As a teenager, Madars Kulda billeted with the Ellis family while he played in major juniors… and he connected with their seriously cute son Connor. After two years, life took them in separate directions, and they drifted apart. Now Madars plays professional hockey in Switzerland while Connor is a referee in North America. Then an international competition brings them both to Prague.

In the remote Montana wilderness, a child has vanished—and time is running out. When a fugitive accused of murdering his ex-wife disappears into the Montana backcountry with his nine-year-old daughter, FBI Hostage Rescue Team sniper Sebastian Black leads an intensive manhunt, battling snowstorms and brutal terrain in a race against the clock. National Park Service ranger and search-and-rescue specialist Nora Deacon knows the mountains better than anyone.

Vic Degrassi is a baker on the rise, and it's all thanks to his rare ability to make—and keep—his New Year's resolutions. Whether it's losing weight, giving up smoking, or graduating from culinary school, Vic goes after what he wants—and gets it. This year? He wants Robin Dawson, the sweet-hearted hottie who volunteers with him at the local homeless shelter.

There’s nothing Ethan Barnes has wanted more than to play hockey with his brothers. Avery, Charlie and Ethan have been dreaming about uniting the Barnes brothers on one team since they were barely old enough to hold a hockey stick. Starting his rookie season on the New York Bandits, Ethan’s finally going to get the chance to play with his brother Charlie.

Here's another handful of shorter-than-usual reviews for recent reads/listens. Winter Ball (Winter Ball #1) by Amy Lane (audiobook), Narrated by Nick J. Russo Through a miserable adolescence and a lonely adulthood, Skipper Keith has dreamed of nothing but family. The closest he gets is the rec league soccer team he coaches after work - and his star player and best friend, Richie Scoggins.

The Anonymous Hookup Lane I’ve never been a strings-free sex type of guy, but when my best friend encourages me to have my first ever anonymous hookup, I figure, why not? One night of steamy sex with a stranger and then I’ll focus back on recovering from my toxic break-up. Only I’m not prepared for how incredibly hot the sex is.

Don’t fall in love with me… Evangeline, Lady Courtenay, has flirted with scandal her entire life, and paid a steep price for it, with two unhappy marriages and a tarnished reputation. She’s vowed never to get entangled with another man—until a dashing explorer, just passing through London, smiles at her and sends her heart leaping. Just one night, she tells herself; that’s all she wants.

London 1825. When a young American heiress arrives at a Society ball draped in long-lost sapphires and diamonds belonging to the late Duchess of Ashington, jaws drop and tempers rise. Thirty years earlier, those jewels vanished after a deadly shooting party. Now, they’ve resurfaced around the neck of the odious Marquess of Talybridge’s beautiful betrothed. The current Duke of Ashington wants them back where they belong, and his close friends are only too happy to plot a daring heist on his behalf.

The boys are back in town--for one last adventure! It’s a good problem to have: more business than they can comfortably handle on their own. But with resources already overstretched, the last thing former DSS agents and newbie security consultants Will Brandt and Taylor MacAllister need is another client—and the last thing Will needs is for that client to turn out to be an old boyfriend of Taylor’s.

A few shorter-than-usual book and audiobook reviews of things I've read over the past couple of months and didn't have time or inclination to write full reviews for! Deven and the Dragon (Beautiful Beasts #2) by Eliot Grayson (audiobook) Narrated by Greg Boudreaux The beast doesn’t ever really get a fairytale ending…does he? Deven’s mission is clear. All he has to do is convince the dragon to give up one of his magical scales.

Laurence Dalziel is worn down and washed up, and for him, the Scene is all played out. Six years from his last meaningful relationship, he’s pushing forty and tired of pretending nothing has changed. Then he meets Toby Finch. Young. Fearless, fierce, and vulnerable. Everything Laurie can’t remember being. Toby doesn’t know who he wants to be or what he wants to do, but he knows that he wants Laurie.

Elite figure skater Ben Taylor-Hess was badly injured at an event three years ago. After a lot of physiotherapy, he's ready to mount a comeback, but now in his early thirties, no coach will take him on. Marcus Altenberg, who lost his own skating career to injury, agrees to coach Ben, but differences in style and recurring injuries threaten to derail Ben's attempt.

Lee My life changed one hot summer evening in 1935— two young men trying to prove werewolves really could get drunk, a kiss that felt perfect and inevitable, then a painful morning after— but that night's twenty-five years in my rearview mirror. I've been to war in Europe, returned alone, and built a satisfying life among humans. So now, in my forties, the mere scent of Micah Crue in the sheriff's office shouldn't make my heart leap and my breath come short.

It takes two to tango. Jericho “Echo” Frost can copy any spell he sees. His arcane duplication makes him popular with those who can afford his mimicking magic (and tolerate his motor mouth). Theodore Morrow is a top Occultech field agent, tasked to collect enchanted objects for the mysterious corporation’s stock. His magical scrolls make him the perfect partner, doubling Echo’s firepower.

Be careful what you wish for... Financial pressures and a brutal workload are not quite what former DSS Agents Will Brandt and Taylor MacAllister signed on for when they decided to open their own security consulting business. When they bump into an old adversary while undercover, and the job goes south, Will braces himself and suggests they head up to Oregon to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday with his family.

For a hidden shifter, falling in love with a man may be the death of them both. Simon Conley knows about being an outcast. Born into a secret werewolf pack, he’s the lone gay wolf, an outsider even among his packmates. The top wolves consider him a perversion, a failure, and a security risk. To survive in the human world, werewolves rely on absolute secrecy, and any breaches of their code are dealt with swiftly— and violently.

One of Portland’s hottest young baristas, Brady is famous for his java-topping flair, turning a regular cup of joe into a work of art. Every Wednesday—aka “Knit Night”—hordes of women and their needles descend on the coffeehouse, and Brady’s feeling the heat. Into the fray walks a tall, dark, and distractingly handsome stranger from New York. His name is Evren, and he’s the sexy nephew of Brady’s sweetest customer, the owner of the yarn shop down the street.

Nate meets a stranger at a party, and in the span of seventeen minutes, his life changes. Marcos meets a stranger at a party and wonders if the universe is laughing at him. His life has become a seemingly endless stream of bad days. Everything is a struggle, from his friendship with Max to the simple act of changing in the locker room after a baseball game.

I was fifteen when Nicholas Hayes walked into my life. I was seventeen and he hated me. I was nineteen when I fell for him. Hopelessly. …and then we broke each other to pieces. Six years later, I’m back on the east coast, doing my sister a favor. He’s not supposed to be here, so running into him is an unwelcome surprise.

He’s a scandal. He’s a role model. Together, they’re a headline. When a candid photo of professional problem Mo - son of the Arizona Canyons' owner - and Adam, the league’s first openly drafted golden gay, hits the internet, it doesn’t spark rumors. It confirms them. According to everyone, they’ve been secretly together for years. Mo is one scandal away from losing everything, including his family’s support.

Crime scene investigator Yohan Maurel keeps a strict guard over his heart, never letting himself get too close to on-again, off-again boyfriend Salvatore Oakes, a private bodyguard and muscle-for-hire. Several months after their casual arrangement peters out, their paths cross professionally when Oakes turns up at one of Yohan's crime scenes, a fatal shooting in an Alpine ski resort. As their romance rekindles, Yohan realises Oakes feels more strongly about him than he ever dared hope.

The boys are back in town - and Paris is burning! For Special Agents of the Department of Diplomatic Security, Taylor MacAllister and Will Brandt, the strain of a long distance relationship is beginning to tell after eleven months of separation. A romantic holiday could be just the thing to bridge the ever-growing distance, but when Taylor spots a terrorist from the 70s, long believed dead but very much alive, it's c'est la vie.

Trouble comes to Mosely, Montana, from the outside world. When the residents of Mosely are left on their own, they can make things work. Sure, there’s always been a militia operating up in the hills, but they were small-scale—just survivalists doing their thing—until organizers came in from out of state. Now, Jericho Crewe and the rest of the sheriff’s department are facing down a heavily armed band of fanatics, and the feds are busy elsewhere.

All good things are wild. Jem + Guys Gone Wild Volume 2 is a collection of short stories from The Lamb and the Lion: The Wolves Among Us. It includes the following: Moving Day: Jem and Tean move into their new home. Career Day.: Tean helps Jem explore his options. Personal Day: Jem takes a personal day and discovers his new calling.

"Fellas, is it okay to pretend to be a man's boyfriend even though I'm straight?" For Dallas, the question he asked is simple. He's an open-minded guy, after all, so why wouldn't it be fine for him to play house with the kind and objectively good-looking pilot he met on his flight home? For Dallas's friends, his eagerness to say yes might be confirming something they've suspected about him for a long while now.

