Book picks similar to
Steven's Heart by Ashavan Doyon


contemporary
m-m
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torquere-press-prizm-books

Finding Aaron


Gigi Kern - 2015
    Between his severe Learning Disabilities, ADHD and past trauma, every day is a struggle. Three years ago, Aaron's world got a whole lot brighter thanks to his new best friend, Ryan Foster and his family. The Fosters have taken him into the fold. That is, everyone except for Ryan's Uncle TJ. When Aaron and TJ meet, sparks fly. TJ, 31, can't stand his nephew's flamboyant, in your face, blue-haired, rainbow loving, best friend. He knows he shouldn't be so judgmental but after spending five years in Iraq and Afghanistan, his patience is buried under a mountain of guilt and loss. TJ's animosity toward Aaron always stresses Aaron out going home to the Foster's for the holidays but they are the only family he has. He just needs to put up with TJ. He can do that, right? When something happens that neither one wants to acknowledge, it may just be the catalyst needed for the sparks to explode. What happens when TJ lets himself see the real Aaron? And, can Aaron let TJ past his defenses, when he's barely holding on. ~ 33,000 words – gay romance, heat level low.

Ricky


Ashley John - 2016
    His razor sharp wit and unwavering sexual confidence masks his true pain and suffering, and that’s how he wants to keep things. Ten years after the death of his fiancé, Ricky has completely given up on the illusion of love. Wild nights in the bar and even wilder casual sex have become his coping mechanism, and he wants to keep the party going at whatever cost. When he is attacked in a dark alley and left for dead, Ricky’s life takes an unexpected turn and the party suddenly comes to an end.Chase Brody doesn’t know where life is taking him. Between running his gym and raising his son, Dylan, the only time he puts himself first is his once a week trip to the gay bars. His family has convinced him he needs to find a mother for Dylan, so he keeps his sexual desires secret. He always believed women were for love and men were for sex, but he is forced to reevaluate everything he thought he knew when he stumbles across a helpless man in need of his help.After Chase takes Ricky to the hospital, he offers him free self-defence classes, but it soon grows into something more complicated and both men are forced to listen to their hearts once again. Chase doesn’t know how Ricky will fit into his difficult life, and Ricky can’t seem to let go of his past heartache. With so much at stake, will these men admit they were wrong about love and surrender their hearts to each other, or is the risk too great? Length: 100,000 words.Standalone: YesCliffhanger: No*****Sign up to my newsletter and be the first to know when it's released: http://eepurl.com/_Yqcz

Gaylife.com


Neil S. Plakcy - 2009
    Living in the awesome gay candy store called South Beach, Brian Cohen laments his inability to score a great job or a sexy boyfriend--until he lands at the website GayLife.com, where his hunky boss may want more from him than just his management skills.

The Hidden Life


Erin Noelle - 2016
    I had the posh apartment, luxury car, and designer threads to prove it.But what happens when the life you lead isn't the life your heart wants? What it needs?How long can you live your public life when the one that really makes you happy is the hidden one?

Unf;nished


J.R. Barten - 2016
    Occasionally, he must venture into the outside world to get what he needs. On one such occasion, he finds himself at a local tattoo shop getting inked for the first time with a semi-colon as a reminder of his past--a past he cannot allow himself to forget. Fun-loving and outspoken Dev Hemingway is a social worker for a local LGBTQ shelter. He’s covered in tatts, has long hair, and though most people think he belongs on a Harley, he prefers his Venom electric scooter. He’s adding a semi-colon to his tattoo repertoire to mark eight years since his mental health diagnosis. Though they start seeing each other casually, Garrett and Dev’s relationship soon deepens into something more than either one could have prepared for. But will the illness that brought them together ultimately be the one to tear them apart? Could this be the end of their story, or is there still too much left unfinished?

