Reviewed by Tammy

 

 

TITLE:  Matchmakers (Second Chances/Second Drafts/Second Place)

SERIES: A Shifting Isles Trilogy 

AUTHOR: G.R. Lyons        

PUBLISHER: Self Published     

LENGTH: 785 Pages           

RELEASE DATE: July 24, 2016

BLURB:

Second Chances: Nineteen-year-old porn star Remy Dawes loves his job at Matchmakers, a gay nightclub, but the fantasy he portrays every night doesn’t leave room for what he really wants: companionship, love, someone to come home to, someone just for him. Who would ever take seriously a kid who practically sells his body for others’ pleasure?

Thirty-five-year-old Chance Whitaker has sworn off dating younger men after having been cheated on one too many times, until the owner of Matchmakers convinces him to take a chance on Remy Dawes, a gorgeous kid who surprises Chance at every turn.

As things fall apart through meddling, death, and betrayal, will there be a second chance for two people to find love?

REVIEW:

Chance Whitaker is 35 years’ old and still alone. His last boyfriend thought ‘Let’s move in together’ meant ‘Let’s sleep around and bring random strangers home for a three-way.’ And that was on his last birthday! Just because he was attracted to younger men it didn’t mean he had to give up on fidelity, loyalty and love.

Remy Dawes is 19 years’ old and has always been alone. Remy works at Matchmakers as a stripper/porn star and even though he loves his job what he wants is the complete opposite, a man to love him, someone who is just for him.

The owner of Matchmakers Danny, who happens to be the young boy Chance used to babysit when he was younger, has decided to match Remy and Chance. Remy is so excited he has always been attracted to older men because guys around his age are often times more childish than anything. Whilst Chance is not so sure, for one thing Remy is only 19 years’ old and he’s a stripper/porn star there is no way in hell he would know the meaning if the word fidelity!

It’s not an easy road for either Remy or Chance to open themselves up to love. Remy has to battle Chances almost obsession with their age-gap while Chance has to battle Remy’s “friends” who decide that Chance is far too old for Remy and set about to destroy everything they’ve managed to build together.

I won’t go any further into detail about Second Chance because I will give away spoiler’s so you’re going to have to get your own copy and set aside some quality reading time to find out if Remy and Chance have their “second chance”.

Second Drafts: Novelist Shain Ahren is committed to only one thing: himself. Living alone and having an endless string of one-night stands, Shain’s carefully crafted routine ensures no one will ever control him again. But one trick he met at Matchmakers, years ago, he can’t get out of his head. Painter Elliden Crawford yearns to be controlled. Born with an extreme chemical imbalance, Elliden struggles to keep the fits at bay so he won’t be a danger to others. Only once in his life did Elliden ever truly feel safe, just one night when he met a stranger at Matchmakers. When Matchmakers brings them together again, Elliden finally gets what he needs, while Shain’s world is thrown into complete disarray. Will Shain ever relinquish control, or will they be fated to remain a discarded first draft?

REVIEW:

Shain Ahren met Elliden Crawford years ago at Matchmakers and spent an unforgettable night together but Shain has a strict code that he always sticks to, he is always in control and the trick must be long gone before he goes to sleep. As a consequence, Shain never learnt who Elliden was, he didn’t even learn his name whilst Elliden, had the best night of his life, then, it was over.

Shain is Chance’s brother but they haven’t really spoken to each other for more years than they can remember because as far as Shain is concerned Chance is a cop-out, where Shain was beaten daily by their father then, when he found out when Shain was 14 that he was gay he threw him out. Chance has still not told their father that he is gay! Shain was on his own from when he was 14, he used to get paid for blow jobs and hand jobs  just so he could eat, that was until the men decided they would take what he wouldn’t give or sell and they raped him.

Elliden was born with an extreme chemical imbalance that makes him lash out and not only destroy whatever is in his vicinity but he has hurt people as well. Elliden had a loving childhood in that even though he didn’t have his mother he did have his father and sister who he never doubted loved him. Because of Elliden’s “outbursts” he has always lived with his sister Sasha and when she got married to Daivid there was just one more person to help contain and control him. There has only been one time in Elliden’s life that he has ever felt safe and controlled and he has decided that he has to find the one person that made him feel that way. So begins Elliden’s search for a needle in a haystack.

Shain has hit a writer’s block, he can’t concentrate, he can’t write, he doesn’t even want to pick up tricks because the sex has lost its appeal. The only good thing that has happened is he’s reconnected with his brother and his fiancé who have invited him to their wedding. As he doesn’t have anything better to do Shain decides to go back to his hometown for the wedding. Once back in Dunsberg, after the wedding Shain makes a visit to Matchmakers, where he meets Elliden once again.

Imagine, this is just about the first 6 chapters! There are 23 incredibly intense, emotionally charged chapters in Second Draft. This book will leave you feeling like you’ve been dragged through the wringer backwards, it is that good!!

Second Place: Danny Berringer lives up to the name of his nightclub. Ever since he cheated on Bryan, the love of his life, he’s been making up for it by helping others find love. He even matched up Bryan with Eric Grant, except Bryan’s perfect marriage seems to have fallen apart, and Danny is dying to know why. He doesn’t get couples wrong. Ever. Bryan Landry had his heart-broken by Danny, then had it put back together by Eric, but he can’t have Eric anymore, and it’s all his fault. He spends his nights at Matchmakers having random tricks and trying to avoid Danny, but the meddlesome matchmaker won’t leave him be. Thrown together through guilt, death, and temptation, Bryan denies his feelings while Danny clings to dreams of Bryan’s forgiveness. Will Danny always lose, or can he win second place in Bryan’s heart?

REVIEW:

Danyal ‘Danny’ Berringer has been in love with Brian Landry from the day he met him at the hospital when they both learnt their respective parents had died in a car crash. They connected on a basic level and fell in love with each other so easily and smoothly that they lived together for 5 years before Danny had to go and f*ck it up by sleeping with someone else. When he told Bryan what he’d done, Danny couldn’t stand to see him so hurt and devastated he decided to match him up with Eric Grant. Eric and Bryan have been married ever since.

Nine years later, Danny notices a marked change in Bryan’s behaviour. For the last nine years wherever he saw Bryan, Eric would be right beside him, especially at Matchmakers. For months now, Bryan would come in without Eric, then Danny discovered that Bryan was also having random tricks in the backroom with strangers as well as going without his wedding ring!

Bryan was just trying to make it through each day. Eric was dying and there was nothing Bryan could do to change it. Nobody knew what was happening with him and Eric especially not Danny and that was exactly how he wanted it. Until the night Bryan got a call and Danny drove him home and saw Eric lying in bed, the same bed he couldn’t even get out of now. That is night the they learn that Danny is living in the club with nowhere else to go and Eric tells Bryan to ask him to move into the spare room.

What makes this situation even harder for everyone involved is that Danny has starting dating a co-worker of Bryan’s that he can’t stand yet he’s still in love with Bryan. As Danny settles in at Bryan and Eric’s place he learns exactly what is wrong with Eric, he has an advanced form of AIDS that is so deadly it’s a miracle he’s lived this long.  Danny makes a bargain with Eric that he’ll wait for Bryan to finish grieving and be ready for love again and that he will stay faithful from that moment on. After Eric passes Bryan goes into meltdown and all Danny can do is be there to catch him and make sure he doesn’t do anything too stupid.

I’m going to leave my review of Second Place here because I really want you to get a copy of your own. A Shifting Isles Trilogy is a truly amazing series that will leave you emotionally wrung out and wondering why you didn’t read it earlier.

RATING: 

BUY LINK: 

Amazon