Betrayed by his advisers, only the love of two mysterious men can rescue Inea and save his kingdom.
After the death of his father, Inea finds himself the unprepared king of a country at war. When his council forsakes him, and he’s thrown into the dungeons of his own castle, the young man manages to escape only with the help of the intriguing stranger Ansyn.
After one year in hiding, Inea, driven by desire, seeks out Ansyn and discovers that there is more to his savior than he could have ever hoped for. Joined by their new ally Kaedon, passions build, and they find themselves in a romance that helps fuel their plan to reclaim the throne.
REVIEW: After checking out the blurb I was really looking forward to reading this book. It started out with some nail-biting action, then the hero was wandering the countryside looking to build an army to reclaim his throne. Sounds exciting, right? Wrong. Most of the book was about Inea and crew on their quest, and all of the characters, especially Ansyn, acted like a bunch of immature, spoiled, and just plain whiny brats! The exciting, action-packed battle at the end of the story ALMOST made up for slogging through the book, but not enough. I really enjoyed reading about the world built by this author. I just wish the inhabitants had been as interesting. This book might be a good story to some, but it just wasn’t my cup of tea.
BLURB: Love between a young man with a broken mind and the jaded New Vampire Justice officer who cares for him might be the last hope to stop a human-vampire war…
Justin Masters is stuck in a nightmare. Waking after seven years in a catatonic state, he falls desperately in love with the straight NVJ officer who saved him. Between that and dreams of being tortured and taking pleasure in the pain, which bleed into his waking hours, Justin’s sure he’s starting to crack.
The growing unrest in the vampire world should be Max Kincaid’s focus, but Justin’s struggle, along with Max’s confusing feelings for his ward, have him reeling. When Justin’s attacked, his resulting needs might be more than Max can fulfill, but he’ll be damned if anyone else will touch Justin.
As the NVJ investigates humans missing from a high-end bite club, they uncover a deeper plot that traces back to Justin. If those who want him have their way, there will be bloodshed. Justin and Max are in a fight to save Justin not only from those who would use him, but from his own mind.
REVIEW: I can’t imagine the sheer terror Justin felt after waking up one day only to discover that seven years have gone by since that painful, horror-filled day when Carson was forced to bite him. This starts the long, twisted, shocking, heartbreaking journey of Justin trying to get his life back one achingly slow step at a time. Max is confused by his feelings as they slowly change from seeing Justin as a broken victim he needs to protect into wanting him as a lover and a partner. This compelling tale has more twists and turns than a rollercoaster, and enough action to satisfy any adrenaline junkie. The sheer evil and greed of some of the villains made me shudder in revulsion, and just when I thought I figured out what was going on….BAM! Everything took off in a totally unexpected direction. No one was who they seemed to be, and the ending was definitely not what I figured it would be. I can positively recommend this fantastic story to everyone.
Harper Kidd is a highly respected marine archaeologist. Yet, with the economy in a slump, he’s trapped working in an oil company’s exploration division. Now, at the ripe age of thirty, Harp is disgusted with his employer’s damage to the undersea world he loves, tired of his ATM-card-filching ex, and tormented by beautiful dreams of an undersea lover. It’s time for a change and when his best friend, Stick, pleads with him to assist on a deep-sea dig in the Mediterranean, he jumps at the chance.
Harper’s spriits are high when they discover the ruins of an ancient civilization, and soar to the heavens when they discover a statue of an ancient pelora, a mysterious hybrid creature said to mediate between the worlds of reality and fantasy—and the very lover who holds the starring role in his dreams.
When the crew discovers the site is teeming with unexploded ordnance from the conflicts in the Middle East, and the excavation turns deadly, Harper must choose between saving his best friend and saving the pelora he’s fallen in love with. Read an excerpt on Love Bytes Reviews! en français
About Aisling Mancy
Ash is an author who lives, most of the time, on the West Coast of the United States. Ash writes mystery thrillers, fantasy, science fiction, romance, and fiction for gay young adults as C. Kennedy.
Raised on the mean streets and back lots of Hollywood by a Yoda-look-alike grandfather, Ash doesn’t conform, doesn’t fit in, is epic awkward, and lives to perfect a deep-seated oppositional defiance disorder. In a constant state of fascination with the trivial, Ash contemplates such weighty questions as If time and space are curved, then where do all the straight people come from? When not writing, Ash can be found taming waves on western shores, pondering the nutritional value of sunsets, appreciating the much-maligned dandelion, unhooking guide ropes from stanchions, and marveling at all things ordinary. Ash does respond to emails because, after all, it is all about you, the reader.
Jamie is a shifter.
