Jay Bell here, and I have a confession. I hate winter. The season is frigid, miserable, and soulless… just like my first boyfriend. Ha! But seriously, I never feel quite like myself in cold weather. A hot summer night can make me feel like I’m a teenager again, but freezing temperatures have me impersonating old man winter.
Life is what you make of it though, so I thought you guys could defrost this icy heart of mine and help me see the bright side of winter. There’s a prize to be had too! Leave a comment below, telling me something wonderful and optimistic about winter, and you can win a paperback or eBook copy of my newest book, Something Like Winter. With a title like that, you’d think it’s full of blizzards and snowmen, but lucky for me, it’s set in Texas. They don’t have proper winters down there, no matter what the natives might claim.
If you’re curious about the book, Jenre reviewed it here. This contest is open to everyone in the world. Even Texans!
The Blurb:
There are two sides to every story. When you’re Tim Wyman, sometimes there are three.
Tim hoped moving to Texas would mean a new beginning, a chance to spread his wings, but he soon finds himself falling into the same tired patterns. Until he meets recklessly brave Benjamin Bentley. Suddenly a whole new world opens up to Tim—love, sex, warmth… home. Certain that society won’t understand what he and Ben have together, Tim struggles to protect their relationship, even if it means twisting the truth. As his lies slowly push Ben away, Tim learns that the greatest enemy can come from within. Buried beneath a decade of deceptions, Tim must claw his way to the surface in the hopes of learning to fly.
Something Like Winter, the companion novel to Something Like Summer, tells the story from Tim Wyman’s perspective, revealing new private moments and personal journeys.
Please count me in
Please count me in.
we live in a temperate climate (translates to wet and windy, all year!!) so for me the chance to have a crisp, snowy day for the kids to run around in is wonderful (and occaisionally happens)
We live surrounded by neighbors who love to barbecue – from the first warm springday ’till the last warm autumnday.
Seriously, I hate it, because our flat smells all the time as if the barbecue happens inside our four walls!
But when it’s icecold outside and snow is everywhere, all the barbecue-fans are gone, and that’s a phantastic feeling.
The best part of a cold, blizzardy, frosty, freezing day (which in Canada we are well used to!), is being completely snowed in. The whole city shuts down, no work, just curling up on the sofa, covered in fuzzy blankets with a brand new book!
Count me in please!
I’m with you on preferring summer to winter, always. And I have already bought, read, and loved Something Like Winter so don’t include me in the draw! Congratulations on the book – I re-read Summer and then read them back-to-back, and I really appreciated the insight Winter gave into why some things happened, and what happened during the gaps.
Winter – it’s only good when there’s fresh snow to admire from the warm inside or to go and play in for a while. Give me sunshine!
After we get a major snow fall, there is just something about the peace and quiet that comes after. It’s sort of a surreal feeling with it being so quiet. Cardinals sitting in the midst of snow covered Cedars is also a fantastic sight. I love the really cold days the best cause there is usually plenty of sun. You realize that winter is not all dull and gloomy.
I love curling up under blankets with candles a boom and a hot steamying cup of hot chocolate. Especially when it is snowing outside and I am all kinds of cozy inside!
Ok so I live in Texas
but grew up in Bavaria with lots and lots of snow and ice n the winter. Loved it as a kid, fondest memories are of building huge snow castles by the side of the roads where the snow plow dumped all the cold white stuff. Staying outside until you couldn’t feel your toes and fingers, finally giving in and running into the house to warm up by the fire-place drinking hot tea.
Of course now when it dips below 50s here in Texas I complain and pull out my electric blanket
Hey Jay do be a big favor and hit some of the Christkindle markets and have some gluewine for me
Back country skiing where you ski in to a yurt, spend the evening drinking wine in front of a fire, toasty warm, watching powdery snow floating down outside, get up the next morning to many feet of fresh powder snow with no one but you and your friends for miles and miles, hiking up the mountain in a hushed and beautiful world, to turn around and ski down that same mountain in an exhilarating rush. So amazing. Sorry, I’m not so good at describing things, but it is an intensely beautiful experience.
Thanks for the giveaway! One of my favorite parts of winter is freshly fallen snow on tree branches. It makes it seem like there are more new opportunities, somehow. Please count me in. Thanks!
I already have that one on my TBR-list but so far not bought…so please count me in.
I love winter. I love the smell in the air, Christmas lights, eating soup and drinking gluwein. Wearing my favorite orange plaid coat and all my beautiful boots. I know this one is nuts, but I love shoveling snow! Most of all I love to ski, I just wish that Scotty would beam me to the top of the mountain from my house! Thanks for the chance to win, Shanne
Please count me in, thanks
The only best part of the winter is the sound of the snow coming down. I don’t like the cold too much but I could sit outside for hours just to watch and listen to the fall of the snow. I have enjoyed your books. Please count me in, thanks!
I’m in! Jay is my fav m/m author
I come from a small country called Ecuador. Have you ever heard of it? The Theory of Evolution was invented there, and it supplies most of China with pretroleum and fruit. Remarkable. But honestly it is a beautiful tropical country where there is no such thing as winter, it is perpetually spring/summer. I am now an exchange student in Germany and among the things I love the most, snow might top the list. I had never seen snow before coming here so of course, seeing snow for the first time at age sixteen, I forgot my age for a moment of bliss and played around with the snow all day. I got back for the other fifteen winters I’ve missed, you could say. There is a very clear memory, as if it happened yesterday (actually it was this friday but it sounds so unromantic that way) in which I was coming back home around seven from my friends house and it started snowing. My friends had never seen snow before either so we were all so happy to see the feathery flakes dance through the air. We started just bouncing around and taking snow from the roofs of cars and throwing it at eachother and laughing. It was one of those beautiful moments that go by in slow motion. Although I hate the dry throats, stuffy noses and cold fingers that come along with winter, just that memory keeps me through it. That’s why I love winter, there’s something beautiful even in the most hideous of seasons.
I have ‘Something like Summer’, so I’d love to win this.
Winter is beautiful to look at, less lovely to get about. And it costs a fortune in heating!
As someone who has cold fingers all the time, winter is the worst!
Please count me in!!
I’m from Texas!! South Texas,to be more specific, where we don’t get much winter. Except years back where I was actually able to finally see snow. It was amazing! However, I might be from a place that is mostly hot and humid, I love winter. I might not be able to experience a perfect winter, but there is something about it that makes me feel so comfortable, and alive. Being surrounded by cold weather, what little we do get in south Texas, just feels perfect. As if I’m in my own element. I have ‘Something like Summer’, and I would love to win ‘Something like Winter’. So count me in!!
Please Count me in
LOL! I’m not from Texas, but I still want in
Please count me in 
I would love a free copy. Loved Something Like Summer
I hate winter. I work nightshifts and it is horrible standing at 4 am at the bus stop, tired from work and freezing your butt off.
Have you tried running trying to grab snowflakes with your tongue? and a stroll in the woods when everything is white and silent? Winter will slow our pace and I think we spend more time at home with family or friends.
Some animals hibernate and it is beneficial for them, so why not for us?
I’m not really a winter person – Spring’s far more my season, but there’s something wonderfully selfish about the cold weather giving me an excuse to be unsociable. And the lack of tourists on the roads (though with fuel prices the way they are over here in the UK even the other locals are driving me bonkers with their lack of speed on the road) – oh, and driving with headlights on and being able to see well in advance if there’s something big (like a logging truck) coming along in the other direction in enough time to slow down gently rather than slamming the brakes on…
Though best of all is when we get the woodburning stove going and spend the evening curled up on the sofa in front of it (eating stew & dumplings)
Please count me in.
Jay. Snow smells so good, how can you resist it! Plus, hot cocoa is nasty when its hot, right? Winter makes us all cuddly and contemplative. Plus, I love boots.
count me in, please
I’m from the Lake District in England. There’s nothing nicer than wrapping up warm and taking the dog for a shirt walk in the snow. Then go to a pub with an open fire for lunch. Then back home to cuddle up with the boyf and then…
Count me in please
Winter. It can be a very depressing time. I live in Oklahoma, and we never know what our winter will bring be it snow, ice, or nothing but miserable cold and wind. All too often winter is synonymous with loneliness. There are moments, however, moments that I adore more than I can say. When I am woken in the morning by an unnaturally pure light filling the house, there is no feeling like looking outside to see the white drifts that sneaked in during the night. I equate it to Santa Claus for adults. To wander out into it bundled up, strolling through pasture, making my way through woods to my grandparents’ house, there is no similar awe-inspiring beauty to be held in any other season. Winter brings with it silence, and it can be quite depressing. What I am learning though is that the silence is for a reason. There is no better time to reflect and really appreciate your life and loved ones than when you are surrounded by trees and snow. The winter world seems a dead place, but really it is Aurora, beautiful in sleep and awaiting true love’s kiss to bring the change of season.
Something Like Summer is one of my favorite stories (how the movie project is going anyway?). I would love to read its ‘sister’.
One optimistic thing about winter . . . After a huge snowstorm, when the air is silent, the snow is up to your knees, and you feel like you’re the only one for miles, leaping into the snow and having it catch you and cradle you in its puffy peacefulness.
With winter officially starting December 21st (in the Northern Hemisphere), that is when the days start getting longer and more daylight is always a good thing. Plus snow days when work/school is canceled is also a good thing.
Please count me in!
To me Winter is the opportunity to get snowed indoors and snuggle up with an electric blanket, a mug of hot coco, and a good book. Also a good excuse to break out the lion slippers and put them to use, even if people do think they look silly.
It also brings back memories of rituals we kids would do to incur the freedom of a “snow day” from school. Wearing our pjs inside out and sacrificing an unopened can of mountain dew on the sidewalk. If it burst open during the night, the gods proclaimed it a snow day.
No longer a kid, but now an aunt, I get to teach my nephew these traditions.
Please include me. Thanks
There is something so wondrous about enjoying the peace and stillness of a winter’s night, crunching through newly-fallen snow that glitters and sparkles under a bright moon or even a lowly street lamp. Pure magic!
Jay, I already have, read and loved Something Like Winter, but to try and help you defrost your icy heart (posted from chilly Pennsylvania)…the very BEST part of winter is snuggling up with someone you love!! Don’t count me in the give away, but grab Andreas and keep warm together!
Hot chocolate with marshmallows and snuggling under covers are best in the winter
Cozy blankets, fireplace, hot mulled cider with rum, a loved one to snuggle with. Just do like I do and go outside as little as possible!
Please count me in for this contest.
Thanks!!
So then it is nothing like winter.
Seriously, the best part of winter is at night after a big snow when everything seems so calm with the pristine snow making the world clean and beautiful and perfect. Nature is trying to put things right, slow us down and make us see and appreciate our surroundings. 
Hmm, the first thing that comes to mind is the holidays, but I suppose after that is when it’s snowing hard and you don’t have anywhere to be and you can just curl up and relax. The world is quieter, because even if you live on Main St. (like I do), cars aren’t really going anywhere. Perfect time to curl up with a book, cup of cocoa, and read.
Also curling up with someone under the covers and appreciating how warm two bodies can be!
Please count me in, you write great books Jay
Even to win your book I’m not going to lie. I hate winter. Lol. I already have & devoured SLW in one sitting so don’t enter me. I’m born & bred in Canada so I should be used to it but I excuse my wimpiness with my Italian Mediterranean blood. It should only snow where people ski because city snow is dirty. Okay enough whining. The best thing about winter is hubby’s birthday is Christmas Eve and I love family getting together.