Coffee or Tea

A YA Sweet M/M Romance

By: D.A.E. Jackson

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

In a town where everyone’s living out a perfect love story… Alex is still waiting for his turn.

Story City, Iowa, is the kind of place where romance is practically a civic duty. Every festival ends in a kiss, every wedding seems to happen right on cue, and every straight couple in town has their own happily ever after. But for Alex, the local coffee shop barista who spends more time watching other people’s love stories unfold than living one of his own, real life doesn’t follow the script.

Then Roland walks back into town—former hometown hero, Alex’s childhood best friend, and the crush Alex never really got over. Roland’s football career ended with an injury, and he’s come home uncertain of who he is without the game. He’s older, quieter, still walking with that same stubborn determination—and somehow, Alex finds himself falling all over again.

As coffee dates turn into something more, Alex begins to wonder if this could finally be his story—the one that doesn’t fit the town’s perfect mold, but feels more real than anything that’s come before. Around them, Story City hums with romance clichés and happy endings, but Alex and Roland are finding something sweeter: love that doesn’t need to be picture-perfect to be true.

Tender, sweet, and full of heart, this first Story City romance proves that even in a town where everyone else is following the script, the best stories are the ones you write yourself. Young, sweet, M/M romance.

Something New

My thoughts on the virtual voice are mixed but the story was pleasant, like a warm drink during a rainstorm.

Nothing Stood Out

Cute story idea but it was boring. Maybe I couldn’t get into it because it was too niche? I know it says it’s like a Hallmark and Iowa thing, both I’m not too familiar in. I’m not sure. I wanted to like it because I love the idea, and the cover is so cute, but I couldn’t get into it. Maybe the voice narration was too flat? So, I couldn’t relate to the characters for lack of emotion?

narration is flat.

story is good and easy to follow. narration is flat and lacks emotion, it also lacks character definition. the narration also follows written sentence structure and does not follow modern speech patterns when characters are talking making some conversations hard to follow.