Hello, everyone! Thank you, Addison, for allowing me back on again 😘
This month, we’re celebrating National M&M Day. If you’ve missed me the previous times I’ve been here, I’m Holly Day, and I write HollyDay stories for all those crazy holidays out there, and I try to release a story a month. If I so lived to be 120, I wouldn’t be able to write stories for all the days. There are so many.
But it’s fun! And as I said, this month, we’re celebrating M&M Day. Chocolate for everyone! 🥳 In A Vampire Chew Toy, we meet Devin and Mars, who are our main characters, but they live together with five other people, all of them shifters.
Devin is human, and he was taken off the street when walking home from work one day and was forced to live like a blood slave for a year before Mars and the others rescued him. Before he was taken, he, like most other humans, didn’t have a clue shifters or vampires existed.
Mars is part of a crime-solving group that serves the supernatural community. Normally, he wipes the memories of the humans they come in contact with and sends them on their way, but Devin is immune to mind control.
When we meet Devin, he’s been free for three years and lives with Mars and the others but has hardly dared to leave his room. One night he wakes from a nightmare and walks into the kitchen, where he meets Murrie, the group leader, who convinces him to cook.
They each have a day a week when they’re responsible for the food. It’s Murrie’s day, but he is busy with meetings and an evening event, so he talks Devin into taking his shift.
Do you know what M&M stands for? Mars and Murrie 😁
Anyway, that kitchen meeting with Murrie is the starting point for Devin to tackle his fears and take part in life again. There is a lot of cooking, and baking, and M&M eating, and some coffee drinking, because of course, there is coffee 😆
What’s your method of stress relief? I bake. Bread. Often when I say I bake, people think I make cookies and cakes and whatnot, but it’s very seldom I do. I have no problem making several different kinds of bread at once though. On bad days, there are doughs on the rise all over the kitchen.
Sometimes I wish I was a person who cleaned when they were stressed. Or like hubby, he’s a runner. He puts on shoes, and then I don’t see him for a few hours. Healthier than obsessive-compulsive bread making.
Mars is a kitchen disaster, but Devin… he loves to cook and bake, and little by little, he’s turning the kitchen into Devin land where no one is allowed to enter… no one other than Mars.
I love this story! When I wrote The Book Dragon’s Lair, I was sure it was gonna be my favourite story of 2022, but I’m afraid it got downgraded. Food, M&Ms, and plenty of tattoos. It’s hard to beat LOL
Blurb
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?
Excerpt
Mars yawned as he walked down the stairs. It had been a bad night. Devin had cried out several times in his sleep. The last time he’d woken himself. Mars had the room next to his since his hearing wasn’t as developed as the shifters’. His hearing was far better than a human’s hearing was, but he’d still agreed to switch rooms with Faelan when he’d asked. It had been when Devin only had lived with them for a couple of weeks. Things had improved since then, but he still woke up screaming most nights.
If Devin ever realized everyone heard him, he’d most likely move out, and Mars didn’t want him to.
He liked hearing Devin on the other side of the wall, liked knowing he was there, and Mars would hear if someone tried to harm him. There had been a million occasions when he’d considered going to him in the middle of the night when he was having bad dreams, but he’d only make it worse. If Devin woke with a vampire in the room, all hell would break loose.
The house smelled of freshly baked bread and coffee, and Mars’s stomach growled. Tuesdays were most often the worst food day of the week. Kenia was a terrible, terrible food destroyer.
When he entered the kitchen, both Hanna and Rei were there. Hanna was always up early, while Rei was a bit more unpredictable.
“Morning.” Mars ran a hand through his hair as there was a clatter by the kitchen island. He looked over in time to see Devin stare at him. The sound had come from him dropping a pan of scrambled eggs. Luckily, it had landed right side up. “Sorry.” He didn’t know if it was him speaking that startled Devin, but it was likely.
“No, no…” The circles under his eyes were darker today, and Mars fought to keep a blank face. It wouldn’t help for him to ask how he was, tell him he needed to sleep more, or any of the other things swirling around in his head. Mars took a step closer, and Devin stilled.
“Did you bake?”
He nodded.
“Followed a recipe?”
Devin’s eyes met his for a brief moment. “About halfway through, then I got bored reading.”
Mars wanted to pull him into his arms. Instead, he settled for a smile and a nod. When he turned toward the table, Hanna was grinning at him, and he glared. She giggled. Rei looked up from the food in front of him and frowned, and since Mars had his back to Devin, he indulged in flashing Hanna sharp canines. It only made her giggle harder. Shifters.
Filling his plate with a couple of still warm-from-the-oven bread rolls, cheese, tomato slices, a few fruit slices, and something he wasn’t sure what it was, but it looked like omelets made in a muffin pan, he then went to sit.
“Does anyone want anything from the store?” Devin put the scrambled eggs on the table.
“Are you going there?” Rei looked confused, and Mars was about to protest. He didn’t want Devin going anywhere without someone going with him. He had a bad feeling. It was most likely an overreaction, but he didn’t like the connection to Terrena.
“No, but I’ve used up most of the eggs. Pancakes and boiled eggs yesterday, scrambled eggs and egg muffins today. Murrie said all I had to do was send in the order, and they’d deliver the next day, so I thought…” He tilted his head at the same time as he pursed his lips. Mars’s eyes stayed on his lips for a second too long, but he didn’t think anyone noticed.
No one replied. Rei was busy chewing, Hanna was gaping, and all Mars could do was study Devin’s lips that weren’t pursed anymore.
“All right then. If you come up with anything, add it to the list before ten.”
Hanna held up a finger. “Ah… eh… what can I bribe you with?”
“Bribe?” Devin looked confused.
“I want bread rolls for breakfast tomorrow, but it’s my turn.”
He frowned. “So bake.”
Before Hanna could reply, Faelan entered the kitchen. He rubbed his neck and looked more asleep than awake. He took in the table with the food lined up, and then looked at Devin. “Good morning, Devin.”
“Not good morning to the rest of us?” Hanna’s tone was exasperated, and Mars noted Devin backing away toward the kitchen island. If it was Faelan, Hanna’s comment, or simply because there was now five people in the kitchen, he didn’t know, but the level of unease in Devin had gone up.
“You didn’t do anything to make my morning better, whereas Devin has performed a miracle.” Faelan gestured at the table. “It’s Tuesday, people. Take a moment and remember it’s Tuesday today, but we won’t leave the kitchen starving and grumpy.”
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.
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Sounds like a great read, so I went to AMZ and picked it up (so to speak). Looking forward to it.
Yay! I’ve enjoyed every book of hers that I’ve read so far, and I’ve moved this one up ahead of the rest of her backlist on my poor teetering TBR.