Safety In Numbers ( Sizzling Miami #5) by Jessie G.
Release Date: October 31, 2015
Today I’m very lucky to be interviewing Jessie G author of Safety in Numbers, book five in the Sizzling Miami series. Hi Jessie, thank you for agreeing to this interview. Tell us a little about yourself, your background, and your current book.
Someone asks you for advice about writing. What do you tell them?
I try not to give advice because writing is a very individual and solitary pursuit. That said, there is a few things I’ve learned along the way that I can share. First and foremost, writing classes are good for general purposes but if you try to write to some formula or strict rules, the story won’t flow. What you absolutely need to know is who, where and why—after that, let the first draft write itself. Let it go off on tangents, let it birth new characters you never intended, and stop trying to wrangle it into some stiff, bullet pointed list of events.
Once you have a first draft, read it and then reread it. In your head, aloud, print it out and mark it up, work and tweak it until you’ve refined it. It may be close to the plotted outline you worked up, if you’re that type of writer, but odds are you’ll find surprises—good surprises—that were lurking in that creative brain of yours that you hadn’t planned for. After you have a solid second draft, read it and then reread it. Print it out and mark it up. Rinse and repeat until you fall in love, and only then do you have a piece that’s ready for someone else’s eyes.
For me, that’s my editor. She gets my first final draft and only after we’ve gone through a full round of edits do I give my WIP to my beta readers. Then I walk away from it until I have the second round of edits back along with all the beta feedback. Once I’ve applied what I agree with, I consider the book done. Sure, I could go around and around and around, and if there was something major my editor had issues with, we’d work that out accordingly. But usually by this point, I’ve reworked my story about ten times. Several on my own, two or three with the editor and betas, and it runs the risk of becoming overworked.
In that window that I’ve walked away, I think about the next book on my timeline. It helps me avoid overworking by focusing my creative mind on the next characters.
Still, like I said before, writing is a very individual and solitary pursuit. You have to find your process. The only thing I’m a hundred percent sure of is that trying to stick to everything I learned in all those creative writing classes stunted my creativity. Now I let it flow, I tweak, and I have an editor and betas who keep me from straying too far outside the lines.
Thank you so much for hosting Safety in Numbers today. Good luck to all who enter the rafflecopter and if anyone has any questions, I’ll be stopping by to answer. – Jessie
Blurb
“Bros stick together no matter what.”
When Chris and Liam made that promise, they had no idea how important it would become or how it would be tested in the most brutal way. Nine years later, their bond cemented in blood, that relationship is all they have to hold on to.
“No matter what happens, this friendship will be the one constant we can count on.”
When Billy and Owen made that promise, they knew exactly how dangerous the world could be. They survived prison by protecting each other and they survived freedom by holding that promise sacred. Now they want more than just to survive and they want it from the brothers whose bond is as strong as their own.
“We are stronger together than we’ll ever be apart.”
When Owen reaches his breaking point, Chris jumps at the chance to make things right for all of them. With the future in their grasp, will they realize their strength is in their numbers and finally become the family they crave?
Author’s Note: This is NOT a foursome, but the story of two couples that needed to be told together.
Excerpt
That silence hid a lot from their friends, but Liam knew Chris was plagued with memories far worse than his. That’s why they decided not to celebrate alone this year. Billy and Owen were expected any minute and it was the first time they invited anyone to join them. The anniversary was bittersweet for them and they chose to celebrate it because becoming brothers meant that much to them. “Do you think they’ll find it stupid?”
Chris just shrugged as if it was no skin off his back what they thought and Liam knew that was just bravado. Fact was, they both very much cared what the two men thought. “Liar.”
His brother sighed and dropped his head back. As if shit wasn’t fucked up enough, they fell for two bastards just as fucked up as they were. “I know you’re worried about Owen. The business with Colin is growing out of their control and I’m not sure why he thinks it’s a good thing. Is he trying to prove something? And the middle of the night phone calls from the FTR? He’s looking more and more fragile every day.”
Liam knew he wasn’t stating anything new. What he didn’t know was what Chris intended to do about it. Lately, when it came to Owen, Chris conveyed zero intent and seemed to be waiting for Owen to read him as effortlessly as Liam did. Their brother bond had been forged through blood and he was afraid Chris’s expectations of Owen were unreasonable. “Do you see his face every time he thinks he’s failed to understand you? The weight of it is crushing.”
Instead of regret, all Liam saw was anger in Chris. It wasn’t a common emotion for Chris and Liam could name every time he saw it. The fact that Chris knew what he was capable of if provoked had made him extremely conscious of that emotion and he often went to great lengths to contain it.
Owen was the very definition of insecure. Just the type to inspire Chris’s protective instincts, which Liam knew for a fact Owen did. Hell, he inspired Liam’s protective instincts. Owen was stubborn though and he often distanced himself, keeping things bottled up until they manifested elsewhere. Like in panic attacks that felt like heart attacks, which he also tried to hide. Liam nearly lost it when they found out that Billy was keeping Owen’s secret.
Chris nodded slowly, as if he completely followed Liam’s train of thought and waited for him to connect the dots. And just like that, Liam understood. “You’re pissed because he doesn’t come to you when the panic sets in. That he hides it from you and they hide it from us.”
It made total sense, but he had to wonder if they were expecting too much. After all, they couldn’t call what was going on with either man a relationship. No, they were four fucked up bastards trying to come together in some romanticwhat? Not a foursome, eww…he loved Chris, but yeah, that just wasn’t happening. And Owen wasn’t his type any more than Billy was Chris’s type. But—always with the fucking buts, right?—what was happening was very definitely happening to the four of them, and Liam now had to wonder if that was the problem, because trying to come together was definitely not the same as being together.
Chris shook his head and shifted in his seat. No, he was right. It wasn’t just their brother bond that made it impossible to move forward as two separate couples. Billy and Owen had formed their own unique friendship in prison and were no more likely to move forward without the other one either. “Just once, couldn’t we have done something the easy way?”
The fire door banged open and Liam turned to see Billy and Owen, arms full of brightly wrapped packages, struggling to pull a huge cluster of balloons through the door. It was a shocking contrast to their dark thoughts and so uncharacteristically sweet of both men. Billy caught their surprised stare and yelled, “Is this where the party’s at?”
“It is now.” It might seem silly, but it was exactly what they needed and exactly who they needed it from. Maybe they hadn’t been expecting too much at all. Liam rose to give them a hand and glanced down to see the look of longing in Chris’s eyes and thought maybe it was time they all expected more.
Pages or Words: 76,000 words
Categories: Gay fiction, M/M Romance, Romance
Buy the book:
Amazon | All Romance eBooks | Barnes & Noble | iTunes | Kobo
Meet the Author
Like many readers, the dream of being a writer has been with me a long time. After three decades of trying, I’d begun to doubt. Thanks to social media, I followed my favorite authors hoping to glean some words of wisdom as I pounded out half-formed ideas with alarming regularity. Two repetitive themes emerged: to be a great writer you must read a lot and your butt must be in the chair every day like it’s a job. The more you write, the easier it will be to write and the better you will be at writing. I took that advice to heart and write every day. With six published books to date, three series in the works and a full schedule of releases planned for the next two years, it’s been amazing to have made this dream my reality.
I am a firm believer in marriage equality, love at first sight, power dynamics and happily ever after. I’m a lover of strong secondary characters and series filled with families, biological or chosen. All are themes you’ll find throughout my books.
Where to find the author:
Tour Dates & Stops:
9-Nov: KathyMac Reviews, Nephy Hart, Foxylutely Book Reviews
10-Nov: Unquietly Me, Prism Book Alliance, Book Reviews, Rants, and Raves
11-Nov: Bayou Book Junkie, Books A to Z
12-Nov: The Novel Approach
13-Nov: V’s Reads
16-Nov: 3 Chicks After Dark, Cheekypee Reads and Reviews
17-Nov: Parker Williams, Jill P Rand, Two Chicks Obsessed With Books and Eye Candy
18-Nov: Joyfully Jay
19-Nov: Multitasking Mommas, Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words
20-Nov: Carly’s Book Reviews
23-Nov: Loving Without Limits, Molly Lolly
24-Nov: Love Bytes, Vampires, Werewolves, and Fairies, Oh My
25-Nov: Amanda C. Stone, BFD Book Blog
26-Nov: MM Good Book Reviews, Andrew Q. Gordon
27-Nov: Gay Media Reviews, Fangirl Moments and My Two Cents
30-Nov: Cheekypee Reads and Reviews, Inked Rainbow Reads
1-Dec: Cathy Brockman Romances, Elisa – My Reviews and Ramblings
2-Dec: Velvet Panic, MM Good Book Reviews
3-Dec: Sassygirl Books, Wicked Faerie’s Tales and Reviews
4-Dec: My Fiction Nook
Giveaway
Enter to win a Rafflecopter Prize: 2-$25 ebook GC (Amazon, B&N, ARE, or KOBO) winner’s choice, as well as 2 signed paperbacks of Safety in Numbers. Link and prizes provided by the author and Pride Promotions.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
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Holden Bancroft was born with a better than average brain and not much else. Often described as strange and sickly, his attempts to conform only made him look foolish and a life-long diet of pills hasn’t provided a cure. Deciding to strengthen the only tool in his arsenal was liberating and learning became his greatest joy. But each episode is another reminder that his time is limited, and Holden intends to use everything he’s learned to help the small town of Hope before he dies.
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 