Rating: 5 ‘Sam’ Stars

Publisher: Jax Calder

Genre: Gay Romance

Tags: Contemporary, Humor, Low Angst, Romance, Series (duology)

Length: 144 Pages

Reviewer: Cindi

Purchase At: Amazon

Blurb –

Sam’s story…
One night. That’s all it was supposed to be.
I can’t believe my luck when the most gorgeous guy I’ve ever seen propositions me in a bar, looking for his first-ever one-night stand.

No names. No strings. Just pure fun.

I’m more than happy to oblige.

But after our incredible night together, I can’t stop thinking about him. Unfortunately, I have no way to track him down.

Lucky for me, fate is about to intervene…

Please note: this 35,000-word story is the companion novella to The Anonymous Hookup. It is the same story told from Sam’s perspective. It can be read as a standalone, but for the best reading experience, it should be read after The Anonymous Hookup.

Review –

The Anonymous Hookup was my first by this author. I enjoyed it so much that it was one of my books of the year for 2022. That book was told in Lane’s point of view. The Unforgettable Hookup is in Sam’s. Normally I’m not a big fan of authors who write a book in one character’s POV and then write another in the other one’s POV. I usually want it all in one book. Even so, I loved the first book so much that I was eager to get inside Sam’s head. I actually liked Sam more than Lane, but it was actually Lane’s story, so I understand the author not going back and forth before.

Lane just got out of a bad relationship. The last thing he needs or wants in another one. His best friend Jules pushes him to have a one-night-stand with the first attractive guy who’s willing. She even wants Lane to write a blog post about the anonymous hookup for her blog. And it was supposed to be just that – anonymous. No exchanging of names or other info. Just sex. They went to a bar, he propositioned Sam, and that was that.

Well, not quite.

Lane’s not exactly the anonymous hookup kind of guy. Thankfully the confidence he needed showed up with Sam, though he doesn’t learn Sam’s name until long into the book. In the first book, I kind of had an issue with Lane’s constant hesitancy. I understood it for sure, but it was a bit much. As for Sam? Well, he’s not hesitant about anything when it comes to his new man. He wants it all – picket fence, 2.4 kids, the works. Only he can’t say that to Lane because he’s scared it’ll push him away.

It totally would’ve pushed him away.

A few coincidences and random meetings finally bring them together again and again, with Sam fighting from saying the words and asking for a real relationship getting more difficult each time. They hook up a lot, so no hesitancy there, but Lane only wants a no-strings type of thing when Sam wants all the strings. Lots and lots of strings. 🙂

Being inside Sam’s head was great. In the first book, he came across as super confident. In reality, he wasn’t. He was constantly living in fear of saying or doing the wrong thing that would push Lane away. When the words are finally said, and they finally get it together, it was every bit as special for me as when I read it the first time. Probably more because it happens at a time when Sam lays it all on the table, when he shows a vulnerable side not shown before.

I need to stress that this is NOT a sequel to Lane and Sam’s story. It’s the SAME story, only from Sam’s POV instead of Lane’s. The only thing different is that there’s an epilogue at the end of the book that shows them a decade down the road. If you read the books back-to-back, you’ll literally be reading the same things – line by line – in a lot of places. This worked for me because I love these guys together, but it might not work for others.

I love Sam’s mom. I’m still iffy about Lane’s parents slash past. Not a whole lot is said about either.

I could go on and on about Sam and how much I enjoyed reading his and Lane’s story, but I already did that in my The Anonymous Hookup review. I’ll just say that I enjoyed the heck out of it, and I was very happy to revisit Lane, Sam, and their world. I ended this curious about Jamie and Tim, a couple introduced in the epilogue. I checked out their book, Beautiful Hearts, on Goodreads. I’m going to be passing on that for now. I’m not in the right frame of mind for a lot of angst, and apparently that book is full of it. I’ll read it later down the road.