Author Name: Ada Maria Soto
Book Name: Empty Nests
Series: Nested Hearts
Book #: One
Release Date: June 12, 2015
Blurb:
Neither James nor Gabe has ever had a real relationship. They might make a connection if they can get past their differences—and their fears.
At age fourteen, James Maron decided to prove he wasn’t gay despite vast evidence to the contrary. Now at thirty-two, he’s getting ready to send his son to college and wondering what he’s supposed to do next. Outside his son, his life consists of an IT job he hates and watching telenovelas with the women in his apartment building.
Gabriel Juarez is the CFO of a technology giant. He has looks, charm, fantastic wealth, a workaholic personality, and a string of boyfriends who only stick around because he’s too busy to tell them to leave.
A bad laptop/projector interface causes James and Gabe’s paths to cross. Friends, family, and coworkers jump to match Gabe with a nice guy, and James with anyone. But are they too different? Everyone will have to tread very carefully to keep things from ending before they start.
Pages or Words: 68,835 words
Categories: Contemporary, Fiction, Gay Fiction, M/M Romance
Excerpt:
“So,” Dylan started as he scraped the last of the noodles from his plate. “Remember that conversation we were having about the new AP English teacher?”
“If you pull a piece of paper out of your pocket right now, I will never forgive you.”
Dylan grinned and pulled a tightly folded piece of paper from his pocket. “Saturday after next, if you want, you have a date.”
James was pretty sure teenagers were not supposed to be as hung-up on their father’s love life as Dylan was. “No. No, I do not.”
Dylan pushed over a printout from his school’s faculty webpage. There was a phone number handwritten at the bottom. “Thirty-five, no kids. He likes music.” Dylan had highlighted that line. “You like music, he likes music. He said he’d love to take you to see a band he likes.”
“Goddammit, Dylan! I do not need you setting me up with strangers.”
“He’s not a stranger, he’s the school’s AP English teacher, and I wouldn’t have to if you’d get out of the house once in a while. Seriously, Dad, I’m out of here in less than a year. I don’t want you moping around this place alone. I worry about you turning into a crazy old cat lady.”
Sales Links:
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=6515
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=6516
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
so i really loved this book…a lot. the writing and character development was great…the banter of really all the characters is so witty and entertaining.
james is absolutely admirable and i love his innocence. he handles dylan so well…possibly because they are so close in age, possibly because they had to grow up together. dylan is such a well balanced and down to earth. he is a great kid and that is primarily because of james. being an IT person, i really appreciated his humor and how he interacted with his employees.
while gabe has been a bit of a player he is a genuinely good guy. he has a great relationship with his business partners/best friends and his PA (who is spectacular). he is the perfect match for james and balances james’ inexperience with his experience.
i did not know this was the first book in a series for these guys and was really surprised when the book just ended. i cannot wait for book 2!
About the author:
Ada Maria Soto is a born and raised Californian, Mexican-American/WASP, currently living as an expat in New Zealand. She got her Bachelor’s degree in Theater Directing at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, which she attended in a fit of stubbornness. She got a Master’s degree in Film and TV Producing from the University of Auckland in New Zealand which she applied to on a manic whim. Nine years later she’s still in Auckland with a partner, kid, and mortgage.
She has dysgraphia and phonological dyslexia which can lead to some interesting typos.
She is a sports fan dedicated to the Oakland A’s, San Jose Sharks, Auckland Blues, USA Eagles, New Zealand All Blacks, New Zealand Black Caps, and the Chennai Super Kings.
Today I’m very lucky to be interviewing Ada Maria Soto author of Empty Nests
Hi Ada, thank you for agreeing to this interview. Tell us a little about yourself, your background, and your current book.
Hi, I’m Ada. I’m a born and raised Californian Mexican-American currently living as an expat in the South Pacific with a toddler and my partner. I have studied and worked in theater, film, and television with all the usual crummy side jobs of a struggling artist. I have dysgraphia and phonological dyslexia but I try not to let that slow down my writing. I love sports and am dedicated to the Oakland A’s, San Jose Sharks, Auckland Blues, USA Rugby Eagles, New Zealand All Blacks, New Zealand Black Caps, and the Chennai Super Kings.
Empty Nests is about James Maron and Gabe Juarez. At age fourteen, James decided to prove he wasn’t gay despite vast evidence to the contrary. Now at thirty-two, he’s getting ready to send his son to college and wondering what he’s supposed to do next. Outside his son, his life consists of an IT job he hates and watching telenovelas with the women in his apartment building.
Gabriel Juarez is the CFO of a technology giant. He has looks, charm, fantastic wealth, a workaholic personality, and a string of boyfriends who only stick around because he’s too busy to tell them to leave.
A bad laptop/projector interface causes James and Gabe’s paths to cross. Friends, family, and coworkers jump to match Gabe with a nice guy, and James with anyone. But they might be too different. Everyone will have to tread very carefully to keep things from ending before they start.
Q: Someone asks you for advice about writing. What do you tell them?
A: Write fanfic. I know that sounds weird but hear me out. Someone, not sure who, said that you should write a million words before trying to get published. It is good advice but it’s also one hell of a word count and it can take years to get through. And if you are writing in a vacuum of just yourself and maybe a couple of friends your writing isn’t likely to improve all that much, even over a million words. It can also be hard to scrape of a million words from scratch.
Fanfic can give you a rough skeleton of an idea to work with, preexisting characters that you can take off in completely insane directions but you’ll still have a little tether to hold you in line. In the right fandom people will give you feedback, sometimes helpful, sometimes not, but it’ll get you used to people reading your work. You can learn story structure, dialog, character development, pacing, and working with an editor or beta reader if you’re smart.
It can create some bad habits, like not describing characters, everyone knows what Thor or Castiel looks like so there’s no need. It’s a dirty little secret that a lot of newer authors, especially in the M/M genre, trained up in fanfic but it’s a good way of getting through that million words.
And for the record I got through about 800,000 before getting up the guts to submit my first work for publication.
Where to find the author:
Official Website: http://adamariasoto.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ada.m.soto.568
Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/AdaMariaSotoAuthor
Twitter: @adamariasoto
Google+: https://plus.google.com/+AdaSoto/posts
DSP Author Arcade: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/AuthorArcade/ada-maria-soto
Goodreads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5321801.Ada_Maria_Soto
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Cover Artist: Paul Richmond
Tour Dates & Stops:
12-Jun
16-Jun
19-Jun
23-Jun
26-Jun
30-Jun
3-Jul
Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words
7-Jul
Rafflecopter Prize: Both books of the series (one will not be out for a few months)