Hidden in the Shadows

Beyond Desire #2

by Gwen Martin

A second chance at first love is exactly what these coffee shop coworkers need, but can they learn to trust in forever?

Three months ago, Jordan vanished. Gone. Leaving Ethan, his friend and sometimes more, devastated. Ethan thought they had something real, something more than simply friendship and working together at the same small coffeehouse.

But now Jordan’s back. And so is the pull he has over Ethan. He hates himself for still feeling the same sizzling attraction to Jordan, the same temptation, the same soul-deep passion that tells him that they’re so much more than friends.

But if they’re going to be anything more than coworkers with after-hours benefits, Jordan’s going to have to trust Ethan with the truth. And his heart. But even if he makes that leap, Ethan must find his own courage and take a risk on lasting love.


Hidden in the Shadows is the second book in the Beyond Desire series, but it stands alone well with a brand-new couple and no spoilers! This full-length second chance new adult romance stars two friends and contains all the steamy feels along with a guaranteed happy ending.

Genres: M M Romance, Friends To Lovers, Contemporary Romance, Romance

262 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 31, 2020

About the author

Gwen Martin grew up in Florida where the sun was always shining, the humidity was high, and Disney was just a hop skip away. She currently lives in Knoxville, Tennessee to experience seasons and be closer to the mountains. When she’s not trying to write one of her million story ideas, she’s usually hanging out with her husband and five cats.

Gwen first started writing at a young age, coming up with stories in class instead of paying attention to her math lessons. Since then she has been exploring her love of writing in various fan communities where she has learned how to cultivate character development and romantic interactions.

She has a strong love affair with cold brew coffee, black cats, and nerding out in various fandoms. When she’s not writing, she’s reading everything she can get her hands on, listening to a lot of lo-fi and making playlists, chilling with her gatos and obsessing about Pusheen. Because it’s always about Pusheen.

Reviews

[Between the sheets book reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ethan & Jordan

These Two coffee shop co-workers/friends with benefits who have a connection that’s strong, an undeniable hot as hell chemistry they cannot keep their hands off each other. Everything is going perfect until Jordan just vanishes without a word leaving Ethan confused and devastated.
3 months later ... Jordan turns up for a shift out of the blue and shocks the hell out of Ethan at his return. Ethan is so hurt still, he doesn’t understand what went wrong thinking the time they had together meant more, the feelings he had for Jordan were deep and thought they were reciprocated. He doesn’t want to feel anything for him anymore, he’s jaded, hurt and wants to have nothing to do with him, but one look at Jordan’s face and he knows all those buried feelings are still there. The tingles that race through his entire body at just one glance and he knows he won’t be able to hold out for too long. Can he let Jordan back in? Can he get over the devastation of being left without so much a word? An explanation?
What happens next is one exciting/bumpy as hell ride but you will love every single second. I’m not giving any more of the story away, but I will tell you ... it’s raw and emotional, it’s hot and sexy, it’s just yummy!!!
Just do yourselves a favor and go grab your copies. Read this beautiful story and feel all the feels!!!

This story is about second chances, trust, love, and courage to put yourself out there, even with the possibility of heartbreak and Rejection.

I absolutely loved this!!! Gwen Martin is an Author I love, adore and admire. She puts her heart and soul into each story she writes. Hidden In The Shadows takes us on a journey of love, life, heartache and self discovery. This ticked all my pleasure boxes , it had all the things I love in a MM story with angst being on top of my list and Gwen delivered. The sexy scenes were just HOT!!!! The emotional content was spot on and the characters were perfectly written.

I highly recommend reading, actually I highly recommend all of this Author’s books. Each one is unique, beautiful and will leave you wanting more .

Easy ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ for me with a lvl 5 hotness factor 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

[Jean Malherbe · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hidden in the Shadows by Gwen Martin
🌟 🌟
Tedious.
I found this book to be long, drawn out and annoyingly boring.
Firstly, the main plot point is the drama surrounding Ethan's decision to take a job in a different city.
Almost the entire book is about 'should I tell him or not' & 'will I lose him or not'. This is the only thing that was designed to create a bit of angst and suspense.
The story is told in (sort of) dual POV, but Jordan's POV and thoughts just kind of evaporate about halfway through the book and don't appear again until about 80%.
There is no explanation as to how the MCs met, how they came together; all we know from page one, is that they are f-buddies who work together at a coffee shop and that they inexplicably make a grab for each other at every given opportunity.
I felt no character development at any time. I never felt that I got to know either character individually. Their relationship is based on nothing other than getting off.
The first half of the book, Jordan's inner thoughts consist of little else than pining for his late grandmother, so you never really know until late in the story that he has any thoughts of Ethan at all except that he wants to jump his bones with nauseating regularity.
The one character that actually provides entertainment in any form, is best friend Haley, and the only character that provides any reason to feel, is Ethan's brother Zach, who was mature, wise, patient and endlessly supportive.

After the big "fight & split", and a separation of three months, I found the great reunion to be one of the most bland I have ever read. Such an anti-climax.

Last, but certainly not least, what's with the title of this book? I assure you, that since these two boys tend to get off on semi-public shenanigans, there is absolutely nothing 'hidden' or 'shadowy' about this story.

I'm sorry, but I cannot recommend this book. In fact, I probably won't be reading anything more by this author.
This being an arc, I sincerely hope that the final copy was proofed to sort out the astronomical amount of errors.
° Heat level 4 🔥 (explicit & prolific scenes of intimacy.
° Standalone mm romance.
° Dual POV past tense, third person.
° I received an advance reader copy of this book and this is my honest but voluntary review.

[Heather Richardson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was so hot and oh so good!! It's been a while that I really connected with two characters and really felt what they were feeling as they navigated through their relationship.

Ethan and Jordan met as coworkers, then turned into a relationship of friends with benefits. Then one day, Jordan doesn't return Ethan's calls or texts. Three months go by before Jordan turns up for a shift in the coffee shop they both work in. Ethan doesn't know that Jordan had a terrible life event happen to him three months before, but it is obvious the attraction they had is still present. As they start to hang out again, it is obvious there is more than the sexual attraction between them, but neither of them admits it to the other. Jordan wants more than sex, he wants a relationship so he asks Ethan out on a date. Right before that date, Ethan gets some unexpected news that he's not sure how he will tell Jordan about. They spend many steamy and loving moments together not to mention meeting each others families, but the secret Ethan is keeping is weighing him down.

Jordan has his own issues as well. He's dealing with the relationship he has with his father and his father's unacceptance of the life Jordan has chosen. He doesn't want Jordan to live like he did growing up and wants more for him, but Jordan was music and Ethan. When Jordan finally finds out about Ethan's secret (weeks after they've found each other again) he is angry and hurt. Ethan never wanted to hurt Jordan, but he didn't know how Jordan felt about him and where their relationship was going. Ethan takes the step and asks him to go to Washington D.C. with him to make a new life together, Jordan turns him down. Ethan leaves but the love he feels for Jordan is still there. Weeks later Jordan does the unexpected and they find each other again.

This story was well written and well thought out. The characters are so relatable, they make you want to be a part of their story. You can feel their love and attraction through the entire book and it makes you want to root for them to have their happy ending. I would highly recommend this book to any reader that enjoys a book with a hot and steamy storyline.

I received this ARC as part of Gay Book Promotions for an honest review.

[Jo Jo O · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay so this was alright.

I wanted an easy read and I got that. There wasn't a whole lot that stood out in this book. I found myself getting really frustrated with Ethan on multiple ocassions. Same with Jordan. Neither one of them were very good at telling eachother things that were important.

The biggest redeaming quality here was the steam. I needed a good steamy read and I got loads of it in this book.

[Brieanna Westcott · Rating 5 out of 5]

First I need to say that Gwen not only writes excellent dialogue, but is also great about descriptive imagery when it comes to setting the mood of scenes. I honestly loved everything about Hidden In the Shadows! Ethan and Jordan were both amazing, and the romance building between the two of them throughout the book had me biting back so many grins. Granted, there were plenty of times I wanted to smack Ethan over the head for not telling Jordan sooner about the job he accepted in DC when all the romantic feelings were already there, and acknowledged, but they just hadn't been SAID yet.
Not only were Ethan and Jordan adorable together, but also amazingly sexy when they came (not a pun, I swear) together in the bedroom (and bathroom stalls....and that unforgettable time in the movie theater) because god damn does Gwen know how to write a well done sex scene.
I can't wait to read more of her writing!

[Mari Cardenas · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 Stars

Jordan and Ethan were sort of coworkers with benefits before Jordan disappears for 3 months, during which he doesn't answer Ethan's texts. When he comes back, Jordan seems to want more with Ethan, and while they fall back into their familiar pattern almost immediately, Ethan is afraid that it will all blow up in his face if he allows himself to get too close to Jordan, especially when the job Ethan interviewed for and that he wants almost as much as he wants Jordan becomes a reality.

So, I liked Ethan from the start, even if he was a bit of a pushover for Jordan. He seemed like a nice guy all-around. It took me longer to warm up to Jordan, and frankly, by the end of the book, I still hadn't quite managed. I get why he went away (his abuelita (grandma) was placed in a hospice and died later), and I sort of get why he didn't answer Ethan's texts (he left his phone behind somewhere and got it a week later), but he had two and a half months to make some sort of contact with Ethan after and didn't. Plus the way he just brushed off Ethan's suggestion near the end because of his pride didn't exactly endear him to me. I know Ethan made mistakes, too, believe me, there were times in which I wanted to slap some sense into the two of them, but out of the two of them, I think Ethan was more in the right. *shrugs*

Another thing that bothered me a bit was the sex to plot ratio. I like sex scenes, and some of the ones in this book were very well done and the chemistry between Jordan and Ethan was undeniable, but there was a lot of sex in this book and I ended up skimming several scenes because it was just too much.

Still, the book was entertaining for the most part and even if for me the balance between story and sex scenes was a tad off, I think many readers will enjoy Hidden in the Shadows.

*** Copy provided to Bayou Book Junkie for my reading pleasure, a review wasn't a requirement. ***

[ButtonsMom2003 · Rating 5 out of 5]

So hot, so good!

Gwen Martin is a relatively new author and so far, I've loved the books I've read. Hidden in the Shadows is book two in her Beyond Desire series but it can easily be read as a stand-alone book.

This story is smoking hot! Ethan and Jordan are co-workers that start out with a friends-with-benefits arrangement. That soon isn't enough for Ethan but he has a big secret that he's kept from Jordan and it might just tear them apart.

While it took me just a bit to get into this story once I did, I had trouble putting it down. I love how the relationship between Ethan and Jordan builds. The hot sexy time between them is there from the beginning but the actual relationship and deep feelings build more slowly.

I love second chance stories and this one actually has two second chances for Ethan and Jordan. They had a hot and heavy friends-with-benefits thing going on, as well as being co-workers, and then Jordan just disappears. He doesn't respond to any messages that Ethan sends him which really bums Ethan out. Three months later Jordan reappears and they quickly pick up where they left off. There's another separation and reconciliation but it would be spoiler-y to say anything much about it.

While there is a lot of hot sexy time in this story if it were all removed, you'd still have a great relationship story. I think the author did a good job of balancing the sexy time with the actual relationship. [I need to disclose that I did a beta read of this book and one of my comments to Gwen was that there was an awful lot of sex. She took my comments to heart because when I read the final book a few of the scenes had been revised and toned down (but there is still plenty of sexy time left!)]

Based on the two novels and one novella that I've read, I think Gwen has a bright future in MM romance and I look forward to reading more from her.

A copy of this book was provided to me but my review was voluntary and not influenced by the author.

***Reviewed for Xtreme-Delusions dot com***

[Deanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the beginning I struggled to really get into the story. After three months of radio silence, Jordan pops back up into Ethan's life. The loss that Jordan had experienced was sad, and I also felt for Ethan as well, he was left in the dark with no clue what went wrong. Once these guys reunite, it's obvious that the chemistry is still very much there. You get them within a mile of each other and sparks fly. They waste no time making use of any room, dark corner, public bathroom, basically whatever is available at that moment. You can almost feel the steam rolling off them. Those two together.....HOLY HOTTNESS! I wasn't happy with how Ethan handled the very big decision that would change their future. I understand he was afraid, but he knew he was in love with Jordan, and once he realized that, a discussion should have been had. Even his brother, and his best friend Haley(which is amazing) told him he needed to do so. How do you expect to have any real kind of relationship if you can't even be up front and honest? It was easy to understand how Jordan felt learning this news, not to mention how he learned it. Obviously, this part of the story left me feeling a little....disappointed, yeah that's a good word to describe it. Of course when they both get it together, realize what exactly they want, and what they're willing to do to make it happen, I was really happy with the outcome. The ending was just right for them.

[Suzy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a second chances dual POV’s book, Ethan and Jordan are coworkers at first friends with benefits kind of thing and suddenly Jordan is gone and didn’t answer Ethan texts. Jordan is mourning his abuela, the person Jordan loves the most because she support his music career and help raise him she is the one person who encourage him to follow his dreams, he is in a bad place at the time but now he is back and wants to Ethan back. The attraction between these two is so hot add the public sex, Damn!! Ethan wants more than just the friends with benefits but is afraid to ask for more and at the same time Jordan thinks that Ethan is more than that too, so Jordan ask him to a date and Ethan is surprise that the place Jordan choose to take him is his dream date, I love the moments between them so sweet, the little angst is work related because Ethan is offer his dream job in other place and he is afraid to lose Jordan, at the end these two finally get together and have is HEA! I received an ARC in exchange of an honest review!

[Elaine Gray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hidden in the Shadows is a hot, steamy, romance between Jordan and Ethan. They were coworker who let off steam after work with no kind of commitment. Ethan wanted more after he realizes that he was having feelings for Jordan but Jordan ghosted him. They eventually get back together but they never talked about what happened together. They fall in love and start building a life with each but Ethan gets his dream job and decides to move to DC without telling Jordan. They both have problems with communications and trust. In the end, they get their happily ever after. The author did such a great job with characters, the storyline, and I love Zach. Overall, it's a great book and I hope you enjoy as much as I did.

[Janet Hunt · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took me a bit to get into the story line, but when I did, I really enjoyed the story. I felt horrible for Ethan. Jordan has ghosted him. They were co-workers and had started dating. Jordan comes back and wanted to resume where they left off. I really like it when an author does a dual POV. I love second chance romances. The story was well written with a great story line.
I am voluntarily leaving a review form an ARC that I received. My reviews are solely based on my thoughts and opinions.

[E.Muddle · Rating 4 out of 5]

The start of the story is a little hard to get through, mostly because I felt for both Ethan and Jordan - Jordan having to work through a devastating loss, and Ethan worried about what Jordan's disappearance means. Once they reunite though, it is clear their chemistry is still as hot as ever. And oh boy, is it hot... and a bit kinky! I had no trouble feeling the connection between them, and it only becomes more intense as their relationship slowly becomes more. I was a bit disappointed in how Ethan handled his secret and telling Jordan though, but apart from that, the ending is happy and satisfying.

[Scarolet Ellis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hidden in the Shadows (Beyond Desire Book 2) by Gwen Martin is an awesome story that I have read. This is book number two in this awesome series and I can not wait to read more from this author. I highly recommend this story to everyone who loves reading about second chances.

I read a complimentary Advanced Reader Copy of this book & am voluntarily leaving an honest and unbiased review.

[Hf64 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was given an advance reader copy in return for an honest review.
This genre wouldn't be my normal reading choice but this was well written, definitely exceeded any expectations I may have had, and had me turning the pages right from the start. Jordan and Ethan were a cute couple and I liked the fact it actually had some storyline to it, rather than straight out erotica, which had been my expectation. Not quite sure about the title of I'm honest, without reading the blurb I would probably assume and dismiss as having a supernatural (vampire most likely) element with the broody cover adding to this.

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gwen Martin left me wanting more, more love in my life like that between Jordan and Ethan. I think this is a book that will stay in my mind for very long. The whole book is centered on love, familial, friends and lovers.
The best three words - "I got you".

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest and voluntary review.

[RACHEL REED · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ethan Anderson thinks he is being ghosted by his casual hook up buddy.
He worries that Jordan has grown bored of him. He isn't replying to any of his texts and the last he saw of him was at their common workplace at Vesper.

Jordan Valdez's is coping with the loss of his grandmother. She was the only person he ever trusted and confided in. He feels utterly lost without her presence in his life.

Three months later, Ethan gets a chance to reconnect with Jordan, when he begins working at Vesper again. But what started as a casual no strings hook up starts to get serious when Ethan starts wanting more that just a fling with Jordan.

But will the drastic decision that Ethan makes concerning their future tear them apart just when they started to reconnect and build something more?

Ethan and Jordan come together so beautifully and the chemistry between the was as scorching as the sex! Haley was such a great secondary character. I liked her sassy and no nonsense attitude.

If you are looking for a friends with benefits arrangement, a second chance romance with a lot of sexy times! Look no further. This is the book for you!

[Jerri · Rating 4 out of 5]

So sweet, very hot. It took me a bit to get into it, but once I did it was very hard to put down.
Typical me, can’t see the forest for the trees. Thank goodness Jordan’s abuela must have been looking out for both of them. They learned how important they were to each other, how to communicate, and how to let go of pride.
I loved watching their relationship grow. Mended relationships were great. Having recently been to DC for the first time, I enjoyed the mention of the places I visited.
All in all, I loved watching them grow up and into big love.

[Book Gemz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Can passion in the shadows bring love to light?

My Recommendation
If you are looking for an easy-to-read book that has some HOT sex in it. This is the book for you!
The sensual scenes in this book were more often and more adventitious that in many of the recent romance novels I have read lately. If semi-public and public sex excites you, Hidden in the Shadows delivers.

I did like one of the life lessons from the book. One that I think all of us need to remember from time to time. Being independent does not mean going at it alone or without help!

What I Liked
This was a well-structured, easy read. It was not hard to follow nor required deep thought. This book captured the true internal struggles of first-time relationships as well as the angst of young minds trying to make it on their own.

I found the main characters, Ethan and Jordan, to be easily related to. As is common with a new relationship, especially those that start as a friends-with-benefits scenario, there is plenty of physical scenes to keep the reader engaged.

I was amused when Ethan realized quickly....don't mess with a Latina mother, one look and comment from her, and he fell into line! I will say my favorite supporting character was Haley. She was not afraid to tell them both the bold, honest truth, worked behind the scenes pulling strings, and secretly rooting for them the whole time.

What I did not Care for
It is a very linear storyline; not tons of twists and turns. It is not a good or a bad thing. Driven by personal preferences, and in my case, my mood at the moment. This did make for some easy reading.

Disclosure: I DID receive a copy of this book from the author or publisher in exchange for an HONEST review. All these opinions are mine and I received NO compensation for this review.

Catch my full review as well as some insight into the author at Book Gemz.com: Hidden in The Shadows at BookGemz.com

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Passionate Perfection

What happens when you have two creative men meet and fall in love?

Exactly what you hope for... Romance and solutions to all their problems.