Thanks to everyone for hanging out with us during Pride Month. We will see ya again in June 2026 for our next Pride Celebration. Wrapping up Pride month is my Top 5 for the first half of 2025. -Twinsie Tenise
One feels he’s not worthy of love. The other fears he doesn’t know how. But the sizzling chemistry between them has both tempted to explore the unknown.
Cyrus
I was intrigued by Crow at first glance. Who wouldn’t be? He’s a mountain of a man, who was raised in a cult and now lives secluded in the wilderness. But the draw I feel to him goes beyond mild interest. When his intense gaze falls my way, it feels like he can see into my soul, to my deepest yearnings and desires.
I took a bold chance venturing to his mountain uninvited. But I can’t help myself. Despite Crow’s dangerous facade, I feel at home when I’m near him. I’ve never felt wanted or needed…until the mountain man took me in his arms.
Crow
The mountain is my home, the only place that truly suits me. I reveled in my solitude…until Cyrus showed up looking as lonely as I felt. The warmth in his gaze made me welcome someone into my home and my heart when I never have before.
The way he smells. The way he feels. I come apart with his every touch. The past haunts us both. Yet when we’re together, the weight of it is manageable. Cyrus is mine, and I don’t ever want to let him go. Still, I fear that eventually he’ll want to leave the mountain, and for the first time in my life, I don’t want to be alone.
On the Mountain deals with depictions of mental illness, past substance abuse, an MC who was raised in a cult, childhood abuse/neglect and trauma. For a full list of warnings, please use the look-inside feature to read the content warning at the beginning of the book.
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Crow was born and grew up in a cult created by his father who everyone referred to as Chosen. After a series of unfortunate events, he becomes an orphan. Now, as an adult, he is known by the people in the small town of Tranquility as a freak and honestly that is fine by Crow. He would rather not deal with the townsfolk but every once in a while, he is forced down the mountain for supplies. Little did he know, once he returned home from this particular trip down the mountain, his life would be forever changed.
Cyrus has been treated like a warm hole by everyone in his adult life. He doesn’t know what it feels like anymore to be loved by another human as he hasn’t felt the warmth of love since he was a child. When his mother was still alive. A brief interaction with the man he’s heard murmurings about around town has left his mind consumed with the man on the mountain and he cannot wait to “bump into” him again.
Let’s just say their next encounter isn’t as chance. Everything that follows between these 2 broken men is absolutely magical. I would definitely read and/or listen to this book again. Oh, and the narrators voice is sexy af! I will be looking for more audiobooks featuring Zane for sure!
Riven
I’ve never been great at letting people in. Life is easier if I bury my feelings. People tend to let you down, which is only proven when my best friend, Rex, accidentally kills a man and lets me take the fall.
When I get out of prison, the last thing I want is to go back to Clayton, Oregon, but it’s where my grandma lives, the only person who’s always had my back. My plan is to stay out of trouble, steer clear of my old crew, save up, and the second we can, leave town for good.
Parrish
I want nothing to do with my family and their illegal activities. With Riven back, I worry things will get worse. He and Rex have always brought out the worst in each other, but then I discover Riven went to prison for something my brother did, and my family isn’t happy to have him home.
Riven wants nothing to do with me, and I don’t blame him. But like a moth to the flame, I’m drawn to him. It starts out as mutual lust, Riven sating the pleasure he craves, while I get to fulfill my first-crush fantasies. But with every moment, I see there’s more to Riv than anyone knows.
Not everyone would see him as a good man, but to me, he’s the boy who used to try to keep my family’s lifestyle from becoming mine.
And now he’s the man who risked his heart to fall in love with me…and the one who’d risk more to protect me.
Risk the Fall is an ex-best friend’s brother romance that contains violence, drug use, crime, and death of a non-main character.
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Riley Hart’s love of all things romance shines brightly in everything she writes. Her primary focus is Male/Male romance but under various pen names, her prose has touched practically every part of the spectrum of love and relationships. The common theme that ties them all together is stories told from the heart.
A hopeless romantic herself, Riley is a lover of character-driven plots, many with flawed and relatable characters. She strives to create stories that readers can not only fall in love with, but also see themselves in. Real characters and real love blended together equal the ultimate Riley Hart experience.
When Riley isn’t creating her next story, you can find her reading, traveling, or dreaming about reading or traveling, and spending time with her two perfectly snarky kids, and one swoon-inducing husband.
Riley Hart is represented by Jane Dystel at Dystel, Goderich & Bourret Literary Management. She’s a 2019 Lambda Literary Award Finalist for Of Sunlight and Stardust.
Resigned to living a sexless, loveless life, Doctor Nathan Tierney knows something is missing. In a rash decision, he leaves his life-consuming job at Mass General Hospital, Boston, to be the small-town doctor in Belfast, Maine.
With the job comes a house, and with the house comes a handyman-painter. Trent Jamieson, a nomadic artist, and his dog Bentley, are offered free accommodation for the few weeks he fixes up the hospital-owned house.
Nathan is transfixed by this free-spirited, undeniably gorgeous man. Confused but amazed to feel any kind of attraction – much less to a man – Nathan convinces himself to put aside any preconceived ideas, and allows himself to just feel.
As their attraction for each other grows, one man learns to live, the other learns to love. But just who is teaching who?
Disclaimer: This is a re-written fanfiction, available only as a free read. Do not pay to download.
As stated on my blog, this story has not been professionally edited.
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Nathan is ready for a change. He takes a position at a hospital a few hours from home. The job comes with a house. And the house comes with a sexy painter with an adorable dog. They will be leaving as soon as the painting is done.
Before moving Nathans dad said- “take happiness wherever you find it. Don’t deny yourself anything.” I remember thinking what a sweet thing for a dad to say. Nathan hit the jackpot as far as families are concerned. And obviously his family knew things about him that maybe Nathan himlself hadn’t figured out yet.
Trent is an artist. He paints magnificent abstract art on canvas but unfortunately he’s also painting walls because that is what is paying the bills right now. Hes a loner with obvious secrets. It took me a while to work out what was going on with him. Once the layers of that onion were peeled back, the mystery that was Trent started to make a bit more sense.
Sometimes I feel theres more unnecessary angst and drama where 2 men are invoved. If they would just TALK to one another maybe it could have saved some heartache. Mainly MY heartache. At one point I was freaking sobbing. My dog got up and looked at me trying to decide what was wrong with me. Oh nothing much pup, just dealing with some fictional trauma right now, mind your own business!
If I had to describe the book in one word, it would be beautiful. The story was beautiful. The men were beautiful and weren’t afraid to tell each other just that.
The art and story behind it. Beautiful. The acceptance. Beautiful. Nathan’s journey to discovering himself. Absolutely freaking beautiful. And the narrator, Nick J Russo, did a beautiful job with Trents southern accent.
After being dumped by his long-term boyfriend for being overweight, Henry Beckett decides to make some drastic changes. In a vain attempt at getting his boyfriend back, Henry does the most absurdly frightening thing he can think of.
He joins a gym.
Reed Henske is a personal trainer who isn’t sure he’ll ever be ready to date again. He’s sick of guys who are only interested in the perfect body image, never seeing him for who he really is.
As Reed tortures Henry with things like diet and exercise, Henry enamors Reed with recipes and laughter. As the friendship lines start to blur, Henry is convinced there’s no way Thor-like Reed could ever be interested in a guy like him.
Reed just has to convince Henry that life isn’t about reaching your ideal bodyweight. It’s about finding your perfect counterweight.
Contains mature themes.
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Henry has just been dumped by his boyfriend of 8 years for basically being overweight and complacent. He signs up with a personal trainer to try and win back his ex. Before long that mission is forgotten about and morphs into one of growth and self discovery.
Reed the personal trainer, may seem self confident and put together but things from his past left him venerable and a bit guarded. When the absolutely hilarious Henry enters his life,
Reed seems to enjoy spending time with him. But when Reed puts himself out there, Henry seems to doubt Reeds intentions because of his own self worth issues and is bound to ruin this thing before it can even begin.
This is my 2nd time reading this book. The first time I read it, this time I listened to the audiobook. Joel did a great job, as always, with the different people’s voices. I listened to it nonstop from start to finish. This is one of those feel good stories that I can for sure see myself reading or listening to it again and again.
Nolan O’Brien is a public prosecutor, and if he ever sees the name Bruno Barbieri again, it will be too soon. After a long week preparing for the trial of the decade, it takes no convincing to hit the men’s club for a few drinks.
Except the club wasn’t the only thing he hit that night.
Benji Smith works on Wylde Street as a rent boy. When he’s chased by two men, he runs into the path of a moving car. With a no-cops, no-hospital policy and needing to escape the men following him, he agrees to go back to the driver’s place.
The last thing Nolan expects is to offer Benji a place to stay, to recuperate, and to lie low. And the last thing Benji expects is to be attracted to the man who saved him.
But their worlds are about to collide in a way neither of them was prepared for, and both men need to decide what’s at stake, what they’re prepared to lose, and what they’ll fight for.
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Mine for now…
Hearts are going to get involved. You cannot be with someone 24/7 for an entire week with all of the sexual tension and not give into your urges. But what’s even more difficult is not letting feelings get involved once you succumb to the urges.
Benji is keeping secrets.
Nolan is catching feelings.
This arrangement is only for a week.
Ohhh boy! This book was started and finished in one sitting. I loved everything about it. I cannot wait for the next book in the series.
N.R. Walker is an Australian author who loves her genre of LGBTQIA+ romance. First published in 2012, she now has over 70 books, many which are also audiobooks, and numerous translations done in nine different languages.
She loves writing and spends far too much time doing it but wouldn’t have it any other way.
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N.R. Walker was voted 2019 Goodreads M/M Romance Members’ Choice Awards All-Time Favorite Author
and 2020 Goodreads M/M Romance Members’ Choice Awards Hall of Fame
Read more on nrwalker dot net
