Author Archives: Heather C

Sleuth Week Review: Eidolon by Jordan L. Hawk

Reviewed by Heather C

20559250Title: Eidolon
Author: Jordan L. Hawk
Series: Whyborne & Griffin #1.5
The Heroes: Whyborne & Griffin
Genre: M/M Historical Romance, Paranormal
Length: 29 pages
Release Date: February 12, 2014
Available at: AmazonAll Romance eBooks, Smashwords & Barnes and Noble
Add it to your shelf at: Goodreads

Blurb:  A Whyborne & Griffin short story.

Griffin Flaherty wants nothing more than to create a perfect Valentine’s Day for his lover, Dr. Percival Endicott Whyborne. Dinner at a fancy restaurant, an evening at the theater, and a romantic interlude at home should do the trick.

But a new client with an urgent case puts Griffin’s plans in jeopardy. A magic talisman has been stolen, and if it isn’t returned by sundown, it may unleash disaster not only on the thief but the innocents around him.

Can Whyborne and Griffin track down the thief and return the amulet by nightfall, or will dinner reservations become the least of their worries? Continue reading

Categories: 4.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, Heather C's Reviews, LGBT, Published in 2014, Theme Week | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Sleuth Week Review: The Psychic and the Sleuth by Bonnie Dee and Summer Devon

Reviewed by Heather C

13594541Title: The Psychic and the Sleuth
Author: Bonnie Dee & Summer Devon
The Heroes: Robert Court & Oliver Marsh
Genre: M/M Historical Romance, Mystery
Length: Novel
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Release Date: January 17, 2012
Available at: Samhain PublishingAmazonAll Romance eBooks & Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf at: Goodreads & Booklikes

Blurb: Trusting a psychic flash might solve a mystery…and lead to love.

Inspector Robert Court should have felt a sense of justice when a rag-and-bones man went to the gallows for murdering his cousin. Yet something has never felt right about the investigation. Robert’s relentless quest for the truth has annoyed his superintendent, landing him lowly assignments such as foiling a false medium who’s fleecing the wives of the elite.

Oliver Marsh plays the confidence game of spiritualism, though his flashes of insight often offer his clients some comfort. Despite the presence of an attractive, if sneering, non-believer at a séance, he carries on—and experiences a horrifying psychic episode in which he experiences a murder as the victim.

There’s only one way for Court to learn if the young, dangerously attractive Marsh is his cousin’s killer or a real psychic: spend as much time with him as possible. Despite his resolve to focus on his job, Marsh somehow manages to weave a seductive spell around the inspector’s straight-laced heart.

Gradually, undeniable attraction overcomes caution. The two men are on the case, and on each other, as they race to stop a murderer before he kills again.

Product Warnings:

Graphic language and hot male/male sex with light BDSM themes. Despite “Descriptions of Murderous Acts” perpetrated by an unhinged killer, resist the temptation to cover your eyes—you’ll miss the good parts! Continue reading

Categories: 3.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, Heather C's Reviews, LGBT, Published in 2012, Theme Week | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Book Review: Aunt Adeline’s Bequest by Amy Rae Durreson

Reviewed by Heather C

20696625Title: Aunt Adeline’s Bequest
Author: Amy Rae Durreson
The Heroes: Valentine Nugent & Jasper Pritchard
Genre: M/M Historical Romance
Length: 51 pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: February 11, 2014
Available at: Dreamspinner PressAmazonAll Romance eBooksBarnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf at: Goodreads

Blurb: One snowy evening, wounded WWI veteran Jasper Pritchard arrives at Valentine Nugent’s sweet shop with an unusual request. Jasper’s deceased great-aunt has left him a fortune, along with a box of indiscreet letters she wants returned to the writer, and the only clue is a tin sold in Valentine’s shop over twenty years ago. As they search the shop’s records and uncover a love story from long ago, they find far more than the answer to the mystery. Continue reading

Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, Heather C's Reviews, LGBT, Published in 2014 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Early Review: It’s All Geek to Me by JL Merrow

Reviewed by Heather C

20418325Title: It’s All Geek to Me
Author: JL Merrow
Heroes: Jez and Rhys
Genre: M/M Contemporary Romance, Comedy
Length: 13,600 words
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Release Date: February 10, 2014
Available at: Riptide Publishing
Add it to your shelf at: Goodreads

Blurb: Jez is on a mission of mercy: to replace a tragically deceased comic book for his injured best mate, Tel. Venturing into the Hidden Asteroid bookstore in London—the temple of geekdom itself—Jez is bowled over by the guy behind the counter.

Rhys is the poster boy for hot geeks: tall, gorgeous, and totally cool. Jez is desperate to impress him, so he bluffs his way through comic book jargon . . . and then dashes back to the hospital to beg Tel to teach him how to speak Geek.

Tel’s happy to oblige, and Jez is over the moon when Rhys asks him out. He’s even more thrilled when they discover a shared love of rugby, something he won’t have to fake for Rhys. The question is, how long can Jez keep up the deception, and what will happen when Rhys realizes he’s going out with a Fake Geek Guy? Continue reading

Categories: 3.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, Heather C's Reviews, LGBT, Published in 2014 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Early Review: Strain by Amelia C. Gormley

Reviewed by Heather C

18460726Title: Strain
Author: Amelia C. Gormley
The Heroes: Rhys Cooper & Darius Murrell
Genre: M/M Romance, Science Fiction, Post-Apocolyptic
Length: 104,300 words
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Release Date: February 17, 2014
Available at: Riptide Publishing
Add it to your shelf at: GoodreadsBooklikes

Blurb: In a world with little hope and no rules, the only thing they have to lose is themselves.

Rhys Cooper is a dead man. Cut off from the world since childhood, he’s finally exposed to the lethal virus that wiped out most of the human race. Now his only hope for survival is infection by another strain that might provide immunity. But it’s sexually transmitted, and the degradation he feels at submitting to the entire squad of soldiers that rescued him eclipses any potential for pleasure—except with Darius, the squadron’s respected, capable leader.

Sergeant Darius Murrell has seen too much death and too little humanity. He’s spent a decade putting plague victims out of their misery and escorting survivors to a safe haven he can never enjoy. He’d rather help Rhys live than put him down, so when Rhys can’t reconcile himself to doing what’s necessary to survive, Darius is forced to save Rhys in spite of himself.

But with each passing day, it looks less and less likely that Rhys can be saved. And that means that Darius might soon have to put a bullet in the head of the one person in years who reminds him of what it means to be human. Continue reading

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

Book Review: Paradox Lost by Libby Drew

Reviewed by Heather C

18760474Title: Paradox Lost
Author: Libby Drew
Heroes: Reegan McNamara & Saul Kildare
Genre: M/M Romance, Science Fiction
Length: 84,000 words
Publisher: Carina Press
Release Date: January 27, 2014
Available at: Carina PressAmazonAll Romance eBooksBarnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf at: Goodreads & Booklikes

Blurb: Time-travel tour guide Reegan McNamara’s job–taking eager tourists to whenever they want to go–is usually a breeze. A trip back to 2020 to watch a world-changing speech seems no different, until a woman runs away from his tour group before the jump home. Now her tycoon husband is demanding her safe return–or Reegan will lose more than just his job.

P.I. Saul Kildare’s business is running on borrowed time. Due to a messy break with the police, he can’t get a referral to save his life. When an enigmatic stranger bangs on his door one night and promises a windfall for a missing-person case, it seems too good to be true. But the two men have an immediate connection, and Saul can’t pass up the chance to spend more time with Reegan, even if he’s clearly hiding something.

Saul knows he shouldn’t trust Reegan, and Reegan knows he can’t get involved with Saul. But as their attraction evolves into feelings neither can deny, will they have the strength to take a leap of faith–together? Continue reading

Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, Heather C's Reviews, LGBT, Published in 2014 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

A word on the condom issue

I have to reblog this because the words couldn’t be truer. We see so many middle aged men in the advanced stages of AIDS at my hospital…still denying what has happened. This is a tragically real and sad problem. And yes I am a female reading gay male-male romance…and condoms will always be sexier than disease…even in fiction.

PD Singer's avatarP.D. Singer

condom-couture-dress-made-of-condoms-for-aids-charityRecently I received a very nice review for Scrum. The reader enjoyed the story, but snickered a little at the lack of condom=no anal sex business. While this is his right, it also makes me worry. He defined it as “something that appeals to women readers.”

