New Release promo - A Match Made in Slumber by Kasia Bacon

 Marriage Market Misadventures

A Match Made in Slumber by Kasia Bacon

Buy link: https://books2read.com/amatchmadeinslumber

Kidnapping an interdimensional warlord is a crime. Marrying him is a get–out–of–dungeon–free card.

Commander Keălhem Reñyés is mid-swing—about to storm a fortress—when the battlefield dissolves into the scent of candyfloss. Instead of headbutting an enemy, he crash-lands face-first into a heap of silk ribbon talismans, yanked across dimensions to Everend by an alchemist desperate for some shut-eye.

Elian Fountenblym, a genius matchstick maker with a cataclysmic track record of magical mishaps, is plagued by sensual dreams of a mysterious soldier. Every night, they leave him randy, pining and knackered—all in the run-up to the Great Midsummer Market—the busiest event of the year. To kill the longing once and for all, he invents the Match of Tranquillity, only to unwittingly trigger a forbidden summoning enchantment that delivers his dream man straight into his waking world. That’s one more whoopsie he could’ve done without.

With High Arbiter Cholerius—Elian’s former Academy rival—sniffing around for unauthorised magic, the stakes are high. Bound by the volatile constraints of the spell and forced to share a bed to keep Keălhem from flickering out of existence, the pair must turn to an ancient legal loophole to save Elian from a one-way trip to the dungeons on interdimensional kidnapping charges.

Navigating a fake marriage that begins to feel dangerously real, they have until the Midsummer Moon wanes to decide: part ways or let the flame of their accidental match burn forever?

A Match Made in Slumber is a low-angst, marriage-of-necessity, forced-proximity story featuring fated mates, accidental kidnapping and a stoic/chaotic dynamic. It is part of the Marriage Market Misadventures.

Marriage Market Misadventures is a light hearted series of queer romances where elves from all over the realm gather at the Everend Midsummer Markets to meet, match, and marry—with plenty of shenanigans along the way.

Romancing The Throne by Lisa Henry and Sarah Honey

Berries and Blades by Katherine McIntyre

Quills and Starlight by Kota Quinn

The Rake and the Cake by Katey Hawthorne

Love and Clockwork by Essie Sloane

The Love Schematic by JS Harker

Tossing the Caber by jem zero

A Match Made in Slumber by Kasia Bacon

Find them all at http://everendeverafter.com/

New Release - Second Wind by AL Lester

Second Wind is out now!

Are you looking for a low angst gay romance with a trans MC set in a little Welsh town? With a truly terrible community orchestra? A. L. Lester has got you covered.

[bookbingo.jpg]

Second Wind

What do a shy French-horn-playing accountant and a single-dad trans trumpet player have in common other than both being members of the community orchestra at Theatr Fach in the little town of Llanbaruc?

Gethin’s been more or less hiding from life since his marriage broke up a couple of years ago. He’s joined the orchestra because his sister told him he needed a hobby rather than sitting at home brooding about his divorce.

Martin is careful who he dates because of his gender and his teenage daughter. He came to Llanbaruc as a stage manager for the Theatr Fach twelve years ago. He’s got a good set of friends here. Shannon’s a good kid. They’re a team.

Martin and Gethin hit it off. Will their mutual baggage prove too much to sustain a relationship?

A gentle m/transm romance in the Theatr Fach universe.

Buy Links: Amazon US : Amazon UK : JMS Books : Everywhere Else

[secondwind.jpg]

Excerpt

“Martin!” Julie, the lead violin, waved him over. “This is Gethin,” she said, her hand on the arm of a tall, thin man nervously clutching a French horn and peering out from behind a thick pair of glasses. He resembled a nervous heron. “He’s new,” she added unnecessarily. “Can you take him under your wing a bit?”

Martin shot her a look. She was a very competent, friendly woman with no tact at all.

“Of course,” he said. “Pleased to meet you, Gethin,” he held out a hand and Gethin took it. “I’m Martin. Trumpet.”

“Gethin Jones,” the thin man said, shaking his hand a little too hard. His palm was warm and firm and he was clearly apprehensive. “Erm. French horn.” He waved his instrument vaguely at Martin. “As you can see.”

Martin smiled. “Come on,” he said. “Brass is over here. Let me introduce you around.” They started picking their way through the chairs. The brass section was made up of Martin and Alan on trumpet, Tim and Lucy on trombone, and Portia, a ten year old who played a tuba almost as large as she was. They were setting up music and gossiping about their week when Martin and Gethin reached them.

“Hullo hullo,” Martin said. This is Gethin Jones.” He waved vaguely at Gethin beside him. “Gethin, this is Tim, Lucy, Alan and Portia.” Everyone made noises of greeting. The room was beginning to echo with the sound of instruments being tuned and scales being played. It was a familiar cacophony.

