The Right Wrong Number by Katie Warren

Angel says "The Right Wrong Number is a fantastic release from not only a new-to-me author, but also from a new author in general!"

From the blurb:

JULIAN

A year after his husband dies in a car accident, Julian is still paralyzed by grief. When his eccentric
friend Nora insists he needs to start moving on, he texts his husbands old phone number in an attempt to heal his wounds. Little does he know, there's someone at the end of the line that may end up giving him a second chance at both life and love.

LIAM

Liam is tired of living his sad bachelor life. In an attempt to move on from his meaningless hookups, he changes his phone number. When he suddenly starts getting texts from a mysterious "Jules" he has no idea just how much his life is about to change.

The Right Wrong Number is an MM romance. It's a story of second chances, healing, and finding love again.

Angel's Review:

The Right Wrong Number is Katie Warren's debut novel, and what a way to start their writing career! Books that have heavier themes are ones that I usually end up liking more because of the fact that they're relatable. And this one is relatable because of the topic of grief. 

Jules just lost his husband and doesn't know how to survive without him being around. With the help of his stubborn sometimes irritating best friend Nora, he slowly starts to live again. When he starts texting his deceased husband's phone, he feels like he's talking to him still. Only, he gets a text from someone that definitely is not his husband.

Liam has gotten a new phone and a new number, he needs a change to his everyday life. When he starts getting texts from an unknown number he's confused, and unsure of what to do. But after lots of texting with Jules they decide to meet. And Liam was caught by surprise when he finally met the person on the other line.

For this being Katie's first book, this was extremely  thought out and written really well. The characters had reasons to be there, albeit Oliver, Liam's mom, and Jules's mom had pretty short roles, but the parts they did have were great! They added to the overall story, they helped move it along. I loved that we got two journal entries from Fishsticks's point of view, I think sometimes people forget that animals can grieve too, and we got to see what Fishsticks thought about his humans. Let's just say he's one grumpy kitty! Until Liam walks into not only Jules's life but also into Fishsticks's life. 

Slowly but surely Liam helps Jules while he continues to grieve and together they support each other and love one another just the way they are. 

I do have to say the reason I didn't give this a 5 star rating is because sometimes it seemed too focused on the spicy scenes rather than the characters getting to know one another better. But! I really loved this story, it was serious topic matter but it was done exceptionally, and there was still humor and cuteness involved. It wasn't all heavy, there were scenes to break it up, which I loved! Yes, Fishsticks character was great, but the random vegetable jokes sprinkled in the story? Those were awesome! 

Rating: 4.5 Stars

Heather's Review:

I love when I have the chance to read an author's first novel and while I know Katie Warren as a fabulous editor I truly enjoyed this peek into her writing mind...

I love the meet-cute and the lead up to it... a man texting his dead husband, trying to get over his year-long grief... and the new man on the other side of the phone, having recently changed his phone number... and I love that as Julian emerges from his grief that he begins to find humour - even corny dad joke humour in the world again...

Fishsticks, the big, angry cat whose depression we get to see first hand, plays a large part in giving these two men a reason to be together and helps move the plot along... as does Nora, Julian's bestie...  I also appreciated meeting both men's mothers... 

The Right Wrong Number was sweet, funny, hopeful and just steamy enough to be a wonderful afternoon read for me and a great book to pick up after a couple of darker reads.

Rating: 5 Stars

The Right Wrong Number is available in paperback and e-book formats and can be read as part of your Kindle Unlimited subscription.