Smoke and Mirrors (THIRDS #7) Charlie Cochet

Reviewed by Kiwi

 

TITLE: Smoke and Mirrors

 

SERIES: THIRDS # 7

 

PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press

 

 

RELEASE DATE:  July 8, 2016

 

SUMMARY: Life for Dexter J. Daley has never been easy, but he’s always found a way to pick himself back up with a smile on his face. Taken from his home, and the arms of his boyfriend and THIRDS partner, Sloane Brodie, Dex finds himself in a situation as mysterious and lethal as the Therian interrogating him. Dex learns what he’s secretly believed all along: his parents’ death wasn’t an accident.

 

Discovering the whole truth about John and Gina Daley’s homicide sets off a series of events that will change Dex and Sloane’s lives forever. As buried secrets rise to the surface and new truths are revealed, Dex and Sloane’s love for each other is put to the test, with more than their relationship on the line. If traversing the waters of murder and secret government agencies wasn’t enough, something inexplicable has been happening to Dex—and nothing will ever be the same.

 

 

REVIEW: This is the seventh book in this wonderful, action packed series featuring Destructive Delta. Dex is taken and his kidnapping unlocks the mystery and revealed the truth surrounding his parent’s murder. This revelation not only changes Dex and Sloane’s loves forever but strangely gives Dex and Maddox a bit of closure.

 

We learn quite a bit more about who’s behind the kidnapping, more about the facility where Sloane, Ash and other First Gen. Therians were experimented on. As the story unfolds, even more secrets and plots are revealed. There is so much that goes on in this book, basically a lot of Dex’s questions are answered and the truth of it all hits him hard. But I think that deep down, Dex on some level knew that the story surrounding his parent’s deaths was a lie.

 

This book is tamer than the six previous books. Tame in the way of seeing Dex and Sloane in their home; their everyday home life. This is a side of Sloane that I truly enjoyed. Yes, these men are constantly out fighting crime, being shot at, being attacked, explosives and being the super elite team but there’s more to their lives than that. You see the more domestic side to these two. You can tell that Sloane and Dex are extremely happy together.

 

You also get a glimpse into the love lives of the other team members:  Seb and Hudson (I am most eager to read their story) and even Sarge. I am also looking forward to Austin and Zach’s stories.

 

There’s not a lot of sex in the books but that is totally fine as the storyline, dialog, plot and character development more than makes up for it. This book, this series is absolutely magnificent and will keep you enthralled from the very first page to the very last. Oh, and the covers are to die for!

 

RATING: ? Amazing ?

 

BUY LINKS:

 

Amazon

 

 

Dreamspinner Press

 

 

 

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R. Phoenix Guest Post: Retribution Part 3

Today we’re happy to be hosting author R. Phoenix:

This post is the conclusion, Part III, of a three-part short story set in the Ripples in the Status Quo universe about Elias Ivers, a sadistic witch who plays a large role in most of the series. This takes place pre-Takeover, when witches are still in hiding.

Part I was posted at Love Bytes Same Sex Book Reviews (http://lovebytesreviews.com/) on 7/5/16.

Part II was posted at  Kimmers’ Erotic Book Banter (http://kimmerseroticbookb.wix.com/kimmerseroticbb) on 7/6/16.

Part III concludes at The Kimi-Chan Experience  today, 7/7/16.

Thank you again to these blogs for agreeing to coordinate on this, and I hope you’ve enjoyed!
-R. Phoenix

Retribution. Part III.

“It’s for your own good.”

The words fell like so many stones from his mother’s lips–no, not stones. They were boulders, mountains that crushed him and left his spirit even more broken than it had been. Even his tormentors hadn’t been able to hurt him this badly. Elias stared at her in disbelief, unable to understand why what he’d done had been such a risk. He had used magic to defend himself!

“No. No, Mother, please. I won’t… I won’t use my magic on anyone ever again.” He barely recognized the sound of his own voice; it was something high-pitched and desperate, and he couldn’t remember ever having begged before. He hadn’t begged the boys at school, but he was begging then. “Please!”

His parents stared at him, and his father’s disgust was very nearly a fourth presence in the room. “Do you think this is only about the magic, Elias?” He could have chopped firewood with the edge in his father’s voice; it fell as hard as any axe upon him and left him breathless. “One of those boys died. The other two are in critical condition.”

“And I didn’t do that with magic!” he protested, realizing too late that that…wasn’t really the problem in his parents’ eyes. “They’ve been bullying me all year. They were hurting me. Hurting other people,” he added lamely, knowing full and well he didn’t care what they had done to others.

