It’s Wrap-Up Wednesday time, and this month, I read a few books during the first half. During the second half, I’ve been panic-writing 😆
I picked up some new books. There was the free books thing from Romance Bookworms, and I grabbed a few titles I might not have touched should they not have been free, so that will be interesting 😁
Match with The Demon by Chace Verity
This was one of those books I picked up for free that I probably wouldn’t have read if it wasn’t, and I… eh… It’s quite funny. It’s a demon who picks through garbage, and it’s all very Canadian. I’ve never been to Canada, so I don’t know how Canadian it really is, but all the things I associate with Canada are in this one, almost as if the author has checked them off a list. Oh, and tentacles.
Harrison Hamilton rarely takes risks in his everyday life. Raising a kid by himself has required him to be extra careful at his construction job and with his heart. But with his child off at university, only two hamsters to keep him company at home, and Valentine’s Day looming around the corner, the lonely Canadian dad is ready to take a risk in the world of online dating.
When he matches with a ludicrously attractive guy named Lazlo who is eager to go out with him, Harrison can hardly believe his luck. His first date with a man, however, does not go the way he expects. Instead of a handsome human, a pleasure demon with tentacles and a strange interest in trash shows up.
Despite being a little catfished, Harrison finds himself enamored with the demon on a quest to find his true happiness. Lazlo is always down to take risks and charmingly passionate about everything. As they continue going on dates and seeing each other for who they really are, Harrison starts to find himself hoping the answer to the demon’s happiness is a human heart.
https://books2read.com/MatchWithTheDemon
Free Hand by E.M. Lindsey
This is another story I picked up for free, but it has been on my list of books to buy for some time, so lucky me 😊 I liked it – disability, flowers, and tattoos. And I get how when you’re writing a series, you have to peek and interest for a side character that will get their own story, but if I’m gonna complain about anything with this one, it was that it felt a bit like a line-up. This person has these problems, this person has these problems, this person has these problems, and if you keep on reading you’ll find out how they’re solved. I’m not saying it’s wrong, but for someone who normally doesn’t have the energy to read series, it felt like I already was pushed into one for only reading one story.
It begins on a rainy night, trapped in an ATM vestibule.
Derek Osbourne’s life is ruled by a carefully cultivated routine, and there’s no room for change. A tattoo artist at Irons and Works, Derek spends his days hunched over a chair, and his nights pouring his trauma onto a canvas. And that’s all he has time for. So, when a storm knocks out the power and he’s trapped with the ridiculously hot Deaf florist who just moved in across the street, he’s not sure what to do with himself.
Derek owes Basil for keeping his panic at bay while they waited for the doors to open, but he’s not sure there’s room for more than friendship.
With Basil’s hesitance to date a hearing man, and Derek still dealing with the trauma his abusive father left behind, happily ever after seems like it’s just a dream. But Derek finds it difficult to stay away, and the more Basil sticks around, the more Derek starts to wonder if he might be worthy of love.
https://books2read.com/FreeHand
Just George by Mary Calmes
I’ve read the A Matter of Time books, but it took me some time to realise that it was Sam and Jory’s Hanna in this one. She’s mostly grown up now! I also realised that Calmes is building a universe, and there was a time when I’d read most of what she’d written, and now there are so many books I haven’t read. I felt like I’d missed a few things. Not that I needed to know them for this story, but when they were mentioned, I was like, ‘Oh, did that happen?’
George Hunt can think of nothing he’d like more than to skip the high-society fundraiser where he has to guard a precocious seventeen-year-old girl and her judgmental therapist, but there’s no way out of it. If anything bad were to happen and he wasn’t there to stop it, he’d never forgive himself. So even though she’s grilling him about his dating life and the good doctor is psychoanalyzing him, he’s going to soldier on, because protecting his charges is what a knight does.
What he doesn’t count on is having to use both his training and his gun to make it through the night, or finding the last thing he ever expected… someone who actually sees him, not for the man he is, but for the man he could be with just a little bit of love.
https://books2read.com/JustGeorge
Wolf Heart by T.J. Nichols
A solid werewolf story. It has pack hierarchy and homophobia, and while I doubt I’ll remember the plot months from now, it was just what I was in the mood for when I read it. So great!
They belong to rival wolf packs…so why can’t they keep their hands off each other?
Paramedic Con Albury loves nothing more than spending his time off either as a wolf or at night clubs. He’s always looking for a good time, and he usually finds it. While he has aligned himself with the Outcast Pack for protection, he tells himself he prefers to be alone.
Zach Ellis has spent his life preparing to take over the pack just like everyone expects. Pack and family come first. But he needs more than duty and giving into temptation and falling into Con’s bed is easier than it should be.
But the fallout will threaten everything the Outcast Pack stands for: freedom and found family.
https://books2read.com/Wolf-Heart
El Presidio Rides North by Domashita Romero
This was my reread of the month over at Holly’s, so check out what I wrote there! A road trip during a zombie apocalypse.
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’.
Scarred by J.M. Snyder
Another reread simply because I was in the mood 😁
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.
When the new regulator rides into town and takes an interest in him, Dae is unwilling to believe that anyone who is a regulator can be a gentle, caring lover.
Is Coby strong enough to protect Dae and his sister Delia when there’s hell to pay in the form of McBane?
https://books2read.com/ScarredSnyder
I have the feeling I’ve forgotten a story. We’ll see if it pops up or if it’s forever gone. I did abandon a few, so it might be those spinning in my head.
First love – coming of age – family – acceptance
Lie back and think of England…
Levi Black is at a crossroads. After suffering a loss and breaking up a long-term relationship, he’s looking for a change. When he receives the news he’s inherited a house in York, he seizes the opportunity to begin a new chapter in his life.
What if the words you wrote came true?
Author Joshua Franklin Hill has a bad case of writer’s block. When an axe-wielding maniac knocks on his front door and asks to dig up his living room floor, he figures his Monday from hell is complete.
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.
Sandwich-maker Mattie Green has one goal: escape San Diego, move to New York, and attend art school. But to make this a reality, he needs to get his GED—not easy, since he can’t read or write. Until he can, he’s stuck working at the diner and selling himself on the side.
Daddy just took on a whole new meaning…
Choose your weapons.
Socially anxious Vincent has resigned himself to spending Thanksgiving alone this year, just him, the parade, and some pie. The last thing he expects is Cory, the handsome neighbor he’s been daydreaming about, to knock on his door with a holiday crisis of his own. Vincent would love to help him, but he’s afraid that the more time Cory spends with him, the sooner Vincent’s anxiety will drive him away.
Frosty former friends get a steamy second chance in this Christmas gay romance!
Ofelia Grand 