“Where love knows no limits…and certainly not the confines of a single bed”
Look, I’ll admit that I was more than a little sceptical about the idea of anyone messing with my beloved ‘only one bed’ trope by turning it into a ‘too many beds’ trope, but these ten authors truly surprised me in all the best ways. Whether you want something dark, funny, filthy, spicy, smutty, heartwarming, or brutally bittersweet, this uniquely diverse gay romance anthology will drag you across the entire spectrum of emotions and satisfy cravings you didn’t even know you had.
Now, I am still very much a newbie when it comes to trying out all the different spices of the romance genre, so this anthology proved to be a really fun little experiment to see what tickled my fancy. The only thing I really knew for certain about my tastes before going in was that I personally prefer my romances to be very slow-burn and driven by an emotional connection rather than a physical attraction (guess that’s my ace heart speaking), so the fact that any of these short stories worked as well as they did for me was already a huge miracle if I am honest.
As expected, there were some exceptionally smutty and explicit stories that I personally bounced off of, but I actually really liked that Too Many Beds has so much to offer for so many different types of readers. We’ve got shifter porn star shenanigans, mafia madness, fated mates fantasy academia, superhero sci-fi, badass biker wet dreams, cozy competition fantasy, space adventure gangbangs, mysterious historical fantasy, emotional paranormal monster romance, and dystopian sci-fi in a prison of hell; what more could you ask for?
If I had to pick favourites, I’d say that Pillow Biting by B.L. Jones, Relentless by Adelaide Blaike, Bedchambers and Broomsticks by Amy Campbell, and The Last Bed by Jessica A. McMinn worked the best for me. But, in my humble opinion, the absolute crown jewel of the collection is Below the Beds by F.A. Lantern; I loved the intimately vulnerable psychological and emotional journey we went on here, and this story just pulled on my heartstrings in all the most unexpected ways.
Even with some hits and misses, Too Many Beds was an absolute delight to read, and I am already excited to dive into the backlists of some of these authors. The quality of storytelling and the level of wild imagination on display in each of these short stories is honestly beyond impressive, and I highly recommend Too Many Beds if you are looking for a diverse and excitingly unpredictable romp of an anthology full of vibrant characters, immersive settings, simmering tension, hysterical banter, delicious emotional turmoil, and all the steam.
Thank you to the authors for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. Too Many Beds is a limited-run anthology that will be available on December 10th 2024 for 6 months only.
