Self-Isolation Read - Arctic Heat

• Title And Author: Arctic Heat by Annabeth Albert
• Publisher: Carina Press
• Physical, eBook or Audiobook: eBook
• Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Gifted by publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review/reaction
• Length: 368 Pages

ARGH! My NetGalley TBR has gotten SUPER out of hand! At the time of writing this, it’s over 100 and I know that a handful of them might not be my reading tastes now as they were requested several years back and if you have been on this reading/blogging journey with me the past few years, you would have seen my tastes change and me reading a few more genres more than others now compared to when I started. 

But I do have a set spot for romance of late. Sometimes, when the world becomes dark, you need a little sweetness, and romance seems to be my go to the past few weeks since lockdown/self-isolation. Plus, the past few weeks, I have felt on the verge of a reading slump so I hoped that this would save me up to a point. A gay romance set in the snowy mountains of Alaska? What more could I ask for?

Owen Han has a new leash of life. Surviving cancer and going through his bucket list, volunteering alongside park rangers and fulfilling his childhood dreams of snowy winters and rustic life. Shy ranger Quill doesn’t want to deal with newbie volunteers. And flirty Owen looks like he wouldn’t survive a week, let alone the winter. But as the two spend time together, their work relationship turns romantic, but can their relationship survive the harsh winter?

Self-Isolation Read - Baked Fresh

• Title And Author: Baked Fresh by Annabeth Albert
• Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corporation
• Physical, eBook or Audiobook: eBook
• Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Gifted
• Length: 131 Pages

So, history time! Back in March 2020, when Corona was making everyone very scared (as UK Government was giving us little/no information), a bunch of book bloggers/vloggers/instgrammers started doing threads on Twitter going “Share your Amazon Wishlist and buy something for a stranger if you can afford it”. Now, this is lovely idea and I bought a few people one/two things from their lists and, probably against my better judgement, put mine public and shared it. 

So imagine my surprise when Kate (aka @Mummy2aRockStar on Twitter) kindly messaged me and went “Can I buy you this?” and we spend a good half an hour trying to figure out how to gift something onto my kindle. It’s so strange! 

So, Baked Fresh is the second novella in the Portland Heat series and we follow baker on the rise, Vic Degrassi, who is a rare ability to make and keep New Year’s resolution. Whether it’s quitting smoking, graduating culinary school or losing weight, he keeps them. This year, he wants to meet someone and have a relationship. Not a fling. 

So, when he discovers that a sweet-hearted Robin who volunteers at the local homeless shelter has been unceremoniously dumped, Vic is more than happy to be his shoulder to cry on. Vic has been harbouring a crush on Robin, so he’s delighted when they going a date and their flirting turns to a steamy night together. But Robin isn’t ready for a relationship and with both having issues to deal with, can they just be friends with benefits or something more?

eBook Review - Rough Terrain

• Title And Author: Rough Terrain by Annabeth Albert
• Publisher: Carina Press
• Physical, eBook or Audiobook: eBook
• Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Gifted by publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review/reaction
• Length: 384 Pages

At the end of August, I wanted to have a small reading blitz to get myself up straight for my Murder Month, but I hit a bit of a reading slump. Though, not exactly. I had binge read The Witch’s Blood by Elizabeth and Katherine Corr and, while I did want to read a crime-y book, I just wasn’t in the mood. Plus, I wasn’t feel great due to the last of summer’s hayfever and its headaches. So, I just wanted something before I attacked the last few reads for Murder Month. So, in a moment of skimming my NetGalley, I saw this and went “You. I’m in the mood to read you.”

In the seventh instalment of the Out of Uniform series, Navy SEAL Renzo “Rooster” Bianchi has a soft spot for a cashier at the smoothie place. So when Canaan asks Renzo for a favour - to be his boyfriend for a weekend camping with his friends - Renzo accepts as there’s a spark between them. But what starts as a weekend con could be more…

eBook Review - Tight Quarters

• Title And Author: Tight Quarters by Annabeth Albert
• Publisher: Carina Press
• Physical, eBook or Audiobook: eBook
• Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Gifted by publisher via NetGalley in exchange for honest reaction
• Length: 336 Pages

Don’t give me that look. I know what you’re thinking. “Another gay romance, Andrew? Really?” Well, yeah. And be warned, I have one or two others within my TBR so you will see a few more in the coming few months within my blitz of murder and dragons. 

But I wanted a change of pace. And I wasn’t in the mood for anything too heavy. Plus, I wasn’t ready to start my reading of Eragon or Grave Mercy, both first books in the two series I want to read in 2019 and, while looking through my NetGalley eProofs (I have around 60 to be read - a few from when I started on NetGalley. THE SHAME!!! But, am making plans to try and cut down my requesting of eProofs and try to read a good few before I got on a blog break in April/May. I am making plans!), this title catch my eye and went “Ok. I can hammer this out fast. Let’s see where I go with it.” Plus, I did read the previous book in the series, Squared Away (write-up for that is here), and I did enjoy that hugely at the time (I read it in two days flat). 

Petty Officer Bacon, a Navy SEAL, has been asked to in a beta team due to a minor injury and, due to that, been asked to babysit a forty-something journalist, Spencer Bryant, a man who gets Bacon’s blood racing. But when the mission goes sideways, the two men find themselves falling for each other. But keeping a relationship alive in the real world is very different from the front lines - the stakes can be much higher… 

So, what did I think of this? 

eBook Review - Squared Away

Like I said yesterday, am having a genre reading slump/wall so I decided that, the next few reads I do should be outside my comfort zone. I should read something fun, silly and fluffy. Not "Pick My Next Read" as I didn't want to put pressure on people just in case I DNFed it.

So, I remembered vaguely that I requested an adult LGBT romance on NetGalley from an author I tried out once before and went "This. I kinda want to try this", so that's why I read Squared Out, even though I am not a huge romance reader.

After the news of his sister's and husband's deaths, SEAL Mark has to come home to act as guardian to his two nieces and nephew, all under the age of five. What he didn't expect is to come up against Isaiah, who is determined to file for custody. But Mark remembered that last time they met six years ago, Isaiah was young, wild and gets bored easily...

But Isaiah is determined to prove Mark wrong. Isaiah has been there for the family while Mark was away on missions and he's determined to keep the kids together, no matter what. The kids are the most important thing in this situation, not Mark's fears or Isaiah's now dead crush on Mark.

But as the legal situation tries to sort itself out, the two start developing attraction for each other... but unless one of them can open their heart and speak, they both could lose what's important...

I power-read this over the course of three days when I was off work and it was such a lovely distraction. It was light, fluffy, sexy, a Happily Ever After ending (the publisher has said on their site that they publish happily ever after [HEA] or happy for now [HFN] endings), everything I needed at the moment. So, this book came out the right time for me.

What I found interesting is that one of the characters used LGBT terms I have never heard of - demisexual and ace-grey - and it was fascinating to read a character who identified as demisexual and understand this more. I do wish that there was more information on this, though, as when I first heard of it, I did a Google search to get a basic understanding on it, but it's nice to see other sexual identities being talked about here.

This is a beach read for me, a story I switched my brain off to while reading, but I had such a good time reading this, and I am open to trying out another Annabeth Albert story - not sure if it will be in the series or another, but I'm up for the idea.

eBook review - Wrapped Together

Because it's Christmas, I been feeling the past few days/weeks that I should read more Christmasy reads. Normally, I don't. You might have noticed over the past few years if you have followed my blog for quite a while, I usually just continue to read what the mood takes me. Whether that be crime, fantasy, sci-fi...

but this year, I wanted to read stories set round Christmas-time. That and get my ARCs and eARCs in some sort of order from this month till February-ish time (but I will let you guys probably do some voting on my Twitter when that happens so you have some input!).

So, one evening, while skimming NetGalley, Wrapped Together caught my eyes. A romance LGBT story set round Christmas time. And it's a novella to boot. And it's a grown-up read so is outside my comfort zone. Requested before I could stop myself (I have no self-control, have I?)

The fifth (or 4.5) in the Portland Heat series, Christmas is meant to be great business for retail. And it is, expect store owner Hollis. Christmas reminds him of a tragedy that happened three years ago. But fellow store owner (and twin brother to Hollis's brother-in-law), Sawyer, has decided to make it his mission to make Hollis enjoy the holiday. And the more time they spend together, the more it looks like it could be working. Hollis is slowly coming out of his shell and enjoying the season - and Sawyer's company.

But Hollis's heart is fragile and with him being scared of it getting broken, could he take a leap of faith when it comes to his and Sawyer blossoming relationship?

I must state something here: whenever I pick LGBT books on NetGalley, it usually a very bad decision. It's one reason or another: it's badly written, it goes into S&M/BDSM literature (something I don't like reading. You have your no-goes in reading, I have mine.), it feels fake or out of place. So, requesting then reading this was a bit of a risk.

This is a sweet, fluffy, holiday romance. I accept this, and I enjoyed it. I didn't love it the way I hoped (more on that later), but I did blitz through this quite quickly - about three days (at the beginning of the month. Because of how I schedule last week's reviews, I only just posting this now). It is very fluffy and Christmasy. And it does scream Christmas TV movie, with it being a bit painted-by-numbers - you know where the plot is going and you know that, when you get the end, you will get your Happily Ever After.

I didn't mind this. It's kinda why I signed up for. I don't read many romanic stories.

This wasn't perfect, though. I didn't really see the point of the epilogue. It could have been removed and it wouldn't have made any real difference to the story.

I have one big flaw with this story. Like you have probably guessed, this is very much aimed towards an adult audience - I suspected that - but why, OH WHY, is it when I read an adult LGBT romanic is there BDSM? I get that this isn't a big taboo anymore (Fifty Shades of Grey), but it feels like every times I try and read a grown-up LGBT story, there is bondage and one of the people entering this relationship is a newbie and has their eyes open to this world. Really? Does this happen in every adult LGBT book or am I picking up the wrong ones to read? I don't mind stories with a bit of kink in it, but having this within this story, for some reason, I found a little jarring.

Barring this, I found this a fast, fun read. I might read more from this series in the future. Maybe... Not sure... But this was a nice fluffy Xmas read. Just the kinky moments might not be for everyone...