Category Archives: LGBTQ+

Release Blitz: The Romantic by Riley Hart

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The Romantic | Riley Hart

The Vers Podcast #2

The Romantic Release Blitz NEW IG

Release Date: March 22nd, 2023

Cover Design: Cate Ashwood Designs

Photo: Rafa G Catala

Universal Link: https://geni.us/TheRomantic

Add to Goodreads: https://geni.us/TheRomanticGR

READ MY REVIEW

The Romantic Ebook

Blurb

Parker

When it comes to The Vers, the queer podcast I host with my best friends, I’m The Romantic. The one who’s looking for love in all the wrong places. If there’s a jerk close by, I’ll find him. I’m beginning to think my Mr. Right doesn’t exist.

It’s definitely not Elliott Delgado Weaver, the shameless flirt who keeps asking me out. We’re not supposed to run into each other in Vegas or get drunk together. We definitely aren’t supposed to wake up married…only, we do.

Before we can figure out what to do, Elliott’s family finds out. He doesn’t want to let them down by telling them it was a drunken mistake. My parents had the perfect marriage until my mom passed, and since I’d hate for my father to discover what I did, Elliott and I decide to pretend we’re in love and stay married for six months. Better to amicably divorce later than own up to our screw up, right?

All I’ve ever wanted is my happily ever after, and now I live with a serial hookup artist who never planned on settling down.

But then, why is Elliott so good to me? He takes me on dates, makes me laugh, and touches me like I’m someone to cherish. He’s shown me I’m a sucker for praise, and lucky for me, he loves giving it to me. Our marriage is playing tricks on my heart because suddenly I’m wishing my happy ending can be with the husband who doesn’t think love is for him.

The Romantic is a wake up married, opposites attract romance with tons of praise, an unforgettable massage, found family, and sweet moments on the pier.

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About the Author

riley hart logo

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.

Riley hart small logo

Social Media

Website: https://www.rileyhartwrites.com/

Newsletter: https://bit.ly/3vekVo3

Facebook Author Page: https://bit.ly/3VmF8Tl

Facebook Reader Group: https://bit.ly/3VmFklx

Goodreads Author Page: https://bit.ly/3vgCuUI

Twitter: https://bit.ly/3PR1LxX

Instagram: https://bit.ly/3Wm6Dxr

Tiktok: https://bit.ly/3PYNVda

Pinterest: https://bit.ly/3hSqwgO

Amazon Author Page: https://bit.ly/3PZdZVp

Bookbub Page: https://bit.ly/3PT6kYK

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Giveaway

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Riley delivers a super swoony romance

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The Romantic EbookThe Romantic by Riley Hart

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Not surprisingly, this book is very swoony and super romantic.

Perhaps more of a surprise is that it’s Elliott doing most of the romancing and not our Parker, he of the Vers Podcast nickname The Romantic.

The opening chapters give us their first initial meet-cute when Elliott jumps in to act as Parker’s fake boyfriend when he gets stood up once again, only this time in front of an ex who’s trying to get back in his pants but doesn’t want more.

Elliott asks Parker out for ice cream at the end of their quick ‘fake date’ but he turns him down, mistaking his friend Vaughan for an earlier hook-up and Elliott leaves.

Regretting his decision, Parker’s return to the bar sees him spotting Elliott getting hot and heavy with someone else in the car park 30 minutes later and he’s then determined that Elliott is just interested in hook-ups and nothing more without actually talking to him again.

We know from book one that they’ve been bouncing around each other ever since, Elliott asking Parker out, him turning him down and occasionally being a bit of a judgy arse over it.

Of course, it all becomes clear as the narrative unfolds that there is a genuine connection beyond just physical attraction between them.

What I liked about this book was the dawning awareness that Elliott is aromantic, he’s never felt any desire to fall in love, or even explore further a deep relationship, before Parker.

As for Parker, he gets a few home truths and a hard, but fair, wake-up call about his self-sabotaging behaviour when it comes to dating and relationships.

There’re some truly sweet and very swoony moments in this book as Elliott realises he likes to make Parker happy and Parker discovers he’s got a bit of a praise kink.

And here is where my main niggle with the storytelling comes from. I found the sex dialogue, and some kink parts of the book, a bit too stilted, rather than smouldering, unfortunately.

Not always, but there were a few instances where it felt a bit obvious, turning it cheesy and clumsy, rather than passionate and part of the natural extension of their intimacy.

It’s a minor point though and obviously will be something where YMMV given your own personal kink preferences.

Overall it’s a lovely, relatively low-angst romance with the wonderful found family of secondary characters adding a few more to their ranks.

I’m looking forward to reading Marcus’ book next which I believe is going to be with the lovely twinky barman Kai.

#ARC kindly received from the author via Valentine PR in return for an honest and unbiased review.

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What a fantastic ending to this urban fantasy duology

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The Elemental RuinsThe Elemental Ruins by Sam Burns

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Just like book one this is an epic tale of magic, mayhem, dodgy deeds, dangerous foes and an overwhelming sense of the rightness of a relationship which seems to come from nowhere.

River’s ended up on the wrong side of the barrier where he faces danger from every corner. His long lost father is the bad guy at the heart of the trouble but maybe the hot elven General Lasya could be the clue to how to stop the rot.

Sam delivers another brilliant urban fantasy with a twist as we see what’s going on in Halana and discover that not all is as it seems.

River’s snark is fabulous, he’s definitely unhinged, he’s willing to do what it takes to end the threat, try and reunite with his twin, while simultaneously enjoying as much sexy time as possible with the ferocious (marshmallow centred!) General.

I just love when Sam puts her imagination to work as the worlds she delivers are always fascinating, well constructed and filled with characters I fall head over heels for.

This duology is no exception, I don’t think I could pick a favourite, I loved every bit of the narrative as it played out across two worlds, with magic and trickery, villains and heroes all combined.

I really hope she comes back to this series in the future!

#ARC kindly received from the author in return for an honest and unbiased review

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