m/m

M/M Monday – Sweet Young Thang by Anne Tenino

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

Sweet Young Thang (Theta Alpha Gamma, #3)

Grade: A-
Hotness Level: Inferno
Kink Level: No Kink
Genre: Contemporary, m/m, college age
Series: Theta Alpha Gamma #3
Reviewed by Anne
414 pages on my ereader; Goodreads says 329 pages
 
This book was funny and sweet and I didn’t want to put it down!

Collin is one of the leaders of his frat, which recently publicly announced their acceptance of gay/bi brothers.  Collin is also in the closet, for the most part.  He doesn’t seem worried about his frat brothers’ acceptance, but he knows his Uncle Monty, the father figure in his life, will not be accepting of him if he came out.

Eric is a firefighter paramedic.  He responds to an explosion and fire at the frat house and is attracted to Collin, who keeps his cool under pressure.  When he sees Collin again, he flirts with him and Collin flirts back.  It’s not long before the two of them hook up.  (And that’s one very hot night!) Both of them are interested in more, but step carefully, not sure if the other would want anything to do with them.

While the fire and an attempted bombing at the frat house drive the storyline, we get to watch Eric and Collin fall for each other and work through issues that come up.  And it’s all so very sweet and hot and good!

It surprises me that I am ok with things in the m/m genre that I know would bother me if the book was m/f.  But it just doesn’t.  In this case it’s Collin’s age (21).  Fifteen years (36/21) is a really big age difference between Collin and Eric.  It’s almost icky.  By the end of the book I really didn’t have a problem with it.  Collin was really mature and handling a lot in his life, so he seemed older than 21, especially compared to some of his frat brothers.

Oh, and let’s talk about the frat brothers.  I loved them!  They provided a great comedic backdrop that kept the story from getting too heavy or emo.  The good hearted but clumsy attempts of the straight brothers to support their gay brothers was hilarious and sweet.  They came across as pretty dumb at times, but I was willing to accept that.  I’m not sure how realistic it is, but I’ll suspend disbelief in favor of the humor in this case.

This was the 3rd book in this series, but it stood alone very well. I hadn’t read the first two and had no problems keeping up.

I’m adding Anne Tenino to my list of m/m authors I love! I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes m/m, but especially those who liked College Boys by Daisy Harris.

 
One final thought.  I really disliked this cover.  Then I read the book and it fits the story, which makes me hate it less, because those purple underwear and taking pictures feature in the story, but still not my favorite cover.

Sky Runners by Fae Sutherland

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

Sky Runners (Skybound, #2)

 
Grade: B
Hotness Level: Blaze
Kink Level: No Kink
Genre: Space Opera, Sci-fi, m/m
Series: Skybound #2
Reviewed by Anne
151 pages
 
Here’s my book club style recap: So, there is this ship and crew (which reminded me of the Millenium Falcon, minus the wookie and plus gay men) who are on a mission to rescue this kidnapped guy (his name is Neith) who is being forced to work in a brothel.  They do a daring rescue, and they succeed, but it turns out he’s been given lots of drugs that make him horny (to the point of pain, of course) and thankfully there’s a guy on board (big old guy with a heart of gold named Killian) who is willing to, ahem, help him out until the drug wears off.  (It’s a long lasting drug!)  Action and adventure ensues.  Will the nasty pimp with a big space ship come after them?  Will they be able to tell really lust and love from drug fueled feelings?
 
What a great read! I have to go back and read the first book in this series now, because, as is usual for me, I started with book 2 in the series. It’s an interesting space/future world set up. m/m vs m/f romance doesn’t seem to be an issue at all in this world, which was interesting and nice.

I was a bit nervous that the story would include a man who had been forced into prostitution.  That’s a touchy subject and not one to be made light of.  I thought the repercussions of the forced prostitution were handled ok. My thought is that there would be bigger after effects, but it wasn’t totally ignored, so I’m good with that. I’m a sucker for unintentional aphrodisiac stories, so that part really worked for me.

I thought Killian and Neith’s relationship was sweet. I enjoyed the secondary characters, too. After reading the interaction between the captain and the pilot (main characters from the first book) I have to go back and read that one.  A caution – Killian has an accent.  You know, the kind where you don’t say any of the “g”s in “ing” words.  That bugged me a bit.  I know it really drives some people bonkers.  But after a while his endearment for Neith (li’l bit) stopped being annoying and ended up being really sweet.

This was a  fun read I’d recommend to people who enjoy sci/fi space romance.


M/M Monday – Never a Hero by Marie Sexton

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

Never a Hero (Tucker Springs, #5)

Grade: A-
Hotness Level: Blaze
Kink Level: No Kink
Genre: Contemporary, m/m
Series: Tucker Springs #5
Reviewed by Anne
174 pages


What a wonderful book!  I’m really enjoying this whole series.  This book is no exception.  In fact, it’s one of my favorites.

Owen was born with just one full arm.  His mom has always been embarrassed by him and critical of him.  He’s on his own now, and has even overcome (for the most part) the stutter that further shamed him in his mother’s eyes.  (No kidding, this is a real Mommy Dearest!)

When Owen’s neighbor moves out, Nick moves in downstairs.  Owen is surprised by how comfortable Nick is with him.  It turns out that Nick’s sister, June was born with one arm, too.  Together June and Nick help Owen come out of his shell and out from under the damage his mother has done.  Along the way, Owen and Nick start to fall for each other.  There really shouldn’t be any problem, but Nick keeps holding back, and Owen can’t understand why.

This was such a sweet story.  I actually have several notes and highlights up until a twist in the story about half way through the book.  After that I just was reading as fast as I could to figure out how things would work out!

I loved Owen and Nick, but I liked June even more!  She was a bit of a whirlwind.  I have a couple friends like her – they light up the room when they come in and sweep you along with their plans.  She was a great addition to the story.

As I mentioned, there’s a pretty big twist in the story, and mentioning it would be a big spoiler. So I’ll just say, it was believable to me, and the resolution was believable to me, too.

I highly recommend this series.  Every book is a keeper!  Even though there are different authors involved, each story has been wonderful.  I want more!