Found Family Romance
By Morgan Brice
Across my six ongoing series, characters know each other, help each other, and show up in one another’s books. The setting shapes the plot and the feel for the books. Whether it’s a beach town, a historic tourist town, or deep in the mountains, the history and setting influence the people, the history, and the kind of story likely to happen there.
For me, the found family of friends and welcoming neighbors who inhabit the towns help to shape the romances that take root there. I love to have a cast of secondary characters who are part of the fabric of the place and who show up in all the books as helpers, bringing their particular expertise to solve the problem at hand.
That found family includes people who may be very different, but who are committed to creating and enabling a supportive, protective community where people feel welcome and safe. In real life, it’s sometimes difficult to find a place like that, so for me creating such a space in my books is even more important.
While each of my books focuses on a specific couple and how they fall in love, they don’t happen in a vacuum. That’s where the small town/found family aspect comes in, creating a framework where that relationship can be built surrounded by a network of caring friends and quirky regulars.
That’s especially true in Fox Hollow, where Silent Partner is set. Fox Hollow is a small town in the Adirondack Mountains of New York that is a haven for misfit psychics and shifters. The folks who live there year round have fun together, protect each other, and know how to pull together in an emergency. It’s found family on a large scale.
Tying the books together also makes it easy to move from series to series because the reader isn’t starting over completely—there will still be familiar people and places to welcome you!
Book Title: Silent Partner: Fox Hollow Zodiac #3
Author: Morgan Brice
Publisher: Darkwind Press
Cover Artist: Adrijus Garcia
Release Date: June 29, 2024
Genres: MM paranormal romance, shifter romance (not MPREG), urban fantasy
Tropes: Hurt/comfort, found family, small town, fated mates
Themes: Working around differences, second chance at love, learning to trust again after breakup
Length: 60 000 words/ 221 pages
Heat Rating: 4 flames
It is part of a series but can be read by itself. It does not end on a cliffhanger.
Buy Links – Available in Kindle Unlimited
A psychic moose shifter. A handsome guy who is psychically silent.
The chance for a fresh start, and a threat from the past that might get in the way.
Blurb
Brandon Davis is a psychic and a moose shifter. He makes his living as a wilderness guide in Fox Hollow, NY—a town that is a haven for misfit shifters and psychics. Brandon has a profitable business, a found family of close friends, and a cozy cabin in the woods. Life is good, but he wishes he could find a special someone to share it with. Then he picks up the unmistakable scent of his fated mate–a handsome man who isn’t a shifter of any kind and whose thoughts he can’t read. The chemistry is undeniable, but can he fall for a silent partner?
Riley Henderson escaped a bad relationship with an ex-boyfriend he suspects is a psi-vamp. He left town and got a scholarship to the Fox Institute to explore his rare ability—his thoughts are mostly closed to being read by psychics. Getting away from his ex was worth being studied for his unusual silence as a “nil” or an “immune.” Especially since the situation comes with a stipend, an apartment, and a regular gig as a musician at one of the local hotels. Riley intends to go boy-sober until he meets a tall, dark-haired stranger with whom he has a sudden, intense connection. When he realizes Brandon is both a psychic and a shifter, Riley needs to figure out how they can overcome those differences to be together. And in the back of his mind, Riley worries—what if his ex shows up to ruin everything?
Silent Partner is a MM shifter romance filled with found family, a snarky moose, a soulful musician, sexy shifters, small town winter fun, fated mates, helpful psychics, lots of snow and a very happy ending.
Mixed shifter pairings were common in Fox Hollow, although less so in other places. His friends’ marriages proved that. Big vegetarian shifters like deer and elk were rare. He hadn’t met another moose shifter since relocating. Brandon believed he could make things work with a carnivore and perhaps even with one of the other omnivore or vegetarian shifters that weren’t as large as he was. Brandon was happy for his friends who had found love. And although he was busy with guide tours and being an EMT, he still wished he could find someone special of his own.
Now that he felt suitable to be in public, Brandon drove back to the grocery store. For its size, the shop provided a remarkable variety of products, including some specialties crafted by his neighbors. That saved everyone from trekking to Lake George to go to one of the big-box stores. Online delivery only worked in the summer months.
He parked and headed inside. The familiar mix of smells from the bakery and deli, as well as all the luscious produce, made Brandon sigh happily. He waved to Brenda at the register, grabbed a cart, and started to make the familiar trek around the store.
Brandon loaded up on salad, especially cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower. He skipped the carrots since they gave him indigestion. That was true for some fruit as well, although he loved frozen berries and added them to the cart. His human side craved coffee, oatmeal, and eggs, so Brandon made sure to replenish. He couldn’t resist some chips and cookies and reminded himself to grab a bale of hay from the garden supplies on the store terrace.
Halfway through the store, Brandon stopped dead in his tracks and sniffed the air. A scent he had never picked up before enveloped him, making him light-headed. Anise and maple. How strange. Maybe they’re baking something?
Mate.
Brandon startled, not expecting to hear from his inner moose in such a human-centric place. What?
That’s what our mate smells like. Find him!
Brandon seriously doubted he’d spot a moose in the frozen food aisle or even a moose shifter. Still, the scent captivated him and stirred a hunger deep in his groin that had nothing to do with food.
He steered into the next aisle, forcing himself to keep a normal walking pace. I can’t just run past people and sniff them. That would be weird—even for Fox Hollow.
Shopping forgotten, Brandon searched for the elusive, overwhelming scent. He turned down the baking aisle, and the aroma called to him, far stronger. Only two people were nearby—Mrs. Prendicott—an elderly psychic—and a handsome stranger.
The stranger looked vaguely puzzled like he couldn’t find what he wanted on the tightly-packed shelves. The store overstocked during the bad weather months, especially if there was news of a storm in the offing. That sometimes made it difficult to locate items.
Morgan Brice is the romance pen name of bestselling author Gail Z. Martin. Morgan writes urban fantasy MM paranormal romance, with plenty of action, adventure and supernatural thrills to go with the happily ever after. Gail writes epic and urban fantasy, with less romance, more explosions.
All of the modern-day Morgan Brice and Gail Z. Martin series crossover, so characters from one series appear in cameos and on page in important secondary roles in books from other series. Each book can be read as a standalone, but the more you read the more the expanded universe of friendships and connections becomes clear.
Morgan and Gail believe that paranormal elements make any story even better, and her worlds are full of ghosts, psychics, shifters, creatures, vampires, monster hunters, and magic.
She’s also a huge fan of the TV show Supernatural. (Chibi art by Kamidiox)
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