Hiya guys, we have Renae Kaye stopping by with her upcoming release Safe in His Heart, we have a great guest post and a tasty excerpt, so guys, enjoy the post! <3 ~Pixie~

Safe in His Heart

Renae Kaye

Andrew and Paul learned about God and Jesus in different churches and realize their views of spirituality are worlds apart.

Andrew was raised Catholic and was told his homosexuality was a sin. For his entire life, he hid the truth. He married and had children to present a façade to the world—that of a straight man. It’s not until he has an affair with Paul, who shows him a different side of Jesus, that Andrew realizes he can be gay and still believe in God. Paul’s Jesus is one of acceptance and love, and in Paul’s church, being gay is not a problem.

For Paul and Andrew, falling in love is the easy part of their journey. They must make it through the fires of cheating, being discovered, Andrew’s wife leaving, the necessities of childcare and family life, the demands of their jobs, and working on their commitment to each other. Only then can they be safe in each other’s heart.

Guest Post

How did this book come about?

Once upon a time, an author wrote a “short story” that turned into a novel.  Yeah.  That was me.  Safe in His Arms was meant to be about 4000 words long.  I miscalculated by over seventy thousand words.  I’m the type of writer that is sometimes referred to as a “pantser” – it really means that I don’t plan my books. I just sit down and start writing them.  That’s what happened with Lon and Casey.  I wrote the opening scene (for those who haven’t read it, Safe in His Arms starts off with Lon in the showers of a public bathroom, and Casey staring at him) and then I wanted to know more about Casey.  There were little clues to his personality from those few paragraphs, and I wanted to know more.

During the course of the book, we met Paul, Lon’s best friend and rock.  I often find it odd when I read a story and the main character seems to have no family or friends.  No man is an island.  So Lon had this best friend, who was also gay, and they hung out.  I like my characters to be realistic.  I give them flaws.  Paul was a good looking guy with a wonderful bedside manner, who was so supportive to his mate that I just had to give him a really bad weakness.  I could’ve picked a lot of things – drugs, alcohol, loud cars that he drove too fast, country music…  I picked something that Casey could tease him about.  His weakness for a certain closeted, married guy.

We’ve all heard the stories.  I think every gay guy I talk to will tell you a story about that fabulous guy they knew (and often slept with) who was great in every way… apart from the fact he was firmly in the closet and pretending otherwise with some woman.  It appears to happen a lot.  But why?

Never ask an author to explain what possible reason would lead a person to …[fill in the blank].  That author will respond to you with a 95,000 word essay that they call a “novel.”

So when my readers asked me to write a story about Paul, I was kind of stuck.  Paul was in love with a guy who was married.  With kids!  No way that I could redeem him.  I admit that I could’ve chosen the easy way out and break Paul’s heart by breaking up the two of them and finding someone easier for Paul to love. 

But who said love was ever easy?

I love my realistic characters, flaws and all.  If you find me writing about someone who’s perfect and knows all the answers, you know that I’ve given up writing “real” books and I’m just pretending.

So I pulled out my journalism notebook, and went over to this cheating, married father and asked him what the deal was.  How dare he?  And instead I found that Andrew had his own story to tell.  His story hit me like a ton of bricks.  He was deep in the closet due to one line in the bible that has been used to clobber gay men since they could spell the word God.  Andrew was just trying to do his best to get by.  Yes, he was married.  No, his wife didn’t expect him to be faithful.

This author was in seventh heaven with this complicated relationship.

I’m well aware that some people won’t like this book, because there are no perfect men or women with its pages, just people who sometimes are selfish and do what they want to please themselves.  There will be times you won’t like Andrew – I know that I sneered at the screen several times in disgust – and I know there are definitely times you won’t like Andrew’s wife, Kristy.  But that’s okay, because she’s as complicated and realistic as the rest of them in this book.  If I catch a review that says, “I didn’t like Kristy” then I will know that I’ve done my job as the author.

To me, Andrew is the hero of the story – flaws and all.  What he had to go through to achieve his dream was remarkable.  He could’ve taken the easy path and pretended that he was straight for the rest of his life.  But he didn’t.  He knew all the pitfalls.  He knew what the outcome would be.  He knew the pain and hurt he could cause.  But where would that leave him?  Depressed and unfulfilled for the rest of his life?

For this “pantser,” I feel honoured to be able to write Andrew’s story.  He’s not a perfect man, because no one is.  He’s made mistakes, but his heart has always been in the right place.

Do I know why Paul fell so hard for him?  Yes.  Because… well, how about you read those 95,000 words and let me know if you think Paul made the right decision?

Excerpt

The weight machines were situated opposite the rowing machine, so Paul chose the one that put the most distance between them. He adjusted the weight load and took his position on his back. It meant his legs were spread and his groin on display, but there was nothing he could do about that.

He pushed up on the bar, counting in his head while he tried to ignore the other man. He had wondered for days about Andrew and his wife. Was it an open relationship? Was Andrew bisexual? Was he looking for someone to join him and his wife for a threesome? Was he a horndog and his wife was sitting at home crying while he did whatever he wanted?

Paul finished the set and sat up to increase the weights for the next round. He glanced at Andrew, who was still rowing without a missed beat.

“Does she know?” he asked suddenly in the silence between them.

Andrew was wearing loose black shorts and a workout shirt. They both carried brand-name labels, which Paul thought was a bit pretentious. But if you could afford designer gear, why not? Andrew’s face was flushed, and sweat gathered under his armpits as he glanced in Paul’s direction.

“Not specifics,” Andrew puffed out as he continued to work his machine. Neither man had to ask what the other was talking about.

“So she doesn’t mind?”

“As long as I don’t bother her for sex and her friends never know, then no. She doesn’t mind.”

Paul settled down on his back again and pushed out another fifty. By the time he finished, Andrew had moved to the leg press.

“You two don’t sleep together?” Paul asked, confused but picking up the conversation again.

“No.” Andrew’s answer was short and without hesitation.

“Then why not get a divorce?”

“Because then my family would find me another wife. This one’s fine with me.”

That’s when Paul started feeling sorry for him. “Why not simply tell them you’re gay?”

Andrew didn’t look up from his knees. “Leviticus 18:22.”

Now Paul was angry. One fucking line in a bloody book that was over two thousand years old, and gay men all over were crucified for it. It was one bloody sentence in a chapter that came after the verse forbidding people to burn their children alive as a sacrifice to a foreign god. Any tribe that required a law to spell out that they shouldn’t murder their children would never understand something as biological as sexual orientation.

“You don’t believe that rubbish, do you?” Paul asked in exasperation.

“No. But they do.” Once again Andrew’s answer was short and without hesitation.

Shit.

Paul wondered how often Andrew had that shit rammed down his throat growing up. He also wondered if Andrew’s family made sure he knew the line about Jesus loving everyone. Not everyone apart from the gay people. Everyone. Full stop.

About Renae

Renae Kaye is a lover and hoarder of books who thinks libraries are devilish places because they make you give the books back.  She consumed her first adult romance book at the tender age of thirteen and hasn’t stopped since.  After years – and thousands of stories! – of not having book characters do what she wants, she decided she would write her own novel and found the characters still didn’t do what she wanted.  It hasn’t stopped her though.  She believes that maybe one day the world will create a perfect couple – and it will be the most boring story ever.  So until then she is stuck with quirky, snarky and imperfect characters who just want their story told.

Renae lives in Perth, Western Australia and writes in five minute snatches between the demands of two kids, a forbearing husband, too many pets, too much housework and her beloved veggie garden.  She is a survivor of being the youngest in a large family and believes that laughter (and a good book) can cure anything.

How to contact Renae:

Email:  renaekaye@iinet.net.au | Website |  Facebook |  Twitter