Posts Tagged With: fantasy

Book Review: Reaper’s Touch by Eleri Stone

Reviewed by Heather C

1Title:  Reaper’s Touch
Author: Eleri Stone
Series: Reaper #1
Heroine/Hero: Abby/Jake
Genre: MF Historical Romance
Length: 95,000 Words
Publisher: Carina Press
Release Date: February 10, 2014
Available at: Carina Press, Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Abby is a Ranger, part of an elite group who defend the border against Reapers—humans infected with a parasite that turns them into mindless cannibals. Rangers are immune to Reaper infection, and as one of the only female Rangers, Abby is expected to settle down and breed more Rangers—a fate she’s keen to avoid. When she’s ambushed on the plains, she’s ready to go out with guns blazing—until a mysterious, handsome cowboy rides to her rescue.

Jake has his own motives for helping Abby, beyond aiding a damsel in distress. He’s a Reaper, and while he’s learned to wrest control of his mind from the parasite, the effects won’t last without a permanent cure. And he needs Abby to get it.

Abby and Jake are natural enemies and unlikely partners. But when their search reveals a conspiracy between Reapers and the rich industrialists who own the mountain cities, they must work together to find the cure—or lose the border, and each other, forever.
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, Heather C's Reviews, M/F, Published in 2014 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: The Soldier by Kate Aaron

Reviewed by JustJen

?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????Title: The Soldier
Author: Kate Aaron
Series: Free Men #2
Heroes: Tamelik/Kai/Master
Genre: MMM Fantasy
Length: 170 Pages
Publisher: Croft House
Release Date: October 27, 2014
Available at: Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb:  Three months. That’s all it took for Kai to forsake freedom and learn to love his new life as pleasureslave to a wealthy Thirskan Underlord.

Finding himself surrounded by his own people once more, Kai should have been happy: relieved to be rescued from slavery, and out of the clutches of a man who was the sworn enemy of his people. Yet his people are not how he remembers them. Distrustful of Kai, and disgusted by his relationship with not one man but two, they make it abundantly clear he no longer fits in.

Beaten, starved, and tortured, when the chance comes to escape, Kai is barely strong enough to make the journey. Even if he succeeds, how could anybody ever love the thing he’s become in order to survive?
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Categories: 5 Star Ratings, Book Review, JustJen's Reviews, LGBT, Published in 2014 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Book Review: The Slave by Kate Aaron

Reviewed by JustJen

?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????Title: The Slave
Author: Kate Aaron
Series: Free Men #1
Heroes: Tamelik/Kai/Master
Genre: MMM Fantasy
Length: 180 Pages
Publisher: Croft House
Release Date: October 27, 2014
Available at: Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb:  At twenty-seven, Tamelik has been a slave more than half his life, having witnessed his family being murdered in front of him when he was just a child. Naturally submissive, although with a petulant streak, he can’t help but fall in love with the master who treats him kindly.

Tam’s dreams come true when his mistress walks out, leaving her husband behind. For six glorious months, he and his master get to be together. Then Tam is ordered to purchase another slave.

He wants to hate Kai for being unruly and ungrateful. For being of the same race as the men who murdered his family. For being his eventual replacement in their master’s bed. But it’s hard to hate a man who cries himself to sleep, flinches at the slightest touch, and blushes beautifully when he’s kissed.

Seducing Kai has suddenly become more challenge than chore, and with his master’s encouragement, Tam finds himself falling for his new companion. Except… nobody can be in love with two people at once, can they?
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Categories: 5 Star Ratings, Book Review, JustJen's Reviews, LGBT, Published in 2014 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Book Review: Hidden Gem by Lissa Kasey

Guest Reviewed by Trish

1Title: Hidden Gem
Author: Lissa Kasey
Heroes: Misaki “Aki” Itou/Shane mcNaughton
Genre: MM Sci-Fi
Length: 246 Pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: September 26, 2014
Available at:  Dreamspinner Press, Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb:  Misaki “Aki” Itou is a psi—a person with mutated DNA granting him psychic abilities. He’s also a contracted companion—a whore. It may not be the perfect profession, but having a roof over his head, food to eat, and not being subjected to torture is a dream come true. He is the top companion at the Hidden Gem, and it makes him enough money to buy the prettiest, most sparkly shoes he can find.

Shane McNaughton is an Irishman who survived the Third World War and works as a cop. Head of Missing Persons, he’s good at finding people, but after the plague of the Third mutated his DNA, he has a hard time letting anyone see the monster inside. He’s been paying for Aki’s services for two years, both the psi and the sexual kind, but he wants more from the companion.

Shane needs Aki’s ability to see into another person’s past to track down a serial killer murdering the children of rich and powerful men, but the more they work together, the clearer it becomes that they are linked through a darker past than either of them realizes.

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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, Guest Reviewer, LGBT, Published in 2014 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Early Review: Flight of Magpies by K.J. Charles

Reviewed by Heather C

1Title: Flight of Magpies
Author: K.J. Charles
Series: A Charm of Magpies #3
Heroes: Stephen Day/Lord Lucien Crane
Genre: M/M Historical Romance
Length: 212 Pages
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Release Date: October 28, 2014
Available at: Samhain Publishing, Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Danger in the air. Lovers on the brink.

With the justiciary understaffed, a series of horrifying occult murders to be investigated, and a young student who is flying—literally—off the rails, magical law enforcer Stephen Day is under increasing stress. And his relationship with his aristocratic lover, Lord Crane, is beginning to feel the strain.

Crane chafes at the restrictions of England’s laws, and there’s a worrying development in the blood-and-sex bond he shares with Stephen. A development that makes a sensible man question if they should be together at all.

When a thief strikes at the heart of Crane’s home, a devastating loss brings his closest relationships into bitter conflict—especially his relationship with Stephen. And as old enemies, new enemies, and unexpected enemies paint the lovers into a corner, the pressure threatens to tear them apart.

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

Vampire Week Review: The Circle Unbroken by Belinda Burke

Reviewed by Nikyta

https://www.totallybound.com/image/cache/data/Covers/C/thecircleunbroken_exlarge_PNG-210x336.pngTitle: The Circle Unbroken
Author: Belinda Burke
Series: Eight Kingdoms #2
Heroes: Macsen Cadoc/Bran Fionnan
Genre: M/M Fantasy
Length: 55k+ words
Publisher: Totally Bound
Release Date: October 24, 2014 (Now available for early download)
Available at: Totally Bound
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: A prince, a king, an oath to bind and an oath to break. Can something begun in darkness survive the light? Or does the shape of that oath define love…and the circle unbroken?

Three months have passed since Macsen Cadoc’s rescue of Bran Fionnan—three mortal months, three days in Macsen’s Red Kingdom. Bran has begun to seek a place for himself—as sidhe, as Summer’s Prince and as Macsen’s consort. The Red King has begun to balance the thirst of his own nature with the love that now moves him just as much. Yet when Bran is reminded of an oath that was made between them when he was just a child, that which has so far held them together may end up tearing them apart.

While the strength of their love is tested, a mortal enemy is once more in motion. Focused only on their destruction, Dealla seeks to step into the place of her dead father–to rule over the Milesians and fulfil the oaths of crown and country. To do so, she must find a way to hurt two foes…one new and openly deadly, the other ancient and its enmity long asleep. Allies appear in unlikely places, armed by their own motives to seek the same destruction Dealla desires…but the price of success may be higher than the cost of failure—higher than any plot or plan allows.

What is the price of an oath fulfilled? Is love born from nothing, or does it wear a path that can be traced?
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Nikyta's Reviews, Published in 2014, Theme Week | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Black Wings by Christina Henry

Reviewed by Nikyta

1Title: Black Wings
Author: Christina Henry
Series: Black Wings #1
Heroine/Hero: Madeline Black/Gabriel Angeloscuro
Genre: M/F Paranormal
Length: 295 Pages
Publisher: Ace
Release Date: November 30, 2010
Available at: Ace, Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: She’s an Agent of Death who really needs to get a life.

As an Agent of Death, Madeline Black is responsible for escorting the souls of the dearly departed to the afterlife. It’s a 24/7 job with a lousy benefits package.

Maddy’s position may come with magical powers and an impressive wingspan, but it doesn’t pay the bills. And then there are her infuriating boss, tenant woes, and a cranky, popcorn-loving gargoyle to contend with.

Things start looking up, though, when tall, dark, and handsome Gabriel Angeloscuro agrees to rent the empty apartment in Maddy’s building. It’s probably just a coincidence that as soon as he moves in demons appear on the front lawn. But when an unholy monster is unleashed upon the streets of Chicago, Maddy discovers powers she never knew she possessed. Powers linked to a family legacy of tarnished halos.

Powers that place her directly between the light of Heaven and the fires of Hell…
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, M/F, Nikyta's Reviews, Published in 2010 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Book Review: A Taste for Poison by Aleksandr Voinov

Guest Reviewed by Gyn

1Title: A Taste for Poison
Author: Aleksandr Voinov
Series: Memory of Scorpions #3
Heroes: Kendras/Adrastes
Genre: MM Historical Fantasy
Length: 265 Pages
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Release Date: October 13, 2014
Available at:  Riptide Publishing, Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb:  Even a king gets stung when he reaches for a scorpion.

After barely surviving an assassination attempt, King Adrastes is a changed man—one who mistrusts even his allies and friends. He readies his Empire for war against an enigmatic enemy, the Elder of Vededrin, but not everyone approves. While courtiers dare only to whisper dissent, an outrider called Death foments rebellion in the mountains, aided by a prophecy that promises he’ll stop the Black King.

Kendras—former lover to Adrastes and leader of the Scorpions—is sent with his elite mercenary force to bring Death to justice. But when Kendras learns who’s hiding behind the mask, he must choose between his lover Graukar, newly-appointed general to the king—and King Adrastes himself.

With no man to call master, the Scorpions could flee the danger and intrigue. But Kendras cannot abandon the man he once loved—or the man he’s growing to love—without first uncovering the real threat to the Empire.
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, Guest Reviewer, LGBT, Published in 2014 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Honorary Blogger Bey Deckard: Let’s Talk Threesomes! + Giveaway!

Honorary_Blogger_Post

The Power of Three

by Bey Deckard

While not typical, Caged and Sacrificed contain a ménage relationship. Was this something you planned on from the onset?

I did. The plan was to have an established relationship between Tom and Baltsaros—something comfortable and familiar that worked great, yet was missing the vital element needed to transform it into something both fierce and profound. That keystone was a lonely, inexperienced young man whose hope was running on empty.

Throwing Jon into the mix was nothing short of cruel. Yes, it was a little like dropping him overboard and hoping he could swim, but the one who bore the brunt of the cruelty was not Jon. Hey, sometimes you have to take something apart to fix it… and hope all the pain was worth it.

When you have a relationship between three, the easy settling that happens with a couple takes longer. Sometimes it never happens at all; the relationship just continues shifting like a restless sea. Especially when you’re dealing with intense bravado, major insecurities, and—let’s face it—some pretty serious personality flaws and disturbing hobbies.

Though their nascent relationship is shaky, Jon, Tom and Baltsaros fill the gaps in each other’s armour and, in the end, that will make them stronger.

I hope.

You also manage to give pretty equal face time to each character, with each having their own insecurities, etc. Is this something you have to really concentrate on making happen as you write? Does any one character try to steal more time than the others *cough*Tom*cough*? Do you have ways of keeping the other(s) quiet until it’s their turn?

Funny you mention Tom. He’s the one who crowds me the most while I write. It’s like he’s sitting behind me, reading over my shoulder as I write. Then he stops cleaning his fingernails with his knife… or puts down the mug of beer… or pulls the cheroot out of his mouth and leans over to jab a finger at my screen, saying stuff like “Why the fuck wouldn’t I kill him right there, mate? Bloody hells, I ain’t a fuckin’ yellow belly!” or suggesting completely inane things like punching sharks, or learning to breathe underwater, or finding hidden treasure buried by Romas that contains a clue to Baltsa— Wait, that one was a good suggestion. Forget I said anything.

Anyway… when Tom finally annoys me enough, I just get Baltsaros to tie him up in a really uncomfortable position for an hour or two, and I get some peace and quiet.

Jon does actually get more face time/POV because he’s not as jaded as the other two, and he’s more observant. As much as Tom is able to spot a tail, or Baltsaros can quickly calculate how much someone is worth to him, it’s Jon who sees everything with open eyes and a quick mind honed by years of neglect.
It’s often through Jon that I’m able to show the softer sides of the captain and his first mate, so he’s not only important to them… he’s important to me as a writer.

And… he’s very polite and never drinks milk straight from the container… or stares at me with eyes like chips of black glass, just waiting to put me in my place should I embarrass him.

Threesomes. Gorgeous in their complexities, perilous in their fragility… and extremely satisfying to write.

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About Sacrificed: Heart Beyond the Spires

Sacrificed-cover-600x400

Reunited once more, the crew of Baal’s Heart must make the long and treacherous journey south to the towering spires of the Devil’s Isles. The path through the mountain range is fraught with peril; mayhem and tragedy plague the pirate ship, but what the men find beyond the spires is the most shocking of all.

In this sequel to the acclaimed Caged, the pirates are dragged into a dangerous new world by Captain Baltsaros’s all-consuming obsession. In the midst of terror and chaos, Jon learns that the captain and first mate have been keeping secrets from him. But will the truth tear them apart?

Release Date: October 15, 2014
Available for Preorder at: Amazon
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

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About Caged: Love and Treachery on the High Seas

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Sheltered and lonely, Jon’s life changes drastically when a strange ship sails into the harbour of his small port town one day. Trapped between the possessive pirate captain and his murderous first mate, he must learn to adapt or he will lose himself completely. An epic tale of love, treachery and revelation, this first installment of the Baal’s Heart trilogy brings you into the lives of three men so bound together by jealousy and lies that they must sail to the very ends of the earth to find forgiveness.

Deckard’s first novel is a masterful portrayal of sorrow, hope, and passion, with a narrative that twists the reader through a world set in the Golden Age of Piracy. A thrilling look into the darker side of human nature, Caged effortlessly melds serious historical fantasy with five star erotica.

Release Date: April 16, 2014
Available at: Amazon & Barnes and Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

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About Bey Deckard

Born and raised in a small coastal town in northern Québec, Bey spent his early summers on his uncle’s boat and running wild on the beaches of the surrounding islands, lighting fires, and building huts out of driftwood and fishermen’s nets. As an adult, he eventually made his way to university and earned a degree in Art History with a strong focus on Anthropology. Primarily a portrait painter and graphic artist, Bey sat down one day and decided to write about the two things that he felt most passionate about: sex and the sea.

Bey currently lives in the wilds of Montréal with his best buddy, a spotty pit bull named Murphy.

You can find out more about Bey on his Website, Facebook or Goodreads.

Blogger_Giveaway

Bey has graciously offered up an eBook copy of Sacrificed: Heart Beyond the Spires to one lucky winner!! The giveaway starts now and ends October 17, 2014 at 11:59 p.m. To enter, just click the link below!

Rafflecopter Giveaway

Please be aware that the only way to enter the giveaway is to click the Rafflecopter link above. Any comments on this post will not count towards entering the giveaway, except to verify your Rafflecopter entry.

Don’t forget to check out JustJen’s reviews of Caged and Sacrificed to see what she thought of them!

Good luck!

Categories: Book Promo, Excerpts, Giveaways, Honorary Blogger Post, LGBT | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 15 Comments

Book Review: Sacrificed: Heart Beyond the Spires by Bey Deckard

Reviewed by JustJen

5Title: Sacrificed: Heart Beyond the Spires
Author: Bey Deckard
Series: Baal’s Heart #2
Heroes: Baltsaros/Tom/Jon
Genre: MM Historical Fantasy
Length: 380 Pages
Publisher: Bey Deckard
Release Date: October 15, 2014
Available at: Amazon
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb:  Reunited once more, the crew of Baal’s Heart must make the long and treacherous journey south to the towering spires of the Devil’s Isles. The path through the mountain range is fraught with peril; mayhem and tragedy plague the pirate ship, but what the men find beyond the spires is the most shocking of all.

In this sequel to the acclaimed Caged, the pirates are dragged into a dangerous new world by Captain Baltsaros’s all-consuming obsession. In the midst of terror and chaos, Jon learns that the captain and first mate have been keeping secrets from him. But will the truth tear them apart?
Continue reading

Categories: 5 Star Ratings, Book Review, JustJen's Reviews, LGBT, Published in 2014 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments