Strong Signal (Cyberlove #1)
   by: Megan Erickson and Santino Hassell

Publication Date: Feb. 15, 2016
Publisher: Self Published
Genre: M/M Contemporary Romance
Age Group: Adult
Source: e-ARC provided via the authors in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Order Links: Amazon | B&N
My Rating: 4.5/5 stars

I was counting down the months until the end of my deployment. My days were spent working on military vehicles, and I spent my nights playing video games that would distract me until I could leave Staff Sergeant Garrett Reid behind.

That was when I met him: Kai Bannon, a fellow gamer with a famous stream channel.

I never expected to become fixated on someone who'd initially been a rival. And I'd never expected someone who oozed charm to notice me—a guy known for his brutal honesty and scowl. I hadn't planned for our online friendship to turn into something that kept me up at night—hours of chatting evolving into filthy webcam sessions.

But it did. And now I can't stop thinking about him. In my mind, our real life meeting is perfect. We kiss, we fall into bed, and it's love at first sight.

Except, like most things in my life, it doesn't go as planned.

 

 

When I first saw Megan was writing this book, I was already in. I love her books, so it was a given that I needed this one. She has combined forces with Santino Hassell and holy hell did these two kill this book. This nerdy gamer girl all kinds of geeked out over the lingo and I found myself torn between wanting to read and going to game! (Kai and Garrett won by the way.) So fangirling and geeking out aside, this book was hella hot. The romance between those two was SO steamy and sexy. However, it's not without its complications. Both Kai and Garrett are navigating their new relationship and trying to fit the other into their life.

 

Garrett has been deployed to Afghanistan and video games are an escape for him. He is ready to be done, but he also has a lot to think about in terms of his future. He doesn't have a wide array of skill sets to work with, so his scope is pretty slim. He is a mechanic in the military and a damn good one, so he hopes to continue that out in the civilian world. He certainly didn't plan on finding and falling for a Twitch gamer, named Kai. However, the two end up forming a friendship and soon Kai is the one bright spot in Garrett's life. They are definitely attracted to one another, but Kai shies away from talk of meeting for reasons that I don't want to spoil.

 

Kai broke my heart a bit. I loved him so much and I hated that he had to deal with the issues he did. Garrett was so good for him and I am glad he was so supportive. Kai doesn't have family like Garrett does and neither have many friends they can call on either. However, Kai does have Shawn and Shawn's mom, who live down the hall, and I was infuriated when someone tried to defile that with ugliness. Garrett's mom and sister ended up being really great, especially when Garrett came clean to them about his being gay. They are not perfect and sometimes say the wrong things, but they love him no matter what and it was refreshing to see.

 

These two were such a good balance for one another. They are quite different, but they mesh so well together and man was their chemistry explosive! I felt both Megan and Santino did such a great job teaming up together to write this series! I can't wait for the next book!