Heart of the Baltic

Here's a recommendation for my next German road-trip novel, Leave Your Heart in Heidelberg: an unromantic German international student x a fussy comic artist. Blurb below!

The full 230,000-word manuscript is complete.

Xia Chang'an was fed up with his PhD advisor standing him up. Truly fed up.

As luck would have it, he came across a recruitment notice for international Chinese-language volunteers in Latvia.

So he calculated how much he'd earned writing web novels and made a "scandalously bold" decision: he was running away to Latvia!

The infamous director Li Bo had recently become the target of an online hate campaign.

There was only one reason: his films were terrible.

Li Bo remembered the first novel he'd adapted. Its story was set in Latvia, and he suddenly felt like going there to get some peace and quiet.

Old Town Riga, St. Peter's Church

Xia Chang'an: Well, well, if it isn't the terrible director who ruined my novel.

Li Bo: The look he's giving me is kind of weird.

Some time later

Li Bo: We're going to be like this, and you're not even going to make it official?

Xia Chang'an: I only wanted to go abroad, not come out... Fine, fine, I'll make it official!

An infamous terrible-film director top x a clueless, lightweight fiction writer bottom

A straightforward, secretly passionate top x a sharp-tongued but soft-hearted bottom

Both virgins, one-on-one romance, happy ending

(Mostly set in the three Baltic states)

Coming soon 1: Leave Your Heart in Heidelberg, a German road-trip novel

Xie Yan was a terrible sport. He lost a game of Truth or Dare and kissed a man.

After that, he never played the game again.

Later, he got involved with that man and lost again.

Jiang Yuechuan left to study in Heidelberg, and Xie Yan cursed as he blocked his contact information.

Before he knew it, a year had passed since Xie Yan and Jiang Yuechuan broke up. Their relationship had been full of holes from the very beginning, so it wasn't much to celebrate anyway.

Besides, he was the one who had dumped the other guy.

Xie Yan decided to have a drink and put the whole thing behind him.

Then he got completely drunk.

He took a number off his blacklist and cried for most of the night.

The next day, still groggy, Xie Yan made up his mind: he was going to Germany.

He would go to Berlin, Frankfurt... anywhere except Heidelberg.

He just wanted to see what Germany had to offer. It had nothing to do with anyone else.

-

Jiang Yuechuan had never understood Xie Yan. He didn't understand how Xie Yan could kiss a stranger just because of a game, why he never made any plans for the future, or why, even after they got together, Xie Yan kept saying they were worlds apart.

He also couldn't understand why Xie Yan wouldn't listen when he said he would come back.

Jiang Yuechuan had always been someone who did things by the book and kept his life firmly under control. The only thing that ever went wrong was that night, when a drunk Xie Yan said to him, "Hey, handsome, can I kiss you?"

He didn't pull away.

At some point, he stopped understanding himself, too.

He couldn't understand why he hadn't pulled away from that kiss, or why whenever Xie Yan threw a fit, he was always the first to give in. He'd always hated trouble.

Even less could he understand why he let his life go off the rails.

He'd tried to get back on track. He'd tried to get over Xie Yan. But all his efforts fell apart when he found out Xie Yan had boarded a flight from Shanghai to Frankfurt.

The trip took twelve hours. He'd secretly made the round trip many times and knew it well.

-

The day he landed in Berlin, Xie Yan folded his arms behind his sunglasses and coolly watched Jiang Yuechuan take his luggage.

Xie Yan said, "You've been secretly checking my Moments."

Jiang Yuechuan replied, confused, "I wasn't sneaking a look. I liked your post."

-

No one knows whether Goethe ever said, "Leave your heart in Heidelberg."

And no one knows that Xie Yan left his heart there.

Rekindled romance, both virgins, happy ending

An unromantic German international student x a slightly fussy comic artist

Coming soon 2: Master, the Snake Wants to Coil Around You

Zhaozhao was a little spirit snake, stunningly beautiful both in human and snake form.

He arrived in the big city, innocent and wide-eyed, hoping to stay in an area populated by humans.

He learned that if he found a master and earned enough points, he could get permanent residency!

Full of enthusiasm, Zhaozhao embarked on a journey to find a master

But he got off to a bad start and suffered the first major setback of his life as a snake.

Fortunately, a man rescued him.

The man seemed distant to the core, as if no one could ever get into his heart.

But he was exactly Zhaozhao's type, had a secure university teaching job, and was a good person. Perfect!

For the first time in his life, the cold-blooded animal felt his heart go thump, thump, thump.

Zhaozhao liked him and wanted so badly to claim the man as his master.

-

Mu Xuan had been able to understand animal languages ever since he was born.

He was always cold and distant, and no animal had ever stirred his heart.

He heard the little white snake, destined to be devoured by human society, praise him as "handsome." He also heard it cry "Help!" and "It hurts!"

What did that have to do with him? Mu Xuan turned away without a care

Then he turned back.

Mu Xuan's life had broken precedent.

Before he could set things right, the little white snake had already stumbled into his life.

One morning, a beautiful young man stood outside his door, gazing at him with clear, innocent eyes.

The young man spoke in a melodious voice: "Hello. Would you be willing to be my master?"

Mu Xuan asked in return, "Do you know what 'master' means?"

The young man nodded blankly, clearly not knowing.

He also didn't know that his captivating eyes changed subtly with the light, like a snake's.

It was a secret Mu Xuan discovered after gazing at him for a long time.

-

Zhaozhao thought Mu Xuan was the best person in the world. Only Mu Xuan knew the darkness, coldness, and possessiveness in his own heart.

Whether he was frightened, happy, or feeling amorous, Zhaozhao loved to coil himself around Mu Xuan.

That was how things went, until the moment Mu Xuan revealed his true self.

Mu Xuan held the flushed, delirious Zhaozhao from behind and kissed the little red mole on his back.

By Zhaozhao's ear, he repeated, "Remember, you're the one who coiled around me first."

A dark, ruthless dom professor x a cute, lively little snake

Theme: Whether you can move on or not, time will carry everything past