Asking for a Friend by JJ Harper

Title: ⟫ Asking for a Friend

Author: ⟫ JJ Harper

Rating: ⟫ 2.5/5

Blurb: ⟫ Lando writes about romance for a living yet shuns it in his life.

After too many failed relationships, Lando Hardwick has enough. No more dates for him. His taste in men is abysmal. He always falls for the ones who are only looking for fun.

Hesketh Trent has stopped searching for a boyfriend. They only see him as a walking cash machine, only care what he can buy them. What has happened to romance, love?

Getting soaked by scolding coffee is the worst way to start the day, but hell’s bells, the man is divine. Even though the man ticks all his boxes, no way is Lando giving him his phone number. He’ll be like all the rest: one hot night and he kicks him out the door.

But Hesketh doesn’t give up so easily. The cute redhead with no brain-to-mouth filter intrigues him as no man has ever done.

A cat and mouse chase is on, with Lando as the mouse. Once Lando is caught, they can’t stay away from one another.

Until Hesketh makes a mistake.

Thank god for mutual friends who won’t give up on them and push them together when they’re both too stubborn to take the next step.

Asking For a Friend is a stand-alone MM novel with a group of sassy men, a larger-than-life ginger cat called Flanaghan, a stubborn writer, and a man who can plan events but not his own life.

Review: ⟫ You know a book hasn’t worked for you when you find yourself wishing that there had been more written about the cat.

Hesketh and Lando had pretty much zero chemistry as far as I was concerned and even when they got together, I couldn’t figure out what they saw in each other. Then came the ‘big misunderstanding/mistake’ and I rolled my eyes so hard it hurt.

Hesketh made a big mistake – huge – and to be completely honest, I didn’t understand how he did it. Like, I get being distracted but what Hesketh did was so downright disrespectful and pretty much unbelievable that I found myself hoping that Lando would end up with someone else – like someone who would remember his existence maybe?

This book was an easy but not memorable read and I simply didn’t enjoy it and didn’t care about the HEA.

I definitely would have liked to see/hear more about the cat though.

The Sheltering Tree by J.R. Lawrie

Title: ⟫ The Sheltering Tree

Author: ⟫ J.R. Lawrie

Rating: ⟫ 4.5/5

Blurb: ⟫ The heart of Alastair Harding's life is his duty. Becoming the first gay chief of the Metropolitan police has required certain sacrifices, but Alastair made them willingly. If his life now lacks human connections, he can't exactly complain—and it's a little too late for regrets.

Jay Fieldhouse knows all about sacrifice, too. Brought to London for his own safety by witness protection, Jay's grassroots charity works day and night to save vulnerable kids from a life of crime. But getting close to other people is tough when no one really knows who you are.

When he meets Alastair one night at a charity event, Jay is intrigued by his glimpse of a gentle soul beneath the commissioner's uniform. The two men decide to run their lonely paths side by side for a while—after all, life is short and good sex is hard to come by.

Then the shadows of the past begin to stir, and the words which go unsaid might be Jay and Alastair's undoing.

The Sheltering Tree is J.R. Lawrie's first full length novel, following her debut anthology, Let Your Heart Be Light.

Review: ⟫ I loved this book. I cannot believe it is the author’s first full length novel – it was freaking amazing!

Alastair and Jay meet at a charity event and two more different men don’t come to mind. Alastair is at the peak of his career as the Police Commissioner and Jay has pulled himself up from nothing and built up a worthwhile charity. But the sparks fly, and a one-nighter turns into a FWB relationship that neither man is prepared to admit has deepened considerably.

That in itself would be a brilliant story, but J.R. Lawrie goes much further and this is where the tale reminds me strongly of some of Garrett Leigh’s work. There is a red herring that truly sucked me in, a reveal that is heartbreaking and then things hot up even more.

I truly loved this book – it struck so many chords with me. Both Jay and Alastair were so lonely, despite their achievements, and the way they were together was incredibly touching.

