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First & Forever Stories #10
Payback
What do you do when your ex-boyfriend breaks your heart? You get revenge, of course.
It wasn’t just that my ex cheated on me. He also humiliated me and treated me like dirt. But I know how to get back at him.
All I have to do is catch the eye of Malcolm Sterling—my ex’s dad, who happens to be a sexy, single silver fox. Since we’ve never met, he’ll have no idea who I am when I make my move. My goal? Arrive at a swanky, upcoming family wedding on Malcolm’s arm, and make my ex totally regret his life choices.
But Malcolm may prove to be more than I bargained for--and he just might have a plan of his own.
Payback is a lighthearted gay romance full of bad ideas, a sketchy plan for revenge, a misguided main character, and a smoking hot older man with a few tricks up his sleeve. It’s set in the world of Alexa Land’s Firsts and Forever Series, and it can be read as a stand-alone.
It wasn’t just that my ex cheated on me. He also humiliated me and treated me like dirt. But I know how to get back at him.
All I have to do is catch the eye of Malcolm Sterling—my ex’s dad, who happens to be a sexy, single silver fox. Since we’ve never met, he’ll have no idea who I am when I make my move. My goal? Arrive at a swanky, upcoming family wedding on Malcolm’s arm, and make my ex totally regret his life choices.
But Malcolm may prove to be more than I bargained for--and he just might have a plan of his own.
Payback is a lighthearted gay romance full of bad ideas, a sketchy plan for revenge, a misguided main character, and a smoking hot older man with a few tricks up his sleeve. It’s set in the world of Alexa Land’s Firsts and Forever Series, and it can be read as a stand-alone.
190 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 16, 2023
41 people are currently reading
55 people want to read
About the author
Alexa Land
58 books787 followersIndependent MM romance author. For more information, please visit Alexa's blog: http://alexalandwrites.blogspot.com/
Please note: the author does not check messages on this site. The best way to contact them is through Facebook.
Please note: the author does not check messages on this site. The best way to contact them is through Facebook.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
August 24, 2023
I didn't think it was really possible to write a sweet revenge story, but Alexa Land pulled it off. Funny, cute, and adorable aren't normally words I'd attribute to a revenge plot but nevertheless Payback has all that and more. A fun, quick romance with a great HEA ending.
August 17, 2023
This had all the elements of an Alexa Land book but it felt super rushed to me. Her books are always somewhat insta lovey so that’s not what bothered me, there was just so much missing from it.
Malcom and Daniel “meet” because Daniel is trying to get revenge on his cheating ex and thought being on his ex’s dad’s arm is going to do that. I thought the revenge was super immature for a 28 yr old man.
While I did like both of the characters (Malcom more than Daniel) I just found it strange that Malcom’s son was not even mentioned until like 40% into the book. Not even in his monologue did he once think about his son in any way, it had me wondering if he was even Brads dad. It was weird.
Also Malcom is an amazing guy. Daniel sees that and not ONCE did Daniel think oh maybe I shouldn’t be doing this to him to get back at his son. Even when all his friends are like, are you sure you want to do that and he’s like oh it doesn’t matter I won’t see him in two weeks anyway, even after spending an amazing night with Malcom. He literally never mentions it (even in his monologue ) until he sees Brad at the wedding and he’s like omg I forgot why I was here, to get revenge on Brad but now I don’t want to because I like Malcom. There’s no way he went all that time, did all that stuff for the wedding and not once think about why he was actually at the wedding to begin with. It doesn’t just make any sense.
Also the confrontation with Brad at the wedding was super anticlimactic. I was actually waiting for some type of drama but it never came. They said a few sentences and bam it was over!
I like this authors books (I’ve read all of them aside from the MMM) but this one just wasn’t fleshed out enough. There was some laughs as always and I want to read a book about the little redhead from the island and his in the closet bf.
Malcom and Daniel “meet” because Daniel is trying to get revenge on his cheating ex and thought being on his ex’s dad’s arm is going to do that. I thought the revenge was super immature for a 28 yr old man.
While I did like both of the characters (Malcom more than Daniel) I just found it strange that Malcom’s son was not even mentioned until like 40% into the book. Not even in his monologue did he once think about his son in any way, it had me wondering if he was even Brads dad. It was weird.
