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REVIEW: Say You’ll Be Nine by Lucy Lennox
Say You’ll Be Nine – Lucy Lennox
One dilapidated cabin in need of renovation.
Two stubborn men pretending to be a couple.
Three summer months to get the job done.
Four tangled legs in only one bed.
Five cameras catching it all for YouTube.
Six hundred thousand Instagram followers.
Seven nosy family members with Opinions.
Eight thousand reasons they should never fall in love.
Nine million reasons why they will.
Say You’ll Be Nine is a standalone novel.
NINE! (♡´౪`♡)
Isaac ‘Nine’ Winshed is all kinds of adorbs and sweet and gentle and shy. He would rather be hit by a train than let someone be hurt under his watch. When he was a child he didn’t want his favorite chicken, Sir Pecks-a-lot, to be eaten so he let it live in his closet.
The man lives to help other people. He wields a hammer like Thor and has the heart of Captain America. His superpower is home renovation. He vlogs about DIY projects on Youtube. The best thing about him is that he didn’t feel too good to be true. I loved how author, Lucy Lennox, made him alive and relatable.
Nine is the ninth in a family of 12. All his life, he’s been dating girls but never really felt the spark. It wasn’t until he was with Cooper when he realized something about himself. For him, it’s not the the gender but the person. And Cooper was that person.
Cooper Heath is an aspiring actor hoping to make it big in Hollywood. He’s best friends with Eli, Nine’s big brother. Cooper was the opposite of Nine in many ways. He’s witty, extroverted, very talkative and a bit dramatic. He’s highly self-reliant and doesn’t like asking for help. He’s currently back in town, living with his mom and twin brother, Jackson.
Jacks has a rare blood disorder and they needed money for a bone marrow transplant. The fastest way was to accept a sponsorship for an LGBT-oriented DIY show on Youtube where Coop and Nine pretend to be a gay couple and renovate a cabin in the woods.
Coop can’t tell his Phillips from a Robertson but he’s very social media savvy. His superpower is Instagram. The project should be easy. All he needed to do was make them look good.
Except…how NOT to fall for the very attractive lumberjack+fake boyfriend whom you were kinda crushing on since when you were a kid? The same lumberjack+fake boyfriend who’s the younger brother of your best friend and by all accounts, straight?
Things are getting real really fast!
I want to see that time-lapse video of the cabin being renovated. As Nine said, it was like watching him and Cooper fall in love. It was fantastic to see how the characters developed and their romance transition from reel to real.
I totally loved how Nine embraced everything with an open heart and an open mind. He himself admitted he was naive but he learned fast and he gave it his all. Coop was very patient with him and they talked everything out, at first. It was wasn’t until the latter part that they headed towards that notorious miscommunication+separation route.
After which we are rewarded with a grand gesture moment that was so cute and so endearingly Nine. I wished this was a movie because that scene would be so beautiful on screen.
Cooper was no slouch either. He pulled off his own grand gesture with perfect timing with the best Christmas present ever. That ending was pure ♡ ♡ ♡ !
Say You’ll Be Nine is my first book from the author and I loved it to bits! This is a contemporary, opposite-attracts, forced proximity, fake boyfriend romance with a slight enemies-but-not-really angle thrown in. There’s also the brother’s bestfriend trope and first time gay going on. Everything came together in the best way possible.
It’s pretty much guaranteed, after reading this book, you’ll want a Nine in your life too!
Rating:
4.5 Stars – perfection is only half a step awaySoundtrack: You’ll Be Mine
Artist: Irma Kooper
Album: -
RELEASE BLITZ: Fakers by Lucy Lennox & May Archer (Excerpt & Giveaway)
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RELEASE BLITZ: Say You’ll Be Nine by Lucy Lennox (Excerpt & Giveaway)
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RELEASE TOUR: Love in Progress by Logan Grey (Excerpt & Giveaway)
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BLOG TOUR: Love Means More by A.F. Zoelle (Excerpt & Giveaway)
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REVIEW: Unbreakable by Colette Davison
Heaven and Hell Club: Unbreakable – Colette Davison
Mac’s life isn’t perfect, but he likes it the way it is: safe and predictable.
Mac works in a struggling pole dancing club at night, and a gym during the day. He’s tired and cash strapped, but content, until a confident twink walks into the club and turns his life upside down. It’s hard to resist when Russel asks him to be his fake boyfriend for one night, in return for double his normal take-home pay.
One date turns into more, as Mac helps Russel get an exclusive that will secure him the job he’s always wanted. But the rich playboy who holds Russel’s career in his hands isn’t going to give him the scoop so easily.
As Mac and Russel spend more time together, the lines between fake and real begin to get blurred, but can their relationship become strong enough to be unbreakable in the face of adversity?
Unbreakable is a fake boyfriend MM romance, with a buff pole dancer who swears like a trooper, a twink who likes to take charge, some spanking, light bondage, and a happy ever after. It’s a prequel story to Broken, but can be read as a standalone romance.
I love myself some fake boyfriend story and Mac and Russel did it for me.
Unbreakable is the prequel to the Heaven and Hell series by Colette Davison. She’s a new to me author and this is my first book from her. She certainly didn’t disappoint.
Before the club was Heaven and Hell, it was called Horns, a pole dancing club barely making a profit. Mac, Michael and his boyfriend, Edward were dancers at the club. Michael and Edward were already making plans to buy the club and they were trying to convince their best friend Mac to invest. Mac lacked the funds and the courage, choosing instead to play it safe. However his days as a dancer might be numbered. He’s not getting any younger.
