Book Review

Book Review: The Bastard by Inez Kelley

Reviewed by Heather C

21636649Title: The Bastard
Author: Inez Kelley
Series: The Baddest Boys in History #1
Hero & Heroine: Vike & Lacy
Genre: M/F Paranormal Romance
Length: 533 pages
Publisher: Self Published
Release Date: May 16, 2014
Available at: Amazon, All Romance eBooks and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: In the battle between good and evil, humans have never been more than collateral damage. Now they are prey. Mankind doesn’t need a hero. It needs a sinner.

Corrupt. Wicked. Nefarious. Contemptible….

The Baddest Boys in History are back!

You read about them in school. Now learn the truth. Real men. No vampires, no werewolves, no magic. Just down and dirty raw power —sin to sin, evil to evil, bad to bad. They fight for humanity. It was that or eternal damnation.

They agreed to risk their souls. No one told them they would lose their hearts.

THE BASTARD

Vike died in blood, in battle, in betrayal. His ruthlessness was second only to his brutality. Now one woman makes his blood sing and he’ll stop at nothing to save her. He only has to face half of Hell to do it.

Lacy is unknowingly descended from an ancient Holy line. Someone is slowly destroying her life and wants her dead. A fierce Viking comes to her rescue, and in his arms, she finds more than safety.

If Vike can’t protect Lacy, he’ll have to kill her. And for a bastard, what’s one woman worth when the entire world is in jeopardy?

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Categories: 4.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, Heather C's Reviews, M/F, Published in 2014 | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: The Winter Lord by Jaye Edgerton

Reviewed by Nikyta

The Winter Lord by Jaye Edgerton eBookTitle: The Winter Lord
Author: Jaye Edgerton
Heroes: Erik & Therial
Genre: M/M Fantasy
Length: 78 pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: April 23, 2014
Available at: Dreamspinner Press, Amazon, All Romance eBooks & Barnes and Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: When Erik, a human scholar and amateur mage, sets out to find Alfheim, the legendary home of the light-elves, he has nothing to lose. His village suffers under a mysterious Unending Winter, and his lover died in a hunting accident while trying to find food. Erik wants to find a way to end the cold, but he doesn’t expect a beautiful but Winter-cursed fey lord who wants him for his champion—and his bedmate.

Lord Therial is an elemental creature, tied to the land, and the elves of his kingdom revere him like a spoiled but rightful ruler. A spell cast by a rival fey locks him and his little corner of Alfheim into a perpetual Winter that seems connected to the one afflicting Erik’s home. If Erik fails to defeat the enemy, both realms will remain trapped forever. Continue reading

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

Kim Fielding Week Review: Buried Bones

Reviewed by Heather C

17877349Title: Buried Bones
Author: Kim Fielding
Series: Bones #2
Heroes: Dylan & Chris
Genre: M/M Paranormal Romance
Length: 74,353 words
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: May 22, 2013
Available at: Dreamspinner Press, Amazon, All Romance eBooks & Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Werewolves don’t have a how-to manual—nor do men embarking on a new life together.

It’s been a few weeks since Dylan Warner wolfed out and killed Andy, the crazed werewolf who originally turned him and later tried to murder Chris Nock. Architect Dylan and handyman Chris are still refurbishing Dylan’s old house as they work out the structure of their relationship. They come from very different backgrounds, and neither has had a long-term lover before, so negotiating their connections would be challenge enough even if Dylan didn’t turn into a beast once a month.

To make matters worse, Dylan’s house is haunted, and events from both men’s pasts are catching up with them. Dylan has to cope with the aftermath of killing Andy, and Chris continues to suffer the effects of a difficult childhood.

In his quest to get rid of the ghost, Dylan rekindles old friendships and faces new dangers. At the same time, Chris’s father makes a sudden reappearance, stirring up old emotions. If Dylan and Chris want to build a lasting relationship, they’ll have to meet these challenges head-on. Continue reading

Categories: 3.5 Star Ratings, Author Week, Book Review, Heather C's Reviews, LGBT, Published in 2013 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Book Review: Bound by Desire by Tempeste O’Riley

Reviewed by Nikyta

Bound by Desire by Tempeste O'RileyTitle: Bound by Desire
Author: Tempeste O’Riley
Series: Desires Entwined #1.75
Heroes: Seth & James
Genre: M/M Contemporary BDSM
Length: 20 pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: May 30, 2014
FREE at: Dreamspinner Press
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Despite his past abuse, James has come to terms with his relationship with his Dom and lover Seth. Seth treats James with all the trust and love his sub desires. There is only one thing left to do to make it all complete: Seth needs to put a collar on James.
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Categories: 3.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Nikyta's Reviews, Published in 2014 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Book Review: The Only Guy by Skylar M. Cates

Reviewed by JustJen

21897596Title: The Only Guy
Author: Skylar M. Cates
Series: The Guy #2
Heroes: Aaron/Jesse
Genre: M/M Contemporary
Length: 220 pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: May 26, 2014
Available at: Dreamspinner Press, Amazon, Barnes and Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Aaron Weiss knows how to escape. Years ago, he ran from a romantic disappointment and impulsively joined the Army. Now, he’s forced to take a medical discharge and readjusting to life at home proves a challenge.

Jesse Ross knows how to hide. He realizes he’s an oddball, and that he’s an outsider within his own family. He also knows his secret love since childhood, Aaron, only wants his good-looking, favored older brother. Yet Jesse could never completely abandon his intense feelings for Aaron. Over the years, Jesse was a faithful pen pal to him. Still, he’s shocked to his core to find Aaron on his doorstep.

As long-buried secrets and past hurts take center stage, the two are overwhelmingly drawn to each other. But it’s their future that may force them to risk everything.  Continue reading

Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, JustJen's Reviews, LGBT, Published in 2014 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 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: The Dog Trainer by Owen Keehnen

Reviewed by JustJen

DTTitle: The Dog Trainer
Author: Owen Keehnen
Heroes: Richard/Abe
Genre: M/M Contemporary
Length: 70 pages
Publisher: Wilde City Press
Release Date: May 21, 2014
Available at: Wilde City
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Sometimes the last thing you expect is exactly what you need.

Richard is a typical neurotic gay urbanite, a serial monogamist with a domineering peer group and a well-paying dead end job. That is until one night, while stumbling home drunk, Richard finds a puppy named Hambone. Almost immediately Richard’s life and his relationships begin to change. At the recommendation of Evelyn, his neighbor across the hall, Richard hires a dog trainer named Abe. From the moment Richard hears Abe’s voice on the phone he feels a connection with this professional pooch-handler. When they meet face-to-face the attraction is palpable. Richard loves the way Abe treats Hambone. Abe opens Richard’s eyes to a different take on life and what really matters.

Will love conquer all in the end? It will if Hambone has any say in the matter.

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

Kim Fielding Week Review: Pilgrimage

Reviewed by Nikyta

Pilgrimage by Kim Fielding eBookTitle: Pilgrimage
Author: Kim Fielding
Heroes: Mike & Goran
Genre: M/M Fantasy
Length: 200 pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: February 3, 2014
Available at: Dreamspinner Press & Amazon
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Fiscal analyst Mike Carlson is good with spreadsheets and baseball stats. He doesn’t believe in fate, true love, or fantasy. But then a fertility goddess whisks him away to another world. A promise has been broken, and if Mike is ever to return to California—and his comfortable if lonely life—he must complete a pilgrimage to the shrines of a death goddess.

A humiliating event convinces Mike to hire a guard to accompany him, and hunky Goran is handy enough with a sword, if a little too liberal with his ale. A man with no home and no family, Goran is deeper than he first appears. As Mike learns more about Goran, his disbelief wavers and his goals become less clear. Contending with feuding gods, the challenges of the journey, and his growing attraction to Goran, Mike faces a puzzle far harder to solve than simple rows of numbers.
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Author Week, Book Review, LGBT, Nikyta's Reviews, Published in 2014 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Kim Fielding Week Review: Good Bones

Reviewed by Heather C

13576676Title: Good Bones
Author: Kim Fielding
Series: Bones #1
Heroes: Dylan & Chris
Genre: M/M Paranormal Romance
Length: 60,671 words
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: April 2012
Available at: Dreamspinner Press, Amazon, All Romance eBooks and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb:  Skinny, quiet hipster Dylan Warner was the kind of guy other men barely glanced at until an evening’s indiscretion with a handsome stranger turned him into a werewolf. Now, despite a slightly hairy handicap, he just wants to live an ordinary—if lonely—life as an architect. He tries to keep his wild impulses in check, but after one too many close calls, Dylan gives up his urban life and moves to the country, where he will be less likely to harm someone else. His new home is a dilapidated but promising house that comes with a former Christmas tree farm and a solitary neighbor: sexy, rustic Chris Nock.

Dylan hires Chris to help him renovate the farmhouse and quickly discovers his assumptions about his neighbor are inaccurate—and that he’d very much like Chris to become a permanent fixture in his life as well as his home. Between proving himself to his boss, coping with the seductive lure of his dangerous ex-lover, and his limited romantic experience, Dylan finds it hard enough to express himself—how can he bring up his monthly urge to howl at the moon? Continue reading

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