monday minis

  

Better Not Pout by Annabeth Albert

One hard-nosed military police officer.

One overly enthusiastic elf.

One poorly timed snowstorm.

Is it a recipe for disaster? Or a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for holiday romance?

Teddy MacNally loves Christmas and everything that goes along with it. When he plays an elf for his charity’s events, he never expects to be paired with a Scrooge masquerading as Santa Claus. His new mission: make the holiday-hating soldier believe he was born to say ho-ho-ho.

Sergeant Major Nicholas Nowicki doesn’t do Santa, but he’s army to his blood. When his CO asks an unusual favor, Nick of course obliges. The elf to his Kris Kringle? Tempting. Too tempting—Nick’s only in town for another month, and Teddy’s too young, too cheerful and too nice for a one-night stand.

The slow, sexy make-out sessions while Teddy and Nick are alone and snowbound, though, feel like anything but a quick hookup. As a stress-free holiday fling turns into Christmas all year round, Teddy can’t imagine his life without Nick. And Nick’s days on the base may be coming to a close, but he doesn’t plan on leaving anything, or anyone, behind. ~ Goodreads

Source: e-arc provided by Novel Take PR in exchange for an honest review

My thoughts: Annabeth Albert + Christmas = two great things that go great together!

Better Not Pout was a fun Christmas romance between grumpy older military police officer, Nick, roped into playing Santa by his CO and gets paired up with a hot elf with a heart of gold, Teddy.

These two are polar opposites with their personalities and where their life is headed but both are so sweet and giving to those around them. You can’t help but root for them.

This one has all the tropes and does them well – age gap, opposites attract, forced proximity, small town Christmas. It has the vibe of Albert’s Out of Uniform series but with a fluffy holiday twist.




The Omega Objection (San Andreas Shifters #2) by G.L. Carriger

Can a gentle giant with a trampled heart show a man who’s been running all his life that sometimes there are monsters worth running towards?
A werewolf walks into a bar. 

Tank is working as a bouncer when he notices something odd about the new sexy-as-sin bartender. He’s odorless, he’s amazingly popular with shifters, and he’s terrified.

A man without a smell. 

Isaac is trying to escape his past. He hides in San Francisco because everyone knows that there are no werewolves in the Bay Area.

Until one walks into his bar. 

Can Tank figure out Isaac’s secrets in time to save him? And can Isaac forgive Tank for being a wolf in time to learn how to love?

New York Times best selling author Gail Carriger (writing as G.L. Carriger) brings you the next in her charming gay werewolves series.

The San Andreas Shifter books stand alone and do not have to be read in any particular order. But if you're a stickler this book is preceded by Bryan & Max's story, The Sumage Solution.

Delicate Sensibilities?

This book contains M/M sexy times, mild themes of dominance and submission, and horrible puns. If you get offended easily, then you probably will. San Andreas Shifter stories contain bad language, dirty deeds, and outright admiration for the San Francisco Bay Area. Not the faint of heart/mouth/tongue. ~ Goodreads

Source: e-arc provided byt he author in exchange for an honest review

My thoughts:  This is a strange little series. While each book has centered around a different couple – the focus really is on the growing San Andreas wolf pack. It has such a large cast of characters that are central to the story and I always feel a little lost yet – I love how connected, quirky and loyal they all are.

A bit of a series recap – the pack alpha is a marine biologist, a nerd and a quite, smaller man. His mate is a merman, the beta is his large domineering brother with a mage partner….you get the idea.

This is no ordinary wolf pack and this series gets really deep into their feelings and odd dynamic in relation to each other. It doesn’t always make for a good story flow. Instead of being action packed – it deviates a lot to show how everyone feeeels but I just can’t get enough of learning about alpha/beta/omega /pack dynamics – especially when written in such an unusual way.

In The Omega Objection, the gentle giant wolf Tank, falls for the bartender, Issac, at the club he's a bouncer at. Isaac is unusual in that he has no smell and fears shifters – particularly wolf shifters - yet he is catnip to all paranormal creatures. They seek him out at the bar and spill their guts to him. As fearful as Isaac if of shifters, he can’t help but be drawn to Tank and normally passive Tank will do anything to defend Isaac.

The title gives most of it away but it's a fun path to Isaac's eventual place within the pack.

It was a cool premise that keeps building onto the prior story – The Sumage Solution. Not a perfect series but I still enjoy all the werewolfy goodness.