Day: March 3, 2019

A Barb the Zany Old Lady Audio Review : Dance For You by Colette Davison and narrated by Neil Macfarlane

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Rating: 2.5 stars out of 5

Mason is a ballet dancer coming off a successful role with a company in another town. As he’s moving into his new flat, complete with package-store boxes containing his new furniture, he accepts help from his neighbor, David. One thing leads to another and the two hook up, despite the fact that David is considerably older.

When Mason starts work at BalletEast, he’s confronted with the fact the guest choreographer is none other than David. In fact, years ago, when a young Mason saw David dancing, he was inspired to take up ballet himself. Such a coincidence! Okay, I’m being sarcastic. So far the story was formulaic.  Added to that the fact that the narrator, who sounded authentically British, did not clearly distinguish the two men’s voices and did not even attempt to sound feminine when reading the female parts. 

So, though Mason was hired as a junior in this company, he’s given the role of Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, a role coveted by a nasty, homophobic bully who should have had a principal role but wasn’t right for the part.  Naturally, as David and Mason’s outside of work romance progresses—a relationship that is D/s—and Mason dances his heart out at work, the bully gets angrier and angrier and the insults—always snide and quietly delivered—increase. Then the bully spots the two men together out late one night and the bullying steps up.  By the end, I was happy to finish the story.

Much of the book was filled with sex scenes. In fact, when they weren’t at the dance company rehearsing or performing, they were having sex, or doing a BDSM scene or David was speculating on what more he could entice Mason to do.  Between the easy to follow story and the somewhat flat, emotionless delivery of the narrator, I was happy to see the end, in which of course, the couple found their way to living together and Mason was ready to explore more of the BDSM lifestyle.

If you love stories of ballet dancers as much as I do, you might like this, but I’d recommend the e-book, rather than the audio, as the narration didn’t enhance the story at all.

The attractive cover features a male dance mid-leap, wearing only a pair of workout shorts. Very definitely attention-getting!

Buy Links (Bounty Links)

Audible US

Audible UK

Audible FR

Audible DE

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Audio Book Details:

Audible Audiobook
Listening Length: 6 hours and 4 minutes
Program Type: Audiobook
Version: Unabridged
Publisher: Colette Davison
Audible.com Release Date: February 5, 2019
e: English, English
ASIN: B07ND5CFWF

An Alisa Review: Learning Trust (The Knights Club Series#3) by CJ Baty

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Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Rio Garcia was not prepared to become a surrogate father to his seventeen year old brother, but he didn’t have much choice in the matter. He did have a choice of the men he could have in his bed. Steve Coulter was on his two strikes and you’re out list. Rio didn’t trust anyone especially cops. So, why did the man get under his skin and make him sweat.

Steve Coulter had never wanted anything more than to be a cop. Being gay did not fit into his career choice. Keeping things on the down low he could have both, but there was no way he was coming out. He didn’t trust anyone that much. Rio Garcia the hot bartender at the Knights Club made him want things he knew he couldn’t have, so why did he keep going back.

Trust. It’s a big thing. Can Rio and Steve overcome their past issues with trust to find a happily ever after that works for them? Life and family at the Knights Club is always a challenge.

Well, I liked this story more than the others in the series so far but only marginally.  Rio has taken in his brother and it’s caused him a crazy amount of stress.  Steve has been hiding who he is for so long, it’s become second nature.

Both of these men are struggling and when they come to have to rely on each other it helps break down their walls.  Okay, so basically both of these guys are in the closet but not really to their closest friends, even if they think so, and the outside world.  It doesn’t take long to find a compromise but I hope it doesn’t hurt them in the future.  My only real gripe with the story is at the New Year’s party and Phillip has a confrontation with the Bradys’ sister and how judgmental Seb is, especially after how he was treated, he is even holding a grudge with Xavier when the book ends.  I am hoping this doesn’t continue with the rest of the series.

The cover art by Select-O-Grafix is okay and follows the same style and set up as the rest of the series.

