4 Star Ratings

Book Review: Stage Fright by Adam Carpenter

Posted on February 23, 2016 by justjenbo

Reviewed by JustJen

28407318Title: Stage Fright
Author: Adam Carpenter
Series: The Jimmy McSwain Files #3
Heroes: Jimmy McSwain
Genre: MM Mystery
Length: 246 Pages
Publisher: MLR Press
Release Date: January 31, 2016
Available at: Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb:  All the world’s a stage, but in STAGE FRIGHT, Hell’s Kitchen private detective Jimmy McSwain learns that life upon it’s wicked boards can be a killer.

The Harold Calloway Theatre on West 47th Street is home to the new play Triskaidekaphobia, and its playwright has been receiving threatening messages. Theatre owner and lead producer Wellington Calloway has hired Jimmy to investigate, but it’s a case not without its complications. His mother is the head usher there, and Jimmy grew up on its aisles. His ex, Remy, is also the costume designer for the show, a man he hasn’t seen in years. Further making his life difficult is the mysterious Seetha Assan, who is connected–albeit tentatively–to the case that forever haunts Jimmy–his own father’s murder. She may just have the clue to help him finally solve the cold case.

As Opening Night for the play looms, Jimmy finds himself involved in a nest of egos and personalities, all while seeking to find the missing Seetha. Toss in his on-again, off-again relationship with Captain Francis X. Frisano, and suddenly Jimmy’s life is edging toward tragedy. That’s when a murderer strikes, and suddenly nothing is pretend anymore. Life on the stage has turned all too real, and all too deadly. Just like on the mean streets of Manhattan.

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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, JustJen's Reviews, LGBT, Published in 2016 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Audio Review: Blood Kiss by J.R. Ward

Posted on February 22, 2016 by thebloggergirls

Reviewed by Nikyta

26823112Title: Blood Kiss
Author: J.R. Ward
Narrator: Jim Frangione
Series: Black Dagger Legacy #1
Heroine/Hero: Paradise/Craeg
Genre: MF Paranormal
Length: 12 Hours, 39 Minutes
Publisher: Penguin Audio
Release Date: December 1, 2015
Available at: Amazon and Audible
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Paradise, blooded daughter of the king’s First Advisor, is ready to break free from the restrictive life of an aristocratic female. Her strategy? Join the Black Dagger Brotherhood’s training center program and learn to fight for herself, think for herself…be herself. It’s a good plan, until everything goes wrong. The schooling is unfathomably difficult, the other recruits feel more like enemies than allies, and it’s very clear that the Brother in charge, Butch O’Neal, a.k.a. the Dhestroyer, is having serious problems in his own life.

And that’s before she falls in love with a fellow classmate. Craeg, a common civilian, is nothing her father would ever want for her, but everything she could ask for in a male. As an act of violence threatens to tear apart the entire program, and the erotic pull between them grows irresistible, Paradise is tested in ways she never anticipated—and left wondering whether she’s strong enough to claim her own power…on the field, and off.
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Audio Review, M/F, Nikyta's Reviews, Published in 2015 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: A Duke by December by Sabrina Darby

Posted on February 21, 2016 by Heather C

Reviewed by Heather C

28485033Title: A Duke by December
Author: Sabrina Darby
Series: A Year Without a Duke
Hero/Heroine: Nathaniel Hughes/Elizabeth Smith
Genre: MF Historical Romance
Length: Novella
Release Date: February 8, 2016
Available at: Amazon
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: A YEAR WITHOUT A DUKE

The duke has died. Long live the duke! The only problem is no one knows who the new Duke of Beckworth is. All of England wonders, but no one more so than the people who depend upon Beckworth for their livelihood. In 1816, a year so cold that the word “summer” is a cruel joke, that livelihood is even more uncertain. However, they are all about to find out, there is nothing more warming than scandal and love…

A DUKE BY DECEMBER

Elizabeth Smith is secretly in love with the tall, handsome golden-haired man who rescued her from Arkansas Territory and offered her a new life. Unfortunately, she knows he’ll never see her as anything more than his secretary.

Nathaniel Hughes has spent the majority of his life in America amassing his fortune. When he discovers he is the next Duke of Beckworth, he must reluctantly travel to England, face down his past, and rehabilitate an estate to save those who live on it. But every duke requires a duchess and an heir.

He’ll figure this out somehow with Lizzie, his loyal and capable secretary, at his side. Once at Beckworth, he finds it increasingly difficult to deny a powerful attraction to the woman he has vowed to protect—even from himself. Can he find the strength to choose duty over desire?

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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, Heather C's Reviews, M/F, Published in 2016 | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Give Yourself Away by Barbara Elsborg

Posted on February 21, 2016 by thebloggergirls

Reviewed by JustJen

26173634Title: Give Yourself Away
Author: Barbara Elsborg
Heroes: March/Caleb
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 284 Pages
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Release Date: February 9, 2016
Available at: Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb:  One guy intent on caution. One an adrenaline junkie. Love could be one risk too many.

March is determined to lose the numbness that accompanies a history of loss and blame. Desperate to feel something—anything—the adrenaline junkie base jumps off cliffs, soars on hang gliders, and embarks on dangerous sea-borne rescue missions. But any release he feels is fleeting, and when you play Russian roulette with fate, eventually you come crashing down.

No matter how hard Caleb tries to forget his past, a dark shadow is always behind him. When a bizarre turn of events results in him being trapped in a sea cave, Caleb wonders how his mantra—safety at all costs—could have failed him. On the point of drowning, he’s stunned when March surfaces in the cave.

March’s disregard for the rules saves Caleb’s life but gets March into a heap of trouble. Not least of which is the guy shivering in the boat next to him. March tries to ignore Caleb but it’s already too late. Together, they take small, awkward steps toward love. But Caleb’s past is waiting to sink in its claws…and this time, it could drag him to his death.

Warning: This book contains difficult flashbacks of child abduction and sexual violence, but also the incredible perseverance of two men who never give up on love—or each other. Bring your tissues and a heart that believes in the resilience of the human spirit.
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, JustJen's Reviews, LGBT, Published in 2016 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Dual Audio Review: The Shadows by J.R. Ward

Posted on February 19, 2016 by thebloggergirls

Reviewed by Nikyta and Susan65

24994123Title: The Shadows
Author: J.R. Ward
Narrator: Jim Frangione
Series: Black Dagger Brotherhood #13
Hero/Heroine: Trez/Selena/iAm/Maichen
Genre: MF Paranormal
Length: 22 hours, 8 Minutes
Publisher: Penguin Audio
Release Date: March 31, 2015
Available at: Amazon and Audible
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Trez “Latimer” doesn’t really exist. And not just because the identity was created so that a Shadow could function in the underbelly of the human world. Sold by his parents to the Queen of the S’Hsibe as a child, Trez escaped the Territory and has been a pimp and an enforcer in Caldwell, NY for years- all the while on the run from a destiny of sexual servitude. He’s never had anyone he could totally rely on… except for his brother, iAm.

iAm’s sole goal has always been to keep his brother from self-destructing- and he knows he’s failed. It’s not until the Chosen Serena enters Trez’s life that the male begins to turn things around… but by then it’s too late. The pledge to mate the Queen’s daughter comes due and there is nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, and no negotiating.

Trapped between his heart and a fate he never volunteered for, Trez must decide whether to endanger himself and others- or forever leave behind the female he’s in love with. But then an unimaginable tragedy strikes and changes everything. Staring out over an emotional abyss, Trez must find a reason to go on or risk losing himself and his soul forever. And iAm, in the name of brotherly love, is faced with making the ultimate sacrifice…
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Categories: 3.5 Star Ratings, 4 Star Ratings, Audio Review, M/F, Nikyta's Reviews, Published in 2015, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Save Me by Penny Brandon

Posted on February 17, 2016 by susan65coug Miss Behaving

Reviewed by Susan65

26895638Title: Save Me
Author: Penny Brandon
Series: Voodoo Dolls #1
Heroes: Steve/Nathan
Genre: MM Horror
Length: 217 Pages
Publisher: Loose Id
Release Date: October 27, 2015
Available at:  Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: From the first moment Steve sees Nathan, he knows he’s in trouble. First, Nathan looked just like the doll he’d found on his bed, and second, Steve couldn’t stop thinking how it would feel having Nathan in his arms and under his body. He’s never desired anyone so strongly before, and he’s reluctant to show it, but then Nathan gives him something he hadn’t been conscious of wanting. Stunned, he craves more, but starts to worry what he feels might not be real.

Alone and vulnerable after being dumped by his ex, Nathan longs for the security of being in a relationship. With no money, no job, and now a Voodoo Doll out to kill him, Nathan doesn’t think things could get any worse, but then he starts falling for Steve. Problem is, it doesn’t look like Steve feels the same way. Even after Steve finally lets Nathan in, Steve unexpectedly withdraws, refusing to explain why.

Unable to cope with another rejection, Nathan succumbs to the evil of the doll. Steve realizes he needs to own up to his feelings, but are they enough to save Nathan?
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2015, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Audio Review: Not Fade Away by S.E. Jakes

Posted on February 16, 2016 by susan65coug Miss Behaving

Reviewed by Susan65

27847264Title: Not Fade Away
Author: S.E. Jakes
Narrator: Adam North
Series: Hell or High Water #3.5
Heroes: Prophet/Tommy
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 1 Hour, 5 Minutes
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Release Date: December 16, 2015
Available at: Amazon and Audible
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Truth or dare.

Ever since superspy Cillian moved into Prophet’s building, their game of Steal the Couch has been funny to Prophet, but a thorn in Tom’s side. Then Prophet gets bored one night during an ice storm and insists on playing another simple game with Tom: Truth or Dare. In exchange for one of Prophet’s truths, Tom steals the couch one last time.

But Prophet’s truths are never easy—Tom should know that by now—and this one raises questions neither of them quite know how to answer. In response, Tom finds himself laying claim to Prophet in the most basic way he knows how. And also finds that he doesn’t mind it in the least when Prophet returns the favor.
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Audio Review, LGBT, Published in 2015, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment