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Less Is More #1
Breathless
Elliot
spends his days as lead editor at a publishing house where he is under-appreciated and undervalued. He spends his nights hanging out with friends who feel the need to drag him along to double dates that never amount to anything more than awkward conversation and boredom.
Will teaches English at a local college in the city. He's lost his drive for teaching and life in general as of late. Having suffered a devastating heartbreak a year prior, Will spends most of his time wondering what the point of it all is.
Both men have no idea that their lives are about to change drastically when they encounter each other on a lonely park bench outside of the city. With nothing to lose and everything to gain, will these two give in to the idea that love is just a fairy tale? Or could fate have something else in store for them entirely? Find out in the first book of the Less is More series!
Other Books By J.M.
Breathless (Book One)
Fearless (Book Two)
Effortless (Book Three)
Weightless (Book Four)
*All books in the series can be read as stand alone experiences, but it is highly recommended to begin with Breathless for the introduction to all characters in later books.
Will teaches English at a local college in the city. He's lost his drive for teaching and life in general as of late. Having suffered a devastating heartbreak a year prior, Will spends most of his time wondering what the point of it all is.
Both men have no idea that their lives are about to change drastically when they encounter each other on a lonely park bench outside of the city. With nothing to lose and everything to gain, will these two give in to the idea that love is just a fairy tale? Or could fate have something else in store for them entirely? Find out in the first book of the Less is More series!
Other Books By J.M.
Breathless (Book One)
Fearless (Book Two)
Effortless (Book Three)
Weightless (Book Four)
*All books in the series can be read as stand alone experiences, but it is highly recommended to begin with Breathless for the introduction to all characters in later books.
411 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 19, 2017
70 people are currently reading
1507 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
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March 15, 2019🎁 FREE on Amazon today (3/15/2019)! 🎁
Blurb:
After Elliot Edwards goes on yet another terrible double date for his best friend, he finds himself at his favorite park bench by the water like he does most nights. Only this night is different. He doesn't expect a random stranger named Will Everett to sit down next to him and change his life forever.
But Will has a secret; a secret filled with heartbreak and sorrow and Elliot may be the only one able to repair what's been broken in ways neither of them would ever have imagined possible.
Blurb:
After Elliot Edwards goes on yet another terrible double date for his best friend, he finds himself at his favorite park bench by the water like he does most nights. Only this night is different. He doesn't expect a random stranger named Will Everett to sit down next to him and change his life forever.
But Will has a secret; a secret filled with heartbreak and sorrow and Elliot may be the only one able to repair what's been broken in ways neither of them would ever have imagined possible.
June 24, 2017
I really tried to overlook the writing style previously mentioned in my progress update.. but I can't continue reading. I'm sorry.
August 17, 2017
3.5 stars
probably-not-but-freebie
August 31, 2018Freebie at amazon.com right now: https://smile.amazon.com/Breathless-L...
June 3, 2017
Rounded up to 3.5 stars.
Premise of the book is Will and Elliot are both lonely and single. Will takes a chance and sits down next to Elliot on a park bench and they strike up a conversation that leads to mutual interest. Over the course of several months, the two come to find they support and compliment each other in ways they never thought possible.
This is a sweet, low-angst, no big misunderstanding read. Boy meets boy, boy dates boy, boy and boy have lots of hearts to hearts (and some steamy sex), boys have hearts to heart with friends, and eventually fall in love. It’s a bowl of comforting vanilla ice cream with fresh picked summer strawberries and whippy cream.
I liked the added realism to this story – Elliot falling asleep during a blow job, Will not telling Elliot that he was engaged; these are little things that yeah, couples do or don’t do as the case may be. You can live with someone for 10, 20, 30+ years and not know everything about them.
The scene where Will flies out of the apartment - basically blowing Elliot off - when he gets a phone call that Lydia and Abbey are in the hospital, yeah, realism! When someone is suffering from PTSD or trauma, they aren’t thinking straight. That it took one of Elliot’s friends to point this out, was a bit of a duh. Realism.
There were a few things that detracted from the overall story for me:
Too many people cracking their necks. I can see it as a character tag for ONE person, but just about every character cracked their neck at least once, and sometime two characters in the same scene. Urk!
Numerous grammatical and spelling errors that I am assuming (hoping) will be caught before the final “print”. I had an urge to pull out the red pen – which does no good on an e-reader – but the urge was there.
The author also alternates chapters between Will and Elliot's POV - some attention is necessary to remember to see who's chapter is on deck. That being noted, I would have liked the author to have indicated more frequently just who was the POV was during longer dialog scenes. More than once I had to back track and then count forward "Will", "Elliot", "Will", "Elliot"... to figure out exactly who was speaking. It became a bit confusing.
I didn’t care for the nearly carbon copy set of friends – Will had Lydia, his sister and bestie. Elliot had Hadley, his friend and bestie. Both gals knew the sordid details of their sex lives, both gals were pushing Will/Elliot to date again “for their own good”, both gals demanded to meet and greet to decide if Will/Ethan was good boyfriend material, both gals (are you getting the idea?) then expressed concern Will/Ethan were moving too quickly in the relationship – personally, I would have liked to have had one less gal and less meddling into their sex lives. Some things should remain private, ya know?
My issues aside, I still found this an enjoyable story that I seriously would curl up and read with a bowl of ice cream and strawberries.
Review is cross-posted at Gay Book Reviews
A copy of the book was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!
Premise of the book is Will and Elliot are both lonely and single. Will takes a chance and sits down next to Elliot on a park bench and they strike up a conversation that leads to mutual interest. Over the course of several months, the two come to find they support and compliment each other in ways they never thought possible.
This is a sweet, low-angst, no big misunderstanding read. Boy meets boy, boy dates boy, boy and boy have lots of hearts to hearts (and some steamy sex), boys have hearts to heart with friends, and eventually fall in love. It’s a bowl of comforting vanilla ice cream with fresh picked summer strawberries and whippy cream.
I liked the added realism to this story – Elliot falling asleep during a blow job, Will not telling Elliot that he was engaged; these are little things that yeah, couples do or don’t do as the case may be. You can live with someone for 10, 20, 30+ years and not know everything about them.
The scene where Will flies out of the apartment - basically blowing Elliot off - when he gets a phone call that Lydia and Abbey are in the hospital, yeah, realism! When someone is suffering from PTSD or trauma, they aren’t thinking straight. That it took one of Elliot’s friends to point this out, was a bit of a duh. Realism.
There were a few things that detracted from the overall story for me:
Too many people cracking their necks. I can see it as a character tag for ONE person, but just about every character cracked their neck at least once, and sometime two characters in the same scene. Urk!
Numerous grammatical and spelling errors that I am assuming (hoping) will be caught before the final “print”. I had an urge to pull out the red pen – which does no good on an e-reader – but the urge was there.
The author also alternates chapters between Will and Elliot's POV - some attention is necessary to remember to see who's chapter is on deck. That being noted, I would have liked the author to have indicated more frequently just who was the POV was during longer dialog scenes. More than once I had to back track and then count forward "Will", "Elliot", "Will", "Elliot"... to figure out exactly who was speaking. It became a bit confusing.
I didn’t care for the nearly carbon copy set of friends – Will had Lydia, his sister and bestie. Elliot had Hadley, his friend and bestie. Both gals knew the sordid details of their sex lives, both gals were pushing Will/Elliot to date again “for their own good”, both gals demanded to meet and greet to decide if Will/Ethan was good boyfriend material, both gals (are you getting the idea?) then expressed concern Will/Ethan were moving too quickly in the relationship – personally, I would have liked to have had one less gal and less meddling into their sex lives. Some things should remain private, ya know?
My issues aside, I still found this an enjoyable story that I seriously would curl up and read with a bowl of ice cream and strawberries.
Review is cross-posted at Gay Book Reviews
A copy of the book was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!
June 29, 2017
A Joyfully Jay review.
2.75 stars
Breathless is a sweet, but often bland love story between two men who deserve a bit of love. There is a crumb of angst, but nothing that hangs around for long. The plot is fairly straightforward and simple and there aren’t big acts of emotion or action. In fact, there isn’t much of anything here. Let me explain. The writing in Breathless is rather mechanical and flat. Everything on page happens at the same pace — slowly. The storyline meanders rather than flows and while the writing is technically fine (aside from several editing errors), it never seems to find a sense of life. Normally I love a romance that takes it time, but this novel lacks passion. The characters drift through the plot, a part of it but barely participating. They proclaim their love for one another, but I never believe it. They just sort of are. When they have deep conversations, their issues are resolved in a blink and they move on as if nothing happened. Neither Will or Elliot are bad characters, they just didn’t matter to me as reader. They, like their story, are flat and uninspired. It’s frustrating as a reader but in many ways this book should work and just never does. There is a measure of sweetness to the story and when it comes through, we finally get a measure of real depth. Had the book been able to expand on this, I could have found a better connection with the characters.
Read Sue’s review in its entirety here.
2.75 stars
Breathless is a sweet, but often bland love story between two men who deserve a bit of love. There is a crumb of angst, but nothing that hangs around for long. The plot is fairly straightforward and simple and there aren’t big acts of emotion or action. In fact, there isn’t much of anything here. Let me explain. The writing in Breathless is rather mechanical and flat. Everything on page happens at the same pace — slowly. The storyline meanders rather than flows and while the writing is technically fine (aside from several editing errors), it never seems to find a sense of life. Normally I love a romance that takes it time, but this novel lacks passion. The characters drift through the plot, a part of it but barely participating. They proclaim their love for one another, but I never believe it. They just sort of are. When they have deep conversations, their issues are resolved in a blink and they move on as if nothing happened. Neither Will or Elliot are bad characters, they just didn’t matter to me as reader. They, like their story, are flat and uninspired. It’s frustrating as a reader but in many ways this book should work and just never does. There is a measure of sweetness to the story and when it comes through, we finally get a measure of real depth. Had the book been able to expand on this, I could have found a better connection with the characters.
Read Sue’s review in its entirety here.
June 12, 2017
Probably 3.5 stars.
I would have given a higher rating if this book had had some attention from a careful reader/editor as there were some sentences which made no sense at all and, although each chapter was headed with the name of the main character, it was very difficult, often, to work out who was saying what.The ending was a bit weak.
However, this is a really good story, mostly, with a very interesting set of characters.
The protagonists,Will and Elliot have a lot of baggage but get on so well together right from the start:both have a wonderful sense of humour and a great sideways slant on the world.There were some hilarious moments.
The minor characters are also well-realised and memorable which I thought was a strong point.
This was a free download from Amazon.
I would have given a higher rating if this book had had some attention from a careful reader/editor as there were some sentences which made no sense at all and, although each chapter was headed with the name of the main character, it was very difficult, often, to work out who was saying what.The ending was a bit weak.
However, this is a really good story, mostly, with a very interesting set of characters.
The protagonists,Will and Elliot have a lot of baggage but get on so well together right from the start:both have a wonderful sense of humour and a great sideways slant on the world.There were some hilarious moments.
The minor characters are also well-realised and memorable which I thought was a strong point.
This was a free download from Amazon.
May 23, 2020
2 1/2 - it's a nice enough story with a pretty low-angst trajectory to a HEA but the writing and editing really lets it down. The grammar is poor, which could be an acceptable character choice if the main characters weren't a senior editor for a publishing company and a (presumably tenured) English professor. There aren't many named characters but there's Andrew, Drew and Andrew, Rick and Ricky. And some of the language in the sex scenes made me giggle too hard to appreciate them
July 13, 2018
This is such A cute story. I love the main characters Elliott and William but i really liked how the author incorporated their friends and family.
At one point I was wondering how El was so easily and willing to complete with a ghost but o think Will made it more than clear that even though Evan will always retain a space in his heart that El has a solid place their as well.
I want to learn more about their journey together- in London, will they get married and have kids. I also would like a story on Ethan. He found someone who's changed him for the better. I want to learn about how they met and the transformation that has occur
At one point I was wondering how El was so easily and willing to complete with a ghost but o think Will made it more than clear that even though Evan will always retain a space in his heart that El has a solid place their as well.
I want to learn more about their journey together- in London, will they get married and have kids. I also would like a story on Ethan. He found someone who's changed him for the better. I want to learn about how they met and the transformation that has occur
August 25, 2017
Not worth it
The story had potential, but it just didn't get there. The writing is very stilted and there was an abnormal lack of conjunctions, which just made it worse. There were grammatical errors as well. Even though I've read books with worse, with everything combined it just wasn't a pleasurable read. It was to the point that I just wanted to hurry up and be done with this book. I really want to know what happened to Ethan, there's no way I'm paying $3 for a hot mess. I'll get over it.
The story had potential, but it just didn't get there. The writing is very stilted and there was an abnormal lack of conjunctions, which just made it worse. There were grammatical errors as well. Even though I've read books with worse, with everything combined it just wasn't a pleasurable read. It was to the point that I just wanted to hurry up and be done with this book. I really want to know what happened to Ethan, there's no way I'm paying $3 for a hot mess. I'll get over it.
March 27, 2018
I'd like to give this a better rating since the story was very sweet. Two men meeting and falling in love after having relationships end badly is always a fun read. Lamp also writes great sex scenes. The problem is that the writing leaves something to be desired. I couldn't figure out, at first, why the writing seemed so difficult to read, then I realized that it was almost all conversation. Not only was it all conversation but the sentences were short and terse. A few "ands and buts" would have helped a lot. More description and/or more thoughts of the main characters would have helped too.
October 16, 2025
A cute love story. Two hearts broken and damaged in different ways manage to find each other. You get to watch as they both help each other heal and find love between them. Will and Elliott are perfect for each other. A fun, sexy read about being single and heartbroken while trying to heal yourself and find what fulfills your life.
Spice Level: 5 🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶
Spice Level: 5 🌶🌶🌶🌶🌶
March 23, 2018
I received this book from Goodreads- it was a wonderful love story. I really enjoyed reading it
August 8, 2017
I love a good mm romance filled with not only "steamy fun," but a good story, and Breathless had a fantastic story. I loved the addition of all of the side characters and the world building. I've read book 2 in the series also, and while I like book 2 a lot more, I still loved this one.
Will and Elliot are both done with love, but for completely different reasons. Will's past is filled with loss, while Elliot's past is filled with confusion and disappointment. It's a very simple, lost boy meets bored boy kind of story where they fall in love at first site. I found it believable, but they were almost too sweet and mushy about each other at times.
I liked how the book explored Will's challenges with overcoming his loss, and I also loved how it explained what exactly happened to Elliot's ex as well. The story came full circle, and I wasn't expecting it.
The "steamy fun" is pretty great also. While I would've enjoyed some different kind of scenes, each seen was pretty hot and quite enjoyable.
I definitely recommend this book as well as the second one in the series. I love the world the author has created and can't wait for more books.
Will and Elliot are both done with love, but for completely different reasons. Will's past is filled with loss, while Elliot's past is filled with confusion and disappointment. It's a very simple, lost boy meets bored boy kind of story where they fall in love at first site. I found it believable, but they were almost too sweet and mushy about each other at times.
I liked how the book explored Will's challenges with overcoming his loss, and I also loved how it explained what exactly happened to Elliot's ex as well. The story came full circle, and I wasn't expecting it.
The "steamy fun" is pretty great also. While I would've enjoyed some different kind of scenes, each seen was pretty hot and quite enjoyable.
I definitely recommend this book as well as the second one in the series. I love the world the author has created and can't wait for more books.
November 4, 2018
Reread May 9, 2018
I like all the characters, but the plot was unclear. Elliot and Will are both intelligent, successful, and unhappy in their careers.
They each have their past experiences that messed them up, but the suspense gets built, then nothing major happens, repeatedly.
I like their relationship development, without triangles or breaks, but there was unnecessary drama about things in the story.
The writing is terrible, lots of grammatical errors, and some stilted passages, but the flow is OK. It's also a bit too long, could have been at least 3 or 4 chapters shorter. Overall, not a bad book, could be better.
I like all the characters, but the plot was unclear. Elliot and Will are both intelligent, successful, and unhappy in their careers.
They each have their past experiences that messed them up, but the suspense gets built, then nothing major happens, repeatedly.
I like their relationship development, without triangles or breaks, but there was unnecessary drama about things in the story.
The writing is terrible, lots of grammatical errors, and some stilted passages, but the flow is OK. It's also a bit too long, could have been at least 3 or 4 chapters shorter. Overall, not a bad book, could be better.
April 29, 2018
Looking for Love
Love might appear in a moment...when you don't even know you're looking for it. Especially if you're lost at love before and are afraid to trust again.
A beautiful romance about trying again.
Love might appear in a moment...when you don't even know you're looking for it. Especially if you're lost at love before and are afraid to trust again.
A beautiful romance about trying again.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews