Posts Tagged With: scars

Book Review: Guarding His Melody by Victoria Sue

Reviewed by JustJen

Title: Guarding His Melody
Author: Victoria Sue
Series: Enhanced (Standalone)
Heroes: Sebastian Armitage/Gray Darling
Genre: MM Paranormal
Length: 200 Pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: September 25, 2018
Available at: Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: A standalone in the Enhanced World

Deaf since childhood, Sebastian Armitage had a promising musical future until his dreams were shattered when he transformed at twelve years old. In a world where enhanced humans are terrorized and imprisoned, his life shrinks around him even more as he suffers the torment of his father’s experimental research to enable him to hear.

Gray Darling—struggling with the scars left by his experience in Afghanistan—agrees to provide short-term personal protection when anonymous threats escalate into assault on those closest to Seb.

As the lines between protection and attraction blur, Gray and Seb can’t ignore the intense feelings drawing them together. But secrets and betrayals might prove deadly, unless Gray is willing to risk it all. And Seb must find the strength to make his own future and sing his own song….
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, JustJen's Reviews, LGBT, Published in 2018 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Once Burned by L.A. Witt

Reviewed by JustJen

Title: Once Burned
Author: L.A. Witt
Series: Anchor Point #6
Heroes: Mark/Diego
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 289 Pages
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Release Date: April 9, 2018
Available at: Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Captain Mark Thomas’s world has been tossed on its head: A long overdue but still unexpected divorce. A promotion out of left field. Last-second orders to a ship where careers go to die. As the dust settles in his new home, he barely recognizes his life, but he sure recognizes the loneliness creeping in.

Diego Ramírez wants nothing to do with the military or its men. Not after the Navy burned him both literally and figuratively, costing him his career, his health, and ultimately his green card. Now working illegally in an Anchor Point bar, he keeps the military and its personnel at arm’s length.

But after a single moment of eye contact across the bar, Mark and Diego can’t resist each other. As a one-night stand quickly turns into more, Diego knows he’s playing with fire. Now he can stick around and let things with Mark inevitably fall apart, or he can run like hell and wonder what might have been. One way or another, Diego knows he’s about to get burned. Again.

50% of the author’s royalties from this book will be donated to charities supporting US military veterans who have been deported or are at risk of deportation.
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, JustJen's Reviews, LGBT, Published in 2018 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Beneath This Mask by Victoria Sue

Reviewed by JustJen

Title: Victoria Sue
Author: Beneath This Mask
Series: Enhanced #3
Heroes: Gael/Jake
Genre: MM Paranormal
Length: 206 Pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: January 16, 2017
Available at: Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb:  Gael Peterson has spent years hiding behind the enhanced abilities he wears like a mask, even though he is an important, confident member of the FBI’s exclusive H.E.R.O. team. The hurt and betrayal of his mom’s abandonment and his father’s fists are secrets buried deep beneath the ugly scars on his face, and he doesn’t trust Jake, his new regular human partner, with any of them. In a world where those with special abilities like Gael’s are regarded as freaks and monsters, it won’t be easy for him to rely on Jake to have his back, especially when the abilities of a vulnerable, enhanced, nonspeaking child make that child a murder suspect.

Tempers rise and loyalties are challenged, and when the serial killer targeting the enhanced finally sets his sights on Gael, not only will Gael have to trust Jake with his secrets, he might have to trust him to save his life.
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Categories: 4 Star Ratings, Book Review, JustJen's Reviews, LGBT, Published in 2018 | 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: The Wounded Warrior by B.A. Tortuga

Reviewed by Susan65

Title: The Wounded Warrior
Author: B.A. Tortuga
Series: Rocking W #1
Heroes: Luke Blanchard/Rory McConnell
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 217 Pages
Publisher:</strong Pride Publishing
Release Date: June 6, 2017
Available at: Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: When Luke’s lost everything, the only thing to do is head back home to the ranch and pray that he finds his way again.

When Navy SEAL Luke Blanchard comes back to Northeast Texas after a devastating injury, he feels like the whole world has gone dark. In a wheelchair and feeling worthless, Luke has no idea what to do, even as his twin brother Matt is determined to lift him up and help him heal.

Rory McConnell is a local prodigy, a real estate lawyer with a plan to buy up land before his bitter rival can collect it. When the Blanchard ranch goes into the red, he offers to buy out the debt. Luke backs his brother instead, but he doesn’t believe for a minute that Rory is a bad guy. No one that sexy and fun can be, right?

