Review: Hot Shot (The Elmwood Stories Book 5) by Lane Hayes

Rating: 4.5🌈

Hot Shot is the penultimate book in a series I’m extremely fond of. In The Elmwood Stories, Hayes has let her readers enjoy watching a group of men connected by hockey and friendship find their HEA in a town that feels so remarkably real and vibrant that’s is as much a draw as the storylines.

Hot Shot is Denny Mellon, a man we met as a troubled teenager under his Gran’s care in the earlier books. There, along with MK and the kids/(now best friends) he ended up playing high school hockey with, they grew up, the readers watching their emotional journey.

Now, they’re adults and Denny has fulfilled that promise as a hockey golden boy seen all those years ago. He’s insanely talented and headed for the NHL. But his increased stress over the intensity of the off ice public and insecurities are an issue.

The other MC is a man who is torn between his ill father’s plans for him and the one he has made for himself. Outside of the family business.

Hank Cunningham, has come to Elmwood as the son of the new owner of the Wood Hollow Mill. This is a heavily divisive issue as his father bought it from the family that’s established it and been part of Wood Hollow for its history. The town feels betrayed, the mill isn’t working well for anyone, and Wood Hollow itself is dying. Hank’s mission to turn it around seems impossible because he needs to be accepted himself.

Hayes beautifully captures a man who is both determined to make the mission successful but divided over his own life purposes. When he meets Denny, and both the hockey player and Elmwood work together to charm him into the town and the potential for more, it’s everything.

All the many people who have had their own stories have strong roles to play with getting Denny and Hank their HEA. That always includes that wonderful Gran.

Denny’s journey through his fears to commitment and love is equally realistic and rewarding. I love them both.

Hot Shot (The Elmwood Stories Book 5) by Lane Hayes is a sexy heartwarming read. I’m looking forward to one more book in the Elmwood Stories before another town in this area gets its due. I can’t wait for both.

Highly recommended!

The Elmwood Stories-Small Town/ Hockey Series :

You, Again #1
Next Season #2
Holiday Crush #3
Thin Ice #4
Hot Shot #5

Buy link

Hotshot: MM Small Town/Hockey Romance (The Elmwood Stories Book 5)

Blurb

The rookie superstar, the desperate cowboy, and a naughty proposition…

Denny

The press calls me this year’s hot shot, the rookie who scores at will and conjures plays out of thin air. Truth is…I’m a PR nightmare. Seriously. Ask my agent.

My anxiety is off the charts. I can’t talk to the media without breaking into a cold sweat, but once I get through the season, I can regroup at home. Life is simpler in Vermont.

Well, not anymore. There’s a new cowboy in town. Literally, a cowboy. At least, Hank looks like one—he owns a horse, wears a hat, and did I mention he’s hot?

And get this…he has a proposition for me.

Hank

Proposition is a strong word. I prefer to call this a mutually beneficial arrangement. See, I could use Denny’s help with a family business venture, and though I was planning to offer cash, the jock has a sexier idea.

Not gonna lie, I’m interested.

This could be a fun distraction while I’m stuck in Elmwood. Nice enough place, however, the locals are wary of an outsider taking over the neighboring mill. Long story short…they don’t trust me. But they love their hometown hockey hero.

I get it.

I’ve never met anyone like Denny—skittish in street clothes and a feral beast with cunning instincts on the ice. He’s fascinating, sexy, smart, and—

Whoa! I’m not falling for the hotshot rookie. No way, no how, no chance…

Too late.

Hotshot is an MM bisexual, age-gap, small town romance featuring a hotshot rookie, a sexy cowboy, and a proposition that changes everything.

Publication date: August 12, 2024
Language: English
Print length: 276 pages

Review: Flash (Ink Slingers Book 1) by KM Neuhold

Rating: 3.25🌈

Ink Slingers is a new series that follows and contains the characters from both the Four Bear Construction Series and Big Bull Mechanics.

As Flash, the first book to focus on the group of tattoo artists we have met, it will introduce new people as well, brought in to provide additional romantic partners and cast to this enlarged universe.

The newest couple is Arrow, the older motorcycle riding owner of the tattoo shop, and Lewis, the young “twink” who recently arrived in town to open his new flower shop. The location of this new floral shop just happens to be next door to the Ink Slingers. This element in the story leads to a series of increasingly juvenile pranks between the shops as well as a plot thread that makes little sense where neither man knows what the other does for a job.

Flash, meaning a standard

piece of ink artwork available to anyone, is a sexy contemporary romance that is light, a quick read and has some interesting characters.

However, unlike the other novels from preceding series, I just couldn’t connect with it. It starts with the pranks plot threads. I don’t find pranks funny. Instead they are often actions that border more along the lines of harassment and bullying.

Here? Neuhold clearly meant it to be funny and cute, and each business used it to create a positive effect. But honestly, these are grown businessmen, one trying to establish a new business and identity in the community, and this is what they do? The author doesn’t have Arrow the owner at least investigate what his shop and employees are doing against a new business next door?

The one that he is having a relationship with but isn’t aware that Lewis owns that very store? SMH

And Lewis isn’t even aware that the motorcycle riding hottie he’s in bed with often is the tattoo shop owner next door? No one Googles anyone anymore? Especially Lewis with his trust issues?

And Jag’s character is just turning mean. I’m not sure why Neuhold thinks Jag’s behavior and words are funny or even things to overlook, but his fellow artists seemingly give his character a free pass. Another no here.

A cute dog , who I do like, just doesn’t help to connect me to a story and characters that just pop with issues.

Others will find they like Flash more than I did. I’ll be interested in seeing if the next story has a similar or different slant to it.

Ink Slingers:

Flash #1

Virgin Skin #2 – November 1,2024

Buy link

Flash (Ink Slingers Book 1)

Blurb

A tattooed silver fox, a dramatic florist, and the epic prank war standing in the way of their happily ever after. Let the fun begin…

A chance encounter during a flash rainstorm isn’t supposed to be anything serious, just a little fun to pass the time. So why can’t I stop thinking about Lewis weeks later?

Running into him a second time feels like fate, but it’s obvious he isn’t interested in anything more than casual.

I’ve never managed to leave a fling where it belongs before, but there’s a first time for everything, right?

Besides, who has time for anything but a quick fling when we’re in the middle of a prank war With the twink who owns the flower shop next door. I haven’t met the poor guy yet, but if I ever do, I’ll have to tell him that a store full of rubber duckies is just the price you pay for messing with the Ink Slingers.

There are goats in my tattoo shop and drag queens delivering crude singing telegrams. Will I ever get untangled from this mess? And, more importantly, will Lewis ever be interested in more than a good time or is this thing between us nothing more than a Flash tattoo that will fade with time?

Flash is a “they don’t know they’re enemies”, lust at first sight, “we can totally keep this thing casual” mm romance featuring a silver fox tattoo artist and a snarky florist twink. First in the Ink Slingers series set in the world of Four Bears Construction.

Publication date: August 2, 2024
Language: English
Print length: 206 pages

Review: Covington Acres (Briar County Book 5) by Riley Hart

Rating: 4🌈

Covington Acre is another low-angst, sweet contemporary romance in Riley Hart’s Briar County series. Located in Hart’s beautifully realized town of Harmony in Briar County , North Carolina. In this series, the author has written about the Covington family, their children and partners, their own children, as well as the extended family and towns members of Harmony to the point everyone within these stories had become familiar and real.

Covington Acres charts the romantic journey of two different men, each of whom the readers have met through previous books.

One is Vincent O’Brien, mid 40’s, former boyfriend of Holden, now best friend, who has moved to Harmony. Vince works on the Covington farms and lives with Colby Covington, a man who secretly believes himself broken.

Colby thinks that because all his romantic relationships have been unsuccessful he’s unable to find and fall in love. He’s frustrated with his life and can’t figure out why.

For both men, it’s their deep friendship and feelings about each other that’s one of the most powerful and satisfying things about their lives.

Covington Acres is a warm-hearted, sweet, friends to lovers romance. These two make perfect sense, have great chemistry, and it’s a slow realization that brings together past histories, a new awareness of demisexuality, and acceptance that allows them to grow together.

It culminates in the wedding of the original couple, Monroe “Roe” Covington and Holden Barnett. We see all the other couples, the teenagers, and family members who have been part of this series and multiple stories. This has all the feel of a series finale. If so, it’s a genuinely terrific one. In the same lovely, gentle tone as the town and its people .

If you love contemporary romance, check out this series and book. It’s a sweet, satisfying read.

Briar County :

Firefly Lane #1

Sundae’s Best #2

The Creek #3

Covington Acres #4

Buy link

Covington Acres (Briar County Book 4)

Blurb:

Colby Covington has no clue if there’s anything in the world for him beyond Briar County. His family assumes he’ll do as they do: work Covington Acres, get married, have kids. Colby doesn’t want children, and seeing as he’s never felt even an inkling of romantic love for another person, he sure as hell isn’t interested in marriage.

In his mid-forties, Vincent O’Brien is starting over in the small town of Harmony. After being cheated on, again, he’s sworn off ever falling in love. As fate would have it, Vince needs a place to stay, and Colby has a spare room.

With an immediate connection that shakes up Colby’s sheltered world, neither man expects their friendship to blossom so fast…or for a semi-public hookup to make Colby realize he’s bi. Friends with benefits is perfect. It’s easy, it’s fun, they trust each other, and neither Vince nor Colby wants anything serious.

But the more their lives intertwine, the more Colby starts to feel something he’d thought himself incapable of. Something like love, with Vince…the man who will never feel—or want—the same.

Covington Acres is a small-town, bisexual/demiromantic awakening, friends-with-benefits romance with mature characters, home-brewed beer, and secret kisses.

Publisher: Riley Hart (August 1, 2024)
Publication date: August 1, 2024
Language: English
Print length: 238 pages

Review: Dance On Ice (Chesterford Coyotes Book 3) by R. J. Scott and V. L. Locey

Rating: 4.5🌈

Dance on Ice completes R. J. Scott and V. L. Locey’s terrific Chesterford Coyotes trilogy. It’s been a wonderful, warmhearted YA hockey series that’s had its crossovers with some of these authors other LGBTQIA hockey romance series and characters. So it’s fitting that it ends with appearances with some of those characters as well, in impactful roles and memorable scenes.

Shaun Stanton, the hockey player for the Chesterfield Coyotes and Kenji Kelly, who used to play hockey but is now a figure skater, are the last couple who finish out the series. Each has a huge amount of baggage they are carrying into this book as it begins, their storylines have been smaller threads previously written about.

For Shaun, he’s got a bigoted, homophobic, angry bully of a father who’s pushing him on the ice, making him afraid for himself and his mother. And to speak out about his feelings about his own dreams and awakening bisexuality. This includes his long held feelings for Kenji

For Kenji, he’s under the influence of an abusive Russian skating coach who has unrealistic expectations of his skaters, including their ideal weight. And it’s worsening Kenji’s previously diagnosed eating disorder, a situation he’s hiding.

These are serious, sensitive issues and the authors have given them just the right amount of detail and attention here with each character. We see the emotional impact on the characters, their families, and lives. The story and romance beautifully weaves the steps taken to help each character understand what the impact each abuse is having upon them, as well as the journey they take to get the help they require together.

It doesn’t matter if it’s the hardest steps confronting an abusive parent or having others intervene to get them through a bad situation and make sure it doesn’t happen again. It all plays out realistically and with regard to how we think it might work out in real life.

At the end are certain people immediately forgiven or have they found redemption? No, it’s a journey. I appreciate that. Is this a HEA? No, they are kids, so they are looking at dances, and what if’s. And that’s how it should be too.

I think what I really loved about this is the acceptance. Their once rock solid paths at the beginning of the book looked so very different at the end. The boys were different. So much had changed. Shaun and Kenji were still learning about each other and themselves so their dreams for the future were changing too. Kids and adults often forget that paths are meant to change when they do. That a new course can be taken.

What an amazing story and message.

I absolutely recommend this book and series. It’s a gem no matter what age you are.

Adorable cover art. Cover design by Sarah Chreene.

Chesterford Coyotes series:

✓ Off The Ice #1

✓ On Thin Ice #2

✓ Dance On Ice #3

Buy Link:

Dance On Ice (Chesterford Coyotes, 3)

Blurb:

For the figure skater and the hockey player, their sport demands total devotion, but can falling in love come first?

In hockey-obsessed Chesterford Academy, Shaun Stanton stands out as the star player and captain of the Chesterford Coyotes, and his exceptional skills have already attracted the attention of NHL scouts. He lives and breathes hockey, but there’s more to his story. His father wants Shaun to be the star he never was, and their relationship is a complex mix of guidance and intimidation. Worse, while hockey is Shaun’s sanctuary and a key part of who he is, he harbors a secret his dad can never discover: Shaun is gay He’s caught between the future career he’s destined for, and the truth he has to hide. There’s one bright light in his life, the vibrant figure skater who shares the early morning practice ice, a friend he worries about, but has now become something more—Kenji is everything

Shaun wants and can’t have.

Kenji Kelly is a young man who walks two worlds: his family is a beautiful mix of American and Asian cultures. He loves both figure skating and hockey, and he’s an out and proud pansexual teen. While it seems to the world around him he has it all, deep down Kenji has a secret that’s slowly becoming harder to conceal. His life is the ice and his coach does not believe in failure. The one person who knows his hidden secret is Shaun, the captain of the Coyotes and a friend from youth hockey days. Shaun’s gaze towards Kenji, once filled with concern, now seems to hold something deeper, unsettling Kenji but also igniting similar giddy, burgeoning feelings in him. As their feelings for each other become stronger, the secrets both young men carry grow heavier and more distressing with each passing day.

Triggers: eating disorders

Review: Off the Clock (Mount Hope Book 2) by Annabeth Albert

Rating: 4🌈

“What happens when a group of forty-something first responders come together to support their recently widowed best friend? The result is the MOUNT HOPE series”

That’s the overall theme for the stories grouped under this Mount Hope series and it’s an emotional, heartwarming concept. It hits home on so many levels, especially when Albert adds in her own familiar, well written elements. Readers of her many series aren’t surprised by returning military or veterans characters that carry their own issues, foster care children with special histories, or just threads that are layered with mental health, commitment issues and recognition of bi-sexuality. In other words, a lot of subjects areas are part of character’s development and histories.

Albert writes all that with amazing sensitivity and awareness. Especially veterans who have served overseas and returned home with internalized trauma, PTSD, or other mental health issues.

