LGBT Romance

Review of Social Intercourse by Greg Howard

June 13, 2018 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

“If I would have known losing my virginity would be so nerve-racking, I would’ve stayed home and watched the Golden Girls marathon with my dad.” ~ Beckett Gaines

THE STORY

Social Intercourse is a romantic comedy that follows Beckett Gains, an out and proud gay teen living in a conservative town in South Carolina with his father. When his father begins dating the recently single (and supposedly lesbian) mom of former bully, Jaxon Parker, Beck is not amused. His father is emotionally fragile after Beckett’s mother left them and Beckett doesn’t want to see his father get hurt again. Jaxon (Jax) isn’t happy about the situation either and is willing to do whatever it takes to bring his two moms back together again.

Putting aside their past differences (and there is one serious one), the two boys form an unlikely alliance and concoct a plan to break up their parents. During their scheming, however, the boys begin to grow closer and the situation becomes even more complicated and confusing. And of course, nothing goes according to plan, leading to much drama and comic hijinks.

WHAT I LIKED

First off, this story was hilarious! This was a wild and fun romp whose witty and sarcastic lines had me laughing out loud nearly to the point of tears on more than one occasion. Beckett’s inner running commentary was especially humorous, and I liked him more and more with each page. The Golden Girls references were also a lot of fun. In the story, Beckett called his father “Rose,” the naive character on the Golden Girls whereas Beckett’s father called Beck “Dorothy,” the tough, more cynical character. The nicknames actually fit the characters quite nicely.

The story is told from the dual first-person point of view of Beckett and Jaxon, and it was fun seeing the world from each of their perspectives. I especially loved Beckett’s character – he was witty, sassy, irreverent, sarcastic, self-confident and absolutely lovable, and his snappy one-liners kept me laughing. I liked how he looked out for his dad and did whatever was necessary to ensure that his dad didn’t end up getting hurt. Speaking of relationships, I thought the positive portrayal of each boy’s relationship with his parents was sweet and refreshing.

I also enjoy Jax’s character. Though everybody thought of him as “The Great Jaxon Parker,” he was as insecure and unsure of himself as any of us, as he tried to find his place in the world. Not only that, he’s begun to question his sexuality and whether he is genuinely the hard-core heterosexual jock that everyone believes him to be.

So underneath his womanizing jock exterior, he was actually quite a likable character, and we see how one cannot tell what a person is really like from outward appearances.

What’s interesting, is that Jax and Beck’s rocky past brings up an important issue of how one should react when someone is being bullied. As we learned from this story, sometimes doing nothing when there’s abuse or bullying going on can cause even more harm than those who are actually doing the bullying. In this way, the story causes us to take a good hard look at our actions — or inactions — and how they can affect those around us.

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE

For me, there wasn’t too much to dislike about the story. My only real niggle was the familiar and often clichéd trope of the characters. For example, Beck was a choir-singing geeky gay kid, Jax was the super-hot star quarterback, JoJo was the extremely masculine lesbian, Tiffany, the “mean girl” cheerleader who is dating the football jock, and Shelby, the fat best friend. I would have preferred to see characters without the standard clichéd over-exaggerations.

I also didn’t care for the way that Beckett referred to Jax’s mother as “Big Titties” throughout the story, which really bothered me. From Beck’s inner monologue, it’s easy to see that he has a low opinion of her solely because of the fact she’s dating his dad. It would have been nice for Beckett to soften his view of her as the story progressed — perhaps give him the opportunity to get to know her a bit, which, unfortunately, never happened.

FINAL VERDICT

The couple niggles aside, I ended up loving this book! This was a fun, lighthearted and somewhat messy romance that brought a wonderful grin to my face during the final pages. Though this book was quite funny, it also dealt with some serious issues such as parental abandonment, bullying, bigotry, and divorce.

