3.5 Star Ratings

Ghost Week Review: Midnight by M.J. O’Shea

Reviewed by JustJen

3Title: Midnight
Author: M.J. O’Shea
Heroes: Jamie/Cameron
Genre: MM Paranormal
Length: 30 Pages
Publisher: M.J. O’Shea
Release Date: January 22, 2011
Available at: M.J. O’Shea, All Romance eBooks,
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb:  A ghostly romance..
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Categories: 3.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, JustJen's Reviews, LGBT, Published in 2011, Theme Week | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Wicklow’s Odyssey by R. Cooper

Guest Reviewed by MsMiz(Tina)

1Title: Wicklow’s Odyssey
Author: R. Cooper
Heroes: Wicklow Doyle/Alexander Rhoades
Genre: MM Historical
Length: 350 Pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: July 7, 2014
Available at:  Dreamspinner Press, Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb:  Union soldier Wicklow Doyle is infiltrating enemy lines to set up new radio communications technology in Confederate-held Charleston when his location is betrayed. After sacrificing himself to get his team to safety, he’s on the lam, friendless in a hostile town. Determining who betrayed him without discovery by Confederate soldiers is dangerous, but Wicklow grew up in the slums of New York and knows how to handle himself. He isn’t expecting anyone on his team to return to help him, much less Alexander Rhoades.

An effete dandy of great intelligence and conviction, Alexander Rhoades speaks through stories instead of giving orders, and he has earned the confidence of the rich and powerful. While Wicklow has come not to trust men with those traits, Rhoades has never once let him down. He looks at Wicklow in ways that make him burn beneath his skin and tells him stories of love and bravery Wicklow yearns to understand. Wicklow has absolute faith Rhoades’s brilliant mind will uncover the traitor in their midst and find them a way out of the city. But when Rhoades tells him he’s not alone, Wicklow isn’t sure he can believe him. For the first time in his life, though, he wants to.
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Categories: 3.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, Guest Reviewer, LGBT, Published in 2014 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Steven’s Heart by Ashavan Doyon + Giveaway!

Reviewed by Nikyta

1Title: Steven’s Heart
Author: Ashavan Doyon
Heroes: Steven Everett/Michael Rossier
Genre: M/M Contemporary
Length: 334 Pages
Publisher: Torquere Press
Release Date: August 27, 2014
Available at: Torquere Press, Amazon and Smashwords
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: When a love triangle breaks, Steven Everett is left alone to grieve over a boyfriend lost to someone else. Surrounded by friends too tied to Aidan’s new lover to give advice, Steven turns instead to a broken and beaten man, Aidan’s other ex, Michael Rossier, who also knows the pain of having loved and lost Aidan. Steven’s and Michael’s confessions grow deeper, each confiding in the other until neither can deny an attraction. But being with Michael feels like cheating, and Steven isn’t sure what to do. The connection get stronger every day, and Steven realizes he’s facing an impossible choice.

To make a relationship with Michael work, Steven needs to make peace with Michael’s troubled past. Even more terrifying, he’ll have to tell Michael the secret he’s never told anyone, not even Aidan. With Michael recovering from yet another surgery, Steven leaves to face the ghosts of the past. He has to be certain. This time, Steven knows, the decision means revealing the secrets of his heart and hoping their fragile feelings can survive.
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Categories: 3.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, Giveaways, LGBT, Nikyta's Reviews, Published in 2014 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Book Review: Greymalkin by Chris Quinton

Guest Reviewed by Gyn

11Title: Greymalkin
Author: Chris Quinton
Series: Melusine’s Cats #1
Heroes: Jesse Adams/Will Blake
Genre: M/M Paranormal
Length: 188 Pages
Publisher: Kouros Books
Release Date: June 16, 2014
Available at:  Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: The mutual attraction between Jesse and Will is a bonus for Melusine when her enemies close in and she needs to rebuild her war band—starting with Jesse, Will, and Greymalkin.

Jesse Adams is an ex-rugby player who’s gone into seclusion to avoid the media following a guilty verdict in a court case. Jesse has come to live for a year in Greenlynn, where he is supposed to be writing his biography.

Will Blake is an out and proud policeman, respected and liked by the community he helps to protect from rural crime.

When the two men meet their attraction is instant, but they have no idea their love will draw them into a centuries’ old conflict.

Melusine, a deity of rivers and seas, long ago lost the Battle of the Betrayal and is imprisoned in a nexus centered on the source of the Lynn River. She can only travel in the flowing water of her river, and cannot set foot on her banks. Her cats are not so bound. Neither pets nor familiars, they move freely between the realities, her agents among the humans who live along the Lynn.
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Categories: 3.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, Guest Reviewer, LGBT, Published in 2014 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Dominus by J.P. Kenwood

 

Reviewed by JustJen

DominusTitle: Dominus
Author: J.P. Kenwood
Heroes: Gaius Fabius/Allerix
Genre: MM Historical
Length: 285 Pages
Publisher: JPK Publishing
Release Date: April 21, 2014
Available at: Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb:  In AD 107, after a grueling campaign against Rome’s fierce enemy, the kingdom of Dacia, Gaius Fabius returns home in triumph. With the bloody battles over, the commander of the Lucky IV Legion now craves life’s simple pleasures: leisurely soaks in fragrant baths, over-flowing cups of wine, and a long holiday at his seaside villa to savor his pleasure slaves. On a whim, he purchases a spirited young Dacian captive and unwittingly sparks a fresh outbreak of the Dacian war; an intimate struggle between two sworn enemies with love and honor at stake.

Allerix survived the wars against Rome, but now he is a slave rather than a victor. Worse, the handsome general who led the destruction of his people now commands his body. When escape appears impossible, Alle struggles to find a way to preserve his dignity and exact vengeance upon the savage Romans. Revenge will be his, that is, if he doesn’t lose his heart to his lusty Roman master.

Dominus is a plot-packed erotic fantasy that transports readers back to ancient Rome during the reign of the Emperor Trajan. This is the first book in an alternate history series—a tumultuous journey filled with forbidden love, humor, sex, friendship, political intrigue, deception and murder.(
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Categories: 3.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, JustJen's Reviews, LGBT, Published in 2014 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Divergent by Veronica Roth

Reviewed by Nikyta

Divergent (Divergent, #1)Title: Divergent
Author: Veronica Roth
Series: Divergent #1
Heroine: Tris/Four
Genre: M/F Dystopian
Length: 501 Pages
Publisher: Harper Collins Publishers/Katherine Tegan Books
Release Date: May 3, 2011
Available at: Harper Collins Publishers, Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: In Beatrice Prior’s dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue–Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is–she can’t have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are–and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes exasperating boy fits into the life she’s chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she’s kept hidden from everyone because she’s been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers unrest and growing conflict that threaten to unravel her seemingly perfect society, Tris also learns that her secret might help her save the ones she loves . . . or it might destroy her.
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Categories: 3.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, M/F, Nikyta's Reviews, Published in 2011 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Early Review: Double Up by Vanessa North

Guest Reviewed by Trish

22368069Title: Double Up
Author: Vanessa North
Heroes: Ben Warren/Davis Fox
Genre: M/M Contemporary
Length: 139 Pages
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Release Date: August 25, 2014
Available at: Riptide Publishing
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Knowing he’s loved can make any man fly.

Fifteen years ago, Ben Warren was a wakeboarding champion: king of big air, ballsy tricks, and boned grabs. Until a career-ending injury left him broken in ways he still has no hope of fixing. Now he takes his thrills where he can get them, and tries not to let life hurt too much.

Then Davis Fox arrives in Ben’s sporting goods store with a plan to get in touch with his estranged brother by competing in the annual wakeboarding double-up contest. The catch? He’s never ridden before. It’s crazy, but Ben’s a sucker for the guy’s sob story—and for his dimples, too—so he agrees to coach Davis.

Davis is everything Ben isn’t: successful, confident, and in love with life. And he wants Ben to love life—and him—too. But before Ben can embrace a future with Davis, he needs to remember how to hope.
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Categories: 3.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, Guest Reviewer, LGBT, Published in 2014 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Turning 16 by Perie Wolford and Michelle Doering

Guest Reviewed by Morgan

1Title: Turning 16
Author: Perie Wolford/Michelle Doering
Series: Turning 16 #1
Heroes: Sam and Mitch
Genre: M/M YA Contemporary
Length: 161 Pages
Publisher: Perie Wolford/Michelle Doering
Release Date: May 5, 2014
Available at:  Smashwords, Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb:  New Gay Series To Pay Tribute To Sixteen Candles Movie and Other Awesome John Hughes Movies (The Second Edition)

Sam never liked his birthdays because not a single one of them was happy… When he turned 1, he fell face-down into his birthday cake; when he turned 5, he broke his left arm and when he turned 7, he broke his right arm and his left leg; when he turned 12, his house caught fire. Now Sam is about to turn 16 and he is dreading the day. The only birthday wish he has is for Jake who is the Mr. Popular of Arcadia High to even acknowledge his existence, or better yet give him a happy-birthday kiss.

But Sam knows that it’s not gonna happen. Or is it?

Disclaimer: The plot of the books substantially varies from the John Hughes movies and all the references to the movies are made as a tribute to their awesomeness.
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Categories: 3.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, Guest Reviewer, LGBT, Published in 2014 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Book Review: Nothing Special by Jay Northcote

Reviewed by Nikyta

1Title: Nothing Special
Author: Jay Northcote
Heroes: Noah/Sol
Genre: M/M Contemporary Romance
Length: 184 Pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: August 13, 2014
Available at: Dreamspinner Press, Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Noah thinks he’s nothing special. Average height, a bit on the skinny side, and cute but rather geeky, he’s relentlessly ordinary. He certainly doesn’t expect to be noticed by Sol, the gorgeous dark-haired stranger Noah sees on his commute home most days. But when Noah’s friend, Dom, persuades Noah to take a huge risk in a bid to get Sol’s attention, things turn out better than Noah dared to hope. Noah and Sol start dating, and much to Noah’s surprise, his feelings seem to be reciprocated.

But Noah’s insecurities make him doubt Sol. He doesn’t believe he’s interesting enough or sexy enough to hold Sol’s attention, and as Sol tries to get closer, Noah’s instinct is to pull away to protect himself. If their relationship is going to survive, Sol needs to convince Noah that he sees Noah very differently than Noah sees himself. Because to Sol, Noah is something very special indeed.
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Categories: 3.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Nikyta's Reviews, Published in 2014 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Early Review: Return to Glory by Sara Arden

Guest Reviewed by Ami

1Title: Return to Glory
Author: Sara Arden
Series: Home to Glory #1
Heroine/Hero: Betsy Lewis/Jack McConnell
Genre: M/F Contemporary Romance
Length: 352 Pages
Publisher: Harlequin HQN
Release Date: August 26, 2014
Available at:  Harlequin HQN, Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb:  In Glory, Kansas, the best bakery in three counties may not only bring together ingredients for sweet treats, but be the place where—through the powerful mix of friendship, community and a well-stocked kitchen—a wounded hero can forge a forever kind of love.

Jack McConnell’s back in the hometown he left behind five years ago, battle-scarred and feeling like half a man. But Betsy Lewis only sees the hero who saved her life and set her heart on fire. Now she’s burning to save his life in return. She’ll use every trick she’s got up her sleeve, from her generous natural assets to her talent for baking, to coax Jack out from the bottom of his whiskey bottle.

At first, Jack responds to Betsy like any red-blooded man would. He’s always denied his attraction to the innocent girl he used to know, but he’s returned to find Betsy’s grown into a full-on woman with strength enough for both of them. Until Jack realizes the only way to conquer his demons and be worthy of the hero’s mantle she’s pinned to his shoulders is to save Betsy one last time—from himself.
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Categories: 3.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, Guest Reviewer, M/F, Published in 2014 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment