Category: ebook

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Ghosts of Halloween Past (Sequel to Blind Devotion) by MD Grimm

Dreamspinner Presents

http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=7016

GhostsofHalloweenPastLGBlurb

Sequel to Blind Devotion

Wolf shifter Sheriff Jack Ulger and cougar shifter Travis Kuger protect the shifters and their human allies living in Haven, Montana. They have known each other for nearly a decade but weren’t always friends. One Halloween night, as teenagers, that changed when Travis saved them both from an abandoned mill and the ghosts haunting it.

Years later, it’s Halloween again, and Travis never shared the ghostly experience with anyone, least of all the skeptic Jack. But he soon regrets the omission when Jack becomes trapped in the same abandoned mill while trying to find two lost kids. Jack must now protect the children, fight off a spiritual attack, and find a way to freedom. Travis knows something is wrong and enlists the help of their friends, and he can only hope they’ll be in time to save Jack from the dark entities.

Review

This is a nice Halloween story that takes a look at Jack and Travis before they’d mated and again, later, after they’d been together awhile.

The ghost story is spooky and creepy – just like you’d want for a Halloween story!

I enjoyed seeing some of the back story for our couple as well as seeing them again, more fully mated.

For fans of the series this is a must read!

4.5 of 5 hearts

4.5

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Blind Devotion (Shifters Book 3) by MD Grimm

Dreamspinner Presents

http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=3140

 

blind devotionBlurb

“The Shifters: Book Three”

In Haven, Montana, the shifters and their human allies are safe-for now. But that safety hinges on the town’s location remaining a secret, and it’s about to be compromised.

Cougar shifter Travis Kuger spent the past ten years alternating between craving revenge and wishing he could forget his painful past. Ever since the shifter-hating Knights blinded him and killed his family, Haven-and Sheriff Jack Ulger-have been Travis’s refuge.

Travis and Jack know their friendship could be much more, but Jack is part of Haven’s ruling wolf shifter pack. If he takes a non-wolf mate, he’ll be banished forever. But when one of the Knights infiltrates Haven, love becomes the least of their problems.

Review

Travis is hurt by a group of hunters who hate shifters. He finds his way to Haven, a place where shifters can be safe. He is befriended by Jack, but resists anything more because he’s afraid to love again. He lost his entire family to the hunters and can’t risk that kind of emotion again.

Jack has been slowly falling for Travis, for years. But he can’t be with someone not a wolf shifter and still be in the pack’s good graces.

When danger comes to Haven, Travis and Jack are forced to admit their feelings and fight for their right to be together – both against the pack and their own worries.

**

This was a really sweet, slow burn love story. Though there is some danger and some struggle against the pack, most of this is the two of them getting to know one another and slowly growing from friends to lovers.

I love that their pull is as strong as any “True Mate” type attraction, though that isn’t the case. I also loved the magicky stuff the Agency people add to the mix.

I really appreciated the slow pace and easy love in this story and am excited to read the sequel! (I haven’t read books one and two but will absolutely do that now, the continuing saga with the Agency and the Knights is very compelling.)

4 of 5 hearts

4

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The Plumber (Workplace Encounters) by Serena Yates

Dreamspinner Presents

http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=6979

Plumber[The]LGBlurb

Hard work and long hours have made Will Kovar’s business, Total Plumbing Solutions, a success. When he’s called to fix a bathroom at the Safe Home for Girls and Boys and sees how tight money is for the charity, he’s happy to donate his time. Meeting the home’s manager, Steve Hayes, is an added bonus, especially when Steve invites Will to dinner to thank him for his generosity. Will learns Steve’s wealthy family isn’t happy about his choice to make a career in social work, but neither man expects Steve’s parents to leave eighteen children out on the street to prove their point. Will is determined to help Steve figure out how to provide a safe and happy home—for both the children and themselves.

Review
Will is a plumber and a workaholic. Steve is a social worker who runs a home for Children. Will’s family won’t accept that he’s gay. Steve’s family wants “more for him” than being a social worker.

Though it’s hard, both men work crazy hours, these two guys make the time to be there for one another. When Steve’s home is threatened, they team up to find a solution. Through their steadfastness, they show one another’s families just how wrong they are and how to open themselves up for new “truths”.

**

There is nothing technically “wrong” about this story other than it was very bland. There was no sexual tension. Once they met they began dating. When there was trouble, they discussed it and sorted it out. When there was trouble with work they teamed up and found a good solution.

I just felt no spark from this story. The characters were nice, their romance was sweet, but there wasn’t anything compelling to it.

3 of 5 hearts

3

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Between the Devil and the Pacific Blue by Charlie Cochet

Dreamspinner Presents http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=6909

BetweentheDevilandthePacificBlueLGBlurb

For the last six months, Detective James Ralston has worked the nightshift as security for the Pacific Blue Hotel, and every night at 2 a.m. his rounds lead him to the radio room where the handsome and mysterious Franklin Fairchild sits listening to waltzes as old as the hotel itself. James is drawn to Franklin, but Franklin is a man at the end of his rope, and James has no intention of getting caught up in whatever trouble Franklin is in. A heated encounter late one night sends James down a disturbing path and has him questioning everything around him, including his very sanity.

 

 

Review

James is ex military, ex cop, ex detective and a current security guard for an old hotel. He meets Franklin in the hotel on his sweep of the hotel each night at 2 am. Eventually he and Franklin move past just exchanging pleasantries to becoming more “involved” with each other.

Once he begins to dig deeper into Franklin’s life, he realizes that Franklin may be in danger – and that maybe there’s more going on around him than he really knows.

**

This is a short story and unique, not quite like the other books of Charlie Cochet’s I’ve read. It’s definitely coming out at the right time of year, but I don’t want to give too much else away.

There is a twist – to be sure – and a very satisfying HEA.

I really enjoyed trying to keep up with the twists and turns the story takes us on and appreciated the subtle language cues Charlie gives us to help solve the mystery.

I recommend this to fans of Halloween stories and detective stories.

4.25 of 5 stars

4

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My Prince by Anna Martin

Dreamspinner Presents

http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=6999

MyPrinceBlurb

After growing up in a rough part of town, George Maguire worked his way out of Manchester and to a career as a design engineer. Alexander van Amsberg, an architecture student at the University of Edinburgh, wasn’t the sort of guy he normally had explosive, hotel-room one-night-stands with. Alex was charming, classy, and, as George later learns, Prince of the Netherlands.

Fate brings them together again, and Alex makes sure to get his sexy stranger’s phone number this time. Despite all the reasons why they shouldn’t work, something clicks, and Alex thinks that this time, he might have found the right guy. But Alex’s aristocratic ex stirs up trouble in the press for George and his humble family, and Alex realizes he has to get real about having a boyfriend from the wrong side of town.

While George acknowledges his modest upbringing, he doesn’t let anyone insult his family. Life’s no fairy tale, and regardless of his royal title, Alex might destroy his one chance for happily ever after.

Review

George, a rugby player and sports equipment designer, meets a man out one night and they have a hot night at a hotel. George’s hook-up, Alex, is obviously “posh” so George figures he’ll never see him again. He’s shocked when he sees him on the TV and finds out he’s one of the princes of the Netherlands!

Alex is the fifth in line for the throne (read as never really in line). He’s an architecture student living in Scotland and has no plans to ever go home for any length of time. He has a hot time with George, but doubts to ever see him again. When they meet, months later at a charity event, he thinks it must be kismet. They exchange numbers and from there start a “thing” that becomes a relationship.

There stands a lot between them and happiness including George’s own place in the closet, Alex’s family and expectations, the press and George’s family of 7 siblings. But… after a lot of time and patience they manage to make their own fairy tale happy ending!

**

Anna Martin is an amazing writer! I have admired her work from the first book I read of hers, Tattoos & Teacups and really enjoyed her books Summer Son and Solitude.

This is not only my favorite of her books, but will go on my list as the best book I’ve read this year! I loved it!

George is so very real, but so is Alex. Their relationship is fraught with difficulty and impracticalities but they persevere and survive in a way that seems very authentic and plausible but yet terribly romantic and special.

I loved how open Alex was and how shy George was. I loved the way Alex brought Doug in to “educate” George and how well George responded to the prodding. The need for George to know more about gay history was thought provoking without being preachy.

The sex/chemistry between these guys was incendiary but what got to me the most was their emotional connection.

I was a bit daunted by the length of this book, especially when they hooked up fairly early on. I was anticipating loads of angst and separation or fighting to fill the pages, but what I got was a very organic telling of the blossoming and deepening of their relationship. I really felt that these guys had what it took to make things work by the end of the story because we’d seen their relationship grow.

Anna’s writing is lovely and smooth, her characters are really well developed and three-dimensional. I cannot gush enough about this story. It was really and truly a fairy-tale for modern times and it was wonderful, I can’t recommend it enough!

6 of 5 hearts

amazing

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Shifting Chaos (Book 4 The Sleepless City) by Elizabeth Nobel

Dreamspinner Presents

http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=6780

ShiftingChaosLGBlurb

Chaos reigns in The Sleepless City, and it’s really beginning to piss Detective Jonas Forge off. He’s got inner demons to battle and a life to build with his new soul mate, Blair Turner. Nothing is going right, and he already feels the universe is conspiring against him when a turn of events he never saw coming flips his world upside down.

Hallucinations grip the town and everyone in it, threatening to tear their precariously built family apart, and the only way forward is to bare all to each other. This means Declan and Blair need to learn to accept one another. Lucas Coate has to move forward without ties to his werewolf pack and live a monogamous life with Declan.

But while Forge and Declan confront horrors from their shared past, Simon learns a terrible truth about vampires—one he couldn’t have imagined in his worst nightmares.

Review

Our boys have all mated, but are not necessarily “settled”. Forge and Blaire are still working on their trust issues and this book focuses on their relationship.

There’s another “mystery” to solve, this time involving a creature that causes paranormals to attack one another without provocation.

The creature attacks Forge, forcing him to reveal some “truths” he had hoped to keep to himself.

There is quite a bit of back history relayed, mostly from Declan about Forge’s early days and some about Declan’s turning, too.

There is a little bit of fun with the couples in general, but the focus is Blaire and Forge.

**

I liked this installment, though maybe a little less than the previous books. It was good to see everyone again, and lovely to see the relationship deepening between Forge and Blaire.

The mystery stuff is exciting and creative; I loved the new “powers” we get to see in Declan and Forge.

I’m a big romance fan and the focus in this book was still on the romance, but was maybe a bit more weighted to the mystery.

The writing was excellent and the world-building was extensive and compelling.

I’m not sure if this was the last installment – it could be, but there is room left for more – but it was a nice way to end, if it is.

I’ve enjoyed this series very much and recommend it to fans of paranormal romance.

4 of 5 hearts

4

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Rearranging Stars by Diane Adams

Dreamspinner Presents

http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=6776

RearrangingStarsBlurb

The freedom to love comes with a cost.
As a guardian angel, Drake’s destiny is written in the stars. Choice is not part of an angel’s life. Drake never thought twice about it until he’s unexpectedly thrust into watching over Grey, who inspires passion in Drake but endangers his very identity as a guardian angel. Grey is more than just another human—he can see angels. When he discovers that unlike his previous angel Drake will talk to him, Grey becomes determined to pull Drake off the sidelines and into life. Attraction flares between them from the beginning and causes Drake to question his purpose for the first time. His distraction results in a decision that changes everything—and not just for him and Grey.

Review

Drake is a guardian angel, who despite protocol, feels compelled to “remember” each and everyone of his charges, even after they’ve passed. He gets placed on a case mid-stream when one of his fellow angels “goes corporeal” (turns into a human and gives up being an angel).

Grey is a human who has always been able to see guardian angels, but Drake is the first he’s gotten to talk to him and even touch! Grey acts as his own sort of guardian by patrolling his neighborhood streets to keep things as safe as he can for his people.

Drake and Grey are attracted to one another, though Drake knows absolutely and literally nothing about such physical and emotional things. Grey delights in showing him the wonders of “being alive” and experiencing life rather than just observing.

When things get very “real” and Grey gets hurt while Drake is on the job, Drake decides it’s too much to risk and asks to be pulled from Grey’s guard duty, though they’ve both admitted their love for the other.

However – it’s too much for them to take AND there’s something brewing among the angels that has Drake’s friends getting involved to bring Grey and Drake together in the hopes that their relationship will serve a higher purpose.

**

First let me say that I’m a Diane Adams fan. I really enjoyed her series “The Making of a Man” and was really excited about a paranormal book from her.

I’m not sure the order of writing, but I do know this is a re-print of an earlier title. That being the case it may have been one of her earlier books, I don’t know. But what I do know is that it lacked some of the tightness her other stories had and that there were some basic flaws that made enjoying the creativity of this story a harder for me.

The premise and the world-building were great. Angels aren’t vehicles of heaven – they just “are”. They don’t have an agenda, they just protect. They don’t judge don’t necessarily even care about what they see, they just observe. This has some consequences and in the past has led to some rebellion. Currently, there are angels worried about another rebellion. I liked this take on the angel theme, and was glad to see a departure from some of the more historical/religious way angels are usually portrayed.

I also loved the idea of a guardian angel falling for his charge. Sure, it’s been done before, but it’s a lovely idea and in this case has some interesting twists.

What I found difficult was all the inconsistencies around what angels were to do, why they would “go corporeal” and how they would come to that decision, what happens when they cross over, why Drake was so fixated on memories, what roll Grey was to play in the end and what the other pair of lovers had to do with things. It felt kind of vague in some ways and didn’t seem to follow a discrete set of “plot rules” in a way that made me understand character motivation well at all.

Though it may sound silly, it was hard having two MCs with names like Grey and Drake. They were so similar I kept forgetting who was who and had to re-read passages over and over because I’d gotten confused.

The gang stuff really didn’t work for me and the attack on Drake just felt awkward and strange for a modern story.

By the end I wasn’t sure what exactly was happening with Grey and Drake and just who they were and what they were going to be doing for the foreseeable future.

So… though I really liked parts of this story, the fact that felt so rough around the edges had me giving just a bit lower rating.

3 of 5 hearts

3

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Demon of Mine by Rayna Vause

Dreamspinner Presents:

http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=6778

DemonOfMineBlurb

Climbing the corporate ladder can be hell….

As a Collections Demon, Zavier grants his “clients” one wish in exchange for their souls. His job sucks, but once you make a deal with Corporate South, they own you. The trouble is, Zavier’s not a very good Collections Demon, with his tendencies to spurn authority and find loopholes to help deserving clients out of their contracts. He’s under scrutiny from the head of his department, who would quite literally like to see him burn. He just needs to close a simple deal to get upper management off his back. Instead, he meets Ryan.

Ryan is desperately searching for a way to save his dying sister. He doesn’t believe in magic and demons, but he’s out of options. Zavier’s not what he expects in a demon, and even more unexpected is the strong sense of familiarity—very intimate familiarity.

While trying to free Ryan from his contract, Zavier discovers secrets unscrupulous even by South standards. Exposing them could cost Zavier everything, but it might be Ryan’s only hope.

Review
(Warning, spoilers.)

Ryan’s sister is dying of cancer – in a desperate move he makes a deal with a demon for his soul in exchange for her health. Zavier is the demon called on to make the deal, only Zavier and Ryan have a history.

Together they realize that all is not how it seems and that even in “hell” mistakes can be made. With some help from a friend in high places, they find a way to beat the system and try for a second chance at a lifetime together.

**

I see that I might be in the minority here, and I really wanted to like this book, but I didn’t.

The pluses: I liked the characters: Ryan is funny but nicely stubborn and not always in a good way. Zavier is impetuous but has a heart full of love. Adrian is appropriately mysterious and sexy and I hope he gets his own book next. Maggie is sweet and supportive. Serena and Mr. Simon are good at being bad.

The minuses: There were so many plot holes I couldn’t keep track. There seemed to be no “rules” in this alternate reality where hell is like a corporation that deals in souls but still makes people work every day in a remarkably “earth” like environment. I didn’t get it. How is it selling your soul to be granted an eternal life with an apartment and a job and restaurants and… ? It didn’t make sense.

Then there’s the “clerical error” thing… huh? How is that not monitored and fixed and isn’t there some sort of checks and balances going on? If not a heaven/God, then what do the angels do? Why in the world would that even happen and since it did how do you explain Ryan and his “deal” the first time around? Who is keeping track and promoting people? Surely there is some “higher being or thing” keeping track of this stuff. Why wouldn’t they catch all these mistakes and misdeeds? I just didn’t understand the corporation analogy.

I also didn’t get Jason’s role at all. If he’s such a good friend why in the hell would he recommend Ryan sell his soul in the first place? And once he realized that he had wouldn’t he be overcome with guilt? And how is he allowed to “know” all about demons now?

Then there’s the bickering between the two lovers about which Ryan is the real guy… come on, really? There isn’t enough to fight against, we have to fight over an earlier incarnation?

To me this story needed someone sitting down and simply pointing out plot inconsistencies. It bugged me so much that I was completely thrown from the story over and over to the point that I didn’t really care about Ryan and Zavier making it because the whole thing was so implausible to begin with (even given a total acceptance of demons and souls and angels and magic etcetera).

So, I will be a voice of dissention, but I cannot recommend this but give it 2 of 5 hearts for the attempt, the cover and the original idea.

2

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