We’re so pleased to have author Ethan Day dropping in today to celebrate the release of the third novel in his Summit City series, Life in Union. He’s here to chat about the evolution of Boone and Wade, and as part of the fun, he’s also offering up the chance for one lucky reader to win an eCopy of the book, so be sure to check out the entry details below.

Welcome, Ethan!

Origins of a Rom-Com-a-Palooza

Hello to everyone who has stopped by my guest post at The Novel Approach today! Thanks so much to Lisa for allowing me pop by TNA, and to anyone out there reading this for spending a little piece of your day with me. :)

I’m here to chat about my new release, Life In Union: Summit City Book Three. Or more specifically, to provide a little background for how the first book came to be and why I’ve been unable to fully let go of these characters after all these years.

Thus far, this is the only series of books that I’ve written utilizing the same main characters over multiple titles in this way. Each book is told in first person POV through the eyes and colorfully snarky mind of Boone Daniels, an aspiring author who has spent most of his adult life ‘auditioning’ men as potential life partners. By auditioning, I mean that he’s never really stressed much over finding his one-and-only, though he’s been continuously trying to find him throughout the years.

It took getting dumped while on vacation and an accidental drunken meeting with Wade Walker before Boone truly met his perfect match. Wade is solid, with a level of determination that rivals Boone’s penchant for sarcasm and the seemingly endless array of utter nonsense that comes flying from his mouth. Boone has pretty much made it his life’s mission to never be serious about anything, if he can help it, and after a couple of chance meetings, Wade pretty much makes it his life’s mission to have Boone—not for a night, or for a fling, but for keeps.

Initially, the first book, Sno Ho, was intended to be a short story included in an anthology titled, Melting the Slopes, put together by the editor for the entire Summit City series, Kris Jacen. The theme of the antho was stories based on cold-wintery-weather destinations and cocktails. From there, Summit City was born and all I knew about my main character heading in was the idea that his story would begin with him waking up in bed with a hangover and only fuzzy recollections for how he got there. That short story turned into a novella and that novella has spawned two full-length novels which track the relationship of these two characters from awkward and irritable first meetings to long-distance boyfriends on a trial basis and, eventually, living together and getting married. All in all, it’s more of a full-circle picture of who these guys are and what they mean to one another—how they got from point A to point B, and also points C & D.

What started off as what I’d intended to be a one-off short story has ended up becoming one of my longest running relationships…like ever, lol. It’s taken about 8 years in total to write what has ended up equaling a year and a half in the lives of these guys. For whatever reason, these characters in particular have never left me. Even when they aren’t the focus of whatever book I happen to be working on, Boone, in particular, is always there, hanging out somewhere in the back of my imagination with an inappropriate comment on hand.

One of the main reasons for my potentially borderline-obsessive relationship to these characters and their lives together is certainly Boone’s personality—his POV has always been dangerously easy for me to get sucked into. And once he’s scratched his way into the forefront of my imagination, he’s difficult to ignore. He’s a pretty nutty character, relentless in his pursuit to verbalize anything and everything that happens to pop into his head—which is often delivered with a healthy dose of snarkasm.

As a first-person POV focused narrative, we never fully get inside Wade’s head, and that was an intentional decision on my part. As the writer, I didn’t want to know everything Wade was thinking all the time. Obviously, I’d spent a great deal of time focusing on who he was, his past, his achievements, his dreams and all the things he’d lost along the way. But I wanted his reactions to be interpreted in the moment as Boone took in the information and processed it real time, along with the reader. For me, that’s part of what makes their relationship interesting and sustainable—we never really know how Wade is going to react, and we continue to learn new things about him as we make our way through the books.

Life In Union was intended as feel-good read, something to cap off Boone and Wade’s relationship and provide readers who were fans of the first two books with one last glimpse into the relationship between these two unlikely love birds. I also wanted to provide readers with one other final payoff, where Boone finally sets his sarcasm aside long enough to allow for a genuinely heartfelt moment with Wade…let’s just say that I did the best I could with that last one. :)

For anyone out there who may be unfamiliar with me or my writing, I’ve always been a sucker for some laughs. Mix in a little romance with that humor and I’m typically hooked. That is mostly what I enjoy as a writer, though I like reading all sorts of genres and subgenres.

I hope you’ll give my Summit City series a try. If you’ve read the first two books and always wondered what happened to Boone and Wade, well…wonder no more! Life In Union is now available at Amazon and if you’re new to the series, all three books are currently available on KU. And keep an eye out for my Summit City spin-off, Crossroads, coming soon in 2019. Crossroads will be a companion novel to Life In Union, detailing the romance of Gabe and Chip.

I’m also offering up a free copy of the latest release, Life In Union: Summit City Book Three as part of this post. Simply follow the instructions provided by Lisa and TNA for your chance to enter and win.

Much Love and Happy Reading!

About Life in Union

Over the past eight months, aspiring author Boone Daniels has seen his entire life turned upside down and inside out. Having survived a recent auto-accident and an impromptu proposal of marriage from his one-night-stand-turned-boyfriend, Wade Walker, Boone has finally moved to Summit City to begin a whole new chapter.

Having adapted to several big life-changes within a relatively short window of time, Boone has embraced the idea of spending the rest of his ‘forever’ with the man he loves. However, he quickly recognizes that it takes more than finding true love and relocating to make a house feel like a home.

As Boone and Wade merge their separate lives into a life in union, they’ll struggle to strike a balance between ‘the me’ and ‘the we’. With patience and perseverance, they’ll eventually say their I Do’s and get that happily-ever-after…after all.

[zilla_button url=”http://authl.it/B07HXT185L?d” style=”blue” size=”large” type=”round” target=”_blank”] Available at Amazon & in Kindle Unlimited [/zilla_button]

[zilla_button url=”http://smarturl.it/LifeinUnion” style=”blue” size=”large” type=”round” target=”_blank”] Summit City Series Buy Links [/zilla_button]

About the Author

I am a gay man living in Missouri…I can hear the gasps already!!  How very un-chic of me, yes I know.  It was here I was born and here I have stayed.

I’m currently single but always looking for that special someone that makes my heart skip a beat…in addition to being able to put up with my neurotic ass.  The worst thing about being a romance writer is finding a real life hottie that can live up to the fantasy I create in my head and subsequently thrust upon him before actually getting to know the real him.  I can hear you getting all judgie…it’s an occupational hazard!!  To all my past and future boyfriends, my sincerest apologies…I can’t help myself!

I was the youngest of four children and the only boy, so needless to say, I was spoiled rotten.  I’ve always had an extravagant fantasy life.  When I played with my Star Wars action figures as a child, I liked to make up my own stories.  Naturally, Luke Skywalker and Han Solo were totally meant for each other, and Princess Leia made a bitchin’ wise cracking Fag Hag.

I somehow managed to survive high school living in a small racist town in Southeast Missouri and emerged unscathed, realizing life was too short to pretend to be anything other than who I was.  I was the little homo that could…so damn it, I did!  It was all very Lifetime Movie Network meets After School Special I assure you.

After a few stints in college, I eventually signed up for a Creative Writing course.  I took the class because there were no tests.  For once my scholastic laziness paid off, and I found an outlet for all the fantasies running amuck in my head.  It was love at first write, and I’ve been doing it off and on ever since.

Now I’ve decided it’s time to un-barricade the doors and unleash my imagination onto the world.  So very sorry world!!  My fantasy life is now available for public consumption and I’m desperately hoping you’re really, really hungry.

Connect with Ethan: Website || Facebook || Twitter || Google+

The Giveaway

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