Review Tour ~ The Moore The Merrier by Alex Miska ~ (Review + Giveaway)
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A Chance For Moore
"I need you to teach me how to be gay."
Logan Moore is finally ready to come out of the closet. His days of playing football are far behind him, he has graduated from the Culinary Institute of America (CIA), and his bakery Moore Delicious is finally in the black. Although he spends more time talking to his cats than he does people, he technically has time for a social life now that he has hired two new employees. In short, Logan is completely out of excuses to stay in the closet, where it is warm and cozy and he never has to worry about how to dress, what to say, or who is watching. So he turns to his older brother’s friend for guidance. And if that friend just happens to be his long-time crush and if one thing might lead to another… well, that would just be icing on the cake.
Chance Blevins is a math geek through-and-through, who is more than happy to spend his nights curled up with his dog Luna. With a few toxic relationships in his past, Chance contents himself with friends-with-benefits and fantasies involving his best friend’s very straight soon-to-be brother-in-law, Logan. Because of a verbal slip the day they met and a teasingly-demanded vow of secrecy, he believes that Logan actually works for the C.I.A., making him even farther out of his league. When Logan comes to him for help with what he can only assume is a cover identity, he is more than happy to oblige.
The spy-confusion is soon cleared up (with much embarrassment by all involved) and the two men are ecstatic to discover their feelings are mutual, but several hurdles stand between them and Happily-Ever-After. Logan is still terrified of being out, Chance is convinced that theirs could only ever be a “starter relationship” for Logan, and a stalker is lashing out at Chance.
Xander Griffith was mesmerized by Julian the moment he laid eyes on him in a club; he's gorgeous, brilliant, and unabashedly himself. But when he discovers Julian is his good friend's, off-limits, baby brother, he promptly drops Julian off at his parents' house with a promise to call. Unfortunately, his life took a left-hand turn that night, and Xander was unable to keep that promise. When they meet again months later, they can't be in the same room without bickering like small children, and both men wonder whether the person they'd fallen for that night was an illusion.
Julian Moore is at loose ends after getting his Master's: he can't start his government cybersecurity job until he gets high-level clearance, his boyfriend and best friend are far away, and even his dojo closed down. All the sparkly, snarky white-hat hacker does these days is read M/M romance novels and hang out with his brothers' friends. Of course, that means bumping into that over-privileged, condescending jerk, Xander, at every freaking turn; the man would be completely insufferable if it wasn't for his sweet, hat-loving dog, Cassius.
When Xander discovers Julian is deeply depressed, his protective instincts kick in and he puts together a plan to help his friend's brother fight his way through the murky gloom. The first step? Move the brat into his condo! It seems like the perfect solution: he certainly has plenty of room, it gets Julian out of his parents' house, his boxer is head-over-paws in love with Julian, and someone has to keep their friend's pug from destroying all of Xander's left shoes.
From the day Julian moves in, his and Xander's lives fit seamlessly together and both men soon realize their initial attraction may have been stronger, and deeper, than they thought.
The Moore The Merrier
“Our family will always have room for a few more Moores.”
The Moore family is growing exponentially this year! All three brothers are enjoying their Happily-Ever-Afters. Julian and Xander only have four weeks to plan their dream wedding and are waiting impatiently to welcome two homeless teens into their family. Amidst all the merriment, Chance discovers that he has siblings, and they need his help. He’s forced to confront his past, but he won’t have to face it alone.
*Copy provided to Bayou Book Junkie by Signal Boost Promotions for my reading pleasure in hopes of an unbiased opinion, a review was not a requirement.*
The first book in this series is A Chance for Moore. The story starts with the history of MC's Logan and Chance so we go into this story knowing their past. Logan has settled into his life, his bakery is doing well, so he's decided it's time for him to make his move on Chance. Logan has been in the closet, but decides to ask Chance to teach him to be gay. Yes, that is exactly what he asked him. For some reason, Logan felt this was his best way to get Chance's attention. But both men have been crushing on the other for five years. Chance is surprised by Logan's request, and with some hesitancy, takes on the challenge. And what ensues is a bunch of ridiculousness between adult men who should really be old enough to know better!
There was a lot going on in this book, and a lot of characters to get to know! Honestly, I struggled in the prologue with all the characters and how they were related to each other, but finally just moved on, figuring the book would give me time to get to know everyone. And it does, because there are a lot of characters throughout! Logan comes from a very involved family and has two brothers who are very close to him. Logan's brother Greg is dating/engaged to Dani, who is Chance's best friend/sister. Then you add in Logan's friends, the rest of the family and Chance's friends and you have a lot of involved people. Plus, the animals who are a very involved part of this story. Logan has two Siamese cats and Chance has a dog. I loved all of these characters, though. Sure, it was a lot of people to get to know, but they were all so fun and quirky.
This was the first book I've read from this author, and I did enjoy it. There was a lot of angst and miscommunication throughout the book, not my favorite things to read about, but the book was well-written with some humor which helped my enjoyment. I really felt at times that the miscommunication between Chance and Logan was unnecessary because you already had the angst and drama from the stalker, so between the two of them, it could feel a little overwhelming if you don't typically read angsty books. There was quite a bit of repetition in some areas, that after a while detracted from the story. And because this was a dual point of view book (which I always like), we ended up reading one scenario twice because we got the exact same story in two different POV's and that happened several times in the book. Other than that, this was still an enjoyable story, with great characters that you definitely should get to know!
Rating: 4 stars
The second book in the series is Love You, Moore. We've met the characters in the previous book so you go into the book already knowing them, but let me tell you, the prologue introduces a story that we didn't know about Julian and Xander and explains a lot of the animosity in Book 1. Julian is Logan's younger brother, and Xander is Chance's best friend. It turns out that Xander and Julian have their own secret history that we didn't know about. They had met at a club and fell in instant lust with each other, but circumstances prevented anything from happening between the two. Xander then became a jerk to hide the lust and attraction he felt for the young Julian. I have to say, out of all the characters in these books, Julian is the youngest and most mature in this group of people. From the outside, Julian appears to have everything in life, but one night when he's had too much to drink, he peels back the veil of perfection and Xander sees the real Julian. Xander decides Julian needs to move in with him, for his own protection, and Xander sets him up with a schedule to help combat the depression. Soon, Julian is dog sitting for Xander and his friend's dog and with Xander's help, figuring out his future.
I absolutely loved Julian! He was so comfortable being himself, he had a huge heart and was just so fun! Honestly, I questioned if Xander deserved someone as terrific as Julian, but he managed to loosen up a little and make me like him. I really feel like Julian is the star of this whole series! I hated the miscommunication between Chance and Logan in the first book, and I loved that Julian would use his brother's relationship as a what not to do guide. And once Julian and Xander got together as a couple, they were the nauseating, sweet, loving type of couple that everyone could pretend to hate but secretly wishes they had. They were perfect together. And, as the previous story, the animals are just as much a part of this story as the human characters. All of the characters from Book 1 are in this story, and we meet many new ones, including some teenagers which allow you to see a different side to all these characters we know.
Rating: 4.5 stars
The Moore the Merrier is a novella in the Moore Romance series. This novella is very different from the previous books as it has the POV's from 6 human characters and 6 pet characters. And, I know I'm going to completely be the odd person in regards to this story, but the pet character's POV's were just not for me. There was a great underlying story to this, but we saw the same things over again from a different POV, including the animals. Yes, it was a little funny for me thinking this was the insight into the animal's thoughts but I lost interest in it after the first couple of times it happened. This novella was about Julian and Xander's wedding, and their work to adopt two teenagers; Chance finding out he had siblings who needed a home, him confronting his past, and Logan and Chance still getting it together. This may be a novella, but not to worry, all the previous characters are in this story.
None of these stories in this series can be read as a standalone, except maybe the first one. But, Books 2 and 2.5 really count on the stories from the previous book, so make sure to read them in the appropriate order to get full enjoyment. And trust me, there are A LOT of characters in these books, you're really going to need to start at the beginning if you have any hope of keeping them straight. In the novella, the author did include a Character Guide at the end of the book if you're struggling to remember and figure out who is who.
No matter how crazy, ridiculous and funny some scenarios are throughout the series, the one thing you count on is the love portrayed between all of these characters, which is just one reason you need to read this series!
Rating: 3.5 stars
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Author Bio
Alex Miska is a certifiable math geek who spends her days (and nights) dreaming of quirky, sexily-intelligent men falling in love. She is a former math teacher to students with learning disabilities and disability advocate. Nestled in a small house in the woods, Alex is the doting parent of a preternaturally-happy, fluffy, white dog and his somewhat gloomy older brother, as well as the solicitous servant of two highly-opinionated Siamese cats.
Amazon author page: http://www.amazon.com/Alex-Miska/e/B01MREQE5O
Author Site: http://authormiska.wordpress.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/authormiska
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/authormiska
Goodreads author page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16048365.Alex_Miska
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I have not read this series and would sure love to. Thanks
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