Books Tagged With who - occupation - baker

Word Count: Click here to reveal70500 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: It’s Blair Brawsiski’s ride or die year. After a decade in the AHL, if he doesn’t get called up to the NHL this season, it’s time to hang up his skates and focus on other things. But between a second job and family priorities, his attention isn’t where it should be, and his dreams of making it to the big leagues are dwindling by the day. Hiring a personal assistant to help out with day-to-day stuff? Probably the smartest move Blair’s made in a while. But when that PA turns out to be an assertive baker who’s exactly Blair’s type? Blair can’t help but wish those dexterous hands would knead something other than pastry dough. Namely, him. Charlie Shore needs extra income. Desperately. With his expenses about to go up, it’s find a second job or get evicted. Getting hired as Blair’s PA is perfect: flexible hours, decent wages, and a scorching hot professional hockey player who’s willing to let him use his gorgeous kitchen for his baked goods. Too bad that hockey player is exactly Charlie’s type. Too bad Charlie knows better than to date his new boss…

Word Count: Click here to reveal62083 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: Bells ring and choirs sing. People bustle with happiness and joy. Calories pile up while everyone gathers to chat with friends and relatives. What’s more exciting than all the holidays in December? But sometimes we need a break from the expectations and the wonderment. A great way to revive our spirits is by reading a story to ground us in the true meaning of the season. This collection features four stories infused with happiness, love, and joy. From a small business owner discovering his first fruitcake and a homeless man finding a permanent home to a blacksmith’s wish to propose to his childhood friend and a gay man relocating to a small town, each story is a journey of self-discovery leading to happily ever after. Contains the stories: Blame It on the Fruitcake: Motorcycle shop owner Sam McGuire falls for the fruitcake his loft neighbor’s grandma makes as well as the man himself. But will handsome, educated, personable Jay Merriweather be attracted to a grease jockey like Sam? The Orpheum Miracle: The son of crack addicts who abandoned him as a child, Mick has found refuge in the historic Orpheum Theater. But when the new owner takes over, will Mick be pushed out on the street or taken into the owner’s heart? Making the Holidays Happy Again: Butch has been manning the forge in Old Town and fantasizing over his best friend Jimmy since they were in high school. Does Jimmy feel the same way about Butch? Does Butch want to push their friendship and find out? Heart of the Holidays: When Silicon Valley programmer Dan Lassiter moves to a small California town, he doesn’t expect to find love. After Rick Reardon opens his bakery across the street, Dan may change his mind.

Word Count: Click here to reveal125000 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: Maybe having a mate isn’t for everyone.  Howl at the Moon is a set of four M/M romance novellas with growling werewolves. Somewhere out there, four individuals are going about their lives, unaware they’re the fated mates of wolf shifters. And when they find out, being over the moon doesn’t quite describe the feeling. Will everyone end up happily mated in the end? Read and find out!  Contains the stories:  The Blood Witch by Holly Day: Conri is king, but someone is trying to take him down. Nick is a blood witch, who is in Conri’s territory but refuses to see him, which puts him on the top of Conri’s list of suspects. When he goes to confront Nick, things don't turn out the way he'd planned. Nick is his destined mate, but he doesn’t want anything to do with Conri. Conri needs Nick, but can he convince him to fight by his side?  Soul Eater by Ofelia Gränd: Detective Thaddeus Ezax is in over his head. He’s a wizard in the Paranormal Investigations Department. While most children can cast a location spell, Thaddeus can't, so when he gets a kidnapping case, he is forced to get creative. He finds a werewolf skull with a ghost trapped inside, accidentally releases the spirit, and somehow forms a connection with it. Can things get any crazier?  One Would Be Enough by Holly Day: Teo has worked hard to achieve his dream of owning a house. When he refuses to sell it to a pack of werewolves, they kidnap him. He finds himself locked up in a basement with Jerico. Jerico shouldn’t care about the human, but when he learns he’s in danger from his former pack, he knows he has to find a way to get them out of there. But for how long will Jerico be able to keep Teo safe?  The Cake Shop by Ofelia Gränd: York is attacked by a rivaling werewolf pack. Injured and exhausted, he takes refuge in a bear-owned bakery. Torbjorn doesn't do people, he doesn't do wolves, and he will definitely not mate one no matter what the pull in his heart says. York has finally found his mate, but Torbjorn refuses to let him stay. How will he make Torbjorn understand he means him no harm when he refuses to talk to him?

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

Summary: When Dexter Appleton’s best friend Huck commits suicide, it damn near kills Dex too. Huck was a bull rider with a crazy life, and leaves behind a big house, and a ton of unanswered questions. But Dex is just a simple guy, just a Texas redneck trying to scrape together a life, and he can’t handle much more before he breaks. Cyrus Hughes is a professional Dom. He’s shocked to learn that Huck is gone, he’s met with Huck twice a month for years, and didn’t expected to miss a client so much. When he heads to Texas to pay his respects, he instinctively feels protective of Huck’s anxious and unlikely best friend, Dexter. The attraction between them grows, even long distance, until Cyrus insists he needs Dex with him in New York. Clinging to his last bit of hope, Dex takes a leap of faith and moves what little he still owns in with Cyrus, hoping to find his place is in the world, and learn how to love a lifestyle Dom. Their path is full of trial and error, adjusting expectations and discovering how they fit together. Cyrus and Dex try to smooth out the rough edges and create their own family, one where Cyrus hopes to convince Dex that he’s not “just” anything.

Word Count: Click here to reveal92203 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: An unexpected chapter in a vampire’s guide to staying alive. As the only vampire employed by the NYPD, crime scene photographer Noah Green isn’t popular. He’s worked alongside humans for decades and knows how to stay focused and avoid attachments with the bleeders around him … but hasn’t done much to avoid a certain West Village bakery owner, who has no idea Noah can’t eat the bread he buys. Baker Danny Kaes is done hooking up, at least when it comes to fangers. He’s too busy running Nice Buns, the Filipino bakery he owns with his sister, to dwell on the dramas of dating, and if he misses the thrill of sharp teeth on his throat, he still knows he’s better off with his own kind … like the CSU hottie who stops into the bakery before sunrise. While working a string of suspicious deaths, Noah finds Danny at a crime scene, traumatized after discovering a body. Worse, Danny’s also put himself in the killer’s crosshairs and needs a safe place to hide. Surprising even himself, Noah offers Danny his couch, knowing he’ll have to come clean about being a blood eater. Days bleed into nights as the killer closes in, leading Noah and the cops in a mad scramble to protect Danny from dangers he can’t imagine. But Noah can’t protect himself from his feelings for Danny, or how they’ve made him question everything he thought he knew about how humans fit into his carefully ordered vampire life. Overexposed is a 92+K paranormal mystery MM romance. It features a crime scene photographer who thinks he’s got his vampire life figured out, a bakery owner who’s definitely sworn off inter-species dating, an unfortunate number of murders, more mayhem than anyone asked for, and a hard-won, deeply satisfying HEA.

Word Count: Click here to reveal50000 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: A magical bookshop holds the keys. When Mason Chynoweth inherits an old house in small-town New Zealand, he hopes to discover what happened to his great-great uncle Lewis after he returned from the war in 1945. Mason’s first encounter with the property is thankfully reassuring—his sensitive psychic powers aren’t triggered and he has a calm sense of coming home. Elijah Whitaker arrives in Kedgetown for an extended visit with his aunts. He’s quickly drawn to Mason and offers to help him try to find some answers in the dusty old house. It soon becomes clear that Mason is keeping secrets, but Elijah has a few secrets of his own. Like his closely guarded knowledge of the hidden supernatural world, and the fact that many of the townspeople are psi and supernaturals. What is the connection between the house and Postscript, the town’s enigmatic bookshop? Mason’s glimpses of the past give some clues, but not enough to make sense of the puzzle. When a hidden journal comes to light, the true story of Lewis’s journey is revealed, and his path and Mason and Elijah’s begin to intertwine.

Word Count: Click here to reveal27000 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: A neighbors-to-lovers M/M romance novella. For nine years, bookshop owner Dominic has been getting his coffee across the street. For nine years, café owner Louie has been wondering if he’ll ever risk making a move. Then weeks go by with no Dominic. Is it a sign of trouble for the bookshop (and the neighborhood), or only for the man himself? Louie doesn’t quite dare ask the booksellers; he and Dominic haven’t been that kind of friends. The relief when Dominic comes back is overpowering. So much so that Louie finally makes his move. Dominic expected the story of his life to pick up where it left off. He didn’t expect the next chapter to include Louie. But from a touch to a kiss to a best-ever date, their story unfolds with a new surprise on every page. A new thrill, and a new chance. Adult situations, themes, and language; 27000 words and a happy ending.

Word Count: Click here to reveal38000 (Click here to hide)

Character Identities: Click here to revealAce, Aromantic, Bisexual, Demigender, Demisexual (Click here to hide)

Summary: RISE (noun / verb) Eight definitions to inspire writers around the world, and an unlimited number of possible stories to tell: 1) An upward slope or movement 2) A beginning or origin 3) An increase in amount or number 4) An angry reaction 5) To take up arms 6) To return from death 7) To become heartened or elated 8) To exert oneself to meet a challenge Rise features 300-word speculative flash fiction stories from across the rainbow spectrum, from the minds of the writers of Queer Sci Fi.

Word Count: Click here to reveal63000 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: Sometimes the truth is more dangerous than the lie. Paul Havilar is a dragon shifter who’s been on the wrong side of the law more times than he could count. All that changes when he finds his mate. But bonding with a vampire is out of the question, according to his family. They would just as soon wrap stolen Christmas lights around his neck as see him happy. So much for Christmas joy and all that fa-la-la-la-la crap. The day someone murdered his brother was the day Paul’s life changed forever. While not all changes are bad, like coming to terms with having a vampire mate, most sucked. His brother wasn’t perfect, but the gossip around town painted him as a monster. Now Paul wants to know the truth. It sends him down a dark path. One that leads to exposing family secrets and threats against the one person he needs on his side. His mate. When the danger mounts, he must rely on the last person he trusts: his brother’s killer.

Word Count: Click here to reveal64000 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: Dev has pined for his cousin's best friend for years, but no matter how hard he wishes, Clark sees him as nothing but a friend. And it's as a friend that Clark comes to him for help. Clark’s father is on the brink of losing his house and the fastest way to make a quick buck is to win the $10,000 prize in the inaugural Sweet to the Core apple baking contest. Only problem? He's never baked anything that hasn’t come out of a box. But Dev has. As a baker, he’s Clark’s best chance. For the first time, Dev has something Clark wants. Only problem? Dev needs the prize for himself. The only thing he wants—besides Clark—is to buy the local lighthouse where he last spent time with his parents before they died. Working together means opening a lot more than a barrel of apples, though. They may have found the recipe to love. But will Dev have to give up the only connection he has left to his parents in order to have it? Or will Clark let his father down? They can't both have everything. Or can they?

Word Count: Click here to reveal47000 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: In a world where all supernatural beings are either dominant or submissive, Shiro Amano doesn’t have many choices. As a submissive, any dominant walking into his bakery can order him around. He hates it. All he wants is to live his life in peace and bake pastries he can spike with emotions far away from obnoxious alphas. Pitch Rhys wants a mate, but he won’t settle for anything but a true mate. As a powerful wolf shifter, he has subs flocking around him, but his true mate is hiding in the kitchen of a bakery and refuses to see him. He can order him to, of course, but since he threatened Pitch with a knife when he allowed his power to leak, he doesn’t think it’s the way to go. Instead, he’s settling to see how many pastries and cups of coffee he can consume in a day. Two years ago, Shiro escaped an abusive relationship, and he’s not looking for a new one, but when word gets out Shiro is an unmated sub, dominants are invading the bakery. Pitch does his best to scare them off so he can woo Shiro at his own pace, but things escalate too fast. Will Pitch be able to get Shiro to trust him before it’s too late? Can he convince him he wants nothing more than to make him happy and keep him safe?

Word Count: Click here to reveal50000 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: For more than a year, Gabe Callan has known Riley Irving is his mate, but Riley isn’t ready. He stumbled into Gabe’s bakery one night after having left his abusive ex, and he’s still dealing with what he’s been through. Gabe knows he needs time, but he doesn't know how much longer he can wait. All Riley wants is a safe, slow, boring life. He doesn’t want any adventures other than those he reads about in romance novels. But maybe he’s read too many paranormal books because he’s imagining the guys at the bakery growling, and sometimes he believes he sees their eyes shift color. Maybe he’s going insane. Gabe is scared to tell Riley the truth about what he is. If he waits too long, Riley will feel betrayed. If he tells him too soon, he will run away, and Gabe isn’t sure he can survive without Riley. How do you tell your skittish human mate you’re a bear shifter?

Word Count: Click here to reveal114000 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: A Slow Burn Meet Cute! Baker. Wizard. God of Space and Time. Cupcake enthusiast. How long will it take to fan the flames and enrage this gentle phoenix? Start counting. What's a wounded and lonely little cinnamon roll to do? Stripped of his psychic powers, Calico Winghorse flees his homeworld and travels to 19th century Earth via his inter-dimensional portal. As a mixed-blood phoenix trapped in human form, he opens a bakery in the San Francisco Bay Area and quietly nurses his wounds. But the unique method of his arrival draws the unwanted attention of Infinity Corporation. Representing this angelic-run company is Agustin Chavez de la Cruz, the Demon Lord of California. Even though Agustin is IC's heir, he finds himself demoted from his duties to concentrate on his new assignment: take absolute control of Calico's portal. But Calico refuses to sell at any price. He is also very busy ensuring that the good people of the city are getting their fill of baked goods. Before Agustin can formulate a more gracious avenue of acquiring the gateway, the demanding head of IC interferes, further complicating matters. So as negotiations stumble along, Calico and Agustin come to realize they both want more than a stuffy business arrangement. However, due to Calico's injuries, the portal remains vulnerable to the darker forces that want it at any cost. Agustin will have to push both his angelic heritage, as well as his own psychic powers to the very limits to heal this sweet baker, who is also the portal world's God of Space and Time. The Demon Lord of California is the first book of an LGBTQ+ paranormal-fantasy series. You won't want to miss a first love found, hidden worlds, and a recovering workaholic grasping at his second chance. All centered around the control of an otherworldly portal. So curl up with your favorite beverage, and hang out with Cal and Gus for a while. You'll be happy you did!

Word Count: Information not available

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Summary:

They never planned to mix business with pleasure, but together they’re the perfect blend.

Word Count: Click here to reveal14,907 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: Connor Murphy, the CFO of the family business, has given up his dream of becoming a chef in order to help the company. After all, family means the world to him, something his boyfriend learned at Christmas, much to his displeasure. This is why six months after that disastrous Christmas, Connor is sans boyfriend and buries himself in work to take his mind off his single status. Still, he enjoys baking desserts and bringing them to his beloved nanny. He also enjoys going to the Coffee Shoppe, exchanging glances with the man behind the counter. Until the man is suddenly gone. While Murphy Doyle waits for a job in his preferred field, he helps out behind the counter at his family’s coffee shop. He might be a physical therapist, but he also loves to bake, especially desserts, which are a big hit at work. He’s been intrigued by the businessman who frequently comes into the shop, wearing a three-piece suit and always ordering the same thing. Murph would have loved to ask him out, but it’s against company policy, so they never speak, just gaze silently at each other, everything but their eyes hidden by the masks they wear due to the pandemic. And then he gets his dream job, and he’s afraid the opportunity is lost. Are these two men destined to be ships passing in the night, or will family meddling somehow bring them together?