Books Published By Southern Lights Publishing
Word Count: Information not available
Character Identities: Bisexual, Demisexual
Summary: One thing I know about Terry O’Connor—the man has complicated relationship written all over him, something I’ve avoided for pretty much forever. One thing I know about Terry’s hometown, Painted Bay—it’s a long, long way from my life as a Mackenzie Country veterinarian, and dedicated, carefree bachelor. All of which should be good news. No reason to look twice at the gorgeous man currently staying at Miller Station with his daughter. No reason to daydream about his soft lips, quirky sense of humour, sexy smile, or the way he blushes whenever he catches me staring which is far too often. No reason to second guess my future plans or reconsider the no-strings lifestyle I’ve worked hard to perfect. And absolutely no reason to feel disappointed that Terry is even less interested in a relationship than I am. I should be relieved. Then why can’t I stop thinking about him and how right it feels when we’re together? Why does my heart spin at the very mention of his name? And why does the thought of moving on without Terry and his daughter in my life feel like the loneliest decision in the world?
Word Count: 110000+
Character Identities: Bisexual, Gay
Summary: I am Mackenzie Country born and bred. Farming the high country runs in my blood, like my father, and his father, and my great grandfather before him. My future has been mapped out for me since the day I was born. Or at least it was, until Liam Skelton walks onto Lane Station, lights a fire in my heart, and turns my whole world upside down. Bossy, tatted, and out and proud, Liam is everything my father abhors. And I want him. Badly. But having a chance with Liam means risking everything. My family. My future. And my life in these mountains that I love. Still, the heart wants what it wants, and mine wants Liam. With so many things against us, maybe we don't have a chance. Maybe we'll crash and burn. Or maybe we’ll find a way to have it all.
Word Count: 112000
Character Identities: Gay
Summary: I broke the rules and fell in love with my best friend. Newsflash—he didn’t feel the same. I had to stand by and watch him fall for someone else. Moving on hasn’t been easy since we all live and work on the same high country sheep station, but I’m finally getting there. I’m building a new life, a new set of dreams, planning a different future, just me and my dogs. The last thing I need is Luke Nichols, the sexy, enigmatic, ex-husband of my nemesis, filling my head with a laundry list of cravings. Talk about complicated. Luke is only in Mackenzie Country for a few months and I’m not about to put my heart on the line again just for a little fun. But the more I’m around Luke, the harder it is to remember exactly why Luke and I are a bad idea, the worst idea. Things between us are about to go nuclear. Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe we can keep it simple. Maybe I can satisfy my cravings and hold on to my heart. And maybe pigs can fly.
Word Count: 115000
Character Identities: Gay
Summary: When life drowns you in lemons, to hell with making lemonade. I wanted to burn the whole world. But eighteen months from the day my life was torn apart, I’m tired of the anger. Tired of the nightmares. Tired of putting one foot in front of the other just trying to survive. Three months on a high country sheep station in the middle of nowhere is exactly the reboot I need. A chance to break free. To breathe again. To find a way forward. I put my entire life on hold and head south to Mackenzie Country. But falling for the captivating young station boss was never part of the plan. Holden Miller might be smart and sexy and push all my dusty buttons, but we come from two different worlds. I’m not looking for a relationship. I’m not interested in love. I’m done with all that. But Holden doesn’t care about my rules. Nestled safely in the arms of the spectacular Southern Alps, on an isolated sheep farm at the top of the world, Holden begins knitting my battered heart together one careful stitch at a time. And with every pass of the thread, every braid of the river on our doorstep, I catch a tantalising glimpse of something I’d almost given up on. Happiness, and maybe even love. If I have the courage to reach out and grab them.
