Candy Hearts volume 2. An LGBTQIA2S+ charity anthology. The ebook cover is also shown.

2026 Participating Authors

A.D. Ellis

A.D. Ellis is an Indiana girl, born and raised. She spends much of her time in central Indiana as an instructional coach/teacher in the inner city of Indianapolis, being a mom to two amazing teens, and wondering how she and her husband of over two decades haven’t driven each other insane yet. A lot of her time is also devoted to phone call avoidance and her hatred of cooking.

She loves chocolate, hot tea, sweet wine with friends, pizza, and naps along with reading and writing romance. These loves don’t leave much time for housework. Who would pick cleaning the house over a nap or a good book? She uses any extra time to increase her fluency in sarcasm. A.D. uses she/they pronouns.

BA Tortuga

Western to the bone and an unrepentant Daddy’s Girl, BA Tortuga spends her days with her hounds and her beloved wife, having mother-daughter dates, and eating Mexican food. When she’s not doing that, she’s writing. She spends her days off watching rodeo, knitting, and surfing Pinterest in the name of research. Following their own personal joys, BA and Julia heard the call of the high desert and they now live in the New Mexico mountains. BA’s personal saviors include her wife, her best friends, and coffee. Lots of coffee. Really good coffee.

Having written everything from fist-fighting cowboys to rural single dads to werewolves, BA does her damnedest to tell the stories of her heart, which is committed to giving everyone their happily ever after. With books ranging from heart-warming stories of found families, to rodeo cowboys that are fighting to make a mark, to fiery passionate love affairs, BA refuses to be pigeon-holed by anyone but the voices in her head.

Becca Seymour

person with brown hair and glasses in front of a bookshelf

“From small towns to supernatural realms—feel-good MM romances.”

Becca has a sweet tooth for marshmallow-hearted monsters, swoon-worthy supernatural studs, and everyday guys and basketball players with hearts of gold. If you like your MM romance sweet, spicy, and occasionally action-packed, slip into stalker mode and fall hard for her True-Blue and Minnesota Eagles men—and maybe a shifter or monster two.

Beck Grey

Beck Grey is an author of LGBTQ+ lower-angst romance, writing inclusive happily ever afters, because we all deserve to see characters like us find happiness. Incognito worker bee by day, Beck spends evenings and weekends devoted to writing stories involving hot characters, favorite tropes, and happy endings. If you love character driven stories that feel real, without the heavy trauma, you’ve found your place. Welcome.

Bix Barrow

Bix Barrow writes LGBTQIA+ contemporary and paranormal romance with low angst, light suspense, moderate chaos, and strong humor. Connect with Bix for a free novella at www.bixbarrow.com

BL Jones

BL Jones is a twentysomething British author who spends all her free time reading and writing and taming her three little brothers. She lives in Bristol with her long-time girlfriend and their temperamental bunny named Pepsi. She’s been writing stories since she was five, rarely sharing them with anyone except her numerous stuffed animals. BL has had a difficult journey into discovering and accepting her own queerness, and therefore believes that positive, honest, and authentic stories about queer people are very important. She hopes to contribute her own stories for people to have fun with and enjoy.

Website | Instagram | Amazon | Goodreads

Chantal Mer

person in a black shirt with blonde shoulder-length hair standing in front of an trees

Chantal Mer never set out to write books. Yet here she is, and she’s having a blast. Happily ever afters for everyone make her heart sing.

When she’s not writing, Chantal can be found walking her adorable dog, going to musical theater with her daughter, observing the night sky with her husband and his telescope, and learning about the latest advances in video games with her son. Give her a book and a glass of wine and she’s in her happy place. Chantal lives outside of Philadelphia with her husband, two teens, and her sweet pup, Miss Toffee.

Co-writing with Susan Scott Shelley

D.K. Sutton

D. K. Sutton is a bestselling author of gay romance. As an introvert, she has always been a little awkward (and a lot geeky). Turns out, those are handy traits for an author. She writes fun low angst books you’ll want to savor like that first cup of coffee. (Although readers warn that drinking while reading her books might not be advisable.)

D.C. Emerson

For many years, D. C. Emerson identified as queer, but during the pandemic, they discovered they were also nonbinary. Reading queer literature greatly impacted their understanding of themself, and through that journey, they began writing their own queer stories. Nowadays, they love exploring different queer and genderqueer identities through their writing and reading.

Their biggest hope in writing queer fiction is to provide at least one other person out there with characters and story lines that they can recognize themselves, or their friends and loved ones in.

David Gray

David Gray is a retired scientist who finally has time to explore the adventure of writing fiction. His novels and short stories live somewhere in the intersection between romance, fantasy, and science fiction, with cozy themes and happy endings. He lives with his husband in sunny San Diego, where they dote on their jungle kitty Bagheera.

Books by David Gray are written without the use of generative AI.

E.J. Stoll

I’m E.J. (she/her). I’m a queer romance author living in Boston, MA. My books are contemporary MM romances that feature warm, fuzzy characters who are looking for their happily ever after. What can I say? I’m a romantic at heart and adore characters who are chasing their dreams and falling in love.

