Posts Tagged With: Series – States of Love

Book Review: Place Setting by Claudia Mayrant

Posted on January 27, 2019 by thebloggergirls

Reviewed by Ami

Title: Place Setting
Author: Claudia Raymant
Series: States of Love
Heroes: Cameron Dunlop/Gray Callahan
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 70 Pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: January 18, 2019
Available at: Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Cameron Dunlop has lived in the Lowcountry town of Summer Corners, South Carolina, his whole life. He loves his home, but his little town in the Deep South doesn’t offer much in the way of dating options.

Chef Gray Callahan has enjoyed success in the kitchen, but his last relationship sunk like a bad soufflé. When plans for his sister’s wedding go awry, it provides the perfect excuse to pack up and go home, where he can help out as he decides how to start his life over.

Gray’s path crosses Cameron’s, and he realizes together they might have all the ingredients to save the day—with maybe enough left over for something sweet just for the two of them.
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Ami's Reviews, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2019 | Tags: chef, Claudia Mayrant, Contemporary, Dreamspinner Press, High School Crush, Location - South Carolina, M/M, Place Setting, Reunited, Series - States of Love, Short Story, The Blogger Girls | Leave a comment

Book Review: Fair Isn’t Life by Kaje Harper

Posted on November 17, 2018 by thebloggergirls

Reviewed by Ami

Title: Fair Isn’t Life
Author: Kaje Harper
Series: States of Love #45
Heroes: Luke/Mason
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 148 Pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: November 16, 2018
Available at: Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Luke Lafontaine survived the past year by not thinking about the father he lost, the dairy farm he couldn’t save from bankruptcy, or his way of life that vanished with the rap of an auctioneer’s hammer. Cleaning up city folks’ trash at the Minnesota State Fair is just another dead-end job. But at the Fair, surrounded by a celebration of farm life, ambitions he’d given up on and buried deep start to revive. And seeing Mason Bell in the parade—gorgeous, gay, out-of-his-league Mason—stirs other buried dreams.

Mason left his hometown for college in Minneapolis without looking back. Student life is fun, classes are great, gay guys are easy to find, but it’s all a bit superficial. He’s at the State Fair parade route with his band when he realizes a scruffy maintenance worker is Luke, his secret high school crush. Luke should be safely home working on his dad’s farm, not picking up litter. Mason wishes he hadn’t fallen out of touch. He’s an optimist, though, and it’s never too late for second chances. Now he just has to convince Luke.
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Ami's Reviews, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2018 | Tags: Class Differences, College Student, Contemporary, Dreamspinner Press, Fair Isn't Life, High School Crush, Kaje Harper, M/M, NA, Reunited, Series - States of Love, The Blogger Girls | Leave a comment

Book Review: Raising the Bar by Leigh Dillon

Posted on September 8, 2018 by thebloggergirls

Reviewed by Ami

Title: Raising the Bar
Author: Leigh Dillon
Series: States of Love #42
Heroes: Destin Bellingham/Tonio Benedetto
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 102 Pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: September 7, 2018
Available at: Amazon
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Destin Bellingham has inherited a problem. Thanks to his late playboy father, Destin faces putting a For Sale sign on his family’s historic horse farm. Getting his talented stallion, Black Sambuca, into the Grand Prix show ring would put Bellmeade back on the map—if only someone could make “Sam” behave like a show horse.

Disgraced top rider Tonio Benedetto has his own problems, but he can work magic with difficult jumpers, so Destin hires him despite his bad-boy reputation. The street-smart, openly gay loudmouth from Miami and the closeted, buttoned-down son of Old Dominion Virginia make a rocky pairing, but time is running out to save Bellmeade from bankruptcy.

Opposites attract, sparks of tension grow into flames of passion. But if Tonio fails to tame Sam, will true love become a lost cause too?
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Categories: 3.5 Star Ratings, Ami's Reviews, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2018 | Tags: Class Differences, Closeted, Contemporary, Dreamspinner Press, Equestrian, Grand Prix Riding, Horse Shows, horses, Leigh Dillon, M/M, Novella, Opposites Attract, Professional Rider, Raising the Bar, Series - States of Love, The Blogger Girls | Leave a comment

Book Review: Mystic Man by E.J. Russell

Posted on June 22, 2018 by thebloggergirls

Reviewed by Ami

Title: Mystic Man
Author: E.J. Russell
Heroes: Aaron & Cody
Genre: M/M Contemporary
Length: 100
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: June 22, 2018
Available at: Dreamspinner Press & Amazon
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: When a series of personal crises prompt risk-averse research librarian Aaron Templeton to apply for a job on the other side of the country, nobody is more surprised than he is. He nearly runs home before the final interview except for one little problem: he has no home anymore. He put his condo on the market before he left California and it’s already sold. Only an encounter with free-spirited Connecticut native Cody Brown at the Mystic Seaport Museum staves off Aaron’s incipient panic attack.

Cody loves nothing better than introducing newcomers to the great features of his beloved home state, and when the newbie in question is a rumpled professorial type with the saddest blue eyes on the planet? Score! The attraction between the two men deepens as they explore Cody’s favorite spots, but when difficulties arise and Aaron’s insecurities threaten to overwhelm him, will Cody’s love be enough to keep him in Mystic? Continue reading →

Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Ami's Reviews, Book Review, Guest Reviewer, LGBT, Published in 2018 | Tags: Age Gap, Contemporary, Dreamspinner Press, E.J. Russell, Location - Connecticut, Low Steam, M/M, Mystic Man, Novella, Opposites Attract, Sarah Black, Series - States of Love, The Blogger Girls | Leave a comment

Book Review: War Paint by Sarah Black War Paint

Posted on May 25, 2018 by thebloggergirls

Reviewed by Ami

Title: War Paint
Author: Sarah Black
Series: States of Love
Heroes: Ben & Eli
Genre: M/M Contemporary
Length: 88 pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: May 25, 2018
Available at: Dreamspinner Press & Amazon
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: There’s an art to love.

Mural artist Ben has come from Tel Aviv to Atlanta to work on a commission. A successful artist, he’s still lonely and isolated after his family’s rejection. Ben is charmed and surprised when local soldier Eli mistakes him for homeless, and brings him a cup of coffee and a biscuit. This gesture opens the door. Eli is lost, trying to make sense of a future without the Army after a combat injury ends his career.

Art gives them a new language and a path forward. But lost men can reach out, desperate to hang on to anyone close. Is what they find together real, and the kind of love that will last? Continue reading →

Categories: 4.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, Guest Reviewer, LGBT, Published in 2018 | Tags: Artist, Contemporary, Depression, Dreamspinner Press, interracial, Little to No Sex, Location - Atlanta, M/M, Novella, Sarah Black, Series - States of Love, The Blogger Girls, Veteran, War Paint | Leave a comment

Book Review: In the Desert by Elliot Joyce

Posted on May 4, 2018 by thebloggergirls

Reviewed by Ami

Title: In the Desert
Author: Elliot Joyce
Series: States of Love
Heroes: Wren/Felipe
Genre: Contemporary YA
Length: 106 Pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: May 4, 2018
Available at: Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Can a Navajo trans teen and a nerdy Catholic find the place they belong… and maybe themselves? In the desert, anything is possible….

When Wren came out as transgender before his senior year, it cost him most of his friends. His father hopes joining a Boy Scout troop might help Wren meet other young men his age and be accepted for who he is.

Felipe Nieves wants the new guy in the troop to feel comfortable, and he reaches out to Wren. They become fast friends… with something more beneath the surface. Those feelings confuse Felipe, since his religion considers this a sin—and he’s always assumed he was straight—but he can’t help pining for Wren. Asking him out will take courage, and getting together won’t be easy… but through their friendship, both young men might find their identities… and learn to embrace them in a unique coming-of-age story set against the beauty of the American Southwest.
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Categories: 4.5 Star Ratings, Ami's Reviews, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2018 | Tags: Boy Scouts, Bullying, Coming-of-Age, Contemporary, Depression, Dreamspinner Press, Elliot Joyce, Homophobia/Transphobia, In the Desert, interracial, Little to No Sex, Location - Arizona, Mexican-American, NA, Religion, Series - States of Love, sweet, Teenagers, The Blogger Girls, Trans Character, transgender, YA Becoming | Leave a comment

Book Review: Home Is Where You Are by Emjay Haze

Posted on January 26, 2018 by thebloggergirls

Reviewed by Ami

Title: Home Is Where You Are
Author: Emjay Haze
Series: States of Love
Heroes: Eric & Phil
Genre: M/M Contemporary
Length: 95 pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: January 26, 2018
Available at: Dreamspinner Press & Amazon
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: For a chance at a future filled with love, he’ll have to face a painful past.

Eric, recently dumped by his boyfriend, is summoned home after his dad suffers a stroke. His family farm in rural Vermont holds memories he’d rather forget, but he—with his degree in agricultural business—is needed to clear up a predicament with the bank. In trying to forget the bad, Eric has also lost sight of the good: green meadows dotted with grass-fed dairy cows and the sugar maples that once produced the area’s finest maple syrup. With Eric’s help, they will again.

A captivating farmhand named Phil tempts Eric to give the countryside another chance, but before they can consider being together, Eric must move past more than his feelings for his ex-boyfriend—he’ll need to stand up to the ghosts that sent him running from the farm in the first place…. Continue reading →

Categories: 3 Star Ratings, Ami's Reviews, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2018 | Tags: Bank Employee, Coming Home, Contemporary, Dreamspinner Press, Emjay Haze, Farmer, Home Is Where You Are, M/M, Novella, reunion, Series - States of Love, The Blogger Girls | Leave a comment

Book Review: Like Two Parting Seas by Zhara Freytes

Posted on August 31, 2017 by thebloggergirls

Reviewed by Ami

Title: Like Two Parting Seas
Author: Zhara Freytes
Series: States of Love
Heroes: Nathan/Leonardo
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 57 Pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: August 30, 2017
Available at: Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: After two years of internet chats and crappy video calls, Nathan and Leonardo will finally meet face-to-face, and the anticipation is killing them both. Their slow-simmering desire to be together soon boils over as Nathan shows Leo around his hometown of Boise, Idaho. Witty conversation fills their days, passion fills their nights, and both young men know they belong in each other’s lives. But how can a romance, let alone a relationship, work when Nathan’s career is in Boise and Leo must soon return to his home in Italy? Since neither is ready to say goodbye to the budding love affair, they’re determined to find a solution before the end of Leo’s holiday.
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Categories: 3 Star Ratings, Ami's Reviews, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2017 | Tags: Contemporary, Dreamspinner Press, Friends to Lovers, Internet Friends, Like Two Parting Seas, Location - Idaho, Long-Distance Romance, M/M, Series - States of Love, Short Story, The Blogger Girls, vacation, Zhara Freytes | Leave a comment

Book Review: Coasting by Yvonne Trent

Posted on August 22, 2017 by thebloggergirls

Reviewed by Ami

Title: Coasting
Author: Yvonne Trent
Series: States of Love
Heroes: Cal Hamilton/Billy Labarre
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 112 Pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: August 23, 2017
Available at: Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: What happens when you need something but don’t know what it is? Why not look in a place you never heard of?

Out and proud elementary school teacher Cal Hamilton thought he was happy in Philadelphia, but after a breakup, he steps back to reassess his life and discovers something is missing. He gets in his car and drives south with no idea what he hopes to find. The flip of a coin leads him to a small town in Mississippi—practically a different world from the city where he grew up.

Police officer Billy Labarre keeps his sexuality mostly to himself, but he knows just what he needs to fill the hole in his quiet small-town life: the right man. Unfortunately attitudes toward gay men still leave a lot to be desired in the rural South, and it’s hard to meet someone. It’s not likely his perfect match is just going to show up out of the blue….
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Categories: 3 Star Ratings, Ami's Reviews, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2017 | Tags: Closeted, Coasting, Contemporary, Cop, Dreamspinner Press, Location - Mississippi, M/M, Novella, Series - States of Love, Teacher, The Blogger Girls, vacation, Yvonne Trent | Leave a comment

Book Review: Ride Along by Meghan Maslow

Posted on June 13, 2017 by thebloggergirls

Reviewed by Ami

Title: Ride Along
Author: Meghan Maslow
Series: States of Love
Heroes: Drew Nolan/Josh de Oliveira
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 122 Pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: June 14, 2017
Available at: Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Drew Nolan is a loud-and-proud mystery writer with a brutal case of writer’s block. He needs practical experience with the Baltimore police beat to get his latest manuscript to his publisher on time. When he wins a ride-along at a writer’s conference, he thinks he’s hit the jackpot… until he meets his partner.

Closeted cop Josh de Oliveira lost his family, his partner, and the respect of his unit—all for doing the right thing. Recently busted back down to patrol, he’s relieved to get a cushy assignment at the Author’s Police Institute where he’ll take one lucky writer on a ride-along. Unfortunately, his author looks like he belongs in the backseat of Josh’s squad car—long, ginger dreadlocks, piercings, and an “I would bottom you so hard” T-shirt. But there’s something about Drew Josh is having a hard time resisting.

It’s going to be a long night and one hell of a ride as opposites attract and realize they share a lot in common beneath the surface. As animosity becomes desire, they realize they can help each other out—in more ways than one.
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Categories: 3.5 Star Ratings, Ami's Reviews, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2017 | Tags: Author, Closeted, Contemporary, Cop, Dreamspinner Press, ginger, humor, Law Enforcement, Location - Maryland, M/M, Meghan Maslow, Opposites Attract, piercings, Ride Along, Series - States of Love, The Blogger Girls | Leave a comment

Posts Tagged With: Series – States of Love

Book Review: Place Setting by Claudia Mayrant

Book Review: Fair Isn’t Life by Kaje Harper

Book Review: Raising the Bar by Leigh Dillon

Book Review: Mystic Man by E.J. Russell

Book Review: War Paint by Sarah Black War Paint

Book Review: In the Desert by Elliot Joyce

Book Review: Home Is Where You Are by Emjay Haze

Book Review: Like Two Parting Seas by Zhara Freytes

Book Review: Coasting by Yvonne Trent

Book Review: Ride Along by Meghan Maslow

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