Blog Tour: Get a Look Inside Ruby Lang’s latest, out Monday, February 10
Ruby Lang is a risk taker. In her next novella, HOUSE RULES, she’s bringing together a once married, now divorced couple over the age of 40 in a second chance romance. And oh, yeah, they’re people of color.
In a culture that values youth, that largely writes off women over the age of 35 and continues to pair 40- and 50-year old lead actors with women half their age, yes, this counts as risk taking.
Lana Kuo unexpectedly bumps into her ex-husband Simon as she’s looking for a new apartment in New York. She’s back in town, pulling noodles at a pan-Asian restaurant, and crashing on her niece’s couch. Simon’s been living in their same apartment from all those years ago and teaching music. When a gorgeous 2-bedroom opportunity comes up for Lana, she calls Simon and they agree to a roommate trial period. It’s the beginning of something re-sparking between them.
I suspect some readers will wonder if you can really pull off a second-chance romance between people who were married and divorced, but I think the key is that at least Lana is not the same woman she was the first time around. She’s no longer allowing herself to be run over. It’s not as if she’s looking back at their years together with rose-colored glasses.
There is quiet strength in House Rules; sexiness in what is familiar and yet so different; and above all, it’s a high-five to women who are at their best in their 40s.
Get a look inside House Rules by Ruby Lang, the third story in her Uptown Collection series.
HOUSE RULES by Ruby Lang Excerpt
She kissed him as they traveled uptown, under the too-bright lights of the rattling, rumbling 2 train, her hands stealing up past the thick collar of this coat, to his warm neck, to his hair.
“We’re disgracing ourselves,” Simon murmured, even as he nipped her earlobe and his fingers found the zip of her jacket and pulled it down. “Making out on the train, like teenagers.”
He watched the progress of the zipper avidly, as if it would reveal more than her scarf, her sweater, more layers and layers of clothing, as if he could see down to her skin. Then he tipped his tongue up to catch her again in a lush kiss.
She pushed her breast, or the area of her clothing that covered it, shamelessly into his hand, and he gave a muffled gasp that only made her wilder. The train seat felt too smooth and unsatisfying against her restless thighs.
Every stop on the walk home was marked by where they paused to kiss, where Simon pushed her up against a wall, and she ground her hips against his. A car slowed once and honked while they were pressed on the brick beside a beauty salon. Its headlights illuminated their desperate bodies, causing Lana to bury her head in the front of Simon’s coat. Simon laughed softly, an edge of incredulity in the sound.
“We should get back.”
“Yes.”
They hurried now, swinging around the corner and down the block, through the gate and up, up the stairs, the thumping of their footsteps loud and urgent. Lana couldn’t help blushing at how impatient their running sounded. She and Simon burst in the door and into their dark hallway. Before the door fully closed, they’d fallen on each other, tripping in their haste to kick off shoes and unzip and unbutton each other, to unwind. It was as if they expected someone would stop them, someone wise and mature who’d tell them to think this through. But of course, they were the adults here, they were the ones in charge.
The fact that this was a bad idea only made Lana want it more.
Copyright © 2020 by Mindy Hung
HOUSE RULES is available in ebook from Amazon | Apple Books |Barnes & Noble | Google | Kobo
Check out my review of the previous book in the collection, OPEN HOUSE.
Ruby Lang is the author of the acclaimed Practice Perfect series. She is pint-sized, prim, and bespectacled. Her alter ego, Mindy Hung, wrote about romance novels (among other things) for The Toast. Her work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Walrus, Bitch, and other fine venues. She enjoys running (slowly), reading (quickly), and ice cream (at any speed). She lives in New York with a small child and a medium-sized husband.
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