Tag: m/m romance

Review: A Christmas Outing: A Veterans Affairs Story by A.E. Wasp

Rating: 3.25🌈

A Christmas Outing is a wonderful heartwarming holiday story whose narrative gifts are tarnished by the errors and mistakes that are found inside.

Continuity issues, once again, thy name is A Veterans Affairs. The most striking example is Troy’s best friend growing up, Leo. A closeted gay himself, it was his death that pushed Troy out of the closet and onto a new path. Hugely important.

So it would have to be a factor that’s a major aspect of Troy’s life and storylines. You would expect zero variation. Incoming, the first novel, has its version being that Leo was shot to death by a hookup in a gas station because he’s afraid to be seen in a gay bar.

Written as an epilogue to that story but released separately (same time frame), A Christmas Outing: A Veterans Affairs Story has Leo dying as a result of being beaten to death by homophobes.

To use the vernacular, I can’t even.

Troy’s West Virginia large family of Methodists becomes ethnically distinctly Italian Catholic, with some surprising side trips.

There’s so many elements that are mentioned and discussed superficially. A gay conversion camp and therapy, a gay cousin, a rescue, a PSTD episode that’s quickly dealt with, a hidden relationship, a coming out, a service dog and her duties, a gay partner who’s not religious. I’m sure I’m leaving out some. Bigotry.

All at Christmas. So heartwarming.

The fact that the Christmas card decorations and big Italian Catholic families are supposed to make up for the lost depth and glossing over of some of the very tough topics raised is in a manner a surface treatment used by families to make them feel better about themselves and issues they would rather not face.

It ends typically with a happy ending for the couple, one not shared with those around them. Big surprise.

There’s a couple more books in this series that are focused around another couple that lives in the same small town of Red Deer, Colorado.

Not entirely sure I’m continuing. It’s interesting but I have more books in 2023 on my list to finish first.

A Christmas Outing: A Veterans Affairs Story

******

Books in the Veterans Affairs Series

Incoming – Troy & Dmitri novel
A Christmas Outing – Troy & Dmitri novella

Paper Hearts – Mikey & Benny novel
Paper Roses – Mikey & Benny novella

Bronze Star – Jay-Cee & Chris novel

Description:

Troy and Dmitri have worked everything out – well, almost everything. Except for the part where Troy’s family doesn’t know Dmitri exists. Coming out to his family sounds scarier than going to war. And Troy would know.

Troy’s been out of the Army for almost a year, and except for a few short weeks, hasn’t been back to West Virginia at all. Now it’s Christmas and if he doesn’t go, he’ll break his momma’s heart. Trouble is, Troy’s afraid that going home with a boyfriend and service dog in tow will break his Momma’s heart just as much.

Review: Incoming : A Veterans Affair Novel by A.E. Wasp

Rating: 3.5🌈

Incoming, the beginning of Wasp’s Veterans Affairs series, is a terrific book marred by poor editing and continuity issues, things that unfortunately continue into the next story, Christmas Outing.

Released in 2016, it dates itself with elements that I regard fondly. Music, a car with actual paper road maps in the passenger seat, be still my heart. And while I’d like to chalk up the editing errors, that for some readers might send this novel flying across the room, to inadequate technology at the time, I suspect that’s just not the case.

Most of the glaring mistakes concern switching important names sometimes within paragraphs. Whether it’s between the main characters or even towards the end, the adorable but vastly different canine characters, it occurs often and throughout the story.

How does an author not have noticed something so major that it takes a reader out of the narrative because they are trying to make sense of who’s talking? Or a canine acting out of character? A super intelligent border collie who’s lived in the house for years can’t figure out a door while the new recently ill dog is racing towards a ball already in the backyard. Uh no. Pls edit.

It’s a shame because the core story and the characters are quite wonderful. Especially Troy Johnson, ex Army, who’s issues include untreated PTSD, the stress of being a closeted gay man to his religious family in WV, and internalizing all the pain, suffering, and loss of his recent campaigns in Afghanistan. Troy is so beautifully written and painfully detailed a person who’s trying to figure out a new life and not quite succeeding.

Less immediately likable but just as realistic is Dimitri, a research veterinarian* (because he couldn’t stand to cause animals/their owners pain) who’s let his fears of pain overwhelm him to the extent he’s walled himself off emotionally and physically from life, except for his best friend. He’s more than a bit self absorbed, a tad cowardly, and reactionary. Unrealistic. How did the author explain him getting through vet school?

Did I believe in him? Yes, sort of. In a where did his degree come from kinda way. Did I like him? Hmmm, maybe. More so as I started to see the men together. It was their dynamic and relationship that sold me , as well as his relationships with his best friend, Sugar, that connected me with Dmitri.

Excellent work with his less than stellar personality and character growth.But his profession needs work.

The characters that support them are amazing. Whether it’s the bar owner, Vincent, a vet himself, and the best friend, Angel. The dogs too, like Sweetie the service dog and Dmitri’s border collie, Moby.

So read the this book and it’s companion, A Christmas Outing, a sort of epilogue to this couple’s relationship, if you’re a fan of the author’s and extremely tolerant of editing errors and continuity mistakes.

However, if those things are book stoppers for you, I’d suggest you skip these. Not even the diminutive shortcut for Dmitri remains the same throughout the novel. SMH.

*some scientific researchers do tend to use animals in their experiments so I do wonder how much research herself Wasp did here. Just a thought.

Books in the Veterans Affairs Series

Incoming – Troy & Dmitri novel
A Christmas Outing – Troy & Dmitri novella

Paper Hearts – Mikey & Benny novel
Paper Roses – Mikey & Benny novella

Bronze Star – Jay-Cee & Chris novel

Goodreadshttps://www.goodreads.com › showIncoming (Veterans Affairs, #1) by A.E. Wasp

Description:

A veteran and a veteranarian walk into a bar.

Army veteran Troy is everything Dmitri’s ever wanted in a guy: gorgeous, smart, and funny. He likes dogs, he has the sexiest trace of an accent, and his kisses set off fireworks in Dmitri’s entire body. Too bad Troy is looking to stay in Red Deer Dmitri is getting the hell out of this small town as soon as he can.

Still, they might be able to work it out, but Troy has secrets he won’t tell, and the demons he’s running from are hot on his heels. When sparks fly on a hot Fourth of July weekend, both men find that the past is not easily left behind, and the future is never as clear as you hope.

Review: Rocky Start (A-List Security Book 4) by Annabeth Albert

Rating: 2.5🌈

I’m very fond of many of this author’s series from #gaymers to Portland Heat to her Out of Uniform series, all terrific.

But the men and relationships of the A-List Security have been mostly problematic for me, in multiple ways couple by couple, book by book.

It’s not that the writing has been anything but well done or that the characters haven’t been believable. For the most part, they have.

The issues have been that they aren’t either particularly likable, there’s been little discussion or groundworklaid down for them to have any kind of relationship that’s believable given the crafted personalities and histories. It’s been the odd relationship dynamics (weak, one-sided, off putting) as well as the one dimensional groundwork that’s been used.

As a formula, Albert has started to move them along a game board path and there they go, whether it makes a realistic or narrative sense.

It happens here almost immediately. This story was perilously a DNF almost at 10 percent. Just Albert’s previous books in other series kept me going.

But the character of Avery, his personality, which was at odds with his background as a SEAL and established team member of the A-List Security agency had me putting down the book several times. I have a low threshold for man-toddlers. I question how authors don’t realize they are perceived by their readers.

I can tell you how I perceived him.

By 11% I was throughly tired of Avery. And thinking why am I supposed to enjoy this character? So far his qualities are being clueless, borderline offensive about homosexuality (especially odd given the LGBTQIA agency he works for , a fact which Malik brings up and Avery has a inadequate answer for. To say nothing of the sheer naïveté he exhibits for a character that’s a veteran and a member of the A-List Security. He actually threatens the believability that it’s Malik that’s a new hire instead of an established team player.

I’m starting to zone out. Never a good thing. Only Malik is keeping me moving forward with the story.

From here we jump into a awkward “gay exploration” or worse GFY sex scene, which I abhor, because that’s what you do when you have been talking about homophobia, and laid no foundation for any relationship except a dinner. You jump into gay sex which Avery then uses to make everything awkward, miserable, pick your adjective.

It’s 14 percent and I’m about out the door.

I struggled with trying to get through the remainder of the story and did, barely. It occurred by a style I’d call “reading fidgeting”, haphazardly getting into the storyline until I had to drop it again. Repeat.

Whether it’s my reading preferences, the narrative choices made by Albert with regard to the character of Avery , his decisions with his sexuality, and their relationship, I found this book just didn’t work for me on multiple levels.

Malik was the only bright spot and he wasn’t enough to elevate the novel’s themes or romance to a well rounded storyline. I won’t go into his PTSD because that felt extraneous after the annoyance of Avery. I wanted to pull Malik out of the book and into a story he deserved.

If you’re a fan of the series or author, then I’m sure you’ll already have read or put this on your TBR list. It’s not one I’m recommending.

A-List Security series:

✓ Tough Luck #1

✓ Hard Job #2

✓ Bad Deal #3

✓ Rocky Start #4

Rocky Start: MM SEAL Bodyguard Romance (A-List Security Book 4)

Description:

I think I’m falling for my bodyguard co-worker. Now I need protection… from myself.

As a former SEAL intelligence officer, I’m supposed to be smart. Unfortunately, those smarts don’t apply to love. I did a nice thing and took my heartbroken fellow bodyguard out for a Valentine’s dinner. Just us bros. But my plan worked a little too well, and a night that ended with a scorching kiss has turned into the most awkward morning at the office ever. Now we’re working together as bodyguards on a remote mountain movie shoot. And we’re roommates.

I’ve never been attracted to a guy before, but something about Avery calls to every protective instinct I have. We’re not dating, but every night alone together, I fall a little deeper. It’s also Avery’s first time with a guy too, and while we’re both enjoying all sorts of new things together, I worry my heart will be broken when we return to civilization.

No matter how badly this may end, I can’t seem to stop wanting Avery. All of him. I want to see who he’ll become if he ever manages to get out of his own way. I want to be his biggest cheerleader, best friend, and the guy he comes home to. But going from secret hookup to forever after is a big ask. Are we both brave enough to take the leap?

ROCKY START is book four in the A-List Security series. It features TWO highly protective SEAL bodyguards, a double awakening, an exploration of the sexy, lacy kind, and all sorts of brand-new emotions. Get ready for all the high heat, big feels, and found family feels readers expect from this fan-favorite military romance author. Join A-List Security for this lower-angst series featuring former SEALs and celebrity clients. Happy endings and no cliffhangers guaranteed!

Review: Heppel Ever After (Learning to Love #5) by Con Riley

Rating: 5🌈

Charles and Hugo.

I should leave it at that but once more Con Riley has written a deeply emotional multi layered story that’s only supposed to be about a couple’s journey to get married.

With this author and couple, it’s never that superficial. Honestly, Charles and Hugo might not even have gotten married and the readers would have been surprisingly ok with that.

The reason why is because it’s always going to be about the relationship , the men, and the meandering nature of the path they take together towards any goal they’ve set for themselves.

Marriage? It’s been postponed several times already because of other issues, things we find out about here in this story as it gets discussed between Charles and Hugo. Yes, open communication is a great element here. It’s an aspect of the story that becomes key to understanding people and their motivations, important aspects of their lives.

