YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYYAYAYAYAYYAYAYAYAYAYAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Okay--I know it's been a rough slog--COVID-19, quarantine fatigue, and murder wasps have added up to an "Somebody please finish their game of Jumanji so we can start this time frame over!" kind of year!
But writers really do keep on writing--and sometimes the best retreat we can make is into a good book. My afternoons--which are usually spent getting kids from school and going to aqua aerobics--have become my audiobook and knit time. I've lucked out--my favorite authors--Karen Rose, Melinda Leigh, Kim Fielding, Mary Calmes--all have audiobooks out, and Karen's are QUITE LONG. So, you know. One credit. Long way. So much knitted bliss, right?
And so let's hear it for writers who keep writing--and newbies who have just started, shall we?
Andrew Grey is INCREDIBLY prolific--but every book gets better and better. His new contemporary, Hard Road Back looks a little angsty and a lot romantic, and hey--there's horses, and they're lots of fun too.
Edie Montreaux is a new writer, tentatively making inroads into publishing. Her newest project is an anthology project with many new and different writers and an engaging paranormal premise. What about the vampires who work for a living? How do THEY find their happy ever after? The proceeds for this book, Working Stiffs, are being donated to the WHO--so it's a bunch of budding authors and a great cause! Check it out!
Kim Fielding is one of those writers with a demanding day job who continues to put out fiction on a regular timetable. But she always manages to cluster her releases together, which I find hilarious--it's like nothing, nothing, nothing and then it's KIM FIELDING MONTH--YAY!!!! Well, consider May to June KIM FIELDING MONTH--YAY! Her range goes from paranormal to historical to noir to contemporary--and sometimes a rather delicious blend of ALL THE SUBGENRES, and she does them well. Come check out her three offerings, including Conned which is on my MUST READ this month, because... I mean you're going to have to go look.
And then there's Slow Pitch, my offering at the VERY end of the month. Every now and then I write a one-off-- Shiny!, Bewitched by Bella's Brother, Gambling Men, Homebird, or Christmas Kitsch, for example--that just seems to come together in a perfect, happy way. That's Slow Pitch. It's relatively low angst, it's one book only, and it's so. much. fun.
So there you go--for some of us, quarantine might come to an end very soon, while for those of us in California, we're looking at end of May at the earliest. (For Mate and me, we might be living like this until August, or later.) And for most of us, a book is a the cheapest, longest lasting form of entertainment we can get--except yarn, but not everybody sees the charm of that, so let's go with a book ;-) Choose your books carefully--make them the books that seize your heart and don't let go, and don't let anybody tell you what you should and should not buy. But take a look at these fabulous authors--if they're your cup of tea, by all means, INDULGE! Because if we've held it together at all in the last couple of months, we deserve all the indulgences we can manage!
Hard Road Back
by Andrew Grey
Rancher Martin Jamuson has a deep understanding of horses. He just wishes his instincts extended to his best friend, Scarborough Croughton, and the changes in their feelings toward each other. Martin may be the only friend Scarborough has in their small town, but Scarborough is a man of secrets, an outsider who’s made his own way and believes he can only rely on himself when the chips are down. Still, when he needs help with a horse, he naturally comes to Martin.
As they work together, Martin becomes more determined than ever to show Scarborough he’s someone he can trust… maybe someone he can love. Even if it risks their friendship, both men know the possibility for more between them deserves to be explored. But when Scarborough’s past reemerges, it threatens his home, horses, career, and even their lives. If they hope to survive the road before them, they’ll have to walk it together… and maybe make the leap from cautious friends to lovers along the way.
Buy Here:
by Various Authors Not all vampires are idly rich. Some of them have day jobs. Er, night jobs.
In a world struggling to come to grips with the existence of vampires, where reactions range from excitement to fear to determined disbelief, these vampires are just trying to make ends meet. Some of them do mundane work—like waiting tables or driving a cab. Others have more prestigious careers in medicine and crime prevention. But what all their jobs have in common is people. Unpredictable, interesting, frustrating, hostile, helpless, tasty people.
Whether they’re pouring drinks, answering phones, hacking into a computer system, or serving up the perfect food/wine pairing, these working stiffs are too busy to fall in love. Or are they?
This International Workers Day, celebrate by sinking your teeth into thirteen awesome stories about vampires at work. Because even the undead have to earn a living. Proceeds benefit the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund.
Story List
Bad Blood by Lyra Evans
Bad Decision by H.L Day
Call My Number by Megs Pritchard
Dial a Vamp by Roberta Blablanski
Fangs for the Memories by Sadie Jay
Fire and Ice Cold Skin by Mel Gough
How To Keep an Author (Alive) by AJ Sherwood
Graveyard Cops by Crystel Greene
Life Hacks by Eliott Griffen
Long Haul by Tanya Chris
Off the Menu by R.J. Sorrento
Overexposed by K. Evan Coles
Quality Assured by Edie Montreux
The Golem of Mala Lubovnya
by Kim Fielding
Created out of clay to protect the citizens of Mala Lubovnya from persecution, the golem is strong but desperately lonely. He is confined to an attic, and his only joy comes from listening to the evening prayers and watching a stonemason work across the street. Then the golem meets the mason—Jakob—who gives him the name Emet and becomes Emet’s friend. But Jakob is caught between his faith and his attraction to men, while Emet knows he may eventually be used as an instrument of violence. Emet’s name means truth—but can honest love survive for a golem and a devout man?
By Kim Fielding
Conned
World War I veteran Thomas Donne is new to San Francisco. Always a stoic man, shell shock and a lost love have nearly turned his heart to stone. No matter—a private eye has no room for softness. Almost broke, he takes on what appears to be a simple case: finding a missing young man.
As a magician and medium, Abraham Ferencz cons his audiences into believing he can cheat death and commune with their dearly departed. Although his séances are staged, the spirits are very real, and they’ve brought him almost more pain than he can bear.
When Donne’s case becomes complicated and the bodies start to pile up, he and Ferencz must fight their way through a web of trickery and lies. The truth is obscured by the San Francisco fog, and in their uncanny world, anyone can catch a bullet.
Created out of clay to protect the citizens of Mala Lubovnya from persecution, the golem is strong but desperately lonely. He is confined to an attic, and his only joy comes from listening to the evening prayers and watching a stonemason work across the street. Then the golem meets the mason—Jakob—who gives him the name Emet and becomes Emet’s friend. But Jakob is caught between his faith and his attraction to men, while Emet knows he may eventually be used as an instrument of violence. Emet’s name means truth—but can honest love survive for a golem and a devout man?
Refugees
(releases May 12)
When World War II ended and army medic Walter Clark returned to Chicago, he discovered that although home remained the same, he had changed. Unable to fit comfortably into his old life, he spent a year gradually making his way west. Now he’s gone as far as he can—the shore of the Pacific—but old memories make ocean views intolerable. He turns inland and finds himself in the hidden hamlet of Kiteeshaa, Oregon, where the locals are surprisingly friendly and the café serves food exactly like his grandmother used to make.
Martin Wright runs the Kitee Motor Court Inn and offers Walter a place to stay for a few nights. Later, Martin offers him a great deal more. But while Martin is a delight, he also harbors secrets; and there’s something not quite right about Kiteeshaa. No matter how far the two men have traveled, they can’t run away from their pasts.
When World War II ended and army medic Walter Clark returned to Chicago, he discovered that although home remained the same, he had changed. Unable to fit comfortably into his old life, he spent a year gradually making his way west. Now he’s gone as far as he can—the shore of the Pacific—but old memories make ocean views intolerable. He turns inland and finds himself in the hidden hamlet of Kiteeshaa, Oregon, where the locals are surprisingly friendly and the café serves food exactly like his grandmother used to make.
Martin Wright runs the Kitee Motor Court Inn and offers Walter a place to stay for a few nights. Later, Martin offers him a great deal more. But while Martin is a delight, he also harbors secrets; and there’s something not quite right about Kiteeshaa. No matter how far the two men have traveled, they can’t run away from their pasts.
by Kim Fielding
World War I veteran Thomas Donne is new to San Francisco. Always a stoic man, shell shock and a lost love have nearly turned his heart to stone. No matter—a private eye has no room for softness. Almost broke, he takes on what appears to be a simple case: finding a missing young man.
As a magician and medium, Abraham Ferencz cons his audiences into believing he can cheat death and commune with their dearly departed. Although his séances are staged, the spirits are very real, and they’ve brought him almost more pain than he can bear.
When Donne’s case becomes complicated and the bodies start to pile up, he and Ferencz must fight their way through a web of trickery and lies. The truth is obscured by the San Francisco fog, and in their uncanny world, anyone can catch a bullet.
Slow Pitch
by Amy Lane
Tenner Gibson has a job he enjoys, a prickly ex-wife, and an adorable daughter he wouldn’t trade for the world. With no romance, no sex life, and no other hobbies, a rec league softball team is as close as he gets to hedonism.
But life throws him a curveball when cocky Ross McTierney sets his sights on getting under Tenner’s skin.
One explosion of lust later, Tenner wonders what possessed him to have a quickie with Ross, and Ross wonders how to do it again.
Tenner has eight weeks to convince his tiny modern family that Ross is what’s best for him. Ross has eight weeks to get used to the idea that complicated doesn’t always mean bad. Their sex life is moving at the speed of light, and everything in their relationship is coming at them too fast….
But together, they might make a connection and knock it out of the park.
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