Kaje Harper's Blog, page 2

Free NEW Hidden Wolves novella - through Nov 1

Hi folks. Happy Halloween. Today and tomorrow (through Nov 1) you can download for free 7 NEW Halloween stories, including my own 20K Hidden Wolves novella - Unmasked - all you need is an email. Get it from MM Romance Books on a Budget" - https://www.mmromanceonabudget.com/sh...

If you miss this chance, I'll have this novella available for sale later. Let me know if you have any issues with the download. I hope you enjoy the story.

Unmasked: A Hidden Wolves stand-alone novella

Trent
Halloween has always been a night I take for myself. On that one night, I cut loose with a mask hiding my face, and head to the gay bars. I can dance and flirt and maybe get laid, just one guy in a crowd of guys like me. They don’t know I’m a werewolf. My pack doesn’t know I’m gay. Every year, I grab onto my night of freedom and enjoy it hard.


Until this year, when my Alpha tells me I have to shift into wolf fur and go trick-or-treating with the pack kids. I’m supposed to wag my tail and charm the humans with “Operation Werewolves Make Good Neighbors.”


This was not how I wanted to spend my Halloween, but I’m just pack Fifth. When Alpha says “Hop,” I ask “How high?” So here I am, out with the kids, playing a happy, furry Warg, when I hear a little girl crying. And in saving her, I set a chain of events in motion that will upend my entire life. When Halloween is over, I’ll have to figure out who I want to be, in a world not made for gay werewolves.


Unmasked is a stand-alone story in the Hidden Wolves universe, set thirteen years after the main series, as werewolves and humans are learning to live side by side.



Download: https://www.mmromanceonabudget.com/sh...

Missing Chord is out

My new Road to Rocktoberfest 2024 book is out today.  Of course, I didn't manage to write a classic rockstar romance - check out Missing Chord, a story of music and aging, mistakes, redemption, and second chances.




On Amazon and in KU - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0D81FLFBL

Griffin is 56 and his stellar career has been on the downhill slide.
Lee is 40, a caring nurse-practitioner working in a nursing home.

Once, twenty years ago, they were on their way to something special, but they couldn't make it work. Griffin left for bright lights and fame. Lee raged and cried, and soldiered on with his life.
Now past losses and a terrible mistake have brought them together again, and the spark is still there. But taking another chance means forgiving each other, and themselves. It means risking a pain that twenty years didn't erase. Because Griffin is still aimed at Rocktoberfest and those bright lights, and Lee is still staying home.

Excerpt

Lee

Eventually I made my way to the ground floor, heading for the nursing home kitchen. From the common room, I could hear music, louder than normal and clearer than the TV speakers usually managed to produce. The song snagged at my heart. One of Griffin’s old standards. I remembered when he wrote the tune, sitting naked on the edge of his bed at two a.m., guitar in hand, while I lounged on the pillows beside him, fucked out and drifting.


“How the hell do you still have that much energy?” I’d mumbled.


He’d grinned at me, his blue eyes flashing, lips parted. He’d been clean-shaven then, showing off his gorgeous features. “You inspire me.”


And when I laughed, he’d set aside the guitar, tumbled toward me, and let me inspire him some more…


Water long under the bridge. At one point years back, the memory would’ve made me grit my teeth. Now, it made me smile. No one in my life had ever been like Griffin, before or after.


I was busy as hell since we were perennially short-staffed, but when I had Mr. Vincent’s cup of juice, I detoured by the common room for a moment. The concert was still playing, and I wondered which version of Griffin I’d see on the screen. My sexy, wild-haired man at thirty-six making love to the microphone on his climb to fame? The solid performer of the years after we split, his hair shorter, the first lines creasing beside his eyes, his fingers a blur on the strings? Or the recent Griffin, gray starting to touch his cropped beard and temples, still way too fucking good-looking for a guy who’d passed fifty?


Walking through the archway into the common room, I stopped short. The TV screen was blank. Seated on the piano bench at the front of the room, Griffin coaxed a swift fall of notes from his guitar strings.