We go through some surprisingly complex issues and topics. Death, grief, and coping. Or the lack of.

Riley threads the use of history, wildlife, wars, and the current victimization of refugees in a raw and brutal manner into a story of about love and compassion.

It ends on such a wonderful note of hope, laughter, and love that makes me want to bind all the Charles stories into one single piece so I’ll have them forever in place for continuing rereading.

I’m highly recommending this and all the Charles books and shorts. There are several out there, including free holiday ones that are among my favorites.

Learning to Love series:

✓ Charles #1

◦ Sol #2

◦ Luke #3

◦ Austin #4

✓ Heppel Ever After #5

Book 5 of 5: Learning to Love

Description:

Because every epic romance deserves an epic happy ending…

All Charles Heppel wants is a wedding. It’s not much to ask now that he’s set his playboy days aside for his almost-ordained fiancé. He can’t wait for a lovely, lazy beach honeymoon with His Holy Hotness to continue Hugo’s education in the bedroom.

Surely this third wedding date will be the charm and won’t get cancelled, will it? After all, Hugo’s followed his calling almost to the end of his path to ordination. Nothing should keep him from gaining his own parish with Charles as his husband.

Hugo’s calling thinks differently, demanding he leaves for the remote island of Kara-Enys without Charles.

That news should be shattering, but if Charles Heppel has one thing going for him, it’s that he’s relentlessly optimistic. And romantic. Most islands have beaches, don’t they? He’ll join Hugo to have the honeymoon first on their own version of Love Island. They can get married later!

All he needs to do is find him…


♥ This conclusion to the Learning to Love series features a host of heartfelt cameos, an embarrassment of romance, and in no way should be used as a guide to the ordination process, which likely involves much less kissing. ♥

(A content advisory can be viewed on the copyright page.)

Review: Charles: Learning to Love #1 by Con Riley

Rating: 5🌈

I backed into Charles by way of several of Con Riley’s free holiday stories. Each offered glimpses into this now established couple’s lives and most intimate moments.

The first revolves around a foster child that had been returned to them numerous times. It’s a beautiful story about a imperfectly perfect baby and a couple who loves deeply. Yes I was sniffing. It was the most current one in their lives.

The next backtracked and again it spoke with great emotion and quiet depth to their strengths , endurance, and love with an eye towards their beginnings to know they would never be separated from each other. Such a remarkable journey for a short tale.

By then, I was enthralled. And absolutely shocked at myself. Because I had to go back to find out how Charles and Hugo had found one another but also how Riley was able, in two such memorable stories, create a couple that included a vicar (and by extension a religious aspect) that would make me feel like reading the book.

That’s normally not something I would do.

Charles exceeded all my expectations, and overcame all my doubts that it wouldn’t live up to those glimpses of the future Charles and Hugo yet to come. I’m so thrilled that I have found this.

It’s not often I come across a book that contains both characters and a storyline that settles deep within your heart and mind. One that thought provoking but also makes you laugh . One who’s multilayered storylines continues with its complexity to pull all sorts of thoughts and emotions out of you as the story moves forward and the couple reveals more of themselves twining into the relationship.

Each location, especially the boarding school of Glynn Harber, a brilliantly described and created foundation for most of this story, jumps off the page with its own history and energy. We get to know and love the staff and especially the children who are so real it hurts when their personalities and issues are at the forefront for Charles and Hugo to navigate.

The element of religion was the one I was most skeptical of. I’m not a religious person. But here the author with her two person perspective gives voice to those of us who aren’t believers. That would be Charles. Wonderful, dyslexic Charles. And yea, dyslexia plays a huge part in Charles’ history. The person who is the most religious is Hugo. Hugo aka His Holy Hotness, is not quite a vicar, although if you’ve read those stories, you know he does achieve it in the future. The journey for Hugo , and Charles (no, Charles stays a non believer in the most charitable and charming way) is written in a moving and thoughtful manner. I understood it and I was overjoyed for Hugo. His faith is fundamental to his character and you believe in him for it.

