Books

Book 1,071: To the Moon and Back – N.R. Walker

Book cover of "To the Moon and Back"N.R. Walker might just be the queen of low-angst MM Romance. Every book I’ve read by her has had minimal angst—usually caused by lack of self confidence or the evergreen male trait of refusing to talk to each other—and every one has been absolutely lovely. And To the Moon and Back was no different.

I grabbed this one when I wanted a quick read and for some reason was like “I’d love to read a single dad romance.” It didn’t hurt it was a grumpy/sunshine that I also truly enjoyed. It features Gideon, an exhausted first time dad to his adopted nephew, Benson, whose partner abandoned him because of the adoption, and Toby, a nanny with a background in early childhood education, who moves in to help as Gideon returns to his full time work.

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Book 1,069: The Romantic Tragedies of a Drama King – Harry Trevaldwyn

Book cover of "The Romantic Tragedies of a Drama King"Have you ever read a book and had a moment of “Oh shit, was this me in high school?” I thought this for a millisecond, and then I remembered a friend in our friend group and was like, “OMFG close call, I wasn’t quite this dramatic.

I loved the title of this one, so when the publisher reached out with a galley last October, I jumped at it.* It only took me five months to get to versus the much longer wait many of the others I’ve finished recently. This was the last one though, I’ve officially cleared my galley/ARC TBR pile.

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Book 1,068: The Rules of Royalty – Cale Dietrich

Book cover of "The Rules of Royalty"Imagine the Princess Diaries, but gay, with a few more edits and that’s what you get here, and I loved it. I accepted this galley at some point last year and finally got around to it on vacation in March.*

Seriously, imagine on your 17th birthday your adoptive mother is like oh heyyyy remember how I’ve been open with you about your mom. Well your mom actually wanted me to keep all of this LIFE CHANGING INFORMATION FROM YOU. As if you weren’t going through enough issues as a gay teen, throw in that you’re apparently also a crown prince of a small European country, yeah oof.

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Books

Book 1,067: Two for Trust – Elle Brownlee

Book cover for "Two for Trust"And just like that, this book took another step forward as the most read book since I started this blog. Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is giving it a run for its money with three reads (Jan 2013; Aug 2013; Dec 2015; and an upcoming re-read), and if you count Austen adaptations it’s no contest. But, I’ve read Two for Trust five times now, twice in 2020 and then again in February 2023 and again in October of 2024.

I genuinely have no idea why I enjoy it so much. It’s a simple love story that’s decently written and it’s squeaky clean. There are a couple of heated moments and 1-2 super heated kisses, but that’s it and that’s definitely part of why I enjoy it. Part of it is how quickly I can read it—if I don’t start too late in the evening I can finish it in one sitting!

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Book 1,066: The Lost Story – Meg Shaffer

Book cover of "The Lost Story"What happens when you take the Christian allegory out of C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia, modernize it and add a little queer joy and some millennial/gen-z humor—I’m not lying I legit rolled my eyes at booping death on the nose? Meg Shaffer’s The Lost Story is what happens and it was a delightful fantastical journey that I very much enjoyed.

The publisher reached out with a review copy in early 2024 and I finally got around to it just over a year later and it was worth the wait.* When I got to the passage that the publisher included in the outreach email I gasped and was like “THIS is why I requested it!” (I 100% did not re-read that email before starting this on vacation, I just knew exactly what it was and verified it afterward.)

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