2/29/2024 0 Comments American Love Songs by Ashlyn KaneThis was such a sweet, fun and charming feelgood romance with characters learning a thing or two about life and themselves! The story follows Jake and his best friends’ alt-rock band, The Wayward Sons, as they find a new lead guitarist in the sexy nerdy Parker. It has a completely clueless MC, so much fun banter and quirkiness, a super slow burn friends to lovers romance and the perfect amount of heartbreak and emotions! It’s a sweet YA story, focusing on feelings rather than smut, which I appreciated. And I loved the writing style with the interspersing of blogs, texting, and media releases to tell the story (even though the blogging part felt a bit outdated and made you realize that the book was released in 2010).
All in all, a sweet, lovely, goofey, fun and heartwarming m/m band romance story that I’ve already reread twice now and know I will keep coming back to as a comfort-read! Rating: 5 stars Get your own copy: Author links Add on Goodreads Author info: Ashlyn Kane
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This wonderful novella is set in The Cabots universe, even though there’s no real connection to the Cabot family, and it’s just as amazing as the other books in the series! In just about 100 pages, Cat Sebastian manages to write a completely addictive story with fleshed out characters to root for. Set in the 1950s it tells the story of Billy and Luke, who are baseball players and teammates. Recently Luke has been injured and gone into hiding, leaving Billy sick of worry. Billy, who has been able to keep his feelings hidden for more than five years, suddenly don’t know what to do when Luke turns up on his porch.
I loved the way the two of them slowly opened up to each other and letting themselves be vulnerable, despite the potential consequences. Cat Sebastian always has such an authentic way in describing the current time period and the fear and homophobia that queer people had to live with. Adorable first time experience, witty banter and pretend dislike to (unsuccessfully) disguise the true feelings. And Billy’s mother was pure gold! All in all, this was yet another highly enjoyable, adorable and heartwarming queer historical story by Cat Sebastian! Rating: 5 stars Get your own copy: Author links Author info: Cat Sebastian I absolutely adored this cute and heartwarming YA RomCom! It had so many things I love, like secret romance, friends to lovers, finding your path to live an authentic life and music nerdery. The story follows the two 17-year-olds Emmett and Luke. Emmett dares to dream and to follow his dreams; he’s already taking his first small steps towards becoming the country music’s biggest gay superstar. Luke is the opposite, his dreams are much less grand, but even so he doesn’t dare to follow them, too focused on finding a realistic plan to help his struggling family out. Due to his religious mother, being openly gay is not an option either. And as for country music, it’s a forbidden topic, being the grandson of the disgraced country singer Verna Rose, who had a famous falling out with the big star Wanda Jean.
But when Luke gets a job at Wanda World and runs into Emmett sparks start to fly and maybe, just maybe, Luke can finally let his guard down a bit and allow himself to dream and discover his true queer self. This was such a sweet story, but also with more depth than the cute cover might hint at. My heart ached for Luke and how he put his family before his own happiness and how he struggled to keep his true self hidden, while not being able to stay away from Emmett. It was so raw and authentic in the way Luke’s fear for and the consequences of being outed in the wrong circumstances was described. In a small town there’s no going back once the truth is out there. But I also ached for Emmett’s struggles to keep his principles and his dreams about being an openly gay country musician when the record labels tried to persuade him otherwise. It really takes a lot of courage and integrity to stay true to yourself when your whole career is at stake before it has even started! I had some problems with how Luke treated Emmett at times, and how Emmett let himself accept getting less respects than he deserved, but at the same time I fully understand why and where they were both coming from. In the end, it made the story more authentic and the characters more relatable. I haven’t listened much to country music, to be honest, but this book definitely made me want to try! I loved the music references and how important music was to Emmett. The music was almost like a character in itself that played a big part of the story. All in all, this was such a wonderful queer coming-of-age story about small town life and big dreams, about finding out what you really need and want in your life and being brave enough to chase it, and about the love of music. Highly recommended! Rating: 5 stars Get your own copy: Author links Author info: Brian D. Kennedy A girl who wants nothing but to leave her home town behind to be her openly bisexual self, a boy who gave up a scholarship for a life staying in the town, a quest and a mystery to solve, a past love story to unfold, but more importantly a story about finding yourself and live authentically. Ready Player One meets Daisy Jones & The Six in this hunt for a country musician’s legacy. This queer coming-of-age story is told in split-POVs and timelines of nowadays Darren Purchase and the 1960s rising country star Decklee Cassel, slowly revealing their queerness, their ambitions and struggle to live an authentic life, during the hunt for Decklee’s heritage via the unfolding of scavenger hunt clues.
