Book Blast ~ My Choice, My Chance (Men of Crooked Bend Series Book 2) by Taylor Rylan (Excerpt)
MY CHOICE, MY CHANCE
MEN OF CROOKED BEND SERIES, BOOK 2
TAYLOR RYLAN
M/M ROMANCE
RELEASE DATE: 08.19.17
COVER DESIGN: Jay Aheer/Simply Defined Art
BUY LINK: mybook.to/MCMCebook
BLURB
After a disastrous relationship in college, Jasper Welsh swore he’d never let anyone that close to him again. But after watching his twin fall in love with the man of his dreams, Jasper starts to realize that maybe there’s more to life than meaningless hook ups. After all, it’s been almost a decade since he’s taken a chance on someone again.
When a brutal ex almost kills Liam Campbell, he runs away with his best friend to Wyoming for Christmas with Rhett’s family. Little does he know, that even though he’s still broken and bruised, Liam’s life is about to be completely turned upside down when he meets Rhett’s brother, Jasper. But there’s no way Jasper could be interested in someone like him, right?
When Liam’s ex finds him in Wyoming and one of their family members almost pays the ultimate price, will the Welsh family forgive him for bringing danger to their family? Or will they fight for the battered young man and accept him with open arms?
Choices are made, and chances are taken when Jasper and Liam realize that their attraction for one another can’t be denied and must be explored. But with a wedding in the planning stages and an unforgettable bachelor party in Vegas, does the new couple really want to steal the grooms’ thunder?
My Choice, My Chance is the second book in the Men of Crooked Bend series. Each book in the series will focus on a different couple but will be better enjoyed as a series as the couples all make appearances in each book. Each book contains sexually explicit material between two men and is intended for adults over 18.
EXCERPT
I finally made it to our new house with everything. I wanted to cry when I pulled into the driveway and saw Jasper’s truck there. How in the hell was I going to set everything up for my romantic picnic surprise if he was already there?
Admitting defeat and coming to the conclusion that tonight was not going to be the night to tell Jasper that I loved him, I got out of Baloo and walked up to the house to search for Jasper.
I was floored when I walked into the house. Jasper made a trail of lit candles. They started at the front door inviting me to continue inward. I followed the small flames, making my way to the living room. The sight before me made me gasp and start to cry. There, in the middle of the living room, surrounded by candles, and with a blanket and several pillows laid out on the floor was Jasper. It seems my man had the exact same idea as me! He obviously came straight here from the Realtor’s office instead of going to his office in Jackson like he’d told me.
I didn’t move at first. I noticed Jasper started to look uncomfortable so I slowly made my way toward him and the little picnic he had put together for us.
“Jasper, what…”
“Liam, just give me a minute here, alright?”
I had no idea what Jasper planned but I knew that there was absolutely no way I was going to let him go another night without telling him exactly how I felt. With as wonderful and sweet as this all was, this was my plan. Did I talk in my sleep? Nobody ever mentioned me talking in my sleep before so probably not. How was it that Jasper came up with the exact same idea as me? I took a big breath and did my best to calm myself and stepped into the room. I didn’t stop there. Nope! In true Liam fashion I walked right up to Jasper and hauled off and whacked him on the shoulder. Not the most romantic move ever.
“Liam! What the hell?”
“How dare you, Jasper!”
“How dare I what? You’re mad I try to be romantic for you? What? You want me to be an asshole or something?”
“No! I love it when you’re romantic. I love it when you plan trips and dinners and send me flowers and candy and stuff. It’s an amazing feeling knowing that you care enough about me to do all of those things for me.”
“Then why in the hell did you just hit me?”
“Because! You ruined my surprise!”
“How did I ruin your surprise? I haven’t even told you your surprise yet!”
We were both upset and started raising our voices, shouting at each other by that point. Not one of our best moments.
“What do you mean you haven’t given me my surprise yet? I had everything all planned and you beat me to it! I was going to come in and set up a romantic dinner for you, but you beat me to it, Jasper!" I was openly bawling by then. It was not a pretty sight. I know, I’ve seen me when I cried in the past. My face gets red and splotchy when I cry.
“Liam, I haven’t given you your surprise yet because the dinner isn’t your surprise. I wanted to give you a perfect romantic dinner so I could tell you just how much you mean to me.
*Copy provided to Bayou Book Junkie for my reading pleasure in hopes of an unbiased opinion, a review was not a requirement.*
My Choice, My Chance is the second book in Taylor Rylan’s Men of Crooked Bend series. We met Jasper, Simon’s twin, and Liam in Book 1. Jasper was a playboy and Liam escaped an abusive relationship with the help of Jasper’s younger brother. A lot of this story felt like a retelling of Book 1 so it could possibly be read as a standalone. But there are A LOT of characters introduced in the first book and included in this one. The relationship between Jasper and Liam happened really fast in my opinion, especially with Liam’s history.
There were some areas that I think will improve and grow as the author continues her writing. There was a lot of repetition throughout the book. Sometimes it would be a three-sentence paragraph repeating the same thing in three different ways. An example to explain: “I couldn’t imagine causing such pain. Certainly not to the degree that had been inflicted upon that poor boy. I'd never hurt anyone, especially not the way he’d been hurt.”
For me, this book was way too much internal dialogue combined with too much of a retelling of the first book. Had I not just read the first book, it may have served as a good refresher. Also, there’s an element of BDSM which I don’t enjoy so I tended to skim those scenes. If you enjoy that theme then you definitely need to check it out for yourself!
Some items of the story that I found odd or weird:
* Jasper and his family are very close so it made absolutely no sense to me that Jasper and Liam bought a house together and Jasper hadn’t even told his family they were dating, let alone living together.
*Also, Jasper and Liam are planning a future, bought a house together but it was too soon to say I love you? Seems they may have gone about things backwards.
This is the second book by the author and she’s certainly set up a whole area of gay characters giving her plenty of options for her follow up books.
Rating: 3.5 stars
After several years of daydreaming about sexy men in her head, Taylor decided to finally start writing about them! That's where the Men of Crooked Bend came from, although at the time, she had no idea as to what she would name the town, nor what state it would be even be in. She quickly learned that even though she had ideas in her head, it was her characters that ultimately decided what would happen in each story. She goes into each adventure with a set plan but already knows that in the end, things will change and that her characters are going to get their way.
When she’s not writing about sexy men, she loves to read about them. Even if, her reading time has become less frequent since she started writing, she still tries to find time to read at least once a week. She is a busy mom of three and one kitten named Lucky. If she’s not writing or reading about sexy men, she’s either running to some band function or another or is busy cheering from the stands at basketball games or marital arts functions.
Her Men of Crooked Bend Series is her first series but she already has two spin-off series planned!
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