Author: Kimichan

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Escapade Blog Tour with Guest Post by Dolce

DOLCE Escapade Cover

 
Twenty-nine-year-old Lucas Thompson is at the top of the corporate ladder. But when his lifelong friend and ex-boyfriend invites him to his last-minute destination wedding in the Bahamas, Lucas realizes his corporate success can’t hide his private loneliness. Nor will he be able to escape seeing his family at the wedding—and having to explain, yet again, why he’s rich, handsome… and still single.

Fate and a taxi ride change everything when Lucas meets the charismatic and clever Jack McQueen, who just so happens to be a male escort. Jack’s presence on Lucas’s arm at the wedding keeps questions at bay, but their pretend relationship turns into something more after ten days of sun, sand, and sex. And before the trip is up, both men will discover that what started as a simple escapade in paradise might just lead to their very own happily ever after.

BUY LINKS
Dreamspinner eBook: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=7617
Dreamspinner Paperback: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=7618

Amazon eBook: http://www.amazon.com/Escapade-Dolce-ebook/dp/B01DB1S0BK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1459204653&sr=8-1&keywords=dolce+escapade
Amazon Paperback: http://www.amazon.com/Escapade-Dolce/dp/1634770579/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1459204653&sr=8-2&keywords=dolce+escapade

Barnes & Noble (eBook and Paperback): http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/escapade-dolce/1123569975?ean=9781634770576

Kobo eBook: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/escapade-10
All Romance eBook: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-escapade-2001873-149.html

DOLCE Escapade blue trio art-2

AUTHOR BIO
Dolce is a thirty year old New Yorker who loves to write, cook, sing, and laugh. She got her start writing fan fiction and is excited, and a touch frightened, to make the jump to original fiction. She is a big fan of the band Muse, who inspired her to choose a single word for her pen name: DOLCE. Plus, Cher has the one name thing going for her, too. Everyone loves Cher.

SOCIAL MEDIA
Website: http://www.dolcewrites.com
Tumblr: http://haydolce.tumblr.com/
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/dolcewrites
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dolcewrites
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dolcewrites/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29457376-escapade
Redbubble: http://www.redbubble.com/people/dolcewrites

DOLCE Escapade Blue text art
TITLE: Let’s go on an Escapade!

Hello! My name is Dolce and I’m a fiction writer. My new contemporary romance novel, Escapade, will be released on Monday April 11, 2016 by Dreamspinner Press. I’m very excited to be a guest on Kimi-chan!

I wrote Escapade over the course of about five months. It began in a writing challenge where a friend prompted me to write a story about someone needing a date for their ex-boyfriend’s wedding. Escapade came at a time when I was about to make a jump from working two time consuming jobs to one that had more of a freelance vibe. Something in my gut told me I should move on to the freelance job to free up time for writing. Looking back, I’m so, so happy I did it.

I tend to write more at night, but due to my work schedule, I often had to find pockets of time during the day to sneak a thirty-minute writing break at Starbucks. I think my shoulder is permanently sore from carrying my laptop around. Café workers started to notice that I was always typing things, and I finally earned the honor of baristas remembering my exact order! For the record, I love coconut iced coffee and chocolate chip scones.

I have a background in theatre and music, which makes me moving into writing kind of a shock for family members and friends. They had no idea I was even interested in writing, even if Id been doing it for around nine years. My writing started very script-like, very barebones, but my style has grown a bit warmer through the years. That said, I still tend to prefer simple. I write in a way that mimics, in my mind, the eye of a camera or the view of an audience. We live in a world where most watch television and films regularly, and I definitely try to tell stories in a similar style.

Escapade was inspired by my own summer reading experiences. When I was younger, I would stock up on romance paperbacks from the library before I went on vacation. There were many different genres and scenarios, but the pairings were only men with women—no same sex couples. I wanted to write a romantic comedy that featured two men falling in love in an exotic, beautiful location with lots of adventure and fun. It might sound silly, but it’s always been a dream of mine to have my book published and available in an airport bookstore. Maybe someone who feels left out by the standard romance novel pairings on the shelf would pick up my book to read on vacation.

Research for Escapade was fun, as it involved beautiful locations and lots of decadence. My family is very much a one vacation per year family, and most of the time our vacation was in-state. It was delightful to have an unlimited budget for accommodations, meals, activities, and wardrobe. Some people who have read it have said they’d love to see it as a movie. If that ever happens, we are going to need quite the budget!

Escapade is light and something to read at the beach, but also tackles realistic issues people face. Loneliness, the prick of discomfort you feel when you’re single amongst couples—even if you don’t want a relationship, balancing your personal and professional life, and growing into adulthood with your family.

The main character, Lucas, deals with all of those things. He is wealthy and successful, but in the eyes of his family, he’s still just Lucas. The secondary main character, the charismatic Jack McQueen, deals with the same issues, though he comes from a completely different place compared to Lucas. My hope is that in reading Escapade, readers see both characters growing together to conquer loneliness with love, laughter, and kindness.

Music plays a huge role in Escapade. I love soundtracks and while I wrote Escapade, I listened almost exclusively to music from the eighties. Something about that era of music fit with Escapade. Fun, sexy, a bit silly—songs that when the DJ throws them on, you know all the words (even if you’re a bit tipsy) and want to dance. Here is a link to a playlist I made while writing, that includes lots of songs from my process:

So! What’s your favorite holiday you’ve ever been on? Where would you want to go? I’m in New York and it’s chilly, so I’m dying for a vacation someplace warm right now. Maybe…Hawaii? That sounds good to me!

Leave a comment about your dream vacation for a chance to win an Escapade eBook! I will randomly select the winner in three days.

Thank you for reading my guest post! I hope you enjoy Escapade.

Love,
Dolce

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Ongoing Transformation of Micah Johnson Tour with Guest Post by Sean Kennedy

WHAT’S SO BAD ABOUT HAPPY ENDINGS?
I’m officially an Old.

I used to fool myself, but as I turned 41 this year I realised I should be picking out caskets for the inevitable. But stay with me, because this is actually going somewhere.

When I was a gay teen it was in the early 90s and AIDS hysteria and homophobia were pretty rife (not that I’m saying it’s eradicated now, but as they sing in Hairspray, “We’ve come so far but we’ve got so far to go.”) and the internet wasn’t even in mainstream existence for one to find knowledge or history about The Gays. One had to do old fashioned things like go the library and try to find books. And Perth, Western Australia, was a little less cosmopolitan in its books choices for public libraries than its bigger sibling cities. So my choice was pretty limited.

And let me tell you, it was pretty bleak. Most of the fiction I found was about AIDS, and it always ended in tragedy. Even if the one of the characters survived to the end of the book, you know they probably didn’t last long after the final page. And YA wasn’t much better. Pan Horizons were eagerly devoured because there were some gay characters to be found within – but man, it was almost always the same fate. One had an older brother who had AIDS and died before teaching his younger straight brother Valuable Life Lessons. Another had a romance between two boys that went sour and then, BANG!, one of them died in a motorcycle accident. There was never a happy ending for a gay character. The closest I ever got was Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles, but even Louis seemed to want to be left by himself and Greta Garbo it out in a deserted mansion.

But kids today, WOW. There is a wealth of LGBTQ material out there for them to find, and the internet has made it even easier for those not out to their family. And believe me, I’m not being all get off my lawn about it. I’m so happy that they have it. And sure, there are still the tragic stories sprinkled out there, but there are many more with happy endings and assurances that being gay isn’t an automatic death sentence.

I will admit, however, to a little jealousy. I wish these books had been around when I was a teen. I might not have been so scared of being who I was. So go forth and read, guys! Happy endings are great.

 BLURB
There is no Plan B.

After being outed in an especially brutal way and briefly running away from home, Micah Johnson has sworn to get his life back on the straight and narrow.  Well, not so much straight, but you know what he means.

Unfortunately the path to redemption is not an easy one.  With fights at school and on the football field and an all-round snarky attitude as his number one defense mechanism, will Micah survive the school year and the training camps to achieve his dream of making the national draft and becoming a professional AFL player?

His mentor, Declan Tyler, believes in him, but Micah wishes he had the same confidence in himself.  Only time will tell if the ongoing reformation of Micah Johnson will be successful.

EXCERPT

MY NAME is Micah Johnson, and I guess you could say I’m a former arsehole.

If they had meetings for former arseholes, this is how I would introduce myself. I would have to stand in front of the group—I assume it would be a fair size, as there are many former arseholes, and even more who refuse to admit they are one—and freely admit my shame.

But I think I’ve overcome this shame now, or at least, I’m improving myself. I was once described as having “a chip on his shoulder the size of Uluru.” This cannot be understated. I was angry at the world, and truth be told, I sometimes still am. There is a lot to be angry about in the world. But there is also a lot to like.

You just have to find those things.

I felt I had a lot of reasons to be angry. The main one was that I was outed under what some might say were less than ideal circumstances, but the less said about that the better. I felt ashamed, and exposed, and rather than try to deal with that and move forward, I turned it inward. I thought it was better to act like a total shit and make people dislike me straightaway than have people come to dislike me of their own accord. Because I didn’t feel like I was likable. It was normal self-esteem issues, which I’m sure all of you sitting here understand. No teenager ever feels completely good about themselves.

It can be harder when you also happen to be gay. Peer pressure at high school is the worst, and you can find yourself doing or saying things to protect yourself rather than draw attention to yourself. The spotlight was already on me, so I was always on the attack.

I’m probably going off track here, and I know your teachers are probably shitting themselves at the amount of times I’ve sworn during this speech already, and I guess, like Britney, I just did it again. Oops. But I am here to use my powers for good instead of evil, and that’s why I’m doing this talk at your fine school today.

Maybe if I’d had a GSA at my school, like your principal is proposing, I would have found other ways to deal with it. Maybe not. But knowing it was there, that would have made a hell of a lot of difference.

I’m also a jock, as shocking as that may be to some of you who believe in the stereotypes associated with gay people. I’m sure you’ve heard of Declan Tyler, the ex-Bombers player. He runs a charity called GetOut, which has agreed to sponsor your GSA when it begins. GetOut have helped me a lot, especially when it comes to dealing with bullying in school.

Gay students, or even those who are suspected of being gay, are amongst the worst bullied in schools. GetOut wants to help those kids, gay or straight, and combat bullying both on the sports field and within the school environment.

I’m here because I know it works. If you had asked me six months ago, I would have said it didn’t. But that was because I wasn’t really giving it a proper go. Chip the size of Uluru, remember? The thing is, we all need help in our lives. And we have to know when to ask for it, instead of just thinking that we can deal with it by ourselves. Some issues are too big.

So if a GSA sounds like a thing that could help you, I encourage you to join it. If you are a member of the Friends of Dorothy gang like I am, GetOut also holds meetings and get-togethers where you’ll get to meet students from other schools across Melbourne. It may have started out to help gay kids who play sport, but it has become much more than that. And you’ll also get to meet Declan Tyler, and I know from experience that’s a pretty big drawcard.

I also know from experience that he really cares about the kids he mentors at GetOut. I would not be standing here talking to you today if he didn’t. But before I start singing “Kumbaya” and asking you all to hold hands, any questions?
Chapter 1

“I HAVE one” came a voice from the back of the auditorium.

Micah inwardly groaned and shielded his eyes from the light shining directly into them, so he could at least see her better.

Emma Goldsworthy, her long auburn hair tucked into a no-nonsense ponytail, stared at him without remorse. A veritable spider leading the fly into her web. Lucky she was actually his friend.

“Do you even go to this school?” Micah asked.

She waved that concern away. “As a former arsehole, what have you done to redeem yourself?”

At this line of questioning, the principal jumped up and pushed Micah aside from the lectern. “I think we’ve had enough of the foul language. From both the speaker and the questioners.”

“There’s only been one question,” Micah pointed out.

“Regardless,” said the harried-looking woman, who Micah had only been introduced to an hour before. “Maybe you can rephrase your question, Miss?”

“It’s Ms., actually,” Emma said with a wide smile that broached no prisoners.

The principal shook her head and allowed Micah to come back to the microphone.

“I said I was still trying to improve, not that I had magically turned into a better person overnight.”

“Oh, okay. So you think you are better than you were six months ago?”

By now the students were watching with more interest than they had when Micah was speaking before. Of course, they had perked up when Declan Tyler was mentioned, but they soon lost focus again. “I like to think I am,” Micah replied.

“And you think this has been due to GetOut?”

“Yes. I know it has.”

“And—”

“Maybe we should let another student ask a question?” the principal yelled out, her voice carrying amazingly far throughout the auditorium even without a microphone.

“I didn’t know there was a limit?” Emma asked before she was silenced by a young-looking year eight boy standing up in front of her.

“You have a question?” Micah asked. “Hopefully not about me being an arsehole?”

He heard a strangled protest from the principal.

The boy grinned without guile. “What’s Declan Tyler really like?”

About the Author

Sean Kennedy lives in Perth, Western Australia, but his heart still belongs to his hometown Melbourne—which is also the home of Simon Murray and Declan Tyler from his series Tigers and Devils. A disciple of cult leader David Lynch, Sean is breathlessly awaiting the revival of Twin Peaks in 2017.

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Refraction Tour-Guest Post by Hayden Scott with Excerpt

refraction

Guest Post:
I have been an amateur writer for a long time—so long that I made a YouTube channel dedicated entirely to talking about the trials of being an amateur writer. It was a nice niche I’d settle in, and I was happy there.
Even so, I’m thrilled beyond words to have my first novella published by Harmony Ink this month. It’s a story that’s near and dear to my heart, and it hits a ton of my favorite tropes: secret identities, enemies-to-friends-to-lovers, teen geniuses, secret societies, and overly complicated doomsday mechanisms.
It may be just another heartwarming tale of teenagers discovering corrupt power structures and themselves, but I hope you come to love it as much as I do.
–Hayden Scott
Excerpt:
“Dynaman, to the bell tower!” Max’s mother bellowed at him, swinging wildly from Mr. Magnificent’s shoulders as he heaved, trying to unseat her.
“You won’t get away with this, Catalyst,” Mr. Magnificent declared. “Your days are numbered!”
“You couldn’t even count high enough for that!” sneered Max’s mom, and she toppled them both over the railing onto a large conveyor belt.
Max sighed.
It wasn’t that he wasn’t committed to the mission or didn’t understand how important their work was. It was just that his mom and Mr. Magnificent had the same exchange every other week. And the worst part was that Mr. Magnificent was always right—he never let Max and Catalyst detonate their doomsday device, even though it would make a totally impressive battle finale. A lever always broke at the wrong time, or the sharks escaped the shark tank, or one time his mom’s monologue ran long enough for the SWAT team to arrive.
It was enough to give a guy a complex.
But Max flew up to the bell tower anyway, because one time he had gone home in the middle of a fight, and he was pretty sure he was technically still grounded.
The doomsday device sat proud and tall like a throne on the stone floor at the base of the bell. Max crouched in the windowsill for a moment, observing its majesty, then indulged himself in a midair backflip as he landed in front of it.
He could still be badass even if no one was around to see it. Blurb:
Max Jackson spends his days worrying about the same things most teenagers do—homework, college admission, and how to detonate the doomsday device his mom built in their basement. As a member of the “Injustice League,” Max has devoted his life to destroying his city’s corrupt power structure. Everything is going according to plan until all-American superhero Crush Goodman steals the device right out from under him. Max’s life gets even more complicated when Crush starts stalking him at school and acting friendlier than he ever should to his archnemesis. Caught between his evolving feelings for Crush and wanting to protect his secret identity, Max has to steal his device back and show Crush the true meaning of supervillainy.

Sales Links:
Harmony Ink Press: https://www.harmonyinkpress.com/books/refraction-by-hayden-scott-373-b
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Refraction-Hayden-Scott-ebook/dp/B01CN1O2PW/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1457809870&sr=8-2&keywords=hayden+scott
Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/refraction-hayden-scott/1123494368?ean=2940157889029
All Romance eBooks: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-refraction-1996363-145.html
Author Bio:
Hayden Scott grew up, very reluctantly, on a farm in the middle of nowhere. She spent her time climbing trees and playing in the dirt until the day she discovered books, at which point she holed up inside her imagination and never came out again. She prefers to believe the whole phrase is “Jack of all trades, master of none, certainly better than master of none.”

Hayden likes magic, adventure, romance, and puns. She has no idea where she is going but hopes that writing stories will make the journey more interesting.

Website: http://haydensuch.tumblr.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/haydensuch
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZBFZY1d9NcCH5fVt2Uv-Hg

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YaoiCon Announces New East Coast Con

Yaoicon has announced a second convention aimed at BL fans and this one is on the East Coast:

bishounencon

YaoiCon announces BishounenCon, an East Coast yaoi+ convention
Gardena, CA, USA — March 17, 2016 — YaoiCon, the only Western fan-focused convention dedicated solely to the yaoi genre of Japanese anime and manga, is proud to announce a new endeavor on the East Coast in honor of its 15th year. BishounenCon, an 18+ yaoi+ convention for fans of boys love, yaoi, and LGBT comics and media from all around the world, will debut March 3-5, 2017, at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Warwick, Rhode Island.

“‘Yaoi+’ means we’ve taken our love of yaoi to the next level and with BishounenCon have focused on LGBT characters and romantic relationships in comics, cartoons, television, and more from all over the world, including Europe, the Middle East, and (of course) Japan and the United States,” said Viannah Duncan, director of BishounenCon 2017. The convention is named for “bishounen”—the Japanese word for “pretty boy(s).”

Attendees of the new convention will be able to enjoy up and coming artists and authors, independent publishers and production companies, and talented actors and voice actors. While YaoiCon focuses specifically on yaoi, BishounenCon broadens that directive and welcomes all types of comics, animation, and media that celebrate love and romance between men, including both modern and historical art and literature. BishounenCon aims to include a scope and feel reminiscent of YaoiCon but will also present some brand new events, including a formal ball and a lounge rest area.

“Though BishounenCon is a new convention, we have the support of the successful, longer-running YaoiCon,” Duncan said, “and we are hoping to have an amazing first year.”

The Crowne Plaza Hotel is conveniently located close to the T.F. Green Airport in Providence, and free shuttle service is offered between the airport and hotel. Rooms can be reserved beginning April 2nd using the convention code BIS and are $139/night until the BishounenCon room block is full. The convention is working with the hotel to provide overflow rates at the nearby Holiday Inn Express should that become necessary. Badges, industry booths, and artists’ tables will be available on the website beginning in August.

About YaoiCon and BishounenCon
San Francisco-based YaoiCon and its younger Northeastern counterpart BishounenCon are committed to celebrating yaoi, boys love, and male/male romance in comics, animation, and popular culture. For more information, visit http://www.bishounencon.com or email [email protected].

yaoicon2016

YaoiCon 2017
September 16-18, 2016
Hyatt Regency SFO
Burlingame, CA
http://www.YaoiCon.com

BishounenCon 2017
March 3-5, 2017
Crowne Plaza Hotel
Warwick, RI
http://www.BishounenCon.com

 

 

Yaoicon is ran by Digital Manga, publishers of BL titles such as Yamane Ayano’s Finder.

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Hoofbeats by A.J. Marcus and Nicold Godfrey

HoofbeatsLGFrom Dreamspinner:

After a run of bad luck, gifted horse trainer Cole Frasier thinks he’s lost his touch. When he’s offered three times his normal rate to gentle a stallion, he needs the money badly enough he jumps at the opportunity, even if his boss is of questionable morality.

Once he meets Midnight Blood, he knows there’s something special about the horse, but he doesn’t know how special until he begins sharing dreams with the magnificent steed.

Derek Dancing Hawk is a horse shifter trapped in his horse form due to guilt over losing the wild herd he was guarding. When he meets Cole, as Midnight Blood, he wants to find a way to be human again. During a fight between Cole and the ranch foreman, he manages to shift and save Cole, but his transformation from horse to human is captured on camera. This not only gives Cole’s boss blackmail material, but also creates the need to warn the horse shifter council of the threat to their anonymity. The existence of shifters is a closely guarded secret, one they will go to great lengths to keep.

