Two days ago, it was Monday. Not just any Monday, but it was Blue Monday. The third Monday in January is always Blue Monday, and it’s said to be the most depressing day of the year. Mondays, in general, have a bad reputation, but the third Monday in January is when the credit card bills from your Christmas shopping arrive, it’s dark and cold – if you live in the northern hemisphere – and it’s overall a pretty depressing time.
Unless you decide to love Mondays. Jonas in Crazy Joe figured Mondays needed some extra love LOL
Tomorrow was Monday, his favorite day of the week. To be honest, he liked all the days of the week, but since Mondays had such a bad reputation, he figured they needed some extra love.
If you were to trust statistics, Mondays were bad—most heart attacks and suicides happened on Mondays. But since he didn’t plan on doing away with himself or have a heart attack, there was no reason to mope on a Sunday night.
Instead of moping, I thought I’d list some of my favourite reads. We might have started this week being blue, and we’re gonna continue to be blue, but in a positive way.
Here are a few stories with blue covers worth checking out:
Between Sinners and Saints
Between Sinners and Saints by Marie Sexton – I usually steer clear of all books with a religious theme, but I love this one. I’ve read it several times. We have Levi, a surfer and bartender who has sex with strangers about as often as he has a snack. And then we have Jamie, a massage therapist, who doesn’t talk to anyone but his dog.
Levi decides he’s to seduce Jaime, not thinking farther than his instant attraction. Jaime has a past of sexual abuse and has no plans to ever sleep with Levi, but it would be nice to have a friend. When spending time with Jamie, Levi realises he wants more out of life than a series of quick trysts in the bar’s storeroom. And then there is the whole thing with Levi’s family…
Levi Binder is a Miami bartender who cares about only two things: sex and surfing. Ostracized by his Mormon family for his homosexuality, Levi is determined to live his life his own way, but everything changes when he meets massage therapist Jaime Marshall.
Jaime is used to being alone. Haunted by the horrors of his past, his only friend is his faithful dog, Dolly. He has no idea how to handle somebody as gorgeous and vibrant as Levi.
Complete opposites on the surface, Levi and Jaime both long for something that they can only find together. Through love and the therapeutic power of touch, they’ll find a way to heal each other, and they’ll learn to live as sinners in a family of saints.
books2read.com/BetweenSinnersAndSaints
Hunter of Demons
Hunter of Demons (SPECTR 1) – This is so good! I do love Jordan L. Hawk’s stories. Caleb is an unregistered paranormal, his powers aren’t strong, but he can move small things at will. John is a cop, sort of, he’s an agent and an exorcist. And then we have Gray. I love Gray. He’s a drakul – sort of like a vampire, but he drinks the blood of demons. Gray is a spirit, and something goes wrong. So wrong that he finds himself trapped in Caleb’s body.
It reminds me a little of Bone Rider by J. Fally despite it not being the same genre. The connection between Caleb and Gray is similar to that between Riley and McClane in Bone Rider. Brilliant!
With John being an exorcist, Gray being a spirit who’s possessing Caleb, and Caleb being an unregistered paranormal hunting the demon who killed his brother, there are so many fun things going on!
I want to add Hainted to the list too, but the new cover is less blue than the old one, so I’ll just mention it as a great blue read if you’re into ghosts and stuff.
Unregistered paranormal Caleb Jansen only wants a normal life. But when a demon murders his brother, Caleb knows he has to avenge Ben’s death, no matter what the cost. Unfortunately, his only allies belong to an extremist group who would kill Caleb if they found out about his talent.
Gray is a wandering spirit, summoned to hunt and destroy demons by drinking their blood. This hunt goes horribly wrong, and for the first time in his existence Gray is trapped in a living, human body. Caleb’s body…and Caleb is still in it.
Hotshot federal agent John Starkweather thinks he’s seen it all. But when he’s called to exorcise Caleb, he finds a creature which isn’t supposed to exist outside of stories. For Gray is a drakul: a vampire.
Having spent his life avoiding the government as an unregistered ‘mal, Caleb can’t let himself trust a federal exorcist, no matter how sexy. And he certainly isn’t going to give into the heat growing between them and sleep with Starkweather.
Can Starkweather win Caleb’s trust and convince him he isn’t the enemy? Can Caleb keep Gray under control, as the drakul experiences the temptation of a living body for the first time?
Because if he fails and Gray gives in to bloodlust, Starkweather will have no choice but to kill them both.
books2read.com/HunterOfDemonsJLH
Spindrift
Spindrift by Amy Rae Durreson – I was preparing to claim this should be on the best blue-covered books despite the colour being a dark teal. But! This used to be a Dreamspinner story and now Ms Durreson has published it again, with a new cover, and yes, it is blue. Here we have evil ghosts in a seaside village. I’m from the Swedish west coast, and I constantly miss the ocean, living in the middle of the woods as I do now. Here we get crashing waves and salty storms – it’s awesome!
I haven’t read an Amy Rae Durreson story I haven’t liked, so if you haven’t checked her out, do!
Siôn Ruston has fled to Rosewick Bay to recover from a breakdown which led him to attempt suicide. He needs the peace and tranquility of this lovely North Yorkshire seaside village to recover, but instead he is awoken by the ghost that walks across his bedroom at dawn. Seeking answers, Siôn finds Mattie, the ghost’s descendant, working in the local museum (not to mention his other jobs in the local pub, at the ice cream stand, and on the local lifeboat crew).
Mattie is everything Siôn isn’t—young, bold, and confident—but as they work together to discover the secret history of Rosewick Bay, Siôn falls for him anyway. But the ghosts which stalk the village are far from friendly, and soon Siôn and Mattie realise that not just their chance of love but their very lives are at stake.
Nobody’s Butterfly
Nobody’s Butterfly by Claire Davis and Al Stewart – This is a Christmas story, and yet it’s one of the least Christmassy Christmas stories I’ve ever read. I don’t read YA if I can avoid it (LOL) unless it’s Davis & Stewart who’s written it.
Nobody’s Butterfly is about Johnny and Finn who are foster kids. Johnny doesn’t speak to anyone but the cobweb ghost in his room. Finn is new and he’s Johnny’s opposite. He is loud and he eats all the time. He changes Johnny’s world.
This story is beautiful!
And since we’re on Davis & Stewart, I just have to mention Shut Your Face, Anthony Pace! – today I’m claiming the cover is blue, tomorrow I might say it’s purple. We’ll see. If I’m gonna recommend purple books, it will most likely appear again. Shut Your Face, Anthony Pace! had me laughing and crying. It’s also an YA story and it’s amazing.
Cobweb ghosts are so inconvenient—especially grumpy ones with bad breath. Don’t they know silence is golden?
Johnny Strong is the expert; he hasn’t spoken in two years. Not one word to anyone except the ghost. The main purpose of life is to avoid people and not get noticed. Friends? He doesn’t need them; and certainly nobody wants him despite what the ghost says.
Until a new boy appears at Windybank—Finn Lyons, teenage wizard. He eats frogs, concocts potions, and is always hungry. Not only does Finn stand up for Johnny; he actively seeks his company and soon becomes part of life.
First love; family and words; a heady mix to go in the potion but how will it all turn out?
Hubble bubble; Johnny Strong’s in trouble! Silence is not always golden in this sweet, zany story of the purest magic at Christmas.
books2read.com/NobodysButterfly
Winter
Winter (The Haunted Heart 1) by Josh Lanyon – I like Josh Lanyon, I think she writes great stories, but I’ve never been the fangirl many of my reader friends are. I enjoy them, I pick up her books when I don’t have the energy to gamble, but that’s been it. Until I read Winter. I loved it!
It has everything a good ghost story should have. A creepy house, and a grieving, depressed main character who plans to take his life in ten months. It’s gripping. The best Lanyon story I’ve read.
Still grieving over the sudden death of his lover, antiques dealer Flynn Ambrose moves to the old, ramshackle house on Pitch Pine Lane to catalog and sell the large inventory of arcane and oddball items that once filled his late uncle’s mysterious museum.
But not all the items are that easy to catalog — or get rid of.
books2read.com/TheHauntedWinter
Quill Me Now
Quill Me Now by Jordan Castillo Price – I’ve only read this story in this series, so comparing series isn’t fair, but I like PsyCop better. Still, it’s funny, and it’s blue. Dixon comes for a family of scriveners who can put spells in their writing to influence people. They can make it so a customer, by reading a sign, always wants to come back to the same restaurant, for example. Dixon fails his quilling ceremony though and can’t work in the family business. But maybe he can write Valentine cards? He enters a competition, but there is something fishy going on, and instead of walking away, Dixon soon finds himself in some shady affairs.
What if the words you wrote came true?
Spellcraft isn’t exactly a respectable business, but it does pay the bills. At least, it should. Unfortunately, Dixon Penn failed his Spellcraft initiation. Instead of working in his family’s shop, he’s stuck delivering takeout orders in his uncle’s beat-up Buick.
Winning a Valentine’s Day contest at the largest greeting card company in the tri-state area would be just the thing to get his life back on track—but something at Precious Greetings just doesn’t add up. And despite numerous warnings to quit pestering them about his contest entry, he just can’t stop himself from coming back again and again.
It doesn’t hurt that the head of security is such a hottie. If Dixon had any common sense, he’d be scared of the big, mysterious, tattooed Russian.
To be fair, no one ever accused him of being too smart….
Seven
Seven (The Others Project 1) by Adrienne Wilder – This is so awesome! A sci-fi story where there are individuals with special powers. Seven, a precog, manage to escape Sub-Floor which is where all the evil testing and terrible things take place, and now he’s looking for a way to help his friends while fighting the enemy.
Chase lives next door to Seven, and he shouldn’t get involved. It’s evident Seven is batshit crazy, but he can’t walk away. And the more he learns the more afraid he gets that the stories Seven are telling are true.
I love this series. It’s dark and evil, so if you’re looking for light-hearted fluff, this isn’t for you, but damn.
A past that won’t let go…
After losing his job, Chase Sarim finds himself living in a shit hole apartment. His new neighbor calls himself Seven, wears aluminum hats and carries around a ceramic rooster. He also seems to know what Chase is going to do or say before it happens, and talks about people named, Nine, Three, and Four.
Chase knows better than to get involved with someone like that.
But some men are just to hot to resist.
A future of fear…
Seven has been running for his life ever since he escaped Sub-Floor. In order to elude those hunting him he can never have a home, never have friends…and love? It’s nothing but a weakness that can be used against him.
Hiding had become a way of life. Until Chase.
Greed, power, and corruption…
Dr. David Stone knows Seven has a secret. Why else would his colleague, Dr. Radcliff, help Seven escape Sub-Floor?
It wasn’t the loss of a defective precog that bothered Stone, it was the fact Radcliff was willing to die to keep Stone from knowing why he did it. Or better yet, how.
Two men, one love, brought together by a series of impossible circumstances and destined by fate for an entangled future.
But maybe fate has nothing to do with it.
Nowhere Ranch
Nowhere Ranch by Heidi Cullinan – Is it blue? Yes, it’s blue LOL. Cowboys anyone? I don’t read a lot of BDSM books, but I do like this one. Roe is a ranch hand who got thrown out by his religious family years ago. He’s protecting himself by not letting anyone in. When he runs into his boss, Travis, in a gay bar, they hook up. His first reaction is to run, but there is something with Travis.
Things aren’t as easy as to hook up and finding a HEA, of course. There is always a past catching up with you, and there is in this story too.
It’s a Cullinan story, so you know there’s gonna be some kink…or plenty LOL. So not my usual type of story, but still one of my favourites.
Love will grow through the cracks you leave open.
Ranch hand Roe Davis absolutely never mixes business with pleasure—until he runs into his boss, Travis Loving, at the only gay bar within two hundred miles.
Getting involved with the ranch owner is a bad idea, but Roe’s and Travis’s bedroom kinks line up against one another like a pair of custom-cut rails. As long as they’re both clear this is sex on the side, no relationship, no interfering with the job, they could make it work.
Shut out by his family years ago, Roe survived by steadfastly refusing to settle into so much as a post office box. As his affair with Travis grows into more than just sex, Roe’s past catches up with him, threatening the thin ray of happiness he’s found, reminding him it’s well past time he went on his way.
But even a loner gets lonely, and at this point, there’s nowhere left to run. The shame and sorrow of what he’s lost will stay with Roe wherever he goes—until he’s ready to let love lead him home.
How many do we have now? Perhaps we need one more.
Sex and Sourdough
Sex and Sourdough by A.J. Thomas – They’re hiking the Appalachian Trail! To be honest, I don’t remember all that much about the plot – there is an abusive ex, a baker with health issues, and lots of sourdoughs – but it’s the setting.
I read this story, and then I told hubby we really should get into hiking. He gave me the look. The one telling me he knew this was just a phase that would pass by the time I read the next book and figured we should have a bookstore, that I should’ve become a librarian instead of a teacher, or that we should move to *insert exciting location here*.
And he might have been right, but every time I see the cover of this book, I dream about hiking the Appalachian Trail. Wouldn’t it be cool? So cool.
Anders Blankenship never intended to hike the Appalachian Trail alone, but when his boyfriend cancels, Anders steels his courage, leaving the abusive relationship to tackle the long-distance hike. Though a hiking virgin, he’s glad he made the decision when he receives threatening messages from his ex. Luckily, Kevin, an experienced backpacker, takes him under his wing.
Kevin Winters isn’t looking for a hiking partner, let alone a fling with a cute man on the rebound. After learning he has the autoimmune disorder that killed his father, Kevin left his family to wander remote trails. Convinced his future holds only pain and death, Kevin refuses to get close to anyone. The family sourdough recipes he recreates over a campfire are his only solace.
In the wilderness, Anders and Kevin discover a lot of common ground. While the future holds uncertainties they may not be ready to deal with, it might also hold the chance for happiness.
There! If you can’t find a blue book to get you to not feel blue from the list, I have a few that I’ve written. Just saying *wink*
Anyway, we have Flynn, who had a hard time in school. He was being bullied because of his red hair and the way his hands seem to have a life of their own. Now, he’s learned to control his hands – mostly, at least.
Flynn Thomas is back in Hartley. His plan is to be out of there before anyone notices he’s back. He left twenty years ago and promised himself he’d never have to face his childhood bullies or set foot in his bigoted hometown ever again. But it’s been six months since his mother passed away, and someone has to clear out the house.
Ofelia Grand 