Who'll Be My Valentine?: Aunt Macie's Lonely Hearts Club

by R. Gaen

Every man deserves a little romance...Jase works in a café by day but at night he's 'Aunt Macie', dispensing LGBTQ relationship advice for Aunt Macie's Lonely Hearts Club.

When Eddy writes in asking what he can do to get his boyfriend more interested in Valentine's Day, 'Aunt Macie' tries to help.

Will Eddy's boyfriend come around? Or is Eddy destined to remain disappointed?

Content past cheating (not by the MC), loneliness, relationship breakup, references to gaslighting, othering in the workplace.

78 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 14, 2026

Reviews

[Julie Underhill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Who’ll Be My Valentine? by R. Gaen is the first book in her Aunt Macie's Lonely Hearts Club series. It is a short story about a man who isn’t appreciated by his boyfriend enough to do something on Valentine’s Day and the man who answers his lonely hearts letter and how they fall in love. Jase works at a café during the day and 2 nights a week works for an online paper where he answers letters from the lovelorn as Aunt Macie. He handles the ones from men who like men and women who like women as he is a part of that group and there was a mishap a couple of years ago where a question concerning that group was not answered well. He loves his job because he feels like he’s helping people. He lives alone in a small apartment in Sydney and is often lonely as he hasn’t dated in a while after breaking up with his cheating boyfriend. Valentine’s Day is coming so he knows he will have lots of letters to answer and one in particular catches his eye. It is from Disappointed who says his boyfriend, Mitchell, ignores Valentine’s Day because it’s too commercial and refuses to do anything with him except invite his friends over when Disappointed really wants to do something romantic. Aunt Macie gives him some advice and asks him to tell him how it goes, something Jase has never done before. When he gets a reply saying it didn’t work, he makes another suggestion and even gives him a gift card to a restaurant so their date won’t cost anything and Mitchell can’t complain about that either. When he gets the reply, he learns that Disappointed is Eddy Douglass and where he lives so he can send him the gift card. He also learns that they both like many of the same things and he thinks that Mitchell isn’t worth Eddy’s time or love. On a whim that Mitchell won’t show up at the restaurant, Jase does and finagles a way to sit with him at his table. They then enjoy a wonderful dinner and are the last to leave because they have been talking and laughing together so much. Jase tells him that he is Aunt Macie but Eddy is OK with that as it made him see that Mitchell wasn’t the one for him. Jase invites him to his apartment which is a good thing because Eddy broke up with Mitchell and has no place to stay and they have a hot love scene and Jase invites him to stay the night. Since they are both not one night stand kind of guys they decide to stay together and see where things go. The next Valentine’s Day they are still together and Jase has a special surprise for Eddy that endears him to him even more. I really enjoyed this short story which I read in one sitting. Jase is such a nice guy and is good at giving advice and is intrigued by Eddy’s letter which leads him to show him that he is deserving of someone that will take his wants and needs into consideration. Eddy goes along with Mitchell because they have been together a while and he is used to his controlling ways. But he breaks his last straw when he refuses to take him out on Valentine’s Day. Jase going to the restaurant was a cute way for them to meet and he knew he could have something special with Eddy which they learned that they did so they could go on to be happy together. I highly recommend this book, especially if you like sweet stories involving a letter to an advice columnist that brings some answers but more importantly brings the two men together who can go on to make each other very happy.

[PalenMisha · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fluffy, feel good story. A quick read, but Jase and Eddy still felt like real people. I loved the Aunt Macie letters as well since they really added to the story. It was also nice to see everything build up as they exchanged letters (I don't think this story would have worked if it was insta-love). The epilogue did an excellent job of wrapping up the story as well. I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for future books in this series. Definitely worth checking out if you're looking for something fluffy that's a quick read.

***I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.***

[Gavin Stephenson-Jackman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love for lovelorne. Jase is one of the writers behind Aunt Macie's column for lonely hearts. He writes in response to LGBTQA letters giving advice. Getting involved with one of the correspondents isn't normal but Eddie's letter about his boyfriend being a douche about Valentine's Day strikes a chord and Jase can't seem to turn away. This makes for a rather unique take on the day of love and finding someone at the same time.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Rosalye Blake · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a sweet and cozy MM romance novella with a warm emotional tone. I really liked the concept of Aunt Macie’s advice column, which gave the story a unique and charming touch.

At times I wished certain elements had been explored a bit more deeply — especially the underlying issues in Eddy’s relationship and Jace’s emotional backstory.

Despite its short length, this was an enjoyable, gentle story that will likely appeal to readers who like character-focused, low-angst contemporary romance.

I received a free advance copy of this book and am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Carla · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

Super short, super sweet, really cute story, great for passing the time. Eddy really is kind of blind at first, because if his boyfriend wants to spend more time gaming with his friends than going on dates, there’s something wrong. Glad to know Aunt Macie is coming to the rescue! I liked how we see the epilogue, but I think one more chapter would have been better. Maybe because I liked them so much, I wanted more. I would love to see this being a full novel!

[KaRon Spriggs-bethea · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had the opportunity to read this book early as an ARC in exchange for a honest review. And this was easily a 5 star read for me. It was an a quick read and such a cute story to follow. I was invested from the beginning. I had a mix of emotions throughout but felt like this was a story that could play out in real life.

Thank you for allowing me to read this ARC. This review is left voluntarily.

[Sara Irons · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a story of happen chance. Where two men find each other in unusual circumstances. I very much enjoyed the fact that the story is told with so much in just a short story.

The characters are done very well and the world building is amazing. There are some steamy parts so therefore it has an 18+ rating.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Advanced reader copy for free from BookSirens. This review is my honest opinion.

Cute, sweet, short. Perfect Valentine’s Day read. Jase is an lgbtq love advice guy and Eddy writes in. It’s a very simple story but it’ll make you giggle and kick your feet for these too. Fuck that guy Mitchell though. Eddy should have been meaner.

[Jolanda van Osch · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an okay short story to read about Eddy and Jase, who meet through email because Eddy wants advice on how to get his boyfriend interested in Valentine's Day. I give this story 3.5 stars.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Amanda Reeves · Rating 4 out of 5]

Who'll Be My Valentine is the first book in the new Aunt Macie's Lonely Hearts Club series and it looks like it's going to be a fun series. This was a really cute short story about Eddie and Jase.