Waiting for a Spark

The Book

Could running out of milk have Jerome running headlong into love?

Jerome's life is pretty mundane. Every day he catches the bus to work, listens to his best friend rant on about the latest crisis in his life, and tries to stop his attention from wandering to the gorgeous guy in the back seat.

Friday morning is no different. Except that Jerome is lost in all kinds of lustful dreams because Gorgeous is definitely making eye contact. But when his best friend involves the entire bus in a rant about jobs lost to Eastern Europeans, Jerome finds himself too distracted to challenge it. And that moment of inattention might ruin Jerome's chance to finally discover if reality can match his fantasies because Gorgeous has gone. And without as much as a backwards glance. 

Two days later, Jerome’s run out of milk and all the local shops are shut except for the Polskie Delikatesy. Stepping through the door brings Jerome face to face with the object of his hopeless affection—and an awkward confrontation about the nature of prejudice. If he can come to terms with his own misconceptions about others, and accept the offered chance to set the record straight, maybe he'll be going home with more than just a pint of milk. 

Waiting got a Spark was originally released in the Lashings of Sauce anthology.

This new edition contains the ficlet 'When the Boat Comes In', previously available as a blog post.

Buy Links

Universal Amazon Link getBook.at/WaitingforaSpark

Payhip // Kobo // Smashwords // B&N

Add it to your Goodreads shelf.

Just Hanging Out

Just Hanging Out

Only 99p

The Book
“Come and honour the Oak King.” 

The countdown to the company solstice picnic is one of Shawn’s favourite times of the year. The scents of sage, mint, basil, sunflower, and lavender fill the air as the workshop mixes up the final batch of Litha, their solstice soap. It’s celebration time! This year, Shawn has an extra spring in his step, and it’s all for the new buyer, Tim. Shawn’s fine having a crush on the gorgeous new straight guy. Until he isn’t. 

As the clock ticks down to Picnic-Day, Shawn’s confidence and Tim’s sexuality become mired in doubt and second guesses. It’s a minefield of embarrassed glances and missed opportunities. Seems like they’ll never get together… 

To cap it all, Shawn’s drawn Tim in the secret solstice gifting. What to get for the quiet man who turns Shawn’s legs to jelly and has the best underwear hanging from the washing line in his garden? And will that tempting rainbow of colour be forever seared onto Shawn’s brain?

Word count: ~16700

Cover designed by Lillian Francis at Finally Love Press


Buy Links: Kobo // Payhip // B&N // Smashwords
Universal Amazon link: myBook.to/JustHangingOut_LF

Add it to your Goodreads bookshelf here. 

About the Author

Lillian Francis is a self-confessed geek who likes nothing more than settling down with a comic or a good book, except maybe writing. Given a notepad, pen, her Kindle, and an infinite supply of chocolate Hob Nobs and she can lose herself for weeks. Romance was never her reading matter of choice, so it came as a great surprise to all concerned, including herself, to discover a romance was exactly what she’d written, and not the rollicking spy adventure or cosy murder mystery she always assumed she’d write. 

http://lillianfrancis.blogspot.co.uk/

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Email: lillianfrancis@rocketmail.com

Excerpt
“Come on, everyone. Time to honour the Oak King.” Miriam stood in the centre of the office and jiggled a deep wooden bowl, exquisitely carved with the face of the Green Man. “Come and pick your giftee.”

Yes, I did say Oak King. Miriam’s a new-age hippie, whose 100% natural soap has taken her from cooking the stuff up in her kitchen and selling it from a stall at various markets, to a thriving shop and workshop with a staff of twenty plus. We’ve branched out into candles in the last few years, but it’s the soap, especially the seasonal range, that brings in the punters. Oh, and she’s a Pagan. Hence, the honouring the Oak King statement.

Don’t worry. There’s no sacrifice involved. We have a massive picnic on the Downs on Midsummer’s Eve, drink too much local ale, and the Oak King—normally Ali from Packaging, in a headdress made of antlers and a myriad of leaves, flowers, and herbs—hands out our jokey gifts. Then we settle in to watch the sunset and bid the Oak King farewell for another six months. In other words, it’s a chance to eat well, drink better, and have a laugh, all the while showing appreciation for an amazing boss and honouring her beliefs, even if we’re a mix of Christians, Muslims, Hindus, and atheists. Dunno why the atheists can’t have their own capital letter. Me, I’m probably an agnostic with Taoist leanings.

“You too, Shawn,” Miriam called over to me. “Stop hogging the copier and grab a name.”

