This was such an adorable small town best friend’s brother romance full of Christmas sparkles! Low on angst and truly bitter rivalry, but full of family, sweetness, Christmas decorations and fun banter.

I love Amy Aislin’s hockey series about the Vancouver Orcas, so when I found out that Amy had written a holiday story with former hockey players, I immediately had to sign up for an ARC! And I’m so happy I did! This story truly gave me all the warm and fuzzy Christmas feels.

Mik and Rudy have been rival hockey players since Mik’s rookie season, when a reporter pitted him against his older brother’s best friend. Now, they’re both retired and have continued their rivalry to the respective local pubs they’re managing in small town Christmas Falls. But when agreeing to help Mik’s brother Josh and his pregnant wife out by hosting a surprise party, they start to realize that maybe the rivalry was more of a habit than a real thing and that there might be other kinds of feelings hidden beneath it…

This story is pitched as a rivals to lovers one, but it really isn’t. It’s more about one of the MCs pining for the other for years and the other being oblivious to it. It was a great story, but it didn’t have that intensity and animosity that you expect from the rivals/enemies to lovers trope. It was also very low on angst and the MCs often, especially Mik, felt more like colleges guys than retired 30 plus hockey players.

But that said, it was a super cute Christmas story! When I got into the right mindset about the MCs dynamics, I loved their teasing banter, their loyalty to and support for Mik’s brother/Rudy’s best friend, the way Rudy had been pining for years but still didn’t think he was allowed to truly have Mik, and all the holiday feels.

Get Frosted is an absolutely lovely, sweet and fastpaced holiday story that is guaranteed to get you into the Christmas mood.

Thank you to Gay Book Promotions for the ARC! All opinions are my own and I am leaving my honest review voluntarily.

Rating:
4 stars

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Amy Aislin

This second book in the magical Blood Debts series had just as much (if not more!) mystery, deadly drama and amazing queer characters as the first one. The story was even darker and the characters even more morally grey, and there were even more subplots and ethical dilemmas that made it a whirlwind of revenge, mayhem and pain.

The Blood Debts series is a rich contemporary YA fantasy with powerful magical families, a unique world building full of Southern mystic and deadly drama in New Orleans. In this second installment, we get to follow the twins Cristina (Cris) and Clem as they deal with the consequences from the family blood justice collecting in the first book. Clem is struggling with guilt and how to bring all of his boyfriend’s soul back from the dead, while Cris is just angry and wants revenge. Overall, there is a lot of rage and anger in this book; at the systems and the injustice, racial oppression and dehumanization of black people, at old betrayals and evil pacts, as well as pain and hurt from being abandoned or abused.

There is so much going on in this book, so many layers and so many heavy subjects that it was a literal whirlwind reading it. While I’m utterly impressed by Terry J. Benton-Walker for the creativity and the amazing story, it also made it a little slow to read with all the different subplots and all characters, compared to the first book. I still loved the diverse characters and how they were all so fleshed out, morally grey and relatable, but I struggled a little bit with rooting for them this time. Especially Cris who did a lot of bad and seriously questionable things in this book. At times I wasn’t sure I wanted her to succeed in getting the throne.

But all in all, this was a very well executed second installment in a series I can’t wait to continue. This series has such a unique mix of urban fantasy, mystery, heavy topics of oppression of black and queer people, mental illness and trauma, love, friendship, healing and forgiveness that I look forward to exploring even more in the next installment. The jaw dropping cliffhanger certainly indicates that the story will not get less addictive or complicated in the next book…

Disclaimer: I received a review copy for free via NetGalley, but I am leaving my honest review. Many thanks to Tor/Forge and Terry J. Benton-Walker for the opportunity!

Rating:
4 stars

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Terry J. Benton-Walker

Such a stunningly beautiful and emotional story! It reminded me a lot of A Little Life in the sense that it had the same vibes, emotions and melancholy, as well as the epicness in the tale about love/friendship during decades and the dealing with trauma and disability, but without the devastating level of pain and sadness. (A Little Life totally ruined me, so much that my stomach still twists when thinking about it. Luckily this book did not wreck me, just gave me a wonderful reading experience.)

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is a story about gaming, love and friendship, spanning thirty years. It lets us follow the main characters from their first meeting playing games together at a hospital as children to their university years on to their professional success and failures as game developers. It also lets us follow them as characters, growing from children to adults, through ups and downs, friendships and betrayals, love and jealousy, grief and loss, joy and resignation. It’s a love story, but not in the traditional romantic way. It’s also a beautiful tale about accepting your limitations but rising above them, finding strength in failure, pushing your boundaries, and acknowledging your need to be loved and to love.

This book was such a unique story that it’s difficult to make it justice in a review. It left a deep impression on me and gave me so much nostalgia and emotions. I didn’t always love the main characters or agree with their decisions, but I rooted for them wholeheartedly. The friendship was written in such a beautiful way full of soul it felt almost philosophical. And even though I’m not a gamer myself, the gaming parts really added to the story in the brilliant way Gabrielle Zevin used them as metaphors for life and emotions.

