Books Tagged With potential trigger - abuse - past

Word Count: Click here to reveal111,000 (Click here to hide)

Character Identities: Click here to revealGay (Click here to hide)

Summary: Isaac Morris has devoted his life to preaching against the sin of homosexuality. But when his sister proposes a documentary to demonstrate once and for all that it’s a choice—with Isaac choosing to be gay as proof—he balks. Until he learns his nephew is headed down that perverted path. Isaac will do anything to convince the teenager he can choose to be straight . . . including his sister’s film. When Isaac’s first foray into the gay lifestyle ends with a homophobic beating, he’s saved and cared for by Colton Roberts, a gentle, compassionate bartender with a cross around his neck. Colton challenges every one of Isaac’s deeply held beliefs about gay men. He was kicked out by homophobic parents, saved from the streets by a kind pastor, and is now a devout Christian. Colton’s sexuality has cost him dearly, but it also brought him to God. As the two grow closer, everything Isaac knows about homosexuality, his faith, and himself is called into question. And if he’s been wrong all along, what does that mean for his ministry, his soul, his struggling nephew—and the man he never meant to love?

Word Count: Click here to reveal110000 (Click here to hide)

Character Identities: Click here to revealGay (Click here to hide)

Summary: Call it a situationship, call it roommates with benefits—whatever it is, Riley Sweet is mostly fine with the arrangement. After all, he’s got an awesome off-base apartment on Okinawa, and he’s got someone to hook up with on the regular with no pressure and no strings. The problem is that he’s starting to catch feelings for the hot, aloof Marine who’s apparently interested in very specific types of fun, but nothing else. He won’t even sleep in the same bed as Riley. Nolan Tyler is carrying a dark secret that’s kept him closed off from everyone for years. Out of shame, fear, and self-preservation, he keeps everyone at arm’s length, including Riley. When Nolan is asked to be his brother’s best man, there’s no bowing out. Not even when going home means facing everything he enlisted to escape. Though Riley doesn’t know exactly why Nolan balks at going home, he offers to come with him as backup. In exchange, Nolan will come with him as his “boyfriend” in a last ditch effort to get Riley’s parents to accept, once and for all, that their son is gay. Nolan takes him up on it, but he’s terrified that the truth about his past will come out… and the man he’s falling for will leave. Content Advisory: past sexual assault, on-page harassment and verbal abuse, discussions of self-harm

Word Count: Click here to reveal165000 (Click here to hide)

Character Identities: Click here to revealBisexual, Demisexual, Gay, Pansexual, Polyamorous (Click here to hide)

Summary: What does a former assassin do when he’s not out there… well… assassinating? Saving his species from extinction, of course. At least, that’s what Leopold wants to do with every molecule in his body. But the task won’t be fast or easy, and he can’t do it alone. Enter Mastrodai—a mrrog prince who has absolutely no desire to rule, much to his father’s exasperation. He craves the ability to prove his worth as a mate and to somehow atone for his actions that led to Leopold’s torture at the hands of an enemy. Making humans official would be a good start. But politics rule no matter what the species, and Mastrodai has to maneuver carefully and risk what he has built to give his mate what he deserves. And when he realizes both he and Leopold have deeper feelings for Alex, one of Mastrodai’s human slave women, he knows his future is out among the stars with his humans, not planet-bound with his kin. Unfortunately, before they can set their plan into motion, Leopold receives a vision that sends him reeling and questioning everything he knows about himself. A vision he must investigate, back to where he began—Lex, the backwater planet where he spent his early years, and where he swore never to return. Reader Discretion Advised: Includes violence throughout, PTSD, a scene of graphic torture, and the start of a consensual MMF relationship.

Word Count: Click here to reveal100000 (Click here to hide)

Character Identities: Click here to revealBisexual, Gay, Genderqueer, Non Binary (Click here to hide)

Summary: For two years Nicky has wandered the dark empty corridors of the overgrown Thorn Hall, unseen and untouched, feeling like a ghost. His only company, the cold man who promised to keep him safe from harm, Lance. But when Lance dies, Nicky’s assurance of safety disintegrates and his world suddenly becomes a lot more real and a lot more dangerous. Scared to leave the house, Nicky longs for daylight. He employs a gardener to clear the over-grown bushes and vines that have nearly swallowed Thorn Hall whole. The last thing Nicky expects a little light to do is show him something to fight for. Eighteen months in a young offenders’ institute has taught Cai two things: he occupies the playful puppy end of the How Dangerous Are You? spectrum, and he has an unfortunate knack for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Desperate for a job, he takes the first offer he gets. Even though Thorn Hall creeps the hell out of him and he barely knows one end of a pair of garden shears from the other. Things start to fall apart when Cai is drawn into Nicky’s strange world of sticky notes and secrets. Cai finds he is now a target, blamed for a crime he didn’t commit. Desperate not to go back to prison, he digs deep and risks all the good things in life to help Nicky run. But now Nicky has someone he wants to protect, he knows he can’t run any more.

Word Count: Click here to reveal49000 (Click here to hide)

Character Identities: Click here to revealBisexual, Gay (Click here to hide)

Summary: Insanity was in the eye of the beholder. Harmon Little was a surveillance expert. He lived in the shadows, and he liked it there. There wasn’t a place he couldn’t get in and out of without detection. As usual with his mischievous nature, his current assignment went south, and he ran. He thought he was free and clear until he knocked someone over in a grocery store aisle. Sanity wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. Solomon “Solo” Poe was counting calories. Working out until he fell into bed hungry and exhausted. He was plain and pudgy, plus he couldn’t remember when he’d last gone on a date. He wanted more than the occasional, lights out, one-night stand. So, he was going to lose the weight and find himself a man. At least that was the plan, then a big man with a huge smile tried to kill him in a store aisle. There was one thing he was sure of, Harmon was his.

Word Count: Click here to reveal74000 (Click here to hide)

Character Identities: Click here to revealGay (Click here to hide)

Summary: Apollo On my darkest day, a handsome stranger saved me, but one look into his eyes and I knew he was broken, too. I promised myself that one day, I'd find him and thank him, but what do you do when your savior turns out to be rock god Sebastian St. Crow? I'm about to find out... Sebastian On my darkest day, I found someone who needed help maybe even more than I did. Someone whose pain echoed mine, and in that moment, I'd wanted to save him. I gave him a second chance--but forgetting the beautiful young man with those haunted eyes was next to impossible. I can have anyone I want, but I want him...and I think he wants me, too. Little Infinities is a 74,000 word MM contemporary romance novel with no cheating, no cliffhangers, and of course, a guaranteed HEA.

Word Count: Click here to reveal46000 (Click here to hide)

Character Identities: Click here to revealGay (Click here to hide)

Summary: He was the Beast without the escape clause. Francis “Liv” Livingston was a beast. No matter if he wore a perfectly tailored suit or if he was in his tactical gear, people avoided looking at him. He was always first to volunteer for the jobs only a person with a death wish wanted. Tomorrows weren’t guaranteed. His boss had come to him and told him he needed him for a job. Linus knew the jobs he liked, but when he opened the file, it all went to hell. Beauty was only skin deep. Fielding Haskell made his way in the world on his looks. He’d earned his first film role before he could read a script. He didn’t want the fame. He wanted to go to college. He wanted a man who didn’t look at him and see how pretty he was. Unfortunately, a so-called fan only cared how attractive he was and it earned him a personal bodyguard and a vacation. He looked forward to the break until he met the man in charge of his safety and wondered if the danger he left was worth dealing with a sudden attraction to a man who was colder than ice.

Word Count: Click here to reveal68000 (Click here to hide)

Character Identities: Click here to revealGay, Transgender (Click here to hide)

Summary: Love & Limitations is Scott's fourth short story collection and first one featuring contemporary MM and LGBTQ+ stories: I Only Want to Be With You: Derrek likes Ryan. Ryan likes Alex. Alex treats Ryan like trash. So why can't he see who really loves him? The Boy in the Band: It's hard for a trans kid in high school, just like it was for a gay kid two decades before. Can Ryan and Justin find common ground in time? Translation: Dominic has a thing for Italian guys, especially his boss, Dante. His roommate Enrico has a thing for him. No matter how this ends, someone is going to get hurt. Slow Thaw: As the Antarctic warms, so does the chilly relationship between scientist Javier Fernandez and new arrival-and trans man-Col Steele as they contend with a disaster on the ice. Ten: After the death of his husband, Chris faces a gay mid-life crisis-at thirty-five-as he jumps back into the dating scene for ten dates in ten days. This is the first time all of these stories have all been collected in one place, and the first publication of the The Boy in the Band in any form.

