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Book 916: Stronger Than Hope (Chesapeake Days #1) – Katherine McIntyre

I grabbed this one from Gay Romance Reviews because at first I thought it was set in Chesapeake, Virginia, where my sister lives (I really SHOULD start reading the blurbs), but quickly found out it was Maryland.* The other reason was that I apparently was going through a single caregiver phase. This was the third or fourth over a very short period and they just melt my heart every time.

The fact that I am an incredibly stubborn and very fast reader is the primary reason I got through the first few chapters and found that the book, series, and author have a lot of potential, which seems weird as McIntyre has nearly 50 books on Goodreads and you’d think they would’ve polished some of these things already.

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Book 907: Hot Seat (The Hot Cannolis #1) – Eli Easton and Tara Lain

Give me an opposites-attract, man-in-uniform, light on the sex book any day and I am here for it! I knew the first two when I grabbed a copy of this from Gay Romance Reviews, but I didn’t know the third and that made it that much better!* And that was before I opened it to find a discussion about Wuthering Heights on the first page!!!

I’ve previously read Easton, but not Lain so I wasn’t sure what to expect with this one as I started, but quickly got into the story and the writing and didn’t look back finishing it in basically two sittings, and of course, spent a portion of it tearing up in public because one series of scenes towards the end just hit me hard.

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Book 896: A Christmas Miracle (Winsford Green #4) – Ruby Moone

As I said in my response to Dances Long Forgotten, the first book of Moone’s Winsford Green series, I sought it out because I received this review request from Gay Romance Reviews and it intrigued me enough to want to give the series a go.*

I liked the series enough to request this book halfway through the first. And while I don’t regret it, I think the first book was the strongest (I LOVED the flashback and hoped for it again), this and People Like Us were a distant second, and The Schoolmaster’s Spy further behind them.

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Book 883: New Year Not You – Edie Montreux

UGH. Two duds in a row and MM Holiday Romances at that! I’m now warry about what I read next and really wish I had an Annabeth Albert or a Roan Parrish lined up, because I need their perfection after these last two!

This one had so much promise when it arrived in my inbox: enemies to lovers, substance abuse overcome with sobriety, redemption and romance, two protagonists who’ve known each other forever and reconnecting as they’re coming into their own as adults, but in the end, it was one massive let down from beginning to end.*

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Book 881: The Best Gift – Eli Easton

When this one came in to my inbox I didn’t jump at it.* I was drawn to the veteran storyline and the  other protagonist having lost his son recently, but Easton isn’t an OMG must read even though I enjoyed her Clyde’s Corner series.

And I was more-or-less right. There wasn’t anything wrong with the story but I finished less than three days ago as I’m writing this and I’ve forgotten so much of it already. That’s not necessarily a bad thing when it comes to MM Romance novels, because they’re really for fun and enjoyment not deep thoughts and pondering, but three days seems a bit short even for that.

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