His mother shook her head, every bit the proper Enforcer as she narrowed cold eyes upon her younger son. “I don’t know where we went wrong with you, Elias. They were just children playing games. They didn’t hurt you that much,” she stated, her lip curving into a sneer. “But you? People are asking questions. I’m handling it, but it’s not without a price. I’m having to make a deal with a leech.”

Elias always had liked vampires more than witches, but his parents had never seen them as anything more than fangers. He should have gone to them instead. “Please don’t take my magic,” he said again, his voice even softer despite his desperation. “Please give me another chance.”

“You should’ve thought of the consequences before you acted,” his father stated.

He couldn’t stand the look in his father’s eyes, couldn’t stand his mother’s judgment, and he looked away.

His mother’s voice filled his ears, every word worse than the last. “The Zajacs have already decided. We will carry out their sentence.”

Hatred surged within him at the mention of the oldest family, the family that had produced one dictator after another. They would pay for this, too. Maybe not today, but some day…

“Come here.”

The finality in his mother’s words threatened to suffocate him, and yet he went to her regardless. He didn’t meet her eyes, because he didn’t want her to see the the disgust in hers or the burning hatred in his own. Yet he spoke despite himself, his voice distant, “they may pat your head and tell you that you’re a good girl, but it doesn’t make you any less of a bitch.”

*****

When consciousness returned to him, his magic was gone.

He could feel it, somewhere against his awareness, but he couldn’t reach it. It was like having an itch he couldn’t scratch, like feeling thousands of ants crawling up his arm and not being able to do anything about it. It burned like fire in his lungs, leaving him feeling like he was gasping for air without being able to draw in a single breath.

The only person who could help him was his brother–his brother, who he loved so dearly he couldn’t put words to it. But Julian had left as soon as he could, sneering at their parents with all of the derision he could muster. There had been one tender look at Elias, but he’d heard nothing from his brother.

In some ways, that hurt more than this, and he didn’t even know how to get in touch with Julian. He didn’t know of anyone else who would defy the Zajac family’s degree.

Tears welled up in his eyes, but he wouldn’t cry. He wouldn’t give them the satisfaction.

He wouldn’t ever let anyone see him cry.

He wouldn’t ever let anyone see into him at all.

END PART III.
END RETRIBUTION.

Read Part I (7/5/16) on Love Bytes Same Sex Book Reviews, (http://lovebytesreviews.com/) .

Read Part II (7/6/16) on Kimmers’ Erotic Book Banter, (http://kimmerseroticbookb.wix.com/kimmerseroticbb) .

###

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About the Series

“You say this is a harsh world, a cruel world; you say this is hell.

This is nothing less than what you deserve.

For centuries, for millennia, we abided by your rules. We created gods for you to worship to explain away what you could not comprehend. When you began to suspect, we convinced you that we were myths, legends, and superstitions. We captured your imaginations with beautiful nightmares; enraptured, you begged for more.

And all the while, we hid in the shadows, cringing away from the light as though we held no power even as we shaped your world. We allowed you to live untouched because the loudest amongst us were cowards and fools who believed you were so much more than what you are.

Weak. Ignorant. Oblivious.

Prey.

Already, you have lost your will to fight. Your comrades have fallen. Fewer and fewer dare to act against us, for you know you cannot win. The eternal truth is that history is written by the victors. In time, your kind will forget that you were ever anything more than beasts of burden, toys, breeding stock, food sources. You are what we wish you to be.

You question the status quo, the rules of our society. You will learn that there truly are fates worse than death, and you will experience them for as long as it amuses us.

You will know fear and pain, loss and devastation. Your eyes, so defiant now, will fill with tears and despair. You will beg for mercy, and your pleas will fall on ears that crave your agony. Your screams will echo throughout Tartarus and entertain the masses.

And we will revel in it.”

The Ripples in the Status Quo works are set within a world where supernatural beings seized control from humans and relegated them to the bottom of the food chain. Used for food, entertainment, and worse, nothing protects them from the hands of those who claim them as slaves. But not everyone adheres to the status quo the world at large has accepted…

Please note that the RISQ world has little place for humanity, and as a result, content in these works may be offensive and/or triggering to some readers.

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The Ripples in the Status Quo Books are:

1. Bought. [Dark Erotica.*]
Collision. [Book 1-3 Compilation.]
2. Ravel. [Romance.]
3. Recoil. [Dark Erotic Romance.]
4. Owned. [Dark Erotica.*]
5. Temper. [Dark Erotica.*]

*(This dark erotica work caters to those who cheer on the villains as they pursue their goals…no matter what it takes to get there. This includes Very Bad Things as well as Very Sexy Things. Those with sensibilities will likely be offended and want to attack the author with flaming pitchforks. If this applies to you, save an author. Step away from the button.

