Lonely Hearts
A Novella Bundle
Posy Roberts
M/M Romance
Release Date: 10.25.18
BLURB
Stoic men, who believe they’re happy alone, find the world turned upside down when their perfect someone stumbles across their path. In four novellas, eight men encounter unique struggles on their way to their well-deserved happily ever after.
Marc joins the Lonely Hearts chat room where men support men on their way to finding true love. He wants to believe that kind of love is possible for him, but his once-burned heart stops him from going all-in with anyone.
The chat group’s philosophy is, “Figure out how you keep screwing up your happily ever after. Once you know, you’re more likely to find the true thing.”
Skeptical as he is, Marc logs in and meets men in various degrees of getting there. At least he’s not alone. Luther truly loves his single life on the Bakken oil fields. William’s not sure he’ll ever measure up, let alone find someone he can be himself around. And Andrew still pines for a guy he hooked up with on a reenactment battlefield before he got blown up on a real one.
One by one they start dropping like flies. Flies drunk on love. And sooner than he expects, Marc’s luck starts changing thanks to these new friends.
Walk alongside these men as they find the men of their dreams and discover their happily ever afters.
101,000 Words | 396 pages | 8-9 hours to read
blue-collar | reluctant lovers | rural | bisexual | gay | meet-cute | fated lovers | love triangle | Halloween | white-collar | opposites attract | multicultural | coming out | second chance | first time | disability romance | meant to be | military | artist | world traveler | coming of age | long distance | pen pals | gay romance | contemporary | MM romance | lone wolf | alpha male
Stories included: Bent Arrow, Stroke of Luck, Momo, My Everything, and Love on a Battlefield.
Threads & Easter Eggs
As a writer, it’s common to revisit themes in subsequent stories. Sometimes it happens without a writer’s knowledge, and it takes a reader to point it out before it’s made obvious.
As I was editing several of my novellas, getting them ready for reformatting, I read the stories close together, in a matter of days, and I discovered threads woven from one story to another I’d previously been blind to.
Enter the Easter egg hunt I’m inviting you to go on while reading Lonely Hearts.
Easter eggs are surprises hidden in video games, movies, TV shows, and books that are a nod or a wink to those in the know. It’s like the actor breaking the fourth wall and saying, “Hey, if you were paying attention, this should be familiar.”
After discovering the commonalities between four novellas, I considered putting them together in a bundle. When I asked my Facebook reader group if they’d be interested in a novella bundle, I was met with a resounding, “Yes, please.” So, I went out of my way to find these Easter eggs I inadvertently planted in my stories.
I’d love to say it was all planned, but alas, no. Haha. Two of the stories in this bundle were written nearly a decade ago, while the other two were written only a few years back. Yet there, before my very eyes, I discovered those threads woven into the narrative.
I decided to take things a few steps beyond. While each story is set it a different state, I always envisioned that Mark from Stroke of Luck and Hugo from my North Star Trilogy knew each other. A six degrees of separation thing, if nothing else. They both live in Minneapolis, and despite being a metropolis, it’s still small town enough that this wasn’t out of the realm of possibility.
At the opening of Stroke of Luck, we meet Marc in a Goodwill trying to put together a kitchen after an apartment fire. I couldn’t help but think Hugo would be the perfect person to tell Marc which was the best secondhand store in the metro area, what with Hugo being a drag queen, actor, and theater director who’s lived on a tight budget for years. He knows how to shop to help dress sets on the stage and himself when he becomes Miss Cherrie Pop!.
That set the ball in motion, and the next thing I knew, my muse was whispering to me that the men in these novellas know each other because of a chat room. A chat room Hugo moderates. 😉 So I wrote six chapters to help fuse these four novellas together even tighter than they originally were.
As you read, keep an eye out for those Easter eggs. If you’ve read North Star, you will no doubt recognize Hugo. There are a few nods to my Naked Organics series too. And while Bent Arrow is set on the desolate oil fields of North Dakota, Love on a Battlefield is set in Texas, and Momo, My Everything is set in California, they are all brought together by a man in Minneapolis who believed so much in love that he started a chat room to help men heal themselves so they’d be ready for love when it fell into their laps.
I hope you give this novella bundle a chance. Each story will take about two hours to read, depending on your speed, so they’re great for waiting rooms, standing in line to vote, or sitting in the parking lot while waiting for kids. It’s also available in a paperback that comes in at around 400 pages, just to give you an idea of the length.
If you find some Easter eggs, I’d love to hear about your finds. I’m @PosyRoberts all over social media, so give me a shout out! I’m curious to see what you spot.
Happy reading!
Marc logged into the chat room, unsure what he was getting into, but he’d been reassured by a friend (who was friends with the moderator) that this was a good group of guys. If nothing else, he’d get to know other queer men. If he was lucky, maybe they’d help him find a way to open up his heart to fall in love again. At least that’s how the group was described to him.
5 Members in Chat Room
Marc: Hey, I’m Marc. I’m new here, and the rules said I had to introduce myself. I’m bisexual but haven’t dated much since my ex-girlfriend cheated on me. Work has been my focus, but after three years, I’m lonely. It’s as plain as that. I’m just not sure how to trust someone again.
Hugo: Hi, Marc. I’m Hugo, the moderator. If I disappear all of a sudden, it’s because I’m waiting to chauffeur kids between gymnastics and yoga.
Marc: You have kids?
Hugo: They’re Kevin’s, my boyfriend’s kids. But who knows what the future holds. Anyway, I was in the same place as you not so long ago, with a cheating cheater who cheats. I had a string of shitty boyfriends, but cheating messed me up. Bad. I swore off men for a solid year, and it eventually paid off.
Marc: How did the time off help?
Hugo: I fixed my shit. Figured out what I kept doing wrong. Worked out my patterns.
Luther: Oh no, here he goes! Haha. Love you, H! Marc, H is all about fixing shit so you’re ready for love when it stumbles in your path.
Marc: Makes sense.
Luther: If you have a path filled with potential partners, I supposed it does. H is all about twuuuu wuv cuz he has it. All I can find out here on the oil fields is a hookup. Nothing else. Can’t be out.
Marc: That sucks.
Luther: It’s not all bad. I have a lot of sex and very few awkward conversations. Few conversations at all, to be honest.
William: So, Luth, do you save all the awkward conversations for when you come in here to chat? Stop scaring Marc off.
Luther: Ha. Ha. Okay, Mr. Serious, what have you done lately to make yourself available to the hot dudes who run around on the beaches half naked?
William: I bought a guy a drink at the club last weekend. Spent most of the night with him.
Luther: Before you went home alone?
William: Well, yes, but I had to work the next day.
Luther: LOL.
Andrew: Hi, Marc. Welcome. I’m pretty new here too. New to being fully out despite knowing I liked men for years. I’m still trying to figure out how all this works. Gay clubs are about all I’m capable of yet. If I go to a club, there’s no chance I’ll hit on a straight guy, at least. I’m a vet, and my PTSD and injuries make taking that risk of hitting on the wrong guy anxiety inducing. I distrust everyone, including my own brain and injured body.
Luther: And I’m the sole closet case here.
William: Not entirely. I’m not out at work. No one there has earned the right to know that about me yet. But my family knows.
Hugo: I’ve been out for ages, but I’m still not entirely open about my drag persona. That’s still need to know.
Marc: You do drag? What’s your drag name.
Hugo: Yep. Miss Cherri Pop! 😉
Marc: Where does everyone live? Or should I not ask that?
Luther: On the dusty oil fields of North Dakota, but there are tons of men to hook-up with here. No questions asked. No demands to kiss. Just how I like it!
William: Sunny California, though right now, I’d prefer rain.
Andrew: I’m in Texas, happy to be home after four years in the army.
Hugo: Minneapolis.
Marc: Me too! Minneapolis, that is. I gotta say, it’s nice chatting with some queer men. Everyone around me assumes I’m straight. And since I haven’t dated a man in ages, it’s like all my friends forgot I’m bi. But I’d really like to date a man again. I think if I date a woman, I’m bound to . . . What’s the word? Put all my shit on her?
Hugo: Project?
Marc: Yeah. I’m gonna project my hurt on her cuz of my ex. So I’d really like to try something serious with a guy.
William: So, what are your greatest fears when thinking about falling in love?
Luther: Coming out. I know, I know. It won’t be as bad as I think it will be. But what if it is? I’ll lose everyone around me.
William: But you prefer being alone. Or so you’ve claimed, Luth.
Luther: Right. I push people away. Easier that way.
Marc: I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to trust again. And if I do, what if the guy I end up with assumes I’m cheating on him only because I’m bi?
Hugo: My Kevin is bisexual, and I never made those assumptions. We’re not all neanderthals who can’t appreciate subtlety.
Marc: True. There’s that lack of trust thing again.
William: I’m worried I’ll never measure up.
Luther: Says the man who probably has a dick the size of an eggplant.
William: . . .
William: I might. 😉
Luther: LOL. I knew it!
Hugo: If W & L weren’t thousands of miles away, I’d suggest you guys get a room and fuck to work out your sexual tension.
William: Not going to happen.
Luther: He’d probably want to marry me. 😉 I’m not settling down. I just want to fall in love. Big difference.
Andrew: I already know who I want to be in a relationship with. But I’m too boring for him.
William: You’re far from boring, Andrew.
Hugo: The only way you’ll know is if you take a chance. But get into a good headspace before that. Yes, I know, Luther, you’re sick of me saying that, but if I hadn’t fixed my shit before running into Kevin again seventeen years after our last kiss, I would’ve fucked it up that first night.
Marc: Thanks for this, guys. I’m glad I found you.
Posy Roberts started reading romance when she was young, sneaking peeks at adult books long before she should’ve. Textbooks eventually replaced the novels, and for years she existed without reading for fun. When she finally picked up a romance two decades later, it was like slipping on a soft hoodie . . . that didn’t quite fit like it used to. She wanted something more.
She wanted to read about men falling in love with each other. She wanted to explore beyond the happily ever after and see characters navigate the unpredictability of life. So Posy sat down at her keyboard to write the books she wanted to read.
Her stories have been USA Today’s “Happily Ever After” Must-Reads and Rainbow Award finalists. When she’s not writing, she’s spending time with her family and friends and doing anything possible to get out of grocery shopping and cooking.
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