Surprisingly sweet and light romance. Different from the usual fare. I quite enjoyed the story. Mr. B's idea is ridiculous though but it made the romance amusing.

Ok. So that's that. Honestly? Nothing happened but a bunch of phrase dropping of hipster words and things (Crossfit, Uber, Etsy, homemade jam, vegan, beard trimming... the likes). The book did not explore ANYTHING in any direction. Everyone was basically cool with everyone the entire time. I never found out if the guy was called Jo or Joe for real (I assume the Joe was a typo), I only briefly heard he's 25 and did I mention that nothing happened for the entire book?

It read like normal hipster drama life and that's it. There were things that could've been explored, but never where.

How did Jo(e) really feel about this whole gay swinger party?
Did he have another talk with his mam?
How did coming out with the rest of the family go?
Why did Mr B never share his coming-out stories to encourage Jo(e)?
Why does it keep saying Mr B has no money but he still does stuff like getting a professional beard trimming done or call an Uber?
Everyone is going on about Crossfit but apart from phrase dropping, it's not really mentioned
We got Juniper and at the same time we didn't - I found her the most interesting character and she all of appeared on like 2 pages - says a lot about the book

Basically - it was all fluffy pink cotton candy but nothing happened. Even the sex scenes weren't worth the time. It was more like: first this, than that, than that, orgasm unicorn rainbows, cuddling.

Yes, this book could've been great if someone would've actually been brave enough to tackle the potential problems and controversies, explore the characters and their motivations. Well, this someone aren't the authors of this book. Then this is me probably expecting way too much.

*Copy provided to Bayou Book Junkie by the author/publisher for my reading pleasure in hopes of an unbiased opinion, a review was not a requirement.*

Jo is bisexual and deeply in the closet regarding his interest in men but things may change now that his best friend, Mr. B, is finally single. Jo noticed Mr. B the first time he saw him at Crossfit, and since Mr. B was already in a relationship, Jo settled on friendship. Mr. B is now single and jobless after his long relationship ends with his partner, Mr. A. When Jo shows up at the train car Mr. B is living in, he and Mr. B have an evening of drinking and coming up with business ideas Mr. B. could now pursue. The idea of making artisanal boozy jams is good but neither man has the money for a start-up. Somehow the men decide that Mr. B will decorate and fix up the train car and use it as a brothel/escort type business where he can offer the Lumberjack experience. The next morning Jo thinks the previous night's ideas were a joke but Mr. B is ready with plans on what comes next.

Jo doesn't support the idea and is jealous, but ends up helping Mr. B work in on his brothel, until one day he decides to show Mr. B how he feels. Mr. B has never allowed himself to think about his feelings or attraction to Jo because he believes he's straight. He's surprised by what happens between them and when he tries to talk to Jo, Jo is a poor communicator about it. After the misunderstanding, the men keep a distance from each other until they can't anymore. Only, when Jo does explain his bisexuality and expresses interest in a relationship, he does so wanting to stay in the closet and hide his interest. The men have to work around what each of them want to find some happiness.

I had some difficulty getting into this story, but with a background in working around zoning, I kept questioning where this story could take place that would allow rail cars in a field, or on someone's farm. Plus be close enough to be able to bike everywhere. Seriously, it was distracting for me throughout the story, but a normal person will not have this issue. :) This book is a friends-to-lovers romance where what angst there is, is all caused by miscommunication. It seemed like the guys had a great friendship and had spent a lot of time together before the romance began, so the continuous lack of communication between the two was surprising. But, you get to see two friends finally get their act together and communicate with each other, and you get a very sweet epilogue!

Rating: 4 stars

5 Fluffy non-ironic Hearts

This was full of fluffy lumbersexual, hipster goodness and I want to marinate in the fluff until I drink craft beers and move to a train car in the middle of nowhere that has a hot tub and a tobacco bar.

Seriously. I hugged it out with my Nook just a few minutes ago because this book makes me wanna cuddle the fuck out of something and since Jo and Mr. B are in my Nook, we had to have a few intimate moments.

Straight forward with a simple review.

Mr. B broke up with his bearded silver fox boyfriend Mr. A. Jo has been BFF’s with B since they met at CrossFit over the WOD and both men are in way over their heads with the feels but neither of them lets it be known. When they have some homemade booze one night, they get the idea of turning the train car into a brother with Mr. B being an escort and getting a chance to sow his wild bearded, barrel chested oats.

This place will be a steaming hot inferno of lust once I’m done with it.

But you see, there is a flaw in this plan because there is a steaming vintage cup of unrequited feelings going on with Jo and Mr. B and when Jo says he’s going to help B build the Lumbersexual Experience, Jo realizes he needs to test drive the tour.

GOODNESS! This was super freaking fracking hot but with the authors, you come to expect that. It was so hot but it was also so tender and full of emotion that you almost felt intrusive when the men get intimate. I say almost because regardless of how sweet their sex was, it was just dirty enough for my inner perv to tell my hopeless romantic to STFU and watch closely. Yep. Mmm Hmm. *grunts*

So anyway. These two were so cute and I just want to hug the hell out of Mr. B on numerous occasions with how sweet he is an how he treats Jo and Jo…JO JO JO! Lord, boy you had me twisted in knots with how floppy you were with you owning all of your sexuality and yet, watching you struggle and then come to a conclusion so like romantic movie style fruition I couldn’t be mad. I mean, when you tell Mr. B what you liked with your girlfriends and how you tell Juniper and what you do for Mr. B… how could I ever be mad?

Being with him was such a revelation that Jo clung to it every day, still overwhelmed by how he’d gotten so lucky.

That end bit was hot AF and again, super swoony and just so Mr. B and Jo that it was beyond perfect. But then there is an epilogue and OMG I need to go squish something because this book gave me all the fluff feelings.

DAWWW! This was just so GOOD! The puns were totes punny and really, the hipster bits were hilarious because… hipsters, and yet kind annoying because I do some of it. Maybe I am part hipster after all but I wouldn’t appreciate the decorations over the bed in the train car.
Okay. I am done. Gonna go find someone to hug the hell out of now and maybe pet while I pretend they are Mr. B.

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Before Reading: The Pinterest Board for this tho... I mean, they had me at Hipster... Le Unf.

Check out the other unicorn reviews on the blog.

2.5 stars rounded up to 3. For a good part of the book I felt they talked like high schoolers. Also the premise for the book is ridiculous once you get to know the personality of the MC that want's to open the brothel. Ended up kind of fun, over the top sweet with drama thrown in.

I haven't really loved the books I've read from this author in the past, but this one I did actually really enjoy. Mr. B and Jo were so sweet. Totally clueless but so sweet nonetheless.

I enjoyed watching these two dance around each other and try to figure out how to move a friendship into the land of dating. They were clearly so perfect for each other with their history. I do like stories like this. Ones that have a well established history between the main characters. It makes it so a shorter story works better and more smoothly than if they are just meeting.

There were so many ways that this story went down the road that I was going to be happy with. There were a number of places where if a different choice had been made I would have been less happy with the final result of the story. The awkward and the stumbles just made this story more sweet and enticing.

I really wanted to see this train car home that Mr. B built. I loved the things that he put together out there. It sounded so quaint, homey, and appealing. Mr. B's nature is so eager to please and unsure of himself. Jo though just loves everything about who Mr. B is and wants to see him flourish.

Really enjoyed this story. I liked the sweet for the soul nature of this story.

Voto: 4.5 stelline.
Dopo aver letto vari libri di questo duo, le sorelle Merikan mi hanno dimostrato la loro bravura nel sapere spaziare su più generi, dalle scene più crude alle più spinte, passando per i sentimenti. Ma non ero pronta a tutta la dolcezza che sarebbe emersa da questa storia, perché il titolo mi aveva fatto immaginare ben altro.
Sì, c’è un sacco di sensualità e delle scene hot davvero belle, coinvolgenti e che sapranno scaldarvi in queste notti gelide, ma la dolcezza di Mr. B è deliziosa. Quest’uomo grande, grosso, sexy, tatuato e peloso è in realtà come un grosso orsacchiotto da coccolare, è dolce e tenero senza essere stucchevole.
Jo, il suo migliore amico, quello stiloso e complicato, deve fare un po’ di strada nei sentimenti e nelle scelte importanti, ma il loro legame è forte, unico e irresistibile.
Persino Mr. A, che all’inizio ho cordialmente odiato, si è fatto rivalutare ai miei occhi, perché le cose non sono sempre come sembrano.
Vi lascio il piacere di scoprire questo libro da soli, ma a me la storia è piaciuta tantissimo e ve la consiglio caldamente!

3.5 Stars

Admittedly, Merikan typically makes me wary and anxious and many of their stories just aren’t my thing. However, there have been a few I’ve enjoyed (ie. [b:Diary of a Teenage Taxidermist|23520702|Diary of a Teenage Taxidermist|K.A. Merikan|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1415557548l/23520702._SX50_.jpg|42949101]) and when they do sweet and simple, I’m a huge fan.

This is exactly that. Easy, sexy, with a good amount of explicit and (light) dirty, this was a very nice friends to lovers story with the added bonus of gentle giant yumminess!

Toss in a bit of cluelessness, a bfy/ofy setting with some in the closet vibes, and finish it with minimal angst and overall feel good feels!

If you’re looking for typical Merikan, then this probably won’t appeal as this is very mainstream contemporary MM romance, one in which I quite enjoyed!