Review of Married to the Manny by Daisy May

by Daisy May

2 stars

"I don't want to leave this country. I don't want to leave my boss."

When the American government finds out Gordon's here illegally, he fears he'll have to leave the precocious nine-year-old girl he nannies - as well as her single, gay DILF of a father. Gordon's always kept his relationship with his employer professional, and now he'll have no chance to change that. Except...

"If you married a citizen, you could get a green card."

Cole makes the proposal out of concern for his daughter. She adores her manny, and Cole doesn't want to shake up her life again. The offer has nothing to do with the attraction Cole's always felt for the sweet Canadian caregiver.

"The entire world has to believe we're in love."

As Gordon and Cole strive to portray a realistic relationship, both of them fight their growing feelings. Will their fake marriage become real enough to convince the immigration office?

With such a great premise – marry for a green card – we had such high hopes for Married to the Manny, but they all fell short.

Gordon is a nanny, a Canadian that is working in the USA illegally.  Immigration finally catches up with him with a deportation notice for 90 days.  He doesn’t want to leave his life and his job, and really loves the little girl he is looking after, not to mention his sexy boss, Cole.  But, Cole has an idea to get Gordon a green card – they get married.

Seriously, how could this book not be great? Friends to lovers, slow burn, all good.  But, it really had some major issues, not little things, but story ideas that almost made this a did-not-finish.  Married to the Manny is a 2 person point of view, but the voices are confusing, we had to go back a few times to figure out who was speaking.  And really with a younger man and an accomplished business man there should be some differences in their voices – right?

There is also the romance of Married to the Manny.  This is not a new story idea, getting married for a green card, but we really miss the slow burn of a romance building.  They both seem to be already in love with each other, and not seeing the signs that the other feels the same way.  They seem to get stuck in their heads.  They are insecure – and instead of one of them taking control they seem to go around and around in a circle.  Even after they finally admit their feeling and fall into bed, the next page that are back to the same angsty thoughts that the other doesn’t reciprocate.  And around around we go. The same goes for their chemistry – or rather lack thereof.  We don’t actually see the attraction building between Gordon and Cole. We didn’t feel the pull of their relationship; rather it felt forced and fake.

There is also some very uncomfortable issues with Cole’s daughter – and we won’t talk more about it as it is a spoiler, but there is uncalled for pressure put upon a 9 year old that as a parent is irresponsible and selfish.  The whole thing left a very bad taste in our mouth.

Unfortunately Married to the Manny just didn’t work for us. With the lack of chemistry, POV confusion and our issues with the role of a child, we struggled to finish this story.

Review of Chasing Mr. Wright by Aimee Nicole Walke

 

 by Aimee Nicole Walker

2 stars

Grayson Wright is a man who knows how to do many things. He knows how to follow his dream and create a company, Wright Creations, alongside his brother. He knows how to be a good son, brother, friend, and employer. Grayson doesn’t know how to fix his toxic relationship with his long-time boyfriend.

Grayson decides to throw his boyfriend a surprise birthday party as a last ditch effort to rekindle the old spark, but it’s Gray who gets the surprise of his life when he turns on the lights and learns the ugly truth about his life. Now at age 32, he re-evaluates who he is, what he wants out of life, and the kind of man he wants to give his heart to.

Chase Rivers has an MBA from Georgetown with a minor in marketing. His life starts looking up when he accepts an entry level position at an ad agency. It isn’t his dream job, but it’s a great start and it just feels right to him. He hopes this new beginning in his professional life will spill over into his personal life.

Chase is unlucky in love and draws every loser, liar and cheater like a magnet. He’s an expert at finding the perfect mate for his friends, but strikes out every time for himself. He gives up on finding Mr. Right and agrees to a date with Mr. Right Now out of loneliness and desperation. Chase didn’t expect Mr. Right Now to lead him to the doorstep of his very own Mr. Wright.

If their first meeting was a fluke, then what was the second and third? Twisted fate? Bad luck? Fated hearts? Buckle up for a bumpy ride as these two men travel down a broken road of heartache and discovery.

The first few chapters had so much potential for this m/m insta-love story, but fell apart quickly.

We first meet Grayson Wright, throwing what should be a happy surprise party for his live-in boyfriend of 10 years.  Thinking that this would be a great re-boot for their waning relationship, what he didn’t bank on is being the one surprised.  Chase Rivers is a pretty boy that is unlucky in love, starting a new career at an ad agency hoping that this time things will start coming together. 

Oh there is SO much happening in this book we don’t know where to start; insta-love, bisexual shaming, chick-flick emotions, so many leaking eyes, fate fate and more fate, ridiculous misunderstandings meddling ex-boyfriends, inappropriate grandmas and so many references to ‘God’s plan’. It was a bit much.  Grayson spends 50% of the book being a jerk to Chase, he is hot and cold, going from rejecting him to wanting him.  And chase keeps coming back for the bait; seriously, has he been so broken by other men he will take whatever he is being handed.  I want him, I can’t have him, I want him, I can’t have him…..and repeat. 

This book is also way too long, a couple times it could have wrapped up nicely, but it just kept on going, probably 100 pages too long.  Chasing Mr. Wright also switched POVs, but it was confusing and muddled and more than once we wondered which one of these men was talking, but honestly didn’t care enough to go back and look. 

As we can see we can go on about all our issues with this book, but will just end here by saying, do yourself a favor and skip Chasing Mr. Wright.

Review of To Love and Protect by Kay Simone and Jason Collins

 by Kay Simone and Jason Collins

2 stars

Hank Bartlett dreams of something more than his sleepy Ohio hometown, where the work is back-breaking and the money he makes goes straight to his family. He's only 25—way too young to end up stuck in the same tiny town for the rest of his life... Especially when he's the only gay guy in a 100-mile radius.

When he walks into The Spike on his first night in San Diego, a gorgeous older man catches his eye across the bar. But Ben turns out to be more than just a handsome stranger—he's also kind, generous, and inspiring. And soon enough, Hank is head over heels.

Now if they could just figure out what to do about those pesky death threats...

"Get married and you're a dead man..."

When Bennett's father disowned him for being gay, Ben turned his back on his family's wealth. He relied on his intelligence and drive to build a business and a life that he's proud of. Ben refuses to be told what to do by an old bigot, and he's definitely not interested in fulfilling a ridiculous marriage requirement just to inherit money he doesn't want anyway.

So why the hell is he getting threats designed to keep him from the altar?

It was easier to ignore the threats when he was single and reeling from a nasty breakup. But that was before Ben fell for Hank—sweet, open-hearted, optimistic Hank who tugs at parts of Ben's heart he didn't even know existed. Suddenly, Ben isn't quite so sour on romance after all. But the closer he gets to Hank, the worse the intimidation gets.

Whoever's sending the threats will stop at nothing to break the two men up. Will Ben and Hank find a love to have and told hold, or will death do them part before they can even get started?

We finished this a few weeks ago and have put on reviewing cause, ugh, we were so disappointed.  We pick up EVERYHTING by Kay Simone and well, love all her work, but To Love and Protect was too much everything for us and we struggled to finish.  We struggled to hear Kay’s voice in wither character and with so many themes and twists, this one did not work at all.

Hank Bartlett is a gay 25-year old man leaving, for the first time his small Ohio family home, and stiking out to San Diego to rope himself a wealthy husband.  On his first night in town he meets Bennett, a handsome older man who seems just his type.  But Ben was disowned by his father when he came out, only to find out that his father willed him his entire estate, but he has to get married.  Ben doesn’t really seem to care if he inherits the millions, but his family benefits if he doesn’t get married. And just as he starts getting closer to Hank, he starts getting death threats.

SO many things going on, we have a Virgin May/December insta love – oh yes.  Even though Hank and Ben don’t hook up the first night they meet, they basically fall in love and Ben installs Hank as a permanent feature in his life; helping to fid somewhere to live, giving him a job at his company. Of course with the age-gap, Hank is also a virgin, and Ben finds himself wanting to keep and protect Ben forever.   And then there is the mystery – who wants Ben dead?  There is ex-boyfriend trouble and family infighting, and twists and turns which we found confusing.  Unfortunately in the end when the perp was uncovered, we were kinda like – really, hunh???

Needless to say we struggled.  To Love and Protect was too sappy, confusing, and lacked a flow.  Honestly we ended up skimming just to finish this book.  As hard as we tried to like To Love and Protect, we didn’t enjoy this author team up.

Review of The Boyfriend Recipe by Alex Miska

 by Alex Miska

2 stars

What would you do if you humiliated yourself in front of a Naked Kitchen Adonis… and then he appeared in your bakery months later?

DAVID
I watched in horror as my sister shattered yet another poor guy’s heart… only this time, I can’t get sweet, sexy, straight Hunter out of my head. My daily latte runs to Moore Delicious, the bakery where he works, aren’t helping. And now I’m in a bind: my favorite cousin insists that I attend her wedding. With a date. So she whips up a half-baked scheme that will piss off the family that disowned me and secure an ally by my side: ask my sister’s ex to pretend to be my boyfriend. The question is, will Hunter agree to play along?

HUNTER
Six months ago, I walked into my apartment to find a gorgeous man standing in my kitchen, wearing only a towel and a smile. And what did I do? Instead of saying hello and joining him in nudity, I stormed into the bedroom and accused my girlfriend of sleeping with her brother. To be fair, I didn’t know he was her brother at the time, and she really was cheating on me (just not with him). So I hide in the back every time the Naked Kitchen Adonis visits Moore Delicious… until the day he asks for more than his usual coffee, cookie, and suggestively-shaped banana. His proposal is intriguing. I like it. And him. A weekend spent serving up a little revenge while cozying up to the N.K.A. is more than tempting. The lengths we’ll have to go to make it believable definitely won’t be a hardship… but if things heat up, David will be the first man I’ve ever slept with.

We love short stories, love little snippets of how people fall in love, and The Boyfriend Recipe is one our favorite ideas, the fake-relationship.  Although this book has all the right ingredients (see what we did there – Boyfriend ‘RECIPE’) it didn’t work for us. 

Hunter is a Bi man, very recently broken up with his girlfriend Tonya after finding a naked man in their apartment.  The man is actually her brother David.  On chance David happens into the bakery where  

The number one reason that we aren’t super-fans is that we got a bit confused with the POV.  Yes, the chapters are labeled of who is speaking, but maybe there isn’t enough distinctions between their voices.  We actually had to flip back a few times to remind ourselves who was speaking. 

We aren’t big fans of romance with a side of angst, and Boyfriend Recipe doesn’t have a lot, but it never really fulfils its big issues.  David’s parents think he can choose to be gay, and there is great workup from David, but at the wedding there really isn’t much of a confrontation, it fizzles. 

And finally the sex.  Yes in 103 pages there is some heat between David and Hunter, but once Hunter reveals he is a man/man virgin and refers to it as his ‘precious flower’, we almost DNF.  But, then even after his weird outburst, that the wedding party and other refer to the next day, he goes ahead and jumps between the sheets with David, someone he is playing at a fake-relationship.  Ugh, it just didn’t work.

So, all in all, this was not our cup of tea, and thankfully at 103 pages it was a quick read.

Review of Just a Summer Deal by E. Davies & Zach Jenkins

by E. Davies & Zach Jenkins

2 Stars

"You think you can go gay for the summer?"
"I'm the bad egg in Team Gay."

Gay romance author Aaron Douglas has almost everything going for him: a successful career, fun friends, and loving parents who live just far enough away. Unfortunately, he's earned a love 'em and leave 'em reputation, though. Finding a gorgeous gay romance author in this little Colorado town is a thrill, even if Conor says he's straight. When Aaron's landlord kicks him out, the solution is obvious: Aaron can stay with Conor, they can write and fix up Conor's cute farmhouse together, and they can pretend to date. That's all. Aaron won't fall for another straight guy again...even one as amazing as Conor.

"What do I know about gay romance?"

Conor Kennedy just wants to renovate and sell his old farmhouse, escape this small town, and find a nice girlfriend. His novels don't sell, though, and his repairs are taking forever. Everything feels broken until Aaron jokingly offers the perfect solution. Why not pose as a cute gay couple for the summer? Both of their careers will benefit and they'll both get the company of a great new friend... plus Hope, the stray golden retriever who's chosen to live with them. But all Conor can think about is the most illogical thing of all: he wants to do more with his gay co-author than write romance novels.

"Will you sweep me under the rug again?"

Living in tight quarters during the renovation while writing a book together challenges both men to stick to the terms of their deal. They're opposites in almost every way, and the tension is thick. As their fake relationship deadline approaches, questions loom over them both: were they only faking, or has something real blossomed between them? When the internet learns of Conor's past, will their love be strong enough to keep them together?

We aren’t usually a fan of second-chance romance, but it works so well in this short story.  Waiting for Clark is a must read!

Let’s start this review by saying that we did finish this book, but it was a bit of a struggle.  This is a gay-for-you romance, and the story idea has so much potential, but just didn’t come tighter in the end for us.

First off we meet Aaron, a successful, out, m/m romance author who is living a complete bachelor’s life; partying with friends, one night stand and living the good life.  He does however have a crush on another m/m writer, Conor, who is straight, and reaches out to him to see if they can connect.  They meet, and really like each other and decide to collaborate on a book tighter.  Somehow that translates into a fake-relationship for media, and living tighter to fix up Conor’s farmhouse.  But all this comes with a deadline, the end of summer.

See, sound like a cute premise, and we were SO SO SO hopeful.  They meet, fireworks, write and renovate a house and fall in love, all in an idyllic country setting.  That’s the first half. But man, it just has so many issues.  First off, the gay-for-you is done so much, but it can still be done well.  But, there isn’t real transition for Conor.  One minute he is trying to set up a one-night-stand with his neighbor, and the next minute he is making out with Aaron to post on Social Media.  Huh?  Conor never really explores his sexuality, just *knows* he wants to be with Aaron.  The between the sheets feels awkward, like they are kissing and then the next is full on. 

We are also a bit confused about that too. There is no chemistry between Aaron and Conor, none, zip, zilch; they just don’t seem to mesh with each other.  Other than both being romance authors, they have really no connection, nothing that keeps them coming back to each other.  They bicker ALL THE TIME about the book, about writing schedules, process, what to write, leaving tools around the house, and on and on and on.  Honestly, this is like after living with each other for like 2 weeks.  If this was us, we would have moved out!   

For 2 writers you think they would be better at communication, but nope, and the characters struggle with this internal angst “does he feel the same” “is he still faking this relationship” “what is going to happen at the need of the summer”. We honestly wanted to bang our head against the wall – for pete sake, just talk to each other!  There is so much miscommunication, confusion and unnecessary angst and it takes up way too much time.

So, all in all, it is really hard for us to say this, but we weren’t really a fan of Just a Summer Deal. We tried so hard to like this cute idea of a book, but it never really came together for us.