Author Archives: susan65coug Miss Behaving

Book Review: Stay With Me by S.E. Harmon

Reviewed by Susan65

1Title: Stay With Me
Author: S.E. Harmon
Heroes: Mackenzie William/Jordan Channing
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 290 pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: April 28, 2014
Available at: Dreamspinner, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, All Romance Ebooks
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Private investigator Mackenzie Williams’s newest client is everything he’s looking for in a guy—charming, beautiful, intelligent, and successful. There’s only one itty bitty problem—the guy’s not exactly gay. In fact, Jordan Channing is looking for a PI to follow his fiancée. The smart thing would be to thank Jordan for his time, turn Mr. Perfect away (don’t let the door hit you on the rump, thank you very much), and forget he exists.

Of course, Mackenzie has never been accused of doing the smart thing. Being smart aleck is more his MO. Relationships aren’t up his alley, never have been. So why’s he so inexplicably drawn to his new client?

Jordan has always been the high achiever, a man who lives in a focused, controlled, and carefully constructed manner. But for the first time in his life, he has to admit the impossible—another man is getting his engine running on all cylinders. Despite Jordan’s denial, it’s not long before he can no longer resist the strong undercurrents pulling them together. Now Jordan must decide if he can go against everything he’s ever known to have the only love he’s ever wanted.

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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2014, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Kim Fielding Week Review: The Tin Box

Reviewed by Susan65

18377353Title: The Tin Box
Author: Kim Fielding
Heroes: William Lyon/Colby Anderson
Genre: M/M Contemporary
Length: 210 pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: September 20, 2013
Available at: Dreamspinner Press, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, All Romance Ebooks
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: William Lyon’s past forced him to become someone he isn’t. Conflicted and unable to maintain the charade, he separates from his wife and takes a job as caretaker at a former mental hospital. Jelley’s Valley State Insane Asylum was the largest mental hospital in California for well over a century, but it now stands empty. William thinks the decrepit institution is the perfect place to finish his dissertation and wait for his divorce to become final. In town, William meets Colby Anderson, who minds the local store and post office. Unlike William, Colby is cute, upbeat, and flamboyantly out. Although initially put off by Colby’s mannerisms, William comes to value their new friendship, and even accepts Colby’s offer to ease him into the world of gay sex.

William’s self-image begins to change when he discovers a tin box, hidden in an asylum wall since the 1940s. It contains letters secretly written by Bill, a patient who was sent to the asylum for being homosexual. The letters hit close to home, and William comes to care about Bill and his fate. With Colby’s help, he hopes the words written seventy years ago will give him courage to be his true self.

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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Author Week, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2013, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Mark of Cain by Kate Sherwood

Reviewed by Susan65

20522718Title: Mark of Cain
Author: Kate Sherwood
Heroes: Mark Webber/Lucas Cain
Genre: M/M Contemporary
Length: 338 pages
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Release Date: May 20, 2014
Available at: Samhain Publishing, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, All Romance eBooks
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: When a man is consumed by hatred, is there anything left to love?

After a tough day of counseling sessions, Anglican priest Mark Webber is looking forward to a relaxing dinner at a local restaurant. When he sees who’s bellied up to the bar, though, he reaches for his cell phone to call the police.

It’s Lucas Cain, the man who killed Mark’s brother three years ago. Apparently he’s out of jail and hanging out with his old crowd, which has to be a breach of parole, right?

Pulled over upon leaving the bar, Lucas blows a clean breathalyzer and hopes this isn’t a harbinger of things to come. He’s ready to build a sober, peaceful life. His friends aren’t ready to let him move on, though, and he ends up taking refuge in an Anglican half-way house.

Thrown together, Mark and Lucas find common ground in the struggle to help a young gay man come to terms with his sexuality—and the fight against homophobic townsfolk. As attraction grows, the past is the last stumbling block between them and a future filled with hope.

Warning: Bad boys being good, good boys being bad. Continue reading

Categories: 4.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2014, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Challenge Week Review: Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs

Reviewed by Susan65

285205Title: Blood Bound
Author: Patricia Briggs
Series: Mercy Thompson #2
Heroes: Mercy/Adam
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Length: 292 pages
Publisher: Ace
Release Date: January 30, 2007
Available at: Patricia Briggs, Amazon, Barnes and Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Under the rule of science, there are no witch burnings allowed, no water trials or public lynchings. In return, the average law-abiding, solid citizen has little to worry about from the things that go bump in the night. Sometimes I wish I was an average citizen…

Mechanic Mercy Thompson has friends in low places-and in dark ones. And now she owes one of them a favor. Since she can shapeshift at will, she agrees to act as some extra muscle when her vampire friend Stefan goes to deliver a message to another of his kind.

But this new vampire is hardly ordinary-and neither is the demon inside of him.

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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, M/F, Published Before 2010, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Book Review: Saugatuck Summer by Amelia C. Gormley

Reviewed by Susan65

SaugatuckSummer_500x750Title: Saugatuck Summer
Author: Amelia C. Gormley
Series: Saugatuck #1
Heroes: Topher/Jace
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 363 pages
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Release Date: May 19, 2014
Available at: Riptide, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, All Romance Ebooks
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads
Blurb: One summer can change everything

Hi, I’m Topher Carlisle: twenty-one, pretty, and fabulous. At least, that’s what I keep telling myself. But let’s get real. Walking the fake-it-til-you-make-it road to independence and self-respect isn’t easy. Especially since my mom’s a deadbeat alcoholic, and most of my family expects me to turn out just as worthless. Oh, and I’m close to losing my college swimming scholarship, so let’s add “dropout” to the list.

My BFF has invited me to stay at her beach house on the shore of Lake Michigan. That’ll give me one summer to make money and figure out what I want to do with my life. So of course I decide to have an affair with my BFF’s married, closeted dad. Because that always works out.

Now I’m homeless, friendless, jobless. Worthless. Just like my family expects, right? Except there’s this great guy, Jace, who sees it differently. He’s got it all together in ways I can only dream of—he’s hot, creative, insightful, understanding. He seems to think I don’t give myself enough credit. And if I don’t watch out, I may start to believe him.

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Categories: 4.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2014, Susan65's Reviews, Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Pretty Poison by Kari Gregg

Reviewed by Susan65

19173721Title: Pretty Poison
Author: Kari Gregg
Heroes: Noah and Wade
Genre: M/M Paranormal
Length: 147 Pages
Publisher: Self-published
Release Date: December 15, 2013
Available at: AmazonAll Romance eBooks & Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Deadly poison…or exquisite cure?

Noah fell from an eighth story balcony as a toddler, cracking open his skull and shattering his body. The accident would’ve killed a human, but even shifter blood can’t heal some damage. After the pack recommended a mercy killing, Noah’s family ran. But there’s no outrunning the mating pact formed before Noah’s birth.

Wade, the new alpha, chooses an adult Noah to fulfill the pact. Wade believes the previous alpha was a fool to reject Noah as a weak and inferior wolf, but Noah’s family was wrong to hide him and starve his wolf, too. Human doctors with human medicines are poison to shifter physiology. Now that Noah is fully grown, halting his shift to retain the pins, plates, and bars holding him together hurts rather than helps him, and for Wade, more than Noah’s recovery is at stake.

Noah’s family sacrificed everything to keep him alive. Noah will do whatever it takes to save them—including mate with the alpha who is determined to correct past mistakes and defeat old prejudices contaminating the shifter community.

Too bad some still believe Noah is the true poison…and should be culled from the pack for good. Continue reading

Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2013, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Holding Out For a Fairy Tale by A.J. Thomas

Reviewed by Susan65

Holding Out for a Fairy Tale by A.J. Thomas eBookTitle: Holding Out For a Fairy Tale
Author: A.J. Thomas
Series: Least Likely Partnership #2
Heroes: Ray Delgado And Elliot Belkamp
Genre: M/M Contemporary
Length: 250 Pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: May 9, 2014
Available at: Dreamspinner Press
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: When his vicious cousin Alejandro makes a violent late-night visit, San Diego homicide detective Ray Delgado gets a brutal reminder of why he left his family behind. Alejandro wants Ray to find his sister, Sophia, who disappeared from the UC San Diego campus, before the FBI digs too deep into his business.

Special Agent Elliot Belkamp spent his entire life jumping from one place to another, but his new assignment assisting a FBI task force offers him a chance to settle down. When Elliot catches a missing person’s case as his first assignment, the last person he expects to find poking around the victim’s dorm room is Ray, a one-time hookup he’s more inclined to punch in the face than kiss hello. After discovering Sophia’s disappearance is linked to a massive computer-based theft that has two powerful crime families ready to declare war, Elliot focuses on his investigation and tries to ignore Ray. As the search for Sophia turns dangerous, Elliot and Ray discover that tackling organized crime might be easier than resisting the urge to tackle each other.