 

Kimi’s thoughts:

I was looking forward to reading tis as it’s a shifter story that is a bit different, what with it being a horse shifter and a trainer. It was an easy read and I really enjoyed it, though I will say it felt a bit rushed. We’re only given snippets of the past in brief paragraphs, no real backstory until the very end. The ending felt a bit uneven in the writing as well. I see this written by not one, but two authors, and it shows in the way the storytelling wanders a bit and then the pieces are all stuck together in the end.

 

The angst is palpable when reading about Cole, but I failed to completely connect with Derek as he was not presented quite as three dimensionally. A lot of reiteration on the single occurrence that led to his traumatic shift and being stuck in his horse form, but not much else really seems to go on besides avoiding Cole and then wanting to get it on with Cole, until the last quarter of the book. Likewise, the mystic aspect with the coyote was fascinating, but strangely left more questions than answers, and not just in the way that book perhaps intended. I think if the book had been expanded bit to explore more of the backstory and given more page time to coyote and other secondary characters who became suddenly important in the end, it would have been a much better book. As it is, it’s a good book, just not a great one.

 

Rating: 3.5

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Sentries Bundle by Elizabeth Noble

SentriesElizabethNoble

From Dreamspinner:

Three hundred years ago, natural disaster reformed the face of North America, and the people who lived in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains would never be the same.

Now, the master/slave bond in New Colorado has become a sacred rite of service, protection, and, sometimes, for the lucky, love. Follow Nick and his beloved Master, Todd Ruger, a sentry of the territories, as they struggle to survive together amid the collision of old superstition, new beliefs, territorial war, and the ever-present danger of the natural and supernatural frontier.

 

Kimi’s thoughts:

First off, I’m going to come out and say it: This may be listed as BDSM, but it most definitely is NOT. It’s a literal master/slave relationship, with one human being purchased by another, with no choice in the matter. Other than some light bondage play (being tied to a bed post) and light playful spanking, there is nothing to suggest BDSM in the least. It is a well written alternative reality piece though that often reminded me of Supernatural, with hunters and ghosts, demons and what not, not to mention the snarky conversation, only this time, it’s mostly between the two lovers. It was an enjoyable romp  that thankfully did not glamourise slavery (it dealt with a lot of the psychological effects of it, the demeaning attitudes, and so on and did so by weaving them into the story naturally).

Not that this was by any means a perfect read. The main niggle for me is that the final book ended on a note that left me expecting more, but apparently there isn’t. That doesn’t stop me from recommending this series though. Bought as a bundle, instead of spending nearly $35 on the individual titles, the cost is instead just under $10. Bargain! If you’re looking for a sweet romance with a meaty plot and mild angst, this may be just the set you’re looking for.

Rating: 4

kimisig

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The Stolen Suitor by Eli Easton

StolenSuitor[The]

From Dreamspinner:

His future was set until a thief stole his heart.

All of Clyde’s Corner, Montana, knows local dandy Chris Ramsey will marry Trix Stubben, young widow and heir to the richest ranch in the area. But one woman isn’t too keen on the idea. Mabe Crassen wants to get her hands on that ranch, so she sets her older son to court Trix, and her younger son, Jeremy, to distract Chris and lure him astray.

Jeremy Crassen thinks his mother’s scheme is crazy. But he wants desperately to go off to college, which Mabe will agree to—if he seduces Chris. How will shy, virginal, secretly gay Jeremy attract Chris, who seems determined to do the right thing and marry Trix? Jeremy can’t compete with a rich female widow. Or can he?

 

Kimi’s thoughts:

This reads as if it was written before equal marriage and not updated, as it flat out states gay marriage isn’t legal in Montana at the time of the story’s setting. Not that this is a problem, but with it being a new release and nothing else to  indicate otherwise, I was happily motoring along under the assumption that it was set in the here and now until that tidbit was shared, so I thought I’d give folks a heads up. That aside, I did have a few other issues.

I knew going in that the Dreamspun Desires line is meant to be “traditional” old school Harlequin/Mills and Boon type romances featuring m/m pairings. So, I wasn’t expecting serious angst or anything like that. After all, sometimes you just want some fluff, and these promised plenty of it. Yes, plenty of sweet fluff was indeed present. I found myself unable to completely enjoy it though as  I was pulled out of the story several times by the prose, having to blink and ask myself, “Seriously?!”

This gem was one such occasion:

“You look like a grape man-sundae in that shirt. I’m already looking forward to dessert.”

Between such treats as this, all the hair flipping, obsession with blow drying hair, etc., were constant plot reminders the could have been edited out. A scene with Trix? A reminder that she had really, really loved her husband John and so should just marry John’s gay bestie as she’ll never be able to love another man. Jeremy? Got to have a reference to his long bangs, the fact that his dad died in prison, and he was raised in a trailer. Chris? Got to mention AGAIN how his previous boyfriend was a cheat, so if he wants a family, he’d be best off marrying his dead best friend’s wife and raising his kid.

The facile way both Jeremy and Eric take to Mabe’s idea, though for their own reasons, not hers, also rather disturbed me. It was a bit TOO fantastic, but not as fantastic as how forgiving Billy Stubben is, already excusing her transgression against him (and a certain someone else, but no spoilers here) as a simple forgivable one chalked up lightly as mere pride.There were more niggles, especially in regards to Janie towards the end of the book.  All together, it was simply too much for me to really get into, which is a shame, because in between all of this, is the bones to a really sweet romance that had the characters been fleshed out a bit more and the plot tightened up, would have made for a really great read rather than a merely middle of the road one.

Rating: 3

 

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Like I Know Jack by MC Lee

 

knowjackFrom Harmony Ink:

Jack is about to embark on a new mission. Agent Anna Baxter has tried his patience on previous assignments, and he expects more of the same. On the bright side, he’ll also be working with Leo McCormack. The three agents must go undercover to insinuate themselves into a drug ring led by Gregor Slovik, and to do so, they must gain the trust of Gregor’s friend, high schooler Connor White. This creates a dilemma for Jack—Connor is gay, which gives Jack an opening to make a connection with him. But should he exploit it? Luckily Jack has Leo to turn to for advice and support, and together they try to avoid falling into the traps that arise during the mission. But Agent Baxter has an agenda of her own—one that forces Jack into a treacherous situation.

There was no obvious surveillance equipment in this room, but Jack knew the pinhole on the wall behind the interrogator’s head was a camera that was hooked up to a monitor, which was no doubt being watched by his handler, Sean. Most likely the feed was also being routed to one of the bank of screens in his guardian’s office. Jack fought down the urge to raise his middle finger, figuring it would end badly for him if he gave in to the impulse. Instead he forced himself to focus on Dr. Clark and tried to come up with answers that wouldn’t get him sent to a retraining program.
“So, Jack,” she said, “would you say your last assignment was a success?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Jack replied.
Sometimes she let him get away with monosyllabic answers; sometimes she pressed him for more. This time she wanted more.
“What, in particular, did you feel was successful?”

Kimi’s thoughts:

Book three pick up right where the previous title left off and plunges the reader headfirst into the next assignment. It’s a turn about for Jack as he’s asked to assume a role akin to the one Leo  had played when Jack himself had been the unwitting target. This causes him to re-examine his feelings and think more with his brain, though as he’s Jack, his heart gets in the way and he once more finds out that there are wheels within wheels within wheels, deceptions and double crosses designed to manipulate not only the marks. No longer sure of who he can trust, Jack  once more goes with his gut. Once he’s made his choice, his very life and the outcome of the op depend on it.

I must say here that Agent Baxter is a stone cold bitch, but given Jack’s early upbringing at the Center (with Judith), I’m surprised he has such a violent person reaction to her. He doesn’t remember his own Mom, just Judith, and never got to watch TV until three years ago, and then that was carefully vetted (only enough to build the role he was assuming) so it’s bit puzzling as to why he doesn’t see her as normal. She’s certainly no worse than his guardian. I also have very mixed feelings about Sean, given the “discipline” he gives Jack when even a minor rule infraction occurs, particularly when it happens under the rigid confines of The Centre itself. These are just niggles though, not enough to get in the way of a good thriller, which this most definitely was. I’m looking forward to reading the next in the series.

Rating: 4

kimisig