Ignite: Set on Fire series by Rebecca James

 

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It's the same old story: gay boy falls for his straight best friend.

When Luca's best friend Michael asks him to pose as his boyfriend for a week at a resort in Miami, Luca's suddenly given a taste of everything he's always wanted. And although he knows it's going to be difficult to go back to the real world, he can't help but get a little lost in the act. Funny thing is, before this trip Luca would have sworn he knew everything about his best friend. But before they leave Miami, Michael reveals something that Luca never expected.

Tropes: Fake boyfriend, friends-to-lovers, bi-discovery, virgin, tall/short.

My Rating - 3.5 Stars!

Ignite is a friends to lovers romance by Rebecca James. I have mixed feelings about this Set of Fire book. 

From a fake relationship, to admitting one's feelings, I love this premise and the story had a lot of potential.

Michael's bisexual awakening is great, with plenty of enjoyable moments. I love Michael's admission, his moving home to be with Luca, and all that follows. Michael's parents are quite the pair, with some crazy antics when Michael comes out. 

This is a story with some family issues, an attack, and a small mystery of who the attacker is. The attack is well entwined into their story but isn't a huge aspect. It still felt a little off to me though.

But I definitely have issues with the couple. It isn't easy to connect to them emotionally. And even when they are together, the story is more about everything else going on around them than their relationship. I still didn't fully connect with them. 

Ignite is an interesting read and their is plenty of potential for this series. This Rebecca James book has definitely left me curious about what comes next in this series. 

The Jock by Tal Bauer

 

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Wes Van de Hoek clawed his way off his family’s West Texas ranch under the Friday night lights, earning a football scholarship to the state’s best university. Three years in, he has it all: he’s the starting tight end, team captain, and, according to ESPN, maybe the best college football player in the nation. But he’s been keeping a secret from everyone.

Justin Swanscott has three certainties in his life: he’s gay, football is overrated, and he really, really doesn’t like cowboys. He should never have fallen into Wes’s open-range eyes or let his heart run wild when Wes gave him that shy little smile over summer. But he couldn’t stop himself.

Everyone’s asking questions about Wes this season: How is he playing so well? Will Texas be undefeated this year? Will he take the team all the way to the national championship? What’s next for him?

The truth? Wes isn’t dreaming about an NFL contract. His heart belongs to Justin, even though the world wants it to belong to football.

Wes has stadiums packed with screaming fans, ESPN is all over him, and the NFL wants him badly. He’s living under a microscope, and the pressure keeps building as the team keeps winning. Everyone wants something from him, but all Wes wants is to love Justin.

Something’s gotta give. 

My Rating - 5 Stars!

Tal Bauer's The Jock is an amazing sports romance. This is a fabulous combination of college romance, sports, whirlwind romance, Paris, and coming of age. 

Basically, it's four hundred pages of awesomeness! I love this story and couldn't devour it fast enough.

A few weeks in Paris for Wes finds him falling madly in love with his roommate Justin. After a whirlwind romance, they head back to the same college in Texas. But things aren't so easy.

Wes is a closeted football player, who can't come out while on the team. His coach hits him with a motivational talk that comes at a terrible time. 

Justin, meanwhile, isn't closeted. 

Ugh, all the feels come out when they need to leave each other for a few weeks. And all the angst starts when Wes is back at school and pressured by his coach. 

All the feels. The tension. The fear. The anxiety. The doubts. The absolute terror of coming out, or being outed. The need to protect Justin at all costs. 

And this is why I love sports romances. All of Wes's fears are well founded. Sports fans are brutal. Teammates are ruthless. Everything Wes feels is absolutely based in reality. 

The pressure he feels is intense and is well illustrated. He's only at college due to his football scholarship. If he comes out and loses football, he loses his education. And his education is extremely important to him, for that is his dream. 

Omg. Everything about this book is amazing. I felt every damn emotion along with the men. The only thing I don't love is that it's written in alternating third person pov instead of first person. There are definitely times this kept me a little disconnected, but overall, the emotions are felt strongly. 

The book gutted me. Just gutted me. And that's less than a third of the way in. 

The rest of their story follows the highs and lows, the good and the bad, of their journey. The strength of their connection and love is never in doubt. But the path they need to take to get their happy ever after is in question throughout.

I love every single second of this romance. It definitely surprised me with some twists and turns I didn't see coming. I appreciate that this is a totally unique storyline to me. It's definitely not what I expected and you'd be hard pressed to find two people who fall in love so quickly or so deeply. 

The Jock is everything I love about sports romances. Tal Bauer perfectly encompasses all the pressures and demands put upon athletes to tow the line and be the star athlete. I love, love, love this book. 

Born for Leaving by Mia Kerick, writing as Jude Munro

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When they say be careful what you wish for, do you pay attention?
Neither did Oliver Tunstead.

Oliver wishes for nothing more than to get his mind off his crappy bartending job, pile of debt big enough to swallow him whole, and playboy ex-boyfriend/boss who refuses to back off. Too bad distractions, like the hot little convertible he has his eye on, cost megabucks. And Oliver is flat broke. Renting the spare bedroom in his rundown beachfront cottage is his only option to pick up the cash he needs--a risky proposition, as Oliver is the polar opposite of a people-person. When he responds to a bizarre ad in the Waterfront Gazette seeking summer housing, he gets more than he bargained for. But Oliver can cope... After all, how much harm can a single quirky tenant do to his tightly guarded life in three short months?

Where Oliver is a loner by design, urban cowboy Bodie is a loner by necessity. A family dispute long ago dropkicked him onto the path of a lifelong wanderer. This changes when Bodie moves into the tiny beachfront cottage and starts working the door at Oliver's bar.

Despite Oliver and Bodie's nearly paralyzing instinct to avoid commitment, they fall into a wary romance. And to their surprise, life as a couple is sweetly satisfying; that is, until their jealous boss devises a cruel plan to destroy the tentative bond they've built. True to form, Bodie hits the road, leaving Oliver to lick his wounds alone.

Can these wounded souls defy their urge to flee and fight for love?

**Trigger Warning: discussion of childhood sexual molestation of adult character, graphic physical violence, off-page coerced sexual relationship 

My Rating - 5 Stars!

Born For Leaving, the debut contemporary book of Mia Kerick writing as Jude Munro, is wonderful. I have long loved Mia's young adult books, and this book contains all the heart I have come to expect from her writing. 

The title is a small glimpse into what this story is about. Bodie's a drifter, a man who always leaves before people leave him. He spends his life working short term jobs and renting short term, all knowing he will be moving on soon. And then he meets Oliver. 

Bodie is there, over and over again, to help, save, and protect Oliver, against bar patrons and an asshole ex/boss. There's something about Oliver that calls to him to left his walls down.

Omg, Bodie. His character is well developed, with a raw and painful past that will leave you shaken. His reason for always leaving is well established. He will worm his way into your heart quickly and leave it crushed. 

I love Bodie and Oliver as a couple. They certainly grow leaps and bounds with one another, and make for some amazingly sweet moments. 

Their tale includes confessions, acceptance, confidence, and strength. It has many layers, as the men struggle with themselves, their employer, and the long lasting effects of their childhoods. It's an emotional read that's fairly predictable, yet in the end, it beautiful. That is, after your heart starts beating again after some ultra angst ridden moments.

Be sure to take the trigger warning seriously. If you can't read about attempted rape and child molestation, run far, far from this book.

Mia Kerick has always mesmerized me with her YA books. Now, with her first contemporary romance, I am once again impressed and delighted. Born For Leaving is a riveting, all consuming read. I can't recommend this book enough. Be sure to try it the next time you're in the mood for a hurt/comfort read.

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Main Characters of Born for Leaving Manga-Style

 

Although I’m an author, and much of my creativity occurs in my mind, I’m a very visual person.  As a student, I could only learn by seeing facts written on paper in black and white, rather than by merely listening to them. For the first few years as an author, I wrote my stories by hand in notebooks and then transferred the final drafts onto my computer because I needed to see the words in my own handwriting to interpret and shape them.

Before I can even start writing a story, I need to find visual representations of my characters. My husband accuses me of searching the internet for “hot guys,” but I insist I’m doing research.  And I am.

As I write, I need to see the “hot guys” I’ve selected (after hours of painful—LOL—scouring of models, athletes, actors, and musicians) acting out my scenes. You should see the visions in my head of Jamie from Outlander interacting with Damon from Vampire Diaries. It’s interesting…

I took my mental imagery a step further for the promo teasers for Amy’s blog. I found manga characters—yes, super emo and maybe a tad juvenile—to represent Oliver, Bodie, and big time villain of Born for Leaving, Jack.

I hope you enjoy my creative expression of my MCs as much as I enjoyed creating them.

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Jude Munro is merging with the writer’s original pen name, Mia Kerick.

Jude Munro (oh-so-very-briefly Mia Kerick’s Adult MM Romance pen name) writes of men who are drawn to the surf and sand. They’ve sunbathed on the sands of many alluring East Coast beaches, along with the fantastical beaches in Jude’s books. They’ll answer questions like “Who do you think you are, the sun god?” (they share a striking resemblance) if they can hear you over "Boys of Summer" cranking on their headphones. To Jude’s men, no shoes and no shirt is really not a problem.  And each character must earn his day at the beach. (Yes, there is always a HEA).  

As Mia Kerick, largely a YA and New Adult writer of LGBTQ fiction focused on coming of age themes, this author’s books have been featured in Kirkus Reviews magazine. They won a 2019 IPPY GOLD award, a 2018 YA GOLD MOONBEAM, a YA Readers’ Favorite Award, several first place Rainbow Awards, a Reader Views’ Book by Book Publicity Literary Award, the Jack Eadon Award for Best Book in Contemporary Drama, a YA Indie Fab Award, a First Place Royal Dragonfly Award, a First Place Story Monsters Purple Dragonfly Award, and a YA category finalist for the Eric Hoffer award, and more.