HOOOOTTTTTTTTT Hot Hot Book ALERT!!!!

This book was OUT OF CONTROL HHHOOOTTTT! This was my first foray into MM relationships at this level. I was listening to this while shopping and I am sure my face SAID IT ALLLLL! lol

I think the plot, while not super in depth for the genre of course, was written very well. I feel like it covered everything I needed between the hot MM and MMF scenes. The narrator was great and really made this book and easy listen, even in the most intimate moments.

My only recommendation is that, while safe sex practices are mentioned, they are mentioned much later in the book. This book is SO good about not shaming and given a very positive look into the main characters sexcapades, so I think it would be good for the readers to hear positive discussion about safe practices earlier on in the book. Especially as some readers, no matter their sexual preferences, may have a challenge with HOW to have those conversations. The author did an amazing job with this intimate conversation in the book when it does come up.

Thank You to NETGALLEY for the opportunity to read this book. This review was written voluntarily based on my read of Special Delivery.

I was lucky enough to receive an ARC copy of Special Delivery by Arnold Miles.Thank you to Net-galley for this amazing opportunity to listen to this in return for an honest review of what I thought of this audiobook.

Please be aware that this review will contain minor spoilers!

Rating:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
Special Delivery is a story based on a gay man, Tom, living and working from home post covid and how the world has adapted to the worldwide pandemic, when deliveryman, Matt turns up with an unexpected package for a neighbour.

Tom and Matt spark up an amazing friendship and for me, it was a beautiful story of how dating and meeting people can go, what does and doesn’t work.

If I had anything not so positive to say about this book, would be that, and even though I am Australian, I feel like it over used the word “mate.” Other than that, I enjoyed this book and look forward to reading/listening to another book by Arnold Miles.

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.

Nathan Wolf, the narrator, was an excellent choice for this audiobook. His narration adds so much personality to the characters, making distinguishing between them and following their conversations easy. Nathan's performance enhances the story, bringing it to life in a way that makes it even more enjoyable. I will be looking for more of Nathan Wolf's work in the future.

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.

A sweet Insta lust then slow to relationship mm romance. Not a ton of plot but well written. Super sex positive.
The narrator did a great job portraying all the roles. The transitions between characters went smoothly.
3.5⭐.
Thank you to NetGalley and Arnold Miles for the Audiobook ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a modern, steamy, and sweet story that quickly absorbed and held my attention.

The author captured the loneliness of the main characters and their experiences resuming the new normal of their lives following covid. I liked how open they were to new experiences and how supportive they were to each other as they navigated the bumps along the way. Their vulnerability and they way they honestly shared their thoughts about sexuality was refreshing. Though it ended a little abruptly, the ending nicely tied up things in a way that realistically fit the story. The narrator, Nathan Wolfe, was absolutely perfect and really brought the story to life. I look forward to more from both author and narrator!

Special thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to review an advanced copy.

Do not let that sweet cover fool you, this is definitely spicy and if you aren't ok with descriptions of two men being intimate, this book will definitely not be for you. That being said, this is a fun, spicy, shameless LGBTQIAP+ romance. I love how Matt & Tom's relationship evolved and I think they are just so cute together. I do tend to like my smutty books with a bit more plot but this was a quick enough read that I didn't mind as much.

The audiobook narrator Nathan Wolfe does a great job with Tom's character.

Thank you to NetGalley and Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op for providing access to the ALC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was very different from what I expected, it is true representation of what a modern relationship is and I highly enjoyed it. You don’t often get to read something that might actually be happening right now! I loved Matt and Tom’s journey from friends to lovers and self awaking for each of them. The voice over actor is also a very great choice, he did a spectacular job.

Unfortunately this was a DNF for me. I will potentially give it a go again as a physical read, but the audio was rough. The narration is awkward and stilted and hard to listen to. The writing is so straight forward and “telling” not “showing”. It feels like very elementary level writing for adult content, and it draws away from the spice and chemistry in the story.

This was a big surprise for me. I was extremely surprised to find that this book was sex positive and explored a sexual awakening after a big loss without the huge freak out.
Usually I am uncomfortable with on page sexual acts with other people than the main characters, but with how this book presents worked well.
I appreciated how Tom encouraged Matt to explore what he wanted.

The narration was so dynamic. There was a lot of emotion out into the story.
Overall rating 4.5/5

This book was sex positive and the communication, understanding, and acceptance between the two characters was AMAZING! However, I felt like the love story fell flat - they went from having no feelings to be in love in like 2 seconds flat and then the book kind of ended. I felt like there was no real conflict but the story was a beautiful tale of self discovery and acceptance and at its core was a wonderful depiction of friendship and communication. I wish we got some of Matts POV to see how he was really feeling and I wish Toms internal dialogue made us understand how he was really feeling about Matt because we knew there was a friendship and an attraction but we were never lead to believe it would turn into more and then all of a sudden it was.

While I've read a lot of spicy books, this is my first read explicitly shelved as erotica.

I enjoyed the book's general sex-positive attitude, though I feel like it played a little into the promiscuous gay stereotype. Not having lived that experience, I can't say how accurately the book portrays it. Most of the time I wasn't getting bogged down in the details and kept going with the flow of the book.

The story itself is pretty simple, but that's okay, it's a short book. Our MC, Tom, works remotely post-pandemic and is isolated from people apart from a few surface-level friendships and hookups. Enter friendly Hot Delivery Guy, Matt, who ends up chatting with Tom. Matt also happens to be straight, or so he thinks.

As the two become friends, they have surprisingly open conversations about sex in general and Matt starts to explore who he is and what he wants. I feel like these conversations were sometimes too open though. I'd love it if life and relationships went more like they did here but at times it felt like both Tom and Matt were too self-aware and great at communication and that took away from the realism of their conversations. Though that also means that we didn't get typical miscommunication issues and I like that a lot!

There was one point the book almost lost me though. There's an MMF encounter late in the book that I found a bit lackluster and (while I see the narrative purpose) I'd rather have done without.

In general I think this book is great at showing characters safely explore their wants and finding more than they'd dared hope for.

I've received a copy of the audiobook through NetGalley and I'm leaving this review voluntarily.

Great narration and 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.

This was a wonderful short, spicy sex positive LGBTQ+ romance. I loved how unapologetic Tom's characterization was written. Matt was a sweet counterpoint to Tom and their exploration of their relationship was hot, hot, hot. Not quite a friends to lovers story but very close. Don't think it will happen but I would love to read about Tom & Matt again.

Oooo I’m not the intended audience for this one. I can enjoy all kinds of smut but this is basically porn vaguely linked together. No real story or building of longing. Meh.

Queer awakening
New friends to lovers
Super seggs positive
Single POV

I’m not averse to heavily a seggy 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.

——

I’ve listed to some of those spicy audio books that edge on immersive experiences. This falls on the edge of that. The narration is VERY animated.

Also side note for the audio. Why Tom not narrated as Scottish as he’s from Glasgow? Even if a Glaswegian accent would have been too much, a more mild Scottish accent would have been nice.

This may as well be the hottest book I have ever listen to!
The audiobook is just little shorter than 5 hours and it is a bomb 💣 I listened to it in one sitting, I really couldn’t stop 🙈

Don’t let you be fooled by the cover, this is not a depressive romance, this is a gentle, hot and absolutely addictive story.

Tom works from home and he is the one who picks up all the packages for his building, and when Matt, the new hot delivery guy asks him if he could use the toilet a new friendship starts.

❤️‍🔥

This is a book about sex, sexuality, boundaries, exploring, but also about grief, friendship and ultimately love!

For any smutty mm romance fan, run to read it!

This was such an interesting book! First and foremost, I appreciated how frank and shame free the whole book was towards sex. Plus, the premise of making friends with and eventually hooking up with a delivery driver who often comes to your building is a great one! I do wish there had been a bit more plot and character development, but I really liked what we did get. My biggest complaint was the MC’s obsession with describing everyone’s bodies in weird detail, and repeatedly describing his own in comparison to others. Overall, if someone is looking for a quick and steamy read with a little bit of substance, this is a good option.

This short audiobook packed a punch! Even though it's an erotica, there is still a plot to it.

We follow our main character, Tom, who is a single gay man living alone. One day he accepts a package from a very handsome straight delivery driver called Matt. The two then form a friendship which then possibly leads into something else. Even though this is very heavy on the spice, this book also explores sexuality, coming out and of course friendship.

One downside to this book though was the amount of times Tom kept describing his own dick in the same exact way every single time. And he kept describing how hairy he was compared to a certain other person, in fact he kept comparing how his dick was compared to the other person as well. I don't necessarily mind it, but when it's described multiple times in the same exact way it was a bit repetetive and brought me out of the story.

However, I did enjoy this short and steamy novella and I do recommend people to check it out.

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.

This book was kind of a mixed bag for me. I liked how open and honest Tom was about his sexuality. I loved Matt's whole journey of sexual discovery. I didn't like how repetitive it was at times- it is a short book, so Tom describing himself several times was a waste of text. I also felt that it wasn't really deep enough- the pitfall of a novella. We never get to "see" Matt's friends and family and their reaction to his relationship.

Nathan Wolfe narrates the audiobook and does a good job.

I received an advance audio copy in exchange for an honest review.