Category: Age Group

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Where Least Expected by DC Williams

MLR Presents http://www.mlrbooks.com/ShowBook.php?book=DCW_WLEX

where leastBlurb

Blake has absolutely nothing in common with his ex’s annoying hippie roommate. So why are they hanging out together?

Blake is totally not still hung up on Jeff, his hot ex-boyfriend. And he’s so not sleeping with Bob, Jeff’s annoying hippie roommate. Except he is. And even though they have absolutely nothing in common, Bob might just show Blake that there’s more to their relationship than just sex. If Blake can share some of his secrets and let his guard down just a little bit.

Review

Blake just got dumped by his ex – for a straight guy! Bob is Blake’s ex-boyfriend’s roommate. He’s straight, a hippy, and has the worst fashion sense Blake has ever seen, but… he’s there when Blake is feeling horny and lonely and it’s his birthday and since Bob is showing some “curiosity” about being gay… Blake decides to take Bob home and show him just why gay sex is the best sex there is.

Bob is a laid back hippy raised by two moms with dread locks and a penchant for wearing sarongs and t-shirts. He finds Blake fascinating and beautiful and when Blake agrees to fool around with him he finds that he really likes gay sex… in fact… he thinks he might even be gay!

As the semester goes on, Blake and Bob find that their “one night stand” is becoming a regular thing and they are spending more and more time together – even time together not naked. When it looks like they might even be starting something “real”, Blake subconsciously sabotages things between them.

Fortunately Bob is amazing and patient (so are his moms!) and after some time and some real communication it looks like our boys will get their happily ever after.

**

I have to admit the cover threw me – I was kind of expecting Blake to be an emotional, whiny, twink. And he sort of is – but he’s mostly a snarky, sad, funny, sweet, jaded, old soul who has had a rough start and not enough love in his life.

 

I LOVE BOB. I love him! He is such a real character! I can totally imagine a guy like him at a small, liberal arts school in the north-east or even the mid-west. I love his two moms and his house in the country. What I really appreciated about his exploration into being gay was how open he was and yet how appropriately trepidatious he was about committing to the idea of actually being gay.

I found the slow, easy, gentle way the two began their relationship to be fascinating, real, and so touching. It was almost like their love just snuck up on them. I was sad the story ended where it did, because I would have loved to see more of them as an established couple, but that’s how you should feel when you’ve met a great fictional couple.

Blake’s history was so well played out – the subtle hints leading to the reveal about his childhood boyfriend was great.

I also really loved that Blake never asked Bob to cut his hair – they both just accepted one another for who they were – even though they didn’t like it. It felt so real to me.

I haven’t read anything by this author before, but I will definitely be looking into future and past works. I really enjoyed this and highly recommend it.

4.5 of 5 hearts

4.5

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Never Wrong by Chris McHart

MLR Press presents:  http://www.mlrbooks.com/ShowBook.php?book=CMNVRWRN

never wrongBlurb

Jeff was raised to believe love between two men is wrong. Or is it? Can love ever be wrong?

When Jeff meets the much younger Dean, he only knows he wants him, consequences be damned. But things are not as easy, especially after Jeff’s ex calls and announces big news.

And Dean? He thinks the new neighbor is hot, but he’s not interested in something more than a rebound fuck. That’s what he tells himself, at least.

But lust isn’t a good basis for a relationship, more so since Jeff isn’t sure whether he can deal with being gay.

Love is never wrong, but can Jeff accept that?

Review

This book is mostly about Dean, not Jeff, despite the blurb. Dean is a young guy who just got dumped by his older boyfriend and moved into an apartment of his own for the first time. In the process of moving in he meets Jeff, a guy 20 years his senior, who lives in the same building. Dean likes older guys and is at first bummed because he thinks Jeff is straight but then psyched when Jeff kisses him.

Jeff is a cop who was in a relationship with Cheryl for 11 years and just recently decided to break up with her because he thinks he’s gay (though he hasn’t had any male relationships yet). He meets Dean and is immediately attracted to him, but thinks he’s too young and Jeff has a hard time committing to the “gay” part of himself.

Dean and Jeff start a “relationship” but warily because Dean is on the re-bound and Jeff is exploring gay sex for the first time and neither are good at communicating with the other. Jeff is also hit with a shocker from his ex-girlfriend (she’s pregnant and it’s probably Jeff’s) that makes him question what he’s doing with his life.

Luckily, the attraction between the two of them is strong enough to try to make a go of it, because Cheryl isn’t done with her shocking news and the couple end with a HEA and a new family.

**
First, let me say that the writing style of this new (to me) author was good. There were a lot of meaty ideas in this story and it had some great potential. However, there were so many plot difficulties that I couldn’t give this a great rating.

For one, I didn’t feel a lot of “love” between Jeff and Dean, even at the end. They didn’t do much together besides have sex so I didn’t feel great about their relationship. Jeff was worried about their ages but I never saw that issue really resolved. Dean felt Jeff wasn’t really committing to him (Jeff wanted to share in parenthood but was reluctant to even move in with Dean) and that issue was never really resolved either.

Another difficulty I found was that I felt that Jeff’s transition to being gay wasn’t explored very well. I really thought there wasn’t enough introspection or discussion of his previously “straight” categorization and that his wishy washy relationship with Dean wasn’t enough to convince me that Jeff was fully invested in the new lifestyle.

I also thought Jeff’s parents acted very strange, as did Cheryl. I can’t imagine her behaving as she did (both with just wanting to abandon her child and not telling them the ultimate truth about the pregnancy).

I thought the whole child thing was not realistic at all. Both Jeff and Dean were very cavalier about having a baby and seemed to do little to prepare for it and there was no discussion at all about how any child would be taken care of. I also couldn’t understand why Jeff wouldn’t want Dean to move in with him if they were committing to parent Cheryl’s child together.

One last small gripe… the gay “virgin” sex with a younger more experienced guy… it should have been great – lots of stuff to work with in terms of fantasy material – and it ended up being pretty lackluster.

So…though I liked a lot about this story in terms of potential, I don’t think it fulfilled it’s promise.

2.5 of 5 hearts

2.5

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A Paranormal Chipmunk Christmas by Jackie Nacht

MLR Press Presents http://www.mlrbooks.com/ShowBook.php?book=JN_CMCHR

chipmunk christmasBlurb

A vicious horde of chipmunks? Dallas and Gunner knew that meeting their mate’s family wasn’t going to be a walk in the park. How could it be when they had eighteen brothers and sisters? This bear and wolf are about to be put to the test—surviving this family holiday. Will they be able to escape just the four of them or will they be taking some of the siblings back to White Pine…involuntarily?

Review

This super cute little holiday story brings both Dallas and Gunner into the crazy chipmunk household for Christmas. Needless to say there are lots of funny moments, some hot smexy times and a very sweet “gift exchange” at the end. If you’ve been enjoying the series so far you won’t want to miss this little story.

I loved it!

4 of 5 hearts

4

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You Belong to Me by Edward Kendrick

Dreamspinner Presents: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=5728

 

belongBlurb

Corey Byrne loves his family—as long as he only has to see them once a year. Since he’s not out to them, it makes things… tense. Returning to his job at a homeless shelter after Christmas, he finds someone has left him a very expensive present. Soon, he begins to get messages from the anonymous gift giver. Then Corey’s friend Brad is murdered in Corey’s apartment and undercover detective Scott Reed is assigned to protect Corey. As they work together to find the killer, they realize they’re starting to care about each other. However Scott is unwilling to act on his feelings unless Corey comes out to his family and coworkers. As the threats from the stalker intensify, Corey is forced to admit that love is too precious to hide from. Perhaps now is the time to be honest about who he is and accept the possibility of love in return—before it’s too late.

Review

Corey is in the closet and plans on staying there until a dead body forces him to ask his brother for help and reveal his secret. His brother recommends the help of an undercover cop, Scott who eventually wins Corey’s heart and convinces him to give love a try.

