Tag: Review Copy

Books

Book 959: The Dove in the Belly – Jim Grimsley

Geoff W

Book cover of "The Dove in the Belly" with Amazon Affiliate linkWhen I finished re-reading Dream Boy back in May, I did a quick search to see what Jim Grimsley was up to these days and stumbled across this upcoming release. I reached out to the publisher for a copy and crossed my fingers it wasn’t going to be as traumatic or emotionally draining as the others I’ve read.*

The Dove in the Belly is the story of Ronny and Ben. It takes place on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus in the 1970s and that’s the main reason I wanted to read this, Grimsley went to UNC and having it set on the UNC campus intrigued me as I also went to UNC and remember some of the history around the early LGBT organizations and experiences on campus.

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Books

Book 956: The Book of Elis – Lou Skelton

Geoff W

Book cover of "The Book of Elis" with Amazon Affiliate linkWho doesn’t love a childhood friendship that turns into a second-chance romance after one has moved countries away and they reconnect later in life? I know I do, so that’s why when this one landed in my inbox I requested a copy.*

The Book of Elis is the story of Ieuan and Elis who were inseparable as kids, but Elis and his family move from a small village in Wales to bustling Brisbane, Australia. When Elis and Ieuan are in university their families decide to take a joint vacation to Tenerife in Spain and the story goes from there.

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Books

Book 954: Heat Wave (The Extraordinaries #3) – T.J. Klune

Geoff W

Book cover of "Heat Wave" with Amazon Affiliate linkAfter the cliffhanger of Flash Fire, I wasn’t sure what to expect with this one. I was approved for a copy a few months ago and of course, sat on it for too long and missed the archive date.* Thankfully, I had downloaded a copy so was able to finish it up on the plane flying out to Chicago earlier this week.

The beginning was a little bit rough as there seemed to be a key piece of information missing from the story, but I figured out pretty quickly what was going on. It was all connected to the cliffhanger of Flash Fire so spoiler warning for after the jump.

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Books

Book 953: Stronger Than Passion (Chesapeake Days #2) – Katherine McIntyre

Geoff W

Book cover of "Stronger than Passion" with Amazon Affiliate linkComing off Stronger Than Hope, I wasn’t 100% sure I was going to read the next one in the series. There were just enough little annoyances in it that I wasn’t convinced. However, when this landed in my inbox I thought why not give McIntyre another chance, see if the same issues showed up again.*

I called Nico being one of the protagonists of this book but had no clue who the second would be. We find ourselves with a classic enemies-to-lovers trope. Nico Shah, the owner and proprietor of the local town bar who is a one-night-stand only kind of guy, is forced to work with Hudson West, the pretty boy with a presumed-trust fund who runs the high-end classy restaurant of the town. They don’t get on because of numerous misunderstandings, but they slowly fall for each other as they work together.

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Books

Book 951: Playing for Keeps (Sporting Secrets #3) – Jax Calder

Geoff W

Book cover of "Playing for Keeps" with Amazon Affiliate linkIt was a no-brainer I would say yes when this one finally arrived in my inbox.* I enjoyed Playing Offside and Playing at Home so much and was getting antsy this one was taking so long (a whole 6 months). It was definitely worth the wait and I’ll gladly wait this long again because Calder does a good job not only in writing the stories but also in making sure they’re reviewer ready. I’m still shuddering after a couple of recent ones I read that needed to start over.

This is the story of Ethan and Luke, childhood best friends who were inseparable until Char, Luke’s twin sister, ended up pregnant with Ethan’s kid, Theo. Needless to say shit hit the fan and they went their separate ways (including Luke fleeing to Japan to play professional rugby), but Luke is back to achieve his dream of playing for the New Zealand national team and he happened to sign with Ethan’s professional team, not because of Ethan but because of the out players on the team.

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