Bryan T. Clark has a new contemporary MM romance out: “Far Away.” And there’s a giveaway!
First love can save you … and ruin you …
Eighteen-year-old Noah Rothenberg spent the perfect summer with his first love, the charming and seductive Spiro. He fell head over heels in love from what started as a clumsy crush.
But that was twelve years ago. His relationships since have been spectacular failures because of how things ended with Spiro. If he has any hope of moving forward, he needs to find Spiro and get some closure … even if he has to fly halfway around the world to do it. Too bad he instead finds himself falling—again—for the man who ruined him for all other men.
Love isn’t an emotion Spiro Papadopoulos entirely trusts anymore. He’s far too pragmatic for that. His focus these days has to be on his art and caring for his ailing mother. Being with Noah again is easy and feels so right … but is it love? Spiro isn’t sure. Besides, with his entire life being tied to Greece and Noah’s to New York, love might just be a luxury neither of them can afford.
Can Spiro and Noah overcome the oceans and years between them—or will their second chance at love end as badly as their first?
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Giveaway
Bryan is giving away a $25 Amazon gift card with this tour – enter via Rafflecopter for a chance to win:
Direct Link: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/b60e8d47119/?
Excerpt
“Good morning, Mr. Rothenberg.” Eros put a hand on his knee to steady himself as he stood. Aloof in the shadows, Spiro held his gaze on him. Noah couldn’t look away as Spiro’s eyes washed over him from head to toe. Were they brown or green? Afraid he’d stared too long, he broke eye contact, his eyes sweeping past the visitor’s long dark sideburns that cupped his ears.
“Sorry to disturb you.” Noah’s voice cracked. He cleared his throat and tried to put on a cool and collected face, not wanting to seem like the dork that he was. “I was hoping you could help this morning with the rowboat.” His thumb pointed to the boathouse, but his eyes remained on Spiro. Face-to-face, Eros’s nephew was… beautiful. A statue of beauty.
Noah tried to look away but couldn’t. Yes, Spiro was a hair taller than he. His square jawline, straight nose, and jade eyes rimmed in gold were mesmerizing. Noah’s heart sped as he broke eye contact. Excitement swirled in his gut at the proximity of this Adonis.
“Sure.” Eros tossed his hammer into his box of tools. Noah’s eyes followed Eros as Eros turned and spoke to his nephew.
Noah’s eyes drifted to Spiro’s bow-shaped lips before moving up to his eyes. Their eyes met, causing Noah’s heart to skip a beat. Noah had no idea what he saw in those cat eyes that were staring intensely back at him and caused his heart to flutter. It wasn’t disdain, dominance, or dismissal, the usual looks his peers gave him upon meeting him for the first time. It was… he’s really looking at me.
Everything about Spiro enthralled him. No longer wishing away the next two months before he could escape to Harvard, he was cautiously excited about the summer.
“Hi, I’m Noah.” He felt the heat of a blush on his cheeks as he extended his hand. Spiro looked directly at him; his deep stare instantly pinned Noah. His dark locks of hair, jet black, ran the length of his neck and curled at the nape of his neck. Noah tried to release a breath quietly. Adrenaline pumped through his veins like the multiple streams that fed into Lake Winnipesaukee. He’d never acted this boldly when it came to meeting someone. The way Spiro looked at him gave him the boost of confidence that he could actually stand here and talk to him. This was a first, and it surprised him.
Spiro shook Noah’s hand. “Um, my English is not so good. My name is Spiro.” A deep voice cast from his full lips. Spiro saying his own name sounded more exotic than when Noah’s grandmother said it.
Geeze Louise, his teeth are perfect, too. They’re so freaking white. Noah stumbled over his own words as he searched for something to say. Spiro’s gaze kept Noah from looking for more than a second before lowering his head.
WHY I WROTE THE BOOK/Evolution of the story
In today’s spotlight, Bryan T. Clark shares with his audience how and why he wrote his newest release, Far Away.
As an author, I often get asked why I wrote a particular book or where a specific character came from. I love that question because it is fascinating how I pull the different aspects of my life in creating a novel.
In my latest novel, Far Away, the story is so much a part of my own life that there is only a fine line between fiction and reality within the pages.
The story opens on the shores of Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire. In the book it’s where the two main characters meet for the first time as teenagers. The lakefront grand home belongs to the character Noah’s, grandmother. This particular summer, is where it feels like life is just beginning for Noah, but for the visiting Spiro, it very much feels like the end.
In my own life, the characters Noah and Spiro, are bits and pieces of me during my own childhood, split into two characters. I have fond childhood memories of spending the summer with my grandmother on the shores of Lake Winnipesaukee. My brother Kenny, and I would visit her during the summer without our parents. Although Kenny and I weren’t twins like Noah and Nathanael, we were extremely close.
The original draft of Far Away was called the Visitor. It was originally a short story, and the entire story took place on Lake Winnipesaukee. In the end, Noah and Spiro were split apart by their parents. I never published that story because it didn’t have an HEA.
As young adults, my husband and I took a long vacation to Greece. On the tiny island of Santorini, I remember falling deeper in love with my husband. I knew I loved him when we left the States, but there was something magical that happened between us during those weeks on the island. When we returned, I crafted a story surrounding our Greece trip called ‘Killer Vacation’. It was a short story as well, about two people falling in love but by the name of it, you could probably guess, it had a more ominous ending than a romance would.
In writing Far Away, the challenge was how to combine those two stories, that wouldn’t work for my romance audience, into a love story they would enjoy reading. In doing so, I also wanted to stay true to who the characters were, so blending four characters into two was challenging.
In Far Away, Noah is a very complex individual, fighting some dark demons. He is also this amazingly bright and gifted person that the world just doesn’t know what to do with. The scene where Noah returns home, after being kicked into a mud puddle by a bully, and tells his brother what happens, is not entirely all fiction. In reality, this is me, sharing a moment with you of my early life and my relationship with my big brother Conrad.
Conrad, may you rest in peace and know that I am forever grateful that you were always my ally.
Bryan is currently on his book tour promoting his latest novel, Far Away.
For more information visit http://www.BTClark.com
Author Bio
Bryan T. Clark is a multi-published award-winning author of gay romance, and contemporary books.
In his early in life, Bryan learned that he was different from everyone else in his world. As a young African American boy, he was the second to the youngest of seven children. Long before hormones kicked in and the realization of same sex attraction, it was his light skin and blond hair that made him different from those around him. Teased within his own race for being lighter than everyone else, the kids on the playground called him “Cornbread”.
As a writer, Bryan has taken back the power once given up to those schoolyard bullies. He is committed to bringing his readers stories of real life, with multicultural characters, riveting plots, and where the underdog always wins. He is the founder of Cornbread Publishing: the name empowers him and is a constant reminder that life can have a Happily-Ever-After.
Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Bryan and his husband of thirty-six years has made their home and life in the Central Valley of California.
Author Website: https://www.btclark.com
Author Facebook (Personal): https://www.facebook.com/btclarkauthor
Author Twitter: https://twitter.com/BryanTClarkx2
Author Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/romanceauthor/
Author Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7875459.Bryan_T_Clark
Author QueeRomance Ink: https://www.queeromanceink.com/mbm-book-author/bryan-t-clark/
Author Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Bryan-Clark/e/B00INKEVWM
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