Tag: LGBTQ+

Book Reviews/

Icarus and The Devil by Layla Reyne Book Review

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Icarus and the Devil by Layla Reyne

Blurb

My name is Icarus for a reason.
If there’s a way to screw up a plan, I’m your man.

Case in point:
Falling for the man I’m supposed to seduce and ferry to his death.
Adam Devlin, aka the Devil.
A vigilante ex-cop and a thorn in the side of the mobster blackmailing me.
Should be easy.
Except Adam’s longing for intimacy—for submission—is irresistible.
Seduce him, yes. Lead him to his death, world of no.

There’s only one solution to save us both: kidnap the Devil.
I mentioned my name is Icarus, right?
Three guesses how this plan will go.
Bet you only need one.

Icarus and the Devil is a steamy M/M paranormal romantic suspense novel. It features two danger-magnet men trying to stay alive and failing to stay away from each other. Chaos ensues on their way to happily ever after.

Sensitive Content

Here is the potentially sensitive content I observed while reading this book:

  • Alcohol
  • Death of a Loved One
  • Grief
  • Profanity
  • Sexually Explicit Scenes
  • Violence

Ratings

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There are possible **SPOILERS** beyond this point!

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Book Reviews/

Cleat Cute by Meryl Wilsner Book Review

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Cleat Cute by Meryl Wilsner

Blurb

A sapphic rivals to lovers rom com for fans of Ted Lasso and A League of Their Own, where two soccer teammates are at odds before falling in love as their team gears up for the World Cup.

Grace Henderson has been a star of the US Women’s National Team for ten years, even though she’s only 26. But when she’s sidelined with an injury, a bold new upstart, Phoebe Matthews, takes her spot. 22-year-old Phoebe is everything Grace isn’t—a gregarious jokester who plays with a joy that Grace lost somewhere along the way. The last thing Grace expects is to become teammates with benefits with this class clown she sees as her rival.

Phoebe Matthews is too focused on her first season as a professional soccer player to think about seducing her longtime idol. But when Grace ends up making the first move, they can’t keep their hands off of each other.

As the World Cup approaches and Grace works her way back from injury, a miscommunication leaves the women with hilariously different perspectives on their relationship. But they’re on the same page on the field, realizing they can play together instead of vying for the same position. With every tackle the tension between them grows, and both players soon have to decide what’s more important—being together or making the roster.

The perfect blend of funny and steamy, Meryl Wilsner’s Cleat Cute is about being brave enough to win on and off the field.

Sensitive Content

Here is the potentially sensitive content that I observed while reading:

  • Ableism
  • Alcohol
  • Bullying
  • Emotional Abuse
  • Injury
  • Mental Health diagnoses
  • Panic Attacks
  • Sexually Explicit Scenes
  • Toxic relationship (not Main Characters)
  • Vomit

Ratings

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Book Reviews/

Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston Book Review

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Red White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

Blurb

What happens when America’s First Son falls in love with the Prince of Wales?

When his mother became President, Alex Claremont-Diaz was promptly cast as the American equivalent of a young royal. Handsome, charismatic, genius―his image is pure millennial-marketing gold for the White House. There’s only one problem: Alex has a beef with the actual prince, Henry, across the pond. And when the tabloids get hold of a photo involving an Alex-Henry altercation, U.S./British relations take a turn for the worse.

Heads of family, state, and other handlers devise a plan for damage control: staging a truce between the two rivals. What at first begins as a fake, Instragramable friendship grows deeper, and more dangerous, than either Alex or Henry could have imagined. Soon Alex finds himself hurtling into a secret romance with a surprisingly unstuffy Henry that could derail the campaign and upend two nations and begs the question: Can love save the world after all? Where do we find the courage, and the power, to be the people we are meant to be? And how can we learn to let our true colors shine through? Casey McQuiston’s Red, White & Royal Blue proves: true love isn’t always diplomatic.

Sensitive Content

Here is the potentially sensitive content I observed while reading this book:

  • Alcohol
  • Bullying
  • Cancer
  • Death of a parent
  • Drug/ Drug use
  • Emotional Abuse
  • Grief
  • Homophobia
  • Misogyny
  • Outing
  • Panic Attacks
  • Profanity
  • Racism
  • Sexual Content
  • Stalkiing

Ratings

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There are possible **SPOILERS** beyond this point!

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Book Reviews/

Vicious Cravings by Elliott Rose Book Review

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Blurb

She wants to restore her power… they want to find their missing piece.

Healer. Claimer of Souls. The Mortala.

Keeping secrets was a language Nelloix spoke fluently. Making sure those secrets–the kind a witch like her could only evade for so long–stay hidden is the only way to prevent the nightmares of her past from catching her.

She dared break away from those who sought to bind her power for eternity. Her punishment? A shattered heart to match her broken magic. Swearing off love, fate, and bonding with another being in order to keep both herself and others safe from the curse within.

