Tuesday, July 5, 2016

Virtual Tour ~ Daniel & Erik’s Super Fab Ultimate Wedding Checklist by K.E. Belledonne ~ (Review, Character Interview, Excerpt + Giveaway)

Virtual Tour ~ Daniel & Erik’s Super Fab Ultimate Wedding Checklist by K.E. Belledonne ~ (Review, Character Interview, Excerpt + Giveaway)



Author Name: K.E. Belledonne
Book Name: Daniel & Erik’s Super Fab Ultimate Wedding Checklist
Release Date: June 23, 2016

Blurb:




When Daniel gets caught up in the demands of a cheeky wedding planning app, his fiancé Erik grows frustrated with his preoccupation with adhering to heterosexual traditions. Will Daniel’s groomzilla ways give them the wedding of their dreams, or ultimately lead to their relationship’s demise?


Pages or Words: 53,000 words, 188 pages


Categories: Contemporary, Gay Fiction, Humor, M/M Romance, Romance, Rom Com


Excerpt:
“I think Aurora is disappointed in me.”
“What?” Erik rubbed at his eye. It wasn’t even early morning, judging by the weak light coming through the blinds from the streetlights. “Who?”

“Aurora. The wedding planning app.” Daniel lay on his back, wide awake and staring up at the ceiling.

“The wedding planning app is not a sentient being. It has no feelings or opinions.”
“I feel like she's judging me. I’m sorry if I woke you up.”

“Oh my god, go to sleep.”

“I can't. I'm never going to sleep ever again.” Daniel tugged the blanket higher up his chest, folding his arms over it and exhaling heavily.

“You're being dramatic.”

“I've got too many things buzzing in my head. There's too many things I'm going to forget to do.”

“I thought that's why you had that damn app, so you don't have to remember anything; it's all right there saved on your tablet.”

“Yes, but I have to remember to put everything in it. Daniel rolled over. She doesn't just know everything—”

“A: She is not a she. It is an it. B: What are we doing tomorrow?”

“Oh my god, what is the point of sharing the app calendar if you're never going to look at it?” Daniel wailed.


“I look at it. It's just crammed so full of everything that I have no idea what's going on when.”
Daniel blew out his breath. ”Look, I know you don’t like the calendar. We’ve been over that, but I don’t know how else to keep track of all of these appointments and deadlines.”

“I told you, we could color-code them, or something,” Erik rolled to his side and punched at his pillow.

“Aurora doesn’t give you that option.”

“Well, it should.”

“I agree, but there’s nothing I can do about that.” Daniel bunched his pillow up under his head. “Tomorrow, we have four appointments to meet with caterers: two in the morning, two in the afternoon.”

“Why so many in one day?”

“It's the only day we both have available this week, and I am not going to make any decisions about the food at our reception without you there to discuss it.”

“Seriously, you could just make a choice, and I'll live with it.” Erik rolled over.
“I don't want you to just 'live with it,' Erik. Daniel tried to keep his voice neutral, but failed. This is our wedding. I don't want you to just 'live with it.’”

“Why are you getting so worked up about it?”
“We only get one chance at this. Everything needs to be perfect.”
“You're going to drive us both crazy, you know that, right?” Erik tugged the blankets back up over his shoulder.

“Well, then, we'll both be crazy.” Daniel squinted up at the ceiling. He was so tired of making these decisions. Why were there so many options? Why were there so many decisions? The planning was getting on Erik's nerves; he was getting on Erik's nerves. Erik was getting on his nerves. They were both just a pile of irritated nerves because the to-do list didn’t seem to be getting any smaller.
Daniel’s phone chimed with another notification from Aurora.

New Private Message from: MommyMargie.

His mother probably had another ludicrous suggestion for the reception, or a passive-aggressive reminder of the hymn that she and his father had had played at their wedding, that their grandparents had had played at their wedding and that she expected to hear at his wedding. Or maybe his parents had decided to paint the living room green. Who knew?




Buy the book:










Today I’m very lucky to be interviewing Daniel from Daniel & Erik’s Super Fab Ultimate Wedding Checklist by K.E. Belledonn



  1. What do you find attractive in a man?
Kindness. Passionate enough about something talking about it makes their eyes light up. I’ll be trivial and say “broad shoulders or a nice butt” but really, the first two are the most attractive.

  1. The first thing that went through your head when you saw Erik.
Well, he was sitting by himself reading a book at a Christmas party, so I’ll admit that my very very first impression of him was that he really doesn’t know how to cope with parties. But then I started talking to him, and just very quickly realized he’s something special. It took about 5 minutes, and I was definitely smitten.

  1. Do you think you’ll insist the author visits you again?
Kat’s my girl, you know? She and I do have chats now and then; she checks in with us now and then. I think if Erik and I ever decide to get a dog, or have kids -- a dog is more likely, I think, but you never know – or finally have that threesome with Thor that I keep reminding Erik about, then Kat’s the first one we’re going to call.

  1. Before you met Erik, what was your ideal man?
Oh god, they will never let me live this down. Erik’s really a bit of a preppy mod kind of a guy. He wears v-neck sweaters and buckle shoes, you know? Anyway. I used to be really into the kind of unwashed brooding swashbuckler type. I endured watching the entirety of The Lord Of The Rings time and again just to ogle Viggo Mortensen.  

  1. You’re going out for dinner. What’s your favorite food?
I’m always in the mood for Middle Eastern food. I love chicken shawarma, and baba ganoush, and tabbouleh, and all that stuff.


*** Copy provided to Bayou Book Junkie in exchange for a fair and honest review. ***

Daniel is planning his wedding to Erik with the aid of Aurora, the wedding planner app from hell, and gets caught up in the stress of it all to the detriment of his relationship. Would they get their happily ever after?

I loved Erik, he was so level-headed, trying to be the voice of reason as Daniel turns into the ultimate groomzilla. And while I didn't hate Daniel, well, I got fed up with him quite a few times. They were cute together, though, and they managed to overcome (just barely) all the obstacles thrown their way.

The book was fun to read, especially the parts with Aurora and Daniel trying to follow up on her instructions to plan the perfect wedding. Even though I'm not overly fond of books in which we go back and forth in time, I liked that Ms. Belledonne showed us how Daniel and Erik met and fell in love with glimpses of the wedding planning. The second half of the book was a bit messier, though, as the timeline seemed to jump from six weeks had passed to three days after stage one without any warning, which was a tad confusing for me.

Anyway, if you're looking for an enjoyable, well-written book, with a low level of heat, a moderate level of angst and a high level of humor, this would be great for you!

Rating: 4 Stars!




Meet the author:


K. E. Belledonne is a writer, editor and translator. A native New Englander, Kat spends her spare time listening to Glenn Miller records, reading history books and cheering on her beloved Red Sox. Her first novel, Right Here Waiting, was published by Interlude Press in 2015.


Where to find the author:




Publisher: Interlude Press
Cover Artist: C.B. Messer

Tour Dates & Stops:
23-Jun


24-Jun


27-Jun


28-Jun


29-Jun


30-Jun


1-Jul


4-Jul


5-Jul


6-Jul


Rafflecopter Prize: Grand Prize: $25 Interlude Press gift card, 5 first prizes of an e-copy of Daniel & Erik’s Super Fab Ultimate Wedding Checklist
a Rafflecopter giveaway


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