Two Chicks Obsessed with Books & Eye Candy

Sharing our love of M/M Romance

3.5 stars

In The Nick of Time (Subpar Heroes Collection) by Elle Keaton: New Release Review

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Have you always thought you were special?

Perennially unemployed loner Nick Sedgewick applies to an online job opening with that exact phrase and expects nothing to come of it. It was likely a no-so-funny prank after all.

If Doug ‘Long Shot’ Swanson wanted a new work partner he’d hire one himself. He’s perfectly happy on his own and if he plays his cards right he’ll retire sooner rather than later. And he certainly wouldn’t hire an irritating spicy-candy-eating slacker who’d probably miss his own funeral.

But somebody is killing off agents and Nick’s new boss needs Doug and Nick to figure out who it is and put a stop to it. And if they accidentally fall in love along the way that is no one’s business but their own.

Neither man wants to be a hero. But maybe between the two of them, they can save the world. Or at least their little corner of it.

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I’ve read a couple of these books and they are fun. I love the premise of super powers that aren’t that helpful. Reminds me of that meme, what would you steal from an ex just to make their life a little annoying? All the batteries in the house. Or all the lightbulbs. Silly, but effective.

Nick has a power that could be way more effective. But being subpar, it’s a little effective. But he still is recruited to partner with a former hero who left the game. And plans on retiring very soon. And doesn’t want a trainee or partner. Too bad.

This one, I will say, is slightly, very slightly, more serious than the others I have read. Mostly because there are dead and missing agents. Doug wants to figure it out, find the missing agents before they are dead agents and unfortunately he has to drag Nick around. Oh. And a 50 pound tortoise named Tim. You’ll see. But there is definte comic relief there.

Naturally, both Doug and Nick are gay and you can see where that is going, yes? I did love how Nick teased Doug so much. Never in a mean way, but to get him to unclench a bit.

A little more background story on Nick would have been nice, but it’s fine. So a former hero, a subpar hero, a tortoise and Vegas. It’s a fun romp.

3.5 pieces of eye candy

Raising Wayne: A Single Dad LGBTQIA Biker Romance (Oh, Baby!) by MZ Arthur: Release Day Review

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FROM EXCITING AUTHOR OF LGBTQIA ROMANCE M.Z. ARTHUR

An Oh, Baby! story

Book one in the Knights in Ink series

A little miracle leads to true love.

In need of a quick cash infusion to pay off a loan shark, tattoo artist Doug “Zim” Zimmer gives of himself, literally, with plasma and sperm donations. He’s happy to help whoever needs either or both, and when the bills are paid he thinks nothing more of it.

Two years later, a handsome redhead holding an infant with Zim’s eyes shows up at the studio. Architect Clive Mulcahy, having assumed custody of his nephew after his sister’s death, wants a clearer picture of Wayne’s parentage in order to be a good father. The acquaintance he hopes to strike with Zim for the sake of Wayne’s happiness soon grows into a relationship neither expected, but both are willing to embrace.

Amazon – All Regions

Brand new author alert! Unless they are another author with a new pen name, but I don’t think so. It wasn’t glaringly obvious, but I could tell it was probably a first time author.

I liked the premise and the story didn’t disappoint. Nice twist on a traditional MF romance when the mother shows up on a guy’s doorstep with a baby and says surprise.

It was still a surprise for Zim, just a different kind of surprise. A baby from his sperm donation and a hot guy uncle raising the baby.

Zim and Clive have good chemistry even though they have pretty much nothing in common. Zim came off as way more genuine, with Clive being a bit stiff and formal. I expect that formal talk from the lawyer types, but he was an architect.

I was left a bit disappointed in the lack of mourning that Clive seemed to do. Or even freaking out that he all of a sudden has a baby. Very clinical.

As a whole, not bad for a first shot. Short and sweet, didn’t rely on sex as a page filler with a happily for now. Good quick beach read.

3.5 pieces of eye candy

Fractured Hope (Hope’s Ridge Book 1) by Kady Cordova: Blog Tour, Exclusive Book Excerpt, New Release Book Review and Giveaway

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Can I really escape hell to find all I’ve ever longed for?

Bodhi
Finding yourself is hard. Finding someone you can truly trust is harder.

I have never known what it was like to have a true home or family, let alone real love.

After almost a year of planning, I finally escaped my abusive ex and ran as far away as I could with just the clothes on my back and a handful of cash. When I arrive in the quaint town of Hope’s Ridge, I’m ready to start over and reclaim my life.

When I painfully crash into Atticus’s life, something about him puts me at ease. I’ve never been one to trust, but now I’m in a situation where I have no choice. He might be what I’ve been longing for my whole life.

Atticus
I love my tight-knit town, my big Greek family, and the life I’ve built. I have a successful garage with my brothers and love my job. I have it good, but every now and then I long for a connection. Someone to chase away the loneliness that’s been creeping in. As my brothers like to point out, I am set in my ways and not one for flings, bar hopping, or one-night stands.

When a beautiful man stumbles into my life, I’m blown away. He’s skittish and afraid, but all I want to do is take care of him.

When Bodhi’s ex starts making threats, danger gets ever closer and threatens everything I hold dear. Can I keep Bodhi safe and prove to him he is worthy of love? Or will he run and take my heart with him?

Fractured Hope is a small-town, hurt/comfort, age-gap MM Romance with a broken boy looking for a safe place, a lonely man longing to find his person, and a family full of love, mischief, and colorful characters ready to step in and protect each other no matter the costs.

Title: Fractured Hope
Authors: Kady Cordova
Length: 71k
Series: Hope’s Ridge, Book 1
Genre: Contemporary.

Amazon – Kindle Unlimited – All Regions

Goodreads

Exclusive excerpt Fractured Hope

I rose to greet him with a hug.

“You really are okay,” he said with relief. “So, who do we have here?” He turned toward Bodhi. “You must be the injured party I’ve heard nothing about.” He winked in Bodhi’s direction and elbowed me to introduce him.

“This is Bodhi—” I waved my hand at Bodhi. “—and this is my brother Sebastian, or Seb, as we call him.”

“The best-looking brother,” Seb added with his patented look at me dashing smile. Bodhi sat frozen as Seb approached and took Doc’s seat by the couch. Seb was the tallest and bulkiest of us. He and I did look similar; although, his nearly black hair was long and wavy. His beard was also longer and thicker than mine. Bodhi’s reaction seemed to be about more than just Seb’s presence. He’d been tensed up since my brother was in the doorway. Was he scared of Seb?

Punching my brother on the shoulder, I growled. “Leave him alone, jackass.” I gestured for Seb to follow me out so I could explain everything and get going as soon as possible. “Just give me a sec,” I said over my shoulder to a stoic and frozen Bodhi as I pushed Seb through to the office and closed the door behind us.

“He’s just your type. An injured stray,” Seb said, waggling his eyebrows.

Pinching the bridge of my nose, I flicked my hair out of my eyes and ignored his comment. “Just come on. I need to go through the day’s customers with you real quick. Oh, and sleeping beauty agreed to come in, so keep an eye out for him.”

Seb chuckled, gathering his thick hair up into his customary bun, ready to get to work. I went through the schedule and told him about the accident and how Bodhi was injured. I also made a note to investigate getting that storm drain fixed and the garage door greased. Seb offered to make a few calls.

What a way to start the day.

This book caught me right from the start. A guy literally escaping an abusive relationship. I love following a character overcoming adversity. Rising from the ashes, so to speak.

And so Bohdi runs. Gets on a bus and goes as far as it will take him. Which is Hope’s Ridge, Montana. A small town where everyone knows everyone and all of their business. Not a place to blend in and get lost. Especially after he gets startled and injures himself in front of the mechanics shop Atticus runs with his brothers.

Atticus is that guy. The big teddy bear type who will always help whomever, wherever with whatever. It’s just in his nature. And he gets to demonstrate that with Bodhi.

I will say that Bodhi and Atticus moved quickly. Yes, it’s a book. But I was still surprised that Bodhi wasn’t really apprehensive at all. But he was also getting taken care of which is not something he has ever had. But he is also incredibly vulnerable.

Of course Bodhi’s ex comes looking for him which leads to some intense scenes. I would have liked to see him earlier in the story. It would have added a lot to the story instead of just Bodhi and Atticus getting together.

We get to know Atticus’ brothers, mother and grandmother as well as a few people in town. Getting the lay of the land as it were for more books in the series. There are definitely more stories to be told.

If hurt/comfort is your catnip, dive right in. For a first book, not bad.

3.5 pieces of eye candy

Kady Cordova is a queer author from Australia.

They survive on coffee and chaos. She has always been a hopeless romantic at heart even though they grow a little cynical and sarcastic with age.

Love is love and everyone deserves a happily ever after.

Kady is an advocate for Mental Health, Invisible Illnesses, and Protecting Trans Kids.

Fractured Hope is Kady’s debut novel.

Connect with Kady:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kadycordova/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kadycordovaauthor
Author Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kadycordovaauthor1
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@kadycordova
Amazon: amazon.com/author/kadycordova
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com.au/kadycordova_romance/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/KadyCordova
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Once Upon a Christmas House by A.D. Ellis: New Release Review

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Ivyrson is the quintessential Scrooge when it comes to anything having to do with the holidays. However, the chance to win a hefty chunk of money and free repairs on his old home is enough to entice the man to take part in a holiday-themed reality game.

Emory has had a crush on his older brother’s best friend for years. When the chance to help Ivy possibly win a reality game comes along, Emory doesn’t hesitate. After all, that’s what friends are for.

The two men have known each other forever, but living together and pretending to be a couple means getting to know each other on a whole new level. Can they convince the viewing audience their fake relationship deserves to win the grand prize? Or will Ivy and Emory get swept up in the holiday magic and find themselves falling in love for real?

Once Upon a Christmas House is a steamy, forced-proximity, fake relationship, M/M Christmas romance between a grumpy Scrooge and his best friend’s cheery little brother.

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This story had a super cute premise, perfect setting and tropes galore. And it brought in a very modern aspect of a streaming reality show that has viewers vote every week. Definitely fun.

The grumpy guy is the one who wants to win the reality show so he can fix up his dream house and infuse a bit of capital into his auto shop business. And since the show calls for couples, his best friend offers to fake it with him. Until circumstances happen and he can’t. So his best friend’s brother offers. The gay brother who has had a crush on Ivy forever. It’s fine though, right?

The premise of the reality show was a little weak. Besides a few challenges that they do and daily interviews, there isn’t much to it. Then they added “After Dark” challenges that were a bit cringy. They didn’t have to do those, but they were worth points, so how are you supposed to win by not doing them? *shrug*

The story also leans heavily on Ivy hating Christmas. There are dramatic statements like his father blew up their lives. A little over the top. I kind of wanted to slap him, a la Cher “Snap out of it!”. He’s made it his personality.

Of course Ivy and best friend’s brother, Emory, can’t keep their hands off of each other after just a few days of being fake boyfriends for the show. I did like how Ivy was pretty chill with the fact that he was fooling around with a guy for the first time. There was no big sexuality crisis. He just rolled with it for the most part.

There was a bit of “Christmas magic” in the story as well surrounding the house. I wish that had been highlighted more and shown on the reality show more because it was fun.

This was a mostly cute start to the Christmas book season. Enough to get you in the spirit of things.

3.5 pieces of eye candy

No Backing Down (Zone Defense Book 4) by Becca Seymour: New Release Review

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When we’re both needy and tactile AF, it’s no wonder everyone thinks my best friend and I are an item. But that’s so not what’s going on.

Cassius Britton, the mouthy basketball player for the Minnesota Eagles, is my soul mate. He has been since he shared his gummy bears and let me have all the red ones.

Because that’s the kind of person he is—selfless and sweet. But he’s so much more than that. He’s the man who rescued me from my homophobic parents. He’s the man who brought me and my sister into his family home and wrapped us in love and sunshine.

All of that, and so much more, makes us soul mates—which doesn’t mean he’s meant to be mine.

And when I become a dad and have to balance being a cop in our small town while dealing with grief, of course he steps up, because that’s who Cassius is.

But when I need to get married, when I need a man to step up and be by my side, maybe Cassius is too close. Too much of a risk.

Because how can I possibly marry my best friend and not start to fall, especially when the secrets between us are so explosive, they’ll either burn us to the ground or set our hearts free forever?

Trigger warnings can be on the Blurb page at the beginning of the e-book or on my website’s product page.

Amazon – Kindle Unlimited – All Regions

I love a good friends to lovers story. And this was guys who had been friends since they were 5. So I was ready.

Overall, it was a good story. I enjoyed that it started back when they were kids. But there were quite a few as they touched heavily on big moments in their lives. Then there is a time jump of like 6 years. I’m unsure of the exact time but college is over and they are both well established in their careers. I wanted to see a continuation of their connection instead of a time jump that brought them together because of a crisis.

Working through the crisis we get explanations of how and when different things happened. But I feel like those things deserved more attention than they got. A lot more.

It was an enjoyable read, but I wanted a little more.

3.5 pieces of eye candy

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Becca Seymour is the #1 gay romance best seller of the True-Blue series. Known for “steamy and endearing” and “emotionally profound love stories” (InD’tale Magazine),
her books have been nominated for multiple RONE Awards.

Becca lives and breathes all things book related. Usually with at least three books being read and two WiPs being written at the same time, Becca’s life is merrily hectic. She tends to do nothing by halves so happily seeks the craziness and busyness life offers.

Living on her small property in Queensland with her human family as well as her animal family of cows, sheep, chooks, and dogs, Becca appreciates the beauty of the world around her and is a believer that love truly is love.

Jersey Royal (Flying into Love #5) by CF White: New Release Review

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Can a humble farmer bag himself a true Jersey royal to save his farm…and steal his heart?

Distant royal, Nicholas Osbourne, has one last chance to prove his worth to his wealthy family. A string of bad press over even worse relationships has him agreeing to star in a reality television series getting down and dirty with the ordinary folk. He can live a lie for a week. He’s been doing it for years.

Jersey potato farmer, Alex Hamon, has no time nor patience to babysit a pretentious television crew, nor a work-shy, bratty rich-kid. But the hefty fee and potential promotional opportunities for his farm are too tempting to turn down. He just needs to keep his head in the soil, and not on how his under-the-radar gaydar is blinking overtime for the rogue royal.

Nicholas is out of his depth. Distracted by the stunningly sexy farmer’s son, he’s unable to bury his attraction the way he has been back in London. But he’s on camera. Twenty-four-seven. It’s a disaster waiting to happen. His only saving grace is that the farmer’s son is straight…isn’t he?

Jersey Royal (Flying into Love #5) is an opposites attract, enemies to lovers, forced proximity, rich v poor, first time contemporary MM romance featuring an appearances-is-everything royal with a secret and a temperamental potato farmer with a track record for burying things.

Title: Jersey Royal
Authors: C F White
Length: 312 pages
Series: Flying into Love, Book 5
Genre: Contemporary.

Amazon – Kindle Unlimited – All Regions

This was a sweet, low angst romance, very Harlequin-esque.

The plot was cute, though not all that original. Spoiled royal (although like a bazillionth in line for the throne), playboy, failed fashion designer is basically cut off and his family gets a producer to do a reality show with him. Where he travels around the country doing “regular” jobs. Very “A Simple Life” but with royalty.

Of course Nicholas doesn’t want to do it and their first stop, a potato farm in Jersey, wasn’t expecting him. Well, the owner was but he forgot to tell anyone before he was incapacitated.

There are pratfalls and dirt and a marriage in name only and two guys in the closet and potatoes. Lots of potatoes. Alex, son of the owner and de facto boss, is grouchy and cranky and wants nothing to do with it. But he has no choice as his father signed a contract.

Prim and proper Nicholas is actually a lot more of a good sport in that he mostly goes along with what the producer wants. I have to say I was a little surprised at how snarky she is toward him.

It’s a romance, you can gather what happens with Alex and Nicholas. I do wish Nicholas got a bit more validation. He often thinks to himself that no one likes him and so many things are his fault. When, mostly, they aren’t his fault. And people don’t not like him, I think they were just used to using him for his money. That’s a bit obvious when he doesn’t hear from a single friend while he is doing the reality show.

Everyone gets their happily ever after, as they should. But I still felt badly for how the producer and even his parents treated Nicholas.

3.5 pieces of eye candy