This was such a cute and heart-warming second-chance MM romance with adorable characters that immediately stole my heart! I also really appreciated the added depth with a main character suffering from depression.

Game Plan is the first book in the new Vancouver Orcas hockey series, which is a spin-off of Amy Aislin’s Stick Side series (but with new characters so there is now need to have read the Stick Side books to understand the characters and plots in this new series).

The story follows Matt Shore, the new head coach of the Vancouver Orcas, who is openly gay but struggling with his dating life. Somehow, he ends up only dating guys who are not relationship material, probably because he’s still too heartbroken from being left by the love of his life two years ago, Pierce Langley-Brown.

Pierce on his hand, still regrets leaving Matt, when his increasing depression and his son’s car accident made it impossible to focus on anything but being there for his son. But when his son joins Matt’s hockey team, there’s no avoiding the man who once owned his heart…

I truly rooted for both Matt and Pierce, and I really appreciated the way in which they slowly began to open up to each other, and for Matt to possibly forgive Pierce, and for Pierce to deal with his runaway problems. There was also some great representation with binary, bisexual and gay characters.

I would have appreciated some more background to the characters though. I’d loved to know more about things like when Pierce realized he was bisexual and if he’d ever been with a man before Matt, or when Matt decided not to stay in the closet anymore and be an openly gay hockey player and the reactions he’d received after that. Without this, the story felt a bit thin at times.

But all in all, this was a heartwarming, sweet and addictive reading experience and a great way to start a new series! I can’t wait to read Charlie’s story in the next installment!

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 stars

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Amy Aislin

This is the perfect Christmas reading! Such a sweet, wholesome, small town mm romance full of Christmas sparkles! I truly warmed my heart and made me want to start wrapping Christmas gifts and bring out my Christmas decorations even though it’s only October...

A Gift-Wrapped Holiday is set in the New England small town Lighthouse Bay, where Luca has fled from LA and his ignorant family to start his own business, an eco-friendly gift-wrapping store. Little did he expect to be so warmly welcomed by the community, nor that a certain single dad should make his heart beat so hard. All Mal wants is to give his six-year-old son the best Christmas ever, to make up for moving him across the country after having lost his job. Falling in love was certainly not on the agenda. But the magic of the season had other plans…

This was such a wonderful feelgood story with all the right Christmassy ingredients; Christmas markets, charity tournaments, hot chocolate, gift-wrapping, family celebrations and of course, a truly sweet and heartwarming love story. Great fleshed-out and relatable characters, with a wonderful small town community. Very low on angst, but full of warmth, forgiveness, redemption and kindness. Highly recommended for anyone who wants to get into the Christmas spirit and read a book that will warm your heart and make you smile!

Thank you to Gay Book Promotions for the free ARC of the book, which I have voluntarily reviewed.

Rating:
5 stars

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Amy Aislin

This was such a cute and heart-warming second-chance M/M novella with adorable characters that immediately stole my heart! I also really appreciated the diversity with a main character on the ace spectrum.

This fast-paced and highly enjoyable short story follows NHL player Dane Roxborough as he flees Boston and seeks refuge at his parents’ inn for the summer to hide from a kiss-and-tell story with leaked indecent photos from a one night stand. But as if that isn’t enough, the big love of his life, Grant Lilly, is working at the inn and reconnecting again resurrects all the feels.

I really rooted for Dane and his shame for being fooled and used for his one night stand to claim his fifteen minutes of fame, and it was so adorable how he longed for Grant and tried to vow him with mismatched flowers and Boston sightseeing tours. I also really loved Grant. He was such a sweet character, who’d never had any sexual feelings for anyone but Dane, but still hadn’t gotten over his broken heart.

Even though it was a short story, it had more depths and felt more fleshed out and thorough than many full length novels. The romance was a wonderful slow burn one, with some amazing character growth and realistic doubts.

The only thing I really didn’t like was the way Dane’s parents kept Grant in the dark after all the things he’d done for them and always being loyal. It felt like a back stab and made Dane’s family seem very selfish and false.

But all in all, Chasing Sunsets was such fast-paced, sweet and engaging story about falling in love with your best friend and about awakenings; to realize what you truly want in life and about being brave enough to chase after it. Highly recommended!

Thank you to Prolific Works for the free review copy! All opinions are my own and I am leaving my honest review voluntarily.

Rating:
​4 stars

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​Author info:
Amy Aislin