Monday, December 2, 2019

Featured Guest: Liv Rancourt ~ Guest Post #Review #Giveaway #Excerpt





Diverse Reader is so so happy to have Liv Rancourt here. She's a frequent guest and we can never get enough! She's here talking about her new holiday story A Holiday Homecoming. Our reviewer Truus had a chance to read the book and has a review, and Liv has a giveaway for one lucky reader! Check out her post and all the fun.





Hi! Thanks so much for having me, Meredith! I’m excited about my newest release, A Holiday Homecoming!! (And you can tell I’m excited by all the !!!!)
You’ve seen it, right? The Facebook meme making fun of all of us who use the exclamation point in a way god & the Chicago Manual of Style never intended? I swear when I comment on someone’s post or even write an email, I have to ration the number of !!!’s I use so people don’t think I’m nuts.
But I need people to know I like them! And that I mean what I say!! And sometimes emojis just aren’t enough!!!
Heh.
At any rate, I had so much fun with Jon & Bo that they’ve earned a few !!!’s. Their story is a bit of a departure for me. It’s contemporary, which means I didn’t have to research how to turn on a light or how long it would take to travel from point A to point B without using freeways. It’s also NOT a paranormal – there’s nary a vampire in site!
So if you’re in the mood for a mostly-sweet-slightly-spicy-all-happy holiday romance, A Holiday Homecoming might just be your book! Keep reading for the blurb and an excerpt, and make sure you enter the rafflecopter for a $10 gift card! Happy Holidays!



Ten years ago, Jon’s passion for the piano took him across country to New York, where a demanding concert career consumed his life and left him no time to look back. His father’s stroke is the only thing that brings him home to Seattle. The sick room makes for a dreary holiday until Jon runs into Bo, whose inner light can make anything sparkle.
Bo loves the holidays; the food, the crafts, the glitter! A fling with an old school friend – who grew up to be his celebrity crush – makes a good thing better. The season turns sour, though, when Jon is offered a gig he can’t refuse. He wants Bo to share the moment, but Bo doesn’t fly. Anywhere. Ever. Is this good-bye, or will a handmade ornament bring Jon home to Bo?
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Review

Jon and Bo- two opposite personalities. Jon is rigid and Bo is sparkling. Jon is a well-paid musician with expensive clothes and Bo is a teacher with just average clothes. Jon travels around the world and Bo will never, ever.

After many years Jon will be home for the Christmas holidays and only because his father is very ill. When he meets his school friend, Bo, again they have an instant reconnection. Bo visits Jon at home where they make beautiful ornaments.
Suddenly Jon gets an offer for a New Years' gig and he invites Bo to travel.

A holiday story with all the feelings, revelations, and self-discovery. We get a look into their lives, their personalities. Why they make decisions as they do. It all made sense.
I love their characters, kind and opposite but well
The beautiful high light with the click-in-place moment. Not only for them but also for me.
With just sixty somewhat pages we got here a nicely written story with all the possible Christmas spirits.







