Renee Stevens is visiting today on her blog tour for Wide Open Spaces. Welcome, Renee!
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AVAILABLE NOW
WIDE OPEN SPACES
States of Love – Wyoming
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Cover Artist: Maria Fanning

Genre: Contemporary
Length: 35,659 Words
Rating: Adult/Mature
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Dreamspinner Press
Amazon: US – CA – AU – UK – DE
All Romance

Devon fled Wyoming as soon as he turned eighteen, leaving behind his high school love, Levi. After six years in the big city, Devon returns to his hometown. Not much has changed, except that Levi is no longer in the closet. He’s also single and living his dream—managing the local wild horse population. Both of them are very interested in picking up where they left off, but Devon is no more ready to reveal his orientation than he was as a teenager.

No one is going to shove Levi back in the closet—not even Devon. For a relationship to work, they’ll have to put the past behind them and find the courage to face the future as who they really are—a couple in love. But Devon doesn’t know if he’s strong enough. Maybe Levi would be better off without him—and his hang-ups.

​States of Love: Stories of romance that span every corner of the United States.

Cheyenne, Wyoming is not just home to the state capital, it’s also home to Cheyenne Frontier Days. While I didn’t really have the chance to include CFD in Wide Open Spaces, I wish I had! Towards the end of July, every year, this massive celebration takes place, and there are so many things to do during the nine day event!

Free Pancake Breakfast

Every year, The Kiwani’s Club, with help from the Boy & Girl scouts cook up thousands upon thousands of pancakes.  It’s actually really cool to watch as they cook pancakes in a type of wagon and then flip them out the side for others to catch on platters. You stand in a line, and yes it is quite long, but it moves quite quickly. One person puts a couple of pancakes on a plate, the next adds a couple of pats of butter, and then one more person drizzles the syrup on. The record was set in 1996 when they served just over 39,000 people over a two day (8 hours and 10 minutes total) serving time. In general, during this event, the Kiwani’s club makes approximately 100,000 pancakes!

Concerts

There are usually some amazing concerts at Cheyenne Frontier Days, including some pretty big names. In 2016 alone, the concerts consisted of Sam Hunt, Billy Currington, Kenny Chesney, Jake Owen, Florida Georgia Line, Old Dominion, and more!  In the past, they’ve had artists such as Toby Keith, Big and Rich, Aerosmith, Alabama, Tim McGraw, and Alan Jackson.  

Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) Rodeo

The PRCA Rodeo during Cheyenne Frontier Days is also known as the Daddy of em All amongst rodeo fans. It was during the last day of this rodeo that Championship Bull Rider Lane Front had his final ride on a bull called Takin’ Care of Business. He rode the bull for the full 8 seconds and had dismounted when the bull charged him. Lane Frost is still remembered in Cheyenne, and there is even a statue in the Cheyenne Frontier Days Park of Lane riding a bull. 

The CFDR (Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo) has something for everyone and takes place over the entirety of Cheyenne Frontier Days and is the fifteen time winner of the PRCA Large Outdoor Rodeo Of The Year award. It is fast paced and has a large number of contestants, with two sections of bull riding, saddle bronc riding, and bareback bronc riding every day of the nine day long rodeo. There’s also the barrel racing, team roping, and every other event that you expect to see in a professional rodeo. 

A word of advice, if you attend this rodeo, take an umbrella or some other form of rain gear! The three times I’ve been to it, it has poured rain on us every time! Despite the rain, it’s definitely worth seeing!

Grand Parade

The parade during Cheyenne Frontier Days is a sight to behold. You have all of the trappings of a regular parade, but it’s huge, and some of its “floats” are quite memorable. Some of their floats include The Hell’s Half Acre Saloon (which includes a bunch of saloon girls all dressed up), the one room school float, Dazee’s Dance Hall, Harry P. Hynds Blacksmith Shop, the Placer Mine (depicting South Pass City, Wyoming) and the Silver Crown Mine (which pokes fun at some early residents who invested in a mining scam). There’s also an old beat up car that drives through that has “Cheyenne or bust” attached to it along with lots of other things.  You also have the rodeo queens, the horse drawn wagons, and one of my favorites, the cowboys who are “Tough enough to wear pink” in honor of breast cancer survivors.  There’s also the saloon girls who wander the edges of the crowd and give out “tokens” and pay some of the spectators an embarrassing amount of attention (my nephew and husband turned bright red), but it’s all in fun. 


Overall, Cheyenne Frontier Days is a blast and there is so much more to do than what I’ve outlined here, but these are some of the big ones. If you want to see what all was on offer for the 2016 even, you can check it out at: http://www.cfdrodeo.com/schedule/

Devon sank down on his couch as exhaustion swamped him. Most of it was from moving in, but the change in elevation didn’t help. He’d gotten used to being closer to sea level, so going back to the dry air at over six thousand feet was going to take some getting used to.

Bloody noses had become the norm while he stayed with Blake. Devon didn’t want to deal with them repeatedly and considered getting a humidifier until he managed to acclimate.

He looked around his living room. Boxes were scattered everywhere, and he should be unpacking, but he was too tired. At least he hadn’t had to carry everything in himself. Blake, Travis, and Seth were waiting for him when he pulled into the apartment complex. They shrugged off his objections and insisted they had nothing better to do. Devon appreciated it, but he wasn’t comfortable around them anymore. He managed to be a proper host, but damn, he was glad they left after a couple beers each. They made noise about getting together again soon, but Devon had used getting settled in as an excuse to keep from committing to anything.

He stood and wandered into his small kitchen. He didn’t bother opening the fridge or any of the cupboards. He knew they were empty. His stomach growled, reminding him he hadn’t eaten for a while. Devon dug his keys out of his pocket and headed for the door. He’d get something to eat and then maybe stop at the store to pick up a few staples. Paper plates, sandwich fixings, some chips, and he’d be good for a couple of days. At least it would give him time to get a few things—like pots and pans—unpacked. Then he could do a full grocery shop.

An hour later he was comfortably full from a greasy burger, fries, and a shake. He’d never eaten a lot of fast food, but he had few other options. He headed to Walmart, determined to stick to his list of sandwich stuff and maybe some eggs. Surely he could dig out some pans before the food expired. He headed to the chips first and scanned for the familiar bag of Cheddar and Sour Cream Ruffles. They were his all-time favorite, though he also knew he’d want something else after a day or two. So he grabbed a couple of other bags and headed for the eggs and then the freezer aisle.

Sandwiches and chips would get old fast. He found some frozen breakfast sandwiches he could microwave, tossed them in the cart, and moved on. Frozen lasagna quickly joined the few other items in his cart, followed by some potpies, a few TV dinners, and a bag of chimichangas. So what if he wasn’t sticking to his mental list?

He was more focused on getting groceries for the next few days than on the people around him.

“Devon.”

He froze when a familiar voice spoke his name. He closed his eyes briefly, ducked his head, and steeled himself. He knew it would happen eventually, when he found out Levi still lived there. He thought he’d have more time to prepare. He swallowed—hard—and turned to face the man who had at one time meant everything to him. The man he’d risked being found out for. He lifted his head and gazed into the moss-colored eyes.

​“Levi.”

Renee Stevens first started writing in her teens but didn’t get serious about being an author until her mid-twenties. Since then she’s written a number of contemporary stories, as well as delved into the paranormal. When not writing, or spending time in the outdoors, Renee can usually be found working on GayAuthors.org in her capacity of Admin, Blog Coordinator, and Anthology Coordinator.

Renee resides in Wyoming with her wonderfully supportive husband and a menagerie of four-legged critters. Making the most of the nearly constant negative temperatures and mounds of snow, Renee spends much of the winter months in hibernation with her laptop, the voices in her head keeping her company while her husband works.

When she needs a break from writing, Renee takes to the sewing machine to design, and make, beautiful quilts. When the snow finally disappears, usually around May or June, Renee can be found in the great-outdoors. She spends her time on the mountain, at the lake, and just anywhere that she can do some camping, take some photos, and ride the four-wheelers with her hubby. Once back at home, it’s back to writing.

​Facebook – Twitter – Goodreads – Website

Blog Tour Schedule - More chances to win!!!! ​

August 24th: M.A. Church - Nic starr 
August 25th: Grace Duncan 
August 26th: Anna Butler 
August 27th: David Dawson 
August 28th: Alicia Nordwell 
August 29th: Anne Barwell 
August 30th: Antonia Aquilante 
August 31st *RELEASE DAY*: Mann Ramblings - Michael Mandrake
September 1st: Julie Hayes - Elyzabeth M. VaLey 
September 2nd: Caraway Carter 
September 3rd: JC Wallace 
September 4th: Caz Pedroso 
September 5th: Brynn Stein 
September 6th: Lila Leigh Hunter 
September 7th: Morticia Knight 
September 8th: Charley Descoteaux 
September 9th: Cheryl Headford 
September 10th: Heloise West 
September 12th: Foster Bridget Cassidy

I'm so sorry it's taken me so long to pick the giveaway winner! Thank you to everyone who entered. I really enjoyed reading about your lovely birthday memories. And thank you as well for your wonderful birthday wishes! You brightened my day.

Now, time for the winner. The randomly selected giveaway winner is Laura! Laura, you should have received an email from me about which book you'd like. If it didn't make it to you, please get in touch. Thanks again to all who entered!

It's weekend and time for more Rainbow Snippets. The Rainbow Snippets group on Facebook asks its members to share six sentence snippets from their work each weekend. Check out the group's Facebook page to read all the snippets and add lots of great books to your tbr. You'll find all sorts of books with the common thread that the main character identifies as LGBTQ+.

Last week I gave you a randomly chosen snippet from The Artist's Masquerade, and since I'm no more on top of anything this week than I was last, I'm giving you another random snippet this week. Kind of random, anyway. Last week I flipped open The Artist's Masquerade to the random page 170. This week I grabbed The Prince's Consort and purposely chose page 170 to give you a snippet. As a bit of background, an attempt on Amory's life as just been made in which he was badly injured. The healers have done their work, and Philip is seeing Amory for the first time since it happened.

Thanks for stopping by today! Hope all have a lovely weekend!

It's weekend and time for more Rainbow Snippets. The Rainbow Snippets group on Facebook asks its members to share six sentence snippets from their work each weekend. Check out the group's Facebook page to read all the snippets and add lots of great books to your tbr. You'll find all sorts of books with the common thread that the main character identifies as LGBTQ+.

I had to skip posting a snippet last weekend due to multiple deadlines and general busyness. Deadlines have passed and everything was submitted on time, and now I'm playing a bit of catch up. I'm no more prepared for this week than I was last, but I didn't want to skip two weeks in a row. I hadn't decided in advance what snippet I wanted to give you this week, so I grabbed a book at random off the shelf (which ended up being The Artist's Masquerade) and opened it to a random page (page 170, if you're curious) and I'm giving you a snippet from the beginning of that page.

Thanks for stopping by!

Fellow Dreamspinner author Jessica Skye Davies is visiting today on her blog tour for Town Man, Country Man. Welcome, Jessica!

“Town man” Josh Douglass meets “country man” Ben Bauer at a mutual friend’s wedding, and passion kindles immediately. As urbanite wedding planner Josh and closeted contractor Ben spend more time together, they develop a deep, comfortable romance despite the fifty miles between their homes—and despite the drastic differences in their lifestyles. But as they grow closer, it becomes apparent that Josh and Ben have been enjoying the first flush of love without giving much thought to longer-term logistics. 

A crisis leads Josh to ask himself serious questions about how his relationship with Ben can realistically work. But just as Josh is feeling ready to talk about the next step with Ben, a misunderstanding threatens to put an end to their love affair. Compromise is the key to any relationship, but it isn’t always easy to balance careers, friendships, and family expectations. Josh and Ben just need to see that bringing together the best of both their worlds is well worth the sacrifices they’ll have to make to remain in each other’s lives.

Buy Town Man, Country Man at Dreamspinner Press
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When Life Gets in the Way of Writing

Thanks so much to Antonia for hosting the last-but-one stop on the Town Man, Country Man tour!  It feels like it’s been an awfully long time between releases, and I’m here today to talk a bit about life getting in the way of hobbies, sidelines, gigs, true callings, work, living, etc.

​Just the other day, Facebook was good enough to remind me (through the “You have memories on this day!” feature) that I started writing Town Man, Country Man in June 2013.  I wrote it fairly quickly until it came to a rather hard stop a few months later in October.  That was around the time Half the World Away was released, but more significantly, it was also two months into grad school and I just did not have the mental energy to write fiction.  

Aside from sheer brainpower, one thing that drew me up fast on TMCM’s progress was getting to a turning point and then having absolutely no clue how to move passed it into resolution.  A part of that was attributable capacity, yes.  One thing that people really don’t often get about writing is the time is takes to allow one’s mind to ‘sink’ into the headspace of the story and characters – how often do you suppose part-time or personal-time-only writers hear how they could allocate an hour every night after dinner to just writing…?   

