Blog Tour and Review: The Weight Within by Gwen Martin

20 March of 2024 by ButtonsMom2003

The Weight Within By Gwen Martin

Genre: Contemporary Romance, GLBTQ, MM

Tropes: Enemies to lovers, opposites attract, bisexual romance, workplace romance, hurt/comfort, slow burn

Released: March 13, 2024

Publisher: Self-Published

Series: The Collective, Book 2

Length: 264 pages / 74,000 words approx.

Cover Design: We Got You Covered Book Design

Synopsis

Tristan Edwards is clean cut, determined, and organized on the outside, but on the inside he’s falling apart. After years of nonstop travel for work, he’s assigned to open a new branch that could keep him close to home with more job security. But if he doesn’t show how well he can transition to an executive position, his dream job may fall into the hands of his dream man.

Kurt Holden is newly divorced, without a home and in need of a change. When a new position springs up, Kurt jumps at the chance to start over in a new city, as a new person. What he isn’t interested in is falling into another relationship, but the more time he spends with Tristan, it becomes impossible to ignore his attraction.

As Tristan struggles reconciling his mental health, and Kurt attempts to reconcile the weight of his past, new desires have the men questioning if their rivalry to win will ruin their future together.

Teaser Graphic

Review

Reviewed by ButtonsMom2003

A good addition to the series.

The Weight Within is a good addition to this series. I was so happy that Tristan got his own story. He was such a good brother to Chance in the previous book so it was great to find out more about what makes him tick. This started out as an enemies/rivals-to-lovers story but it didn’t take too long before Tristan and Kurt began to work together and then for the romance to bloom.

I love the way that Gwen Martin treats mental health issues with such care and respect. I’m not sure why but this book didn’t hit me as hard in the feels as her other work. I’m not saying that’s a negative, just that it surprised me that I didn’t find this one quite as angsty as her others.

The story was a five-star read for me until I got to the epilogue. Now, I absolutely love a good epilogue so I’m really happy that there was one for this story. My issue was that a lot of somewhat surprising stuff happened in the epilogue – set one year after the main story’s end – and there wasn’t any explanation. I can’t say anymore here because it would be a spoiler but, in my Goodreads review I’ll use the spoiler tag so you can check it out if you want to know more. Still, in spite of this somewhat minor issue, I enjoyed this very much and I’m looking forward to reading the next book in the series.

♥♥♥♥ ½

O Factor: Spicy

The Collective Series

♥ Amazon US ♥ Amazon CA ♥ Amazon UK ♥

#CommissionsEarned

Giveaway

$25 Amazon Gift Card

Direct link to giveaway.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Teaser Graphic

About Author

Gwen Martin is from Florida where the sun was always shining, and the humidity is always high. In 2020 she and her partner moved to Knoxville for a change of scenery with their five cats, and a whole lot of dreams.

Writing came to her at a young age, where she scribbled stories instead of paying attention to math lessons. She spent many years in fandom, exploring her writing opportunities before deciding to take the dive into self-publishing.

Gwen has a strong love affair with cold brew coffee, black cats, and nerding out in a variety of fandoms. When she’s not writing, she’s reading everything she can get her hands on, crocheting compulsively while listening horror gamer playthroughs,and vibing to spotify playlists for inspiration. And best of all, loving the best creatures on earth—her harem of gatos.

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