Delilah Devlin's Blog

Who doesn’t love pizza? But cheese pizza…? To me, cheese pizza is unfinished. My daughter, on the other hand, loves cheese pizza, especially when she’s facing leftover pizza.

Well, I’m posting my weekly jigsaw early because I have a guest posting tomorrow. I hope you enjoy finishing it!

For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, tell me what toppings, if any (maybe you’re a cheese pizza person, too!), you enjoy on a pizza.

The post Puzzle-Day: National Cheese Pizza Day! (Contest) first appeared on Delilah Devlin.

Hi, Delilah! Thank you for letting me take over your blog today to talk about fated mates. From Greek myths to modern TV, people have been fascinated by the idea that some love stories are meant to be.

Let’s think about the fated mates trope in A Court of Thorns and Roses, destined partners in The Black Dagger Brotherhood. And in Greek mythology. Not to mention Claire and Jamie in Outlander, Buffy and Angel in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, even Lois and Clark in Superman. Across time and across genres, these stories resonate because they suggest love isn’t random—it’s destiny.

I think there are a few reasons why the fated mates trope has such staying power.

1. It speaks to a secret wish we all have.

Even if we’re practical, even if we’ve had our hearts broken, many of us still carry that quiet, hopeful thought: what if there really is one person who’s meant for me? One person that the universe will do whatever it takes to bring us together. That idea of “the one” is powerful, and when you’re single, enticing to hold onto. You kiss a lot of frogs being meeting your prince. Fated love stories take that wish and make it real, reminding us that destiny can deliver love when we least expect it. I met my husband on a dating app. But even if I’d never joined that app we would have met because he ran a local movie Meetup group, and I joined that group. I had been planning to go to the next movie night. So fate had planned for us to meet one way or another. The dating app just meant we met sooner.

2. Fate doesn’t mean easy.

One of the things I love most is that even if two people are “meant to be,” the path is rarely smooth. Fate may bring them together, but it doesn’t solve everything. They have to fight for their love, often against impossible odds. Think of Buffy and Angel’s heartbreaking romance, or Claire and Jamie’s decades-spanning trials in Outlander. Fate may write the first chapter, but choice and courage write the rest.

3. It’s a perfect match for sci-fi and fantasy.

What better backdrop for epic, destined love than outer space, or a world of magic, or a realm where prophecies shape the future? Sci-fi and fantasy amplify the stakes. Falling in love isn’t just about risking your heart—it might mean risking your world, your people, or even the universe itself. That larger-than-life scale makes the romance burn even brighter. I think just about every time travel romance is a fated mates story. Two people from different time periods are brought together by some twist of fate and fall in love.

That’s exactly what I wanted to capture in my book, Alien Affair, the first in my Princes of Dagelax series.

Writing Alien Affair let me blend everything I love: the swoony inevitability of fated mates, the high stakes of survival romance, and the dazzling backdrop of a galaxy at war. But at the heart of it all is that timeless question: is love written in the stars, or do we choose it for ourselves?

Contest: Do you believe in soulmates—or do you think love is all about choice and timing? Share your thoughts below for a chance to win either a digital copy of Alien Affair or a $5 Amazon gift card!  I’ll choose two random winners after September 18, 2025.Alien Affair

She signed up for a simple drug trial. She never expected to wind up on an alien warship.

Natalie Hawk needs cash—fast. Drowning in debt, she jumps at the chance to test a cutting-edge serum. But when the “clinic” is revealed to be a spaceship and the “trial” is really a desperate search for women with royal Dagelaxian blood, she realizes she’s been lured into something far bigger than she ever imagined.

Prince Zorin Valtasar knows the fate of his people depends on finding the right mate. When he lays eyes on Natalie, he feels the pull of destiny—she is the one. But she’s from Earth, and the idea of being a royal concubine doesn’t sit well with her. She wants freedom. She wants love. She wants more.

Before she can escape, the ship is attacked, forcing Natalie and Zorin to flee in an escape pod to an uncharted region of his planet. With danger closing in, their survival depends on each other. And as the serum awakens the alien power in her veins, resisting Zorin’s seductive touch becomes impossible.

She was meant to save his people. But claiming her as his mate might be the only way to save them all.

Alien Affair is the first standalone romance in the Princes of Dagelax series—perfect for fans of fated mates, forced proximity, and possessive alien royals.

Purchase link: https://books2read.com/AlienAffair
Add it on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/228560160-alien-affair

About Terryn Mars

Terryn Mars writes sizzling science fiction romance that always has a happily ever after. From a young age astronomy fascinated her. She often wondered what might be out there among the billions of stars. Now she gets to let her imagination soar writing tales of human women finding love with alien heroes. Terryn lives in Southwestern Ontario, Canada with her husband and two cats.

