Author: Morgan

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Beyond Duty Audiobook by SJD Peterson Narrated by Jonathan Young

Dreamspinner Presents
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=6492

BeyondDutyAUDMEDBlurb
The repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” didn’t come soon enough for Gunther “Gunny” Duchene and Macalister “Mac” Jones, career US Marines who met at boot camp in the 1990s. They’ve been somewhere between best friends and lovers in peacetime and wartime both, but as the clock ticks toward Mac’s and Gunny’s retirements, the guys have much more to worry about than coming out.
Whether their relationship will survive outside of the closet they’ve had to shove it into for over two decades is a big question mark. Gunny questions why a hot military man like Mac – who could get any guy he wanted, including a younger, sexier one – would want him. But as Gunny and Mac navigate emotional waters as choppy as any they saw on duty, they just might learn Semper Fi applies to more than their careers.

Review

The first part of this story is Gunny facing retirement and the possible loss of his “fuck buddy”, another military man forced into hiding by “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell”. Gunny is afraid that given the opportunity to be out, Mac will find another, younger, better lover – he’s afraid that’s he’s been nothing but convenient all these years.
Fortunately, this concern is rapidly dispelled by Mac, who is not only psyched about the end of DADT, psyched about retirement, but wants to marry Gunny and walk hand in hand with him at their retirement ceremony to show all other closeted gay military men that true, tough, and honored marines can be gay too.
Gunny is excited to be married to the man he’s been in love with for years and together he and Mac wrestle with their new lot in life. Retirement. Coming out to their friends, family and their community. Neither man can predict which of those will be the toughest, but they are at least doing it together.

**

I LOVED this book and especially adored it on Audio. There is relatively no angst, though plenty of emotion. Both men have huge adjustments to make – not just as retired military, but as a couple living together after years of occasional hook up week-ends. Neither is out to their family and even their community is unaware of their status. It’s a very thorough look at the process and so touching how these tough guys lean on each other in surprisingly sappy ways.
I loved how “handsy” Mac got when drunk and how sweet Mac’s family was when Gunny’s family doesn’t support him.
There is a bit of BDSM, one scene to be precise, but it is not the central focus of the story. I wasn’t bothered by it and BDSM is not my taste.

The narrator, Jonathan Young, does a fantastic job with Mac’s southern drawl and his “mama” is hysterical and wonderful as well. I really thought the audio is the way to go to appreciate this story, Jonathan adds so much to the reading – giving nice emotional impact to the story.

5 of 5 hearts

5

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Wicked Ride (Realm Enforcers book 1) by Rebecca Zanetti

Lyrical Press Presents  http://www.amazon.com/Wicked-Ride-Realm-Enforcers-Book-ebook/dp/B00ONTR7I2/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1435302319&sr=1-1&keywords=rebecca+zanetti+realm&pebp=1435302320824&perid=1YE47ZG3XRPB916NTSVP

wicked rideBlurb

Alexandra Monzelle is a hard-fighting, heat-packing Seattle vice cop, and she’s not much interested in being protected. Her short skirt and sex-kitten heels are tools to lure her suspects into talking about the deadly new drug hitting the streets. She can take care of herself and then some. Unfortunately, she can’t seem to get that through to Kellach Dunne.

Kellach is a fresh import from Dublin, and he’s landed at the heart of a vicious motorcycle club that deals in guns, narcotics, and mayhem. He’s all male, all rough power—and all interference in her damn investigation. Maybe he’s one of the good guys. Maybe not. Lex knows an affair with an immortal like him would risk everything. No matter how delicious he looks…

Review

Another departure (for me) from m/m. Rebecca Zanetti has been another of my favorite romantic paranormal writers for a long time. I love her “Dark Protector Series” and this is a spin-off, but the same universe and still some of the same characters.

In this case: Alexandra is a vice cop in Seattle and Kellach is a witch and an enforcer in Seattle. Both are trying to get the drug Apollo off the street, but for different reasons.
At first it is the simple misunderstanding keeping them on opposing sides: she thinks he’s a bad guy, he thinks she’s hot.

