Monday, October 6, 2014

Being True by Jacob Z. Flores





Being True by Jacob Z. Flores
Publisher: Dreamspinner
Genre: M/M Romance
Release Date: September 16, 2014











Truman L. Cobbler has not had an easy life. It’s bad enough people say he looks like Donkey from Shrek, but he’s also suffered the death of his policeman father and his mother’s remarriage to a professional swindler, who cost them everything. Now dirt poor, they live in the barrio of San Antonio, Texas. When Tru transfers to an inner-city high school halfway through his senior year, he meets Javi Castillo, a popular and hot high school jock. 

Javi takes an immediate liking to Tru, and the two become friends. The odd pairing, however, rocks the school and sets the cliquish social circles askew. No one knows how to act or what to think when Mr. Popular takes a stand for Mr. Donkey. Will the cliques rise up to maintain status quo and lead Tru and Javi to heartbreak and disaster or will being true to who they are rule the day?

Excerpt 
Much to my surprise, most of my day had gone pretty much without incident and played out how my first days at a new school usually did. I ate lunch by myself in the outside quad on a bench far away from everyone else. I shuffled from one class to the next, where I was either scowled at or ignored. Most of the negativity came from the Jock Brigade and Mr. Badass, who had been in every class I had except physics and English.

Who exactly had I pissed off in an earlier life to be that unlucky?

I tried my best to be as invisible as possible, to lessen the serious hate-on they’d had for me since precalc. I didn’t answer questions when called on. I didn’t talk to other students. Hell, I didn’t get up to go to the restroom even though I’d had to pee since fourth-period US History.

My efforts had all been in vain.

Nothing seemed to stop the relentless piercing stare Mr. Badass shot at me every minute of every class, or every time we passed each other in the hall. My standard demeanor of head down and averted eyes hadn’t done its usual trick.

It only seemed to infuriate him more.

By the time sixth period rolled around, which was the only class I had actually looked forward to, I had become a bundle of nervous energy. The hairs on the back of my neck refused to go down, and I was about ready to jump out of my skin.

Only thinking about Javi Castillo settled my nerves.

Whenever I wanted to bolt from the classroom, I’d remember how warmly he greeted me. The memory of his friendly gaze and electric touch kept me from the agitated twitches that occasionally took control of my body in times of high stress.

The only negative side effect had been the never-ending wood I had to conceal.
My attraction to Javi wasn’t a big revelation that I was gay or anything. Hell, I’d known I liked boys since Carl Delacruz kissed me in second grade. After that, it was pretty clear where my preference lay. Besides, it wasn’t like I was a typical boy who ran like a battering ram through life.

I was always more delicate. More sensitive.

My parents had always suspected I was gay. At least that was what my mom told me when I came out to her a couple of years ago. She hadn’t been surprised, and she didn’t really care either. She said my father had asked her if I might be gay when I was, like, four or five. And when I say father, I mean Alexander Cobbler, my real dad, not the jerkhole, Bart.

Apparently, I used to put string on my head and pretend I was a girl with long hair. And I’d begged for a tea set and an Easy-Bake Oven one Christmas. My dad had been taken aback by it, but according to Mom, it hadn’t mattered. I was his son.

Somehow, knowing that, knowing I had my parents’ support—even my dad’s from the great beyond—made being who I was a lot easier to bear.



Being True Giveaway:
Sony Nook to one lucky person


Jacob Z. Flores lives a double life.
During the day, he is a respected college English professor and mid-level administrator.
At night and during his summer vacation, he loosens the tie and tosses aside the trendy sports coat to write man on man fiction, where the hard ass assessor of freshmen level composition turns his attention to the firm posteriors and other rigid appendages of the characters in his fictional world.

 Summers in Provincetown, Massachusetts, provide Jacob with inspiration for his fiction. The abundance of barely clothed man flesh and daily debauchery stimulates his personal muse. When he isn’t stroking the keyboard, Jacob spends time with his husband, Bruce, their three children, and two dogs, who represent a bright blue blip in an otherwise predominantly red swath in south Texas.

 You can follow Jacob’s musings on his blog at http://jacobzflores.com or become a part of his social media network by visiting http://www.facebook.com/jacob.flores2, https://twitter.com/JacobZFlores, or http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5142501.Jacob_Z_Flores.




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