Within the first paragraph of reading this I knew I wanted to review it. When the writing itself is just so good, you have to share it. About a chapter in, I actually stopped and restarted the book because I was reading it too quickly and I wanted to savour it. The book didn’t quite live up to the promise of those first few pages, but I still devoured it in one sitting. The book … Continue reading The Shabti by Megaera C. Lorenz
I adored Something Wild and Wonderful, a sweet romance between two men who meet while hiking the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT). I thought it was a beautifully written, funny, warm, touching, empowering, and sexy grumpy-sunshine story. However, certain aspects of the book might make it a “love it or hate it” read. Readers should be prepared for discussion of homophobia in the context of coming out, and for one on-page instance of vocal homophobia. Sometimes … Continue reading Something Wild and Wonderful by Anita Kelly
Content warning: homophobia I love romantic suspense, but they can sometimes be a little light on the suspense and a little heavy on the romance for me. The mystery plot in this book is strong enough to stand on its own, but my god, does the romance sweeten the deal. Detective Everett Larkin works for the cold case squad in New York. A tree has blown over in Madison Square Park and in its uprooting, … Continue reading Madison Square Murders by C.S. Poe
The ever reliable K.J. Charles is back with The Secret Lives of County Gentlemen. This is a charming but intense story in which two very different men with very different lives navigate a relationship in the marshlands of Kent, where smuggling is a cultural norm, everything is just a little bit gothic, mystery abounds, and “out-marsh” people are held in suspicion. ‘London’ and ‘Kent’ hit it off in the big city as clandestine and anonymous … Continue reading The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen by KJ Charles
I’m So Not Over You is a m/m contemporary romance about two men living in Boston who rekindle a relationship during a “fake dating’ weekend. I had a hard time connecting with the story, but Shana liked it a little bit better. Tropes include second chance romance, a wedding, fake dating, and ‘there’s only one bed’, and we know those are gold for a lot of readers! Unfortunately, it also has problems with the structure … Continue reading I’m So (Not) Over You by Kosoko Jackson
The Long Game is the sequel to Heated Rivalry, the rivals-to-lovers hockey romance that pairs Ilya, an infuriating Russian, with his hockey nemesis, sunny Shane. Heated Rivalry has a permanent home on my keeper shelf, but the book ends with a HFN. I was dying to revisit these two and see them have a more permanent HEA. Unfortunately, I had three main issues with this book–Shane is a dick for most of it; the homophobia … Continue reading The Long Game by Rachel Reid
A Marvellous Light is a slow-paced, M/M fantasy romance set in the Edwardian Age, and is the first of a trilogy. I thought the writing was lovely in terms of describing the use of magic and the romance development, but I kept drifting away from the story. A great deal of the charm and fun of the book is the opposites-attract format of both the world-building (magic meets bureaucracy) and the main characters, Robin and … Continue reading A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske
After the Dragons is a subtle, tender love story set in a near-future Beijing in which dragons are as real as the climate change which has brought drought to the city. Eli, the biracial son of two professors, has come to Beijing as an exchange student, wanting to learn more about the city that his grandmother loved too much to leave, even when faced with a terminal diagnosis. Kai has received the same diagnosis as … Continue reading After the Dragons by Cynthia Zhang
Content warnings: Internalised homophobia. Use of the word sodomite (historically appropriate, but still pretty awful in its impact). Briarley is the story you get if Beauty’s father had been a country parson with enough backbone to tell the Beast no, and enough compassion to stay with the Beast in his daughter’s place. It is touching and kind and charming, and often very funny, and I was absolutely delighted by it. There was once a country … Continue reading Briarley by Aster Glenn Gray
The Alpha’s Warlock would have been a great book if it was twice as long. As it is, it is entertaining and emotional, but does not contain enough backstory and time to let the characters properly develop. Nate Hawthorne is a warlock with a lot of power, insufficient training, and an evil dad. Because of pack politics plus vampire stuff, he is forced to enter a mating bond with werewolf Ian Armitage. The two have … Continue reading The Alpha’s Warlock by Eliot Grayson
Eric is a 40-year-old hockey player with the New York Admirals. He eats clean, is deeply invested in daily yoga workouts and doesn’t drink. Kyle is a 25-year-old trust fund kid studying an MA in art history, but really, what he wants is to be a bartender. An unlikely pairing? Yup. But life pushes them together. They meet through mutual friends just as Eric is ready to admit to himself and others that he is … Continue reading Common Goal by Rachel Reid
