So Into You (The PI Guys #2) by S.E. Harmon is a book I enjoyed far better than the one preceding it. That one, Stay With Me, had so many flags for me I thought I was at a heavily contested football play at 4th and down at NFL Sunday.
The relationship here between PI Drew Rodriguez and Screenwriter Noah Ashley is more balanced and, frankly, nuanced.
Both have issues with their childhoods, mostly stemming from one of their parents. The traumatic wounds drive their behaviors and determine their relationships. How they maneuver through and around these emotionally laden issues and barriers each has erected (in one case, the barrier is sitting himself in a chair in the living having arrived unannounced), is wonderful to read and a pleasure to be connected to.
Drew and Noah argue over the expected trust issues, work timorously towards something real, and it feels believable. The men work as a couple and as friends.
The cases they investigate are mundane, boring, sad, and, occasionally scary.
Drew’s home life mirrors just how quickly complicated things get and how they get handled. With resigned frustration that also feels as real as it comes.
The first couple makes appearances here but honestly I hardly noticed them. The real people, the ones putting in the work were right in front of me. And I was loving every bit of time I was spending with them.
So Into You (The PI Guys #2) by S.E. Harmon is a terrific realistic contemporary romance. It has people with damaged childhoods, working through their issues, and moving forward to have healthy relationships and hopefully a HEA.
I really loved them. I’m highly recommending this story. Check it out!
Screenwriter Noah Ashley has a few four-letter words for his agent when she suggests he improve his script by shadowing a PI. Still, because he’s an artist dedicated to his craft and she knows where the bodies are buried, he agrees. Then he spends a little time with the gorgeous PI, and suddenly it seems like a really good plan. The PI doesn’t seem to entirely love the idea, but Noah has never been afraid to go after what he wants.
PI Drew Rodriguez is used to people depending on him. He’s the classic rock for his family. Responsible. Dependable. The classic rock would never succumb to the borderline sleazy temptation of friends with benefits, no matter how sexy that temptation is. Drew is looking for something enduring.
Despite Drew’s misgivings, it’s not long before they’ve got all the requisites for friends with benefits going. Friendly, good conversation? Check. Fun times in and out of bed? Check. Hot, electrolyte-sapping sex? Double check. Falling in love? Yeah. About that….
Got Me Thinking, fourth book in Casey Cox’s terrific Vet Shop Boys series, is a very sweet,low angst, contemporary romance.
Chase Higgins is the vet who’s life has just had a complete life upheaval, after a long period of stress, and a inability to conceive children in a dying marriage. It was finally coming to the realization that he needs to live his truth, even if it hurts people close to him. That means telling his wife he’s gay, divorcing, and starting to live as a gay man. In his 30’s.
Fisher West is a single dad of twin girls. Recently relocated back to his hometown of Brookhaven, Virginia, to raise his girls, get his life settled after a heartbreaking dissolution of a relationship.
Each man has undergone enormous changes in their lives, made mental decisions as to any new romances, and new goals at home. Whether it’s small pigs as pets, houses to redo, or just getting reestablished in a community.
Cox gives us two wonderful, relatable men, puts each into situations the reader will connect to, then starts to push them together in the most delightful way.
As Chase figures out what being a “ out” gay man means , and Fisher helps just by being his friend, the warmth and joy of their growing relationship rises off the page. Whether it’s through interactions with all the kids, animals, Saturday dinners, or many conversations, all very realistic and funny and , thankfully, adult, it’s all so smoothly done, that I’m all in without realizing it.
I’m full all in love with the men, the idea of a combined family, the way they actually talk through the issues bothering them. That alone was masterful because it was so thoughtful and yes, grownup. It lacks drama, and I appreciate that. Sometimes, being a grownup, if there’s respect and intelligence, as well as the idea you communicate your thoughts and issues, that’s a great element in a romance and relationship.
The epilogue shows that they had obstacles to overcome but it’s such a marvelous chapter and we see how the family and men went on. Happy and very much in love.
Got Me Thinking (Vet Shop Boys #4) by Casey Cox is a wonderful contemporary romance, with a man who starts to live his truth and finds love, family, and a happy future. It’s a warm-hearted, loving book that will leave you smiling. What’s better then that?
I’m highly recommending this and this gentle series.
He’s a single dad ready to start dating again. I’m newly divorced and new to…well, everything. This is going to be a disaster… Isn’t it?
When my marriage ends, I decide to buy a run-down house and get a drove of piglets. My friends think I’m having a breakdown, when really, all I’m doing is the one thing I’ve avoided my whole life––figuring out who I am.
One thing I’m quickly learning is that life loves nothing more than to throw you a curveball when you least expect it.
Take Fischer West. From the moment we serendipitously collide on a midnight stroll, he ignites something within me. We have a connection. I want to explore it, even though the timing is all wrong.
