It Rained All Night: Release Day

It’s finally here, the release day of my short, friends-to-lovers story It Rained All Night 🎉🎉🎉 I wrote it for the JMS Books “rain or shine” submission call, and a lot of my fellow authors seem to have gravitated toward the rain-theme. And if you search for “rain-themed songs” on the internet, you find lists like “154 Songs About Rain to Soothe the Soul.” I wonder what it is about rain that interests creative types so much. Do you know?

I hope it rains in your corner of the world, today, so you can read It Rained All Night and listen to the rain-themed playlist accompanied by a gentle spring rain smattering against your windows. Make a cup of tea, or other hot beverage of your choice, and cozy up with my book. It’s so short that you’ll still have time for all the items on your to-do list for the day and still have a moment to yourself.

Have a lovely Saturday, all.

It Rained All Night; the kissing starts

He opens his mouth for the third kiss, and after that, I lose count. All that exists is his hand atop my heart, his lips against mine, his tongue in my mouth. His breaths. His leg flung over my hip.

Quote from It Rained All Night

Buy links

JMS Books :: Amazon :: Universal Buy Link

The final song on the rain-themed playlist is the song that lent its title to my book. I wrote a rain-filled story, but couldn’t come up with a name. Until one day when I listened to this song and a lightbulb went off over my head. Because it does rain all night (and then all day) in my story…but that’s also the only thing this song and my book have in common 😀

And It Rained All Night by Thom Yorke

And it rained all night and then all day
The drops were the size of your hands and face

Check below for the complete playlist if you want to make it in your streaming service and listen to it while you read It Rained All Night…because you have bought it, haven’t you? 🙂

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Blurb

Can a chance meeting in the rain change someone’s life? 

Meeting someone who can make him stop going is an eye-opener for Henrik. The man, Mikko, is his complete opposite, a steady rock in the wild rainstorm that is Henrik’s life, but the connection between them is both unexpected and instantaneous. Their encounter only lasts a few minutes, but before they part, they exchange phone numbers.

They live far away from each other, but soon they text and call daily, until Mikko is Henrik’s dearest friend and most trusted person. But a late-night question on the phone has Henrik re-evaluating his feelings. It’s impossible to love someone you’ve only met in person once…right? 

Is the connection Henrik and Mikko forged long distance enough to sustain them when they meet again? And will their love be strong enough to give them the happily ever after they deserve? 

M/M contemporary / 7673 words

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The complete rain-themed playlist:

Crying in the Rain – A-ha
Rain Dogs – Tom Waits
Rain – The Cult
Here Comes the Rain Again – Eurythmics
A Rainy Night in Soho – The Pogues
Over the Rainbow – Fläskkvartetten
Rain When I Die – Alice in Chains
Riders on the Storm – The Doors
Ain’t Gonna Rain Anymore – Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Kingdom of Rain – The The feat. Sinéad O’Connor
Prayers for Rain – The Cure
The Garden – Einstürzende Neubauten
Famous Blue Raincoat – Leonard Cohen
And It Rained All Night – Thom Yorke

It Rained All Night: Tomorrow’s the Day!

Today is the last day of the countdown to It Rained All Night. The thirteenth quote and the thirteenth rain-themed song, and it’s raining outside my window as I write this, so the weather also seems excited about my upcoming release. Maybe it’ll rain all night tonight, in honor of my story? 😀

If you’d only met someone IRL once and then talked for three years online, would you be excited for your second meeting? Or nervous? Scared out of your mind? Henrik is frantic; they have a conversation so impactful on poor, buttoned-up Henrik, that he must see Mikko immediately. He can’t wait. Luckily, he has access to a private plane, or the 1500 kilometer trip would’ve taken forever…

It Rained All Night; after three years, it’s definitely time for a second meeting.

Lying in my bed, listening to the rain, I finally allow myself to admit what I’ve known for a long time but refused to acknowledge. I care for him. Deeply. He’s nested himself underneath my skin, into my very soul, in a way I didn’t expect, or even notice before it was too late.

