Rock Bay Bundle

Rock Bay #1-3

by M.J. O'Shea

Read all three stories of small town romance in this exclusive bundle of M.J. O'Shea's Rock Bay series!

In Coming Home, Tally has to pull out all the stops to prove to Lex, his gorgeous boss at the local coffee shop, he was never really the jerk he seemed to be. If he can win Lex’s heart, the rest of the town should be a piece of coffee cake. In Letting Go, can Mason learn to trust again and can Drew learn to let go of who he thinks he is? If not, a real connection is nothing but a pipe dream. In Finding Shelter, both Justin and Logan have come to town hoping to leave troubled pasts behind them. They are attracted to each other too, but Justin is wary. Will Logan’s love, faith, and stubbornness be enough for Justin to believe their love is worth fighting for?

543 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 26, 2016

About the author

MJ O’Shea has never met a music festival, paintbrush, or
flower crown she can stay away from. She loves rainstorms
and a perfect cup of tea, beach days, music, bright colors, and
more than anything a cozy evening with a really great book.

She is from the Pacific Northwest. While she still lives there
and loves it, MJ has the heart of a wanderer. So she puts all
her dreams of far off places and extraordinary people in her
books.

Except for every once in a while when she does what all
travelers have to do on occasion… come home.

Reviews

[Chelsea · Rating 3 out of 5]

I tell you, reading all of these stories back to back was not a good idea. They were all similar in the formula that was used to write them, and all with very similar characters. However, each of the stories are very sweet and romantic reads and if you want to read any of them I'd recommend this bundle, but perhaps avoid binge reading them in one go.


COMING HOME 3.5 hearts


This was a cute story! 15 years ago Tally was the high school bully and his favourite victim was Lex. Lex now owns his own shop and is comfortable in the town of Rock Bay. When Tally comes back to Rock Bay broke and in need of work, Lex offers it to him. It’s obvious to Lex that Tally has changed from the bully he used to be. However while Lex’s still insanely attracted to Tally, he resists starting up a relationship to protect himself from getting hurt again.

Lex and Tally both felt a little too perfect. Both were hard-working nice people who were seen in the wrong light (or not seen at all). Even Tally, who I thought would have a pretty cool backstory because he was so mean in high school, was secretly a very nice person back then. His family's position within the town and the pressure they placed on him made him ‘act’ the bully.

These two were incredibly sweet together and I enjoyed the fluffiness of it all. The sex was hot and I liked seeing Lex get all needy when he was bottoming. The build-up to their relationship was fun to read about and the sexual tension was done really well.

The big drama at the end was good, it didn’t feel convoluted and wasn’t some misunderstanding, however it did drag on much longer than it should have. The whole time Lex and Tally were fighting, Lex knew he still loved Tally and that he would forgive him, but for some reason he didn’t tell Tally this for weeks….. Tally made it clear he was sorry and lived in near depression for weeks, for no reason! I don’t know, it just got a tad annoying and felt unnecessary.

Also there was no epilogue, everything was left feeling very unfinished. In that sense I’m glad I’m reading this in the bundle, because I’ll get to see more of these two happy together.


LETTING GO 3 hearts

I think this could have possibly been a 4 heart read if I had read it as a standalone, but reading it straight on the back of Coming Home, definitely deducted some points.

Drew has been in Rock Bay all his life and has been friends with the bully of the town, Brock, since high school. Drew is a self-employed accountant and most of his clients are friends with Brock, therefore Drew doesn’t feel comfortable getting on Brock's bad side.Therefore he avoids coming out as gay. That is until he meets Mason. Drew feels an instant connection and just knows he's found his reason to come out. Mason just moved from Seattle to escape a controlling ex-boyfriend and is looking for some time to himself when he meets Drew.

The first 10 chapters is virtually an overlap of Coming Home just from Drew and Mason’s POV. Needless to say I found this quite tedious due to the fact that I was reading them back to back. If someone was to read this as a stand alone I think this part of the story would be relevant and interesting, but to me it just wasn’t. I skimmed most of the first part of the book and unfortunately that left me feeling less of a connection to Mason and Drew than I did to Lex and Tally.

However Mason and Drew are probably the most ridiculously sweet couple ever. Drew is a gay virgin and is so awkward and shy around Mason I just wanted to smoosh his cheeks together. These two have the most fumbling conversations when they first meet. Mason has been burned a lot by past boyfriends, so he’s hesitant to trust his first impressions of a guy, but he is so stunned by Drew’s sweet nature he finds himself floundering.

The sex was pretty hot, seeing big Drew lose his gay virginity was good fun!

When the drama at the end happened I was rolling my eyes with how ridiculous it all was. I won’t even go into, it was just a big ol’ misunderstanding. Luckily the boys came to their senses and it actually resolved very quickly with no more unnecessary drama.

Once again, no epilogue. I don’t know why this author doesn’t write them, it just leaves me feeling so unfinished with the couple.


FINDING SHELTER 3.5 hearts

I think this was my favourite story out of the three.

Justin is nineteen and has been verbally and physically abused by his father for the majority of his life. When an opportunity presents itself to escape, Justin takes it and runs to Rock Bay where his cousin Travis lives. There Justin gets a job at Lex and Tally’s coffee shop, and has an instant attraction to Logan. Logan moved to Rock Bay a few months prior to recover from a sudden breakup with his long-time girlfriend. When Logan sees Justin it's instant attraction and he finds them becoming fast friends as he helps Justin move on from his past.

I really liked Justin's story, it was refreshingly interesting in comparison to the previous stories. Justin's pain was heart breaking and his healing was done well over a period of months. It felt realistic seeing him tentatively trust the new people in his life, then start to relax into touches with Travis and Logan, slowly but surely.

Logan was sweet and understanding and really just a big snuggly teddy bear. He has an instant attraction to Justin despite never having thought of another man in any sort of sexual or romantic way before. It was nice not seeing any trace of concern or homophobia in Logan as he came to terms with being bisexual. I use the phrase ‘came to terms’ very lightly there, Logan saw Justin and was immediately ‘to terms’ with with being bisexual.

It took a tad too long for Justin and Logan to get together for my liking, but once they were together it was all pretty much smooth sailing. There was a smidgen of drama at the end, but it was resolved before it became anything too angsty.

(Not even going to mention the lack of epilogue *glares at book*)

Despite the seriousness of Justin's past, this was actually a very angst free book and I found it quite an easy enjoyable read.



All the stories just got a little repetitive for my liking when reading them all together, but reading them individually would work well. I would recommend this bundle for some fluffy reads and great value for money.

[Keri · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a trilogy of Rock Bay, I am glad that I read this as a bundle and did not have to wait for each book. I just wanted to keep reading. As a bundle, you feel as though you never leave Rock Bay, and that you are a local citizen. All three stories of Lex and Tally, Mason and Drew, and Justin and Logan, are all intertwined. These men become friends and eventually family. I liked that as each one was introduced, they kept coming back into the stories, even though it may not have been their story.

M.J. O’Shea does a brilliant job of discussing hard to digest subjects, and writes them with clarity and compassion to make you feel like you are feeling their pain, their confusion, and their happiness. All three couples are completely different and yet all have that familial bond that should be cherished and not taken for granted. At times, I felt like I was one of friends in the circle and was there to enjoy their happy times and their sad times. I wanted to hug Lex, Mason and Justin. Logan and Tally just cracked me up and I felt their protectiveness. Drew and Logan were just so open-hearted and easy to love. Of course, in each story there is at least one character that you just want to murder. But that is what makes these stories all the more real and you find yourself cheering on each of the main characters and even a few of the secondary characters; Travis was perfect and Amy, well, try to find yourself not loving her.

Overall, this bundled collection of these three stories warmed my heart and was fun to read. If you haven’t read this series, I would totally recommend it.

*I received this ARC to read for Inked Rainbow Reads in exchange for an honest review.*

[Claire Potterton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series of books is the opitome of 'hard won love'. Relationships that have to be fought for, and ultimately come out stronger as a result. This is one of my favourite kinds of romance.
Lex and Tally, Drew and Mason and Logan and Justin overcome past bullying, toxic relationships, abuse, coming out, fear, insecurities, bigotry, hate, assault, misunderstandings - they fight, for themselves, for each other, for their relationships, and they win.
There are characters in this book ranging from adorable to despicable - the situations bringing out every emotion in me, from hate, to love, to rage, to pity.
I'm a bit of a sap - ok, a lot of a sap, and these kind of stories are my crack. There is angst and drama, romance and intimacy, some 'oh wow' sex scenes, and so much wonderful, hard-won love. A great series.
(Logan and Justin are my favourites.)

Reviewed for divinemagazine.net

[Kobie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't mind the first book, DNF'd the second and didn't bother with the third. I am not on this author's wavelength. she tells the color if paint a character chooses and talks of watching the food channel. we have nothing in common!