Lilah Suzanne

Standard rom-com with an eye-opening point of view of one bisexual character (Carter Jacob) and one non-binary character. (Link) Link is left at the altar by Jamie who re-unites dramatically with long-ago love, Matthew, who happens to be Carter's fiance. A little complicated. Carter and Link meet at the hotel bar as each attempts to drown their sorrows. They end up (innocently) spending the night together in the honeymoon suite and then are assumed to be the happy newlywed couple, so partake in all the booked and paid-for honeymoon activities in the Big Easy. It is therapeutic for both of them and some sparks start to fly, but both are afraid of the rebound relationship. At the end of the week, Carter returns to Aurora IL where he has a very dull life as an architect, though he is passionate about the work. After a week or 2 avoiding his shared condo with Matt and crashing with his annoying, though caring sister Paige, Carter rethinks his life and returns to New Orleans to pursue a house renovation dream - and Link. Some hits and misses get a little frustrating - Carter can be so dense I wanted to shake him! Standard Shakespearean comedic ending. Yay! New for me - and challenging until I could override my grammarian training-was the inclusive use of pronouns "they, them, their" to refer to Link. Reading for me is always about learning, so this book succeeded in that regard.… (más)

Nico Takahashi is a stylist based in Los Angeles when his business partner first shows him a magazine article about country-star, Grady Dawson. Busy and always-on-the-go, Nico doesn't think twice about it (beyond hot attractive Grady is) until he finds himself with an opportunity to style Grady for a photoshoot. The chemistry between them is immediate. When the photoshoot goes well - and Nico can't seem to get the country boy out of his mind - he agrees to go to Nashville for another business commitment. Things....heat up and Nico gets tangled up.

Nico and Grady are immediately drawn to each other - which is done in a way that works! I find that sometimes fast connections between characters don't work for me but that's not the case here. These characters are well-written, the instant connection is physical and genuine and the personal connection is slower to blossom.

Of course, their lives become entangled. As steamy and overwhelming as Nico and Grady's intimate life is - the public wants a lot of news about their private life. Nico struggles under the weight of rumors, gossip magazines and the online reminders of Grady's past. This story is a little foray into the world of being an artist and having to deal with fans and paparazzi and the misinformed opinions that come about.

One of the things I really enjoyed about this story was the way that Suzanne wrote Grady. There's enough characterization at first to be intrigued by him... then ... just like Nico, the reader has to wait and see what will be revealed. How real is Grady? Is he as genuine as he seems? What's happened in his past to make him the person he is? Of course, a lot of that is revealed as the story unrolls. You already know that I'm not going to spoil the details for you.

The romance between these two men is a roller coaster ride. They are passionate, sometimes angry, occasionally even hurtful but it's hard not to care about them.

Now is a great time to get The Spotlight Series by Lilah Suzanne. On July 16, 2019, you can get the box set of 3 ebooks for only $8.99 US. Interlude Press let me read Broken Records which is the first book in the trilogy and I loved it.… (más)