I have followed the author on Amazon/Goodreads and look forward to reading more.

STR8 B8 by K.C. Wells

Title: ⟫ STR8 B8

Author: ⟫ K.C. Wells

Rating: ⟫ 4/5

Blurb: ⟫ Work has been a little hard to come by recently for builder Tom Ryder. When a friend tells him about the wad of cash he got for starring in an adult video, Tom seizes the opportunity. Besides, his friend said his co-star was really hot, so Tom is definitely not seeing a downside.

Until he arrives for the shoot and finds out his friend glossed over one important detail—Tom’s co-star is a guy.

Denny Bailey is only a few months away from finishing the dissertation for his master’s, but that doesn’t mean he can’t find time for his ‘other’ career, especially when it helps him pay off his student loans and keep body and soul together. Life as an adult performer is fun, there are no strings... What could be more perfect? And this latest arrival is definitely ticking most of Denny’s boxes, even if he is a skittish straight guy. That’s fine. Denny can handle that.

Until the next day when Tom Ryder walks into Denny’s favourite coffee shop—and he isn’t smiling.

All it takes is one afternoon to change both their lives, in ways neither of them could ever have imagined...

Review: ⟫ I grabbed this book because I read two chapters of a new KC Wells book that is due out at the end of April and I wanted to get an idea of how they wrote.

The story is set in the UK – Tom is a builder and suffering from big businesses coming in and taking all of the work. He wants to help support his ex-wife and her new wife in their attempts to do IVF but money is proving to be a sticking point until his friend, Andy, makes a suggestion. Porn.

Denny is a student finishing his Masters degree, who does Porn and OF for the money and because he likes/enjoys it. He turns out to be Tom’s partner in his first attempts to do porn – he and the owner of the business have a habit of ‘tricking’ straight guys by saying that it’s going to be a threesome before telling them that the woman has dropped out and offering them money to do a gay scene. Obviously, the straight guy can say no and there’s no pressure, but still it seems like a pretty icky practice.

Tom accidentally runs into Denny at a later point in time and they talk things through, whereby Tom admits that he could have said no, and somehow from this a kind of friendship builds.

The relationship between Tom and Denny moved at an interesting pace – Tom is coming to terms with the fact that not only did he enjoy his scene with Denny, but that he might just be interested in something more. Denny is determined not to fall into the trap of falling for a straight friend – he’s been there before and got hurt, and he’s not going to do it again. But in the meantime, the attraction/chemistry between the two of them is hard to resist.

This was a nice, easy read with the miscommunication between the two men being completely understandable. The sex scenes were good, the writing style was relaxing, and I did enjoy reading the story. I found the ending a bit rushed: we went from declarations of love to graduation to babies very quickly. However, I couldn’t seem to get past the whole trick that Ari and Denny played on Tom at the beginning. It just felt – wrong, and stuck with me as I read the rest of the book. I can imagine that someone who is desperate for money might end up doing something that they wouldn’t normally do and it causing them some stress/anxiety afterwards and that seemed cruel. It was slightly addressed in the book – Denny told Tom that there had been at least one occasion where someone realised that they had been tricked and retaliated, but other than that it wasn’t really talked about.

For that reason, I gave the book a 3.5/5. I will be looking for more books by the author but I think there should, perhaps, have been a bit more warning about this before people go into reading the book.

Apidae by Xenia Melzer (Arthropoda #3)

Title: ⟫ Apidae

Author: ⟫ Xenia Melzer

Rating: ⟫ 4.5/5

Blurb: ⟫ No good deed—or good record of solving crimes—goes unpunished.

Detectives Andi Hayes and George Donovan of the Charleston PD are on vacation. Or at least they are until they are called back for an emergency: find Chief Norris’s missing son.

Fortunately, Andi’s insect spies lead him right to little Tyler Norris, who is safe and sound.

Unfortunately, along with the chief’s son, they find twenty-five corpses, victims of a serial killer who’s gone unnoticed for over a decade.

Chief Norris promptly cancels Andi and George’s vacation and assigns them as lead detectives on the case. Physical evidence leads them to a mental health facility where some of the victims received treatment, but Andi’s gift—his usual secret weapon—fails him. Promising leads and shady suspects all turn out to be dead ends, and they’re running out of time. Because the killer isn’t going to stop at twenty-five victims—and Tyler Norris has just gone missing again….

Review: ⟫ This book took things in a direction that I truly wasn’t expecting and I’m still not sure how I feel about it.

By now, the relationship between Andi and George is becoming more complex – so much so, that they are attending the equivalent of couple’s meditation classes and George has pretty much moved in. And yet, there is still nothing physical between them. Well, initially at least.

This look into the private life of Chief Norris could have gone in so many different directions and I was delighted with where it went. It was nothing at all that I was expecting and yet perfect.

The addition of more people to their ‘team’ was intriguing – after all, so much of what makes them a success in solving crimes is working together and hiding Andi’s secret How were they going to be able to continue doing that when they were working with so many other people?

Once again, the murder mystery was an important part of the story, but ultimately this was about relationships, finding out that you’re not alone, and bringing Andi and George to a larger area. And I was all the way here for it. It’s so difficult to review this book without spoiling things and I appreciate the ability to get into this without knowing too much because it made the impact of the things that happened that much more special.

I am sad that this is the last book in the series so far, but feel really lucky to be able to immerse myself in George and Andi’s world for three books in one go. Really chuffed that I got to read this ARC and can only be pleasantly surprised that Xenia Melzer is managing to make these books more and more special the further along we go.

I received an ARC from GRR.

Eruca by Xenia Melzer (Arthropoda #2)

Title: ⟫ Eruca

Author: ⟫ Xenia Melzer

Rating: ⟫ 4.5/5

Blurb: ⟫ There is no crime without witnesses

When Detective George Donovan and his eccentric partner, Detective Andi Hayes, need a break from their gruesome job, a hike seems like just the thing.

Unfortunately, the job catches up with them when they find three dead men in a lake.

When the promising clues dry up, George and Andi turn once more to Andi’s “gift”—but this time things aren’t so easy. Andi’s mysterious talents are growing stronger, making it harder to block out the barrage of information and taking a toll on his physical and mental health. The cryptic clues his informants offer are even more bizarre than the case itself. And the more they discover about the victims, the more uncomfortable the investigation becomes.

Torn between catching a killer and serving justice, between George’s career and Andi’s sanity, the detectives have their work cut out for them if they’re going to solve these murders.

Review: ⟫ Book two in the series, and the relationship between George and Andi is growing closer – through necessity, George often takes care of Andi and it’s this that forms the backbone of the story. Yes, it’s another murder mystery,with twists and turns aplenty along with hassle from the chief, but it’s the growing partnership that is the real story.

Andi is learning to rely on George and is alternately terrified/pleased. He doesn’t want to turn out like his grandmother – bitter, alone and unloved – but at the same time, George isn’t planning on staying in Charleston and what happens to Andi when George leaves?

George is beginning to realise that what he feels for Andi is more than a traditional partnership, and if that’s the case, how does he leave? But if he doesn’t leave, does that mean giving up on the career he’s spent his life working on?

Eruca is a very strong follow-up to the first story in the series, building on the strong foundation and bringing the reader further into Andi’s world. His relationships with Shireen and Evangeline, the way his gift is changing, and George all make for a fascinating read. Again, this is a book you need to concentrate to read and it is so intriguing seeing further into Andi’s gift and how it’s manifesting and changing. The frustration of wanting the two men to talk to each other is actually mitigated by the fact that they both have really good reasons for not talking – how do you define a relationship like theirs?

I adore when George talks to his brother and must admit, I would love to see what’s happening in his life. I can’t say I mowed through this book but that’s because I would sometimes go back and reread some bits to be sure I’d picked everything up. I really enjoyed reading this and was pleased to know that I didn’t have to wait for book #3.