Lightheartedness aside, this is dark erotica, and it does contain elements of depravity and cruelty that will be offensive to some readers. Please proceed with caution or skip this read.)

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About the Book

Title: Temper: A Ripples in the Status Quo Story [Book 5]
Author: R. Phoenix
Cover Artist: Brandyjo Newton
Length: Novel. ~40k words without front/back matter. (41,929 words with front/back matter.)
Publisher: Self-Published (Phoenix Publications)
Genre: M/M Paranormal Dark Erotica
Warning: Non-consensual
Price: $2.99. Temper is also available on Kindle Unlimited.
Blurb: Only love can set off the ripples that could change this depraved world for the better.

Only one thing can keep Ashton safe from the supernatural predators who made the world into their depraved, twisted playground after the Takeover—but it’s the one thing that would steal the last remnants of his freedom. At every turn, society confronts Reese and Ashton with the way humans are treated as mere playthings to be used and discarded. When they realize their own desires and pride have no place in the status quo, Ashton and his werewolf lover understand they’ll have to engage in the deadly games played by those in charge if they want to make a difference.

But Reese isn’t a diplomat, and Ash is only human. Together, they must decide if they’re willing to work with the devil they know in what might change everything or rely on their consciences in a world that has no place for kindness or honor… and if they’re ready to sacrifice everything along the way.

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Buy Link: http://amzn.to/28R4YJH [Also available on Kindle Unlimited]
About the Author

R. Phoenix has an unhealthy fascination with contrasts: light and dark, heroes and villains, order and chaos. She believes that love can corrupt and power can redeem. Her muse is a sadomasochistic slave driver who thinks it’s terribly amusing to give her the best ideas when she just got comfortable and warm in bed, and she passes on that torture to her readers.

If she had it her way, she would describe the books in her “Ripples in the Status Quo” world as: “Supernatural creatures take over the world and turn humans into pets and food. There’s some sex between guys. And… um… effed up things happen.” It’s probably a good thing she has people around her to remind her that she actually wants people to read her books. (They should really be more diligent, especially when they know she’s writing her author bio.)

She’s an author, stay-at-home mother, housewife, second time college student, and duck herder extraordinaire. She’s learning how to cook without burning the house down, her garden is somehow neither drowning nor drying up, and one day she might remember what that mythical thing called “free time” is. She’s starting to wonder who thought it was a good idea to write bios in third person.

She also tries entirely too hard to be funny, and she mercilessly inflicts her terrible sense of humor upon anyone who speaks to her. Really, it’s not you. It’s her. All the same, she’d love it if you’d say hello, because it makes her day to hear that someone read something she wrote. If they enjoyed it, there’s usually an awkward happy dance and embarrassing sounds of joy to accompany it (no, not that kind of sound, you perv). If all of that hasn’t scared you away, please visit her website at http://rphoenix.theupsideis.com/.

Social Media

Website: http://rphoenix.theupsideis.com/
Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/raissaphoenix
Facebook Profile: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100010806072760
Twitter: https://twitter.com/RaissaPhoenix
Tumblr: http://raissaphoenix.tumblr.com/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14741537.R_Phoenix

Giveaway

Rafflecopter giveaway for $25 gift card + a copy of Collision [Books 2-4]. Runs 7/1-7/15 for the blog tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

What About Now by Grace R. Duncan

Reviewed by Kiwi

TITLE: What About Now

SERIES:

PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press

RELEASE DATE: May 9, 2016

SUMMARY: Five years ago, everything went wrong. Braden Kirk and Rafe Jessen’s long-term relationship started unraveling. They stopped talking, fears mounted, then Braden walked in on Rafe and another man, completely misreading the situation. Without giving Rafe a chance to explain, Braden walks out. Out of their home, their relationship, and the game development company they started together in college.

After months of therapy to deal with the attempted rape Braden walked in on, Rafe begins to understand that his dominant tendencies in the bedroom aren’t a bad thing and that Braden’s submission is likely what scared his partner into silence. But Rafe isn’t ready to let go of the man he loves more than life itself. He arranges for himself and Braden to end up on the same charity cruise, knowing Braden won’t let his phobia—terror of vast, deep waters—rule him.

With a plan and twenty-eight days, Rafe is determined to get Braden back, make him see there’s nothing wrong with being submissive, and find a way to get Braden to stay with him when they get home to LA.
REVIEW: Umm. This is a case of a story’s blurb sounding a lot better than the actual book reads. That’s not to say this book was poorly written just poorly executed.

