Happy Gay Friday - part 2

Yep, that's right. I have two posts today. This one is my weekly one with the Happy Gay couple pic (that I don't want to miss for the obvious reasons) and I just posted another one with a short review of William Cooper's debut story Broken Bones, Mended Hearts with a giveaway. So, if you want a chance to win this m/m book, be sure to check out that post too. :)

Now, for my weekly m/m reads: it’s been a nice week again. I’ve read the first two books from James Buchanan’s Taking the Odds series: Cheating Chance and Inland Empire. I absolutely loved them, especially the second one and I’ll write a review about it soon. I also read the, with this series connected, free stories about Nick and Brandon, from the author’s site: Squirrel Run (c) 2008, Spree (c) 2007 and Measure Up (c) 2008. And two others that appeared in the Toy Box anthologies Handcuffs and Rope, called Technique and A Little Trust (a reread). After that I started reading the third Nicky and Brandon book, All or Nothing, but felt I needed a little break from the guys, lol! They’re rather intense ;)

So, I read a bunch of quickies:

Give and Take by Anne Brooke
Really cute story with an HFN (Happy For Now) ending. It's about an older guy going out again after 2 years of mourning over his deceased partner and hooking up with a young man who knows what he needs. I wouldn't mind reading more about them...
3.5 stars

An Australian Christmas In New York by Sean Kennedy
Very short but lovely Christmas story (I don't mind reading seasonal stories out of season). It's a snapshot from the life of two guys, one American and one Australian, who know each other for quite some years and live together in New York. The Australian bloke gets homesick around Christmas time and his boyfriend tries to make him feel better, which is really cute. It's a fun read for a half hour or so, but it's too short to leave a deep impression if it wasn't for the author's excellent writing.
3.5 stars

Start From The Beginning by Chrissy Munder
Beautiful written story about two older men who have their scars and disabilities to learn to live with. It's not a passionate-let's-hop-in-the-bed story but more about a very careful sensing and learning to know each other kind of relationship. I think, it took more than half of the book before the two men even exchanged a word with each other. Even so, the attraction between them is tangible and believable. There's a lot of sexual tension and their feelings are told from both men's point of view. My only niggle is that the story ended too abruptly, which left us with just a HFN (Happy For Now) ending rather than a HEA, and with far less smexy scenes than could've been.
3.75 stars

And last but not least, William Cooper’s debut Broken Bones, Mended Hearts that I reviewed here.

I hope you had a great reading week too!

Happy Gay Friday everyone!