Griffin? Here? What the hell? His mother had passed four years ago, at the height of COVID. I’d caught her name in the obituaries, but if he’d come home then, I’d been deep in the bowels of that misery and he hadn’t contacted me. Why’s he here now?


A small piece of me that still ached from the way he’d left me raised a tendril of foolish hope. Is he here for me? Not that I’d take him back, but it would soothe my battered ego a tiny bit.


But when Griffin raised his head to scan the audience in their lounge chairs and wheelchairs and spotted me, the way his eyes widened and his mouth dropped open dashed that idea. He’d clearly had no idea I was around.


Before either of us could say or do something stupid, I ducked back out of sight. Behind me, I heard Griffin play the intro again before the first mellow words of “Iowa Sunset” followed me up the stairs. His tone and vocal control were always most stunning like this— acoustic guitar, simple mic, no backing band. Just Griffin and his art. People still paid damned good money to hear him. Now, here he was, giving a concert to folks half of whom had either never heard of him or had forgotten his name. Most of whom had no idea the privilege they were receiving. I hoped they enjoyed the hell out of it, though.


Our patients’ days tended to be mundane and filled with routine, despite the social director’s best efforts. Scoring Griffin Marsh was a triumph for Kashira. I’d have to congratulate her. After Griffin was gone, of course…



(content notes for health issues, past loss, distracted driving, older parent mental health)


I hope readers will enjoy this story of two older and imperfect men rediscovering each other and doing the work to find lasting love.


https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0D81FLFBL

Magic Escaping is out!

Release day for Magic Escaping - the sequel to Magic Burning in the Carnival of Mysteries. I had so much fun getting Alan in trouble and letting Jason, Alan's friends, and Sunny, of course, try to get him out.

Kidnapping Alan may turn out to be the biggest mistake NSEP ever made. His boyfriend Jason's no superhero, Sunny's just a bird, and the rest of Alan's friends are Healers and an elderly sorcerer, but they'll do what it takes to get Alan free, and maybe save the world.

On AZ and in KU - https://www.amazon.com/Magic-Escaping-Mysteries-Kaje-Harper-ebook/dp/B0D6WPN88Q/

The Wolves are out!

Today is release day for Once an Alpha - this 45K prequel novella is set a year before Unacceptable Risk - book 1 and is designed to be an alternate intro to the Hidden Wolves world (and also hopefully fun for those who already know my wolves.) I'm delighted to see early reviewers are enjoying meeting David and Rob.
Forbidden love, found family, hurt-comfort, coming out

Once an Alpha universal link - https://books2read.com/OnceAnAlphaKaje

Can I be both Alpha and the man Rob needs me to be?

I spent nineteen years rebuilding the pack I took from our abusive Alpha, with my bondmate Melody as my wife, and my best friend Rob at my side as Second. Then I lost Melody and the child we hoped to have, and my world crashed down on me. I holed up, grieving and fighting conflicting impulses, until my Third, Sherman, got tired of my apathy and Challenged me for pack Alpha.

I could've taken Sherman down, no sweat. Rob could've wiped the dirt with him. What held us back was the memory of one night when we were both seventeen, and three decades of not giving in to impossible dreams. If we were free, away from the violent homophobia of the packs, maybe we could finally be more than Alpha and Second. So I suppressed my Alpha instincts and walked away. Rob, as always, came with me.

Now we're in my truck, heading west into the mountains. Just David and Rob, two men trying to figure out what we can be to each other. Until we stop in a small town for a meal, and someone who smells like a wolf steals my truck. Trouble's afoot, the local lone wolves need help, and I'm discovering that once an Alpha, always an Alpha. But if we get entangled with a new pack, does that mean any relationship Rob and I might've found has to be lost again to werewolf laws?

Set in 2010, a year before Unacceptable Risk in the bad old days of the packs, this is a Hidden Wolves universe standalone 45,000 word novella with new characters.

