Kim Fielding Week Review: Good Bones

Reviewed by Heather C

13576676Title: Good Bones
Author: Kim Fielding
Series: Bones #1
Heroes: Dylan & Chris
Genre: M/M Paranormal Romance
Length: 60,671 words
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: April 2012
Available at: Dreamspinner Press, Amazon, All Romance eBooks and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb:  Skinny, quiet hipster Dylan Warner was the kind of guy other men barely glanced at until an evening’s indiscretion with a handsome stranger turned him into a werewolf. Now, despite a slightly hairy handicap, he just wants to live an ordinary—if lonely—life as an architect. He tries to keep his wild impulses in check, but after one too many close calls, Dylan gives up his urban life and moves to the country, where he will be less likely to harm someone else. His new home is a dilapidated but promising house that comes with a former Christmas tree farm and a solitary neighbor: sexy, rustic Chris Nock.

Dylan hires Chris to help him renovate the farmhouse and quickly discovers his assumptions about his neighbor are inaccurate—and that he’d very much like Chris to become a permanent fixture in his life as well as his home. Between proving himself to his boss, coping with the seductive lure of his dangerous ex-lover, and his limited romantic experience, Dylan finds it hard enough to express himself—how can he bring up his monthly urge to howl at the moon? Continue reading

Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Author Week, Book Review, Heather C's Reviews, LGBT, Published in 2012 | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

What We Got Up to at RT 2014

Two weeks ago, Heather and I went to the RT Booklovers Convention in New Orleans, LA. For anyone who doesn’t know what that is, well, basically it’s like GRL but for the more mainstream writers. It’s a HUGE convention filled with SOOO many panels and SOOO many authors that even two weeks later I’m still going “OMG, so and so was at RT and I didn’t get to see them?! NOOOOO!”

Anyway, HC and I both enjoy our M/F books and before we got into M/M we had a ton of favorite authors and series that we used to keep track of (this was back when we read prints lol). So, we had a lot of books we wanted to get signed at this convention. I don’t think we ever counted how many we ended up originally bringing ourselves (maybe around 35 each?) but you’ll be SHOCKED at how many frees books we brought back!

Let’s rewind a little bit. I ended up flying to Louisiana a few days before the convention to stay with HC. She’s just a few hours away from NOLA, where the con was held, so we were going to drive down together and pick up our friend Jenn (not JustJen, another Jenn lol) along the way. We were all worried that we wouldn’t be able to fit our luggage in HC’s car, let alone how we’d fit on the way BACK from RT! But we did it! We stuffed ourselves in her Jeep and we got to RT!

And let me tell you, we ended up having a BLAST at RT. We learned so much at the Blogger Con that was held the day before RT started (things the four of us at TBG hope to implement on the blog soon) but more than that, we got to meet so many of our favorite M/F authors. Especially me! I’m a HUGE Nalini Singh fan! Heather’s a HUGE Kresley Cole fan and we BOTH got to meet the awesome writers! There were a ton of other authors we were glad we met like Larissa Ione, Lara Adrian, Jennifer L. Armentrout, Ilona and Gordon Andrews… I’ll stop there lol.

Some events at RT were chaotic but still fun. We went to a bunch of panels but also got to play fun games. We went to some of the nighttime events and even did our own thing one night. But Heather and I both agree that the highlight of our trip was probably getting to really hangout with Wade Kelly. This lady is so fun to be around (especially when Heather introduced her to the Hurricane) and we got some hilarious pictures with her.

Another highlight of the events is getting to see more of the M/M posse and getting to see people from GRL at RT as well, like Susan from Boys in our Books, Jay from Joyfully Jay, Brandilyn from Prism Book Alliance, Becky from Mrs. Condit and Friends, Leigh Logan from Under the Covers and so many others peeps. Hell, we even got to see our M/M authors like Damon Suede, Heidi Cullinan, Marie Sexton, Anne Tenino, JP Barnaby/Jamie Mayfield, Mary Calmes, Amber Kell, L.A. Witt… I can keep going lol. It was just great to see such a LGBTQ presence at RT and getting to talk to new people about LGBTQ and how it’s becoming more accepted and known.