Terryn links:
Website: https://terrynmars.com
Instagram: https://instagram.com/terrynmars
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/terryn-mars
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TerrynMars

The post Terryn Mars: Written in the Stars– Why Fated Love Stories Keep Us Coming Back (Contest) first appeared on Delilah Devlin.

Today is another obscure holiday — Skyscraper Day! It’s a day to recognize the innovation and history of skyscraper buildings. Yeah, I’m not too excited about this one, but every day needs to be special, right?

For a chance to win a $5 Amazon Gift Card, comment below. Is there a city’s skyline you admire? Enjoy the puzzle! 

The post Sliding Puzzle: Skyscraper Day (Contest) first appeared on Delilah Devlin.

This picture makes no sense, but I have a task for you.

For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, tell me a story about this picture. Taken any element in the picture, or all of them, and tell me what this picture is about. Have fun with it! Maybe use the fact that books are leading you somewhere (maybe, another world?), and tell me where you’re going.

The post Tell Me a Story (Contest) first appeared on Delilah Devlin.

For those of you in the U.S., Happy Labor Day! Enjoy the day off!

I hope you spend it with family, relaxing and grilling something yummy! I’m not sure we’re going to do anything elaborate. The SIL is working today, and the kids are likely just to enjoy Facetiming or gaming with friends. I can’t see my dd being eager to fire up the grill on her own. So instead, maybe I’ll make my special ravioli pasta and give her a break. Anyway, enjoy your day!

Open Contests

Be sure to check out these posts and enter to win the prizes that are still up for grabs:

I love Fridays! (Contest) — This one ends today! Win an Amazon gift card!Saturday Puzzle-Contest: The Black Moon — This one ends soon! Win an Amazon gift card!Anna Taylor Sweringen/Michal Scott: Maria Fearing — Her Own Hope and Dream — This one ends soon! Win an Amazon gift card!Happy Dog Appreciation Day! (Contest) — This one ends soon! Win an Amazon gift card!Gabbi Grey: Stories Finding New Homes (Contest) — Win FREE box sets of books!Favorite Romances You’ve Watched Recently (Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!Saturday Puzzle-Contest: Cold Pool — Win an Amazon gift card!August into September (Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!The post Happy Labor Day & Open Contests! first appeared on Delilah Devlin.

August

Work-related:

I completed two sets of edits and began work on one other author’s edits.I read several Burn entries.

Health-related:

I continued with my immunotherapy. I underwent one Keytruda infusion this month. I also continued taking Lenvima at an every other day dosage due to side effects.I had an appointment with my heart doctor, and all is well. I won’t see him again for a year.I underwent an echocardiogram, with mostly normal results, so no worries there.I underwent a PET scan. In all the places I was most worried about—anything around my abdomen—no growths were found. There was one sub-centimeter dot on a parotid lymph node beside my jaw. Just something to watch for now.

Happiness-related: 

I’m visited my sister for a small vacation at the beginning of the month! It was delightful staying with her and catching up!I swam every day the weather cooperated! Unfortunately, rain and cooler weather hit during the last week of the month, and now the pool is too cool for me to swim.I completed my participation in #the100dayproject. Here are a few small pieces I completed in August:

September

  

For work-related, I plan:

To finish reading the  Burn submissions and announce the lineup for the next anthology in early September!To finish writing  Ignition ! Again—no excuses! This will complete the Delta Fire series, my erotic firefighter stories. The book will be out by the end of the month!To begin work on  Built Like Mack , the next story in my We are Dead Horse series.To complete working on the edits I have for one author and await the arrival of another project coming in September.

For health-related, I plan:

To continue to focus on recovery! Rest when I need to, and some light exercise. I have to figure out what, other than housework, I can add to my exercise plan since swim season is over.To endure two immunotherapy sessions this month.

For happiness-related, I plan: 

To establish a new exercise regimen now that swim season is past and commit to it!To create more art.Contest

Comment on anything you’ve read in this post. Tell me what you’re doing to make yourself happier and healthier, or tell me what you plan to read in September …

Like I said, comment on anything for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card!

The post August into September (Contest) first appeared on Delilah Devlin.

Well, it happened sooner than I’d hoped.

This past week, I swam once. Then the rains came, day after day. We experienced very cloudy days, nights that slipped into the 60s, and days that didn’t climb out of the upper 70s. Yesterday, I checked the pool temperature, and it was 81 degrees. For me, that’s a temperature I call “gasp-worthy.” I checked the forecast for the next ten days, and we have several days that will climb into the upper 80s. However, if you own a pool, you know that warming it up takes longer than cooling it down. I might try to swim on one or two of those hotter days, picking the hottest point of the day to get into the pool, however uncomfortable it may be. But “Swim Season” is basically over, which makes me very, very sad.

For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, please suggest activities I can do around the house to replace my daily swims. Walking any distance is also something I struggle with due to diminished stamina while I’m on my immunotherapy meds.

The post Saturday Puzzle-Contest: Cold Pool first appeared on Delilah Devlin.

I’m a big cinephile—someone who loves movies. My favorite genre is action-adventure with a touch of comedy. I also adore sci-fi, and not surprisingly, romance.

I was thinking about my favorite romance movies and trying to make a short list of my favorites, but it was too lengthy, so I narrowed it to ones I’ve watched recently and really enjoyed.

The Gorge

The Gorge had everything—action, a romance, and sci-fi. Plus, the chemistry between the two leads was off the charts.

The Mountain Between Us

A deadly journey and two strong protagonists. I should’ve just said, “Idris Elba,” and that would’ve been enough.

Anyone But You

Not on par with the previous two “romances,” but this one was very funny. Humor will win me over every time.

So, how about you? What’s on your list of romantic faves you’ve recenty discovered? Comment below for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card!

The post Favorite Romances You’ve Watched Recently (Contest) first appeared on Delilah Devlin.

Hello, Delilah!  Thank you for inviting me to discuss my new release!  Love in Mission City: The Four Seasons is my fourth box set in the Love in Mission City world.  The box set has five short stories that all appeared previously in other anthologies.  Four seasons and five stories?  Well, four seasons and a bonus story.  I have a tale to share, though, about how this came about.

As you may know, 2024 was my year of saying Hell yes to every opportunity that came my way.  Let me tell you, there were a lot.  I joined some shared worlds, I poked my head down rugby rabbit holes, and I wrote about gay rockstars.  I also signed up for about twenty anthologies. Yep! Twenty.  That number was split between charity projects and for-profit ones.

I hit the ground running with several stories coming due within weeks.  Undaunted, I had fun with Plot Whisperer as she whispered plots to me.  I put my head down and wrote the stories.  The second story I wrote was Christmas Courtship.  The story of two men meeting — and falling in love — at a Christmas market.  Okay, so winter.

At that point, I was starting to think about what I would do with the short stories once the anthologies were delisted and my rights reverted.  To that point, I’d sort of been doing things haphazardly.  Kind of all over the place.  I had my first box set, which, of the five stories, only had two that were at all linked.  Readers still enjoyed the five stories, but they lacked cohesion.  My second box set was two novellas that were connected. So that worked.

My third box set started a little chaotically, but the final novella drew everything together nicely.  Readers have appreciated that.

Which brings me to this latest.  I had a Christmas story.  I’d signed up to write an autumn/bonfire story.  Okay, two seasons.  Beyond that, I had two more planned in Mission City — an office romance and an instalove.  Why not set them in spring and summer?  Okay then…done.  Except, I wrote: Christmas, Summer, Autumn, and then Spring.  In my head, I had to hold what I’d written and what I was going to write.  Plus, I had to integrate the stories into an existing world.

I managed.  I did give the box set to a couple of ARC readers who are familiar with Mission City to ensure I did everything okay — which, apparently, I did.  The bonus story was one I wrote for a charity anthology that didn’t have a home.  Interestingly, I’m not even certain which season I set it in — that was one of the more rushed projects, and at only 5k words, I had to get in and out quickly.

The stories range from 5k to 15k.  The total is about 55k — which is generally (although not planned) — the length of my boxsets.  I want readers to feel like they’ve received some value for their hard-earned dollars.

That’s it!  The story of how I got my stuff together and put out a cohesive box set.  I have three more coming, and I’ve already sat down and mapped them out.  The New Romance Café has moved away from anthologies and are doing multi-author themed series.  My two rugby books were part of the first one.  I’ve signed up for three more (because, of course I did) and we’ll see what my brain puts out.

Okay.  Thank you for letting me visit!  I love sharing the writing/marketing process with your readers.

Contest: As a special thank you, I would love to gift copies of my first two boxsets: Love in Mission City: The Shorts and Love in Mission City: The Boyfriends Duet.  Just let me know – do you prefer themed anthologies or boxsets or does there have to be a cohesive throughline?  Just drop a comment – Random will select a winner!  Good luck!

Love in Mission City: The Four Seasons

Love in Mission City: The Four Seasons includes five short stories…

Mission City is tucked in the charming Cedar Valley in southwestern British Columbia. If you love heartwarming, contemporary small-town gay romances, then come home to Mission City and fall in love with the men who live there. Romance shows up in the unlikeliest places. And trouble has a way of finding them…

Christmas Courtship

Johnson takes great pride in his homemade apple cider, and the Christmas market is the perfect place to find new customers. As he scans the holiday craft booths, his eye is caught by some exquisite fairy figurines and he’s intrigued. But Henry, the artist, is excruciatingly shy. It will take all of Johnson’s charm, and a little holiday magic, to make this more than one fleeting encounter.

Christmas Courtship is a 12k gay holiday romance short story with a quiet artist, a boisterous cider-maker, some nosy matchmakers, the magic of Christmas, and a zany border collie named Zeus. The story previously appeared in the anthology Mistletoe and Markets.

Anything’s Pawsible

Carter can’t resist saying hi to every cute dog he sees, but his neighbor’s two, Sheffield and Rosebud? Totally adorable. So’s their grouchy owner, even if Byron seems to avoid human contact. Carter will just keep on being himself, and maybe even a man who has given up on love will find he has space in his life for some sunshine.

Anything’s Pawsible is a 15k instalove age-gap, opposites-attract, grumpy/sunshine gay interracial romance short story with a curmudgeon accountant, a Gen Z writer, and two of the cutest dogs ever. The story first appeared in the anthology Just Add Love.

The Office Hotshot

Successful architect Knight assumed he could trust his sister-in-law to complete the interior decoration on his latest project, as she always has. Instead, in walks a flamboyant, cheerful stranger who announces he’s her maternity leave replacement.
Orlando’s just out of school, and he wants to make a good impression in this dream job, but something about uptight Knight pushes all his buttons. Seducing the boss definitely isn’t a great idea, but he just can’t help himself.

The Office Hotshot is a 15k word gay romance short story with a successful architect, a quirky younger interior designer, and a cantankerous photocopier. This story first appeared in the anthology On the Clock.

Pumpkin Spicy

Clay is at the Fall Market selling his super-secret pumpkin spice. When a handsome man keeps coming around to chat, he’s intrigued. Ashton is a mystery Clay definitely wants to solve before he sells his last jar.

Pumpkin Spicy is an 8k sweet gay romance short story with a shy stranger, nosy friends, and a chance meeting that might just lead to a happily ever after. This story first appeared in the anthology Light My Fire.

Returning to You

Cullen walked away from Gil to marry the woman he’d gotten pregnant, and Gil encouraged him to do the right thing. Now, years later, Gil answers the door and finds Cullen on his doorstep. The man Gil once loved is now widowed, a single dad, and ready to beg him for a second chance. Is it too late, or does Gil have the courage to risk his heart again?

Returning to You is a 5k gay second-chance romance short story with a single dad and a successful-but-lonely lawyer who find their way home. This story first appeared in the anthology Second Time’s A Charm.

Links:
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/Love-Mission-City-Four-Seasons-ebook/dp/B0FG13HX2P
Universal Book Link:  https://books2read.com/FourSeasons
Add it to Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/237518407-love-in-mission-city

About the Author

USA Today Bestselling author Gabbi Grey lives in beautiful British Columbia where her fur baby chin-poo keeps her safe from the nasty neighborhood squirrels. Working for the government by day, she spends her early mornings writing contemporary, gay, sweet, and dark erotic BDSM romances. While she firmly believes in happy endings, she also believes in making her characters suffer before finding their true love. She also writes m/f romances as Gabbi Black and Gabbi Powell.

Personal links:
Website: https://gabbigrey.com/
Newsletter sign-up: https://sendfox.com/gabbigrey
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authorgabbigrey/
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/gabbi-grey
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15456297.Gabbi_Grey
Amazon Author Central: https://www.amazon.com/Gabbi-Grey/e/B07SJVFX1M
Audible Profile: https://www.audible.com/author/Gabbi-Grey/B07SJVFX1M
Facebook (page): https://www.facebook.com/AuthorGabbiGrey

The post Gabbi Grey: Stories Finding New Homes (Contest) first appeared on Delilah Devlin.

Okay, I’m actually a cat person, but I do cohabitate with five dogs. Yes, they’re loving and have their own unique personalities, but I actually prefer cats because they’re…assholes. I laugh at their disdain of their human slaves. However, dogs are special, too. Most of my family prefer dogs because they come when they’re called and are affectionate, and not just when they’re being fed treats. They’re loyal. Yeah, I’m pretty sure my cats would eat me if I didn’t keep their food bowl filled. I just think cats are smarter and rule the roost. I respect that.

However, today is Dog Appreciation Day. I know there are a lot of dog lovers out there!

For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, solve the puzzle then tell me about your wonderful, loyal, furry friend.

The post Happy Dog Appreciation Day! (Contest) first appeared on Delilah Devlin.