Daydreaming! Reviewing LGBTQIA Books, all formats ! Binge Watching A World of Romance
Author: Scattered Thoughts
At over 50, I am ruled by my terriers, my gardens, and my projects. A knack for grubbing about in the woods, making mud pies, and tending to the injured worms, bugs, and occasional bird and turtle growing up eventually led me to working for the Parks.
I was a park Naturalist for over 20 years, and observing Nature and her cycles still occupy my hours. From the arrival of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds in the Spring to the first call of the Snow Geese heading south in the Fall, I am entranced by the seasons. For more about me see my bio on my blog.
How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying (Dark Lord Davi Book 1) by Django Wexler should be just my jam. But no matter how much I try to like it, I just can’t find it in myself to enjoy the story.
It’s got a clever concept. A princess is caught up in a tale where she is defending her world against the Dark Lord. Unfortunately, she never wins. She loses, is subjected to horrific acts and dies. Or dies quickly. But usually she’s caught, captured, and tortured by the Dark Lord for a long time (very descriptive), then dies. Then she’s revived via a Groundhog Day plot and so it goes. For hundreds or thousands of years.
It’s all very coldly narrated and factual. Let me say as a woman this was an aspect of the story I didn’t like.
Davi then switches over to become the Dark Lord herself. This should be an important, and emotional moment for her and the story. However, its treatment is just as deadpan and flat as everything that’s preceded it.
Her actions, and the events that follow are those that do little to connect the reader or celebrate her change in status.
Honestly, the biggest fight here was to complete the book.
The plot was clever but the characters are one dimensional. I didn’t have any problems putting the book down because I wasn’t interested in Davi or her future.
There’s other humorous fantasy stories. Matt Dinneman’s series if you’re interested in RPG lit gamer fiction.
Groundhog Day meets Deadpool in Django Wexler’s raunchy, hilarious, blood-splattered fantasy tale about a young woman who, tired of defending humanity from the Dark Lord, decides to become the Dark Lord herself.
“Takes the old saying ‘If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em,’ to the next level. A sarcastic, action-packed, intrigue-filled (mis)adventure. One of the funniest books I’ve read in a long time.”–Matt Dinniman, author of Dungeon Crawler Carl
Davi has done this all before. She’s tried to be the hero and take down the all-powerful Dark Lord. A hundred times she’s rallied humanity and made the final charge. But the time loop always gets her in the end. Sometimes she’s killed quickly. Sometimes it takes a while. But she’s been defeated every time.
This time? She’s done being the hero and done being stuck in this endless time loop. If the Dark Lord always wins, then maybe that’s who she needs to be. It’s Davi’s turn to play on the winning side.
A humorous western isekai featuring the reincarnation of an antihero female lead.
“Allow the fire that drives you to burn brighter than any flames around you. Many fear getting their wings for the first time. But consider the butterfly. If it had remained a caterpillar, would it not grieve when all its peers flew away, so free and elegant? The struggle is brief, but your rewards are infinite. “
-Finding your Inner Fire: How to Claim your True Self by Peggy Hwybon (Warmly recommended by His Majesty Mabon ap Modron)
I’ve been remiss in forgetting to include memorable passages from the all important “texts” that drive each new book and characters as they journey into new areas of growth, revelation, and new relationships.
Seeing Red , naturally we’re diving into the Red Celt realm and dragons, is such an important and compelling story.
It starts off with Niki going to visit Dai, Prince Dafydd ap Modron, heir to Mabon, the king of the Red Celts, a man who was once her childhood friend.
I won’t say anything more. Only that the events of this story have ramifications for the rest of the series and the characters. Ones that continue to play out.
Day’s plots are labyrinthine. They hold the keys to the fabric of each character’s lives and personalities, their back histories and the damage that’s been inflicted on them. And how all of that has come together to create the situation and events that are in place now.
It’s an ever changing narrative masterpiece, subtly designed, beautifully crafted, heartfelt and deeply emotional.
And we’re engaged with every single character as they are hurt, involved in the process of growing into their own power, and potentially something stronger.
I want to spoil this so badly. But I’ll leave you with the pleasure of reading it and then wanting to reread this book again.
Highly recommended. It’s a must read! And it does end on a heavy cliffhanger. But no worries. The next book is ready to read! It only gets better.
