When plumber and builder Jordan Novotny goes to take a look at the home of the town’s openly gay, recently dumped librarian, he doesn’t expect to find anything other than a falling-apart old house and a water heater in need of repair. Instead, he finds an older man in need of some TLC and a new circle of friends after his ex tossed him aside for a newer model. Stephen might be attracted to Jordan, but he thinks the young man is exactly that—too young. It takes Jordan’s family interfering and a bit of a mishap to make them see that it’s never too late to find a new love, and that age is just a number. All that matters is compatibility and the courage to take a chance.
Review
Oh this was just too short! (insert more whining here) I really, really loved both MCs. Stephen is a broken-hearted librarian whose lover has left him with an old house in need of repairs. Jordan is a plumber/fix-it guy and is called in to help with the water heater.
Though the age gap is nearly 30 years, both men find in the other just what they’re looking for.
This is a very sweet, no-steam, short, short story that just tantalizes the taste-buds.
(Maybe the author will see fit to expand this into a full novel one day. Please! )
4 of 5 hearts
On the eve of his fortieth birthday, Ian Parker is looking for a reboot. He may be the proud owner of a trendy coffee shop in Austin called La Tazza Magica, but his love life has been MIA for years. During a trip to Denver with his best friend, Mark, Ian buys an enchanted chocolate from a mysterious candy store—then wakes up from a nap two decades younger. After the initial shock, Ian realizes a quirk of the universe has given him a second chance and, with Mark’s help, he devises a plan to start over.
With a new lease on life, Ian sets his sights on handsome architect Bartley James, a regular customer at La Tazza. He pursues Bartley as Ian’s twenty-one-year-old alter ego, Ryan, with decidedly unexpected results. Joining Ryan on his adventures are Matthew, the dreamy new barista, Jeremy, the geeky high-school math teacher, and Sam, the pizza delivery boy. Even as misunderstandings and expectations collide, Ian remains determined to right his past mistakes and find his off-ramp to happiness.
Book Review (Previously posted on this site.)
I would strongly recommend that you read these books in order to fully appreciate the nuances. Brad does an amazing job of creating this “alternate” world with the Walsh brothers and laying out that time is very non-linear and to ignore all that history is silly.
Sure, technically this is a stand alone – but why? Just read the others – they’re great!
In this story we see – again – people making small decisions that have huge implications which can affect their lives (and other’s lives) and lots and lots of trivia.
I think that you are either a fan of the trivia – in this case old porn – or not – and the rapid-fire game-playing will either charm or repel you.
I find Brad Boney’s writing to be fascinating and I love his alternate world view and though I wish he’d had a different game plan – one where our MCs spend some actual time together – I always enjoy the time I spend on his books.
This was not my favorite in the series – but still an excellent book.
Audio Review
Dan McGowan is new to me as a narrator, and has not done any of the other narrations for this “almost”-series. I appreciated that he tried to make the different voices distinct and he had a lot of enthusiasm for the story, but I didn’t really care for his style, especially in comparison to the others by this author.
During Pride week in Montreal, Wolfe learns the board is threatening to shut down the YBR queer community center. He can’t let this happen, not while he’s the director and responsible for everyone there. They tell him he’s just a kid, too young to handle these responsibilities, but Wolfe is determined to prove to everyone, including the rich family he left behind, that he’s strong enough to do the job, even if it leaves him with little time for love.
But then devastatingly handsome Gaspard walks up to the YBR stand on Pride community day. Freshly divorced and father to two grown children, Gaspard is finally out of the closet as bisexual, and single for the first time in thirty years. Gaspard falls for Wolfe in a way he’s not prepared for. But as relationships unravel, Gaspard resists his passion for a man young enough to be his son.
Wolfe has spent his life fighting for what he wants. And what he wants is Gaspard.
Review
This is a unique book in that there is very little sex, the main characters are almost overwhelmed by the secondary characters and though the romance is a central theme the book is really about growth and personal realtionships (not just romantic).
