Release Day Once Around Seven (Nortown #5)

July 30, 2018February 12, 2019 ~ Ofelia Gränd ~ Leave a comment

Nortown I’m a bit out of practice, it was such a long time ago I had a release day – not since Worth His Salt in January. But, now we’re here, and it’s time to let Once Around Seven out into the world.

Once Around Seven is the fifth story in the Nortown series. The novellas can be read as standalones, the short stories are all about Aiden and Tristan so it might be best to read them in order.

Once Around Seven is part of the Seasons of Love anthology from Beaten Track Publishing. I love writing anthologies, and this time there are several authors I’ve never worked with, or even read, before so that’s great.

You’ll find the authors and stories in the anthology here:

Seasons of Love
Tourist Season by Deven Balsam
Machete Betty by Neptune Flowers
Once Around Seven by moi
Winter Blossoms by Paul Iasevoli
Year of the Guilty Soul by A.M. Leibowitz
The Great Village Bun Fight by Debbie McGowan
A Springful of Winters by Dawn Sister
Out of Season by Bob Stone
Seashell Voices by Alexis Woods
Courting Light by A. Zukowski

If you’ve read any Nortown stories before you know they’re tropy M/M romances and this is no exception. Oswald left his finacé and has been living in his car ever since, but he’s running out of money. In Nortown he can get a job, not that really wants to, but everyone needs to eat.

Joshua notices the stranger in the parking outside Jen’s café, he isn’t looking for love, but something about Oswald pikes his interest.

Oswald Sattle is out of money and out of options. After more than eight months of sleeping in his car, when an acquaintance from his past offers him a job opportunity in the middle of nowhere, he can’t turn it down. No matter how much he’d like to.

Joshua Roth moved to Nortown four years ago, and he has everything he needs—a job, friends, peace and quiet. He’s not interested in a relationship, or anything else that would upset the life he’s built for himself.

But sometimes fate has other plans, and a single glimpse can completely change the course of a life.

In a small town, where everyone knows everyone else’s business, reaching for what you want can feel like a risk. But some risks are worth taking.

The real release day is tomorrow but we’re making a false start on Amazon where the stories are available right now.

Get Once Around Seven Here!

* 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.

Nortown is growing larger…

July 16, 2018February 12, 2019 ~ Ofelia Gränd ~ Leave a comment

Are you longing for the autumn? Here in Sweden, we have the hottest summer in over 150 years, our groundwater is drying up, the farmers aren’t getting any harvests, and the slaughterhouses are fully booked for months to come because farmers have nothing to feed their animals with so they have to reduce their stock. It’s a crisis.

But, in Nortown, it’s autumn. The leaves shine in fiery colours and the cold in waiting just around the corner. Oswald has been sleeping in his car for the last two hundred and seventy-three days, but now he has arrived in the town where anything can happen…at least if you’re a lumberjack LOL.

On the 31 of July, Oswald and Joshua will be released into this world, and I’m super excited because it was a long time ago since I visited Nortown, so it’s good to be back.

Once Around Seven (Nortown #5)

Oswald Sattle has been sleeping in his Toyota Camry for the last two hundred and seventy-three days, the exact number of days since he discovered his fiancé cheating on him. Now, out of money and out of options, he’s on his way to Nortown. Aiden, an acquaintance from his past, has offered him a job opportunity he can’t turn down, no matter how much he’d like to.

Joshua Roth moved to Nortown four years ago and he has everything he needs—a job, friends, peace and quiet. He’s not looking for a boyfriend; no one even knows he’s gay, and he’d like it to stay that way. But a stranger in town has Joshua rethinking his decision.

Oswald looks like he wants to hide from the world, and Josh finds himself wanting to get him to smile, to feed him, and make everything better.

In a small town, where everyone knows everyone else’s business, reaching for what you want can feel like a risk. But some risks are worth taking.

