Heartline

By Hope Zane

Ren’s world is about five-foot-seven with blond hair and blue eyes.

Ren worships his best friend. As far as he's concerned, Nice hung every last star in the sky. He's the prettiest, the coolest. Everything he does is special, from the way he starves himself skinny to the way he tells Ren all his worst ideas.

They're happy in sleepy Allister, with mall dates and gentle plans, until Nice’s mom dies. Nice takes off in the middle of the night, and Ren is coming with him. If he needs to run, then Ren will run, too. And if what he needs is to be wanted by every person in every room, to be touched and loved and devoured until it stops hurting—then Ren will find some way to survive that, too.

Nice disappears with strangers, smokes cigarettes Ren hates, and always says the right thing. Sorry, Nice says. I didn’t mean it. You forgive me, don’t you?

Of course Ren does. He always does because this is love, isn't it? Wanting to do anything for him. Wanting to offer him your still-beating heart to rip out of your chest.

Heartline is Book 1 of Fragile Tender, the heartfelt, non-fantasy start to an M/M contemporary fantasy series.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Hope Zane
• Release date: Dec 23, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005012892

Hope Zane

Hope Zane writes queer fiction, particularly fantasy that straddles the line between love and horror. We aren't afraid of the dark around these parts—not the night outside the window or the shadow parts of the human soul.Hope tells dark stories with a thread of hope woven through them, stories about sex that are really about trust, and stories about pain that are really about love.They're here to remind you that there are things that can harm us but still nothing to fear.