It’s giveaway time! Last year I did book birthdays, and then last month, we didn’t have a giveaway because I didn’t know what to do. I thought about doing giveaways with books in alphabetical order or according to season or whatever, but nothing felt right.
Then I thought, why not do something with Holly. I have this split personality that I more often than not just mash together as one – I don’t have the brain capacity to pretend to be two different persons LOL.
Since Holly had one release a month last year, I thought I’d do a giveaway where I take Holly’s 2021 release of the month and match it with something similar from my backlist. It won’t be perfect matches, but similar themes, at least.
Since it now is February, Holly had a Valentine’s Day story – Be Still, My Heart. I don’t have a Valentine’s story, but in Be Still, My Heart we have Dimitri who suffers from PTSD. At first, I thought I’d match that with Once in May since John also has PTSD, but I changed my mind. I’m going with #Pictabook instead.
Jules in #Pictabook doesn’t have PTSD but he has some anxiety issues, and there is a book theme in both stories, so I thought they’d go well together.
If you want to join the draw, hop on over to kingsumo and type in your email address. You’re not subscribing to anything and make sure you use an address you check because it’s the one I’ll contact you on if you’re the winner.
The Books
Four years ago, Dimitri Petrov had his leg blown off by a landmine while in military service. Suffering from PTSD, he doesn’t do crowds, and he doesn’t do people. If he had his way, he’d never leave his house at all. Dimitri’s sister, Irina, runs a dating agency, and despite that it would be better for business if they had a pretty woman working the front desk, Irina insists Dimitri’s the man for the job.
In a whirlwind of pink shirts, flapping hands, and outrageous flirting enters Elian Hubert. Elian needs a date. Invited to speak on love through time in fiction at a Valentine dinner, there is no way he’s showing up alone. When Dimitri tells him The Single Pursuit is unable to help on such short notice, Elian suggests Dimitri be his date.
Dimitri doesn’t do dates, and he doesn’t do dinners, but Elian’s made him happier in the last few minutes than anyone’s been able to do in years. He might not do Valentine’s, and he might not do gatherings, but maybe he can do Elian … a favor and accompany him to his presentation? If things go too badly, he can always hide behind a curtain and pretend he’s somewhere else.
20,843 words
Jules Rose leads a quiet life working as a librarian. He’s happy to spend his spare time reading books and talking to his homicidal cat. What more could he wish for? But when his cozy Friday night is shattered by a friend request on his book community app, politeness gives him little choice but to accept. Jules doesn’t want to talk to anyone, but he can’t be rude. Besides, if he had to talk about something, books is the topic he’d pick.
Phoenix Ford is dyslexic and avoids everything that has to do with the written word, but when the colleague he’s trying to impress calls him stupid, he decides to convince the other man, he’s mistaken. All he needs is the right book to make him look smart, a perfect balance between intelligent and short. And who better to ask for help than a guy who loves books so much, he labeled one boner-worthy on a book app?
When Jules finds out Phoenix never has read a book from start to finish, he’s on a mission. He will find the right book, the book that will make Phoenix fall in love — with reading. Phoenix’s plan might have been to listen to the book Jules picked for him to impress his colleague, but that was before he got to know him. Talking about books is a sure way to Jules’ heart, but is it enough for him to agree to go on a date?
36,559 words
Ofelia Grand 