Heart2Heart (Charity Anthology) Volume #6 - Part II

Title: ⟫ Heart2Heart – A Charity Anthology (Collection) Volume #6

Authors: ⟫ Various

Blurb: ⟫ Once upon a time, a bunch of authors wondered... what would happen if Heart2Heart, the dating app responsible for pairing up the quirkiest, most perfect couples, brought people together by asking the questions they never knew they needed answered?

From learning each other’s secret zombie survival skills, to disputing the greatest starship captain ever, to confessing their feelings about Cornish pasties, the characters in these fourteen brand new stories inspired by reader suggestions will learn that no matter how random the question… love is always the answer.

And, as always, all proceeds from this anthology will benefit LGBTQ+ charities to ensure that love in all its incarnations will be celebrated and protected every day of the year!

Stories included in this collection are:

Heist of Hearts, by Alice Winters

Keeping Him in Cornwall, by Con Riley

Hate 2 Love U, by Daryl Banner

Love Down Under, by Eden Finley

Rock, Paper, Scissors, by Kate Hawthorne

Dog Days, by Kelly Fox

The London Chance, by Lane Hayes

My Darcy, by Lily Morton

A Drag Made in Heaven, by Max Walker

Connection, by Nicole Dykes

Worst. Date. Ever., by Onley James

Down the Mountain, by Rachel Ember

The Anti-Wingman, by Saxon James

The Choice, by Sloane Kennedy

Review: ⟫ This is the second review for this anthology – the original one was an ARC where I received only some of the stories.

Heist of Hearts, by Alice Winters

A bit of a comedy caper masquerading as a date. Reece is fast-talking and wise-cracking whilst Daryl is quietly supportive in a gentle giant kind of way. Not much in the way of romance and flashbacks explain their relationship. Sweet and funny, ⟫ 3.5

Keeping Him In Cornwall by Con Riley

This was sweet and relaxing to read. ⟫ 3.5

Dog Days by Kelly Fox

I haven’t read anything by Kelly Fox before but will be having a look at their back catalogue after this. This was a sexy, funny and touching read. The descriptions of characters – particularly Dame Judi – were evocative and I really enjoyed the story. ⟫ 4.5

Love Down Under by Eden Finley

This one made me laugh a lot! I have a great appreciation for snarky banter and sarcasm and this story had both of those in spades. The relationship between the leads was nicely done and I very much enjoyed their happily ever after. ⟫ 4.5

Hate 2 Love U, by Daryl Banner

Another nice, easy read. ⟫ 3.5

The London Chance by Lane Hayes

I didn’t connect to this one at all – in fact, I think it may be the only story in the anthology that I didn’t finish.

A Drag Made in Heaven, by Max Walker

A simple, sweet read ⟫ 3

Connection, by Nicole Dykes

Instagrammer meets tattoo artist on island paradise and they have a fling that turns into more. Sweet with some hot parts, but despite the title I felt it was a little ‘light’. Still enjoyed reading it though. ⟫ 3.5

Worst. Date. Ever., by Onley James

My favourite story in the anthology and could very easily fit into Onley’s Necessary Evils verse. A hitman uses a blind date as an alibi and everything goes – well, not wrong -- from there, but it definitely takes a turn! Laugh out loud funny interspersed with hotter than sin read and extremely satisfying read! ⟫ 5

The Choice, by Sloane Kennedy

Thought provoking story about the risks inherent in being your true self around people. I really liked the relationship between the two leads and would be interested in reading this if it was a full length novel rather than having to fit into an anthology. ⟫ 4

Overall, happy to keep my 4.5 rating for the whole anthology and pleased to have found a few new authors to follow.

Heart2Heart Charity Anthology (Collection) by Various Authors

Title: ⟫ Heart2Heart – A Charity Anthology (Collection) Volume #6

Authors: ⟫ Various

Blurb: ⟫ Once upon a time, a bunch of authors wondered... what would happen if Heart2Heart, the dating app responsible for pairing up the quirkiest, most perfect couples, brought people together by asking the questions they never knew they needed answered?

From learning each other’s secret zombie survival skills, to disputing the greatest starship captain ever, to confessing their feelings about Cornish pasties, the characters in these fourteen brand new stories inspired by reader suggestions will learn that no matter how random the question… love is always the answer.

And, as always, all proceeds from this anthology will benefit LGBTQ+ charities to ensure that love in all its incarnations will be celebrated and protected every day of the year!

Stories included in this collection are:

Heist of Hearts, by Alice Winters

Keeping Him in Cornwall, by Con Riley

Hate 2 Love U, by Daryl Banner

Love Down Under, by Eden Finley

Rock, Paper, Scissors, by Kate Hawthorne

Dog Days, by Kelly Fox

The London Chance, by Lane Hayes

My Darcy, by Lily Morton

A Drag Made in Heaven, by Max Walker

Connection, by Nicole Dykes

Worst. Date. Ever., by Onley James

Down the Mountain, by Rachel Ember

The Anti-Wingman, by Saxon James

The Choice, by Sloane Kennedy

Review: ⟫ You better believe when I saw that this was up for review, I sent in my request immediately! And I was lucky enough to get to read four stories including two by favourite authors of mine, plus two new ones.

Rock Paper Scissors by Kate Hawthorne

Bagel sounded absolutely magnificent in this story of which is better, mountains or the beach. This one started out as sex with no complications but pretty soon, feelings were being caught and things got a whole lot more complicated. I felt this one was more of a HFN rather than a HEA but it was a satisfying read and I liked the protagonists. ⟫ 3.5

My Darcy by Lily Morton

Typical Lily Morton with snarky banter, snappy dialogue and interesting side characters. Our leads were delightfully oblivious and if you’ve ever enjoyed any of Lily’s previous books, you’ll know exactly what to expect and enjoy this immensely. ⟫ 4.5

Down the Mountain by Rachel Ember

Second chance at love, very steamy but still quite heartfelt, I think this might be the first Rachel Ember story that I’ve read. I will definitely be looking out for other books as I really enjoyed the style of writing. ⟫ 4.5

Anti Wingman by Saxon James

As is often the case with characters written by Saxon James, Kai made me laugh my head off! He reminded me of an over-exuberant Labrador, with Rylan having to rein him in. A chance encounter on the Heart2Heart app which could have gone wrong in so many ways turns into a fabulous friendship that built into a beautiful relationship, even if someone had to let our leads know that they were in a relationship! ⟫ 5

I received and ARC of part of the anthology for review from GRR and will definitely be grabbing the whole thing when it’s released on 1st December. Overall score of 4.5 for the stories I read.

These Deviant Ties (Dark Romance Anthology) by Various Authors

Title: ⟫ These Deviant Ties (Dark MM Romance Anthology) 

Author: ⟫ Various 

Blurb: ⟫ Deviants and delinquents... 

These men exist outside the law. They walk in the shadows and thrive in the dark. Bad to the bone, they take what they want. What happens when what they want is you? What happens when the anger that burns through their veins is now directed at you? Can enemies really become lovers or is it just a losing game? These Deviant Ties follows eleven authors who bring you steamy, dark MM stories that will make your toes curl and your heart pound. 

 Review: ⟫ My general review would be that the stories I have read so far were nowhere near as dark as I was expecting. I don’t know if that means I’ve got a really dark/dirty mind or that my expectations were too high, but none of them struck as me as particularly out there when it came to the relationships. That isn’t to say that the anthology doesn’t contain anything good – some were really well interesting and I will definitely be looking for other stories from some of the authors. Individual reviews are below. 

Below the Belt by Andi Rhodes 

The first rule of fight club is – well, this isn’t that kind of fight club for a start. And the fighters aren’t all there voluntarily. This was fast, brutal and sexy in a very dark way. The relationship between Grizzly and Phantom was also fast, brutal and sexy but it made sense in the world in which they lived – they could hardly go out for tea and cupcakes! Not a lot of romance, but a LOT of chemistry! 4/5  

Diavolo by Andrea Joy 

This one felt a little misleading for a dark read. It started with torture and then took a turn that I didn’t expect. The writing was good – some of the descriptions of what Skyler and Ashton got up to were pleasantly toe-curling, but I’m not sure it fully belonged in this anthology. 3.5/5 

In the Eyes of my Enemy by C P Harris 

This went somewhere I wasn’t expecting with the reason behind the relationship not working out, so that was a good surprise. I liked it but this actual story didn’t stick with me particularly which is a shame because it was well written. 3.5/5 

Caged in Shadows by Amy Thorn 

I could imagine this on the small screen very much like Sons of Anarchy. Really well written, my heart went out to Shakespeare and you could definitely understand his motivations. I wish there had been more time spent with Liam – Shakespeare’s backstory was important but in a novella of this size, I felt too much time was spent on what had happened in the past rather than on his relationship with Liam. 3.75/5 

Evil Beautiful by Rene Van Dalen 

This story wasn’t my definition of dark but I did really enjoy it. Kellen sounded delicious and I loved that he wasn’t a walk-over, and I was intrigued by what I read of Gideon. I would definitely be interested in more mm romance by Rene Van Dalen, but this wasn’t anywhere near as dark as I was expecting/hoping. 4/5 

Loan Shark by Nero Seal 

This is a hard one to review because what happened between the two of them was straight up non-con, with nothing that I would call romance. I think as part of a bigger, longer story, things could have got much more interesting but as it stands, I can’t say I liked it. 2.5/5