Boy Meets Boy Reviews: illness

Showing posts with label illness. Show all posts

Review: Salvation (Darkest Skies #3) by Garrett Leigh

Reformed gang boss Dante Pope is out after a four-year stretch in prison. But freedom has found him faster than he’s ready for. His only brother hates him, and with nothing but PTSD and a newfound fascination with plants for company, the outside world is a terrifying place.

A prisoner rehabilitation scheme lands him at a stately home that might as well be the moon. Working for gorgeous gardener Sid is a welcome distraction—his shoulders are broad, his rugged jaw unshaven, and his long, tanned legs?

Wow.

But Sid has problems of his own. A life-changing disease has left him limited in ways he can’t bear and accepting help, even from a stranger, makes him want to curl up and die.

If Dante would let him.

Newsflash: he won’t, and he’s not a stranger for long. With his dark smile and sinister ink, Dante Pope is the most beautiful man Sid has ever seen. Life is hard, but falling for each other is easy.

Sunshine and shadows.

Old ghosts can haunt Dante all they like. Loving Sid is the only salvation he’ll ever need.

Dante is released from prison to a country garden. He’s determined to make the most of this second chance, and leave his old life in the past for good.

Sid looks after his gardens and manages his chronic illness. He doesn’t need complications, which is what Dante is.

The two men come from very different backgrounds, but the attraction is there from the start. Despite their differences, they’re actually very similar men.

Both are cranky, a bit antisocial, and prefer each other’s quiet company. Some common ground to build a relationship on!

I really enjoyed reading how working in the gardens side by side brought the two together. It led to homemade dinners, shared smokes (literally), and eventually stolen kisses.

Is there anything hotter than a man who just wants to feed you? Sid’s a total catch! His quiet determination in continuing with his daily life as much as he could made him even more admirable.

For his part, Dante has had a massive character improvement. Even better is that he was well aware of it, and actively identified and changed behaviours that were his old self. The self-awareness is what made him likeable, after the previous events.

I will say though - I found Sid’s repeated insistence that Dante was completely blame-free and a good man irritating. Yes, Dante is a good man now, but that doesn’t erase the past. Sid could have supported Dante without constantly throwing on the rose-coloured glasses.

I also found that the book dragged quite a bit in the middle. It could have been tightened up.

But that aside, Sid and Dante are incredibly sweet together in their little English countryside bubble. Not to mention hot!

They have a major stumbling block thrown at them, but they get through it for the better on the other end.

Overall, though this isn’t my favourite book in the series, it was still an enjoyable read. Would recommend it if you've read the two preceding books!

A copy was provided in exchange for an honest review.

Release Blitz + Giveaway: Salvation (Darkest Skies #3) by Garrett Leigh

Author Garrett Leigh and Signal Boost Promotions host a release blitz for the latest in the popular series, Salvation (Darkest Skies #3)! Find out more and enter in the giveaway today!

ALL BUY LINKS

Cover Design: Black Jazz Design

Darkest Skies Series

Book #1 Redemption - Buy Links

Book #2 Deliverance - Buy Links

Garrett Leigh is an award-winning British writer and book designer.

Garrett's debut novel, Slide, won Best Bisexual Debut at the 2014 Rainbow Book Awards, and her polyamorous novel, Misfits was a finalist in the 2016 LAMBDA awards.

When not writing, Garrett can generally be found procrastinating on Twitter, cooking up a storm, or sitting on her behind doing as little as possible, all the while shouting at her menagerie of children and animals and attempting to tame her unruly and wonderful FOX.

Garrett is also an award winning cover artist, taking the silver medal at the Benjamin Franklin Book Awards in 2016. She designs for various publishing houses and independent authors at blackjazzdesign.com, and co-owns the specialist stock site moonstockphotography.com with renowned LGBTQA+ photographer Dan Burgess.

Website: http://www.garrettleigh.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/garrettleighauthor/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Garrett_Leigh

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Guest Review: Always (Single Dads #4) R.J. Scott

Lives change in an instant, but with family found and forever love, there is always hope.

Impetuously putting his life on the line, Adam saved a child trapped in a car wreck and suffered career-ending injuries. Living with chronic pain, and at his lowest moments, he had friends who wouldn't let him give up, a family who had his back, and even though his future was different from what he'd always planned, he at least had hope. When Cameron and Finn land on his doorstep, he never dreamed that he would fall in love with the small family or that maybe he'd get to be a hero again.

Cameron goes from being a devoted husband to a single dad overnight. With his neatly planned future in ruins, he will do anything to make a new life for his son, even if it means moving to the other side of the country. Renting a room from Adam is the first step in making a home for him and Finn, but falling for the former firefighter was never part of the plan.

The shadows from Cameron's past might take a long time to touch this fragile future, but will he have to face the consequences alone when they do? Or will there always be hope?

Reviewer: Shee Reader

I have loved all the previous books in the series, and this one was no different. Adam did appear in the earlier books as part of the friendship group, but we didn’t see much of him. He is a charming character and his very relatable tale of living with chronic pain was done well.

Cameron has had the world pulled out from beneath him and he is trying with everything he has to get himself and Finn safe. They have travelled so far and land on Adam’s doorstep as they have a mutual friend who sponsored his flight to safety. The attraction is immediate, but neither man sees his own value or feels that he has anything to offer the other. Falling in love wasn’t what either of them planned, but that is what happened! The beauty and purity of seeing both Cameron and Finn fall for Adam, is joyous.

As for low-angst sweet love stores goes, this one is a peach. The writing is sharp and witty with fun and joy a plenty.

Recommended.

I received a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Guest Review: Unapologetically Me (Offbeat Shifters #3) by Colette Davison

Austin Steele is my idol. He’s also the guy I can’t get enough of.

Everyone thinks they know who I am—one of pop’s biggest divos. They don’t know me at all. Austin Steele makes me want to me the real me, only there’s some problems:

We’re both omegas, he’s nineteen years my senior, he’s nursing old wounds, and he wants to keep what’s happening between us a secret.

I thought a one night stand was all I wanted. Now it’s becoming so much more. But how can we look to the future when we can’t let go of our pasts?

Unapologetically Me is the third book in Offbeat Shifters, an m/m paranormal romance series with a continuing storyline. This book includes a misunderstood and unapologetic Arctic fox shifter, a caring capuchin monkey shifter, and a HFN ending. While it’s set in an alternate universe where omegas give birth, there are no pregnancy or birth scenes in this book.

Reviewer: Shee Reader

This series was new to me, and in wanting to read and review book four I was offered this book first, and I really needed it to make the next book more meaningful. The author is one I love but this book took a really long time to get me hooked. At first I didn’t like Charlie and Austin. At all. Charlie was playing the divo and was really good at it. Austin seemed to be needlessly punishing himself for mistakes made when he was a young man. Still, I stuck with it and grew to love both men for who they really were. Austin was trying to make amends to his son, even though he had long been forgiven.

Charlie’s health condition overshadows everything and revealing it to Austin was a risk, but Austin was decent enough about it. I wasn’t happy with Austin trying to avoid Charlie after they hooked up, though it was his low self esteem that couldn’t really accept someone as lovely as Charlie could really be interested in him. I think we’ve all been there. Amiright??

Once they got over the initial hump *snort* and started communicating with each other we could really see the potential for lasting love. The parallels between society’s expectation that two omegas couldn’t be together and homophobia and transphobia in our world was vivid.

The relationship did get going and that leads us to book 4…

Recommended.

I received a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Release Blitz + Giveaway: So Far Away by Nell Iris

Author Nell Iris and Gay Book Promotions promote new pandemic inspired romance from JMS Books, So Far Away! Read more about the short story and enter in the back list eBook giveaway! (3 winners)

RELEASE BLITZ

Book Title: So Far Away

Author: Nell Iris

Publisher: JMS Books LLC

Cover Artist: Written Ink Designs

Release Date: May 1, 2021

Genre: Contemporary M/M Romance

Trope: Established couple

Themes: Illness, separation, pandemic (inspired by Covid, but not Covid)

Heat Rating: 4 flames

Length: 14 567 words

It is a standalone story.

