Posts Tagged With: Depression

Book Review: Yellow Streak by Susan Laine

27157996Guest Reviewed by Morgan 

Title: Yellow Streak
Author: Susan Laine
Series: Heroes at Heart #2
Heroes: Yancy Bell/Curt Donovan
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 82 Pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: November 11, 2015
Available at:  Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb:  Yancy Bell, a book geek with a bladder problem, saved the life of suicidal gay jock Curt Donovan. But when Curt returns to college after the Christmas holidays pretending he doesn’t know Yancy, warning bells go off.

Has a frightened Curt decided the safety of the closet is preferable to coming out? A remorseful Curt comes knocking on Yancy’s door in the dead of the night. Yancy wants to help Curt find the courage to proudly be himself and pursue his dreams, but first Curt needs to come to terms with his past acts. Yancy can only hope their reunion ends in light, not darkness.
Continue reading

Categories: 2 Star Ratings, Book Review, Guest Reviewer, LGBT, Published in 2015 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Keep Me Wanting by Avril Ashton

Reviewed by Susan65

27249653Title: Keep Me Wanting
Author: Avril Ashton
Heroes: Damian Archer/Fin Thornton
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 107 Pages
Publisher: Sinner’s Haven Publishing
Release Date: October 20, 2015
Available at:  Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: The last thing on Damian Archer’s mind is a relationship. He’s focused on running the family business and keeping up appearances. He’s fine with the way things are, until the tattooed help at a friend’s party takes one look at him and calls him on his bull.

Fired from a brand new job, Fin Thornton is homeless and penniless. He knows men like Damian. He abhors men like Damian. Despite the wealthy man coming to his aid when he desperately needs it, Fin is hesitant to lower his guard. Yet Damian insists on being in Fin’s face, demanding things and offering help.
In spite of their differences, something keeps them wanting each other. The same connection that has Damian desperate to stake a claim on the skittish Fin. But it will take a ghost from Fin’s tragic past to show both men that what they have is worth more than money.

Continue reading

Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2015, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: IVAN vs. IVAN by Princess S.O.

Reviewed by JustJen

26635070Title: IVAN vs. IVAN
Author: Princess S.O.
Series: The Teddy Bear Collection #3
Heroes: Ivan Voloshyn/Ivan Blažević
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 80 Pages
Publisher: Proud Indy
Release Date: August 13, 2015
Available at: Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb:  Out here in the North Sea love usually passes a man by like a ship in the night. So it’s a nice surprise when the captain of the ship hired to transport Ivan’s platform rig into port for the winter might actually offer some unexpected non-business type amenities as well.

Ivan Voloshyn owns and operates the Marianna Shoal, a deep sea oil rig. It’s hard work and long days out in harsh weather. And he loves it that way. Because that’s what he knows. Seabeds— rigs— oil— and bad weather. He’s also about to find out the Norse Gods have a sense of humor. For who should it be to come riding in on the Sea Dock Heavy Lift ship? Another Ivan.

Captain Ivan Blažević knows who he is and what he wants. Problem is, he also knows he can’t have it. Just because the rest of the world is coming out of the closet doesn’t mean every gay man can or should. Out here on the seas the weather can change in an instant. He needs to trust his crew to do their job, and their hostility towards gays would get in the way of that if he was ever found out.

Ivan-the rig-owner’s very presence threatens Blažević’s closet doors, nevertheless it’s hard to turn that away, because he wants him to keep doing so.

Out here, the North Sea can change a man’s life— but hatred can take it away.

Continue reading

Categories: 4.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, JustJen's Reviews, LGBT, Published in 2015 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Chasing the Dragon by Kate Sherwood

Reviewed by Susan65

22672878Title: Chasing the Dragon
Author: Kate Sherwood
Heroes: Jack Hunter/Christian Manning
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 230 Pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: August 4, 2014
Available at:  Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: When mercenary Jack Hunter stumbles upon Christian Manning servicing a client in a back alley, it stirs feelings he’s kept deeply buried. Hunter becomes Christian’s knight in shining armor when he rescues him from an attack and takes him to his secluded cabin to heal.

Being stuck in the cabin over the winter gives both men a chance to get their lives in order. Christian is struggling to break his heroin addiction, and Hunter needs to get away from the organization he helped start years before—a group of people who don’t appreciate being told no. It’s a toss-up which goal is more difficult. Their new starts spark a relationship between them, but nothing good comes cheap. Despite the complications, Hunter wants more, but Christian is resistant to making that commitment. When Hunter’s private security company threatens them, only nurturing the fragile trust they formed at the beginning of their love affair will save them. But for two men with very dark pasts, relying on each other might be easier said than done.
Continue reading

Categories: 4.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2014, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Inside His Reflection by Zathyn Priest

Reviewed by Susan65

26893997Title: Inside His Reflection
Author: Zathyn Priest
Heroes: Harry/Elijah
Genre: MM Contemporary
Publisher: Wilde City Press
Release Date: October 7, 2015
Available at:  Amazon
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: A blind date leaves Harry reeling, and another date goes as badly. Scars on Elijah’s face are clues of a broken soul, yet Harry can’t walk away. Not even when he learns Elijah sees a dead man in mirror reflections.

Elijah’s sanity snaps. Blamed for crimes he didn’t commit, Elijah has already survived a brutal murder attempt and now hides under a Protection Program. Harry must have faith he is innocent and fight for Elijah’s stolen rights.

Can Harry do this without losing his mind, his own rights, and the man he loves?
Continue reading

Categories: 5 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2015, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Book Review: Signs of Life by Melanie Hansen

Reviewed by JustJen

25568156Title: Signs of Life
Author: Melanie Hansen
Series: Resilient Love #2
Heroes: Jeremy Speer/Kai Daniels
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 224 Pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: September 28, 2015
Available at: Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb:  Successful lawyer Jeremy Speer has it all—a loving husband, a beautiful home, and a cherished dream that’s about to become reality. He’s learned not to take happiness for granted, meeting the challenges of life and love head-on with unwavering commitment and fierce devotion. A series of tragic events leave Jeremy shattered, adrift on a sea of unimaginable pain. He’s able to piece his life back together, but instead of embracing it, he merely exists, using isolation and punishing physical exertion to keep the world at bay.

High school teacher Kai Daniels has a heart for at-risk kids—he was one himself, and a teenage brush with the law and some troubled years behind bars left him scarred inside and out. With courage, hard work, and the support of friends, he’s built a fulfilling life that leaves no time for a relationship.

An intense encounter with Kai at a gay club ignites a spark in Jeremy that he thought was extinguished forever, but he’s unwilling to destroy the fragile peace he’s managed to create, and he leaves Kai humiliated and disappointed. Things should have ended there, but a bizarre occurrence brings the two together in a way neither of them expected.
Continue reading

Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, JustJen's Reviews, LGBT, Published in 2015 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Between Life & Death by L.M. Brown

Reviewed by Susan65

23665273Title: Between Life & Death
Author: L.M. Brown
Series: Heavenly Sins #3
Heroes: Mac/Tristan/Alastor
Genre: MM Paranormal
Length: 105 Pages
Publisher: Totally Bound
Release Date: December 19, 2014
Available at:  Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: With one of his lovers imprisoned in the Underworld, Mac has no choice except to go where most angels fear to tread.

With Tristan imprisoned in the Underworld the ménage is broken. Angels are forbidden to enter the demonic domain and while Mac has been breaking rules in recent months, he doesn’t have the power to enter the Underworld.

Alastor is still unsure about his position in the relationship following recent revelations, but he cannot walk away when he is the only real link between his two lovers. Splitting his time between Mac and Tristan he hopes they can soon find a way to reunite the two men in his life.
As time moves on Alastor realises he is struggling to satisfy Tristan’s thirst for sex. His lover needs more than he can give him and craves Mac in his bed.

Mac still believes he can complete his mission to save his two lovers, but with one of them out of his reach it is going to be far from easy.

During their time together they have made plenty of enemies, including one who would seek to separate them forever, even if it means biding his time until Alastor and Tristan are at their most vulnerable, when even the love of an angel can’t save them.

Continue reading

Categories: Book Review, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Book Review: Knave of Broken Hearts by Tara Lain

Reviewed by Susan65

25422386Title: Knave of Broken Hearts
Author: Tara Lain
Series: Love in Laguna #2
Heroes: Jim Carney/Ken Tanaka
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 224 Pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: August 3, 2015
Available at:  Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Jim Carney has a full time job—running from himself. Since he walked out on his wealthy family at sixteen because he’d wrecked his best friend’s life over some yaoi graphic novels, Jim has lived a macho, blue-collar existence of too much booze and too little responsibility. Then Billy Ballew, the man Jim most admires, gives Jim a chance to come through as his construction supervisor. For once, Jim is determined to make someone proud. Then Jim goes in for a physical for his new job and his yaoi dream comes to life in the form of cardiologist Ken Tanaka. Jim discovers he has two heart problems—a wonky mitral valve and a serious attraction to his doctor. But Ken is a major player, and Jim might be just a notch on the doc’s stethoscope. To Ken, Jim is unforgettable—but the living embodiment of his traditional family’s worst nightmares.

How come the minute Jim decides to be responsible, he finds himself taking care of his kid brother, getting a proposal from a wealthy woman, making a deal with the devil, and winding up in the hospital—when all he really wants is the Knave of Broken Hearts?
Continue reading

Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2015, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Focus on Me by Megan Erickson

Guest Reviewed by Ami

1Title: Focus on Me
Author: Megan Erickson
Series: In Focus #2
Heroes: Riley/Colin
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 204 Pages
Publisher: Berkley/Intermix
Release Date: July 24, 2015
Available at:  Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb:  Colin Hartman can now add college to his list of failures. On the coast-to-coast trek home from California, Colin stops at a gas station in the Nevada desert, and can’t help noticing the guy in tight jeans looking like he just stepped off a catwalk. When he realizes Catwalk is stranded, Colin offers a ride.

Riley only intended to take a short ride in Colin’s Jeep to the Grand Canyon. But one detour leads to another until they finally find themselves tumbling into bed together. However there are shadows in Riley’s eyes that hide a troubled past. And when those shadows threaten to bury the man whom Colin has fallen in love with, he vows to get Riley the help he needs. For once in his life, quitting isn’t an option…
Continue reading

Categories: 5 Star Ratings, Book Review, Guest Reviewer, LGBT, Published in 2015 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Acting on Love by S.J. Frost

Reviewed by Susan65

1Title: Acting on Love
Author: S.J. Frost
Series: Conquest #8
Heroes: Brandon Alexander/Shunichi Miyamoto
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 80 Pages
Publisher: MLR Press
Release Date: March 27, 2015
Available at:  Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Brandon Alexander has risen to the top of theatre in Chicago, but when you reach the top, there’s usually only one way left to go. Funding fell through on the latest play he was to star in and now he finds himself an unemployed actor. Coming fresh off a bad audition, he wonders if his time in the spotlight is over. But what worries him more, is not making the man he loves proud of him.

Shunichi Miyamoto runs a highly successful dojo. He had always let work be the focus of his life, until over a year ago, the man of his dreams walked into the dojo to rekindle his passion for karate, and it led to further passions between him and Brandon. He knows Brandon is worried about his career, but he loves him, he’s proud of him, and he’ll do anything for Brandon’s happiness.

Both Brandon and Shunichi want to spend their lives together, but when a new opportunity comes to Brandon, he must decide whether to follow his career dreams or to act on his love for Shunichi.
Continue reading

Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2015, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment