TCO Exclusives

Love Me, Daddy by Elouise East: New Release Review with Exclusive Giveaway

July 1, 2020 by Denise

Will their pasts stop them from striving for a future?

Being homeless makes finding a safe Daddy experience difficult, which is confirmed when Nathan is almost knocked out after calling out the word during a liaison. When Loren steps in to aid him, Nathan is ready to let the strong man take charge. But he won’t ask for what he really needs, not when the reaction could be so extreme.

With many failed relationships in his past, Loren yearns for the perfect boy to cherish, but it’s a fantasy in more ways than one as far as he can tell. Nathan’s vulnerability calls to his protective instincts, but he refuses to cross the line. And then he finds Nathan’s need of him is very real.
When Loren assumes control, it centres them both but as they explore their way through this new dynamic, Nathan needs to learn if he’s going to be Daddy’s good boy or Daddy’s little brat.

This is a 30,000 words sweet Daddy/boy romance

Amazon – Kindle Unlimited

Nathan is homeless. As a result of that, he makes what little money he can by prostituting. You see a little of that on page in the beginning, so if you don’t like that, you might skip this one. It was kind of a turn off to me, I’ll admit. However, he also likes Daddy kink, which gets him in trouble when he’s particularly into one of his hookups and it leaves him with a concussion and unconscious in an alley and that’s where Loren finds him.

Loren is an accountant and thinks that he’ll never find his boy. I’m not sure how far into the kink he was looking to go, but he seemed like a Daddy, type Daddy.. I was looking forward to that. Hot, right?
So, when he picks up a prostitute off the dirty alleyway and brings him home with him, I was hopeful that he and Nathan could help each other out.

However, everything tended to go at warp speed, which I understand that people in the kink community tend to do when they find someone that shares their same kink, but Loren picked up a prostitute and not only brought him into his home but gave him a key to his house the next morning. A complete stranger. I don’t care what kind of Barney Rubble town you live in, you do not give a stranger your house key and be like, hey, I know you’re a homeless prostitute with two friends you look after, but here, welcome to my home. I’m not at all worried about you stealing my things or trashing my house. Go nuts!

Then he walks in on him watching Daddy stuff and that starts their relationship, right then and there. And again, it’s my experience that when you have a specified kink, it’s better to just jump right in and see if you’re compatible. I understand that, but they went from hi, how are ya, to living together and in a committed relationship, complete with the kink and there was zero trust issues and all the dirty times and I’m over here like…. Are we gonna get tested? Should we exchange last names? Maybe go on a date or something first? No, it didn’t seem like we were.

It just didn’t feel genuine to me. Nathan called him Daddy every three seconds and let Loren do everything for him and once he colored him a picture, but that’s as far as the Daddy/boy thing went as far as I could tell. I dunno…. Maybe because it’s a short story I just didn’t feel the connection between the two, or maybe because it all happened at warp speed, I’m not sure. Maybe I’ll revisit it later and feel differently, but there was just too many things that made it unrealistic to me. Illogical, maybe. I’m still tripped up on finding an unconscious sex worker on the street and then giving him a key to your house all willy nilly, like it’s not such a dangerous thing to do.

Anyway, I did enjoy the hot cover and I always appreciate a sweet happily ever after.

3 pieces of eye candy

Elouise East

The author has generously offered either an ebook copy of Love Me, Daddy or any ebook of my backlist to one commentor on this post.

Screens Apart by Charlie Novak: Exclusive Book Excerpt, Release Day Review and Giveaway

June 29, 2020 by Denise

Simon has one secret and two problems.

The secret? An anonymous blog featuring satin and lace.

The problems? Two crushes. One on his gorgeous, charming roommate, Taylor. And another on his charismatic online admirer, Mr. Smith.

When Taylor suggests they start hooking up, Simon is more than happy to agree, even if it means putting a lid on his feelings. After all, no-strings fun is better than nothing at all, right?

Except Simon’s not sure that lid will stay shut, especially when he starts to fall in love. But with Mr Smith in the same situation, advice is in short supply.

