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NEW RELEASE: Beyond the Stix by C.J. Barlowe
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NEW RELEASE BLITZ: The Winner Takes It All by Ivy L. James (Excerpt & Giveaway)
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BLOG TOUR: Whiskey and Warfare by E.M. Hamill (Excerpt & Giveaway)
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BOOK TOUR: At the End of the River Styx by Michelle Kulwicki
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BLOG TOUR: Entwined by Sean Ian O’Meidhir & Connal Braginsky (Excerpt & Giveaway)
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REVIEW: My Not-So-Super Blind Date by Allison Temple
Subparheroes: My Not-So-Super Blind Date – Allison Temple
Iโm Morgan Murray. You probably havenโt heard of me. With a raft of allergies and powers that wonโt do more than charge a phone, I never lived up to my super familyโs super expectations. Itโs okay. Iโm used to being overlooked.
But thereโs only so much disappointment one man can take, and finding out the cute guy on my blind date is a henchman for the cityโs most notorious crime boss? Thatโs one letdown too many. This date is over before it even starts.
Or is it?
In the meet cute that wonโt end, Jasper and I are stuck in a time loop and the only way out is deadly. Good and evil may be relative terms, but if we canโt escape, we may find out that love is foreverโฆand ever.
My Not-So-Super Blind Date is part of the Subpar Heroes multi-author MM romance series.
My Not-So-Super Blind Date by Allison Temple is Book 5 of Subparheroes, a multi-author series about heroes who are not-so-super. TW, There are a lot of on-page deaths here.
The plot is Groundhog Day meets 50 First Dates, where our subparhero, Morgan Murray, is on a blind date with Jasper Jackson. They got off on the wrong foot, and Morgan walked out of the cafe, only to be hit by a bus. Then, he woke to find himself in the cafe, yet again, waiting for his blind date, Jasper. For the nth time.
The thing with time loops is that it tends to get repetitive. The opening chapters did feel like that, understandable as Morgan is still slowly remembering his past dates and deaths. The book hit its stride when Morgan started working with Jasper to find a way out of the loop. I was completely riveted!
The whole mystery of the time loop, why Morgan, who’s Jasper, and who put them there, was so damned fascinating! I normally find time-traveling loops taxing to my lazy reader brain, but here, this phenomenon was well-executed, challenging, yet relatively easy to digest.
While I had my suspects, the shadowy villain, Indigo, for one, I still couldn’t figure out most of it. Plenty of information was revealed once Morgan and Jasper felt more comfortable with each other.
There was Morgan’s family, particularly his superhero mother, Flame, killed in a battle with Indigo. Ezekiel, his grieving stepfather, is a genius scientist currently working on an energy conversion project that, no exaggeration, could save the world. Morgan worked alongside him on this project.
V is the cafe waitress and a friend of Flame. Her grief led her to open a superhero-themed cafe. Her character is overlooked by Morgan for most of the story, avoiding her because of his mother. Turned out that V has more in her wheelhouse than just pouring coffee.
Jasper Jackson is a sweetheart! This ray of sunshine deserves better!
Jasper was a friend of a friend who was also in med school. Now, he henching for a notorious mobster named Wolfe. Aside from medicine, Jasper is very handy with computers and network security. Also, hella charming, killer smile and can talk his way out of any situation. And for some reason, actually likes Morgan!
Morgan is a man with many allergies, barely-there powers, and a black-and-white view of the world. His Judgy Mcjudgy attitude didn’t endear himself to me.
He pretty much assumed the worst of Jasper when he told him about his henching, despite Jasper telling him Morgan didn’t know the entire story yet. Morgan likes to assume the worst about everyone and everything in that barely tolerable snooty attitude.
Later, he learned about Jasper’s family and Jasper’s actual work as a henchman and apologized. Still, Morgan’s a grump without the charm. Would’ve dropped the book because of him if it wasn’t so intriguing.
The puzzle pieces were all there. The fun was finding out how they fit, revealing the big picture. And we find out only when Morgan did. The author did a fantastic job leading us to that moment!
Overall, My Not-So-Super Blind Date is a gripping mystery, a romance with infinite possibilities, and one man’s eye-opening journey, one death at a time.
Rating:
4.5 Stars โ perfection is only half a step awaySoundtrack: Come A Little Closer
Artist: Cage The Elephant
Album: Melophobia
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MY NOT-SO-SUPER BLIND DATE: Kindle I Audiobook
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REVIEW: The Bitter Rivals Fiasco by Hayden Hall
Frat Brats of Santa Barbara: The Bitter Rivals Fiasco – Hayden Hall
I fell in love with the enemy. Twice.
Hudson
For my twenty-first, I threw a masquerade party and met the most exciting guy on the planet, dressed as a fallen angel. Then, I never saw him again.
And just when I think my life is perfect, in walks my nemesis, Tate Anderson.
The guyโs got no finesse. He looks down on everyone, especially me. So, when the mischievous wannabe matchmaker of a professor forces me into a project with none other than Tate, I seriously consider dropping out.
Except, the more time I spend with him, and the more we growl and bark at each other, the tighter my chest feels around him.
To put him out of my mind and escape the feelings Iโd kept at bay for so long, I keep throwing the biggest parties in the city. Like some modern version of Jay Gatsby, I hope to run into my mysterious fallen angel, but heโs ever so elusive.
Until he shows up again.
And I take his mask offโฆ
Tate
My life sucks but donโt make a mistake thinking I would let anyone know.
Especially not Hudson Blackwood. That guyโs gloating enough already. Ughโฆ He laughs too much, pretends heโs so cool, nothing really bothers him.
Well, except the fact heโs stuck with me on a semester-long project. But Iโm stuck with him just as much. Heโs also hot as hell and knows it, which makes him infinitely more annoying.
And if thatโs not enough, my stepmother is spending the last of my late dadโs fortune on her two sons and I have to study every waking moment to keep my scholarship.
The only escape Iโve had since coming to Santa Barbara were the masquerade parties a tall, handsome guy dressed as The Phantom keeps throwing.
Before I know it, I am hurtling into love and I hate it. I know my stepmother will uproot me again before the year is done. Besides, I donโt even know who this smoking hot Phantom is. This can only end one way, and itโs not good.
Itโs just better for everyone if the masks stay on.
The Bitter Rivals Fiasco is an enemies-to-lovers story featuring one certified player, his moody, lifelong rival, and a Cinderella-meets-Great-Gatsby storyline. This is the fourth book in the Frat Brats of Santa Barbara series. While it can be read on its own, itโs just more fun to read them in order, since the series follows a group of friends as they grow and mature at a prestigious, boys-only business school, Highgate Academy.
The Bitter Rivals Fiasco is a blind read that turned out to be a win! Not perfect, but fantastic enough to hook me on the Frat Brats of Santa Barbara series. The book is the 4th installment of the contemporary romance series by Hayden Hall, set in a prestigious all-boys business school.
The plot is a Cinderella + Romeo and Juliet retelling with a side of Phantom of the Opera. Bitter rivals Tate Anderson and Hudson Blackwood hate each other since high school after Tate’s father edged Hudson’s parents out of a deal. They met again at Highgate Academy and promptly resumed one-upping each other in class so intensely that the professor assigned them to work together on a project.
Tate’s father was a workaholic who always told Tate to choose his battles. The man later married a cold-hearted woman who pretended to care for him, then grabbed the power of attorney out from under Tate’s nose when his father was on death’s door.
Now, the solitary broody Tate has to earn the money that was rightfully his, doing all the chores in the house and whatever else his stepmother orders in exchange for a meager allowance. He’s in Highgate on a scholarship he is busting his balls to keep, on top of his other tasks.
In contrast, Hudson comes from a loving home, is surrounded by friends, and is so rich he throws parties at the most exclusive clubs whenever he wants. On his 21st birthday, he threw a masquerade party where everyone was encouraged to be as unrecognizable as possible.
Cue the Phantom, the Fallen Angel and one unforgettable night.
Tate, as Cinderella, abides by his stepmother’s rules, as per necessity, but by no means a doormat. He snarks, negotiates, or even loses his temper at the last straws. But then, has to pay the price later on. His stepmother became especially vile towards him when he came out. She forces him to live in the attic and locks him out of the house when he’s out past curfew.
Hudson used to crush on Tate in high school until he learned what happened with their fathers. He held on to his grudge until he learned the true state of affairs. Then, as the prince, sweeps his fallen angel off his feet, and with the help of their fairy godmother, a.k.a. Hudson’s badass mom gives a satisfactory comeuppance for the villain.
This is an enemies-to-lovers story, and this part is done to sizzling perfection. The succeeding masked encounters in more parties, still anonymous to each other, and their public interactions as bickering rivals created a fabulous, squee-tastic buildup to the big reveal.
The antagonism mixed so deliciously with the magnetic pull towards each other. The air of mystery, the tingle of anticipation, the zing of sexual tension, FEELS you can cut with a knife!
The friendships were also one of my favorite parts. The Frat Brats were loyal friends to Hudson, cheering him on his pursuit of his fallen angel. Though they were wink*wink* to the angel’s true identity, knowing Hudson has no clue and looking forward to him blowing his mind when he finds out.
Alex is a fellow student and another fairy godmother, the master designer who created Tate’s beguiling look. He and his boyfriend Franklin befriended the lone wolf. They and the Frat Brats were memorable so I’m looking forward to their books.
The writing is why I’m not 100% into the story. The prose and the dialogues tend to veer towards melodrama. Not sure if it’s because of the fairy tale themes, but sometimes the phrasing is too fancy, like something out of a Victorian romance novel. One reviewer used the term “purple prose.” The effect is enhanced by how narrator Jon Waters sometimes sounds like he’s about to break into a British accent.
Still, The Bitter Rivals Fiasco is a retelling done right, with well executed tropes, familiar yet still exciting. All in all, sweet, spicy and utterly captivating!
Rating:
4 Stars โ minor quibbles but I loved it to bitsSoundtrack: Masquerade Butterfly
Artist: Miura Ayme
Album: Masquerade Butterfly
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THE BITTER RIVALS FIASCO: Kindle I Audiobook
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REVIEW: You Should Be So Lucky by Cat Sebastian
Midcentury NYC: You Should Be So Lucky – Cat Sebastian
An emotional, slow-burn, grumpy/sunshine, queer mid-century romance about grief and found family, between the new star shortstop stuck in a batting slump and the reporter assigned to (reluctantly) cover his first seasonโset in the same universe as We Could Be So Good.
The 1960 baseball season is shaping up to be the worst year of Eddie OโLearyโs life. He canโt manage to hit the ball, his new teammates hate him, heโs living out of a suitcase, and heโs homesick. When the teamโs owner orders him to give a bunch of interviews to some snobby reporter, heโs ready to call it quits. He can barely manage to behave himself for the length of a game, let alone an entire season. But heโs already on thin ice, so he has no choice but to agree.
Mark Bailey is not a sports reporter. He writes for the arts page, and these days heโs barely even managing to do that much. Heโs had a rough year and just wants to be left alone in his too-empty apartment, mourning a partner heโd never been able to be public about. The last thing he needs is to spend a season writing about New Yorkโs obnoxious new shortstop in a stunt to get the struggling newspaper more readers.
Isolated together within the crush of an anonymous city, these two lonely souls orbit each other as they slowly give in to the inevitable gravity of their attraction. But Mark has vowed that heโll never be someoneโs secret ever again, and Eddie canโt be out as a professional athlete. Itโs just them against the world, and theyโll both have to decide if thatโs enough.
You Should Be So Lucky is the second book of Midcentury NYC, a historical series by Cat Sebastian about queer newspaper reporters in 1960s New York City. The story stars Mark Bailey, whom we met in We Could Be So Good as the book reviewer and Nick Russo’s sorta friend.
Mark, outta sorts since the loss of longtime boyfriend William, was voluntold by the publisher and Nick’s boyfriend, Andy Fleming III, to write a series of diary-like columns on Eddie O’Leary, the golden boy recently traded to the newly formed baseball team, The Robins.
Mark is essentially, a grieving widower. He and William were married in all but the law. William was a lawyer. He left Mark a sizable fortune, a huge apartment full of antiques, and a spoiled diva of a dog, Lula.
Now in the worst slump of his life, Eddie is given the cold shoulder by his entire team and boo-ed by fans for his outrageous rants against the perpetually losing Robins when he was about to be traded. While he may be hot-tempered at times, this baseball player is also a ball of good cheer and contagious smiles.
Eddie’s skeptical about Mark’s column but as one of those see-ers of good in people, it wasn’t long until he trusted the reporter. It also didn’t hurt that Mark looked delectable in his suits and that the diary entries weren’t what he expected.
This is a story about a talented pro-athlete in a slump and I just realized as I was writing this, that Mark was also in a slump. I loved the author’s take on the theme. There are no miracle cures, no insta-power-ups, and no sudden heroes. Just Eddie, being a poster boy for slumps but in a good way. Because even golden boys have slumps, just like the rest of us.
Mark is slowly finding inspiration to write again the more he spends time with Eddie and the Robins. Sometimes it’s a matter of how you look at things. Mark realizes that there’s more to the story than Eddie O’Leary.
He finds other topics, such as the unexpected appeal of the Robins. There’s also an unlikely second chance in the team’s notorious coach, a former baseball superstar now a drunkard and a womanizer.
Meanwhile, Eddie grits his teeth and keeps at it until he is lucky to get a hit or two. The man was floundering but slowly won over his team. And they pitched in to help his batting skills. Like Mark, Eddie discovers the hidden depths of his notorious coach, a method to his madness.
There’s a lovely found family here, not only for the queers but for their allies. One of the most touching parts is Mark and his friendship with elderly reporter George Allen.
There’s a low thrum of grief in the story and many small joys scattered throughout. We have a wonderful friendship-turned-romantic-relationship between Mark and Eddie and an adorkable ray of sunshine in Eddie, whose wholesomeness and joy radiate happy vibes off the page. Grumpy Mark didn’t stand a chance!
But the book also suffered the same complaints as We Could Be So Good. The damned thing was so sloooow! I felt every drag of the molasses-slow pacing, it became a chore to read. And like its predecessor, there’s a lot of nothing going on. Sure, I sang praises earlier, but it took a god-awfully loooong time to get to those points. And it is repetitive, too.
I love slow-burn romance, but better make sure the rest of the book isn’t dragging its feet, too.
You Should Be So Lucky is a story of second chances, a celebration of baseball, and an appreciation for suits. It’s very much YMMV, so I still encourage everyone to grab it. Overall, an inspiring sports romance brimming with optimism and healing that falls between like and love.
Rating:
3.5 Stars โ that place between like and loveSoundtrack: Lucky You
Artist: Lightning Seeds
Album: JollificationP.S.
Midcentury NYC books are interconnected but We Could Be So Good and You Should Be So Lucky can be read as a standalones.
If you like my content, please consider using my Amazon affiliate links below to buy your copy of You Should Be So Lucky. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying Amazon purchases at no additional cost to you.
YOU SHOULD BE SO LUCKY: Kindle I Audiobook
If you like my content, please consider supporting me on Ko-fi or PayPal. Your donations will help keep this website going. Thank you so much!
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BOOK TOUR: Malicia by Steven Dos Santos
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BLOG TOUR: The Paradox of Love and Death by Artemis Glass (Excerpt & Giveaway)
