Holiday Romance books

The First Cowboys Don’t Story

Rand McIntyre settles for good enough. He loves his small California ranch, raising horses, and teaching riding to the kids he adores—but having kids of his own and someone to love means coming out, and that would jeopardize everything he’s built. Then, despite his terror of flying, he goes on a holiday to Hana, Hawaii, with his parents and meets the dark and mysterious Kai Kealoha, a genuine Hawaiian cowboy. Rand takes to Kai’s kid brother and sister as much as he drools over Kai, but the guy sports more prickles than a horned toad and more secrets than the exotic land he comes from.

Kai’s earned his privacy and lives to protect his “kids.” He ought to stay away from the big, handsome cowboy for everyone’s sake—but since the guy’s just a haole on a short vacation, how much damage can he do? When all of Kai’s worst fears and Rand’s darkest nightmares come true at once, there’s not much chance for two cowboys who can’t—or won’t—come out.

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Aaron’s been living in what his friend Howie calls a sexual desert. But an oasis appears on the horizon when Paul, a divorced electrician with a five-year-old daughter named Sam, moves in next door. He’s a country boy from northern Australia, and although he’s never been with a guy before, he has an impression that anything goes in the city. They find that the ordinary things in life—books, footie in the park, looking after Sam—lead them into an unlikely relationship.

But as their relationship slowly deepens, with Aaron spending time on Paul’s family’s cattle station, it becomes clear that Paul might have a harder time leaving the country behind. To him, happiness means a conventional life—including a mother for Sam. Being with his old friends convinces him he’s on the wrong path with Aaron, and he starts a relationship with a girl from his hometown. If he cannot find the courage to go after what he truly needs, he and Aaron will become nothing more than awkward neighbours.

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Christer is too old to believe in fairy tales. He’s not the kind of guy to pick the proverbial seven flowers on Midsummer’s Eve so he can dream of who he will marry, and he certainly isn’t the type to fall for someone he’s just met. Especially not a womanizing blogger named Henrik.

Besides, Christer’s previous marriage didn’t end with a happily ever after. Therefore, he has no interest in gifting his heart to someone who lives five hundred miles away and probably isn’t even gay. His family is right: it’s time he grew up and stopped dreaming.

But Midsummer’s Eve in Sweden is a magical night, and Henrik won’t stop flirting. As the midnight sun shines down on the misty woods, maybe there’s room for one last dream.

World of Love: Stories of romance that span every corner of the globe.

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The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, and no one knows it better than the men in EM Lynley’s Delectable Series.

In Brand New Flavor, Artisan ice cream maker Jay Brown and food critic Cameron Clay have one delicious encounter that could lead to much more, if they can find each other again. Simon Ford resents the easy life of those like Austin Kelvin, owner of Kelvin Cellars in Napa Valley, in *An Intoxicating Crush*. But Austin’s business is going under, and when Simon’s true reasons for being at the winery come to light, Simon will have to risk everything to prove his sincerity.

When Alex Bancroft’s bakery burns down a week before Christmas and he’s pulled from the flames by Kevin Flint in Gingerbread Palace, the gingerbread house he donates to charity seems like it’s not going to happen, until Fire Station 7 comes to the rescue yet again. But can Kevin come out of the closet long enough to see what he might be missing?

In Spaghetti Western, professional chef Riley Emerson’s dreams are in tatters when he takes a job at the Rocking Z guest ranch. Colby Zane is ecstatic when the new cook turns out to be his hot one-night stand, but financial problems at the ranch may drive them apart. In *12 Courses*, chef Thom Kennedy has finally regained his confidence after the theft of his recipes when ex-boyfriend Blake Warner shows up at his restaurant several days in a row. But can he trust Blake again when he seems to know more that he’s saying about the theft?

See excerpt for individual blurbs.

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At the turn of the 19th century, two sailors will do anything to keep their love. The attraction that David Archer feels for his fellow midshipman William Marshall seems impossible, until desperate circumstances force their emotions to light, in Ransom. After a year spent hiding their feelings, in Winds of Change & Eye of the Storm, traitors and war with France threatens to destroy everything they’ve worked so hard for. In Home Is the Sailor, a different kind of battle awaits them when David’s eldest brother dies under mysterious circumstances. And finally, in Sail Away, explore the missing moments of David and William’s romance, as well as the lives of friends and family, in a series of short stories, including a special nit-picking vignette from Charlie Cochrane.

See excerpt for individual blurbs.

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Fortsetzung zu Eine Randbemerkung

Weihnachten ist für viele die Zeit der Liebe und Freude, doch für drei Männer in einem Buchladen namens Margins wird die heiße australische Weihnacht auch zu einer Zeit des Nachdenkens über das, was einst war und das, was noch kommen wird und zeigt ihnen auf, wie wichtig Heimat und Familie sind. Ihre Lebenswege führen im Buchladen zusammen, doch dabei hat jeder seine eigenen Hürden zu meistern: David fällt es schwer, mit seinem Sohn wieder eine Verbindung aufzubauen; John erfährt etwas über den Vater, der ihn verlassen hat, und Jamie macht sich darauf gefasst, Weihnachten zum ersten Mal allein verbringen zu müssen.

