Tag Team Review with Sara!

3.5 HEARTS--Ice Fishing.



I knew of it, but this book is definitely an ode to the sport.

Let me tell you something. I'm the least sports appreciating person you might meet. And sadly, I'm surrounded by the sports people. My BFF is a fisherwoman. Like she takes joy in sitting around with live bait and catching fish any free time she can. Do I join her? Fuck no! I tune out the moment she mentions bait. So I took my fishing non-love to this book, it seems.

This book is a lot about the appreciation and dedication of the sport in a icy tundra of a Wisconsin town. That's the major selling point of this book.

Matt Wasko is small, college educated, out and proud, grandson of a revered family in his small town and works an office job in a factory. His co-workers and Matt bowl together and against each other on two teams. And other the other team is Matt's love interest, John Lutz. Lutz's team has a bunch of homophobic jerks and Lutz does nothing to shut those guys up. He joins in the lame jokes or laughs.

Matt can't stand them especially that good looking Lutz. Thankfully, he had a two week vacation away from the job and with his beloved frozen lake Winnebago. When Lutz shows up to his icy piece of heaven, it seems like Matt can't catch a break.

At the core of things, Matt is a good guy. And he can't be an asshole to anyone... even his nemesis. The thing is John isn't a bad guy, he makes poor choices and follows the crowd, so no one knows how deep he's in the closet.

The two make nice on the ice and discover shared geeky interests. But they also are attracted to each other. The romance part was cute. I thought the epilogue was a bit soon just because we don't get to spend as much time with the couple as we did with Matt. There is some hotness dropped in there. *coughs*intercrural *coughs*rimming *coughs*

The guys were cute. Lutz pulls his head out of his ass. Wasko was adorably snarky. I liked them (okay, I liked Wasko a little more) But the klutzy wooing was cute. Thank goodness, we get dual POV.

Overall, the love story is the love of Wisconsin. Never been to the state, but it read authentic.

And who doesn't love unicorn name dropping?



Recommended to readers who enjoy the ice fishing sport (or want to learn as this is chock full of info).



A copy provided for an honest review.

It's the spookiest time of the year...CHRISTMAS JIZZMAS time!!

A lot of readers are going to smother themselves in Christmas Jizz. Whelp at BMBR, we're reviewing Dreamspinner's Bah Humbug anthology - Grumps vs. Jizz Lovers (1 guess what team I'm on)



Here's my 2 cents:

4.25 Hearts--I feel!



Possibly the Jizzmas spirit? *squints*

This Santa jizz Grumpcorn was tickled by this adorably snarky story. I swallowed this load easily.

I think this year's anthology theme of Scrooges reigning supreme is great. (You can't tell me that the Scrooges don't reign) It's the only reason why I even looked at this year's Dreamspinner anthology. I felt one with this story's Scrooge, Laurence. He's 33, single and not a big fan of the Christmas commercialism. And if he shreds unwanted Christmas decorations from his office cubicle, so what? They shouldn't be invading his space. I feel he is misunderstood. He stood up to the Christmas cheery and their Christmas sugar, fought the good fight...maybe he might have been a little stern.

But he got his point across. *shrug*

Maybe too well, since he's been at it for years and this year an office mishap lands him in an office holiday planning committee. Mandatory or else. *gasp* And to make matters worse, the committee is being led by a Christmas loving ginger giant by the name of Nick Kringall. Nick tries to complete the impossible with Laurence on his team--throw a big party in a limited amount of time. The two men are forced to work together. During this short period of time Laurence thaws out, Nick seems a little otherworldly, is it a Jizzmas miracle?

NO!

Where this story wins is not the Jizzmas cheer, it's watching Laurence realize his flaws, grow as a person and open to let someone in. Also, Matt Burlingame, the author of this story has a fine hand at letting the story unfurl without letting it get lost to Christmas fluff and cheer. There was a speck of feels as there are mentions of past abuse - Trigger warning. There were also moments of cheese--hm, like Cheddar cubes--but it worked to make a well rounded story. And the romance was sweet not sticky. The laughs had a snarky tinge. Thoroughly enjoyed and will be looking for more MM romance from this author (it's his first time!)

On second thought, I don't think it's Jizzmas spirit I feel. I think it was a little indigestion. *burp* ;P

A copy provided for an honest review.