Loyalty, Love, & Vermouth
After a bitter and humiliating breakup,
For the next thirty-six hours,
“Eric Peterson’s debut novel is a heartwarming and charming tale of love,
After a bitter and humiliating breakup,
For the next thirty-six hours,
“Eric Peterson’s debut novel is a heartwarming and charming tale of love,
Allison Hale had always played second fiddle. She didn’t win the science fair, have a million friends, or become the world’s best mom. That was her sister, Betsy. However, Ally’s managed to do something her sister couldn’t, connect her family’s failing business to the wealthy Carmichaels through her engagement to their son, Brent. All she has to do is plan the wedding of the century with the hottest wedding planner in town, Megan Kinkaid. How could she have ever guessed that Megan and her zest for life would threaten everything she’d carefully planned?
Megan Kinkaid knows how to produce a wedding for the history books and she’s not about to miss out on the chance to tackle high-profile Brent Carmichael’s. His fiancée, however, is not who Megan imagined for shiny Brent. Ally Hale is beautiful, earnest, selfless, and fun. She’s also everything Megan ever wanted for herself, and their chemistry hovers in the stratosphere. But can she make Ally see that there’s more to life than making others happy before it’s too late?
Praise from Publishers Weekly: "A bride-to-be falls for her wedding planner in this smoking hot, emotionally mature romance from Brayden...Brayden is remarkably generous to her characters, allowing them space for self-exploration and growth..."
By Radclyffe
Dr. Bennett Anderson accepts a short-term contract at a rural medical center to fill the gap year before taking the high-profile job she’d put on hold while chasing a dream that had slipped away. In a deep-rooted community where everyone seems to know everyone else, Ben is an oddity—a stranger just passing through with no plans to build any ties.
Courtney Valentine is looking for a woman exactly like Ben—smart, sexy, and not in the market for anything serious. All she has to do is convince Ben that sex-without-strings is the perfect pathway to pleasure. What could be better?
By Jenny Frame
Flora Buchanan doesn’t think a relationship is an option. A variety of mental health issues—anxiety, OCD, and PTSD—make it seem impossible to find love. Instead, she seeks joy in the one thing that is safe and ordered: her sweetshop in Glasgow.
Mack Sharkey is ready to start a new life after being released from jail. As part of the infamous Sharkey family, she took care of business on the edge of the law for the once criminal, and now legitimate, empire. After being sentenced to jail time her cousin should have shared, she’s promised a quiet life running her dream barbershop.
Flora and Mack are bound together by a night that changed their lives two years before and never thought they’d ever see each other again. But when Mack opens up her barbershop right next to Flora’s sweetshop, their connection comes roaring back.
Content advisory: This book contains instances of violence against women.
By CJ Birch
Easton Gray is sent from the future to prevent the end of the human race after nanotechnology spreads rapidly, leading to danger and disaster. As an operative for the Ministry of Discourse, Easton’s only goal is to eradicate the technology.
Dr. Tess Nolan is alone, except for the company of her rescue dog, Lou. It’s not until a stranger shows up in town and her life is turned upside down that she realizes the love she’s been missing. Easton is everything Tess didn’t know she wanted, but her warning bells are sounding. There’s something too convenient about Easton’s arrival.
Caught between her need to follow orders and her growing feelings for the beautiful doctor, Easton begins to question everything she knows, leading her on an investigation that will change not just her life, but the future as well. When forced to target Tess, can Easton do what’s needed to save humanity? Or will finally finding the one person who feels like home prove impossible to ignore?
Zara del Amanecer’s purpose in life is to do her duty, whether as a noble or a scout. She never shirks her responsibilities, especially with missions as simple as this one: to reconnoiter the border with the Firellian Empire and report anything suspicious. Easily done, even with a new recruit conscripted from prison. Never mind that Veronique the thief ignites unfamiliar feelings in Zara, from furious loathing to overwhelming desire.
Roni can’t stop imagining how passionate Zara would be if she thought less about duty, or even if she cared more about survival. Because the Firellians have a new magical weapon no one suspected, and they’re not about to let anyone who’s seen it get out alive. In the sights of an empire planning invasion, Zara and Roni’s principles might not be the only things sacrificed.
