This year has been about the re-branding project (meaning new typography and some new cover images for the backlist). Being a compulsive improver, this project gives me an excuse to go into the text and fix any little typos, word-choice dissatisfactions, or other such tripping hazards that I notice during my occasional re-reads. For the record, it’s amazing what you will see on a printed page that you don’t see on a computer screen. Anyway, the new package for LOST & FOUND has launched!
Image by Andrez Nihil @nihil unsplash.com
Three key things about LOST & FOUND:
It’s a F/M contemporary romance in which Sacha, the male lead, has been in a long mostly-not-sexual secret-identity relationship with a much older, closeted, self-loathing gay man;
in which Charlie, the female lead, is the first person in a dozen years to recognize Sacha as both himself and as the older man’s companion; and
in which the older man’s death makes it possible (or, more accurately, necessary) for Sacha to ‘come out’ - to go public as that mysterious companion and as himself. Charlie helps him do it. Along the way, they fall in love.
Get it here: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Smashwords | Kobo | Others
LOST & FOUND has to be characterized as a straight romance, because it’s really about Sacha & Charlie. But it’s fair to call it a queer romance, because while Sacha identifies as straight, he’s got a history - and not only with his longtime partner Jerry - of not-so-straight behavior. He’s interrogating his relationship with Jerry all the way through the book.
It’s also a friends-to-lovers romance, but that part moves fast. Sacha is primed to fall for someone who’s willing to love him for his true self; Charlie finds a lot to love about Sacha. They are good for each other right from the start.
Content alerts for this book include drug use, transactional sex, assault, internalized homophobia, family conflict/rejection, and loss of a friend to HIV/AIDS.
Changing the way you engage with the world is difficult, stressful, and never-ending. Among Sacha’s challenges is a large inheritance from Jerry. He’s never had to manage money on a scale greater than his modest earnings as a massage therapist; Charlie, a self-employed photographer, doesn’t have a clue. Fortunately, they find people to help.
Found family is a recurring theme for me as a writer. Sacha & Charlie have family, but not close by, and the scope of Sacha’s inheritance creates issues with both families. Resolving those issues is a component of negotiating their new relationship. Finding new people they can relate to as family helps fill the gaps.
The characters of LOST & FOUND intersect with other titles of mine, but in a limited way; it’s definitely a stand-alone book. That said, Sacha & Charlie work with Tony & Elena (The Continental, part of the RHYTHM collection of novellas); they get to know Andy Martin (one of my CO-STARS); and a few years after LOST & FOUND, they offer shelter to Davy Sun in COME TO ME.
I also wrote a little story about Sacha’s experience working on a movie called Undertow … click the button below to find it!
