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Linkity laments the end of summer

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Congrats to Elsie and Jenn T, who won Home Work (Life Lessons #3) by Kaje Harper! Home Work is being released today by MLR Press.

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  • 15 unusual October holidays. You’ve already missed National Homemade Cookies Day and National Name Your Car Day!! (Although… what’s so unusual about Canadian Thanksgiving?!)

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  • Traffic lights. (Hover your cursor over the comic for additional text.)

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Reading Update
Note: This a completely incomplete reading update, without links to the stories and without listing all the stories I read. (You would truly be horrible if you knew how many there were.) I was contacted by the hockey rpf community and asked to not add their stories to Goodreads (or link to their stories elsewhere), as the authors were becoming very uncomfortable with the level of visibility their stories were getting (to the point that some authors locked their stories so they aren’t visible to the general public). I have honored their request, as I meant no disrespect to the hockey rpf community. If you’ve become intrigued by hockey rpf (or any other fanfic), I highly recommend that you request to join The Freeloaders group on Goodreads.

  • Hanging with the Unloved Kids by ChibiRHM. free ebook/online fiction. Very good rpf m/m romance about a deeply closeted team captain whose strategy has been to simply ignore that he’s gay. It’s been working ok, until he realizes that he’s slowly fallen in love with his teammate and best friend.
  • See This Through by Impertinence. free ebook/online fiction. Very good rpf m/m romance about a hockey player who orders a Russian bride online while he’s drunk, then forgets about it… until a scruffy Russian guy shows up on his doorstep.
  • My Siberia: A Russian Knitting Circle Story by Impertinence. free ebook/online fiction. Very good rpf m/m romance about a Russian hockey player whose crush on his socially awkward and oblivious team captain is apparently obvious to everyone… except his team captain.
  • Play Along by shihadchick. free ebook/online fiction. Very good short rpf m/m romance about a hockey player whose teammate bets him he can’t get with the next person to come in the door of the bar… and it turns out to be his best friend (and teammate).
  • Nothing But Good Times Ahead by shihadchick. free ebook/online fiction. Very good rpf m/m romance about a hockey player who propositions his team captain the minute his rookie year is over.
  • Enough to Crush Your Veins by doctor_denmark. free ebook/online fiction. Very good rpf m/m romance about a former figure skater with a wrecked knee who’s starting college and working as a nanny for a hockey player’s three-year old son. This one builds slowly and I do wish there’d been a little more at the end.
  • not gonna write you a love song by justbreathe80. free ebook/online fiction. Very good short rpf m/m romance told from the perspective of a goalie who slowly realizes that two of his teammates are together.
  • run my fingers through your hair and watch the lights go wild by justbreathe80. free ebook/online fiction. Very good short rpf m/m romance about a hockey player who realizes that his somewhat older teammate and lover may be the less experienced off the ice…
  • How to Become a Man by liketheroad & mockturtletale. free ebook/online fiction. Very good rpf m/m romance in which a team captain has to deal with his best friend and teammate who’s suddenly become a six-year old. Being able to take care of his friend gets him thinking about a lot of feelings and stuff he’s been trying not to think for a long time.
  • I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together by Northern_Star. free ebook/online fiction. Very good rpf m/m bodyswap romance about an uptight hockey player who scoffs at a gypsy fortune teller and is then cursed…
  • This Must Be the Place by thehoyden. free ebook/online fiction. Very good rpf m/m romance about a socially awkward team captain who’s feeling lonely and upset during the offseason when a teammate gets traded away… but everything’s better when his best friend agrees to come back from Russia early to train together.
  • Dynamic Immersion Method by Sharksdontsleep. free ebook/online fiction. Very good short rpf m/m romance about a hockey player who starts learning Russian to he can understand what his teammate is mumbling to him.
  • Try to Map the Ocean by oflights. free ebook/online fiction. Sweet and surprisingly poignant rpf paranormal m/m romance about a hockey player who turns into a penguin and the teammate who takes care of him.

 

“I’m hanging out on the back of a chair. How is this photo-worthy?!” -Mayhem

Linkity linkity link, Reading, Reviewettes

That week when linkity was almost manageable*

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Congrats to Renee, who won Danny and Mike by Valentina Heart! Danny and Mike will be released by Silver Publishing on September 29.

Congrats to Serentiy, who won Love Comes Silently by Andrew Grey! Love Comes Silently will be released on October 1 by Dreamspinner Press.

Congrats to Victoria H and Marsha S, who each won Dex in Blue (Johnnies #2) by Amy Lane! Dex in Blue will also be released by Dreamspinner Press on October 1.

*Because a catastrophic Firefox crash took out my plugins and left me VERY CRANKY…

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Reading Update
The Hot Floor by Josephine Myles. ebook. arc. Very good m/m/m romance about a glassblower who’s attracted to the couple living downstairs from him. As they become friends, his attraction only increases, but he respects their rule about not getting involved with people they see all the time. And then things change in a flood of surprising circumstances…
Heart in Hand by salifiable. free ebook/online fiction. reread. Very good m/m romance about two hockey players on rival teams who become friends – and more – through an unusual turn of events. I got sniffly more than once while I was reading this one. What didn’t work so well for me were all the hockey details in the last third of the book, which got to be a bit much. (Note that this is, as Kate puts it, set in an alternate universe and features two real-life NHL players.) Reread: Just as good, if not better, on the reread. My eyes leaked this time, too. Reread the second: Yeah, I read it twice this week. 🙂
If Heaven’s Hypothetical by Shoemaster & Impertinence. free ebook/online fiction. Very good m/m romance about a guy who runs away from home and his minor league hockey team in Canada because he doesn’t think he has a choice. And then he becomes friends with a vaguely familiar guy who keeps coming into the diner where he waits tables…
At the End of All Your Lines by Lake (beyond_belief). free ebook/online fiction. Surprisingly sweet short m/m romance about best friends and hockey teammates who get drunk married in Las Vegas.
Not a Heart of Gold by queeniegalore. free ebook/online fiction. Steamy short m/m romance about a hockey player who becomes obsessed with the thought of his teammate and best friend as a hooker he can buy.
Inferno by Scarlet Blackwell. ebook. Good m/m romance about a closeted cop who’s pissed at a sexy club owner for being tempting… oh yeah, and for being a murder suspect, too. 😉 Over-the-top drama ensues.
Baked to Death (Simon Kirby-Jones #4) by Dean James. Good gay mystery in which an old friend shows up trying to regain Simon’s affections and a medieval fair provides a dangerous distraction. This was the last book in the series and one thing had to happen for me to be happy with how it ended. I’m happy. 🙂
How to Quit Playing Hockey (Hockey #1) by Isa K. ebook. Good m/m romance about two closeted minor league hockey players whose idyllic summer together ends with the start of the new season as one is sent up to the majors and the other faces the possibility of being cut from the team and trying to define a post-hockey life.
There’s Cock in This Book (Hockey #0.5) by Isa K. free ebook short. reread. I should’ve refreshed my memory and reread this before reading How to Quit Playing Hockey! Good short m/m story about a deeply closeted minor league hockey player who survives by keeping his head down and blending in… until the new guy on the team hits on him. With a bit more proofing and a less abrupt ending, this would have been a 4.5 star read.
Another Dead Republican (Tom & Scott #13) by Mark Richard Zubro. ebook. Good gay mystery in which Tom and Scott head to Wisconsin to support Tom’s sister after her loathsome husband was murdered during a gubernatorial recall election. A titch more editing would have helped on this one.
Summerboys by stlkrchck. free ebook/online fiction. Good m/m romance about two camp counselors who don’t communicate with each other very well. I think this one’s probably more fun if you have actual familiarity with the hockey players who inspired the fic.

*admires the unbearable cuteness of Mayhem*

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Lounge about with linkity

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Congrats to DebraG, who won Choices by Em Woods! Choices is being released today by Breathless Press.

I am sooooo far behind on my email. Be patient with me. It’s been a rough week. 🙂

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  • How to kill an introvert… (Thanks?!, Jeanne!) (At least Jeanne’s an introvert, so I don’t think I’m in danger from her…)

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Reading Update
By His Rules by JA Rock. ebook. Very good kinky m/m romance about a recent theater grad who’s sort of at loose ends and spends his free time playing the perfect sub for an assortment of doms… until he makes something of a miscalculation and things go awry. JA Rock’s now on my autobuy list.
Pressure Head by JL Merrow. ebook. Very good m/m romantic suspense about a plumber with a touch of psychic ability that allows him to find secrets and lost things. When he’s called out to help the police find a body, he runs into one of the guys who bullied him in high school – a guy he’d found attractive despite that…
Finders, Keepers by Chris Quinton. ebook. Very good m/m romantic suspense a covert recovery agent for an insurance company who isn’t able to keep his emotional distance from the guy he’s gotten close to for a job, even knowing that things won’t end well. The ending seemed a bit rushed, alas, but otherwise this totally sucked me in.
Hearts of England by RJ Scott, Meredith Russell, Chris Quinton, Lisa Worrall, Sue Brown, & SA Meade. ebook anthology. arc. Very good m/m romance anthology in which all of the stories are set in England. Unusually for me with an anthology, I found every story to be solidly written and enjoyable, with not a one I ended up skipping.
Maybe This Time by Shawn Lane. ebook short. Sweet short m/m romance about two guys living with their grandmothers, just down the hall from each other, who find they have more in common (including a shared past) than one would expect.
In the Blink of an Eye by Kim Dare. ebook short. arc. Steamy short m/m encounter between two guys at their company Christmas party.
Broken Silence (Broken Trilogy #2) by Jade Buchanan. ebook. Good m/m romance about a deeply closeted bar owner in a small northern Ontario town who just can’t stop himself from hooking up with the new nurse. Lots of homophobic comments and jokes, and “I’m not gay” talk from the bartender. 🙁
Red + Blue (Opposites Attract #1) by AB Gayle. ebook. Good m/m romance about an actuary intern who finds himself very attracted to his deeply closeted boss as they slowly gets to know each other at work. I probably would’ve rated this higher had the actuary not purportedly been from Minnesota – the inaccuracies in dialect and geography were grating. If your familiarity with Minnesota is via Fargo, you shouldn’t have this problem…
Pop Goes the Weasel by Stephen Osborne. ebook. Ok m/m story about a college student who manages to get himself into scads of over-the-top trouble pretty much all the time. While I do enjoy some madcap m/m romances, such as those by LB Gregg, this just felt as if the author was trying too hard.
Autism All-Stars: How We Use Our Autism and Asperger Traits to Shine in Life by Jose Santomauro. Ok collection of personal success stories from people with autism spectrum disorders. I found the introduction by Tony Attwood to be the most useful part of the book, particularly this: “In the typical brain, there is a preference for noticing and analyzing social information – for example, to prioritize the information contained in someone’s facial expression rather than the shape of his ears. In autism, the brain notices, and finds interesting and informative, other aspects of experience. My simple definition of autism is that the person has found something more interesting in life than socializing.” And also, “It is inevitable that the child who has autism will at some stage recognize that he or she is different from other children. A constructive response to this realization is to observe people in order to analyze their behaviour and motives, or to become an expert mimic in order to be accepted and included.”

“…zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…” -Chaos

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Linkity after a long week

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Congrats to Laura, who won the Hearts of England anthology by RJ Scott, Meredith Russell, Chris Quinton, Lisa Worrall, Sue Brown, & SA Meade! Hearts of England will be released by Silver Publishing on September 15.

Congrats to Brandi, who won Holding On by Em Woods! Holding On will be released by Total-E-Bound on September 17.

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  • R2-D2 luggage – I bet it increases the chance that your luggage is stolen… 🙁

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Reading Update
Second Hand (Tucker Springs #2) by Heidi Cullinan & Marie Sexton. ebook. arc. Very good m/m romance about a guy whose girlfriend left him for someone who could give her more stuff. As he becomes friends with the pawnshop owner he meets in the course of trying to sort out everything his ex-girlfriend left behind, he’s oblivious to the attraction simmering between them. I must confess that I wanted this book to be one day longer, which will make sense after you read it. 🙂
Steamroller by Mary Calmes. ebook. arc. Sweet m/m romance about a hardworking college student/copy center manager who’s snarky to a rude customer… a rude customer who seems to be everywhere he turns after that. But is that a bad thing… or a good thing?
Decorated to Death (Simon Kirby-Jones #3) by Dean James. Good gay mystery in which Lady Prunella foolishly invites a decorator, famous for his bad manners and extreme room makeovers show, to redecorate the drawing room.
Desert World Allegiances (Desert World #1) by Lyn Gala. ebook. Good m/m scifi romance about a guy who’s put into slavery as punishment and about the priest who realizes that all is not as it seems. This reminded me a bit too much of Dune…
Casual (Sex) Friday by Evie Kiels. ebook short. Cute short m/m romance about a guy who went out on a dull date with his coworker, but now keeps saying no every Friday when the coworker asks him out for a drink… until said coworker runs into him in the park after work one Friday…
A Younger Man (Cabin Fever #3) by Cameron Dane. ebook. Meh m/m romance about a fortyish handyman who gets a twenty-something man and his siblings a place to live in exchange for fixing up the place. The handyman doesn’t want to be attracted to the younger man, but… The sex scenes were frequent, lengthy, and excessively euphemistic to the point of being purple prose. “Striated bud”? “Pulsing channel”? Just ugh. I only made it through the book because I finally gave up reading the sex scenes.

“Mom says to please caption amongst yourselves because she’s had a really long week already.” -Mayhem

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Leaves’ll be fallin’ when linkity comes callin’

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Congrats to AlbertaGirl, SarahM, and Melora, who won copies of Mourning Heaven by Amy Lane! Mourning Heaven is being released today by Dreamspinner Press.

Congrats to Mammarella, who won Sub Zero by Angel Martinez!

Congrats to Sarah S, who won Body Magic (Triad #2) by Poppy Dennison! Body Magic will be released by Dreamspinner Press on September 10.

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  • Chaos gets around this by simply ripping the roll into confetti – I haven’t been able to hang up a roll of toilet paper for many, many years. (For future reference, it’s in the cupboard under the bathroom sink. I hope you’re good at opening childproof locks one-handed whilst leaning over from the toilet…)

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Reading Update
The Cat in the Cradle (Loka Legends #1) by Jay Bell. ebook. Very good young adult gay fantasy (with romantic elements) about a young man and his talking cat who head out to experience more of life than what they’ve seen during their sheltered existence. They achieve that in spades.
Finding Fire, Flesh and Blood, and the Loka Legends Sketchbook (Loka Legends #0.5/1.5) by Jay Bell & Andreas Bell. free ebook collection. Finding Fire takes place before The Cat in the Cradle, but you don’t need to read them in that order. Flesh and Blood takes place before, during, and after The Cat in the Cradle; I recommend you read it after. Both (very good) short stories provide additional insight into the events of The Cat in the Cradle.
From Darkness to Darkness (Loka Legends #2) by Jay Bell. ebook. Very good young adult gay fantasy (with romantic elements) about life, death, love, and the responsibilities of power. Hmm. Could I be any more cryptic? 😉
Stained Glass by Jaime Samms. ebook. Very good kinky m/m romance about a guy who’s only recently realized he’s a sub, but who’s been almost destroyed by his dom imploding. He retreats into a bottle, but his friends are not ready to lose him.
Max & Finn (Men of Smithfield #2) by LB Gregg. ebook. reread. Very good m/m romance about a prep school teacher and dorm parent who is discomfited to discover that the security specialist he had an impulsive encounter with will be protecting one of the students in the dorm.
Slow Burn by Dawn Douglas. ebook short. Steamy short m/m romance about a college student whose twin sister blackmails him into doing a dreaded coffee delivery for a financial trust. In the elevator on the way to the delivery, he drools over the handsome older Brit…
Words and Their Digestion by seventhswan. free online short. Very good short m/m romance about a college student who’s probably somewhere on the autism spectrum and whose roommate is one of his few friends. And then his roommate gets a serious boyfriend…
Posted to Death (Simon Kirby-Jones #1) by Dean James. reread. This was a delightful and slightly twisted version of the British village cozy mystery, because Simon is a gay vampire (he can be out in sunlight and doesn’t need to drink blood, as long as he takes his medication) and well-known historian (who secretly writes romances and mysteries under several pseudonyms). Definitely recommended if you enjoy mysteries with a bit of snark and a complicated cast of suspects. (Also, for the wary, I would give this book a no-pepper heat rating – a very safe read.)
Faked to Death (Simon Kirby-Jones #2) by Dean James. Good gay mystery in which vampire and author Simon goes to a retreat for mystery writers, which is livened up a bit too much by murder.
A Road Not Taken by Jennifer Thorne. ebook. Good m/m romance about an eco-house builder who finds a depressed young man along the side of a road in a broken-down car, takes him home, and puts him to work. Things proceeded between them pretty fast – I think it would’ve worked better in a slightly longer format, with more time for their relationship to develop.
Love, Hypoethetically (Theta Alpha Gamma #2) by Anne Tenino. ebook. Good m/m romance about a grad student and tutor who’s never really gotten over his first love from high school, even though things ended in a way that left him horribly bitter.
Out of the Ashes by Olivia Duncan Craig. ebook. Good m/m romance based on Cinderella about a guy who grows up on a remote Texas ranch, basically living the life of an indentured servant. And then one day a handsome young man visits the ranch… This needed a wee bit more proofreading attention.
Murder on Camac (Marco Fontana #1) by Joseph RG DeMarco. ebook. Good gay mystery about a PI who also runs a troupe of male strippers and is hired by a grieving man to find out whether his boyfriend died in a mugging gone wrong, or was murdered because of a book he was writing exposing wrongdoing in the Catholic church.
Crimes on Latimer (Marco Fontana #3) by Joseph RG DeMarco. ebook. Good collection of six short gay mysteries featuring PI Marco Fontana, starting with Marco’s first “case” in high school. I was a little frustrated that a promising thread from “The DaVinci Theft” wasn’t resolved in that or any of the other stories.
Touching Evil by Rob Knight. ebook. Ok paranormal m/m romance about a psychic who can basically read minds when he touches someone or touches an object someone else touched. This makes him very useful to the police… until a serial killer starts working to get his attention. I found this a frustrating read – too many sex scenes, too many food descriptions, and too many sentence fragments (reminding me that “Rob Knight” is just a “Sean Michael” pseudonym).
It Happened in Buenos Aires (Grave Watchers #2) by Missouri Dalton. ebook short. Huh. I’m setting this to today, but I read this soon after it came out and can’t remember the dates. Perhaps my disappointment in the story blocked it all out?

