Susan65’s Reviews

Book Review: The Play of His Life by Amy Aislin

Reviewed by Susan65

Title: The Play of His Life
Author: Amy Aislin
Heroes: Christian/Riley
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 149 Pages
Publisher: MLR Press
Release Date: April 28, 2017
Available at:  Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Former best friends turned lovers Christian and Riley haven’t seen or spoken to each other in six years…is there a better time than the holiday season to reconnect with your favorite person?

The last person Christian wants to run into on a visit home to spend time with his mom over the holidays is his former best friend-turned-lover-turned-ex. But there Riley is, in all his tall, chiseled, blondness. The same guy who walked out on him six years ago, breaking his heart in the process. Who knew he’s still in love with the jerk? (Oh yeah, he did. What? Who says denial isn’t healthy?)

Two years ago, Riley was injured out of the NHL, but he’s got his own bakery now and a quiet life selling quiches and cupcakes to his customers. Then Christian unexpectedly walks back into his life, forcing Riley to question his choices. Especially that one choice he made six years ago that walked him out of Christian’s life. Now if only he had the courage to tell a boy how he really feels about him…
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2017, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: The Rainbow Clause by Beth Bolden

Reviewed by Susan65

Title: The Rainbow Clause
Author: Beth Bolden
Heroes: Colin O’Connor/Nick Wheeler
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 324 Pages
Publisher: Beth Bolden
Release Date: April 23, 2017
Available at:  Amazon
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Heisman winner. Member of the National Championship team. NFL Rookie of the Year. Quarterback Colin O’Connor knows he’s become the ultimate romance novel cliché: all the success he’s ever dreamed of but nobody to share it with. Too bad it’s not as simple as asking out the next girl who intrigues him – because the next girl to intrigue him probably won’t be a girl at all.

Unexpectedly, the solution comes in one neat package: Nick Wheeler, lead journalist for a leading sports and pop culture blog. Hired by Colin’s team, Nick comes to Miami to shine a spotlight on the NFL’s most private quarterback.

The heat in Miami rises when Nick discovers that Colin is nothing like the hollow personality he pretends to be in interviews and he’s even hotter in person than on his Sports Illustrated cover. Nick knows this is the story of his career, and after spending his teenage years as a bullied, closeted teen, it hits very close to home. What he needs is to help Colin share his story while keeping their growing relationship from boiling over in the press, but what he wants is to tell the world.
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2017, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Take a Chance on It by K.A. Mitchell

Reviewed by Susan65

Title: Take a Chance on It
Author: K.A. Mitchell
Series: Ready or Knot #3
Heroes: Dane Archer/Gideon DeLuca
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 160 Pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: October 19, 2016
Available at:  Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Left at the altar by his long-time lover, Spencer, and in desperate need of quality health insurance, Dane Archer can’t say no when his best man and best friend, Gideon DeLuca, steps in. But Dane and Gideon have history, tangled and passionate and complicated.

After seventeen years of cat and mouse, Gideon has realized Dane isn’t the kind of man who ever wants to be caught, and he’s stopped playing Dane’s game.

For Dane, it’s never been a game, but sexual fidelity isn’t his strong suit. Love is too beautiful for limits, something he’s never been able to get Gideon the control freak to understand. Now Dane has nothing but limits, including the timeline on his paper-only marriage to Gideon.

Gideon’s the only person Dane trusts enough to lean on, and Gideon will do anything to get Dane through this crisis. Anything but fall for Dane again.

Living together forces Dane and Gideon to stop circling and face what’s been between them all these years. They just don’t know if they have the power or the time to make things right.

What they do know is that they’re not ready for it to be over.
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Categories: 4.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2016, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Risky Behavior by L.A. Witt and Cari Z.

Reviewed by Susan65

Title: Risky Behavior
Authors: L.A. Witt and Cari Z.
Series: Bad Behavior #1
Heroes: Andreas Ruffner/Darren Corliss
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 309 Pages
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Release Date: May 1, 2017
Available at:  Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: It’s day one of Darren Corliss’s career as a detective, and not only has he been assigned a notoriously difficult partner, but the guy might also be a pill-popping dirty cop. Internal Affairs needs proof, and Darren gets to be their eyes and ears whether he wants to or not.

Detective Andreas Ruffner doesn’t play by the rules, and he doesn’t play well with others. With bodies piling up and a list of suspects who are way above his pay grade, the last thing he needs is a wet-behind-the-ears kid for a partner. Or babysitter. Not even if that partner is easy on the eyes.

