Posts Tagged With: Religion

Book Review: Mark of Cain by Kate Sherwood

Posted on May 27, 2014 by susan65coug Miss Behaving

Reviewed by Susan65

20522718Title: Mark of Cain
Author: Kate Sherwood
Heroes: Mark Webber/Lucas Cain
Genre: M/M Contemporary
Length: 338 pages
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Release Date: May 20, 2014
Available at: Samhain Publishing, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, All Romance eBooks
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: When a man is consumed by hatred, is there anything left to love?

After a tough day of counseling sessions, Anglican priest Mark Webber is looking forward to a relaxing dinner at a local restaurant. When he sees who’s bellied up to the bar, though, he reaches for his cell phone to call the police.

It’s Lucas Cain, the man who killed Mark’s brother three years ago. Apparently he’s out of jail and hanging out with his old crowd, which has to be a breach of parole, right?

Pulled over upon leaving the bar, Lucas blows a clean breathalyzer and hopes this isn’t a harbinger of things to come. He’s ready to build a sober, peaceful life. His friends aren’t ready to let him move on, though, and he ends up taking refuge in an Anglican half-way house.

Thrown together, Mark and Lucas find common ground in the struggle to help a young gay man come to terms with his sexuality—and the fight against homophobic townsfolk. As attraction grows, the past is the last stumbling block between them and a future filled with hope.

Warning: Bad boys being good, good boys being bad. Continue reading →

Categories: 4.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2014, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Early Review: No Distance Left to Run by L.A. Witt & Aleksandr Voinov

Posted on May 11, 2014 by susan65coug Miss Behaving

Reviewed by Susan65

No Distance Left to Run (Distance Between Us #4)Title: No Distance Left to Run
Author: L.A. Witt and Aleksandr Voinov
Series: Distance Between Us #4
Heroes: Chris and Joshua/Julien
Genre: M/M Contemporary/Family Drama
Length: 227 Pages
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Release Date: May 13, 2014
Available at: Samhain Publishing, Amazon & Barnes and Noble 
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads & Booklikes

Blurb: The night before Chris and his best friend Joshua were sent thousands of miles apart on their respective Mormon missions, they finally gave in to their mutual desire. Left trying to make sense of what happened, Chris’s already shaky faith crumbled altogether a year later when Joshua suddenly died.

Inconsolable, ostracized by his family and the only community he’d ever known, Chris found his way on his own. Now he’s going to school and loves his job as a bartender at Wilde’s. Years after Joshua’s death, he’s finally moving on.

Then a familiar face rocks his world. Joshua isn’t dead. He’s back in Seattle to make peace with his dying father, with a new name, a new accent…and old feelings for Chris that are alive and well.

Forgiveness doesn’t come easy for anyone, but just as Chris is accepting that the man he loves isn’t going to run away this time, their families threaten to pull them apart all over again…

Warning: Contains two lost boys who need to make up for a hell of a lot of lost time. There’s also a military uniform, a tuxedo, and a knife. In the same scene. And yes, it’s that kind of scene. Continue reading →

Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2014, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Early Review: Bad Influence by K.A. Mitchell

Posted on April 13, 2014 by susan65coug Miss Behaving

Reviewed by JustJen & Susan65

Title: Bad Influence
Author: K.A. Mitchell
Series: Bad in Baltimore #4
Heroes: Jordan Barnett (Silver) and Zebediah Harris
Genre: M/M Contemporary
Length: 298 Pages
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Release Date: April 15, 2014
Available at: Samhain Publishing, Amazon & Barnes and Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads & Booklikes

Blurb: To remake their future, they’ll have to use pieces of their broken past.

The young man the world knew as Jordan Barnett is dead, killed as much by the rejection of his first love at his moment of greatest need, as by his ultra-conservative parents’ effort to deprogram the gay away.

In his place is Silver, a streetwise survivor who’s spent the last three years learning to become untouchable…unless you’re willing to pay for the privilege. He shies away from anything that might hold him down long enough for betrayal to find him again.

Zebediah Harris spent time overseas, trying to outrun the guilt of turning his back on the young man he loved. Now, almost the moment he sets foot back in Baltimore, he discovers Silver on a street corner in a bad part of town. His effort to make amends lands them both in jail.

Trapped together in a cell, Silver sits on his mountain of secrets and plans a seductive form of revenge, but finds that using a heart as a stepping stone is no way to move past the one man he can’t forgive, let alone forget.

Continue reading →

Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, JustJen's Reviews, LGBT, Published in 2014, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: The Ophelia Prophecy by Sharon Lynn Fisher

Posted on April 8, 2014 by Nikyta

Reviewed by Nikyta

The Ophelia ProphecyTitle: The Ophelia Prophecy
Author: Sharon Lynn Fisher
Hero/Heroine: Asha & Pax
Genre: M/F Post Apocalyptic/Sci-Fi
Length: 336 pages
Publisher: Tor Books
Release Date: April 1, 2014
Available at: Tor Books, Amazon & Barnes and Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads & Booklikes

Blurb: Our world is no longer our own. We engineered a race of superior fighters — the Manti, mutant humans with insect-like abilities. Twenty-five years ago they all but destroyed us. In Sanctuary, some of us survive. Eking out our existence. Clinging to the past. 

Some of us intend to do more than survive. 

Asha and Pax — strangers and enemies — find themselves stranded together on the border of the last human city, neither with a memory of how they got there.

Asha is an archivist working to preserve humanity’s most valuable resource — information — viewed as the only means of resurrecting their society.

Pax is Manti, his Scarab ship a menacing presence in the skies over Sanctuary, keeping the last dregs of humanity in check.

Neither of them is really what they seem, and what humanity believes about the Manti is a lie.

With their hearts and fates on a collision course, they must unlock each other’s secrets and forge a bond of trust before a rekindled conflict pushes their two races into repeating the mistakes of the past.

Continue reading →

Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, M/F, Nikyta's Reviews, Published in 2014 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Butterball by Michelle Robbins

Posted on April 1, 2014 by susan65coug Miss Behaving

Reviewed by Susan65

ButterballTitle: Butterball
Author: Michelle Robbins
Heroes: Travis Wentwood and Jeremy Roberson
Genre: M/M Contemporary
Length: 37,000 words
Publisher: Amber Allure
Release Date: March 23, 2014
Available at: All Romance eBooks
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: For Travis, it’s business as usual at Wentwood Investments,, other than the annoying task of finding a new account manager for his expanding office. Everything changes, however, the moment Jeremy Roberson walks into the room for an interview. The cuddly butterball is everything Travis likes in a partner, except for The Closet locked around the man.

Jeremy’s worn a mask for so long he isn’t sure who he is anymore. Every lie of his life has somehow become the truth, and yet those lies never hold. Desperation and despair have been his roommates, especially since the moment he’d hurt someone else in his attempt to deny his truth.

But Travis has other ideas for them, beautiful, wonderful moments and promises for tomorrow. All Jeremy needs to do is take that all important step and find the strength to finally come out.

Not much fun, sure, but Travis might be able to help. He has kicked down a few closet walls in his past also. And if he’s going to find paradise with Jeremy, it appears he has to kick down those walls again.

Good thing Travis knows how to fight.

Continue reading →

Categories: 3.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2014, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

L.A. Witt Week Review: Covet Thy Neighbor

Posted on March 29, 2014 by Nikyta

Reviewed by Nikyta

Covet Thy NeighborTitle: Covet Thy Neighbor
Author: L.A. Witt
Series: Tucker Springs #4
Heroes: Seth & Darren
Genre: M/M Contemporary
Length: 46,100 words
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Release Date: March 25, 2013
Available at: Riptide Publishing, Amazon, All Romance eBooks & Barnes and Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads & Booklikes

Blurb: Opposites attract, but heaven help these two….

Tattoo artist Seth Wheeler thinks he’s struck gold when Darren Romero rents the apartment across the hall. The new guy is gorgeous, witty, and single, plus he’s just the right blend of bold and flirtatious. Perfect.

Except then Darren reveals that he moved to Tucker Springs to take a job as the youth pastor at the New Light Church. Seth is not only an atheist, but was thrown out by his ultra-religious family when he came out. He tends to avoid believers, not out of judgment but out of self-preservation.

But Darren doesn’t give up easily, and he steadily chips away at Seth’s defenses. Darren is everything Seth wants in a man . . . except for that one massive detail he just can’t overlook. Is Darren’s religion the real problem, or is it just a convenient smoke screen to keep him from facing deeper fears? It’s either see the light, or risk pushing Darren away forever.

Continue reading →

Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Author Week, Book Review, LGBT, Nikyta's Reviews, Published in 2013 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Always by Kindle Alexander

Posted on March 23, 2014 by susan65coug Miss Behaving

Reviewed by Susan65

Title: Always
Author: Kindle Alexander
Heroes: Avery Adams and Kane Dalton
Genre: M/M Contemporary
Length: 280 Pages
Publisher: Self-published
Release Date: March 11, 2014
Available at: Amazon & Barnes and Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads & Booklikes

Blurb: Born to a prestigious political family, Avery Adams plays as hard as he works. The gorgeous, charismatic attorney is used to getting what he wants, even the frequent one-night stands that earn him his well-deserved playboy reputation. When some of the most prominent men in politics suggest he run for senate, Avery decides the time has come to follow in his grandfather’s footsteps. With a strategy in place and the campaign wheels rolling, Avery is ready to jump on the legislative fast track, full steam ahead. But no amount of planning prepares him for the handsome, uptight restaurateur who might derail his political future.

Easy isn’t even in the top thousand words to describe Kane Dalton’s life after his father, a devout southern Baptist minister, kicks him out of the family home for questioning his sexual orientation. Despite all the rotten tomatoes life throws his way, Kane makes something of himself. Between owning a thriving upscale Italian restaurant in the heart of downtown Minneapolis and managing his long-term boyfriend, his plate is full. He struggles to get past the teachings of his childhood to fully accept his sexuality and rid himself of the doubts brought on by his religious upbringing. The last thing he needs is the yummy, sophisticated, blond-haired distraction sitting at table thirty-four. Continue reading →

Categories: 4.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2014, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Wild Burn by Edie Harris

Posted on February 13, 2014 by Heather C

Reviewed by Heather C

16103311Title: Wild Burn
Author: Edie Harris
Series: Wild State #1
Hero/Heroine: Delaney Crawford & Moira Tully
Genre: M/F Historical Romance, Western
Length: 283 pages
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Release Date: January 15, 2013
Available at: Samhain Publishing, Amazon, All Romance eBooks & Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf at: Goodreads & Booklikes

Blurb: Shoot first. Ask her name later.

Infamy weighs heavy on Delaney Crawford’s broad shoulders, first as a supposed Confederate turncoat, then as a relentless hunter of Cheyenne dog soldiers. Summoned to the small mining community of Red Creek, the exhausted, embittered Del is doing what he does best—ridding the town of its savage scourge—when one of his bullets misses the mark.

Ex-nun Moira Tully has been working with John White Horse for months to integrate a band of peaceful Cheyenne with the local townsfolk. Now he’s hurt, and she’s been caught in the crossfire. There’s only one man to blame for her simmering anger and the inexplicable attraction that tilts her heart on its axis. Del.

When Del is forced to acknowledge the truth that the Cheyenne are no threat, his task just gets more complicated: fighting a wild attraction that catches flame at the most inconvenient times, and figuring out the treacherous motives behind his hiring.

But the most heart-wrenching challenge could be overcoming sordid pasts that won’t stay in the past—pasts that threaten to bury all hope of happily ever after.

Product Warnings
Features a trigger-happy Southern gentleman, an ex-nun gone rogue and consistently thwarted desires that frustrate them both. Continue reading →

Categories: 3 Star Ratings, Book Review, Heather C's Reviews, M/F, Published in 2013 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment