Summer and Shadows by Kathryne Lentes

RECENT RELEASE

Book Title:  Summer and Shadows (The Pact of the Veil, Book Two)

Author: Kathryne Lentes

Publisher: Nine Star Press 

Cover Artist: Jaycee DeLorenzo

Release Date: August 18, 2026

Pairing: FF

Tense/POV: first person/past tense 

Genres: Paranormal, Lesbian Urban Fantasy 

Tropes: Taboo, trans, poly, pansexual, shifter, elves, witch, magic, conspiracy

Themes: Self-acceptance

Heat Rating: 1 out of 5 flames

Length: 35 900 words

It is the second book in the series. (Book 1 The Night Menagerie)

It does not end on a cliffhanger.

Goodreads

Buy Links

Publisher  |  Amazon US  |   Amazon UK

The time is now; the city is LA. The hunt for a magical killer has begun.

Blurb 

Sah has gone through a lot in three years. I mean how often does a person find out their sister disappeared, meet a hot detective, get bitten by a werewolf, and discover they are part of a legacy of shape shifters? She thought her life would calm down and she could enjoy a summer vacation in LA. But now she is mixed up with the Fae and a magical serial killer. To survive she must find new allies and embrace her new self without reservation.

Excerpt 

There are real monsters in the world. I know because I am one of them. After three years, I was still trying to get my head around that fact, even though I was getting ready to attend a convention full of them. The Menagerie, as they called themselves, were a group of shapeshifters who hid from the world. Still, since their discovery was always a dangerous possibility, they had created an entire intellectual property called the Façade to coax people into their world. It started as a game, and with my introduction, they had added novels to the mix. Now, I was traveling to California to try to sell my recent bestseller to a movie studio. I wondered if Dominique would ever forgive me if a werewolf novel of mine made it to the Cineplex before she did.

She didn’t speak up. She was the main character in my first book series and the voice in my head when I was doing something I knew, in most plots, would end with me dead. We had had a really good run, and her adventures had brought me my first real success, but after most of the changes I had gone through, I had started a new urban fantasy series. It was almost autobiographical, not that anyone would ever believe it.

I mean how often does a person find out their sister disappeared, meet a hot detective, get bitten by a werewolf, find said sister, lose said sister and hot (now maybe new girlfriend?) detective, and blackmail an entire group of supernatural entities to get the pair of them back. Not to mention discover you are part of a legacy of shapeshifters and can now channel a snow leopard totem. And finish up by trying try to live happily ever after only to have to engage in a death match with a psychopathic grudge-bearing werewolf leader.

It was hard for me to believe, and I had lived through it—even if just barely. I took a deep breath and told myself to get out of bed. I don’t know why I was so focused on my past today when the future seemed so promising.

It was probably because Val was out of the house. This was the first big trip I was going to make without her, and I missed her. She was one of the only people I had ever met who accepted me for being the giant pansexual polyamorous mess of a partner I was. I looked in the closet, trying to decide on a dress to pack in my luggage. I was much more comfortable in jeans and a band T-shirt than I was in Chanel, no matter what my budget told me I could afford. I needed something more formal if I was going to meet with a movie producer. Great, now I was beginning to miss my sister Nisha. She was the clothes horse of the family and would not only have brought me six of her dresses but also tried to do my hair and makeup before I left. She was out in Montana with a pack of werewolves. My life was not the only one that had changed a lot in the last couple of years.

About the Author  

Kathryne Lentes has been writing stories as long as she could hold a pen in her hand. She is a transwoman who, when not working on her own projects, operates Paper Phoenix Ink, a blog showcasing queer creators. She is currently living in Saint Louis with her wife, two cats, and a pile of science fiction and fantasy books.

Author Links

Website   |   Facebook

 Bluesky  |   Twitter  |  Instagram 

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Hard Count: Book One of The Piper Ashton Saga by Lucas Malone

RECENT RELEASE 

Book Title: Hard Count: Book One of The Piper Ashton Saga

Author and Publisher: Lucas Malone

Cover Artist: Erin Craig

Release Date: July 9, 2026/Paperback: July 31, 2026

Genres:  Dark MM Sports Romance

Tropes: Forbidden love, forced proximity

Themes: Coming out

Heat Rating: 4.5 flames

Length:  67 000 words/369 pages

This is book one of the series and ends on a cliffhanger.

Goodreads

Buy Links - Available in Kindle Unlimited

Amazon US  |   Amazon UK  |   B&N

Two rival quarterbacks. One owned by a monster and a wink.

LET THE GAY FOOTBALL SEX OPERA BEGIN.

Blurb

Meet Piper Ashton.
Football consumed Piper.
Every snap, every route, every victory was a masterclass in control.
Until Noah Reyes.
Piper’s rival quarterback, who smiled like sin and threw like a freight train
Noah was the one player who could make Piper’s perfect world crack wide open with nothing but a wink across the line of scrimmage.
An obsession, so all-consuming, that two of the league’s most watched men began making the kind of mess that could end careers, reputations and their lives.
The truth is, Piper’s life was never really his to begin with. It belongs to a powerful billionaire who has spent years pulling every string in his life, and that man doesn’t share.

One championship.

One forbidden, toxic obsession.

One secret that could burn the entire league to the ground.

But first… a WARNING.
Hard Count is an unapologetically dark MM romance. It contains explicit sexual content, psychological abuse, coercive control, alcoholism, homophobia, eating disorders, trauma, gun violence, coarse language, and other disturbing themes. If you’re looking for a lighthearted sports romance, this isn’t it.

Excerpt - Chapter Seven

Los Angeles

The studio smelled of hot lights and baby oil.
Taxidermy lions stood between the lighting rigs, frozen mid-snarl and paws up. The campaign concept was developed by a gay 32-year-old marketing major from USC named Taylor Love. The idea he developed was beasts in briefs.
Piper arrived first. He always did. Lighting rigs, black backdrop, concrete floor, photographer already moving between equipment with restless energy.
“Hey I’m Taylor, nice to meet you Piper, I work on the marketing team. We really appreciate you signing on to this, it’s gonna be fire,” he said, seemingly coming out of nowhere and pouncing on Piper.
“Nice to meet you too, Taylor. The lions are quite the touch,” Piper replied.
“Ya, kind of extra, but who doesn’t like extra, right?” Taylor laughed as Piper nodded his head and smirked.
The wardrobe assistant landed next and handed him the campaign look without making eye contact, which he appreciated, because Piper hated small talk and Taylor spent thirty seconds depleting his quota for the day. He changed quickly into animal print boxer briefs that left nothing to the imagination.
When he stepped onto the set, the photographer looked at him for two seconds.
“Damn. That body is doing its thing,” he said as he looked Piper up and down. Joan, this fucking pervert better not test me.
Piper rolled his eyes knowing if he said what he wanted to say, Joan might leave him, and he hit his mark.
Flash. Flash. Flash.
He moved with the precision he used on the field. His chin up, no smile, jaw on point, shoulders back. Every motion deliberate. An assistant applied oil to his shoulders and chest. He closed his eyes for a second and when he opened them, the photographer was leering at him like a dog with rabies. “Good, you’re doing great,” the photographer muttered. “Don’t think. Just be beautiful for me.”
He was thinking. He never stopped thinking. His layered thoughts often got the better of him. Just do what you’re told like you always do. Be a good boy like they want you to be, Piper thought as he changed positions.
The studio doors opened.
The room stopped. Piper felt it before he turned around.
Noah Reyes strutted across the concrete floor without urgency. He was wearing dark jeans with a shirt hugging his chest and biceps that appeared one flex from splitting the seams. Hair slightly damp, as if he’d come straight from the shower. An excess of David Yurman jewelry that he somehow got away with. His eyes found Piper across the studio immediately. He smiled, then nodded.
“Ashton.”
“You’re late as fuck,” Piper said annoyed at Noah’s arrogance.
“Got pulled over for speeding.”
Piper didn’t believe him. Noah walked into rooms late because he wanted them to wait.
Noah glanced toward the wardrobe rack, then back.
“Nice setup, are these lions real taxidermy?”
“Do you really think PETA would allow that? Go fucking change,” Piper said.
“Noah, they’re stuffed animals. Didn’t the team make them look hyper-realistic?” Taylor said, looking up at Noah’s towering stature as his eyes zeroed in on his bulging arms and muscular chest etched through his t-shirt. Taylor was in heaven at this moment. Two of the hottest quarterbacks in the league in his campaign.
Noah’s grin widened. “Got it. I gotta change before Piper stabs my eyes out with that stare.”
He was gone for twenty minutes. Piper shot two more setups while he was away. He didn’t watch the wardrobe area. He hit his marks and told himself today was a job.
Noah stepped back onto the set in a pair of animal print boxer briefs. Piper slowly turned his head Noah’s way like he was in some sort of slow-motion fantasy he saw in a movie. The outline of Noah’s cock noted and impressive.
That giant cock is going to need to be airbrushed out of these shots, Piper informed Joan, and returned his eyes to the photographer.
“Gentlemen,” the photographer said. “Face each other like you’re each other’s prey.”
They did. The studio quieted when something was working. Piper held his posture. Noah held his gaze.
The camera fired.
Flash. Flash. Flash.
“Closer, keep selling this hunger!”
They stepped forward simultaneously.

About the Author 

Lucas Malone writes glossy novels that feel like Thelma & Louise put the keys into their 1966 Ford Thunderbird and, instead of driving off a cliff, drove straight into a power plant across the street from a Birkin factory.

When he is not writing, he is watching far too many movies, and trying to live a normal life collecting material for the continuing Piper Ashton Saga.

He has a particular weakness for Paul Verhoeven movies and attractive people making terrible decisions.

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