Paranormal Romance – A. L. Lester

Holly Day: Vampire Food

Holly Day has a new release today! Celebrate National Sneak Some Zucchini Onto Your Neighbor’s Porch Day with a magic user, a vampire, and a mountain of zucchini!

Vampire Food

MM Slow Burn, Hurt – Comfort, Size Difference, Found Family, Vampire, Magic User

Author: Holly Day
Editor: Lourenza Adlem
Release: 5th August 2023
Price: $4.99
ISBN: 9781685505202
ASIN: B0CD5LQ3TM
KU: No
Wide: Yes
Buy: Amazon – JMS Books – UBL – Goodreads

A former blood slave. A strapping vampire. More zucchinis than any man could eat.

Rue Yarrow was rescued from a blood bar and taken to a gated community of supernaturals. Haunted by nightmares and memories, he does his best to avoid people. His only solace is his garden, where he uses his magic to grow an abundance of vegetables. But one day, it isn’t the zucchinis greeting him, but a severed human head.

Noah Caramine wants as little drama as possible, and interfering with a vampire clan’s business is never a good idea. He’s never met a magic user and is curious about Rue, but he fears there will be consequences for stealing the blood slaves.

When body parts start popping up inside the walls, Noah doesn’t know if someone is trying to frame them for murder or distract them from keeping the blood slaves safe. Rue never believed he’d go near a vampire again, but when threats are drawing closer, he turns to Noah. Who better to keep him safe from vampires than a vampire?

A former blood slave A strapping vampire. More zucchinis than any man could eat! Out now!

About Holly Day

According to Holly Day, no day should go by uncelebrated and all of them deserve a story. If she’ll have the time to write them remains to be seen. She lives in rural Sweden with a husband, four children, more pets than most, and wouldn’t last a day without coffee.

Holly gets up at the crack of dawn most days of the week to write gay romance stories. She believes in equality in fiction and in real life. Diversity matters. Representation matters. Visibility matters. We can change the world one story at the time.

Connect with Holly on social media: Website :: Facebook :: Twitter :: Pinterest :: BookBub :: Goodreads :: Newsletter :: TikTok

