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Book 703: The Names We Take – Trace Kerr

By no actual planning on my part I’m posting this on the release date of The Names We Take, which never happens. To be completely honest, the publisher sent this to me months ago and I just now got around to reading it, but hey things work out for a reason.* I liked the idea of the publisher, Ooligan Press, which is a student run press at Portland State University that concentrates on Pacific Northwest Writers and because the blurb was interesting and they’d clearly spent some time perusing my blog I accepted the galley.

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Book 702: Out of the Shadows – K.C. Wells

Does it matter why I grabbed this one? We’re firmly in double digit territory and rapidly approaching dozens in this random MM romance wormhole.

Wells wrote a couple of books I thoroughly enjoyed (The Senator’s Secret and My Fair Brady) and decent enough one (Under the Covers) and this was the final one on Hoopla by her, so I just grabbed it to read. When I got it, I didn’t realize it was set in Boston and when I did realize that, it gave me a lot of anxiety because a book set in your locale is very hit or miss when it comes to physical locations and I’m still bitter about Quietus. UGH.

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Book 690: Off Base (Out of Uniform #1) – Annabeth Albert

Give me a minute to catch my breath . . . haahaa. No, seriously though. I didn’t read this through in one sitting, but I may as well have.

I’ve read two books with characters that would probably be in the Out of Uniform series by Annabeth Albert, Save the Date (with Wendy Qualls) and Connection Error. Both were great reads, but this one cranks it up. I’m not sure if it’s the sheer confidence of Pike, a just starting out college professor, or the hesitation and confusion of closeted virginal Navy Seal Zack.

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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?

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Book 688: Level Up (#gaymers #4) – Annabeth Albert

Who doesn’t love a meet cute involving a mistaken identity and shock factor? If you don’t, then don’t read this book 😀 This is the final book in the #gaymers series by Annabeth Albert following: Status Update, Beta Test and Connection Error.

The protagonists of this book are Landon, a bisexual university professor who is tangentially related to the characters in the series (and is mentioned in passing at a LAN party or two) and Bailey, a photographer from Portland, OR, donating his services for a nude calendar for charity.

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