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Best Friends Perfect Book 2 review Gaylistbookreviews

28/1/2015

So, Teddy reviewed Book 2 of the Best Frends Perfect series, and she liked it too. Here's Teddy's lovely review, my favourite part is the opening line, which I'm sure most of my friends would say the same about me!

"Review: Best Friends Perfect Book Two is campy and colourful all topped off with plenty of fun. I really enjoyed book one and book two didn’t disappoint me. Kieran and his friends are back with more adventures and family embarrassments, with a gap year to Australia turning into a family mission, a fabulous read for any age.

In my previous review I talked about team Kieran and his best friends. His group of best buddies are still strong throughout book two, although some separation has taken place with university, work and play leading them in slightly different directions. There are a few ups and downs, leading to some disappointments and loneliness. Kieran does his best to keep his chin up and keep in contact with them all, it’s not easy for him being so far away from home. There are moments when Kieran is unsure if this trip was such a good idea after all.

Kieran has some inner conflicts, his coming out to his family, unsure as to whether his life was better before or after. Mum Pamela and Dad Michael along with Kieran’s brother Paul and best friend Jo head off for a family holiday in Australia. Kieran and Jo plan to stay on for a sixth month gap year, in the mean time it’s a family trip.

Kieran says “How on earth am I going to cope with this for the next few weeks? Who takes their parents on holiday with them? Who takes them on holiday, with their best friend after they’ve just come out to them?”

For much of the journey Pamela steals Jo for her shopping partner, which adds to some comedy reading for the reader. Pamela is a blast, she completely accepts Keiran and Jo’s sexuality. Pamela is amazing as she stands up for Kieran and Jo, when a family member remarks that the boys lifestyle isn’t natural. Pam along with Paul joins them on a Pride march down under as the proudest mother there, way to go Mum! It is wonderful to see brother Paul also supporting Kieran.

The family leave Kieran and Jo to fend for themselves and complete their tour of Oz. They make new friends, find work, party, getting hungover and exhausted. Hearts are broken and lessons are learned. Kieran and Jo’s friendship is pushed to the limit, with Jo’s haphazard behaviour, Kieran missing opportunities which are snatched right from under him by Jo.

Another enjoyable story of Kieran and his best friends. I’m looking forward to catching up with these guys again in book three.

Reviewed by Teddy"

Best Friends Perfect Book Two is available from Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com

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And Then That Happened Review by Boy Meets Boy Reviews

28/1/2015

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Boy Meets Boy Reviews enjoyed my latest gay romance, And Then That Happened. They gave it five hearts. To clarify, this isn't my first novel, I wrote the Best Friends Perfect series and Christmas Serendipity beforehand, but it *is* my first full length gay romance story, so....

Anyway, here's what Lorix said:

"Warning: This review may contain spoilers.
This book...wow, this book. Firstly I need to say, I don't think it is going to be a book for everyone, there are elements to it I know some people don't like..emotional cheating for one. HOWEVER...despite it not being a moonlight and roses book, it had a truth to it that I really appreciated.

I believe this may be Liam Living's debut novel (but I couldn't swear to it) and it is written with an honesty, an edge, that I loved. Some sentimentality took place for me - being as I was in the first years of my, now, husband in the late '90's and like reading a book set in a place you know this adds a more personal touch to the reading experience.

Liam took a delicate subject, attraction to someone who is not the person you had thought you were going to be with. That balance of trying to contain or deny those feelings, trying not to let them affect the relationship you have. It highlights the thin line so many people end up stepping over. Usually cheating - physical, emotional, is not a storyline I enjoy at all, yet it works here.

Dominic is a character that I think is one of the most realistic I've read. He is far from perfect. His choices even less so. Gabe blows into his orderly life, and turns it upside down, they both questions choices they have made. Try to convince themselves all they have is friendship....and then that happened...the unplanned. The choices and decisions and regrets and fears and....

It is not all about being split between two people, in many ways this is a very small part of the story. The catalyst for more choices, decisions, regrets, fears...and the chance to be in love.

I really don't want to spoil the storyline but I think this book really should be considered by everyone, don't dismiss it out of hand. It is going on my favourites shelf, and I hope it makes it on to yours."

This story is available on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk

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Best Friends Perfect Book 1 review Gaylistbookreviews

28/1/2015

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I'm blushing again at this wonderful review from Gaylistbookrevivews in this link, or below:

"Review: Best Friends Perfect: A year in the life of a growing teen, in the late nineties. This is a fun filled adventure about finding oneself, taking the knocks, making friends and easing into adulthood. This story is told through Kieran’s eyes, and we get to know him intimately. Kieran – loves music, movies, shopping for clothes, his friends, and his car, a Citroen CV2, named ‘Priscilla!

Kieran -“It’s amazing what you can get over: death, betrayal, loneliness – no matter what life throws at you to change your plans, to stop you as you try to make your perfect life, somehow you pick yourself up and continue – I survived all those things, because I’m here, happy in my life now. Only it isn’t what I thought my life would be; when I was eighteen, taking my first steps into the whole new world of being gay, my idea of perfect wasn’t anything like what I have now”.

Team Kieran is made up of a group of Kieran’s best friends.

Jo(Jonathan) takes being gay in his stride, easy going. Kieran feels comfortable with Jo and he loves him, not boyfriends – more like girlfriends or brothers, they’re not fussed. Jo is extroverted, bubbly, friendly, confident, a complete flirt, naughty and doesn’t handle his drink too well. But Kieran is always on hand to take care of him.

Kev and Kieran went to the same Primary school. They’ve not seen each other since school, when Kieran joins a youth group for LGBT teens, Kev is there and a new friendship begins. Kev is a goth and drag queen, he cross dresses with confidence, his outlook is daring and fun.

“I’m still gay, I was born gay, I’ll die gay, I’m having a gay wedding” - Kev

”So that was Kev, take him or leave him. And I took him, I embraced him with both arms” - Kieran.

Then there is Grace, they meet at a house party and gel. Grace is always on the other end of a phone ready for Kieran to air his woes. Grace is supportive and honest, she does the best she can to keep Kieran’s feet on the ground, they have a lot of fun together.

Hannah and Kieran work together at the local hospital. They keep each other sane during their shifts at work and chill out together often hitting the town when work is over, they soon become inseparable.

Kieran can be a little ditzy at times, he can also be a bit touchy and tends to rabbit on, but he is fun, caring and bright. Kieran is not yet ‘Out’ to his family, and often changes his stories, covering up where he is going and where he has been. Kieran takes people for who they are, he accepts them and cares about them, especially his friends. Kieran is a people person and it shows. In spite of Kieran’s cover up stories, he has a great relationship with his parents. His mum is a bit fuddy duddy, old fashioned in some ways, but a scream you’ll love her…I love her. His dad is quiet and usually has his head stuck in a technology magazine.

An enjoyable read of great friendships, fun filled with all the whirlwind ups and downs of teenagers coming of age. Couldn’t wait to get my hands on Book Two.

Reviewed by Teddy"

Best Friends Perfect Book One is available from Wilde City Press and Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com

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My 2015 Writing Aims

19/1/2015

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Here’s what I’m planning to achieve writing-wise in 2015. They’re divided into four categories:

Writing
Editing
Engaging: local groups; conferences; social media
Othering

1) Writing

I’m aiming to write (first drafts of) five novels this year which at about 65,000 each should be 300,000. I did my second Nanowrimo in 2014 and the end of the month deadline worked well for me, so I’m harnessing the competitive, deadline-driven part of me and I’ll draft a novel roughly every other month, by the end of the chosen month. The alternate months will be for editing (see below) and promotion of published books. I will continue to blog, as and when the need or the thought arises. It’s tempting since I wrote approx 476,000 words in 2014 to set myself a higher target for 2015, however I’m back at college, studying in 2015 so I physically won’t have as much time for writing, so I’m sticking with 300,000 target. Although I have effectively gained ½ - ¾ of a day a week as I’m no longer looking after Great Auntie, the college time will more than make up for that. If I fail, I won’t be too hard on myself as I exceeded my 2014 target so I’ve got a sort of buffer of words averaged over the two years.

If anyone would like a blank spreadsheet I use to record my word count each week, which automatically adds up the different categories and gives you a running total you can compare to a target you set yourself, get in touch through the contacts page and I'll send it over.

2) Editing

As I wrote wrote wrote in 2014 I now have a bit of a backlog of self editing to complete: Kev 1,2,3 and Glitzy Gay Saga.

So my plan this year is to do a bit more editing as I go along, rather than leaving it too long. I like to leave time between first draft and self edit, but I’ll try for 1-2 months after, so I shouldn’t have a backlog again.

3) Engaging

Local groups

Contribute to running Waltham Abbey Writers, with Jean Fullerton and Victoria Robertson.
Continue to attend the RNA London and SE chapter meetings when I can. I find these really valuable for networking and learning from other authors.

Conferences

I will attend and help to plan the UK Meet 2015 in Bristol, doing my best to social media and market it all over the place.
I’ll attend the July RNA Conference in London.
I’ll attend the Purbeck Literary Festival with Charlie Cochrane and Clare London.
I’ll attend a New Forest writing retreat in February to focus on some elements of these goals.

Social media

I enjoy social media. As someone once said to me, ‘social media, is you, online’ which is marvellous. What I struggle with is balancing how much time it takes, with all the other demands I have on my time. I’ve met some wonderful people through social media, and it’s a great way to connect with other authors and readers. I’m currently on facebook and twitter as Liam Livings, and am debating whether to join any other platforms. Hootesuite is great at managing things in one place, but for the moment I think I’ll leave it with those two, and my blog. There’s instagram, Pinterest, google plus, linkedin, goodreads, I could go on...but I won’t. I’ve had mixed messages about Goodreads, that it’s for readers and not authors, that I must have a profile there, that I shouldn’t, and honestly who knows. Sometimes I find all the different social media platforms a bit over-whelming, so I’d prefer to stick with the two I currently use, along with my blog, and use them well, but in a managed way, so it doesn’t take up too much time from real life/writing.

I will continue with my current social media engagement, blogging as and when required, and look into setting up an Amazon author page, and Goodreads account, and I’ll take it from there.

Othering

I will continue to be a reader for the RNA’s New Writers’ Scheme. I think this is a fabulous member benefit and I’m glad to be able to help with it.
I’ll sort out branding/strapline/logo for Liam Livings. I didn’t want to do this straight away, until I had a few published books under my belt, but 2015 feels like the right time to look at it. As a marketing professional I know the temptation to over-think this, it’s been on my to think about list for a while, so now it’s on the to do list.
Linked to this, I will explore options of other marketing support/ services I could provide to authors/publishers.

Have you set your goals for 2015? Or do you play it by ear?

Until next time,

Liam Livings xx

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2014 review of my writing aims

17/1/2015

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I’ve finally got time to write this. I’ve been in Australia for almost a month (which I’ll blog about shortly) hence the lack of blogging. But without further ado, here’s my 2014 goals in italics, and what actually happened afterwards. It's also a round up of my blogs throughout the year, a sort of Reader's Digest if you will.

To write, write, write. I want to make creating new words my priority during 2014. I have plans to write three novels and two novellas and I reckon if I commit to 6,000 words per week for 48 weeks of the year – allowing for some holidays when I’m banned from taking Gummidge my laptop with me, that’s 288,000 words, excluding blogging. Let’s see how I get on with that stretch target – on ice. My goal is to write, prepare for submitting and submit these five stories, my Nanowrimo novel and And Then That Happened, during 2014. I realise it’s a big goal, but I’ve been polishing my ice skates and practicing my pirouettes during 2013, so want to give this a try in 2014.

This year I have written 414,535 words of stories, and another 47, 950 in blogs (which I still count as writing, because it's not exactly dancing about architecture is it? but I think it’s worth separating the two) which gives me a total for 2014 of 475,997. There are a few other small categories which explains the shortfall when you add these two up. I have ranged from 0 words in a week (on holiday, or just not writing) to 34013 words in one week when I was starting to draft Glitzy Gay Saga. It all averages out at about 9153 per week.

