Books Edited By Lourenza Adlem

Word Count: Click here to reveal37000 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: Jules Rose leads a quiet life working as a librarian. He’s happy to spend his spare time reading books and talking to his homicidal cat. What more could he wish for? But when his cozy Friday night is shattered by a friend request on his book community app, politeness gives him little choice but to accept. Jules doesn’t want to talk to anyone, but he can’t be rude. Besides, if he had to talk about something, books is the topic he’d pick. Phoenix Ford is dyslexic and avoids everything that has to do with the written word, but when the colleague he’s trying to impress calls him stupid, he decides to convince the other man, he’s mistaken. All he needs is the right book to make him look smart, a perfect balance between intelligent and short. And who better to ask for help than a guy who loves books so much, he labeled one boner-worthy on a book app? When Jules finds out Phoenix never has read a book from start to finish, he’s on a mission. He will find the right book, the book that will make Phoenix fall in love -- with reading. Phoenix’s plan might have been to listen to the book Jules picked for him to impress his colleague, but that was before he got to know him. Talking about books is a sure way to Jules’ heart, but is it enough for him to agree to go on a date?f

Word Count: Click here to reveal14771 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: By the spring of 1806 in rural England, Charles Denham's happiness should be complete. He has reconciled with his best friend and long-term lover, Avery, after a breach caused by Charles’ grief at the sudden death of his father, which left Charles shouldering family responsibilities. Avery has made allowances for Charles’ misguided actions, and their relationship is back on an even keel. But Charles can’t forgive himself for his past behaviour towards the man he loves so dearly. He feels that some grand gesture is required to assure Avery that he will never take him for granted again. Yet the more Charles considers this, his good intentions become increasingly confused. Might Avery find a way to secure their future together?

Word Count: Click here to reveal58000 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: Devin Jace lives in a huge mansion together with six other people, five of them turn furry, and one needs to drink blood to survive. Sometimes, he suspects it's all a dream. Four years ago, he had no idea supernatural beings existed. It wasn’t until he was snatched off the street and forced to live as a blood slave he realized vampires are real and don’t sparkle. Three years ago, Mars O’Ceallaigh was part of the team who saved a badly scarred and severely traumatized Devin. As the only vampire on the team, he got to work undercover. To keep up the facade, he tasted Devin's blood. Not a day has gone by since without him thinking about it, both the taste of the blood and Devin. But he wants Devin to be happy, and since he knows vampires are his worst nightmare, he does his best to keep out of his way. When the team learns Devin's captor has escaped prison, Mars is convinced he will come for Devin. Devin might fear Mars, but there is someone he fears more, so when Mars swears to keep him safe, Devin trusts him. Mars more than enjoys being by Devin's side at all times, but will spending every minute of every day with him be enough to keep him safe?

Word Count: Click here to reveal27314 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: During the final week of February in 1808, Clement Metcalfe has a brief and heated encounter in the back room of a busy London coffee house with bashful gentleman Humphrey Atkinson. Clem, a private secretary, is accustomed to grabbing at random interludes to brighten his tedious and underpaid working days following a professional fall from grace. But Humphrey seems to hanker after more than one taste. So Clem introduces Humphrey to Abe Pengelly, the other semi-regular man in his life. Imposingly dark and dangerous, Abe is an enigmatic figure, with his operations based at the decaying and infamous Old Red Lion Tavern. His endeavours, if not blatantly lawless and criminal, are definitely murky. There’s an undeniable attraction between the three men that promises passion. However, Clem discovers that his lovers are also willing to exert themselves on his behalf to right past wrongs. Might this be a case where three is not a crowd but the perfect number?  

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

Summary: For all the Celtic Myth short stories, see my website. Paul Webster has come out the army after a twenty-two year stretch with a trick hip and no idea what to do with his life. He takes a few weeks walking along the Welsh coast to get his head on straight. Kevin Davies is a veterinary nurse and an artist. He’s getting lonelier and lonelier in his cottage on the edge of the sea, kept company by his cats and a friendly flock of crows. What happens when the two men hunker down together to wait out a wild March gale? A 11,500-word short story in the Reworked Celtic Myths collection. This time, there are crows.

Word Count: Click here to reveal23376 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: Oliver Stoll’s life has gone up in smoke. Literally. Escaping an apartment fire, he’s made it out with little more than the clothes on his back and his best friend and downstairs neighbor, Mia. With few other options, he agrees to stay with David Elliston, Mia’s older brother. David was Oliver’s first crush, first kiss, first everything. That is, until the day they broke up five years before. It hadn’t been pretty. David Elliston is back in town. Offered the chance to oversee the Kellmen Group’s newest magazine acquisition, he isn’t going to let a years old heartbreak stop him. But being thrown together with Oliver is harder than expected. And the flicker of hope he’s long tried to bury becomes even more difficult to contain. Ex-lovers, best friends, and angry parents don’t make the best backdrop for rekindling a romance. But it’s the lies from the past that might just extinguish any chance they have of starting over.

Word Count: Click here to reveal24500 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: Club 669 (House of Witches Book 1) Witch's corpse. Witch's ticket. Witch's party. As a counter-boy at a high-end men’s boutique, Charlie Jessup’s life consists of little more than work and sleep. That, and enough flirting to help guarantee his commission on sales will pay his rent. So when a twist of fate, and some behavior unbecoming that of a Ganymede employee, leaves him in possession of a dead man’s pass to a mysterious Club 669, Charlie has no desire to waste it. Every seventeen years, the House of Witches throws a party like no other. It’s invitation-only, and for centuries it has helped ensure peace between the covens. It’s the last place Caspian wants to be, but with the death of Queen Avel, and his own imminent rise to the throne, it’s more important than ever that he attends. The stability of the House depends on it. In four days a new king will be crowned, but when Charlie unintentionally crashes a gathering of the most secretive of all the Great Houses, he sets in motion a series of events that could disrupt the transition of power, and threaten the future of the House of Witches forever.

Word Count: Click here to reveal25000 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: An oblivious roadie and a lighting designer with self-confidence issues...will they ever manage to communicate what they want? All Dave wants is a low-stress job driving flight cases around, loading and unloading, rinse and repeat. Then he can go home and spend what time he can with his kids, concentrate on his pottery, listen to music and gardening podcasts and dream about the life he’s never had. He’s known Richie for years and he’s never thought of him as more than a mate. Never thought of himself as anything other than straight. It’s a shock when he suddenly realises he has a massive crush on the guy. It’s more than a shock for Richie when Dave turns up at a Heggarty’s Bow gig with an empty truck instead of a van full of kit. There’s no time for Richie’s usual low-key flirtation with the oblivious Dave whilst they’ve got twelve hours to rig a show in the middle of nowhere. And it’s not Dave’s fault the steering on the van blows out on the way home, either. Thrown together overnight in a hotel, will Dave confide his attraction to Richie? Or will Richie snap first and make a move? Surely all the time they’ve spent in the van driving around the country means they’ve had plenty of time to talk. Or does it?

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Summary: It’s the summer of 1967 and the Sexual Offences Act has just decriminalized consensual gay sex in private between two men over twenty-one. Percy Wright and his friend Les Baker have both taken temporary jobs teaching English as a foreign language in London during their long summer break from teaching at a rural boarding school near Oxford. Percy is keen to soak up some theatre, music, and general culture, whilst Les is also keen to experience the varied gay social scene. When Les picks up a man called Phil at the box office of the Albert Hall when he goes to buy tickets to a Promenade Concert, Percy inadvertently gets thrown together with Adrian Framlingham, Phil’s friend. Adrian is all the things Percy likes in a man — funny, kind and steady. When Les gets hurt, Percy turns to Adrian for support, but as the end of the summer looms it seems as if their affair will come to a natural end. What will happen when Percy goes back to his everyday life as a house-master? Will he and Adrian stay in touch? Does he even want a long-distance relationship when arranging to meet someone for sex is still illegal, even if the act itself is not? Trigger warning: A secondary character suffers an off-screen sexual assault.

Word Count: Click here to reveal13,223 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: Findley Black knows a little something about serial killers. What he doesn’t know is why anyone would want to reenact a series of murders that took place more than ninety years ago, which he’s read a great deal about as part of his annual Halloween ghosts tours. Unless, of course, it’s not a copycat at all and the Reaper of Shivelly Park is back for vengeance. Owen Key never considered himself much for domesticity, but the last two years with his boyfriend Findley have him reevaluating his priorities. His family at The Printer’s Devil is growing, he has a new book on the way, and he wants nothing more than to make Findley an honest man. And what better time to pop the question than on Halloween, the second anniversary of their sort-of first date? But the night has other plans, and Findley and Owen will find themselves with something more pressing than a romantic evening. The ghost of the Shivelly Park Reaper is on the loose. But when no one believes them, they have no choice but to take matters into their own hands. Because, well ... the Reaper might just get away with it if not for Findley, Owen, and the kids. And Bella. You can’t forget the cat.

