Not a Game
- Word Count: 55,872
- Price: $4.99
- Release Date: 07/15/2016
- ISBN: 978-1-942184-58-4
- ASIN: B01IC2BGB4
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
Audio
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- Length: 6 hours and 4 minutes
- Price: $19.95
- Release Date: 11/07/2016
- ASIN: B01MREJXV0
- Page Count: 220
- Price: $13.99
- Release Date: 07/16/2016
- ISBN: 1-942184-60-3
Excerpt
Full ExcerptChapter 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…
Reviews
When you sign on to read a Cardeno C. novel, you are positive to get three things in return: first, a romance that is sweet and rewarding; second, a happy ever after that comes with very little angst or troubles; and third, a feel good emotional reward that leaves you smiling long after the novel’s end. Cardeno C. is a master at romance—sweet, sometimes sappy, yet always a complete story where boy meets boy, boy gets boy and they both live happily ever after....This author dares to create a happy ever after for an average guy, with an above average man who desires him. In the end, Not a Game becomes a magical fairytale romance that delivers all the feels and emotions with a twist—characters who are, for once, utterly real and worthy of love.
Jamie was a sand up guy and really worked to bring down all of Oliver’s walls. He challenged Oliver to step out of his confront zone and just be in the moment with him. I liked that about him. He was already of age to know what he liked and what he wanted in a life partner.
Not a Game' is probably the most romantic book I've read in a very long time. I mean that in the truest sense of the word. Everything about the story, the main characters, and the secondary ones, just worked and fit together seamlessly.
I enjoyed Not a Game and highly recommend it. With its distinctly different characters, strong scenes of physical and emotional connection, and sweet HEA, it is a lovely m/m romance with excellent promise for a new series.