It started a bit slow, and I had trouble rooting for both of the main characters (both nowadays Darren and the past time Decklee). I completely sympathized with their wish to leave their home town and make something of themselves, but not with the way they walked all over people and didn’t care who they hurt on the way. But the more we got to see the reason behind their decisions and understand what they had to give up to stay true to themselves, they both completely stole my heart. And Kendall and Mickenlee were just total sweethearts who I rooted for immediately! And the closer Darren and Kendall came to finding the final clues, the more intense and addictive the story got! What started a bit slow and not fully engaging was almost nail biting at the end! And the twist… so worth waiting for is all I’ll say! I’m so satisfied with the authenticity and the way Jenna Voris kept the characters real with all their flaws. The two main characters were allowed to the strong, complex and ruthless. And the love story was kept real as well, no fairy tale, cheesy, one but very realistic while still completely satisfying. All in all, this was a heartfelt road trip story about finding your true self, finding love and not letting a small town crush your big dreams, but also not letting your dreams stand in the way for love and happiness. Disclaimer: I received a review copy for free via NetGalley, but I am leaving my honest review. Many thanks to Penguin Teen and the author for the opportunity! Rating: 4.5 stars rounding up to 5 Get your own copy: Author links Author info: Jenna Voris This was such a sweet, fast-paced and charming fake dating romance with magic, adorable characters and a mystery to solve! Luca is an ambitious witch lawyer who wants to prove himself to his scrutinizing father who’s never content no matter how successful Luca is. Now, his father is set on getting Luca to marry his way up the social ladder. To get his father off his back, Luca agrees to meet a friend of a friend, Theo, to potentially get him to act as a fake boyfriend.
Theo on the other hand is trying to stop his siblings from meddling in his love life after a bad breakup three years ago. He might therefore have told a lie about seeing someone. Said someone that he now would need to bring with him to his mother’s birthday party. When Luca offers to pretend to be his boyfriend he’s more than grateful and jumps the opportunity. I loved the way Luca and Theo got to know each other and how they slowly started to trust and open up to each other. I also loved the character development and how they both finally found ways to stand up for themselves. And Theo’s mother was the sweetest! The rest of the family members were not always great, but they mostly got their acts together in the end. I really appreciated the support from their friends and Luca’s sister throughout the family drama going on. The mystery plot was perhaps a little unnecessary though. The curse felt a bit far fetched and didn’t add that much to the story and the way it resolved was a bit hasty. It wasn’t negative for the story as such, but it didn’t really intrigue me. To be honest, the magic world wasn’t a big part of the story either, but it did add an extra layer of fairytale vibes that I truly enjoyed and which made the story more special. Everything is better with magic isn’t it?! All in all, this was a charming, feel-good and witty story showing the importance of trust and allowing yourself to be vulnerable to find the magic of love! This is my first book in the Love & Magic series but I definitely need to read all the other ones right away too! Thank you Pride Book Tours for the free copy which I have voluntarily reviewed. Rating: 4.5 stars rounding up to 5 Get your own copy: Author links Author info: Colette Rivera 1/9/2024 0 Comments Prove It by Stephanie HoytI absolutely loved this book! I finished it in one sitting and read it again right away the next day! It was just such a wonderful, sweet and emotional YA mm hockey romance with one of the MCs suffering from anxiety and the other being the cutest cinnamon roll ever, and who both completely stealing my heart! This new series follows the two rookie hockey players Noah Anderson and Alex Valencia, who have been rivals, but also strangely drawn to each other since they were fifteen. Now, they’re picked first and second at the NHL draft, and the rivalry is getting more attention than neither of them have ever wanted. In fact, Alex has been set on making Noah his friend for years, where Noah on the other hand has been determined to avoid Alex and the unwanted feelings his smile causes…
As persons they are as different as one can be. Where Alex is outgoing, fun and makes friends easily, Noah is strung up, struggling with angst and the toxic impact of his homophobic, guilt-imposing former star hockey playing father. But somehow they end up being some kind of friends, and Noah gets adopted into the Do or Die friends group. I read this book in one sitting, it was so addictive and I rooted so much for all characters that I just couldn’t bear to put it down until the very end! It was such a perfect slow burn, forbidden romance, rivals-to-lovers story with lots of depths and emotions. There was so much angst and fear of messing up, the struggle for Noah to hide his true self and not give into his feelings for Alex. And for Alex, a bi awakening with all the new feelings for Noah he can’t even put a name to. There were also so many other amazing side characters, and wonderful friends and family relationships, but also toxic ones, like the relationship between Noah and his homophobic dad. So definitely a lot of emotions going on, and a very intense read! This story felt like a mix of two of my favorite books - Heated Rivalry and Season’s Change- but written for an YA audience. Noah and Alex were pure gold together, and they were such believable teenagers with all the awkwardness and insecurities, and their obliviousness to what’s really going on between them. “Noah looks at him and his chest aches for what could be, if he didn’t care what people thought of him, if hockey wasn’t such a toxic environment. He looks at Alex and he wants.” I also absolutely adored the Do or Die friends group and the group chats and am definitely looking forward to the next books in this series! Nate and story behind the beef with the team captain or Sean and the story behind his bi awakening? And a shoutout to Victoria Newberry for the gorgeous illustrations! All in all, this was a both heartwarming and emotional story with a perfect balance of hockey and romance, fun banter, vulnerability, sweet first times, bi awakening and being brave enough to stand up for yourself and allow yourself what you truly want. Highly recommended! Thank you so much to BookSirens and NineStar Press for the free ARC, which I have voluntarily reviewed. Rating: 5 glowing stars Get your own copy: Pre-order Add on Goodreads Author info: Stephanie Hoyt I absolutely love the Hockey Ever After series and its sweet, slowburn mm romances! This fourth book had more of an age gap aspect than the rivals to lovers trope in the previous books, but also a bit more fun, playful vibe, with all the shenanigans and banter. And even more steam! The books in the series are all independent, even though there are some much appreciated cameo appearances. But nevertheless, I’d still recommend you to read all of the books in the series, simply because they’re absolutely worth it!
In this fourth book, we get to meet veteran defenseman Russ Lyons and rookie Liam Bellanger. Where Liam is openly gay and a big flirt, Russ is keeping himself in a “glass closet” - i.e. his friends and family knows he’s gay, but he’s never had any serious relationships worth letting the world know of his sexuality. Not until trouble with a capital T comes along as Liam’s flirting breaks through his shell and casual sex turns into something a lot less casual… I loved the witty, flirty banter and the burning attraction! I read most of this book with a smile on my face, Liam and Russ were just so adorable and fun together. The age gap trope isn’t usually my thing, but here it was done in such a sweet and good way. Liam was such a natural, hilarious flirt that kept pushing and challenging Russ, but he was also so vulnerable and sweet. And Russ was older, but not always wiser, and a had a lot of doubts and insecurities. Their chemistry was absolutely sizzling, and there was a lot of steam in this book. Some parts were perhaps a bit too explicit/advanced for my personal taste, it’s definitely the book with most smut in the series, but it was still a very sweet and heartwarming story. I also rooted for many of the secondary characters, with the supportive (but teasing) team mates and family members, and it was so wholesome to see so much of Dante (Baller) and Gabe from the first book in the series again. Baller is so wonderfully shameless, funny and outspoken! And with his heart in the right place. Baller and Gabe are definitely my favorite couple in this series, and it was so adorable to see Baller support and make fun of Liam and Russ and help them get their sh*t together. All in all, this was such a heartwarming and addictive age gap romance about allowing yourself to be vulnerable for a chance to find true love. Thank you to Gay Book Promotions for the free review copy and blog tour invitation! All opinions are my own and I am leaving my honest review voluntarily. Rating: 4.5 stars rounding up to 5 Get your own copy: Author links Amazon Add on Goodreads Author info: Ashlyn Kane Morgan James 12/21/2023 0 Comments Solomon’s Crown by Natasha SiegelThe Song of Achilles meets RWARB! Such a wonderful retelling of what might or might not have been, of destined love and rivalry, of wars and kings and love conquering all. Beautifully written and characters that stole my heart. I don’t care that it wasn’t historically accurate (it wasn’t supposed to be!) and that the King Philip and Richard Lionheart in this story are not truly the historical real life persons they are named after, I just loved them for who they were here and their romance, and that was more than enough! As Natasha Siegel clearly pointed out on beforehand, Solomon’s Crown is not supposed to be historically accurate. Instead, it’s the author’s own reimagining with the characters, very loosely based on chronicles of King Richard the Lionheart of England and King Philip Augustus of France being very good friends who on occasions were sleeping in the same bed, despite being rivals. Some main events and their positions and family ties are real, but other than that it’s a story about two men named Philip and Richard, who happen to fall in love in the medieval days and who happen to end up in war fighting each other, knowing that they might have to kill the person that is most important to them and break their hearts by their own doing.
So a truly amazing rivals to lovers story! It also had a lot of The Song of Achilles vibes, not its depth and darkness, as well as the fun banter and political vibes from Red, White & Royal Blue. I adored the friendship between Philip and Isabella, and their support for one another. They truly loved each other in their own kind of way. Going in to this story, I expected a lot of pain and heartbreak, but despite the turn of events, all the wars and fights, and the doomed love, it was a rather light story. I actually wouldn’t have minded if the story had been a little darker, more true perhaps to history in that regard, and I would also liked some more of the physical relationship between Philip and Richard. After a while it felt like it didn’t evolve that much somehow. But all in all, this was an epic romance story - the best kind of enemies to lovers one - and a story of love and duty, love and destiny, love and betrayal, love and forgiveness. Beautifully written, intriguing and spellbinding! Rating: 4.5 stars rounding up to 5 Get your own copy: Author links Author info: Natasha Siegel 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 Get your own copy: Amazon Add to Goodreads Author info: Gabrielle Zevin 10/30/2023 0 Comments The Locker Room by Amy LaneThis 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 Get your own copy: Amazon Add to Goodreads Author info: Amy Lane |
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September 2023
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