J.L. Merrow (born June 10)
JL Merrow is that rare beast, an English person who refuses to drink tea. She read Natural Sciences at Cambridge, where she learned many things, chief amongst which was that she never wanted to see the inside of a lab ever again. Her one regret is that she never mastered the ability of punting one-handed whilst holding a glass of champagne.
She writes across genres, with a preference for contemporary gay romance and the paranormal, and is frequently accused of humour. Her novella Muscling Through was a 2013 EPIC Award finalist, and her novel Slam! won the 2013 Rainbow Award for Best LGBT Romantic Comedy.
JL Merrow is a member of the UK GLBTQ Fiction Meet organising team.
Midnight in Berlin won a 2012 Rainbow Award as Best Gay Paranormal/Horror and Hard Tail won the William Neale Award for Best Gay Romance. Pressure Head won a 2013 Rainbow Award as Best Gay Mystery / Thriller and Slam won as Best LGBT Romantic Comedy. Relief Valve won a 2014 Rainbow Award as Best Gay Mystery / Thriller and Caught! won as Best Gay Romantic Comedy.
Further Readings:
Midnight in Berlin by J.L. Merrow
Paperback: 232 pages
Publisher: Samhain Publishing (January 1, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1609288904
ISBN-13: 978-1609288907
Amazon: Midnight in Berlin
Amazon Kindle: Midnight in Berlin
The hookup from hell…or the ride of his life?
Leon’s drifter lifestyle gives him the freedom to attend as many music festivals as his heart desires. Even the ones that leave him covered in feathers. Wet feathers, thanks to the rain as he hitchhikes back to his hostel. When he’s offered a ride by a good-looking man in a Porsche, Leon thinks it’s his lucky night. Until he discovers his savior from the storm hides a dark secret: he’s a werewolf.
At first glance, Christoph thinks the shaggy stranger walking Berlin’s streets is a rogue werewolf. By the time he realizes his mistake, it’s too late for both of them. Forced to turn Leon into a monster to save his life, Christoph still has to suffer his pack leader's brutal punishment for endangering them all.
Leon awakens, horrified by what he’s become-but it’s his lover’s fate that spurs him to action. Freeing Christoph is easy, but the aftermath complicates everything as they go on the run, desperate to uncover the secrets their pack leader is hiding. Secrets the pack will kill to protect…
Hard Tail by J.L. Merrow
Paperback: 256 pages
Publisher: Samhain Publishing (April 2, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1619210576
ISBN-13: 978-1619210578
Amazon: Hard Tail
Amazon Kindle: Hard Tail
Finding love can be a bumpy ride.
His job: downsized out of existence. His marriage: on the rocks. It doesn’t take a lot of arm twisting for Tim Knight to agree to get out of London and take over his injured brother’s mountain bike shop for a while. A few weeks in Southampton is a welcome break from the wreck his life has become, even though he feels like a fish out of water in this brave new world of outdoor sports and unfamiliar technical jargon.
The young man who falls-literally-through the door of the shop brings everything into sharp, unexpected focus. Tim barely accepts he’s even in the closet until his attraction to Matt Berridge pulls him close enough to touch the doorknob.
There’s only one problem with the loveable klutz: his bullying boyfriend. Tim is convinced Steve is the cause of the bruises that Matt blows off as part of his risky sport. But rising to the defense of the man he’s beginning to love, means coming to terms with who he is-in public-in a battle not even his black belt prepared him to fight. Until now.
Pressure Head (The Plumber's Mate Book 1) by J.L. Merrow
Paperback: 256 pages
Publisher: Samhain Publishing (August 6, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1619213621
ISBN-13: 978-1619213623
Amazon: Pressure Head (The Plumber's Mate Book 1)
Amazon Kindle: Pressure Head (The Plumber's Mate Book 1)
Some secrets are better left hidden.
To most of the world, Tom Paretski is just a plumber with a cheeky attitude and a dodgy hip, souvenir of a schoolboy accident. The local police keep his number on file for a different reason-his sixth sense for finding hidden things.
When he’s called in to help locate the body of a missing woman up on Nomansland Common, he unexpectedly encounters someone who resurrects a host of complicated emotions. Phil Morrison, Tom’s old school crush, now a private investigator working the same case. And the former bully partly responsible for Tom’s injury.
The shocks keep coming. Phil is now openly gay, and shows unmistakable signs of interest. Tom’s attraction to the big, blond investigator hasn’t changed-in fact, he’s even more desirable all grown up. But is Phil’s interest genuine, or does he only want to use Tom’s talent?
As the pile of complicated evidence surrounding the woman’s murder grows higher, so does the heat between Tom and Phil. But opening himself to this degree exposes Tom’s heart in a way he’s not sure he’s ready for…while the murderer’s trigger finger is getting increasingly twitchy.
Slam! by J.L. Merrow
Paperback: 272 pages
Publisher: Samhain Publishing (April 1, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1619217155
ISBN-13: 978-1619217157
Amazon: Slam!
Amazon Kindle: Slam!
Limericks, lies, and puppy-dog eyes…
Jude Biggerstaff is all the way out and loving it-mostly. The Anglo-Japanese university graduate is a carnivore working in a vegan café, an amateur poet with only one man in his life. His dog, Bubbles.
Then there’s “Karate Crumpet,” a man who regularly runs past the café with a martial arts class. Jude can only yearn from afar, until the object of his affection rescues him from muggers. And he learns that not only does this calm, competent hunk of muscle have a name-David-but that he’s gay.
Jude should have known the universe wouldn’t simply let love fall into place. First, David has only one foot out of the closet. Then there’s Jude’s mother, who lies about her age to the point Jude could be mistaken for jailbait.
With a maze of stories to keep straight, a potential stepfather in the picture, ex-boyfriends who keep spoiling his dates with David, and a friend with a dangerous secret, Jude is beginning to wonder if his and David’s lives will ever start to rhyme.
Relief Valve (The Plumber's Mate Book 2) by J.L. Merrow
Paperback: 306 pages
Publisher: Samhain Publishing (March 3, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1619224127
ISBN-13: 978-1619224124
Amazon: Relief Valve (The Plumber's Mate Book 2)
Amazon Kindle: Relief Valve (The Plumber's Mate Book 2)
If you dig up the past, be prepared to get dirty. The Plumber's Mate, Book 2 It hasn't been all smooth sailing since plumber Tom Paretski and P.I. Phil Morrison became connected at the heart, if not always at Tom's dodgy hip. Neither of their families has been shy about voicing their disapproval, which hasn't helped Tom's uneasy relationship with his prickly older sister, Cherry. But when Cherry is poisoned at her own engagement party, the horror of her near death has Tom's head spinning with possible culprits. Is it her fiancé Gregory, a cathedral canon with an unfortunate manner and an alarming taste for taxidermy? Someone from her old writers' circle, which she left after a row? Or could the attack be connected to her work as a barrister? Phil is just as desperate to solve the case before someone ends up dead-and he fears it could be Tom. At least one of their suspects has a dark secret to hide, which makes Tom's sixth sense for finding things like a target painted on his back...
Caught! (The Shamwell Tales Book 1) by J.L. Merrow
Publisher: Samhain Publishing, Ltd. (August 19, 2014)
Amazon Kindle: Caught! (The Shamwell Tales Book 1)
You can run from the past…but the past runs faster.
Shamwell Tales, Book 1
Behind Robert’s cheerfully eccentric exterior lies a young heart battered and bruised by his past. He’s taken a job teaching in a village primary school to make a fresh start, and love isn’t part of his plans. But he’s knocked for six-literally-by a chance encounter with the uncle of two of his pupils.
Sean works in pest control, rides a motorbike, and lives on a council estate. On the face of it, he shouldn’t have anything in common with Robert’s bow-tie, classic-car style and posh family background. Yet Robert is helpless to resist Sean’s roguish grin, and a rocky, excruciatingly embarrassing start doesn’t keep the sparks between them from flaring.
Despite Robert’s increasingly ludicrous attempts to keep his past where it belongs, his past hasn’t read the memo. And soon his secrets could be the very things that drive Sean away for good...
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