Posts Tagged With: lies

Book Review: The Princess and the Fangirl by Ashley Poston

Reviewed by Heather C

Title: The Princess and the Fangirl
Author: Ashley Poston
Series: Once Upon a Con #2
Heroines: Jessica Stone & Imogen Lovelace (not a romantic pairing) 
Genre: Young Adult 
Length: 320 pages
Publisher: Quirk Books 
Release Date: April 2, 2019
Available at: Amazon
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: The Prince and the Pauper gets a modern makeover in this adorable, witty, and heartwarming young adult novel set in the Geekerella universe by national bestselling author Ashley Poston.

Imogen Lovelace is an ordinary fangirl on an impossible mission: save her favorite character, Princess Amara, from being killed off from her favorite franchise, Starfield. The problem is, Jessica Stone—the actress who plays Princess Amara—wants nothing more than to leave the intense scrutiny of the fandom behind. If this year’s ExcelsiCon isn’t her last, she’ll consider her career derailed.

When a case of mistaken identity throws look-a-likes Imogen and Jess together, they quickly become enemies. But when the script for the Starfield sequel leaks, and all signs point to Jess, she and Imogen must trade places to find the person responsible. That’s easier said than done when the girls step into each other’s shoes and discover new romantic possibilities, as well as the other side of intense fandom. As these “princesses” race to find the script-leaker, they must rescue themselves from their own expectations, and redefine what it means to live happily ever after.
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Categories: 3.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, Heather C's Reviews, LGBT, M/F, Published in 2019 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Kingdom of Exiles by Maxym M. Martineau

Reviewed by Nikyta

Title: Kingdom of Exiles
Author: Maxym M. Martineau
Series: The Beast Charmer #1
Hero/Heroine: Leena & Noc
Genre: M/M Fantasy
Length: 448 pages
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Release Date: June 25, 2019
Available at: Amazon
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Assassin’s Creed meets Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them in this gripping, epic fantasy romance trilogy.

My heart wasn’t part of the deal when I bargained for my life,
But assassins so rarely keep their word.

Exiled Charmer Leena Edenfrell is running out of time. Empty pockets forced her to sell her beloved magical beasts-an offense punishable by death-and now there’s a price on her head. With the realm’s most talented murderer-for-hire nipping at her heels, Leena makes Noc an offer he can’t refuse: powerful mythical creatures in exchange for her life.

Plagued by a curse that kills everyone he loves, Noc agrees to Leena’s terms in hopes of finding a cure. Never mind that the dark magic binding the assassin’s oath will eventually force him to choose between Leena’s continued survival…and his own.

****SPOILERS AHEAD****

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Categories: 4.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, M/F, Nikyta's Reviews, Published in 2019 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Ramen Assassin by Rhys Ford

Reviewed by Nikyta

Title: Ramen Assassin
Author: Rhys Ford
Series: Ramen Assassin #1
Heroes: Kuro & Trey
Genre: M/M Contemporary
Length: 216 pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: June 25, 2019
Available at: Dreamspinner Press & Amazon
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: When life gives Kuro Jenkins lemons, he wants to make ponzu to serve at his Los Angeles ramen shop.

Instead he’s dodging bullets and wondering how the hell he ended up back in the Black Ops lifestyle he left behind him. After rescuing former child star Trey Bishop from a pair of thugs in the middle of the night, he knows it’s time to pick up his gun again. But it seems trouble isn’t done with Trey, and Kuro can’t quite let go… of either the gun or Trey Bishop.

Trey Bishop never denied his life’s downward spiral was his own fault. After a few stints in rehab, he’s finally shaken off his Hollywood bad-boy lifestyle but not his reputation. The destruction of his acting career and his relationships goes deep, and no one trusts anything he says, including the LAPD. When two men dragging a dead body spot him on a late-night run and try to murder him, Trey is grateful for the tall, dark, and deadly ramen shop owner he lusts over—not just for rescuing him, but also for believing him.

Now caught in a web of murders and lies, Trey knows someone wants him dead, and the only one on his side is a man with deep, dark secrets. Trey hopes Kuro Jenkins will stick around to see what the future holds for them once the dust settles, but from the looks of things, neither of them may survive to find out. Continue reading

Categories: 5 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Nikyta's Reviews, Published in 2019 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Shadowing the Light by Miranda Turner

Reviewed by Nikyta

Title: Shadowing the Light
Author: Miranda Turner
Series: The Bearer of Truth #1
Heroes: Gabriel & Evander
Genre: M/M Urban Fantasy
Length: 273 pages
Publisher: Self Published
Release Date: December 17, 2018
Available at: Amazon
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: “Everybody has their own agenda. Everybody.”

Hunted for the unique blood that runs through his veins, half-angel, half-demon Gabriel Sinclair lives without expectations. On the run from forces on both sides of an ancient conflict, he searches for strength and peace in a world which only seeks to use him.

When Gabriel is forced to stop running, assigned a team—and a mate—he doesn’t want, and reluctantly tasked with a mission, he must overcome obstacles both real and imagined. Otherwise, the world as he knows it, and the mate he’s reluctantly come to care for, may cease to exist.

“I will do as the Creator bids me. Always.”

Evander Ryan is special, and he knows it. The final handcrafted immortal warrior for the light, he is the Creator’s greatest masterpiece. For fifty-eight years, he’s lived his life in black and white, coddled by his Maker, while leading his team to countless victories against their enemies. Those fights were easy. Working with a new, uncooperative mate who sees the world in shades of gray? Less so.

As Evander’s eyes are opened to the existence of light warriors who are not good, dark warriors who are, and the wider world of supernatural beings, he learns nothing is as he thought it was, and his mate isn’t who he thought he was either. Maybe there’s something to be said for not always following the rules. . .
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Nikyta's Reviews, Published in 2018 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Book Review: Dra’Kaedan’s Coven by Jessamyn Kingley

Reviewed by Nikyta

Title: Dra’Kaedan’s Coven
Author: Jessamyn Kingley
Series: D’Vaire #1
Heroes: Ayden & Brogan
Genre: M/M Fantasy
Length: 287 pages
Publisher: Self Published
Release Date: August 30, 2018
Available at: Amazon
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Dra’Kaedan of Leolinnia was born with a mark of Fate proclaiming that someday he would be the Grand Warlock. Standing in his way is Carvallius of Mallent who is desperate to rule the warlocks. His granddaughter Latarian has little magic so Carvallius concocts a plan to kidnap Dra’Kaedan to steal his power. After carving spells into Dra’Kaedan’s back, he begins life anew as Latarian’s familiar whom she calls Ayden. With no memory of his past, the pair are shuffled off to a cottage while Carvallius enlists the help of a brutal elven tribe to rob Dra’Kaedan of his future title. The tactic backfires, and the Coven of Warlocks is destroyed.

Minutes after Brogan shifts into a dragon for the first time, his best friend is banished from their court. Loyal to the core, Brogan follows Aleksander through the castle gates of their old home. Fate turns Aleksander into a king and Court D’Vaire is established. Considered cursed by dragonkind the D’Vaire’s are ostracized. After six centuries of loneliness Brogan leaves his family desperate to find his mate. He has no idea Fate has intervened and sent his other half right to Aleksander’s doorstep.

As a familiar Ayden struggles between a voice inside him that insists he is something more and Latarian’s stringent set of rules. He finds himself torn as he and Brogan try to find common ground. Can the pair find love and will Dra’Kaedan find out his true destiny before it’s too late?
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Categories: 3.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Nikyta's Reviews, Published in 2018 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Lost in Indigo by V.L. Locey

Reviewed by Nikyta

Title: Lost in Indigo
Author: V.L. Locey
Series: Colors of Love #1
Heroes: Mathieu & Indigo
Genre: M/M Contemporary
Length: 233 pages
Publisher: Self Published
Release Date: July 8, 2018
Available at: Amazon
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Mathieu Beresford was so close to seeing his dream come true.

The thirty-eight-year-old captain of the Buffalo Surge had led his team to the final round of the playoffs with his aggressive defensive play and leadership. During the first game of the championship series, he was taken down, and his leg snapped upon impact with the boards. From his hospital bed, Mathieu watched his team go on to win it all.

Adrift in anger, resentment, and the new direction of his life, he returns to his mansion along the St. Lawrence River. Alone and sulking, Mathieu is not prepared for Indigo Neu to enter his life. The genderflux twenty-year-old botany major signs on to play nursemaid, confidant, and groundskeeper over the summer and slowly leads Mathieu out of his confusion––one tender smile and touch at a time.

The deeper Mathieu falls, the more he wonders if being lost might not be so bad after all.
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Categories: 3.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Nikyta's Reviews, Published in 2018 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Letting Lier and Finding Pax by Harper Moon

Reviewed by Nikyta

Title: Letting Lier and Finding Pax
Author: Harper Moon
Series: The Solar Sailors Saga
Heroes: Lier & Rze
Genre: M/M Fantasy
Length: 200 pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: April 21, 2014
Available at: Dreamspinner Press & Amazon
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: For refusing the crown and renouncing his title, Prince Lier was eternally banished from the planet of Arden. After finding asylum in a Deep Space colony, he took a position in a bordello as the Master of Ceremonies. During Lier’s exile, Emperor Sardius I conquered Arden and slaughtered Lier’s people. From the destruction arose a new species dependent on blood. Seizing the opportunity, Sardius praises vampirism and blueprints mass blood manufacturing with Lier’s blood as the key. Lier is not only the last of his kind, but his blood is strangely addictive.

On a mission to capture Lier, Commander Raze, son of Sardius, can’t help but try it for himself. When he does, he experiences strange flashbacks of himself with Lier. Tense relations between captor and captive blur the line between past and present.

During the perilous journey to Arden, forces opposed to Sardius attempt to rescue their lost prince. Raze’s mission changes from retrieval to survival. Soon it becomes clear that, although neither man recognizes what the other has become, this meeting is not their first. And by no means will it be their last.

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Categories: 2.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Nikyta's Reviews, Published in 2014 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Incubus Adored by Ki Brightly

Reviewed by Susan65

Title: Incubus Adored
Author: Ki Brightly
Series: Gravidam #1
Heroes: Peirs & Tabbis
Genre: M/M Paranormal
Length: 237 pages
Publisher: Brightly Books
Release Date: May 14, 2018
Available at: Amazon
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Peirs had accepted his life of servitude to an angel. His keeper asked only for a willing body, and in exchange his needs were met and he was fed and clothed. Peirs might have served the angel forever—it was the only life he knew—but one day Peirs discovered something he had no way to plan for. After a millennium, he was pregnant. Peirs now must summon the courage to escape his master and the unbendable angelic law that declared no half-breeds should live, but running into an angelic soldier in the back room of a bar wasn’t part of his plan.

After years of begging to go to the battlefields on Earth, Tabbis, the youngest angel in Heaven, finally got his assignment. Ready for heroics and bloodshed, he was stunned when he found enchanting and seductive Piers instead. Tabbis was duty bound to kill Peirs, but Peirs’s very existence challenged everything Tabbis thought he knew.

Tabbis needs answers. Peirs wants nothing more than to save his baby and live in peace. Can they band together to help each other? Or will the wrath of Heaven tear them apart?
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2018, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Book Review: Legendary by Stephanie Garber

Reviewed by Heather C

Title: Legendary
Author: Stephanie Garber
Series: Caraval #2
Heroine: Donatella Dragna
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Length: 416 pages
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Release Date: May 29, 2018
Available at: Amazon
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: A heart to protect. A debt to repay. A game to win.

After being swept up in the magical world of Caraval, Donatella Dragna has finally escaped her father and saved her sister Scarlett from a disastrous arranged marriage. The girls should be celebrating, but Tella isn’t yet free. She made a desperate bargain with a mysterious criminal, and what Tella owes him no one has ever been able to deliver: Caraval Master Legend’s true name.

The only chance of uncovering Legend’s identity is to win Caraval, so Tella throws herself into the legendary competition once more—and into the path of the murderous heir to the throne, a doomed love story, and a web of secrets…including her sister’s. Caraval has always demanded bravery, cunning, and sacrifice. But now the game is asking for more. If Tella can’t fulfill her bargain and deliver Legend’s name, she’ll lose everything she cares about—maybe even her life. But if she wins, Legend and Caraval will be destroyed forever.

Welcome, welcome to Caraval…the games have only just begun.
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Categories: 3 Star Ratings, Book Review, Heather C's Reviews, M/F, Published in 2018 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: The King’s Sun by Isaac Grisham

Reviewed by Nikyta

Title: The King’s Sun
Author: Isaac Grisham
Series: The Brass Machine #1
Heroes: Kitsune & Myobu
Genre: M/M Fantasy
Length: 299 pages
Publisher: Cooper Blue Books
Release Date: May 1, 2018
Available at: Amazon
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Prince Kitsune trained all his life to become a leader in the king’s wars for supremacy, but the fearsome monarch dashes those dreams and banishes his devoted son. Not all is lost—to reclaim his birthright, Kitsune must kill the son of his father’s rival. A son possessed by fiery magic.

Outside of the capital walls for the first time, Kitsune struggles to survive accursed wilderness and political intrigue while executing his mission. He meets the enigmatic, dark-haired Myobu and discovers magical Yokai spirits, dark family secrets, and strange new feelings for his companion.

As the two men forge a path through the region, an unrealized and dangerous magic blossoms within Kitsune. It is the mysterious power of the Yokai spirits, capable of unspeakable destruction, and it grows stronger with each passing day. Could he use this gift to slay his target, or would it destroy all that he loves?
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Categories: 3 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Nikyta's Reviews, Published in 2018 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment