Kaden Thorn, a dental surgeon who lives a quiet life, has no hope of finding the love he craves. A vicious gay bashing cost him the use of his legs and confined him to a wheelchair. He has given up hope of finding a Dom or even a nonkink partner to love him. When his best friend practically forces him to attend a dinner party, the last thing he expects is a strong Dom who can see beyond his wheels.
Deacon James is an architect and a demanding Dom, but he has spent the past couple of years without a sub or partner. When an employee invites him to a dinner party to meet his girlfriend, Deacon smells a setup but agrees anyway. He prides himself on being an excellent judge of character, and when he meets the younger dentist, he sees past the chair and finds a sweet submissive man who more than piques his interest.
Kade’s fears and demons continue to haunt him, challenging Deacon to use everything he’s learned as a Dom to earn Kade’s trust and submission. Deacon’s determined, though, willing to battle all of it to have Kade by his side and at his feet.
Tempeste O’Riley is an out and proud pansexual genderfluid whose best friend growing up had the courage to do what she couldn’t–defy the hate and come out. He has been her hero ever since.
Tempe is a hopeless romantic that loves strong relationships and happily-ever-afters. Though new to writing M/M, she has done many things in her life, though writing has always drawn her back–no matter what else life has thrown her way. She counts her friends, family, and Muse as her greatest blessings in life. She lives in Wisconsin with her children, reading, writing, and enjoying life.
I love sci fi and when I saw the cover for what turned out to be book two of this trilogy, I knew I had to read the whole set. Book one is het, and yes, I do mean there are girlie bits and m/f sex going on. Having said that, it’s very well written and the heroine is no shrinking violet. I quite enjoyed reading all three books and books 1 and 3 were no exception as the strong female lead helped make my day.
Awaiting execution on a foreign planet, Anna Lee has nothing left to lose—until Commander Rehz Akran offers her a chance to escape her fate. Anything is better than death, but when her training for Akran’s mysterious mission begins, the brutality is hard to take . . . especially since Anna has no idea what the workouts, beatings, and endless sexual demands are preparing her for.
Rehz Akran doesn’t deal with failure. He’s determined that his last trainee will survive her immersion in an unimaginably alien world and return alive—even if it means she’ll hate him forever. He needs to stay detached, but his new recruit makes that impossible. Soon he’s willing to defy his own training for a chance to forge a true connection with Anna.
It’s Rehz’s job to teach Anna to survive as a Tribute. And if she does, it’s his task to help her overcome the trauma of the experience. But this time he isn’t doing it to save his planet. This time he’s doing it for love.
Kimi’s thoughts:
Okay, so I wasn’t surprised at the BDSM type elements of the story. I thought I knew where this was going, but boy was I ever wrong. I’m not going to spoil it, but I will say that the beings Anna is being trained as a Tribute for are definitely what you’d probably expect. So much so that I had to pause, blink, take a moment to ask myself, “WTF?!”, shake my head, get up, go make myself a coffee, and then dive right back in.
Having said that, I quit liked the character development and dystopian type atmosphere prevalent in the novel. It’s made quite clear that the training centre is nothing like the rest of the planet, and in fact, the rest of the planet really knows nothing much at all. The government has made some terrible decisions, that much is obvious, but just how wrong those were only come to light when Anna is offered as Tribute and returns when her time is up.
Rating:
Cheated out of his exit from the Tribute program, Kai Mexr is forced to return as a trainer for one more year. His trainee, Aled Price, is an idealistic Mitan patriot who Kai struggles not to loathe on sight, and who seems up for any challenge Kai sets him. As Aled learns to give up control and endure the program’s worst, Kai is drawn into an intense sexual game that leaves him wanting more.
But then Aled must fulfill his duty as Tribute. He must endure the Ungrich—or die.
When Aled returns, it takes Kai’s ruthless presence to pull his trainee back from the brink of madness. Surviving the Ungrich makes Aled doubt his blind allegiance to his planet—and to everything else he’d never thought to question. But with Kai at his side, Aled finds a new cause to believe in. And with the help of master trainer Akran and his partner Anna Lee, Aled and Kai forge unbreakable allegiances of blood, sex, and love that could save the entire planet from the Ungrich for good.
Kimi: Man, this story goes from bad to worse for these guys. Kai not only survived being a Tribute TWICE but the guy in charge of the program, Palk, cheats him out of exiting the program after doing his stint as a trainer. He’s told he has to train one more if he wants to get out. Aled is a young military recruit with stars in his eyes. He is tricked into volunteering as a Tribute and when he realises that it’s not a military mission, he’s seriously disillusioned. Kai has to train him, but along the way, the two bond and boy is it hot in here just thinking about that…
Anna’s previous stint as Tribute uncovered some hidden truths, but the reason for Aled’s being tricked become all too clear as well, leaving a lot of questions that must be answered. A reckoning is due, let me tell you!
Rating:
Rehz Akran has had enough of the Tribute program and its sadistic overseer, Palk. When Palk captures Rehz’s mate, Anna Lee, and offers her and Aled Price to the Ungrich for further research, Rehz is ready for rebellion. But first, with the help of Kai Mexr—who wants Aled back just as much as Rehz wants Anna—he must break into the Ungrich world, rescue Anna, and discover why they want her so badly.
The chilling answer to that question lies in Anna’s forgotten origins—origins that Aled shares. To save their lovers, Rehz and Kai must take on Palk and a government that is more than willing to sacrifice Anna and Aled to keep the peace.
The two couples join forces—in more ways than one—and together they discover that they may be capable of defeating two civilizations and changing the course of Mitan history forever.
Kimi: Palk’s been a real douchebag all through books one and two, but in book three he really goes all out. His reasons are partly clear, but it’s only when Anna and Aled are taken and re-offered to the park illegally, that his motives become fully clear. To say they take on the government isn’t completely true- Palk and his cronies have not been completely honest wit the government, and so what our heroes (and heroine) uncover rocks not only them but the government to the core. My only quibble is that ending feels little bit rushed and we’re left kinda hanging. I’d really like to see what happens after.
Jeff Irwin is short, timid, and studious. A bit of a social outcast, he lives quietly in the shadows of the popular kids at his school, his life ruled by his ever-present fear of rejection or failure.
Enter high school football hero Brett Willson and the chance for Jeff to embark upon the challenge of educating the world’s dumbest jock.
But what develops between Brett and Jeff proves far more challenging than any tutoring session. In 1983, rural Michigan isn’t ready to embrace love between two men, never mind two teenage boys. If they’re going to make a go of it, Jeff will have to come out of his shell—and Brett will have to prove he’s more than just a dumb jock.
Review
This is a YA book – so you can expect that this has a fairly predictable message – but it’s a sweet and good one. Nerd loves jock. Jock surprises nerd and loves him back. Everyone has to grow up and be brave.
To me this felt like there was a bit of “fantasy” type stuff in here – meaning – the people didn’t necessarily act like I think they would in real life. But… that being said – they could act that way… especially since this shows us only one perspective- Jeff’s and from his adult viewpoint looking back.
I appreciated the lengths the author went to really get inside Jeff’s head and let this story out as one of hope for all those bullied along in high school. The ending was super, super sweet. A nice touch after all the heart-wrenching angst.
There are some interesting components to this as a YA book. 1) Off page sex – both are underage and it fits, but it’s there. 2) a bit of a Dom/sub thing – not overworked or “inappropriate” per se – interesting setting for it, though.
Audio
Tommy O’Brien is not my favorite narrator but he did a nice job with the narration, neither really adding nor detracting from the overall experience.
I think my overall impression was one of “good”. It was good. It didn’t “wow” me or make me think “how awful”. It was good. Certainly enough to make me consider more from the series when I’m in a YA mood.
Excerpt:
That night Luis dreams for the first time in years.
His surroundings are a surreal clash between pub and coffee shop. The bar is one he frequents only when he craves the noise and companionship of a crowd instead of an empty studio. The coffee shop is where he sat only days ago, agreeing to take on his first commission in ages. The mix of locales is strangely chaotic, too many details going awry between them. Gray windows hang opposite the bar itself, reflected by a wide mirror along the back wall. Yellow light glints from the ceiling, painting the pub brighter than Luis has ever actually seen it.
The booth he occupies is plush, empty but for himself, and the cushions beneath and behind him are cracked with wear.
“Can I join you?” a coffee-smooth voice asks, and Luis raises his eyes to find absolute perfection smiling down at him.
He can’t answer. His voice has frozen in his throat.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” the man says, dropping into the booth across from Luis. Mischief glints in dark eyes, and Luis stares in helpless silence, taking in everything he’s been searching for in a thousand unsuccessful sketches. Sharp cheekbones cut across a narrow face, perfectly symmetrical and softened by a widening smile. The face is narrow, but the jaw is strong, the nose straight and broad and fitted perfectly to deceptively delicate features. There’s an uncanny smoothness to the brow where it slopes beneath dark curls, but the smoothness creases when sharp eyebrows rise in pointed amusement.
Generous lips quirk into an even wider smile, and the man asks, “See something you like?”
Luis tries to reply, but he’s still too floored. Even knowing this is a dream, he’s mortified with himself for gawping. It’s embarrassingly difficult to summon his voice and answer.
“You’re perfect.” He means to say more, but a grating alarm sounds, jarring him. When he blinks he’s not at the bar any longer, but at home in his own bed, early sunlight piercing between window curtains and the alarm clock a cacophony in his ears.
The grogginess of sleep vanishes in a rush of adrenaline, and Luis reaches for the sketchbook on his nightstand
from By Hand and Heart by Yolande Kleinn
When Aiden goes to Wyoming on the dime of the Full Moon Dating service, he doesn’t really think he and country wolf Ben will be right for each other. He just wants some time off from city life.
Ben knows better right away. He and Aiden are meant to be together, despite Aiden’s city ways and cluelessness about being a werewolf. Can he convince Aiden to stay with him, or will Ben, and Full Moon Dating have to write this one off as a mistake?
Review
This is the first book in the series, so we get to meet not only the two MCs Aiden and Ben, but Harve, Stone and Ades – the folks at the service who match these unlikely men.
Ben is a tough, Alpha, strong wolf from the country. Aiden is a small, arty, city wolf who is not in touch with his animal side as much.
When Aiden and Ben meet, the mating instinct is strong, but Aiden doesn’t know how to handle all the new feelings – so he runs. Ben always catches him and helps him to understand – and in the end they get their HEA.
**
One of the things I really like about Julia Talbot’s shifter series is that her shifters are so animalistic at times. Not in a crude or sexy way, but in how they view the world. It’s awesome! So many shifter stories use the animal side to say “Mine!” and that’s the extent of it. So when Aiden runs away because he’s frightened, Ben doesn’t get all emo about it, he just goes to him like an older animal schooling a younger and soothes him, understanding his anxiety without human ego getting in the way.
What I didn’t like was all the spanking. I wish there wasn’t so much spanking in these books. But… the rest was awesome!
3.5 of 5 hearts
Book 2 Evgeny and Feng
Blurb
Tiger shifter Evgeny worries that he’ll never find a lover who can stand up to his sheer size and strength. He’s scared off more than one man, which is why he turns to Harve and Stone at Full Moon Dating. He wants someone who can deal with his tiger self and not run away.
Acrobat and snow leopard Feng is all over Ev’s physicality. He’s used to working without a net, so he’s not afraid of anything Ev can dish out. Especially since Feng finds Ev far gentler than anyone would expect. They’re determined to make a two-city love affair work, so when Feng disappears, Ev will move heaven and earth to find him.
Review
This is tied for my favorite in the series! Feng is an acrobat and Ev is an artist. Ev has a hard time meeting men who can stand up to his fierce Tiger, even other shifters.
Feng is hyper and needs someone to ground him. Together they find they are perfect matches.
Most of this book is fun exploration of Santa Fe and sex, but there is a brief moment of angst when Feng is hurt and Ev must find him… so scary! But a very HEA.
What I liked most was how much fun these guys had together and NO SPANKING! Yay!
4.5 of 5 hearts
Book 3 Coy and Denver
Blurb
Coy is a big city werewolf who heads to mountain Colorado on the word of the team at Full Moon Dating, a paranormal dating service. He’s not sure Denver Allen is the vamp for him, but it can’t hurt to take a vacation and get a little hot loving in the process.
Denver knows Coy is the one for him when they meet, but there’s the whole issue of who the ultimate predator is between them. There’s also the problem of all that biting. Can Denver and Coy work out their troubles before it’s too late for both of them?
Review
Denver gets signed up by his butler for the dating service and is very skeptical at first that anything positive will come from the date. Coy, once he meets Denver, pretty much agrees, two more different people couldn’t possibly exist.
But of course, our team at Full Moon Dating has it right and pretty soon Denver and Coy are biting and sexing it up with the best of them.
When Coy accidentally ingests too much of Denver’s blood and begins to burn up inside, experts are called in to see if it can be fixed and a surprising result ends in a HEA.
**
I loved this book as much as Ev and Feng’s story. It’s terribly sweet under all the raunchy sex and the ending is wonderful.
4.5 of 5 hearts
Book 4 Gage and Hamish
Blurb
Cat shifter Gage is an impossible bottom. No one has ever been able to tame him, even if he wants them to. He’s willing to keep trying, though, and when he finds out about the paranormal dating site Full Moon Dating, he puts himself in their hands. He longs for someone who will take him in hand and make him like it.
Hamish is a bear shifter who plays too rough for most subs. Gage sounds like just what he needs, so when Full Moon matches them up, he’s happy to see how they get along. Can he convince Gage that he’s the one to make the man toe the line?
Review
Gage is a slinky, bratty cat shifter who wants to be dominated but only after he fights for it. Hamish looks like a big softie but he likes to be the dominator.
There is a lot of spanking and the two realize they are a great match, but only after Gage runs several times and Hamish has to “punish him” to make him feel wanted.
**
This was my least favorite in the series. It was too short to feel connected to the MCs and had far too much BDSM in it for my personal taste.
On the upside I loved seeing more about Harve and Stone (the guys behind the scene), they are absolutely adorable!
Blurb: How can an assassin be Prince Belden’s safest choice? When Prince Belden of Nilan’dane picked his husband at the traditional gathering of men, known as The Choosing, he thought he had made a safe decision.
Sent by a mage who plotted the downfall of the royal family of Nilan’dane, Barli was supposed to get close to Bel’s family and then kill them all. However, when Barli looks into the eyes of the vulnerable Prince Belden for the first time, something changes, and he knows he will never be able to do anything that would hurt this man. But how is he ever to confess the truth of why he was at The Choosing when Bel now carries his child?
Barli has to teach Bel that, though he is a prince, submitting to Barli is what he really needs, and what Barli needs, is to believe in Bel’s love.
Review: This is the second book in the Hari series and in it, VCJ tells us Bel’s story. We got a glimpse of the two in the first book but now the story is being told from Barli and Bel’s perspective.
An assassin by trade, Barli is hired to kill the Princes. He infiltrates the Choosing ceremony and ends up falling for and being chosen by one of the Princes. They’re married, have a child and travel to a neighboring kingdom to sign a peace treaty. The characters and events in this book tend to drag just a tiny bit in this book but it was so short that it didn’t at all deflect from my overall enjoyment of the story.
Barli’s character kind of surprised me. Here you have this man who dresses and acts a bit feminine but you realize he does it for survival. Underneath all of those fine frilly women’s clothes is a cold and calculating assassin.