If I’m not writing, you’ll find me drinking too much coffee, hanging out with my cat, and enjoying time in the wilderness with my spouse or friends.

E.M. Denning

E. M. Denning is a Canadian author and lover of gay romance.

EM Denning has more than thirty romance novels under her belt and has become an author you can rely on to bring you emotionally endearing, soft and fuzzy, steamy stories. She is well known among her friends for her love of naps and sarcasm. She spends her free time reading as many romance novels as she can get her hands on.

Ellie Ash

Ellie has had a life-long love affair with books. A proud Canadian, she graduated from university with an English Literature Bachelors and Masters—as well as an avid appreciation for MM romance thanks to all the slash fanfiction she read and wrote. Around 2021, she realized that the kind of MM romance she enjoys was now being traditionally and indie published, and she has not looked back.

From devouring ARCs to betaing and editing while writing in her spare time, Ellie was inspired by a reader and writer conference in 2024 to take the plunge and put some of her own stories out in the world. In her spare time, she reads, writes, plays D&D, and pursues other geeky interests.

Essie Sloane

Essie Sloane currently lives in Louisville, Kentucky with her daughter and cat. She’s a life long reader and has dreamed of being a writer since she was a child. When they’re not reading, they enjoy doing small craft projects – crocheting and diamond painting, mainly. She also enjoys listening to music, studying queer history, and playing on her computer. You can reach out to them on Facebook or Instagram. They love to chat!

Evie McGlynn

Evie always been an avid reader, mostly fantasy, science fiction and, of course, romance. After raising three children into adulthood, acquiring a master’s degree, and opening a mental health counseling practice, she figured she didn’t have enough to do, so she decided to write books. Evie lives “down the shore” in New Jersey with her husband, her youngest son, his wife, and her goofy Rottweiler. Every summer she complains about “the bennies” coming down and snarling up the traffic, but she’s a Jersey Girl through and through.

Madalyn George

I’m Madalyn George, the author of (mostly) low-angst, (hopefully) funny MM Romance happily ever afters (spoiler alert). I write what I enjoy reading, contemporary stories with sweet clueless guys who are really good at sex!

I’ve always been an avid reader, and I discovered MM Romance after watching an indy film that was based on a self-published novel. I headed over to Amazon to check it out and never looked back! I spend most of my time working or writing, but enjoy movies and theater as well as visits to the beach and Disney when I have some free time.

Merry Farmer

USA Today Bestselling author Merry Farmer—who writes Omegaverse as MM Farmer—is an award-winning novelist who is currently living the nomad life in Europe and loving it. She has been writing since she was ten years old and realized one day that she didn’t have to wait for the teacher to assign a creative writing project to write something. It was the best day of her life.

Website | Facebook Page | Facebook Group | Instagram | TikTok | BookBub | Amazon | Goodreads

Minerva Howe

Minerva Howe is a lover of books, movies, and music, and she loves to tell stories. She lives in central New Mexico with her wife, a pack of dogs, and a sprawling yard full of cactus. She writes love stories about Alphas and Omegas, mpreg, and quite simply, love. To see what’s new and to find all her books, check out her website at www.minervahowe.com — Minerva also writes as bestselling and award winning author Julia Talbot.

Riley Long

Riley Long is a non-binary spouse and parent living a quiet life in Virginia, with their husband, son, and one silly dog. They spend their evenings writing, reading, and putting together puzzles. Two of Riley’s favorite things are sweet white wine and ice cream (not necessarily together). Riley writes low-angst spicy romance, with a special place in their heart for bi awakenings.

Website | Instagram | BookBub | Amazon | Goodreads

Stella Rainbow

Stella Rainbow lives in a small town in India with her family and her eight-year-old cat, Harry, who is her number one supporter, cuddle buddy, and writing buddy all rolled into one. Living with a chronic illness, Stella grew up with books as her best friends, and now she writes in the hopes of giving others like her a reprieve from the real world.

Stella’s books are low on the angst, high on the sweetness, with a doze of found family, and some absolutely adorable fur—and sometimes scale—babies.

Find her books on www.authorstellarainbow.com

Susan Scott Shelley

USA TODAY bestselling author Susan Scott Shelley writes romance with heat and heart that celebrates love without limits. She enjoys watching hockey, training for her next run, reading romance novels, and binging episodes of her favorite British TV shows. A city girl who likes being out in nature as often as possible, she has yet to meet a plant she hasn’t wanted to take home and she really wants a pet crow.

Co-writing with Chantal Mer

Vinni George

Vinni George has been a lover of romance novels (of all shapes, sizes, and colors) since she ﬁrst got her hands on one of her grandmother’s Harlequins and has never looked back. She lives in Ohio with her two favorite guys (her husband and son) and, hopefully—one day—a dog. When she’s not writing, Vinni can be found working for her family’s business, which provides plenty of plot bunnies. In her spare time, Vinni is a soccer mom who dabbles in performance art, quilting, and various culinary pursuits and enjoys traveling. Vinni’s debut novel, Hold the Door, was a ﬁnalist and runner-up in Contemporary Gay Romance in the 2020-2021 Rainbow Awards.

Learn about the stories

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Learn about the authors