Successful owner of an upscale boutique in fabulous West Hollywood, Brandon Good swears by his personal edict to “live in the present.” After a bad breakup, he agrees to dog-sit to keep his mind off his ex. Never did he expect the dog to belong to a man from his past, the only man to ever truly break his heart.
When Jake Westley relocates to join the WeHo fire department, the last thing he anticipates is reuniting with his secret high school love. Thrilled with the prospect of reconnecting with Bran, Jake feels no guilt in using his charming old dog as an unwitting matchmaker. As he and Bran rekindle their friendship, it becomes clear the intense attraction they once felt is stronger than ever. But as hard as they try to leave the past behind, painful memories resurface. Bran will have to confront his fears and consider the possibility that the man he swore was absolutely the wrong one might be perfect after all.
Review
Jake and Brandon have a past. Jake was Brandon’s closeted high school boyfriend who was too scared to come out back then, so he lost Brandon.
Twelve years later he runs into Brandon again and lots has changed. Brandon is now out and proud, a fireman with a great old dog, and an ex.
Their relationship starts off as friends. Brandon helping Jake with his dog, Mack. Jake helping Bran with his ex, Trevor.
It gets steamy and more involved from there fairly quickly.
But… it’s not that easy. Bran is pretty walled off. He’s been hurt in the past and is unwilling to let anyone in. Jake, however, is more than ready for the challenge.
**
Oh man. Call me a sucker, but the dog totally did it for me. He was wonderful. He acted as a catalyst for these guys in more ways than one. First, he was the entrée for Jake back into Brandon’s life. Then, he was the four legged chaperone that gave them common ground and an excuse to be together without pressure. Finally, he represented that age old dilemma that to have love, you have to be prepared for potential loss and complications and that nothing great comes without risk.
We get to see the boys from book one, but this is definitely a stand-alone novel. The writing is excellent and the sex is really hot.
Be assured though you may cry anyway, the dog makes it!
I really enjoyed this book and all Lane Hayes novels.
Shy tattoo artist Ash has a troubled past. Years of neglect, drug abuse, and life on the streets have taken their toll, and sometimes it seems the deep, unspoken bond with his lover is the only balm for wounds he doesn’t quite understand.
Chicago paramedic Pete is warmth, love, and strength—things Ash never knew he could have, and never even knew he wanted until Pete showed him. But fate is a cruel, cruel mistress, and when nightmares collide with the present, their tentatively built world comes crashing down.
Traumatic events in Pete’s work life distance him from home, and he doesn’t realize until it’s too late that Ash has slipped away. Betrayal, secrets, and lies unfold, and when a devastating coincidence takes hold, Pete must fight with all he has to save the love of his life.
Review
Ash and Pete become roommates through a mutual friend. Neither “knows” the other is gay (or bi) but both are crushing on the other.
Pete is stoic, works hard, plays a little, and is the perfect foil for Ash.
Ash is broken. He’s had a very, very hard life and we learn bits and pieces of it as the story develops. From an abusive childhood, to living on the street, to self-mutilation.
After a particularly bad night, Ash and Pete move their relationship forward and become lovers. It isn’t an easy road. Ash isn’t an “easy” boyfriend. But Pete is strong enough to handle almost anything – but not cheating.
Pete comes home one night and finds Ash in the arms of another man. He essentially kicks Ash out and doesn’t hear from him for weeks. Suddenly, Pete receives a call from a mutual health-care worker friend reporting that Ash is in the hospital and Pete is listed as his Emergency Contact.
When Pete finds Ash a new world of information opens up and he realizes there is more to Ash than he was led to believe.
Now it is up to the both of them to try to find a place where Ash can heal and Pete and Ash can find their place – as partners.
**
This is a book I put off reading for a long time. It looked so heavy. But it kept getting really amazing reviews and I knew I “wanted” to read it, but I needed to be in the right head-space for it. So… I waited until I was trapped in a car for a long drive and listened to the audiobook.
It didn’t disappoint on the “heavy” factor. It is a hard book to read(listen to). It is angsty and painful and tough. But… it is really good. The writing is excellent. The descriptions are rich and powerful. The MCs are fully developed and very three dimensional.
That being said… I didn’t love it. Though I could appreciate the writing and the world building and give those high marks, I didn’t really feel that attached to the relationship between the two MCs.
I know there is a sequel and I am planning on listening to it, and I have hopes that it will cement (for me) their bond and let me feel more for them as a couple than I do for them as individuals.
The narration was amazing! Michael Lesley who I first heard in Tell Me It’s Real is fantastic. His Ash is totally different from Pete and the emotions are well played and very real. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this (as far as entertainment value goes) and think that I was glad I waited for the audio version before tackling this book.
So: Writing 5 of 5 hearts, World Building 5 of 5 hearts, Storyline 4 of 5 hearts, Romance 2 of 5 hearts, Narration 5 of 5 hearts
After breaking his arm on set, Wolf’s Landing stuntman Ginsberg Sloan finds himself temporarily out of work. Luckily, Bluewater Bay’s worst B&B has cheap long-term rates, and Ginsberg’s not too proud to take advantage of them.
Derrick Richards, a grizzled laid-off logger, inherited the B&B after his parents’ untimely deaths. Making beds and cooking sunny-side-up eggs is hardly Derrick’s idea of a man’s way to make a living, but just as he’s decided to shut the place down, Ginsberg shows up on his doorstep, pitiful and soaking wet, and Derrick can hardly send him packing.
Not outright, at least.
The plan? Carry on the B&B’s tradition of terrible customer service and even worse food until the pampered city-boy leaves voluntarily. What Derrick doesn’t count on, though, is that the lousier he gets at hosting, the more he convinces bored, busybody Ginsberg to try to get the B&B back on track. And he definitely doesn’t count on the growing attraction between them, or how much more he learns from Ginsberg than just how to put out kitchen fires.
Review
Wow! Not what I was expecting.
Better!
Ginsberg is a transgender stuntman who got injured on the job and needs a cheap place to recuperate. He finds Derrick’s B&B and signs on for a room.
Derrick is a closeted gay man who has huge, huge, huge gender issues. He thinks being gay is not masculine. He thinks bottoming is not masculine. He thinks cooking and cleaning is not masculine. So… his job, his sexuality, his desires… all not masculine – so he hates himself and his life.
Ginsberg does what he can to try to save the B&B despite being subjected to every inconvenience known to man (Derrick’s trying to get him to leave so he can close the place down.)
In a very unlikely match, Ginsberg and Derrick finally realize they meet one another’s needs and start an affair only to have Derrick ass-out and make him leave the only place Ginsberg’s ever identified as “home”.
Finally, with some help from his ex, Derrick realizes his mistakes and makes amends – just in time!
**
This is not your typical m/m storyline. It’s quirky. Sometimes dark and painful. It covers topics we don’t see all that often (transgender) and though we have seen gay men who hate themselves, I haven’t seen it quite this fiercely before.
Anyhow, when they do finally connect physically, its amazing and awkward and funny and tender … again not your typical hot and horny man on man action. (I, for one, would have liked to see some more of this – if only to really emphasize how love and sex are unique to each couple and not constrained by society’s “normal”. I love the “bonus hole”! and wish it could have seen more action 😉
All in all I thought it was a great book, a lovely continuation of the Bluewater Bay Storyline (we get to see some of the old characters like Eli and Carter), and a really nice look at subjects not normally seen.
Dr Erik Daniels hasn’t had it easy. After losing love and fighting addiction, he becomes a successful substance abuse counselor and helps people regardless of their insurance or ability to pay. It isn’t the dream life he had in San Francisco, but at least he has something to be proud of. Everything seems to be getting back on the right track until Angel, a heroin-addicted male prostitute, crosses his path. Erik not only sees a lot of himself in Angel, but a lot of potential as well. He quickly realizes he’s willing to sacrifice a lot to get him on the right path–but is he willing to jeopardize his career?
Review
Erik Daniels is a rehab counselor who got into the profession after succumbing to his own alcohol addiction, which ruined his career and his relationship with Marshall, several years ago. Now, he’s working in a run-down rehab clinic but feels great about his life. He meets Angel and Jon in the hospital after almost losing a different patient and can’t get the young couple out of his mind.
Angel is a heroin addict and a rent boy who is loved by Jon. Jon pushes and pushes to get Angel into rehab but Angel doesn’t think he’s worth it or that the clean life is worth it. Finally, with Erik’s help, Angel agrees.
Things are complex though. Angel doesn’t love Jon. Jon loves Angel. Angel pushes Jon away and so Jon finds a new “love”. Angel is crushed so Angel turns to Erik for love.
And… Erik loved Marshall but Marshall pushed Erik away when Erik hit rock bottom and went into rehab. Now, suddenly, several years later, Marshall returns wanting Erik back, and Erik sort of wants Marshall back, but fears Marshall’s not good for Erik’s recovery. Marshall pushes for a relationship, so Erik and Marshall start a long-distance fling, then Marshall pushes Erik to move back to San Francisco, but Erik resists. Meanwhile, Erik falls for Angel but knows it’s unprofessional and maybe wrong, but Erik can’t resist. Until, finally, Angel and Erik end up together.
Phew, that’s a lot of drama!
There were parts of this book I really loved: the writing, the theme, the MCs, and even the secondary characters. I thought Allison Cassatta did a great job creating believable characters and a rich environment for them to interact in. She’s got a lovely writing style that flows well and is easy to follow and it was easy to become immersed in her story.
But… there was a lot I didn’t like: First, I didn’t feel comfortable with Erik and Angel’s love story. It felt too co-dependent and very unhealthy for Angel (who never even reclaimed his real name for Pete’s sake. Erik is still calling him Angel (not Luke, his given name) at the end of the book, without an explanation as to why. If he’d said something like, “I feel more like Angel than Luke so I’m keeping it” I’d have understood, but it’s just kind of left there, unexplained.
Second, Angel is too young (emotionally – not in years) for Erik and Erik is not in a good place to become his lover. I was willing to let the Doctor/Patient thing go IF, and that’s a big IF, it was explained and justified. I don’t feel it was. The end, where the two get together, is just too rushed for that to be overlooked as a real, significant, hurdle.
Third, I never liked Angel’s reasons for any of his actions. I didn’t get why he chose to live on the streets, I didn’t get where he fell in love with Erik, I didn’t get why he was so devastated when Jon did what he was told and found someone else. Sure, I get that he was a proud young guy who was rejected at home, but it seems he gave up trying to find his way with little effort and didn’t ever come back to a healthy place where I felt he had a chance at long term sobriety.
Fourth, I really didn’t like that most of the on page sex and relationship stuff was between the MCs and their secondary characters (Jon and Marshall) and not with each other. Those relationships really felt unsettled, especially between Marshall and Erik. I definitely agree that Marshall and Jon were not the right men for Angel and Erik but I didn’t feel we got enough time with Erik and Angel as a couple to feel good about their relationship. Erik and Angel were left feeling very co-dependent on each other and it didn’t feel healthy, even at the end.
I think if the story’d been a bit longer I’d have felt better about things. Maybe it was because the story ends with Erik and Angel hooking up and then the epilogue, a year later, tells us of the couple’s successes. If I’d read more about that time I’d have a better connection to that success. The ending just felt rushed.
So – overall I have to give this story a 3 of 5 hearts instead of the 4 or 4.5 that I was leaning towards in the beginning because I just didn’t feel good about the ending – even though I loved that they seemed so happy together at the end.
Everyone admires Michael Lamont for being a nurse, but his part-time work as a gay sex surrogate not only raises eyebrows, it’s cost him relationships. Michael is small, beautiful, and dedicated to working with people who need him. But what he really wants is a love of his own. He spends most of his time reading science fiction, especially books written by his favorite author and long-time crush, the mysteriously reclusive J.C. Guise.
James Gallway’s life is slowly but inexorably sliding downhill. He wrote a best-selling science fiction novel at the tender age of eighteen, while bedridden with complications of polio. But by twenty-eight, he’s lost his inspiration and his will to live. His sales from his J.C. Guise books have been in decline for years. Wheelchair bound, James has isolated himself, convinced he is unlovable. When he is forced to do a book signing and meets Michael Lamont, he can’t believe a guy who looks like Michael could be interested in a man like him.
Michael and James are made for each other. But they must let go of stubbornness to see that life finds a way and love has no limitations.
Review
Everyone should have a Michael in their lives. If we did, the world would be a better place.
I fell in love with Michael in the first of the “Sex in Seattle Series” and was so excited to see him finally get his own book. Eli Easton has taken a somewhat controversial subject, surrogacy, and shown us how beautiful and powerful a tool it can be for healing.
Through Michael’s story we are shown how sex is not only an important part of being in a realationship or being in love, but how it’s a natural part of being ourselves, being human. She has clearly done her research, as she explains in the prologue, and her effort shines through. I admit, when we met Michael at first, I wondered, along with him, how he could possibly have a long term relationship for himself, given his job. I felt how sad for him, and/or for his potential clients, because what he offers is such a gift, but it must be hard to share that with someone you love. This story addresses that issue. It is touching and sweet, sexy and informative. It made me laugh and cry and I couldn’t put it down.
I love Eli’s characters. They are not physically perfect gods, they don’t have picture perfect resumes, they have flaws, quirks and are real people. She has a fantastic grasp of pacing and story telling. I never felt like I needed to rush ahead but was always on the edge of my seat. The story just plucks at every darn heart string and leaves you with a huge smile on your face, after you’ve gotten done crying, of course.
James’ character is so heartbreaking, you feel for him, from the first page. His back story is amazing and so sad, but his ability to use his pain and turn it into something wonderful is a precious gift.
Marnie and Tommy are also inspired characters and brought both pain and love and humor to an already rich story.
I really loved the snippets of James’ book that we are shown throughout Michael’s story and would love to read the real thing! Eli may have to branch out into some serious Sci-Fi next, clearly she has a knack with the genre. Lamb’s story also made me cry… you bastard!
This is another one of those books that I will have to read and re-read because there was just so much going on that I am sure I missed some the first pass. But it will be a pleasure to find every nook and cranny because it is such a good book.
Thank you Eli for giving us Michael’s story and I really hope that there are people out there doing your work, it sounds amazing.
I highly recommend this book, 6 out of 5 hearts… or 7… well, you get the idea. Buy this book!
Two years after a terrifying night of pain destroyed his normal teenage existence, Aaron Downing still clings to the hope that one day, he will be a fully functional human being. But his life remains a constant string of nightmares, flashbacks, and fear. When, in his very first semester of college, he’s assigned Spencer Thomas as a partner for his programming project, Aaron decides that maybe “normal” is overrated. If he could just learn to control his fear, that could be enough for him to find his footing again.
Review
The Story
WOW.
Just. WOW.
This is an absolutely amazing book. Amazing.
JP Barnaby manages to take an absolutely horrific event and funnel it through the mind of a teenager. Can you imagine? Being a teenager is hard enough as it is. Then add being a gay teenager, just coming into your own sexuality. Then add in a brutal, horrible attack that leaves you physically and emotionally scarred and your best friend, dead. It is incredible that Aaron had the will to live, and JP even explains HOW he manages to avoid suicide.
It is completely believable, and touching, and so, so painful, but sweet and hopeful at the same time. I couldn’t read/listen to it all at once. I had to take breaks, read lighter books in between. But when I got to the end, I said “I MUST read Spencer!” and started it immediately.
One of the things I absolutely found so powerful, was JPs ability to show us (without telling us) the areas where Aaron’s family – despite ALL their best intentions – were NOT helping him. She also showed us where the fact that he was a teenager (and thus prone to illogical thinking and hormone driven decision making) impacted his event even more so than it would have on an adult. Aaron lived through this event at such a pivotal time in his life and JP does an amazing job of showing us just how pivotal it was.
Then you have Spencer. (Sigh) I LOVE Spencer. I wish I KNEW Spencer, I would hug and love him up. Such a fantastic soul and such a huge heart. He takes on Aaron and sees through to the boy he is/could be and simply loves him. He has his own demons, and this makes him empathetic and vulnerable and wonderful It is a testament to the power of love in the act of healing. So very touching. I can’t say enough about how wonderful Spencer is.
JP also paints a detailed, if flawed, picture of Dr Thomas, Aaron’s parents/siblings, and all the other people in Aaron’s life. She is accurate down to her coding and tech-speak, but not didactic or pedantic.
It was a hard book to read/listen to, but so worth it.
I had not read any JP Barnaby books before this, but you can bet I am a fan for life now.
5 out of 5 hearts
Review
The audio
Tyler Stevens can read any book to me any day. He did such an amazing job with the language, the tonal qualities of Spencer’s speech. (Spencer was born deaf, but can and does speak throughout the story.) Tyler subtly changes the voice for all the characters in a way that is helpful to the story and not distracting in its “over acting”.
His reading pace is good, his voice quality clear, his emphasis on the dialog perfection.
I would specifically look for him as a narrator, he is that good. I really hope he reads Spencer when the audible version comes out.
I liked the audible version even better than the book (shocked gasp!). It was that good. Tyler just made me feel the characters in a way that when I went back to read the book, his intonations were what I heard.
I highly recommend this audio version, the book, the series, the author, the narrator.
Ok, I sound a little fan-girl, but really. Go now and buy them.
Ed Maurer’s life would be fine if he could just get Laurie Parker off his back. He’s bounced back, more or less, from the neck injury that permanently benched his semi-pro football career, and he volunteers now at a local community center. It’s just that every time he turns around, that damn professional dancer is in his way, hating Ed right back. But when a bargain Ed strikes at the center lands him as an assistant in Laurie’s ballroom dancing class, their perceptions of each other turn upside down. Both Ed and Laurie have heartbreak in their pasts, but somehow dancing together eases their individual pain. For Ed, dancing with Laurie becomes a way to reconnect with his body after losing football. For Laurie, partnering with Ed has erased some of his fear of performing and brought back joy to a sport he wasn’t sure he could ever truly love again.
As Laurie and Ed lose themselves in dance, their lives continue to spin around them: Ed’s injury makes it clear he’s nowhere near recovery, Laurie feels the pressure by friends and family to perform once more, and the community center that has become such an important part of both their worlds threatens to close. Alone, they haven’t had the strength or spirit to face what life has hurled at them. But as the turns of their personal paths lead them into the arms of love, Ed and Laurie begin to think that if they dance this dance together, they might be able to succeed.
Review
Ed is an out and proud football player (semi-pro) who hurts his neck and has to look for alternative ways to stay in shape and rehabilitate against the debilitating pain.
Laurie is a dancer who runs a small studio but who used to be on the path to greatness until he and his then partner (both dance and life) tried to break into a couples dance competition as the only same sex couple and failed, epically.
At first these two are enemies – Ed plays the music too loud, Laurie is a priss, but then… magic (sigh). They begin to dance together and it is everything they’d hoped to find. Laurie loves how Ed can be the strong partner he’s always needed and Ed loves how Laurie can give him some of his self respect back.
Along the way they become lovers, too, and that, by far, is their most important relationship.
There are many road bumps – Laurie’s mom, Ed’s pain and ego, Laurie’s fear of rejection and his past sexual history, money…
But in the end they conquer them all for a very, very satisfying HEA.
**
This is one of those books I have read and then read again and again. I just love it so!
Some of the things I really appreciate about it:
The real sex. It’s not all hot and sweaty, panting and perfection. There’s pain, and gas, and preparation, and mess. Wonderful!
I love the scene in the hot tub with the other, older couple… again, real, messy, normal, but still hot.
The real problems. Pain and money and egos. Who hasn’t had one or both of those issues in their life – even to the point of ruining their relationship?
Their love. I just fell in love with them as a couple because they are so very different but when they put down their walls you can see just how perfect they are for one another.
All in all it was an amazing book that I can’t recommend more highly than: you must read this!
The Flesh Cartel: an international, multi-billion-dollar black market that trades in lost souls. Or more specifically, their bodies. The Cartel trainers are masters at breaking a human mind. Fortunately for their ultra-rich clients, they’re just as skilled at putting people back together again—as perfect pets, well-trained and eager to please.
Two orphaned brothers caught by the Cartel learn just how far the human spirit can bend—and how badly it can break. But with support from each other and a determined FBI agent, they may also learn how to live—and love—once again.
***
This is a serialized story now available in five novels in print and ebook.
Reader discretion advised. This title contains the following sensitive themes: explicit violence, forced incest, non-consent, dubious consent, drug use, kidnapping/abduction, self-harm.
Kimi’s review:
Holy shit. To say this wa not an easy read would perhaps be the understatement of the century. It’s not a romance, so put that idea right out of your head. It’s a taut psychosexual thriller that takes you on a bareknuckle ride through Hell and gone. I won’t say back, because there is no coming back from something like this. There is an out and forward, but no way back.
Big brother Mat has sacrificed a lot in order to make a home with his brother and put him through university. Doug, or Dougie as Mat still calls him, is close to completing his PH.d in psychology. Unfortunately, Doug has caught the eye of some unsavoury types who decide to take him as he fits the profile for being some one they can disappear easily enough- orphaned, alone except for a brother who’s an MMA fighter on a downward spiral, barely keeping their heads above water, and very, very attractive. When an exceedingly rich man puts in a request for a certain body type and look, wheels are set into motion to make his disappearance one that doesn’t raise any suspicion. Unfortunately for Mat, he comes home a bit earlier than they had anticipated and finds he too is grabbed.
What follows is a regime of sexual and mental abuse designed to break the men’s minds and spirits, with a lot of what happens being helped along by other victims of the cartel. Nor are they the only victims currently being broken and sold, which they discover to their horror, as both male and female victims are heard in the cells and seen in various locations at the facility. Auctioned off as a pair at an auction that quite frankly made my hair stand on end, they are bought by a trainer. Nicolei is a consummate professional in training sex slaves. It’d be easy to hate him as we watch the mind games he plays with Mat and Dougie, but rather than give us a completely unlikable villain, the authors gave us a complex man who has genuine regrets and affection for his charges. It’s quite a conundrum, made all the more tragic when it all starts to come apart for the cartel. I couldn’t bring myself to feel affection for him, but my heart did break for him and for his right hand man. In another life, given very different circumstances, their lives would have been very different instead of being warped beyond all reason.
The story doesn’t end when the brothers are at last sold by Nicolei to their master either. FBI agent Nate Johnson has been a long time fan of Mat, and he has been following his instincts that something doesn’t add up with the MMA fighter and his PH.d candidate brother’s disappearance. he’s like a dog with a bone, and he doesn’t stop until he has the answers he’s looking for. Of course, the truth is much, much bigger than he’d ever dreamed, and it makes for an explosive climax when law enforcement pulls off their operation. Following up on what happens afterwards was a rare treat, but it was not a ready made HEA. Nate and Mat connect on a personal level, which was indeed very romantic, but Dougie was straight and his head is having a hard time separating out sex and affection and feelings of well-being. Given that his mind and body have been conditioned to associate sex with a male master as “happiness”, he’s in a bad place. The authors manage to showcase how his sexual traumas cause this, and his finding his way out of it, without demonising the LGBT community.
It’s a very well written series, but one I could only read in VERY small doses and with a lot of happy in-between as it is simply so vividly depicted that it crawled right under my skin and wormed itself into my brain. The abusive pseudo BDSM (it’s NOT BDSM of course, despite the twisted lies the masters tell themselves, it’s abuse) in particular is brutal, and of course anything but safe, sane, and consensual, so readers should be warned that a rather strong stomach for those scenes alone is required.
This title can be purchased as a serial or as a series with three seasons (volumes) from Riptide.
After surviving ten years in prison, Cameron Pierce is attempting to put the past behind him. He tries to adjust to his newfound freedom with a place at the halfway house and a job. But one lesson he learned in prison keeps him guarded: hope is a dangerous thing.
Hunter Donovan, Assistant State Attorney, is a man of justice who loves a challenge. After a lifetime of putting his career first, a milestone brings him to a harsh realization—he’s lonely.
Hunter’s world changes when he meets Cam. The wary young man intrigues him and awakens a desire unlike anything he’s ever experienced. When Cam’s past resurfaces and threatens to rip them apart, their budding relationship is challenged and Cam’s hope for a future begins to dim.
These outside forces hunting Cam will stop at nothing to send him back to prison. But they’ll have to get past Hunter first.
Review
Cameron is a young 27. He’s been in prison for the last 10 years and he’s been pretty emotionally stunted as a result. He only knows how to protect himself, and is very wary of letting anyone in. Luckily he’s found the amazing guys at the halfway house (yay! I love that we get to see Matt and J again!) to show him how to be “on the outside” again.
Hunter is feeling all of his 40 years and needs someone to shake him out of his lonely rut. When he sees Cameron at “his” diner his world is soundly shaken.
I loved these two together. They were sweet and sexy and clearly fit the other’s needs perfectly. I loved how Cam won over the folks at the diner and managed to turn them in to his new family.
Jaime Reese is an amazing author who knows just how to pair tragedy with devotion to make for a really outstanding romance. I also loved that we got to see the guys from book one again – the continuation of their story is like a little bonus epilogue! (And you know how I feel about epilogues!)
I can’t wait for Cole’s story (coming in February!!) and hope we see more and more from this author.
(And of course – wow – the cover – just beautiful!)
When six-year-old Matt Wilson and his Shih Tzu, Pixie, step out of the Stanton Community Hospital and disappear, his desperate parents convince Jaron Greenberg, a local pet psychic, to aid the police in the search. Jaron specializes in finding lost kitties and fixing problem pooches. He isn’t prepared for a case with so much at stake. And as soon as he starts, the abilities he’s had since childhood begin changing and growing in unexpected ways.
Paulo Silva is a veteran detective new to the small town of Stanton. As the low man on the totem pole at Stanton PD, he isn’t happy when the chief assigns him to babysit the pet psychic instead of actively working the missing child case. As Jaron uncovers clues, Paulo starts to wonder if he might be the real thing. Or maybe it’s just his testosterone reacting to what he’s sure is mutual attraction.
Review
(Some spoilers included at the end.)
Jaron is a pet psychic who works for his best friend at a dog salon. He barely scrapes by, lives in the back room of the salon and has the most amazing dog ever- Bear.
Paulo is the skeptical cop assigned to the case Jaron is called in on. Matt, a six year-old boy and his dog Pixie have gone missing and Jaron is asked to help find the dog and thus (hopefully) the boy. Paulo doesn’t want to believe in Jaron’s skills, even though he is immediately attracted to the man.
Over time Paulo is convinced of Jaron’s integrity and his abilities. They work together – sometimes illegally – to do everything they can to bring Matt back to his family.
While doing the investigation Jaron’s skills begin to change. His body begins to weaken and he even seizures as he sees more and more deeply into the mind’s eye of Pixie, the missing dog.
There is also some drama with Jaron’s best friend who is suddenly acting like a jealous boyfriend and kicking Jaron out of his home. Paulo’s ex gets involved as well, stirring the pot and causing trouble for Paulo on the police force. Not to mention there are psychic “haters” accusing Jaron of witchcraft and communing with the devil.
If all that weren’t enough, part way through the story tragedy hits and we begin to wonder if it’s at all possible for Matt to be found. (If you are worried about Matt being found or the fate of his dog – I put a spoiler in the end of the review – for some it might make the difference of whether or not you’d read this book.)
With the clock ticking and Jaron’s body failing him as well as new “powers” overwhelming him Paulo and Jaron and the ex take a road trip hoping to find Matt before it’s too late.
**
I was really prepared not to like this story. As an animal person, I was really worried when I read some of the early reviews and was prepared to be really upset.
But… I gotta tell you, I thought this book was a page turner.
The drama is right on the money. Though I hate books where we see things from the villain’s POV, I was able to follow the story easily even though I skipped those sections.
The romance is definitely not the star of the show. Sure, Jaron and Paulo end up with a very HFN that feels pretty solid, but most of this was about the mystery and the growth of Jaron’s psychic powers. It was fascinating. I loved how he was able to be in the mind of the pet and then later in the mind of people.
As a mother, reading a book about a missing child is bone chilling. There is nothing quite like worrying about your baby being taken – all of us can relate to that fear. So if you’re squeamish about that plot line – by all means skip this book. No doubt about it – it’s a hard one for some people.
However, the mystery was done really well and I appreciated that there was next to no physical damage done to Matt –the emotional scars from being abducted are bad enough.
Sometimes I thought there were a few too many “dramas” thrown in for story clarity. There was the best friend, the ex, the history with the old police force… I’m not sure these added to the story enough to be included, unless this is the beginning of a series and we need all that to help us understand future books. I really didn’t need to know the details of the case that sent Paulo packing to another job – really. I didn’t.
So – I have a hard time rating this. As a romance I’d give it a 3 of 5. There was some heat, some tension, and a pretty solid HFN. I liked Paulo and Jaron as a couple and hope we might see them again in a sequel.
As a mystery/thriller I’d give it a 4 of 5. I loved Jaron’s powers and thought the laying out of the mystery was well played even though we (as the audience) knew who the villain was the entire time. I had to subtract some points for the drama and for the villain POV.
So – as a compromise I’ll give it a 3.5 of 5 hearts and let you decide for yourself. If you want a hearts and flowers romance – this is definitely not for you. If you want a captivating mystery with romantic gay elements – I think you’ll find this book right up your alley. If you are a pet lover with a low tolerance for anything bad happening to a pet – you may want to read the spoilers or just plain skip this book.
**Spoilers**
(I won’t leave you hanging – you gotta know Matt gets found – I wouldn’t be able to read something like this if he wasn’t. Pixie however doesn’t make it.)
Blurb
