The Bedroom Coach Agreement by Hayden Hall

Title: ⟫ The Bedroom Coach Agreement

Authors: ⟫ Hayden Hall

Rating: ⟫ 3.5/5

Blurb: ⟫ We’re the least likely couple you’ll ever see. Until the lights go out.

Parker

My brother’s best friend has a secret. And I just happen to know what he does in a hidden down-town apartment at night. In front of a camera. Sculpted like a Greek god, Dayton soon becomes all I want.

But a guy like me could never hope to catch his attention. I’ve never been with anyone. I’ve never even kissed a guy. Hell, not even the strangers on dating apps want to take me out. And my brother’s growing worry that I’ll get my heart broken – or worse – is only making things more complicated.

There’s no pity in Dayton’s eyes when he decides to be my only ally. And there’s no prank behind the spectacular first date I ask him to take me to. Before I know it, I’m doing the very thing my big brother wants to prevent.

I’m falling in love with a guy who claims to be incapable of loving anyone back.

Dayton

My best friend has a younger brother. And he just happens to be a curious and inexperienced freshman. Ginger, sexy, and determined to have the time of his life this semester, Parker quickly becomes my newest obsession.

He wants his first date to be something special. And grand gestures are my speciality. I know all the pitfalls of giving away your V-card. Nobody’s first time should be as cold and careless as mine. A toss of a coin decides it: I am his dating coach. And more.

There’s only one little hiccough in our plan. His big brother must never find out.

Except, when Parker’s soul collides with mine in a night of exploration and delights, I risk more than losing my certified player status. I risk losing the only friendship I preserved through my entire life.

I’m not sure if that’s a risk I’m willing to take.

The Bedroom Coach Agreement is the sixth novel in the Frat Brats of Santa Barbara series. It features an unlikely pairing, big brother’s best friend, and first-time storyline. While this book can be read as a stand-alone, it’s just more fun to read all the books in order, starting with The Fake Boyfriends Debacle.

Review: ⟫ The blurb promised one thing but the story gave me something different but I’m not mad at it. This was jock falls in love with nerd but with some major feelings and I enjoyed it. I found their moments together in the courtyard to be sweet, especially when they just sat in silence and looked at the stars. And when Dayton pulled out all the stops for that first date – yeah, I would have had stars in my eyes.

I loved the camboy moments, especially after Dayton found out that Parker was watching and was ‘acting’ towards him. They were very sexy – very sexy!

I had some minor gripes – the main one being the behaviour of the brother. Perhaps something happened in the previous books in the series that explains his behaviour but it just seemed really over the top and more than a little bizarre to me. I also wasn’t too sure about all of the cameos of characters from previous books – I haven’t read the rest of the series and that might be why they didn’t gel with me, which is a bit of a shame.

All in all, an enjoyable read.

Scapegoat by J.R. Gray (Working Dogs Book #1)

Title: ⟫ Scapegoat (Working Dogs Book One)

Author: ⟫ J.R. Gray

Blurb: ⟫ Special Agent Nolan Hudson

At seventeen, I ran. I joined the military and planned to never step foot in my home town again. Nothing could make me return to that hellhole and the pain I buried there, or so I thought— until I found myself on a plane to that very place.

Almost two decades later, I’m forced home to help find a missing nine year old. As a member of the most elite K9 special unit in the country, it was my job and you can’t exactly say no to the FBI. It should be easy, and I won’t have to face what I ran from.

However, the case is anything but simple and to make matters worse, I’m faced with the last person I ever wanted to see again: Officer Callum Stone— the sheriff’s son and the town’s golden boy. Only he’s not anymore—he’s a ruin of what he once was.

It’s Callum’s kid who’s missing, and all the feelings I’d spent almost twenty years running from rise to the surface. As secrets come to light, we realize our small town is hiding a lot more than we thought, and we’ll have to follow the trail of deception to get justice and maybe a second chance at love.

Scapegoat is a second chance MM romantic suspense, featuring a small town, some FBI K9 fun, and hurt/comfort vibes. It is the first book in J.R. Gray's Working Dogs series, which will be packed with action, suspense, and humor.

