Book picks similar to
High Contrast by Tess Bowery
m-m
m-m-romance
contemporary
mm
Chasing Shadows
Annabelle Jacobs - 2016
The police are convinced Michael drowned, but Jamie knows better. No way would Michael swim to his death, especially on a beach with a wicked rip tide. Finding a stranger in his brother’s cottage only deepens his misgivings. Felix Bergstrom is recently discharged from the British Army. Unable to put the past behind him, he takes an unhealthy interest in old acquaintance and millionaire businessman Karl Weston, hoping to catch him up to no good. Michael’s disappearance adds fuel to Felix’s suspicions. Weston’s clifftop home overlooks the beach where Michael supposedly walked into the sea, but Weston has an alibi for that day. When Jamie and Felix meet, the physical attraction is instant. Mistrust keeps them from acting on it until finally all their secrets are laid bare. But time isn’t on their side. Before they’re able to work out whether they have a future, danger catches up with them and threatens to put an end to everything.approx 60,000 words
There Was a Boy
Justin Durand - 2017
Two days after his birthday, a momentous first date with the man of his dreams convinces Aaron he's in love and ready for marriage. However, Aaron must first address the damage he suffered from a difficult childhood. “You aren’t super macho. More like…sweet and hot.” That‘s how Aaron’s friend and neighbor Michelle, the smartest girl in the class, describes him. She promises he’ll meet someone soon.Aaron is skilled at ignoring an unhappy childhood that left him serene on the outside and insecure, vulnerable and anxious on the inside. From middle school on, he concentrated on getting good grades and running faster but also gained more than enough experience with hopeless crushes on really nice straight classmates. Now, at the start of his last semester of high school, he’s ready for a real romance. With help from Michelle and a pooch named Daisy, he meets three seriously good-looking guys who invite him to join their running club. Daniel, Justin and Matthew are a few years older than Aaron but they quickly accept him into their social group. Life has programmed Aaron to be pessimistic but he gets his hopes up and for the first time he makes a connection with another gay guy. Aaron knows “the course of true love never did run smooth,” but he lets himself forget and believe that it will for him. Naturally, when it doesn’t he blames himself. There Was a Boy recounts a pivotal time when a teenager enters adulthood sooner than he’s ready, meets the man of his dreams and falls in love. Aaron has a lot to learn about sex and love. He’s positive he’s found the right teacher but an additional lesson awaits him and he must confront the wounds of his childhood before he can graduate to his new life.
Beauty and the Bookworm
Nick Pageant - 2014
Shane is the opposite of Mason in every way, he's beautiful, athletic, and lives his life to the fullest.Sparks fly when the polar opposites come together, but it will be up to the bookworm to shut down his e-reader and go after the beauty if he wants to love someone outside the pages of a book.
Rebel
K.M. Neuhold - 2018
But that's okay because I have a strategy: no friends, no boyfriends, limit repeat hook-ups, no sleep overs, and above all leave them before they leave me. I’ve put my break-up skills to work doing others’ dirty work for them. The last thing I expected when I agreed to do an embarrassing breakup song and dance was to end up on the doorstep of the very recognizable—and stupidly sexy—Rebel. When you meet a man like Rebel you'd be insane not to make a move. And just because he has me tossing out every single one of my rules doesn't mean I'm in trouble, right? “I’m everyone’s friend, but no one’s everything.” ~ Rebel I love working for Ballsy Boys, but when you make the kind of videos I do relationships are pretty damn impossible. Besides, guys find me sexy and want to either be with me or be me, but no one has ever cared enough to see the real me. Until I meet Troy. He has no problem whatsoever with my job, but he’s determined to keep me at a distance. For the first time, a hook-up alone is not enough. I want more with him. Hell, I want everything. But he resists at every step until I’m about ready to give up. What do I need to do to show him that this is real and worth fighting for? ***Rebel is the first book in the Ballsy Boys Series and is a super sexy MM romance with plenty of good times. While this book and this series do contain some instances of sex outside of the main relationships, they DO NOT contain cheating.
Why I Left You
Colette Davison - 2017
The last thing he needs is Brett, the guy who walked out on him four years ago. Yet, he could be just what Jamie needs.Brett has his own way of dealing with heartache. Ever since Jamie left him, he's been running away from commitment. But when he Jamie comes back into his life, he’s forced to re-examine everything.Brett and Jamie are drawn back into each other’s arms by an undeniable spark. But unless they can come to terms with the past, their relationship won’t survive the present.Why I Left You is a MM hurt/comfort, friends to lovers romance with explicit language and steamy scenes between gay men. It’s the first in a series of standalone romances with a happy ever
Rock
Anyta Sunday - 2014
There’s Lila, too: The other woman, the one who stole the rock-solid foundation of his life. And then . . . There’s Jace. Lila’s son. Lila’s smug, regurgitated-fish-scale-blue eyed son. All Cooper wants is to have his family back the way it once was, but there’s something about this boy that promises things will never be the same again. Sedimentary. Resisting the realities of his new life, Cooper and Jace get off to a rocky start. But rocky start or not, after hundreds of shared memories together, they forge something new. A close . . . friendship. Because friendship is all they can have. Although it’s not like they are real brothers. Technically, they’re not even stepbrothers . . . Metamorphic. But how does that friendship evolve under the pressures of life? Under pressures of the heart?
The Two Gentlemen of Altona
Lisa Henry - 2014
Not only is he on a new diet, but he's also been tasked with keeping Henry Page -- the world's most irritating witness -- alive. Which is tough when Mac's a breath away from killing the Shakespeare-quoting, ethically-challenged, egg-obsessed Henry himself. Unless killing isn't really what Mac wants to do to him.Con man Henry Page prefers to keep his distance from the law . . . though he wouldn't mind getting a little closer to uptight, handsome Agent McGuinness. As the sole witness to a mob hit, Henry's a valuable asset to the FBI. But he's got his own agenda, and it doesn't involve testifying.When evidence surfaces of a mole in the FBI office, Mac and Henry are forced to go into hiding. Holed up in a fishing cabin, they're surprised to discover that their feelings run more than skin deep. But as the mob closes in, Henry has to make his escape. And Mac has to decide how far he's willing to go to keep Henry by his side.* * * * * * *The Playing the Fool series should be read in order for maximum enjoyment.Word count: 56, 500; page count: 228This is a second edition originally published by Riptide Publishing. No content changes have been made.
Catch Me If You Can
L.B. Gregg - 2010
Now he’d just like to get out of his Nana’s guest room. Everything—his reputation and his financial freedom—is riding on the success of tonight’s gallery opening. If only he could shake free of the past so easily.A mysterious gatecrasher, Dan Green, looks like a promising addition to his pending new life—until Caesar’s ex shows up and suddenly the opening disintegrates into a half-naked dance melee. When the glitter settles, a missing sculpture of Justin Timberlake has Caesar up to his eyebrows in extortion, intrigue and a wild sexual adventure underneath, inside, and on top of a variety of furnishings.As the cast of suspects piles up, so do the questions. Like who’s really blackmailing whom? And what does a stolen paint-by-numbers clown matter when Dan is so outrageously capable of blowing Caesar’s resistance to smithereens?This book contains graphic language, sex, lies, intrigue, clowns, kleptomania, anal sex, oral sex, mutual masturbation, bad driving, good cooking, and the missing head of a Justin Timberlake statue. Not for the sour of disposition.
Lost in Indigo
V.L. Locey - 2018
During the first game of the championship series, he was taken down, and his leg snapped upon impact with the boards. From his hospital bed, Mathieu watched his team go on to win it all.Adrift in anger, resentment, and the new direction of his life, he returns to his mansion along the St. Lawrence River. Alone and sulking, Mathieu is not prepared for Indigo Neu to enter his life. The genderflux twenty-year-old botany major signs on to play nursemaid, confidant, and groundskeeper over the summer and slowly leads Mathieu out of his confusion––one tender smile and touch at a time.The deeper Mathieu falls, the more he wonders if being lost might not be so bad after all.
Sno Ho
Ethan Day - 2010
Along with the half dozen or so novels he's started, only to abandon mid-way through, his love life could be best described as a series of drive-bys. Boone has spent the past week staying at a ski lodge in the tiny mountain town of Summit City. He's been using his time alone to write while waiting for his boyfriend to join him for their anniversary. What happens to Boone when he winds up dumped on the eve of his one-year anniversary and ends up at a bar having one too many cocktails? Wade Walker.previously published in the anthology Melting the Slopes
Heaven
Jet Mykles - 2006
Business just isn't what it used to be when Tyler’s father ran the family-owned hotel. On top of business being down, dad's sick with cancer and bills have skyrocketed.Desperate to save his family interest, Tyler and his best friend sink their hopes and what's left of their money into a new venture: a nightclub at the hotel. It's imperative that the White Room is a success, or else the hotel will go under. Lady Luck seems to be with them, however, because they manage to sign the mega-popular rock group Heaven Sent to play the grand opening.Already a huge fan of the group, Tyler couldn't be more excited to welcome them to his hotel. He's not at all prepared for the bomb of lust that hits him when he's finally face-to-face with the painfully gorgeous lead singer, Johnnie Heaven. No, it couldn't be lust. Yes, Johnnie's probably the most beautiful person he's ever seen, but Tyler is straight. It must be a misguided form of hero worship that he's feeling.Tyler finds out that he and Johnnie share an obsession: video games. When Johnnie invites Tyler to his room to play, Tyler jumps at the chance. Who wouldn't snap up the opportunity to spend time with their idol? He and Johnnie have a great time with the games, but Tyler soon discovers that Johnnie's got more in mind. The rock star aims to introduce Tyler to a whole new level of game play. [Publisher's Note: This book contains explicit sexual content, graphic language, and situations that some readers may find objectionable: dubious consent, male/male sexual practices.]
