An accidental meeting and a misunderstanding lead to a life-altering connection.
A new job, a new city, and hopefully a new life. When chubby gamer Oliver Barnaby receives a job offer from the best boutique game developer in the country, he leaves his family and his less than spectacular existence in Oklahoma without a second’s hesitation. Determined to change more than his career and his geography, Oliver implements a plan to finally land a boyfriend. Step one is improving his skills in the bedroom.
A life that looks perfect on paper, but feels empty in reality. Attractive, successful, charismatic Jaime Snow has a life other people envy. His already booming business is growing. He isn’t lacking in friends. And he has no trouble finding a date. But there’s an emptiness in Jaime’s heart and a hole in his life that only the right man can fill.
An accidental meeting, a misunderstanding, and falling in love. When Oliver and Jaime end up at the same bar at the same time, they each see something they want in the other. Going to bed together that first night is easy. Building the lifetime relationship they both desperately crave will require trust, time, and a little misunderstanding.
Word count: 55,872
Chapter 1
He had chosen the bar because of its name: The Bookstore. It was clever and unusual and he had laughed internally at how happy his mother would be if he told her he was spending time at the Bookstore instead of in front of his computer. Oliver’s entire life, she had mourned the fact he wasn’t a reader, and even though he had now moved two thousand miles away from their home in Oklahoma City, she still sent him books she was sure he’d love. Maybe someday he’d open one of them.
For now, he glanced down at the only book he had read countless times and adjusted it at the edge of his table to make the spine as visible as possible. The title—Coding—wasn’t as clever as the bar name, but the information and the way it was phrased had clicked perfectly in Oliver’s…
These characters have great chemistry together and their journey towards the HEA that you can always count on Cardeno C to provide was believable, sweet and full of emotion. I even loved the secondary characters and that was a surprise. I hadn’t expected to feel any connection to them, yet they just wove themselves right into my heart along with the MC’s. When I was learning the Pot of Gold ratings, I was told that a 10 out of 10 Pots of Gold meant it was the best book ever. This book, for me, is definitely that.
Veronica – ☆☆☆☆ Not a Game demonstrates that life is about finding the perfect match for you and not some socially acceptable ideal. ...I love the message in this story and I had a great time reading it.
Sarah – ☆☆☆☆☆ I loved this. Original characters, an interesting twist on a familiar storyline, and absolutely no angst makes for a near perfect story. This classic Pretty Woman tale has a wonderful twist and is full of warm, fuzzy, feel-good happiness.
Angie – ☆☆☆☆☆ Sweet and low on angst, it was just wonderful. Shannan – ☆☆☆☆ I loved that the main character isn't perfect, sporting a ten-inch cock. I love the realism of the connection. It definitely isn't something you find in the fiction world. It was a refreshing change up.
Ruthie – ☆☆☆☆☆ All this author's books are wonderful, and this is another excellent read to add to the collection.... Deliciously hot, introverted, caring, thoughtful, and fun, the whole book is a veritable feast for both brain and heart. Loved it.
Cardeno C is one of my favorite M/M authors and this book shows why....The story is sweet and I was happy to see Jaime make Oliver come out of his shell. There was no conflict in this story but I felt it really didn’t need it since it was really a love story between two men who shouldn’t work together but did.
These two are so RIGHT for one another, I had a huge grin on my face the entire time I was reading this book.