Tag: Contemporary Romance

Books

Book 1,032: Something Like Summer (Something Like . . . #1) – Jay Bell

Geoff W

I have had this book on my radar for as long as I can remember. Definitely long before the 2017 adaptation (which I still need to watch), but I’m not sure when or how I heard of it. I’m sure it was back in the early 2010s not long after it was originally written, and I was desperate to find LGBT love stories. What a world we’re in now where there’s a plethora of all genres and all tastes!

Something Like Summer is the tale of the tumultuous relationship between openly gay Ben who is a total nerd and artsy and the new kid Tim who’s moved to town and immediately falls in with the popular kids. What starts out as an unrequited crush quickly turns into a DL friends with benefits and Bell takes it from there through a lifetime.

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Books

Book 1,030: Idol Minds (Idol Romance #1) – K.T. Salvo

Geoff W

I’m not sure when I discovered this novel, but when I did, I was SUPER excited. When we first got Barnaby—@BarnabytheBernedoodle on Insta—I got really into the BL shows on Viki Rakuten. And this novel was made to be one of those shows and or happen while one of those shows was being made so of COURSE I was going to read it—see the first quote below. Plus, I’ve always needed to do better about diversifying the protagonists of the books I read, especially the MM Romances.

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Books

Book 1,029: Racing into Love (Cut to the Feeling #1) – Noah Steele

Geoff W

Oof. Steele is hit or miss for me, and this was a HUGE miss. After reading Heartthrob back in late 2022, I knew I wanted to read more by Steele, but it seems he’s only just hit his stride with Heartthrob, because this one was just not good and the middle one Catch Me If I Fall was mediocre, and I think that had more to do with timing than the book itself.

On the surface I should’ve loved Racing Into Love, awkward bookstore owner Aiden, is forced to face his fears when he meets athlete/race car driver Derrek, in order for them to be together.

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Books

Book 1,028: Up to Snow Good (Snow Way in Hell #2) – Charlie Novak

Geoff W

After reading Snow Way in Hell so that I could finally read this one, it was worth it. I’m always going to be a sucker for a holiday romance and an illustrated cover. Throw in Europe and chocolate/food and I’m 100% going to read it. This book picks up not long after Snow Way in Hell and tells us Max’s story, the brother of Tarquin and best friend of George, Tarquin’s fiancé.

Max has got it in his head to do something fancy for Tarquin and George and is stomping on toes left and right, including Luca’s, the local owner and confectioner of the chocolate shop. Thankfully, he shows some self-awareness and goes back to apologize and that kicks off the adorable chaos that becomes their relationship. Luca’s a grumpy overworked big bear of a guy who’s just trying to get by and Max is a wealthy, over the top golden retriever, happy go lucky go with the flow guy; and they somehow work together.

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Books

Book 1,026: Snow Way in Hell (Snow Way in Hell #1) – Charlie Novak

Geoff W

I read this because Novak’s novel Up to Snow Good caught my attention and I realized this came first and introduced some of the characters in the second, so figured why not. Plus, when you add in it’s a short story/novella and it includes a protagonist of color, I grabbed it and blazed through it.

Snow Way in Hell is the story of Tarquin, a PhD pursuing academic, and his older brother, Max’s best friend, George, an Olympic snowboarder. Max drags them and a couple of asshat friends (thankfully they bail pretty quickly) on a three-day mess of a vacation.

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