Content warnings for grief, past pregnancy loss, past abuse, past captivity, and violence.

Contains the added bonus 5K short story Toby, Doyle, and the Cats.

Remember Unacceptable Risk - Hidden Wolves book 1 - is premafree on all vendors, and right now, book 2 Unexpected Demands - Hidden Wolves book 2 is also Free on Smashwords - check them out if you like shifters, or have fun with this new novella.

I can't wait to see what readers think of David and his Rob, (and Toby and Doyle in the sweet short story that follows)

Upcoming books and great new covers

I have gorgeous covers for some new books in the works.

Of course, the next book to come will be Once an Alpha - my latest Hidden Wolves novella. This one is intended to stand alone, but readers of the series will recognize the bad old days of the packs before Unacceptable Risk.
David and Rob thought they'd left pack life behind, and could finally explore what they meant to one another. But once an Alpha, always an Alpha.
This book releases wide on July 20th and is in preorder HERE now.

........

Then look at this awesome cover for my next Carnival of Mysteries book Magic Escaping - releasing Aug 7th.


This is a sequel to Magic Burning - Alan is abducted by a shadowy government agency, but Jason, Sunny, and Alan's friends are not letting him go without a fight. Especially when it turns out that grabbing Alan is just part of a far bigger plot.

You can preorder Magic Escaping on Amazon HERE.
.........

And in October, I will have another book in the Road to Rocktoberfest series. Missing Chord is a second chances, age gap romance releasing October 11. I saw this guy's face and needed to write his story.


Missing Chord is available for preorder on Amazon HERE
..............

I hope to have a couple of other books before the end of the year, but more on those later. :)

my Subpar Hero is loose in the world

Transparent Is a Color is now available on Amazon and in KU - a standalone lighthearted superhero adventure that is part of the Subparheroes universe.

I saw this cover pic and Perry popped into my head - not a flying-hero Peregrine-the-Falcon, like his mother wanted, rescuing stranded children and pulling people out of burning buildings, but "the Interior Decorator" - a guy who can change the color of your curtains, or your sweatshirt. Perry thinks his power's pretty useless, but when he spots a bomb, it brings Nova City Bomb Squad Sergeant Deckard into the picture. And together, with the help of Perry's disdained power, these two might just save some lives and find romance.

* opposites attract
* not-so-super hero action and mystery
* slow burn
* low angst adventure
* a talented bomb-sniffing dog
* modest age gap

(content warning for abduction, some violence, low-key parental emotional abuse)

You can find Transparent Is a Color on Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/Transparent-Co...

New Werewolves novella in preorder

Once an Alpha will be out this summer.

I finished the main sequence of the Hidden Wolves Minneapolis West Pack with Unplanned Coda but the werewolves are just so much fun to write. A charity anthology wanted a paranormal story from me, and I set out to write a short Wolves tale, and ended up with a 44,000 word novella. I wrote another short story but that left me with a novella floating around. So I decided to publish it (with the short story, which I'll have rights back to, at the end as a bonus.) Releasing July 18 2024.

Once an Alpha

David was holed up alone, grieving for his wife and unborn child, letting the pack he rebuilt over the last twenty years as Alpha be run by his loyal Second, Rob, and his Third, Sherman. Finally, Sherman got tired of his apathy and Challenged him. David could've taken Sherman down, no sweat. Rob could've wiped the dirt with Sherman. What held them back was a memory of one night when they were seventeen, and twenty years of wanting. If they were free, away from the homophobia of the pack, away from responsibilities, what might they finally have together?

So David suppressed all his Alpha instincts and walked away. Rob, as always, went with him. Now they're in David's truck, heading west through the Wyoming mountains. They're just David and Rob, no longer a pack but two men trying to figure out if they can be anything more to each other.

Until they stop in a small town for a meal, and someone steals David's truck, someone who smells like a wolf. Trouble's afoot, lone wolves can use some help, and David's discovering once an Alpha, always an Alpha. But if they help these wolves, if they stick around, is any relationship they might've had doomed to be shoved back into the closet?

Set in 2010, a year before Unacceptable Risk in the bad old days of the packs, this is a Hidden Wolves universe standalone 44,000 word novella with new characters.

Content warnings for grief, past abuse, past captivity, and violence.

Contains the added bonus 5K short story Toby, Doyle, and the Cats.

This preorder is currently up on Amazon and is on Smashwords for a wishlist memo, and will appear wide in preorder soon: https://books2read.com/OnceAnAlphaKaje

"Impurrfections" is now available

I just released Impurrfections - the second book in the multi-author stand-alone series Friends of Gaynor Beach Animal Rescue which is related to the Single Dads series (and Kevin from Alec has a cameo in this book.)

Universal link - https://books2read.com/Impurrfections



Shane has traveled from state to state with his cat Mimsy, never finding a place to put down roots.
Theo left his toxic grandparents at 17 and made a life for himself, in ways he never talks about.

Now, in the abandoned wine venue Theo has inherited, Theo's past pain and Shane's resilience bring them together, to build something new.
* hurt-comfort
* rich-poor
* toxic past
* for the love of cats and dogs
* building trust

A new Charity Anthology for one of our own

Today is the release day for Love & Hope: A Benefit Anthology for HM Wolfe, who is facing medical and financial challenges.



My story in this one is a 5,000 word standalone werewolf story, sweet, cute, and low-heat, about two men who finally can't ignore the attraction that has been simmering. Oh, and kittens.

26 authors contributed stories. The anthology will be available on AZ and also in KU for a limited time.

You can find the anthology here: https://www.amazon.com/Love-Hope-Anthology-H-M-Wolfe-ebook/dp/B0CQLF41ZT/

Some of my favorite books from 2023

This was a year where I really fell behind on reviews, so I'm not going to call these anything definitive like my 10-top-books. But these were stories I loved and read this year, and can wholeheartedly recommend. I left out non-first series books, books where I didn't write a review at the time, and frankly a dozen other 5 star reads or more. But here are some good ones, in no particular order (links are AZ US):

These Old Lies by Larrie Barton - This was gorgeous, a saga across several decades for two men who first met in the trenches of WWI. Ned was an upperclass university man, drawn to service as an officer because he felt it was his duty to put his skills to use. Charlie was the workingclass son of a milliner, who joined up at eighteen and found he had a knack for keeping the men around him working together, and a slowly-growing hate for killing. From one moment with hands down each other's pants in a dark doorway in France, the two men built a relationship in stolen minutes between the demands and horrors of war.

You have to watch the headers, because this book repeatedly jumps back and forth in time, from 1917 to 1923, from 1932 to 1941, and onward. While I generally prefer a linear narrative, this alternation was an effective way to let the reader know more about these men and show the echoes of the past in the present. Both Ned and Charlie came out of their Great War damaged, and society inflicted even more trauma on them, but they both lived to rise above that. As with most books of this era, there is love and pain, hope with progress alongside deep, unfair, unforgivable oppression for loving who you love, and a well-earned HEA.

We Could Be So Good by Cat Sebastian - This is a lovely historical, set in the late 1950s when gay sex was still illegal in America. And yet, when the hope of progress was also peeking up over the horizon with the waning of McCarthyism. Nick has worked his way up from very humble beginnings in a rough part of NYC to find a place as a respected reporter for a newspaper owned by Andy's father. His current story involves possible corruption within the police department, which exposes him to risk. As a gay man, all the cops have to do to stop him exposing them is catch him engaged in sex. He already has one arrest in his past as a teenager, a sword hanging over his head if they ever put his name and that history together.

So he really has no time or energy to babysit the owner's son, sent to work for a year in the newsroom and learn the ropes. Worse, Andy catches Nick's eye in very unwanted ways. A turn of his head, a gesture with elegant hands, even the glint of light off his hair, makes Nick want in all-too-familiar ways. Ways that, even if Andy weren't straight as he clearly is, would be far too risky to pursue. This slow burn story is gorgeous, with yearning and hesitations very plausibly driven by the era and the situation. There's as much of an HEA as possible, and it helps to know that these guys didn't have too much longer to wait for legal safety, if not acceptance.

Unrivaled by Ashlyn Kane and Morgan James - I'm a big fan of Winging It in both its versions, and I was delighted to find that I enjoyed this one just as much. Grady and Max, playing for neighboring teams, have a rivalry fueled by one bad past hit (which both know was an accidental arm-breakage, but other people harp on) and by Max's... not God-given, perhaps devil-given... ability to chirp folks and get under their skin. Grady's a cool, calm player, a contender for the Lady Byng "most sportsmanlike and gentlemanly" award in the NHL several times. But each time, his chances have been torpedoed by Max's ability to wind him up past the breaking point. This year, with a punch in the face that Max totally deserved, but which means that Grady is leaving the awards empty-handed. Again.

It wouldn't be so bad if Grady didn't also think Max was hot, or if there were more out gay players around, or if Grady wasn't so bad at dating that his sister made him a profile on Grindr. On which he put his NHL promo portrait. Leading to Max's anonymous profile accusing him of being a catfisher, and Grady deciding to call out this online guy and prove his honesty, and them meeting... and kissing... and finding out that they make each other as hot as they make each other furious. This was a lot of fun, with an enemies to lovers vibe that felt realistic, not contrived. It ended a moment before I'd have liked - I wanted that last game - but a definite reread.

Now and Then by Lisa Henry - this is a quite short story, barely a novella, over a very short span of time. I'm a big fan of this author, and this story gives us a second chance for two guys - the rockstar and the boy he left behind. There's a lot of emotion packed in here, as Owen, working in the bar he bought from from his folks, finally gets to say the things that have been festering between him and Zach since Zach rocketed to fame as a teenager ten years before. Their split was abrupt, painful, and they have a lot to unpack to get to their HFN.

I'd have loved a novel with these two, to see what happened next. There is a lot more coming when a famous person dives into a relationship, and I forsee some trials and conflicts that I'd adore to see on the page. But I was very satisfied with what we got. Lisa Henry is near the top of my list for pulling me into a story and making me care about her characters.

Chef's Table by Lynn Charles - This is a slow burn, slowly developing relationship, and the food, food prep, and the restaurant industry are a whole third character. Evan is a highly skilled chef with a lot of awards running his own kitchen - he should be satisfied. But the owner of the restaurant doesn't want him to do anything to change a success, not a single new dish or substitution. And not firing a long-time kitchen worker whose attitude has slid into carelessness, and whose lack of dedication to a good product is like nails on a chalkboard to Evan. What had been the epitome of all his goals is becoming a rut, even a prison. Then he eats at a local diner with some of his crew, and encounters Patrick, and Patrick's food.

The secondary characters are great and add a lot to the moments of humor. There's no deep angst, but some poignancy here. I wasn't totally sold on how money problems were fixed - it seemed a bit easy - but as a whole the story was a lush slow read that worked well for me. If you like food, complex characters, and something far from the stereotypical M/M romance, this one might work for you.

Liar City by Allie Therin - I really enjoyed this series starter - this one a contemporary rather than historical AU/paranormal/urban fantasy/mystery story. The ending isn't a cliffhanger, but it is really tentative on both romance and plot fronts, and the romance is very slow burn. There's lots of action, plot twists, some banter, strong secondary characters, in a modern alternate-universe world that I was pulled into. There, those with empathy are a minority against whom political forces are rising. When an anti-empath figure is murdered, the tide of public opinion may become threatening.

There's also a darker internal thread, as Reese, our empath MC, finds out that not all empaths are the compassionate folk he imagined they had to be (due to feeling the emotions of others). And that his own mind might be not as inviolable as he hoped. He meets the empathy-immune Dead Man - Evan Grayson- whose role is to protect humans from corrupted empaths and who seems not to like him. Reese hopes to help solve the murder, but violence and danger are increasing, and he may be in the killer's sights.

I'm definitely onboard for book 2, not due out till next year.

The Last Single Man in Texas by Jess Whitecroft - This is the story of River, brilliant son of a poor and chaotic single mom, whose life is best symbolized by the raccoons that fell through the ceiling on his head as a child, and the brief prison stint he did for driving his sister's abuser's Porsche into the river. It's also the story of Benjamín Reyes, ex-underwear model and son of a politician, who's trying, in between sex with the gardener, to pull himself out of the rut of dependence on his family.

This was light and a little farcical, but yet it kept pulling back to a core of genuine emotion and character development. I read it in one sitting (and I had other things I was supposed to be doing.) I didn't find the absurdities laugh-out-loud funny, but was pulled in to care about these two men and everything they did to stay sane in an insane world.

A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske - I really enjoyed this M/M historical urban fantasy story. (Note that book 2 in the series is F/F, book 3 is M/M; note book 1 opens with the brief on-page torture death of a secondary character that sets the plot in motion. These are also from a big pub, with corresponding prices)

This is a slow-burn romance of two men, in a society that severely punishes same-sex relationships, both seeing the possibility of attraction, but slow to do anything about it. Their personalities are a good contrast, and the immersion of Robin into magic gives a chance to show his character. The magic is well done and interesting, with some unique elements to it. I also liked the strong female characters (and was pleased to see one of them star in the next installment.) The casual disdain of many of the men for their female counterparts needed taking down a notch.

The ending is HFN, with the romance pretty solidly established, but the over-arching plot just beginning to come together. The historical elements felt well done, a setting and often a plot driver, but not overwhelming the story. I immediately bought the other two books (which complete the trilogy) and enjoyed those as well.

The Prodigal Prince's Fake Fiancé by Thursday Euclid and Clancy Nacht - despite cover and title, this is a contemporary, with only a fake small European nation fabricated. I previously enjoyed the trans MC in these authors' The Phisher King, so I was curious. I had imagined this lighter story would be less deep in character, but I truly adored Prince Morgan, an aggressively toppy trans man who fights for his right to be Prince, not Princess. He also is desperate to continue the US university study he loves learning fashion design, when his future as a ruler seems set in stone (as an only child of a small principality's rulers.)

The trans rep feels strong and real. There was an instant where it was Lin, the cis MC, rather than Morgan, who moved an important opinion, but that's probably realistic rather than cis savior. Sometimes people are mired in their opinions and it takes a new voice to open their eyes. The ending is sweet and although I wouldn't call this story realistic in all ways (eg. I can't imagine the absence of security for either of these MCs given their families' wealth) the charm of story made me willing to overlook those details.

Tramps and Vagabonds by Aster Glenn Gray - This is the book about two guys riding the rails that I'd been waiting for, full of the background that I'd always felt needed a novel. (There are a couple of others I've read that are good, but this feels real to the era.) In the 1930s, a lot of America was on the move or displaced, desperately poor, and shoved out of their familiar life. James and Timothy had both taken the chance on joining Roosevelt's CCC - a kind of civilian army/work camp where young men of good character could work hard in exchange for housing, 3 meals a day, and a meager salary to save or send home.

Of course James, having first spent a year riding the rails, had to use the home address of a friend of his late mother's, and ditch his "tramp" belongings in storage, to appear of good character. Timothy joined up despite having family and a home, in an effort to do something acceptable that wasn't going to college, which he didn't feel smart enough to succeed at. Now at the end of a stint of work, with some money in their pockets, well fed and rested, both 19-year-olds have decided that getting up at 5 AM and the regimented life in the CCC had lost some of its shine. If slow-burn, true to life historicals are something you enjoy, and you can empathize with choices made in moments of desperation (which some might call cheating), check this one out.

.......

I hope you all had a great reading year. If you have a book you think I really shouldn't miss, I'd love to have you comment with it here.

I'm looking forward to 2024, with books I plan to write, and books I can't wait to read. Very best New Year wishes to you all.