Review: ⟫ I read Sitting Ducks as part of the Your Book Boyfriend’s Boyfriend and really enjoyed it, so when the chance came to read Nolan’s story I leapt at it!

I didn’t enjoy this anywhere near as much as I liked Sitting Ducks. Initially, I wasn’t sure why – the parts I really enjoyed included Nolan’s relationship with Maddie, Snoop, the friendship between Hayes and Hudson, Knox and the procedural stuff. These were all top notch in my opinion.

The bits I didn’t like: the relationship between Callum and Nolan. Which, as they were the MCs was obviously a bit of a problem. I didn’t like how easily Nolan forgave Callum for what he had done in the past, and I didn’t feel enough time was given to resolving all of that between them. I didn’t like that Nolan seemed to be doing all of the work between the two of them – initially,yes, I could see why that was but after a while, it just got tiresome! Flying back and forth across the country once a month whilst Callum didn’t reciprocate just bugged the heck out of me! There were times when I mixed up Nolan and Callum because they didn’t come across to me as two separate people – their voices were too similar. There were too many loose ends for me – there felt like there was a huge amount of build up with regard to the Sheriff with no pay-off (for me at least); the relationship between Nolan and his parents – what was up with that? How come after such an intense friendship where they shared everything, Nolan treated Hayes so shabbily?

I really enjoyed getting to know Knox better, and like I said the stuff with the dogs was brilliant – the Snoop thing completely cracked me up! I am working my way through J.R. Gray’s M/M catalogue and really enjoyed Pretty Obsessed, and I will be on the lookout for the next Working Dogs book, but this one just didn’t work for me.

3.5/5 for me, although obviously YMMV.

I received an ARC from Gay Romance Reviews.

Best Belly Buddies by Ki Brightly & M.D. Gregory

Title: ⟫ Best Belly Buddies

Author: ⟫ Ki Brightly & M.D. Gregory

Blurb: ⟫ In Need of TLC

Zayden “Z” Shoemaker has secrets. He’s been in love with Dare, his straight best friend, for longer than he can remember, and on top of that tragedy in progress, he has an odd quirk none of his ex-boyfriends could handle. After every nasty breakup, Dare is there to help him through the heartache—and wipe away tears.

The Port in Every Storm

Fern “Dare” Darrow is tired of seeing men break Zayden’s heart. As far as he’s concerned, no one is good enough for his Z. When Zayden’s current man cheats and sends him into a cocoon of blankets and despair, Dare steps up in his role of best friend. Dare doesn’t expect to walk in on Zayden in a vulnerable position, which causes Dare to seriously question his sexuality for the first time. Dare is shocked into examining his true feelings for his best friend.

Scared But Determined

After confessions from both men, Dare and Zayden must make a decision that could transform every piece of their relationship and life, especially since they already live together. They’ll either grow with the change or destroy the one friendship that has kept them sane. Dare isn’t a coward, and Z is stronger than he thinks, but they will need each other more than ever if they want to overcome a lifetime of expectations.

Review: ⟫ I’ve never heard of this kink outside of perhaps werewolf romance, so that was a new one on me. I was very interested in how it worked and how the writers were going to incorporate it without too much feminisation and I do think they did that very well.

The story was very sweet – friends who to the outside look like they’ve been dating for years, with one pining after the other – sounded right up my street. But this didn’t gel for me – at all. There seemed to be a lot of extraneous characters – some, I believe, who have books of their own – that got too much attention. Their work life also seemed to play a huge role in the story but didn’t actually add anything to it.

I liked how Dare didn’t just dive straight into things as soon as he admitted his feelings – his concerns about what Zayden was looking for based on the porn he had watched seemed valid and I liked the fact that they communicated. I liked Zayden’s character development in as much as he learned to stand up for himself more and accept that what he was looking for from a relationship wasn’t as out there as he might have initially believed.

But it just felt too long – very drawn out and almost laborious. I loved the idea of the Boudoir shoot, but I was completely thrown out of the story by what happened there. It just seemed completely out of character considering how concerned/hesitant Dare had been up until that point. It felt wrong and it bugged me.

Perhaps I just wasn’t in the right mood for this? I think it was overall very well written and it passed the time, but I can’t see me looking into the various other stories written in the verse.

3.5/5 from me.

