Category: 5 star Rating

A MelanieM Review: All The World’s An Undead Stage (Offbeat Crimes #6) by Angel Martinez

Rating:  5 stars out of 5

Old actors never die shouldn’t be literally true.

Carrington Loveless III, skim-blood vampire and senior officer of Philly’s paranormal police department, has long suspected that someone’s targeting his squad. The increasingly bizarre and dangerous entities invading their city can’t be a coincidence. So when a walking corpse spouting Oscar Wilde attacks one of his officers, Carrington’s determined to uncover the evil mind behind it all.

As a rare books librarian, Erasmus Graham thought he understood some of the stranger things in life. Sharing a life with Carrington’s shown him he didn’t know the half of it. They’ve survived attack books and deadly dust bunnies together and got through mostly unscathed.

Now his world and his vampire’s appear ready to collide again. Books are missing from the rare books’ collection—old tomes of magic containing dangerous summonings and necromancy. He’s certain whoever’s been stalking the Seventy-Seventh is composing their end game.

It’s going to take a consolidated effort from paranormal police, librarians, and some not-quite-authorized civilians to head off the impending catastrophe.

As I said before, I’m sort of running out of superlatives here.  Angel Martinez and this series, Offbeat Crimes, has given us wildly imaginative and perfectly wonderful in every way characters, over the top creatures like ginormous pills bugs from space and lethal flying verse spitting books, an overall arc and villain to literally die for.  Of course, some of the main characters here are already dead, including Carr, aka  Det. Carrington Loveless III, a vampire who has a real distaste for blood and lives off a “blood lite” version that he still finds barely edible.  Oh and he’s in love with a rare books librarian Erasmus Graham.  What a couple, a great one among quite a few memorable ones with this series.

In All The World’s An Undead Stage (Offbeat Crimes #6) Angel Martinez brings this  particular arc to an end, although I’m hoping with all my heart not the series.  A evil mage has been targeting the Seventy-Seventh Precinct and we are soon to find out who and why.

And it involves  zombie actors spouting verse coming to kill them.  Nods.  Of course it does.  Makes perfect sense.  In an Angel Martinez world.

And that’s just the opening act as they say.

Because there are layers and layers to these stories.  It’s never just about the villain and his nefarious plans for…well…whatever.  It’s also about relationships, romantic ones, working dynamics, interspecies communication, even something beyond that here as the Precinct is made up of all types of intelligent beings even if we aren’t quite sure of their origin.  All The World’s An Undead Stage is about the beings inside of it, working together to survive, go forward, and yes, thrive while loving each other and keeping the world safe.

That’s a tall order when you are facing evil of this magnitude.

And I’ve come to care deeply about everyone, every character here due to the author’s superb characterizations and writing skills.  How else do you explain me sobbing away here:

Carrington took a quick glance back at Hunter and LJ.  They held each other tight–strange orphans abandoned on the darkest possible of nights. LJ lifted a sleeve in a wave and Carrington returned it with a salute.  They were, without a doubt, the bravest jackets he had ever met.

We are talking about animated clothing here.  Two jackets…a couple, (LJ a leather jacket and Hunter, a pea coat) who have become two of the characters I’m fondest of.  At that imagery?  I’m bawling like a baby.  Especially if you knew the rest of the context.  The author has over the course of this series given these jackets life and personality.  Oh, yes, love and a relationship. You forget you are crying over flying bits of linen and leather but recognize them as beings that levitate and love each other, that have pride in being part of the Seventy-Seventh Precinct and show fear of loss.

Extrapolate that depth of characterization to the cast of beings, the humans with quirky “talents”, the wolf cursed to be a human, the vampire who can’t stand blood, the firestarters, the shakers and quakers, all the couples and the ‘animals’ who make up the Seventy-Seventh.  They are all here in amazing detail and dimension, alive, vivid and believable.

Carrington and Erasmus are at the top of this story as they focus on their relationship while adding up clues, hunting missing books, and dealing with Carrington’s mother.  All the various story threads flow easily together, weaving in and out, like some weird, wonderful supernatural tapestry.  I arrived at the end far too quickly, a little shaken, counting all the characters to make sure everyone arrived safely (still not sure I counted right).  And now I’m squinting at some of those lines of the authors.

Hmmm.

I mean, it’s quite all right for 42 to be the answer to life, the universe and everything.  But really, “Someone feed the gouramis!”  Damn pesky fish.  More books, Ms Martinez, more books are definitely needed because as we all know carp are never to be trusted!

