It’s Wrap-Up Wednesday time and I don’t have a clue what I’ve read LOL I’ve reread a few books, DNFed a few that I won’t mention, and so on. So before I continue this post, allow me to have a look at my various reading apps 😂
ePistols at Dawn by Z.A. Maxfield
I borrowed this from the library. I believed I owned it, and maybe I do, but I couldn’t find it when I scrolled through my different ebook staches. I’m so disorganised these days. Sigh.
I love some parts of this book, and some I’m not loving at all, but now I’ve reread it, so I know! 😁
Choose your weapons.
Jae-sun Fields is pissed. Someone has taken the seminal coming-out, coming-of-age novel Doorways and satirized it. He’s determined to use his Internet skills and his job as a tabloid reporter to out the author as the fraud and no-talent hack he’s sure she is.
Kelly Kendall likes his anonymity and, except for his houseboy, factotum and all-around slut, Will, he craves solitude. There’s also that crippling case of OCD that makes it virtually impossible for him to leave the house. He’s hidden his authorship of Doorways behind layers of secrets and several years’ worth of lies – until he loses a bet.
Satirizing his own work, as far as he can see, is his own damned prerogative. Except now he has an online stalker, one who always seems several steps ahead of him in their online duel for information.
A chance meeting reveals more than hidden identities – it exposes a mutual magnetic attraction that can’t be denied. And pushes the stakes that much higher, into a zone that could get way too personal.
Warning: This book contains large Korean men; Will, the houseboy, factotum, and all-around slut; hot sexy manlove including oral sex, and serious ass play. (Jae’s note to self: OCD + socks + mouth = BAD.)
https://books2read.com/ePistolAtDawn
Demons Do It Better by Louisa Masters
I reread Demons Do It Better because I was in the mood. Sam. Sigh. Awesome series, and I might read the others too. I read them out of order the first time, so it could be fun to read them in order. Maybe. They’re awesome!
I work for Lucifer. Only, it’s not as cool and satanic as it sounds.
The truth is, I’m an admin assistant who applied for a job that sounded kind of interesting and ended up working for the Community of Species Government. I’m the only human in the office, and basically I ride herd on a team of rambunctious shifters and demons.
I also spend a lot of time avoiding Gideon Bailey, the demon I had a one-night stand with right before I took this job. He hates me, and I really want to avoid being murdered. But I’ve been offered a promotion that will mean working with him, so we’re both going to have to get over it.
Plus, people are going missing. Pregnant people. And the word is that someone is dabbling in genetic experimentation. Putting a stop to that is more important than the sexual tension Gideon and I have been ignoring… isn’t it?
https://books2read.com/Demons-Do-It-Better
Too Stupid to Live by Anne Tenino
And I reread Too Stupid to Live. Again. I mentioned it in last week’s blog post and thought, yeah, that’s time well spent. I love this. Sam (I think I have a soft spot for characters named Sam 😅). If your boyfriend doesn’t play highlander with you, he’s not worth having LOL
A Romancelandia Novel
It isn’t true love until someone gets hurt.
Sam’s a new man. Yes, he’s still too tall, too skinny, too dorky, too gay, and has that unfortunate addiction to romance novels, but he’s wised up. His One True Love is certainly still out there, but he knows now that real life is nothing like fiction. He’s cultivated the necessary fortitude to say “no” to the next Mr. Wrong, no matter how hot, exciting, and/or erotic-novel-worthy he may be.
Until he meets Ian.
Ian’s a new man. He’s pain-free, has escaped the job he hated and the family who stifled him, and is now — possibly — ready to dip his toe into the sea of relationships. He’s going to be cautious, though, maybe start with someone who knows the score and isn’t looking for anything too complicated. Someone with experience and simple needs that largely revolve around the bedroom.
Until he meets Sam.
Sam’s convinced that Ian is no one’s Mr. Right. Ian’s sure that Sam isn’t his type. They can’t both be wrong…can they?
* * * * * * *
The Romancelandia stories can read in any order — jump in wherever you’d like!
https://books2read.com/TooStupidToLive
The Truth About Riley by Henrietta Clarke
Another reread – you see the theme of the month? I never used to reread books, now it’s like my brain can’t take in new information. I don’t think this is available anymore. It’s a sweet story about a guy who has burn scars on his face and hardly dares leave his apartment. Slow burn.
Riley Aylworth’s life has been completely devoid of intimate contact since a fire three years ago left him with horrific facial scarring, so when he finds an ad for a phone sex service, he decides to give it a call. Except that the number is not a phone sex service—it’s the revenge Cameron Kirkwood’s ex-boyfriend took on the uptight advertising executive after Cam forgot their anniversary and accidentally put him in the hospital. Needless to say, after thirty-nine disturbing calls seeking phone sex, Cameron is at the end of his tether and yells at his fortieth caller. What he doesn’t expect is for Riley to hit redial and yell right back.
The argument helps both Cameron and Riley vent about their issues, and when they’ve calmed down, they decide to exchange numbers and talk again. From this decision springs a friendship that, over time, grows into a gentle romance—all over the phone, because Riley is too scared to meet Cam in person. Showing a potential boyfriend his disfigured face is the fastest way to get rejected, right? Even a month of scorching hot phone sex can’t change his mind, no matter how hard Cam tries to persuade him that with their phone chemistry, the sex would be so much better in person.
Meanwhile, Cam is haunted by the scarred blond he seems to be seeing everywhere, and Riley can’t get the handsome brunet who always seems happy to see him out of his mind. It’s a shock to both men to realise that the guy they’re falling for over the phone is also the man who brightens their day with just a smile; but it’s one thing to let a stranger smile at you and quite another to let him close enough to see into your soul. If Riley can’t break down the walls in his mind and believe that Cameron loves him in spite of his scars, their relationship may be doomed before they’ve even had a chance to kiss.
Nowhere Ranch by Heidi Cullinan
Another story I mentioned in last week’s blog post and thought I should reread. I rec it often, but it’s been many years since I read it, and it’s way more hardcore than I like my books. In general. And yeah… It is way more hardcore than I like my books LOL, and the sex scenes are far out of my comfort zone, but I like Roe and Travis, so I think I’m gonna keep recommending it.
Love will grow through the cracks you leave open.
Ranch hand Roe Davis absolutely never mixes business with pleasure—until he runs into his boss, Travis Loving, at the only gay bar within two hundred miles.
Getting involved with the ranch owner is a bad idea, but Roe’s and Travis’s bedroom kinks line up against one another like a pair of custom-cut rails. As long as they’re both clear this is sex on the side, no relationship, no interfering with the job, they could make it work.
Shut out by his family years ago, Roe survived by steadfastly refusing to settle into so much as a post office box. As his affair with Travis grows into more than just sex, Roe’s past catches up with him, threatening the thin ray of happiness he’s found, reminding him it’s well past time he went on his way.
But even a loner gets lonely, and at this point, there’s nowhere left to run. The shame and sorrow of what he’s lost will stay with Roe wherever he goes—until he’s ready to let love lead him home.
https://books2read.com/NowhereRanch
One Small Thing by Piper Vaughn and M.J. O’Shea
I got a bit unsure if I read One Small Thing this month or last, but I didn’t mention it the last month’s wrap-up, so I guess I read it this month. This is cute, a single dad trying to keep his life together by seeking help from his neighbour. I thought Rue was a bit selfish, but…
Daddy just took on a whole new meaning…
Rue Murray likes guys — hot guys, younger guys, older guys, all sorts.
So why did he have a one night stand with a lady? He’s kind of impulsive. Just ask his best friend, Dusty. His impulsivity can get him into trouble — trouble like an oopsie baby on the way that Rue is about zero percent ready for.
Rue is overwhelmed, but he won’t give Alice up. What he needs is a nanny, and he’s running out of options. He’s on the verge of a breakdown when he remembers his reclusive neighbor, Erik. Erik is a sci-fi novelist with anxiety issues to spare. He doesn’t like people in general, and he likes babies even less. But cash is cash and with his royalties circling the drain… he needs it.
He’s Rue’s saving grace.
Rue and Erik are as different as two people can be, and Alice is the unlikeliest of babies, but sometimes about a million wrongs can mix together to make something that feels very, very right.
https://books2read.com/One-Small-Thing
Butterfly Hunter by Julie Bozza
And this is the book I read for the Reread Friday post over at Holly’s, so you can read all about it there if you’re in the mood. It’s beautiful, my only complaint is that I wish it had stopped around the 85% mark.
It started as a simple assignment for Aussie bush guide Dave Taylor – escort a lone Englishman in quest of an unknown species of butterfly. However, Nicholas Goring is no ordinary tourist, his search is far from straightforward, and it’s starting to look as if the butterflies don’t want to be found. As Dave teaches Nicholas everything he needs to survive in the Outback he discovers that he too has quite a bit to learn – and that very often the best way to locate something really important is just not to want to find it…
https://books2read.com/ButterflyHunter
I have a feeling I’ve read more books, but… eh… disorganised. I might add them to next month’s post or we’ll just have to live without LOL
James Killian learns the hard way that sometimes smaller towns can be full of bigots. When he comes out to his father he is not only kicked out of his home but off the Quadruple J where he works as the ranch foreman. With nowhere to go and little money, his savior comes in the unlikely form of his older brother’s best friend, the man he’s been in love with for over half his life.
New York City FBI team leader Samuel Shaughnessy lives for his immediate family and his job. After a marriage gone wrong, he has stuck to a firm rule when it comes to relationships: he doesn’t have them. Sexually active and emotionally unavailable keeps him satisfied, especially now that he is in hot pursuit of a serial killer targeting gay men.
Samuel Briggs moved to small-town Stratton, Pennsylvania, to escape his tragic past and try to start over. When he’s not out walking his beat as a police officer, all he wants is peace, a manageable routine, and time to fix up his newly-purchased project home. And Samuel absolutely does not have room in his new routines for a relationship. Except a chance encounter with a handsome diner cook unexpectedly shakes his resolve.
Daniel Whitlock is terrified of going to sleep. And rightly so: he sleepwalks, with no awareness or memory of his actions. Including burning down Kenny Cooper’s house — with Kenny inside it — after Kenny brutally beat him for being gay. Back in the tiny town of Logan after serving his prison sentence, Daniel isolates himself in a cabin in the woods and chains himself to his bed at night.
When alcohol and fierce tempers land two cowboys from the rodeo circuit under house arrest, it may be time to Let It Go.
The Great North, Quebec, 1934. Joe Vega, the Beast, has been locked up in Linhart Prison for three years. The brutish guards harass him because of his size, but Joe remains cool.
I kept tripping over my feet, tripping over my words, and eventually gave up talking all together. You continued to smile anyway.
Lie back and think of England…
Daniel Mulligan is tough, snarky, and tattooed, hiding his self-consciousness behind sarcasm. Daniel has never fit in—not at home in Philadelphia with his auto mechanic father and brothers, and not at school where his Ivy League classmates looked down on him. Now, Daniel’s relieved to have a job at a small college in Holiday, Northern Michigan, but he’s a city boy through and through, and it’s clear that this small town is one more place he won’t fit in.
It begins on a rainy night, trapped in an ATM vestibule.
On the verge of death by zombie in a public restroom, a young man is saved at the last minute by a shovel—and the intriguing man who wields it. A man who doesn’t really want company, and definitely isn’t interested in sharing names. But ‘Mercury’ also comes with an RV that doubles as a zombie-proof fortress, and almost any company is better than none—even if that company has a cute nickname for his nailgun, and inflicts him with the name ‘Gaga’.
Biker gangs known as regulators rule the streets of a war-torn city with hate and pain — their cruelty is etched into every inch of Dae’s battered body. He has never known anything but hurt from the hands of men … until he meets Coby.
Ofelia Grand 