GUEST POST: Kate McMurray Author of 'The Boy Next Door'
Thank you Kimmers for allowing me to stop by your blog today and tell all your readers about the chemistry that went into writing The Boy Next Door.
The Boy Next Door was only my second published novel when the first edition came out in 2011. I was aiming to write a book that was heartfelt and emotional, but also hot.
I am all in favor of a sexy book, but to me, the sexiest part is the moment just before. My favorite scene in The Boy Next Door happens about a quarter of the way into the book, when Lowell and Jase go out to grab a bite to eat.
They go to a pizza place that’s based a little on a place in my hometown. (This is absolutely true: when I was thirteen or fourteen, my friends would sometimes go to this pizza place for a slize or a bag of zeppole—little fried dough balls, if you’re unfamiliar—and this place also sold Snapple and Crystal Pepsi, because it was the nineties.) In the novel, Jase and Lowell share a moment over pizza in which Lowell finally clues into the fact that Jase is gay and in the closet. When Jase starts freaking out, Lowell drives him home, and they start to talk over leftover pizza in Lowell’s kitchen. Then things escalate.
To me, the moment just before Lowell and Jase tumble into bed together, when they’re poised outside Lowell’s bedroom about to kiss, that’s the hottest moment in the story, because it’s so tense. That moment before the sexual tension is realized or released is the moment I always respond to in a book. When two characters have chemistry and unresolved tension, it’s like a pot of water about to boil. There’s anticipation as you watch and wait. The following sex scene is still good—it’s the pot boiling—but the moment just before is the one that has you on the edge of your seat.
The Boy Next Door is full of moments like that, where Jase and Lowell each want to but feel like they shouldn’t. Sometimes they resist, but sometimes they give in, because these are two men who can’t keep their hands off each other.
Title: The Boy Next Door
Author: Kate McMurray
Published: July 22, 2016 2nd Edition
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Cover Artist: Aaron Anderson
Genre: Erotic Romance; Contemporary Romance M/M
Length: 200 Pages
Tags: Gay; Light Angst; Coming Out; Friends to Lovers; HFN;
BLURB: Life is full of surprises and, with luck, second chances.
After his father’s death, Lowell leaves the big city to help his sick mother in the conservative small town where he grew up. He’s shocked to find himself living next to none other than his childhood friend Jase. Lowell always had a crush on Jase, and the man has only gotten more attractive with age. Unfortunately Jase is straight, now divorced, and raising his six-year-old daughter. It’s nice to reconnect, but Lowell doesn’t see a chance for anything beyond friendship.
Until a night out together changes everything.
Jase can’t fight his growing feelings for Lowell, and he doesn’t want to give up the happy future they could have. But his ex-wife issues an ultimatum: he must keep his homosexuality secret or she’ll revoke his custody of their daughter, Layla. Now Jase faces an impossible choice: Lowell and the love he’s always wanted, or his daughter.
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Kate McMurray is an award-winning romance author and an unabashed romance fan. When she’s not writing, she works as a nonfiction editor, dabbles in various crafts, and is maybe a tiny bit obsessed with baseball. She has served as President of Rainbow Romance Writers and is currently the president of the New York City chapter of RWA. She lives in Brooklyn, NY.