Russel works at a fashion magazine as a layout artist itching for a chance to be a proper journalist. One day he was given that chance. He is going to cover a party hosted by a famous gay celebrity. The catch is that, it’s for couples only.
This is where Russel propositioned Mac to be his boyfriend for the night after seeing him dance.
The story featured an opposites attract trope with a bit of My Fair Lady thrown in for good measure. It also broke stereotypes regarding the dynamics between couples with size differences. Mac is buff, gruff and butch while Russel is lithe, femme and sassy. Mac likes to let others handle things in the bedroom while Russel likes to take charge.
Russel is the type who knew what he wanted and he was quick to grab it. Mac doesn’t hesitate to give Russel anything he wants. He also remained loyal and stood up for him when the sleazoid celebrity was trying to break them apart. And that was even before they were real boyfriends. Definitely a keeper.
I loved watching their relationship evolve. At first they seemed like the worst possible match but as they slowly learn things about each other, they discover they fit perfectly. I loved the interaction between the two men. I loved the trust and respect that developed and how they embraced each other’s vulnerabilities. The chemistry was palpable even from the beginning. The banters were amusing. They were a lot of fun together.
One thing that stood out for me is that the author gave Russel scars. Not the cutesy it-makes-me-looks-like-a-badass scar but honest to goodness small pox scars. As a person with bad skin, I appreciate that.
Unbreakable is a great prequel. It also stands perfectly well as a standalone. It’s a great blend of fluff, angst and humor with likable characters, great execution and engaging writing. You couldn’t ask for a more beautiful ending. I also enjoyed meeting Michael and Edward and I am looking forward to reading Michael’s book.
Rating:
4 Stars – minor quibbles but I loved it to bitsSoundtrack: Quiet
Artist: Lights
Album: The Listening -
REVIEW: Deadly Dorian by Jocelynn Drake & Rinda Elliott
Someone is trying to kill Marc Foster.
Attempted poisoning was bad enough, but when the would-be killer messes with the brakes on Marc’s precious Porsche, the art dealer admits he needs help. He just wasn’t expecting help to be quite so dark and sexy.
Royce Karras loves his job at Ward Security. He’s making up for a lifetime of bad decisions and a bloody past he’d rather forget. But Marc isn’t the spoiled rich boy he thought he’d be protecting. Sticking close to Marc as his “boyfriend” gives Royce insight into his toxic family, but it also reveals a brilliant, compassionate man who completely disarms Royce. Against his better judgment, Royce finds himself falling.
But can they find a way to make it work when Royce’s past threatens to tear their lives apart? Their futures hinges on a lost Renaissance painting, six Bichon Frises, and a pornographic Robin Hood.
No worries, right?
Ward Security is the spin-off series of Unbreakable Bonds. This features Ward Security employees from the bodyguards like Royce to the tech specialists like Quinn. Ward Security is like a family to many of them
Hmm…
Okay so I really like Royce. I really liked Marc. They were great together but finishing their book was a struggle. Seemed like the story let them down somehow.
There were two major threads running. First was somebody was trying to kill Marc, possibly someone from his own family. This led to him hiring Royce as a bodyguard and pretending to be a couple to avoid letting his siblings know he was suspecting them. This in turn led to their fake boyfriend deal turning into the real thing.
I loved this part. Sure there was too much ‘desperate need‘ for my liking and also a little too insta but Royce and Marc had undeniable chemistry. Even Marc’s homophobic siblings could see that. So I’m all in for their romance. The mystery of who was trying to get Marc out of the picture had a neat little twist to it that I didn’t see coming. All in all the mystery side of the story was well done.
The second plot point was Royce’s family woes. Royce was the nephew of a Greek mob boss. Royce mother took him away from the family business when he was young and the uncle never forgave her for that. Royce still ended up working as an enforcer. Somewhere along the way, he met a gentle writer named Michael with whom he had a serious relationship. After some dirty deals gone sour and a tragic incident occurred, Royce resolved to leave the past behind and live a new life. However, the past caught up to him and now his mother was in danger.
This one could have been great. I loved that we finally learn more about Royce’s past and why he is so damn angry and closed off all the time. However some things here were a bit too OTT even if I did my usual suspension of disbelief trick. The part of him and Marc pulling off a heist in order to get a valuable painting had me scratching my head for a bit. Angelo the thief was kind of unnecessary. Royce could have handled things more smartly than this while still staying true to his Dark Lord persona. The rescue could have been done much sooner.
Also Royce was being an idiot with his ‘for your own good’ reasoning when he very stupidly pushed Marc away because he was scared he might put Marc, with his heart condition, in danger. Like if his uncle’s goons jumped his boyfriend and have a heart attack. Eh, should have have let him grovel more, Marc.
But of course, this series is all about the characters. It’s great that Garrett finally had more page time. He should get his own book. Quinn was adorkable as always (where the hell is Shane) and yay for Sven and Geoffrey. Rowe and Noah nearly stole the show simply by being their usual crazy selves.
Overall, it was a mixed bag of highs and lows.
Ward Security might not be as strong a series as Unbreakable Bonds but even if I’m not so impressed with Deadly Dorian, I’m not throwing in the towel just yet. I love these boys too much.
P.S.
Dom is next. I’m not so sure about the age-gap thing but we’ll see how his story works out.
Ward Security is best read in order. WS books here
Unbreakable Bonds books hereRating:
2 Stars – it’s a struggle to finish the damn bookSoundtrack: Fear and Loathing
Artist: Marina and the Diamonds
Album: Electra Heart
