Posts Tagged With: addiction

Book Review: Ruin by Daya Daniels

Reviewed by JustJen

Title: Ruin
Author: Daya Daniels
Series: N/A
Heroes: Ryker/Griffon
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 271 Pages
Publisher: Sayad Books
Release Date: September 21, 2018
Available at: Amazon
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb:  Ryker

They all think they know me…

I’m just a kid who has no direction and a bunch of problems. I decided long ago that the world can piss off. I’m the only one I need. I keep myself safe. If you don’t rely on anyone, no one can disappoint you. Right?

Griffon

I’m not easily liked.

No, let me be honest. Most people hate me. I’m the a-hole. The boy-man who lives and breathes sarcasm. I have no friends. I barely have any family. And the new people I meet are always charmed, at first, but eventually they steer clear of me too.

Except for the guy sitting across from me.

The one who has bigger problems than you could ever imagine.

Who knew eventually he’d be a problem, for me, and…

One that I want.
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, JustJen's Reviews, LGBT, Published in 2018 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Lies & Deception by Nic Starr

Reviewed by Susan65

Title: Lies & Deception
Author: Nic Starr
Heroes: Mitch & Finn
Genre: M/M Contemporary
Length: 200 pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: June 26, 2018
Available at: Dreamspinner Press & Amazon
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Detective Mitch O’Neill is the ideal man to infiltrate the Soldiers of Fury Motorcycle Club. His ex-boyfriend, Peter, is pledged with the club, which provides Mitch with the perfect cover. Despite the relationship ending badly, he’s come to terms with Peter’s drug addiction and his inability to help. All Mitch wants now is to bring down the Soldiers and the club president, Rocky Cummings, once and for all.

Finn Cummings hates everything the motorcycle club stands for, but he’s unable to escape his brother’s clutches. When Mitch is assigned as Finn’s driver, they spend countless hours together, and the saying proves true—opposites do attract. Finn agonizes over his feelings for Mitch—the last thing he wants is to involve himself further with criminals, not when he wants to leave that world. Mitch tries to come to terms with falling for a member of the outlaw club he’s determined to destroy.

If they can survive the fallout from Rocky’s violence and the investigation, they might discover it’s not a case of opposites attract after all. Continue reading

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

Audio Review: Chief’s Mess by L.A. Witt

Reviewed by Susan65

Title: Chief’s Mess
Author: L.A. Witt
Narrator: Nick J. Russo
Series: Anchor Point #3
Heroes: Anthony/Noah
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 7 Hours, 45 Minutes
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Release Date: January 30, 2018
Available at: Amazon and Audible
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Anthony Talbot is in Anchor Point to visit family, but after two days of strife, he needs a break. A local gay bar is calling his name.

When Chief Noah Jackson sees that red head stroll into the club, he immediately wants him. They’re perfectly matched, and before long, they’re burning up the sheets. Noah can’t get enough. Anthony can’t stay in Oregon for long, but as soon as he leaves, he’s counting down the days until he can fly back for more. And between his increasingly frequent visits, there’s always phone sex, sexting, webcams . . . anything they can get.

But Noah’s got a carefully crafted façade, and Anthony can’t help noticing the slowly forming cracks. The scent of alcohol in the middle of the day. The extra drinks at dinner. The hint of red in his eyes. Anthony knows what it means. He doesn’t want to believe it, but he’s seen this before, and there’s no denying it. If Noah doesn’t get his downward spiral under control, he’s going to lose both his career and the first man he’s ever really loved.
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Categories: 3.5 Star Ratings, Audio Review, LGBT, Published in 2018, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Trick Roller by Cordelia Kingsbridge

Reviewed by JustJen

Title: Trick Roller
Author: Cordelia Kingsbridge
Series: Seven of Spades #2
Heroes: Levi/Dominic
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 299In Pages
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Release Date: January 29, 2018
Available at: Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb:  It’s the height of summer in Las Vegas. Everyone believes the serial killer Seven of Spades is dead—except Levi Abrams and Dominic Russo—and it’s back to business as usual. For Levi, that means investigating a suspicious overdose at the Mirage that looks like the work of a high-class call girl, while Dominic pursues a tough internship with a local private investigator. The one bright spot for both of them is their blossoming relationship.

But things aren’t so simple. Soon Levi is sucked into a dangerous web of secrets and lies, even as his obsession with the Seven of Spades intensifies. Dominic knows that Levi isn’t crazy. He knows the Seven of Spades is still out there, and he’ll do anything to prove it. But Dominic has his own demons to battle, and he may be fighting a losing war.

One thing is certain: the Seven of Spades holds all the cards. It won’t be long before they show their hand.
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Categories: 4.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, JustJen's Reviews, LGBT, Published in 2018 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Audio Review: Afraid to Fly by L.A. Witt

Reviewed by Susan65

Title: Afraid to Fly
Author: L.A. Witt
Narrator: Nick J. Russo
Series: Anchor Point #2
Heroes: Travis Wilson/Clint Fraser
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 9 Hours, 22 Minutes
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Release Date: August 31, 2017
Available at: Amazon, Audible and iTunes
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Once a fearless fighter pilot, Commander Travis Wilson is now confined to a desk. It’s been eight years since the near-fatal crash that grounded him, and it still rules his life thanks to relentless back pain.

Lieutenant Commander Clint Fraser almost drowned in a bottle after a highly classified catastrophe while piloting a drone. His downward spiral cost him his marriage and kids, but he’s sober now and getting his life back on track. He’s traded drones for a desk, and he’s determined to reconcile with his kids and navigate the choppy waters of PTSD.

Clint has been on Travis’s radar ever since he transferred to Anchor Point. When Clint comes out to his colleagues, it’s a disaster, but there’s a silver lining: now that Travis knows Clint is into men, the chemistry between them explodes.

It’s all fun and games until emotions get involved. Clint’s never been in love with a man before. Travis has, and a decade later, that tragic ending still haunts him. Clint needs to coax him past his fear of crashing and burning again, or their love will be grounded before takeoff.
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Categories: 4.5 Star Ratings, Audio Review, LGBT, Published in 2018, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Chief’s Mess by L.A. Witt

Reviewed by JustJen

Title: Chief’s Mess
Author: L.A. Witt
Series: Anchor Point #3
Heroes: Noah/Anthony
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 291 Pages
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Release Date: June 19, 2017
Available at: Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb:  Anthony Talbot is in Anchor Point to visit family, but after two days of strife, he needs a break. A local gay bar is calling his name.

When Chief Noah Jackson sees that red head stroll into the club, he immediately wants him. They’re perfectly matched, and before long, they’re burning up the sheets. Noah can’t get enough. Anthony can’t stay in Oregon for long, but as soon as he leaves, he’s counting down the days until he can fly back for more. And between his increasingly frequent visits, there’s always phone sex, sexting, webcams . . . anything they can get.

But Noah’s got a carefully crafted façade, and Anthony can’t help noticing the slowly forming cracks. The scent of alcohol in the middle of the day. The extra drinks at dinner. The hint of red in his eyes. Anthony knows what it means. He doesn’t want to believe it, but he’s seen this before, and there’s no denying it. If Noah doesn’t get his downward spiral under control, he’s going to lose both his career and the first man he’s ever really loved.
Continue reading

Categories: 3.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, JustJen's Reviews, LGBT, Published in 2017 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Book Review: In From the Cold by Mercy Celeste

Reviewed by Susan65

Title: In From the Cold
Author: Mercy Celeste
Series: Cold Country #1
Heroes: Nathan Truman/Quinn Anders
Genre: MM Contemoprary
Length: 224 Pages
Publisher: MJC Press
Release Date: December 26, 2013
Available at:  Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: For eighteen years, Nathan Truman and Quinn Anders were best friends. One born of wealth and privilege, the other born to working people, Nathan and Quinn shared everything. Sports, music, first kiss, first love.

For sixteen years, Nathan has tried to forget Quinn. Tried to forget the stolen moments they’d shared as kids. He joined the Marines, married, not once but twice, went into law enforcement. He forgot.

For sixteen years, Quinn couldn’t stop remembering. He fell into addiction, found music, lost himself, and became a country music superstar. He never forgot.

Sixteen years after their one night together, tragedy conspires to reunite them.

The murder of Quinn’s father sets them on a collision course not only with their past but with a killer. Nathan and Quinn struggle to deal with their past while the present slowly crashes around them. Brought together by grief, their tentative new beginning may very well come to a sizzling end, leaving them both out in the cold forever.
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Categories: 4.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2013, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Fighter by Carol Lynne

Reviewed by Susan65

Title: Fighter
Author: Carol Lynne
Series: The Brick Yard #1
Heroes: Lucky/Dray
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 261 Pages
Publisher: Pride Publishing
Release Date: February 9, 2017
Available at:  Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: For Lucky Gunn, the hardest fight of his life happens outside the cage.

On the South Side of Chicago sits an old gym called The Brick Yard.

Ten years ago, on a bitterly cold day, Lucky Gunn wandered into The Brick Yard dressed in a threadbare jacket, looking for refuge. He hadn’t expected the owner, Tony Brick, to welcome him with a job and a place to sleep when Lucky’s abusive and drug-addicted mother made it too dangerous to return home.

Dray was a gay man living in a world of straight fighters. When his secret was exposed to the media, he dropped out, giving Lucky a piece of advice-if you want to make it as a MMA fighter, bury the part of yourself that won’t be accepted.

Lucky discovered the cage was the perfect place to keep his demons at bay, but when he learns his trainer and mentor, Brick, is suffering from end-stage cancer, he begins to spiral out of control. After eight years, Dray returns to help Lucky and Brick deal with the devastating news.

With Dray so close, Lucky’s old desires return, and Dray teaches him more than how to fight. Torn between his career and the passion he feels for Dray, Lucky’s past demons resurface in full force, threatening his sanity and his budding relationship with Dray.

Despite leaving the cage years earlier, Dray finds himself in the battle of his life with the only man he’s ever loved. Will he stand and fight or walk away like he did years earlier?

Publisher’s Note: This book has previously been released with Pride Publishing under a different title. It has been considerably expanded and re-edited for re-release and now is book one in The Brick Yard series.
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2017, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: According to Design by Nicole Dennis

Reviewed by Morgan 

31196102Title: According to Design
Author: Nicole Dennis
Series: Southern Charm #6
Heroes: Wyatt McBride/Keegan Donaghue
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 230 Pages
Publisher: Pride Publishing
Release Date: August 30, 2016
Available at:  Amazon
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb:  Amid turmoil and triumph, two men weave through all the colors of life to find one another.

As construction on the Charm wraps up, multi-media artist Wyatt McBride creates special metal and glass designs to add the finishing touches. When his brother accepts an overseas military duty, he takes in his teenage nephew, Collin. Things are already upside down since he’s lost a dear friend to AIDS, and now he has to deal with teenage angst and losing his heart to a brilliant but shy teacher.

To keep his mind out of the past, Keegan Donaghue comes to Shore Breeze to take a position as a high-school science teacher and part-time forensics detective for the sheriff’s department. A special student connects him to the local artist, but he’s still running from his past. Addiction and abuse remain there, lurking in his mind, along with mild PTSD-induced panic attacks. Cryptic, troubling emails from his ex-boyfriend don’t help the situation either.

Shy of relationships and opening their hearts to trust, these two men learn to weave their lives together during the trials of daily life. Neither one expects everything to go according to fate.

Reader Advisory: This book contains scenes involving PTSD, as well as the discussion of, and flashbacks to, domestic violence and drug addiction. There is a scene of assault involving homophobic slurs, a scene of violence and attempted kidnap, as well as a very brief reference to rape.
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Categories: 3 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Morgan's Reviews, Published in 2016 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Buyout – A Love Story by Dev Bentham

Reviewed by Ami

33778621Title: Buyout – A Love Story
Author: Dev Bentham
Heroes: Sean/Martim
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 69 Pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: February 8, 2017
Available at:  Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb:  Everyone deserves a second chance. Or do they? Sean and Martim fell in love at Harvard. Things broke apart when Martim fell into a downward spiral of addiction after his father died. Sean kicked him out but has regretted it ever since. He’s never gotten over losing Martim. But then, not many aspects of his life have lived up to his collegiate dreams.

When he’s sent to evaluate Martim’s family hotel for foreclosure, Sean is once again in the position to put Martim out on the street. In the time since they parted, Martim has pulled himself together, although both health and financial problems linger as a result of his years as an addict. Can the two men bridge the gap of distance and time to rekindle their relationship, or will they fall apart again under the burdens of guilt and disease?

Set in Lisbon, Portugal, this is the story of lovers reunited after more than a decade apart, and their second chance at romance.
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Categories: 3 Star Ratings, Ami's Reviews, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2017 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment