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Book 834: Blackout – Marco Carocari

Book cover of "Blackout" with Amazon Affiliate linkIn general, I don’t read a lot of mysteries or thrillers, even though I really should (see next paragraph). However, when the publicist reached out about this one with a gay protagonist I thought sure why not give it ago.*

Although there were definitely some issues with this book, pretty sure the authors native language isn’t English, for the most part I enjoyed it. And if my reaction to the two big reveals in the novel are anything to go by I really should read mysteries/thrillers more often. The first WTF moment happened and I had to take a few minutes to collect myself. I mean it was obvious it was coming looking back, but I got caught up in the story and didn’t pay attention to the clues or hints. And then the second one, I was just pissed about.

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Book 833: You’re My Home – Katie Moore

Book cover of "You're My Home" with Amazon Affiliate linkLooking 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 828: Bennet, Pride Before the Fall (Love, Austen #3) – Anyta Sunday

Book cover of "Bennet, Pride before the Fall" with Amazon Affiliate linkOf course, the second I received the email for this one from Gay Romance Reviews I filled out the form for a review copy 😀 No questions asked. And this was on top of already having some hesitations with Darcy being the dad of Henry from the Northanger Abbey retelling Cameron Wants to be a Hero.

As the Love, Austen series moves along I feel like Sunday is getting further and further away from the source material. This is not necessarily a bad thing when it comes to an Austen retelling, but I’ve definitely noted people being less enthusiastic in their reviews.

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Book 824: Dream Bound (Tasier #1) – Arian Williams

Book cover of "Dream Bound" with Amazon Affiliate linkI had no idea what to expect when I decided to accept a copy of this one from Gay Romance Reviews.* I’ve tried to stay away from the super genre specific ones outside of MM romance, it just didn’t feel like it was my thing. But for some reason, this one just spoke to me.

This is the story of Joon, who has been stumbling through life not really able to make connections with other people and wondering what is wrong with him, and Trey, his soulmate who has all the memories of their dreams together that Joon can’t access.

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Book 822: A Husband for Hartwell (The Lords of Bucknall Club #1) – J.A. Rock & Lisa Henry

Book cover of "A Husband for Hartwell" with Amazon Affiliate linkOf course, I’m going to say yes to a review request that has “It’s Bridgeton but make it gay!” in it.* Even though I never read the series, I thoroughly enjoyed the Netflix adaptation and we all know I’m obsessed with Jane Austen and the Regency era.

For the most part, I was curious about how they were going to get the gay thing in and it was pretty clear from the beginning with the book starting with a proclamation that all pairings are allowed as long as they’re within the marriageable class and that it was mostly designed for second or third sons of the gentry.

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