Book 2 in the Sisters of Sarras Trilogy
Praise from Publishers Weekly: "The second lesbian fantasy romance in Wright’s The Sisters of Sarras trilogy takes to the military for a delightful character-centered story about trust and loyalty. Sarassian Commander Zara del Amanecer is socially awkward and ultra-rational. As punishment for a recent faux pas with a Colonel’s daughter, her scouting squad is the first in an experiment in using prisoners as recruits, putting flirty, smart-mouthed thief Veronique “Roni” Bisset under Zara’s command and setting the stage for their opposites-attract romance...Series fans will not be disappointed."
By Greg Herren
After landing in the hospital after a bad breakup and an ensuing drug-and-alcohol binge, college student Jake Chapman is given two options: rehab, or spend the summer at his dying grandmother’s decaying home in rural Alabama. The choice is obvious.
His grandmother’s land has been in Jake’s family since the early nineteenth century; the ruins of the old plantation house are a short walk through the woods behind her home. An archaeological team is excavating the ruins, looking for evidence to prove an old family legend—and there’s a meth lab just over the ridge.
Once Jake is there, he begins having strange experiences—flashes of memory, inexplicable emotions—that he can’t explain, and he keeps seeing something strange out in the woods. As he explores his family history, he uncovers some dark secrets someone—or something—is willing to kill to keep hidden.
Mystery Scene raves: "History looms over Herren’s superior Southern gothic thriller, which sensitively explores the region’s legacy of racism and homophobia. Jake’s wonderfully vulnerable narration is full of foreboding, the supernatural elements are expertly incorporated, and a flurry of stunning reveals catapults the thoughtful, multilayered plot to a devastating yet hopeful conclusion."
Sophia McGovern can’t seem to settle down. Memories of all her bad decisions refuse to leave her alone. So, she moves from town to town, from one dead-end job to another, keeping to herself, which serves her well—until she arrives in Ft. Devlin, Colorado. From the first day, Ft. Devlin was different. Maybe that’s why she says yes to teaching a car maintenance class at the local high school.
High school literacy teacher Pru Glynn is happy with her life just as it is. She has a great job, close friends, and a loving family. She’d like to find a wonderful woman to share it with, but she isn’t about to settle for just anyone. When beautiful Sophia McGovern swings into town, Pru can’t deny an attraction, but Sophia’s itinerant lifestyle doesn’t fit in with her deep-set roots and strong ties to family and friends.
Sophia and Pru have no intention of falling in love, but sometimes love happens when and where you least expect it.
By Julie Tizard
Hundreds of people on Flight 402 vanish in an instant.
When the airplane carrying her sister is reported missing, then later found a smoking wreck, Detective Dee Rawlings never had the chance to finally reconcile after years of estrangement. She’s desperate to find out why the plane crashed, but Dr. River Dawson, the exacting and relentless aircraft accident investigator, believes Dee’s good intentions are interfering with her case and wants her gone. All that changes when Dee discovers critical evidence that doesn’t add up.
Dee and River must find a way to work together to solve the mystery of what happened to Flight 402, all while keeping their inconvenient and unprofessional attraction in check. Their search for answers at Angel Creek will risk their lives and maybe even their hearts.
By Cass Sellars
For golf pro Piper Holthaus, a not-so-secret romance with wealthy socialite Vanessa Devereaux in exchange for a life of privilege and promotion of her art seems like a small price to pay.
Brook Myers is determined not to let her girlfriend Meg’s substance abuse ruin her life or her new catering business, but Meg really needs her and leaving the woman she once loved seems unfathomable.
When Piper and Brook meet on a secluded fairway, neither can deny the intense connection that just might be love, but the entanglements of their past may destroy any possibility of a future.
Content Warning: Substance abuse
What do you do when the whole world breaks?
Like when you make it through a plague with the woman you’ve loved for way more than half your septuagenarian life—only to watch her die, leaving you alone. And then, just weeks later, the world around you descends into relentless dark and cold.
Besieged, desolate Hester is too numb to know what to do. And even though she’s lucky to have the means to endure for quite a while, she’s tempted—really tempted—to just give it up. What, after all, is she enduring for?
But giving up will have to wait when she stumbles upon people who introduce her to the first rule of survival: Don’t try to go it alone if you don’t have to.
Former Protection Command Officer Eve Webb quit her job when a terrorist incident revealed that internal communication failures had caused multiple deaths. Now her former commanding officer and mentor has asked for a favor, and Eve can’t say no. It should be an easy job. All she has to do is guard one female civilian.
Lady Katherine Lovegrove is forty-something-ish in line to the throne and has lived a sheltered life until her father—a high profile judge—upsets the wrong people. She’s not exactly thrilled to need a full-time babysitter, uh, bodyguard, and is even less happy that Eve is an anti-monarchist who despises the upper class.
If Eve had known she’d be protecting royalty, she’d never have taken the job, but as the threat to Lady Katherine’s life draws closer, she’ll do whatever it takes to save her and may just lose her heart in the process.
By Kadyan
A family saga of three women, their homestead called Willowra in the Australian outback, and the secrets that link them all.
Gabrielle fled Willowra for Sydney and the freedom to live as an out lesbian, leaving behind all those she loved, especially her cherished grandmother, Victoria. Years later, Gabrielle and her partner, Tess, return to Willowra when Victoria instigates a family gathering to reveal the long-kept secret surrounding her parents, Jason and Maggie, and her own tumultuous past.
As stories and secrets are uncovered, the threads of the past weave together the lives of Jason, Victoria, and Gabrielle and illuminate a new path forward for those who share the legacy of Willowra.
By Carsen Taite
Attorney Wren Bishop knew it would be an adjustment to go from her cushy, lucrative career in big law to the public defender’s office, but she’s completely unprepared for the suspicion from her colleagues and the animus from her adversaries at what was billed as a close-knit courthouse. To top it off, her first case pits her against Lennox Roy, a gorgeous yet fierce prosecutor with a reputation for cajoling juries and breaking hearts.
Lennox comes from a family full of bleeding hearts who believe in second, third, and fourth chances, but she’s seen firsthand the damage leniency can do. She has no patience for a softy like Wren Bishop, no matter how sexy and brilliant she might be. But when they face off over a mysterious arson case, their attraction ignites a passion that leads them to question their assumptions about the law, the truth, and each other.
By Ali Vali
Kai Merlin is heir to her mother’s throne in Atlantis, and she takes her duties seriously, but lately her mind has been on her fiancée Vivien Palmer. After a chance encounter when they were children, meeting again and falling in love proved to be fate, but melding their worlds as they plan their wedding isn’t going to be easy.
Vivien has spent her life searching for the secrets she’d always known were hidden beneath the waves, but nothing prepared her for what Kai and her people had successfully kept hidden for eons. She finally has a sense of belonging, but unseen enemies will stop at nothing to conquer and destroy their world—including everything and everyone she holds dear.
Below turbulent waves, Kai and Vivien must fight for what is right as life and love hang in the balance.
The sequel to Beneath the Waves
By Cari Hunter
Dr. Grace Kendal never stands a chance. The injured woman comes out of nowhere, bleeding heavily and holding a gun. Compelled to help her, Grace is dragged into Elin Breckenridge’s nightmare. Their fight to survive will take them across the country and to the limits of their endurance. But who is Elin running from? As Grace struggles for answers, one thing becomes clear—Elin is somehow connected to a dead man, and Grace could be next.
For Detective Sergeant Safia Faris, the case should have been easy: one dead body, one suspect. But the deeper she digs, the more obvious it becomes that murder was only the beginning. The investigation sets her on a collision course with Grace and Elin, and she’s forced to reevaluate everything she knows. Because nothing is quite as it seems, and Grace’s and Elin’s lives aren’t the only ones on the line.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer Suzanne (Mitch) Mitchell has been disappointed in love. She’s done playing around and is ready to get serious. The only thing veterinary surgeon Kay Gallant takes seriously is her professional reputation and the animals she saves. Women are for fun, not forever.
Dangerous drugs are stolen from the veterinary clinic, and the further Mitch investigates, the more of a suspect Kay becomes. Add to that their opposing relationship goals and the fact that Kay is only staying in Thresherton a year before she starts a job in America, and falling in love definitely seems impossible. But as pride and profession clash, their hearts just might prove otherwise.
What does it mean to be a gay man in America today? This diverse collection of stories chronicling the challenges of gay life at various ages shines a light on the progress made and the progress still to come as family expectations, cultural norms, and religious practices continue to influence gay self-perceptions and out and proud identities in America. With openly gay celebrities, homoerotic images, and LGBTQ+ popular media, being gay is becoming increasingly mainstream. Are gay men still different?