Tag: Chicago

Books

Book 1,010: The Inside Edge – Ashlyn Kane

Geoff W

Book cover of "The Inside Edge" with Amazon Affiliate linkSo, if we’ve learned anything over 13 years of blogging, I enjoy most MM Romances tropes, but for some reason this past year I’ve been obsessed with hockey/figure skating romances. I don’t know why, maybe it’s that I’ve finally acclimated to New England, but they are just giving me life these days. This is the sixth one I’ve read in 2023 and I have at least 2-3 more coming before the calendar turns (but reviews won’t appear until early 2024).

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Books

Book 986: The Rancher’s Son (Montana #2) – R.J. Scott

Geoff W

Book cover of "The Rancher's Son" with Amazon Affiliate linkThis book took a different turn from what I expected from a series set in Montana after the first book. For one thing, there were a lot fewer cowboys and horses.

This book focuses on the second family of the three that have a stake in Crooked Tree Ranch. Ethan, the older brother who is a cop, has spent the last decade looking for his brother, Justin, and his brother’s best friend, Adam, who went missing when they were younger. He’s never given up hope and all of a sudden he’s called to Chicago and finds Adam who has no memories of him or anyone else the only words he said were “Ethan” and “Crooked Tree Ranch.”

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Books

Book 980: Out of Character – Jenna Miller

Geoff W

Book cover of "Out of Character" with Amazon Affiliate linkI requested a copy of this from NetGalley the second Jenna mentioned it was available for requests.* You see, Jenna and I started book blogging around the same time all those years ago and I remember bonding over some of our aligned reading tastes, but I also remember when she started to talk about writing and NaNoWriMo and all the other things that went into the drafts and early works of the novel and we’ve stayed in contact on Insta, oh hey internet friend.

So when she announced not only that she got an agent, had a novel accepted, AND that it was about internet friends. I was like OMG I have to read it. And y’all it was 100% worth the read. There is a spoiler or two after the jump so if you want to read it and don’t want to know anything skip it until you’ve read it.

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Books

Book 964: The 99 Boyfriends of Micah Summers – Adam Sass

Geoff W

Book cover of "The 99 Boyfriends of Micah Summers" with Amazon Affiliate linkI requested and received this up back in June in a NetGalley binge when I went through and looked at all the upcoming Young Adult LGBT fiction.* I loved the cover and the concept so thought why not? I missed the review deadline by a few weeks even though I started it with plenty of time. Thanks, school and life for getting in the way.

This is the story of Micah, Grant, and Elliot. Micah is the protagonist who has a really popular Insta account where he draws fantastical versions of the boys he crushes on around Chicago. One of those boys ends up being Grant and the first half of the story is Micah trying to find Grant again, his Cinderfella who disappeared off the train. He’s joined by his BFF’s other BFF Elliot, who has his issues but brings joy, light, and support to Micah’s journey.

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Books

Book 937: Burn Rate – Andy Dunn

Geoff W

Book cover of "Burn Rate" with Amazon Affiliate linkWhen someone in the marketing department at the publisher reached out about this because I’d positively reviewed David Chang’s Eat a Peach, I had to take a few minutes to really think if I wanted to go back into this world.*

In Chang’s book, his mental health struggles are peripheral, but in Dunn’s Burn Rate, he centers them. I spent quite a bit of time reading about bipolar disorder, alcoholism, and other mental health issues before my mom died a few years ago to try and understand what she was going through and what my sister and I were experiencing. And that REALLY hit home when the first quote Dunn uses in his book is a quote from Kay Redfield Jamison who wrote THE book (An Unquiet Mind) about brains and bipolar/manic depression/brains in general.

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