Isaiah Roby's Blog: MI Book Reviews, page 24

Navigating With You

“A charming POC-led WLW romance where two new friends hit the road in search of the missing volumes of their favorite manga.

Neesha Sparks is a disabled, vocal community activist with a passion for costume design. Gabby Graciana is an optimistic surfer – and, like Neesha, a new kid at school. When the two girls discover that they like the same manga series, Navigator Nozomi, they become more than just fellow new kids. But it was more than just having read the same book series–neither of them ...

Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees

“Live, laugh, shed blood. Dexter meets Richard Scarry’s Busy, Busy Town in this twisted debut graphic novel!

Don’t. Murder. The locals.

This is small-town serial killer, upstanding citizen, and adorable brown bear Samantha Strong’s cardinal rule. After all, there’s a sea of perfectly ripe potential victims in the big city just beyond the forest, and when you’ve worked as hard as Sam to build a cozy life and a thriving business in a community surrounded by friendly fellow animal folk, warm ...

Mickey7

This gave me murderbot vibes both in the overall description and while reading, but if I kept up the comparison, this would fall laughably short, so I won’t.

Dying isn’t any fun…but at least it’s a living.

Mickey7 is an Expendable: a disposable employee on a human expedition sent to colonize the ice world Niflheim. Whenever there’s a mission that’s too dangerous—even suicidal—the crew turns to Mickey. After one iteration dies, a new body is regenerated with most of his memories intact. After ...

Immersion Play

“One bratty boy searching for somewhere to call home, one damaged Daddy Dom looking to escape his grief, and one kinky found family ready to help them both heal.

Micah’s starting over. He left his old life in the middle of the night and showed up in San Francisco on a job tip from a friend. However, when Meg hires him at Whipped, he not only enters a new city but also a whole new world with this cozy crew of kinksters. And one man continues to catch his attention again and again.

Parker do...

Annie LeBlanc Is Not Dead Yet

“Every ten years in the strange little town of Lennon, California, one person is chosen to return from the dead…

Wilson Moss entered the town’s top-secret contest in the hopes of resurrecting her ex-best friend Annie LeBlanc, but that doesn’t mean she thought she’d actually win. Now Annie’s back and Wil’s ecstatic—does it even really matter that Annie ghosted her a year before she died…?

But like any contest, there are rules, and the town’s resurrected dead can only return for thirty days....

Blue Boys Box-Set

This includes the novellas Bullet, Bones and Bold, the protagonists of all of which work at the same gay porn studio.
I liked the concept, but the romantic arcs of all three novellas fell sort of flat for me, as did the background stories. I particularly hated that the tension relied on toxic masculinity, cissexism, and your typical instantly solvable drama for drama’s sake, respectively.

Three steamy bestselling novellas set within the Blue Boy world. All three novellas are set in and around ...

The Coast

“A trip up the coast leads rodeo champion Jameson Stone to consider what’s important in life.”

I got an ARC of this book.

I am the worst at reading book descriptions, but when someone emails me and I see certain keywords I agree without hesitation. Rodeo happens to be one of those words. So I had no idea what I was getting into, but I was in for a wonderful read!

This was short, but it mostly felt complete. I wanted a little more information. Was the person in the passneger seat a ch...

The Prospects

“The pressure cooker of minor league baseball leads to major chemistry in this exhilarating, sexy, and triumphant rivals to lovers debut romance.

Hope is familiar territory for Gene Ionescu. He has always loved baseball, a sport made for underdogs and optimists like him. He also loves his team, the minor league Beaverton Beavers, and, for the most part, he loves the career he’s built. As the first openly trans player in professional baseball, Gene has nearly everything he’s ever let himself d...

On the 69th day of Xmas

“Christmas is the time for giving, and what’s the perfect gift someone can give their friend with benefits?

Luka came across the perfect present for Xander, and after inviting him over to his place, Xander felt obligated to return the favour. But what happens when one of them receives a sweet and wholesome present, while the other gets something… less wholesome?

‘On the 69th day of Xmas’ is a sweet and erotic short story adapted from the game, Wrong Number, featuring the two main character...

The Wingos Upon Her Back

“A loyal warrior in a crisis of faith must fight to regain her place and begin her life again while questioning the events of her past. This gripping science-fantasy novel from a Nebula and Locus Award-winning debut author is a complex, action-packed exploration of the costs of zealous faith, brutal war, and unquestioning loyalty.

Five gods lie mysteriously sleeping above the city of Radezhda. Five gods who once bestowed great technologies and wisdom, each inspiring the devotion of their own ...