JL Merrow

Book #3 in The Shamwell Tales is now available to pre-order from the e-tailer of your choosing:

(for all those who read Played! and wanted Patrick’s story *g*)

When the costs are added up, will love land in the black?

Mark Nugent has spent his life in the closet—at least, the small part of it he hasn’t spent in the office. Divorced when he could no longer deny his sexuality, he’s sworn off his workaholic ways and moved to Shamwell with his headstrong teen daughter to give her a stable home environment.

His resolve to put his love life on hold is severely tested when he joins a local organization and meets a lively yet intense young man who tempts him closer to the closet threshold.

Patrick Owen is an out-and-proud charity worker with strong principles—and a newly discovered weakness for an older man. One snag: Mark is adamant he’s not coming out to his daughter, and Patrick will be damned if he’s going to start a relationship with a lie.

Between Mark’s old-fashioned attitudes and a camp, flirtatious ex-colleague who wants Mark for himself, Patrick wonders if they’ll ever be on the same romantic page. And when Mark’s former career as a tax advisor clashes with Patrick’s social conscience, it could be the one stumbling block they can’t get past.

Warning: Contains historically inaccurate Spartan costumes, mangled movie quotes, dubious mathematical logic and a three-legged pub crawl.

ETA: Now due out from Samhain Publishing 19th January 2016.

Available to pre-order:    Amazon US | Amazon UK | ARe

(it’ll be available to pre-order from the Samhain site from 20th December)

My Queer Romance Month post, in which I ramble on about how I came to write queer romance, is now up.

Comment on the post to be in with a chance of winning a copy of To Love a Traitor!

And don’t forget to check out all the other posts this month!

…and as part of the celebrations, I’m over at Gay Book Reviews talking about that slippery serpent, The Ouroboros of Literature – or in other words, how delightfully self-referential fiction has been, ever since (and probably even before) a 16th-century jobbing actor in Stratford on Avon first got the idea of turning an old yarn by some Italian bloke into a stage play.

Come for the Monty Python references. And stay for the giveaway!

My Damned If You Do series is being sold in a special, hugely discounted bundle by Riptide this week only. Check out the sale on this series and other bundles at http://www.riptidepublishing.com/anniversary-sale

…including several of mine:

Angel

As a child, Don wanted to be a catholic priest.  That didn’t work out and now he’s a parole officer, but his faith is still strong.  His world is shaken when his latest assignment turns out to be Michael, a young man Don hasn’t seen since he took Michael to church as a child—and saw his parish priest cast Michael out of the church as a demon.

Meeting Michael as an adult re-ignites the obsession Don had with the boy he couldn’t save—but can Michael be saved at all? Or is the demon with the compelling face as damned as he believes himself to be?

Hairy, Horny, and Over Here

Photographer Ethan is pretty sure there’s no such thing as a jackalope—every bunny he’s ever seen has been a cute little furry thing, not a dangerous, horned beastie. But somehow he finds himself dragged into Parkhurst Forest to look for them by big, tough hunter Logan, who drives Ethan mad with continual comments about his “daintiness.” When the jackalopes lure Logan away, however, Ethan is left to the mercies of an escaped convict from the local prison. Rescue comes from an unexpected source—and Ethan discovers the true reason for Logan’s personal remarks!

Stroke to His Cox

As coxswain of a Cambridge college rowing team, pint-sized Dave Tanaka has eight strapping athletes hanging on his every word, their strength at his command. Leading his crew to win their oars might be easier if Dave didn’t have to hide his crush on Archie, the stroke rower – but as they prepare for their final race, Dave doesn’t suspect that Archie is in the same boat as him in more ways than one!

Get ‘em while they’re cheap! (That’s 5-8th Oct).

The To Love a Traitor blog tour is now over, and the random number generator has spoken! All winners have now been notified – congratulations to all who won, and commiserations to those who weren’t lucky this time.

Thanks so much to everyone who commented on the tour – some of your comments really made my day!

…is what I’m talking about today over at Prism Book Alliance, for the last stop of the To Love a Traitor blog tour.

And yes, I mean that quite literally! Why not pop on over and find out exactly what I’m on about?

Giveaway: I’m offering a free ebook from my backlist to a randomly chosen commenter on each blog post.

And there’s a grand prize of a signed paperback copy of To Love a Traitor for one lucky commenter on the tour. I’m happy to ship internationally, and the more blog posts you comment on, the more chances you get!

I’ll be making the draws around teatime on Monday 28th September, GMT. Good luck!

Today, on the To Love a Traitor blog tour, I’m over at Boys in Our Books talking about the cypher-solving precursor to Alan Turing’s Bletchley Park: Room 40 in British Naval Intelligence. Why not join me – and find out what some of the men employed there got up to in the bath!  

I’m offering a free ebook from my backlistto a randomly chosen commenter on the blog post.

And there’s a grand prize of a signed paperback copy of To Love a Traitor for one lucky commenter on the tour.

…is the title of my guest blog post on The Novel Approach today, on the second stop of my rather leisurely blog tour to celebrate the release of my historical novel To Love a Traitor. Well, it’s set in 1920. Life moved at a slower pace back then!

Why not pop on over to find out what on earth I could be talking about?

There be prizes: I’m offering a free ebook from my backlist to a randomly chosen commenter on the blog post.

And there’s a grand prize of a signed paperback copy of To Love a Traitor for one lucky commenter on the tour. I’m happy to ship internationally, and the more blog posts you comment on, the more chances you get!

I’ll be making the draws around teatime on Monday 28th September, GMT. Good luck!

Wounds of the heart take the longest to heal.

When solicitor’s clerk George Johnson moves into a rented London room in the winter of 1920, it’s with a secret goal: to find out if his fellow lodger, Matthew Connaught, is the wartime traitor who cost George’s adored older brother his life.

Yet as he gets to know Matthew—an irrepressibly cheerful ad man whose missing arm hasn’t dimmed his smile—George begins to lose sight of his mission.

As Matthew’s advances become ever harder to resist, George tries to convince himself his brother’s death was just the luck of the draw, and to forget he’s hiding a secret of his own. His true identity—and an act of conscience that shamed his family.

But as their mutual attraction grows, so does George’s desperation to know the truth about what happened that day in Ypres. If only to prove Matthew innocent—even if it means losing the man he’s come to love.

Warning: Contains larks in the snow, stiff upper lips, shadows of the Great War, and one man working undercover while another tries to lure him under the covers.

Now available in ebook and paperback:

Samhain | Amazon US | Amazon UK | ARe

Hurrah! To Love a Traitor is my first full-length historical novel, and I’m so excited it’s out today!

To celebrate, I’m over at Sinfully Addicted to All Male Romance with a guest post about Holidaying in the Past, as part of the To Love a Traitor blog tour!

And there’s a giveaway!

I’m offering a free ebook from my backlist to a randomly chosen commenter on each blog post.

And there’s a grand prize of a signed paperback copy of To Love a Traitor for one lucky commenter on the tour. I’m happy to ship internationally, and the more blog posts you comment on, the more chances you get!

Wounds of the heart take the longest to heal.

When solicitor’s clerk George Johnson moves into a rented London room in the winter of 1920, it’s with a secret goal: to find out if his fellow lodger, Matthew Connaught, is the wartime traitor who cost George’s adored older brother his life.

Yet as he gets to know Matthew—an irrepressibly cheerful ad man whose missing arm hasn’t dimmed his smile—George begins to lose sight of his mission.

As Matthew’s advances become ever harder to resist, George tries to convince himself his brother’s death was just the luck of the draw, and to forget he’s hiding a secret of his own. His true identity—and an act of conscience that shamed his family.

But as their mutual attraction grows, so does George’s desperation to know the truth about what happened that day in Ypres. If only to prove Matthew innocent—even if it means losing the man he’s come to love.

Warning: Contains larks in the snow, stiff upper lips, shadows of the Great War, and one man working undercover while another tries to lure him under the covers.

Now available in ebook and paperback:

Samhain | Amazon US | Amazon UK | ARe

Yay! I’ve packed my bags, and (assuming I’ll be able to lift them) I’m off to Bristol for another fabulous UK Meet – can’t wait to see everyone who’s going!