Treadmill: Wed., 14-Dec. > Sat., 17-Dec.
Here’s a compilation of screen shots of my Apple watch workouts that were recorded while on the treadmill. My goal is to read while walking on the treadmill for at least one 30-minute mile per day.
What I #AmReading…
Second Wind by A.L. Lester
This book features Martin (a trans man we first met as a side character in Out of Focus, book one in the Theatr Fach Series), and Gethin (a recently divorced, bi-sexual man).
It’s a lovely little story with enough, but not overmuch in the way of drama, which sometimes fits the bill perfectly. I read Out of Focus—book 1 in this shared-world series—back at the end of September, and enjoyed it enough to eagerly await another story from the Theatr Fach crew!
The characters are well written, with their internal angst quite believable and relatable even for readers who don’t share their experiences. And that’s what the story is about…two men who weren’t looking for relationships who started talking and realized how much they enjoyed each others’ company. Concerns about peers, gossip, Martin’s teenaged daughter, and other family members add to the mix as they slowly build a healthy relationship together.
All the happy vibes make this a thoroughly enjoyable read!
The Snippets
Martin’s dating concerns. Martin’s POV:
Now he was just Martin who-worked-at-the-theatre and he honestly wasn’t sure he could go through the faff of coming out to someone who didn’t know. If he did it before they went on a date it seemed presumptuous. And if he did it after, then they might feel taken in. At least one of the men he’d dated for a bit hadn’t been happy about not being read in early on.
Was there ever a good time?
A succinct yet fun little description of Gethin. Martin’s POV:
“Martin!” Julie, the lead violin, waved him over. “This is Gethin,” she said, her hand on the arm of a tall, thin man nervously clutching a French horn and peering out from behind a thick pair of glasses. He resembled a nervous heron. “He’s new,” she added unnecessarily. “Can you take him under your wing a bit?”
Gethin’s POV:
“I can’t see you as a woman,” Gethin said, trying as hard as he could to visualise Martin as anything other than the person walking beside him.
“That’s good,” Martin smiled across at him. “Because I’m not.”
Gethin blushed. “I didn’t mean…” he said, but Martin cut him off.
“No, it’s fine,” he said. “I just like to be clear before I go out with people, that’s all. Or I like them to be clear. I’m a bloke. I’ve always been a bloke, I just lived as a woman for a bit.” He sniggered, clearly comfortable talking about it. “And I’ve had a baby. Which…you know. Does people’s heads in a bit sometimes.”
Sweet! Martin’s POV:
Martin tangled their fingers together where their hands touched on the grass between them.
“Martin?” Gethin said after a moment or two. “I’d just like to confirm this is definitely a date, if that’s all right?”
Martin laughed aloud.
“Yes,” he said. “Yeah, that’s fine.”
Snort…LOL! Gethin’s POV:
“Excellent. I’ll see you on Friday then. Oh! Do you want my number?” he asked, fumbling in his pocket. “What’s yours? I’ll text it across.”
Gethin had stored it in in his phone under plain Martin Reed, not adding extremely hot kisser or possible new boyfriend to the info card.
Second Wind by A.L. Lester
Contemporary, Trans & Bisexual Romance
Universal Buy-Link
50% off at Smashwords through January 1st!
What do a shy French-horn-playing accountant and a single dad trans trumpet player have in common other than both being members of the community orchestra at Theatr Fach in the little town of Llanbaruc?
Gethin’s been more or less hiding from life since his marriage broke up a couple of years ago. He joined the orchestra because his sister told him he needed a hobby rather than sitting at home brooding about his divorce.
Martin is careful who he dates because of his gender and his teenage daughter. He came to Llanbaruc as a stage manager for the Theatr Fach twelve years ago. He has a good set of friends here. Shannon’s a good kid. They’re a team.
Martin and Gethin hit it off. Will their mutual baggage prove too much to sustain a relationship?
Spreading more book love!
Here are more of my…
✓ recent reads
✓ current reads
✓ re-reads
✓ want-to-reads
(all genres included)
About My #Treadmill / #AmReading Posts
I started out with this being a Sunday thing, but sometimes I’d rather not mash multiple books into a single post, so now, you never know when you might see one of these posts.
Rather than give a true “review,” which I’m not entirely comfortable doing as an author myself, I share snippets from books I’ve read and enjoyed, letting the authors’ words speak for themselves.
As you’ve possibly noticed, if you’ve been following along, I highlight snippets for reasons of my own which might veer from what is often seen. Sometimes my highlights have more to do with a paragraph simply impressing the heck out of me for its fabulous writerly technique, other times it has to do with the lovely way it gives subtle insight into the story/characters. Still other times simply because it made me laugh.
Anyway, I sometimes add a little commentary, but not always, which is not in any way, shape, or form, to be taken as unwritten commentary. Most likely it just means I’m short on time and/or context isn’t needed to understand what’s happening, and/or my brain doesn’t feel like putting out the effort in that particular moment.
Also, I’m going to try to spread the book love by tacking on covers of more books at the end of the post that I’ve either recently read, am currently reading, or want to read. Not seeing a full post with snippets for any of these books is not a commentary on anything other than how much time I have available in a day either to read or to create a post about what I’ve read. It might also mean I listened to the audiobook only or that it’s a reread that I’ve featured previously, or it’s not M/M so probably not a good fit for featuring on this blog.
Happy reading!
