Books

Book 1,013: Make Me Stay (Safe Harbor #2) – Annabeth Albert

If there is a theme to Albert’s Safe Harbor series it is a little bit too much. Don’t get me wrong, they are not bad books, each one just has one or two too many elements for me. They’re still very well written character driven stories, there’s just too much going on for my personal tastes.

I’m not sure if this falls under the hurt/comfort or maybe (hurt/comfort)2, but it is somewhere in that category. Both main characters have trauma they start to overcome in this novel. Then you throw in the murder mystery and the kinky sex, it’s a lot.

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Books

Book 1,012: Bring Me Home (Safe Harbor #1) – Annabeth Albert

This is probably the novel I should’ve picked up to end my dry streak. Annabeth Albert has almost always given me a great read with wonderful character driven plotlines. Even on the few occasions that I wasn’t enamored, I was still impressed with the characters (especially the minor) and the humor. This book was no different.

It isn’t my favorite book by Albert, but it is a wonderful read opening a whole new friend group that she’ll explore in her Safe Harbor series. This is the story of Monroe, an ex-Navy investigator who’s come back to a small town in Oregon because his aunt left him a house. A childhood friend’s grown kid, Knox, needs somewhere to stay for the summer and of course it’s the guy who caught his eye at the club recently in Portland. The high jinks come fast and furious from there, as do the big emotions and the relatively low stakes drama Albert is best at.

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Books

Book 997: Schooling the Jock (Nerds vs Jocks #1) – Eli Easton & Tara Lain

After finishing The Hot Cannolis by Eli Easton and Tara Lain and knowing I didn’t want to jump into a more serious novel. I searched on Kindle Unlimited for a nerd/jock MM Romance and this series popped up. When I noticed the authors, there was no question about reading it so I dove right in.

Schooling the Jock is a twist on your classic enemies to lovers crossed with the nerd/jock trope and I am here for it. On the one hand, you’ve got Dobbs, the head of the university’s quiz bowl team who is openly gay and smart as hell, and on the other, you’ve got Jesse, the school’s prized running back (I think) who happens to be smart as hell and closeted.

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Books

Book 996: Hot Lips (The Hot Cannolis #4) – Tara Lain

This book, the conclusion of Eli Easton and Tara Lain’s The Hot Cannolis series, slid under my radar at the end of last year (totally blaming school for that one). I knew it was coming because Easton had written her solo of the series, and yet I still missed it.

I’m so glad Tito got a story! Ever since he was mentioned in one of the earlier books I knew he’d get a book and it would be different from the others. Tito was always described as slight and incredibly beautiful, unlike the other muscly hyper-masculine first-responder protagonists.

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Books

Book 995: Ice Devils (Bethesda Barracudas #4) – Ryan Taylor & Joshua Harwood

This was my least favorite novel of the series.

Some of that comes from reading the books back-to-back with no break in between, but more of it comes from the two characters and choices made by Taylor and Harwood that just really bothered me. That being said, kudos to them for including their first non-white protagonist.

Ice Devils Is the story of Blake Conti and Mark “Sako” Sakamoto. Conti is out and proud and Sako is so deep in the closet that it’s painful to read. Seriously, like I get the closet, it worked in many of the other books, but don’t make your first minority protagonist have more issues than any other character. It’s not a good look.

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