Books Tagged With potential trigger - traumatic past

Word Count: Click here to reveal108000 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: Fire. Water. Burn. In the two months since the All Hallows’ Eve party, Tally has courted Haru, buying expensive gifts, taking the two of them to upscale restaurants and trying to find a balance in earning Haru’s fragile trust while being new parents to the Cohen joeys. Tally sees hope in the new domesticity the family has settled into, despite having some bumps along the way. Gifts and treats have satisfied Haru’s otter, but the human half remembers the brutal lessons of giving their trust away. How can two lijun who barely know each other anticipate what will happen when times get tough? There are circumstances Tally doesn’t understand yet, and Haru struggles to find their feet with an Urusar who doesn’t know the rules. A revelation not only throws the tentative relationship between them askew, but also starts Tally and Haru down a path the two of them can’t escape, one so heart-wrenching Haru’s not sure their heart will survive. Traditionalist concerns that have always nipped at the Bastille clan’s heels come roaring to the forefront with demands and ultimatums. Tally needs to fall in line or face further threats to his otter, his family and his clan. Haru needs to find the strength to believe in the good despite the bad. In an environment where it’s vital to know ally from foe, Tally and Haru need to stand united or watch the community Tally’s family has built fall under the thumb of heartless, greedy autocrats.

Word Count: Click here to reveal85000 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: A steamy, queer retelling of The Postman Always Rings Twice After a beef with the mob, Sal Minovich has to get out of New York City pronto. He gets as far as Beacon, New York, otherwise known as Nowheresville, and talks his way into a situation working as a handyman at a fading motor lodge. It’s not a bad place to hide out for a while and sock away some cash until he figures out his next step. Then Sal meets the young manager, Will, and things get a whole lot more interesting. Pushed out by his homophobic father, Will hooked up with a small-time real estate investor, and now, six years later, he’s trapped in an unhappy relationship that might also be abusive. Sal thinks he and Will should run away together and leave their pasts behind. But Will won’t leave without a payout for all the time he’s put in. Do they have to get George out of the way to have their happily-ever-after?

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

Summary: A mistake. A drastic fix. And the person most hurt by Jack’s choice turns out to be… Jack. Five years after joining the army, Jack is back on civvy street and struggling to find his feet. He knows he’s made the wrong choice. He knows he needs to move on. But how can he choose a new direction when he feels so lost? Jack asks advice from friends and strangers, but to find his lifeline he must remember who he is, what he stands for, and what first Rio and then Gareth have taught him.   Zero Rising traces the origins of Jack Horwood, the main character of my Power of Zero series. Both series are available from my store, all retailers, Kobo Plus, and libraries. Also available as part of a bundle. Please check my store for additional links.

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

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

Summary: He was supposed to be my enemy. Not my lover. Yichen is free at last…sort of. He has escaped his imprisonment, but he’s still blood bound to the crown prince of the fae. Oh gods, how is he going to explain that to his clan? Finding a way to break the bond might not be too hard. Killing the king of the fae even seems possible. But there’s no way he can let go of the elf who protected him, risked everything for him for a hundred years? Rei is the breath in his lungs, the blood in his veins, and the beat of his heart. Somehow, he has to find a way to keep him. An elf can fall in love with a vampire, right? Two Thousand Tears is the second novel in the Kings of Chaos series, which is a spin-off from the Lords of Discord series. This book contains a somewhat broken vampire falling in love with an elf who should be his enemy but is actually his everything, shifters, meddling witches, other non-human surprises, snark, angst, car surfing, found family, brotherly bickering, magic, chaos, pouting, vampire cuddles, and an endless love that crosses lines drawn by war.

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

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

Summary: Typhoon Toby: Forces of Nature Book Two Blurb   On the surface, Toby Griffiths appears to have it all: talent, money, a brilliant mind, and model good looks. With his best friend Reese, he’s built an empire as a singer/songwriter. But beneath that glittering exterior, Toby suffers the lasting effects of betrayal (or abuse?). To keep his tempestuous past where it belongs, he insists on anonymity with lovers—no names, no personal information. A vacation fling in Bali changes all that, and he can’t get his recent playmate out of his mind. Therapist Spencer Hart left Bali with a bad case of pneumonia and a broken heart. While recovering, he's shocked to find his secretive partner on TV—and he's determined to see him again.  Spencer arranges to attend one ofToby’s fundraising galas, and their reunion is tense. Toby tries to stick to his rules… until a New Year’s kiss with Spencer washes away the last of his resistance. ButToby is a man with secrets, and when the storm that’s been holding comes ashore, it could devastate not just his professional life, but his fledgling love affair and long-time partnership with his best friend. Will Spencer stand by his side and help him weather the storm as Toby faces his worst fears?  

