Books Tagged With potential trigger - traumatic past

Word Count: Click here to reveal94,290 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: Sometimes, the best way to overcome differences — is to embrace them. Quinn: Nothing is more important than family. Someday I’ll have my own, if I can ever find the right guy. For now, I'm concentrating on my career and a promotion. That is, until my company hires a hot-shot with the right credentials to snag the position. I should resent him, but Tadhg Byrne is talented. And gorgeous. And though my ASL is pitiful, it means I’m the most “qualified” colleague to partner with him. Or so my boss says. So I guess I’m about to do myself out of a job. Tadhg:  After a nasty breakup with my manipulative ex, I returned home to Seattle to lick my wounds. I’m done with relationships. From now on I’m focusing on my career. There are just a few issues with that. It’s not that easy for a deaf man to succeed in a hearing world, even with the right degree and experience. Quinn MacDougall—my good-natured coworker. He’s incredibly talented, driven, and distractingly handsome. Quinn’s hearing, which is the biggest problem of all. How can someone who isn’t deaf ever truly understand and accept me?   Embrace Me is a low-medium angst, contemporary MM romance about language barriers, loving but demanding families, crappy bosses, and sexy guys in speedos. It contains no cheating, and a guaranteed Happily Ever After.

Word Count: Click here to reveal76,715 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: Home. Family. Those words often invoke a sense of love and comfort. But for the dark mage Morgorth, they mean hate and pain. As the seventh son of a seventh son, many believe Morgorth's destiny is to become the Destroyer. His father embraced such a future and trained Morgorth through torture and fear to become his weapon. Morgorth managed to escape his father's cruelty, but not the nightmares that still haunt him. For many years he's lived with the stain of his father's savagery, but now he must confront his nightmares head-on. His father has found a stone of power. Morgorth must return to his land of birth, to the memories he's tried his entire life to suppress. Aishe is determined to help Morgorth defeat his inner demons, but he knows he might not be enough to save Morgorth from embracing his darkness. They know it will be a fight to the death and that Morgorth won't be the same if he survives. With Aishe by his side, Morgorth hunts for his father, and finds answers to questions he never dared to ask—and must live with the truths they reveal.

Word Count: Click here to reveal70000 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: The line between angel and demon is razor thin. No one knows this better than Kai. As an Emissary of death, darkness follows Kai like a shadow, leaving him touch-starved and lonely. Tormented by the error in judgment that killed his only love, he accepts an assignment to redeem himself: hunting down the demons destroying the mortal realm. But fate takes a turn, and Kai finds himself drawn to one of his targets instead. Demonic martial arts expert Byron Black has struggled to survive his entire life. He has fought for every breath he’s taken and each bite he’s eaten, yet in the instant when his demise finally seems inevitable, death incarnate steps forward and spares him. Kai is as beautiful as he is terrifying, and although Byron suspects the angel’s interest in him is more than it appears, he can’t stay away. Together, the pair search for answers regarding who wants Byron dead—and why—but uncovering the truth might destroy them both in the process. Can Kai defeat his inner demons to save the one that has crawled into his bed? Set in the Star-Crossed Celestials universe, Emissary is a standalone novel featuring an array of creepy crypts and crematoriums, train-top sword fighting, an excessive number of buckles and buttons, and (of course) a Happily Ever After. It can be read as a prequel or companion story to the Star-Crossed Celestials Duet.

Word Count: Click here to reveal140500 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: Silver has been freed from sexual slavery and settled down with River, his lover and former patient, yet cracks begin to form when it becomes increasingly obvious that the stress of constantly having to care for Silver, begin to tell on River. When River’s parents die, leaving him to care for his 12 year old brother it, at first, seems that the introduction of the lively twelve year old into the mix was going to do them all the world of good. However, when spiteful relatives involve Social Services, the previous flaws nearly rip them all apart. Faced with the dilemma of keeping either Ben or Silver at home and sending the other to stay with Sam, a personal friend, River chooses responsibility for his brother over his love and concern for Silver. Things come to a head when a series of misunderstandings lead Silver to believe River doesn’t love him anymore and that everyone is secretly ashamed of him because of his past. After running away, Silver reasons the only place he can fit in is with his own kind and he sets out to search of a new “home.” At the Theatre de la vie he meets Tony, a club owner with big ideas, who ‘looks after’ a group of young men who dance and “entertain” patrons of the club. There, among others, Silver finds Ariel, an ephemeral little minx with a knack for getting into trouble, Alex, the big hearted mountain of muscle, and Asher. With Asher, a former sex slave like himself, Silver finds a kindred spirit and soon finds himself falling for the beautiful, broken boy. Together, Ariel and Asher show Silver a whole new way of looking at the world, a transformation echoing the sleeping chrysalis of his soul, and soon his inner self emerges as the beautiful butterfly he was always meant to be. Yet as happy as he is with his new friends, Silver eventually realises he truly misses River and intends to return to his side, but a dark figure from his abusive past returns to threaten both a possible reunion and the very ones who would protect Silver. River learns of the danger, and hurries to add his own support of Silver and reaffirm their love, but with so many doubts and unspoken regrets between them, is it too late for a chance at happiness together? At the emotional climax to this suspenseful story of love and loss, Silver and River reach conclusions that will either save them both or drive them apart forever.

Word Count: Information not available

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

Summary: Hansen has been hot for Sam since they first bonded over their secret superpowers—literally hot, since Hansen can produce fire from thin air. But Sam is always covered in girls, so Hansen keeps his feelings deeply buried and settles for being Sam's best friend. Then Sam's electrical powers go haywire in public, and in the fallout a mutual attraction is forced to the surface—but bisexuality is new to Sam, and Hansen is afraid to admit he's in love. And in the midst of trying to figure out themselves and each other, they have to face—and survive—the unfriendly witness to Sam's explosion. The Superpowered Love series explores the mixed-up love lives of the “awakened”, humans with awakened thermal or electrical superpowers. The series is complete, and the books can be read in any order or skipped altogether.

Word Count: Click here to reveal96000 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: "Vardam needs to be found. We have to know what this thing is capable of, but for God’s sake be discreet! The last thing we need is some idiot journalist suggesting Area 51 has moved across the Atlantic to Buckinghamshire.” Scientist Kurt Lomax’s faltering career and personal problems hit another level when an alluring extraterrestrial shows up at his science lab. Non-binary Vardam has seen the future of the human race, and has travelled through time to prevent the destruction of life on Earth. Talking in sign language through Tom, a secretly employed interpreter, Vardam also reveals their affection for the mentally tortured Kurt, who is the ancestor of the close friend they had to leave behind. The fate of the human race is at stake, but so is the life of a man Vardam has loved from another time. Tom brings light and laughter to the somber laboratory. When he sees the feeling growing between Kurt and Vardam, his matchmaking unwittingly instigates an international crisis.

Word Count: Click here to reveal71951 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: Is it better to risk it all… or never know what could have been? After surviving an abusive childhood, Vulcan remade himself upon arriving in Los Angeles, California. He became a blacksmith for the paranormal community and strives to earn the respect of the vampire covens and werewolf packs that call LA home. He also prevents the pain of loss by keeping everyone at arm’s length. But he never planned on meeting a former Roman soldier by the name of Marcus Cassius Vespillo. Something sparks between them and turns into a friendship he never considered possible. He can’t deny his intense attraction to the intelligent, courteous, ancient vampire. And it scares him. Though Vulcan is wary of seeking more with Cassius, an attack leaves him at death’s door and forces him to reexamine his priorities. But Cassius has his own secret, one that promises tragedy and loss. And if that wasn’t enough, a slayer arrives in the States, one with a bloody connection to Cassius... and Vulcan himself. Second Edition with revised and expanded text.

Word Count: Information not available

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

Summary: Accused of a murder he didn’t commit, vilified celebrity Jackson Young enlists the help of rookie journalist to clear his name and write his biography.  Jackson has a secret though. One he must keep from becoming public. But Fletcher’s dreamy green eyes, Irish drawl and effortless charm makes it hard to suppress those long-buried feelings, even if it could compromise his innocence. Uncovering the murky past behind Jackson’s rise to fame, Fletcher grows closer to a man he’d once declared as talentless and their intense attraction starts to affect not only his professional integrity, but the life he’d made since moving to London. Falling for the subject of his book could be fatal for Fletcher, and Jackson should know better than to trust a journalist. Fade to Blank is the first book in the London Lies trilogy set in 1999 and is a slow burn, enemies to lovers, hurt/comfort romantic suspense.

Word Count: Click here to reveal170,000 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: In 1846 London, Oliver Twist has one desire: to own a bookshop and live a simple, middle-class life as far as possible from his workhouse-shadowed past. One thing stands in his way, Jack Dawkins--The Artful Dodger--who's just returned to London and wants to reconnect. Jack's visits cause Oliver nothing but trouble with his master, but he finds himself drawn, time and again, to their shared past, Jack's unguarded honesty, and those bright, green eyes. Oliver craves respectability, and doesn't think he will find it with a forbidden love. Can Jack convince Oliver that having one doesn't mean losing the other? Fagin’s Boy: The Further Particulars of a Parish Boy's Progress is the first book in Christina E. Pilz’s Oliver & Jack series, a gay historical romance. If you like Dickensian characters who fall in love in spite of themselves, and beautiful flowering romance occurring in all the wrong places,  then you’ll love Fagin’s Boy, so pick up a copy today!

Word Count: Click here to reveal150000 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: Stronghold Fair Haven by the Sea is a beacon in a sometimes harsh world, open to all and deliberately, stubbornly kind. It also holds the honour and responsibility of hosting an atelier, a workshop for the rare and highly-prized magical engineers known as Mancers. Hazel lives a comfortable, contented life in Stronghold Haven as a member of the team of elite bodyguards protecting the resident Mancer. But when another Mancer comes knocking on Haven's door to plead for refuge from the stronghold zhey've just escaped, zhey bring the looming threat of invasion in zheir wake. Ash is disruptive to Hazel's peaceful routine in more ways than just that: to his own surprise, he's hopelessly attracted to the prickly, secretive Mancer. This might be the start of something precious...or the end of everything he holds dear.

Word Count: Information not available

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

Summary: Zane DeWitt is the poster child for traumatic pasts. He’s also the epitome of selflessness, resilience, and determination. Now that he’s finally away from the ones who hurt him, it’s time to reclaim his family’s good name. And seek revenge, of course. Holter Todd would rather forget everything that brought him to this point in life. He doesn’t need friends or family. He’s good at what he does. If a few of his jobs take him across the line of morality, so be it. Holter is hired to kill Zane, but he quickly switches his focus to the most deserving target. What happens next leads the two men on a twisting path toward healing and retribution. With the help of their found family, they find their happily ever after along the way. Fairest of All is a dark, steamy M/M romance between a tough, detached bounty hunter and a sweet, damaged beauty with a heart of gold in the Fallen Fairytales series. Fallen Fairytales is a dark M/M romance, multi-author series. Each book may be read as a standalone, but why not load up your Kindle, kick back, and enjoy sexy men, shenanigans, and deliciously dark fairytale retellings. *Readers sensitive to certain content should make note of the content warning at the beginning of the book.*

