Posts Tagged With: Contemporary

Mobster Week Audio Review: Acrobat by Mary Calmes

Guest Reviewed by Morgan

eTitle: Acrobat
Author: Mary Calmes
Series: (Not officially in the Matter of Time Series, but related)
Narrated By: Sean Crisden
Heroes: Nathan Qells and Andreo Fiore
Genre: M/M Contemporary
Length: 6 hrs, 34 minutes, Unabridged
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Audible Release Date: January 11, 2014
Available at: Dreamspinner Press, Amazon, Audible and iTunes
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb:  Forty-five-year-old English professor Nathan Qells is very good at making people feel important. What he’s not very good at is sticking around afterward. He’s a nice guy; he just doesn’t feel things the way other people do. So even after all the time he’s spent taking care of Michael, the kid across the hall, he doesn’t realize that Michael’s mob muscle uncle and guardian, Andreo Fiore, has slowly been falling in love with him. Dreo has bigger problems than getting Nate to see him as a potential partner.

He’s raising his nephew, trying to leave his unsavory job, and starting his own business, a process made infinitely more difficult when a series of hits takes out some key underworld players. Still, Dreo is determined to build a life he can be proud of – a life with Nate as a cornerstone. A life that is starting to look like exactly what Nate has been seeking. Unfortunately for Dreo – and for Nate – the last hits were just part of a major reorganization, and Dreo’s obvious love for Nate has made him a target too. Continue reading

Categories: 5 Star Ratings, Audio Review, Guest Reviewer, LGBT, Published in 2014, Theme Week | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Mobster Week Review: Choosing Happy by Aria Grace

Reviewed by Susan65

iTitle: Choosing Happy
Author: Aria Grace
Series: More Than Friends #3
Heroes: Steve/Joey
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 222 Pages
Publisher: Aria Grace
Release Date: March 15, 2014
Available at: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, All Romance eBooks and iTunes
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Zach’s ex, Steve, is living in Portland with many regrets. He has alienated the people he cares most about by making bad choices that continue to haunt him. When he meets a kid that’s in a bad relationship and needs some help, Steve reluctantly offers it, knowing it’s his chance to redeem himself. What he doesn’t expect is to find happiness. It’s there, all he has to do it choose to accept it.
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2014, Susan65's Reviews, Theme Week | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Mobster Week Review: Mexican Heat by Laura Baumbach and Josh Lanyon

Guest Reviewed by Candace

iTitle: Mexican Heat
Author: Laura Baumbach and Josh Lanyon
Heroes: Crimes & Cocktails #1
Heroes: Gabriel Sandalini, aka Giovanni Contadino, and Antonio Lorenzo, aka Miguel Ortega
Genre: M/M Contemporary
Length: 272 Pages
Publisher: MLR Press
Release Date: October 26, 2008
Available at:  MLR Press, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, All Romance Ebooks and Kobo
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb:  A new romantic crime series from the combined talents of popular award winning authors Laura Baumbach and Josh Lanyon. Tough, street-smart SFPD Detective Gabriel Sandalini is willing to do whatever it takes to bring down West Coast crime boss Ricco Botelli — including a dangerous, deep undercover gig as one of Botelli’s hired guns. But Gabriel’s best laid plans may come crashing down around him when he falls hard for the sexy, suave lieutenant of a rival Mexican drug lord. Turns out his new love interest may have a few secrets of his own: secrets that could destroy both men and the fragile bond between them.
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Categories: 4.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, Guest Reviewer, LGBT, Published Before 2010, Theme Week | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Baby, It’s You by Jane Graves

Guest Reviewed by Ami

cTitle: Baby, It’s You
Author: Jane Graves
Series: Rainbow Valley #2
Heroine/Hero: Kari Worthington/Marc Cordero
Genre: M/F Contemporary Romance
Length: 400 Pages
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Release Date: May 27, 2014
Available at:  Grand Central Publishing, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, All Romance Ebooks and Kobo
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb:  With only the wedding dress on her back and her honeymoon luggage in the car, Kari Worthington is running away. Determined to put her controlling father, her rigidly structured life, and the uptight groom she left at the altar in her rearview mirror, she escapes to the Texas Hill country . . . and lands on a tall, dark, and gorgeous winery owner’s doorstep. All she needs is a job and a place to live until she can get back on her feet. So why is she fantasizing about losing herself in his powerful arms?

For Marc Cordero, freedom is so close he can taste it. He’s devoted his life to managing the family business and being a single dad. Now with his daughter away at college and his brother taking over the winery, Marc is ready to hop on his Harley for parts unknown-until a runaway bride bursts onto the scene. Free-spirited and tantalizingly sexy, Kari excites him like no other woman has before. But when irresistible passion turns into something more, will Marc give up his future to take a chance on love?
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, Guest Reviewer, M/F, Published in 2014 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Mobster Week Review: The Pharaoh’s Concubine by Z.A. Maxfield

Guest Reviewed by Gyn

eTitle: The Pharaoh’s Concubine
Author: Z.A. Maxfield
Heroes: Dylan Anderson/William Memo Escobar
Genre: M/M Contemporary
Length: 374 Pages
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Release Date: January 11, 2011
Available at:  Samhain Publishing, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, All Romance Ebooks and Kobo
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb:  Beauty is only skin deep until love reveals what lies beneath.

As mob boss Yvgeny Mosko’s open secret, Dylan Anderson is happy enough with a passionate, if loveless, arrangement that affords him a life of luxury. But at thirty-six, he wonders how committed Mosko will be to an aging lover.

He finds out when a rival gang kidnaps him in a turf war everyone s sure to lose. Mosko unleashes deadly force, leaving no one alive except for a young man whose dark eyes tug at Dylan s heart and the conscience he thought he d excised long ago.

Though he tried to stop the kidnapping, William Memo Escobar knows Mosko will use what s left of him to send a powerful message to his rivals. When Mosko s pampered pretty boy risks everything to help him escape, he can t believe his luck.

William figures he s better suited to life off the grid, but as the days go by he begins to realize Dylan s beauty is more than skin deep. And as Dylan coaxes more and more beguiling smiles from William, he yearns for things like family ties he d thought were best forgotten.

Yet behind their newfound happiness lurks the certain knowledge that no matter how careful they are, Mosko will come for what s his.Warning: This book contains a mob boss, a kept man, and a reluctant kidnapper who will never have to hear the words, Size doesn t matter.
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, Guest Reviewer, LGBT, Published in 2011, Theme Week | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Mobster Week Audio Review: Sinner, Savior by Avril Ashton

Guest Reviewed by Morgan

eTitle: Sinner, Savior
Author: Avril Ashton
Narrated By: Renard Pasquale
Series: Brooklyn Sinners #2
Heroes: Pablo Castillo/Shane Andrew Ruskin (aka Devon McGhee)
Genre: M/M Contemporary
Length: 8 hours and 47 minutes, unabridged
Publisher: Ellora’s Cave
Release Date: February 18, 2014
Available at: Audible and Amazon
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb:  Gun runner Pablo Castillo has cemented his reputation in the gun trade as callous and cold-hearted. Personal feelings no longer matter, not with everyone out to make him a sacrifice on their way to the top. He remains untouchable, until a meeting with a rival gang leader and a new deal brings him face-to-face with temptation.

Dev is the right hand to a sadistic bastard out for blood and glory. He hides his true feelings of distaste for his boss, not the least of his many secrets. He could’ve sworn those secrets were safe, but after meeting Pablo he’s not so sure. The two men come together in a heated affair neither can deny, battling themselves, each other and a deadly enemy bent on spilling blood. Pablo and Dev will have to stick together or walk away from a love neither man expected to find. The choice should be simple. It never is.

Reader Advisory: Contains brief scenes of gang-related violence.

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Categories: 5 Star Ratings, Guest Reviewer, LGBT, Published in 2014, Theme Week | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Snake Charmer by Carol Lynne

Reviewed by Susan65

gTitle: Snake Charmer
Author: Carol Lynne
Series: Cattle Valley #31
Heroes: Gabrielo “Snake” Barbas/Riley Banks
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 30,229 Words
Publisher: Totally Bound
Release Date: August 8, 2014
Available at: Totally Bound
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Sometimes it takes an opposite to see the beauty within ourselves.

When security consultant and ex-mercenary, Gabrielo “Snake” Barbas, thwarts an attack of one of his co-workers, Riley Banks, he takes it upon himself to keep the smaller man safe. His job is made harder when he discovers the attacker is actually Riley’s ex-boyfriend, a ruthless man from a very wealthy and powerful family.

After a night of passion, Snake decides to take Riley far away from Richmond, Virginia to a town in Wyoming for the annual Cattle Valley Days celebration. He should have known that sex with Riley wouldn’t be enough, but he feels he has nothing else to give such a nice guy. Riley is the sexiest man Snake’s ever taken to his bed despite Riley’s claim otherwise.

Riley knows he’s average-looking at best, so why does Snake continue to flatter him? It’s obvious he’s not going to kick Snake out of bed, even after Snake informs him that sex is all he has to give. So, how can Snake see him so differently than the rest of the world?

While Riley is busy trying to figure out the man who touches him like no other has before, Snake is busy trying to protect him from a monster from his past.
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2014, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: So Far Gone by Avril Ashton

Guest Reviewed by Morgan

1Title: So Far Gone
Author: Avril Ashton
Heroes: Jacob Donnelly/Cash Warner
Genre: M/M Contemporary
Length: 130 Pages
Publisher: Sinner’s Haven Publishing
Release Date: August 1, 2014
Available at:  Amazon, Barnes & Noble and All Romance Ebooks
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb:  One night? Feels like three years…

Jacob Donnelly wants something new. Something different. Which is why he’s got a one-way ticket to New York and his bags packed. One last night out to the bar finds him in a sexy stranger’s bed, giving in to an explosive chemistry Jacob had been searching for, but never found. Until now. It’s too bad he’s leaving town, although once he finds out his one night stand’s true identity, Jacob can’t get away fast enough.

Cash Warner made a mistake. It doesn’t matter that he’d never felt anything like the fire generated between him and Jacob. He doesn’t plan to ever see his one-night hookup ever again. Except he does. When the reality of what they’d done fully sets in, Jacob flees, leaving Cash struggling with how to deal with the bitter taste of betrayal he can’t escape. Because even with Jacob gone for years, Cash can’t stop wanting more of that one night. Fate conspires against them once again, bringing Jacob home after tragedy strikes, and they’ll find it near impossible to keep their distance despite being committed to other people.
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Categories: 5 Star Ratings, Book Review, Guest Reviewer, LGBT, Published in 2014 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Mobster Week Review: Yakuza Courage by H.J. Brues

Reviewed by Nikyta

7Title: Yakuza Courage
Author: H.J. Brues
Series: The Way of the Yakuza #2
Heroes: Kinosuke/Brendan & Kotaro
Genre: M/M Contemporary
Length: 336 Pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: August 1, 2014
Available at: Dreamspinner Press, Amazon, Barnes & Noble and All Romance eBooks
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Ex-Navy SEAL Brendan O’Farrihy enrolls in kendo classes to investigate a Honolulu dojo acting as a front for a yakuza syndicate. Or at least that’s what Brendan’s client, Senator Harris, believes. Through his kendo instructor, the cocky, short-fused, gorgeous Kinosuke Yonekawa, Brendan learns the criminals who are supposedly using the senator’s son, Kenneth, to expand their activities into the US, seem to have severed any yakuza connections. The jaded, soul-scarred former soldier is captivated by the loyalty these gangsters show each other and the way they protect Ken like a tight military unit. Brendan wonders why the senator lied to him, and what the yakuza are shielding Ken from.

When Ken disappears, Brendan suspects foul play and decides to help the man he is falling for, Kinosuke, and his friends, find Ken. But when Kinosuke discovers Brendan has been on the senator’s payroll, all bets are off.
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Categories: 4.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Nikyta's Reviews, Published in 2014 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Book Review: Ya Like That? by Iyana Jenna

Reviewed by JustJen

dTitle: Ya Like That?
Author: Iyana Jenna
Heroes: Evan Foster/Brian Donaghue
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 26 Pages
Publisher: JMS Books
Release Date: July 6, 2014
Available at: JMS Books, Amazon, Barnes & Noble and All Romance eBooks
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb:  Evan Foster is left with nothing after his father screwed up their family company. Evan’s father ended up in jail, his mother in a mental institution, and they lost all their possession to the bank. Evan dropped out of college and he still has to pay for his mother’s treatment. He has a job at a diner but it isn’t nearly enough.

Brian Donaghue is a millionaire with a multinational company but isn’t lucky in love. When he sees the picture Evan sends in with a resume, he’s immediately interested. But the way ropes Evan into his company is far from conventional. Brian makes Evan an offer he can’t refuse.

Or can he?
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Categories: 2.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, JustJen's Reviews, LGBT, Published in 2014 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment