✨ Guest Post ✨
Hi! Thank you, Addison, for allowing me to swing by. I’m Ofelia Gränd, and I write gay romance in all kinds of subgenres, lengths, and heat levels. It all depends on where the story wants to go and what I’m in the mood for.
The reason I’m here today isn’t because I’ve written something new, though. It’s because I have a box set out!!! 🥳 It’s called Hearts and Claws and it contains three stories – Black Bird, Jaeger’s Lost and Found, and Nine Stones. All of which you can buy individually, read through KU, and Jaeger’s Lost and Found, and Nine Stones are available in KoboPlus as well (Black Bird will pop up there eventually).
If you want the pretty pink cover, well then you’ll just have to buy the box set, I’m afraid 😆
At a glance, these stories might not seem to have a lot in common. Black Bird is a fated mates story about a caladrius healer and a werewolf. Jaeger’s Lost and Found is about a vampire and a psychic, and Nine Stones is about a human and a cat shifter.
But what they do have in common is the need to be close. In Black Bird, Nash will go insane if he can’t be close to Arlo, who is his mate. The problem is that Arlo can’t be close to anyone he’s healed, and he heals Nash.
In Jaeger’s Lost and Found, vampires live in covens and are mentally linked. They need the psychic feedback to survive, but one day Gael wakes up and his connections are gone. It’s only a matter of time before he dies, so he hires a finder to find his coven.
And in Nine Stones, Kirk needs to be with Felix so they can get mated, but Felix keeps killing him and burying him in his backyard. Or Felix believes he accidentally kills Kirk’s cat over and over again. Only the cat is Kirk and cat shifters aren’t easy to kill.
Black Bird takes place during the autumn, when it’s dark and cold, and while I don’t call things by their right name, it takes place in and outside my hometown. In Jaeger’s Lost and Found, it’s constantly raining and has been for years. I always meant to write more stories in that universe. And in Nine Stones, it’s a sweltering heatwave in suburbia. So in that aspect, the stories aren’t similar at all. Variation can be good though, right? 😁
It’s like a box of chocolate. You never know what you’re gonna get 😉
Hearts & Claws Box Set
by Ofelia Gränd
Publisher: JMS Books, LLC
Release Date: August 12, 2023
Genre: Gay Paranormal Romance
Length: Collection Totaling 110,817 Words / 404 Pages
Includes:
Black Bird: Novel / 58,124 Words / 208 Pages
Jaeger’s Lost and Found: Novella / 28,641 Words / 107 Pages
Nine Stones: Novella / 24,129 Words / 89 Pages
🛒 Purchase Links
Absence does not make the heart grow fonder; it kills it.
Contains the stories: Black Bird, Jaeger’s Lost and Found, and Nine Stones
Blurb
Absence does not make the heart grow fonder; it kills it.
What would you do if the person you can’t live without kept putting distance between you? In this box set, you’ll find three paranormal MM romance stories about men who have a special connection to someone they need to be physically close to. But something or someone forces them apart.
Contains the stories:
Black Bird: For seven years, Arlo Barman has been on the move. All he wants is a place to call home. But as a caladrius healer, he has to separate himself from those he’s healed, and has to find a place to stay in a new town. Nash Silver is a werewolf, and from the moment he lays eyes on Arlo, he needs to be close. When Nash is injured, Arlo heals him and has to leave. But can Nash survive without his mate?
Jaeger’s Lost and Found: Gael Murray has lost his connections. A vampire can’t survive without the energy exchange he has with his coven members via mental links. To locate them before it’s too late, he hires a finder. Jaeger’s Lost and Found is the only finder shop on the west coast, but Archibald Jaeger seems to be defective. A terrible finder is better than no finder, though. Together, they set out to save Gael’s life.
Nine Stones: The only thing worse than having a hot neighbor you’re too intimidated to talk to is hitting his cat with your car. Felix Lane was perfectly content to spend the rest of his days in his quiet little corner of the suburbs, but when he hits his neighbor’s cat with his car, he has no choice but to face the music and Kirk. But Kirk, with his unusual eyes and bad boy looks, is nowhere to be found.
Excerpt
(From Jaeger’s Lost and Found)
Archie stumbled over the threshold while tearing off his pea coat. The bookstore had been in his family for generations, though no one had chosen to live there before him. His hair was dripping, his heart thudding, and his mind screaming at him to lock the door ten times over to prevent anyone from ever entering again.
The bell chimed a second time as Edie pushed the door open behind him. “That went well.”
“Did it?” Blood soaked his shirt sleeve where the ugly little mutt had bitten him, and his arm pulsed and ached. He unbuttoned the cuff and pushed up the sleeve, revealing small puncture wounds, and not from one bite, no, the cursed dog had bitten him twice.
Edie winced. “We got paid.”
“I need a doctor.”
She snorted. “Melodramatic much? It’s a tiny little bite wound.”
“I could get tetanus or rabies.” His heart hammered again. He could get ill, seriously ill. What if he needed to stay at a hospital, be away from home overnight? His mouth grew parched, his throat closed.
“Oh-oh, are we having a meltdown?” She stepped closer, squinting at him. “You’re going a little blueish, Archibald. Perhaps you should try breathing, don’t you think?”
He tried, he did, but his throat was clogged.
“Is it because you missed masturbation day?” Somewhere distantly Archie heard the doorbell chime again. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. There is still time to abuse the wicked stick on the correct day, no need to freak out about it.” She tugged at his arm. “I’ll be with you in a minute, sir.”
Sir? Archie turned to look, but his vision was going foggy. There was a dark shape lurking by the door.
“Archie.” The commanding tone made him focus on Edie again, but her brown hair blurred together with her face, and the hideous flowery top she wore stung his eyes. “Snap out of it.”
“You need help, love?” The voice was rich, the accent unquestionably British, and it sent shivers over Archie’s already shuddering body.
“No, it’s alright. We’ve been through this before. Take a seat.” Her voice turned into a whisper. “Get it together Archibald, or I’ll tell the young gentleman over there about your masturbation habits. I know how much you love to talk about it.”
Archie glared at her, some of the haziness easing away. “Bitch.”
She grinned. “There you go.” She went up on tiptoe and kissed his cheek. “You’re fine, and you know I’d never let anything happen to you. You will not die from a little love bite.” She flashed fangs, but he knew she was teasing, and the man who Archie now couldn’t make himself look at snorted. Edie squeezed his unharmed arm. “Go clean up, and I’ll make us some coffee.”
“It’s almost bedtime, too late for coffee.”
“I’ll make us coffee, go put on dry clothes, and slap a bandage on the bites unless you want them to multiply.”
He frowned at her, not understanding what she was hinting at. One quick glance at the man waiting for Edie had heat spreading over his cheeks, but he managed to halt it before it grew into a blush. Archie didn’t blush.
The man looked about thirty, maybe a little younger, with longish black hair and pale smooth skin that almost glowed in the dim light. Archie slipped away between the shelves, and once he was sure the customer couldn’t see him, he drew in a trembling breath. If he took long enough to clean up, he wouldn’t have to face him.
About Ofelia Gränd
Ofelia Gränd is Swedish, which often shines through in her stories. She likes to write about everyday people ending up in not-so-everyday situations, and hopefully also getting out of them. She writes romance, contemporary, paranormal, Sci-Fi and whatever else catches her fancy.
Her books are written for readers who want to take a break from their everyday life for an hour or two.
When Ofelia manages to tear herself from the screen and sneak away from her husband and children, she likes to take walks in the woods…if she’s lucky she finds her way back home again.
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