Tag: California

Books

Book 906: Black Cake – Charmaine Wilkerson

Geoff W

Book cover of "Black Cake" with Amazon Affiliate linkWhen someone from the publisher reached out to me about Black Cake, it wasn’t an immediate yes or an immediate no.* I honestly had no idea what I was going to do, I thought it was a beautiful cover (even if I didn’t notice the woman on it for ages) and the multi-generational story drew me in.

What ultimately decided for me was that it was a debut novel, love those most of the time, and my reading list is seriously lacking authors of color and I’ve been saying for years I’m going to expand my reading list. And holy shit y’all I’m so glad I did, this book took me for so many rides.

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Books

Book 887: If This Gets Out – Sophie Gonzales & Cale Dietrich

Geoff W

Book cover of "If This Gets Out" with Amazon Affiliate linkMy little closeted teenage heart would’ve died to read something like this in the late-90s/early-00s. So, when I saw it on NetGalley I requested it IMMEDIATELY, the publisher approved, and I have been sitting on it for months.*

I know I’ve said it before and I’ll keep on saying it—I am SO jealous of all the teens today getting to see themselves in books like this. I mean hell I enjoy them and I am WELL outside the target demographic for these.

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Books

Book 886: A Handful of Joy – Pat Henshaw

Geoff W

Book cover of "A Handful of Joy" with Amazon Affiliate link

I accepted this review copy because the cover is adorable and it’s a novella.* This time of year is always busy for me at work, so I always need a few short novels/novellas on hand to fill gaps or to just distract me. The plot also grabbed my attention, but really it was the cover that got me, I mean ADORBS.

The protagonists Ted and Matt meet fatefully one night in a bar and slow dance when no one else is dancing. And it flies from there into a whirlwind romance of one week and then on to forever.

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Books

Book 823: All Note Long (Perfect Harmony #3) – Annabeth Albert

Geoff W

Book cover of "All Note Long" with Amazon Affiliate linkWhat a nice end to this trilogy and you could really tell how much Albert improved as an author just across these three books! I really liked the reality TV/musician angle of the books and am glad I finally read them.

All Note Long takes a character we’re familiar with, Michelin, the producer/mentor of both groups from Treble Maker and Love Me Tenor, and gives him the microphone. But what few people know outside of his immediate friends and staff that need to know is that Michelin is closeted and wants to come out. The story really kicks off when he meets Lucky, a go-go dancer  of Argentine descent at a gay night club and is immediately drawn to him. They kiss, someone films it, and shit hits the fan.

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Books

Book 821: Love Me Tenor (Perfect Harmony #2) – Annabeth Albert

Geoff W

Book cover of "Love Me Tenor" with Amazon Affiliate linkPicking up not long after where Treble Maker leaves off we find Trevor (Lucas’ friend and acapella group mate) struggling after coming out to his family and being disowned. A production assistant from the previous show has invited him to be on a new reality TV singing competition made of boy bands and he jumps at the opportunity because it’ll give him housing for a few more months while he tries to figure out his life.

What he didn’t expect was to meet and then fall in love with Jalen, the assistants adopted brother who can sing, but doesn’t have the training of the rest of the group. Jalen has his own anger issues and spends the first half of the book antagonizing Trevor.

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