Books by "M. King" (5)

Freelance photographer Dan Wright isn’t looking for romance in Venice. Still smarting from a bad breakup, Dan just wants a vacation and some self-indulgent fun to help him clear his mind. But amid the mystique of the city, he meets quiet schoolteacher Cesare Eveschi, and he decides there’s nothing wrong with a holiday fling. After all, it’s not like there’s a chance for anything serious when Dan is out and proud and Cesare is still hiding in the closet.

Right?

But as the two men engage in a whirlwind affair, Dan sees more than he expected in Cesare—behind the shyness and traditional values is a passionate and idealistic man yearning for love. Dan isn’t sure he wants another relationship, but he can’t deny the feelings forming between them may last beyond the suntan. Before Dan lets the possibility for happiness slip through his fingers, he must take a step back and acknowledge how his time in La Serenissima—his time with Cesare—has changed him.

2nd Edition
First Edition published by MLR Press, 2011.

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Does gender really matter?

For Kel and Toni, life is precarious. Kel turns tricks for cash and works hard to stay clean, while Toni seeks absolution in a bottle of Mexican hormone pills. Their love is raw and obsessive, but as Toni struggles with anxiety and gender identity, Kel fears the reality of Toni pursuing male-to-female transition, and questions his motives for doing it.

While Kel grapples with his worries and the attentions of regular client Michael—otherwise known as the Sherbet Pervert—Toni faces different problems. Her best friend, Danielle, a transgender woman, thinks Kel is a bad influence and pushes Toni to leave him. Toni holds off, aware that deep down, she's not like Danielle, however much she wishes she could be. Hell, sometimes Toni can't even get comfortable with one set of pronouns.

Things are already complicated, but one terrible day forces Toni and Kel to confront some frightening possibilities when they're shown just how easily their harsh little world could crumble.

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Sequel to Breaking Faith

After serving six years for murdering his abusive father, Tommy Hawks is released from prison. He moves back in with what’s left of his family and tries to negotiate a new life with them and his partner, Brett, who has stood by him through everything. But moving on isn’t so easy.

For six years, Brett Derwent sacrificed any chance of a normal life: he spent his college fund on defense lawyers, drove hundreds of miles to visitation days, and had his love letters read by strangers and his phone calls monitored by jailers. Now he and Tommy are faced with the monumental task of starting over as adults when they hardly had the chance to begin together as teens.

Resentment simmers just below the surface, but so do gratitude and guilt. Brett and Tommy need to give each other the time and space to discover who they are individually, and Tommy especially needs the opportunity to stand on his own—even if that means another separation.

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Brett Derwent thinks he has life all planned out. With the freedom of college life just months away, Brett’s eagerly awaiting some fun and independence… until he meets Tommy Hawks. Over the course of one northern Montana summer, an intense romance blooms between the young men, but Tommy has a painful secret—one that even first love can’t mitigate. Continually brutalized by his violent father, Tommy is pushed to the edge, torn between the desire to protect his mother and four siblings, and his fear of losing the love he never expected to find.

When the unthinkable happens and Tommy’s father is found dead, Brett is afraid to learn the truth. Appalled to think that his lover may be responsible, Brett must face impossible questions: how much of his life—of his youth—is he willing to sacrifice for Tommy, and will having faith in him be enough?

Second Edition
First Edition published by Freya’s Bower in 2008 under the same title.

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Every Cornishman comes into the world with the soul-deep knowledge that his land straddles the narrow shallows between the solid rocks of English practicality and the ocean of myth that lies beyond. Jamie Tregellis has no time for old men’s tales; working at The Lamb Inn keeps him too busy even to pine for his lost love, Will Andrewartha, who’d split Jamie’s heart in two when he left to become a sailor. Will promised to come back for him, but Jamie had long since given up hope – until one night he hears a noise in the stableyard….

A Bittersweet Dreams title: It's an unfortunate truth: love doesn't always conquer all. Regardless of its strength, sometimes fate intervenes, tragedy strikes, or forces conspire against it. These stories of romance do not offer a traditional happy ending, but the strong and enduring love will still touch your heart and maybe move you to tears.

Second Edition
Previously published by Alpheratz Press, 2010.

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