Sales Link: Amazon

Book Details:

ebook, 84 pages

Published: November 17, 2018

Edition Language: English

Series: The Knights Club #3

Love Mystery and Suspense with your Romance? Check Out the Series Review Tour and Giveaway for Pros & Cons by A.E. Wasp

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SERIES REVIEW TOUR

Five Men. Five Chances for Redemption. One thing’s for sure, these guys are no angels

BOOK 1

Book Title: Pros & Cons of Vengeance

Author: A.E. Wasp

Publisher: Self-published

Cover Artist: Angsty G

Genre/s: MM Romantic Suspense

Heat Rating: 3 flames

Length: approx 83,000 words/ 331 pages

Release Date: January 18, 2019

Add on Goodreads

It is a standalone story

Blurb

There’s nothing like being blackmailed by a dead man to really bring a group of cons together. And what a group we are: a hacker, a thief, a con artist, a thug, and a Federal agent with an axe to grind. The deal is simple, we do the jobs and Charlie’s lawyer wipes the slate clean for each of us, one at a time.

Since job number one calls for some muscle, it looks like I’m up first. I’m Steele Alvarez, ex-Special Forces Close Protection Specialist (aka, a bodyguard for some not so nice guys).

After learning what the job is — taking down a seemingly untouchable senator with a penchant for beating up young male prostitutes — I’m in. No questions. A bullet ought to do the trick.

Then I met Senator Harlan’s latest victim: Breck Pfeiffer, the gorgeous hooker with a heart of gold and the soul of a fighter.  One look at him and I’m gone. That kid laid me out harder than any punch ever did. I’ll do anything to protect Breck, even kill for him. But Breck doesn’t want the senator dead, he wants vengeance.

If we’re going to find a way bring down the slimebag and get the blackest mark on my record erased, I’m going to need all the help I can get.

Like it or not, we’re all in this together.

Buy Links – Available on Kindle Unlimited

Universal Link

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Excerpt

Thank Christ someone had been bright enough to leave the air conditioning on in Charlie’s mansion. Dead men paid no electric bills, I guess. Fucking Florida. I’d been gone too long and had somehow forgotten how truly miserable the humidity could be. Sure, it could hit a hundred and fifteen outside of Baghdad, but it was dry heat.

I thought about taking off my suit, or at least my tie, but until I knew what the hell was going on here, I wasn’t going to let my guard down.

Besides, I looked good in a suit.

“Nice house, huh?” Wesley said from my behind me, as I was busy assessing the layout of the house and cataloging any possible pinch points. Like I said, I didn’t know what I was doing here, and I wasn’t taking any chances.

“I’ve seen bigger.” In my most recent incarnation as close protection specialist and hired muscle to some very rich and very bad men, I’d been in mansions that made this place look like a pool house. Not that this place sucked. Not at all. The cabin I’d grown up in could have fit in the foyer with room left over.

We followed Ms. Miranda Bosley, Charlie’s attorney, single-file down the tiled hallway of the big house like a line of ducklings. Wesley was the only guy I knew and consequently the only one in the group I trusted enough to walk behind me. Even Ms. Bosley looked like she wouldn’t hesitate to stab me in the kidney if she felt she needed to.

Seeing Wes at the funeral had been a surprise. A quick, stilted conversation had revealed that he was here for the same reason I was – we were both being blackmailed by Charlie.

I couldn’t imagine what Charlie had on the kid. I’d only worked with Wes twice before, but he was more a gray hat than a black hat hacker; the kind of person who didn’t mind doing the wrong things for the right reasons. A cross between MacGyver and Anonymous, the kid had probably been on an FBI watch list since he was twelve.

Wesley had triggered my protective instincts from our first meeting, but he’d never really needed much help beyond muscle. Sure he could take of himself with that jujitsu or whatever, but sometimes some people just needed their faces punched, and I was more than happy to do that for him. It was satisfying.

Now Angel-Face, as I’d taken to calling the gorgeous blond kid who’d been sitting a few rows ahead of me at the graveside ceremony, he triggered other instincts in me. Made me think things I probably shouldn’t be thinking at a funeral. But then again, Angel-Face hadn’t seemed exactly consumed with grief either. I hadn’t been completely surprised to see him following Miranda after the funeral along with Wes and me. Very interesting. What had that choir boy done to be in such bad company at such a young age?

