Another year, another list. Let’s do this!
If you haven’t read Erin McLellan‘s holiday novella, Stocking Stuffers, stop what you’re doing and get to it because the second book is right around the corner, just in time of Valentine’s Day.
Title: Candy Hearts
Series: So Over the Holidays #2
Release Date: February 3, 2020
Pre-Order Link: https://amzn.to/2QtVoCH
Universal Link: https://smarturl.it/candyheartskindle
Mechanic Benji Holiday is so over Valentine’s Day and men who don’t get him. A weekend getaway with friends to escape the holiday hubbub is exactly what he needs. But William O’Dare—a stern and silent nightclub owner with “Be My Valentine” practically stamped on his forehead—throws a wrench into Benji’s plans.
William has spent years focused on his career, and it has cost him friendships and love. Inexperienced in the business of romance, he’s on the hunt for the perfect partner, and he’s armed with specific criteria to guide him. But William didn’t expect a hunky mechanic wrapped in satin and lace to show up on his doorstep.
Unable to resist their attraction, Benji and William agree to be secret fake valentines for the weekend, but secrets have a way of getting out. William gets struck by Cupid’s arrow, and as the weekend winds down, he doesn’t want fake or secret. He wants Benji to be his valentine for real and for keeps.
Candy Hearts is a male/male Valentine’s Day novella featuring a house party power outage, meddling friends and siblings, naughty lingerie and naughtier toys, homemade Valentine’s Day cards, and a happily ever after.
A little birdie told me there will be a third book in this series, and I am SO here for it!
Next is a brand new author, Ash Knight, whose debut is a hurt/comfort MM romance with autism rep.
Title: Stay
Release Date: February 4, 2020
Pre-Order Link: amazon.com/dp/B083PP17D6
A quiet coffee shop gives two men who have lost too much a chance at love.
Joe Calloway has been on the run since he was sixteen, homeless and alone. He never lets anyone close. Between his traumatic past and his autism, he isn’t used to people taking the time to understand him.
Even so, when a stranger offers him a way to build a better life for himself, Joe finds the strength to go for it.
Madden Fields is fully devoted to his older sister, her autistic son, and his job as a nurse, but when he meets Joe, his carefully ordered life begins to pick up speed.
As their connection deepens, Madden realizes he’s going to have to hold on tight if he wants to be an anchor strong enough for Joe to stay.
A brand new series from Allison Temple? Hell yeah!
Set at a fictional queer film festival, Out & About looks at the lives and loves of the hard-working men trying to establish a footprint as the go-to destination for the world’s queer cinema. The goals are big, the hearts are bigger, and happy endings are guaranteed.
Title: Work-Love Balance
Series: Out & About #1
Release Date: March, 2020
The customer always comes first, but IT consultant Brady Jansen loves to hate Nash O’Hara. Except the fine line between hate and attraction means sometimes Brady can’t help it when he crosses the boundary from professional and personal.
Recently divorced, workaholic Nash knows he’s hard to please. When the smart-mouthed IT consultant he depends on to keep his office running offers a no-commitment hook up, it seems like exactly what he and Brady both need to get through a busy summer at work. No one has to know about their arrangement.
But the more time they spend together, the more secrets they have to keep from the people around them, and from each other. The lies are piling up, until it’s hard to tell who’s fooling who. If Brady and Nash want to find the balance between work and love, a little honesty will go a long way.Work-Love Balance is a 67k contemporary MM romance. It’s hot enough you’ll want to make sure the air conditioning is on in your cubicle, and heartfelt enough you’ll want to smack both characters before the end. HEA guaranteed.
Books 2 & 3 in the Out & About series to follow later in 2020.
2020 is shaping up to be The Year of the Series! If you follow Allie Therin on social media, you should be familiar with her hilarious stick figure comics featuring prickly Rory and sweet Arthur from her Magic in Manhattan series. I can’t get enough of those two. Check out her website for more info.
Title: Starcrossed
Series: Magic in Manhattan #2
Release Date: May 18, 2020
When everything they’ve built is threatened, only their bond remains…
New York, 1925
Psychometric Rory Brodigan’s life hasn’t been the same since the day he met Arthur Kenzie. Arthur’s continued quest to contain supernatural relics that pose a threat to the world has captured Rory’s imagination—and his heart. But Arthur’s upper-class upbringing still leaves Rory worried that he’ll never measure up, especially when Arthur’s aristocratic ex arrives in New York.
For Arthur, there’s only Rory. But keeping the man he’s fallen for safe is another matter altogether. When a group of ruthless paranormals throws the city into chaos, the two men’s strained relationship leaves Rory vulnerable to a monster from Arthur’s past.
With dark forces determined to tear them apart, Rory and Arthur will have to draw on every last bit of magic up their sleeves. And in the end, it’s the connection they’ve formed without magic that will be tested like never before.
I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know author Alice G. Holmes over the past several months. Their debut from Nine Star Press is going to be out of this world. They say it’s a work of passion and a bit of spite, and I just know it will be amazing.
Title: Sorcery of the Blood (subject to change)
Release Date: TDB (slated for Spring/Summer 2020)
I ADORE Alexis Hall‘s contemporary stories. One of my favorite all-time tropes is fake relationships. Give me a combination of the two and I am all there!
Title: Boyfriend Material
Release Date: July 7, 2020
Wanted:
One (fake) boyfriend
Practically perfect in every way
Luc O’Donnell is tangentially—and reluctantly—famous. His rock star parents split when he was young, and the father he’s never met spent the next twenty years cruising in and out of rehab. Now that his dad’s making a comeback, Luc’s back in the public eye, and one compromising photo is enough to ruin everything.
To clean up his image, Luc has to find a nice, normal relationship…and Oliver Blackwood is as nice and normal as they come. He’s a barrister, an ethical vegetarian, and he’s never inspired a moment of scandal in his life. In other words: perfect boyfriend material. Unfortunately apart from being gay, single, and really, really in need of a date for a big event, Luc and Oliver have nothing in common. So they strike a deal to be publicity-friendly (fake) boyfriends until the dust has settled. Then they can go their separate ways and pretend it never happened.
But the thing about fake-dating is that it can feel a lot like real-dating. And that’s when you get used to someone. Start falling for them. Don’t ever want to let them go.
