REVIEW: Not So Straight Up by JE Joyce (Spirit of Hops #2)

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NOT SO STRAIGHT UP

Spirit of Hops - Book Two

by JE Joyce

Release Date: January 4, 2024

Review

This is a happy sweet romance with two nice guys who can’t help but fall in love whether they are looking for it or not.


They have a playful and nurturing friendship and relationship, a cute little girl who is eager to ‘ship them makes the transition all the easier.  I enjoy the world that’s been created, and the friends and colleagues surrounding them.


I had a few niggles some which required a suspension of disbelief, and other things like Charlie’s parents getting Callum’s daughter to call them by grandparent titles without asking or them barely dating really bothered me.  But overall a nice read.

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Synopsis

Welcome to Rapids Bay Minnesota, where the Viking blood runs strong, secrets don’t last long, and the best place to kick back is The Spirit of Hops Brewstillery. Half brewery, half distillery, all hometown watering hole goodness fit for the Gods.


Charlie

Life’s too short. Cliché? Yes, but some things are universal truths regardless of how many pumpkin spice-toting basic white girls paint said truths on barn wood and hang them in their kitchens. That basic truth has been my motto for most of my life and has rarely steered me wrong. It may have also steered me into some interesting shenanigans and awkward situations, but those just make for the best stories. As the bar manager for Spirit of Hops Brewstillery in my hometown, those stories have always given me something to chat about with customers. But when the new brewer and his little girl show up, those stories seem just a prologue to the newest adventure I hear calling my name. Life’s too short, why not seize the day and see what comes, right?


Callum

If there is one thing I have learned in these last six years watching my little girl grow up, it’s that a year is both somehow forever and gone in an instant. Life is too short, and that’s not something to be taken lightly. Moving to Rapids Bay, MN to take over as a brewer for Spirit of Hops was the right move for us. I needed a fresh start, my daughter needed a chance to grow up without ghosts of the past, and we both needed a change in scenery. Georgie and Work, that’s my world and in that order. But life doesn’t like the best-laid plans and when opportunity literally comes crashing into you, you have to take a chance, right?


Not So Straight Up is a full-length MM workplace, single dad, bi-awakening romance. It is book 2 in the Spirit of Hops Brewstillery series but can be read and enjoyed as a standalone.

About JE Joyce

Spicy Hometown Heart

J.E. Joyce lives in the frozen hellscape *cough* sorry, the lovely snow-covered dreamscape that is Minnesota. She is an unrepentant coffee addict, lifelong Broadway fanatic and theater geek, and thinks Deadpool absolutely counts as a chick flick. When she isn’t melting pages with the steamy dreamy book boyfriends in her head, she’s annoying the ever-loving heck outta her hubster and two mini monsters.

Where to find them:


Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Amazon | Instagram | BookBub | Facebook Group | Newsletter | Patreon

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