Tere Michaels

Cherish by Tere Michaels is a holiday themed novella that continues the immensely popular Faith, Love, and Devotion series, featuring NYPD cop Evan and former cop Matt, who are a long-term couple now raising Evan’s children several years after the death of his wife. As always with this author, the writing is beautiful and the sex scenes are hot. Evan and Matt seem like real,complex men and their kids are appealingly realistic.

The plot manages to be seasonal, yet intriguing – it does show more center on a Thanksgiving dinner, but it is a spectacularly awful one in which the resentful oldest daughter Miranda forces Matt and Evan into hosting it for her fiancé and their unsuspecting parents, and then manipulates everyone, including her blameless fiancé, like pawns. If there is a flaw in this book (other than too many extraneous characters, such as Evan’s partner from Vice and her date, at the dinner), it might be how irredeemably selfish Miranda is as a character, but otherwise it is a very absorbing read.

The story opens with Evan panicking because his oldest kid Miranda, now at college, has announced her intentions to marry a boy she has only known for a few months. Miranda resents her entire family for moving on with their lives after the death of her mother, and she especially hates Matt for replacing her mother. She resolves to ruin everyone’s Thanksgiving by forcing Evan and Matt to host the dinner for her fiancé and his parents, who have some hang-ups – and not the obvious ones, such as homophobia – that are guaranteed to clash with her dad’s household. As the dinner progresses in a train-wreck fashion, Matt and Evan must stand together as a couple and work through the family issues.

Val for AReCafe show less

So far, I've only read the prologue but I cried like a girl.... sigh.I really liked this one. It kind of had everything - angst, passion, humour, homecoming. I rushed out and bought the other 2 in the series immediately.This was friends to lovers, gay-for-you story, with angst, hotness and children. Evan Cerelli is a widower cop with 4 children. Matt Haight is a former policeman with friends in common with Evan. The book starts off at Evan's wife's funeral so I was crying before the end of show more the prologue. Which shows that the writing was so good I was hooked right away. Neither Matt nor Evan have previously been into men before. At one point, Matt was wondering to himself what he'd say if anyone asked him why he was so cheerful:- Uh, let's see... he's about six feet tall, muscular - with these silver-blue eyes that frankly make me harder than any rack I've ever laid eyes on. Go figure. I'm an eye man. And, apparently, a "man" man. Every once in a while he'd stare at the phone wonder what kind of day Evan was having. Good Christ, Matt, you've suddenly wound up in a fucking romance novel. Plus, there are children to consider and weird in-laws. Both men are well drawn and likeable. I liked the exploration of where both were at and how they got to their HEA - I would have liked just a little more at the end... but, really, excellent. show less

Re-read three years later and this book still is just as everything that is good as the first time through :)
Now time for the continuation of the series...

Original review:

I read this in one whole day, straight through. And I never once wanted to stop. This story is unique, raw, honest, and though a few times I wanted to strangle Evan, I understand all they went through and why. This plot was nothing like I expected, nothing like the many other GFYs I've read, and I was so happy that it kept show more me guessing.

I just adore Evan's whole family, and the way they filled Matt's empty spaces was touching. I like how the conflict and fighting and making up was handled; I think I'm going to go straight into the next book to see what's next for this group of people I love. Honestly, something about this book really touched me (as I see it has many others, also), and this is definitely a story that will remain in my mind. I just hope it keeps up its excellence in the sequels!

The only bad thing was the formatting on Kindle. There were many extra gaps between paragraphs that made me think it was a break in the scene, but then there was none, so I would have to reread a bit to understand and stay in the flow. I did like getting to read from the view points of some of the secondary characters, although the transitions were awkward, and again confusing a couple of times.

But those were minor issues compared with how much I was immersed in this story. This book had so much in it--humor, despair, growth, love--I completely loved it, was right there with Evan and Matt in every moment from discovery to surety, and highly recommend their story to all. Enjoy :) show less

Whisk-y Business by Tere Michaels
The Love Broker Universe series #1.
Manhattan based Annalee Martelli heads upstate to tiny Pine Lake to find her wayward boss. No Uber, no trains, snow, and no available hotel rooms.
Cam Berijssoen works at his family’s hotel in Pine Lake. He’s allergic to green growing things. He’s envious of the Manhattan life style.
Pine Lake has one rule - fall in love. Or else.

Unexpected. Hallmark start with a twist. They go back to Manhattan! And they create show more something special.
Magical and detailed prose. A little slower than expected in the beginning but I eventually engaged.
The second epilogue sets up some questions that will have to wait for now. show less