Posts Tagged With: Grief

Book Review: Five-Sided Heart by Max MacGowan

Reviewed by JustJen

29924710Title: Five-Sided Heart
Author: Max MacGowan
Heroes: Noah/Ian/Joshua/Gabriel/Ty
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 230 Pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: May 16, 2016
Available at: Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb:  Noah Trevelyan has lost his moorings. Disowned over his sexuality as a teenager, he hasn’t been back to his home on the Outer Banks since his fisherman father kicked him out. But when he returns for the Old Man’s funeral, he discovers his father left him the house and boat in his will. Noah must choose whether to stay or go, but he won’t be alone. There’s Ian, working to overcome the emotional scars left by a domineering ex-boyfriend, and Ty, a cheerful housekeeper who’s struggling to take care of his Alzheimer’s-stricken aunt. There’s Joshua too, running from the destruction of his old life, and Gabriel, who was once beaten and left for dead, and doesn’t know how to survive on his own.

Will they find in each other the strength and courage to keep living—and learn, together, how to love again? A polyamorous relationship is the last thing any of them expected to find in the Outer Banks, but it might be what they need most, and it might even be their redemption—if they can keep their group from breaking apart under the pressure.
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, JustJen's Reviews, LGBT, Published in 2016 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Audio Review: There’s Something About Ari

Reviewed by Morgan 

30165084Title: There’s Something About Ari
Author: L.B. Gregg
Narrator: Nick J. Russo
Series: Bluewater Bay #2
Heroes: Buck Ellis/Ari Valentine
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 2 Hours, 41 Minutes
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Release Date: May 9, 2016
Available at: Amazon, Audible and iTunes
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Buck Ellis’s future seems pretty damn bright. With a full college scholarship in hand, he’s going to ditch Bluewater Bay and pave the way for his kid brother Charlie to do the same. The only fly in Buck’s ointment is his ten-year addiction to his best friend since second grade, his true love, and his Achilles heel: Ari Valentine, Mr. Least Likely to Succeed.

But then Buck’s mother dies, changing everything, and five years later, his future is still on hold. It’s a struggle to keep food on the table, a roof over their heads, and Charlie on the straight and narrow. Buck can’t afford any temptation, especially in the form of the newly returned, super hot, super confident, super successful television star Ari Valentine.

ADHD poster-child Ari Valentine left for Hollywood and lost everything, including his bad reputation. Then the breakthrough role of his skyrocketing career lands him back in Bluewater Bay, to the stunned disbelief of, well, everyone. But there’s only one person Ari longs to impress—the only person who ever really mattered to him, the person he left behind: Buck Ellis.
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Audio Review, LGBT, Morgan's Reviews, Published in 2016 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: True Blue by R.J. Jones

Reviewed by Susan65

29771480Title: True Blue
Author: R.J. Jones
Series: Out of the Blue #3
Heroes: Brandon/Mason
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 184 Pages
Publisher: Vivid Blue Press
Release Date: May 13, 2016
Available at:  Amazon
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: When being true to yourself means denial is no longer an option.

On the heels of a tragedy, Brandon White shaved his hair, adorned his body with tattoos, and concentrated on his attraction to the opposite sex. Fifteen years later, Brandon is a protective son and a loyal and respected member of the San Francisco Fire Department, bedding anything in a skirt that promises not to stick around afterward.

When his past and present collide in his dreams—including his best friend and fellow fireman, Mason—Brandon knows things are never going to be the same again. He starts to recall that fateful day years before, and the long-forgotten feelings that preceded it. The most important thing he remembers—he’s not as straight as he’d thought.

With help, Brandon learns to accept who he was always meant to be. But when tragedy strikes again, Brandon must reconcile his past and present and deal with his grief if he is to ever be true, not only to himself, but to Mason as well.

**This can be read as a standalone, however it is best enjoyed after reading the first two stories as side characters play a major role.**
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2016, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Salvation by Sloane Kennedy

Reviewed by Susan65

29613595Title: Salvation
Author: Sloane Kennedy
Series: The Protectors #2
Heroes: Ronan Grisham/Seth Nichols
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 366 Pages
Publisher: Sloane Kennedy
Release Date: May 13, 2016
Available at:  Amazon
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Trauma surgeon Ronan Grisham lost everything the day the man he loved was stolen from him in a brutal attack. Driven by a thirst for vengeance, he turns his hatred into building an underground group that can do what he couldn’t that fateful day…take the lives of the guilty to save the lives of the innocent. But years later, he’s forced to confront the one link to his past that he can’t sever.

Seven years after the loss of his parents in a violent home invasion that left him permanently scarred both inside and out, 21-year-old Seth Nichols is trying to put his life back together so he can take over the reins of his father’s global shipping empire. But the last person he expects to come back into his life is the man he drove away with one innocent, stolen kiss.

With one brush of his lips, Seth managed to do to Ronan what no other had since the day Ronan watched the light in his fiancé’s eyes go out forever. He made him need again. But Ronan can’t need anyone, least of all his dead fiancé’s younger brother. Because even one touch from Seth could shatter Ronan’s carefully constructed world and Ronan knows there’s no coming back from that a second time.

But when a series of escalating attacks against Seth forces Ronan back into his life, Seth knows it’s his last chance to show Ronan he can be the man the broken surgeon needs. Only the Ronan who returns isn’t the Ronan Seth fell in love with so long ago…

Can Seth be Ronan’s salvation or will he end up destroying them both?
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2016, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Audio Review: Trial by Fire by B.A. Tortuga

Reviewed by Morgan

30045390Title: Trial by Fire
Author: B.A. Tortuga
Narrator: Rusty Topsfield
Heroes: Lachlan McCoughney/Holden Sheffield
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 5 Hours, 36 Minutes
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: April 20, 2016
Available at: Amazon, Audible and iTunes
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: One Aussie. One Texan. One baby. One hell of a fight.

When his sister and her husband are killed in an accident, Aussie cattle station owner Lachlan McCoughney rushes to Texas to rescue their infant daughter, Chloe. He expects to find his niece living in squalor with the Sheffields, a rodeo family.

Instead, Lachlan finds Holden Sheffield, a salt-of-the-earth cowboy running a huge business operation. They want to explore their mutual attraction despite the many problems thrown their way, and together, they must find a way to give Chloe a new family and find a love that spans thousands of acres and two continents.
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Categories: 3.5 Star Ratings, Audio Review, LGBT, Morgan's Reviews, Published in 2016 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Dawn and Dusk by Dirk Greyson

Reviewed by JustJen

28183567Title: Dawn and Dusk
Author: Dirk Greyson
Series: Day and Night #3
Heroes: Day/Knight
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 178 Pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: May 6, 2016
Available at: Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb:  For Scorpion agents Day and Knight, their relationship is slow to develop, and trust is hard to build. Then Day’s brother, Stephen, goes missing, and Day finds out more about him than he ever dreamed. Day’s first reaction to Stephen’s disappearance is to try to get to him as fast as possible.

Knight initially holds him back so they can attempt to find out what they’re walking into. But when Knight sees Day’s desperation, he steps in to help and tries to calm the man he’s growing to care about, even though the trail is cold and clues are scarce.

When Day witnesses his brother being shot live on television, he loses the last of his control. Despite the lack of answers, Day is more determined than ever to find out what happened. Stephen was all the family he had left.

Bone-deep fear and adversity threaten to tear Day and Knight apart, but facing unimaginable hardship together might finally cement the bond between them.
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, JustJen's Reviews, LGBT, Published in 2016 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: A Life Interrupted by Lynley Wayne

Reviewed by Susan65

T18468270itle: A Life Interrupted
Author: Lynley Wayne
Series: Life Series #1
Heroes: Dan/Travis
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 99 Pages
Publisher: Midnight Musings Press
Release Date: April 4, 2016
Available at:  Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: When tragedy strikes, will Dan and Travis be able to find their way back from a life interrupted?

A chance meeting in a college bar brought them together. They were the unlikeliest of pairs: the geek and the jock. For the past twenty-two years, Dan has lived his own version of happily-ever-after, with Travis by his side. Then tragedy strikes, threatening the life they’ve built. Will their love be strong enough to survive a life interrupted?

While Travis fights for his life, Dan can’t help but lose himself in the past. In all those little moments that made up their life, things he took for granted at the time. Those very same events may end up being all he has left of the man who is his entire world.
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2016, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Scars and Secrets by Avril Ashton

Reviewed by JustJen

29383384Title: Scars and Secrets
Author: Avril Ashton
Series: Loose Ends #1
Heroes: Donovan/Levi
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 218 Pages
Publisher: Sinner’s Haven Publishing
Release Date: April 29, 2016
Available at: Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb:  After an undercover assignment that changed his life forever, FBI agent Donovan Cintron is barely hanging on to sanity. His new mission is to forget, by any means necessary, so he tries his hardest. Pills. Booze. The warm bodies that never quite measure up to what he’d had. What he’d lost. It’s almost a relief when he learns his identity might be compromised—except he’s not the only one exposed. So is the husband he hasn’t stopped needing all these years later. He’d been aching to die, but for Levi Nieto, Donovan will live. To protect. To regret. To remember.

The realization that everything he loved was a farce sent Levi Nieto spinning out of control, and running away from the memories. Now Donovan is back in his life, still fully entrenched in darkness. Their physical connection is one thing, but the truth of who they are to each other remains trapped among the anger, violence and lies suffocating them. Fixing what’s broken will take more than each man exposing his scars. Secrets—and blood—must be spilled.
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, JustJen's Reviews, LGBT, Published in 2016 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Absolution by Sloane Kennedy

Reviewed by Susan65

29341594Title: Absolution
Author: Sloane Kennedy
Series: The Protectors #1
Heroes: Jonas Davenport/Mace Calhoun/Cole Bridgerton
Genre: MMM Contemporary
Length: 358 Pages
Publisher: Sloane Kennedy
Release Date: April 1, 2016
Available at:  Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: After four years abroad, artist Jonas Davenport has come home to start building his dream of owning his own art studio and gallery. But just as he’s ready to put the darkness of his past behind him forever, it comes roaring back with a vengeance.

The only thing keeping ex-cop Mace Calhoun from eating his own gun after an unthinkable loss is his role in an underground syndicate that seeks to get justice for the innocent by taking the lives of the guilty. Ending the life of the young artist who committed unspeakable crimes against the most vulnerable of victims should have been the easiest thing in the world. So why can’t he bring himself to pull the trigger?

After years of fighting in an endless, soul-sucking war, Navy SEAL Cole Bridgerton has come home to fight another battle – dealing with the discovery that the younger sister who ran away from home eight years earlier is lost to him forever. He needs answers and the only person who can give them to him is a young man struggling to put his life back together. But he never expected to feel something more for the haunted artist.

Cole and Mace. One lives by the rules, the other makes his own. One seeks justice through the law while the other seeks it with his gun. Two men, one light, one dark, will find themselves and each other when they’re forced to stand side by side to protect Jonas from an unseen evil that will stop at nothing to silence the young artist forever.

But each man’s scars run deep and even the strength of three may not be enough to save them…
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2016, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Believing Rory by S.C. Wynne

Reviewed by Morgan 

29746687Title: Believing Rory
Author: S.C. Wynne
Heroes: Lane Graham/Baron MacDonald
Genre: MM/NA Contemporary
Length: 200 Pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: April 29, 2016
Available at:  Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb:  Will Rory bring them together or stand between them?

Eighteen-year-old Lane Graham has always relied on his braver, more confident buddy, Rory. But Rory’s sudden suicide blindsides Lane and sends him into an emotional tailspin. How’s he supposed to start college in a few months feeling this damaged?

Baron MacDonald knew Rory from playing League of Legends together. He was always intrigued by Lane’s online presence, and Rory had promised to set them up. Now that Rory’s gone, Baron has to approach Lane on his own.

On the surface, Baron and Lane couldn’t seem more different. Baron is confident and serious, and Lane is guarded and uncertain. But it’s the pain beneath the flesh that binds these two souls together like barbed wire and cement.
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Morgan's Reviews, Published in 2016 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment