Hiya! I’m here as Holly today because I have another story out!!! 🥳 It’s August and we’re celebrating National Sneak Some Zucchini Onto Your Neighbor’s Porch Day. You might not believe it, but Zucchini is vampire food… Nah, I’m lying. Noah, our vampire in Vampire Food, eats zucchini if he has to, but he’s not a fan.

The title is referring to Rue, who is a former blood slave. He’s a magic user, and vampires are very fond of magic users’ blood. Sadly for Rue, this means, they kept him prisoner and snacked on him over and over again.

A year before the story takes place, Rue, along with three other blood slaves, were rescued and taken to a gated community of supernatural beings.

He lives with the leader, a tigress named Gertrude, and she has given him a garden. Rue’s skill lies in plants, and once he realises he can order seeds online and plant them, they’re drowning in veggies. This is where the sneaking onto your neighbour’s porch comes in.

But all is not well in the community. One day, Rue finds a severed head in his garden, and soon other body parts pop up.

If you don’t like playing jigsaw with body parts, skip this one. If you’re fine with it, it’s a slow burn, hurt-comfort, found family kind of story with a magic user and a vampire and loads of veggies.

Vampire Food

A former blood slave. A strapping vampire. More zucchinis than any man could eat.

Rue Yarrow was rescued from a blood bar and taken to a gated community of supernaturals. Haunted by nightmares and memories, he does his best to avoid people. His only solace is his garden, where he uses his magic to grow an abundance of vegetables. But one day, it isn’t the zucchinis greeting him, but a severed human head.

Noah Caramine wants as little drama as possible, and interfering with a vampire clan’s business is never a good idea. He’s never met a magic user and is curious about Rue, but he fears there will be consequences for stealing the blood slaves.

When body parts start popping up inside the walls, Noah doesn’t know if someone is trying to frame them for murder or distract them from keeping the blood slaves safe. Rue never believed he’d go near a vampire again, but when threats are drawing closer, he turns to Noah. Who better to keep him safe from vampires than a vampire?

Buy links:

Gay Paranormal Romance: 50,353 words

JMS Books :: Amazon :: books2read.com/VampireFood

Excerpt:

He slowly walked up the stairs, looking around so she wouldn’t spring anything unpleasant on him, but the house was empty apart from the two of them. On the kitchen table was a big metal water can.
Gertrude smiled at him as he lingered in the doorway. “For your garden.”
He nodded, and something close to excitement bubbled in his chest. His garden. Shit, he hadn’t been there for four days. What if all the seedlings had died?
She poured the coffee. “I’ve decided you’re not the face we should present to the world. It was stupid thinking, and I’m sorry for grabbing you.”
He nodded since an ice cube had lodged itself in his throat and prevented him from speaking.
“I need to do something different from what I’m doing, and in a drunken haze, I thought maybe we could mollify the humans’ call for blood with a pretty face.”
Rue winced. He didn’t want to be pretty. He believed it was what had gotten him into trouble in the first place. The vampires couldn’t have known he had magic until they bit him, so they’d chosen him based on his looks.
He looked like vampire food.
If he hadn’t looked the way he did, if he’d been more masculine, more butch… but it wasn’t true. Or partly, perhaps, but there was nothing androgynous about Chaton, and they’d taken him too, hadn’t they? Though not off the street, and they’d already known what he was.
“Since we last spoke, they’ve decided we aren’t allowed to sell things to humans.”
Her voice yanked him out of his self-pity session, and Rue frowned. “What?”
She shrugged. “They haven’t passed the bill yet, but I believe they will.”
“What does it mean, not sell?”
“It’s not worded quite like that. It says supernaturals shouldn’t be allowed to work jobs where humans have to interact with them. Cutting us out of all service occupations.”
Like bars and nightclubs. “You need humans.”
She stared at him. “What?”
“You need to hire humans.”
“I need to give our people work so they can earn money to buy food to survive. Food that has almost doubled in price in only a couple of weeks. Increased costs and no work, it’s a disaster waiting to happen.”
Shit. The humans were gearing up for war for real. “How many of those who live here would blend in?”
A crease formed between her brows as she watched him. “Blend in how?”
“How many would pass for human?”
“No one. They live here. No one who isn’t supernatural lives here.”
“And no one who isn’t registered would be willing to move to the other side of the wall?”
She was quiet for several seconds. “Everyone is registered, Rue. There isn’t a supernatural being here who isn’t registered. It’s illegal not to be.”
Fear clawed at him again. “You’ve registered me?”
Maybe she had without telling him. Maybe, if he ever entered the outside world again, everyone would know he had magic. The vampires would come for him again. He sucked in a breath, but it wasn’t allowed access to his lungs, so he sucked in another, and another. The kitchen swam around him, and a loud buzz built in his ears.
“Rue?”
Her voice sounded from somewhere far away.
“Rue! Come on, baby, look at me.”
He did. Her eyes had shifted into tiger eyes.
“Breathe with me.” She breathed in deeply, and he did his best to imitate her. When she blew out the air, he did too, and then they started over. He didn’t know how many times they did it, but when she finally smiled at him, he was cold and shaky.
“Drink your coffee.”
He nodded and almost knocked the mug over, since his hands didn’t obey him properly.
“I haven’t registered you. I assumed you were already.”
He shook his head.
“You’re not… registered.”
“Does anyone know I live here?” He bit into the blueberry muffin but couldn’t taste it.
She stared at him. “One hundred and two people live inside the walls, Rue.”
One hundred and two. “Including me?”
“Yes, including you.”
“And they’re all registered?” He nodded to answer his own question because, of course, they were. They were shifters and vampires.
“Yes. It’s illegal not to be registered.”
“Unless you’re human.”
She pursed her lips. “You’re not human.”
“I grew up human.”
Silence stretched, and he realized he’d never told her anything about himself.
“I grew up in the system.”
Puzzlement swept over her face. “Which system?”
“Foster homes. I have no idea who my parents are. I was moved from one home to another.”
She whined. “Oh, poor baby.”
He might have felt sorry for himself at the time, but there were worse things. Far worse.
“According to all papers, I’m human.”
She blinked. “What?”
“I’m human.”
“No, you’re not. Every shifter who passes you on the street can tell you’re not human. It’s in your scent.”
They could? He hadn’t known, but he’d never been around shifters.
“No humans ever noticed I wasn’t human. I’m not strong, I don’t have sharp teeth or turn furry, so how could they? I was hardly ever around any plants, and if I ever gave anything energy, I made sure no one was watching me. I don’t think Chaton is registered either.”
Her fingers curled around her mug as if it would anchor her. “What?” Her voice was nothing more than a whisper.
“He was shipped here from France. Illegally. I don’t think anyone knows he’s in the country. Authorities, I mean.”
She stared. “He… what?”
Rue grimaced. It was not his story to tell. “He grew up with his grandmother in France. When she died, his family sold him because of his latency.”
“They what!” The volume of her words shook the house, and Rue winced.
Before he could find his voice again, there was a knock on the door, followed by the sound of it opening, and a man came into view. He moved too fast. “Gertrude!”
Rue didn’t have a chance to move before he filled the doorway to the kitchen, and he was back to being unable to breathe. A vampire. Sharp teeth were peeking out as he spoke.
“It’s gone.”
“What’s gone?” Gertrude tensed, and Rue looked between them. The man was dark and ominous, broad-shouldered, dark-haired, and with a five o’clock shadow.
“I went to check the spot, and someone has dug her up.”
Rue whimpered. Her? Dark, almost black eyes turned his way, and Rue shrank in the chair. Dug what?
“Come. Let’s go somewhere else.” Gertrude got up and grabbed the man’s arm. “We’ll talk later, Rue.”

About Holly Day 

According to Holly Day, no day should go by uncelebrated and all of them deserve a story. If she’ll have the time to write them remains to be seen. She lives in rural Sweden with a husband, four children, more pets than most, and wouldn’t last a day without coffee.  

Holly gets up at the crack of dawn most days of the week to write gay romance stories. She believes in equality in fiction and in real life. Diversity matters. Representation matters. Visibility matters. We can change the world one story at the time.  

Connect with Holly on social media: 

Website :: Facebook :: Twitter :: Pinterest :: BookBub :: Goodreads :: Newsletter :: TikTok 

 

Hiya! 

I’m here as Holly today 😁 Did you know that there is a sale over at JMS Books? No? Well, there is. All ebooks are 50% off through the 31st. And do you know what else? Yesterday, Panther’s Luck was released 🥳 which means you can grab it for half price if you act quickly! 

JMS Books is celebrating thirteen years in business, and to make the birthday month extra special, there was an in-house call for Lucky 13 stories. We could write any pairing, any subgenre, and were asked to keep the stories below 70k. What all stories had to have was some form of the word luck in the title, though. 

So if you hop on over to JMS Books and check the new releases, keep an eye out for books with any form of luck in the title.  

My contribution is a 187-page-long paranormal story about a human man named Romeo and a panther shifter named Ciar. The world it takes place in is pretty grim. The supernatural population grew tired of humans and their ways and wiped out the majority of them. What’s left are small settlements where the humans do their best to survive. 

Romeo is no longer able to stay in his settlement and sets out to move to an old wilderness resort that has been uninhabited for thirty years. He and his siblings inherited it from his uncle, but it’s outside the settlements, which means Romeo is fair game. 

In this world, shifters can be of any animal and there are crows and eagle-owls, panthers and wolves, bears and ravens. But some of them can’t turn into a fully human shape. And there are vampires. 

Romeo befriends a bear boy who isn’t human-passing. It’s his first interaction with the supernatural world, but he soon realises there are supes around every corner and some want to keep him, and some want to eat him. 

What works in Romeo’s favour is that he can read. The supes haven’t gone to school, and while some of them know how to read, the majority do not. Romeo is lucky, because he finds thirteen boxes of paperback books (Lucky 13 😆).  

Books are banned, but for once being outside the borders of the settlements is a good thing since the supes are more interested in hearing the stories than reporting him to the authorities. The books become a sort of currency. In order to hear the stories, the supes offer Romeo favours. 

And the more time Ciar spends in Romeo’s company, the more reluctant he is to leave his side. So when danger approaches, he stands with Romeo. 

This story took over my life, or I disappeared into it when I wrote. It’s heavy on survival and there is some found family, but most of all, I just love my characters. I’m pretty sure I want to revisit The Moonlight Ranch and Last Hope. Who doesn’t want to revisit a place named Last Hope?? 😆 

Panther’s Luck

Humans off the paved road are nothing but shifter food.

Romeo Gallo has to flee town. The problem is that the only place he can think of going is an old ranch he’s inherited from his uncle, and it’s off the paved road. Humans are fair game if they’re off the paved road, and being eaten by shifters has never been on the list of things Romeo wants to experience.

Ciar Moonlight is a panther shifter, perfectly happy living a laidback life on the ranch. He wants nothing to do with humans. But one night, one moves into the house, and Ciar finds it hard to stay away.

Romeo soon learns he isn’t the only one living on the ranch. Shifters and vampires keep popping up, and since no one has eaten him yet, he’d go as far as to call a few of them his friends. And there is a panther reluctant to leave his bedroom, so maybe one is even more than a friend. Ciar might not have wanted to get to know a human, but now when Romeo is living in his territory, he’s Ciar’s to keep, right? So if someone tries to get rid of Romeo, it’s Ciar’s right to defend him. Right?

Buy links:

Paranormal Gay Romance: 50,259 words

JMS Books :: Amazon :: books2read

Excerpt:

Romeo waited for some sort of response from Ciar. His heart was beating fast, and he feared he’d throw up any minute.

“Wonder why Armelle is here.” Ciar opened the door before Romeo stopped the car. In a blink of an eye, he was out of his seat, and Romeo watched as he approached the huge female. She looked like Humbert. There was no way she’d pass as human with her bear eyes and ears, and he wondered if she kept the same size in both her shapes because he’d never seen a person who was as big as she was.

He slowly got out of the car and almost dove back in again when her gaze focused on him.

“Hi.” He waved and walked closer. “I’m Romeo.”

She dipped her head. “I know. Humbert won’t stop talking about you.” She took a deep breath. “The crows caught him in your house, and I’m here to apologize and allow you to set the punishment.”

The world stopped. “What?”

She scrunched her nose. “The crows noticed Humbert inside your den when everyone knew you were in Last Hope with Ciar. You don’t enter anyone’s den without permission. You set the punishment.”

Humbert’s gaze was glued to the ground, but Romeo turned to him. “What were you doing in the house?”

He winced and shrunk. “When we were looking at the terrible-weather box, I saw the room next to it was filled with boxes. I wanted to see what was inside.”

Curiosity would be the death of this boy, or Romeo hoped it wouldn’t, but he got into trouble regularly. “And what was inside?”

“I didn’t have time to look before the crows informed Mom.”

Romeo chuckled, which earned him a glare from Armelle. “Sorry.”

“You’re not to say sorry, Humbert is, and you’ll give him a punishment so he’ll learn.”

Romeo wasn’t sure he believed in punishments. He didn’t want people running around in his house when he wasn’t there, but… “Right. I need you to build a chicken coop right away.”

“A what?” Humbert met his gaze for the first time, and confusion was written all over his face.

“House for chickens. There will need to be a couple of boxes where they can lay eggs, and they need something to sit on when they sleep, a stick that isn’t too thin and not too thick. You need to make sure no predators can get in during the night, and it has to be big enough for them to be able to move around.”

Humbert looked from Romeo to Armelle to Ciar. “Why?”

“I have chickens in the car, and I need to let them out before they die of heatstroke. They need a place to live, they need water, and eh… food.” He looked at Ciar. “What do chickens eat?”

Humbert made an excited sound, which had Armelle growling.

“What do I use to build?” Humbert was moving around, trying to see into the car despite standing too far away.

Romeo had no idea. “Maybe there is something in the cabins you can use?”

One second, there was a clear blue sky, the next a shadow fell over them. Romeo stumbled toward Ciar, but before he could make a fool out of himself by trying to hide behind him, a huge eagle-owl landed next to them, and soon a naked Draven stood there. “What are you doing?”

“We’re gonna build a chicken den.” Humbert was buzzing with excitement.

“You are.” Armelle glared at Humbert, and she didn’t sound pleased. “It’s punishment.”

Draven widened his eyes and looked between them. “Oh… maybe I should—” He gestured at the sky.

“No, wait!” Romeo reached for him without touching. “What do chickens eat?”

Draven tilted his head as an owl would. “They’re not birds of prey.”

“No, I know.”

He shrugged. “They eat grass and plants and bugs and worms and stuff. They scratch around.”

“So I can let them out?” There was plenty of ground they could peck on.

Draven stared at him, but before he could reply, Humbert grabbed his arm. “How big do I have to build, Draven?”

Draven looked at Romeo. “What’s going on?”

“I bought five chickens. They’re in the car. They need somewhere to live and nesting boxes.”

Draven moved toward the car, and Humbert and Ciar followed. Armelle stared at him. “Punishment isn’t supposed to be fun.”

Romeo nodded. “I’ll have him dig me a garden bed when he’s done.”

She gave a small nod. “He’s always sneaking out.”

Romeo lowered his voice, since he didn’t think she’d want Humbert to hear what he said. “It’s not a problem. I mean, I don’t want people running around in the house when I’m not there, but he’s a great kid.”

She narrowed her eyes, harrumphed, and lumbered off.

Romeo went to the car where the others were talking about how to build a chicken coop, and he almost didn’t notice Draven being naked. Almost. And since he didn’t want to be lynched, he did his best not to stare at his ass, even though it was a nice ass.

