A warm welcome to the authors of the Bad Valentine Series: Jesi Lea Ryan, Jordan Castillo Price, Clare London & Dev Bentham.

These 4 author collaborated on 4 standalone books and share below what inspired their story.

They also brought a wonderful giveaway for our readers!

Series Title: Bad Valentine Series reading: each book is a standalone romance

All available at Amazon and in Kindle Unlimited

BUY links for all books:

AMAZON

 

Bad Valentine: Four Authors, Four Stories, One Opening Line!

 

“Nothing good ever came of a Valentine…”

Bad Valentine is a collection of light-hearted, Valentine shorts designed to get readers in the mood for love! Each story begins with the same opening line, and each author spins a tale from there. So what inspired each author?

 

Love Magic, Jesi Lea Ryan

I will be the first to tell you that I don’t write short fiction. I like the room a novel-length gives me to develop characters and plot. So, when I was asked to write a novella for Bad Valentine, I took it as a challenge to grow as a writer. I took inspiration from my first date with my (now) spouse. The real-life date didn’t have the craziness of the date described in the story, but it felt magical to us just the same.

 

Quill Me Now, Jordan Castillo Price

I’ve been enjoying reading some mainstream paranormal cozies lately. As a writer, it’s tough for me to read something without dissecting the aspects of craft, which got me to thinking about some of the stylistic elements of a paranormal cozy—things like character development, the use of red herrings, linear storytelling, clean and straightforward language, and quirky, unexpected detail. Quill Me Now isn’t a mystery per se, though I’ve noticed that in paranormal cozies, the “mystery” element is secondary to the magic. The novella format was the perfect opportunity for me to explore certain cozy elements and see how I could interpret them through my own storytelling.

 

Hidden Hearts, Clare London

I’ve been writing stories about date disasters for years! Not that I wish misery on people looking for love – just that I like to write a humorous twist to so many situations. I’ve turned up to the wrong venue myself, forgotten my specs so I can barely recognise a date, spilled ketchup down my blouse over dinner. If you can’t laugh about it, what’s the point? I combined the tropes of opposites attract and bungled date profiles, but then gave my guys the chance to show they were worth much more than the external mess-up. I found my true love over shared laughter, so here’s hoping others do too.

 

Temporary Dad, Dev Bentham

For the last couple of years I’ve written a short, sweet story every month for my newsletter and have really enjoyed looking at what happens when nice, fairly uncomplicated guys fall in love. It’s been a blast so I decided to explore writing romantic comedy. A Valentine’s collection seemed like the perfect opportunity. Besides, I loved getting to do something with Clare, Jordan and Jesi Lea. The idea of finding true love after getting temporarily pushed out of the safety zone feels true to me. Temporary Dad was incredibly fun to write. I think I’ll try something like it again.

Title #1: Love Magic

Author: Jesi Lea Ryan

Genre: gay, paranormal, romantic comedy

Length: 10k words

Release Date: 1 February 2019

Publisher: Jesi Lea Ryan Individual cover (attached)

Blurb:

“The day I met Derrick while playing my violin in the park was magical. Unfortunately, magic and love together don’t always mix.”

Oliver met Derrick while busking in the park, and they hit it off from the start. At first, Derrick’s “mysterious magician” vibe was intriguing, but after two botched dates, Oliver was ready to call it quits.

Fearing he lost his chance with Oliver, Derrick makes a last-ditch effort to win Oliver’s heart with a romantic Valentine’s date. But when love and magic collide, things tend to go awry. Will these two guys make it through the date unscathed?

USA Today Bestselling Author, Jesi Lea Ryan, grew up in the Mississippi River town of Dubuque, IA. She holds bachelor degrees in creative writing and literature and a masters in business administration. She considers herself a well-rounded nerd who can spend hours on the internet researching things like British history and exploring foreign cities on Google Earth. She also enjoys listening to true crime podcasts, and she reads approximately two hundred books a year. Jesi currently lives in Maricopa, AZ with her spouse and two exceptionally naughty kitties.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Jesi-Lea-Ryan-152086598147945/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/jesilea

Title #2: Quill Me Now

Author: Jordan Castillo Price

Genre: gay, paranormal, romantic comedy

Length: 25k words

Release Date: 1 February 2019

Publisher: JCP Books

Blurb:

Spellcraft isn’t exactly a respectable business, but it does pay the bills. At least, it should. Unfortunately, Dixon Penn failed his Spellcraft initiation. Instead of working in his family’s shop, he’s stuck delivering takeout orders in his uncle’s beat-up Buick. Winning a Valentine’s Day contest at the largest greeting card company in the tri-state area would be just the thing to get his life back on track—but something at Precious Greetings just doesn’t add up. And despite numerous warnings to quit pestering them about his contest entry, he simply can’t stop himself from coming back again and again. It doesn’t hurt that the head of security is such a hottie. If Dixon had any common sense, he’d be scared of the big, mysterious, tattooed Russian. To be fair, no one ever accused him of being too smart….

Author and artist Jordan Castillo Price writes paranormal sci-fi thrillers colored by her time in the Midwest, from inner-city Chicago, to various cities across southern Wisconsin. She’s recently settled in a 1910 Cape Cod near Lake Michigan with tons of character and a plethora of bizarre spiders. Her influences include Ouija boards, Return of the Living Dead, “light as a feather, stiff as a board,” girls with tattoos and boys in eyeliner. Jordan is best known as the author of the PsyCop series, an unfolding tale of paranormal mystery and suspense starring Victor Bayne, a gay medium who’s plagued by ghostly visitations. Also check out her mind-bending trilogy Mnevermind, where memories are made…one client at a time.

Website: www.jordancastilloprice.com

Mailing list: http://psycop.com/newsletter

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Jordan-Castillo-Price-257078438055

Twitter: https://twitter.com/jordancprice

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/jordan-castillo-price

Title #3: Hidden Hearts

Author: Clare London

Genre: gay, contemporary, romantic comedy

Length: 17k words

Release Date: 1 February 2019

Publisher: Jocular Press

Blurb:

Accident-prone Ethan has a dating history that reads like a disaster movie script. Strong and silent Kel can’t seem to master the necessary small-talk on a proper date. When they both get signed up anonymously for a Valentines’s night event—”for those with an adventurous spirit but an open diary”—they never imagined they’d be matched. They never imagined the romantic sparks would fly. To be honest, they never imagined they’d survive the week.

A catalogue of disasters dogs the footsteps of their blossoming romance, including a coffee date with food allergies as an added extra, an intimate dinner that strays too close for comfort to chopped chillies, and a sensual massage with hot wax candles that threatens to alert the local fire brigade.

But if they can hold tight to their sweet, surprising, yet single-minded attraction – they might just survive this Valentine’s Day with something very special to look forward to.

Clare London took her pen name from the city where she lives, loves, and writes. A lone, brave female in a frenetic, testosterone-fueled family home, she juggles her writing with her other day job as an accountant.

She’s written in many genres and across many settings, with award-winning novels and short stories published both online and in print. Most of her work features male/male romance and drama with a healthy serving of physical passion, as she enjoys both reading and writing about strong, sympathetic, and sexy characters.

All the details and free fiction are available at her website. Visit her today and say hello!

Website: http://www.clarelondon.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/clarelondonauthor/

Mailing list: http://eepurl.com/dv7Pl9

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/clare_london

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/clare-london

Title #4: Temporary Dad

Author: Dev Bentham

Genre: gay, contemporary, romantic comedy

Length: 22k words

Release Date: 1 February 2019

Publisher: Love is a Light Press

Blurb:

Nick Compton owns a small but mighty fashion magazine. He already has enough on his plate, between work and, well, work. There’s no room for a kid in his life but when his sister drops her seven-year-old daughter for an extended stay, he has to figure it out. Just before his niece arrives, Nick meets a blazing hot firefighter. They get on like a house a fire and the sex—scorching. Too bad the he disappeared in the morning. Like smoke. Now Nick’s stuck with a kid he doesn’t know how to manage and without the man he’d love to get his hands on again. Dylan Gil wishes like hell he hadn’t taken his roommates advice and lied about who he was. He’s finally met someone he really likes and can’t stop thinking about. But now he’s too embarrassed to confess that he’s just a second-grade teacher, not a manly firefighter. Good thing that work gets distracting, particularly when one of his brightest students goes to stay with her uncle and all hell breaks loose. Some people shouldn’t be allowed to have kids. If the term “dad pants” means anything it’s that taking care of children and fashion aren’t compatible. Does that mean these two doomed? Or is this the beginning of forever?  A contemporary gay romantic comedy by Dev Bentham, Temporary Dad features mistaken identity, opposites attracting, a one night stand and some steamy mm romance.

Dev Bentham truly believes in the transformative power of true love. She’s the author of many gay romances, including Moving in Rhythm, August Ice and the Tarnished Souls Jewish Holiday series. Over the years, she’s lived in way too many places and had far too many jobs, but she’s finally settled in frozen northern Wisconsin where she draws on her former lives to write enduring love stories in which wonderful men find each other. Her restless feet take her globetrotting whenever she gets the chance, but most of the time she’s tucked up in her office in the woods dreaming about romance.

Website: http://www.devbentham.com/

Mailing list: https://tinyurl.com/ydzysocy

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dev.bentham

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DevBentham

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/dev-bentham

a $10 Amazon voucher to one lucky commenter!

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And everyone is invited to our Facebook event on Feb 7 to celebrate the books, the Valentine’s season, and the joy of romance reading! https://www.facebook.com/events/2085314304867628/