Tag: LGBTQIA Contemporary Romance

Review: Checking It Twice (A Snowed Inn story) by V.L. Locey

Rating: 4🌈

Checking It Twice is a heartwarming holiday story about two long time friends getting their second chance at love in their fifties.

One of the wonderful Snowed Inn collection featuring multiple authors, much like the rest, it includes The Retreat Inn, a Colorado mountain resort also nicknamed The Rainbow Inn, a avalanche that cuts off the Inn and it’s inhabitants for a prolonged stay, and all the couples and events from all the stories.

Sutter Thompson, his longtime friend and coworker at Red Pine U, Watley, are driving a group of young boys for a regional hockey medal presentation being held at the Inn. Among the boys up for hockey honors is their sons. Sutter’s boy Zachary with his ex wife , and Watley ‘s son, Adam with his ex husband. The boys are best friends as well.

Locey’s men have a complicated past history. A deeply closeted Sutter decided to come out after his child was born. But he’s never revealed his last hidden truth. He’s always loved Watley.

Checking It Twice gives the reader a delightful depiction of a number of types of heartfelt relationships. Those of realistic loving father/son dynamics, especially as seen between both sets of parents and sons. You get the funny, too real, close knit relationship that happens with team members and their coaches (hurting stomachs, road trips, bunk bed assignments). Then there’s the one the men themselves have waited close to thirty years for. Their own romance.

It’s a halting , stumbling path full of slow revelations, first kisses, and , passion at last fulfilled. The men with their aches, trick knees, aged playlist, and glimpses of grey , are charming and engaging. It was a real joy to read their romance.

This collection is turning out to be a great way to dive into my holiday books, and I’m definitely recommending Checking It Twice as a heartwarming HEA!

Snowed Inn story Collection:

All the books can be read as standalones and in any order and all are available to buy or pre-order

• RJ Scott – Stop the Wedding – https://books2read.com/StopTheWedding

• H.L Day – Five Night Stand – https://books2read.com/FiveNightStandHL

• V.L. Locey – Checking it Twice – https://books2read.com/CheckingItTwiceVL

• LC Chase – Breakfast Included – https://books2read.com/BreakfastIncludedLCC

• Xenia Melzer – The Real Kaimana – https://books2read.com/RealKaimanaXM

• Meredith Russell – Stuck With You- https://books2read.com/StuckWithYouMR

• Eli Easton – A Changeling Christmas – https://books2read.com/ChangelingChristmasE

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Unless it’s noted, all books reviewed have been purchased by the reviewer.

Review: Sass (Style Book3) by Jay Hogan

Rating: 5 🌈

Sass is definitely my favorite of the three Style novels. The writing is tight, the scenes runs the gamut from wryly funny to serious discussions to emotional pathos, all done so beautifully. The superbly crafted characters are ones we’ve gotten to know superficially in the previous books but now get their own stories and romance in a way that makes sense and gives them personal growth. All the other cast are equally strong as well.

When it comes to Kip/Chris , the store manager at Flare, Hogan’s skill at artfully threading multiple important character issues through his storyline without ever letting the exposition overwhelm or drop one of them is outstanding. Kip has always had a quick snarky attitude and a witty quip to go with it. A verbal shield to amuse or bruise or sass to go along with his fabulous sense of style and rotating bedroom door.

The reason why Kip is never Christopher is slowly revealed here through mending a broken relationship with tattoo artist Leon Steadman. Leon too has deep issues he’s not been able to deal with. Ones that led to his argument with Kip and 2 yr long feud. There’s aspects to Leon’s life and history that beg for more page time. He’s that big a infusion of life and energy into the story and Kip’s pattern. I love him and them together. Especially as they worked through their emotional blockages and mental barriers together, inching forward towards a future.

Drew, a young trans character who’s been an integral part of the universe since Flare also has an emotional storyline. Drew has matured from a frightened, bullied teen with a transphobic family into a stylish happy nineteen year old getting ready for his top surgery, knowing he’s loved and supported by his found family at Flare. He’s a remarkable person and character. I heart him so much.

We also see our other couples too . And get a lovely epilogue.

There’s a mention of past sexual assault. But it’s not on page. A warning for those for whom this might be a trigger.

