arc: netgalley | Book-Endz

TITLE: ⟫ One Honeymoon, Two Hockey Bros, Three Little Words
AUTHOR: ⟫ Oslo Fox
RATING: ⟫ 3.5/5

BLURB: ⟫On his Hawaiian honeymoon, a jilted groom wakes up in the arms of his best man.

Ethan Lavallee’s life revolves around two things: hockey and hockey.

When his fiancée leaves him at the altar, his best bro and D-partner, Jean-Luc Bergstrom, whisks him away on what should have been his honeymoon.

Their easy friendship has always been the one relationship he could count on, but suddenly, sharing a bed in a romantic Hawaiian villa has Ethan questioning everything he thought he knew about himself.

As his feelings for Jean-Luc evolve from friendship to something more, Ethan must decide if he’s brave enough to risk their partnership on and off the ice for a chance at real love.

A steamy gay m/m friends-to-lovers dual POV romance novel featuring a double bi-awakening and a Hawaiian honeymoon with only one bed.

REVIEW: ⟫ Talk about oblivious! Ethan didn’t seem to have any idea whatsoever that he was basically married to Jean-Luc – he simply enjoyed doing whatever his D-man partner told him to do! Jean-Luc was a little aggravating – his flirtatious nature was fine, but he lost it when he thought Ethan was doing the same. The lack of communication between the two of them was comical although occasionally irritating – they both made decisions for each other based on assumptions that would have been so easy to sort out. I wasn’t expecting the sub/dom aspect to things, although it was nicely done and fit with the two characters. This was a fun read, albeit occasionally irritating with the miscommuncation, and I enjoyed it.

I received an ARC from Netgalley.

TITLE: ⟫ Party of Three
AUTHOR: ⟫ C Travis Rice

SERIES: ⟫ A Sapphire Cove Suite Secrets Novella
RATING: ⟫ 4/5

BLURB: ⟫ C. Travis Rice’s Suite Secrets Novellas are steamy, standalone stories in the beloved universe of Sapphire Cove, a beautiful luxury resort on the sparkling Southern California coast, where strong-willed heroes release the shame that blocks their hearts’ desires.

“Jealousy was your word, babe. Not mine.”

Buckley Mitchell lives to put people back together again. The charming, warmhearted EMT is exactly who you want holding your hand in the ambulance after you’ve broken a bone. And he’s just the boyfriend Mateo Cano needs to help him embrace his sexuality after years of repressing his true self. But Mateo hasn’t been entirely truthful about the complicated relationship between him and his best friend from his Marine Corps days, the accomplished crew chief who saved his life during a training accident gone wrong. Why did Master Sergeant Jeff Braxton vanish from Mateo’s life right after Mateo and Buckley got together?

When Buckley and Jeff meet for the first time at Sapphire Cove, a posh oceanfront resort in Southern California, a more complicated history is revealed. But Buckley isn’t jealous. In fact, he’s something else altogether. Something excited…and hungry. He’s spent the past year bringing Mateo’s fantasies to life. Now it’s his turn to have his fantasies realized. And to do it, Mateo will partner with the handsome older Marine who taught him everything he knows in the bedroom, turning their lavish villa at Sapphire Cove into a gateway that brings secret passions to life. Will their wild weekend be little more than a fling? Or will it change all three of their lives for the better?

REVIEW: ⟫ I don’t think I’ve ever read anything by C.Travis Rice and I definitely haven’t read any of the Sapphire Cove series. I must admit, when I first got into the story I thought it was just going to be a bit of a sex-fest between the three characters (which I wasn’t averse to). However, the book goes a little deeper than that. Each of the men has their own issues: fear abandonment, PTSD from a life threatening incident, a fear of being the outsider and each of these themes was addressed in the relationship that grew between them

The storytelling was easy to read, with frequent sex scenes, but I really appreciated that talking was emphasised – we got a lot of their mental thoughts but they also communicated with each other as to what was happening.

The background story about Mateo’s family was a bit irritating, especially with what felt like a lot of hypocrisy on the part of his parents, but that didn’t take away from the fact that this was an interesting, sexy read with a satisfying end. I would definitely read more of these works (depending on the size of my TBR pile) and would say that it’s well worth a shot for dipping your toe into a new series.

I received an ARC through Netgallery.