Posts Tagged With: Angst

Book Review: Stand by You by A.M. Arthur

Reviewed by Nikyta

1Title: Stand by You
Author: A.M. Arthur
Series: Belonging #3
Heroes: Romy Myers/Brendan Walker
Genre: M/M Contemporary
Length: 76,000 words
Publisher: Carina Press
Release Date: October 20, 2014
Available at: Carina Press and Amazon
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Three months after his rescue from an abusive boyfriend, twenty-two-year-old Romy Myers has landed his first legitimate job – bussing tables at his friend’s new coffee shop. The job has brought him some stability after years of abuse have left him feeling damaged and broken. He’s working hard on his panic and social anxiety, and those things are often tempered by the big, burly presence of Brendan Walker.

From the moment ex-football player Brendan helped rescue Romy from his ex’s abuse, he’s wanted to protect him. And he does, from a distance, with joking text messages, a new gym routine to toughen him up and a genuine friendship. So far it’s been easy – but Brendan’s feelings aren’t just friendly anymore…

When an argument spirals out of control, a hot and heavy make-out session causes Romy’s friendship with supposedly straight Brendan to reach a new level. The last thing Romy wants is to fall for another guy who could potentially shatter him, but Brendan also wakes up a part of him he thought had been destroyed by violence – his heart.

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

Book Review: One Indulgence by Lydia Gastrell

Reviewed by Heather C

1Title:  One Indulgence
Author: Lydia Gastrell
Series: Indulgence #1
Heroes: Henry Cortland/Richard Avery
Genre: MM Historical Romance
Length: 252 Pages
Publisher: Loose ID
Release Date: September 9, 2014
Available at: Loose ID, Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: When Henry Cortland, the Earl of Brenleigh, comes to London to fulfill his duty and take a wife, he also decides to first fulfill his most secret and suppressed desires. He wants to spend just one night with a man. A sultry encounter with a handsome stranger surpasses all his hopes, leaving him certain that he will live off the memories for the rest of his life.

Lord Richard Avery has grown tired of his endless string of casual relationships, yet an argument with his lover sends him right into the arms of a total stranger. But Henry is not like any lover he has ever had, and the attraction between them is more than physical. Richard wants more, but can their mutual attraction overcome Henry’s family obligations and sense of duty? Can Richard convince him to follow his heart rather than the demands of family and title?
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Categories: 4.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, Heather C's Reviews, LGBT, Published in 2014 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Maybe This Time by A.M. Arthur

Reviewed by Nikyta

3Title: Maybe This Time
Author: A.M. Arthur
Series: Belonging #2
Heroes: Ezra Kelley/Donner Davis
Genre: M/M Contemporary
Length: 168 Pages
Publisher: Carina Press
Release Date: July 12, 2014
Available at: Carina Press, Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: As a regular at gay hotspot Pot O’ Gold, Ezra Kelley avoids his tangled emotions with the simplicity of one-night stands and attachment-free hookups. Until the night bartender Donner Davis picks him up off the floor after a misunderstanding and too much tequila. Ezra can’t remember the last time someone was…nice. It’s more than he deserves.

Witnessing his lover’s death two years ago has Donner trapped in a holding pattern, living in his sister’s basement, working at the Pot and flirting with the customers. He’s not above spending a night with the gorgeous Ezra, but love is not in the cards. That’s more than he’s ready for.

A passionate night leads to a connection neither man expects, and they take the first steps to something that looks like a real relationship. But Ezra’s been running from himself so long he doesn’t know how to live any other way. And Donner can’t risk his heart just to lose everything again. They’ll both need the strength to let go of the past if they want to get it right this time.
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Categories: 4.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Nikyta's Reviews, Published in 2014 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Outcome by Cara Dee

Reviewed by JustJen

1Title: Outcome
Author: Cara Dee
Series: Aftermath #2
Heroes: Remy/Chase
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 245 Pages
Publisher: Cara Dee
Release Date: October 7, 2014
Available at: Amazon
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb:  Three years ago, Chase Gallardo ran toward freedom with his fellow survivors after having spent five months in captivity. He hasn’t stopped running since. Only now, it’s the memories he’s constantly trying to escape. Haunting echoes of a man who forced Chase to play the part of another, the kidnapper’s younger brother. Chase may have survived, but that doesn’t mean he’s really living. Until one day, when his employee tells him there’s a man sitting at the bar, wearing only underwear.

Remy Stahl has given up—almost. For a year, alcohol, drugs, and faces without names have kept him company. But he has two friends who refuse to give up on him, and they lock him up in his house in an attempt to save him from himself. Though, never underestimate an addict’s desire to see the bottom of another bottle. Remy escapes, and he doesn’t give a rat’s ass that he’s nearly naked.

This is the sequel to Aftermath, where Cam and Austin met, struggled, and fell in love. Outcome takes us back to Bakersfield with Chase and Remy’s story. Fueled by anger, guilt, and shame, they’re not off to an easy start. But it’s only a matter of time before they learn how much they need each other in order to move on.
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Categories: 4.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, JustJen's Reviews, LGBT, Published in 2014 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Forgiving Thayne by J.R. Loveless

Reviewed by Nikyta

1Title: Forgiving Thayne
Author: J.R. Loveless
Series: True Mates #2
Heroes: Nicholas Cartwright/Thayne Whitedove
Genre: M/M Paranormal
Length: 290 Pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: October 1, 2014
Available at: Dreamspinner Press, Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Nicholas Cartwright has done everything in his power to forget that night six months ago in Senaka, when his true mate rejected him, leaving him shattered and disillusioned. Burying himself in his work, he pushes himself to the point of exhaustion while finding the touch of another unbearable. Suddenly his mate needs his help, and he may be asking for more than Nicholas can find it in himself to give.

Thayne Whitedove has always been a wanderer, spending his days on the road and his nights wrapped in the arms of whatever random hookup he meets, until a fateful mistake sends him rushing for the comforts of home. To his utter dismay, the only way to correct his error in judgment is to accept the one thing he’s never wanted… his mate. Thayne must decide whether to keep running or to stay and fight for Nick’s forgiveness.
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Nikyta's Reviews, Published in 2014 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Book Review: Fever Pitch by Heidi Cullinan

Reviewed by Nikyta

1Title: Fever Pitch
Author: Heidi Cullinan
Series: Love Lessons #2
Heroes: Aaron Seavers/Giles Mulder
Genre: M/M Contemporary
Length: 339 Pages
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Release Date: September 30, 2014
Available at: Samhain Publishing and Amazon
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Sometimes you have to play love by ear.

Aaron Seavers is a pathetic mess, and he knows it. He lives in terror of incurring his father’s wrath and disappointing his mother, and he can’t stop dithering about where to go to college—with fall term only weeks away. Ditched by a friend at a miserable summer farewell party, all he can do is get drunk in the laundry room and regret he was ever born. Until a geeky-cute classmate lifts his spirits, leaving him confident of two things: his sexual orientation, and where he’s headed to school.

Giles Mulder can’t wait to get the hell out of Oak Grove, Minnesota, and off to college, where he plans to play his violin and figure out what he wants to be when he grows up. But when Aaron appears on campus, memories of hometown hazing threaten what he’d hoped would be his haven. As the semester wears on, their attraction crescendos from double-cautious to a rich, swelling chord. But if more than one set of controlling parents have their way, the music of their love could come to a shattering end.

Warning: Contains showmances, bad parenting, Walter Lucas, and a cappella.
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Categories: 4.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Nikyta's Reviews, Published in 2014 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Book Review: Sweetwater by Lisa Henry

Reviewed by Heather C

3Title:  Sweetwater
Author: Lisa Henry
Heroes: Elijah Carter/Grady Mullins
Genre: MM Historical
Length: 240 Pages
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Release Date: September 29, 2014
Available at: Riptide Publishing and Amazon
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Wyoming Territory, 1870.

Elijah Carter is afflicted. Most of the townsfolk of South Pass City treat him as a simpleton because he’s deaf, but that’s not his only problem. Something in Elijah runs contrary to nature and to God. Something that Elijah desperately tries to keep hidden.

Harlan Crane, owner of the Empire saloon, knows Elijah for what he is—and for all the ungodly things he wants. But Crane isn’t the only one. Grady Mullins desires Elijah too, but unlike Crane, he refuses to push the kid.

When violence shatters Elijah’s world, he is caught between two very different men and two devastating urges: revenge, and despair. In a boomtown teetering on the edge of a bust, Elijah must face what it means to be a man in control of his own destiny, and choose a course that might end his life . . . or truly begin it for the very first time
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Categories: 3 Star Ratings, Book Review, Heather C's Reviews, LGBT, Published in 2014 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Book Review: Love and Punishment by Susan Mac Nicol

Reviewed by JustJen

3Title: Love and Punishment
Author: Susan Mac Nicol
Heroes: Anthony Parglietto/Flynn Parker
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 261 Pages
Publisher: Boroughs Publishing
Release Date: August 29, 2014
Available at: Boroughs Publishing, Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb:  FROM DARKNESS AND LIGHT

Someone is leaving a trail of bodies throughout London, and Detective Anthony Parglietto is determined to end the violence. Then he’ll return to the man he loves.

Tough, street-savvy, and used to dealing with lowlifes, Flynn Parker is the last person Anthony thinks he has to protect. Then the Bow-Tie Killer strikes close to home and the world turns upside down. Right is wrong, black is white, and a policeman might become a monster. But in the name of love, justice must be served. In the name of love, pain can be endured. In the name of love, a man can taste the very essence that defines him.
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, JustJen's Reviews, LGBT, Published in 2014 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Steven’s Heart by Ashavan Doyon + Giveaway!

Reviewed by Nikyta

1Title: Steven’s Heart
Author: Ashavan Doyon
Heroes: Steven Everett/Michael Rossier
Genre: M/M Contemporary
Length: 334 Pages
Publisher: Torquere Press
Release Date: August 27, 2014
Available at: Torquere Press, Amazon and Smashwords
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: When a love triangle breaks, Steven Everett is left alone to grieve over a boyfriend lost to someone else. Surrounded by friends too tied to Aidan’s new lover to give advice, Steven turns instead to a broken and beaten man, Aidan’s other ex, Michael Rossier, who also knows the pain of having loved and lost Aidan. Steven’s and Michael’s confessions grow deeper, each confiding in the other until neither can deny an attraction. But being with Michael feels like cheating, and Steven isn’t sure what to do. The connection get stronger every day, and Steven realizes he’s facing an impossible choice.

To make a relationship with Michael work, Steven needs to make peace with Michael’s troubled past. Even more terrifying, he’ll have to tell Michael the secret he’s never told anyone, not even Aidan. With Michael recovering from yet another surgery, Steven leaves to face the ghosts of the past. He has to be certain. This time, Steven knows, the decision means revealing the secrets of his heart and hoping their fragile feelings can survive.
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Categories: 3.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, Giveaways, LGBT, Nikyta's Reviews, Published in 2014 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Early Review: Secret Energy by Chris T. Kat

Reviewed by Nikyta

Secret Energy (Shifters, #2)Title: Secret Energy
Author: Chris T. Kat
Series: Shifters #2
Heroes: Robin/Peter
Genre: M/M Paranormal
Length: 274 Pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: August 29, 2014
Available at: Dreamspinner Press, Amazon and All Romance Ebooks
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: When wolf shifter Robin agreed to cover for his older brother Tim and Tim’s lover Jay, he never imagined feeling so stifled. Tim’s overprotective attitude suffocates him. Pressure from within—the urge to find his own mate—mounts daily. With a little help from Jay, Robin finally convinces Tim to let him go for a run alone, but he has no inkling that his life will change forever as a result.

Unexpectedly, he finds his mate Peter Brannigan, an old and special soul, and the one shifter who can bring balance to Robin’s life. The new couple spend days together, developing their bond as mates. Yet even as they explore and cement their relationship, crisis looms just ahead when an old enemy of the pack shows up and kills someone Robin loves.
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Nikyta's Reviews, Published in 2014 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment