Diverse Reader: Review Tour: Tops Down Bottoms Up by Jay Northcote #Review #Giveaway

Monday, September 4, 2017

Review Tour: Tops Down Bottoms Up by Jay Northcote #Review #Giveaway

Length: 23,000 words approx

Cover Design: Garrett Leigh @ Black Jazz Design

Blurb

Will Rowan’s festival fling with sexy dancer Seth lead to something more permanent?

Rowan is stuck at a folk festival helping out a mate, and it really isn’t his scene. The yoga and singing workshops are bad enough, but morris dancing is the final straw. Bearded men with beer guts prancing around wearing bells—who wants to watch that?

All Rowan’s preconceptions are shattered when he meets Seth—a morris dancer, and the stuff Rowan’s fantasies are made of. Seth persuades Rowan to come to a dancing workshop, and Rowan’s willing to do whatever it takes to get to know Seth better. The attraction is mutual, and a lesson filled with innuendo and flirting leads to an incredible night together.

When Rowan arrives home, he’s gutted to find that Seth has given him the wrong phone number. Assuming Seth did it on purpose, Rowan resolves to forget about him. But fate—and friends—conspire to get them back together. Will they manage to stay in step this time around?

A much shorter version of this story was originally published in the Not Quite Shakespeare Anthology by Dreamspinner Press. This version has been revised and extended. Almost half of it is new content.

Review

Jay Northcote is sneaky. And I mean that in the best possible way.

“Tops Down, Bottoms Up” is not about what you think it’s about. Well, kind of. The title actually comes from a particular dance move preformed by troupes called Morris Dancers. Now, I’ll be honest. I had never heard of Morris dancers, so I looked them up on YouTube. These are small groups of people, dressed in bells and rags stitched together that dance in pre-choreographed routines, sometimes with sticks. Some people don’t think very highly of them, perhaps because of their outlandish garb and bells.

Rowan operates a tent with his best friend Max where he sees Seth, who’s beyond hot as far as he’s concerned. But, Seth is one of the aforementioned Morris dancers, and Rowan really doesn’t want any part of that world.

Seth doesn’t fit the mold of how Rowan views Morris dancers, and this messes with his head a little. He wants Seth, but has to reconcile his own pre-conceived notion of what Seth does with that want.

Rowan and Seth finally hook-up, with a promise of reconnecting after the festival is over. But through an error on Seth’s part, that never happens.

What happens after the hook-up is the most interesting part of the book. We’ve all had experiences where we meet someone, the chemistry seems right, but for one reason or another, there’s no follow through. You begin to doubt if the promises that were made were done so in the heat of the moment, or if it was just a way for the other person to say good-bye without coming off like a jerk.

It’s a good thing Rowan has Max and Seth has Deb, because there might have been a completely different outcome.

This is why I love to read. It exposes you to do different cultures, different ways of doing things, and different ideas. I learned something new, all because I read this book.

See, sneaky.

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September 4 - Diverse Reader, Making It Happen, Book Lovers 4Ever
September 6 - Padme's Library, Wicked Reads

Author Bio

Jay lives just outside Bristol in the West of England. He comes from a family of writers, but always used to believe that the gene for fiction writing had passed him by. He spent years only ever writing emails, articles, or website content.

One day, Jay decided to try and write a short story—just to see if he could—and found it rather addictive. He hasn’t stopped writing since.

Jay writes contemporary romance about men who fall in love with other men. He has five books published by Dreamspinner Press, and also self-publishes under the imprint Jaybird Press. Many of his books are now available as audiobooks.