‘The Burnt Toast B&B’ by @HeidiBelleau & @RachelHaimowitz #BookTour #Review #LGBT

Susie reviews The Burnt Toast B&B, book 5 of the Bluewater Bay universe published by Riptide Publishing on January 12, 2015.241 pages.

Hi, and welcome to the Burnt Toast B&B blog tour! We’re Heidi Belleau and Rachel Haimowitz, the authors of the book, and we’re so thankful to have you along for the ride, and thankful to our hosts, Rainbow Gold Reviews, for having us here today!

Normally on a blog tour, we like to share all kinds of behind the scenes goodies to do with the book: inspiration images, glimpses into research and plotting, deleted scenes, conversations about our process, character bios, etc. For this tour, though, we’re doing something a little different, but we hope you’ll still find it worth your while.

When Heidi first pitched The Burnt Toast B&B, it was as an opposites-attract story centring around the world’s worst B&B . . . and an M/M romcom where one of the lead guys just happened to be transgender. Writing solo, she’d done a trans book before, but that was very much a Trans Book, all about exploring gender identity, defining who you are, and coming out to your friends and loved ones. This book . . . isn’t that. It’s the story of an optimistic hipster stuntman and a pessimistic lumberjack who learn to make espresso, fix up a failing B&B, and generally butt heads in between loads of laundry.

Ginsberg, our hipster, is much like many of our other favourite M/M heroes: he’s funny, resilient, romantic, and sexy as hell. He’s also transgender; secure in his identity, his body, and his sexuality; and working in a career he loves. But his life isn’t without hardships. Ginsberg made his own family after his biological one turned out to be too toxic to live with. He scrimped and saved and borrowed to pay for the medical care he needed to be happy and healthy. He found a roof over his head as a “considerate couchsurfer,” living with friends and acquaintances on a temporary basis when money got tight. In Derrick and his failing B&B, Ginsberg finally finds an opportunity to have a real home, if only he can convince Derrick to keep the place open.

Ginsberg’s background of financial hardship and lack of family support is all too common among many people who, like him, are trans and trying to live happy, fulfilling lives as their true selves. As such, we the authors, our publisher Riptide, and our generous blog tour hosts will be using the next few days to highlight the personal fundraisers of real trans people in need. We hope that if you’ve got a little extra money this month, you’ll consider donating, and if money’s tight, maybe you can help by spreading the word, too.

For our part, Rachel, Heidi, and Riptide will be giving donors a $5 Riptide credit code for every $10 in donations you make (up to $50 in codes per person, up to $5,000 in codes overall)–just email your donation receipt(s) to info@riptidepublishing.com with the subject line “Burnt Toast Tour Donation,” and Riptide will send out all $5 codes a week after the tour ends. (It’s totally cool, by the way, to spread your donations across multiple fundraisers if you’d like; we’ll add up all your receipts sent in a single email and base your credit vouchers on the grand total.)

We’re also hosting a special contest for people who donate: every dollar in donations to any of these fundraisers will earn you an entry into a drawing for a full paperback set of Riptide’s current Bluewater Bay lineup, OR two signed paperback copies of The Burnt Toast B&B. We’ll draw one week after the blog tour ends. Every dollar helps, and every dollar counts!

Lastly, we’ll randomly select three commenters from all the tour stops and donate $50 apiece in each winner’s name to the trans charity or fundraiser of their choice. (Please be sure to leave a way for us to contact you if you win!)

Today’s featured fundraiser is for Jackie, aka @nerdytransgirl, and you can find it at http://www.gofundme.com/74c2ic. And here’s Jackie 🙂

 

Jackie’s seeking to raise money for her transition, and is keeping a photojournal of the process at nerdytransgirl.tumblr.com. She’s raised enough for a legal name change, but is seeking donations for hormone replacement therapy ($240 per year), and laser hair removal ($1000 for the first year). Her fundraising link again is http://www.gofundme.com/74c2ic.

Thank you so much for following our (slightly unconventional) blog tour! Be sure to leave a comment on this or any of our other tour stops for a chance to have $50 donated in your name to a trans-related fundraiser/charity of your choice. And if you choose to donate to any of the fundraisers we’ve highlighted over the course of the tour, don’t forget to forward proof of your donation to info@riptidepublishing.com with the subject line “Burnt Toast Tour Donation” to claim your $5 coupon(s) and enter your name in the extra special drawing!