Word Count: Click here to reveal154223 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: Quiet. That's how he likes life, no drama to clean up... Tai Xen-Vorsy leads a straightforward life: work, time at the local clubs where shapeshifters like him can play without fear, and the comforts of home with a cat that's more than half attitude. After breaking up with his last submissive, he's even taking a break from Dom duties. Meeting Gates changes everything, and when Tai's childhood home is destroyed, his simple life goes up in flames. The Callensdale haven was his refuge as an orphan, a hideaway that saved his life. Now it's time to return the favour. Bringing in the Fluff Brigade Brotherhood would make all the difference... if he could just get them back together. Tai won't give up—he's not that kind of unicorn. But can he reunite the brotherhood and keep his new relationship with Gates kindled at the same time?   The darkness is dragging him into the shadows, one case at a time... Helping others is all Gates Colfaethe wants to do, being mostly unicorn shifter with a splash of Faerie. But years as an agent on trafficking cases leave him fearing just how far he'll lose himself in the job before he burns out completely. A random hookup with Tai might be the very change he needs. A new Dom means new rules and the chance to create safe distance from work—until his worlds collide in a twist Gates should leave well enough alone. What he knows is bad enough, but running headlong into danger could kill him.   Horn & Haven is an MM+ romance series featuring a found family of unicorn shifters brought together by tragic circumstances. Friends out to save a magical world in trouble. Family fighting to protect those they love. Lovers falling for the kinkiest unicorns this side of their universe... Welcome to the Fluff Brigade Brotherhood.

Word Count: Click here to reveal117000 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: With the captain’s mind in shambles, Jon and Tom set out to find the passage home through the black mountain range, hoping to find a cure for Baltsaros’s madness. However, when the men are forced to part ways, darkness takes root in the schism created; fate, lust, and vengeance become obsessions threatening to tear apart the fragile bonds holding the three together. Following on the heels of Sacrificed, Fated takes the pirates on a quest to find those responsible for the captain’s bloody beginnings. But can they survive what awaits them where past and present meet?

Word Count: Click here to reveal50000 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: Sonny Lakes has found a home with Abe Ellis in Sweetshade, a small town as calm and inviting as the name suggests. But even places like that can hide sinister secrets and dangerous threats. After facing down Sonny’s stalker and coming to terms with their need to work on better communication, they seem to have settled into the domestic bliss they’ve both been craving. But just as Sonny is about to return to the medical field and pursue his dreams, he gets enmeshed in an all-too-familiar nightmare, upending any sense of stability he had. Their hard-won peace robbed from them, Abe fights to keep Sonny on the path toward the career he’s always wanted. Abe is willing to do whatever it takes, but his increasingly risky deceit not only threatens their relationship, but his own life yet again. Can Sonny and Abe find their way through the fire once more and learn to dance in the rain? Warning: school shooting, gun violence, PTSD

Word Count: Click here to reveal13200 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: In Space, No One Can Hear You Sing … Grayson Eck's life is a drag, in all the best possible ways. He's perfectly happy working in the belt alone as a wildcatter, prospecting asteroids by … well, not exactly by day. At night, he transforms into the Inner System's most famous Valeriana Storm — a secret identity that even his closest friends and family don't know about. When someone tries to steal one of Greyson's mining scores, he has half a mind to just toss the guy off his rock and into open space. But that all changes when he discovers the stranger's identity — and that he knows Greyson's secret. Now he's being chased by a pirate, and has to decide what to do with the apparent thief while also putting on his show. What's a space drag queen to do?

Word Count: Information not available

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

Summary: (Jimmy) I fell for my best friend. Shifters like us have mates. If I didn't know better, I'd swear he was mine, but Savi's feelings for me? Purely platonic. I need to find a way to fall out of love with him. Because losing him? Not an option. Who would have thought a trip to the zoo would be the start of my forever? At just five years old I knew that the cute kitty in the cage was meant to be mine…my best friend, my person, MY Kiki. At sixteen, I prayed to every deity known in the human world that he would be my mate. At nineteen, I left. Now?  Our lives will never be the same.   (Savi) We should be planning the best summer ever, instead, I’m learning how to live without my best friend for the first time since he and his family rescued me from my terrible foster “parents” when I was a kid. Jimmy, my best friend, my person, up and left me for 6 whole months! One hundred eighty-two and a half-ish days. Maybe forever. It’s only a matter of time before Jimmy finds his mate and our separation is permanent. If only I was that mate. Because it’s only a matter of time before he can’t deny anymore that he needs more than me. He needs a mate. Something I’m not, something I can never be. Shouldn’t be. For anyone, but especially not for Jimmy LaFleur. For All Eternity : Destinies Entwined is an ongoing M/M Best Friends to Lovers, Paranormal, Kindle Vella Romance serial. It contains multiple points of view, but the main bulk of the story and main focus is on these best friends and their path to their eternity. For All Eternity : Destinies Entwined features an autistic main character, traumatic pasts, horses, and lots and lots of cuddling. Oh, yeah, and Blood Play (eventually!) The friendship these two have is nothing ordinary! Note: Heat level of 3 is indicative of the heat in the story thus far, not the entire story, which will be a 5.

Word Count: Click here to reveal63000 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: Canada, 2165 AD. The Water Wars and a decimated economy have taken their toll. Anyone who doesn't live in a military-patrolled metropolis lives in a clan. But being in a clan doesn't mean safety. And for a Ven like Roan Lee, it doesn't matter where he lives. Safety is a luxury. So is freedom. Roan is desperate to escape the governtary's exploitation and torture. He is nothing to them but 54σK1, an artifact born from a genetic mishap. When the chance to escape arises, he makes a run for it—and encounters the lover from his past, twisting his future into a second chance he never expected. As leaders of Clan Teach, Jace Ama and his wife, Cayra Diega, have enough difficulty keeping their people safe. When Roan is thrown to their feet as a prisoner, their marriage becomes an additional challenge. Jace still loves Roan, but where does that leave Cayra?

Word Count: Click here to reveal78,200 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: Izzorah has always been a Kin, part of a human-like race of fierce, rugged felines. Now he's a brand-new immortal too. When he learns the truth about his fiancé's immortality--and his own--the familiar world he knew vanishes. He must pass a test designed by the immortal king to reveal his gifts and weaknesses. Pass and he's accepted into a warrior society he wants no part of. Fail and he's cast out, away from the man he loves. As if that's not bad enough, his lover is also the king's ex, and the king refuses to part with anything--or anyone--he loves. Fair test? Not in this immortal lifetime...

Word Count: Click here to reveal117000 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: Owyn had learned one lesson early – no one wanted him. Then he discovered that he was the Fireborn, and in an instant went from nameless slave to one of the most important people in the world. One of the most sought after. And one of the most hunted. Faced with a tantalizing link to his own unknown past, and the growing fear that the promised haven may be nothing more than a pretty trap, Owyn must learn to stand on his own in a race against treachery and time. He has to uncover the truth…. A truth that might destroy his hopes for a future.

Word Count: Click here to reveal77000 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: Nine years ago Eric Joyce went wolf when his chosen mate broke the bond, and he hasn’t walked on two legs since. Convinced he lost his friends when he ran out on them, he cut himself off from the pack. But a surprising visitor prods him back down the mountain, and he finds himself welcomed warmly. Ben Arellano grew up in Texas with a human Catholic mother who didn’t understand a thing about wolves--and didn’t try to learn. He'd spent his whole life being told his wolf was a demon that needed to be exorcised, surrounded by a wolf pack made up of good ole boys who had no tolerance for his Mexican ancestry or his bisexuality. When he’s given the opportunity to relocate to an accepting pack in Pittsburgh, he jumps at the chance. When Eric and Ben meet for the first time, neither is ready for it. Where Ben expects rejection, Eric is convinced yet another mate will leave, break the bond, and put him through the same hell all over again. Can they get past their reservations and have a happily mated life?