As Darren gains Andreas’s hard-won trust, they both realize there’s more than just mutual suspicion simmering beneath the surface. But their investigation is heating up as quickly as their relationship, and Darren has no choice but to go along with Andreas’s unorthodox—and borderline unethical—methods. As IA puts the squeeze on Darren to give up the man he’s falling for, he has to wonder—is Andreas the only cop left in this town who isn’t dirty?
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Categories: 4.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2017, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Audio Review: Touch the Sky by Christina Lee and Nyrae Dawn

Reviewed by Susan65

Title: Touch the Sky
Authors: Christina Lee and Nyrae Dawn
Narrators: Thomas Fawley and Brandon Bujnowski
Series: Free Fall #1
Heroes: Lucas Barnett/Gabriel Stewart
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 7 hours, 16 minutes
Publisher: Self Published
Release Date: March 7, 2017
Available at: Amazon and Audible
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Lucas Barnett and Gabriel Stewart didn’t have it easy as kids. They were only trying to deal with bad situations at home when they became lifelines for each other. Their pipe dream was to someday meet in LA, where Lucas would design skyscrapers, and Gabriel would learn to fly. But then Gabriel disappeared without so much as a goodbye, and Lucas got himself in trouble with the law.

Five years later, both men are at a loss when they run into each other at a Hollywood bar. Lucas is still angry, but it’s not as if Gabriel could control how his mind and body had betrayed him. Being found on the ledge of that bridge had changed everything.

The attraction is immediate, but it’s more than their inability to keep their hands off each other. Neither man expects the fierce connection pulling them together. Unfortunately, ignoring their problems doesn’t make them disappear. Gabriel’s internal struggles are serious…dangerous. And no matter how much Lucas wants it to be true, saving Gabriel won’t make up for not being able to save his mom. If they don’t find the strength to face their own demons before the darkness takes hold, they risk more than just losing each other forever.
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Audio Review, LGBT, Published in 2017, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Any Given Sunday by Mercy Celeste

Reviewed by Susan65

Title: Any Given Sunday
Author: Mercy Celeste
Series: Southern Scrimmage #6
Heroes: Bo/Dylan
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 251 Pages
Publisher: Mercy Celeste
Release Date: March 29, 2017
Available at:  Amazon
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Mind the gap.
Any Given Sunday is the story that takes place in the gaps of Six Ways from Sunday.

Six Ways from Sunday was NEVER supposed to be part of a series.
Six Ways from Sunday was written in five days and was supposed to be a standalone short story.
As the Scrimmage series evolved and the story grew I realized that I needed to know Bo and Dylan’s whole backstory.
Any Given Sunday started out as Sunday Schooled. It retells Bo and Dylan’s story from the day they met until the ending of Six Ways from Sunday. Including the flashback scenes from Sidelined and certain aspects of Bootleg Diva from Bo’s POV.
Any Given Sunday explores the time gaps in Six Ways from Sunday, in greater detail.
Any Given Sunday is a companion to the Scrimmage Series and can be read in any order.
Any Given Sunday is an original story, the scenes from Six Ways from Sunday are not repeated in this companion edition.
Certain details and characters from this expanded story will return in Blindsided.
Warning:
Readers sensitive to the perceived cheating in the original two books should avoid.
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2017, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Audio Review: The Game Changer by Kay Simone

Reviewed by Susan65

Title: The Game Changer
Author: Kay Simone
Narrator: Greg Tremblay
Heroes: Malcome Rodgers/Vance Coberly
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 10 Hours, 18 Minutes
Publisher: Kay Simone
Release Date: March 17, 2017
Available at: Amazon and Audible
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: A straight quarterback. A gay physical therapist. Love is out of bounds… Right?

Malcolm Rodgers loses everything in one week.

The quarterback is benched with an injury the same week his fiancée breaks off their engagement. Lost, hurting, and stuck on the sidelines, Malcolm must spend his days in physical therapy with the one person who refuses to let him get back in the game: cocky Vance Coberly.

Vance is out and proud in the macho world of pro football. As the top physical therapist in his field, flirting with football players is strictly out of bounds.

But the rules of play all change when Vance meets Malcolm.

Malcolm can’t deny what he feels for Vance — but Vance won’t be someone’s one-time fling. Can a Hail Mary gesture save the deepest love Malcolm has ever felt?
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Categories: 4.5 Star Ratings, Audio Review, LGBT, Published in 2017, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Revelation by Sloane Kennedy

Reviewed by Susan65

Title: Revelation
Author: Sloane Kennedy
Series: The Protectors #7
Heroes: Cain/Ethan
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 336 Pages
Publisher: Sloane Kennedy
Release Date: April 7, 2017
Available at:  Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: “I trusted once. I won’t make that mistake again…”
An ugly childhood and devastating betrayal have left 25-year-old Cain Jensen scarred inside and out. Protecting himself means keeping everyone at arm’s length and protecting others means never getting emotionally involved. In the three years since he’s joined an underground vigilante group, every life he saves helps ease the guilt of the ones that were lost to him so long ago. So when he’s sent to a remote cabin in the Cascade Mountains just north of Seattle to follow up on the disappearance of his boss’s co-worker, his only thought is to see that justice is served, no matter what the circumstances.

But nothing he’s ever experienced has prepared the cold-hearted and very straight Cain for who he finds on that mountain…or the intense need to suddenly offer more than just protection.

“I’ve finally managed to break free, but I’ve never felt more trapped in my entire life…”
Ethan Rhodes has been running for six months, but it’s never fast enough, it’s never far enough. At 30 years old, the talented ER Doctor should be spending his days saving other people’s lives, not worrying about his own. But he knows that the four years of physical and emotional abuse he’s suffered at the hands of his volatile ex are nothing compared to what will happen when Ethan runs out of places to hide, especially after taking something from the man he once was sure would be the love of his life.

A violent episode that has Ethan narrowly escaping death leads to a quiet cabin in the mountains where his battered body will have time to heal before he and the young girl relying on him need to run again. But everything changes with the arrival of a mysterious stranger who threatens to give Ethan something he’d finally accepted was gone forever…hope.

“I didn’t see this coming. I don’t think he did either…”

To get to the truth, Cain must first get through Ethan’s defenses, but watching the other man’s walls start to come down forces Cain to face his own past. And as the tremulous connection between the two men grows and gives way to something more, both will need to decide if they’re willing to risk giving each other the one thing that has cost them so much in the past…trust.

Will two men who’ve vowed never to let someone close again let down their guard long enough to find each other, or will they let their pasts determine their future?

Trigger Warning: This book includes references to physical, emotional and sexual abuse so please proceed with caution

Note: This book contains M/M sexual content and is intended for mature audiences.

***This is Book 7 in the series, but can be read as a stand-alone story – no cliffhangers.***

The Protectors series crosses over with some of my other series, so for the most enjoyment, they should be read in this order, but it is not required:

Book 1 – Absolution (M/M/M)
Book 2 – Salvation (M/M)
Book 3 – Retribution (M/M)
Logan’s Need (Escort Series #3) (M/M)
Redeeming Rafe (Barretti Security Series #2) (M/M)
Saving Ren (Barretti Security Series #3) (M/M/M)
Freeing Zane (Barretti Security Series #4) (M/M)
Book 4 – Forsaken (M/M)
Book 5 – Vengeance (M/M/M)
Book 5.5 – A Protectors Family Christmas
Book 6 – Atonement (M/M)
Book 7 – Revelation (M/M)
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Categories: 4.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2017, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Devour by Jocelynn Drake and Rinda Elliott

Reviewed by Susan65

Title: Devour
Authors: Jocelynn Drake and Rinda Elliott
Series: Unbreakable Bonds #4
Heroes: Ian/Hollis
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 249 Pages
Publisher: Self Published
Release Date: April 28, 2017
Available at:  Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Ian Pierce is the chef and part owner of the hottest restaurant in Cincinnati, his chosen family is full of happy relationships, and the scruffy, snarky cop who has been haunting his dreams is one step closer to being in his bed. But everything comes crashing down when the past he narrowly escaped nine years ago comes to a deadly head.

Hollis Banner was enamored of Ian at first sight. He’s kept his distance, knowing the gorgeous, self-confident man is out of his league. Yet there’s no standing aside when Boris Jagger escapes a raid. Jagger’s world has been nearly destroyed and this time, the crime boss is coming after Ian and his friends personally.

Hollis will do whatever it takes to keep Ian safe as they escape to a safe house with a couple of Ian’s overprotective friends. And Ian finds himself in a race to unlock painful memories—memories containing information that could take down the very last of Jagger’s illegal operations forever.
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Categories: 4.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2017, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Book Review: Darkest Hour Before Dawn by Charlie Cochet

Reviewed by Susan65

Title: Darkest Hour Before Dawn
Author: Charlie Cochet
Series: THIRDS #9
Heroes: Seb/Hudson
Genre: MM Paranormal
Length: 224 Pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: April 25, 2017
Available at:  Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: THIRDS Team Leader Sebastian Hobbs and Chief Medical Examiner Hudson Colbourn are as much in love now as they were nearly seven years ago when a tragic event on the job destroyed their relationship. The two drift together only to be pulled apart time and time again. When Hudson draws the interest of dangerous enemies, both within and outside the organization, Seb wants nothing more than to protect the man who still means everything to him.

As life and death events, an uncertain future, and startling truths draw Hudson and Seb to each other yet again, they must make a choice: trust their love and take strength from what they share, or lose what matters most for good this time.
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2017, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment