LGBT

Book Review: Love Rising by Piper Vaughn

Reviewed by Nikyta

Title: Love Rising
Author: Piper Vaughn
Series: An Isla Sagrario Story
Heroes: Francis & Wick
Genre: M/M Historical Fantasy
Length: 42 pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: January 1, 2014
Available at: Dreamspinner Press, Amazon, All Romance eBooks & Barnes and Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads & Booklikes

Blurb: In the 1700s on the island of Sagrario, men who love other men find safe haven. For Francis Holland, an escaped indentured servant, Sagrario offers nothing but loneliness. His life begins to change when he finds Wick, a merman, washed ashore.

When Wick awakens under Francis’s care, Francis returns him to the sea at his request. Soon after, they begin to meet in secret, and gradually, Francis blossoms under this new companionship. However, a merman is a difficult creature to entrust one’s heart to. With one trapped on land and the other at sea, the differences in their species threaten to keep them apart forever. It may not be long before Wick is gone, taking Francis’s reason to smile with him. Continue reading

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

Book Review: French Quarter Knights by Jacob Campbell

Reviewed by JustJen

Title: French Quarter Knights
Author: Jacob Campbell
Heroes: Thaddeus “Tadpole” Merton
Genre: M/M Contemporary
Length: 201 pages
Publisher: JMS Books
Release Date: August 4, 2013
Available at: JMS Books, Amazon, All Romance eBooks & Barnes and Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads & Booklikes

Blurb: After winning millions in a settlement from the church, Thaddeus “Tadpole” Merton has learned to hide things from others — his money, his epilepsy, and his feelings. Now, he searches for love, acceptance, and sexual liberation in 1983 New Orleans.

Leaving behind a reluctant master in Linden and exploring a new lover in Sandy, Tadpole has adventures into a sensual drug-and alcohol-rich world of gay bars, drag clubs, baths, porno theatres, arcades, and hidden sex venues. Yet he also works with a yoga teacher and Zen guide, and questions himself in light of a world beyond the merely physical.

Tadpole seeks friendship and love, a home, and independence. But exploring steamy sensuality seems to counter his romantic need for true love, and he struggles with himself and his desires. Continue reading

Categories: 4.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, JustJen's Reviews, LGBT, Published in 2013 | Tags: , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Early Review: A Case of Possession by KJ Charles

Reviewed by Heather C

A Case of PossessionTitle: A Case of Posession
Author: K.J. Charles
Series: A Charm of Magpies #2
The Heroes: Lord Crane (AKA Lucien Vaudrey) & Stephen Day
Genre: M/M Historical Romance, Paranormal
Length: Short Novel
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Release Date: January 28, 2014
Available at: Samhain PublishingAmazonBarnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf at: GoodreadsBooklikes

Blurb: Magic in the blood. Danger in the streets.

Lord Crane has never had a lover quite as elusive as Stephen Day. True, Stephen’s job as justiciar requires secrecy, but the magician’s disappearing act bothers Crane more than it should. When a blackmailer threatens to expose their illicit relationship, Crane knows a smart man would hop the first ship bound for China. But something unexpectedly stops him. His heart.

Stephen has problems of his own. As he investigates a plague of giant rats sweeping London, his sudden increase in power, boosted by his blood-and-sex bond with Crane, is rousing suspicion that he’s turned warlock. With all eyes watching him, the threat of exposure grows. Stephen could lose his friends, his job and his liberty over his relationship with Crane. He’s not sure if he can take that risk much longer. And Crane isn’t sure if he can ask him to.

The rats are closing in, and something has to give…

Product Warnings
Contains m/m sex (on desks), blackmail, dark pasts, a domineering earl, a magician on the edge, vampire ghosts (possibly), and the giant rats of Sumatra. Continue reading

Categories: 5 Star Ratings, Book Review, Heather C's Reviews, LGBT, Published in 2014, Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Challenge Book Review: Widdershins by Jordan L. Hawk

Reviewed by Nikyta

Title: Widdershins
Author: Jordan L. Hawk
Series: Whyborne & Griffin #1
Heroes: Percival Endicott Whyborne & Griffin Flaherty
Genre: M/M Paranormal Historical
Length: 85k+ words
Publisher: Self-published
Release Date: December 3, 2012
Available at: Smashwords, Amazon, All Romance eBooks & Barnes and Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads & Booklikes

Blurb: Some things should stay buried.

