Book picks similar to
Thorn in His Side by Helen Juliet
m-m
mm
romance
age-gap
Pretty Boy
K.M. Neuhold - 2020
You get used to feeling unwanted.Until he walks into my bar…Tall, gorgeous, and all kinds of out of place. And the way he looks at me ain’t like no way I ever seen before.Does he mean it when he says he wants to take me away from here? Nobody’s ever wanted me around for long. Can I believe Barrett when he says that’s what he wants?Something about the word Daddy on my lips makes it all seem possible. Even if I don’t really believe anyone would want to keep an ugly boy like me forever…*** Pretty Boy is a low-ish angst, steamy, sweet Daddy story with NO age play.
Into This River I Drown
T.J. Klune - 2013
All called it an accident, but Benji thought it more. However, even years later, he is buried deep in his grief, throwing himself into taking over Big Eddie's convenience store in the small town of Roseland, Oregon. Surrounded by his mother and three aunts, he lives day by day, struggling to keep his head above water.But Roseland is no ordinary place.With ever-increasing dreams of his father's death and waking visions of feathers on the surface of a river, Benji's definition of reality is starting to bend. He thinks himself haunted, but whether by ghosts or memories, he can no longer tell. It's not until the impossible happens and a man falls from the sky and leaves the burning imprint of wings on the ground that he begins to understand that the world around him is more mysterious than he could have possibly imagined. It's also more dangerous, as forces beyond anyone's control are descending on Roseland, revealing long hidden truths about friends, family, and the man named Calliel who Benji is finding he can no longer live without.
Now You See Me
Lynn Van Dorn - 2019
Miguel Cordero Ruiz always considered himself straight, but his sexy anatomy professor, Dr. Cummings, is making him seriously rethink that. While the professor who lives across the street is supposedly a “bird watcher,” it's rumored he’s really spying on the male students who live in Miguel's building. When rumor is confirmed as fact, Miguel decides to give the professor a show he won’t forget. Aldrich is afraid of being seen. Aldrich Cummings has led a lonely existence. That all changes when he sees his gorgeous new neighbor moving in across the street. When he discovers the guy he’s been secretly watching from his office window is not only aware of his audience, but is enjoying it, Aldrich is even more entranced. Miguel is his student, and therefore off-limits, but what the administration doesn’t know won’t hurt them. It was supposed to be harmless and meaningless voyeurism. As time passes, the desire between them burns so brightly it inevitably explodes. Both will face consequences if the university finds out what the professor and his student have been getting up to. They will need to navigate the obstacles in their path to find the happiness both have been searching for. Now You See Me is a steamy 78,000 word stand-alone MM novel. It contains one not-straight Navy vet, one professor afraid of being touched, nosy relatives, nosier neighbors, troublesome colleagues, voyeurism, The Pleasure Chest, a bondage staircase, binoculars, a Maginot Line made from pillows, and a HEA for two men who deserve happiness.
Love Me Whole
Nicky James - 2018
Being an extremely shy, social introvert is only part of the problem. Oryn has dissociative identity disorder. He may look like a normal man on the outside, but spend five minutes with him, and his daily struggles begin to show. Oryn shares his life and headspace with five distinctively different alters. Reed, a protective, very straight jock. Cohen, a flamboyantly gay nineteen-year-old who is a social butterfly. Cove, a self-destructive terror, whose past haunts him. Theo, an asexual man of little emotion, whose focus is on maintaining order. And Rain, a five-year-old child whose only concern is Batman. Vaughn Sinclair is stuck in a rut. When his job doesn’t offer the same thrill it once did, he decides it’s time to mix-up his stagnant, boring routine. Little does he know, the man he meets during an impromptu decision to return to college is anything but ordinary. Vaughn’s heart defies logic, and he finds himself falling in love with this strange new man. But how can you love someone who isn’t always themself? It may not be easy, but Vaughn is determined to try.
Pick Me
May Archer - 2021
To have some fun. To get away from my overprotective brothers. To maybe, possibly encounter some lumberjacks in their natural habitat before moving on to the dream career that awaited me in the city.I had not expected to be welcomed into a family of gorgeous and weirdly efficient lumberjack-types myself. Or to find a purpose in the tiny Vermont town whose claim to fame seemed to be apple-based products and copious amounts of charm.And I most definitely hadn’t expected to fall for Knox Sunday, my grumpy, burly, fifteen-years-older, reluctant roommate, with his infuriating lectures, his hot-as-fire body, his superior attitude, his snarky humor, and his stealth cuddles.Now I find myself making excuses to delay my big dreams… just for a little while.But Knox has unfulfilled dreams of his own. A career he walked away from. A big city life in Boston he left behind when he returned to his hometown to help his family. He claims he’s not looking for anything permanent, and I’ve never been one to put down roots.My big life is waiting for me somewhere other than Little Pippin Hollow. So why does it feel like I’ve finally found the home of my heart?And how can I get Knox Sunday to… pick me?
Hard Target
Kelly Fox - 2020
I have other reasons—he still mourns his late husband, I’m way older, he’s a foot shorter, my tattoo shop is a front, he’s an assistant professor at UT. Still, I can’t help but think we’d be perfect for each other if I didn’t kill people (very, very bad people) for a living. Rafi: How the f*ck did I not realize how hot my best friend is? Yeah, grief, or whatever, but were my eyes not working? Silver fox, check. Tattooed hotness, check. Cuddles with me on Monday nights while we watch Australian melodramas, check. Says he’s not a good person but totally is, check. New goal: Get Everett to stop looking at me like a grieving widower and start seeing me as someone he’d like to pin against the wall. Now if I only knew what was behind the door marked Portal to Nowhere…Hard Target is a mercenary MM romance set in Austin and the Texas Hill Country. It features tattooed hotties, adorably complicated twinks, best friend antics, an illegally confiscated vineyard, and a team of killer do-gooders. This is the first book in the Wrecked: Guardians Series. Several characters from the Wrecked series make an appearance, but the Guardians books can be read as stand-alones.
Kiss and Cry
Keira Andrews - 2022
Everyone loves him—judges, fans, coaches.I hate him.Now he’s invaded my training center, and I have to see him every day as we prepare for the Olympics. I’m going to win gold if it’s the last thing I do. I’m going to beat him.But the strangest thing is happening. I’m peeking under his happy-go-lucky exterior and discovering there’s more to Theo than I imagined.This is a mistake. I can’t trust him.I can’t be falling in love.TheoMy mom’s convinced training with Henry Sakaguchi will distract me heading into the Olympics. No way—Henry’s epically boring and cold. He might as well be carved from ice.But when I need help, he’s there. He tries to keep me at arm’s length, but it’s no use. He’s too kind. Too generous. He’s caring and gorgeous and hot, and I’ve never wanted anyone like this.I might want Henry more than a gold medal.Am I falling in love?Kiss and Cry by Keira Andrews is a steamy gay sports romance featuring grumpy/sunshine opposites attracting, secretly soft-hearted boys, hurt/comfort, and of course a happy ending.
Bishop
A.E. Via - 2019
His gang was his family, the streets his home. Until the crew he’d always called his brothers betrayed him. After doing five years in a federal prison, Bishop is back at his dad’s trailer and working for his landscaping company, thrust into a legit world where he’s no longer the alpha—a world where a criminal record is the least of his disadvantages, because Bishop can’t read or write. Illiteracy had never been an obstacle for him on the streets, he didn’t need to know how to read Moby Dick to survive, he needed to know how to read people… and that was a hustle he’d learned hard and fast. Now, he had to change his life. Bishop’s only support system was a young, inexperienced dad who’d insisted he call him Mike all their life—since they looked more like brothers than father and son. And his hot-tempered, childhood, best friend from ’juvie, Trent. Bishop already had the deck stacked against him, but he wasn’t afraid of hard work to change his situation, and he did want to change. Especially after he encountered Edison Scala, a kind-spirited office manager who didn’t hesitate to come to his defense… a man that saw past Bishop’s grass-stained coveralls. A man who wasn’t intimidated by his stern features and his silence. Edison hadn’t grown up the way most of his peers had. He’d been raised by a single father who’d owned an old-fashioned barber shop where Edison was taught how to not only shave with a straight razor, and shine shoes, but also how to treat others, to not judge, to be a gentleman, to be respectful and speak without profanity. But, the biggest lesson he’d learned, was to always be himself. His lack of friends and a social life wasn’t his fault. No matter how much weight he gained, no matter how many times his staff called him a square, Edison did not need to change. Bishop knew Edison was off-limits. He’d made personal vows to himself when he was released from prison, ones that he never intended to break. But, when Edison asked him about providing landscaping services at his home, there was no way he could refuse. He hadn’t expected Edison to feed him, praise him, encourage him, and look at him the way he did—as if Bishop was somebody. Mike and Trent warned him not to mix business with pleasure and he didn’t intend to. No multiple pairings. No cliffhangers. Ends with a very, very HFN. Warning: This book is a M/M contemporary romance, a hardened man’s struggle to find real love. There are no police chases or doors being kicked in, in this one. But, don’t worry. Bishop is still intense enough to keep you on the edge.
Tournament of Losers
Megan Derr - 2015
Unfortunately, his father brings him too much trouble—and too many debts to pay—for that to ever be possible. When the local crime lord drags Rath out of bed and tells him he has three days to pay his father's latest debt, Rath doesn't know what to do. There's no way to come up with so much money in so little time.Then a friend poses an idea just ridiculous enough to work: enter the Tournament of Losers, where every seventy-five years, peasants compete for the chance to marry into the noble and royal houses. All competitors are given a stipend to live on for the duration of the tournament—funds enough to cover his father's debt.All he has to do is win the first few rounds, collect his stipend, and then it's back to trying to live a quiet life…
Risk Assessment
Parker St. John - 2019
A midlife crisis of conscience has left him with shattered confidence, abandoned by his former friends and scraping by at a legal aid clinic. When a smoking hot bad boy rescues him from the side of the road, Elliot is sure he doesn’t stand a chance.After a misspent youth boosting cars, Lucas Kelly runs his own garage and is finally getting his life back on track. He isn’t about to risk everything by daring to hope for something more, especially not with a man so far above his pay-grade.The heat between them is enough to have them questioning everything they thought they knew about themselves. But is explosive chemistry enough to keep them together when Elliot’s career threatens to drive them apart?
Sheriff's Secret
K. Webster - 2020
You know, the small-town dream.But I’ve got a secret I’m terrified will get out.I’m gay.Not bi. Not curious. Not confused.Just gay.So, settling for that dream won’t be happening.If this secret gets out, the people I serve and protect, especially my father, won’t be accepting.I’m not brave like my high school sweetheart, Kian.The day he came out was the day I had to let him go, and with it, love.I’ve done a great job of pretending I’m perfectly fine being single. Until a villainous and annoyingly charming new B&B owner, Dante Kincaid, rolls into town. The spark between us is electric and undeniable. He wants to give me a taste of what he has to offer, and better yet, he vows to be discreet. I’m too selfish to refuse.But my secret is still a heavy burden, leaving me handcuffed to expectations and unable to fully grasp what I want—him. History has a way of repeating itself, but this time around, with Dante, it’ll hurt a lot worse.I have to decide if I’m going to let love slip away again or if I’m going to finally fight for it.***Brigs Ferry Bay is a steamy MM romance series. While each book can be read as a standalone, in order to get the full experience, they're best read in order. Enemies to lovers, friends to lovers, hurt comfort, age-gap romance, and so much more. Fall in love with the charming small-town gay romances of Brigs Ferry Bay...***
After Ben
Con Riley - 2012
The last thing he’s looking for is a new lover, but as Theo discovers, sometimes life has its own plans.The strength of his attraction to fellow gym member Peter is surprising. So is how compelling he finds Morgan, a new friend he makes online. Morgan is witty and fierce on the internet forum they frequent, while Peter is physically present in a way that’s hard to ignore.Both men bring Theo closer to acceptance: he needs to lay Ben’s memory to rest if he’s to start afresh with a new lover.Getting honest about the reasons for his yearlong isolation means confronting why he lost Ben… only just when he’s ready to commit, Theo finds he isn't the only one haunted by the past.Whether with Peter or with Morgan, choosing to love again—after Ben—might not be Theo’s toughest challenge.
Merry Christmas, Mr. Miggles
Eli Easton - 2016
He spends his days surrounded by books and chatting with the library patrons. He especially adores the head librarian, Mr. Miggles, who is kind, witty, knowlegable about everything, and hopelessly addicted to Christmas. Sean Miggles is also pretty cute—especially for an older guy who wears ties and suit pants every day. But Sean keeps himself at a distance, and there’s a sadness about him that Toby can’t figure out. When Sean is accused of a crime he didn’t commit, he gives up without a fight. Toby realizes that he alone can save the library—and their head librarian. Toby will need to uncover the darkness in Sean’s past and prove to him that he deserves a second chance at life and at love too. And while Christmas miracles are being handed out, maybe Toby will get his own dearest wish—to love and be loved by Mr. Miggles.
Hush
Tal Bauer - 2017
marshal running from his past.A trial that can plunge the world into war. Federal Judge Tom Brewer is finally putting the pieces of his life back together. In the closet for twenty-five long years, he’s climbing out slowly, and, with the hope of finding a special relationship with the stunning Mike Lucciano, U.S. Marshal assigned to his DC courthouse. He wants to be out and proud, but he can’t erase his own past, and the lessons he learned long ago. But a devastating terrorist attack in the heart of DC, and the subsequent capture and arrest of the terrorist, leads to a trial that threatens to expose the dark underbelly of America’s national security. As Russia beats the drums of war, intent on seeking revenge, and the United States struggles to contain the storm before it races out of control, secrets and lies, past and present, collide in Judge Tom Brewer’s courtroom. With the world’s attention fixed on Tom and this case, he suddenly discovers he may be the only person who can put everything together in time to stop the spark of a new world war.
Sidecar
Amy Lane - 2012
The boys wear pink Izod shirts, the girls wear big hair, everyone has a stash box, and AIDS is just an ugly rumor rumbling like a thunderstorm from the cities. A teenage runaway wanders the side of the road, a heartbeat away from despair, and is rescued by a long-haired angel on a Harley. But that's just the beginning of their story. Josiah Daniels wanted peace and quiet and a simple life, and he had it until he rescued Casey from hunger, cold, and exhaustion. Then Joe's life is anything but simple as he and his new charge navigate a world that is changing more rapidly than the people in it. Joe wants to raise Casey to a happy and productive adulthood, and he does. But even as an adult, Casey can't conceive of a happy life without Joe. The trouble is getting Joe to accept that the boy he nurtured is suddenly the man who wants him. Their relationship can either die or change with the world around them. As they make a home, negotiate the new rules of growing up, and swerve around the pitfalls of modern life, Casey learns that adulthood is more than sex, Joe learns that there is no compromise in happy ever after, and they’re both forced to realize that the one thing a man shouldn’t be is alone.