Reviewers

Book Review: Out of the Ashes by Hailey Turner

Reviewed by Susan65

Title: Out of the Ashes
Author: Hailey Turner
Series: A Metahuman Classified Files Novella #1
Heroes: Alexi Dvorkin/Sean Delaney
Genre: MM Paranormal
Length: 97 Pages
Publisher: Hailey Turner
Release Date: February 12, 2018
Available at:  Amazon
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: War never leaves a soldier behind.

Staff Sergeant Alexei Dvorkin is still healing from his brief stint as a prisoner of war. While his physical wounds have mended, the emotional scars left behind are slow to disappear. Eager to prove his resilience in the face of lingering trauma, Alexei is determined to complete his first mission in three months and get back into the field—but he’s not forging ahead without his lover.

Nightmares will always linger.

Agent Sean Delaney’s recovery from trauma is more slow going than he would like, but he pushes through in order to return to active duty and not be left behind. But every decision he makes leaves him feeling like he’s gone two steps forward and one step back when it comes to Alexei. The guilt Sean feels from what they both endured still colors his interactions with the man he loves. Trying to overcome it is difficult and exhausting, making Sean question his place in Alexei’s heart.

Holding on is the hardest thing to do.

The ties between Alexei and Sean were frayed by the enemy’s hand. Mending what’s been broken between them will require a depth of honesty neither man is ready to face just yet. But if they don’t, they risk losing a future together neither wants to let go.

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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2018, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Within These Depths by Katze Snow

Reviewed by Susan65

Title: Within These Depths
Author: Katze Snow
Series: Demons and Wolves #2
Heroes: Tanner/Alex
Genre: MM Paranormal
Length: 196 Pages
Publisher: Katze Snow
Release Date: November 5, 2017
Available at:  Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Tanner is so close to his revenge that he can almost taste it. With an unusual brand of negotiation skills under his belt, he has everything he needs. Now all that stands between him and destroying Elijah Ravenhill is a dangerous mission into the depths of Hell. Accompanied by his guides, he will enter where loyalties and souls are tested, and few ever return.

Newly mated Alex just wants to keep his loved ones safe. In the sprawling grandeur of Wulfric Manor, he finally has his family under one roof, even if it may only be temporary, and his dreams of having something normal seem to be within reach. Yet what’s normal for the wolf is torture for the prey, and chaos descends on Alex with one mysterious phone call.

Can Alex have all he ever dreamed of without sacrificing his life? Will Tanner put an end to Elijah once and for all, or will his revenge go up in smoke within the fires of hell itself?
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2017, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Audio Review: Coach’s Challenge by Avon Gale

Reviewed bySusan65

Title: Coach’s Challenge
Author: Avon Gale
Narrator: Scott R. Smith
Series: Scoring Chances #5
Heroes: Troy Callahan/Shane North
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 6 Hours, 50 Minutes
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: December 26, 2016
Available at: Amazon, Audible and iTunes
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: It’s been decades since blackmail forced Troy Callahan to retire from playing professional hockey, and he’s built a successful career behind the bench. When he’s offered the opportunity to coach the Asheville Ravens—the most hated team in the ECHL—he’s convinced that his no-nonsense attitude is just what the team needs to put their focus back on hockey. But Troy is disheartened when he finds out the Ravens have signed Shane North, a player known for his aggression—especially when Shane’s rough good looks have Troy thinking inappropriate thoughts about a player, even if he’s set to retire at the end of the season.

Shane’s career in the majors never quite took off. Wanting to quit on his own terms, Shane agrees to a one-year contract with the Ravens and finds himself playing for a coach who thinks he’s an aging goon, and with a team that doesn’t trust him, Troy, or each other. Despite his determination not to get involved, Shane unwillingly becomes part of the team… and is just as unwillingly drawn to the gruff, out-and-proud coach. As the Ravens struggle to build a new identity, Shane and Troy succumb to the passion that might cost them everything.
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Audio Review, LGBT, Published in 2016, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Snowed In: Hunter’s Story by Adira August

Reviewed by JustJen

Title: Snowed In: Hunter’s Story
Author: Adira August
Series: Hunt&Cam4Ever #3
Heroes: Hunt/Cam
Genre: MM Contemporary BDSM
Length: 148 Pages
Publisher: Adira August
Release Date: February 1, 2018
Available at: Amazon
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Trapped by the blizzard outside…

HunterDane & Camden Snow contend with the storm raging inside.

In the pre-dawn darkness, Hunt moaned and thrashed under the comforter. Finally, the nightmare receded. He settled, breathed deeply several times, and opened his eyes.

“You okay?” Cam asked.

“Sure,” Hunter smiled, half-awake, not remembering. “I’m here with you. Safe inside the storm. Away from … all the crap of the last few weeks.”

Cam moved his hands over Hunt’s body, soothing and gentling. “Safe inside the storm.” Not safe from the storm, but safe inside of it. Isolated. Protected. Safe.

But Cam knew Hunter wasn’t safe; his demons came with him: a dark and twisted possession by blood and cruelty and murder. Being snowed-in for days would allow the darkness to eat away at Hunt until his very skin would seem too small. He’d beg Cam for the flogger. And hate Cam for denying him.

There was a solution, but the so-called “Full Metal Dom” was afraid. So very afraid the fragile bonds between them would not survive.

To help Hunter, he had to do the one thing he swore he would never do.
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Categories: 4.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, JustJen's Reviews, LGBT, Published in 2018 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Book Review: Finders Keepers by N.R. Walker

Reviewed by Susan65

Title: Finders Keepers
Author: N.R. Walker
Heroes: Griffin/Dane
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 218 Pages
Publisher: N.R. Walker
Release Date: February 2, 2018
Available at:  Amazon
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Needing a change of scene, Griffin Burke moves from Brisbane to Coolum Beach to start a new job. The beautiful white sand, aqua-coloured ocean, blue skies, and summer breezes are everything he longs for. What he finds is a mud-covered dog, lost and hungry, with a nametag and a phone number.

Dane Hughes is stuck in Surfers Paradise at a week-long work conference when he gets a phone call from his distraught mother. His dog, his fur baby, Wicket, has run away. Unable to leave and feeling helpless and miserable, he gets a text from a guy. “I think I found your dog…”

Griffin and Dane start talking, and Griffin agrees to look after Wicket until Dane can collect him. With a few days left before his new job starts, Griffin takes Wicket on some coastal adventures and sends Dane photos of their fun, and so the start of something new and kind of wonderful begins.

Griffin might have moved to Coolum in search of a new life, but what he finds is so much more. What he gets to keep just might take some four-legged help.
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Categories: 5 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2018, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Audio Review: The Walls of Troy by L.A. Witt

Reviewed by

Title: The Walls of Troy
Author: L.A. Witt
Narrator: Nick J. Russo
Heroes: Iskander/Troy
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 7 Hours, 58 Minutes
Publisher: L.A. Witt
Release Date: September 9, 2017
Available at: Amazon and Audible
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Just when the pieces begin to add up, danger blows them all apart…

MA1 Iskander Ayhan’s orders are simple: stay with Admiral Dalton’s son as a plainclothes bodyguard while the kid attends university classes. So typical—a high-ranking officer abusing Navy resources for unnecessary security.

It isn’t long before Iskander realizes there’s more to his assignment than protecting the kid from benign harassment by homophobic classmates. Behind those piercings, eyeliner, and bad attitude, Troy Dalton is scared. Truly, deeply, scared.

Troy is indeed hiding something. Iskander is the only one who’s ever taken his fears seriously, which gives him hope. Yet Troy isn’t sure one lone, armed-to-the-teeth bodyguard is enough to keep him safe, especially since he can’t risk telling Iskander the truth.

As Iskander slowly gains Troy’s trust, the walls start coming down. And before they know it, the warmth between them explodes into real heat. Until suddenly Iskander realizes he’s a magnet for danger, not a shield.

Now he doesn’t know how to keep Troy safe—stay close, or get as far away from him as possible.

Warning: Contains a younger man with a thing for older men, and an older man who doesn’t usually have quite so much trouble resisting younger men. Author is not responsible for any bad academic habits that might result from watching these two “study” for their exams.
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Categories: 4.5 Star Ratings, Audio Review, LGBT, Morgan's Reviews, Published in 2017 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Power Play by Cara Dee

Reviewed by JustJen

Title: Power Play
Author: Cara Dee
Heroes: Abel/Madigan
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 276 Pages
Publisher: Cara Dee
Release Date: January 30, 2018
Available at: Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: I was my own worst enemy. For as much as I depended on order and a structured life to easier manage my bipolar disorder, fire was irresistible and indisputably my favorite toy to play with. On the ice, it turned me into a hotheaded hockey player. In the bedroom, my attitude was my last defense, a front I wanted to see tumbling down. But lately, all I got was burned.

Love sucked. Correction: it sucked when you were in love with your parents’ closest friend and he didn’t feel the same. I admitted my feelings for Madigan Monroe over a year ago, and I was still waiting for a response. Now my balance was gone. My anxiety was all over the place, my fits of rage had just earned me a suspension from the team, I questioned myself at every turn, and being home for two weeks was gonna make it impossible to avoid Madigan.

I used to be his Abel, his sweetheart, his trouble. It’d been the two of us against the world since I was a kid. I’d even discovered we had kink in common! On paper, I was seemingly perfect for him. Maybe that was why his nonverbal rejection hurt so much. Or maybe it was because, recently, he seemed hell-bent on us “being friends” again.

Whatever. I was a loser, and I couldn’t resist him for crap.
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, JustJen's Reviews, LGBT, Published in 2018 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Audio Review: Blood Fury by J.R. Ward

Reviewed by Susan65

Title: Blood Fury
Author: J.R. Ward
Narrator: Jim Frangione
Series: Black Dagger Legacy #3
Heroes: Peyton/Novo and Saxton/Ruhn
Genre: MF/MM Paranormal
Length: 13 Hours, 10 Minutes
Publisher: Random House Audio
Release Date: January 9, 2018
Available at: Amazon and Audible
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: A vampire aristocrat, Peyton is well aware of his duty to his bloodline: mate with an appropriate female of his class and carry on his family’s traditions. And he thought he’d found his perfect match—until she fell in love with someone else. Yet when his split-second decision in a battle with the enemy endangers the life of another trainee, Peyton has to face the idea that his future, and his heart, actually lie with another.

Novo, as a female in the Black Dagger Brotherhood’s training program, feels like she has to prove herself to everybody—and she has no interest in being distracted by falling in love. But when Peyton proves to be so much more than a rich playboy, she is forced to confront the tragedy that has broken her soul and closed her off from love.

As the two grapple with Novo’s past and Peyton’s present, another couple must contend with an erotic connection that is unparalleled—and potentially scandalous. Saxton, who has had his heart broken, discovers in himself a deep-seated attraction to Ruhn, a new member of the household. But will the other male explore the connection? Or will he close his mind and his heart to what could be true love . . . and cost Saxton everything?
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Audio Review, LGBT, M/F, Published in 2018, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Going Overboard by L.A. Witt

Reviewed by JustJen

Title: Going Overboard
Author: L.A. Witt
Series: Anchor Point #5
Heroes: Dalton/Chris
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 259 Pages
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Release Date: February 5, 2018
Available at: Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb:  Second-class petty officers Dalton Taylor and Chris Ingram have been best friends since coxswain’s school. Now they’re stationed together in the harbor patrol unit of NAS Adams. They’re content as friends, but secretly, they both ache for more. Neither makes a move, though; while Dalton is out and proud, Chris is closeted—even from his best friend.

Then another coxswain’s negligence nearly drowns Dalton. After a taste of how easily they could lose each other, neither man can keep his feelings hidden anymore, and it turns out love and sex come easy when you’re falling for your best friend.

Things aren’t just heating up between the friends-turned-lovers, though. The Navy is investigating the accident, and the harbor patrol chief isn’t going to let his star coxswain go down for dereliction of duty, even if saving him means throwing Dalton under the bus.

As the threats and gaslighting pile up, Chris and Dalton need each other more than ever—as shipmates, friends, and lovers. But if their chief prevails, the only way they can save their careers is to let each other go.
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, JustJen's Reviews, LGBT, Published in 2018 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Seth & Casey by R.J. Scott

Reviewed by Susan65

Title: Seth & Casey
Author: R.J. Scott
Heroes: Seth Wild/Casey McGuire
Genre: M Contemporary
Length: 100 Pages
Publisher: Love Lane Books
Release Date: February 7, 2018
Available at:  Amazon and Smashwords
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Seth Wild is a fire fighter who has lost everything. Nearly dying in a fire, he is scared and angry and chases away the only good thing in his life—school teacher Casey McGuire.

When a sudden and violent snow storm hits their town he receives a message Casey and ten kids are trapped in an education centre center with no way out. There is no one else who can help, he’s the last fire fighter in town with his bum leg and his icy heart.

He doesn’t hesitate. He always promised he would be Casey’s hero, but will he ever again be Casey’s love?

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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2018, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment