REVIEW: Concentration Play by Katherine McIntyre (Leather and Lattes #5)

CONCENTRATION PLAY

Leather and Lattes - Book Five

by Katherine McIntyre

Release Date: August 4, 2026

Review

Everyone is the perfect match for the right person! And one's heart can love more than once.

As James and Nolan learn after a hawt session at Whipped. It’s not a smooth ride, though. James is still grieving his husband, and Nolan is tainted by people of the past who can’t handle his OCD and mental health.

But James just accepts it all, makes space for it, which takes Nolan a while to learn to trust. And Nolan helps James see that he can love and be loved again. To have fun again.

But while trying to figure all that out, they are also working together to fight off an attack on Whipped by a rival club.

It’s a great story. A meaningful romance and some fun play time to boot

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Synopsis

Nolan’s new roommate is no other than his boss’s ex—hot, his perfect match…and a widower who’s not ready to move on.

James needs a fresh start. After losing his husband, he can’t stay in his old town, and moving back to San Francisco offers the chance to heal without stepping on landmines. However, he finds them all on his own. The sparks that flare between him and his new roommate, Nolan, are enough to send him spiraling.

Nolan’s sworn off love. No one’s able to weather his OCD, his breakdowns, his…well, everything. Yet when James moves in, he might’ve met the only person who can. Except James is off-limits, unable to move forward from his loss, which makes living together pure torture—because Nolan has wanted him from the moment they met.

Yet when a new club in the area threatens Nolan’s workplace, Whipped, he and James are on the task. And the more time they spend with each other, the more they can no longer deny the explosive attraction between them. But they’ve barely glued their shattered pieces back together, and one misstep won’t just fracture the bond between them—it’ll break them both.

Enter Whipped, a unique cafe that caters to coffee and kink addicts alike…

About Katherine McIntyre

I split my time writing stories with snark and heart, working with amazing authors to edit their manuscripts into shape, and working on clients as a massage therapist.

In my free time, I’m usually going on adventures with my husband, daughter, and friends or diving into a good book and curling up with the cats. I’m an Aries-Taurus cusp–which to any astrology buffs should tell you plenty. If you’re more into Myers-Briggs, I’m an ENFJ.

I’ve always wanted to heal and help, probably why I fell into massage and teaching yoga. And that shows through in my writing too–I ended up falling for romance as my primary genre because I adore the intricacies of human relationships and watching how love and affection can really help people heal from their wounds and grow.

I’m huge into family and community, which is probably why you find either family or found-family stories in almost every one of my books. The way people come together is inspiring, and I’ve got an overflowing love for the way people take care of each other. Those relationships are just as important as the romantic ones to me, and I love highlighting them in my work.

The biggest thing you’ll probably see in my work is hope. That’s not to say I can’t write sad situations or difficulties–our lives and stories are woven with them. But that’s never going to be the takeaway from my work, how the world is broken and trying to wear you down. I’m a realist, so I’m not blind to the tragedy and sadness out there, but I want to live in the hearts of people who care, who show compassion to one another, and prove that we humans can get something right. I want to explore how even though we’ve all got the ability to fuck up, we can overcome our mistakes and rise triumphant.

So there it is, folks–that’s me.

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