#PictaBook | The Empty Egg

January 24, 2021January 24, 2021 ~ Ofelia Gränd ~ 2 Comments

A picture says more than a thousand words. Recommend books using pictures and hashtags to tell us what you liked and didn’t like about it

On February 20th, #PictaBook will be released. In #PictaBook we have Jules, my favourite librarian of all times, and Phoenix, and adorable carpenter who you sometimes want to hit with the books from the library LOL

No, Nix is very dear to me too.

In short, Nix thinks he’s in love with his colleague, but Kyle, the colleague, says that he is too stupid to date. To prove him wrong, Nix decides to read some books. The only problem is that he’s dyslexic and has never really read anything.

He discovers that Kyle is on an app called PictaBook, and creates an account.

That’s how he first makes contact with Jules.

I thought I’d share a few snippets of how it’s going for Nix on his quest to impress Kyle through books the coming weeks. The first book that catches his attention is The Empty Egg.

The Empty Egg

Excerpt:

Jules Rose took a sip of his red wine and scrolled through his PictaBook feed. There were several new books, and he made a note of checking if they’d be available to order for the library where he worked. Not all books were, especially not in niche genres.

The speech bubble in the right hand corner showed someone had commented or liked one of his reviews. It had turned to green. Jules’ heart sped up.

He liked PictaBook because it was simple, and it was about books, so what was not to like? But the main reason he liked it was because no one tried to interact with him. He had approved no one for personal messages, and he’d searched a long time for a way to remove people’s ability to comment on his reviews, but apparently there was no such option.

Staring at the green speech bubble, he blew out a breath and tapped on it. SexyDoornail69 has liked your review of The Empty Egg. Jules frowned. He couldn’t remember that book, and wanted to get back to the one he was reading.

Closing PictaBook, he opened his reading app, took another sip of wine, and popped a piece of chocolate into his mouth. He loved Friday nights—wine, chocolate, and a book were all he needed in life.

As he was about to open the book, another notification from PictaBook showed at the top. SexyDoornail69 commented on your review. It stayed there for a few seconds before it disappeared, leaving the screen free of interruptions. Damn.

For too long, Jules held his breath. He didn’t want anyone to comment on his reviews, but it would be rude not to reply, wouldn’t it?

He opened PictaBook again and clicked on the speech bubble. SexyDoornail69 had commented on The Empty Egg. Jules went to check. The picture he’d uploaded was of a lumberjack, and the hashtags he’d used were: #MMRomance #Contemporary #Lumbersexual #OppositesAttract #EstablishedCouple #Fetish #DualPOV #ShortAndSweet #BonerWorthy.

Ah, he remembered it now, but it had been years since he’d read it. A blush crawled up his cheeks as he read the comment, and he quickly took a sip of wine to calm down.

SexyDoornail69: Hi, ReadingInACorner! Love the hashtags. How boner worthy are we talking?

Jules took a long, deep breath, and hit the reply arrow.

ReadingInACorner: Read it and find out, though read the first book in the series first.

He closed the app and put away the phone as if it had burned his fingers. Standing, he righted his glasses and took more deep breaths to calm his racing heart. Booksy, his beloved, super lazy and slightly murderous cat, was resting in his usual spot on the windowsill in the bedroom, and Jules went to pick him up.

Pre-order in the JMS shop (20% off)

pictabook (small) 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?

Cover Reveal | #PictaBook

January 11, 2021January 11, 2021 ~ Ofelia Gränd ~ 2 Comments

Cover-Reveal
I feel like there are a lot of cover reveals these days, but can you guess what appeared in my inbox this morning? You guessed it! A cover! LOL

#Pictabook will be released on February 20th, and I told my Facebook group earlier today that it’s my favourite of all the stories I wrote in 2020. It is.

Phoenix and Jules are very dear to me – Jules in particular since he’s a kindred spirit LOL.

#Pictabook is part of an in-house call from JMS Books called #Love where all stories are about finding love online.

CoverReveal

The characters in the #Love stories can communicate with their partners on an existing platform or we could choose to make one up. I made one up. Think Goodreads, but without reviews. On PictaBook, people review their book with an image and hashtags – no text.

I wrote a post back in October when I signed the contract, where you get a peek of how it works.

Are you ready to see the cover? I think it’s cute, and the colours almost match the PictaBook logo – almost LOL

pictabook (small)

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.

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?

January Giveaway

January 1, 2021January 2, 2021 ~ Ofelia Gränd ~ 18 Comments

Giveaway!

Happy New Year!

I thought we’d start the year with a giveaway. I had this idea of having monthly giveaways throughout the year.

That’s actually a lie. If you follow my Facebook page, you might have noticed that I shared a snippet from a book every Tuesday during 2020 except for a few weeks toward the end of the year when I ran out of books. I planned to do something similar this year, but post my books on their birthday.

Then, when I started making lists of when every book was published, I change my mind. Isn’t giveaways more fun? I think so.

How does it work?

At the beginning of each month, I’ll publish a post with the books having been released that month in the past. A week later, I’ll randomly pick a winner from the comments below who gets ebook copies of that month’s books.