There was a bit more “mystery” to this than romance and there were some areas where “suspending my disbelief” for the sake of the story became difficult, but it was overall a sweet romance and an interesting thriller.

3 of 5 hearts

3

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The Harvest: Journey’s End Tour with Giveaway

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Buy from

ARe:https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-theharvestjourney039send-1717002-145.html

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Harvest-Journeys-M-Church-ebook/dp/B00RJLZOAE/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1419892072&sr=1-1&keywords=The+Harvest%3A+Journey%27s+en

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Author Bio:
M.A. Church is a true Southern belle who spent many years in the elementary education sector. Now she spends her days lost in fantasy worlds, arguing with hardheaded aliens on far-off planets, herding her numerous shifters, or trying to tempt her country boys away from their fishing poles. It’s a full time job, but hey, someone’s gotta do it!
When not writing, she’s exploring the latest M/M novel to hit the market, watching her beloved Steelers, or sitting glued to HGTV. That’s if she’s not on the back porch tending to the demanding wildlife around the pond in the backyard. The ducks are very outspoken. She’s married to her high school sweetheart, and they have two children.
She was a finalist in the Rainbow awards for 2013.
Where to find the author:
M.A. Church’s Blog
Amazon
Fan Page for ‘The Harvest’

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A Wedding to Die For by Xavier Mayne

Dreamspinner presents:  http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=5808

wedding dieBlurb

When a high-profile gay celebrity couple asks two of the city’s most established vendors to provide cake and flowers for their wedding and they refuse, a resulting boycott threatens to shut them down. It’s up to the next generation in the family-owned businesses to save them from ruin. Justin Capella, baker’s son, and Roman Montgomery, floral scion, work together to plan the gay wedding of the year.

Justin and Roman haven’t seen each other since that fateful day in third grade when a single kiss shocked Justin and sent Roman to boarding school. As fate would have it, Justin and Roman rediscover love while working on the wedding. But disaster might pry them apart again.

Troopers Brandt and Donnelly are working with a statewide task force for the rights of LGBT citizens—all while searching for a killer wedding planner. As guests at the “wedding of the year”, they are the first responders when all hell breaks loose. In investigating, the troopers are led to a shadowy figure they believe seduced Roman into doing his bidding. But the real murderer will cover his tracks at all costs, including Roman and Justin’s lives.

Review

We start off with the planning of a wedding between two high-powered gay men in a town where gay marriage is still not completely accepted. Shopkeepers want to deny services to the couple so the law has to intervene and force compliance of equality laws – thus Brandt and Donnelly are called in. This is great as they are planning their own wedding (with the hilarious help of Bryce and Nestor of course!) so it’s convenient that they get to interview florists, bakers, etc in the name of justice.

There is a bit more to the “mystery” in this story and some really shocking developments occur that will keep you on the edge of your seat and near your Kleenex box! Xavier Mayne definitely had some “messages” to spread with this book, including the questionable “equality” gay couples have in our society despite more and more laws supporting gay marriage.

In addition to the on-going romance between Brandt and Donelly (which continues to be ooey gooey sweet and super hot sexy!) there is the relationship between Greg and Peter the wedding couple and the budding romance between Roman and Justin (childhood beaus split apart for years due to bigotry and fear.)

If you have been reading this series you will find this book was a bit more “heavy” than the prior two and yet still just as funny, tender, sweet and entertaining, if not more so.

I really love this series and the couples we meet each time and continue to follow and can’t wait for more.

4.5 of 5 hearts

4.5

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Teaching Professor Grayson by Kade Boehme and Allison Cassatta

Dreamspinner presents  http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=5715

teaching profBlurb

Christian Grayson is a professor of sociology who comes from a close-knit Southern family steeped in values and tradition. He left Tennessee using education as his excuse for escape, when he truthfully only wanted the freedom to be who he truly was. But at age forty, he’s still in the closet and still adheres to the morals his father, a Southern Baptist minister, raised him with. This includes saving himself for Mr. Right.

CJ Hata has been under Christian’s wing since his freshman year. A genius, pure and simple, he’s a senior now and no longer needs to report to Professor G, but he still seeks his teacher out occasionally for a friendly chat.

When Christian accidentally outs himself to CJ while pouring his heart out about his dying father, CJ feels totally out of his element. He convinces himself to put forth his best effort because the man he’s been crushing on for four years needs a friend. In the meantime, everyone around CJ is stumbling out of the closet, but the one person he really wants to come out has barricaded himself in with the bible and his family’s expectations.

Review

This is a very gritty story about judging and values and how our families shape us and what society expects from us and how we have to overcome all that to be who we are.
CJ is not a very lovable character. He’s acerbic and condescending and sometimes pretty immature. He has moments of immense sweetness and that’s what attracts Christian.

Christian is a confused, closeted man forced into a role that he sort of believes in but also one he finds too constraining. He falls for a student and then falls out of the closet to be with him. In the meantime his super religious father dies and he has to face what that means for him and how he lives his life free from that judgment.

On the one hand this story really speaks to a lot of issues and handles them in a way that is more realistic than a lot of romances tend to be. On the other hand it was so gritty that I didn’t feel as connected to the characters in a way that I felt either bonded to them or invested in their outcome. I never really liked CJ and though I felt bad for Christian I didn’t really connect with him either. I definitely didn’t see them as a couple that would stand the test of time. Not because they couldn’t or wouldn’t, but because the story didn’t spend enough time showing me their compatibility. Instead it was more internal dialogs and moving through Christian’s own lifestyle choices and decisions and CJs growth of his socializing skills.

I really wanted to love this – there was so much promise in the topics and in the potential for very angst-ridden yet hot, 40-year-old-virgin-sex… but I just didn’t feel a strong enough connection with either MC to feel very attached to their love story.

Overall I give it 3 of 5 hearts for having a lot of promise.

3

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As a side – the cover really didn’t match the story in that CJ is not a happy, smiling, shy, young guy but an old cynic of a guy in a young guy’s body and instead the professor is the shy, retiring guy.

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Let it Go by Sid Love

let it go

“Everyone tells me to stay away from him. But if only I knew how to resist him…”

Goa isn’t supposed to be on Damon O’Neil’s list of places to stay while working in India. It’s merely a substitute for his planned trip to visit his sister in Paris for Christmas and the New Year. His boss had other ideas. He’s sent Damon to carry out urgent upgrades to the company’s offshore units and Damon can’t say no.

When Damon encounters an extra-spicy curry, a handsome Indian guy named Virat comes to his rescue. Damon is instantly smitten with his looks, and especially with his cute smile. But Damon soon realizes he is very much out of his league when Virat introduces his new wife.

However, there might just be a chance Virat isn’t all he pretends to be …

Kimi’s thoughts:

This was a story that normally I would have passed up from the description- I really dislike people in committed relationships cheating and the idea that the cheater’s new love would be the romance would be repellent. But that’s not this story,, and to go on such an assumption would have made me very, very wrong.

Virat is a man who is married because he’s done what is expected of him and while hoping to not be lonely all his life. He married a woman, choosing his female best friend in an effort to make things as comfortable and companionable as possible. he then meets the man of his dreams and realises he’s made a terrible mistake, one that is as unfair on his best friend as it is himself. What follows is a romance with one man trying to make things right, rather than doing what’s wrong. It’s an unexpectedly sweet love story and it’s one that the author manages to tell in a surprisingly short length (it’s a novella of only 72 pages). The setting is exotic and adds a bit of flair. It was almost like getting tot make a mini vacation to a warm, sunshiny place in the midst of winter gloom.

Buy from Amazon.

Rating: 4

 

kimisig

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Billionaire with Benefits (Romancelandia # 2) By Anne Tenino

Riptide Presents: http://riptidepublishing.com/titles/billionaire-with-benefits

BillionaireBlurb

It’s just a friend thing.

Before confessing his gayness to his best friend, Tierney Terrebonne’s sex life is -strictly restroom. After confessing his gayness to his best friend . . . it doesn’t improve much. Why bother trying when the man he’s loved for fourteen years (see: “best friend”) is totally unattainable? Good thing Tierney is an old hand at accepting defeat; all it takes is a bottle of bourbon. Or fifty. Repeat as needed.

Dalton Lehnart has a history of dating wealthy, damaged, closeted, lying, cheating, no-good, cowardly men, so of course he’s immediately attracted to Tierney Terrebonne. Fortunately, Tierney is so dissolute that even Dalton’s feelings for the man would be better described as pity. Which becomes sympathy as they get to know each other. Followed by compassion, concern, caring, and hopefulness as Tierney struggles to change his life. When the man comes out very publicly and enters rehab, Dalton finds himself downright attached to Tierney. And as everyone knows, after attachment comes . . .

Uh oh.

But post-rehab Tierney can’t handle more than friendship, so Dalton should be safe from repeating his own past mistakes, right? Right?

Review

This is the sequel to Too Stupid to Live and in it we get to see a bit from Sam who is still doing psychology via Romance books (which is fun), but mostly this is about Tierney and his growth from giant douche-knob to boyfriend.

We are supposed to find Tierney annoying and he is, but he’s got some good reasons to be that way and in the end he redeems himself into someone Dalton-worthy.

This is a long book, a bit more serious than some of Anne Tenino’s other books, a bit less in the sex scenes, and sometimes more difficult to get through than book one (definitely more angsty), but as always, Tenino is an excellent writer and delivers a great story.

It wasn’t my favorite of her books, but it was still very good.

3.5 of 5 hearts

3.5

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Dirty Ring Tones by Rhys Ford and Greg Tremblay

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So a funny thing happened on the way to a tweet, Greg Tremblay, the fantastic narrator of my Dirty series, texted me and said… hey, you should giveaway a custom ringtone. Or something to that effect. There was some discussion. A few emails and then well, long story short—there may have been some pixilated shots of whiskey and banter but a plan was formed. A plan so cunning I could have stuck a tail on it and called it a weasel.

Mostly, it involved Greg. And your phone. But it was still a plan!

After a furious, intense process of queries, eliminations, debating on who said what, we came up with a set of phrases from Cole, Bobby, Jae, Claudia, Scarlet and one from Maddy then Greg went to work. And returned to me with a brilliant sound bites forged by a narrative master—in the style of the characters’ voices.

So dear reader, as a thank you for everything you’ve done for Greg and me, I’d like to present the entire set of ringtones—twenty one in total—FREE, as a gift to you.

Available in Android (MP3) and iPhone (formats for Android and Apple phones, Greg has also graciously included the WAV files if that’s your thing. Download links to the zipped files are provided below.*

A great humongous thank you to all of the blogs who helped me with this guerilla gifting. This swirled up on Tuesday and Greg just MADE it happen. He is the voice of the series and I am forever grateful for his talent.

Love you all, and really, Thank You.
Rhys Ford

Dirty Rings Android MP3

Dirty Rings Apple M4a

Dirty Rings Apple M4r

Dirty Rings Wav

Greg Tremblay link: http://www.audible.com/search/ref=a_search_c4_1_1_1_srNarr?searchNarrator=Greg+Tremblay&qid=1420696618&sr=1-1

If you’ve not tried out Greg Tremblay’s narrations, please do so. He makes audiobooks fun and damn, he brings Cole and the others to life.

Greg Tremblay’s body of work can be found here—and yes, the Dirty series is there but so are many other lovely audio books. I highly recommend one of Greg’s audiobooks, a comfy chair, a pair of headphones and a nice hot cup of coffee… or tea… with or without whisky.

* These are copyrighted and available free for individual use. The files included in the zip cannot be sold by third parties nor can they be altered in anyway as to destroy the integrity of the original work. Animals were test subjects for these sound files and while the cat could not have given less of a shit, the dog seemed mighty interested. Please note, neither own nor use a phone or a computer so results may vary.