Virtual Tour: 100 Days by Mimsy Hale ~ (5 Star ARC Review, Author Interview, Excerpt + Giveaway)
Book Information:
Book Name: 100 Days
Author Name: Mimsy Hale
Release Date: April 7, 2015
Publisher: Interlude Press
Cover Artist: Front cover concept by Abbi Lawson
Cover design by Buckeyegrrl Designs
Buy The Book:
Blurb:
Jake and Aiden have been best friends—and nothing more—since the age of six. Now 22-year-old college graduates, they take a road trip around the USA, visiting every state in 100 days.
As they start their cross-country odyssey, Jake and Aiden think they have their journey and their futures mapped out. But the road has a funny way of changing course.
Fifty states. Two boys. One love story.
Categories: Contemporary, Fiction, Gay Fiction, M/M Romance, New Adult, Romance
Excerpt:
Because anything really could happen, couldn’t it? What if what happened in Philadelphia wasn’t a total mistake, but simply the prelude to Jake finally listening to what his instincts have been telling him for weeks? What if, what if, what if…
“What are you doing? Come see this!” Aiden calls out.
Jake takes a deep breath and steps out of the shadows. Aiden is silhouetted against the fading sun, the light picking out the auburn in his hair, and as he stretches his arms up over his head, one finger hooked through the woven bracelet he bought earlier, he grins out at the horizon. Jake feels as if he’s watching Aiden through brand new eyes; he knows that there is rescue in those arms. Suddenly he wants to fall into them and hold on until he feels safe.
Aiden turns away from the vista, pushes his sunglasses up on top of his head and looks down at Jake, his eyes sparkling with warmth and light. He leans forward and holds out his hand, and he looks… beautiful.
Pages or Words: 346 pages
Tracy's review:
5 Traveling Stars
Jake and Aiden have been best friends since they were 6 years old. After graduating college, before they start their real lives Aiden decides to take the RV he inherited from his grandfather on a road-trip across America. 50 states in 100 days. He of course asks his best friend to join him.
Aiden and Jake spend 3 and 1/2 months criss-crossing their way across the USA. Along the way they each discover their feelings for one another run much deeper than just friendship, but will they ever admit how they feel, and even after they admit their feelings will they be brave enough to enter into a romantic relationship?
After losing his mother at 8, then his father at 15, Jake is broken. Spending his senior year of college alone and feeling lost after Aiden leaves to take an internship across the pond in London, Jake hasn't really forgiven him. He feels betrayed by Aiden. He is afraid Aiden will abandon him again. These boys both had trust issues and they broke my heart at times. I haven't found a book that made me cry in quite a while, but this was was a definite tearjerker.
This was an amazing concept for a story, it was so original and it was well executed. By the time Aiden and Jakes's trip was complete I felt I had tagged along and also taken a trip across the United States. I saw things through Aiden and Jakes eyes that I will probably never get to see. The author did remarkable research to find a place in each state for them to visit.
The characters had an amazing chemistry. I loved the slow burn, it felt like things happened naturally and it was realistic. This book made me feel. It made me cry and laugh. It made me want to put in my head phones and listen to the music Aiden and Jake were listening to. It made me want to fire up my laptop and turn on some Netflix or Hulu to watch the movies Jake and Aiden were watching.
I felt the love these two young men felt for one another coming off the pages of this book. I felt the fear they had in admitting their feelings for one another and trusting in those feelings. I laughed with them, cried with them and felt loved with them.
This story was well written. It flowed well and moved at a believable pace. This was an amazing debut novel, and I can't wait to read more in the future!
Here is a small interview with Mimsy!
Why did you choose to write M/M stories?
I've always been someone who tends to do things differently to the rest of the crowd. In school, when other students were choosing project topics, I always seemed to pick a radically different topic to the rest, because I didn't want to do what everyone else was doing. I'm the same when it comes to writing fiction—there really seemed to be a lack of M/M stories in the New Adult genre, and I wanted to explore that not only for myself, but for readers that might be looking for that type of book.
I also have a couple of incredible gay friends in my life, and hearing them bemoan the lack of representation of fictional characters they can relate to made me really sad. Being bisexual myself, I've felt it, too. It's important to me to write books with diverse characters, stories, and romances.
This book is a really awesome concept. Have you ever or would you like to personally do this?
In summer 2013, I road-tripped from Florida to New York with a good friend of mine, and it was so much fun getting to see some of the country to which I spent the better part of eighteen months writing a love letter. I would absolutely love to go on a road trip that hits all fifty states in one hundred days! I wanted to do it before even writing the book (though perhaps not within such an ambitious time frame), and now that the book is done, it's taken on an even more special quality. I feel like it would be something of a personal pilgrimage for me.
Have you always wanted to be a writer?
I've wanted to be many things in my life, and I'd certainly call myself a “jack of all trades, master of none” type, but writing is when I come alive. Even when it feels like pulling teeth, writing is my truest passion, and I've always had a creative spark. Just like Jake and Aiden, it took me a while to realise where my heart truly is.
List three books you have recently read and would recommend.
A lot of the books I've read recently have been re-reads of old favourites, such as The Tea House on Mulberry Street by Sharon Owens. It's got a very quirky ensemble cast of memorable characters, all of whom I would read stand-alone books about. Straight after that, I picked up a copy of World War Z by Max Brooks—I'm a HUGE zombie-phile, and the whole book really made me wonder if he knows more than the rest of us. And lastly, a couple of months ago I finally let myself read On The Road by Jack Kerouac, a book that I'd avoided during the writing of 100 Days because I didn't want to be influenced by it. It's exemplary of the beat movement, and holds some lines so true that they took my breath away, and made me so happy that I'd decided to write a book about a road trip.
What is the best gift you ever received?
There's two that I can't quite choose between—when I received my physical ARC of 100 Days, and the very next week, when my dad delivered the Adirondack chair he made for me. It's now in my bedroom, covered in cushions, and is where I now sit and write.
About Mimsy:
Mimsy Hale has been a contributing ghostwriter to several bestselling nonfiction books. She is also an established writer in online fan communities, where her stories have hundreds of thousands of reads. 100 Days is her first novel. She lives in Suffolk, England, with her roommate and four cats.
Finding Mimsy around the web:
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Rafflecopter Prize: $25 Interlude Press gift card; Five multi-format eBook editions of 100 Day
Tracy, once again, my deepest and most heartfelt thanks for such a wonderful review--and for hosting! :)
ReplyDeleteYou're Welcome, I'm really glad you liked my review. I loved this book, these boys and I can't wait to read your next book ~ Tracy <3
DeleteThanks for the post and review! Your adirondack chair sounds wonderful (as does your new book).
ReplyDeleteFrom the rafflecopter, I would tell Jake & Aiden to visit Hawaii - it is my favorite USA state. But, they would have a tough time driving there.
I was so thrilled with the chair, truly. It's so comfy I can barely bring myself to get out of it at times! Thanks so much :)
ReplyDelete