Posts Tagged With: Past Abuse

Book Review: The Aftermath by Maggie Walsh

Reviewed by Susan65

Title: The Aftermath
Author: Maggie Walsh
Series: Angel Pack #16
Heroes: Sasha/Samuel/Mike
Genre: MMM Paranormal
Length: 212 Pages
Publisher: Siren
Release Date: April 2, 2019
Available at: Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: It has been nine months since fae warrior Sasha met and rescued his mate, Samuel, but because of the life he has lead, his skittish mate is still nervous about being claimed.
Sammy feels lost and confused by why he has never felt the mating heat that all feline’s experience when they meet their mate, but he figures it has something to do with all the experiments done on him in the past.

Mike is not only an old friend of Jesse and Taylor but the man who rescued them years ago when they worked for him in Atlanta. He has come to Sanctuary to see his friends and is shocked when his mates just strolled into the room. He’s excited that he has found his mates but knows he cannot claim them or allow them to claim him because Mike’s past could get them all killed.

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

Book Review: Omega Reclaimed by Tanya Chris

Reviewed by Susan65

Title: Omega Reclaimed
Author: Tanya Chris
Series: Omega Re #1
Heroes: Angel/Leo
Genre: MM Paranormal
Length: 103 Pages
Publisher: Tanya Chris
Release Date: October 27, 2016
Available at: Amazon
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb:  “Of course I smelled him—smelled him and was drawn to him. Rich, ripe, male omega—not far away and well into his heat. Unsatisfied heat. I laughed, realizing that in this moment, at least, the omega was the boss of the alpha. I needed to help him.”

Angel, an alpha who’s left the violent, strictly hierarchical rules of his pack to find success in the big city, and Leo, an omega on the run from his abusive alpha, are thrust together to satisfy Leo’s urgent heat-lust. But can a once-hurt omega ever trust an alpha to care for and protect him again? And can an alpha sensitive to social injustice learn to enjoy his naturally dominant nature?

Angel and Leo must both face the pasts they ran away from before the two can build a new future together. They may not be able to change the laws of nature, but they can change the language of love.

Omega Reclaimed is a MM alpha/omega shapeshifter novella.

Content warning: this book includes references to past physical abuse and a description of suicide
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Categories: 3.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2016, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: The Strength of His Heart by Victoria Sue

Reviewed by JustJen

Title: Strength of His Heart
Author: Victoria Sue
Series: Enhanced #4
Heroes: Vance/Sam
Genre: MM Paranormal
Length: 214 Pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: November 11, 2018
Available at: Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: To protect and serve…. All Vance Connelly ever wanted to do was continue his family’s tradition and join the Tampa Police Department, but his dreams were crushed the day he woke with the enhanced mark on his face. After years of struggling to adjust to life as an enhanced human, by a stroke of luck, he met Talon Valdez and became a proud member of the FBI’s Human Enhanced Rescue Organization.

Samuel “Angel” Piper is eager to leave his DEA undercover work behind as he joins the HERO team as Vance’s regular human partner. But Sam’s painful past is ever present, just below the surface of the life he has built for himself as an ambitious young agent. When the team investigates rumors of a new drug using enhanced blood, the case’s mysterious connection to Sam threatens not just his life but Vance’s.

Trust doesn’t come easy for Sam, but Vance is willing to fight to convince his partner that the strength of his heart might be the salvation they both need.
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Categories: 3 Star Ratings, Book Review, JustJen's Reviews, LGBT, Published in 2018 | Tags: , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Sink or Swim by L.A. Witt

Reviewed by JustJen

Title: Sink or Swim
Author: L.A. Witt
Series: Anchor Point #8
Heroes: Alhazar Bukhari/Dylan Pederson
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 340 Pages
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Release Date: July 16, 2018
Available at: Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: When need meets fear, can two very different men find common ground?

Alhazar Bukhari spent his Navy career in the closet. Now he’s retired, divorced, and hungry for the love he’s never had a chance to experience. He tries to put his faith in Allah to bring the right man into his life, but it’s hard to be patient after all this time.

Chaplain Dylan Pedersen spends his days counseling Sailors, and his nights with men he doesn’t know. Months after finally escaping an abusive relationship, he’s terrified of anything more than a physical connection. Maybe it’s a sin, but he’s too lonely to not let men into his bed, and too scared to let them into his heart.

When Alhazar’s civilian job brings him aboard the USS Fort Stevens, and his daily prayers bring him into Dylan’s chapel, the chemistry is instantaneous. Sex and friendship quickly evolve into more, but Dylan’s too haunted by his recent past to be the man Alhazar wants. Alhazar needs love, Dylan needs time, and if they can’t find some sort of balance, they’ll sink before they ever have a chance to swim.
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, JustJen's Reviews, LGBT, Published in 2018 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Edge of Forever by Barbara Elsborg

Reviewed by JustJen

Title: Edge of Forever
Author: Barbara Elsorg
Series: N/A
Heroes: Pasha/Levi
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 279 Pages
Publisher: Barbara Elsborg
Release Date: May 31, 2018
Available at: Amazon
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: When you stand on the edge, you might just find yourself falling.

Teaching Russians how to be cowboys? Levi thinks his father is joking when he tells him that’s what he wants him to do for the next six months. Working in the frozen desolation of southwest Russia he’ll earn enough to buy a new barn for their Montana ranch. But there’s a deeper agenda for sending him to the edge of nowhere. It will stop him sloping off on Saturday nights to gay bars and clubs for threesomes with strangers.

Pasha finally pushes his father too far and is banished to a remote ranch in the middle of a snowy Russian winter. Stripped of all the trappings of his privileged Moscow lifestyle, he has nothing at his disposal but a suitcase of designer clothes and a whole lot of sass. Pasha hates the countryside, hates physical work, hates the cold and hates cows. But de-prived of money, phone, and access to anyone who might help him, he’s screwed and not in a good way.

Levi’s counting down the days till he can return to the States and his Saturday night hook-ups. Then Pasha arrives at the ranch wearing eyeliner, retching every time he walks into a barn, and Levi is amused, irritated—and attracted. After a vicious attack on Pasha throws them into close quarters, both men are forced to re-evaluate not just who the other is, but whether they truly want to return to the lives they left behind.

When you stand on the edge, you just might find yourself falling in love.
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Categories: 4.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, JustJen's Reviews, LGBT, Published in 2018 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Brave & Beautiful by Elizabeth Varlet

Reviewed by Susan65

Title: Brave & Beautiful
Author: Elizabeth Varlet
Series: Sassy Boyz #3
Heroes: Tameron “Tam” Kis/Driver Ellis
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 249 Pages
Publisher: Carina Press
Release Date: October 9, 2017
Available at:  Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Sexy, seductive and hiding dark secrets, the Sassy Boyz return to the stage in Brave & Beautiful

There’s only one relationship that matters to Tameron “Tam” Kis—his love affair with dance. Life’s been pretty shitty, but dance got him through it and now he’s ready to focus on what he loves. He doesn’t have the bandwidth for any distractions—especially not his sexy, not-quite-straight new neighbor.

Driver Ellis doesn’t need anything but his bike and the open road. He wouldn’t trade his drifter lifestyle for anything…until his friend calls in a favor and Driver suddenly finds himself pet-sitting. Driver isn’t thrilled being stuck in one place, though things start to look up when he sets eyes on the gorgeous girl next door.

There’s just one problem… She isn’t a girl at all.

All it takes is one spontaneous dance to turn both Driver’s and Tam’s worlds upside down. They might not have been looking for love, but as things heat up between them, it’s clear life has very different plans.
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Categories: 4.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2017, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Shattered by Sloane Kennedy

Reviewed by Susan65

Title: Shattered
Author: Sloane Kennedy
Series: The Protectors #11
Heroes: Caleb/Jace
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 308 Pages
Publisher: Sloane Kennedy
Release Date: December 14, 2017
Available at:  Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: I failed Caleb once because I was a coward. And he ended up paying the price.

Never again…

Ten years of war and the loss of nearly his entire family have left thirty-four-year-old former sniper, Jace Christenson, with nothing to come home to. And he prefers it that way. Life consists of his work in an underground vigilante group, the near-constant search for the last remaining link to who he used to be, and a string of meaningless sexual encounters that serve only one purpose… to make it easier to not feel anything anymore.

But when Jace gets the call that the young man he saved two years earlier has gone missing, he’s forced to deal with the truth he’s been trying to deny from the moment he laid eyes on Caleb Cortano.

That the young man is so very much more than just the exception to all his rules…

You know how if something shatters when it breaks, there’s no way to find all the pieces to put it back like it once was? Maybe sometimes it’s better not to even try…
Nineteen-year-old Caleb Cortano has been barely hanging onto his sanity in the two years since the truth about his father’s depravities came to light. A victim of the man’s crimes himself, Caleb has only managed to find any semblance of peace when he’s in the presence of the man who saved him once before.

But when he finally comes to accept that Jace Christenson wants nothing to do with someone who’s shattered beyond repair, Caleb finds another way to seek solace from the pain inside.

As the fear of being reunited with the father he both fears and misses becomes more and more likely, desperation has Caleb doing something foolish that brings him face to face with the only man he’s ever wanted… but who doesn’t want him back.

Caleb stays with me until we get some answers… just me…
When Caleb’s life is threatened, Jace refuses to walk away a second time. Even if protecting Caleb means he’s risking his own heart, Jace isn’t going anywhere. At least not until he can put some of the missing pieces of Caleb’s life back together.

But will Caleb be able to do the same for the equally broken Jace?

Will two shattered men be able to find all the missing pieces to be who they were truly meant to, or is Caleb right? Some things just aren’t worth trying to fix…
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Categories: 4.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2017, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: No Filter by Nora Phoenix

Reviewed by JustJen

Title: No Filter
Author: Nora Phoenix
Series: No Shame #1
Heroes: Indy/Noah
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 290 Pages
Publisher: Nora Phoenix
Release Date: October 26, 2017
Available at: Amazon
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Indy will do anything to prevent his mobster ex from finding him. Their last encounter left Indy recovering for months in the hospital, and ever since he’s become an expert at hiding in plain sight. Determined to stay under the radar, he takes on a new identity and moves from place to place. His life has no room for friendships, let alone love, so he keeps his heart firmly closed. After all, he has nothing to offer but a damaged body and a broken soul. Plus, he’s so done with men. Until he meets the man who breaks through all his defenses.

Former Army Medic Noah came back damaged from his last tour—in more than one way. Between supporting his best friend-with-benefits Josh who’s struggling with PTSD, dealing with his own issues, and the stress of his job as a physician assistant, rebuilding his life seems impossible. There’s little time for what Noah needs, let alone for what he wants. When he meets Indy, Noah discovers what he wants more than anything: for Indy to stay. But how will a relationship with Indy work when Noah needs Josh as well?

Indy never expected the strong, confident Noah to be as damaged and broken as himself. But what will happen if he starts letting Noah in? Indy knows he should run to protect Noah and Josh.

Noah needs Indy to stay more than anything. But will what little he has to offer be enough to make Indy trust him and stay?

No Filter is a steamy M/M romance featuring an open relationship (no cheating!) that ends with a HFN, but with the promise of a HEA. It’s the first book in the No Shame Series, and is not a stand-alone novel. It contains hot sex, a hint of a ménage, lots of talk about hot sex, flashbacks of said hot sex, and…Oh well, you get the idea. Also: trigger warning for mentions of sexual abuse.
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Categories: 3.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, JustJen's Reviews, LGBT, Published in 2017 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Book Review: How to Heal a Life by Sloan Parker

Reviewed by JustJen

Title: How to Heal a Life
Author: Sloan Parker
Series: The Haven #2
Heroes: Seth Fisher/Raymond Vargas
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: N/A
Publisher: October 24, 2017
Release Date: Sloan Parker Press
Available at: Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb:  Seth Fisher has been to hell and back, but he has no intention of letting the torment of his past destroy his future. He thinks he’s doing good. He’s working again, talking, laughing, living. But everyone else still sees him as broken.

Except for one man. Raymond Vargas.

If only Seth could leave his apartment alone without a panic attack, then he could prove to everyone he’s going to be okay. And he could tell the one man who has never let him down that he wants him.

Raymond Vargas has spent the past two years trying to make up for what happened to six young men who were tortured at the hands of a member of his club. He’d do anything to keep them safe, to help them heal and move on, to help them forget they ever set foot inside the Haven.

If only he hadn’t fallen in love with one of them.

If only Seth wasn’t still in danger.
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, JustJen's Reviews, LGBT, Published in 2017 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Safe and Sound by Caitlin Ricci

Reviewed by Ami

Title: Safe and Sound
Author: Caitlin Ricci
Heroes: Mason/Oliver
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 84 Pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: October 18, 2017
Available at:  Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Twenty-one-year-old Mason has to get out of his mother’s house, where her boyfriend subjects him to unwanted advances—and won’t take no for an answer. Since she didn’t believe Mason when he told her about his uncle’s sexual abuse, Mason knows he’s on his own, and it’s up to him to raise the money he needs. He thinks he’s in luck when he takes a modeling job.

Oliver is a photographer, and getting guys and sex has always been easy for him. His current open relationship is no exception: more friendship and fun than anything. But when Oliver meets Mason, he can see the younger man is fragile and desperately in need of help. Before anything can develop between them, Mason needs to free himself of his terrible living situation and start on the road to healing. Oliver wants to stand beside him as he does. What surprises him is the discovery that he might need Mason as much as Mason needs him.
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Categories: 2 Star Ratings, Ami's Reviews, Book Review, LGBT | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment