GRL 2018 SPOTLIGHT - Lynn Lorenz - New Orleans Second Lines

In my attempt to cover some of the attending authors for this year's GRL,
I am reviewing 

Lynn Lorenz's New Orlands Second Lines!

Amazon Link

Goodreads Link

BLURB

Matt and Lane grew up together, best friends, sharing almost all their secrets. But on the last day of college, those secrets spilled in one night of passion and tore them apart, sending Matt to the West Coast and Lane home to New Orleans.

Now, Hurricane Katrina is set to destroy New Orleans. This might be the worst time to try for a second chance, but nothing can keep Matt from Lane. The man he let get away.

For Lane, no hurricane can pry him from the city, especially without Sebastian. The older man has been a dear friend and his landlord since Lane returned from college. Sebastian refuses to flee, preferring to stay in his Creole cottage in the French Quarter and ride out the storm.

Sebastian’s life becomes intertwined with Lane’s, as Matt finds out when he’s drawn into capturing Sebastian’s memoirs of being gay in New Orleans. The elder gentleman’s stories are full of surprises and lessons for the young men.

The most important ones Sebastian teaches them—and himself—are that second chances don’t come along often, and you’re never too old to fall in love.

First Edition published as Pinky Swear, Pioneers, and C'est La Vie by Amber Quill Press/Amber Allure, 2010.

REVIEW

My Rating -  5 Stars!

New Orleans Second Lines is my first time reading Lynn Lorenz. I am thrilled that I  decided to check out this 2018 GRL author.

This story is a dual romance, starting with Matt and Lane, and then focusing on Sebastian's love life.

We meet Matt and Lane as kids and follow them through the years. Their story sucked me in immediately. It made me cry, smile, cheer, and scream, as they both loved each other but couldn't tell one another. 

Later we meet Sebastian and experience some of Hurricane Katrina as he and Matt stay behind in New Orleans to fight out the storm. This part is so damn tough to read, as it is just brings us back to the awful things we saw in  the news about this historic and catastrophic storm. 

Lynn's writing is fantastic as she makes us experience New Orleans, it's character and charm, as well as the devastation through these character's eyes. It is extremely atmospheric and remarkable written, as she definitely was able to write this beautiful and famous city as a character in itself.

Later on, we get to follow Sebastian's journey to  finding a second chance at love. After losing his ex years ago to AIDS, he hasn't even considered looking for someone or having sex, in years. This part of the book is also well written, as we are able to feel everything Sebastian is feeling. And, his journey towards love again is beautiful!

And, as if I wasn't already feeling all the emotions, the relationship between Matt and Sebastian is phenomenal. Sebastian is like a grandfather to Sebastian and treats him nicer than most even treat any of their family. 

After reading New Orleans Second Line, I will definitely need to look into more of Lynn Lorenz's books, and this one is just lovely!

Lynn Lorenz

I’m from New Orleans, that’s N’awlins for those of you who speak the language. I grew up in the Riverbend, or Carrollton, for the old timers, but was a Quarter rat from the age of 11, taking 3 buses to go to art class on Burgundy Street at the Cabrini Doll Museum and NORD center. I attended University of New Orleans and have a BA in Fine Art. My mother worked at Tulane University, six blocks from our house and when we were kids my brother and I parked cars in our driveway for the Saints games at Tulane Stadium. We could get six cars down the drive, two on the front lawn, and two on the street and we only charged $2 a car. We made enough to buy a coupla roast beef po’boys at Comeaux’s on Hickory St. and a snowball over at Williams Snow Ball Stand. We lived 1/2 a block from a cemetery, but doesn’t everyone in N’awlins? We used to watch jazz funerals from our front porch.

Now, my family lives in Katy, Texas. I have a “real” job, a truly supportive and understanding husband, two incredible kids, and a slightly neurotic dog. We used to have a guinea pig, but the dog killed it. Did I say slightly?

My son is 15 and has Asperger’s Syndrome (high functioning Autism) and Crohn’s Disease, and is a constant lesson in patience, acceptance and managing expectations. He’s super smart, loves video games, fencing, movies, building with legos, and hanging around the house. Like me, he believes that it’s all about him. Sometimes, I wonder if I don’t have Asperger’s, too. Oh, and he’s very handsome.

My daughter, 13, is so creative it’s scary- she loves to paint, draw manga and anima, build dioramas with any box she can get her hands on, create worlds with legos and then make movies with them, sculpt people, animals and objects with those little twist ties from the grocery store, does pottery, and wants to be a lifeguard. And she’s smart, too. And
beautiful, inside and out.

I write for a few hours in the evenings and on weekends as much as I can, without neglecting my family. (That laughter you hear is my husband) I attend a critique group, and do whatever the kids are into at the time.

Choices and Changes (An All Cocks Story #7) by TM Smith

Amazon Link


Blurb

There comes a time in every man’s life where he has to make a choice between what is right and what is easy.

Born and raised in Fort Worth Texas by open-minded parents, Dean Anderson realized early in life he was attracted to both sexes. Equal opportunity, he picked his lovers based on personality and common interests. He met Maggie in college, fell in love, got married and started a family. And they were happy…until they weren’t.

Adam Chase’s mother is South African, his father American military working at the US Embassy in Pretoria, South Africa. His parents’ positions in the South African and American governments awarded Adam dual citizenship, and he attended University in America, at Berkley. In America, Adam is lives openly as a gay man, something that could get him killed in his mother’s home country. He met his husband, Patrick Carter, at college and they too were happy…until Patrick died.

Two lives converge, and it would seem fate is giving them each a second chance at happiness, together. Dean stays in New York and moves into the apartment his son, Dusty, shares with his boyfriend David. He and Adam are quickly welcomed into All Cocks’ vastly growing family. And then one phone call changes everything.

The men of All Cocks learn that death is just another part of life, a road everyone travels eventually. Choices are made, decisions that change their lives irrevocably. They rally together, drawing strength from each other as their close-knit family experiences the best and worst life has to offer. But that’s what families do, right? 



REVIEW
My Rating - 5 Stars!

Omg, what an amazing story! Choices and Changes, by TM Smith, is a gripping tale in her All Cocks Stories series.

First of all, I love romances between older men, and this one is perfect!
Dean, who is actually Dusty's father, is divorced from his ex wife, and has his eyes set on Alex, Beau's doctor. (Dusty and David are in Hide and Seek, the previous book in the series. Beau is from Live For Love, Book 5.)

Before I comment on the couple, I have to discuss the amazing and hilarious relationship between Dean and his ex-wife. Their banter is fantastic, and this alone, would make the book worth reading.

Now, as for Dean and Adam, just yum! They are such an endearing couple. Adam lost his lover years ago to AIDS, and has been alone since, so both men are newly moving on from their pasts, looking for a second chance at love.

As with the entire All Cocks Stories series, we get appearances by tons of the already introduced and beloved characters. During the course of this series, I have come to appreciate this unique and wonderful hand-picked family. And it's always fun to catch up with them in the new books.

But, omg, the tears! As with the other books in the series, this one will tug at your heart-strings and just leave you reeling.

In the end, however, the All Cocks family comes together to overcome the tragedy that strikes, and Adam and Dean are able to find their happy ending. Oh, and of course, you'll get some glimpses of their sizzling sex life!

Thank you TM Smith for this amazing series. Your All Cocks Stories are truly a fantastic and addicting world of some extremely memorable men. I know I will be reading Choices and Changes, as well as the rest of the series, many more times!

For anyone who hasn't read this series, do yourself a favor and do so now. They are just perfect! When all the tears have been shed, you will be thrilled to have read about all these men!