Book Title: A Touch of Maple
Author and Publisher: Amy Aislin
Cover Artist: Morningstar Ashley Designs
Release Date: May 30, 2025
Tense/POV: past tense, third person, alternating POV
Genres: Contemporary M/M Romance
Tropes: Rival’s brother, small town, hockey, divided loyalties, found family
Heat Rating: 2 flames
Length: 56 000 words
It is a standalone story and does not end on a cliff-hanger.
Buy Links – Available in Kindle Unlimited
Universal Link | Amazon US | Amazon UK
Audiobook also Available
Blurb
After being traded numerous times over the course of his pro hockey career, all Bellamy Jordan wants is a place where he belongs. Burlington, Vermont, home of the Vermont Trailblazers, his newest team, might just be that place. The bonus: he’s within spitting distance of the grandparents who raised him. The drawback: his long-time rival’s gorgeous brother—who he can’t get out of his mind—also lives nearby.
And he hates Bellamy on sight.
Jason Zervudachi is busy enough trying to diversify his family’s maple syrup farm while completing his master’s degree. Adding in an attractive complication like Bellamy? Hard pass. Even so, there’s something more behind Bellamy’s eyes that draws Jason in, but Bellamy is his brother’s rival. There’s a sibling rule against that, right? There must be.
Except Bellamy isn’t at all what Jason expects—and neither is the connection between them.
With the highest percentage of LGBTQIA+ residents in Vermont, Maplewood is a town where everyone belongs. And with festivals year-round, there’s always something fun happening! This multi-author, low-angst queer series features ten standalone romances—each set against the backdrop of a different festival. Come for the celebrations, stay for the happily-ever-afters!
The Striped Maple was as busy as it had been the last time Bellamy had frequented the pub. Louder though, owing to the live band currently playing a jaunty tune he’d expect to find in a pub in Ireland. It smelled like hoppy beer and onion rings, and it was warm—too warm for the long-sleeved cotton T-shirt he’d opted for, something a little nicer than the hoodie he’d had on last time.
It was standing room only again, and Bellamy was about to head to the dartboard in the back corner when he noticed Jason at the bar.
They locked gazes at the same time. Jason smiled at him, genuine and welcoming, and every thought fled Bellamy’s head.
Nervous energy strummed through Bellamy to the tune of the fiddler’s strings. He hadn’t been nervous playing his first game as a Trailblazer, but one smile from this man and his mouth went dry and his heart flip-flopped.
Shoving his hands in his pockets so he didn’t do something stupid like grab Jason by the front of his T-shirt and haul him close, Bellamy closed the distance between them.
And speaking of Jason’s T-shirt . . .
“Is that the chemical formula for maple syrup?”
Jason looked down at his chest and chuckled. “Good guess, but no. It’s the formula for sucrose, the primary sugar in maple syrup.”
“Here you go, Jase.” The bartender, a green-eyed guy roughly their age, placed two glasses in front of Jason.
“Thanks, Con.” Jason turned to grab them, displaying the maple leaf tattoo on his left biceps. The top quarter was cut off by his T-shirt, but what Bellamy could see of it was beautiful.
He was about to comment on it when Jason handed him a pint of black liquid. “Guinness, right?”
“Yeah,” Bellamy said, stunned that Jason remembered. “Thanks.”
“You hungry? I was going to order us something, but we’ll have to eat standing—ooh, a table’s opening up. Grab it, grab it, grab it.” Jason yanked him over to a small table by the window with a scarred wooden tabletop and sturdy chairs. “Guard this table with your life. I’ll go order.”
He disappeared into the crowd before Bellamy had a chance to open his mouth.
He was back within a few seconds. “Any food allergies I need to know about?”
“No,” Bellamy said, draping his coat over the back of the chair. “But if you come back with shrimp or calamari, I’m walking out of this pub and you’ll never see me again.”
Amy’s lived with her head in the clouds since she first picked up a book as a child, and being fluent in two languages means she’s read a lot of books! She first picked up a pen on a rainy day in fourth grade when her class had to stay inside for recess. Tales of treasure hunts with her classmates eventually morphed into love stories between men, and she’s been writing ever since. She writes evenings and weekends—or whenever she isn’t at her full-time day job saving the planet at Canada’s largest environmental non-profit.
An unapologetic introvert, Amy reads too much and socializes too little, with no regrets. She loves connecting with readers. Join her Facebook Group to stay up-to-date on upcoming releases and for access to early teasers, find her on Instagram, or sign up for her infrequent newsletter.
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