Add on Goodreads

Buy Links

JMS Books | Amazon US | Amazon UK

So Close, Yet so Far Away

Blurb

Engaged couple Zakarias and Julian are convinced nothing can separate them…until a global pandemic hits. Zakarias catches the virus with mild symptoms and isolates in the couple’s guest house. The few meters dividing them might as well be the moon as he watches Julian, an ICU nurse, work himself to the bone, unable to support him the way he needs. Frustration and worry build as the weeks pass. Will Zakarias be declared healthy before Julian burns out?

Excerpt

When we’d just bought it, we spent many long evenings making plans and discussing options. We’d share a bottle of wine and make long lists of things we wanted, things we deemed necessary in what was going to be our forever home. The lists started outrageously—a wine cellar bigger than the actual house with an employee who turns the bottles? Really, Zakarias?—but distilled into a few reasonable items. So Julian’s dream of the biggest bathroom in the northern hemisphere—a Bath Palace, Zakarias, not a bathroom—complete with a pool, a jacuzzi, a sauna, and every other imaginable luxury, turned into a more feasible sized room with a fancy walk-in shower and a separate bathtub with jets—both of them big enough to accommodate the two of us. It also has a heated floor and double sinks. And my favorite feature; the tiny lights over the bathtub, sprinkled in the ceiling like a starry sky.

We both love the house; it’s our sanctuary. Every design element is chosen for comfort and to make it feel like a real home. Like someplace we can be ourselves. Someplace we can grow old together.

There are things left to do on the house before we’re happy with it, and we still spend evenings on the couch, sipping wine and making lists. Evenings that more often than not turn into heavy make-out sessions on the couch, with clothes being torn off and strewn about. Evenings that end with us panting in a sticky mess and blissed-out grins on our faces, but without deciding what to do with whatever room we’re considering remodeling at the time. “The discussion is half the fun,” he’ll say with sparkling eyes, and my mouth agrees, while I’m thinking the discussion is all the fun, because I could live in a tiny shack in the forest and be happy as long as he lived there with me.

But this house…it’s not just a house, it’s a home. Our home and I miss it.

I miss coming home from work and finding Julian sprawled on the couch in only his underwear, watching some horrid reality show or other on the big screen TV. I miss waking up early on weekends and preparing luxury breakfasts for him, miss how the scent of freshly baked bread never fails to wake him and lure him out of bed. I miss the adorable sight of him stumbling into the kitchen, bleary-eyed, hair in disarray with pillow creases on his cheek and dried drool on his chin. I miss how he beelines for me like a heat-seeking missile and winds himself around me, burying his face in my neck, snaking his arms around me, and tapping three times over my heart.

His family came up with that code when he was little; his younger sister was born with a genetic developmental disorder and never learned to speak, so three taps to the heart meant “I love you.” She died when she was only five, but the family keeps her memory alive with that gesture. It was how Julian told me he loved me for the first time. I didn’t understand it at the time, but when he told me the story, I realized he’d been telling me he loved me long before the words were spoken out loud.

I straighten my spine. Shake my head at my moment of weakness before marching back to the guesthouse and pulling a sweater over my head. I pour out the cold forgotten contents of my mug and pour fresh, steaming coffee into it.

Then I sit, take a sip, and breathe.

About the Author

Nell Iris is a romantic at heart who believes everyone deserves a happy ending. She’s a bona fide bookworm (learned to read long before she started school), wouldn’t dream of going anywhere without something to read (not even the ladies room), loves music (and singing along at the top of her voice but she’s no Celine Dion), and is a real Star Trek nerd (Make it so). She loves words, bullet journals, poetry, wine, coffee-flavored kisses, and fika (a Swedish cultural thing involving coffee and pastry!)

Nell believes passionately in equality for all regardless of race, gender or sexuality, and wants to make the world a better, less hateful, place.

Nell is a bisexual Swedish woman married to the love of her life, a proud mama of a grown daughter, and is approaching 50 faster than she’d like. She lives in the south of Sweden where she spends her days thinking up stories about people falling in love. After dreaming about being a writer for most of her life, she finally was in a place where she could pursue her dream and released her first book in 2017.

Nell Iris writes gay romance, prefers sweet over angsty, short over long, and quirky characters over alpha males.

