BLOG TOUR: "...And All Shall Fade To Black" by Layla Dorine

-….And All Shall Fade to Black by Layla Dorine

…And All Shall Fade to Black Blurb

Moving into his new apartment, Jax never expected to have to break up a fight between his new neighbors, resulting in a physical altercation and a visit from the cops. Never in his wildest dreams did he imagine that it would lead to him meeting Danny, the cute theater manager and playwright that lived next door. Unfortunately, his first impression of Danny and the way he’d cowered away in the fight with his ex, wasn’t exactly a favorable one.

Jax already has his own issues to deal with, between his past problems with his mother and the chain of men who’ve floated in and out of her life, his new job as a piercer in his sister’s tattoo shop and his struggles with an eating disorder; the last thing he plans to add to it is a relationship. Yet Danny isn’t so easy to ignore and when they find themselves bonding after Danny shows him around town, and more when Jax offers to help with sets for his latest play, it becomes harder and harder for him to ignore the connection forming between them.

As Jax’s insecurities and food issues grow more and more out of control, he find himself turning to Danny for help, rather than his longtime friends Callum and Max who lives just downstairs. Danny’s mix of patience, stubbornness and tough love make it harder and harder for Jax to keep his distance, and somewhere in the course of their daily lives, they find themselves moving from being friends, to being more.

Book Trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwEO29Tg11s&feature=youtu.be

Buy Links

US Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072Q41YGQ

UK Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B072Q41YGQ

JP Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B072Q41YGQ

CA Amazon: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B072Q41YGQ

About the Author

LAYLA DORINE lives among the sprawling prairies of Midwestern America, in a house with more cats than people. She loves hiking, fishing, swimming, martial arts, camping out, photography, cooking, and dabbling with several artistic mediums. In addition, she loves to travel and visit museums, historic, and haunted places.

Layla got hooked on writing as a child, starting with poetry and then branching out, and she hasn’t stopped writing since. Hard times, troubled times, the lives of her

characters are never easy, but then what life is? The story is in the struggle, the journey, the triumphs and the falls. She writes about artists, musicians, loners, drifters, dreamers, hippies, bikers, truckers, hunters and all the other folks that she’s met and fallen in love with over the years. Sometimes she writes urban romance and sometimes its aliens crash landing near a roadside bar. When she isn’t writing, or wandering somewhere outdoors, she can often be found curled up with a good book and a kitty on her lap.

Layla Dorine can be found at:

Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100005197938547&fref=ts Twitter: https://twitter.com/layladorine

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/layladorine/

Tumblr: https://layladorine.tumblr.com/

Author Website: layladorine13.wix.com/layladorineauthor

Author on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/9814124.Layla_Dorine

***GUEST POST***

Thank you so much for hosting me here today and letting me ramble on a bit about a few things surrounding my latest novel …And All Shall Fade to Black, primarily, the way he handles issues from his past.

I know that there are moments when Jax comes across as totally unforgiving, when he looks at Danny’s situation and projects his own experiences with domestic violence on him, especially when he reflects back to his mother and some of her boyfriends and how they treated her as he was growing up.

I think it goes without saying that our childhood experiences define who we are and sometimes color the way we expect others to deal with things. Sometimes, people grow up with so many unexpressed words, so many hurts and grudges that they’ve been holding on to that not only does it prove toxic to them, but it can also poison friendships and potential relationships because they can only see a situation one way.

In …And All Shall Fade to Black, that is Jax in many ways. For years, he’s distanced himself from his mother, until his interactions with her boarder on hate. They are most certainly cruel, sarcastic and biting, but I think that where they stem from, that place in Jax that watched and could do nothing, is more important than the way he expresses it.

The way we express things can change, it’s more difficult to actually get to the heart of why we actually feel things in the first place, and that’s what Jax had to do in order to make progress not only with his mother, but in his relationship with Danny as well.

Of all the characters, Jax was the one who had to grow the most for things to change and work out in a positive way in regards to forming a relationship, but he wasn’t the only one who had to change and grow. Danny had to be willing to look at his own situation and the way he’d let it get out of hand, and see that he should have squashed things even sooner than he did. It was clear, right from the begging of his interactions with Jax, that he wasn’t going to make that same mistake, and in doing so, forced Jax to really start reflecting on situations both past and presence.