To me this book felt like a YA book about Wolfe and his growth in his family and getting over his past. I think it could have been labeled YA instead of contemporary … not sure if that’s appropriate either… it’s a unique book and hard to pigeon hole.
I didn’t understand the epilogue and the rest of the book was not really to my taste. I like a more centrally focused, erotic, romantic “romance” and this was MORE than that, but not what I was looking for.
College freshman Parker Osborne is having the worst day ever. He humiliates himself trying to pick up a cute guy, he hasn’t made any friends at school, and his stupidly hot jerk of a TA gave him a crappy grade on his paper. He’s going to drop Adam Hawkins’ film class and start fresh tomorrow after he’s had a good sulk.
But Parker’s about to find out what a bad day really looks like—if he can survive the night.
A virus is unleashed, transforming infected people into zombie-like killers. After these quick and deadly creepers swarm campus, Parker only escapes thanks to Adam swooping him onto the back of his trusty motorcycle. Now they’re on the run—and stuck with each other.
When they’re not bickering, they’re fighting off the infected in a bloody battle for survival. Their only hope is to head east to Parker’s family, but orphaned Adam has a secret he’s not sure Parker will accept: he’s a werewolf. Can they trust each other enough to find some light in these dark days?
Review
When I read the blurb I said – what? Keira Andrews? Yes! Zombies? Heck Yes! Werewolves? Eff Yes!
(I used a different word than heck and eff but…)
I was NOT disappointed.
This story captures your attention right from the beginning.
Parker is an uptight, insecure freshman at Stanford. He’s used to being the big fish in a small pond and now he’s … not.
He meets his TA Adam over a bad grade in what is supposed to be a super easy class. Adam, of course, thinks the course is important and not just “filler” so he’s offended by Parker’s disdain.
It isn’t too long before the two accidentally meet in the quad on the day the “creepers” (zombies) take over the university. In a move that changes both their lives, Adam rescues Parker on the back of his bike and rides off with him to safety.
In the beginning there is a lot of sexual tension – Parker thinks Adam has a girlfriend. Adam has a secret he’s trying to keep from Parker. But both are really attracted to one another.
Of course at every turn they are also battling this unknown element – the virally infected hordes who mindlessly try to eat you if you get in their way.
Over the course of days and weeks they head cross country, trying to reach Parker’s family on the East Coast, and stay alive through both creeper invasions and vigilante challenges.
When Adam gets bitten it looks like their time together may be over or at least changed, since nobody knows how the disease is transferred. Luckily they meet someone who can help with that information.
The ending is… well… appropriate. I’m not sure if she’s setting us up for a sequel (Please, please, please!) or if a Zombie Apocalypse only has so many endings… but … it’s a definite HFN for their survival and HEA for their love.
**
What I loved about this book was the many different layers. Both Parker and Adam have felt marginalized in their lives – for different reasons. The fear of the unknown pushes them together faster than normal, but it still feels very organic and real. The human nature shown by the mobs of scared people felt real and the reaction to a possible cure brought up some real moral questions that struck a cord.
I loved Keira’s Rumspringa series and was so happy to see that her writing chops are well prepared to cover this entirely different genre.
In fact – maybe even better?
I highly recommend this book and give it 6 of 5 hearts!
It’s the summer of 1983, and Trent Days is Major League Baseball’s rookie sensation. Since he was born in Alaska to an Inupiat mother, the press have dubbed him the Eskimo Slugger, but a midseason collision at home plate temporarily halts his meteoric rise to the top.
Sent back to Austin to recuperate, Trent visits his favorite record store, Inner Sanctum, where he meets amiable law student Brendan Baxter. A skip in the vinyl of New Order’s “Blue Monday” drives Trent back to Brendan, and their romance takes them into uncharted territory. As Trent’s feelings move from casual to serious, he’s faced with an impossible dilemma. Does he abandon any hope of a future with Brendan and return to the shadows and secrets of professional sports? Or does he embrace the possibility of real love and leave baseball behind him forever? As he struggles with his decision, Trent embarks on a journey of self-discovery to figure out who he really is and what matters most.
Book review(Previously posted on this site.)
Trent is a baseball player from Alaska, thus the name Eskimo Slugger. He’s at the top of his game when he gets injured and ends up spending two weeks in Austin, TX. There he meets Brendan, a law student/record store clerk. They start as friends but once Brendan tentatively asks Trent “Is this a date?” the two acknowledge the deeper aspect of their blossoming relationship. The two immediately set sparks off one another, though neither has ever had a gay relationship before.
With some pretty funny forays into gay sex, the two explore each other and a relatively unexplored aspect to their personalities. For Brendan, being gay is something he’s pondered but been afraid of, but with the right incentive he embraces the idea and eventually decides to incorporate into his life fully and without secrecy.
For Trent, being gay means possibly (probably) the end of his career, certainly the end of his life as it stands currently, and though he’s always known he was gay, he has never let himself entertain the idea that he could actually live as a gay man.
Brendan enlists the help of Stanton and Hutch (from The Return) as “gay mentors” and together, with Bill Walsh (from The Nothingness of Ben) the group bonds, smoke a lot of weed and begin to form relationships that even death won’t end.
Ultimately, Trent has to make the biggest decision of his life: Choose baseball or choose Brendan. Perhaps the two can be together, but probably it’s one or the other.
**
By now you should have read the first two books (The Nothingness of Ben and The Return). If you haven’t – go! What are you waiting for? Technically this could be a standalone, I guess, but it won’t make a heck of a lot of sense and will leave you very unsatisfied.
If you have read the other books you know that the end of this book is really the beginning of TNOB. That, Brad Boney, is an amazing feat! Mr. Boney has managed to create this beautiful circular set of books that literally bleeds one into the other so that (as a reader) you want to just keep going round and round the merry-go-round.
I found myself referencing both of the earlier books time and again with the “treasures” that were revealed throughout this book. Without completely giving away all the secrets just know that the MCs of all three books are inter-related in various ways and little bits of their stories, past and present are slipped in throughout the story.
In The Return it was all about music – fast paced facts and quips, with Slugger it’s baseball. For me, the music was more interesting, but if you are a baseball fan this will really hit home. (See what I did there?)
I didn’t like the love story as much in Slugger as in The Return or TNOB, probably because it happens so quickly. I just never felt the emotion – especially from Brendan. Trent was invested, you get that feeling so strongly. Brendan was too standoffish for me and it made me a little sad. But… since I know what I know about how things end… he’s forgiven ☺.
I really, really enjoyed these books and was sad to see it end. I can’t say for sure, but I think that if I were to recommend a reading order I would say start with The Return, then Slugger then finish with TNOB. There may be something “missing” with that order, but I think, ultimately, it will be so much more satisfying. Or… do as the author may have intended and read it : TNOB, Return, Slugger, TNOB… and so on and so on…
Just a fantastic book all around, 5 of 5 hearts and for the series 6 of 5!
Audio
Michael Ferraluolo did an excellent job with this! I adored Charlie David and was disappointed he didn’t narrate this, the third of the series. I think the continuity would have been great. But… Michael didn’t disappoint with his performance. He has a great voice that is easy to listen to, did a nice job differentiating the characters, really got into the emotion of the story and even managed to do a nice job with the female voices.
All in all I am sticking with 6 of 5 hearts for this in either book or audio form!
Noah thinks he’s nothing special. Average height, a bit on the skinny side, and cute but rather geeky, he’s relentlessly ordinary. He certainly doesn’t expect to be noticed by Sol, the gorgeous, dark-haired stranger Noah sees on his commute home most days. But when Noah’s friend, Dom, persuades Noah to take a huge risk in a bid to get Sol’s attention, things turn out better than Noah dared to hope. Noah and Sol start dating, and much to Noah’s surprise, his feelings seem to be reciprocated.
But Noah’s insecurities make him doubt Sol. He doesn’t believe he’s interesting enough or sexy enough to hold Sol’s attention, and as Sol tries to get closer, Noah’s instinct is to pull away to protect himself. If their relationship is going to survive, Sol needs to convince Noah that he sees Noah very differently than Noah sees himself. Because to Sol, Noah is something very special indeed.