Word Count: Information not available
Character Identities: Gay
Summary: FOXED: To be thrown into a state of uncertainty—flustered, bamboozled, bewildered, puzzled, vexed. AKA, me. Jed Marshall. 55-year-old successful classic car mechanic; divorced, mostly closeted, and whose wholly inexperienced bisexuality has suddenly awakened after one smouldering look and said, ‘Damn, who’s the hottie?’ Or words to that effect. Cue, Nash Collingwood. 53-year-old scarily smart high school principal; out, gay, confident, and sexy as hell. He’s also my daughter’s boss. So, not complicated at all, right? Nash could ignite a bonfire with a single sultry look, comes fully accessorised with a charm offensive Churchill would be proud of, an easy-going flattery that thrills my heart far too effortlessly, and an impressive track record with men many decades my junior. In short, Nash is everything I’m not, and everything I’ve avoided for roughly my entire life. He’s the hot rod to my sensible family car, that is if you like your family cars with a few dents, creaky suspension, unexpected backfires, and a dodgy stick. The last thing I need is a relationship—especially with a man. I buried that pipe dream a long time ago and a little loneliness is a small price to pay. The festive season and long summer vacation are on our doorstep. I’m finally getting things right with my family who mean everything to me, and I don’t want to mess that up. But Nash doesn’t care about my awkward inexperience, or clumsy excuses, or any of my insecurities. Nash only sees me. He wants me. For the first time in years, I feel alive and sexy and a whole lot more than just a good father and grandfather. I should walk away, but the closer Nash and I become, the more he fills my grey world with colour, and the promise of a second chance at love I never thought possible.
Word Count: 338
Character Identities: Bisexual, Gay
Summary: For two years I’ve kept Leon Steadman at a safe distance, ever since the night he turned me down flatter than a pancake with a side order of syrupy disapproval. His loss. The world is full of sexy men. One and done is simply good math and efficient use of my time. Or it would be if I hadn’t been lusting after the irritating, judgemental, gorgeous, mountain of a man, ever since. The less I see of Leon, the better. Bad enough that his tattoo business sits next to Flare, the fashion store I manage, and that he’s friendly with my boss. But now he’s apartment-sitting above the shop, as well. Every time I turn around, Leon is there. In my store. In my space. Messing with my head. Being all nice and charming and acting like maybe he’s not the biggest jerk to walk the earth, after all. Well, I don’t want or need Leon’s apologies, but maybe if I can have him, just once, it might put an end to this ridiculous hunger that sparks every time I lay eyes on him. Yeah, I’ll get back to you on that.
Word Count: 120000
Character Identities: Gay
Summary: New Zealand farm boy turns New York fashion model. Fairy tale? Maybe. But it hasn’t been easy. A year in this crazy city, working my tail off just to survive in a ruthless industry where sex sells and boundaries are too readily crossed. A year and a reassuring ocean away from Hunter Donovan—a sexy, humiliating mistake that I’m not about to repeat. Distance is good. Distance is safe. But now Hunter is back. In New York. In my life. In all those treacherous feelings that haven’t gone anywhere. But when my world suddenly crashes and I have to piece myself back together and fight for my career, will Hunter be there when I need him? Will we have what it takes to make it through this, together?
Word Count: Information not available
Character Identities: Gay
Summary: FLARE My own fashion label. The shiny new sign above the door means everything. My dream. My life. Worth every gruelling hour I’ve spent making it happen. Nothing can stop me now. Not the fear. Not the nightmares. Not my sad excuse for a love life. And certainly not Beckett Northcott, the sexy English professor who wouldn’t know a fitted shirt if it slapped him in the face and who has flannel down to an art form. I don’t date for a very good reason, and yet Beck makes me want to break every damn one of my rules. But with my debut at Fashion Week looming, my business in trouble, and Beckett Northcott peeling open my terrified heart to a future I’ve never imagined, the threads of my carefully woven life are unravelling at the seams. I could walk away. Or I could take a chance that Beck and I might just have what it takes to fashion a new life, together. A fresh design from a new cloth.
Word Count: Information not available
Character Identities: Information not available
Summary: Karma. You reap what you sow, and KANE MARTIN isn’t looking for forgiveness. But the arrival of ABE TYLER in Painted Bay has Kane dreaming of the impossible. The sexy, silver fox choreographer is determined to pull Kane out from the shadows, but Abe’s career isn’t about to shift to Painted Bay, and Kane’s life is in neat little boxes for a reason. A past he isn’t proud of. A family he’s walked away from. A job he doesn’t deserve. A secret he’s ashamed of. But life’s dance can make for unexpected partners, and learning to trust and keep up with the footwork is the name of the game. Two steps forward, one step back. It takes two to tango.
Word Count: 113,000
Character Identities: Bisexual, Gay
Summary: Leroy Madden is in trouble. Big, handsome, Fox Carmody trouble. Leroy has buried his attraction to the enigmatic fisherman in irritation and pointless bickering, keeping Fox at a safe distance. But with the troublesome man now living in Leroy’s house, it’s becoming impossible for Leroy to keep his true feelings hidden, or the fact that Leroy maybe isn’t so straight, after all. Leroy hungers for something different between them. He wants more. But Leroy’s business is struggling, his newly mended relationship with his brother is at risk, Fox doesn’t plan to stay, and their mothers are lovers. Regardless of what Leroy’s heart so desperately wants, his entire world is at stake, and nothing about a relationship with Fox Carmody was ever going to be easy.
Word Count: 104,000
Character Identities: Gay
Summary: Penn from Adelaide. That’s all I knew. We shared a single kiss over a year ago, and I can still remember every toe-curling second of it. He thought I was too young for him. I thought he was running scared. But that kiss was the first time I’d felt alive in a long time, and I’ve been chasing the feeling ever since—doing my research, a lot of research, a lot of men. Something my protective older brother isn’t too happy about. I’ve been through more than most guys my age, and I still bear the scars. My head’s not always my best friend, but I’m building a life, PTSD be damned. I can’t turn back the clock, and I’m not sure I want to. Except maybe to that moment when Penn kissed me. I mean, the odds of us ever meeting again were slim to none, right? Yeah, about that. But this time I’m ready. I’m a year older, an ocean of therapy wiser, and I know exactly what I want. Triggers: One of the main characters in this book lives with PTSD as a result of a fire and within the story there are flashbacks and descriptions of triggering events. There are also themes of loss and grief.
Word Count: 115000
Character Identities: Demigender, Gay
Summary: Blurb: I don’t like labels and I’m happy that way, but it’s taken a long time to get here. A jerk of a father, too many bullies to name, and a string of dipshit boyfriends whose interest in me rarely made it past the skirts I sometimes wear. Suffice to say, my faith in men runs a little thin. The last thing I need is a gruff, opinionated, fiery, closeted, Paralympian jock messing with my hard-won peace. Miller Harrison is a wrinkle in my life I could definitely do without. I have a job that I love at Auckland Med., a boss who understands me, and a group of friends who accept me as I am. I should walk away. But Miller knows a thing or two about living life against the grain, and that hope I thought I’d buried a long time ago, is threatening to surface.
Word Count: 112,000
Character Identities: Bisexual, Gay
Summary: When JUDAH MADDEN flees his tiny suffocating home town in New Zealand for the dream of international ballet stardom, he never intends coming back. Not to Painted Bay. Not to his family’s struggling mussel farm. Not to his jerk of a brother. Not with his entire life plan in shreds. And certainly not into the tempting arms of MORGAN WIPENE, the older, ruggedly handsome fisheries officer who seems determined to screw with Judah’s intention to wallow in peace. But dreams are fickle things. Shatter them and it’s hard to pick up the pieces. Hard to believe. Hard to start again. And the hardest thing of all? Finding the courage to trust in love, and build a new dream where you least expected to find it.
Word Count: 96,500
Character Identities: Bisexual, Gay
Summary: ADRIAN POWELL has a secret, a secret he’s guarded for 17 years. But it’s come at a cost—few friends, fewer lovers and a lifetime of loneliness. If he’s a bit grumpy and a tad pessimistic, who can blame him? So, exactly how he’s ended up with a bunch of nosy friends, a beautiful lakeside cottage and a successful business, is beyond him. It’s a life he never imagined, and one that includes a problematic new neighbour, NIALL CARMICHAEL—an irritating, equally grumpy, sexy as hell silver fox, who kisses like a dream, shakes every one of Adrian’s walls, and who might just prove Adrian’s undoing. But secrets have a way of catching up with you. And when Adrian’s past comes knocking, it might just threaten everything he’s built.
Word Count: 90,000
Character Identities: Bisexual, Gay
Summary: CASSIDY MARTIN is a country boy through and through. He loves his horses, his Lord of the Rings tourist business, and his isolated paradise at the foot of New Zealand’s Southern Alps. Not that everyone appreciates the seclusion he craves. Take his ex-wife for example. The sexy-as-hell guy on his latest tour might be whip-smart and push all of Cass’s buttons, but he’s about as country as a pair of Louboutins, and Cass has been there and done that. Broken heart with the T-shirt. STEFAN HAMILTON doesn’t do ‘outdoorsy’, he’s a city boy, born and bred. The closest Stef gets to the country is ‘Cowboy Night’ at his favourite Auckland gay bar even if the music makes Stef want to rip his hair out by the roots. But Stef is also a hardcore Lord of the Rings fanboy. So, when he gets the chance to go on a horse trek to the iconic film locations in the Southern Alps, he sucks up his fear of the gigantic animals and his allergy to camping for the chance to let his nerd flag fly. But when his mate pulls out at the last minute, Stef is left to negotiate the horses, the wrath of mother nature, and an inconvenient crush on the cowboy leading the tour. City meets country and the sparks fly.
Word Count: 103,000
Character Identities: Bisexual, Demisexual, Gay
Summary: DETECTIVE MARK KNIGHT has a serious problem—one that comes in the form of Auckland Med’s brand-new forensic pathologist. Six feet of delicious blond-haired, scary smart, stern and disapproving hotness—DR EDWARD R NEWTON. The man is miles out of Mark’s league; completely opposite in almost every way, and shockingly immune to Mark’s flirtations. Mark should just let him go. But the alluring doctor has taken residence in Mark’s brain and is messing with his life’s plan—in particular Mark’s determination to skirt attachments and all the self-absorbed drama that goes with them. Mark has spent two years watching his friends drop like flies to the white picket virus, only to suddenly find himself hankering for a hammer and some white paint. Edward, however, doesn’t want a bar of Mark’s roguish charm. But it’s not like Mark can avoid the sexy pathologist—death brings them together on a regular basis. So when a string of murders threatens both their lives and sends them into hiding, something has to give.
Word Count: 82000
Character Identities: Gay
Summary: ETHAN SHARPE is living every young Kiwi’s dream—seeing the world for a couple of years while deciding what to do with his life. Then he gets a call.Two days later he’s back in New Zealand. Six months later his mother is dead, his fifteen-year-old brother is going off the rails and the café he’s inherited is failing. His life is a hot mess and the last thing he needs is another complication—like the man who just walked into his café, a much older… sinfully hot… EPIC complication. TANNER CARPENTER’s time in Queenstown has an expiration date. He has a new branch of his business to get up and running, exorcise a few personal demons while he’s at it, and then head back to Auckland to get on with his life. He isn’t looking for a relationship especially with someone fifteen years his junior, but Ethan is gorgeous, troubled and in need of a friend. Tanner could be that for Ethan, right? He could brighten Ethan’s day for a while, help him out, maybe even offer some… stress relief, no strings attached. It was a good plan, until it wasn’t.
Word Count: 128000
Character Identities: Gay
Summary: 2020 LAMBDA LITERARY AWARD FINALIST IN GAY ROMANCE Drake Park has a complicated life. As a gay male midwife, he’s used to raising eyebrows. Add Crohn’s Disease and things get interesting - or not, considering the sad state of his love life. Experience has taught Drake that most men are fair weather sailors when it comes to handling his condition - gone for dust when things get rough. Staying healthy is a fulltime job without adding in any heartbreak, so a little loneliness is a small price to pay. If he says it often enough he might even believe it. One thing for sure, the cop who arrested him isn’t about to change that. Caleb Ashton does not have a complicated life. A senior detective with the Whangarei Police Department, he likes his job and is good at it. He works hard and plays hard, happy to enjoy as many men as he can while he’s still young enough - or at least he was. These days he feels adrift for the first time in his life, and the only thing sparking his interest - a certain prickly young midwife. Can Drake find enough faith to risk opening his heart again? And does Caleb have what it takes to cope with the challenges Drake’s condition presents?
