It says #WhatToReadWednesday on my to-do today, and my mind is completely blank. I feel like I’m recommending the same books over and over again, so today I’ll do a self-centred post and recommend my own books. Fun, right? 😆
The thing is, there is a sale over at Smashwords, in case you’ve missed it, and most of my books are 50% off throughout July, so if you’ve missed something…
It’s hard to pick favourites among my own books because every story has something that intrigues me or I wouldn’t have written it in the first place, but some are dearer to me than others, even though it often depends on what kind of day we’re on 😁
But I thought I’d do an Ofelia favourite and a Holly favourite in different subgenres.
Contemporary
Contemporary isn’t my favourite genre. I write it when an idea pops up, but most often they don’t LOL When something starts taking form in my mind, there are magic and monsters. But I have quite a few contemporary stories. Most of them are Ofelia books, but I have a few as Holly too.
A favourite of Ofelia’s is #PictaBook. We have a librarian with anxiety issues, a murderous cat, and a hot carpenter. Lots of fun.
My pick of Holly’s will have to be… The Dragon Next Door. It’s a fun grumpy/sunshine story and I love Adrian.
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?
Smashwords (50% off throughout July)
Adrian Green’s new next-door neighbor isn’t really a dragon, but he does snarl an awful lot. The first time Adrian saw Lorcan Walsh, he knew he needed Adrian’s help. Lorcan has a fractured leg and an empty apartment. Luckily, Adrian doesn’t mind helping him fill his lair with gems, and Doris’s second-hand shop has everything a dragon could possibly want. The problem is, Lorcan doesn’t seem to want his apartment decorated, and sneaking presents past a grumpy dragon isn’t easy. All Adrian wants is to cheer Lorcan up, but when Lorcan’s ex appears at the door, Adrian fears not even vintage coffee cups will get them their fairy-tale ending. What if the way to a dragon’s heart isn’t lined with treasures?
Smashwords (50% off throughout July)
Paranormal
This is much harder. I have many paranormal stories and it all depends on what you’re in the mood for. Most of them are fated mates, interspecies couples, but I have some that aren’t.
Of Ofelia’s stories, I think I’ll go with… ugh, it’s hard to pick. Part of me wants to go with Soul Eater, but I think I’ll go with Elevator Pitch. It’s short and cute. A bat shifter and a bear shifter are trapped in a lift during a blackout.
As for Holly, it’s an impossible task to pick one! But I’m gonna with A Vampire Chew Toy. It has hurt-comfort, found family, not to mention lots of M&Ms and everyone needs some chocolate in their lives!
Bjorn Ritter only wants one thing — to live his life away from nosey, demanding bears. That’s easier said than done when you’re the son of the female running the Bayside Bear Community. Cecil Baxter might be a bat, but he grew up away from shifter communities and he’s doing his best to continue to keep his distance. Shifters aren’t an accepting bunch and Cecil has never fit the norm. Already facing a dreaded meeting with his mother, the last thing Bjorn needs is a stranger using his elevator to escape a pack of werewolves. And Cecil, whose day just seems to be getting worse and worse, could really do without the added stress of finding himself trapped in an elevator with a huge bear shifter. Still, what could go wrong in three minutes?
Smashwords (50% off throughout July)
Devin Jace lives in a huge mansion together with six other people, five of them turn furry, and one needs to drink blood to survive. Sometimes, he suspects it’s all a dream. Four years ago, he had no idea supernatural beings existed. It wasn’t until he was snatched off the street and forced to live as a blood slave he realized vampires are real and don’t sparkle. Three years ago, Mars O’Ceallaigh was part of the team who saved a badly scarred and severely traumatized Devin. As the only vampire on the team, he got to work undercover. To keep up the facade, he tasted Devin’s blood. Not a day has gone by since without him thinking about it, both the taste of the blood and Devin. But he wants Devin to be happy, and since he knows vampires are his worst nightmare, he does his best to keep out of his way. When the team learns Devin’s captor has escaped prison, Mars is convinced he will come for Devin. Devin might fear Mars, but there is someone he fears more, so when Mars swears to keep him safe, Devin trusts him. Mars more than enjoys being by Devin’s side at all times, but will spending every minute of every day with him be enough to keep him safe?
Smashwords (50% off throughout July)
Sci-Fi
Ah, fun and games, fun and games 😆 I don’t write a lot of alien romances, but I probably could spend all my time doing that and not grow bored. Here I’m gonna go with It Doesn’t Translate for Ofelia, and There Will Be Aliens for Holly. They have a few similarities – fated mates, communication problems, tails LOL.
Noir Kioko had only ever seen one human before his undercover work brought him to the diner at the Luna Terminal, and that was at a distance. Humans are rare, most of them disappear without a trace, and he hopes hanging around the restaurant will give him a lead on the smuggling ring he’s investigating. There was no way he could’ve known the human would turn out to be his mate, and no way he can let it show without putting his mate in danger and possibly jeopardising his mission. Max Welch is the proud owner of the only restaurant within a light year’s distance. He left Earth four years ago to create a better life for himself, but he hadn’t considered the possibility of scary alien pirates making his restaurant their favourite hangout spot. As a measly human there isn’t much he can do about it, but as one of the pirates starts coming by almost every day he has to come up with something before he loses all his customers. That the giant cat man is rather nice to look at changes nothing. When rumours of another human arriving at the space station start to circulate, Noir’s species trafficking infiltrate and observe only mission may need a revamp. But will Noir be able to protect his mate and another one of his rare species?
Smashwords (50% off throughout July)
Carlo Russo is having the worst day. Not only has he lost his job, caught his boyfriend cheating, and had one too many shots with his best friend Grace, now he’s seeing aliens too. Big, black, tail-equipped aliens. After a futile struggle, he and Grace find themselves on a spaceship leaving Earth. Zenon Scoreceds Qhainqons doesn’t know what it is about the earthling male. Their mission is to bring back ten females in hopes of them being able to provide their planet with children, but he wants the male. What he’s going to do with the male, he doesn’t know, but he’s claiming him as his payment for going on the mission. Carlo doesn’t approve of kidnapping, but the aliens aren’t too bad, and once the language chip is installed, he finds it entertaining to talk to them. Zen in particular. They’re standoffish and never show any emotion, but Carlo has no problem cuddling up next to Zen at night. All Zenon wants is to spend time with Carlo, but it’s his job to get them all home in one piece. Will he be able to keep Carlo safe from all the dangers lurking along the trip? He has to because Carlo is his, and he’s not letting him go.
Smashwords (50% off throughout July)
Post-Apocalyptic
Hmm… I think I’ll go with The Maddest of Men for Ofelia since everyone loves a living lie detector, right? These guys are on the wrong side of the law.
Then I think I’ll say A Drop of Moonshine. Those guys aren’t following the laws either, but it’s an adventure LOL And who doesn’t love a slobbering dog?
To prove his loyalty to Cham, Grayham is willing to do anything, and he does. He helps Cham run his empire by finding out the truth by any possible means. It’s not as hard as it may seem, all he has to do is ask the right questions, and his internal polygraph will tell him if someone is lying or not. And when they lie—well he deals with that too. Life as an executioner can get quite lonely, not that Grayham plans on doing anything about it. It would kill him to have to off a lover. Creed is a retrieving agent on a mission. He is to infiltrate one of Carona’s drug organisations to get to the inquisitor. Rumour states the man with the fiery red curls has supernatural powers; it also says anyone coming close to him disappears. Creed has no idea how he’s going to make it out alive or why his supervisor sent him in without backup. But, when an opening to work as a waiter at one of the drug lord’s parties presents itself Creed sets to work. In a world where people compensate for the years of bombings and starvation with clinic-bought physical perfection a man with crooked teeth and mismatching eyes stands out. Grayham notices the waiter watching him straight away. If he’s there to harm Cham, he’ll deal with it. Creed knows he must get his hands on the inquisitor so when he is invited to the man’s flat he agrees to come even though he knows it might be the last thing he’ll ever do.
Smashwords (50% off throughout July)
In a world where the government controls everything, and every citizen is given one government-approved kill, Sid Barker is doing his best to keep his head down and not get noticed. At some point, he must have failed. Being a potato farmer doesn’t generate enough income, and Sid is making moonshine on the side to keep himself fed, but one day a liquidation agent shows up at his farm, not to kill him, but to blackmail him into giving away his moonshine for free. Thorn Hull is a liquidation agent. Every time someone hands in an application to have someone terminated, he or one of the other agents has to perform the kill. It’s a well-paying job, but no money in the world can fill the void in Thorn. He regrets ever becoming an agent, but no one has ever quit the agency and lived to tell the tale. One night in a bar, Thorn runs into Sid, who’s far from the dirty little kid he’d been the last time Thorn had seen him. Sid remembers Thorn from his childhood and asks him to help him talk sense into the agent who’s blackmailing him. Things soon escalate, and Sid and Thorn find themselves on the run from the liquidation agency. How will they be able to deal with the blackmailer at the same time as they’re on the run from the government’s trained killers?
Smashwords (50% off throughout July)
Horror
I don’t have anything as Holly that I would categorise as horror. There are some pretty graphic books, but not horror. I’ll still mention The Snowflake though because it doesn’t get nearly enough love 🤣 I mean who says serial killers don’t have emotions? They can fall in love too, and if they happen to turn a bit stalkerish, it’s not their fault.
I love this story! It’s bloody and dark, but I’ll still claim it’s a romance 😁
Nothing inspires art like love. Theophile Lekas has spent the last seventeen years trying to build a name for himself as an ice sculptor. Ice is his world, but he lives for Dylan Mincer. But loving from afar isn’t enough, and if Theo wants to win Dylan’s heart, he’ll need to sweep him off his feet. And what better way to do it than with a sculpture that will leave Dylan breathless and the world in no doubt of Theo’s genius? After an argument leads to murder, Theo is hit with true inspiration. And he has the perfect block to begin his project. For Dylan, Theo will create his masterpiece. And it will be as unique as a snowflake Great art requires the perfect muse.
Smashwords (50% off throughout July)
Four men are about to discover things are definitely not what they seem…including themselves. Declan Makavoy, small town farmer and single father, finds out it’s not just his thumb that’s green. Ivan Soresceau, a local reporter, who always plays with fire in life and love, is about to discover what it means to be burned. Chester Silberglocke, the ailing but sage chiropractor, finds his death only the beginning of an atmospheric afterlife. Vinny Pirelli, the local swimming champ may make waves inside and outside the pool but has no idea he is the last piece in a dangerous and life-changing puzzle. Seduction and unearthly occurrences are only the beginning in what proves to be a race against time as Declan, Ivan, Chester, and Vinny are pitted against a dark force beyond imagination, in the ultimate battle of good versus evil.
What if you staged the best haunted house in the history of the holiday, but nobody came?
When the past comes back to haunt you, order a double.
Kent has always hated Halloween and anything else that’s scary. But when his boyfriend, Uriah, wants to take him to a haunted house, he can’t say no.
The truth is out there. Way, way, way out there!
Gideon Frayne has spent his whole working life as a policeman in the village of Dark on Bodmin Moor. It’s not life in the fast lane, but he takes it very seriously, and his first missing-child case is eating him alive. When his own boss sends in a psychic to help with the case, he’s gutted – he’s a level-headed copper who doesn’t believe in such things, and he can’t help but think that the arrival of clairvoyant Lee Tyack is a comment on his failure to find the little girl.
The Good Guy: Haint-working runs in Dan Miller’s blood. Not everyone can help the restless dead cross over, especially when the haunting threatens the Living. But the death of his parents six years ago forced Dan to give it up in exchange for raising his brother and sister, all the while struggling to keep their rural NC farm afloat.
There’s a presence in the attic, malevolent, waiting. When Bennie’s aunt passes away, he’s given the task of sorting her things before the estate sale. But the chore that should have been a pleasant visit to the past becomes a nightmare for him and his longtime lover Jordan as the dark presence in the attic seeks a new home in them.
Necromancy means never having to say good-bye.
Evan Goldman loves fall, October, and Halloween. He’s decorated his bakery, he’s made cinnamon-pumpkin cupcakes, and he’s spending his day off inventing a new cake recipe. He isn’t expecting customers, and he’s busy with chocolate and ginger.
Ofelia Grand 