Captain's Log. Stardate 76135.8.
Friends, I have happy news. Like Real People Do is now available at bookstores nationwide! Ebooks are available pretty much worldwide. So. My book is published. Just like that.
Photo via @paperback_heart
Since folks have continued to ask: I get the most $$ from ebook sales (and they’re the least costly for buyers), but I fully understand the desire to hold a print copy in your hands. It makes no difference if that print copy is purchased on Amazon or at your local bookstore, but, of course, I do prefer to patronize local places. If you’re outside the US and want a print copy but can’t find one, I can get one to you if you’re willing to pay shipping (let me know at elmasseywrites@gmail.com).
Happy reading! And please please please leave a review on Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc. if you enjoy it and want the algorithms to be in my favor. Even just a short review makes a difference in visibility! Also, if you’re posting about LRPD on social media, please tag me. I love reading folks reviews (and stealing* their pics) (exhibit A, this post) (pictures stolen with permission) (so not really stolen, I guess).
I’ll post a standard update on life stuff (Bridgerton Experience, annual Wyoming rock climbing trip, and recent projects) in another week, along with some reading recs and the deets for a LRPD giveaway and possible signing events. So if you can’t afford a print copy but want one, the next update is for you. I’ll also have details about book 2’s publication date (and the cover!).
Photo via @thewrinkledbookmark
Ok, enough from me. I’ll just leave this quote from @paperback_heart’s review:
“Like Real People Do easily fits in with whatever this genre of books displayed here is and reminded me how important these kind of stories are….every once in a while I’ll read a book like this and it’s a calming breath, all smiles and sunshine, that fills my heart with good, soft things. Absolutely looking forward to book two 💘”
And from @thewrinkledbookmark
“5/5⭐️ does anyone else have that one book they struggle to articulate why they love so much? that’s this book for me. i loved it when i read it for the first time as a fanfic, i loved it during all my subsequent rereads, and i love it now as an original work. still, for the last few hours i’ve been sitting here trying to put into words why this story has stuck with me in a way that most simply don’t.
there’s all the obvious reasons. alex and eli are both complex, dynamic characters and their relationship progresses in an organic, satisfying way. the side characters are likable and well-developed, and they have their own unique relationships with each other and with alex and eli. there’s a good balance between humor and the heaviness of the topics that arise. it’s well executed as a whole.
for me though, i think what it really comes down to is the little moments. it’s agonizing with your best friend over how many exclamation marks are too many in a text to a cute boy. it’s laughing over everything and nothing while sharing a candy bar. it’s misusing a homework assignment to find out more about your crush. it’s going grocery shopping together. it’s inside jokes and teasing and learning each other’s habits and quirks. it’s all the little things that come along with two people navigating fitting the individual pieces of their lives together.
considering alex is a famous athlete, eli is a collegiate figure skater/youtuber and their relationship is unfolding before the public eye, it would have been very easy for this story to feel larger than life but it feels the opposite to me. it feels intimate and realistic and very, very human, and it’s all of those little moments of subtle, quiet intimacy that just absolutely wreck me and make me want to immediately start from the beginning the second i finish it.”
Love yall. Thanks for all the support!