Sealed in Blood
Love Was Never Safe in Iran...Ghazal never chose this life. A gifted computer science student, she is trapped under her father's iron control where even makeup earns punishment and obedience is expected. Sepideh, a bold social media influencer, refuses to bow to anyone. She lives loud, fearless, and free until her heart collides with Ghazal's quiet defiance.What begins as friendship ignites into forbidden love. But in a country where morality police prowl the streets and women are silenced with bullets, their bond becomes both a sanctuary and a death sentence.Every heartbeat is rebellion.Every choice carries risk.Every kiss could be their last.Sometimes, surviving together is the greatest act of strength.From stolen moments of beauty to streets filled with protest, Sealed in Blood is a sweeping sapphic romance and political thriller that explores forbidden love, women's rights, and resilience in modern-day Iran.
Kill Your Darlings
At this mystery conference, murder is more than just another plot twist...Nobody likes conferences, but they're part of the job.Millbrook House senior editor Keiran Chandler has spent years curating the best voices in crime lit, but when an unsolicited manuscript is handed to him at the Noir at the Shore mystery conference, truth collides with fiction. I Know What You Did is more than just another slush pile submission-it's a direct threat. U.N. Owen seems to know what really happened in Steeple Hill all those years ago. Who is Owen? How does he know these things? Clearly the mysterious author is after more than a book deal. But what? With a potentially career-ending publishing merger on the horizon, the end of his affair with bestselling author and former homicide detective Finn Scott, and not so subtle threats from someone in his past, Keiran has a lot bigger problems than coming up with something witty to say on discussion panels.
Speak Softly Among Icebergs
A grief-wrought creature comes to terms with the suicide of his only child and a subsequent marital demise. He tries any and nearly every aid possible to buoy his sanity: drugs, sex, talk therapy and family gossip; travel near and far (real+imagined?), church and family traditions; other occupations and more schooling; literary therapy: writing to vent and better understand the world he wonders, wanders should he live in--Recalling his own childhood, the man settles on those formative years with the lesbian/gf Berry--what nearly ended with a pregnancy unresolved. A child born and given away.MEANWHILE, he happens upon an inheritance, a trunk containing a long-dead family member's unpublished travelogue: centering largely on that man's own secrets, we explore the dead relation's escapades in the former Constantinople, a continent-straddling city of many names and conflicting histories....IF "1" place can be so many, perhaps there's hope for me, our Main Man reasons in confession.
Besties in Crime
Childhood best friends Jay and Gia haven't spoken since Gia's marriage drove them apart, until one tearful night when she shows up at Jay's door with devastating news: her husband, Frank, is leaving her. Rekindling their bond over heartbreak and bad decisions, the pair hatch a reckless plan for a weekend escape to Atlantic City, funded by some "borrowed" cash from Frank's home office.But when the house goes up in flames, and Frank is found dead in the wreckage, their impulsive getaway turns into a full-blown manhunt.Before Jay and Gia can clear their names, they're caught in a dire twist of fate when mobsters kidnap them, claiming Frank owed them money. Soon, the former besties are swept into a chaotic whirlwind of car chases, gunfights, bank robberies, and...burlesque shows? But as they scramble to outsmart the crooks, one question remains: will the FBI find this ridiculous mix-up as humorous as their quick-witted candor?
Silverbourne
Welcome to a proper British gay wedding.Helford Creek, Cornwall. June 2026. Thirty-five guests, two grooms, and a chosen family that defies every convention.This isn't a romance about falling in love. Brian and Archie already have that. This is about what comes after: the chaos, the champagne, the ex-boyfriends holding oars aloft as you walk towards forever, the police crashing your ceremony, the dogs getting married alongside you, the Celtic blessings and sea shanties and sticky nightclub floors at 2am.Experience a week in the life of British rowers preparing for a wedding at a centuries-old Cornish manor. Early morning outings on glassy water. Champagne for breakfast. Stag parties that end in kebabs and collective boat races. An eccentric Dowager Baroness quoting Oscar Wilde whilst drunk on port. A polyamorous throuple navigating seating charts. Homophobic families who won't attend, and chosen families who show up with literal boats full of alcohol.From Thames boathouses to sub-tropical Cornish gardens, from Falmouth harbour pubs to ancient parish churches, this is British gay life rendered without filter. The rowing culture. The class dynamics. The reality of being queer in a country that's both progressive and still learning.Raw. Authentic. Joyful. Messy.Written by a gay man who spent a decade rowing on the Thames, who knows what Silverbourne Manor feels like at dawn, who lived this world and wants you to experience it too.No sanitised romance. No neat endings. Just real queer joy in all its chaotic, champagne-soaked, deeply British glory.Step into the wedding. Experience the life. Feel what it's really like.
A Forbidden Love
A Forbidden Love: Book Four - The Grand TourGeorge Langley's Grand Tour is meant to be a rite of passage-a journey through the glittering capitals and ancient ruins of Europe, preparing him for the duties of inheritance and the expectations of English society. But when George arrives in Paris, a chance encounter with the passionate artist Auguste Durand changes everything. Their friendship quickly deepens into a love that must remain hidden in a world where discovery means disgrace, exile, or worse.As George and Auguste travel from the salons of Paris to the sunlit piazzas of Rome and the stormy shores of Genoa, they are forced to navigate not only the temptations and freedoms of the continent, but also the ever-present dangers of scandal, blackmail, and betrayal. Every city brings new risks: the threat of exposure by informers and extortionists, the pressure of family duty, and the constant fear that a single misstep could destroy their lives.Returning to England, George faces the ultimate test-balancing the demands of his inheritance, the expectations of his family, and the love he cannot deny. As secrets unravel and enemies close in, he must decide whether to sacrifice his happiness for the sake of duty, or risk everything for the chance to live-and love-on his own terms.Sweeping from the candlelit galleries of Paris to the windswept cliffs of Italy and the shadowed halls of Langley Hall, A Forbidden Love: Book Four is a powerful story of courage, resilience, and the fight to claim one's true self in a world determined to keep you hidden. For anyone who has ever longed for freedom, or dared to love against the odds, this is a journey you will never forget.
Hosts
A glorious collection of stories, cause for celebration and gratitude. The final one, "Providence," gestures toward all the others, suggesting the hidden design lying just beneath the surface of our lives connecting us all. Stories of children, of wounded veterans and lonely widows, of gay men and remembered blue roses painted on a ceiling. Of parasites and paradise. But the story I hope never to forget is called Kick and must have been written at the dictation of the gods. All honor. -Kathleen HillAlfred Corn's stories are just as elegant, complex, and perceptive as are his poems, full of surprises and passages of melancholy and yearning that recall the great short-fiction boom of the 1950s and 1960s. What a pleasure to read such a rewarding and sophisticated collection. -Rick Moody Alfred Corn has an eye, and he uses his acute vison to great effect, an ability to make the reader aware of a whole world, and, too, the wonder of being aware, which luminous wonder is the pleasure of these stories. Having read a story by Alfred Corn, I look about at all that is around me for being suddenly magically there. -David Plante
After the Story
TV journalist Mattie Elliott lives for the rush of a breaking story-until she becomes one. Scarred by injury and sudden fame, she retreats to England's south-west coast in search of peace. Chief inspector Nell Abraham values calm, control, and solitude. The last thing she needs is a headstrong reporter prying into her world or stirring something she thought she'd buried long ago.But a suspicious fire forces them together, and as attraction deepens, secrets and old wounds resurface.Can two guarded hearts learn to trust again, or will fear keep them from a love that could change everything?
Politics and Poly
Rus doesn't think there's anything wrong with punching bigots. Some call it anger issues or impulse control; he sees it as clearing away the cesspool of hateful idiots. All the same, he doesn't want his rage to control him or push away the two people he's beginning to care deeply for. Dylan's fa癟ade of joy is so masterful, he even deceives himself most days. Underneath that worn smile, though, is a frightened man who doesn't trust the world. Now, he has to navigate taking care of the queer youth home that gave him a life worth living while exploring the life he'd like to live if he wants to pursue romance in this new relationship. Kaiden struggles to accept himself, wayward and insecure most days. So, when two men express how much they see him, he feels like a complete and total imposter. He's convinced himself this awkward throuple would be a much happier couple if he took a step back. But despite his reservations, he doesn't want to give up. These three will have to come together, work through their personal fears, and be real with one another if they hope to explore this romance.
Politics and Poly
Rus doesn't think there's anything wrong with punching bigots. Some call it anger issues or impulse control; he sees it as clearing away the cesspool of hateful idiots. All the same, he doesn't want his rage to control him or push away the two people he's beginning to care deeply for. Dylan's fa癟ade of joy is so masterful, he even deceives himself most days. Underneath that worn smile, though, is a frightened man who doesn't trust the world. Now, he has to navigate taking care of the queer youth home that gave him a life worth living while exploring the life he'd like to live if he wants to pursue romance in this new relationship. Kaiden struggles to accept himself, wayward and insecure most days. So, when two men express how much they see him, he feels like a complete and total imposter. He's convinced himself this awkward throuple would be a much happier couple if he took a step back. But despite his reservations, he doesn't want to give up. These three will have to come together, work through their personal fears, and be real with one another if they hope to explore this romance.
The Admiral's Daughter
A sapphic romance set on the high seasAn arrogant sailor who never sticks around.A guarded journalist who doesn't trust the Navy.One reckless night turns into months at sea...Royal Navy able rate River Dawson never drops anchor in the same harbor twice-especially when it comes to women. With a reputation as the fleet's heartbreaker, she lives for no-strings seductions and swift departures. But when her latest redheaded fling turns out to be the Admiral's daughter-and her new crewmate aboard HMS Queen Elizabeth-River's easy-come, easy-go lifestyle hits rough waters.Cleo Carter has sworn off sailors. After years of watching duty outrank family-and suffering one heartbreak too many-she's done with sea life. But when she's assigned to cover one of her father's ships, Cleo finds herself trapped on board with the one woman she should've left on shore.As scandal brews and sparks ignite below deck, River and Cleo must decide if their chemistry is just a shipboard fling-or the start of something worth risking everything for.Perfect for fans of sapphic romance, forbidden love, and sharp banter.
I Will Always Love You (Maybe)
What's worse than regretting a one-night stand? Being snowed in with her.Since losing her wife six years ago, Colby has perfected the hermit lifestyle: secluded Minnesota cabin, golden retriever, weekly cupcake run. Zero complications. Until a chaotic, pink-haired vet tech arrives for a house call and-in one reckless moment-Colby lets someone in.It was supposed to be one night. Then the blizzard hit.Josie is a serial hobbyist who's perfected the art of avoiding rejection. Pilates, painting, pickleball-anything but feelings. So being trapped in a cabin with no distractions and a gorgeous woman who clearly regrets last night? Personal nightmare.But a lot can happen in a week. Stolen glances turn into lingering eye contact. Awkward silences become late-night conversations. And when the snow stops, both of them have to face the question they've been avoiding: what if the biggest risk isn't opening your heart to someone, it's letting her walk away when the roads finally clear?A tender and emotional romance about finding love when (and where) you're absolutely not looking for it. Perfect for fans of Ashley Herring Blake, Casey McQuiston.
Curlbearers
In the rigid kingdom of Virelle, straight hair is the norm, and those with curls are shamed. Prince Caelan has spent his entire life hiding who he is. Born with forbidden curls that can ignite into living flame, he wears wigs, follows orders, and dreams of earning his father's love by becoming "straight" in every way that matters. When he volunteers for a dangerous pilgrimage to the Obelus Stone-a rumored cure enforced by a powerful religious order-Caelan believes he is finally choosing duty over shame.But the journey unravels everything he thought he knew.Instead of salvation, Caelan discovers the Curlbearers: magic-wielding outcasts whose power flows from emotion, authenticity, and self-acceptance. Among them are Ren, a fire-wreathed rebel who sees Caelan's light without fear, and Arien, a dazzling master of camp magic who turns chaos into truth. Beneath the world, in a hidden sanctuary called the Garden of Expression, Caelan encounters a life rich with color, love, and chosen family.As the Church tightens its grip and prepares to erase the Curlbearers once and for all, Caelan must make an impossible choice: return to a crown built on control, or claim the fire within him and risk everything for freedom.Curlbearers: Fire and Spark is a queer fantasy novel about repression, desire, found family, and the courage it takes to exist unapologetically. Lyrical, defiant, and tender, it is a story for anyone who has ever been told they were too much-and learned to burn anyway.
Dear Benjamin Manwha Volume 2
An omega in hiding and an alpha with a dangerous past meet in a collision of desire and danger. Isaac has always lived as a beta, but his world turns upside down when he discovers he's a recessive omega during an undercover operation. As he experiences his first heat cycle, he encounters Felix, a notorious and hyper-dominant alpha arms dealer. In the midst of a chaotic raid, Isaac, overwhelmed by his heat, seeks relief from Felix. Four years later, Isaac has reinvented himself as a modest florist in San Diego, trying to escape his tumultuous past and conceal his omega status. His peaceful life is shattered when Felix reappears. Felix is immediately infatuated with Isaac and, upon discovering that Isaac needs protection from an unknown threat, offers a dangerous but tempting deal; his protection in exchange for Isaac's body. A flower shop isn't the safest place for an omega with a past, especially when Felix is around even more so when Issac's most precious secret may be uncovered... Volume 1 will contain season 1: Episodes 1-22 Volume 2 will contain season 2: Episodes 23-45 Volume 3 will contain season 3: Episodes 46-58 (different artist)
Siege of Hearts
In the sweeping romance of Siege of Hearts, Amanda Garfield, a young woman of grace and wit, finds her heart ensnared by the dashing Lord Jack Maitland. She is convinced, however, that his affections lie with her radiant sister. Determined to guard her heart, Amanda steers clear of Lord Jack, until fate intervenes. A cunning ruse by a meddling guest leaves Amanda and Jack stranded overnight on a secluded island. As dawn breaks, they face the whispers of scandal. To protect her reputation, a proposal of marriage is on the horizon. But is it just a convenience, or could it be the love she's longed for? Join Amanda on her journey of heartache, discovery, and the chance of true love in this enthralling tale of passion, choice, and destiny.,
Angels and Omens
Someone would kill to keep the past buried.Warnings of winter weather and a supernatural storm make for a dangerous holiday season for ex-cop Ben Nolan and antiques expert Erik Mitchell. Cape May's ghosts are unquiet, and sightings of a Woman in White is an omen of misfortune. As Erik and Ben try to lay the spirits to rest, they are drawn into a web of secrets about old shipwrecks, unsolved Mob hits, and long-ago deadly intrigue.Someone would kill to keep the past buried. As Ben and Erik navigate their growing relationship and help Cape May prepare for its big winter festival, they must face down ghosts, mobsters, and the town's dangerous hidden history.Can they resolve the crimes and mysteries of the past and live to tell the tale?Angels and Omens is a thrill-packed MM paranormal romance mystery-adventure filled with supernatural threats, old secrets, Mob ties, long-lost shipwrecks, true soulmates, hurt/comfort, psychic visions, powerful witches, and haunted history.
Stand and Deliver
Betrothed to a cruel man she despises, Countess Victoria Edmunton is determined to escape her fate.When her carriage is ambushed by highwaymen, Victoria seizes her chance to bargain with their charismatic leader. If her family believes she has been stolen away, then she may have a chance to escape her cursed marriage and claim a life of her choosing. Victoria offers jewels-and a daring plan. If he fakes her ransom, he could walk away richer than he ever dreamed, and she could disappear for good.Whisked away on horseback by the masked outlaw, Victoria makes a startling discovery...the highwayman is no man at all. In the depths the forest, Victoria's scheme unravels as the highwaywoman reveals that a ransom the size of Victoria's is just too tempting-she intends to deliver. Kidnapped for real, Victoria should hate the dangerous, sharp-tongued woman who holds her captive...yet every mocking smile ignites a longing she cannot ignore. And the more she glimpses beneath the mask, the more she sees a tenderness that disarms her completely. But as attraction sparks into desire, their time runs short. Deadly secrets come to light when an old enemy surfaces. If she hopes to survive, Victoria must trust her highwaywoman with not only her heart, but with her life.
Stop Me If You've Heard This One
A TODAY SHOW SPRING PICK"Sweet, sexy, sad, articulate, and funny." - Vogue"As much heart, humor, and gritty realness as can fit between two covers." - People "A funny and heartfelt tale of one woman grappling with grief, love and how to move forward." - New York Times From the New York Times bestselling author of Mostly Dead Things, a sparkling and funny new novel of entertainment, ambition, art, and love. Cherry Hendricks might be down on her luck, but she can write the book on what makes something funny: she's a professional clown who creates raucous, zany fun at gigs all over Orlando. Between her clowning and her shifts at an aquarium store for extra cash, she's always hustling. Not to mention balancing her judgmental mother, her messy love life, and her equally messy community of fellow performers. Things start looking up when Cherry meets Margot the Magnificent--a much older lesbian magician--who seems to have worked out the lines between art, business, and life, and has a slick, successful career to prove it. With Margot's mentorship and industry connections, Cherry is sure to take her art to the next level. Plus, Margot is sexy as hell. It's not long before Cherry must decide how much she's willing to risk for Margot and for her own explosive new act--and what kind of clown she wants to be under her suit. Equal parts bravado, tenderness, and humor, and bursting with misfits, magicians, musicians, and mimes, Stop Me If You've Heard This One is a masterpiece of comedic fiction that asks big questions about art and performance, friendship and community, and the importance of timing in jokes and in life.
Consequences of Attraction
Desire draws them together. What follows is never simple.A brand new collection of five gay-themed stories by John Stewart Wynne (Lambda Literary Award-nominated author of the novel The Red Shoes) about how desire re-shapes us. Ranging in locations from East Hampton to the Scottish Highlands to Provincetown and Tahiti, the stories vary in tone-tragic, comic, mystical-but share a psychological and emotional core and a commonality: that getting close changes everything.A Killing in East HamptonA story of class, resentment, and suspicion in a young, wealthy, gay married couple's new neighborhood-where a friendship across generations ends in betrayal.NarcissistA professor falls under the spell of a beautiful teen who, like the mythical Narcissus, only offers back his own reflection.We're Going PlacesA sharply drawn satire in which a retired soap star whisks away his young fianc矇 to Tahiti, but ambition, aging, and the need for visibility follow them around the world.Louise, Don't GoTwo older women meet in a hotel in the Scottish Highlands and engage in a delicate act of longing and spectral memory, blurring the boundary between past and future.BlondsA young runaway lands in Provincetown and finds comfort in a relationship with a reclusive housepainter-until jealousy unravels everything they've built.These stories explore the shifting ground between love and loss, intimacy and illusion, in quiet storms of psychological tension. Dark, tender, ironic, and emotionally precise, they reveal just how far the heart will go-and what it leaves behind.
Hurricane Season Hustle
What would you do if your entire family was trapped in a house with a killer? A tropical storm turns into a hurricane overnight with no time to evacuate. Scotty and the boys stay in the carriage house on his grandparents' estate in the Garden District temporarily. Scotty thinks they're safe from the dangers outside but couldn't be more wrong. When a tree branch crashes into the house, they discover a dead body outside in the rain. Forced to move to the main house when they lose power, Scotty soon realizes that his entire family is trapped in a house with a murderer...during a Category 2 hurricane. Now he must catch the killer to protect his nearest and dearest, before they strike again.
Two Worlds, One Soul
Meet Iliana and Luna: two professional Flamenco dancers who have enchanted and captured the hearts of their adoring fans. Iliana has long known of Luna, Spain's own beloved gem. Luna will come to know her American counterpart (and realize she has met her match) during the International Flamenco Festival in Albuquerque, New Mexico - but she is ill-prepared for what is about to transpire. Bewitched by the land and the music and Iliana's beauty, Luna discovers a fire in her soul that she didn't know was there. Is it competition? Or is it something else?Join them as they each journey down the road of self-discovery, tragedy, and triumph. And feel the pulse in your own soul as they find their way through the alluring, spell-casting magic of Flamenco dance.
Latin Lessons
Fenella Carlton has built an empire out of ambition, but her personal life is chaos-three disastrous relationships, two teenage sons, and no time for complications. The last thing she needs in her world is twenty-year-old Susie Webster, a brilliant American classics student.Susie is fearless, determined, and far too tempting. She also seems to see straight through Fenella's defences, and when friendship begins to blur into something more, Fenella is torn between the life she's always known and the pull of a controversial love she can't ignore.Is Fenella brave enough to risk her heart again? Or will she let the chance of something extraordinary slip away?
Two Worlds, One Soul
Meet Iliana and Luna: two professional Flamenco dancers who have enchanted and captured the hearts of their adoring fans. Iliana has long known of Luna, Spain's own beloved gem. Luna will come to know her American counterpart (and realize she has met her match) during the International Flamenco Festival in Albuquerque, New Mexico - but she is ill-prepared for what is about to transpire. Bewitched by the land and the music and Iliana's beauty, Luna discovers a fire in her soul that she didn't know was there. Is it competition? Or is it something else?Join them as they each journey down the road of self-discovery, tragedy, and triumph. And feel the pulse in your own soul as they find their way through the alluring, spell-casting magic of Flamenco dance.
Deadheat: Deadlock
Two years after the emotionally charged events of Deadlock and the bittersweet farewell shared between Dick and Yuto, Yuto has been released from the confines of Schelger Prison. He is unexpectedly headhunted by the FBI, where he eagerly takes on the challenge of following the evidence in hopes of locating and apprehending the dangerously elusive terrorist mastermind known only as Corvus--Nathan. Yuto's ultimate motivation is to have a chance to be reunited with Dick Burnford once again. During the course of his investigation into Corvus's shadowy past, Yuto manages to find a new ally and partner in the laid-back and openly gay Rob, a skilled criminologist from the University of California who possesses valuable connections to one of Corvus's followers. This unlikely duo embarks on an intense journey, following Corvus's trail across the country, which ultimately and unexpectedly leads Yuto to Dick, who is still deeply entrenched in his work for the CIA as an undercover operative, with one goal in mind; to kill Corvus/Nathan for the murder of his former comrade and lover. As Yuto and Dick's paths collide, both men race against the clock to reach Corvus first.
The President
When a salacious fictional story about the nation's president is published, the ruling party and its supporters are enraged. As pressure grows for the story to be erased, its young author flees into hiding, carrying with him an explosive secret - and plans for revenge. Deftly plotted and gorgeously told, The President is a nail-biting exploration of bigoted backlash against provocative art. Set in South Africa in 2012, Xander Beattie's novel is painfully relevant to our contemporary moment, where - in too many places around the world - powerful demagogues scapegoat the marginalized, imperil human rights and brutally suppress artistic expression.
Becoming Ted
A Man Called Ove meets "Ru Paul's Drag Race" in this vibrant, joyful, universally relatable story about kindness, self-acceptance, and blooming at any age from the acclaimed author of the LibraryReads and Indie Next Pick, The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle. If Ted Ainsworth were to compare himself to one of the ice cream flavors made by his family's company, famous throughout his sleepy Lancashire hometown, it might be vanilla-sweet, inoffensive, and pleasantly predictable. At forty-three, Ted is convinced there's nothing remotely remarkable about him, except perhaps his luck in having landed handsome, charismatic Giles as a husband. Then Giles suddenly leaves him for another man, filling his social media feed with posts about #newlove and adventure. And Ted, who has spent nearly twenty years living with, and often for, another person, must reimagine the future he has happily taken for granted. But perhaps there is another Ted slowly blossoming now that he's no longer in Giles's shadow-funny, sassy, more uninhibited. Someone willing to take chances on new friendships, and even new love. Someone who's been waiting in the wings too long, but who's about to dust off a long-ago secret dream and overturn everyone's expectations of him-especially his own. . .
An Other Side Christmas
A year of chaos behind them and an incident no one will soon forget, Jo and Rose decide a cozy Christmas getaway is the perfect reset button.Between snowball fights, delicious food, sparkling lights, and conversations that are finally had, the holiday becomes a chance for everyone to breathe and reconnect.A charming romantic holiday short from The Other Side universe, full of warmth, laughter, and the soft healing that only the magic of Christmas can bring.
The Many Mistakes of Zoey Andrews
Zoey Andrews has always wanted what she couldn't have. For years, she's loved a woman who never noticed her-now that woman's fallen for someone she hates.Beth Harden is a musician stuck in a rut. Delivering pizza by day and playing crowded dive bars by night, she's starting to wonder if this is all life has to offer. After returning home from Vancouver several years ago in a cloud of shame is she finally ready to feel something - purpose, redemption, maybe even love?When a chance encounter ignites a spark, both women are forced to confront the lives they've built and the loves they've lost. Can Beth break free from her self-doubt? And can Zoey finally open her heart to someone new-or will she sabotage herself all over again?The Many Mistakes of Zoey Andrews is a raw, and heartfelt exploration of sapphic love, own second chances, regret, and the messy, beautiful struggle to start over.This book follows on from the Many Mistakes of Amy Love, but can be read as a standalone romance.
The Least of These
When survival is the only rule, Grace can still break through!Sam Izbicki entered the world fragile and unwanted, the third child of seven in a family where survival meant silence and fear was the common language. His father-a hardened Marine-ruled with a strap in one hand and a bottle in the other, while his mother, weary and overworked, offered only scraps of comfort. In the shadows of that house, Sam learned early to run, to hide, and to question if he was worth loving at all.As he grew, Sam discovered that the battles inside his home mirror the battles inside his heart. School offered both refuge and torment. Church promised holiness but often delivered betrayal. Yet even in the darkest corners, moments of kindness and loyalty flickered-siblings who shielded him, teachers who noticed, and a God he wasn't sure he could trust.The Least of These is more than a coming-of-age story. It is a haunting portrait of a childhood fractured by violence and shame, and a powerful exploration of identity, family, and faith. Told with piercing honesty and unexpected beauty, Sam's journey asks the questions we all carry: Can the past ever be escaped? Can love truly heal the deepest wounds? And is grace strong enough to reach even the least of these?Readers will be drawn into a story that is both heartbreaking and hopeful-one that lingers long after the final page.
Lost in the '80s
Liam Parry has always been good at hiding. Growing up in a cramped Rochdale terrace in the 1980s, he learns early that survival means keeping your head down-at home, at school, and in a world that doesn't want boys like him to dream too big. When he escapes to Manchester University, the city offers a taste of freedom, but also new dangers: the risk of being found out, of wanting too much, of loving the wrong person.As Liam navigates Thatcher's Britain-family expectations, class divides, the shadow of the miners' strike, and the looming threat of AIDS-his greatest battle is with himself. Haunted by shame and longing, he must decide whether to keep living in the margins or risk everything for a life that's truly his. Every choice is a test: between safety and honesty, between the comfort of invisibility and the terrifying possibility of being seen.But Liam's journey is shaped as much by those around him as by his own fears. His relationships-with his fiercely loyal sister, with friends who challenge and support him, and with the men he dares to love-become both lifeline and crucible. First love brings both joy and heartbreak, and the bonds of family and friendship are tested as Liam learns that to be truly known is both the greatest risk and the greatest reward.TeaserHow do you learn to stop running from yourself? When a letter from the past threatens to unravel the fragile life Liam has built, he's forced to confront the secrets he's kept from his family, his friends, and most of all, from himself. In a world that demands he choose-between love and loyalty, between hiding and hope-Liam must find the cour-age to step out of the shadows and claim his own story.Lost in the '80s is a powerful, intimate coming-of-age novel about shame, resilience, and the quiet revolution of learning to live-and love-out loud. Through Liam's journey, it shines a light on the struggles faced by the LGBT community in the past and the hard-won lessons that still resonate today: the importance of visibility, the cost of silence, and the enduring need for acceptance, pride, and solidarity. In a world where many still face prejudice and fear, Liam's story reminds us that the fight to be seen and loved for who we are is as urgent now as ever.
King Love
Sometimes the only way to be yourself is to be someone else...Callie Johnson has everything she needs in her curated safety bubble: her family, her home and her job at Brisbane's hottest drag king bar, Club Sappho. All that's missing is what she secretly craves most of all: love. When she notices a beautiful woman turning up at the club each week to watch her perform, she feels compelled to meet her. But offstage, Callie can't summon the confidence and swagger of her drag king alter ego. Maya Freeman has decided this is going to be the year she finally lives in her authenticity. She's ready to tackle her perfectionist and overthinking tendencies, celebrate her sexuality and find love. She might even try reviving those long-buried performing dreams. So when Maya finds herself returning to Club Sappho to watch a charismatic drag king, she has an uncanny sense they're destined to be part of her new life. As Callie and Maya step out of their comfort zones and into each other's, they soon discover that falling in love has a way of making you face who you really are. But when one is scared to step into the spotlight and the other is scared to drop the act, can they find the happy ever after they both long for? King Love is a heartwarming lesbian romance about love, self-expression, gender and performance.
Fever (Saints & Sinners #2)
ALEXEI Before I came to St. Lawrence University, I didn't believe in magic. Now I'm desperate to get my hands on a spell, even at the expense of lying to my friends. It's not something I'm proud of, but I have my reasons. Enter the charming, carefree Matteo Baros, who-unfortunately for both of us-becomes suspicious of me. I expect him to rat me out. Instead, maybe because he's such a stand-up guy, he offers to help me with a spell. Not just any spell-a sex spell. Not really something two straight guys can manage easily, but we find a way, and what should've been a nightmare turns into a feverish night of passion. But there are consequences for our actions. The spell ignites a sequence of events neither of us could have anticipated, and as the intensity of this fever between us mounts, we find ourselves caught in a war between rival covens, battling sinister forces from another realm that threaten to wreak havoc upon our world.
Coltswood
When academician and artist Belinda Coltswood comes face-to-face with a colleague from her younger years, old feelings and painful memories rise to the surface in uncomfortable and potentially transformative ways.Professor Belinda Coltswood has made a name for herself. As the recent winner of a prestigious art prize and the object of lingering rumors that nearly ended her career, Coltswood walks a fine line between celebrity and outcast. Though seemingly immune to both censure and accolades, Coltswood's capacity for cool indifference dissolves in a riptide of memory when she finds herself face-to-face with a woman from her past. A woman she knew only as Wolf. While the Wolf in her office is hardly the same fierce young AIDS activist Coltswood remembers, this meeting has the potential to alter their lives in radical ways.
Fever (Saints & Sinners #2)
ALEXEI Before I came to St. Lawrence University, I didn't believe in magic. Now I'm desperate to get my hands on a spell, even at the expense of lying to my friends. It's not something I'm proud of, but I have my reasons. Enter the charming, carefree Matteo Baros, who-unfortunately for both of us-becomes suspicious of me. I expect him to rat me out. Instead, maybe because he's such a stand-up guy, he offers to help me with a spell. Not just any spell-a sex spell. Not really something two straight guys can manage easily, but we find a way, and what should've been a nightmare turns into a feverish night of passion. But there are consequences for our actions. The spell ignites a sequence of events neither of us could have anticipated, and as the intensity of this fever between us mounts, we find ourselves caught in a war between rival covens, battling sinister forces from another realm that threaten to wreak havoc upon our world.
The Long Trail Home
William Garrett has spent half his life on the trail, chasing cattle and forgetting the things a man can't afford to remember. When a new rider, Joseph Reid, joins the drive north, William expects trouble - not the quiet steadiness that begins to break through his guard. Across dust and distance, through storms and long nights under the stars, a fragile friendship deepens into something neither of them dares name.In a world that would never understand, love becomes an act of defiance - a flicker of warmth against an endless horizon. From the stockyards of Texas to the promise of open land beyond, The Long Trail Home is a story of endurance, belonging, and the courage it takes to stop running.
Galapagos
"V矇lez stuns with her corporeal descriptions and baroque literary allusions. This is a knockout."--Publishers Weekly (starred review)From NYC-based Colombian writer F獺tima V矇lez comes debut novel Galapagos, following a group of bohemian artists who are dying of AIDS as they embark on a surreal final voyage through the Galapagos Islands, their bodies cloaked in the skins of the dead. Lorenzo is a painter who doesn't paint. He spends his days watching Jeanne Moreau films, luxuriating in his partner Juan B's bed, and swapping letters with his lovers. Then, one day, his nail falls off. Then another nail, then all of them. Thus begins a journey of decomposition that carries him from Colombia to Paris, from Paris to the French countryside, and on a final journey to the Gal獺pagos Archipelago. As they cruise the islands on a custom-made ship, Lorenzo and his friends and lovers drink, swap stories, and feast gluttonously, even as their bodies succumb to an unspeakable disease. In this contemporary plague novel, rife with pathos and humor, ailing bodies are torn between desire and decay, lust and friendship, creativity and destruction. V矇lez revolutionizes the novel form, pushing language to its extreme as she tests the limits of how we understand illness, sexuality, the body, and what it means to make art in the face of our own mortality.
The Best of Times
Londoner Aron Wimpole has been taking a bite out of the Big Apple for the last two years. He's enjoyed the taste but when his beloved grandmother, the formidable Beatrice Wimpole, summons him home to help plan her wedding to Professor Higgs, he quickly jumps on a plane for a two-week stay.The pull of home is strong, making Aron wonder if he's really committed to New York...and then Paul Higgs strolls back into his life. Aron can't avoid him-they're co-wedding planners and everything must run like clockwork. And besides, Aron's determined to show Paul what he missed out on when he walked away from him two years ago. All Aron has to do is to keep control of his feelings.One flaw in this plan is that handsome prizewinning photographer Paul seems more than willing to pick up where they left off. But Paul's bravado masks deeper commitment fears. Ones that threaten to ruin both of their lives.But Aron's got to ignore all that and help deliver the wedding to end all weddings.It's going to be a hectic Christmas.Queens Crescent is an exclusive neighbourhood in London. Each home in the Georgian terrace has it's own tale to tell.Meet Formula One driver, Charles Worthington, influencer and movie star's son, Mercury Morrison and wine merchant, Simon Harrington to name a few. Let's not forget Mrs Wimpole and the professor who rule the little cobbled street.
When Silence Shatters
When Silence Shatters is a lyrical and emotionally charged collection of short stories exploring identity, silence, queerness, and resilience across Egypt and the diaspora. Through vivid, intimate moments, Mahmoud reveals the quiet rebellions of women, men, and LGBTQ individuals navigating love, tradition, and survival in societies that often demand silence.Praised by Readers' Favorite as "a beautiful, careful handling of human feeling and story design," the collection brings forward voices long overlooked-stories of tenderness, defiance, and the small, powerful acts that break generational silence. With "every story singing," as Readers' Favorite notes, Mahmoud's writing illuminates the emotional truth in ordinary moments, delivering "tight writing and a gift for subverting reader expectation."Bold, haunting, and deeply human, When Silence Shatters gives readers a window into lives rarely centered yet universally resonant.
It Takes Three To Tango
Lambda Literary Finalist 2025Dance is the language of life-and love-that brings three wounded hearts togetherRafeBarcelona was supposed to be my honeymoon, but I'm here alone with a heart that's forgotten how to dance. Inexplicably drawn to the dimly lit comfort of a tango bar, its compelling owner Constantin, and a passionate young dancer named Florencio. Two men who awaken something within me I never dreamed possible.ConstantinMy late husband Valery and I dreamed big, and we loved even bigger. This bar was his vision, and every night the memories consume me. Until a stranger with heartbreak in his honeyed eyes sits down at a table, and my need to connect becomes overwhelming. What am I thinking? At 42, my one great love has come and gone.FlorencioMy father likes to forget I exist, but now he has a use for me. I've been sent across the sea to Barcelona to suss out what's in my aging aunt's will. When I catch the strains of Argentine tango drifting out of a bar, I'm pulled into familiar territory. A gleaming dance floor, a singer's rich tones, and a beautiful, bookish man who tempts me to ask him to dance.One tumbledown bar. Three hearts in need of repair. One indomitable woman who knows all they need is the language of dance-and a whisper of silk-to find forever.It Takes Three to Tango is book two in the Dance Lovers Collection, a series of standalone books which can be enjoyed in any order. Contains a bi-awakening, age gap, second-chance, forced proximity romance set against the backdrop of Gaudi's Barcelona.​​​​​​​Ideal wine pairing: a dark, passionate red blend.
The Fifth Target
For Detective Carolyn Hall, the rules are simple: trust your partner, follow the evidence. Partnered with well-regarded Robert White, she works the streets of New Honan investigating its darkest corners. But one blood-soaked alley murder changes everything: the key witness is Rachel Fenimore, an ER nurse who called 911, then fled the scene. White recognizes her-she treated him years ago.Rachel denies involvement, then admits she was there, sleepwalking. As Hall investigates, the case spirals into something far stranger. Rachel claims she's on a list, that a killer is systematically targeting medical professionals. When Rachel makes bail, the danger intensifies-and so does Hall's need to protect her.Caught between her loyalty to her partner and her growing connection to a woman who might be guilty, Hall must sort truth from lies, paranoia from reality. Her search for answers takes her into dangerous territory-White's past, Rachel's present, and the blurred line between her badge and her heart.Hall's investigation will force her to betray someone. The only question is who.
Casanova 20
A novel about art, desire, and mortality, Casanova 20: Or, Hot World follows a young man isolated by his extraordinary beauty and his strange friendship with an older painter Cursed by an extreme and unrelenting beauty, Adrian has drawn the frenzied attention of adoring strangers since childhood. As a twenty-nine-year-old in New York City, he spends his days drifting between affairs with women (and occasionally men) who provide him with everything he needs, from spending money to luxurious vacations to even, once, a mini yacht. With this generosity comes a dangerous possessiveness that often puts him at risk of much worse than heartbreak. But as people begin removing their masks in the spring of 2021, Adrian's aimless sexual availability is interrupted by a shocking discovery: He is no longer beautiful. Across the country, Adrian's best friend and companion, Mark, a world-famous painter, has returned to the family home in rural Northern California. He's faced with his own horrible revelation: He's dying from the same mysterious disease that will soon take his mother and sister. Despite the depth of their platonic romance, neither man reveals his fate to the other. Feeling as if he's disappearing from sight, Adrian searches for answers among his thousands of lovers. In a race against his failing body, Mark becomes obsessed with watching fifty-two VHS tapes of unknown origin, left to him by his sister, before it's too late. "An astounding writer, seemingly unconstrained by taboos and waist-deep down in the maw of life" (Torrey Peters), Davey Davis presents a modern-day Casanova figure grappling with what it means to find true intimacy when his very existence means constant exposure to the world's violent desire.
Ballad of the Wayward Child
Come Over HereIn the opening tale to Keven Renken's novel in stories, BALLAD OF THE WAYWARD CHILD, six-year-old Ike wanders off his grandmother's porch in search of adventure, but steps into something horrible. In each subsequent story, Ike is a year older and more aware of the role fear plays in his young life. Along the way, however, he also finds unexpected moments of bravery, encountering a colorful cast of characters who accompany him on his way toward adulthood. As he grows, Ike's early trauma lurks in the background like a shadow, waiting to make its presence felt time and again. But each time, the boy, now becoming a man, finds a way, through sorrow and joy, through triumphs and failures, to live his life as best he can. He finds a way to live.
Mercury Rising
The son of a famous movie star, Mercury Morrison is used to all eyes being on him. So of course he's grown up to be one of London's premier influencers, with followers across the globe.But when Mercury finds himself on the wrong side of the law after a run-in with a paranoid concept artist at the Tate Modern, it all comes crashing down. The worst bit is, he's innocent! Advised to plead guilty, he dutifully arrives for his first day of community service at a youth project in South London...and walks slap-bang into his new boss, the handsome Nick Campbell.The attraction between them is instant and electric. Romance may be on the cards but this summer is going to shake Mercury's whole view on life to its foundations. Can Mercury take the huge leap of faith needed to make his dreams come true, and, if he dares, will Nick be there to catch him?Queens Crescent is an exclusive neighbourhood in London. Each home in the Georgian terrace has it's own tale to tell.Meet Formula One driver, Charles Worthington, PR guru Nihal Varma and wine merchant, Simon Harrington to name a few. Let's not forget Mrs Wimpole and the professor who rule the little cobbled street.
The Good Neighbour
Josh Winterton is broken after his husband walked out on him six weeks ago. He has lost sight of everything. His fashion design business. His friends. His life.That is until a handsome stranger begs him for help.Hugh is a drag queen who's having a rocky time of it. After humiliation on national television, he's come to lick his wounds whilst housesitting for a friend. Next door.Sparks might fly from the outset, but can Josh overcome his past to grab a future for himself before it's too late?Queens Crescent is an exclusive neighbourhood in London. Each home in the Georgian terrace has it's own tale to tell.Meet Formula One driver, Charles Worthington, influencer and movie star's son, Mercury Morrison and wine merchant, Simon Harrington to name a few. Let's not forget Mrs Wimpole and the professor who rule the little cobbled street.
Prisoner's Release and Other Stories
This collection brings together "The Prisoner's Release," the acclaimed two-part story first published in Heat #1 and #2, , along with three entirely new tales of Argaea. These stories expand upon the lives, loves, and legacies of the characters introduced in Volle, exploring new corners of a realm where desire, duty, and destiny intertwine.Inside the Cage - Jonas, a young cougar trapped in a life of prostitution at the Jackal's Staff brothel. Betrayed and penniless, he seizes a chance to escape with a charming fox merchant, only to find himself drawn into a dangerous web of lies, exploitation, and forbidden desire. When passion turns to violence and survival forces impossible choices, Jonas must rebuild his life, rediscover his worth, and fight for love in a world that profits from his body but underestimates his heart.The Prisoner's Release - Five years after Volle and a year before Pendant of Fortune, the fox spy Volle languishes in prison, accused of stealing war plans. When a young wolf guard named Streak is ordered to break him, an unexpected bond forms instead. As friendship deepens into love, the two risk everything to defy their captors and escape the web of manipulation spun around them.Home Again - After escaping imprisonment in Tephos, Volle and his lover Streak reach the capital of Ferrenis, where old allies and new intrigues await. Summoned before Captain Avery, Volle learns the war plans he risked everything to steal may have been a trap all along. Offered a quiet farm and a chance to leave the world of spies behind, Volle must decide whether peace, and love with Streak, can truly replace the life he once knew.For Love or Family - A few years after Inside the Cage, young wolf Cef, son of the powerful Minister of Defense, is tricked into visiting the Jackal's Staff brothel-where he meets Richy, a charming wolf prostitute who captures his heart. Torn between duty to his noble family and a forbidden love, Cef risks everything to buy Richy's freedom. But when betrayal and blackmail expose their secret, Cef must choose between the life he was born to and the one he truly wants.
Shadow of the Father
Yilon is a young fox noble who's just come of age, in the city of Divalia, capital of Tephos. But apart from his best friend and sometime lover Sinch, he doesn't like much about living there. He only met his father, Volle, two years ago, when he left his mother and the city where he grew up. He would give anything to be allowed to leave Divalia. Or so he thinks. When a stranger arrives with a message that the Lord of Dewanne has died and appointed Yilon his heir, the young fox realizes that there are worse places than Divalia. Dewanne is one of the most remote cities in Tephos, where foxes rule, and mice are relegated to menial jobs and a slum outside the main city. Which makes it difficult for Yilon to explain why his companion is a mouse.Ever the schemer, Yilon hatches a plan to get sent home, but soon finds that even in a backwards town, there are complicated politics, ancient blood feuds, and family betrayals, old wounds that his clumsy steps have reopened. There are at least two different groups trying to kill him, and the foxes who might help him are the very ones he's done his best to alienate. Without Sinch, who's run afoul of a band of thieves in the slums and has his own death threats to deal with, Yilon will need all the stubbornness and cleverness he's inherited from his father just to survive to the next sunrise, let alone save his inheritance, his friend, and his own hide.
Red Devil
When Alexei seeks the help of a ghost to deal with a swaggering bully, he gets the strength and confidence he hopes for. If in the process he hurt his best friend Sol, well, he can make it up to the wolf later. Things get worse when the ghost, an old Siberian soldier, demands that Alexei give up his gay life, which Alexei fled his home country for. The young fox is resolved to send the ghost away - until his sister, left behind with their abusive parents, falls into mortal danger from which only the ghost can save her. Now Alexei must choose between living the life he risked everything to have and rescue his beloved Caterina from death...or worse.
Dear Benjamin Vol. 2
An omega in hiding and an alpha with a dangerous past meet in a collision of desire and danger. Isaac has always lived as a beta, but his world turns upside down when he discovers he's a recessive omega during an undercover operation. As he experiences his first heat cycle, he encounters Felix, a notorious and hyper-dominant alpha arms dealer. In the midst of a chaotic raid, Isaac, overwhelmed by his heat, seeks relief from Felix. Four years later, Isaac has reinvented himself as a modest florist in San Diego, trying to escape his tumultuous past and conceal his omega status. His peaceful life is shattered when Felix reappears. Felix is immediately infatuated with Isaac and, upon discovering that Isaac needs protection from an unknown threat, offers a dangerous but tempting deal; his protection in exchange for Isaac's body. A flower shop isn't the safest place for an omega with a past, especially when Felix is around even more so when Issac's most precious secret may be uncovered...
