Hybrid Event: Dearly Departed, Chip Pons

East City Bookshop welcomes Chip Pons back to the shop to discuss his newest romance, Dearly Departed, in conversation with Sara Cate.

Note on Format: This hybrid event will have both an in-person component with limited seating as well as a virtual broadcast via Zoom Webinar. Both in-person and virtual attendees will be able to pose questions to the author during audience Q&A.

Wearing black clothing or funeral garb is highly encouraged, but not required.

Pre-order your copy of Dearly Departed for the event in Eventbrite check-out as an add-on to your ticket.

ABOUT DEARLY DEPARTED

For fans of MM romances like Heated Rivalry and The Entanglement of Rival Wizards, a sexy Hades-inspired gay rom-com, in which the former god of the Underworld turned grumpy funeral director must find a loophole in the Immortal Retirement Act that banished him to Earth, until the florist next door begins to unravel all his carefully laid plans.
Hope is a dangerous thing for gods. Even former ones.
Hayden Harlow, once the mighty Hades, has spent centuries quietly resenting his fall from immortality. Stripped of his godhood by the allegedly irreversible Immortal Retirement Act, he now runs Harlow and Sons Funeral Home—a front for his eternal sentencing among mortals, and a bleak reminder of the purpose he's lost. Still, he's determined to claw his way back...if only the Fates at City Hall would stop toying with him.
Enter Levi Wilder: a florist with an artist's heart, an infectious smile, and a gift for finding beauty in life's messiest moments. When Hayden storms into Levi's shop to complain about a bouquet of sunflowers—an offensive choice for a funeral, in his opinion—their worlds collide. Hayden is all restraint and shadows; Levi is all sunshine and charm. But beneath the clash lies an undeniable spark neither can ignore.
As their connection blossoms, Hayden finds himself caught between the life he once knew and the bright future Levi dares him to imagine. But trusting Levi means risking the walls he's kept in place all these years—and it's not just his heart on the line. Because in the threads of fate, one choice can change everything.

Chip Pons grew up in a small lake town in Northern Michigan, where he discovered the kind of stories that make you believe in magic, love, and second chances. Now based in Washington, DC with his dream of a husband and their pup, Margot, he writes romances rooted in queer joy and the belief that everyone deserves their happily ever after. When he isn't writing, Chip can be found wandering through bookstores, daydreaming about new characters, or shouting about his favorite reads on Bookstagram. And snacking, like, all the time.

Sara Cate is a New York Times bestselling author of heart-forward, high-heat romance that explores power, vulnerability, and the courage to love boldly. From the world of Salacious Players’ Club to her expanding universe of forbidden and next-generation romances, Sara invites readers into stories that are both arousing and deeply human. When she’s not building fictional empires of love and longing, she’s soaking up the Arizona sun, plotting her next project, and traveling with her family.

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Host or Publisher East City Bookshop