Check out the new Release “Search for the Lost“ by J. Scott Coatsworth & Kim Fielding (tour and excerpt from Other Worlds Ink Tours)

J. Scott Coatsworth and Kim Fielding has a new MM romantasy book out, Chaos and Order book two: Search for the Lost.

SOMETIMES ORDER BECOMES CHAOS…

Leopold Lane—after being “collected” for the Office of the Lost by Crispin Eladrin Moss’caladin—is tucked away cozily with his beloved office fae in their treehouse. Happily ever after, right? Not so fast.

Before Leo can even get settled, Crispin’s mother disappears, leaving Crispin in charge and his brother Aspin in a panic. As Queen of the Fae, she has also left them a little surprise: a bit of oxymoronic magic that turns their world upside down.

Crispin and Leo set off in search of the queen and a solution to their predicament. Aspin tags along, with some less-than-helpful friends. On the way they will discover important family secrets and learn new things about each other… and themselves. Nothing is simple when Chaos and Order get involved. Besides, it wouldn’t be a proper quest if it was straightforward, would it?

Series Blurb:

Crispin and Leopold are poorly matched. They’re nothing like one another – Crispin is Order personified, while Leo’s nothing but Chaos. So of course, they are perfect for each other. Now they just have to figure out why the Universe has thrust them together – and how not to get themselves killed (or murder each other) in the process.

Note: Book One is on sale everywhere for just 99¢ from October 1st-31st.

Universal Buy Link

Excerpt

A sharp banging at the door brought Crispin back to the present. Or rather, to the past, when Leo had been taken away from him by Juzir and Qyl.

They shared a look. Leo was clearly thinking the same thing.

Wordlessly, he gathered up his clothes and disappeared into the bathroom, snicking the lock closed.

We have a bathroom lock now? Crispin brushed away the thought. “Coming!”

He hoped Leo wasn’t in trouble again. After all, they’d fixed everything. There were no more flattened citizens aimlessly lying about. Well, except on Tarkon, where most of the wildlife and half of the people were naturally pretty flat. And they’d thrown a big party to smooth the waters with all their new friends, including the Mucklins, even though Molly the moth-woman had planned to feed Leo and Crispin to her children. But that was all in the past.

He opened the door, half expecting an angry mob. Instead it was his annoying older brother, Aspin, staring at him forlornly. “Hey, Elly….”

The old much-hated nickname—derived from his middle name, Eladrin—brought a rebuke to Crispin’s lips, but it died when he realized how dejected Aspin looked. “All clear!” he called over his shoulder. Crispin made way for Aspin to enter. “Come in. What’s wrong? Did something happen?”

Aspin nodded, looking as if he’d eaten a canary—or Minkis, Crispin’s pet squirrel.

“Who is it?” Leo had appeared, dressed formally for company—which for him meant flip-flops and a loose white T-shirt that he’d made a half-hearted attempt to tuck into his jeans. His hair, which usually stuck straight up, was slightly more tamed. “Oh, hey Aspin!”

Even though Aspin clearly despised him, Leo never held a grudge, one of the many things Crispin loved about him.

Aspin threw his arms around Crispin. “She’s gone, Elly. She’s gone.”

“Who?” But then it dawned on him: Aspin had only one her. And Aspin confirmed it with a single word. “Mother.”

Crispin stiffened. “Mother is dead?” Oh sordid heavens. I’m not ready to take over yet.

Aspin ended the embrace, returning to form. “No, you idiot. I said she was gone, not dead. Three days ago, and no one knows where she is or if she will come back. You have to help me find her.”

“Gone.” Crispin eased himself down onto their newest piece of furniture, the hideous old couch from Leo’s Earth apartment. Leo stared at him, blinking, then sat on the cushion next to him. “She’s gone. So that means….”

Aspin sank down onto one knee. “Hail to Crispin Eladrin Moss’caladin, King of the High Holy Fae.”

Oh flack. If there’s one thing that Crispin was positively absolutely emphatically five-thousand-percent not ready for, it was to take his mother’s throne. He had no aspirations to power, and he certainly didn’t share his mother’s proclivities for seducing mortals. Well, maybe just the one.

Author Bios

Scott lives with his husband Mark in a small Italian villa outside of Sacramento, California. He was indoctrinated into fantasy and sci fi by his mother at the tender age of nine. He devoured her library, but as he grew up, he wondered where all the people like him were.

He decided that if there weren’t queer characters in his favorite genres, he would remake them to his own ends.

A Rainbow Award winning author, he runs Queer Sci Fi, QueeRomance Ink, Liminal Fiction and Other Worlds Ink with Mark, sites that celebrate fiction reflecting queer reality, and was the committee chair for the Indie Authors Committee at the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) for almost three years.

Website: https://www.jscottcoatsworth.com

Facebook (personal): https://www.facebook.com/jscottcoatsworth

Facebook (author): https://www.facebook.com/jscottcoatsworthauthor/

Mastodon: https://mastodon.otherworldsink.com/@jscottcoatsworth

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/jscottcoatsworth.bsky.social

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jscottcoatsworth/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8392709.J_Scott_Coatsworth

QueeRomance Ink: https://www.queeromanceink.com/mbm-book-author/j-scott-coatsworth/

Liminal Fiction: https://www.limfic.com/mbm-book-author/j-scott-coatsworth/

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/J.-Scott-Coatsworth/e/B011AFO4OQ

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/j-scott-coatsworth

Kim Fielding is very pleased every time someone calls her eclectic. She writes fantasy, mm romance, science fiction, horror, and whatever else her muse demands.

Winner of the 2021 BookLife Prize for Fiction, a Lambda Award finalist and Foreword INDIE finalist, she has migrated back and forth across the western two-thirds of the United States and now lives in Oregon, where she will never have enough bookshelf space.

She’s a university professor who dreams of being able to travel and write full time. She also dreams of having two daughters who fully appreciate her, a husband who isn’t obsessed with football, and a house that cleans itself. Some dreams are more easily obtained than others.

Website: https://www.kfieldingwrites.com

Facebook (personal): https://www.facebook.com/pgerstenfeld

Facebook (author): https://www.facebook.com/KFieldingWrites

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/kfieldingwrites.bsky.social

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kfieldingwrites/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4105707.Kim_Fielding

QueeRomance Ink: https://www.queeromanceink.com/mbm-book-author/kim-fielding/

Review: A Match Made in Slumber (Marriage Market Misadventures) by Kasia Bacon

Rating: 4🌈

Part of a mult-author fantasy series centered around a Marriage Market and “forced marriage” trope, I picked up A Match Made in Slumber because of the author and the description, which seems to have found a good way around the forced proximity aspect in the series that’s just not my thing.

Bacon doesn’t disappoint here with a charming tale of two totally different men who have been haunting each other’s dreams each night. Each man from a different world or realm, although they’re both Elves. And each one differs in their lifestyle and personality. Except for the fact they appear to be fated for each other.

Commander Keălhem Reñyés is about to storm the castle with his men, a bloody battle sure to ensue. He’s been in a war for a long time and only his nightly dreams have kept him sane.

Elian Fountenblym, is an imaginative genius who creates wondrous things with his magical matchsticks. But his nightly fantasies and the dream man who haunts them are keeping him up and from being productive. And when his magic goes wrong, it’s Keălhem who suddenly appears before him.

Bacon does a terrific job of characterizing the various backgrounds of each man while making the chemistry between them feel absolutely believable.

And being able to see Keălhem find his own way into Elian’s life and the marketplace, using his own strengths and skills is such a great pleasure and part of the relationship and storyline.

Even the “forced proximity/marriage” aspect loses the “ick” factor for me when the author builds such a strong case for them being fated partners being pulled together.

There is a happily ever after for the couple and the ending is very satisfying.

For those readers like me who are a fan of the author, this Shared world universe stands outside of Bacon’s Order Universe. FYI.

Highly recommended.

Cover Art: Cormar Covers

Logo Design: Marek Frankowski

Map Design: JS Harker & Katey Hawthorne

Marriage Market Misadventures – 8 books

Romancing the Throne by Lisa Henry and Sara Honey

Berries and Blades by Katherine McIntyre

Quills and Starlight by Kota Quinn

The Rake and the Cake by Katey Hawthorne

Love and Clockwork by Essie Sloane

The Love Schematic by JS Harker

Tossing the Caber by jem zero

A Match Made in Slumber by Kasia Bacon

“Each book explores queer pairings across the gender spectrum (M/M, F/F, F/X) through light-hearted mishaps and shenanigans. Romance tropes include fake engagements, forced proximity, opposites attract, marriage of convenience, and grumpy/sunshine dynamics.”

Buy link

A Match Made in Slumber

Blurb

Kidnapping an interdimensional warlord is a crime. Marrying him is a get–out–of–dungeon–free card

Commander Keălhem Reñyés is mid-swing—about to storm a fortress—when the battlefield dissolves into the scent of candyfloss. Instead of headbutting an enemy, he crash-lands face-first into a heap of silk ribbon talismans, yanked across dimensions to Everend by an alchemist desperate for some shut-eye.

Elian Fountenblym, a genius matchstick maker with a cataclysmic track record of magical mishaps, is plagued by sensual dreams of a mysterious soldier. Every night, they leave him randy, pining and knackered—all in the run-up to the Great Midsummer Market—the busiest event of the year. To kill the longing once and for all, he invents the Match of Tranquillity, only to unwittingly trigger a forbidden summoning enchantment that delivers his dream man straight into his waking world. That’s one more whoopsie he could’ve done without.

With High Arbiter Cholerius—Elian’s former Academy rival—sniffing around for unauthorised magic, the stakes are high. Bound by the volatile constraints of the spell and forced to share a bed to keep Keălhem from flickering out of existence, the pair must turn to an ancient legal loophole to save Elian from a one-way trip to the dungeons on interdimensional kidnapping charges.