“Are you Marion’s Gethin?” Lucy asked suddenly, leaning toward them to be heard over the cat-like screech of a young violinist and a burp from Portia’s tuba.

Beside him, Gethin tensed. “Not any more,” Gethin said brusquely, nodding. “But yes. I used to be.”

Lucy nodded, blushing. “Sorry,” she said. “My sister is Penny Wright. They went to school together. Penny told me what happened.”

Gethin nodded again. “Pleased to meet you,” he said, again. He didn’t add anything else. He seemed almost paralytically shy. But then, Martin would be reticent if he knew everyone was talking about his private business.

“I’ll go and get you some music,” Martin said, forestalling any more awkwardness. “Here, stick your horn down on the seat and grab yourself a music stand from the stack in there”. He gestured at the open door of the cupboard behind them.

The spare sheet music was on the table at the front. He made his way across the room, wending around chairs and people offering greetings until he could pick up a sheaf.

Julie met him there. “Is he all right?” she hissed at Martin, glancing past him over his shoulder at Gethin, an anxious expression on her face.

“Yes? Why shouldn’t he be?” Martin asked, frowning at her, puzzled.

“He’s Posey Morgan’s brother,” Julie hissed some more. “You know. Posey the health visitor?”

Martin shook his head. “Not my area,” he said apologetically. “Never met her.” He couldn’t remember who Shannon’s health visitor had been. An older woman though, no-one who could have been the sister of someone Gethin’s age.

Julie scowled at him, apparently blaming him for his lack of knowledge. “Well, she said he needed to get out of the house,” she continued, still hissing. “His wife left him two years ago and he’s become a recluse, she told me. I suggested he come along here to help take him out of himself.”

Martin bit his lip. As a gentle first step back in to a social life, he had his doubts about the suitability of the orchestra. One of it’s other activities was going to the pub after practice on a Friday and drinking steadily ‘til closing time. And there was a country-dancing-for-exercise sub-set of members he tried to avoid ... they’d invited him along to one of the sessions and he’d been crippled for days afterwards.

“So?” he said. “He seems perfectly normal.”

“The wife took off with his best friend,” Julie told him, shooting another guilty look over his shoulder at the brass section, who were settling the newcomer in their midst like a chicken in a nest of ferrets. Martin stopped himself turning properly to look at them, watching out of the corner of his vision.

“I’ll keep an eye on him,” Martin promised. “Does he actually play?”

“He brought it in to the shop to have it serviced,” she said. “He seemed to know what he was doing. And Posey said he played at school. But I don’t think he’s done much of anything for a while.” She pulled a face. “He’s an accountant.”

Buy Links: Amazon US : Amazon UK : JMS Books : Everywhere Else

[banner.jpg]

About A. L. Lester

Writer of queer, paranormal, historical, romantic suspense, mostly. Lives in the South West of England with Mr AL, two children, a terrifying cat, some poultry. Likes gardening but doesn't really have time or energy. Not musical. Doesn't much like telly. Non-binary. Chronically disabled. Has tedious fits.

Facebook Group : Mastodon : Newsletter (free story) : Website : Link-tree for everywhere else

New Release - Perfect Gifts (Railers 12) by RJ Scott and VL Locey

Perfect Gifts (Railers 12)   

Family comes first in all things. Whatever the cost.

Ten had always heard the saying, “Out of the mouths of babes,” but he hadn’t expected it to hit home as it had. After a comment from their daughter, Ten and Jared ponder an addition to the family. Moving into the adoption process is nerve-wracking and riddled with anxiety—kind of the way the Railers have been playing as of late. Bringing two young men into their homes and hearts won’t be a smooth ride. But with patience, humor, and love, the bumpy road might just be a little easier to travel. 

Expanding their small family was always in the cards, but no one could have foreseen the process clashing with the worst ever start to a Railers season. A string of losses, a vital player missing from the defense, a captain in the emergency room—and winning a single game seems impossible, let alone getting the team to the playoffs. Faced with hard decisions, Jared refuses to take his work home, but it’s difficult when your husband is at the leading edge of the losing streak. His focus fractures when one sibling they’re matched with is frustrated, angry, and has a healthy dose of mistrust.

Jared and Ten’s parenting skills are tested, but they’ll do anything to make a place in their home the perfect gift for two children lost in the system.

https://rjscott.co.uk/read-perfect

---

Details

GLBTQ, MM, Trope: Adoption, Hockey, Family/Friends

Released: 18 November 2022

KU: 25 November

Publisher: Love Lane Books

Series: Harrisburg Railers, 12

Length: 33,000 words

Cover Design: Meredith Russell

Add to Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/62813349-perfect-gifts

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/books/perfect-gifts-harrisburg-railers-series-book-12-by-rj-scott-and-v-l-locey

All Buy Links can be found here: https://rjscott.co.uk/read-perfect

Available - Wide Release, all platforms - moving to KU 25  November

ISBN - 9781785643910

---

Series Overview

This is not a standalone book - the books should be read in order to get the best out of the series.

1. Changing Lines - http://rjscott.co.uk/Read-ChangingLines (Railers 1)
2. First Season - http://rjscott.co.uk/Read-FirstSeason (Railers 2)
3. Deep Edge - http://rjscott.co.uk/Read-DeepEdge (Railers 3)
4. Poke Check - http://rjscott.co.uk/Read-PokeCheck (Railers 4)
5. Last Defense - http://rjscott.co.uk/Read-LastDefense (Railers 5)
6. Goal Line - http://rjscott.co.uk/Read-GoalLine (Railers 6)
7. Neutral Zone - http://rjscott.co.uk/Read-NeutralZone (Railers 7)
8. Hat Trick - http://rjscott.co.uk/Read-HatTrick (Railers 8)
9. Save the Date - http://rjscott.co.uk/Read-SaveDate (Railers 9)
10. Baby Makes Three - https://rjscott.co.uk/Read-BabyMakesThree (Railers 10)
11. Rivals - https://rjscott.co.uk/read-rivals (Railers 11)
12. Perfect Gifts - https://rjscott.co.uk/read-perfect (Railers 12)

---

RJ Scott

RJ Scott, author of M/M romance.Writing love stories with a happy ever after – cowboys, heroes, family, hockey, single dads, bodyguards

USA Today bestselling author RJ Scott has written over one hundred and fifty romance books. Emotional stories of complicated characters, cowboys, single dads, hockey players, millionaires, princes, bodyguards, Navy SEALs, soldiers, doctors, paramedics, firefighters, cops, and the men who get mixed up in their lives, always with a happy ever after.

She lives just outside London and spends every waking minute she isn’t with family either reading or writing.

The last time she had a week’s break from writing, she didn’t like it one little bit, and she has yet to meet a box of chocolates she couldn’t defeat.

---

RJ's Social Media Links in full

• Website - http://rjscott.co.uk 
• Newsletter - http://rjscott.co.uk/rjnews 
• Email - rj@rjscott.co.uk 
• BookBub - http://bookbub.com/authors/rj-scott?follow=true 
• Amazon - http://amazon.com/author/rj-scott 
• Pinterest - http://pinterest.com/RJ_LoveLane/ 
• Goodreads - http://goodreads.com/rjscott 
• Instagram - http://instagram.com/rjscott_author/ 
• Twitter - http://twitter.com/Rjscott_author 
• Facebook Group - http://facebook.com/groups/Rjscott 
• Facebook Author page - http://www.facebook.com/author.rjscott 
• BingeBooks - https://bingebooks.com/profile/rjscott 
• Tik Tok - https://www.tiktok.com/@rjscottauthor? 

---

VL Locey

V.L. Locey loves worn jeans, yoga, belly laughs, walking, reading and writing lusty tales, Greek mythology, the New York Rangers, comic books, and coffee.(Not necessarily in that order.)

She shares her life with her husband, her daughter, one dog, two cats, a flock of assorted domestic fowl, and two Jersey steers.

When not writing spicy romances, she enjoys spending her day with her menagerie in the rolling hills of Pennsylvania with a cup of fresh java in hand.

---

VL's Social Media Links in full

Website - http://vllocey.com

Email - vicki@vllocey.com

BookBub - https://www.bookbub.com/authors/v-l-locey?follow=true

Amazon - https://www.amazon.com/V-L-Locey/e/B00DUINCM2

Pinterest - https://www.pinterest.co.uk/vllocey/

Goodreads - https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5807700.V_L_Locey

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/vl_locey/

Twitter - https://twitter.com/vllocey

Facebook Profile - https://www.facebook.com/V.L.Locey

Facebook MM Hockey Romance - https://www.facebook.com/groups/mmhockeyromance

Facebook Reader Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/1439154279700674

 

---

Excerpts

“So, where do we think she got on the brother kick?” Jared asked as he stirred some of the honey that Adler’d brought us into his mug. Ad had taken up beekeeping. Why? Not a clue, but we all suspected that it was so he could brag about having a big stinger in the locker room. They’d found out Layton was allergic, so he watched the bees from a distance. 

“Probably at the indoor playground over in Camp Hill earlier,” I said while dunking a Stella D’oro cookie into my tea. I’d have a few. Cookies were not recommended by the Railers nutritionist as healthy afternoon snacks. “She was playing with Michelle Khan.”

“Oh, yes, Mrs. Khan just had a baby,” Jared replied, then added one more dollop of honey to his mug. “A little boy.”

“Yep. She was cooing and cuddling the baby until we left. She even skipped the jungle gym and slide to tickle tiny Joey’s chin.” 

Jared’s eyes flared. Lottie never passed the jungle gym and slide. Ever. I’d had to climb in a time or two to extract her when it was time to go. Jared—the old D-man that he was—was too burly to fit. The parents who had gotten to witness a hockey player trying to wedge his shoulders into a skinny tube with monkeys painted on the sides had found it pretty amusing. As had the local press the following day. Nothing says professionalism after just signing a new multi-million dollar contract like being photographed wriggling through the monkey tumble tube. 

“That explains it,” he commented as he began thumbing languidly through his daily read of The Patriot News online. The man looked sexy AF in those reading glasses. 

“Yeah, I guess.” I nibbled on my cookie, my phone showing a half-read article in The Athletic waiting for me to return to it. “You know we could consider it.” That brought his gaze up from the local news. He studied me over the top of his DILF glasses. “What? It’s not as if we haven’t discussed having another baby. It was kind of always our plan.”

“Well… yes, I know we’ve discussed it.” He removed his glasses, folded them, and laid them by the cookie box. He assessed me intently. “Do you think it’s something we should look at more closely?”

“Maybe?” I reached for another cookie, my sight darting from the cookie to Jared to the window where the glass was coated with a touch of frost around the edges. Fall was here, and it was glorious. We had pumpkins to carve, cider to drink, and Halloween costumes to decide on before the end of the month rolled around. “I mean she is here alone all the time.”

“She’s not alone. She has us, a nanny, and now, a dog.”

“Well yeah, I don’t mean like we Kevin McAllister her or anything, it’s just…” I plucked the cookie from its wrap, then dunked it quickly into my tea, hurrying to get the shortbread treat to my mouth. I chewed, then swallowed. Jared sat across from me waiting patiently for me to make my point. “Okay, so, and never tell them—especially Brady—but having siblings to grow up with was pretty nice. Most of the time.”

 

---

New Release - Naked Gardening Day Gay Romance Box Set

Naked Gardening Day Gay Romance Box Set

Published by JMS Books LLC and releasing on 5th November 2022. 

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. They are now gathered in a box set!

Goodreads : Publisher : All links

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?

Goodreads : Publisher : All links

 

New Release - The Quid Pro Quo by A. L. Lester

 The Quid Pro Quo by A. L. Lester

Hello there everyone! Thank you so much for letting me drop in today to tell you all about my new release and introduce you to the characters!

The Quid Pro Quo is the second in the Bradfield trilogy, and is set a few months after the end of The Fog of War. 

Village nurse Walter Kennett is content with his makeshift found family in tiny Bradfield. However, when a body is found floating in the village duck pond one midsummer morning, danger arrives too. Between his attraction to detective Simon Frost, concealing the relationship between his friends Sylvia and Lucy and not knowing how much to reveal about the paranormal possibilities of the murder, Walter is torn all ways. Simon is equally torn—he’s a calm, perceptive sort of person who’s come back from the war to his work as a detective with a gammy leg and a deep desire not to have anything exciting happen to him ever again. When it appears exciting things are happening in Bradfield it makes him cross for all sorts of reasons.

One of the things that made this a difficult book to write on one level was that the main characters are mature and sensible and good communicators. It’s so much easier to move the plot along when there’s room for huge misunderstandings that go on for ages and cause all sorts of problems! Despite the confusion the paranormal  murder-mystery brings, because both of them are calm and pragmatic it feels to me like a very ordinary, realistic relationship development. I’m so pleased Walter found Simon…he’s been pining for Sylvia for years, long before the beginning of The Fog of War…and he’s been through so much. He deserves a happy ending.

The Quid Pro Quo

Village nurse Walter Kennett is content with his makeshift found-family in tiny Bradfield. However one midsummer morning a body is found floating in the village duck pond, dead by magical means.

Detective Simon Frost arrives in Bradfield to investigate a inexplicable murder. The evidence seems to point to Lucille Hall-Bridges, who lives with doctor Sylvia Marks and nurse Walter Kennett at Courtfield House. Simon isn’t happy—he doesn’t believe Lucy is a murderer but  he’s sure the three of them are hiding something. In the meantime, the draw he feels toward Walter takes him by surprise.

Walter is in a dilemma, concealing Sylvia and Lucy’s relationship and not knowing how much to tell Frost about the paranormal possibilities of the murder. He isn’t interested in going to bed with anyone—he’s got a complicated life and has to know someone really well before he falls between the sheets. He’s taken aback by his own attraction to Detective Frost and angry when Frost appears to twist the spark between them to something transactional in nature.

Will Walter be satisfied to stay on the periphery of Lucy and Sylvia’s love affair, a welcome friend but never quite included? Or is it time for him to strike out and embark on  a relationship of his own?

The second in the Bradfield trilogy, set in the Border Magic universe. With a transm/m couple.

Buy-link : Buy from JMS Books  :  Add on Goodreads : Find on author-website

Excerpt

As Simon was replacing the device on the telephone table a pretty young woman put her head out of a door at toward the end of the hall. “Sylv!” she said, “Do you want tea? I’ve boiled the kettle.” and then when she realised he wasn’t who she thought he was, “Oh, I do beg your pardon! I thought you were Dr Marks!”.

“She’s still in the surgery,” Simon nodded across the hall.

The woman emerged into the hall. “Lucille Hall-Bridges,” she said, extending a hand. “I’m a friend of Sylvia’s. I help with the house.”

Simon took her hand in his. Her grip was sure and warm. “Detective Frost,” he replied. “Nice to meet you, Miss Hall-Bridges. She had a recent bruise running from her jaw to just below her eye, entering the black-and-purple stage.

“I’ve made a pot of tea,” she was saying. “I don’t know whether anyone will want any, but I do like to feel useful and tea is so…normal-making, isn’t it?”

He nodded, slightly bemused at her chatter. “Yes, indeed,” he said. “Very normal.”

She gave a perfunctory tap on the surgery door, opened it and disappeared inside without waiting for a response. “Sylv, Walter, I’ve made tea. Would you and your detective like to come into the drawing room?” Her voice faded, presumably as she joined them in the examination room.

There was a pause. Then, “Oh!” he heard her say. “Oh.” She sounded a little shocked. “What’s happened to her hands?” she asked.

“Scraped on the bottom on the pond I think,” Simon heard Dr Marks say. “She was face-down in the water.”

“Oh.” Miss Hall-Bridges’ voice was small. “Sylvia…there’s…she’s…I can feel…do you think…?” Her voice trailed off and Dr Marks spoke over her, clearly away they might be overhead.

“Let’s not worry about that now, shall we? The policeman is sending her down to Taunton to a postmortem. You go and take the tea-things into the drawing room. We’ll just cover her up.”

Buy-link : Buy from JMS Books  :  Add on Goodreads : Find on author-website

About A. L. Lester

Writer of queer, paranormal, historical, romantic suspense, mostly. Lives in the South West of England with Mr AL, two children, a terrifying cat, some hens and the duckettes. Likes gardening but doesn't really have time or energy. Not musical. Doesn't much like telly. Non-binary. Chronically disabled. Has tedious fits.

Facebook Group : Twitter : Newsletter (free story) : Website : Link-tree for everywhere else

New release - Arne, Love at the Haven book 6 by Stella Shaw

Book Title* Arne, Love at the Haven book 6     

Book Author* Stella Shaw

Publisher* self-published

Length* 206 pages / 60k words

Release date* 27 Oct 2021

Subgenres* Contemporary, MM, romance

Other* Available at Amazon and in KU

BUY LINK* books2read.com/arnehaven6

Friends-with-benefits is a practical arrangement—until it becomes something more.

Arne’s easy-going nature is sorely tried the night his kitchen’s almost set on fire. It’s the fault of admin assistant Simon, a man Arne’s treated with suspicion ever since Simon joined the Haven Hotel team. But when he has Simon in his arms, injured, vulnerable, yet full of sexy, prickly spirit to match Arne’s own—he starts to rethink.

When Simon confesses he’s struggling with intimacy, and Arne offers his practical help as an escort, it’s only meant as a joke. Until Simon accepts. He’s inexperienced and nervous despite his confidence at work, and embraces Arne’s sensual, unashamed instruction very eagerly. Alongside the passion, a friendship blossoms—and the vulnerability becomes emotional, too. 

But Arne’s always been too generous with both his time and his money. When he’s betrayed by someone he trusted, it hits him hard, and halts his plans to launch a cookery vlog. All Simon wants to do is help him in return, but Arne rejects him.

Maybe it’s time for Simon and their friends at the Haven to unite on behalf of Arne’s ambitions and dreams. And help both Simon and Arne decide if there’s a new direction they can share.

Author links*

Website www.stellashawauthor.com

Newsletter http://bit.ly/stellashawNews

Facebook www.facebook.com/stellashawauthor

Facebook Group www.facebook.com/groups/stellasstars

Amazon www.amazon.com/author/stellashaw

Goodreads www.goodreads.com/stellashaw

Bookbub www.bookbub.com/authors/stella-shaw

Instagram www.instagram.com/stellashawauthor

New Release - Eight Acts by A. L. Lester

It’s 1967. It’s the Summer of Love. But how will it end for Percy?   

• Keywords: gay, romance, historical, British, 1960s, mature 

• Length:  20,500 words

• Publisher:  JMS Books

• Release Date:  March 2021

• Buy:  https://books2read.com/EightActs

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.

Thirty-three year old Percy is keen to soak up some theatre, music and general culture, whilst the younger 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?

A 20k novella that’s set five years before Taking Stock. Stand alone.

Excerpt

“Shall we go for a walk in Hyde Park this evening?” Les said with forced casualness, shoving toast into the toaster in a bleary fashion.

“Tonight?” Percy said. It was a Thursday.

“One of the blokes I was talking to at the William at the weekend mentioned it. Said it’s an interesting place of an evening.”

He put the emphasis on interesting. 

“Les…,” Percy was reluctant. “I’m not sure it’s my kind of thing.”

“What, getting your rocks off isn’t your kind of thing?” Les said, slightly snippily. “Don’t pretend you haven’t been having it off with Adrian for the last fortnight.”

Percy didn’t have anything to say back to that. 

“We’re back to school in two weeks,” Les said, almost wearily. “And I want to have as much fun as possible before I get shut up in that damned boarding house with sixty adolescent terrors for another year.”

Percy watched him, steadily.

“This is…so different,” Les continued. “I don’t want to miss anything.”

“Didn’t you have a social set at university?” Percy asked. Not that he had himself, really.

“In York!?” Les said with an derisive huffing noise. “Not these kind of friends. I just want…something, Perce.”

Percy could understand that. “I know, he said. “I know you do. But…is Hyde Park after dark really what you’re looking for?”

Les sat at the small table and focused on buttering his toast fiercely. “I won’t know if I don’t go, will I?” he said. “It’s okay, Perce. You don’t have to come. I know it’s not really your scene.”

Les was so much younger, sometimes, Percy thought. 

“What about Phil?” he asked. 

“Nice bloke,” Les said, dismissively. “I don’t want a wife, though, Percy. I want some fun.”

Percy sighed. “Well, what time are you thinking of going?” he asked. “I’m meeting Adrian. He’s managed to get tickets for Hello Dolly at Drury Lane.” This would be the fourth time they had deliberately arranged to meet. After their first outing to the Prince William in Hampstead nearly a fortnight ago, they’d met in the week at a pub close to Adrian’s offices after work and gone on and had a meal. And on Sunday they’d begun the day by walking along the Embankment, had some chips in a pub they’d come upon and then spent the afternoon in Regent’s Park. It had been a really lovely day out. He’d felt guilty leaving Les on his own, but Les seemed happy enough going up to the Prince William by himself, once he’d been introduced around the weekend before.

“No idea what time,” said Les, interrupting his memories. I was going to come home and have some tea and then go on out. So you can still come along if you change your mind.”

Percy shook his head. “I won’t change my mind. I’ve got to be out of the door at about six, so I was going to come home, bolt a bit of toast and change, and then go on out. We’re having supper somewhere afterwards, I think.”

Les made grunting assent. 

Percy was worried about him. The huge platter of different places and experiences that had opened to them over the last month were so different from anything either of them had experienced before. Percy was much more cautious than Les. He didn’t seem to have the same need to grab everything with both hands and try it all out. He was a decade older, he supposed. Whether than meant it had drained out of his system without him noticing whilst he was busy trying to hide it all, or whether it just meant he was a bit more sensible than he would have been a decade ago, he didn’t know.

What he did know what that in his opinion, Les was going to get in to trouble. And Percy wasn’t prepared to be dragged in to trouble with him. 

“You will be careful, won’t you?” he said, diffidently. “Just…be careful, Les.”

Les looked over at him. “I’ll be careful. And you…you have a good time, yeah? If I don’t see you before you go out. He seems like a really nice bloke.”

Percy smiled. “He is. He’s a really nice bloke.”

About A. L. Lester 

Writer of queer, paranormal, historical, romantic suspense. Lives in the South West of England with Mr AL, two children, a badly behaved dachshund, a terrifying cat and some hens. Likes gardening but doesn't really have time or energy. Not musical. Doesn't much like telly. Non-binary. Chronically disabled. Has tedious fits.

Links

All my links are gathered here (this is by far the easiest!): https://lnk.bio/gjD5

Or pick and choose:

Webpage: https://allester.co.uk

Email: ally@allester.co.uk

Newsletter: https://www.subscribepage.com/allester

Twitter: https://twitter.com/CogentHippo

FB: https://www.facebook.com/ALLesterAuthor/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/CogentHippo

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/a-l-lester

YouTube: https://bit.ly/3bgvVGl

SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/user-954808628

New Release - How to Make the Perfect Man by Catherine Curzon & Eleanor Harkstead

 How to Make the Perfect Man 

Love isn't science. It's alchemy. 

Needing a date for the hottest Hallowe’en party in town, scientist Aubrey Waldegrave sets to work creating his perfect man. Unfortunately, the Adonis who emerges from his laboratory is a free spirit who has no time for Aubrey’s brogues and tweeds.

Alchemist Trismegistus Nimlet can turn anything into gold, but when his apocathery's alligator starts talking back and his werewolf allergy leaves him sneezing, it looks like Halloween might be a washout. Worse still, is Tris really about to lose the chap he secretly loves to a manmade surfer dude who’s more flash than Frankenstein?

With werewolves leaving fur in the ornamental fountains and a banshee making enough noise to wake the dead, Aubrey’s Halloween is going from bad to worse. All he wanted was to make his perfect man, but what if he was right there all along?

 

Release: 27th October 2020

 

URL: https://www.pride-publishing.com/book/how-to-make-the-perfect-man

Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Make-Perfect-Man-Haunted-ebook/dp/B08GKTSCDM

Amazon US: https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Make-Perfect-Man-Haunted-ebook/dp/B08GKTSCDM

Author Bios

Catherine Curzon  is a royal historian who writes on all matters of 18th century. Her work has been featured on many platforms and Catherine has also spoken at various venues including the Royal Pavilion, Brighton, and Dr Johnson’s House.

Catherine holds a Master’s degree in Film and when not dodging the furies of the guillotine, writes fiction set deep in the underbelly of Georgian London.

She lives in Yorkshire atop a ludicrously steep hill.

Eleanor Harkstead likes to dash about in nineteenth-century costume, in bonnet or cravat as the mood takes her. She can occasionally be found wandering old graveyards. Eleanor is very fond of chocolate, wine, tweed waistcoats and nice pens. Her large collection of vintage hats would rival Hedda Hopper’s.

Originally from the south-east of England, Eleanor now lives somewhere in the Midlands with a large ginger cat who resembles a Viking.

Visit their website at www.curzonharkstead.co.uk

Extract

The experiment was ready and the weather was just right.

Although Aubrey could have wired the tank up to the mains, powering it using the awesome force of a violent electrical storm appealed to his sense of tradition. A long line of Waldegraves had tried to harness nature’s power and dissect its secrets, and now Aubrey stood on the brink of breathing life itself into his creature.

The laboratory took up a wing of Aubrey’s house, a rambling place that had been added to over the years by successive generations of Waldegraves. There were corridors that headed nowhere, stairs that seemed to lead upwards but only went down, and grand doors that had once led into ornate rooms that now only opened onto cupboards. The house’s stone exterior was decorated with a lively collection of gargoyles who, when they were in the right mood, would wink and stretch out their wings as Aubrey passed them.

But it was the laboratory where Aubrey spent most of his time, the house’s other rooms mostly mouldering under dustsheets. In some respects, it was more like a museum of science than anything resembling a modern laboratory. But it suited Aubrey. He happily spent all his hours among his copper pipes and rubber tubes, his pulleys and steam generators, his wooden benches and elegantly-carved test-tube racks. Various biological samples collected or created by his ancestors were suspended in glowing fluids inside jars in a cabinet—a foot here, an eye there, two-headed wonders and five-legged marvels.

The roof was fashioned from glass, inspired by the vast greenhouses at Kew Gardens. An extensive library of leather-bound books covered one wall of the laboratory. The shelves were three-storeys high, with a cast-iron spiral staircase that wound up to the top. Each step bore a curlicued rendering of the initials of Aubrey’s great-great-grandfather, and his family’s crest appeared in stained glass at each leaded window. At least, in the windows that had survived Aubrey’s ill-advised, youthful experiments with compressed gasses.

But Aubrey was a callow youth no longer. He had plumbed nature’s secrets, and now his toil and research would bear fruit.

The figure lay inside a large glass tank in the middle of Aubrey’s laboratory. The water it contained was cloudy and white, luminous from the brightness of the lightning that filled the room at intervals. Aubrey leaned against the side of the tank and peered fondly at his creation.

At him.

Aubrey had put so much work into his creature, and soon—soon—he would have a man, fashioned by his own hands, as beautiful as Aubrey had power to imagine.

As the rain beat ever harder against the glass panes of his laboratory’s roof, Aubrey looked over at a fluttering dial that told him the lightning was at just the right intensity for his man to breathe at last.

He stepped back from the tank, then grabbed the handle of a huge brass switch. Still watching the dial fidget in its glass case, the needle advanced just enough, and Aubrey pulled down the handle.

A great sizzling tore the air, and Aubrey had to squint behind his green-lensed goggles. A bolt of lightning shot down from the inverted conductor that hung from the ceiling and arced into the machinery that stood next to the tank.

The tank’s glass sides cracked apart and the cloudy water burst across the floor. There, twitching on a wooden platform inside what was left of the tank, was Aubrey’s man.

Aubrey yanked off his goggles and stared in awe at the figure.

“It lives!” Aubrey cried. I’ve always wanted to say that. He took a step closer, clutching his hands, unable to tear his gaze away from the man before him. The man Aubrey had created. “He lives! Hurrah, I have a date for the party!”

He had never seen a creature like him. A bronzed god, his muscular frame shuddering as he drew in his first breath. The long-lashed eyelids opened and his creation parted his perfect, full lips. A moment passed before the Adonis said, “Woah… Dude. What a wild freakin’ ride!”

Aubrey tipped his head to one side. Had he really heard that properly? Had the thunder banging overhead dimmed his hearing?

But no. His Adonis had just addressed him as dude. Surely it was only a temporary glitch.

“G-good evening,” Aubrey stammered. “Are you comfortable? Can I get you anything? A cup of tea, perhaps?”

The creature sat up, surprisingly nimble for someone who had just been brought to life by a lightning strike. He looked down at his naked body, his eyes alighting on his own impressive manhood.

“Dude, I’m seriously hench. And hung!” He lifted his hand and waited, offering Aubrey a nod. “Hit me, bro! Yeah!”

Aubrey lifted his hand in response and waved, slowly. The man would have to learn how to greet people properly, but a raised hand was halfway to a wave. And physically, Aubrey had got it just right. The toned figure was perfect.

“Hello, my name’s Aubrey. And I’m calling you Adam.”

“Who’s Adam?” He slapped his palm against Aubrey’s. “I’m Kai, bro, good to know you. Woo! Yeah!”

“Kai? No, no…” Aubrey shuddered. What nonsense was this, interfering with his newfound Godlike powers of creation? “No! I’m your creator, and I’m calling you Adam!”

Kai—Adam—frowned then laughed, showing off his perfect white teeth. He slapped Aubrey’s shoulder as, outside, Aubrey heard the throaty purr of a familiar engine .

“Yeah, right. Adam!”

“But…but…” Aubrey pouted. Oh bloody blast it, it’s gone to pot again. And after I’d told Tris I almost definitely had a date for the party. “I’ve got you something to wear.”

He took a pile of clothes from a box and held them out to Adam. Commodious briefs, a comfortable Aran jumper, a checked shirt, corduroy slacks, Argyle socks and lace-up brogues. All from the same gentlemen’s outfitters Aubrey shopped at himself.

“Dude.” Adam shook his head. He hopped down to stand before Aubrey, his hands on his hips. “Like, it works for you, but you got nothing a bit more…y’know…me?”

Aubrey glanced from the clothes to Adam. How could he convince him to get dressed before his visitor made his presence known?

“And what is more you? I don’t own flip-flops.”

“So, I’ll kick it just like I am, yeah?” He shrugged his sculpted shoulders and tossed his beachy blond locks. “I’m cool with that. Hanging with the boys, letting it all loose. Let’s hit the waves.”

New Release - Taking Stock by A L Lester

Let's welcome A L Lester who is here to talk about her new release.

Thank you so much for having me today to tell you a little bit about Taking Stock!  

It's 1972. 

Fifteen years ago, teenage Laurie Henshaw came to live at Webber’s Farm with his elderly uncle and settled in to the farming life. Now, age thirty-two, he has a stroke in the middle of working on the farm. As he recovers, he has to come to terms with the fact that some of his new limitations are permanent and he’s never going to be as active as he used to be. Will he be able to accept the helping hands his friends extend to him? 

With twenty successful years in the City behind him, Phil McManus is hiding in the country after his boyfriend set him up to take the fall for an insider trading deal at his London stockbroking firm. There’s not enough evidence to prosecute anyone, but not enough to clear him either. He can’t bear the idea of continuing his old stagnating life in the city, or going back to his job now everyone knows he’s gay. 

Thrown together in a small country village, can Phil and Laurie forge a new life that suits the two of them and the makeshift family that gathers round them? Or are they too tied up in their own shortcomings to recognise what they have? 

Taking Stock is a 40,000 word gay romance set mostly in rural England. It’s set on Webber’s Farm, which I first wrote about in Inheritance of Shadows. Inheritance is set in 1919 and is part of my spooky paranormal universe. I based the farm on somewhere I used to know as a child on the Quantock Hills in Somerset and didn’t want to leave after Inheritance. Taking Stock is the result. Although it’s set in the same universe as my other books and some of the same background characters are there, there’s nothing paranormal or suspenseful. 

Instead it’s a gentle story about two people who are hurt and angry and tired, who find their way toward each other and help each other heal.

Initially Laurie was going to have a similar chronic condition to me…I have fibromyalgia and seizures…but then just before I actually sat down to get the words out of my head and on to the page, my Mama had a very severe stroke. She is in her eighties and has been more or less working her seven acre smallholding singlehandedly for years. Her frustration and anger at her situation translated directly into Laurie as I was writing. So he’s a combination of both my own feelings about my lack of agency through my disability, and hers.

It was a very emotive story for me to write and I hope you enjoy it.

• Tags: MM, gay, romance, historical, ownvoices, disability, farming, 1970s.

• Length:  40,000 words

• Publisher:  JMS Books LLC

• Release Date:  Sept 19th 2020

You can buy/preorder Taking Stock here: https://allester.co.uk/takingstock/

About A. L. Lester 

Writer of queer, paranormal, historical, romantic suspense. Lives in the South West of England with Mr AL, two children, a badly behaved dachshund, a terrifying cat and some hens. Likes gardening but doesn't really have time or energy. Not musical. Doesn't much like telly. Non-binary. Chronically disabled. Has tedious fits.

You can stalk me on all sorts of different internet platforms here: https://lnk.bio/gjD5