Excerpt from Vampire Food

As he rounded the house, he came to a stop. The back side was bigger than the front. Damn.
Half a second later, someone walked into him from behind. Without thinking, he dropped the spade, reached around, and grabbed them, ready to tear their throat out.
Rue stared wide-eyed at him. “Sorry.”
Noah gentled his grip. “Are you okay?”
“Sure. I was watching the trees. Not paying attention.”
Noah glanced at the trees. Apple and plum trees on this side of the garden. “The plums are almost ripe.”
Rue looked at the trees again.
“When you’re done feeling him up, can we get started?”
Rue stiffened at Asher’s call, and Noah let go of him in favor of giving Asher the finger, but he only got a grin and a wink in reply. Fucker.
“Right, let’s get to it.”
Gertrude moved to stand next to Rue. “Should we tell them to take their shirts off? We should have drinks and popcorn.” She bumped her shoulder against Rue’s.
Noah pretended not to listen but held his breath as he waited for Rue’s response.
“I should get back to the beans.”
No request to take his shirt off then. He hadn’t expected one.
“Let’s see if this rolling thing works first.” Gertrude crossed her arms over her chest.
Noah put the spade into the lawn and stepped on it to cut through the grass. Then he moved a blade length and did it again, and again, and again until he’d cut a line to the end of the garden. Then he did one more about a foot from the first line until he got a strip.
“The moment of truth.” He smiled at Rue and pushed the spade in under the grass edge. After a few tries, he got the edge to let go of the soil below. As he rolled, the grass separated from the ground.
“Oh, cool, it works.” Rue rushed forward. “I can do it, and you do another line.” He fell on his knees next to Noah, who let go when Rue touched the grass.
He got to his feet and reached for the spade. Before he started cutting the next line, Gertrude gave him a nod and a smile. “I’ll go help Chaton.”
Rue’s head whipped around. “Oh, yeah, sorry.”
“Not to worry, dear. I tried to save you from getting your hands dirty, but I see it was all in vain.” She grinned at him and walked away. Rue looked after her, some tension bleeding into his muscles, but then he shook his head and got rolling.
Asher worked at the other end of the lawn while Noah kept even steps with Rue. The roll grew rapidly, and soon Rue had to stand to roll it. They reached the end, only to start over again. After a few times, sweat was pearling and Rue was out of breath.
“Want to switch?” Stepping on a spade didn’t take too much effort.
“Yeah, maybe.”
They did one strip, but when they got about one-third into the second, Rue stopped. “There is something here.” Rue rammed the spade into the ground without any greater success. “It’s crunchy. I can’t get the blade down.” He hit the spade against the lawn again. Noah frowned as he took in the patch of dead grass. Strange.
“A stone maybe. Should I cut around it?”
Noah got to his feet, and Rue handed over the spade. There was something hard underneath, and the ground looked as if it had been disturbed, but only in a small space. Noah cut around it and pushed the spade in under the dried grass edge. As he got it loose, he grabbed it and pulled.
There, buried in the soil, was a mostly decomposed head. His gaze locked on the hair. It was dirty and mattered, but not dirty enough for him to miss the long blond strands with purple highlights. Fuck. “Gertrude!”
The stench of decay crawled into his nostrils, and he grimaced.
Rue gagged, and Noah reached for him. To his surprise, Rue turned into him, hiding his face against his chest. “Is that… is that…”
“A head, yes.”
“Madeline.”
Noah stared at the face. It was too decomposed to make out any specific features. Gertrude appeared by his side, followed by Chaton, who hissed.
“Madeline.” He turned to Rue, who was resting his forehead against Noah’s chest. “Did you kill Madeline?”
Rue shook his head, his entire body starting to tremble.
“Who’s Madeline?” Gertrude spoke in a low, soothing voice, but both Rue and Chaton were shaking their heads.
Asher looked at the head, then at Noah. “Where’s the rest?”
Oh, fuck. Were there more body parts hidden in the garden?

Buy Vampire Food: Amazon - JMS Books - UBL

#ReadAroundTheRainbow: My favourite creepy story

Read Around the Rainbow

As you’re probably aware, #RAtR is a blogging project I am doing with a few friends who also write LGBTQIA romance. You can find everyone by clicking here or on the image to the right.

This month we are, obviously, writing about our favourite creepy or Halloween story. This is a dead easy post for me to write, as I have an outstanding all-time-favourite Halloween story–The House on Druid Lake by Isabelle Adler.

It’s kind of a cosy mystery as well as a Halloween story, which should be counter-intuitive but turns out not to be at all.

The House on Druid Lake

Oliver’s a bit of a mess–his last relationship was abusive and he’s moved from Florida to Baltimore for a new job and a fresh start. He moves into a flat in an interesting old house, sight unseen except for the photos in the listing on the internet. The very attractive landlord is a bit odd as are the rest of the tenants. It was such a set-up…creaky old house, mysterious tenants…I loved it and immediately began working out what particular kind of entity each person was.

The house turns out to be the target of an unscrupulous developer and Oliver and his new landlord have to outwit them. Nym, the landlord, has his own secrets and hang-ups and I found their relationship development satisfying and well-rounded. There are some pleasingly inexplicable little bits…I don’t like my magic systems to be spoon-fed to me and there were little loose threads independent of the main story that gave me things to ponder once I’d finished. It’s a very happy Halloween book and I love it!

Here’s everyone else who wrote this month:

Amy Spector : K. L. Noone : Ellie Thomas : Nell Iris : Holly Day

#SampleSunday… The Quid Pro Quo

I’m jumping on the #SampleSunday hashtag on twitter this week, with an excerpt from The Quid Pro Quo for you…

The Quid Pro Quo is a romantic historical paranormal murder-mystery set in 1920s rural England where nearly everyone is queer and the main couple is m/transm. Think Agatha Christie, but queer! With monsters! It’s the sequel to The Fog of War, but it works as a standalone set in the Border Magic universe.

Simon pressed the heel of his hand down onto the place the pain was radiating from. That usually helped. He sometimes wondered if there was anything still left in there. He should probably get it looked at. X-rayed, they called it, didn’t they? The hospital in Taunton had a machine, he knew.
He sighed. “Look, I didn’t just come up to show off my weaknesses to you.”
Kennett made a harrumphing sound that could have been a laugh.
“I came to ask about two things. Her alibi. And the way she describes what happened at the seance.”
“Look,” Kennett drew a breath and said in a firm voice, “she didn’t do it.”
Simon glared up at him, not quite ready to get up off the bench and fall over into the other man’s arms again. “That’s all very well. But you can’t just say that and then tell me you can’t say why you know!”
Kennett screwed up his face. “I just can’t, Mr Frost. And that’s all there is to it.”
Simon managed to stand. For all Kennett was small, he was intimidating. He scowled furiously up at Simon, face creased with anger. There was no trace of the sardonic wit about him now.
“Was she with you that night?” Simon asked quietly. It seemed unlikely, a girl like Miss Hall-Bridges and Kennett, who was a good twenty years older than her if he was a day and a lowly ex-soldier to boot. But he’d seen stranger relationships.
Kennett choked. “Bloody hell, no!” he said, almost with a shudder. “Absolutely definitely the wrong tree, Detective Frost!” There! He did return Simon’s interest, else Simon was a Dutchman.
Simon took another wobbling step forward and Kennett stepped back. Simon finally felt as if he was getting somewhere. There was something there. Why were they all protecting the woman? It was clear she was the best suspect—on paper, she had reason. But it was also clear that despite the evidence, nobody thought she’d done it. Including Simon.
Not that a lot of other people didn’t have reason to dislike the victim as well by the sound of it. His take-away from speaking to people who knew her painted a picture of the deceased as an entitled, arrogant woman who expected people to jump to her tune. He stopped that train of thought. There was never a reason to kill anyone. Never. Just because most of the people he knew had spent the last few years seeing that as the solution to all their problems didn’t mean it was right.
He drew a breath. “Then point me toward the right tree for goodness sake! If you have evidence that it wasn’t her, you’re morally obliged to let me have it!” he said, finally after a moment of silence.
Kennett shook his head again. “No, Detective Frost. I can’t. It’s not my place.”
Simon eyed him narrowly. He was backed up against the wall of the hallway, calm and not at all intimidated by Simon’s greater height.
“Do you know who killed her?” Simon asked him.
Kennett’s eyes flicked away and back again. He shook his head. “No. I don’t.” He knew something though. He finally sighed and stepped forward, putting him chest to chest with Simon and Simon had no alternative but to step to one side and let him past unless he wanted to make something of it. And he didn’t. He really didn’t. He moved aside.
Simon was left looking after him as he went down the hall to the kitchen, the door propped open against the building heat of the day. He followed him into the room, watching him fill the kettle and put it on, helplessly standing there with his hands fisted in frustration at his sides, hot with irritation in the warmth of the morning and the lit range.
“We’re done here,” Kennett said, sliding the kettle onto the hotplate and turning to face him. “You should leave, before Dr Marks gets home.”
“What, so you can sort out an alibi for Miss Hall-Bridges between you?” Simon said snarkily.
There was quite a long pause and then, from behind him, Dr Marks’ voice, deep and calm and very, very flat said, “No need, Detective Frost. Lucy and I share a bed. She didn’t go anywhere, all night.”
The silence was as absolute as if a shell had gone off and deafened him.
`

AMazon

publisher

everywhere else

Holly Day: The Book Dragon’s Lair

Hi! Thank you, Ally, for allowing me to swing by 🥰 I’m Holly Day, and for those who don’t know me, I write stories to celebrate all those crazy holidays out there.

This month, we’re celebrating Bookstore Romance Day, so I wrote The Book Dragon’s Lair, and I had so much fun with it. I turned it into a dragon tale since books and bookshops made me think of book dragons, and, so… yeah, dragons 😆

It takes place in a town called Edge since it’s right on the edge of the portal leading to the dragon realm. There are a few dragons who have chosen to live among the humans instead of on the other side of the veil, and they’re all living on Dragon Row. Dragons be dragons, they’re trading for things they can put in their treasure caves.

Egil is human and believes he’s mated to Draken the Dreadful and forever trapped in an abusive relationship. He isn’t, though. This isn’t a fated mate story, so everyone has a choice in who they mate with, well everyone but Egil who was forced to accept Draken.

When a dragon finds someone they want to spend the rest of their lives with, they share the breath of life. All Egil knows is that dragons, when bonded, stay together forever. He doesn’t realise he isn’t bonded, and he has never heard of the breath of life.

When Draken is called away to fight in a war on the other side of the veil, no one is happier than Egil, but then word of Draken being injured and on his way back reaches him, and he considers running away.

How do you hide from a dragon?

The dragon stepping into the bookshop isn’t Draken. He claims to be, but Egil knows his mate, and the one standing before him is not Draken the Dreadful.

Ryu the Ravenous wants nothing more than to escape his responsibilities in the dragon realm and spend the rest of his days among the humans. When Draken and Ryu are attacked during guard duty, Ryu is injured, and Draken is killed. Ryu seizes the opportunity and pretends to be Draken. He lets his family believe he was the one who died, and by pretending to be Draken, he’s allowed into the human realm and back to his (Draken’s) mate.

Convincing Egil he is Draken isn’t as easy as he’d first believed. And he’s heard the humans had the magic beverage called coffee, but it turns out to be a bitter drink and not magical at all – this is fiction, people! We all know coffee is magical 😆

The Book Dragon’s Lair

Egil Olsen is running The Book Dragon’s Lair, a bookstore on Dragon Row, while Draken the Dreadful, his mate, is away fighting a war on the other side of the veil. The relief of not having Draken around is great. For the first time in years, Egil doesn’t have to watch every move he makes. When word reaches him that Draken is on his way home after having been injured, he considers running away.

The dragon stepping over the threshold to The Book Dragon’s Lair isn’t Draken, though. He claims to be, but Egil knows his mate, and while all dragons are dangerous, the male standing before him is nowhere near as cruel as his mate. Ryu never wanted to be a book dragon. Books don’t sparkle, but if it’s the price he has to pay to be in the human realm, he will pay it. He’ll take over Draken the Dreadful’s treasure, and he hopes he can take over his mate, too. Egil doesn’t want to be mated to a dragon, but without a mate, he’d be homeless and without a job.

A few hours after having met Ryu, Egil thinks being mated to him might not be too bad, but how will they be able to fool the people around them into believing Ryu is Draken? And what will happen if the real Draken comes back?

Gay paranormal romance: 33,671 words

JMS Books : Amazon : All the others!

Excerpt:

Ryu watched Egil interact with the customers. When he’d come down after having disposed of the vile drink he’d heard so much good about—so far, the human realm was a disappointment—Egil had been gone. A few minutes later, he’d come in through the front door with an expression on his face Ryu couldn’t decipher.
He muttered about having checked something out in the pawnshop, then he’d gone to work. Ryu wasn’t sure what he did, but he fiddled through papers, stacked some books, and when someone came into the store, he helped them find what they were looking for.
Draken should have expressed more pride when talking about him. He worked hard and little by little the stack of paper notes increased in the machine on the counter. It was fascinating to watch.
Ryu quickly divided the customers into two categories—those who came inside wide-eyed and looked around until they spotted Ryu, and those who came inside to sneer at Egil.
One female was so rude, Ryu growled. She jumped at the sound and stared at him. Ryu would’ve bet the tip of his tail she hadn’t noticed he was in the room before then.
When the clock finally showed six o’clock in the evening, Egil turned the sign hanging on the door and locked it.
“All done?” Ryu was starving, but he didn’t know what to eat here. He’d only had the coffee, and it had put him off human food a bit.
“Yes, I only need to close out the cash register.”
Ryu had no idea what it meant. “And then we eat?”
“Ah… yeah… we don’t have any food other than toast. I need to shop and we’ll need a new phone since you… erm… broke the old one.”
Nodding, Ryu watched him press some buttons, only to have the machine print another paper note. There were so many notes on this side of the veil.
“I can hunt for something we can eat.” His mouth watered as he imagined meat roasting over an open fire.
Egil stared at him. “What?”
“Hunt. Don’t you hunt?”
Shaking his head, Egil emptied the machine on paper notes and held them out to Ryu. Hesitantly, he took them. “What am I to do with them?”
“They’re yours. Put them in the safe.”
He fished out the key he’d taken off Draken from his pocket. “In the treasure cave?”
Egil pushed his palms against the counter and looked at him. “Who are you?”
“Draken the—”
“You’re not Draken, not the real Draken.”
“Ryu the Ravenous.”
Egil blew out a shuddering breath. “Okay, Ryu the Ravenous, what are you doing here, and how did you come over Draken’s key? He’s gonna kill us both.”
Ryu snorted. As if Draken could’ve killed him if he’d been alive. He was a sad excuse for a dragon.
Egil continued to stare. “Are you related to him?”
Ryu scowled. Related to Draken the Dreadful? Luckily, Draken’s mother hadn’t hatched more than one egg. There was talk about her laying another one, but maybe she should refrain considering how the first one came out. “I’m Ryu the Ravenous, my skin is close to onyx, and I know those who live on the Sapphire Mountains.”
Egil’s eyes widened more, and Ryu feared those gemstones would fall out of his skull.
“Do you mean no? Draken won’t kill us?”
Ryu puffed smoke in frustration.
“Don’t set the books on fire! If you need to burn something, go outside.”
Need to burn? No one ever needed to burn anything. Fire was a weapon and a tool, not something you needed to use.
“It’s a no. Draken the Dreadful was a dreadful excuse for a dragon. I’m close to royal.”
Egil blinked and Ryu was glad to see his eyelids still could close around the huge eyes. “You’re royal?”
“Close to.”
Egil gripped the edge of the counter so hard his knuckles turned white. “This is bad.”
“No, it’s not. I had a huge treasure cave on the other side of the veil.” And many who wanted to be his mate. Why didn’t Egil want to be his mate? He was close to royal and while he hadn’t had the opportunity to add anything to his treasure on this side of the veil yet, he would. He hadn’t looked, hadn’t unlocked the grid doors on the second and third floor. He didn’t understand books—he understood written text, but not the worth of books—and he was a little afraid to have a look.
“Why are you here, then?” It wasn’t more than a whisper, but Ryu heard him.
“I’ve claimed Draken’s treasure.”
“You didn’t claim it. You pretended to be him.” Then those topaz eyes widened again. “If the reverend finds out…”
“I’ll eat the reverend. I’ve never had human, but right now I’m hungry enough to eat anything, and he annoys me.”
Egil made a sound. At first, Ryu feared he was crying. It sounded like a sob and his shoulders shook, but then a laugh spilled out. It wasn’t joyous though, more on the verge of sobs. Maybe he was hungry, too. Hunger could turn anyone unstable.
“Let’s have this toast you’re talking about.” He believed it was something humans did from grains. He read, he wasn’t a complete imbecile, but right now he didn’t trust anything he’d learned. Coffee was supposed to be magical, and it hadn’t been.

JMS Books : Amazon : All the others!

About Holly Day

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Interview: Jax Stuart

Today Jax drops in to answer intrusive questions and tell us all about their new release!

Morning, Jax! First of all, why are you doing this interview?

A little of both? I’m taking part in the Class of 21/22 project so I’ve got a novella written and ready to go for June. I’m also nearly 30k into an omegaverse book which I hope to have out by the end of July.

What started you writing?

I started writing a book when I was 11 and when I went to high school (we start around 12 in Scotland) my English teacher would read chapters and give me tips. I dedicated my first book to him. Writing is just something that I’ve done on and off throughout my life but I finally felt in the place to make my publishing dreams a reality last year.

Where do you write? (Office, bed, garden, mountain, coffee shop, in a pool, at the dining table?)

I started out at the kitchen table and then bought a desk for a corner of the sitting room. I was studying at the same time and my laptop was struggling. For my 40th my husband bought me a desktop pc and put up a couple of shelves for it. Now I’ve got a little office space between 2 huge fish tanks!

What do you like to read?