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Un libro della serie Fuori del campo

Nonostante  un’adolescenza triste e un presente solitario, Skipper Keith non ha mai desiderato altro che una famiglia. La cosa che più le si avvicina è la squadra di calcio che allena dopo il lavoro e il suo miglior giocatore, nonché migliore amico, Richie Scoggins. 

Una fredda sera di ottobre, una conversazione dopo l’allenamento si trasforma in un incontro sessuale che nessuno dei due si sarebbe mai aspettato, né intende dimenticare. In breve, Skip e Richie vivono solo per i loro fine settimana, le partite di calcio, e i giochi che fanno insieme fuori dal campo. Tra nasi rotti, decorazioni per le feste e un’influenza devastante, imparano a conoscersi come mai avrebbero creduto possibile. E ogni nuova scoperta fa loro trascendere i confini del campo di calcio catapultandoli dentro alle infinite possibilità della migliore relazione della loro vita. 

Skipper non riesce a immaginare una famiglia migliore di Richie, ma il ragazzo ha dei legami familiari che lo trattengono e dai quali non può liberarsi. Skip deve quindi convincerlo a restare con lui anche dopo la fine del campionato invernale, cosicché la storia che è cominciata sul campo possa diventare un futuro felice nella vita di tutti i giorni.

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Two days before Christmas, widower Steven drives to the North of England to meet his estranged son, Andy, hoping for a reconciliation. Steven rejected his son when, as a nineteen-year-old student, Andy came out to his parents. Andy now enjoys a happy and fulfilling relationship with Peter, who initiates contact with Steven by forwarding an almost childlike letter to Santa, in which Andy asks for a father who loves him.

Andy isn’t quick to forgive his father, but the bad weather conspires to strand them all together over the holidays. Father and son experience a steep learning curve, not helped by Steven’s realization that his son’s lover is older than he is. But proximity and familiarity have a way of breaking down barriers, and if all three men can work together in the spirit of cooperation, this Christmas might be one that changes their lives forever.

2nd Edition
First Edition published by Amazon Digital Services, 2013.

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Lord Thomas Pendleton, second son of the Duke of Branmoor, needs to discharge a debt to his friend Andrew Nash. In doing so, he must return to the family estate he fled six years earlier after refusing to marry the woman his father had chosen. To Thomas’s dismay, Branmoor Hall is no longer the joyful home he remembers from his childhood, and his four-year-old niece has no idea what Christmas is.

Determined to bring some seasonal cheer back to the gloomy estate, Thomas must confront his tyrannical father, salvage a brother lost in his own misery, and attempt to fight off his father’s machinations.

As Christmas Day draws near, Thomas and his friend Andrew begin to realize they are more than merely close friends… and those feelings are not only a threat to their social positions, but, in Victorian England, to their lives as well.

2nd Edition
First Edition published by Dreamspinner Press, 2010.

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Un libro della serie I Guardiani Degli Abissi

Malic  Sunden è all’inferno, solo non letteralmente… non ancora. Come guardiano, è abituato a combattere contro i demoni e affrontare qualsiasi tipo di creatura proveniente dagli abissi, ma quest’anno deve fronteggiare una nuova e terrificante esperienza: trascorrere le vacanze di Natale insieme al suo giovanissimo ragazzo e la sua famiglia.

Ama Dylan, il suo focolare, ma i genitori del suo compagno, gli Shaw, sono tutta un’altra storia. Pensano, tra le altre cose, che Malic sia uno che si diverte a frequentare uomini più giovani. Almeno sembra piacere al loro vicino di casa, Brad. È solo apparenza, però. Quando Malic viene offerto in sacrificio a un demone che riesce a cancellare tutti i suoi ricordi tranne il nome di Dylan, ci vorranno tutte le sue capacità per sfuggire a una nuova vita in una delle dimensioni dell’inferno e fare ritorno dall’uomo che rappresenta per lui la sua casa.

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Welcome to Jasper Lane, possibly the gayest suburb around. In SubSurdity, Suburbalicious, and SuburbaNights, meet the entire neighborhood and follow their misadventures with porn, dead bodies, parenthood, religious zealots, and romance, of course! No matter what problem they’re facing, they’ll do it with humor and style.

In Kid Christmas Rides Again, the Jolly Old Elf himself  has keeled over, and the Committee to Oversee the Christening of Kringle (COCK) must find a replacement. Kid Christmas is here to save Christmas as long as he can make it past the many traps and obstacles in his way.

See excerpt for individual blurbs.

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Cowboys Wyatt and Brady are competing in a team-roping event in Missoula, Montana’s annual Christmas Eve rodeo. Christmas is Wyatt’s favorite time of year and nothing is going to dampen his holiday spirit, not even his surly, no-nonsense roping partner. They’ve only been riding together for a week, but Wyatt has already secretly fallen head over bootheels for Brady, though it’s painfully obvious Brady only has eyes for the rodeo’s grand prize purse.

When Brady is distracted during a crucial moment in the night’s first roping run and nearly disqualifies them, Wyatt is almost certain he is going to be another of Brady’s many rejected partners. Will Wyatt and Brady be able to sort out their differences and work together to win the grand prize? Maybe, if Wyatt can show Brady that Christmas really is a time for miracles.

A story from the Dreamspinner Press 2016 Advent Calendar "Bah Humbug."

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Keith Walker, a mall bookstore employee, is struggling to get through another miserable holiday season while trying to preserve a crumbling long-term relationship. One of his few comforts is his morning coffee made by a good-looking, younger barista. Austin Novak felt an attraction when Keith started frequenting the coffee shop, but he doesn’t think the older man has any interest in him or his graphic novel collection.

A Christmas week snowstorm buries the city and locks Keith’s car into its parking spot. Keith decides to show Austin his gratitude for helping free the car from the ice with a dinner invitation. The meal becomes complicated when Austin meets Keith’s boyfriend, Shawn, and things go downhill from there when Shawn announces he’s heading to Cancún with his coworkers. Keith is caught between keeping his boyfriend happy and keeping his job. But Keith might not need a plane ticket to find the happiness that’s been missing from his life.

A story from the Dreamspinner Press 2016 Advent Calendar "Bah Humbug."

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Being rich has its advantages, but it is also rife with suffocating pressures and family telling Chandler Buckingham how to live his life. When his assistant offers to help him escape the mounting obligations of the holiday season by running away to Hawaii, Chandler jumps at the chance. Only to find nothing is quite as he’d expected.

Micah Keolu has lived in Hawaii all his life. He has to work two jobs and has little time for a social life, but his loving family and the island beauty around him have given him a heart as big as the ocean. And then one day he rescues a man trapped in an elevator in the building where Micah lives and works maintenance.

The unexpected happens as they find themselves drawn together, only to learn there is more to each other than meets the eye. Can two men from very different worlds find a way to enrich each other’s lives? Maybe the magic of the holidays just might bring them lasting joy!

A story from the Dreamspinner Press 2016 Advent Calendar "Bah Humbug."

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Carlos Mendez spends all year working hard at his Houston-based landscaping business, and he sends every spare penny he earns back to his family in Mexico. By the time the holidays roll around, he doesn’t have much patience for the unadulterated greed and consumerism paraded past him. But a chance meeting with his neighbor, Ned Williams, and Ned’s cancer-stricken daughter, might help to remind him of the real meaning of the season—something beyond the gaudy lights and extravagant displays—something he wants to be a part of.

A story from the Dreamspinner Press 2016 Advent Calendar "Bah Humbug."

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Federal park ranger Carter Williams dislikes kids almost as much as he dislikes Christmas. He chose his career to escape human contact, not embrace it. And no matter how much his husband Owen tries to sway his opinion, Carter is a grump who would rather ignore the holiday. Owen’s efforts are put on hold, however, when they get a call about six missing foster kids lost in the park.

Christmas Eve takes a turn for the worse when Owen injures himself rescuing the children. Stranded in a snowstorm until dawn, Carter has to keep Owen awake and healthy while simultaneously watching six runaways. What he thinks is a nightmare come to life is actually a beautiful gift in disguise—the kids transform the ranger station into a Christmas wonderland. And before it’s all said and done, they might transform Carter’s heart as well—if he can keep his bah humbug attitude in check.

A story from the Dreamspinner Press 2016 Advent Calendar "Bah Humbug."

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Dumped by his ex on Christmas Eve two years ago, Oxford Street department store manager Richard Barratt now hates the holidays. Things go from bad to worse when the store's usual Santa is too ill to reprise his role and the firm sends cocky but handsome Blaine Ryder to take his place. The attraction between the two is clear, but Blaine is an incorrigible player who reminds Richard of his ex. His idea of a relationship is a quick roll in the hay, and his advances have Richard running for the hills. It might take some special intervention for both of them to realize they can change enough to have a chance at a holiday romance.

A story from the Dreamspinner Press 2016 Advent Calendar "Bah Humbug."

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Hill hates Christmas.

The shoppers. The cheer. The drama. All of it.

Each holiday season is a painful reminder that seven years before, his lover, Drew, walked out of his life and moved across the country, leaving Hill like a cup of rotten eggnog. Now Drew is back and wants Hill to put a little jingle in his bells. Well, not this Scrooge.

Drew admits he moved to get away from Hill—but not for the reasons Drew gave him all those years ago. Some of his best memories are of Christmases he celebrated with Hill, and he wants nothing more than to spend a little holly jolly with the only man he’s ever loved. However, getting Hill to agree to a reunion is going to take a Christmas miracle.

A story from the Dreamspinner Press 2016 Advent Calendar "Bah Humbug."

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