Susan65’s Reviews

Debut Author Book Review: That’s Who I Am by Jayden Brooks

Reviewed by Susan65

1Title: That’s Who I am
Author: Jayden Brooks
Heroes: Jared Winters/Donovan Carrigan
Genre: M/M Contemporary
Length: 49 Pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: June 1, 2014
Available at: Dreamspinner Press, Amazon, All Romance Ebooks
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Jared Winters’s life has been little more than a collection of moments where he didn’t think before opening his mouth. Always a bit different, he’s learned to accept an existence on the outside looking in. But one day, his mouth lands him in a position that nearly costs him his life. Only the timely intervention of Sophie, his twin Conner’s ex-girlfriend, saves him.

Siblings Sophie and Donovan Carrigan step in and offer support, comfort, and a place to call home. Under their care, Jared begins to heal and learns to trust just enough to act on his attraction to Donovan. He just hopes it’s worth the risk.
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Categories: 4.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, Debut Authors, LGBT, Published in 2014, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Rock Stars Week Review: Being Sawyer Knight by Nicola Haken

Reviewed by Susan65

1Title: Being Sawyer Knight
Author: Nicola Haken
Heroes:  Sawyer Knight/Jake Reed
Genre: MM
Length: 317 Pages
Publisher: Nicola Haken
Release Date: May 27, 2014
Available at: Smashwords, Amazon, Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: As lead singer and guitarist of the internationally renowned Souls of the Knight, Sawyer Knight is living a life most men can only dream of. He’s surrounded by music, fame, wealth, women throwing themselves at his feet. He has everything…

Yet he has nothing.

Life as one of the world’s most sought after rock stars is tiring, oppressive and lonely. He spends every day being who the world wants him to be, who his manager tells him to be, who his mother expects him to be… all the while fighting against who he really is. Truth is, he’s used to it. He’s actually gotten pretty good at pretending… at living the lie.

Until Jake Reed, his ex-best friend and the only person who’s ever made him ‘feel’, waltzes back into his life as the band’s new head of security. Jake wants Sawyer – always has, always will. Now, he just needs to get Sawyer to admit that he feels the same…

“You will be mine, Sawyer Knight. The faster you try to run the quicker you’ll fall to your knees. Then, Sawyer… then you’ll be too weak to resist.”
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Categories: 4.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2014, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Hearsay by Taylor V. Donovan

Reviewed by Susan65

1Title: Hearsay
Author: Taylor V. Donovan
Series: Bylaws #1
Heroes: Derrick/Roman
Genre: M/M Contemporary
Length: 299 Pages
Publisher: Self-published
Release Date: May 28, 2014
Available at: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, All Romance Ebooks
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Senior associate attorney Derrick Swain wants it all: a loving husband, a fulfilling career, and a couple of kids. After years of hard work he’s on the fast track to a promotion. He’s also met the man of his dreams. A week of daily lunch meetings in Central Park provides the perfect setting to get to know him better, and Derrick thinks it won’t be long before they take the next step and go on a date. But instead of asking him out, the object of his affection stops showing up without explanation, leaving him to wonder what went wrong.

As part owner of one of the most prestigious law firms in New York City, Roman Bradford knows that professional success isn’t the be all end all. Although he’s been lucky in life, true love has eluded him for the most part. One too many failed relationships have caused him to be leery of trying again, until he meets a man that can only be described as temptation personified. A few conversations is all it takes for Roman to start believing things will be different this time around. It doesn’t matter that they are boss and employee, or that he’s feeling too much, too fast. Not when he can see the same emotions in Derrick’s eyes. Then life turns on a dime, and Roman has no option but to let his chance at happiness go.

A battle of wills ensues when a life-altering case brings them together a year later. Roman wants to do the right thing by not letting anything happen between them, and Derrick is determined to prove they’re meant to be together. Evidence will be presented and final arguments will be made. Will they be able to come to an agreement, or will they opt to have their potential relationship dismissed?
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2014, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Blessed With a Curse by N.J. Nielsen

Reviewed by Susan65

1Title: Blessed With a Curse
Author: N.J. Nielsen
Series: The Experimentals #1
Heroes: Storm Gennaro/Heath Madden
Genre: MM Paranormal
Length: 132 Pages
Publisher: MLR Press
Release Date: January 16, 2014
Available at: MLR Press, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, All Romance Ebooks
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: What doesn’t kill me – had better start running…Storm Gennaro

When the past calls Storm Gennaro for assistance, he willingly comes to help the man who walked away from him. Thirty years is a long time to be parted from the one person meant to stand at your side forever.

Heath Madden is sick, and his family calls Storm to help save him. All the hurt and betrayal suffered at the man’s hands resurfaces, but not everything is as it seems.

The past has come back to wreak havoc on their lives, and as they dig deeper, they realize they aren’t the only ones whose lives are being played with.
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2014, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Stay With Me by S.E. Harmon

Reviewed by Susan65

1Title: Stay With Me
Author: S.E. Harmon
Heroes: Mackenzie William/Jordan Channing
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 290 pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: April 28, 2014
Available at: Dreamspinner, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, All Romance Ebooks
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Private investigator Mackenzie Williams’s newest client is everything he’s looking for in a guy—charming, beautiful, intelligent, and successful. There’s only one itty bitty problem—the guy’s not exactly gay. In fact, Jordan Channing is looking for a PI to follow his fiancée. The smart thing would be to thank Jordan for his time, turn Mr. Perfect away (don’t let the door hit you on the rump, thank you very much), and forget he exists.

Of course, Mackenzie has never been accused of doing the smart thing. Being smart aleck is more his MO. Relationships aren’t up his alley, never have been. So why’s he so inexplicably drawn to his new client?

Jordan has always been the high achiever, a man who lives in a focused, controlled, and carefully constructed manner. But for the first time in his life, he has to admit the impossible—another man is getting his engine running on all cylinders. Despite Jordan’s denial, it’s not long before he can no longer resist the strong undercurrents pulling them together. Now Jordan must decide if he can go against everything he’s ever known to have the only love he’s ever wanted.

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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2014, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Kim Fielding Week Review: The Tin Box

Reviewed by Susan65

18377353Title: The Tin Box
Author: Kim Fielding
Heroes: William Lyon/Colby Anderson
Genre: M/M Contemporary
Length: 210 pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: September 20, 2013
Available at: Dreamspinner Press, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, All Romance Ebooks
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: William Lyon’s past forced him to become someone he isn’t. Conflicted and unable to maintain the charade, he separates from his wife and takes a job as caretaker at a former mental hospital. Jelley’s Valley State Insane Asylum was the largest mental hospital in California for well over a century, but it now stands empty. William thinks the decrepit institution is the perfect place to finish his dissertation and wait for his divorce to become final. In town, William meets Colby Anderson, who minds the local store and post office. Unlike William, Colby is cute, upbeat, and flamboyantly out. Although initially put off by Colby’s mannerisms, William comes to value their new friendship, and even accepts Colby’s offer to ease him into the world of gay sex.

William’s self-image begins to change when he discovers a tin box, hidden in an asylum wall since the 1940s. It contains letters secretly written by Bill, a patient who was sent to the asylum for being homosexual. The letters hit close to home, and William comes to care about Bill and his fate. With Colby’s help, he hopes the words written seventy years ago will give him courage to be his true self.

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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Author Week, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2013, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Mark of Cain by Kate Sherwood

Reviewed by Susan65

20522718Title: Mark of Cain
Author: Kate Sherwood
Heroes: Mark Webber/Lucas Cain
Genre: M/M Contemporary
Length: 338 pages
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Release Date: May 20, 2014
Available at: Samhain Publishing, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, All Romance eBooks
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: When a man is consumed by hatred, is there anything left to love?

After a tough day of counseling sessions, Anglican priest Mark Webber is looking forward to a relaxing dinner at a local restaurant. When he sees who’s bellied up to the bar, though, he reaches for his cell phone to call the police.

It’s Lucas Cain, the man who killed Mark’s brother three years ago. Apparently he’s out of jail and hanging out with his old crowd, which has to be a breach of parole, right?

