A Littlebit of Joy

Renovating Love #1

by Mathew Ortiz

Dell Meriwether thought you only got one great love in you life. After losing his partner in a horrible accident, he decided to start over again in Atlanta, Georgia. So far, so good. New job: Check. Great circle of friends: Check. New love in his life: Not so much.
Then one day a black haired, black eyed bundle of energy entered his life and he knew nothing was ever going to be simple or sane again.

Wyatt Billiones was exhausted. A demanding mother and a girlfriend pushing for a ring took up what little time he had when not at work. Meeting a tall, dark man with beautiful blue eyes turned his world upside down and all he wanted to do was kiss him!
Which made no sense since Wyatt was straight....right?

The road to love is never smooth. But seriously, did it have to have so many potholes

Genres: M M Romance, Romance, Contemporary

105 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 17, 2013

About the author

Mathew Ortiz was born in Nuremberg Germany in 197O, the son of a Army man and his Hungarian wife. Spending only two years in Germany, his family relocated to Fort Smith, Arkansas. Here is where he attended primary school and college, obtaining a degree in Nursing. He moved to Phoenix, Arizona meeting his partner Tim there. Matt and Tim relocated to Orlando, Florida in the early 2000s. Mathew had been published in a collective arts magazine in college. Coupled with his love of reading, he wrote his first novella in early 2012. He continues to write, honing his 'voice' and enjoying the responses, both postive and negative, to his work.

Reviews

[Cyndi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Terrible editing, punctuation, & misspellings aside, the story was sweet and heartwarming.

[Sandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 rounded up - Somewhere under all the irritants that could have been fixed by a good proofreading was a cute story that I almost DNF'd because I was continually shaking my head at the word choice and punctuation errors. But I liked the characters, and the GFY aspect was pretty well done. Maybe not 100% GFY, since there seemed to be a little history of some minor experimentation, but that's OK since I really like GFY stories:) Not so crazy about the bitchy ex-girlfriend trope. And the meddling mom. But the secondary characters were a little better developed than is typical, partially because of the occasional POV from them so we get to see more of what they think and feel about themselves. It's a little confusing, but it does make me kind of want to check out the next story.

[Pippacon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I must say that I didn't purchase a badly edited version of this story because I enjoyed it totally. I really have enjoyed all of the stories I have read by Mr Ortiz so far especially the Renovating love series. I didn't realize it was a series until after reading the second book from my digi bookshelf by that time it was too late so I kept reading and actually read the series in reverse. I enjoyed all the characters especially the story that introduced us to Cormac and Addison. Well done Mr Ortiz, I think your stories are well written, romantic and sexy. Thank you.

[Katyna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Would have loved to give this book another 1.5 stars, but with atrocious editing and grammatical errors, this book is put on the do not re-read list. Call a friend, heck, call your worst enemy, just edit your book.

This officially went into the "Remove from Device" category on my Kindle.

I support independent publishers and self-publishers, but they are doing more harm to their reputations by not taking this seriously.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I agree with other reviewers about this book needing major editing. However, after finishing it and telling myself I wasn't going to read the rest of the series, I couldn't stop wondering how the other stories would pan out. So, lack of editing aside, I'm still interested enough to move on to book two.

Renovating Love - Series Order
1. A Littlebit of Joy
2. Nutbusters
3. Uncommon Ground
4. ?

[Lori Paradise · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this!

This was a lovely book. Dell, lonely after losing his long-term BF, meets cute, younger Wyatt and he's back in the game. Wyatt, seemingly straight (but not so much) feels an instant attraction to Dell and their romance begins. Strong start to this series. I am new to this author and am looking forward to catching myself up.

[Lisa Foulke · Rating 2 out of 5]

Guy sees hot, straight coworker and falls in lust. Coworker seems kind of interested. BUT HE'S STRAIGHT! Angst. Sex. More angst. Reconciliation. Hearts and flowers.

Typos. Repetition. Sentences thrown in to fix plot holes. A sudden announcement that Straight Guy "fooled around" with guys in high school and college but never thought another thing of it.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Lot of Love

I liked the characters and the realistic nature of the plot. The tension from the female characters was believably portrayed. I'm looking forward to the rest of the books in the series.

[Candy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. The love story is so well written I feel like I am a part of the family.