Author Override: Anne Tenino

From August 27^th through the 31^st, I’ll be visiting blogs and posting tidbits about my new release, Love, Hypothetically—the second volume in the Theta Alpha Gamma series, begun with Frat Boy and Toppy.  To see a schedule of the tour, check out my website.

Over the course of the tour, I’ll be asking readers of Love, Hypothetically questions about the new book, and whoever emails all the correct answers to me at anneATanneteninoDOTcom will be entered into a drawing for the Blog Tour Prize—the PICNIC PRIZE PACK: a picnic tote, two “unbreakable” champagne glasses, and an autographed copy of Frat Boy and Toppy. This unusual prize honors Trevor from Love, Hypothetically, who makes a picnic lunch for Paul in an effort to woo him. Similarly, I am wooing you, my lurvely readers.

All righty, I suppose it’s time to begin the party, hmm? Let the Love, Hypothetically Blog Tour Spectacular! *confetti* begin!

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I’ve spent a lot of time on this blog tour discussing the ins and outs of Love, Hypothetically, Paul’s character, Trevor’s character, some other characters’ character, etc. I thought I would take a mid-tour break (since this is the middle post of the tour) and do something simple—give you an exclusive excerpt. Yes, that’s right, one you can’t find anywhere else.

First, some set up: I had a great time writing Paul’s character in Frat Boy and Toppy. How can you not enjoy a character who makes a huge ass of himself the way Paul does? In this excerpt from Chapter Seven of FB&T, he’s making it clear how he feels about frat boys and jocks:

“He’s a frat boy jock!” Paul gaped at Sebastian. Paul was an intellectual snob, and jocks had no place in his world except as objects of derision. For the typical reason, of course: the high school athletic teams’ natural prey was the weak, intelligent queer boy.

“Makes him that much better to look at. Did you check out those muscles? Brad has a nice set of arms on him. And, man, you should see the view from behind.” For just a second, Paul might have looked interested, but he squelched it with a contemptuously curled lip. Really, Sebastian was enjoying messing with Paul too much. It wasn’t nice.

Not that he was going to stop.

“He could be playing you!”

“What, like flashing his well-formed pecs at me to get what he wants? Showing me his corded neck so I’ll overlook his plagiarized paper?” Sebastian laughed. “He’s straight!” He was pretty sure. “Even if it occurred to him to do it, he’d never be able to make himself.” He grinned over at Paul, enjoying his flustered outrage openly.

“He could be trying to inveigle you!” Paul was so worked up he stood and leaned across his desk, planting his hands on the surface. “Get you obsessed with him, then get you to change his grade.”

You can clearly see Paul has some kind of issue. Many, many people suggested to me after this first Theta Alpha Gamma book came out that I explain exactly why Paul has (as Toby terms it) “…a pure and unreasoning” hatred of jocks. In Love, Hypothetically, I not only explained the reason for his feelings, but in Chapter Two I took readers on a flashback journey (just a little one, I promise) to experience what brought Paul to that hatred. This is the beginning of Chapter Two, also known as the exclusive excerpt:

Paul devoted many an hour his final year of high school to devising ways to get his dick into Trevor’s mouth. Reciprocal blowjobs were a dead end. Invariably, after blowing Trevor, Paul would be so close to the edge he’d accept a handjob gratefully. He’d be too far gone to argue or plead for Trevor to suck him instead.

It was when he lay in bed at night, hard and aching with nothing but his hand for company, that Paul spent real energy dreaming up ways to get what he wanted: Trevor on his knees in front of him with a mouthful of penis.

One day near the end of their senior year—on the downhill side of baseball season, as Trevor tended to mark these things—Paul sat in his car, parked in the school lot, in possession of a (hopefully) foolproof plan. Due to his superior knowledge of Trevor’s fantasies, schedule, and baseball in general (not that he’d wanted to know so much about baseball, but he spent too much time with the star shortstop not to soak it in through osmosis, or possibly semen), Paul knew the planets had finally aligned, offering him an opportunity to coax a blowjob from his boyfriend.

Yes, “boyfriend.” Whether Trevor recognized it or not, they were a couple. One didn’t hang out and just talk or cuddle (okay, so it had only happened twice, but it counted, dammitall) with a guy who was merely one’s fuck buddy. It didn’t matter that no one else knew they were a couple, or that everyone thought Trevor was dating that cheerleader. Paul knew what was going on. The cheerleader was a beard and he was the real deal. Someday Trevor would figure it out, too. Paul just needed patience and unwavering certainty.

Trevor sucking his cock would go a long way toward encouraging him not to waver. This evening’s scheme would bolster his faith, Paul was positive.

Possibly “scheme” wasn’t the best word. “Tactics” had a more positive connotation.

At any rate, there was Stu Hodges, the team catcher, leaving the school now—he was the last guy on the team to leave, other than Trevor. Paul waited until Stu had walked around the corner of the building before climbing out of his car. He didn’t want to be nervous, but he was. His heart fluttered momentarily, but he told it to behave. The knot in his gut didn’t respond to the same admonishment, so he ignored it and walked quickly to the side door of the school gymnasium.

I’m sorry to be so cruel, but unfortunately, if you want to know what happens next, you’re probably going to need to read the book.

Happy Reading!

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Love, Hypothetically

Paul’s been called many things—graduate student, humanities tutor, jock-hater, even broke—but "forgiving" isn't one of them. When the new women's softball coach at Calapooya College specifically requests Paul to tutor his athletes, Paul's forced to put aside his strict "no athletes" policy for the sake of his paycheck.

Enter Trevor Gardiner, former Major League Baseball player and Paul’s high school boyfriend. Yeah, that one—the guy who sacrificed Paul for the safety of his closet and his future career. But Trevor’s come out and retired from baseball, and now he’s looking for forgiveness and a second chance.

There’s no earthly reason Paul should give him one, but he keeps letting the man state his case. And touch him. And take him sailing. The waters are far from smooth, though, and Paul says awful things to Trevor he isn’t sure he means. Now Paul has to decide: apologize and forgive Trevor for everything, or chalk it up as revenge and move on.

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READ OUR REVIEW

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About Anne—

Raised on a steady media diet of Monty Python, classical music and the visual arts, Anne Tenino rocked the mental health world when she was the first patient diagnosed with Compulsive Romantic Disorder. Since that day, Anne has taken on conquering the M/M world through therapeutic writing. Finding out who those guys having sex in her head are and what to do with them has been extremely liberating.

Anne's husband finds it liberating as well, although in a somewhat different way. Her two daughters are mildly confused by Anne's need to twist Ken dolls into odd positions. They were raised to be open-minded children, however, and other than occasionally stealing Ken1's strap-on, they let Mom do her thing without interference.

When not writing, Anne lies on the couch, eats bonbons and shirks housework.

Check out what Anne’s up to now by visiting her website, the Chicks & Dicks Blog, follow her on Twitter or friend her on Facebook or Goodreads.

Follow the Tour

 Aug. 27
Chicks & Dicks
Abi Roux’s blog
Aug 28
Amara’s Place
Mrs. Condit Reads Books
Aug 29
Under The Covers
Aug 30
MANtastic Fiction
Aug 31
Smitten with Reading
The Book Pushers

ARC Review: Love, Hypothetically by Anne Tenino

Love, Hypothetically

by Anne Tenino

(Theta Alpha Gamma # 2)

I'm really not sure what I was expecting going into this book.  I liked Paul from the previous book but yes, he was a jerk to his friend and his new boyfriend.  Obviously I was expecting him to have hangups about something and that there was a story behind why he acted like an ass at the mere thought that Brad was a jock.

But what I wasn't prepared for was this story.  LOVE, HYPOTHETICALLY was really a beautiful love story of reunited lovers, high school sweethearts that hit a bump in the road that veered them off track for a while but they're getting their second chance at love.  While it was sad that Paul and Trevor couldn't stay together then, and what Trevor did was awful, it is also understandable.  There were reasons, there was pressure.  It was about love or his future and as a teenager who is still figuring out that he's gay and has to deal with that, everything else was too much.

Paul surprised me as well.  Where I was expecting to find out he was a flirt and slept around, turns out that he's not the slut I thought he was.  He does put value into giving his body to someone and in his heart, there truly only has been Trevor.  Even after the heartache, the betrayal and the hurt.

When Trevor comes back, I thought he did everything perfect.  He did some groveling, he tried some wooing.  And what I found most endearing is that he's not coming back as a perfect guy, all gorgeous looking.  He's not at the top anymore, he started loosing his hair.  But the same love is still there.

And last but not least, the friendships.  After everything Paul did, it was great to see him make amends and have his friends understand why he did the things he did.

If anything, I was expecting this book to be sexier or funnier, and although there was still plenty of sexual tension and a few very hot encounters as well as some funny moments and quotes, it was also a lot more emotional than the first book.  There was a connection between them that went beyond the physical and beyond the jokes and I kept holding my breath for the right moment when Paul would finally give in and forgive Trevor.

Now I can't wait for the next one!

*ARC provided by publisher

Purchase Links: Amazon

Review: 18% Gray by Anne Tenino

3.5 Feathers

18% Gray

by Anne Tenino

(Task Force Iota # 1)

You know what the great thing about Anne Tenino is?  She's hilarious!  OMG this book made me laugh out loud sometimes.  And don't get me wrong, it was still sexy and erotic when it had to be but I love the fact that the characters were funny and a lot of times didn't take themselves too seriously.

The sci fi aspect of this story however is I found a bit lacking.  James Ayala is in the military and he's in the Red States where men are oppressed and is not allowed to be gay.  Matt Tennimore, who used to have a high school crush on James and was always out of the closet, is assigned with the mission of rescuing James and bringing him back to the Blue States.

James has been experimented on by the government and was implanted with a chip that has been changing a lot of things about him.  He can feel other people's feelings, which can come in handy during a fight.  He can also communicate with animals.  But more and more things are changing for him because of the chip and I am very curious to see what the next book will bring as far as the plot since it seems it will probably develop more the sci fi storyline.

This story is more of an enemies to lovers, even though they were friends first.  I loved the fact that they both secretly had crushes on each other, just that one was open to exploring his true desires and the other took a few years to come around.  I did feel a connection between James and Matt even from the beginning and could definitely see how they can end up together and in love in such a short time.  But I do think that Matt should've made him jump through more hoops to get him.

Like I said before, the best part about this book is the humor.  I HAVE to talk about the horny nun, Sister Benigna.  She was trying to hump or get humped throughout the whole story and it was hilarious!  Lady, these men are not interested in what you have to offer!  LOL  Then there's Miz, the horse.  Obviously James can communicate with Miz but it was so much fun to see Miz interacting with Matt because Miz had its own way of getting things across.

I am excited to read the next one though!  I hope that there's more Matt and James and that we get to see some of Laslo and Logan!!

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes and Noble

Review: Frat Boy and Toppy by Anne Tenino

Frat Boy and Toppy

by Anne Tenino
(Theta Alpha Gamma # 1)

I have to admit something... I couldn't put this book down.  Even when I had to put it down while trying to hang out with the family, I would sneak in the room just to read a few more paragraphs!  Craziness!  It was such a delicious read.

Brad is the college jock, the frat boy, who is just now starting to deal with the his feelings towards men.  He's always been attracted to men and hidden it, but now he has finally admitted to himself that he is gay.  And he just happens to be attracted towards guy that are a bit shorter than him, leaner than him, maybe even a bit smarter than him.  So it's no surprise that he has a crush on Sebastian, the TA in his history class.

Sebastian thinks Brad is hot, I mean you'd have to be blind not to notice him, but he is obviously not gay so no use wasting time daydreaming there.  Until Brad finally gets the guts to tell Sebastian he wants him.  And here comes my favorite part of this story.  You would think big muscular jock should top the skinnier, leaner, shorter, geeky TA.  Nope!  It's the other way around.  Actually Sebastian can be even a bit of a Dom and likes to be in control, and Brad is more than happy to let him do what he pleases.

Their relationship was incredible sweet.  Sebastian dealing with not wanting a relationship and never having loved anyone.  Brad dealing with his own acceptance of being gay and coming out to his family and friends, and the fact that he's head over heels in love with Sebastian.

The humor in this book was great as well.  I wasn't expecting it to be funny but I found myself laughing quite a bit.  And then other times was just too hot to process any kind of thought.

Now only one thing I want to ask for.  That we get a story about Collin and about Toby.  And I'll be looking for more of Anne Tenino's books, that's for sure!

Purchase Links: Amazon