Here's a rough blurb:
Anders Blankenship never intended to try hiking the Appalachian Trail alone, but when his abusive boyfriend cancels on their summer plans, Anders steels his courage and tackles the daunting long distance hike alone, leaving his boyfriend in the process. He lucks out when an experienced backpacker, who goes by the name Sourdough, takes him under his wing. Kevin Winters isn’t looking for a hiking partner. He definitely isn’t looking to be Anders’s rebound fling, no matter how cute the other man is. After years of watching a debilitating autoimmune disorder kill his father, the news that Kevin had the same condition hit him so hard that he grabbed a backpack and walked away from his home and family at the Rock Creek Bakery. He has wandered remote hiking trails ever since, refusing to get close to anyone because he is convinced the only thing his future holds is pain and death. His only consolation comes from the family sourdough recipes he recreates over a campfire. When he finds Anders stuck at the beginning of the Appalachian Trail, the easy friendship that forms between them threatens to break through Kevin’s self-imposed isolation.Despite his ex’s obsessive voice mails, Anders is ready to move on. He makes no secret of how much he wants Kevin, but Kevin’s disease has left him convinced that Anders can’t possibly be sincere. When Kevin finally gives in to his desires, their friendship morphs into an intense physical relationship that leaves both men reeling. As the summer ends and Anders goes back to school, Kevin’s disease wreaks havoc on his heart, forcing him into the hospital. By the time Anders realizes how miserable he is without Kevin, and confronts his ex-turned-stalker who is still trying to insinuate himself into Anders’s life, Kevin has vanished. Anders searches from New England to California, following gossip and rumors in his desperate search for Kevin. When Anders finally finds Kevin, he has to persuade Kevin that facing the uncertainties of a future together is worth the risk, even if those uncertainties include medical problems and homicidal ex-boyfriends.
I'm really pleased with this one, even if it's still rough around the edges, because it's my first crack at a contemporary m/m romance. When I write, it's so hard for me to think of the relationship itself as the plot. I inevitably end up trying to include some kind of homicidal maniac by the end. Did I manage to keep the plot focused on the relationship this time around? No. But it came really close!
