Book Review: "Stubborn Puckboy" by Eden Finley and Saxon James

Nothing makes me happier than a new book in the Puckboys series. This was Book 9, and it’s as steamy, romantic, sweet, and fun, as the early books were. This is definitely the series that keeps on giving!

Seventeen years ago, Colby and Novi were both drafted by the NHL team in Anaheim. Even though Colby was excited to be drafted, Novi was the type of athlete that you know will be a star. (And he knew it, too.) The two became close friends, although Colby definitely wanted something more, but didn’t think Novi would be interested. One night, after drinking, they came very close to crossing the line—and then Novi pulled away from him completely.

Now, Novi is a true star, nearing the end of an illustrious career. Colby never quite made it as a player, but started coaching, and after great success at the college level, he’s finally landed his first NHL coaching gig. He’ll be an assistant video coach in Los Angeles—for Novi’s team.

Both men are in turmoil from Colby’s arrival. Colby, who is now openly gay, wants to clear the air with Novi so it doesn’t affect his coaching job. Novi is closeted and deathly afraid that Colby might somehow figure that out. Novi wants to come out, but his sister and her family still live in Russia, and he’s afraid that his doing so might affect their lives.

After trying to avoid Colby completely fails, it’s not long before Novi admits the truth—he’s been in love with Colby for 17 years. At first, they try not to give into their pent-up desires and chance Novi’s secret gets discovered, but their willpower doesn’t last long. Can they find a way to be together without affecting either of their careers or Novi’s family?

Y’all know I love my hockey romances, but I just loved this second-chance love story. I always enjoy the supporting characters in this series. And the best part? The series will continue!!

Book Review: "Saddle Studs" by Max Walker

“I thought I had to run away to find myself, but maybe all I had to do was come back home.”

In July, I read Stirring Spurs, my first cowboy romance. It was part of a 4-book series called Rainbow Ranch, which focuses on a family of queer siblings and the ranch they own in Oklahoma. I was excited to return to the ranch for another adventure!

Sam’s life is falling apart, personally and professionally. He knows he’s going to get fired from his PR job at any time, and his latest girlfriend dumped him. And then he gets notified that he’s been left a strange inheritance from an old friend: a miniature horse and a small patch of land at Rainbow Ranch, where Sam spent some of his high school days.

To claim the inheritance, Sam has to stay and work at the ranch for 90 days. While he’s hoping to better understand what he’s been bequeathed, the big deterrent is having to go back to Oklahoma and face Benny, who was his best friend growing up. Benny and his family treated Sam like one of their own until Sam broke Benny’s heart, then disappeared from his life.

Benny loves ranch life, although the gay scene in Oklahoma is pretty sparse apart from occasional Grindr hookups. When he learns that Sam is returning to the ranch, it reopens the pain and heartbreak that Sam caused all those years ago. Benny vows to be stronger this time, but when Sam arrives—even sexier than he remembered—Benny’s resolve goes out the window. And while Sam’s feelings appear to have changed, his fear of coming out causes the same problems.

I really enjoyed these characters. There is longing, emotion, humor, and lots of steam. I wish that Benny’s siblings (and Dennis) played a larger part in the story, as they did in Stirring Spurs, but I have two more books in the series! This book made me say yee-haw!

Book Review: "Three Parties" by Ziyad Saadi

I’m always fascinated by retellings and reimaginings. Ziyad Saadi’s debut novel is a reimagining of Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway, which was also reimagined in The Hours (one of my favorite books of all time), so I was very interested to read this.

Today is Firas’ 23rd birthday. He’s throwing himself a dinner party with a greater purpose than simply celebrating the day of his birth, however. He plans to officially come out to his family, friends, and coworkers. He’s trying to remain calm as the time of the party draws closer, but his stress level is rising.

While he wonders how his Palestinian parents will react to the news, Firas is also making sure every last detail of the party is perfect. He’s planned the menu, the decorations, even the floral arrangements. But you know what they say about the best-laid plans…

Firas is constantly worried about how he is perceived—by his family, his colleagues and friends, even the two men he is dating. The thought of falling short in anyone’s eyes appalls him, and of course, the more you worry about failing the greater the likelihood that you might fail. Meanwhile, crises within his family threaten to upend the party—and there’s even the possibility that his secret might get exposed before he’s ready to share it.

Much like Mrs. Dalloway, this book takes place over the course of one day. It’s a tremendously thought-provoking read with occasional bursts of humor.

I’m not certain if this book didn’t work for me as much as I’d hoped because I can’t imagine throwing a party to reveal a secret like this, or if the plot became overly complicated. Saadi’s talent is definitely evident and I look forward to seeing what’s next for his career.

Book Review: "Hot Saltwater Kisses" by Zarah Detand

Boy, this book has me craving a vacation trip to an oceanfront resort somewhere! I love a good, steamy, M/M romance, and when there’s some good emotional growth for the characters as well, I’m all in. And Zarah Detand delivered for sure!

Milo is a dive instructor at a fancy resort on the island of Dominica. Dealing with wealthy guests isn’t always the easiest thing to do, but he gets to work with his friend Nia, spend time on the water, and take underwater photographs, so it’s a pretty sweet deal.

The one rule he tries to be mindful of is no fraternization with the guests. While there certainly has been temptation in the past, it’s not until Logan arrives at the dive shop that Milo’s willpower wavers. Logan is wealthy, incredibly handsome, a bit cocky, and he’s staying at the resort for a month while working on his master’s thesis in hospitality management.

The chemistry between the two of them is intense from their very first meeting, but Milo is nervous about getting caught with a guest. It’s not long, however, before they can’t keep their hands off of each other, and not long after that when they both realize their feelings run deeper than just a quick vacation fling.

Milo’s last relationship—and really his first serious one—scarred him emotionally and turned his life upside down. He really wants to let down his guard for Logan, and those feelings are reciprocated—but Logan isn’t quite who he says he is.

This is the second book by Detand I’ve read in the last few weeks. I’m so glad to have found her—she knows how to create real characters you care about, with enough steam to keep you blushing.

Book Review: "It's Not the End of the World" by Jonathan Parks-Ramage

Can a book be off-the-wall crazy AND scarily prescient simultaneously? Asking for a friend.

Thanks so much to Bloomsbury Publishing and NetGalley for the advance copy of this one!

America in 2044 has seen better days. Climate change has done severe damage, and in Los Angeles, wildfires and smog have gotten so bad you can barely see the skyline—unless you can pay for an artificially clear one. The country is under the thumb of a fascist authoritarian government, with right-wing militias and rampant anti-queer sentiment.

Mason and Yunho are a wealthy gay couple whose financial position keeps them blissfully unaware of just how badly the world is falling apart. They’re spending $100,000 on a 100-person baby shower for their soon-to-be-arriving newborn, and they (particularly Mason) don’t see anything wrong with that.

When disaster hits LA on the day of their shower, Mason should cancel, but it’s not the end of the world, after all. He figures that money can solve this problem too. Yet when he goes out to run a few last-minute errands, he finds himself enmeshed in the chaos that he thought he was insulated from, with threatening consequences.

This book has it all—wry social commentary, political satire (which seems far too on the nose right now), blood and gore, even pink smog that turns people into zombies. It’s definitely a wild ride, but the details of this world that Jonathan Parks-Ramage has created are truly remarkable. And frightening as hell.

I loved Parks-Ramage’s debut, Yes, Daddy, so I was excited to see what his follow-up would be like. This is different in a lot of ways but it proves just how wide-ranging his talent is.

Book Review: "Fake Dating the Prince" by Ashlyn Kane

Simply put, I loved this book so much. It was playful, romantic, sweet, and sexy, and it made me so happy. This is the second book by Ashlyn Kane that I’ve read this week, and she’s already becoming a favorite of mine.

Brayden is a Canadian flight attendant who has a great rapport with his passengers in first class. He and one frequent passenger even have developed a bit of a flirtation over time. And on one flight, this passenger asks Brayden to be his date to a fancy charity ball.

What Brayden doesn’t know is that this passenger is His Highness Prince Antoine-Philippe (“Flip”), heir to the throne of the small European nation of Lyngria. Being gay and half-Indian, Flip faces a lot of scrutiny, so he asks Brayden to pretend to be his boyfriend, just for the ball.

With Brayden at his side, Flip is truly able to enjoy himself. He’s a hit with Flip’s family and knows how to be the perfect date. And while the plan was for them to end the charade after the ball, when the country’s paparazzi latches onto their relationship, Flip asks Brayden to stay in the palace with him.

The more time they spend together, the more they both wish their relationship was real. As their connection strengthens both physically and emotionally, can they have a happy ever after, or will they need to go their separate ways?

While the book invites some comparisons to Red White and Royal Blue, this is different in many ways. All of the characters are so appealing and entertaining, and I found myself rooting for Flip and Brayden’s happy ending.

Book Review: "Lucky Day" by Chuck Tingle

What an utterly creative, chaotic, gruesome, and thought-provoking book this was! Horror is definitely not my preferred genre but Chuck Tingle writes books that are so complex, even as they gross me out at times.

“There are billions and billions of paths for us on any given day, and we certainly remember the ones that lead to something like a brutal car crash. We think to ourselves, Why me? How did I get so unlucky? The problem is, we have absolutely no idea how many times we’ve missed one of the infinite tragic routes, ducking and dodging butterflies left and right. Every day, we never know the billions and billions and billions of car crashes we’re not in.”

Four years ago, Vera, a statistics and probability professor, was celebrating the publication of her first book. It was a fun occasion which was marred by Vera’s coming out to her mother during the brunch. They fought and her mother ran out of the diner. And then disaster struck.

In what would become known as the Low-Probability Event (LPE), eight million people across the world all were killed on the same day, each death more random and bizarre than the next. People shepherding a giant balloon were strangled by its ropes. Someone was killed when a costumed chimpanzee threw a typewriter at them. While Vera escaped death, everyone she cared about was killed.

Vera retreats into her grief for four years, because nothing matters to her anymore. Then she is visited by Special Agent Layne, part of a government agency investigating the LPE. She reluctantly agrees to help Layne once he reveals they’ll be investigating a mega-casino in Las Vegas, where the odds seem strangely in the gamblers’ favor. What they discover, however, is truly eye-opening, and Vera must decide if she cares enough about the world to save it.

There’s a lot of graphic descriptions of death in here, so if that is triggering, this is probably not the book for you. At the same time, this book was shockingly emotional at times, which really made it so much more than a horror story.

Book Review: "Hungry Eyes" by Anthony McFly, translated by Nicola Clitheroe

“I don’t know anything about this guy, except that he lives in my street and in my mind.”

Thanks so much to Anthony McFly for sending me a copy of his novel, which was recently translated from the French by a friend of his. It was definitely a wild ride, and I wondered where he was going to take the story!

Amaury is a young man who lives a solitary life. He works hard on his studies and is anxious about the fact that he’s losing his hair at a young age. But what gets most of his attention is the handsome man who lives in the apartment directly across the street from his.

“…his inability to live in an enclosed space gives me full access to see deep inside the interior of his home.”

Amaury watches the man every day, and in fact, every night he turns off his lights so he can watch without the possibility of being noticed. He dreams of a life with his neighbor and hopes that one day he’ll notice him. One night, after watching the man getting closer to a date, Amaury decides to follow them, and winds up having an awkward yet eye-opening evening.

This was well-written and certainly a bit creepy. You don’t know whether to feel sorry for Amaury or worry about what he’s capable of. I definitely needed to read this in one sitting!

Book Review: "He's To Die For" by Erin Dunn

I kept seeing ads for this book, so I knew I had to read it. It was so good! Thanks so much to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for the advance copy.

At age 29, Rav is the youngest detective of NYPD’s Homicide Squad. He’s definitely not your typical New York cop, though; he’s the son of a British lord, a fan of sharply tailored and expensive suits, and he’s gay. He’s also a bit of a narcissist, although he has the skills to back up his ego.

When he gets assigned to be the lead detective on a murder case, he’s ready to shine. But while the murder of a record executive seems straightforward, it turns out to be anything but.

The record exec had a feud with a popular band over ownership of their master recordings, so it makes sense that the band members are prime suspects. But the last thing that Rav is expecting is to feel a connection with Jack, the band’s lead singer.

As Rav tries to make sense of newly discovered evidence and multiple suspects, he’s hoping to clear Jack’s name, since Jack is anything but the egotistical diva Rav was expecting. He’s not counting on becoming an object of fascination on social media—or putting his job and his reputation at risk. Is he falling for a killer?

I enjoyed this so much. Rav is a fantastic protagonist and the supporting characters were great, too. In addition to a twisty mystery, there’s some steam and some exploration of mental health issues. I’d love to see this become a series!

Book Review: "Disco Witches of Fire Island" by Blair Fell

How could I resist a book with a title like this? My thanks to Alcove Press and NetGalley for the advance copy!

In 1989, Joe and his best friend Ronnie plan to spend the summer working and playing at the gay mecca of Fire Island Pines. Ronnie is looking for a sugar daddy, while Joe realizes it’s time to move on from grieving his late boyfriend Elliot, who died of AIDS.

When Ronnie’s promised job and accommodations both fail to materialize, Joe meets Lenny and Howie, two older gay men who are housecleaners on the side. They take Joe under their wing, and although they’re tremendously kind and generous to him, they seem to have a lot of secrets and quirky habits. What are they hiding?

Howie and Lenny are part of a coven of disco witches. They use dance to conjure up protection for the younger gay men who might become overwhelmed by the availability of sex and drugs on Fire Island. Both of these have destroyed too many men already, and they’re committed to protecting Joe. But the coven has been depleted by the loss of many of its members to AIDS, so they’re not as powerful as they once were.

While Joe works as a bartender, he finds himself attracted to a bisexual ferryman, and tantalized by a muscular man that keeps disappearing. Lenny and Howie try to warn Joe away from the mysterious hunk, saying that he represents impending danger. Will the disco witches be able to keep everyone safe?

This was such a fun, poignant, nostalgic, and steamy book. I can’t pass up anything set in the 1980s, and when you throw in a little magical realism—plus disco—I’m hooked. I really enjoyed this, and it made me think back to those we’ve lost.

Book Review: "Possessive Puckboy" by Eden Finley and Saxon James

Eight books in, I’m still loving this series. These books are sexy, fun, romantic, and really hot, and make me wish the world of professional sports was more open for athletes to be themselves.

Parker’s father was a hockey player for Colorado. When an injury ended his career, he never lost his loyalty to the team—and Parker became a big fan, too. And when the team goes up for sale not long after his father passes away, Parker—a young tech billionaire—buys it.

While Parker bought the team primarily to honor his late father, there is another reason that brings him more joy. One of the team’s stars, Connor Kikishkin, bullied Parker in high school, and now, Parker can’t wait to make Connor’s life utterly miserable. This should be fun!

Growing up, Connor was always told he needed to protect his two younger brothers. But even as they’ve both grown into hockey players in their own right, Connor has never stopped being protective. Or more like overbearing. And while having to grovel to Parker to protect his career isn’t an ideal situation, Connor starts to realize that maybe his issues with Parker are caused by his confusion over his own sexuality.

“…how do you wrap your head around having sex with someone you’ve built up into a dream?”

I don’t always love enemies to lovers stories, but this was a good one. The way Eden Finley and Saxon James balanced banter, steam, and real emotional issues had me hooked. You know I’m eagerly awaiting book #9!

Book Review: "Run Away with Me" by Brian Selznick

Thanks so much to Scholastic and NetGalley for the advance copy of this book! This was a sweet and emotional read.

In the summer of 1986, Danny is 16 years old. He and his mother are spending the summer in Rome, as she has a job at a museum. Left to his own devices, he wanders the streets, visiting the sights, and waiting for something to happen to him.

And then he meets Angelo. Angelo seems to be following him through Rome—but once he steps out of the shadows, he has a powerful impact on Danny’s life. Angelo has stories about so many of the places and things they see, each of which focuses on love stories between men throughout history. Against this backdrop, the two boys’ attraction to one another quickly turns to love.

Of course, their relationship has an end date, since Danny will have to go back to the U.S. with his mother at the end of the summer. This only serves to intensify their feelings for one another and the emotions related to Danny’s impending departure.

As much as this is a love story between two young men, Brian Selznick has also written a gorgeous love letter to Rome. I’ve never been but Italy is very high on my bucket list. Selznick’s prose made me feel immersed in the sights and sounds of the city.

Having grown up in the 1980s, I love books set during that time. It’s always interesting to read a love story that takes place before the immediate connections that mobile phones and email could provide. The added bonus is the beautiful illustrations that Selznick drew. This book really packed a punch.

Book Review: "Open, Heaven" by Seán Hewitt

When a poet writes a novel, the language used is often mesmerizing. That’s definitely the case here; thanks to Knopf and NetGalley for the advance copy of this!

“I had thought it would be painful to be reminded, but what I felt instead was a sort of collapse in time, or a possibility: a curious but strong sense that my old life might still exist there, that if I went back I might find those people, that summer, all going on there still, unharmed and unchanged.“

In 2002, James is 16. He’s gay, which makes him an object of curiosity in his small English town. His parents don’t quite know how to treat him, but it saddens them that James is a loner. What they don’t understand is just how much he wants to belong and how much he wants to find someone just like him.

And then Luke arrives, the nephew of James’ parents’ friends. Luke has come to stay at his aunt and uncle’s farm just outside James’ village because he has no one else to care for him—his mother has moved to Paris to be with another man, and his father is in jail. Luke has a reputation for being a bit of trouble, a bit out of control, and James is immediately smitten.

The story is told 20 years later. James is an adult and is looking at property that is for sale—the farm where Luke lived that year. James looks back on this not-quite-relationship that had such an impact on his life. It’s amazing how much our interactions with a person—particularly for a short time—can change us.

This was a beautifully told coming-of-age novel. James isn’t entirely sympathetic but his struggles, his longing felt very familiar to me. I’m amazed that this is a debut novel and can’t wait to see what comes next for Seán Hewitt.

The book will publish 4/15/2025.

Book Review: "Tender Tackles" by B.T. Wolfe

Bryan was overwhelmed with grief after his brother’s death. He decided he needed a fresh start, so he took a job as a head football coach at a small town high school.

When one of his star players gets hurt during practice, Bryan meets his father and gets quite a surprise. It turns out that they’ve met before: Emerson, who is the town doctor, was the man with whom Bryan had an intense one-night-stand in NYC two years ago.

While the chemistry between the two men is still intense, Emerson doesn’t want to give into temptation again. He wants to focus on his relationship with his two sons and his busy practice, and he doesn’t want to complicate things. But every time he and Bryan are together, they can’t seem to keep their hands to themselves.

The two decide to pursue a relationship but keep it secret for a while given Bryan’s coaching job. For the first time since his brother’s death, Bryan feels freer and happier, and he looks forward to building a future with Emerson.

But when news of their secret relationship leaks out, it threatens Bryan’s job and Emerson’s relationship with his sons. Can their love withstand the stress of possible scandal?

I haven’t read many M/M age-gap romances, but I enjoyed this. I wanted a bit more intensity in their relationship but I liked the way the author kept things from getting too melodramatic.

Book Review: "Go Luck Yourself" by Sara Raasch

Sara Raasch’s Royals and Romance series is incredibly creative, full of humor, emotion, and some steamy steam. I really enjoyed The Nightmare Before Kissmas and I loved her newest book, Go Luck Yourself, which was released just in time for St. Patrick’s Day!

Kris’ family is in charge of Christmas, and his brother Coal has taken over as Santa. When Kris discovers that someone has been siphoning off Christmas’ joy, since he is the “spare prince,” he agrees to investigate the theft of joy. Since he found a shamrock, he’s headed to the kingdom of St. Patrick’s Day.

Kris is thrown when he discovers that the crown prince of the holiday, Lochlann, is the hot guy who drove him crazy at college. Lochlann isn’t happy that Kris has shown up in his family’s kingdom, even though Kris has been trying to help rescue Lochlann's reputation with the holiday press.

The more times they are thrown together, the more complicated Kris realizes that Loch’s situation is. And at the same time, Kris sees in Loch a kindred spirit—a creative soul unsure of what he wants, who doesn’t believe he’s entitled to his own happiness.

The theft of joy is also far more complicated than Kris suspected. Is Loch responsible? Is Kris’ growing attraction to Loch blinding him? The truth has the potential to hurt both of them, but can it also free them?

I love Raasch’s storytelling and the amazing universe she has created. This book is so much more than a simple romance, as both of its main characters really have to deal with some tough emotional baggage. But the banter and the supporting characters make this even more special.

Book Review: "What is Wrong with You?" by Paul Rudnick

Trone Meston is a tech billionaire (think of a hybrid of Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, and Elon) who is about to get married on his private island off the coast of Maine. He’s engaged to marry Linda, a former flight attendant and the ex-wife of Sean, a fitness mogul and former TV superhero.

A motley crew of invited guests and hangers-on have gathered not only for the wedding, but for Trone’s promised unveiling of a major technological breakthrough. Sean is hoping to convince Linda not to get married and instead reconcile with him. But can he compete with a billionaire for Linda’s hand?

Sean has invited one of his personal training clients, Rob, to be his plus one at the wedding. Rob has been mourning the death of his longtime partner, Jake, and is dealing with the end of his career as a book editor at the hands of Isabelle, the publisher’s “sensitivity associate.”

Tremble, the writer that Rob was working with, is an outspoken yet talented genius whose perspectives on the world are shockingly blunt. When she learns Rob has been fired, she too heads for Maine to try and get his job back.

I enjoy the way Paul Rudnick skewers social conventions and looks at love, grief, and relationships. This book tried to shoehorn so many characters and issues together and it was almost thisclose to going off the rails completely. I liked the character development, but I just found the plot got too silly after a while.

Book Review: "The Loves of My Life" by Edmund White

Edmund White was the first gay fiction author whose work I read back in the 1980s. He’s definitely one of the legends of the genre, and at 85 years old, he’s still writing. This memoir was my book club’s pick for the month and it certainly provoked a lot of discussion!

“Did I always endure unreciprocated love because I could only love (and write about it) when I was rejected? Did my low self-esteem seek out rejection, as in I wouldn’t want to belong to any club that would accept me? Or does everyone hope to trade up to a newer, better lover? Not social climbers but amorous climbers?”

This memoir isn’t your typical chronicling of White’s literary career or anything like that. In this book, White looks back on more than 60 years of sexual encounters. He touches on everything from his childish escapades while growing up and taking his curiosity a few steps further as a teenager, to sex he paid for (and, in some cases, was paid for), as well as the risks he and many other men took, given the illegality of homosexual activity both in the U.S. and abroad.

White doesn’t mince words when describing some encounters and the men he was with. Some of his memories may be shocking, some were tame, and some were tremendously poignant, given how AIDS decimated the gay community in the 1980s and 1990s. And while the sheer number of encounters may seem unbelievable, for many men during that time, having the opportunity to be free from hiding their true selves often led to unbridled activity.

True to the title of the book, White touches on his romantic relationships as well. He shares both good memories and bad, and there are clearly some men he was fonder of than others.

I’m definitely not a prude, but after a while I felt like some of White’s recollections became excessive. However, I love how he captured the changes in society and sexual freedom through the decades, and how he views sex now that he’s in his 80s.

Book Review: "The Z Word" by Lindsay King-Miller

The first Pride was a riot. The last Pride is a bloodbath.

This was so wild and crazy and I was totally there for it! If you watched The Walking Dead and thought, “What if there were more LGBTQ+ characters?”, this one is for you.

Getting over your ex is often difficult, but when your ex is hooking up with your friends, that can be torture. That’s the issue for Wendy. She’s trying to find her way in a new place, but jealousy isn’t a good look on her.

And then the people around them start turning into zombies. Blood-thirsty zombies. Luckily, Wendy isn’t the only one who notices. Her new friends—a mixed bag of queer people, including her ex, Leah—have to band together to figure out what’s causing the outbreak. But perhaps more importantly, they have to save themselves and save Pride.

Horror is definitely not a genre I read very often, but this book definitely was more than I expected. Sure, there’s gore and violence, but there’s also humor, emotion, and lots of steam. I enjoyed how Lindsay King-Miller turned some typical stereotypes on their head and gave queer characters the power to kick some ass.

Thanks so much to Quirk Books for the complimentary copy; sorry it took me so long to read the book!

Book Review: "And There He Kept Her" by Joshua Moehling

I’ve had this book on my list for a while and now I’m kicking myself for waiting so long to read it! This was an excellent start to the series, and I will definitely be diving back into books 2 and 3 soon.

After a personal tragedy, Ben takes a job as a sheriff’s deputy in Sandy Lake, Minnesota, where his family once had a summer cabin. Working and living in a small town is a little unsettling for Ben, as everyone has an opinion about his life, but he’s determined to do right by the town.

When two teenagers disappear late one night, Ben is determined to find them, especially given his connection to one of them. What is puzzling and disturbing is that both teens have left their phones behind, which either means they weren’t expecting to go missing or they didn’t want to be tracked. He’s not entirely surprised to learn that one of the teens was dealing drugs in his high school, but the more he investigates, the more tangled the web becomes.

Meanwhile, Emmett is an old man in failing health, but it doesn’t keep him from viciously defending his property. His house may be falling apart, but his basement has seen many horrors through the years, and he’s not sure if his latest captive is worth the trouble.

As Ben and his colleagues dig further into the disappearance of the teenagers, he’s reminded of an unsolved mystery in his own life. He also realizes that no matter how small the town is, there are lots of secrets hidden within it. Can they solve the mystery before more tragedy strikes?

I thought this was a terrific book. I was hooked on the story and loved the emotional depth that came along with it. Ben is such a fascinating, complex character, and I really hope the next two books in the series continue the exploration into his own issues and emotions.

Book Review: "Keeping it Casual" by Jax Calder

“Apparently, the whole town of Mineral Creek is just a giant Grindr site where all swipes lead to Jeremy King.”

Dustin is worried that his teenage son Lachie is heading down the wrong path, so he moves them to the small town of Mineral Creek. No sooner have they gotten the keys to their rental house than Dustin hears from townspeople—repeatedly—that he should meet Jeremy, since Jeremy is the town’s other single gay dad.

When Dustin and Jeremy meet, there’s instantaneous chemistry. But during his last relationship, Dustin found his focus drifted away from Lachie, and he doesn’t want that to happen again. The two men decide just to be friends.

Of course, they decide just to be friends and then they run into each other everywhere. And after a casual lunch at Jeremy’s office, their attraction ignites and they wind up becoming friends with benefits. Because that always works, right?

The more time they spend with one another, the more they both realize how strong their feelings are for one another. But when Lachie gets himself in trouble, Dustin has to decide if being a good father has to mean sacrificing his own happiness.

I’ve really been enjoying Jax Calder’s books over the last year or so. I love the balance of banter, emotion, romance that leaves me grinning, and steam. Even though this was predictable, I loved every minute of it.