Keep Swimming
Kade Boehme - 2014
With the dog bakery now semi-successful and his son healthy, Cary thinks he may be ready to date again.Heath Cummings is trying his damnedest to get his charter boat service off the ground and dreams of one day soon being able to quit his job as an offshore driller. Paying off his dream requires making it through a couple more years, which means being open about his sexuality isn't in the cards just yet. When the two take their flirting to the next level, Cary wonders if he can handle another guy who might take off, while Heath has to decide if he can risk his dream of a laid back life—and giving up his long-held and much enjoyed bachelor status while taking on a child when being a father was never on his to-do list. Will they sink, or will they keep swimming?
Syncopation
Anna Zabo - 2018
After a heated confrontation with his bandmate goes viral, Ray is hit with a PR nightmare the fledgling band so doesn’t need. But his problems only multiply when they snag a talented new drummer—insufferably sexy Zavier Demos, the high school crush Ray barely survived.Zavier’s kept a casual eye on Twisted Wishes for years, and lately, he likes what he sees. What he doesn’t like is how out of control Ray seems—something Zavier’s aching to correct after their first pulse-pounding encounter. If Ray’s up for the challenge.Despite the prospect of a glorious sexual encore, Ray is reluctant to trust Zavier with his band—or his heart. And Zavier has always had big dreams; this gig was supposed to be temporary. But touring together has opened their eyes to new passions and new possibilities, making them rethink their commitments, both to the band and to each other.
Under My Skin
M.L. Rhodes - 2008
Though he hasn’t always appreciated it, and it hasn’t exactly made him a man magnet, he’s put his intelligence to work building his store, Great Escapes Travel Book Shop, to the point it’s now the favorite recommendation of travel agents in the St. Louis area. His customers—especially the jet-setting senior citizens—love him for his amiable personality. He doesn’t feel very amiable, however, when Rad Tattoos moves in next door to Great Escapes. Its owner, Dylan Radamacher, rubs Sebastian the wrong way from the get-go. The man’s insufferable, stubborn, and, worse, a bad boy. Everything Sebastian loathes. To add insult to injury, Sebastian’s certain the loud music, the congested parking lot, and the constant colorful parade of the counterculture in and out of the tattoo studio are scaring away his loyal, conservative customers. And yet, much to his annoyance, the teasing sparkle in Dylan’s eyes, his hot, inked body, and come-hither voice set Sebastian’s libido on fire. Sebastian’s “been there, done that” with the bad-boy type before, though, and almost lost everything because of it. There’s no way he’s going down that road again. But when Dylan sets his sights on Sebastian and is determined to take him for a walk on the wild side, Sebastian knows he’s in big trouble. It’s going to take all his smarts and a whole lot of willpower to resist the sexy tattoo artist before the man finds a way to burrow deeper under his skin... NOTE: Don't miss the sequel, Under My Skin II! Genres: Gay / Contemporary / Series
He Owns My Heart
Evie Drae - 2020
Trapped in the sticky fine print of an ironclad contract that forbids him from revealing his very-much-single status until the season finale of his reality show airs, he calls an elite male escort service that caters to the rich and desperate.Accustomed to servicing his often less than savory clients at more upscale locales, twenty-six-year-old Toby Carmichael is surprised when his handler sends him to a run-down motel off I-55. But “surprise” doesn’t come close to describing the shock that rocks his system when a delightful stuttering mess covered in tattoos and nearly ten years his senior stumbles into the room—and right into his heart.For the first time since Toby was forced into the life of prostitution, a kiss sparks a desire that has nothing to do with money and everything to do with genuine chemistry and the faintest beginnings of something so much more. But Toby’s dark past and troubled present make it impossible to see a future with Landon. And when the truth comes to light, a horrified and helpless Landon is determined to save Toby at all costs.Content Warnings: Some content in He Owns My Heart may be triggering for some readers, due to the depiction of traumatic topics or other subjects or themes that may be difficult to read. Content warnings include the following:• A main character with childhood history of physical and verbal abuse by a parental figure—discussed by character as an adult, nothing depicted on page.• Homophobia from a close family member of a main character.• Discussion of previous self-harm/cutting behaviors by an adult survivor—presence of physical scars and mental ramifications discussed.• A main character involved in prostitution with dub-con/non-con aspects—all interactions between the main characters contain full consent and there are no graphic on-page depictions. More graphic experiences are alluded to via inner monologue narrative.• A main character involved as a victim in human trafficking associated with the illegal drug trade.• Consensual Domination/submission relationship between the main characters—including light bondage, tease and denial, edging, the use of toys, and mild pain play (i.e. slapping and predicament bondage).• Depiction of moderate on-page violence between main characters and antagonists—no blood depicted.• Depiction of stalking activities by an ex-partner of a main character.• Consumption of alcohol by main characters and side characters.• Graphic portrayals of consensual penetrative cis male/cis male sex with condom usage. Oral sex scenes without use of condom shown with first instance occurring prior to reader’s knowledge of previous health check by both parties with both parties fully aware of the other’s health status before oral sex occurred.As always, if any of these topics could potentially impact your mental health or wellbeing, please consider skipping this read. Your emotional and mental safety are always the top priority.