Today is Valentine’s Day, and since I can’t give roses to all of you, I invited someone over who talks about roses instead. That’s the next best thing, don’t you think? đ
So without further ado, help me welcome Holly Day to my blog, who’s here to talk about her new Valentine’s story Be Still, My Heart.

Thank you for allowing me to stop by again, Nell. Please accept this imaginary yellow rose as a sign of joy and friendship.
Have you received any red roses from your Valentine? ‘Tis the season, is it not?
I’m here today to share a little about my latest release, Be Still, My Heart. It’s a Valentine story. But since both Nell and I are from Sweden, I thought I’d start by telling you a little about a Swedish king – no, don’t groan.
If it hadn’t been for King Charles II of Sweden, you wouldn’t expect roses on the 14th of February. Perhaps giving flowers hadnât been a thing at all. King Charles II went to Persia in the late 17th century and learned about the language of flowers. It was a new expressionistic art form, a way to communicate without using words.
When King Charles II came back to Europe, he – and many others, I assume – spread a list of flowers and their meaning among important people. It started a trend of giving flowers to show affection.
It’s believed the red rose got its meaning of deep love because of the Greek myth of red roses growing from where the ground got wet from Aphroditeâs tears and the blood of her mortal lover, Adonis.
So blood, grief, and kings are behind this symbol of love.
So why am I talking roses? No idea. There isn’t a single rose in Be Still, My Heart, but since it’s a Valentine story, I figured I should talk about something Valentine-y.
In Be Still, My Heart, we have Dimitri who is a military vet who suffers from PTSD. He works the front desk at his sisterâs dating agency though he’d much rather stay at home. Then we have Elian, an eccentric literary professor who, during one drunken night, happened to write an article about love through time. As a consequence of the article, he’s been invited to hold a speech at a Valentine dinner.
Excerpt
When the phone rang again, he jumped. Right, phone. âThe Single Pursuit, how may I help you?â
âDimitri?â
It was a man, and even though he only said his name, Dimitri could tell he was stressed. Maybe something had come up, and he needed to reschedule. âYes?â
âItâs Elian Hubert. We spoke yesterday, and I was wonderingââ He blew out a breath. âHow long would it take for you to find me a dateâthe matchmaking agency I mean, not you personally? If I talked to one of your dating agents, or whatever you call them, could they find me a match in a few hours?â
âErm⊠No.â
Elian quieted. âNo?â He sighed. âAnd you still donât know of any bordellos?â
Dimitri pinched the bridge of his nose. âAre you okay, Elian?â He didnât sound as⊠sparkly wasnât a good word, but heâd disrupted Dimitriâs gloom and brought life into the lobby.
âFine, fine⊠I keep forgetting there are consequences to me opening my mouth, though.â
The corner of Dimitriâs mouth twitched, but he halted the smile. âWhat happened?â
The sigh, it did things to Dimitri. He wanted to take Elian in his arms and save him from whatever it was bothering him. The entrance opened and Elian walked in, without a jacket and dressed in a pink tight-fitted shirt. His jeans hung low on his hips and his hair had been messed up by the unforgiving February wind. Dimitri clung to the phone. âYou should wear a jacket.â
âI should.â Elianâs lips had a blue tinge to them, and Dimitri didnât think it was makeup putting it there. Elian should wear pink gloss, not blue.
Slowly, he put the phone down. âSo, why donât you?â
âI was in a hurry to get out of the office.â
Dimitri kept his face blank but scanned the sidewalk outside the glass-front of the building. No one looked suspicious, no one looked as if they were searching for someone. âIs someone following you?â
Elian widened his eyes. âI donât think Iâm interesting enough to follow.â
Dimitri ignored his surprised expression and scanned the streetâno cars slowing down, no doors opening, no one moving too slowly. âAre you in danger?â He didnât look away from the street.
Elian looked out on the street too. âWhat do you see?â
âNothing out of the ordinary, but they always try to blend in, so itâs easy to miss someone.â
âDimitri?â
He turned back to Elian, who was watching him with a serious expression, something he hadnât seen before. He still looked younger than forty-two, but the concern made him age before Dimitriâs eyes. âYes?â
âI donât think Iâm in any danger of getting physically hurt, itâs my ego on the line.â
Dimitri nodded. He needed to protect Elianâs ego almost as much as he needed to make sure he wasnât being followed or risked getting blown to pieces. He needed Elian to live and drink too much wine, so heâd write essays or whatever about zombie love. âWhat happened?â
âDouglas Hendrixânot related to the guitar godâstomped into my office and laughingly told me heâd booked a table for tonight, so he and the others in the department could meet my boyfriend. He knows I donât have one, you see, and he wants to humiliate me in front of our colleagues.â
Dmitri furrowed his brows. âAnd you⊠accepted the invitation?â
âIt wasnât an invitation, it was a demand.â
âBut⊠heâs a colleague of yours, he canât force you to go to dinners.â
âTechnically no, but he holds a lot of sway, and heâs already had the board give some of the classes I teach to another professor.â Desperation shone in his eyes. âI might not have much to offer the world, Dimitri, but I love my job, and heâs stealing it from me one piece at the time.â
Could people do that? Surely there had to be rules about who taught what classes and stuff.

Buy links:
JMS Books :: Universal Buy Link
Giveaway
I have put together a rafflecopter giveaway. I’m giving away an ebook copy of Be Still, My Heart + Hop Hop, Carrot Top that was published last month. Click the link, and youâll be taken to the giveaway. If youâre up for a game, you can increase your chances of winning by counting hearts.
How many hearts do you see in this post? Answer in the giveaway, and to increase your chances more, visit A.L. Lesterâs, Ofelia GrĂ€ndâs, and my blog and count the hearts there too â€
Giveaway link
About Holly Day
According to Holly Day, no day should go by uncelebrated and all of them deserve a story. If sheâll have the time to write them remains to be seen. She lives in rural Sweden with a husband, four children, more pets than most, and wouldnât last a day without coffee.
Holly gets up at the crack of dawn most days of the week to write gay romance stories. She believes in equality in fiction and in real life. Diversity matters. Representation matters. Visibility matters. We can change the world one story at the time.
Connect with Holly @ https://lnk.bio/xpae or visit her website @ hollydaywrites.wordpress.com