Now on Kindle Unlimited

Surprise! My fabulous publisher JMS Books and I have created a box set from four of my previously published stories and made it available on Kindle Unlimited. After the initial time on KU, we’ll also be releasing it wide, through all the usual channels, but for now it’s available to buy on Amazon, or lend through Kindle Unlimited.

Yay for unexpected release weekend!! Where’s my champagne?? 🙂

Four short contemporary gay romances by best-selling M/M author Nell Iris about finding — and holding on to – “The One.” Collected together in an exclusive box set for the first time are the stories: 

Unconditionally: After six years together, Luca and Gus are finally getting married. On their wedding day Luca’s mother sees her flamboyant son wearing a veil and explodes. Her hateful words trigger traumatic memories and instead of walking down the aisle, Luca runs away. When Gus realizes Luca is missing he follows him, intent on convincing him to come back. Will he succeed in time for the wedding ceremony?

Find His Way Home: Elliot is miserable living in the big city. He longs for tranquility but is unwilling to move away from his partner Mick. After a dramatic event, he flees and goes back home to a cabin in the mountains. Slowly he regains his calm, but being away from Mick is hard. When a ghost from Elliot’s past shows up, he’s faced with a hard decision: stay on the mountain alone or go back to the city, and Mick?

Nobody Else’s: Beckett Cooper has been secretly infatuated with his BFF’s younger brother Levi for years. Levi Byrne has liked Beckett for as long as he can remember. When an opportunity presents itself for them to get to know each other better, they both grab it and make the best of it. Will the stars align in their favor and lead Beckett and Levi to a happily ever after?

Unexpected Christmas: Thrown together by family drama, strangers Daniel and Axel end up spending Christmas Day getting to know each other. Axel is nothing like Daniel expected. Behind the scary-looking exterior, he hides the heart of a teddy bear and between Disney princesses and erotic poetry, Daniel no longer fears for his life … but for his heart.

Available on Amazon now (link) 

Last day of review tour

Today is the last day of the review tour. Phew. A new release is hard work, guys, and now I’m gonna spend the rest of the week lounging around on the couch.

Not. Books don’t write themselves. But at least I can go back to being Introvert Nell again. At least that’s something 🙂

Thanks to all the bloggers that took part in the release blitz and review tour. I appreciate it ❤

Today’s scheduled stops on the review tour:
Bayou Book Junkie
Diverse Reader
Slashsessed
Sinfully

Buy links:
JMS Books | Amazon US | Amazon UK | iBooks | Google Play | B&N

Review tour continues

Hi everyone. Just a short blog post today, reminding you to visit the scheduled review stops and enter the giveaway if you haven’t already done it. You can win a copy of my previous book, Unconditionally.

I also had a little fun with a picture, and if you’ve read Find His Way Home, you know which scene this is. And if you haven’t, what are you waiting for? 🙂

Have a great Friday!

Today’s scheduled stop on the review tour:
Sarandipity Book Reviews
Jim’s Reading Room

Buy links:
JMS Books | Amazon US | Amazon UK | iBooks | Google Play | B&N

Somehow I’ll find my way home

I had a hard time coming up with a title for Find His Way Home. I wrote and wrote the story and I couldn’t come up with anything that I liked. It was called “untitled” for the longest time, and I hate untitled stories. It’s as if I would give birth to a child and not name them. Just call him or her baby. 

That’s just not okay.

So I googled. I typed “home song lyrics” in a search window and sifted through the results (because I love to find inspiration from songs).

And immediately I found the perfect song. I’m born in 1972, was a kid/teenager in the eighties, and love, love, LOVE eighties music. And when this song turned up in my search result— reminding me of its existence—I thought There’s gotta be something I can use in this song.

And I was right. I listened to it (I hadn’t heard it in decades) and instantly reconnected with it. And then I thought about it, tweaked it a little, and that’s how I’ll Find My Way Home became Find His Way Home.

Today’s scheduled stop on the review tour: 
Keysmash

Buy links:
JMS Books | Amazon US | Amazon UK | iBooks | Google Play | B&N

Poor, coffee-deprived writer

This writer has cut down her coffee intake. A lot. *cue the sad, dramatic music*

All my life, I’ve had an ambivalent relationship with coffee (it’s bitter and smells much better than it tastes), and for the longest time I didn’t drink it at all. And that’s kind of a big deal for a Swede. Swedes drink a lot of coffee—we were on 6th place of the world’s biggest coffee drinkers last year (and I find it very interesting that all five of the Scandinavian countries—Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland and Iceland—are in the top six!)

And not only that. We take our coffee drinking very seriously in Sweden—it’s a way of life. It’s called “fika” and there’s not really a word for it in English. If you’re interested in knowing more, here’s an article about it. It’s interesting and explains a lot 🙂

Every time you visit with someone in Sweden, they will offer you coffee. If you don’t drink it, your host becomes anxious and tries to come up with a range of other beverages to offer you instead. Sometimes they’ll even offer to run to the store and buy something for you.

It was exhausting to have to explain every time why I didn’t drink coffee. And even people close to me forgot. Like my mother-in-law, who, by the way, is from Finland. (And did you happen to notice which country was at the top of that list I linked to earlier? 😉 ) I’ve been with my husband for well over 20 years, and even after knowing me for 10+ years, she forgot that I didn’t drink it.

So one day I thought Ah, fuck it! and started drinking the stuff.

But here’s the thing. I don’t like it in the morning. I prefer to drink my coffee in the evenings. Especially when I write. So that’s what I’ve done. And for a long time, it wasn’t a problem. But lately, I’ve had a hard time falling asleep.

And, of course, I knew what the culprit was. My coffee. I did some research: I knew caffeine causes alertness, but as it turns out, it can disrupt the entire sleep cycle and circadian rhythm. If I drink coffee late this evening, it might affect my sleep for many nights to follow.

So, last week I decided to stop with my late night coffee. And since I don’t like to drink it early in the day, I’ve dramatically cut my intake.

And…I’m fine. I’ve not had any withdrawal problems and after a few days, I slept much better. The only thing is that I miss having a hot beverage to drink when I write. I solved that problem by buying rooibos tea, which does not contain caffeine.

One funny thing about coffee and fika: I’ve noticed that my Swedish fika-habits show up in my books. All my characters like to sit down with a book and a cup of coffee and fika for an hour or two. If that’s something you’ve noticed and found a little weird, well now you know why 🙂

Like in this excerpt from Find His Way Home. After spending a couple months by himself in the forest, Elliot wants human interactions and real coffee 😀 (Emma, mentioned in the quote, is the person from whom he rents the cabin)

On his way back to the car, he passed a cozy café, and the aroma of coffee wafting through the door as customers exited was strong and full. His feet carried him inside without him giving it a lot of thought, and he spent a few minutes trying figure out what he was in the mood for. After deciding on a frilly coffee drink with a big dollop of cream and lots of sugary syrup, accompanied by an enormous blueberry muffin, he found a table in a quiet corner. The second-hand armchair was as comfy as it looked, and he groaned with happiness as he sank down into it.

He swallowed a mouthful of his beverage and couldn’t help the pleased hum that escaped him. It tasted so much better than the stupid instant shit he had in the cabin. He should tell Emma they ought to buy a coffee maker for the kitchen—a French press would make a world of difference—and he’d be willing to pay extra for the luxury.

My books are still on sale over at JMS Books for the remainder of the day if you still haven’t bough it. Links are listed below.

Here’s a list of today’s scheduled Release Blitz stops:
MM Good Book Reviews
Jim’s Reading Room

Buy links:
JMS Books | Amazon US | Amazon UK | iBooks | Google Play | B&N