LGBT

Book Review: Cronin’s Key II by N.R. Walker

Reviewed by Susan65

1Title: Cronin’s Key II
Author: N.R. Walker
Series: Cronin’s Key #2
Heroes: Alec/Cronin
Genre: MM Paranormal
Length: 195 Pages
Publisher: N.R. Walker
Release Date: May 22, 2015
Available at:  Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: History isn’t always what it seems.

With the battle of Egypt behind them, Alec and Cronin are enjoying the thrill of new love. Though fate doesn’t wait long before throwing them back into the world of weird.

They know Alec’s blood is special, though its true purpose still eludes them. And given Alec’s inability to be changed into a vampire, Cronin is free to drink from him at will. But the ramifications of drinking such powerful blood starts a ripple effect.

With the help of Jorge, a disturbing vampire-child with the gift of foresight, Alec and Cronin face a new kind of war. This time their investigations lead them to the borders of China and Mongolia—but it’s not what lies in the pits beneath that worries Alec.

It’s the creator behind it all.

In the underground depths of China, amidst a war with the Terracotta Army, they will find out just what the Key is, and what Alec means to the vampire world.
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Categories: 4.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2015, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Book Review: The Courage to Heal by Hunter Frost

Reviewed by JustJen

1Title: The Courage to Heal
Author: Hunter Frost
Heroes: Wade Carter/Jesse Okenah
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 57 Pages
Publisher: JMS Books, LLC
Release Date: May 17, 2015
Available at:  Amazon
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb:  Former U.S. Army Sergeant Wade Carter returned from Afghanistan a broken man. Permanently injured and weighed down with PTSD, his scars run deeper than flesh and bone. When his regular physical therapist is taken ill, the sexy replacement doctor has Wade wishing he’d touch much more of his body than his busted leg.

Dr. Jesse Okenah isn’t a beginner when it comes to working with veterans, but his new patient stirs up feelings that go beyond professional. It’s Wade’s wounded soul, more than his mangled leg, that needs TLC in order for him to live a healthy, fulfilling life again. Jesse just needs to figure out how to deliver that care to the stubborn vet without crossing a line — and losing his heart.
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Categories: 3.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, JustJen's Reviews, LGBT, Published in 2015 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Depravity: Book One Punishment by M.J. Ferguson

Reviewed by JustJen

1Title: Depravity: Book One: Punishment
Author: M.J. Ferguson
Series: Depravity #1
Genre: MM BDSM/Horror
Length: 33 Pages
Publisher: M.J. Ferguson
Release Date: May 13, 2015
Available at: Amazon
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb:  There is darkness in all of us even if we choose not to acknowledge it or act on it. What happens when a person not only acknowledges their darkness but revels in exploiting it to the fullest? Join me on a journey and explore the many different ways people choose to express their…Depravity.

In book one, we find a master who forces his pet to participate in a demonstration for a large audience of other masters. When he’s pushed too far will the master lose his pet? Or will the trust they have built be enough for the pet to accept his Sir’s darkest side.

Please note: This short erotic horror story is intended for mature audiences only. This story contains content some readers may find objectionable: explicit sex between men, extreme violence, nonconsensual sex, and murder.
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Categories: 4.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, Debut Authors, JustJen's Reviews, LGBT, Published in 2015 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Puncture Wounds by A. Morell

Reviewed by Nikyta

PunctureWoundsTitle: Puncture Wounds
Author: A. Morell
Heroes: James & Shay
Genre: M/M Paranormal
Length: 78 pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: October 15, 2014
Available at: Dreamspinner Press & Amazon
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: James is at the end of a long crusade for vengeance against the vampire clan that destroyed everything he held dear. He has Ren, the final and most dangerous of them all, cornered at last in London. But victory remains just out of reach when Ren sets a feral vampire on James and makes his escape. With no other leads, James is forced to take in the feral until he can use its connection to its sire to track down Ren. But in caring for the vampire, James sees they might not all be the monsters he thought them to be. Faced with an ugly truth, his quest for revenge becomes a war for retribution, and the discovery of what it truly means to be human.
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Nikyta's Reviews, Published in 2014 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Book Review: Primal Desire by Lupa Garneau

Reviewed by Nikyta

primaldesire_exlarge_PNG-210x336Title: Primal Desire
Author: Lupa Garneau
Series: Children of Shairobi #1
Heroes: Cole & Nexhan
Genre: M/M Paranormal
Length: 63,505 words
Publisher: Totally Bound
Release Date: October 24, 2014
Available at: Totally Bound & Amazon
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Cole never thought he’d find himself in those he was running from… Until he met Nexhan, clan leader of a legendary shifter race.

After a century of vengeance, Nexhan, clan leader of the Rune Fang, returns home to find his people teetering on the edge of extinction. Still plagued by his past and his sense of failure, he has closed himself off from even his closest friend. He is desperate to return to the shifter way of life, but doesn’t know how to cope with the death of his family and his lover.

Cole is the typical outcast—clumsy, quiet and angry. After years of disappointing his parents with his inability to master his cougar’s predatory skills, he runs from the pressure to mate a female who he’s unable to love, but he never expected to end up living among the saber-toothed cats. Heck, he didn’t even know they still existed. Embarrassed by his lack of skills, he retreats into himself, quietly nursing his pain.

A chance meeting in the forest leads Cole to accept Nexhan’s help and companionship, but he never imagined he’d be trusting the male with his deepest secrets. Nexhan vows it’s just sex, but the cougar intrigues him like nothing and no one before. Can he move on and finally lay to rest his troubled past?
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Nikyta's Reviews, Published in 2014 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Bringing It Home by Kora Knight

Reviewed by JustJen

1Title: Bringing It Home
Author: Kora Knight
Series: Up-Ending Tad: A Journey of Erotic Discovery #5
Heroes: Scott/Tad
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 121 Pages
Publisher: Kora Knight
Release Date: May 8, 2015
Available at: Amazon
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb:  It’s Friday night and Tad finds himself doing pretty much what he’d expected. Celebrating with his friends at a night club in honor of their buddy Breck’s birthday. The music’s pumping, drinks are flowing, as laughter and dancing bodies abound.

Nothing too outlandish, nothing unusual.

Until Scott and his own crew show up at the place. Funny how the one person Tad prefers above all others is the last person he wants to see. But now that he’s spotted the guy across the room, he can’t seem to take his eyes off him. Which winds up being a very bad thing. Seems Scott out in public with other attractive men is a much different story than Tad’s used to.

As one disturbing event after another unfolds, Tad splits before he loses his mind. But the breather he needs he does not get. In fact, things just go from bad to worse, the night ending on a note he never would have imagined. As things between Scott and him hit rock bottom, the only direction left must be up. If only Tad’s life would follow such a formula. But the path he’s been walking lately has never been that simple.

With a world of revelations finally revealed, can Tad find it in himself to make peace with Scott’s past so they can finally head into the future?
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Categories: 5 Star Ratings, Book Review, JustJen's Reviews, LGBT, Published in 2015 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Early Review: Sultry Sunset by Mary Calmes

Reviewed by Nikyta

25366786Title: Sultry Sunset
Author: Mary Calmes
Series: Mangrove Stories #3
Heroes: Hutch & Mike
Genre: M/M Contemporary
Length: 78 pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: May 15, 2015
Available at: Dreamspinner Press & Amazon
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Hutch Crowley is well-liked in the small resort town of Mangrove—he’s got friends in his new neighbors, he’s the owner of the town grocery, and he’s building a community center—but he’s still unlucky at love. Every man he’s attracted to is either taken or simply not interested, including his best friend, Mike Rojas.

When Mike came to Mangrove two years ago, Hutch gave him a job and a place to stay in his guesthouse, where Mike has remained ever since. Despite the rumors circulating about them, Hutch knows Mike is straight and looking for the right woman. But his friends disagree, and after some hints to the contrary, even Hutch finally has to admit that maybe the rest of the town sees something he’s been missing. If Hutch wants to spend each sultry sunset with the man of his dreams, it might be time to figure out what’s going on with his best friend’s heart.

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Categories: 3.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Nikyta's Reviews, Published in 2015 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Twice the Hands to Hold by Louis Stevens

Reviewed by JustJen

1Title: Twice the Hands to Hold
Author: Louis Stevens
Heroes: Brian and Matt Walker
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 265 Pages
Publisher: JMS Books
Release Date: April 19, 2015
Available at: Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb:  Twin brothers Brian and Matt Walker went to live with their mother’s brother after the death of their parents at an early age. Brian is still wracked with the guilt he carries around from a young age and sees the world through a distorted lens of self-loathing. When he meets a sexy and interested college-aged guy at the beginning of his senior year of high school, he may have finally found someone who can help him escape his mundane existence.

Matt has his life all planned out — he longs for a solid career in journalism after graduating college. But his tenuous hold on family life threatens his dreams of independence, as does the attentions of a closeted new transfer to their school.

Can Matt pull away enough from his family to come into his own? And will Brian finally get to grips with his past and allow his twin to chase his own happiness?

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Categories: 4.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, JustJen's Reviews, LGBT, Published in 2015 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Knight of Ocean Avenue by Tara Lain

Reviewed by Susan65

1Title: Knight of Ocean Avenue
Author: Tara Lain
Series: Love in Laguna #1
Heroes: Billy Ballew/Shaz-Chase Phillips
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 254 Pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: May 1, 2015
Available at: Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: How can you be twenty-five and not know you’re gay? Billy Ballew runs from that question. A high school dropout, barely able to read until he taught himself, Billy’s life is driven by his need to help support his parents as a construction worker, put his sisters through college, coach his Little League team, and not think about being a three-time loser in the engagement department. Being terrified of taking tests keeps Billy from getting the contractor’s license he so desires, and fear of his mother’s judgement blinds Billy to what could make him truly happy.

Then, in preparation for his sister’s big wedding, Billy meets Shaz—Chase Phillips—a rising star, celebrity stylist who defines the word gay. To Shaz, Billy embodies everything he’s ever wanted—stalwart, honest, brave—but even if Billy turns out to be gay, he could never endure the censure he’d get for being with a queen like Shaz. How can two men with so little in common find a way to be together? Can the Stylist of the Year end up with the Knight of Ocean Avenue?
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Categories: 5 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2015, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Honorary Blogger Michelle Moore and Reesa Herberth: About the Authors + Deleted Scene & Giveaway!

Honorary_Blogger_Post

About the Authors

by Michelle Moore and Reesa Herberth

Hi, we’re Michelle Moore and Reesa Herberth.  The kind people here have invited us to stop by and tell you a little about our newest book, Peripheral People.  A standalone novel in the Ylendrian Empire series, Peripheral People combines elements of romance, science fiction, paranormal, and crime drama in the intense, galaxy-spanning hunt for a psychic serial killer.  Hot on the trail and hot for each other (in the sense that they’d both prefer to be set on fire than work together), the imperial agents who stumble into the case must evade terrifying mental traps, their own volatile relationship, and the discovery that someone in a higher pay grade may not be so keen on their quest for justice.

We’re thrilled to be with you today, and we’re looking forward to any questions or comments you might have.

  1. What’s a typical day like for you?

I wake up around 6:45, then hit the snooze button until the munchkin cat alarm starts going off. (Usually this alarm involves some variation of a seven pound cat dancing on my bladder because I haven’t fed her yet.) Feed the monsters (five of them, anyway), then head off to the Day Job, where I pretend to be a frightfully competent office manager.  Then home, more feeding of the beasties (I’m beginning to understand why they’re fat…), whatever assorted family members are about for dinner that night, and a little down time before I pack up and head off to the Writing Office, wherever it may be located that day- coffee shop, studio, or the desk in my room.  I write and attend to writerly business for a few hours almost every night.  If I reach a goal and there’s time left, I’ll catch up on something recorded before I roust the cats off my bed and reclaim it.

  1. If you could only keep one book for the rest of your life, which book would it be?

This answer might change tomorrow, but I think it would be The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle.  Aside from being an achingly beautiful fairy tale composed of perfect words, it’s filled with so much wisdom about life.  About the quest for self, and home, and sacrifice, and what it means to make a difference in the world- everything, really.  It’s an amazing book that changes me every time I read it.

  1. Which is the biggest time-waster: Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, or something else?

Oh man, it’s twitter, all the way.  (I’m @reesah, btw.)  I love the conversations on twitter.  It’s somewhere comfortably nestled between an echo chamber and the cesspit of most comment sections. Plus, I can fit a LOT of absurdity into 140 characters.

  1. Are there any deleted scenes from your book? (BTW, deleted scenes make great book tour posts!)

Why yes, yes there are! We totally scrapped the first four chapters of the book at one point, but here’s a tiny bit from them that I still like to imagine is canon.  Westley Tavera, our psychic cop, and Gavin Hale, his partner, report for duty on the ship they’ll be living on for their next duty cycle.  Parts of this scene did eventually make it into the book in a much-altered form.

“Gavilicious, you’re in my way.”  West tapped his friend on the back of the leg with his shoe, struggling under the weight of his duffle.  Of course, if Gavin had agreed to carry it, it wouldn’t seem so heavy, but he didn’t see that happening any time soon.  Gavin got sensitive about “contributions to the partnership” when West tried to get him to carry things, and he wasn’t up for the pointed looks at the moment.

“If you hadn’t packed half a ton of crap, it wouldn’t be so heavy.”  Gavin set down his own neatly packed bag, almost managing not to look smug.  “Housing would have crated up all that stuff and had it delivered before we leave, you know.”

“No way.  There’s important stuff in here, man!  Very important Reader-type things that no one can touch without contamination.”

Gavin’s eyebrows climbed well above his dark glasses.  “Like your stuffed hedgehog and your “Most Valuable Psychic” mug?”

West shifted his attention to the expanse of empty tarmac behind Gavin.  “Maaaaaybe.”

“I’ve told you a million times, nobody wants to steal your stuff,” Gavin’s air of familiar tolerance was a welcome balm, much like his silent mind and the quick, calming hand he put on West’s shoulder.

“You don’t know that,” West said, patting the top of his duffel protectively.  “I’m famous, Gav.  I could turn my back for a second, and “poof”, all my worldly possessions could be up for sale on some auction site!”

Gavin let go of his shoulder, shoving him a little.  “I think you’ve confused “famous” with “self-important”.  Common mistake.  For you, I mean.”

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About Peripheral People

PeripheralPeople_400x600Corwin Menivie and Nika Santivan are decorated veterans of the Imperial Enforcement Coalition, and are perfectly capable of solving cases the old-fashioned way. When they’re paired with Westley Tavera and Gavin Hale, the most powerful Reader/Ground team to emerge from the Psionics Academy, it could either be the best thing that’s ever happened to crime fighting, or the makings of a quadruple homicide.

During a routine investigation, West’s talent puts them on the trail of a brutal serial killer who traps his prey in a deadly mental playground. Then the killer starts baiting the team, laying psychic landmines at crime scenes and exposing IEC secrets. The strain of the case binds the agents closer together—so close that Nika and Gavin start sharing a room, and even the curmudgeonly Corwin finds himself as occupied with West as he is with the murders.

But as West’s visions of death grow more violent, the only way out for all of them may be straight through the mind of a monster. If they’re not careful, they may forget which side of the hunt they’re on.

Available at: Riptide Publishing & Amazon

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About the Authors

Reesa Herberth was born in Nevada and spirited away to California before moving to Hawaii, where she grew up on the Big Island.  She tried Arizona for a few years, then lit out for the D.C. area, where her nomadic itch is regularly curbed by the nightmares of urban traffic.  She’s held a handful of the requisite crazy writer jobs, including book store overlord, office goddess for an artisan ice cream maker, and cheese-cup scrubber at an organic goat dairy.

Michelle Moore has a well-documented obsession with travel, television, frappuccinos and flamingos. These, however, come in a distant second to her love of writing. Most evenings she can be found huddled over her laptop at the local Starbucks, dividing her time between actually writing and pretending to be a barista. 

Michelle and Reesa have been writing together for over fifteen years.  They are currently working on more Ylendrian stories, and a petition to have cat hair recognized as a form of currency.

Twitter:
Michelle Moore – @marigotc
Reesa Herberth – @reesah

Facebook – Ylendrian Empire Fan Page

Websites:
Michelle and Reesa Write
Ylendrian Empire

Blog_Tour_Giveaway

As part of this blog tour, Michelle & Reesa is giving away Peripheral People Prize Pack!! To enter, just click the link below!

Rafflecopter Giveaway

Please be aware that the only way to enter the giveaway is to click the Rafflecopter link above. Any comments on this post will not count towards entering the giveaway unless otherwise stated but are still welcome anyway.

Good luck!

Categories: Author Q&A, Book Promo, Excerpts, Giveaways, Honorary Blogger Post, LGBT, Published in 2015 | Tags: , , , , , , | 14 Comments