Holiday Quartet box set

Bells ring and choirs sing. People bustle with happiness and joy. Calories pile up while everyone gathers to chat with friends and relatives. What’s more exciting than all the holidays in December?

But sometimes we need a break from the expectations and the wonderment. A great way to revive our spirits is by reading a story to ground us in the true meaning of the season.

This collection features four stories infused with happiness, love, and joy. From a small business owner discovering his first fruitcake and a homeless man finding a permanent home to a blacksmith’s wish to propose to his childhood friend and a gay man relocating to a small town, each story is a journey of self-discovery leading to happily ever after.

Contains the stories:

Blame It on the Fruitcake: Motorcycle shop owner Sam McGuire falls for the fruitcake his loft neighbor’s grandma makes as well as the man himself. But will handsome, educated, personable Jay Merriweather be attracted to a grease jockey like Sam?

The Orpheum Miracle: The son of crack addicts who abandoned him as a child, Mick has found refuge in the historic Orpheum Theater. But when the new owner takes over, will Mick be pushed out on the street or taken into the owner’s heart?

Making the Holidays Happy Again: Butch has been manning the forge in Old Town and fantasizing over his best friend Jimmy since they were in high school. Does Jimmy feel the same way about Butch? Does Butch want to push their friendship and find out?

Heart of the Holidays: When Silicon Valley programmer Dan Lassiter moves to a small California town, he doesn’t expect to find love. After Rick Reardon opens his bakery across the street, Dan may change his mind.

Published:
Publisher: JMS Books (https://www.jms-books.com/)
Editors:
JM Snyder
Cover Artists:
Written Ink Designs
Genres:
contemporary, holiday, MM, romance
Tags:
apothecary, bakery, bicycle shop, blacksmith, contemporary, elderly companion, family, fruitcake, gay romance, grandmother, homeless, LGBTQ+, MM, motorcycle mechanic, movie scout, movie theater, Northern California, novella, second chance, second chance at love, second chance love, small town romance, software designer, Thanksgiving
Excerpt:

EXCERPT FROM "Blame It on the Fruitcake"

    • “Hi there. Did I hear you say you’re the neighbor from down the hall?” At my nod, the new guy added, “Let’s get you a drink and introduce you to a few people.”

 

    • Now here was my kinda man. Like me, on the street, nobody’d probably guess he was gay. Only not like me, since I looked like the bike mechanic I am, he looked like one of the bankers I’d talked to last week. He was a couple inches shorter than me, with conservative-cut hair, blue eyes, and a trustworthy face. He looked like he cared whether I was having a good time or not.

 

    • “Uh, sure. That’d be great.”

 

READ MORE
    • I couldn’t figure out how I was supposed to act. If I wasn’t bullshitting with friends, my words usually dried up. Fortunately it hadn’t happened at the bank when I was presenting my case for a loan to a guy who looked like him, or I’d have been fucked.

 

    • So I let this guy lead me around, introducing me, telling me something about everyone, and letting them know I lived at the other end of the hall.

 

    • At one point he stared at me with a funny twinkle in his eyes and asked, “You’re not by any chance McGuire’s Bikes, are you?”

 

    • I managed to nod. I was stunned. It wasn’t like I was famous or anything.

 

    • He beamed. “No shit! Wow! I wanted to meet you after the Reno Roadshow. I loved your Loose and Wild Rainbow. Great bike.”

 

    • Ah, yes, L&WR, the winner of the Roadshow competition. I’d tricked out the bike for a buddy of mine who died of AIDS. He wanted the bike to be a memorial, but so far we couldn’t locate a cemetery or burial place where we could put his ashes and his machine. We were finding that burial laws by the ocean and in the mountains were pretty archaic and exclusive. If we wanted a bike cut into marble, no problem. But Harry hadn’t been a stone monument sorta guy.

 

    • “Uh, thanks. Yeah, it was a special kinda project,” I mumbled.

 

    • Even with the music, the shouting people, and the yelling when a couple were caught under the mistletoe, the guy still heard me.

 

    • He put his arm around my shoulders and gave me a hug. “Yeah, I know. He’ll be missed.”

 

    • Now my head was reeling. What the fuck? He knew Big Harry?

 

    • “I met Harry when I was a kid hanging around my buddy’s dad’s garage,” he said.

 

    • “Where’d you grow up?” I asked. After I’d had a couple drinks, the pumping music, the blinking Christmas lights, and the strangers laughing and yelling were making the night surreal. This handsome, clean-cut guy had known Harry? I must be dreaming. He and Harry looked light years apart.

