Eli Easton Blames it on the Mistletoe (and Prairie dogs)!

Hello there, everyone! Today we’re spotlighting author Eli Easton, who has two new releases out: A Prairie Dog’s Love Song from Dreamspinner Press and her #1 bestseller Blame it on the Mistletoe.

I’ve tossed out a few questions for Eli to answer–here’s what she had to say!

What do the holidays mean to you?

I really look forward to it as a chance to slow down and take a break, recharge. Most of my year is crazy busy with work and writing. Around Christmas everyone I work with takes a long break, so I can too. I love my Christmas tree and Santa mug and all that smaltzy stuff. It’s like flannel pjs to me—those things all symbolize a chance to just sit down, get cozy, relax, and be happy. Lately I also LOVE reading holiday m/m stories and I look forward to getting my advent story from Dreamspinner daily and consume all the other Christmas stories I can find!

Why M/M romance?

I fell in love with the genre in early 2012. I became obsessed with BBC Sherlock and found online fan fiction, which I’d never read before. I got into slash and then after I got tired of reading about John and Sherlock (lol) I went in search of published m/m romance. I’ve always been a big romance reader, but read m/f for years. To me, m/m was just very fresh and sexy and interesting. I’ve read it almost exclusively ever since. As a writer (I’ve written mystery thrillers and computer games in the past) I had to try my hand at writing it. I really love it.

What was the inspiration for your latest story?

For “A Prairie Dog’s Love Song”, there were two things. First, I’m a fan of Pamela Morsi’s historical romances, which are set in Appalachia or small town America and have a very “folksy” voice. I wanted to try to write a m/m with that kind of “folk” voice and decided cowboys were the right setting for that. So the story is set in a small Montana town. Although it’s contemporary, it has a folksy Prairie Home Companion kind of tone. The second inspiration was a gay online porn site that I checked out where the guys were very young and fresh-faced. I wondered what happened when their friends and family back home found out about it, so that was the inspiration for Ben.
Tell us something about the writing process for you.

I work full-time, so I either have to write early mornings or evenings after work. I tend to be obsessively focused, so it works best for me if I get inspired by a story and work on it a ton every day until it’s done. If I get distracted and can’t work on it for a few days I tend to lose momentum and get fixed on something else. So I try to remember that and power through and not let myself put it down until I have at least a first draft completed.

Thank you for having me as a guest!

It was my pleasure,Eli! Sorry about the delay to posting today!

A Prairie Dog’s Love Song Blurb:

Ben Rivers always was a showman. He won awards in 4-H and rodeo competitions from the time he could walk, and he’s happiest in the spotlight. So when he got the chance to be a star—in porn—he took it. He still loves Montana and everything about being a cowboy, but when news of his alternate identity leaks out, he figures he’s lost the town’s goodwill forever. Clyde’s Corner would never accept an openly gay cowboy, even a hometown boy born and bred.Joshua Braintree always had the notion that he and his best friend’s kid brother, Ben, would end up together. Ben’s always been a diehard cowboy, just like him: they need the land and its freedom as much as they need air. So when Joshua learns Ben moved away from their small Montana town to be a porn star in Vegas, he can hardly believe it. He’s determined to finally declare himself and bring Ben home.Despite his longtime crush on Joshua, Ben won’t be as easy to tame as Joshua’s “lost cause” horses. It will take a lot of heart and holiday spirit for Joshua to convince Ben that even old prairie dogs can learn new tricks in the name of love.

Blame It On The Mistletoe Blurb:

When physics grad student Fielding Monroe and skirt-chaser and football player Mick Colman become college housemates, they’re both in for a whole new education. Mick looks out for the absent-minded genius, and he helps Fielding clean up his appearance and discover all the silly pleasures his strict upbringing as a child prodigy denied him. They become best friends.It’s all well and good until they run into a cheerleader who calls Mick the ‘best kisser on campus.’ Fielding has never been kissed, and he decides Mick and only Mick can teach him how it’s done. After all, the physics department’s Christmas party is coming up with its dreaded mistletoe. Fielding wants to impress his peers and look cool for once in his life. The thing about Fielding is, once he locks onto an idea, it’s almost impossible to get him to change his mind. And he just doesn’t understand why his straight best friend would have a problem providing a little demonstration.Mick knows kissing is a dangerous game. If he gives in, it would take a miracle for the thing not to turn into a disaster. Then again, if the kissing lessons get out of hand they can always blame it on the mistletoe.

Author Info:

Having been, at various times, and under different names, a minister’s daughter, a computer programmer, the author of metaphysical thrillers, an organic farmer and a profound sleeper, Eli is happily embarking on yet another incarnation as a m/m romance author.

As an avid reader of such, she is tinkled pink when an author manages to combine literary merit, vast stores of humor, melting hotness and eye-dabbing sweetness into one story. She promises to strive to achieve most of that most of the time. She currently lives on a farm in Pennsylvania with her husband, three bulldogs, three cows and six chickens. All of them (except for the husband) are female, hence explaining the naked men that have taken up residence in her latest writing.

Contact Eli at…. eli at elieaston.com

Eli Easton Blog Tour

12/5/2013 Hot Men in Hot Water

12/7/2013 We Love Kink

12/7/2013 Eclectic Passions

12/8/2013 Dawn’s Reading Nook

12/10/2013 Iyana’s Rainbow

12/12/2013 Sinfully Sexy Book Reviews

12/13/2013 Foxylutely Book Reviews