Category: Era

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Trusting Love by Mari Evans

From Dreamspinner:22745446

Laurie Stallon isn’t like other high schoolers. After suffering years of abuse at his father’s hands, he now lives in a foster care facility and finds solace volunteering at the local animal shelter. Laurie’s had to grow up fast, and even though his eighteenth birthday is still weeks away, he’s more adult than most adults he knows. When he meets Dr. Sam Davies, the new shelter veterinarian, the attraction is instant. They become friends at work, but Laurie knows Sam will never go for someone like him. No matter how Laurie tries to prove his maturity to Sam, Sam continues to reject him as too young.

Needing a distraction, Laurie goes out dancing for his birthday and finds his life in danger yet again. When Sam is called to the hospital, he realizes Laurie needs someone to care for him. Sam takes him home, and they slowly build a relationship. But more than their age difference works against them. Facing the disapproval of friends and the scars from Laurie’s past, they’ll need to put all their trust in love for a chance at a future together.

Kimi’s thoughts:

This book was one of those that you had to look deeper into the thoughts and actions of the characters or miss a lot of the subtext. On the surface, Laurie is at turns annoying, whiny, and a bit of brat. Sam is 27 to Laurie’s 18, and boy, does he feel it when this idea of Laurie surfaces. he gets annoyed, angry, and confuses his role as lover and protector with that of…ooops…an almost parental figure.  These are just that though, surface impressions quickly absorbed if you simply read the text and move on. Taking the time to mull over the scenes, I actually got a different picture.

Laurie is living in a shelter of sorts. He’s not had great personal experience with parental figures and once free of his own, has more or less stood on his own two feet. He works, pays his bills, buys his own clothes, does all the things that he thinks marks a responsible adult. He’s also caring, loving his friends and the animal he helps care for with an open sincerity. What he doesn’t have is a true understanding of how life actually works. He thinks he does, and his overprotective personal cheerleader friends aren’t much help in that regard as they are also young and wearing somewhat rose tinted glasses.

Laurie is unprepared for what he finds when he does take those first steps out into the real world of adults. The dangers one can face clubbing, the give and take of a healthy adult relationship, and even facing the truth of how one’s friends unintentionally obstruct your life are all lessons he ends up learning in short order. Up until meeting Sam and becoming involved with him, he’d managed to cover his insecurities and naivety with his quick wits and a show of snark. That is a shield that can only cover so much though, and Sam can see right through it. Sadly, Laurie’s own ego and his friends’ sense of overprotectiveness can’t either and they feed into each other.

I really felt for Sam when Laurie’s friends do their mental dance of vindication and sweep Laurie back to themselves and feed Laurie’s anger with their whispers. Sam and Laurie deserved better than that; Sam is no predator and Laurie deserves better than to be coddled as a victim and hoarded as the friend they don’t want to share. Ultimately, Sam has to face the precise nature of the mental trigger he tripped in Laurie to cause the reaction that started their big fight. Laurie has to face the fact that only he himself knows what he wants and needs and that his friends are not in his and Sam’s relationship and in fact are making well intentioned paving stones for his personal road to relationship hell. He has to face the fact that being an adult is not just about reaching a magic number of years or going through the motions of paying bills and what not, but about width and breadth of life experience in the wider world. It’s about not hiding and owning up to personal mistakes and seeing things from the other side. It’s about truly understanding trust and giving it.

It makes for a sweet romance filled with snark that’s also a tell of two men coming of age. Laurie, who takes his unsheltered first steps out into the real world and Sam who steps into the world of long term romantic relationships.  It’s not a perfect read, but this is the author’s debut novel and it is quite an enjoyable one, even if I did at times want to give Laurie and his friends a good shake. The fact that it got me that engaged in the story is a win as is the HEA.

Rating: 4

kimisig

 

 

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The Festivus Miracle by Kim Fielding

Amazon Presents: http://www.amazon.com/Festivus-Miracle-Kim-Fielding-ebook/dp/B00MS89DI2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1416606310&sr=8-1&keywords=Festivus+Miracle

Festivus

 

** Free for Kindle Unlimited

Blurb

It’s finals week during Tony McNeil’s second year in law school, and he’s struggling to keep up. Frankly, he’d rather be cooking. Then he meets first-year student Eddie Cohen-Fernandez, who’s heartsick over missing his family’s annual Festivus celebration. Tony can use his culinary skills to lift Eddie’s spirits, but finding long-term happiness? That just might require a Festivus miracle.

Morgan’s Review

Yay for short holiday stories!

This is another great free read on Kindle unlimited.

Tony is in law school and hating it. Eddie is in law school, too, but loves it. They meet one night in the library when Tony offers Eddie some dinner and a ride home on a cold night.

From that night forward they are inseparable and both realize what they have been missing from their lives: love.

When the end of the year rolls around, Eddie has no money to get home for “Festivus” (the made up holiday from Seinfeld) and Tony offers him some help, giving Eddie a Festivus Miracle.  While there, Eddie and his family show Tony that it’s okay to “disappoint” your parents when it means keeping your soul happy.

**

With a few short pages, Kim gives us a fully developed story about finding out who you are and living your life to its full potential.

There are some sweet smexy scenes, but most of this is about self discovery and finding that place in your soul that makes you sing.

It has a very satisfying HFN/HEA and leaves you with a huge smile on your face.

I really enjoyed this short holiday story and highly recommend it and Kim Fielding.

I give it 5 of 5 hearts

5

 

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Christmas Cole Audiobook by BG Thomas Narrated by Paul Morey

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

christmas cole

Blurb

Javier Torres was a sweet, plump, and very unpopular child. But over the years, he turned himself into a gorgeous gym god. The problem is he’s also become an egotistical snob. But one day his arrogance pisses off the wrong little old lady, and he wakes up to find that, like the Prince in Beauty and the Beast, he’s been transformed into something from his personal nightmares. Javier has nowhere to go but back home, where to his surprise, he is greeted with open arms, not just by the family he remembers, but by his new brother-in-law, Cole. Cole suspects there might be a pretty heart to go with the pretty face locked inside that new body, but has Javier learned enough to earn Cole – instead of coal – for Christmas?

Morgan’s Review

Javier is a jerk. A big one. He’s mean and rude and judgmental. One day he’s rude to the wrong person and he gets paid back. Big time.

Javier grew up fat. He hated it. He did everything he could to change that and hasn’t looked back. He leads a life full of shallow hook-ups with an endless stream of faces.

One night he literally runs into an “old woman” and she tells him she’s ashamed of his behavior and that he has much to learn. When he wakes up the next day, he’s changed back to his old fat self.

His current lover essentially tells him though it isn’t “over” it’s over. So Javier goes home to lick his wounds.

There he finds himself welcomed (after a 10 year absence) by open arms. His family and his friends are all there and they all love him, as he is.

Javier still can’t love himself, though. He’s attracted to his long time friend Cole, but can’t believe that he’s lovable in his current body.

With a lot of love, trust and guidance from a mysterious woman’s voice in his head, he eventually lets Cole in and love follows.

**

This is a take on the old Christmas Story of Scrooge… sort of. In a way Javier is his own ghost from the past and the future and Marley’s ghost is played by… well that’s a surprise for the end.

It’s a lovely little holiday story about love and self-acceptance and being non-judgmental. I really appreciated that when asked if he wanted to return to his skinnier self, Javier said – No. Way to go!

The sex was fade to black, but it fit the nature and timing of the story.

The narration was nice. Paul Morey does a lot of narration for this genre and he is always a reliable bet for a good story telling.

The only thing he did that I didn’t like was make Javier sound a little more swishy and fem than I pictured him. Paul also doesn’t have the best Hispanic accent, he sounded vaguely Russian… but it didn’t detract from my overall enjoyment of the story.

I really enjoyed this little holiday story with it’s big is beautiful message.

I give it 4.5 of 5 hearts.

4.5

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Shifting Gears by Petra Lynn

Dreamspinner Presents: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=5717

shifting

Blurb

One rainy night, bike-shop owner Kenton Palmer finds an injured dog on the road and takes him to the nearest vet clinic, only to discover he’s actually a wolf. Undeterred, he wants to nurse the injured animal following a necessary surgery. The handsome Dr. Will Barclay’s interest and his own brand of animal attraction overwhelm Kenton, who’s been doubting himself after a failed romance.

Gray Fowler is a wolf-shifter and pack alpha. After Kenton rescues him and takes him home to heal, he’s forced to remain in wolf form. But that doesn’t prevent him from falling hard for Kenton. It begins as jealousy, but Gray soon discovers Will, Kenton’s new admirer, is caught up in something sinister. However, he’s forced to wait until he’s healthy before he can shift and enter Kenton’s life as a man. Then Gray must discover how Will’s shady activities are linked to the men who ran him down and expose the scheme before Kenton gets too involved with Will.

Morgan’s Review

Kenton finds an injured “dog” (wolf) on the road one night, apparently hit by a Hummer. Though he knows it’s dangerous, he approaches the dog and takes it to a vet for emergency care. The vet, who acts a bit cold toward the animal, informs him it’s a wolf, and wants to put it down. Kenton’s gut won’t let him and he convinces the vet to do the surgery, Kenton will assume the cost.

The vet, Will, then proceeds to hit on Kenton, who is pretty lonely and therefore, receptive. As the wolf heals, Will and Kenton grow “closer”, though something isn’t quite right with Will but Kenton can’t put a finger on why he has misgivings about their relationship.

The wolf/dog Kenton names Rain (since he found him in the rain) goes home with Kenton to recuperate and the two become best friends.

Meanwhile, we learn from the wolf’s POV that “Rain” is actually a shifter named Gray and he’s also worried about Will. Something about the man is off. Gray is also slowly falling in love with Kenton, but can’t do anything about it in shifted form and is too scared to shift back to man for fear of losing Kenton.

But… one night Gray overhears Will’s plot to take so-called rescued animals and sell them for experimentation, including some wolves Gray fears might be shifters. He breaks free of his kennel and shifts back to man (has sex with Kenton while Kenton thinks he’s dreaming) and then leaves to gather his pack to save the animals.

Kenton is heart broken at having lost his wolf, and his relationship with Will isn’t going well either. He’s confused about his dreams and then he meets Gray at his bike shop.  Kenton is attracted to Gray, but he doesn’t want to give up on his relationship with Will.

So…Gray has to convince Kenton Will isn’t the guy for him, keep Will from selling the animals and then find a way to introduce Kenton to the world of shifters … it’s going to be a busy night!

**
I wanted to like this, so much, but I really didn’t.

There were several things that put me off.
• Kenton is a doormat. He doesn’t show much of a spine and the personality we do see isn’t very attractive.
• Kenton and Will have more on page relationship than anyone else in the story. Will is a total douche and Kenton lets him get away with murder – literally!
• Gray does something very creepy after seeing Kenton and Will have sex (yes – on page sex!) that skeeved me out and made me uncomfortable.
• When Kenton finally does figure out Will is the bad guy, that Gray is Rain and that Gray is  his “dream lover” he doesn’t react like you think he would and it makes things feel awkward.
• The ending is lack luster. We spent all this time with Will and Kenton and barely a scene with Gray and Kenton together. Very frustrating.

The writing was ok, I didn’t see a lot of errors, but I didn’t like the MCs or the fact that most of the sex scenes were not with our two main love interests.

Overall I give it a 2 of 5 for having an okay writing style and what could have been an interesting plot but was executed poorly IMHO.

2

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Work in Progress (Belladonna Arms #2) by John Inman

Dreamspinner Presents: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=5515

work

Blurb

Dumped by his lover, Harlie Rose ducks for cover in the Belladonna Arms, a seedy apartment building perched high on a hill in downtown San Diego. What he doesn’t know is that the Belladonna Arms has a reputation for romance—and Harlie is about to become its next victim.