Chasing the Dream


Andrew Grey - 2016
    If he’s been left lonely because of his family’s pursuit of wealth and their own happiness, he figures it’s a small price to pay for what he sees as most important: money.Cade McAllister has never had it easy. He works two jobs to support himself, his mother, and his special-needs brother. They don’t have much, but to Cade, love and taking care of the people who are important to him mean more than material possessions. When Cade is mugged in the park, he can’t afford to lose what little he has, and he’s grateful for Brian’s intervention. Cade is given a chance to return the favor when Brian’s grandfather passes away and Brian’s assets are frozen. Cade offers Brian a place to stay and helps him find work, and the two men grow closer as they learn the good and the bad of the very different worlds they come from. Just as Brian is starting to see there’s more to life than what money can buy, a clause in his grandfather’s will could send their relationship up in smoke.

Off the Record


Matthew Haldeman-Time - 2005
    Because of his infamous birth (and famous parentage), Jordan Jennings' every move made the headlines, and he soon learned that the only way to keep the media out of his life was not to have a life at all. Charged with keeping his family's secrets, as well as his own, he put aside his own desires for the sake of family pride. With the chance of love on the horizon, will Jordan have to sacrifice his family's reputation in order to have a life of his own? Patrick Wright was a fearless reporter headed straight to the top. He was a man who knew what he wanted and always went after it. With money, success, and a very healthy social life, Patrick had no idea that anything was missing until he met Jordan, someone he suddenly couldn’t do without. But when careers hang in the balance and Patrick is faced with losing everything he's worked so hard to achieve, will his love for Jordan conquer all?

Torn To Shreds


Sara York - 2012
    After Amos betrayed him, forced him out of Lucas’s life and ended his career, Brett vowed to never to never to speak with, much less help Amos, until the end of eternity. But Brett can’t deny his need to save Lucas, the one guy he’s never been able to get out of his system, even if it means working for Amos.The trail is cold, with Lucas missing for more than a month. The cops are clueless, unable to find even a hint that the young man was abducted instead of just wandering away. When Brett latches onto a trace of evidence, it looks like he’ll find Lucas, but the clue doesn’t pan out the way he thinks it should.Lucas can’t take the abuse any longer. He’s at the end of his chain, literally. If he could escape into the mountains, he would, but the sick bastard attached a manacle to his leg, exerting his control physically. Lucas is desperate to escape his captor; all hope has vanished, crushing his spirit. Lucas dreams of a savior, but Brett walked away a long time ago, and he’s the only man strong enough to save Lucas.

Acquired Tastes


Chris Owen - 2009
    He chose a group of men to be brothers, and created bonds as strong as blood ties... What happens when the oaths he swore as a teenager are resurrected a decade later? Lee Sutton is working his way through his PhD at a new college, his old life left behind years ago. He's become independent, solitary and driven toward impending success. When he finds that one of his closest neighbors is a member of the same secret society Lee once belonged to, Lee's life is thrown into disarray at exactly the wrong moment, and he has to face new choices, weighted against the past. Dr. Joey Reed is a successful chemist, an outgoing and enthusiastically cheerful man who proceeds to worm his way into Lee's life, believing them to be long lost brothers, dear to each other simply because they chose to be, years before they met. Is it possible that vows made as a freshman can guide the life of a doctoral candidate toward happiness? Lee and Joey are only beginning to find out when the past is brought to the fore, taking them back to the college and home they'd once shared with a family they'd chosen.

The Telling


Eden Winters - 2009
    He'd left Alabama hoping to escape a dull, small-town life, only to return four years later, lugging a duffle full of personal demons. Cookesville, Alabama isn’t the most welcoming place on earth, particularly for a gay, Hispanic student wanting nothing more than to earn his degree and get back home to Texas. An image of a somber young man that he knows only by name and the stories told by an adoring sister comes to life when Michael returns home, just as Jay is already half-way to losing his heart.Michael’s biggest battle lies ahead, and he’ll need all the help he can get to find his way in a world where he no longer fits in. Jay’s not sure where he fits either, but it could be next to the war-torn soldier who needs his strength.***Proceeds from Amazon sales are being donated to PFLAG.

Psync


Zile Elliven - 2021
    A source of comfort, companionship, and desire.For Eli, it's a source of terror.Branded by the trauma of his past, Eli is struggling in his freshman year of college. He might be afraid of just about everything, but in his heart of hearts, he's nobody's bitch.Yet it's at his lowest point, that he first hears it. HimThe voice.Wet feet, a frozen ass - this guy likes to complain, but why would Eli care about any of that, when he's got his own problems? The bigger question is what, or rather who, the voice is.Afraid it's a sign of his fragile psyche's demise, Eli is torn between hunting down the source to prove it's real, and ignoring it in case it isn't.His eventual quest will see him grappling with geese, battling burritos, and dodging deities - all in the search for his sanity.And maybe, just maybe, finding love.Psync is a steamy, 18+ 94,000 word MM romance with the following tropes: Fated mates, touch aversion turned to bliss when touching your mate, hurt/comfort, yandere main character, and meddling gods.Content warning: Trauma-related mental illness, mentions of past childhood trauma.

The Hit List


Anne Brooke - 2004
    Determinedly straight. Or so he keeps telling himself. His small conference business is doing okay and, even though he looks after his ailing father, he loves living in the countryside and life is good. Sort of. But the arrival of old college friend, David Fenchurch, who’s just come out on the distinctly camp side of camp, together with Lucy Reid, his father’s sexy new physiotherapist, sets Jamie on a path he’d never dreamed of taking.On top of all that, the unexpected return of long-lost family friend, Robert Trevelyan, himself openly gay, means that Jamie can no longer ignore the past he’s kept hidden for six years. When Robert and David get together, Jamie’s feelings begin to surface in surprising ways. Who, amongst the crowd of people set to blow his life apart, will make it onto his fantasy hit list? And in the midst of Jamie’s own emotional battlefield, how can he keep things together at all?

Do You See Me Now


Stephani Hecht - 2013
    Now grown up, Dax has changed a lot. Not only has he made a huge name for himself as a special-effects makeup artist, but he has a whole new look. Then an invitation comes in the mail. It's the tenth reunion for their graduation and they are having a weekend retreat. When he shows up and sees that Lance, his old high school crush, is there too, Dax is both overjoyed and nervous. Will the men be able to make up for lost time?

Heart's Home


E. Davies - 2015
    A chance encounter in a bar with billionaire Hunter, who turns out to be interested in blocking the same developer because he owns the adjacent property, leaves Logan fuming. The man's sensual and gorgeous, but boy, is he cocky. Environmental activist Logan won't throw out his beliefs for romance alone. He's willing to submit to Hunter for a night at a time, especially to buy his dream property off him, but he won't give him his heart. Billionaire Hunter Kenning is head over heels for Logan. He's never spent much time around this kind of man before. Logan is headstrong, resists his charms, and damn smart... not to mention easy on the eyes. He lets Logan talk him into a no-strings-attached arrangement, though he'd rather have him over his knee and in his heart... but they both soon realize that the strings were there all along. They're being played for someone else's amusement. The thwarted developer, Hunter's ex-boyfriend, is trying to prove that he's not submissive anymore; and if his plan hurts Hunter along the way, so much the better. Meanwhile, down the hill from Hunter's lavish mansion, Logan builds his rustic cob home and Hunter begins to help. This alone is enough to bring the men closer than ever as each struggles to admit that he fell for the utterly wrong, yet utterly right man for him. Heart's Home is a steamy, stand-alone gay romance novel with a HFN ending and no cliffhanger.

Damaged Soul


Anne Pine - 2015
    His life story has been a sequence of tragedies, and his soul has barely survived intact. Yet, despite the trauma of his past, he continues to endure, making it through each day the best way that he can...even if it's not always the healthiest way. Jack Winthrop is a wealthy man and a respected Dom in his community, but since the death of his lover five years ago, he's felt empty. Despite the line of subs waiting to warm his bed, he's been unable to find anyone to fill that void in his heart that aches deep down into the depths of his soul. Meeting Eli reawakens his spirit, but the young man has no experience in the BDSM lifestyle, and Jack has no desire for a vanilla relationship. Can these two damaged souls find healing together? **This novel contains explicit MM sex with significant BDSM elements and is not intended for readers under the age of 18.** Note: This is the first installment in a series. It is not a standalone novel, and Jack and Eli's story does not conclude at the end of this book.