Book picks similar to
All the Cuts and Scars We Hide by Garry Michael
mm
m-m
dnf
mm-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
Strong Signal
Megan Erickson - 2016
My days were spent working on military vehicles, and I spent my nights playing video games that would distract me until I could leave Staff Sergeant Garrett Reid behind. That was when I met him: Kai Bannon, a fellow gamer with a famous stream channel. I never expected to become fixated on someone who'd initially been a rival. And I'd never expected someone who oozed charm to notice me - a guy known for his brutal honesty and scowl. I hadn't planned for our online friendship to turn into something that kept me up at night - hours of chatting evolving into filthy webcam sessions. But it did. And now I can't stop thinking about him. In my mind, our real life meeting is perfect. We kiss, we fall into bed, and it's love at first sight. Except, like most things in my life, it doesn't go as planned.
Chasing Shadows
Annabelle Jacobs - 2016
The police are convinced Michael drowned, but Jamie knows better. No way would Michael swim to his death, especially on a beach with a wicked rip tide. Finding a stranger in his brother’s cottage only deepens his misgivings. Felix Bergstrom is recently discharged from the British Army. Unable to put the past behind him, he takes an unhealthy interest in old acquaintance and millionaire businessman Karl Weston, hoping to catch him up to no good. Michael’s disappearance adds fuel to Felix’s suspicions. Weston’s clifftop home overlooks the beach where Michael supposedly walked into the sea, but Weston has an alibi for that day. When Jamie and Felix meet, the physical attraction is instant. Mistrust keeps them from acting on it until finally all their secrets are laid bare. But time isn’t on their side. Before they’re able to work out whether they have a future, danger catches up with them and threatens to put an end to everything.approx 60,000 words
Grumpy Cooper
Fel Fern - 2021
Especially not the cute nerdy guy who just moved into 3B. His new next door neighbor pushes all his wrong buttons. Sam is annoying and obnoxiously loud. When Cooper discovers Sam and he have plenty in common, Cooper decides to give Sam a second chance. Maybe it’s finally time for Cooper to make room in his heart for someone new.Computer programmer Sam Green overturned his entire world for his ex. He quit his job and moved into a new town only to have his heart broken. To make matters worse, his sexy and inked neighbor seems to hate him on sight. When an accidental kiss changes everything between them, Sam wonders if Cooper can be more than a rebound fling.Grumpy Cooper is a low-angst, neighbours to lovers, contemporary standalone MM romance featuring a die-hard nerd and his grumpy hot neighbor.
Totally Trucked
B.J. Blakely - 2020
If you’re not careful, you can even fall in love.I hate relationships. It’s why I became a trucker.Long nights on the road mean you’re never in one place long enough for a guy to break your heart.But when my rig breaks down in the small town of Bear Springs, I discover my ideal life might not be so ideal after all.How can I keep truckin’ after the anonymous man at the local rest stop steals my heart?I find myself falling for him more each day, until I learn a secret about him and I can't keep pretending it's a casual fling.He's stolen my heart, but can I push past my fear of rejection and make him mine?Or will I fall flat on my face like last time, and end up totally “trucked?”Totally Trucked is an opposites attract low angst MM romance with an age gap, high levels of heat and steam, and a happily ever after that will leave you feeling warm and fuzzy as "truck." It is the first in a series of four age gap novels slated for early 2021 release.
Jaywalking
Rachel Ember - 2020
Maybe there’s something—or someone, missing. But dating is hard enough for vanilla people. Emile doesn’t just have to find someone he wants to date—he has to find someone he wants to kneel for.Jay likes playing soccer, reading poetry, and handsome men in tweed vests. Men like Emile, who Jay can’t forget after they connected on a rainy July night. Their encounter awoke a powerful urge in Jay to take, command, and control that has haunted him ever since. Jay had hoped that starting college would distract him, but that hope died when he showed up for the first day of his literature class and discovered Emile was his professor.When Emile tells Jay they can’t be together, Jay is still determined to figure out a way for the two of them to explore what they share. And Emile craves Jay’s gentle dominance too much to resist him. Jaywalking includes an age gap, a professor-student relationship, BDSM, a very polite dog, explicit sex, and a happy ending.
On Solid Ground
Melissa Collins - 2015
The man who normally has a clear path to victory surrounded by brothers in combat is suddenly lost and alone. After meeting Beckett Ridge, a bearded tattoo artist, Dax’s journey begins winding down an unexpected path. Still reeling from events that shook his foundation, Beck has never been part of anything meaningful. Now faced with responsibilities foreign and daunting, Dax’s broken spirit mends Beck in ways he never even knew he was destroyed. As both struggle to find balance, they are healed by the comfort they find in one other. On the other side of chaos, they hope to find themselves On Solid Ground.
At War
Andria Large - 2015
Not only have I lost my right foot, but I have also lost my wife. Both at the hands of terrorists. Recurrent nightmares, a dead end job, and a painful limp are all I have left. Not much of a reason to wake up in the morning if you ask me. I’m struggling to carry on in this very lonely excuse of a life. The only reason I’m still swimming is because I have my best friend, Tucker, and my sister, Lizette, keeping me afloat. Tucker has been my saving grace. I would not be here if it weren’t for him…literally. We have become practically inseparable since moving in together. And then, out of nowhere, there are these feelings and emotions. The kind that I haven’t felt in years; not since I lost the love of my life. The kind that I’m not sure I can handle, or even want to. But they have started wrapping around my broken and shattered heart, trying to mend it - whether I’m ready for it or not. Only they are not for a woman as you would expect, but for the man suddenly sharing my bed. Am I ready to give love another go? I’m not so sure that I have it in me. But then again, I’m tired of being at war.*Warning: For mature audiences only. Contains some sensitive situations and graphic m/m sex scenes. Please remember that this is a work of fiction and comes from my own imagination.
Looking In
Michael Bailey - 2017
Years of physical and emotional abuse followed, leaving him scarred in body and mind, mired in the belief that he is unlovable. He spends his days working in a comic shop, and his nights alone wrestling with the ghosts of his past. As a Marine, Adam Duncan has sworn to protect and serve, and there is no one he is more protective of than his brother and nephew. When tragedy strikes, threatening the security of his family, his protective instincts kick in. But how can he fight an enemy he can’t see? David and Adam feel the connection between them, but David has built walls around his heart that no one has bothered to break through, until Adam. Adam can see what a special man David is, and is willing to do whatever it takes to break down those barriers. Can he make David see he doesn’t have to keep living his life…Looking In?
An Infatuation
Joe Cosentino - 2015
As a teenager, it was love at first sight for Harold while tutoring football star Mario, until homophobia and bullying drove Mario deep into the closet. Now they’re both married men. Mario, a model, is miserable with his producer wife, while Harold, a teacher, is perfectly content with his businessman husband, Stuart. When the two meet again, will the old flame reignite, setting Harold’s comfortable life ablaze? How can Harold be happy with Stuart when he is still infatuated with his Adonis, his first love, Mario? Harold faces this seemingly impossible situation with inimitable wit, tenderness, and humor as he attempts to reconcile the past and the future.
Gravitational Attraction
Angel Martinez - 2012
They may need to save far more than each other.A mysterious distress call draws the crew of the Hermes to what appears to be an empty, drifting ship. Empty, except for the gore-spattered corridors and one survivor locked in a holding cell. Drawn to the traumatized man, the crew's comm officer, Isaac Ozawa, makes Turk his responsibility, offering him kindness and warmth after the horror he experienced.Turk longs for Isaac, a desperate, hopeless ache he'll always carry with him.But Turk’s brain harbors dangerous secrets, a military experiment gone wrong. When an amoral, power-hungry admiral kidnaps Isaac to convince Turk to become the weapon he's hungered for, it will take Turk’s strength, the Hermes crew’s ingenuity, the enigmatic Drak'tar’s help, and Isaac's own stubborn will to save them.
The Telling
Eden Winters - 2009
He'd left Alabama hoping to escape a dull, small-town life, only to return four years later, lugging a duffle full of personal demons. Cookesville, Alabama isn’t the most welcoming place on earth, particularly for a gay, Hispanic student wanting nothing more than to earn his degree and get back home to Texas. An image of a somber young man that he knows only by name and the stories told by an adoring sister comes to life when Michael returns home, just as Jay is already half-way to losing his heart.Michael’s biggest battle lies ahead, and he’ll need all the help he can get to find his way in a world where he no longer fits in. Jay’s not sure where he fits either, but it could be next to the war-torn soldier who needs his strength.***Proceeds from Amazon sales are being donated to PFLAG.
Defenseless
A.J. Rose - 2016
Young and in love, and with the Supreme Court ruling in favor of marriage equality, the world is theirs to conquer.But their victorious Pride celebration ends in a savage attack, brutally demonstrating they’re far from equal. Instead of wedding planning, Jesse and Kyle face an arduous recovery and a shattered sense of their place in the world, their once-promising future suddenly something to survive.While Jesse struggles with a permanent injury and its emotional aftermath, Kyle’s single-minded focus on Jesse’s recovery is the only thing keeping his demons at bay…for now. What was a once-in-a-lifetime kind of love is now full of lies and resentment.With their dreams tattered and forever changed, trusting anyone—even each other—is daunting. So how can they have faith in twelve strangers on a jury? They’ve already learned the hard way it only takes a moment to become truly defenseless.
Broken
Bruce Rodgers - 2018
My new patient, an ex-SEAL is wounded My work as a physical therapist can heal Brad’s physical wounds. But his emotional wounds are what need attention the most. This brave Adonis, who has fought valiantly for our country, will find the biggest battle of his life off the field… when he’s come home. The battle to live as his true, authentic self. Do I have what it takes to rise to the occasion and fill the deep hole in his psyche?
Will he open up his heart so I can show him the man he was meant to be?
Broken is a full length standalone romance novel that contains no cheating, no cliffhangers and an HEA. And plenty of steam. A M/M Bad Boy Romance
Second Star to the Right
A.F. Henley - 2014
When another lonely holiday seems like too much weight to shoulder, Mason gives up on romance and seeks out the next best thing—rented company. Jack is everything a person could want in an escort: willing, hot, and built like an angel. Mason can't resist. After all, who wouldn't be interested in a guy who loves kid's movies, is a self-professed Peter Pan, and has no problem throwing caution to the wind at a moment's notice. But then interest quickly blooms into a whole new emotion—an emotion that Mason knows far too well, especially when Jack has no interest in returning it, preferring to keep his heart safely tucked away in Neverland.