The
Nature of the Game by Amy Aislin
Series:
Stick Side #2
**PLEASE
NOTE: Book 1 in the
Stick Side series, ON THE ICE, will be on mega sale at only 99¢ May 6 - 13!
Publisher:
self-published
Release
Date (Print & Ebook): May
7, 2019
Length
(Print & Ebook): 87,000 words / 330 pages
Subgenre:
m/m contemporary
romance
Tropes: second chances
Warnings: N/A
Order now:
Book synopsis: Six years ago, an ultimatum forced Dan Greyson
to make a choice that cost him everything he loved most. One of those things?
His boyfriend, hockey player Ashton Yager. Now that they’ve crossed paths
again, Dan isn’t about to let the opportunity slip away. Ash’s reappearance in
his life is just the catalyst Dan needs to escape the rut he’s fallen into…and
win back Ash’s trust and love.
Ashton Yager, once burned and now a little bit shy, didn’t mean to
publicly come out as bisexual. But now that he has, he’s got to deal with the
consequences, including the fact that it might’ve cost him his NHL contract.
With his job on the line, he needs to keep his head down, work hard, and play
the best hockey of his life. Rekindling things with Dan? That’s not exactly
keeping a low profile. It’s also never going to happen, not after Dan walked
away once without an explanation.
When a hurricane forces Ash to seek shelter out-of-state, he and Dan
find themselves in the same B&B, where old feelings resurface. But with
everything Ash has on the line, does he dare play with fire again?
Excerpt:
“You hate me, I get that. I’m sorry I made you
uncomfortable back there.”
Ash scowled. “I don’t hate you.” He realized the scowl might say differently and smoothed
out his features. Pleasant, yet distant. Too bad his eyebrows weren’t
cooperating this time. “And you didn’t make me uncomfortable.” What he did do was make Ash relive a period of
his life he thought he’d set aside. Gotten over. Earmarked as It was fun but it didn’t work out.
It annoyed him more than anything, mostly.
Especially since, sometimes, usually in the middle of the night, Dan turned
into the one that got away
“Sure you don’t,” Dan said, sarcasm dripping off
his tongue. “Thank you for getting me out of the brunch. I needed to breathe.
But…” His smile was so sad it might as well’ve been upside down. “This is all
we need to see of each other. You don’t have to put up with me anymore.”
Ash’s arms fell to his sides, Dan’s words making
him feel like he’d accidentally revealed that Santa Claus wasn’t real. “Your
brother and my best friend are in a committed relationship. I’m pretty sure
we’ll see each other again.”
“Don’t sound so thrilled by it.”
“What do you want me to say, Dan?” Figuring some
honesty might not hurt, he said, “This isn’t easy for me.”
“And you think it’s easy for me?”
“You’re the one who walked!”
“I didn’t have a fucking choice!”
“You— What?”
“Oh, but you don’t want to hear about it.” Dan’s
arms flailed, face a thunderstorm about to go off, body coiled to spring.
“Dan—”
“You know what the worst part is?” Quiet now, he
closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “It’s not that you hate me. I hate
myself enough for the both of us. It’s that everything I did was for nothing. I
lost the two people who meant the most to me . . . for nothing.”
The last two words were harshly whispered, and when Dan’s eyes opened—his light
brown eyes that Ash had stared into so many times, that had stared back at him
with love and friendship—they were soft and so full of regret that Ash found
himself reaching for him. “Give this to Mitch, will you?” Dan handed Ash his
milkshake and backed away. “I need to take a walk.”
Before Ash could utter a word, Dan was swallowed
up by the crowd.
Release
blitz/blog tour giveaway:
Win a Stick Side prize pack, including signed paperbacks of books 1 and 2 in
the series, as well as some Stick Side swag! Contest open internationally.
Enter via Rafflecopter. Contest ends at 12:00am May 12.
Exclusive
Mini-interview with Amy Aislin for the Release Blitz:
How do you handle writer’s
block?
I’m a panster, not a plotter, so I always start
out writing a novel not knowing where it’s going to go, but also not fully
knowing my characters either. I’ve found that when the writer’s block hits,
it’s because I’m not yet fully acquainted with my characters. I don’t know them
well enough. What do they really
want, both internally and externally, and what’s preventing them from getting
it? Once I have that nailed down, the story starts to develop much more
smoothly.
How many books have you
written? Which is your favorite?
The Nature of the Game is my eighth published novel, which is how many
books I’ve written. I’d say my favourite is On
the Ice. Not only was it the easiest book for me to write—I was very
intimately acquainted with the characters before I started writing—but it’s the
book of my heart. It’s a slow-burn, friends to lovers story with a flirty
college hockey player who meets his match in a demisexual NHL player. There’s a
small part of me in most of my books, however certain facets of who I am are
strongly reflected in both Mitch and Alex (the main characters in On the Ice), so it’s also a very
personal book for me.
Do you have a favorite cover
from one of your books?
My favourite cover from my books is the cover for As Big as the Sky, which was released in August 2017. My cover
designer, Melody Pond, took my instructions and gave me back something that was
a hundred times better than I’d imagined. The pink cover, flowers in the
foreground, and house in the background perfectly set the mood of this
low-angst, feel-good novella.
Secondary Characters: Why
they are important to the story?
Secondary characters in my stories can be sources of conflict or
sounding boards. In The Nature of the
Game, my secondary characters take on both of these attributes. For
example, one of the secondary characters in Dan’s life is a source of pain for
him. By contrast, the secondary characters in Ash’s life are supportive, and
help him talk through things he’s dealing with.
What's your favorite scene
from this book?
Well… [insert giggles]. My two lead characters are both bisexual men,
however neither one has ever had sex with another man. My favourite scene in The Nature of the Game is one where they
discover the joys (and trepidations) of anal sex. It’s quite a funny scene, if
I do say so myself.
About Amy Aislin:
Amy started writing on a rainy day
in fourth grade when her class was forced to stay inside for recess. Tales of
adventures with her classmates quickly morphed into tales of adventures with
the characters in her head. Based in the suburbs of Toronto, Amy is a
marketer/fundraiser at a large environmental non-profit in Toronto by day, and
a writer by night. Book enthusiast, animal lover and (very) amateur
photographer, her interests are many and varied, including travelling,
astronomy, ecology, and baking. She binge watches too much anime, and loves
musical theater, Julie Andrews, the Backstreet Boys, and her hometown of
Oakville, Ontario.
Connect with Amy:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/amy_aislin
No comments:
Post a Comment