Love Is a Contact Sport

By Frederick Smith

After a rough breakup, gay romance author Renny Ross heads to the Bay Area for a fresh start. His new gig writing the anniversary story for a local university is supposed to be a fresh chapter (thanks to university president Dr. Taylor James). But Renny didn’t expect to run into a familiar face from his past.

After dropping off his youngest child at college, recently divorced Brent D. King DuPree, is on a journey to freedom, liberation, and living the life he put on hold for over twenty years to raise his family. Figuring out life as a newly out and newly single man, Brent is hesitant about stepping into the Bay Area gay scene until a chance reunion with his first real crush, and the guy he never quite forgot, his peer mentor and tutor in college: Renny Ross.=

Neither man expected a second chance. But working together at the same university stirs up feelings that never really faded. Their love doesn’t have to be a secret anymore, but will they get it right this time?

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One and Done

By Frederick Smith

Enemies to Lovers Romance
Close Quarters
California

One night of passion and possibly one more chance at love…

Determined, motivated, goal-driven, and eternally single, Dr. Taylor James is an accomplished university administrator in San Francisco determined to get his campus successfully through an upcoming accreditation process. The process could set him up for his ultimate career goal–to be one of the only Black and openly queer university presidents in the US. Taylor gives himself just one day a week to have fun and let loose with friends–a one and done Sunday Funday brunch in the Castro District.

Dustin McMillan is a consultant and project manager who reluctantly returns to the Bay Area, his hometown, for an assignment. The first in his family to finish college, earn a healthy six-figure income, and have choice and agency in his life’s direction, Dustin is fearful that returning home could mean falling back into roles that he’d thought he’d resolved by moving miles away…and equally fearful of falling back into bed with one sexy and toxic ex-boyfriend who still lingers in his memories.

One chance encounter. One night of passion. Will Taylor and Dustin leave it at one and done?

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Busy Ain't the Half of It

By Frederick Smith and Others

People of Color
College Life
Holidays |
Friends & Community
Weddings
Children / Families

Elijah Golden and Justin Monroe are uncle and nephew with eclectic careers, friends, and family in LA, trying to center joy in their lives.Then their worlds turn in ways nobody expects.

Elijah, a dedicated thespian, auditions by day, does theater by night, and works two jobs on weekends. With enough life for three people, he keeps his recently divorced partner Zaire coasting on bliss…until secrets and real-life dramas test their love.

Justin, Elijah’s uncle, is a single father with teenage twins, and a TV journalist who’s been replaced at the anchor desk when new management arrives. No longer in the public eye, living true to his sexuality is something Justin can finally do. Dating and romance—Justin’s ready for fun. Conflicts with fatherhood and career—he’ll have none.

Elijah and Justin seek happily-ever-afters, but are they too busy to notice happy when it’s there?

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In Case You Forgot

By Frederick Smith and Others

People of Color
College Life
Friends & Community
New OrleansĀ 
Children / Families

Two newly single, Black, queer, and socially aware men have packed up to start again—in love, career, and life—in the West Hollywood neighborhood of LA.

Zaire James, on the cusp of 30, has decided marriage isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Despite friends, family, and coworkers loving Zaire’s “perfect” partner, divorce is a necessary step for finding himself and being free. If only it were that easy.

Kenny Kane has made a career of deferring dreams, lowering expectations, and chasing partners not on his level in hopes of finding a love to call his own. However, on the verge of the big 4-0, he realizes the clock is ticking on all his dreams.

As Zaire and Kenny undo the significant relationships of their pasts, they hope new opportunities, energy, mindsets, and connections will reinvigorate what is missing in their lives—drama and all.

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Play it Forward

By Frederick Smith

People of Color
Sports
Music
Children / Families
Dirty little secrets can lead to public scandals and unexpected love affairs"...

Malcolm Campbell is the director of a south Los Angeles organization focused on mentoring gay youth, and his nineteen-year-old nephew, Blake, is being sent to stay with him for the summer. Malcolm has always been a community and family role model everyone looks up to. But he also has a secret he never knew he had"... until it pops up on the Internet.

Across town, in the closed and closeted world of Black Hollywood celebrity, pro-basketball player Tyrell Kincaid and R&B singer Tommie Jordan are public heroes in a very private relationship. After a series of indiscretions and slipups, the relationship becomes fodder for speculation and outing by the paparazzi and nationally-known gossip reporter Livonia Birmingham.

Despite living in two different worlds in L.A., Malcolm, Blake, Tommie, and Tyrell find themselves in the same arena, where they'll have to risk it all to protect their hearts and their destiny.
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Of Drag Kings and the Wheel of Fate

By Susan Smith

Drag Kings | Book 1

Dr. Rosalind Olchawski is an expert on Shakespeare, Nineteenth century poetry, and being the best friend you've ever had. She's been described so often as warm, Rosalind has come to think of herself as a sweater or a pair of mittens.