All in all, this book was pure joy to read (even though it was quite sad and made me tear up several times)! It’s one of the most beautiful and wholesome stories I’ve ever read about friendship and I know I will remember it for a long time. It’s one of those stories that truly made an impact on me and I cannot recommend it enough! 

Rating:
5 stars

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Gabrielle Zevin

I absolutely loved Everina Maxwell’s first book, Winter’s Orbit, so I was a bit scared that my expectations would be too high for Ocean’s Echo. But I’m glad to say that even though the plot was a bit slower and more complicated, I really enjoyed Ocean’s Echo as well, and that I once again rooted for the amazing, fleshed out and somewhat morally grey characters!

The author originally pitched this book as “like fake dating but with fake soulbonding, also both characters are in the space military”, which is such a spot on summary!
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It’s not really a romance book, even though there is romance, but more of a sci-fi action book with romantic parts (including pining, friends to lovers and miscommunication but very little physical attraction) and a lot of space battles, mind control, military fraternization, betrayals, power imbalance and a very intriguing unique world building.

In short, this book follows the selfish, immature, flirty, and walking disaster Tennalhin Halkana (Tennal), who is a neuromodified “reader” and part of the elite as a nephew of the Legislator. After one too many screw-ups, the Legislator forcibly conscripts him into the military, where he is placed into the care of Lieutenant Surit Yeni (Surit), a duty-bound soldier, “architect”, and the son of a notorious traitor general. Whereas Tennal can read minds, Surit can impose his will onto others, and he’s under orders to control Tennal by merging their minds. However, for various reasons, neither of them wants this sync, so they fake it and begin to plan for Tennal’s escape. But pretending to be synced means that they have to get to know each other deeply and despite their wish a bond and unwanted feelings start to grow…

I enjoyed this book a lot, but I didn’t love it the way I did Winter’s Orbit. The romance didn’t have the same chemistry, and mostly took place inside the heads of Tennal and Surit. It was also complicated by the power dynamics of the mental sync plot. The overall plot was also quite complicated and dragged somewhat, compared to Winter’s Orbit. I would have loved to get more of the romance and maybe a little less of the political betrayals, strategic plot twists and complicated chaotic space navigations. But overall it was a great story with amazing characters to root for and I absolutely loved the crew and their group dynamics, snarky banter and neverfailing loyalty! 

Rating:
4 stars

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Macmillan

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Everina Maxwell

This was such an emotional childhood friends-to-lovers mm romance with two amazing main characters to root for. It both wrecked me and filled me with hope. I loved how this book had a different vibe than many other sports romances, with the MCs having a childhood of neglect and abuse, respectively dealing with addiction, that added extra layers to the forbidden love trope.

The story follows the two basketball players Xander and Chris from age 14 to over a decade later, letting us be part of their life, love, growth, hopes and struggles. Xander comes from a broken home with an addicted mother and her violent and abusive boyfriends. The only good thing in his life is basketball. When he’s on the court playing nothing else matters and it gives him a chance to forget his misery for a moment. But when he meets Chris, there is suddenly something else in his life that matters as much as basketball. Chris’s family welcomes Xander into their lives and gives him love, food and a home.

I adored Chris’s family and the way they loved Xander unconditionally. I also loved the mutual respect and how Xander didn’t want for him and Chris to act on their feelings while living at their house. Due to this, the romance is such a burning slow one full of yearning, longing, suppressed feelings that threaten to explode and made this story so addictive and intense to read.

What wrecked me though was the horrible homophobia that Xander and Chris had to endure and how they had to hide and pretend. The lies and hiding were killing them, and me as a reader as well. Amy Lane did an amazing job describing the anxiety, the frustration and the longing for being allowed to show their true selves, and the toll it takes.

My only tiny complaint is that the cover doesn’t match the story, really, so don’t let the cover fool you into believing that this is an easy cute YA story, when it’s so much more than that.

All in all, this was a beautiful and emotional love story that was both hopeful and utterly heartbreaking at the same time. It will wreck you, but it’s worth it, I promise!

Rating:
5 stars

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Amy Lane

This second book in The Cabots series was even more cute and heartwarming than the first! I adored the main character Peter and the grumpy bantering between him and Caleb; the chemistry between them was absolutely sizzling! A truly wonderful enemies-to-lovers queer historical romance!

On surface, Peter Cabot has everything. He comes from a wealthy, political family (quite a lot resembling the Kennedys), is good looking, with a bright future. But in fact, he loathes his father and dreads the life he’s expected to live when he leaves college.

Caleb Murphy on the other hand, has always struggled to make ends meet, has to rely upon charity and is quite bitter and grumpy about the hand he’s been given in life. Especially compared to privileged, spoiled Peter.

But maybe, just maybe, they have more in common than they think? When circumstances make them spend a week together driving from Boston to Los Angeles sparks start to fly…

I love Cat Sebastian’s queer historical stories (We Could Be So Good is one of my favorite books) and this one certainly didn’t disappoint either. Cat Sebastian creates the most wonderful, fleshed out characters, and has a way of writing that just pulls you in. I really appreciated that this second book in the series was a full-length one (even though it was a bit on the short side too), so that the characters had more time to develop and their relationship to slowly go from grumpy dislike to friends to something more.

I also truly appreciate the authenticy in which Cat Sebastian describes the current time period (the 1960s in this case) and the fear and homophobia that queer people had to live with. Lovely first time exploration, learning to trust and being vulnerable. And the importance of being true to yourself!

All in all, this was a highly enjoyable, adorable and heartwarming queer historical story. Highly recommended!

Rating:
4 stars

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Cat Sebastian

What a cute and heartwarming queer historical second chance romance! As always in stories written by Cat Sebastian, this novella had some truly wonderful characters, a swooning romance and the kind of authentic historical queer plot that I’ve come to love and expect from Cat Sebastian. 

I would perhaps have preferred for this to be a full-length novel instead of a novella, so the story and characters could have had some more developments and interactions, but all in all this was a highly enjoyable and wonderful read!

Rating:
4 stars

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Cat Sebastian

This was a cute, lighthearted, over the top, almost like fanfiction, story set at a private boarding school for mages. So, something of a queer urban fantasy, I guess, but it’s hard to categorize it. I did love a lot of the things in it (it had all my favorite tropes, like literally ALL of them) but I still felt like there was something important missing from the story.

Arthur Pham and Mika Rivera have been enemies and academic rivals from the start, always competing to be number one in class. For Arthur though, it’s more at stake than just the honor; he needs to win the fellowship money granted to the top student to be able to pay his tuition fee. When an ancient spell reveals that Arthur and Mika are soulmates, their lives turn into a rollercoaster of fake dating, becoming friends, then hating each other again and starting over with real dating, fake dating, not sure-what-we-are confusion due to the characters being totally oblivious.

So, I’m struggling a bit with my feelings for this book. I loved the fanfiction and Carry On vibes, but even though the resemblance with Carry On was high, it was a very different story. It lacked some of the intensity and addictiveness from Carry On, and a lot of the plot was a bit too cheesy for me personally. I felt that there was a little too much going on, which made it feel a bit silly at times.

I also didn’t appreciate the cheating part, it could have been solved in a much better way, so that takes away a star for me.

But it was nevertheless a fun story and easy read, with great tropes! So 3,5 stars rounding down to 3 stars.

Rating:
3 stars

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Birdie Lynn

This novella is something of a prequel to The Amazing Alpha Tau Boyfriend Project and takes place in the same Alpha Tau frat universe, letting us know how Trey and Scout became boyfriends.

Scout needs his space and time alone from all social activities, but his roommate is the exact opposite. Trey also takes his duties as house manager a little too seriously. But both of them are single and currently on a romantic try spell, so somehow they end up helping each other out. Which doesn’t really mean anything, right? Scout isn’t even into guys, or is he…?

This short novella was an easy and fun read, but maybe a little too simplistic. There really wasn’t any drama, not about the helping out part nor the part where Scout finds out he’s not as straight as he thought he was. But still, enjoyable and nice! I especially appreciated how supportive and openminded the frat bros were. No toxic masculinity at all, which was a pleasant fresh new take, and I’m definitely looking forward to reading more stories about this wholesome group of frat bros!

Thank you to the authors for the free copy, which I have voluntarily reviewed.

Rating:
3 stars

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Lisa Henry
Sarah Honey

This was a cute historical queer romance, with adorable main characters and the right amount of spice. But the plot was kind of all over the place and there was a lot that didn’t make sense.

Set in Industrial Manchester in the 1890s, this book tells the swooning and unlikely romance between mill clerk Mr. Warren and the young baronet Sir Lindsey. Aubrey Warren was born in a workhouse and has struggled to make a life for himself ever since. Not stopping at earning his money as a ‘telegraph boy’, i.e. a prostitute. When the mill he works at gets a new owner, his life will change dramatically. Lindsey Althorp has never worked a day in his life and has no real clue of what it takes to earn a living. Nor the danger of showing his not-so-professional affection for his new employees…

The book started off really strong, and I immediately loved the purehearted, cinnamon roll, Golden Retriever naïve Lindsey. He was the absolute sweetest! So clueless, but always so kind and endearing. I also enjoyed the rich/poor, employer/employee situation and the historical settings with the gentlemen’s club, the boarding school friends and the strong willed women who found ways of pursuing their dreams despite the society’s restrictions, as well as the very sarcastic and British kind of humor (I actually don’t know if Sebastian Northwell is British or not, but the humor and writing style really had that vibe).

But after the strong start, the book started to drag sadly, and the plot started to take all kinds of turns with random things happening and characters acting in ways that didn’t really make any sense, or contradicted the way they had behaved before. I think some more editing could have solved this issue, as well as the problem with the transitions between the different POVs that made this book lose some of the flow. Too bad for a story that had such great potential!

But all in all, it was nevertheless a sweet and swoony read, with characters to root for and great humor!

Rating:
3 stars

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Sebastian Nothwell