This consisted of the following:

Escaping From Him – contracted with Manifold Press to be published early 2015
The Wrong Room – as above, to be published a bit later in 2015
And first drafts – still to be revised, and to get ready by betas of the four below
Glitzy Gay Saga
Kev Friends Perfect part 1, 2 and 3 – the last part was my Nanowrimo 2014 novel
Part of The Other Man – a spinoff story from The Guardian Angel featuring some of the same characters

I will experiment with self publishing, and use Granddad Livings’ account of working as a nursing auxiliary in World War 2 as the first project. I may self publish more stories, but I definitely want to get Granddad’s story out there in 2014.

I sort of did this, and was featured in a local newspaper, and the Imperial War Museum said the record represented exactly the sort of primary source material they looked for.

Separately, but sort of linked to this, 2014 was the year I had a bit of a black period around the anniversary of Dad's death, I lost Tigger, one of our lovely cats, and my wonderful Great Auntie, at 92 years old. I have cleared her house with Mum and we’ve kept the boxes of photos, receipts, receipts, letters, and other things she’d kept since moving into that house in 1945, and I will – eventually – use these sources as the basis of a biography of Great Auntie – Everybody’s Auntie is my working title, and it will include parts about when she worked in service in large houses in the 1940s as well as her work as a school cook, and her later life.

I will be more relaxed with blogging. In 2013 I had a blog schedule, which I completely failed to stick to. I am going to aim to blog weekly, but will be flexible on what I’m blogging about until nearer the time. I have some posts already written to keep me going over the next few weeks. If I don’t have anything to blog about on one week, I will relax and not blog for that week.

I think this has worked better than in 2013 – when I have an idea, I’ve written it, and saved unused blog posts for when I’m up to my neck in drafting and don’t have the energy to blog.

I’ve blogged about various things in 2014 ranging from camp films I’ve seen, books I’ve read and cried at, depression, editing my Nanowrimo novel, a tongue in cheek post about The Great British Gay Off, a more serious post about camp men, I took part in Queer Romance Month, and going to the RNA Conference for the first time.

I will use social media to interact with readers more. I use Twitter in this way, but admit I do need to use facebook in a similar way. This is mainly down to the fact that Twitter is on my phone, and my Liam Livings facebook isn’t.

My Liam Livings facebook is now on my phone. This is a double-edged sword I feel. I have enjoyed interacting more with facebook, but am conscious how much time it can take when I should be writing/cooking/being sociable/reading. I’m trying to do it in 3-4 bursts a day, rather than checking it every ten minutes.

I will continue to attend RNA London Chapter meetings and my local writers group.

This happened, and I went to my first RNA Conference, and I loved it. I’ve made lots of wonderful author friends, who have all been so helpful when I’ve asked them for help. The conference itself was such fun too, of course. I'm now helping fellow published authors, Jean Fullerton and Victoria Robertson to run my local writers group – Waltham Abbey Writers.

I will help plan and attend UK Meet 2014, and attend other relevant events.

This happened and I’m on the organising committee with Charlie Cochrane, Elin Gregory, Clare London, JL Merrow and Cathy Laird to organise the 2015 UK Meet – which sold out of tickets with almost 12 months until it happens. I’m very pleased to be part of this wonderful event, which I think combines the best of British, GLBTQ fiction, authors, bloggers and readers in a friendly, professional event.

My books published in 2014 - all on my book shelves with reviews and covers

Best Friends Perfect book 1
Best Friends Perfect book 2
Bedtime Stories anthology – my story Frangipani Kisses
And Then That Happened

Books to be published in 2015 all on my book shelves with samples

The Guardian Angel - from Love Lane Books
Best Friends Perfect book 3 – from Wilde City Press
Escaping From Him – February from Manifold Press
The Wrong Room – from Manifold Press

And what are my plans for 2015, I hear you ask? Well, I’m still working out what’s on the rota to be written, what needs editing and submitting, and what other writerly things I want to do. But I’ll work out some goals later in January, so they can keep me on track for 2015. Reading through this, I seem to have *an awful lot* of self-editing to do, since I went a bit bonkers with drafting in 2014!

Well, that’s me for my 2014. Do you have any goals, writing or otherwise for 2014, or do you prefer to be more flexible in your approach? Have you set yourself goals which had all fallen by the wayside by February? I’d love to hear from you.

Until next time,

Liam Livings xxx

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