Still single, despite his best efforts, Kev is a gay cross-dressing teenager, searching for love in the late nineties in Wiltshire. He may not know whether to put Yours Sincerely or Yours Faithfully at the end of a letter, but he sure can belt out a show tune in a pair of heels and a frock.
Looking after his worrying mum, who refuses to slow down despite having a funny turn and ending up in hospital, Kev’s working in a shop to support the household now his dad has left. Irreconcilable differences. His dad said Kev needed fixing and Kev and his mum thought he was perfect as he is.
Tony, his best friend and Human League fan agrees, although he thinks Kev’s a chaotic big-hearted, trusting mess. But he’s Tony’s mess and they’re there for each other through useless boyfriends, jobs, and studying. Because that’s what friends are for, right?
Contains an inordinate amount of singing on stage, many costume changes, lashings of heart, family and friendship, an almost complete absence of the internet and a big dollop of optimism.
Title: Rocky Road of Love…in Heels
Series: Kev, Book Two
Author: Liam Livings
Publisher: NineStar Press
Release Date: November 12, 2018
Heat Level: 3 – Some Sex
Pairing: Male/Male
Length: 63200
Genre: Contemporary, contemporary, cross dressing, drag queen, family drama, coming-of-age, gay, romance, 1990s
Exclusive Excerpt
Rocky Road of Love…in Heels
Liam Livings © 2018
All Rights Reserved
The next morning I woke at Tony’s house with a mouth that felt like a hedgehog’s arse, and a hangover the size of Wiltshire. I pulled myself under the duvet. “Where’s Donna? Can someone get me water and painkillers, I’m dying here?”
Tony was nowhere to be seen.
I shouted his name weakly and waited.
A knock on the door preceded Tony’s arrival. He was wrapped in a red silk kimono, his hair covered most of his face. He held two mugs of steaming tea in his hands. “Donna went home. She’s got the in-laws round today. That’s why she wasn’t drinking.” He handed me a mug of tea. “Lots of sugar.”
I took the mug, had a sip and noticed myself returning to a bit before approaching normal.
Tony reached into the folds of his kimono and produced a blister pack of paracetamol, handing them to me wordlessly.
I popped three out and gulped them back greedily with the tea, willing them to work faster so it appeared less like I’d been run over by a tractor and more like a functioning human being.
“Do you want to talk now about Aaron, or shall I give you a while to feel better?” He licked his finger and smoothed his eyebrow, then flicked his fringe from his eyes.
“Best give it a bit for these to work.” I returned the blister pack of tablets. I smiled weakly, trying to sit up in the single bed he must have made up for me last night, nothing in my memory recalled that. I winced as my head started throbbing loudly.
Tony closed the door with a click.
I nursed the tea, closed my eyes and tried to remember the night before.
Champagne, two bottles, that I remembered. A BMW had been mentioned—or some description. And there was a romantic dance. Not bad for a birthday night. One of the best I’d had actually. And then I stopped remembering things and Aaron was asking me to marry him, and there was a huge crowd of guests, and I knew I was dreaming.
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Liam Livings lives where east London ends and becomes Essex. He shares his house with his boyfriend and cat. He enjoys baking, cooking, classic cars and socialising with friends. He has a sweet tooth for food and entertainment: loving to escape from real life with a romantic book; enjoying a good cry at a sad, funny and camp film; and listening to musical cheesy pop from the eighties to now. He tirelessly watches an awful lot of Gilmore Girls in the name of writing ‘research’.
Published since 2013 by a variety of British and American presses, his gay romance and gay fiction focuses on friendships, British humour, romance with plenty of sparkle. He’s a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association, and the Chartered Institute of Marketing. With a masters in creative writing from Kingston University, he teaches writing workshops with his partner in sarcasm and humour, Virginia Heath as www.realpeoplewritebooks.com and has also ghost written a client’s 5 Star reviewed autobiography.
image sources
- chitaliving: CHITA LIVING’s New Sofa Collection Brings Comfort and Style to Every Home
- Ella-Rosa’s-New-Single-FUN: Artwork by Hannah DeVries
- Amelie Lens: Photo Credit: Sam Neill
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