All About Me And What's To Come~ Felice Stevens

Another Saturday is here and another All About Me And What's To Come feature! Today we are excited to have author Felice Stevens here talking about her books. Grab some coffee, tea, whatever makes you happy and enjoy.

When A Series Isn’t Quite A Series.

A few years ago my friend Kade Boehme and I sat in our favorite Mexican place having a margarita or three and in the middle of talking books and publishing we thought, what if we wrote a series that isn’t really a series? 

No we weren’t drunk.

Really.

Well maybe a little tipsy.

ANYWAY, we came up with the idea of writing a series not based on the characters in the books but using New York City Landmarks as the backdrop. Every book would be about a different couple but the NYC landmark would play an integral part of the book—almost like a third character.

Kade went first and his book, Ferry Tales came out, focused on a romance involving the Staten Island Ferry. My book, Under the Boardwalk came next and I had such fun writing it. I love the beach and it brought back memories of my childhood at Brighton Beach and Coney Island. The smells of the food, the sound of the waves all played a part in the creation of Alexi and Cam’s story. I had the song by The Drifters on repeat and it put me in a happy place.

The next book in the Landmarks series is my most recent release, His Uptown Guy and takes place in the landmarked Dakota apartment building on Central Park West. While the movie Rosemary’s Baby was filmed there, the Dakota is probably best known for the place where John Lennon was murdered. He was shot right outside the iron gates.

When I set out to write a story I knew I wanted it to be an opposites attract romance. Many of my books focus on that couple dynamic. While I like reading about two big alpha guys, I’m more comfortable writing couples that don’t naturally fit together and, like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, I have to figure out how they manage to complete each other and fall in love.

On the outside no two people seem more opposite than blue-blood Jesse Grace-Martin and the son of Albanian immigrants, Bronx-born Dashamir Sadiko. But as always, people tend to see only with their eyes and never look past what is on the surface. Jesse seems to have everything but he’s a prisoner of his mind. He may live in a multi-million dollar apartment but he’d give everything to be able to walk down the block and go shopping, or see a movie. Dash is a porter and spends his days hauling trash and sweeping the floor but he will be the first in his family to graduate college and has dreams of being a CPA and making enough money so he and his mother and sister don’t have to live in poverty.

See? You wouldn’t think these two had anything in common. But trust me they do. Against the backdrop of the beautiful Dakota, they meet, become friends and eventually fall in love. Now when I decided to set this story in the Dakota I had no idea there are no interior photographs of the courtyard —except from afar—and none of the inside hallways and lobbies. Even when Rosemary’s Baby was filmed and Mia Farrow ran through the halls to escape the coven of witches she feared were after her baby, the building refused to let Roman Polanski film in the hallway, so he used other buildings in the city. I used a little poetic license to build the tension and drama for Jesse and Dash.

What’s next in the Landmarks series? Well Kade has some ideas for his books so you’ll have to keep an eye out for his posts. As for me, I’m thinking of using one of the Hop On, Hop Off Tour Buses you find in Times Square (I hate Times Square. Most New Yorkers do) I don’t have anything else to tell but when it gets closer, I’ll have more info.

My next release is The Coincidence and you can join my Reader Group, Felice’s Fun-House to find out more about that book. Just saying, it is the absolute, hands down favorite of all my books I’ve written. A book of the heart.

Happy Reading!!!

His Uptown Guy is on Kindle Unlimited for the first ninety day of release.

Amazon US: https://amzn.to/2FOsDNj 
Amazon UK: http://bit.ly/HisUptownGuyUK
Amazon CA: http://bit.ly/HisUptownGuyCa
Amazon AU: https://amzn.to/2CD5Ssd

Social Media Links:

Felice’s Fun House: https://www.facebook.com/groups/FelicesFunHouse/
Instagram: www.instagram/felicestevens
Twitter: www.twitter.com/felicestevens1
Facebook www.facebook.com/felicestevenauthor/

Random Review: His Uptown Guy by Felice Stevens #Review #Giveaway

Author: Felice Stevens
Title: His Uptown Guy
Series: The Landmark Series
Self Published
Publication Date: January 21, 2019

Reviewed by Racheal


Synopsis

When Jesse Grace-Martin loses his father on 9/11, his charmed life is gone forever. People look menacing, and the streets no longer seem safe. After experiencing a brutal mugging, Jesse retreats to his apartment in the landmark Dakota building. Five years later, his first attempt to walk outside those famous gates again is a disaster—except for meeting the gorgeous maintenance worker who helps him through his crushing panic attack. Jesse can’t stop thinking about the guy but hesitates to reach out, knowing he has little to offer.

Dashamir Sadiko has big dreams. Money in the bank tops his list, and his glimpse into the life of the uber-wealthy at his job at the Dakota is all the incentive he needs. Struggling to work full-time and go to college, Dash desperately wants to break the cycle of poverty his parents had hoped to leave behind in Albania. When the two men become friends, Dash isn’t sure what to expect but can’t help his growing attraction to sweet and sexy Jesse. It’s nice to see how the other side lives, but his affections can’t be bought; Dash wants to be his own man.

Defying the Dakota’s co-op rules, the two share lunches, their hopes and dreams, and ultimately their hearts. Jesse slowly regains his courage, but he’s worried he’ll never be the person he once was and that he’s not good enough for Dash. And Dash isn’t convinced the son of poor immigrants has a place at the table with a blue-blood, trust-fund man. Jesse needs to realize that money can’t buy happiness and love, while Dash must learn to trust that what they have is real, that he’s more than Jesse’s walk on the wild side with an uptown guy.

Buy Links

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Review

The best thing about reading, for me, is when I learn through stories about different nationalities. In His Uptown Guy, by Felice Stevens, I actually learned a little about Albanian cooking.

This is an inspiring story about two men with totally different backgrounds and who were both raised to see the world a little differently. 

Jesse who was raised on the privileged side- living in one of the oldest buildings in New York-  has never really had to struggle with some of the common necessities that average day to day people do. However, his apartment has become his own personal nightmare. His life started falling apart the day he lost his father on 9/11 only to be shattered further when attacked two years later. 

Dash's life is constantly on the go. From working as a porter at Dakota, to helping his family, then to his tiny apartment in the Bronx to finish his college work in the evening. All Dash wants to accomplish, is finishing his schooling to get a good job to get his family out of the gang infested neighborhood.

When the two meet it's under unusual circumstances but their chance encounter leads to a growing friendship. Two men with hardy anything in common find that special something in one another. Dash is what Jesse has needed and Jesse is what Dash has needed.

Great read!

Giveaway

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