Book picks similar to
Hot Mess by Zane Menzy
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Absolving Ash
Chantal Mer - 2020
Driven to be worthy of the second chance he’s been afforded, Ash built a life centered around giving back to his community, all while maintaining a low profile. When he finds himself thrust into the spotlight of a bachelor auction to help one of his favorite causes, he never expects to come face-to-face with the sexy man who’s career he destroyed.Isaiah Blake has spent a lifetime proving he’s deserving of what he has. After a hit on the ice prematurely ended his NHL career, he committed to becoming a better version of himself. Now, he’s living an open and honest life. So, when he has an opportunity to interview bachelors participating in the Hockey Allies auction for the Hockey Network, the only thing he’s hoping to gain is exposure for his non-profit. That is, until his former rival Ash, steps onto the auction block. Isaiah sees an opportunity to make amends for the suffering he caused ten years ago. Unfortunately, Ash is wary of Isaiah’s motives, and soon Isaiah realizes there is more to Ash’s cautiousness than the history that binds them.Attraction takes hold as Ash and Isaiah begin to build a new professional alliance and friendship. They must learn to forgive each other, and most importantly, themselves. With outside forces and public opinion hawking, will their relationship be over before it begins? Or will they discover joy and redemption in each other, and find their happily ever after?
Whiteout
Ann Grech - 2016
What could go wrong? Or will it be the moment they get all they’ve ever wanted? In discovering their bisexuality, will Reef and Ford be brave enough to reach for each other?Pro-snowboarder, Reef Reid, is at the peak of his career. He has it all. Except the one thing he desperately wants: a lover, the white picket fence and his happily ever after. Disillusioned and exhausted, he flees to a tropical paradise to defrost.But a ticketing mishap lands him in the ski village of Queenstown, New Zealand.Stratford ‘Ford’ Wallace loves the ladies, but rarely sticks around longer than a night. Falling for a man wasn’t on the cards, but everything he knows is flipped on its head when the enigmatic Reef Reid literally drops out of the sky.When a whiteout traps them on a mountaintop neither expects sparks to ignite. They’re unable to resist each other, but will they give into temptation? Or will the avalanche that tears through the mountain end them?Whiteout is book one in Ann Grech’s international hit male/male romance series, Unexpected. Books 2 and 3 continue Reef and Ford’s story through the highs and lows of the pro-snowboarding circuit. You’ll fall in love, want to slap a certain someone or two and swoon over these two men who are made for each other.
Better Together
B.L. Maxwell - 2018
He lives in constant fear, stresses over his next meal, and dreads trying to find a safe place to sleep at night. He eventually finds an unlocked car and settles in to sleep, but is soon interrupted when someone steals the car. With little choice but to ride along, Caden soon learns that first impressions aren’t always correct. Seventeen-year-old Damario has been raising his little brother and sister by himself since his parents were deported. He never knew how hard it was going to be paying the bills and making sure there was always food on the table. Or how hard it would be to hold his family together when they all depended on him to do it. He finds himself stealing cars to make ends meet, but he never expected to find someone sleeping in the back of one of them. And he really didn’t expect this stowaway to change his life. When Damario brings Caden home, it was supposed to be just for a shower and a hot meal, but he can hardly kick him out onto the streets again. There is no way he could have seen that by saving Caden that night, he was also saving himself. When Damario’s world starts to fall apart, they both realize that the answer to all of their problems is helping each other, and although the world tries to drive them apart, they really are better together.
Nothing Ventured
Jay Northcote - 2014
Can Aiden and Matt sort out their feelings before race day?When Aiden agrees to run the Mad Mucker--a twelve-mile muddy slog over an obstacle course--he's expecting it to be a bit of a laugh. The training will be tough, but Aiden could use the motivation to regain some fitness.Matt is the sexy cousin of one of Aiden's coworkers and a last-minute addition to the team. When he agrees to train with Aiden, Aiden suddenly finds the prospect of regular workouts a lot more appealing.Soon attraction flares, and they embark on an intense physical relationship. Matt doesn't want to fall in love with a man, and Aiden doesn't want to fall in love at all, but despite their insistence on no strings, they grow closer. As the day of the race approaches, time is running out for them to work out how they feel about each other.This book is a standalone story with a satisfying happy ending.Please note that this is a re-release, and although it has been re-edited with British spellings it has no new content.
The Viking and the Drag Queen
V.L. Locey - 2022
The only son of the late Danish hockey great, Elias Hemmingsen, Tyr has always done his best to follow the plans his father had laid out for him: Finish school, make it into the pros, become team captain, find a biddable young lady to marry, and win a championship so the Hemmingsen name lived on eternally on the side of a massive silver cup. Like the good son he is Tyr has done as his father wished no matter how it peeled away layers of his true self. Then all the neatly placed supports that hold up his so-called life come crashing down during a night on the town. Tyr might be known as the ‘War God of Wilmington’ on the ice but there’s no battling the effect Gigi Patel LeBay has on him. Elijah McBride lives for the spotlight. As Gigi he bewitches and bedazzles the crowds at the Campo Royale Club. His vibrant stage persona is the face he presents to the world. Underneath the rouge, eyeliner, and lipstick is a young man who still feels the sting of his parent’s disapproval and rejection of the son who wears wigs and dates other men. With his drag family and older brother in his corner he’s finally found peace in his life. Until that fateful night a massive hockey player shows up the club. There’s a world of hurt in Tyr’s soft brown eyes and Eli finds himself falling for the big man despite all the barriers he’s built around his tender heart. The Viking and the Drag Queen is an opposites attract gay romance with heavy checking, lipstick worship, an out and proud queen, a closeted athlete, family lost and found, twink/jock, a new beginning, and a well-cinched happy ending.
Love Next Door
Grant C. Holland - 2018
For Alec, it was Jensen. Nearing 40, Alec is the product of a broken home and brother of a man who ended his life far too young. Despite all of the barricades life erected for him, Alec managed to construct a secure and stable life for himself owning a home in a gay-friendly city neighborhood. Unfortunately, his life is a lonely existence. Alec’s loneliness is magnified when cancer strikes his mother swiftly like the bite of a cobra and takes her away at astonishing speed. In his late 20s, Jensen has lived next door to Alec for three years. In their only extended interaction, Alec dismissed the young man he considered careless, and it left Jensen bitter and uninterested in building bridges. When Jensen’s best friend, Les, spots Alec with his stricken mother, he suggests an act of sympathy. A moment of caring leads to the thawing of the icy wall between the neighbors. Soon, the concern leads to desire and tenderness, but waves of grief and a sudden storm in Jensen’s life threaten to drown them both. Love Next Door is a 57,000-word enemies-to-lovers romance that includes a May-December theme and the impact of grief. Suicidal thoughts and abusive behavior are mentioned but not described explicitly. The book includes steamy scenes and a happy ending.
The Alpha's Captive
A.J. Jarrett - 2013
First, they murdered his parents, and now they’ve taken his brother. With no other options left, Devon decides an eye for an eye, or in this case a brother for a son, is the best course of action, and he takes the son of the man who kidnapped his brother. But his plan blows up in his face when he realizes the man in question is his mate.Aiden Stefano never imagined a weekend at home would start off with him being kidnapped by men claiming to be werewolves or that he would fall for one. Now he must find a way to convince Devon what they share is worth fighting for and prove to his father that wolves aren’t the monsters he believes them to be. Shouldn’t be too hard, right?Aiden is the only thing Devon has to bargain with, but can he give up his mate to save his brother?
Breakaway
Kindle Alexander - 2021
Now, as a uber-successful venture capitalist for eco-friendly startups, he doesn’t let anything get in the way of his goals—whether personal or professional. When a new fitness app schedules a site-wide cycle race, Greer’s competitive side won’t let him back down. Not even when his undivided attention turns to the one racer he can’t beat: Biker101.Dallas Reigns learned a long time ago to keep his head low and his focus forward. He gives his all to a business he started with his brothers, BikeBro. But he worries his all might not be enough if they can’t gain traction before their financial ship sinks. A chance meeting with a hard-hitting venture capitalist is just what they need. Until his resistance is tested when the striking blond man shows interest in more than just his company, challenging all Dallas’s etched-in-stone boundaries. When the illusion of Dallas’s life threatens to crumble under the weight of his own desire, can he find a way to fortify his iron will, or will Greer help him breakaway from the restraints of his past?
Love in an Elevator
Sean Michael - 2007
On a job he meets business executive Josh Silvers. Josh is a force to be reckoned with, tall, and self-confident, he seems to be able to reach right into Scott's psyche and give him exactly what he needs. The only problem is that Scott doesn't take orders, while Josh seems awfully fond of giving them. Still, despite his occasional protests, Scott seems to be following them just fine. For now. Will that change if Josh goes further than Scott wants to? Or does Josh really know him better than he knows himself. Stay tuned to this serial to find out!
A Lesson in Pride
Jordan Chambers - 2015
After the closeted college student has a drunken meltdown at his well-to-do family's Christmas party (involving a few bombshell confessions and some not-so-polite uses for the angel tree topper) he suddenly finds himself disowned and cut off from the family funds. Back in New York, Josh tries to put the hangover behind him as he prepares for a swanky art competition. Of course fate has other plans, and after crossing paths with a mysterious bad-boy named Luke, Josh begins to question everything he thought he knew about himself. Josh can't help but think that this unrefined biker (dreamy as he is) is the last thing his reputation needs right now. But when Luke drops a few bombshell confessions of his own and Josh is left to find out who his true friends are, the artist might just find that opposites attract. "A Lesson in Pride" is a steamy standalone novel with HEA and no cliffhanger.
Street Love
Chris Ethan - 2016
This version contains mild edits but no significant changes to the story.Please read trigger warnings in the front of this book.
The Carpenter
Robin Stone - 2017
One small bed. Two ex-lovers. What could go wrong?Broken-hearted Grant retreats to a cabin in the woods to work on his master's thesis and escape the sadness of a recent breakup. A blizzard is on the way, but Grant has food, books, and a cozy fireplace. But when a loud knock jolts Grant from his chair, he's stunned to see his intense ex-boyfriend, Adam...Adam wants to win back Grant's love, but it won't be easy. Harsh words were spoken during their breakup, and Adam's struggling to heal from his wounded past. Grant wants to start a family, but Adam can't imagine being a father...The men cooperate to stay safe and warm during the blizzard, but they can't deny their feverish attraction. They discuss a future together, but old hurts surface. Can Adam and Grant resolve their differences and have the future they always planned, or will this weekend be their final goodbye?The Carpenter is a 20,000 word standalone gay romance with a Happily Ever After.
Weekend Boyfriend
Dillon Hunter - 2019
Newly single and with a class reunion just a couple of weeks away, all of his old high school friends are about to find out that his picture perfect life is actually falling apart. Except maybe nobody has to know. Maybe Trevor can still have his cake and eat it, too.
“Pretending to be gay to score a free trip home? Nothing to worry about, right?”
Wyatt Hayes never expected that his life would be this hard. The modeling contract he’d scored was supposed to have been his ticket to the good life. Waiting tables and sharing a walk-up studio the size of a shoe box was never supposed to be part of the deal, but even those things are easier to stomach than constantly having to make excuses to his family to hide the fact that he’s too broke to visit.
“One weekend, no strings attached.”
But sometimes even the best laid plans can get a little tangled when faking it starts to feel a little too real…
Weekend Boyfriend is a steamy standalone featuring a hopeless romantic whose life isn’t nearly as perfect as he would like everyone to believe, a waiter who isn’t quite as straight as he thinks, and a class reunion where anything might happen. No cliffhangers and a guaranteed happily-ever-after ending.
Almost Heaven
Ruthie Luhnow - 2017
A paid vacation with his celebrity crush seems too good to be true—and he quickly finds it is.Ezra McKinnon has a reputation for being a brilliant writer—and a bit of a diva. After the runaway success of his first novel, Ezra suddenly finds himself spending his time partying instead of writing. Ezra feels the pressure to replicate the success of his first book, and the last thing he needs is a traveling companion who can't seem to shut up—and who Ezra can't keep his hands off.Between car breakdowns and hotel room mix-ups, the disastrous trip forces the two men to work together. Around Charlie, Ezra finally feels comfortable letting go of his celebrity persona, and Charlie thinks he may have found a guy who treats him well. But as soon as they're back home, things start to fall apart.Will their fledgling relationship survive the real world, or was this just a brief road trip fling?Almost Heaven is an enemies-to-lovers m/m contemporary romance with plenty of (slightly kinky) heat, and a happy ending.
The Island: The Vanished
C.J. Bishop - 2021
But they soon discover there is no rest for the weary as they are immediately faced with another crisis—missing loved ones that seemed to have disappeared into thin air. With no leads and no idea if their loved ones are dead or alive, the gangsters are desperate to dig up a single clue—anything to set them in the right direction.As the gangsters are about to lose hope, an unexpected lead takes them to the last place their loved ones were seen. With a reluctant witness and a forced confession, they are left with little to go on… until a group of strangers—in search of their own lost loved ones—provide another piece of the puzzle that ultimately leads the two clans to a place of hellish imaginations… and terrifying revelations.THE BASE... After the unexpected, violent encounter with his arch-enemy Alexander Kane, Ardan MacNamara, the founder of The Base sanctuary for child prostitution victims, finally closes the door on his dark past. His honorary adoptive father, Fabian Bloom, who also suffered horrific physical, sexual and mental abuse at Kane's hands, no longer looks over his shoulder, enjoying his new life to the fullest.But then, Ardan's three sons and their friends are kidnapped in broad daylight, only a few hundred yards away from The Base, and the two men's world collapses. Numerous search parties are organized and no stone is left unturned, but the kids are nowhere to be found. The evil force behind the kidnapping seems to be greater and more dangerous than anything Ardan and Fabian fought against.Desperate situations require desperate measures and, for the first time, the two men search for help outside their circle of traditional allies. Even if they'll find it, Ardan and Fabian are aware that, this time, they may not make it out alive.