A.M. Leibowitz has a new queer MMF romance out: "Minuet."
When it comes to love, Mack Whitman prefers to limit it to writing songs and poetry. Aromantic, he’s content to have quality friendships and people who sometimes also share his bed. He’s never considered himself the jealous type. But when he sees everyone in his life, from his best friends to his occasional partners, moving toward more settled lives, it leaves him frustrated, disappointed, and worried he’ll be left behind.
Amelia Roberts doesn’t care about the genders of her partners as long as she follows her one rule: Don’t ever fall in love. It’s worked out well for her, since that’s a line she knows she’ll never cross with Mack. He’s as happy as she is to keep things as they are. The only trouble with her philosophy is that she didn’t count on meeting the one person who might change her mind.
Jomari O’Brien’s supportive family made it smooth for him to transition several years ago. Since then, he’s been in and out of love, and other people’s beds, plenty of times, and he has no regrets. Each one is a small part of a larger symphony. Becoming involved with two people at once is a more complicated harmony, but it’s one he’s willing to learn as long as they are.
Their individual melodies become discordant as they struggle to make them fit together. But if all three can learn to play with each other instead of against, they may yet hit all the right notes.
When Trevor, Nate, Jamie, and Mack moved in together, they had no idea how it would change their lives. Four roommates. Four stories about living and loving in the City on a Hill.
Giveaway
A.M. is giving away a $10 Amazon gift card AND the first three books in the series in eBook format as a single prize. For a chance to win, enter via Rafflecopter:
Direct Link: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/b60e8d4794/?
Excerpt
'They paid for the groceries and headed for Mack’s van. Once they’d loaded it up, Mack went to start the van, but Trevor put a hand on his arm.
“Wait.”
“What?”
“I’m not letting you go home without talking about what the hell that was back there. You were really pissed off when you came to see me. You’re calm now, but if you go back home, you’re gonna get right back into that mess all over again.”
He was right, and Mack knew it. He turned over the engine. “Look, it’s freezing out here. I’ll drive you back, and I’ll explain on the way.”
“Fair enough.”
Mack waited until they were out on the road to say, “It’s fucking weird, having both of them together. It’s not like it hasn’t happened before, but not like this. I don’t know. It felt like they were doing this bonding thing, and I wasn’t part of that.”
“I get it,” Trevor said.
“Do you? Because your family looks different.”
“What is it you wanted? To have Amelia to yourself? You’ve said she’s not your girlfriend. So why does it matter?”
“I don’t know!” But he did know. He had a very clear idea why it bothered him so much. Mack slammed his palm against the steering wheel. “She and I…we’re both fucking Jomari. We all know, but we’ve never hung out just the three of us.”
Trevor seemed to contemplate that. “Yeah, I’d say that’s different from my family. It really bothers you, huh?”
“Not that. It’s…” Mack didn’t know how to explain the way he’d seen the tender gestures between Amelia and Jomari. Sure, she would do the same for him, but it didn’t look or feel identical for some reason Mack couldn’t pinpoint. “I guess they’ve been getting to be closer since she started playing with Cian’s band.”
“Makes sense. Spending more time together. But you think there’s more going on?”
“I don’t know,” Mack admitted. “Up until now, I wouldn’t have thought so. She always said she was mostly into women. She doesn’t date men, and she made that clear to me. I didn’t care. But now here she is, and I can’t really tell what’s going on. She’s already cancelled plans with me so they could go out.”
“Ah.” Trevor was quiet a moment. “People change, you know. Until Andre, I thought I only loved Marlie and the couple times I fooled around with guys were, like, just sex. Then after Andre, I thought maybe Marlie was my exception and I mostly wanted guys. Now I’m not sure, but it doesn’t matter because this works for us. Jamie’s only into men, but I know he’s fucked women on camera and enjoyed it. He said Cian can’t separate love and sex, he’s got a high drive for both, and he doesn’t care about gender at all. Maybe Amelia’s needs have changed.”
“Maybe.”
It wasn’t only about whether or not her relationship with Jomari was changing. It was why. Why now, after years of things being the same? What made him different from everyone else? Mack hated the feeling she’d finally had enough and was choosing someone who might be able to give her what he couldn’t. But why would she have told him their kind of relationship was enough if it wasn’t? She knew who he was and that he made no apology for it. Was it like Trevor said, and she was changing, or had she been dishonest?
“Listen,” Trevor said as they pulled into his driveway. “Why don’t you invite Jomari for Thanksgiving?”
“What? Why?”