I’ll read a bit of everything MM related these days. It’s funny that I’m writing omegaverse with mpreg now, since a couple of years ago, I wasn’t sure about mpreg – now I love it. For me it’s more about engaging characters and a good plot than genre.

What are the three books you’d take to a desert island? Why would you choose them?

Ah! Don’t make me choose! Can I have the Hitman’s Guide series by Alice Winters as one choice? If I can have a whole series as one I’d have that one, the Soulbound series by Hailey Turner and the Percy Jackson books.

I love so many books that it’s really difficult to narrow it down. Different books suit different moods too.

Writing is an intrinsically solo occupation. Do you belong to any groups or associations, either online or in the ‘real’ world? How does that work for you?

Mostly I write solo. I’m a member of a few Discord writing channels but we all often write at different times because of where we live. I’m also in a FB chat with a few great authors and that’s handy for advice and encouragement.

What do you like to do when you’re not writing?

I work part time and was studying but am taking a break from that. I’m not sure I’ll go back to my degree because it’s changed since I started and is focusing on areas that I’m not as interested in.

Hobbies wise – I read a lot and love colouring though I haven’t done much in a while.

My house is pretty full. I have 2 kids, 2 cats, a tortoise, and 3 tanks of fish!

My writing has slowed a little since I’m having health issues. Seems I likely have gallstones so I’m really restricted to what I can eat just now without ending up in pain. I think risotto is allowed – it better be since it’s my favourite food.

Tell me a little bit about your most recent release.

For All It’s Worth came out Feb 28th and is the 2nd book in the Second Chances series and is a best friends to lovers story with the redemption of a bad guy. Charlie, MC1 has really hurt his family, in particular his brother Will, MC2 of my first book, So Worth More.

To be honest the whole series came out of nowhere. I’d been writing a PNR but I saw that gorgeous cover for So Worth More and had to have it. I started book 1 in April last year and took what was going to be an office rivals romance and turned it into a second chance romance just based on the guy on the cover. Then suddenly I had 3 other books in the series to write!

I knew that I wanted to write Charlie’s story about finding love with his best friend, Max, but I had another character in mind first. Again, the cover inspired me to get Charlie his redemption. I started it in October and finished it in January. I loved writing For All It’s Worth when the characters were behaving, they were just so sweet and I have such a soft spot for Charlie. I wrote a little flash fiction in between when I got blocked in December. I had a lot going on with work, uni and writing, not to mention preparing for Christmas, so that affected productivity. Having the break helped though.

MC2, Max wasa bit of a nightmare for changing tense mid page!

So Worth More

An M/M second chance romance

Andy ends his friends with benefits relationship with his co-worker, Will, when he realizes that while it has plenty of benefits, it’s light on the friends. He’s sick of Will’s rules and poor treatment but agrees to be friends, minus the benefits because he’s still hung up on the guy.

Will gets the wake-up call he so desperately needed when Andy ends things and discovers that maybe Andy’s feelings aren’t one-sided but he’s got a lot of healing to do before he can be the man that Andy needs.

So Worth More has some allusions to domestic abuse, mentions of former partners cheating, and a whole heap of family drama. While Andy does deserve better, Will does get there in the end. Told in dual pov with HEA.

Buy So Worth More

For All It’s Worth

Charlie needs a second chance at life

Mugged, beaten, and left for dead. Charlie gets the wake-up call that he so desperately needed.

Rehab, a new path, and second chances. As Charlie works to reset his life.

Max has missed Charlie like a piece of himself was lost but hated the destructive path Charlie was on. He cut his best friend out of his life until Charlie changed his ways.

This new Charlie? This one, he wants to take a second chance on. To finally confess what’s in his heart.

Friends to lovers, second chances, and family healing. For All It’s Worth is the second book in the Second Chances series and features Will’s brother Charlie and his best friend Max whom you met in So Worth More. This book can be read as a standalone but may be best enjoyed as part of the series and is told in dual pov.

Content warning for discussions about alcohol dependency and a brief violent scene. The couple also kiss someone outside of their relationship while the other partner is present

Buy For All It’s Worth

Find Jax!

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