Quote from It Rained All Night

Pre-Order:

JMS Books :: Amazon :: Universal Buy Link

When I told my husband about my countdown idea and that I had a list of rain-themed songs, but I still needed a few to make it 14, he said “Oh, you already have Famous Blue Raincoat, of course.” I didn’t, and I was stunned. How could I forget about it? I have a gazillion playlists on Spotify, and this song is in at least 80% of them, so wouldn’t it have been funny and tragic if I’d forgotten it, and made this particular playlist without it? 🙈 Husbands can be very useful 🙂

Famous Blue Raincoat by Leonard Cohen

Ah, the last time we saw you you looked so much older
Your famous blue raincoat was torn at the shoulder

And this is it for the countdown, because tomorrow is R-Day. Release day. Make sure to pre-order your copy so you can download it first thing when you wake up! And stay tuned for the last song to complete the playlist.

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Blurb

Can a chance meeting in the rain change someone’s life? 

Meeting someone who can make him stop going is an eye-opener for Henrik. The man, Mikko, is his complete opposite, a steady rock in the wild rainstorm that is Henrik’s life, but the connection between them is both unexpected and instantaneous. Their encounter only lasts a few minutes, but before they part, they exchange phone numbers.

They live far away from each other, but soon they text and call daily, until Mikko is Henrik’s dearest friend and most trusted person. But a late-night question on the phone has Henrik re-evaluating his feelings. It’s impossible to love someone you’ve only met in person once…right? 

Is the connection Henrik and Mikko forged long distance enough to sustain them when they meet again? And will their love be strong enough to give them the happily ever after they deserve? 

M/M contemporary / 7673 words

It Rained All Night: 3…2…1

Iiiiih, release day is just around the corner and I feel like a kid before Christmas! And I’m still excited, despite writing all these blog posts about it 🙂

Do you like the rain? I do, if I’m inside, by the fire, with a cup of tea and a good book. If I’m walking to the office and it’s pouring down, or raining sideways…not so much. So, I guess my answer is “it depends.” 😀 How about you? Would you stand outside in the rain and enjoy the precipitation like Mikko does when he and Henrik meet for the first time? 🙂

It Rained All Night; Henrik thinks of Mikko every time it rains

We stood there, side by side; for minutes or hours, I neither knew nor cared. And when we both opened our eyes at the same time, as if on cue, he turned to me and said, “Thank you so much for joining me.” His voice was melodic, with a pronounced Finnish accent, his tone soft. As soft as the raindrops on my face.

“Thank you for making me stop for a while.”

Ever since that day three years ago, I think about him every time it rains.

Quote from It Rained All Night

Pre-Order:

JMS Books :: Amazon :: Universal Buy Link

This song is on my top ten all-time favorites. It’s brilliant. 😍

You will find me by the banks of all four rivers
You will find me at the spring of conciousness
You will find me if you want me in the garden
Unless it’s pouring down with rain

Only one more day and then it’s release day. Wohooo. Come back for more tomorrow.

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Blurb

Can a chance meeting in the rain change someone’s life? 

Meeting someone who can make him stop going is an eye-opener for Henrik. The man, Mikko, is his complete opposite, a steady rock in the wild rainstorm that is Henrik’s life, but the connection between them is both unexpected and instantaneous. Their encounter only lasts a few minutes, but before they part, they exchange phone numbers.

They live far away from each other, but soon they text and call daily, until Mikko is Henrik’s dearest friend and most trusted person. But a late-night question on the phone has Henrik re-evaluating his feelings. It’s impossible to love someone you’ve only met in person once…right? 

Is the connection Henrik and Mikko forged long distance enough to sustain them when they meet again? And will their love be strong enough to give them the happily ever after they deserve? 

M/M contemporary / 7673 words

It Rained All Night: the Countdown Continues

Not long now until It Rained All Night will be released. And today’s question is; can you fall in love with someone you’ve only met IRL once?

Henrik is convinced you can’t. But if you text or talk to someone every day, surely you can fall in love with them? I know you can make real friends that way, so why would falling in love being any different? What do you think?

It Rained All Night; can you fall in love with someone you’ve only met IRL once?

He was funny and thoughtful, and it didn’t take long until texting him daily was a regular part of my routine. Until I started expecting “good morning” messages with a picture attached of him contorted in one of the harder, fancier yoga poses. Until I started needing to chat with him for a few moments at the end of the day to unwind. Until he was the one I wanted to confide in, until he was the one I started to turn to when something important was going on.

Until he was the one I fell—

I push away the thought before I can complete it. It’s not possible to fall in love with someone you’ve only met once. It’s not.

Quote from It Rained All Night

Pre-Order:

JMS Books :: Amazon :: Universal Buy Link

In 1992, I went to see The Cure live. And in honor of Robert Smith, I’d teased my hair to make it look like his, painted lipstick outside my lips and blackened my eyes just like his. Let’s just say that I’m happy there were no cell phone cameras in 1992. 😍

You strangle me, entangle me
In hopelessness and prayers for rain
Prayers for rain

More goodies tomorrow, make sure you come for a visit 🙂

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Blurb

Can a chance meeting in the rain change someone’s life? 

Meeting someone who can make him stop going is an eye-opener for Henrik. The man, Mikko, is his complete opposite, a steady rock in the wild rainstorm that is Henrik’s life, but the connection between them is both unexpected and instantaneous. Their encounter only lasts a few minutes, but before they part, they exchange phone numbers.

They live far away from each other, but soon they text and call daily, until Mikko is Henrik’s dearest friend and most trusted person. But a late-night question on the phone has Henrik re-evaluating his feelings. It’s impossible to love someone you’ve only met in person once…right? 

Is the connection Henrik and Mikko forged long distance enough to sustain them when they meet again? And will their love be strong enough to give them the happily ever after they deserve? 

M/M contemporary / 7673 words

It Rained All Night: the Countdown Continues

Only four more sleeps until the release of It Rained All Night. One of the tropes for this story is class differences, not something I write a lot about usually. But in this case, Henrik belongs to an old noble family and Mikko is just a regular guy, so I guess that constitutes as class differences. Nobility in Sweden lost their privileges in 2003, but that doesn’t take away the family history. Or the acquired wealth.

But Henrik is not your typical duke (or not a duke at all, because dukes in Sweden are almost always royal, and he’s not royal); he would gladly leave his birthright castle for a tiny cottage on the coast for the right person. He just doesn’t realize it. Yet…

It Rained All Night; Mikko is not a fan of the private plane

“I wonder why the fancy-gene skipped you. It should be coded into your DNA after hundreds of years as nobility. And you got it with your mother’s milk.”

“You assume my mother breastfed me. If it hadn’t been frowned upon in this day and age in our culture, I’m sure she would have hired a wet nurse. Breastfeeding is for plebeians.”

He chuckles. “You’re exaggerating.”

“Am I? You haven’t met my mother.”

“She can’t be that bad.”

“She’s not bad. Just not the definition of motherly,” I say.

“I bet she still cried at the wedding.” “She dabbed her monogrammed linen handkerchief in the vicinity of her eyes, but I’m not sure there were actual tears.”

Quote from It Rained All Night

Pre-Order:

JMS Books :: Amazon :: Universal Buy Link

The song today is performed by British band The The, one of my favorites. And it features the voice of the very talented Sinéad O’Connor 😍

Kingdom of Rain by The The, featuring Sinéad O’Connor

There’s no more blood
And no more pain
In our kingdom of rain

Come back tomorrow for another snippet and another rain-themed song.

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Blurb

Can a chance meeting in the rain change someone’s life? 

Meeting someone who can make him stop going is an eye-opener for Henrik. The man, Mikko, is his complete opposite, a steady rock in the wild rainstorm that is Henrik’s life, but the connection between them is both unexpected and instantaneous. Their encounter only lasts a few minutes, but before they part, they exchange phone numbers.

They live far away from each other, but soon they text and call daily, until Mikko is Henrik’s dearest friend and most trusted person. But a late-night question on the phone has Henrik re-evaluating his feelings. It’s impossible to love someone you’ve only met in person once…right? 

Is the connection Henrik and Mikko forged long distance enough to sustain them when they meet again? And will their love be strong enough to give them the happily ever after they deserve? 

M/M contemporary / 7673 words