Anyway, I don’t want to go into detail about all that we did so I’m just going to let some of the pictures do the talking. Heather and I had an idea to do a ‘daily selfie’ for each day I was with her (although I think we skipped two days! LMAO) but here they are:

Photo May 12, 7 32 31 PM Photo May 13, 7 34 00 PM Photo May 14, 8 11 17 PMPhoto May 14, 9 57 35 AM

Photo May 16, 10 01 34 AM Photo May 16, 11 45 10 PM Photo May 17, 11 05 28 AM Photo May 19, 1 48 03 PM

Jenn, Nikyta, HC, Susan (BioB)

Jenn from Love Bytes, Nikyta, Heather C, Susan from BioB

Heather C, Susan from BioB, Nikyta

Heather C, Susan from BioB, Nikyta

Heather C, Nikyta, Wade Kelly

Heather C, Nikyta, Wade Kelly

Heather C, Nikyta, Wade Kelly

Heather C, Nikyta, Wade Kelly

M/M peeps (and bloggers and reviewers) unite at Mardi Gras World! The Mississippi River is behind us.

Nikyta, Susan from BioB, Heather C, Jenn from Love Bytes, Jay from Joyfully Jay & Leigh from Under the Covers

We’ve got a ton more pictures including ones with authors and such but don’t want to clog the site with that many pictures! I’m just going to add a few others pics that Heather and I are QUITE proud of. We ended up bringing to RT this many books:

 

Photo May 18, 2 58 57 PM

Nikyta’s stack

Photo May 18, 2 59 24 PM

Heather’s stack

Buying this many books at RT (between the two of us):

 

Photo May 18, 2 58 41 PM

AND, we ended up getting for FREE this many books (stacks of 20 each):

 

Photo May 18, 3 00 31 PM

Photo May 18, 3 01 06 PM

Photo May 18, 3 01 08 PM

I believe our final count of books we got for free was around 190 or so. OMG, we were ALL shocked!

Phew! What a WEEK it was!

With that said, I’m going to leave this post at that. I’m still shocked at how many books I shipped home (still waiting on those damn suckers to arrive, too!) and I’m eager to get my greedy little hands on some of them to start reading… so, if in a few weeks you’re wondering why we are reviewing such an influx of M/F books… well, you can blame RT and the generosity of the authors, publishers and sponsors of that convention! LOL

Have a great Tuesday, everyone!

Categories: Random Posts | Tags: | 8 Comments

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

Draven St. James Backlist Winner!

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And the winner of an eBook copy of winner’s choice from Draven St. James’ backlist is…

Continue reading

Categories: Giveaways, LGBT | Tags: , , | 1 Comment

Book Review: Sixth Grave on the Edge by Darynda Jones

Guest Reviewed by Gyn

Sixth Grave on the Edge (Charley Davidson, #6)Title: Sixth Grave on the Edge
Author: Darynda Jones
Series: Charley Davidson #6
Hero/Heroine: Charley Davidson & Reyes Farrow
Genre: M/F Paranormal
Length: 337 pages
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Release Date: May 20, 2014
Available at: St. Martin’s Press, Amazon & Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Sometimes I wrestle my demons. Sometimes we just snuggle. —Bumper Sticker

Most girls might think twice before getting engaged to someone like Reyes Farrow—but Charley Davidson is not most girls. She’s a paranormal private eye and grim reaper-in-training who’s known to be a bit of a hell-raiser, especially after a few shots of caffeine. Her beloved Reyes may be the only begotten son of evil, but he’s dark and sultry and deeply sexy and everything Charley could hope for. Really. But when the FBI file on Reyes’ childhood happens to land into her lap, she can’t help herself: She opens it…and then the real fun begins. First, Charley finds a naked corpse riding shotgun in her car. Then, a man loses his soul in a card game. Throw in a Deaf boy who sees dead people, a woman running from mobsters, and a very suspicious Reyes, and things can’t get any worse for Charley. Unless, of course, the Twelve Beasts of Hell are unleashed…
Continue reading

Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, Guest Reviewer, M/F, Published in 2014 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Kim Fielding Week Review: The Gig

Reviewed by JustJen

17877356Title: The Gig
Author: Kim Fielding
Series: Speechless #2
Heroes:  Travis/Drew
Genre: M/M Contemporary
Length: 24 pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: May 22, 2013
Available Free at: Dreamspinner Press & All Romance eBooks
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: An accident in Drew Clifton’s past left the former novelist with aphasia, unable to communicate through either speech or writing. Through sheer strength of will, he built a quiet but lonely life for himself. But now he’s fallen in love with Travis Miller.

Travis has his own issues—a permanent eye injury and unemployment. But he’s determined to help Drew find ways to engage and succeed again in the wider world, and a guitar-playing gig at a local coffeehouse seems like a good start.

Dylan Warner and Chris Nock happen to be in the audience that evening, and they have a few niggling problems of their own. Perhaps a chance meeting will provide solutions that might benefit all of them.

Continue reading

Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Author Week, Book Review, JustJen's Reviews, LGBT, Published in 2013 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Early Review: Shield of Winter by Nalini Singh

Reviewed by Nikyta

Shield of Winter (Psy-Changeling, #13)Title: Shield of Winter
Author: Nalini Singh
Series: Psy-Changeling #13
Hero/Heroine: Vasic & Ivy
Genre: M/F Urban Fantasy
Length: 448 pages
Publisher: Berkley
Release Date: June 3, 2014
Available at: Penguin & Amazon
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Assassin. Soldier. Arrow. That is who Vasic is, who he will always be. His soul drenched in blood, his conscience heavy with the weight of all he’s done, he exists in the shadows, far from the hope his people can almost touch—if only they do not first drown in the murderous insanity of a lethal contagion. To stop the wave of death, Vasic must complete the simplest and most difficult mission of his life.

For if the Psy race is to survive, the empaths must wake…

Having rebuilt her life after medical “treatment” that violated her mind and sought to suffocate her abilities, Ivy should have run from the black-clad Arrow with eyes of winter frost. But Ivy Jane has never done what she should. Now, she’ll fight for her people, and for this Arrow who stands as her living shield, yet believes he is beyond redemption. But as the world turns to screaming crimson, even Ivy’s fierce will may not be enough to save Vasic from the cold darkness…
Continue reading

Categories: 5 Star Ratings, Book Review, M/F, Nikyta's Reviews, Published in 2014 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Honorary Blogger Kim Fielding: The Blogger Girls Welcome Kim Fielding!

Honorary_Blogger_Post

Hi, I’m Kim Fielding. Thanks so much to the Blogger Girls for letting me visit!

My tenth novel came out this month. Let me repeat that in case you missed it. My TENTH novel came out this month!

I’ve been writing since I was a little kid—short stories for my own amusement and, eventually, academic stuff for the day job. But for some reason I was convinced I didn’t have it in me to write a novel. It seemed so intimidating. All those words! I thought I wouldn’t have the patience and the stamina for it.

But then I heard of National Novel Writing Month. I love progress charts and deadlines (no, seriously! I do!) and I decided to give it a try. Thirty days and over 60,000 words later, I had the first draft of my very first novel, Stasis.

And you know what? If you can write one book, you can write two. And if you can write two… you can end up with your tenth novel a few years later. I continue to enjoy writing shorter pieces too, so I’ve also published quite a few novellas and short stories.

And here’s a secret for you. I fall in love with every single one of my characters. I adore Ennek and Miner from Stasis. I’m equally infatuated with Tag and Jack, the guys in Motel. Pool. And my hope is that my readers fall in love too.

Now that I’m in double digits, I’m not slowing down. I have a lot of new stuff on the way. In June, my short story “The Border” will release as part of Dreamspinner Press’s Mended anthology. You can get the entire package or buy the stories individually. In August, I’ll have a novella called The Pillar. It’s set in 15th century Bosnia. Also sometime this summer, I’ll have a free novella called Guarded. And this fall, the third book in my Bones series—my eleventh novel!—will be out. It’s called Bone Dry. After that? Oh, I’ve got vodou, werewolves, and oracles planned. Because if I can write ten novels, why not twenty or thirty, right?

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About Motel. Pool.

MotelPool_postcard_front_DSPIn the mid-1950s, Jack Dayton flees his working-class prospects in Omaha and heads to Hollywood, convinced he’ll be the next James Dean. But sleazy casting couches don’t earn him stardom, and despair leads to a series of poor decisions that ultimately find him at a cheap motel off Route 66, lifeless at the bottom of the pool.

Sixty years later, Tag Manning, feeling hopeless and empty, flees his most recent relationship mistake and takes to the open road. On a roundabout route to Las Vegas, he pulls over to rest at an isolated spot on Route 66. There’s no longer a motel or pool, but when Tag resumes his journey to Vegas, he finds he’s transporting a hitchhiking ghost. Jack and Tag come to find much-needed friends in each other, but one man is a phantom and the other is strangely cursed. Time is running out for each of them, and they must face the fact that a future together may not only be a gamble… it may not be in the cards.

Available at: Dreamspinner Press, Amazon, All Romance eBooks & Barnes and Noble

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About Kim Fielding

venicebigKim Fielding is very pleased every time someone calls her eclectic. She has migrated back and forth across the western two-thirds of the United States and currently lives in California, where she long ago ran out of bookshelf space. She’s a university professor who dreams of being able to travel and write full time. She also dreams of having two perfectly behaved children, a husband who isn’t obsessed with football, and a house that cleans itself. Some dreams are more easily obtained than others.

Kim can be found on her blog, Facebook or Twitter.

Categories: Author Week, Honorary Blogger Post, LGBT | Tags: , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

May’s Author Week + Other News!

The last few weeks have been a complete blur and extremely busy!

Last week Heather, Nikyta and Susan went away and left Jen all by her lonesome to manage the blog! Poor girl! But she did a great job keeping it going! You might have noticed that there weren’t many updates on what Theme Week or Challenge Week was and, if you did, that’s why.

So! In a quick recap, here’s what we missed in updating y’all on.

For Theme Week, we decided on Urban Fantasy Week! Here’s what we read:

Heather C read Magic Gifts by Ilona Andrews (3.5 stars)
JustJen read The Saturnalia Effect by Heidi Belleau & Violetta Vane (4 stars)
Nikyta read Shamrock Green by Jackson Cordd (3.5 stars)
Susan65 read Cruce de Caminos by Heidi Belleau & Violetta Vane (4 stars)

All in all, not a bad week considering that this wasn’t a genre liked by all of us LOL

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Moving on! Next up was Challenge Week where Nikyta picked books for each of the other girls to read. Here’s the results:

Heather C had to read The Body on the Beach by L.J. LaBarthe and DNFed it 😦
Nikyta was challenged by the voters to read The Magpie Lord by K.J. Charles and loved it!
Susan65 had to read Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs and really liked it!

Any week that means Susan65 likes a M/F book means it was successful! 😛

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Now, the moment y’all have been waiting for! RIGHT?!

May’s Author Week is going to be focused on….

Kim Fielding!

Woohoo! We are excited to have her!

We’ve got some great books scheduled for her this week including:

 Good Bones by Kim Fielding eBook The Gig by Kim Fielding eBook Pilgrimage by Kim Fielding eBook The Tin Box by Kim Fielding eBook

JustJen started off our week with her review of Speechless, so check out what she thought of it!

Annnnnnnnnd, that concludes this week’s news! Stick around to see what else this week has in store for you 😉

Happy Sunday everyone!

Categories: Author Week, Challenge Book Week, Theme Week | Tags: , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Hold the World Together by Pepper Espinoza

Reviewed by Heather C

21964324Title: Hold the World Together
Author: Pepper Espinoza
Heroes: Alfred & Sam
Genre: M/M Historical Romance
Length: 31,000 words
Publisher: Amber Allure
Release Date: April 2014
Available at: Amber Allure, Amazon, All Romance eBooks and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb:  Harvard graduate Alfred Chan jumps at the chance to teach languages at the new University of California, eager to leave his life behind even if it means a dangerous cross-country journey. He knows there are bandits in the western mountains, but he never expects the most infamous of those bandits to stop his wagon train and steal him away into the night.

Sam and Shane Lyons are wanted for robbing stagecoaches and wagon trains across the western territories, and they don’t just take money. Sometimes, they kidnap educated men. A mysterious Chinese scroll holds the promise of a better life for the two brothers, if only they can find somebody able to read the strange marks on the page. They whisk Alfred to their hideout high in the ragged cliffs of the Uinta Mountains, and there, during a brutal winter, they warn him that his life will end if he fails to deliver a full translation.

Alfred knows he should fear for his life, but somehow, when he’s with Sam, he’s not afraid of anything… Continue reading

Categories: 3.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, Heather C's Reviews, LGBT, Published in 2014 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment