We’re so please to have author Crystel Greene stopping in today on the tour for her new World of Love novella, Glacier Gold, from Dreamspinner Press. She’s here to tell us a bit about the setting and to chat about snowboarding, and there’s also a giveaway so be sure to check out those details below.

Welcome, Crystel!

Hello, I’m Crystel, and I’m thrilled to be here at The Novel Approach to celebrate the release of my m/m romance novella GLACIER GOLD with you. Thanks for having me!

My story is set in the Austrian Alps and features two hot snowboarders as the male leads, and I’m going to talk about the difference between authors and athletes today, or about the challenge of writing from the perspective of a super fit sports guy while being a bit of a couch potato myself.―

I love sports. To be more exact, I love watching pretty guys do sports. On the soccer field, at the kite beach, on the skiing runs, at the Olympics (Adam Rippon! Tom Daley! *swoon*).

Watching sports guys do their thing is mandatory for an author who writes about athletes. It’s research, and a writer should take their research seriously, right?

Don’t expect any insights into snowboarding championships or any drama about who’ll win a gold medal, though. GLACIER GOLD is not a sports romance, and the main characters, Justin and Andi, aren’t professional athletes. Andi is a Tyrolean snowboard instructor, while Justin is a tourist from LA who comes to Austria for a snowboarding vacation. But they are both very fit and pretty good on their boards too.

It’s Justin who tells the story of how he falls in love with Andi and how they come together with a little help from a blizzard and a thermal sleeping bag.

For me as a writer the obvious challenge was this: how do I write from the perspective of a guy who loves snowboarding and is actually able to do backcountry boarding down a glacier?

I myself have never been on a snowboard. But I’ve got the next best thing going for me: I know a number of people who have!

In fact, two of them are professional snowboarders, and I’ve talked a lot to them about their sport to get a feeling for it. (Thanks, guys, for sharing your stories!)

But watching people do aerials on snowboards and talking to them about it somehow didn’t feel like enough. So I did it: for the sake of research, I went over a ramp in a fun park last winter, on skis. (Even though I tend to favor the comforts of home over outdoor exercise, I actually do a little skiing―I have to, living in Tyrol, five minutes away from the ski lift…)

It was the smallest possible ramp and the lowest possible jump, like, five inches high or something, but I still managed to turn it into an epic crash.

And that’s it from my end about the difference between athletes and authors.

About the Book

Up in the Alps, a single night can change your life.

Struggling college student and self-taught graphic artist Justin Bennet isn’t the most self-confident guy, but he knows he’s good at two things: snowboarding and sex. Why does Andi, the hot instructor at the Tyrolean ski resort, pretend Justin doesn’t exist?

Justin becomes all but obsessed with the idea of scoring with the young Austrian. Because for all the man’s reserve, he made it quite obvious he likes Justin—at least from the neck down.

When Justin books a private heliboarding trip with Andi as his guide, he thinks he’s one step away from striking gold.

But then the forces of nature take over, trapping the men in a snowstorm, and things get real. What was supposed to be about some freeriding fun and inviting a closeted guy to start exploring his options suddenly becomes about survival—and the hidden truths of the soul.

World of Love: Stories of romance that span every corner of the globe.

Buy the Book: Dreamspinner Press || Universal Buy Link

The Excerpt

Here’s a short excerpt showing my two boys doing what they love best (or second best ;)):

(Justin and Andi are on a backcountry snowboard tour called Glacier Gold. A little later, they’re going to find themselves in the middle of a full-fledged blizzard…)

========

We stand on top of the Sunnzeiger, the sun needle, and it feels like being on top of the world.

The helicopter has left in a whirl of snow and noise. It’s going west, rapidly becoming smaller, taking its sharp, echoing rattle with it.

And then it’s just Andi, me, the blazing white around us, and silence.

This is what the Alps are meant to be.

Fitsch 2000 is cool, with its buzzing lifts and groomed runs and fancy restaurants. But at the end of the day, everything man-made just corrupts the beauty of these mountains.

Up here their pristine grandness is simply overwhelming. It literally takes my breath away.

Or maybe it’s the thin air. We are at over twelve thousand feet. And it’s freezing cold too. I forgot to put my jacket on before leaving the helicopter, and the cold bites into me like a living thing. Scenery overload or not, I guess that’s enough of a reason for having trouble getting enough oxygen into your system.

I should stop looking around and get my jacket out of my backpack. And I will as soon as I’m ready. I’m not, not quite yet.

Sure, I’ve seen the Alps from above before, from out of the airplane and the helicopter. But this is different. Because I’m standing in the middle of this otherworld, of this symphony of blue and white and gold and all the shades in between. Because I’m part of it.

Together with Andi.

When I look over at him, I meet his gaze. He’s been watching me.

I guess he can see how plain floored I am. Stupid gaping tourist, that’s what he’s probably thinking of me right now. Frigging rich guy using his money to try to buy the magic of the glacier.

Fuck, I don’t mind what he thinks of me. I don’t mind as long as I get to ride my board down this glacier.

And later, him.

If he keeps up the cold fish act, yeah, I’ll have no choice but to forget it. But if he finds he wants to use the opportunity, if he realizes he wants to lose his virginity to a tolerably endowed guy who knows what he’s doing after all, I’m still up for helping him out.

I still trust he’ll come around. He definitely likes my body. I know perfectly well why he’s staring—it’s my slim-fitting thermal shirt. It’s a pity it’s not an option to do this tour in my underwear. That might actually be the one thing that would do the trick and make him snap. But I’ve already started to seriously shiver by now, so I quickly pull my jacket from my backpack and slip it on, not without some extended gratuitous stretching and flexing of shoulders to give Andi something to look at.

When I try to catch his gaze again, he quickly looks away, then slips his helmet on. His eyes disappear behind the mirrored black visor.

There’s just me now.

“Come on, what are you waiting for, Bennet? Put your helmet on and get on the board,” he calls out.

Giving orders sure comes naturally to him. Before I’ve made up my mind about whether this should irk me or not, he shouts, “Stay in my track!”

And without another look back, he gets going, carving down the powdery slope waiting for us, leaving a cloud of sparkling white in his wake.

Quickly I fasten the bindings to my boots and go after him. I don’t want to lose him.

I don’t want to lose him because I’ve got plans for him, but also, I’d probably never find my way back down into the valley without him as my guide. For all of Fitsch Glacier’s supernatural beauty, it wouldn’t be cool to get stranded up here.

As I swoosh downhill after Andi, struggling to keep up with his speed, I can’t help but admire his skill.

He’s riding a fast, super fluid line. The way he owns these precipices, working with the terrain as he goes, radiating complete and utter mastership—it’s like a billion years of evolution in this secluded corner of the earth have only had one single purpose: design this man to go boarding on this glacier.

But I’m good too. Hell, I am!

Considering I’ve never done anything like this, I manage pretty well. It’s a challenge to be sure. I have to focus on my footwork, take care to keep track of the permanently changing gradient and fabric of the ground under my board.

But I feel strong and fit, and the glacier is my friend.

There’s a fat layer of powder over the glacier’s ice, soft and responsive and inviting me to play. Oh yes, this tour is called Glacier Gold for a reason.

Going after Andi, I give myself over to the rhythm he sets, following the sweeping arcs he paints into the snow.

About the Author

The first man Crystel fell in love with was Beauty’s Beast. Next came Robin Hood, then Mr. Darcy. Two decades of married life later, she still loves fictional men—especially when there are two of them who are meant to be! She likes it best when she can create their plights and fights herself, and she can always be counted on to throw in some sizzling hotness and a lot of feels. Here’s her author promise: no fade-outs when things get steamy or emotional, and an ending that will leave you smiling.

Crystel is a lawyer by training, a lover of pastry, and a believer in Happy Ever Afters. Born and raised in Hamburg, Germany, and a North Sea girl at heart, she lives in the beautiful Austrian Alps with her husband and four kids.

PS She loves reader mail!

Connect with Crystel: Email || Website || Instagram || Twitter || Facebook || Goodreads || Dreamspinner || Amazon

The Giveaway

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