Title: The River Leith
Author: Leta Blake
Genre: Gay Romance
Amazon | BN | Smashwords | All Romance | iTunes
Memory is everything.
After an injury in the ring, amateur boxer Leith Wenz wakes to discover his most recent memories are three years out of date. Unmoored and struggling to face his new reality, Leith must cope anew with painful revelations about his family. His brother is there to support him, but it’s the unfamiliar face of Zach, a man introduced as his best friend, that provides the calm he craves. Until Zach’s presence begins to stir up feelings Leith can’t explain.
For Zach, being forgotten by his lover is excruciating. He carefully hides the truth from Leith to protect them both from additional pain. His bottled-up turmoil finds release through vlogging, where he confesses his fears and grief to the faceless Internet. But after Leith begins to open up to him, Zach’s choices may come back to haunt him.
Ultimately, Leith must ask his heart the questions memory can no longer answer.
Author Bio
While Leta Blake would love to tell you that writing transports her to worlds of magic and wonder and then safely returns her to a home of sparkling cleanliness and carefully folded laundry, the reality is a bit different. Instead, piles of laundry and forgotten appointments haunt her life, but the joy of writing and the thrill of finishing a book make the everyday chaos all worth it.
Leta’s educational and professional background is in psychology and finance, respectively, but her passion has always been in writing, and she most enjoys crafting romance stories that she would like to read. At her home in the Southern U.S., Leta works hard at achieving balance between her day job, her writing, and her family.
You can find out more about her by following her website, facebook, or twitter
Do you plan everything or just let the story flow?
I have always envied those who can plan a novel in advance. I generally know a few beats of a book and that it ends happily (or not), but all of the space in between is me following the characters as they make their own way. Sometimes it’s hard to keep up with them as they move with surety and purpose through their world. Other times it’s like watching them fight their way through their space as they try this, then that, then something else to see what feels best to them. Whichever way it happens, it will eventually end up as a finished book, and that makes it all worthwhile.
Do your characters ever want to take over the story?
Oh, do they ever! In fact, I’d say they always own the story from the beginning. I just tag along!
What drew you to the M/M genre in particular?
This is a harder question than it appears to be from the outside. There are very deep, personal reasons and superficial reasons that I write m/m. I’ll aim to answer with something somewhere in the middle: writing books about men who love other men has allowed me to imagine a world that is wider than the one I reside in as a woman. It has given me a way to glimpse an existence larger and richer and more varied than what society generally offers to people born with a vagina. In other words, these stories have expanded my understanding of what life and love can be like for all people—male, female, and wherever or however someone falls on or off the QUILTBAG spectrum.
Do you write in other genres besides M/M?
I do have a M/F romance in the works and several young adult and children’s books that are all on the backburner for now. Too little time, too many books to write!
What is your favourite food?
I’m very strange in that I find food a bit boring and find making it even more boring, so my favourite food is basically any food that is made and brought to me by someone else. It’s heavenly to be given something yummy to eat without having lifted a finger to think of it or make it myself.
Are you a morning person or a night owl?
Definitely a night owl, but real life is determined to make me accustomed to waking early. As the years go by, I do dislike sleeping past 9am, since it makes me feel like I’ve wasted the day.
Where do you dream of travelling to and why?
Paris. I have a dream of standing by the Eiffel Tower with my daughter. I can’t say why it’s so important to me but if I die before that happens it will be a bitter pill to swallow.
Do distant places feature in your books?
Sometimes, but I try to write what I can easily imagine in terms of setting since it makes it easier to describe properly.
Do you listen to music while writing?
Almost always. The characters choose playlists for themselves and they usually have rather distinctive tastes. For example, Leith from The River Leith was obsessed with Vitamin String Orchestra cover songs, especially their covers of Regina Spektor’s songs. I was willing to listen to them, but was surprised by how much he loved them. He always had a lot more to say when I wrote while listening to that music.
Could you tell us a bit about your latest release?
The River Leith is an exploration of love and whether it can exist outside of memory. Can you retain love for someone that you’ve forgotten existed? Can you feel affection and devotion to someone when you no longer have a narrative for those emotions, when you no longer understand the story of your past together?
What have you learned about writing and publishing since you first started?
I’ve learned that there is no magic formula for any of it. There’s no formula for sales or for the writing of the books themselves. Each book will find its own path in terms of storyline, difficulty in getting it out, and in how it goes out to greet readers and in how it will be received by them.
Is there anything you would do differently?
After a book goes out and I read reviews, I tend to think of a few things I wish I’d done just a smidgeon differently in the book, yes, if only because I hadn’t realized someone would interpret xyz event in just the way they have.
Who, or what, if anything has influenced your writing?
Music influences my writing. I tend to hear music and immediately start creating a story in my head to go along with the song. Many times that blossoms into a novel.
Anything you would say to those just starting out in the craft?
Just keep going, keep writing, and have the balls to put your stuff out there. Also accept criticism with your head held high and learn from it.
What are three words that describe you?
Enthusiastic, open-hearted, determined.
What's your favourite book or who is your favourite writer?
Oh, my! Too many to choose from! Let’s go with Ginn Hale and her Rifter Series for now.
Blurb of your latest release or coming soon book
After an injury in the ring, amateur boxer Leith Wenz wakes to discover his most recent memories are three years out of date. Unmoored and struggling to face his new reality, Leith must cope anew with painful revelations about his family. His brother is there to support him, but it’s the unfamiliar face of Zach, a man introduced as his best friend, that provides the calm he craves. Until Zach’s presence begins to stir up feelings Leith can’t explain.
For Zach, being forgotten by his lover is excruciating. He carefully hides the truth from Leith to protect them both from additional pain. His bottled-up turmoil finds release through vlogging, where he confesses his fears and grief to the faceless Internet. But after Leith begins to open up to him, Zach's choices may come back to haunt him.
Ultimately, Leith must ask his heart the questions memory can no longer answer.
List of previous books if any
Training Season
Books with Keira Andrews:
Love’s Nest
Earthly Desires
Ascending Hearts
Any websites/places readers can find you on the web
Website: http://letablake.wordpress.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/letablake
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