Time: Now
MCs: MM
Sub-Genre: Contemporary Romance
Themes: Age Gap; Hurt/Comfort; Found Family; First Love; Comedy; Oblivious (read, blind) MC
Summary: Love, Austen (Book 1)– A man who acts before he thinks, a man who thinks before he acts, and the ensuing mishaps on the path to the ultimate love match. ~ ~ ~ Emerett “Lake” Lakewood has a healthy ego and a flair for the dramatic. After losing his best friend to marriage—completely crushing his heart—he deems it prudent to distract himself, and what better way than playing cupid? He’s already got his eye on two young men desperately seeking romance, and he has a plan to hook them up.
Barbecues.
Photoshoots.
Reciting Shakespearean love declarations.
Lake is killing it. Love is positively pulsing in the air. Anyone could see it. Well, anyone other than Knight, his best friend’s dad, who cautions Lake to stop meddling. To leave love to its natural course. Lake has always valued Knight’s frankness, but this time he’s wrong. Without him, two hearts might be doomed never to find love. Besides, what does Knight know about romance? He’s barely dated in all the seven years Lake’s known him. He’s clueless. Though, there’s a thought. Knight has everything going for him. Sensibility. Kindness. Generosity. And for a forty-four-year-old, he’s—objectively—freaking hot. Why is he single? ~ ~ ~ “. . . [T]here may be a hundred different ways of being in love.”
~ Jane Austen
And a hundred different ways not to recognize it.
What I Think: So, you know everything I ever told you about how dense people can be? Throw it all out. Because we have a new King in the house. Even I thought belonged to the group of self-delusion experts but just realized that I am on baby level. Lake is henceforth the king of self-delusion. This beautiful man’s self-delusion is so great that he even uses it on other people and of course, it’s just leaving destruction in his wake. And I still want to put him in a box that’s padded just to save him from himself. Shall we stroll through the review? It’s just chapter 3 and I already know who I’m rooting for. Knight has a very fitting name because that sheer magnificence can face down a dragon. And sweet, dense Lake insists on playing Cupid after one spectacular win. Knight is a Keeper and Lake needs to belong somewhere. Knight, Meet lickable, edible damsel. Sidestep – I did a quick research to see if there is actually a word for male damsel and apparently for Modern English it is male damsel. And for archaic English, it is ‘Swain’. Considering that I love the archaic most times, I’ll take swain. Back to our review path? The flirting is going to engulf Me In flames while I control myself from smacking okra seeds out of Lake’s mouth. Kindy wait while I find a better synonym for blind Bartimaeus here. In the meantime, can somebody please put me out of my misery and give this boy coke bottle lens before I choke him? I’m almost seething. How can anyone be so blind as to make my Knight suffer? I want to turn into a dragon and go harass Lake in the hopes of jolting him awake. Harry’s dream is going to end in disaster because of Lake and the poor boy doesn’t deserve this. Damnnit. How can I love Lake so much and want to not only gag him but put him in shackles too? The sketches made it feel even more real and I freaking loved each and every one of them because it felt like a personal note. I might be a paying member of the Obviously Dense Brigade, but, come on. How did I not know Knight was jealous? It didn’t occur to me until the end. So those times he’d suddenly turn cold and unforgiving and rigid. Jealousy. Oh lawdess, don’t tell me I need a Knight too? But, oh, the joy of arguing when you know the other person will still love you no matter what? Bliss! Only for sweet, beautiful, all too tender lovemaking to turn so jarringly wrong that it made my teeth throb just because my swain is the king of bats (and not even in a cool vampire way!) This is a little hypocritical (just a tad) but how on Earth does Lake always say the opposite to what he’s thinking? And even I’m way better now. Turns out I just need to find my kind of people. Oh crap, I think I just answered myself. Anyhoo, just when hope swells within me, he gets dumber. Lawdess, how much more can my tummy take? Can Knight please save Lake from himself, save me from my misery, then beg the Authoress to have pity on me? I’m even begging all super dramatic too with wailing and gnashing o’ teeth thrown in for good measure even though I’m laughing because, Lake. Just as everything begins to click into place for Lake, I suddenly realized why he could be so blind. Boyo has to put some respect on himself. He can’t believe anyone could ever want him for his hot, mess self. Talk more of loving him to the point of not wanting anyone else. It brought a whole new meaning to self-love that’s really humbled me. Aand finally, I can breathe again as I let go of Lake with a warning glare not to mess this up. And just when I would have loved some more, just a tiny bit more, it ended. Ma’am, you had way too much fun tying me up into knots. Oh dear, that sounded more innocent in my head.
Verdict? A comfort keeper filled with so many stumbling blocks and self knots that only true love could make this possible!
Find Tale: Amazon
About the Author: I’m a big, BIG fan of slow-burn romances. I love to read and write stories with characters who slowly fall in love. Some of my favorite tropes to read and write are: Enemies to Lovers, Friends to Lovers, Clueless Guys, Bisexual, Pansexual, Demisexual, Oblivious MCs, Everyone (Else) Can See It, Slow Burn, Love Has No Boundaries. I write a variety of stories, Contemporary MM Romances with a good dollop of emotion, Contemporary lighthearted MM Romances, and even a splash of fantasy. My books have been translated into German, Italian, French, Spanish, and Thai.
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THE QUILLE AND LAMPE 