Southwinds Coffee

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Who are Noah and August for?

I got to thinking about who I wrote Noah and August for. They want to be read by all of those people who love heroes who touch freely. Those heroes who stumble outside a club and find themselves kissing. The ones who are professional by day but a little naughty at night. The ones who see each other’s flaws but love anyway—or perhaps BECAUSE of those flaws. The ones who are scared shitless to lose the best thing in their lives, but they know that something has changed and they need to take the risk.

Oblivious is for the readers who love LOVE. Who want characters who so obviously belong together to figure it out and have their happy ever after. This is for people who love ROMANCE. Not cynics. (There’s a place for cynics; I just don’t tend to write for them.) Noah and August’s story is for those who want to feel the pleasure and pain of falling in love with your very best friend and root for characters who deserve good things in their lives.

Preorder Oblivious on Amazon (coming June 15): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BDXM11VR s

Add to TBR: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/80341941

Review on Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/books/oblivious-a-contemporary-m-m-best-friends-to-lovers-gay-romance-novel-by-leslie-mcadam

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Leslie's Store is OPEN!

I have all kinds of fun things for sale in my new store! New signed paperbacks, new swag (including a new pouch to celebrate the anniversary of my Giving You … series), and even gift cards! Happy shopping! It’s here: www.lesliemcadamauthor.com/shop

Also, in case you missed it, I put up a ton of bonus content here. Happy reading!

[southwindscoffee]

Oblivious ... and where it fits in my universe of books

I often think of my novels as an exploration of an idea that I can’t tell any other way. I need the space of characters to be able to say what I want to say. So it’s usually hard for me to sum up my stories in a few sentences, unless I’m just letting people know the tropes.

But I got to thinking that all of my M/M books are (unintentionally) systematically exploring very definite themes.

Undone: What is sexuality?

Unmanageable: What is romance?

Ambiguous: What are labels?

Studious: What is virginity?

And Oblivious, the new one: What is friendship?

The one after Oblivious is called Curious. What is marriage?

But, more formally, here’s what Oblivious is about. It’s up for Preorder, and here’s my new cover, which is again designed by Garrett Leigh, with a Cory Stierley photo of Mikey T.

Oblivious Blurb:

My hot best friend has no idea what he’s doing to me.

 He sends me naughty texts at the most inappropriate times. He lets me fall asleep on top of him when we watch movies. And his protective side comes out if I dance too close to anyone at our favorite club.

 Correct me if I’m wrong, but those are things a boyfriend does. Except August isn’t my boyfriend, he’s my best friend, and those lines are drawn in permanent marker. The one time we tried to cross the boundary between friends and lovers, it failed so spectacularly that we never did it again. So … “friends” is good enough. That’s what I tell myself. Because at least I have him in my life. Without him, I’d be lost.

 But after we’re dared to kiss, and that kiss reshapes reality, we agree to be friends who do things with each other. Nakey things.

 That makes my life so much better. And so much worse. After all, August doesn’t want to settle down, and he never wants to get married. While I do.

 Most importantly, no matter how our relationship changes, he can’t find out I’m desperately in love with him.

 Oblivious is a sweet and steamy contemporary m/m romance about best friends who don’t know they’re already dating. Noah and August are always touching, finish each other’s sentences, and bristle whenever the other gets within six feet of a date, but they can’t see what’s crystal clear to everyone else. Oblivious features badly timed sexy texts, a hot kiss that rocks two men’s universes, and (unofficially, but likely) the highest number of heartfelt marriage proposals in a romance novel ever.

Preorder here! (Ignore the September date on the preorder. It will be here much sooner.)

And a PS: Where Oblivious fits in the IOU series is … it’s the yellow one (obviously). But you may not know that the covers are in rainbow order, so Curious will be green. You can see the line up below…

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Announcing ILYBSM

Everyone has secrets. I’ve kept a few big ones from my two best friends, and I know they’ve both got plenty of their own. After all, Embry and Adam never told me why they stopped talking to each other the night we graduated college. And I’ve never told them that I’m bi—or that I’ve been in love with both of them for years. I’m also definitely not telling them I’ve nearly run my family’s tree farm into the ground and we’re about to go out of business right before Christmas. But when I crash off a ladder hanging up holiday lights, they come running like Santa’s elves. They’re both verygrumpy about facing each other again, but I can’t be mad that I’ve finally got my two favorite people in the world in one place. Wait until they find out we’re all sleeping in one bed… At least their feud is put on hold when they discover what a mess I’ve made of my business. Soon the three of us are scrambling to pull off a Christmas miracle together and save my family’s farm. And maybe it’s the magic of the holidays, but now a whole lot of feelings and long-buried truths are coming to the surface—and our long-time friendship is starting to become something much bigger. Will we survive the season? Or are all my dreams about to be crushed this Christmas? ILYBSM is a sweet and steamy contemporary holiday m/m/m polyamorous romance about three former best friends. It stars Jeb, a farmer who’s the hottest mess to ever grow trees in Vermont; Embry, a mechanic who can fix any engine, but not a relationship; and Adam, an uptight graphic designer who irons his sheets. It features truths that slip out after too much eggnog, a demon goat who looks fabulous in a Santa hat, and the chance at an unconventional happy ever after.

Preorder now!

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Pick up your copy of Studious today!

Just a little note to say my new m/m romance, Studious, is LIVE in the Amazon store. You can pick up your copy here.

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Goodreads giveaway for a Studious paperback!

Studious, my new M/M romance, is coming this Friday (the paperback is already live), but you can enter to win a chance at a paperback on Goodreads, too. (US-only.) Here’s what Studious is about:

After a disastrous high school game of spin the bottle, I gave up trying to get a boyfriend and spent my time studying instead. Now I’m twenty-four, and I’m not only a virgin, I haven’t even been kissed.

 When I meet Danny, a handsome legal hotshot, he catches my eye. Right before I trip on flat ground. Ugh.

 He’s got a massive … reputation. He’s the most popular guy in the club, a total playboy with a new conquest every night. There’s no way he’d be interested in me.

 But one night after I imbibe too much, he winds up taking care of me. And when I ask for his help with my travesty of a social life, he agrees to teach me how to be less awkward with men … if I let him document my progress so he can win a bet with his best friend.

 Even though he’s just my love tutor and I’m just his apprentice, this starts to feel like more.

 Too bad it can’t be anything but a high-level seminar in how to seduce someone else.

 Studious is a sweet and sexy contemporary opposites-attract m/m romance about a suave attorney who’s scared to love and the shy, nerdy bookkeeper he’s teaching how to be a player. Cue makeover montage and a smoldering first kiss. These heroes most definitely are not falling in love. (Okay, heartwarming HEA guaranteed.)

Studious: https://www.amazon.com/Studious-Leslie-McAdam-ebook/dp/B09VG583FD

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61219590-studious

Goodreads Giveaway: https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/354007-studious

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My next book is called Studious!

I’m excited to be able to show you the cover for my new book, Studious! It comes out October 7! Here is what it’s about:

After a disastrous high school game of spin the bottle, I gave up trying to get a boyfriend and spent my time studying instead. Now I’m twenty-four, and I’m not only a virgin, I haven’t even been kissed.

 When I meet Danny, a handsome legal hotshot, he catches my eye. Right before I trip on flat ground. Ugh.

He’s got a massive … reputation. He’s the most popular guy in the club, a total playboy with a new conquest every night. There’s no way he’d be interested in me.

But one night after I imbibe too much, he winds up taking care of me. And when I ask for his help with my travesty of a social life, he agrees to teach me how to be less awkward with men … if I let him document my progress so he can win a bet with his best friend.

Even though he’s just my love tutor and I’m just his apprentice, this starts to feel like more.

Too bad it can’t be anything but a high-level seminar in how to seduce someone else.

Studious is a sweet and sexy contemporary opposites-attract m/m romance about a suave attorney who’s scared to love and the shy, nerdy bookkeeper he’s teaching how to be a player. Cue makeover montage and a smoldering first kiss. These heroes most definitely are not falling in love. (Okay, heartwarming HEA guaranteed.)

Preorder Studious here: https://www.amazon.com/Studious-Leslie-McAdam-ebook/dp/B09VG583FD

Add to TBR on Goodreads here: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61219590-studious

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Listen to #jeddy read the first chapter of Unmanageable!

I’m super excited that Jacob Morgan and Teddy Hamilton narrated Unmanageable, my single dad/nanny m/m romance. You can listen to the first chapter on YouTube! You can pick up your copy here. Audio here.

Unmanageable ➪ https://youtu.be/Sq1xVdoM_RY

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Ambiguous is in audio!

I once met a law professor who told me there was a special place in hell for him because he made new lawyers. Well, there’s a special place in heaven for me because I’ve managed to create a new way for you to enjoy the YUMMY narration of Kirt Graves and Hamish Long. I could not have asked for better casting if I invented them myself. You can pick up your copy here.

