Sid Love is here today for an interview! His new novella,
Holding on to Hope hit the shelves on February 14th. I've had the pleasure of reading it, and I have to tell you, it's a fantastic debut novella! The world building is perfect, and you can't help but love the secondary characters as much as Brad and Ronan. A little birdy told me that there is going to be more books featuring these characters and I can't wait to read them.
Here's the official Blurb:
Bradley Parker has waited twenty years for Mr. Right, and on Valentine’s Day, he finally finds him. It’s love at first sight, and Brad even loses his virginity to the man of his dreams. But when he wakes up the next morning unable to remember anything—even what the man looked like—his best friend, Leslie, is convinced he imagined the whole thing. Brad knows he didn’t make up the best night of his life, but he has no idea of the danger he’s putting himself in as he struggles to recall the details of his perfect man. His search may lead him to parts of New York City he never dreamed existed and a war being waged in the shadows.
You can buy
Holding on to Hope at
Dreamspinner Press,
Amazon and
All Romance Ebooks
And without further ado, here is the interview!
Congratulations on your first release! Can you tell us a little bit
about the story and how you came up with the idea?
This story is about Brad’s search
for his one true love who he meets on the beautiful day of Valentine’s and
loses him as quickly. He has no memory of where this guy is or what he looks
like. His love and his hopes are the motivation that keeps him believing that
he’d find his man no matter what!
This story came to me when I was
brainstorming over plots for an anthology challenge on GayAuthors site where
all kinds of free fictions are posted. The theme was a Night to Remember and
this was the second idea that popped up in my head. I loved it, so I continued
with it. J
This is your first book, but you are very well known in the m/m
community. What made you make the transition from reviewer to writer?
I am not THAT well-known lol… I
guess we have a decent number of blog followers for which I am humbled! It’s a
team effort really what we have achieved so far J
Anywho, to answer your question,
I have always been a writer. My transition was from a writer to a reviewer an
year ago and not the other way round J But I wasn’t published author back then. It
was a passion I followed dedicatedly. I never stopped writing even after I got
into blogging about the books in M/M genre.
How did you celebrate when you received the email letting you know you
were going to be published?
Ha! It was like 1 AM here in
India when I received that email from Elizabeth and I literally screamed in joy
in the middle of the night! I bet that must have woken up our neighbors, but I
didn’t care lol I was so excited, I could hardly sleep that night.
What made you drew you to paranormal romance for your first book? Will
you stick to this subgenre or are there other subgenres you want to explore for
your next projects?
Holding on to Hope was my
first attempt at writing Paranormal actually. I am the kind of author who loves
to try his hand in every genre. So no, I won’t be limited one sub-genre at all.
You will see a lot of Contemporary, Mystery, Romance books from me while I will
also make an attempt in writing Sci-fi, YA and some more of Paranormal, Fantasy
and Urban Fantasy ;)
When you are creating characters, are they based on people you know, or
are they completely fictional?
I have met some very interesting
people in my life – both online and offline- whose personalities actually
intrigued me. So my characters aren’t completely fictional, I have given them a
touch of every interesting personality I have met to give them a refreshing
feel. Also, my characters take a lot from me too. My main character in Holding on to Hope has some traits that
are inspired from me.
Are there any parts of this story that are particularly special to you
or parts that you wrote from personal experience?
What’s more special than a guy
finding his true love on the Valentine’s Day? I personally believe in the power
of love and hope for finding Mr. Right J
What made you choose to publish with Dreamspinner Press and what have
you learned from publishing your first story?
Dreamspinner Press has a
reputation among the writers and the readers. For a lot of them, DSP books are
an auto-buy (and that includes me!) because they promise quality. I knew that
they’d only make the best out of my book and present it to the whole world. And
I was proved right. I have had a great experience with the DSP staff.
What is next for you?
Well, I am aiming to finish the
second book I have started in the series. And I am also simultaneously working
on a novel-length story. So you will be sure to see a few books coming out soon
under my name.
Can you share a little bit of your story with us?
Here’s an excerpt to the story
that gives you a good enough glimpse of my characters ;)
“Okay, remember how
I said it is huge?” Brad finally spoke, and Leslie nodded her head to let him
know she was all ears. “Well, it is. Last night, something happened, something
unimaginable… beyond any of my wildest dreams. I never thought….”
“Brad.” Leslie
yawned. “To the point, please. I don’t have all day.”
“Okay, all right!
What happened is….” He paused, plastering a big grin on his face. She tried
very hard not to roll her eyes, letting him tell her at his own pace. “Last
night, my dear, I finally got laid!”
When he broke the
news to her, Leslie’s subsequent yawn was cut short by the initial shock she
went through. Her body jerked forward, now fully awakened. There wasn’t any
amount of caffeine that would have made her feel as lively as she felt at that
moment.
This was definitely
huge, and not just for Brad. Over the years, Leslie had constantly tried and
consequently failed in hooking him up with several guys. Bradley Joseph Parker
had the arrogance of a drag queen, she thought. He was too picky when it came
to dating and relationships; never wishing to settle for anything less. He
dreamt of a guy whose mere presence would take his breath away, who would be so
handsome that every girl and every gay guy in the world would yearn to have him
in their lives. “Such a guy would only belong to me, holding my hand in a
roomful of envious people,” he would say with a smirk. “I would look around and
say to them ‘Suck it up, bitches! He is mine!’”
Brad had wasted
years with these stupid fantasies, and he had remained a virgin. So Leslie
never thought the day would come when Brad’s whining would ever end.
But it had. And
Leslie thought she would faint, even with the adrenaline rushing through her
veins.
“Wha—?” She became
aware of the fact that she had left her mouth hanging open for too long and
shut it immediately. A smile crept across her lips, getting bigger by the
second, and it turned into a cheek-hurting grin. “Oh my God! Shut up.
Seriously?” She quickly sat up, hopping on the bed to cross her legs.
“Very seriously,
Les.” Brad’s cute face beamed with wonder and excitement. Leslie couldn’t blame
him. She remembered the day she had had sex for the first time, and even though
it was a while back, she couldn’t forget the bliss she’d felt after finally
losing her virginity or the hunger she felt for getting some more. Leslie was
ready to bet that Brad was experiencing similar whirls of emotions in him.
“Last night, on
Valentine’s Day…?” she asked.
Brad gave a nod. “On
Valentine’s Day.”
“That’s so funny.”
Leslie laughed out loud. Even though Valentine’s Day never meant anything to
her, something this huge happening to her best friend did force her to consider
it a special day. “Okay, you have to tell me everything, dude! Don’t leave out
a single detail. I don’t care if it’s too much information. I just have to
know. How long has this been going on between you two?”
Brad laughed. “Not
too long. I just met him yesterday.”
“And you slept with
him already?” Leslie’s mind was drawing up the picture of the perfect guy in
her imagination, a guy who had managed to entice someone like Brad in such a
short time. She was sure he would be down-to-earth, with an impeccably charming
personality. “Way to go! I won’t deny it; I like the spontaneous Brad. Who is this
guy, by the way? Do I know him?”
“No, you don’t.” His
smile wavered a bit.
“Well, what’s his
name?”
Leslie watched him
hesitate for a moment. “I… don’t know.”
It took her by
surprise.
“I think my devilish
side just had a mind-blowing orgasm. You not only have sex with a guy for the
first time, but you are also telling me it was simply a one-night stand?” She
put her hand over her heart and mockingly said, “Mama Les is so proud of her
boy!”
“But Les,” he
knitted his eyebrows together as he stood up and came over to sit by her side.
He took hold of Leslie’s hand, and she felt his grip tightening when he said,
“It wasn’t a one-night stand. Definitely not, uh-uh.” He shook his head, and
she immediately wondered if he was trying to convince her or himself. “It was
special to me, and I could tell it was special for him too. Why else would he
go to extremes to make that night an unforgettable memory? He lit up hundreds
of scented candles in the room for me, and there were rose petals all over the
bed where we did it.” Leslie didn’t miss the blush forming on his face again as
he spoke. “There was champagne, sweet music, and he was a perfect gentleman. He
kept asking me if I was sure about this.”
“WOW! Sounds utterly
cheesy to me….” Leslie said, although she was quite impressed by all of it and
maybe a bit jealous too.
Brad let go of her
hand and sighed. “It was damn romantic.”
Leslie moved her
gaze around the dorm room, scrutinizing it. “I am guessing it wasn’t here you
did it then?” She inquired, turning to face him and watched him slowly crossing
his legs like she had.
“No, he took me to
his place.” Brad had his mouth open to probably add something more, but he
stopped abruptly, scrunched his nose up, and glanced at her with some doubt. “I
think it was his place… I don’t know. Where else would he take me?”
Leslie noticed
uncertainty, even when he shrugged. What Brad was saying didn’t make any sense
to her. “The champagne! Did you have too much of it?”
He frowned. “God,
no! Why would I want to give him the impression I’m an idiotic drunkard on our
first meeting?”
Of course she didn’t
believe him. “Right, says the one who’d put Britney Spears to shame with his
underage drinking. Seriously, dude, I’ve had to pick you up in a drunken state
from God knows how many parties by now. So don’t shit me by saying you didn’t
have any amount of alcohol in you last night.”
Brad reddened and
carefully said, “I may have had a little bit of alcohol.”
Typical. Leslie
rolled her eyes. “Weren’t you at Ian’s party last night?” She tried to keep her
face straight as she asked. The party he had gone to was for all the single men
and ladies from their college. Leslie knew exactly how that turned out every
year by the end of the night.
He gave a nod in
reply.
“Well, maybe you did
it at his place?”
“No, it can’t be
because we were partying at a nightclub last night.”
“Since when do
nightclubs allow in a bunch of twenty year-olds?” she asked, certain they must
have been stopped at the door for IDs. She couldn’t say about the others, but
Brad’s cute baby face did give away his age.
“They don’t, but Ian
somehow knew a few guys working at this nightclub that we went to, so we were
able to sneak in.” He grinned.
Leslie suddenly
wished she could have joined them. “Lucky you!” Now she couldn’t wait for May
to arrive; that was when she turned twenty-one. She had been planning it in her
mind forever. “So you met this mysterious guy in that club?”
“Yes, I think so.”
Brad chewed on his lower lip.
“Well, what did he
say to you? What did he look like?”
Brad turned
sorrowful. “If I only knew….” He hung his head down and began to pull on his
hair. “Fuck, Les!” He yelled, then looked up, scowling at her. “I can’t seem to
remember any of it. The only thing that has managed to stay stuck in my memory
is the mind-blowing sex that I had with him. I even remember all the positions
we did it in, and God, that guy has the stamina of a wild lion, I tell you.”
Author Bio:
Sid Love grew up in one of busiest cities in the world, Mumbai, listening to the excerpts of Indian epics from his father every night. While it served as an inspiration back in time, he has always had an ambitious mind. In 2007, when he had just turned sixteen, he decided that he would make his lifelong dream come true—to become a well-known, respected author some day.
Ask him and he would refuse to accept that he is obsessed with books. Or movies. Or TV shows. Addicted may even be the right word. He is a die-hard fan of Jane Austen’s romance novels and loves to reread them time and again.
You can find him on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sid.love.16?ref=tn_tnmn or tweet him anytime: https://twitter.com/FatefulMercy, or simply e-mail him at sidlovethewriter@live.in.
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