I’m enjoying the series so far and this is surprising since this is so not my category; this medieval fantasy type category. But as I’ve stated in my review of the first in the series, I was pleasantly surprised. The only time flaw is the misunderstanding between Barli and Bel dragged out a little too long but other than that, this story will hold your attention. I really like how everything wasn’t given away in the stories; you’re left wondering what’s going to happen next. As always, her characters are fully formed, the plot is really quite good and her writing style is neat and organized.
I am really looking forward to read Glare’s story.
Excerpt:
Gage checked his shirt before he headed into the sushi place. Boulder had the best downtown, charming and upscale, but not formal. Not as hipster as Austin or Portland, not as redneck as Denver or Dallas — it managed to be clever and casual all at once.
He totally approved.
Now if he could only approve this date. A bear? Him?
Gage was as far from low-key twink as they came. He was… challenging. Doms dumped him regularly.
A bear seemed so. Oh, he didn’t know. Sweet. Goofy.
He glanced around, wondering if he was early.
He tended to be early.
He liked being early.
There. Back in the corner where the bar bent around. That has to be his date. A huge man with shaggy, dark brown hair and a sunbaked face with lots of smile lines.
He looked a little like a lumberjack. It was adorable. So not his type, but cute.
The guy stood, smiling, making his oddly light brown eyes light up. “Hey! You must be Gage. I’m Hamish.” He pronounced it “hay-mish”.
“Hamish. Hello.” He found a smile to offer back. How could you not like a guy who grinned like that?
“Hi. I hope you like sushi.” Hamish waved to the seat next to him at the bar.
“Fish, salty peppery yumminess. What’s not to like?”
“Right?” Hamish was a big guy. Not fat at all, but he overflowed his personal space into Gage’s, warm and spicy smelling. At least he didn’t stink. That was always hard to get around. “Anyway, I got a little hungry before you got here, so I got mussels and carpaccio. In case you hate mussels.”
“Mussels are good. Tuna is my favorite. Cliché, but true.”
“They have an amazing hamachi appetizer.” Food was a great social equalizer.
“I’m totally in, man.” He nodded to the waiter, got his attention.
“Excellent. So, what do you do?” Small talk. Again with the cute.
“I’m a software designer. I create weird little things that people don’t know they need. You?”
“I build shit. Right now I’m very into tiny houses. For other people. I need square footage.” He grinned.
“Tiny houses? No shit?” Okay, that was cool. Not sexy, but better than software designer.
“I’ve done some work for local architects, and I love carving on a large scale.” Hamish held up his hands, scarred and callused.
He took one in hand, hoping for a zing, for a flash of lightning, but there wasn’t one. Just a warmth. Sweet. Steady.
He looked at the palm, fingers tracing over the calluses. “I approve.”
“Thanks.” Hamish grinned. “It’s good work.”
“That’s sort of how I feel about mine. It’s computer work, but there’s a lot of design involved in it.”
“Sounds neat. Keeps you from getting bored, right?” Hamish flagged down a waitress to order their hamachi.
“It does.” He ordered a couple of honey wheat beers.
“So…”
They both said it at the same time, then laughed. “You go,” Gage said.
“I was just wondering what made you go to Full Moon.”
“I’ve been searching for something and I’m beginning to think that I’m doomed, that I’m too much to handle.” And now he was sitting with a big teddy bear. “What about you?”
“Oh, you know. Everyone thinks I’m a big marshmallow. No one wants to play rough.” Hamish’s cheeks went pink.
“No one? That totally sucks.” He was touching Hamish’s wrist now.
“I know! I mean, this is a cosmopolitan place, kinda. Boulder, I mean. You’d think I could find someone not afraid to bait the bear.”
Okay. Okay, now there was a hint of promise there. “What are you into?”
“All sorts of things.” Hamish met his gaze, golden eyes alight. “I love bondage. Spanking. Some discipline, though not deep domestic or anything. And I like rough stuff, when someone will fight me, make me work for it.”
