Release Day! Out of Focus

Ta-da! Today is the release day for Out of Focus and here’s a bit about it!

Enemies to lovers, a broken wrist, hurt-comfort and pining. A short contemporary gay romance set in a little Welsh theatre.

Out of Focus. Gay romance, Welsh theatre, hurt-comfort, enemies-to-lovers.

It’s the first of a new series, although it’s not actually a series because that would imply they are going to be in order. Instead I’m going to have a collection of different novellas about different people in the same small town, with the focus being the Theatre Fach or Little Theatre.

Welcome to the fictional town of Llanbaroc, on the north Welsh coast between the sea and the mountains! There’s a decent tourist trade, but there’s also a very close-knit local community, including resident hoteliers, the theatre/community centre, the hospital, the college, the hospital and the donkey sanctuary. There’s a livestock and produce market every Saturday and it’s a centre for the surrounding farming community.

Alex and Luke are well-liked employees of the theatre and have lots of roots in the town—Luke more-so than Alex, because he’s been there longer. I hope you like them as much as I do!

Out of Focus

Cover - A. L. Lester - Out of Focus

Alex has never quite believed he’s good enough. Not as a person and not as a lighting technician. He hates that however hard he tries he can’t get his boss, Luke, to like him. In the two years he’s been in the job it’s become a Thing with him and he’s got a huge crush on the man. He needs to move on for his own sanity and his career and he’s just about to accept a job at a bigger theatre when one of the volunteers he’s bedded and dumped pushes him off a ladder.

Luke likes Alex a lot and has done since the day he walked through the door of Theatre Fawr two years ago. He doesn’t date his staff though, or do casual—and Alex is the epitome of casual. So Luke keeps his distance despite Alex’s constant flirting.

Will Alex’s injury give Alex and Luke the push they need to open up to each other? Or will Luke’s inadvertent discovery that Alex has a secret job offer push them further apart?

A 17,500 word short story in the new Theatr Fach universe.

Amazon US : Amazon UK : Everywhere Else: Goodreads

Read a snippet!

Luke was furious. Bloody furious. His theatre. His crew. Alex.
He’d got back after a leisurely look round a potential new supplier of scissor-lifts and harnesses followed by a pub lunch with the business owner to find the theatre in uproar. Alex had tipped over on the zargees…which was bloody ironic given it was the approaching new height restrictions about using ladders to rig that had sent Luke on his errand.
He’d gone straight to the hospital and found Alex about to check himself out against the doctor’s advice. Bloody Alex, as well. 
Alex had been a thorn in his side since he’d started in post two years ago. It was a tiny theatre and the chief technician was responsible for anything with a plug on it as well as showing the film programme and doing the lighting and sound for shows. They’d done a panel interview and Luke, a couple of members of the board and Lacey the theatre manager had seen half a dozen people. Alex had come out head and shoulders above the rest. 
He’d walked in on his first proper day on the job and looked at Luke from underneath his ridiculously long eyelashes and smiled and said something perfectly professional that Luke hadn’t heard, because he was gone. Gone, gone, gone. His heart had given a big thump, he’d flushed from his chest to his hairline and he’d taken an actual physical step back because otherwise he’d have done something stupid.
Everyone on the circuit knew about Alex Tilsom by reputation. Not his professional reputation, although that was solid. His unprofessional reputation, as Luke privately thought of it. 
It was a small industry. 
Luke had seen whole companies explode because people fell into bed with each other and the detonation when they fell out of bed again meant they couldn’t work together. He’d been at Theatr Fach for a long time now and although there were no actual rules against it, his personal tenet was to keep his professional relationships professional. 
So he let Alex’s good natured flirting roll over him, he didn’t respond like he wanted to and he never, ever commented or ribbed him like the others did about his latest conquest. It was worse because strictly speaking he was Alex’s boss. He tried very hard not to be the older creep who letched on his staff.
Newsflash. In this case he did not always succeed. 
It made him feel uncomfortable and itchy inside his own skin. Alex was a funny guy. He worked hard, he was good at his job. He charmed passing crew and volunteers into bed and out again with no drama before or after. He’d be gone in two or three years…he was the sort of person who saw Theatr Fach as a stepping stone to something bigger and more challenging. 
All Luke had to do was hold on to that thought and not smile back.
He’d thoroughly fucked that up in the last twenty-four hours, hadn’t he? It was his job to go and see what was going on at the hospital. And he supposed he could argue it was his job to stay with Alex overnight if no-one else could, if the stupid arse wouldn't stay in hospital like he should have. 
It wasn’t his job to mostly fail to sleep in the armchair in the corner of the man’s bedroom and creepily watch over him all night. Or was it? Was that on the right side of the line? Fuck it, who knew any more. 