Excerpt 

With synchronized steps, they dodged a cluster of street kids huddled in the doorway of a Vietnamese restaurant. Jon’s citrus-and-spice scent carried through the cold air. “Aveda?” Bo wondered, unaware he’d spoken out loud until Jon chuckled.
“It’s what was in the shower.”
His cheeks hot, Bo fumbled for a response. “Guess I just like a good product.” Because hair care is so butch.
“You’ve got great hair, and that doesn’t happen spontaneously.”
The compliment made him blush even harder. “Thanks. I like how your hair has a mind of its own sometimes.”
Jon shook his head to flip the offending bangs out of his eyes. “Willy’s always after me to get it cut.”
Willy? Another man? Bo managed to keep from tripping over his own feet, but it was a near miss. Don’t be an idiot.
“I swear, she’s the main reason I’m not still running around in the Levi’s and T-shirts I wore in school.”
She? Okay. Not another man. “Willy is a musician too?”
“She’s my manager.” Jon paused, and Bo scooted himself a bit closer so their shoulders and hips bumped as they walked.
“She was seriously annoyed when I told her I needed to come home for Christmas.”
“Why?”
The snow let up, changing from fat drifting flakes to tiny stinging bits of ice. Walking got colder, less comfortable.
“I get booked pretty far out, and she… um… had to cancel a couple of gigs, including two that had been booked for over a year.”
“But your dad had a stroke.”
“True, but the show must go on, you know?”
“No.” Bo squeezed Jon’s arm. “Family wins.”
“Yeah, well….” Jon stiffened, and while he didn’t pull out of Bo’s grasp, they weren’t quite as close. “My dad and I don’t get along very well, and I guess I hoped if I came out here, we could… fix things.”
Bo let a few beats pass. “It’s hard to repair a relationship when you’re not in the same place.”
“Exactly.” Jon’s laugh was tinged with bitterness. A gust of wind tossed a spray of snow in their faces, and they both flinched. “Maybe I should go back to my car.”
“You know….” Half-blind from the snow on his glasses, Bo girded his loins for possible rejection. “My apartment’s only about another block away.”
Jon relaxed some, or at least the shoulder and hip bumping picked back up.
“And I have a fireplace and a Pres-to-Log.”
Jon’s expression was blurry. “I suppose Mom and Dad are both in bed right now.”
“And you wouldn’t want to wake them by coming in so late.”
“True.” They stopped at a crosswalk even though there was no traffic coming. “I really must be in Seattle.”
“Why?”
“Because we’re standing here waiting for the light to change.”
“Jaywalking is bad for you.”
Jon laughed, and then Bo laughed, and when they calmed, they were somehow holding hands and standing face-to-face. Jon traced a fingertip along a curl that had flopped down over Bo’s forehead. The contact made Bo shiver.
They stared at each other with an intensity that shut out everything else: the snow, the neon, the random passersby. Bo tilted his chin: the better to invite a kiss. He would have initiated something, but he’d have had to stand on tiptoe to reach Jon, and he wanted to be sure.
Jon’s leather-wrapped fingertip slid down along Bo’s jawline, stopping on his chin, right under his lower lip. “I’m trying to remember something,” Jon whispered. “Did we want to do this when we were friends before?”
Bo snorted a laugh. “I was pretty clueless in those days, but if I’d wanted to kiss anyone, it would have been you.” Small white lie, but it served the moment.
“Mmhmm.” Jon dipped his head, his hand wrapping around the back of Bo’s neck. “Me too.”
The admission might have melted Bo right where he stood, but the steady pressure of Jon’s hand kept him upright. Jon lowered his head farther till their lips were a breath apart. Impatient, Bo lifted his heels to close the gap.
Their lips met, and for a long beat Bo froze. I’m kissing Jon Cunningham. Then Jon tugged him closer, and Bo wrapped his arms around Jon’s waist. Yes, he was kissing Jon Cunningham, and if this was his only shot, he was going to make it memorable.




Liv Rancourt writes romance of all kinds. Because love is love, even with fangs.
Liv is a huge fan of paranormal romance and urban fantasy and loves history just as much, so her stories often feature vampires or magic or they’re set in the past…or all of the above. When Liv isn’t writing she takes care of tiny premature babies or teenagers, depending on whether she’s at work or at home. Her husband is a soul of patience, her kids are her pride and joy, and her dogs – Trash Panda and The Boy Genius – are endlessly entertaining.
Liv can be found on-line at all hours of the day and night at her website (www.livrancourt.com), on Facebook (www.facebook.com/liv.rancourt), or on Twitter (www.twitter.com/LivRancourt). She also blogs monthly over at Spellbound Scribes (https://spellboundscribes.wordpress.com/). For sneak peeks and previews and other assorted freebies, go HERE to sign up for her mailing list or join the Facebook page she shares with her writing partner Irene Preston, After Hours with Liv & Irene. Fun stuff!





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1 comment:

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