Grabbing the crate with the chickens, he lifted it onto the ground, then he reached for the groceries and carried them into the house, using the open kitchen door. He huffed. How had Humbert opened it? He was pretty sure he’d locked it before he left.

He placed the milk in the refrigerator and headed for the basement since the trapdoor was open. Walking into the cool air, he could see where Humbert had been. There were several boxes stacked on top of each other, and he’d put one on the floor, but it didn’t look like it had been opened. There was a thick layer of dust on the lid. Someone had written Horror on it with a black pen and Romeo’s hands shook as he reached for the lid. Horror. Who wrote horror on a box? It wasn’t a big box—square, cardboard, the perfect size for a human head. When he heard footsteps on the stairs, he snatched his hands back.

“Romeo?” Ciar came down the stairs. “What are you doing?”

“Who writes horror on a box? And more importantly, what do you find in a box marked as horror? You don’t think there’s a sawed-off head in there, do you?”

Ciar stared at him as if he was insane—he most likely was.

“There is nothing dead in here.”

“You think it’s something alive? Like a snake or a spider or something? A box full of bats.” Romeo was being ridiculous, but what could be in a box of horrors?

“There is nothing living either.” Ciar reached past him and opened the lid. Romeo stared. Books. There were paperback books, several of them.

“Shit!” He put the lid back on and stared at Ciar. “What do we do? We’ll go to jail if they find these.”

“Jail?”

Romeo shook his head as panic set in. Fuck. “They’ll kill us on the spot. There is no room in the jails. No one is allowed to have books.”

“No one is coming here.”

Romeo stared at him and then looked at the other boxes. Twelve other boxes. Mystery, sci-fi, young adult, romance, paranormal, children, and non-fiction. Mystery, paranormal, and romance had more than one box, as did non-fiction. “Holy shit. It’s a library. We’ll swing for this. I’ll swing for this.”

“Swing?”

“Hang. They’ll kill me.”

Ciar growled and sharp teeth peeked out from underneath his upper lip.

“Look.” Romeo got to his feet and tapped the paranormal box. “These have to be old, from before humans knew supes were real. I bet you’d find these hilarious.”

“Why?”

“They were written before we were aware you existed, so they’ll be making things up about how shifters and vampires were, making up their own rules and such.”

Ciar studied him. “And you can read them?”

Romeo pursed his lips. He believed he could. Grabbing the upmost paranormal box, he put it on the floor and opened the lid. There were a lot of huge bare-chested men holding on to petite women, but also a few with women dressed in battle gear, one with a woman with long red hair holding a sword, one with a woman in a pointy black hat and a cauldron with some glowing green liquid in.

Blowing out a breath, Romeo stared. Only looking at the cover was fantastic. Art wasn’t allowed. “This is amazing.”

There was one with a black panther stalking a barely dressed woman tied to a tree, and Romeo laughed. “Look.” He held it up for Ciar to see.

Ciar frowned. “Is he gonna eat her?”

“I doubt it. Not the way you mean it at least.” He chuckled.

“You can read these?”

Romeo opened the first page of the next book, one with a woman dressed in black leather on the cover and read the first sentence out loud.

Ciar stared at him and then made a motion for him to continue.

“Let’s get the chickens sorted, and I’ll read a chapter after.”

Ciar nodded. “Yeah, the others will want to hear, too.”

The others? Nervousness spread in Romeo’s chest. He could read, but he wasn’t the best at reading out loud, and the fewer who knew they had books, the better.

About Holly Day 

According to Holly Day, no day should go by uncelebrated and all of them deserve a story. If she’ll have the time to write them remains to be seen. She lives in rural Sweden with a husband, four children, more pets than most, and wouldn’t last a day without coffee.  

Holly gets up at the crack of dawn most days of the week to write gay romance stories. She believes in equality in fiction and in real life. Diversity matters. Representation matters. Visibility matters. We can change the world one story at the time.  

Connect with Holly on social media: 

Website :: Facebook :: Twitter :: Pinterest :: BookBub :: Goodreads :: Newsletter :: TikTok