And there’s no chance Taylor and Smith are the same person… is there?

Screens Apart is a 55,000-word comedy of errors featuring panties, pining, and two men falling in love, complete with plenty of heat and fluffy feels. Originally released as a serial, this is the full collection with a new bonus epilogue. It contains no love-triangle and no cheating.

Amazon – Kindle Unlimited

Goodreads

Taylor

I looked at the row of shops, reading the neat signage and examining the window displays, until one on the end caught my eye. The frontage was dark red, with elegant white lettering that read Desires, but it was the display in the window that made me stop and stare.

In it was a beautiful array of lingerie from delicate, sweet lace, to silk, to pieces that were darker and more seductive. They were all exquisite, and all I could think about was how incredible Simon would look in each and every one of them.

My dick throbbed as my imagination ran wild. I pictured Simon spread out on my bed, wrapped in sweet, pink-and-white lace while he begged me to fuck him. Whimpering as I teased him, edging him for hours until I finally gave him what he needed.

Then the picture melted into one of Simon in sheer black panties, wet with precum, with a dark corset-style garter belt wrapped around his waist, straps stretching over his thighs, holding up silken stockings as I bent him over the bed, using him over and over until we were both spent.

I’d joked about buying cheap panties to rip off him, but I couldn’t deny I’d thought about spoiling him with beautiful lingerie as well. Simon had said good underwear was expensive, and since he’d bought his entire collection himself, I thought he deserved to feel spoilt. He was still so unsure, even when I told him how sexy he was. For once, I wanted him to feel the way I felt whenever I looked at him.

I swallowed hard, trying desperately to think unsexy thoughts as I stepped up to the door and pushed it open, hearing a little bell ringing somewhere.

I could already tell this was going to be expensive, but somehow, I couldn’t bring myself to care.

So, this new release was originally a newsletter serial that the author decided to put into an ebook format. Sometimes those can be iffy, but not in this case. The author did leave it in the original format, so the chapters are quite long. And the author threw in a little bonus content to make it even sweeter. 🙂

Simon and Taylor, what a sweet opposites attract couple. Simon is the big guy, normally seen as the dominant one in a relationship, but he was super sweet, submissive and shy, liked wearing lingerie and had himself a sweet little side gig with his sexy blog. Meanwhile, Taylor, though the smaller of the two, really enjoyed being in charge (which Simon was all about!) and found himself wanting things he had never expected to want in his roommate.

I loved that neither one of the MC’s knew about the blog in respect to the other initially. It can be difficult to get past a break in trust when that kind of information is lied about from the beginning of a relationship.

This book is steamy…really steamy…so be prepared. I loved it, because it wasn’t just hot sex on paper, but it was interspersed with honest reactions from both characters as their relationship evolved.

Give this one a go, especially if you like a little heat with your sweetness. 🙂

4 pieces of eye candy

Charlie lives in England with her husband and a severe lack of dogs. She spends most of her days wrangling other people’s words in her day job and then trying to force her own onto the page in the evening.

She loves cute stories with a healthy dollop of fluff, plenty of delicious sex, and happily ever afters — because the world needs more of them. Charlie also believes that loves comes in all shapes and sizes.

Charlie has very little spare time, but what she does have she fills with cooking, pole-dancing, reading and ice-hockey. She also thinks that everyone should have at least one favourite dinosaur…

Connect with Charlie:

Website: https://charlienovak.com/
Newsletter https://charlienovak.com/newsletter-sign-up/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/charlienovakauthor/
Bookbub https://www.bookbub.com/profile/charlie-novak
Twitter https://twitter.com/charlienwrites
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/charlienwrites/
Facebook Group, Charlie’s Angels https://www.facebook.com/groups/charlienovaksangels/

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Freedom by E. Davies: Exclusive Book Excerpt and Giveaway

June 29, 2020 by Denise

Agoraphobe Jaden has barely left the house in years. Being dragged to a gay bar by his big brother to bid on a blind date is not his idea of a good time. But then the unthinkable happens: he wins. Sure, he was just about ready to push his boundaries–but on his own time. Not with a probably-gorgeous stranger watching his every move.

Henry hasn’t been on a date in the last year–ever since he finished with lower surgery. He works as a nature guide now in the great outdoors, and his new life suits him just fine. Just one thing’s missing: a man to share it with. Jaden is sweet, accepting, yet terrified by everything about the date that isn’t Henry. But he sees something in Jaden–in his courage for showing up, and his hope and vulnerability along the way.

Back home, when he’s in Denver in between guiding trips, Henry quickly becomes a staple in Jaden’s home. With Jaden’s understanding, Henry grows confident in his own skin. And with Henry’s support, the walls of Jaden’s sheltered life open up. But every step forward seems like it comes with two steps back. Can they take a deep breath and step into the wide open future–together?

This novel is based on “Denver” — a short story from the Heart2Heart 2 anthology. It has been revised and significantly expanded. It is now a standalone gay romance novel with a happily ever after ending and no cliffhanger.

Freedom by E. Davies

F-Word Series, Book 5

Amazon – Kindle Unlimited

Goodreads

As afternoon drew to a close, the first sign of evening creeping up on Henry and Jaden was the chill in the breeze. They’d each shrugged on extra layers as the scorching daytime heat faded.

The lamplit picnic area was perfectly serene and romantic, and nobody had interrupted them.

Watching Henry’s effortless confidence reading a map and compass to get them here on their bikes had been so hot. Jaden had always wanted the confidence to navigate, but he’d never gotten that far in his outdoor pursuits. Back in college, he’d gone on trail runs. That was as wild as it got.

But Henry did real wilderness shit. This must be nothing to him. Jaden found himself letting Henry lead the way, and he actually enjoyed it.

Their supper had been delicious—fried chicken, potato salad, a bottle of sparkling wine, all the classic picnic foods. Now Jaden and Henry were lying together, waiting for…

For what, Jaden wasn’t quite sure.

Their cabin was nearby, Henry said. They could bike to it in minutes, even at a gentle pace. For now, they were digesting supper, talking about anything and everything, and admiring the changing colors of the sky.

The breeze rustled through the trees, and being in these woods felt strangely home-like. This was freedom in a way Jaden wasn’t quite sure he was ready to handle, but had been craving for years.

“I’m so glad I did this,” he whispered.

Henry took his hand. “Me too. I wish we could stay out here and stargaze… but biking in the dark would be quite a life choice.”

“Yeah,” Jaden laughed. He didn’t want to leave the clearing just yet. He had one thing left to do first. “We’ve got a few more minutes?” he asked Henry.

Henry frowned, glancing at the fading light, but Jaden widened his eyes with his plea. Henry relented into a smile and laughed. “A few minutes,” he echoed.

“Thank you.” Jaden squeezed his hand. “I’m just… enjoying this.”

A rush of breath left Henry’s lungs, and he looked over. “Yeah?”

At the same moment, Jaden had looked at him. That brought their lips just inches apart as they gazed into each other’s eyes.

Henry was gorgeous: stubbly, gorgeous, rugged. The kind of guy who had tons of followers on Instagram. His jaw was square and handsome, and his lips were thin but very kissable. And best of all were his bright blue eyes, a shade that stood out even in the dimming light.

Jaden wanted a piece of that, more than he was willing to admit.

“Hm?” Henry prompted, but he was smiling slowly. There was wicked temptation in that smile.

Jaden gave up resisting and leaned in to press their lips together.

It was warm and comforting, slow and thick as molasses. Which was what Jaden’s mind felt like as he sank into the sweet kiss. It started as a gentle exploration, but more swelled between them quickly.

So to speak.

Since 2013, E. Davies has crafted feel-good stories of men in love–stories that are brimming with hope, found families, and realistic guys next door getting their modern fairytale endings. As for hobbies: rescuing bees, dancing badly, traipsing through meadows, and studying photos of cute guys for research totally count, right?

Connect with Ed:
www.edaviesbooks.com
facebook.com/edaviesbooks
twitter.com/edaviesauthor
instagram.com/thisboyisstrange
bookbub.com/authors/e-davies
amazon.com/author/edavies

Enter the Giveaway:

To celebrate Release of Freedom, we are giving 2 lucky winners the chance to win an e-copy of Freedom, and the winner’s choice of any book from Ed’s published works!

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Kings of the Mountain by Morgan Brice: Exclusive Author Guest Post, Excerpt, New Release Review and Giveaway

June 15, 2020 by Denise

Fast cars. Outlaw country boys. Snarky werewolves, vengeful ghosts, and menacing monsters.

Dawson King’s family has been hunting things that go bump in the night in Transylvania County, North Carolina, since before the Revolutionary War.

Dawson was never happier than when he was racing his souped-up Mustang along winding mountain roads and hunting monsters with his best friend, Grady. Then Grady fell in love with him, which should have been perfect since Dawson had already fallen hard for Grady.

But Grady was only seventeen, and Dawson feared that sooner or later, Grady would realize his feelings were just a first crush, and then he’d be gone, leaving Dawson devastated. They both needed space to figure things out. So Dawson joined the army, while Grady stayed on the mountain.

Four years later, Dawson is coming home. He’s more sure than ever Grady is his forever love, and they’ve both agreed to begin this new aspect of their relationship as soon as Dawson gets back.

Then Grady’s father is killed in a werewolf hunt gone wrong. Grady is devastated, and he’s throwing mixed signals about moving forward. Dawson knows he needs to hold off on this new thing between them until Grady has time to grieve. But monsters never sleep, and one hunt after another throws Dawson and Grady into constant danger, while tension and unresolved feelings ripple between them.

Making it even harder, Dawson’s got a secret. He’s dreamed of death omens—which point to something stalking Grady. Can Dawson figure out who’s trying to kill Grady, save his life, and win back his heart?

Plenty of mutual pining, hurt/comfort, spooky chills, sexy thrills, and a very happy ending. The Kings of the Mountain is the first novel in the series. It is a MM romance intended for readers 18 years of age and older.

Book Title: Kings of the Mountain

Author: Morgan Brice

Cover Artist: Natania Barron

Release Date: May 21, 2020

Genre/s: Urban Fantasy, MM paranormal romance

Trope/s: Hurt/comfort, mutual pining, friends-to-lovers,

childhood best friends, second chance

Themes: coming of age, forgiveness for self and others,

crush maturing into love, letting go of guilt, family

Heat Rating: 4 flames

Length: 63,000 words/238 pages

It’s the first in a new series

Goodreads

Amazon US – Kindle Unlimited

Amazon UK – Kindle Unlimited

Starting from Scratch By Morgan Brice

Starting a new series is exciting and stressful. Exciting because beginnings are always full of opportunities. Stressful because it takes a while to know your way around—to have a feel for the places in the book and really understand the characters and hear their voices clearly in your head.

There’s a lot of worldbuilding that goes on, especially in a paranormal romance, beyond what shows up on the page. That includes thinking through how magic works and who has it, what kinds of abilities monsters can have, what sort of creatures exist, how ghosts can be summoned and banished—all of which provides a framework to tell a solid tale and remain consistent. It’s like building the foundation for a house. If I don’t get the worldbuilding right, the stories built in that world won’t hang together the way they should, and inconsistencies will happen that spoil things down the line.

It also usually takes some time to hear the characters clearly and have a sense of their personalities, likes and dislikes, fears and strengths—all the things that make them real in the minds of the readers. I always learn something about my characters when I’m writing the books, no matter how far into a series I get. That’s part of the fun.

When I start a new series, I usually have a mix of plot, people, and place in my mind. So for Kings of the Mountain, the plot bunny was ‘what would happen if you crossed Dukes of Hazzard with Supernatural, only the main characters were *together*?’ Then as I thought about where to have as home base, Transylvania County seemed like a natural choice (it’s a real place). Everything took off from there.

Starting a new series is so much fun. It’s the beginning of a journey with new friends—and you never know where it will take you!

“Dude, you can’t keep me hanging for over an hour until we get home. Please.” Dawson didn’t care about begging. He needed to know what had happened, so he could figure out what to do when he got there.

Colt slid him a sidelong glance and relented. “If I tell you, you’ve got to keep Uncle Denny from whupping my ass, because he told me not to.”

“You know I will.”

Colt tightened his grip on the wheel, his knuckles bone-white and kept his eyes on the road, a convenient way to avoid looking at Dawson. “We’ve had some problems with rogue werewolves and feral shifters lately. They like our neck of the woods because it’s remote. If they didn’t bother anyone, we might have let it ride. But there’ve been livestock kills and some attacks on people that just barely got pushed back.”

“How did you know you’ve got weres and shifters?” Dawson fell back into hunting mode out of old habit.

“It’s that time of the month,” Colt replied with a smirk. “Seriously? The weres are only out the three days of the full moon. You know this shit—did you forget it all while you were gone?”

Dawson flinched. “Just confirming. Didn’t want to assume.”

“Wouldn’t be the first time you made an ‘ass’ out of ‘u’ and ‘me.’” Colt’s smile faded. “Anyhow, we’ve all been out trying to track down one particular werewolf. He didn’t stay in the forest and feed off the deer. If he had, no one would have bothered him. Kept coming near towns, snatching farm animals. Grady and Aaron thought they’d figured out a pattern and guessed where he’d strike next. So they did a stakeout.”

Dawson found he was holding his breath. He had an awful feeling about how this was going to go.

“They were right,” Colt continued, his voice flat. “The werewolf got the drop on Aaron. Grady shot the wolf—silver to the heart—but he’d already bit Aaron.”

“Fuck.”

“Aaron begged Grady to shoot him. Grady refused. Grady also wouldn’t just leave his gun and walk away.”

“He knew how it had to end,” Dawson said quietly, his voice thick with sorrow for both Grady and Aaron.

Colt shrugged. “Maybe he needed more than a few seconds to be okay with killing his father.” At Dawson’s wince, Colt relented. “Sorry. I don’t know what happened to Aaron’s gun; he probably lost it when he got jumped. Anyhow, Aaron went for Grady’s gun, and in the struggle, it went off. Killed Aaron. Grady walked home, covered in blood, and told Uncle Denny what happened. Denny took care of the body.”

“Jesus,” Dawson murmured. “What did they tell the cops?”

“Sheriff Rollins knew about the rogue were. He had his men out looking for it, too. So what went down could have happened to anyone.”

At least no one was going to jail. That was a small comfort. “What about Knox?”

Morgan Brice is a new author to me, but I am totally hooked. This book has it all: friends to lover, monster hunting, angst, slow burn, action and adventure. Somehow Morgan Brice ties is all up in this super entertaining story that I couldn’t put down.

The monster adventures were amazing to read, there was so much detail and imagination in each scene. I loved that we got to be in both Grady and Dawson’s head, to hear their inner thoughts and their perspective on what happened.

The flashbacks from present to past were easy to navigate, I never was confused about what was happening or when it was happening. Overall, this is one of the best stories I have read this year, I really hope it becomes a series.

5 pieces of eye candy

Morgan Brice is the romance pen name of bestselling author Gail Z. Martin. Morgan writes urban fantasy male/male paranormal romance, with plenty of action, adventure and supernatural thrills to go with the happily ever after. Gail writes epic fantasy and urban fantasy, and together with co-author hubby Larry N. Martin, steampunk and comedic horror, all of which have less romance, more explosions. Characters from her Gail books make frequent appearances in secondary roles in her Morgan books, and vice versa.

On the rare occasions Morgan isn’t writing, she’s either reading, cooking, or spoiling two very pampered dogs.

Series include Witchbane, Badlands, Treasure Trail, Kings of the Mountain and Fox Hollow. Watch for more in these series, plus new series coming soon!

Author Links

Facebook Group | Pinterest (for Morgan and Gail) | Twitter: @MorganBriceBook

Read a copy of my Badlands short story Restless Nights here for free

Follow me on BookBub | Instagram

Enter the Rafflecopter Giveaway for a chance to win

one of three ebooks from Morgan’s backlist.

