Gay Book Reviews is thrilled to have L.J. LaBarthe with us today!
Gigi suggested I write a little about what I love most about living in Australia. This turned out to be more of a challenge than I thought. My immediate answer was the relaxed lifestyle, which it is, people are very relaxed here, and there’s a general vibe of, “she’ll be right, mate,” which is basically saying that everything will be okay.
But there’s more to it than that for me. I love that Australia is such a multicultural country. I love that we have citizens from all over the globe, and such a rich heritage and history from Aboriginal stories of the Dreamtime, their Songlines and culture to the stories and culture of our immigrants. Sadly, we’re not a Utopian idyll, though, racism is prevalent, but recently there’s been more of a push-back against that, which is good to see.
I love the wide variety of landscapes—the coast that we have which is beautiful and has white and gold sand, blue water and sometimes towering cliffs. The desert which is arid and coloured red and gold, the small shrubs that dot the desert, and the wildlife. Our cities are sprawling and for the most part full of green spaces, parks, gardens, and there’s been an increase in growing plants up the side of buildings to create more green spaces. I love the farming and agricultural areas, the food bowls of the Liverpool Plains or Virginia or the tropical plantations of far north Queensland.
We have festivals for everything—music, art, dance, film, and markets; there are festivals for different immigrant cultures too, such as the Greek Glendi Festival or the Russian Festival or the French Festival. We have indigenous theatre and art and music festivals and displays. In Sydney, the GBLTQI Mardi Gras gets larger every year, drawing crowds from all over the world, and in Adelaide, the fledging FEAST GBLTQI Festival is doing the same.
Our summers are long and very hot, our winters are mild. While I can do without the blistering heat of summer (days of over 105oF are exhausting!), most of the time, the weather is perfect. I love that here, there’s something for everyone.
One of my favourite places is the Flinders Ranges, where this book is set. It is beautiful and rugged, with quite a few small towns and lots of incredible natural wonders. The Flinders is one of my most perfect locations and I love it, and the town of Quorn, which is where the main characters, Ash and Jaxon, live. I hope readers enjoy the book.
Photos from Flinders Ranges
Title: Book, Line, and Sinker
Author: L.J. LaBarthe
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: April 15th 2016
Genre(s): M/M Contemporary Romance
Page Count: 200 pages
Blurb:
After seventeen years serving in the Australian Army, Ash returns to his childhood home in the outback town of Quorn. Filled with the desire to live a happy life in peace and with loved ones, Ash is grimly determined to beat his PTSD and tackle his flashbacks.
What Ash isn’t prepared for is Jaxon, the new librarian in Quorn. Jaxon is calm, gentle, kind, and a rock for Ash’s battered psyche. Ash finds himself falling for the handsome newcomer, even as his mind and memories of the past torment him.
When he has the idea for a mobile library to bring books and entertainment to remote communities in the far north, Ash is delighted that Jaxon is with him every step of the way. But though the library, called Book, Line, and Sinker, takes off, Ash’s past continues to plague him. Can Jaxon’s love be enough to keep them together until Ash is strong enough to stand on his own?
Amazon Global Author Link GoodReads Blog
About the Author
After seventeen years serving in the Australian Army, Ash returns to his childhood home in the outback town of Quorn. Filled with the desire to live a happy life in peace and with loved ones, Ash is grimly determined to beat his PTSD and tackle his flashbacks.
What Ash isn’t prepared for is Jaxon, the new librarian in Quorn. Jaxon is calm, gentle, kind, and a rock for Ash’s battered psyche. Ash finds himself falling for the handsome newcomer, even as his mind and memories of the past torment him.
When he has the idea for a mobile library to bring books and entertainment to remote communities in the far north, Ash is delighted that Jaxon is with him every step of the way. But though the library, called Book, Line, and Sinker, takes off, Ash’s past continues to plague him. Can Jaxon’s love be enough to keep them together until Ash is strong enough to stand on his own?
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