KU

Can two men move past their shattered dreams and create a new future together?

Corduroy Lopez is a hard-working man. He has to be. There really is no alternative. He’s a single father with a beautiful, special needs daughter to support. His mother and grandmother help when they can, but he’s a proud pan man who is determined to make it on his own. When his daughter is accepted into a prestigious developmental education preschool, Cord needs cash and he needs it yesterday. One night, offhandedly, the cute owner of the new bookstore in town mentions wanting to start a drag story hour, Cord leaps at the chance. He’s done drag before. Once. Performing on stage at the Campo hadn’t really been his thing but donning a wig and dress to sing children’s songs while strumming a ukulele should be a much more enjoyable experience. Also, the bookshop owner is adorable, newly single, and spending a great deal of time sitting at Cord’s bar sipping virgin piña coladas after the bookstore closes.

Jagger Collins never meant to end up here. He’d been a happily married man with a swanky job in a Philadelphia bank just two years ago. Then the bottom fell out of his life. His marriage combusted, his job quickly followed, and he found himself with only his dog Hamish, his brother, and half the cash from the home he thought he would be starting a family in. Taking the advice of his elder sibling to heart, he left the big city and bought a small brick building in downtown Wilmington. Trading in ties for tomes, Jagger is now embracing the simpler things in life. Reading, biking, knitting, and admiring the lithe bartender at the Campo Royale. Cord is ticking all the right boxes in a big way, but Jagger’s not sure if he’s ready to put his heart on the line again.

The Barkeep and the Bookseller is a single father guy next door gay romance that features a hard-working dad, a learning-to-love again bookdealer, a precocious preschooler, high heels, a loving family, flashy floral fashions, and a ukulele rich happy-ever-after.

Fashion designer Morgan Hara portrays his life as being picture-perfect but it’s far from all glam and glitz. He walked in on his last boyfriend with another man, his grandmother is pressuring him to marry, and his new cat is having a personality crisis. While at a coworker’s wedding he sees his ex-boyfriend showing off his engagement ring online. Morgan then gets a little tipsy and a whole lot reckless. While under the influence of too much pink champagne he not only propositions a beautiful man he doesn’t know, he proposes to him. Much to his surprise the lanky hunk says yes. To both questions.

Cricket Wilkes is not at all Morgan’s usual type. He’s too laid-back, too quick to smile, and just too off-the-rack, if you will. But when Cricket innocently shows up in the background of a family chat after the champagne and lust have worked out of their systems, the drunken proposal is soon somehow very real. With the lie now firmly sealed the only thing they can do is play it out, pretend that they like each other, and break it off at some later date. But it fate seems to have different plans…

Sullivan Haines knows exactly what he wants out of life. Fame as a Broadway dancer and to find the man of his dreams. Sadly, his love life is a dismal mess, his roommate is PMS personified, and working at a dingy dance studio teaching old people how to tango and foxtrot is not exactly the bright lights. Actually, life in the Big Apple is pretty rotten, until he and his dog run into tall, dark, and oh-so-handsome Duane Hart in the park. Their pooches hit it right off, but can the two men find romance along the park’s winding paths?

Duane Hart hasn’t had a lot go right in his life. His girlfriend recently broke up with him, taking everything that wasn’t nailed down or in his roommate’s name. Well, everything except the Yorkshire terrier that he didn’t want to get in the first place, and that she now refuses to take back. However, when he meets a handsome stranger and his pit bull in the dog park, will the blooming heat in his chest be able to convince him to start dating again? Or will fate prove love isn’t a walk in the park, after all?

This sports agent is about to be shown there’s far more to life than money.

Ever since Arn Toras graduated from college he’s been all about the job. Building himself up and leaving his poor roots behind had been priority number one for New York City’s most prestigious sports agent. Now he’s courting a young Swedish superstar for his management business and things are starting to feel as if they’re less about the money and more about Anders Viklund’s bright blue eyes, charming smile, and golden-blond hair.

All things that he really shouldn’t be noticing as he’s considered himself to be straight for years. Perhaps sexuality isn’t as black and white as the contract Arn is desperately trying to get Anders to sign. Maybe the high-power, workaholic agent is about to discover a few things about himself and his life that will lead him down a path he never could have foreseen. A path he is suddenly all too willing to walk down with Anders.

