REVIEWED by Danielle
TITLE: Danny & Jude
SERIES: Barista Boys 1
AUTHOR: A. Ryecart
PUBLISHER: Self Published
LENGTH: 216 Pages
RELEASE DATE: July 6th 2016
BLURB:
Life gets complicated when the thing you want most in the world is for your best friend to be your lover.
For Danny Spears, sex is like fast food: cheap, convenient and ultimately unfulfilling. There’s only one man he really wants and that’s his best friend, Jude Greenwood. That’s never going to happen. As far as Jude’s concerned Danny’s not only his oldest and closest friend, he’s the big brother he never had. The trouble is, they’re no longer boys and Danny’s feelings for Jude are anything but brotherly.
Falling for one dead-end man after another in his search of his happy ever after, the only thing Jude ends up with is a broken heart and shattered dreams. Always there to pick him up and make things better, Danny could be Jude’s perfect man. There’s one big stumbling block: Danny doesn’t do boyfriends or relationships. Any fantasy Jude has about them ever getting together will have to remain just that, a fantasy.
A passionate kiss leads to a night together that was never meant to happen, and the shockwaves rock them both. Should they seize the chance to take their lives in a direction neither dreamed possible? But the stakes are high, and it takes courage to cross the line from friends to lovers. If they take that step, there’s no going back for either of them. Their lives will change forever, but will it be for better or worse?
Sexy, sweet and with a serious case of undeclared love laced with a healthy dose of angst, Danny & Jude is the first in the Barista Boys contemporary gay romance series.
Each story charts the loves and lives of the men who work in a quirky little cafe in the heart of London’s Soho: Barista Boys, where it’s not just the coffee that’s hot.
I really was on the edge of my seat a couple of times thinking “yes finally” or “yes now it will happen” but got really disappointed getting more and more into the story and still nothing was really happening on the segment that I wanted something to happen.
As I am new to this author I did wonder if there was a pre-story that tells us about the couple that are already a couple in this part (Pete and Andy) but one of the highlights for me was meeting all these Barista Boys men.
Overall a nice story with some drama and a slow pace, with lovely characters and a promise of more.
I am diving into book 2 🙂
RATING: 
BUY LINK:
TITLE: Stevie & Mack
SERIES: Barista Boys 2
AUTHOR: A.E Ryecart
PUBLISHER: Self Published
LENGTH: 190 Pages
RELEASE DATE: October 7, 2016
BLURB:
Theft, capture, and an impossible-to-refuse offer, life can change in a heartbeat.
When Stevie Allardyce is caught stealing food from Barista Boys, he doesn’t think life can get any worse. Starving, desperate and homeless, Stevie’s only crime is trying to survive another day.
Mack Porter is outraged when the filthy street kid is offered a job and a place to live at the cafe. Stevie’s a thief, caught red-handed, but it’s not long before Mack’s resolve to keep his distance crumbles as he falls under Stevie’s gentle spell.
Shared secrets bind them together. Two souls, once lost, find each other and discover life really can be full of hope, promise and love. But the street doesn’t give up its own without a fight and Stevie is faced with a stark and heart wrenching choice: do what’s demanded of him, or risk exposure? The life Stevie craves hangs in the balance, one wrong decision and he loses everything, including Mack.
Stevie & Mack is the second book in the Barista Boys contemporary gay romance series. Each story charts the lives and loves of the men who work in a quirky little cafe in the heart of London’s Soho: Barista Boys, where it’s not just the coffee that’s hot.
A full length novel, approximately 62,500. Each book in the series can be read as a stand-alone.
REVIEW:
I was extremely excited to start this second book after finishing the first one. I really felt connected to the Barista boys and wanted to read more right away. This second book didn’t disappoint. This second book is more heavy laden with a lot of drama added and more serious to read than the first one.
I noticed that I really got upset at some passages, feeling deeply for the suffering and the heartache that was written about.
Stevie is such a gentle, kind soul you cannot help falling deeply for him where as for Mack you just know he has a reason for coming on so strong but you can only understand where he is coming from when you find out.
Thank god for Bernie and his intuition. I have to say I m really fond of Bernie and his persistence throughout both books so far.
As a series lover I would have loved it to not be so much of a stand alone with a little more overlap between the couples but that is absolutely personal obviously.
Just one thing that really got me kind of upset/disappointed. Where in the first book we also had to work hard so to speak to get a happy ending and seeing Danny and Jude together in every way, in this book that is even worse. I really felt…cock-blocked might be the right word, and I don’t even have a cock! But I really would have appreciated a little happiness, togetherness before the drama struck.
I was so incredibly looking forward to Mack and Stevie finally spending some quality time together. The story really built up to that with them both not having their own place to be together romantically. Then when that crashed and burned I was devastated and disappointed. It felt like I as a reader needed them to have that together.
When they finally get passed the drama, to me it felt a bit rushed and as a reader I would really have loved to have seen some more romance, some more time together before the book ended.
What we do get is a story about loneliness. friendship and family. It’s about growth, picking yourself up and moving on. We get drama and hurt but also promises and love. As a reader we get a fulfilling, complete story with all kind of ingredients…a well written story that flows perfectly.
And for me definitely the promise of wanting to read the next book in this series.
RATING:
BUY LINK:
Don’t know if I can take all the drama, but I’m drawn to the storylines!
I’m not in the mood for this right now, but I’ll take note for when I feel like this… Thank you for the review, Danielle
Thank you for the reviews. I’ve been on tge fence about these books, so I may give them a go now with the knowledge that the drama might get to be too much. At least, I can be prepared and not surprised by it now.