Also Malcom is an amazing guy. Daniel sees that and not ONCE did Daniel think oh maybe I shouldn’t be doing this to him to get back at his son. Even when all his friends are like, are you sure you want to do that and he’s like oh it doesn’t matter I won’t see him in two weeks anyway, even after spending an amazing night with Malcom. He literally never mentions it (even in his monologue ) until he sees Brad at the wedding and he’s like omg I forgot why I was here, to get revenge on Brad but now I don’t want to because I like Malcom. There’s no way he went all that time, did all that stuff for the wedding and not once think about why he was actually at the wedding to begin with. It doesn’t just make any sense.
Also the confrontation with Brad at the wedding was super anticlimactic. I was actually waiting for some type of drama but it never came. They said a few sentences and bam it was over!
I like this authors books (I’ve read all of them aside from the MMM) but this one just wasn’t fleshed out enough. There was some laughs as always and I want to read a book about the little redhead from the island and his in the closet bf.
August 17, 2023
I have read all of the First and Forever Stories series and this book is also very enjoyable, with some unexpected plot lines. Daniel is broken-hearted when his catches his boyfriend with another man. He decides to seek revenge by making a play for his ex's father to try to be his +1 at an upcoming family wedding. He looks forward to seeing his ex's face when he walks in on his father's arm.
Malcolm is a famous composer who has been burned out creatively for a few years. He's also given up on relationships and he's generally depressed about life. When he meets Daniel, the sparks of interest take hold. As the two men spend time together, they find that they are a good match in many different ways.
What will happen when the truth comes out? Daniel already regrets his deceit because he never anticipated that he would want to be with Malcolm for more than a few weeks and it seems that Malcolm feels the same way. Daniel is one of the residents at the Pink Victorian, so we also catch up with a few of his roommates. This book has passion, healing, hope, and a beautiful love.
Malcolm is a famous composer who has been burned out creatively for a few years. He's also given up on relationships and he's generally depressed about life. When he meets Daniel, the sparks of interest take hold. As the two men spend time together, they find that they are a good match in many different ways.
What will happen when the truth comes out? Daniel already regrets his deceit because he never anticipated that he would want to be with Malcolm for more than a few weeks and it seems that Malcolm feels the same way. Daniel is one of the residents at the Pink Victorian, so we also catch up with a few of his roommates. This book has passion, healing, hope, and a beautiful love.
August 19, 2023
I wish romance writers would stop putting this exact photo on their covers. The guy is beautiful, but it gets to be confusing for a reader.
I also wish they'd stop stuffing random lace panties into stories because it's currently A Thing.
I also wish they'd stop stuffing random lace panties into stories because it's currently A Thing.
December 25, 2023
Cute, rom-com ish novel with a fun premise (going after the cheating ex’s dad), and an enjoyable light overall read. I really liked the characters and their dynamic. There was a bit of telling not showing but it for some reason just worked enough for me to notice but not for me to get overly annoyed (this is usually my top reason for a dnf).
I didn’t love the end bc there were some things that were left unresolved which really annoys me, and the end scene was OTT, something you would expect in a slapstick movie (which I hate, so some readers may find it hilarious, idk). I was left unfulfilled especially given the entire book-long buildup to this scene. There were some things that didn’t totally work for me in terms of suspension-of-disbelief (how could you date someone with a son, and talk about all the deep stuff they discussed without EVER talking about your son… or asking about your partner’s son, and the entire meet-cute raised a lot of plausibility questions for me). There were no details about what Daniel writes, even what genre, which made it not very believable. If you are looking for detailed, long winded smut this isn’t your novel, though it’s not quite fade to black either. It worked well for this romcom book.
I didn’t love the end bc there were some things that were left unresolved which really annoys me, and the end scene was OTT, something you would expect in a slapstick movie (which I hate, so some readers may find it hilarious, idk). I was left unfulfilled especially given the entire book-long buildup to this scene. There were some things that didn’t totally work for me in terms of suspension-of-disbelief (how could you date someone with a son, and talk about all the deep stuff they discussed without EVER talking about your son… or asking about your partner’s son, and the entire meet-cute raised a lot of plausibility questions for me). There were no details about what Daniel writes, even what genre, which made it not very believable. If you are looking for detailed, long winded smut this isn’t your novel, though it’s not quite fade to black either. It worked well for this romcom book.
August 17, 2023
What a wonderful story! You don't blame Daniel wanting revenge for his rotten boyfriend cheating on him with his boss and you know his plan to seduce Brad's father and showing up at his aunt's wedding on his arm is not going to go smoothly at all. The lodge on Vancouver Island was a place I wanted to visit since I was there many years ago and remembered it as one of my favorite vacations ever. Mal of course turned out to be a lovely and warm man and Daniel fell for him and needed to tell him the truth and he didn't know that Mal knew about Brad and the revenge plan all along. The wedding venue was a last minute replacement for the hall that was damaged by rain and Daniel got to know Mal's sister Joy and really liked her. I cracked up when the rat and cat got into the wedding and the best part was the cake landing on Brad and his new boyfriend. I didn't blame Daniel for running away and I was so happy that Mal went looking for him. The ending was perfect with their moving in together and Daniel getting his first book published and Mal writing a play. Perfect!
September 27, 2023
An absolute joy--just like every other book in the series. I'll admit I wasn't sure I'd like it at first because the premise hits all my "cringe for humanity" buttons. The whole "I was used so I'm going to use someone else" thing bothers me on so many levels. The relationship that forms almost immediately between Malcolm and Daniel, though, eased my mind a lot. The angst wasn't too bad (and honestly a little childish) because the lead up was done in such a way that the moment of truth was more of a relief than a stress point. It was great seeing some of the Pink Victorian crew as well. I've missed them all.
August 17, 2023
It was okay
It was one of those books, where one character should have told the other character some big secret they are keeping, but scared it will end them, so it drags out to make a story.
Didn’t think much of Daniel, loved Mal but didn’t come across as a 48yr old.
Mal should have been more mad at Daniel not just accept he was being used.
It was one of those books, where one character should have told the other character some big secret they are keeping, but scared it will end them, so it drags out to make a story.
Didn’t think much of Daniel, loved Mal but didn’t come across as a 48yr old.
Mal should have been more mad at Daniel not just accept he was being used.
August 27, 2023
Good story and characters
Cute, unexpected story and, as usual, well drawn and interesting characters. The only problem I have is the lack of details that would make their book’s phenomenal. The statement that they had a surprising amount in common was thrown out without any examples. We also didn’t need to have it repeated 3 times. We got it.
Cute, unexpected story and, as usual, well drawn and interesting characters. The only problem I have is the lack of details that would make their book’s phenomenal. The statement that they had a surprising amount in common was thrown out without any examples. We also didn’t need to have it repeated 3 times. We got it.
September 15, 2023
I really liked this book; the focus was on the characters and their relationship, which I think was well developed (although fast!) There was a good mixture of humour and more serious moments.
My biggest issue was that the deception went on far too long (on both sides) and the ending felt a little bit rushed, but other than that I enjoyed it.
My biggest issue was that the deception went on far too long (on both sides) and the ending felt a little bit rushed, but other than that I enjoyed it.
August 17, 2023
Oh, this book was so good! I read it in one sitting. I laughed, cried, smiled and swooned. I so love Daniel and Malcom, loved them from the very beginning . I didn’t want the book to end , I was hooked. I can tell you Embry ‘s book is going to be something else , I can’t wait to read it!
August 18, 2023
So freaking cute! Even the disasters are cute!
August 24, 2023
Another sweet romance with lots of humorous events.
September 19, 2023
Waited for this one and was not disappointed! Do not pass this one by it is brilliant and hot
October 10, 2023
Cute story, but too many inconsistencies in the writing.
March 27, 2024
I loved the two MCs and the story but the big reveal/confrontation was very anticlimactic and way too short
September 28, 2024
Adorable
August 1, 2025
3.5 stars
September 22, 2023
Daniel is the sweetest little sneak, and I say that in the best way because this revenge story is sweet and sassy, and this author is one of a few that could pull that off.
Daniel wants to get revenge on his cheating ex so he "meets" the ex's dad Mal. Well his plan goes a little to well and now he must confess and keep Mal and that is a fun journey in and of itself.
In typical Alexa Land fashion this book will have you laughing, and oohing and ahhing, and you will meet new characters to fall in love with, and catch up with some you already adore.
Daniel wants to get revenge on his cheating ex so he "meets" the ex's dad Mal. Well his plan goes a little to well and now he must confess and keep Mal and that is a fun journey in and of itself.
In typical Alexa Land fashion this book will have you laughing, and oohing and ahhing, and you will meet new characters to fall in love with, and catch up with some you already adore.
August 19, 2023
I really liked Mal and Daniel. They were sweet together
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews