Two Chicks Obsessed with Books & Eye Candy

Sharing our love of M/M Romance

Denise

The Lightning-Struck Heart by TJ Klune: Throwback Thursday Review

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Once upon a time, in an alleyway in the slums of the City Of Lockes, a young and somewhat lonely boy named Sam Haversford turns a group of teenage douchebags into stone completely by accident.

Of course, this catches the attention of a higher power, and Sam’s pulled from the only world he knows to become an apprentice to the King’s Wizard, Morgan of Shadows.

When Sam’s fourteen, he enters the Dark Woods and returns with Gary, the hornless gay unicorn, and a half-giant named Tiggy, earning the moniker Sam of Wilds.

At fifteen, Sam learns what love truly is when a new knight arrives at the castle—Knight Ryan Foxheart, the dreamiest dream to have ever been dreamed.

Naturally, it all goes to hell when Ryan dates the reprehensible Prince Justin, Sam can’t control his magic, a sexually aggressive dragon kidnaps the prince, and the King sends them on an epic quest to save Ryan’s boyfriend, all while Sam falls more in love with someone he can never have.

Or so he thinks.

Amazon

Dreamspinner Press

This book is ridiculous. Over the top. Bananas. Bonkers. Weird. Funny. Smart. Corny. Sweet. Hilarious. Too much. Not enough. Spot on. I didn’t know what to expect with this book. I mean look at the beautiful cover: it’s unassuming and seems perfectly respectable. Who would think insanity awaits you? And on virtually every page — EVERY PAGE — I lol’d (yes, literally), snorted, and/or had to just put the book down to laugh and ponder every detail of the moment. And the craziest part is this the first time I’m reading TJ Klune. Lesson learned.

This is an odessey/adventure tale. Sam is a brilliant and promising wizard apprentice. He’s beloved by pretty much everyone. He’s fiercely loyal to his family and friends and his King. He’s resourceful, which helps since he’s captured, like, a lot and finds himself in the most absurd situations. He’s confident in his abilities, yet awkward and completely clueless when it comes to his longtime crush Knight Ryan Foxheart. Will Sam be able to find the cornerstone for his magic, survive the trek to rescue a prince and *finally* lose his flower (preferably to Knight Ryan?) The answer to those questions is almost not even the point because there’s just so much more to this book than that.

It’s not just the cursing. Or the bizzare situations Sam finds himself in. Nor is it the oversexed gay unicorn and half-giant BFFs. Or the just crazy things they all say to each other. It’s somehow all of it together that totally works for me. Pretty much every character is so well drawn, I can see and hear them. And the technical aspect to Klune’s writing just works. Sometimes he’ll walk completely away from the insanity and tell us so much about Sam with a handful of words. Klune finds a perfect rhythm and the narrative flows in a way that I just adore. I will say there are a very few times when the joke/insanity goes on just a wee bit too long, and that coupled with how much the narrative and language just does not conform to the typical fantasy/adventure/romance book, I can see this book has the potential to rub some readers the wrong way.  I get it, and that’s cool but absolutely none of that bothered me. I felt like this was a book that I could have written, actually, style and language wise …  I also realized there is not much difference between me and a 20-year-old gay wizard apprentice, maturity wise, so Sam and his travails totally resonated with me. I loved it. This book is epic, and I rec it so hard.

4.5 pieces of eye candy

Second Wind by Aimee Nicole Walker: EXCLUSIVE Excerpt, Release Day Review and Giveaway

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Second wind: a new strength or energy to continue something that is an effort. After an amicable divorce, Lincoln Huxley is ready to embrace the sexuality he repressed for more than two decades. Rush Holden is no longer willing to settle for closeted men or those who don’t share his dreams of marriage and fatherhood. A chance encounter on a lakeside pier is the second wind they both need. Or will it just be a painful reminder of all they had lost?

Second chance: an opportunity to try something again that failed one time. Rush and Lincoln have shared a lot of firsts—friendship, young love, and heartbreak. Cruel reality forced the two men to choose paths that took their lives in different directions. Twenty-six years later, they get a second chance to fall in love with each all over again. Can it really be that simple, or will the same issues ruin their happiness a second time?

Happily ever after: to live happily for the rest of one’s life. Rush and Lincoln know that love and life can’t be defined by words alone. Patience, commitment, and the determination to do whatever it takes will be the only way the two men achieve their happily ever after.

Second Wind is a funny, sexy, and endearing standalone romance novel about love, loss, and rediscovery. It contains sexually explicit material and is intended for adults 18 and older.

Amazon – Kindle Unlimited

 

Rush wanted to believe me; I saw that in his eyes. It was also evident how much he longed to be the one holding my hand in the hallways at school and proudly wearing my varsity jacket, but in his green gaze too was the heartbreaking acceptance that it would never happen.

             “I wish it could be you, Rush,” I said when silent tears slid down his face. I begged him with my eyes to see the truth and hear it in my words. “I only want you.”

             He said nothing for several moments, so I closed my book and rose from his bed. Rush’s hand snaked out and grabbed my wrist. “Don’t go.”

             I sat back down and slowly tugged my arm until his hand slid down to mine. Then I curled my fingers protectively around his like I wished I could protect our hearts. I knew no good would come out of the love building between us, but I was powerless to stop it. Only Rush could stop me from hurting him by sending me away. Instead of telling me to go, he leaned into me and pressed his mouth against my throat.

             “Promise me that you’ll only give this to me,” he said, placing his hand over my wildly beating heart. “I’ll share your time if I have to, but I won’t share this. Tell me it’s mine, Linc. Please.”

             “Only yours, Rush,” I easily promised.

 

Let’s start off right away with, this is not a romance, this is truly a love story. Yes, there is romance, sweet, sexy, humorous, two men (along with others in the family!) falling in love. But above all this is an out (pun intended) and out LOVE STORY! And I can’t even express how much I absolutely cherished reading every word of it.

This second chance love story brought two men full circle, from falling in love as children, to broken hearts as teenagers, to having lived their lives missing something to finding each other once again in middle age, and instantly reconnecting.

There was no extreme angst, although this reviewer cried more than one or two tears, just lives that were lived only halfway until that moment they look up and see each other when the time was right for them to find their happily ever after.

If you are looking for a story where you have instant gratification, and revengeful angry reconnections, this is not the story for you. A good portion of the first half of the book is about these characters finding themselves, and becoming the men they needed to be in order to be able to love the man they’d love their entire lifetime.

However, if you are looking for a story where you can feel how deeply two men connect, as they re-connect, one where love shines through their story, as well as the stories of those they love, one where you just enjoy each moment, each picture in their lives, this is an amazing story for that.

It still has quite a bit of the heat that Aimee Nicole Walker is known for (who says your sex life goes dark in your 40s????), so don’t think it is just a sweet little love story. As someone who might be able to relate to these mens’ ages, it is fantastic to read a book sometimes where the characters are not all 28, beautiful hair, and not a single crows foot to be found.

Lastly, that cover. What an amazing cover Jay Aheer did for this book. Creative, beautiful, and really poignant to the love story.

5+ pieces of eye candy, without question.

Denise loved this book so much she wants to give away two ebook copies of it. Leave a comment about the book, the excerpt, the cover…anything.

Family Ties by Poppy Dennison: New Release Review and Giveaway

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Every family has a story to tell…

Blake Bartlett needs a do-over, so he’s going back home to Havendale, Florida, with his three-year-old daughter in tow. The perfect life he built is in ruins and he’s determined to create a new one. The Bartletts are fixtures in the small town of Havendale, and Blake’s extended family welcome him back with open arms. He’s settling in and getting back in his family’s good graces, when he meets Lincoln Coleman. Suddenly, he’s starting to want things he shouldn’t, and their relationship is beginning to heat up.

Linc may have the reputation for being a one-night stand kind of guy, but the rumors aren’t quite right. When he meets Blake and his daughter, he imagines family life and settling down for the first time. There’s only one problem: Blake has taken on a leadership role in the Bartlett Construction business and now Linc works for the man he’s falling in love with.

Blake’s well-intentioned family may have them tied up in knots, but only they can untangle their heart strings…

Amazon – Kindle Unlimited

What an incredibly cute story!

Anyone who knows me or my reviews, knows that I am a sucker for a single dad. In this one, we have Blake and his daughter Caroline. They’re moving back to Florida to be closer to his gigantic family after losing his husband (who he was separated from), and Caroline’s other Daddy, Michael. Not telling his family about the separation was hard, but he found it easier to avoid them than disappointing them; but now he’s going home to face the music and lean on his family for a while.

Blake’s family is…..amazing. He has the biggest extended family, filled with cousin’s who are more like brothers and sisters and, Aunt’s and Uncle’s, and of course, his parents and actual siblings. There are a lot of them, but every one of them are there for Blake and head over heels in love with Caroline… and how could you not be, she’s so cute!

Going to work for his Uncle, doing office work at his construction company….that’s where he meets Linc. Linc is gorgeous and ripped and charming and good friends with the family, so when he asks him out, of course he goes. We’re kind of lead to believe that Linc is a playboy, but we never see any of that. He seems smitten with Blake from the beginning.

Because they work together and Linc is so close to the family… they belatedly remember all this and think maybe it’ll cause problems. In all honesty, I thought all that was ridiculous and unneeded.   I loved the way Linc was with Caroline and how much he cared about her and Blake. He might’ve been apprehensive and went about things the wrong way, but, he showed Blake what he meant to him, I felt like. I wanted to smack Blake a time or two. Luckily, his family talked him around, and alls well that ends well…. But it was an unnecessary bump in the road I felt like.

Overall though, it was such a cute read and you really can’t go wrong with big families and cute babies. I’d love to read more of this family, and especially Blake, Linc and Caroline!!

4 pieces of eye candy from me!

For a chance to win an ebook copy of Poppy’s latest book, leave a comment describing what family ties means to you.

Heart 2 Heart Charity Anthology: Blitz and Excerpt

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Once upon a time, a bunch of authors wondered… What if a dating app that guaranteed you a love match broke down just in time for Valentine’s Day? What if you found yourself on a blind date with a random guy who might be your opposite in every single way? It could be a disaster. Or… When the code breaks down, fate just might take over.

Eleven of your favorite gay romance authors have joined forces to light up your Valentine’s Day with a collection of sweet, sexy, silly, and hot short stories, featuring a wacky cast of characters chosen from your reader suggestions! Morticians and magicians, superheroes and spies, lawyers and lobstermen, will all learn that love has nothing to do with algorithms… and sometimes you find it in the least-likely places.

And the best part? All proceeds from this collection will go to the authors’ favorite LGBTQ charities, to ensure that love in all its incarnations will be celebrated and protected every single day of the year!

It will only be available for 90 days, so Tuesday, May 8th will be the last time you can purchase this anthology.

Over 162k words total, contemporary MM romance

HEART 2 HEART ANTHOLOGY

 May Archer * Charlie Cochet * Allison Hendricks * Sloane Kennedy *

Lucy Lennox * Ruthie Luhnow * Lily Morton * Chris Owen *

Poppy Dennison * Hailey Turner * A.E. Wasp

M/M ROMANCE

RELEASE DATE: 02.07.18

COVER DESIGN:  AngstyG/www.angstyg.com

ANTHOLOGY EDITOR:  Leslie Copeland

 

 Amazon

 

CHARITIES

We are pleased to be donating 100% of our proceeds to 3 wonderful charities:

The Trevor Project: https://www.thetrevorproject.org/

Bisexual Resource Centre: http://biresource.org/

One n Ten: http://onenten.org/

We encourage all readers to learn more about these groups and consider making a donation of your own. Every little bit helps.

 

 

The Set-up

 

How Bailey the geeky programmer lost his focus

It was like a scene out of a soda commercial. All of the women (and a few of the men) in the office gathered around and drooled over the sexy eye candy hanging onto the side of the damned building as if the guy was nothing but a sex object.

Fuck, he’s a hot sex object, Bailey thought. I’d like to sex object the hell outta that beefcake.

Bailey himself had been watching the guy for two days now. At first, he assumed the man on the scaffold was a window washer. It was the obvious explanation. Otherwise, why would a man—a beefy, hot, muscled man, ahem—be riding a hanging scaffold on the fifteenth floor of the office building?

But how long, exactly, does it take to wash a few windows? He’d been right outside of Bailey’s cubicle window for two straight days.

Bailey shook his head and tried to focus on his job, ignoring all of the lookie-loos in the space behind his cubicle. He was finalizing the algorithms to be used in Heart2Heart’s new matchmaking software, and it was critical he got the matchmaking algorithms just right in order for the product launch to be a success. He needed to pay attention to what he was doing.

A lot was riding on the Heart2Heart launch. Their big marketing campaign promised love matches just in time for Valentine’s Day, and in order for the actual matches to work, Bailey had to create pristine code that took all of the variables into consideration. He was almost done with the programming. Just cleaning up a few final glitches and he’d be over the last of the hurdles. His plan was to stay late to double-check everything that evening before the software went live after midnight.

His eyes slid over to his cubicle window again and caught sight of thick, tanned forearms flexing above huge, strong man hands. The late afternoon Miami sun shined against the guy’s skin, showing a light sheen of sweat from his work doing… something.

Ungh. You can do something… to me. Get sweaty… with me, Bailey mused, chewing on the end of his pen. He saw one of the man’s large hands grab a screwdriver out of his tool belt. Maybe he’s screwing… something.

The window man looked like he needed to be licked. Like, a lot.

Bailey didn’t realize his elbow had rested on the spacebar while he drooled out the window until he heard an angry series of beeps from his computer.

“Fuck. Shit,” he stammered, focusing again on his monitor and correcting his lapse.

A few minutes later, he heard a thud coming from the window. With his heart racing in fear of something happening to the poor man on the scaffold, Bailey snapped his eyes to the large pane of glass.

The sexy stack of muscles grinned at him and held up a piece of paper.

With a phone number on it.

The hot guy gestured to his cell phone and pointed at Bailey with a flirty grin.

Bailey looked behind him before turning back and pointing at his own chest. Me?

The beefcake nodded and put his finger and thumb up to his ear in the universal gesture of call me.

With trembling hands, Bailey dialed his phone, never taking his eyes off the window man while the man answered his own phone.

“How long do I have to pretend to wash this one window before you notice me?” Window Man asked in a deep, sexy voice.

“Who me?” Bailey squeaked in response.

“Yeah, you,” he said pointing to Bailey through the window and winking at him. The wink tightened Bailey’s pants in an instant.

“Um… I noticed you about two days ago…” Bailey admitted. “Can I help you with something?”

“Yeah. I can’t get your adorable nerdy self outta my head. Please god, tell me you’re gay or bi or something.”

Bailey’s face turned fuchsia and he squeaked again. “Gay. Mm-hm. Yeah. Gay.”

“What’s your name, gorgeous?”

“Bailey.”

“Well, Bailey, I’d love to take you to dinner tonight. Are you free?”

“Uh huh,” Bailey stammered. “Sure. Of course. Yes.”

“I get off work right now. Any chance you’re ready to pack up and get outta here?”

Bailey stood up from his chair quickly enough to knock his keyboard to the floor.

The Heart2Heart matchmaking algorithms would be just fine without a final round of testing.

Probably.

 

BACKGROUND/TITLES

What began as a random idea quickly turned into a collaborative and completely voluntary effort from 11 authors, more than 130 readers, cover designer, 2 proofreaders, and one cat herder to keep it all together.

Readers were asked to submit ideas for characters, both typical and off-the-wall, and from that list, each author picked 2 seemingly mismatched guys and helped them find love.

 

May Archer – The Baker and the SEAL

 

Charlie Cochet – The Assassin and the Dog Walker

 

Poppy Dennison – The Electrician and the Event Planner

 

Alison Hendricks  – The Professional Gamer and the Paranormal Photographer

 

Sloane Kennedy – The Florist and the Lawyer

 

Lucy Lennox – The Uber Drive and the Phone Sex Operator

 

Ruthie Luhnow – The Lawyer and the Lobsterman

 

Lily Morton  – The Tattoo Artist and the Writer

 

Chris Owen – The Criminal and the Sommelier

 

Hailey Turner – The Superhero and the NSA Agent

 

AE Wasp – The Magician and the Mortician

 

The Winning Edge by Keira Andrews: New Release Review

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After an explosive locker room confrontation with his Russian rival ends in the most intense sex of his life, American pairs skater Dev Avira is distracted to say the least. He’s worked for years to have a chance at Olympic gold, and he can’t let himself—or his partner—down. Playing cat and mouse with the steely and smoldering Mikhail Reznikov is the last thing he needs as he prepares for the biggest competition of his life, but they can’t keep their hands off each other as the Games approach.