Lastly, if you or someone you love is transgender and going through a difficult time, please check out the Trans Lifeline, http://www.translifeline.org/. This crisis helpline is staffed entirely by trans volunteers and runs at least twelve hours a day, seven days a week, in the US and Canada. If you’re in crisis, please call them. If you’d like to support this nonprofit, please visit http://www.gofundme.com/translifeline.

About The Burnt Toast B&B:

After breaking his arm on set, Wolf’s Landing stuntman Ginsberg Sloan finds himself temporarily out of work. Luckily, Bluewater Bay’s worst B&B has cheap long-term rates, and Ginsberg’s not too proud to take advantage of them.

Derrick Richards, a grizzled laid-off logger, inherited the B&B after his parents’ untimely deaths. Making beds and cooking sunny-side-up eggs is hardly Derrick’s idea of a man’s way to make a living, but just as he’s decided to shut the place down, Ginsberg shows up on his doorstep, pitiful and soaking wet, and Derrick can hardly send him packing.

Not outright, at least.

The plan? Carry on the B&B’s tradition of terrible customer service and even worse food until the pampered city boy leaves voluntarily. What Derrick doesn’t count on, though, is that the lousier he gets at hosting, the more he convinces bored, busybody Ginsberg to try to get the B&B back on track. And he definitely doesn’t count on the growing attraction between them, or how much more he learns from Ginsberg than how to put out kitchen fires.

Read an excerpt or order at http://www.riptidepublishing.com/titles/burnt-toast-bb

Learn more about Heidi Belleau at http://www.riptidepublishing.com/authors/heidi-belleau

Learn more about Rachel Haimowitz at http://www.riptidepublishing.com/authors/rachel-haimowitz

I read this book because I am a fan of the authors, Riptide in general and I really enjoy this type of series!

RGR received a free copy from the publisher for the purpose of an honest review.

Welcome to Bluewater Bay! This quiet little logging town on Washington state’s Olympic Peninsula has been stagnating for decades, on the verge of ghost town status. Until a television crew moves in to film Wolf’s Landing, a soon-to-be cult hit based on the wildly successful shifter novels penned by local author Hunter Easton. Wolf’s Landing’s success spawns everything from merchandise to movie talks, and Bluewater Bay explodes into a mecca for fans and tourists alike. The locals still aren’t quite sure what to make of all this—the town is rejuvenated, but at what cost? And the Hollywood-based production crew is out of their element in this small, mossy seaside locale. Needless to say, sparks fly.

This collaborative story world is brought to you by ten award-winning, best-selling LGBTQ romance authors: L.A. Witt, L.B. Gregg, Z.A. Maxfield, Aleksandr Voinov, Heidi Belleau, Rachel Haimowitz, Anne Tenino, Amy Lane, SE Jakes, and G.B. Gordon. Each contemporary novel stands alone, but all are built around the town and the people of Bluewater Bay and the Wolf’s Landing media empire.

 ***** 

   Derrick is a bear of a guy, more grizzly than teddy. He’s trying his best to maintain the B&B left to him by his parents but cooking, cleaning and being social are not his strong points. After all, those things are a woman’s job! Enter Ginsberg…he’s lean, wiry and works as a stuntman on the set of Wolf’s Landing. But he’s also very good at “woman’s work” despite his very “masculine” career and he sets his sights on helping Derrick get the B&B up to snuff. But that’s not what Derrick wants, or is it? Throw in a hoot of a best friend and a yappy little dog with attitude and we get a delightful love story in the truest sense of the phrase! 

   Sometimes a book just catches you by surprise: you crack open the cover and reveal a soft, gooey center. This book is one of those. While I expected a story with humor and romance, I wasn’t prepared for the tenderness, personal growth and exploration of  traditional gender roles in this novel. When I started reading I had no idea that one of the MCs was transgender, but that revelation and everything it entails is handled beautifully in this story! When conflicts arise and the pair split up, both are miserable. But if Derrick wants Ginsberg in his life, and his bed, he needs to re-evaluate his attitudes and everything he thought he knew about being a man. Happily, he does and his grand gesture to get his man back is as sweet as can be!

 

      Buy @ Riptide, Amazon