Books Tagged With what - emotion - survivor guilt

Word Count: Click here to reveal50,100 (Click here to hide)

Character Identities: Click here to revealAce, Bisexual, Gay, Pansexual, Transgender (Click here to hide)

Summary: Village nurse Walter Kennett is content with his makeshift found-family in tiny Bradfield. However one midsummer morning a body is found floating in the village duck pond, dead by magical means. Detective Simon Frost arrives in Bradfield to investigate a inexplicable murder. The evidence seems to point to Lucille Hall-Bridges, who lives with doctor Sylvia Marks and nurse Walter Kennett at Courtfield House. Simon isn’t happy—he doesn’t believe Lucy is a murderer but  he’s sure the three of them are hiding something. In the meantime, the draw he feels toward Walter takes him by surprise. Walter is in a dilemma, concealing Sylvia and Lucy’s relationship and not knowing how much to tell Frost about the paranormal possibilities of the murder. He isn’t interested in going to bed with anyone—he’s got a complicated life and has to know someone really well before he falls between the sheets. He’s taken aback by his own attraction to Detective Frost and angry when Frost appears to twist the spark between them to something transactional in nature. Will Walter be satisfied to stay on the periphery of Lucy and Sylvia’s love affair, a welcome friend but never quite included? Or is it time for him to strike out and embark on  a relationship of his own? The second in the Bradfield trilogy, set in the Border Magic universe.

Word Count: Click here to reveal115000 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: A group of strangers meets at Ragazzi, an Italian restaurant, for a cooking lesson that will change them all. They quickly become intertwined in each other's lives, and a bit of magic touches each of them. Meet Dave, the consultant who lost his partner; Matteo and Diego, the couple who run the restaurant; recently-widowed Carmelina; Marcos, a web designer getting too old for hook-ups; Ben, a trans author writing the Great American Novel; teenager Marissa, kicked out for being bi; and Sam and Brad, a May-September couple who would never have gotten together without a little magic of their own. Everyone in the River City has a secret, and sooner or later secrets always come out.

Word Count: Click here to reveal115000 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: A group of strangers meets at Ragazzi, an Italian restaurant, for a cooking lesson that will change them all. They quickly become intertwined in each other's lives, and a bit of magic touches each of them. Meet Dave, the consultant who lost his partner; Matteo and Diego, the couple who run the restaurant; recently-widowed Carmelina; Marcos, a web designer getting too old for hook-ups; Ben, a trans author writing the Great American Novel; teenager Marissa, kicked out for being bi; and Sam and Brad, a May-September couple who would never have gotten together without a little magic of their own. Everyone in the River City has a secret, and sooner or later secrets always come out. Narrated by Michael Lysan.

Word Count: Click here to reveal40000 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: Struck by amnesia after a car crash, Brian Stouten has been living a life laid out by his family, a heterosexual life that just doesn’t fit. When he learns it was all a lie, he returns to the small college town that’s his only clue to his past. But the town is still unfamiliar, and the man he’d hoped would make all his memories return is on a honeymoon with another man. To add insult to injury, everyone thinks Brian died in the crash. It’s only when an out-of-place cowboy asks to bum a smoke that Brian realizes this trip was meant to be. Sylvester Thomas has always fought a secret desire, and done it successfully. But when geeky Brian offers him a smoke and a light, a simple brush of hands has Sylvester’s hidden passions burning deep. Did he make a mistake letting Brian walk away?

Word Count: Click here to reveal131000 (Click here to hide)

Character Identities: Click here to revealAce, Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, Non Binary, Straight, Transgender (Click here to hide)

Summary: As the epic trilogy hurtles toward its conclusion, the fight for the future isn’t over yet. It could lead to a new beginning, or it might spell the end for the last vestiges of humankind. The generation ship Forever has left Earth behind, but a piece of the old civilization lives on in the Inthworld—a virtual realm that retains memories of Earth's technological wonders and vices. A being named Lilith leads the uprising, and if she succeeds in setting its inhabitants free, they could destroy Forever. But during the generation ship's decades-long voyage, humanity has evolved. Liminals with the ability to connect with the world mind and the Inthworld provide a glimmer of hope. They'll have to face not only Lilith’s minions, but also the mistrust of their own kind and persecution from a new government as homotypicals continue to fear what they can't understand. The invasion must be stopped, the Inthworld must be healed, and the people of Forever must let go of their past and embrace what they’re meant to become.