“You better watch out, big kitty! I am preparing my kitty laser eyes!” -Mayhem

“I’m so scared. Not.” -Chaos

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Linkity and earworms for everyone!

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Congrats to Dorome, who won Maybe This Time by Shawn Lane! Maybe This Time will be released by Amber Allure on September 2.

Congrats to Trish, who won Men of Smithfield: Max & Finn by LB Gregg! Men of Smithfield: Max & Finn will be released by Carina Press on September 3.

Congrats to Adriana ME, who won The Good Fight by Andrew Grey! The Good Fight will be released on September 3 by Dreamspinner Press.

No Misadventure on Monday due to the holiday in the US!

So far behind… I can’t remember the last time I read so little during a week. I adore you all, even if I haven’t been commenting. Look for me to be commenting again… around November. 😮

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  • Psych out! (Make sure you hover your cursor over the comic for additional text.) (Also, this would make a really cool alternate reality m/m romance… just sayin’…)

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Reading Update
Men of Smithfield 1: Mark & Tony by LB Gregg. ebook. reread. Very good m/m romance about a guy who goes a little nuts after finding his boyfriend screwing their landlord in their bedroom and things start to spiral out of control. Then there’s the friend he’s had a crush on for years, who turns out to have a few secrets of his own… (Originally published as Gobsmacked.)
The Perfect Cover by Claire Thompson. ebook. reread. Good m/m romance about a straight guy who gets a job at Caribbean resort for gay men by hiding that he’s straight. But has he really thought the whole thing through?
Beneath the Surface by Kate Sherwood. ebook. Good m/m romance about an unassuming craftsman in a small Ontario who finds himself leading the opposition to a proposed gravel quarry next to his land. Too bad the spokesperson for the other side is so handsomely distracting…
Rarer than Rubies (Precious Gems #1) by EM Lynley. ebook. Good m/m romantic suspense about an m/m author who’s stuck in a rut, so his friends send him on vacation to Thailand, where he becomes inadvertently tangled in a life-or-death adventure with a handsome mystery man.
Italian Ice (Precious Gems #2) by EM Lynley. ebook. Good m/m romantic suspense in which the m/m romance author and the alleged former FBI agent are on vacation in Rome when a ghost from the FBI agent’s past resurfaces, putting strain on his current relationship. The story’s last line (and sadly, the title inspiration) literally made me groan.

A flashback to Chaos at the vet a few weeks ago, feeling very sorry for himself – or plotting my demise…

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Linkity leeches away your time!

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Congrats to Carla A, who won her choice of A Guitarist in the Fae Queen’s Court (Fae Connections #1) by Amber Kell or the Unconventional At Best anthology!

Congrats to Andrea, who won Dead Shot by JL Merrow! Dead Shot will be released August 26 by JMS Books.

Over the next five to six weeks, I’m going to be buried in a big work project, so I won’t be commenting on blog posts as much as I usually do. My never-very-under-control inbox is now completely out-of-control. And we’ll just see how well linkity goes… 🙂

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Reading Update
Point of No Return by NR Walker. ebook. Very good m/m romantic suspense about a closeted cop who’s attracted to the new boxing coach at the gym, who turns out to be equally closeted. How handy! 🙂 As they become closer, will they be able to survive the dangers involved in a cop’s job? I’ll definitely look for more from this author in the future.
No News Is Good News (Florida #3.5) by KA Mitchell. free ebook short. Good kinky short m/m encounter between Aaron and Joey from Collision Course that ends right as But My Boyfriend Is starts.
But My Boyfriend Is (Florida #4) by KA Mitchell. ebook. Very good m/m romance about a deeply closeted guy with a lot of guilt about his straight identical twin being gay bashed. Can he keep lying to himself about the attraction he feels to the guy who stepped into the fray and saved his twin’s life? This started out a bit rough for me, as I wasn’t feeling much sympathy for the closeted twin until about halfway through the book. Anyone want to bet that the next book’s about Tate? 😉 Later: The more I think about it, the more I feel like I got cheated out of a couple of chapters that should’ve been between the last two chapters, or the last chapter and the “I’m really an epilogue, but I’m called the final chapter” chapter… 🙁
Bad Boyfriend (Bad in Baltimore #2) by KA Mitchell. ebook. reread. I needed a reminder of how good KA Mitchell can be… Excellent kinky m/m romance about a teacher who’s dumped by his closeted boyfriend of ten years, then picks up a hot younger guy at a bar to take along to the baptism of his ex’s baby. Things just sort of spiral from there. 🙂
Drunk Text by seventhswan. free online. Very good m/m romance about a straight college student who wakes up hungover one morning covered in finger paint with a text on his phone that suggests he had sex with a guy the night before… Reread. I enjoyed this just as much as the first time I read it in February.
The Square Peg by Jane Davitt & Alexa Snow. ebook. Good kinky m/m romance (with more potential than was realized) about an accountant who inherits a share in a bar from his estranged father and gets off to a rough start with the other owner.
Finding Forever (Sutter’s Bay #4) by Shawn Lane. ebook. Sweet m/m romance about Galaxy’s younger brother Leo, who meets a closeted guy with an abusive, homophobic father. Unfortunately, this felt rushed and incomplete, or maybe not fully developed. The amount of story definitely needed more pages.
Theory of Attraction by Cleon Lee. ebook. arc. Sweet m/m romance about a hunky teaching assistant who becomes fascinated with one of the other more geeky teaching assistants. Alas, the object of his interest rebuffs him and flees at every opportunity. Unfortunately, the choppy style (not enough sentence opening variety) started to wear on me after a while, but that’s something that may improve with more writing experience.
Little Squirrels Can Climb Tall Trees by Michael Murphy. ebook. Extremely uneven but ultimately meh m/m romance set in NYC about a short and excessively exuberant guy who woos a much taller and rather naive doctor from Oklahoma. The biggest problems I had with the book were the ludicrous number of exclamation points and the tendency to go into excessive detail during scenes that didn’t seem to belong in the book, then skim quickly over things that merited more detail.
Deadly Secrets (Dark Kings of Eternity #1) by Savannah Hartley. ebook. The saddest thing about this book is that there’s the hint of an interesting story buried deep, but even though this ended on a cliffhanger, I’m not inspired to read more.

“Your training is coming along well, young Mayhem.” -Chaos

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Lachrymose linkity

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Congrats to Matthias, who won End Game by Jennifer Brooks!

Congrats to Tina, who won Snow on the Mountain (The Mountains #2) (2nd ed) by PD Singer! Snow on the Mountain is being released today by Dreamspinner Press.

Congrats to Ladypessi, who won Texas Heat (Texas #3) by RJ Scott! Texas Heat will be released by Silver Publishing on August 18.

Congrats to Ami, who won Nothing of a Son by L.A. Witt! Nothing of a Son will be released by Amber Allure on August 19.

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Reading Update
Blind Eye (Benjamin Justice #5) by John Morgan Wilson. Very good gay mystery in which Ben’s been given an advance to write his autobiography and is trying to track down a priest who made a big impression on his preteen self… These mysteries are good, but Ben goes through so much… and so much of it he brings upon himself.
Moth and Flame (Benjamin Justice #6) by John Morgan Wilson. Very good gay mystery in which Ben is hired to finish a brochure for the city of West Hollywood after the original writer was murdered. I realized after finishing this that the really horrific things have happened to Ben in the odd number books (excluding the first), so now I’m nervous about reading book 7…
Rhapsody in Blood (Benjamin Justice #7) by John Morgan Wilson. Very good gay mystery in which Ben and Templeton stay at a hotel notorious for being the location of the murder of movie star 50 years ago and the suicide of her daughter 25 years later. Templeton’s there to report on a film about the movie star’s life being shot at the hotel… and then things get messy.
Into the Flames by Mel Bossa. ebook. Engrossing but disturbing gay literary fiction in which Bossa skillfully pulled together her seemingly disparate plot threads. I’m still not sure what I think about this book. On one hand, I did sit down and read it straight through. On the other, I’m absolutely sure I’ll never reread it and I was reminded why I don’t particularly enjoy literary fiction. Your mileage may vary…
Connecting Flight (Turbulence #4) by Jordan Castillo Price. free ebook short. Very good short paranormal m/m romance in which we get to see both Paul and Dallas on their home turf after returning from Bermuda.
Locks of Love: A Modern Gay Fairy Tale (2nd ed) by Jordan Castillo Price. ebook short. Good short m/m fairy tale about a guy who can convince locks to open… but there have to be doors for his talent to work.
Hot August Nights by Kate Roman. ebook short. Ok short m/m romance about a grad student from New York who’s in Austin, Texas, for a week-long spring vacation and meets the cowboy of his dreams. This was very instalovey, which just didn’t work for me.

Can you figure out this Mayhem puzzle?! The white spot is on her chest, if that helps…

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Since I never heard back from the original winner, elaing8 is the new winner of Four Corners by Kate McMurray!

Congrats to maygirl7, who won the Lashings of Sauce anthology donated by Josephine Myles!

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Reading Update
Diving in Deep (Florida #1) by KA Mitchell. ebook. reread. Very good m/m romance about getting a second chance with that guy you had a crush on as a teenager, who’s grown into an emotionally unavailable adult. I definitely got sniffly on this one.
Collision Course (Florida #2) by KA Mitchell. ebook. reread. Really well done m/m romance about a social worker and a paramedic who has a lot of issues with social workers.
No Souvenirs (Florida #3) by KA Mitchell. ebook. reread. Very good m/m romance about an ER doctor who takes an impulsive dive vacation in Belize when things go awry in his life. He gets to know the dive instructor really well…
By the River (Elementals #1) by Katey Hawthorne. ebook. Good m/m paranormal romance about a guy in his mid-twenties who feels drawn to return to his home town, where he becomes enthralled by a mysterious and naive college swimmer. As MandyM noted, while this was beautifully written, the HFN ending felt very tenuous… as if the “for now” might only be a few minutes or days.
In Search of Saints by Harper Fox. ebook short. Good short m/m romance about an academic who’s been too obsessed by his ex’s betrayal to realize what he has with his new boyfriend.
Inertia (Impulse #1) by Amelia C. Gormley. ebook. arc. Good m/m romance about an isolated handyman who hasn’t been with anyone since he was a teenager and started taking care of his sick grandparents. Then he’s hired to install some shelves by a sexy and strangely skittish accountant who might be flirting with him… While I enjoyed how things developed between the two men, the story seemed to bog down a bit during the last third. And I was a bit surprised when the story ended – it left me with the feeling that this might develop into a serial. 🙁
Dine & Dash (Cut & Run #5.5) by Abigail Roux. free ebook short. Steamy short m/m homecoming scene.
Fireman’s Carry (Carry Me #1) by Charlie Richards. ebook. Ok m/m romance about a gay firefighter who’s recently left his cheating ex and moves in across the street from a straight divorced cop and his kids. I read this after reading a beautifully written book, and the difference in writing between the two was a bit painful. Stalker alert. (So. Tired. Of. Stalkers.)
The Thirteenth Sigil (Section Thirteen Case Files #3) by JL O’Faolain. ebook. So-so paranormal m/m romance continuing the story of Cole, an exiled sidhe who works for a secret, paranormally focused division of the NYPD. The case in this one was pretty weird, the “romance” didn’t really work, and the sex scenes were p0rny and euphemistic. (Check out my status updates at Goodreads for specifics on the last.)
Picking Up the Spare by Heidi Champa. ebook. I read 3/4 of it and was too bored to continue. Plus the name overuse in conversation was irking me.

“…zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…” -Mayhem

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Congrats to Cheryl H, who won Earthly Desires by Keira Andrews and Leta Blake!

Congrats to Jonathan, who won His Gift by Clare London!

Congrats to Linda C, who won Indulging Ivan by Kim Dare!

Congrats to Juliana, who won Finding Forever (Sutter’s Bay #4) by Shawn Lane! Finding Forever will be released by Amber Allure on August 5.

Sorry that Linkity was late today! My web host had an upgrade go terribly awry last night, right as I was about to push the button to schedule the post.

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Reading Update
LA Heat (LA #1) by PA Brown. ebook. Very good gay mystery with a titch of romance about a sexy, slutty IT geek accused of murder and the deeply closeted cop conflicted between attraction and duty. Be aware that there are some graphic descriptions of mutilated bodies…
LA Mischief (LA #2) by PA Brown. ebook. Good gay mystery in which David and Chris and their relationship (or lack thereof) definitely take precedence over the rest of the story. Two steamy short stories are tacked on to the end of the book.
LA Boneyard (LA #3) by PA Brown. ebook. Very good gay mystery with a titch of romance in which I wanted to smack David for 90% of the book; for the other 10%, I wanted to smack Chris.
LA Bytes (LA #4) by PA Brown. ebook. Very good gay mystery with a titch of romance. In this one, Chris is trying to track down a hacker who nearly kills both he and David.
Bermuda Heat (LA #5) by PA Brown. ebook. Good gay mystery in which Chris and David go on vacation to Bermuda to check out a startling revelation about David’s past. Their vacation goes downhill after David is arrested for murder… This was definitely my least favorite of the series – I’m not a fan of books in which the main series characters are accused of murder. It worked ok in the first book with Chris because it was the start of the series; not so much now.
The Limits of Justice (Benjamin Justice #4) by John Morgan Wilson. Another very good and very dark gay mystery that starts about a year after the previous book. Ben’s not taking very good care of himself, but then he’s hired to ghostwrite an expose of a guy who writes sleazy bios of recently dead celebrities… and things get complicated. Now waiting for the library to get in the next book in the series!
Calling the Show by JA Rock. ebook. Very good kinky m/m romance about an extremely uptight and socially awkward stage manager for a college production who’s upset about a last minute technical staff change, but who slowly warms to the cute new guy running lights…
Indulging Ivan (The Whole A-Z #5) by Kim Dare. ebook short. Very good kinky short m/m romance about a dom who’s staying with a friend while he looks for work. He’s also trying to avoid the temptation of the friend’s younger brother, without much success…
Catching Kit by Kay Berrisford. ebook. Good paranormal m/m romance about a guy who works for the British government, capturing Ethereal Beings (aka elves). When he unexpectedly becomes close to one of his captives, everything changes. I was a bit frustrated by the epilogue, which took place a year after the main story, because all the stuff that was mentioned in the epilogue as having occurred during the intervening year seemed like it needed to be a story in itself!
Bossy and the Brat (Men of Holsum College #5) by Daisy Harris. ebook. Good m/m romance about an almost college senior from a conservative small Kansas town who can barely admit to himself that he likes guys… but he can’t keep his eyes off the dance major who lives across the hall in their dorm.

This is Chaos, pissed off about being at the vet. You can only see one of his eyes because he’s in pirate mode – he managed to scrape the cornea on his right eye, so he’s been wandering around with only his left eye open! He’ll be fine, but since I do have to put ointment in his eye four times each day for a week, I might not be…