In Off the Clock, the veteran is freshly retired Army Ranger Tony Capo, 42, recovering from his injuries, returning home to Mount Hope to figure out his next step forward. In his case, he’s opted to hire on as a firefighter for the Mount Hope Fire Department. It’s a job he has wanted since he was a child and where he has old friends. But he’s also starting over as a much older man with younger colleagues, with all that encompasses mentally and emotionally.

One of those is Caleb, a young firefighter who appeared in the first book. Congenial, somewhat clumsy, he’s recently been named guardian of his troubled teenage brother. That brother has brought him an entire set of new issues to face as well as the new hire, Tony, he’s training.

Albert’s book is an age gap, mental health, multiple issues storyline. There’s much I admire about this book. It’s begins with the characters. Each are well written, beautifully defined, by their respective histories, their life experiences, and their personalities. They are believable and flawed.

The relationship dynamics between Tony and Caleb are among my favorite and least favorite things about the story. Their ability to communicate about each other’s feelings, their experiences with emotionally charged situations that have left each traumatized, whether it’s fires, missions, or childhood damage brought about by parental loss. Loss by death in Caleb’s family or in Tony’s case by his parents drug addiction and abandonment. As Albert powerfully describes it, “matching wounded kid emotions “ bonds them but is also keeping them from being together.

Tony and Caleb’s friendship and the surrounding support from friends and community is the best part about the narrative for me. My issues are with the romance. That part where Albert has two grown men hiding a sexual/romantic connection (one the town easily guesses at and is gossiping about) but that causes Caleb great emotional distress. Tony’s fears about being openly bisexual which directly pushes any relationship between them back into the closet does harm in multiple ways. Yes, the author repairs this to a degree when Tony works through his own personal issues, but it’s striking that even when they are in a committed relationship, it’s Caleb who has insecurities about where he stands with Tony. That shows an inequality that should have been understood by Tony given their backgrounds.

It’s a miss by the author and an unsatisfactory note for the romance and storyline.

The next novel in this series is yet another age gap, mental health issues storyline and I wish that Albert had used the promise found in the series arc to at least give us some more depth and variety among this interesting group of older men. A romantic story between men of the same age would be a great addition.

Off the Clock (Mount Hope Book 2) by Annabeth Albert is a good book, a nice addition to the series with some heartfelt moments and lovely characters.

Mount Hope series:

✓ Up All Night #1

✓ Off The Clock #2

◦ On The Edge #3 – Oct 31, 2024

Buy link

Off the Clock (Mount Hope Book 2)

Blurb:

Starting over after retiring as an Army Ranger shouldn’t be this hard…

For twenty years, I traveled the world as a special operations warrior. Newly retired at forty-two, I’m back in my hometown of Mount Hope, pursuing a second career as a small-town firefighter. My meddling sisters and best friends all have opinions about my life, but the only person who seems to truly understand me is Caleb, the younger firefighter tasked with my training.

After a lifetime of denying my attraction to other men, Caleb reminds me of everything I’ve missed out on. I’ve never even kissed a guy.

Until now.

Until Caleb.

Until I push our growing friendship to the next level. While sneaking around like a pair of teens, trying not to get caught by our coworkers, friends, and family, our sexy connection leads us to some…interesting places.

And it turns out that I like taking risks. I’ve never wanted a relationship, and neither of us should be fooling around with a coworker, but we keep courting danger.

The more time I spend with Caleb off and on the clock, the more I like him and the less certain I am about everything else in my life. The one thing I know for sure is that I can’t afford to lose this intense bond we share. Can we find our way from super secret to super real before the clock runs down on this fling?

OFF THE CLOCK features two coworkers with an age gap finding out that opposites really do attract and that first impressions aren’t always accurate. All the big emotions, small-town feels, and hot romance readers expect from this acclaimed author. While certain subplot threads continue throughout the series, each guaranteed happily ever after stands alone!

• Publisher: (July 25, 2024)

• Publication date: July 25, 2024

• Language: English

• Print length: 266 pages

Review: A Carriage of Misjustice (Lindenshaw Mysteries Book 5) by Charlie Cochrane

Rating: 3.5🌈

It’s been a while since I’d read this series, the last book I read being Old Sins. And I think coming back into a series after a long break and diving in at book 5 just highlights the importance of perhaps going back to the beginning and rereading the series again. Particularly with A Carriage of Misjustice because of some of the things I found within the novel ‘s narrative , and the issues that it raised in the choices made in the storytelling.

One of the aspects of the Lindenshaw Mysteries series, a cozy mystery in every sense of the trope, is that Cochrane has developed, over 5 books now, a real sense of the small village it’s set in , all the locations and its citizens. She’s crafted with great detail each person and history that the reader feels we know each main character. We’re there as they meet, and fall in love, as their relationship deepens amidst murders and throughout the investigations.

Its been an amazing journey, watching schoolteacher (now assistant headmaster) Adam Matthews and Inspector Robin Bright navigate through the obstacles of romance and their relationship while dealing with their own work dynamics, and then the murder Investigations that overlaps between them. That’s where that wonderful depth of communication and rapport starts to be built, book by book, connecting the reader to us while deepening the connection to each other. Adam, Robin, and, of course, their equally important Newfoundland, Campbell. That’s a huge dog.

What has remained consistent is the evolution of Adam and Robin’s relationship, their warmth and willingness to share their own opinions on matters and perspectives on the cases involved. Whatever issues arise, they face them together. And if, the investigations are lengthy and often the villain pegged a little too easily, the relationships are often the things that make the story.

That’s why I was surprised when, in A Carriage of Misjustice ,Cochrane chose to separate Adam and Robin for the entire story, with the exception of the beginning and end. That immediately removes, as they both remark, the things they (and the reader) miss. The discussions and relationship dynamics between them. All those moments and conversations we’ve come to expect. Replaced by Robin away on a murder investigation, fixing someone else’s problems. And Adam singing in a choir.

Another odd element? The readers are told Adam and Robin got married. A simple ceremony (although it sounds rather fun) but after everything the reader has been through with them, doesn’t feel very satisfying.

The mysteries here weren’t really complicated. Most of the time, it was Robin and Pru guiding a younger squad through an investigation that hadn’t been done properly and now needs another more serious investigation. So it’s police procedural time, with a call here and there home to Adam. For me, without the charm of their own village and their dynamics, my attention wasn’t there.

And that made other aspects stand out in ways they normally don’t. That’s the fact that Charlie Cochrane’s series is most definitely written in what I’ve heard termed “British speak “. And for non-British readers that presents certain linguistic challenges. Ones I noticed because I wasn’t as invested in the storyline.

It’s not just British in tone but in cultural context. If you’re American like me, then things like having an airing cupboard* or “a nick” or rozzer, a British slang word for police, just aren’t in our culture or vocabulary. So I admit to floundering a bit in terms of not knowing exactly what Cochrane was talking about or referencing occasionally. Thankfully, research is but a phone away. And it also made me think if American mysteries and novels equally present such a challenge to non-Americans in those terms. All that, still not quite into the novel.

So I do love this series, this isn’t one of the stronger books in the Lindenshaw Mysteries. I’m onto the next and recommend reading them in order. Read this to complete the series. And because they tell us that they got married.

Note:

*I did look into what exactly an airing cupboard was in British houses and was equally astonished to find in that same description that it was compared to American linen closets. Americans would not put warm, semi dry linens or clothes in a linen closet, not unless mold was our goal. Differences indeed.

Lindenshaw Mysteries:

✓ The Best Corpse for the Job #1

✓ Jury of One #2

✓ Two Feet Under #3

✓ Old Sins #4

✓ A Carriage of Misjustice #5

◦ Lock, Stock and Peril #6

◦ And Nothing But The Truth #7

Buy link

A Carriage of Misjustice (Lindenshaw Mysteries Book 5)

Blurb

Murder doesn’t care if you’re a newlywed.

Detective Chief Inspector Robin Bright and Deputy Headteacher Adam Matthews have just tied the knot, and all they want to do is sink into blissful domesticity. Unfortunately, there’s no chance of that when a chilling murder at a rugby ground takes Robin miles away to help his old boss solve it.

The mystery seems impossible to crack. Everyone with a motive has an alibi, and those without alibis don’t have a motive. Robin’s determined that this won’t be the case he’s unable to unravel. Not when he’s got his old boss to impress and a new team to lick into shape.

Back at home, Adam joins a fundraising choir to keep himself occupied. Surely a case that’s so far away won’t draw him in this time? Fate has other ideas, though, and danger turns up—quite literally—on his doorstep. He’ll need Campbell the Newfoundland for both company and protection this time around.

• Publisher: Riptide Publishing (May 11, 2020)

• Publication date: May 11, 2020

• Language: English

• Print length: 252 pages

Review: Something Borrowed (Confetti Hitched Book 2) by Lily Morton

Rating: 4.5🌈

I love it when I can giggle or laugh out loud when reading a book. It happens often when I’m thoroughly invested in one of Lily Morton’s contemporary romances. And it occurs again, right from the beginning, in Something Borrowed, the second in this author’s marvelous Confetti Hitched series.

That delicious, bubbly feeling engages when we meet the irrepressible wedding planner, Rafferty. That initial heart stopping, hilarious run to a wedding had me in tears, scenes so memorable, in and out of the story, I’m still in awe of Morton’s ability to write such visually comedic moments that also deliver great storytelling and multi-dimensional characters.

That’s pretty much how the author continues through this journey of a forever romance between two childhood friends. It’s hilarious, yet poignantly realistic with its emotional elements of Rafferty Kendrick’s dysfunctional childhood parenting, and Stan’s rapidly deteriorating vision. Morton’s especially close relationship to this topic is known to her followers but she also talks about it in a note at the end of the book. It’s just one more reason why this element and part of Stan’s character rings with such authenticity.

