Book Title: Relevant Heart (Fearless Heart Series, Book Three)
Author and Publisher: Janice Jarrell
Release Date: December 6, 2023
Genre: Contemporary M/M Romance
Tropes: Established Gay Relationship, Ireland, Gay Attorney, Gay Psychologist
Length: 75 835 words/206 pages
Heat Rating: 4 flames
It is part of the Fearless Heart Series but can be read as a standalone.
It does not end on a cliffhanger. They get their HEA, of course!
Buy Links – Available in Kindle Unlimited
The best wish is knowing that there’s nothing left to wish for.
Blurb
Colin is prosecuting his first murder case, and his ability to remain emotionally detached is challenged as the circumstances surrounding the crime awaken his deep inner fear of losing someone he loves, a fear nearly realized when – only two short months ago – Joshua was kidnapped and violently assaulted.
While Colin and his team gather evidence, Joshua endeavors to create a program that will establish a bridge between veterans suffering a mental health crisis and local police. But the effort drains Joshua’s already fragile health to a dangerous degree, leaving Colin frantic with worry and frustration.
Meanwhile, Nate has a play opening off-Broadway and must live in New York City for six to eight weeks… alone. It is clear from the onset that the director has the hots for Nate – or at least for his talent as a playwright – which has David pacing the floor in anxiety. He is happy for Nate and proud of his husband but worried about the director’s attention and unhappy about Nate’s long absence.
By the time Nate celebrates his opening night, all four friends are exhausted both emotionally and physically and ready for the healing trip to Ireland they’ve been planning for months.
Colin’s breathtaking ancestral home provides many magical moments, but an unexpected and terrifying incident leaves them shaken and questioning the faith in each other that has always been their foundation. Will these shattering circumstances strengthen their bonds or break their hearts and tear their relationships apart?
Joshua was abducted and tortured only four short months ago (Relevant Law), and Colin believes he has come up with a way to help the husband he loves find healing.
Colin cupped Joshua’s cheek and then kissed him. “Being in Ireland with you beside me? Now that’s magic!” He gazed into Joshua’s eyes for a moment, then touched his cheek. “Jesus, Josh, you’ve been through so much, and you’ve been so brave through it all. You deserve a special vacation. I don’t want to leave our holiday to some anonymous tour company. What do they know? I want to plan it myself. Make it the most romantic trip imaginable.”
“A second honeymoon?” Joshua whispered, smiling as he nuzzled against Colin’s cheek.
“Nah,” Colin murmured, tugging Joshua closer. “A continuation of the first.”
Joshua lowered his head, blinded by tears, but Colin lifted it until their eyes met. “I love you,” he said. “More than I did the day I married you. More than I did when we first honeymooned in Ireland. More than I thought I could love anyone. More than I thought I could…,” he hesitated and bowed his head, then lifted it until he again met Joshua’s eyes, “… love.” He kissed Joshua’s upturned mouth and whispered: “You healed my heart. Now, it’s my turn to heal yours.
***
The following day, Colin entered the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office and dropped a stack of official papers on the receptionist’s desk. “Done and done!” he crowed to Sheila Hamilton, receptionist and assistant to the four attorneys who shared the office.
“And just what have you dumped on my desk, ACA Campbell?” Sheila asked with an easy grin.
Colin leaned against her desk, returning her smile. “That’s ACA Campbell-Abrams to you, missy!”
“Apologies to you, sir. And to your handsome husband.”
“He is handsome, isn’t he!”
“I have no idea how you managed to snag such a hottie,” she teased as she flipped through the papers Colin had deposited on her desk. “I’ll get these filed right away, Colin.”
“Thanks, Sheila. And believe me, it’s a mystery to me, too.” He tilted his head toward Esther Jackson’s office door. “Is the boss lady in?”
“Nope. Out to lunch with Randolph Heisman.”
“Oooo!” Colin cooed in pretend awe. “City council! Classy! Maybe she can finagle us a raise.”
Sheila rolled her eyes. “I wouldn’t count on it.”
“Did Norm go with them?”
“Nope. He’s in his office.”
“Good!” Colin said. “I’ll nail him.”
“What are you nailing him for?”
“I want to take Josh on a two-week vacation to Ireland and take our two best friends with us.”
“David and Nate?”
“Yeah!” Colin said. “I forgot you’d met them!”
“He’s in his office.” She waved him down the hall. “Go see him!”
Colin nodded and strode to Norman Clayton’s office, where his superior was sitting at his desk. Colin tapped on the doorframe and was waved in. “C’mon in, Colin. What’s up? You clean up those retail fraud cases I stuck you with?”
Colin flopped into a chair and shot Clayton an annoyed look. “Yeah. And thanks again for that one, Norm.”
Clayton snickered. “Price you pay for being number two, perks I get for being number one!”
“OK, fine. But now you owe me.”
“Says who?”
Colin huffed out a sigh. “Norm, I want a two-week vacation. I want to take Josh to Ireland.”
Clayton leaned back in his chair and gazed at Colin, eyebrows lifted as if requesting an explanation.
“Norm, he hasn’t had any extended leave since he was hurt.” His eyes dropped, and his expression darkened. “He’s been through so much, Norm. He was hurt so badly. And god, he never once complained. Not once. The headaches. The dizzy spells. Memory lapses. Fatigue. Nausea. All of it. He just took it with this quiet…” Colin fumbled for a word, “…grace.” He shuddered. “It broke my heart. I want to make it up to him.”
My name is Janice Jarrell. I am a retired grandmother who lives in Seattle, WA. I have two children and three grandsons. I’ve been writing gay romance since I was twelve years old, only back then it wasn’t called ‘gay romance’. In fact, it had no name at all. It was the fifty’s, and it was worth your life to admit to being gay, let alone confess to being a girl who constantly fantasized about relationships between gay men. Hell, I didn’t even know what a homosexual was. I lived on a farm out in the sticks in a tiny Michigan village and I’d never, to my knowledge, even heard the word. I just knew I loved the thought of boy-on-boy romance. I just knew that there was something hot going on between Tom Corbett and his Space Cadets and all those guys on ‘Combat’.
I wrote slash fanfiction for 30 years, writing over 337 stories, some as short as 100 words (a drabble), some as long as a series which was over 119,012 words. I enjoy writing my stories. I enjoyed the feedback I received from my readers. It was a creative release I’d been searching for my entire life and I blessed the Internet for leading me to this artistic oasis for my spirit.
Love’s Magic was my very first step into writing my own characters. I will always be grateful to the slash fanfiction community for nurturing the budding author until she was ready to blossom into a fully realized novelist. It’s been an amazing thing to watch the gay community’s growth over these past twenty years. My own journey has echoed theirs in many ways, and I’m grateful to all those gay activists who fought to give the gay community the rights and privileges they always deserved. Love’s Trials, Love’s Glory, and Love’s Lawyer were the second and third, and forth books in the series and all four books are available in audio format on Audible.
I’m also grateful to the gay romance community, readers, authors, publishers and promoters, who are making these, my retirement years, the most creative ones of my life. When I’m not writing, I’m traveling, walking, hiking, knitting, crocheting, and weaving.
I’m very excited about the upcoming release of my fifth contemporary gay romance novel, Relevant Law. Those of you who fell in love with Joshua and Colin in the four previous books in this series are in for a bit of angst in this latest episode. A dark and sinister cloud hangs over the University of Virginia after three students are abducted, raped and beaten. Colin works with both campus and city police to catch the perpetrator, but his hard work and effort proves futile when Joshua turns up missing!
Despite their struggles there are still many passionate, loving moments and the friends they treasure will be there to help them find their way.
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