While at times …And All Shall Fade to Black was extremely difficult to write, reaching the end and seeing where Jax and Danny were at more than made up for some of the more angst filled parts of the journey.

***EXCERPT***

Heaving a heavy sigh, Jax nodded.

“All right, fine, we’ll do it your way, but when I completely screw it up, we’ll know who to blame.”

“You can’t screw it up, Jax, it’s as simple as picking out the things you like.”

Jax cocked an eyebrow at him and tapped his foot and Callum cringed.

“Okay, I should maybe amend that. It’s a matter of picking out the things you like that would actually work well together to create as space with some harmony and unity,” Callum remarked sheepishly. “So please no two dollar paintings on crushed velvet and framed black light posters. We’re adults now, time to be more sophisticated about things.”

“Yeah, okay, I’ll actually put some effort into it this time.”

From across the room Max laughed. “Hey you’ve had it easy up until now, you’ve had us decorating most of the house for you. Just remember that if you plan to invite Danny or anyone else over to your place, you might want to consider tones besides black and gray. They’re kind of depressing.”

“They are solid colors that go together. Haven’t you guys been stressing that?”

“Yes, and they’re a good start. Now think about adding some additional shades to that.”

Unscrewing the jar, jax pulled out a pickle spear and crunched away, thoughtfully running through different shades in his head and dismissing them. It wasn’t that he was picky, it was just that he wasn’t a fan of bright things. “What about purple?”

“Purple can work,” Callum remarked. “Now if you’re done stalling, can you answer my question?”

Jax scowled, confused. “What question.”

“The one I asked when you walked in here. You asked how Max knew. What did Max know?”

“Oh.”

Silently, Jax headed for a chair and flopped into its overstuffed folds, put his feet up on the Ottoman and started crunching on another pickle.

“Yeah, oh, as in oh come on Jax spill it already. You know I won’t start the game until you do.”

Groaning, Jax glared at the pair, wishing he wasn’t holding the pickles so he could cross his arms. It might have been a little childish but at that point he was in the mood to pout and stubbornly hold his tongue.

“Apparently I interrupted him kissing Danny,” Max finally supplied.

“No shit?”

“No shit,” Jax grumbled. “Him and his bellowing put an end to what was shaping up to be a really nice moment. Then he hits me with a remark about Shiro.”

Jax watched as Callum shot a look between him and Max.

“All I said was that he shouldn’t let what happened with Shiro happen between him and Danny.”

“Ohhh.”

“Yeah, and I wanted to know what the hell he meant by that.”

“Oh come off it Jax, we both knew you were pining after Shiro and too scared to do anything to make it happen. Anyone with eyes could have seen that, just from your moods and body language whenever you two were together. What I don’t get is why you didn’t just ask him out or something.”

Jax shrugged and busied himself with another pickle. It was a good question, it was just a complicated one. The truth was, by the time he figured out that Shiro was as bad at picking up on relationship cues as he was, Nozomi had swooped in and asked Shiro out. He’d never been the type to get in between two people, even at the start of a new relationship, and especially not one to do it to friends. So he’d kept his feelings bottled up, half hoping that maybe it wouldn’t work out between them, though, the signs had all been there that it would.

“Earth to Jax…hey…”

Fingers snapping next to his ear drew Jax’s attention and he turned to see Callum grinning down at him.

“You know what, I think you need to pursue things with Danny, if only so you don’t end up looking like a lovesick puppy every time someone brings Shiro up. That ship has sailed, it’s a new day my friend, and a new city, though there’s one thing that will never change.”

“Yeah, what’s that?”

“Me kicking your ass and leaving you to the zombies,” Callum laughed.

“You’re on!” Jax snapped, reaching for a controlled.

Max just groaned as he reached for one himself. “I can already see how this night is gonna go. You two are going to be so busy trying to throw each other in the path of the zombies or outdo each other that you’re going to end up killing me in the process.”

Jax glanced at Callum, who was staring back at him, smirking.

“That’s been known to happen,” Jax admitted.

“True, it has,” Callum replied with a shrug. “You’d think he’d be used to it now.”

“Yeah really, sheesh, I mean, it isn’t like it’s our fault that he can’t stay out of the way. Maybe if he’d learn to dodge a little better…”

“Or duck,” Jax added, laughing and ducking himself when Max threw a pillow his way.