Then, she thinks he might be a good guy, he’s pretty sure she’s hot.

Then she knows he’s a good guy, but he’s still keeping secrets from her; he know’s she hot, and he’s keeping secrets from her.

Finally, they get together and BAM – he accidentally … uh – well now that’d be tellin’ – but something happens and now she knows he’s keeping things from her and that he’s a good guy and he has hell to pay; he can’t believe what he did – thank god she’s hot.

After a bit more waffling about they finally manage to defeat the bad guy, give in to true love and chemistry and with a slight little twist at the end, all’s well that ends well.

**

As far as this series goes: it was great seeing the other folks from the Dark Protectors. I wasn’t too impressed with either the hero or the heroine, though the Grizzlies – Bear, etc; seem very intriguing.

I got frustrated with Alex’s repeated trust issues and wonder why in the world Kell would put up with all that. On the one hand she seemed to swallow the paranormal stuff super easy, but at any hint that Kell may have a different agenda then what he’s told her – she’d jump off the deep end into distrust.

I also would have liked to see more of her special powers… that’s the fun part of paranormal romance – the cool crap you can do!

All in all it was good, but not great. I’ll still read the next book because it was definitely good enough.

3.75 of 5 hearts

4

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The Backup Boyfriend (Book 1) Audiobook by River Jaymes Narrated by Marc Bachmann

Audibles Presents

http://www.audible.com/pd/Fiction/The-Backup-Boyfriend-Audiobook/B00YNT53WE/ref=a_search_c4_1_1_srTtl?qid=1435249035&sr=1-1

back up boyfriend audioBlurb

Professionally, Dr. Alec Johnson has almost reached his goals. As this year’s recipient of a humanitarian award with his ex, Dr. Tyler Hall, Alec’s work with the homeless is about to be recognized. Unfortunately, his personal life sucks because now he has to attend several events alongside Tyler – with his ex’s new boyfriend in tow. In an attempt to lift his mood and break out of his rut, Alec purchases a motorcycle he has no idea how to start. Dylan Booth doesn’t have time for Dr. Clueless and his fickle 1964 Harley, but the cocky mechanic can’t say no to the request for help.
Having spent his teen years on the streets, and losing his best friend to HIV, Dylan decides teaching the do-gooder how to ride is the least he can do. But watching Alec flounder in his ex’s company throws Dylan into protector mode, and the confirmed hetero introduces himself as Alec’s new boyfriend. But Dylan’s a master bullshitter, and the phony PDA soon turns ultra-hot. Alec can’t afford to get attached, and Dylan’s learned everyone eventually leaves. Unfortunately, playing the backup boyfriend is starting to feel way too real….

Book Review

Alec is in a bind. He’s been dumped, needs a new “look” and some external reassurance that he’s not all washed up.

He does this by buying a motorcycle he has no business buying and then failing miserably at driving it.

Fortunately a friend recommends he talk with a mechanic, Dylan, about the bike. As events fold out, Dylan surprises Alec by being willing to put on a brave face and “fake” being a boyfriend for Alec at his exes party – even though Dylan identifies as straight.

Things get out of hand after a lot of alchol and the surprisingly versatile Dylan opens up to Alec in a sexual way that neither anticipated. The two are hot for each other!

They begin to explore this “relationship” more and find an amazing amount of compatibility. But – when things start to get serious – both outside and internal forces work to drive them apart as well as to really look into their hearts as to what it means to be gay/straight/bi and what does it mean to have a boyfriend/partner/relationship.

**

Though I thought that the growth each of the characters went through was impressive, I wanted a bit more of an emotional connection between them to receive page time.

I loved the GFY/Gay-virgin sexy times and thought that it was a refreshing take to have the “straight” guy be so open and honest in his exploration.

3.75 of 5 hearts

Audio Review

Marc Bachmann did an excellent job with this! I loved his Dylan and Alex – they were as I’d pictured them in my head! He did a fantastic job with the other voices – keeping them all differentiated and his smexy scenes were smoldering! I really enjoyed this narration and will look for his narrations in the future.
I think the narration really added to my overall enjoyment, taking some of the less than fluid phrasing used by the author and infusing more organically genuine emotion into the scenes.

