Unquietly Me

 

Interview with Pene Henson:

Today I’m very lucky to be interviewing Pene Henson author of INTO THE BLUE.

Hi Pene, thank you for agreeing to this interview.

1) Give us an interesting fun fact or a few about your book or series:

The book’s required me to watch a lot more competitive surfing than I’ve previously watched.

The relationship between the brothers, Ollie and Jaime, is highly coloured by the prickly but adoring relationship between my young sons.

2) How did you come up with the title of your book or series?

The book was called “Out of the Blue” for a very long time. I wanted to invoke the ocean, the colour and the romance of it, while keeping the title pretty simple. I tried to quash my melodramatic tendencies that wanted something like “A Thousand Oceans” or “The Deep, Deep, Deep Sea”

But I wasn’t happy, it felt just a fraction too obvious. “Into the Blue” had the same imagery of ocean but brings a sense that they’re letting go and diving into something extraordinary.

3) Give us an insight into your main character. What does he/she do that is so special?

Tai’s selfless and grounded. He’s an anchor in their little found family. He’s also remarkable for the way he can feel what’s beneath the surface of something - a surfboard blank, a house, another person. He’s good, gentle, brave. He thinks too much of others and sometimes loses his sense of self in that.

Ollie is a remarkable and focused surfing talent. He’s fierce and willing to fight. He’s lost a lot and he’s wary of people, he’s reserved to a fault, but he’s innately giving and self-effacing.

4) What do you think makes a good story?

A couple of things. Kindness and realism that’s built from an awareness of the imperfection and strangeness but also essential simplicity of human character. And a plot that puts the writer just in front of the reader. So when the reader says, in her brain, “But hey what about this character?” or “It’s not really fair that they’re treating Benji like that” the author is already there with the answers.

5) What does your family think of your writing?

They’re immeasurably proud and slightly puzzled. My wife is generous about the fact I am constantly sleep-deprived and less sociable than I was previously. My kids are proud and supportive and do not understand why I’m not writing about a team of football zombies underwater.

Thanks again & Congrats on your new release!

 

Author Name: Pene Henson

Book Name: Into the Blue

Release Date: July 7, 2016

 

Blurb:

Tai Talagi and Ollie Birkstrom have been inseparable since they met as kids surfing the North Shore. Now they live with their best friends in a pulled-together family, sharing life and the saltwater in their veins. Tai’s spent years setting aside his feelings for Ollie, but when Ollie’s pro surfing aspirations come to fruition, their steady world shifts. Is the relationship worth risking everything for a chance at something terrifying and beautiful and altogether new?

 

Pages or Words: 236 pages, 72,600 words

Categories: Contemporary, Gay Fiction, M/M Romance, New Adult, Romance

 

Excerpt:

Across from them, one of the Brazilians plays guitar. Ollie doesn’t recognize the song even when a couple of others sing along. The beach is wider and the sand finer than on the North Shore, but every beach is a little like home. Ollie misses the Blue House; he misses the surf and the palms and the shoreline he knows so well. He misses Jaime and Sunny and Hannah. Still, though he’s as far from home as he’s ever been, Ollie’s comfortable. These are his people, too. He leans back on his arms and looks up into the dark.

He’s watched the night sky since he was a little kid, but down here in the Southern Hemisphere he doesn’t recognize the hundreds upon hundreds of stars. The Southern Cross is up there. Ollie tries to orient himself.

Tai shifts toward him, then looks up and follows Ollie’s gaze. The warmth of Tai’s body settles into Ollie’s heart, grounds him. Ollie leans into him a little, and their arms brush to the elbow. The contact simmers in the air between them.

Unexpectedly, Ollie knows what he wants. “Come back to the hotel,” he says quietly to Tai. He pitches his voice low. It hums across the tiny space between them. No one else can hear him over the pounding surf and the sound of the music. It’s easy to be bold in the dark of a beach where Ollie’s never been before. He’s shocked by that same boldness.

 

Buy the book:

Interlude Press Web Store: http://store.interludepress.com/collections/into-the-blue-by-pene-henson

Amazon: http://amzn.to/29gJvfv

Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/into-the-blue-pene-henson/1123818321?ean=9781941530849

Apple iBooks Store: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/into-the-blue/id1114833401?mt=11

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/637136

All Romance eBooks: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-intotheblue-2058731-149.html?referrer=55feb862851f8

Book Depository: http://www.bookdepository.com/Into-the-Blue/9781941530849/?a_aid=InterludePress

Indiebound: http://www.indiebound.org/book/9781941530849?aff=Interludepress

 

Meet the author:

Pene Henson has gone from British boarding schools to New York City law firms. She now lives in Sydney, Australia, where she is an intellectual property lawyer and published poet who is deeply immersed in the city’s LGBTQIA community. She spends her spare time enjoying the outdoors and gazing at the ocean with her gorgeous wife and two unexpectedly exceptional sons. Into the Blue is her first novel.

 

Where to find the author:

Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/penewrites/?fref=ts

Twitter: https://twitter.com/penehenson

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14918436.Pene_Henson

Blog: www.PeneHenson.com

 

Goodreads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28764284-into-the-blue

Publisher: Interlude Press

Cover Artist: CB Messer

 

 

Tour Dates & Stops:

7-Jul: Havan Fellows, Louise Lyons, Hearts on Fire

8-Jul: Outrageous Heroes, Unquietly Me, Dawn’s Reading Nook

11-Jul: Love Bytes, Kirsty Loves Books, Bayou Book Junkie

12-Jul: Wicked Faerie’s Tales and Reviews, MM Good Book Reviews, Butterfly-O-Meter

13-Jul: Oh My Shelves, Boys on the Brink Reviews

14-Jul: Molly Lolly, Happily Ever Chapter

15-Jul: Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words, Sinfully Addicted to All Male Romance, Prism Book Alliance

18-Jul: MM Book Escape, Making It Happen, Velvet Panic, BFD Book Blog

19-Jul: Book Lovers 4Ever, My Fiction Nook, V’s Reads

20-Jul: A.M. Leibowitz, Alpha Book Club

 

Rafflecopter Giveaway:

Enter the Giveaway: Grand Prize: $25 Interlude Press Gift Card, Five first prizes of an e-copy of ‘Into the Blue’ by Pene Henson

 

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