I know, because I have gay friends, gay acquaintances, and read a lot, that condom use and safer sex practices are far from universal. The moment gets away from you, the other guy is so damned hot, you trust what he said about his status, you don’t believe that HIV is a problem, whatever.

Except, it’s not whatever. It’s someone’s life. Many someones.

CDC estimates that approximately 50,000 people in the United States are newly infected with HIV each year. In 2010 (the most recent year that data are available), there were an estimated 47,500 new HIV infections.a Nearly two thirds of these new…

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Categories: Uncategorized | 3 Comments

Book Review: A Better Man by Jaime Reese

Reviewed by Heather C

ABetterMan-400x600Title: A Better Man
Author: Jaime Reese
Series: The Men of Halfway House #1
The Heroes: Matthew Doner & Julian Capeletti
Genre: M/M Contemporary Romance
Length: 69,034 words
Publisher: Romandeavor, Inc
Release Date: January 16, 2014, 2nd edition
Available at: Amazon, All Romance eBooks & Barnes and Noble
Add it to your shelf at: Goodreads

Blurb: Matthew Doner is starting over. After a five-year prison term that alters every aspect of his life, he receives a bequest from his aunt with the stipulation that he use the money to make things right. Breaking free of the long-standing role he’s played and inspired by the few who support him, he decides to create a safe place where people like him can find purpose and start a new life.

Julian Capeletti likes challenges. He is confident, brash, stubborn, and just what Matt needs. Desperate for work after a downturn of luck, he accepts the job to renovate Matt’s crumbling building.

Over the course of a year, romance simmers between them as they restore the house. But there’s a bigger renovation that must take place in their hearts. To become better men, they need to learn to trust each other even with secrets and painful memories they fear may rip them apart. Continue reading

Categories: 4.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, Heather C's Reviews, LGBT, Published in 2014 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Mary Calmes Week Review: Steamroller

Reviewed by Heather C

15807197Title: Steamroller
Author: Mary Calmes
The Heroes: Vincent Wade & Carson Cress
Genre: M/M Contemporary Romance
Length: 34, 288 words
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: May 7, 2012
Available at: Dreamspinner PressAmazonAll Romance eBooksBarnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf at: Goodreads Booklikes

Blurb: About the last thing Vincent Wade expected was for Carson Cress to ask him out. Vince is a dedicated biology student and a bit of a loner. Superstar quarterback Carson is larger than life, and he lives under a public microscope. There’s no way they should work. But Vince is learning that sometimes people just come steamrolling into your life and all you can do is hang on for the ride or lose your heart in the process. If their relationship can survive the fallout when an injury derails Carson’s future plans, maybe Vince can finally find something to believe in. Continue reading

Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Author Week, Book Review, Heather C's Reviews, LGBT, Published in 2012, Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Book Review: In These Words, Vol 1 by TogaQ & Kichiku Neko

Reviewed by Heather C

13549765Title: In These Words, Volume 1
Author: TogaQ (art) & Kichiku Neko (script) Guilt|Pleasure
Series: In These Words
The Hero: Asano Katsuya
The Villian: Shinohara Keiji
Genre: Manga/Suspense, M/M
Length: 200 pages
Publisher: 801 Media, Inc
Release Date: June 26, 2012
Volume 1 is available in print at: Amazon (maybe?)
Individual chapters are available in print at: Guilt|Pleasure
Individual chapters are available in eBook at: Kobo
Add it to your shelf at: GoodreadsBooklikes

Blurb: Asano Katsuya is a US trained psychiatrist who has been recruited by the Tokyo Police Department to provide a profile through the victims’ data. Based on Asano’s profile and recommendation, an elaborate plan is put into place to lure the serial killer out – a plan that bore successful results! Now, after three years and twelve victims, Shinohara Keiji is finally in police custody. Shinohara has promised a thorough confession, however, on the absolute terms that Asano has to be the one to receive it. Besides the curious request by the killer whom Asano was only familiar with on paper, disturbing nightmares begin to plague him as soon as he’s given the case… Continue reading

Categories: 4.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, Heather C's Reviews, LGBT, Published in 2012 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment