Friday 9 May 2014

Blog Tour and Giveaway ~~ Saving Liam by DP Denman

Saving Liam Blog Tour Banner


SYNOPSIS

You do what you have to do to survive. For eighteen-year-old Liam Newman that means living the life of a gay porn star, a job he loathes. He isn't a star. He's a prisoner and his warden is the man who saved him from the cold Vancouver streets. 

Justin has been Liam's next-door neighbor for two years and has had a crush on him for just as long. Oblivious to Liam's porn career, he 's content to mind his own business about Liam's turbulent relationship until the truth stumbles drunk into his apartment one night and he realizes something must be done.

When Liam's boyfriend turned producer decides rent boys make more money than porn stars Liam's nightmare takes a horrible turn. Justin must find a way to rescue him before it's too late.



ARC received for an honest review

When I first signed up for this blog tour, all I saw was m/m and gay porn star -  I'm in, that's gonna be hot!!

While yes, Saving Liam is about a gay porn star, it is so much more than that, and so much more then I expected. 

18 year old Liam has had a pretty shitty few years.  His boyfriend Cord got him off the streets, but really is a doughebag and SOB all rolled into one.

"No one gets a free ride" and has made Liam into an internet porn star, making him make videos with stranger after stranger, week in week out.  That's the price he pays to be off the streets, and the price of loving Cord

Ugh, I just wanted to beat the crap out of Cord.

Liam's saving grace is his neighbour Justin.  I just loved Justin.  Sweet, kind, crushing on Liam since forever.  And has no idea what goes on across the hall.  And when he does...... well, let's just say it's not good!
My heart breaks for Liam time and time again.  He is so emotionally broken from what has happened in the past few years.   You just want to give him a great big hug and tell him things are going to get better.

Justin and Liam have a great friendship, but can it become more.  We know that Justin wants more, but how will Liam cope?  They will never have a hearts and flowers kind of relationship, but I love what they do have together.  It is heartbreaking but also heartwarming as they work through their difficulties together.

We get to see different sides of our MC's which I really liked.  We see a lot of Justin's life away from Liam ~ his work, other relationships, his innermost thoughts.  And we get lots of Liam's dark thoughts, his anguish, his feelings of helplessness.

There were times when I was not sure which direction this story was going to take.  I love when a story surprises me like that. I wondered for a while if Liam and Justin would end up together?  Could they be happy?  Could they be happy together?

DP Denman has touched on some pretty heavy issues in Saving Liam, and she has done it extremely well.  The characters get into some pretty dark head space and it is dealt with sympathetically so as to not make a mockery out of the situation.

This is the first DP Denman books I have read, but will definitely be adding more to my TBR.


Saving Liam Cover

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Excerpt
He hated Tuesdays. Hated them beyond mere loathing, but he didnt have a word for what came after loathing. Despised seemed far too civilized.
Liam stood in the bedroom with his back to the mirrored closet doors so he wouldnt have to look at himself and ignored the brush of heavy terrycloth against his skin. That robe represented everything he hated about his life. His stomach churned with resentment that made it tempting to lock himself in the bathroom. Too bad that wouldnt do any good.

He heard the dreaded knock at the front door on the far side of the apartment and the knot in his stomach pulled tight. There had been a time when that sound had made him want to hurl chunks. He supposed the lack of terror was an improvement of sorts.

You ready, Babe? Cord called from the living room.

Yeah, he called back, why the hell not, he muttered to himself.
He padded out of the room struggling to feel something besides annoyance as Cord opened the front door to welcome the man hed be sharing a bed with for the next eight hours. He was compact and bulky with short-cropped bottle-blonde hair, and a tan he obviously hadnt gotten from the Vancouver sun.

Liam flopped into a chair near the kitchen and pretended to be engrossed in one of Cords trade magazines. He saw no reason to acknowledge the rented cock of the day until absolutely necessary. Instead, he flipped pages while Cord talked about positions and emotion in a lecture he didnt need to hear. Hed been doing this twice a week every week for years. He knew the routine. It didn't matter that a hundred shoots a year wasn't the industry standard. It was Cord's standard.

He ignored Bulky Blonde as the actor stripped out of his clothes to give Cord a look at what he had to work with that afternoon. There was nothing new on that body. They all looked the same: tan, toned, and tattooed. He didnt need to see it. Hed get a very good look over the course of the day.

He stifled a sigh he knew would sound petulant and turned another page without seeing anything on it. Cord hated it when he pouted. He could be angry and resentful as long as he did what he was told. Pouting would just get him a pep talk full of lies. Those werent new either.

He saw Bulky Blonde step to him out of the corner of his eye and pasted on his best smile before looking up to meet his gaze. Being difficult and aloof with the rented cocks only dragged out the torment. When they were tense, they did things wrong and the more they got wrong the more time he had to spend with them. He stood up and tossed the magazine in the chair before shaking Bulky Blondes hand.

Ive seen a few of your videos, Bulky Blonde told him. I like your work.

Thanks.

He couldnt say the same and he wasnt in the mood to lie.





DP Denman Author Pic
DP Denman writes character-driven gay romance about survivors. Her stories are real and intense but always resolve in the type of ending that makes readers want to start the book all over again. She is from the Pacific Northwest and bases all of her stories in Vancouver, British Columbia, a city that is dear to her heart.

In her spare time she is a dedicated gay rights activist fighting for those who have been marginalized and abused. To that end, 25% of the royalties from every book go to support LGBT charities.





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