4/5 Review: Status Update by Annabeth Albert

Adrian Gottlieb is winning at life. He's a successful video game designer with everything a man could ask for, including a warm comfy ride to Denver and a date for his sister's wedding. But he finds himself in need of a total reboot when he's left stranded at a snowy campground in Utah. Holiday plans? Epic fail.

That is until Noah Walters offers him shelter for the night and a reluctant cross-country ride. Nothing about the ultraconservative geoarchaeologist should attract Adrian, but once he discovers Noah's hidden love for video games, the two connect on a new level. Soon, a quiet but undeniable chemistry sparks.

Something doesn't add up, though. As the miles accumulate and time runs out, Noah must face the most difficult choice of his life. Meanwhile, Adrian must decide whether he's ready to level up. Is their relationship status worth fighting for, or has this game ended before it's even begun?

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Noah is a professor at a very religious university.  He is on the road taking a sabbatical while he writes up his research book.  While parked at one of the trailer parks he hears his neighbors.  He realizes that he met one of them while walking his dog Ulysses.  He doesn’t like to be so outspoken or emotional so he has become a lonely man.  He doesn’t talk to his family much and the only time he really speaks out is when he is front of his students.  He hears an argument and realizes that Adrian and his friend are fighting.  Adrian is left at the trailer park with nothing, not even his shoes.  Noah offers to take him in for the night and they begin to get to know each other.  Adrian is seen by his family as the one that always needs to be looked after.  He is impulsive and had the worst luck in men.  He doesn’t think that he deserves to have someone there with him who loves him for him.  Noah sees Adrian as someone who looks after others, and has a selfless heart.  Adrian doesn’t see himself that way, he has let the way he thinks his family sees him to cloud the way he sees himself.  They help each other really see what they are and how much they need each other.  Adrian helps Noah come out of his shell but without completely overwhelming him.  There is one instance where he became separated from Noah but as soon as he realized it, he went looking for him.  He found him with his two nephews playing a video game.  He realizes that he loves the interaction between Noah and his nephews and can imagine him as a father one day.  As Noah and Adrian get closer Noah becomes scared to open himself up more to the possibility of coming out and making his sexuality a known thing.  As he realizes that he can lose something important he begins to see himself as a coward.  He knows that he can’t live his life closed off the way he has been, and must decide if he is going to fight for what is important to him.  I enjoyed this book and will look for other work by this author.  I enjoyed Noah and Adrian’s journey to discovery and love. 

4/5 Review: Jefferson Blythe, Esquire by Josh Lanyon

 

 

 

In this fast, fun and dead-sexy male/male new-adult caper from multi-award-winning author Josh Lanyon, twentysomething Jefferson Blythe gets lost, gets found, falls in love and comes out…all in the span of one wild summer

After his first relationship goes disastrously awry, Jeff Blythe uses his savings to tour Europe—the old-fashioned way. Armed with his grandfather's1960 copy of Esquire's Europe in Style, Jeff sets off looking for adventure but finds much, much more than he bargained for…

In London, dodging questions from shady criminals about a mysterious package he most certainly does not have is simple. Losing the gunmen who are convinced he's someone else is not. And when George, an old friend, offers him help—and a place to stay, and perhaps something more—things become complicated.

Is George really who he seems? And is Jeff finally ready to act on his attraction?

From Paris to Rome and back again, Jeff and George fall for each other, hard, while quite literally running for their lives. But trusting George at his word may leave Jeff vulnerable—in more ways than one.

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Jefferson Blythe, Esquire by Josh Lanyon is a book on finally accepting who you are and having the courage to follow through.  Jefferson takes a holiday touring a few countries, but he is really running away from having to deal with his family and friends after his fiancée broke up with him.  He never accepted the fact that he is gay and that ended up hurting the people who love him.  He hurt the love of his life the most, George, when he rejected him and the news that he too was gay.  Jefferson never opened any of the letters that George sent him and thought that he no longer had those feelings.  He of course was very wrong.  When he gets to London a woman begins to talk to him demanding that he hand something over to her.  He has no idea what she is talking about, but that meeting sets a series of events in action.  The events make him realize things about himself that he thought were long buried.  When calls George for help, he gets more than he thought he would.  They reconnect but George is scared of letting Jefferson in because of past experience.  Jefferson is dealing with his feelings for George and being kidnapped, beaten and essentially targeted because of mistaken identity.  This book ends on a happily for now with a let’s see how the future works out.  I personally do not like books that end this way, but that happens in life, so it is an appropriate ending.  I usually enjoy Josh Lanyon’s work, but I could not get into this perspective.  I read the action scenes happening but did not feel it, I wasn’t drawn in the way I usually am with Lanyon’s work.  The writing is well done as usual, but I just wasn’t drawn in, so I give this book 4 stars.  Based on the writing and it being a good story.  I will continue to read Lanyon’s work and look forward to new stories.

 

 



5/5 Review: The Viscount’s Wager by Ava March

You never forget your first love, but is a second chance worth the gamble?

Anthony, Viscount Rawling, knows exactly what he wants in life and he isn't above having a look about London for it. When he spots recently widowed Gabriel Tilden at a ton function, he thinks he might have found love…again.

Gabriel is as gorgeous and reserved as he was when he broke Anthony's heart seven years ago. But they were only adolescents then…surely Anthony won't hold the incident against him. And especially not when the attraction between them is stronger than ever.

Gabriel came to London in search of distraction, and a teasing Anthony is impossible to resist. As Anthony introduces Gabriel to the pleasures that can be found in the city—and in his bedchamber—their bond deepens into something more. Yet both men are hiding secrets that could pull them apart forever…

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The Viscount’s Wager by Ava March is a book that loved reading.  Viscount Anthony Rawling is a man that knows what he wants, a love like the one his parent’s had, and is willing to fight to keep it.  He has had to deal with a learning disability since childhood and allows his feelings of being an idiot and inadequate to almost ruin the financial stability of his family’s inheritance.  Sir Gabriel has been in a loveless marriage for the past seven years and is dealing with the guilt of his wife’s passing.  He allows himself to get into trouble that puts both his and Anthony’s lives in danger.  Since Anthony and Gabriel shared a kiss as teenagers, Anthony has known that Gabriel was meant to his one, true love, was devastated by Gabriel’s betrayal.  When they meet again after Gabriel’s wife passes away Anthony could not deny the love that has always been and does what he can to be there for Gabriel.  This book is a must read!

Review: Midnight Secrets by Lisa Marie Rice

Midnight Secrets is the third installment of the Men of Midnight Series.  I will honestly say that it stands well on it's own.  As a matter of fact it was outstanding!  The characters from the previous installments have supporting rolls but you won't feel as you are missing story line because of it. Every now and then a book falls in my lap that keeps me up all night.  Secrets did that exactly!  

Isabel Delvaux, is the only surviving member after her entire family is killed along with over 1000 supporters on the eve that her father was announcing his intent to run for President.  Isabel was one of a very few that survived, she changed her name and moved to Portland to get away from the limelight and reminders.  She has retrograde amnesia and is trying to recover both physically and emotionally.  She isn't doing a very good job at either by herself.

Joe is a Navy SEAL who almost died twice from injuries sustained in the filed.  Joe is doing well, but when he sees Isabel he starts falling for her and falling fast even though she doesn't pay much attention to him.  He fixes things around her house and follows her to make sure she doesn't hurt herself. Isabel in turn feeds Joe in return for his help.  When cooking it is the only time that Isabel feels like her old self. And damn Ms. Rice did some research for Isabel's cooking skills.

When Joe receives a message simply telling him to "Keep Isabel Safe", the story takes off.  Joe calls his friends in and together they work together to keep her safe, while Joe and Isabel fall in love.  The mystery behind the Washington Massacre and how the fiends behind it are destroying the economy is both interesting and thought provoking.  Can Joe keep Isabel safe, and can they bring the organizers of the massacre to justice.

Ms. Rice weaves her story seamlessly, with strong well defined characters.  I will be going back to read the rest of the series.  If you are in the market for a fantastic hot suspenseful romance - Midnight Secrets is fantastic!