This was a quirky and poignant romance with plenty of humor and complex, well-developed characters. Nothing feels rushed in this story, so I enjoyed everything this enemies-to-lovers book had to offer. It was a truly captivating read that I didn’t want to end. I hope the author gifts us with a sequel to this story in the future because I’d love to see more of Jax, Beck, Shelby and all the other lovable secondary characters. Recommended!

You can check out Social Intercourse here at Amazon or at The Book Depository

Review of Fourteen Summers by Quinn Anderson

May 15, 2018 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

The Story

This story follows identical twins Aiden and Max, but they couldn’t be more different. Max is straight, and Aiden is gay. Max is the more outgoing of the two whereas Aiden is shyer and more introverted twin, often referred to as “Max’s brother.” But in spite of their differences, the Kingsman twins are pretty much inseparable. They even chose to not only go to the same university but also to room together while there.

One day while home for summer, they run into their childhood best friend Oliver, with whom they had lost touch and hadn’t seen in 10 years and who happened to be Aiden’s childhood crush. Imagine Aiden’s surprise when he not only learns that Oliver (who is now quite hot, by the way) is gay, but that he also had a childhood crush on Oliver. Needless to say, once these two reunite, sparks begin to fly, though it did take a bit for them to get together initially, given that they’re both introverts with neither of them daring to make the first move.

While all three of them were young, Oliver and the Kingsman twins were almost inseparable with a lot of precious memories shared between them. Max assumed now that the three of them were reunited, they’d inevitably pick up where they’d left off — as three good friends enjoying a summer together. But as Aiden and Oliver’s relationship moves from friendship to something deeper, Max feels hurt and excluded, not understanding how his brother could choose Oliver over him. And drama ensues.

What I liked

First thing I have to say was that I loved the cover! It was this that initially caught my attention and made me read the blurb so kudos to the cover designer.

The story itself was a sweet and tender romance, and I enjoyed the build between Aiden and Oliver. Though things did progress rather quickly, it’s not unbelievable given the history between them. It was an endearing story of two boys given a second chance at love, and I loved both Oliver and Aiden, in all their stumbles, blunders and flounders. Their awkwardness with each other made them all the more lovable.

What especially worked for me, was that this book stressed the importance of relationships between family and not only those of the romantic kind. That being said, this wasn’t only a story of two childhood friends falling in love, but it was also about the need to give ALL the relationships in our life equal importance, not just the romantic one. What’s interesting about this book is that it delved into several different types of relationships: friendship, romance, siblings and family units and it did so masterfully, in my opinion.

The situation in this book reminded me of how friendships often become tested when one of those involved begins dating outside of the friendship. The situation in this book is magnified given that the friendship that’s being tested is that of identical twin brothers who’ve spent their entire life with each other and each of whose world revolved around the other. I enjoyed seeing the both of them adjust as they began to figure out who are they apart from their twin.

Another thing that really worked for me was that the novel was told from each of the boy’s perspective. Though Aiden and Oliver, we experienced the exhilaration and excitement of the developing of a new romance whereas though Max’s point of view, we get the fear, uncertainty, and confusion he goes through when he feels as though he’s losing his brother. Via this device, the author did an excellent job of fleshing out each of these three characters and we as the reader could empathize equally with each of them.

I thought this was going to be a light and fluffy beach type of read but was pleasantly surprised by the depth of the story. And the ending was just perfect.

What I didn’t like

There were a few times during the story when the characters felt more like young high school students rather than college students. There were some parts in the book where I wanted to ask the Max and Aiden, “what, are you like 13?” So in this way, the maturity level at times didn’t seem to match the age of the characters.

To be honest, I felt that the co-dependent nature Max and Aiden’s relationship may have been a teeny-tiny bit over the top. I mean, I’m sure they dated other people…wouldn’t they have? I might have liked to have read a little more backstory on the boys’ dating life or learn whether they had friendships outside of their relationship with each other.

Final Verdict

I ended up loving this book! I found it humorous, light-hearted and an overall enjoyable read. And for the record, the book ends with a happily-ever-after, and there was one point near the end of the book where my eyes definitely became a bit moist.

I was totally drawn into Aiden, Max and Oliver’s story and couldn’t put it down once I started. It was funny and heartwarming with a tiny bit of angst and drama along the way. Fourteen Summers left me feeling happy for all of the main characters with a case of the warm fuzzys once I reached the end.

In Fourteen Summers, Quinn delivers a sweet romance filled with rich well-devloped characters, friends, fun, and family that will induce ear-to-ear grins (at least it did for me).

I received this book as an Advanced Reader Copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review so as of this writing, the book is not yet available. It is expected to be released on May 21, 2018, so be sure to check out Riptide Publishing or your favorite retailer at that time. A big thank you to Netgalley and Riptide for this opportunity.

You can check out Fourteen Summers here at Amazon or at The Book Depository.

Review of Detour by Reesa Herberth and Michelle Moore

May 14, 2018 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

Detour follows 18-year-old Ethan who embarks on a road trip shortly after his graduation. We learn that this was a trip Ethan had originally planned on taking with his boyfriend and love of his life Scott, who was murdered at school by a shooter. Ethan’s not really sure why he’s taking the trip though we do know that he’s still reeling from the loss of Scott so perhaps he’s hoping the trip will help him to figure out who he is without his boyfriend. It’s also worth mentioning that Ethan is suffering from a severe case of survivor’s guilt.

So it’s dark, the weather is bad, and Ethan almost runs over a hitchhiker. Despite his family’s repeated warnings of never picking up hitchhikers, Ethan offers the hitchhiker a ride. We learn that his name is Nick and that he also has his own demons he’s running away from. He has just left one of those “pray away the gay” type of camps called Camp Cornerstone and is basically homeless and broke. Funny, this is the second book right in a row that I’ve read which revolved around these types of compounds, a trope that I typically avoid.

Not only that, we learn that prior to Nick’s “enrollment” at Camp Cornerstone, he was in an abusive relationship with a controlling, stalkerish, and a rather creepy man named Kyle. That being said, Nick is the much more mistrusting and bitter of the two, given that he’s been betrayed by every important person in his life. It’s additionally worth mentioning that Nick has also experienced the death of someone close to him, which adds to the emotional turmoil he’s experiencing

So after having faith that neither of them is going to kill the other in their sleep (the topic of “stranger danger” comes up several times during the story), they decide to embark on Ethan’s road trip together. So basically, we have two characters who have gone through horrific events and who are basically broken — they’re both confused, hurt and trying to find themselves in a world that up to this point, has not proven to be overly kind.

WHAT I LIKED

I really enjoyed the dynamics between these two vivid and lovable characters. Though they were both hurting and perhaps a bit mistrustful, they both opened up to each other and throughout the trip, treated each other with kindness and respect — though it did take Nick somewhat longer to open up which isn’t surprising given that he’d been let down by everyone in his life up to this point.

But it was lovely to see the healing that took place with the both of them as they each helped the other work through the terrible events of their past and explored their grief together. I also really loved Ethan’s tender kindheartedness towards Nick, which I felt showed a lot of strength as a character.

There was a lot of enjoyable banter between the two of them, and both Ethan and Nick had a wonderful sense of humor which made me chuckle out loud on more than one occasion.

I also loved the slow burn romance aspect of this story, which I have to admit is one of my favorite tropes. I loved how the relationship between these two broken characters slowly developed over the trip, resulting not only in the blossoming of a new love but also in much-needed healing for the both of them. In fact, I felt that the entire story wasn’t at all rushed and unfolded at just the right pace. The author did a nice job at showing the relationship progress between Ethan and Nick.

I’m also a huge fan of road trip stories, and this one was no exception. It was fun experiencing through our characters all the zany and kitschy places they visited (Titanic museum and hotel, anyone?) and the adventures they had along the way.