Arthropoda by Xenia Melzer (Arthropoda #1)

Title: ⟫ Arthropoda

Author: ⟫ Xenia Melzer

Rating: ⟫ 4.5/5

Blurb: ⟫ An Andi Hayes Murder Mystery

Detective George Donavon doesn’t plan to stay in Charleston long. Skeptical and by-the-book, he’s on the fast track to the top, and he won’t let anything derail his career. Especially not Andrew Hayes, his grumpy, awkward new partner—and not the chief’s secret order to find out how said partner solves even the most difficult cases.

George and Andi can’t agree on anything except their mutual dislike, but when three dead girls turn up at a storage unit, they must put their differences aside before the suspected trafficking ring claims another victim.

There is no crime without witnesses. Andi knows George suspects his always-right “hunches” point to corruption, but he doesn’t care. All that matters is catching a killer… and keeping his secret. But with leads on this sprawling conspiracy drying up, he has no choice. He just can’t let his partner find out how he’s getting the information.

Andi’s on the verge of losing his life, his mind, and his career. He could take George down with him…

If the violent criminals who are always one step ahead don’t get to them first. 

Review: ⟫ I picked this book up because GRR were offering the third book in the series as an ARC and I like to try to read any previous titles, and I am so glad that I did.

Firstly, I would say that the ‘romance’ takes a very back seat in the series, an is non-existent in the first book. This is a police procedural with a supernatural twist and it would be unfair to judge it as anything else.

George Donavon has a very clear career tragectory in mind and Charleston is a small step on the ladder to success. His new chief asks him for a favour and there’s no reason for him to say no – and it always helps to have people owing him favours.

This favour means that he looks into his partner perhaps a little closer than he might have otherwise, and thus begins his complete and utter fascination with Andrew Hayes.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from Andi, but his secret actually completely blew my mind. Like, how wasn’t he completely and utterly insane? The plot moved swiftly, was well written and the growing professional relationship between George and Andi was really interesting and I found myself completely hooked. It is an intense read and you have to concentrate so that you don’t miss things, so much so that it wasn’t until near the end that I realised that there really hadn’t been anything resembling romance in the story at all. I loved it – was absolutely fascinated, and extremely pleased to realise that there were two more books just waiting for me.

I would say go into it with an open mind and be prepared to be thrown off track, confused and then obsessed with this series.

College Bros: Scott and Caden's Story by Brett Chimes (Book #1)

Title: ⟫ College Bros: Scott and Caden's Story Book 1

Author: ⟫ Brett Chimes

Rating: ⟫ 3/5

Blurb: ⟫ I love my best friend and roommate, Caden. But it isn’t exactly your typical platonic love. Regardless of how much I wanted him, I always kept myself in check just fine until we became college roommates. Things have gotten a little complicated since Caden came on to me. We’ve started sleeping together every chance we get and Caden doesn’t really seem to care where we are either.

We’re going home to meet my dad’s new wife this weekend. Something tells me Caden isn’t going to respect the fact that it’s my childhood home. From the look in his eyes I have a feeling he’s going to be all over me this weekend.

I’m nervous. But I can’t wait.

These books are smokin' hot but emotional too. Every story features a new couple and can be read as a standalone.

Review: ⟫ I’m going to be honest, I didn’t pick up much in the way of emotion in this book despite the blurb describing it as emotional. Smokin’ hot – kinda? There were a lot of sex scenes but I found myself more than a little annoyed at Cayden for how he treated Scott, and Scott for the fact that he constantly let Cayden get away with it. It definitely came across to me that Cayden was using Scott for sex, and the fact that he kept seeing girls on the side and often flaunted them in front of Scott got me angry.

It also seemed as if Cayden didn’t care if Scott was enjoying himself sexually a lot of the time, with little to no prep or foreplay. It just didn’t sit right with me.

All in all, I found this a lot more shallow than I was expecting from the blurb and I didn’t enjoy it as much as I hoped, although obviously YMMV.

I received an ARC from GRR.