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Finding Home by Diana DeRicci My rating: 5 of 5 stars Sometimes, I like a feel good story. Diana DeRicci's story, Finding Home, starts out rough for our main character, Parker. He's gotten the crap kicked out of him by life. Sometimes, pride is all a person has left but Parker takes the ride and the $20 offered to him by a well-meaning older man. Even more amazingly... just a short time later, he takes the help offered by a local gay couple, one of which is a local cop, to stick around for a while. People pop up to help Parker settle in to Jasper. No one offers him a handout after the initial effort of the ride and a bit of money for food, but they certainly offer him a hand up. I loved the realism of the struggles Parker faces as he begins to stand on his own two feet once more. Diana could've given us a pat romance device of uniting Parker with his first love, and the reason for his journey on the road, but she's a better writer than that. I loved the interweaving of Parker's past life and people from it with the connections he was making in the present with Ian and Caleb's families. I adored Summer, as we were meant to, of course. Okay, so the plot moves a bit fast for all the changes and the emotional leaps for the characters. I'd have enjoyed more story and getting to know Parker and his romantic interest more as a couple. That, however, is exactly what every really good story I read leaves me wanting. I know as an author that isn't always the way it works, but as a reader, I WANT! lol All in all, I definitely recommend reading this story! Oh, and I read this outside of the series, having never read the first or second, and had no troubles keeping up with the story as a stand alone. I'm sure I might have been more familiar with a few of the other characters had I read it after them, but it wasn't necessary. View all my reviews

I found a cute story today called "Paper Walls", by KD, a new author here at GA. The story was first post back in early fall, but it just caught my eye today. I read the first 11 posted chapters and I fell in love with it. It centers around a fifteen year old adopted football prodigy from Russia whose adopted dad is a coaching legend of Texas High Football, himself. KD does an awesome job of bringing his characters alive and leaves you wanting more. If fact, the chapters could be longer, but KD doesn't short change you in the content department. I don't do this too often, but I highly recommend this story to all.

Hello everyone! My newest story, Shamrock Lite, is out today published by MLR Press. It's a lighthearted and slightly nostalgic homage of mine to the wonderful country of Ireland and its rich lore. You can find the link and blurb below! Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Shamrock-Lite-Albert-Nothlit-ebook/dp/B00UQF1R4W/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1426636816&sr=8-1&keywords=shamrock+lite MLR Press http://www.mlrbooks.com/ShowBook.php?book=ANSHAMRK Shamrock Lite One lifetime of experience, and suddenly magic. Richard has come to Ireland to reflect on years gone by, not to become mixed up in the affairs of the fairy folk. The handsome stranger he meets will not be denied, however. He makes Richard young again- for a price.

I've been working on a new sort of story, a sort I've never really written. I'm writing a story about a "what if" scenario. It's a tale, set in a world much like our own, with one key difference. That is, it's written in a world where Love is Love. Where healthy relationships of all kinds are simply accepted, and there's no social pressure to be something you're not supposed to be. The difference is actually quite profound. I have to think about it. I have to constantly rewrite bits, because my protagonists shouldn't angst over some of the things my characters in other stories have. They're just allowed to be. What a world that'd be. Where the only struggles a pair of guys have to becoming a couple are the same struggles a man and a woman would have. I'm on chapter seven. I figure I've probably got another four to five chapters to go before I'm done, and I'm looking forward to watching them make this journey together. Really, it's the journey we should all have the choice to make - regardless of who we choose to walk the path with us.

SP and I bought promise / engagement rings today. His is 10mm wide - 6mm black band in the center, with two small silver bands on the outside, spaced slightly off the main ring; mine is a 6mm black band. It was good. We did not go to the cemetery today like I had originally thought I would. The last two years I had very strong "intuition" on what day and time I should be there. This year... nothing. That really upset me yesterday; then felt bad about being upset about it when SP and I are almost at our 6-month anniversary (the 27th -- which is also C's birthday -- which hasn't helped any). I think that lack of "intuition" was C's way of telling me to let him go. Not entirely of course, I'll always love him, but I can't look back and look forward too. Times, like yesterday, I still feel very torn by my emotions towards my Boy and my Darling; my past, and [hopefully] my future.