Gorgeous Covers that absolutely drew me in. With the ever changing Recorder Star and Gateway in the center that’s pertinent to each book
Have you ever agreed to something and, when the time came, wondered what planet your mouth had been on when it accepted the invitation?
Welcome to my freaking world.
A warning from a Fae seer didn’t help Tilly and me get into the right mood for our break in Prince Dai ap Modron’s ‘lovely mountain home’ for the St. David’s Day festival.
What was supposed to be a well-earned holiday quickly turned into a nightmare.
Did I mention the unbelievable cold? The snowstorm? The complete absence of drinkable coffee?
As if that wasn’t enough, King Troels of the Vikings launched a surprise attack on the Gateway, leaving us scrambling to fend off the invaders. But then the power took a liking to Prince Rollo … nope, enough. No spoilers!
You just need to read the book.
“The best new series I’ve read this year.”
Revisit the bizarre mix of Celtic realms trapped in history when Niki—with the help of her sentient house, Dola—discovers not everyone can be trusted. Join all your favourite characters as they reunite in the Red Celt realm for a gruesome and hilarious sentencing hearing. And Niki learns more about dragon politics than she ever wanted to know.
Seeing Red introduces new faces while rekindling the magic and humour with old favourites. This cosy contemporary fantasy novel will keep you enthralled, laughing, and craving doughnuts from beginning to end.
Don’t miss out on this fun new adventure with the Midlife Recorder – grab your copy today!
“Allow the fire that drives you to burn brighter than any flames around you. Many fear getting their wings for the first time. But consider the butterfly. If it had remained a caterpillar, would it not grieve when all its peers flew away, so free and elegant? The struggle is brief, but your rewards are infinite. “
-Finding your Inner Fire: How to Claim your True Self by Peggy Hwybon (Warmly recommended by His Majesty Mabon ap Modron)
I’ve been remiss in forgetting to include memorable passages from the all important “texts” that drive each new book and characters as they journey into new areas of growth, revelation, and new relationships.
Seeing Red , naturally we’re diving into the Red Celt realm and dragons, is such an important and compelling story.
It starts off with Niki going to visit Dai, Prince Dafydd ap Modron, heir to Mabon, the king of the Red Celts, a man who was once her childhood friend.
I won’t say anything more. Only that the events of this story have ramifications for the rest of the series and the characters. Ones that continue to play out.
Day’s plots are labyrinthine. They hold the keys to the fabric of each character’s lives and personalities, their back histories and the damage that’s been inflicted on them. And how all of that has come together to create the situation and events that are in place now.
It’s an ever changing narrative masterpiece, subtly designed, beautifully crafted, heartfelt and deeply emotional.
And we’re engaged with every single character as they are hurt, involved in the process of growing into their own power, and potentially something stronger.
I want to spoil this so badly. But I’ll leave you with the pleasure of reading it and then wanting to reread this book again.
Highly recommended.
Gorgeous Covers that absolutely drew me in. With the ever changing Recorder Star and Gateway in the center that’s pertinent to each book
Have you ever agreed to something and, when the time came, wondered what planet your mouth had been on when it accepted the invitation?
Welcome to my freaking world.
A warning from a Fae seer didn’t help Tilly and me get into the right mood for our break in Prince Dai ap Modron’s ‘lovely mountain home’ for the St. David’s Day festival.
What was supposed to be a well-earned holiday quickly turned into a nightmare.
Did I mention the unbelievable cold? The snowstorm? The complete absence of drinkable coffee?
As if that wasn’t enough, King Troels of the Vikings launched a surprise attack on the Gateway, leaving us scrambling to fend off the invaders. But then the power took a liking to Prince Rollo … nope, enough. No spoilers!
You just need to read the book.
“The best new series I’ve read this year.”
Revisit the bizarre mix of Celtic realms trapped in history when Niki—with the help of her sentient house, Dola—discovers not everyone can be trusted. Join all your favourite characters as they reunite in the Red Celt realm for a gruesome and hilarious sentencing hearing. And Niki learns more about dragon politics than she ever wanted to know.
Seeing Red introduces new faces while rekindling the magic and humour with old favourites. This cosy contemporary fantasy novel will keep you enthralled, laughing, and craving doughnuts from beginning to end.
Don’t miss out on this fun new adventure with the Midlife Recorder – grab your copy today!
I enjoyed this book, picking it up first because of its author and then reading the description of an urban fantasy trio of magical grownups siblings caught up in their adventures.
It has imaginative world building, multiple worlds and intriguing characters that meet the main characters who, as adults, have built and life enormously successful and varied lives from each other. And from their beloved parents too. This isn’t a dysfunctional family, an element I enjoyed.
The main characters, Diana Smith is a half-fae elf and sword smith who has a shop in the stalls in the Marketplace in the World of Irilor. She’s a Walker, one who can walk the roads between worlds and the Marketplace is at the center of the hub where the intergalactic roads lead to.
Diana is the oldest of triplets, born to a father with a Smith’s magic and a mother of fae royalty. Once Diana saw the Great Marketplace at the Crossroads of the Worlds that’s where she decided she wanted to be. Her siblings had other plans. Her mirror image sister, Karina, became a scholar in an isolated place devoted to knowledge, while her brother, Bjorn, married a Queen.
When all three are attacked by assassins, Diana and Bjorn set off to their mother’s Fae realm for answers and a visit to the “family “.
This is entertaining but a little too lacking in any emotional connection. Either between the characters or within the storyline. It’s packed with fae intrigue and political treachery within the fae itself court. Plenty of murders, mystery, and bloodshed to go around. But any feeling of actual caring is lost or not looked for. Indeed, some very disturbing types of inter family relationships are noted here as examples of common practice or consenting behavior within the Fae community and culture.
It’s briefly mentioned and then onto other topics. I think that this is an issue here where there’s so much overlap of important information and too little exploration of the history behind all the regions and politics that the reader really has nothing to connect with.
We get briefly acquainted with Bjorn’s family and wife, the Queen. But again, no background on him other than one mention by Diana that he’s the most dangerous person she knows. But she says that at the beginning of their journey and we actually never see this side of him. He’s extraordinarily handsome and the fae women at court are all enamored with him, but the most dangerous man? Where’s he?
It’s too much “as told to”. And the actual action is fast paced but without any narrative context. Their journey and this entire aspect of the story is wrapped up way too quickly and the resolution happens “off page”.
The ending of the book returns to an entirely different aspect of Diana’s life. And it doesn’t really ring true.
I feel this was a fun read but I have found others that she has written more enjoyable. I may return to this series later on.
Sometimes family is there to love you, and sometimes family is there to kill you…
When a man came into my shop in the Great Marketplace at the Crossroads of the Worlds and tried to kill me, it completely ruined my day. Not only did I have to clean up the blood, but disposing of his body made me late to meet my friends for drinks.
A nagging little detail kept bugging me, though. As he died, he said he was hired by my mother’s family—people I hadn’t seen for more than a decade. Then I discovered that assassins had made attempts on my brother and sister as well. As much as I didn’t want to, I decided I should find out who wanted us dead, and put a stop to it.
“Dola is 1400 on Sunday. What do you give a sentient house?”
This is an absolutely lovely short story with a twist I didn’t expect! Love those.
Well written so that it continues to show all the characters maturity in their new roles and individual development personally as well as in their perspectives. Perspectives that have changed dramatically, especially about Dola.
A heartwarming series that’s becoming a true comfort read.
Gorgeous Covers that absolutely drew me in. With the ever changing Recorder Star and Gateway in the center that’s pertinent to each book
NOTE: THIS NOVELLA IS INTENDED TO BE READ BETWEEN BOOKS 3 & 4 OF THE MIDLIFE RECORDER SERIES.
After completing all the bondings in Ties that Bond, Niki finds herself with a few days respite before her departure for the Red Celt realm to stay with Prince Dai.
But her plans take an unexpected turn when she discovers that Dola’s 1400th birthday is just around the corner—this Sunday, to be exact.
Niki is determined to make the celebration special. Yet, orchestrating festivities for Dola—a sentient house with spying Dolinas scattered throughout the realms—without giving away the secret proves to be quite the challenge.
To navigate this delicate situation, Niki calls upon her Knight Adjutants and a mix of old and new friends to help distract Dola and gather gifts.
This feel-good novella celebrates the joy of connection and community. Sadly, it doesn’t feature a single doughnut … but there is cake.
Join the party at Gateway Cottage – where the real surprise is the power of true belonging.
The Hitman’s Guide to Stately Fences and Killer Defenses is the eighth book in the suspense filled , violent, and often hilarious series by Alice Winters.
It’s followed the tumultuous path that Leland “The Sandman”, a lonely contract hitman, finds himself on when he meets an equally lonely PI named Jackson who’s caught on a backyard fence while on a job. Book after book, they find themselves together, working through deep issues (and criminal investigations) towards a complex relationship. One that brings them a strange wonderful future of odd mixture of friends, found family, scary happenings and hilariously funny stories. It’s found them engaged then happily married, with dogs and an illegally adopted teenage son.
Book eight brings in all the many characters from their multiple stories when Waylon, 15 yr old illegally adopted son of Jackson and Leland, is threatened along with his new best friend.
Who is behind the newest danger to Leland and Jackson’s family and life is one of the best elements of this story. There’s so much to it. It’s all the various characters, their partners coming to help. And a new police officer who’s highly suspicious of Leland and his past to add additional tension and drama to the already established growing suspense and anxiety about the situation.
Winters has written a fantastic novel. It’s a fast paced, white knuckle roller coaster narrative ride that keeps the reader on the edge of the seat. With her dialogue that has elements of pain, hilarity and life’s deepest realities. Guns, dogs, friends , love and family. Maybe blow up dolls. And a car. And now a cat.
And with those final reminiscences from Jackson as he watches his “boys” walking ahead, if this is where Winters leaves them, I’m happy.
There’s no indication that this is the finale but somehow it feels like it. While there’s a few things where the author could return to this universe to open up a new chapter, that last sentence feels like a closing scene.
I’m good with that. They are in a wonderful place.
A great story in a highly recommended series.
Cover by Natasha Snow Designs
The Hitman’s Guide series:
The Hitman’s Guide to Making Friends and Finding Love
The Hitman’s Guide to Staying Alive Despite Past Mistakes
The Hitman’s Guide to Tying the Knot Without Getting Shot
The Former Assassin’s Guide to Snagging a Reluctant Boyfriend
The Hitman’s Guide to Righting Wrongs While Causing Mayhem
The Hitman’s Guide to Codenames and Ill-Gotten Gains
The Mercenary’s Guide to Mishaps and Romance
The Hitman’s Guide to Stately Fences and Killer Defenses #8
During my long, lonely years as a hitman, I never realized that one day, I would have a family to call my own.
Now, instead of stalking my targets and taking down people with a flick of my wrist, my specialties lie in things like planning sleepovers (why does Waylon look terrified?), The Fence hour (those are screams of joy), and involving others to help our child succeed (no, of course I didn’t abduct anyone).
But for a guy like me, things can’t stay good for too long. Someone seems to think that I should still be the ruthless hitman I used to be. They want to draw me back into the limelight and prove to me that what I’m living now is a lie.
But they don’t realize how much they’re going to regret meeting the Sandman–especially once they threatened my family.
Jackson
This person seems to be obsessed with an image of Leland from the past, and because of it, we now have a crime boss on our tail and a bounty on Leland’s head. The stalker has no idea that Leland comes with multiple ex-assassins, a sketchy Scotsman, and the chief of police who likes to pretend he doesn’t want to be involved.
I adore my life with Leland just the way it is (someone, please burn down The Fence), and no one is going to ruin that (I will pay well).
They’d better be afraid to sleep because the Sandman is coming (and if they took down The Fence while they were at it, I wouldn’t mind).
“And the little girl realised that just because things were going to be different, it didn’t mean they had to be scary. Different could be fun, and new things could be exciting, and she thanked the Recorder and admitted that perhaps her mother had been right all along.”
-The Recorder Always Knows Best: Cautionary Tales for Incautious Children by Margarita Encimera
Yes! We’re back in Gateway Cottage, Gretna Green, Scotland. It’s book 3 and yes, there’s another fictional tome to give Day’s characters guidance within the fantasy novel! Be still my heart!
Another extraordinary story that brings in multiple new characters, allows the ones we’ve met important new developments in their own lives and storylines, and layers in powerful elements that will impact them individually and the realms . It’s a series of revelations, a story of compelling surprises and mysteries that hit emotionally.
One aspect of Linzi Day’s writing that I find most intriguing and beautifully crafted is the depth of her character development. Each character may appear to have a specific personality and arc but that’s too superficial. For Day often has plotted, supremely I’ll add, far ahead in this character’s journey. There’s hidden information, surprising history and damaging events that will be revealed, novels later, if then, to make the character and their storyline an integral part of the entire plot.
The Hobs, Katy, her ever growing conflicted memories of her grandmother, the bonds, the Kings that factored heavily into her childhood and now as a Recorder, Dola, the sentient being that’s the Gateway House! Each has huge storylines here.
It is difficult to separate out individual aspects of the book because it’s a magnificent magical tapestry of tightly woven narrative threads. Linzi Day’s stories and this series has become my favorite of the year, and I’m predicting that it will land in my top ten of series once completed.
It’s Valentine’s week in the Gateway, and Niki McKnight is preparing to conduct her first bondings for the fated, soul-bonded mates of the Kingdoms.
She was a registrar who married thousands of people in her former job—this will be a breeze … Right?
Wrong! The bondings don’t quite go to plan. Cue hilarity, heartbreak and mysterious magical prophecies for some of our favourite characters.
Niki’s goddaughter Autumn is visiting, and her heart’s desires are to ride a unicorn and be a bridesmaid for the first time. So no pressure then!
And there are mysteries to solve:
Why is the Recorder forbidden from bonding the members of an entire race?
Why is Prince Charming Dai, her childhood crush, suddenly avoiding her?
Why were so many bondmates trying to deceive her gran?
Why is Dola sending everyone gifts?
Why are there no doughnuts, brownies or other sugary goodness?
But in what’s supposed to be the busiest week of the Gateway’s year, Niki finally has some time on her hands to sort her own life out. Even if she still can’t manage to get her hair cut.
In this full-length, light-hearted addition to the Midlife Recorder series, you’ll find humour, tension and magical food as the Recorder confirms the soul bonds for Celts, Galicians, Vikings, Hobs, Picts and Fae.
A City of Swords and Fangs picks up almost immediately after the events of Demon Dance and Other Disasters, the novel where we meet 16 year old Katy Brown. Street toughened by loss, hardened by homelessness and abandonment and trauma, she’s a powerful self taught mage and hunter surviving alongside the monsters in the streets of the city.
But now she’s on a different path, one that’s brought her to Zurich as the student of one of the world’s most powerful mage’s of the Guild. She’s 17, soon to be in college and eager for her new adventures and life.
Unfortunately politics and the religious order has a different plan for Europe and magic that will disrupt her life and those who have taken her in.
I found this story very interesting and absorbing. It moves at an extremely fast pace, packed with history and current events of the world this is situated in. The paranormal, mundane and religious aspects of the European setting are very familiar coded, if that makes sense. The elements that are stirring up the political atmosphere and hatred here, while layered with magical or paranormal overtones, still have that racial and religious and ethnic tension and bigotry that’s been present throughout history. It’s urban fantasy and current reality.
The school and all the various other groups within the Guild are interesting but, like much of the relationships between the characters, don’t get the same detail and exploration as the political aspect of the story. She’s sent to certain groups and we see her as being part of a larger community but there’s no depth in the design of this particular part of her life. We know nothing about these characters or the school or even her lessons. Which is why she was sent there to begin with.
Everything other than the political instability becomes a non-element in the story. That means a whole lot of narrative is left behind or discarded in favor of another plot line that loses track of her character development. She’s moved quickly from A to Z without any further learning, real believable relationships with others, and although she’s said that Zurich feels like home, I’m astounded. Because the author hasn’t made her case for it.
And there’s no realistic connection between a vampire she’s just worked with on a dramatic short time case and immediately overcoming her issues about trust etc. That entire scene felt entirely unrealistic.
So yes to the action packed adventure, yes to the political drama and magical moments. But this was disappointing after the well crafted characters seen in the first novel. Those relationships were absent.
A mixed bag but enjoyable.
Cover art by Lou Harper
(Note: Pls take time to appreciate the wonderful cover art for both novels done by Lou Harper who has passed recently. She will be missed. )
“In my world, keeping my head on my shoulders has always required paying attention to what goes on around me. I’ve seen chaos, and I’ve seen evil…”
In Zurich—the wealthy, peaceful city where I plan to attend university—I walk into a war zone. Vampires, werewolves, Knights Magica, and the Mage Guild battle for supremacy. Apprenticed to a man considered the greatest living mage, I have a lot to learn—if I survive.
“Balance is messy. Freedom is messy. People and their social constructs aren’t always pretty.”
A dark, character-driven urban fantasy where magic is power, alliances are fragile, and survival means walking the line between order and chaos.
Perfect for readers who love:
Dark, immersive urban fantasy with political depth
Complex heroine with untamed magic
Magic vs. morality stories where no side is clean
High-stakes danger, evolving friendships, and hard-earned power
Now Linzi Day has done it! I’m book immobilized. Her fabulous urban fantasy series and cast of beautifully crafted characters has me so hooked that all I can do is binge read these books until I have no more of them available for devouring! Onwards!
“With the eyes of your realm upon you, it can be too easy to revert to tradition in an effort to avoid an embarrassing mistake. Change is often feared, but a rare person can choose to innovate. Why not you? Demonstrate to your subjects that times change and so must we. Or would you prefer to return to the days of forced marriage, high infant mortality and syphilis and wait patiently for someone to invent coffee?”
-Ruling Regally: A Monarch’s Guide to the 21st Century by Margot Hobart-Smythe
Just one of the many reasons why I love this series is that each novel starts with a quote from a different, albeit totally fictional tome, one that will make a impact on the various rulings factions, including the Recorder herself. Ruling Regally is quoted often and with great precision throughout this story, to my delight and absolute joy in how Day has written and layered her series and world building.
Painting the Blues in Gretna Green brings Niki, the new team that she’s assembling to support her role as Recorder, and Dola, the sentient being that’s the gateway house, new dangerous challenges, major events that offer revelations, bringing growth and powerful development to Niki and those around her.
Author Day has created Kingdoms and cultures of Fae, Viking, Celtic and other mythological figures that will be seen throughout the series and gates in the Recorder’s house. Each being richly detailed, deep in its own history, and culturally distinct from the others.
And the characters from each of them are as intriguing as the realm they originate from. There’s past and current warfare, pain and suffering, loss and love.
It’s what makes them and the series so extraordinary.
In this case there are several ancient injustices that Niki must face and find a way to heal or a way to begin healing a long term damage. And some of it rests with the inaction of past Recorders.
Niki’s own personal trauma and tragedy is tangled with current events and its handling of her emotions and struggles feels every bit as important and meaningful as the other situations that require her attention.
Day has layers upon layers of intricately connected, subtly written storylines, ones that will only emerge to “ping” a aha moment a book later. Just an amazing piece of narrative writing.
As you can imagine, I’m merrily ahead here. But this series will find itself as hardback’s groaning on my shelves.
My powers are growing, and my tolerance is low. My second week in my new role as the Gretna Green Recorder is making the first week look relaxing.
I have quite the to-do list.
✅ Fix a thousand-year-old injustice that threatens the future of the Pictish royal family and their realm? Check.
✅ Test my new Knight Adjutant candidates? Check.
✅ Discover one of those candidates is the guy I had a huge crush on when I was twelve? Oh yeah. Check.
❌ Feed the cat? No, she’s not hungry—which is worrying, very worrying.
❓ Prevent a bloodbath? Let’s freaking hope so.
Niki McKnight is settling in as the new Recorder in the Gretna Gateway in Scotland. She’s joined by the usual colourful cast of magical beings.
Celtic, Fae and Viking royalty all have their own agendas, but none more so than the Pictish royal family.
Magic, psychic powers, a stroppy, condescending cat goddess, and lots of coffee smooth the way.
Niki plans to make her gran proud by reminding everyone that kings and queens are ten-a-penny in the seven realms, but there is ONLY one Recorder, and now she has more power than anyone expected.
Painting the Blues in Gretna Green is perfect for readers who’d enjoy an uplifting story with cozy paranormal fantasy elements. Set in a sentient Scottish house with a woman who needs to learn to wield her increased powers before lives are lost.
Meg Macy has a new MM romance book out, Love is Love book one: All You Need is Love.
Longtime friends Jack Riley and Juliette (aka Jules) Baxter are now partners in a new breakfast café, but they are surprised to be confronted by a wave of homophobia in a town known for its inclusive and diverse LGBTQA+ community.
Their romantic lives are just as uncertain. Jack, a gay former actor and fashion model, has failed at committed relationships due to his unsavory past – until he meets Reese Baxter, his partner’s handsome, closeted cousin.