Word Count: Click here to reveal10,717 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: Some things are worth risking the naughty list.  Jonah Newfeld is not someone men fall for at a glance. They have to get to know him first. So when he meets the perfect man, he knows he needs to play the long game. Nathan Sharp is the newest guy on the customer service floor. He’s clever, kind, blessedly single, and volunteers weekends at a local animal shelter. Jonah wants to raise babies with him. But when Nathan’s sister starts trying to fix him up with her veterinarian, Jonah’s plan is put into jeopardy. Jonah needs the perfect plan if he wants to win over the man of his dreams. But a terrible plan will have to do, and more than a little help from his friends. If Jonah can pull it off and manage to get the boy, it’ll be more than worth being put on Santa’s naughty list for good.

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: Now in audio! $1.99 at Authors Direct. It’s 1919. Matty returns home to the family farm from the trenches only to find his brother Arthur dying of an unknown illness. The local doctor thinks cancer, but Matty becomes convinced it's connected to the mysterious books his brother left strewn around the house. Rob knows something other than just Arthur’s death is bothering Matty. He’s know him for years and been in love with him just as long. And when he finds something that looks like a gate, a glowing, terrifying doorway to the unknown, it all starts to fall in to place. Matty’s looking sicker and sicker in the same way Arthur did. What is Rob prepared to sacrifice to save him? The answer is in the esoteric books…and with the mysterious Lin of the Frem, who lives beyond the gate to nowhere. It’s taken Matty and Rob more than a decade to admit they have feelings for each other and they are determined that neither social expectations or magical illness will part them now. A stand-alone 35k novella set in the Border Magic Universe (formerly the Lost in Time Universe). You can read about the universe and all the books here.

Word Count: Click here to reveal74,600 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: John Hancock Darrow left his North Carolina hometown after college. The only reason he’s there twenty-eight years later is to deal with estate business when his mother and sister are killed in an automobile crash. The realtor he chooses to list his mother’s B&B can’t make that hurt less, but he can help John forget it for a while. Small-town, self-employed, multiple job holding Daniel Washburn doesn’t expect more than after-dinner sex with the big-city lawyer. When the man turns up at the local ballroom studio a few days later, Daniel’s happy to dance with him. When they start working out an unusual deal for the B&B, they begin to feel like friends. Then during one of their many phone calls, John asks if he can take Daniel to dinner. John and Daniel keep finding reasons to stay in touch. Then to be lovers. Then to get married. It’s a convenience, John says. Daniel knows it’s more. But John’s ten years older, successful, the kind of man who owns a million-dollar New York City condo and can afford to give away a house. If he wants Daniel on any terms, he surely has his reasons. Daniel’s willing to wait for the right moment to put that convenience nonsense to rest. Because he’s got his own reasons, and the truth will set them free.

Word Count: Click here to reveal151000 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: Queer British Lovecraftian historical romantic suspense set in 1920s London. Lew Tyler is dragged from 2016 to 1920 by an accident with border magic whilst he’s searching for his missing friend. He’s struggling to get to grips with life a century before he was born.  Detective Alec Carter is trying to solve gruesome murders in his patch of London, weighed down with exhaustion and a jaded attitude to most of his fellow humans after four years of war. In the middle of a murder investigation that involves wild magic, mysterious creatures and illegal sexual desire, will Alec and Lew work out who is safe to trust? Sergeant Will Grant, Alec’s right-hand man, is drawn to the mysterious Fenn. Is Fenn a man or a woman? Does Will care? And Fenn…Fenn has a secret. They live beyond the border between 1920s London and the magical Outlands and they need to get home. Are they prepared to achieve that by double crossing Alec, Will and Lew? Two couples hold the fabric of reality in their hands. Will it make them or break them? Buy London Calling now if you like murder, time-travel, grumpy detectives, the blues, magic, gay romance, m/enby romance, tea and not-quite-elves. It features Lost in Time, Shadows on the Border & The Hunted and the Hind (which are also available in audio and on sale at Authors Direct!)  "Wow, what a read… time-travel, fantasy, murder, MM-romance… everything I like, rolled in to one!"

Word Count: Click here to reveal54000 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: Gruesome murders taking place across 1920s London draw Lew and Alec together through the desolation of the East End and the smoky music clubs of Soho. They both have secrets that could get them arrested or killed. In the middle of a murder investigation that involves wild magic, mysterious creatures and illegal sexual desire, who is safe to trust? Not Lew, who is struggling to get to grips with life a century before he was born. Or Alec, who wants Lew in his bed, despite liking him for murder. The first in the Lost in Time 1920s London trilogy, gathered together in the London Calling Box Set. Buy Lost in Time in Audio (99c at Chirp, Apple, B&N and Spotify). 

