Review : Guyliner by J. Leigh Bailey

Title : Guyliner
Author : J. Leigh Bailey
Genre : Contemporary, Gay Romance, Young Adult
Published : October 17, 2016
Rate : 4.5 Stars

FOR TACO Bell guy, wherever you are.

Though you may not recognize me, you have changed my life. I remember the first and only time I saw you. It was November 2012. It was rainy and cold, and when I entered your place of employment...

And there you were, standing behind the register, head tilted down. Your shaggy dark hair hung in front of your eyes, and it wasn’t until I thanked you after placing my order that you looked up. Your eyes, your beautiful light blue eyes, were accented with a thick line of black eyeliner. The shock of this, the incongruity, took me aback. You were such a shy, quiet-seeming boy. But the eyeliner indicated that there was maybe something more.

When you handed me my receipt, I was again shocked. On your arm, barely visible under the sleeves of your Taco Bell uniform shirt, was a patchwork of scars from wrist to elbow where they disappeared under your sleeve. Burn scars.

My mind started to sort through ideas of how you were burned. What happened?

And thus, from our brief meeting on a cold November night, Guyliner was born. So thank you, wherever you are. May life treat you right.

JLB

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What an interesting things to know how this story inspired from.

And for "TACO Bell guy", wherever you are...

Thank you for being there, at the right time and the right moment, and inspiring the author to write  this beautiful-heartwarming story....

May you also have your own HEA, dahling.

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You make me feel things I’ve never felt before, and suddenly I’m questioning everything I thought I knew about myself.

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This is the heart-warming story about "The Guyliner Guy" and "The Golden Boy" that will melt your heart...

The cover totally mesmerized me and I fall in love with the cover instantly. It gave strong impression to me and I can catch a glimpse of my darling, Adam Lambert from the guy in the cover.

So, YES!
I'm SOLD to the cover and drawn by the blurb!

Even when I found that the story was purely YA (which is actually not my cup of tea) and can be classified as "a clean-romance" (which is - AGAIN - definitely NOT my taste!!!!), BUT  SURPRISINGLY....at the end - I DON'T CARE!!!!

I ENJOY the story right from the very first part to the last page.
Well, I must confess that some thing that happened at nearly end of the story a bit 'cheesy' for my taste, BUT AGAIN,  I-DON'T-CARE!!

It's because the story already CONSUMED me.

Well still, there's a time I want to punch Connor right at the face just for Graham's sake, but DAMN - I can't!

Because I KNOW, it's not easy being in Connor's shoes and dealing with ALL things that happened in his life.

And Graham...
How i admire this strong-unique-young man, a survivor and also 'a savior'...
What he'd been through really make me cringed.

Hugging both Graham & Connor so tight that's exactly what I wanna do in the entire reading...

I didn't expect any tears when I started this book.

But then...I got teary eyes from a 'surprise twist' at nearly end of the book.
Very well said, dad!

And finally, last but not least, to the author...

Thank you for all the butterflies in my tummy I feel during the entire reading and for bring the guyliner guy 'alive'....

I RECOMMENDED THIS BOOK TO ALL!!

Review : Undercover Boyfriend (One Fine Day #1) by Jacob Z. Flores

Title : Undercover Boyfriend (One Fine Day #1)

Author : Jacob Z. Flores

Part of series : One Fine Day (but can be read as stand alone)

Genre : contemporary Gay Romance, M/M Romance with suspense and humor

Release Date : June 15 2016

Rate : 4.5 Stars

"And I promise to be the best pretend boyfriend there ever was. I’ll make it seem like you hung the moon and the stars..."

If you already SOLD only by the blurb, then I can tell you that you'll ENJOY the story EVEN MORE!!
Trust me....both Luke and Marty will 'entertaining' you to the last page.

Martín Valdez aka Marty trying to find a perfect pretend boyfriend to face Christian Wilder, the jerk ex-boyfriend, who also just so happened to be best friends with his sister’s fiancé and the best man at their upcoming wedding.

He even create an imaginary boyfriend, Tim Drake, the hot underwear model who lived in California, to con his family.

But the problem is...where to find  a real Tim when his mom-zilla demanding him to bring his boyfriend to the wedding?

Fate then bring him meet Luke Myers, a FBI agent who've been working undercover in El Dragón’s drugs cartel operations in San Antonio for months.

Right when Luke need a place to hide because someone had  blown his cover and put his life in danger, Marty came to 'save' his life...

After a bit funny miss understanding at the beginning, both Luke & Marty finally come to 'an agreement', Luke agreed to become Marty's pretend boyfriend.

Is everything okay then?

Nope!

When Marty life is in danger and become a murder target because of him, Luke make a promise to protect Marty's life and will do ANYTHING to keep him alive....

Well, I think I KNOW who the FBI mole is.... but DAMN, I think the author  succeed fools me with the twist!
And for THAT !! - this book deserved FOUR STARS from me!

Well, good job, Jacob!

This book is exactly what I need to spend my weekend with. And I'll recommended this simply-fun-light-reading to ALL !!!

Can't wait to start the next book!

Review : Open Seating by Mickie B. Ashling

Title : Open Seating
Author : Mickie B. Ashling
Genre : Contemporary MM Romance/Gay Romance
Published : June 10th 2016
Rate : Four Stars

For all their outward differences, they were very much alike—two damaged men looking for love.

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Through the years, Bryce gained a reputation as a player, which was preferable to being stuck in a miserable situation. He was a huge fan of the Grindr app and used it without compunction. Monogamy was unrealistic, in his opinion, and he couldn’t understand the big rush to get married when half of marriages ended in divorce.

Commitment, monogamous life are two things that never existed in Bryce's life.

One fuck, one night stand, never with same guy, no string attached.
That all he need. Period.

When his late gym buddy partner, Seth - asked him to fill Mark spot on their supposed to be anniversary romantic journey on cruise, Bryce cannot say no to the offers and won't let Seth to go alone...

Worried that Seth will doing something 'stupid' on his journey, Bryce had prepared himself not only as Seth 'companion' but also as his 'nanny', 'bodyguard' and as a 'psychologist' if it needed, if - in any case - Seth come into a meltdowns.

Didn't want to spend three weeks the vacation by himself and facing his loneliness grieving over Mark death and 'betrayal', Seth decided on last minute to asked Mark's gym buddy, Bryce to accompanying him.

Soon Seth know he had make a HUGE mistake by asking Bryce with him, they don't have anything in commons at all. Bryce straight-forward-bluntness words and spontaneous was opposite to his introvert-always on schedule life. They argue a lot during the first few days of their time together and often trapped in awkward situations.

But it's not an easy things to do to maintain their no-string-attach-arrangement when Bryce started to feel more for Seth.

Seth brought out more than the gentleman in him. Bryce wanted to protect him and make sure the rest of his life was smooth sailing after his recent troubles. He didn’t want anyone to fuck with his head again...

Will Bryce dare himself to make a decision that he'd been avoiding this long for a commitment?

Will Seth finally out of his guilty feelings over Mark's death?

Will there's a second chance for a happiness?

Give yourself to this beautiful story about the second chance and enjoy the story...

“Why me?” Seth asked. “And this is the part that confuses me,” Bryce said. “You aren’t my type, and yet… I’m drawn to you."