Jules juggles several polyamorous relationships due to major trust issues, until she’s drawn to an intriguing artist. However his jealousy of her bestie Jack is getting out of hand. Is the vandalism against their café from conservative hate groups, or is it a focused personal attack?
Warnings: past trauma; past SA; homophobia; vandalism
In the Love Is Love series, three LGBTQA+ contemporary romantic suspense novels explore past hurts, healing, and the vulnerability of gay love and acceptance. Friendship, trust, courage, and resilience unite to combat fear and homophobia in reshaping lives and communities.
Jack glances at the clock. Forty-five minutes to go before closing. His anxiety deflates like a balloon after a needle prick. At Jules’s squeal of delight, Jack turns to see a tall, handsome man enter the café. He’s in a bespoke three-piece navy suit with dark hair and deep blue eyes. The guy avoids his curious gaze and smiles when Jules runs over to greet him with a hug.
“Hey, Reese. I hoped you’d come in!”
Hmm, the guy looks familiar. Jack figures he’s another Baxter when Jules calls him “cousin.” After cashing out more customers and answering questions, Jack empties the donation bucket again. He better count all this and announce the amount they raised after closing time. Jack checks his watch, the first responder Casio G-Shock that Drew always wore—fifteen minutes left. Most customers have departed. Ed has the kitchen under control, so he heads to the office.
He sorts through the bills, ones, fives, and tens. Someone threw in a fifty, whoa. But he’s disappointed at the total amount. Jack hoped for more, but it’s early days for an idea that some people like Paul Baxter think is foolish.
Jules peeks her head through the door. “Hey, Anna locked the door. My cousin is curious how much money we raised for veterans.”
“Meh. Enough to start the program, at least,” Jack says.
“Come on, let’s tell everyone!”
She drags him back out front, where a few soiled dishes are left at tables or booths. While Anna checks out the register, Keisha and Jack bus the tables. He breathes a sigh of relief, since that lack of sleep is taking its toll. Reese Baxter lingers near the front counter. He looks in his late twenties, sporting a five o’clock shadow in mid-afternoon. Not baby-faced like him. Jack hates that at twenty-four, he can’t grow a mustache or much of a beard even after a few months.
He’s only got a few scattered hairs on his chest, too. Damn.
Reese observes everything happening around him, quiet and still, from a stool at the far end. Cool and collected, but damned hot with that strong chin and those gorgeous blue eyes. His suit looks crisp, his white sleeves cuffed with gold links. Reese wears an expensive Cartier watch, too. And Italian loafers.
Jack knows that brand since he has a similar pair in his closet upstairs. He pushes his reading glasses on top of his head, stretches his back and arms, and exhales a deep breath. Jules looks ready to burst. She grabs a few more bills out of the bucket.
“Don’t forget to add these to the count.”
Anna and Keisha both use their fists to hammer out a drumroll on the counter. “So what’s the total from the donation bucket?” Jules asks. “Stop stalling. Tell us!”
“Two-hundred and forty, plus that extra three bucks.” Jack slides an arm around her and Keisha to form an impromptu line dance. “Not great, but we got time yet to collect more. Come on, kick a little.”
“Yeah, let’s do A Chorus Line,” she says with a giggle.
Keisha doubles over with laughter, her knot braids swinging. “Ain’t no way I’ma try that. Beyoncé’s moves, though, I can do.”
“I bet Jack could be a dancer in one of her videos, and he’s just as pretty,” Jules teases. “I’ve got a picture to prove he looks great in makeup and fishnet stockings.”
Jack sticks out his tongue. “Thought you trashed that photo.”
“Hey, Juli? Come here,” Reese says, beckoning.
“You dressed in drag for a party, Jack?” Keisha asks him. Anna crowds closer as well. “Come on, let’s see.”
“Jules took that photo and never sent—”
They all stop at her loud shriek. “Hey, everyone! My cousin Reese more than doubled the money donated today for veterans’ free breakfasts,” she says, waving a check and jumping up and down. “Now the fund has over five-hundred dollars. Fabulous!”
Jack stares at her cousin in shock. “Whoa. I oughta kiss you for that.”
Reese raises an eyebrow. “Never kissed a guy before.”
His deadpan tone is a tempting challenge. On impulse, Jack grabs him by his tie and tugs him down, one hand behind his head, then kisses his soft mouth. Startled by the guy’s woodsy scent, the intense shiver down his spine, and his quickening heartbeat, the feeling that everything surrounding them disappears, Jack backs away. Clears his throat nervously, given the sparking tension between them. Uh-oh. He’s been punched in the nose before after an unexpected kiss.
Jack grins, hoping Reese doesn’t lash out. “Can’t say that no more, huh?”
The guy flushes scarlet, matching his own flaming cheeks. Odd that Jules’s cousin doesn’t speak in turn. Jack scrubs damp palms on his jeans. Damn, that kiss was fantastic. Too brief as well, but he isn’t about to push his luck.
Author Bio
National bestselling author Meg Macy is a reader first and foremost. She’s always found comfort, adventure, and connection in books—which might explain why she now writes stories that offer all three. Best known for her Shamelessly Adorable Teddy Bear Mystery series (Kensington), several Christmas romance novellas with rescue pets, and as one-half of D.E. Ireland, the Agatha Award-nominated duo behind the Eliza Doolittle and Professor Higgins mysteries, Meg has long embraced the cozy end of fiction.
Now, she’s rewriting the rules with a new direction: LGBTQA+ romantic suspense —queer characters in a cozy setting, with spice, intrigue, and plenty of emotional payoff. M/M or polyamory, traditional or trailblazing, her stories are comfort reads with a twist.
Unique? Yep. Meg loves breaking the rules.
She lives with her writing companion, Mr. Whiskers the cat, and prefers pages to parties any day.
Linzi Day and her fantastic series Midlife Recorder are both new to me. And I’m so very excited and thrilled about this new author and urban fantasy adventure she’s sending me on.
It’s got everything I look for and love in main characters and world building. Both are complex and realistic in their respective forms and have so much potential for deeper exploration and growth.
It begins with Niki McKnight, an older woman who has just been widowed and is now mired down in loss. She’s cut herself off from her small group of friends, and she’s bullied by her boss at work. Only her small Maltese dog, Tilly, is keeping her grounded.
Day paints such a raw, painful portrait of a woman who is so despairing, so lost, unable to breathe, she’s incapable of movement. And at this point, she’s hit with one more awful event. A letter from a lawyer with a notice about her grandmother’s death and estate.
Niki is forced into a reluctant journey that becomes an emotional roller coaster of revelations, magical moments,and intense memories as everything Niki is forced to understand that she’s been living with a faded life.
Such a richly crafted, intelligent and inspiring story. Time after time, Nike comes to a point where she’s got to make new connections and decisions about her life, where old perceptions have to change and new ones formed. It’s a remarkable journey and the relationships she forges as she grows are ones the reader engages with as well.
So many amazing characters here to connect with and love. That’s including a sentient house whose storyline is as powerful as Niki’s. What I love is I think the author is giving the readers so many subtle details and elements to think about alongside the amazing storylines that are happening. Tiny little things I puzzle with as scenarios work themselves out. Love that.
The magical moments and systems are intriguing and I can’t wait to see how they expand as her powers as a Recorder grow.
This will definitely be a great favorite of mine. And Niki? She’s right there too!
There is a potential for romance but she’s a widow and the relationship was abusive. She’s in no hurry to go into another relationship.
She’s building something new here. That’s her focus. And I’m here for every single step of her journey.
It’s never too late to learn how to stand up for yourself
Niki McKnight has spent her entire adult life being bullied—first by her husband and then by her boss.
Recently widowed, she’s in dire need of an extreme life makeover. But she never expected it to come in the form of her beloved Gran leaving her a magical Celtic estate and a mysterious new job as a Recorder—whatever the hell that is!
She and Tilly, her adorable Bichon Frise, head to Scotland to claim her inheritance with no freaking clue what’s in store for them.
In Gretna Green, they meet a colourful cast of characters, including a sentient house, talking cat, Celtic god, Fae king and a sketchy lawyer.
Can the woman who wouldn’t stand up to her husband and was bullied by her boss find and wield the authority required to keep Vikings, Pict and Fae royalty in line?
With the help of her family’s psychic gift and some magic – she just might!
MidLife in Gretna Green is perfect for readers who’d enjoy an uplifting story of found family with cozy paranormal fantasy elements. Set in a magical house with a woman who wants to find and use her own voice and finally claim her power.
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 