“We have come to terms with who we are, we have been presented [with] a love like no other,” Pons continued, “and we get to have that cheesy rom-com, swept off our feet, romantic gesture moments, just like our straight counterparts.”
The author feels a sense of responsibility when it comes to sharing stories centered around LGBTQ+ romance—and its one he doesn’t take lightly.
“I’ve always believed that queer joy is an act of resistance and it’s an act of intention, where there are so many outside voices telling us that who we are and who we love is wrong,” he expressed to E!. “I think about the current climate that we’re in and I worry, but at the same time, everything that I’m doing is intentional so that it can find that set of eyes who needs to find it.”
That’s why on Winging It With You’s cover—designed and illustrated by Tal Goretsky—readers can see protagonists Asher Bennett and Theo Fernandez locked in a swoon-worthy embrace.
“I had very deliberate and long discussions with my publisher about the cover because this was my first traditionally published book,” Pons, whose previous foray into writing was self-published novel You & I, Rewritten, shared. “I only had one first, and I wanted it to show two adult grown men embraced in a moment of pure love and romance and adoration of one another.”
He continued, “I want people to walk into the store and see two adult men embracing the way that they’ve only historically seen a man and a woman.”
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