Havan's Heavenly Haven: M. LeAnne Phoenix shares The Covenant with us @MLPhoenix @PridePromo

Let the touring begin…

The Covenant

M. LeAnne Phoenix

Series: Covenant Series, book one

Release date: January 15, 2016

And the spotlight is on LeAnne Phoenix

Was there a basis for your story? A previous experience or something else?

COVENANT is based quite heavily on my teenage years. Much of it is semi-autobiographical, as will be the rest of the Covenant series.

What skills do you think a writer needs?

Patience. Imagination. Research skills. Determination. And something to write on.

What for you is the perfect book hero?

One that does not die. Well… permanently.

Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?

Finding time. Always, the only thing that is challenging is finding the time to do it.

Tell us about your favorite childhood book.

The Hobbit. I first read it when I was five. My momma had bought me the I-Can-Read book and record set and I played it to death on my Playskool record player, and she bought me a new one four times before she told me as she gave me book and record number five, “This is it. If you play it to the point that it skips again, that’s all.” I cried the day it did. My momma always did her grocery shopping every Thursdays at Safeway on Denton Highway. As there were two of us small kiddos she had to take with her, we always hit the Haltom City Public Library before heading to shop. That Thursday, she took me to a shelf I’d never seen, pulled out a thicker book than I’d ever read, and she took it to the front desk and checked it out for me. When we got to the grocery store, our first stop was the books and magazines, where she bought me a pocket dictionary and handed me the book. “A bigger Hobbit?” I squealed. For the entire time she shopped, I sat there reading the first few pages of Tolkien’s masterpiece and though it took me almost two months to read the whole book, read it I did. My name was in the library card for over two years, that’s how many times I read it.

Blurb:

When love is forbidden, who can you trust?

Seventeen year old David has been best friends with Jonathan for as long as he can remember, but the day he sees the pastor's daughter press a soft kiss to Jonathan's cheek everything changes. Overcome by jealousy, his explosive reaction reveals a deeper connection that sends their relationship spiraling down into dangerous territory.

When their clandestine love is discovered, they have nowhere to turn for help. The brutal circumstances of their parting test David and Jonathan's covenant to each other in unimaginable ways. Forced to face their fears, it is in their darkest moments that the two young men discover that the courage, hope, and strength they need to to fight for their love, has been the foundation of their covenant all along.

Categories: Gay fiction, M/M Romance, New Adult, Poetry, Romance

71,000 words

Publisher: Cool Dudes Publishing

Cover Artist: Kellie Dennis

Excerpt:

David opened his locker to get out his Biology, History, and Music History books and shoved them into his backpack, swallowing hard against the lump in his throat. Jonathan’s comforting hand lit on David’s side as he came to lean on the locker to the right of David’s own, holding up in one paint-besmeared hand, a small piece of black cardboard. On it, David saw symbols, ones he thought might be Greek. Remembering the foreign exchange student from Thessaloniki shared Jonathan’s sixth period art class, he smiled and turned to his boyfriend as he took the proffered gift.

“What does it say?” David couldn’t help but smile at the joy lighting Jonathan’s eyes. “This has to be something that Kallias helped you make—”

“You aren’t wrong,” Jonathan interjected. “That is Greek writing and Kallias even taught me how to say it.”

“Enlighten me, please!” David rasped, focusing wholly on Jonathan’s gift. “Say it and then tell me what it means.”

“If I say it right, it’s agape menomou—”

David furrowed his brow, repeating, “A guppy man oh moo?”

Jonathan slid down the locker in a giggle. “Noooo! I must have said it wrong because your face… oh my gosh, your face!”

Blushing and biting his lower lip, David sank down to his haunches in front of Jonathan. “Then say it again, slower, and tell me what it means!”

Jonathan looked around, and seeing no-one in their locker bank, leaned up to whisper the Greek in his ear, the sounds slower… thicker. “Agape menomou means O love of my heart.”

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It’s all about the author…

M. LeAnne Phoenix would tell you that the worst time of her life was the two years that she attempted to take off from writing. If you asked her to explain exactly why she did such a thing, you would most likely get the mad attempt to arch an eyebrow like her dad and then a shake of the head as she told you it was unlucky to speak of such things. Suffice it to say, it will never happen again!

Born and raised in Fort Worth, Texas in the mid-1970's, Ms. Phoenix was young and wild (and even free!) during the crazy wondrous decade known as the 1980's and the even crazier but now grungy decade of the 1990's. Music is second only to the muses that live and breathe to fill her mind with beautiful men, and music always helps them to tell their stories. She is never without her iPod or her computer no matter where she goes, although, she does like to hike and take pictures of the sky and the moon, and even the occasional shot of the sun through the branches of a tree.

An avid cat lover, Ms. Phoenix has been owned by many throughout her life, though her current owner is one Lily-Rose, who really would like for her to step away from the keyboard and pay her some attention! After all, hasn't she earned it?

…and stalking them :)

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