Landon can’t believe he’s let himself get roped into participating in a charity calendar, let alone one that features tastefully photographed nudes. The genius physicist is hardly model material, and he’s dreading the nude part of the photoshoot. Amid his reluctance, the one bright spot is his emails back and forth with the photographer.However, Bailey turns out to be not exactly what Landon … Landon expects, and their first meeting is decidedly awkward. Bailey’s persistent though, and gradually Landon warms to the burly photographer, and they discover they have a shared love of gamer culture.
A tentative friendship is born, but the road from friends to lovers isn’t easy. Landon’s battling past trauma and must decide how much of a risk he’s willing to take. A sexy connection may not be enough to keep them together unless both are willing to put their hearts on the line.
Approximately 40,000 words. Previously released as part of the EXPOSED anthology, and loosely linked to the #Gaymers universe, this friends-to-lovers, hurt/comfort story stands alone with a guaranteed happy ending. Contains a brief mention of a prior assault, but no on-screen violence or flashbacks.
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Let me start off by saying that I am a BIG fan of Annabeth Albert’s books, she is my favorite LGBTQ author and honestly there hasn’t been anything that she has written that I didn’t enjoy, this book was no different. I love, love, loved the way she had the nerdy yet extremely sexy scientist pose for a charity calendar. When most people think of nerds or geeks or any other term you would use for a brainiac they don’t think sexy..at all! This is sad but true the majority of people think of pocket protectors, glasses, and possibly even a pimply face, but I am happy to say Annabeth thinks out of the box. Landon was very hot and sexy and Bailey was really taken with him.
Bailey, the photographer, had established a friendship with Landon through text and emails when he contacted him about posing for the calendar he was shooting. The thing Bailey didn’t do was let Landon know he was a guy and not a girl, unfortunately this makes their first meeting a little uncomfortable but not for the reasons Bailey thinks.
I really liked watching these two me find their way together, there was a lot of chemistry between the two but Landon was a bit hesitant, and not for the reasons you may be thinking. We are gifted with a friendship that becomes budding romance and a HEA, the road is a bit rocky but the journey is a fun and steamy one.
This book is loosely connected to the #gaymers series but is a standalone. If you have read the #gaymers Series you’ll recognize Landon from previous books. I highly recommend this book to anyone that is looking for a friends-to-lovers MM read that will set your kindle on fire. I read this as part of the EXPOSED Anthology, if you have the anthology go start reading and if you don’t I would grab a copy of Level Up today! Happy Reading!
3.5. KU borrow. Novellas are always difficult to rate because they tend to seem like underdeveloped books. What I did appreciate is that this was a month’s worth of relationship instead of a day or a week of BAM insta-love & HEA. So that helped me round this up.
Bailey was awesome. Most of the angst came from Landon, and as a DVSA Advocate & CASA ~ I probably have a lot more grace than some readers on what it’s like for a victim to start a new relationship. I’m not sure if there’s a “perfect” way for an author to have their characters behave and still move the plot forward satisfactorily for most readers. I think it might have gone over better as a long, slow burn with buildup and ditch the “mini-breakup” route.
Savannah & Rachel, as secondary characters, actually distracted as much as they contributed to the plot. Maybe if their own drama wasn’t taking place concurrently it would have helped. IDK.
There’s mention of characters from both the #Gaymers and Out Of Uniform series ~ but it’s so minor that you could read this without those as background. And if you’re expecting any kind of “how are they now” info on folks from those books, don’t. They are literally just name drops.
Frankly, this is a good intro to Albert’s writing, but I hope folks wouldn’t be put off by it ~ because most of her books are a solid 4 stars or more for me.