To Whom It May Concern by A.M. Johnson

Title: ⟫ To Whom It May Concern: A For Him Novella 

Author: ⟫ A.M. Johnson 

Blurb: ⟫ To whom it may concern, I can't be sure what you're into, that being said, if you like sexy and sweet romance with a whole lot of quirk, keep reading… 

Ever since Clay Saxon's parents passed away a year ago, he's been stuck in a rut, running their business, and suffering from the worst writer's block ever. 

But when Syrus Albie, aka yellow sweater guy, (you'll see) walks into The End Book Store, Clay's mundane little world turns to sunshine. 

I don't want to ruin it, but I can definitely say, when an introverted as hell narrator finally meets his favorite author and crush, all of his usual protocols go up in flames. 

Set in the For Him World, this stand-alone is the perfect introduction or addition to this steamy MM collection. 

Sincerely yours, 

A.M. JOHNSON 

Review: ⟫ I’ll preface this by saying that I haven’t read any of the ‘For Him’ verse that is mentioned in the blurb so went into this blind. I don’t think it made any real difference – I may have missed out on cameos that are from the other books, but it didn’t affect my enjoyment. 

This was a very sweet, soft, gentle read, with a socially awkward Syrus moving from a slight case of hero worship to love with a genuinely nice guy in Clay. There was no real angst in this book, just two guys meeting each other when they needed someone in their world and finding that they meshed really well. 

The communication between the two of them was a very strong point for me – perhaps because I recently read a book where I was almost screaming at the two main characters to just talk to each other – and Clay and Syrus made a lovely couple. I don’t know if I’ll look into the rest of the series, but this was a nice interlude. 

3.5/5 from me. I received an ARC from Gay Romance Reviews.

His Boy To Cuddle by Morticia Knight (Naughty or Nice Season 2)

Title: ⟫ His Boy To Cuddle (Naughty or Nice Season 2) 

Author: ⟫ Morticia Knight 

Blurb: ⟫ Dear Santa, 

I just recently moved to Boston and would love to find a sweet, pretty boy to spend the holidays with. I’m a fit, thirty-eight-year-old Daddy who loves to cuddle, pamper and kiss up a storm. Spankings and punishments? Not so much. With that in mind, I’d prefer a nice boy. 

Naughty in bed? That’s a different story! I’m all about heating up the sheets and keeping my boy satisfied. 

All Littles are welcome, any age, but if he likes dolls and frilly things—even better. I love me a femme boy who knows what he wants. 

I need to be up-front, though, Santa. This is a no strings attached arrangement for the week leading up to Christmas only. A long-term relationship isn’t what I’m searching for right now and be sure to let any potential boys know I’m not a wealthy dude. 

I can’t shower him with lots of presents but I can sure shower him with tons of affection! 

Thanks, big guy. I hope you can fulfil my wish. 

DareDaddy 

His Boy to Cuddle is part of the Naughty or Nice Season Two multi-author series. Each book can be read as a stand-alone, but there are so many Daddies looking for some holiday magic to bring them their perfect boys, why not grab them all? 

From this novella, you can expect a super shy boy who prefers nighties over PJs, a spectacular vintage Barbie collection, first times, and a muscular, bearded Daddy who can’t keep his hands off the prettiest boy he’s ever seen. 

Review: ⟫ I’ve never read a femme Little story before and that was what initially attracted me to reading this. An added benefit was that the Daddy in the story wasn’t wealthy – most of the other books I’ve read, money hasn’t been a problem which I think can sometimes skew the dynamic. 

This story was very sweet with excellent communication between Jaxon and Tracy. Although there were a few other characters, the focus was predominantly on the new couple, with Tracy learning about what he needed as a Little and Jaxon realising that he wanted more from the arrangement than he had initially thought. 

Lots of festive romance, playing with dolls and a little bit of sex. A solid 3.5/5 and I received an ARC from Gay Romance Reviews.

Break Me Daddy by Skyler Snow

Title: ⟫ Break Me Daddy 

Author: ⟫ Skyler Snow 

Blurb: ⟫ I did something stupid. 

Something needlessly, hopelessly, stupid and now my past is catching up with me. 

I knew when I saw that cash I should have left it alone, but I needed it. And doesn’t the world owe me a little bit of luck? A little reprieve from the constant BS? 

 

Sorry. I can’t help but to rant about my situation because the truth is that I am royally screwed. You see, I stole money from the mob. 

One stupid decision made in the heat of the moment and now I’m running for my life. A friend gave me enough money to hide… 

But he’s coming for me. 

Amadeo wants to possess everything that I am and punish me for what I’ve done. Maybe I could take that if he wasn’t so intent on making me call him ‘Daddy’. 

And maybe I wouldn’t care about that title, if it didn’t make me tingly all over. But I despise him and I always will. No matter what my stupid body…and heart…has to say. 

Break me Daddy is a full-length MM Daddy romance with morally gray characters, a possessive and demanding Daddy, a willful and bratty boy, a load of bloody violence and a well deserved HEA. 

Review: ⟫ I seem to have come across a lot of stories lately that are Mafia based, but I was very interested in the whole Mafia Daddy thing so I went with it. 

For a start, this story does include some bloody violence, unlike other ‘dark’ books that I’ve read recently. And it was interesting how Six reacted to the violence – he didn’t look at Amadeo through rose-tinted glasses, he knew that he was a gangster. 

And Amadeo did a few things throughout the book that made me wince more than once – I mean, his reaction to Angelo upsetting Six made my jaw drop! 

 The sex was pretty hot, and the storyline was relatively engaging. I think the main issue I had was that I found I didn’t really care for either of the main characters – they didn’t grab me in any way, and I kinda lost motivation for reading when I realised that I didn’t like them. 

I actually found Six to be really irritating a lot of the time, and although he admits that he often does things without thinking them through, I wanted to smack him a couple of times for his unthinking actions. 

The story was well written and had an interesting plot-line apart from the relationship between the two leads. I really enjoyed reading the interactions of Amadeo and his siblings, and thought that was very realistically conveyed. It was all in all an enjoyable read. 

I received an arc from GRR.

To Not Date My Best Friend by Gianni Holmes (The Simple Rules #2)

Title: ⟫ To Not Date My Best Friend (The Simple Rules #2) 

Author: ⟫ Gianni Holmes 

Blurb: ⟫ What do you do when you meet the man of your dreams, but you’re already engaged? You become best friends and hope for the best. 

BAZ 

It was a meet-cute that should have come with a happy ending. I was hardly at my best when I caught Andy snapping photos of me topless in the name of street photography. I fired angry words at him. In exchange, he gave me his jacket to keep me warm. 

Thus began our friendship and an unrequited crush on a man who was about to get married. 

ANDY 

After a photography assignment in the Middle East left me scarred, I have no choice but to face the many issues in my life—my marriage is over, my wife has moved on, and I may never hold another camera between my hands. 

But there’s no hurdle I can’t get over once I have my best friend, Baz, in my life. When he tries to transition from a stylist to a journalist at the magazine where he works, he enlists my help in writing a column. 

How can I prove to him that moving from best friends to lovers makes sense when he’s determined to prove the opposite? 

To Not Date My Best Friend is a bi-awakening romance between a plus-sized stylist who’s claimed his place in the fashion world and a bi-curious photographer who happens to be his best friend. 

This book can be read as a stand-alone and has mild angst in some parts. 

Review: ⟫ I should preface this to say that I think this is more about me than the book. 

I wanted to like this story, I really did. I thought the premise was excellent and I loved the idea of the two of them dating whilst Baz was trying to confirm that it couldn’t work whilst Andy wanted to prove that it could. 

But that wasn’t what the story was. 

I wanted to learn more about what Andy went through that made him decide he needed to face his issues; the whole friends-to-lovers thing happened in a flash with what seemed like very little thought about the consequences if things didn’t work out; and I can’t fully explain it, but it felt like it held little substance. 

I didn’t like the cheating thing with the wife and thought it was unnecessary to the story, and perhaps that affected my perception? I don’t know, this just didn’t work for me. 

It was very well written, descriptive and interesting in parts, but somehow didn’t strike a chord for me. 

3.5/5. I received an ARC from GRR.