Word Count: Click here to reveal53000 (Click here to hide)

Character Identities: Click here to revealBisexual, Non Binary, Transgender (Click here to hide)

Summary: Love always comes with a price. No one knows that better than Justine. Her freedom has cost two bodies and counting, but now that she’s back in the United States, the only thing she can think about is seeing her parents again. After an abusive marriage kept Justine away from them for ten years, she’s returning to New York City a changed woman—and with the assassin she loves in tow. Campbell lost what little family they had years ago, and their cover as a killer relies on never attracting attention. Publicly playing Justine’s rich lover risks stripping that mask away, but Campbell is willing to give her anything, no matter how dangerous. Everything comes to a head the night Justine and Campbell touch down in New York. Their friend Sofia is kidnapped by her Mafia relatives and held for ransom. The trade? Her life for that of a vicious mob boss. And the clock’s ticking. As Campbell plans the kill, the lies they share with Justine start to strain their relationship, and even a second’s exposure will destroy everyone they care about. It only takes one spark to start a blaze, and this fire could bring the whole city down with them.

Word Count: Information not available

Character Identities: Click here to revealBisexual (Click here to hide)

Summary: Small but mighty—that could be Detective Nevin Ng’s motto. Now a dedicated member of the Portland Police Bureau, he didn’t let a tough start in life stop him from protecting those in need. He doesn’t take crap from anyone, and he doesn’t do relationships. Until he responds to the severe beating of a senior citizen and meets the victim’s bow-tied, wealthy landlord. Property manager and developer Colin Westwood grew up with all the things Nevin never had, like plenty of money and a supportive, loving family. Too supportive, perhaps, since his childhood illness has left his parents unwilling to admit he’s a strong, grown man. Colin does do relationships, but they never work out. Now he’s thinking maybe he won’t just go with the flow. Maybe it’s time to try something more exciting. But being a witness to a terrible crime—or two—was more than he bargained for. Despite their differences, Colin and Nevin discover that sparks fly when they’re together. But sparks are short-lived, dampened by the advent of brutal crimes, and Colin and Nevin have seemingly little in common. The question is whether they have the heart to build something lasting.  

Word Count: Click here to reveal40000 (Click here to hide)

Character Identities: Click here to revealBisexual, Non Binary (Click here to hide)

Summary: She needs an assassin. They’re the best in the business. Falling in love was never part of the deal. Desperate to escape her abusive husband, Justine hires a contract killer. Campbell’s services come at a high price, and their dark, seductive charisma leads Justine right into their bed. Hiding an affair while Campbell designs the perfect murder has Justine walking a tightrope of stress, but each time the two of them sleep together, it’s harder not to get attached. Campbell struggles with their own traumatic past, convinced that the truth will drive Justine away. There’s a faint hope that things could work, save for one problem: Justine’s husband wants her dead too. Revenge is easy—heartbreak could cost both of them everything.

Word Count: Click here to reveal40000 (Click here to hide)

Character Identities: Click here to revealGay (Click here to hide)

Summary:

Word Count: Click here to reveal75700 (Click here to hide)

Character Identities: Click here to revealGay (Click here to hide)

Summary: Lucky Lucklighter has a new life. His old life wants him back. He traded trafficking for taking down criminals with the Southeastern Narcotics Bureau, and a drug-lord lover for a man on the right side of the law. Bo Schollenberger found the way past the thorny defenses of Lucky’s heart, and made Mr. I-Get-Along-Fine-Alone think about his and his closets, stevia in the sugar bowl, and a picket fence—with a good lock on the gate. Now Bo is missing, and a voice long silenced asks, “Did you miss me?” Lucky must deal with a devil from his past to get Bo back. And if Bo isn’t willing to come? A drug ring needs its back broken before flooding the US with a designer high, seductive and undetectable. But there’s a fine line between good and evil, and a truckload of temptation urging Lucky to cross.

Word Count: Click here to reveal60000 (Click here to hide)

Character Identities: Click here to revealQuestioning, Pansexual (Click here to hide)

Summary: Robert Montagnet and Dan Cooper are a nice gay couple who live in a nice waterfront condo in a nice, touristy part of Playa del Carmen, Mexico. At least, that’s who they’re pretending to be. After five months on the lam, Dr. Crane is strained to the point of breaking—he just wants it to be over. But, with his mental and physical health in decline, living where he doesn’t speak the language and relying on his partner for everything, he feels trapped. Just the way Max likes it, of course. When Crane is presented with an opportunity to clear his name once and for all, he’s compelled to take it… But, it means betraying the young man who thoroughly intoxicates him in ways he had never imagined possible. Can Crane break his addiction or is he too far down the rabbit hole to escape?

Word Count: Click here to reveal17,600 (Click here to hide)

Character Identities: Click here to revealLesbian (Click here to hide)

Summary: Sometimes life gives you more than this. Two years after whistle-blowing on irregularities in the company she worked for in the US, businesswoman Veronica Smith runs into Cassandra Forster, the woman with whom she had an intense affair back in New York. Cass pushed all Ronnie’s buttons as well as her boundaries, and the relationship was becoming something more before Ronnie left without an explanation. When they pick up where they left off, Ronnie finds she still wants more…but does Cass feel the same? Cass wants an explanation. Being with Ronnie had begun to mean more than great sex, but then Ronnie left her high and dry. Cass’ feelings haven’t changed, but can she trust Ronnie enough not to hurt her again? Can she trust herself to let someone into her life? Over a weekend and a wedding, the two women finally talk and discover they have more in common than the ability to meet each other’s desires. But can they take this second chance life has given them to have more than this?

Word Count: Information not available

Character Identities: Click here to revealBisexual, Lesbian, Pansexual, Transgender (Click here to hide)

Summary: Bartender-extraordinaire Amy Thompson loves her job at Sappho’s Kiss, but grows weary of the party lifestyle she lives. A decade has passed since she’d taken her life into her own hands and said enough was enough.That didn’t mean a lifetime of programming changed overnight and concealing her pain from others was a habit she held to with a steely, white-knuckled grip. That is until she caught sight of big, azure eyes across a coffee shop. Psychologist Maya Chamberlain tells herself she's content with her life since she was widowed years before. The same crash that took her husband left her with a limp and a loathed cane. She loves her job at the LGBT Youth Center in Colton, Maine’s Pride District until an over-sized, blonde ego plops down across from her in Pink’s Diner. Can two women who hide what they desire from the rest of the world find freedom and acceptance in each other’s arms?

Word Count: Click here to reveal47,349 (Click here to hide)

Character Identities: Click here to revealGay (Click here to hide)

Summary: All the Honorable St. John Ashford ever wanted was his father’s love, but if he can’t have that, he’ll settle for being noticed. In an effort to do that, St. John sets his sights on Andrew Dorincourt, a man for whom the Viscount has nothing but disdain. Surely this will draw his father’s attention? Unfortunately, while Andrew seems willing to date him, he appears entirely disinterested in anything else. St. John knows it’s just a matter of time before all his plans going up in smoke, especially when Andrew becomes attracted to an exotic young man he rescued from Malossini’s House of Oddities. Robin Dorincourt is something of a playboy who enjoys nothing so much as flitting from one boyfriend to another. He doesn’t poach, though, and when he finds himself attracted to St. John Ashford, he does what he can to keep a healthy distance between them, using taunts and teasing. It’s difficult, until he realizes his brother is in love with someone else. Robin’s path toward St. John is clear, and he makes his move. But is his path as clear as he imagines? St. John might be as attracted to Robin as Robin is to him, but he’ll be damned if he allows himself to be passed from one brother to the other as if he’s nothing more than a poor second choice. Now it remains is for Robin to persuade St. John he’s no one’s second choice.

Word Count: Click here to reveal112800 (Click here to hide)

Character Identities: Click here to revealGay (Click here to hide)

Summary: England, 1891 Lindsey Althorp, the only son of a wealthy baronet, has never worked a day in his life. Aubrey Warren was born in a workhouse and hasn’t stopped working since. When Lindsey wins a textile mill in a game of cards, he falls at first sight for the assistant clerk, Aubrey. Lindsey is certain that Aubrey is the Achilles to his Patroclus, the David to his Jonathan. Yet Aubrey, unaccustomed to affection, refuses to be a kept man—though he isn’t immune to Lindsey’s considerable charm. Buoyed by Lindsey's optimism and fuelled by Aubrey's industry, the two men strive to overcome the class gulf between them. But a horrific accident reveals a betrayal that threatens to tear them apart forever.

Word Count: Click here to reveal63500 (Click here to hide)

Character Identities: Click here to revealBisexual, Gay (Click here to hide)

Summary: Edward Grey is no stranger to the undead; since raising his cat as a zombie when he was a child, he and his mentor Mariel have explored and developed his power as a necromancer. Despite everything he's learned, as a necromancer and a medical student, he's never encountered a ghost. While Mariel is unreachable in Haiti on mysterious business, a ghost wakes Edward in the middle of the night, claiming to be his grandfather. When the ghost offers to teach him about this different form ofundeath, Edward has little choice but to trust the spirit. After receiving a phone call from a young girl claiming her father is possessed, Edward and his Undead Canadian fiancé, Kit, must travel to an acreage in Kingston…Ontario. The haunting proves far more complicated than Edward could ever have guessed, and he finds himself pitted against an ancient evil determined to engulf everyone on the farm. Edward's love and connection to Kit will be tested, and his necromancy stretched to his limits as he has to find—and destroy—a twisted spirit more powerful than anything he's ever encountered.  

Word Count: Click here to reveal237403 (Click here to hide)

Character Identities: Click here to revealGay (Click here to hide)

Summary: These four novels span about a year, from late October 2013 until early October the following year. A pivotal date to remember—and to celebrate—is February 4, 2014. On that day, around eleven o’clock on a fair morning, Scotland’s Parliament approved the country’s historic same-sex marriage bill. These novels serve as a commemoration of that lovely day, its foreplay, and its aftermath. Rory Drummond and Alex Dominguez are an unlikely pair…a bigger-than-life Scot with an immense appetite for sex and adventure meets a shy Nevada State Trooper who’s been thrust into the job of “baby-sitting” him during a big game hunt in the mountains of Nevada. What could go wrong? More important, what could go right?  The first novel, Nevada Highlander, brings these guys together. And boy howdy, as some folks might say, do they come together—a lot—until Rory finds out that the man on his tail is doing it only as a job. One reviewer said it well: “Sparks and Levi’s fly.” In The Kilt Complex, Rory is back in Scotland, at the castle he oversees as a laird or “landlord.”. But there’s an interesting new meaning to the words “castle keep,” because Alex is now living with him. As Alex struggles to extricate himself from his role as boy toy, Rory tries his best to understand why his lover needs to earn his own way in such wide open spaces. And thereby hangs a tale of guilt and kilt…the story of a lovely girl named Thistle…and the mystery of a killer in paradise. Alex’s need for space comes to a climax when he moves out of Rory’s castle, into a small cabin called Hunter’s Point. And speaking of points—he now has a job as Special Constable, overseeing the point of land where a famous lighthouse stands. The action ramps up when a local teacher turns up missing, and the trail of a possible killer leads to the lonely lighthouse. It also leads straight to a very troubling time in Rory’s past…and to the fateful date of February 4. When an old friend and former war comrade of Rory’s father disappears, Rory and Alex team up as a pair of ersatz constables in Scotland’s Highlands. Rory finds out the hard way that being the mate of a hard-ass cop means he’ll always be Sleeping with Danger. On the trail of the missing man, they find a Jacobite tower hiding recent violence…a 300-year-old elbow of the devil…and a graveyard whose crumbling bones cover old secrets worth killing for. In four novels, a pair of intriguing men go from the Highlands of Nevada to the Highlands of bonnie Scotland. The romance is full of bumps and detours, a silver wolfhound, several silver foxes, and surprising self growth for both of them. PS, a fifth novel (Brash Tower) is due to be released in early 2022. A jawbone and an old relic serve up a deadly mystery for Rory and Alex, just as they move into their new home and try to plan an official wedding ceremony that Scotland has not decided how the hell to do.