Well, now he got it, why they were put together. He was, at best, a pushy little bottom. Still, Hamish seemed so… laid-back. Could there really be an opportunity?
About the author:
Julia Talbot lives in the great Southwest, where there is hot and cold running rodeo, cowboys, and everything from meat and potatoes to the best Tex-Mex. A full time author, Julia has been published by Torquere Press, Dreamspinner and Changeling Press. She believes that everyone deserves a happy ending, so she writes about love without limits, where boys love boys, girls love girls, and boys and girls get together to get wild, especially when her crazy paranormal characters are involved. Find Julia at @juliatalbot on Twitter, or at http://www.juliatalbot.com.
Young and eager to join the social playground of the gods, Marduk enters his first day of college at the exotic mountain retreat at the Temple of Power. But he swiftly falls into the clutches of a secret order. Confronted by the powerful gods who wish to claim him, Marduk is defenseless. His only way out: to lure another virgin god into the Order. Marduk finds refuge in the young god Anu-Akad. Delivering Akad to the order would earn Marduk his freedom, but Marduk struggles to keep his love affair hidden from the Order. Will his efforts be in vain? He failed to save himself. Is he strong enough to save his lover? Advisory: Contains portrayals of m/m sex, violence, non-con, & abuse. Intended for mature readers
Guest Post:
The first piece I wrote.
The first piece I wrote and published was a short story about a party in Afghanistan that I wrote in French and published in a journal at my university. Though I’ve translated the story into English, I have yet to publish the English version. I posted the published version on my website: http://jjohanis.com/2015/07/10/loccupante-ayd-french/
In 2005 I wrote my first novel which was M/M historical fantasy with BDSM themes. However, after finishing the initial draft, I ended up abandoning the project due to unresolved issues with the plot. The setting was Neustria France in the Early Middle Ages during the Merovingian Kingdom, and since I researched the era extensively, I plan on returning to it someday. In addition to studying the period, I lived in that part of France for half a year and visited the Breceliande Forest where a lot of the story takes place.
Last year, I finally cracked down and published my first novel, Siren’s Reckoning. Since I wrote this book while working and traveling abroad, it took me over a year to finish. I imagined this book would be the first in my S-Gods series, but after publishing it, I decided I needed to go further back. At that time, I outlined Claimed by the Order as the first book in a trilogy that serves as a prequel to Siren’s Reckoning. So for anyone wishing to read the S-God’s series, I advise waiting for book two and three before reading Siren’s Reckoning.
-J. Johanis
AUTHOR BIO:
J. Johanis writes dark M/M fantasy and enjoys writing plots that are historical or myth-based.
You can find Johanis here:
Matt filled out all the paperwork and double-checked his e-mail, making sure that he was on top of everything. The truth was that he was thinking about everything but the guests they were expecting today.
They’d had couples’ stays overlap before, and once there had been three couples all wanting to learn rope bondage. That had been fun — day after day of demonstrations and checking the Doms’ work.
This was different, though.
Today they had two couples coming in who were friends and had decided they wanted to try playing together, perhaps becoming a foursome. Without ruining their friendship. That was the trick.
They were coming for over a week to work with him and Adam.
Matt wasn’t sure what to say to them. This didn’t seem like a BDSM situation, but a marriage counseling one. Adam had been sure they could help them, though, and he trusted his sub completely. That didn’t mean it was going to be easy.
About the author:
Often referred to as “Space Cowboy” and “Gangsta of Love” while still striving for the moniker of “Maurice,” Sean Michael spends his days surfing, smutting, organizing his immense gourd collection and fantasizing about one day retiring on a small secluded island peopled entirely by horseshoe crabs. While collecting vast amounts of vintage gay pulp novels and mood rings, Sean whiles away the hours between dropping the f-bomb and pursuing the kama sutra by channeling the long lost spirit of John Wayne and singing along with the soundtrack to “Chicago.”
A long-time writer of complicated haiku, currently Sean is attempting to learn the advanced arts of plate spinning and soap carving sex toys.
Blurb