I glanced at my watch and then flicked my gaze surreptitiously out the window. Still time. If I was quick, and Miriam didn’t choose that moment to chat, I could be back at my station without missing a moment of the action. Shaking a leg, and my impressively pert behind, I slipped in between two of the admin clerks and plucked a slip of paper from the pot. Without bothering to even glimpse at the name written on it, I stuffed the folded slip into the front pocket of my jeans and returned to the photocopier. One more glance at the time—8:52—and I pressed the button to start my items printing.

There were enough pages in this print run to keep me at the copier for a good few minutes. I saved up all but the most urgent for these five minutes just before nine. It was a routine I’d been keeping for the last few months. As the copier warmed up after a night of inaction, with the gentle whirr of reanimated machinery, I took a moment to enjoy the view from the window. The azure blue of the sky contrasted with the white blossom on the tree just on the edge of the company’s land at the rear entrance. Beyond, a neat row of cottages caught the eye and drew the gaze of anyone who had time to stop and watch.

As I appreciated the view, a door of one of the cottages opened and a tall, broad man stepped out onto the path that led down a well-kempt front garden to the road. Yeah, I know that kempt means well cared for, so the well is redundant. I work in communications and I’ve a Desmond in English Lit and Environmental Science. That’s lower second class honours for those of you not in the know. Not bad for a lad from Saath London. Of course, four years at Canterbury, another four living in this small Sussex town, coupled with some conscious effort, have more or less knocked that accent out of me.

Less about me, back to another thing that was kempt and well put together. The object of my voyeuristic tendencies stepped through his gate and out onto the pavement then turned in my direction. A happy sigh escaped me as the early morning sun caught his wavy hair just right; fiery copper reflected back to me in reds and gold. His eyes were green, and flecked with amber. Not that I could see his irises from this distance—I could barely make out the strong features that made up his ruggedly handsome face. And the freckles that gave him an oddly incongruous boyish look were filled in from memory at this point. I sighed again, far too dramatically for my own liking.

Rather than concentrate on the parts of him that required my imagination, I studied the visual feast in front of me. Now he’d cleared the obstruction of his neighbour’s privet, I had an uninterrupted view, where I could drink my fill without the risk of getting caught.

Chinos—the russet pair today—encased long legs, and heavily muscled thighs bunched beneath the material with every determined stride that brought him a step closer. Finally, the man disappeared below my sight line. The photocopier whirled to a stop, spitting out the last few pages of my weekly comms report and a stack of sample leaflets for Miriam’s perusal. I had about five minutes to school my features and get back to my desk, or get caught tongue-tied. Again.

A flash of colour caught my eye as I turned away from the view and I spun back to the window expecting to see the swoop of ring-necked parakeets. The birds were becoming a more common sight in local gardens these days. Maybe the green bastards thought I was homesick and followed me from London.

Instead of the expected flap of wings, my gaze found the source of the flashes of colour: a washing line strung in the back garden of one of the cottages. Clothes hung from the line, fluttering in the gentle breeze of a pleasant June morning. Not just any clothes, though.

Nope, a whole line full of bright, skimpy, tight underwear. Underwear that I’d seen advertised in Attitude that very morning as I read on my bus journey to work. And by seen, I meant studied. Intently. Double-page spread. Three all but naked guys getting handsy with each other and appearing to love every minute of it. Hell, I’d even stuffed in my headphones, thanked any deity who wanted to listen that I was sitting in the back, and watched the ‘making of’ video. Those models were having fun, no doubt about it.

Get A Grip. Flamboyant, colourful, crotch-cupping, butt-caressing underpants. With a marketing campaign that focused on the gay man. Ask a straight guy about GAG and 95% wouldn’t know what you were talking about.

Not only that, but the garden the washing line was located belonged to—

“Morning, Shawn. Printing again?”

Now I was close enough to see the green of his eyes. The deep rumble that came from his broad chest caressed the vowel sound in my name and threatened to turn my legs to jelly.

Stupid! Answer him. All I could do was echo the greeting, anything else was beyond me, the sight of those pants hanging in a neat rainbow of colour seared on to my brain. “Morning, Tim.”

Tim faltered as though expecting there would be more forthcoming, but I had nothing. Nothing workplace appropriate, anyway. Asking your colleague to model his undies for you was probably frowned upon, even for a liberal employer like InScents, and Tim was still comparatively new and seemed kinda shy for a big guy. I wouldn’t say we were friends yet but I hoped we were getting there. So I kept my mouth shut.

The moment stretched on but it could have lasted no more than a second or two, then Tim carried on past, heading for his desk. I thought I’d detected a dusky flush of rose under his freckles but I was easily distracted and couldn’t quell the urge to watch the tight pull of Tim’s chinos as he walked away from me.

Not an unfamiliar feeling any time Tim walked in front of me.
But now I couldn’t stop myself from imaging his muscular arse cheeks enclosed in a pair of GAGs.

* * * * *

New Lease of Life

Cover Art: Paul Richmond

There’s a fine line between independence and isolation.

Phillip used to laugh a lot, back when his friends called him Pip. However the good deed that left him hospitalized not only marred his body, it stripped him of his good humor too. Ever since, he has pushed his friends away and shut out the world. Donating his vintage clothing to a charity shop should have been the final act in a year-long campaign to sever the links with the man Pip used to be, but the stranger on his doorstep awakens feelings in Pip that he hasn’t experienced since the incident that left him angry at the world and reliant on the cold metal of the hideous hospital-issue crutch.

Colby forces his way into Pip’s life, picking at the scab of his past. Colby isn’t interested in Pip’s money or his expensive address. He has only one goal: to make Pip smile again. With every moment in Pip’s presence, Colby chips away at the walls Pip has built around himself. Pip knows it’s impossible to fight his attraction with Colby’s sunny disposition casting light into the darkness in his soul.



Release date: 25th December 2015

Buy Links
Dreamspinner Press // Amazon US // Amazon UK // Kobo 


It's also available in paperback.

Reviews for New Lease of Life


An excellent review from MelanieM over at scattered thoughts and rogue words. 

"Once again, Lillian Francis has written a story and characters guaranteed to capture your heart."

"This is a story to treasure and Lillian Francis an author to put on autobuy.  This is just so well written, its entertaining and just such a lovely romance. I so highly recommend them both.   Make it your New Year’s resolution to seek them both out and find out why!"

Read the whole review here.

Another 4.5 star review for New Lease of Life, this time from Divine Magazine.

"New Lease of Life is a story about a young man losing his way when something unexpected happens to change his self-perception. ... Lillian Francis has dealt with this issue compassionately in New Lease of Life, as we watch the journey one man takes to learn to like, and then love himself, again, with the help of his special someone."

"I absolutely loved New Lease of Life. It's a feel good story that will touch your heart and keep you riveted to the very end."

Check out the full review here.

Yep, not one but three 4 star reviews from Inked Rainbow Reads.

"The two of them together – watching Pip come out of his shell and Colby learn to respect Pip, but do so in a way that also pushed his boundaries was great to read.

Both were given a new lease on life and it was a sweet, not a lot of drama story." - Avidreader

"Colby comes into his life like a rainbow after a storm." - Cookie.
LOL Love this description of Colby. So much the way I wrote him. (LF)

"I liked this couple together and was hoping for more of them.
 Maybe a part 2? I want Pip to meet Colby’s family. I want both their worlds to mesh and see how they handle it. It felt like book one was a set up for a book 2, or maybe that’s my wishful thinking." - Cookie

"I really liked the way this author wrote this characters and this story! You get some angst with this book but you also get so much sweet too!" - Kira


See the reviews in full here.


This one from Joyful Jay.

"What I liked best about this story was that it was a slow burn romance with a lot of angst, mainly in the form of miscommunication and misunderstandings. I also liked that the two characters didn’t immediately jump into a physical relationship. In fact, readers don’t begin to see any heat until almost the end of the book. Therefore, instead of sexy scenes, readers are treated to a an extended period of getting to know each other before things heat up…and heat up they do!"

"If you are a fan of a good hurt-comfort storyline, one with a lot of angst and short on sexy scenes, you are going to love this book."

3.75 stars

Read the rest of the review here.

A 3.5 star review from My Fiction Nook.

"I liked this book. I liked the story, and I liked the plot. The setting in England was well done, and the writing followed the setting, with Colby being a bit rougher around the edges than Phillip. I enjoyed the snark and sarcasm, and Phillip's dry humor.

Definitely worth checking out."

Full review here


A 3 heart review from Love Bytes Reviews

"Once I warmed to Pip’s character this was a very enjoyable read. I recommend it to lovers of the MM romance genre, who like stories that focus more on angst and relationship development than sex."

Although she does say about the sex "Around the 87% we finally get some heat. And in the words of the characters, it was downright ‘filthy’."

Full review here.