As Luke claws his way out of depression with a crazy idea to run a therapy ranch, he and Rory start to explore the need growing between them. Will Rory’s need for revenge against a man who damaged him forever come between them, or will it be the force which brings these two wounded men together for good?
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Categories: 3.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2017, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Audio Review: Old Loyalty, New Love by Mary Calmes

Reviewed by Susan65

Title: Old Loyalty, New Love
Author: Mary Calmes
Narrator: Tristan James
Series: L’Ange #1
Heroes: Quade Danas/Roman Howell
Genre: MM Paranormal
Length: 8 hours, 3 minutes
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: September 22, 2014
Available at: Amazon, Audible and iTunes
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: When jackal shifter Quade Danas was banished from his pack for being gay, he spent years in the military escaping his father’s prejudice before returning to civilian life as a bodyguard for Roman Howell, the teenage son of a very rich man. After Roman is in an accident that leaves him physically scarred and emotionally distant, Quade is the only one who can get through to him. As Roman becomes a man, he realizes what he wants—his bodyguard by his side and in his bed. Unfortunately, Quade can’t seem to see past the kid Roman once was to the man he has become, certain Roman’s feelings are merely misplaced gratitude. But Roman knows a lot more than Quade realizes, and he’s used to persevering, no matter how many impediments life throws his way. He wants the chance to prove to Quade that he’s strong enough for a jackal alpha to call mate.

Despite the decades Quade has been away, and the heartache of his father’s rejection, his inborn loyalty to the pack remains, and his abrupt departure left the jackal shifters without an alpha heir. As a psychopath shifter staking claim as alpha draws Quade back home, and Quade feels compelled to heed the call, he may be forced to make a choice he never anticipated. But doing so means he must leave Roman behind… unless somehow they find a way to make loyalty and love work together.
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Categories: 3.5 Star Ratings, Audio Review, LGBT, Published in 2014, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Broken Wings by Houston Michaels

Reviewed by Susan65

Title: Broken Wings
Author: Houston Michaels
Series: Phoenix Reborn #1
Heroes: Gabriel O’Roarke/Nickolas Tanner
Genre: MM Contemporary BDSM
Length: 104 Pages
Publisher: Unleashed Ink
Release Date: May 16, 2017
Available at:  Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Proud to have served his country, Gabriel O’Roarke returned from war unable to recognize the man he had become. While war was hell, it was the aftereffects that were slowly eating away at his soul. Returning to civilian life after surviving events that should have killed him, he struggles to adjust and find himself again. Suffering from PTSD, he is without hope, until a chance encounter with one of the men who saved his life changes things.

Gabriel never imagined Nickolas Tanner would be into the lifestyle, so running into him at a BDSM club is a surprise. The patient and caring Dom is exactly what Gabriel needs, but everything he fears. After suffering captivity, Gabriel struggles to let himself go, to submit to another man. He craves regaining that part of himself, but worries it is forever lost. Nickolas’ steady domination gives him something he has thought lost long ago – hope.

Can a broken submissive, damaged by captivity and torture, learn to fly again?
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Categories: 4.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2017, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Arctic Restitution by Lynn Kelling

Reviewed by JustJen

Title: Arctic Restitution
Author: Lynn Kelling
Series: Arctic Absolution #3
Heroes: Jaye/Dixon
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 80,000 words
Publisher: Forbidden Fiction Publishing
Release Date: May 23, 2017
Available at: Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb:  As he approaches his twenty-second birthday, the three-year anniversary of the brutal attack in an alley that nearly cost him his life in a few different ways, Jaye Larson thinks he’s left behind the ghosts from his years spent incarcerated, but when he’s delivered a mysterious letter with terrifying implications, old monsters rear their ugly heads. His normal new life in remote Zus, Alaska, with his lover, Dixon Rowe, the heart of a found-family that supports Jaye in ways he’s never before dreamed possible, is threatened by old deals and ties he begins to fear may never be broken. While old alliances strive to draw Jaye backward, Dixon and the rest of their family are called to step up to keep him steady. When the letter turns out to be just the first clue in a chain leading both Jaye and Dixon back inside the walls of the Federal Corrections Institute of Sheridan, Oregon, all of them are left facing carefully-held secrets and terrible new truths that refuse to be ignored.
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Categories: 4.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, JustJen's Reviews, LGBT, Published in 2017 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Book Review: Revelation by Sloane Kennedy

Reviewed by Susan65

Title: Revelation
Author: Sloane Kennedy
Series: The Protectors #7
Heroes: Cain/Ethan
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 336 Pages
Publisher: Sloane Kennedy
Release Date: April 7, 2017
Available at:  Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: “I trusted once. I won’t make that mistake again…”
An ugly childhood and devastating betrayal have left 25-year-old Cain Jensen scarred inside and out. Protecting himself means keeping everyone at arm’s length and protecting others means never getting emotionally involved. In the three years since he’s joined an underground vigilante group, every life he saves helps ease the guilt of the ones that were lost to him so long ago. So when he’s sent to a remote cabin in the Cascade Mountains just north of Seattle to follow up on the disappearance of his boss’s co-worker, his only thought is to see that justice is served, no matter what the circumstances.

But nothing he’s ever experienced has prepared the cold-hearted and very straight Cain for who he finds on that mountain…or the intense need to suddenly offer more than just protection.

“I’ve finally managed to break free, but I’ve never felt more trapped in my entire life…”
Ethan Rhodes has been running for six months, but it’s never fast enough, it’s never far enough. At 30 years old, the talented ER Doctor should be spending his days saving other people’s lives, not worrying about his own. But he knows that the four years of physical and emotional abuse he’s suffered at the hands of his volatile ex are nothing compared to what will happen when Ethan runs out of places to hide, especially after taking something from the man he once was sure would be the love of his life.

A violent episode that has Ethan narrowly escaping death leads to a quiet cabin in the mountains where his battered body will have time to heal before he and the young girl relying on him need to run again. But everything changes with the arrival of a mysterious stranger who threatens to give Ethan something he’d finally accepted was gone forever…hope.

“I didn’t see this coming. I don’t think he did either…”

To get to the truth, Cain must first get through Ethan’s defenses, but watching the other man’s walls start to come down forces Cain to face his own past. And as the tremulous connection between the two men grows and gives way to something more, both will need to decide if they’re willing to risk giving each other the one thing that has cost them so much in the past…trust.

Will two men who’ve vowed never to let someone close again let down their guard long enough to find each other, or will they let their pasts determine their future?

Trigger Warning: This book includes references to physical, emotional and sexual abuse so please proceed with caution

Note: This book contains M/M sexual content and is intended for mature audiences.

***This is Book 7 in the series, but can be read as a stand-alone story – no cliffhangers.***

The Protectors series crosses over with some of my other series, so for the most enjoyment, they should be read in this order, but it is not required:

Book 1 – Absolution (M/M/M)
Book 2 – Salvation (M/M)
Book 3 – Retribution (M/M)
Logan’s Need (Escort Series #3) (M/M)
Redeeming Rafe (Barretti Security Series #2) (M/M)
Saving Ren (Barretti Security Series #3) (M/M/M)
Freeing Zane (Barretti Security Series #4) (M/M)
Book 4 – Forsaken (M/M)
Book 5 – Vengeance (M/M/M)
Book 5.5 – A Protectors Family Christmas
Book 6 – Atonement (M/M)
Book 7 – Revelation (M/M)
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Categories: 4.5 Star Ratings, Book Review, LGBT, Published in 2017, Susan65's Reviews | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book Review: Undercover Blue by Hayden West

Reviewed by JustJen

Title: Undercover Blue
Author: Hayden West
Heroes: Justin/Damon
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: Not available
Publisher: Twisted E Publishing
Release Date: March 29, 2017
Available at: Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb:  Justin Sanders is a detective working undercover to avenge the death of his partner and bring down one of the largest crime families in the country—the Morettis. Hard to get inside and harder to bring down, he’s ends up a low-level dealer who develops a thing for a man higher up the chain, Damon Jackson.

Justin’s unaware that Damon’s real job is with the ATF. He’s undercover in the Moretti family, doing what he could to bring them down. Sure, there were things he hated doing while undercover but one thing he learns to enjoy is Justin. It bothers him to know when the family goes down, so would Justin— however, he isn’t about to let that stop him from doing his job.

Theirs could have been a real relationship except for the lies between them. After the operation ends, Justin shows up where Damon works and the truth comes out. Can they progress forward from there?

Or will it turn out to be something undercover never sees the light of day?
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Categories: 3 Star Ratings, Book Review, JustJen's Reviews, LGBT, Published in 2017 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment