Reviewed by Kat
TITLE: Septante/Nonante
SERIES: 70/90 #1
AUTHOR: E. Morin
PUBLISHER: Self Published
LENGTH: 356 pages
RELEASE DATE: February 15, 2026
BLURB:
✨ Best friends to lovers
✨ Marriage of convenience (immigration stakes)
✨ One bed
✨ Hurt/comfort
✨ Explicit content
✨ Guaranteed HEA
Charlie has loved his best friend Tom since he was fourteen. Tom has loved him back for years.
When a long-buried bureaucratic mistake threatens Charlie’s permanent residency, the solution is as absurd as it is irreversible: marriage.
What begins as a legal arrangement quickly unravels. Late-night confessions. One shared bed. A lifetime of feelings neither of them ever dared to name.
Now, caught between a legal nightmare and the romantic dream he never thought he was allowed to want, Charlie must decide whether trusting Tom with his future also means risking the one relationship he can’t afford to lose.
For mature audiences. Contains explicit sexual content, soft daddy dynamics, heavy hurt/comfort, and a guaranteed happily ever after.
REVIEW:
There is always something so genuinely wonderful and gratifying in discovering a brand new author with a great gift for creating a story that sucks you in and won’t let go. This is one of those rare opportunities that I’m thankful I took a chance on.
Charlie finally has a good life and a loving family. Something that he definitely didn’t have in his tragic and tortured youth. A youth that he doesn’t want to remember or ever return to. That would kill him! The other thing that has been a constant is the love and support of his best friend since St. James Academy. But he knows that his love for Thomas is different and always will be. Because Charlie is definitely gay and head over heals for Thomas and has been for years. So imagine the shock on Charlie’s previously devastated face when Thomas drops to his knee and proposes so that this immigration mess up disappears. Then add in Tom’s confession that he also is head over heels for his bestie and has been waiting for just the right moment to profess his true love and ask him to marry him…for the past four years!!! Now Tom just has to convince Charlie (and the government) that this is all real.
Oh my goodness, this epic novel has all my boxes checked for a great read. Two men that have loved each other but kept it to themselves. Best friends-to-lovers/husbands, marriage of convenience, only one bed, mild Daddy kink/over protective, hurt/comfort. Then add in one amazing/loving/caring family and one privileged family that would do anything to get their way.
You couldn’t help to hope for both Charlie and Tom. They had hid their hopes/desires for the other for so long, Charlie much longer than Tom. They were both good guys that loved and supported each other. And Charlie needed that continued gentle but committed love that his adoptive family gave him. Heck, The GENERAL, aka Charlie’s over the top but super protective sister Hazel, was a force that was scary at best and downright needed to be feared when she went into her full mode. I am hoping that we will get more of her blooming relationship with her architect Julian. He seems to be able to be the perfect match for her. I’m not surprised that she got the mild Daddy kink that was laced throughout this book. But it is the steadfast love between these two men that carries throughout this book. These men love each other thoroughly and completely. They would do anything to protect the man that they love. And it shines through literally page after page after page. That is why I can’t believe how awful both of Thomas’s parents are. But then again, both men are nothing like the sperm donor that spawned them.
One of the things I truly loved was when Charlie uttered something so completely out of character yet spot on with his quiet grace but biting words when you truly piss him off. Just ask his sister Hazel when she “spills his secret” or Michael, Tom’s father. Charlie is sweet and quiet but he has a backbone and can deliver knife like words when provoked.
I hate to say the dreaded word **whispers CLIFFHANGER** but it is. It’s a soft one but left me dangling and needing answers. I don’t trust Michael and fear what he plans for retribution.
This is a great start from a brand-new author that promises to be an engaging and thought provoking series. And, the very best part??? Right now it’s free!!!
RATING: 
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