April saw lots of fabulous new titles being released – including several I’ve been (impatiently!) waiting for. Let’s break them down.
I’ve been a huge fan of Kelly Fox for a while and, like so many others, have been dying to learn how Warwick got his happy ending. In book 4 of the Rebel Sky series, we see Joaquin and Colt team up to tackle Warwick’s fear of falling in love head on. The dynamic between the three of them was wonderful. I especially loved the way Kelly built up the individual relationships before cementing them into the throuple. Despite Joaquin and Colt being determined to bring Warwick to his knees, at no point did it feel that their feelings and relationship with one another played second fiddle. It was a super sweet story featuring *very* hawt levels of spice and lots of fun scenes with characters we’ve come to love from the previous stories.
If you haven’t read any of Kelly’s stories before – you can basically jump in with any series BUT, I highly recommend starting with Sanctuary – Kelly Fox. Don’t forget to check out her fabulous f/f romance which is a prequel to Sanctuary – Scout and the Lavender Girl – Kelly Fox.
KM Neuhold is an author I reread over and over again and, let me tell you, the second book in her Palm Island series did not disappoint. Taken by Storm features a fake relationship between a grumpy chef and his employee. Full of lots of gorgeous swoony moments, high levels of heat, and lots of laughs, it’s definitely one that will be joining my reread list! Featuring an easter egg that hinted at future storylines for lots of other characters, it left me chomping at the bit for the next book in the series! Even with only two books so far, I can tell that these characters are going to become just as beloved for me as the boys from Heathens Ink and Four Bears Construction.
I cannot tell you how loud I shrieked when I saw this book had been released. Pick Me – the first book in the Sunday Brother’s series was my first experience of May Archer’s work and it stayed with me a long time after I’d finished. In fact, I loved it so much, that I reread it the day that Hand Picked was released so that all the characters were fresh in my mind.
Hand Picked delivered a wonderful twist on the ‘accidentally married’ trope that I haven’t seen before. When a single dad and his child’s teacher drunkenly take part in an age old small town tradition, they find themselves hurtling down a path full of nosy neighbours, interfering family members, lots of humour, and a heap full of love.
I sighed so many times reading this book. In fact, I may go and reread it when I’ve finished this blog post just so I can sigh some more…
Emmy Sanders stormed onto the M/M romance scene in March with her release of Fool Hearts, book one of the Plum Valley Cowboys series. I might need to do a whole separate review post just to convey how much I loved the first book. Spanning a friendship across the decades, Fool Hearts spun a tale of unrequited love and yearning that had me gross sobbing. After experiencing the ups and downs of Wyatt and Easton’s relationship, their happily ever after was so well deserved and beautiful to witness. The epilogue gave us a sneak peek at the characters for Virgin Hearts, and I for one could not wait.
Emmy had a lot to live up to with this follow up but man, she did not disappoint. When Hawthorne, a recently out cowboy with no experience with men, wins a contest for his favourite adult entertainer’s support for the town’s first Pride Parade – he’s not expecting to find himself in a friends-with-benefits situation. Mateo, aka Silver, proves to be so much more than the persona he displays on screen. Emmy delivers the same poignant love as Fool Hearts – capturing once more the beautiful angst the characters face on their journey to their HEA. With lots of humour, risqué photo shoots, and enough spice to ensure you need a tall glass of ice water, this one is not to be missed. Again, it’s earned a firm place on my reread list and I’m already counting down the days until the release of Unconventional Hearts.
Ok, so this one didn’t technically get released in April, but I was shamefully late to discovering this gem of a debut. Told entirely from the point of view of Jin, this book was everything that I’ve come to love in m/m romance. Containing two of my absolute favourite tropes (bisexual awakening and brother’s best friend), this book beautifully walked the line between angst and love. Even though it is a single pov, Loren conveyed Kepler’s yearning for Jin so convincingly that you couldn’t help but fall in love with them both.
This is the first book in her Indigo Falls College series and, if this book is anything to go by, Loren is going to be a one click author for me for all future releases.
Lark Taylor 