New Release: Out of Nowhere (Middle of Somewhere #2)

Title: Out of Nowhere (Middle of Somewhere #2)

Author: Roan Parish

Publisher/GR Link: Dreamspinner

Genre: MM Contemporary

Vice: OFY, traumatic past, homophobia

Rating: 5 Stars

Lock this book up: 3.5 Stars.  The sex is very hot and helps to move along the story line.

Length: Novel

Satisfaction: HEA

Cover Impressions: Gorgeous.

Best Line: “I love you too,” he says.. And I don’t have to see his face to know that he is smiling.”

Synopsis: The only thing in Colin Mulligan’s life that makes sense is taking cars apart and putting them back together. In the auto shop where he works with his father and brothers, he tries to get through the day without having a panic attack or flying into a rage. Drinking helps. So do running and lifting weights until he can hardly stand. But none of it can change the fact that he’s gay, a secret he has kept from everyone.

Rafael Guerrera has found ways to live with the past he’s ashamed of. He’s dedicated his life to social justice work and to helping youth who, like him, had very little growing up. He has no time for love. Hell, he barely has time for himself. Somehow, everything about miserable, self-destructive Colin cries out to him. But down that path lie the troubles Rafe has worked so hard to leave behind. And as their relationship intensifies, Rafe and Colin are forced to dredge up secrets that both men would prefer stay buried.

Impressions: This book was not always easy to read, but it was always worth it.  I could not tear myself away from Colin, who narrates his own difficult tale, until I was sure that Rafe and he could make it to a brighter part of their dark journeys.

Colin was such a hated and hateful character in book 1, it was hard for me to imagine that I would ever feel badly for him.  I loved book 1, and I was ready to read anything created by this author.

In book 2, Colin doesn’t start off any more likable than he was in book 1, but there is a certain vulnerability that builds off the last time we had seen him in book 1.  I reread book 1 right before this one, and I am glad I did.  Parrish expertly overlaps the chronology of these two stories and provides an insight into Colin’s terrible self image and family past.  With each word I began to realize Colin’s struggle until my heart hurt along with him.

Rafe was a great counterpart for Colin.  He is tough and strong, yet compassionate and patient.  He never seemed to lose his own identity and self worth in the face of Colin’s hurt and pain, and I respected him for that.  He was a wonderful man for Colin, but he brought his own strength and past to the equation.

The secondary characters (including some awesome queer kids!), and revisits from Dan and Rex made this book and even bigger gift.  I know it is only February, but this might be a best of 2016 already.

New Release: The Queen and the HomoJock King (Tell Me It's Real #2)

Title: The Queen and the Homo Jock King (Tell Me Its Real #2)

Author: T.J. Klune

Publisher/GR Link:Dreamspinner, GR

Genre: MM Contemporary

Vice: Drag queen, OFY, Comedy

Rating: 5 stars

Lock this book up: 3 keys.  The sex supports the great storyline.

Length: Novel

Satisfaction: A my-mouth-hurts-from-smiling HEA

Cover Impressions: I love it!

Best Line: “ ‘Wow,’ Nana said. ‘So apparently it’s cool these days to kiss like you’re wanting to eat faces.  That doesn’t look hygenic.’”

Synopsis: Do you believe in love at first sight?

Sanford Stewart sure doesn't. In fact, he pretty much believes in the exact opposite, thanks to the Homo Jock King. It seems Darren Mayne lives for nothing more than to create chaos in Sandy’s perfectly ordered life, just for the hell of it. Sandy despises him, and nothing will ever change his mind.

Or so he tells himself.

It's not until the owner of Jack It—the club where Sandy performs as drag queen Helena Handbasket—comes to him with a desperate proposition that Sandy realizes he might have to put his feelings about Darren aside. Because Jack It will close unless someone can convince Andrew Taylor, the mayor of Tucson, to keep it open.

Someone like Darren, the mayor’s illegitimate son.

The foolproof plan is this: seduce Darren and push him to convince his father to renew Jack It’s contract with the city.

Simple, right?

Wrong.

Impressions:  I’ve been waiting for this book for so long, and it was everything that I had hoped for and more!  I re-read book one, which was a total joy to re-live (and made me text my friends >.<  SEX FACE! all week.)  I loved revisiting Paul and Vince, and I ate up all of the hints about Darren and Sandy that I found in book 1.

The Queen and the Homo Jock was a welcome addition to book 1, and it had me laughing out loud as much, if not more, than book 1.  The dialogue in this book is just too much to classify in a few paragraphs…It is zany, outlandish, realistic, humorous and heartbreaking all at once.  Trying to find a “best line” in this book is almost impossible because there are so many to choose from.

This isn’t a book that has a slow build of of passion, or star crossed lovers, but it is a book that will make you laugh while you watch two men fall in love.  The romance is real, adorable, and endearing. 

If you haven’t tried any of Klune’s comedies, you don’t want to miss Tell Me Its Real or the Queen and the Homojock.  Klune has written one of my all time favorite novels (MM or any genre) in Into This River I Drown.  That book broke my heart as it put it back together.  These books could not be more different in style or story, or more similar in the sheer amazing reading experiences that they provide.

I probably don’t even need to tell you this, but get this one lined up on the top of your TBR pile.  These books are the “real” deal!

New Release: Love Me Tenor (Perfect Harmony, #2)

Title: Love Me Tenor (Perfect Harmony #2)

Author: Annabeth Albert

Publisher/GR Link: Lyrical Shine, GR

Genre: New Adult

Vice: OFY, Interracial, Troubled family

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Lock this book up: 3 stars.  The sex is supported by the relationship

Length: Novel

Satisfaction: HEA

Cover Impressions: Really cute.  I love the layout of this series.

Best Line: “…but it was OK.  They’d have time.”

Synopsis: Trevor Daniels is feeling aimless. A recent college grad, he’s not sure what to do with his useless degree, and his family all but abandoned him after he revealed the truth about himself. But a friend’s suggestion that he take his chances on a reality show aimed at finding the next big boy band strikes a chord with him—until the show’s producers convince him to act like he’s in a relationship with a guy who’s not at all his type. It isn’t exactly love at first sight for Jalen Smith either—but lust just might push them in an unexpected direction. If only their secrets weren’t even more twisted than their sheets, threatening to cost them the win—and each other…

Impressions: I loved the first book in this series, and Trevor broke my heart a little in book 1, so I couldn’t wait for him to get his own, well deserved, HEA.  I was not at all let down!

Jalen was adorable and so loving, and I loved learning about his family and his outlook on the world.  Trevor is such a perfect match for him, with his fumbling health, his self esteem issues and his longing to be loved.  The secondary characters were great and well developed, and the tv setting was well done.  I admit that I am a huge fan of the “pretend to be together” trope, and Alberts does it so well. 

It was so cute to watch Jalen and Trevor slowly fall in love and learn to trust in each other for the HEA they both wanted, but didn’t know they could ever have. 

This series has not let me down at all, and I am looking forward to book 3!