Posts Tagged With: Domestic abuse

Audio Review: Mr. Frosty Pants by Leta Blake

Reviewed by Susan65

Title: Mr. Frosty Pants
Author: Leta Blake
Narrator: John Solo
Series: Home for the Holidays #1
Heroes:  Casey & Joel
Genre: M/M Contemporary
Length: 10 hrs and 47 mins
Publisher: Leta Blake Books
Release Date: November 11, 2019
Available at: Amazon & Audible
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Frosty former friends get a steamy second chance in this Christmas gay romance!

Can true love warm his frozen heart?

When Casey Stevens went away to college four years ago, he ghosted on his straight best friend, Joel Vreeland. He hoped time and distance would lessen the unrequited affection he felt, but all it did was make him miss Joel more. Home for the holidays, Casey hopes they might find a way to be friends again. But Joel’s frosty reception reminds Casey of just how hard he had to fight to be Joel’s friend in the first place. It’s going to take a Christmas miracle to get past that cool façade again.

Joel isn’t as straight as Casey believes, and his years of pining for Casey have left him hurting and alone, caring for his abusive father and struggling to get by. Unable to trust anyone except his rescue dog – and with no reason to believe Casey is interested in him for more than a holiday fling – Joel’s icy heart might shatter before it can thaw.

Can Casey and Joel’s love overcome mistrust, parental rejection, class differences, and four long years apart? Mr. Frosty Pants is a stand-alone, Christmas gay romance by Leta Blake featuring a virgin hero, childhood friends-to-lovers, second chance romance, and steamy mm first times. Continue reading

Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Audio Review, LGBT, Published in 2019, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Winter Cowboy by R.J. Scott

Reviewed by Susan65

Title: Winter Cowboy
Author: R.J. Scott
Series: Whisper Ridge, Wyoming #1
Heroes: Micah Lennox/Daniel Sheridan
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 272 Pages
Publisher: Love Lane Books
Release Date: February 28, 2018
Available at:  Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Micah Lennox left Whisper Ridge after promising the man he loved that he would never return. But the only way he knows to keep his pregnant sister and nephew safe is to go home. Spending winter in Wyoming opens too many old wounds, but he’s on the run from justice which can’t be far behind, and this is his last chance at redemption.

After a hostage situation leaves Doctor Daniel Sheridan struggling with PTSD, he returns to Whisper Ridge. Joining his dad in family practice is a balm to soothe his exhausted soul, and somehow, he finds a peace he can live with. That is until he meets Micah in a frozen graveyard, and the years of anger and feelings of betrayal boiling inside him, erupt.

Two broken men fight and scratch for their lives and that of their families, and somehow, in the middle of it all, they find each other.

Is it possible that love can be rekindled and become a forever to believe in?
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Categories: 4.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2018, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: What He Left Behind by L.A. Witt

Reviewed by Susan65

Title: What He Left Behind
Author: L.A. Witt
Heroes: Josh/Ian/Michael
Genre: MMM Contemporary
Length: 275 Pages
Publisher: L.A. Witt
Release Date: March 14, 2017
Available at:  Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Josh Carver would do anything for Michael Adair, his childhood best friend. In the five years since Michael finally left his abusive ex-partner, Josh and his husband Ian have helped him leave that horrific past behind him. Michael seems to have adjusted well enough…until he admits he’s afraid to date because the abuse has left him terrified of physical intimacy.

Josh is stunned again when Ian proposes a solution—Josh can help Michael learn to enjoy sex again. It isn’t like it would be the first time. After all, Josh and Michael lost their virginity to each other years ago.

Michael hesitates, but then takes him up on the idea. It isn’t long before Ian’s getting involved too… and it’s all fine and dandy until emotions come into play that threaten their friendship, as well as Josh and Ian’s marriage.

Warning: Contains three guys who will do anything for each other, a hot tub that’s always the right temperature, and a cat with an attitude problem.
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Categories: 4.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2017, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Audio Review: ‘Tis the Season by Alex Jane

Reviewed by Susan65

Title: ‘Tis the Season
Author: Alex Jane
Narrator: Michael Fell
Heroes: Aaron/Dylan
Genre: MM Holiday
Length: 2 Hours, 57 Minutes
Publisher: Alex Jane
Release Date: October 13, 2017
Available at: Amazon and Audible
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Aaron has spent the past 10 months alone. When he meets a sad, yet strangely familiar man on a cold Halloween night, he impulsively invites him home. But the intimate connection they share lasts only until morning. Aaron wakes up alone – wracked with guilt and devastated to have lost his chance. Or so he thinks.

Thanksgiving brings Aaron another shot at happiness, but letting go of an old love and accepting a new one isn’t as easy as everyone keeps telling him. And by the time Christmas Eve rolls around, it becomes clear that Aaron’s not the only one struggling to let himself love again.

Christmas miracles are all well and good, but it’s going to take more than the Holiday Spirit for Aaron to get his happy ever after.

A story of grief, sadness, and letting it go; and finding love when you least expect it.
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Audio Review, LGBT, Published in 2017, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: On Davis Row by N.R. Walker

Reviewed by Susan65

Title: On Davis Row
Author: N.R. Walker
Series: N/A
Heroes: CJ Davis/Noah Huxley
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: N/A
Publisher: N.R. Walker
Release Date: November 27, 2017
Available at:  Amazon
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Nearing the end of a suspended jail sentence should unlock a brighter future for CJ Davis, only the chip on his shoulder is as hard to shift as his bad reputation. Born into a family of career criminals who live down Davis Road, an address the cops have dubbed Davis Row, his name alone is like a rap sheet that makes optimism impossible.

Brand-new parole officer Noah Huxley is determined to see the good in men like CJ. After all, he knows firsthand that bad things can happen to good people. His colleagues mock his doe-eyed optimism, but Noah soon sees CJ’s bad attitude and bravado are weapons he uses to keep people at a distance.

Both men know one simple mistake can change a life forever. At first glance, they might seem to be polar opposites. Yet underneath, they’re not that different at all.
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Categories: 4.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2017, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: The Quarterback by Mackenzie Blair

Reviewed by Susan65

Title: The Quarterback
Author: Mackenzie Blair
Heroes: Matt Lancaster/Trevor Kim
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 304 Pages
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Release Date: September 9, 2017
Available at: Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Matt Lancaster is the star quarterback at Bodine College, a small Southern Division II school with an ultra-conservative Dean of Athletics. Matt is also very much in the closet, and he thinks he’s kept his secret well hidden. Until his best friends take him to a happy endings massage parlor and request a male masseuse for him.

In walks Trevor Kim, a gorgeous, pierced, tattooed fellow Bodine student who does massages—without happy endings—to pay for school after his family kicked him out for being gay. Trevor takes one look at Matt and breaks all his own rules about mixing business with pleasure.

Matt needs to keep his scholarship, win the National Championship, and survive his asshole father. Instead, he falls in love. Trevor needs to accept that the football god is meant to end up with him rather than a perky cheerleader. It’s time for a happy ever after for both of them.
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2017, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 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: Torn by Shawn Bailey

Reviewed by Susan65

30833600Title: Torn
Author: Shawn Bailey
Heroes: Justin/Sam
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 102 Pages
Publisher: MLR Press
Release Date: July 3, 2016
Available at:  Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: A down and out club host find happiness in the arms of a stranger.

Club host Sam Mason and his lover Tony gets into a screaming match in the French Quarter. Tony wants Sam to prostitute himself to earn money to support Tony’s drug habit. In a drastic effort to free himself of Tony, Sam propositions a man on the street and offers him the best blowjob he’d ever had it he takes him somewhere. The man takes one look at him and agrees.

Attorney Justin Quick can’t believe his luck when a green-eyed cutie approaches him with the best offer he had in years. Ethically he’s sworn to get the young man out of danger, but the man in him knows it’s an offer he’d be foolish to refuse.

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Categories: 3.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2016, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Tackling the Tight End by Tara Lain

Reviewed by Susan65

23264422Title: Tackling the Tight End
Author: Tara Lain
Series: Long Pass Chronicles #3
Heroes: Raven Nez/Dennis Hascomb
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 216 Pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: January 15, 2016
Available at:  Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Everyone wants the best for SCU student and tight end Raven Nez — and they know exactly what that is. Enter the NFL draft, become a big football hero, promote his tribe’s casino, and make a lot of money to help people on the reservation. Just one problem. Raven’s gay and he really wants to work with gay kids. Plus he figures a gay Native tight end will get flattened in the NFL. Then the casino board hires a talented student filmmaker to create ads for the tribal business and asks Raven to work with him. But the filmmaker is Dennis Hascomb, a guy with so much to hide and a life so ugly it’s beyond Raven’s understanding. Still he’s drawn to Dennis’s pain and incredible ability to survive. Captivated by Raven’s stories of the two-spirited and by the amazing joy of finally having a friend, Dennis knows he has to break free from everything he’s ever been taught was good—but that’s a struggle that could kill him and Raven too. Is there a chance for “the great red hope” and the “whitest guy on earth”? A future for the serpent and the raven?
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2016, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Book Review: Suit Yourself by Susan Mac Nicol

Reviewed by Susan65

1Title: Suit Yourself
Author: Susan Mac Nicol
Series: Men of London #3
Heroes: Oliver Brown/Leslie Scott
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length:
Publisher: Boroughs Publishing Group
Release Date: May 21, 2015
Available at:  Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Scarred both physically and emotionally after a motorcycle accident, twenty-five year old ex fashion model and porn star Oliver Brown is about to be stripped bare by flamboyant twink Leslie Scott—and they’ll rebuild love from the bottom up.

BARING THE BEAST
Twenty-five year old Oliver Brown is addicted. Two years ago, he was at the height of his career as “Nikki Star,” fashion model, porn actor, partier without peer. Then came the accident. Hiding his scars, both emotional and physical, he’s gone into hiding. But fine clothing is some solace. A new suit by Debussy? Better even than a ride on his motorcycle Hulk or all the things he used to give and take on camera.

Enter Leslie Scott, the flamboyant, dark-haired, heel-and-tiny-short-wearing twink sent to deliver Oliver’s newest fix. A firecracker, Leslie is dapper, generous, in touch with his feminine side but all man, and as gorgeous as any garment ever made. He makes Oliver dream of ending his reclusion, of recapturing a future forever denied him. But for that to happen, Leslie would have to strip him to the bone. Only then will they rebuild life from the bottom up.
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Categories: 4.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2015, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments