Books

Book 793: In the Middle of Somewhere (Middle of Somewhere #1) – Roan Parrish

I’m slowly coming to expect great things from Roan Parrish. Every time I pick up a novel by her I know there’s going to be a decent chunk of it dedicated to emotional turmoil of some sort and another good chunk of it dedicated to really making you feel the setting of the novel. And she did not disappoint with this one.

In the Middle of Somewhere introduces us to Daniel, a PhD candidate looking for his first job as a literature professor who has a chip on his shoulder from a rough upbringing, and Rex, a quiet woodsman with so much love to give and his own burdens to share. They meet when Daniel is in town for an interview and he hits a stray dog and crashes his car. There’s a kiss and longing, but then they both move on because neither knows for sure Daniel is going to take the job.

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Books

Book 792: Hallucinating Foucault – Patricia Duncker

I forgot how beautiful this novel is. That’s not surprising considering it’s been over a decade since I read it and I’m honestly not sure if this is my original copy or if I picked up a new one in the past few years. [Can now confirm this is my original – I brought it to Boston in December 2012.]

I remember when I first read this. I had spent a semester studying the history of sexuality in America and we read many passages from Michel Foucault’s The History of Sexuality and I was obsessed. Between it and the other readings we read that term, a whole new world around sexuality, gender identity, and philosophy had opened up to me. So, more than likely I typed Foucault into Amazon and this came up and I purchased it.

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Books

Book 785: Lonely Hearts (Love Lessons #3) – Heidi Cullinan

What was missing from Heidi Cullinan’s Love Lessons series? A fake boyfriend romance, so of course that’s what she provided and I soaked up in the third installment Lonely Hearts.

Picking up immediately after Fever Pitch, Cullinan dives right into the story of Elijah, the jaded and toying with the lines of addiction and safe sex roommate of Aaron from the last book, and Baz, life of the party big man on campus, but hiding a soft inside with a heartbreaking backstory.

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Books

Book 784: Fever Pitch (Love Lessons #2) – Heidi Cullinan

This one was a little more of the original Heidi Cullinan I read a few years ago, but a bit more balanced. I figured I may as well finish out the Love Lessons series and they were available from my local library digital download so here we are.

Whereas in Love Lessons, the sex scenes don’t start for some time, they kick off early in this one because the two protagonists hook up after they’ve graduated high school before they head off to college. Similar to book one, you’ve got one more experienced if jaded protagonist, Giles, who’s faced bullying and assault in high school and is dying to get out of town and his hookup Aaron, deeply closeted and dealing with overbearing parents.

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Books

Book 783: Secret Admirer (Love Notes #1) – D.J. Jamison

I PROMISE I’M READING MORE THAN MM ROMANCE THIS YEAR! Things just happened to work out that I needed to fill a few posts between nonfiction galleys to hit publishing dates so here we are.

I picked this up from Kindle Unlimited back in December when I read Naughty & Nice. At the time I was looking for MM Holiday Romances and was enraptured at the abs on that cover not realizing it was part of a series. Thankfully, they were pretty much standalones!

Secret Admirer features Ace, a super-hot upperclassman intelligent frat boy who is keeping an eye out for his best friend’s kid brother the other protagonist, Benji, a first-year who doesn’t want to be babied by his brother’s best friend and just wants to have fun. Continue reading “Book 783: Secret Admirer (Love Notes #1) – D.J. Jamison”