LGBT Romance

Counter Culture is a sweet, heart-warming holiday LGBT romance featuring our two main characters, Robin Christopher and Archie Levine.

Robin works in retail at a story called Willoughby’s, and in an effort to copy the American craziness of Black Friday, Robin’s boss is planning a massive celebration and store sale and wants Robin to play an integral part in it.

One night while walking home from work, he stumbles across Archie Levine, a young man dressed in Victorian Style clothing and whom we learn later on is a Steampunk (not a “Steampunker” as was stressed in the book). We also learn that Archie lives with and looks after his mum, tries to remain on good terms with his ex and be a good father to his little boy. With all that he has on his plate, he has no intention of getting into a romantic relationship with anyone any time soon, but yet, he finds Robin intriguing.

So at their first haphazard meeting, the two men only speak a couple of words to each other and go on their way, though they both think about each other quite a bit in the days to come. But as fate would have it, they bump into each other several times over the few days and eventually end up spending time together.

Then Archie’s mum is infuriated by a local department store who appears to disregard the plight of the homeless and plans a protest at the store. Archie, who once was homeless himself, shares in her fury. It doesn’t help that both Archie and his mum hate this particular store with a passion.

As it turns out, the store in mention is Willoughby’s, the same store where Robin works. When Robin discovers that Archie’s mom is planning a protest, he panics, and lies about his place of employment, first to her and then to Archie.

So the question is: how long can Robin hide his place of employment from Archie and his mother? As we can guess, Robin’s lies are eventually found out, and things end up getting pretty messy once they do, especially given that this new budding relationship is fraught with misunderstandings and lack of communication.

So I thought that the meet-cute courtesy of an old refrigerator was adorable. I appreciated that the author didn’t serve up the same old, cookie-cutter characters, and cookie-cutter struggles. Archie and Robin were superlative together; their connection shone right from their first meeting. There was also plenty of sass, snark, and humor to keep the story light and fun.

Though the premise of the storyline was vaguely familiar, it was also completely unique. I really loved how the author weaved in elements of Steampunk into the story and enjoyed learning more about the Steampunk culture.

I also enjoyed the many messages of this book, one of which is how we should not judge people based on our preconceived notions of them and that things are not always as they seem. Additionally, the story respectfully tackles topics such as homelessness, wealth inequality, mental illness, respect, and social class and in so doing, gives the reader plenty to think about.

I loved how the author concentrates on building up the characters in the story. The relationship really develops between the two protagonists, and it’s not done in a hurried manner. The overall steam is low (there is one quite explicit sex scene), but ask me if I minded? NO!

The sexual tension was delicious in its delayed gratification, and often, I find too many sex scenes in a book destroy the romance between the two characters. Here, we’re on this journey of self-discovery with Archie and Robin…and neither of them takes the relationship lightly. We were a good portion through the book before the characters kissed for the first time, and I personally enjoyed the slow burn.

All in all, I thought Counter Culture was a delightful, feel-good Christmas romantic comedy with sweet & charming characters and plenty of humor. I enjoyed the plot-line and the many interweaving threads throughout. The author’s witty and sophisticated writing style and storytelling really worked for me. I thought the plotting was exceptional, and I found myself completely engrossed in the book in no time at all. Counter Culture is a lighthearted romantic romp that warmed my heart and brought a smile to my face at the end.

Advance Reader Copy provided by NetGalley.

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This is a sweet Christmas gay romance story that follows our two main characters, Matt and Mikah. Matt is a small town farmer who has no time for love, especially after having had his heart recently broken.  Mikah is a school teacher from New York who is in town visiting his family for the holidays. When Mikah walks onto Matt’s farm to purchase a Christmas tree, sparks fly between the two men. Though both of them have been hurt in the past, they take a chance and begin a romance.

What was fun about this story was how night-and-day different our two protagonists are, with Matt being a big, bulky outdoorsy farmer and Mikah being a slender and somewhat timid city boy.

But as the story progresses, they discover that they have a lot more in common than they’d initially thought, and they ended up being so sweet together.

What I really liked about this story is that they did not jump into bed right away. Their relationship was quite a slow burn, and they took the time to get to know each other and each other’s families before making the big final step.  It was so much fun watching their feelings for each other evolve, moving from guarded apprehension to love. Their relationship flowed with warmth, playfulness, and passion, and the guys were perfect for each other.

