Let the Wrong Light In

There is a wonderful, rare feeling you get in the pit of your stomach when you read a book by a new or new-to-you author and they blow your mind. It’s so rare it’s only happened to me four times in my four years of reading M/M romance fiction. Leta Blake’s Training Season, J.H. Knight’s The Last Thing He Needs, Roan Parrish’s In The Middle of Somewhere, and Melanie Hansen’s Everything Changes. Let the Wrong Light by Avon Gale now brings my count up to five.
Avery Hextall is young and happy and pretty carefree. He has a grumpy, anal retentive boss named Malin Lacroix that he just can’t seem to please with his architectural designs. It irks him to no end and he finds himself working harder and harder to please him.
Avery finds himself having bizarre, kinky feelings when he is in his boss’s presence. His wants Malin to hit him. Hurt him. Use him. It confuses him to no end. One day, in the privacy of Malin’s office, Avery pushes Malin to the edge and they engage in an extremely rough sexual act. Avery finds himself transformed by this encounter and wants more. He doesn’t understand this new kink, but it’s the most explosive sexual experience of his young life.
Malin has been married twice and considers himself straight. The book is told entirely from Avery’s POV so we don’t hear what Malin is thinking, but he does express disbelief at his strange and kinky attraction to Avery.
Seriously, listen to me. Brutal kink really isn’t my thing. The closest I’ve come to enjoying physical violence during sex is the classic, kinky delight by Anah Crow Uneven. But Uneven and Let the Wrong Light In have one thing that most violent BDSM stories lack. Emotion. Romance. A connection between the characters that shows the reader just how much enjoyment they are giving and receiving. And that is hot. SO hot. This book melted my eReader.
Stop everything you are reading right now and READ THIS BOOK. It is filled with amazing kink, hurt/healing/comfort, serious emotions and a connection between the characters that is nothing short of glorious. I am officially Avon Gale’s bitch and will gobble up everything she writes from here on out.
Just Jack
It’s that good folks. HIGHLY, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Hockey player gay romance! Oh, one of my absolute favorite genres, without a doubt. Avon Gale follows-up her fabulous, intense Let the Wrong Light In with this easy, breezy, sweet romance.
Lane Courtnall starts his hockey career with the Jacksonville Sea Storm, naive and excited, with a serious case of foot-in-mouth syndrome. He doesn’t seem to have a filter which gets him in trouble with many of his teammates. In an effort to show his dedication to the game to his teammates, he instigates a brawl on this ice with notorious bad boy Jared Shore, enforcer for the Savannah Renegades. The move works and Lane earns some hard-won respect but when he meets Jared again after hours, his filter is once again off and he can’t hide his lust for the older, more experience Jared.
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I found Lane’s lack of social graces and filterless approach to life to be endearing, sweet and charming. One of those “not a bad bone in his body” types.
Lane tried the same move he had last time, but the Renegades defense knocked him over and called him a stupid motherfucker.
“Your mom’s not hot enough. Sorry,” Lane snapped back, and the defenseman actually snorted before he went back to trash talking.
Lane wondered if that guy’s mom was there, and then he felt bad.
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Throughout the course of the book, Lane is able to melt Jared’s icy heart and the men eventually fall in love. Jared is pleasantly surprised at Lane’s eagerness, lack of experience and willingness to learn EVERYTHING in bed.
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“Yeah. I thought about it. Do you like that?” His hand rubbed over Lane through his boxers, and Lane made a noise Jared had never heard in bed before, not with anyone, and immediately wanted to hear again.
“I thought about you sucking me off.”
“Did thinking about it get you off?” Jared bit him on the shoulder at a sudden wave of lust. Lane kept being very, very not shy at strange moments, and it was unexpected and also incredibly attractive.
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The hockey scenes here are real and dramatic, a big plus for me, and the sex is unreserved and scorchingly hot. I absolutely loved the sexual dynamic between these two men and we learn so much about them as they experiment in bed and eventually make love. Lane and Jared are fanatic characters and their idiosyncrasies make them even more charming and lovable.
The secondary characters are also a big plus for me. Lane meets and befriends Zoe, a spunky woman covered in tattoos who eventually starts dating Lane’s roommate. And Riley Hunter, the quiet, intense goalie for the Sea Storm is the subject in the next book of the series, Save the Game.
I can highly recommend this book. For those that read and loved Avon’s first book Let the Wrong Light In, you will especially love this more warm-and-fluffy tale with a dynamic between the main characters that is just as strong and passionate.

I have to say first off that I adore Avery and his bubbly, quirky and lively personality. I love that he has no brain to mouth filter and says everything he is thinking and feeling. It makes for a delightful, fun and extremely interesting read.
Avery is everything that Malin isn't.
Malin has his reasons why he hides behind a wall that makes him appear cold, rude and uninterested but it doesn't take Avery long to talk his way into Malin's life and his heart.
This book is fantastic. It's a roller coaster ride from the beginning with lots of ups and downs to keep you turning the page (it's fun to see what outrageous thing Avery is going to say next).
The cast of secondary characters will keep you entertained as they deal with Avery, whose antics are just as loveable as Avery himself.
All in all this is a great book and you won't be disappointed. 4.5