GUEST POST – The Paradox of Love and Death by Artemis Glass #GuestPost #Excerpt #Giveaway
✨ GUEST POST ✨
What was the most interesting thing you learned during your research for your queer adult romance, THE PARADOX OF LOVE AND DEATH?
My first full-length queer adult romance, THE PARADOX OF LOVE AND DEATH, is a profound and heart-tugging sapphic adult romance about death, love, and what it really means to be alive.
ABOUT THE PARADOX OF LOVE AND DEATH:
Funeral crashing has been the best way for Noemi Moretti to release her pent-up emotions after the death of her parents. But on the anniversary of their passing, she meets Amara Forsythe, a beautiful UCLA student mourning her grandmother. Fate brings them together again at another funeral, but Noemi hides her true intentions from Amara. As their relationship blossoms, so do the lies that threaten to tear them apart.
THE PARADOX OF LOVE AND DEATH follows Noemi as she navigates through her grief and falls for Amara. But with secrets and guilt weighing heavily on her conscience, Noemi must confront the consequences of her actions before it’s too late. Fans of emotional and thought-provoking sapphic romances will love this poignant tale of love, loss, and what it means to truly live. As their connection deepens, so do the lies, and Noemi doesn’t know how to make it right. She soon becomes caught in a tangled mess that threatens to tear her, and her burgeoning relationship, apart.
WLW Meet-Cute at a Funeral, Forbidden Love, Secrets and Lies, Fate and Coincidence, LGBTQ sapphic/FLINTA contemporary romance, steamy, Queer Romance with HEA 💕📖✨
As a sensually empowering queer adult romance writer, I write stories of pleasure, empowerment, consent, and awakenings. Esther Perel describes how Death, like sex, is a taboo topic. She says, “Talking about death is talking about life—hopes, fears, uncertainty, imagination, legacy, connection, responsibility, love.” I wrote THE PARADOX OF LOVE AND DEATH to remind myself that it’s okay to want to find love and connection in the aftermath of shocking loss and seemingly interminable grief. It’s a book about authentic hope, even during the darkest of times, which is a thing I think we all need right now, especially those of us who are Sapphic/FLINTA.
So what is the most interesting internet wormhole I fell into while writing my book?
Noemi and Amara’s relationship heats up fairly fast. Noemi and Amara are both experiencing grief in their own ways while also falling in love with one another. Noemi, especially, has been hurt in her past, and when she brings that lens of pain to various aspects of her lives, she ends up hurting those she cares about the most, the question then is: How can she find her way through her grief to a path of honesty, trust, and healing? And what role does physical intimacy and experiences of pleasure play along this path of healing grief?
I wanted to make sure I handled this aspect of the story with care. So of course, during my research for THE PARADOX OF LOVE AND DEATH, I had to google things like, “Grief and Sex,” “Does sex make you horny?*”
Etcetera.
With that, I came across this interesting article on, “The Unwritten Manual: Sex And Grieving” by Sage Reynolds, who writes for the Sexual Health Alliance reports on all of the various ways that grief can impact experiences of pleasure and joy, and that this path “is not linear, and your path will differ from others.” This led me to the article, “Grief Can Make You Horny,” where I learned that “the body becomes quite broken [after a death], and having sex— decent sex—drives the dopamine system,” according to Helen Fisher, a biological anthropologist and senior research fellow at the Kinsey Institute.
I also learned more about the The science of sex and what happens to our bodies when we’re aroused and all the ways consensual and safe sex is good for you!
According to the Guardian:
- Sex is good for our mental and physical health.
- It lowers the heart rate and blood pressure.
- It may boost the immune system to protect us against infections and it certainly lowers stress. The NHS even recommends it: “Weekly sex might help fend off illness.”
- The key to many of the health benefits of sex is the love hormone – oxytocin.
- Sex helps with sleep, and allows the brain to switch off.
- Sexual desire and preference – as well as means of achieving satisfaction – differ from one individual to the next.
I hold multiple degrees and certifications in Kinesiology and various areas of somatics, and so these lenses always inform how I develop my characters. Also, now I know the answer to the question: Does sex make you horny?
The answer? Not for most.
However, it certainly can!