So once they took the huge step of sleeping together, they then spend the rest of the holiday in Matt’s cozy cabin nestled away in the Idaho woods.

But alas, soon the Christmas season winds down, and Mikah has to return to New York to take on a new teaching job. As both of them face the inevitable end of their holiday romance, they realize that the feelings they have for each other have grown to the point of love.

So now the question is: what are they going to do about it?

This is a charming, heart-warming story and a perfect cozy holiday read. I loved the author’s writing style, and because of it, the story reeled me right in.  In fact, I read this book in one sitting because I had a difficult time letting go of these delightful and charming characters. The secondary characters were equally charming, as we got to know Matt’s devoted brother and sister-in-law, and Mikah large, boisterous Italian family.

I know that I’m reading a good romance when I tear up, which happened to me a few times throughout this enchanting and heartfelt story. The author has created something truly extraordinary here — a magical Christmas romance about love in its purest form.

It’s a story that’s not only engaging but endearing and emotive, and it certainly warmed my heart while reading it. And the ending is perfect — The way this story comes to a close is just the cherry on top of this wonderful book.

So if you ‘re looking for a sweet and light Christmastime romance, you may wish to give The Christmas Cabin for Two a whirl.

A huge thank you to A Novel Take PR for providing an Advance Reader Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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Happy for You is the third book in the author’s “Love and Family” series, all of which can be read as standalone.

This story follows Mort who, for reasons unknown, left town a year ago with no explanation to his de facto family, the Rochesters. He simply left town without a word — though we do find out pretty early on in the novel his reason for leaving.

So now he’s back, and he’s attempting to repair his relationship with each of the family members and win them back, especially Felix, to whom Mort is very much attracted. There’s also the issue of Felix’s brother Roch who was Mort’s best friend and whose relationship with Mort is now especially rocky.

To complicate matters, Felix has been in love with Mort for years, and Mort has been in love with Roch but now has feelings for Felix. So that being said, Happy for You is a “falling in love with best friend’s little brother” trope which is a trope I especially enjoy, and the author executed it to perfection here.

I felt this was a bit different than a lot of the author’s other books. In this story, rather than feelings slowly developing between the characters, the romantic feelings were already there, so there wasn’t that super slow build-up that we see in her other novels. There was the issue, however, of Felix allowing himself to trust his heart to Mort, which took some time (and care, on Mort’s part). Regardless, I still enjoyed the deep connection between the two characters and rooted for them to get together. I thought they had terrific chemistry together. Both of them knew what they wanted — it just took some time for them to get there.

What I loved about this story, is that it wasn’t merely a “boy likes boy” romance but rather, Happy for You is quite a complex story with a myriad of themes such as acceptance, family, friendship, redemption, betrayal, trust, depression, and forgiveness. I love how the author peeled back the layers of the story bit by bit as the puzzle pieces from the past slowly came to fit together.

My only niggle with the book was Felix’s mom. she played an essential part in the plot of the story, yet I felt that her character was underdeveloped. I wanted to know a lot more about her and her depression, her surgery, and her relationship with those around her.

But all in all, it was a pleasure reading this novel, and I was so hooked that I read the entire thing in one go. Happy for You is such a sweet story, and the book hit all me in all the right places. I enjoyed the slow burn romance and loved the dorky, funny, and quirky characters, all of whom had an enormous heart.

I thought this was a solid book and feel that this tender story is an exquisite addition to the author’s Love and Family series. This is a lovely story with plenty of heart, humor, family, and chemistry that leaves you feeling happy for all of the characters and with a warm and fuzzy case of the ‘feels’ at the end.

There’s a reason that Anyta Sunday is an auto-buy author for me and I already look forward to her next book.

A huge thank you to NetGalley and to Anyta Sunday for providing me with a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

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Perfect Match follows Sven, a lumberjack who has not found is Mr. Right, which concerns his family. So they take matters into their own hands to find him someone through an online site called Perfect Match. The result is the arrival of a somewhat effeminate young city boy named Jayden who is pretty much out of his comfort zone being surrounded by a group of gruff lumberjacks. Sven and Jayden couldn’t be more different, but there seems to be an attraction — a chemistry — between them.

But we soon learn that the company “Perfect Match” is not what it seems and that Jayden is actually trying to deceive and con Sven, though deep down, Jayden is really a decent guy. But the kicker is that Jayden has fallen for Sven. Moreover, he has some dark secrets that he doesn’t want anyone to find out, most of all, Sven. Naturally, all sorts of wacky hijinks ensue.

This was a light-hearted and fun gay romance with family shenanigans, sweet and endearing characters and two opposites who find each other. Perfect Match is a feel-good story that only had a teensy bit of angst, and it was fun to see the main characters slowly growing to trust and care for each other. The chemistry between them was terrific, and the writing made this book a heart-warming read. And you couldn’t help but fall in love with Sven’s family. All in all, a truly pleasant and solid reading experience.

A huge thank you to Netgalley and AG Meiers for providing an Advance Reader Copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

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Rabi and Matthew is a gay romance story which the blurb describes as “A queer retelling of Romeo & Juliet, except no one has to bury their gays.”

The Story

This novel follows Rabi Hashmi and Matthew Swain who meet one night at a party and end up falling in love. Simple enough story. Well, not really. What makes this story interesting is the decades-old rivalry between the two families as their two fathers run against each other in the election for a seat in Congress. What we have here is Democrat vs. Republican, Muslim vs. Christian and years and years of mistrust and hatred between the families.

Rabi and Matthew know that their love will not be without its challenges, that falling in love with each other in the middle of a war that has the potential of turning bloody is probably not the wisest thing. But they can’t resist the attraction and the feelings that grow between them and decide to take a chance. They meet in secret, often heading out of town in order to lower the risk of running into someone who could report back to their families.

I thought the scenes with them getting to know each other during their secret rendezvous-vous were heartfelt and endearing. Little did they know, however, that the pot had reached its boiling point, and hatred along with escalating racial tensions now threatened everything they hold dear…and not everyone may end up a happily ever after.

A Queer Romeo & Juliet

I loved the entire premise of a queer telling of Romeo & Juliet, with a white Christian boy from a racist Republican family falling in love with a Pakistani Muslim boy from a Democrat family, with both families obsessed with their hatred. The author expertly handled the storyline, and I was impressed with the clever parallels with Romeo & Juliet.

I also give the author extra points for not stereotyping our main characters as either Romeo or Juliet. Neither one of them fit those roles, for which I was grateful. Now I will say that there is definitely some Insta-Love going on here, but given that it’s a retelling of the classic Romeo and Juliet, I could overlook it. I thought their whirlwind romance was tender and sweet, with there being a powerful chemistry between them. It was a joy seeing the two of them fall deeper in love with each other, in spite of the dangers from everyone around there.

A Plethora of Themes

There are so many interesting themes that run through this novel: racism, hatred, gun violence, violence in general, xenophobia (particularly Islamophobia), homophobia, and politics to name a few. There are some scenes in the book that are absolute insanity, with the hatred, bigotry, and violence overtaking all semblance of reason.

So that being said, this story had plenty of edge-of-your-seat, nail-biting drama that gripped me and held me until the emotional ending. This is the kind of book that takes your heart, tosses it into a blender and then slowly puts it back together at the end; though I will say that the journey was exhilarating.

Remember…It’s A Love Story

Now, it’s important to remember that this novel, though it may not seem like it at times, is a romance and not a tragedy like Romeo and Juliet. That’s not to say that horrible things don’t happen in the story, because they do. But ultimately, this is a love story, and though the characters don’t end up with perhaps an ideal happily-ever-after, the ending is perfect in light of the events that take place in the book, so in this way, it was a satisfying conclusion.

My One Niggle

I had one main niggle with this book and with one particular scene. It was after our two main characters have just gone through a horrendous experience….I mean the ultimate worst. They dash out of town, rent a hotel room and then jump into bed and have sex. I thought, “Oh come on! Really?????”

I can’t see how anyone in their right mind could or would think about sex being in their situation. This scene struck me as unrealistic, and I just couldn’t buy into it. I actually found this scene so far-fetched and unbelievable that I was ready to bail on the book. But I did stick it out, and I’m happy I did because the author more than made up for it by giving us a beautiful and touching ending.

Verdict

Rabi and Matthew was one heck of a rollercoaster ride, one for which you might want to have a tissue nearby. There are a lot of intense scenes and heavy topics in the book, and at times, it is difficult to read. But ultimately, I ended up loving this emotionally satisfying story, and I found myself tearfully be rooting for our two heroes as chaos erupted all around them. I thought the novel was well-crafted and deeply engaging, with even a twist or two to keep things interesting. Recommended!

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