But what especially worked for me in the story was the healing and growth these two characters experienced as we moved throughout the book. As their backstory unfolded and they confided more and more in each other, they both underwent several realizations and revelations that helped them grow as characters. Thus, they were able to overcome the adversity that had them both nearly paralyzed before they met.

In this way, Detour is about two lost souls finding themselves and not allowing their circumstances to prevent them from evolving into the people they’re meant to be.

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE

Though I enjoyed the snappy banter between the two characters, there were a few times when I felt that it went on and on a bit too long. I did catch myself thinking on a few occasions that the non-stop snark was getting a bit tiring — maybe even grating on my nerves a bit – and felt that the story could have done with a little less of it.

FINAL VERDICT

I ended up loving this book. In the midst of darkness and turmoil, there is fun and humor, and I found myself laughing out loud several times throughout the story at the witty dialog that Detour throws at the reader. Though it will break your heart in places, it is also sweet and playful in others.

The writing is solid and clear, and the touching backstory helped us to know and understand each character’s motivation. I also felt that the characters themselves are meticulously developed, and as such, the reader truly feels the depth of their hurt and guilt and their past unfolds.

Detour is a powerful and revelatory coming-of-age novel of two boys trying to overcome their pasts, so in this way, it’s heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time. The main charm of this book is in it’s plain and simple relatability. Though we may not all have gone through the exact things as Ethan and Nick, the majority of us have at some point experienced heartbreak, grief or difficult circumstances that have kept us stuck.

All in all, Detour is a lovely sweet romance between two boys who, in working through their past demons, come out stronger on the other side and I loved it. I’d give this book 4 1/2 stars.

You can check out the book here on Amazon

Review of Out of Bounds by A.R. Barley

February 3, 2018 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

I just finished a very sweet gay romance entitled Out of Bounds by A.R. Barley, a completely new author to me. The was a feel-good story with likable main characters. The blurb is as follows:

Beaten and heartbroken, Jesse Cole is placed in a new dorm room after his last roommate attacked him. Just wanting to be left alone to heal in peace, he’s shocked when tall, dark and dangerous-looking Nick Moretti walks in.

Nick doesn’t have time to tiptoe around his new roommate—he’s too busy working in order to pay for school. But something about Jesse brings out his protective instincts. As their cautious friendship grows and becomes loaded with sexual tension, he wants to make Jesse comfortable.

Enter the perfect plan: a line of tape down the center of the room. Boundaries established.

But as innocent movie nights become hours-long temptation marathons, and whispered chats from across the room delve into straight-up dirty territory, crossing the line has never been so satisfying.

Jesse is Broken

It’s the middle of the semester, and Jesse is reassigned in a new college dorm room in the senior dorm even though he’s only a sophomore. He’s what one would call “broken” after having gone through a vicious homophobic attack at the hands of his roommate — someone he trusted — which resulted in a visit to the ER. As the story progresses, we learn that Jesse had misread the signals his former roommate was giving him (or did he?) and when Jesse leaned in to kiss him, the roommate turned on Jesse with his fists, beating him pretty badly. Luckily, we don’t see the violence first hand – we only hear it from Jesse’s mouth as the story progresses. Oh, and by the way, Jesse is a virgin; that disastrous kiss is the closest he’s come to sex with anyone.

Enter Nick

It’s pretty apparent that Jesse is suffering from PTSD, and it doesn’t help matters that his new roommate, Nick, is built, handsome and well over 6 feet tall – the kind of person who could break Jess in half if he so chose. Nick also works as a bouncer at a local pub and because of unfortunate events in his past, thinks of himself as a “thug”. But once we move past his dangerous-looking exterior, we see that Nick is actually a very sweet man who goes out of his way to make Jesse feel safe.

In the beginning, practically any movement Nick makes causes Jesse to flinch. So in order to make Jesse feel safe in the room and less skittish around him, Nick puts a line of tape down the middle of the room which neither of them can cross. Nick promises he’ll never go into Jesse’s space nor is Jesse to go into Nick’s. In other words, no going “out of bounds”, hence the title of the book.

