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
For me, the characters-especially the main characters-are the driving factor in determining if I like a story or not. That's one of the reasons I keep coming back to Cardeno C.'s books...I know I'm going to get wonderful characters who are complex and deep, and with distinct personalities. I'm also going to get characters that are easy to relate to, and that is clearly illustrated here in Not A Game.
Not a Game is sweet and delicious and left me with a smile. Jaime and Oliver get their HEA and it may or may not have brought a tear to my eye. Allegedly.
I love Cardeno’s emotional stories and the writing is excellent as always. I couldn’t put this down and in fact started reading it again as soon as I’d finished....I highly recommend this to anyone looking for a sweet, somewhat unique, low-angst romance. It’s funny, terribly sweet and somewhat thought provoking.
These two establish a strong physical connection from the very beginning. Their intimate scenes are erotic, detailed, and emotional. Not only do they connect on a physical level, but their dialogue is frank and direct as they get to know each other and their comfort levels rise, particularly Ollie’s. They work well together in all aspects, and I especially enjoyed watching Ollie come out of his shell and revel in his sexuality with abandon.