Repressed scholar Percival Endicott Whyborne has two skills: reading dead languages and hiding in his office at the Ladysmith Museum. After the tragic death of the friend he secretly loved, he’s ruthlessly suppressed any desire for another man.

So when handsome ex-Pinkerton Griffin Flaherty approaches him to translate a mysterious book, Whyborne wants to finish the job and get rid of the detective as quickly as possible. Griffin left the Pinkertons following the death of his partner, hoping to start a new life. But the powerful cult which murdered Glenn has taken root in Widdershins, and only the spells in the book can stop them. Spells the intellectual Whyborne doesn’t believe are real.

As the investigation draws the two men closer, Griffin’s rakish charm threatens to shatter Whyborne’s iron control. When the cult resurrects an evil sorcerer who commands terrifying monsters, can Whyborne overcome his fear and learn to trust? Will Griffin let go of his past and risk falling in love? Or will Griffin’s secrets cost Whyborne both his heart and his life? Continue reading

Categories: 4.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, Challenge Book Week, LGBT, Nikyta's Reviews, Published in 2012 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 15 Comments

Book Review: Boundless by Vivien Dean

Reviewed by JustJen

Title: Boundless
Author: Vivien Dean
Series: Bay Wolves
Heroes: Denny/Elijah
Genre: M/M Paranormal
Length: 19,000 words
Publisher: Amber Allure
Release Date: January 19, 2014
Available at: Amber Allure
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Helping people is what Denny Patton does. Most of the time, it’s through his duties as a cop in San Francisco, but every once in a while, he steps in and aids his brother in an underground battle for those without any rights under the law—werewolves. Their latest mission is to rescue a group of wolves held captive and forced to do the unspeakable. The task will put Denny’s career at risk, but in his heart, he believes it’s the right thing to do.

Especially when one of the wolves turns out to be Elijah Garber, the man who disappeared from Denny’s life seven years ago.

Elijah and Denny were high school sweethearts until Elijah disappeared from the Bay Area the summer after they graduated. The note he left behind told Denny and his family to move on without him, but Denny has never forgotten his first love. Now, he wants answers as to why Elijah left all those years earlier. But more importantly, he wants the future they were always meant to have. Continue reading

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

Challenge Book Review: The Morning Star by M. Chandler

Reviewed by Heather C

7459958Title: The Morning Star
Author: M. Chandler
Series: Shadow of the Templar #1
The Heroes: Simon Drake and Jeremy Archer
Genre: M/M Romance / Action
Length: 138 pages
Publisher: Lulu
Release Date: September 29, 2011
Available at: Lulu  
Add it to your shelf at: Goodreads  & Booklikes
Blurb: Simon Drake is an up-and-coming young FBI hotshot, an agent with a personal track record so outstanding that it borders on unbelievable. Not yet thirty, he’s already the leader of his own special ops team; a ragtag bunch of talented but nigh-uncontrollable lunatics, it’s true, but under Simon’s inspired leadership they’re a force to be reckoned with, a team with an unparalleled success rate, a team with an almost unblemished record–until now.

Jeremy Archer is the brilliant and unpredictable scion of a long line of international art thieves, simultaneously a phenomenally wealthy English socialite and one of the most infamous criminals in the world. At twenty-seven years old he’s already wanted on nearly every continent for thefts totalling more than ninety-one million dollars, and yet no one has ever come close to catching him–until now. Now? May the best man win. Continue reading

Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, Challenge Book Week, Heather C's Reviews, LGBT, Published in 2011 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Book Review: Glory Lands by Vastine Bondurant

Reviewed by Heather C

Title: Glory Lands
Author: Vastine Bondurant
Series: Texas Piney Woods #1
Heroes: Glory Lands & Emory Joe Logan
Genre: M/M Historical Romance
Length: 146 pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: January 22, 2014
Available at: Dreamspinner Press
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Rural East Texas, 1931. Preacher’s son Emory Joe Logan and a fiddler from Shreveport, Glory Lands, meet and form a tender bond. When they are caught and arrested for homosexual acts by Sheriff Elihu Bishop, the lawman’s sanctimonious bigotry threatens to rip the young men from their families.