Read it…it will make sense..I promise you.  But if you are new to the series, don’t start here.  Read them all in order.  It’s such a pleasure watching the men, women, beings of the Seventy-Seventh learn to come together from a shaky beginning to the solid unit they are here that depends and yes, feels deep affection for each other (more for the couples).  For me this is a must read series.  I highly recommend it.

Cover art: Posh Gosh.  I like the covers and the way it brands the series.

Sales Links:  Pride Publishing | Amazon

Barnes & Noble | Kobo

Book Details:

ebook, 200 pages
Published January 2nd 2018 by Pride Publishing
Original TitleAll the World’s an Undead Stage
ISBN139781786516602
Edition LanguageEnglish
Series Offbeat Crimes – Add it to your Goodreads now:

A Free Dreamer Review: Light by Nathan Burgoine

Rating: 5 stars out of 5

 

Kieran Quinn is a bit telepathic, a little psychokinetic, and very gay—three things that have gotten him through life perfectly well so far—but when self-styled prophet Wyatt Jackson arrives during Pride Week, things take a violent turn.

Kieran’s powers are somewhat underwhelming but do have a habit of refracting light into spectacular rainbows for him to hide behind. Even so, it’s not long before Kieran is struggling to maintain his own anonymity while battling wits with a handsome cop, getting some flirting in with a hunky leather man, saving some drag queens, and escaping the worst blind date in history. It’s enough to make a fledgling hero want to give up before he even begins.

One thing’s for sure: saving the day has never been so fabulous.

This book was simply amazing. “Light” was funny, unique and had me hooked in absolutely no time.
I liked Kieran from the very first sentence. He has a telepathic bond with his cat (Seriously, how awesome is that?), having created certain images and signals to represent the various activities in a cat’s life. Other than that, he only uses his (all in all rather underwhelming) powers on his clients to find out where and why they are sore, making it a lot easier for him to massage those aches and pains away.


Kieran is not really a hero, he has never used his powers openly and doesn’t achieve any heroic deeds with them. That is, until a bunch of religious nutters show up at Ottawa Pride Week, the highlight of every year. Their “prophet” Stigmatic Jack is a psychokinetic that has a gift for randomly cutting “sinners” without needing a knife. That’s when Kieran really uses his powers for the first time, by bending the light around him and blinding Stigmatic Jack and his followers. From this moment on, the mysterious saviour is known as “Rainbow Man” or “Disco”, names that Kieran really can’t stand.


So the plot is a little different from your average superhero novel – no superhero heroically saving the lives of innocents on a daily basis. No, Kieran is a perfectly normal man with somewhat limited powers, looking for the love of his life. His friend Karen keeps setting him up for blind dates with some of the weirdest men in the history of dating.


While religion certainly does play an important role in this novel (the religious nutcases obviously make Kieran think about the way he sees religion), I never felt like the author was trying to force his believes on me.


At times, “Light” was simply too funny to be true, without ever getting ridiculous. I spent a large part of the novel snickering at some remark or another. My favourite scene has to be during the annual Drag Off. I nearly fell out of my chair.


At other times, especially during the great showdown, I found myself breathlessly chanting “nononononono”, completely ignoring everything around me.


The only thing I wasn’t too fond of was the whole “love at first sight” deal. But since it wasn’t overdone and seems to be an extremely common phenomenon in romance novels, it didn’t bother me too much.

To sum it up, “Light” is an ingenious work full of humour and suspense that should appeal to any lover of paranormal romances that enjoy heroes that aren’t all that heroic after all.

Cover: I quite like the cover. It’s definitely not your run-of-the-mill m/m romance cover. The colours are beautiful.

Sales:   Bold Strokes Books | Amazon

Book details:

Kindle Edition, 190 pages
Published October 13th 2013 by Bold Strokes Books
ASINB00FVHFGEW
Edition LanguageEnglish
CharactersKieran Quinn, Sebastien LaRoche settingOttawa, Ontario (Canada)

Literary AwardsLambda Literary Award Nominee for LGBT SF/F/Horror (2014)

A MelanieM Review: Finders Keepers by N.R. Walker

Rating: 5 stars out of 5

Needing a change of scene, Griffin Burke moves from Brisbane to Coolum Beach to start a new job. The beautiful white sand, aqua-coloured ocean, blue skies, and summer breezes are everything he longs for. What he finds is a mud-covered dog, lost and hungry, with a nametag and a phone number.

