Interview & Giveaway with Anne Brooke and Guest

I am really excited to have Anne Brooke here today with Dan from Where You Hurt the Most as apart of the RentBoys Blog Tour, bestowing on us an awesome Interview. Everyone give a warm welcome to Anne and Dan the man.

Interview with a Damaged Man

Anne: Hello, Dan. Thanks for coming to see us today.

Dan: [Shrugs] That’s okay. Adrian said it wasn’t so bad, so I thought I’d give it a go.

Anne: Thank you. Can I take your coat for you?

Dan: No! I mean, it’s fine. Sorry, don’t mean to shout. I know I don’t wear the hoodie now, but I like to keep it with me. Reassurance, I suppose, just in case.

Anne: I understand. Are you happy to talk about your car accident, Dan?

Dan: “Happy” isn’t the word I’d use, but I suppose it’s what I came here for. After all, me and how my face is now after the accident make up a large part of Where You Hurt The Most, don’t they?

Anne: Yes, that’s true. So, can you explain the difference between the man you were before the accident and the man you are now? I know the change is a key one for you.

Dan: You’re telling me it is. The accident itself was terrifying. I honestly thought I was going to die, and then afterwards when I realised what had happened I wished I had done. I wished I was dead. Though I felt guilty thinking that because the other bloke, the lorry driver, had died, and there’s no way back from that, is there? Stupid to imagine there is. I was lucky. It’s what everyone said and it’s what I knew, but it didn’t feel like that and I couldn’t pretend otherwise. Ever.

Anne: I apologise that this is going to be a stupid question, but in what way, exactly?

Dan: [Sighs, and rubs one hand through his hair] I wanted my face back, and my life, that was all. The accident took away what I knew about myself and I couldn’t see how things were going to be. All I could think about was how I looked, how ugly I’d become, and how people would always first see the scars I carry and nothing else.

Anne: What about all the plans you’d had for your career?

Dan: Ha! What would be the point? I’d worked so hard to build up the kind of design career I wanted beforehand, and one day I wanted to run my own business. There aren’t many people out there who have the set of all-round skills I was learning, and I really wanted to make the most of it. But who wants to employ any kind of designer with a face like mine? I’m not saying you have to have model looks to take up the kind of career I was planning because that’s obviously not true, but if people can’t handle my appearance now or are frightened of it, I’m never going to make a go of it. Not that I wanted even to try, of course.

Anne: [speaking softly] Why not? Why didn’t you want to try?

Dan: Because I didn’t have the confidence to any more, that’s why. I couldn’t even look at other people and I certainly didn’t want them to look at me, ever, so what kind of designer would I be if I couldn’t do that?

Anne: But Adrian’s different, isn’t he? You don’t mind looking at him.

Dan: [Smiles] No, no I don’t. And I don’t mind him looking at me either. It’s not the same with him. It’s crazy because of his job but he always seemed to be interested in my opinions, not just my looks, even from the very start. Okay, okay, I know what everyone’s going to think – that’s just his profession and of course he works hard to make clients feel good about themselves. I understand all that, but it still felt personal anyway. He got to me in ways I never thought he would. Even when I was angry, I couldn’t help thinking about what he said.

Anne: What did he say?

Dan: He asked about my interests and talked about art and made me see things outside myself, really look at them properly in the way I used to do. Nobody else had done that since the accident. He made me believe there might be other things to focus on again, not just my own problems. He did all this as if he really meant it and, believe me, it made all the difference.

Anne: I see. And what about now? How are things for you today?

Dan: Up and down. I have good days and bad days. It’ll probably be like that for a long while, but before I met Adrian there were only ever bad days. That’s something. Don’t know what yet, but it’s definitely something and it’s great.

Anne: Good to hear it, and thanks so much for popping in.

Dan: No problem, that’s okay. Thanks for the chat. See you around.

 Where You Hurt The Most by Anne Brooke

Blurb:  

Adrian is more than happy as high-class escort for a number of regular clients. When his boss and dear friend asks him to entertain his nephew, Adrian readily agrees, but meeting Dan challenges him in ways he'd never imagined.

Dan is scarred inside and out from an accident that destroyed a promising future. Despite Adrian’s loveless lifestyle and Dan’s withdrawal and anger, the two men forge a deep—if unnerving—connection. Soon they find themselves questioning the choices they’ve made and the futures they’ve mapped out for themselves.

Yet even bright young men like Adrian and Dan fear the unknown and take comfort in the familiar. Neither may be strong enough to step away from the life they know and toward the one they dare not hope for. But while it’s true that love can’t heal all wounds, it is the surest balm for where you hurt the most.

~Giveaway Details~

The prize is THREE ebooks from my backlist if these questions about Where You Hurt The Most are answered correctly:

1. What was Dan's hoped-for career before the accident?

2. Where does Adrian take Dan on their second meeting?

3. What month is it when Max visits Adrian for the last time?

*Answers should be sent to albrookeATmeDOTcom (and NOT left on the post), and winners will be notified as soon as possible after 18 May, when the tour ends. Good luck!*

Anne’s bio:

Anne Brooke’s fiction has been shortlisted for the Harry Bowling Novel Award, the Royal Literary Fund Awards and the Asham Award for Women Writers. She has also twice been the winner of the national DSJT Charitable Trust Open Poetry Competition.

She is the author of six published novels, including her fantasy series, The Gathandrian Trilogy, published by Bluewood Publishing and featuring gay scribe Simon Hartstongue. More information on the trilogy is available at: www.gathandria.com and the first of these novels is The Gifting. In addition, her gay and literary short stories are regularly published by Riptide Publishing, Amber Allure Press and Untreed Reads. Her most recent gay short story is Where You Hurt The Most, a tale of unexpected connections and possibilities, published by Riptide. All her gay fiction can be found at: www.gayreads.co.uk. 

Anne has a secret passion for theatre and chocolate, preferably at the same time, and is currently working on a gay fantasy novella, The Taming of the Hawk. More information can be found at www.annebrooke.com and she regularly blogs at: http://annebrooke.blogspot.com. 

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You can read an excerpt and purchase Where You Hurt The Most here.