Book picks similar to
The Real Baxter by Lane Hayes
m-m
age-gap
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mm-romance
Stupid Love
Riley Hart - 2020
Shaw Hastings is a headache. He's so full of himself it makes me crazy. Our official language is snarky banter--which I don't enjoy, I swear. I've got eyes for my bestie Danny, anyway. I need to figure out if he feels the same, so I email an advice column written by a serial dater, who's just as annoying as Shaw. Now, I'm asking myself why am I thinking less about Danny and having a blast virtually flirting with Anonymous?ShawI don't know why I like my adorable neighbor, Elijah Coleman. We've got nothing in common, yet somehow he's both boring and kinda fun. He reminds me of this guy who emailed my advice column, so it shouldn't be surprising that--oops--they're the same person. Imagine me then offering to help Elijah get Danny in real life just because it means spending time with him. We go from angry neighbors, to frenemies taking dancing lessons together, to a flirtatious friendship where I enjoy making him happy.No matter how much we fight it, Elijah and I are stumbling toward the L word. It's messy and scary, but then he smiles, strikes a beautiful dance pose, or kisses me, and suddenly it's not so bad. He's ruining me, and I sort of like it. Stupid love. Unfortunately, with my track record of running scared, I just might wreck the only real relationship I've ever had.Stupid Love is a low angst, frenemies to lovers story, with an anonymous advice column, flirty emails, banter and other fun shenanigans. There's no love triangle or cheating in this book.
The Best Friend
Raleigh Ruebins - 2020
It didn’t matter that he was a football star and I was a mathlete, or that I was gay and he was straight. We stuck together like glue--until he married a girl and ran away.Now Mitch is back home, and he’s a divorced single dad. His son is in my math class, and I collide with Mitch everywhere in this small town. When he starts bartending at the only local gay bar, I’m screwed. Red’s Tavern is my haven, but how can I fake it for other guys when I’m in love with the big jock behind the bar?Then Mitch invites me into his bed, saying it's just for fun. But I’m addicted to him the second his body is on mine.I’ve done the math a million times. I know the odds are bad, but I know I want him.And now that he’s given me a taste, I can’t stop begging for more.
The Boyfriend Game
Stella Starling - 2018
Carter Olson never expected he’d get a chance to date his older brother’s best friend, Rip Taylor. Wished for it? Yes. Fantasized about it? Possibly too much. But ever thought it would actually happen? Not in a million years, since Rip is straight. But even if it’s just to try and win a gay game show, having Rip for a boyfriend—even a temporary/pretend one—is still the best thing to happen to Carter in... well, ever. Especially because Rip’s so good at it. Amazingly good, actually. So good that Carter starts to hope that maybe it won’t have to end once the show’s over… If there are two things Rip Taylor lives for, they’re having fun and being there for his friends, so a trip to Vegas to help surprise his best friend’s girlfriend with a big, flashy proposal sounds awesome. And even more fun? His bestie's plan to try and win some prize money for the wedding by signing the two of them up as contestants on The Boyfriend Game. The game show is sponsored by the gay dating app bLoved, and Rip is all in. He may be straight, but he's never been narrow, and when circumstances (aka a best friend who can't hold his tequila) mean that little Carter Olson gets roped into being Rip's fake boyfriend instead, that’s almost better… because who wouldn’t be able to be a convincing boyfriend to Carter? After all, Carter’s hella sweet. Kind of adorable, actually. And really, really easy to get into character with… Winning The Boyfriend Game? Rip and Carter have it in the bag. The Boyfriend Game is a gay romance novel of approximately 75,000 words that contains some confusion about tops and bottoms, a straight guy who realizes he isn’t, an ice cube that melts much too fast, and the kind of luck that can only be found in Vegas. Every Stella Starling romance takes place in the same interconnected, contemporary world. The Boyfriend Game is a standalone book with cameos from other Stella Starling stories, a #boyfriendsbybLoved spinoff that takes place around the time of the epilogue from Ready For Love (Book One of the Semper Fi series).
Scum
K.A. Merikan - 2021
Now, I will ruin his son.”
Shane. Ex-con. No-good bastard. Scum.Rosen. Trust fund boy. Virgin. Sucker.Shane is straight out of prison, and has one goal only—to wreck everything dear to the man who put him behind bars. And number one on that list is Rosen, Ed Beck’s son. Shane’s plan is to incriminate the boy, but when the dreamy blue eyes meet his, Shane can think of a hundred other ways to ruin Rosen right under his father’s nose.If Rosen’s dad is to pay for his art degree, Ros has to stay on the straight and narrow. Join a fraternity, avoid scandal, and keep his sexuality under wraps. Seems easy enough until he meets Shane, a bad boy from the wrong side of the tracks. All sanity goes out the window, and the slippery slope leads Rosen down a path of violence, blackmail, and passion too sizzling to be denied. Shane thinks he’s in control, that Rosen is just a means to an end, a tool to be manipulated. But as a love he’d never even dreamed of becomes real, he’s starting to realize he doesn’t have to be the ‘scum’ society’s been telling him he is.Shane now stands at a crossroads, between Rosen and revenge.POSSIBLE SPOILERS:Themes: blackmail, revenge, manipulation, ex-con, secrets, rich/poor, class differences, age gapGenre: Scorching hot M/M dark romanceLength: ~73,000 words (Standalone)WARNING: This story contains scenes of violence, attempted SA, offensive language and morally ambiguous characters.
Emerett Has Never Been in Love
Anyta Sunday - 2021
After losing his best friend to marriage—completely crushing his heart—he deems it prudent to distract himself, and what better way than playing cupid?He’s already got his eye on two young men desperately seeking romance, and he has a plan to hook them up.Barbecues.Photoshoots.Reciting Shakespearean love declarations.Lake is killing it. Love is positively pulsing in the air. Anyone could see it.Well, anyone other than Knight, his best friend’s dad, who cautions Lake to stop meddling. To leave love to its natural course.Lake has always valued Knight’s frankness, but this time he’s wrong. Without him, two hearts might be doomed never to find love.Besides, what does Knight know about romance? He’s barely dated in all the seven years Lake’s known him. He’s clueless.Though, there’s a thought. Knight has everything going for him. Sensibility. Kindness. Generosity. And for a forty-four-year-old, he’s—objectively—freaking hot.Why is he single?~ ~ ~“. . . [T]here may be a hundred different ways of being in love.” ~ Jane AustenAnd a hundred different ways not to recognize it.
Top Priority
Cara Dee - 2019
They would date, play, build something that was just for them, and share a future together. In a perfect world, Colt Carter would get through his next deployment and then move closer to DC where he could create at least a semblance of a personal life. He wanted something outside of the Air Force, something kinky, something worth leaving everything behind for eventually. For years, he’d kept his inner Sadist and Daddy Dom locked up, only letting him out to play on rare occasions. In a perfect world… In reality, Lucas and Colt met each other. Top Priority is the first novella in The Game Series, a BDSM series where romance meets the reality of kink. Sometimes we fall for someone we don’t match with, sometimes vanilla business gets in the way of kinky pleasure, and sometimes we have to compromise and push ourselves to overcome trauma and insecurities. No matter what, two things are certain. This is not a perfect world, and life never turns out the way you planned.
Strong Enough
Melanie Harlow - 2017
I wasn’t looking for Derek Wolfe.I wasn’t looking for anybody. All I wanted was to start a new life in America. But when I found myself stranded here with no place to go, he came to my rescue, offering me a place to stay.He’s smart, successful, and sexy as hell—I can barely sleep knowing he’s right down the hall. And when the chemistry between us explodes one night with fierce, fiery passion, it’s hard to deny there’s something real there.But he does.He says he was drunk. He says it was a one-time thing. He says he’s not into guys and what we did meant nothing.He’s lying. Because it happened again, and again, and again. And it’s better every time. I know we could be good together, and I want the chance to try, but I’m done hiding. If he’s not strong enough to admit the truth, I’ll have to be strong enough to walk away.
Grumpy Bear
Slade James - 2021
It’s opening weekend at my clothing-optional campground, guests are starting to arrive, and I’ve got a pool party and a few hundred peoples’ vacations to save while battling Mother Nature’s tantrums.The last thing I need is a temporary employee who can’t even put up a tent.Luke Cody’s not my type. He’s too young, too pretty, and too much like my late partner. Another flaky musician? No thanks. But when a storm blows down his campsite, I can’t just leave him outside and soaked to the bone. Now he’s staying in my cabin, sleeping in my bed, and worst of all, he’s completely ignoring the proverbial sign over my head that says Grumpy Bear: Do Not Approach.I’m not quite as immune to his charms as I want him to believe, but he’ll only be here for a few days.Nothing’s going to happen…
Grumpy Bear is a boss/employee, grumpy/sunshine romance set at a gay campground full of bears. (Not shifters; the other kind of bears.) It’s the first full-length book in the Bear Camp series and can be read as a standalone.
Chef in the Wild
M.J. O'Shea - 2019
Fancy parties, celebrities, magazine write-ups, his own little empire of stainless steel and fire – he thought all of it was forever. It only takes one awful meeting for everything he’s worked for to be yanked out from underneath him. And one fateful meeting with the owner of food truck, of all things, to realize maybe what he thought he wanted isn’t what he needs after all. Murphy Haynes chose a different route. He decided right away that high-pressure kitchens weren’t for him so he took his skills on the road. If he happens to stop in a certain well known chef’s neighborhood more often than anywhere else on his route, sue him. He’s his own boss for a reason and there’s something about Baldwin Powell that he can’t resist. They’re opposites in nearly every way – On paper it should be a disaster. But life and love in the wilds of Manhattan rarely work out the way anyone expects
Dirty Forty
Mia Monroe - 2021
Business partners, roommates, best friends...we do everything together. But the last thing either of us expected was to be staring forty in the face just as single as we both were when we made a silly, drunken marriage pact twenty years ago. The problem? Zach is gay…and, well, I’m not. Under pressure from family, that pact comes rushing back, and I lock us into a fake engagement. But is it possible some part of me wants it to be real?Convincing Zach I’m legit is another story. With each passing day, I wonder if my feelings of affection for my best friend can morph into the love I desperately want in my life. Something in Zach’s eyes tells me we can have it all if we just try. It may have taken me a lifetime to see Zach with new eyes, but with every touch and discovery, it’s been worth the wait. On the edge of Dirty Forty, it’s time to go for it.All I have to do is convince Zach it’s real.Dirty Forty is a best friends to lovers, marriage pact, demi/bisexual awakening featuring thirty years of pining, a fake engagement, curious kisses, and two guys finally embracing what’s always been in front of them.
Any Given Lifetime
Leta Blake - 2018
Neil isn’t a ghost, but he feels like one. Reincarnated with all his memories from his prior life, he spent twenty years trapped in a child’s body, wanting nothing more than to grow up and reclaim the love of his life. As an adult, Neil finds there's more than lost time separating them. Joshua has built a beautiful life since Neil’s death, and how exactly is Neil supposed to introduce himself? As Joshua's long-dead lover in a new body? Heartbroken and hopeless, Neil takes refuge in his work, developing microscopic robots called nanites that can produce medical miracles. When Joshua meets a young scientist working on a medical project, his soul senses something his rational mind can't believe. Has Neil truly come back to him after twenty years? And if the impossible is real, can they be together at long last? Any Given Lifetime is a stand-alone, slow burn, second chance gay romance by Leta Blake featuring reincarnation and true love. This story includes some angst, some steam, an age gap, and, of course, a happy ending.
The New Normal
L.J. Hayward - 2020
Two of his closest friends are getting married, and he’s taking a new, exciting step in his career as a doctor. Most amazing though, his best mate has been given the all clear from cancer. But Brian’s normal has just been tipped A over T and the friendship he’s relied on for years is in danger. All because of five little words.Andrew Fitzroy should be on top of the world. The cancer that’s haunted him is gone. He can finally get on with his life—except he doesn’t know what that life is anymore. Is he brave enough to come out as bisexual? Should he pursue architecture or stay in construction? Either way, Andrew knows happiness won’t be his until he has what his engaged friends have—love, joy, passion. So, he says those five little words to Brian—I’m in love with you.Friends since childhood, Brian and Andrew have always been closer than brothers. Best mates. Nothing could ever tear them apart. Except for those five little words. Now, Brian’s not sure about so many things—their friendship, his own desires—and the foundation Andrew’s built his world on feels like its crumbling. But if they manage not to destroy everything they have together, Andrew and Brian might just find a new normal with each other.
Work-Love Balance
Allison Temple - 2020
Except the fine line between hate and attraction means sometimes Brady can’t help it when he crosses the boundary from professional and personal.Recently divorced, workaholic Nash knows he’s hard to please. When the smart-mouthed IT consultant he depends on to keep his office running offers a no-commitment hook up, it seems like exactly what he and Brady both need to get through a busy summer at work. No one has to know about their arrangement.But the more time they spend together, the more secrets they have to keep from the people around them, and from each other. The lies are piling up, until it’s hard to tell who’s fooling who. If Brady and Nash want to find the balance between work and love, a little honesty will go a long way.Work-Love Balance is a 67k contemporary MM romance. It’s hot enough you’ll want to make sure the air conditioning is on in your cubicle, and heartfelt enough you’ll want to smack both characters before the end. HEA guaranteed.
Commitment Issues
Ali Ryecart - 2021
I’m twice his age and old enough to be his father. He’s an adorable mix of sexy, smart, sassy, shy and sweet. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to be forced into taking him as my fake date to my oldest friend’s wedding, just because my cheating ex will be there. Freddie Elliot’s everything I want in a man, he’s my ultimate silver fox fantasy. But I’ve had my heart ripped out by an older guy before, and I’ve vowed it’ll never happen again. So why have I let myself be talked into posing as Elliot’s arm candy at a posh wedding? From fake date to friends with benefits, commitment’s not part of the deal. So where does falling in love fit in? MM Romance.
City Boy
A.E. Wasp - 2017
He’s been playing professionally since he was fifteen. Twenty years later, he’s rich, famous, tired, and alone. And possibly gay according to his ex-wife.When a blown tire leads directly to mind-blowing sex with a motorcycle-riding white knight named Dakota, Bryce discovers he is most definitely gay. Now Bryce has a tough choice to make, follow the money to a new multimillion dollar contract, or follow his heart into the unknown?All Dakota Ryan knows how to do is grow apples. Now at twenty-four, he faces losing both his home and his livelihood in one cruel twist of fate.Then Bryce Lowery crashes into his life like the answer to all of Dakota’s prayers. He’s whispering promises to make all of Dakota’s wildest dreams come true. But Dakota knows better than to give his heart to someone who could leave, and if life has taught him anything, it’s that everyone leaves.Dakota has a choice, sit back and wait for Bryce to decide his fate, or for the first time in his life, chose what he wants his future to be.City Boy is a first time gay, fish out of water, May/December love story with a happy ending. It features snarky siblings, a dirty-talking farmer, lots of food, and big choices. (No poultry was harmed in the making of this book.)