Release Blitz: Welcoming the Recluse: Nora Phoenix
Welcoming The Recluse
May 28, 2026
I’m a man on a mission to stay as far away from everyone else as possible. I have too much damage as a veteran, and this is the only way to keep those I love safe—especially Boden, my teenage son, whom I haven’t seen in years.
I find a quiet spot on top of a mountain where no one bothers me. Until Arek shows up, the local doctor and a single dad to teenage twins. I help him with an emergency, but something happens. There’s a spark, a connection between us I’ve never felt before.
We become friends, and slowly but surely, he’s the reason I come down the mountain. Even though I’ve never been attracted to a man, I’m very much into Arek, and our friendship grows into more.
But the past never stays in the past, and if I want a future with Arek, I’ll have to deal with the mistakes I’ve made. Can I repair what I broke, or is it too late to find healing?
Welcoming the Recluse is a super slow burn, friends-to-lovers MM romance set in a small town, featuring two older single dads, a bi awakening, and all the hurt/comfort. This is book 7 in the Forestville Silver Foxes series but can be read as a standalone. Please mind the content warnings in the front of the book.
Macallister Heald is an army veteran with PTSD who self-isolates to protect others. He’s been living on the mountain, restoring an old campground and mostly keeping to himself except for necessary trips into town for supplies.
Arek Jacobson is a newer Doctor in town. He's a single dad with two teenage boys. Mac and Arek’s paths crossed once in a very casual way and then in two more intense interactions. And it’s enough to make Arek want to be friends and possibly find ways to help him deal with his issues.
I really felt for Mac because he was basically trapped in his own self-isolation. He wanted to be able to have connections. He missed his son. But he didn’t want to ever do anything to hurt them, so he hurt himself in a self-sacrificing way and stayed out of people's lives.
Arek is kind, empathetic, and also dealing with his own issues he tries to hide. He is an overthinker, caretaker, fixer, and running on empty between work and his home life. I loved his relationships with his twins and enjoyed seeing the differences in the twins' personalities.
As a tenuous friendship and deeper connection develop between Arek and Mac, so does an attraction and need for touch and care. I really liked these two guys together. They were both mature, caring, and really needed the connection, but at the same time were afraid of it. Seeing them be vulnerable and understand each other touched my heart.
It’s a new friends-to-lovers, bisexual awakening, hurt-comfort, small town, romance about healing, connection, and found family. This was such a beautiful and heartfelt story. These two men seemed so opposite, but they both had built up these big walls and put on these façades for others to protect themselves and used coping strategies to just get through life. But as they started to truly see under their facades and their walls just started to crack apart, it’s just so emotional and intense at times.
Arek Jacobson is a newer Doctor in town. He's a single dad with two teenage boys. Mac and Arek’s paths crossed once in a very casual way and then in two more intense interactions. And it’s enough to make Arek want to be friends and possibly find ways to help him deal with his issues.
I really felt for Mac because he was basically trapped in his own self-isolation. He wanted to be able to have connections. He missed his son. But he didn’t want to ever do anything to hurt them, so he hurt himself in a self-sacrificing way and stayed out of people's lives.
Arek is kind, empathetic, and also dealing with his own issues he tries to hide. He is an overthinker, caretaker, fixer, and running on empty between work and his home life. I loved his relationships with his twins and enjoyed seeing the differences in the twins' personalities.
As a tenuous friendship and deeper connection develop between Arek and Mac, so does an attraction and need for touch and care. I really liked these two guys together. They were both mature, caring, and really needed the connection, but at the same time were afraid of it. Seeing them be vulnerable and understand each other touched my heart.
It’s a new friends-to-lovers, bisexual awakening, hurt-comfort, small town, romance about healing, connection, and found family. This was such a beautiful and heartfelt story. These two men seemed so opposite, but they both had built up these big walls and put on these façades for others to protect themselves and used coping strategies to just get through life. But as they started to truly see under their facades and their walls just started to crack apart, it’s just so emotional and intense at times.
From the little interactions to a burgeoning friendship to an unexpected attraction, bi-awakening, and relationship, it was just a very organic process. And then when you pulled in the aspects of each of them having teenage sons, it added a whole other layer to their lives. I loved seeing the family moments and seeing Mac's World just open up and change, and seeing Arek finally allow people to help take care of him instead of being the caretaker for everyone else. These men found something meaningful to help take away their loneliness and fear of not being enough, but it also meant a lot to the sons, so the found family and the whole becoming part of the community aspects is as important as the love story. I honestly think this is my favorite of the series, and it took me by surprise how invested in them I was.
Awakening the Sheriff
Forestville Silver Foxes Book 2
Goodreads
Healing the Twin
Marrying the Guide
Goodreads
Healing the Twin
Forestville Silver Foxes Book 3
Goodreads
Goodreads
Protecting the Nerd
Forestville Silver Foxes #4
Amazon
Forestville Silver Foxes Novellas
Rescuing the Writer
Comforting the Grump
Forestville Silver Foxes Novellas
Goodreads
Would you like the long or the short version of my bio?
The short? You got it.
I write steamy gay romance books and I love it. I also love reading books. Books are everything.
How was that?
A little more detail? Gotcha.
I started writing my first stories when I was a teen…on a freaking typewriter. I still have these, and they’re adorably romantic. And bad, haha. Fear of failing kept me from following my dream to become a romance author, so you can imagine how proud and ecstatic I am that I finally overcame my fears and self doubt and did it. I adore my genre because I love writing and reading about flawed, strong men who are just a tad broken..but find their happy ever after anyway.
My favorite books to read are pretty much all MM/gay romances as long as they have a happy end. Kink is a plus… Aside from that, I also read a lot of nonfiction and not just books on writing. Popular psychology is a favorite topic of mine and so are self help and sociology.
Hobbies? Ain’t nobody got time for that. Just kidding. I love traveling, spending time near the ocean, and hiking. But I love books more.
Join @abbienicoleasp and @nora.phoenix in celebrating Welcoming the Recluse this week!
Enter the #giveaway for your chance to win an eBook copy of Welcoming the Recluse. Follow @nora.phoenix and comment on any host photo with #WelcomingtheRecluseIGTour for your chance to win!
Participating in this #BookstagramTour and giveaway are the following amazing reviewers:
@monicasam.world
@barb_t_k
@watchareadingams
@secret_librarian
@mnhockeymomreads
@anasilvaauthor
@bookwyrm896
@notguiltyofbooks
@caffeinated.crystal
@buttonsmom2003
@kellimareepa
@wintermorning72
@sixfeetunderbooksblog
@janethuntpa
@loveislovereview
0 comments