Word Count: Click here to reveal34000 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: Unbreakable Stories: Snow is a collection of short stories and a novelette set after the events of Shatter, book 2 of the Unbreakable Bonds series and before Torch, book 3. Follow the continuing, passionate and heartfelt romance between Dr. Ashton "Snow" Frost and Jude Torres as they merge their lives together as a couple. This collection is more than 34,000 words long and contains stories such as: House Hunting with Anna Tequila Adventure Lunch No Walls are Sacred The Home We Make Safety Net Camping

Word Count: Click here to reveal66932 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: A disgraced Scot...a misplaced Quaker (The Renegade and the Runaway 2) This sequel to Unkilted finds a young Quaker-trained man and a bitter Highland outlaw together again, and not by their own design. They meet again on a Dutch trader sailing to the king’s colonies—uncharted land even more wild than Scotland’s daunting Highlands. David is on a mission to the British-occupied colonies to find his true father, a well-known frontiersman. Grier is searching for his aunt, abducted twelve years earlier, held somewhere on the coast of North Carolina. Back in Edinburgh, Iain spins his quiet web to reunite with his beloved wife. More than seeking family members, the two younger men are searching for something they may find only when they finally understand themselves, and each other. Can a naive, scholarly youth cope with life on the high seas—and become a force against a killer? Will a deeply angry man ever forget that the man he most desires bears the name of his sworn enemy?  Slow-burn romance ~ Slow reveal ~ Family secrets ~ Action and Adventure ~ Humor

Word Count: Click here to reveal120000 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: Some bonds are strong enough to last a lifetime, and change the world. Rory O'Sullivan has spent his life alone. Once upon a time, he made one real human connection as a gay man. That moment happened in Nazi captivity, and the wolf he escaped with was a Soviet soldier. They had a taste of what love might mean, but in 1944, personal happiness had to come second to survival. Now, seventy years later, when he feels the presence of Nikolai, somehow close and needing him after all that time, no one— not gay Alpha Aaron of the Minneapolis West pack, or rising political threats, or even top Alpha Rick Brown himself— will stop him. Rory's going to answer the appeal he's waited a lifetime for. Some bonds can't be denied. (This is a new novel in the Hidden Wolves series.)

Word Count: Click here to reveal118000 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: Life in foster care wasn’t easy. Life after prison? Unforgiving. But I’m determined to stay out of trouble, and I’m gaining a foothold on the closest I’ve ever known to normal. Then, thanks to a pair of escape artist dogs from the sanctuary where I’ve found work, I cross paths with my boss’s neighbor, Ty Adams. He’s a horse trainer, and winter is his quiet season. It’s also the season when he gets restless and lonely—two things I know all about. He’s not interested in love or romance. I’m just happy someone’s interested in me at all, even if emotions are strictly forbidden. When we’re not together, I’m thinking about him. When we are together… Well, I’m definitely thinking about what he does to me and what I want to do with him. As we keep each other warm through the Vermont winter, this feels a lot more than physical. Somehow he soothes my pain, and I wonder if I’m touching something deep inside him too. But Ty won’t let himself love anyone. I never had a chance. And now, with my past closing in, I could lose the one man I hoped I could count on. The one I thought might be different. When his present and my history collide, is it too much to hope he’ll choose me? CW: Sick horse and a minor accident involving a horse—no animal deaths or serious injuries/illnesses.

Word Count: Click here to reveal62681 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: A disgraced Scot... a misplaced Quaker (The Renegade and the Runaway 1) Gregory MacGregor is a Highlander, a moody, angry outlaw who has reasons for calling himself Grier Black. The British crown has taken his clan name, his tartan, his dagger, and his very honor. His mission in life is one of lawless rebellion. Iain Stewart is Grier’s uncle, a man who has lost both his brother and his beloved wife. He lives apart from his family in the tall dark city of Edinburgh, where he follows his wits and instincts to help the survival of his clan On the eve of a revolution, David Campbell, son of a Colonial American printer, falls afoul of occupying Redcoats. He runs straight into the hands of a ship’s captain and a lecherous opportunist. Weeks later, he finds himself in a place of peril far from home, surrounded by strangers who despise all Campbells. …And all hell breaks loose before heaven can intervene. Unkilted is a slow-burn, enemies-to-lovers tale with a few twists and wynds along the way. A sequel titled Unbroken is in progress

Word Count: Click here to reveal37000 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary:

Word Count: Click here to reveal72000 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: Twenty years before Simon found Paul, a decade before Aaron joined the Minneapolis West pack, there were other gay wolves living hidden lives. Sawyer Holt thought he was dead at the age of sixteen when his brother Leon caught him kissing a human man. Dragged up in front of his Alpha, he could only hope for a painless end, especially when Rick Brown stared at him with an icy gaze and said to Leon, “I’ll take care of it.” Except what Rick gave Sawyer wasn’t death, but a new concealed life. In Minot, North Dakota, Sawyer has spent fourteen years isolated among humans, carving out a future for himself. Until a messenger arrives from Rick, saying that Leon has discovered the ruse, and it’s time to run again. Sawyer’s furious about losing his hard-won life, but intrigued by the young man carrying the message. James Ferguson doesn’t appreciate being sent from his home and pack in Virginia to run errands for the Chicago Alpha, but as Twelfth out of twelve adult wolves, he’s in no position to complain. He figures he’ll deliver the message and package, and hurry home for Thanksgiving. But a snowstorm, and the huge, muscular, confusing werewolf who rescues him, upend his plans. Soon, James’s whole world changes, and the only future he may have depends on whether he and Sawyer can survive being hunted, together. Unseen Past is a prequel novel set in the world of the Hidden Wolves, twenty years before Book 1.

Word Count: Click here to reveal75,385 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: Wannabe singer and band frontman Erik Von Nordgren hates snarky brit Asher Berkley with a passion. From the moment he turns up at practice with his twin sister Daisy, who is one of the band the two have hated each other. Through a series of 'tit for tat' incidents they annoy, frustrate and exasperated each other. The die-hard goth with purple eyes and the hardcore rocker with dreams of the big time have nothing in common and no need to cross paths. Except to wind each other up. Until the day that Erik throws Asher in the school pool when everything begins to change. Erik is so far in the closet he's in Narnia and Asher has a dark past and trust issues that stand in the way of any relationship, let alone one with the brash American who hurts him every time they try to get together. A relationship doomed from the start, or so you'd think.

Word Count: Click here to reveal125000 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: This city of fools will be brought to order! Deposed, her father presumed dead, her friends slaughtered and the cavern in chaos, Grace Harrington is on the run and entirely alone. The only ally she has left is the man she hates most in the world: Nathaniel Morgenstern, the assassin who murdered her mother and seduced her father. Grace’s only hope of reclaiming the throne and saving her people is to seek the aid of Éamon Tadhg, the High Druid of Arajon. But she needs to survive the hostile streets of Iole City before she can even think about fleeing to the Violet Valley. Nathaniel made a vow to Doran to protect Grace, but he could never have imagined how quickly and horrifically their lives would fall apart. Grieving the dual losses of the man he loved and his new friend Tsa Lien, Nathaniel devotes himself to the service of the overthrown Lady Archon who despises him – even if it costs him everything he is.

Word Count: Information not available

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

Summary: When the Heir to the Firstborn is chosen by the Mother, the lore dictates that they must find their Companions among the tribes, and the first of those shall be Water. But when Aeris, oldest daughter and Heir to Firstborn Aria makes her Progress, her Water is nowhere to be found. The lore has once more been broken, threatening to throw the world out of balance. Two years later, as Aeris comes of age and continues to seek her missing Companion, an urgent summons from the Temple brings the Firstborn and her Court to the mountains. There, Aeris will come face to face with an enemy who has been waiting for her since her birth – a man known only as Dark. Separated from her Companions, Aeris has only one ally standing between her and the darkness that wants to possess her – a Water warrior who has never seen the sea.

Word Count: Information not available

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

Summary: The first three books in the Vasquez and James series gathered into a single volume. When badass meets artist, sparks and bullets fly. Blazing romance, chilling suspense, enduring love... *Loving Luki Vasquez: Renowned but reclusive weaver Sonny Bly James masters color, texture, and shape in his tapestries, but when he meets Luki Vasquez, an ex-ATF agent and all-around badass, his heart and desire spin out of control. The heat between them won’t be denied. United by danger, can Sonny and Luki put fear and anger aside, and fight together to save Sonny’s nephew and their own lives? *Delsyn’s Blues: Devastated by loss, Sonny James listens to a voice singing the blues from beyond the grave. Convinced he’s failed in an all-important life task, he tries to shut out Luki Vasquez and love just when he needs him the most. But when Luki finally breaks through Sonny’s fortress of grief, it’s just in time for the newly reunited couple to face a new, violent, escalating danger. *Finding Jackie: When Sonny James asked Luki Vasquez to marry him, Luki’s “yes” was accompanied by a request -- a wedding in Hawaii. Months and many trials later, their hilltop island ceremony is poignant and funny, and every bit as beautiful as they’d hoped. The honeymoon is all sex, surfing, and sunshine… until Luki’s sixteen-year-old nephew is kidnapped by a sadistic killer. When it all comes to an ultimate showdown with evil, it’s not only love at stake, but their lives.

Word Count: Click here to reveal75000 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: The Von are on their way. With a recording contract under their belt and a tour opening for a popular band, the world is at their feet. For those left behind prospects are not so bright, especially with someone trying so hard to break them apart. With the spotlight on The Von, no one sees the evil waiting in the wings until it’s too late. For Asher and Vince, struggling with the separation from their boyfriends, nothing could have been worse than the mysterious photographs showing Erik and Billy in passionate kissed, first with each other, then with other people. Devastated they break of their relationships - until Connor travels thousands of miles to satisfy his honour and reassure Vince that Billy made a huge mistake for which he's now paying as he loves Vince so deeply. Asher isn't so lucky and by the time he hears Erik say he loves him, it might be too late for both of them. With a lunatic on the loose and both Asher and Erik caught in a trap it seems neither will escape it just goes to show that you can never ignore what might be Waiting in the Wings.

Word Count: Click here to reveal41495 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: A bitter drunk meets a lonely paraplegic with a target on his back. Almost on the rim of the Arctic Circle, they’ve both run out of places to hide. Dirk Black is a lost soul with a troubled past. When the washed-up cop happens to see an odd notice in a newspaper, his unshakable sense of irony sends him to a remote point in Scotland’s Shetland Islands. There he discovers something he’s never wanted and bloody hell doesn’t need—a computer nerd and recluse who’s confined to a tiny promontory in the North Sea. Stephan Tavish is a scholar and business entrepreneur who’s managed to run from his family and from society, hoping for peace of mind in the solitude of his own land and his ancestor’s old isolated lighthouse. But karma has bitten him in the arse. He finds himself in a very dark place where he needs to ask for help, from a stranger who’s lost himself in a whisky bottle. Two alienated men, each with a mystery to solve, end up working together at the edge of nowhere. Together, they discover that something in their own past may hold the key to a very intriguing future.

Word Count: Click here to reveal56,400 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: Not your ordinary power exchange... Corey can’t use his safe word. Jack can’t let go of control. Meeting in the middle might be impossible. Corey is ready to start his life but struggles with balancing his need for pain and submission with making his own life choices. Jack is a well established and wealthy investor, who wants to give Corey everything but can’t figure out what his sub needs most. Can experience and youth connect where it counts? #masochisim #angst #needforpain #controlissues #loveconquersall #agedifference #hurt/comfort #establishedcouple

Word Count: Click here to reveal94581 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: A man too hard to love, and the men who love him. Gristle is a former Roman soldier who has forsaken any relationship with a man since being abandoned by beautiful young Tristus ten years ago near the Wall of Hadrian. Now in Ireland as one of a group of emigrants at the monastery of St. Patrick in Armagh, he discovers the sensual pony trainer Wynn, half his age, is deeply attracted to him. In spite of Gristle’s resolution to forsake the lure of sex, he seduces Wynn. The result is a burst of passionate encounters between them. Arriving in sacred Tara, where he is one of the mounted guard protecting Bishop Patrick during the Samhain festival, he is stricken to find that Wynn, too, has deserted him—just as he finds Tristus again after ten years, now a changed man. Ironically, neither of these men has willingly abandoned Gristle. Tristus’ disappearance from his watch one night a decade ago has instilled an immutable sorrow in Gristle's deep subconscious. And now Wynn, unknown to Gristle, is taken by nasty-minded druids, leaving him devastated by a loss he cannot rationally deal with. Told from three different POVs, the story revolves around the complex relationship among these three men. The novel deals with Gristle’s finding, rejecting, and finally trying to accept a kind of love into his parched heart.