Pride 2023 - Books and Authors Day 14 - Cruising

Hello and welcome to Day 14 of 30 Days of Pride - Books and Authors! 

For Pride Month 2023, I’m sharing some of the fabulous books and authors I’ve discovered featuring LGBTQ or LGBTQ-friendly characters or written by LGBTQ or LGBTQ-friendly authors. 

Skimpy swimwear? Check. Shenanigans on the ship? Check. Nine exclusive steamy and sweet mm romance stories? You better believe it!

Cruising is an MM anthology featuring nine brand new, vacation-themed short stories ranging from friends-to-lovers rom coms to steamy billionaires and rockstar spice.

That's according to the book description, and it's not wrong! 

I took my first cruise in February of 2022. It was booked for a year earlier, but hey. Pandemic. Oh - and they sold the ship. Literally, so it was going to be rescheduled regardless. I even made a lot of progress on Safe Now, Heroes of Grant's Crossing Book 2 (that I'm now reworking in a big way!) Long story short, I visited some new places and had a blast, but I was definitely bitten by the cruising bug. 

View of the HAL Rotterdam from Margaritaville at Grand Turk

When I heard about an anthology of short stories all set on cruise ships, I wanted to check it out! Lo and behold, I found Cruising, an anthology of nine M/M romances written by a variety of authors.  

It was an excellent way to sample the work of new-to-me authors. I picked it up and ended up reading it cover to cover. Not in order - I started with the authors I knew, such as Michael Robert, Garry Michael,  and Matthew Dante. Then I moved on to those I'd only heard of such as 

Jeris Jean and Duckie Mack. Finally I read by brand new authors, L.D. Blakely, Michaela Cole, S. Legend, and Harper Robson. 

Next time you're looking for a good read, check this out. It's great if you want to try out some new authors without committing yourself to an overwhelming tome. 

Click on the authors' names to learn more about their books.

L.D. Blakeley - Michaela Cole - Matthew Dante - Jeris Jean - S. Legend - Duckie Mack - Garry Michael - Michael Robert - Harper Robson.

Movie night on the Lido deck of the HAL Rotterdam - was my 1st-ever cruise... and they played Jaws. Sigh. Good thing I was in a bigger boat!

Take care, and happy reading!

- Heather 

As always, my reviews can be found on Goodreads and other retail sites. 

Pre-order your e-Copy of WAYWARD GUILT - Heroes of Grant's Crossing Book 1! (Print version will be available for pre-order in early July.) 

AMAZON - KOBO - BARNES & NOBLE - APPLE

Find me online! 

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Bookbub - @GrantsCrossing

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Yes! Write!

Two years ago this June my mom challenged me to write my own book. (teaches me to complain about a couple of cheap romance novels - and no, they are not on my Goodreads shelves!)

I’m not yet published, but my first book - which is going through rewrites and revisions - I just started writing without any sort of plan at all. I had no idea what I was doing. Was it a mess? Oh yeah. Definitely, but there are a lot of great parts that I plan to use in the rewrite. My spinoffs? I have two that are nearing completion of my first draft and two more that are in the planning stages. 

My subsequent novels are a lot cleaner and much better planned. My vision for the stories is a lot better plus my writing is a lot smoother. Amazing what happens when you practice your craft.

I just turned 52 and I started writing in June 2020. June 11, 2020, to be exact.

My initial idea started when I literally sketched out a town square. Then, I created a list of all sorts of characters I thought would be fun. I started giving a handful names, histories, etc, and from that my first story developed. It’s a weird process, but it’s working for me for that is the basis of all my stories set in Grant's Crossing, Ohio, a small town conveniently founded during the Grant administration. And after nearly two years of writing, asking questions, learning, rewriting, asking more questions, learning more… I’ve found my groove

I’m hoping to have at least two books ready for publication by the end of 2022. I have no specific timeline beyond that but I've discovered I absolutely love writing!

Looking to write? This is my suggestion that may or may not work for you, but it's what I did. 

• Jot down some ideas as bullet points. Then keep adding bullet points. 
• Done with bullet points? Add some details. Bulk them up. When you can’t think of any more details with one, go to another. 
• Then, create your outline - move stuff around and see what works. 
• Go from there and start creating a story. 

You can do this. I’ve never dreamed of writing which is crazy considering how much I now love it. By all means - have at it and never worry about how you have to write or even how much. Just start writing and see where it goes. You can always revise and reorganize as you go along. There’s no right or wrong way. 

Good luck to you! 

Happy Reading! 

        - Heather

P.S. I love bullet points. Can you tell? HMB

Twitter - @GrantsCrossing 

Instagram - @GrantsCrossing 

Goodreads - H.M.S. Brown - for this and all my book reviews