Two Dashwood brothers. Two dashing romances.
Sensible, reasonable, responsible.
Dad has died and left Noah Dashwood his debts. After selling the family home, he and his brother are couchsurfing. The number one new priority? Finding them a new place to live. He has a list of cheap rentals, and he has no problem if sexy and lovely Wade Ferrars wants to help him choose the best option. Wade. He is everything a guy could dream of. He even makes Noah . . . believe in romance.
Except . . .
Why does he go hot and cold at an instant?
What is he hiding?
Clueless, energetic, spontaneous.
Oh God. This is a disaster. No money, no home, no man . . . Zach Dashwood should really, like, get a steady paying job. Help his brother out. Ohhh, maybe he could find something at Ask Austen Studios?
This guy with terrible tie-taste is really something. Working on a Sunday, poor thing. Okay, they should hang out, maybe he’ll put in a good word with the boss—
Oh, he is the boss.
Well that’s . . .
To say thanks, Zach will totally find this “Brandon” the girlfriend of his dreams!
Two very different brothers. Both in for a surprise.
A modern gay retelling of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility
Amazon – Kindle Unlimited
Goodreads
Zach climbed hurriedly into the Tin Man onesie.
He charged out to the kitchen, flinging out his arms in frustration. “Toto, I’ve got a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.”
True in, like, all the important senses.
Brandy looked up over the onions he was chopping at the kitchen island. He’d changed into a fresh pair of jeans and a t-shirt, and he was . . . laughing.
Zach doubled down on a glare. This energy was easier to manage. Much better than whatever had taken him hostage before. “Why couldn’t you have lent me your clothes?”
“My pants would fall off you.”
“Then I could’ve swum in your pullover.”
“I’ve seen what you do to pullovers, tucking them over your knees, stretching them into weird shapes.”
“I never—”
“You did it to my jacket in the car just now.”
“So you put me in the Tin Man?”
Brandy continued chopping and murmured, “And his wish came true.”
“Huh?”
“Never mind. Turn on some music. Or your guitar is on the sofa. Noah will be here in a few minutes. He went to check the local, in case you missed me telling you that, too.”
“I totally heard that.” He totally hadn’t.
Brandy smiled, like he knew the truth.
But not that truth, right? Like, he wasn’t giving off extra-spicy I have feelings for you pheromones or anything?
He lifted his guitar into his lap and played. He was humming the words, but his focus was on Brandy.
Who was preparing lunch.
Brandy was always looking out for him. Feeding him, driving him around, questioning his taste in music, relenting because Zach was right of course. Hell, the bach was supposed to be a weekend retreat, and he’d made it his home. Had he stayed at his place in town even once? No. Because even when he’d considered it, he’d sensed Zach needed him and driven the winding bays to get back.
He was . . . he was generous, caring, funny, hard-working, protective . . .
Zach stopped strumming and burrowed into the onesie.
He yearned to ask all the questions, find out all the unknowns he could. He wanted to know everything, but his voice cracked on the first syllable. He shut his mouth and dropped his head back uselessly.
What was he supposed to do now? Ignore this? Try to convince Brandy that he was worth a try? Subtly, of course. He wouldn’t want to spring anything on the guy. But why would Brandy even want to try? He was too young. Immature. Hopelessly naïve.
“You’re fretting about something,” Brandy said.
“Ahahaha.”
Smooth, Zachary. Real smooth.
He cleared his throat, pitching his voice deeper than usual. The fuck was that about? “The thing is, I just don’t care about Jack.”
Brandy stopped chopping, but he didn’t look over.
“I thought I would. I tried. But . . . I’m more sorry for your ex. And I hate her.” For ever having you, for never loving you. For still having you.
“You don’t hate her. Your voice is . . . I hope you’re not coming down with something.”
Zach hugged his knees and thumped his head on them. He needed to get rid of this stupid awareness. Stop overthinking things. He’d make himself sick. Look, he was already shivering.
“You really don’t care about Jack?”
Zach snapped his head up. Had that question sounded too quiet? A little . . . imploring?
His heart lurched like it wanted to drag him across the room. He wanted to read Brandy’s face. And, you know, devour all the fairy dust he could while he was there.
He groaned.
And convulsed with a shiver; this one only half to do with the man watching him across the room. He grabbed a blanket off the back of the couch and snuggled into it. The back of his throat stung a little. The soup would help there. And Noah might make some of that ginger tea and honey he was so good at.
Wrapping the blanket tighter around him, he frowned. “Something wrong?” Brandy asked.
“It’s been almost twenty minutes.” He glanced out the rain-lashed window. “Where’s Noah?”
I have THOROUGHLY enjoyed this whole series. Modern day retelling of classics- most I had read before, but it honestly doesn’t matter if you did or didn’t. They are excellent reads.
And the final one (sobs) give us TWO romances. Swoon.
One of the things that I loved about this particular book is that there are two kind of big things that are not made a big deal of. I don’t want to spoil anything. But both of those things could have been used as big plot points and they aren’t. As such, they are totally normalized and I really loved that. Two separate characters, by the way.
We have brothers Noah and Zachary who are houseless after their father died and they had to sell their family home to pay debts. Noah seems to be the responsible one, making sure they have a place to stay, that bills are paid, etc. Zachary is the brother that trusts that Noah will take care of everything. I don’t think he takes advantage of that at all, it’s just their dynamic.
Zach is the one who finds them a place to live- a very nice place in fact. Although it takes a while for him to realize who it is who is letting them stay on the cottage behind his house. Zach is also done with the one night stand scene and wants to fall in love. So when he meets a guy at the pub, he basically decides that this is the guy he will fall in love with. Very throw back to the days of Sense and Sensibility. But he doesn’t seem to notice what is right in front of his face.
Noah has had a crush on his former best friend’s brother since they were teens. But now they are adults and they are playing the flirting game hard. Wade is very hot and cold and it takes a bit to find out why.
The perspective switches between the two brothers, which is nice as the story runs concurrently and you can focus on one brother while still getting the story of the other.
This was very swoony, very slow burn, but also so satisfying. The writing is poetic at times that makes you just want to sink in to the story and devour the pages.
I absolutely recommend this entire series.
4.5 pieces of eye candy
I’m a big, BIG fan of slow-burn romances. I love to read and write stories with characters who slowly fall in love.
Some of my favorite tropes to read and write are: Enemies to Lovers, Friends to Lovers, Clueless Guys, Bisexual, Pansexual, Demisexual, Oblivious MCs, Everyone (Else) Can See It, Slow Burn, Love Has No Boundaries.
I write a variety of stories, Contemporary MM Romances with a good dollop of emotion, Contemporary lighthearted MM Romances, and even a splash of fantasy.
My books have been translated into German, Italian, French, Spanish, and Thai.
Contact: http://www.anytasunday.com/about-anyta/
Sign up for Anyta’s newsletter and receive a free e-book:
http://www.anytasunday.com/newsletter-free-e-book/
Contact Anyta:
Join my Facebook group to chat all things Slow Burn Romance:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/SlowBurnSundays/
You can also find me here: www.anytasunday.com
For information about new releases and freebies, follow me on BookBub:
https://www.bookbub.com/authors/anyta-sunday