Books

Book 1,014: Find Me Worthy (Safe Harbor #3) – Annabeth Albert

Of the three books in Annabeth Albert’s Safe Harbor trilogy, this one was by far my favorite. I won’t say it’s unfortunate that you need to read the other two to get to this one, because they’re still well written books, but you do have to read the two of them to truly appreciate this book due to the underlying murder mystery that ties them together.

Find Me Worthy is the story of Sam, the slightly younger (I imagine slightly nerdy) do-gooder that idolized Monroe (from Bring Me Home), Holden (from Make Me Stay), and Worth, the other protagonist of this novel who fled as soon as he could after his mother disappeared and buried himself in first an MBA and then a high-stakes finance job that’s come crashing down around him.

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Books

Book 996: Hot Lips (The Hot Cannolis #4) – Tara Lain

This book, the conclusion of Eli Easton and Tara Lain’s The Hot Cannolis series, slid under my radar at the end of last year (totally blaming school for that one). I knew it was coming because Easton had written her solo of the series, and yet I still missed it.

I’m so glad Tito got a story! Ever since he was mentioned in one of the earlier books I knew he’d get a book and it would be different from the others. Tito was always described as slight and incredibly beautiful, unlike the other muscly hyper-masculine first-responder protagonists.

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Book 959: The Dove in the Belly – Jim Grimsley

When I finished re-reading Dream Boy back in May, I did a quick search to see what Jim Grimsley was up to these days and stumbled across this upcoming release. I reached out to the publisher for a copy and crossed my fingers it wasn’t going to be as traumatic or emotionally draining as the others I’ve read.*

The Dove in the Belly is the story of Ronny and Ben. It takes place on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus in the 1970s and that’s the main reason I wanted to read this, Grimsley went to UNC and having it set on the UNC campus intrigued me as I also went to UNC and remember some of the history around the early LGBT organizations and experiences on campus.

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Book 833: You’re My Home – Katie Moore

Looking back at the review request for this, I’m not sure what drew me to it. Maybe it was the best friends, the religious homophobia, the slow-burn or the hurt/comfort friends to lovers draw.* Whatever it was, I’m glad I said yes because even though I was emotionally exhausted by the end of the novel it was 100% worth the 460-page slog!

You’re My Home is the story of Zach, an underdeveloped young man who survives an abusive religious family, and Brady, the wealthy outgoing football jock with a heart of gold. They meet when they’re young and the story spans five or six years and you feel every one of those years on the page.

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Book 806: The Music of Bees – Eileen Garvin

I had no expectations of this going in. I grabbed a copy from NetGalley after re-upping my name on the Dutton ARC/Review copy list and if I’m honest I totally chose it because of the cover and the lyricalness of the title.*

I was so glad when I started reading that I fell right into it. Garvin has a way of building place and chosen family that does sometimes feel slow—it’s like COME ON you’re totally going to be BFFs forever we all can see it, just get there—but really is the perfect pace. She also clearly has s huge respect for bees and their place in the pollination cycle.

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