When I picked up this manuscript from digital ‘current projects’ folder about a year ago, I read it straight through, having forgotten rather a lot of what I’d enjoyed about it while writing, and I was genuinely disappointed that there wasn’t more when I got to the end.  I wanted to read more!  So I bumped Josh and Ben to the top of the rota and started combing through again to see what areas could use fleshing out and propping up and also trying to find a resolution.  

The little visual image for the ending came from a fellow literature aficionado, my friend Arthur, mixologist extraordinaire.  We’ve talked about different books and films and music and plays and current affairs countless times whenever I stop in for dinner and drinks.  When I mentioned the manuscript and talked about the plot, he threw out not an “ending” but just a snapshot of a scene that came to mind, and just that was enough for me to head home, nail it down, and build the rest of the denouement and conclusion around it.  So there’s a writing tip – if you’re stuck, bounce ideas off someone else who has great taste in the arts!

Oddly enough, that only occurred by the time grad school was done and dusted.  I have to say that the coursework in Social Administration wasn’t particularly challenging in itself, but the jumping through hoops with administrative (ha…) details and communication was a serious war of attrition for me.  That, coupled with not feeling like I had the time to put into intentional story-crafting, was difficult.  Writing, for me as for many others, is a labor of love but also distraction that lets me not dwell on all the various things I can’t actually work on or finish or control the pace of – I find it much easier to finish a project all at once, weeks ahead of a deadline, than waiting for further information or input… group projects in grad school are every bit as bad as in high school!

When those two stressors got stirred in with a bunch of other little, complicated, unaddressed issues, it started to get overwhelming and paralyzing.  Freeze response started turning into a vicious little cycle and I found myself not wanting to do anything but bunker in.  Which made me convinced that somebody, somewhere was surely mad at my lack of communication… which only made me want to hide even more.  Fortunately before that could get too ground in, I decided to do something about it – there again, bouncing ideas off someone else when you’re stuck is really helpful.  

Of course, I still didn’t have a whole lot of time for figuring out big stuff like plots, and I definitely still wanted a fair amount of insulation, but knocking out some little vignettes just for myself at least made me feel like I was still capable of stringing words together.  And once I was done with coursework, I was ready to hop back into a manuscript that had been waiting.  

Sometimes, life gets in the way of writing.  It’s up to us to manage our lives accordingly, and sometimes the writing has to sit aside for a little bit.  The nice thing is, stories don’t have expiration dates.  They will be there when you are ready and able to get back to them.  And sometimes the stories actually need that time to rest as much as you do.

It's my birthday today, and I decided that means you should get a present too, so how about a giveaway? But first, I'm reminiscing about celebrations of birthdays past. When I was a kid, we had big family birthday parties when aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents all came over to our house. They were so much fun. Lots of food and often a wiffle ball game in the backyard. My sister's birthday is five days after mine, so after she was born, the parties were for both of us.

And when we were very young, there were even Big Bird cakes, which my grandparents made and decorated, and that you can see in the picture. They were pretty cool. In the picture, I'm the one in the middle wearing the Happy Birthday tiara (Why don't I get tiaras on my birthday anymore? This seems like something that should still happen, don't you agree?) with my cousins crowded around me.

I always looked forward to those family parties because it was so much fun to have the whole family together and get to see all my cousins at once. I miss that now. We're all grown up now and scattered much farther apart, and it's been ages since we were all together for something like this.

I have great memories of adult birthdays too. Family birthday   

dinners, vacations that coincided with birthdays, and wonderful times with friends, including the first time my best friend and I celebrated my birthday. We had just met in law school orientation, during which we were both stressed and anxious, and we went out and had a fun dinner together. The same friend and I celebrated one of my birthdays years later with a day in New York City that included a delicious lunch and an amazing amount of time in Saks trying on designer shoes. Birthday shoes were also bought, and they are probably my favorite shoes, not just because of the brand or how pretty they are but more because of the memories they hold.

One of my best birthday memories is the birthday I spent in Paris. I had been to Paris before but not as an adult, so I was really excited to go. My birthday fell on our second day there. I got to spend the day wandering Paris and touring the Louvre and visiting the Eiffel Tower. There was pastry too (of course!). It was an amazing place to spend a birthday, or any day.

And now, for the giveaway: Tell me a favorite birthday memory of yours in the comments to be entered to win a paperback of your choice of The Prince's Consort, The Artist's Masquerade, or The Scholar's Heart, signed to you if you like. For extra entries, like my Facebook page and/or follow me on Twitter, and let me know the name you did it under in your comment. I'll pick a winner after 5pm eastern on August 22nd (which happens to be my

​sister's birthday. Happy birthday, Mandy!).

​So, tell me some birthday memories! I can't wait to read all about them.

There's a great sale at Dreamspinner this week! All thriller, sci fi, fantasy (including the Chronicles of Tournai books!), and paranormal books are 25% off, and if you buy one, you get The Gifted One by Jacob Flores for free. The sale runs through August 22nd.

First off, I apologize there wasn't a Rainbow Snippet over the weekend. The week was busy, and I just didn't get it prepared in time. Rainbow Snippets will resume next weekend, though, so look out for that. (Also be on the look out for something fun on Wednesday!)

Now, for some updates. Part of what made last week so busy was that I was working on the third and final edit for The Sorcerer's Guardian. I finished and turned that in to my editor at Dreamspinner on Sunday. Yay! I can't believe the last edit is finished. We're getting toward the end with this one. Only proofing left to do!

Writing slowed down a bit last week too because of edits, but I'm eager to dive back in. I had finally built up some momentum with the fifth Tournai book recently after a slow start, and I'm hoping I can get that back this week and push through the draft. I'm at about 75,000 words, so it's coming along. Well past the halfway point! I'm hoping to finish soon and revise and submit.

It's weekend (the first weekend in August! How did that happen?) and time for more Rainbow Snippets. The Rainbow Snippets group on Facebook asks its members to share six sentence snippets from their work each weekend. Check out the group's Facebook page to read all the snippets and add lots of great books to your tbr. You'll find all sorts of books with the common thread that the main character identifies as LGBTQ+.

Last weekend, I gave you a snippet from the beginning of the fourth Tournai book, The Sorcerer's Guardian, which is in edits now. I was going to switch back to something else this weekend, but then I thought that since I gave you something with Loriot last week, I should give you a snippet with Savarin, our other hero, this week. So here's a snippet, also from the beginning of the book, that gives you a look at Savarin.

He pushed himself out of his chair. He’d slept in the chair before, more than once when he’d been too tired or drained to get any farther, but it would never be comfortable or his first choice, if he had one. Savarin climbed the stairs to the next floor and his bedchamber with slow steps, lifting each foot and setting it on each stair carefully. The thick carpet running along the center of the corridor muffled his slow steps as he made his way toward the back of the large house. At the time he’d bought it, he’d liked the architecture of the house and its conveniences, and yes, how large it was. Larger by far than the home where he’d grown up. Larger, perhaps, than he needed, but he regretted it only when he was too tired to get from one end of the house to the other.

The door to his bedchamber was finally in front of him. Savarin stumbled inside and closed it firmly. No one would disturb him here, unless the house caught fire or Prince Philip summoned him. And the house was spelled against fire and other catastrophes. He’d have to hope for no royal summonses.


The Sorcerer's Guardian will be out later this year, and I post some more snippets as we get closer. Here's the blurb if you'd like to know more:

Savarin, the most powerful sorcerer in Tournai, has honed his Talent through years of study and made magic his life. Among the wealthy and noble circles he moves in, no one would suspect the handsome, refined, and arrogant sorcerer’s humble beginnings, which is how Savarin prefers it. Tournai’s princes task Savarin with studying and strengthening the spells that protect the principality from magical attack. They are complex, centuries old, and exactly the type of puzzle Savarin is eager to solve. To his annoyance, the princes insist Loriot accompanies him.

Loriot worked his way up the ranks of the royal guard to captain and takes pride in his service. He must obey the princes’ orders to protect Savarin, despite believing his skills would be best used elsewhere. And despite his wariness of magic. UnTalented himself, he has learned not only the benefits of magic but also its potential for harm—and how to counter it. Loriot and Savarin clash during their journey, but there’s another reason for the tension between them, and passion develops into feelings neither expected. But Savarin must still fortify Tournai’s magical barrier, and his only solution endangers both him and the royal family.


Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

​Dreamspinner is having a sale this week. You can get 30% off tons of great books (including mine!) through Sunday. Sounds like a great time to pick up some more summer reading. It's going by fast, but we still have some summer left...