 

    • “Little town outside Denver in the foothills. Deer Creek. You probably heard Harry talk about it. Not the place you want to grow up gay.” His laugh was short and dismissive.

 

    • “Yeah, so Harry always said.” I shifted to my other foot and looked down at the red plastic cup of punch. This was the last one for me tonight. I still hadn’t found the fruitcake. “So you go to bike shows?”

 

    • “Yup. The best part of my job.” He shrugged with a happy grin.

 

    • “Yeah? What do you do?”

 

    • We were bumped and separated by an incoming group. They exclaimed over my new friend, one of the women smothering him with kisses. He glowed with embarrassment and shot me a rueful glance. As the sea parted us, I drifted away looking for the food table and hoped it held enough fruitcake that I could steal some and not out myself as a thief.

 

    • I’d eaten three pieces and was busy wrapping up a fourth in napkins to take with me when my new nameless friend walked up and stood next to me.

 

    • “You like the fruitcake, huh?” He was smiling like I’d really pleased him.

 

    • “Yeah. I’d never tasted it until I got some with the invitation.”

 

    He gave me a tiny smile and shook his head, his eyes twinkling as if laughing at some cosmic joke.

 

COLLAPSE

Heart of the Holidays

Everyone hopes his road to happily ever after will be carefree and smooth, but too often hair-pin turns and detours seem to get in the way.

Having thought he was on the road to forever before, former Silicon Valley programmer Dan Lassiter is leery about pedaling down it again. His elderly companion Charlie urges him to get to know Rick Reardon whose bakery is across the street from Dan’s bicycle shop.

Under the watchful eye of Charlie, Dan and Rick take tentative steps toward each other, all the while trying to avoid potholes such as exes, homophobes, and family problems.

As summer turns to fall and then winter, they hope that the road will be smooth going from their first date and first kiss to having what Rick’s sister euphemistically calls their “sleep overs”. At each step, though, they are tripped up and wonder why there seem to be so many bumps in their road.

Maybe Dan and Rick should heed some of Charlie’s sage advice or maybe they should listen to their hearts instead of the ghosts from their pasts.

Published:
Publisher: JMS Books (https://www.jms-books.com/)
Editors:
JM Snyder
Cover Artists:
Written Ink Designs
Genres:
contemporary, holiday, MM, romance
Tags:
bakery, bicycle shop, computer game designer, contemporary, elderly companion, family, gay romance, Halloween, homeless, LGBTQ+, MM, non-series title, software designer, starting over, Thanksgiving
Excerpt:

The kids and their mom arrived after lunch, right about the time Charlie usually turned in for a nap. He gave them the once over as they got out of the car, nodded to me with raised eyebrows, and ambled back toward the house. I guess he figured he’d meet them sometime, probably sooner rather than later, so he didn’t have to knock himself out now. It was the siesta part of his day.

After the kids tumbled from the car and jumped on Rick, he pointed at my open garage and waved at me. I waved back, and they galloped across the street.

“Hi, I’m McKinsey! You can call me Mack.” The red-haired boy danced in front of me. His hair blazed in the sun and was as bright as his green eyes and freckles. He didn’t look anything like his uncle. “So these are all the bikes I can ride? Can I try them out first?”

“Yeah, but don’t go very far. I’ve got an app keeping an eye on them.”

“Cool. Bye.”

READ MORE

He didn’t wait for me to explain further, but ran toward the racks so fast that I thought he would barrel into them. A small hand on my arm stopped me from chasing after him.

“Don’t worry. He’s careful. He won’t hurt the bikes. We won’t go far because of mom.” Since I wasn’t worried about the bicycles, I looked down into brown eyes, a solemn face, and curly sable hair. “I’m Leslie. Everyone calls me Lee. My brother throws himself into his activities. I don’t. Can we choose any of the bicycles?”

I glanced up at their uncle who shrugged at me. The small hand let go of my arm, so I looked down at Lee again.

“Yes. You have three choices. One, you can select a bike and ride it the entire time you’re here. Two, you could come back to the garage and pick another one to ride for the day, the half-day, the hour, or however long you want it. That means if you wanted, you could ride every bike in this place in one day. Or your third choice, you could stay at the bakery and not go bike riding at all.” I winked at her. “I would choose the bakery except then I’d look like a human lead balloon if I did.”

She giggled and put her hand on my arm again.

“I like you, Mr. Dan. I think we’ll get along fine.” She nodded and gave me a long assessing once over. “Don’t worry. You don’t look like a balloon at all. Not at all.”

If she’d been in her teens, I would have thought she was flirting. But Lee seemed as if she was merely making an observation.

I liked both kids and their approaches to life. I’d be willing to bet Charlie would like them too when he got up from his nap and met them.