Kaleidoscope Sunsets is an age gap bi-awakening MM romance with lots of self-discovery, tender kisses overlooking the sea, and a cookie-sweet happily-ever-after.

It’s been a rough couple of years for Marek Hafer, roaming hockey protagonist and pugilistic expert. Ending up in Berger Lake, Pennsylvania, on a financially unstable minor league team might just be the ending his wretched career deserves. On the other side of thirty, Marek knows his time on skates is dwindling. His goal now is to spend a few quiet years playing for the Berger Lake Badgers, knock a few helmets together as needed, and then call it quits before his salty personality gets him booted out of hockey permanently.

After a bloody encounter his first night on the ice, the Badgers coach suggests that Marek find a way to lower his violent tendencies before he’s sent packing yet again. That decree leads Marek to knock on the door of his next-door neighbor, Shey Pierson, the owner of Sun Touch Yoga Studio. Shey ticks every box Marek has with his soft blue eyes, flowing golden hair, and long limber legs. The only problem is that Shey is yin to Marek’s yang.

Can a man famed for throwing punches find serenity in the arms of a man known for his tranquil ways?

Will confessing his deepest secret to his best friend ruin their friendship?

Sutter Thompson has spent a goodly part of his life living a lie.

That lie led him to marry a woman he didn’t love as he should while he struggled to be all that his family wanted him to be. Finally, after the birth of his son Zachary, Sutter came to see that he needed to live a life of truth. Not just for himself, but for Zach as well. The truth included coming out at forty, getting divorced while his son was an infant, and trying to readjust to being who he was born to be.

Throughout all the turmoil, Sutter’s best friend, Watley McCutcheon, stood by his side. Watley understood how difficult breaking free could be. He had done it many years ago when they were still on the same college hockey team. Sutter always admired Wat’s bravery. He also admired his best friend for many other things…his smile, his laugh, his adoration of his son, Adam, and his caring heart. Now that Watley is single again, Sutter is hoping he can unlock the final secret he’s been carrying in his heart…he has and always will love Watley.

He’d not planned to do so at the youth hockey awards, but then again, he hadn’t expected an avalanche to strand him, Watley, their sons, and several of the boys’ teammates in a cozy Colorado inn either. Maybe it’s the romantic atmosphere or the sudden realization that life is too short to harbor such strong feelings forever, but he’s ready to declare his feelings to Watley. Can they step out of the friend zone and into a romance, or will Sutter’s heartfelt admission destroy years of brotherly affection?

Checking it Twice (A Snowed Inn Novella) is a friends-to-lovers gay romance with plenty of snow, a heaping helping of romance, snowball fights, terrible dad jokes, pop culture references out the wazoo, and a joyous happy ending.

(All the books In the Snowed Inn collection are standalone stories and can be read In any order.)

Can this summer romance survive the chill of autumn as well as the winds of time?

Spending time in the Poconos with his family was the last thing Dane Forrester wanted to do over the summer. He had dreams of spending his last break touring Europe and gathering story ideas for his upcoming creative writing classes before heading to college. Maybe even finding that elusive first love in a small café in Paris, or along the Rhine, or even in a sultry villa in Italy. But no, he was stuck at the Silver Fir Lodge with his family where his dreams of romance and passion would wither and die a slow painful death, or so he imagined.

When all seems lost, the budding wordsmith is saved - in more than one sense - by Khalid Novak, a lifeguard at the lodge’s pool. Khalid is two years older, a bit more sophisticated, and the most incredibly beautiful thing Dane has even seen. The two young men find themselves joyously wound in a searing romance that teaches Dane that love can be wildly intense yet fleeting so one should revel in it when the discovery is made.

O’Malley Ramsey, math aficionado, grew up next door to Garrison Rook, All-American athlete. While O’Malley dreamed of numbers and kissing Garrison, Garrison’s tastes ran to home runs and hot chicks. During a family celebration the night before both young men were heading off for college, O’Malley joyously discovers that Garrison isn’t quite as straight as the star athlete had been pretending to be. Vows to return to each other quickly followed a few clumsy kisses in the old treehouse in the Rook’s backyard.

O’Malley came home to Garrison. Garrison never returned to O’Malley.

Four years later, the two ex-friends meet up at a summer camp where O’Malley is serving as a counselor. Garrison is desperate to make things right with his childhood friend, but can O’Malley, still nursing the pain and mistrust of Garrison’s betrayal, ever forgive or love Garrison again?

In Wyoming’s sweeping prairies a tender new love will be put to the test.

Perry Yellow Horse arrived at Prairie Smoke Ranch fresh out of high school, a smart but timid young man with a love of books, horses, and his family. In no time he found his second home on the sprawling grasslands under the Tetons. Perry’s happiness is tempered only by the fact that he’s keeping a rather large secret from those closest to him.

Unsure and awkward, the virginal young man who can gain the trust of even the most skittish horses, suddenly finds himself trying to save the soul of a wild newcomer to the ranch. Will Abbott is seemingly unbreakable and nothing but trouble, but there’s something in Will’s dark eyes that appeals to Perry’s gentle heart.

There’s always that chance that your heart’s desire is one click away. 

Someone needs to pinch web designer/humor blogger/Pittsburgh Ravens mega fan Mike Kneller. Hard. For years, Mike has been living his life for his younger sister Kelly and his four-year-old nephew Liam. He’d opened up his home to Kelly when she found herself pregnant at sixteen and facing having a baby alone. Sure, his days are filled with skinned knees, snotty noses, and the occasional mishap with stuffed superheroes, but he’s perfectly happy because he loves Liam as much as he loves his baby sister. Giving up a social life and going to bed alone is a small price to pay. Little does he know that someone on the Ravens is about to show Ravens goalie Bryn Mettler one of his vlog posts. Of course he’s not going to believe it when his phone rings and the world-famous netminder—and his goalie crush—is on the other end. I mean, life doesn’t work that way for ordinary, hardworking uncles like Mike. Does it?

Bryn Mettler is a superstar athlete and a major part of the Pittsburgh sports society. He seems to have it all. He’s well-dressed, handsome, wealthy, an elite goaltender, a famed philanthropist, and the holder of numerous medals and trophies. To date, there are two things that have avoided him: lifting that big shiny silver cup over his head and finding a man to settle down with. Now that he’s over thirty, Bryn is finding the gay club scene is wearing thin. His teammates’ wives have decided it’s their duty to the team—and to Bryn—to find him Mr. Right. He’s relatively sure the man who’ll capture his heart surely won’t be found on a humor blog. Funny how life likes to take the things that you’re most certain about and flip them—and you—on its ear. When Bryn meets Mike, he is instantly drawn to the warm, funny, sexy man who shares his hectic days with thousands of Pittsburgh natives. Now he just has to convince Mike he is who he says he is so he can get to know him better. Thankfully, Bryn isn’t a quitter. But does he have what it takes to leap into life with Mike, Kelly, and Liam?

First Christmas as Mr. & Mr. 

What a magical and romantic time for newlyweds. Unfortunately, Bryn and Mike won’t be spending Christmas Eve cuddled up alone in front of a fire roasting chestnuts. They’ve been unexpectedly called upon to play Santa for Mike’s precocious nephew, Liam, when his mother and her boyfriend are called out of state to attend a funeral. It should be easy to make this holiday a special one despite the unforeseen upset, right? All it will take is love, laughter, a little romance, lots of hugs, and a heaping helping of patience when Old Kris Kringle leaves the easy assembly for someone else. 

Sometimes the last thing you expect to happen might turn out to be what you needed all along.

Roman Kennedy’s first trip to the Windy City isn’t going quite as planned. Mysteries intrigue him, and his best friend Dillon seems to be sitting on a whopper. So, with his grandfather’s favorite hat on his head and his notebook in hand, the journalism major starts digging. Sadly, getting his bestie to spill the beans on what the secret is isn’t as easy as Roman had hoped.

Now, through no fault of his own, he’s stuck in an expensive hotel attending a bachelor auction of all things. He’s surrounded by lumbering jocks who, he’s sure, are just waiting for the chance to poke fun at the skinny, gay Jewish guy. Imagine his surprise when one of the big lugs sits down with him and talks Bernstein and Woodward.

Layne Coleman is sexy as sin, smart as a whip, considerably older, and has the same passion for investigative journalism as Roman does. His deep blue eyes and dark hair make concentrating on anything but the soft kisses they’re now sharing difficult. Roman’s keen instincts are understandably clouded by romance, so when Dillon reveals his secret in a highly public way, it’s hard to say who is more stunned—Roman or Layne, the man at the center of it all.

No matter how far you go, love will always lead you home again.

The world has changed quite a bit since Carl Cimino was a young man in Port Plechard. The small Connecticut coastal town once had everything that he held dear: his family, his friends, his hockey team, his school, and his first love, Mike Rinnert. Back then gay boys didn’t parade along the rocky shores in bright rainbow swim trunks. They hid their shame then moved away or married a nice girl and pretended to be happy. After a dismal marriage attempt and a lackluster playing career that ended with an equally unsatisfying coaching job, Carl is called back to Port Plechard to attend Mike’s funeral and swears that he’s just seen a ghost.

Es besteht immer die Chance, dass was dein Herz begehrt nur einen Klick entfernt ist.

Jemand muss den Webdesigner/humoristischen Blogger/Pittsburgh Ravens Superfan Mike Kneller kneifen. Fest. Jahrelang hat Mike sein Leben für seine jüngere Schwester Kelly und seinen vierjährigen Neffen Liam gelebt. Er hatte Kelly bei sich aufgenommen, als sie mit sechzehn festgestellt hatte, dass sie schwanger war und sich der Elternschaft alleine stellen musste. Sicher, seine Tage sind mit aufgeschürften Knien, rotzigen Nasen und gelegentlich auftretenden Unfällen mit Plüsch-Superhelden angefüllt, aber er ist vollkommen glücklich, weil er Liam ebenso liebt wie seine kleine Schwester. Sein soziales Leben aufzugeben und alleine ins Bett zu gehen ist ein geringer Preis dafür. Er hat keine Ahnung, dass jemand von den Ravens dem Ravens-Goalie Bryn Mettler einen seiner Vlog Posts zeigen wird. Natürlich wird er es nicht glauben, wenn sein Telefon klingelt und der weltberühmte Torhüter – und sein Goalie-Schwarm – am anderen Ende der Leitung ist. So funktioniert das Leben schließlich nicht für gewöhnliche, hart arbeitende Onkel wie Mike. Oder doch?

Bryn Mettler ist ein Superstar-Athlet und eine wichtige Figur der Pittsburgh Sport-Society. Er scheint alles zu haben. Er ist gut angezogen, attraktiv, reich, ein Elite-Torhüter, ein berühmter Philanthrop und nennt zahlreiche Medaillen und Trophäen sein Eigen. Bis jetzt gibt es nur zwei Dinge, die ihm fehlen: Diesen großen, glänzenden Silbercup über seinen Kopf zu halten und einen Mann zu finden, mit dem er sesshaft werden kann. Jetzt da er über dreißig ist, stellt Bryn fest, dass die schwule Club-Szene ihm nichts mehr gibt. Die Frauen seiner Teamkollegen haben entschieden, dass es ihre Pflicht gegenüber dem Team – und Bryn – ist, seinen Mr. Right für ihn zu finden. Er ist sich relativ sicher, dass der Mann, der sein Herz betören wird, gewiss nicht in einem humoristischen Blog zu finden ist. Schon lustig, wie das Leben gerne die Dinge, derer du dir am sichersten bist, nimmt und sie – und dich – auf den Kopf stellt. Als Bryn Mike kennenlernt, fühlt er sich sofort von dem warmen, lustigen, sexy Mann angezogen, der seine hektischen Tage mit Tausenden Einwohnern in Pittsburgh teilt. Jetzt muss er Mike nur noch davon überzeugen, dass er ist, wer er zu sein behauptet, damit er ihn besser kennenlernen kann. Zum Glück gibt Bryn nicht so leicht auf. Aber hat er, was es braucht, um in ein Leben mit Mike, Kelly und Liam einzutauchen?

Will the night skies be forever changed?

Those upon Earth would assume the life of a Greek god is a walk through Elysium. They would be terribly wrong. Apollo, the golden son of Zeus, is far from home, banished from Olympus to live and train with the Titan, Helios. To compound his misery, Apollo is still mourning the loss of his first love, Hyacinthus. Life becomes a daily routine of shame, drudgery, and abuse until the hunter Orion appears at the eastern end of the world, seeking the healing touch of a Titan.