Book of the Week Winners! Here are the winning books of this week’s Book of the Week Poll. Both will go through to the Book of the Month Poll Reviewed by Mal TITLE: First Oaths SERIES: The Bone Man #1 AUTHORS: C.J Tuma & Quinn Cameron PUBLISHER: Self Published LENGTH: 370 Pages RELEASE DATE: October 1, 2025 RATING: 

Reviewed by Ro TITLE: Promised Secret SERIES: Promises, Promises #3 AUTHOR: Rye Cox PUBLISHER: Eternal Spring Publishing LLC LENGTH: RELEASE DATE:  October 10, 2025 BLURB: He stole my first kiss when he was ten, then my heart at fifteen. My crush was destined to lead to nowhere when our parents announced they've been dating and plan on marrying. Now they expect me to act like a family with the man I've been crushing on—my new stepbrother—and I can't imagine a worst hell.

Reviewed by Cindy TITLE: I Just Met You & This is Crazy AUTHOR: Rena Butler, Augusta Connor, Opal Moritz, Daisy Fairchild, Catherine Fletcher, Trixie Dominio PUBLISHER: Space Fruit Press LENGTH: 274 Pages RELEASE DATE: October 4, 2025 BLURB: What happens when two strangers meet and sparks fly? Find out in the brand new MM romance anthology I Just Met You & This is Crazy.

AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT  MAX VOS Oh, Dani, how I’ve missed you. Thank you for letting me do a post here. I was given several prompts to choose from for this post, and I’ve decided to pick none of them. Big surprise, I’m doing my own thing. So… I’ve decided to share a little more than I usually do. My routine is that I get up, put my socks on, pat the dog, have a sip of water and put on my glasses.

Reviewed by: Sue Eaton TITLE: Blood of the Damned: Thorn SERIES: Vaughan Winery #1 AUTHOR: JP Sayle PUBLISHER: Self Published LENGTH: 231 pages RELEASE DATE: September 26, 2025 BLURB: Sommelier Ledger Rain is running from his past mistakes. What does Vaughan Winery have to offer him? Everything. Ledger unexpectedly gains an unusual mate, his boss, Thorn Vaughan, and life swiftly becomes a roller coaster ride full of dips, heights, twists and turns.

Reviewed by Kat   TITLE: Home for Stone SERIES: Secret Springs: Home for… (Book 2) AUTHOR: Minerva Howe PUBLISHER: Turtlehat Creatives LENGTH: 113 pages RELEASE DATE: August 23, 2022 BLURB: Stone is trying hard to get his life back together after blowing the whistle on his crooked boss, and Secret Springs seems like the place to do it. He has a bunch of new friends who are happy to support a struggling single guy, a bunch of new odd jobs, and a nice apartment.

RELEASE TOUR incl Exclusive Excerpt: The Call of Azure by Rayne Hawthorne Length: 100,000 words Series: Unexpected Love Trilogy - book 3 Prior Reading: Prior reading is required Genre: contemporary, minor paranormal themes Tropes: found family, hurt comfort, friends to lovers, PTSD/anxiety rep, caretaking, mutual pining, secret 2nd HEA, soup (yep..calling soup a trope LOL)

Reviewed by Anna Lynn TITLE: Belladonna AUTHOR: A.E. Via PUBLISHER: Via Star Wings LENGTH: 299 Pages RELEASE DATE: September 30, 2025 BLURB: What began as four short episodes is now a re-edited, revised tale with deeper characters, richer storylines, and 40,000 words of brand-new content, in color, woven into a full-length novel. A gay romance soap opera of love, resilience, and redemption.

Reviewed by: Sue Eaton TITLE: Striking the Match SERIES: Redwood Bay Fire AUTHOR: HJ Welch PUBLISHER: Self Published LENGTH: 292 pages RELEASE DATE: September 21, 2025 BLURB: Love will save the day TEDDY Everybody has celebrity crushes, right? You just don’t expect to ever meet them. And even if you did, it’s not like they’d ever like you back—like me…

Reviewed by Jen TITLE:  Daddy's Firm Hands SERIES: Saddle Up AUTHOR: Mae Malone PUBLISHER: Self Published LENGTH: 147 pages RELEASE DATE: September 27, 2025 BLURB: 𓃗 Daddy’s Firm Hands is a semi-dark MM cowboy/mafia story in the Saddle Up shared world. Saddle Up is a MM Daddy cowboy multi-author collaboration where you'll find heart, heat, and a good time! Will secrets lasso their love before it can start?

Reviewed by Kat   TITLE: Pride and Power SERIES: Secret Springs (Book 4) AUTHOR: Minerva Howe PUBLISHER: Turtlehat Creatives LENGTH: 288 pages RELEASE DATE: May 24, 2022 BLURB: Andrew McGarry has been running the city offices of Secret Springs for a while now, ever since the mayor had to leave town in the midst of a family scandal. He's known all along that he would have to work with whoever ended up filling the role, but he's not sure what to do with construction contractor Kynan Tierney.

Book Title: Beyond The Darkness (Basic Instincts Book 3) Author: Thom Collins Publisher: Entwined Publishing Cover Artist: Kelly Martin Release Date: October 7, 2025 Genres: Contemporary MM Romance, Crime and thriller Tropes: Celebrity, murder mystery, Erotic romance, Suspense Themes: Theatre, stalking Length: 64 453 words/259 pages It is a standalone story that is part of a wider series (Basic Instincts)

Reviewed by Sadonna TITLE:  Conditioning Loan AUTHORS: L.A. Witt PUBLISHER: GallagherWitt Publishing LLC LENGTH: 154 Pages RELEASE DATE:  October 7, 2025 BLURB: When a hockey star asks him to dance at a club, minor league forward Taylor Wilson is thrilled. Maybe that cute teammate who laughed in his face was wrong after all, and he is good enough for someone.

