Treadmill: Mon., 14-Nov. > Wed., 16-Nov.
Here’s a compilation of screen shots of my Apple watch workouts that were recorded while on the treadmill. My goal is to read while walking on the treadmill for at least one 30-minute mile per day.
What I #AmReading…
You Are the Reason by Renae Kaye
I seem to be in reread mode at the mo’. This one is Book 2 in Renee Kaye’s The Tav series, You Are the Reason. It has different MCs from Book 1, The Blinding Light, though those MCs do feature heavily as side characters in this one.
This story is about Davo, who’s not in the closet, but due to some experiences in his youth, goes through life carefully eschewing anything that might “scream” gay, and Lee, who’s pretty much the polar opposite.
NOTE: I have (and am snipping from) the original Dreamspinner Press version. The current edition “has been updated but not changed.”
The Snippets
Told entirely from Davo’s 1st-person past POV:
This is from the prologue and is an entertaining introduction (which will eventually be expanded upon) into what make’s Davo tick.
When I was thirteen, I worked out what it really meant to be gay. Being gay meant you had a choice. You could be one of those gays who liked girly things, got the shit kicked out of you at school, and was ridiculed by the sports teacher, or you could say “up yours” and tell everyone that you were gay and didn’t give a flying monkey about their opinion.
Okay. I may’ve said “flying fuck” instead of flying monkey, but I was thirteen, and saying the fuck word was part of my hate against the whole world.
But I still despised anything girly. I made myself a slogan. I may like dick, but I’m not a pussy.
LOL
That embarrassed flush was back again, and I was more uncomfortable than a string bikini up an arse crack. I tried to rescue the conversation. “How about another round of drinks?” I suggested. “My shout. What would you guys like?”
I just asked my own Magic 8 Ball if I could trust its wisdom, and it told me: “Better not tell you now.”
I consulted Mr. Magic 8 Ball. In times of trouble, he always came through for me.
“Mr. Magic 8 Ball, will I appear desperate if I message Lee back now?”
I shook the ball hard, turned it up, and waited for the answer to appear in the window of the plastic orb that pretended to be an oracle. Waiting for his wisdom to enlighten me. Those that doubted the power of Mr. Magic 8 Ball, despite it only costing me fifteen dollars at the local toy shop, often found their lives in ruin.
This entire scene is freaking hilarious. 😂
There was a heartbeat as Lee comprehended what I meant. “Let me get this straight. You ignore me for a week, then send me a text message that says nothing at all, then ask me to come and help you change a nappy on a baby?”
I shrugged. “Not exactly. I ignored you for a week because Mr. Magic 8 Ball told me to. Then I sent you a message that said nothing because I’m a douchebag, and I didn’t know what to say. Now I’m asking you to come and change this nappy for me. I’m not talking about ‘help’ at all. If you come, I will hand you this stinker and you can do it all yourself.”
“You’re an arsehole, do you know that, Dave?”
❤️
He made me think about more than just the next few minutes with a man. He made me think about the next hour. The next dinner date. The next month. The next year.
He made me think that perhaps I would willingly do the vacuuming and put out the rubbish bin. He made me think the Big L word.
You Are the Reason by Renae Kaye
Contemporar M/M Romance
Book Two in The Tav series
Davo’s a pretty average guy. He has a decent job, owns his own home, and spends his weekends at the pub. He fully accepts that he’s gay, but doesn’t want to be one of those gays, who are femme and girly. He likes football and other masculine pursuits, and firmly avoids anything that could be seen as femme—including relationships that last beyond fifteen minutes.
Then Davo’s friend and gay idol not only gets a boyfriend, but also adopts a baby girl. Davo is seriously spooked and scuttles down to the pub in fright. That’s where he meets Lee, who is cute from her cherry-red hair, to her pretty little dress and pointy red shoes. Davo is charmed—but how is that possible? He’s gay, isn’t he? Then Lee tells him he’s actually a guy—he just likes to wear women’s dresses occasionally. Thoroughly confused about an attraction that’s out of character for him, Davo begins the long journey to where he can accept himself without caring what everyone else thinks.
This story was originally published by Dreamspinner in 2015. This version has been updated but not changed.
Spreading more book love!
Here are more of my…
✓ recent reads
✓ current reads
✓ re-reads
✓ want-to-reads
(all genres included)
I’m still not entirely sure what I’m going to read next. I’m in reread mode and grabbing whatever sounds good at the mo’.
About My #Treadmill / #AmReading Posts
I started out with this being a Sunday thing, but sometimes I’d rather not mash multiple books into a single post, so now, you never know when you might see one of these posts.
Rather than give a true “review,” which I’m not entirely comfortable doing as an author myself, I share snippets from books I’ve read and enjoyed, letting the authors’ words speak for themselves.
As you’ve possibly noticed, if you’ve been following along, I highlight snippets for reasons of my own which might veer from what is often seen. Sometimes my highlights have more to do with a paragraph simply impressing the heck out of me for its fabulous writerly technique, other times it has to do with the lovely way it gives subtle insight into the story/characters. Still other times simply because it made me laugh.
Anyway, I sometimes add a little commentary, but not always, which is not in any way, shape, or form, to be taken as unwritten commentary. Most likely it just means I’m short on time and/or context isn’t needed to understand what’s happening, and/or my brain doesn’t feel like putting out the effort in that particular moment.
Also, I’m going to try to spread the book love by tacking on covers of more books at the end of the post that I’ve either recently read, am currently reading, or want to read. Not seeing a full post with snippets for any of these books is not a commentary on anything other than how much time I have available in a day either to read or to create a post about what I’ve read. It might also mean I listened to the audiobook only or that it’s a reread that I’ve featured previously, or it’s not M/M so probably not a good fit for featuring on this blog.
Happy reading!
