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Book 795: Keeping Casey (Keeping Him #1) – Amy Aislin

I said yes to this one when Gay Romance Reviews offered it because I love a MM Sports Romance and hockey in particular thanks to Ngozi Ukazu.* And it didn’t hurt that the last book I read by Aislin was a hockey romance and it was a decent read.

Keeping Casey introduces us to Ethan, a demisexual gay man who has a medical condition that will one day prematurely end his hockey career who is in love with his best friend, Casey, an archaeology nerd who has been avoiding the grief of his father’s death for years and happens to also be in love with Ethan. They just don’t talk about it until after Casey volunteers as Ethan’s fake boyfriend because of a homophobic teammate. Love a fake boyfriend story!

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Book 794: Best Laid Plans (Garnet Run #2) – Roan Parrish

As soon as I found out there was going to be another book in the series that brought me Better Than People, I jumped on board with a request to the publisher.*

Taking place not long after BTP, Best Laid Plans features Charlie, the older brother of Jack from the first novel who has spent his life sacrificing for Jack since their parents died, and Rye, a down on his luck loner who has come to Wyoming after inheriting a dilapidated house because he has nowhere else to go.

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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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Book 791: Fall Through Spring (Winter Ball #3) – Amy Lane

And this just goes to show what happens when you have to eat your words. At the end of my review for Summer Lessons, I said I wasn’t sure Dane and Clay needed their own story and Lane proved me wrong for the most part.

I still wonder how all of this happened when Mason and Terry were getting together, but I guess Dane did disappear for large swaths of the books. The one scene that really gets me though was when Skip called Clay out during a heart-to-heart when they were eating lunch with Mason. Clearly things were a lot further along at that point than it appeared in book two!

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Book 789: Summer Lessons (Winter Ball #2) – Amy Lane

After finishing Wolf Hall, I knew I was going to need a bit of a breather and where else to turn but the next book in a romance series I’d already started and the library just happened to have?

I enjoyed this one a lot more than the first one, it had a lot more humor, but it also brought to light a few more things about Lane’s writing setting that I’m not so sure I’m a fan of. There’s just one aspect of these books that has forced me out of the story at key plot points and that is NEVER a good sign.

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