Pulled over upon leaving the bar, Lucas blows a clean breathalyzer and hopes this isn’t a harbinger of things to come. He’s ready to build a sober, peaceful life. His friends aren’t ready to let him move on, though, and he ends up taking refuge in an Anglican half-way house.

Thrown together, Mark and Lucas find common ground in the struggle to help a young gay man come to terms with his sexuality—and the fight against homophobic townsfolk. As attraction grows, the past is the last stumbling block between them and a future filled with hope.

Warning: Bad boys being good, good boys being bad. Continue reading

Categories: 4.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2014, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Challenge Week Review: Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs

Reviewed by Susan65

285205Title: Blood Bound
Author: Patricia Briggs
Series: Mercy Thompson #2
Heroes: Mercy/Adam
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Length: 292 pages
Publisher: Ace
Release Date: January 30, 2007
Available at: Patricia Briggs, Amazon, Barnes and Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Under the rule of science, there are no witch burnings allowed, no water trials or public lynchings. In return, the average law-abiding, solid citizen has little to worry about from the things that go bump in the night. Sometimes I wish I was an average citizen…

Mechanic Mercy Thompson has friends in low places-and in dark ones. And now she owes one of them a favor. Since she can shapeshift at will, she agrees to act as some extra muscle when her vampire friend Stefan goes to deliver a message to another of his kind.

But this new vampire is hardly ordinary-and neither is the demon inside of him.

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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, M/F, Published Before 2010, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Book Review: Saugatuck Summer by Amelia C. Gormley

Reviewed by Susan65

SaugatuckSummer_500x750Title: Saugatuck Summer
Author: Amelia C. Gormley
Series: Saugatuck #1
Heroes: Topher/Jace
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 363 pages
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Release Date: May 19, 2014
Available at: Riptide, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, All Romance Ebooks
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads
Blurb: One summer can change everything

Hi, I’m Topher Carlisle: twenty-one, pretty, and fabulous. At least, that’s what I keep telling myself. But let’s get real. Walking the fake-it-til-you-make-it road to independence and self-respect isn’t easy. Especially since my mom’s a deadbeat alcoholic, and most of my family expects me to turn out just as worthless. Oh, and I’m close to losing my college swimming scholarship, so let’s add “dropout” to the list.

My BFF has invited me to stay at her beach house on the shore of Lake Michigan. That’ll give me one summer to make money and figure out what I want to do with my life. So of course I decide to have an affair with my BFF’s married, closeted dad. Because that always works out.

Now I’m homeless, friendless, jobless. Worthless. Just like my family expects, right? Except there’s this great guy, Jace, who sees it differently. He’s got it all together in ways I can only dream of—he’s hot, creative, insightful, understanding. He seems to think I don’t give myself enough credit. And if I don’t watch out, I may start to believe him.

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Categories: 4.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2014, Susan65's Reviews, Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Pretty Poison by Kari Gregg

Reviewed by Susan65

19173721Title: Pretty Poison
Author: Kari Gregg
Heroes: Noah and Wade
Genre: M/M Paranormal
Length: 147 Pages
Publisher: Self-published
Release Date: December 15, 2013
Available at: AmazonAll Romance eBooks & Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Deadly poison…or exquisite cure?

Noah fell from an eighth story balcony as a toddler, cracking open his skull and shattering his body. The accident would’ve killed a human, but even shifter blood can’t heal some damage. After the pack recommended a mercy killing, Noah’s family ran. But there’s no outrunning the mating pact formed before Noah’s birth.

Wade, the new alpha, chooses an adult Noah to fulfill the pact. Wade believes the previous alpha was a fool to reject Noah as a weak and inferior wolf, but Noah’s family was wrong to hide him and starve his wolf, too. Human doctors with human medicines are poison to shifter physiology. Now that Noah is fully grown, halting his shift to retain the pins, plates, and bars holding him together hurts rather than helps him, and for Wade, more than Noah’s recovery is at stake.

Noah’s family sacrificed everything to keep him alive. Noah will do whatever it takes to save them—including mate with the alpha who is determined to correct past mistakes and defeat old prejudices contaminating the shifter community.

Too bad some still believe Noah is the true poison…and should be culled from the pack for good. Continue reading

Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2013, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment