Books Tagged With what - holiday - christmas

Word Count: Click here to reveal154047 (Click here to hide)

Character Identities: Click here to revealBisexual, Gay, Questioning, Straight (Click here to hide)

Summary: In the final book of this epic, memorable, mind-blowing series, Zach makes a choice regarding his long-term future. Will he pick Dray, Dwight or neither? Zach also comes face-to-face with his father and that interaction could have long-lasting impacts on the brewing relationship with his brother. In a series of heart-to-heart conversations with his mother, he learns the truth of his childhood foundations which shaped him into the man he is today. Dwight is on the search for liberation as he comes clean to the people he loves the most. He is determined to see his divorce through to the end and doesn’t care what all it might cost him. Kris and Rozi come to a resolution about the issues that plague their marriage. While Rozi is forced to deal with her shattered past, she learns more unwanted news about her family. Will Rozi and Kris make it through the fire or has too much damage been done? While Raidon is trying to put his life back together after Micah’s devastating situation, Tony makes an announcement that will forever change their relationship. TJ finds himself in a serious bind as Eli plots to remove Trae from their lives. As Dray continues his sessions with the therapist that brings him closer to healing, Phoenix deals with a situation from his past that can cause imminent danger to his livelihood. Join Zach and the crew for one final ride as these characters are forced into decisions that will forever shape their destiny as all of their lives finally come full circle.

Word Count: Click here to reveal68000 (Click here to hide)

Character Identities: Click here to revealGay, Transgender (Click here to hide)

Summary: Love & Limitations is Scott's fourth short story collection and first one featuring contemporary MM and LGBTQ+ stories: I Only Want to Be With You: Derrek likes Ryan. Ryan likes Alex. Alex treats Ryan like trash. So why can't he see who really loves him? The Boy in the Band: It's hard for a trans kid in high school, just like it was for a gay kid two decades before. Can Ryan and Justin find common ground in time? Translation: Dominic has a thing for Italian guys, especially his boss, Dante. His roommate Enrico has a thing for him. No matter how this ends, someone is going to get hurt. Slow Thaw: As the Antarctic warms, so does the chilly relationship between scientist Javier Fernandez and new arrival-and trans man-Col Steele as they contend with a disaster on the ice. Ten: After the death of his husband, Chris faces a gay mid-life crisis-at thirty-five-as he jumps back into the dating scene for ten dates in ten days. This is the first time all of these stories have all been collected in one place, and the first publication of the The Boy in the Band in any form.

Word Count: Click here to reveal40395 (Click here to hide)

Character Identities: Click here to revealGay (Click here to hide)

Summary: A fiercely protective firefighter. A lonely, shy drifter. Ejected from foster care on his eighteenth birthday, Lane Freeman has spent the past five years hitchhiking from place to place. But a steady six months bussing tables at the same bar, an apartment to call his own, and a three-legged cat have him contemplating setting down roots. Until the bar owner’s brother returns home for the holidays. Trey Jenkins has seen countless drifters steal from his brother or leave a trail of damage in their wake. He figures Lane is just another in a long line of disasters. But the more he gets to know Lane, the more he realizes Lane isn’t like the others. Catching a glimpse of Lane’s gentle heart, Trey finds himself captivated, but Trey’s life is back in Dallas. When a blizzard snows them in together, Trey’s resolve to keep his distance crumbles. Will the fragile heat between them ignite or will Lane find himself back on the open road once more? Tropes: Hurt/Comfort, enemies to lovers, snowed in/forced proximity, learning to love again **Please note: This is a re-release of a reclaimed story from previous publisher. No content has been changed.**

Word Count: Click here to reveal41303 (Click here to hide)

Character Identities: Click here to revealGay (Click here to hide)

Summary: Sleigh bells ring—are you listening? It’s that time of year again, and we have the perfect way to get you in the mood: A free anthology! Five holiday stories that are guaranteed to warm your heart, heat up your cold nights, and most importantly: Make your yuletide gay. FREE Anthology Contributors: A Christmas Party to Remember by Nicky Spencer Let's Not Go Crazy by Stephen Hoppa Captain Jack and the Snack Attack by Addison Albright The Christmas Day Date by Nell Iris The Year of the Monkey by Amy Tasukada ~ ~ ~ Keywords: free, short story, short stories, holiday, christmas, new year, new year's, new years, anthology

Word Count: Click here to reveal15298 (Click here to hide)

Character Identities: Click here to revealGay (Click here to hide)

Summary: Blacksmith Butch has secretly loved his best friend, science nerd Jimmy, since grade school. Now their shops in Old Town Seven Winds, California, are only doors from each other. They’re about to turn thirty, and Butch refuses to wait another day to make a decision: propose to Jimmy and start the family he’s always wanted or forget his dream to avoid risking their friendship. Why can’t the choice be as easy as creating decorative ironwork in his forge?

Word Count: Click here to reveal7091 (Click here to hide)

Character Identities: Click here to revealGay (Click here to hide)

Summary: Matthew Blick is almost thirty years old, and he hates the thought of another holiday alone. He has become a bit of a wet blanket when Christmas rolls around every year. So much so that even his five-year-old niece, Hannah, knows something needs to change. She asks the department store Santa to bring her uncle a man to love, and when Santa sees her uncle, he formulates a plan to set that possibility in motion. Santa shows up at Matthew’s house and at first Matthew can’t place him, but then the memories of his first kiss flood his mind and he is shocked to find that Santa is the man he has carried a torch for since high school. Will this twist of fate help Matthew change his view on the holidays? Only a kiss can tell. A story from the Dreamspinner Press 2016 Advent Calendar "Bah Humbug."

Word Count: Click here to reveal85586 (Click here to hide)

Character Identities: Click here to revealGay (Click here to hide)

Summary: MacKenzie Wright needed a vacation, but a three-month work trip to Auckland over the holiday season wasn’t what he had in mind. Three years ago, MacKenzie said goodbye to Eric Parata, not envisioning he’d ever return to the sun-kissed beaches of Coromandel. Fate, in the guise of his best friend Alicia, intervened, and now MacKenzie find himself face to face with the man he’d left behind. Over the holidays, his feelings run deep, but in the back of his mind, he knows the clock is ticking on his time in New Zealand. His life in Seattle beckons, but will he listen to the call of his heart instead?

Word Count: Click here to reveal75,000 (Click here to hide)

Character Identities: Click here to revealBisexual, Gay (Click here to hide)

Summary: *2024 WINNER - New England Romance Writers Reader's Choice Award - Short contemporary romance novel* A between-jobs vacation was all Angelo expected from Buenos Aires; when it turned into a holiday fling, he wasn’t about to say No. Ramon’s impulsive trip to Argentina started off as a disaster. The cute dance teacher offering a room share? An early Christmas present. The night dancing tango? A revelation. The next week turned into a series of great dates, the kind that would take months to set up in real life. By day two, they were both wishing they’d met long ago, in California, where they both grew up. Ramon’s heading back there; Angie’s bound for North Carolina. How could they possibly make it work? Could they try? Angie leaves Argentina with a head full of plans and wishes, but no regrets. Ramon goes home with a plan of his own, determined to turn some wishes into reality. A New Year’s Eve party was always going to be a challenging introduction to his new job. Left on their own by two key staffers, Angie and his junior instructors manage to pull it off. The next morning, he’s expecting a hard day of damage control. Instead he finds Ramon on his doorstep. One way or another, they’ll dance into the future together.

Word Count: Click here to reveal78000 (Click here to hide)

Character Identities: Click here to revealGay (Click here to hide)

Summary: Beauty and the Bear: Can these opposites fake their way into something real? Sheldon Soleskin should be having a horrible day. Even though he’s been unexpectedly transferred to a new school right before the holidays, has only one day to set up his new classroom, and just discovered his twin sister's been hiding an invitation to his ex-boyfriend’s Christmas Eve wedding, he’s still ready to take on the world with a smile on his face and a skip in his step. Theo Berenson just wants to be left alone to his custodial duties. But when the chipper new first-grade teacher needs help moving furniture the Sunday after Thanksgiving, he's forced to do something he detests. Help. To make matters worse, Theo's overbearing parents are coming for Hanukah in a few weeks, and he's told them he has a boyfriend. Except he doesn't. Because who would want to date an oaf like Theo? Working together, these opposites discover they might be able to help each other out. Agreeing to be each other’s dates, they become friends as they practice for their upcoming events. But when all the rehearsing starts feeling a little too real, and both men's pasts come roaring back to haunt them, will they be able to pull off the ultimate holiday masquerade?

Word Count: Information not available

Character Identities: Click here to revealGay (Click here to hide)

Summary: Colorado's majestic scenery and creative community may be perfect for finding love, but life can change anywhere. Graham and Patrick raised a beautiful daughter together, then watched her take flight. But somehow in the aftermath, they lost their way. Now Patrick lives in Denver where he has his art studio, and Graham has been living his own solitary life in the home they built together. If one didn't count the constant ache of loss, the loneliness, and broken hearts, it was the perfect arrangement. But this year, Christmas holds the promise of a happy event that will bring Patrick and Graham a new kind of bliss...together. Can the magic of Loveland, the joy of the holiday season, and a special delivery mend the hurting hearts of two men and set them on the path to renewed love?

Word Count: Click here to reveal33883 (Click here to hide)

Character Identities: Click here to revealGay (Click here to hide)

Summary: The holidays have rolled around again, and Mitch Brownlie finds himself without a date for his cousin’s annual bash. Not that he doesn’t have options in both Clark and Wes. He just doesn’t want his family to know these former clients come as a package deal. Complicating matters, another former client is demanding his attention in a way Mitch can’t ignore. Increasingly menacing threats are made, and he’s forced to face the fact that this former-client-turned-stalker can and will follow through on them. With love and his life on the line, Mitch must make a choice between his old jet-setting ways as an escort and taking a chance on love – if he can outwit his stalker. Mitch’s Men is a contemporary gay male romance between three men. Though a stand-alone story, it is Book 4 ½ of the Rain City Tales, taking place between the last chapter and the epilogue of Book 4: The Wedding Weekend.

Word Count: Click here to reveal27,169 (Click here to hide)

Character Identities: Click here to revealBisexual, Gay (Click here to hide)

Summary: The New Year of 2002 starts off with a literal bang, when Mark Vincent is called to WBIS headquarters and learns the Washington Bureau of Intelligence and Security has been disbanded. He's not happy with the situation, but he's ready to make his own way in the intelligence waters of DC. However, when Trevor Wallace, known as The Boss, requests he accept the CIA's offer of a job, Mark reluctantly agrees. He isn't surprised to find working for the CIA is exactly what he expected, with the Company not allowing him to do his job. Mark lets his resentment be known as he's partnered with one officer after another, with no success. As a result, he's determined to leave the CIA, in spite of his promise to the man whose opinion he valued so highly. Quinton Mann is viewed as royalty in the intelligence community. He had a run-in with Mark Vincent a few years before, while Vincent was still senior special agent for the WBIS, and Quinn had developed a healthy respect for him. Now, however, it's his turn to partner with the man considered by the alphabet agencies to be a sociopath. Quinn can see what the problem is, and he's aware Vincent might not remain CIA for long. Now, the year is drawing to a close. Will a drink on Christmas Eve change things for both men?

Word Count: Information not available

Character Identities: Click here to revealGay (Click here to hide)

Summary: For years, Mal has given Aidan a little piece of the world for special occasions in the form of unique rocks and fossils—until the year he gives Aidan a piece of the moon instead. Aidan has treasured every gift: in a world of impersonal relationships, they’re the one reminder he has that somebody out there cares about him for who he really is. Then through a twist of fate, their relationship goes beyond personal and into intimate, leaving Aidan shocked and set to run the other way. Despite his feelings for Mal, past experiences have convinced Aidan that he's a failure at relationships, and he's afraid to trust his heart. It just might take a Christmas miracle for Aidan to find the courage to love.

Word Count: Click here to reveal38352 (Click here to hide)

Character Identities: Click here to revealGay (Click here to hide)

Summary: A chance meeting they never forgot. Six years after meeting British soldier Aiden Foster during the Christmas Truce of 1914, Jochen Weber still finds himself thinking about Aiden, their shared conversation about literature, and Aiden’s beautiful singing voice. A visit to London gives Jochen the opportunity to search for Aiden, but he’s shocked at what he finds. The uniform button Jochen gave him is the only thing Aiden has left of the past he’s lost. The war and its aftermath ripped everything away from him, including his family and his music. When Jochen reappears in his life, Aiden enjoys their growing friendship but knows he has nothing to offer. Not anymore. Author’s note: This story was originally published in 2014 by another publisher. This edition has some added content, and uses UK spelling to reflect its setting.  

Word Count: Information not available

Character Identities: Click here to revealBisexual, Gay (Click here to hide)

Summary: Ivyrson is the quintessential Scrooge when it comes to anything having to do with the holidays. However, the chance to win a hefty chunk of money and free repairs on his old home is enough to entice the man to take part in a holiday-themed reality game. Emory has had a crush on his older brother’s best friend for years. When the chance to help Ivy possibly win a reality game comes along, Emory doesn’t hesitate. After all, that’s what friends are for. The two men have known each other forever, but living together and pretending to be a couple means getting to know each other on a whole new level. Can they convince the viewing audience their fake relationship deserves to win the grand prize? Or will Ivy and Emory get swept up in the holiday magic and find themselves falling in love for real? Once Upon a Christmas House is a steamy, forced-proximity, fake relationship, M/M Christmas romance between a grumpy Scrooge and his best friend’s cheery little brother.

Word Count: Click here to reveal29057 (Click here to hide)

Character Identities: Click here to revealGay (Click here to hide)

Summary: When Jules Evergreen lands in trouble at the North Pole and gets shipped off to Snow Hope Island for ninety days, he never expects to take up the cause of the forgotten toys waiting for new homes. Falling for his new boss is not on the agenda either, but his heart has other ideas. Felix Winterson has grown up on Snow Hope Island and now runs the place. He isn’t thrilled when party boy Jules arrives, and Felix tries hard to ignore the man’s charms. He has other problems, anyway. For years he’s tried to get Santa to look at the growing inventory of damaged toys in the warehouse, to no avail. When Jules comes up with a plan to save the toys, the men find themselves working closely together. As Christmas Eve looms, there’s a lot at stake. Can they save Snow Hope, convince Santa to rescue the toys, and fall in love all at the same time?

Word Count: Information not available

Character Identities: Click here to revealGay (Click here to hide)

Summary: A divorce lawyer with a romantic spirit.  A cynical television executive who thinks commitment is for fools.  They can’t fight their attraction, or their affection. Can they find a way to reconcile their vastly different needs, or will each of them walk away from the best thing they’ve ever had? Jordan might be a divorce lawyer, but he’s a hopeless romantic.  He doesn’t see the two as incompatible, either.  He’s never had a relationship last long enough to be with someone on Valentine’s Day, but he’s still hopeful he’ll find the one out there somewhere. Sam is an executive vice president at a major television network.  He spends his days managing programming, much of it centered around romance, and he knows exactly how fake television romances are.  His own background of rejection only cements his views on the fleeting nature of affection. They meet by chance, when Sam’s sister and best friend file for divorce.  The divorce is messy, and Sam and Jordan are thrown together often enough to try to make a relationship work.  When the winter holidays roll around, the difference in their expectations comes to the fore.  Can Sam overcome his fear of commitment – and rejection?  Can Jordan get over his need to define their relationship?  Or will they both lose the one thing in their lives that made them happiest?

Word Count: Click here to reveal17500 (Click here to hide)

Character Identities: Click here to revealBisexual, Genderfluid (Click here to hide)

Summary: Can an angel gown for a little boy let a single dad and a drag queen stitch together a new pattern for love? Hospice nurse Gabe Martin is bisexual but doesn’t have time for love—his main priority is raising Ian, his adopted five-year-old son. Ian loves wearing dresses at home and wants an angel gown for his kindergarten holiday pageant. When Gabe visits a sewing store to get help with Ian’s costume, he’s assisted by a bewitching employee named Loren who opens up Gabe’s focused world. Drag queen Loren Schuster likes playing with gender norms and wearing skirts and dresses in everyday life. A bad breakup killed his interest in serious relationships, but he reconsiders that stance when gorgeous single dad Gabe walks into the shop. Loren helps young Ian see it’s okay to be himself, and together, Loren and Gabe create a new pattern for a family full of love.

Word Count: Information not available

Character Identities: Click here to revealBisexual, Gay, Straight (Click here to hide)

Summary: All his working life, Kurt lived in a world of secrets. Those secrets killed his best friend, Nick. One secret, though, will tear his world apart – the one he’s keeping from himself. December, 1988: For Kurt Nash, CIA operative, a trip to Pemberton in Australia’s south-west to scatter Nick’s ashes should have been routine, except for the guilt plaguing him, and the trauma of the events that nearly killed him as well. When he encounters Lucy, Nick’s fiancée, returned to celebrate Christmas with her brother, Don, Kurt realises the time has come to tell Nick’s story. But Kurt will discover that opening up can be like lighting a fire in a forest. After all, when a forest fire burns, it is hard to predict what will catch and which direction it will turn. But as Kurt begins to find himself hidden under all the layers of secrets, will his growing friendship with Don and Lucy be enough to enable him to deal with those secrets? Will he be strong enough to come to terms with what he has been hiding from himself?

Word Count: Click here to reveal32000 (Click here to hide)

Character Identities: Click here to revealGay (Click here to hide)

Summary: This is the story of two college professors who share an office and not much else – until the holiday season works its magic. Eric’s semester hasn’t been going all that well. Not only have renovations to the English Department’s physical space forced him to share an office with the department’s newest faculty member, Mike Kistler, his mother showed up at the beginning of the semester with all her worldly possessions and a U-Haul. It’s not that he doesn’t care for his mother, but she’s disruptive. She keeps wanting to honor traditions they never cared about when he was growing up, starting with the giant antique advent calendar she dragged over from her parents’ house in Hamburg. Eric has a solution, though. He might not have much interest in his mom’s traditions, but his irritating office mate does. He’ll bring Kistler over, and his mom will have someone who cares, and someone to speak German with, and Eric will be left alone to grade papers in peace. Mike is the rising star of the English Department. He’s worked damn hard to get from homeless teen to young PhD, he’s proud of his accomplishment, and he loves to give back. He likes his work. He could live without his office mate, who’s attractive but stuffier than an overfull burrito. He’s shocked when Eric invites him to help his mother celebrate Advent, but intrigued by the old traditions. And it’s been more than ten years since he’s had anything like a family to celebrate anything with, so he agrees. Moving from a cramped office to a family setting shifts things for Eric and Mike, and they start to see each other through different eyes. Can they find love, or will old family issues keep them apart forever?