If You Want Me Close by Skye Kilaen

Title: ⟫ If You Want Me Close 

Author: ⟫ Skye Kilaen 

Blurb: ⟫ Falling in love with your best friend is wonderful… until tragedy means fighting for the romance and the friendship. 

 Bisexual event coordinator Simon Novotny thrives on connection. He cherishes his large, queer-friendly family and his friends—especially his cute, brilliant work bestie, gay IT geek Ziah Holdaway. It’s taken forever for Simon to to coax Ziah out of his shell. 

Time and again people have let him down, especially those who should have loved him unconditionally. But Simon would do anything for Ziah: text him jokes when he's down, bring him home-made lunches, change his tire in the rain. Heck, if Ziah needs a kidney, Simon’s got two. 

Minor crush? Maybe, but Simon’s not a make-the-first-move kind of guy. 

So when an unplanned hookup with Ziah proves their chemistry is off the charts, it also shakes Simon to his core. Because for Ziah, it's not casual, it's love. Before Simon can fully process his feelings, a life-altering tragedy upends Ziah's world. Simon throws himself into helping and also rallies his family. 

But for Ziah, family means rejection, and Simon's uber-helpful clan sets off major alarm bells. Can they find a middle path through the storm, or will this crisis cost them both their romance and their friendship? 

A high-heat contemporary M/M romance novel with a guaranteed HEA. 

Tropes: friends to lovers, hurt-comfort, grief, nerds in love, bisexual disaster, single parenting. 

Detailed content warnings will be available in the book's front matter and on the author's website. 

Review: ⟫ This was a well-written story, with careful and considerate descriptions of anxiety and depression, as well as one of the main characters dealing with feelings of rejection from family due to their sexual orientation. 

The characters were well defined, clearly distinguishable, with very human reactions to the situations they found themselves. The background characters were also well written, with issues of their own that didn’t overwhelm the main story but made them defined as more than just ciphers for the main characters to play off of. 

Which is why I’m really confused as to why I just didn’t like the story. I didn’t like Ziah at all – I sympathised with his plight but didn’t like the way he handled things at all. 

I found Simon annoying and slightly wishy-washy, and some of the background characters struck me as far more interesting. I didn’t feel the connection between Ziah and Simon and found their sex scenes to be perfunctory and lacking in real heat. 

Perhaps it was just the frame of mind I was in when I was reading the story? I felt a distant sympathy for both men, but apart from that I didn’t really engage at all, which is a shame as the subject matter, the struggles they were both experiencing and their story was a very good one. 

3.5/5 from me. I received an ARC from GRR.

North's Pole by Leta Blake (Camp Bay Christmas Story)

Title: ⟫ North’s Pole

Author: ⟫ Leta Blake

Rating: ⟫ 3.5/5

Blurb: ⟫ Located on the shores of Lake Pend Oreille in beautiful Northern Idaho, Camp Bay Chalet is a discrete and cosy B&B, popular with both locals and minor celebrities for its fabulous holiday weekends.

The pic seen around the world….

The son of Hollywood royalty, North Astor-Ford has lived his entire life in the public’s eye. He knows better than anyone that someone is always watching.

So when one not-so-innocent picture meant for a hook-up accidentally ends up cross-posted across all his social media, North is left humiliated and scared. With no one to turn to, he flees to Camp Bay Chalet to be close to the one person he used to count on to protect him from the world.

Liam’s life has been in a holding pattern since the moment North fired him three years ago, even if it was for the best. A romance between a bodyguard and his client would’ve caused exactly the sort of scandal Liam was hired to prevent.

Now that North is back in his orbit, Liam’s going to do what he does best, protect North from the world. And maybe, just maybe, the charm of a Camp Bay Chalet Christmas will be enough to both heal North and bring about the romance they’ve both always wanted.

North’s Pole takes place in the Camp Bay shared universe, but can be read as a stand-alone. Look for more of the Camp Bay universe in Stolen Christmas by Marie Sexton.

Review: ⟫ Despite the raunchiness of the initial subject matter, this was a very sweet, quite romantic story with some sexy times thrown in. North was a really sweet guy – slightly naive and perhaps even gullible considering his upbringing, and not the brightest bulb in the box. His humiliation and anguish at the accidental pic that went around the world was palpable and actually made me think about real-life celebrities and wonder how they cope when sex tapes, etc. get released.