5 of 5 hearts

Overall 4.5 of 5 hearts

4.5

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PS Why did they change the Audiobook cover?  The other was a much better cover IMHO 🙁

 

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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

AppleMark
AppleMark

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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How to Catch a Cheetah by Liza Kay

GoodReads Presents
http://www.mmromancegroup.com/?p=277152

how to catch cheetahBlurb

Dear Author,
The ostrich is a shifter; the cheetah can be as well, if you desire. And this scene should appear in the story at some point. Have fun with it! I want to laugh.
Anything else you want to do with it is fine by me.

Photo Description:
In the picture we see a cheetah in full run, chasing an ostrich through a steppe-like landscape. The ostrich’s wings are spread, his feathers ruffled, as he tries to escape the faster, but physically weaker, cat. Above those two, we see the line SHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHIT.

This story was written as a part of the M/M Romance Group’s “Love is an Open Road” event. Group members were asked to write a story prompt inspired by a photo of their choice. Authors of the group selected a photo and prompt that spoke to them and wrote a short story.

This story may contain sexually explicit content and is intended for adult readers. It may contain content that is disagreeable or distressing to some readers. The M/M Romance Group strongly recommends that each reader review the General Information section before each story for story tags as well as for content warnings.

Review

For those of you who don’t spend a lot of time on GoodReads or in the M/M Romance Group (I recommend you do!) – these are short stories written by both well-known and new authors based on pictures that have been submitted with intriguing story ideas. The authors take off from there and then the end results are published (For Free!) on the Group’s page.

In this case, we have an Ostrich shifter out for a run suddenly being chased by a Cheetah (both are in Nebraska!). Instinctively Djimon (the ostrich) knows Kei (the cheetah) is his mate, but he can’t help but being both scared and frustrated and a bit embarrassed at being caught by the much smaller shifter. So… their first meeting doesn’t go well and everyone leaves hurt and confused.

Fortunately, the mating bond is strong enough to break the thick walls of pride down enough to allow Dji to return to Kei’s home and beg for another chance.

The rest of the story is these two, very different men, learning how to blend their lives and become mates.

**
What I liked about this story is the snarky humor and the quick wit demonstrated by the author. Dji and Kei aren’t always super nice to each other but it’s fun and funny. In the end it turns very, very loving.

The smexy times are good and the unique take on the shifter world is clever.

I think the author could have used a bit more time editing this down to an even shorter story – giving it more of a punch – rather than repeatedly showing us the two men fighting and making up.

All in all it was a great first story (at least for me) by this author and I really enjoyed it.

3.5 of 5 hearts

3.5

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Shield of Winter (Psy-Changeling #13) by Nalini Singh

Jove Presents  http://www.amazon.com/Shield-Winter-Psy-Changeling-Book-ebook/dp/B00G3L7TX6/ref=sr_1_1_ha?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1435301972&sr=1-1&keywords=shield+of+winter

shieldBlurb

Assassin. Soldier. Arrow. That is who Vasic is, who he will always be. His soul drenched in blood, his conscience heavy with the weight of all he’s done, he exists in the shadows, far from the hope his people can almost touch—if only they do not first drown in the murderous insanity of a lethal contagion. To stop the wave of death, Vasic must complete the simplest and most difficult mission of his life.

For if the Psy race is to survive, the empaths must wake…

Having rebuilt her life after medical “treatment” that violated her mind and sought to stifle her abilities, Ivy should have run from the black-clad Arrow with eyes of winter frost. But Ivy Jane has never done what she should. Now, she’ll fight for her people, and for this Arrow who stands as her living shield, yet believes he is beyond redemption. But as the world turns to screaming crimson, even Ivy’s fierce will may not be enough to save Vasic from the cold darkness…

Review

Yet again – I had a craving to re-visit some of my favorite m/f authors and Nalini Singh and her Psy-Changeling series is one of my all time favorites!

This is definitely one of those books where if you haven’t been reading along you will be totally lost. It is NOT a standalone. No matter what it might say anywhere else.

In this, the long awaited book, Vasic, the troubled and suicidal Arrow works with Kaleb as well as Judd to secure the re-introduction of the EPsy – the empaths – back into their powers. It is determined that the EPsy are what the NetMind has needed all this time to combat the illness.

What is left unknown is how these EPsy will take breaking Silence and just what is it they need to do and how can they be protected when those protecting them suffer just being in their presence.

Ivy is a strong EPsy whose Silence has been fractured for years. She assumes when Vasic comes to collect her that she is at last to be killed for her “faults”. From the moment they meet the two share a connection.

Then – for many pages – we work out who must do what and why for the NetMind to become fixed. Vasic and Ivy struggle with their feelings for one another – neither having any kind of experience in love/sex/relationships at all.

In the end thre is a race against time and more crushing blows to the NetMind, some reconnections with previous characters and a climactic finish setting us up for the grand finale – Shards of Hope – Aden’s story.

**

I have to admit I was disappointed in this book.

It took a lot of slugging through to reach the end.

I liked Vasic way more before he had his own book and Ivy was pretty MEH the entire time.

In previous books in the series the love was at least half the important part and I feel in these last few books, Kaleb, Vasic, Aden – more time is devoted to the greater story arc than the individual love stories.

As a fan I was glad to re-visit with Nalini’s Psy-Changeling Universe and I am excited to finally read the last story in this arc – but I am also kinda ready for it to be over.

Overall, the writing is good, I think it needed tighter editing, and maybe a more focused story line that equalized the love/romance part with the story progression.

3.5 of 5 hearts

3.5

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A Casual Thing by Annabelle Jacobs

Dreampsinner Presents http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=6602

CasualThing[A]LGBlurb

Patrick Mason travels to Bristol to spend the summer with his brother, Ben. He’s cat sitting for the first two weeks while Ben goes on holiday. But Ben neglected to tell him he wouldn’t be doing it alone. Will Adams—Ben’s mate and Patrick’s long-time crush—is staying in Ben’s guest room while he waits to move into his new house after a breakup.

Against his better judgment, Patrick convinces Will that a little no-strings fun is just what they need. Patrick doesn’t want to get involved with a guy on the rebound, and Will isn’t interested in starting something serious with a student. But Patrick’s never been good at separating sex from feelings, and this time is no exception. As their weeks together draw to a close, they need to decide if they have something worth pursuing or if it’s really just a casual thing.

Excerpt

Patrick stopped, the words dying on his tongue as he noticed Ben wince.

“No.” He jumped off the bed, fisting his hands in his hair. “No fucking way. Ben, please tell me you’re not leaving me alone for two weeks with the guy I have a huge unrequited, and frankly, embarrassing, crush on?”

Ben shrugged. “He needed somewhere to stay. I’d sort of forgotten you had the hots for him.”

“How could you forget?” Patrick paced in front of the bed. “The last time I was here, I tried to climb into his lap and told him how hot he was. In front of his boyfriend.”

“Oh yeah.” Ben grinned, and Patrick stopped his pacing to punch him on the arm.

“It’s not funny.”

“It was hilarious.” Ben ducked out of the way when Patrick tried to punch him again. “Look, you were drunk. We all were. He doesn’t hold it against you.”

“But he won’t have forgotten.” The whole thing still made Patrick cringe every time he thought about it. He may have been drunk, but sadly not drunk enough to wipe the horrifying experience from his brain.

“Sit down. I think you might be overreacting just a tad.” Ben even used his finger and thumb to demonstrate how much he thought Patrick was overreacting before grabbing Patrick’s arm and yanking him back down onto the bed.

Patrick sighed. Fine. Maybe he was being overly dramatic, but come on. This was Will. Tall, dark, and handsome, and as easygoing as Ben. He oozed charm and made you want to curl up with him somewhere warm and never ever move. Well, that last part could just be Patrick.

Fuck.

He was going to make such an arse of himself. He flopped onto the bed and covered his face. “I hate you. You are the worst brother ever.”

Author Bio

Annabelle Jacobs lives in the South West of England with her three rowdy children, and two cats.
An avid reader of fantasy herself for many years, Annabelle now spends her days writing her own stories. They’re usually either fantasy or paranormal fiction, because she loves building worlds filled with magical creatures, and creating stories full of action and adventure. Her characters may have a tough time of it—fighting enemies and adversity—but they always find love in the end.

http://www.annabellejacobs.com

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Review

This is a very low angst love story between a slightly older and wiser Will and the still in university Patrick. Will has been burned in the past and is leery of younger men and long-distance relationships, especially with the brother of a friend, so he resists Patrick’s obvious adoration until it becomes apparent that he can’t anymore. When he gives in, it’s with the (this never works out) idea that they can somehow be fuck buddies and no strings.

Of course Patrick is already having feelings before they begin, so Will’s already set up to fail. When Patrick does ask for more – even vaguely – and is summarily rejected – everyone is heartbroken, including Patrick’s brother for having been caught in the middle.

Ultimately the story ends with a solid HFN and a happy enough ending and certainly Patrick deserves it, though Will… I’m not so sure. He was mostly a jerk throughout the entire book and he didn’t do much to redeem himself even by the end.

I really liked Patrick’s character, he was earnest and sweet and besides the obvious chemistry didn’t see how Will deserved his goodness. I wish that we got to see them a little later down the road, maybe a year or more, so that I could feel good about their HEA.

All in all this was a nicely written, relatively light hearted romance with some nicely developed characters. 3.5 of 5 hearts

3.5

 

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Imposter in Zebra-striped Briefs by CC Dado

Dreamspinner Presents
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=6601

ImposterinZebraStripedBriefsLGBlurb

When recent college graduate Nathan Harris makes a life-changing move out from under his mother’s thumb and into his own place, he is determined to take some risks. He is tired of not being good enough, tired of allowing his fears to control him.

What he thought would be an exciting adventure ends up being one jaw-dropping mishap of embarrassment after another, leaving him with a life he doesn’t even recognize anymore.

His once boring, lonely existence has been replaced by a brownstone filled with colorful friends, a rough around the edges, tattooed bad boy best friend, and a stripper for a boyfriend who’s not even sure he’s gay.

Review

This turns out to be two stories in one!
From Grand Adventures, an anthology, CC Dado gave us Brandon and Josh, two seemingly disparate men who end up perfect for one another.
(Link to full review here: )

The review for that story (Chapter 12, The place across the hall) :
A really cute short story about a guy who falls in love with his neighbor.

Josh has a (typical-for-him) one-night-stand-guy in his apartment when someone (his June Cleaver-eque) neighbor bangs on his door to invite him to a party for one of the other tenants. John isn’t a joiner. He has tattoos. He sleeps around. He doesn’t do relationships.

Brandon is all about relationships and has “fancied” John since day one.

The brief meet and greet at the party leads to a complete change in John’s thinking and Brandon manages to capture the heart of the lone wolf.

We start the story with Nathan aka Nate aka Nathaniel, moving out from under his mother’s domineering thumb (she refuses to be called “mom” insists on being called by her first name, Aurora and she has refused to his “coming out speech” three times now and he claims he’s autistic when every mental professional she drags him to ends up prescribing HER the medication, not him.) He is very bright (3 points below genius level) and has just recently finished school and is working a dream job at a lab working on Alzheimer’s.

Nate sees an ad for a sublet, thinks it’s fantastic, but in his completely virginal and socially inept way, totally misinterprets Josh’s overtures of friendship as a come- on and nearly dies of embarrassment.

This merely serves to make them instant best friends.

So now, Josh, Brandon and Nate are bonding and so we get to see not only Nate’s story but a continuation of Josh and Brandon’s story.

There ends up being a party thrown again on the roof of their apartment and a stripper is ordered. The original stripper is sick, so a replacement (his brother) is called in a pinch. Neither the original nor the replacement stripper is gay, but willing to dance for men as they pay more.

Something happens when David – the stripper’s brother – sees Nate from across the room and the two end up in clench. David is shocked and runs away. Nate is horrified – again.

The rest of the story is Josh and Brandon navigating the changes in their relationship while helping Nate to come out of his shell and while helping David learn how to trust his instincts.

It’s a very sweet, touching story, low, to no steam, but sexy nonetheless. I loved that we got to see such a satisfying conclusion to the Josh/Brandon story and though we didn’t see as much of David and Nate as I’d like, I’m hopeful we’ll see them in the next? installment.

The writing is excellent and grabs you from the start.

I sincerely hope we see more from this author and this couple in the near future.

4.5 of 5 hearts

4.5

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Alex’s Surprise by Chris McHart

GoodReads Presents
http://www.mmromancegroup.com/?p=277078

alex's surpriseBlurb

Alex wanted a night of hot passion with Gerome, but he gets more than he ever bargained for. His life will be changed forever in a world where he’ll be thrown in jail— or worse— for being pregnant.

Alex’s best friend, Sam, has been acting strange ever since he met Alex’s one-night stand, but now Alex needs help in order to hide, and Sam is his only hope.

First book in the Unexpected series.

This story was written as a part of the M/M Romance Group’s “Love is an Open Road” event. Group members were asked to write a story prompt inspired by a photo of their choice. Authors of the group selected a photo and prompt that spoke to them and wrote a short story.

Dear Author,
When I got pregnant unexpectedly and my partner-in-babymaking up and ran off, I figured I’d be alone forever. It was a rough time and if not for best friend I don’t know how long it would have taken to drag myself out of it. I never thought I’d find myself in this position with him. He has been so supportive through the pregnancy and all these feelings I’d never noticed before started blossoming. This is our first time together and I never thought sex could be this amazing— tender and smoking hot all at the same time. I think it helps that he spent so much time wooing me and we were able to fully switch from “friend” mindset to “romance” mindset before we just jumped into bed.

Photo Description:
A blond-haired man making love to a visibly pregnant man. From the expression on the blond’s face and the kiss he presses on the black-haired man’s shoulder, it’s clear these two are a couple who are deeply in love. They are somewhere hidden, maybe a basement, since there are stairs visible in the background. It makes me wonder, is the pregnancy forbidden? Are they hiding because of that?

This story may contain sexually explicit content and is intended for adult readers. It may contain content that is disagreeable or distressing to some readers. The M/M Romance Group strongly recommends that each reader review the General Information section before each story for story tags as well as for content warnings.

Review

For those of you who don’t spend a lot of time on GoodReads or in the M/M Romance Group (I recommend you do!) – these are short stories written by both well-known and new authors based on pictures that have been submitted with intriguing story ideas. The authors take off from there and then the end results are published (For Free!) on the Group’s page.

As the blurb suggests, Alex is a man who has one night out with a vampire – yes he knows it’s a vampire – and the condom breaks. Neither party is aware that with infinitesimal odds, certain human/vamp combinations can result in pregnancy.

Yup. Alex is preggers!

In addition to being freaked out by that – like it isn’t enough! – there are laws against inter-species matings – and Alex faces huge penalties and the loss of his child if it is ever found out he is pregnant.

Meanwhile, Alex has a roommate, Sam, who has always had a bit of a crush on the man-whore Alex, but never broached the subject because Alex has always been so staunchly anti-relationship. When he finds out he’s pregnant, Sam is the only one he can turn to and the two realize there is more to their caring for each other than friendship.

**

This is the second piece I’ve read by this author and I am still a fan of the writing style. For the most part it is clean and clear and the story progresses in a logical and somewhat plausible fashion.

There were some difficulties with the pacing – in fits and starts Sam and Alex seem to be both hysterical then loving then manic then caring… maybe this was intentional to mimic the crazed pace of pregnancy, but it was jarring as a reader to experience.

Alex was not easy to like in this story, he seemed selfish and bitchy for most of it, and Sam put up with a lot for no seemingly good reason. I think, based on the ending, that this story will continue – and I’m glad because the coming parts are definitely going to be exciting, and hopefully Alex will get a chance to redeem himself.

3 of 5 stars

3

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