Yeah, I have a new book coming out.
August 3rd, actually. Truth & Betrayal
It's set mainly in Tennessee, with parts in Georgia and North Carolina.
And I'm nervous. The cover might give you an indication why that is. And then there's the blurb...

All the light went out of Jake’s life when his older brother Caleb died in a traffic accident. Getting through the aftermath was always going to be the hardest thing he’d ever done, but finding out that the tall stranger at the graveside was the one driving the car? At least Jake now has a target for all the rage inside him. Because the man responsible for stealing Caleb’s light from the world has no right to intrude on their grief.
Liam had known deep down that it was a mistake to go to Tennessee, but he’d hoped saying goodbye to Caleb would ease the pain inside him. The hostile reception from Caleb’s family and friends comes as no surprise, and Liam flees before things get ugly. They obviously know nothing of Caleb’s life in Atlanta, and maybe it’s better that way. Caleb’s secrets can die with him.
When Jake turns up at Caleb’s apartment to collect his brother’s possessions, what he discovers is the first shock in what is to be a series of revelations, turning Jake’s world upside down. New knowledge brings fresh pain and anguish.
Jake isn’t the only one who’s hurting…

When I decided to write this book, I knew straight away I'd need help. Because no way was I going to write it without having someone read it who knew the South.
I put out a request for someone to beta read.
I got three replies.

To give you an idea of how that worked out, I asked them to put their thoughts down....

"Whenever I hear that an author who is not from the South plans to write a book based in the South, I get nervous. There is the fear that they will be showing the worst of who we are without any consideration of the big picture. The fear that it will end up being some type of colloquialism-filled stereotype, almost like a literary version of “Hee-Haw.” There are loads of negatives that can easily be pulled out of Southern culture, even more so when writing a gay romance. This is why I was a bit hesitant when I realized that a British author was going to dive into Southern culture.

It doesn’t matter how much you like the author – if they attack your people, then it will raise your hackles. It’s like how you feel about family. You can talk badly about them but get very defensive when someone outside your family says the same thing about them. Many Southerners are very well aware of the bad things that are present in our culture. It is still very frustrating to hear outsiders characterize an entire group of people based upon stereotypes.

KC Wells handled this issue really well. By taking on beta readers from the region, I felt that she was aware of these concerns and wanted to address them head on. There were a few instances of one too many colloquialisms but she took it to heart when we pointed that out. Then, in future chapters, we see her embracing the colloquialisms as a way to enhance the dialogue instead of just being the dialogue. Because that’s how we speak.


At various points in the story, I found myself so immersed in the dialogue and setting that I would forget that it wasn’t written by someone from the region. It would almost startle me to imagine a British person writing in the UK with such dedication to Southern culture that the words flow on the pages in a way that makes it seem so authentic.


One of the things that might catch folks off guard about this book is how the dialogue is written. It is written true to form. It makes the reader “hear” how the words are being said. There are more contractions than you can shake a stick at. (I imagine that by the time this book was done, the apostrophe button on KC’s keyboard was begging for mercy.) But that dialogue helps you to feel immersed in the story.

I think that some people may have difficulty embracing the dialogue because it will seem connived or fake. It is not. I promise you that I could hear their voices as much as if I was watching a scene unfold in real life in front of me. It might be difficult for people to roll with it and embrace the language used when it seems so different. Here is my tip for you – When I read very authentic British books by British authors, I put on my British hat. I get a cup of hot tea and sit down to read knowing that I am not going to be familiar with all the phrases and word usage. I would encourage you to take this approach with this book. Maybe get a glass of iced cold sweet tea and let yourself escape into the world that is created instead of trying to wrap your mind around how the words should be written. Or, heaven help, what is grammatically proper. We don’t speak that way.

Someone with Jake’s background would never, ever worry about being grammatically accurate. I grew up in a small town in Tennessee and lived in small towns in the South for most of my life. It took years and years of college to unlearn the way that I spoke growing up. It goes against nature in some ways to avoid slang and tone down the accent. If someone wasn’t faced with working in a professional career outside of a small rural town, they wouldn’t have the need to worry about those things.

I think that Southerners will appreciate the care taken with this book. The authenticity of it and the way different topics were handled. I also think it’s a great way for folks who are not from the South to see how different issues are handled in this region.


And for anyone who argues that it is not authentic or that it plays on the stereotypes without respecting reality, I would vehemently disagree. I went through this entire book with a fine tooth comb, not even worrying about whether my comments would be kind to the author. I wanted to have the South respected and written realistically, even at the risk of alienated someone whose work I truly love. I stood up for things I was worried about the same as I would stand up to anyone who makes sweeping generalizations about the South. If KC wasn’t worried about how it would come across, she surely wouldn’t have asked for – and embraced! – suggestions from a pushy beta reader who would correct every little thing that didn’t sound quite right to my ears. (Because when you read it, you are hearing the dialogue as sure as you are actually reading words on a page.) But they say the proof is in the pudding, so read it for yourself." Megan T.

"I was awed at how quickly and accurately you picked up on the southern accent and slang. Was it hard to read? Extremely. Not only because the grammar is so bad, but because I couldn’t help wondering, is this how my friends across the country hear me? It bothered me to a point that I had to take a break and read from the beginning. I had to wrap my head around the fact, that as a college graduate, I learned the same English language as the rest of the country, but we fall into bad habits. Learned behavior is hard to break. This book does not exaggerate our accent at all.

One last thought. I grew up poor. We lived in what was known as the bad part of Columbia, because only a street divided the whites from the blacks. I knew I looked different than the kids across the street, but they were my friends, making mud pies, them letting me ride their bikes because my family couldn’t afford one. My 5th birthday, momma threw me a party. All my friends, from across the road came, but when momma’s family started arriving, I could tell something was wrong. I vividly remember walking into the kitchen and hearing momma’s brother saying “either the Niggers go or we go”. I had never heard that word, but from momma’s reaction, I knew it was bad. She told him, she wouldn’t tolerate hate in her house, or around her family, and he was no longer welcome.
She kept that attitude her entire life Kc. Red, blue, straight, gay, it didn’t matter. I’m thankful everyday that I was born to someone who truly loved people. So yes, there are folks who “buck” the southern attitudes.

Thank you for showing folks, in such a true manner, what we live with day to day."
Cammey K

"Reading this book felt like I was talking among friends. Having been thing the South my whole life and being from Tenn., It definitely had small town life down and the accents. The colloquialsms, the manners. And don't forget the iced tea 😉" Becca W

I could talk about the story... but that's for another day. 😉