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Hosted by Gay Book Promotions

Follow the tour and check out the other blog posts and reviews here

Say You’ll Be Nine by Lucy Lennox: Exclusive Excerpt, RDB and Giveaway

June 4, 2020 by Denise

One dilapidated cabin in need of renovation.
Two stubborn men pretending to be a couple.
Three summer months to get the job done.
Four tangled legs in only one bed.
Five cameras catching it all for YouTube.
Six hundred thousand Instagram followers.
Seven nosy family members with Opinions.
Eight thousand reasons they should never fall in love.
Nine million reasons why they will.

Say You’ll Be Nine is a standalone novel.

Cover Designer: Cate Ashwood

Amazon – Kindle Unlimited

Goodreads

“I already told you. I like you.”

I kept tickling him even though it was making Nacho nervous. He pranced at the end of the bed until Cooper finally called uncle and made me stop.

Cooper’s eyes shone and his face was flushed. I wanted to jump his bones.

“I like you too,” he said softly. He crawled over to me and straddled my lap, sliding his arms around my neck and leaning in until our noses were touching. “And I’m awake enough now to show you how much.”

He kissed me then, and I thought maybe my life would never be the same. Now that I’d had a taste of Cooper Heath, how could I be satisfied with anything less? I didn’t really think it was the fact he was a man so much as the fact he was funny and sweet and giving. He was just… perfect. At least for me. And I never wanted this to end.

I’d also begun to notice how creative he was and how working with him made the videos we posted so much better than anything I’d done on my own.

“Come back to me,” he whispered against my lips. “You go away sometimes.”

“No,” I said, rolling us over until I had him pinned to the mattress. “I was only thinking about you and how perfect you are.”

His arms and legs wrapped around me. The warmth of his skin against mine was heavenly. “Oh, well then keep going.”

To celebrate Lucy’s release, we are giving away 3 eBooks copies of Say You’ll Be Nine!

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After enjoying creative writing as a child, Lucy didn’t write her first novel until she was over 40 years old. Her debut novel, Borrowing Blue, was published in the autumn of 2016. Lucy has an English Literature degree from Vanderbilt University, but that doesn’t hold a candle to the years and years of staying up all night reading tantalizing novels on her own. She has three children, plays tennis, and hates folding laundry. While her husband is no shmoopy romance hero, he is very good at math, cooks a mean lasagne, has gorgeous eyes, looks hot in his business clothes, and makes her laugh every single day.

Lucy hopes you enjoy sexy heroes as much as she does. Happy reading!

Dancing with Daddy by Susan Hawke: Exclusive Excerpt, Blog Tour and New Release Review

June 1, 2020 by Denise

I love my daughter, but finding out she wasn’t biologically mine is the best news ever.

I’m a widower who is too scared to have the stupid test that would tell me whether or not I even have the gene that would mean dealing with a horrible illness and certain death. A gene that could’ve also been passed to my child, had she been mine.

She’ll need her father, if something ever does happen to me…That’s why I search for Maddie’s biological father, and when I find him, ask him to become part of her life.

What I didn’t expect is for him to become my best friend. Shane is fun and easygoing, the exact opposite of me. He makes me laugh. He’s the perfect antidote for my neurotic existence. And he’s bi, like me.

But am I courageous enough to take the leap into falling in love with him?

Dancing with Daddy is a super sweet, full-length, standalone, feel good mm romance. There’s no angst, just two very opposite men who befriend each other super fast then slowly find their way to love…all while parenting the precocious five-year-old who belongs to both of them.

Audio coming soon. Narrated by Michael Dean

Amazon – Kindle Unlimited

Goodreads

BookBub

Maddie’s eyes popped open. “I’m awake!” A sleepy smile spread over her face as she took a good look at Gary. “Your hair is blue.”

Gary struck a pose. “I know, isn’t it delish? And before you say it, yes, I’m aware there are holes in my ears.”

I smiled when Maddie started giggling. She pushed the button on her bed—a neat trick the nurse had taught her the night before—until she was sitting up. She studied him for a moment, her eyes sparkling with delight. “You’re silly.”

“I know you are, but what am I?” Gary teased and lifted a lollipop and a large sticker from his bin. “Listen, my precious. Don’t hate me but I have to poke you with a super tiny needle so we can check your blood. Don’t worry, I promise I won’t feel a thing. You might, but I won’t. Isn’t that great? And even better? If you’re super brave while I take your blood for my dumb test, I’ll give you a sticker and this red sucker. What do you say, gorgeous? Can Gary do his job so your doctor can decide if you can go home this morning?”

Maddie’s head bobbed up and down. “Yes, I want to go home.” She nervously eyed the small bin of supplies he carried. “Promise it won’t hurt?”

Gary grimaced and shrugged. “Wee-eell… promise is an awfully big word. How about I promise to try my best? If I do it right, it probably won’t hurt any more than getting bitten by a mosquito.”

Maddie wrinkled her nose. “Mosquito bites are itchy. I got stung by a bee one time when I was little. Will it hurt that bad?” She held up her index finger, as if Gary could see the ghost of the bee sting she’d gotten last summer.

“Hmm…” Gary pretended to think about it while he tapped his chin. “I’m pretty good at my job, so I don’t think it will hurt as bad as a bee sting but I can promise it won’t be itchy like a mosquito bite. So what do you say, do we have a deal?” He held out his pinky to swear and flashed her a wink.

Maddie hesitated for a few seconds before holding her small finger out to hook it around his for the official pinky swear. “Deal.”

While Gary got to work, he kept her preoccupied by discussing the new Frozen movie. I was impressed when Maddie didn’t do more than flinch when he poked her with the needle. If anything, she’d been more upset by the pinch from the length of rubber he’d used as a tourniquet. I fought a yawn while I watched as Gary answered a stream of curious questions when she saw the blood filling the vials.

I’d been halfway prepared for her to freak out, so it was a relief when she was fascinated instead. When he was done, Gary let her pick the Band-Aid color—blue to match his hair, she decided—that he used to cover the wound. Next came the sticker, a three-inch circle with a picture of a cartoon vampire with a big letter A beside his head.

Whether it was from my lack of sleep or my relief that this hospital ordeal was nearly done, I couldn’t say. But… I didn’t give any thought as to what the A represented until Maddie asked an innocent question.

“Does my sticker have an A on it because I passed the blood test?” She smiled proudly at the sticker then held it up for me to see.

Gary chuckled. “Nope, it’s not that kind of test, silly girl. The letter on your sticker stands for the kind of blood you have. Everyone’s blood has a letter that says what type it is and yours is A. Isn’t that cool?”

I sucked in such a deep breath that I nearly choked on my own spit when I realized what he’d said. Shaking my head as I coughed, I was quick to correct him. “That can’t be right, Gary. My wife was type O like I am. If I’m correctly remembering what I learned in biology, isn’t that impossible?”

He winced and looked uncomfortable as he quickly started packing up his things. “There’s no mistake, Mr. Weston. I’m surprised it didn’t come up when your daughter was born or you would’ve already known. We even verified it against the records her doctor sent over before surgery yesterday. I don’t know what to tell you but your daughter is definitely type A.”

The poor guy looked like he was hoping the floor would swallow him. I was too stunned to smooth it over while I tried to make sense of this new information when I felt Maddie tugging at my arm. “Why, Daddy? Does that mean my blood is bad?”

And just like that, everything was okay. As I shook my head and began to answer that simple childish question, I felt lighter than I had in years. It was as if a gigantic weight had been lifted from my shoulders that I hadn’t known was there. Discovering my precious little girl wasn’t biologically my daughter was the best news I’d heard since Trina found out she was pregnant.

Gary looked worried when I started laughing. And laughing. Then laughing some more.

Super slow burn at warp speed.

Confusing, right? If you love stories with single dads, you’ll enjoy this story, though if you’re a parent at all, you’ll likely spend the first half like me, saying whaaaaaaat are you doing???

See, Bradley lost his wife with whom he had a good relationship and a very sweet daughter. After losing her, he was a bit neurotic when it came to making sure Maddie stayed safe and happy, as someone who might carry the gene for Huntington’s Disease, I think it was… so he was worried about what might happen if he was diagnosed with it, what that means for his daughter Maddie (who is seriously, so cute).

Not having the best relationship with his deceased wife’s mother, he worried who would get Maddie if something should happen to him. I know, morbid, but you think about these things as a parent. So, when Maddie gets rushed to the hospital with appendicitis and has to have it removed, an ‘off-handed’ comment about blood type has Bradley realizing that he’s not Maddie’s biological father. Instead of being upset by this, he’s thrilled. No way she might have the same gene he was worried about, right?

Okay, I can see that being a relief, especially because he saw his dad suffer from it at a very young age and he lost him at a young age as well. So, I can definitely see the plus side… but just being okay with the fact that your wife got pregnant by another man and never told you, then to find out that this little girl that is your whole entire world is not yours? I would be devastated. Simply put, devastated. I’d be so mad at my SO for lying to me for so long, but not Bradley. He’s just happy…. So happy, in fact, that he jumps on social media and finds this girl’s real dad and messages him out of the blue without doing any other background search on him other than social media and a quick question or two from his wife’s crazy (and I do mean crazy) sister.

Not for me. Not in today’s world, not without an extensive background check, contacting a lawyer to see what my options are or if there’s a chance that she could be taken away, literally anything. But nope, not Bradley… he messages him out of the blue, tells the dude he has a daughter, and then offers for him to move in with him without doing any of the above-mentioned things at all! I mean, a few messages on social media where he tells you that he’s not an ax murderer is not the same as knowing he’s not an ax murderer! I dunno… I found it very hard to get past this, as a parent myself and a single parent for much of their toddler years, I could’ve never….

If you forget that these guys are virtual strangers and a little girl is in the middle of it. I actually did really enjoy the three as a little family, though it took the guys over half the book to admit anything towards each other, nothing really happened between them til about 80% in, though it was an entertaining 2/3 of the story. That’s where I went with slow burn that happened at warp speed because everything felt so rushed until the romance came in.

And everything wasn’t always easy, I liked the realness of a lot of situations, if you forget the whole first bit and how that went down… it was definitely a very cute, low angst read. I loved the relationship between Shane and Maddie and I hated that he missed so much time with her and ended up thankful that Bradley reached out to him, I just wished he’d have done it in a smarter way lol alls well that ended well though, these two were perfect for each other. I was glad about that because honestly, I wasn’t so sure about Shane in the beginning, but he grew on me quickly. I loved the way he was with Bradley, especially after they got together. He made him not seem so neurotic and overly ….everything lol

I also loved their support system, the few family members sprinkled throughout, and then Shane’s little old lady neighbor was the cutest. Overall, it was a cute story and if you like single dad romances with cute kids and hot guys, you won’t regret picking this one up. Super cute ending, too!

As an avid reader and big romance fan myself, I love sharing the stories of the different people who live in my imagination. My stories are filled with humor, a few tears, and the underlying message to not give up hope, even in the darkest of times, because life can change on a dime when you least expect it. This theme comes from a lifetime of lessons learned on my own hard journey through the pains of poverty, the loss of more loved ones than I’d care to count, and the struggles of living through chronic illnesses. Life can be hard, but it can also be good! Through it all I’ve found that love, laughter, and family can make all the difference, and that’s what I try to bring to every tale I tell.

I’m a happily married mom with one snarky teenage boy, and three grown “kids of my heart.” I’m more widely known for my mpreg writings as Susi Hawke; this new name is a departure from that. Whether written by Susan or Susi, the books are filled with that all-important love, laughter, and family I mentioned; the only difference is that this name has no male pregnancy. I look forward to sharing my stories with you, and to bringing more romance and laughter into this world that needs it so very badly.

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