Day: July 3, 2015

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The Lost Angel by Lilah Davis

Less than three press Presents: http://www.amazon.com/Something-Happened-Heaven-L-J-Labarthe-ebook/dp/B00BIBB25C/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1435299570&sr=1-2&keywords=something+happened+on+the+way+to+heaven

From: Something Happened on the Way to Heaven Anthology by Samantha Derr

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Blurb for Anthology

Archangels. Guardians Angels. Cherubim. Angels of death, wrath, vengeance, love, peace, and hope. Fallen Angels. Nephilim. The lore of angels is wide and varied, from battles lost and won, to duties fulfilled and failed, from men raised up to their ranks, and angels banished forever from the heavens. They can be fierce warriors and gentle guides, heralds of joy and tragedy. They are beings of fearsome power, and the highest of servants.

But what else can angels be? What happens when they soar too high or dive too low? Are they flawless in their servitude, or cursed and blessed with free will? Come read these tales of angels in some of their many incarnations…

Review/summary

The Lost Angel
Alex is a man “gifted” with being able to see angles ever since he was a little kid. Now they kinda rule his life. They kept bugging him to “do something more with his life” until he finally decided to help “lost souls” find their “guardian angels” by running a bar in a seedy part of town.

For his part, he stays out of the “helping” and sees himself as a cosmic matchmaker.

For whatever reason, the right “souls” seem to find his bar and he is almost always able to find the right “help” they need and he never – never – has a repeat customer.

One day, Alex is feeling a bit lonely – the angels really frown on sex without commitment and Alex feels nobody in their right mind would see him as relationship/forever potential – when Finley walks in.

Finely has had a run of bad luck with bad exes and is dead broke. With his last $5 he buys a drink at the bar that seemed to be calling to him. He and Alex strike up an immediate rapport and though the angels don’t seem to want Alex to get directly involved with Finely’s “problems”, Alex feels compelled to act.

Alex gives Finley a job and a place to crash for the short-term and then spends the next several weeks slowly growing to really care for the guy.

The whole angel thing is a problem right from the start, but it becomes clear that higher powers are at work and things work out beautifully in the end.

**
I felt so strongly about this story that I wanted to give it a shout out. Elizah Davis does an amazing job of giving us a real, full but still short story with well developed characters, a quirky twist on the angel theme and a lovely HEA.

I highly recommend this story and the anthology itself – more to come from the other stories as I get to reviewing them.

5 of 5 hearts

5

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Lover at Last Audiobook by JR Ward Narrated by Jim Frangione

Audibles Presents http://www.audible.com/pd/Romance/Lover-at-Last-Audiobook/B00BMCXK9S/ref=a_search_c4_1_1_srTtl?qid=1435248890&sr=1-1

loveratlastaudBlurb

“The hottest collection of studs in romance” (New York Times best-selling author Angela Knight) returns as number-one New York Times best-selling author J. R. Ward brings together two of the most beloved people in the Black Dagger Brotherhood world – at last….
Qhuinn, son of no one, is used to being on his own. Disavowed from his bloodline, shunned by the aristocracy, he has finally found an identity as one of the most brutal fighters in the war against the Lessening Society. But his life is not complete. Even as the prospect of having a family of his own seems to be within reach, he is empty on the inside, his heart given to another….
Blay, after years of unrequited love, has moved on from his feelings for Qhuinn. And it’s about time: The male has found his perfect match in a Chosen female, and they are going to have a young – just as Qhuinn has always wanted for himself. It’s hard to see the new couple together, but building your life around a pipe dream is just a heartbreak waiting to happen. As he’s learned firsthand.
Fate seems to have taken these vampire soldiers in different directions…but as the battle over the race’s throne intensifies, and new players on the scene in Caldwell create mortal danger for the Brotherhood, Qhuinn finally learns the true definition of courage, and two hearts who are meant to be together…finally become one.

Review (book)

This is Book 11 of the Black Dagger Brotherhood Series by JR Ward, and it is mostly a m/f series. However, since the beginning there have been hints and suspicions about a couple who were into each other – thus gay or at least bi.

If you haven’t read the series, don’t bother with this. It will barely make sense and it will undoubtedly make you crazy.

I was a devoted fan for the first several books, but lost interest once I realized the very repetitive nature of each story and I began to feel the author was spending less time on developing a tightly woven, character driven story, and began focusing on getting longer and longer books out there with more violence and repetitive sex scenes than anything else.

However… when I saw she had finally paired up the two Vamps who’d been showing gay leanings… and I saw the backlash… and I’m a sucker for these guys… I had to read it.

Welllllll – there were parts that I adored. I loved the hugely masculine and mind altering sex these guys had. Scorching (if not terribly plausible – I don’t think lube was ever mentioned and they pretty much had anal sex every time they touched.)

I loved the deep soul searching and the way these guys finally had a heart to heart and got TOGETHER – AT LAST.

But – there was way more that I did not adore. Frankly I skimmed.

There were so many subplots and entire other couples and couples with other couples and babies and drama and drama and more drama.

Sigh.

It was too much.

If this had been more focused on these guys, their relationship and their immediate exes, etc it would have been a tightly written and probably excellent addition to the series.

I kinda felt like JR Ward didn’t just fully commit to writing the m/m book she wanted – maybe it was her publishers her editors … who knows. But it ended up watering down their love story to a sort of side show and also minimized all the other couples’ stories as well.  I was also really, really annoyed at how Qhuinn danced around saying he was gay, or admitting he was at least bi-sexual and that their relationship was still “less than” for being two males.

So – I have to say I gave up on the series at this point, I was glad to see the boys got their sappy ending, but I really didn’t see investing more time in the series. Especially since I enjoy m/m so, so much more.

Audio
I got the audio book because – Thank God – it was narrated by a man – and the sample sounded excellent.

He did a terrific job! He does accents and emotions and doesn’t shy away from the sexy times either.

On the whole, I think the audio version makes the entire book more palatable, though less easy to skip over the stuff I wanted to skip.

I give the book a solid 3 for at least attempting to break out of the “norm” in her genre, the audio a 5 for being awesome, and an overall score of 4 for entertainment value.

4

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