Hamish completely embodies Jules, the sexy British superstar rocker, and Kirt just IS Sam, the lawyer whose job it is to mind Jules and get him to finish an album. Their romance is forbidden, and even if it wasn’t, Sam has a (fake) boyfriend. This book is slow burn but VERY sexy and romantic and sweet. I listened with a grin on my face, wanting to soak in the narration. I fangirled hard. I’m swooning and smiling and shaking because it’s so much more than I ever imagined. I hope it puts a smile on your face too.

This m/m romance is low angst, slow burn, they don’t break up at 75%, and they’re sweet and romantic to each other the whole time. I’m really pleased to give you Ambiguous. I hope you check it out.

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ICYIMI: Read the first chapter of Unmanageable!

Unmanageable is about an over-the-top romantic and a grump. In the first chapter, you get to meet Scott, who is the romantic, trying to surprise his boyfriend. As you can guess, it doesn’t go well. You can read the first chapter here. Or here: https://sarinabowen.com/blog/2022/8/19/first-chapter-unmanageable

You can pick up your copy here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B1XRWBHK

Paperback here:https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w?ean=9781736470442

Add to TBR here: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61147579

Audio here: Audio: https://www.amazon.com/Audible-Unmanageable-In-Vino-Veritas/dp/B0B9T87YKP

Audible: https://www.audible.com/pd/Unmanageable-Audiobook/B0B9TBRK1R

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Giveaway for signed Unmanageable paperbacks!

Don’t miss the giveaway over on Goodreads for a signed paperback of Unmanageable! You can enter here. It goes until September 12, so don’t miss out! https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/351274-unmanageable

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for Kay

I wrote this obituary for my mother-in-law. https://www.vcstar.com/obituaries/vcs025971

She was the nicest person in the world. I miss her so. We all do.

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keeping art going

Today is both my birthday and my book’s birthday.

 Last night, my friend Cory, who took the cover photo for Ambiguous, messaged me saying he “just loved that [he] could share art with an artist who then uses said art to create another beautiful piece of art. Art needs to go into perpetuity.”

 What he means is that about a year ago, he sent me the Harry Styles “Falling” video because he thought it was beautiful. If you haven’t seen it, it is beautiful, with gorgeous art direction. The song is haunting and emotional. So, the video is art.

 But then that video made me think of this book. I do approach books as an art form, but that’s an entirely different blog post. Nevertheless, I usually write a book because there’s something I want to say and it takes me that long to say it.

 This book needed a cover, so Cory and Brock took a photo. They got to explore color and lighting and poses, all in the name of making something beautiful.

 Then Garrett got to design the cover, and Garrett created something lovely, too.

 Then, hopefully, it goes out into the world, and hopefully finds its way to people who will be positively affected by it.

 So, yes, Cory is right. The cycle of art does go on.

 I hope you love Ambiguous and that some part of it speaks to you.

[southwindscoffee]

fly fishing without a hook

I was relistening to Seth Godin’s The Practice, and he was talking about how when he learned to fly fish, he asked for a fly without a hook.

 He wasn’t trying to actually catch a fish, and he didn’t even want to try.

 What he wanted to do was learn how to fly fish.

 He was process oriented, not outcome oriented.

 *mind exploding*

 How many things have I done in the past where I’ve judged myself to be a failure because of the outcome, when really I should’ve/could’ve been focusing on the process?

 Many, many things, is the answer.

 But I’m also proud of the fact that I am, for the most part, fly fishing without a hook these days.

 I’ve been playing my new bass guitar just about every day. Can I play a whole song yet? Not quite. Do I like it when I can figure out a note? Or transitions between notes? Yes. But most of all, I just kinda like playing.

 This blog is a form of fly fishing without a hook. There are no expectations here. I try to write something that I think will resonate with someone else. And I’ve been letting myself off the hook of writing blog posts twice a week while I focused on finishing a book—and then another. But honestly, this blog is just for the fun of processing my thoughts. Of figuring out how to hold the fishing rod and cast the line. I’m definitely not trying to catch a fish.

 The trick though, I think, is to live your life like you’re fly fishing without a hook. To not be so expectant/focused on outcome. And to instead enjoy the process.

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April 13 release date!

About a year ago, my friend Cory Stierley (who has taken most of my cover photos) sent me a link to the Harry Styles “Falling” video, because he thought I’d like it. I now blame him for this whole book (Cory, not Harry). Basically, I’d never listened to him before (Harry, not Cory, although Cory can sing), but I thought the video was gorgeous, with a soaking wet Harry playing the piano while wearing a ruffled shirt. After I saw it, I took a shower and had one of those moments where the entire story came to me like a creative download from the universe. I wrote the initial outline to this book (which is now called Ambiguous) dripping wet and wearing a towel. (That’s probably TMI.) So, is this book Harry Styles fanfic? IDK. He certainly started it, and my thanks to some YouTubers out there who compiled videos of him … but I think Jules is his own person. I know one of my early readers who prefers other singers thought Jules was kind of a Shawn Mendes type. I just shrug. He's a rock star. Up to you to decide. While I love to write, I do have a long connection with music. I began music lessons at age four and used to play the piano. In college, I was a radio deejay (incidentally at the same radio station where Weird Al worked--he recorded his first song in the boy's bathroom across the hall). Recently, I've taken up playing the bass guitar. If you ask me if I like a kind of music, I’ll most likely say yes, and most likely it influenced some part of this book. I will say that I've received extremely positive messages from early readers about this one, like, they smiled every time they returned to their kindle, or it's one of their favorite books ever. I hope you enjoy it, too, because I had a lot of fun with these boys.

You can preorder it on Amazon here. You can add it to your Goodreads TBR here.

And this is what it’s about:

Love is for other people, not for me.

At least that’s what I believed, until I met him. 

Julian Hill.

The most famous rock star on the planet. A music god with untidy hair and the voice of an angel.

I’ll never be anything but out, and he has very good reasons to stay in the closet.

After all, every move he makes is dissected, critiqued, and posted on social media, so he just wants a little privacy.

I understand that. Truly.

But no one makes me feel the way he does, and I’m pretty sure he has feelings for me as well.

Which is inconvenient since his record label hired me to sue him.

I should’ve sorted things out before I kissed him.

Oops.

Ambiguous is a forbidden mm rock star romance about a fashion-forward singer who hates labels of all kinds (except for clothing), a dapper attorney who already has a (fake) boyfriend for a very good reason, and the possibility of love saving the day. 

Preorder: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09T5L8W5K

Add to Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60549901-ambiguous 

[southwindscoffee]

zero tolerance and forgiveness

I’ve been seeing a lot of missteps in different contexts, where someone says/writes/does something they shouldn’t, and they didn’t mean to cause a stir, but they do anyway. I’m not talking about intentional rabble-rousers. I’m talking about genuine ignorance—and I’m giving them the benefit of the doubt here. They just didn’t think, and no one has told them anything different. [I’m being intentionally vague because it honestly doesn’t matter (to me—it may very well matter to those affected) what the misstep was because I think this is an evergreen concept.]

 After the offense is identified, though, I’ve been fascinated.

 Because I’ve seen some things lately where the response has been “zero tolerance,” as in: we have zero tolerance for that kind of language/behavior.

 I can see why people would want zero tolerance policies as a method of cracking down on unwanted behavior, especially if its condemnable. (Is that a word? Pretend it is.)

 Zero tolerance, though, assumes that the person knows that what they did was something wrong.

 But what if they don’t? For whatever reason, they unintentionally caused offense? (And my premise is that this is genuine unintentional behavior.)

 I guess all I’m advocating for is education and forgiveness. Sometimes someone just needs to politely point out the issue to the offender what the issue is.

 Of course, we’re human and some of us will get our backs up and be defensive. Double-down on the behavior, justify it, or minimize others’ concerns.

 But how many won’t?

 I just wish sometimes that we gave people second chances, especially for public mishaps

 Again, I understand and am assuming that whatever they did was offensive, but they just didn’t know, or they just didn’t think about it from someone else’s point of view. I guess I’m just a perpetual optimist hoping that many, when the issue is pointed out, are decent people who will apologize and learn. I suppose I’m advocating for that opportunity.

[southwindscoffee]

adults and children

About six weeks ago, I bought a bass guitar, and I’ve been teaching myself how to play by watching YouTube videos. I figured it was time for a blog update.

 Well, I’m still a beginner, but I’ve figured out some basics like how to hold the guitar, how to pick the strings, and what the notes are for the song I wanted to learn how to play.

 What’s interesting to me, though, is how much more often I practice than my kids do—or than I did as a kid playing the piano. I guess it’s simply because I want to learn how to play it.

 I had an interesting discussion with a friend of mine about how adults and children learn. Her comments were along the lines that the stereotype is, “if you didn’t learn it as a kid, you can’t.” But really, that’s not true at all. As an adult, I know how to learn things. I’m not striving to go shred onstage at Coachella; I just want to competently be able to play a song. And then I’ll learn the next one.

 If you’re wanting to learn something but have talked yourself out of it because someone told you it was too late, I’m here to say that it’s nonsense. Even if it’s figure skating or gymnastics. Sure, you may not become an Olympian (so few of us are), but as an adult, you know how to learn things. And if you really want to do it, I think you should.

 As always, life is too short to not do the things you want to do.