Love and Other Hot Beverages by Laurie Loft: Blog Tour, Exclusive Guest Post and Giveaway

After a rough breakup, Todd Addison wants time alone to grieve. While still dreaming of winning back his ex’s love, he moves across the country and finds work with a construction company. The last thing he needs is the cute office boy developing a crush on him, especially since he’s back in the closet.

Sebastián Nye can’t help feeling sorry for the obviously brokenhearted Todd. Though rebuffed repeatedly, Sebby chisels away at Todd’s resistance, determined to help him forget—a task potentially beyond anyone’s capabilities. He never meant to fall for the poor guy, but he does. Hard.

Desperate to hold on to Todd, Sebby hatches a sneaky plot guaranteed to end Todd’s heartbreak—if Todd doesn’t bail and ruin everything. Just when things can’t get more complicated, Todd’s ex wants him back. And Sebby’s abusive ex is just waiting to catch Sebby alone. Todd and Sebby must decide what’s worth fighting for, what’s worth sacrifice, and what’s worth compromise, or their relationship will begin and end with a broken heart.

Amazon

Riptide Books

I’m Laurie Loft, author of Love and Other Hot Beverages. Welcome to my blog tour, and thanks for being here! I’m excited to give out super cool prizes to two people who make thoughtful comments to any of my blog posts: one French press (an item which features prominently in my novel), and a $15.00 Starbucks gift card. Either way, you’ll enjoy plenty of hot beverages!

There’ll be seven posts in which I’ll discuss my book as well as unrelated items. Comment, and we can get to know each other a little better.

THE COVER FOR LOVE AND OTHER HOT BEVERAGES

Have you ever bought a book with a stupid cover? I have! So, yeah, we judge books by their covers, but sometimes we look past them.

Have you ever bought a book based solely on the cover? I have! And been disappointed? Mainly if the cover is misleading.

My cover is spot-on. Sweet, romantic, unsure. Notice the hands aren’t grasping each other. The fingers aren’t knitted together. It’s as if one hand has just reached to touch the other, and the other hasn’t yet responded. Or isn’t going to!

Coffee is a recurring motif in my book, and my cover shows a barista-crafted heart. But the heart is subtly…broken. Hm. What could that mean?

My characters’ path is not only rocky, it’s ankle-twisting. Two very different people with different philosophies of life—how do they mesh? What do they compromise? Whatever they do, at least there’s lots of coffee!

Here are five things that surprised me about my cover:

​1. They asked for my ideas.

​I was always told that authors have no say regarding their covers–that publishers create covers based on their greater experience with the market, and the author is presented with the cover as a ​fait accomplit.

But Riptide Publishing not only asked what I had in mind, they sent me a ​4-page questionnaire​ asking for details regarding the mood and tone, preferred color scheme, characters’ physical descriptions and personality traits, and more.

2. I was given a choice of cover artists.

Riptide gave me the chance to review the work of six artists and to list them in the order of my preference. They could not ​promise ​that my first choice would end up doing the work, but, in my case, my wish came true.

​3. The artist used my ideas.

When I was presented with drafts for my book cover, I was stunned to see how close they came to what I had imagined! I mean, wow, they not only asked, they ​listened. ​The talented artist took my suggestions and ran with them.

​​4. They presented me with three beautiful cover drafts.

The artist, L.C. Chase, actually asked me which one I liked! Not only that, the artist asked if there were any changes I’d like to see, or if I wanted something totally different. I certainly was not expecting that level of involvement in my cover treatment.

Two of the drafts had the same picture but different fonts. ​They even asked which font treatment I liked better.

​​I replied with my preferences and some suggestions for tweaks, and, would you believe, my suggestions were promptly put into play? Sheesh, me with NO publishing experience kind of directing a ​highly ​experienced and talented artist? Whoah.

5. There is a thing called a “cover reveal.”

Mine occurred on the ​Heroes and Heartbreakers ​website. I was asked not to share my cover, other than with family and a few close friends, until this reveal went live. Was that hard to keep a lid on!

Would I change anything about my cover? The skin tones. Both the hands are too light. Todd works all day in the sun, so he’s got a pretty good tan. And Sebby is half Hispanic, so there’s that.

So that’s LAOHB’s cover. It doesn’t feature a hot, bare-chested, hip-bone-baring stud. I wonder if that will lose me a few sales. But I love my cover. ​​It’s what was in my heart.

And it ​pops.

What’s your opinion? Does it catch your eye? Make you curious? Turn you on, or put you off?

Laurie Loft lives in Iowa, endeavoring to write stories to give you that rush. Her husband, cat, and dogs kindly tolerate this odd activity. Her first M/M novel came about because of a minor character in a straight romance who just took over and demanded his own book. Laurie enjoys NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) and other forms of writerly torture. She finds inspiration in her NaNo friends and her fellow Riptide authors. When not writing or working at her mysterious day job, she can often be found screaming at tangled cross stitch threads.

Connect with Laurie:

• Website
• Blog
• Twitter: @Laurie_Loft

To celebrate the release of Love and Other Hot Beverages, one lucky winner will receive a $15 Starbucks gift card and a French press from Laurie! Leave a comment with your contact info to enter the contest. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on July 8, 2017. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries. Thanks for following the tour, and don’t forget to leave your contact info!