Book picks similar to
Diego's Secret by Bryan T. Clark


contemporary
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Devoted


Sierra Riley - 2016
    He just never realized how much. As a single dad, he’s tried to balance paying the bills with making time for his son, Ryan. He’s been treading water for a long time and right now, his best friend, Jake, is the only thing keeping him afloat. But when his son needs major surgery, Russ isn’t sure anyone can save him from going under.“I’d do anything for you. You know that.”Jake Larson has been in love with Russ since college, but he knows they’ll never be more than friends. Even so, he can’t seem to stop himself from coming to Russ’ rescue. With Russ facing bankruptcy thanks to his terrible insurance, Jake concocts his most desperate plan yet: A sham marriage to get Ryan on his policy.“You’re the only thing that feels real to me right now.”It was supposed to be temporary, but when an insurance agent questions the validity of their marriage, Russ and Jake are forced to get a whole lot closer. Jake knows that once their time is up, they’ll go back to being friends regardless of what they’ve shared. But after having Jake as a partner both physically and emotionally, Russ isn’t ready to let go. Can they manage to turn their fake marriage into something real?Devoted is a steamy, standalone gay romance novel with a HEA and no cliffhangers.

The Bravest Thing


Laura Lascarso - 2017
    Then Hiroku Hayashi swerves into the high school parking lot on his tricked-out motorcycle like some sexy comic book villain, and Berlin knows he doesn’t stand a chance. Hiroku is fleeing his sophisticated urban scene to recover from drug addiction and an abusive relationship when he arrives in Berlin’s small Texas ranch town. Initially sarcastic and aloof, Hiroku finds in Berlin a steady, supportive friend who soon becomes more. As Hiroku and Berlin’s romance blossoms, they take greater risks to be together. But when a horrific act of violence tears them apart, they both must look bigotry in the face. While Berlin has always turned to his faith for strength, Hiroku dives into increasingly dangerous ways of coping, pushing them in opposite directions just when they need each other most. Two very different young men search for the bravery to be true to themselves, the courage to heal, and the strength to go on when things seem darkest. But is it enough to bring them back together?

Family Man


Heidi Cullinan - 2013
    It’ll be a problem for his big, fat Italian family. Still, after three failed marriages, it’s getting harder to ignore what he really wants.Vinnie attempts some self-exploration in Chicago’s Boystown bars, far from anyone who knows him. Naturally, he runs smack into someone from the neighborhood.Between working two jobs, going to school, taking care of his grandmother, and dealing with his mother’s ongoing substance abuse, Trey Giles has little time for fun, let alone dating someone who swears he’s straight. Yet after one night of dancing cheek-to-cheek, Trey agrees to let Vinnie court him and see if he truly belongs on this side of the fence—though Trey intends to keep his virginity intact.It seems like a solid plan, but nothing is simple when family is involved. When Vinnie’s family finds out about their relationship, the situation is sticky enough, but when Trey’s mother goes critical, Vinnie and Trey must decide whose happiness is most important—their families’ or their own.Second Edition.First Edition published by Samhain, 2013.

Moment of Impact


Karen Stivali - 2015
    Beyond his door the students of his small, conservative college think he’s straight, as does his Catholic family who'd disown him if they learned the truth. Inside, he’s safe with his incredibly sexy roommate Tanner D’Amico. Their room makes a perfect place to hide away and fall in love. The moment they cross the line from roommates to lovers, Collin becomes caught between their heavenly passionate encounters and the hellish reality that someone might find out and destroy everything. Tanner's not used to being so confined, and wants to show the world how much he loves Collin. But Collin’s not sure he’s ready for the impact stepping outside will make.

In the Name of the Father


Morticia Knight - 2019
    I couldn’t be caught in my deception, or my family and friends would abandon me. But my fears became reality and I was cast away as if I were garbage. Then this man, a stranger, took me home and showed me that love can take on many forms, that I’m not filled with sin or doomed to go to hell because I’m gay. He showed me that I’m not broken. I don’t need to be fixed. What I need is to be nurtured and cared for. This man showed me it’s okay to be his boy and to call him daddy… Seth was a good Christian son raised in a very conservative church. He learned early on that the world is evil and filled with sinners—but the most horrible thing you can be is gay. When his shame is discovered, he’s shipped off to a special camp that fixes deviants like him. Years have passed since then, yet he still runs from himself every day.Malcolm was a good daddy for almost 10 years before his boy died. No longer daring to be too close with another man again, he’s avoided clubs and old friends that remind him of a life filled with a joy he can no longer have. Unable to find a purpose in his lonely existence, he spends night after night in a dive bar at the edge of town. However, witnessing a scared young man being harassed by two bullies jolts him out of his misery.No one messes with someone vulnerable and helpless on his watch…

Let Me In


Luna David - 2018
    He’s been the sole breadwinner since he was fifteen and yearns for a life of his own. Forced to grow up too fast, he carries the burdens of responsibilities that shouldn’t be his, and it’s slowly destroying him. The more he tries to control, the more out of control he feels. When he gets a hit on a personal ad he placed on The Boys Club app, he shrugs it off as impossible. With nearly 600 miles between him and Daddy Cash he thought the odds were stacked against them until Cash’s current boy convinces him otherwise and persuades Liam to take on the role of Daddy’s new boy. Saying forty-year-old entrepreneur Cash Moreau is having a bad week is an understatement. The man he’s been with for years leaves him for a new job, his own company is in crisis, and to top it all off, a young stranger shows up on his doorstep with all his worldly possessions, claiming to be his new boy. Liam wants a Daddy to depend on, and Cash refuses to believe he’s what’s best for Liam. Despite their powerful connection, Cash finally pushes Liam away, and the beautiful boy who stole his heart disappears. Soon, Cash realizes what he’s let slip through his fingers. The elusive thing he’s been searching for is Liam, it’s only ever been Liam, and suddenly Cash will move heaven and earth to find what he’s lost. Will he find his boy in time to make things right, or is it too late to let him in?

The Love Song


Kay Simone - 2016
    Casey has plenty of friends, supportive parents to pay for college, and a solid future ahead of him. It should be easy to ignore a new outcast on campus.But try as he might, Casey is drawn to Grant—and the more he learns, the more he wants to learn.How do you go back to being strangers with someone who has seen your soul?Grant left a broken life behind him in Georgia. When his mom moves them to Middle-of-Nowhere, Nebraska, he wants a fresh start, setting his sights on a future when he’ll be done with school, helping his mom make ends meet, and able to forget all of his mistakes.The last thing he needs is someone getting in the way of that—someone feeling sorry for him. So why can’t he bring himself to stay away from Casey Dunne?I don’t want us to be strangers again.When circumstances tear them apart, it seems unlikely that they’ll ever be reunited. But when their paths do cross again, against all odds, their positions are reversed.Casey doesn’t believe that Grant will recognize—or want—the person he’s become since high school.Grant doesn’t know if he can give Casey the life he deserved all along… But he’s damned well going to try.The Love Song is a steamy and emotional standalone romance with second chance themes, hurt/comfort, and a happy ending.

Against Fate


Damian Bloom - 2020
    Luckily, his hunky mentor can teach him much more than just how to write a book. Too bad it all comes with a price.By the age of twenty-three, I’ve read enough romance novels to fill up a library. My own love life is yet to start, but I’m in no rush. True love comes to those who wait, and I won’t settle for less than Happy Ever After. So what’s the point in kissing any frogs?But when my clairvoyant grandmother sees heartbreak looming in my future, I learn that life is rarely that simple. And when bestselling author Adam Allister offers to help me write my first novel, I’d be a fool to say no, even if every cell in my body warns me to stay away.After all, as long as I don’t fall for him, I’m safe. And, with a man as cynical and unromantic as Adam, that shouldn’t be a difficult task.Is he hotter than all the cover models of my favorite novels combined? Yeah. Do I sometimes forget to breathe if he looks at me a certain way? I guess…Is one smile from him enough to fill my mind up with pulse-quickening daydreams of unknown pleasures? Um, I’d rather not answer that.None of this matters, anyway. Now that I know what fate’s got in store for me, I won’t be foolish enough to put myself in harm’s way. Not when my heart is on the line.Against Fate is the slow-burn, heart-warming story of two men who learn to put their conflicting ideas of love aside in order to discover the real thing together. Peppered with extra-steamy scenes, the book is guaranteed to make you blush and swoon all the way to the Happy Ever After. This is the first book in the Prince Castle series, but it can be read as a stand-alone.

I Feel Him Watching


T.A. McKay - 2018
    He can’t see the camera lens that is pointed in his direction and he doesn’t know all his movements are being watched. He can sense it though, that strange tingle on his skin when he’s meant to be alone. Then strange things start to happen. Belongings go missing and things are moved, but what is really happening and what is just his imagination? It isn’t until a detective turns up at his door that he realises that something is very wrong. Not only is it his possession’s that are gone, its also the men he's been dating, leaving him the last person to see them. This makes him the police’s number one suspect and he isn’t sure how to prove his innocence. Its not until the detective in charge of the investigation gets a visit from Nicolai’s admirer that things become clear. Not only is Nicolai in danger, so is anyone connected to his life. This stranger is hurting the people he loves and he doesn’t know how to stop it. Nicolai doesn’t know who is out there or what he wants, but he can feel him watching. Trigger warning: this book contains scenes of rape, torture and abuse that some readers might find distressing. Reader discretion is advised.

Fresh as a Daisy Omega


Ava Beringer - 2020
    He gives away his body, too, confusing physical activities with love. Alphas only seem to want one thing, so he’s given up on being worthy of his dream mate. When hot, rich Preston Reid strolls into his life, Colby wants him to be the one. The problem? Preston’s from Chicago and leaves in three days. Will Colby play the fool and be abandoned yet again?

The Artifact


J.E. Lorin - 2014
    Bentley Blake, professor of Old Earth Cultures, has a life that seems set in stone: he’ll teach his classes, write research papers, look out for his younger brother Jamie, and, hopefully, he’ll find love somewhere along the way. It’s not an exciting life, but it’s solid and safe. All that changes the day he meets Harlow “Remy” Oakes, a mysterious and handsome man who invites Ben on a quest to find a deadly artifact. Ben declines the invitation, but after an attempted abduction, his life is thrown into chaos. Forced to join in with Oakes, a man he doesn’t trust, Ben finds danger at every turn. Will he and Jamie make it out alive? And will Ben be able to stifle the growing attraction he feels for Harlow Oakes?

Chasing the Rainbow


Kade Boehme - 2015
    But when Jody came out and ended his marriage, Bobby's entire worldview was skewed, and his own health issues lead to his own coming out. Fast forward four years and Bobby runs into Jody again, but Bobby may be too busy making up for lost time to see how great they are together.Jody Olsen's got guilt and mommy issues, but his coming out was smooth and his life had settled into a mundane pattern of kissing frogs while waiting for prince charming and helping run his mother's book store in New York's East Village. When Bobby comes bumbling back into his life with a surprising shared passion for the written word and an endearing love for sugary Frappuccinos, Jody can't help but be quickly swept up by the man.The struggle to be patient with Bobby and his being unsure about being committed to someone is not an easy one. Does Jody hope for his happy ever after with Bobby, or is the lure of chasing the rainbow too much to fight against?Includes a fresh-faced divorcee with his nose in romance novels and his heart in the clouds, a thirty-something fresh out of the closet, chasing a missed youth and trying to find his place in the big gay world he'd missed out on... and a little dirty suit sex.

Hottie Scotty and Mr. Porter


R. Cooper - 2016
    Well, there’s one other openly gay man in town—Henry ‘Cole’ Porter, a widower who runs the school library, but after one drunken night together, Cole has kept his distance. Scott is used to that. He spends a lot of time working out, and from the slow way he talks and the frat house atmosphere at the fire station where he works, it’s easy to assume he’s stupid. Most people are happy to admire his body and assume that’s all he wants from them, and deep down, Scott is too afraid to try asking for more.Which is why Scott has been secretly pining after Cole for months when some of the town’s nosier residents decide Cole has been single long enough. They have a plan to throw every professional gay man in a thirty-mile radius Cole’s way, whether he likes it or not. Their list of candidates doesn’t include Scott, and Scott’s insecurities prevent him from stepping forward—even when it seems as though Cole is asking him to.Cole is everything Scott isn’t; highly educated, stylish, with refined tastes. He’s also stubborn and sarcastic, and not nearly as smart about the workings of his own heart as people might think. It might take a lot of the wrong men for him to realize the right one has been in front of him all along.

Owl's Slumber


Nicky James - 2018
    Who’d want to date a mortician? Who’d want to date a guy with a phobia so crippling he couldn’t enter his bedroom at night? His problems are impossible to hide. One night stands are all he can afford. If anyone learned of his ridiculous issues, they’d never understand. Until Aven lands on his doorstep, boldly asking for a date, clearly seeking more.But if Finnley can’t open up about his past and his struggles, will Aven decide he’s too much and walk away? Or will he provide the strength and support Finnley’s been looking for to finally admit he needs help? Owl's Slumber is a hurt/comfort MM romance with moderate angst. It is the first in the Trials of Fear series but can be read as a standalone. **This book has been re-covered, but all content is the same**

Home Again


Cardeno C. - 2011
    He holds it together, taking comfort in the fact that the man he has loved since childhood, his partner, Clark Lehman, is on his way. But when Clark finally arrives, Noah is horrified to discover that he doesn’t remember anything from the past three years, and he simply can’t understand why. It will take some painful confrontations if Noah’s going to figure out why he’s lost all memories of his recent past... and secure the future he’s dreamed of having with Clark.