Cover Reveal - Nights Like These by Chris Scully ~ BFD Book Blog

Book Name: Nights Like These

Author Name: Chris Scully

Author Bio:

CHRIS SCULLY lives in Toronto, Canada where she grew up spinning romantic stories in her head. When the tedium of a corporate day job grew too much, she took a chance and found her creative escape in writing. Always searching for something different, she has discovered a home in M/M romance and strives to give her characters the happy endings they deserve.

Author Contact:

https://www.facebook.com/chris.scully.author

Publisher: Dreamspinner Press

Cover Artist: Bree Archer

Author Interview:

Q: Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?

A: As a writer, I tend to avoid dark or depressing themes. If I do venture into heavier topics, it’s done with a lighter treatment. I do enjoy introducing readers to perspectives they may not have considered before. However, if there is a common theme so far in my books, it’s starting over. My characters are usually at a crossroads in their lives and have to make a decision about where they want to go. It a universal situation everyone can relate to. Sometimes you have to tear everything down to start again.

When I started writing Nights Like These it was with the goal of creating an angst free novel. I wanted something light and fun to balance the uncertainty in my own life; there was to be no deep emotions, no high drama, no tears, no depressing topics. The end result is a fast-paced, light romantic mystery—no tissues required. But at its root is a message about discovering good things where we least expect them, new beginnings in the ashes of the past and being open to opportunities we might not have considered before.
Q: How much of the book is realistic?

A: All my writing is rooted in realism. There is something of me in everything I write, whether it’s things I’m into, or aspects of my personality. But Nights Like These is by far the most “auto-biographical” in a sense. It is loosely inspired by my experiences being laid off in 2013. I spent my last few months of employment coming up with the plot for this novel and started work on it the day after my “release”.

After losing his cushy job, my main character Miles is forced to become a security guard to make ends meet. It’s a life change for him. While he’s working, he stumbles onto a mystery and finds romance and danger.

The office building where Miles works is based on my own (with some minor modifications in layout), as is the corporate art collection and Miles’ experience in being downsized. Some of the secondary characters are also drawn from real life. Names have been changed to protect the not-so-innocent. What I didn’t expect was how much Miles would also take on aspects of my personality—that was something that happened organically.

Blurb(s):

Starting over sucks. At forty, Miles Koprowski thought he had life all figured out. He had a nice car, a hot young lover, and a cushy job… and then he didn’t. Call it fate, or karma, or a downturn in the market, but this opinionated cynic is now forced to play rent-a-cop in a dying office building in the burbs just to make ends meet. Throw in an unhinged ex, a coworker who hates him, and a hot new boss, and suddenly everything is uncertain.

Miles doesn’t plan on liking the night shift or becoming embroiled in a mystery that reawakens old passions and puts him in danger. And he certainly doesn’t plan on falling for the overbearing head of security, Colton Decker, former soldier and doting dad. But nights like these can change a man, make him start to believe there’s more to life than a high paying job and a warm body in his bed. With a thief on the loose and his new job in jeopardy, Miles will have to decide what’s truly important. He might discover things he never knew he wanted… as long as he makes it through the night.

Categories: Gay Fiction, M/M Romance, Mystery

Excerpt:

“Why don’t you watch where you’re going, dumb—” I managed to sputter before my mouth stopped working entirely and dropped open. The ability to speak, to think, deserted me at the first sight of the hunky stranger standing in front of me, his face contorted with apology as he tried to mop up my sodden jacket with a handful of napkins. He was a few inches taller than me—closer to six feet—and on the stocky side. His broad shoulders filled out a nicely tailored suit, and he projected an air of confidence that I’d never be able to pull off in a million years. He was clean-shaven too, with a dark buzz cut that made me long to run a hand over his head simply to feel the texture. And gorgeous. Did I happen to mention that?

In short, he was the kind of guy you’d want to be stranded with on a deserted island; the kind you could count on to save you. If you were so inclined. Me? I didn’t need saving.

A pair of friendly, light-colored eyes now stared back at me, bemused. Odd that his lips were moving, but no sound was coming out.

“What?” I asked, blinking back to attention. I couldn’t remember the last time anyone had literally made me speechless. Me, Miles Koprowski, who never met a silence he didn’t want to fill.

Hell, I couldn’t recall the last time I’d been on the receiving end of a full-body pat-down either. At least not so quickly. His hands were still drifting over my chest, wiping up the last drips of coffee, and the simple touch was doing alarming things to my heart rate.

“Are you okay?” he demanded. “Did you get burned?” Before I could react, he seized my wrist and held my hand up for inspection. Strong, lightly calloused fingers, I added to my mental list. Working hands. Dumbly, I looked down. The skin on the back of my right hand was red and stung like a son of a bitch, but it wasn’t blistering. I did flinch slightly when he skimmed his thumb over the sensitive area, but not from pain, more from the touch itself. My entire body lit up, as though I’d stuck a finger in an electrical socket. “It doesn’t look too bad. I think you’ll live. Put some aloe on it when you get home.”

“Doctor?” I croaked, because really, that would be too perfect.

“Nope. Just seen a lot of injuries.” His lips twitched with barely contained amusement. “Sorry to disappoint you.” Sense of humor, check.

Words: 69,000