Book Review

Book Review: Suddenly Last Summer by Sarah Morgan

Posted on June 30, 2014 by thebloggergirls

Guest Reviewed by Ami

20937456Title: Suddenly Last Summer
Author: Sarah Morgan
Series: O’Neil Brothers #2
Hero/Heroine: Élise Philippe/Sean O’Neil
Genre: M/F Contemporary Romance
Length: 384 Pages
Publisher: Harlequin (HQN)
Release Date: June 24, 2014
Available at:  Harlequin, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, All Romance Ebooks and Kobo
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb:  Fiery French chef Élise Philippe is having a seriously bad day. Not only have the opening day plans for her beloved café fallen apart, but Sean O’Neil is back in town, and looking more delectable than ever. Last summer, they shared an electrifying night together…and the memories have Élise really struggling to stick to her one-night-only rule! Her head knows that eventually Sean will be leaving, so all she can do is try to ignore her heart before she spontaneously combusts with lust.

Being back in Vermont—even temporarily—is surgeon Sean O’Neil’s worst nightmare. For Sean, returning home to the Snow Crystal Resort means being forced to confront the reasons and the guilt he feels about rejecting his family’s rural lifestyle years ago. But discovering that Élise has settled in Vermont and still sets his blood racing is a very welcome distraction! Thinking he can persuade her into a replay of last summer is tempting, but remembering how good they are together is going to make walking away more difficult than he could imagine…

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Categories: 3.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, Guest Reviewer, M/F, Published in 2014 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: The Growing Season by Diana Copland

Posted on June 29, 2014 by susan65coug Miss Behaving

Reviewed by Susan65

1Title: The Growing Season
Author: Diana Copland
Series: Secrets of Neverwood #2
Heroes: Danny Redmond/Sam Ignatius
Genre: M/M Contemporary
Length: 145 Pages
Publisher: Carina Press
Release Date: June 30, 2014
Available at: Carina Press, Amazon, All Romance eBooks and Kobo
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: The four years since Danny Redmond left Neverwood have been heartbreaking, and past mistakes continue to haunt him, even after he returns home.Together with two foster brothers he barely knows, they plan to turn the house into a welcoming place for runaways once again—the dying wish of their foster mother, Audrey.

Danny has nothing to contribute to the restoration of the decrepit mansion, save for a gift for growing things. His efforts to bring Audrey’s beloved gardens back to their former glory are complicated by handsome landscaper Sam Ignatius…and the feelings developing between them, despite their fiery differences of opinion. But one voice gives him hope, the only one he’s always trusted—Audrey’s.

Danny comes to care deeply for Sam, but things look bleak when Sam’s city councilman father threatens to have Neverwood torn down. Danny isn’t surprised. Why would he expect the future to be different from his past? All his relationships end in disaster…

Three foster brothers are called home to Neverwood, the stately Pacific Northwest mansion of their youth. They have nothing in common but a promise to Audrey, the woman they all called mother…

Secrets of Neverwood is a multi-author trilogy; One Door Closes, The Growing Season and The Lost Year can be enjoyed either as a continuity or as standalones.
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2014, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Complementary Colors by Adrienne Wilder

Posted on June 29, 2014 by thebloggergirls

Reviewed by JustJen

1Title: Complementary Colors
Author: Adrienne Wilder
Heroes: Paris/Roy
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 320 Pages
Publisher: Adrienne Wilder
Release Date: June 20, 2014
Available at: Adrienne Wilder, Amazon
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb:  My sister Julia manipulated my life into a prison to keep me silent about our dirty family secret. Her greed made me a slave and circumstance left me with no way to escape.

Trapped, the only way I could silence the nightmares driving me to insanity was to wrap them in color, hold them with shadow, and stitch them to negative space with line.

But no matter how bright the pigments, no one could see my confession.

Except for Roy Callahan.

I thought he was just another nameless one-night stand in a long line of many.
But I was wrong. Roy could see past the façade of my life and through the veil color over the canvas. He could see what the world couldn’t.

And with him I’d find the courage to tell the truth about the boy.

The boy who kissed me.
The boy who loved me.
The boy whose name I couldn’t remember.
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Categories: 5 Star Ratings, Book Review, JustJen's Reviews, LGBT, Published in 2014 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Book Review: Taming the Bander by Summer Devon

Posted on June 29, 2014 by Nikyta

Reviewed by Nikyta

1Title: Taming the Bander
Author: Summer Devon
Series: Solitary Shifters #1
Heroes: Jake/Vaughn
Genre: M/M Paranormal
Length: 213 Pages
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Release Date: February 26, 2013
Available at: Samhain Publishing, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, All Romance eBooks and Kobo
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: He thought he had nothing left to lose…until he lost his heart.

Jake will be forever grateful to the man who rescued him and brought him to an animal preserve to live. It’s the perfect home for a bander, a type of shifter known to be notoriously taciturn. Now Jake runs the place, and he’s content with the hard truth that he’ll always be alone.

Summer visitors are a necessary evil. And Vaughn Prentiss is exactly the sort of tourist that gets on Jake’s last nerve. A happy-go-lucky, carefree, trust-fund baby.

Vaughn can’t fathom why Jake seems to enjoy insulting him for no reason. Yet he’s attracted to the man’s gruff kindness with the preserve’s youthful workers. And it hasn’t escaped his notice that Jake is something special. Something not quite human.

When Vaughn discovers his financial manager has absconded with the family fortune, Jake acts on impulse to offer him a job, and wonders if he’ll live to regret it. It’s hard enough to keep his shifter nature private, much less keep his paws off his newest employee…a man Jake is coming to admire. If only he could be sure, when danger reveals the truth of what he is, if Vaughn will stay by his side—or run.

Product Warnings: Contains a sexy “pretty boy” who’s smarter than he looks and a grouchy shapeshifter who can’t resist strong hands and a wicked tongue. Prepare yourself. This book is anything but tame.
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Nikyta's Reviews, Published in 2013 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Debut Author & Early Review: One Door Closes by G.B. Lindsey

Posted on June 28, 2014 by Nikyta

Reviewed by Nikyta

1Title: One Door Closes
Author: G.B. Lindsey
Series: Secrets of Neverwood #1
Heroes: Calvin & Will
Genre: M/M Contemporary
Length: 59k words
Publisher: Carina Press
Release Date: June 30, 2014
Available at: Carina Press, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, All Romance eBooks and Kobo
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Years ago, Calvin Ware found a refuge in Neverwood, a home for wayward boys. Now, following the death of his foster mother Audrey, he’s returned to fulfill her request to restore the decrepit Victorian mansion to its former purpose.

Under the threat of repossession, Cal clashes with his foster brothers over restoration plans while fending off the unscrupulous developer who is breathing down his neck. Audrey’s well-meaning presence in his dreams does more harm than good as he struggles to cope with it all. What’s more, the contractor he hires to get the building up to code turns out to be Will Cabot, his high school flame.

As they begin working together, Cal finds he still has feelings for his first love. But his mistakes of years ago threaten their future, just as they ruined their past, and Cal knows he can’t withstand the heartbreak a second time.

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

Book Review: A Touch of Midnight by Lara Adrian

Posted on June 28, 2014 by Heather C

Reviewed by Heather C

1Title:  A Touch of Midnight
Author: Lara Adrian
Series: Midnight Breed #0.5
Hero/Heroine:  Gideon/Savannah
Genre: MF Paranormal Romance
Length: 182 Pages
Publisher: Lara Adrian, LLC
Release Date: December 14, 2013
Available at: Lara Adrian, LLC, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords and iBooks
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Savannah Dupree is halfway across the country from her Louisiana bayou hometown, a freshman studying at Boston University on a full scholarship. But academic excellence is only one of Savannah’s gifts. She possesses something even more remarkable than her quick mind and insatiable curiosity for learning. With a simple touch, Savannah can see an object’s past—a skill that puts her life in danger, when her studies bring her into contact with a centuries-old English sword and the secret hidden within the blade’s history: the vicious murders of twin boys by a group of fanged creatures borne of the worst kind of nightmare.

In all his three hundred years of living as one of the Breed, vampire warrior Gideon never dreamed he’d see the blade again that spilled his young brothers’ lives ages ago on that blood-soaked night in London. Ever since the boys’ deaths, Gideon’s been on a personal quest to rid the world of Rogue vampires, but now he can’t help wondering if the brutal slayings of his only kin was something more sinister—an act perpetrated by an unknown enemy. An enemy who is apparently living in hiding somewhere in Boston. There’s one certain way to prove Gideon’s suspicion, but it will mean using innocent, gifted Savannah to help uncover the full truth—a truth that will shatter everything she knows about herself and the world around her. And with danger closing in from all sides, the passion that ignites between Gideon and Savannah will tempt them to risk their hearts and lives for a love that might just last an eternity…

This novella, a prequel to the Midnight Breed series, was previously published in its entirety in The Midnight Breed Series Companion (May 2013).
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Categories: 3 Star Ratings, Book Review, Heather C's Reviews, M/F, Published in 2013 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

S.A. Meade Week Review: Mourning Jack

Posted on June 28, 2014 by susan65coug Miss Behaving

Reviewed by Susan65

1Title: Mourning Jack
Author: S.A. Meade
Heroes: Ade and Cal Eric
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 160 Pages
Publisher: Total E-Bound
Release Date: May 14, 2012
Available at: Total E-Bound, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, All Romance eBooks and Kobo
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: When Ade loses his best friend he soon learns that mourning Jack brings not only sorrow but happiness too. Restaurant chef Ade is a man of his word. When his best friend is killed while serving in Afghanistan, he honours a promise to look after Jack s lover, Cal. Ever the white knight, Ade does his best to console Cal in spite of losing his job and nearly losing his life. Ever the fool, Ade falls in love and learns the hard way that loving someone who can t love him isn t enough. With a new job in a new place comes the possibility of a new love, but Eric has baggage of his own. Can Ade and Eric leave their old heartaches behind and find new happiness with each other?”
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Author Week, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2012, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

S.A. Meade Week Review: Stolen Summer

Posted on June 27, 2014 by justjenbo

Reviewed by JustJen

1Title: Stolen Summer
Author: S.A. Meade
Heroes: Evan/Colin
Genre: M/M Contemporary
Length: 210 Pages
Publisher: Totally Bound
Release Date: August 29, 2011
Available at:  Totally Bound, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, All Romance Ebooks
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb:  The horror of Evan and Colin’s stolen summer may be over but the nightmares remain. Can their love survive the fallout?

The last thing journalist Evan Harrison expects to hear, when he returns from covering the war in Afghanistan, is that his best friend, Colin Williams, is in love with him.

Colin, an Oxford Professor with a poet’s soul and a roving eye, turns out to be a temptation Evan can’t resist. What he discovers is that sex with Colin is hot, wild and relentless. The two of them embark on a passionate affair and Evan knows he’s going to spend his days with Colin – after one last assignment.

A western journalist in Pakistan is too tempting a target for local insurgents. Evan’s ‘Oh-shit’ sense fails dismally when he is taken hostage and spends four months refusing to let his captors grind him down by clinging to memories of the lover he left behind. Freedom from captivity, however, doesn’t bring freedom from terror. The legacy of Evan’s ordeal results in meltdowns and nightmares that threaten to destroy his life with Colin. He can’t even seek comfort in lovemaking because the pills intended to save his sanity kill his desire.

Evan seizes a chance to put his nightmares behind him by taking one final assignment, covering unrest in Jordan. Colin sees Evan’s decision as the end of a relationship he fought hard to save. If Evan makes it back to England in one piece, winning Colin back will be the toughest assignment he’s ever faced.
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Categories: 4.5 Star Ratings, Author Week, Book Review, JustJen's Reviews, LGBT, Published in 2011 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Forty-Two Stairs by A.F. Henley

Posted on June 27, 2014 by Nikyta

Reviewed by Nikyta

1Title: Forty-Two Stairs
Author: A.F. Henley
Heroes: Owen/Sebastian
Genre: M/M Contemporary
Length: 44k words
Publisher: Less Than Three Press
Release Date: June 25, 2014
Available at: Less Than Three Press, Amazon, All Romance eBooks & Barnes and Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Owen has been struggling with addiction since he was a teenager, but it takes a DUI involving another vehicle for him to finally face his issues. The road to recovery is a rough one, and for Owen it’s a journey made harder by bankruptcy, loneliness, and repressed memories.

His new apartment doesn’t help either. It’s small, worn, and hot as hell. The only way to reach it is a tedious stretch of stairs that seems like the final insult on top of a whole pile of misery. Thankfully, the mess comes with one bright spot: intense, pretty Sebastian, who seems to have a knack for keeping his head up and finding the beauty in everything.
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Categories: 3.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Nikyta's Reviews, Published in 2014 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment