Posts Tagged With: Family Drama

Book Review: Tap Out by Cat Grant

Reviewed by JustJen

1Title: Tap Out
Author: Cat Grant
Series: Bannon’s Gym #3
Heroes: Tom Delaney/Travis Gallagher
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 202 Pages
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Release Date: January 13, 2015
Available at: Samhain Publishing, Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb:  It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.
As a child, Tom Delaney did the best he could to protect his mother from his abusive father, but her eventual suicide left him a guarded and wary man who’s still carrying around a metric ton of baggage.

At Bannon’s Gym, Tom learned how to take back his power, and found love with fellow mixed martial arts fighter Travis Gallagher. Yet Tom can’t bring himself to take their relationship to the next level. Not if moving in together means leaving behind Gloria, his surrogate mom, who’s desperately ill.

When Gloria’s son, Eddie, hires an out-of-work nurse to care for Gloria, Tom is out of excuses—and afraid he’s being pushed out of his family of choice. That fear explodes in a violent sparring session that leaves Travis with a broken nose and Tom on the brink of getting booted out of Bannon’s Gym for good.

When tragedy strikes, Tom realizes it’ll take more than fists to conquer his fears, or he risks losing everything—his fighting career, his family, and the man he loves.

Warning: Sweat- and testosterone-drenched alpha males ahead! More angst than an entire season of Downton Abbey! Wear a helmet—this could get messy!
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Categories: 3.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, JustJen's Reviews, LGBT, Published in 2015 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: In Too Deep by Kate Sherwood

Reviewed by Susan65

1Title: In Too Deep
Author: Kate Sherwood
Heroes: Cade/Aiden
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 234 Pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: December 1, 2014
Available at: Dreamspinner Press, Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: At first glance, Cade and Aiden hardly seem like a match made in heaven. Their worlds couldn’t be further apart. Cade is quiet, serious, and determined to succeed; Aiden’s a party-loving frat boy. Cade comes from a rough home and worked hard to get the scholarships that make it possible for him to attend college; Aiden’s had it all thrown in his lap by supportive, kind, and wealthy parents. Cade wants nothing to do with Aiden, but from the moment they meet, Aiden is determined to find a way to bring their different worlds together.

Aiden manages to persuade Cade he’s a decent guy, and a tentative friendship becomes much more. But a trip to Aiden’s family cottage puts Cade in the path of a ghost from his past, and a dark secret he never expected to face again. Cade did what he had to do to escape his dead-end life, but now he sees he didn’t leave it as far behind him as he thought.
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2014, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Safe in His Arms by Renae Kaye

Reviewed by Susan65

1Title: Safe in His Arms
Author: Renae Kaye
Heroes: Lon/Casey
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 208 Pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: November 28, 2014
Available at: Dreamspinner Press, Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: In the late-night quiet of the caravan park shower room, Lon Taylor washes away the filth of the Western Australian mines. He’s not looking for anyone, but when Casey offers, Lon doesn’t turn him down.

Welcoming the young man in his big, hairy arms, Lon provides a safety to Casey that he has never known, and Casey wants to stay forever. Still reeling from the breakup of his family years ago, Lon’s not sure he’s ready for the responsibility of the comfort and security Casey craves.

But perhaps Lon can risk opening his heart again and hoping for a brighter future. Casey has some pretty big skeletons in his past to deal with. And Lon wonders what Casey will do when he finds out how badly Lon failed at protecting the ones he loved eight years ago.
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2014, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Pretend by Riley Hart

Reviewed by JustJen

1Title: Pretend
Author: Riley Hart
Series: Blackcreek #3
Heroes: Mason Alexander/Gavin Davis
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 207 Pages
Publisher: Riley Hart
Release Date: December 29, 2014
Available at: Amazon
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb:  Mason Alexander thought all he wanted in life was something to call his own—something without the family name attached. He got that when he bought his bar in Blackcreek…but then a hard truth opens his eyes that he’s been lied to his whole life, and he’s tangled amid the family that loves him, a truth that haunts him, and torn between the life he wants for himself and the obligation he feels for his family.

Gavin Davis knows a thing or two about living a double life. Being a gay man with strict Christian parents who believe he’s going to Hell, has never been easy. Instead of dealing, Gavin lost himself in his career. Teaching music gives him solace. So when he loses his job at a private school for helping out a gay kid, he feels like he lost more than a job. He lost his identity.

Blackcreek is a new start for both of them, two men, loyal to a fault, who both feel obligated to people in their lives. What Mason and Gavin don’t expect to find in each other is the place where they can be real. They know they want each other, it’s the rest of it they can’t figure out. Caught between loyalty, obligation, fear, tragedy and family, Mason and Gavin’s lives threaten to pull them away from each other if they don’t get real, and stop playing pretend, for good.
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Categories: 3.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, JustJen's Reviews, LGBT, Published in 2014 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Bad Behavior by K.A. Mitchell

Reviewed by Susan65

1Title: Bad Behavior
Author: K.A. Mitchell
Series: Bad in Baltimore #5
Heroes: David “Beach” Beauchamp/Tai Fonoti
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 366 Pages
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Release Date: December 16, 2014
Available at: Samhain Publishing, Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: In a life full of yes, no is the sexiest word he’s ever heard.

David Beauchamp might as well be in jail. After one too many misunderstandings with the law, he’s chained to the city by the GPS and alcohol sensor strapped to his ankle. Awaiting trial, cut off from usual forms of entertainment, he goes looking for a nameless sexual encounter and winds up with almost more than he can handle.

Reality comes crashing back the next day with a summons for another random drug test, and the man behind the badge turns out to be the very man who took him for one hell of a ride.

Probation Officer Tai Fonoti is used to handling other people’s problems, but he’s horrified when one of the clients his boss dumps on him is the sweet piece of ass he screwed the night before. It makes getting a urine sample a pretty loaded situation.

That single encounter left Beach craving Tai’s unique brand of control and discipline. But while Tai relishes laying down the law in the bedroom, the letter of the law stands between them and kinkily ever after.

Warning: This book is kinky. I mean kinky. With lots of sex. It describes a fully consensual, intense D/s relationship which changes a character’s life. It includes impact play and bondage along the way to a very happily ever after.
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Categories: 4.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2014, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Book Review: All That Heaven Will Allow by D.W. Marchwell

Reviewed by Susan65

1Title: All That Heaven Will Allow

Author: D.W. Marchwell

Heroes: Jimmy Campbell/Derek Roberts

Genre: MM Contemporary

Length: 200 Pages

Publisher: Dreamspinner Press

Release Date: November 21, 2014

Available at: Dreamspinner Press, Amazon and Barnes & Noble

Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Jimmy Campbell has owned his own bar for the past twenty years. While his past is troubled, his present and future make life worth living. He has good friends, more than enough money, and he volunteers—along with his Yorkie, Bozo, and his Maine coon cat, Miss Alicia—at the local hospital every Friday. He couldn’t ask for more. That is, until he meets Derek “Dizzy” Roberts.

Derek is a musician who tours the country with his band. He’s an ex-cop, was married once, and has the bitter ex-wife and two spoiled children to prove it. He’s finally living his dream, and that includes bedding all the groupies who think he’s every bit as good as his music. He doesn’t worry much about the future, until he meets Jimmy.

The two men begin a long-distance romance, sneaking weekends here and there, until a tragedy forces them to realize they might lose the only thing they both want–a future together. Now, they’re asking for everything heaven will allow.

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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2014, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Book Review: My Cowboy Homecoming by Z.A. Maxfield

Guest Reviewed by Gyn 

1Title: My Cowboy Homecoming
Author: Z.A. Maxfield
Series: The Cowboys #3
Heroes: Tripp/Lucho
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 317 Pages
Publisher: Penguin/Intermix
Release Date: December 2, 2014
Available at:  Penguin/Intermix, Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb:  Love can heal the deepest wounds…
A sense of duty brings a soldier home…but a passionate cowboy makes him want to stay.

After his brother’s tragic death, Tripp has to leave the army and return to New Mexico to take care of his mother while his father is in prison for arson. Seeking work at the J-Bar Ranch, Tripp is immediately drawn to injured cowboy Lucho Reyes, whose foot was accidentally crushed by a rescue horse. But will the sins of the father interfere with the desires of the son? Tripp’s father may be responsible for the death of Lucho’s grandfather. Now Tripp must balance caring for his mother, repairing his father’s damages, and trying to win the heart of a man who has every reason to hate him and his family…
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, Guest Reviewer, LGBT, Published in 2014 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Book Review: Canning the Center by Tara Lain

Reviewed by Susan65

1Title: Canning the Center
Author: Tara Lain
Series: Long Pass Chronicles #2
Heroes: Jamal Jones/Travor Landry
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 250 Pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: December 17, 2014
Available at: Dreamspinner Press and Amazon
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Six foot seven inch, 300 pound Jamal Jones loves football, so when he finds out the ultra-conservative owner of his new pro football team fired their current center because he’s gay, bisexual Jamal decides to stay in the closet and hang with the females. Then, at a small drag show, he comes face-to-face with his sexual fantasy in the form of Trixie LaRue, a drag queen so exquisitely convincing she scrambles Jamal’s hormones — and his resolve to nurse his straight side.

Trevor Landry, aka Trixie LaRue, hides more than his genitals. A mathematician so brilliant he can’t be measured, Trevor disguises his astronomical IQ and his quirk for women’s clothes behind his act as a gay activist undergrad at Southern California University.

To Trevor, Jamal is the answer to a dream — a man who can love and accept both his personas. When he discovers Jamal’s future is threatened if he’s seen with a guy, Trevor becomes Trixie to let Jamal pass as straight. But Trevor risks his position every time he puts on a dress. Is there a closet big enough to hold a football pro and a drag queen?
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Categories: 4.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2014, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Book Review: Summer Symphony by Brandon Shire

Reviewed by Susan65

1Title: Summer Symphony
Author: Brandon Shire
Heroes: Martin Zoric/Ren Wakahisa
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 164 Pages
Publisher: TPG Books
Release Date: October 1, 2014
Available at: TPG Books, Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Martin Zoric had vivid dreams of fatherhood, of a small hand pressed to his, of pink dresses and girlish laughter. Then his wife had a stillbirth and his world fell apart.

He listened to the unwanted apologies, stood by his wife as was expected of him, and kept his façade strong and firm for the entire world to see.

But does he have the strength to let go and really grieve?

When Ren Wakahisa landed in Croatia he was hoping to escape the cultural pressures put on him to conform. His family wanted him to forsake love for duty. They viewed his happiness as secondary to familial prosperity.

Does he have the courage to be who he wants to be? Or, will he yield to their wishes?

Summer Symphony is the story of how two men find their answers and what they learn about strength, and grace, and the endurance of love
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2014, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: The Last Guy Breathing by Skylar Cates

Reviewed by JustJen

2Title: The Last Guy Breathing
Author: Skylar Cates
Series: The Guy #3
Heroes: Henry/Locke
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 154 Pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: December 8, 2014
Available at: Dreamspinner Press, Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb:  Henry Clueley doesn’t want to be in Glamour, not after moving far away to overcome a difficult, if privileged, childhood. He’s no longer that pudgy kid desperate to escape his hometown, but it still holds painful memories. When his recently widowed mother needs him, however, “dependable Henry” does the right thing—even if it means leaving the IRS to take a boring corporate position. Things don’t stay boring for long. Soon Henry helps the local sheriff’s department unravel a crime. Posing as half of a fake couple seems like a fun idea… until Henry learns he already knows the deputy playing his other half.

Deputy Locke may be new to the Glamour Sheriff’s Department, but he’s fought his way up in the world and is determined to make a good impression. He keeps his private life quiet, even from his beloved younger brother. Locke knows better than most the need to protect what’s his.

Henry resents the arrogant, gorgeous cop, and Locke thinks Henry is sheltered and spoiled. Their secret and steamy encounter only adds to the animosity. As they join forces, Henry thinks a relationship with Locke would be catastrophic, but the white-hot passion between them makes it hard to resist.
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, JustJen's Reviews, LGBT, Published in 2014 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment