Tag Archives: farming

Release Blitz: Headstrong by Eden Finley

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Headstrong | Eden Finley

Vino & Veritas #3

banner Headstrong+Final

Release Date: March 22nd, 2021

Cover Design: Christine Coffey

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

Add to Goodreads: https://bit.ly/34H76l7

Vino & Veritas Series Page: https://hearteyespress.com/wotn#/vino-and-veritas/

READ MY REVIEW

Headstrong+Final

Blurb

A straight guy gives gay hookup tips to a virgin. What could go wrong? 

When I first met Whit, I couldn’t get away from him fast enough. He’s a hockey player, and I hate everything to do with the sport that broke my heart.

But I can’t help feeling sorry for the guy. He’s newly out and desperate to meet someone, but his eagerness seems to scare potential hook-ups away.

Agreeing to be his wingman should’ve been simple. Watching him flirt with other guys made things complicated.

Whit challenges me in every aspect of my life, from my hatred of hockey to the new questions I’m asking myself. Like why a straight man suddenly can’t stop thinking about kissing another guy.

I think the answer lies somewhere on Whit’s lips…

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Excerpt

A steady stream of drink orders keeps me busy for a solid half hour, but that doesn’t stop me from noticing Whit moving around the room to flirt with guys. Ultimately, from what I can see, he strikes out and wanders back to me during a lull.

He sits at a stool and bangs his head on the countertop.

A laugh bubbles out of me. “I don’t know how hygienic that is.”

Whit’s lips turn down. “You work here.”

“Exactly.”

“Eww.” Whit wipes his forehead. “Is being gay always this hard?”

“I wouldn’t know.”

“I have to admit, this isn’t exactly what I was expecting.”

I lean my hip against the bar. “What were you expecting?”

“I dunno? For guys to see how hot I am and ask to blow me in the bathroom or something?”

A full-blown laugh falls from my lips this time. I have to admit, the dude is funny even if he’s not trying to be.

“So glad my misery is entertaining to you.”

“Sorry.”

“Where are all the easy men who want all the gay sex and no strings or names?”

I purse my lips. “Maybe it’s like that in big cities? The scene is low-key here. I mean, all bars by nature have that hookup culture, but if you’re looking for boys in booty shorts and orgies, you’re definitely in the wrong place. When Harrison opened V and V, he wanted to create a safe and queer-friendly environment that everyone could enjoy.”

“Is everything about gay people in mainstream media wrong?”

“Probably.”

He pushes his empty closer to me. “Can I get another cider?”

“Sure.” I switch them out.

The night isn’t super busy, but the work is steady. I leave him again to serve others but keep stealing glances at him. It’s confusing. Objectively speaking, he’s a good-looking guy. His intriguing eye color is a draw in itself, along with his dimples when he smiles. His suit doesn’t make him look like your typical college hockey player. It’s a mystery why he’s striking out.

Jake reappears at Whit’s side, and Whit’s face lights up. Then Whit’s mouth moves a hundred miles a minute, and Jake’s eyes gloss over.

I can’t hear what Whit’s saying, but I think I’ve found the reason why he’s not having any luck.

Jake turns his head toward me and mouths, “Help.”

Super-bartender to the rescue. Not all heroes wear capes. I give Jake a new drink. “Whit here’s too young for you.”

Jake gives me a grateful look and moves away quickly.

“Oh, age isn’t a big deal to me,” Whit calls after him.

If possible, Jake moves faster.

Whit slumps.

“You don’t want to date that guy anyway. He’s in here all the time trying to score.”

“Aww, that sounds perfect for what I need.”

I cock my head.

“I can’t be a virgin when I graduate in the spring. That’s sad. I mean, ideally, I won’t be a virgin by my next birthday which is in seven weeks, but I’m willing to be flexible.”

Oh dear.

“This has been your opening line to guys tonight, I’m guessing?”

“Well … I told myself not to talk, but then, I don’t know, isn’t that something you should disclose? It feels like something you should tell someone. Because, they have to be, like, gentle and shit, and it’s not like gay sex is something you jump into, right?”

“Again, I wouldn’t know. But has anyone ever told you that you talk a little too much and maybe say things you don’t need to put out there right away?”

“Really?”

“Well, we’ve only met twice, and oversharing and boundary crossing seems to be a common theme.”

Whit groans. “I’m fucking this up.”

“You really aren’t. You’re just coming on a little strong. You’re hot—I mean, I’m guessing. Everyone keeps staring at you and checking you out. It’s your mouth that’s holding you back.”

“So I just have to fill my mouth with something other than words.”

His words make my straight cock twitch a little. Ah, blowjobs. Oh, how I’ve missed thee. I point at him. “That. Right there. Lead with that.”

Whit glares at me, and I have to say his tough face is kind of laughable.

“Or every time you feel yourself rambling, take a drink,” I suggest.

Whit’s head falls to the bar again. “I’ll die of alcohol poisoning.”

It’s not my fault a laugh escapes. Seriously, I can’t tell if this guy is entertaining or plain sad.

He lifts his head. “You should be my wingman.”

I should do what now? “As tempting as that is, I kinda have a job to do already.”

“Yeah, but that’s why you’ll be good at it. You know people, and you’ve seen things.”

“I’m straight, remember? I know nothing about gay hookups. I’d tell you to go on dates and make them feel special before trying to get them into bed.”

“Is it against gay law to go on dates and make each other feel special?”

I throw up my hands. “I don’t know. Which is exactly why I shouldn’t be your wingman.”

“Worth a shot.” Whit finishes off his cider. He stands, and I think he’s going to go back to mingling, but he takes his coat off his chair and puts it on. “Thanks for the drinks.”

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About The Author

Eden Finley

Eden Finley is an Amazon bestselling author who writes steamy contemporary romances that are full of snark and light-hearted fluff.

She doesn’t take anything too seriously and lives to create an escape from real life for her readers. The ideas always begin with a wackadoodle premise, and she does her best to turn them into romances with heart.

With a short attention span that rivals her son’s, she writes multiple different pairings: MM, MMF, and MF.

She’s also an Australian girl and apologises for her Australianisms that sometimes don’t make sense to anyone else.

Social Media

Website: https://edenfinley.com/

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Twitter: http://bit.ly/2HQnyCv

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Amazon Author Page: http://amzn.to/2EV9Roi

BookBub Author Page: http://bit.ly/2ouhBDq

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Loved this grumpy one falling for the sunshine one romance

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Headstrong+FinalHeadstrong by Eden Finley

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I really loved this, it’s essentially the grumpy one falling for the sunshine one with a sports romance twist coupled with a bisexual awakening narrative and it absolutely worked for me.

Rainn was set to be an NHL superstar until a second injury proved career ending shortly after leaving college. Now, a few years later, he’s working at V&V and has pushed all thoughts of his future into the deepest corners of his mind.

That is until he finds himself getting tangled up in a friendship with newly out baby gay virgin college student Whit, who’s studying hard so he can graduate and help with diversification at his family farm while playing ice hockey on the side.

Reading this book was a delight, it’s funny, has moments of introspection but also lots of celebration too and I felt wholly committed to seeing Rainn go through a dawning awareness that he was attracted to Whit.

The way their relationship’s physical development was tackled too really made sense to me, they explored together, there wasn’t any straight on into full blown penetrative sex, it was a slow build up of intimacy and experimentation. This made it all the more emotionally connected and very charged!

Tensions also arose organically too, there isn’t a dramady moment just chucked in to give them a falling out crisis. What occurs makes perfect sense and, thankfully, there’s no sulking, just a very quick realisation they need to talk and sort things out.

Everything about it just worked for me and the Epilogue and Bonus Chapter (which you can get once the book is live via an email sign up) were fabulous!

#ARC kindly received from the publishers Hearts Eyes Press in return for an honest and unbiased review

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Yorkshire’s landscape adds the final character to a quartet of stunning performances

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DVD case for God's Own CountryI will hold my hand up from the start and say I live in one of the places where they filmed this, a story which is as much about emotions as it is about farming and the harsh beauty of the Yorkshire landscape.

So, personal Yorkshire girl interest aside, this is still a masterful piece of storytelling which accurately portrays the vast bleak landscapes of West Yorkshire which are so intrinsically linked with the agricultural heritage which created them – the dry stone walls, the crumbled shepherd’s cottages, the farms which are desperately fighting to stay viable.

Farmers, and hill farmers in particular, don’t swan around in brand new Range Rovers and speak with plummy accents, they’re (and yes, I speak from personal experience as both an agricultural journalist and a rural affairs specialist reporter working at extended periods in the Yorkshire Dales during an almost 20 year career) invariably hard-working, down to Earth people who are doing their best to keep alive a tradition which has shaped the landscape for a millennia and beyond.

In the Saxby family, Francis Lee drew not only on his own experiences growing up on a working farm in West Yorkshire, but he accurately depicts the brutal realities of daily life battling the elements in a part of the country which – while on the doorstep of the big cities – is still isolated and isolating.

Johnny’s brief emotionless encounters at the auction mart and in the toilets of a pub are his only break from a life in which he has only his Nan and his disabled father as a constant presence.

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Josh O’Connor and Alec Secareanu

When Gheorghe, an itinerant Romanian farm worker arrives to help with the lambing season, Johnny is resentful and bitter, thinking all his efforts to keep the farm operating are going unrecognised.

Their first encounters are silent, fraught with tension and eventually explode into a sexual lustful exchange born out of loneliness and frustration.

But, as with the landscape which slowly reveals its beauty, so does this relationship change and, under the direction of Lee, the camera shows Johnny opening up as much as the vista does.

It’s a glorious film and thoroughly deserving of all the praise it has been receiving.

The acting all round is first rate, helmed as this is by a cast of four really – the superb Josh O’Connor and Alec Secareanu bring to life the two contrasting men at the heart of the narrative.

Gemma Jones excels in a role which sees her forsaking her usual “upper class” parts to provide a constant presence of the stoic Yorkshire woman on whose shoulders most of these farms rest while Ian Hart is almost unrecognisable as the closed off farmer coping with the after effects of a stroke, long abandoned by Johnny’s mother and incapable of communicating with his son other than through orders.

God’s Own Country, as the county is so fondly referred to by us natives, has been – I think unfairly – compared to Brokeback Mountain.

Unfairly, imho, because livestock elements notwithstanding, the relationship at the centre of each film is quite different. Johnny and Gheorghe aren’t in the closet, hiding their sexuality from wives and friends, even if they’re not openly gay, and there is no conflict other than the pressures of trying to run a farm in the wilds of West Yorkshire.

The same narrative would have worked irrespective of the sexuality of the two leads, it was about an emotional awakening and a rediscovery of the love of farming and for a landscape which had begun to feel alienating.

It stands in its own right as a piece of beautiful writing and exquisite cinematography.