LGBT

Audio Review: Breakaway by Avon Gale

Reviewed by Susan65

Title: Breakaway
Author: Avon Gale
Narrator: Scott R. Smith
Series: Scoring Chances #1
Heroes: Lane Courtnall/Jared Shore
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 7 Hours, 33 Minutes
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: August 9, 2016
Available at: Amazon, Audible and iTunes
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Drafted to play for the Jacksonville Sea Storm, an NHL affiliate, twenty-year-old Lane Courtnall’s future looks bright, apart from the awkwardness he feels as a gay man playing on a minor league hockey team. He’s put his foot in his mouth a few times and alienated his teammates. Then, during a rivalry game, Lane throws off his gloves against Jared Shore, enforcer for the Savannah Renegades. It’s a strange way to begin a relationship.

Jared’s been playing minor league hockey for most of his career. He’s bisexual and doesn’t care if anyone knows. But he’s determined to avoid another love affair after the last one left him devastated. Out of nowhere a one-nighter with rookie Lane Courtnall gives him second thoughts. Lane reminds Jared why he loves the game and why love might be worth the risk. In turn, Jared hopes to show Lane how to be comfortable with himself on and off the ice. But they’re at different points in their careers, and both men will have to decide what they value most.
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Categories: 4.5 Star Ratings, Audio Review, LGBT, Published in 2016, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: The Play of His Life by Amy Aislin

Reviewed by Susan65

Title: The Play of His Life
Author: Amy Aislin
Heroes: Christian/Riley
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 149 Pages
Publisher: MLR Press
Release Date: April 28, 2017
Available at:  Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Former best friends turned lovers Christian and Riley haven’t seen or spoken to each other in six years…is there a better time than the holiday season to reconnect with your favorite person?

The last person Christian wants to run into on a visit home to spend time with his mom over the holidays is his former best friend-turned-lover-turned-ex. But there Riley is, in all his tall, chiseled, blondness. The same guy who walked out on him six years ago, breaking his heart in the process. Who knew he’s still in love with the jerk? (Oh yeah, he did. What? Who says denial isn’t healthy?)

Two years ago, Riley was injured out of the NHL, but he’s got his own bakery now and a quiet life selling quiches and cupcakes to his customers. Then Christian unexpectedly walks back into his life, forcing Riley to question his choices. Especially that one choice he made six years ago that walked him out of Christian’s life. Now if only he had the courage to tell a boy how he really feels about him…
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2017, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Lion’s Mate by Shannon West and T.S. McKinney

Reviewed by JustJen

Title: Lion’s Mate
Authors: Shannon West and T.S. McKinney
Series: Hell’s Creek #1
Heroes: Julian/Leo
Genre: MM Paranormal
Length: 135 Pages
Publisher: Painted Hearts Publishing
Release Date: May 10, 2017
Available at: Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb:  When Julian Montague rolls into a small mill town on the back side of nowhere, he isn’t looking for any trouble. He’s broke and fallen on hard times—but his idea to run from a license check on a main highway has backfired. He went off road on his motorcycle and now he’s hopelessly lost and almost out of gas. Stopping at the only station in town, he’s confronted by bullies with a gun who insist he’s on the “wrong side of the line” and then proceed to attack him. Fighting them off, he heads for the dubious safety of the “other side” when he’s attacked by a wild animal and crashes, almost killing himself. Waking up tied to a bed, he’s startled to find his injuries are being tended by a large, handsome man named Leo who bosses him around, showers him with affection and insists on calling him kitty. Something is going on in this strange town called Hell’s Creek, involving the large paper mill and the strange inhabitants who live in separate territories and answer only to the Company. Julian needs to find out what it is before he finds himself the “mate” of another man—and the main problem with that is that he’s beginning to like the idea way too much.
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Categories: 3.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, JustJen's Reviews, LGBT, Published in 2017 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: The Rainbow Clause by Beth Bolden

Reviewed by Susan65

Title: The Rainbow Clause
Author: Beth Bolden
Heroes: Colin O’Connor/Nick Wheeler
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 324 Pages
Publisher: Beth Bolden
Release Date: April 23, 2017
Available at:  Amazon
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Heisman winner. Member of the National Championship team. NFL Rookie of the Year. Quarterback Colin O’Connor knows he’s become the ultimate romance novel cliché: all the success he’s ever dreamed of but nobody to share it with. Too bad it’s not as simple as asking out the next girl who intrigues him – because the next girl to intrigue him probably won’t be a girl at all.

