UPDATE: The winner is…Pansy Petal!
*~*~*
Hello Delilah! Thank you for inviting me here to discuss my newest release. As your readers know, I love writing short stories for anthologies. Especially charity anthologies. I’ve seriously lost count of how many I’ve done over the past five years. My little part to help contribute to worthy causes. I have to say, though, that my favorite anthologies are the LGBTQ ones. Might this be because they hit close to home? Yep, I can say that for certain. This year, Love is All Volume 7’s proceeds are going to a transgender charity. I know several trans people in my life as well as having several friends whose children are nonbinary and trans. That’s a hard road to go down, unfortunately. The vitriolic rhetoric — and the outright lies told — hurt people I care for. People I love.
Okay, so 10 authors have come together in this amazing anthology to bring you great stories of love across the LGBTQ spectrum. This year, my novella is The Boyfriend Arrangement. I admit, I had fun with this story. I was given the trope of arranged marriage for another project that fell through. In the end, I had started this cute little story that I decided to finish, keeping the anthology in mind. This is the story of two young people, destined for marriage. Josette and Felix were born close together. Their mothers are best friends. Naturally, the two will marry. And everyone’s just sort of gone along with this. Felix has become an elementary French teacher. Josette is an interior designer. When Felix comes into his inheritance and buys a dilapidated old cabin, of course, Josette is going to do all the decorating.
There’s just the little step of renovations.
That’s okay, though, because Josette’s older brother, Jacob, is all about helping his younger sister and the guy she’s going to marry. Okay, Jacob might’ve noticed Felix. Their families are friends. And, okay, Felix might have a crush on Jacob. That’s… Yeah. A problem. As he views his cabin with the woman he’s supposed to marry, he comes to the realization he doesn’t love her the way he’s supposed to.
I suspect you can guess the rest of the story — but I love the execution, and I hope readers will as well. Love is All is a project close to my heart. I thank you, Delilah, for letting me share it today. I would love to give away a $5 Amazon Gift Card to one lucky commenter. Easy one – what’s your favorite trope? What will you one-click over and over again? Leave a comment and random might pick you!
Love Is All Volume 7
Get ready to turn the page on love, acceptance, and making a difference with Love Is All: Volume 7!
This limited-edition anthology features swoon-worthy novellas and short stories by ten award-winning and bestselling authors, including A.D. Ellis, Chantal Mer, Gabbi Grey, Lee Blair, Piper Malone, R.L. Merrill, Skylar M. Cates, Sophia Soames, Susan Scott Shelley, and Xio Axelrod. Second-chance sweethearts, steamy encounters, and heartwarming friendships all await you.
All proceeds from the anthology will benefit Advocates for Trans Equality, an organization dedicated to protecting and empowering transgender individuals.
Love Is All: Volume 7 is only available for a limited time.
Links:
Universal Link: https://books2read.com/LIAV7
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/Love-All-7-Xio-Axelrod-ebook/dp/B0CTHRJ3GH
B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/love-is-all-xio-axelrod/1145597032
KOBO: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/love-is-all-volume-7
Apple: https://books.apple.com/us/book/love-is-all-volume-7/id6502670886
The Charities
All proceeds from this year’s collection will benefit Advocates for Trans Equality.
Founded in 2024, A4TE brings together the National Center for Transgender Equality (a previous LIA beneficiary), and the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund — two powerhouse champions of trans equality.
About the Authors
Xio Axelrod
Xio Axelrod is a USA Today bestselling author of different flavours of contemporary romance. She also writes what she likes to call strange, twisted tales. Xio grew up in the music industry and began recording at a young age. When she isn’t writing stories, she can be found in the studio, writing songs, or performing on international stages (under a different, no-so-secret name). She lives in Philadelphia with one full-time husband and several part-time cats.
Chantal Mer
Chantal Mer is an author and optimist. Her stories explore relationships and what it means to be family. When she’s not writing about strong women, strong men, and strong love, she can be found walking her adorable dog, volunteering at her kids’ school (in the library, of course), teaching at the local university, and reading.
Chantal lives outside of Philadelphia with her husband, kids, Toffee the Wonder Dog, and vicious cat, Gracie.