Unlike her brother, Lee sauntered over to the bikes, many of which were now askew thanks to Mack’s unsorting process. She carefully started to right those tossed aside. She stopped at a turquoise bicycle, hopped on, and waved to me and her uncle as she sped away. Her brother was long gone. The bike rack still needed straightening which would give me something to do while Charlie snoozed.

I started toward it. Rick had surged across the street and was striding up to me.

“Here. I’ll help.” He stood staring down at the mishmash of bikes. “If you show me how to untangle them without making things worse.”

I nodded.

“I don’t get it. Aren’t you afraid people will just take off with your bikes and you’ll never see them again?”

I watched him bend over to pick up one on the ground. My groin tightened at the sight. We were going out to dinner. Together. Soon. My heart and dick lifted as my mind piled up image after image of dinner and afterward. It was about time for me to get back in the saddle as it were.

 

COLLAPSE
Reviews:Cheryl on Cajun's Cabinet for Reviews wrote:

Dan packs him and his older house mate up moving to a small town looking for different environments, settled in a ghost town of a city until new a neighbor opened a bakery across the street. Rick was looking for a new start but never dreamed he would be looking while his sister and her two kids lived with him. Rick and Dan start off with just getting to know you but what happens for their first date could blow everything up. A cute little get to know them type of friends to lover to maybe more? Can the town of sidetrack handle all the cuteness this book brings.

Valerie on LoveBytes wrote:

Because of the unhurried progression of their relationship, the book lacks a sense of urgency. Dan and Rick’s relationship proceeds at the speed of snail. It’s slow, but not slow–burn since it’s lacking much passion. Conversely, there’s no insta-love, which pleases me greatly. Pat Henshaw’s approach to her characters falling in love is neither good or bad – it’s a matter of personal taste whether this more leisurely pace is to your liking. She has created a quiet holiday story, sometimes humorous, sometimes heart warming, and overall, very enjoyable. Happy endings are provided for everyone, not just the leading men, and it wraps up neatly into a nice holiday package.

Sharonica on Sharonica's Logical Reviews wrote:

5 Sugar and Spice Stars!

I adore Pat Henshaw’s novies because they pack so much heart, charm, and happiness between their covers (yes, THOSE covers too) you cannot help falling in love with every single character in the story.

“Heart of the Holidays,” begins right before the holiday season in October when local baker Rick and bicycle shop owner Dan are pushed together because of Rick’s niece and nephew who often make use of Rick’s bike rentals.

As the guys become friends the friendship evolves into something more with the season’s progression into the New Year. Soon Holidays are passing by and botched Family get togethers turn into found family reunions. This is the perfect Holiday afternoon read by a warm fire or Christmas tree lights.

on Book Gemz:

What I Liked…
This is was my first Pat Henshaw book. I really enjoyed the story. It was a fast-paced novella that will not lose your attention! The author embedded a number of obstacles in the way of the two main characters uniting. Crazy ex-lovers, homophobia, small town challenges, family, family, and of course family.

The main characters were well developed, each with their flaws, pasts, and anxieties. Both of them looking for a past to start over, happen to end up opening businesses across the street from each other. After a period of admiring from afar, one finally takes the chance of asking for a date. There was some unsuccessful woo-ing involved, but don’t worry, it does end up being a happily ever after story.

A Forewarning…
There is a surprise ending to the novella. I am a little torn on that surprise ending….as it explains a few little things in the book that I read and thought “that was a little odd way to say that”, but then others in the book that made me call into question. With all that said….it was a cute ending & surprise.

The Bottomline…
I know this is a shorter review than my normal ones, but the story is good (IMHO) and packed with lots of things, I am trying real hard not to give too much away!

Linda on Queeromance Ink wrote:

Putting the past where it belongs and taking a chance on a new beginning is what Heart of the Holidays is all about, and the surprise ending is worth the wait.

Anne on Drops of Ink wrote:

I enjoyed this sweet romance about two men getting to know, and falling for, each other in a small town. Although I figured out who exactly Charlie was early on in the story, it didn’t detract from my enjoyment. I loved how his presence was a constant throughout, and the effect he had on everyone he met.

****

I thought the ending was very sweet and totally the HEA these guys deserve.

Rache Reed on Rachel Reed Reviews wrote:

This was a sweet contemporary, opposites attract Holiday Romance.

I loved how the author portrayed a sweet slowburn burn friends to lovers romance between Dan and Rick.

This book gave me all the feels with a splash of holiday cheer.

The storyline was engaging and the characters were likeable, relatable and well fleshed out.

If you like an adorable, slowburn, friends to lovers romance laced with a little holiday magic, be sure to give this one a go.


The Orpheum Miracle

Christmas joy is a matter of perspective. For some, it’s the happiest time of the year. For others, not so much.

Twenty-nine-year-old Mick, the son of crack addicts, isn’t exactly a dyed-in-the-wool Scrooge. Mick’s been on his own from childhood. As a teen, he lived in a shelter, where for a short time he had a boyfriend. After the boyfriend left, Mick moved to the Orpheum Theater. While squatting there and taking care of the grand old building, Mick watched others celebrate the holidays from a distance, never able to share in their merriment. Only his

Technicolor dreams liven his dull, mechanical life until one day the world around him begins to change. Mick is surprised when a man named Jim buys the vintage Orpheum and plans to restore it. Something about Jim makes Mick think they’ve met before. In fact, Jim rekindles Mick’s longing for a better life and a little holiday magic for himself.

Published:
Publisher: JMS Books (https://www.jms-books.com/)
Editors:
JM Snyder
Cover Artists:
Written Ink Designs
Genres:
contemporary, holiday, MM, romance
Tags:
construction worker, contemporary, daydream, entrepreneur, gay romance, homeless, LGBTQ+, MM, movie theater, nightmare, non-series title, second chance, second chance at love, second chance love
Excerpt:

In early November, a new banner across the Orpheum Theater went up saying: Welcome to Christmas, the happiest time of the year. Coming soon.

Far as I could tell, Christmas was when children danced around like clowns on crack. Besotted parents cavorted around them like ninnies in the stupid race. And the rest of us stood back waiting for the inevitable explosion.

Despite how it started, Christmas had been morphed by the rich into a season of greed. It had nothing to do with whether a kid was good or bad, but how much money his folks had. Take the kids I knew down at the shelter. Shit, they could be as good as little angels, and the best they’d ever get was someone’s cast-off pity, which wasn’t going to do them a damned bit of good when the holiday parade of who-got-what started at school.

READ MORE

All Christmas did, as far as I was concerned, was make poor kids feel worse and rich kids feel more powerful and more ready to rub everyone else’s nose in their misfortune. And we all knew, where you started was pretty much where you ended up in life. The Christmas miracle was a lie that should have been shot in the head and buried eons ago.

Fortunately, here in the bowels of the old Orpheum Theater, the only Christmas merry-makers left were ghosts of vaudevillians, chorus girls, corrupt managers, and the live help. Those of us who weren’t going from office party to cocktail land were left here to sweep the floors, squeegee jizz off bathroom walls, pry gum from under seats, and oust anything that moves after the doors were closed and locked.

I’ve been called cynical, a Scrooge, a vulture perched and ready to rip the eyes out of the season. It wasn’t true. I was as big a sap as the next guy.

I was still working here at the Orpheum, wasn’t I?

Even after the new guy, a hotshot investor type, bought the building and threatened to give the Orpheum the Wonderful Life makeover, I was still here. The stately Orpheum might be closed to the public for renovation, but as the longest paid employee, I was one of the lucky bastards kept on during the project.

(After the new manager comes in, and our narrator Mick gets a promotion….)

That night, after we piloted the last cleaner on his way out the door and  I lagged behind the rest of the regular staff as they got out of there, I sat in the dark, the theater locked, the alarm on, and the heat turned down to its slumber setting.

For the past few years now, I’d sit like this, middle of the center row, shoes off, three pairs of socks, blanket bundled around me, feet and legs over the seat back in front of me. Sometimes I ate the leftover popcorn, sometimes not. I didn’t ever steal, so no candy, hot dogs, chips, or anything I wasn’t entitled to.

I’d sit, relax, and run my own movie, my mind movie. Sometimes it was a romance, with me meeting the perfect guy. Usually, he was walking by the Orpheum and a heavy rainstorm or windstorm blew in and he had to get out of the elements. Sometimes he’d run into me as I was cleaning up the lobby, maybe spilling some popcorn he’d just bought.

“Damn. Sorry,” he’d say.

Our eyes would meet, and that’s all she wrote.

(After Mick reminisces about his one, true love….)

So back in the Orpheum at bedtime, romances were my all-time favorite dream fare. My second favorites were homemade domestic comedies. Me, the dad of a brood of spritely boys, and husband to a goofy, well-meaning guy, whose day job working in an office was driving him nuts. We’d take the boys on camping trips and tell stories around the fire. We’d teach them all the stuff we’d learned as we grew up.

My husband, who grew up in a white-picket-fence-type family, would give them tips about being good, upright citizens. I’d pass along all my street lore. Where to find food that isn’t too tainted, where to find shelter, who to trust—no one—who to stay away from—everyone. My husband would tell them about fairy-tale hopes and dreams, about Christmas. I’d ground them with a reality where hopes and dreams only happened on film. Our lives would be paradise.

I liked watching my homemade DIY romances and domestic comedies. I could fall sound asleep, only getting up a couple of times to stretch my legs and take a piss. On those nights, I’d wake up rested, ready to meet the day, hardly missing breakfast or a real meal. Over the years, Randy, like some of my wilder hopes and dreams, faded. I wished I could remember what his face looked like, but after all this time, it was just a hazy blur, never coming into focus. No matter. My hero wasn’t so much a face as the feeling of being protected and happy.

COLLAPSE
Reviews:Dan on LoveBytes wrote:

I really liked this one. It tugged at the heartstrings in places. Especially one section.

“You forgot that not everyone was a child of kindness and wealth?

You forgot that Christmas is just a season of too much buying and too little love?

You forgot that some of us aren’t worthy of love?

You forgot that a child’s wonder doesn’t get to happen to every child, just select ones?”

Don’t those lines just make you put it in perspective? The M/C of this story is a young man who grew up hard. His mother was a crack addict and his father was gone. He grew up in a crack house, where I think bad things happened. It kind of referenced them in an aside, so I’m not sure, but regardless, he ended up in a shelter as a teen living on the street. He had a boyfriend for a short time, but the boy disappeared and no one ever knew where he went. He was rumored to be dead.

Since then his life hasn’t improved much. He is still homeless, but now lives in the theater he works in. It is a secret, but there is a new owner, who might not be as understanding.

This is nice little story. I really liked it and I would highly recommend it!

A. M. Liebowitz on A. M. Liebowitz wrote:

If you’re looking for a little sweet, gentle holiday read, this is a good choice. It’s warm-hearted and has the overall feel of taking a big bite out of a delicious holiday sugar cookie.

Mick, the homeless jack-of-all-trades employee (and resident) of the Orpheum Theater doesn’t believe in Christmas cheer. He hasn’t had a lot of reason to. But he’s still a dreamer, and somehow he manages to keep his hope alive even with all he’s been through. I liked Mick very much as a narrator. Right away, he had me hoping right a long with him. I loved his “mental movies” where he gets to be the star.

This is very short, easy to read in just about the length of time it takes to enjoy a good cup of mulled cider. There isn’t much I can say without spoiling the story and the delightful surprises along the way. Is it a little bit tidy and improbable? Sure. Some readers might find the coincidences a little too handy or the middle a bit too short to feel fully satisfying. But isn’t that exactly what makes holiday magic fun? We don’t need the same level of having things drawn-out as in a full novel.

It’s everything I’ve come to expect (and appreciate) about Pat Henshaw’s writing: heartwarming, funny, and doesn’t rely on sensuality to carry the plot. This is a great cozy fireside read. It’s also a terrific introduction to the author’s style for new readers.

For a lot of sweetness, a delightful main character, and a cup of holiday cheer, this gets 9/10 fountain pens.

Prime on MM Good Book Reviews wrote:

I really have become a true fan of Pat Henshaw’s work since getting into the Foothills Pride series. The Orpheum Miracle is Pat’s offering this year to Dreamspinner Press’s Christmas themed stories.

This is a really sweet and uplifting story, which reminded me a bit Oliver Twist or A Christmas Carol when it comes to basing the entire thing around Christmas and orphans. Mick is the character narrating our story. He lived in a kid’s home most of his life, never adopted and all he really has is his job managing the Orpheum Theatre. He really has only connected with one person in his life, but that was back in his teens and that kid had disappeared from his life when the kid got adopted.

Things change one Christmas, a time of year he has never got to love, when he meets the new owner of the theatre, Jim. Jim is a bit mysterious, but you’ll figure out the ending before you get there probably. Nonetheless, the romance that begins to develop between the MCs is sweet and I totally loved it!

Molly on MollyLolly wrote:

This was a sweet holiday short. I liked Mick and his boss together. It was obvious at first who he was. But the reveal was still sweet and nice to read. I liked getting to see Mick transforming from someone that dislikes the season to someone that loves it. That slow melting of his opinion is wonderful. There was just enough story here you could get a sense of Mick and get invested in his happy ending. Mick and his guy are wonderful together and you can tell they’re going to make a go of a relationship. I do have faith they’ll go the distance based on how they met. I would adore a sequel. Maybe next holiday we can see them a few years from now with the theater a huge success and they share holiday joy with everyone? I’d read the heck out of it if no matter what it was about.