BOOK 2

Book Title: Pros & Cons of Deception

Author: A. E. Wasp

Publisher: Self-published

Cover Artist: Angsty G

Genre/s:  MM Romantic Suspense

Heat Rating: 3 flames

Length:   80,000 words/ 300 pages

Release Date: March 1, 2019

Add on Goodreads

Blurb

There’s nothing like being blackmailed by a dead man to really bring a group of cons together. And what a group we are: a hacker, a thief, a con artist, a thug, and a Federal agent with an axe to grind. The deal is simple, we do the jobs and Charlie’s lawyer wipes the slate clean for each of us, one at a time.

I’m Bond. Wesley Bond. (I can’t resist saying it that way. Blame my dad, if you can find him.) You could call me a hacker. I redistribute wealth – moving it from rich slimebags to poorer but infinitely more deserving people – and make a tidy profit as I do.  My mission, should I choose to accept it, is to bring down some modern-day slave traders.

I definitely choose to accept it.

With the life of the one person in this world I love on the line, I can’t afford any screw ups or distractions. Unfortunately, my biggest distraction is also my biggest asset – Danny Monroe.  Danny is a leftover complication from our first job; a victim of the vicious senator we’d gotten locked up. He’s a smart, funny, gorgeous, ex-prostitute, who can’t seem to keep his clothes on. I can’t seem to keep my mouth shut around him. But I need a fake boyfriend, and Danny is the only option.

Fooling the world into thinking we’re in love will be easy; fooling myself that I’m not might be impossible.


Buy Links – Available on Kindle Unlimited

Universal Amazon Link

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Excerpt

“Hey, can anyone explain why my shirt drawer is empty?” Ridge Pfeiffer demanded, appearing on the patio where the rest of our little band had congregated. Our resident retrievals expert (read: thief) was naked from the waist up and scowling beneath his blue eyes and blond curls like the world’s most overgrown, pissed-off Botticelli angel.

I pulled down my sunglasses to look at him, then slid them back up so I could focus on my phone screen. Right now, I was engaged in a long-term bout of spear phishing at Campbell Enterprises, and I was about to close the deal. This was way more interesting than anything Ridge was likely to share.

Janie, I typed, I’m on a plane with Dal Anderson and he wants a four-paragraph summary of Thursday’s press release so we can prepare talking points for the investors!! Can’t access the secure server from here and I’m fah-reaking OUT!! Send me something? – Becks

There. That ought to do it.

Becks, aka Rebecca Frankel, Junior Executive Assistant to the VP of Human Resources at Campbell, according to her LinkedIn profile, was adorably naïve and helpful. For example, when a friendly IT man had called the other day and asked for her credentials to verify a “suspicious login” from her site, she’d provided all the necessary info. Hell, if I’d asked for her astrological sign and social security number, she’d probably have given me that too.

Once I’d accessed her email, I’d had the keys to the castle. It had been easy to copy her writing style – hyper-friendly, with way too many exclamation points for a person over the age of thirteen – to learn that she was going on a business trip with her boss this week, and to find that she was smoke-break buddies with Jane DeVoor, Assistant to the CFO. As soon as Jane emailed back a summary of Thursday’s press release to help her pal out, I’d make a few quick investment decisions like I’d somehow learned to predict the future.

Hint: Ditch your psychic friends and go phishing instead.

“Um, would we say the drawer is really empty, though?” Breck, Ridge’s identical twin, asked from the lounge chair where he was stretched out in the sun practically on top of his boyfriend, Steele Alvarez.

“Close enough. The only things left are a pink tank top that says I Would Bottom You So Hard and this Pittsburgh Steelers t-shirt.” Ridge held it up. “Neither of them is mine, and frankly I don’t feel comfortable wearing either.”

About the Author

A dreamer and an idealist, Amy writes about people finding love, family, and magic in the everyday world. From professional hockey players to professional thieves, her boys work hard, play hard, and love harder. She invites readers into her characters’ lives and worlds when they are their most vulnerable, their most human, and living with the same hopes and fears we all have.

Born on Long Island, NY, Amy has lived in Los Angeles, London, and Bangkok. She currently lives in a town suspiciously like Red Deer, Colorado.

