His Kindred Spirit by Sloan Johnson

Dane has built his life around not relying on anyone but himself. When he travels from New York City to North Carolina at the request of his estranged, incarcerated father, he learns truths he’d rather not know… along with inheriting a share in his grandfather’s inn. But the place comes with complications, including a man he will have to walk away from—but can’t help falling for.

Brook has only known romance through notes left in a mailbox at the end of the beach. When he’s tasked with showing his boss’s gorgeous nephew what makes Sunset Beach and Bird Island special, he’s compelled to take Dane to his favorite place.

Dane never wanted the inn, but when it’s threatened, he steps up to defend it… and keep the man he’s coming to love by his side and in his life. But first they’ll have to clean up Dane’s uncle’s mess.

States of Love: Stories of romance that span every corner of the United States.

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Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Sarah – ☆☆☆
When Dane heads to South Carolina to meet an uncle he’s never known, he doesn’t expect his whole life to change in a few short weeks. Dane’s family legacy is almost as complicated as the feelings he has for the young man who works at Dane’s family inn.

I wanted this to be a m/m Nicholas Sparks-style read but it just didn’t quite hit the mark for me. Dane and Brook recount their life struggles to each other but I didn’t ever really feel the emotions behind their lives. This is also a little bit too insta-love for me – it’s a book where the connection feels more convenient than fated. Dane is ready to settle down and Brook is living in a town with few gay men. I didn’t feel sparks, I just saw a tidy happily ever after. Romance wise, the story skips from attraction to settled without many romantic moments or relationship building in between.

Dane’s family life is messy, but the book only just manages scratch the surface of his relationship with his dad and his uncle. I wanted more depth and more relationship building. Most of the action in this book takes place within a few weeks with the epilogue almost listing fairly superficial resolutions to Dane’s problems.

I expected to enjoy this story much more than I did. I hope other readers have more positive reactions to the book.

Sloan Johnson is a big-city girl trapped in a country girl’s body. While she longs for the hustle and bustle of New York City or Las Vegas, she hasn’t yet figured out how to sit on the deck with her morning coffee, watching the deer and wild turkeys in the fields, while surrounded by concrete and glass.

When she was three, her parents received their first call from the principal asking them to pick her up from school. Apparently, if you aren’t enrolled, you can’t attend classes, even in kindergarten. The next week, she was in preschool, and started plotting her first story soon after.

Later in life, her parents needed to do something to help their socially awkward, uncoordinated child come out of her shell and figured there was no better place than a bar on Wednesday nights. It’s a good thing they did because this is where she found her love of reading and writing. Who needs socialization when you can sit alone in your bedroom with a good book?

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Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of His Kindred Spirit (States of Love) by Sloan Johnson to read and review.

Place Setting by Claudia Mayrant

Cameron Dunlop has lived in the Lowcountry town of Summer Corners, South Carolina, his whole life. He loves his home, but his little town in the Deep South doesn’t offer much in the way of dating options.

Chef Gray Callahan has enjoyed success in the kitchen, but his last relationship sunk like a bad soufflé. When plans for his sister’s wedding go awry, it provides the perfect excuse to pack up and go home, where he can help out as he decides how to start his life over.

Gray’s path crosses Cameron’s, and he realizes together they might have all the ingredients to save the day—with maybe enough left over for something sweet just for the two of them.

States of Love: Stories of romance that span every corner of the United States.

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Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Ruthie – ☆☆☆☆
This is a very sweet short story. It is truly a happy for now with plenty of promise, which is reasonable given the time period it covers. Cam lusted after Gray in high school, but Cam being four years junior didn't really feature in Gray's teens. Now they are all grown up and the chance for sparks to fly has come at last!

I love that Cam was able to help Gray out with a venue, and that it will possibly ensure that he stays in town for the long term. I enjoyed the foodie discussions, and the indignity suffered by the local "nobility." There were plenty of fun little anecdotes of small town life that padded out the bones of the story and reassured the reader that the two men would be able to find happiness and safety in their futures together.

I would happily have read much more about their future, but was left with a positive vibe and plenty of hope.

CLAUDIA MAYRANT has been exploring the world around her since she was old enough to get around under her own power. Her early travels took her on her bicycle “all the way to but not on the main road.” Happily, since then, she’s enjoyed visiting as many places as she can, from bustling marketplaces and enchanting castles to funky dives. She can’t possibly decide which she likes best, but details of her favorite people, places, and things usually get put in the fiction blender so they can make an appearance in her stories.

Claudia maintains that each new adventure requires the appropriate footwear, which explains her closet. Her passion for taking photographs of the things she sees, does, and eats far exceeds her skill with the camera, but no matter the setting, she has fun trying to get a good shot.

For all her love of travel, she’s most relaxed back in the South on a Gulf Coast beach with good friends, refreshing beverages, and plenty of sunscreen.

Her smartphone isn’t literally connected to her hand, but anyone would be forgiven for thinking so.

Connect with Claudia

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Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of Place Setting (States of Love) by Claudia Mayrant to read and review.

Raising the Bar by Leigh Dillon

Destin Bellingham has inherited a problem. Thanks to his late playboy father, Destin faces putting a For Sale sign on his family’s historic horse farm. Getting his talented stallion, Black Sambuca, into the Grand Prix show ring would put Bellmeade back on the map—if only someone could make “Sam” behave like a show horse.

Disgraced top rider Tonio Benedetto has his own problems, but he can work magic with difficult jumpers, so Destin hires him despite his bad-boy reputation. The street-smart, openly gay loudmouth from Miami and the closeted, buttoned-down son of Old Dominion Virginia make a rocky pairing, but time is running out to save Bellmeade from bankruptcy.

Opposites attract, sparks of tension grow into flames of passion. But if Tonio fails to tame Sam, will true love become a lost cause too?

States of Love: Stories of romance that span every corner of the United States.

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Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Ruthie – ☆☆☆☆
I am really enjoying this series of novellas from a variety of talented authors. In this one we meet two men who have a mutual background in raising and riding horses, but very different views on their sexuality. As they have to work together to try and restore the fortunes of the Bellingham family and Bellmeade estate.

As Destin puts his faith in disgraced rider Tonio to tame his horse Black Sambuca, he also finds he may want to put his own happiness in Tonio's hands too. I loved the horse aspects, and the way the two men deal with the challenge of trusting each other is fascinating. I would happily have read much more about their newfound romance.

LEIGH DILLON is a native of horse-happy North Central Florida but has deep family roots in the Virginia and West Virginia areas. Coming of age in the dinosaur days of cable television, when fledgling channels filled their empty blocks of programming time by airing entire equestrian competitions, Leigh’s young brain became infected with a lifelong mania for show jumping, three-day eventing, and other exotic horse sports. Though tragically denied a pony of her own in childhood, Leigh has wreaked her revenge by including equine characters in almost everything she writes.

A bookbinder and librarian by trade, Leigh has also worked on local thoroughbred horse farms. Leigh’s short fiction has been featured twice in the Florida Writers Association annual story collection, and the Royal Palm Literary Award conferred Book of the Year honors on one of her book-length words in 2017. When not immersed in writing, creating, and curating books, Leigh maintains a backyard habitat for native bees and butterflies, with a special emphasis on growing milkweed to help maintain the population of monarch butterflies. Despite being in-town suburban, this habitat also plays host to frogs, opossums, raccoons, and the occasional urban armadillo, not to mention a dazzling array of birds. Leigh lives with one enormous black cat, two noisy parakeets, and her long-suffering mother.

You can keep up with her latest writing news and releases on her website.

Connect with Leigh

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Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of Raising the Bar (States of Love) by Leigh Dillon to read and review.

In the Desert by Elliot Joyce

Can a Navajo trans teen and a nerdy Catholic find the place they belong... and maybe themselves? In the desert, anything is possible…

When Wren came out as transgender before his senior year, it cost him most of his friends. His father hopes joining a Boy Scout troop might help Wren meet other young men his age and be accepted for who he is.

Felipe Nieves wants the new guy in the troop to feel comfortable, and he reaches out to Wren. They become fast friends… with something more beneath the surface. Those feelings confuse Felipe, since his religion considers this a sin—and he’s always assumed he was straight—but he can’t help pining for Wren. Asking him out will take courage, and getting together won’t be easy… but through their friendship, both young men might find their identities… and learn to embrace them in a unique coming-of-age story set against the beauty of the American Southwest.

States of Love: Stories of romance that span every corner of the United States.

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Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Ruthie – ☆☆☆☆
This is a very enjoyable coming of age story about two boys (one trans) who find that they are drawn to each other when they meet at Scouts. As we spend the last few months before college with them, we get a good understanding of their thoughts and hopes for the future.

We get to meet both their families and understand some of the dynamics which form the background to their developing relationship. Kyle and Travis are also key to getting Wren and Felipe to admit to each other how they feel – and they definitely add the comedy, as well as Kyle being a mentor to Wren.

A lovely mix of a simple young romance, the complexity of not following the standard paths, and a good appreciation of the way it affects family and friends.


Sarah – ☆☆☆
This is a really sweet and innocent feeling young adult romance. It is the story of the unlikely relationship between a gay trans Navajo kid and a closeted Mexican Catholic boy. Both Wren and Felipe are social misfits who find a scout group where they can belong.

I have to admit that I liked the idea of this story more than I liked the actual book. I feel like too many ideas and moments are mentioned but not fully developed. I wanted to know more about Wren’s Navajo culture. I wanted to know more about his sibling relationships. We get some insights into Wren’s experience as a trans teen but I’m not sure we ever properly get into Wren’s head or his heart.

Very few of the characters in this book feel real to me. Wren’s parents say and do the right things. They are nice and good – but they aren’t interesting, and Wren’s family never moves past 80s sitcom family clichés. The teenage characters are alternately far more mature and more kind than real life teens and also more innocent than any high school seniors could possibly be.

Probably because I can still remember dating 18 year old boys, I didn’t ever buy into the nervous hand holding and stolen kisses between Wren and Felipe. This is a sanitised, low-heat romance without much sexual tension between the characters. The result is a sweet and gentle coming of age story. The boys are adorable but not very believable. This is the book I’d lend my mum if she wanted to try a LGBT romance.

ELLIOT JOYCE is a social-media obsessed, selfie-taking millennial and he’s proud of it. He can usually be found in his room playing D&D or in a theater lurking on the catwalks. Sometimes he even writes.

Other notable facts include the fact that he’s bisexual, he cannot juggle, and he regularly trips over thin air. Catch him on tumblr or really any social media, he spends enough time on it.

Connect with Elliot

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Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of In the Desert by Elliot Joyce to read and review.

Mystic Man by E.J. Russell

When a series of personal crises prompt risk-averse research librarian Aaron Templeton to apply for a job on the other side of the country, nobody is more surprised than he is. He nearly runs home before the final interview except for one little problem: he has no home anymore. He put his condo on the market before he left California and it’s already sold. Only an encounter with free-spirited Connecticut native Cody Brown at the Mystic Seaport Museum staves off Aaron’s incipient panic attack.

Cody loves nothing better than introducing newcomers to the great features of his beloved home state, and when the newbie in question is a rumpled professorial type with the saddest blue eyes on the planet? Score! The attraction between the two men deepens as they explore Cody’s favorite spots, but when difficulties arise and Aaron’s insecurities threaten to overwhelm him, will Cody’s love be enough to keep him in Mystic?

States of Love: Stories of romance that span every corner of the United States.

Buy Links

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Dreamspinner Press

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Ruthie – ☆☆☆☆
This is a really sweet and heartwarming love story. It reminded me of the courage of the human spirit, and of the tenacity with which some people are able to hold on to their dreams, even when their dreams change.

I loved finding out more about Mystic and Connecticut through Cody's stories for Aaron. Cody's family provide fun side characters, especially his sister and her freely given advice. It was such a perfect pairing, as we discover very early on thanks to getting both their viewpoints. I liked that it wasn't plain sailing and there were issues to resolve, yet the connection was strong enough to make them want it all.

This is pure escapism, read and enjoy!

E.J. RUSSELL—certified geek, mother of three, recovering actor—spends her days wrangling data and her evenings and weekends wrestling words. Her daily commute consists of walking from one side of her office to the other, from left-brain day job to right-brain writer’s cave, where she’s learned to type with a dog attached to her hip and a cat draped across her wrists.

E.J. is married to Curmudgeonly Husband, a man who cares even less about sports than she does. Luckily, C.H. loves to cook, or all three of their children (Lovely Daughter and Darling Sons A and B) would have survived on nothing but Cheerios, beef jerky, and satsuma mandarins (the extent of E.J.’s culinary skill set).

E.J. lives in rural Oregon, enjoys visits from her wonderful adult children, and indulges in good books, red wine, and the occasional hyperbole.

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Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of Mystic Man by E.J. Russell to read and review.

Whiskey Business by Avon Gale Audiobook Review

Ryder Waites will do anything to keep the tiny town of Gallows Grove, Kentucky, from vanishing off the map—even sell his family’s whiskey recipe to Bluegrass Bourbon in Lexington. Hopeful that the larger company can provide necessary improvements to the distillery, Ryder aims ultimately to get Gallows Grove on the Bourbon Trail… and bring in much-needed tourism revenue. But to keep producing Hanged Man Bourbon in Gallows Grove, he’ll have to convince company liaison, unbearably stuffy and seriously hot Adam Keller, that he’s worth the investment.

Adam comes from an old-money family, but he’s determined to make his own way in the world. When he’s sent to Gallows Grove, he questions the life choices that led him to a rented room in a funeral home in a town full of macabre-themed businesses. And he doesn’t know what to make of Ryder, the descendant of bootleggers, who’s on a mission to save his strange town from extinction. When Adam and Ryder put aside their initial mistrust, the results are as smooth as good whiskey. But after Adam’s assignment ends, he’ll have to decide if small-town life and a future with Ryder are to his taste.

States of Love: Stories of romance that span every corner of the United States.

Audiobook Details
Length: 3 hrs, 37 mins
Narrator: Kirt Graves

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Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Angela – ☆☆☆☆☆
The first time I listened to Whiskey Business, I fell in love with it, but I wasn’t sure how much of my love of the audiobook had to do with the story and how much was due to the narrator. Even having listened to it several times since then, it wasn’t until I listened to it again today that I realized that while my initial draw to it may have been due to Kirt Graves, ultimately, I kept coming back just as much for the story as for the narration.

Ryder Waites’ hometown of Gallows Grove, Kentucky makes for a fascinating setting for the story. Not only is there something magical about the water that makes their Hanged Man Bourbon special (hush child, I can call it magical if I want), but the punny names of the town businesses never failed to put a smile on my face. That the townspeople try so hard to make sure Ryder knows his homosexuality doesn’t matter to them that their social missteps are often terribly politically incorrect was absolutely endearing to me as a reader. They clearly loved Ryder, they just didn’t always have the right words to express it. This became even more apparent when Ryder’s initial resentment and hostility toward Adam took a backseat to his attraction to the man. The subtle and blatant encouragement the two received when they were out together made the story even more entertaining than the creepy dolls did (lol). And while there were plenty of things to laugh about in the story, I think I laughed hardest at the pony play conversation – I literally fell over on my bed in a fit of giggles when Adam told Ryder to stop laughing. But that levity was necessary to balance the seriousness of the situation, especially once Ryder understood what the full ramifications of him selling his family’s recipe were – that production could be moved out of Gallows Grove, which was the exact opposite of what he’d intended when making the deal. Despite this being a novella, Avon Gale strikes the right balance of laughter, seriousness, sexy times, and development of the romantic relationship that Whiskey Business felt like a full-length story and my need for more was because I wanted to spend more time with Ryder and Adam to see how their relationship continued to grow, to see the progress on the distillery expansion, and to spend more time with the folks of Gallows Grove. Seriously, if the author decides to make this a series, I’m there.

I’ve already said that the narration likely had a lot to do with my initial response to the story. You see, Kirt Graves’ narration of Wolfsong made it one of my favorite audiobooks of all time, and while Ryder has hints of Ox in his voice, Graves does an impressive job of mixing up his repertoire of voices to keep Ryder from sounding just like Ox. While I’m unfamiliar with exactly how a Kentucky accent sounds, I am familiar with a Southern accent and Graves does a nice job of giving the characters a southern sound without the overdone drawl that set Ryder’s nerves on edge at the beginning of the book. And the subtle difference between Ryder’s small-town accent and Adam’s more formal speech merely added to the characters’ depth. For me, listening to an audiobook is similar to listening to a movie from another room, where you have to rely largely upon the characters’ words and tone of voice to understand the emotions they’re trying to convey as there are no faces or body language to read, and Graves does such a wonderful job of conveying Ryder and Adam’s amusement, resentment, attraction, exasperation, resignation, disappointment, and hope that I was able to sit back and enjoy the show, so to speak. I have enjoyed my visits to Gallows Grove every time I’ve listened to Whiskey Business and am already looking forward to spending time there again soon.

AVON GALE wrote her first story at the age of seven, about a “Space Hat” hanging on a rack and waiting for that special person to come along and purchase it—even if it was a bit weirder than the other hats. Like all of Avon’s characters, the space hat did get its happily ever after—though she’s pretty sure it was with a unicorn. She likes to think her vocabulary has improved since then, but the theme of quirky people waiting for their perfect match is still one of her favorites.

Avon grew up in the southern United States and now lives with her very patient husband in a liberal Midwestern college town. By day, Avon is a hair stylist who loves her job, her clients, and the opportunity to spend her time being creative and making people feel happy and look fabulous.

When she’s not writing, she’s either doing some kind of craft project that makes a huge mess, reading, watching horror movies, listening to music, or yelling at her favorite hockey team to get it together already. Avon is always up for a road trip, adores Kentucky bourbon, thinks nothing is as stress relieving as a good rock concert, and will never say no to candy.

At one point, Avon was the mayor of both Jazzercise and Lollicup on Foursquare. This tells you basically all you need to know about her as a person.

Connect with Avon

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Kirt Graves is a Wisconsin native whose passion for literature is rivaled only by his love of the spoken word. Thanks to years of experience onstage and as a high school forensics coach (some know the activity at speech & debate), Graves is a skilled mimic, compassionate interpreter, and master of long-form prose. A tenor by training, Graves can easily move between characters of any age, genre, gender or ethnic background.

Connect with Kirt

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Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free audiobook copy of Whiskey Business (States of Love) by Avon Gale, narrated by Kirt Graves to listen to and review.

Going Off Grid by SJD Peterson

Clay and Elliott are working toward a dream—working sixty-hour weeks for one of the oil companies that recently sprung up in North Dakota. The pay is good, but is it a fair trade for never seeing each other? The point becomes moot when the company folds, like so many others, and the couple is left with a difficult choice.

Should they find comparable work somewhere else, or is it time to throw caution to the wind and go after their goal—years earlier than they intended?

What they’ve always wanted is to be together and have time to enjoy it, so they follow their hearts. They’re going off the grid and fixing up an old cabin so they can be self-sufficient. But when they go from all the conveniences of the modern world to outhouses, solar power, a shoestring budget, and more mosquitos than they ever thought possible, will they find there’s such a thing as too much time together?

States of Love: Stories of romance that span every corner of the United States.

Buy Links

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Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Angela – ☆☆☆
Nope. No way. No how. Not me. Never gonna happen. Nooooooooo. There is absolutely no way I would ever consider going off grid to live in a cabin in the woods, with no electricity, no modern plumbing, and no internet. I’m the girl who will die early in the post-apocalyptic world because I am spoiled by modern conveniences. The idea of living off the grid only appeals to me after multiple bottles of wine and in my entertainment, hence my signing up to review Going Off Grid for our blog. Now that I’ve got all that out of my system, on to the review…

I actually enjoyed Going Off Grid quite a bit. I liked seeing Clay and Elliott work together to get the cabin ready for full-time habitation. Also entertaining were Elliott’s efforts to distract Clay from their long to-do list from time to time. The men certainly had their fair share of obstacles to overcome, some of which tested the strength of their commitment to living off grid and to each other. Despite that, I never felt like I actually got to know either of the men. Peterson relies upon a seven-year relationship and history to forge the bond between the men, and this kind of built-in history is an approach that I like in novellas because it makes it easier for me to believe in their love. In this case, however, it was as if there was too much reliance on their shared history, with the author not sharing much about the men outside of their present-day interactions and inner musings. I never doubted that Clay and Elliott loved each other, but I didn’t feel as fully invested in them or their story as much as I expected to be.

I’m a novella lover. I love full-length novels as well, but there are times when I want to read but don’t have more than a couple hours of reading time available and this is when I tend to look for a novella. Keeping that in mind, this is one of those rare times that I wish a novella had been fleshed out more and expanded into a full-length book so that I could have seen more character development, gotten to know the characters better, and been more invested in their outcome. Don’t get me wrong, Peterson has penned an entertaining novella and one I’m certainly glad I had the opportunity to read, making Going Off Grid a solid three-star read for me. It’s just that I needed a bit more from the characters to connect with them.

SJD PETERSON, better known as Jo, is a bestselling and award-winning author of gay romance. She lives in Michigan with her Itty Bitty Kitty and Little Man. She does her best writing when under pressure of deadlines and at 3:00 a.m. when the world is quiet. Jo loves to tell stories about real people with real flaws. The happily ever after isn’t guaranteed unless it’s earned through hard work and growth. Oh, but when it comes, the rewards are all the better!

Connect with Jo

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Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of Going Off Grid (States of Love) by SJD Peterson to read and review.

Just for Nice by H.M. Shepherd

Nick Caratelli flees the city in an attempt to escape a broken relationship and a career he never wanted. He plans to set up a bed-and-breakfast in the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch country—despite the fact he has no experience in renovating the old building. Luckily his handsome neighbor Sam approaches him with a curious proposal: he’ll help with the restoration in exchange for Nick babysitting his niece.

As they work to have the bed-and-breakfast open for business by summer’s end, their lives become interwoven without them even trying. Before he knows it, Nick is recovering from his loss and taking his place in the unconventional family that seems determined to form. But for Nick and Sam to be together in all the ways they desire, they’ll have to realize all the arguments against romance exist only in their heads…

States of Love: Stories of romance that span every corner of the United States.

Buy Links

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Dreamspinner Press

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Ruthie – ☆☆☆☆
4.5 stars of sweet and sexy goodness

This is a really good book, with a lot of content for a short story. I was really invested in the budding romance between two men in the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch country, as well as the issues that Sam had with his niece. I loved how all the loose ends got woven back together, and that Nick and Sam got to explore their feelings for each other. A very satisfying read.

P.S. When I read that this is the author's first published work, I was very impressed, and hope that I will get the opportunity to read more of her work in the near future. My compliments, Ms. Shepherd.

H.M. SHEPHERD is a twentysomething paralegal living in Berks County, Pennsylvania, with both parents, two dogs, a baby sister who should stop growing up, and a brother who similarly failed to launch. Contrary to the Millennial stereotype, however, she does not live in the basement—a blessing considering the size of the spiders down there. She crochets as a hobby, cooks when she can, and reads as though it were her vocation. She is also an amateur genealogist and spends entirely too much time squinting at old census records and church documents. A little spacey, she once managed to forget that her car needed an oil change until it stopped running, and regularly has milk-in-the-cupboard-cereal-in-the-fridge moments. While she is an avid writer, Just for Nice is her first and so far only professional publication.

She is not particularly active on social media, finding it much easier to like people when you don’t know everything about them. Still, she can be reached through a few choice sites.

Connect with H.M.

Blog  ~  Goodreads

Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of Just for Nice (States of Love) by H.M. Shepherd to read and review.

Hearts and Hazelnuts by Kris T. Bethke

Mechanic Jordan Hart is down on his luck, so he gladly accepts a temporary job servicing tractors at a hazelnut farm in Newberg, Oregon. He doesn’t expect to be attracted to his boss, Beckett Shaw. Still working on embracing his bisexuality, he’s reluctant to start anything, but Beckett’s gentle coaxing convinces Jordan to take a risk.

Beckett has vowed not to get involved with anyone until he can restore the Shaw Farms name as a leader in hazelnuts. But there’s no denying his interest in the shy mechanic who shows up at his door. Just as they begin to find a balance, outside forces threaten to tear them apart. Job opportunities force Jordan out of the Portland area he loves so much. But when danger comes too close to Beckett, Jordan must decide if he can follow his heart to the Willamette Valley… and straight back to Beckett.

States of Love: Stories of romance that span every corner of the United States.

Buy Links

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B&N  ~  Google Play  ~  iTunes  ~  Kobo
Dreamspinner Press

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Ruthie – ☆☆☆☆
I have read many of the States of Love stories, and enjoyed them all. As a non-native, I have found the tour fascinating, and the romance engaging.

What stood out for me in this book was the 'proper' way in which both men, but Jordan in particular, behave. Jordan could easily have chosen an easy path a couple of times, but does what he feels is right and moral, even if it is not what he would naturally choose. I like that time is less important than his need to be someone worthy. It is written so well, and he is given the chance to grow as a character – which is impressive in a short novel. Beck is a lovely guy too, but for me, Jordan just shone.

Very enjoyable addition to the series, thank you, Ms. Bethke.

KRIS T. BETHKE has been a voracious reader for pretty much her entire life and has been writing stories for nearly as long. An avid and prolific daydreamer, she always has a story in her head. She spends most of her free time reading, writing, or knitting/crocheting her latest project. Her biggest desire is to find a way to accomplish all three tasks at one time. A classic muscle car will always turn her head, and weekend naps are one of her greatest guilty pleasures. She lives in a converted attic with a very fluffy cat and the voices in her head. She’ll tell you she thinks that’s a pretty good deal. Kris believes that love is love, no matter the gender of the people involved, and that all love deserves to be celebrated. And she loves to hear from readers, so feel free to drop her a line.

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Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of Hearts and Hazelnuts by Kris T. Bethke to read and review.