Reviewed by Sadonna
TITLE: The Lipstick Flip
SERIES: Hazardverse: Sidetracks
AUTHOR: Gregory Ashe
PUBLISHER: Hodgkin & Blount
LENGTH: 243 pages
RELEASE DATE: September 14, 2026
BLURB:
He’s a fixer-upper. So is he.
Howie Cartwright doesn’t go by Cart anymore; he’s worked a long time to move past that name, and all the mistakes that went with it. Things are different now. He’s got a great job flipping houses. He’s in recovery. And he’s single.
Or so he thought.
When a chance phone call reveals that Howie isn’t technically divorced, he’s determined to get answers out of his ex. Instead, Noah offers him a deal: if Howie will help Noah get through the holiday season while Noah’s family is in town, Noah will give up his claim on the house Howie is flipping—a legacy of their time together.
It’s a deal too good to pass up.
Isn’t it?
REVIEW:
Howie has tried so hard to get his life together. He’s sober. He’s single. He’s focused on his company flipping houses with his friend Si. He’s super busy and doesn’t have a personal life. Then he gets an unexpected call. Because apparently he is not divorced after all??
When he goes to see his not ex-husband Noah, it appears that Noah didn’t exactly do everything he said he was going to with the divorce papers and his family thinks they are still together. Oh and they are coming for the holidays, so maybe they are going to have to give a performance.
Then Howie’s work partner has a medical emergency and here he is days away from a house tour and he’s on his own and he knows he can’t get all the work done by himself and he isn’t sure he knows how to do some of it – that was Si’s area of expertise. So Noah makes him a deal to pay for the help to get the house over the finish line and he’ll let Howie pay him back. Noah won’t scuttle the house deal if Howie agrees to help with his family.
Ooooh boy. Howie had an awful upbringing. He isn’t great around families and Noah’s is well . . . less than ideal. Some a homophobic. Some are addicts, and they all are not very supportive of Noah. It’s pretty unpleasant but Howie has grown up a lot since he and Noah have been apart. He realizes he does not want to make things worse for Noah, so he really does try to be supportive. Also, the attraction is still there of course 😉
As the holidays bear down on them, the pressure to get the house ready, the various holiday moments with Noah’s family and dealing with all the things that keep coming up, it seems that Noah and Howie might have figured out how to work together. Finally.
This was a big surprise. I really enjoyed this story more than I was anticipating. Howie’s backstory is heartbreaking. God. I’m surprised he wasn’t more of a mess. Noah’s family is no prize either. But when these two have each other’s back? It’s like a whole new world where they finally discovered that they really do make a good team. Both characters have clearly grown up and it’s lovely to see them figure their stuff out. Also, enjoyable cameos from other favorite characters 😉 Well done!
RATING: 
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