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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2014, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Personal Secrets by K.C. Wells

Reviewed by Susan65

Personal Secrets (Personal #3)Title: Personal Secrets
Author: K.C. Wells
Series: Personal #3
Heroes: Ed Fellows and Colin Reynolds
Genre: M/M Contemporary
Length: 285 Pages
Publisher: Island Tales Press
Release Date: February 11, 2014
Available at: Amazon, All Romance eBooks & Barnes and Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Blake Davis and husband Will are delighted when Ed Fellows turns up at the hospital the night their daughter is born—even if he is covered in mud from playing rugby and drunk out of his skull. Team-mate Colin is the Good Samaritan who drives him there, and when Colin takes Ed home, Colin finds himself on the receiving end of a blow-job. He has no problem with that whatsoever. He’s been in lust with Ed since Ed joined the rugby team some fourteen months ago. Only thing is, Colin’s assumed up ’til now that Ed is straight. Except the man sucking him off certainly didn’t seem straight….

Talk about the morning after the night before…. Ed awakens to find a nearly-naked Colin asleep on his sofa. The problem is that for some reason, he can’t get Colin out of his mind. Okay, so it wasn’t the first blow-job Ed’s ever gotten from a guy—or given, for that matter—but that was a long time ago, right? And why does Ed now want more?

With friends Rick, Angelo, Blake and Will to advise him, Ed finds himself on a completely unfamiliar road, as he struggles to accept that maybe the line he is walking isn’t as straight as he’d first imagined….

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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2014, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Amara: The Rebirth by Zathyn Priest

Reviewed by Susan65

Amara: The RebirthTitle: Amara: The Rebirth
Author: Zathyn Priest
Heroes: Matthew Mitchell and Emrys Amara
Genre: M/M Paranormal
Length: 233 Pages
Publisher: MLR Press
Release Date: April 17, 2014
Available at: MLR Press, Amazon, All Romance eBooks & Barnes and Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb:Legendary vampire, Emrys Amara, changes Matthew’s destiny when he’s thrown into a world of kidnap victims, werewolves, deceit, and the rebirth of the greatest vampire clan in history.

Matthew and his husband Dean are slayers, trying to end a chokehold Amara half-breed vampires put on Nottingham and kill the leader, Amdis. A diary supposedly written by legendary Emrys Amara is sent to them, yet they doubt the orphaned vampire could have survived the demise of his clan. Meeting Emrys proves them wrong. Matthew falls deeply; Dean’s jealousy takes a sinister turn.

A chain of events involving kidnapped children and werewolves follows as Amdis teams up with another vampire clan. Can Matthew and Emrys save the children while rebuilding the Amaras as the greatest vampire clan in history?

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Categories: 4.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2014, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Urban Fantasy Week Review: Cruce de Caminos by Heidi Belleau & Violetta Vane

Reviewed by Susan65

Cruce de CaminosTitle: Cruce de Caminos
Author: Heidi Belleau & Violetta Vane
Series: Layers of the Otherworld #0.5
Heroes: Sean O’Hara and Angel
Genre: M/M Urban Fantasy
Length: 51 Pages
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Release Date: May 21, 2013
Available at: Riptide Publishing, Amazon, All Romance eBooks & Barnes and Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads & Booklikes

Blurb: Addiction and desperation drive Sean O’Hara to a critical crossroads. Will he make the right decision, or will the floodwaters bound for New Orleans sweep him away?

Street kid Sean O’Hara has never had it easy, but New Orleans has driven him to his knees. His girlfriend’s broken up with him for a sugar daddy, a gun-toting pimp has robbed him of everything but the clothes on his back, and he’s down to his last two Oxycontin. Sean’s no seasoned streetwalker, but he’s not above it either, not when he’s already itching for his next fix.

A familiar-seeming stranger named Ángel may be his ticket to some quick cash, but only if Sean’s willing to help him indulge a high-class john’s weird fetish for the night. As Ángel tells him, in this city and this business, you have to get a little weird to survive.

When night falls on the French Quarter, Sean realizes Ángel and the john want more from him than he was expecting to give. What once seemed merely strange soon crosses the line into supernatural and sinister. And Ángel, the man Sean had viewed as a partner and protector, might also be his otherworldly judge and executioner. Continue reading

Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2013, Susan65's Reviews, Theme Week | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments