Diverse Reader: GRL Spotlight: Felice Stevens

GayRomLit— or as some refer to it as GRL— truly is the must-attend event for people who create and celebrate LGBT romance. For those who are unfamiliar with what GRL is I can try and summarize it. Every year in October (this year it’s the 17^th to the 20^th with pre-events on the 16^th) the LGBT community consisting of authors, narrators, readers, and professionals gather to share in their love of LGBT romance. There are signings, author lounges, many events, spotlights, it really is hours of fun.

The location changes every year and on the opening night of each year the spot for the next year is announced. During this time at GRL there are two signings. One for Registered Authors and one for Featured Authors.

At these signings you can go to the authors’ tables, talk, have them sign swag they have, books you’ve brought, pick up pre-orders, and they will even sign something you brought from home.

Lounges are set up as well these are outside the signing times. Registered authors have one and featured have two lounges.

There will also be spotlights with readings, Q&A’s and so much more.

Now until October 14^th Diverse Reader is spotlighting authors that will be at this years GRL. And if you want to know more about it simply head over to the site by clicking here:

https://www.gayromlit.com/home

Now for our Spotlight Author of the day!

Hi everyone! It’s only a month until GRL and if you’re as excited as I am...well then you’re pretty excited. This is my fourth GRL and I’m as excited as if it was my first.

For me, GRL is a time to connect with our on-line family, because for me, our little MM world is that: a family. We may squabble and get hurt feelings but we come together to help if there’s trouble. I’ve made some of my deepest friendships with people in this community and GRL is the only way I get to see these people. For that I am grateful to the organizers for continuing this event. Many of our MM family are not able to live an open life or feel free to be who they are, and GRL is a time for them to feel safe and loved. Please come say hello and give me a hug. I can’t wait to meet some of you who’ve neve been and see those of you I’ve missed for the year.

Now, if you want to be able to find me at GRL, my author lounges are Thursday, 10/17 from 3-3:45 pm, and Friday, 10/18 from 4-4:45 pm. My storyteller panel is on Thursday from 2:30 -3:20 pm and is with S.c. Wynne and Josh Lanyon. It’s called Geography from the Heart: When the setting is also a character in your book.

I will have limited books for sale. I’ll be featuring my Rock Bottom series: Broken Silence, Imitation of Life and I hope to have Running From My Heart available.

Justin Molina has secrets. He’s served his time but remains a prisoner of his past, unable to forgive himself for failing his family when they needed him most. Justin’s grief is overwhelming, but he keeps silent and focuses on his goals. About to graduate college, he tries to keep his head above water—no matter how many times life keeps knocking him down. When he’s forced to register for a poetry-writing class, Justin discovers putting words to his feelings might be exactly what his fractured heart needs to heal. Or is it the older professor with the bow ties and gentle smile who gives him a chance when no one else will?

Professor Foster Faraday Harding is a broken man. His divorce is final, and he’s reverted back to the safety of his books. Even his poetry no longer brings him joy; he’s sleepwalking through life. The raw emotion of Justin’s poetry awakens Foster to desires he thought long buried in the ashes of his marriage. When he discovers Justin is struggling financially, Foster offers him a solution that benefits both of them. Soon it’s Foster who’s struggling with emotions he can’t understand: Justin is his student. And a man. One crazy night years earlier doesn’t mean anything. Foster is straight.

After months of denying the growing attraction between them, an unexpected kiss changes everything. Justin and Foster are no longer only professor and student—they’ve become lovers, but the strain of hiding their relationship increases with each passing day. Words have the power not only to hurt but to heal the greatest pain. If Foster and Justin listen to what their hearts are saying, they might break through their silence and live their own love poems—together.

Benny DeMarco is the nicest guy you’ll ever meet. He works hard, takes care of his little sister, and pays the bills. Childhood bullies and an abusive stepfather invade his dreams, and at times he wishes life would grant him a do-over. Would he like a boyfriend? You bet. But Benny knows love isn’t for him. He’s been looked over, looked through, and looked past all his life. Even worse, the one guy he’s been in love with for almost two years is the biggest flirt who will sleep with anyone. Anyone except Benny.

Gino Acosta smiles to keep from crying. Everyone he meets tells him he’s beautiful and sexy, but Gino knows the truth. His outside may be perfect, but inside he feels dirty and unworthy. Bounced around as a child, he yearns for someone to love and a family to call his own. He hops from man to man, desperate to belong, believing the lies he’s told, but all he finds is a body for an hour or two. Things would be so different if only he knew—the man he’s searching for is waiting for him, right under his nose.

Benny starts dating the “perfect guy” and it’s okay if there’s no spark—that’ll happen eventually. Won’t it? Gino’s fast-paced modeling career has taken off, but once again, he’s trading his body for a dream. When Gino’s world explodes, Benny must fight for what and who he really wants. Gino must learn to trust what people tell him—that he’s got so much more to offer than a pretty face and a moment of pleasure.

If all your life you believe you’re nothing, how do you move past heartbreak and hardship to reach for everything?

People say six years is long enough to mourn the death of his husband but for Ross Miller, the pain is as fresh as if it happened yesterday. He’s left his glittering Hollywood life behind, yet guilt still dogs his steps, no matter how far he runs. Trapped by his past and needing to escape his well-meaning friends, he rents a cabin in the secluded Adirondack mountains. A reclusive man moves in next door and piques Ross’s interest, but his persistent attempts at friendship are rebuffed. That doesn’t stop him because the one rule Ross Miller has always lived by is to never take no for an answer.

Novelist Arden Wainwright has given up. He can’t pretend a happiness he knows he’ll never find again. Solitary days turn into years, and he remains frozen, unable to take a breath. At his wit’s end, he retreats to the mountains, but it does little to stir his creativity. He continues to hide from life and avoids his overly nosy neighbor, who insists on planting himself at Arden’s doorstep at every turn. Making friends is the last thing Arden wants, but annoying or not, he can’t get the damn man out of his mind.

Finding peace in their isolated surroundings, the two lonely men forge an unlikely friendship where they realize they’re more alike than different and better together than apart. With Ross’s help, Arden begins to rebuild the shattered pieces of his life, while Arden gives Ross the strength to face his fears and find his way home. When love comes calling you can choose to hide from hurt, loss, and pain, but if you take a chance and open the door, you might discover that running from your heart is the last thing you'll want to do.