Author Links

Blog/Website | Facebook Author Page | Facebook Profile

Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads

Pinterest | BookBub | Newsletter

Giveaway

Enter the Rafflecopter Giveaway for a chance to win

a choice of one of three ebooks from Nell's backlist

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

Review: Melting for You (Neighborhood Shindig #1) by A.M. Arthur

After his father’s heart attack, Isaiah Morrell gave up cooking in his own high-end Atlanta restaurant to return home to Reynolds, North Carolina, in order to help his father Thomas heal and to keep an eye on his business Neighborhood Shindig. A collection of food trucks and other small businesses, Shindig is a popular destination in this college town, but Isaiah longs for the fast pace of a big-city kitchen. Until he meets Joel…

Joel Fisher has been out of commission from a serious illness for the better part of a year, but now he’s ready to reclaim his life—except his apartment has been sublet, his partner is missing, and their shared food truck is stripped of everything not attached. In short, Joel has nothing. After an uncomfortable night sleeping on the food truck floor, Isaiah and Thomas Morrell give Joel an offer he can’t refuse: a rented room in their house, as well as their help creating a new food truck concept. Joel hates accepting charity, but he’s hit rock bottom and has nowhere to go but up.

Working with seemingly uptight Isaiah is actually pretty fun, and the pair bonds over a challenge to create a unique grilled cheese sandwich. Light flirting melts into a deeper connection neither man expects, but Isaiah isn’t in Reynolds for much longer, and Joel can’t get attached to the gorgeous professional chef. As Isaiah’s feelings for Joel strengthen and grow, he entertains the idea of staying in Neighborhood Shindig for good—but Joel hasn’t asked him to…

Welcome to Neighborhood Shindig, a friendly place where you can snack on a lamb kebab while getting your hair done, pick up your favorite herbal tea blend, and then go listen to live music under the pavilion. We’re happy to have you.

First off, reading this book made me hunnnnnngry. There isn’t much better out there than melty cheese and carbs, so Melting for You was speaking my language and the author did a great job of describing the MC’s culinary adventures so the food became a character as well. Which was important for this story as food was a passion for both Joel and Isaiah. Albeit in slightly different ways, it didn’t matter because the story that was told showed how the love of creating good food is universal and I liked that message very much. From high end haute cuisine to food truck fare, good food makes the people happy.

Joel was a character I could really root for. He had some serious crap he’s going through with his health and when he recovers enough to get back to the food truck he loves he finds his partner/ex has committed felony levels of douchebaggery. Joel’s a tough cookie and all around good guy though, so the nonsense doesn’t break him down and he’s committed to turning the stream of negativity around and make the messy mess into an opportunity.

And he does. Not without the help of some convenient coincidences, overly open strangers and whatnot, but who cares when it’s Joel? Not I. Isaiah and his father are the overly open strangers who opened their doors, their hearts and in Isaiah’s case, his pants to Joel allowing Joel to find his feet with his new food truck concept. It was fun reading about Joel and Isaiah brainstorming and experimenting with their ideas and I liked their culinary chemistry a lot.

I didn’t feel a ton of chemistry between them in the relationship department though. Melting for You is the least angsty A.M. Arthur book I’ve ever read and I like the voice of the less angsty story I just think I needed a little bit more of Joel and Isaiah together just being Joel and Isaiah. Not chefs, not temporary business partners, not anything else but two men falling in love. There always seemed to be something else going on that distracted from their time a bit. And it was all good distractions, all good stuff that I wanted to read about, I just needed a smidge more Joel/Isaiah time.

Melting for You is a good start to a series for foodie romantics and there are a lot of us out there. I’ll be looking forward to reading the next one. And getting hungry all over again.

**a copy of this story was provided for an honest review**

Review: Where Love Grows by Jay Northcote

When two broken men look to each other for help, an unexpected romance blooms.

Stephen’s home, deep in the heart of the Welsh valleys, suits his reclusive nature. However, as he recovers from illness, he’s struggling to manage alone. As nature reclaims the land he’s poured his heart into cultivating, he becomes increasingly unhappy. His only outlet is his blog, where he documents the decline of the garden that had been his pride and joy.

Luke is more used to a concrete jungle. He was a high-flyer, living and working in London, until addiction sent him into free fall. Now on the road to recovery, he still wants to make some changes, but he’s unsure where to find the purpose and fulfilment he craves.

A mutual acquaintance suggests Luke visits Stephen to help him out for a while, and a seed of hope is planted. From prickly beginnings, shoots of friendship emerge, blossoming into a deeper connection when they act on their mutual attraction.

This was only ever supposed to be a temporary arrangement, and soon Stephen will be able to manage on his own again. But both men need each other in ways they’re afraid to admit. If their love is going to last for more than one season, they’ll need to find the courage to be honest.

This book is a standalone read with a satisfying happy ending.

Sweet with a bit of angst, though a bit too slow at times.

Stephen and Luke struggle with two very different things, but both men look to the Welsh countryside for healing.

Stephen is trying to get his life back from the debilitating onset of Guillain-Baré syndrome, while Luke is a recovering alcoholic who’s hit rock bottom.

A mutual friend puts the two men in touch - Luke can help Stephen to rejuvenate his ruined garden, and the garden can give Luke the peace and focus he needs.

Their initial meeting isn’t promising at all. Luke relies heavily on drink to feel at ease, and Stephen gives a less-than-happy welcome.

But over the days that follow, slowly, very slowly, Stephen and Luke develop a friendship. Shared meals, days working in the garden, and quiet nights with the cats become a routine.

Though I thought the story dragged at times, particularly with the gardening, I really enjoyed the muted tone and Luke and Stephen’s sweet dynamic in the Welsh countryside.

And beneath it all there’s an underlying attraction that becomes more and more difficult to ignore.

The romance here isn’t easy. Both men have been burned, and they’re hesitant to take things to the next step.

Stephen especially becomes the roadblock. He repeatedly pushes Luke away, even before anything romantic happens. I really could have done with less of Stephen’s prickliness. It just wasn’t a good look!

But once Stephen gets his head out of his ass and lets Luke love him and lets himself love Luke the way they deserve, the happy ending was all kinds of sweet.

If you’re looking for a quiet romance between two men in need of healing, give ‘Where Love Grows’ a try!

A copy was provided in exchange for an honest review.

Release Blitz + Giveaway: Digging Deep (Digging Deep #1) by Jay Hogan

Celebrate the Dreamspinner Press release of Digging Deep (Digging Deep #1) with author Jay Hogan and Signal Boost Promotions! Check out today's blitz and enter in the eBook giveaway!

Buy Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK | Dreamspinner | Universal Link

Length: 340 pages

Publisher: Dreamspinner Press

Cover Design: Kanaxa

Blurb

A Digging Deep Story

Drake Park has a complicated life. As a gay male midwife, he’s used to raising eyebrows. Add Crohn’s disease and things get interesting—or not, considering the sad state of his love life. Experience has taught Drake that most men are fair-weather sailors when it comes to handling his condition—gone for dust when things get rough. Staying healthy is a full-time job without adding in any heartbreak, so a little loneliness is a small price to pay. If he says it often enough he might even believe it. One thing for sure, the cop who arrested him isn’t about to change that.

Caleb Ashton does not have a complicated life. A senior detective with the Whangarei Police Department, he likes his job and is good at it. He works hard and plays hard, happy to enjoy as many men as he can while he’s still young enough—or at least he was. These days he feels adrift for the first time in his life, and the only thing sparking his interest—a certain prickly young midwife.

But can Drake find enough faith to risk opening his heart again? And does Caleb have what it takes to cope with the challenges Drake’s condition presents?

Jay Hogan is a New Zealand author writing in m/m romance, romantic suspense and fantasy. She has travelled extensively and has lived in quite a few countries. She has a BA degree in Nursing and in Theology, and in another life, she was an Intensive Care Nurse, Counselor, and a Lecturer.

She is a cat aficionado especially of Maine Coons, and an avid dog lover (but don’t tell the cat). She loves to cook- pretty damn good, loves to sing - pretty damn average, and as for loving full-time writing -absolutely… depending of course on the day, the word count, the deadline, how obliging her characters are, the ambient temperature in the Western Sahara, whether Jupiter is rising, the size of the ozone hole over New Zealand and how much coffee she’s had.

She has complex boys telling stories in her head that demand attention and a considerable number of words to go with them. Their journeys are never straightforward and even surprise Jay. She does her best to plot things out ahead of time but those pesky characters seem to have a mind of their own. Go figure.

You can find Jay at:

https://www.facebook.com/JayHoganAuthor

https://twitter.com/jayhoganauthor

jayhoganauthor@gmail.com

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Hosted By Signal Boost Promotions

Blog Tour + Giveaway: Melting For You (Neighborhood Shindig #1) by A.M. Arthur

The Melting For You (Neighborhood Shindig #1) blog tour visits the unicorns today! Don't miss author A.M. Arthur and Vibrant Promotions visit nor the $5 Amazon gift card giveaway attached! Learn more about the new contemporary series!

Melting For You

Neighborhood Shindig Series, Book #1

A.M. Arthur

Contemporary MM Romance

Release Date: 06.13.19

Cover Designer: Sloan J Designs/https://www.facebook.com/sloanjdesigns/

Blurb

Joel Fisher has been out of commission from a serious illness for the better part of a year, but now he’s ready to reclaim his life—except his apartment has been sublet, his partner is missing, and their shared food truck is stripped of everything not attached. In short, Joel has nothing. After an uncomfortable night sleeping on the food truck floor, Isaiah and Thomas Morrell give Joel an offer he can’t refuse: a rented room in their house, as well as their help creating a new food truck concept. Joel hates accepting charity, but he’s hit rock bottom and has nowhere to go but up.

Working with seemingly uptight Isaiah is actually pretty fun, and the pair bonds over a challenge to create a unique grilled cheese sandwich. Light flirting melts into a deeper connection neither man expects, but Isaiah isn’t in Reynolds for much longer, and Joel can’t get attached to the gorgeous professional chef. As Isaiah’s feelings for Joel strengthen and grow, he entertains the idea of staying in Neighborhood Shindig for good—but Joel hasn’t asked him to…

Welcome to Neighborhood Shindig, a friendly place where you can snack on a lamb kebab while getting your hair done, pick up your favorite herbal tea blend, and then go listen to live music under the pavilion. We’re happy to have you.

Universal Link: getbook.at/MeltingForYou

Excerpt

Joel found a parking spot near his building and got out, grateful to stretch sore, aching limbs. Long car rides were more difficult for him now, and he’d tried to stop as infrequently as possible, so eager to surprise Steve. Joel scanned the lot for Steve’s hatchback. It was midday on Tuesday, so the Shindig lot was closed—it gave not only the small business owners who rented pods, but also the owner/manager one full day off a week. Didn’t mean Steve had to be home, though.

Their unit was on the fourth floor, no elevator, and Joel hated that he was panting a bit by the time he got there. Definitely needed to start working out more, get back into shape. He was already tall and lean, but he’d lost about fifteen pounds of muscle this past year.

Excitement rolled through his belly as he put his key into their unit’s lock and turned—except it didn’t unlock. He double-checked, but yeah, right door and right key.

That’s weird.

Maybe Steve had needed to change the locks for some reason? He pushed the doorbell and waited, trying to fight back a big smile. The knob rattled and a chain slid back. The door opened about a foot and a dark-haired woman stared at him. “Can I help you?” she asked.

Joel blinked hard. “Um, does Steve Winslow live here?”

Don’t I live here?

“Not since the first of the month,” the woman replied. “He had to move suddenly, so I’m sub-leasing it through the end of the month, until my place is ready downstairs. Who are you?”

“Joel. I live here.”

“Oh, right, you’re the ex he mentioned.”

“Ex?” Ex what? He’d texted Steve yesterday about frivolous things, and Steve hadn’t said a damned thing about sub-leasing their place. A place Joel had paid this month’s rent on. “What do you mean ex?”

“He said you guys broke up, so you moved back to live with your parents in Virginia, and he’s moving…somewhere, I don’t think he said where. But your stuff is still here. He packed it up and left it in the hall closet.”

Joel did not understand what was happening right now. “We didn’t break up. We have a business together for God’s sake. I don’t understand.”

“Listen, do you want to come inside and sit? You look pale.”

“Um, yeah, thanks.”

The apartment was small, one-bedroom and only about six hundred square feet. It had come furnished, so none of the big stuff was his, and he’d taken clothing and his electronics with him to Virginia. Those personal things were in his car right now, waiting to be unpacked.

He sat on the familiar sofa, legs suddenly trembling, and tried to wrap his brain around what was happening.

The woman appeared with a bottle of water. “Here. I’m Emily, by the way.”

“Joel.” Had he already said that? “Steve never told me he moved out.”

“Oh, wow, that’s harsh. He ditched your place without telling you?”

“At least the lease isn’t up until August.” It gave him time to plan, even if it meant a strange female roommate for a few weeks. He couldn’t really afford the place on his own, and he still had no clue what was going on with the food truck.

“Um…” Emily chewed on her bottom lip. “The lease is month-to-month. It’s over in, like ten days, and I have a document with the landlord stating I’m the tenant.”

Joel gaped. “But…this is my place.”

“My place, dude, and no offense, but I do not know you, and I make it a point not to live with strange men.”

“How the hell can he change the lease without me…signing…? Fuck.” Because he dealt with college students, the building’s manager had multiple lease options. Year-long, which is what Joel always signed, but also college-term leases that lasted the length of the college’s school year, and then month-to-month options for the summer, or for temporary tenants. When Steve said he’d renewed the lease last summer while Joel was sick, Joel had assumed he’d done another full-year contract.

Joke’s on me.

“If you don’t believe me, I can get a copy of the lease,” Emily said.

“I believe you. I just don’t understand why he’d do this. Why he wouldn’t at least call and tell me he was leaving, or that if I came back I’d be homeless.”

A.M. Arthur was born and raised in the same kind of small town that she likes to write about, a stone's throw from both beach resorts and generational farmland. She's been creating stories in her head since she was a child and scribbling them down nearly as long, in a losing battle to make the fictional voices stop. She credits an early fascination with male friendships (bromance hadn't been coined yet back then) with her later discovery of and subsequent love affair with m/m romance stories. A.M. Arthur's work is available from Carina Press, SMP Swerve, and Briggs-King Books.

When not exorcising the voices in her head, she toils away in a retail job that tests her patience and gives her lots of story fodder. She can also be found in her kitchen, pretending she's an amateur chef and trying to not poison herself or others with her cuisine experiments.

Email: am_arthur@yahoo.com

Site: http://amarthur.blogspot.com/

Twitter http://twitter.com/am_arthur

Tumblr http://www.tumblr.com/blog/am-arthur

Newsletter: https://vr2.verticalresponse.com/s/signupformynewsletter16492674416904

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/A.M.Arthur.M.A

Facebook group Pot O Gold: https://www.facebook.com/groups/300209733646247/

Giveaway

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Release Blitz + Giveaway: Kiss Me Again by Garrett Leigh

Celebrate the release of Kiss Me Again with author Garrett Leigh and Signal Boost Promotions! Learn more about the contemporary romance and enter in the back list eBook giveaway!

Buy Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK | Universal Link - Exclusive to Amazon and Available to Borrow With Kindle Unlimited

Cover Design: Black Jazz Design

Length: 227 pages

Blurb

Tree surgeon Aidan Drummond is content with his own company. He works alone, and lives alone, and it doesn’t occur to him to want anything else until a life-changing accident lands him in hospital. Then a glimpse of the beautiful boy in the opposite bed changes everything.

Ludo Giordano is trapped on the ward with a bunch of old men. His mind plays tricks on him, keeping him awake. Then late one night, a new face brings a welcome distraction. Their unlikely friendship is addictive. And, like most things in Ludo’s life, temporary.

Back in the real world, Aidan’s monochrome existence is no longer enough. He craves the colour Ludo brought him, and when a chance meeting brings them back together, before long, they’re inseparable again.

But bliss comes with complications. Aidan is on the road to recovery, but Ludo has been unwell his entire life, and that’s not going to change. Aidan can kiss him as much as he likes, but if he can’t help Ludo when he needs him most, they don’t stand a chance.

"Kiss Me Again is a deliciously tender and prickly romance about the intimacy that comes with acceptance. Ludo and Aidan accept and love each other for exactly who they are—complications, injuries, mental health issues, moods—and I loved them for it." -- Roan Parish

Garrett Leigh is an award-winning British writer and book designer, currently working for Dreamspinner Press, Loose Id, Riptide Publishing, and Fox Love Press.

Garrett's debut novel, Slide, won Best Bisexual Debut at the 2014 Rainbow Book Awards, and her polyamorous novel, Misfits was a finalist in the 2016 LAMBDA awards.

When not writing, Garrett can generally be found procrastinating on Twitter, cooking up a storm, or sitting on her behind doing as little as possible, all the while shouting at her menagerie of children and animals and attempting to tame her unruly and wonderful FOX.

Garrett is also an award winning cover artist, taking the silver medal at the Benjamin Franklin Book Awards in 2016. She designs for various publishing houses and independent authors at blackjazzdesign.com, and co-owns the specialist stock site moonstockphotography.com with renowned LGBTQA+ photographer Dan Burgess.

Website: http://www.garrettleigh.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/garrettleighauthor/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Garrett_Leigh

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Review: Gideon (Finding Home #3) by Lily Morton

Gideon Ramsay is so far in the closet he should be a talking faun.

A talented, mercurial, and often selfish man, Gideon has everything he should want in life. Fame, money, acting awards – he has it all. Everything but honesty. At the advice of his agent, Gideon has concealed his sexuality for years. But it’s starting to get harder to hide, and his increasingly wild behaviour is threatening to destroy his career.

Then he’s laid low by a serious illness and into his life comes Eli Jones. Eli is everything that Gideon can’t understand. He’s sunny tempered, friendly, and optimistic. Even worse, he’s unaffected by grumpiness and sarcasm, which forms ninety percent of Gideon’s body weight. And now Gideon is trapped with him without any recourse to the drugs and alcohol that have previously eased his way through awkward situations.

However, as Gideon gets to know the other man, he finds himself wildly attracted to his lazy smiles and warm, scruffy charm that seem to fill a hole inside Gideon that’s been empty for a long time. Will he give in to this incomprehensible attraction when it could mean the end of everything that he’s worked for?

From the bestselling author of the Mixed Messages series comes a story about a man who needs to realise that being true to yourself is really just a form of finding home.

This is the third book in the Finding Home series but it can be read as a standalone.

Soooo… in the previous book there was an element that was really off putting for me that centered around Gideon and I even mentioned it in my review for book #2. I was all wtf… grrrr…. Gideon sucks (even though the name is 🔥🔥).

Gideon starts off with a bang as he’s drinking, doing drugs, and all about sex with as many people as possible. All those vices at the same time with multiple partners is a bonus. He’s self destructing as rapidly as his declining health and he’s doing anything to remain in a state of numbness. This gets him in trouble and he ends up in the care of nurse Eli.

Eli is a giant ray of sunshine in Gideons stormy world. He’s kind, funny, bossy, sarcastic, and has zero issues calling Gideon out on his behavior while he ignores his bastard persona. Soon, Eli becomes one of the very few people in Gideon’s world that cares and looks out for him; not their paycheck.

I adore Eli and Gideon together. They have great banter, lots of chemistry and heat. There’s some dirty talk, a bossy top, and some entertaining attempts to top from the bottom. This is a hurt/comfort that left me with all the warm/fuzzy feels. Gideon had an incredible redemptive character arc that was fully fleshed out. I was rooting for him very early on and he didn’t let me down.

The secondary characters in Lily’s books are always on point. Constance is a dream and the patchwork family that continues to build throughout each book in this series is highly entertaining and fun of warmth.

I really enjoyed Gideon but I had one niggle… where are MY LETTERS? Ahhhhhh!! I’m a HUGE sucker for written communication between MCs (whether it’s texts, emails, or actual letters). When they start writing letters I gear up to read a bunch of correspondence with witty lines and heartfelt sentiments. But I only got two? Total? One from each? That's it? #sadface #GIVEMEMYLETTERS

I was able to turn my frown upside down with the amazeballs epilogue. It’s full y’all. You’ll walk away with so many answers about the future and their HEA. I adore this series and will continue to read any that come out. Recommended.

Trigger Warning for drug and alcohol usage.

An ARC was provided in exchange for an honest review.

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