Tag: injury

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A Different Breed by Angel Martinez

Reviewed by Kiwi

TITLE: A Different Breed

SERIES:

PUBLISHER: MLR Press

RELEASE DATE: 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.

.

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.

I would definitely recommend this.

RATING: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

BUY LINKS:

Amazon

ARe

https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-adifferentbreed-2083622-340.html

 

 

 

 

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Drive Your Truck by Julia Talbot

Dreamspinner Presents
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=5988

drive truckBlurb

Home on compassionate leave for his brother’s funeral, Navy SEAL Garrison Matthews needs to blow off a lot of stress and grief before he returns to active duty. In honor of his brother, he takes Bettie, the brothers’ souped-up vintage truck, out for a spin. A bit of an adrenaline junkie, Garrison has no problem finding trouble. This time trouble’s named Walt, and he happens to be Garrison’s sister-in-law’s brother.

Neither man expects their fun to amount to anything else, but after an injury sends Garrison home for good, he turns to Walt, hoping to start a new life. Walt is a closeted sheriff’s deputy, and while he adores Garrison, he isn’t sure he’s ready to come out… or for such a big commitment. Being fresh out of the service isn’t easy on Garrison either. To find their happy ending, Walt and Garrison must overcome their trust issues and get ready to settle down together.

Review

Garrison meets Walt at Garrison’s brother’s funeral. Walt is Garrison’s brother’s wife’s brother. Phew. Got that?

Basically they are sorta, kinda, in-laws-ish.

Garrison is still a SEAL but he’s out. Walt is a cop, and he’s NOT.

At first they hook up and it’s nothing but letting off steam. But as time moves on, they become closer and closer. Garrison gets out of the military, injured, and Walt lends him a hand his guest room. But when things start to look too “suspicious” to the locals, Walt essentially kicks Garrison out.

Garrison wants more. Walt is worried about his reputation and getting hurt if Garrison dumps him and leaves him “out” and alone.

But when someone nearly dies, things become clear.

**

I really liked this book. There were times when the writing, especially the dialog, got a bit clunky and in the middle of the book I was a bit annoyed with Walt for all his waffling, but overall, I thought it was a good romance and it felt pretty realistic to me.

I liked that the boys communicated like boys. Short sentences. No outpourings of devotion. They were honest about their attraction right from the get-go. I also liked that the “drama” was mostly in Walt’s head, which I also think is realistic. So many times we are our own worst enemy.

The sex was pretty hot and when the “I love yous are exchanged” they felt sincere, if anti-climactic.

The name is a bit of a misnomer – the truck really doesn’t play much into the story, though it is a cute/sentimental part of the story.

PS Any story where the dog gets some page time is a good one! ☺

Writing/Editing 3.5

Romance 4

Sex/Heat 4

Storyline 3.5

World Building/Characterizations 4

Overall 3.8 of 5 hearts

4

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Dance With Me by Heidi Cullinan

Loose ID presents:http://www.loose-id.com/dance-with-me.html

Dance with meBlurb

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!

I give it 6 of 5 stars – Amazing!

amazing

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