The story starts out at a snail’s pace and remains in that pace throughout the story. You know that both Braden or Rafe hasn’t recovered from their breakup several years prior and still love each other. You just never really find out exactly why they broke up; not until more than halfway through the story. And when I did finally get to the reason behind the split, I was left with a ‘is-that-ALL?!’ feeling. The conflict felt contrived considering the amount of angst these men are experiencing in the story. It just fell flat for me.

The story wasn’t bad or poorly written. The editing was lovely, the characters were well developed, the dialogue not bad—if a little on the dull side. The story just…drags. The constant…avoidance, this feeling that you never really get to real heart of what went wrong between these two. Yes, you find out what caused
‘The Big Split’ but you’re left with a sense of something more that went on, something that’s left out that neither man will discuss and you never find out.

It was just unbelievable that this misunderstanding can be the sole cause of Braden’s decision to walk out on a business partnership and relationship. And then to have absolutely no contact with each other for years? If anything they still had a business relationship so you would think that it wouldn’t be that easy to just not have any contact with the person that you’re in business with. It just didn’t make sense and it felt contrived

So, Braden’s family comes up with this big plan to get Braden on this cruise and Rafe comes up with this plan to get Braden to him and then…nothing. They do this weird tap dance around each other that causes the story to drag along even slower than it already is.

I also wasn’t buying Rafe as a Dom. He came off as needy and lacking confidence. Maybe if he was a bit more confident and or comfortable in his abilities as a Dom the story could’ve been a lot more interesting than what it was. As it was, it looked like something tossed in to try to make it more interesting? Everything in the story was just bland and that’s unfortunate because the author had really good ingredients to make this into something delicious.

RATING: ❤️❤️

BUY LINKS:

Amazon

Dreamspinner Press

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Five Sided Heart by Max MacGowan

Reviewed by Kiwi

 

TITLE: Five Sided Heart

 

SERIES:

 

PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press

 

 

RELEASE DATE:  May 16, 2016

 

SUMMARY: Noah Trevelyan has lost his moorings. Disowned over his sexuality as a teenager, he hasn’t been back to his home on the Outer Banks since his fisherman father kicked him out. But when he returns for the Old Man’s funeral, he discovers his father left him the house and boat in his will. Noah must choose whether to stay or go, but he won’t be alone. There’s Ian, working to overcome the emotional scars left by a domineering ex-boyfriend, and Ty, a cheerful housekeeper who’s struggling to take care of his Alzheimer’s-stricken aunt. There’s Joshua too, running from the destruction of his old life, and Gabriel, who was once beaten and left for dead, and doesn’t know how to survive on his own.

 

Will they find in each other the strength and courage to keep living—and learn, together, how to love again? A polyamorous relationship is the last thing any of them expected to find in the Outer Banks, but it might be what they need most, and it might even be their redemption—if they can keep their group from breaking apart under the pressure.

 

 

REVIEW: I’m a huge fan of ménage stories; those types of relationships always fascinated me. I’ve read many a ménage story by never have I read one featuring five men at once. I went in not really knowing what to expect. How was the dynamics going to play out? How does a relationship actually with that many people in it? I was expecting a big ole orgy type of deal and that would’ve been fine.

 

That is not what you get in this book. What you end up with is a story about five men, who love and cherish each other. You read about a relationship that has its ups and downs, good times and bad but these men weather the storms and come out stronger and close because of it. These men were in a relationship TOGETHER and even though it was so many of them, NONE of them were left out. Yes, each man had a different dynamic but you never at anytime get the sense that one man loves another more than the other. What you ended up with was a beautifully executed story that could’ve gone awry.

 

Yes, there was group sex but it was tastefully done; it wasn’t written as any type of orgy or anything of the sort. The author did a pretty good job with this and I must say that I was pleasantly surprised.

 

RATING: ❤️❤️❤️❤️

 

BUY LINKS

 

Amazon

Dreamspinner Press

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Xenia Melter Guest Post for Casto

 

Casto_FINAL_1Places and Settings in Casto

Writing a novel can be a complicated process and sometimes one will stumble over problems that seem insignificant at first until you trip over them every time you write a new chapter. In my case, it was places and settings. Although I do have an overactive imagination and am able to come up with various types of story twists, I’m really bad at imagining and describing landscapes or houses. And don’t even get me started on realistic measurements for distances. I was never meant to be a girl scout and my way of using a map is holding it folded in my hands while looking for somebody who can point me in the right direction. Preferably with instructions like ‘If you turn left after the big church with the goat shed in front, then…’. Something along the lines of ‘In 300 meters you turn right and after 2 kilometers you will…’ is guaranteed to get me lost. So how could somebody like me go about inventing an entire world and map it out?

Getting single places into my head map wasn’t that difficult. The Valley as one of the major locations was quite easily built although I had to revisit my description more than once. The rest of the continent where the story takes place wasn’t that easy since the places had to serve the story, not the other way round. I’m a ‘messy’ writer, I do single scenes when they pop into my head and then build the story arch around those scenes. Of course I do have a major arch in the back of my head, but where I set out and how I ultimately get there are two very different things indeed. So thinking about the places before I knew where the story would go was useless. I had to build my world as I went along.

As I already mentioned, the Valley was more or less easy. I live close to the mountains, so all I had to do was take a look outside, allow my imagination to run wild for a bit and then describe what I see. I also like the idea that the home I truly love is part of the books and in a good way.

The housing situation in the Valley posed more problems to me and I quickly realized that my initial idea of having some kind of village situation wouldn’t work. So I decided to have something akin to a center with the main building where Renaldo, Canubis and the Emeris live, the Great Hall, where all the important meetings are (I went a little Viking there) and a cluster with the stables and the smithy. The other houses are scattered loosely around to reflect the feral aspect of the Pack.

I wanted the interior design of the chambers to reflect directly on the characters who live in them and concerning the bathrooms I do admit to stealing ideas from Spas I have visited and mixing them together.

Renaldo’s rooms are exquisite but not overbearing. They enhance his physical beauty, give an insight as to how he perceives and treats beauty himself and they provide a perfect background for the explosive relationship Casto and Renaldo share.

Aegid’s and Kalad’s rooms are ‘louder’, they reflect the colorful life the two warriors have had so far. Especially Kalad’s character is very outgoing and open to the point of being intimidating and overwhelming which is exactly what the room itself does to Daran when he first sets foot in it. As the story goes on, other rooms are displayed as well and they usually serve the purpose of highlighting either a character or a certain part of the plot.

Elam, the gold-digger city I created after I had seen a documentary about rich companies exploiting nature’s resources with poison and chemicals, not giving a damn how their actions ruin entire countries, not to mention the poor people whose services they buy for a few cents a day. To me, Elam is a symbol for what we do to our own planet and it shows in the way I describe the city. After a first reading, I thought I had been too hard on a place that only exists in my head, but as I tweaked the story again and again, I made Elam look even worse. It is definitely meant as something to abhor the reader, to make them despise the place as much as I do.

Of course there are also cities I created for the sheer fun of it and they are, in some ways, the utopian images we were encouraged to come up with in school. As the story progresses, I find myself inventing new places and I hope you will enjoy them as much as I do.

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About the author

Xenia Melzer is a mother of two who enjoys riding and running when she’s not writing stories. She doesn’t like beer but is easily tempted by a Virgin Mojito. Or chocolate. Truffles are especially cherished, even though she doesn’t discriminate. As a true chocoholic, she welcomes any kind of cocoa-based delight.

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BLURB 

All is fair in love and war. Renaldo has lived happily by that proverb his entire life. But he has finally met his match, and he’s about to discover how unfair love and war can be.

When demigod and warlord Lord Renaldo takes a beautiful stranger captive during an ambush, he is delighted to have found a distraction that will keep him entertained during the upcoming siege. Little does he know, Casto is keeping more than just one secret from him. Slowly, Renaldo gets sucked into a turbulent roller-coaster relationship with his mysterious prisoner, one that begins with hatred and soon spirals into a whirlwind of conflicting emotions. And when it seems that things can get no worse, an old enemy stirs right in the heart of his home.

Determined to keep Casto by his side, Renaldo has to find a balance between the capricious young man and his own destiny as a ruler and god to his people.

Buy:

http://www.dsppublications.com/books/upcoming-releases-c

http://www.amazon.de/Casto-Gods-War-Book-English-ebook/dp/B01EVWKBUQ?ie=UTF8&keywords=xenia%20melzer&qid=1461906546&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1

https://www.dsppublications.com/books/casto-by-xenia-melzer-266-b

Mute Witness by Rick R. Reed

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The abuse of a little boy turns a community against a loving gay couple, and nobody comes out of it unscathed. Sean and Austin have the perfect life: new love, a riverfront home, security. Their love for one another is only multiplied when Sean’s eight-year-old son, Jason, visits on the weekends. And then their perfect world shatters. Jason goes missing. When the boy turns up days later, he’s been so horribly abused he’s lost the power to speak. Immediately small town minds turn to the boy’s gay father and his lover as the likely culprits. What was a warm, welcoming community becomes a lynching party out for blood. As Sean and Austin struggle to stay together amidst innuendo, the very real threat of Sean losing the son he loves emerges. Yet the true villain is much closer to home, intent on ensuring the boy’s muteness is permanent.

 

Kimi’s thoughts:

Sean and Austin’s story unfolds with the reader becoming acquainted with just how storybook perfect their life together is. Even the fact that Sean’s son Jason is only there for weekends is marred only by the sad fact that his mother is angry and reactive towards Sean, never having forgiven him for coming out as gay and upending the life she thought she had with him.  Shelley has since remarried, but that merely adds another dimension to just how imperfect her life really is- her new husband not only is homophobic, but is rather fond of drinking.

When Jason goes missing while Shelley is at work and her husband was watching him, Sean, Austin, and Shelley’s lives are turned upside down. Things go from bad to horrific when a local hermit stumbles over the boy in the woods- badly injured and unable to speak a single word. Suspicion is cast first upon the hermit who found him- Junior Parsons, then upon Sean himself. The town gossips are having a field day and the police are determined to solve the case, no matter what.

You’d think the police wanting to find the person who’d raped a child would be a good thing, but when prejudices and innuendo interfere in an already delicate situation, you get a powder keg. Sean and Austin’s relationship is torn apart, while Shelley reevaluates how she’s treated Sean, who she knows to be a good man and a doting father. If I have one complaint, it’s this: Sean loves so Austin very, very much, so why does he push him away at the very time he needs someone to lean on? I understand he’s gone off the rails, but I honestly don’t see the whole pushing away thing being so plausible in the way it unfolded here.

Otherwise, it’s a very well written drama that kept my attention, though I did guess who the evil monster was before it was revealed. That didn’t take away from the story though I did blink a bit hard over the whole guy at the river sex scenario, as it felt rather out of place and at first, I wasn’t entirely sure what had actually just happened. I will confess that reading this left me feeling raw- not just because of what happened to young Jason, but the sheer volume of unlikeable people in the book. I admit I even found Sean hard to relate to a lot of the time due to the way he suddenly distanced himself from Austin. Still, it was a good read that made me stop and think (and life is full of people we don’t like much, if at all, so ::shrug::).

Rating: 4

 

Dirty Angel by Barbara Elsborg

Art profile portrait of beautiful man with body of athlete. Photo.

Dying Sucks

Particularly when you discover there really is a hell. Aden thinks there’s no way he can avoid going down, but when an angel and demon can’t agree over his fate, Aden is given one more month to gain redemption. He doubts he can find a way to become a better man in so short a time. But it’s worth a try, right?

Living sucks

Particularly when you can’t shake free of an obsessive ex. Brody might be managing to hold down his job as a vet, but his personal life is a mess. If he doesn’t pull himself together soon, he’s going to be sliding downhill too fast to stop.

One wet night, on a dark country lane, two worlds collide and destinies change forever.

Kimi’s thoughts:

I love a great anti-hero, and this is exactly what I got. Aden has lived a rough life and it’s marked him. he’s not one of those inspirational sorts that rose above abuse and poverty to become a pillar of the community. He’s the guy that as a kid figured out how to take what he wanted, just make sure to not get caught because the punishment would make his life even more hell. As an adult, he had the common sense to restrict his vices to avoid arrest, but that didn’t mean he lived the straight and narrow. he still stole what he wanted, just making sure it wasn’t done in a way that could get him caught. He lived his life to excess, until one day, that caught up with him in a manner no one could have predicted. His last actions coupled with other incidents from childhood onwards lead him to hang in the balance as judgement finds him 50/50.

He’s given a second chance, one with a strict time limit and terms that can cut it short- with a trip straight to literal Hell.

Brody is a complicated character as well. He’s tormented with inner demons that lead to self-doubt and destructive tendencies. he has an ex who is absolutely obsessed with him, in the unhealthiest way possible. Unable to believe he deserves better, he gives in to temptations that physically and mentally hurt him, again, and again, and again. He’s moved house and changed jobs hoping to force a clean slate on himself and to make himself move forward. When Aden  appears in front of his car, the two men each see something inside the other that they each can not see for themselves.

It’s a chain reaction, each one setting the other off and the series of events that follow build up to a climatic conclusion that left me nearly breathless (not exaggerating!). It wrapped up to a satisfying conclusion that wasn’t schmaltzy but which was definitely a HEA. Well, as HEA as two complicated men can be.

Rating: 5

Buy from Amazon

kimisig

The Shattered Door by Brandon Witt

shattered door

After a tortured childhood and years of soul-searching, Brooke Morrison has finally settled into a comfortable life. While his sexuality prohibits him from practicing his degree in youth ministry in a church setting, he’s found a fulfilling job as a youth counselor at a residential treatment facility in Colorado. He falls in love, marries the man of his dreams, and makes peace with God. He’s happy.

Then his buried past drags him back to the Ozarks.

The life Brooke has worked so hard to build is crumbling in his hands in the face of painful memories and past abuse, and his confidence is withering. In El Dorado Springs, where his nightmares come to life, Brooke desperately seeks closure life doesn’t offer. Brooke must find value in himself, in his marriage, and in the world around him—and create the hope and perseverance to keep his past from swallowing him whole.

 

Kimi’s thoughts:

I’m going to start off first by stating that this is NOT a romance. It’s LGBT fiction, and while it does have a relationship within it, it is not the focus of the story. It is in fact, a difficult read.

Brooke comes from a devout Christian background and has reconciled his sexual orientation and personal faith. He’s grown up hearing all the hellfire and brimstone that is typical of evangelical  faiths, and has faced the consequences of being true to himself and coming from such a background. When he has to return to the Ozarks, he’s thrust back into the social circle of  the church he grew up within, and it takes it toll. Boy, does it ever, for despite the efforts of the new preacher, some prejudices are deeply rooted in people’s hearts. Some so deeply that it obliterates everything else, including the love they should have for their own child.

Mr. Witt has written a powerful story that works on so many levels- exposing hatred and prejudice for the soul destroying cancers that they are. He’s shone a light on the darkest corners of the Christian faith, and it’s not pretty what we find hiding there. Despite this, it is not a condemnation of faith- just the evil that people often conceal behind it.The story digs its claws in and no matter how distressing the experience we share vicariously with Brooke as we read, we can’t look away. I often had to put this down to take a break, but I couldn’t simply step away. I kept processing it. This book made me smile. It also broke my heart into a  million pieces. I laughed, and I ugly cried so hard that my eyes burned.

Buy from Amazon

Rating: amazing

 

Guest Post by Kathy Griffith, Author of The Ancient

The Ancient (1)-2Hi, thanks for this opportunity to touch base with everyone ! My subject for this post is fighting through what’s stopping your writing flow and being the best you can be for yourself.

My name is Kathy Griffith, and I came to this writing thing later in life; about five years ago to be exact. I’s wanted to write all my life but I kept burying it putting it off until it was barely there. Life took precedence as it often does, and all through my adult years, my years of raising children, watching them leave the nest, and dealing with periods of depression and feeling sorry for myself.

Five years ago, for my 60th birthday, my daughter gave me a present–an intro to a writing correspondence course. I bit the proverbial bullet and took the test. I must say, it helped to get myself out there and I did learn a lot, and I started searching out what I really loved and wanted to write about. Forget that old nugget about writing what you know–if all writers did that, we wouldn’t have Hogwarts, Narnia, or Westeros. I picked vampires. I’ve loved the whole vampire trope since I was a kid, so I did my research, then I read some of the stuff out there. I didn’t really care for most of the vampire fiction, so I decided to write something that I would read–and I did. But, knowing how I was, I buried it and added more and more to the slush pile, not doing anything with it, but I justified it because hey, I was writing, wasn’t I?

Then I lost my job and couldn’t find another.

I got tired, really tired of telling myself the same excuses so I dusted off one of my favorite pieces and kicked it around a little, hoping to submit it somewhere. I got to within a few chapters of finishing it–and decided it was utter crap. I’m sure some of you can relate. I took out some of my favorite parts, gutted the rest, and started over, adding a few items and tailoring it for my newfound favorite genre–LGBT paranormal romance. Seven months later, I had my vampire, Alasdair Connery, and his story The Ancient. I submitted it to agents, publishers, and–nothing. Utterly petrified, I tried KDP and did it myself in February of 2015. A little more than a year later, I have the sequel, another urban vampire tale, and a few other little interesting tales, including two short stories without a breath of vampires or LGBT issues in them.

All I’m saying here is, it’s never too late to try something. You might surprise yourself, but then again–you might have known you had it in you all along. Stay fresh, friends.

I’d like to showcase my crown jewel, so to speak:

The Ancient–A story of Alasdair Connery, the father of all vampires, and his beginning in the prehistory of Scotland (cover image attached). Here’s a little description of him from a wedding he attended, trolling for new blood so to speak: he finds more than he bargained for.

“Mr. Alasdair Connery.”