Sass is a story for me with a wider reach. It’s range of serious issues and subject matter goes from dealing with grief and loss, anger and guilt over those same feelings of grief, sexual assault and how the emotional ramifications can effectively impact you in ways if May take decades to understand. Found family, the importance of the right clothes in helping people transition. All that for starters.

I know I missed some.

And it’s beautifully woven together.

Sass is the third book and I do believe you should read them in the order they are written to understand the characters, their growth, and all the relationships.

Happy reading. I’m highly recommending Sass!

Style series:

Flare #1

Strut #2

Sass #3

Goodreadshttps://www.goodreads.com › showSass (Style #3) by Jay Hogan

For two years I’ve kept Leon Steadman at a safe distance, ever since the night he turned me down flatter than a pancake with a side order of syrupy disapproval. His loss. The world is full of sexy men. One and done is simply good math and efficient use of my time. Or it would be if I hadn’t been lusting after the irritating, judgemental, gorgeous, mountain of a man, ever since.

The less I see of Leon, the better. Bad enough that his tattoo business sits next to Flare, the fashion store I manage, and that he’s friendly with my boss. But now he’s apartment-sitting above the shop, as well. Every time I turn around, Leon is there. In my store. In my space. Messing with my head. Being all nice and charming and acting like maybe he’s not the biggest jerk to walk the earth, after all.

Well, I don’t want or need Leon’s apologies, but maybe if I can have him, just once, it might put an end to this ridiculous hunger that sparks every time I lay eyes on him.

Yeah, I’ll get back to you on that.



Note: This book contains limited discussion of off-page past trauma.

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Unless it’s noted, all books reviewed have been purchased by the reviewer.

Review: Petty Crimes by Eden Winters

Rating: 5🌈

Petty Crimes returns us to Eden Winters’ outstanding world of the Southeastern Narcotics Bureau in Georgia, it’s Directors, Management and undercover agents that we got to know so intimately in her outstanding series Diversion.

That series is a must read for lovers of contemporary romance and Petty Crimes sees a return of some of our most beloved characters from those stories.

We get them now happily married, with kids, Bo and Lucky Schollenberger. Bo has become the Director of SNB department of Diversion Prevention and Control , with Richmond Eugene Schollenberger aka Lucky, currently Undercover Ops Manager .

Watching them in their new careers and status in life as settled highly respected professionals is everything. Well, with Lucky it’s mostly. He is still ,after all , one of the most fascinating characters I’ve ever had the pleasure to read.

But the story belongs to one SNB agent Jerry Wilkerson, who’s undercover persona is “Brody Jensen “. Jerry first appears in Lucky and Bo’s series, Corruption #3, as a high teenage biker headed to a dead end.

His was a poignant moment and Jeremy, aka Jerry , a memorable character.

The story opens with Jerry in character as Brody Jensen, a petty crimes criminal and drug dealer. Jerry’s been in character for several years and he’s having a harder time separating Brody from who he truly is these days.

He’s also still very much working through his issues that started when he met and fell for biker Cyrus Cooper when he was a teenager. Only to find out that Cyrus was a construct, a undercover personality for Bo Schollenberger, a very much committed and in love Bo.

Winters does amazingly well when getting into the minds and hearts of men like Jerry. The complicated emotions , the isolation he feels, the loss of something he’s not willing to identify. It’s painful, and utterly believable. As is Jerry.

And both worlds he moves through. The battered, swill, bottom rung places that Brody feels comfortable in and the nicest clothes , clean condo Jerry inhabits.

The pharmaceutical industry, the opiates and those that are using it to their monetary advantage are on display here. Winters certainly familiar with this business and demonstrates it in the clarity and precision with which it’s portrayed.

The romance element with Nico is as you would have expected in a story that’s as convoluted and emotionally complicated as this one. Nico has as many aspects to his personality and history as everyone else here. As well as a few hot kinks. It’s a great story within a story.

It was splendid to see Rett and others here from Diversion. Honestly it gave me hope that Winters is gearing up for a whole new series here with a new undercover team at its heart.

I’ve missed this fantastic group of incredible people and this brought them all back. And new ones as well.

I’m highly recommending Petty Crime and the Diversion series too.

Check them all out for some outstanding reading!

Goodreadshttps://www.goodreads.com › showPetty Crimes by Eden Winters

Goodreadshttps://www.goodreads.com › seriesDiversion Series by Eden Winters

Description:

Why can’t life give him a break?

Five years ago, Jerry Wilkerson was running with a biker gang, making mistake after mistake, till he ended up in the hospital with a gunshot wound, facing criminal charges for drug distribution. On top of everything, he’d fallen in love with the narcotics agent who took them all down. Or rather, with Cyrus Cooper, the man that agent pretended to be.

Making a deal with the Southeastern Narcotics Bureau kept Jerry out of jail, sending him undercover as Brody Jenson, a petty criminal able to get into places other agents can’t. He’s satisfied with his life—or would be if he wasn’t still longing for someone who never existed.

Then a man steps out of his dreams and into his life, who’s everything Jerry ever wanted.

Except for the part where Jerry might have to arrest him.

While this book features characters from the Diversion series, it is a standalone.

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Unless it’s noted, all books reviewed have been purchased by the reviewer.

Review: The Cowboy Contract (Foster Ranch Book 1) by B.A. Tortuga

Rating: 4.5 🌈

The first in a new series, The Cowboy Contract (Foster Ranch Book 1) by B.A. Tortuga is another in this author’s lovely cozy cowboy contemporary romances.

This one sets itself apart in that it’s low angst with little to no high drama but instead relies almost solely on the real , relatable characters and elements of foster care and the issues children have when adapting into their new environment.

It does start off with the premise of contract husband but that is quickly discarded when the foster children come into play and their needs as well as troubled history takes center stage.

As it should.

Former bull riders, star Ryder Vittor who was forced into retirement by a broken neck, and , Kase McDaniel, who’s major wreck crushed so many bones in his body, that retiring was never in doubt, are a perfect pairing.

As superbly crafted by Tortuga, they are so familiar with each other, so in sync and comfortable with their actions and thoughts it’s as though they’ve been together for a longer time period. Which they have as bull riders on the circuit. Extremely realistic and easy.

She makes these men absolutely believable in every way, from their speech to their relationship and how they relate to those around them.

That includes the marvelous lesbian married grandmothers who raised Ryder and help run both the ranch and rodeo enterprises. Strong, impactful women and wonderful characters .

However, your heart will truly belong to the four foster children that comes into the lives of everyone who lives on the Chiara ranch. That’s a orphaned family of four. Charlie, a sixteen-year-old girl. Elijah, an eleven-year-old boy, Dani, eight-year-old girl, and tiny Nell, a two-year-old baby girl.

They arrive with a heartbreaking history, separate issues and sets of challenges, and personalities to endear themselves to the family at the ranch and readers alike.

Of course, there’s animals like adorable dogs, goats, and horses too.

This is one sweet, moving, heartwarming romance. You will want to just curl up and sink into this group of characters and children as they work their way into becoming a family .

It’s a marvelous journey and one you won’t want to miss.

I highly recommend it. And wonder what the next story in this series will bring.

Goodreadshttps://www.goodreads.com › showThe Cowboy Contract (Foster Ranch, #1) by B.A. Tortuga

Description:

Ryder Vittor has almost everything he could ever want. He was a successful bull rider, he runs a rodeo company and a ranch for his family, and he’s right where he wants to be. Until his grandmother issues him an ultimatum. Now he has to get married and have kids if he wants to keep the life he loves, but he can’t exactly produce a man and a baby out of thin air, can he? So he sets out to hire a husband in order to get what he needs.

Kase McDaniel is at the end of his rope. His bull riding career has ended in a bad crash, his family doesn’t want him back, and he has nowhere to go. When Ryder offers to let him come stay at Ryder’s New Mexico ranch, he’s grateful, but he’s stunned when he finds out Ryder intends to make a contract with a stranger to marry him and raise kids with him. Kase has been in love with Ryder for years, so why shouldn’t he put in for the job?

Neither one of them has any idea what they’re setting in motion when they tie the knot, and soon they’re overrun with foster kids, rodeo family, and more. Can Kase and Ryder find something real in all the chaos, or will they be parting ways when the contract ends?

Review: Kaleidoscope Sunsets (A Color of Love Novella) by V.L. Locey

Rating: 4🌈

Mega sports agent Arn Toras has been a minor staple of multiple stories, popping in to give advice, stand by his athletes, or be a fierce advocate for them when they or anything they might represent is attacked.

His appearances haven’t been long but Arn has always made a huge impact on every scene he’s in.

So it’s lovely that Locey decided to give such a strong and important character his own story.

Long known to be heterosexual and work obsessed, Arn has to undergo some major changes here in order for this story and a romance to be believable.

And in most aspects, it does.

Locey successfully builds onto a personality we are already familiar with. We meet Arn anew. Already incredibly powerful and successful, Arn is not slowing down. But his body , his lifestyle, and frankly his age, are trying too, along with his doctor.

We see a Arn who’s not trying to look to introspectively at the life he’s living, or more truthfully, not living. He’s let work preside over friends, and what family he’s got left. And it’s taking a role on his health.

Arn is realistic and someone we can relate to.

There’s always one more thing that needs to be done before you get to set down. If ever.

That one more thing is signing the next Hockey God, Anders Viklund, a young Swedish hockey player from a small fishing village. Arn is determined his agency will be the one to sign him.

That brings us to the next outstanding element of this story. Kullaka, Sweden. That’s the fishing village and hometown of the Viklund family.

I’m not sure if there’s a real village that Kullaka is a stand in for , but surely there must be. For this small charming place sings with life! From the quays with its bobbing fishing boats, to the castle at the top of the mountain, it’s Eel Festival, and the abbey, it’s a breathing, salty, laughter filled small town you are dying to walk or peddle through.

That includes the small B & B run by Mrs Maja, full of cats and clocks, Arn is forced to stay in as there’s a Eel Festival going on. A stay that becomes part of a life changing visit. This tiny house, full of ticking clocks, cats, and a merry wonderful woman is such a great element here. I loved it!

It’s just a starting point for a beginning of sea changes in Arn’s life. How he views himself and his life.

I would be close to saying I loved this story but the only aspect I’m hesitant about is the romance. Which is sort of a big issue.

Everyone and everything else here is outstanding. Foundation, characters, Arn, his personality and need for a change. Yes!

But the person who’s at the heart of that change? That for me is the weakest link here.

Anders Viklund is all young, blue eyes, gorgeous, sexy, competent hockey player. He loves his dad. He’s gay. He’s nice and kind.

Why don’t I feel like he’s got layers to him?

I never felt like there was a character there that would have had enough substance to have induced the sort of change that was pulled from Arn.

Maybe a “oh know, I think I’m bi” revelation. That would be realistic here. And yes it happens. Immediately. Get that. But the rest?

Anders’ father, Lucas, he was a solid, powerful figure and one that made a significant contribution and impact. More so than his son, in my opinion.

Locey writes beautifully. So many great secondary characters and the magnificent Arn. Along with the entire village of Kullaka.

I just wish Anders had been as good as the rest or as deserving.

A Color of Love is a wonderful series and this is one more terrific installment! Check it out! I’m recommending it.

Review: The Barkeep and The Bookseller (Campo Royale #3) by V.L. Locey

Rating: 4.75 🌈

V.L. Locey’s Campo Royale series is truly a favorite of mine. With every new storyline and couple, it goes into new territory and new relationship dynamics while still playing within the universe Locey has created for the series and characters. That’s the fabulous drag club, the Campo Royale and the Queen Mother, Sitka!

It’s time for Corduroy “Cord” Lopez, the pink haired, adorable, bartender of the Campo Royale, to find love and happiness. He’s been a staple in the other books, and now gets his own romance.

We delve into his personal history to see the stress and tight circumstances under which he’s living in order to provide a stable, happy life for his daughter. A joyful girl, diagnosed with Mosaic Down syndrome, she’s his everything.

Locey’s descriptions and excellent writing brings the characters and father/daughter loving relationship realistically to life. She’s all kid, peanut butter smears , meltdowns, hugs, and all. I love this family unit, including the grandmothers.

Jagger Collins is another terrific character, a haunted man coming off the trauma of an abusive ex husband and the mental breakdown it caused. He’s still in recovery, using the support of a wonderful therapist and friends and his brother to help move forward.

Locey’s portrait of a shattered man in recovery, one learning to trust in himself again, is gentle, and moving. There’s no flashbacks, nothing to act as triggers I think, however, Jagger does remember , verbally, the attack the ended the marriage and put him in the hospital.

Watching Jagger and Cord become close, then take the fragile steps to become lovers, then a family, is so heartwarming and wonderful. It’s moments with Jagger’s scottie who farts …a lot. Or the scenes with Paloma, Cord’s daughter, a heart stealer, who takes a liking to both Jagger and his dog!

I could definitely do with another story to see where they go from the HFN that the note they end on here.

It’s realistic and so great. I definitely want more.

Luckily I believe we will see more of them like we do the others in the new stories to come. I can’t wait!

I’m highly recommending The Barkeep and The Bookseller (Campo Royale #3) by V.L. Locey .

Campo Royale series:

✓ The Viking and the Drag Queen #1

✓ The Batchelor and the Cherry #2

✓ The Barkeep and The Bookseller #3

https://www.goodreads.com › showThe Barkeep and the Bookseller (Campo Royale #3) by V.L. Locey – Goodreads

Synopsis:

Can two men move past their shattered dreams and create a new future together?

Corduroy Lopez is a hard-working man. He has to be. There really is no alternative. He’s a single father with a beautiful, special needs daughter to support. His mother and grandmother help when they can, but he’s a proud pan man who is determined to make it on his own. When his daughter is accepted into a prestigious developmental education preschool, Cord needs cash and he needs it yesterday. One night, offhandedly, the cute owner of the new bookstore in town mentions wanting to start a drag story hour, Cord leaps at the chance. He’s done drag before. Once. Performing on stage at the Campo hadn’t really been his thing but donning a wig and dress to sing children’s songs while strumming a ukulele should be a much more enjoyable experience. Also, the bookshop owner is adorable, newly single, and spending a great deal of time sitting at Cord’s bar sipping virgin piña coladas after the bookstore closes.

Jagger Collins never meant to end up here. He’d been a happily married man with a swanky job in a Philadelphia bank just two years ago. Then the bottom fell out of his life. His marriage combusted, his job quickly followed, and he found himself with only his dog Hamish, his brother, and half the cash from the home he thought he would be starting a family in. Taking the advice of his elder sibling to heart, he left the big city and bought a small brick building in downtown Wilmington. Trading in ties for tomes, Jagger is now embracing the simpler things in life. Reading, biking, knitting, and admiring the lithe bartender at the Campo Royale. Cord is ticking all the right boxes in a big way, but Jagger’s not sure if he’s ready to put his heart on the line again.

The Barkeep and the Bookseller is a single father guy next door gay romance that features a hard-working dad, a learning-to-love again bookdealer, a precocious preschooler, high heels, a loving family, flashy floral fashions, and a ukulele rich happy-ever-after.

Review: Stroker (Big Bull Mechanics #2) by K.M. Neuhold

Rating: 5🌈

Stroker, second novel in the Big Bull Mechanics series, is such a strong, emotional story. Not just a romance but the journey of two men back together, their individual struggles with their past history (together and their own), and their current shaky status to discover if they can learn to grow and trust enough to have a relationship.

Honestly, the bar has been set high by this story for any that follows it.

Gates, Steele’s 40 ish younger brother, who’s always been a family disaster and vagabond, is someone we met in Crankshaft. Gates was undergoing a personal physical crisis that made him return to his hometown after a significant amount of time traveling around the country.

The mystery and pain hinted at there between Gates and Tallahassee is delved into fully here, along with Gates dealing with the ramifications of his surgery for testicular cancer.

Somehow , the Big Bull Garage works so well as a grounding point for the men of the series and the story. Like a family’s kitchen table, the garage acts like a center where everyone comes together to work, chat, reflect, act as a Greek chorus on each other’s lives. It feels believable and , ‘wipe the grease from your hands’ sort of real.

Tallahassee has been working with Steele, his best friend, hiding the pain that still feels so raw whenever he sees Gates, the man he used to call a friend, the one everyone calls a screwup, the man he married and who left him eight years ago.

Tallahassee is a great character. With a pet parrot with a smutty mouth, Tallahassee’s anguish over Gate’s return, then his illness, then his close proximity is so raw , and torn. Neuhold makes Tal’s indecisiveness and anger absolutely understandable.

