contemporary

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: Information not available

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

Summary: For Jake, losing his eyesight isn’t nearly as frightening as having to rely on someone else. Especially if he wants that other person to be his lover. He was taught from an early age that being gay is synonymous with being a sissy and he can’t see past that lesson to the one Tyler is trying to teach him.   Tyler has been attracted to Jake since they first met. When Jake comes to Tyler’s bed, it seems all of Tyler’s dreams are coming true. Except Jake doesn’t want more than friends with benefits. Can Tyler stand being Jake’s second choice?

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Character Identities: Click here to revealBisexual, Gay, Genderfluid, Genderqueer, Lesbian, Non Binary, Questioning, Pansexual, Polyamorous (Click here to hide)

Summary: Elsie’s a small town with a lot of heart. Isn’t that how most small town romance stories begin? But this isn’t any love story. These five stories cross paths and connections, age, gender, sexuality, and different kinds of relationships. Stories like that of Harriet, the owner of Twelfth Moon perfumery and adopted mother to her nephew, Nu. Harriet always figured she’d be single for the rest of her life, but Dela Atwater appearing in her shop one blustery autumn day sparks something within her. A bit of romance and longing she’d long thought buried. And what about Nu, Harriet’s nephew? He’s quickly falling for Miles, who works in the coffee shop next door to Twelfth Moon. The shop is owned by Miles’s brother, Jones, who has his own ideas about sex and lust and romance (or lack thereof). Across town, Maeve is learning how to exist as a widower but when they meet Evie, a spark is lit. And Yuri, Nu’s best friend, is anxiously awaiting the holidays so he can see his girlfriend, Beckett, once more. It's about hope and joy and queer love in so many shapes and forms, from the author of the dark fantasy/romance novel Wilderwood ("...will shatter readers’ expectations with its bewitching complexities..." - The BookLife Prize).

Word Count: Click here to reveal72,000 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: A later-in-life M/M love story about commitment and equality. Patrick Sarkisian could have been on another ridiculous date on that particular Saturday. Instead he was cheering for his niece at her first adult ballroom competition. Being the Good Uncle, not expecting the evening to be memorable in any way. Then he noticed one of the professional dancers, and things got interesting. Dmitri Vasko expected to spend the long evening as usual: round after round, out on the floor with his students. Then he heard someone yelling his number, saw the person responsible, and all at once wondered if this was the change he’d almost stopped hoping for. Their courtship was just long enough to determine that they really did want the same thing: each other. Then they had to figure out how to work around two established careers. How to be together, and how to stay together. Their partnership was built around change. One thing never changed: commitment to making it work. REVISED & EXPANDED EDITION including material previously published as 'Change Partners.'

Word Count: Click here to reveal14000 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: Trevor Carson’s life changed the day his father died. After working as a small-animal vet in the big city, Trevor’s now back in his remote hometown, trying to keep his dad’s practice afloat while he figures out his next step. He expected he’d want to sell up and flee back to civilization as fast as possible, but the town is beginning to feel like where he belongs. Except every day he spends there is a day away from his partner Michael, back in the city. As Christmas approaches, with a much-anticipated visit from Mike, Trevor’s going to have to decide what “home” really means. (This warm, established-couple holiday romance is a lightly-edited rerelease of the 2011 story. Content warning for veterinary-related pet loss. 14,000 words.)

Word Count: Click here to reveal88,000 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: Pierre and Bill have been together for nearly thirty years, ever since Bill was five. Thrown together by tragic circumstances, they stayed together despite the many attempts to tear them apart. Some thought it wrong that a stranger should raise a child, especially when that stranger was gay. Especially, too, when the child also turns out to be gay. But Pierre and Bill would win that fight and go on to develop an indelible father/son bond. Now, they’re facing a different kind of crisis. The specter of illness and financial insecurity threaten their future. When Danny shows up their lives get even more complicated, but it’s Liam’s arrival that turns their world upside down. Liam comes with Ruthie, and he has a problem of his own. Love takes center stage. Whether as parents, children, lovers, rivals or friends, everyone wants it, fears losing it, and struggles to make room for more. But there's a villain lurking in the background, and if he gets his way, he'll destroy them.

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

Summary: When does never turn into happily ever after in the search for love? Top accountant of Manzanita Imports in Sacramento, Ted Abbott stopped participating in the love game after he turned thirty quite a few years ago. He’s not tempted by the cute young new hires or the product reps his loyal staff suggest he ask out on a date. Chicago contractor Matt Patterson is on the verge of giving up too. He’s worked his way up from apprentice carpenter to co-owner of a thriving business. At forty-something, he’s considered a lucky catch for anybody looking for a sugar daddy, which he knows only too well. The chance of them meeting is nil until Matt’s uncle who lived in Sacramento dies and leaves his estate to his nephew. After they meet in a dilapidated bar called The Roost, could their paths actually merge and become one?

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

Summary: It’s totally normal for two straight guys to do this when they’re alone, right? That’s what I keep telling myself after I meet Reggie. I’m a pro tennis player, and I usually spend my life on the court. But an embarrassing injury in the middle of the US Open sidelined my career, landing me in the hands of my new athletic trainer. Reggie is a big old jock with an easy smile, and my grumpy butt has never met anyone like him. We start hanging—at the gym and at his place, on the tennis court and out at the bar. I haven’t had a real friend in years, and Reggie’s big heart warms me deep inside. He finds something I’ve tried to keep buried, and when we end up sweaty in a hotel bed one night, my world turns upside down. Then comes the cabin weekend, and all the long massages at the gym… Reggie gets his big hands all over me, and I can’t stop thinking about him. It’s chill, though, because we’re a couple of straight guys, and this is just a bromance. A sweaty, grunty, sticky bromance. It can’t be more than that, not with my tennis career waiting— and no matter what my heart insists. Filthy Bromance is a friends-to-lovers romance with a grumpy tennis star, his big-hearted athletic trainer, and a mess of unexpected feelings. It features dirty talk and exploration on the way to a well-earned HEA. Book two of Love Unexpected, it can be enjoyed as a standalone or read along with the series.

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

Summary: Wyatt Smothers, a beat-up, retired rodeo bronc rider, runs the family ranch with his brother and sister. Talbot Andrews, an overweight freelance writer, isn’t living his best life in the basement of his parents’ home. When these two meet, neither will ever be the same. “Weighting for Love”—Book 1 The Circle S Ranch becomes the home of a weight-loss camp, much to the chagrin of Wyatt Smothers. Talbot Andrews sees the camp as his last shot before he gives up on himself completely. What happens when love shows up in an unexpected package? What’s more important… the love or the form it takes? “Weighting for Laughter”—Book 2 Now that love has found Wyatt Smothers and Talbot Andrews, how will the couple traverse the path of making a life together that is filled with laughter?

Word Count: Click here to reveal28500 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: Four novellas previously published in romance anthologies, plus a bonus short story at the end. Second Chances Finding your first love again is a one in a million chance, but with the help of his son, Carter has a date to meet the man who changed is life so long ago. They were just kids, but Carter had never forgot that one night with Asa. Now in their forties could they begin a new life? Carter waits not so patiently in a hotel lobby reminiscing about the years gone by praying for a Second Chance. A Candle in the Window Daniel and his partner Christopher never saw children in their future happily ever after. His sister and her daughter, Tessa, changed everything. Tessa was just a toddler when Meghan dropped her on Christmas Eve. They made a family the three of them. Then Meghan returned during Tessa’s high school years, claiming to have changed. She wanted to be a part of Tessa’s life again. What do two gay dad’s do when they feel their world being torn apart? Why Me? Why Now? Damien Fitzgerald had been through hell recovering from his abusive past. Robert Wyler had rescued him on more than one occasion. Now it was Damien’s turn to step up. When Robert gets the news that he has breast cancer, Damien wants to do everything in his power to help Robert. Sometimes helping is not what a shattered spirit needs. Learning to let go can be a hard lesson. Can chemotherapy and it’s after affects bring these two closer or it could tear them apart? (These are characters from the Warfield Hotel Mystery Series) A New Roommate After a breakup with his roommate, Bret heads across country to spend the holidays with family. Taking the backroads seemed like a great idea, until his car broke down. A gorgeous blond guy in a beaten up old truck stops to give Bret a lift. Nick is the hottest guy Bret has ever laid eyes on and they have one night of amazing sex. Bret can’t stop thinking about Nick all through the holidays, but he knew it was just a one night stand. He’s got to get back to college and a new roommate. Surprise! Snowflakes & Blood Red Sheets A sexy romp for two mated vampires makes for a wonderous snowy Christmas Eve.

Word Count: Click here to reveal11,000 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: A trans/bi holiday romance novelette. After forty years of living in the wrong body, Patrice Diaz was finally reborn. She had two weeks in Las Vegas to try new ways of enjoying her new life. The nice-looking guy at the bar seemed like a good place to start, but she had to tell him the truth. Noel Arkady was at the point of ‘if you want something to change, you have to do something different.’ The pretty woman at the bar might have been only a pleasant dinner companion. Then she told him the truth. They had two weeks together before Patrice had to go back to Mexico for her TV shoot, and a lot of baggage to unpack. When they got to the bottom of everything, would they find what they needed to try moving on together? Adult situations, themes, and language; 11,000 words and a happy ending. Plus bonus short story!

Word Count: Click here to reveal90000 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: “Bold of you to assume this is a seduction.” Richard’s stare never left Marcus’s face. “This is foreplay.”  Mobster CEO, Richard Mason, and his PA, Tino Santini, have wed after a whirlwind romance, with tempestuous results. Sex games keep their passion burning, yet after a fierce argument leads to a night Richard can't remember, Tino suspects he is having an affair. In reality, Richard is being blackmailed with compromising evidence, gathered by an old adversary. Meanwhile, a sensual dilemma looms in the curvaceous shape of Richard’s ex and her chivalrous husband, Marcus, whose attraction to Tino is obvious. When Tino and Marcus disappear, Richard enlists some London gangsters to help him find them, with explosive results.

Word Count: Click here to reveal20101 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: A Shifter Chronicles Story, Sequel to Blind Devotion Wolf shifter Sheriff Jack Ulger and cougar shifter Travis Kuger protect the shifters and their human allies living in Haven, Montana. They have known each other for almost two decades but weren’t always friends. One Halloween night, as teenagers, that changed when Travis saved them both from an abandoned mill and the ghosts haunting it. Years later, it’s Halloween again, and Travis never shared the ghostly experience with anyone, least of all the skeptic Jack. But he soon regrets the omission when Jack becomes trapped in the same abandoned mill while trying to find two lost kids. Jack must now protect the children, fight off a spiritual attack, and find a way to freedom. Travis knows something is wrong and enlists the help of their friends, and he can only hope they’ll be in time to save Jack from the dark entities. Second Edition with revised text.

Word Count: Information not available

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

Summary: When Daniel McCaverty gets the call that his best friend and mentor up in Vermont has cancer, he expects to have plenty of time to go help. He never expects that Adam will be gone before he gets there, or that he will suddenly be in charge of Adam’s two small children. He’s a loner, an artist, and a wanderer. What’s he supposed to do now? Mitchell Brown is a white-collar kind of guy. Organized. Careful. He has a plan in place for Adam’s kids long before Daniel arrives, and is shocked when Daniel is given custody. But for Vicky and Emory, he’s willing to put his hurt and confusion aside to help Daniel figure things out, to make the whole situation work. Daniel and Mitch have to deal with a tidal wave of grief while getting one kid started in school, and keeping up with their work. But they’re going to have to figure out their unexpected attraction to each other if they’re going to build something together that’s bigger than either one of them alone.

Word Count: Click here to reveal61400 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: Based around the holidays, the Snow Globes series follows a family as it comes together over four winters. Daniel, an elementary school teacher with a big heart and a collection of snow globes to match his travels, longs for a place to belong. When a snowstorm strands him in the home of Jeff and his daughter, Abby, Daniel wonders if this could be the family he yearns for. Out of misfortune, can a wish come true? Over time, Daniel, Jeff, and Abby’s family grows. After years of self-enforced exile, Abby’s biological father Nick returns to claim his place in his family. Jeff’s friend Amber gains a girlfriend, and new members, twins Leon and Sara, are welcomed into the fold. When ten-year-old Ben, Abby’s bestie, is suddenly in need of a home, relationships are strained. Happiness, and what it means for each of them, needs to be redefined. But will it make them stronger? With each holiday they share together, more and more traditions are added to the celebrations in this multicultural group. In the new series epilogue, Abby and Ben face an adventure of their own and we take a peek into the future.

Word Count: Click here to reveal91000 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary:

Word Count: Click here to reveal26000 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: One Witch One Paranormal Investigator Something that went bump in the night… Library witch Basil and YouTuber Sebastian have settled into life together in the sleepy suburb of Mt Eden. Basil is overjoyed to have a handsome boyfriend to come home to and he is connecting deeper with his magic. But when strange books start to turn up at his library and an uninvited guest makes noises in their attic, it's up to them to investigate. As a paranormal YouTuber, Sebastian can't resist a new mystery. Especially since he’s been in one place for far too long… Is his enthusiasm for the next story going to ruin everything? ******************************* Monsters and Manuscripts is a novella-length story featuring monsters, witches and a sweet gay romance. It's part of the Witchy Fiction project of New Zealand authors. Monsters and Manuscripts is part of a series and best read after Overdues and Occultism. You can read more about Sebastian and Basil in Jingle Spells: Witchy Christmas Stories

Word Count: Click here to reveal62000 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: Knitting. Ice Cream. And a Matchmaking Fae. Quiet, industrious Finn dreams of his own knitting store. He needs Leo’s enthusiasm to make him reach for what he wants. Cheerful, adventurous Leo sells artisan ice cream but shies away from fulfilling his grandmother’s last wish. He needs Finn’s love and support to put his past to rest for good. Add a Saxon treasure, a fae stranded in the human world, and an empty store with very unusual rental terms - and falling in love is not the only challenge Finn and Leo have to face. Making a dream come true takes work. But there's magic in dreams if Finn and Leo can hold on tight. *** Tags: I'm only here for socks and ice cream. Sometimes you just click with another guy even if you're opposites. I look at you and know what I'll be knitting. How to share a house with someone you've just met. Utensils don't sparkle, right? Grandmas rock. Making a deal with a burglar. Roisin is a decorating wiz and Finn worries about antique furniture. If you don't talk to me, I can't help you. Finding treasure at inopportune moments. And yes, there's a happy ending.

Word Count: Click here to reveal237403 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: These four novels span about a year, from late October 2013 until early October the following year. A pivotal date to remember—and to celebrate—is February 4, 2014. On that day, around eleven o’clock on a fair morning, Scotland’s Parliament approved the country’s historic same-sex marriage bill. These novels serve as a commemoration of that lovely day, its foreplay, and its aftermath. Rory Drummond and Alex Dominguez are an unlikely pair…a bigger-than-life Scot with an immense appetite for sex and adventure meets a shy Nevada State Trooper who’s been thrust into the job of “baby-sitting” him during a big game hunt in the mountains of Nevada. What could go wrong? More important, what could go right?  The first novel, Nevada Highlander, brings these guys together. And boy howdy, as some folks might say, do they come together—a lot—until Rory finds out that the man on his tail is doing it only as a job. One reviewer said it well: “Sparks and Levi’s fly.” In The Kilt Complex, Rory is back in Scotland, at the castle he oversees as a laird or “landlord.”. But there’s an interesting new meaning to the words “castle keep,” because Alex is now living with him. As Alex struggles to extricate himself from his role as boy toy, Rory tries his best to understand why his lover needs to earn his own way in such wide open spaces. And thereby hangs a tale of guilt and kilt…the story of a lovely girl named Thistle…and the mystery of a killer in paradise. Alex’s need for space comes to a climax when he moves out of Rory’s castle, into a small cabin called Hunter’s Point. And speaking of points—he now has a job as Special Constable, overseeing the point of land where a famous lighthouse stands. The action ramps up when a local teacher turns up missing, and the trail of a possible killer leads to the lonely lighthouse. It also leads straight to a very troubling time in Rory’s past…and to the fateful date of February 4. When an old friend and former war comrade of Rory’s father disappears, Rory and Alex team up as a pair of ersatz constables in Scotland’s Highlands. Rory finds out the hard way that being the mate of a hard-ass cop means he’ll always be Sleeping with Danger. On the trail of the missing man, they find a Jacobite tower hiding recent violence…a 300-year-old elbow of the devil…and a graveyard whose crumbling bones cover old secrets worth killing for. In four novels, a pair of intriguing men go from the Highlands of Nevada to the Highlands of bonnie Scotland. The romance is full of bumps and detours, a silver wolfhound, several silver foxes, and surprising self growth for both of them. PS, a fifth novel (Brash Tower) is due to be released in early 2022. A jawbone and an old relic serve up a deadly mystery for Rory and Alex, just as they move into their new home and try to plan an official wedding ceremony that Scotland has not decided how the hell to do.

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.