Book picks similar to
His Dark Savior by Ali Lyda
m-m
mm
dnf
romance
Born for Leaving
Jude Munro - 2020
Too bad distractions, like the hot little convertible he has his eye on, cost megabucks. And Oliver is flat broke. Renting the spare bedroom in his rundown beachfront cottage is his only option to pick up the cash he needs--a risky proposition, as Oliver is the polar opposite of a people-person. When he responds to a bizarre ad in the Waterfront Gazette seeking summer housing, he gets more than he bargained for. But Oliver can cope... After all, how much harm can a single quirky tenant do to his tightly guarded life in three short months?Where Oliver is a loner by design, urban cowboy Bodie is a loner by necessity. A family dispute long ago dropkicked him onto the path of a lifelong wanderer. This changes when Bodie moves into the tiny beachfront cottage and starts working the door at Oliver's bar.Despite Oliver and Bodie's nearly paralyzing instinct to avoid commitment, they fall into a wary romance. And to their surprise, life as a couple is sweetly satisfying; that is, until their jealous boss devises a cruel plan to destroy the tentative bond they've built. True to form, Bodie hits the road, leaving Oliver to lick his wounds alone.Can these wounded souls defy their urge to flee and fight for love?**Trigger Warning: discussion of childhood sexual molestation of adult character, graphic physical violence, off-page coerced sexual relationship
The Painting of Porcupine City
Ben Monopoli - 2011
His coworker Fletcher Bradford is looking for a heaven spot of his own, and his is even more elusive. Out since age 12, Fletcher's been around more blocks than Mateo has ever painted. He's dated all the jerks, all the creeps, all the losers in between. At 26 he's decided the only way to meet a nice guy is just never to give him a chance to prove otherwise. When he's introduced to Mateo, Fletcher expects to add another notch to his bedpost. But Mateo is different--and from him Fletcher will rediscover a long-lost feeling: surprise. What Fletcher finds in the trunk of Mateo's car will change his life in ways he never imagined--and may help him find what he's always wanted.From the author of THE CRANBERRY HUSH comes an epic story spanning years and hemispheres and miles of painted walls. At times sexy and sweet, gritty and gut-wrenching, THE PAINTING OF PORCUPINE CITY takes readers along with Mateo and Fletcher on an adventure through the subways of Boston to the towers of São Paulo. Are you in?
Zac's Mulligan
Ann Lister - 2016
Seeing all the guys around him in committed relationships reminds him of his childhood best friend . . . the only person Zac has never managed to get out of his head or his heart. Ben Holland is an artist. Falling deeply in love with his best friend in his teens, Ben is left alone when Zac leaves him for the military. Ben heads off to college and lives his life “out and proud” as a gay man and creates a brand name for himself with his artwork. Throughout all the years that pass, Ben never forgets his childhood friend, Zac, or the feelings they once shared. Zac realizes a decade is too long for Ben not to have a presence in his life and finds Ben living on Cape Cod where they spent their summers as kids. Meeting each other as adults stirs up a lot of memories for both of them. Zac is looking for a mulligan, a “do over,” with his childhood best friend. The question is: Can Ben find a way to put aside his old hurts and fully open his heart to Zac for a second time? Or maybe the past is something better left buried on the beach where it all began.
Hijacked
Lucy Lennox - 2021
His life, his prestigious reputation, his career, his future.Things he can’t control this time around:• His meddling grandfather • His annoying gamer cousin• Buggy South American jungles• Being the meat in a feuding cartel sandwich• Getting kidnapped by a monologuing drug lord•Falling for the very hot, very mouthy ex-soldier from his pastIn short, Carter’s peaceful, well-planned life has been… hijacked.
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.
My Brother's Best Friend
Aiden Bates - 2020
That’s always been the rule in our house. In a big family it’s the only way to keep the peace. That doesn’t stop my heart from belonging to Nico, my older brother’s best friend. I’ve been able to put aside my feelings for years, but now that I’m an intern at the law firm he owns, all those feelings are threatening to overflow. He says he doesn’t do relationships, and that work is all he has time for, but when things heat up between us I know I’ve found something worth fighting for. I’ll prove to Nico that I’m the guy for him. It’s time to throw out the old rules and make new ones of our own.