The focal point of this friends to lovers romance is Rafferty’s inability to commit to his romantic for Stan over his fear that he is just like his parents in their inability to make a relationship work . Alongside that runs Stan’s own personal fear of ruining their friendship by not asking Rafferty for more than the one they have.

I’ll admit an inability to communicate with each other isn’t an ideal element in a story but the surrounding threads and characters make it understandable, if not exactly what I wanted. But the scintillating dialogue, warmhearted humor, and believable relationships here overwhelmingly reinforce that the men here love each other and belong together.

Even Bennett the cad, as I often referred to him in my mind, couldn’t derail that. That bit with the promise didn’t come out as entirely plausible but needed as a dramatic push for Rafferty to move things forward.

And then it was lovely. And full of laughter and I was reminded how much I adore these characters and the writing of Lily Morton.

It’s a delightful story for lovers of contemporary romance and fans of this author. A definite win!

Confetti Hitched:

✓ Confetti Hearts #1

✓ Something Borrowed #2

Buy link

Something Borrowed

Blurb

Stan has never let his blindness hold him back, but he’s beginning to realise his love life is keeping him from moving forward.

He can’t remember a time when he wasn’t in love with his best friend. Rafferty is everything to him—his partner in crime, his confidante, and the person who understands him best. But Rafferty is incapable of reciprocating Stan’s feelings.

As a successful wedding planner, Rafferty is passionately committed to helping newlyweds begin their happily-ever-afters, but after a rootless childhood he’s equally determined not to seek his own. How can he trust in love and marriage when so many of his brides and grooms are repeat customers?

Stan is the glue that keeps the pieces of Rafferty’s life together, and as such Rafferty has always kept Stan safely in the friend box where he can’t lose him. However, lately that conviction has wavered and now Rafferty is bursting with complicated feelings for his best friend. The timing couldn’t be worse because Rafferty has realised he’s in love with Stan just as Stan is moving on.

Review: Skies That Burn (Kings of Airlie Book 3) by Casey Cox

Rating: 3🌈

Skies That Burn is the finale to Casey Cox’s trilogy about the Kings of Airlie, a powerful family of kitesurfing champions, father and sons, their troubled dynamics and the dysfunctional damaging family history that’s impacted them all.

Oceans that Swim, the first book, was incredible, both in the introduction of this wounded group of brothers and in their love of and extreme talent for the little known sport of kitesurfing. Cox has brought this sport vividly to life here as well as the crazy athleticism needed to excel as champions.

By the second story, Mountains that Move, has finished, the reader and all the major characters have experienced and revealed so much of the trilogy storylines and mysteries.

Cox has had the King brothers (Terry, Troy, and Travis) have had so many dark family secrets exposed, including horrible abuses, as well as unthinkable events occur here. All during their various runs for the kitesurfing championships during the cable tv show reality series they are filming. It was a lot of storytelling but Cox did a great job with heavy emotional scenes and content. Be aware that it involved child SA, family abuse, and more. Read the warnings.

So what is left for Skies That Burn? Travis, the oldest of them, getting his romance, and plot threads , if any, are finalized.

Unfortunately for this book, it feels as though most of the passion and enthusiasm went into the other novels and brothers. Terry and Troy had the dramatic stories and histories. They had the biggest, wildly descriptive kitesurfing scenes, and were our introduction to the sport.

With Travis and Luca Silva, the Brazilian kitesurfer, so much about their journey is written by Cox, laid out in detailed descriptions. But instead of being involved or emotionally invested, their relationship felt removed and lacking chemistry. It checks all the right boxes. The potential should be there for a good romance.

But I never felt it. Even with all Luca’s substance abuse issues (that comes across as “told to” instead of his written reality as a long term drug addict), the enablers, and even the fact I kept wondering about any sports drug testing, this entire narrative didn’t make sense to me.

The many unresolved trilogy plot lines, especially the one involving their mother, that was so swiftly fixed by a fast moving investigation that the onsite paparazzi didn’t seem interested. Highly unlikely given the seriousness of the event. The father, a major figure, is basically brushed off here as an afterthought. He, along with too many other aspects of this trilogy, are given underwhelming treatment in the last story. Cox’s story is feeling more rushed and less well developed than any of the previous stories the more it progresses.

Then Cox does an odd thing and doesn’t write one epilogue, but a series of jumbled mini-scenes. Each one an epilogue.

Yes, we do finally get a measure of kitesurfing scenes but only a few. So that they come across as one more element to tie up.

This trilogy starts off strong and powerful , continuing with the haunted Mountains that Move.

Skies That Burn (Kings of Airlie Book 3) by Casey Cox ? It’s the smallest of waves, the last ride of the day. Everyone is ready to go home. It’s definitely done. Enjoyed the characters, happy that they found their own HEA, and finished the journey. Ironically, away from kitesurfing, a sport I enjoy watching now.

Kings of Airlie trilogy:

✓ Oceans that Swim #1

✓ Mountains that Move #2

✓ Skies that Burn #3

Buy link:

skies that burn: MM Rivals to Lovers Sports Romance (Kings of Airlie Book 3)

Blurb:

TRAVIS
All I’ve ever wanted is a simple life—kitesurfing, my brothers, and someone to love.

Too bad Luca Silva, the Brazilian golden boy of kitesurfing, didn’t get the memo.

We’re the epitome of on-again, off-again, our relationship a looping roller coaster neither one of us can stay off for long.

We may not choose who we love, but we can decide if we fight for them. And I’ll do whatever it takes to hold on to Luca…even as we face off against each other in the grand final.

LUCA
I’m not the perfect athlete everyone thinks I am. My whole life is a sham. The only real thing? My love for Travis.

But everything about his world is complicated. His family. His bad boy reputation. His track record in the sport.

I love Travis with everything I’ve got, but we’ve been yo-yoing back and forth for years now. And that’s withouthim knowing what I’ve been hiding.

Once he discovers my secret, it could very well destroy us—for good this time.

skies that burn is perfect if you love:

• MM sports romance

• rivals to lovers

• hate to want you

• hurt/comfort

• thrilling series conclusion (everything is revealed!)

This is the final book in a trilogy and is NOT a stand alone.

• Publication date: July 15, 2024

• Language: English

• Print length: 195 pages

Review: Cherry on Top: a MM Fake Boyfriend Standalone (Indigo Bay) by Beth Bolden

Rating: 4.5🌈

Beth Bolden’s intense, passionate Italian American Moretti family stretches over two series, sorry, three, as cousin Rocco is heading off to Christmas Falls towards the end.

The Moretti family, brothers or cousins, can be found as chefs or restauranteurs in the wonderful Food Truck Warriors and now in her Indigo Bay novels. And as I mentioned even more.

While these books are listed as standalone, they really aren’t as they need the foundation of the preceding novel to give the reader depth of understanding of the characters, their history, and the setting of Indigo Bay from the perspective of both stories.

Here, it’s Enzo Moretti, a character who was introduced to readers in Sweet as Pie #1, but returning home (temporarily) older and as an established mural artist . He’s separated himself from the Moretti family culinary path, and has tried to do the same with his own life by his absence.

I thought Bolden, who always does an exemplary job of layering her characters, has made Enzo a person to relate to with his complicated family dynamics and own troubled journey to maturity . The author is also able to let us see into his artistic passion and processes as he creates the mural so important to the story and town.

Oliver Billings fled Florida and his family food business to move to Indigo Bay, opening up a fantastic ice cream shop, Cherry’s. Oliver is just as much a beautifully written character as the man he’s being paired with. The recipes are mouthwatering, the shop and employees are believable, and this stressed out, hard working man is a delight to watch get his HEA.

Of course, this starts as a fake boyfriend trope but Bolden’s chemistry between the two is palpable and real. Also great are all the other people who live and are necessary for the story and their relationship. Mothers, families, friends. Just perfect.

I hope Bolden will give us Rocco’s story too. And further adventures of the Moretti family. I’m so invested.

Connected Series:

Food Truck Warriors

Christmas Falls

Indigo Bay:

Sweet as Pie #1

Cherry on Top #2

Buy Link:

Cherry on Top: a MM Fake Boyfriend Standalone (Indigo Bay)

Blurb

When Enzo Moretti’s mom lures him home to paint one of his famous murals in Indigo Bay, he expects an awkward family reunion.

Not an awkward matchmaking attempt.

And not Will Johnson, the new owner of Cherry’s Old Fashioned Ice Cream Parlor and it turns out, also who she’s been boasting to about all Enzo’s perfect qualities.

He’s perfectly embarrassed, all right.

When Will suggests pretending to date might be easier than fighting his determined mama, Enzo knows he should say no. That Will is as tasty as his frozen desserts doesn’t matter. Enzo isn’t staying.

Instead, he plans a series of very public romantic dates. Dates that only end up proving that, yes, Will is as sweet as his ice cream, and no, Enzo isn’t as immune to romantic entanglements as he thought. The longer they continue the charade, the less it feels like a game of pretend and more like a truth he can’t avoid.

But can Enzo really admit his mom got it right—and stay in the town he’s always wanted to leave? It’ll be tough to live down that “I told you so.”

Even tougher to leave Will behind.

Because what he never expected is for Will to be the cherry on top of this matchmaking sundae. He’s one tasty treat Enzo never wants to finish.

• Publication date: July 12, 2024

• Language: English

• Print length: 313 pages

INDIGO BAY series:

🔹Sweet as Pie #1 – Luca Moretti is very grumpy. Not just about his six younger siblings, or the four Italian restaurants he runs for his family, but about Oliver, who not only seduces him with all his delectable baked goods, but just so happens to be sweet as pie.”

🔹Cherry on Top #2 – When Enzo Moretti’s mother lures him home to paint a mural in his hometown, he doesn’t expect her awkward matchmaking attempts. Or that the source of them is Will Johnson: the very cute new owner of Cherry’s Ice Cream Parlor. But the last thing he expects is for Will to suggest they fake a few dates to get his mother off their backs. Or that he’ll enjoy them quite so much.

Review: Marrying Mr Majestic by Lucy Lennox

Rating: 4.75🌈

I really told myself no more billionaire character romances. But, I’m a sucker for the Wake Up Married in Las Vegas trope so, of course, I immediately grabbed up the newest release, Marrying Mr Majestic by Lucy Lennox . I’m so happy I did.

I hadn’t read the first story which introduced the group of friends who became billionaires after creating a software program. That’s Prince of Lies, which I might have to go back to read now that I’ve met the group.

But this story concerns Silas Concannon, in Las Vegas to stop a wedding (unsuccessfully) and Waylon Fletcher, mayor of the small town of Majestic, Wyoming. He’s in Las Vegas where he thought he’d get married to help a friend out. Also unsuccessful.

A night out of commiseration in a bar ends with them married. And a fabulous novel ensues.

Never have I fallen so quickly and so hard for a location and group of people as I have for Way, his family and friends there on the streets , stores, and warmth of Majestic. And that goes for Silas, as he finds that he has found his home in every possible way when he pursues Way back west and finds a cowboy and town who needs him as much as he needs to be needed.

Lennox does such an amazing job in bringing the small town community of Majestic perfectly to life, believable in its rural close knit dynamics, the beauty of the landscape, and the realism of living there. The town is breathtakingly heartfelt and a great part of why this story works so well.

The author then crafts character after character that is as well suited and believable as the town itself, sets them down with jobs and lives we can relate to, and without any hesitation, the reader is absolutely living and walking with Way, JuJu, and Silas and everyone else who comes up to chat about the events happening. We are there.

We are part of that sexy, funny, and painful growing relationship between two men who are afraid it’s going to fall apart on them. Yet who are so compatible and deeply in love. I found myself forgetting Silas was as rich as he was and appreciated the man Lennox had crafted, evolving there in Majestic. Waylon too, as he learned to lean on Silas.

I’m so in love with them both. Those epilogues (yes more than one) weren’t nearly enough to satisfy me because I love them all so.

Dev, a part of the billionaire brotherhood who ends up in Majestic, has his own story next. I can’t wait. I’m ready to pull up a chair on a porch and stay on in Majestic because there’s quite a few people there who need their own romances.

I’m highly recommending this place, these characters and this book. It’s a fabulous read.

Billionaire Brotherhood /group of friends:

◦ Prince of Lies

✓ Marrying Mr. Majestic ❤️ (Silas and Waylon)

◦ Inheriting Miss Fortune (Dev’s story) – Oct 2024

Buy link

Amazon.comhttps://www.amazon.com › Marry…Marrying Mr. Majestic – Kindle edition by Lennox, Lucy. Romance …

Blurb

I’ve made myself into many things over the years. A Yale graduate. A brilliant corporate strategist. A city boy. And, though no one outside my inner circle knows it, a billionaire.

One thing I never expected to be? Accidentally married to a straight, small-town cowboy named Waylon, the pride and joy of… *checks notes*… Majestic, Wyoming.

Sadly, what happens in Vegas does not, in fact, stay in Vegas, and before I know it, I’m trying to track my erstwhile husband down, divorce papers in hand and thrift store clothes on my back, desperately hoping the stranger I married won’t realize he’s suddenly entitled to a lot more than that shiny gold ring on his finger.

Unfortunately, Way has other plans.

His town is counting on him as mayor to bring the lucrative AdventureSmash wilderness race to Majestic, and he refuses to sign my papers until the deal is done… which means me and my second-hand blue jeans will be hanging around a lot longer than I’d imagined, pretending our one-night whatever-it-was was a love match for the ages.

As it turns out, Majestic is more charming than I’d expected, and Way… is not entirely without charms himself. It also turns out he’s, ahem, not as straight as he thought he was.

Before I know it, dusty boots feel more comfortable than my shiny wingtips, coffee at the Love Muffin tastes better than Starbucks, and being the First Husband of Majestic starts to seem as important as any corporate merger I’ve ever negotiated.

But for a man with secrets to keep and a whole life waiting for him back in Manhattan, the only thing worse than Marrying Mr. Majestic… would be falling in love with him for real.

Marrying Mr. Majestic is set in the same world as Prince of Lies, but both novels can be enjoyed on their own.

• Publisher: (July 9, 2024)

• Publication date: July 9, 2024

• Language: English

• Print length: 318 pages

Small town romance, bi-awakening,

PURCHASE LINKS

AMAZON US / UK / CA / AU

UNIVERSAL

Free in Kindle Unlimited

ALSO AVAILABLE

AUDIO / PAPERBACK

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