Title: His Leading
Man
Author: Ashlyn Kane
Series: Standalone Title
Genre: M/M Contemporary Romance
Publisher: DreamSpinner Press (A DreamSpun Desires Title)
Release Date: June 5 2018
Edition/Format: 1st Edition/Format~ Audio, eBook,
Print
Blurb/Synopsis:
He wrote a comedy. Fate directed a romance.
Drew Beaumont is bored of the same old roles: action hero,
supervillain, romantic lead. He’s not going to let a fresh gay buddy comedy
languish just because they can’t find him the right costar. No, Drew bats his
eyelashes and convinces everyone that the movie’s writer should play Drew’s
not-so-straight man.
Aspiring writer Steve Sopol has never had a screenplay
optioned. Now one of Hollywood’s hottest properties wants to be in a movie
Steve hasn’t finished writing— and he wants Steve as his costar. Turns out the
chemistry between them is undeniable—on and off-screen.
Drew swore off dating in the biz, but Steve is the whole
package: sharp, funny, humble, and cute. For Steve, though, giving in to the
movie magic means the end of the privacy he cherishes. Will the credits roll
before their ride into the sunset?
“Oh, get out of here. Go home. Go find some pretty young
thing and make the most of what’s left of the night.”
Without meaning to, Drew glanced over at Steve, who was
talking to Flora. “Not really my thing.”
Nina eyed him shrewdly. “Oh? Like them a little older than
you, do you?”
Damn it. “I don’t date.”
She let out a lewd chuckle. “Who said anything about
dating?”
“Nina!” Drew hissed. Fortunately no one seemed to be paying
them any attention, everyone dragging ass to get ready to leave for the day—or
else hightailing it, fueled on some kind of post work energy infusion Drew
would very much like the recipe for. “I’m not going to screw around with a
costar. I’m more professional than that!”
Nina raised one well-manicured eyebrow in an incredibly
articulate retort. Okay, so she probably knew him too well to buy what he was
selling. He didn’t date in the business, but that had never stopped him from
hooking up with other actors and actresses who shared his philosophy.
Well. Maybe Drew should just be true to himself. “Whatever.
I gotta go, Nina. See you tomorrow!”
If he hurried, he could catch up with Steve in Wardrobe.
By the time he got there to hang up his expertly tailored
jeans and gossamer-thin T-shirt, Steve was unfolding his own cargo shorts.
“Hey. You got big plans tonight?”
Drew winced. “I still have to hit the gym.” He’d skipped
working out too many days this week. “But first, fuel.” He slipped his belt
through the loops and set it in its cubby. “You?”
“I run in the mornings.”
Of course he did. Drew wanted to ask And the shoulders? but
he had too much self-respect. Okay, champ. Here’s your chance. “What about this
Saturday?”
Steve paused with his hand on his fly. “I’m running then
too?”
Drew narrowed his eyes, trying to decide if he was playing
hard-to-get or being obtuse. “After that. Seven o’clock, eight if we want to be
fashionably late and make an entrance.”
Steve paused, brow furrowed. “Are you, uh…?”
Not exactly the resounding yes Drew had been hoping for, but
he injected his voice with as much confidence as he could fake. “I’m asking you
to dinner.” And then abruptly his feigned confidence fled and he added, “My
date canceled to go to Hawaii, and the idea of spending four hours in a tux
eating canapés and schmoozing with people who spent a thousand dollars a plate
to schmooze with me makes me hate humanity.”
“Gosh, you’re such a people person,” Steve said, drier than
a stale saltine in Vegas. “I can’t imagine why you have trouble finding dates.”
Ouch. Drew probably deserved that. “Sorry, that just… ugh.
Let me start over?” He unbuttoned his jeans and started shimmying out of them.
The process took a few seconds. “I have an extra ticket to a fundraiser dinner
at the aquarium. I guess the penguins need a new air conditioner or something.
I always take Leigh to stuff like this because I know she’s not using me for
publicity and she can hold up her end of the conversation without trying to get
in my pants.” He finally got the skinny jeans down to his ankles, but he didn’t
dare kick them off because Will would murder him if the seams ripped. Instead
he bent to work them over his feet. “But she can’t come. And I like spending
time with you.”
Damn it. When Drew glanced up, Steve still didn’t look
convinced. He certainly wasn’t jumping at the chance to spend a night off with
Drew. Maybe Drew had read him wrong.
But finally his expression cleared and he said, “Pick me up
at seven.”
Yes!
There was just one problem, of course.
Drew still didn’t know if it was a date. Or even if he
wanted it to be.
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Tell us a little about His
Leading Man and where did you get the idea to write this story.
It’s really an idea that came out
of my days working at a bookstore. We only had fifteen-minute breaks, and we’d
spend them flipping through celebrity gossip magazines. I didn’t want to get
invested in famous people’s relationships, but I couldn’t help it, even though
the whole time I was going, “The paparazzi are making a lot out of nothing
here.” Plus, I think everyone has that daydream, “What if I met someone
famous?” So I just sort of took that and mashed it together with the idea of a
romance where you can’t escape the spotlight, added a little twist, and His Leading Man was born.
How and when did you get started writing novels?
I was six the first time I went to
a writer’s conference. When I was twelve, before I understood what fanfic was,
I was determined I was going to write a book in the Star Wars universe (ask me
how devastated I am about the demise of the Expanded Universe). Then I did write fanfic, and I followed a lot
of other fanfic writers on LiveJournal. One of them was Madeleine Urban. When I
found out she was getting a book published, that was it—I said, “Okay, I’m
going to do that too.” And I did.
What’s the best and worst part of being a writer?
I love to entertain people. If
someone’s having a bad day, I can write something that puts a smile on their
face. To me, that’s the reward. I have a few close friends and I basically
write the entire book at them. The live feedback is helpful and so motivating,
and the instant reactions let me know when something’s working the way it
should and when it’s flat.
The worst part, for me, is trying
to keep up with all of the things that aren’t actually writing. I have a day job, and I just don’t have the energy to do
Facebook and Twitter and Goodreads and my blog and and and
on top of all the other stuff. It’s important and I’m trying to be better, but
man. It is tough. I haven’t got that figured out yet.
What is your writing schedule like?
I write pretty much every evening,
but sometimes it’s just sort of a free flow of material straight from my id.
Writing a book takes me about three months, and then I end up with this hangover
where I’m not ready to commit to the next project for a while. I’ll probably
start four or five things that will never see completion before something
sticks.
Where do you get your ideas?
My brain is a big disorganized
blender. It’ll turn a day where I saw a billboard with a puppy on it, heard a
commercial for a county fair, and ate a disappointing donut into a story about
a guy who enters a pie-baking contest but is foiled by a cursed pastry that
makes him turn into a golden retriever, and he has to find someone to kiss him
to turn him back so he can win the grand prize. Obviously this is part of why
not every story I start is one I finish!
Is there something about you or your life that readers might
be surprised about?
I’m honestly so boring. I love
staying home. I cook 90 percent of our dinners. I see my parents like six times
a week. Yesterday my husband and I made 30 pounds of homemade sausage—I guess
most people don’t do that?
Do you write a novel straight through? Or revise as you go?
Plan a whole series in advance? Or does the series evolve?
I have to write straight through.
If I revise as I go, I’ll never finish (my day job is as an editor). If I know
something’s not going to work or if I’m not sure what the end result will be, I
just type something like FILL THIS IN LATER or GO BACK AND FIX THIS IN CHAPTER
2 and keep going.
Series, these days I only do books
set in the same universe as opposed to truly sequential ones. I don’t have the
discipline to plan things like that. I really admire people who can come up
with a book four that makes you realize that throwaway line in book one was
planned the whole time. I have to take it one book at a time.
What’s next after His
Leading Man?
Well, I followed it up with Hex and Candy, which came out this past
August, which is about a candymaker who’s also a hedge witch, who falls in love
with a man who’s basically gotten himself cursed with a magical chastity belt.
I wanted to do something zany, and I loved it. And this summer I’ve got a
Dreamspun called Fake Dating the Prince
coming out, which is—well, the title gives it away. That’s actually my favorite
thing I’ve written, just full of sexual tension and bed sharing and tuxedos and
dancing and the whole nine. All my favorite tropes rolled up in one 54,000-word
package!
ASHLYN KANE is a
Canadian former expat and current hockey fan. She is a writer, editor,
handyperson, dog mom, and friend—sometimes all at once.
On
any given day she can usually be found walking her ninety-pound baby chocolate
lapdog, Indy, or holed up in her office avoiding housework. She has a deep and
abiding love of romance novel tropes, a habit of dropping too many f-bombs,
and—fortunately—a very forgiving family. 
Twitter @ashlynkane
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