelings denied, and a career on the rise may doom their relationship before it has a chance.

Kyrie is an actor with a physical aversion to telling lies, a one-eyed cat, and horrible taste in men. His ex-brother-in-law and best friend, Greg, harbors a secret crush he can’t shake. After denying his feelings for Kyrie for too long, Greg finally gives in to desire one drunken night. Come the morning, the facts get twisted. Kyrie pretends he doesn’t remember a thing—a lie that eats him alive—and Greg can’t stop thinking about how he screwed up the best thing in his life.

Before they can clear the air, Kyrie follows his dreams to New York City, but could he also be running away?

A mistake from Kyrie’s past detonates their silence, and Greg is forced to confront the man he loves. Is their new truth strong enough to support a relationship, or are they doomed to crumble under old fears? Their friendship could evolve into something a million times stronger, but maybe Kyrie’s act is just too hard for Greg to follow.

Purchase Link: http://www.lsbooks.com/hard-act-to-follow-p937.php

Review: This book is part of a series and is best read in order. Kyrie is an aspiring actor finishing college who has had a secret crush on his straight ex-brother-in-law/best friend Greg, when a drunken night leads to passion Kyrie does the only thing he can think of… he pretends it never happened. Greg has been having very unbrotherly feelings for his ex-wife’s brother for a while but when he gets a night that he only ever dreamed of he hasn’t got a clue what to do when Kyrie acts like it never happened. With both men confused over what to do next their friendship is strained and before they can clear the air Kyrie leaves for New York. When Greg hears some bad news he rushes to Kyrie’s side and admits his feelings, but before their relationship can really get going insecurities creep in and Kyrie has to take a chance on love.

This is a great addition to the Shooting Stars series; this time around we get Kyrie and Greg’s story after we met them in Double Takes. Kyrie is out and proud, he throws himself into everything head first but the one thing he keeps to himself is his crush on his best friend Greg, who just happens to be his sisters ex-husband. Greg is a rising star at the law firm he works for; he admits even to himself that work has been his main focus for years, but the focus of his affection has been hidden for some time as he can hardly admit even to himself how far Kyrie has got under his skin.

I loved this story, it was just so great to see Kyrie and Greg getting their own story and seeing the struggle they have to connect on even footing. Greg is straight but his feelings for Kyrie make it clear to him that he wants something very different this time and the way the friends to lovers was carried out was brilliantly done, copious amounts of alcohol, one night of passion and complete confusion over what each character should do next… brilliant! While each man is angsting over what to do we also have the daily lives of the guys going on, Kyrie preparing to graduate and move and Greg working hard for a junior partnership.

Both Greg and Kyrie are fantastic, they don’t only have their own little drama going on they also have problems with one of Kyrie’s ex’s to deal with, Greg begins to re-evaluate what he really wants and then you have the difficulty of Greg still being close to his ex-wife and the ex-in-laws… how would they take the news! This is a brilliantly written story where there’s some ups and downs and angsty feelings, the characters are great and the storyline is great Oh and we get to see Gio and Lance from Double Takes… bonus! 🙂

I recommend this to those who adore friends to lovers, gay for you, a bit of angst, a great storyline, brilliant characters and a great happy ending.