One night on a blind date at a drag club in downtown Buffalo, Rosalind is mesmerized by the performance of the drag king Taryn. Can a grown woman go mad over a girl who looks like a boy? One night of adventure threatens to tear down everything Rosalind has come to believe about herself.

Of Drag Kings & the Wheel of Fate is a novel about history, sex, drag, paganism, death, and the formation of family. Using an ancient myth reset in the queer community in Buffalo, New York, Smith explores gender fluidity, sexual diversity, and the deeper questions of love and identity that make us who we are.

2nd Edition

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A Cure for Love

By Emily Smith

Doctors Chase Durgin and Norah Bishop once had bright futures and an unshakable love. But when Chase bails in the aftermath of a devastating tragedy, she leaves Nora shattered and their relationship in ruins.

Now, a lethal new virus is spreading across the globe, and Chase and Norah are thrown back together on a special task force in a desperate fight to save lives. They have no time to face the ghosts of their past while they race against the clock to stop the spread. But the fire between them never truly burned out and keeping their distance is impossible.

When tragedy strikes again, can Chase be counted on to protect those she loves?

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Wings Over Boston

By Emily Smith

Fate intervenes on behalf of love when characters are unexpectedly stuck together. With too much time and an irresistible attraction anything could happen.

In Wings Over Boston by Emily Smith, flight paramedic Ryland Matthews and pilot Tess Goodwin have an uncomplicated past that included a no-strings tryst before they went their separate ways and never looked back. That is, until a medical emergency and an unlikely coincidence leaves them grounded together in the middle of nowhere with nothing to do but relive history and ignite the passion neither can forget.

 

Wings Over Boston was previously published in Stranded Hearts: Romance Novellas (Bold Strokes Books, 2022).

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And Then There Was One

By Michele Castleman

People of Color
Financial gap/Class disparity
Amateur Sleuths
Police / Cops
College Life
Blue Collar
Friends & Community
Friends to Lovers Romance
Bisexual
Lawyers
Children / Families

Six weeks after Lyla Smith dragged her sister’s dead body onto the Lake Erie shore, she escapes her small Ohio town to work as a nanny for distant relatives on their remote private island. Plagued by strange memories and drowning in the guilt she tried to leave behind, Lyla struggles to break up with her boyfriend and forget her feelings for her sister’s girlfriend. Especially now that she has met another girl on the island who seems to be flirting with her.

Lyla’s first family dinner is a tense affair, and mid-argument the matriarch, Crystal Payne, takes a sip from her wineglass and dies. Suddenly everyone is a suspect. From rival interests in Crystal’s corporation to family secrets that won’t stay hidden, there are too many people with a motive for murder, and Lyla’s trapped with an unknown killer.

The only way to save herself is to be free of the secrets that drag her down. But when the killer strikes again, it’s only a matter of time before Lyla drowns.

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I Know About You

By Erin Kaste

Elementary school teacher Cary Smith thinks she has finally outrun her secrets. She’s avoided attention all her life, but the moment beautiful Tina Flores joins the faculty, Cary wants to be noticed. Although the school has a zero-tolerance policy toward anything “immoral,” Cary dares to pursue Tina, and they begin a relationship nobody can know about—not Cary’s friends, co-workers, or ex-girlfriend.

But then strange things begin to happen, and before long, Cary isn’t sure who she can trust. When someone begins leaving ominous messages and finally breaks into her apartment,   Cary fears losing her job or even her life. With her stalker inching closer to the truth, she’s forced to face the past she’s tried desperately to forget.

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The Frenemy Zone

By Yolanda Wallace

Coming Out
Friends & Community
Homecoming
Financial gap/Class disparity
Rivals
Blue Collar
MulticulturalĀ 
Small Town Romances
Young Adult
Children / Families
People of Color

Olly Smith-Nakamura had it all until an unexpected financial setback forces her dads to leave their idyllic life in San Francisco behind in search of a fresh start. Relocating to a small West Virginia town where families like hers are considered an anomaly was not how she planned to spend her senior year of high school. Her grandmother tries to sell her on the merits of her new home, but she just sees more reasons to leave than to stay.

No one knows Ariel Hall has a secret. No one except the BFF who broke her heart. Sharing her truth isn’t on her agenda because unless she’s throwing strikes on the softball field, she prefers to fly under the radar. Olly Smith-Nakamura is everything she’s not: out, proud, and in your face. They don’t get along at all. So why does kissing her seem like more fun than butting heads?

 

PRAISE FOR THE FRENEMY ZONE

"A fun, thoughtful small-town tale of teen romance and family connection...A coming-of-age story with a rich cast of interesting characters." —Kirkus Reviews 

"As an openly lesbian wrestler with one Black and one Japanese American father, [Olly] contends with casual racism and homophobia in the mostly white, conservative town. Her goal is to survive until graduation and move on without attachments; that is, until she meets white-cued Ariel Hall, the mayor’s closeted lesbian daughter...Emphatic writing by Wallace capably builds tension; the characters’ intensely felt hopes and fears, and their struggles navigating interpersonal and external obstacles, make for a pensive read." —Publishers Weekly

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Stranded Hearts

By Amanda Radley and Others

sapphic

Fate intervenes on behalf of love when characters are unexpectedly stuck together. With too much time and an irresistible attraction anything could happen.

In EF5 by Kris Bryant, wedding photographer Alyssa Bates is running late to a job she desperately needs when officer Katy Emerson pulls her over for speeding. She gets a warning from the sexy woman in uniform and the sirens alerting them to an approaching tornado. Their only option is to shelter in an abandoned diner where they must resist temptation and fight for their lives. 

In Trapped Tycoon by Amanda Radley, trainee investor Clara Foster spends her weekend at the office catching up on paperwork when the ice queen owner Francesca Burford arrives. Francesca doesn’t know who the shy employee is, and she doesn’t much care, until they attempt to leave the office at the same time and get trapped in an elevator.

In Wings Over Boston by Emily Smith, flight paramedic Ryland Matthews and pilot Tess Goodwin have an uncomplicated past that included a no-strings tryst before they went their separate ways and never looked back. That is, until a medical emergency and an unlikely coincidence leaves them grounded together in the middle of nowhere with nothing to do but relive history and ignite the passion neither can forget.

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First Do No Harm

By Emily Smith

Physician assistant Pierce Parker wants nothing more than to find true love, but after a series of heartbreaks and lackluster first dates, she’s beginning to question if such a thing even exists. That is, until she begins working with Dr. Cassidy Sullivan, a new emergency medicine resident. Their chemistry makes Pierce start to believe all her dreams will come true, but a secret from Cassidy’s past may end the fairy tale before it gets to happily ever after. For Pierce and Cassidy, the risk of heartbreak may be too high a price for the chance at love.

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All of Me

By Emily Smith

Workplace Romance
Big City
Medical Romance

Dr. Galen Burgess has a reputation for keeping it casual. She likes women close—but not too close. Nothing is more important to her than her budding surgical career as chief surgical resident at Boston City Hospital. After spending years trying, and failing, to please her father, Galen knows getting close enough to care is a recipe for heartbreak. 

Everything in her carefully structured life begins to change when she meets her newest intern, the disconcertingly beautiful Dr. Rowan Duncan. Sheltered doesn’t even begin to describe Rowan’s comfortable, quiet life before moving to Boston. When Rowan starts to fall for Galen, everything Rowan's ever known comes into question, including her relationship with high school sweetheart Brian. 

With her own heart on the line, will Rowan have the courage to make the cut, or risk losing Galen forever?

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Keeping Time

By Emily Smith

Wedding Novellas | Book 2

Time has never been an issue for Carter McKenna and Sadie Maron. It just took them both nearly fifteen years to realize it. Now Carter is tired of waiting, and the two have begun their newest chapter—planning a wedding. Carter, a talented musician, has always traveled the beaten path. But when she discovers the wedding Sadie is hoping for may be a little out of their price range, she realizes she needs to recruit the help of her wealthy father. Unfortunately, her father’s money comes with a price she may not be able to afford. But as Sadie continues to blissfully plan the wedding she’s always dreamed of, Carter proves to herself just how much she’s willing to give for the woman she loves.

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After the Fire

By Emily Smith

Second Chance at Love

Paramedic Connor Haus is good at two things—saving lives on the streets of Boston and holding her past against every firefighter she meets. The tragic loss of her partner, Kam, has left her bitter and angry, her work and fellow-EMT Jake O’Harrigan the only pieces of her life she still cares about. Until rookie firefighter Logan Curtis moves to town, and onto Connor’s scene, and threatens to rattle the walls Connor has long since put up. 

Hotshot Logan has never had a problem getting women to notice her. But when Connor trips her radar, she realizes Connor may be more than just another notch on her bedpost. But how could anyone compete with Kam’s memory? 

Sometimes, you have to wait until after the fire to see just what’s worth saving.

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Same Time Next Week

By Emily Smith

Friends to Lovers Romance

Is it really ever too late to be happy? That's what young attorney Alex Harris finds herself asking while married to her bartender wife, Beth. For several years, Alex has resigned herself to a mediocre relationship, feeling doomed by the marriage vows she's already taken. But everything changes when she walks into a small café one afternoon and meets Michelle Masters. As their friendship flourishes, Alex's marriage crumbles around her, and she's forced to question the only life she's ever known. Will those vows be enough to keep her, no matter the consequences? Or will she finally take a chance at happily ever after?

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Searching for Forever

By Emily Smith

Dr. Natalie Jenner's life is going exactly according to plan. She has the house, the family, and the perfect job. On paper, she has it all. But when she meets Charlie Thompson, the charming young paramedic, that perfect life is shaken inside out. Natalie quickly realizes what she's feeling for Charlie can't be explained by anything other than love. Natalie wages a war not only with death in the emergency room, but also with herself, as she navigates the consequences of a life with Charlie. The more the two battle to save lives together, the more in love they fall. But will Natalie be brave enough to face losing the security of the life she's always known? Or will she face losing Charlie instead?

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