Navigating a fake marriage that begins to feel dangerously real, they have until the Midsummer Moon wanes to decide: part ways or let the flame of their accidental match burn forever?

A Match Made in Slumber is a low-angst, marriage-of-necessity, forced-proximity story featuring fated mates, accidental kidnapping and a stoic/chaotic dynamic. It is part of the Marriage Market Misadventures.

Marriage Market Misadventures is a light-hearted series of standalone queer romances where elves from all over the realm gather at the Everend Midsummer Markets to meet, match, and marry—with plenty of shenanigans along the way.

August 14, 2026

Language

‎English

Print length

224 pages

Part of series

Marriage Market Misadventures

Shared world universes

Review: Dreams and Reptiles (Foggy Basin Season 3) by R L Merrill

Rating: 3.75🌈

Dreams and Reptiles (Foggy Basin Season 3) by R L Merrill is a sweet contemporary small town romance. It’s one of a multi-author series now in its third called Foggy Basin, set in a California small town.

Dreams and Reptiles is an age gap, hurt/comfort, multicultural romance that includes characters who have been through many traumatizing experiences, including work place assault.

There’s a lot to like about this story. The characters are engaging. Francis, who has been through a traumatic experience with his work and his father, has bought a new home that will allow him to live his dream of a having artists retreat.

Next door is an older firefighter, Kendall, who runs a reptile sanctuary. Kendall’s a divorced father, who is trying to deal with his own family issues of a daughter in college, a demanding job and a sanctuary full of animals needing him.

I really enjoyed the secondary characters of Francis’s mother and aunt, and his cousin, Derek, the real estate agent who is soon to be involved in a throuple storyline in the next book.

Things that I would have liked to have seen more exploration here was the traumatic event that sent Francis to Foggy Basin and the aftermath with his father. That resolution was over in a couple of sentences. Plus the fact that the father continued to call Francis’ mother “his wife “ despite being divorced, that was a big flag here. Nothing about that aspect of the story felt particularly satisfying.

And to be honest, the entire relationship felt rushed between Francis, who was trying to set boundaries because of his trauma, and Kendall, who didn’t really deal well with his daughter’s return from college.

So, while the animals were adorable. The relationship between them sweet, I was left with a HFN and a timeline that sped forward without answering questions.

It’s was good reading. But not anything I’d revisit.

Foggy Basin Season Three (11 book series)

Keystrokes and Kittens by Gabbi Grey

Boss and Brat by Brina Brady

Silk and Honey by Kota Quinn

Fruit and Flash by R.A Frick

Dreams and Reptiles by R L Merrill

Flights and Sights by Riley Long

Bales and Brawn by Jem Wendal

Fibre and Ink by Jamie Sands

Herds and Hooves by B L Maxwell

Hammer and Hops by Lynn Michaels

Nicks and Cuts by TJ Nichols

Buy link

Part of: Foggy Basin Season Three (11 books)

Dreams and Reptiles: A Small Town MM Romance

Blurb

From the award-winning author of Under His Sheets and Once Upon a Goth Dog Solstice comes an age-gap, hurt/comfort romance between two men with bruised and battered hearts ready for a second chance at happiness in small-town California.

Francis

I refer to the events of the past year as My Demise, and now that I’ve received a significant settlement, I’m ready to move on with my life. While visiting the town of Foggy Basin for their Pride Festival, I fell in love with the vibe. Lots of folks move there to start over, so why shouldn’t I? My cousin Derek shows me a quirky property for sale just outside of town, and once I see it, inspiration hits. Why not create a retreat where folks can make their dreams a reality? I ignored mine for way too long, but not anymore, and if I happen to run into the hot firefighter I shared a kiss with at Pride, well, I’ll take it as a sign.

Kendall

My entire adult life, I’ve taken care of others, and now I’m ready to start the next phase of my journey in California. I’ve spent years learning about various species of reptiles, and it just so happens that Grandma left me the perfect place to build a sanctuary. Only, I soon discover that my passion project is a bit trickier than I thought it would be. My spirits lift, however, when the saucy young guy I met at Pride moves in next door to me. At first, I worry perhaps he’s one of those wealthy people who come to town and throw their money around, but when I learn the truth about his past, I’m determined to make him see just how deserving of love he is.

For Mature Readers due to sexual content, frisky aunties, reptilian escape artists, and meddling polyamorous firefighters.

Welcome to Foggy Basin. Nestled at the base of the foothills in Northern California, this small town is full of characters just waiting to tell you their story. Whether you’re just passing through or you decide to stay a while longer, you’ll always find a warm welcome from the townsfolk. From farmers and animal rescues to artists and small business owners. Foggy Basin has it all.

Celie Bay Publications LLC

Publication date

August 13, 2026

Accessibility

Learn more

Language

‎English

File size

4.8 MB

Screen Reader

Supported

Enhanced typesetting

Enabled

X-Ray

Not Enabled

Word Wise

Enabled

Print length

290 pages

Page Flip

Enabled

Part of series

Foggy Basin Season Three

Review: The Rut in the Road (Beyond the Veil #11) by K. M. Avery

Rating: 4.5🌈

Rayn’s journey has been one of the most haunting, and tormented of all of the characters to date in this immersive paranormal world where an Arcana virus swept across the world altering the human landscape forever. A large portion of the world’s population perished, others were left altered by the virus, becoming orcs, witches, weres of various species, zombies, vampires and other otherworldly beings. Quickly consigned to hospitals, or institutions or worse when society and families couldn’t accept them or the virus transitions were physically agonizing and long to take hold.

By book 11, Humans only rights groups, not just the extremists, are fighting to remove the rights the Nids have gained. It sounds very familiar. And the fear and ugly hate groups, the crimes against the Nids going unpunished, is so well written that it feels lifted from events today.

Rayn,older and working as a touch psychic in alongside Ward and Mason in BTV is still very much the under socialized, on the spectrum person he’s been even as he’s developed physically. His childhood, and its accompanying deep trauma and abuse along with his lack of knowledge of his own powers, still makes Rayn an introverted, emotionally awkward person. He’s trying to get people to accept him as adult and not as a fragile little traumatized boy most who know his history see him as.

Avery’s crafting of Rayn is immaculate, he is real in his skin, his efforts to navigate through the communication blocks and issues between Raj and himself are emotionally tough and difficult and feel absolutely credibly raw. Hart plays a great supporting role here, once again revealing himself to be a fine, intelligent caring man.

Raj has been a strong presence in the series and his involvement with Rayn starts in the previous book. But the issues between him and Rayn have been building and his extraordinary overprotective nature is a huge problem.

It’s addressed and seems to be an aspect that he needs to work through. Do I believe that it’s resolved? Not sure. I never know with Avery, maybe it is or maybe it isn’t. There’s one more book in Rayn’s trilogy and the human only faction element has just gotten more complicated and suspenseful by the end of this very amazing story.

I highly recommend reading it but it’s not something that you can read by itself. Each one should be read in the order that it was written for characters and overall plot development.

Amazing series and fantastic characters. One of the best paranormal group of storylines I’ve read. Certainly one that has the most impact on current events.

Series couples to date (not standalone and have to be read in the order they are written):

Highly recommended.

Beyond the Veil Series :

💀Ward’s story (1-3):

The Ghost in the Hall

The Boy in the Locked Room

The Skeleton Under the Stairs.

💀Hart’s story (4-6):

The Dog in the Alley

The Bones in the Yard

The Elf Beside Himself

💀Seth’s story (7-9):

The Turning of the Tables

The Badger in his Burrow

The Past in the Present

💀Rayn’s Story (10-12)

The Diamond in the Rough

The Rut in the Road

The Rock and the Hard Case (coming 2026)

💀Dan’s Story (13-15) Coming 2026-2027

Buy link

Book 11 of 11: Beyond the Veil

Blurb

I was finally getting my life together—I had a job, a boyfriend, was working on my college degree, and was learning to control both my magic and my psychic abilities. I’d reconnected with my sister and I was starting to think that I might actually be able to have something approaching a healthy adult life, even if it wasn’t going to be an even remotely normal one.

And then I hit a rut in the road.

Or, rather, people started hitting other people. What started as a single hit-and-run had become several of them, all targeting Arcanids, and I was being asked to get into the mind of the killer… although I’m starting to think that maybe there’s more than one. Tracking one killer is hard enough, but when you think there might be several, things get a lot messier.

Especially when your boyfriend is a federal agent who just got called in to take over the case. It’s the first time we’ve worked together since we started dating, and it’s definitely taking a toll. I don’t want to have to choose between keeping him and solving the murders.

July 30, 2026

Language

‎English

Print length

430 pages

Book 11 of 11

Beyond the Veil

Review: Sweet Something (Wood Hollow Stories Book 2) by Lane Hayes

Rating: 3.5🌈

Sweet Something is the second book in Lane Hayes’ Wood Hollow Stories, a contemporary romance novel set in a Vermont landscape of 4 small towns that are very close together and connected socially with each other.

Four Forest area of Vermont are : Wood Hollow, Elmwood, Pinecrest, and Fallbrook.

I loved This Guy and getting to know more about the community of Wood Hollow. But Sweet Something just doesn’t feel the same. It’s not as well executed or all the elements don’t add up to a warm hearted feel good story. Somehow it’s not realistic enough in the components that Hayes has written in to be a completely happy story.

Dexter the donut shop guy is very engaging. He’s outgoing, helps run and organizes the community flag football teams, and loves his adopted town. There is a side story about his dysfunctional family and controlling mother , a brain injury, ex wife, but it’s not well developed . So the scenes and resolution with his mother feel forced. Especially after so many years of pain and hard feelings between them.

Viggo the lumberjack is initially a character that is hard to connect with, especially after his aggressive angry introduction and interactions with Dexter. To be honest, that entire conversation and element would have had me with serious concerns about the entire situation with the surrogacy. She violated Dexter’s privacy rights. And sent an unknown man to scream and yell and threaten the person who will be the father of the baby. That’s never ok.