Just Be You
M.E. Parker - 2018
Of all the songs he’d written, why did it have to be that song? Over ten years had passed since he’d written the song and even more since Scott had become obsessed with Marshall Donavan, his brother’s best friend. It didn’t matter that Scott hadn’t seen Marshall in years. Nor did it matter that Marshall never belonged to him or even that Marshall was straight. Scott never managed to stop thinking about him. When Scott got a call from his manager asking him to submit a song for a movie and a call from his brother Abe informing him of Marshall’s engagement to Julia Sterling on the same day, Scott took it as a sign. It was time to say goodbye and forget Marshall Donavan forever. Submitting ‘Just Be You’ to the movie executives was supposed to be Scott’s way of letting go—of forgetting, of saying goodbye. But his plan backfired when the movie became a box office success overnight and his song was nominated for a Grammy. There was no way he’d ever be able to forget. The song would follow him for the rest of his life and so would his unhealthy obsession with Marshall Donavan. It didn’t help things when he found himself face to face again with the man who had consumed his thoughts for years. No, it didn’t help at all when he saw the still very sexy and very straight Marshall Donavan for the first time in eight years. It didn’t matter what would happen between them. As soon as he saw Marshall again, he knew that giving up his obsession wasn’t an option… Just Be You is a standalone, full-length, ‘brother’s best friend’ romance novel. It has ‘gay for you’ and ‘first time gay’ themes, is stocked full of STEAM, heartache, laughter, and has a guaranteed happily ever after ending.
Inevitable
Briar Prescott - 2021
We were always inevitable.When Drew meets Ezra, he doesn’t expect much. A one-night stand and a quick goodbye in the morning. That’s how these things usually go. Only there’s nothing usual about Ezra and the connection that forms between them.When Ezra meets Drew, he doesn’t expect much. A distraction and parting as strangers after a night of meaningless fun. That’s how these things usually go. Only there’s nothing meaningless about Drew and the relentless spark between them that just refuses to disappear.When Bas meets Ezra… things get complicated. As if being hopelessly in love with his best friend isn't painful enough. Throw in an unexpected friendship that develops with the one-time hookup of said best friend, and the results are messy at best.But sometimes beautiful things emerge from messy and complicated beginnings, and where two isn't enough, three might be just perfect.
Release
A.E. Ryecart - 2020
But an act is all it is, as underneath he’s never felt more adrift as he struggles with crippling self-doubt. Sean’s distilled life into three simple rules: earn enough cash to get by, stick close to the friends who have become his family — and don’t let anyone steal his heart. Art is Laurie Cassell’s profession and passion. His calm and ordered life is just how he thinks he wants it, but it’s becoming harder to ignore the creeping feeling that calm and ordered has become dull and predictable. Laurie craves more but doesn’t know what, or not until a man with dark hazel eyes and a bad attitude swaggers into his life — and leaves with his heart.
Two men who should never have met, let alone fallen in love. Can Sean and Laurie release the other from lives that are holding them captive?
*** Release is a slow burn, opposites attract MM romance. Found family, good friends who give advice our men don’t want to hear, and the redemptive power of love can all be found between the pages. No cliff hanger, and a guaranteed HEA. ***
The Sweetest Thing
E.M. Denning - 2019
James
has led a complicated life. He was once on the fast track to a career in professional sports but turned his back on a promising future to barge out of the closet in the most dramatic way possible. Now, he’s a hairdresser with a love of feminine fabrics, and a crush on his brother’s best friend, Nathan.
Nathan Blackburn
is fleeing his over-protective mother. He’s glad to be back in the town he grew up in, even if he’s there to fix up his aging grandfather’s house. While visiting, he uses a hook up app and falls into bed with an alluring stranger. Only, the man he shares an incredible night with isn’t a stranger… it’s Scotty. Despite the short-lived deception, Scotty and Nathan can’t stay away from each other. Fighting through family friction, personal responsibilities, and a limit on Nathan’s stay, their relationship turns into the sweetest thing either of them has ever known. With the clock running out and commitments rearing their head, Nathan will have to decide between fulfilling obligations, or following his heart.
Daddy Wanted
Susi Hawke - 2018
Must love dogs. Reply ASAP Toby Andrews is a busy, forgetful, scatterbrained musician with ADHD, a precocious dog named Ruffles, and a bad rep for partying too hard. When Toby’s actions put an all-important contract with a large label in jeopardy, his manager sarcastically suggests that the omega needs a keeper who'll redden his bottom if he steps out of line. Toby is intrigued, so when he sees an ad for a discreet company called Rent-a-Dom while scrolling his social media page, he impulsively sends a request for a Daddy Dom to help him stay on track. Thorne Barrett is a jaded, worn-out daddy of a Dom who has no desire to babysit some naughty, out of control, celebrity brat. The alpha reluctantly takes the job, promising himself he’ll find new employment when the contract is over. He doesn't know what his next step might be, but whatever it is, he hopes it will leave him stable enough so he can settle down and think about having a family of his own. Neither man is precisely what the other expected. Once Thorne gets his naughty 'boy' settled into a routine, Toby begins to blossom and find better ways to focus... and most importantly, stay of out trouble with the paparazzi. Between band issues, a crazed stalker, an unexpected pregnancy, and a thirty-day cross-country tour, Toby has a lot on his plate. Can he find stability for himself and Ruffles with Daddy Thorne? This MM book contains mpreg, D/s elements, and is intended for 18+ readers. Warning: Don't read unless you like fun books with feisty Chihuahuas, naughty boys who really want to be good, hot daddy alphas, a story that will keep you in stitches, and steam-filled passion. But then again, this is a Susi Hawke and Piper Scott collaboration—you already knew to expect that, didn’t you?
Dedicated
Neve Wilder - 2018
And he has no idea.”
Messy-haired, soulful-eyed, off-kilter lyricist Les Graves holds tight to the hedonist’s credo of consumption in every avenue of life. He has trouble staying still, trouble staying sober, trouble turning down a good time—but put a pen in his hand, and he’ll set a page on fire.Music was Evan Porter’s ticket out of the backwater mud puddle he was born in, the passion keeping him warm as he busked on street corners, fueling him through a dead-end bartending job. Every chord, every song, every ounce of sweat has been devoted to making Porter & Graves a success. He’s the level-head, the quiet maestro, the seatbelt that keeps Les from flying too far out of control. And he’s getting pretty tired of playing savior.Their onstage chemistry is electric, offstage it's… complicated.After Porter & Graves’s third album bombs, the pressure is on for the duo to redeem themselves with their fourth. While sequestered in an East Tennessee cabin to compose, things take a turn for the worse when an event from their past comes back to haunt them in an embarrassingly public fashion and forces them into an unusual position that tests a partnership already hanging by its bloody roots.Can Evan and Les find harmony or will they—and their music career—go down in flames?
Dedicated, the first standalone in the Rhythm of Love series, is a steamy bisexual friends-to-lovers romance featuring semi-kinda forced proximity, a fake relationship, angst, snark, a cock-blocking greenhouse, really poor decisions involving social media, and a HEA guarantee.
*Please note that this book contains reference to and depiction of a mmf scene.*
Honeymoon Refrain
Harley Grace - 2020
But when he finds his fiancé buried deep not in wedding preparations but in his best friend, Andrew calls the whole thing off and cashes in that plane ticket for a solo honeymoon.Rock star Cord Fabien’s whole life blew apart when his band broke up.Now, he owes his label a solo album, but all he wants to do at the new gay resort run by the mysterious billionaire Adrien Blissand is hide from the paparazzi and lick his wounds. But when one sad interior designer catches his eye, Cord finds the inspiration to make beautiful music again.Two men, completely adrift, find in each other the strength to pursue their passions. But Bliss can’t last forever, and the lives they’ve left behind are waiting to shatter a romance that bloomed in paradise.
Completely Changed
Kamisa Cole - 2019
You pick who you love. It’s what my adoptive mother taught me. It’s what I believed all my life. Until Alec McGowan walks in. As head of security of the bar we work at his safety is my responsibility. But it’s more than that. He buries himself under my skin, and no matter how much I fight it, I cannot stop thinking about him—or wanting him. It’s when tragedy strikes that I realize Alec might be all I ever needed. But… Is it already too late for us?
DiverCity—Seattle’s hottest bar—invites you to a place where love is love is love.
Better Be Sure
Andy Gallo - 2019
Easy. Won’t be him kicked of the house.So what if his luck with guys on campus has been shitty? Ed Knowles is Jack’s winning ticket.Tall, handsome, hardworking—and he doesn’t go to Harrison.With every stolen look, every secret kiss, every clandestine touch Ed becomes more than just an answer to a bet.These cloak-and-dagger meetings that set Jack on fire? They mask one tiny, enormous obstacle: Ed’s not out. Can’t attend the dance.What does Jack do now?Hold on to his legacy… or his heart?"Better Be Sure" is a sweet, slow burn M/M romance with a heart-pounding HEA. This New Adult, college, opposite sides of the tracks novel can be read as a standalone and in any order.