P.S. Re: My latest Shopify release: DATE WITH A BOOK: GET IN THE BATH AND SOB Book Lovers Book Box: Currently available: 20 signed copies of THE PARADOX OF LOVE AND DEATH, lavender-scented bath salts, homemade beeswax body balm, adorable Artemis Glass stickers and pins, delicious candy, Ukrainian tea packets, tealights for a cozy bath atmosphere, and even t a packet of TISSUES* that say ALWAYS remember that you are BRAVER than you believe, STRONGER than you seem, SMARTER than you think, LOVED more than you know, which I truly believe! <3
*Fine print about my writing: While I cannot guarantee that it’ll make you cry, I also cannot promise you that it won’t make you cry… Learn more here: https://a4c9ab-d3.myshopify.com/
The Paradox of Love and Death
by Artemis Glass
Series: The Paradox of Love Trilogy (book 1)
Release Date: Monday, February 05 2024
Cover Artist: Get Covers
Primary Plot Arc: Romance
Main Genre: Romance
Pairings: FF
LGBTQ+ Identities: lesbian, trans
Tropes: Meet-Cute at a Funeral, Forbidden Love, Trauma /Healing Bonding, Secrets and Lies, Fate and Coincidence, Slow burn and worth it ;), Complicated Relationships, Emotional Dept
Keywords/Categories: sapphic romance, WLW romance, sapphic new adult, FF romance, sapphic romance, lesbian romance, lesbian, transgender, contemporary, romance, funeral, meet cure, forbidden love, slow burn, secrets and lies, hurt comfort, new release, announcement, giveaway
Length: Novel / 83,000 Words / 425 Pages
🛒 Purchase Links
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Blurb
Funeral crashing has been the best way for Noemi Moretti to release her pent-up emotions after the death of her parents. But on the anniversary of their passing, she meets Amara Forsythe, a beautiful UCLA student mourning her grandmother. Fate brings them together again at another funeral, but Noemi hides her true intentions from Amara. As their relationship blossoms, so do the lies that threaten to tear them apart. Can Noemi find a way to make things right before it’s too late?
The Paradox of Love and Death follows Noemi as she navigates through her grief and falls for Amara. But with secrets and guilt weighing heavily on her conscience, Noemi must confront the consequences of her actions before it’s too late. Fans of emotional and thought-provoking sapphic romances will love this poignant tale of love, loss, and what it means to truly live. As their connection deepens, so do the lies, and Noemi doesn’t know how to make it right. She soon becomes caught in a tangled mess that threatens to tear her, and her burgeoning relationship, apart.
For readers who enjoyed The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid, you won’t want to miss out on this powerful and heartfelt novel. The Paradox of Love and Death is a profound and heart-tugging sapphic adult romance about death, love, and what it really means to be alive.
Warnings: grief, loss of loved ones, abortion, family dysfunction, depression
Excerpt
Amara looks at me and her eyes widen. “Oh my God. It really has. My grandmother’s funeral on the same day as my ex-best-friend’s funeral, and then I get caught up in the horribly tragic family soap opera that was his life? It’s been the shittiest day of my life.”
“I’m so sorry,” I say. I rest my right hand on her elbow as a gesture of sympathy and kindness. She responds by wrapping her fingertips around my wrist.
Her touch feels like something more than kindness. It feels intimate. It feels like an invitation.
“What I can’t understand,” she says, her voice shifting ever so slightly. “If it’s been the shittiest day of my life, then why do I feel so, I don’t know… like, jittery—but almost happy right now? Why do I feel like—like I have butterflies flitting around inside my ribcage?” I feel her graze the length of my fingers.
“Why do you have butterflies flitting around inside your ribcage?” I ask, my own heartbeat suddenly flitting wildly, too.
“Because,” she whispers. “I really want to kiss you.”
“Oh.”
“Is that okay?” I nod and let her tug me closer to her.
She wraps her fingers around mine and breathes in my hair. I feel the soft skin of her fingertips trace my jaw. She moans, and I feel my whole body alight with possibility.
I haven’t felt like this since Valeria—and we haven’t even kissed yet.
Fuck, is this really happening? I pull back. What am I doing? Am I really going to make out with a stranger at a funeral?
Her hands loosen in response to my hesitance. “Shit, sorry,” she says. “I thought I felt something between us. I shouldn’t have—”
“I want to kiss you, too,” I hear myself say, and then I pull her towards me. I place my lips on hers, and I feel her body relax and her mouth smile.
Our kiss is clumsy at first—we nearly bump noses, we’re both so nervous. Once we move past our awkwardness, though, we settle into each other’s touch, each other’s breath, each other’s rhythm. Amara’s lips are soft, her skin smooth.
The coarse tips of her long curls graze my cheeks, my forehead. Every time she steals another taste of tongue, every time she bites my bottom lip, ever so gently, she whimpers in pleasure.
My own body is enlivened, too.
It’s been so long.
This feels so good.
Fuck.
I am making out with a stranger at a funeral. This might be a new low, even for me.
About the Author
Artemis Glass is a multi-genre author of sensually empowering queer adult romance who is on a lifelong journey to reclaim her sources of pleasure.
Her first full-length queer adult romance, The Paradox of Love and Death, is a profound and heart-tugging sapphic HEA about love, death, and what it really means to be alive. Available now on Amazon/KU.
Her Amazon bestselling series, Audrina’s Year of Yearning, follows Audrina Axler-Perez as she undergoes a funny, joyful, and spicy LGBTQ+ midlife awakening.
The novellas, Book 1: A New Year and Book 2: Valentines, Book 3: Lucky, and Book 4: True Colors now available! More coming all year. (Insert Michael Scott joke here.)
Connect with Artemis on IG @artemisglassbooks and on FB @artemisglassbooks.
Author Links
Giveaway
Artemis is giving away a $20 Amazon gift card with this tour:
a Rafflecopter giveaway