He stood at the patio entrance, drawing attention to himself without seeming to realize it. He was young, surprisingly so, appearing to be in his late twenties. His dark glittering Asian eyes scanned the crowd, seeming to suffer the greetings of his fellow employees with gentle good humor. As a sign of respect to the newly wedded couple, he wore a short tuxedo jacket, shirt, and tie, but instead of trousers, he wore a soft cashmere kilt in a dark blue and black plaid tartan wrapped around his lower body, seeming to embrace every curve. Soft soled leather shoes covered his feet and dark hose his lower legs. He was short of stature, barely five feet four inches, but his arms were long and his shoulders powerful, as if he were used to manual labor. He carried himself like a man a full foot taller. His ebony hair was so black it had a purple cast to it, and he wore it swept straight back from his high forehead, wrapped up in a thick braid that reached down the entire length of his back to the curve of his buttocks and tied with a red silk cord. His face, dusted with the lightest of dark stubble, was a pale mocha, like café au lait heavy on the milk, and he wore his high sculptured cheekbones and slim, aristocratic nose like a badge of honor. His small smile showed sensuous, molded lips.

Buy the Ancient from Amazon

And don’t forget the the sequel:

kathy-customdesign-Jayaheer2015-Finalcover

My links:
Facebook author page:
https://www.facebook.com/Kathy-Griffith-342207395976469/

my blog:
https://kathyg2016.wordpress.com/

My Amazon author page:
http://www.amazon.com/Kathy-Griffith/e/B00V3YQTPC/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0

Guest Post by A.T. Weaver, author of Shifter Born and Cousins (with excerpt and giveaway)

CousinsHi, Kimi, thanks for having me.

When I first started writing thirteen years ago, I knew nothing about it except that I love to read and made good grades in English. In fact, at one time many years ago, I thought about being an English teacher.

My first two books are very poorly written even though they tell good stories. It was my second book, First Impressions Don’t Count that led to Cousins: Going Home. A reader suggested a sequel. After thinking it over, I decided to focus on the four oldest Johnson grandkids.

At the end of First Impressions, it was stated that Lizzie was married so I had to get rid of her husband some way. I settled on creating a jealousy between her and Catherine and made Catherine a conniving bitch who seduced Lizzie’s husband.

Writing Lizzie, Mike, and Scott’s stories wasn’t that hard. It was Catherine I had trouble with. When I sent what I thought was the finished story to A.J. Marcus for a beta read, he started adding a lot of emotion and actions to it. He loved writing Catherine.

This is my first adventure into an f/f relationship, but I really liked writing about Lizzie and Sara. I hope readers can get the feeling of a family reunited from Cousins.

Excerpt

Catherine Johnson entered the ballroom of The Beverly Hilton Hotel. From the front, her floor-length black gown was demure. A diamond choker encircled the high neckline and a matching bracelet sparkled against one of the long sleeves. The only skin visible was her face and hands. The back, however, was a different story. The high neckline in the front became a band of about two inches and the choker was actually a rope of diamonds that hung down her bare back ending just above the crack of her ass. The skirt was slit to almost the hipline. Her long blonde hair was pulled into a sleek French twist and decorated with more diamonds.

Her mother walked toward her wearing a bright-red sequined gown.

“Good evening, Catherine,” she said. “You certainly know how to make an entrance.”

“As the saying goes, ‘If you’ve got it flaunt it.’” She took a glass of champagne from the tray of a passing waiter. “Who’s here who’s important?”

“Of course the candidate for the senate seat, but, he’s happily married.”

“Mother, I’m not here to find a husband. I don’t want to get married.” She drank her glass of champagne in one gulp. Her mother’s constant pushing her on one man or another was more than a little irritating, even though she knew she did it out of what passed for love with her mother.

“Why not? You’d make an excellent governor’s wife. Oh, Jerry Martin, Lizzie’s husband, is here. Apparently Lizzie’s sick. You know he’s headed up the political ladder. It’s a shame he married Lizzie and not you. After all, you dated him first, didn’t you?”

“Yes, when he was captain of the soccer team. He was such a nerd, so prim and proper. And, he was a horrible kisser.” Catherine smirked as an idea hit her. “Can you see Lizzie as a governor’s wife? I can’t even imagine her as a dog catcher’s wife.” She placed the empty glass on a tray.

Her mother coughed to cover a laugh. “Maybe you should see if you can cause a little discord there.”

They separated and Catherine strolled leisurely toward Jerry. She did her best to not appear too predatory. “Good evening cousin-in-law. Where’s Lizzie?”

“Catherine, you’re looking beautiful as always. I’m afraid Lizzie caught a twenty-four bug and isn’t feeling well.”

“Well, we’ll just have to hang together. After all, that’s what families do.” She grabbed another glass of champagne and handed one to him. When his fingers brushed hers, she knew she had at least a chance and started thinking about her next steps.

 

Giveaway!!!!

Leave a comment below. One lucky winner will be drawn at random. Prize is a signed copy of Cousins. Entries for this giveaway are limited to U.S. residents only. Must be 18 or over to enter.