Hola and a big smushy WELCOME to our LGBTQ event which is here for the month of May. We have reviews, Guest Posts, Top Ten List and lots and lots of prizes all with a LGBT theme. The posts will be indexed on the side and I do hope you hop through … I have been so lucky this year!
Today, we have the wonderful Shona Husk introducing her FF NA rockstar novella. It sounds wonderful.
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When I wrote Out of Rhythm it came from a very specific place. It was a novella that I wrote for me as a break between contracted books. That’s how I like to recharge. It’s these books where I like to do something different as no one is expecting anything from me. When I wrote Out of Rhythm I wanted to write a contemporary rock star story…but I didn’t want an already successful band (there are plenty of them in fiction) and I wanted to write about a female rock star because it seemed like the guys were getting all the fun.
It was around the same time I realised that guys really were having all the fun. While m/m romance was growing and touching mainstream publishing, f/f romance wasn’t. When I started asking why, I was told by one publisher that f/f romance didn’t sell. However I’m pretty sure that people used to say that about m/m and vampires and erotic romance…times have changed.
The New Adult genre is the ideal place to be exploring what it is like to be either discovering or enjoying your sexual identity for the first time and what that means. And also what affects that will have on the character’s life. For Gemma, the musician heroine of Out of Rhythm, she is worried about what coming out it will mean for her friendship with Kirsten, her relationship with her parents which is already strained and also the bands future.
It would be nice to live in a world where things that never crossed her mind. Then again introducing a new partner to friends and family is always going to be fraught and present new problems, simply because the addition of a new person changes the dynamic.
They might be one of the hottest up-and-coming bands in Australia, but the members of Selling the Sun have a lot to learn about life, love, sex, and each other.
Coming off a successful Australian tour and prestigious industry award nominations, Gemma Field’s life should be perfect. Instead her parents want her to get a real job, the second album isn’t coming together, and her best friend, Kirsten wants nothing to do with her.
Falling for her best friend was never going to make life easy. After an almost accidental drunken kiss almost six months ago, they aren’t even talking. Gemma can’t even talk about it with anyone – not her family, not her bandmates, not even the one person she used to share everything with. Instead she lives in a space of indecision and pain, and it’s affecting all aspects of her life, including the band.
Kirsten Vincent missed Gemma like crazy, but did she miss her as a friend or as something more? She’s confused and Gemma is hurt, and the consequences of a bad decision will affect more than their personal lives. Will another kiss, a sober kiss, a kiss with intent, do more damage, or could it be the start of something more?
Falling in love no matter who you’re falling in love with is always going to present problems. Romantic woes (be it lack of a partner or wanting to break up with a partner) is something that everyone can relate to. The stories that explore what it’s like to fall in love shouldn’t be blocked just because of particular pairing. Self-publishing is really opening the doors for stories that might never have been published otherwise. Reading about other lives builds empathy and understanding. The world could do with a bit more of that.
I write romance; sometimes it’s between a man and a woman, sometimes it’s between two women or two men…or more than two people. But it’s still romance and I would hope that people judge a book on its blurb/plot not the characters sexuality.
Bio
Shona Husk lives in Western Australia at the edge of the Indian Ocean. Blessed with a lively imagination she spent most of her childhood making up stories. As an adult she discovered romance novels and hasn’t looked back.
With over forty published stories, ranging from sensual to scorching, she writes contemporary, paranormal, fantasy and sci-fi romance. Her latest release is Out of Rhythm, an Australian set rock star story.
You can find out more at www.shonahusk.com
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Thanks for the post. I haven’t read a F/F book but read a lot of M/M.
What a great post, Shona! It put a smile on my face to see this book and subject being highlighted. While I’m loving SBR’s lgbtq event, it sort of mirrors the reality of what you said about publishing in general. No matter, though, because like you, I feel like strides are happening and all the other letters (and the people they represent) are getting more attention. Sometimes I just think it’s that m/m is just more talked about, not that the sales/readers aren’t there. As to your point about NA, I agree. Gemma’s predicament of falling for a best firend can certainly happen to anyone. Maybe not the rock band part, but who doesn’t love to read about rock stars? 😉 Great cover picture, by the way!