SP spent the night last night, for the second time. Slept in an odd position and my hip is killing me; his back is killing him. That's most likely because neither of us is used to sleeping next to anyone anymore. My allergies are bad and my blood pressure is sky high this morning and they were last time too. This one I'm pretty sure is because he smokes -- and has for many many years -- and bringing that up is going to be difficult. I'll probably have to tell him he'll need to go outside (he has been smoking outside) to smoke his last cig before bedtime earlier than he has been, so the smell of smoke is not as strong as when we get into bed. Things are going well between us. I worry about messing things up by saying something, but on the other hand he'd hate to wake up to me having a heart attack. Need to go into work and take care of things I wasn't able to get done this week from being out Wed. afternoon and almost all day on Thurs. due to joint pain but.... that will have to wait until the hip calms down enough for me to function.

SP and I have had several conversations: about our pasts, our fears, our insecurities, our hopes for what this could be. Had a few small dates so far, and planning on something larger for New Years. I'm cautiously optimistic and I think he is too. We seem to be on the same page with things - where we are now, what we want going forward. To possibilities, hope, and the future. 🍾

"Love in this life, Joon Hee Lee. Admiral will never retire. 1998-2023, Eric " -The gravestone eulogy of Sergeant Joon Hee Lee of the Republic of Korea Army, Daejeon National Cemetery, Seoul. Eric's diary: September 22, 2021. University of California, San Diego. School of global strategy and policy. Sunny The first lesson, Korean Security, is in line with my expectations. Oh, the Korean guy named Joon Hee sounds interesting. His English is far better than other Asia dudes, while he is a little shy guy. Joon Hee Diary: October 13th, 2021. The things that should be sent have been given to Eric, and one day I will explain everything to him ... The folk class representatives are really excellent! ! ! Eric's diary: October 12th, 2021. God, Joon Hee gave me such an expensive thing? Ancient Korean cultural relics? And what exactly is written on the paper? Jesus, he clearly knows that I can't read Korean, but it doesn't affect my future as a famous professor at GPS, hahaha! Joon Hee Diary: April 12th, 2022. Eric is so cute. I really want to be with him more... but have go back to Korea to serve in the military after graduation. Eric pretends to be a "rational actor", but when he learned that Joon Hee was going back to South Korea as a soldier, he couldn't help but look gloomy. "Hahahaha, your country is one of our islands, and every pebble on Baitou Mountain belongs to Americans." "Hey buddy, don't be complacent, there is no official peace agreement in the Korean War so far, and it will take a few minutes for DPRK to bomb your hometown in Los Angeles." These daily conversations of friends and friends in Professor Hager's Korean security lecture, but now, it only brings infinite melancholy and sadness to Eric. "Eric, let's give it a last hug." Joon Hee's expression is still so natural. He smells good. "Damn it, what is wrong with your mind?" Eric couldn't help cursing himself. Before hanging out with Joon Hee every day, the days couldn't be happier; Now, as long as Joon Hee hasn't sent a message for more than a week, he will become impatient and anxious-he knows that his best friend is in the army, and he knows that since May 2022, the Korean nuclear test, which was almost forgotten by the world, has started to mass-produce rumors and fears in the air of the peninsula.And Joon Hee may be transferred to the northern boundary or even to the front line at any time ... The first round of small-scale military confrontation has started again. Years later, when Eric was in a daze in the face of Joon Hee's love-filled relics, he must have thought that Joon Hee's class in vice admiral was full of ecstasy because of his casual glance. But at that time, he never thought that Joon Hee would like him like this, beyond friendship. But now all this is pale in the face of facts: The last what's app message was fixed on July 11th, 2023. "NLL has a special mission. All the troops near DMZ have been assembled. Take care, and don’t forget treat me in San Diego after my goddamn military service term!" For a long time afterwards, Eric selectively forgot about July 14th, 2023. As the youngest and good-tempered teaching assistant of GPS, he obviously won't refuse the students' request to watch the live news before class-however, he doesn't know whether to curse or thank for this behavior: "The North Korean side suddenly opened fire, and five officers deployed in front of the South Korean patrol queue were shot. The Cheongwadae spokesman has announced the identity of the dead soldiers in the emergency press conference ..." "Major Park Sung Man; Sergeant Lee Joon Hee ... " The next memory fragment, for Eric, is like a hangover getting worse in the disgusting black fog: he won't remember fainting in class, which student called 911, which students carried themselves to the first aid, and taught QM1 lecturer, best friend and admiral how to carry themselves back to the apartment.How did the GPS teacher group drag themselves to the first flight to Seoul the next morning? ... "This is the relic of comrade-in-arms Joon Hee. Please take care. " Eric swore that he must have been wrong, in other words, he would rather deceive himself into being absolutely wrong. In his diary, Te amo and the mountains are the two most important words. His Joon Hee, who almost fainted when he saw mathematics, would rather write 100,000 QM 2 programming assignments, and never dare to say anything. "What exactly does the birthday card you gave me say?" "Guess, I'll tell you if I guess right." The School of Global Policy and Affairs is always busy day and night, but time is obviously busier, leading Professor Eric all the way to the age of 35. Yes, time won't make him forget that both of them were 24 when he last hugged Joon Hee. Joon Hee was 25 years old when he and Professor Eric Haggard published sensational papers about the situation on the Korean Peninsula. In the eighth year of Eric's teaching, Joon Hee was still 25 years old. Most of the alumni of the GPS class of 2022 started families, but Professor Eric never got married. A good friend sent a message to invite himself to the wedding, knowing clearly that there would be waves in his heart, but he went anyway. That friend named asshole Aristotle, he and his lover ... Well, this guy didn’t marry himself eventually, that was out of my expectation. Professor Eric is afraid of Valentine's Day, and he is afraid of it all his life from the bottom of his heart, his eye and his bone marrow. But every Valentine's Day, there is no shortage of roses and forget-me-not on Sergeant Joon Hee's tombstone. On this day, the Seoul Military Cemetery always welcomes an American man dressed professionally and decently as a professor. His desk is as messy as Einstein's, but the picture frame with black-haired youth and blond men is always spotless,stunning and shinning like the light from his eyes the first sight Jone Hee ran into him outside of the classroom. "Professor, your graduation ceremony in 2022 slays! Who is this handsome Asian dude besides you? A friend to you is him?" Guess, I'll uncover the veil if your guess was correct. Eric laughed it off. It's his holiday, the secret he and his tacit understanding, the secret code and riddle of life and death.

I'm looking for more stories to read. I really enjoy Young Adult/ Coming of Age stories, but I would also like to branch out into other areas. If anyone can recommend any impactful stories, please let me know. I've enjoyed the following stories on GA and Nifty: Second Shot How I Got Carter The Long Way In the Fishbowl Desert Dropping An English Teen Circumcised in the USA Seal Rocks The Carnivore

In an article in the Boston Globe, Meredith Goldstein a Globe advice columnist (Love Letters) reveals that she is a big romance novel enthusiast. For someone who writes about love and gives advice, it is perhaps a no-brainer that such a columnist would be into romance novels. But there is a caveat, Ms. Goldstein does not like romance stories based in the city in which she lives. She, in this case, unfortunately knows well the city of Boston. What some authors may think to be a sexy location... well, she does not see those locations quite the same way. I can see her point but I don't entirely buy into it. I live in Boston and I've written a short romance story set in the Boston/Cambridge area (Promise and Opportunity - written nearly four years ago) for a prompt and I think it works fine. Also, I wouldn't mind reading a gay romance short story/novel set in the small town where I grew up. Why not? I would love to hear what your feelings are about romance stories set in your hometown. Can you just not get into it? Would it be a distraction from the pleasure of reading? Will you read just to see if you can gain some juicy gossip? Are you disappointed that no one has ever written a romance novel set in your hometown? What do you think? Meredith Goldstein article.

I am looking for a story posted in the High School section of Nifty, however I have forgotten the title. Basically the main characters are the bully and the bullied are somehow involved in a plane crash and marooned in an island. In the island they spent some time reconciling and developing their relationship which they end becoming lovers. During their time in the island they also discovered some rare unmined jewels and when the island was about to be destroyed by a volcano they were rescued by a Russian ship and went home, but their drama only starts once reuniting with their respective families. Can anyone please tell me the name of the story so I could search it and read it again? I do seem to remember it is a part of a long saga.