Book Review(previously posted on this site)
Noah is a shy guy, a little low on self-esteem, but knows something good when he sees it.
Sol, named after the sun, is as hot as all that, but, surprisingly, a super-sweet guy, too.
Noah sees Sol day after day on the train and one day Noah gets brave enough to ask Sol out and, wonder of wonders, Sol agrees! The two end up on the longest first date ever and with very little fanfare, find themselves in a relationship.
This is not a book full of angst or mystery. It is just so stinking fun, touching, nice and sexy… I loved it. It was like eating a bowl of ice cream on a hot afternoon. Tasty, sweet, and leaving you feeling happy you took the time out to appreciate it.
I absolutely loved that Noah, though amazed at his good fortune, almost never lets his self-esteem issues get in between him and Sol. I loved how the families were not the problem, or society. Instead it was just two guys, genuinely caring for each other, navigating the first days of a romance and taking it all the way to their happy ever after. I LOVED the ending. LOVED IT!
Jay Northcote’s writing is crisp and well-paced. The editing is perfect and the over all effect is a very tight, happy, well-done novel.
Audio
Matthew Lloyd Davies has done several Jay Northcote titles now and he has a very nice, respectable British way about him. In general I like his narrations and think he does a nice job handling the emotional aspects of the storylines. In this case he doesn’t make a huge distinction between Sol and Noah, but you can tell who is who. I liked this narration better than some, and thought he did a great job of illustrating how sweet the guys were with one another, especially the epilogue!
Olympic figure skater Emory Lowe falls in lust the moment he lays eyes on his new neighbor, hockey player Nikolai Vetrov. On the surface, Nik is a typical badass enforcer, intimidating and dangerous, on and off the ice. The only son of Ukrainian immigrants, Nik has been groomed from childhood to fulfill his father’s dreams of seeing him in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Igor guides his son toward that goal with a controlling—and abusive—hand, steering him clear of anyone who might ruin his chances.
Although Emory is the US National Figure Skating champion, he’s in-your-face gay, and his audacious persona rubs Nik and his family the wrong way. Raised by supportive and loving parents, Emory is Nik’s polar opposite in every way but one—his desire to succeed. Underneath the fluff and glitter beats the heart of a fierce competitor, and this side of Emory’s personality begins to close the distance between the two athletes.
While the attraction is one-sided in the beginning, Nik finds himself responding to Emory’s flirting. But before the incongruous pair have a chance at any sort of relationship, they must survive the pressures of career, separation, and most importantly, Igor’s ruthless homophobia
Review
Emory and Nik meet when Nik moves into the neighborhood. Emory is a teenager living at home and training for the Olympics. Nik is a professional hockey player in the minor leagues (or whatever word they use in hockey).
Emory is 18 and Nik 20. Both still live with their parents. Both fathers are bigoted – though Emory’s dad gets over it and Nik’s dad is psychotic. Nik is engaged to a woman and in denial of his sexuality (and a gay-virgin!) and Emory is super-flamboyant to the extreme and NOT a virgin.
The boys feel instant attraction and though it is fairly dangerous for Nik , they begin a relationship. There is a lot of drama about the families and their approval. Danger surrounding Emory’s Olympic games and his risk as a homosexual in a homophobic country. Danger surrounding Nik’s career (hockey) and his coming out to his father. Lots of steamy sex. Some very sweet and tender moments between the boys. And a nice if unrealistic ending that will make you smile.
The storyline of this novel is unique in that the relationship develops fairly quickly so most of the struggle is the couple working out how they can be together given the obstacles they face.
I enjoyed Nik and Emory but the fathers felt a little too much like caricatures to feel real. Though I enjoyed the resolution it felt a bit rushed at the end and a little too “easy”.
Aiden Lobo is a graduate student in a world where magic, gods, and demons are part of everyday life. After a terrible betrayal, he is cursed with a Crack in his heart, turning him into a living doorway for an ancient demon of war to come to Earth and kill millions. Aiden is rescued by his guardian angel, who seals the Crack with his own Light. As a servant of the divine, the nameless angel was supposed to kill Aiden to prevent the growing cataclysm inside him. But he loves Aiden too much to end his life, even to save the world.
Aiden falls for his guardian and names him Eskandar, but then learns to his horror that because Eskandar was created for him, when Aiden dies Eskandar will too. Aiden will do anything to keep his beloved angel safe. But with no choice except to sacrifice himself to prevent the apocalypse, he only has one option: a terrible betrayal of his own.
Review
This is a fast paced, low steam, full of maglc novel. The smexy times are more suggestive than actualized, but still very nice. The love is sincere and sweet. The fantasy is engaging and well done.
The bulk of the story is Aiden fighting against the evil forces that are trying to come out through a gateway opened in his heart. Everywhere he turns, people he trusts are turning against him. Only his guardian angel and sidekick are completely trustworthy but the answers they give – he doesn’t want to hear.
I really enjoyed this, even without tons of hot sex, and think that those of you looking for adventure and sentimentality will like it as well.
Part of the First Time For Everything Daily Dose 2011 collection
Facing the Germans outside Amiens, Denis was prepared for the possibility he wouldn’t survive the battle. Shot and left for dead, he didn’t expect to open his eyes to a vampire offering him a chance at a different existence. Now newly turned, the hunger for blood grows insistent, but an instinct Denis doesn’t understand presses him to make the right choice for feeding, not the most expedient one. Which will Noël prove to be: a temporary succor or the companion of a lifetime?
Review
This is a very short – almost prequel – to the series, introducing the concept and characters we will see in other books.
Denis is “killed” in the battle then offered life after death. Since he’s only 19 he takes the offer and Noel must show him the ropes and more?
As always Tachna is a wonderful writer, if the story is a bit too short to really delve into.
Blurb
When Teyth was but a child, a cruel prince took over his village, building a great granite tower to rule over the folk. Greedy and capricious, the man will be the bane of Teyth’s existence as an adult, but as a boy, Teyth is too busy escaping his stepfather to worry about his ruler.
Sold into apprenticeship to the local blacksmith, Teyth finds that what was meant as a punishment is actually his salvation. Cairsten, the smith, and Diarmuid, his adopted son, are kind, and the smithy is the prosperous heart of a thriving village. As Teyth grows in the craft of metalwork, he also grows in love for Diarmuid, the gentle, clever young man who introduces him to smithing.
Their prince wants Diarmuid too. As the tyrant inflicts loss upon loss on Teyth and Diarmuid, Teyth’s passion for his craft twists into obsession. By the time Teyth resurfaces from his quest to create immortality, he’s nearly lost the love that makes being human worth the pain. Teyth was born to sculpt his emotion into metal, and Diarmuid was born to lead. Together, can they keep their village safe and sustain the love that will make them immortal?
Review
I think the easiest way to review this is to say this:
Amy pulled no punches with this book. Though this isn’t a tragedy, it is tragic. Though it doesn’t end happily the ending is very up-lifting.
This is a dark, angsty fairy tale that makes some of Amy’s other books look positively fluffy!
Amy, as always, is an amazing writer and delivers again with well-developed characters, amazing creativity and a smooth, gorgeous storyline.
If you don’t like stories written in “accents” this may bug you as she uses a “dialect” throughout the book to give it a very authentic “feel”.
Amy must own stock in Kleenex. That’s the only explanation I can come up to explain her ability and desire (?) to make us bawl like babies time and again.
People looking for a light-hearted, easy read should run far, far away.
Don’t read this in public (especially at work – learn from my mistake.)
It reminded me of her book Hammer & Air – if you liked that you’ll like this.
This isn’t my favorite of Amy’s genres – I love her contemporary work far more. That being said this is still an amazing book – Amy doesn’t write “bad” books. I recommend this book to fans of fantasy/fairy tales and fans of the “Queen” herself
Blurb
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