Susan Scott Shelley
USA Today bestselling author Susan Scott Shelley writes stories with heat and heart, where love always wins. Her romances give readers lighthearted and emotionally satisfying escapes into happily ever after. In addition to crafting stories, she is also a professional voiceover artist and enjoys lending her voice to a wide range of projects.
She lives in Philadelphia with her husband and is an avid fan of her hometown sports teams. Her favorite things include running (honestly, it’s more like jogging), sports (especially hockey), hard rock (but will listen to anything from heavy metal to show tunes), and writing about people from all walks of life finding their special someone.
Lee Blair
Lee Blair is a queer author from Oregon who writes low angst, funny, M/M contemporary romance. She’s constantly amused by the antics of her two ginger cats, considers daydreaming about future trips to Scotland a part-time job, and is obsessed with Schitt’s Creek to an alarming degree.
Piper Malone
Piper Malone is an award-winning author of sweet and sexy romance.
Dog lover. Reader. Foodie. Coffee, please.
Gabbi Grey
USA Today Bestselling author Gabbi Grey lives in beautiful British Columbia where her fur baby chin-poo keeps her safe from the nasty neighborhood squirrels. Working for the government by day, she spends her early mornings writing contemporary, gay, sweet, and dark erotic BDSM romances. While she firmly believes in happy endings, she also believes in making her characters suffer before finding their true love. She also writes m/f romances as Gabbi Black and Gabbi Powell.
A.D. Ellis
A.D. Ellis is an Indiana girl, born and raised. She spends much of her time in central Indiana as a teacher in the inner city of Indianapolis, being a mom to two amazing teens, and wondering how she and her husband of nearly two decades haven’t driven each other insane yet. A lot of her time is also devoted to phone call avoidance and her hatred of cooking.
She loves chocolate, wine, pizza, and naps along with reading and writing romance. These loves don’t leave much time for housework, much to the chagrin of her husband. Who would pick cleaning the house over a nap or a good book? She uses any extra time to increase her fluency in sarcasm.
A.D. uses she/they pronouns.
R.L. Merrill
Whether she’s writing contemporary romance featuring quirky, queer, and relatable characters or diving deep into the supernatural to give readers a shiver, R.L. Merrill loves creating compelling stories that will stay with readers long after closing the book. Ro writes inclusive romance for the Happily Ever After collective, contributes paranormal hilarity to Robyn Peterman’s Magic and Mayhem Universe, and pens horror-inspired tales and music reviews for HorrorAddicts.net. A mom, wife, daughter, and former educator, you can find her rocking out in her Bronco with Great Dane pup Velma, being terrorized by feline twins Dracula and Frankenstein, or headbanging at a rock show near her home in the San Francisco Bay Area! Stay Tuned for more…
Skylar M. Cates
Skylar M. Cates loves a good romance. She is happy to drink coffee, curl up with a good book, and not move all day. Her novels feature strong and passionate men. Skylar loves to craft stories where realistic characters are challenged with emotional situations. Although lately the laundry room is the farthest place she has visited, Skylar loves to chat with folks from all around the globe.
Sophia Soames
Sophia Soames is a Scandinavian, UK based, Author of contemporary MM romance. She writes stories of everyday people with kids and families living real life fairytales.
Anyway, we’re finding our summer groove. One thing we love to do is watch movies, whether in the theater or at home. Usually, in the summer we limit our ventures to the theater to once a month, if that. It’s so dang expensive to take six people to the theater! But to kick off the first week of summer, this past Thursday, we drove the 45 minutes to a neighboring city to catch the movie If. The kids and I loved it. My daughter and SIL complained that it wasn’t as crazy/zany as they would’ve liked. Yes, I cried too many times during the second half of the movie, but I couldn’t help it. Folks reuniting with their imaginary friends… Who wouldn’t want to live that? When I watch a movie, I’m in the movie. It’s my experience, too.
Yesterday, the 15 and 10 year-olds joined me in my living area to watch Interstellar. I’ve made it a goal this summer to watch every Christopher Nolan movie, and since the 15-year-old and I are the only ones in the house who LOVED last year’s Oppenheimer (the others thought it was too long, too boring–what!?), but she was as riveted as I was, so she and I have committed to watching CN movies this summer together. I hadn’t seen Interstellar since it originally came out, so I’d forgotten a lot about it. The three of us (even the 10-year-old) were again riveted.
