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No Wrong Moves (Zone Defense Book 3) by Becca Seymour: RB, Exclusive Excerpt, New Release Review and Giveaway

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Pining for your best friend sucks ass—and not the good kind of sucking. But I can’t back away, and I definitely can’t let go. Eddie Phelps is too damn important to me. He has my heart and soul. Well, he and his daughter, a ten-year-old who one day will run the world.

It’s not like I can even blame Eddie for mixed signals or anything. He’s done everything right. He always does. Honestly, that’s part of his problem.

But I won’t put pressure on him. That means it’s down to Eddie to see how freakin’ awesome a catch I am. I just have no idea how exactly I’ll get him to do that.

Sure, I’m a professional basketball player. But once upon a time, so was he. It’s going to take something huge to get him to see beyond my age *cough immaturity cough*. But since Eddie isn’t one for making wrong moves, I’m not sure a grand gesture will work.

That leads me back to pining, and hoping somehow, someway, he’ll see me as more than a joker. More than his best friend—even though I’m a kick-ass one. Maybe someday, he’ll know I’m exactly the person he needs to make the move on.

Title: No Wrong Moves
Authors: Becca Seymour
Length: 72K
Series: Zone Defense, Book 3
Genre: Contemporary.
Tropes: Best friends to lovers, Age gap, Single dad, Sports.

Amazon – Kindle Unlimited – All Regions

Goodreads

No Take Backs (Zone Defense Book 1)

No More Secrets (Zone Defense Book 2)

The loud burst of music from my phone made me jump. I fumbled with it, a frown already forming as I glanced at the screen. Immediately, it flipped into a smile, tension rushing out of me.

Pearce.

“Hey.”

“Hey, back. Whatcha doing?”

God, it was good to hear his voice. The man had the ability to chase away my frustration and unhappiness with just the curve of his smile or the cadence of a single syllable. “Just put Lottie to bed, then going to grab a shower.”

“Thank Christ. I can smell the stench from here. Lottie begged me earlier to make sure you hosed down. The shame of traveling with you tomorrow would have been too much for her. She was threatening legal action.”

I chuckled, breathing easier listening to his goofiness. “That right? What kind of legal action we talking? If there’s a good deal on the table…?”

“Oooh, you don’t want to mess with that girl’s plans. You’d be living on Spam and butter for the rest of your life.”

“Uhm… that’s quite a combination.”

“Right!” He laughed. “She’s an evil genius.”

“Uh-huh. But considering my girl wouldn’t recognize Spam if it landed on her plate and did a song and dance, I have a feeling you’re in on this and working out the terms.” I pulled myself up, adjusted my pillows, and leaned back, relaxing into the conversation.

“Conjecture.” He snorted. “Shit, is that even the right word to use?”

I grinned. “The hell if I know. What have you been getting into?”

“A couple of games of pool with the guys.”

“Please don’t tell me they took your money?” Pearce may have been a kick-ass basketball player, but his pool skills needed some work.

“Not at pool, but the assholes are aiming to make bank on a killer pot, apparently.”

“Huh? What are you talking about?”

Pearce stayed quiet for a beat before clearing his throat. “Uhm, nothing. Don’t worry about it. So, what time’s your flight?”

Brows dipping in confusion, I wondered why he was brushing off whatever he’d been talking about. A bet, I figured. It was unusual for Pearce to hold back. He said shit without thinking all the time. The outcome was usually hilarious and just a little endearing.

Becca Seymour lives and breathes all things book related. Usually with at least three books being read and two WiPs being written at the same time, 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, chooks, and dogs, Becca appreciates the beauty of the world around her and is a believer that love truly is love.

Connect with Becca:
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https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/18745264.Becca_Seymour
https://www.bookbub.com/authors/becca-seymour
https://www.amazon.com/Becca-Seymour/e/B07NYXX6JP
Newsletter: https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/r9f0i4

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Terribly Tristan (Bad Boyfriends, Inc. Book 3) by Lisa Henry & Sarah Honey: Release Blitz, Excerpt and Giveaway

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One and done has always been the rule—so what happens when once isn’t enough?

Leo Fisher is the outward picture of respectability, just like his parents raised him to be. But when he inherits a crumbling terrace house from his great-uncle, he also inherits a tenant who turns his world upside down. Tristan is brazen, gorgeous, experienced and utterly fabulous. He’s everything Leo is not—so why is Leo drawn to him? Leo has always made the right choices—the sensible choices—yet here he is, hooking up with his tenant, who’s a rent boy.

Tristan Montague is not a rent boy. Not exactly. He’s a Bad Boyfriend. For a fee, he’ll turn any date into the kind of disaster that will have his client’s unsuspecting parents begging them to date anyone but him. Boyfriending for cash is fun—but for real? No thanks. As far as Tristan is concerned, there are far too many flowers in the garden of love to settle on just one bloom. Instead, he flits happily from lover to lover like a glorious gay butterfly, and he doesn’t do repeats.

Except when he meets his cute, awkward landlord Leo, Tristan finds himself rethinking his ‘no repeats’ rule. He plans to show Leo that he, too, can be a glorious gay butterfly, but when physical attraction becomes something deeper, Tristan realizes he might be ready to hang up his wings and date…for real.

But in order for Leo to take a stand against his overbearing parents, Tristan will need to play the Bad Boyfriend one last time—and it’s going to have to be spectacular.

Reader advisory: This book contains instances of homophobia, and the death of a minor character.

Word Count: 62,357

Book Length: NOVEL

Pages: 246

Release Date: 18th October 2022

Genres: COMEDY AND HUMOUR, CONTEMPORARY, EROTIC ROMANCE, FAKE RELATIONSHIPS, GAY, GLBTQI

Amazon – All Regions

First For Romance

Goodreads

Book 1 in the Bad Boyfriends, Inc. series: Awfully Ambrose

Book 2 in the Bad Boyfriends, Inc. series: Horribly Harry

On an otherwise unremarkable Saturday morning, Tristan Montague was woken by a hard pounding. And not the sort he liked. The sort he liked, he realised as he unglued his eyelids, wouldn’t be forthcoming at all—last night’s hook-up was still crashed out beside him flat on his back, with his mouth open as he snored. This pounding, unfortunately, was coming from his bedroom door.

“Wha?” Tristan grizzled. The house had better be on fire, seriously, because it was only—he flopped an arm out, fingers searching for his phone on his nightstand—11.37 a.m. That was inhumane for a Saturday. Unless it was Sunday—but no, it would be just as inhumane for a Sunday.

The pounding on his door continued.

Tristan rolled out of bed and shuffled to his door. He pulled it open and glared at Harry, his housemate.

“Tristan!” Harry exclaimed, then his wide-eyed gaze travelled down Tristan’s naked body and back again. By the time it returned to his face, Harry was bright pink in that adorkable way that made Tristan want to ruffle his hair, pinch his cheeks and possibly rail him over the back of the couch into next week. Harry was out of bounds, though. Not only was he like the awkward little brother Tristan had never had, but Harry was also stupidly in love with Jack, their other housemate. They gave each other such heart eyes over breakfast each morning that Tristan half expected the local wildlife to burst into song every time, Disney-style. The local wildlife, in their case, being the mice infesting the walls and the huntsman spider that lived in the shower. “Tristan, you’re naked!”

There wasn’t really anything Tristan could say to that, so he nodded and waved his hand in front of himself like a showcase model on a television game show.

Harry’s blush extended all the way up to his glasses. “Like, really, all the way, naked.”

He sighed. “Did you wake me up just to tell me that?”

Harry blinked at him. “No! I woke you up to tell you that Mr. Erskine is dead!”

“Oh.” Tristan felt a moment of actual regret. Their landlord was at least six hundred years old, and batshit crazy in the best possible way. He loved to drop in and collect the rent money from the Milo tin in the kitchen, then spend hours regaling Tristan with stories of the Cross back in the seventies. And Tristan loved listening, because Kings Cross back in the day had been wild. “I thought the Milo tin was getting full.”

“I thought he’d just forgotten to collect the rent.”

Tristan sighed again. “Wow. That really, really sucks. Mr. Erskine was an awesome old bloke.”

“He once offered me a hundred dollars to play with his hair,” Harry said, his brows pulling together. “Which didn’t make any sense, because he was bald.”

“Well, not everywhere, probably.”

Harry blinked rapidly. “Oh. I didn’t think of that.” His mouth turned down. “Ew. Was he sexually harassing me?”

“To be fair, I think he sexually harassed everyone without realising it,” Tristan said. “Oh, man. What’s going to happen to this place, do you think?”

Harry looked slightly panicked. “I don’t know! I can’t afford to live anywhere else!”

The old terrace house in Dickson Street, Newtown, was a complete dump. It was the rotten, blackened tooth in an otherwise pristine smile of gorgeously renovated veneers, but it was cheap. Well, cheap by Sydney standards, at least. Which wasn’t saying much. Tristan would be okay whatever happened, but Harry and Jack were on incredibly tight budgets.

“I mean, these things take months, right?” Tristan asked. “Wills and probate and all that bullshit. And there’s probably some law that you can’t just throw tenants out on the street without notice. Isn’t there?”

Harry chewed his bottom lip. “I don’t know.”

“Hey, don’t stress about it,” Tristan said, even though it was pointless, because Harry stressed about everything. “It’ll all work out in the end.” He lifted his nose and sniffed as the scent of bacon and eggs cooking reached him, and his stomach growled. He brightened. “Is Jack making breakfast?”

Harry blocked him as he tried to step out of the room. “Tris!”

“What?”

“You’re naked.”

“Oh yeah.” He reached around to grab his robe off the hook on the back of his door. “Breakfast first, then crisis, okay?”

Harry nodded unhappily, and they headed down the stairs.

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Lisa Henry – https://www.firstforromance.com/index.php?route=product/author/info&author_id=11797

Lisa likes to tell stories, mostly with hot guys and happily ever afters.

Lisa lives in tropical North Queensland, Australia. She doesn’t know why, because she hates the heat, but she suspects she’s too lazy to move. She spends half her time slaving away as a government minion, and the other half plotting her escape.

She attended university at sixteen, not because she was a child prodigy or anything, but because of a mix-up between international school systems early in life. She studied History and English, neither of them very thoroughly.

Lisa has been published since 2012, and was a LAMBDA finalist for her quirky, awkward coming-of-age romance Adulting 101, and a Rainbow Awards finalist for 2019’s Anhaga.

Find out more at Lisa’s website and blog. You can follow her on Bookbub and sign up to her newsletter.

Website: https://www.lisahenryonline.com/

Blog: http://lisahenryonline.blogspot.com/

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/lisa-henry

Newsletter: https://lisahenryonline.us9.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=89f76ac7a4e6e0e202f27b3f8&id=103da83ac0

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Sarah Honey – https://www.firstforromance.com/index.php?route=product/author/info&author_id=11796

Sarah started life in New Zealand. She came to Australia for a working holiday, loved it, and never left. She lives in Western Australia with her partner, two cats, two dogs and a life-size replica TARDIS.

She spends half her time at a day job and the rest of her time reading and writing about clueless men falling in love.

Her proudest achievements include having adult kids who will still be seen with her in public, the ability to make a decent sourdough loaf, and knowing all the words to Bohemian Rhapsody.

Terribly Tristan will be her seventh published novel in collaboration with Lisa Henry.

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Spiritual Whispers by V.L. Locey: New Release Review

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In a tiny Vermont town, two men are about to discover the joys of falling in love all over again.

Taliesin Wadleigh has lived in Couton-on-the-River for his entire life. Six of those twenty-six years he spent with the first man who had ever captured his heart. Those times were the happiest of his life and then, without warning, his fiancé was taken from him. Physically, at least. Spiritually, Carmichael is still in that whimsical shop with his beloved. Having a charming spirit close at hand to share late night tea with has helped heal Taliesin’s aching heart, and he’s happy spending his days selling antiques to tourists and avoiding the outside world and all those who inhabit it. Or so he tells himself…

Then a tall, handsome stranger walks into his shop and Taliesin, as well as Carmichael, senses that their life—and perhaps their afterlife—is going to change dramatically.

When Eason Dunne retired from professional baseball two years ago, he had plans. Amazing plans. Happy plans. Two years after he hung up his cleats, all those glorious ambitions have fizzled. He’s now divorced and flitting from one project to another, hoping to find…something special. Inheriting an old inn in some one horse—pardon him, one moose—town in Vermont was not at all something special. Lacking anything else of meaning in his life, he makes the trip from Las Vegas to Couton-on-the-River to try his hand at innkeeping. It’s in this little tourist trap that he wanders into the local antiquity shop and meets the eclectic, bespeckled, adorable owner. A man with somewhat offbeat taste in furnishings, a cross-eyed cat, a seemingly haunted radio, and one rather protective ghost.

Eason isn’t sure what to make of the situation or his attraction to the skinny man in the bow tie, but when danger threatens Taliesin, both men who love him are going to have to work together to save him.

Spiritual Whispers is a standalone small-town gay paranormal romance with a lovely age gap, a quirky antique shop owner, a disillusioned retired baseball player, a ghostly protector, a lazy shop cat, lots of tea, the occasional moose, and a happy-ever-after.

Amazon – All Regions

Full disclosure: I don’t think I’ve read anything by this author before, because…don’t hate me!…I’m not a hockey person. Any other sport yes, but hockey is not my jam. So, I went into this book blind as to the author’s style of writing, or level of levity or heat. I was more than happily surprised. I just adored this book!

Taliesin had it VERY rough growing up, yet ended up finding a man who, though he was some 30 years his senior, he just adored. Then he died, and Taliesin was broke and  alone with just a musty antique shop, Carmichael’s sassy cat, and an old radio that somehow communicated with the dead. He was definitely a different breed of person. He loved his bowties, and got so excited at finding buttons. He was just adorable, and how you could read this and not want to wrap him up in a cocoon and keep him safe forever is beyond me. Also, Taliesin made me laugh so hard. From now on my new phrase is “Go Baseball!” (This is coming from a huge baseball fan.)

Eason, who was also older than Taliesin by quite a few years, retired from baseball and decided that after receiving an old inn, he would fix it up and run it. When he finds Taliesin, he just can’t get enough of him. Eason was sweet, caring and really saw Taliesin for the person beyond the bowties and strange speaking patterns. Eason’s inner monologue cracked me the F up!!! (I very rarely highlight books. This one I highlighted many times.)

“Three grand and a signed baseball!” I shouted. The crowd stared at me in complete loss. “I’m a retired MLB player.” Nothing. Not even a sniffle. “I know Derek Jeter.”

That made them all ooh and aah. Whatever F*ckers.

Taliesin still had a lot of issues to deal with beyond the antique store. He had Carmichael’s children, the lack of money, and a powerful grief that he was working through, but it still was important to him to keep Carmichael in his heart, even as he fell for Eason. In the end, it took both men he loved to save him. And I wouldn’t have had it any other way.

Yes, I cried, several times…cause why are people mean? I also laughed a lot (The “Precious Moments thingies” made me snort laugh.). I enjoyed this book from beginning to end, and I definitely would read it again. Honestly, I’d love to see more from this author as well, because I don’t think this was a one-off. I wonder if she’s written any more? 😉

4 pieces of eye candy

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USA Today Bestselling Author V.L. Locey – Penning LGBT hockey romance that skates into sinful pleasures.

V.L. Locey loves worn jeans, yoga, belly laughs, walking, reading and writing lusty tales, Greek mythology, Torchwood and Dr. Who, the New York Rangers, comic books, and coffee. (Not necessarily in that order.) She shares her life with her husband, her daughter, one dog, two cats, a pair of geese, far too many chickens, and two steers.

When not writing spicy romances, she enjoys spending her day with her menagerie in the rolling hills of Pennsylvania with a cup of fresh java in one hand and a steamy romance novel in the other.

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Something Undeniable: Split Rock Ranch Book 1 by Rory Maxwell: New Release Review with Giveaway

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Micah Avery has called Split Rock Ranch home for most of his life—it’s one of the few places he can be totally himself without worry or judgment. The ranch, the horses, and the people are Micah’s future, and he couldn’t be happier. The fact that it’s also home to the ranch manager he’s determined to marry one day is icing on the cake . . . all he needs is for Ryan to notice him.

Ryan Astor came to Split Rock Ranch at a time when he was desperate to start over. It was just supposed to be a stop on the road, but instead he found a home and a family—that family includes Micah, the sweet kid who’s been the ranch mascot since before he was tall enough to see over the stall doors. Ryan’s finally found his place, and he can’t imagine wanting anything to change.

Then little Micah Avery grows up. And Ryan’s suddenly confronted with a whole mess of feelings and desires he never expected. Now he needs to decide if he can give in to what they both want without jeopardizing everything they have.

Something Undeniable is a slow-burn, 37k-word novella with an age gap, mutual pining, and plenty of heat. It’s the first book in the Split Rock Ranch series, but can be read as a stand-alone story.

Amazon – Kindle Unlimited – All Regions

This looks to be a new author, and she did a very good job on this slow burn cowboy romance. There were still a few unanswered questions for me at the end, but overall well done.

When we first meet Micah and Ryan, Micah is a senior in high school but has been in love with Ryan for several years. He told his friend right away when Ryan came to the ranch that he would marry him someday. Ryan, of course, had no idea, and didn’t even consider Micah, since he was so much older. Until right at Micah’s graduation, when Micah has no idea if he wants to stay or go away to college. They have a moment, and then Micah leaves for 3 years.

I have to give kudos to the author on this. She didn’t shy away from the distance that these two needed in order for Micah to mature, and decide what he really wanted. Micah even had relationships before he came back, but always wanted Ryan. This was really well done. The two men circled each other when Micah returned, but it wasn’t long.

The side characters were really well done, as well. One is on the autism spectrum and is very well portrayed. Since everyone on the spectrum is different in their needs and concerns, it was great to see not only the representation, but also the respect that all the characters gave her for her skills and joy in what she did.

Very enjoyable, and I’m interested to see how the author takes their relationship in book 2 and challenges it, because Micah and Ryan definitely got their HEA in the first book.

3.5 pieces of eye candy

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Rory Maxwell discovered romance novels on her mom’s bookshelf when she was probably too young to be reading them—the reward for being a nosy kid with great reading comprehension. The magic of a dial-up internet connection led her to the wonderful world of MM fanfiction a few years later and she fell love with the genre. In 2019 she woke up with a plot bunny, opened a word doc, and started trying to figure out how this writing stuff worked.

Rory grew up outside of Washington, DC, moved away, and then came back for reasons she doesn’t fully understand. An artist and writer, she always has too many exciting ideas and not nearly enough free time. One day, she hopes to escape to the mountains and open an LGBTQIA+ friendly bed and breakfast where she can work from home and write as much as she wants. In the meantime, she splits her time between her day job and writing MM romance with endearing characters, lots of feels, plenty of heat, and a dash of kink.

Connect with Roxy:
www.rorymaxwellwrites.com
www.amazon.com/rory.maxwell
https://www.facebook.com/rory.maxwell.writes
www.facebook.com/rory.maxwell
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Bully For Sale (Heat For Sale Universe, Book 2) by Leta Blake: Blog Tour, Exclusive Excerpt, and Giveaway

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Heat can be sold, but love is earned.

Bullied and outcast, Ezer has seen firsthand the cruelties of the world. He knows what’s expected from his kind—timid compliance and submission to his “betters.” But Ezer isn’t one to roll over and conform to the role society has forced upon him.

Despite his defiant nature, Ezer is coerced into partnering with a man of his father’s choosing. One his father promises will love and care for him for the rest of his life.

A night of nameless and faceless passion later, Ezer is horrified to find himself bound to Ned, a bully who has done so much to make his life hell. Ezer’s determined to hate Ned but he can’t help the way his body craves his touch.

Ned is young, privileged, and hopelessly in love with Ezer. Too bad his pack of so-called “friends” have targeted Ezer for torment. Ned has a lot of regrets, but none greater than his role in Ezer’s misery. When Ned’s offered the contract of a lifetime, he sees it as the only way forward with the man he loves.

The dual biological drives of heat and its aftermath might be all that’s keeping them close now, but Ned is determined to prove he’s worthy of Ezer’s love.

While Ezer is just as determined not to fall for his bully.

Bully for Sale is a standalone m/m romance set in the Heat for Sale universe. CW: bullying, sexual assault (not between the heroes), heat, knotting, pregnancy, intense birth, familial coercion.

Amazon – Kindle Unlimited – All Regions

Goodreads

Ezer gave a bitter little smile. “You must like that I can’t help but feel tender toward you after everything, and despite everything. Fucking alpha pheromones. Fucking seminal compounds. Making me soft for you.” He snorted. “You must love that, huh?” Ezer groaned and squirmed a little in the chair. “Fuck. The heat’s coming again.”

Ned’s cock surged with renewed lust.

“Lick my nipples,” Ezer gritted out, gripping Ned’s hair tightly and pulling him to his chest. “Bite them.”

Ned obeyed Ezer’s commands as if he was the omega and Ezer the alpha. He bit and licked, sucked and soothed.

Ezer squirmed and sighed, spreading his legs. “Finger me,” he demanded. “Make me come with your hand.”

Ned didn’t hesitate. He slid his hand up Ezer’s leg and pressed three fingers into his sopping hole, massaging Ezer’s heat-swollen glands and prostate until Ezer’s legs were shaking. Ned dropped his head in Ezer’s lap, sucking his dick, lapping at the fluid it released, and loving the way Ezer pumped his hips to get it deeper into Ned’s mouth while his hole clenched around Ned’s fingers.

“Fuck,” Ezer said, and then arched his back, whining as an orgasm pumped through his body, causing him to thrash and clench, shooting a load of sweet omega cum into Ned’s mouth. It was delicious. Ned gobbled it down, licking his lips to get the last of it.

“Need more,” Ezer gasped.

Ned lifted Ezer into his arms, took him back to the bed, and planted his cock in Ezer’s hot hole, working him over until Ezer was a sobbing, wet mess of pleasure.

When Ned pushed deep and came too, his knot growing and pulsing inside Ezer, he whispered, “I love this. I wish you loved it, too.”

Ezer moaned. “I do love it. I can’t help how good it feels.”

Ned buried his head in Ezer’s neck, scenting his sweetness. “Do you wish it didn’t feel good?”

Ezer thumped Ned’s back in a wordless, annoyed reply.

“Do you hope it takes?” Ned gasped.

“A baby?”

“Yeah.”

“No.” Ezer said vehemently, and then more softly, “I don’t know. Maybe.”

Ned wrapped his arms around Ezer even more tightly. “I hope it takes. I want to see you big with my child, stuffed full of my future. Our future.”

Ezer let out a groan and rolled his eyes. “This heat must be receding because I’m aware enough already to know that’s some serious schmaltz you’re spewing. You really are a romantic, aren’t you? You don’t even know if we can like each other.”

“I know we can, and you do too.”

“I sure as hell don’t know that.”

Ned rubbed his face against Ezer’s sweaty neck, loving how he could feel Ezer’s voice through his body, vibrating on his knot with every word. “Then why do you ‘maybe’ want it to stick?”

“Because I have nothing else now. I sold my whole life for this with you.” Ezer squirmed and came again, his skin flushing and fresh sweat breaking over him. “Oh. It’s just so good.” He said it desperately, as if he might cry.

“You smell delicious when you come,” Ned said. “I want to cover myself in your scent.”

“You’re supposed to. It’s natural,” Ezer murmured, but he sounded drowsy. He must be right about the heat receding. Normally, they’d have another wave or two before there was a break. Ned felt an odd sense of loss over it.

“Ezer?”

“Mmm?”

“I think I’m in love with you.”

Ezer’s eyes scrunched tight, not bothering to open. “That’s fucking absurd. Don’t say it again.”

“Ever?”

“Ever.”

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Leta Blake

Author of the bestselling book Smoky Mountain Dreams and the fan favorite Training Season, Leta Blake’s educational and professional background is in psychology and finance, respectively. However, her passion has always been for writing. She enjoys crafting romance stories and exploring the psyches of made up people. At home in the Southern U.S., Leta works hard at achieving balance between her day job, her writing, and her family.

If you’d like to be among the first to know about new releases, you can sign up for Leta’s newsletter here: http://eepurl.com/bdn32H

Bonus material for the Heat of Love series, Will & Patrick Wake Up Married series, Training Season series, Smoky Mountain Dreams, Mr. Frosty Pants, The River Leith, and more is available on Leta Blake’s Patreon account. Sign up here: https://www.patreon.com/letablake

Or you can find out more about her by following her online:

On the web: https://letablake.com

On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/letablake

On Twitter: https://twitter.com/LetaBlake

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Underdog (In Vino Veritas) by L.A. Witt: Audiobook Review, Narration by Nick J. Russo

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Life in foster care wasn’t easy. Life after prison? Unforgiving. But I’m determined to stay out of trouble, and I’m gaining a foothold on the closest I’ve ever known to normal.

Then, thanks to a pair of escape artist dogs from the sanctuary where I’ve found work, I cross paths with my boss’s neighbor, Ty Adams. He’s a horse trainer, and winter is his quiet season. It’s also the season when he gets restless and lonely—two things I know all about. He’s not interested in love or romance. I’m just happy someone’s interested in me at all, even if emotions are strictly forbidden.

When we’re not together, I’m thinking about him. When we are together… Well, I’m definitely thinking about what he does to me and what I want to do with him.

As we keep each other warm through the Vermont winter, this feels a lot more than physical. Somehow he soothes my pain, and I wonder if I’m touching something deep inside him too. But Ty won’t let himself love anyone. I never had a chance. And now, with my past closing in, I could lose the one man I hoped I could count on. The one I thought might be different.

When his present and my history collide, is it too much to hope he’ll choose me?

CW: Sick horse and a minor accident involving a horse—no animal deaths or serious injuries/illnesses.

Audible – Narrated by Nick J. Russo

Amazon – Kindle Unlimited – All Regions

First, this is not a short book/audiobook. I mean let’s face it, L.A. Witt doesn’t really write short books, and we wouldn’t have it any other way. It tops out around 400 pages in the ebook, and 12 hours on the audiobook, and not one ounce of filler in there. Zero. So, plan to be engaged the entire way! I know I was.

What can I say? Landon got ALL the love from me. A really good guy (c’mon he loved animals so much!) who thanks to a really cr@ppy childhood grew up and got himself into a lot of trouble, multiple times, until he was locked up for nearly 10 years. It’s hard to imagine how someone can not come out of something like that completely changed. And to see how many people questioned him, shunned him, assumed that he was always up to his “old ways”. He took each of those blows to heart, but tried to be so forgiving, and understanding of them, that this is what he felt he deserved and always would. Yet he treated each one of those animals like they were precocious children and gave them all the love he had in him. It was hard not to love Landon from the first page.

Ty was also a really good guy, very dedicated to his career, so much so that he never saw it coming that he and Landon were just going to continue on the path toward each other. It was honestly a little funny how he kept denying it, and explaining it away as two friends just having great sex, denying it to himself as much as he did to Landon. This guy could not get out of his own head. But he quickly began to see Landon not as a friends with benefits situation, but as someone who he could depend on, and learn to incorporate into his life.

There was one thing that Ty did that, while I understood why he did it, and honestly would have likely done it myself in that situation, I was bothered that he didn’t end up telling Landon about it. I would have liked to have seen that level of honesty from Ty. But it didn’t change the course of the book, and likely wouldn’t have changed their relationship in the long run.

I will admit I cried more than once at the treatment of Landon, who just wanted to get his life on track, to put his head down and work. Meanwhile so many people would not give him a chance. It was heartbreaking. And yet, I would imagine so realistic to those who are coming to the outside after incarceration.

The knowledge given to the reader/listener about the horse world was not overwhelming, but definitely enough to make sure you knew what was going on. And with all the different personalities in the different animals, it just made it that much more fun to read.

I don’t often re-read/re-listen to books, but this one will definitely hit that list. Now that my heart isn’t in my throat wondering about the HEA (which this author always gives…but it was hard sometimes to see it coming!)

Narrator Nick J. Russo, does another fantastic job with character voices. I always appreciate a narrator who can give multiple voices to his characters, and being able to tell who was who based on voice is a talent. He did a great job of this. I enjoy his narration every time I get the chance to listen, and I will be listening to this one again!

Story: 4.5 pieces of eye candyNarration: 4 pieces of eye candy