Unexpectedly, the solution comes in one neat package: Nick Wheeler, lead journalist for a leading sports and pop culture blog. Hired by Colin’s team, Nick comes to Miami to shine a spotlight on the NFL’s most private quarterback.

The heat in Miami rises when Nick discovers that Colin is nothing like the hollow personality he pretends to be in interviews and he’s even hotter in person than on his Sports Illustrated cover. Nick knows this is the story of his career, and after spending his teenage years as a bullied, closeted teen, it hits very close to home. What he needs is to help Colin share his story while keeping their growing relationship from boiling over in the press, but what he wants is to tell the world.
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2017, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: See My Words by Melanie Hansen

Reviewed by JustJen

Title: See My Words
Author: Melanie Hansen
Series: Spectrum Nights #2
Heroes: Scott Ashworth/Rylan Mahoney
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 278 Pages
Publisher: Ninestar Press
Release Date: April 24, 2017
Available at: Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb:  Successful underwear model Scott Ashworth is lucky—his attack at the hands of an unknown assailant will leave no visible scars. His professional goals are still within reach, and best of all, his stepbrother Rylan Mahoney is back in his life, their teenage infatuation at last getting the chance to deepen into something more.

Thrown together by the circumstances of Scott’s injury, Rylan’s long-dormant feelings for him are quickly rekindled, though he’s haunted by the memory of Scott’s disappearance on the night of his eighteenth birthday and the six missing years that followed. Rylan pushes Scott for the truth, a firm believer in the maxim that secrets lose their power once they’re shared—but resurrecting old demons almost always comes with a price.

Before Scott knows it, his life is spiraling out of control, his toxic insecurities welling up to threaten the fragile relationship he’s building with Rylan. Learning to let go of the past and believe in himself will be Scott’s greatest challenge, or else he risks losing Rylan forever this time.

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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, JustJen's Reviews, LGBT, Published in 2017 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Faking It by Christine D’Abo

Reviewed by JustJen

Title: Faking It
Author: Christine D’Abo
Series: Ringside Romance #2
Heroes: Max Tremblay/Grady Barnes
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 238 Pages
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Release Date: May 8, 2017
Available at: Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb:  Max Tremblay should be happy. His night club, Frantic, is one of the most popular gay clubs in Toronto, and his childhood refuge, Ringside Gym, is well on the way to reopening. But when he finds yet another drunk in the alley beside the bar, Max isn’t sure this is the life he truly wants.

Grady Barnes has it all. He’s rich, famous, and wants for nothing. Well, nothing but a good relationship with his father. When he discovers that his father is going to force him into an arranged marriage, Grady has had enough. He tracks down Max, the man who got him to safety after a night of overindulgence, and makes him a proposal: pretend to be his fiancé for two weeks and he’ll invest in Ringside Gym.

When the pair travel to Vancouver to attend a family wedding, the flames of their mutual attraction ignite, and they discover that the only difference between pretend and reality is how well they can fake it.
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, JustJen's Reviews, LGBT, Published in 2017 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Book Review: Take a Chance on It by K.A. Mitchell

Reviewed by Susan65

Title: Take a Chance on It
Author: K.A. Mitchell
Series: Ready or Knot #3
Heroes: Dane Archer/Gideon DeLuca
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 160 Pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: October 19, 2016
Available at:  Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Left at the altar by his long-time lover, Spencer, and in desperate need of quality health insurance, Dane Archer can’t say no when his best man and best friend, Gideon DeLuca, steps in. But Dane and Gideon have history, tangled and passionate and complicated.

After seventeen years of cat and mouse, Gideon has realized Dane isn’t the kind of man who ever wants to be caught, and he’s stopped playing Dane’s game.

For Dane, it’s never been a game, but sexual fidelity isn’t his strong suit. Love is too beautiful for limits, something he’s never been able to get Gideon the control freak to understand. Now Dane has nothing but limits, including the timeline on his paper-only marriage to Gideon.

Gideon’s the only person Dane trusts enough to lean on, and Gideon will do anything to get Dane through this crisis. Anything but fall for Dane again.

Living together forces Dane and Gideon to stop circling and face what’s been between them all these years. They just don’t know if they have the power or the time to make things right.

What they do know is that they’re not ready for it to be over.
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Categories: 4.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2016, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Risky Behavior by L.A. Witt and Cari Z.

Reviewed by Susan65

Title: Risky Behavior
Authors: L.A. Witt and Cari Z.
Series: Bad Behavior #1
Heroes: Andreas Ruffner/Darren Corliss
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 309 Pages
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Release Date: May 1, 2017
Available at:  Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: It’s day one of Darren Corliss’s career as a detective, and not only has he been assigned a notoriously difficult partner, but the guy might also be a pill-popping dirty cop. Internal Affairs needs proof, and Darren gets to be their eyes and ears whether he wants to or not.

Detective Andreas Ruffner doesn’t play by the rules, and he doesn’t play well with others. With bodies piling up and a list of suspects who are way above his pay grade, the last thing he needs is a wet-behind-the-ears kid for a partner. Or babysitter. Not even if that partner is easy on the eyes.

As Darren gains Andreas’s hard-won trust, they both realize there’s more than just mutual suspicion simmering beneath the surface. But their investigation is heating up as quickly as their relationship, and Darren has no choice but to go along with Andreas’s unorthodox—and borderline unethical—methods. As IA puts the squeeze on Darren to give up the man he’s falling for, he has to wonder—is Andreas the only cop left in this town who isn’t dirty?
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Categories: 4.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2017, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Audio Review: Touch the Sky by Christina Lee and Nyrae Dawn

Reviewed by Susan65

Title: Touch the Sky
Authors: Christina Lee and Nyrae Dawn
Narrators: Thomas Fawley and Brandon Bujnowski
Series: Free Fall #1
Heroes: Lucas Barnett/Gabriel Stewart
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 7 hours, 16 minutes
Publisher: Self Published
Release Date: March 7, 2017
Available at: Amazon and Audible
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Lucas Barnett and Gabriel Stewart didn’t have it easy as kids. They were only trying to deal with bad situations at home when they became lifelines for each other. Their pipe dream was to someday meet in LA, where Lucas would design skyscrapers, and Gabriel would learn to fly. But then Gabriel disappeared without so much as a goodbye, and Lucas got himself in trouble with the law.

Five years later, both men are at a loss when they run into each other at a Hollywood bar. Lucas is still angry, but it’s not as if Gabriel could control how his mind and body had betrayed him. Being found on the ledge of that bridge had changed everything.

The attraction is immediate, but it’s more than their inability to keep their hands off each other. Neither man expects the fierce connection pulling them together. Unfortunately, ignoring their problems doesn’t make them disappear. Gabriel’s internal struggles are serious…dangerous. And no matter how much Lucas wants it to be true, saving Gabriel won’t make up for not being able to save his mom. If they don’t find the strength to face their own demons before the darkness takes hold, they risk more than just losing each other forever.
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Audio Review, LGBT, Published in 2017, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Murder Once Seen by J.T. Hall

Reviewed by JustJen

Title: Murder Once Seen
Author: J.T. Hall
Series: The Oddities #1
Heroes: Derwin/Elliott
Genre: MM Paranormal
Length: 352 Pages
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Release Date: December 12, 2016
Available at:  Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: In the city of Nis, things often aren’t what they seem.

Derwin is a bounty hunter gifted with the Oddity of superhuman strength and agility—perfect for hunting down fugitives and demons who roam the streets. One killed his boyfriend two years ago, and Derwin won’t stop until he finds out who. Police suspect it was someone he sent to prison, but he can’t shake the idea that they’re missing something.

Elliot is a rentboy who’s been living on the streets since his parents disowned him. He mistrusts everyone and, given his uncontrolled ability to Read Objects and a client list that includes a major gang boss, despairs of ever having a normal life.

Derwin and Elliot meet in a storm of lust. Derwin’s Oddity is fed by the pain of others, but he only wants what’s freely given. Elliot loves pain, but needs safety and a way off the streets before he can allow it. They may be able to solve each other’s problems . . . if they can survive long enough to work together.
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, JustJen's Reviews, LGBT, Published in 2016 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment