So you might be wondering, why is “Bisexual Day of Visibility” (Sept. 23) is a big deal? The short answer is that invisibility is actually a problem for bisexuals like me and for bisexual characters in my books. If you really believe “love is love,” that means everyone deserves a happily-ever-after, but bisexuals (and pansexuals) are often overlooked, ignored, or forgotten. To fight that, we have to find positive ways to include and represent bi characters.

Bisexuality typically means a person could be attracted to any gender. But when we are seen with an opposite-sex partner, people assume we’re straight, and when we’re with a same-sex partner, people assume we’re gay or lesbian. In real life, unless you’re literally in the midst of a threesome, or wearing a T-shirt that says “No One Knows I’m Bisexual,” no one knows you’re bisexual.

Even after you’ve told people, they’ll often “forget.” I’ve been a bi activist for over 30 years, I’ve been published in Best Bisexual Erotica and Best Bi Short Stories, and I’ve won a Bisexual Book Award, and people I’ve known for decades will still forget I’m bi, because if people aren’t given constant reminders, the weight of binary assumptions (“everyone is gay or straight”) exerts a gravitational force on people’s perceptions.

Same goes for fictional bisexuals. My policy in my books is that every character is bisexual unless proven otherwise, but sometimes the subject just doesn’t come up. I sometimes try to make it obvious. For example, I once wrote a bisexual rock star hero who was obviously based on David Bowie, who mentions a male ex-lover at one point, and who drops various other hints, but I am certain that most readers never thought of him as anything but het. This was the hero of probably my best-known book, James in Slow Surrender. I thought James being bi was obvious, but apparently, I was too subtle.

Karina, James’s submissive, is also bi, she’s just inexperienced. Slow Surrender really delves into the development of the erotic relationship between the two of them. While I was writing the book, a scene just for the sake of splashing their bisexual identities on the page felt like a side trip. But if I were going to rewrite that book today, I would have probably included a scene to make their bi natures more visible. Maybe at a play party where they get together with another couple?

Sometimes even a foursome isn’t enough, though! There’s a scene in Magic University, my “grown up” magic school series, where our hero and his then-girlfriend end up in a foursome with two other students. A fanfic writer pointed out to me when that book came out, though, that Kyle and the other guy in the scene are not described touching each other or kissing. That was totally an unintentional omission on my part (it’s a short scene). I didn’t think Kyle’s bisexuality was in question, but apparently, some readers felt that him declaring in book two that he could meet the bisexuality prerequisite for majoring in sex magic wasn’t enough “proof.” (Um, no spoilers, but… books three and four do eventually provide plenty of proof!)

So, what can you do to try to prevent bi erasure and bi invisibility in your book? Here are a few suggestions for do’s and don’ts.

Do use the “b word” at some point early in the character’s arc. I probably should have argued for the word “bisexual” to actually be included in Slow Surrender somewhere—at the time, my editor had said they tried to avoid “label words” in their romances. (Then again, this editor also didn’t want me to ever use the word “crotch”…? Is there something wrong with that word that I don’t know?) If not “bisexual,” then at least use “bi.”

Second, when a character reminisces about old relationships, have at least one of those relationships be the “proof”—especially if that relationship is remembered fondly! You don’t want it to seem like they had a bad experience and this is why now they are looking for the opposite. You risk it seeming like they think bisexuality was a mistake that they are going to “fix” with their current love interest. That wouldn’t be “good” representation. This also might make it seem like they had a “bi phase” that is over now. Unfortunately, “it’s just a phase” is one of the popular myths about bisexuality we need to fight.

Third, when the love interest hears about a previous bi relationship, have it be no big deal. I know, I know, you’d think it would be more “memorable” if they flip out about it, but again, the goal is to have healthy and positive representations of bisexuality and bi characters. I do not think it’s a positive thing if their love interest has to “get over” them being bi.

Definitely DON’T decide to demonstrate that a character is bi by having them cheat. That’s another one of those dangerous stereotypes. Bisexuals do NOT actually cheat any more often than monosexuals, but the myth persists. Don’t fall into that cliché. Related to that cliché is the “anything that moves” stereotype bisexual/pansexual. (Think Captain Jack Harkness.) I’ve written plenty of this type of bi, but they’re not typical. Probably the one with the most depth is Ziggy, the lead singer in Daron’s Guitar Chronicles, who has a lot of inappropriate sex with all kinds of people. He is a rock star, after all. Ultimately what Ziggy comes to learn, though, is that sex and love are not the same… and that’s a key thing to keep in mind when writing bi characters in a romance.

One other don’t: just because your bi character ultimately settles down in a monogamous relationship doesn’t change them from bi to gay or straight. They’re still bi! They don’t get “converted” to being monosexual just because they are monogamous. Sexual identity is about who people are, not what people do.

Thanks for reading my tips for Bisexual Visibility Day! If you have recommendations of books that have positive representations of bi characters in them, I’d love to hear what they are!

About the Author

Cecilia Tan is an award-winning writer of passionate fiction, romance, and erotica. She has written over 30 novels, including the Magic University series, the collection Black Feathers, and many other books. She was inducted into the LGBT Writers and Editors Hall of Fame in 2010. RT Book Reviews awarded her Career Achievement in Erotic Romance in 2015 and her novel Slow Surrender (Hachette/Forever, 2013) won RT Reviewers Choice and the Maggie Award.

LINKS to books mentioned:

Slow Surrender

Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/a/1960/9781455529278
Amazon: https://amzn.to/4dlg6h2

Magic University

Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/a/1960/9781626011175
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3yB9HiM

Daron’s Guitar Chronicles

Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/a/1960/9781963897012
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3yEiEYD

UPDATE: The winner is…Mary Preston!
*~*~*

Hello Delilah!  Thank you for welcoming me here today to talk about my new project.  Another anthology!  I have to say I hesitated when this one came up.  I don’t write a lot of paranormal stories, and this anthology was a shifter reality show.

I was like…HUH? What the hell do I know about shifters and reality shows?

But then the idea came to me and I knew what I wanted to write.  A lesbian owl shifter dating show paranormal romance.  Yep, you read that correctly.

Pretty soon I had the contours of a story.  A producer of a lesbian dating show discovers her best friend is up to no good.  The friend has submitted the producer’s ex-girlfriend to be on the show and the ex has agreed.  The producer’s confused because her best friend was the one who broke them up in the first place. Now it appears she’s trying to get them back together.

The other problem?  Humans aren’t supposed to know about shifters and certainly shifters aren’t allowed to have relationships with humans.

Okay, so plenty of conflict.  And also, lots of fun.  I turned my dating show into a bachelorette with a group of women vying for her attention.  I set the story in my favorite city of Vancouver, and I had an absolute blast writing it.  I’m really hoping readers will connect with Gillian and Tabbitha.

Thank you for hosting me today and letting me share my new release.  It’s in an anthology with ten other great shifter reality show stories.  They run the entire gamut, so I hope romance fans will check them out. Shifting Love is available from Amazon and Kindle Unlimited for a limited time.  As a thank you for hosting me, I’m happy to give a $5 Amazon gift card to a luck commenter.  Just answer—what animal do you want to see as a shifter?  Let me know in the comments and random will pick a winner!

Shifting Love

Lights, Camera, Shift. Oh, you sexy beast. Sparks (and maybe fur) fly when you mix the drama and competition of reality television with sexy shifters. Whether they are racing toward love, baking their hearts out, or surviving being stuck with the competition, you’re going to want to tune in and watch what happens!

Find out more in this spicy PNR collection containing exciting stories from USA Today best-selling and award-winning romance authors curated by The New Romance Café.

Authors:
Serafina Jax
Lisabel Chretien
Aurelia Foxx
Robin O’Connor
Suki McMinn
Gabbi Grey
Sabrina Silvers
Jade Thorn
Minda Knight
Harper Michaels
Kataya Moon

The anthology will only be available for a limited time.

Links:
Universal Link: https://books2read.com/tnrc2024shiftinglove
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/Shifting-Love-Paranormal-Shifter-Collection-ebook/dp/B0CXY8H9K3
Add it to Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/218644534-shifting-love

About Gabbi’s Story inside Shifting Love—Finding Love in the Right Places by Gabbi Grey…

Tabitha

As the executive producer of a lesbian bachelorette reality-television show, I sometimes select contestants. My best friend submits my ex-girlfriend, Gillian, as a candidate to win the bachelorette’s hand. If I pick her, she might have the opportunity to find love. If I don’t, then I’ll never get to say a proper goodbye. As an owl shifter, I can never be with a human, but that doesn’t stop me from wanting Gillian with all my soul. She deserves to find true love and happiness, and it kills me the love can’t be mine.

Gillian

When I’m selected for Love in All the Right Places, I’m confused. My ex-girlfriend, Tabitha, is in charge of the production, and I can’t figure out why she would choose me. As nice as the bachelorette seems to be, it’s not her I really want. If I had my way, I’d pick Tabitha and we’d sail away into the sunset. But she has secrets that broke us apart before, and I’m terrified those secrets won’t allow us a second chance.

Love in All the Right Places is a 15k shifter paranormal lesbian story set on a reality show with a human, an owl shifter, and her lioness best friend.

About Gabbi Grey

USA Today Bestselling author Gabbi Grey lives in beautiful British Columbia where her fur baby chin-poo keeps her safe from the nasty neighborhood squirrels. Working for the government by day, she spends her early mornings writing contemporary, gay, sweet, and dark erotic BDSM romances. While she firmly believes in happy endings, she also believes in making her characters suffer before finding their true love. She also writes m/f romances as Gabbi Black and Gabbi Powell.

June is Pride Month. Specifically, June 28 is Pride Day. I would be remiss if I didn’t in some way acknowledge these months. For some, this post may seem unnecessary or as “Duh!” However, let me briefly explain why I’m writing it.

In 2020 when the world broke, many terrible things occurred. However, personally, I found a silver lining in all of it. It humbled me and allowed me to grow as a person. My eyes widened, and I found compassion in places I did not know existed. I also engaged in a lot of streaming, and it was this streaming that I discovered something that caused me to pause in my steps. As a writer, there are always discussions about pushing limits. Now, the next few statements are not made to point fingers, climb on any political or social agenda soapbox, shame, slight, or belittle anyone. I’m not about that life. Everyone is entitled to his opinion whether right, wrong, or indifferent. And I’m not one who decides what is right or wrong. I’m simply outlining the events that happened.

There is a saying in the writing community that authors should only write what they know. This view in its strictest sense means men cannot write female characters and women cannot write male characters. Additionally, it suggests that writers are only allowed to write characters of the same race, nationality, ethnicity, culture, religion, and sexual orientation. Following such strict guidelines would gravely limit the types of characters and books authors create. The argument is that a person who is not of the same group/community cannot accurately or intelligently discuss, depict, or communicate the group/community in question. And here is where the issue became super complicated.

In one of the series I was viewing during that time, a character of a marginalized group expressed that it was not his place to educate others about his community and, if people wanted to know, they would learn for themselves. However, when people began to ask questions to educate themselves, they were accused of being rude, nosy, and offensive. So, when these same people took to the internet for answers and received misinformation, they were chastised for not knowing better. My question was then, how can one adequately become educated if no one is willing to teach and discussions can’t be had? Attitudes of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” have benefits but also drawbacks. In many ways, it is like walking on eggshells.

At a former job, there was a rule that if the institution paid for an employee to attend a professional conference or workshop, the employee would have to give a brief summary presentation to coworkers who didn’t attend. Not only did I think this was a fair rule, but I also enjoyed it because it encouraged the spread of information. Why bottle up education and restrict it from anyone wanting to learn?

In my novels, I attempt to include diversity in my characters. I also heavily research any unfamiliar topics. My blog (Creole Bayou) is 98% researched based. (I do occasionally write an opinion piece which I always clearly indicate.) So, as I was sitting pondering what to write, I saw a post on Twitter that included the acronym 2SLGBTQIA+. I admit, I didn’t know what the 2S stood for. Later the same day, someone asked me what the Q and the I in LGBTQIA meant. Now, before the pandemic, if someone had said they didn’t know what the Q and I stood for in LGBTQIA, I would have given them the side eye for not knowing. I would have thought, “How could you not know? It’s all over the place.” However, we all have different lives and experiences. We all have different experiences and levels of exposure. Just like I assumed everyone would know what the Q and I meant, there are people who would think I should know what 2S meant. Thus, that is what has led me to this post. I thought why not share what someone would assume to be common knowledge but that may not be for everyone?

1. What is the acronym 2SLGBTQIA+?

• Lesbian
• Gay
• Bisexual
• Transgender
• Queer and/or Questioning
• Intersex (a concept that exists not in objective reality but has been created and accepted by the people in a society that reflects a variation in sex characteristics including chromosomes, genitals, and/or gonads that do not appear to fit into conventional definitions of male or female)
• Asexual/Ace (may not experience sexual attraction to anyone or has a low or absent interest in sexual activity) *NOTE: Some people consider the A to represent Ally (a heterosexual person who supports the LGBTQ+ community)
• + reflects the countless affirmative ways in which people choose to identify (e.g., aceflux, akiosexual, aromantic, demisexual, graysexual, pansexual, reciprosexual, etc.)
• 2S – Two-Spirit (a term used by some Indigenous people to describe the behavior or gender expression of persons who do not match masculine or feminine gender norms in their communities.)

Read the rest of this entry »

UPDATE: The winner is…Diane Sallans!
*~*~*

A friend introduced me to gay romances, and I was hooked.  As time progressed, I immersed myself in the stories out there.  I gobbled up audiobooks like there was no tomorrow.  I also read eBooks, haunted Facebook, and got to know members of the LGBTQ writing community.

Next, I turned my hand to writing a story.  A story I believed in.  A story I felt needed to be told. Then, one random day, I managed to sell that book.  A gay romance. I have to tell you, that felt pretty monumental.  By the time that novella was published, I’d written the next story.  And soon I had the one after that.  Now I’m up to more than a dozen stories published.

But I still, at times, feel like I’m on the outside looking in.

All groups have the cool kids.  The ones other kids envy or look up to or admire or just want to be like. Some of the authors I avidly follow, and whose books I gobble up, are who I consider the cool kids.  Some are prolific and well-known, while others are just steady and have been around forever.

I wasn’t sure I’d ever not feel like an outsider until I was approached to do this charity anthology last year.  At the time, this was my fourth charity anthology — but I’d sought out the others.  On this occasion, someone contacted me.  Invited me.  That felt…special.  Most especially because I’m a huge supporter of LGBTQ rights.  This anthology, for me, is a way to give back.

Last year’s story was fun to write and I enjoyed being part of the group of authors releasing their stories into the world.  To be invited back for a second year was pretty fricking awesome.  Again, I was happy to contribute a novella set in my fictional world of Mission City, British Columbia.

Our organizers have picked amazing charities for this year’s proceeds.  My fellow writers and I have put together 10 pretty great stories.  I’m hoping everyone will run out and grab a copy of this anthology!

Thank you, Delilah, for hosting me today.  I’d like to give away a $5 Amazon GC to one random lucky commenter.  Tell me: what makes you choose to buy an anthology?  Drop a comment and you might win a prize! ~GG

Love Is All, Volume 6

The sixth edition of LOVE IS ALL features ten brand new stories from bestselling and award-winning authors, including BL Maxwell, Chantal Mer & Susan Scott Shelley, Connor Peterson, Gabbi Grey, Nic Starr, Sean Michael, Lee Blair, Xio Axelrod, RJ Scott & V.L. Locey, and Piper Malone. They celebrate the universal human right that is to love and be loved.

All proceeds will go to three organizations that support and defend LGBTQIA+ rights: the Unity Coalition, Out Memphis, and Lucie’s Place.

The anthology will only be available for a limited time.

Links:
Universal Link: https://books2read.com/LIAV6
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C6B81B65
B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/love-is-all-xio-axelrod/1143550964
KOBO: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/love-is-all-volume-6
Apple: https://books.apple.com/…/love-is-all…/id6449547111
Add it to Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/162407970-love-is-all

The Charities

https://www.unitycoalition.org/ is a Latinx and indigenous organization in Florida that organizes and supports several LGBTQ+ arts, leadership, and awareness programs across Florida, including the Miami Gay Chorus and the “Saber es Poder” campaign for HIV education and testing.

https://www.outmemphis.org/ offers direct aid and support programs to queer and trans people in Tennessee. Regular events at the center’s main facility include free HIV testing, trans ID workshops and financial aid for name changes, community meals, and peer support and social groups for both teens and adults. The organization also runs The Metamorphosis Project, a program providing emergency support and transitional housing to unhoused LGBTQ+ youth.

And http://www.luciesplace.org/ named for Lucie Marie Hamilton, a young trans woman who died in 2009 — is a nonprofit in Arkansas that provides services to unhoused LGBTQ+ young adults, including transitioning resources and grocery and rental assistance. The group also runs a drop-in center with shower facilities and a community closet for all members who have completed an intake form.

About the Authors

Xio Axelrod

Xio Axelrod is a USA Today bestselling author of different flavours of contemporary romance. She also writes what she likes to call strange, twisted tales. Xio grew up in the music industry and began recording at a young age. When she isn’t writing stories, she can be found in the studio, writing songs, or performing on international stages (under a different, no-so-secret name). She lives in Philadelphia with one full-time husband and several part-time cats.

RJ Scott

RJ Scott is a USA TODAY bestselling author of over 140 romance and suspense novels. From bodyguards to hockey stars, princes to millionaires, cowboys to military, she believes that love is love and every man deserves their own happy ending.

VL Locey

V.L. Locey loves worn jeans, Dr. Who, Torchwood, belly laughs, yoga, reading and writing lusty tales, walking, Greek mythology, the New York Rangers, comic books, and coffee. (Not necessarily in that order.)

She shares her life with her husband, her daughter, one dog, two cats, and a flock of assorted domestic fowl.

When not writing lusty tales, she can be found enjoying her day with her menagerie in the rolling hills of Pennsylvania, fresh cup of java in hand.

Chantal Mer

Chantal Mer is an author and optimist. Her stories explore relationships and what it means to be family. When she’s not writing about strong women, strong men, and strong love, she can be found walking her adorable dog, volunteering at her kids’ school (in the library, of course), teaching at the local university, and reading.

Chantal lives outside of Philadelphia with her husband, kids, Toffee the Wonder Dog, and vicious cat, Gracie.

Susan Scott Shelley

USA Today bestselling author Susan Scott Shelley writes stories with heat and heart, where love always wins. Her romances give readers lighthearted and emotionally satisfying escapes into happily ever after. In addition to crafting stories, she is also a professional voiceover artist and enjoys lending her voice to a wide range of projects.

She lives in Philadelphia with her husband and is an avid fan of her hometown sports teams. Her favorite things include running (honestly, it’s more like jogging), sports (especially hockey), hard rock (but will listen to anything from heavy metal to show tunes), and writing about people from all walks of life finding their special someone.

Lee Blair

Lee Blair is a queer author from Oregon who writes low angst, funny, M/M contemporary romance. She’s constantly amused by the antics of her two ginger cats, considers daydreaming about future trips to Scotland a part-time job, and is obsessed with Schitt’s Creek to an alarming degree.

Sean Michael

Often referred to as “Space Cowboy” and “Gangsta of Love” while still striving for the moniker of “Maurice,” Sean Michael spends his days surfing, smutting, organizing his immense gourd collection and fantasizing about one day retiring on a small secluded island peopled entirely by horseshoe crabs. While collecting vast amounts of vintage gay pulp novels and mood rings, Sean whiles away the hours between dropping the f-bomb and persuing the kama sutra by channeling the long lost spirit of John Wayne and singing along with the soundtrack to “Chicago.”

A long-time writer of complicated haiku, currently Sean is attempting to learn the advanced arts of plate spinning and soap carving sex toys.

Barring any of that? He’ll stick with writing his stories, thanks, and rubbing pretty bodies together to see if they spark.

Connor Peterson

Connor Peterson is a USA Today bestselling author of LGBTQ+ urban fantasy and dark, paranormal romance, local to the Philadelphia, PA area. The madman behind Deathspell and Temptation in Neon, Connor has also contributed to the story cycle Red Phone Box – published by Ghostwoods Books – and the anthology Nocturnal Embers – published by Crimson Melodies Publishing. He is also an active participant in the Philadelphia writing community, and volunteers as a municipal liaison for National Novel Writing Month.

Nic Starr

Nic Starr lives in Australia where she tries to squeeze as much into her busy life as possible. Balancing the demands of a corporate career with raising a family and writing can be challenging but she wouldn’t give it up for the world.

Always a reader, the lure of m/m romance was strong and she devoured hundreds of wonderful m/m romance books before eventually realising she had some stories of her own that needed to be told!

When not writing or reading, she loves to spend time with her family–an understanding husband and two beautiful daughters–and is often found indulging in her love of cooking and planning her dream home in the country.

Piper Malone

Piper Malone is an award-winning author of sweet and sexy romance.

Dog lover. Reader. Foodie. Coffee, please.

BL Maxwell

BL Maxwell grew up in a small town listening to her grandfather spin tales about his childhood. Later she became an avid reader and after a certain vampire series she became obsessed with fanfiction. She soon discovered Slash fanfiction and later discovered the MM genre and was hooked.

Many years later, she decided to take the plunge and write down some of the stories that seem to run through her head late at night when she’s trying to sleep.

BL Maxwell writes MM Paranormal, Contemporary, Thriller, and Paranormal Fantasy.

Gabbi Grey

USA Today Bestselling author Gabbi Grey lives in beautiful British Columbia where her fur baby chin-poo keeps her safe from the nasty neighborhood squirrels. Working for the government by day, she spends her early mornings writing contemporary, gay, sweet, and dark erotic BDSM romances. While she firmly believes in happy endings, she also believes in making her characters suffer before finding their true love. She also writes m/f romances as Gabbi Black and Gabbi Powell.

About Gabbi Grey’s novella inside Love is All: Big Sky Boyfriend…

Wyatt

I’m living comfortably on my family farm in Mission City, British Columbia, when the man who broke my heart fifteen years ago waltzes back into my life.  I’ve told myself I’m over Tate, but one look at the grown man has me rethinking my anger with him.  Except Tate’s hiding something, something that shadows his eyes and makes him back away from my attempts to get closer.  If he won’t come clean with me, do we even stand a chance?

Tate

I blew town at eighteen, wanting to be as far away from our small town as possible. I started in Canada’s largest city and soon moved to London. I lived a high life in finance until it all came crashing down.  When I came back to Canada, with my tail tucked between my legs, I promptly dove into a horrible relationship. Now I’m back to living in my parents’ basement and pining over the man whose heart I broke all those years ago. Pathetic, right?  If Wyatt won’t forgive me, what’s the point of trying to move forward?

Big Sky Boyfriend is a 24k word gay romance second-chance novella with a small-town farm boy, a big-city fancy boy, and a puppy named Winnie.

UPDATE: The winner is…Stephanie!
*~*~*

Confession time – this isn’t my first lesbian romance.  I wrote a sweet short story for a charity anthology to benefit victims of the Australian Wildfires back in February 2020.  My little story gave me two characters I gave cameos to in a subsequent book.

Okay, now I have that off my chest.

I love my publisher.  They come up with great ideas and I’m happy to run with them.  For Passport to Romance, I wrote a gay novella Valentino in Vancouver set in – big surprise – Vancouver.  Under another penname, I wrote Bonding in Buenos Aires. One guess where I set that novella.  For their One Scoop or Two series, I wrote Catch a Tiger by the Tail which doesn’t sound much like an ice cream story until you realize tiger tail ice cream is a thing (orange cream mixed with ribbons of black licorice and, OMG, so so so good).

Last year, they asked for jelly bean stories.  Jelly Beans and Spring Things was the proposed theme.

At first, I didn’t think I had anything to contribute.  I’d just written Valentino and was preparing to write Buenos Aires.  And I had a third book, under another penname, that was on deadline.  Oh, and my contribution to the HEA Collective needed to be written.  I didn’t have time for a jelly bean book!

Except…yeah.  I remembered a character I’d created in Valentino – actress Elouise Hynes.  Elouise, like the character Seamus, is from Newfoundland.  But while Seamus still has a trace of an accent, Elouise went to Hollywood and tried to ditch the accent entirely.  She hasn’t turned her back on her roots – but she’s embraced the SoCal lifestyle.

Until a broken relationship sends her scrambling back to Canada, Vancouver in particular, to nab the lead role in a thriller.  By now, she’s out of the closet and has sworn off love after the disastrous dissolution of her engagement.  Then she meets bold and brash makeup artist Kelci, and her world turns upside down. Toss in characters previously introduced in Tiger and Valentino to bring readers along for the journey. Then, finally, throw in some April showers, jelly beans, and I had my story.

I tried to write a sweet story.  My editor gently told me I’d missed the mark by a mile.  She suggested I add a few swear words (which are normally in my stories) and add a sex scene (which fit beautifully in the story and the reader would never know it hadn’t always been there).  I call the story my spicy lesbian novella.  The book isn’t as spicy as some other things I’ve written, but there’s plenty of sexual tension and also plenty of love.  So the typical Gabbi Grey novella with the perfect HEA.

Thank you, Delilah, for hosting me today so I can talk about my beloved venture into Sapphic romance.  I’d love to offer a $5 Amazon GC to one of your faithful readers.  Let me know – how much does the cover influence your decision to try a book?  I love my cover of You See Me. I think my designer nailed Elouise perfect with the right amount of sexiness while showing that hint of vulnerability.  One random commenter will win the GC.  Thanks!

You See Me

Being dumped might lead to a forever love.

Elouise

After a public break-up with my fiancée, I’ve retrenched in Vancouver, British Columbia to lick my wounds and star in a movie. I’m acting as if everything is okay, but then I meet a woman who sees the real me. Dare I take a chance to find real love?

Kelci

I’ve admired Elouise Hynes from afar for years. She’s recently come out of the closet and was dumped just a short time later. I want to offer comfort, but I’m a make-up artist on her movie crew. Can we really form a lasting bond when she lives in LA and I’m staying in Canada?

Links:
Universal Link: https://books2read.com/You
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/You-See-Me-Gabbi-Grey-ebook/dp/B0BVRW5SGC
B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/you-see-me-gabbi-grey/1143069019
iBooks: https://books.apple.com/book/you-see-me/id6445718954
KOBO: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/you-see-me-3
Add it to Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/122849755-you-see-me

About the Author

USA Today Bestselling author Gabbi Grey lives in beautiful British Columbia where her fur baby chin-poo keeps her safe from the nasty neighborhood squirrels. Working for the government by day, she spends her early mornings writing contemporary, gay, sweet, and dark erotic BDSM romances. While she firmly believes in happy endings, she also believes in making her characters suffer before finding their true love. She also writes m/f romances as Gabbi Black and Gabbi Powell.

Gabbi’s Links:
Website: https://gabbigrey.com/
Newsletter sign-up:  https://sendfox.com/gabbigrey
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authorgabbigrey/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/GabbiGrey
Facebook (page): https://www.facebook.com/AuthorGabbiGrey
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/gabbi-grey
Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15456297.Gabbi_Grey