Tag: A Clean Break (Gay Amish Romance #2) by Keira Andrews

In The Spotlight: Keira Andrews and A Way Home (Gay Amish Romance #3) (interview and contest)

Pageflex Persona [document: PRS0000038_00067]A Way Home (Gay Amish Romance #3) by Keira Andrews

The end of the Trilogy

STRW In The Spotlight Header

Here at Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words, we fell in love with Keira Andrews from the moment we picked up A Forbidden Rumspringa, the first in her Gay Amish Romance trilogy.  And now with A Way Home, the trilogy is over but not our romance with this author and her stories.  We invited her here today to talk about the inspiration behind her stories and what’s next in line for Keira Andrews.

Our Interview with Keira Andrews on A Way Home and her Gay Amish Romance Trilogy

1. Did you know this was going to be a trilogy from the start?

Yes. Well, initially it was going to be a novella, but I soon realized Isaac and David had a LOT more to say. Once I started writing, it quickly became a planned trilogy.

2. Why the Amish as a main story element?

It started out as a chuckle with an m/m blogger who mentioned that she got a lot of hits for “sexy Amish men.” It started my mind working, and I took out a book on the Amish from the library. It’s a fascinating culture so different from mine, and I thought readers might find it interesting as well. I’m also a huge fan of forbidden love.

3. I found the scenes within the Amish community so effective and real, how much research did you do in order to accomplish that?

Thank you! I read a lot and also connected with some former Amish. Their stories and recollections were incredibly helpful.

4. Coming out is hard enough, to do so in such a closed and restrictive community must be shockingly difficult. You got that across in the stories. Was there a key to finding your way inside such characters and moments in their lives?

I think it was just to put myself in their shoes as firmly as I could. Leave all my prejudices and experiences behind, and imagine that world and their experiences as authentically as possible.

5. Parts of these stories just broke my heart and others made it soar, do you find yourself as emotionally affected when writing the scenes?

Totally. If I make myself cry, I know it’s an effective scene!

6. What is the first word that enters your mind when thinking about this series?

Gratitude. I’m so grateful to readers for embracing Isaac and David and loving them as much as I do.

7. What is next for Keira Andrews?

My next book, Kick at the Darkness, is coming in May. It’s a contemporary romance about a college student and the TA he hates (who is also a secret werewolf) being stuck together on the run as they try to survive the zombie apocalypse. So it’s just a little different from the Amish series! A lot more blood and adventure, and fewer barn raisings. I like to challenge myself in a variety of genres, and this one was really fun. But I do have an idea for a fourth book about Isaac and David that would take place down the road, so I’ll be working on that as well.

STRW Author BookSynopsis

More About A Way Home:

Will returning to their Amish roots renew their faith in each other?Pageflex Persona [document: PRS0000038_00067]

Isaac and David never thought they’d go back to the Amish world. But when Isaac’s younger brother is stricken with cancer, they don’t hesitate to return. Their relationship is on the rocks after insecurity and fear drove a wedge between them in San Francisco, and David is determined to make things right. Yet if they thought navigating “English” life was confusing, being back in Zebulon is even more complicated.

Their families are desperate to bring them back into the fold, and pressure from the community builds. Isaac and David yearn for a future together, but each day it becomes harder to hide the truth about who they really are. They’re caught between two worlds, and if they’re not careful it could tear them further apart.

Can Isaac and David make their way back to each other—and find a place to call home?

This is the final chapter in a trilogy of forbidden Amish love.

Sales Links:      All Romance (ARe)       Amazon            Buy It Here

Book Details: ebook, 240 pages
Expected publication: April 8th 2015 by KA Books
ISBN139780993859892
edition languageEnglish

The rest of the Trilogy:

Forbidden Rumspringa cover

A Forbidden Rumspringa (Gay Amish Romance #1)

When two young Amish men find love, will they risk losing everything?

In a world where every detail of life—down to the width of a hat brim—is dictated by God and the all-powerful rules of the community, two men dare to imagine a different way. At 18, Isaac Byler knows little outside the strict Amish settlement of Zebulon, Minnesota, where there is no rumspringa for exploration beyond the boundaries of their insular world. Isaac knows he’ll have to officially join the church and find a wife before too long, but he yearns for something else—something he can’t name.

Dark tragedy has left carpenter David Lantz alone to support his mother and sisters, and he can’t put off joining the church any longer. But when he takes on Isaac as an apprentice, their attraction grows amid the sweat and sawdust. David shares his sinful secrets, and he and Isaac struggle to reconcile their shocking desires with their commitment to faith, family and community.

Now that they’ve found each other, are they willing to lose it all?

Note: Contains explicit sexual situations and graphic language. This is not an inspirational/Christian romance.

Sales Links :         All Romance (ARe)         Amazon           Buy It Here

A Clean Break (Gay Amish Romance #2)
They’ve escaped to the outside world—but can they really be free?A Clean Break cover

David and Isaac have found happiness in each other’s arms. In faraway San Francisco, Isaac’s brother Aaron helps them explore confusing “English” life and move beyond the looming shadow of their Amish roots. For the first time, David and Isaac can be openly gay, yet they struggle to reconcile their sexuality with their faith. At least they don’t have to hide their relationship, which should make everything easier. Right?

But while Isaac thrives at school and makes new friends, David wrestles to come to terms with the reality of the outside world. Haunted by guilt at leaving his mother and sisters behind in Zebulon, he’s overwhelmed by the hustle and bustle of the city as he works to get his carpentry business off the ground.

While David and Isaac finally sleep side by side each night, fear and insecurity could drive them miles apart.

Sales Links:       All Romance (ARe)             Amazon             Buy It Here

 

STRW Author Bio and Contacts

 

About the Author:Keira Andrews pic

After writing for years yet never really finding the right inspiration, Keira discovered her voice in gay romance, which has become a passion. She writes contemporary, historical, paranormal and fantasy fiction, and—although she loves delicious angst along the way—Keira firmly believes in happy endings. For as Oscar Wilde once said, “The good ended happily, and the bad unhappily. That is what fiction means.”

You can find Keira Andrews at http://www.keiraandrews.com/

 

STRW Spotlight Contest Header

To celebrate the end of the Gay Amish Trilogy and the release of A Way Home, Keira Andrews is giving away a copy of A Forbidden Rumspringa, the wonderful novel that started it all.  Please leave a comment below as well as an email address where you can be reached, that’s part of the entry process.

To enter to win, you must be 18 years of age or older.  Use the link provided to enter and for all additional contest details.

Contest ends midnight, April 30th, EDT.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

A Sammy Review: A Clean Break (Gay Amish Romance #2) by Keira Andrews

Rating: 4.25 stars out of 5

A sense of power flowed through him. Isaac was splayed out—so trusting and vulnerable—and David wanted to keep him safe always. They may be sinners, but Isaac was still a gift from God.

A Clean Break coverA Clean Break picks up where A Forbidden Rumspringa left off. Isaac and David have fled from Zebulon, left behind the plain ways and entered a world completely new and different. It’s amazing and freeing, but somehow so constraining all at the same time.

They thought they knew what they were getting into, but life outside their small community in Minnesota is far more complicated than either of them imagined. More than that, they still have to deal with the guilt that comes with leaving behind not only your family and the only life you’ve ever known, but also turning your back to God.

San Francisco may be their destination, but they still have a long way to go.

The thought of having a workshop again—the scratch of pencil on pad as he sketched, the grind of sandpaper, and the resistance of the lumber as he sawed and shaped it to his will—it filled the spaces in him like water around rocks. Yet when he imagined it now, working alone somewhere in the maze of the city, he ached.

A Clean Break is told from David’s point of view, providing a deeply saddening view into what comes with the freedom of an English world. Keira Andrews does a great job of conveying the doubts that linger and the guilt that continues to fester within David, as well as balancing a small sense of hope that this new life with Isaac is somehow all going to work out.

A lot of the story, to me, was about trying to find yourself when everything is so completely foreign. It was a journey for David, and it struck me how alone he felt at times, even when surrounded by people. It’s easy for people to say that this is a great thing – the boys leaving the Amish lifestyle and coming to San Francisco, but there’s so much more to it, and that’s what this is all about.

I really appreciated that the transition was made to be realistic. There was no super smooth, easy fix. I think it also helped that things were different for David and Isaac. Isaac dealt with things in his own ways, and David his. They had to find their own ways – together.

I did miss a bit of the strengthening of the relationship, or growth in general, but I think we began to get more of it toward the middle/end. I felt like David was keeping so much of himself from Isaac and it made me a bit uncomfortable to know all those things, like I was invading some private space.

I also loved the brief bits with Anna and June. It was great that we weren’t just left to wonder what was happening back at Zebulon, we got some answers.

There was just a special spark that existed in the first book and seemed to be a bit dimmer here. Still, it was a great book and I really (no, really) can’t wait for the next.

The cover art by Dar Albert is quite lovely. I’m glad that it includes the water and the bridge, which both seem symbolic to me in this story – a sign of freedom, but also the journey yet to come.

Sales Links:   All Romance (ARe)        Amazon        Buy it here

Book Details:

ebook, 245 pages
Expected publication: February 3rd 2015 by KA Books
ISBN139780993859861
seriesGay Amish Romance #2

Series Includes in the order they were written and should be read: