Review Tour: Lucky by Garrett Leigh #review #Giveaway

Buy Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK

Length: 70,000 words approx.

Cover Design: Garrett Leigh @ Black Jazz Design

Blurb

Dominic Ramos is a Premiership football player with a secret. There are no trophies for being gay in his game. Locked into his rep as the meanest defender on the pitch, keeping his secret is soul-crushing, but love has no place in his sport, even if his soft heart craves it.

Lucky Coleman is on his knees when he meets a man with more money than sense. It’s a Grindr hook-up for cash, not a love match, but dreaming of his desperate, kind eyes earns a place amongst his numerous bad habits.

Meeting once was risky, twice pushes Dom’s courage to the limit. Losing Lucky seems inevitable, but his tight grip on his image counts for nothing when Lucky starts to fall.

Catching him could cost Dom everything, but if he can set his heart free, getting Lucky long term might be a risk worth taking.

Review

So it should come as a shock to absolutely NO ONE that I am a huge Garrett Leigh fangirl. I've read everything she's written to date (some books multiple times- hello Pete and Ash <3) and while I've loved some books more than others, I've enjoyed every single one of them. I'm also a huge fan of sports romances-hockey and soccer especially- so when I saw that she was going to be writing her first sports romance, I couldn't wait to see what she would do. I expected the compelling characters, the angst, the chemistry between the main characters, but what I didn't expect was just how invested I would be in the love story between Dom and Lucky. From the very first page of Lucky I was thoroughly sucked into their lives and couldn't put the book down. 

Dominic "Dom" Ramos is a professional football (soccer to us here in the US) player and has been deep in the closet for so long he doesn't see a way out. He's miserable, has lost his love for the beautiful game, and above all else, extremely lonely. His only relief, if you can even call it that, comes from anonymous Grindr hookups. There are no connections, no intimacy, just an outlet for pent up sexual frustration. It's a hard life, one that has beaten Dom down, made him angry and apathetic to everything around him until he meets Lucky. From the very first moment they meet, Dom knows that nothing will ever be the same again. He tries to resist, he tries to keep his life the way it is, no matter how unbearably unhappy it makes him, to the point there are physical manifestations as well as making it extremely difficult for Dom to allow himself to be close to anyone. He has no friends to speak of, no family he's close to, and his teammates are more like a means to an end than anything else. I ached for Dom. Truly. I felt his fear of coming out, his anger at himself and the world around him, felt his shame for being afraid to be himself, his desperate need to feel anything. 

Lucky Coleman is exactly who Dom needs to jump start his heart and bring color into his life. Oh, Lucky isn't easy by any stretch of the imagination. He's practically homeless, has erratic behavior, uses drugs when the world closes in on him, but this man who is so opposite of Dom in every way--from attitude to looks and stature--is exactly who Dom needs. I adored Lucky. His personality, though not exactly bubbly and effervescent, is full of hope. Even when things looked their darkest, Lucky still clung to the hope that things could get better. One of the things Garrett does better than almost any other author I read, is her ability to show how gritty and raw life can be sometimes. And how when faced with the realities of life, you don't always make the best decisions. Her characters are flawed, they make mistakes, they get angry and say things that hurt or are cruel ... but man, this IS life, right? Garrett's books are definitely romances, but the HEA's her characters achieve are hard fought and never easy. I appreciate the battles her characters fight, with themselves, with each other and with the outside forces around them and it makes her characters so real and so easy to relate to. 

While Lucky isn't an easy book to read, it's one that you won't be able to put down. Dom and Lucky, together and apart, are fascinating characters full of heart and emotion and yeah, there's some (or a lot depending on your viewpoint) of angst, but it's so good and really just so HOPEFUL that you'll be rooting for these two right from the get go. I loved everything about this book. The pacing was perfect, the dual point's of view (another thing Garrett excels at!) was handled with just the right touch, the characters, the emotions, the sex scenes. All of it was done in the brilliant way only an author with Garrett Leigh's immense talent can pull off. Don't let Lucky pass you by people, its a gem and you'll fall so in love with Dom and Lucky just like I did. I'm SO super excited this is a series and I can't wait to see what the next book brings!

 

September 18 - Mikku-chan, Urban Smoothie Read, Lelyana's Reviews, Gay Book Reviews, Cdawgz Reads, Gay Media Reviews, My Mind's Landscape, Dilyana's World, September 20 - Katie's Book Corner, Open Mind For A Different View, Cupcakes & Bookshelves, Megan's Media Melange, Rainbow Gold Reviews, The Blogger Girls, Bookaholic & Kindle, September 22 - Love Unchained Book Review, The Librarian's Corner, Sanaa's Book Blog, September 26 - Bonkers About Books, Making It Happen, Amy's MM Romance Reviews, Wicked Faerie's Tales & Reviews, Wicked Reads, September 28 - The Way She Reads, Reading In Sarah's Corner, My Fiction Nook, We Three Queens, Diverse Reader, MM Good Book Reviews, October 1 - Book Lovers 4Ever, Sexy Erotic Xciting, October 3 - Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words, Kimmers' Erotic Book Banter, Jim's Reading Room, October 5 - Mirrigold, Lillian Francis, Bayou Book Junkie, Nerdy Dirty & Flirty, Mainely Stories, SLLY 

Garrett Leigh is an award-winning British writer and book designer, currently working for Dreamspinner Press, Loose Id, Riptide Publishing, and Fox Love Press.

Garrett's debut novel, Slide, won Best Bisexual Debut at the 2014 Rainbow Book Awards, and her polyamorous novel, Misfits was a finalist in the 2016 LAMBDA awards.

When not writing, Garrett can generally be found procrastinating on Twitter, cooking up a storm, or sitting on her behind doing as little as possible, all the while shouting at her menagerie of children and animals and attempting to tame her unruly and wonderful FOX.

Garrett is also an award winning cover artist, taking the silver medal at the Benjamin Franklin Book Awards in 2016. She designs for various publishing houses and independent authors at blackjazzdesign.com, and co-owns the specialist stock site moonstockphotography.com with renowned LGBTQA+ photographer Dan Burgess.

Website: http://www.garrettleigh.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/garrettleighauthor/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Garrett_Leigh

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Blog Tour: Nobody's Prince Charming by Aimee Nicole Walker #Review #Giveaway

NOBODY’S PRINCE CHARMING

AIMEE NICOLE WALKER

M/M ROMANCE

RELEASE DATE: 03.23.18

COVER DESIGN: JAY AHEER/ Simply Defined Art

COVER PHOTOGRAPHER: WANDER AGUIAR

BLURB

Fire and ice. Oil and water. Vodka and decisions. That’s what Darren McCoy and Wren Davison are: two opposites that shouldn’t mix well. Dare believes in fairy tales, true love, and happily ever after. Wren believes in fast cars, freedom, and no-strings sex. What can these two men possibly have in common? A magnetic pull strong enough to obliterate logic and reason.

For more than a year, Dare and Wren have worked together at the Curl Up and Dye Salon. Dare has pursued the mysterious, brooding man, and Wren has resisted his provocative charm. Then one day, something happens that allows the men to see each other in a new light. Wren learns that Dare hides a heavy heart behind his brilliant smile. Dare realizes that beneath Wren’s gruff exterior beats the heart of a prince.

Passions ignite once the men stop fighting their attraction, but will it be enough to overcome their differences? Is Wren the prince that Dare is looking for? Can Dare teach Wren that true love does exist?

Nobody’s Prince charming is a modern-day fairy tale where some princes ride Harleys, and castle walls are built to scale. It is the third book in the Road to Blissville series but can be read as a standalone book. This book contains sexually explicit material and is intended for adults eighteen and over.

AMAZON US: https://amzn.to/2GEVRiv

AMAZON UK: https://amzn.to/2E7iyq1

Review

I have decided I am adopting Dare and making him my brother! His heart is beautiful. The love he has for his grandfather and the patience he has with Wren are outstanding. Add in his sense of humor and dazzling personality and he's pretty much a perfect human being. He had my sides hurting and my heart aching. 

Wren, he's a tricky guy and has so much anger in his heart. It would take someone like Dare to shatter the icy exterior to get to the soft sweet guy underneath. I understood a lot of what his issues were even if I did feel he was more scared than anything. He never had all the facts about his past and when it all comes to light it's like he breathes for the first time.

I've been waiting on Dare and Wren's story and was not disappointed. So worth every second. This is a pretty light story, next to no  angst, and full of laughs and love. There's no way you're walking away from this book without a smile.

EXCERPT

We didn’t say anything on our way up to Dare’s room because neither of us wanted to risk waking Ralph. We were lucky that we didn’t get caught when we pulled that stunt in the laundry room. Okay, the stunt that I pulled. I knew that Ralph liked me, and I even suspected he knew that his grandson had become very important to me, but that didn’t give me the right to be disrespectful in his home. It wasn’t because we were gay either. I would’ve felt the same if we were a straight couple sneaking up to… Couple? I rolled the word around in my head a few times, expecting a negative thought to refute its validity but none came. I discovered I liked the way the word felt, sounded, and even tasted on my tongue. Just because I didn’t speak it out loud didn’t mean it was less true.

When we got to Dare’s room, we silently undressed each other in between soft kisses in the muted light from the lamp on the bedside table. The mood between us was different like we both had realized something important that day: what we shared was poignant and real. There was a confidence in Dare’s hands when he touched me and in his eyes when he looked at me. Did he see and feel the same changes in me?

Even my arousal was different. Rather than the all-consuming fire, it was a slow-burning flame that never seemed to diminish or burn out. It vibrated through me like normal, but new emotions joined the passion: tenderness and a desire for something I didn’t deserve and shouldn’t want. I’d been stingy with my heart for my entire life, giving it only to my mom who had died and a boy who was nearly rejected by his family for loving me. My mom didn’t choose to willingly leave me, but the boy did. I didn’t blame him, but it still hurt, especially when our breakup was only a few months after my mom’s death. I had no one in the world I could count on until I met Jimmy and Danny. I sure as hell couldn’t count on Falcon. Just thinking about him brought on a fresh wave of exhaustion, which killed my arousal.

Dare didn’t seem to mind. He pulled back the sheets and blankets then gestured for me to climb inside. He joined me after I got situated then turned off the light before he rolled over and lay his head on my chest. In the dark, it was easier to find the words that I couldn’t speak to anyone else. Hell, Jimmy and Danny didn’t even know that Falcon was my sperm donor, yet here I was about to tell Dare everything.

“Wren,” he said softly in the darkness. “You don’t have to tell me anything if you don’t want to, okay? If you do want to talk, I promise you that nothing you say will leave this room.”

“I know, Sparkles.” I trailed my hands up and down his back, finding comfort in the rhythm and already familiar feel of my fingers bumping along his spine. “You’d never betray my trust.” I knew it as certain as the sun would rise in the east. No matter what happened between us, Dare would keep my confidence. “Once upon a time,” I began to lighten the mood. I expected Dare to snort, but he giggled. “What?”

“That’s a phrase I use frequently in my head. I tend to work everyday events into fairy tales.”

“Yeah? Who am I?” I asked.

“Prince Charming, duh. Only with longer hair, biker boots, and a beefier body. My prince rides a Harley instead of a horse.”

“Sparkles, I’m nobody’s Prince Charming.”

“You don’t get to decide that,” he said in a singsong voice. “I decide who my Prince Charming is and no one else.”

I ignored the fluttering in my stomach and dug deep for a gruff response. “Fine, but don’t say that I didn’t warn you.”

“Once upon a time…” Dare prompted.

I am a wife and mother to three kids, three dogs, and a cat. When I’m not dreaming up stories, I like to lose myself in a good book, cook or bake. I’m a girly tomboy who paints her fingernails while watching sports and yelling at the referees. I will always choose the book over the movie. I believe in happily-ever- after. Love inspires everything that I do. Music keeps me sane.

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