Emory Joe’s father, Pastor Charles Logan, is brought to his knees in terror, confusion, and anger. He still regrets not standing up against Bishop when the lawman murdered a youth in cold blood nine years ago.

Now there’s no longer a choice for the preacher to stand up to the lawman. Cold-blooded justice, bigotry-disguised-as-religion, and hatred take on a whole new meaning when they’re standing on his doorstep, ready to take the son he loves. Continue reading

Categories: 4.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, Heather C's Reviews, LGBT, Published in 2014 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Book Review: Interlude with Tattoos: A Charm of Magpies Story by KJ Charles

Reviewed by Heather C
interludesmagpiesv1Title: Interlude with Tattoos
Author: KJ Charles
Series: A Charm of Magpies #1.5
The Heroes: Stephan Day & Lord Lucien Crane
Genre: M/M Historical Romance, Paranormal
Length: 14 pages (4,550 words)
Release Date: December 10, 2013
Available Free at: Smashwords
Add it to your shelf at: Goodreads
Blurb: A short story set just after the end of The Magpie Lord. Stephen Day and Lord Crane return to London. Neither is quite sure where their fledgling relationship is going. It seems unlikely that there can be much of a future for them, under the circumstances, with Stephen going back to work and Crane returning to China. Until they encounter an unexpected moment of magic… Continue reading
Categories: 4.5 Star Ratings, Heather C's Reviews, LGBT, Published in 2013 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Book Review: My Heartache Cowboy by Z.A. Maxfield

Guest Review by Gyn

Title: My Heartache Cowboy
Author: Z.A. Maxfield
Series: The Cowboys #2
Heroes: Jimmy & Eddie
Genre: M/M Contemporary
Length: 294 pages
Publisher: Intermix (Penguin Imprint)
Release Date: January 21, 2014
Available at: Penguin, Amazon & Barnes and Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads & Booklikes

Blurb: Can love conquer all?

Jimmy Rafferty and Eddie Molina go way back at the J-Bar ranch. They’ve worked together, bunked together, camped out, and drank together. So how has Jimmy failed to notice that Eddie is gay? Eddie has not failed to notice that his friend has a serious drinking problem, and he’s determined to help Jimmy kick the booze cold turkey.

Taking him up to a snowbound cabin to detox, Eddie is confronted with Jimmy’s fierce denial. But the pains of withdrawal are nothing for Jimmy compared with the heartache of denying his true feelings and his deep longing…for the one man who cares for him more than anyone else on earth. Continue reading

Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, Guest Reviewer, LGBT, Published in 2014 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Book Review: Eli’s Three Wishes by Mathew Ortiz

Reviewed by JustJen

Title: Eli’s Three Wishes
Author: Mathew Ortiz
Series: Love and Salvage #1
Heroes: Elija/Oscar
Genre: M/M Contemporary
Length: 142 Pages
Publisher: Self-published
Release Date: January 10, 2014
Available at: Amazon
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Eli Gaither was a big, rough, mean sumabitch of a man. Solitary by choice, he only attended Gaither family events when he was made to. Still hurting from a painful divorce, he was like an angry bear licking his wounds. Most people, save for his family, avoided him until Oscar Hernandez came into his life, yelling at him and turning his world upside down.
Okay, maybe he was plain loco for hitting on the grizzly bear of a man in front of him but he couldn’t help it. The man was so freaking hot. But Oscar was not about to let this man tell him what to do and how to think. If Eli Gaither thought him a shrinking violet, he had another thing coming. Oscar was used to getting his way, so Eli was in for the ride of his life with the hot blooded Latin man. Continue reading

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