Heart and Home by Andrew Grey
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Contemporary, LGBTQ+, Erotic Romance
Rating: 4 stars
Reviewed by Fern

Professional marketer Alan Wright needs time to recover, both physically and mentally. After getting out of the hospital, his best friend Clay takes him to his farm, where it’s quiet to recuperate. Healing is going to take a lot more time and effort than Alan ever imagined and require professional help, which comes in the form of a strong man with a gentle touch.
Haley Martin, a nurse-therapist, has never fit in with his family, the town, or himself. When he’s hired to assist Alan with his recovery, he discovers a place with people like him who live their lives without shame or fear. As Alan begins his recovery, Haley starts to come into his own as well. He just has to have the courage to take it to heart.

As Alan and Haley both learn to overcome their challenges, Haley needs to figure out how to deal with his overbearing father and stand on his own two feet. Together, holding on to each other, they learn to be stronger together and start to build a possible future. But their old lives still have pull, and they both must decide what’s truly important.

Recovering from having been attacked, Alan is grateful his best friend Clay opens his house and farm for Alan to heal and take some time. Determined to get back on his feet, Alan accepts when Clay hires a local nurse-therapist, Haley to help Alan recuperate. Haley has never felt like he belongs anywhere. In the comfort and safety of Clay and Dell’s home, Alan and Haley learn together how to both get stronger and come into their own. Can Haley and Alan both realise what’s most important and move together in the right direction.

I really enjoyed this lovely slow paced romance. At the very beginning, even though Alan and Haley were immediately attracted to each other, they both had their own issues to overcome. While a fair bit of the story focused on this I enjoyed watching Haley find his strength and find a home and place where he belonged. Alan was a secondary character from the previous book and so I was delighted for him to get his own story – but this book totally and completely stands on its own. Readers can definitely start with this and go back to Clay and Dell’s story. I felt awful for Alan – needing to physically, mentally and emotionally recover from his injuries, but I loved watching him come back into his own and find his strength – mental and physical – once again.

Readers looking for an emotional and well paced story should definitely find this fits the bill. With two super solid and interesting plots this story wasn’t just about the blossoming romance between Alan and Hayley, but also about them both sorting through their lives and issues in a safe, stable and warm environment. Hayley had a very difficult family environment he needed to come to terms with and Alan not only had to recovery from his injuries but also try and figure out the direction his life and work in general was heading. Neither of these issues were small or had quick fixes and so I felt the balance in the book was really well handled. The two plots and the relationship were given equal attention and I felt like the whole book sang because of this.

With a bunch of strong secondary characters and layered, realistic and interesting people this was a lovely and engrossing read for me. Readers who want a heavily erotic or intensely sexual story might feel that aspect of the story is a little light on. While there is intimacy and a lovely emotional and connected romance between Alan and Haley – and a few intimate scenes – the story really is more focused on their building a new life together and working to get there. With some awesome characters, some solid and interesting plot and a wonderful setting this is a lovely story and one I will enjoy many times again in the future.

A Heart Back Home by Andrew Grey
Publisher: Self published
Genre: Contemporary, LGBTQ, Erotic Romance
Rating: 4 stars
Reviewed by Fern

Clay Kartwell loses his job and gets a call from his estranged father asking for his help back on the family farm, all on the same day. Clay knows he has to return home, even though it’s the last thing he wants to do. Some things back home are best left unremembered.

Dell Warrington was Clay’s unrequited high school crush and the man he least wants to see. He’s everything Clay remembered and more, including the father of four-year-old Archie. But Dell hasn’t had it easy either, and not everything is as it seems.

Clay sets out to save the farm and bring in the crops with Dell’s help. Old assumptions fall to the side as the two men reconnect, and the second chance that Clay never knew he wanted seems within his grasp. But Clay left the farm for a reason, and reconciliation with his stoic father won’t be easy. When his city life offers a new opportunity, he must decide whether to accept what he knows, or follow his heart.

Clay had known he was gay since he was a teenager with the biggest crush ever on school hunk Dell. But then Clay’s mother died, his relationship with his father grew beyond surly and Dell blew hot and cold, confusing the hell out of Clay. When school finished, Clay had had enough and left for the bright lights of the town, determined not to return. Five years later, however, Clay finds himself between jobs and his father calls, urgently needing Clay’s help on the farm for a few weeks. When Clay returns, Dell is one of the first people he bumps into and Clay discovers he isn’t the only one who has grown up since school finished.

I really enjoyed this emotional and well written small town romance. I absolutely loved that while Clay had left and grown into a young man during his stint in the city, he didn’t pretend to know everything or act like being in the city had made him better or more worldly or anything like that. At heart Clay was just a more mature version of the small-town boy he had always been. I also really like the fact that even though Dell has a small son and had been confused about his sexuality during their high school years, he didn’t let his popularity with the ladies get to his head or his ego. Basically, while there were understandable small problems with both Clay and Dell – and the fact there was a massive amount of baggage to be fixed between them – they were both good, solid, reliable men and characters who I could root for from pretty much the beginning. This made the book a lot more palatable to me.

I admit that I felt the conflict and tension between Clay and his father was just a little overdrawn. I was pleased that this was where much of the plot tension resided and in general felt it was well handled, but at times it felt like there was just a little too much mis-communication and mis-understandings between Clay and his dad. I can totally appreciate the older gent was a stubborn farmer and well set in his ways – and communication is often not a strong suit with these types of men, so it was logical and realistic. I also appreciated how in this singular instance Clay didn’t shine brightly – he was expecting the worst in many respects from his dad and made his own assumptions and generalizations, so it was nice to see that Clay was not perfect. I just couldn’t help but feel this side of the plot was a little overdrawn for my personal tastes.

I was thrilled with the depth to both Clay and Dell’s characters, these were interesting and layered men who I enjoyed getting to know and in particular who I enjoyed watching them re-learn each other both personally and physically. I thoroughly enjoyed there was a small but important cast of secondary characters – Dell’s son Archie, Clay’s dad and Clay’s best friend Alan. The characters and the emotion of Clay and Dell reconnecting and learning to trust and love each other was delightful to read and I was so pleased the author didn’t rush through this part of the process between them. While there is some deliciously hot sex between them, I found this to be a deeply emotional book and one that focused on the relationship and connections between the men – not just their sizzle in the bedroom.

Hot and wonderful, I thoroughly enjoyed the book and am eager to read the next in the series.

Heavy Lifting by Andrew Grey
Publisher: Self-published
Genre: Contemporary, LGBTQ, Erotic Romance
Rating: 4 stars
Reviewed by Fern

Would-be journalist Reg Applewhite is a slight, geeky guy who knows from high school experience that he’s the perfect size to be shoved into a locker. He writes for his sister’s fashion and gossip blogs and is very understandably reluctant when assigned to cover a local bodybuilding competition for material.

Jack Ponte is a physical god, with a perfect body, poise, and intense eyes. But it’s his grace that captures Reg’s attention, and when Reg asks for an interview, Jack agrees. After all, he’s looking for a life after bodybuilding, and Reg’s blogs offer a chance at something less fleeting.

During the interview, they discover mutual interests in fashion and video games that lead to friendship and deeper feelings neither expects. Reg finds it hard to believe that a god-man like Jack would see anything in him, and Jack is just as shocked when Reg seems to see beyond his looks to the person inside. But there is a price to pay for everything, and Jack draws the kind of unwanted attention that could threaten to pull them apart… or worse. Together they need to figure out a way to lift each other up and push through the challenges.

Reg might have been a geek, skinny and into video games, but he was also an excellent journalist and blogger. He enjoyed working for his sister’s fashion magazine and although his heart wasn’t in a lot of the more gossipy articles that the blog ran, he felt it was balanced out enough with the more real articles he had the freedom to go for. Covering a body building contest wasn’t his idea of a good time, but after a quick initial chat with Jack and finding a sharp brain beneath the magnificent muscles Reg is quickly swayed by the handsome man.

I found this a delightful and fun story. I was super impressed that while at a first glance Reg and Jack’s characters had a few strokes of their “jock and geek” stereotype, both characters were far deeper and infinitely more interesting than I had previously given them credit for. I adored how they didn’t simply glance at each other and jump into bed, and that the two men really learned about each other before becoming intimate. This helped me as a reader see their relationship as far more than just a quick sexy interlude and the building of a far more lasting and interesting emotional relationship between them.

Another thing I really enjoyed with this story was how many of the stereotypes and tropes didn’t unwind how I expected them to. Things like the subplots around a creepy stalker and an over-ambitious sister/editor, both of these are quite well-worn plotlines to my mind and all too frequently fall into a similar pattern to each other. When I could see them beginning I was tempted to skim ahead, not overly interesting in something I have read in other books numerous times before. Both times I was quickly proven extremely wrong – the plots unfolding in ways I had not expected and I was relieved to have not jumped ahead.

The communication and slowly building trust between Reg and Jack – as well as their friendship and connection, I feel – was the real sticking point for this story. I absolutely loved them and loved how neither man was as cookie-cutter as I was expecting. This really appealed to me and made the whole story feel lighter and fresher than I had worried about. While there isn’t anything earth-shatteringly new or different in this story, between the interesting plots, the vivid characters and the really fresh voice of the author I absolutely enjoyed this story and fully expect to purchase the second in the series.

Readers looking for a fun, sexy and steamy story should not be disappointed by this book. I found Reg and Jack’s characters to be interesting and vibrant and their connection and friendship to be believable and relatable. These are two men I felt empathy and interest for and I am intrigued to read more by this author.

Nowhere To Ride by Andrew Grey
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Contemporary, LGBTQ, Erotic Romance
Rating: 4 stars
Reviewed by Fern

Unjustly accused of a crime, Ky Archer is trying to keep his ranch together, with fierce tenacity and minimal help. With his nefarious accuser the lead wolf at the door, Ky is resolved to do whatever he has to in order to keep the final link with his family intact.

Brodie Tyler is down on his luck–way down. Down enough to camp with his baby sister in a tent to get away from relatives he’d hoped would help him. His parents are gone and he’s got nowhere to go, but he’s determined to keep his sister safe with him, no matter what.

Ky finds Brodie and Emily on his property and takes them in out of the storm… literally. Neither expects the heat that ignites between them to be as hot as the western sun. The men find they fit together well, both at work and in the bedroom. They also find they have a common enemy who tries to tear them apart. Working together, they might discover that each holds the key for the other’s desire.

Ky is struggling to keep his ranch afloat. With an enemy in town determined to smear his name and try to purchase his land and more work than Ky can handle things are looking dire. When he finds Brodie and toddler Emily on his land though, Ky can’t turn them away and offers the only help he can, a safe place to stay warm and dry. The sizzling attraction between the two men burns hotly between them, but when they find they share the wrath of a common enemy can these two men stick together and make things work?

I really enjoyed this well plotted and slow paced cowboy romance. I was pleased with the individuality of the main characters and enjoyed the strong supporting secondary characters as well. The author did an excellent job to my mind in making the two men relatable and believable, but still unique enough they stuck in my head and held my interest long after I’d finished this book. I also found this an emotional read and loved how Ky and Brodie formed a strong and believable connection before jumping into bed and becoming intimate.

The day to day problems and obstacles Ky – and Brodie – experienced also really resonated with me and felt both believable and relatable. Things like the hard manual work needed just to keep the ranch working in the searing Texas heat, the isolation of living outside the small township and how a precious resource like water could make or break the success of a farm. And while the villain could appear to be a little overdrawn I honestly feel that it wouldn’t be at all over the top for people to act so ruthlessly and mean-spiritedly – willing to destroy a man’s reputation and drive him out of town with hatred and lies – simply to steal land and resources. As despicable as those actions were, and hard to read, even this struck me as realistic and probably all too common out in real life.

I feel the author did an amazing job writing a realistic and emotional story with a decent and gripping plot. This was a lovely story and I’ve eagerly bought a number of his other works. This could easily become one of my new favourite authors. The fact the relationship and connection between Ky and Brodie was intense, believable and smoking hot was just icing on the cake.

A lovely read and a new to me author who I will enjoy reading more of.