The two of them together have to be one of the most beautiful and unique couples I read about in contemporary romance. As well as one of my favorite.

I’m highly recommending this. The following stories. And yes, track down those free holiday shorts. One was on Riley’s newsletter. It’s a must read.

Learning to Love series:

✓ Charles #1

◦ Sol #2

◦ Luke #3

◦ Austin #4

✓ Heppel Ever After #5

Charles: Learning to Love

Description:

Opposites attract in this low-angst romance filled with British snark and humour.

Life should be a breeze for a playboy like Charles Heppel. As the third son of an earl, he lives for the moment, partying and playing. Settling down isn’t for him. Not when London is full of beautiful men who he hasn’t one-and-done yet.

To escape his family’s nagging, Charles applies for a temp job that matches his playful skill set. A role in a Cornish classroom could be his until the summer, if Charles meets two conditions: he must move in with the headmaster’s best friend, and teach him to be happy.

Living with Hugo should be awkward. Charles is a free spirit, but Hugo’s a man of faith, with morals. A man who almost took holy orders before disaster changed his direction. Only far from being a chore, Charles finds that making Hugo happy soon becomes his passion.

Together, they share physical and emotional first times. Ones that change Charles, touching his soul. He wants Hugo for longer than they have left, but learning to love with his heart, not just his body, will take a leap of faith from Charles — in himself as well as Hugo.

New from Con Riley, Charles: Learning to Love is the first novel in a series based at Glynn Harber, a very special boarding school set in England’s glorious Cornwall. 

♥ This shared-world series starts with Charles and Hugo, but each book follows a different couple in their own standalone novel, with a fulfilling happily ever after. Want to hear more from Charles? He stole the show in His Haven. ♥

Charles plays a huge part in Keir’s romantic journey in His Haven: A His Contemporary MM Romance Novelby Con Riley.

Review: Killer vs. Kingpin (Hitman vs Hitman #3) by Cari Z and L.A. Witt

Rating: 4.75🌈

I really love absolute narrative lunacy! That’s Killer vs Kingpin pretty much from start to finish. A murderous Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride that expands on its initial theme of killers for hire into assassins antiheroes thwarting double crossing cartel minions, doing deals/breaking bread/being insane with all sorts of criminals, agencies and with as many weapons as possible.

It’s absolutely glorious fast paced mayhem. With relationships and character growth.

And death, blood, and a poodle. Nothing bad at all happens to the poodle.

If I had a wish though, I sorta wish that Eve and August’s classy, tough as nails sister, Elodie, would get together. Unfortunately, as she’s already married to the doctor, Paschal, also an important character within the series, it’s unlikely. I can dream, can’t I?

Mafia consigliere Pedro Silva and Police Detective Chandler, two fascinating ongoing personalities, come powerfully into action here. The chemistry and dynamics are fantastic. Their book is next.

I love it when a series keeps the original high energy but is able to expand and improve on the original by adding depth and complexity to the relationships and themes.

That’s exactly what the authors are doing here.

And why I’m recommending the book and series.

Read them in the order they are written.

Hitman Vs Hitman series:

✓ Hitman Vs Hitman #1

✓ Sniper vs Spotter #2

✓ Killer vs Kingpin #3

◦ Cop vs Capo #4 – Jan 4, 2023

Buy Link : Amazon

Killer vs. Kingpin (Hitman vs Hitman Book 3)

Description:

August Morrison and Ricardo Torralba would really like to live a quiet life—as quiet as life can be for a couple of eccentric hitmen, anyway. Unfortunately for them, they pushed their luck with the authors and demanded a second book. So now, whether they like it or not, they’re getting a third installment.

Yes, this is a revenge book. Because we’re the authors, that’s why.

This time, August and Ricardo are in way over their heads, because there are few things more dangerous than owing a favor to the mafia. When that favor gets called in, though, it’s not to kill anyone—it’s to save them. Time is running out to find the source of tainted street drugs poisoning innocent people.

Now they’re caught in the middle of a deadly war between rival families, all while trying to dodge suspicious police and merciless drug cartels.

Maybe this time, August and Ricardo will learn their lesson and not demand another book… assuming they survive this one.

Killer vs. Kingpin is book 3 in the Hitman vs. Hitman series that seems to have evolved from an alleged “standalone” to “yeah, we don’t even know.” They’re just too much fun to torture! Err, write. Too much fun to write.

Review: Sniper vs Spotter (Hitman vs Hitman #2) by Cari Z and L.A. Witt

Rating: 4.5🌈

Sniper vs Spotter passes the tough second book hurdle with flying colors, amid explosions, flying debris , and blood splatter!

Cari Z and Witt continues moves the relationship between hitmen August Morrison and Ricardo Torralba forward, opening the novel with the men living together, adjusting to a different lifestyle and emotional state.

It’s that latter that’s really causing the introspection and , glimpses into their pasts.

Which the authors use as the major source for the drama on multiple levels within the storyline with huge success.

Family is key. Or the keys to unlock the history and personalities of August Morrison and Ricardo Torralba. For August, it’s his sister and their shared traumatic experiences. For Ricardo, it’s his ex-wife Eve (an extraordinary woman, real, grounded in her bitterness and love), their complicated relationship, and the person from the past that now connects them.

Eve is someone who’s so well crafted that it’s no wonder the authors couldn’t leave her to just one story (yes, she’s going onto the next book).

Kudos to both authors for not demonizing the ex in a marriage. That’s one of my pet peeves in writing. I acknowledge that there’s unlikable ex problems but too often I read ones where it’s a simplistic, cardboard throwaway approach to a character and story element than a realistic human approach.

Sniper vs Spotter’s plot(s) and character development and relationship growth, which happens between not just the main couple but between other people as well, is just as compelling and interesting to watch unfold as the fast action sequences that accompany it.

The authors says these characters are talking to them? I say they are laughing, shouting, snarking their way through an entire series.

If we’re lucky.

Especially as they keep drawing more fabulously complicated people in around them.

So yes, I’m definitely recommending this series and probably even the ones that follow.

Look for more reviews to come.

The books must be read in the order they were written to understand the events and relationships development.

Hitman Vs Hitman series:

✓ Hitman Vs Hitman #1

✓ Sniper vs Spotter #2

✓ Killer vs Kingpin #3

◦ Cop vs Capo #4 – Jan 4, 2023

Buy Link Amazon

Sniper vs Spotter (Hitman vs Hitman Book 2)

Description:

Mortal-enemies-turned-furniture-breaking-lovers August Morrison and Ricardo Torralba have found a groove that suits them both. They’ve teamed up as hired guns, they live together, and by some miracle, they haven’t killed each other. It’s the closest to normal they’ll ever have, and they love it.

But their guns-and-roses future is thrown into chaos when Ricardo’s past comes crashing into their present. What begins as a favor for an old friend—well, “friend,” but don’t tell August—quickly spirals into something far bigger than they anticipated. Now they’re in way over their heads with powerful people on both sides of the law, and it’s going to take more than snark and explosions to see them through.

Nevertheless, there will be plenty of snark and explosions, because this is August and Ricardo, and no one would expect any less. In between the smoke and sarcasm, though, they are determined to bring an evil operation crashing down… no matter who they have to work with to get the job done.

And no matter who they have to kill.

Sniper vs Spotter is the sequel to the apparently-it-doesn’t-want-to-be-a-standalone Hitman vs Hitman, which absolutely was supposed to be a standalone, but August and Ricardo (predictably) refused to be contained. Our audiobook narrator also shares some of the blame, Michael. So here we are.

