Books

Book 768: Merry Cherry Christmas – Keira Andrews

As I cross the 3/4 mark with book nine of my 12 MM Holiday Books of 2020, I’m finding it harder to judge the books. I’m not sure if it’s because they’re starting to run together, they totally are, or if it’s because they’re dividing pretty quickly into those that I really enjoy and those that are just sort of meh (this is the first).

In Merry Cherry Christmas we have Jeremy (aka Cherry – his little brother couldn’t say his name growing up and it stuck) another virgin desperately trying to no longer be a virgin, and his knight in shining armor Max, the super fit and attractive captain of the university football team. But really, Andrews wrote it best: “a nervous nerd and protective, jealous jock.” Not going to lie, this one gave a lot of the same things that A Guy for Christmas did, but Andrews did it better, for me at least.

Continue reading “Book 768: Merry Cherry Christmas – Keira Andrews”

ARC, Books

Book 723: Once You Go This Far – Kristen Lepionka

I wasn’t sure what to expect going into this. When the publisher reached out to me about an ARC I liked the synopsis and loved the fact Lepionka co-hosts a podcast called “Unlikeable Female Characters”, so said sure why not.*

I don’t know if it’s worth noting (but clearly, I’m noting it), the first thing I noticed on Goodreads is I am one of very few men who have read this book prior to release. I don’t know if that means we’re not the target audience or if it was just a coincidence, but I thought it was interesting.

Continue reading “Book 723: Once You Go This Far – Kristen Lepionka”

ARC, Books

Book 689: The Play of His Life – Amy Aislin

I honestly didn’t plan for April to be full of MM Romance novels, but that’s how the world works. Plus in this new world of coronavirus stay-at-homeness they’re the only thing I want to read. So in the words of Jonathan Van Ness, buckle up queen (YouTube video; watch the first 10-15 seconds) there are more to come after this, thanks to the library coming through on a few that have been on hold.

I read this as part of the Gay Romance Reviews publicity push for The Play of His Life‘s re-release later this month. I was intrigued when it landed in my inbox because I love second chance romances (oh hey Persuasion), and let’s face it MM romance sports stories are usually pretty hot and heavy. I did have some hesitations about accepting it because it is self-published, but it did come from a publicist rather than direct from the author so someone had to vet it at some point, so I figured why not?

Continue reading “Book 689: The Play of His Life – Amy Aislin”

Books

Book 659: The Testaments (The Handmaid’s Tale #2) – Margaret Atwood

I did not expect to read this so soon or so quickly. When I first heard Atwood was revisiting The Handmaid’s Tale nearly 35 years later I was incredibly wary about it. With the success of the Hulu series, I wasn’t surprised she was revisiting it, but I was hesitant to jump into this feet first so I put my name on the hold list at the library for an e-book version expecting not to get it until early-2020. They must’ve bought additional copies because I got it within two months of release!

There WILL be spoilers, so if you don’t want to know anything that happens stop now.

Continue reading “Book 659: The Testaments (The Handmaid’s Tale #2) – Margaret Atwood”

Books

Book 632: My Brother’s Husband, Volume 2 – Gengoroh Tagame

My Brother’s Husband, Volume 2, if possible, is even more perfect than Volume 1. We pick up with the story where Yatchi is continuing to digest what it must be like for LGBTQ+ individuals to come out and not be accepted. He’s internalizing everything and applying it to his own relationship with his daughter.

As Yatchi is doing he comes to the realization that he may not have fully accepted his twin’s sexuality. He finally acknowledges that they grew apart and that it wasn’t Ryoji’s growing distant and physically moving to Canada, but that he became distant with his twin as soon as he came out.

Continue reading “Book 632: My Brother’s Husband, Volume 2 – Gengoroh Tagame”