Tag: cliff-hanger

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Alex’s Surprise by Chris McHart

GoodReads Presents
http://www.mmromancegroup.com/?p=277078

alex's surpriseBlurb

Alex wanted a night of hot passion with Gerome, but he gets more than he ever bargained for. His life will be changed forever in a world where he’ll be thrown in jail— or worse— for being pregnant.

Alex’s best friend, Sam, has been acting strange ever since he met Alex’s one-night stand, but now Alex needs help in order to hide, and Sam is his only hope.

First book in the Unexpected series.

This story was written as a part of the M/M Romance Group’s “Love is an Open Road” event. Group members were asked to write a story prompt inspired by a photo of their choice. Authors of the group selected a photo and prompt that spoke to them and wrote a short story.

Dear Author,
When I got pregnant unexpectedly and my partner-in-babymaking up and ran off, I figured I’d be alone forever. It was a rough time and if not for best friend I don’t know how long it would have taken to drag myself out of it. I never thought I’d find myself in this position with him. He has been so supportive through the pregnancy and all these feelings I’d never noticed before started blossoming. This is our first time together and I never thought sex could be this amazing— tender and smoking hot all at the same time. I think it helps that he spent so much time wooing me and we were able to fully switch from “friend” mindset to “romance” mindset before we just jumped into bed.

Photo Description:
A blond-haired man making love to a visibly pregnant man. From the expression on the blond’s face and the kiss he presses on the black-haired man’s shoulder, it’s clear these two are a couple who are deeply in love. They are somewhere hidden, maybe a basement, since there are stairs visible in the background. It makes me wonder, is the pregnancy forbidden? Are they hiding because of that?

This story may contain sexually explicit content and is intended for adult readers. It may contain content that is disagreeable or distressing to some readers. The M/M Romance Group strongly recommends that each reader review the General Information section before each story for story tags as well as for content warnings.

Review

For those of you who don’t spend a lot of time on GoodReads or in the M/M Romance Group (I recommend you do!) – these are short stories written by both well-known and new authors based on pictures that have been submitted with intriguing story ideas. The authors take off from there and then the end results are published (For Free!) on the Group’s page.

As the blurb suggests, Alex is a man who has one night out with a vampire – yes he knows it’s a vampire – and the condom breaks. Neither party is aware that with infinitesimal odds, certain human/vamp combinations can result in pregnancy.

Yup. Alex is preggers!

In addition to being freaked out by that – like it isn’t enough! – there are laws against inter-species matings – and Alex faces huge penalties and the loss of his child if it is ever found out he is pregnant.

Meanwhile, Alex has a roommate, Sam, who has always had a bit of a crush on the man-whore Alex, but never broached the subject because Alex has always been so staunchly anti-relationship. When he finds out he’s pregnant, Sam is the only one he can turn to and the two realize there is more to their caring for each other than friendship.

**

This is the second piece I’ve read by this author and I am still a fan of the writing style. For the most part it is clean and clear and the story progresses in a logical and somewhat plausible fashion.

There were some difficulties with the pacing – in fits and starts Sam and Alex seem to be both hysterical then loving then manic then caring… maybe this was intentional to mimic the crazed pace of pregnancy, but it was jarring as a reader to experience.

Alex was not easy to like in this story, he seemed selfish and bitchy for most of it, and Sam put up with a lot for no seemingly good reason. I think, based on the ending, that this story will continue – and I’m glad because the coming parts are definitely going to be exciting, and hopefully Alex will get a chance to redeem himself.

3 of 5 stars

3

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Who Knows the Storm Audiobook (The Vigilante #1) By Tere Michaels Narrated by Jonathan Young

Dreamspinner Presents: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=6198

WhoKnowsTheStormAUDMed
Blurb

In a dystopian near future, New York City has become the epicenter of decadence—gambling, the flesh trade, a playground for the wealthy. And underneath? Crime, fueled by “Dead Bolt,” a destructive designer drug. This New City is where Nox Boyet leads a double life. At night, he is the Vigilante, struggling to keep the streets safe for citizens abandoned by the corrupt government and police. During the day, he works in construction and does his best to raise his adopted teenaged son, Sam.

A mysterious letter addressed to Sam brings Nox in direct contact with “model” Cade Creel, a high-end prostitute working at the Iron Butterfly Casino. Suspicion gives way to an intense attraction as dark figures from Nox’s past and the mysterious peddlers of Dead Bolt begin to descend—and put all their lives in danger. When things spin out of control, Cade is the only person Nox can trust to help him save Sam.

Review
(Book reviewed previously on this site)
Nox is a vigilante in dystopian New York after a massive flood has left the big Apple in ruins. He has a “son” that he cares about above all else and a desire for justice.

Cade is a “model”/rent boy who ends up bringing a letter to Nox’s son, Sam, and getting involved with Sam and Nox in a dangerous game where things aren’t as they seem.

The end is sort of a cliff hanger – so be warned – that hopefully leads us to the next book.
**
It took me forever to get through this book because I love Tere Michaels but I’m just not a big fan of the dystopian future storyline. So take this review with a grain of salt and here are my impressions:

1) Tere Michaels is a great writer who writes fantastic, gritty, sensual characters with a lot of depth
2) Even her secondary characters are fully developed and engaging
3) The smexy times in this story are hot – another of Michael’s skills
4) This is a little different than the previous books I’ve read by her in that it is more dark and lies more heavily on the non-romance/thriller portion of the story
5) Sometimes the story was twisty, turny and confusing to me, but it leaves a lot of potential for future segments in the series.

Audio

Jonathan Young is a new narrator for me, but he has won me over! I really, really enjoyed his narration here. He does a sweetly southern accent for Cade and a nice dark growl for Nox. He differentiates nicely the other voices as well and did a truly amazing job with the smexy scenes. Even though the story is still very dark and not exactly my cup of tea, I really enjoyed the passion in the narration and enjoyed listening to the story despite the darkness.

This narration absolutely added to my enjoyment of the story and bumps my rating up to a 4.5 of 5 hearts.

4.5

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