Hi peeps, we have C.C. Bridges stopping by for a visit today with her upcoming release Love in the Time of Hurricanes, we have a fantastic guest post from C.C., a great excerpt and a brilliant giveaway, so check out the post and leave a comment to enter the giveaway! <3 ~Pixie~
Love in the Time of Hurricanes
C.C. Bridges
The night Nick Henderson storms into Martelli’s Pizzeria, he’s just looking for something to eat. Along with dinner, he finds Lou Martelli—pizza cook extraordinaire and Jersey Shore native. Nick is renting a Shore house for the winter while taking classes at the local community college as he devises a way to escape the accounting major his father chose for him.
When Lou offers to show Nick around, heat flares between them as they realize they have more in common than domineering families. But it’s not all fun and games on the boardwalk. Hurricane Sandy blows ashore, changing the place Nick was starting to think of as home. His peace is shattered, and it will take everything he has to keep his relationship with Lou from being torn apart by the storm brewing around them.
States of Love: Stories of romance that span every corner of the United States.
C.C. Bridges!
Almost everyone from New Jersey has a Jersey Shore story. I don’t mean the reality show. I’m talking about the 140 or so miles of Jersey coast, consisting of beaches, boardwalk, and sleepy small towns. Ask almost anyone, and they’ll have a story…
“My grandmother had a house at Seaside…”
“We used to drive down to Wildwood every summer.”
For me, it was Seaside Heights. As a kid my family rented a sandy motel room for a week, and we ended the days full of salt and sand, peeling from sunburns, and spending our quarters at the arcade. We ate chocolate dipped ice cream cones and peanut butter sandwiches on the beach.
One of my earliest memories is being on the beach with my family – and it was an extended event, with aunts and uncles and grandparents – when a huge, unexpected wave rushed through, sending all of our things flying. Umbrellas, coolers, and towels all taken by the sea. I remember running away from the ocean, while the adults went grabbing for what they could carry.
When I wrote Love in the Time of Hurricanes, I wanted to capture that sense of magic, that memory of childhood that sneaks up on your when you aren’t thinking about it. Perhaps the smell of the ocean brings it all back.
Nick, the narrator of this story, finds all that and more, discovering what the Shore is like in the fall, when the tourists go away, and there’s nothing left but the beach. He finds his own bit of magic.
Excerpt
Our knees knocked together under the table, and he smiled at me, but this time he looked almost dangerous.
“I’d like to take you for a ride.”
“What?” I spat out the orange juice I’d hastily drunk and coughed into a napkin. There went any bit of suave I might have had left.
“On my bike,” Lou clarified, but with the way his eyes sparkled, he knew exactly what he had done. “Let’s leave your car here, and I’ll give you a tour. It’s a perfect day to open up down the highway.”
“Do you have an extra helmet?” Much as his invitation intrigued me, I didn’t want to risk my brain if we wiped out. I was kinda fond of it.
“Of course. It’s my sister’s, but she has a big head. I’m pretty sure it will fit you.”
“I won’t tell her you said that.” I laughed, then sobered and gave him my best sultry look. “All right. Take me for a ride.”
We split the check with only a little grumbling from Lou, who wanted to cover the whole thing. As nice as the gesture was, I had my pride.
The bike felt massive between my legs, and when Lou started the engine, the vibrations flowed through me, setting my skin on fire.
He yelled, “Hold on,” and I barely heard him. But I’d already slid my hands around his waist.
He could have meant hold on to the bike, but at that point, I thought I’d figured out what dance we were doing. Slow burn for now, but when this fire finally lit, it would make an explosion.
Lou guided the bike back onto Route 37 and headed toward the bridge. The wind buffeted us with such force it felt like being caught in a tunnel. He weaved between cars—showing off a little—and opened up as we crossed the span, surrounded on either side by water.
It was fucking incredible.
About C.C.
CC Bridges is a mild-mannered librarian by day, but by night she writes about worlds of adventure and romance. When she’s not busy solving puzzles in an escape room, she can be found diving into comics or binge-watching superhero movies. She writes surrounded by books, spare computing equipment, a fluffy dog, and a long-suffering husband in the state of New Jersey. In 2011, she won a Rainbow Award for best gay sci-fi/futuristic novel.
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Giveaway!
One lucky commenter will receive a $10 Dreamspinner giftcard!
Please leave your contact info, along with a favorite beach memory!
Congrats on your upcoming release C.C..
I like to go to the beach in summer, strolling trough the sand, enjoying the sun. But the beach in winter is something else. Huddled in a wintercoat and scarf walking through the storm, fighting against the elements.
Thank you! I really do love the beach in winter. There’s something to be said for that wind coming over the ocean!
Congratulations on your new book! Thank you for the post and excerpt. I haven’t been to the Jersey coast, but I have been to Ocean City, MD. The boardwalks are amazing there. Seeing the sand sculptures and all the ceazy stores on the boardwalk was great.
I’ve never been to Ocean City in Maryland! I have family down there, and they are always asking us to come visit. I’ll have to take them up on it sometime.
Congrats on the release! It sounds good.
I love beach vacations, although I have not been to the Jersey Coast, and your childhood vacations sound lovely.
Thank you! If you can’t get to the Jersey shore, I hope this book brings a little bit of it alive for you!
Congrats on your upcoming release, CC – the story sounds wonderful! I don’t have much beach memory, but back when I was little and still went to visit my grams on Holidays, my uncle used to take me and my cousins to the beach. All I remember was the hot sand under my feet (we have to walk quite a distance to reach the beach) and my awe at seeing the vast Indian Ocean. And how we’re treated to some ice afterward 🙂 Those were good times.
Thank you!
What a lovely memory! I’ve never seen the Indian Ocean – only the Atlantic and the Mediterranean.
Every summer we went to my Aunt and Uncles house which was a couple of miles from the coast and spent most days on the beach with a picninc even if the weather wasn’t good. Great times.
It’s so great that you have those memories!
One of my favorite vacations was the 3 weeks I spent at Myrtle Beach with my then best friend. We stayed at her granddad’s house, had dinner with him most nights, spent our days sunning & went out partying at night. We even drove up to NC to visit with her sister & family.
Wow, three whole weeks at the beach! That sounds lovely!
Hi all! Just a note that I will pick a winner on Monday, March 6th! Sorry that I forgot to put the date in my post!
Congratuations on the upcoming release, CC. I love the beach, both in summer when it is hot and inviting, and in winter, when the sea shows its dangerous nature. My favourite beach memory is from a New Year’s day, when I went for a walk in the beach with all my family. It was quiet and magical
susanaperez7140(at)gmail(dot)com
Susana,
Thank you! The beach is lovely in January.
And congratulations! The random number generator picked you as the winner! I will email you shortly.
-CC
Congrats on the new release! It sounds great =) I’m less of a beach goer than I use to. That sparkle as a kid that was there isn’t so much these days. Every year my family plans a trip to the beach because my nephew loves to celebrate his birthday with a week at the beach.
humhumbum AT yahoo DOT com
Thanks! Yeah, sometimes it can be hard as an adult to appreciate things – now you have to worry about sand in odd places, where to keep your phone, etc. Much easier to be a kid and let someone else take care of everything:
Congrats and thanks for the post. My parents were from Jersey & MD, so I’ve been up and down those coasts. But I grew up in TX and Padre Island was my shore. So when I first came out, I went there, spent a week in an ocean front room, and found myself again. Best thing I could have done.
Thank you!
And that’s exactly it – there’s something about looking at the ocean that reminds you of what’s truly important in the world.