GUEST AUTHOR: RENAE KAYE #mmromance #mmholidayspirit #giveaways

 

Today my guest is Renae Kaye.

Renae talks about toothpaste, sewing machines, her latest release, and carols. Plus, she teases us with hints that she has a new direction in 2017.

Don’t forget to check out the giveaways, including the opportunity to win one of Renae’s books.

 

I love Christmas and always look forward to it. What’s your favourite holiday of the year and what makes it so special?

I enjoy Australia Day which occurs on the 26th of January each year.  I think I like it because there’s no pressure on me to make the day special for others – there are no presents to buy, no extended family to catch up with, etc.  Australia Day is a day I can sit back and relax… and remember everything that makes our country great.  From our indigenous heritage, to our farmers who work so hard, to our newly naturalised immigrants, to the men and women who are on the cutting edge of technology.  I love our country.  And of course there are fireworks every time.

What’s the worst present (Christmas or otherwise) you’ve ever received?

Toothpaste.

I’m not joking.  My in-laws forgot my birthday one year.  We went out to dinner with them – my husband and I thought it was to celebrate my birthday, but it turned out they just thought it would be nice to go out to dinner.  One of the kids let it drop about that day being my birthday… and my in-laws were horrified they’d forgotten.  So after dinner they ducked into a grocery store that was still open and bought me a cake, birthday card… and a pack of toothpaste.

Okay, that might just have to win the worst present I’ve ever heard of. What’s the best gift you’ve ever received?

A sewing machine.  When I was seventeen my parents got me a second-hand sewing machine as a Christmas gift.  Truly – that machine has been wonderful.

I had to teach myself how to sew, but being able to make your own clothes, mend and alter clothes, and create artwork from fabric is something very satisfying.

If you could be granted one special gift for the world for the holiday season, what would it be?

Peace on Earth?

Really.  It’s a pretty easy present, isn’t it?

Christmas carols. Yes or no?

 Yes… but not too many!  Please!

Tell us a little about the favourite book you released this year?

My favourite book I’ve released this year is “The Straight Boyfriend.”  It has been my most requested secondary character to have a story written about him.  I told everyone that Aaron was straight… Well, he fooled me.  While writing “Don’t Twunk With My Heart” I found out different.

This book is about the fear of labels.  For some people a label is liberating.  For others it is restrictive.  For Aaron he fears the loss of his masculinity if he reveals to the world that he loves another man.

I find this story rather raw.  It’s honest.  It cuts me to the bone that people have had to make that choice in life because of bigotry and homophobia. For some people in life it’s cut and dried – I’m straight, I’m gay, I’m bi, etc.  For Aaron he’s fighting a lot of previously taught prejudices.  Some people won’t like that Aaron hesitates – but remember this all happens in the space of a few months and sometimes it takes years of self-reflection to understand this stuff.  Let’s give him a bit of time.  Love is what matters in the end.

Do you have a favourite YouTube clips of a holiday song?

Oh, my Lordy.  I adore this guy’s work.  Chase Holfelder takes popular songs and changes them to minor keys.  And this version of “All I Want for Christmas” is so edgy and angsty that I love it.

The end of the year is often a time for making New Year’s Resolutions. Do you have any you’d be willing to share? After all, they do say you’re more likely to achieve a goal if you share it 🙂

Usually I resolve to be more organised.  I buy myself a calendar or diary and promise to keep it up to date.  But life always gets in the way.  Because life isn’t just about “you.”  Life happens to the people around you and sometimes your priorities become less than theirs.

So I think this year I will resolve to be more accepting of the speed-humps in my life.  They are going to happen, but how we react to things beyond our control is what shapes us.

What does 2017 hold for you on the writing front? What can your readers expect to see from you?

I actually think 2017 is going to be very quiet for me, which will be hard and I hope that my readers still remember my name at the end of it.  I’m cooking up a large long-term project which will see my writing go in a different direction.

There are many people who aren’t as fortunate as me and this time of year is always a time where I reflect on how lucky I am. It’s a time for giving back and I do so by supporting my favourite charity (Twenty10 who provide support for LGBT youth) financially and with their Christmas Hamper drive. Is there a favourite charity or not-for-profit organization you’d like to call out and raise the awareness of?

Every year I’m involved in collecting and donating items for St Bart’s in Perth.  They support the homeless, and at Christmas, this can be a trying time.

Check out one of Renae’s books…

Blurb: Loving You (book #3)

Aaron Hall has never been able to remain faithful to a single woman, and for most of his life, he’s dated two women at once. Recently his girlfriend tracked him down and knocked on his door—and his live-in girlfriend answered. Now he has no girlfriend and a mortgage he can’t pay by himself.

Vinnie Rosello needs to change his life—get a better job, stop drinking all his money away, find himself a serious boyfriend… and move out of his parents’ house. Aaron needs help with his expenses, so they become housemates.

Even though Aaron harbors some misconceptions about gay men and Vinnie misses his large Italian family, both men find comfort in their friendship. It’s a good arrangement until everything between them changes.

Vinnie falls in love with Aaron, and Aaron is shocked to realize he feels the same. There’s only one problem—he’s still straight. He’ll have to overcome his fear of labels in order to love the man who’s captured his heart.

Buy Links

Dreamspinner Press

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Amazon AU

GIVEAWAYS

Renae is giving away an ebook copy of Don’t Twunk With My Heart.

To enter just comment on this post and a winner will be randomly chosen after 17th December.

Click here to enter the Rafflecopter. The winners will be drawn at the end of the blog tour.

1st prize: $20 Amazon GC, 2nd Prize: $15 Amazon GC (courtesy of Meg Bawden), $10 ARe GC (courtesy of Beany Sparks), and 4^th Prize is a bundle of 4 ebooks (1 back list title from Renae Kaye, Penny Brandon’s “His Heart’s Desire”, LJ Harris’ “The Haunting of Angus MacGregor”, and a backlist title from N.J. Nielsen)

About the author

Renae Kaye is a lover and hoarder of books who thinks libraries are devilish places because they make you give the books back.  She consumed her first adult romance book at the tender age of thirteen and hasn’t stopped since.  After years – and thousands of stories! – of not having book characters do what she wants, she decided she would write her own novel and found the characters still didn’t do what she wanted.  It hasn’t stopped her though.  She believes that maybe one day the world will create a perfect couple – and it will be the most boring story ever.  So until then she is stuck with quirky, snarky and imperfect characters who just want their story told.Renae lives in Perth, Western Australia and writes in five minute snatches between the demands of two kids, a forbearing husband, too many pets, too much housework and her beloved veggie garden.  She is a survivor of being the youngest in a large family and believes that laughter (and a good book) can cure anything.

How to contact Renae:
Email:  renaekaye@iinet.net.au
Website:  www.renaekaye.weebly.com
FB:  www.facebook.com/renae.kaye.9
Twitter:  @renaekkaye

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