I received the contract for the follow up to Rocking the Boat, Tipping the Balance, about a week ago. So it's a done deal. It'll be out in late September or October (hey, just in time for the HOCR!). But I thought I'd post a sneak preview teaser here on All Oars before it goes up on my other, non-rowing blog. Because you're you.

The boys from ROCKING THE BOAT are back in TIPPING THE BALANCE. Nick Bedford’s best friend Drew St. Charles is a man with a dream. He wants to move from selling real estate and flipping houses on the side into renovating houses. Ideally, he’d find the houses and his boyfriend would flip them. He doesn’t have a boyfriend, but he still has his eye on Brad Sundstrom, who’s eyeing him right back. Brad works for his father’s construction firm, and when Drew wins a contest for new renovation firms to renovate the historic Bayard Mansion, they become the solution to each other’s problems. Drew needs someone to oversee the renovation and Brad wants out from under his father’s thumb more than anything. Brad knows the building trades and is working on his contractor’s license, and Drew offers him the job of project foreman.

Working in close contact makes the sparks between the two men burst into flame, and Brad takes his first hesitant steps out of the closet. Before long, spending the day together at work leads to nights spent together working hard in a different way. It looks as if Drew’s dream is coming true, although Brad is far from out, loud, and proud. But then Drew is savagely attacked in a hate crime, and Brad panics. Suddenly everything is in jeopardy, and when arson strikes the historic mansion, Brad faces a crucial test. Can he overcome his fears, save their work, and take his place at Drew’s side? Or will he retreat to the stifling familiarity of the closet?