Elliot Extra Series

At 31, William is happy, kind of. He has an apartment, and a job teaching at the local college. He also has a bad habit of cruising on dating apps when he's drunk, and a dead-end crush on Tyler, who has been out of sight and out of mind, off with his girlfriend in Australia. But Tyler's about to move back into his life, in a big way. In a moment of generosity, William offers Tyler a place to crash after a break-up. Tyler's back in town, licking his wounds, just as kind and clever as William remembered, although now he also hangs out shirtless in William's living room. How will he handle the tension and frustration of living a few feet from his crush, trying to juggle keeping on top of his grading and keeping his sanity? How much longer can he keep insisting that he's happy to live a life of the mind and ignore the incredible body doing yoga in his lounge? Tyler cooking him dinner every night is just being a good houseguest, or is he trying to be teacher's pet? William hadn't been to this bar before, nestled down an alley a few blocks from his apartment. Tyler led him to a courtyard out the back, which he hadn't noticed at first. "How'd you find this place?" Tyler didn't meet William's eyes. "It used to be my go-to for dates. It's quiet, usually, and generally the floor isn't sticky." "Are you romancing me?" William sounded amused, but he could feel the back of his throat catch as he spoke. "They also let you smoke outside, c'mon." Tyler hip-checked the door open, and picked a table in the corner. They were the only ones there. William noted that Tyler hadn't actually answered his question. "Did you go on many dates before Jules?" William realized he didn't really know anything about Tyler's dating life. That wasn't surprising exactly, but he couldn't deny he was curious. "No", Tyler deadpanned, "I was sweet 29 and never been kissed". William pulled a cigarette out of the pack in his jacket pocket and tapped it against the table, waiting. What happens if your first coming-of-age stalled? How young is too young for a mid-life crisis? Can you do both at once? William is about to find out. Extra Credit is a fresh, funny and intelligent romance novella, about longing, second chances and the feeling of finally coming home.

It took Ben a while, but he is finally doing what he wants to do, far away from his controlling and disapproving mother. He's studying music, and working in a coffeeshop, as well as completely failing to ever get a second date. Not that he wants second dates: at least that's what he has been telling himself. His life is busy enough as it is, between his upcoming performance exam and his adversarial relationship with Tom, the coffeeshop's most annoying regular customer. "Good morning" said Tom, sounding as cheerful as Ben had felt a few minutes earlier. "Morning to you too. What'll it be?" "Only a friendly conversation with my favourite barista, thanks", Tom smiled. It showed his teeth but didn't reach his eyes. "No coffee?" asked Ben, "Not that there's a lot of coffee in your usual orders", he added, unable to resist the dig. "No friendly conversation?" Tom, and to his credit, he made the disappointment sound genuine. Ben was pretty sure the emotion coursing through his veins right now was hatred. "Off the menu today, I'm afraid. Someone forgot to put it on the last stock order and we're fresh out." "That's a shame. A frappe then, half mocha, half chai, two pumps of vanilla, one of caramel, cream on top, chocolate and cinnamon dusting." "In this weather?" Ben said, knowing already he was going to end up making an iced drink in freezing temperatures just to let Tom indulge his bizarre sweet tooth. "The heart wants what it wants" said Tom, serenely. "Five fifty" ground out Ben between his teeth, his knuckles turning white as he gripped the edge of the counter.   Ben's friend and co-worker Jodie is intent on matchmaking, but after a string of failed first dates he begs her to stop trying to set him up. He's avoiding his phone anyway, because his mother keeps ringing him: Ben's little brother has ideas about moving to Elliot and somehow this is all his fault. Luckily, music is the one thing which comes pretty naturally, and Ben has been invited to be in some kind of portfolio for the college. He's pretty sure Tom works for the music school, but it's a big place and surely they won't bump into each other, right? How bad can Ben's luck possibly be?   Extra Sweet is the second in the Elliot Extra series by Erin Bilton-Hayes. It can be read as a standalone novel, and shares some characters and a location which will be familiar from Extra Credit.