Dev soon learns that beneath Mikhail’s arrogant and aloof exterior is Misha, a passionate man who warms Dev’s heart and scorches his bed. They’re both determined to win, but for Misha his freedom could be at stake if he and his partner take anything less than gold. Who will stand atop the podium? And can secret lovers from different worlds make a life together once the competition ends?

This gay sports romance from Keira Andrews features enemies to lovers, two alpha men, sequins, and of course a happy ending. Content previously published as novellas Cold War and Holding the Edge.

Amazon – Kindle Unlimited

 

Just like always, Keira rocked another amazing read. I enjoyed getting to watch the relationship between Dev and Misha grow and evolve from a passionate dislike to an extreme love throughout the course of the story. It made me look at skating differently as well. It’s always so much fun getting to watch these amazing athletes perform and having a story written about the sport had me excited as hell. I ate this up. Wonderful characters and well written from start to finish. Hot, steamy, sweet and emotional. I definitely recommend taking an afternoon to get lost in Dev, Misha, Bailey and Kisa.

The Good Fight by Andrew Grey: TBT Quick Review

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*A new feature we are bringing to TCO, TBT, Throwback Thursday Reviews. A chance to review that book you’ve been “meaning to read” for a long time! So check out what some of the “older” books have to offer!*

 

Jerry Lincoln has a problem: his Sioux Falls IT consulting business has more work than one man can handle. Luckily, that means he can hire some help. Jerry just hopes his new employee, John Black Raven, ends up being more helpful than distracting—but John’s deep eyes and long hair are very distracting.

John came to town for an education and a chance at a life he couldn’t have on the reservation, but what’s important to him now is getting a job and keeping it. Six months ago, his sister died, and now her children are in foster care. Despite having the law on his side, John can’t get custody—can’t even see his niece and nephew.

As Jerry and John grow closer, John discovers he doesn’t have to struggle alone. Jerry helps him win visitation rights and provides much-needed support. Yet their victories aren’t without setbacks. Child Services is tangled up with money, politics, and red tape, and Native American children are their bread and butter. But John and Jerry are determined to fight the good fight and to win—in more ways than one.

Amazon

Dreamspinner Press

 

Loving this cover! I feel like I’ve had this one on my TBR list forever, because I love this author and hello….hot Native American’s? Yes please! So, here we have Jerry, a consulter for some tech stuff with coding and all that stuff I know nothing about so I can’t tell you the actual name for it…. But, with more work than he could handle on his own, with a suggestion and help from a good friend, he decided to hire someone that could help him out. He found two prospects, both were qualified, and things happen in which he could hire them both…. Only problem, one of them was John Black Raven, and he was extremely attracted to him. To the point of distraction.

Fortunately, it worked out and while working together and getting to know one another, Jerry learns of a family matter that John needs help with. His niece and nephew has been taken by child services when their mother died and because of their heritage, they aren’t likely to be given to John, because they earn the state money being in care. I’m not sure how true this is, or if things like that do indeed happen, but I was really hoping for more karmic justice with the terrible state worker who actually lied and deceived to keep John from his family.  When his sister passed, shed wanted John to have the kids…. The social worker was awful though and she fought him every step of the way. That’s where Jerry came in.

Jerry wasn’t having it with the social worker and heled John as much as he could. How could you not fall for someone like that…. That’s exactly what John did, and Jerry, seeing how much he loved his niece and nephew and how badly he wanted them to be with him… it was impossible not to fall for him too!

Overall, it was just a really cute read with a really sweet ending… and I’m looking forward to reading the next one!

4 pieces of eye candy for me.