Posts Tagged With: Cari Z.

Book Review: The Art of Possession by Cari Z.

Reviewed by Ami

Title: The Art of Possession
Author: Cari Z.
Heroes: Malcolm & Alex
Genre: M/M Contemporary
Length: 195 pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: November 5, 2019
Available at: Dreamspinner Press & Amazon
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: When a treasure-hunting black ops soldier and a disgraced, reckless archeologist team up in search of a priceless artifact, they might get more than they bargained for.

Ever since leaving the Green Berets to work in private security, Alex Tucker has longed for some excitement—and he’s about to get his wish.

Archeologist Malcolm Armstrong needs the chance to prove he isn’t a fraud. Along with Alex, he’s hired to track down and authenticate a valuable scepter, in a hunt that turns deadlier than either of them imagined as they search dangerous locations across three continents and try to stay ahead of the factions who want the treasure for themselves—and Malcolm and Alex dead.

Just as they realize the feelings between them transcend convenience and the thrill of the chase, a rival reemerges, threatening everything. Continue reading

Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Ami's Reviews, Book Review, Guest Reviewer, LGBT, Published in 2019 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Double or Nothing by Cari Z and L.A. Witt

Reviewed by Susan65 

Title: Double or Nothing
Authors: Cari Z and L.A. Witt
Series: N/A
Heroes: Rich Cody/Leotrim Nicolosi
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 282 Pages
Publisher: Self Published
Release Date: August 7, 2018
Available at:  Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Rich Cody joined the U.S. Marshals to hunt down bad guys, not babysit witnesses. Orders are orders, though, and now he’s protecting a hacker with ties to the Albanian and Sicilian mobs. It’s just another exciting day in WITSEC.

Leotrim Nicolosi was born into a world of crime and bloodshed. When that bloodshed hits too close to home, taking down Leo’s boyfriend—the son of a notorious mob boss—Leo is determined to destroy the Grimaldi family. He’s got evidence that will send every last Grimaldi to prison, he’s got the family’s wealth in an electronic chokehold, and he’s got a vendetta that can only be settled with the blood of the man who killed his lover.

When a routine transfer to a safehouse goes horribly wrong, Rich and Leo narrowly escape with their lives. With the Marshals compromised and Leo being framed for murder, he and Rich are on the run from criminals and law enforcement alike. They have no one to trust except each other, and nowhere to go that their enemies can’t reach.

And the only way out might mean making a deal with the Devil.
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Categories: 4.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2018, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Handle with Care by Cari Z.

Reviewed by Ami

Title: Handle With Care
Author: Cari Z
Series: Dreamspun Desires #68
Heroes: Aaron/Tyler
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 194 Pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: October 16, 2018
Available at:  Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: A fragile heart needs extra care.

Burned-out social worker Aaron McCoy is on vacation for the first time in years–boss’s orders. Road-tripping to his brother’s wedding with his best friend, Tyler, seems a fun way to spend the mandatory two-week leave, and they set out for Kansas–and a difficult homecoming.

Aaron’s mother was a drug addict, and his adorable younger brother was quickly adopted, while Aaron spent his childhood in foster care. As Aaron mends fences, Tyler hopes to show him that this time, he won’t be left behind to face his problems alone.

Aaron’s opening up to how right it feels to be with Tyler and to the possibility of taking the leap from friends to lovers. But along with the wedding celebration comes a painful reminder of the past. Aaron’s heart is still breakable. Can he put it in Tyler’s hands?
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Ami's Reviews, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2018 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

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

Reviewed by Morgan

Title: Risky Behavior
Authors: L.A. Witt and Cari Z.
Narrator:  Michael Ferraiuolo
Series: Bad Behavior #1
Heroes: Darren Corliss/Andreas Ruffner
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 8 Hours, 43 Minutes
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Release Date: February 14, 2018
Available at: Amazon, Audible and iTunes
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, Audio Review, LGBT, Morgan's Reviews, Published in 2018 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Author Q&A: Cari Z. & L.A. Witt + Giveaway!

Interview Banner

Please welcome Cari Z. & L.A. Witt to The Blogger Girls!! Tell us about the Bad Behavior series, where are you getting the inspiration for each book?

Cari: The Bad Behavior series is romantic suspense, with an emphasis on suspense and police procedure. There aren’t a lot of hot and heavy moments, but we managed to find time to develop the relationship in between the cases. The cases themselves are totally different in each book, which was part of the fun of it. We kind of picked a crime and then built the plot around it—for example, the first book deal with taking down police corruption, the second one has a serial killer, the third one is a kidnapping. It helped keep things interesting for us.

L.A.: What Cari said. And we did still want the romance, but we didn’t want their jobs to take a backseat to their relationship because it just doesn’t work that way with cops. Especially when they’re in the middle of a major case. So we started with the crimes, and let the relationship between the guys – both professional and romantic – develop alongside the cases they were working. Which means getting interrupted at inopportune moments, and stealing fleeting moments whenever they can. Which in turn frustrates the hell out of everyone, so color me happy. Hehehe

Is it hard co-writing a series? Does the process take longer or is quicker than writing alone?

Cari: It was so easy to write with Lori! That hasn’t been the case with, well, any of my other co-authors, but this collaboration was just kismet, as far as I’m concerned. Lori is a pro at working with others, and very adaptable, so I knew I was in good hands, so to speak. And for me it was a LOT faster than writing alone.

L.A.: Definitely not hard! Cari is amazing to work with. I love co-writing in general, and I hope to do a lot more with Cari.

Tell us a little about Romantic Behavior, what are the characters like and how have they changed since the start of the series?

Cari: Aw, this story is the sweet resolution 😊 Darren and Andreas are finally ready and able to commit to each other, and they’re serious about making it work for the long haul. It’s definitely the book with the cutest moments in it. The guys are totally in love, they rely on each other, they have no doubts (well, almost no doubts) and they’re looking forward to a happy future together. *sigh*

L.A.: I’d say Andreas has had to get his priorities straight, both regarding his family and his boyfriend. By book 4, he’s mellowed considerably across the board, and as I said, he’s gotten his priorities straight. As for the Romantic Behavior, it’s basically a chance for the characters to finally have their hard-won happy ending. That’s not to say there aren’t bumps in this one, but no one’s getting shot at or anything this time.

What’s your favorite scene from the book?

Cari: My favorite scene is either the very first one, where Darren is nervous because Andreas is acting weird, or the one where he finally loses it and tells off someone who, quite honestly, really deserved telling off at that point. It felt cathartic.

L.A.: The wedding. Definitely.

And lastly, where do you see the series going from here?

Cari: This is the end of the Bad Behavior series! It’s done, finished, fini, finito, and all the other f-words that mean the end. I’m really proud of how it’s turned out, and hopefully now that it’s done readers who were reluctant to start something without having an end in sight will feel ready to dive in.

L.A.: Yep. I’m not opposed to the boys showing up as secondary characters in other books, but their story is done. We deliberately set out to make this one a trilogy with a well-deserved extended epilogue, rather than making it go on and on. Ongoing series can be fun, but not this one. Even though I am going to miss Darren and Andreas something fierce.

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Categories: Author Q&A, Book Promo, Giveaways, LGBT, Published in 2018 | Tags: , , , , , | 13 Comments

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

Reviewed by Susan65

Title: Romantic Behavior
Authors: L.A. Witt and Cari Z.
Series: Bad Behavior #4
Heroes: Andreas/Darren
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 118 Pages
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Release Date: January 16, 2018
Available at:  Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Detective Andreas Ruffner is no fool—he’s found a man who loves him, puts up with him, and has stuck with him through hell and back, and it’s time to put a ring on it. Darren Corliss is the love of his life, and he wants the whole world to know it.

Now the fun part—the wedding!

Well, after the not-so-fun part of planning the wedding in between dealing with overbearing and impossible-to-please family members. With future mothers-in-law driving them both up a wall, the guest list growing out of control, and the wedding getting ever more complicated, Darren and Andreas have to wonder if they’re in over their heads.

But they’re going to make it to the altar if it kills them . . . and at this rate, it just might.
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2018, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

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

Reviewed by Susan65

Title: Reckless Behavior
Authors: L.A. Witt and Cari Z.
Series: Bad Behavior #3
Heroes: Andreas/Darren
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 264 Pages
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Release Date: January 1, 2018
Available at:  Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: After too many years of putting his job first, Detective Andreas Ruffner is getting his priorities straight. He’s ready to spend some quality time with his adult kids, not to mention come clean about some things he should’ve told them a long time ago. And introduce them to his partner and boyfriend, Darren Corliss.

But in a heartbeat, a family dinner turns into Andreas’s worst nightmare. When the dust settles, one of his kids is hurt, and the other three have been abducted.

Andreas is going to find his kids, and nothing, not even a broken ankle, is going to stop him. Thank God for his sharp, level-headed partner . . . who has a crisis of his own pulling him away when Andreas needs him the most. As both men try to support—and lean on—each other, they get no closer to finding the kids. And the longer the children are missing, the less likely it is they’ll ever be found.
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Categories: 4.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2018, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Author Q&A: Cari Z. + Giveaway!

Interview Banner

Please welcome Cari Z. to The Blogger Girls!!

What made you want to become an author and why choose the genres that you write in?

I don’t know that becoming an author is a choice for most of us, so to speak. When you’ve got stories to tell, they will be told, period. And while I started with m/m historical fiction, most of what I write is speculative because I like not being bound by pesky things like reality.

What was the first scene you wrote that made you cry?

Oh, jeez, when I killed someone. Not a major character, but a minor one I loved. The plot demanded death and I fed the beast, but it definitely brought a tear to my eye.

Does writing energize or exhaust you?

Both. Either. When I’m already full of energy, writing lifts me up. When I’m tired, it wreaks havoc on me. Being a new mom, you can guess which state I’m in more often these days. *sigh*

What is your writing Kryptonite?

Social media. I use Cold Turkey for a reason—when I’m on deadline, Google is good, Twitter is bad.

For readers who haven’t read you, do you want each book to stand on its own, or do you try to build a body of work with connections between each book?

I haven’t written a lot of series, so generally I think most of my books stand on their own. I don’t have an overarching universe that people need to acquaint themselves with to find their feet with my writing. Except in my free stuff, but hey—free!

How did publishing your first book change your process of writing?

Publishing gave me a sense of urgency that only increases. It’s not a bad thing, either—it’s beneficial to be able to hit a deadline in more ways than just writing life.

What’s your favorite under-appreciated novel?

Oh boy, of mine or someone else’s? I guess my favorite under-appreciated novel that I wrote is Tempest, which I’m going to be re-releasing in the new year now that I’ve got rights back to it. It’s a fairytale gone dark (ha, like most of them need any help) and I love almost everything about it. And for someone else’s novel? Huh, I don’t know if it’s underappreciated or not, but at this time of year I like to re-read Christopher Moore’s The Stupidest Angel. It puts me in that zombie-tastic holiday spirit.

And a silly question…. What would you choose to be your spirit animal?

Right now I’m staring at my daughter’s closest stuffed animal, which is part monkey, part tiger and part crocodile, and—that. I think that’s a pretty good representation these days 😉 Continue reading

Categories: Author Q&A, Book Promo, Giveaways, LGBT, Published in 2017 | Tags: , , , , , | 16 Comments

Book Review: Off the Beaten Path by Cari Z.

Reviewed by Ami

Title: Off the Beaten Path
Author: Cari Z.
Heroes: Ward Johannsen/Henry Dormer
Genre: MM Paranormal
Length: 200 Pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: September 18, 2017
Available at:  Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb:  When Ward Johannsen’s little girl Ava shifted into a werewolf, she was taken into custody by the feds and shipped off to the nearest pack, all ties between father and daughter severed. Ward burned every bridge he had discovering her location, and then almost froze to death in the Colorado mountains tracking her new pack down. And that’s just the beginning of his struggle.

Henry Dormer is an alpha werewolf and an elite black ops soldier who failed his last mission. He returns home, hoping for some time to recuperate and help settle the pack’s newest member, a little pup named Ava who can’t shift back to her human form. Instead he meets Ward, who refuses to leave his daughter without a fight. The two men are as different as night and day, but their respect for each other strikes a spark of mutual interest that quickly grows into a flame. They might find something special together—love, passion, and even a family—if they can survive trigger-happy pack guardians, violent werewolf politics, and meddling government agencies that are just as likely to get their alpha soldiers killed as bring them home safely.
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Ami's Reviews, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2017 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

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

Reviewed by Susan65

Title: Suspicious Behavior
Authors: L.A. Witt and Cari Z
Series: Bad Behavior #2
Heroes: Darin Corliss/Andreas Ruffner
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 283 Pages
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Release Date: August 21, 2017
Available at:  Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Detective Darren Corliss is hanging by a thread. In between recovering from a near-fatal wound and returning to work at a hostile precinct, he’s struggling to help care for his ailing brother. His partner and boyfriend, Detective Andreas Ruffner, wants to help, but doesn’t know how. And with his own family crises brewing, Andreas is spread almost as thin as Darren.

For cops, though, life takes a backseat to the job. When a stack of unsolved homicides drops into their laps, Andreas and Darren think they’re unrelated cold cases. But when a connection surfaces, they find themselves on the tail of a prolific serial killer who’s about to strike again.

Except they’ve got nothing. No leads. No suspects. Just a pile of circumstantial evidence and a whole lot of hunches. Time is running out to stop the next murder—and to pull themselves back from their breaking points.
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2017, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment