Tag: Christmas

Friday Reads | Mate Wanted for Christmas

~ Ofelia Gränd ~ Leave a comment

It’s time to start the holiday reads, is it not? I think it is, half of November has gone and before we now it Santa is stuck in the chimney. My first holiday read of the year is Mate Wanted for Christmas by Angelique Voisen. I saw someone list free M/M Christmas stories somewhere and this was one of them. Since I was in the mood for a paranormal read I snuggled up in bed and started reading.

Mate Wanted for Christmas is a short cute story about second chances and about moving on. Pat is a bear shifter with an aversion to alarm clocks. He lost his mate in a car crash ten years ago and every year he’s putting out an ad looking for a date with someone acting as his husband. No one ever responds until, all of a sudden, someone does. Former soldier Jacob has no job and nowhere to go so why not go on a date with a crazy bear shifter?

This is a story you read in one go. It’s written in present tense which threw me a little in the beginning but I got used to it. I wouldn’t have minded seeing a little more of Pat’s shifter side, though.

books2read.com/MateWanted *

For the last decade, bear shifter Pat Singer posted a specific want ad in the December newspaper. Each year, Pat gets the same response—zero. Except this year’s different. Finally, someone agrees to role-play Pat’s dead mate.

Spending Christmas Eve with a rich psycho shifter might seem unreasonable to some. To survive the harsh winter, former soldier Jacob Reynolds has no choice but to turn to desperate measures…except Pat Singer isn’t the crazy bastard Jacob imagines him to be.

The sexy, but reluctant werebear pushes all of Jacob’s right buttons, and if Jacob doesn’t guard his heart, he might end up getting burned.

* By clicking the Books2Read link you’ll be taken to an external page. Links to Smashwords, Kobo U.S and Amazon contain affiliate links that earn me a small commission at no additional cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

 

Friday Reads | Just Like Heaven

~ Ofelia Gränd ~ Leave a comment

I’ve been in a reading slump lately, nothing has felt inspiring, and I’ve been bored with the same old, same old. A day mostly without internet (electricity issues) left me with some reading time, though, and it was so nice to let myself get sucked into a story. I read both an old horror favourite, The Sandman by E. T. A. Hoffmann, and Suki Fleet’s Just Like Heaven.

When I read YA/NA it’s most often by mistake. I’m not one to read blurbs very closely…or at all. I look at covers and reviews when I hunt for new books so it happens that a college boy ends up on my TBR-list, but most often I avoid anyone under the age of twenty-five and am very happy when I find MCs who are in their forties. But, there are a few authors who make me pick up NA books voluntarily—Suki Fleet is one, Claire Davis and Al Stewart another.

I love Suki’s writing, the way she builds characters but maybe even more how she is able to put me there on the snowy streets. It shouldn’t be missed!

Just Like Heaven is a sweet wintery tale, not as angsty as the other Suki Fleet books I’ve read, but really nice. It was first published as part of the Wish Come True Anthology in December 2015. Proceeds from both the anthology and from Just Like Heaven as a standalone go to charities working to support homeless youth in the UK and the US. So if you’re ready to jump into the Christmas reads, this is a great place to start!

books2read.com/JustLikeHeaven *

Just Like Heaven by Suki FleetFirst Published as part of the Wish Come True Anthology (December 2015)

One rainy night in December, David helps a busker with pretty eyes get his stolen money back. He doesn’t imagine the strong attraction he feels is mutual. But after overcoming his shyness, David discovers Jess is definitely interested.
Jess just isn’t interested in anything but a one night stand. Or maybe two. Falling for David is definitely not part of his plan. But when David gets trapped in a snowstorm the night before Christmas Eve, Jess realises a night or two is never going to be enough.

Proceeds of this sale will be divided between two UK charities working to support homeless youth: Shelter and Centerpoint.

* By clicking the Books2Read link you’ll be taken to an external page. Links to Smashwords, Kobo U.S and Amazon contain affiliate links that earn me a small commission at no additional cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

 

Friday Reads | In the Middle of Somewhere

~ Ofelia Gränd ~ Leave a comment

Oh My God! In the Middle of Somewhere is so good. I feel like apologising to Roan Parrish because I didn’t expect it to be. I filed it away as another one of those romantic stories, and it is romantic, but I couldn’t put it down. Makes me ashamed to make light of lumberjacks really because this was a real story, with real problems, and a lot of pop cultural references. I kept thinking ‘Oh Amy (Spector) should totally read this, she’d probably get all the horror references I only vaguely get’.

After having binge read Jordan Castillo Prince’s PsyCop Series I thought I’d read In the Middle of Somewhere. I don’t have nearly as much time to write these days so I can’t really afford to become completely hooked on books—I wouldn’t get a word down.

So I thought this would fit me, interesting enough to read but not really taking over my life. I was wrong. The dishes have formed a mountain in the kitchen and my word count is embarrassingly low because instead of using K’s naps for writing I’ve been reading. And I don’t know if it is because I’ve been reading a lot of JCP lately but in my mind Daniel was the model on the Body Art cover.

But, it doesn’t matter, now I have to read Out of Nowhere (Middle of Somewhere #2). I just have to.

books2read.com/MiddleOfSomewhere *

Daniel Mulligan is tough, snarky, and tattooed, hiding his self-consciousness behind sarcasm. Daniel has never fit in—not at home in Philadelphia with his auto mechanic father and brothers, and not at school where his Ivy League classmates looked down on him. Now, Daniel’s relieved to have a job at a small college in Holiday, Northern Michigan, but he’s a city boy through and through, and it’s clear that this small town is one more place he won’t fit in.

Rex Vale clings to routine to keep loneliness at bay: honing his muscular body, perfecting his recipes, and making custom furniture. Rex has lived in Holiday for years, but his shyness and imposing size have kept him from connecting with people.

When the two men meet, their chemistry is explosive, but Rex fears Daniel will be another in a long line of people to leave him, and Daniel has learned that letting anyone in can be a fatal weakness. Just as they begin to break down the walls keeping them apart, Daniel is called home to Philadelphia, where he discovers a secret that changes the way he understands everything.

* By clicking the Books2Read link you’ll be taken to an external page. Links to Smashwords, Kobo U.S and Amazon contain affiliate links that earn me a small commission at no additional cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.