Book Title: Works Like a Lavender Charm
Author: Dann Hazel
Publisher: The Original Press, LLC
Cover Artist: Dann Hazel, Josh Fippen
Release Date: April 13, 2026
Tense/POV: third person, past tense, single POV
Genres: MM Paranormal Romance
Tropes: Small town romance, destined love, investigator partners, slow-burn
Themes: Forgiveness, fate, love powerful enough to heal generations, pursuit of justice
Heat Rating: 3 flames
Length: 59 000 words/225 pages
It is part of the Tansy Hollow Gay Romance Series, but can be enjoyed as a standalone.
It does not end on a cliffhanger.
Buy Links
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A sweeping gay romance blending second chances, small-town charm, ancestral secrets, and a love powerful enough to heal generations.
Blurb
When Austin attorney Charles Towne-Landon learns he has inherited the historic Chadwick House in Tansy Hollow, America’s Gay Mecca, it feels like fate offering him a second chance. Overlooked for partnership and disillusioned with big-city politics, Charles is ready for something more—more purpose, more belonging, maybe even more love.
Then he meets Dr. Guy Archambeau at the Tansy Hollow Opera House.
Their connection is instant. Electric. Unmistakable.
Within weeks, Charles leaves Texas behind to open his own law practice and build a new life in the charming Southern town. With Guy only a short drive away, the future looks brighter than it ever has
.
But Chadwick House has secrets.
A mysterious fruit basket appears inside locked doors.
A Gaelic lullaby drifts down from the attic at 3:33 a.m.
The scent of bergamot and lemon lingers in empty rooms.
And a violent vision from the nineteenth century begins to unravel a tragic chapter in Charles’s own bloodline.
As Charles and Guy dig into the house’s hidden archives, they uncover the story of Angus Chadwick—murdered for loving the wrong man—and the woman who refused to let hatred be the final word.
But someone else is watching.
Someone who believes the Chadwick legacy should have been his.
With danger closing in and a restless spirit guarding the house, Charles must decide what kind of man he wants to be: one who runs from the past—or one who stands his ground and protects the love he’s found.
In Tansy Hollow, history doesn’t just echo.
It demands justice.
Works Like a Lavender Charm is a sweeping gay romance blending second chances, small-town charm, ancestral secrets, and a love powerful enough to heal generations.
Some houses are haunted.
This one protects its own.
Max, conversely, had always presented to the world as carnally adventurous. “I’ll probably die,” he’d told Charles once, “with the young cock of someone with a daddy fixation embedded in my ass.”
Charles had laughed at the time, but in retrospect, the whole idea of it was pretty fucking sad.
Now, all he could think about was his date with Guy. He’d offered to share his hotel room since Guy had made a daytrip to see the play, but Guy told him he always “camped out” with a girlfriend—”a real girl, the platonic variety”—on his short visits to Tansy Hollow. “You see, she is a good friend who is willing to allow me to use her house as a base.” She’d lived for less than a year in Green Valley, where she’d met Guy doing rounds at the city’s most reputable hospital.
“She was a floor nurse with a wicked sense of humor,” Guy explained. “She pegged me as queer in record time. I asked how she’d developed such inscrutable gaydar.”
“Both my father and mother are bisexual,” she’d replied. “They worked out a respectful but open arrangement which I found intriguing as fuck. From them, I learned to pick up on things.”
The arrangement tonight was simple. Guy would drive to Charles’ hotel, from which they’d leave in Charles’ rental for dinner. Guy refused to disclose the meal’s location. “It would spoil the mystique. I want to see your spontaneous reaction when we arrive.”
Charles took another shower, his second of the day, because a hot man doesn’t come around very often. Besides, he strongly desired their evening to be memorable. After, he spent almost twenty minutes in front of the mirror, making sure every lock of hair remained in its proper place. Then, he tried on three different ensembles before he returned to his first choice.
By the time he was slipping on his shoes, he heard Guy’s knock.
When Charles opened the door, a smiling, sexy Guy stood there, holding a bouquet of red roses.
“It’s too forward, isn’t it?” Guy teased.
Charles gently took the roses from Guy’s grasp. “I’d say it’s just forward enough—and they’re beautiful.”
Charles removed the worn bouquet of hotel-provided silk flowers from a vase on the desk, filled it with water and arranged the roses in it.
Suddenly, as though each was struck by the same urge, the men melted into one another’s embrace, their arms wrapped tightly around one another, their lips sealed as though with Gorilla Glue. When they finally pulled apart, they could hardly catch their breath.
Guy’s intense brown eyes sparkled as the men held one another, now at arm’s length, as though they were conducting an inspection for quality control. It was as though the men’s eyes were portals into one another’s soul. Charles wondered how exciting they would be together, in bed. Hopefully, he would know later that evening.
Charles broke their gaze first as he glanced at the alarm clock on the bedside table. “I guess we should head on over to this as-yet unnamed, mysterious restaurant,” he said with a coy grin.
“Yes. We should.”
Charles loved the crispness of Guy’s accent that lingered even after years of living in the States. He thought it was sexy—but he’d always been attracted to the French. Perhaps it was the stereotype of their being great lovers, or the ease with which, at least in France, they made physical contact in greeting one another.
Two men? A kiss on the cheek?
No big deal.
At least, that’s what a friend in college, an exchange student from Marseille, once told him.
The men held hands as they walked from Charles’s hotel room to his car. “Hey, maybe you should drive,” Charles said as he offered the keys to Guy. “I mean, you know the way.”
Guy shook his head as he opened the passenger’s front door. “I do, and as your knowledgeable guide, I can show you to our destination.”
Dann writes gay romance novels along with other queer-themed works. He especially enjoys writing about men who, while dealing with trauma or other challenges, find themselves falling in love despite themselves. He also feels it’s important to include allies who often provide good advice to their gay friends in a troublesome relationship.
When not writing, Dann enjoys running, reading in many genres, watching high quality movies and television series, and snuggling with his adorable American Eskimo dog, appropriately named Flurry. He loves showtunes (of course), golden oldies, classical music, and disco divas.
Currently, Dann and his husband, Josh, reside in the Roanoke, VA area.
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