Tag: gay fiction

Review: Socially Orcward (Adventures in Aguillon #3) by Lisa Henry and Sarah Honey

Rating: 5 🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈

How I love this series! It really has everything to offer lovers of fantasy stories.

There’s exciting action, espionage (well eggs and spinach but you’re going to get it ), outstanding humor both gentle and guffaw worthy, and so much love in all its aspects it threatens to tumble out of the pages.

Oh, and did I mention dragons? Tiny, middle sized, graceful to downright awkward dragons! Magic no matter the stage of growth they find themselves in and utterly charming.

Perfect companions to Dave, our lovely gentle Orc of the previous storylines and adventures. Now happily ensconced in the Kings tower turned dragon incubator and sanctuary, he’s now in charge of all things dragons for Kings Quentin and Loth.

All’s well. And when a similar dragon loving soul named Simon appears in the kitchen and brings food to the tower, things look even brighter.

Such great characters, Dave and Simon! With such tremendous travails before them. Including figuring out what the new emotions they are feeling means, to themselves and eventually each other. Especially when neither has had a relationship and what they see or hear from others doesn’t sound like something they might want.

Socially Orcward is both about fantasy adventures, with dragons, and a complex story about figuring out who you are, what you stand for, and accepting the same for the one you love. I laughed….a lot. Really, the authors pulled the thespian joke and it’s still hilarious.

And I brought out the tissues in places too because both authors got right into the hearts of Simon, and Dave…. and it hurt. And then it soared, as it should.

Which made that last line and the ending so incredibly satisfying and heartwarming. Perfection really.

Everyone is happy. Even Scott.

Who saw that coming?

Adventures in Aquillon just made my comfort reads list as well as automatically recommended.

Incredibly well written, beautifully plotted, outstanding characters, with lines that have the capability to make me burst out laughing or equally shed tears.

Honestly? Farmyard fornicator? Dirty alchemist? Certain things will live on …. Not sure if I should send the authors unspeakable gingerbread as thanks or threats for these mind worms…..

Either way, read for yourself. I’m highly recommending them all, including Socially Orcward

Series:

Red Heir (Adventures in Aguillon #1

Elf Defense -2

Socially Orcward-3

https://www.goodreads.com/series/299397-adventures-in-aguillon

See the above Goodreads link for all buying options for the series.

Review: Fairytale of LaGuardia by Beth Bolden and AE Wasp

Rating:5 🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈

Combine two of my fav authors, Beth Bolden and AE Wasp, and the theme of holiday romance, throw in sports as well and I have to say “Yaaaaaasssss,”! It’s a winner.

We get not one but two sports, MLB and the NHL, in our two lead men, both athletes. One older and thinking of retirement. The other just called up to The Game and on his way to his NHL team.

Two men in flux meeting in a snowed – in LaGuardia in NYC on Christmas Eve and it’s magic.

We are given the pain of upcoming loss and the excitement of a shiny new future. The age difference showing in outlook as well as stages in careers. Poignancy meshes gently with hope and the growing attraction between them.

Everything’s here, the crowded airport, the holiday frenzy, the men felt realistic. As did the relationship that grew unexpectedly along with the feelings that flared up.

And that beautiful ending…. So wonderful and heartwarming. Just what you’re wanting out of a holiday romance. Perfect

Love sports romance? Holiday contemporary love stories? Age difference and just that touch of magic? Grab up Fairytale of LaGuardia and enjoy!

https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/43062575

See link above for buying options.

Elf Defense (Adventures in Aguillon #2) by Lisa Henry and Sarah Honey

Rating: 4.5 🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈

Red Heir would be tough for any tale to follow, not just that rollicking couple but that sheer magnificent whackiness and frivolity of all that great oddity mixed together.

So Elf Defense takes its own path to happiness. Much like the elves themselves, the quest- minded, Houses & Humans playing Calarian and the abrasive, ever rebellious political anarchist Benji, this story is completely different.

Given a quest by Kings Loth and Quen the elves, friends with benefits, set off to solve a mystery of marauding trolls. A quest that goes spectacularly wrong immediately. Enter the gorgeous Lars.

The tale unfolds through alternating POV, the most interesting for me being the prickly Benji. While both Calarian and Benji have known each other for literally ages, they haven’t really “known” each other. Until the events of their quest start multiplying and Lars becomes more to each of them then just an attractive lay and solution to a problem.

Yes, we will get an encyclopedic list of sexual positions, including the reverse double paladin and of course the ever popular dirty alchemist, but we are also given thoughtful, believable character growth. Especially from two young elves and a culture not given towards love or lasting relationships.

While we might miss the guffaws, we are given plenty of heartwarming moments, including some with cows. Many outstanding characters and other couples also follow as well as the quirkiness and weird elements I expect now from this series. None of which I’ll spoil for you here.

But I’ll say that I’ll never look at a certain movie the same again. Just saying.

The authors do give me the laughs similar to those from the first story by including a snippet story at the end. It includes Loth and Quen, Calarian and Benji, and well the gang from Red Heir. Marvelous!

Next up is Dave’s story. I expect it to be as sweet as Dave is. Can’t wait.

Until then, read the engaging, warm-hearted Elf Defense. I highly recommend it

Series:

Red Heir (Adventures in Aguillon #1

Elf Defense

Socially Orcward

https://www.goodreads.com/series/299397-adventures-in-aguillon

See link above to buying options at Goodreads

Red Heir (Adventures in Aguillon #1) by Lisa Henry and Sarah Honey

Rating: 5 🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈

So many things I could quote to use as examples of just what a brilliant comedy romance Red Heir is if Amazon didn’t forbid the use of certain words. Ah well.

Ok I’ll just say it here. Fuckery stool. 🙈🤣🤣 nope can’t go further. My sides are still too sore.

That just means you’ll get the pleasure of reading first hand the sentences and passages that had me in tears! Tears! Holding my stomach, outright guffawing from almost the very beginning of the story.

And once the laughter came it never stopped. The amazing characters, the outstanding plot that’s so full of the oh so well crafted lines that it will have you spewing out whatever you so cluelessly thought to munch on or drink while reading this tale ( big note to you all, don’t eat or drink anything…just saying….you are warned). Also grab a box of tissues if you’re a snotty laugher.

Really it’s as if a great bar joke came to life and suddenly it’s THE tale you always wanted to read full of characters you always wanted to meet (well maybe not Scott ) and it’s perfection!

A elf, a dwarf, a prince, a pickpocket, a orc, a human, and a dragon walk into a bar…. Nope scratch the bar…. But the rest? Priceless adventures and hmmm the encyclopedic mention of sex positions fantastical.

So incredibly well written I’m still laughing at lines as I write this ( and realize I’m going to go back and read it immediately again), the characters so beautifully fleshed out that I can see them all so clearly before me, funny, engaging, sometimes fragile but always full of the unexpected.

And while I was contemplating the ending (which is fabulous) the authors give us the gift of a second book coming in the series. Be still my heart. What a glorious journey awaits.

How I wish I could run around shouting, read this book! Because it, the characters and the authors deserves it.

Btw? My sides still hurt. Well done, Red Heir! I haven’t laughed that hard and long in ages. Love, love this book

Series:

Red Heir (Adventures in Aguillon #1

Elf Defense

Socially Orcward

https://www.goodreads.com/series/299397-adventures-in-aguillon

See the Goodreads links above for all the buying options

Would that it would contain a link to a travel service that would transport me into this universe directly!

Review: Catch Me (Kitchen Gods Book 2) Kindle Editionby Beth Bolden

Rating: 🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈 5

I had been reading all the other stories in several series that mentioned this couple, chef Wyatt Blake and out MLB player Ryan Flores (Food Truck series and Kitchen God) but had never quite gotten around to their story.

Until now.

What a wonderful story it is. I’m so sorry I’ve missed out on all the references, not understanding what they meant until now. So many 🤦🏼‍♀️.

Because now I get them, and the impact on this couple as their relationship continues.

It’s only a sports story in that Ryan plays MLB. It does discuss his continuing impact as the first out MLB player and his negotiating with the team owner. Nothing about his dynamics within the team. Shame

Unlike other stories with hockey and football where the sport itself is a featured player, baseball here is missing as a story element. I sort of wished that had been more of a stronger aspect of Ryan’s character here but , as it wasn’t really a passion of his, I get leaving it out.

There’s a lot here to dive into, food , food /recipes of Puerto Rico ,inability to trust and communication, even to understand what it is to truly love and commit to another person. That’s an enormous narrative load for any couple and book to carry.

There’s so much to unpack here narratively speaking. It’s funny, real, harsh, heartbreaking, and ultimately so warm and loving.

It’s exactly why I read this author’s stories.

Honestly I should have gotten to Wyatt and Ryan sooner but better late than never.

Don’t you make that mistake. Read about their love story now. I highly recommend it and this author.

Kitchen Gods Series:

Bite Me – Miles and Evans story

Catch Me – Wyatt and Ryan

Worship Me – short about Matt and Alex

Savor Me – Xander and Damon

Indulge Me – Kian and Bastian

https://www.goodreads.com/series/224661-kitchen-gods

See the link above for the buy links to all the stories.

Lumber Jacked (a Rainbow Cove novella) by Annabeth Albert

Rating: 🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈 5

Sometimes it takes a new book announcement to get me to remember a series I really like (this author is highly prolific with a great many series I already devour 🙈).

Rainbow Cove is one of those series by Annabeth Albert that sometimes gets lost among the so many popular and outstanding series Albert writes. Solders, gamers, chefs….I crush so hard on her many characters.

So when I saw the upcoming new release Hope On the Rocks (Rainbow Cove #4), I went hmmmm…. had I read the third book in the series. Why no, I hadn’t. And set off to correct that.

Can I say hot? Unexpectedly hot? I don’t remember rope play, extremely well done rope play, in other of Albert’s storylines. It’s been a while so I could be wrong.

But this? Down to the knot variations, apparatus, scene setting, and after care all while making it feel tender, sexy, vulnerable, and such an integral part of a burgeoning relationship? Just amazing on multiple levels,

Rope play, makeup, pink fuzzy sweaters, glitter! Sexy oh my! These men !

A short story with a extra scene that is so necessary but will still leave you wanting more of lumber jack/photog rope Dom Johnny and younger pretty makeup vlogger Cam. Age difference, mild bdsm in that Cam realizes he has a submissive side, one that rope play allows him to express .

People uncomfortable with kink and bdsm should give this story a chance. I think you’re going to surprise yourself by the feelings expressed by Cam, a complete newcomer to being tied up and how moving both the experience and their relationship makes you feel.

Albert writes characters so realistic and layered that you often forget they are fictional as are the town they live in and the issues that confront them. I’m so quickly pulled into their lives and romance that the story is over far sooner than I wish it to be.

Here’s hoping I see them pop up in the next book to come.

Every visit I make to Rainbow Cove and each new couple I meet has been a complete joy. Johnny and Cam were definitely my favorites.

Highly recommended.

Rainbow Cove series:

Trust with a Chaser

Trust with a Twist

Lumber Jacked

Hope On the Rocks (Rainbow Cove #4)- see link below for all the stories and buy links

https://www.goodreads.com/series/210691-rainbow-cove

Review: Bite Me (Kitchen Gods #1) by Beth Bolden

Rating: 🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈 5

Grab a great Chardonnay and a chocolate sweet of your choice before you settle in to read the delightful romance of pastry chef Miles and producer Evan.

Honestly, these stories of Beth Bolden’s just make you want to grab for a wine glass and a bite of something sinful to go along with her heartwarming romances such as Bite Me, Miles and Evan’s tumultuous road to HEA.

As with all of this series books, you get the entire circle of characters from the series included in the storyline as well as the main characters, their backgrounds, and current dynamics.

In this case, it’s the development of the online cooking show Pastry by Miles,with all the elements it takes to develop a successful show. Between that and the rough and tumble romance, Bite Me is a hugely entertaining story with a great couple at its center and recipes to make one drool.

I loved the ending and the epilogue sets up Wyatt for his story and romance while giving Miles and Evan a terrific ending for theirs.

Bite Me is a another winner is a series I can’t stop reading. Love this!

https://www.goodreads.com/series/224661-kitchen-gods

Go above for the complete series ~ all recommended

The Rivalry (The Riptide) Kindle Editionby Beth Bolden

LGBTQ2+ Sports Romance

Rating: 🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈

Romance amongst the men of the LA Riptide Football team! How sexy, endearing, and just outright wonderful it is.

The first in a series, The Rivalry is typical Beth Bolden. Beautifully written, characters of charm and depth, and a story with many layers that grip you from start to finish.

It’s also typical in that along with a love story that engages your heart, the author explores more serious issues of child abuse, parental alcoholism and child abandonment. That’s for starters. But it’s never with a heavy narrative hand but as elements that are revealed through one man’s struggles to achieve happiness and love.

Realistic, painful, and eventually so rewarding to watch as Heath battles through both his emotional and physical trauma. And Sam , there with his own path to tread, needing support in his own battle with insecurity and new position and team.

What a story! What men and couple!

You find yourself cheering, laughing, and crying a bit for both men as they fight their way towards their happy ending. And what a delightful one it is. I could spend books upon books with the Riptide men.

Consider this a fantastic starting point and one I highly recommend.

Books In This Series (2 Books)- both highly recommended

The Rivalry

Rough Contact

by Beth Bolden

https://www.goodreads.com › showWeb resultsThe Rivalry by Beth Bolden – Goodreads

https://www.goodreads.com › showWeb resultsRough Contact by Beth Bolden – Goodreads

Review: Top Shelf (Boston Rebels #1) by RJ Scott and VL Locey

Rating: 🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈

Top Shelf (Boston Rebels #1) by RJ Scott and VL Locey is the first book is a new hockey romance series by two of my must read authors

Long and eagerly awaited, as is any new LGBTQ2+ hockey romance tale, Top Shelf more than delivers

As you all know hockey is my jam! And Rainbow 🌈 hockey love stories? Well, be still my heart 💜! There are many excellent authors in this genre and the writers RJ Scott and VL Locey are at the top of my list among them.

Why? Because like the others, they are passionate about the sport of hockey, it’s players and teams. They know the sport and it’s translates into excellence in fast, accurate action on ice scenes that gets the reader going and engaged with the team and it’s season while still threading through the storylines, full of romance, rocky paths and heartwarming emotions.

That’s all presented here as we meet a team in need of rebuilding. That’s a highly volatile situation for all involved. It means saying goodbye to older players not yet ready to go and learning to accept new younger players stepping into holes in teams not ready for them to be filled.

Add in several players admission of LGBTQ2+ identification when one player comes officially out? And for everyone the team becomes a new uncertain future for all, especially management.

This is the universe we are meeting throughout this story. Various players, a team and people in transition

First it’s the tight friendship, on and off the ice, of Xander and Eli. Brothers in all but name and Railers, they’ve had a third tagging along most of their lives. Mason, Eli’s younger brother

Mason, never much interested in hockey past the fact that Eli and his forever crush Xander played, is now grown. And determined to make Xander see him in a new light.

Xander has recently come out after hiding his sexuality. Here the authors excelled at showing Xander’s confusion and fragility over how exactly he becomes a truth he’s never allowed himself to have or be. He’s raw, more than a little depressed, and no one is picking up on his uncertain emotional state.

The team’s turmoil is adding stress all around to major players and again the elements and reactions feel so realistic. Our own emotions fall readily into the storylines filling out before us. We not only want more of these teammates histories but we need to know

That’s on top of Xander and Mason’s romance which has its own tensions with Mason’s new business (that remains unresolved in my mind) and Xander’s future

I honestly thought the realism here, all the various issues raised as well as the feeling that the relationship needs more work and communication was wonderful. After all, it’s new. Both men have so many new elements to deal with as well as making their relationship work that leaving this a HFN, a work in progress to return to makes sense

It’s great and leaves me wanting to bribe the authors for much much more. Not just the next couple in the series which is coming in Back Check- see below.

So yes, I loved my story, the new series, and team

So yes, I loved my story, the new series and team.

Top Shelf: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56990636-top-shelf

Back Check:https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57875135-back-check

Review: Top Shelf (Boston Rebels #1) by RJ Scott and VL Locey

Rating: 🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈

Top Shelf (Boston Rebels #1) by RJ Scott and VL Locey is the first book is a new hockey romance series by two of my must read authors

Long and eagerly awaited, as is any new LGBTQ2+ hockey romance tale, Top Shelf more than delivers

As you all know hockey is my jam! And Rainbow 🌈 hockey love stories? Well, be still my heart 💜! There are many excellent authors in this genre and the writers RJ Scott and VL Locey are at the top of my list among them

Why? Because like the others, they are passionate about the sport of hockey, it’s players and teams. They know the sport and it’s translates into excellence in fast, accurate action on ice scenes that gets the reader going and engaged with the team and it’s season while still threading through the storylines, full of romance, rocky paths and heartwarming emotions.

That’s all presented here as we meet a team in need of rebuilding. That’s a highly volatile situation for all involved. It means saying goodbye to older players not yet ready to go and learning to accept new younger players stepping into holes in teams not ready for them to be filled.

Add in several players admission of LGBTQ2+ identification when one player comes officially out? And for everyone the team becomes a new uncertain future for all, especially management

This is the universe we are meeting throughout this story. Various players, a team and people in transition

First it’s the tight friendship, on and off the ice, of Xander and Eli. Brothers in all but name and Railers, they’ve had a third tagging along most of their lives. Mason, Eli’s younger brother

Mason, never much interested in hockey past the fact that Eli and his forever crush Xander played, is now grown. And determined to make Xander see him in a new light.

Xander has recently come out after hiding his sexuality. Here the authors excelled at showing Xander’s confusion and fragility over how exactly he becomes a truth he’s never allowed himself to have or be. He’s raw, more than a little depressed, and no one is picking up on his uncertain emotional state.

The team’s turmoil is adding stress all around to major players and again the elements and reactions feel so realistic. Our own emotions fall readily into the storylines filling out before us. We not only want more of these teammates histories but we need to know

That’s on top of Xander and Mason’s romance which has its own tensions with Mason’s new business (that remains unresolved in my mind) and Xander’s future

I honestly thought the realism here, all the various issues raised as well as the feeling that the relationship needs more work and communication was wonderful. After all, it’s new. Both men have so many new elements to deal with as well as making their relationship work that leaving this a HFN, a work in progress to return to makes sense

It’s great and leaves me wanting to bribe the authors for much much more. Not just the next couple in the series which is coming in Back Check- see below.

So yes, I loved my story, the new series, and team

Bring it On! Highly recommended!

Top Shelf: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56990636-top-shelf

Back Check:https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57875135-back-check