A Memory Away

by Taylor Lewis

In a world where it's unusual but men can carry children, boutique owner Kyle Gerritsen has just about managed to get his life back on an even keel after a pretty rocky couple of years when someone puts a brick through his shop window. Typical of the way his life has gone of late it’s suspected he is the latest victim of a mini crime wave in his neighbourhood and he is horrified when one of the investigating detectives assigned to his case turns out to be Jonah Goldman – otherwise known as the one night stand that has unknowingly fathered Kyle’s beloved son Shea.

Kyle doesn’t know whether to be relieved or outraged when it is apparent that Jonah has no memory of their night together but knows that he needs to do everything he can to keep out of the studly detective’s way in future – especially as the gleam in the detective’s eye is all too familiar and the last time he saw it he ended up a single father! Jonah just knows that there’s something about Kyle and he’s just interested enough to ignore Kyle’s increasingly desperate attempts at rejection to try and figure out what it is.

Genres: M M Romance, Romance, Contemporary, Fantasy, Family, Novella, Childrens

133 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 10, 2014

About the author

Taylor Lewis lives on a small, wind swept island off the west coast of Scotland with three entitled cats and two little dogs. Interests include staying dry as much as possible (sadly, not as often as wished for) and writing happy, escapism books in a variety of genres and main focus pairings that distract the author from the diabolical weather outside the window.

Reviews

[Gigi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very enjoyable book, my first of the mpreg genre. According to Jenni Lea, who is a mpreg fan, this one is tame and great for beginners, which was perfect for me since it was my first.

While I enjoyed the MCs and their female sidekicks and the adorable little toddler Shae in this story, I felt like I read only half of their story. This could have easily been fleshed out much, much more and blossomed into a 5 star book for me. For example, my kink is hurt/comfort and MC Jonah had recently suffered an undercover operation gone horribly wrong. We saw him suffer in silence and then never heard about it again. That was a missed opportunity in my book. Another big example, once MC Jonah meets his child, the book flashes forward 4 months and we miss those 4 months of Jonah falling in love with his child and falling in love with Kyle. That slow-burn-sexual-tension would have been fabulous to see! *sigh*

So, M/M romance fans who like the mpreg genre, this one is for you! Or anyone interested in trying out mpreg. For regular M/M romance fans, if you are prepared for a partial story and won't get frustrated, you will definitely enjoy this one. The MCs are quite delightful.

[Jenni Lea · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Ok, I've gotta admit, that was a pretty darn good little story there. The writing was smart although at times it felt as though the author was trying just a bit too hard to be funny and clever and a few of the secondary characters were a little over the top. The plot was engaging and the typos were few and far between. I would love to see this story expanded and detailed a bit more but for what it was, it's good. I guess it's technically an Mpreg book but you don't get to experience the pregnancy and birth. If someone wanted to try out an Mpreg story but were a bit hesitant this would be a good book to start with.

Recommended

[Aeren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ha tenido cosas que me han sacado mucho de la historia pero ha sido mejor de lo que esperaba.

[Trisha Harrington · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was good. I just didn't think it was great. Had it been longer maybe I would have liked it more. It kinda skimmed the couple aspect and went more for the kid thing. Now, if you like kids in books, then you'll probably love it more. But I wanted a bit more of them as a couple and not just the parents thing.

Overall, this was good for those who want to try mpreg or those who like that particular genre. I've read a couple before, but it normally happens in the book, not before.

[Deeze · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this for the most part.

The male preg thing was never explained in detail but I was ok with it just being a natural thing.

I loved Jonah and Kyle. Jonah especially because he kinda reminded me of Jake from the Adrien English series, just a little. Except when he became rather too violent for my liking.

Little Shea is adorable, but sadly for me not enough page time.

My main niggles were the two lead females were both brash and I know best types. In fact it was hard to tell them apart. Lopez in particular grated on my nerves.

I also had to wonder at the nannys reaction to Jonah. She knew no details so why she freaked out never made sense to me.

But all that said this was a enjoyable read that I would recommend to all looking for a quick romance fix.

[The Bursting Bookshelf of a Wallflower · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Memory Away was a very entertaining read about Kyle - father of Shea - and Jonah - a sexy cop with amnesia. I liked the concept of mpreg in this book, but unfortunately a few questions stayed unanswered. I definitly loved the interaction between the MC's. They were great togehter. However, a strange sense of humor made it difficult to read the story and I sometimes had to roll my eyes. In general, 3 stars for a sweet story!

