Title: You're My Everything
Author: Lily G. Blunt
Cover Design: Jay Aheer at Simply Defined Art
Genres: contemporary, gay romance, short story anthology
Length: 52 000 words/172 pages
Release Date: March 29, 2018
YOU’RE MY EVERYTHING
A Collection of Contemporary Gay Romance Stories from Lily G Blunt.
Six love stories.
Some sweet, some steamy, and one or two will bring a tear to the eye.
Happy Anniversary, Jasper
Over the Rainbow
Opposites Attract
You Can’t Stop Loving Someone Just Like That
Service with a Smile
Without You
The stories in this anthology have been published before.
They have undergone several rounds of edits and the updated versions are published here.
Blurb
As Nathan waits for Jasper in a restaurant to celebrate their tenth anniversary, he recollects their past and some of the passionate moments he has experienced with the love of his life.
A heartbreaking yet erotic tale of love, romance and destiny.
Dorian has been cast as Dorothy in his school's production of The Wizard of Oz.
Like his character, Dorian is about to discover whether dreams really do come true.
Chris and Andreas are opposites in character. Both fear the other wants to move on.
Can being stranded on a mountainside resolve the doubt that is threatening to tear them apart?
You Can’t Stop Loving Someone Just Like That
Despite being besotted for years with Jack, Corey finds himself falling in love with Pierre, a foreign exchange student, who is staying at his home over the summer vacation. Up to this point, Jack has shown no sign that he was gay or that he wanted Corey as anything other than a friend. It is only when he sees Corey and Pierre together that Jack wishes he had acted sooner.
Terry visits a men’s designer boutique, and Ash gives him service with a smile…
Jasper is struggling to move on with his life without Nathan by his side. If only he could touch his lover one more time...
Excerpt from Over the Rainbow
THE BELL sounded to
signal the end of the school day.
At last.
Dorian let out a huge
sigh of relief. He quickly dismissed his boisterous pupils and logged himself
off the computer on his desk by the time they’d all noisily exited the
classroom.
God! What a day!
Anyone who thought this job was easy should
try teaching Pride and Prejudice to a class
of fifteen-year-old boys. And damn it, he still had the bloody staff meeting to
attend before he got to go home.
Dorian scooped up his
teaching notes and a pile of books he hadn’t managed to mark at lunchtime and
strode out of the classroom barely missing two boys who ran past him. “Walk in
the corridor!” he instructed the rapidly fleeing flash of emerald green
uniforms, but to little effect.
Dorian sighed again and
looked down at the books in his arms.
Yet another fun-filled
night with hardly any time to relax.
He wished he’d believed the person who’d told
him his social life would be almost non-existent during his first year of
teaching. Marking, planning, staff meetings, talking to parents, in addition to
after-school activities two or three times a week. Bring back college days any time. At least he’d
had something he could laughingly call a sex life then.
Thank God it was the
half-term break next week. Time to draw breath for a few days at least.
Dorian slowed his pace as
he passed the adjacent classroom and glanced hopefully inside. His search was
rewarded. Catching sight of the object of his desire made his stomach flutter.
“Hey, Dorian. Have you
got a minute before the staff meeting starts?”
Dorian flushed a little
and smiled. “Sure.” He glanced appreciatively over his mentor, Mr Leonard. “I
wanted to ask you a few questions about my lesson observation tomorrow if
you’ve got time.”
Mr Leonard, Head of the
English department, was everything Dorian wished he could be—and not just
because of the expert control he had over the pupils. He was tall,
broad-shouldered, and most of his exposed skin was covered in thick, dark hair
that Dorian spent most nights dreaming about; he often imagined what the hairs
would feel like if he ran his hands over Mr Leonard’s skin and what this hunk
of a man would look like naked.
“That’s fine, D. Let’s
grab a cuppa and talk on the way.”
Dorian nodded and shifted
the books in his arms so most of his suddenly bulging groin was now covered.
The very thought of calling Mr Leonard ‘Sir’ was enough to harden his
traitorous dick at the most inopportune moments. He usually thought of Mr Darcy
and Elizabeth Bennett at times like these, but those thoughts often turned to
Mr Bingley and a wet-shirted Mr Darcy, and he was no better off.
Dorian did his best to
concentrate on their conversation, focusing on Mr Leonard’s eyes and lips as
they discussed his lesson for class 5B the following day. “And I want you to
speak up in the staff meeting today….”
“Yes, Mr Leonard.”
“Look, Dorian, it’s about
time you called me Mark. We’ve been working together for over six weeks now.”
Dorian smiled again, his
cock pulsing when his name fell from the older man’s lips. He’d never liked the
name his parents had given him and had to suffer being called everything from
Dory to Ryan in his teen years, but hearing Mark say it sent a shiver down his
spine every time. “Sure. If that’s okay with you, Mark.”
Mr Leonard—Mark—paused as
they approached the staffroom and huffed. “Of course, it is but not in front of
the little Munchkins, though.” Dorian chuckled at Mark’s nickname for the
pupils.
Buy Links - Available on KU
Review
You’re
My Everything is a wonderful collection of stories. As the
blurb says, the stories vary from sweet to hot, and from fun to touching. Each
tale stands on its own, introducing me to characters I came to care for,
despite the shortness of our acquaintance, and providing a full and satisfying
reading experience, especially since not all of them provide the ending you
might expect.
For
the individual reviews I’ve borrowed the author’s descriptions of the stories
and copied them below in cursive.
Happy
Anniversary, Jasper
As Nathan
waits for Jasper in a restaurant to celebrate their tenth anniversary, he
recollects their past and some of the passionate moments he has experienced
with the love of his life. A heartbreaking yet erotic tale of love, romance and
destiny.
Talk about an anthology opening with an
emotional bang. This story gave me all the feels, and yes, it did manage to
bring a tear to my eye. I really don’t want to say anything else for fear of
spoiling the moment for others.
Over
the Rainbow
Dorian has
been cast as Dorothy in his school's production of The Wizard of Oz.
Like his character, Dorian is about to discover
whether dreams really do come true.
This is a wonderful feel-good story, featuring
the best, most appropriately, cast performance of The Wizard of Oz ever. When
the Lion finds his courage, the Tin Man his true heart, and the Scarecrow is
brainiest of all, happily-ever-afters are almost guaranteed. As for Dorothy…
You’ll have to read this story to discover ‘her’ secret charms.
Opposites
Attract
Chris and Andreas are opposites in character.
Both fear the other wants to move on.
Can being stranded on a mountainside resolve the
doubt that is threatening to tear them apart?
Ah,
a story dealing with and addressing my pet peeve when it comes to romance; lack
of communication. Two men, clearly deeply in love with each other, both agonise
over whether or not the other man will leave them because they just do not have
enough interests in common. It takes a very brave act by Andreas as well as
being stuck on a mountain to at last make them realise what they have, and what
they’ll need to keep it. Very sexy and very endearing.
You
Can’t Stop Loving Someone Just Like That
Despite
being besotted for years with Jack, Corey finds himself falling in love with Pierre,
a foreign exchange student, who is staying at his home over the summer
vacation. Up to this point, Jack has shown no sign that he was gay or that he
wanted Corey as anything other than a friend. It is only when he sees Corey and
Pierre together that Jack wishes he had acted sooner.
Good things come to those who wait, except not
always, or, not in the expected way, as this story proves. This is pretty much
a bitter-sweet kinda story, and I’m still not entirely sure how I feel about
the way it ended. But, that doesn’t change the fact that this is a sweet,
somewhat angsty, and very sexy tale of unrequited love and finding a connection
where you least expect it. And oh, to be eighteen again, when feelings were
still enormous and fluctuated easily. In fact, in my mind the end of this story
is not necessarily the end of the tale. And I mean that in the best possible
way because I love stories that continue in my head, longer after they finished
on the page.
Service with a Smile
Terry
visits a men’s designer boutique, and Ash gives him service with a smile…
This
story I’d read before and, I have to say that while I don’t usually re-read, I
did enjoy this tale with a twist as much the second time as I did when it was
new to me. Hot and sexy with a nice surprise near the end, this story is
utterly delightful.
Without
You
Jasper is struggling to move on with his life
without Nathan by his side. If only he could touch his lover one more time...
I
have to be honest and admit that this blurb scared me a bit. Especially
after I’d finish reading Happy Anniversary, Jasper, the first
story in this anthology. I can’t really say a whole lot more about this last
story without spoiling both this and the first story in it. What I will say
though is that I needn’t have worried, and that this final story left me with a
smile on my face, be it a bitter-sweet one.
Overall,
You’re
My Everything turned out to be everything I look for in well written
anthology. Each story was unique and managed the capture my attention and
intrigue me in its own way. If you enjoy short stories that may surprise you
or, if you’d like to get a good impression of Lily G. Blunt’s writing, I highly
recommend this book.
About the Author
Lily G. Blunt enjoys writing contemporary gay romance and paranormal stories. She loves to explore the relationship between two or more men and the intensity of their physical and emotional attraction. Angst often features in her stories as she feels this demonstrates the depth of feeling for each other. Lily is forever writing imaginary scenes and plots in her head, but only a few ever make it to the page.
She reviews for several blog sites and has recently launched Gay Book Promotions, an online book promotion service for authors of LGBT+ romance and fiction.
Lily loves to hear from readers and other authors.
