Love - Loss - Friendship - Family
The All Cocks stories
There comes a time in every man’s life where he has to make a choice between what is right and what is easy.
Born and raised in Fort Worth Texas by open-minded parents, Dean Anderson realized early in life he was attracted to both sexes. Equal opportunity, he picked his lovers based on personality and common interests. He met Maggie in college, fell in love, got married and started a family. And they were happy…until they weren’t.
Adam Chase’s mother is South African, his father American military working at the US Embassy in Pretoria, South Africa. His parents’ positions in the South African and American governments awarded Adam dual citizenship, and he attended University in America, at Berkley. In America, Adam is lives openly as a gay man, something that could get him killed in his mother’s home country. He met his husband, Patrick Carter, at college and they too were happy…until Patrick died.
Two lives converge, and it would seem fate is giving them each a second chance at happiness, together. Dean stays in New York and moves into the apartment his son, Dusty, shares with his boyfriend David. He and Adam are quickly welcomed into All Cocks’ vastly growing family. And then one phone call changes everything.
The men of All Cocks learn that death is just another part of life, a road everyone travels eventually. Choices are made, decisions that change their lives irrevocably. They rally together, drawing strength from each other as their close-knit family experiences the best and worst life has to offer. But that’s what families do, right?
Buy links: Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon DE | Amazon AU
Series reading order
Born and raised in Fort Worth Texas by open-minded parents, Dean Anderson realized early in life he was attracted to both sexes. Equal opportunity, he picked his lovers based on personality and common interests. He met Maggie in college, fell in love, got married and started a family. And they were happy…until they weren’t.
Adam Chase’s mother is South African, his father American military working at the US Embassy in Pretoria, South Africa. His parents’ positions in the South African and American governments awarded Adam dual citizenship, and he attended University in America, at Berkley. In America, Adam is lives openly as a gay man, something that could get him killed in his mother’s home country. He met his husband, Patrick Carter, at college and they too were happy…until Patrick died.
Two lives converge, and it would seem fate is giving them each a second chance at happiness, together. Dean stays in New York and moves into the apartment his son, Dusty, shares with his boyfriend David. He and Adam are quickly welcomed into All Cocks’ vastly growing family. And then one phone call changes everything.
The men of All Cocks learn that death is just another part of life, a road everyone travels eventually. Choices are made, decisions that change their lives irrevocably. They rally together, drawing strength from each other as their close-knit family experiences the best and worst life has to offer. But that’s what families do, right?
Buy links: Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon DE | Amazon AU
Series reading order
Gay for Pay book 1
Fame and Fortune book 2
How to Deal book 3
Dare to Hope book 4
Live for Love book 5
Hide and Seek book 6
Choices and Changes book 7
Fame and Fortune book 2
How to Deal book 3
Dare to Hope book 4
Live for Love book 5
Hide and Seek book 6
Choices and Changes book 7
4 Stars
After 30 years of marriage, Dean and his wife Maggie have grown apart and agree to an amicable divorce. They remain close friends, but Dean leaves his Texas home to join their son, Dusty, and his boyfriend, David in NYC. When David is attacked at school, William brings Beau's doctor, Adam over to check on David. When Dean and Adam lay eyes on each other, it's instant attraction for them. Adam has been alone for nearly 20 years, after spending 10 glorious years with Patrick, the man he loved more than life itself and who passed away from AIDS. Adam has spent the last 30 years being the best doctor he can be, but after losing Patrick, he's never wanted to open himself up to the possibility of love again. Not until he sets eyes on Dean.
I'm going to start by saying, I wouldn't suggest you read this book as a standalone. It's book seven in the series and the characters from the previous books play such prominent roles in this story that if you haven't read the first six books you'll be really lost. I've read the first five, and I have a hard time remembering who's who.
I've met Adam before, but because I didn't read book six, I was a bit lost with what was happening in Dean's portion of the story at first. I really liked both of these men. They are lovable characters and it was amazing to see both men open up to one another and give love a second chance. I really enjoyed the beginning of the story. I loved getting to see what Adam and Patrick's life together was like. It was interesting and I kind of wish the author had given them more page time. I'm aware this would have made the story much more heartbreaking, but I think it would have helped me understand Adam better.
While I liked this story I wish it had felt more like Adam and Dean's love story. I found the focus too often strayed from the main characters to the secondary/previous books' characters. Reading the book felt like reading an extension of the other characters' lives, rather than Dean and Adam's story.
The story was good, but the pacing felt choppy at times. It jumped from scene to scene and sometimes it took a bit for me to get my bearings and figure out what was happening. All in all, it was an enjoyable read filled with heartbreak, but also healing, love and family as well. Recommendable.
*Copy provided to Bayou Book Junkie for my reading pleasure, a review wasn’t a requirement.*
4
Stars!!!
Choices
and Changes is book 7 in the All Cocks series and really, I can’t stress enough
that these books need to be read in order and can’t be read as standalones.
There are a lot of recurring characters and most of them show up in all the
books. Keeping up with them is not an easy task even when you know who they
are, imagine if you don’t?
We met
Dean and Adam on Hide and Seek, book 6 in the series, and from the moment they
met, it was obvious they were attracted to each other. They are both older than
the rest of the guys, had great chemistry and were just perfect and supportive
of each other and Dusty and David, as they dealt with the aftermath of David’s
attack and its repercussions.
While I
didn’t quite see the point of a crushing event happening later in the book, it
was a good example of how all these guys are more family than simply friends,
having each other’s backs to help when needed.
Overall,
the book was really well-written, perhaps less angsty than other of the books
in the series, although TM Smith more than made up for it near the end. I
would’ve liked to see more of Dean and Adam’s relationship and have less
interference from outside sources, but it all had a way of working out in the
end. Very recommendable!
*** Copy
provided to Bayou Book Junkie for my reading pleasure, a review wasn’t a
requirement. ***
Tour schedule and links:
May 8th
All In One Place {Spotlight only & This or That}
Gay Media Reviews {Review & Spotlight}
May 9th
Making it Happen {Review & Excerpt}
Bike Book Reviews {Review & Spotlight}
May 10th
Wicked Faerie’s Tales andReviews {Review & Author Q&A part 1)
Love Bytes {Spotlight & Exclusive Excerpt}
Books Laid Bare boys {Review & Spotlight}
May 11th
MM Book Escape {Review & Deleted scene}
Open Skye {Spotlight & Would you rather?}
Foxylutely {Review & Spotlight}
May 12th
Happily Ever Chapter {Review & Guest post - Trope Trends}
Diverse Reader {Review & Author Q&A part 2}
May 13th
Sik Reviews {Review & Spotlight}
Cathy Brockman {Review & Author top 10}
May 14th
Bayou Book Junkie {Review & Playlist}
Two Book Pushers {Review & Spotlight}
Smashly Bookalicous {Review & Author Q&A part 3}
A military brat born and raised at Ft. Benning Georgia; TM Smith is an avid reader, reviewer and writer. A Texas transplant, she now calls DFW her home. Most days she can be found curled up with a good book, or ticking away on her next novel.
Smith is a single mom of three disturbingly outspoken and decidedly different kids, one of which is Autistic. Besides her writing, she is passionate about Autism advocacy and LGBT rights. Because, seriously people, Love is Love!
Author links: Amazon || Smashwords || Website || Facebook || Twitter
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