Special Delivery is the story of Tom and how fate brings Matt, a delivery man, to his door. The events of the story take place during the culminating phase of COVID. When Tom is working from home, he is approached by a delivery person who asks him if he would be willing to accept a package on behalf of one of his neighbors. Matt, the delivery man, asks Tom in a courteous manner if he would be able to use the restroom. A spark ignites between the two, and they eventually become friends.

The friendship quickly evolves into something more significant as time goes on. The only thing that stands in the way of a gay man like Tom is the fact that Matt considers himself to be a straight guy, or at least this is what he is aware of about himself. The only way to find out how Matt will react to Tom’s feelings is to read the book. Otherwise, you will not know.

The story is narrated from Tom’s perspective, and through his narration, we learn about his lifestyle and hookups. In the beginning, it is heavy on the erotica side, but as the story progresses, it becomes more about the characters’ sexuality and the things that are important to the heart.

In addition to the excellent writing of the steamy scenes, the author handled the two main characters well. The book is more about self-discovery, understanding one’s own sexuality, and overall sex positivity.

Thank you NetGalley for the e-arc.
This was a sweet story of self discovery and just being human to one another.
It's a perfect blend of sweet and loving and spice!

A beautifully written book about self-discovery, love and intimacy in a time when many things were no longer a given. Tom and Matt's relationship developed naturally and I fell in love with both of them. The story just felt very realistic!

Looking to read a book that's horny? This book is *really" horny. We follow Tom, a gay man feeling relatively isolated as he's been working from home a lot during the pandemic and finally being more social again and adapting to that. One unsuspecting day, Matt shows up - a delivery driver completely unaware that he's now become the object of Tom's affection.

What I liked about this book was the open acceptance of all different expressions of sexuality and the emphasis being on what a person is comfortable with, and even then they are allowed to change their mind. There were definitely some times when these discussions were too on the nose or cringy. For example Matt stepping in as Tom's savior from his friend's homophobic remarks. I felt like the author was just explaining things to the reader rather than telling Tom and Matt's story sometimes. That kind of writing can be insulting to the reader, especially if it remains consistently. It ends up feeling like a lecture.

This book is about Tom and Matt getting to know each other and the culturally relevant conversations that emerge as a result of Matt being "straight" and Tom being very liberal about sex. But this book mostly consists of, well, porn. I read a lot of erotica, especially in the gay romance genre, and this book just did not work for me. The sex was perfunctory and not hot. The same language was used in every encounter that made it repetitive ("shot my load"). And frankly I'll be happy if I don't have to hear the term "load" in reference to an orgasm ever again. It was a bit crude and not at all erotic. There was not a great transition between Tom and Matt forming a bond and suddenly Matt being into a man for the first time in his life after a couple of conversations.

Unfortunately this one did not work for me.

The good:Matt could not have found a nicer guy than Tom to explore his sexuality. Tom is a very laid back open kinda guy and someone Matt can feel safe with. Also good that they used protection.
Could be better: the writing. The writing was stilted and clunky..

Also: I'm going to assume that the time period of this book is modern day and not set years into the future. There are numerous references to the pandemic being over and c*vid being gone. The pandemic is not over and covid is not gone and it is unaliving /disabling millions of people, especially marginalized folks who are lgbtq and poc. Still. In 2024.
Thank you to netgalley for the ARC. Opinions are my own.

"Special Delivery", the debut novel by Arnold Miles, is much more than a homoerotic book, with smut and spicy descriptions; it is a profound exploration of self-identity, love, and the necessary honesty and courage that is required to be true to oneself. Miles has crafted an intimate tale that is as enriching as it is smutty entertaining.

As a gay man living alone, Tom's monotonous day takes an unexpected turn when straight delivery driver Matt arrives at his door. Matt is grappling with the meaning of life, while Tom finds himself grappling with the meaning of Matt. This casual encounter will be the start of a journey through friendship, intimacy, and sexuality.

If you think that this book is just about spicy moments and smut descriptions, just let me tell you: you are partially right! There is a lot of it, but the depth of Matt and Tom’s relationship is the beating heart of "Special Delivery." As Matt and Tom navigate the ups and downs of their relationship (with a lot of smut and spicy sexual tension moments on the way), readers are reminded that love, in all its forms, requires bravery, honesty, and, above all, heart.

Arnold Miles masterfully explores the main character's journey, diving into their individual struggles with identity and self-acceptance. Their relationship is portrayed with tender realism, highlighting not just their sexual tension moments but also their passionate, quiet and introspective ones that build their bond. Their battles, struggles, and victories feel incredibly real, making their quest for identity and love resonate on a deeply personal level.

This novel stands as a powerful testament to the idea that true love is never just about the physical and sexual connection but about the emotional and spiritual journey that comes with finding one’s own "special delivery".

Special Delivery is a poignant and emotional romantic read about an unlikely relationship on the tail of a world wide pandemic. Tom is working from home when he unexpectedly meets delivery man, Matt. They form an unlikely friendship and ultimately cannot deny their attraction to each other. The two men help each other navigate their own personal issues; Tom, a tendency to hook up and be noncommittal, and Matt, who is grieving his late wife. Finding solace in each other, they provide each other a safe place to explore each other and their relationship.
I very much enjoyed this basis of this story. Stories set during the period of the Covid-19 pandemic are exceptionally important, especially queer stories. Arnold Miles does a wonderful job expressing how lonely people felt during this time and I enjoyed how we saw this through toms feelings and actions, it wasn’t just simply written on the page. While I do believe the term “mate” was overused significantly, I do have to realize that this may be a cultural difference as I am not familiar with how often Brits use the term. Overall, Tom and Matt are lovely characters who were beautifully written. I am thankful to have had the chance to experience a snapshot of their journey.

I'm still fairly new to queer romance, and to erotica, especially. This book was tagged as "smut with a plot," and so I was interested right away. What an understatement. Although "smutty," this book seamlessly blends a romantic plot and great characters around sex scenes that make sense (not feeling like they're just thrown in there willy-nilly). Even better, the themes in this story revolving around self exploration and involving clear and open communication between the characters involved, was a breath of fresh air. The author's sense of humor is on-point, as well. There just wasn't anything I didn't like about this short little book. I will definitely be purchasing a physical copy of this for my collection.

3.5 stars and my thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC!

Tom works from home and a chance encounter with a delivery man who needs to use a restroom, finds himself with a new friend and potential new crush. The thing is, this new friend is straight...or so it seems.

It's funny how Covid played such a role in the background at the beginning of the book, but was mostly a throwaway line by the end.

The book is full of incredible sex positivity and zero shame around being who you are and what you like. Constant check ins and reassurances made for a compelling romance. They cared about each other before they realized just how much.

I will admit to not seeing the "erotica" tag at first, so I was a little taken aback by how...much it was. But the story flowed so quick that I was able to finish it in less than an hour.
What really took points away is that the story is only told from Tom's perspective. The book is what it is and it works, but I think it could have been something great if we had Matt's POV sprinkled throughout. Though, I guess we do get enough was-straight-now-not stories, so what do I know.

Queer awakening
New friends to lovers
Super seggs positive
Single POV

I’m not averse to heavily a seggsy book and this hit that mark.

It was overall very good just felt a bit drawn out. I get it shows Matt exploring his feelings and seggsuality, but I kinda feel as though we only see his seggsual exploration because the book is in Tom’s single POV.

I personally wish this had been from a dual POV. It would have allowed for Tom’s ultra seggs positivity, but would have given us more depth to Matt.

An incredibly sexy and steamy read! And a fun exploration of different kinds of intimacies. While it was somewhat repetitive at times, the narrator Tom was incredibly supportive and caring as his relationship with Matt developed.

Special Delivery by Arnold Miles is a fun, honest, sex-positive, shamelessly spicy MM romance that blends humour, self-discovery, and acceptance. The two main characters' communication, understanding, and acceptance are truly remarkable, making this story a beautiful tale of friendship, self-discovery, and love.

The journey of Matt and Tom, from friends to lovers, is a captivating one. It's a story of self-awakening and the deepening of their relationship. Our main character, Tom (a little bit sluty), works from home and, apart from casual hook-ups and a few friends, is feeling somewhat isolated. Along comes Matt, the friendly, HOT delivery guy who needs to use the Loo, strikes up a conversation with Tom and changes everything. Matt, who initially identifies as straight, begins to question his sexuality as he grows closer to Tom.

The humour and open discussions around sex and sexuality are not just spot on; they're a key part of what makes this story so engaging and relatable. Arnold Miles has crafted a narrative that is entertaining and meaningful, exploring themes of self-discovery and acceptance in a refreshing way. The chemistry between Tom and Matt is electric, and their interactions are filled with genuine emotion and honesty.

Overall, Special Delivery is a sweet love story with a spicy twist, complete with detailed sex scenes that add to the depth of the characters' relationship. I highly recommend this book to all my friends and anyone looking for a heartfelt and humorous MM spicy romance.

Thank you to NetGalley and Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op for providing me with the audio ARC of Special Delivery. Arnold Miles has just become one of my auto-buy authors, and I can't wait to read more from this author.

Working from home during the pandemic was lonely for a lot of folk and the only human interaction were via team calls or having a quick chat with the delivery drivers. When Tom let Matt the delivery driver use his toilet, he did not expect that that interaction would be the start of a beautiful friendship.
Tom was an openly gay man who was sex positive, he had few friends that he was close with but when he met Matt something subconsciously clicked with him and even though there was not many words spoke at the start, fate had a way of getting them together. Matt was easy going never once judging Tom and even though his life had been hit with sadness he followed his feelings with the help of Tom, who was happy to let Matt explore.
Told from Tom POV, I was hooked to the story and read it in one sitting, wanting to know what happened next. This was my first read by this author but it wont be my last.

A spicy, contemporary MM romance that is compulsively readable.

This story reads like a journal entry, all first person POV as our MMC, Tom, lives his single, gay best life.

We follow Tom's casual and explicitly intimate encounters with other queer men. At the same time, Tom meets Matt, a delivery driver in his neighbourhood and they have an immediate connection.

This is low angst, friends to lovers, self discovery, bi-awakening with light grief /comfort. I felt like I was Tom's best friend sitting beside him at brunch, dancing at the gay bar and enjoying the spa.

For such a short read there are lots of spicy scenes, which I loved. They were all varied with different levels of kink. All consensual and character building.

I'll definitely be reading more from Arnold J Miles in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley and Arnold Miles for the advances reader copy.

Wow this book was steamy 🥵🥵🥵
I loved the character of Tom, how he embraced and openly explored his sexuality in a safe and honest way. Matt was sweet through and through and I loved reading about their story and the chemistry between them both was hot!
I read this book in 2 sittings.

special delivery explores a post-pandemic timeline of tom and matt's relationship as apartment dweller and delivery driver, respectively. tom is an openly gay and sexual man who is not afraid to hide it. matt is a guy who thinks he's hetero, and the story explores his sexuality in a very accepting and open way.

i was a bit put off by how okay tom was to engage in sexual relations with "straight" married men in the gym locker room, but that says more about the married men than tom. i found that i was not emotionally invested in tom and matt's relationship until the last 10% of the book. at times, the writing felt shallow and repetitive, which is where it missed the mark for me. as a lover of m/m romance, the amount of times the word "mate" was said out loud during literal sexual activity made me want to cry.

however, i did enjoy matt's exploration of sexuality and the mention of demisexuality, which often gets overlooked on the LGBTQIA+ spectrum. i like how matt didn't feel the need to put a label on his feelings, and that he wasn't using tom as an "experiment" to figure himself out. i found that tom and matt had very effective communication, and it was just gentle, warm feelings between the two.

thank you to netgalley for the ARC

it's sweet and smutty, just how I liked it.... but. there were a few off notes, and a couple moments (and one major scene toward the end) that were ultimately distractions from the joy of the rest...

Great story! Definitely for a smut loving reader, it was chock full of spice, but it wasn't gratuitous. It was a refreshing read in that it didn't follow a generic romance formula. There were bumps in the road and it felt like the characters made a genuine connection. Great story of sexual awakening and discovery.

Well this was a series of surprises. First of all, I guess I did not pay close enough attention to notice that I was requesting erotica (and the cover, while lovely, is a tad misleading). So at first I found the focus on sex a little jarring but that's on me for not correctly reading the label. Just as I had settled in for what I was starting to expect to be mainly self-insert PWP (with somewhat needless and repetitive detailed descriptions of various penii and "loads"), I was surprised again by the gentle tenderness and growth of the main relationship. Matt is just the sweetest, most innocent cinnamon roll and Tom is really considerate and careful. I loved their open and honest communication and I found it easy to keep listening to see how things turned out and I'm glad I did. This was a very low stakes, chill and easy read. While I wouldn't say it was overall very deep - there were some very thoughtful moments. The writing was okay for an indie debut. There was quite a lot of repetition and in some places the story felt a bit focused on the mundane or lacking emotion - that may in part be due to the casual, journal/first-person narration. I also thought the narration was really well done - any time one of the characters laughs or chuckles was delivered in the most delightful way. And the way Matt is always calling Tom mate was adorable. Honestly, I might even listen again.

I know lots of my GR friends would enjoy this book for exactly what it is and I recommend picking it up when it comes out June 24 or when you're next in the mood for this type of book..

A couple of content notes come to mind: death of a partner in the past, ethical non-monogamy and being set in the late stages of the pandemic are the three big ones.

Overall I enjoyed this.

It was a very quick and easy read.

The story was simple but I actually quite liked it and was drawn in.

It was what I about expected for an erotica type novel and some scenes were very nice. I did laugh at when certain things per se were always described in the exact size they were? I don't think that's needed at all but I found it a little humorous..

I did notice quite a lot of punctuation and grammatical type errors. Periods will always go inside a quotation mark. No commas after using a formal name. Things like that. Also, if you are spelling it "Covid" then continue to capitalize the "C" throughout. Don't switch to "covid". Be consistent and aware of things throughout a work. I hope this goes through another round of editing because yeah, those errors took me out of the story sometimes.