There’s no way either one of us is ready for a relationship, so why has Fischer got me thinking it might just work?
Hot is right. I’ve been anxiously waiting for this story since the author’s announced it was Donny’s story with a newly transferred gay fire pilot.
Donato “Donny” Cannoli is a mess of a man, something of a norm actually for the men of the enormous Italian family where the ideals of manhood run adjacent to those of toxic masculinity. Where they , actually everyone, are expected to go into careers of service, dangerous service. Firefighters, law enforcement…nothing less. Marry, produce another generation to do the exact same, and carry on the Cannoli name and reputation.
No matter the personal cost.
Hot Seat, Mike’s story was a dramatic representation of exactly how high that cost could be when the stress and denial became too great.
And it caused an emotional, heartbreaking,sea change in attitude in Donny. Prior to the shattering event towards the end of that story, Donny , like his older brother, Gabe, was a homophobic machismo sneering bully. But afterwards?
A changed man who had his brother’s back and started standing up for Mike and against those uttering homophobic slurs.
That’s where we find him now. A man who’s foundation has been shaken, the cracks appearing… when out and proud Dell Murphy arrives , to further the job of disassembling the man Donny always thought himself to be.
Lain and Easton do an absolutely superlative job here with Donny’s emotionally profound and painful journey, with himself and Dell, to his truth. He’s bisexual, he’s never going to fit within his father’s ideals, and he’s got a new better future if he’s brave enough to accept it and himself.
It’s a path you’re on with Donny that’s at times raw, sexually hot, and heartwarming, and also so deeply complicated that you just hurt for him as he unravels all those familial issues that have him trussed up so tightly in old ideals that have never fit him.
Dell Murphy has his complications. All just as well executed and emotional. And like Donny’s, they stem from family. His issues with his father has driven home certain areas of behavior and trust that Donny’s triggering. He’s also the one who’s the security for his Mam and sister , Gala. Those characters too are just amazing.
There’s so many great elements here. Dell is a realistic pilot and the research into the plane, flying, fire intensity…. It’s all here. And it makes for some incredibly high suspense action. Awesome co- pilot too.
The truth is this book is so fantastic I could babble on about all the great things the authors have put into this story that enrich the storylines and support the characters growing relationship, but why not just pick it up and read it? It’s fabulous!
I will say you should read Hot Seat first to get an indication of the events that happened previously and how far Donny’s characters has changed.
I’m highly recommending this and the series to date.
Now an interesting note on the next two stories. Due to unexpected complications (author Tara Alain’s surgery and recovery), Lain and Easton aren’t co-writing the next books. Instead each will write a single novel.
I’m wondering how that will effect the sort of edgy balance they’ve achieved here in the series to date between raw , deeply emotional issues each character has had to process and overcome and the romantic relationship element. It’s been a delicate maneuver. In Mike’s novel, it was really more about his journey towards self acceptance, and then it was his romance.
Here in Hot Wings, I thought it was equally important. Beautifully crafted.
Now to see how and who is next.
The Hot Cannolis series:
◦ Fireman’s Carry (The Hot Cannolis #0.5) by Eli Easton
Most macho of all the super-alpha Canali brothers and proud of it, Donny’s famous for his gorgeous face, his firefighter prowess, and for going through girls his family doesn’t approve of as fast as he changes jeans.
Donny’s biggest hero is his fire captain dad, until his life gets saved from the skies by fire pilot Dell Murphy.
Dell’s certain about most things. He’s been proud to be gay since he was ten, handled a helicopter in Afghanistan like it was part of his body, and can fly a fire bomber in the worst conflagration. And he’s absolutely certain that Donny Canali belongs to him. Dell also knows how to show a lover he’s in charge.
Donny’s shocked to discover how much he’s turned on by dominant Dell, but Donny’s not gay. He’s not. He can’t be. It would break his father’s heart.
Leaving Dell will break Donny’s.
HOT WINGS is a battle of the alphas, hot firefighters, two crazy families, dominant lover, HEA romance with a helping of laughter and even more feels.
The Real Baxter starts off so awesomely. We dive into the universe and get an immediate understanding of both men, their personalities, and backgrounds.
Sebastian Rourke, wealthy, gorgeous. A true silver fox who’s a producer and much sought after executive . Also a single gay father, and damaged adult who’s mourning the loss of his ex who is about to be remarried.
Trent Mackay. Actor, fake bodyguard, and now fake boyfriend maybe. With more then a few walls of his own he’s erected for his own protection.
Lane created some fascinating characters, gave them both realistic and painful back histories. Surrounded both by layered personalities and utterly charming people I loved, from Seb’s mini me older son Charlie to his adorable younger one, Oliver. Let’s not forget Macy as well.
Each man has had some emotional mountains of trauma to surmount. One is still trying. All rings so true and painful. All while navigating LA celebrity scene and slowly connecting.
So I couldn’t figure out why I wasn’t enjoying what was clearly a great story. Then around the 2/3 mark it hit me! There’s never been any point where the men have really been at ease , where there’s no anxiety , no tension, or possible emotional explosions waiting to happen in the next 60 seconds. It’s that way for them. It’s that way for the reader. We never relax or take a breath.
And that makes for an equally anxious, hard, stressful read.
A story, imo, needs to behave a bit like a stream or rivers. With eddies , flows, and different ranges in its movement. At times peaceful, so you can have time to appreciate the scenery and at other places, high swells, fast currents, to make your heart race and laugh or screaming, and hang on for dear life.
But if all you’re doing is clutching with white knuckles, and trying to win out over a undertow, that stress and anxiety wears you down.
The characters are amazingly well crafted. Believable with real depth. Seb, especially with his pain over the loss of his ex to his marriage and the memories of his past faults. Extremely well done. It’s so haunting that it tears at you.
His relationship with his children? Also realistically portrayed. Charlie and Oliver are both charming and perfectly realistic.
Trent too , from the moment we meet him is someone we get. From his background and family to the existence he’s scrabbling away at in LA.
But my issue is when they’re supposed to be having a semblance of normalcy, happy times. It’s a as “related by” situation. Trent tells us about them. The reader never gets that part of their relationship that developing., until we’re almost finished. We only get the fake news bits, the stress, the anxiety.
The reader needs to be “in” on what makes them work for everything else to make emotional sense.
Plus there’s this.
“He made me feel…important. Necessary. Not just for sex, although sex was amazing and got better every day.”
Made. Not makes. Past tense.
That was Trent speaking. See what I mean about tension? As a reader I’m not thinking happy thoughts about their future here…
Took me a while to realize everything was past tense. I loved, I had, he made… and the story is about 3/4 over. Shouldn’t I be feeling a bit more hopeful about them by now?
There’s so many different interesting interconnected relationships here. Grey, Seb’s ex, and his love, rocker Justin. * Charlie, Seb’s oldest son, (who also was devastated when his father’s broke up) and his husband , Ky Baldwin, bassist in the same band as Justin.*. Oliver, the youngest son, his mother and with her newest boyfriend. Everyone is interwoven into a extensive family unit of multiple households and at times, strained relations. It seems very realistic.
Lane’s story comes across, for me, at its best when Trent and Seb are dealing with Olivier. Navigating a child’s feelings about a new person entering their very complicated and crowded life, with all the ramifications, is a delicate matter. Something that’s not done with Charles, who I thought maybe needed it more, even as grown up as he was.
The pain Charlie felt was telegraphed perfectly along with his divided emotions. But as beautifully as Lane deals with Olivier, I thought that Charlie was overlooked in all the drama and it’s resolution towards the end. Except at the Epilogue.
The Real Baxter (The Baxter Chronicles #1) by Lane Hayes is a exceedingly well written story but the anxious flow of the romance, getting to have some happiness not until later, and ,for me ,leaving much of the fundamental work on relationship foundation to Trent , Oliver, and ,only lastly Seb, made this a wonderful but less fun read.
I think a lot of people will bring many different emotions to this story. It will be interesting to read all the reviews.
Gorgeous cover!
I’m recommending it. And wonder how the series is going to continue going forward. With another person or the same couple. Stay tuned.
*Both Grey and Charlie’s romances can be found in Hayes’ Starting From series. Starting From Zero is Grey and Justin’s. Starting from Scratch is Charlie’s.
Who’s the true hero behind the Hollywood heartthrob, crime-fighting, adventure-seeking international man of mystery? Me. I’m the real Baxter.
Well, I wear the suit and let the action play out onscreen. You want to know the secret of my success? Sell the story you want to tell. Even if you have to bend the truth a little.
Okay…a lot.
Trust me, no one will notice. Except Trent, who seems to notice everything. And for some reason, I like that. I like him. I’m just not sure what to do about it.
Trent
Look, I’m not exactly killing it. I’m a typical struggling actor-slash-waiter, hoping for a break. And boom…in walks Sebastian Rourke. He’s a cutthroat, wickedly charming silver fox, a Hollywood legend in the making. No joke. You’ve got to sell a piece of your soul to get in this man’s orbit. Or fake a British accent, then take a job playing bodyguard to fool the press. As one does.
I know I should take advantage of the very strange situation I find myself in, but I’m not sure I’m cut out for it. However, I’m willing to take a chance, ’cause I want the real Seb.
Even though it might cost me everything.
The Real Baxter is a MM age-gap, bisexual romance featuring the man who has everything and the actor who’s willing to show him what’s real.
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 