Special Agents for the Department of Diplomatic Security Taylor MacAllister and Will Brandt have been partners forever and lovers for three months, but their new relationship is threatened when Will is offered a plum two-year assignment in Paris. Will believes the posting only means postponing what they both want. Taylor fears that kind of separation will mean the end of their new and still-fragile relationship.

Friends, partners, and now lovers. If it was complicated before, it's even trickier now that Will has been assigned a case which guarantees he'll be working side-by-side with ex-boyfriend David Bradley. As for Taylor, newly recovered from his recent shooting and finally off desk duty, being reassigned a new partner—who seems as thrilled to be working with him as he is her—is just the start of his problems.

When Liam Belanger gets a professional tryout with the Miami Caimans, he's hoping to land a roster spot that'll keep him from bussing tables. If he can make the team and score a tryout in bed with Russ Lyons, the veteran defenseman who's appointed himself Liam's mentor, that would be the icing on the sweet hockey cake. Living life by a strict set of rules has worked out well for Russ.

All men are flesh. And all flesh must burn. Teancum Leon just wants to get through the next few weeks. Quietly. Without any fuss. That’s why he and his fiancé, Jem Berger, are keeping their wedding low-key. That’s why they’re not inviting anyone. That’s why Tean hasn’t told his family. But when a woman knocks on their door, Tean’s hopes for peace and quiet go up in smoke.

He was the lightning to my thunder, different in every way, yet we were inextricably linked. A storm rages inside Gale. He’s drowning in secrets and failing at every turn. Life in the seminary didn’t work out. A degree in atmospheric science wasn’t what he had hoped. Closeted and insecure, overshadowed by his outgoing twin sister, Gale’s only happiness comes from photographing nature.

Rule one of becoming a doctor: don't sleep with your supervisor. Rule two: definitely don't charge him for it. Fresh out of a breakup and new to New York, Finn Hayes does something impulsive: when a guy at a bar mistakes him for an escort, he plays along. The stranger who takes the bait? Gorgeous, in control, and exactly the kind of distraction Finn needs.

As Budapest crumbles, Marika’s heart is being torn in two… Budapest, 1956 Bruised from her unrequited love for journalist Rodney Dering, dedicated nurse Marika Stevens is tasked with caring for a Hungarian child in Budapest. She quickly falls in love with the beautiful city … but when enigmatic doctor Janos von Raszay warns her to flee Hungary immediately, suddenly Marika has more than a broken heart to contend with.

A murdered prostitute. An obvious suspect. Clear evidence. For once, Jericho Crewe has a straightforward crime to investigate, and Wade Granger isn’t involved. It all seems so simple, but Jericho’s instincts won’t let him rest. As he investigates, he finds troubling suggestions that the murder is a part of something larger and more sinister. But working within the boundaries of the law may keep him from finding the truth.

Blood will tell. Life is better for Jem Berger. He’s got a job that he’s good at. He’s got a boyfriend he loves. He’s talking more with his mom, even though he’s not sure if he should call her mom. And there’s been no sign of the murderous pack of psychopaths Jem and Tean ran into a couple of months before.

A brutal killer. An unwitting witness. A cop caught in the middle of a deadly pursuit. Jude Kalvert is glad to be back in his home city and playing gigs around his favourite bars. Blyham is a dangerous place, and things only seem to have got worse in the time he’s been away. It’s not safe to be out alone at night, but when Jude runs into an old school friend after one of his shows, things don’t so seem bad after all.

Small town—big problems. Jericho Crewe is back in Mosely, Montana, trying to deal with police corruption, interfering feds, his newly discovered family members, and, of course, Wade Granger. He doesn’t really need a biker war on top of it all, but as the bodies start to pile up, it becomes pretty clear that’s what he’s got. Not only that, but Wade’s involved somehow, and as soon as Wade is a part of something, things that seemed clear become cloudy.

LA cop Jericho Crewe got the hell out of Mosely, Montana, when he was 17. Fifteen years later, he’s back, and everything is just as messed up as when he left. He planned a quick visit to deal with his injured father, but of course things are never that simple. Family complications, police complications, social complications—and, as always, Wade Granger complications.

Predator. Prey. Pack. When Teancum Leon’s ex-lover confesses to murder, Tean doesn’t believe it. Sure, Ammon has a dark side, but he’s not capable of killing someone. Except Tean seems to be the only one who feels this way. Tean’s boyfriend, Jem, is more than willing to take Ammon’s word for it. The police are thrilled to bring the official investigation to a close.

Caught in the crosshairs of a deadly conspiracy, empath Reece Davies was forced to embrace his darker nature to protect the enemy he’d fallen for. Now, joining forces with others like him, drawn to chaos and vengeance by the corruption in his veins, Reece is being hunted…by the very man he saved. Evan Grayson, a notorious empath hunter known as the Dead Man, was engineered to never falter from his mission—until he met Reece.

Curiosity might just kill Gabriel Karne after all. A seemingly innocent peek into a stranger's background, and Gabe is knee-deep in murder. Again. Roy Wilson, the exceedingly dead Westfort pastor, had more enemies than friends. Was the old man a bad guy turned good? Or was he, as Gabe and Elton suspect, still deeply involved in the illegal underbelly of Twana County?

Luke Sinclair has spent years rebuilding a life he nearly didn’t survive. A respected dermatologist, he keeps his world carefully part-time hours, familiar routines, and emotional guardrails strong enough to keep the past where it belongs. He knows exactly how fragile peace can be. What he doesn’t know is what to do with the sharp pull he feels toward men—especially men like Neil Sainsbury.

Player vs. Player. Fight! Brilliant graphic designer Ravi Tandel is ahead of the game—he’s just been asked to present a top secret project at a huge conference in Seattle. All systems are go...until he learns his buttoned-up office nemesis is coming along for the ride. Tristan Jones isn’t really the gamer type, but he knows the back end of the video game business inside out.

When Tennal—a rich socialite, inveterate flirt and walking disaster—is caught using his telepathic powers for illegal activities, the military decides to bind his mind to someone whose coercive powers are strong enough to control him. Enter Lieutenant Surit, the child of a disgraced general. Out of a desperate need to restore a pension to his other parent, Lieutenant Surit agrees to be bound to Tennal and keep him conscripted in the army, a task that seems impossible even for someone with Surit's ability to control minds.

He’s a backup goalie with a broken game. The only thing he needs more than a win is the hot, grumpy bartender who pours his weekly beer. Becker James is having a spectacularly bad season. Once a top draft pick, he’s now riding the bench in the minors, one failed save away from being cut. The highlight of his week? A lonely hour on a barstool at Sports Balls, Denver’s queerest watering hole—and Forest, the bartender with flannel sleeves, a gruff voice, and a beard that stars in Beck’s dreams.

First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes...what was that, exactly? Luc and Oliver have been through it all: fake dating to save Luc's career, I-guess-this-is-actually-for-real dating when all of that blew up spectacularly, (briefly) breaking up over irreconcilable differences, (definitively) getting back together over perfectly reconcilable everything else, (almost) getting married, (finally) moving in together, and ultimately celebrating years of perfect domestic bliss.

Sam Adelson has spent over a decade pouring his heart into Silverman's Deli, the beloved Cleveland institution his family has run for seventy-five years. So when a scathing review tanks his business, Sam develops some strong feelings about the critic responsible. Fantasies involving expired clam juice may be involved. Then Jake Thompson walks through the door—Sam's first love, the one who got away.

Sometimes you have to lose everything to find the one thing that matters most. The day begins like any other—canoodling with my live-in boyfriend, making weekend plans over breakfast, and arguing about the apartment renovation list. Then my best friend and business partner texts, begging me to ditch Thad so we can meet for a lunchtime quickie in our usual spot.

Frankie Bishop had only been married for a few months when he became a widower, leaving him with a mountain of debts, a business on the edge of ruin, and a parrot called Hank Marvin. Three years later, the business is finally thriving, and Frankie finds himself ready to look for love again. It comes as a complete surprise to discover that he’s developed feelings for Con — his late husband’s best friend and now Frankie’s business partner.

Truth is murder. Bitter and disillusioned, Niall Hamarsson officially quits everything and retreats to the only place he's ever called home, Piedras Island. His plan for the future is vague, but other humans aren't included. Apparently, 'no humans' doesn't extend to Mat Dempsey. Mat Dempsey is a glass-half-full kind of guy. He returned to Piedras after the death of his father, who'd been the sheriff for years.

The night Nate Bishop met Ramsey Andresen, he didn’t know who he was. Didn’t know he was a hockey player. Didn’t know he’d be sticking around in Toronto. Most definitely didn’t know they’d hook up and Ramsey would walk right out of his life. Leaving him aching for more and hating that he can’t forget him. They meet again at a Thunder team party and Nate’s not only shocked by Ramsey’s presence, but the way he acts like he belongs.