Author: Ofelia Gränd

Guest Post | Operation Toy Rescue by Sarah Hadley Brook

~ Ofelia Gränd ~ Leave a comment

Guest-Post

Today, we have Sarah Hadley Brook on a visit. She’s here to talk about her story, Operation Toy Rescue – the title makes me smile. So read on, and see what she has to say.

Holiday Traditions

A big thank you to Ofelia Grand for hosting me today! I love writing about the holidays.

I admit it. I’m a cocoa-drinking, holiday-movie-watching, cookie-baking, Christmas-caroling, Rudolph-loving fanatic. As soon as Thanksgiving rolls around, the holiday cookie cutters are out and I’m scrolling through my recipes on Pinterest.

Tradition is comfort for me and each year I have a list of must-watch movies that put me in the holiday movie. I’m not ashamed to admit White Christmas plays on a continuous loop in December. Or that I search daily for A Very Brady Christmas all season long until I finally find it. (I know, I really should buy it, but I think half the fun is looking for it!)

Of course, the classic Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is an absolute must. It may be a children’s show, but I adore the magic of the story. The Island of Misfit Toys was an inspiration for my book.

Operation Toy Rescue looks at the lives of elves at the North Pole—in a decidedly more adult perspective, of course. I wondered, what would happen to a playboy if Santa banished him from the North Pole?

Snow Hope Island certainly doesn’t have the same partying scenes the North Pole does, and Jules Evergreen thinks he’s going to die of boredom. When he meets his boring, by-the-book boss, Felix, he feels a jolt of attraction, but knows a hot fling is out of the question. No parties, no hot sex… what is he going to do to pass the time?

Maybe it’s the setting of the island, the kindness of his new coworkers, or getting to know Felix, but the true holiday spirit manages to find its way into Jules’ heart. For the first time in his life, something else becomes more important to him than his own desires. And Felix definitely takes notice. But is it enough to bring them together?

I had the best time writing this story and hope you enjoy it!

Operation-Toy-Rescue-text

https://books2read.com/u/3krMQW

Excerpt:

Jules popped a pepperoni pizza into the oven and settled into his recliner with the puppy in his arms, eager to watch the news and relax. He’d have to figure out what to do with her in the morning. He wasn’t even sure who to notify. The puppy snorted, and he petted her soft fur, feeling her sink against his chest. He grinned. It wasn’t a bad way to end the day. A warm puppy. Pizza. Maybe he’d call his buddy, Emmanuel, and check out how things were going at the North Pole.

Things were usually ramping up by then. The contracts with toy stores had to be completed soon in order to make sure the Big Guy had enough to deliver across the globe. The reindeer were in full workout mode, ready for the one night of the year they actually worked. Jules chuckled. Those guys had it easy. They were spoiled rotten all year, but he had to admit, they worked their asses off on Christmas Eve.

The elves would be reviewing letters to Santa, sorting through the “Naughty” and “Nice” lists. Another news flash: Santa rarely put anyone on the “Naughty” list. Not a child, anyway—he believed everyone deserved second chances. However, he’d been known to put a few teenagers on the list. One too many tacky Santa memes and it pissed off the Big Guy.

OperationToyRescueIf only Santa would have applied that chance to Jules, he wouldn’t be stuck on the miserable island. He sighed and silently chastised himself. That wasn’t really fair to the Big Guy. Over the years, he’d given Jules more than enough chances to do the right thing, yet he always made the wrong choice. Ending up on Snow Hope was his own fault, and even though it was hard to swallow, Jules knew it.

The timer on the oven beeped. Starving, Jules hurried to take out the pizza, sleepy puppy still in hand. He’d worked through lunch, even when Eve had tried to get him to take a break, because he’d wanted to finish all the new shipments. Admittedly, he also wanted to show Felix he wasn’t a goof-off and could complete a task on time and do a good job. He was pretty sure Felix knew why Jules had been shuffled to the island and, for the first time, his reputation bothered him. He didn’t know why he cared what Felix thought, but for some reason, he did.

And that just pissed him off more.

He cut the pizza and piled a couple of slices onto a plate before resettling in the recliner. Eating dinner alone in front of the TV had become his new norm, and as much as he preferred his privacy, he felt a little lonely. The puppy had already drifted off to sleep on his chest and he smiled. For the first time since arriving on the island, Jules had a dinner companion.

About Sarah:

Sarah Hadley Brook lives smack-dab in the middle of the Heartland and is the mother of two wonderful young men, as well as two cats. During the day, she works in the non-profit world, but reserves evenings for her hobby-turned-passion of writing, letting the characters she conjures up in her mind take the lead and show her where the story will go. When not working or writing, she can be found reading, working on dollhouses, trying her hand at new recipes, or watching old movies and musicals. In her ideal world, Christmas would come at least twice a year, Rock Hudson and Doris Day would have co-starred in more than three movies, and chocolate would be a daily necessity to live. She dreams of traveling to Scotland some day and visiting the places her ancestors lived. Sarah believes in “Happily Ever After” and strives to ensure her characters find their own happiness in love and life.

Website: www.sarahhadleybrookwrites.com
Email: contact@sarahhadleybrookwrites.com
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X-mas Read | Once in a Snowstorm

~ Ofelia Gränd ~ 2 Comments

X-mas-read

There isn’t anyone visiting today, so I thought I’d share a little about Once in a Snowstorm. 

This was a long time ago, and it was a spur of the moment thing. It’s crazy, becuase I know I wrote on this story during NaNo, so in November 2015, and it was released on December 8th the same year. On January 8th 2016, one month later, I gave birth to my youngest daughter. How the heck did I have the energy to write? I suspect it was the only thing I had the energy to do.

Anyway, Once in a Snowstorm is a bit over the top… you know, a bit much LOL. I had this idea of cramming as many of the M/M romance tropes out there into one story as possible. 

It started as a joke. I was chatting with Al Stewart and Amy Spector – I still do on a daily basis – and we were having a laugh about how every character was named Tristan or Aiden, how responsive ever bottom was, and how he always has green eyes, and so on and so on – I give you Aiden and Tristan LOL

Avoid Tourist Traps

Excerpt:

“Og!” The dark and the snowflakes made it hard to see. Nothing but snow-covered tree trunks and not a dog to be found.

Another bark came from close by. Tristan squinted into the woods. Og’s bright eyes glowed in the dark. A white-spotted dog was not easy to locate when everything was white-spotted, but now Tristan knew what he was looking at, he could see that Og was indeed trapped. A dark figure held on to his collar, not that Og appeared to be bothered, judging by the happy thump of his tail against the snow, creating a white cloud around both him and the person on the ground.

Tristan took a careful step closer. His grip on the shovel tightened. What kind of lunatic comes into the woods in weather like this?

“Hello?” Tristan stopped a couple of metres away from the body—a man, he saw now—and waited for a response. Only a muffled groan came. Fuck!

Tristan dropped the shovel and hurried forward to the man and shook him lightly. “Hey. Come on, wake up.” The eyelids fluttered as the man tried to open his eyes. Tristan touched his forehead—icy cold. The man was almost completely covered in snow and his hair was wet—Tristan assumed his clothes were, too. Without thinking, he reached for the man’s hand, shook loose his fingers from Og’s collar, and started to pull him out of the snow.

He sighed as he took in the trendy jeans and sneakers. Why can’t people dress according to the weather? If Og hadn’t found him, he’d have frozen to death—he wouldn’t look so pretty in his designer clothes in a casket.

He hefted the man up in a fireman’s lift and started making his way towards the cabin. It was like carrying an ice block. He guessed he should be pleased about the man being short and small framed. His curly dark hair flopped around his face with each step Tristan took.

They weren’t far from the cabin, but ploughing through the snow with the extra weight of the man and Og running around his legs had Tristan sweating and out of breath in no time at all. He grunted as he sank knee-deep into the snow, mentally cursing the stupid man for walking into his forest. He couldn’t stay angry, though. He worried about the man being injured. It would be impossible to get an ambulance out here, and Tristan only had a basic knowledge of first aid. First, he needed to get him out of his wet clothes, that much he knew. Hypothermia was serious business.

Once-in-a-SnowstormDaring a snowstorm might not be the smartest thing Aiden has ever done, but he can’t stand being in his flat a moment longer. With only three days to Christmas, he doesn’t want to be alone. He wants a place to belong, wants people around him who won’t look down on him. He might not find all that at his mother’s place, but at least it’s better than being alone in the city. If he can make it there, that is.

Tristan is looking forward to a quiet night in front of the TV, but instead, he has to save an idiot in designer clothes from freezing to death in his forest. Tristan tries not to notice the man’s good looks, just like he has tried not to notice any man’s good looks for the last seven years. He knows where relationships go and is far better off living alone, with his dog, in his cabin.

Aiden is driving Tristan mad with his bratty comments and irresponsible ways, and Aiden is going crazy from Tristan’s judgmental attitude. Luckily, in a few days, the weather will clear up, and the two men won’t have to be together any longer. But will a few steamy nights with the grumpy lumberjack change Aiden’s mind about wanting to leave? And will Tristan still want to go back to his peaceful, predictable life without fear of getting his heart broken?

books2read.com/Snowstorm

Guest Post | Third Time’s the Charm by Diana Waters

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Guest-Post

You’re not bored with Christmas reads yet, are you? Today, Diana Waters is here to talk about her upcoming release Third Time’s the Charm.  

As an empath, Alek is ironically used to shutting people out—until, several days before Christmas, a one-night stand forces him to let someone in.

While I don’t typically write holiday-centric stories, I was inspired to write this short (approx. 6,400 words) as a bit of a change of pace. I adore fictional world fantasy M/M romance, but I also dabble in paranormal M/M – namely, present-day happenings set in modern times but with a bit of the otherworldly thrown in. At its heart, Third Time’s the Charm is about two young men meeting for the first and, by arrangement, supposedly only time. One is an artist who has learned out of habit and circumstance to engage only in short-term and emotionally-devoid relationships. The other is a college student who, despite his relative inexperience, knows enough to realize he’s in need of something more than his previous encounters have offered. Sparks fly in this short but sizzling December story, now available for pre-order with eXtasy Books.

Thank you for reading and happy Christmas, Hanukkah, Yule, Kwanzaa, or anything else to all who celebrate!

– Diana

Excerpt

When Jasper, his voice sounding strained even to himself, asked for his wrists to be bound, Alek used a silk wrapping from a deck of Tarot cards on a shelf above the bed. It looped around Jasper’s wrists once, twice, three times before it became short enough to attach to the wrought iron bed frame.

“Are you sure you want this?” Alek didn’t sound worried, exactly—more like he just needed to be absolutely certain that Jasper understood, that he really didn’t want to back out at the last minute.

Despite the almost painful pounding of his heart, Jasper was sure. Alek was still half-clothed, his bare chest glowing richly in the lamplight. The tattoo curling over his left shoulder blade seemed to take on a sinuous life of its own. He was pale and long-limbed and self-assured, and here Jasper was, splayed beneath him naked and exposed like a sacrificial offering, arms stretched out over and behind him. Helpless. He was helpless, he reminded himself. The thought was at once both disconcerting and arousing.

Oh, Jasper was nervous all right—his heartbeat so rapid it was already making it hard to breathe—but even so, he knew exactly what it was he wanted. This time, it finally felt right.

He opened his mouth.

“Yes.”

Third Time's The Charm - Diana Waters

Being an empath is a lonely business, and Alek’s one-night stands do little to ease that feeling, even if he isn’t looking for anything more. He prefers to bury himself in his artwork anyway, or so he tells himself. That is until a young man named Jasper appears on his doorstep one December evening, threatening Alek’s careful control and making him want more than he’s ever dared ask for. Meanwhile, Jasper’s only two previous sexual encounters have made him more wary than hopeful—but tonight, he, too, may be getting more than he bargained for.

Third Time’s the Charm is now available for pre-order exclusively on the publisher’s site, eXtasy Books. It’s scheduled for release December 25, 2020 and will become available on Amazon one week later. https://www.extasybooks.com/diana-waters/978-1-4874-3137-2-third-times-the-charm/

About Diana

Diana is a New Zealand M/M romance author currently residing in New York. However, she has also lived and worked for several years in Japan and several months in Thailand. She has no idea where in the world she’ll be this time next year and is pretty okay with that. Other than reading and writing, her main passions include international travel, amateur photography, and competitive swimming.

Author Website: https://www.dianawaters.com/
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Diana-Waters/e/B07T61DMGX
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/diana-waters
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Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/diana.c.waters