But he can’t shift. That’s what he wants his pack to think.
Truth is, Jamie is a white wolf. The biggest, best, strongest kind of wolf. He refuses to shift because his pack, and his parents, treat him as a misfit. An outcast. And when he takes matters into his own hands by fleeing to join the Lonestar Pack, his fate is already determined.
There will be sacrifice.
There will be war.
There will be death.
Above all, there will be love.
And love always wins.
Excerpt:
“You ready to go in the water?” I asked. “Let me take care of these for you. I want to see all of you.” He dropped to his knees taking my pants and shoes with him, then stood up, taking hold of my cock. He moved his free hand down and across my back and nipped my ear playfully. My body heated up as he tweaked one of my nipples gently, and I released a moan. He didn’t hesitate at all before taking one of my nipples gently into his mouth.
I reached over, unbuttoned his pants and removed his jeans. I knelt before him and licked his precum that leaked out. As I licked, he reached down, grabbed a handful of my hair, and moaned loudly.
I licked slowly at first, but was soon licking faster. After a few minutes, he reluctantly pushed me away, helped me stand up, and pulled me in for a long, hard kiss.
He broke the kiss and assisted me in lying down on the soft grass. He kissed his way down my body, making sure to pay attention to each nipple. He continued his journey down my chest and down to my hips. He placed kisses on both hips and moved to my straining cock.
When his mouth enveloped my cock, it felt like I was in heaven. I reached down and ran my fingers through his hair as he bobbed his head up and down, I could feel his gag reaction but he recovered quickly. He would occasionally move his attention to my balls.
He held his hand up to my mouth and had me suck on a finger to get it slick. I went up and down for a few minutes before he took his hand away then rubbed his finger over my hole, trying to gain entrance.
“Relax for me babe, this may hurt at first, but I promise it’ll feel good soon.”
Rachel Ravenheart is new to the literary world, but has had the desire to write since she was in junior high school. She moved from a small town in Iowa in time to start high school in Louisiana.
Rachel lost sight of writing as she got bogged down with sports and school. Her dream of being a writer forgotten as she looked to the future to study Political Science with the hope of going to law school when she moved to Texas.
To make her way in the world she got wrapped up in the field of nursing when she got a job as a C.N.A. and soon even her dream of law school was forgotten. Strangely, thanks to an injury she was at home recuperating and was bored when she remembered her love for writing. Never thinking she would ever get published she began.
It was writers like Rob Colton, Mann Ramblings, and Alicia Nordwell that inspired her creativity. She found GayAuthors.org and after some encouragement she decided to post her first story. With the enthusiasm of readers her confidence grew and she took the step to send off her first story to be published. It was with great delight when she was offered her first contract. Hopefully, the first of many.
PUBLISHER: Pride Publishing RELEASE DATE: October 18, 2016
BLURB: This time, it’s a real bunny shifter and you know the saying about doing something like bunnies…
Oliver Biggerstaffer comes to Texas from Boston, looking for a job and a new life. He’s hoping the advertising firm he interviews for will hire him, and he can put his past where it belongs—behind him. No one will know who or what he is—a snake shifter.
Except he’s interviewed by Jagger Osterman, a bear shifter, and he meets a cute bunny shifter at the hotel where he’s staying. Oliver can’t hide his shifter status from them. And he doesn’t want to, once he meets them—especially the bunny, Peter Ruiz. It’s lust at first sight, but Oliver wants to take things slow as long as he’s staying at the hotel Peter’s working at.
Peter wants to get laid, and he wants to get laid now. The sexy snake shifter he’s attracted to has morals and ethics and things most of the guys Peter’s screwed around with before lack.
Oliver treats Peter like a person, not a body to have sex with, and if they can survive a series of weird accidents that might not be accidents after all, then Oliver and Peter just might have a happy ending all their own.
Reader Advisory:This book contains scenes of violence and kidnapping. REVIEW: This is the 2nd book in the City Shifter series and picks up nicely where the first book left off. This is a different couple and the author did a lovely job of tying them into the previous book while keeping Peter and Oliver’s story completely separate. She did such a good job that this can be read as a stand alone even though it’s part of a series.
Peter is a rabbit/hare shifter ( I really don’t know the difference between a hate and a rabbit so I’ll just use both) working at a hotel that Oliver, a copperhead snake shifter is a guest in. The attraction between the two is instantaneous and strong.
I liked these characters quite a bit. Oliver’s a bit uptight but it’s to be expected but not overly so and Peter complements him. Peter’s personality is a bit freer in terms of his sexuality and spirit but he’s hardworking, ambitious and intelligent and Oliver sees that in him. Both of these gentlemen reached a point in their lives where they were looking for something more than sex. So instead of the mating heat that’s such a common theme in shifter stories ruling their heads, Oliver decided to court Peter. It was all so very human like.
There was drama in the story but the author doesn’t drag it out which is nice. These books Aretha perfect length; short but not overly so with everything wrapping up rather nicely at the end of each.
BLURB: One surly bear and one bunny boy…what could possibly go wrong?
Jagger Osterman is having a bad day. In fact, he’s not the slightest bit impressed with 2015 at all. His job is on the line, and it’s not like he loves being a marketing wunderkind, but he has to do something to pay the bills. If he had his way, he’d just vanish into the mountains and live out his life as the black bear he yearns to shift into. Unfortunately, Jagger doesn’t have the time to let his beast run. He has responsibilities that he can’t walk away from.
Kevin Kelly could tell Jagger a thing or two about bad days, bad years, and just out and out bad luck. He made the mistake of smarting off to a curandera years ago and hasn’t been able to shake the curse she put on him yet. There’s not an area of his life that hasn’t been screwed up in one way or another. As a pronghorn shifter, he’d be okay on his own in the wild. Sure, there’d be predators, but Kevin had come to realize the worst predators were the human kind.
But he can’t shift. He’s been solidly bound to human form since being cursed.
Two men, both trapped in their own ways. They’re about to find out that freedom comes in many forms.
REVIEW: This is book # 1 in Bradford’s City Shifter series and I must say that it’s off to a great—and hilarious—start. Here, we have Jagger, an overworked and stresses out bear shifter. He has so much on his plate, you’ll wonder how is it the poor shifter doesn’t have an ulcer with all of the stress.
An office birthday celebration comes in the form of a pronghorn shifter/dance-o-gram named Kevin. There is an instant sexual chemistry between the two. This is when things take a turn for the hilarious. It would appear that poor Kevin is under a curse thanks to him pissing off a witch years before.
The storyline strikes the perfect balance of heat, romance and comedy. The characters are absolutely lovable. Kevin has a great disposition despite the fact of him being under a curse and his constant stream of bad luck and series of unfortunate events and I absolutely fell in LOVE with Jagger’s family. His sister Syn and their crazy old uncle’s dialogues kept me in a constant state of mirth throughout the entire story. You can see the overwhelming love Jagger and his family have for each other.
Jagger and Kevin are perfectly paired. Sure, Kevin’s under a curse and his life sucks because of it but he’s tough, full of life and funny. His when-life-throws-you-lemons-make-lemonade attitude is exactly what Jagger needed.
I appreciated the entire package; the editing and cover art is lovely and the storyline, characters and dialogue made this a truly enjoyable read. This series is off to a promising start.
BLURB: DeMatteo Santiago is the Alpha of one of the largest prides in North America. He is a young, successful lion shifter, surrounded by a large family and his devoted lover. By anyone’s account he has more than any one man can ask for, but his lion cares of nothing except finding their mate.
An unexpected business trip pits DeMatteo and his long awaited mate on opposite sides of the courtroom. But when challenged by ex-lovers, nosey siblings, and crazy hunters, DeMatteo realizes that finding his mate was the easy part. The real question is whether they will live long enough to be together.
This release is an M/M paranormal shifter romance. This series will contain, graphic violence, graphic language, and Mpreg. What it will not be is an instant mate fairytale, as forces set out to destroy everything and everyone.
REVIEW: Alright, now we’re finally getting into the story of Matt’s life after his parent’s deaths. Now, as I’ve stated before, I love shifter stories in general, lion shifter in particular because I’m one of those crazy cat ladies that love all things feline. I will also admit that I like Mpreg stories; they fascinate me. So, put both of those elements together and of course I’m in.
Matt is a alpha lion of a large pride. I like the fact that he’s not just a lion shifter. He’s a highly successful and sought after attorney in the human world so I like how the author wrote him to be able to balance interacting in and with the human world as well as the paranormal world.
The human world is where he finds his true mate, Sean. Sean’s the opposing attorney in a very messy human divorce. Matt is ecstatic that he find his mate but there’s just a few glitches in the program. One, Sean’s human so there’s the how-in-the-hell-am-I-going-to-explain-this aspect to this mating. Two, they’re both with other people—Sean has a girlfriend, Matt a boyfriend so there’s the how-in-the-hell-am-I-going-to-make-a-clean-break aspect of those situations. Sean’s breakup was painless compared to Matt’s. I felt so very bad for Hugh! It was to the point that I didn’t care for the Matt’s character at all. Even though Matt made it clear that whatever they had was just sex, I still felt that he could’ve handled it with a lot more grace than he did. The way that he did it was a bit foul. It was like he told Hugh and then reminded him that he was just something to play with until the real thing comes along. It was sad. I understood that he made it clear in the beginning what type of relationship it was to be but fifteen years…I felt he could’ve at least given the poor guy a week or two before just tossing him out of the house. And Matt’s sisters didn’t make the situation any better. I actually loathed them for they way they treated Hugh. I felt like they were all rubbing salt in a cut Matt inflicted. It’s like Hugh has been mistreated all his life and were aware of that but didn’t care. They acted like insensitive bitches. And I didn’t care what happened to or with them for the rest of the story.
There’s threats from all sides, human hunters and other paranormals. Add in the mess from the breakup with Hugh and it’s not an easy walk for Matt and Sean. And you know what? They didn’t deserve one. I felt that they deserved every bit of drama and chaos that came their way; they deserved the karma over how their exes were treated.
I really enjoyed reading this book. You know the author did a great job when the reader has such visceral reactions to the characters and you’re absorbed in the storyline.
The only thing about the book that I didn’t quite care for was the tenses. I think it was told in a–I don’t know-narrative voice? I’m not sure if that’s what it’s called. It was like someone was telling you the story as opposed to you reading it as it’s happening…I can’t explain it properly but it drove me nuts. I tried to roll with it but after the first chapter I ended up substituting the tenses and the changing the wording in my head and that made it easier for it to click. It weird, I know but it’s a quirk of mine.
I usually hate cliffhangers but if the story’s really good, as this one was, I don’t mind it so much. Especially this time because I had the next book on hand so I was able to quickly get to it. In all, I think it worked out rather nicely.
BLURB: Eighty six thousand, four hundred seconds. One thousand, four hundred and forty minutes. Twenty four hours. One day. In his twenty five years of life DeMatteo Santiago had often taken for granted how much could change in a single Day. When DeMatteo crawled into bed at 10:30 pm on May 7th, 1980 there was no way of knowing how the next twenty four hours would forever alter his life. As a young Alpha lion shifter DeMatteo has left his pride, in search of his mate, and a pride of his own. But the fates have been conspiring for centuries to lead him to this precise moment in time. May 8 1980, 10:30 pm, a moment in time that will forever change the life of Matthew (DeMatteo) Santiago. Facing the challenges of being the new Alpha of the largest pride in the United States, DeMatteo must find a way to lead in the face of his own personal tragedy.
REVIEW: This is the prequel to the first book in the Doubt series which is pretty much a map of all the characters in the upcoming books and their lives. This novella reveals how Matt becomes the alpha of the pride after the death of his parents, his relationship with Hugh and such.
You definitely should read this novella prior to starting the first book because it actually gives the background stories to many of the characters. I made the mistake of reading the first book before reading the prequel and I must say that I was a little bit confused as to what was going on and who everyone was in relation to Matt. I stopped in the middle of the first book and went back to the prequel.
I liked how she mapped out each character’s life and gave us a feel of each of the characters. The only issue I had with the story was Hugh’s backstory. You read he’s experienced some abuses from his old pride but it’s mentioned in the vaguest of terms for most part of the story. It’s finally revealed but by this time, I had pretty much giving up on ever finding out. Now reading about his past makes me that much more sympathetic towards what his character goes through in the first book.
You’re not going to really connect with the characters because this prequel is simply a map into the character’s lives and personalities. You will get the full story in the upcoming books. In all, I think she did a good job. This book piqued my interest because I am a fan of shifter stories in general, feline shifters in particular. Because I am obsessively in love with all things cats, I feel that there’s not nearly enough books featuring feline shifters.
This is a nice novella acts as the appetizer before the main courses.
RELEASEDATE: August 6, 2016 (first published November 27, 2010)
BLURB: Josh the vampire hunter falls in lust with one of the enemy; Richard has secrets and might not be sane–oh, sure, this will work.
Josh hunts vampires with relentless, cold precision until the night he confronts a gorgeous hunk of vamp in the woods outside Ithaca. Richard destroys all of his prejudices about vampires in the first few moments of conversation and the sexual sparks between them ignite almost as quickly. Richard offers the stability Josh never had. Josh offers the healing Richard needs so desperately.
But it’s nearly impossible just to walk away from a life of violence. An attack one evening leaves a friend in the hospital, Richard with a bullet through his chest, muttering about strange creatures, and Josh fighting to piece together what really happened. Are Richard’s nightmare attackers real, or is Josh’s favorite vamp losing his mind? Is there a reasonable explanation or has the hunter now become prey?
This title has been previously published.
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REVIEW: This story was an absolute joy for me to read. Josh and Richard may just be my new book boyfriends. More so Richard than Josh. I just adore Richard to bits! He was an interesting mix of fierce warrior, sweet, gentle, protective, kind hearted, heartbroken vampire. He’s experienced love and loss many, many times. He’s still in mourning and feel guilty over the murder of his last human lover, whose life was taken by vampire hunters.
Josh is a vampire hunter whose led a hard life. A life filled with violence, abandonment, anger, and pain. He spots Richard one night and just makes up his mind to kill him. But the funny things happened on the way to killing the vamp.
Josh found that he couldn’t do it. One look at the beautiful vampire was all it took and the two men makes a connection. And it’s more than sexual.
I loved, LOVED this story. Josh was vulgar, rude, obnoxious, violent and a smart ass but that I felt was an armor he wore to block the pain of losing his twin sister years prior. Richard also was dealing with the loss of a loved one and these two finding each other at the time they did was perfect.
Martinez did a wonderful job bringing these characters to life. The author had an entire cast of background characters brought in and was able to blend their dialogues and storyline without losing the focus on the MCs. This was definitely not a run of the mill vampire story, believe me.
Every little thing about this book was wonderful. The plot, which has been done before, was done in such a way in this that it wasn’t tired or overused. The storyline was lovely and you will fall in love with the characters. The ending was so very sweet, definite must for those who, like me enjoys a good HEA ending.
I would love to see a sequel to this, maybe a novella just to see how these two guys are doing.
BLURB: Chief of Police John Dakota is in a world of trouble. His peaceful town of Seaside, Oregon, has been rocked by a wave of unsolved murders. The bloody deaths are eerily reminiscent of ones that occurred in Seaside years ago. Back then John worked hard to make sure the truth about the killer was never revealed. Now he’s afraid the past is coming back to haunt him.
Trevor English, the nosy reporter who occasionally shares John’s bed, is demanding information about the crimes. He also wants more of John’s affections. But John can’t afford to give in to either demand without risking the revelation of Seaside’s biggest secret: the town is a haven for shifters, and John is one of them.
To solve the crime—and prevent more victims—John must delve into the past. Many members of Seaside’s shifter community are involved, but it’s becoming harder and harder to tell which residents can be trusted. Even John’s family isn’t above suspicion. The body count is rising, and it looks like John is the killer’s next target.
REVIEW: I’m not a fan of mysteries in general, murder mysteries in particular but every now and then, one will pique my interest. This story just happened to have been one of them. This is due to it having one of my favorite things: shifters.
This is the second book I’ve read from this particular author and I must say that I really enjoy the way he tells his stories.
John is a bear shifter, chief of police in the peacefully little town in Oregon when a series of murders rocks the town.
Trevor is an ambitious and pushy reporter who determined to be the one to get the scoop as to who is exactly behind the murders and why. And because of this, he starts demanding answers.
I love the dynamics between the two men in this story. You have John who’s trying to balance trying to catch whoever’s behind the murders and keep the town’s secret while trying to keep his relationship with Trevor strictly casual. The relationship between John and Trevor intrigued me. Trevor clearly wanted more than just the casual set up they had and you know that John did as well but he was fighting against it so hard. After a while, John realized his feelings for Trevor ran a lot deeper than casual sex. It was just his secrets that held him back from opening himself up to Trevor completely. I actually like the fact that it wasn’t this Insta – love that you see in many shifter stories. Yes, they were mates however they had to build up to the love, the relationship had to develop between these two men. That to me, made it that much better. that to me felt a lot more realistic than the insta- love trope.
You get a bit of everything with this story: you get the paranormal, a murder mystery with a bit of romance thrown in. I liked that the author stepped outside of the box with this as it could’ve easily been a run of the mill murder mystery and I think Stone made a very wise decision adding the paranormal element to it. There were also added a wide variety of very interesting peripheral characters added. The dialogue, plot, storyline and editing were fantastic.
I really enjoyed this story. There were no plot holes and the story didn’t lag or or drag along anywhere. The pace was perfect; it grabbed and held my interest from the very beginning. The editing and dialogue was perfect. The author did a lovely job of developing these characters, plot and storyline. There were several times in the story that I thought I had it figured out who the murder was only to find out that I couldn’t have been more wrong. The culprit definitely wasn’t who I suspected! This book will keep you engaged and at the edge of your seat until the last page. This is a definite must read and I look forward to seeing what happens next.
Betrayed by his advisers, only the love of two mysterious men can rescue Inea and save his kingdom.