Liam was the official white knight – riding to the rescue and taking care of North the way he always did in the past. I thought it was really interesting the circumstances behind him getting fired – both he and North actually handled that with maturity and quite a lot of dignity.

Camp Bay sounds absolutely lovely, especially around Christmas time and this was all-in-all, a lovely Christmas read. The ages of the MCs bothered me a bit – they both seemed so long to be riding into the sunset, but the epilogue definitely helped there – and I quite enjoyed the read. I haven’t read any other books set in the Camp Bay verse but I will keep a look out.

I received an ARC from GRR. 

Three by Helen Juliet

Title: ⟫ Three

Author: ⟫ Helen Juliet

Blurb: ⟫ All good things come in threes…

When three shy best friends sign up to a dating app to finally get some by the end of the year, they don’t expect to all fall for the same gorgeous, slightly scary-looking older man. The only solution? Let him choose who he wants to bed. Except he doesn’t…

Jacob didn’t become a billionaire before hitting thirty-five by making compromises. What he wants, he gets. So why should he choose between these adorable, delectable morsels when he can devour all three of them? Instead, he tells them to decide on an order, and then he’ll spoil each of them one after the other in a way they’ll never forget.

Will one night each be enough, though? And can that really be all they need to fall in love?

Three is a super steamy, stand-alone MMMM gay romance novel featuring a Daddy wolf ready to huff and puff his way into three hearts, no matter what, and a guaranteed HEA with absolutely no cliffhanger.

Review: ⟫ This was fun to read!

Each of the three young men has a distinctive character/kink that they want to explore and what I really liked was that it wasn’t limited to the Daddy thing – they really cared about each other too. They were encouraged to explore that – with Daddy and alone – and I liked how their previous relationship was allowed to flourish and grow so that they weren’t completely dependent upon Daddy.

Wolff was an alpha character, but he was also allowed to display his own vulnerabilities and his assistant was a fabulous character who cracked me up. The sex was steamy and variable, and the Daddy scenes were very nicely handled with something for everyone!

I have read at least one other ‘retold fairy tale’ by Helen Juliet so I sort of knew what to expect, but I found this a diverting, entertaining read that I don’t hesitate to recommend.

I received an ARC from GRR.

Beck by JJ Harper (Bar 28 Book #4)

Title: ⟫ Beck (Bar 28 Book 4)
Author: ⟫ JJ Harper
Blurb: ⟫ Finally, he’s found his perfect man. Will he be able to keep him?

Beck Thompson is out and proud. He has a job he loves and friends he considers his family. Okay, he doesn’t have a boyfriend, but chances are slim he’ll find the man who’ll accept all of him, his past and his tattoos. He’s happy. Sort of.

Until he sees the perfect man…with the same woman hanging on his arm every night. Damn.

Munro Sylvester has put every aspect of his life on hold to make his business a success. And he’s done it. But he’s never been true to himself.

One look at the gorgeous, colourful man changes everything. He knows he has to make the first move, but he may risk losing everything he’s worked so hard for.

Can Beck trust his heart that Munro is the one for him? Is Munro brave enough to come out and fight for their happily ever after?

Beck has a tattooed bartender who has never had any luck with love, a hard-working gym owner who’s never said “I’m gay” out loud, instant attraction, and well-meaning, meddling friends.

It is the fourth book in the BAR 28 series, a MM contemporary series. Each book can be read as a stand-alone, but you’ll enjoy them best by reading them in order. This series is based in the UK.

Blurb: ⟫ Obligatory admittance that I haven’t read any of the other Bar 28 books, and unfortunately I won’t be looking for them after reading Beck. The story had a lot of potential and I was looking forward to reading about this gorgeous sounding man finding his ‘person’. But I have to be honest and admit that I never really felt that Munro deserved Beck. The whole manner in which he handled the Lucie situation annoyed the heck out of me – especially later in the book when she ‘tricked’ him into taking her shopping. Like, after everything she did, why would he let that happen?

I found it easy to see which other characters in the book had previous stories and I would imagine for anyone who has read all of the Bar 28 books that it would be nice to catch up with them all.

Beck was an interesting character and I wish I could have seen all of the tattoos and especially the exhibition. That sounded really epic and the author did a very good job describing the whole thing and helping you visualise it. But my feelings about the book were soured by Munro to the extent that there were a couple of times where I really wish that Beck had thrown away his phone number for good and walked past Munro when he waited for him outside the bar!

The writing was solid, most of the characters were engaging and entertaining – I just wish Beck had found a love worthy of him!

I received an ARC from GRR.

A Mage's Guide to Aussie Terrors by A.J Sherwood

Title: ⟫ A Mage’s Guide to Aussie Terrors
Author: ⟫ A. J Sherwood
Blurb: ⟫ One ghost from the past.

Two unknown Australian monsters eating people.

Three men who won’t let either problem win.

Tags:
Familiars of choice, healing old wounds, Australian mythology, yes Nico and Wicky are in Australia, that goes about as well as anyone expects, giant amphibians of unusual size, even the MAD research department is stumped, Wicky may have summoned Godzilla, in his defence he was left unsupervised, conversations via air guitar, the next time they have to travel to a different continent Bel is drugging Nico first.

Review: ⟫ I don’t remember thinking that the first book was this silly. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed reading it – the banter was on point, the snark and jokes were brilliant but this time I almost felt like it took away from the story? Despite what they were facing eating people and the real possibility of death, there seemed to be a lot of jokes/banter and general silliness that felt a bit much.

Spencer came across like a complete and utter child, and in a way this dragged me out of the story. I get that he was the ‘villain’ (apart from the giant lizards), but would someone so completely and utterly incapable of acting in a mature fashion – at any point in time – have made it so far in his career? It just felt like in order to make him the bad guy, it was almost taken to parody levels.

Nico and Wicky together are always funny as heck – the names for their light sabers made me laugh for far too long. The monster fighting was also good, especially the way the team worked together – it almost made me wonder why they bothered having the marines along!

We see a bit more of the relationship between Garen, Nico and Bel which was lovely, and the sex scenes were satisfying. Whether it’s because I just wasn’t in a light enough mood or not, this didn’t quite hit the spot as well as other AJ books, but I will definitely be tuning in for Wicky’s book. And, yes, I may be on the Wicky/Grandpa bandwagon just a little!

Worth a read, but be prepared for shenanigans, silliness and a fair bit of sexiness! 3.5/5 rounded up to four from me. 

Rookie Mistake by Anna Zabo and LA Witt

Title: ⟫ Rookie Mistake
Author: ⟫ Anna Zabo & LA Witt
Blurb: ⟫ Rookie forward Isaac Rivera is still finding his footing in the big leagues where he’s no longer the best player on the roster. It’s a whole new world, especially now that several of his hockey idols have become teammates. Friends, even.

There’s one who’s more than a hockey idol, though… and he might end up being more than a friend.

Julien Landry is a powerhouse on the ice. In eight years, he’s become one of the league’s top defensemen and the heartthrob everyone wants to bed. But fallout from a painful mistake as a rookie, followed by years of rough-and-tumble hookups, have him itching for something more.

When a connection sparks between him and Isaac, he discovers what he’s been missing: someone he can trust with his body and his heart. As long as Isaac and Julien keep the heat between them off the ice, what could go wrong?

But Julien’s past is never far behind him, and when it comes crashing in, he might lose everything—his career, his friends, and the first person he’s ever really loved.

CW: discussions of past abuse and sexual assault

Review: ⟫ There was a lot I liked about this book. The characters were solid and distinct, the wordplay between the characters was brilliant and the sex was off the charts hot. In the first half of the story, it flowed very well with the relationship between the two leads growing organically with palpable chemistry – Julian and Isaac were hot enough to melt the ice. I wasn’t expecting the BDSM aspect of things and thought the research that went into it on-page was awesome – in this day and age, where else are you really going to get your information in the first instance?

The Landry family reminded me very much of my family when I was younger – absolute chaos, noise and love. It was really lovely to see that on the page and it was extremely well done. And yes, there were times that finding a place to hide and just breathe was essential!

Nikki and Elias were amazing and it’s no surprise to me that they form the basis of book 2 because it was more than obvious that there was something between the two of them. So much so that a couple of times, my mouth dropped open with something Nikki did as it felt out of left field – like, how dare he! I imagine we’ll hear all about that behaviour in the next book.