Author Links

Blog/Website

Facebook

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Giveaway

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New Release Blitz for Cowboy Seeks Husband by Leta Blake & Indra Vaughn (excerpt and giveaway)

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Buy Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK 
 
Length: 94,000 words approx.
 
Cover Design: Dar Albert
 
Blurb
 

Walker Reed’s Louisiana cattle ranch is in debt after costly repairs from hurricane damage. To get the money, his family schemes to make Walker the star of a new bachelor reality series: Queer Seeks Spouse. How hard can it be to fake interest in a dozen handsome men for a few weeks in exchange for enough money to solve all of their problems?


Roan Carmichael never got his Masters degree after his mother was diagnosed with cancer. With medical bills piling up, and a costly experimental treatment available, Roan signs on to be a suitor on Queer Seeks Spouse. While he hates having to leave his sick mother long enough to win the cash for her treatment, he’s willing to do whatever it takes.


Can two men who are just in it for the money fake their way into real and lasting love? 

 

Cowboy Seeks Husband, the latest book by Vespertine authors Leta Blake and Indra Vaughn, features a cowboy, a hipster, opposites attract, steamy scenes, and heart tugging moments that will leave you wanting more.

Excerpt
 

“We’re going what?”


“Noodling.” Walker looked far too calm. And smug. Roan figured this probably heralded danger in brooding southern cowboys.


“And I need these.” Roan held up the waterproof bib overalls.


Walker smirked. He had his arms folded over his chest and was leaning against the doorjamb of the kitchen. Roan had been cornered there by Walker and John while making sour apple tea. “Technically you don’t, but I’m sure you’ll want to wear them.”


Roan narrowed his eyes. “But that means we’re going into the water. I know what lives in your water down here. Alligators. And venomous snakes. I googled.”


“Now, why would you do that?” Walker dramatically slapped his forehead, then leaned in closer as if to share a secret. Roan leaned in too, drawn to Walker’s firm, muscled body and cheerful brown eyes, despite his probable imminent death on this so-called date. “Here’s the thing: gators aren’t that aggressive really. You probably won’t even see one. They want to stay as far away from you as you do from them.”


“Really?”


“No. But it makes it easier to get in the water if you tell yourself that.”


Roan stared at him.


“But, seriously, I’m not scared of the gators, and if there was a real, true danger, you know they wouldn’t let us anywhere near the water.”


Roan swallowed hard. The morning light from the kitchen window highlighted the little wrinkles at the edges of Walker’s eyes. Probably from squinting into fields all day. The man even smelled like fresh-cut grass and fresh air.


“As for the snakes, yeah…well.” Walker shrugged. “You just have to make sure you don’t wander into a nest of moccasins. I’m sure the set nurse has antivenom on hand.”


“Water moccasins. The shoe snakes.”


“They don’t look anything like shoes.”


Roan put the waterproof overalls on the counter. “Oh my God, I’m going to die.”


Walker straightened, and the attractive, teasing grin fell from his face. “Seriously, though, if you don’t want to do it, just say so. I won’t hold it against you.”


“If you say bless your heart, I’ll know exactly what you mean,” Roan grumbled. Walker laughed, and God. He was so damn handsome. Feeling his face heat, Roan looked down at the dry bib overalls. They were pretty thick. Maybe the fabric would stop the snake bites. “Fine, I’ll come.”


“I’m mighty glad.”


“You should be.”


Between the threat of biting critter, the thrill of Walker’s sweet drawl, and the headiness of his eager attention, Roan’s head was a swirl. Leaving his tea behind untasted, he stomped away for some privacy to get changed, ignoring John who said, “That’s got to be the most reluctant acceptance of a date I’ve ever seen. Andy’s going to love it.”

About the Authors


Author of the bestselling book Smoky Mountain Dreams and the fan favorite Training Season, Leta Blake’s educational and professional background is in psychology and finance, respectively. However, her passion has always been for writing. She enjoys crafting romance stories and exploring the psyches of made up people. At home in the Southern U.S., Leta works hard at achieving balance between her day job, her writing, and her family.

 



After living in Michigan, USA for seven wonderful years, Indra Vaughn returned back to her Belgian roots. There she will continue to consume herbal tea, do yoga wherever the mat fits, and devour books while single parenting a little boy and working as a nurse.

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