Review: Kairo’s Billionaire (Shadow Elite Book 2) by Jocelynn Drake

Rating:4.25🌈

Kairo’s Billionaire slightly backtracks into the last pages of Charlie’s Doctor, recounting the events that happened to launch this story.

That would be the kidnapping of Kairo by unknown persons as he exited the bar where everyone was celebrating the success of the team’s mission.

I’m fully enjoying this series. Even though I’m aware of some of the issues with the realism of two billionaires kidnapped and no one realizes, the easiest escape ever, and other things that are still a wee bit of a stretch to believe in, it’s all such fun entertainment that I am willing to take it as such.

I just enjoy the characters, their relationships, the fact there’s a ferret element, a family of assassins (those that kill together ). I mean it’s just a general sense of mayhem on the loose I find so ingratiatingly satisfying.

Plus love , and HEA , is found for Kairos Jones and the billionaire Isidore Panopoulos. It’s a interesting dynamic . We get to know both men under duress, as well as Izzy’s sister, another wonderful character. This situation makes the quick development in their relationship believable as they are forced into learning about each other and having to trust each other to make decisions to ensure their escape.

The ending sets up Ed’s story, Edison’s Professor, as well as giving us a deeper perspective on Kairo’s life.

I’m looking forward to it.

If you’re a reader who enjoys action packed , ex military, espionage type of romance novels, then this is a entertaining and enjoyable book and series for you.

They should be read in order to understand the relationships and events that have happened.

Shadow Elite series:

✓ Charlie’s Doctor #1

✓ Kairo’s Billionaire #2

◦ Edison’s Professor #3 – Feb 10, 2023

Amazon.comhttps://www.amazon.com › Kairos-…Kairo’s Billionaire (Shadow Elite Book 2) – Kindle edition by Drake, Jocelynn. …

Description:

Kidnapped.

Someone of his skill should not have been kidnapped at all. Let alone so easily.

But when Kairo Jones wakes up halfway around the world with a reclusive billionaire begging for his help, the mercenary knows he can’t say no.

He also knows that he might be in over his head.

While Charlie and the rest of the team race to locate their missing member, Kairo fights to keep the sexy man with the sad eyes alive long enough to get some answers.

Kairo’s Billionaire is the second full-length novel in the Shadow Elite series and features mercenaries, assassins, danger, explosions, a brooding billionaire with a battered heart, and love on the run in Greece.

———-

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

Review: Fran Cuthbert Ruins Christmas by J. A. Rock and Lisa Henry

Rating: 2.5🌈

J. A. Rock and Lisa Henry are both excellent writers and their ability to craft believable characters is one of the reasons I automatically grab up any book they co-author.

Unfortunately in Fran Cuthbert Ruins Christmas, it’s one of their believable characters that’s the reason this was so close to being a DNF for me. I barely scraped by, hoping for some improvement in his personality. A false hope as it turned out.

The truth lies in the title. Fran Cuthbert not only ruin’s Christmas but this story. While the other mc is real, vulnerable, and engaging, Fran is that person you can’t trust or the character that begs the question why on earth would either writer craft someone like him to begin with as a main romantic lead.

He’s an inveterate lier, a outright thief of Christmas gifts, incapable of taking responsibility for any kind of irresponsible hurtful behavior on his part, passiveness in a manner that ends up being a weapon to hurt others, and a sense of humor that actually inflicts damage on someone he says he cares about. His only saving grace is his love for his twins girls that he’s so busy lying to.

Honestly. The authors thought Fran was someone we as readers should connect with? Find somehow awkwardly funny and adorable? Because he’s a toxic hot mess with a box load of red flags waving above him.

One of the worst things here? When his long time love (who he wronged), opens up and makes an extremely vulnerable confession to Fran, something that involves a sexual encounter that resulted in an accidental harm, what happens? Fran makes fun of him, makes Cass feel bad about himself and the encounter. By then I was done.

So am I recommending this? No. Only to those fans of these authors and I’m sure you have this on your TBR list already. For the rest of you, I’ll let you make the best choice.

—-

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

Review: This Is Real by Barbara Elsbourg

Rating: 3.75🌈

I like Barbara Elsborg, so I didn’t want to pass up her latest holiday romance, This Is Real.

A contemporary romance, it’s got a late coming out element, a snarky Englishman, a closeted American actor and a holiday movie set that brings them together.

I found it entertaining and sweet with characters that engaged me with their different backgrounds . Pasts that included aspects to their histories that were painful and believably difficult so they felt realistic .

Murdo Jenkins is a maths lecturer at Harvard. He’s got a vacation booked to see his bestie who’s also an Assistant Producer on a holiday film. He’s English with a painful history as an orphan whose adolescence was one of torment and neglect. Christmas is not his thing for reasons that will be revealed.

I liked the character of Murdo, feisty and highly intelligent. He had a welcome depth and interest to his personality that kept me involved in his life.

Lukas Olsen, actor and deeply closeted gay man, was a bit harder to get into. Not that he wasn’t understandable but at first I simply didn’t like his character. That changes as the story progresses and we get more of the background that made him into the man he’s become.

Their relationship and developing romance is fun, the dialogue is lively, personable and charming. It pulls us into their lives with a warm immediacy. The pitfalls to trying anything with a closeted partner is out front in both men’s minds. It won’t work.

Obviously the obstacles and drama will occur to change that. It happens towards the end of the story and I suppose that’s where my issues set in.

I realize this and others like it are holiday stories. That they come with a certain amount of glow and holiday spirit that sometimes glosses over some of life’s harsher realities.

But maybe it’s a bit of the Scrooge in me that thinks a holiday spirit shouldn’t be the panacea for all the things the bad people do or troublesome events that occur in these stories. That there’s another way to work through these elements realistically without having to do the whole “ let’s forgive the incredibly stupid or highly irresponsible/illegal acts that happened “ in order to have that golden moment(s) at the end.

Spoiler Alert. If someone in a position of authority takes advantage of a severely wounded person to then use that to a monetary advantage to potentially inflict great emotional harm as well as huge damage in other avenues? Then it’s , aww , it’s the holidays, and his excuse, well , doesn’t hold water either. So no, please stop with this type of narrative nonsense. Just because it’s a holiday story doesn’t excuse this behavior. Let’s be real.

So you had me almost to the end. I liked the epilogue. It’s just that bit towards the end. Eliminate that or change how it’s handled, and my overall opinion would be different.

Maybe you will find that aspect not as off putting as I do and will love this.

I will leave it up to you. I did enjoy the majority of the story.

Goodreadshttps://www.goodreads.com › showThis Is Real by Barbara Elsborg

Description:

A snarky English nerd. A hot American actor. When Christmas brings them together, they have more in common than they know…

Murdo doesn’t do Christmas, but this year, he’s looking forward to spending time with an old friend. Elodie’s working on a film starring Murdo’s Biggest Crush, the gorgeous Lukas Olsen. When Elodie asks him to give Lukas a lift from Logan International, Murdo can’t believe his luck. Lukas might be straight, but ogling’s acceptable—right?
Lukas arrives at the airport to find a gaggle of fans but no driver waiting and when he does turn up, the snarky Englishman can’t even remember where he’s parked. When they finally reach their destination, Lukas tries to tip him and Murdo makes his current opinion of Lukas very clear. His crush is over.

Things move from bad to worse when Murdo tells the director that Lukas’s English accent isn’t authentic. But a pang of guilt, and maybe a remnant of lust, has Murdo offering to give dialect lessons to a resentful Lukas. Only once they’re in Lukas’s house, annoyance turns into something far more dangerous, because Lukas isn’t out and never will be. He has too much to lose: career, fans, family and friends.

Yet something about Murdo makes Lukas want to risk it all…