Susan65’s Reviews

Audio Review: Safe & Sound by Lucy Lennox and Sloane Kennedy

Reviewed by Susan65

Title: Safe & Sound
Author: Lucy Lennox and Sloane Kennedy
Narrator: Michael Pauley
Series: Twist of Fate #2
Heroes: Aiden & Ash
Genre: M/M Contemporary
Length: 10 hrs and 43 mins
Publisher: Self Published
Release Date: November 2, 2017
Available at: Amazon & Audible
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: I’ve been drowning for a long time. I never thought I’d find someone who knows what that’s like….

Self-proclaimed playboy, Aiden Vale, has it all – good looks, successful career, plenty of cash in the bank, and an endless supply of men who know the score…that one night is just that. So the last thing he wants, or needs, is to forge a connection that might mean revealing more of himself than he’s ready to. But when fate intervenes, putting Aiden in the path of someone who threatens to knock down his carefully constructed walls, he’s quick to realize the young man he’s become infatuated with is hiding a painful secret.

I finally have a shot at freedom. I’ll never let anyone take that from me ever again….

Ash Valentine is just looking for a way out, and the last thing he wants or needs is another man controlling every aspect of his life. Desperate for the cash that will help him flee his abusive boyfriend, Ash accepts what is supposed to be a temporary job at a local coffee shop. But nothing prepares him for the gorgeous and enigmatic Aiden Vale, and the small acts of kindness the charming coffee shop regular bestows on him or the new friends he begins to make along the way.

Terrified of once again becoming too reliant on someone else to take care of him, Ash refuses Aiden’s repeated offers of help in any form. But when it becomes clear that there’s something more behind Aiden’s need to save him, Ash begins to wonder if he’s found someone who needs saving just as badly.

I know he wants to save me, but what if he’s the one who needs saving….

As their tentative friendship turns into something more, long buried secrets begin to surface. When Aiden’s need to protect Ash clashes with the younger man’s desire for independence, memories of the one he couldn’t save begin to tear at the fragile cords of Aiden’s soul, and he’s forced to face a truth he’s been hiding from for a long time. Continue reading

Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Audio Review, LGBT, Published in 2017, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Twice Bitten by Rayna Vause

Reviewed by Susan65

Title: Twice Bitten
Author: Rayna Vause
Heroes: Danny & Kieran
Genre: M/M Paranormal
Length: 200 pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: July 17, 2018
Available at: Dreamspinner Press & Amazon
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: With a new species of vampire stalking the streets, the stakes are high. But that’s not the only reason hearts are on the line.

Danny Reynolds thought Kieran McCade was the one—true love and hot lust forever—until Danny found out Kier’s bloody secret and ran away screaming. Months later, Danny is facing his own paranormal crisis, and he needs Kieran’s help, but are there enough ways to apologize for breaking a vampire’s heart?

Nothing about Danny’s transformation is normal—not the attack that led to it, and not the symptoms Danny’s plagued with—but being in close proximity to Kieran is even worse than becoming a thing that goes bump in the night. Danny and Kieran aren’t the only things threatening to bump each other off, though. Secret organizations and clashing vigilante agendas want to get their hands on Danny. His only hope is to find a fix for his problem before he’s either captured or his abnormal transition starves him to death.

Danny and Kieran might have a real chance to repair their broken romance… but only if they keep Danny alive!
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2018, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Dual Audio Review: Infamous by Jenny Holiday

Reviewed by Morgan & Susan65

Title: Infamous
Author: Jenny Holiday
Narrator: Michael Fell
Series: Famous #2
Heroes: Jesse & Hunter
Genre: M/M Contemporary
Length: 8 hours and 35 minutes
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Release Date: April 9, 2018
Available at: Amazon & Audible
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: All that up-and-coming musician Jesse Jamison has ever wanted is to be on the cover of Rolling Stone. When a gossip website nearly catches him kissing someone who isn’t his famous girlfriend – and also isn’t a girl – he considers the near miss a wake-up call. There’s a lot riding on his image as the super-straight rocker, and if he wants to realize his dreams, he’ll need to toe the line. Luckily, he’s into women too. Problem solved.

After a decade pretending to be his ex’s roommate, pediatrician Hunter Wyatt is done hiding. He might not know how to date in the Grindr world, how to make friends in a strange city, or whether his new job in Toronto is a mistake. But he does know that no one is worth the closet. Not even the world’s sexiest rock star.

As Jesse’s charity work at Hunter’s hospital brings the two closer together, a bromance develops. Soon, Hunter is all Jesse can think about. But when it comes down to a choice between Hunter and his career, he’s not sure he’s brave enough to follow his heart.   Continue reading

Categories: 4.5 Star Ratings, 5 Star Ratings, Audio Review, LGBT, Morgan's Reviews, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Audio Review: If the Seas Catch Fire by L.A. Witt

Reviewed by Susan65

Title: If the Seas Catch Fire
Author: L.A. Witt
Narrator: Michael Ferraiuolo
Heroes: Sergei & Domenico
Genre: M/M Contemporary
Length: 13 hrs and 34 mins
Publisher: Self-Published
Release Date: October 19. 2017
Available at: Amazon & Audible
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Sergei Andronikov was a child when the Mafia wiped out his family, leaving him with nothing but a hunger for revenge. Years later, through ruthless strategy and tireless patience, he’s a contract killer working for the three families ruling Cape Swan… and he’s nearly in position to bring them all down from the inside.

Domenico “Dom” Maisano is Mafia royalty, a made man… and a hitman. He’s caught up in a violent life he can’t escape, struggling to maintain an image he doesn’t want, and suppressing desires he can’t have.

A chance encounter throws the killers into each other’s paths. Though Dom knows he’s playing a dangerous game, he’s intrigued and keeps coming back. Sergei can’t resist him either—Dom is everything he set out to destroy, but he’s also everything he’s ever ached for in a man.

Then Sergei gets the contract he’s been waiting for—the hit that promises to bring the town’s Mafia to its knees.

But when a capo makes an unexpected move, Sergei must choose between dropping the hammer on the families he vowed to annihilate, and protecting the man he swore he wouldn’t love.

And the wrong choice—or even the right one—will destroy them both.
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Categories: 4.5 Star Ratings, Audio Review, LGBT, Published in 2017, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Audio Review: Point of No Return by N.R. Walker

Reviewed by Susan65

Title: Point of No Return
Author: N.R. Walker
Narrator: Sean Crisden
Series: Turning Point #1
Heroes: Matt & Kira
Genre: M/M Contemporary
Length: 4 hrs and 38 mins
Publisher: Love Lane Books
Release Date: January 18, 2018
Available at: Amazon & Audible
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Matthew Elliot is one of LA’s best detectives—a smart, tough, closeted gay man. When he falls for his gym instructor, it’s not his colleagues he should be worried about finding out…it’s the bad guys.

Matthew Elliot is one of LA’s best detectives. He’s been labelled the golden boy of the Fab Four: a team of four detectives who’ve closed down drug-rings all over the city. He’s smart, tough and exceptionally good at his job.

He’s also a closeted gay man.

Enter Kira Takeo Franco, the new boxing coach at the gym. Matthew can’t deny his immediate attraction to the man his fellow cops know as Frankie. But in allowing himself to fall in love with a man known to his colleagues, Matthew risks outing them both.

Matt and Kira work to keep their relationship and private lives hidden from Matt’s very public life, fearing it would be detrimental to their careers.

But it’s not the other cops who Matthew should be worried about finding out his deepest, darkest secret…it’s the bad guys.
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Categories: 4.5 Star Ratings, Audio Review, LGBT, Published in 2018, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Audio Review: Jagged Edge by Jo Raven

Reviewed by Susan65

Title: Jagged Edge
Author: Jo Raven
Narrator: Teddy Hamilton & Iggy Toma
Series: Damage Control
Heroes: Jason & Raine
Genre: M/M Contemporary
Length: 11 hrs and 3 mins
Publisher: Oh My Audiobooks
Release Date: March 13, 2018
Available at: Amazon & Audible
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: I don’t want Jason Vega.

Not at all.

It’s the worst idea ever.

Ah hell…

Jason is handsome. Smart. Dangerous. Hot.

He’s goddamn gorgeous—but he’s also sleeping on the street, hanging out with the local biker gang and selling his body for a living.

Our lives, our paths couldn’t be further apart. I’m crawling toward the light, while he’s falling into the dark.

But it doesn’t matter how different we are, or what logic dictates.

I really shouldn’t want Jason Vega—but I just can’t stop.

He’s under my skin, and sinking deeper…

Trigger Warning: violence and sexual abuse
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Audio Review, LGBT, Published in 2018, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Audio Review: Banded Together by KC Burn

Reviewed by Susan65

Title: Banded Together
Author: KC Burn
Narrator: Darcy Stark
Heroes: Devlin & Jack
Genre: M/M Contemporary
Length: 6 hrs and 30 mins
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: April 24, 2018
Available at: Dreamspinner Press, Amazon & Audible
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Punk’s not dead, but it’s time to redefine life.

Devlin Waters thought he’d have music forever. But the tragic death of his best friend ended the twenty-year run of his punk band, Negative Impression. Unable to process the loss, Devlin distances himself from everyone and everything that reminds him of the band. But forty-one is too young to curl up and wait for the end. In a search for a second career, he finds himself at university with a bunch of kids young enough to be… his kids. His sexy archeology professor, however, makes Devlin think about life beyond his grief….

Dr. Jack Johnson does not appreciate Devlin’s lack of respect, his inability to be serious, or his chronic lateness. Worse, he hates that he’s attracted to a student. When he realizes Devlin is the rock star he crushed on in his youth, he drops his guard—against his better judgment.

Before they can move forward together, Jack must admit to Devlin that he’s not only an admirer, but he also sings in a cover band. How will Devlin react to his ultimate fanboy when his own music has died? Continue reading

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

Book Review: Edge Jump by Elizabeth Noble

Reviewed by Susan65

Title: Edge Jump
Author: Elizabeth Noble
Heroes: Brett & Rylan
Genre: M/M Contemporary
Length: 72k+ words
Publisher: JMS Books
Release Date: June 16, 2018
Available at: JMS Books & Amazon
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Brett Rocha retired from pro-hockey while still at the top of his game. Co-owner of a chain of restaurants and an inherited ice skating academy, he seems to have it all. Despite his fame, wealth, and good fortune, though, Brett suddenly finds himself painfully alone.

Ex-Olympic figure skating star Rylan Hennessy transitioned to professional ice dancing with Celia, Brett’s sister and Rylan’s lifelong partner on the ice. Then tragedy strikes, and Rylan’s world is turned upside down, too.

With the unexpected death of Celia, Brett and Rylan are drawn together through their mutual grief. Their bond strengthens when Brett introduces Rylan to BDSM, a lifestyle Rylan has never experienced before. While the mystery of Celia’s murder still needs to be solved, a second tragedy threatens to tear them apart.

Will their relationship survive, or will love be enough to see them through this life altering, harrowing change?
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2018, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Book Review: The Medium by Bonnie Dee

Reviewed by Susan65

Title: The Medium
Author: Bonnie Dee
Heroes: Justin & Albert
Genre: M/M Historical Paranormal
Length: 53k+ words
Publisher: Self-Published
Release Date: May 29, 2018
Available at: Amazon
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: To win a heart, he must risk his soul…

Cast out of his family for being a freak, psychic Justin Crump helps others find peace by using his ability. When he’s called upon to release a distressed soul from a haunted house, a child’s angry spirit draws him into a dark mystery. Equally intriguing is the skeptical homeowner, Albert, a man who has buried his sexuality deeper than the grave.

Albert Henderson humors his mother’s wishes by inviting the medium for a visit. While he doubts Justin’s gifts, he can’t deny one truth: the man stirs desire in him that Albert has spent a lifetime denying. Slowly, the walls of his proper life crumble. And when Justin proposes some emotion-free experimentation, neither imagines it might lead to love…and danger.

After learning the terrifying truth about the deceased child’s persecutor, the two men pursue a perpetrator of great evil. When they coax a confession from their quarry, the vengeful spirit unleashes power nearly beyond control. To free the earthbound ghost from the past that holds it shackled, Justin must risk his own soul. And Albert must find the courage to break free of the chains of doubt that will deny him and Justin the future of which they once only dreamed.

Warning: Contains mention of child sexual abuse.
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2018, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Believe by Garrett Leigh

Reviewed by Susan65

Title: Believe
Author: Garrett Leigh
Series: Skins #3
Heroes: Rhys & Jevon
Genre: M/M Contemporary
Length: 229 pages
Publisher: Fox Love Press
Release Date: June 26, 2018
Available at: Amazon
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Flight paramedic Rhys Foster is hooked on adrenaline. By day it’s blood and guts, by night it’s the thrill of the club. With a different face in his bed most nights, he doesn’t have time to be lonely…right?

Entertainer Jevon Campbell is a play therapist like no other—dancer, magician, acrobat, he brings it all to his global mission to help children in need laugh again. He’s on a rare home visit when he encounters enigmatic Rhys in a London bar.

Their connection is instant, but Rhys fast realises Jevon’s easy confidence doesn’t stretch as far as the bedroom. He has no idea how mesmerising he is—how beautiful—and Rhys resolves to show him.

They grow closer, but time isn’t on their side. Rhys seems unable to articulate how he feels, and with Jevon’s imminent departure from the UK hanging over them, their separate commitments could tear them apart forever.

As the days slip by, Rhys must learn to believe he’s worth the happiness Jevon is offering. Continue reading

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