Time has nearly run out, unless she can find the elusive ingredient she needs for a potion. A botanical extract so rare, Nell might as well abandon all hope…

When shadows from the past find her, what if it’s too late to outrun fate?

Predators. Monsters. Vampires.

Mischief and order. Light and dark. Two fated mates desperate to find the third member of their soul bond. But some mysteries were meant to remain concealed.

Love casts the deepest scars. Both Hunter and Ace have been torn apart by a witch before. Will they be able to overcome their greatest fears–the darkest parts of their own vampiric natures–when their world collides with a mystifying green-eyed witch.

The one who seeks something only they can provide…

Dark cravings pull on an invisible thread weaving three souls together, but will they survive the forces threatening to tear them all apart?

Sensitive Content

Here is the sensitive content I observed while reading this book

  • Alcohol
  • Blood
  • Drug use
  • Death of a loved one
  • Gore
  • Group Sex
  • Murder
  • Profanity
  • Sexually Explicit Scenes
  • Violence

Ratings

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Book Reviews/

In The Case of Heartbreak by Courtney Kae Book Review

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In The Case of Heartbreak by Courtney Kae

Blurb

With a gorgeous beachfront mansion, salty ocean breeze, steamy nights, and ALL the summertime feels, this funny, sexy queer rom-com is a celebration of summer love, as a cinnamon roll of a pastry chef finds his indie rocker crush suddenly within reach. Perfect for fans of Casey McQuiston, Roan Parrish, Alexandria Bellefleur, Ruby Barrett, and Alexis Hall!

Ben has been baking his mother’s cinnamon rolls at the family café for years. He’s been quietly in love with Adam Reed, his musician-slash-mechanic neighbor, for just as long. But Ben’s done waiting behind the pastry case. Despite his fear of failure, he’s entered a make-or-break competition to build his recipes into a national brand. He’s going to take charge of his business instead of nearly tanking the café—again. And he’s going to finally confess his feelings for Adam. ON LIVE TV.

Except his big plans get punched down before they even half-rise. Soon Ben is dashing down the coast to his grandma’s 80th birthday party on the beach, hiding his broken heart in Maywell Bay, California. Sun, sea, and fresh breezes should blow in something new—except they don’t. They blow in Adam Reed, grinning like a pirate and stealing the show as the musical entertainment hired by Grandma for her big bash. Grandma’s signature Heartbreak Tea is the only remedy, and Grandma’s tea could take the paint off a fence.

But there’s a burn of truth along with the booze in his bottle, and Ben has a decision to make. Can he take the sweetness in front of him, and brave the bitterness that comes after? Or is a little sea salt just what this cinnamon roll needs?

Salty cinnamon rolls? Ew. Ben would never.

Sensitive Content

This book does have a content warning printed in the book. Here is the sensitive content I observed while reading:

  • Alcohol
  • Anxiety
  • Childhood trauma (neglect)
  • Depression
  • Divorce (parents)
  • Gaslighting
  • Emotional abuse
  • Profanity
  • Sexual content

Ratings

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There are possible **SPOILERS** beyond this point!

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Book Reviews/

Honey Girl by Morgan Rogers Book Review

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Blurb

When becoming an adult means learning to love yourself first.

With her newly completed PhD in astronomy in hand, twenty-eight-year-old Grace Porter goes on a girls’ trip to Vegas to celebrate. She’s a straight A, work-through-the-summer certified high achiever. She is not the kind of person who goes to Vegas and gets drunkenly married to a woman whose name she doesn’t know…until she does exactly that.

This one moment of departure from her stern ex-military father’s plans for her life has Grace wondering why she doesn’t feel more fulfilled from completing her degree. Staggering under the weight of her parent’s expectations, a struggling job market and feelings of burnout, Grace flees her home in Portland for a summer in New York with the wife she barely knows.

In New York, she’s able to ignore all the constant questions about her future plans and falls hard for her creative and beautiful wife, Yuki Yamamoto. But when reality comes crashing in, Grace must face what she’s been running from all along—the fears that make us human, the family scars that need to heal and the longing for connection, especially when navigating the messiness of adulthood.

Triggers

There is no content warning for this book. Here is some the of sensitive content that I observed while reading.:

  • Alcohol
  • Anxiety
  • Depression
  • Homophobia (mentions of)
  • Misogyny
  • Profanity
  • Racism
  • Self-Harm

Ratings

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There are possible **SPOILERS** beyond this point!

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Book Reviews/

Kiss Her Once For Me by Alison Cochrun Book Review

This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission, at no extra cost to you, if you make a purchase through a link. Read the Disclosure here.

Blurb

The author of the “swoon-worthy debut” (Harper’s Bazaar) The Charm Offensive returns with a festive romantic comedy about a woman who fakes an engagement with her landlord…only to fall for his sister.

One year ago, recent Portland transplant Ellie Oliver had her dream job in animation and a Christmas Eve meet-cute with a woman at a bookstore that led her to fall in love over the course of a single night. But after a betrayal the next morning and the loss of her job soon after, she finds herself adrift, alone, and desperate for money.

Finding work at a local coffee shop, she’s just getting through the days—until Andrew, the shop’s landlord, proposes a shocking, drunken plan: a marriage of convenience that will give him his recent inheritance and alleviate Ellie’s financial woes and isolation. They make a plan to spend the holidays together at his family cabin to keep up the ruse. But when Andrew introduces his new fiancée to his sister, Ellie is shocked to discover it’s Jack—the mysterious woman she fell for over the course of one magical Christmas Eve the year before. Now, Ellie must choose between the safety of a fake relationship and the risk of something real.

Perfect for fans of Written in the Stars and One Day in December, Kiss Her Once for Me is the queer holiday rom-com that you’ll want to cozy up with next to the fire.

Triggers

Here are the potentially sensitive content that I observed while reading:

  • Anxiety (Social Anxiety)
  • Alcohol
  • Childhood Trauma
  • Hypothermia
  • Profanity
  • Sexually Explicit Scenes

Ratings

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Book Reviews/

A Merry Little a Meet Cute by Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone Book Review

This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission, at no extra cost to you, if you make a purchase through a link. Read the Disclosure here.

Blurb

Cowritten by #1 New York Times bestselling author Julie Murphy and USA Today bestselling author Sierra Simone—a steamy plus-size holiday rom-com about an adult film star who is semi-accidentally cast as a lead in a family-friendly Christmas movie, and the former bad-boy pop star she falls in love with.

Bee Hobbes (aka Bianca Von Honey) has a successful career as a plus-size adult film star. With a huge following and two supportive moms, Bee couldn’t ask for more. But when Bee’s favorite producer casts her to star in a Christmas movie he’s making for the squeaky-clean Hope Channel, Bee’s career is about to take a more family-friendly direction.

Forced to keep her work as Bianca under wraps, Bee quickly learns this is a task a lot easier said than done. Though it all becomes worthwhilewhen she discovers her co-star is none other than childhood crush Nolan Shaw, an ex-boy band member in desperate need of career rehab. Nolan’s promised his bulldog manager to keep it zipped up on set, and he will if it means he’ll be able to provide a more stable living situation for his sister and mom.

But things heat up quickly in Christmas Notch, Vermont, when Nolan recognizes his new co-star from her ClosedDoors account (oh yeah, he’s a member). Now Bee and Nolan are sneaking off for quickies on set, keeping their new relationship a secret from the Hope Channel’s execs. Things only get trickier when the reporter who torpedoed Nolan’s singing career comes snooping around—and takes an instant interest in mysterious newcomer Bee.

And if Bee and Nolan can’t keep their off-camera romance behind the scenes, then this merry little meet cute might end up on the cutting room floor.

Triggers

There were no content warnings in this book. I will share some of the potentially sensitive content that I observed while reading:

  • Alcohol
  • Cyber-bullying (not between MCs)
  • Fatphobia/Fat shaming (not between MCs)
  • Homophobia (not between MCs)
  • Loss of a parent (brief mentioning)
  • Mental Health Representation (including BiPolar Disorder)
  • Profanity
  • Sexually Explicit Scenes
  • Slut shaming (not between MCs)

Ratings

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There are possible **SPOILERS** beyond this point!

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Book Reviews/

In The Event of Love by Courtney Kae Book Review

This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission, at no extra cost to you, if you make a purchase through a link. Read the Disclosure here.

Blurb

With her career as a Los Angeles event planner imploding after a tabloid blowup, Morgan Ross isn’t headed home for the holidays so much as in strategic retreat. Breathtaking mountain vistas, quirky townsfolk, and charming small businesses aside, her hometown of Fern Falls is built of one heartbreak on top of another . . .

Take her one-time best friend turned crush, Rachel Reed. The memory of their perfect, doomed first kiss is still fresh as new-fallen snow. Way fresher than the freezing mud Morgan ends up sprawled in on her very first day back, only to be hauled out via Rachel’s sexy new lumberjane muscles acquired from running her family tree farm.

When Morgan discovers that the Reeds’ struggling tree farm is the only thing standing between Fern Falls and corporate greed destroying the whole town’s livelihood, she decides she can put heartbreak aside to save the farm by planning her best fundraiser yet. She has all the inspiration for a spectacular event: delicious vanilla lattes, acoustic guitars under majestic pines, a cozy barn surrounded by brilliant stars. But she and Rachel will ABSOLUTELY NOT have a heartwarming holiday happy ending. That would be as unprofessional as it is unlikely. Right?

Triggers

This is a sweet book that doesn’t have very many sensitive topics that arise but I’ve included the potentially sensitive content that I observed:

  • Alcoholism (not MCs)
  • Death of a Loved One
  • Profanity
  • Sexually Explicit Scenes

Ratings

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There are possible **SPOILERS** beyond this point!

Keep Reading!