Word Count: Click here to reveal80840 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: In this stand-alone companion story to The Cowboy and the Dom Series, Sam’s only remaining brother, Army Ranger and EOD Specialist, Jim Bowie O’Reilly, suffers an injury in the line of duty, and is sent home to the family ranch in Texas to recuperate. But sometimes you can’t go home again. Thomas and Sam welcome Bowie for a visit in New York, but their D/s lifestyle doesn’t easily lend itself to long-term house guests. Enter Thomas’s trusted friend, EMT and former combat medic Gabriel “Angel” Rogers. The two men met once before when Bowie visited Sam for his birthday, and it doesn’t take the men long to admit they had an instant attraction. They soon discover their desires overlap as well and they set each other on fire. But two big men need space and, as neither is in love with the city, Bowie invites Angel back to Texas to vacation in one of the run-down beach houses he’s flipped. On the eve of their departure though, Angel’s coworker and friend is gravely injured in an accident leaving his ambulance crew shorthanded, and Angel stays behind to help his team get back on their feet. The distance might be more than either man can handle. With a whole country between them, they manage to derail something that had been going so well and it takes a risky intervention to stop them from ruining the best thing they’ve ever had.

Word Count: Click here to reveal14500 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: After Doomsday, there wasn’t much left—a world that had fallen apart. It hadn’t been enough to boil the oceans and raze the surface with fire. With that scorched earth had come a final solution, the contagion. In a world where every breath was ash and disease, few survived. The Imperium hunted them, extracting healthy flesh to extend the life of the powerful. All the while, soaring unseen, the tools of an old order search. Hidden far from the sight of the ruthless Imperium, deep beneath the earth, the DIRE stations offer renewal—an exit from the destruction of the world. Those ships, like a phoenix, rise with the last refugees to bring them to DIRE, hoping that a keeper yet lives to hold open the only chance of escape.

Word Count: Click here to reveal80000 (Click here to hide)

Character Identities: Information not available

Summary: It’s been months since Seth Byrne’s boyfriend ghosted him. Seth is still angry, but he’s worried too, because when Andrew Keller disappeared, he completely disappeared. Disconnected phone. Empty apartment. Abrupt departure from his job. Gone. Until tonight. Just as Seth is beginning to move on, Andrew shows up at his door with a story so wild it has to be fake… except he’s armed with a stack of evidence proving he’s telling the truth. And the truth is that everything Seth knew about Andrew is a lie. Detective Brandon Gaines was supposed to be Andrew Keller for the rest of his life. After being marked for death by the white supremacist cops he tried to bring down, he was put into witness protection. When a chain of events returns him to his old identity, Brandon doesn’t know who he is anymore. Now he’s caught between two identities that don’t fit, and nothing in his world makes sense… except the way he feels about the man he left behind. Is it even possible to rekindle their relationship when Seth knows nothing about Brandon? He understands why Brandon had to lie, but that doesn’t change the fact that the man in front of him is a stranger. Where do they even start? But as they struggle to bridge the gap between them, they may have much bigger problems. Because there are people who do know who Brandon is. And they haven’t forgotten why they drove him into witness protection in the first place. The Truth in My Lies is a standalone gay romantic suspense novel.

Word Count: Click here to reveal98,500 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary:

Word Count: Click here to reveal97000 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: Gene Caldwell has given up on love. After two messy divorces and countless failed relationships, he’s sixty-one, he’s single, and he’s done trying. Terry Hanson still believes in love, but after burying two partners in thirty years, he’s prepared to spend the rest of his life alone. Even if the nights get cold, he refuses to go through that heartbreak a third time. At a mutual friend’s wedding reception, the two men bond over their loneliness and cynicism. They spend the evening commiserating… and the rest of the night pretending they’ll be able to walk away from each other in the morning. Neither can help coming back for more. They can't get enough of each other’s touch, the affection they’ve both been starving for, and the companionship they both crave and fear. If they lower their decades-old defenses, they’ll risk more heartbreak. If they don’t lower those defenses, though, they’ll miss out on love that was worth waiting half a century to find. This 97,000 word Las Palmas Fencing Club novel is the sequel to The Master Will Appear, and can be read as a standalone.

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

Summary: A bloody past haunts him. A devastating present lures him back... Nao hides from his violent past in the Japanese mob by opening a teahouse in Japan's cultural center, Kyoto. His past comes flooding back when he discovers a gravely injured man with a tattooed chest, a bloody knife, and a Korean business card. Saehyun would've died if not for Nao's help. He knows nothing of his savior's connection with the local mafia, but Saehyun has his own secrets. He commands the Korean mafia, the mortal enemy of Nao’s former syndicate. As Nao and Saehyun grow closer, so does the strength of the Korean mob. A shocking murder pulls Nao back into a past he'd all but abandoned. War is looming, and Nao must choose between protecting Saehyun or avenging the honor of his old mafia family. The Yakuza Path: Blood Stained Tea is the first book in a series of Japanese mafia thrillers. If you like complex characters, blood-soaked violence, and twists you won't see coming, then you'll love Amy Tasukada's gritty crime masterpiece. Buy Blood Stained Tea to dive deep into the Asian mafia tale today!

Word Count: Information not available

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

Summary:

A killer. A traitor. A deadly war that could take their love and their lives…

Ruling the Kyoto yakuza makes Nao Murata a perpetual target, especially with the Koreans encroaching into their territory. An attempt on his life at his mafia headquarters crosses a line. Setting up his beloved ally Aki as the would-be assassin crosses another. Nao knows the only way to save his friend’s life is to sever their growing bond and force Aki to fake his own death…

But Aki Hisona refuses to stay dead. Determined to expose Nao's would-be killer and save the man he loves, Aki goes deep undercover in the Korean underworld. But when he's asked to prove his loyalty, he risks becoming caught in a web of his own lies…

With Aki gone and the Kyoto mafia in grave danger, Nao fears his trust in others could be fatal.

Will Nao and Aki find the assassin in time, or will Nao's rule end in bloody chaos?

The Yakuza Path: Flowers of Flesh and Blood is the powerful fifth installment of The Yakuza Path thriller series. If you like gritty Japanese crime, richly-nuanced characters, and slow-burning gay romance, then you’ll love Amy Tasukada’s high-octane novel.

Buy Flowers of Flesh and Blood to slice into the Japanese underworld today!

Word Count: Information not available

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

Summary: When a body goes missing, a young Yakuza’s life hangs in the balance… Aki Hisona’s latest promotion is a cause for celebration. But because his new job is working as the personal secretary for the Yakuza's Kyoto-based godfather, it’s also a cause for dangerous envy. He takes an invitation from a friend for congratulatory drinks, but Aki never thought the night would end with a deadly knife fight… Aki is tasked with disposing of his friend’s corpse, but there’s one problem: the body is missing. As body parts surface around town, it’s only a matter of time before the police piece together the clues. But keeping one step ahead of the cops may not matter if Aki can’t solve the mystery before his cold, unforgiving godfather boss does… The Yakuza Path: One Thousand Cranes is a pulse-pounding standalone thriller in the ongoing series of Japanese mafia stories. If you like gritty settings, page-turning whodunits, and accurate portrayals of Kyoto traditions, then you’ll love Amy Tasukada’s gripping tale. Buy The Yakuza Path to pledge your reader loyalty today! 

Word Count: Click here to reveal76000 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: A dead man tells no tales—or so they say—but can he find a happy ever after? After being declared dead by his country and recruited to an elite team of Black Ops Operators, former Italian Special Forces Consubin Angelo Selvaggio has never fully embraced the life offered to him by The Ghost Protectors. His heart has always yearned for the one he walked away from. Now the only remaining member of his blood family is missing in one of the worst hell holes on earth, to save him, Angelo needs help from the same man he swore he’d stay away from. The man who’s heart he destroyed when he walked away to save both their lives. Is Angelo willing to risk it all to find his brother? Is he willing to cross every line and break every rule for the one he loves? Hell yes, there is no price too high for one last shot at love with the man who owns his heart. After the loss of his husband in a roadside bomb on the sand strewn streets of Kandahar, Vittorio *Toro* Gambino took refuge in the Tribal Lands of Afghanistan. Using his intelligence skills to be Italy’s eyes and ears on the ground in the Middle East. A phone call from a dead man sends his world spiraling out of control. Everything he believed in —destroyed. Everything he knew as truth—gone. Everything he’d dreamed of is once again at his fingertips if he can get past the hurt and betrayal which burns in his soul. He’s about to find out if he has what it takes to Claim a Ghost?

Word Count: Click here to reveal48000 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: A lost vampire returns to the small town of Granite after learning that a letter he wrote a century ago is featured as a love letter in a museum exhibit. Not wanting anyone to see such drivel, Poe attempts to sneak in and steal it back, only to run into a dragon protecting his horde. Hakko, Granite’s fierce dragon protector, will do anything to keep his new home safe. He’ll be the lone guard against the might of the town’s mayor, Elijah. But when he discovers a homeless vampire speaking to the trees in the museum’s cemetery, the scales around his heart shatter around him and he falls hard for Poe. Poe doesn’t want to become attached to the place that wrecked him when he was human. Once he takes his letters, he’s out of Granite forever. Fate has other plans for him. Reuniting with Sawyer, the vampire who made him, Poe finds a strength he didn’t know he had. And a future he never thought he’d see. To Fall For a Dragon is set at the same time as Demons Treasure Warlocks. With a prickly hero, and gentle yet stubborn dragon, this book offers a vampire a chance to fight back and a dragon who finds a bit of redemption.

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Summary: After playing his part in Operation Perth in Afghanistan, former Australian Special Forces Commando Cade Kelly was officially declared dead. Recruited by Rock and Grif to join their elite team of Black Ops Operators, The Ghost Protectors, he has built a new life for himself as the team’s top intel analyst. A spur of the moment decision to spend his down time in Brazil lands him in the middle of a cartel revenge war. Cade has lived and "died" by the gun before, he’s not afraid of war. But the man he rescues, that man, makes him wish for the one thing he swore he would never have again—love. Dragged into his father’s cartel world of drugs, blood, and money, for most of his life, Felipe *Rio* Oseguera González has been looking for a way out. He had it beaten into him to never trust a cop—even if you are paying him. But with his life on the line, the only one he can trust is the badass blond commando with the big ass guns. Rio knows better than anyone that freedom isn’t free, it always demands it’s price in blood. Even so, he’s grabbing this opportunity with both hands and if he has his way, he might just persuade this ghost that sometimes the dead can have a happy ever after too. Death and vengeance may make them run… but can love get them out of this war alive?

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Summary: As a former member of the Canadian Infantry, Danny Reich, has been waiting for someone to tell him that a mistake was made, he didn’t belong, he didn’t measure up, and he needed to go back to his old life. He loved being a Ghost but sometimes the self-doubt inside him caused him to take stupid chances and insane risks. A routine surveillance job on the borders between Russia and Finland was not meant to be what broke him. Operating on Finnish soil is not allowed. Neither is falling in love, but what the heck… if he was going to get booted, he may as well make it epic. Kill first, ask questions later, has been Samu *Solo* Tikkanen’s motto for as long as he’s been a member of Finland’s elite Utti Jaeger Regiment. When his helo is shot down in remote wilderness near the Russian border, and his whole team dies, he must figure out not only how to go on without his brothers in arms to stand shoulder to shoulder with him as Finland faces invasion from an unknown enemy but also how to trust the laid back easy going Canadian who saved him. This would be so much easier if he could see where the threat to his country is coming from.With Finland and the whole of Europe at stake, now is not the time for falling in love. There are so many reasons he should stay away from Danny Reich. And so many more why his heart should not be on the table at all. But rules were meant to be twisted and bent, while skimming right on the line between right and wrong, Solo finds it’s impossible to stop his foolish heart from hoping that he can be the one ‘To Tame a Ghost.’

Word Count: Click here to reveal95000 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: Nine months ago, Rowan Ward thought he had it all. Now he’s fighting to pull his shredded life together, buried in work and battling the kind of grief that destroys a man’s soul. When fires spring up around Cincinnati threatening Rowe’s friends and clients, he’s thrilled to find his old Army buddy, Noah Keegan in town. They were a hell of a team when they served together, so in-sync, it was rumored they could read each other’s minds. Noah thought devoting his life to the Army would be enough. Then he realized he had no family and only one friend he cared about. When his enlistment was up, he found himself standing on Rowe’s doorstep, looking only for friendship but secretly hoping for more. He needs to know if their one unbelievable night together years ago wasn’t a mistake. Caught in a dangerous game of fire and bullets, neither expects the inferno of emotion that ignites between them. One Rowe isn’t prepared to accept. One that could break Noah.

Word Count: Click here to reveal67000 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: A jaded mage-hunter. A mystery that's better left unsolved. And a choice that tests morals against codes. For years, Tracker’s life has had two facets: Hunting spellsters and entertaining strangers in his bed. Few doubt he's good at both, although only one is considered acceptable amongst the King's Hounds. His trip to Toptower should be just another task in an endless string of routine. Take down any dangerous spellster he finds and send the timid ones to Demarn’s tower prison. It is a role he was born to play. One he has grown weary of. But there's something off about the spellsters he’s encountering. The people he typically finds aren't usually this powerful or anywhere near as lethal to a man immune to magic. It's as if something, or someone, is releasing them with an eye to weaken an already harried kingdom. To what end, he cannot be certain of. History is littered with the dangers of magic running unchecked. He must uncover the truth, and quickly. But with all leads pointing one way, will he be able to uphold the code of the King's Hounds once he finds it? *This book contains violence, gore and explicit adult themes.*

Word Count: Click here to reveal108000 (Click here to hide)

Character Identities: Click here to revealBisexual, Genderqueer, Non Binary (Click here to hide)

Summary: Fire. Water. Burn. In the two months since the All Hallows’ Eve party, Tally has courted Haru, buying expensive gifts, taking the two of them to upscale restaurants and trying to find a balance in earning Haru’s fragile trust while being new parents to the Cohen joeys. Tally sees hope in the new domesticity the family has settled into, despite having some bumps along the way. Gifts and treats have satisfied Haru’s otter, but the human half remembers the brutal lessons of giving their trust away. How can two lijun who barely know each other anticipate what will happen when times get tough? There are circumstances Tally doesn’t understand yet, and Haru struggles to find their feet with an Urusar who doesn’t know the rules. A revelation not only throws the tentative relationship between them askew, but also starts Tally and Haru down a path the two of them can’t escape, one so heart-wrenching Haru’s not sure their heart will survive. Traditionalist concerns that have always nipped at the Bastille clan’s heels come roaring to the forefront with demands and ultimatums. Tally needs to fall in line or face further threats to his otter, his family and his clan. Haru needs to find the strength to believe in the good despite the bad. In an environment where it’s vital to know ally from foe, Tally and Haru need to stand united or watch the community Tally’s family has built fall under the thumb of heartless, greedy autocrats.