Tag: workplace

Review – All Hours

I received an e-ARC of All Hours by Andie J. Christopher from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This m/m romance was a quick, sweet read. Felix’s sister is married to Javier’s cousin so they’ve known each other for a while, but hadn’t interacted much. Javier’s grandmother tries to set up Felix and Javier, but it doesn’t really work. Javier gets injured and needs surgery so Felix takes over his restaurant while he recovers. Javier gets pants feelings for Felix pretty quickly and they decide to have a fling. They both catch feelings and there’s a dust up with an evil ex that threatens their happily-ever-after.

I don’t always enjoy chef romances because I don’t get a lot out of the food descriptions, but this book didn’t talk much about the food so I appreciated that. The sexytimes were hot and sweet and gave them both heart feelings in addition to the pants feelings. I wish it had been longer and gotten more into the heads and hearts of the main characters, but this is book 6 in a series so maybe the previous books introduced them more. I will be seeking out at least a couple of those books because I really liked both of their sisters.

This was my first book by this author, and I was excited to read it. She cracks me up on Twitter. I really enjoyed her voice and the tone of this book. I give it 4 stars.

Reading this Week – June 9

  • Hardcore by Dakota Gray – m/f, workplace, sort of second chance. This was first person narration from the hero’s point of view, which I feel like is hard to do well. First person of anyone is hard to pull off, but I’m always impressed when the hero’s POV is done well and it was here. He was a dirty dude though. Wow.
  • Want Me by Neve Wilder – m/m, college. Definitely the most explicit m/m I’ve ever read, but it also had these moments of true sweetness from the two alpha bros who fell in love. Typically, I don’t love an alpha bro, much less two, but seeing these guys come together was lovely. So.Much.Sex. though. So if you’re looking for lots of plot and dialog, probably want to skip this one. I loved it though. I’ve already read it two more times.
  • Dedicated by Neve Wilder – m/m, workplace, friends to lovers – Another sweet one from this author. This one had more conflict and less sexytimes, but it was still really good.
  • Knight’s Fire by SJ Himes – m/m, paranormal, DRAGONS! I fucking love dragons. I don’t know why, but I do. This mythology was a little different. Rather than a human/dragon shifter, the dragon was a true shape shifter and could assume any shape. He preferred to assume the human shape so he could get it on with the knight. I’m looking forward to the next in the series, about their wedding and resolving the Big Bad.
  • Jericho Candelario’s Gay Debut by R. Cooper – m/m, friends to lovers, virgin hero – This was the sweetest, most precious (in the best sense of the word) love story. Jerry is my favorite. And I loved Lincoln’s dad bod.

Reread this week:

  • Band Sinister by KJ Charles – My #1 go-to comfort read. And fitting my theme of only reading LGBT books the rest of this month for Pride.

Review: Teach Me

I received an e-ARC of Teach Me by Olivia Dade from the author in exchange for an honest review.

Teach Me is a fantastic m/f that falls under “seasoned romance” because the hero and heroine are in their 40’s.

Rose is a teacher with a twenty years of experience at her school, and Martin is a new teacher who is brought in and assigned to her favorite class to teach. Martin is immediately drawn to Rose, but he grows on her slowly. She makes the first move and he turns her down due to insecurities, not lack of interest. Then he realizes what a dumb move that was and goes about trying to thaw her out. They both work on their insecurities. They let each other in. They find happily ever after.

What I loved about this book was the ease and gentleness of it. There was no dramatic gestures or big romantic overtures or aggressive pursuit, just a grown ass man respecting and listening to a grown ass woman. Blurbs bill it as an ice queen and a cinnamon roll and that’s accurate. But he’s not a sickly sweet cinnamon roll covered in too much icing. He’s iced just right. I loved the writing from his perspective when he realized he loved her. I would quote it but I don’t want to spoil it.

I give this book 4.5 stars and I highly recommend it. They both accepted each other and appreciated each other for being exactly themselves. I think that’s my biggest romance catnip — respect and acceptance and seeing someone for who they really are.