The Amazing Year of Ofelia Grand and Holly Day

Hi! Thank you so much, Ally, for letting me drop by again 😊 (Any time!)

It’s been quite a year, hasn’t it? I know many say that and mean it in a bad way, but that’s not what I mean at all. It’s been a really good year for me.

During a weak moment back in 2020, I decided that writing under two names was a brilliant idea, and Ally did absolutely nothing to talk me out of it. Quite the opposite, actually.

So we started this year by releasing Holly Day’s first story – Hop Hop, Carrot Top which is a low heat contemporary gay romance I wrote to celebrate Kiss a Ginger Day.

Then February came, well… I wrote a Valentine story – Be Still, My Heart, a contemporary M/M romance.

After February comes March, and with March comes aliens. Extraterrestrial Abduction Day is in March, and it was one I couldn’t ignore, so There Will Be Aliens came to be. While HHCT and BSMH are quite serious tales, this is silly through and through LOL

With April comes bad weather, and I wrote Blown Away to celebrate Big Wind Day. It might be my favourite of Holly’s stories… maybe. It has a bear shifter who constantly thinks of cakes 😁

Next up was Plant a Vegetable Garden Day which is in May, so I wrote The Hunger Gap. It’s low heat, dystopian, and it turned out darker than I’d first planned, but I enjoyed writing it.

In June, we have Best Friend Day, so I wrote Just to Breathe, which is a friends to lovers, contemporary, mystery sort of story.

After having written contemporary, I figured we’d need us some vampires, because why not? So I wrote Bring Him Back, Jack which has a main character with heterochromia since we’re celebrating Different Coloured Eyes Day

In August we have Be An Angel Day, so I wrote The Bear Claw which has a pretty obnoxious alpha character who thinks he acts like an angel – he doesn’t 😆 It’s paranormal and one of the characters is a baker who can put emotions into baked goods.

With September came the dragons – no real dragons in this one! The Dragon Next Door is a contemporary story I wrote for National Neighbour Day. It’s about a sunny guy and his grumpy next-door neighbour. This might be my favourite, I know I said Blown Away might be, and maybe it is, but who doesn’t like a grumpy neighbour?

Call Me Charles. October is a cold month, here at least, but October has Motorcycle Ride Day, so I wrote another contemporary story about a knight in black leather… who owns a candy shop 😄

When November rolled in, I figured it was time for real dragons, so I wrote How to Soothe a Dragon. Only… as so often, I started writing thinking I was gonna write a cool sci-fi story with scary aliens. I wrote a paranormal dystopian romance about dragons who are allergic to lemons. Yes, I know… lemons 🙄

And then here we are! In December, and you all know what December is all about. The Scent of Pine is a contemporary mystery-ish story I wrote for Christmas Card Day. It was meant to be cute; it isn’t. We have creepy Christmas cards and a stalker. But, there is a Christmas tree that smells of pine 😊

So that’s Holly’s year. I’m quite proud. (Ally: And so you should be!)

You’ll find blurbs and excerpts for all these stories here.

While I’ve written stories for Holly, I’ve also written stories for me (the schizophrenia is rearing its pretty head). I won’t give a story-by-story list because I’ve had both new releases and re-releases, and to be honest, it’s all spinning in my head. If I could sleep for a month, I would 😊

But what I do know is that I have a release on Christmas Day. The Ruby tooth is a low heat, paranormal, holiday story that I wrote for an in-house call for JMS Books named Naughty or Nice. We were to pick one or the other and write a short story for it.

I wrote a Nice story.

There is a bar called The Ruby Tooth and it’s split in two – nice, pure, wholly good people go to one side, and bad people to the other. It’s a fated mates story, but Ilya is shown to the good side and Ulric to the bad. And it’s dress-up night.