Amazon US : Amazon UK : Everywhere Else: Goodreads

Out of Focus. Gay romance, Welsh theatre, hurt-comfort, enemies-to-lovers.

Out Today! As the Crows Fly

This is my obligatory blog-post for a new release…this time it’s As the Crows Fly, which is another short story—11,500 words—in the Reworked Celtic Myths collection. The stories are a loose set of contemporary stories set in Wales, and the seed of each one comes from a Welsh or Irish legend.

As the Crows Fly. A short contemporary gay romance. With Crows.

The seed for As the Crows Fly is the story of St Kevin. He is the patron saint of crows and ravens, which is why I chose him. He is said to have been born in 498 CE and died in 618 and spent a long time being a hermit in a small cave in Glendalough in Ireland, where a large teaching monastery eventually grew up around him. He liked animals a lot more than people and apparently once nearly drowned a lady who tried to seduce him. He didn’t succeed—she became a nun instead. He is said to have stood still for weeks when a blackbird made a nest in his hand and laid an egg there, waiting for the egg to hatch.

I didn’t put any of that in, because drowning your lovers is a bit off and standing still for weeks waiting for eggs to hatch is an unexciting story. I just took the crows bit and the animals bit and ran with it, and here we are!

I had fun writing it and I hope you enjoy the story.

As the Crows Fly

Cover, As the Crows Fly

Paul Webster has come out the army after a twenty-two year stretch with a trick hip and no idea what to do with his life. He takes a few weeks walking along the Welsh coast to get his head on straight.

Kevin Davies is a veterinary nurse and an artist. He’s getting lonelier and lonelier in his cottage on the edge of the sea, kept company by his cats and a friendly flock of crows.

What happens when the two men hunker down together to wait out a wild March gale?

A 11,500-word short story in the Reworked Celtic Myths series. This time, there are crows.

Buy As the Crows Fly now

Isabelle Adler: An epilogue to In the Winter Woods

Let’s welcome Isabelle Adler here today, with an epilogue to her new release, In the Winter Woods! I’m so pleased to host this here, I loved the story and this was a perfect little afterthought.

In the Winter Woods

Cover: In the Winter Woods by Isabelle Adler

Declan Kensington isn’t really in the mood for Christmas. His latest mystery book sales are tanking, his finances are in a dismal state, and his spirits are anything but festive. Perhaps spending the holidays alone at his family lakeside cabin in the small village of Maplewood, Vermont, will provide him much-needed peace and quiet. Then he might finally get to work on a new book and (hopefully) jumpstart his stalling writing career.
When he starts receiving anonymous letters threatening him to leave, Declan realizes his solitary writer’s retreat isn’t at all what he bargained for. And if the threats aren’t enough, a killer strikes, casting Declan in the role of the most likely suspect. Now it’s up to him and the handsome local Public Safety Commissioner Curtis Monroe to find out the truth before Declan spends Christmas (and the rest of his life) in jail. But as dead bodies pile up and dark secrets are revealed beneath Maplewood’s picture-perfect facade, Declan’s heart may yet be in more danger than his life…

A 61,800 gay holiday romance.
Warnings for description of violence, physical injury, murders of secondary characters (off-page), deceased parents, dealing with grief

New Release: In the Winter Woods. Solving a real murser isn't as easy as writing one--especially when you're the prime suspect.

Epilogue – In the Winter Woods by Isabelle Adler

The floorboards creaked under someone else’s feet, and my eyes flew open.

Confused panic lanced through my sleep-addled mind but dissipated in the next instant. The fireplace had gone cold sometime during the night, but I was cozy and warm under the thick blankets and the quilted duvet I had found in the linen closet. Pale winter sun peeked into the bedroom through a gap in the curtains, promising the start of a lovely Christmas Day.

I rolled onto the side, wincing at the pang in my bandaged shoulder, and propped myself up on the pillows, watching Curtis cross the room with a breakfast tray.

“Morning, sleepy head,” Curtis said. He set the tray on the nightstand and reached across the bed to plant a quick kiss on my mouth.

“Ugh, morning breath,” I said when he withdrew.

“Mine or yours?”

“Mine. You actually smell delicious.”

Curtis must have risen much earlier, because despite him wearing only t-shirt and sweatpants, he smelled of freshly-brewed coffee and toast. His golden hair was tousled, and stubble roughened his cheeks.

He looked so perfectly homely that my heart swelled at the sight.

A stupid grin must have pulled at my lips, because he smiled back at me.

“Coffee?”

“Oh, God, yes, please.”

He handed me the mug he’d brought and watched me luxuriate in the first sip of my morning pick-up. It could have been my imagination, but for some reason the instant coffee tasted so much better today.

“Breakfast in bed? I must have done something right to deserve it,” I remarked, setting the half-empty mug on the tray.

Curtis chuckled, and the soft low sound seemed to reverberate through me, sending pleasant shivers down my spine.

“Oh, you’ve done plenty. But I don’t believe in earning affection. You either inspire it by being the way you are, or you don’t.”

“That’s way too deep for a Christmas morning.” I snatched a tiny pumpkin quiche—the leftovers from last night’s dinner—and barely suppressed a groan as the sharp movement sent zings of pain down my bandaged arm.

“How’s your shoulder?” Curtis asked. His brow furrowed. “I hope I didn’t jostle it too much last night.”

My cheeks warmed as I recalled everything that “jostling” had actually entailed. Granted, on account of my injury, we took things way slower than I would’ve liked, but even so, the night had been…magical. Not in that “fireworks going off, trumpets blaring, sparks of electricity flying, lust building into a frenzied crescendo” kind of way, but in a much quieter, simpler sense. It had been the magic of shared breath, of tentative touches, of secrets learned in the dark. A magic as new as a spring blossom and as old as the hills.

“I’m okay,” I said, swallowing the last bite of quiche and a sudden lump in my throat. “Actually, I’m better than okay.”

The mattress dipped as Curtis sat down on the bed. His fingers entwined with mine above the duvet, and I met his gaze, blue and serious.

“I’m better than okay, too.” His tone matched his expression, solemn and earnest, with a hint of passion simmering underneath.

“Then let’s have a better than okay Christmas,” I murmured, and pulled him into a kiss that tasted of coffee and promise.

About the Author

A voracious reader from the age of five, Isabelle Adler has always dreamed of one day putting her own stories into writing. She loves traveling, art, and science, and finds inspiration in all of these. Her favorite genres include sci-fi, fantasy, and historical adventure. She also firmly believes in the unlimited powers of imagination and caffeine.

Email : Twitter : Website : Goodreads : Amazon

announcing the Lost in Time audiobook!

I am very pleased to announce that I have found a collaborator to work with me to create audiobooks of both Lost in Time and Shadows on the Border! Lost in Time will be released at the beginning of March.

Callum Hale is doing an absolutely fantastic job-the characters are leaping off the page. You can hear a sample of his work below and if you’d like to sign up for a review copy, please do scroll down to the bottom of the page to sign up!

Lost in Time

Lew’s life is pleasantly boring until his friend Mira messes with magic she doesn’t understand. While searching for her, he is pulled back in time to 1919 by a catastrophic magical accident. As he tries to navigate a strange time and find his friend in the smoky music clubs of Soho, the last thing he needs is Detective Alec Carter suspecting him of murder. London in 1919 is cold, wet, and tired from four years of war.

Alec is back in the Metropolitan Police after slogging out his army service on the Western Front. Falling for a suspect in a gruesome murder case is not on his agenda, however attractive he finds the other man.

They are both floundering and out of their depth, struggling to come to terms with feelings they didn’t ask for and didn’t expect. Both have secrets that could get them arrested or killed. In the middle of a murder investigation that involves wild magic, mysterious creatures, and illegal sexual desire, who is safe to trust?

Sign up here for a review copy. They’ll go out at the beginning of March and ideally we’d like them back by the end of the month-ish.