Review: Beefcakes (a Culinary Creatures novella) by L. Eveland

Rating: 4.75 🌈

A sequel to Brimstone, Beefcakes expands on the original by making the focus the short notice celebrity wedding of the famous chefs of the first novel. But while we get those characters and the event, they are peripheral elements here.

Our new characters and romance are fantastically , in a twist, in the “supporting” roles to that event. Ones the wedding planner and the other the wedding baker.

L Eveland really goes all in here with Beefcake and gives us a romance of surprises, depth, and remarkable storytelling. It’s cupcakes, minotaurs, anxiety, porn, kink, and true love. Really, the elements contained within this storyline should overpower each other but instead Eveland uses them to enhance each character’s depth of personality.

The author also uses them to chart the relationship development of Ezra Higgins, highly anxious human wedding planner, and exuberant Minotaur Matteo Reyes, wedding baker.

I absolutely loved these two characters, so completely different, disregarding their species for the moment, but matching in their emotional needs for each other and in their chemistry.

Eveland has two areas of special significance here. One is the treatment of Ezra’s social anxiety disorder. We get to see its origins in his mother’s death, how it took over his life, and how with the help of his therapist, he has been able to get back to running his business. It’s a sensitive subject and the author does a terrific job in giving the reader a small glimpse of what it might be like living with the disorder.

The other element is Matteo’s kink that involves cooking and voyeurism. I really won’t go further with the explanation except to say I was wondering how the author would resolve this situation between Ezra and Matteo myself. What a fabulous solution! I loved it!

I throughly loved this entertaining tale of paranormal romance and a stressful wedding to end all weddings. The only reason it didn’t hit the 5 rating was that while all the other characters were passionate about their careers, Ezra wasn’t about his. He was only doing what was expected of him. And at the end , he was extending his time with Matteo without saying exactly what he was doing.

That left a great an impression of things being unsettled a bit . I wish Eveland had been a tad more finished here. But maybe that because there’s a third book in the works. Bluz, is coming. Werewolf BBQ anyone?

So I’m happily awaiting the third in this wonderfully wacky culinary series. Definitely recommending this and the one prior. Read them in order to understand the characters, relationships, and universe.

Culinary Creatures:

✓ Brimstone #1

✓ Beefcake #2

◦ Bluz #3 – December 31,2023

Note: don’t miss out on the recipe at the end!

Buy Link:

Beefcakes: A High Heat, Low Stakes MM Monster Romance Novella (Culinary Creatures Book 2)

Description:

Wedding planner Ezra Higgins is having a bad day. He’s lost his phone, he’s got six weeks to plan the biggest wedding of his career, and now the minotaur baker won’t stop flirting with him.

It’s enough to make anyone’s anxiety spike.

But the minotaur owner of Beefcakes bakery, Matteo Reyes, has an oddly calming effect on Ezra, and he can’t stop thinking about him, no matter how hard he tries.

Matteo is sweet as salted caramel and twice as hot, but he’s off limits, especially since they have to work together.

Pulling off a televised celebrity wedding in less than ninety days? Doable. Resisting Matteo’s candy-coated charm in the process? Ezra can’t have his cake and eat it too…or can he?

Review: Scoring Points (A Lights Out story ) by H.L Day

Rating: 2🌈

“You can’t change what happened. But you can still change what will happen.

⁃ Sebastian Vettel.”

After reading Scoring Points by H.L. Day, my first thoughts were you had one job in this series , that was to write a book about Formula 1 racing and you’ve tossed the memo.

How did one author go so wrong in a multi author series about specific teams with specific drivers racing on certain circuit’s during a specified season and not write about racing?

First by not writing about the drivers themselves or anyone within the pit who’s directly in contact with the drivers and the actual action on the racetrack. By now, we’ve gotten a good idea of the various teams and their drivers, even on a superficial level, from the other books who mention the same races and events, albeit from different perspectives.

That’s been a great aspect of the series and an anticipatory factor in every new release to come.

But H.L. Day, whose works are often in my must rec list, has made some seriously ill conceived choices when it came time to plan out and write their book for this series.

Day chose to write about the team’s principals. What is a team principal?

“In Formula One, the team principal is the person who is in charge of a constructor team [team who builds the cars] and its personnel. They are usually responsible for issuing team orders and making day-to-day decisions. “

And they are extremely well paid for the job. Millions a year in fact. It’s a job that’s incredibly hard to get and harder to keep.

So Day chose to work the story around two competitive principals. That’s fine , except instead of it being a normal or. it’s all on a personal level. It’s nothing to do with racing but hurt feelings stemming from episodes when they raced karts as teenagers.

Not racing but sexuality. This really could be any other kind of book. Day just had to throw in racing stuff. And it shows.

Keep that in mind. After slogging through approximately 45%, I kept wondering why Day had made the barest of efforts at incorporating any racing into the story. Only Kurt Whitford’s character , at least, gets some semblance of showing he’s got a team that’s interested in racing.

Giovanni Rossi, whose team is mentioned extensively in all the other books, can hardly remember he’s got a team because he’s so obsessed with his sex life, past as well as present, and his revenge on Kurt. Believable he’s not, petulant he is, as Yoda would say.

By 50 % , I’m denying myself the pleasure of DNF, and page flipping , hoping for some racing somewhere in this story or anything that would ground it in this series. But no.

It’s a hopeless mess of two grown men in constant emotional turmoil over each other. Men, primarily Gio who is not a likable character, playing petty head games as payback, who in this actual situation would never be risking their teams, their drivers, or the millions and their careers this way.

Maybe another author could make a believable case for this scenario but Day never does.

Day uses tweets with events from other stories to make sure the reader knows this story is still “all about racing” . Such a format can’t replace actual depths of plotting and real characters.

So in the end do I recommend this ? No. Skip it, and read the others. You won’t be missing anything here.

Lights Out:

✓ Team Orders by RJ Scott

✓ Full Throttle by Lisa Henry

✓ Pole Position by Charlie Novak

✓ Scoring Points by HL Day

◦ Black Flagged by Emma Jaye 6/20

◦ Rookie Mistakes by Beth Laycock 6/27/2023

Buy Link:

Scoring Points

Description:

Can two warring team principals in the cutthroat world of F1 ever admit that there’s more to life than scoring points?

On the surface, Kurt Whitford has everything. A successful business. Good looks. Money. A famous popstar girlfriend hanging off his arm. And as the icing on the cake, he’s just been announced as Nebula’s new team principal. The downside? The opposition. It’s seventeen years since Kurt has seen the infuriating and irresistible Gio Rossi, but the man hasn’t changed a bit.

Whatever Kurt Whitford has, Giovanni Rossi can surpass. Well, except for the girlfriend. Despite needing to keep his sexuality on the down low, he’s not that far in the closet. And if Kurt thinks that Gio’s ready to let bygones be bygones, he couldn’t be more wrong. Gio hasn’t forgiven. Or forgotten.

As a long-rooted rivalry kicks off once more and sparks fly both on and off the track, can Gio and Kurt go head-to-head without the media getting wind of their true feelings? Or is their undeniable sexual chemistry about to prove their downfall?

This MM romance from H.L Day features enemies to lovers, opposing teams, secrets that go way back, and suppressed feelings. Set in the high-octane world of Formula 1, it features fast cars, spectacular crashes, heated rivalries, and of course, a HEA.

Each book in the Lights Out collection is a standalone story, and the books can be read in any order.

Review: Brought To Light by Eliot Grayson

Rating: 4.5🌈

I don’t know how I missed this first time around but I’m overjoyed to have discovered it now when it was re-released this May.

A delightful beautifully crafted urban fantasy story, it has such a great storyline, one guaranteed to draw the reader in.

It all starts with a hitman scoping out his target in a small coastal village, just after Christmas. A two person narrative, it’s the assassin who’s first up in telling us his perspective on the events of that evening.

He’s really not prepared for anything he’s seeing, but he has no choice.

Callum, our hit man, has been hired against his will to kill an innocent young man, if his and his partner’s research is to be believed.

Grayson’s believable characterization of Callum, the tired killer desperately seeking another way out of this contract, is perfectly realized and raw. More so once he sees his actual victim and talks to him.

That would be Linden, a Fae walking or hiding in the mortal realm from the very person who wants him dead. Linden, a Fae cook’s bastard son, has the unfortunate position of being the person named as the being a prophecy said would end an evil Lord’s life. Needless to say, that Lord’s not happy about it. And is trying to kill Linden.

Grayson has written a fantastic fantasy adventure story, one which has evil lords, magical powers, wonderful found family friends of both Fae and human kind, terrifying creatures, battles, and romantic love!

How an assassin and a Fae slay an evil lord, save a Kingdom, and find true love! Honestly, it’s a fantastic story! With great characters! I’m so on board with assassins finding happiness these days.

And assassins ending up in another realm that’s made for them? Perfection. It’s not a new concept but Grayson has done an imaginative and wholly satisfying job here with it.

I certainly wouldn’t mind a return trip to see how everyone is doing. What a universe.

I’m highly recommending Brought To Light by Eliot Grayson for all lovers of urban fantasy and romance in general.

Buy Link:

https://www.amazon.com › Brought…Brought to Light: An M/M Urban Fantasy Romance – Amazon.com

Description:

A hitman and a fae walk into a café…

Callum always gets the job done—whether he likes it or not—but this job isn’t like any other. The target’s too young and pretty for comfort, and the clients are offering more threats than cash. And either the target poisoned his hot chocolate or he’s going crazy, because magic trees are suddenly a thing. It’s really not his day.

Linden’s on the run, and the human realm’s a good place to hide from evil sorcerers who think he’s the answer to a prophecy. But his enemy has found a way to send a very human and very dangerous assassin after him—a man who could kill Linden with one hand. He should be terrified, but his knees go weak for all the wrong reasons.

When Linden’s family is taken hostage, Callum ought to be the last thing on his mind, but Linden can’t resist the chance to fulfill his deepest fantasies before sacrificing his own life. Callum knows he should walk away—it’s not his fight. But the beautiful fae is under his skin and now protecting Linden and his family feels more important than his own survival.

A human learning to feel. A fae learning to trust. Can two worlds merge into one true love?

This re-release of Brought to Light has a new cover and has been partially rewritten, but the characters and the ending are the same. This book contains explicit scenes, a magic flashlight, a prophecy that doesn’t quite work out the way anyone expects, and a guaranteed HEA.

Review: Hunter’s Descent (Mischief and Monsters, #2) by Alice Winters

Rating: 4.5🌈

I waggled between ratings because going into Hunter’s Descent, the reader absolutely must have read Monstrous Intent first or be completely lost. There’s simply no way to catch up or have enough information to understand the characters or backstory here to get a grip on the mayhem that occurs as well as underlying serious issues the author has woven through the series and relationships.

Some books you can do that with but not here.

But past that very basic point, this is a fabulous read and layered piece of storytelling from Winters.

Winters drops you into the lives of chimera Lake and ex hunter , now schoolteacher DeClan living their happily chaotic life, complete with Sir Reginald the beta fish and Mittens, the small chimera (it took me a while to remember Mittens wasn’t actually a cat). Back also are those two wonderfully humorous, slightly bent , ok very bent, members of this found family, chimeras Indigo and Sy.

Just when Lake and Declan are settling in after the last events of Monstrous Intents , a call from the DRD and murders of both humans and chimera draws them back into a past they’ve said they’d never return to. Serious issues alert, but extremely well addressed by the author.

Winter’s brings her typical snarky, sarcastic humor to a terrific plot that has elements of murderous hilarity, high suspense, fast-paced action, and mystery. It also brings in hard questions about research, speciesism, racism, guilt, and the inclination to equate anything different as a “thing”, less than whatever is on the other side of that equation.

And while we are narratively taking that all in, the author isn’t letting us forget that at heart, we’ve a found family and couple in love to care about. So she delivers moving scenes of fear of loss, anxiety and despair that brings Lake, Declan, and even Sir Reginald and Mittens, to the front emotionally of the story.

All the elements engaging the readers on multiple levels, humor, horror, drama,action , and romance. Right to the end.

Even then there’s a surprise or two , several threads that are left open, and many potential storylines for a third book. I certainly hope so.

In the meantime, I will probably go back and reread Monstrous Intent to see what things I possibly missed because it’s been a while. And who knew I missed those scamps Indigo and Sy that much!

I’m absolutely recommending Hunter’s Descent but not without reading Monstrous Intent first. Then hurry yourself right on over here.

Mischief and Monsters:

✓ Monstrous Intent #1

✓ Hunter’s Descent #2

Buy Link :

Hunter’s Descent (Mischief and Monsters Book 2)

Description:

Lake

Snagging the hunter was the easy part. Now I have to prove to him that a life filled with chaos, the most amazing fish ever, and delightful me is so much better than normal—trust me, he isn’t too hard to convince.

But when a group of insolent chimeras laughably think they can target my one true love, they have another thing coming for them—likely death.

With my dubious sidekicks in tow—and Declan, who is as happy as I am to run headfirst into danger—we travel across the country to track down why these chimeras are harassing Declan. But what we find might prove yet again that you never know who the real monster is.

Declan

Yeah… what he said. Except the fish part.

Review: Atlas (Mike Bravo Ops, #3) by Eden Finley

Rating: 4🌈

Kudos to Finley for including her trigger warnings at the beginning of the story instead of making her readers hunt for them or discarding them altogether. I always appreciate a author who does this for their readers.

In Atlas, the third of the Mike Bravo Ops series, the warnings apply to a secondary character who’s a victim of domestic assault and abuse.

There’s an author’s note also on a main character’s pov on sex workers but, honestly, I don’t see that a perspective that changes over time due to character development was necessary, or triggering.

Could be wrong though.

Atlas is a member of the Mike Bravo Ops team sent under cover to discover who’s stealing from an owner of a strip club, said owner being a bit of a criminal himself. The job has a murkiness about it from the beginning that not all the team is happy with. Especially Atlas who’s been assigned the job of bartender, wearing the barest of bottoms, and getting groped by the clientele as well. Accused by the team of being judgmental, this isn’t a job he’s comfortable with.

Finley’s characterization conveys all this information well on Atlas but at the same time doesn’t make him feel like he’s being condescending. Instead, he’s stuck trying to figure out why the people are there , their lives and motivations. You might want to shake him but he’s a good person. A really ginormous person. Who quickly becomes fixated on the stripper on the pole dazzling everyone in front of him.

That’s Lemon, who loves the power he possesses when he’s on stage or dancing for clients privately backstage. But there’s more to Lemon, and the life he’s living. Secrets he’s keeping.

I liked the dynamic between Atlas, who seems powerful in so many ways but unsure in others, and Lemon who has a inner strength and power not easily seen but a outer vulnerability and beauty that draws people to him.

The story has some nice details and twists to it, especially in regards to the main characters and their relationship.

A aspect of the story that didn’t do much for me was that element that this job was supposed to be Atlas’s chance to prove himself able to fill a leadership position, second in command to Travis, their boss. Domino, the team member in that role is “retiring “ from their unit to have a family and Atlas is the one being considered to replace him.

Thing is nothing about Atlas’s actions here point towards him acting like he is ready for such a role. Not that Domino acted in the best interests of the team in accepting this job, but Atlas’s had no choice in anything here except go along with the decisions made by others. With the exception of vouching for Lemon when the situation called for it.

So I’m perplexed as to how this element of the story works or doesn’t work, in my opinion. It feels like it was just written in to justify the fact that the author had Domino leaving and needed some additional “framework” for him. Just an afterthought sort of aspect of the story.

The rest is strong, but not without its flaws. There’s two characters left without being accounted for, including one who had a major role here.

Atlas is being referenced as the third book of three but it in no way feels like a finale, especially with those loose ends left dangling at the end of this story.

Also there’s still so many men of Bravo Ops without partners. Like Zeus, Decaf, or Romeo , I think. Even though Domino was written off due to matrimony happiness and a transfer to a linked agency, chances are he will pop up again. So I’ve no idea if this is a finale or not. As a series it doesn’t come across as complete.

I’ve enjoyed all three books with Iris still my strong favorite. I’m recommending this series to date for fans of Eden Finley, those who love conflicted main characters, with a bit of suspense and action thrown in.

Buy Link:

Mike Bravo Ops: Atlas

Mike Bravo Ops:

✓ Iris #1

✓ Rogue #2

✓ Atlas #3

Description:

ATLAS

Working undercover at a strip club is not my usual kind of job. If it weren’t a great opportunity to show the Mike Bravo team I can run my own op, I wouldn’t have agreed to it.

When my boss asks me to befriend the biggest gossip in the establishment, the person who knows everything, I’m even more reluctant. Because that happens to be one of the dancers. The only dancer to catch my attention in all the wrong ways.

I need to be professional or I will never prove I’m leadership material.

Only problem is, the guy with the stage name Lemon makes me want to be anything but professional.

LEMON

I’m sick of the new bartender throwing dirty looks my way. He’s as judgmental as he is hot, and let’s just say he’s really judgmental.

I don’t know why he’s working here if he looks down on us dancers so much. He could bartend at a regular club.

But when he saves me from a drunken customer getting too handsy, his attitude suddenly flips, and we find ourselves becoming … friends?

Underneath the judgment, it turns out Atlas is a total sweetheart.

Maybe more caring than anyone I’ve ever met.

I’ve never had a relationship before, but something tells me it could be way too easy to fall for the gentle giant.

Review: Chance Encounter (The Elite ) by Luna David

Rating: 4.5🌈

Chance Encounter (The Elite ) by Luna David finishes out the multi-author series, The Elite, and does so smartly with a storyline that leans towards the dark side and characters that fit in nicely with a hellish city built on crime, sin, and murder.

We’re talking about that dark, sinister city of Old Defiance, where even the alleyways are paved smooth for ease of use for cars and trucks picking up or dumping trash, er bodies. And that most elegant of hotels, The Menagerie, home to unsavory club, The Anonymous, where the criminal members get a safe card even if they’re mortal enemies as well as a on call doctor.

It’s a fabulous theme and David dives right in with an ex-SEAL sniper turned assassin for hire, Tate McKenna, out on his latest assignment when a complication arises in the tiny form of Chance Forester.

I’ll stop here for a trigger warning. Chance Encounter has explicit scenes of domestic violence, father on son vicious beatings. It also contains scenes where memories of past childhood violence is revealed. If this is something that triggers you, then perhaps this isn’t a book for you.

That said, David has created in Chance a person who has crafted their own coping mechanisms over the years, a character so believable in his personality that he’s instantly beloved and connectable.

Another note is about the kink aspect. There’s a Daddy kink at play here, mild bdsm as both sides are new to this and neither one seems to want it to extend past the need to take control of the care of the other. Even if Daddy kink isn’t your thing, I believe you can still enjoy this romance. Very sexy and key to this couple’s relationship and romantic journey.

There’s several interesting elements that include family dynamics, family relationships , and characters which I wish the author (and book size) would have been able to explore further.

If this series had a combined plus and minus it would be that the greatest stories were both too short and left the reader wanting more of this fabulous theme and characters it inspired.

The series is done. My recommendations are marked below with a ❤️. It includes Chance Encounter. Happy Reading!

✅The Elite Multi-Author series (9 Books):

✓ Reckless Roulette by Alice Winters

✓ Leave No Trace by Michelle Frost and Sammi Cee

✓ Ace of Maids by K.L. Hiers (DNF)

✓ Poison Hearts by Jennifer Cody❤️

✓ Liar’s Gambit by Kelly Fox❤️

✓ Dealer of Secrets by Davidson King ❤️

✓ Bullets & Butterflies by Maz Maddox❤️

✓ Love for the Reaper by Charlie Cochet

✓ Chance Encounter by Luna David❤️

Buy link:

Chance Encounter (The Elite Book 1)

Description:

Tate isn’t a savior. And Chance doesn’t need to be saved. Turns out they’re both wrong.

For Tate McKenna, Navy SEAL sniper turned assassin, rescue missions are part of a past he prefers to forget. But the target in his scope isn’t supposed to be choking someone to death right before his eyes. Saving some kid isn’t part of the job and derails his meticulous plans. Disruptions to his schedule make Tate a grumpy bastard and unforeseen complications just piss him off.

To Chance Forester, being forced into a blacked out SUV isn’t much of a surprise. He figures this trip to see his father is just like all the others until the usual beatdown becomes attempted murder. Turns out, the secrets he thought he’d been keeping from his father, weren’t secrets at all and might end up getting him killed.

When the heat of Tate’s anger morphs into a desire to protect and care for Chance, will Chance allow himself to let his guard down? And will Tate be able to keep his boy safe like a good Daddy should while they’re on the run from those who may want them both permanently silenced?

Chance Encounter is a part of the multi-author series The Elite. Each book can be read as a standalone and in any order. What links these books together is The Anonymous, a club beneath the gritty city where only the elite are welcome.

The complete series is:

•

• Reckless Roulette by Alice Winters

• Leave No Trace by Sammi Cee and Michelle Frost

• Ace of Maids by K.L. Hiers

• Poison Hearts by Jennifer Cody

• Liar’s Gambit by Kelly Fox

• Dealer of Secrets by Davidson King

• Love for the Reaper by Charlie Cochet

• Chance Encounter by Luna David

Review: The Star (Charleston Condors Book 1) by Beth Bolden

Rating: 4.5🌈

Bolden extends her connected football series with the addition of the Charleston Condors, that reviled team that targeted the Miami Piranhas the last season to such an extent the NFL demanded their sale to a new owner who’s done a complete overhaul. That’s the point where we dive into this new team and series.

I love Bolden’s sport’s romances for any number of reasons. She has a in-depth, passionate knowledge of the sport she’s writing about that makes her players, the team, and the team dynamics she makes a huge part of her stories so realistic and compelling.

In The Star, we see a number of familiar characters or faces that are associated with characters in other series. Tight end Landry Banks comes from the legendary football Banks family that includes his brother, Logan (center for the Miami Piranhas). We have seen him before when the entire family came together for Logan in Miami. A huge, impressive figure, a Thor-like physicality combined with a strong, centered personality. He’s immediately likable and a person who the reader can relate to, odd as that sounds.

Bolden’s ability to get such a distinct looking person and make him relatable through his actions and innermost emotions is one of the greatest qualities of her stories. The other being able to get the reader into the locker room, or onto the field, in the middle of the action and plays, letting us feel the pressure, the excitement and adrenaline! During those scenes, it’s as though it’s actually happening and we’re caught up in it all!

Which brings us to the other main character and his complex relationship with his older brother who also happens to be Landry’s best friend. Rookie quarterback Riley Flynn also has major football connections, in this case it’s his bigger, older, more famous and still playing NFL quarterback brother, Aiden Riley. The golden boy who’s raised him and is now trying to control his life.

This entire situation and element is unexpected and well done. It’s tricky because, as stated Landry and Aiden went to college together, remaining best friends still. Now through a series of surprising events, Riley ends up as the quarterback of the Charleston Condors, something his brother is unhappy about.

In addition to the torturous brotherly relationship he lands in the middle of, Landry is undergoing an epiphany about his sexuality. The only “straight” brother of the Banks family isn’t actually so straight after all when faced with a grownup Riley .

Bolden’s storylines are beautifully woven together as personal attraction grows into something more along with a team that’s learning that it’s possible to overcome the past and for the Condors as a team and organization to come together and move forward as a new unified family.

The Star was a wonderful story and romance as well as a great start to a new series. I can’t wait for The Game to be released! I’m highly recommending this !

The Charleston Condors:

✓ The Star #1

◦ The Game #2 – Aug 31, 2023

Buy Link:

THE STAR

Description:

Tight end Landry Banks knows the score when he signs with the Charleston Condors in a rebuilding year.

New owner. New coach. New players. New rules.

But one rule hasn’t changed: Don’t hook up with your best friend’s little brother.

Rookie quarterback Riley Flynn knows what it takes to make it in the NFL. He’s in Charleston to prove himself—to the world and to his teammates, but mostly to his older brother, who’s never believed he could be a star.

The last thing he expects is for his brother’s best friend Landry to welcome him with open arms and an offer to become roommates.

Riley’s always believed Landry was straight—but the way Landry keeps checking him out leaves him suddenly unsure. And Landry’s hot looks certainly don’t help squash the crush he’s always had on his brother’s best friend.

Revisiting his teenage crush isn’t part of the plan. But as he and Landry fall into a rhythm of thrilling plays on the field and sizzling tension off it, there’s no denying their connection.

Riley isn’t willing to trade becoming the next big NFL superstar for love. But with a man like Landry Banks waiting to catch anything he throws at him, maybe he can have both.

Bolden’s connected Football series in order they are written:

✓ The Riptide

✓ Miami Piranhas

◦ Charleston Condors

Review: Pole Position (A Lights Out Novel) by Charlie Novak

Rating : 4🌈

“We win and lose together. “

-Sir Lewis Hamilton”

In this series about Formula 1 racing, each author takes one racing team, a driver or two on that team , the international races in the series , and the dramatic events that occur during that season. Major events, even conversations crossover between novels.

Like the other books, this story begins with a quote from a race driver that hints at theme the tale and romance will carry.

A long time couple is the focus and heart of Charlie Novak’s contribution to the Lights Out series about a Formula 1 racing season .

Dean Williams and Mateo Llorente are established Formula 1 drivers and a long time couple, although only their families and a few friends are aware of the later. This season a new element is being introduced to their relationship. For the first time, both men will be racing for the same team- Cadigan Racing. It’s the team where Mateo has been the established driver for several years, where he’s the son of a legendary driver and the hopes for a championship win.

Novak’s chosen a different format for her storyline that provides a intimate window into the next stage into this couple’s journey, both in terms of their careers and their relationship, as heavily intertwined as they now are. It’s divided by races, almost every race in each country on the way to the grand finale , then a space of nine years as they prepare their retirement announcement.

This narrative formula has positive and negative aspects to it when I look at the way overall book made me feel about the themes and the characters.

I liked it in terms of seeing how each race and the dynamics of that particular race started to change the way in which Dean and Mateo’s were thinking about their own races (each has a team for their own car), their personal dynamics , and the team’s leadership. Where they originally thought they could handle the challenges, each race, each new event piled into an ongoing highly publicized , intense team effort, is starting to get to them.

We’re in as the stress, the constant press, the media attention and wrongful coverage puts such pressure on them that’s it effecting their team as well as them personally.

This feels very realistic.

Another great twist? The team owner, the leadership and support staff? They are aware of the fact that their top drivers are in a long term relationship with each other. And they are supportive. I love that. Terrific characters here in these roles.

On the other side of this format, I found that having the book “chopped “ into so many little sections or narration stages in this journey of Dean and Mateo’s meant less time for us in getting some of the more interesting details in more depth. Elements like Dean’s toxic relationship with his father who we never get to meet and his mother who seems to have been an equally complex person, not quite protecting her son from his father. But we hear about them. They call , he’s nearby.

Another similar aspect is Mateo’s parents who we also know about, a legendary Spanish driver and a French supermodel who adore him and Dean. We hear all about their parties, their passion and personalities. But where are they here? They even visit a race but are “absent “ in the story. It’s people and elements like this that add warmth and a great deal of value to a story and help ground a couple in a realness. That’s sort of missing from this.

Charlie Novak’s style of writing, the choice of story format gives us a sense of how a season of racing for one team impacted the relationship of two drivers racing for the win for the same team. The ambition, the fears, the stress , the excitement and yes the anger and the passion.

What is missing is the depth of actual racing action and the thrill of each man as they crossed the line to win the podium. There’s no smell of oil, exhaust, or burning rubber. And there should be in a novel about men racing at the highest speeds at the top of their game.

The relationship and the challenges Dean and Mateo face and overcome in Pole Position is well worth the read. I just didn’t get as emotionally invested as I was prepared to even as I found myself enjoying the ride. On that note, I’m recommending it.

Buy Link:

Pole Position

Lights Out:

✓ Team Orders by RJ Scott

✓ Full Throttle by Lisa Henry

✓ Pole Position by Charlie Novak

◦ Scoring Points by HL Day 6/13

◦ Black Flagged by Emma Jaye 6/20

◦ Rookie Mistakes by Beth Laycock 6/27/2023

Description:

Pole position gives a driver the best chance at winning, but can there be a winner when a long-term relationship is on the line?

Mateo Llorente was born to be Formula 1 World Champion.

Charming, handsome, and incredibly talented, Mateo is everything a champion should be. Dean Williams has fought for his position in Formula 1 with everything he has, and dreams of podium finishes and championship trophies.

For the past three years, Mateo and Dean have kept their long-term relationship under wraps, but when they both find themselves driving for Cadigan Racing, they know things won’t stay simple for long.

Keeping their relationship a secret is one thing, but dealing with the demands of the season is another.

As both drivers rack up points and the media scrutiny puts them under pressure, cracks start to appear in Mateo and Dean’s relationship.

Can their love survive the intensity of Formula 1? Or will winning cost Dean and Mateo everything?

This M/M romance from Charlie Novak features a steamy long-term secret relationship between teammates, and is set in the high octane world of Formula 1 featuring fast cars, driving at the limit, spectacular crashes, heated rivalries, and of course, a HEA.

Each book in the Lights Out collection is a standalone story, and the books can be read in any order

Review: Outrun the Rain (The Storm Boys Series Book 1) by N.R. Walker

Rating: 5🌈

How I love Outrun the Rain by N.R. Walker, the first in her new series, The Storm Boys. It’s about two men we met in the prequel (Second Chance at First Love), one a storm chaser, and the other a scientist who studies lightning and storms, who’ve arrived at Kakadu National Park to do just that.

This book reminds me so much of the experience I had the first time reading Walker’s amazing Red Dirt Heart series! It’s in discovering the true layers to the characters, and exploring a richly detailed and diverse terrain that’s unique to Australia and foreign to me. The more I read, the deeper I was emotionally invested in the men, and this journey they were on together.

Walker is able to bring us inside the hearts and minds of each of these startling different individuals with such clarity and love.

To Jeremiah Overton, a fulminologist, lightning is not just a scientific subject matter but a powerful natural phenomenon that’s effectively changed the course of his life. This character is so complicated, so tightly packed up that his layers and history are only revealed through hard won bits of conversation that rewards both Tully Larsen and the reader.

Tully Larsen, the storm chaser , so at home here at Kakadu where he spent long days with his father, and now by himself, chasing storms, watching the wildness happen, is also a bit of an enigma. Until he lets himself open up equally to Jeremiah, each man fully being themselves with another person for the first time.

And the reader feels their emotions, the joy, hesitation, wildness, and love of the experiences they share on this amazing journey to capture data of major storms up close.

Of those storms and the natural dangers inherent within the territory they are located, like swift flooding and crocodiles , Walker has us believing in those too with realistic descriptions and a wealth of knowledge that translates so well into an emotional narrative.

Was I ready for them to head home? No more than they were.

Luckily, there’s two more books in this series. If they are like this one, then I can see The Storm Boys sliding next to Walker’s Red Dirt Heart series as must reads for me. It’s that great.

Where one is dry red desert, this has sheets of endless green, rain and lightning strikes that never seem to end. What amazing bookends!

Ones I’m highly recommending.

The Storm Boys:

✓ Outrun The Rain

◦ Into The Tempest – June 27, 2023

◦ Touch The Lightning-July 18, 2023

Second Chance at First Love: Prequel to The Storm Boys

Buy Link:

Outrun the Rain (The Storm Boys Series Book 1)

Description:

Tully Larson has loved tropical storms since he was a kid and spent his summers with his dad in the wilds of Kakadu National Park. He’s happiest outdoors, a rough and ready kind of guy who loves the power of Mother Nature and chasing the thrill of electrical storms every chance he gets.

Jeremiah Overton, a fulminologist from Melbourne, chases storms for a whole different reason. Lightning has shaped his entire life and he’s driven to study it, to understand it, so heading to Kakadu in the middle of the storm season is a logical thing to do. After all, the Top End is the lightning capital of Australia.

Tully wasn’t sure how a week at his remote bunker with an academic type would pan out. And Jeremiah didn’t expect much from the storm-chasing cowboy who volunteered to take him.

But both men know all too well that when opposites attract, lightning strikes.

Review: Guarding Axel (Dark Forest Pack #3) by Annabelle Jacobs

Rating: 3.5🌈

Guarding Axel is the penultimate book in Jacobs’ Dark Forest Park series, so the series arc themes, which are plentiful, need to start coming together.

Axel Molhieth, a tormented Fae with full of secrets and a dark past has been a great source of mystery and interest for me and I think most people. Especially when it comes to the complicated relationship he has with the wolf shifter Talis.

Best friends until the enemy captures Axel , Talis, and others with a toxic Fae plant . The fallout from that traumatic event, destroys their close relationship, and sets the pack to guarding Axel against an old betrayer from his past.

I was looking forward to this story because of the hot chemistry between the were Talis and the Fae Axel but something happened and along the way, it dissipated under the weight of Axel’s overly complicated “secret “ and inability to trust within the storyline.

While Talis remains the tormented soul, denied his bond by Axel, by circumstances, hurt by the close proximity of Axel, Talis is the strongest character in the story. The most compelling.

That’s partly the reason why the story doesn’t work out as well. Both main characters need to balance out each other and, for me at least, they don’t.

Jacobs builds up this enormous amount of narrative suspense and anticipatory anguish around a secret that Axel’s been holding onto. It’s the one keeping him from having a relationship with Talis, why he’s causing so much drama and damage within the pack structure, so it should be something so earth shattering, so emotionally and physically traumatizing to makeup for all the harm the reader sees him causing for us to make sense of it all.

It’s one his cousin knows about. Btw.

But when it’s revealed, I kept waiting for the rest of the reveal. Thinking surely there’s more. There wasn’t.

And when his own cousin and the mate of the Alpha both tell Axel , the equivalent of “snap out of it” because you know better, this has been going on for too long, then either the secret wasn’t written well enough or this element was executed in a way that made Axel a character I just couldn’t connect with.

There’s far too many loose ends. I’m sure Jacobs will pick them up in the next book. But this just didn’t have the same feeling as the previous stories, at least as far as the main couple. I didn’t feel like Axel had a great relationship with either the pack or Talis, given his actions and inability to understand how they impacted those around him.

Usually Annabelle Jacobs does a great job explaining the dynamics behind those decisions and how the character comes back into balance. Here I never thought that happened.

I’m looking forward to Loving Jake, the series finale. And to seeing how everything plays out.

Dark Forest Pack series:

🔷Claiming Rys #1

🔷Redeeming Nick #2

🔷Guarding Axel #3

🔷Loving Jake #4 – Sept 28, 2023

Buy Link:

Guarding Axel (Dark Forest Pack Book 3)

Description:

A silver-haired fae with a shattered heart—a green-eyed shifter with enough love to heal him.

Axel

Burnt by a past betrayal, I’ve learnt the hard way to keep my heart locked up tight. As tempting as Talis is, all I can offer is friendship, because trusting someone again is a risk I can’t take. Love means sharing the true nature of my magic, and the last time I did that it almost cost me my life.

Talis

I want what every shifter wants.

A mate, a partner. Someone I can call mine.

Axel Molhieth, beautiful and free-spirited, makes it crystal clear that isn’t him. Will never be him.

I know it’ll end badly for me, but I want him anyway.

One night is all it takes to ruin their friendship, and avoidance is the easy way out. But when Axel’s past catches up with him, putting his life in danger, they’re forced to finally face the consequences of their night together.

Guarding Axel is an MM paranormal romance featuring a protective shifter desperate for love, and a beautiful fae afraid to trust. Full of magic, suspense, and sizzling UST, with a guaranteed HEA.

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