But there’s something about Jesse…

Not only does Jesse bring out Nick’s protective instincts, but soon Nick finds himself thinking about Jesse in ways that surprise him, given that he claims he not into “twinks”. Soon he finds himself daydreaming about kissing Jesse – and more. But Nick doesn’t act on his feelings, fearful of doing anything that could jeopardize the progress Jesse’s made. Finally, they both figure out that there’s a mutual attraction between them, but even then, Nick still respects the boundary, fearful of doing anything that could end in disaster

And they take things slow

Nick is the perfect gentleman and moves slowly — perhaps a bit too slowly, once Jesse’s realizes his own feelings for Nick. The romance between the two of them is slow and tender, starting out with pizza and movie nights (but no touching!), working their way to holding hands when they’re out in public. It’s lovely to watch these two as their friendship slowly evolves into love. This is definitely a slow-burner, as they build up trust between them and slowly get to know one another.

The boundary gets pushed

Of course, the boundary is eventually going to get pushed; otherwise, we wouldn’t have much of a tale, now would we? Without giving too much away, I will say that this book has a HEA – an excellent friends- to-lovers ending as they both learn to let go of the past.

The Verdict

Out of Bounds is a heartfelt yet sexy friends-to-lovers story about two guys with a troubled past finding one another. Both characters were charming and sweet, and I loved watching Nick and Jesse interact as their feelings for each other deepened. I found both characters realistic and extremely likable. What especially worked for me was the slow build-up between Nick and Jesse as their evolving friendship moved toward a deeper connection. I also liked that the angst in the novel was kept to a minimum (I’m not much for overly angsty stories and tend to shy away from them as a rule).

Though this story dealt with some heavy issues such as assault, homophobia, lack of self-confidence and fear of rejection, the story didn’t feel overly heavy or depressing. What the author did end up giving us was a lovely feel-good story about friendship, loyalty, love, pride, and happiness — a story about falling in love and discovering who you are really are during the process. I definitely plan on reading more by this author. Recommended!

You can check out Out of Bounds HERE

Review of Spell Bound by Jacob Flores

January 26, 2018 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

A while ago, I purchased a series of books entitled “The Warlock Brothers of Havenbridge” by Jacob Z. Flores and I ended up forgetting all about them until recently when I was browsing through my “To Read” list on my Kindle. For some reason, I’d purchased the entire four-book series at once, something I typically don’t do unless I’ve read at least one of the books in the series. But I must have been encouraged by positive reviews to get them all at once.

The Blackmoors

Anyway, I finally started the series with the first book, “Spell Bound”, a young adult (rated R) paranormal story. The main character is Mason Blackmore, a high school tough guy and one of three warlock brothers (their dad is a warlock as well). While Mason’s father and brothers are powerful warlocks, Mason’s active power has yet to surface, so his spells never turn out quite the way he intended, leading him to feel that he is a disappointment to his family.

The Blackmoors along with two other families: a family of witches who use white magic and a family of wizards who use gray magic are charged with protecting the source of all magic in the world call “The Gate”. Mason’s family uses black magic, though it’s not the type of “evil” magic we see with Voldemort on Harry Potter; instead, a warlock’s black magic is dark, powerful and sometimes selfish.

The Murder and The Stranger

The story kicks off with a dead body showing up on the football field at Mason’s high school. At the same time, Mason encounters a new kid at school: cocky, self-confident Drake Carpenter, who immediately rubs Mason the wrong way.

Drake appears to dislike Mason as well, and Mason can’t help but wonder whether Drake’s appearance has anything to do with the dead girl found at school. He suspects that Drake may be a magical being of some kind and sure enough, Mason later encounters Drake out in the woods running and jumping in a somewhat non-human manner. Mason assumes the new kid is a shifter.

Mason & Drake

Thus far, Mason and Drake appear to have an intense dislike for each other, but that seems to change after Mason saves Drake’s life in the town square. Though our young warlock tells himself that he dislikes the cocky Drake, he also can’t deny his attraction to him.

The two eventually get together, finally acknowledging their mutual attraction and overcome their initial misunderstanding of one another. It also appears to be no coincidence that right after Drake showed up on Mason’s life, Mason was able to tap into his active power.

But it’s not going to be an easy road for either of them.

Danger, Danger!

Another murder leads to the appearance of The Conclave — a council of mysterious, hooded and extremely powerful warlocks, witches, and wizards who typically only show up in dire circumstances. Their strange behavior concerns the magical families, and instead of helping with the danger, the Conclave seems to be ignoring it.

Things become more dangerous for the Mason and Drake in the coming days, leading to a nearly lethal battle with a powerful foe, which threatens the existence of all three magical families. At the end of the book, the battle may be won, but not the war. We distinctly get the feeling that there’s more danger ahead. But for now, there is a rest from strife and a “happy for now” ending.

Verdict

Though Mason initially comes across as a surly teen, his overly tough exterior melts once Drake comes into the picture and he transforms into a likable, complex character. This well-told gripping story contained elements of mystery, romance, danger, suspense, young love, grief and magic with excellent plot and character development. I loved the chemistry and innocence between Mason and Drake and enjoyed seeing both of their characters grow. The romance in the story wasn’t rushed but proceeded slowly and cautiously.

I look forward to reading more about the warlock brothers and look forward to the next book in the series. Recommended!

You can check out Spell Bound HERE

Review of A Boy and His Dragon

January 25, 2018 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

“Within this story, it’s clear that the dragon is the weak one. He is completely at the mercy of the boy, even when the boy is depicted in the story as his servant.” ~ Dr. Philbert Jones

The World

I’ve read many shifter books over the years. I’ve also read many books about dragons. But this is the first dragon shifter book that I’ve read and found it to be not only original but also very well done. In the world where this book takes place, all of the magical creatures (called “Beings” in the book) have recently come out of the closet: Fairies, Elves, Werewolves, Trolls, and Dragons.

The Interview

The book starts out with a job interview – young research assistant Arthur MacArthur is interviewing for a job working for a Dragon-shifter, Dr. Philbert Jones (“but please, call me Bertie”). Dr. Jones greets Alex while in his dragon form and Alex, who’s more than a little freaked out by the enormous dragon in front of him, fears that Dr. Jones is going to eat him. But of course, the dragon doesn’t eat him (which would have made for a very short story).

A Sexy Dragon?

Once back in his human form, we learn that Bertie, our dragon-shifter, is a brilliant (and sexy!) historian in the process of writing a book about the now extinct Red Dragon and he’s in need of someone to assist him in organizing his research and his books. He hires Arthur on the spot and Arthur can’t deny the strong attraction he feels for his new boss.

As the days progress, Arthur tries to make sense out of his feelings for his boss. It sometimes seems that Bertie is flirting with him – or is it just Arthur’s imagination? Arthur can’t be sure. But he vows to deny his feelings/attraction for Bertie and keep his relationship with his boss strictly professional, which turns out to be not at easy thing to do.

Burning for the Dragon

This is definitely a sensual, slow burn romance as the two characters slowly get to know each other and grow closer as the book progresses No insta-love here! The interaction and the slow build between the two of them is sweet and romantic and left me feeling as though I really knew them by the end of the book. I really loved the dynamic and the chemistry between the two characters.

One thing I especially liked about this book was that there wasn’t a sex scene every ten pages like you see in so many romance novels. In fact, we have to wait until nearly the end of the book until these two finally get together in a lovely, sensual scene — but it’s definitely worth the wait.

The Verdict

This sweet and playful story is not only about love, but also about the true meaning of treasure. It’s a story with plenty of heart, humor, and self-discovery. I was pleased to learn that this book is part of a series entitled “Beings in Love” and I definitely plan on reading more books in this series. Recommended!