I feel like I’ve talked forever now, so I’ll leave you with an excerpt. It’s up for pre-order over at JMS Books 😘

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Excerpt from The Ruby Tooth

Ilya stepped away from the table before Vera could talk him into staying. If he stayed, he might crawl up on the man’s lap—so unlike him.
He needed to leave, and he wanted pie. Maybe he could buy a slice of pie on his way home and eat it once he’d gotten out of this ridiculous outfit.
“Ilya!”
He ignored Vera’s call and took aim at the door he believed was the exit. Now that he was moving, he didn’t want to get pulled back in, and Vera had a knack for making him do things he didn’t want to do.
Right as he reached out to push at the door, it was yanked open from the other side. He came face to face with a fine-limbed man with sharp features and skin so pale it looked like he hadn’t left his house in a decade.
“Oh, sorry.” Ilya stepped out of the way only to bump into someone. “Shit, sorry.” He tried to turn to see who he’d collided with, but a strong arm crossed his chest pulling his back against a warm, strong body. For a second, he struggled, then he recognized the worn leather sleeve and the scarred hand. It was… the man.
The heat of him made Ilya’s heart speed up—not good.
“No problem.” The pale man gave him a predatory smile which had Ilya suppress a shudder. “Can I buy you a drink?”
Before Ilya could decline, the man—who he needed to ask the name of if he was gonna keep hugging Ilya—growled. It had the hairs on Ilya’s neck stand on end, not only because he growled straight into his ear, but because it sounded real. Had he heard it when out walking in a forest, he’d have assumed he was being chased by wolves.
“Why is it always you ending up in a man sandwich?” Vera rolled her eyes which made the pale man grin—or maybe it was her words making him grin.
“I’m sure we can all play, pet.”
“No!” Ilya pushed at the arm around him. “No. I’m leaving.” Three pairs of eyes were watching him. “You have fun. Man-sandwich her—” He gestured at Vera.
The doorman poked his head in. There was nothing strange about his eyes, and yet it was as if they could see into his soul. “You’re on the wrong side.”
The pale man’s gaze whipped around to Ilya, making him flinch.
“I’m leaving.” He spoke as much to the doorman as he did to the others before focusing on Vera. “I’m going to bed. Alone.”
“Ilya.”
“No.” He held his hands up. “This was a bad idea. I want to go home, I want to have pie, and I want to put on my pajamas and watch some TV.” He tumbled out the door, ignoring the doorman’s narrowed eyes, and hurried out into the December cold.
He walked with rapid steps, unable to shake the unease building in his chest. The Ruby Tooth was the creepiest bar he’d ever been to—not that he went out often.
“Ilya.”
Ilya jumped as the man with the weird contact lenses appeared by his side. “I meant it; I’m going home. You should go back to Vera.”
“You want pie?” The man smiled, and it looked genuine.
“I… eh… What’s your name?”
“Ulric Moon.”
Ilya frowned. “Ulric Moon? Are you joking?”
“Nope. It’s a family name.”
“Ulric or Moon?”
Ulric grinned. “Both.”
Ilya shook his head, not sure if he was being played or not. “I’m sorry, but I’m not good company. I lost someone dear to me recently, and I’m still mourning. Vera dragged me out tonight because she thinks trips to random bars will cheer me up, but they never do.”
“I’m sorry.”
A lump formed in Ilya’s throat. “Thank you. He meant the world to me, and now the apartment is so empty, you know?”
A frown settled on Ulric’s brows. “A boyfriend?”
“What? No! My cat.”
The way Ulric stopped mid-step for a few seconds had Ilya regretting telling him.
“You’re mourning your cat? Vera… is living with you?”
Ilya shuddered. “Living with Vera? No, I love her, but no.”
“Love her?”
“Of course. She kept me safe through school, not an easy feat, considering.” He gestured at himself and realized how true it was. He was walking the street in an elf suit. Wouldn’t his bullies love that? Groaning, he sped up his steps.
People never understood why he and Vera were friends, but they didn’t know her as he did. She might come across as harsh and reckless, but there was no one he trusted more to have his back.
“Ilya.” Ulric grabbed his arm. “Listen.”
Ilya stopped, but Ulric didn’t let go of his arm. “This is gonna sound insane.”
Ilya waited. He didn’t know if he had the energy for insane, but he waited anyway.