Word Count: Click here to reveal17820 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: Sequel to Lucky John After years of exile during Commonwealth rule following the English Civil Wars, Owen Montgomery is home to stay in his Monmouthshire with John, the rescued kitchen lad who has become the light of Owen’s life. Owen has enjoyed eighteen months of peace since his tenure as an official envoy on behalf of King Charles II. In the autumn of 1661, Owen is torn from his comfortable life by a summons from his brother, Lewis, a courtier close to the king. Owen is reluctant to take John to London, concerned about the impact of corruption and temptations of court life on such a well-meaning innocent. But how can he refuse John anything? Owen reluctantly fulfils his duty to his brother while John gets to grips with the palace and its hazards. Can Owen continue to protect John from harm? Or might his constant vigilance stifle the man he loves?

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

Summary: Zale wanted to see a dragon. He never expected a miracle. Zale Hagan is dying. He doesn't have many days left, but he wants to see a dragon before he leaves the world behind. As a fisherman, he's seen where land ends many times, but he wants to visit the town where the human realm ends and the dragon realm begins. Albus the Abomination is a blacksmith on Dragon Row. As a white dragon, he has no status and does his best to keep out of the way of the other dragons living there. But one day Zale steps into his smithy, and everything inside Albus catches fire. Albus can tell Zale is very ill, but he can't let him die. Dragon mates don't get sick, and they live for a long time. Albus tries his best to get one of the other dragons to mate with Zale, but when no one wants to, Albus is at a loss. He could breathe fire into him, but then Zale would have to live his entire life with a white dragon, and no one wants that, do they? NOTE: Mated to the Fire Dragon takes place on the same street as The Book Dragon’s Lair but can be read as a standalone story.

Word Count: Click here to reveal86000 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: Celebrate World Naked Gardening Day with five gay romance novellas! The Naked Gardening Day stories are a collaboration between Holly Day, Nell Iris, A.L. Lester, K.L. Noone, and Amy Spector. They comprise five MM romance novellas featuring being naked in a garden somehow, somewhere, to mark World Naked Gardening Day on the first Saturday of May. Contains the stories: Perfect Rows by Holly Day: Everything would've been perfect if Grayson hadn't been forced to share his garden with Cam. Grayson wants to grow vegetables, and he has a plan for how to do it. Cam loves flowers in perfect rows, but Grayson is incapable of growing things in lines. Most days end in conflict, at least until Grayson realizes he can shut Cam up by kissing him. But will they ever be able to agree about the garden? Strike a Pose by Nell Iris: Didrik would do anything for his BFF Filip, including taking naked pictures for a charity calendar of his dad Johan, the stunning man responsible for Didrik’s gay awakening. Now a widower, Johan is ready to move on. As they start the project, the attraction between them grows. Their connection is easy, but not without challenges. Will they get their happily ever after? The Death of Digby Catch by Amy Spector: When August Catch arrives at the Arachne’s Loom estate to collect his late Uncle Digby’s things, he is thrown together with Theo Webb, the heir to the Webb family fortune. The attraction is instant. When Theo begins to suspect Digby may have been murdered, he and August will need to work together to discover the killer, and not let the thing growing between them be a distraction. The Hermit of Aldershill Manor by K.L. Noone: Charlie’s ready to start a new job and life at Aldershill Manor. As a historian, he’s thrilled to dive into the archives. And he can run from a messy break-up. And explore lovely gardens, too. Lionel does not like tourists, conversations, or social niceties. But he loves his job: helping beauty grow. When he finds the new historian caught in a storm, he offers shelter, which might bloom into more. Warning! Deep Water by A.L. Lester: Spring 1947. England has just come through the worst winter in living memory. Peter’s been drifting since he left the army a year ago. George is lonely, despite the busy horticultural nursery he owns. Peter’s decision to take a swim in the irrigation tank presents them both with the chance to reach out and help each other. Can two misfits find a way to fit together with someone after all?

Word Count: Click here to reveal50200 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: Humans off the paved road are nothing but shifter food. Romeo Gallo has to flee town. The problem is that the only place he can think of going is an old ranch he's inherited from his uncle, and it's off the paved road. Humans are fair game if they're off the paved road, and being eaten by shifters has never been on the list of things Romeo wants to experience. Ciar Moonlight is a panther shifter, perfectly happy living a laidback life on the ranch. He wants nothing to do with humans. But one night, one moves into the house, and Ciar finds it hard to stay away. Romeo soon learns he isn't the only one living on the ranch. Shifters and vampires keep popping up, and since no one has eaten him yet, he'd go as far as to call a few of them his friends. And there is a panther reluctant to leave his bedroom, so maybe one is even more than a friend. Ciar might not have wanted to get to know a human, but now when Romeo is living in his territory, he's Ciar's to keep, right? So if someone tries to get rid of Romeo, it's Ciar's right to defend him. Right?