Ugh, I just…can’t…with life right now. Lots of stuff (on top of the virus) is making my life miserable right now, and if that wasn’t enough, I signed up for Camp Nanowrimo. So I’m supposed to write 20K words in April, when life is like this? Yeah, okay.
But…I don’t want to make the blog a depressing place, so I won’t bother you with my troubles. Instead, I’ll give you a couple recommendations of books I recently read and thoroughly enjoyed. They are great if you need some happy in your life (because who doesn’t?)
Granddad’s Cup of Tea
Widower Ewan lives a quiet life in his country village, helping out with his grandchildren and dodging his daughter’s attempts to improve his social life by signing him up for every retirement club she can find. When he meets Alex, newly bereaved and taking his first tentative steps into living out and proud after a lifetime in the closet, Ewan reaches out to offer sympathy. As their friendship deepens, Ewan finds himself questioning both his own identity and the nature of his feelings for Alex. But is it too late for a second chance at love?
M/M Contemporary / 41 pages
Seriously, this book was a ray of sunshine. Ewan, a widower and granddad, is a fabulous character. I wish everyone had a granddad like him. So if you’re in the mood for short, sunshiney, and wonderful, about two mature characters (their age isn’t stated in the book, but I’m guessing seventies. Or late sixties at least), I warmly recommend this book.
Finders Keepers
Needing a change of scene, Griffin Burke moves from Brisbane to Coolum Beach to start a new job. The beautiful white sand, aqua-coloured ocean, blue skies, and summer breezes are everything he longs for. What he finds is a mud-covered dog, lost and hungry, with a nametag and a phone number.
Dane Hughes is stuck in Surfers Paradise at a week-long work conference when he gets a phone call from his distraught mother. His dog, his fur baby, Wicket, has run away. Unable to leave and feeling helpless and miserable, he gets a text from a guy. “I think I found your dog…”
Griffin and Dane start talking, and Griffin agrees to look after Wicket until Dane can collect him. With a few days left before his new job starts, Griffin takes Wicket on some coastal adventures and sends Dane photos of their fun, and so the start of something new and kind of wonderful begins.
Griffin might have moved to Coolum in search of a new life, but what he finds is so much more. What he gets to keep just might take some four-legged help.
M/M Contemporary / 220 pages
I’m not a dog person, but Wicket was just too adorable. And the way the guys communicate (you probably know by now that I think that the only thing sexier than communication is consent!) is fabulous. And I’ve always wanted to go to Australia, and after reading this book I want to go more than ever. So if you want a cute dog, interesting side characters, and an abundance of sweetness, I warmly recommend this book.
I also read the third book in the Leather and Tea series by K.L. Noone. It was wonderful, the whole series is wonderful, but I’ve gushed about it before so I won’t gush again. I’ll just quietly post buy links to all three of the books and look at you sternly until you run off and buy them.
Leather and Tea | A Leather and Tea Morning | Leather and Tea in London
Stay safe everyone, and please share whatever feelgood stuff you do to keep your spirits up in these difficult times. ❤️
Nell Iris 