I didn’t like Julian’s lack of communication over the darker issues. It was understandable initially – he had no way of knowing how deep his connection to Isaac was going to be. But the further into the story we got, it made little sense to me that he wouldn’t explain even just a little more about the situation in his past when it was so obviously messing up his present and potentially his future. The subject matter was handled competently and in a satisfying fashion, with good consideration to the current climate.

I was disappointed that the supporting characters didn’t push for Julian to get some therapy after the situation in his past – they were so supportive of him that it seemed strange that they wouldn’t encourage him to do that. That felt very much like it belonged in a book from years ago – therapy and counselling wasn’t so much the norm then.

It was a little hockey heavy, although it feels weird complaining that a hockey romance has too much hockey in it. I enjoyed it but got a little lost – possibly because it feels like ice hockey isn’t as big a deal over here in the UK? And the book was far too long. I understand the need to build tension, establish the relationship and show the effect of the past on the present, but it went on for too long and got repetitive in the end. It lost me a few times because I felt like it was going round and round in circles and I almost wanted to shout at the characters. I’m really torn on the rating because of that – the story was good, the sex was brilliant, the characters were engaging and well written but it felt like it was dragged on unnecessarily.

I’ve not read any Anna Zabo before and am going to try some more of their books this weekend. I would recommend reading it because it was enjoyable as long as you heed the trigger warnings and take into account how long the book is.

Sicken of the Calm by Marina Vivancos

Title: ⟫ Sicken of the Calm (Fox Lake #1)
Author: ⟫ Marina Vivancos
Rating: ⟫ 3.5/5
Blurb: ⟫ Joaquin would never forget the boy who came out in the middle of the school cafeteria when they were both fifteen. Would never forget his bright eyes and clenched fists, in defiance of the rest of the world. Ezra. His unapologetic bravery was something that would haunt Joaquin who, despite being the captain of his high school football team, was too reserved to come out before college, let alone approach the boy he admired from afar.

Joaquin is in his third year at Fox Lake University when he sees Ezra again. Joaquin expects the distance between them to remain unbreeched, but Ezra, as brash and impetuous as he was in high school, crashes into his life. At first, it’s just a shared class project, but it doesn’t take long for things between them to heat up. Before Joaquin knows what’s happening, he’s squirming on a chair as Ezra watches him jerk off, those clear, intent eyes pinning him in place. This starts a friends-with-benefits relationship with the aim of exploring a submissive and Dominant dynamic in bed, dipping a toe in the BDSM world together.

However, nothing is ever so simple. As their sexual relationship amps up, so does their friendship deepen, fed by those gentle moments after sex, underbelly-soft and vulnerable. As Joaquin gets to know Ezra better he realizes that his assumptions about who Ezra is, and even the assumptions he has made about himself, have to be challenged in order to break the cycles that may lead to their relationship breaking apart.

[This story contains plenty of banter, a fuckbuddies-to-more romance, and light, exploratory BDSM themes revolving around Dom/sub dynamics and kinks such as orgasm delay, praise kink and mild bondage. Although part of a series, this story can be read as a standalone with its own HEA.]

Review: ⟫ I wanted to love this book far more than I actually did. I found it incredibly wordy – beautiful, evocative words, but wordy nevertheless. It felt like the author veered between paragraphs that were almost like poetry and then complete and utter BDSM smut. It was – jarring isn’t the right word, but it made it difficult for me to figure this book out, which marred my enjoyment.

Another thing that marred my enjoyment, and perhaps should have had a spoiler warning, was a threesome scene. I still can’t figure out why that scene was in there – it felt so unnecessary, and for me unwelcome. Perhaps it was to show that Joaquin would do whatever Ezra wanted because he was under his spell, but that had been made plain in other ways so this felt superfluous. I have enjoyed other books by the author, but this one didn’t resonate with me and I was a little disappointed.

From other reviews I’ve read, it definitely seems like one of those books where YMMV with some people loving it, whilst others have left it unfinished. By the end of the book, I realised that I didn’t have any particular feelings for either Joaquin or Ezra, which felt more than a little sad. Not for me.