I have to admit that I read the 1-star reviews on this before reading and -- OMG what a load of crap! I have little respect for people who read into an incident without looking at the context. The 'outing' was a huge point for these people. Really? She deliberately outed him? Context and character, please. Is something like that possible? Hell yes! Can I introduce you to my Great-Aunt Louisa?
Having said that - The character development was solid, the context was solid, and the plot was basic but interesting. The author had done their research. Editing was fine and the writer has a smooth style.
I liked the way the author built the context between Donny's choices in porn and his 'real-life' attractions. I know a person whose experience was similar - thinking they were straight and not realizing that the excitement and stimulation came from watching the same-sex actor as much as the other until they met the person who rang all their bells - 4.5/5 ( )

Here you got:
- Immature adults
- GFY trope
- Previously homophobic
- Public outing with NO consequence for the person who outed
- A lot of sexism (like in all the series)
- Lack of chemistry
- Sex with food involved ( )

Hot Wings is the second book in the ‘Hot Cannolis’ series. It stars Donny Canali, a firefighter, and Dell Murphy, a fire pilot. This is told in first person from both Donny and Dell’s pov.



I’ll start off this review by talking about the cover. It is mighty fine! I can totally picture the cover model as Dell. This is an excellent cover and should be included in the contests for best M/M cover of the year.

The blurb does a good job of explaining the basic plot so I won’t go into that. The finer details are about how Donny is experiencing what he believes is admiration for another firefighter until a close encounter with Dell, leaves Donny wanting more. He ricochets between family and the beliefs he’s known all his life, and then back into Dell’s arms where he’s beginning to realize what he’s been missing. Which of course leaves Dell happy and disappointed at the same time.

I enjoyed this story, but not as much as book one. The first book was more emotionally intense and I felt realistic, even though Donny had the same push and pull going on about whether he was gay or not and thus disappointing his father. I don’t know why, but for me, this story seemed lighter and slightly more formulaic than the first book.

Dell has a strong personality. He’s definitely the kind of man who likes to be in charge and is very confident of his abilities. He’s taken care of his mother and sister for most of his life so he’s used to being in control. It’s hard for him to deal with Donny’s fluctuating behavior, which he calls ‘sweet at home and in-denial, out.’ Most of the time it seemed the author’s kept Dell’s and Donny’s personalities consistent, except towards the end of the story. Before the climax happens, I noticed that while in private, their voices started to sound the same so that at times I had difficulty telling who was speaking. There also seemed to be a loss of intensity to Dell as an alpha type of personality. I don’t mind people calling each other ‘babe’, but Dell calling Donny, ‘baby’ sounded minimizing to me. The authors did a good job of creating a confused Donny. He couldn’t stay away from Dell, but was terrified of being discovered. When he was outed, I could believe in his reaction. I think Mike in the first book kept his emotions much more tightly wrapped up than Donny. Donny was like a pendulum. Dell helps Donny find his submissive personality that Donny was missing in his life, but didn’t know he was looking for it. They make the perfect couple and I could believe in them as a pair.

The next book in the series will be about the uncle, who is a detective, who came out to Donny and Angie one night. The story will be written by Eli Easton only, and I’m curious how it will be different from the two authors writing together. There’s supposed to be a fourth book written by Tara Lain, but I don’t know who the MC is in that one.

Overall, I enjoyed Hot Wings, but not as much as the first book. This story felt a little bit more predictable unlike Hot Seat. I’d recommend this book and will likely continue on with the next ones in the series. I give this, 4 Stars.



I received an ARC copy from the authors and am leaving my honest and unbiased opinion. ( )

Decent read. Wondering what the author has in store for the rest of the series. How many gay family members can one homophobic father have? ( )