[Rachel Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this and I didn't like it at the same time. Sometimes the characters were such assholes to each other haha, like Lopez was nice and then a bitch, and then Jonah was overly physical with Kyle, so it took me a while to warm up to him. The last couple of chapters were very sweet, although I wish we had gotten to read more about the 4 months that passed while Jonah got to know Shea and they were able to learn about each other. Still, a sweet story and I enjoyed it.

[Bookwatcher · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this as a freebie from smashwords because the blurb was interesting...

Kyle is a Twofer. This mean: he is a man, but also with female reproductive organs. There is no explanation of how, if it's common (seems so, cops have also do upgrade, taking class to know how to treat intersex person). The story start with him, in his shop, waiting the cops. Someone vandalize his shop. And then... He show up, Jonah.

Jonah is a cop, and for some reason he don't understand why the small and feminine onwer of a shop freak out while seeing him. Johan is confused... He is attracted to Kyle, but it's impossible. He like big and muscular men, not someone as Kyle..

There is no mystery of why Johan don't recognize Kyle. and it's a pity... It was (IMO) a great opportunity to drag the plot making it more intriguing... Not what happened.... immediately, the first time Jonah is the narrator, he will tell you what happened, and why he keep dreaming this guy, Kyle, and fucking him against a wall behind a club., but it's just a dream not reality.

Also no mystery about the vandalism, no suspense at all. This is a comedy of errors, of how can two men have such wrong ideas about the other.... Up to the last page of the book.

Quick coment: the kid is so cute! His obsession (food) is so funny. Lol. Love it. Attention! It's not a male-preg story! There is no pregnancy scene or memory about the pregnancy. No flashback at all, it's something that happened, present time is a single father and his kid. stop. So I'm not adding a male-preg tag to this book.

So, because I got it as a freebie and enjoy the humor and light theme (no drama, angst, suspense) I will give 4 stars. I wish there was more explanations about Kyle, to understand their world... Don't seems like a man having a kid is something so weird to them, and im even classifying this book as alternate-reality... and it seems interesting and maybe could have more attention.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars! This was surprisingly enjoyable! While searching for an Mpreg book for BINGO this week, I came across this one. It's not too long and is available on Kindle Unlimited... score! I didn't expect much honestly, but it was a rather cute story. Kyle is an intersex, which means he has both male and female reproductive organs. He got pregnant after a back alley hookup with Jonah. No names or numbers were exchanged and they hadn't seen each other again until 2 years later when Jonah (a cop) is assigned to investigate some vandalism charges (a brick was thrown through Kyle's store window).

I really liked Kyle and Jonah together. After Jonah got over the initial shock, he was really sweet.

[Mandy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really liked the concept of this book, as soon as I read the blurb it was put to the top of my to read list. I did like the story, but a few things didn't work for me:

● I didn't really like any of the characters except for Kyle. They all seemed really obnoxious. I especially hated Megan and Lopez to the point where I almost stopped reading.

● The dialogue for some characters was terrible. Do people actually talk like that? Some of it felt like racial stereotyping (Megan) and some felt like listening to a really low budget rough tough cop movie. It just didn't work for me.

Only 2 stars for this one. Still worth a read.

[Lelyana's Reviews · Rating 3 out of 5]

This should be 'bearable' if there's no Lopez the bitch in the picture.
Just saying.

I liked Kyle, and Megan.
Jonah is a bit dumb, though.

I closed my eyes, and pretend there's no Lopez there (pssstt... I skipped most of Lopez scenes).

So yeah. It was an okay read. But the ending was quite a HFN if they're not already have Shea.
Kyle is sweet, Jonah..not so much.

Oh, btw, this is not a paranormal romance. Kyle is having 'condition' that make sense. Still, he needs therapy.
And the amnesia thing is a little cliche.

[Silkeeeeeereads · Rating 3 out of 5]

As much as this is a book with an unusual concept with the male pregnancy aspect, it really is very tame.  It's more of a romance than anything else. Hands down the best characters were their son, Sean and the dig, Ga Ga. It was an okay read. 

[meep · Rating 2 out of 5]

wish we would have had the beginning part of the story too xd

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so damn good.

[Andrea AKA Catsos Person · Rating 3 out of 5]

Week 1-MM Romance Group 12th round team bingo category:
"Mpreg," called Friday, September 18, 2015.

3.5 stars because of the funny dialog from the supporting characters.

Who says a book shouldn’t be judged by its cover? Well the lovely cover for this book got my attention and inspired me to read the burb. It turned out that this book was an Mpreg title—something that I have not been interested in exploring.
But I had to read a Mpreg title for M/M Romance group bingo—my first experience with this sub-genre—and the verdict is—I liked it.

One of the MCs was a detective—I’m way into MM books with guys with guns and badges. There were also fun supporting characters and funny dialog. Most of the funny dialog was spoken by Detective Jonah Goldman’s tough as nails female partner “Lopez.”

‘ “What?” She let her arms fall from her chest and stared at Jonah in confusion. “I thought…so you haven’t been banging him stupid every chance you get?” She held up her hands defensively when Jonah bristled in his seat and said hastily, “Hey, just sayin.’ Not like you made and secret of wanting to get him planted back on your cock soon as you got the chance.” –Detective Lopez

Also the Police Captain makes a brief though hilarious appearance:

‘Captain Carol Simons stood with her feet braced wide apart and her hands on her hips. “Why the hell are you two morons still wasting your time and my budget on solving these vandalism cases making me clench my awesome buttocks together so hard that they could crack freakin’ walnuts if I needed them to?” ‘

More from Captain Carol Simons:

‘ “Lopez,” Carol narrowed her steely gaze on Gina. “Lay off the donuts. The homage to J-Lo can only be taken so far and babies in my damn department are not gonna have back, okay? Hit the gym.”

While I like angst—especially male angst, this book had a low quotient of it. It was a light fun read. If the Mpreg category is called again for our bingo game, this book is short at 133 pages and a sweet easy read.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was my first mpreg book. I've kind of stayed away from this whole genre because I'm not really into the whole paranormal/shifter kind of books.
And it seems to be the norm in mpreg books.

But... I dipped my toes in this book.

Was it what I was expecting...no. I was hoping to get the full experience with the whole pregnancy. (Male perspective)

But...I loved how this book was just normal. It was just matter of fact that men can have babies. In this aspect... This book met my expectations. I liked that a lot.

Now for the story itself... I was struggling with it.

Kyle, Megan & Jonah's partner Gina Lopez made it really hard for me to fully enjoy this book.

I'll start with Kyle....
The way he acted in the beginning of the book was just to much. I hated that he would not tell Jonah about Shea.
Yes... It's scary that you have to involve the other person in your life after doing and making decisions by yourself for your child since birth.
But withholding that information was just wrong.
And I just hated how he acted with Megan.

I never warmed up to Megan at all. The way she talked and acted with Kyle was just so overpowering. It didn't feel right. It felt like Kyle had to do what she said.... Or else.
She was barking orders all the time. Instead of asking she was always telling.
Nope... I was not feeling her at all.

Jonah's partner Lopez....
Yeah... I just didn't like her either. The way she acted and talked. She was just very annoying.

The story itself with just Jonah and Kyle. I enjoyed....
Once everything was all out in the open. It seemed to flow better for me. I just wish we had more of just Jonah, Kyle & Shea.

I would say this book was a good start for me... In the Mpreg reading genre

[Juxian · Rating 5 out of 5]

And then I felt like reading some mpreg. But without shapeshifters. Or faes. Just some normal, ordinary, realistic mpreg. Duh :)
And I got lucky because this story is GOOD. For one thing, the writing is hilarious. Some phrases made me snigger and cackle like mad. For the other thing - what needs to be touching and romantic is very much so. The main characters are appealing. Okay, Jonah is a jerk sometimes but he's a kind of jerk you can sympathize with even at his worst. The plot was... well, when I read the blurb, I was like "it's seriously crazy". And then somehow it worked. It was unrealistically realistic, so to say. If you can accept the mpreg, why not to accept everything else?
And... I loved the secondary characters. Especially Lopez. God, she was awesome. I think I have a role-model now.
I was really bothered with hopping p.o.v. and it would've been a big deal for me. But then I read some reviews complaining that the book skipped four months - but we're really told everything that matters about those four months! - and I thought it was admirable that the author didn't make the story two hundred pages unnecessarily longer. So, well - 4,5 stars, and I loved it.

[Aղցela W. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a cute little story and a change from the things that I normally read. Kyle and Jonah hooked up one night at a club when Jonah was working undercover. Three years later Kyle's business was vandalized and Jonah was the cop sent to investigate. Jonah doesn't know that Kyle is an intrasex male and they have a son. let me just say that while Kyle and Jonah are both lovable characters I didn't like either of their friends Kyle's friend Megan needed to mind her own business she was too bossy for me and Jonah's partner was just to mean I get that each one was looking out for their friend but I think the author should have pulled back a little with them. Although Jonah had no memory of hooking up with Kyle and he was mad when he found out the story was very cute and interesting with the whole male being pregnant thing I also felt that the story could have been a little longer and had more heat.

[Stephanie GooglyEyes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, I chose this book as my "outside my genre" because I've never read mpreg before, and I never really planned to. My brain was like noooo, this isn't possible, that's just stupid. Well, I read it and I loved it. Though it was a little weird, at first, once I reminded myself "it's just a story", I was good to go!

The story itself was really good, the writing good, even with minor editing issues, it didn't take away from the story. I think I could see myself reading more of this in the future.

[Sue Milkovich · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fantastic storyline. I loved the fact that the man had to worry about getting pregnant. What a magnificent plot twist. The relationship between Kyle and Jonah was also refreshing because it was so different. The relationship between the main characters and their friends and partners was classic. Everyone needs someone to slap them upside the head every now and then. I just loved everything about this story. I highly recommend this book!!

[OkayKim · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.25
What can I say, I like to reread this one! Like my amnesia plots.

[Jilrene · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sweet little story. Mostly fluff, but a fun read nonetheless.

[M60601 · Rating 3 out of 5]

This started off pleasantly but sort of just got worse and worse. I lost it with the characterization and the actions everyone was making. It's like reading a book about crazy people or some tv drama.


Kyle and Jonah meet for the first time since Jonah got Kyle pregnant and Jonah doesn't recognize Kyle. Understandable conflict if Kyle really cared about Jonah or wished for Jonah to be in his child's life. Kyle fears that Jonah will take his son, Shea, away, a weird notion when it seems like Jonah barely has any parental rights seeing as he's been MIA for two years.

Jonah gets suspicious then intrigued by Kyle's behavior and pursues it. Due to the memory loss, this just causes Kyle more stress until he decides to tell Jonah the kid is his. Here's where the second conflict comes in. From everyone's point of view, Kyle is in the wrong for not immediately telling Jonah that Shea is his kid. Jonah even goes on a mini-rampage when he first finds out (more about that later), and his partner Lopez also keeps faulting Kyle for it. They all say that Kyle "lied" to Jonah. Uh, no he didn't. Kyle never said anything about the father of Shea. It was never mentioned or alluded to. Not telling Jonah is not the same as lying. Kyle is in the right for not telling someone who clearly doesn't recognize him that they had a baby together. How weird would that be if someone you had supposedly never met before claimed they had your child? You'd think they were scamming you or something. You might react aggressively (which these characters seem very likely to do). These are legitimate reasons to not reveal the truth.

Then, when Jonah finally learns the truth, he storms to Kyle's house and throws him around a little. It's basically a full on assault with Jonah even threatening to handcuff Kyle. Talk about abuse of power. The whole thing is sort of dismissed with Jonah promising Kyle he would never hurt him or Shea despite already assaulting him once. Kyle just accepts him when he should be much more wary of man who does not have good control of his temper.

I want to reiterate that Jonah does not have a right to Shea. He was basically only sperm donor. It's great that he and Kyle were getting along and Kyle decided that Jonah would be okay in Shea's life, but Kyle didn't have to tell Jonah. At best, Jonah can hope for parental visits. His name wasn't on Shea's birth certificate, and he never supported the child before.

Kyle is really sweet and generous. He wants Jonah to be part of Shea's life and wants to share precious developmental moments with Jonah. It's great. Having more family is generally better for a child.

The misunderstanding between Kyle and Jonah aside, Jonah's partner, Gina Lopez, really made this a terrible read for me. She's the type of cop I would never want to meet, either as a criminal or a victim. She displays little empathy for others, and she comes off as someone who cares more about taking out bad guys than helping those in need. When she's met with Megan, Kyle, or Louise acting strangely, she suspects drugs instead of a distrust or fear of cops, which is very common. When Jonah is incapacitated, she and an EMT buddy go to help him, but she tosses Jonah around to clean him up and calls the EMT a pussy for showing empathy and compassion (something an EMT should posses and display). She gets aggressive with Megan because she suspects Jonah is Shea's father. She's really all about intimidation.

She even calls Kyle and Megan slurs like "twofer" and "fag hag". I am particularly bewildered about that last slur, is it supposed to mean "female friend of a gay man" or something? Would she not also be a "fag hag" considering her relationship with Jonah (bisexual)? But that all seems fine in the story because it supposed to be funny. No, she's just an abusive cop. She rubs me the wrong way.


There's a lot more that drove me mad, but I'll just stop it here.

[Protein Beta · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book gives me a good impression at the first sight. Good action descriptions, the author masters a bunch of verbs, so they make the pictures vivid in my mind.

Then, it becomes annoying as I read. Too many action descriptions, it's not necessary to detail actions whenever the characters speak.

Though the characters are flat and meh, too.

[Katie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Shallow and boring book. Did not like a single character. Enough said.

[nikki brackenbury · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sweet story

This was a very sweet story . I really enjoyed it . The characters were great, even the side ones .

[Debby · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are some misunderstandings leading to some funny actions on both parts. This is an amazing second chance romance with two people who really need a happy ending.

[maqita:3 · Rating 3 out of 5]

cuek no me gustó el final yo quería ver más fluff y lo cortaron de la nada

[Rebo · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was actually a surprisingly cute story. I've never read an mpreg story, so I tried to go in with an open mind and was shocked that I was sucked in pretty quickly. It's ultimately a sweet story about a guy (Kyle) who was knocked up from a one night stand in a club and never saw the father of his child again until one day, a few years later, the guy shows up to investigate some vandalism at the Kyle's store.

One problem the book has is the pacing is off. It takes too long for Jonah (who has amnesia) to figure out that Shea is his son, and we don't get enough time seeing the relationships develope (between Jonah and Shea and between Jonah and Kyle). All of a sudden, they're confessing love to each other, and it's not really believable/impactful because we didn't really see it happen.

The other problem I have is--and yes, I know I need to suspend disbelief in an mpreg story--but it bothered me how some of the details surrounding Kyle's pregnancy were handled. For one, I was really fucking curious to know HOW he got pregnant. I know my anatomy (dissected cadaver and all) and even in an intersex person, there has to be a way for the semen to fertilize the egg (unless it's self-fertilizing, which does happen sometimes). This bothered me because the author seemed to be trying to make the whole mpreg thing as "realistic" as possible otherwise.

Related to that, I really would have liked more insight into Kyle's pregnancy experience. Did he know he was intersex before he got pregnant? How did he realize he was? What was his thought process? Was it weird for him going into the OB-GYN with all the women, visibly pregnant and looking like a man (even if he looked like a feminine man)? Etc., etc.

There were a few other niggles I had, like how Kyle could afford a live-in nanny in New York, and the fact that it was evident that the author wasn't familiar with NYC - no boroughs mentioned or landmarks or neighborhoods, and people drove everywhere? Yeah, right.

The other thing that annoyed me was the fact that the book was written in a hybrid of American and British English. It was set in the US, so that was odd enough, but then there were times when American English would shine through (like "Mom" or "gotten"), but most of the time, there'd be British spellings and idoimatic phrases (like "fitted" or "whilst" - that last one drove me nuts in particular). I realize it's a free story, but if you're going to set your book in another country with characters living in that country, you should use the English conventions of that country. Otherwise, it just feels odd. Especially with the idioms.

Anyway, it was a cute little story and it does make me curious about the mpreg genre, though the doctor-who-almost-was in me might have trouble with the concept if I let myself think about it too much!

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

**Note** I read this for bingo, would not have been something I'd choose on my own, so that affects how I felt about it

Well, the reviewer who described this as mpreg lite was not wrong. This was basically a contemporary, and one MC just happened to get pregnant. Through a weird interpretation of intersex people (which, despite the explanations in here, is still not physically possible :)

Kyle is out at a club when he hooks up with a hot man, and never even learns his name. Despite using a condom, he finds out 2 months later that he is pregnant, and he goes ahead and has the baby. Two years later, he is living the life of a single dad, running a relatively successful business, when the police come to investigate a case of vandalism. To Kyle's shock, one of the detectives is Jonah, AKA his baby daddy.

And this is the point that the entire plot becomes contrived, because Kyle's first thought is that Jonah's come to take the baby away, so he and his best friend freak out, act weird and suspicious, etc. Jonah doesn't even recognize Kyle because he had head trauma that conveniently resulted in partial amnesia of the days surrounding their hookup. Much misadventure and mistaken motives and complete lack of any communication or acting like responsible adults ensue, and in the end Jonah and Kyle fall in love and get back together. The baby, Shae, doesn't play much of a role at all, except for begging treats like a dog.

So really, I think this was written as a regular het romance, and then someone decided to just make up the intersex male pregnancy thing as an afterthought. Which was odd. There are plenty of attempts at humor, some of them successful, but some were just so out there that I just don't know how to take them. Example from the female chief of police: "Why the hell are you two morons ... making me clench my awesome buttocks together so hard that they could crack freakin' walnuts if I needed them to?"

Um..... WTF?