January only has two books. Apparently, I haven’t released a lot at the beginning of the year. But we have Worth His Salt and Scary Gary, so two paranormal short stories.

Worth His Salt is a tattooed corpse story which is a series I’ve been writing with Amy Spector. It’s a series, and yet the books have nothing in common. The only thing binding them together is that in each book, a body will appear, and that body is the same in every story.

Worth His Salt is about Eldred Henstare. He’s a not so powerful witch, who’s in charge of keeping spirits away from his city – something he isn’t very good at. It’s the call of a spirit that leads him to meet Mo.

Energy more intense than anything he’d experienced before smashed into him and he stumbled backwards. He’d heard tales of spirits trying to incapacitate the guardian to be able to roam freely in a region, but those were no ordinary spirits.

“Shit.” Eldred rubbed his heart. The area between his eyebrows burned despite the cold, and he flung out whatever energy he had stored to protect his aura.

Something was trying to force itself into his mind.

“Who are you?”

Eldred yelped, there was no better word for it. To his right, a dark, towering figure had appeared out of nowhere. He dug his hand into his pocket and threw a handful of salt at the fucker. “Into the white light!”

“Excuse me?” The figure spat on the ground. “I think it’s best if you leave my property.”

Eldred was sucking in breath after breath. He needed to cast a circle. He never should’ve gone alone.

“Are you all right, kid?”

“All right? Kid? Why are you here?”

The silence went on for a couple of seconds. “Because you’re on my lawn.”

Eldred looked down on the ground. The grass was neatly cut around him. When had he stepped off the meadow? The rain and wind were stinging his face, and he had a hard time thinking. He peered at the man, and it looked like a real, living, breathing man—exactly the way Eldred wanted his men.

And then we have Scary Gary. I’m in love with Scary Gary. It’s a super short story, only around 5k (and it’s free everywhere but on Amazon, because Amazon! *growl*) and I wrote it in a few days after having seen a writing prompt saying: There’s a reason I’m afraid of my own shadow.

Poor Micah has a murderous shadow. On days when he’s not careful, it gets the better of him. But, the good news is that when he dies, Gary the Grim Reaper shows up. And we all want Gary to show up LOL

“Micah. Time to wake up.”

A cold hand lightly slapped Micah’s cheek, and he sucked in a breath. “Stop it.” The croak was a surprise. Though, considering he’d been strangled, it shouldn’t have been.

“Oh, it talks.” Gary’s unimpressed huff would have made Micah smile if he’d had the energy. Squinting at Gary, he noticed they were in his apartment. His small, safe, apartment.

“Are you okay?” The worry in Gary’s voice had hot and cold clashing in Micah’s chest. Those unnaturally blue eyes skidded over his face and he wondered how many scrapes and cuts there were this time.

“Of course. I just missed your cheerful company and was wondering if maybe you’d be up for a nightcap.”

Gary groaned and rubbed his eyes, his shoulders slumping as if Micah had stolen what little energy he had. Guilt, and maybe a little worry, had Micah struggling to sit. There were bloody scrapes on his forearms. Bruises encircled his wrists—that was new. He frowned at them and glanced at Gary.

Gary flew to his feet, pointing a pale finger at him. “Do I need to remind you—” His black cloak billowed around him, blue smoke wafting from around his ankles, and his face etched in stern lines. Had this been the first time Micah had seen him, he’d have been petrified.

“Oh, shut up, Scary Gary. Do you want a drink or not?” Micah refused to acknowledge the way his hands shook and how he wished Gary would sit on the sofa next to him.

So to join the giveaway, I want you to comment below and tell us about your favourite paranormal creature to read about. Is it wizards, shifters, or perhaps Grim Reapers?

I read everything. I’m a bit hesitant when it comes to gods and demons, but some of my favourite stories have gods and demons in them, and I tend to avoid dragon shifters, but a few always end up in the read pile anyway.

Eldred Henstare is a not so powerful witch who’s been left in charge of helping the city’s lingering spirits to move on. He usually handles it pretty well, but something’s wrong with the spirit leading him to the abandoned lighthouse.

Mo Vin likes his quiet life in the cottage next to the lighthouse, at least it’s quiet until one night when Eldred Henstare—young, beautiful and crazy—arrives. After that night things aren’t the same. A man is found dead on the beach outside Mo’s cottage, and he’s almost sure he’s the one who killed him, except it doesn’t make sense. Why would he kill anyone?

Eldred needs to get rid of the ghost haunting Mo. If he doesn’t Mo’s life is in danger, but to do it he needs both Mo and his brother Lachtin to help out.

Micah Thaxter has a problem—one scary, inconvenient problem. His shadow wants him dead and isn’t shy about it.

On the plus side, it’s not his time to die and Scary Gary is always there to carry him back to the land of the living. Gary is far too pale, his black cloak a bit out of fashion, and his scythe quite terrifying, but he’s still one of the most beautiful men Micah has ever seen.

Micah may be stuck with a homicidal shadow, but perhaps there’s a way to keep Gary around too. His job escorting souls keeps him busy, but since Micah has already died once today, Gary’s there. So what’s the harm in offering him a cup of tea?

Category: My Stories