But so does the author make us and Tal eventually understand that Gates has been growing up, especially since his operation. He’s making internal changes. Ones the readers are there with him, as the revelations hit. Sad, painful revelations about himself and his decisions. And how they have effected others and his family.

It’s so moving, and emotionally realistic the way Tallahassee and Gates slowly find their way back into each other’s trust and hearts. They communicate, share their fears, and hopes. It’s fragile. Especially when Gates is confronting his fears about his scars and the ramifications from his surgery.

This is what makes this so wonderful to read.

I felt like I was sharing a special moment with them. And Nigel, the parrot, of course.

Stroker is sexy, sensitive, beautifully written with fantastic, well defined characters. One of my favorites!

I’m highly recommending it.

Big Bull Mechanics:

✓ Crankshaft #1

✓ Stroker #2

Book 2 of 2: Big Bull Mechanics

Synopsis:

Is there an easy way to tell your lifelong best friend that you secretly married his brother eight years ago? Asking for a friend…

When Gates shows up needing a place to crash , I offer him my spare room. Whatever happened between us nearly a decade ago is water under the bridge. I don’t lie awake at night wondering what could have been. Nope, definitely not.

But Gates seems determined to get a rise out of me. He’s tie-dyed all my clothes, removed my bedroom door, and replaced my hand soap with lube. I’m not sure if he’s hoping I’ll kick him out or kill him, but he won’t break me that easily.

When he tells me his Stroker Rod is broken… What kind of mechanic am I if I don’t get hands-on with his problem?

We put our feelings behind us a long time ago, and there’s no way I’ll let Gates break my heart again. No amount of fiddling under the hood will fix everything broken between us. From here on out, it’s purely physical. Right?


Yup, just a couple of guys and their stroker rods.

***Stroker is a best friend’s brother, secretly married, super steamy MM romance.

🔹Connected to The Four Bears Construction Company series.

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Unless it’s noted, all books reviewed have been purchased by the reviewer.

Review: Balanced and Tied (Marshals #5) by Mary Calmes

Rating: 4.75 🌈

Balanced and Tied, fifth in the Marshals series, is a terrific story. It combines the wonderful qualities I love about Mary Calmes characters with a slow to realization love story and a mystery for added suspense.

Uniting the unique worlds of law enforcement and ballet, we have two men whose love for each other has been balanced between deepest friendship and that of something more since the day they met.

Celso Harrington, principal dancer with the Chicago Ballet Company, has long since admitted to himself that what he feels for Eli is definitely more than friendship. But Eli is his everything, including family, and he’s hesitant to go for more.

For Deputy US Marshal Eli Kohn , Cel is his constant. Without even noticing it, Cel is the one he wants to talk to, listen to, and just have near when things have gone wrong. What Eli hasn’t done, is taken a hard look at what that means in terms of a relationship. He’s never thought of himself as bisexual but he hasn’t ruled it out.

Calmes brings us intimately into this established relationship, giving us small memories of their past moments, so we see how they reached their current stage of a unacknowledged partnership that’s deep and fully realized. It’s so believable. And it includes Eli’s Jewish mother, who immediately adopts Cel as part of the family, taking him to synagogue, enveloping him with maternal love and grounding him in the religion that’s so much a part of the Kohn family lives. She’s a wonderful heartwarming element here.

Calmes swings easily between narrators, threading through storylines of law enforcement and ballet events as well as characters from both men’s professions. We get to know many secondary characters when a mystery and dramatic events start to happen when a new ballet is to be staged to great misery.

I wish the one villain had been a little better fleshed out but the rest of the characters, story, and romance was so terrific and entertaining that I can move past that.

Cel and Eli are a great example of friends to lovers trope. They make sense in that they had the relationship already but one just hadn’t made the connection mentally when the emotional elements were already in place. Calmes makes us believe in them and their love.

I’m highly recommending Balanced and Tied (Marshals #5) by Mary Calmes. It works as a standalone so it’s not necessary to have read others in this series.