Part of Seasons of Love Anthology

Oswald tapped his forefinger seven times against the steering wheel and looked at the clock on the dashboard. Aiden would be here soon. He glanced at the sign above the door to the massage studio next to the rundown motorway café—could he work there? He couldn’t breathe.

No!

He couldn’t stay here, couldn’t be around people. He had to leave, had to keep on going. He cast a glance over his shoulder. The mattress he’d squeezed into the back of the car, the pile of clothes, and a few sets of untouched acupuncture needles was all he owned.

Tapping his forefinger seven times against his knee, he filled his lungs with air. Breathing. That was the only thing he had to do. Just keep on breathing.

The key dangled in the ignition, but somehow the little leather owl keychain slipped between his fingers when he tried to grab it. His hand trembled as he tapped the steering wheel seven more times, but at least the tapping calmed his heart and let some more air into his system.

The sound of a door clicking shut made him glance to the left. A man hurried out of a tenement house and crossed the street. He wore grey sweats and a black T-shirt that clung to a chiselled chest. His hair pointed in every possible direction, and he was rubbing a hand over a coppery beard as he yawned. Oswald turned away, not wanting to get caught watching anyone.

A tap on the passenger side window made him jump. Fuck!

Aiden waved at him through the glass, his green eyes sparkling and his dark curls peeking out from underneath a knitted cap. Oswald forced a smile onto his lips. Fucking Aid.

Why had Aiden called him? Why couldn’t he just have forgotten about him like everyone else had?

Aiden yanked the passenger door open. “Hey, man! Come on, let me buy you a cup of coffee.” He nodded towards the café, and just as Oswald looked at the entrance, the man from the tenement house slipped inside. He quickly tore his gaze away from the man’s backside.

books2read.com/OnceAroundSeven *

* 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.

FridayReads | Hexbreaker

April 13, 2018February 12, 2019 ~ Ofelia Gränd ~ Leave a comment

Have you read about Cicero the cat and his witch? In Hexbreaker by Jordan L. Hawk we’re taken on a tour through the 1890’s New York but with a little extra, like witches and hexes and familiars.

I loved this story, just like I have many of Ms Hawks stories before it, and I’m always thinking I should read them all but then I don’t – I save them. I’ve had Hexbreaker for a long time but I haven’t read it, it’s just been sitting there like a backup book for when I can’t find anything to read.

Tom grew up in a tunnel gang, he’s a hexbreaker so no hexes could keep him out, and that made it easy to steal things. But we all know that nothing good comes from stealing, right? So Tom needs to hide, he fixes himself a new identity, becomes a copper without any magic…until his past and a hex he never wanted to see again find him and he has to turn to the witch police.

There he meets Cicero, an unbonded cat familiar. Cicero needs to bond with a witch before he’s thrown out from on the streets, but he will not bond with Tom…even if it turns out that he really is Cicero’s witch. He will help him solve the case with the hex, though.

I loved this world of hexes, witches, and their familiars.

books2read.com/Hexbreaker *

29505845 Will a dark history doom their future together?

New York copper Tom Halloran is a man with a past. If anyone finds out he once ran with the notorious O’Connell tunnel gang, he’ll spend the rest of his life doing hard time behind bars. But Tom’s secret is threatened when a horrible murder on his beat seems to have been caused by the same ancient magic that killed his gang.

Cat shifter Cicero is determined to investigate the disappearance of one friend and the death of another, even though no one else believes the cases are connected. When the trail of his investigation crosses Tom’s, the very bohemian Cicero instinctively recognizes the uncultured Irish patrolman as his witch. Though they’re completely unsuited to one another, Cicero has no choice but to work alongside Tom…all the while fighting against the passion growing within.

Tom knows that taking Cicero as his familiar would only lead to discovery and disaster. Yet as the heat between them builds, Tom’s need for the other man threatens to overcome every rational argument against becoming involved.

But when their investigation uncovers a conspiracy that threatens all of New York, Tom must make the hardest decision of his life: to live a lie and gain his heart’s desire, or to confess the truth and sacrifice it all.

* 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.