“It might be easier if it’s not the three of you having to figure this out alone, that’s all.” Trevor unbuckled, but he didn’t move. “Talk to them. The only way I made it work with Andre and Marlie is by telling them both the truth. And the only way I didn’t fuck it up with Jamie was by telling them I needed him in my life too.” He curled his fingers into a fist. “If only we could work that out.”
Mack didn’t reply. Jamie was still a sore spot for both of them. He helped Trevor unload the groceries and put things away. They had some time for him to think about inviting Jomari, but he wasn’t sure he was going to.
“Thanks for your help,” Trevor said. “Hey, you feeling better?”
“Maybe.” Mack accepted the Night Crawlers from Trevor. “I should get these to the others.”
“Good luck.”
Back in the van, Mack looked at the package on the passenger seat. For once, Trevor was right, but tonight he didn’t have the right words. Instead, he would bring the sour gummies as a peace offering and sit with them this time, even if it meant he had to watch confusing science fiction shows. He pulled out onto the road and headed for home.
Exclusive Excerpt
She let him pull her to her feet. They threw away their cups and
stepped carefully back out onto the ice. The sky was fully dark and had clouded
over. A few fat snowflakes began to fall, and Ed Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud”
was playing over the speakers. Hand in hand, Amelia and Jomari circled the ice.
The crowd had thinned, giving them room to make wider arcs.
As the song finished, Jomari pulled to a stop and faced Amelia.
They stood on the ice, the light snow swirling around them. Jomari took the
ends of her scarf and tugged her closer until she almost fell against him. They
both laughed. Amelia looked up, lost for a moment in his beautiful, dark eyes,
captivated by the mischievous sparkle. He was still grinning, but there was
something else there too, an intensity she hadn’t noticed before. He leaned in,
and she realized he was going to kiss her.
They’d kissed before; they’d been
in bed together before. So why was her heart galloping, her palms sweating, and
heat rushing to her cold cheeks? What could possibly be more special about this
than any of the previous times?
When their lips met at last, it was
pure magic. And that’s when she knew what was different. This kiss broke all
her carefully indexed rules. Six months ago, her life was organized—coded, stacked,
and filed in tidy bins. There was Mack and work and the occasional
good-time-had-by-all with casual dating and a hook-up here and there. Jomari
razed her orderly system with a single fit of his mouth to hers against a
backdrop of skating and fresh snow. It was like a scene out of one of those
sugary rom-coms Jamie was so fond of.
She ended the kiss first. Though
her pulse still throbbed in her ears, she tried to stay calm as she backed
away. She had to get back to the playfulness of their earlier romp, when her
only worry was keeping just ahead of Jomari on the ice. It was her fault
anyway, for letting him catch her, in more ways than one.
Jomari cupped her cheek, smiling.
Amelia made her best effort to smile back in spite of her mad storm of emotions,
all the things she’d tried so hard to keep in check over the last few months.
She’d been afraid Mack would hurt Jomari, and now she was the one putting his
heart at risk. She breathed slowly until she relaxed then turned her face to
brush her lips against his palm.
He dropped his hand and said,
“Ready to go?”
“Okay.”
“Did you want to—”
Amelia did want to. But she knew
this time it would be a bad idea. She had to clear her head, to think about
what this meant and what she wanted. “I…can’t,” she said.
“Oh.” Jomari’s face fell. Amelia
didn’t think it was about denying him a place in her bed, not this time.
She put her hand on his arm. “I’m
sorry. I need a little time, okay? This was wonderful. But…can we slow down a
bit?”
“Of course.” Jomari’s voice was
flat, disappointed. He sighed. “I’m sorry. Take all the time you need, okay?
I’m here.”
Amelia closed her eyes and nodded. She
didn’t know if she’d ever be ready for what she sensed he was offering. He took
her hand again, and she opened her eyes. They made their way off the ice and
back to the building to return their skates. Somehow, it seemed fitting that
the song now playing was about heartbreak.
Author Bio
A.M. Leibowitz is a queer spouse, parent, feminist, and book-lover falling somewhere on the Geek-Nerd Spectrum. They keep warm through the long, cold western New York winters by writing about life, relationships, hope, and happy-for-now endings.
Their published fiction includes several novels as well as a number of short works, and their stories have been included in multiple anthologies. They are an occasional host for Bi+Plus, a podcast for the bi+ community, as well as doing bi+ advocacy work and curating the best-of bi list on the QueerBooksForTeens website.
They are a social media contributor for Supposed Crimes, LLC, and they post about news, reviews, and updates. In between, they blog coffee-fueled, quirky commentary on faith, culture, books, chronic illness, and their family.
Author Website: http://amleibowitz.com
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