Blog Tour: Hopeless Romantic by Francis Gideon #Excerpt #Giveaway

Author: Francis Gideon
Book: Hopeless Romantic
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Cover Artist:Vivian Ng
Publication date: April 10, 2017
Length: 293 pages


Synopsis

Nick Fraser is a true romantic. He wants the guy instead of the girl, but other than that, he wants everything his favorite rom-coms depict: the courtship, the passionate first kiss, the fairy-tale wedding. But after breaking up with the love of his life, Nick wonders if anything fairy-tale will ever happen for him.

Then he meets Katie, who’s just like a rom-com heroine. She’s sharp, funny, sweet, and as into music and punk culture as Nick is. What’s more, he’s incredibly attracted to her—even though she’s a woman. Nick has never considered that he might be bisexual, but his feelings for Katie are definitely real.

When Katie reveals that she’s transgender, Nick starts to see how much he doesn’t understand about the world, queer identity, and himself. He is hopelessly in love with Katie, but this isn’t a fairy tale, and Nick’s friends and family may not accept his new relationship. If he wants it all, he has to have the courage to make his fantasy a reality.

Buy Links

Riptide Publishing

Amazon

Hello everyone! I'm Francis Gideon and I'm touring for my new release Hopeless Romantic, a trans rom-com of sorts. Follow along this week as I talk about all thinks romantic comedy, trans identity, and being pretty in pink! I'm looking forward to sharing some serious 1980s nostalgia; be sure to comment with your own bit of nostalgia for a $10 giveaway for Riptide publishing.

 

Excerpt

“I never thought I'd see you again,” Greg said.
Nick grinned nonchalantly as he leaned against the mechanic's doorway. His ex-boyfriend Greg was behind the counter, filling out some reports, while Greg's bosses, John and Ray, had taken Nick's car around the other side. After the class meeting, Nick had swallowed his pride and called a tow truck and told them to drop it off at the closest mechanic. When the driver had informed him that'd be Davis's Car and Auto Repair, Nick hadn't been surprised.
“How could I never see your face again? Please,” Nick said. “I knew this would happen one day. I've been in Waterloo so long I have memories around every corner. Most of them good.”
Greg chuckled. “Well, I think you should make a scrapbook. Save up for when you finally defend that damn degree of yours.”
“In that case, I may be here for years. So humor me and help me out right now. Your friends have just taken my poor car.”
“Let me finish up this paperwork, then I'm all yours. Always a pleasure to serve, you know.” Greg winked before he hurriedly scrawled a few more notes on whatever forms he was filling in.
Out of all of Nick's breakups, Greg had easily been the best. The two of them had hooked up in the back laundry room of a house party, where Nick also had met Tucker, during the early part of his PhD. After exchanging numbers, they soon had sex in Greg's car. Two weeks later, they were having sex fairly regularly as if it were a sport. In spite of Nick desperately wanting the relationship to go somewhere more romantic and mean something beyond fucking, they both knew they would never work out. Greg's large biceps and taut muscles, dusty-blond hair, and sharp jawline drew Nick in, but his messy apartment and gambling habit (and subsequent credit card debt) were huge turnoffs for anything long-term. According to Greg, Nick's intellect and his wild theories about the world made interesting pillow and dinner talk, but Nick's addiction to romantic comedies on Netflix made him seem both too serious and too sappy. So after two months of fooling around, Greg invited Nick over for a glass of whiskey and they mutually decided to see other people. It had taken another two weeks for the “no fucking around anymore” part of the breakup to really take effect, and by that time, Greg had found someone else through Grindr, and Netflix had uploaded all of Friends to its queue, so Nick had something else to do on Friday and Saturday nights.
Greg set the forms aside on the counter and turned his attention back to Nick. “So what brings you here?”
“As if you don't know. I am just that desperate and hopeless.” Nick sighed overdramatically. “Also, my car won't start. John and Ray took it around by the back door.”
“I thought it was only me who got in your back door?”
“Oh, don't start that. My heart is like my car and can't take being toyed with.”
“Hmm. Sounds like a big issue.”
“The biggest.”
Greg chuckled. Before their flirtation could go much further, John and Ray stepped in from the garage and placed a new form in front of Greg. They grabbed some donuts from a box near the coffee machine and disappeared again into another room. “Well, apparently I'm the only one free today, so I may as well check it out.”
“You're an angel. Thank you.” Nick held back from kissing Greg on the cheek with gratitude. When Greg walked around the counter and grabbed Nick in a half hug, Nick felt much better.
“Don't worry, Nick. I'll go take a look at this mess, and maybe we can get you out of here before nightfall.”

About Francis Gideon

Francis Gideon is a nonbinary writer who dabbles in romance, mystery, fantasy, historical, and paranormal genres. Francis credits music, along with being an only child to a single mother, as why they write so much now. Long nights at home were either spent memorizing lyrics to pop-punk bands or reading voraciously. Add a couple of formative experiences in university, a network of weird artist friends, and after years of writing stories Francis never showed to anyone, they now have books to their name.

After receiving an MA in English literature, Francis wanted to do something a bit more fun. They soon found the LGBTQ romance community and fell in love on the spot. Since then, Francis has attempted to balance writing romances with as many different types of couples as possible while also attending school for their PhD. When not writing fiction or teaching university classes, Francis works on scholarly articles on everything from character deaths in the TV show Hannibal, the online archive of Canadian poet and artist P.K. Page, and transgender representation on YouTube. Francis is a middle name, used to keep students from Googling their teacher and asking far too many questions.

Francis lives in Canada with their partner, Travis, where they often spend nights disagreeing about what TV show to watch and making bad puns whenever possible. Travis receives dedications in Francis's novels because he tolerates Francis's long hours and listens to random story ideas late into the night. Francis also might be a bit of a hopeless romantic—as if you didn't already guess.

Connect with Francis:

• Website & Blog: francisgideon.wordpress.com
• Twitter: @francisgideon88

Giveaway

To celebrate the release of Hopeless Romantic, one lucky winner will receive a $10 Riptide credit! Leave a comment with your contact info to enter the contest. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on April 15, 2017. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries. Thanks for following the tour, and don’t forget to leave your contact info!