Guest Blogger-Brynn Stein

Happy Halloween everyone! And because this is such a great holiday I have a special treat for everyone: a special guest! I am so pleased to welcome Brynn Stein to my nook to talk about her latest release Through the Years with a special Halloween post. Take it away, Brynn!!

Thanks Sophie, for hosting me today.

                I thought for the holiday, I’d give you all a ‘missing scene’ from Through the Years. (Set when Gene and Edward are older, with their first grandchild). From Gene’s POV (as is the rest of the book).

“How am I supposed to know how it goes on?” I growled at Edward. We’d been at this for twenty minutes and I still had no clue how to do this.

“Well, we need to hurry up, we’re supposed to have Lily at the party in half an hour and it takes fifteen minutes to get there.” Edward reminded me…again.

“If Jeannie wanted her there at a certain time, she should have told us how to do this.” I fussed. “Besides, who has a Halloween Party for a bunch of three year olds? That’s just silly.”

Lily, for her part, had been very patient with us while we tried to figure out how to put this ridiculous costume on her. I mean, who ever heard of turning your child into a hot dog for Halloween. The red leotard and tights we figured out right away, though it still hadn’t been easy to get the skin tight things on a wiggly three year old. And Jeanne didn’t tell us we shouldn’t give the kid a bath right before attempting this great feat.

But anyway, the base coat, as it were, was done. But now we were trying to get the rest of it on her. There was a bun made out of foam, which had a convoluted harness thing to hold it on. Then she had some kind of vest slash tunic thing that was supposed to hide the harness and serve as the ketchup, mustard, relish, and onions.

It was really a very creative costume, and we were going to have to compliment Jeannie on making it, if we ever actually got her daughter into it.

“Why did we agree to this again?” I wondered aloud.

“Because we love our daughter and she couldn’t get off work tonight to take Lily to the preschool Halloween party.” Edward answered sensibly. “And because we love our granddaughter and she’s been looking forward to this all week.”

“Yeah, that.” I agreed. “And the fact that we’re both just big softies.”

Edward chuckled. “Well, that went without saying.”

It took another fifteen minutes to get everything worked out and start toward the car. It took us another five minutes to figure out how to buckle the child into her car seat with the outfit on. Edward suggested that maybe we should take it off of her until we got to the party.

I just glared at him.

We finally were under way. We were going to be late, but at least we’d get there. Lily fell asleep on the way and it didn’t occur to either one of us that this might not be a good thing.

Finally, we pulled into the driveway of the outrageously decorated house of Lily’s preschool teacher. I reached back and jiggled Lily’s leg.

“Hey punkin’, we’re here at the party.”

She didn’t wake up, but by that time, Edward had the back door open and was unbuckling the car seat.

“Come on Sweet Thing,” Edward cooed. “You have to wake up now. We’re here.”

“Don’t want to go,” Lily whined and stuck her thumb in her mouth. She did that when she was tired.

“Of course you do, Sweet Pea.” I chimed in. “You’ve been talking about it all week.”

“No,” she said decisively and turned her back.

We tried for five more minutes to get her out of the car. If she responded at all, it was more of the same, whining, and ‘no’, and ‘I don’t want to go.’

Edward looked at me, like I had any hope of knowing what to do with a fussy three year old in a hot dog suit. “What do we do now?”

“I guess we go home?” I asked more than answered. All of that work and she wasn’t even going to get out of the car. I loved Lily to death, but when she made up her mind about something, there was usually no changing it…at least not without a lot of yelling and tears…all of the yelling and most of the tears were on her part.  Most of the tears.

“Yeah, I guess we go home.” Edward agreed. “Hey, let’s stop at Dairy Queen on the way.” I understood. We hadn’t eaten anything since an early lunch. Jeannie had said we’d be expected to eat at the party. But then he just had to add, “I’m in the mood for hot dogs.”

I hit him and drove right past the Dairy Queen.

Happy Halloween everyone. Comment below for a chance to win.

Here’s how the raffle works:

I’ve listed the tour stops below and have given either the link to the blog in general or to my post specifically. Feel free to stop by as many as you want. For each stop that you comment on, you will receive one entry to the giveaway. I’ll check all the stops numerous times throughout the tour and will draw five winners on Thanksgiving Day, so even if you come in late to the tour, you can go back through the list and comment on past stops.

I’m giving away five prizes. Prize 1) a signed paperback copy of Through the Years; Prizes 2 and 3) electronic copies of Through the Years, Prize 4) your choice of either a signed paperback copy or an audiobook of Living Again (the audiobook won’t be available until December), and Prize 5) an electronic copy of Haunted.

Blog Tour Stops for Through the Years

Blog Stop	Date	Blog Owner	Blog Address
1	October 6	Anne Barwell	http://annebarwell.wordpress.com
2	October 7	Grace Duncan	http://www.grace-duncan.com/
3	October 8	Jessica Skye Davies	http://jessicaskyedavies.blogspot.com
4	October 9	Shira Anthony	http://www.shiraanthony.com/?p=4032
5	October 10	Emma Tett	http://emmy-j.blogspot.co.uk
6	October 11	Kim Fielding	http://www.kfieldingwrites.com/please-welcome-brynn-stein/
7	October 12	Bike Books Reviews	bikebookreviews.blogspot.com
8	October 13	Tempest O’Riley	http://tempesteoriley.com
9	October 14	Sean Michael	http://seanmichaelwrites.blogspot.ca/
10	October 15	Allison Cassatta	http://allisoncassatta.blogspot.com/2014/10/author-spotlight-brynn-stein.html
11	October 16	Jana Denardo	http://jana-denardo.livejournal.com/150624.html
12	October 17	Louise Lyons	http://louiselyonsauthor.wordpress.com/category/guest-authors/
13	October 18	PD Singer	http://pdsinger.com
14	October 20	Shae Connor	http://shaeconnorwrites.com
15	October 21	Suki Fleet	http://sukifleet.wordpress.com
16	October 27	Charlie Cochet	http://purpleroseteahouse.charliecochet.com
17	October 28	Elizabeth Noble	http://www.elizabeth-noble.com/my-blog
18	October 29	Tara Lain	http://taralain.com
19	October 31	Sophie Bonaste	http://sophiebonaste.blogspot.com
20	November 4	Kit Moss	http://kitmossreviews.blogspot.com
21	November 10	Lane Hayes	lanehayes.wordpress.com
22	November 13	Mike Rupured	http://rupured.com

http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=5539

Blurb for Through the Years

Edward and Gene were instantly drawn to each other when they met at college in Maryland. Fast friends, they developed a "closer than brothers" relationship. But then Edward began to feel more for Gene. In 1967, those kind of feelings would not be tolerated. Not even by Edward himself.

Gene always thought he was asexual. He had never been attracted to anyone... until he met Edward. He dreamed of Edward as more than a friend throughout college, but he knew Edward would not welcome that kind of attention. So Gene wasn't surprised when Edward reacted badly to a drunken kiss just before Edward's graduation. He was surprised when Edward moved to Florida and had little to do with him for years afterward.

When fate finally brings them back together, Edward is married and has a little girl. Gene gladly accepts the role of "Uncle Gene," happy to have Edward in his life in any capacity. Together, they face all the trials and tribulations life throws at them, including the death of Edward's wife, and as each grows and matures, their life views change. The relationship they've secretly wanted all along is closer than ever, and if Edward can break free from his homophobic upbringing and admit his feelings for Gene, there might still be a chance for them to share their lives in the way they both desire.

A Bittersweet Dreams title: It's an unfortunate truth: love doesn't always conquer all. Regardless of its strength, sometimes fate intervenes, tragedy strikes, or forces conspire against it. These stories of romance do not offer a traditional happy ending, but the strong and enduring love will still touch your heart and maybe move you to tears.

Brynn Stein has always loved to write. Fan fiction, original fiction, whatever. While Brynn wrote in numerous genres – everything from mystery, to contemporary, to supernatural – she had always tended toward strong male characters. And then she discovered ‘slash’, male/male romance, and all those strong male characters were finally allowed to express their love for one another. It seems that there are always at least two characters clamoring to tell Brynn their story.

Brynn lives in Virginia with one of her two two-legged children, and two four-legged ones. Her supportive family encourages her writing and provides a sounding board for fledgling stories. When she isn’t writing, Brynn teaches children with special needs. In free time, when such a thing exists, she reads anything she can get her hands on, and haunts bookstores. She draws and paints, and enjoys the outdoors—especially if she can get to the beach—and is always thinking about her next story.

Please feel free to contact Brynn at any of the following:

https://twitter.com/BrynnStein
http://brynnstein2.wordpress.com
https://www.facebook.com/

or

brynnstein2@gmail.com