Marshals series:

◦ All Kinds Of Tied Down #1

◦ Fit To Be Tied #2

◦ Tied Up In Knots #3

◦ Twisted and Tied #4

✓ Balanced and Tied #5

https://www.amazon.com › Balance…Balanced and Tied (Marshals Book 5) – Kindle edition – Amazon.com

Synopsis:

Deputy US Marshal Eli Kohn is doing fine. As the Director of Public Affairs for the Northern District, he represents the USMS in Chicago and that suits him. Yes, it’s wearing to always be on, to smile and wave even in the face of adversity, but he’s good at his job, and no one ever sees him sweat. His personal life, though, has been stagnant, and that doesn’t seem likely to change. But that’s fine too. Eli would much rather spend his free time with his best friend Cel. And lately, when they’re not together, he’s been missing him more and more…

Celso Harrington, principal dancer with the Chicago Ballet Company, has been feeling adrift, yearning for someone to be there for him, to ground him. Strange to find that anchor in a man who caught bad guys for a living. Celso is all about art and beauty; Eli is all about safety and public service. They could not be more different, yet from the moment they met, it felt like they’d known each other forever.

They are exactly what the other needs, and Celso would love them to be more than friends, but he can’t jeopardize what they have, and Eli’s too stuck inside his own head. When events threaten to unravel their carefully built haven, they each must take a chance on the other or risk losing everything.

———-

Unless it’s noted, all books reviewed have been purchased by the reviewer.

Review: Blade (Boston Rebels Book 5) by RJ Scott and V.L. Locey

Rating: 5🌈

Blade, the 5th novel in the Boston Rebels series, is absolutely my favorite story to date. Even with the issues I’ve mentioned when reviewing some of the preceding books still present, the storylines, the outstanding characters, and their quietly remarkable romance shine so strongly that everything else is forgotten.

We are given two main characters, with different traumatic events in their background. Both stem from catastrophic events.

For former Boston Rebels hockey player, Moral “Dunny” Dunkirk, it’s a plane accident that has left him a depressed amputee without his team and unable to go forward.

Cooper Harvey, inventor and billionaire, was orphaned at a early age in an volcanic explosion, that came close to taking his and his uncle’s. A brilliant inventor as well as owner of a enormous company which uses his inventions in multiple ways, Cooper is autistic which makes relying on a special circle of people necessary in order to navigate life .

In every way, through dialogue, detailed scenes, the authors knowledge of people who have or are struggling with PTSD, adjusting to life as a amputee, the loss of a lifetime passion and love of hockey, depression, the challenges someone who is autistic faces throughout their lifetime, from bullying in school to prejudice in the board of directors.

It’s such a deeply honest and emotional display of men at their most raw and flayed. Watching Dunny rebuild his life with the help and love of Cooper is so heartwarming, so heartfelt that you want to reread passages as soon as you finish them.

I laughed at Cooper’s jokes, and cried with Dunny at each step forward he made. And together, they were quietly unstoppable.

I wasn’t ready for their story to finish. As I’ve remarked before, this really isn’t about a team as it is the men leaving it. I have zero feelings about the Rebels. But about Dunny and Cooper? They are everything!

I could see a series about a sled team. Now THAT would be something to read about.

I’m highly recommending Blade (Boston Rebels Book 5) by RJ Scott and V.L. Locey. It is easily the finest book in the series or contemporary romance I’ve read lately.

https://www.goodreads.com › showBlade by R.J. Scott – Goodreads

Boston Rebels:

🔹Top Shelf #1

🔹Back Check #2

🔹Snowed #3

🔹Royal Lines #4

🔹Blade #5

Synopsis:

Love doesn’t have a formula. It’s messy, unpredictable, and impossible to control for the autistic billionaire inventor and the hockey player who believes he’s lost everything.

Moral “Dunny” Dunkirk has a passion for life. A robust outdoorsman, lover of life, and one of the Boston Rebels fan favorites, Dunny has always embraced excitement and the drive to try new things. During his inaugural flight behind the controls of a small plane, the fates decide to test his mettle in a way that he had never envisioned. When everything crashes down around him, he’s lost in depression and alone in his cabin, facing an existence that is nothing like the one he previously led. Desperate to find some hope, Dunny reaches out to The Harvey Foundation who might be able to help, and he soon finds himself being lifted out of the pit of darkness he’d fallen into one shy uplifting smile at a time.

Accidental billionaire and inventor Cooper Harvey is only happy in the seclusion of his lab, creating new and wonderful things he is sure will make the world a better place. Being on the spectrum, he knows being autistic means he’s different to others, but it’s in a good way, and it only makes him better at what he does. Other than being blackmailed into spending every fourth Sunday at his PA’s house for dinner, he avoids the chaos of the world, and if that means no social life, then he’s okay with that. In the most splendid isolation money can buy, he escapes the complicated and difficult emotions surrounding attraction, and his single-minded focus means that sex and love have never appeared on his list. When his latest invention reaches the testing stage, he would normally hand it over to his development team, but a chance meeting with the test subject makes him rethink. Something about the hockey player who’d lost it all makes him think life isn’t all about measured chemical reactions, and sometimes it’s just about the craziness of love.

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Unless it’s noted, all books reviewed have been purchased by the reviewer.

Review: Rough (Operation Justice Force #2) by Reece Knightley

Rating: 4🌈

I throughly enjoyed Lethal, the first book in this series. It had a sweet twist as far as the main characters, which directly affected their dynamics and relationship.

It was also my introduction to this world of undercover ops, twin semiautonomous agencies, and their operatives who all seem to have a sort of connection between themselves.

The operatives are all ex-professional military personnel, fierce , intelligent and highly effective in their areas of expertise.

Pegasus, the agency here is more undercover and newly established.

That’s the background. Gage and Mason Taylor are our main characters and POVs in Rough. We watched them bicker and circle each other in Lethal, their chemistry obvious. It’s a opposites attract story.

Mason Taylor is old rich money. He’s a known entity and that’s been used as part of his cover in the past. Gage’s past, other than career, isn’t as clear.

This is one of my issues with the series that starts with this story. I’ll table it for now.

Knightley does a excellent job creating interesting, connectable characters, outfitting them with emotionally laden issues, and then pulling it altogether in a fast-paced , suspenseful espionage thriller.

Gage’s family issues are heartbreaking and the character that acts as a bridge to bring them into Mason’s home is everything.

But this is where the suspension of belief sets in. Pegasus is a semiautonomous organization. High security with all that entails. Including high security clearances. Background checks on every operative to ensure they don’t have anything that would make them a security risk. Like a ex with addiction issues, money problems, and an employee with living quarters in risky area because of money flow issues.

Uh no. Red flags. Nope. Not hired.

And this is a narrative problem that carries over into the following stories.

There’s a few other things that’s problematic but that’s such a glaring example of a major issue that I’ll leave that out there.

Does that balance out a hot romance and terrific characters? Along with a fast paced storyline? Well, if this type of book is your jam, probably so.

Opposites attract, Blk Ops adventure, chemistry and hot men, heartwarming romance.

But a little eye roll as well.

I enjoyed it for what it was. And recommending it for that too.

🔹Operation Justice Force series:

✓ Lethal #1

✓ Rough #2

◦ Honor #3

◦ Rebel #4 – Nov 17, 2022

*there’s connecting series that precedes this, Code of Honor Justice Force series as well as Out for Justice Cobalt Security series.

https://www.goodreads.com › showRough (Operation Justice Force #2) by Reese Knightley – Goodreads

Synopsis:

After circling around each other for so long, are they ready to take it to the next level?

Mason can admit that he’s had the hots for rough and gruff Gage Hillcrest for well over a year now. Only Gage is bossy and overbearing as all hell. Not to mention that Gage is a closed book and Mason doesn’t know anything about the man.

Gage has wanted smart mouthed and sexy, Mason Taylor since he first laid eyes on him. But the two of them are like oil and water. Mason is wild. And well, Gage is not. Mason also has a big house and more money than he’d ever need while Gage is drowning in debt.

When Pegasus is asked to help the local police find a missing undercover officer, the unit leaps in with all hands on deck. Lives collide when they roll out on the mission and Mason finds out that Gage needs aid taking care of his family. Of course, Mason jumps in to help.

As the pair grow closer, life gets more complicated when Gage’s son goes missing. With loved ones in jeopardy, Pegasus will do everything in their power to find the little boy and recover the missing undercover cop before it’s too late.

Because in the end, it’s all about family and taking care of those in need.

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Unless it’s noted, all books reviewed have been purchased by the reviewer.