Promises by Marie Sexton: Blog Tour, Exclusive Guest Post with Giveaway

We are so excited to have Marie Sexton with us today. Marie is re-releasing Promises (Coda: Book 1) today, and if you haven’t read it, it is a fantastic book. Love Coda, Colorado! 🙂 Check out her Guest Post about crazy things found in the woods…and honestly, her own story made me laugh out loud…I want to go camping with Marie! Leave a comment for Marie for a chance to win one of her backlist books! 

 

Can a man who loves his small hometown trust it to love him back?

Jared Thomas has lived in the mountain town of Coda, Colorado his whole life. He can’t imagine living anywhere else. But Jared’s opportunities are limited—the only other gay man in town is twice his age, and although Jared originally planned to be a teacher, the backlash that might accompany the gig keeps him working at his family’s store instead.

Then Matt Richards moves to town.

Matt may not be into guys, but he doesn’t care that Jared is. A summer camping and mountain biking together cements their friendship, but when Matt realizes he’s attracted to Jared, he panics and withdraws, leaving Jared all too aware of what he’s missing.

Facing Matt’s affair with a local woman, his disapproving family, and harassment from Matt’s coworkers, Jared fears they’ll never find a way to be together. But for the first time, he has the courage to try… if he can only convince Matt.

Meant to Be
Jared has simple goals for his freshman year of college: make friends, lose his virginity, come out, and maybe fall in love. He doesn’t anticipate getting caught between his friend Bryan and Bryan’s flamboyant ex. Through the awkwardness, Jared learns love doesn’t always mean sex and the most meaningful connections might have nothing to do with romance.

First Edition published by Dreamspinner Press, 2010.

Title: Promises
Series: Coda: Book 1
Author: Marie Sexton
Release Date: May 14, 2019
Category: Contemporary
Pages: 224

Amazon

Dreamspinner Press

Crazy Things Found In the Woods

Hello, everybody! I’m Marie Sexton, and I’m here today to celebrate the re-release of my very first novel, Promises. I asked my Facebook group for blog post topics, and because Promises features geocaching, one of my readers suggested I write about the top five weirdest things I’d found while doing it.

The problem is, I’ve never actually been geocaching! It’s one of those things hubby and I used to think we’d like to do, but we never got around to it. (Having a baby really threw a wrench in our camping/4-wheeling lifestyle!) So instead, I started Googling strange things found in the woods.

As you can imagine, there are all kinds of oddball things — from landmines to dead animals arranged in odd ways to headstones and altars to dolls, teddy bears, and clowns. (Yeah. Clowns.) One of the most interesting stories I stumbled across was about a cabin in the Arcata Forest. The cabin itself was odd enough, but the really strange thing was what they found when they went to check on it later.

You can the Google the disappearing Arcata cabin, or check out this video (the link should take you to the relevant segment):

https://youtu.be/HnPcnu-I9Uk?t=288

But that made me think about the things I’ve personally encountered in the woods. Before we had our daughter, my husband and I camped ALL THE TIME. We had one particular rutted dirt road we liked to camp along — there were three or four awesome spots between it and the river. We’d even skip out of work early on Fridays so we could get up there before anybody else. But one weekend, we found something ….odd.

It was a photo of an old woman in a bed, hooked up to a respirator. It didn’t look like a real photograph, if that makes sense. It looked more like a stock photo that might be used to advertise a nursing home or respite care. I don’t really know how to explain it other than by saying the scene looked too clean and staged, with the focus being more on the respirator than the woman. It had been blown up to about 11×17 inches and professionally mounted on foamboard, and was nailed to a tree right in the center of the camping spot. In the fire pit, we found remnants of what seemed to be a luggage set, all burned up.

Mostly, I just can’t see why somebody paid to have this photo of what appeared to be a woman literally on her deathbed blown up and mounted, but then left it nailed to a tree in the woods.

The second oddest thing I ever ran across wasn’t an item. It was a man. A buck-ass naked man, actually.

We were at Lake Powell. My friend Caroline and I were canoeing in one of the little side canyons (they probably have a name, but I’m not sure what it is) when we heard music. We followed it, and ran across a rather large, elaborate campsite. It looked as if the campers had been living there for quite some time. The young woman on shore waved excitedly and invited us to join her for a beer. We figured, why not? But as we were paddling to shore, a much older man came out of the tent, completely nude. I assumed he’d be embarrassed and rush to put on some pants, but no. He brought us our beers, and chatted with us, completely calm and naked the entire time.

The really odd thing is, they somehow ended up coming to our houseboat for dinner that night. I don’t remember why in the world we invited the naked man to our boat. I think it was because the young woman with him seemed so desperate for company. Luckily, the man wore clothes that night.

Back when we camped a lot, we often had people ask us if we were afraid of bears or wolves. Honestly, we never saw either. The scariest thing we ever found in our campsite was a herd of cows, who left the place a bit messy when they left.

That’s it! Those are the craziest things I’ve found in the woods. What about you? Have you ever found anything you just couldn’t explain?

For those who are interested, you can join my private Facbook group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/MarieSextonFans/

That’s about the only place on social media where I hang out and talk about things other than hockey. J

Thanks very much to Two Chicks Obsessed for having me here today!

 

Marie Sexton is the author of over thirty published works. She’s written contemporary romance, science fiction, fantasy, dystopian fiction, historical short stories, and a few odd genre mash-ups. Marie lives in Colorado, where she recently fell head-over-heels in love with the Colorado Eagles. She’s happily married, with one teenage daughter, one adorable dog, and one very stupid cat. You can find Marie on Twitter (@mariesexton, where she mostly talks about sports), at www.MarieSexton.net, or in her private Facebook group, https://www.facebook.com/groups/MarieSextonFans/