No matter how Hayes used this , it makes it seem as though surrogacy and the tight laws and regulations surrounding it are incredibly fluid. I would think if you were going to include such an important topic as surrogacy, you’d make sure every aspect of it was thoughtfully addressed. It never really felt like it was here. At least to me.

Anyway, I end up thinking about consequences, then other things like character dynamics, as well as other aspects of the story that don’t have a good flow. The entire Mother factor is another. She appears, often threatens, leaves. Epilogue. Everything is fine.

Plus his brain injury that’s mentioned, gives him headaches and forgotten again. Was there any lingering issues?

Anyway they all lived together HEA. It’s sweet and left me feeling less than satisfied.

Looking forward to the next one.

Cover Design by Sleepy Fox Studio

Four Forest towns of Vermont Universe – see note below

The Elmwood Stories (6 book series)- I love this series ❤️ it mentions the lumber mill and introduces the Four Forest towns. It’s hockey meets Vermont small town ❤️.

Wood Hollow Series:

This Guy #1

Sweet Something #2

Mountain Man #3 – Oct 12,2026

Four Forest area of Vermont are : Wood Hollow, Elmwood, Pinecrest, and Fallbrook. The Elmwood Stories ❤️ series is complete

Buy link

Book 2 of 3: Wood Hollow Stories

Blurb

The baker, the grumpy lumberjack, and a new dad journey…

Dexter

The donut business is booming in Wood Hollow, along with my flag football program. Now I’m ready to take on a new challenge—parenthood. See, I’ve always wanted to be a dad and it’s finally happening. Wood Hollow is the perfect place to raise a child. It’s quiet, safe, and the folks here are friendly.

One glaring exception is the grumpy lumberjack…who ends up being besties with my surrogate. What are the odds?

Yeah…this will be interesting.

Viggo

I’m a logger. I like wood. That’s it. Maybe that makes me a solitary person, but so what?

Unfortunately, I can’t ignore the handsome donut man’s new dad-to-be situation. Not when it concerns an old family friend.

Look, I don’t want to be involved, but I have no choice. And if that means I’ll have to step outside of my comfort zone and do people-y things to make sure Dexter is a going to be a good dad, so be it.

It doesn’t mean I like Dexter. He’s accidentally funny, kind of sweet, very hot, and—

Okay, fine.

Maybe I like him too much.

Sweet Something is an MM bisexual, grumpy/sunshine, small-town romance featuring Wood Hollow’s hottest baker and the grumpy lumberjack with a big heart.

July 21, 2026

Language

‎English

Print length

286 pages

Book 2 of 3

Wood Hollow Stories

Review: The Bull Rider and the Bookworm (Part of the Snow Creek Ranch Shared World) by V.L. Locey

Rating: 3.75🌈

The Bull Rider and the Bookworm by V.L. Locey is a lovely, very sweet contemporary cowboy romance. While it’s part of the Snow Creek Ranch series, it’s not necessary to have read any of these novels in order to understand and enjoy this book and characters.

I enjoyed reading about the characters of bookstore owner, Aubrey Lancombe and broken bull rider Hoyt Knox. Each one was delightfully engaging and interesting in their own right. Aubrey, especially, was a character I wish I could have gotten to know more about. His background, which is so fascinating, and the two animal companions, a cat and rooster, who I loved. This author did both of them so well, making Roberto, the Rooster, and the cat, Ruggerio, feel authentic.

Aubrey’s tiny cottage he’d just purchased , a grumpy handyman which we’d barely seen glimpses of and were getting to know, so many elements that we were intrigued by, and then the marvelous animals , they were all unfortunately forgotten somewhere later in the story. Disappeared. There was no room and that was both noteworthy and a shame.

Because it switched to Hoyt’s issues, his abusive dad and younger brother. And in a book of 199 pages, there was hardly any mention of the resolution of the issues that drove him away, whatever happened between his brother in the past, or anything else notable. It’s unfortunately glossed over. And these are important issues like parental responsibility, abuse, violence against children, alcohol abuse and other serious crimes or mistreatments/mental health issues.

Instead we’re superficially dealing with a sweet relationship and romantic partnership. Which is fine, but why load up on the other serious elements if they’re not going to be given the narrative exploration that they deserve. Just my opinion. Save that for a longer novel.

There’s a nice bit about a horse and ends with a HEA sort of finish.

Of course, in my head, I was thinking, who’s minding Aubrey’s store he just bought and opened. But again, that’s just me.

So I like the story but it left me wondering about far too many things, questions about the characters and storylines to feel satisfying.

Snow Creek Ranch (7 book series) by R.J. Scott and 6 other authors

Cover by L.C. Chase

Buy link

Part of: Snow Creek Ranch (7 books)

Blurb

Sometimes the wildest ride isn’t in the arena – it’s falling in love.

Bull rider Hoyt Knox has spent his life chasing applause, adrenaline, and the next eight-second ride. With his body starting to break down and sponsors pulling out, he finds himself facing a possible life change. Confused and hurting, he heads to Snow Creek Ranch to try his hand at something a little easier as he heals while trying to figure out what’s left for him besides a sore back and a fading spotlight.

Enter Aubrey Lancombe, a quiet, bookish man who’s just moved to Chance to escape the city life – and the loss of his beloved grandmother followed by a bad breakup – and finally open the bookstore of his dreams. Aubrey has always preferred words to people, quiet to chaos, and certainly has no time for cocky cowboys with something to prove.

When their worlds collide over a shared love of poetry they strike up a friendship that teeters on the edge of something else entirely. But Hoyt’s not out and Aubrey is scared to fall again. As his time at Snow Creek Ranch passes Hoyt must decide if he’s ready to hang up his spurs for good – or risk his heart on the bookworm who’s rewritten everything he thought he knew about love.

The Bull Rider and the Bookworm is a 58K opposites attract, age gap, gay MM contemporary western romance with a weary rodeo rider, a shy bookhound, a ranch that heals all manner of hurts, a gentleman rooster, a plethora of romantic poetry, and a shiny as a gold buckle happy ending.

Content Warning: This story has references to past sexual abuse, death of a parent, and suicidal thoughts.

date

July 8, 2026

Language

‎English

Print length

199 pages

Part of series

Snow Creek Ranch

Review: Fractured Doors and Forgotten Gods (Hidden Realms #1) by Alice Winters

Rating: 3.75🌈

Even with a nice twist at the end, Fractured Doors and Forgotten Gods (Hidden Realms #1) by Alice Winters was a story that just didn’t connect with me.

There’s many stories from this author I’ve found absolutely entertaining and some are in my reread piles, but the main characters, their dynamics between themselves and even those who they are forced into working with are such that I don’t enjoy reading their scenes or didn’t think their relationships felt believable.

Issues like a lack of communication of major issues, especially when Riley’s “secret” he’s not telling anyone/has told anyone smacks of martyrdom. The other issue is that Torin, the god swings emotionally from irritating arrogance to impulsive toddler to sexual being to instant love partner, all without a credible relationship built between the couple.

The story has some interesting mythical creatures, fantasy familiars and the twist plays into another mythology that will play out into the second book.

But I’m not sure Winters has made me care enough about the characters to go further with the series.

Still deciding.

Cover design by Natasha Snow Designs

Hidden Realms

Fractured Doors and Forgotten Gods #1

Timeless Doors and Captured Gods #2 – July 9,2026

Buy link

Book 1 of 2: Hidden Realms

Blurb

Riley

Trying to keep my familiar out of the meat display while shopping is the hardest part of my day… until someone drops a god right into my humdrum existence.

Torin, a massive man claiming to be a god, is unlike anyone I’ve ever met. He insists on learning English through adult graphic novels, believes the pizza delivery guy is an assassin, and thinks he can kick a subway into submission (talk about adding a bit of spice to my life, which has been sadly lacking since I left the Magical Interference Unit).

The handsome and strangely charismatic god drags me (literally) right into his problems, starting with a creature who wants to tear my head off, yet I find myself following along with his whims.

He knows something is wrong when Doors to another realm begin to open up, allowing an ominous power to get a foothold in our world… but I’m afraid this quirky god and I might be the only ones keeping this world from ending.

Oh joy.

Torin

I never expected that simply stepping through a Door into Riley’s world would introduce me to so many amazing curiosities, like pizza and burritos! Oh, and a pesky human who really should recognize that I’m a god of war and love—emphasis on the love.

But there’s more to Riley than meets the eye; why else would their special forces place me with a man who can borrow magic from others? My attempts to woo this mystifying human are thwarted at every turn (I doubt that has anything to do with me tossing him on a horse or taking over his bed).

As Riley and I grow closer, I realize that he might be the very person needed to save this realm… because what is coming for them is beyond anything they can comprehend… one even worse than the atrocity called an “escalator.”

Fractured Doors and Forgotten Gods is the first book in a series that has a continuing storyline.

June 2, 2026

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‎English

File size

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Book 1 of 2

Hidden Realms

Review: Devils and Deadly Deals (Hunters Hollow Book 4) by Arden Steele

Rating: 4.5🌈

Of the three series in Arden Steele’s connected universe, I find Hunter’s Hollow to be the most interesting. The characters have complex histories, and often dangerous pasts that follow them into their new lives here.

Much like the original series, each has a fated mate, instant connection relationship story between the two main characters. What I appreciated here was that there wasn’t an instant love or in heat sort of connection. More an acknowledgment of its existence and let’s see what happens type of thing. A very different kind of story from previous books and it makes sense given the dramatic circumstances under which both Sammy and Dominic Rivas are operating. Each has their own individual investigations that need to be conducted, highly dangerous ones with short time frames.

The suspense and emotional moments are well written and the drama is ramped up to new levels as each character becomes more invested in each other’s lives and the outcome of their quests.

I think this is one of the best of the series. A excellent story and another recommendation.

Cover Art by Poisoned Ink Studios

Another recommendation!

Check out the full list of same universe connected/crossover series and stories below.

Blackhaven Manor (14 book series):

Purrfect Harmony #1
Night and Fae #2
Dragon It Out #3
Grin and Bear It #4
Pixie Little Liar #5
Dead Over Heals #6
Silent Knight #7
Pain in the Ice #8
Walking a Tight Rope #9
Royally Flocked #10
What The Hex? #11
Dewitched #12
Draken the Rules #13
Bitten in Stone #14

Sequel/adjacent series:

Hunter’s Hollow:

Angels and Anarchy #1
Beauty and Bad Blood #2
Curses and Casualties #3
Devils and Deadly Deals #4

Happily Ever Afterlife (3 book series):

Definitely Dead #1

Dead Ringer #2

Dead to Rights #3

Buy link

Book 4 of 4: Hunters Hollow

Blurb

Everyone in Hunters Hollow has a story. Some are running from a past that won’t stay buried. Others are searching for a new beginning. For Sammy Leeds, the truth resides somewhere in between.

Opening a bakery in the bayou was supposed to be the first chapter of his happily ever after, and for a while, it worked. Until a single phone call reminds him that family is complicated and his freedom is only a temporary reprieve.

Maybe trying to start a new life on the smoldering ashes of his old one hadn’t been the best idea.

Dominic Rivas doesn’t make promises, and he damn sure doesn’t make mistakes. Yet the moment Sammy enters his life, he’s suddenly in danger of doing both. Alpha to a pack of hardened outcasts, he’s built a reputation on a foundation of bad ideas, but falling for a changeling with trusting eyes and a sweet smile might be his worst one yet.

Callous. Remorseless. Savage. He knows what people say about him, and frankly, they aren’t wrong. While gentleness and mercy don’t come naturally, things like loyalty and integrity run as deep as his magical roots. Nobody messes with the people he loves and lives to talk about it.

Sammy needed a hero. Instead, he got a wolf with trust issues and violent tendencies.

But with fear mounting and time running out, he’s just desperate enough to make a deal with the devil.

Peccavi Press

Publication date

May 16, 2026

Language

‎English

Print length

241 pages

Book 4 of 4

Hunters Hollow

Review: Masquerade (Knight and Daywalker Book 3) by Sam Burns

Rating: 3.75🌈

Masquerade finishes out the urban fantasy trilogy of Knight and Daywalker by Sam Burns and I have to admit it’s a little underwhelming.

Both Smokescreen and Façade were excellent. The plots were very well executed and the characters were engaging and the growing relationships between Flynn Knight and his day walker vampire boyfriend, Davin Byrne, just were so well done. And that goes for the intriguing side characters like the scary void kitten Twist and the paranormal siblings who run the confectionery shop. Love them.

But this story feels rushed. As though Burns had so many elements and unfinished storylines that had big implications that were never really explored but had to go into this book anyway. Some were lovely while introducing new characters.

But most of all the storylines were just too one layered. There was no substance to them.

I suppose that’s because there’s no page time for many main series plots to be developed and executed at the last book, often in the very last chapters. So it feels underwhelming and certainly rushed into an ending where the villain gets his comeuppance, the characters their happy ending but the reader isn’t exactly satisfied.

Spoilers. Don’t read further if you don’t want to know.

The villain is revealed, as is his longtime nefarious plan that heinously threatens to destroy all dragons and a terrible magical machine. None of these are given much as far as depth of in storyline knowledge or exploration of any other laid out foundation. It’s more here they are or someone says they exist. It’s very superficial.

The “dramatic rescue” as well as the preceding arrival of Flynn’s father, missing for decades, again given short shrift narratively speaking. The father is used basically to give Flynn’s mother a HEA, but we know nothing about him or his captivity. He appeared and it’s happy family once again.

The rescue and fight isn’t much fun. No one lives up to any expectations of power or possible magical growth. Even Twist falls short. And worse, when the cells , full of traumatized broken dragons, plus others who’s got wounds to be healed, instead of dealing directly with their injuries, Flynn’s dithering about in his head with “stuff “, for pages. Which makes me lose interest and patience.

Burns has made a big deal of Flynn being neurodivergent, but , imo, this is the worst decision to make narratively in the scene. The dragons and others are suffering and Flynn’s not paying attention to what’s happening instead of getting things done right away. It’s Davin to the rescue instead.

I believe had this been stretched out to four books instead of cramming everything together into a trilogy, things might have been better handled. Or maybe not.

But as is, Masquerade as a finale and a story is too rushed and underdeveloped. Which is unfortunate because this had so much potential to be outstanding.

Read them in the order they were written.

Knight and Daywalker :

Smokescreen #1
Façade #2
Masquerade #3 – finale

Same universe as

THE FANTASTIC FLUKE-complete ❤️

The Fantastic Fluke

Fluke and the Faithless Father

Fluke and the Faultline Fiasco

Fluke and the Frontier Farce

Fluke and the Fantastic Finale

Content Warning: gruesome deaths described in detail, violence, fraught parental relationships, serial killer & kidnapping (prior to book, off-page).

Buy link

Book 3 of 3: Knight & Daywalker

Blurb

Flynn is just out here trying to live his #bestlife. He’s feeding his cat, running his business, and dating his boyfriend . . . well, trying to date his boyfriend. Every time things start to get intimate, something seems to interrupt them, no matter where they are or how many cell phones they turn off.

When the interruption is Flynn’s cousin, having been attacked and drained of energy, Flynn realizes that the monster who’s been killing dragons isn’t just a distant thing, but a clear and present threat.

But can a man who’s always let other people fight his battles handle his own this time?

Masquerade is the final book in the Knight & Daywalker series, starring one scatterbrained detective, a spoiled kitten, a frustrated daywalking boyfriend who just wants a nice quiet dinner, the world’s most overprotective mother, and whole cast of other friends Flynn has made along the way, including a surprise or two.

Review: A Beginner’s Guide to Sea Monsters, Messenger Angels, and Other Management Mishaps (Demonic Disasters and Afterlife Adventures #5) by Shannon Mae

Rating: 4🌈

The penultimate (so the author says) book in this delightful paranormal romance series, Mae is looking towards tying up several important series storylines by bringing back secondary characters from previous stories. The purpose of which is to connect them together with their soulmate by way of elevating them into main character roles.

Gabriel,the tightly wrapped, overly worked, stressed out Divine Herald, the messenger of the Lord, the Angel of Revelation we’ve known before is now ready for a new path. Mae’s charted a sexy, joyful story for Gabriel here. It’s one of discovery and insight for himself and his afterlife. We feel so happy for him. And his partner.

That’s the demon Leviathan aka Levi , a sea demon/monster who has also made appearances in preceding books. Levi is a sexy tentacled delight of a demon and his development along side his relationship with Gabriel is wonderful to read.

The story also brings in important elements and characters that will help finish off the series in the concluding storylines. I’m really excited to see what this will entail.

Shannon Mae has written a highly entertaining, happy and sexy story. It’s a terrific read and one I’m happy to recommend.

Cover artwork by, Grimm Kat Cover assembly by, Tammy, Aspen Tree E.A.S.

Demonic Disasters and Afterlife Adventures:

Demonic Disasters and Afterlife Adventures: (Paranormal Romance ):

🔷 A Beginner’s Guide to Death, Demons, and Other Afterlife Disasters #1

🔷A Beginner’s Guide to Mistakenly Summoned Demons and Other Misadventures #2

🔷A Beginner’s Guide to Revenge, Chaos, and Other Absurd Escapades #3

🔷A Beginner’s Guide to Ghosts, Fallen Angels, and Other Afterlifers #4

🔷A Beginner’s Guide to Sea Monsters, Messenger Angels, and Other Management Mishaps (Demonic Disasters and Afterlife Adventures #5)

Demonic Disasters and Afterlife Adventures Novellas:

🔷A Beginner’s Guide to Christmas Miracles (A Holiday Novella)

🔷A Beginner’s Guide to the Care and Feeding of Pet Demons

🔷A Beginner’s Guide to Demonic Possessions

Demonic Disasters and

Afterlife Adventures Collections: 🔷Demonic Disasters and Afterlife Adventures Collection 1

Hellhounds of Paradise Falls -sequel series:

How to Flirt with a Hellhound #1 – (Coming Soon)

Buy link

A Beginner’s Guide to Sea Monsters, Messenger Angels, and Other Management Mishaps (Demonic Disasters and Afterlife Adventures Book 8)

Blurb

Gabriel:

Gabriel is the Divine Herald, the messenger of the Lord, the Angel of Revelation… and he’s currently losing ground to social media. (Really, how is he supposed to compete with that ticking app?) When the afterlife’s management team forces him into a “professional development partnership” with a demon, Gabriel is horrified—until he meets Leviathan, a sea monster with tattoos, tentacles, and a knack for helping him connect with mortals.

Levi:

Leviathan has no interest in going back to the underworld. He’d much rather spend his time topside with his octopus sidekick and now, apparently, one very uptight angel. Teaching Gabriel about mortal pleasures—food, coffee, books, and other things (that require less clothes)—is the best adventure Levi’s had in centuries.

But as they both start to enjoy their unexpected partnership, one problem remains: what happens when the leadership team decides the partnership is over? Levi isn’t about to give up his angel, and Gabriel isn’t sure he wants to return to Heaven without his demon.

Tags: Featuring one grumpy angel and one cheery sea monster demon; accidental stroke of genius from the leadership team (very accidental); Mt. Everest is overrated, but mortal coffee is divine; even angels enjoy a good book; Gabriel discovers the joys of food, and other mortal pleasures (wink, wink); Levi has tentacles, and Gabriel definitely approves.

December 1, 2025

Language

‎English

Print length

262 pages

Book 8 of 8

Demonic Disasters and Afterlife Adventures

Note: Book One is on sale everywhere for just 99¢ from October 1st-31st.

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