Reviewed by Taylin TITLE: The Tex Hex SERIES: Bitches with Stitches #3 AUTHOR: Raquel Riley PUBLISHER: Self-Published LENGTH: 288 Pages RELEASE DATE: September 30, 2025 BLURB: The whole world is burning around me, and the only man who can put out the fire has me friend-zoned. Tex Twink. Flirt. Pushover. Shallow. That’s what they see—a pretty face, a carefree smile.

Reviewed by Jen TITLE:  Rio SERIES: Redcars #3 AUTHOR: R.J. Scott PUBLISHER: Love Lane Books LENGTH: 372 pages RELEASE DATE: September 26, 2025 BLURB: Hunted by killers. Protected by a monster. Lyric Thornwood is on the run, his name stamped on a kill order flooding the dark web. Someone inside the system wants him erased—and Marcus Kessler, the billionaire who twisted Lyric’s stolen code into the murderous AI LyricNight, is hunting him like prey.

Reviewed by Mal TITLE: Just This Once SERIES: Men of Port Luck #1 AUTHOR: Garrett Leigh PUBLISHER: Self Published LENGTH: 379 Pages RELEASE DATE: October 2, 2025 BLURB: Love hurts. Love heals. Love stays. The Men of Porth Luck series is a steamy, gritty, and emotional MM small-town romance collection chock full of angst, deep connections, and healing soulmate love.

Reviewed by Sadonna TITLE:  Rough Draft AUTHORS: R.J. Scott and V.L. Locey PUBLISHER: Love Lane Books Ltd LENGTH: 204 Pages RELEASE DATE:  October 7, 2025 BLURB: Success isn’t measured in goals or stats; it’s a rough draft waiting to be rewritten. Walker Hannan was supposed to be the next big thing in the NHL. But instead of carving out a legendary career, he's been sent down to the minors to fix his game—and his attitude.

Reviewed by Mal TITLE: The Island AUTHOR: Briar Prescott PUBLISHER: Self Published LENGTH: 552 Pages RELEASE DATE: September 30, 2025 BLURB: My heart is in his hands, and he doesn’t even know it. Adrian Elias Olsen crashed into my world like a wrecking ball—adventurous, carefree, and impossible to resist. He gave me a home, a family, and a place to belong.

Reviewed by Kat   TITLE: Home for Ryan SERIES: Secret Springs: Home for… (Book 1) AUTHOR: Minerva Howe PUBLISHER: Turtlehat Creatives LENGTH: 110 pages RELEASE DATE: March 29, 2022 BLURB: Ryan feels pretty lucky to have found Secret Springs and his job working for Fuel Comfort Food as a caterer. He was on the run from a bad relationship when he did, and it's taken some time for him to come out of the shell he was put into by his ex.

Reviewed by True TITLE: Marry Me, Maybe? SERIES: Bristlecone Springs #2 AUTHOR: Sage Abbott aka Gianni Holmes PUBLISHER: Coco Nutz Publishing LENGTH: 500 pages RELEASE DATE: October 7, 2025 BLURB: Hudson Granger was mine for one summer. And one summer was enough to ruin me for anyone else. On my father’s ranch, we worked side by side. Rode hard. Kissed harder.

Tell us a little about yourself. I’m a nonbinary (gender fluid fae tomboy) queer writer and performer, currently in Portugal, though I spent most of the summer paddle boarding in Scotland, the spring paddle boarding in Ireland and the winter in Malta. I also made the web series Assigned Female at Birth and LOVE writing and directing my own work.

Reviewed by Sadonna TITLE:  Script Swap SERIES:  The Last Picks AUTHOR:  Gregory Ashe PUBLISHER:  Hodgkin & Blount LENGTH:  278 pages RELEASE DATE: October 6, 2025 BLURB: They say the show must go on. Thank goodness for intermission. Dashiell Dawson Dane isn’t thrilled that a new play at the community theater is based (however loosely) on his life. But when Dash’s friend Fox asks him to attend opening night, things take a strange turn: the actor playing Dash’s role seems to have been given a different script.

Reviewed by Kat   TITLE: Moody as a Minotaur SERIES: Willow Lake Pack (Book 1) AUTHOR: Lori Ames PUBLISHER: November Snow LENGTH: 396 pages RELEASE DATE: October 1, 2025 BLURB: Magic isn't real, is it? Parker’s intuition has been itching for months—no, it’s probably closer to years—telling him something isn’t quite right in Willow Lake. But sometimes it’s safer to ignore the feeling than expose truths you don’t want to face.

SERIES TOUR and NEW RELEASE #1. Tell us a little about yourself. I’m a Bulgarian bilingual author. I write books in Bulgarian and English. My genres are epic fantasy with a gay power couple and historical fiction from a female point of view. I live in Bulgaria and enjoy spending time in the Bulgarian mountains, writing and hiking. #2. Do you have a favorite quote (either from your own books or one’s you’ve read)?

Reviewed by Ro TITLE:  Feels Like Home AUTHOR: Casey Cox PUBLISHER: Self Published LENGTH: 321 Pages RELEASE DATE: October 6, 2025 BLURB: Doctor x firefighter in a steamy, small-town, friends-to-lovers MM romance... Courtland I swear I'm not deliberately avoiding telling my best friend I'm in love with him. Life just has a funny way of getting in the way…for the last fifteen years or so.