Foothills Pride Box Set

The tiny Sierra Nevada community of Stone Acres looks benign on the outside, but it’s been a hive of activity since gay men from Silicon Valley began moving in. The Old Town establishment is up in arms as newcomers challenge the conservative community to move into the new millennium. Along the way, gay couples find true love and a new home.

Contains the stories:

What’s in a Name?: When barista Jimmy is dumped and gets drunk on his 30th birthday, a handsome, hunky bartender takes care of him, but is mum about his real name. When Jimmy presses him, the bartender makes the quest a game, giving him seven guesses and promising romance each night. For every wrong guess, Jimmy has to forfeit a hot, sexy kiss. Sounds good, but what’s the catch?

Redesigning Max: Out and proud award-winning designer Fredi Zimmer takes on straight outdoorsman Max Greene’s cabin renovation. When he finds out Max is closeted and wants to come out, Fredi helps Max remodel not only his cabin but his life. Angered that Fredi has turned him, Max’s former friends intervene. Will Fredi and Max win the fight for their happiness?

Behr Facts: After CEO Abe Behr discovers discrepancies in his construction company accounts, he hires CPA Jeff Mason to help him find the embezzler. Searching for the culprit, they become closer, and Abe realizes he’s gay. However, coming out to a hostile family and community may break up the couple before they cement their happiness. With so much strife, will love prevail?

When Adam Fell: Jason’s drug addiction ripped them apart. Does Adam want to get back together now that his former lover says he’s clean?

Relative Best: When hotel owner Zeke Bandy meets Vic Longbow, he sees stars. But Vic is in town to attend a wedding and to open an office, not to fall in love. Are they doomed as lovers because they’re both too busy for happily ever after?

Frank at Heart: What will it take to make hardware store owner Frank update himself and his store? Could the new man in town be the key to unlock Frank’s life and future happiness?

Waking the Behr: Ladies’ man and small town contractor Ben Behr is blindsided by his lustful feelings for San Francisco entrepreneur Mitch O’Shea. Can a country mouse and a city mouse bridge the gap in their upbringing and expectations to find love?

Short Order: Amid the happiness of the Christmas season, horticulturist Fen Miller and his landlord sous chef John Barton have some serious decisions to make. Fen must decide on a career and John on eluding his grim past. Together can they support each other enough to discover their happily ever after?

Published:
Publisher: JMS Books (https://www.jms-books.com/)
Editors:
JM Snyder
Cover Artists:
Written Ink Designs
Genres:
contemporary, MM, romance
Tags:
accountant, barista, bartender, bird watcher, cabin, chef, college graduate, computer game designer, construction worker, contemporary, embezzlement, entrepreneur, family, Foothills Pride series, gay romance, hardware store, hotel owner, interior designer, LGBTQ+, maitre d', MM, movie scout, music, Native American, Northern California, outdoorsman, POC, San Francisco, second chance, second chance at love, second chance love, short men, Sierra Nevada foothills, software designer, sous chef, starting over, teenager
Excerpt:

EXCERPT FROM "What's in a Name?"

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    • Is there anything worse than waking up with a really bad hangover? The answer, I found out that morning, was a solid yes. My particular hell was waking up in a strange bed with someone lying next to me, who's snoring away so loud I was surprised the neighbors weren't complaining. What made it all worse was I had to pee really, really bad, and I didn't have a clue where the bathroom was.
    • I lay on my back taking stock. I was naked, covered with a beige sheet and navy blue comforter in a huge bed, my head taking up most of the California king space.
    • Where the heck was I? I had no clue. I really didn't care because I was hurting so badly it'd probably be better if whoever lived here would just shoot me and put me out of my misery.
    • Still, I had to pee, so I slowly swam to the edge of the bed, trying not to move any body parts. Which was a complete failure. I ached all over. Had someone beaten me up?
    • As I reached the side of the bed and peered over the edge at the floor a few stories below, I groaned. Where was the ladder to climb down to the carpeting? I clutched the edge of the bed with one hand and rolled to my side.
    • "Hey, where you going, Jimmy?"
    • I hadn't noticed the snoring had stopped until the voice boomed in my ear.
    • Carefully, I turned my head.
    • The Stonewall Saloon bartender with the nametag of Alex last night was peering at me over his chest of hair. His eyes were squinted. A slender beam of light from a gap in the curtains was aimed at his face.
    • "Bathroom. Pee." I sighed. "Gotta pee."
    • "Right." He groaned and caused a tidal wave on the mattress even though it wasn't a water bed.
    • My body reacted with the seismic quake and my stomach protested. I swallowed back the rising pain even though I knew my gut had nothing left in it to come up.
    • I felt large hands under my arms.
    • "Right this way."
    • His voice clanged from one of my ears to the other.
    • He turned me, and we marched to a doorway and into the bathroom. Carefully, he lowered my nude body down onto the toilet.
    • "No spilling." He turned away and walked into the hallway.
    • I pushed my limp dick between my legs and did my thing, not spilling a drop on the bathroom floor or the toilet seat. Then I rested my arm on the sink counter next to the toilet and put my head on my arm.
    • "Nope, no snoozing here." His voice boomed. "C'mon. It's way too early for this shit."
    • Again arms lifted me. After I balanced myself, one hand left. The toilet roiled. The hand returned.
    • "We'd usually wash our hands," the voice murmured through me, "but I think we'll skip it this time."
    • Back in bed, covered, dry mouthed, I decided it was again nap time.
    • * * * *
    • The next time I woke, I was awake. Awake awake. Oh my God, where in the hell am I awake. Shit, I'm in big trouble awake. Where are my clothes awake.
    • I took inventory. No pain in the ass. That was a relief. No smell of semen. Check, and another sigh. No aches and pains that weren't directly related to way, way too many shots and beers, check. No clothes. No clothes?
    • I was okay, pretty much, other than naked, hungover, and in a stranger's house.
    • Damn it, I was thirty years old, naked in a stranger's bed, with only a hazy recollection of what happened after my now former boyfriend Alex stranded me at the Stone Acres' historic saloon.
    • I had a hazy memory of the bartender helping me to the bar bathroom the night before and this morning. So was I at his house? If so, how'd I get here?
    • "Um," I tried to say, but my mouth was glued shut.
    • I reached over to feel the side of the bed. Still there. Then I reached over to the other side. Nothing. No one.
    • Okay, I was alone in a strange bed as my memory filtered back online. I had been an ass, and the bartender with the faux name of Alex had taken care of me anyway. I owed him my firstborn child, should such a thing happen to me now in my boyfriendless state. I owed Alex the bartender everything, including my pride and gratitude.
    • What I really needed to do was apologize for causing him so much trouble.
    Slowly I sat up and then stood. My knees protested, so I sat back down and then tried again. This time my knees cooperated.

 

 

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When Heart Becomes Home

Is there a time limit on love and forgiveness?

Fifteen years ago, Manny didn’t show up to take Wes to the Shelby High School prom as he promised. Instead, Wes found Manny’s letter jacket at their meeting spot without a note or any explanation.

From college to his current job in Monterey, California, Wes has carted the jacket around as a memento of his teenage love and rejection. This year he decides enough is enough. He’s attending the high school class reunion, returning Manny’s jacket, and going home free to find the real love of his life.

When Manny sees Wes at the reunion tour of the new high school facilities, he’s determined not to let his teenage lover leave without them clearing the air and possibly getting back together.

Through reunion activities such as a quiz bowl, meet-and-greet meals, and a formal banquet with a prom-like ball as well as outside activities like the quinceañera of Manny’s niece, Wes and Manny work through the lies and misunderstandings of the past.

With so much to reconcile and forgive on both sides, will they end up together? Or go their separate ways with only memories of the past?

Published:
Publisher: JMS Books (https://www.jms-books.com/)
Editors:
JM Snyder
Cover Artists:
Written Ink Designs
Genres:
contemporary, MM, romance
Tags:
college graduate, community college, contemporary, family, gay romance, geeks, high school prom, high school reunion, Latino, letter jacket, LGBTQ+, Mexican American, MM, Monterey, non-series title, Northern California, POC, quincenera, quiz competition, renewing old friendships, second chance, second chance at love, second chance love, single mother, starting over, stood up for prom
Excerpt:

Manny stopped where we usually parked way back when. He cut the engine after rolling down the windows. A cool breeze ambled in, looked around, and exited on my side.

“So here we are.” Manny was whispering like he always did when we got here.

His arm rested on top of the backrest. But he didn’t play with my hair like he had then.

I clicked off my seat belt and turned to him.

“You promised me a look at the night sky.”

“So I did.” His seat belt made a decisive click just as mine had. “I’m not sure we can still see the sky from here though. I haven’t been out here in a while.”

“In a while?”

“In fifteen years. Not since the last time we came out here together.”

He spoke softly as if he was embarrassed to admit it. My dick heard his words as did my heart. My dick stiffened, even more than it already was. My heart pounded loud enough Manny should have been able to march to its beat.

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I opened my door and got out. The ground was uneven, lumpy with rocks and roots and branches. I held onto the side of the truck while I tried to make it back to the tailgate.

We nearly collided when we got there.

Manny cleared his throat. I stepped back, unsure what to do.

“Um, yeah, let me get a few things out first.” He lowered the tailgate, hopped up onto the bed, opened the tool box, and got out a couple of exercise mats. He unrolled them one on top of the other. “Here, give me your hand.”

Lying on the mats wasn’t quite like it had been when we were eighteen. Our thirty-three-year-old bodies were less fluid and unforgiving in the confines of the truck bed.

We also didn’t seem to be as slender and compact as we’d been back then. There seemed to be a lot more of him and me as we lay side by side. Or were we pulled away, trying not to touch? Maybe I was just turning into the princess of princess-and-the-pea fame and was being overly picky.

As I gazed up, even the view of the sky was different. Either the trees had grown and filled in above us or we really couldn’t have seen the sky while we were pawing each other underneath their branches.

I slapped at a mosquito or fly or gnat or something. Then Manny slapped at something on his side. Suddenly, all I could hear was soft buzzing around me, and it was game on. The word was out that fresh meat had arrived.

“You got any DEET in your tool box?” I sat up waving my hands around my face, warding off the attack.

“Condoms, lube. Nope, no bug spray. The yoga mats took up too much space with my emergency road kit. I couldn’t even get a six-pack inside it.” He’d jumped out of the truck bed and was doing some sort of primitive bug repellent dance.

After I joined him on the ground, he closed the tailgate, and we ran to get into the cab. It wasn’t much better inside since we’d left the windows down. The bugs just followed us.

“Okay, we’re outta here.” He started the engine. “You want to come to my place? We can talk there.”

 

COLLAPSE
Reviews:Fay on MM Bookworm Reviews wrote:

4.5 stars.

A great start and yah once I started reading I forgot about taking notes for my review as I do. Wes was on a mission to return a jacket. I loved the first meeting for Wes and Manny again setting eyes on each other again. What happens things kinda go wrong and Manny needed to make his apologies. They both find out their past prom had interference that stopped them from enjoying the night. I felt for them both when they finally get to talk about what happened.
A second chance romance with past hurts and feelings to work through. Different living locations for each to work out in the communications. A few scenes of forgiveness as life deals, poor John I was conflicted with this part.. Yah things ain't easy especially with Flippy and Manny's mother but they get through with a few dramas. Includes homophobia and bigotry.
Written with Wes POV and includes much more into the story and finishes with a HEA.

Wes 33 yrs was attending his high school reunion to return a jacket. Manny was once a high school boyfriend but it ended badly at prom night.

Jay on Kimmer's Erotic Book Banter wrote:

The past is not always as it appears. Rash decisions, the innocence of youth, and bigotry create a fifteen-year separation that subconsciously holds on to those years. When Heart Becomes Home, by Pat Henshaw, addresses aged hurt and reveals truths, providing a second chance that transcends time.

The love Gordon Westerhouse (Wes) and Manuel Garcia (Manny) held for one another was shattered the night of their senior prom. Homophobia and bigotry prevented them from experiencing their rite of passage, resulting in years of heartbreak and stagnant living.

The class reunion reaffirms that the years after high school change the dynamics of a group and the lives of inexperienced youth.

The Fifteenth Shelby High School Reunion, for Wes, is a time to break the cycle and move on. He will return Manny’s letterman jacket that he took that fateful night and let go of Manny once and for all. However, Manny has a different plan. He needs to explain that night, make his apologies, and get his man back.

The weeklong get together provides an opportunity for Wes and Manny to talk out their past and reconnect with old friends and foes. The class reunion reaffirms that the years after high school change the dynamics of a group and the lives of inexperienced youth. The clicks that existed during those days have gained real life experience and closely guarded secrets are now out in the open. Albeit there is a small contingent who hang on to the “glory days” of their youth, for the most part there is a sense remorse and regret for past actions.

There is hurt, comfort, drama, and a slew of realities bestowed on the Shelby High School Reunion attendees that mimic life in general, with its good and not so good realities. A situation with Manny’s mother is tough to swallow, but then again bigotry always is. And “Flip” needs to just stop… you will find out what this is all about.

There is hurt, comfort, drama, and a slew of realities bestowed on the Shelby High School Reunion attendees that mimic life in general, with its good and not so good realities.

When Heart Becomes Home is Wes and Manny’s journey to happiness told from Wes’ perspective. Fifteen years of torment come full circle for Wes and Manny as they finally get the prom they should have had so many years ago. With trepidation they work through the events of their past to bring themselves to their happily-ever-after.

Jen on Dog-Eared Daydreams wrote:

Henshaw did a notable job with this story about first loves and second chances, and how love truly does win in the end. When Heart Becomes Homes receives four stars.

(See Dog-Eared Daydreams for the rest of the review!)

Kat on Love Bytes wrote:

Do you ever wonder about the one that got away?

Manny has been on Wes’s mind for the last fifteen years. Every since Gordo, now called Wes, found Manny’s mud soaked letterman’s jacket when he got stood up for their date to the prom. Wes left the very next morning for college and never looked back. But here he is is at his High School reunion to finally give the boy his jacket back so he can finally get on with his life! But what happens when your high school love is standing right in front of you and trying to tell you what you thought was reality of that night isn’t the truth?

I loved this misfit group. I love how varied they all were but how fiercely protective of their band of nerds they each were. Wes had all his friends on his side as he moves forward with his plans to get rid of the old baggage of his life and move forward.

I can’t imagine what it would be like to meet up, discover the last 15 years had been a lie and then realize there was something still there that never died in either men. I did appreciate that the author didn’t have Wes immediately fall at Manny’s feet in mad love but that they had to learn to trust each other again. But, when the truths start emerging my heart hurt for all the wrongs that had happened to both boys at the hands of those that were suppose to love them completely.

I did have one part that bugged me. When Cee-Cee kept thanking her uncle it didn’t make sense. Manny was an only child. It would make more sense that she was a cousin or possibly second cousin but not her uncle.

Also, it was obvious that Teddy, Zack’s husband, didn’t go to high school with the rest of the team so how come he got to be a member of the team when actual alumni were set as alternates by the reunion trivia board? And what school anywhere in this country wouldn’t have ADA accommodations mandatory, especially in California?

All in all, even with these blunders, I liked this sweet story of second chance romance.


Blame It on the Fruitcake

Fruitcake is the laughingstock of the holiday season. But can it be an aphrodisiac instead? Motorcycle mechanic Sam McGuire is surprised to find a gaily wrapped box on his doorstep with a piece of fruitcake accompanying an invitation to a holiday party.

Wondering if he’ll fit in, Sam attends the party—mostly to get more of the fruitcake he falls in love with—and meets Jay Merriweather, his new neighbor. The lure of Jay’s big family and its holiday tradition of enjoying Grandma’s fruitcake hook Sam, as does the sexy man himself.

But Sam can't imagine why handsome, college-educated Jay would want someone like him, who was raised in a children’s home and barely graduated high school. Maybe the magic of the holiday season can help two men who seem so different come together like the ingredients in a well-made fruitcake.

Published:
Publisher: JMS Books (https://www.jms-books.com/)
Editors:
JM Snyder
Cover Artists:
Written Ink Designs
Genres:
contemporary, holiday, MM, romance
Tags:
contemporary, family, fruitcake, gay romance, grandmother, LGBTQ+, MM, motorcycle mechanic, movie scout, non-series title, POC
Excerpt:

“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.”

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.

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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
Reviews:Sammy on The Novel Approach wrote:

Author Pat Henshaw is a new author for me and I can honestly say, based on this little gem of a story, I will be looking up her backlist ASAP. Sam is such a sweet guy under his gruff exterior. Everything about him, from the way in which he dresses to his rough dialogue, was just so right and realistic. I honestly felt both these main characters were the perfect example of guys I’d be likely to meet in real life. There was such a genuine air about this author’s writing that made this instant attraction between Sam and Jay so understandable and believable.

Sam’s past created such a deep well of loneliness within him that it lent credibility to his automatic decisions that he would never be good enough for Jay. Jay’s admissions of feeling like he was pretending to be something he’s not allowed Sam to understand that appearance really is not all it’s cracked up to be, and it’s what lies beneath the exterior that really counts.

Blame It on the Fruitcake is a sweet and funny love story. A perfect morsel of yummy goodness for this holiday season!