Finding a job at a deli up the street, Harlie meets Milan, a gorgeous but cranky baker. Unaware that Milan is suffering the effects of a broken heart just as Harlie is, the two men circle around each other, manning the barricades, both unwilling to open themselves up to love yet again.
But even the most stubborn heart can be conquered.

With his new friends to back him up—Sylvia, on the verge of her final surgery to become a woman, Arthur, the aging drag queen who is about to discover a romance of his own, and Stanley and Roger, the handsome young couple in 5C who lead by example, Harlie soon learns that at the Belladonna Arms, love is always just around the corner waiting to pounce. Whether you want it to or not.

But tragedy also drops in now and then.

 Morgan’s review

We return to the amazing Belladonna Arms. Arthur is still there, in horrible drag. Chi Chi and Ramon are there, but fighting. Stanley and Roger are there and in love. Sylvia is about to have her surgery, the kleptomaniac Charlie is still taking his meds and he and Bruce are still a couple. All in all love is in the air, specifically the Love Pollen that Arthur claims falls on the unsuspecting tenants and makes them succumb.

Harlie thinks he’ll be immune to the pollen, however, since he has just gotten back from a four month journey across the country getting “over” his ex. He’s alone and plans on staying that way. His only focus: getting a job and writing his novel.

Sylvia comes through with a job for Harlie, working as a baker’s assistant at the restaurant where she works. The owner of the restaurant is Mr. Burger, an older gentleman whose lover has recently died. We suspect Sylvia probably knew that his son, Milan, might just cure Harlie of his blues, as he, too, is a gay man recently alone.

Sure enough, Milan and Harlie set off sparks. At first, Harlie thinks Milan is straight and hates him, which only makes him that much more fascinating, but then we see them connect outside of work and Milan is really just shy and heartbroken.

Sylvia has other plans for our Belladonna Arms manager, Arthur. Harlie, mistakenly!, tries to change Arthur’s style by making him more “butch”. What a hilarious failure that was! No matter what he tries, Arthur glams it up and looks miserable without his flowing garments. But… Mr. Burger sees something in Arthur he’s been missing and it’s love at first sight!

The remainder of the book is Sylvia healing, Arthur and Mr. Burger sexing and loving, Milan and Harlie sexing and loving, and… a horrible, horrible sad story involving Chi Chi and Ramon…

Overall, it was another amazing book by John Inman and I loved (almost) every second of it as much as the first book Serenading Stanley. I’m not sure why the sad story was included… maybe to give some more depth to this very sweet story, or to open up a new line for the next story (I hope!) but it was hard to read. I hope we hear more about their story in another installment, because it’s just too good to stop now!

Harlie and Milan are a wonderful, sweet couple and I’m sure you’ll love meeting them.

I also give tons of Kudos for giving Arthur a lover, he sooooo deserves to be loved and Mr. Burger was amazing!  I loved the message too – be yourself!  What a gift!

I highly recommend this book and the series, I can’t wait for the audio version to come out as I’m sure it will be awesome as well.

5 of 5 hearts

5

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Chipmunk Drizzled in Honey by Jackie Nacht

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

chipmunk

Blurb

 

Even this grumpy bear can’t resist this chipmunks charm.

Dallas likes the life he has. He’s the proud owner of the donut shop, Honey Cakes, and now owns the home he grew up in White Pine. He thought his life was perfect until Nikko the chipmunk sashayed into his life. Now, Dallas doesn’t know if he wants to push the spunky chipmunk away or make love to him.

Nikko has known since the moment he saw Dallas that he wanted the bear. Nothing, even the grouchiness of the gorgeous bear will keep him from making Dallas his own. But how can Nikko get Dallas to see they belong together?

Morgan’s Review

This is a quick shifter romance from Jackie Nacht’s series: Paranormal Dentistry for the Fanged and Friendly

Dallas is a bear who likes his solitude. Nikko is a chipmunk and he’s the life of the party. This is a case of opposites attracting.

Nikko makes a ton of mistakes at the donut shop but Dallas can’t bear to fire him, even when he eats all the pecans!

It takes talking to his best friend for him to finally face facts, but Dallas is smitten and when he finally gives in to temptation, Nikko and he make a very sweet couple.

**

I love shifter stories where they actually shift and act like their animal halves and we get to see both the human and the fuzzy side in this little love story.

Dallas is rumbly and bear like, Nikko is high strung and chipmunk like, but Nikko doesn’t let Dallas run all over him. He stands up and cusses him out when need be – in both human and chipmunk forms! It’s really cute!

I thoroughly enjoyed this short story and look forward to reading the other books in the series.

I give it 4.5 of 5 hearts.

4.5

 

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After The End Audiobook by Alex Kidwell Narrated by Gregory Salinas

Dreamspinner Presents: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=3526&osCsid=pe06ins86vgbqor5le91ve7s91

afterBlurb

After Quinn O’Malley loses his partner of ten years, Aaron, to cancer, he withdraws from everything. In a single tragic moment, he goes from an artist with a loving partner and a future to an uninspired comic book store owner who barely exists. He hides behind a shield of grief, refusing to let Aaron go. He feels guilty for even trying to imagine a life apart from what he’d had.
The charming party planner Quinn’s best friend insists he meet on a blind date isn’t someone he’s ready for. Brady Banner walks into Quinn’s small frozen world and turns everything upside down. For years, Quinn has focused on endings, but as Brady begins to thaw his existence, Quinn realizes that one moment can do more than stop a life – it can also start a new one.

Morgan’s Review

Both book and audiobook

Quinn was in love with Aaron. Aaron got cancer and died two years ago. Quinn is very, very sad about this. He finally agrees to go out on a blind date set up by his BFF and meets Brady.

Brady is a saint.

Really, he is.

Brady listens, understands, and even fights for Quinn, despite the constant pressure of Aaron’s figurative ghost in the room. (No, this isn’t a paranormal story!)

I both really loved and really didn’t love this book. Especially in audio format. There were times when if felt like HOURS of internal dialog about how much Quinn missed Aaron and how unfair it was to Brady and how much he missed Aaron and how unfair that was to Brady… you get the idea. These bouts of doubt were interspersed with Brady first just getting through to Quinn then their relationship slowly growing. But it was a little, one step forward, two steps back, for awhile.

At the mid point we finally got some momentum and the relationship began to get its legs under itself and move forward. The couple had some nice smexy times and I really started to enjoy things much more.

The narrator did a nice job, though sometimes his intonations felt a little “soap opera” in the laying on the drama too thick.

I think that I would give the book a 4 of 5 hearts, because I really, really liked the story, the characters and the happy place it ended. But, it needed a lot of editing and in book form you can skim a heck of a lot easier than in audio form.

Because the narration was good, but not great and the inability to skim very well, I’d knock the narration down to 3.5 of 5 hearts.

So, overall, as a listening experience I’d give it 3.75 hearts, but really, I’d recommend reading this over listening. It’s just too long and the story is great, but you might want to skim the first half to get to the really nice second half.

4

 

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Feathers From The Sky Audiobook by Posy Roberts Narrated by Paul Morey

Dreamspinner presents: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=5745

feathers

Blurb

Cal Thompson is going a little mad over the Christmas holiday, stuck in a tiny house with fourteen members of his immediate family. There’s no privacy and no boyfriend to help him cope—because Philip is still a secret, though not for long. Cal’s family knows he’s bisexual, but they’ve always assumed Cal would marry a woman and be fruitful and multiply. Just as he’s ready to set the record straight, his parents tell the family they’re selling the family house and tip this introvert’s world on edge.

Philip Sherman arrives at Cal’s family home to find his lover mourning the loss of his home, paralyzed by the abrupt and unexpected announcement that trumped his own. Though Philip takes the setback in stride, they won’t be able to avoid the calling of their hearts for long: Cal needs to reveal the truth of his relationship with Philip to his family, and Philip has a question he’s desperate to have answered.

A story from the Dreamspinner Press 2013 Advent Calendar package “Heartwarming”.

Morgan’s Review

Book:

Cal is going home for Christmas. He’s part of a huge family and though his parents are very liberal, he worries about coming out to them, but this is the year he plans to finally come clean. He’s invited his “roommate” (his boyfriend) to share the holiday as well.

Philip is the perfect boyfriend. Supportive. Loving. Understanding. Loyal. He wants to be part of Cal’s family, yet he doesn’t pressure him into telling them, but he’s hopeful.

Most of this short Christmas story is about Cal facing his family and their surprise announcement that his parents are selling his childhood home. He has to face what “home” really means and determine just who he is and what “family” means to him. He has to finally grow up.

Philip is nothing but supportive, and when he shows up he’s embraced with open arms. He’s shown the crazy life Cal had, being one of seven children, and falls in love with the madness.

When push comes to shove, it turns out Cal needn’t have worried, the family accepted his announcement with grace and Philip rewards Cal’s courage with an important question of his own.

**

Though this had romantic elements, it wasn’t your typical romance. Cal and Philip are a solid couple and there really isn’t any issue there. Mostly, Cal just needs to face the final hurdle and claim his adult-self, free from his family, free from his childhood home, and embrace who he is, as a man and as an artist.

I really enjoyed this story. It was almost a “coming of age” in that, at 26, Cal still needed to cut the apron strings of parental expectations. Though he had lived on his own for years, he still pictured himself as the boy who lived in the house where he grew up.

When he learned that childhood home was going to be sold, he had to face the fact that he was no longer that child. He needed to make the leap and “confess” his sexuality and face the fact that the art he wanted to do wasn’t the typical portraiture his family thought, but instead more body forms and creative, less “reliable”. He wants to travel the world with Philip and take photos. This does not lend itself well to becoming a father.

His biggest hang-up was that he worried his mother would bemoan the loss of grandkids, because though adoption, surrogacy, etc. is an option, he and Philip really didn’t want kids. This is ridiculous, given that he has 6 other siblings, some of who already have kids, to provide the needed grandchildren.

In the end, it was touching and sweet. Sort of a melancholy look at growing up and letting go, but hopeful and exciting, too.

I give the book 4 of 5 hearts, I really liked it.

Audio:

Paul Morey, a favorite in this genre, did another really nice job with the narration. My only problem was Philip. He was supposed to be British, but the accent was definitely more Scottish or vaguely Irish. It’s a small thing, but it sort of bugged me.

The rest of the voices were nice, nothing too dramatic or exciting, but easy to understand and it was easy to lose yourself in the story.

I give the narration a 3.5 of 5 hearts.

Overall, I’ll round it back up to 4 of 5 hearts because it really was a nice listening experience and I enjoyed the story.

4

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Brokedown Hearts (Foster Siblings #3) by Cameron Dane

brokedown

From Loose-ID:

Ex-con David Joyner returns home knowing he must atone for his past sins. Working at an animal shelter, David keeps his head down, desperate to prove to a hostile town he’s a new man. The one time David looks up, he spots fellow motel dweller Ben, and is terrified by his attraction to the man. David doesn’t want to feel anything. He can only damage what he loves.

On a forced vacation, PI Ben Evans accepts a job to tail a recently released prisoner. What begins as an easy gig turns complicated when Ben, a controlled man, can’t deny the pang of empathy he feels for his subject, David. Ben can’t suppress his gut-deep sexual desires whenever he’s near David either.

Repeatedly crossing paths, David and Ben do their best to fight their growing attraction. When passion explodes, and secrets are revealed, both men have to conquer inner demons in order to accept the others love.

Someone has turned the tables on David, though, stalking him and leaving threatening notes. Will anyone believe David if he tells? And when David’s stalker raises the stakes, can Ben find the man who has become his world in time to save their love?

Morgan’s Review

David (who we met in A Fostered Love) was the stalker who tormented Christian and almost killed himself. He ends up going to prison and this story picks up after his release where he was also hospitalized and is still being treated by psychiatrists.

Ben is Brayden’s ex from Something New. Brayden, asked by Jonah, asks Ben to tail David and make sure he is doing ok and not hurting himself or others. Ben ends up being attracted to David and this is where I had to stop.

David is fragile. He is messed up. He still panics at the slightest bit of sexual attraction and/or attention. In fact, just thinking about kissing Ben causes him to call his psychiatrist in a blind panic.

When Ben does finally kiss him, David, showing a lot of growth, tells him, NO, I am not ready for this. So what does Ben do? He kisses him anyway, despite his obvious terror and tells him he needs it.

This is where I had to stop. David says “Please. You shouldn’t do this.” “It’s not right.” “You need to leave.”
Ben replies. “ Don’t fuck with me David. There will always be consequences.”

Now. I know from reading other reviews and talking to people who have read the book, that it is explained and might even be “what David needs”. But to me it sounds and feels like rape.

I am just not comfortable with this in a romantic novel.

So, I had to stop.

I love Cameron Dane. I have enjoyed many of her novels and all the Foster Siblings books before this. This just hit me in a bad place and I couldn’t/didn’t want to proceed.

No Rating: DNF

 

Kimi’s thoughts:

This was a difficult read  because not only did we have a guy who’d been imprisoned for stalking  a previous character in an earlier book in the series, and it was one that was easily likeable, but then as we get to know the broken man David truly is and how dysfunctional his family are, along comes some dub con scenes where he is the target.

I’m glad I stuck with it, though, as it turns out that Ben seems to understand something about David that we didn’t, and David, well, David is okay with it. It’s not perhaps the most ideal of relationship models, but these two men fit together to make one whole that gives them their idea of a happily ever after. It’s a dynamic that actually saves David’s life as we discover that the help David is receiving to aid in his rehab is being used as a cover by someone who does NOT have his best interests at heart and actually uses his fear of attachment against him.

David’s work with shelter animals touched my heartstrings too, especially the whole thing with the abandoned kitten.  I’m a huge sucker for the whole kind to animals thing,  and Dane did well to use this, it really helped me see David as a troubled man who has goodness in him

Kimi’s rating: 3.5

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Unexpected Spirit by Nicole Dennis

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

 

unexpected Blurb

Can ex-lovers find their way back to one another while Samhain allows a desperate person to do about anything to connect?

A reluctant medium turned writer, Dmitri Terron, hates Samhain and the spirits invading his life. He follows the Druid path, creating wards and barriers to keep out the ghosts. Even with these barriers in place, an unexpected spirit enters his home. It’s his ex-boyfriend, Zackary Kendrick who is scared and relieved to find Dmitri.

Needing to learn what happen, Dmitri pushes past his personal barriers to help. Zack’s physical body rests in a coma. A piece of Zack’s soul needs to reunite with his body or all is lost.

 

Morgan’s Review

This is a short Halloween story in the series Scare This! (book 5). Dimitri is a medium, hiding from the world, an agoraphobe who gets bombarded with spirits seeking help each Samhain and Beltane. He’s learned some druid tricks to ward his house during these days, but even the most carefully laid barriers are breeched by his ex-lover Zackary’s ghost.

Zackary doesn’t know how he ended up in Dimitri’s home. He hadn’t seen the man in over 10 years and he doesn’t remember the last several days that led him to this point. He remembers thinking about Dimitri and going to their special place, then … nothing.

Dimitri thinks Zack is still alive, but somehow separated from his body. Zack convinces him to leave his haven to help him re-join the two.

Dimitri finds Zack in a coma and must work hard to get his soul back inside the body before the spirit grows too weak and leaves this plane.

**

There was a lot that happened in this short story but I never quite got invested in the characters. I didn’t really get the feeling, aside from gratitude and a new appreciation for what Dimitri goes through, that Zack had done much to convince me he and Dimitri would make it in the long run.

Since most of the story takes place with Zack as a ghost, we don’t actually get to see them as a corporeal couple very much.

However, it was an interesting Halloween story with a romantic twist.

I give it 3 of 5 hearts for being a seasonally fun romantic story.

3

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