A Flirty Dozen

by J.L. Merrow

Together for the first time, twelve short stories of male/male romance from award-winning author JL Merrow. Ranging from gritty to giddy, all feature two men finding their happy ever after -- or at least for now -- with a dash of the author’s trademark humour.

Read about boys from the wrong side of town, boys from the right side of town, and boys from a town you really wouldn’t want to live in. Meet a rent boy with a secret, a very earthly version of Cupid, and men with a definite tinge of the supernatural. Opposites attract, wishes come true, and old enemies find forgiveness in this variety pack of eight contemporary stories and four paranormal tales that’s a perfect introduction to the writing of a very British author.

Contains the stories: Love Found on Lindisfarne, Free Ride, Light the Fire, Dead Shot, Stronger Where it Counts, Jack in the Green, A Ghoul Like You, Batteries Not Included, Making it Pay, Trick or Treat, Good Breeding, and A Pint of Beer, a Bag of Chips, and Thou.

Genres: Anthologies, M M Romance, Romance, Contemporary, LGBT, Paranormal, Short Stories

276 pages, Paperback

First published December 12, 2015

About the author

JL Merrow is that rare beast, an English person who refuses to drink tea. She read Natural Sciences at Cambridge, where she learned many things, chief amongst which was that she never wanted to see the inside of a lab ever again. Her one regret is that she never mastered the ability of punting one-handed whilst holding a glass of champagne.

She writes across genres, with a preference for contemporary gay romance and the paranormal, and is frequently accused of humour. Her novella Muscling Through was a 2013 EPIC Award finalist, and her novel Slam! won the 2013 Rainbow Award for Best LGBT Romantic Comedy. Her novel Relief Valve is a finalist in the 2015 EPIC Awards.

JL Merrow is a member of the UK GLBTQ Fiction Meet organising team.

Find JL Merrow online at: www.jlmerrow.com, on Twitter as @jlmerrow, and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/jl.merrow

Reviews

[J.L. Merrow]

This is a collection of all my m/m short stories published to date with JMS Books - twelve stories adding up to, or so I'm told, 86,000 words or 246 pages. There are eight contemporary m/m tales, and four paranormals - more or less! (There are a couple which are a little on the fence, so I decided they added up to one paranormal between them *g*) One of the stories is set in the 1920s, my favourite historical period ever (the frocks! The hats! The lack of corsets!)

Some of the stories in this anthology are among my earliest published works, while others were penned more recently. Most are firmly grounded in my native Britain, although some are set further afield, giving me a chance to play with dialect. All of these stories have a touch of humour, even the darkest tale of the twelve (trust me: you’ll know it when you see it!)

The collection is due out in paperback in January 2016. :)

[Antonella · Rating 4 out of 5]

Uh?!! How is it that this collection doesn't have any review and not even a rating at the moment? It is a collection of great tales. I also loved the Britishness of them, the solid writing, the humour. Warmly recommended.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd already read all but one (possibly two) of the stories in this collection but bought it to gather them all in the same place. This made a pleasant, on occasion edgy, re-read for a summer day, and a nice refresher to Merrow's sense of humor before starting Blow Down. I'm particularly fond of "Love Found on Lindisfarne," "Free Ride," and "A Pint of Beer, a Bag of Chips, and Thou." There's a bonus link to the coda for "A Pint of Beer." Lovely.

J.L. dedicates Blow Down to Dorien Grey (Roger Margason) who died on November 1, 2015, something I seem to have missed, or didn't it register with me, since I'm pretty sure it was posted to our Fanyons GR group. But for whatever reason it hit me now as a significant loss, and I do remember reading this blog post, which (poignantly) was posted on October 29, 2015. https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog...

I also purchased this collection of his blog posts: Short Circuits: A Life in Blogs

[Laks · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lovely collection of short stories.

A bit of snark, lots of humor and cute characters can be found in this collection. I love Merrow's style and was happy to read and reread her stories. My favorite ones are Making It Pay, Good Breeding, Stronger Where It Counts and Trick or Treat.

[Suze · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of JL Merrow shorts - what's not to like!!
I have definitely read 4 of them before, possibly 5, but it didn't stop me enjoying them again.
From reenactments to witches, adoption to turning tricks, pagan festivals to cupid there are a wide array of themes here.
I think the ones that were not so favoured are perhaps earlier works but generally I enjoyed them all - averaged out at over 3.5*.

[namericanwordcat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love Found on Lindisfarne is my favorite of the bunch with a Viking re enactor and and single father Funny and sweet.

I like the paranormal ones the least but they are all good and make for a lovely read.

[Kobie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lindisfarne- great
Free Ride- hot and sweet
Light the Fire- ditto
Dead Shot- cute
Stronger Where It Counts- first one that felt like it needed more length.
Jack in the Green- this was a miss for me. I didn't connect with characters and needed more context. DNF.
A Ghoul Like You-fine. not really my genre.
Batteries not Included- clever and HOT!
Making it Pay- heartbreaking
Trick or Treat- I really liked this one.
Good Breeding - good
A Pint of Beer- fine.

[Kk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Library Find

3 Flirty Stars...

JLM is a great author. Funny, sweet, with enough Brit slang for this American to giggle thar much more.

12 stories in less than 300 pages means that there isn't alot of substance in each one. Its enough for a meet cute and a roll in the sheets.

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

All stories between a 3-4.

[Tailtiu · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Pint of Beer, a Bag of Chips, and Thou4*
Light the Fire 3,6*
Love Found on Lindisfarne 3,5*
Trick or Treat 3,5*
Stronger Where It Counts 3*
Good Breeding 3*
A Ghoul Like You 3*
Batteries Not Included 3*
Dead Shot 3*
Jack in the Green 2,5*
Making It Pay 2,5*
Free Ride 2*

[Lillian Francis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Many 5 star reads and none lower than a three. I'll happily give this amazing collection an overall rating of 5 stars.

Love Found on Lindisfarne - Adorable. Castles, Viking re-enactors, a child that acts like a child, a deadlocked hippy, and monk-licking. All written with the author's familiar humour. Loved it.
Free Ride - First meetings and second chances.
Light the Fire - A story of second chances and allowing yourself to be happy.
Dead Shot - read previously as individual.
Stronger Where it Counts - The writing was great as usual but I wanted more.
Jack in the Green - The whole story had a magical, dreamlike quality.
A Ghoul like You - read previously as individual.
Batteries Not Included - read previously as individual.
Making it Pay - Made me cry.
Trick or Treat - Sexy and spooky Halloween short with an unexpected ending
Good Breeding - read previously as individual.
A Pint of Beer, a Bag of Chips, and Thou - a very individual Christmas story to finish off the anthology.

[Lene · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sweet collection of MM romances.

[Elena · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[E.Reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some stories I really enjoyed and some really not but all in all I close the book with a good souvenir of it. A couple stories I would gladly re-read too