Dane Hughes is stuck in Surfers Paradise at a week-long work conference when he gets a phone call from his distraught mother. His dog, his fur baby, Wicket, has run away. Unable to leave and feeling helpless and miserable, he gets a text from a guy. “I think I found your dog…”

Griffin and Dane start talking, and Griffin agrees to look after Wicket until Dane can collect him. With a few days left before his new job starts, Griffin takes Wicket on some coastal adventures and sends Dane photos of their fun, and so the start of something new and kind of wonderful begins.

Griffin might have moved to Coolum in search of a new life, but what he finds is so much more. What he gets to keep just might take some four-legged help.

Ever see a cover and know immediately you must, must read that story?  That, without ever having to read the blurb, something (in this case an beyond adorable dog and his master) grabs you by your ever lovin’ romantic heart? Finders Keepers did that and then doubled down with a blurb that had me all blubbery.  As a dog owner, one of the worst fears is losing your dog…trust me.  So I could instantly transport myself into Dane Hughes’ shoes and emotional turmoil when he finds out that Wicket has escaped from his Mom’s house.  I teared up in empathy. Yep, NR Walker had me hooked before I even started the story.

Oh what a story Finders Keepers turned out to be!  The very definition of heartwarming, and romantic, and utterly real.   This is a book I will be sinking myself into over and over again.  I’ve definitely found myself a new comfort read in Finders Keepers and a new favorite couple or family, because that includes Wicket, a small dog with tons of personality.

The special wonder of this romance is the manner in which  NR Walker has it conducted.  Through a series of texts and pics between the men…the connection between them being Wicket, that irresistible canine cupid.  This format works for them and us as it intimately lets us into both  men’s lives and thoughts.  We get to know them as they get to know each other.  And their anticipation becomes ours as well when the time arrives to actually meet.  How my heart thumped wildly too.

One of the many things that I have always loved about NR Walker’s stories is her superb characterizations,  That continues here.  It’s not just Griffin Burke and Dane Hughes, two men who meet over a dog but understand each other on so many levels, including their jobs.  No it’s Bernice and K, who for me are also main characters.  Vibrant, real, by turns hilarious and poignant, these two memorable individuals almost cry out for their own story to be told.  I love them with equal enthusiasm.  Trust me you will too.

Finders Keepers can make you laugh, hiccup with nervous anticipation, sniffle with the thought of loss, and make your heart swell with the sheer amounts of love and happiness that bubble over throughout the story, especially at the end.  That’s what I call great storytelling and a wonderful romance.  I’ll be rereading this when I need a pickerupper.  But I highly recommend it now for everyone who hasn’t found it the first time.  You are in for a real treat!

Cover art: Humble .  I adore this  cover.  Eye catching, heartwarming!  A Hug in cover art.

Sales Links:  Amazon

Book Details:

Expected publication: February 2nd 2018 (first published January 31st 2018)
Original TitleFinders Keepers
Edition Language English

A Stella Review: Contour (Shape of You #1) by Meg Harding

RATING 5 out of 5 stars

Jamie “Roxy” Albright has one great love in his life and room for no other. He lives and breathes makeup. Men are nothing more than temporary distractions and romance… well, that isn’t worth his time. With a burgeoning career as a YouTube makeup artist opening doors to never before dreamed of opportunities, time isn’t something Jamie has and distractions aren’t something he can afford.

Instagram model and shirtless wonder Tyler Jackson is quickly falling for elusive Jamie. How it went from a seemingly innocent message to feelings, he’ll never know. Their chemistry is instant and fiery hot, and Tyler’s never been that good at self control. The challenges are endless, though. There’s Jamie’s walls to break through and a country worth of space between them. And just when things are starting to look up, life throws a wrench in the works.

I devoured Contour in one night, I have to admit I couldn’t put it down for a second and I was sleep deprived the morning after but I didn’t care at all. This new release by Meg Harding caught my attention since I read the blurb and once I actually started reading it, I was gone. Tyler and Jamie were amazing characters, I adored them, together they were the perfection, they clicked so well, it was unavoidable not to fall in love with them. I especially liked how Jamie changed (still being himself) once he finally let his attraction for Tyler become more, and later how Tyler helped him to come out of the shell Jamie had built around, and never once he asked Jamie to be someone else if not himself. Tyler loved him and his love for makeup, he loved his smart mouth too.

And then the second characters as Lorelie and Dan and Mattie were the friends everyone should have, always supportive and ready to follow their best friends in their new adventures.

The author did a great job with Contour, well written, scenes always clear and great dialogues, well defined characters, and engaging plot, no drama or angst, just two lovely famous persons falling in love. Contour is the first book in a new series and I can’t wait for the next one.

Cover Design: Garrett Leigh @ Black Jazz Design.   The cover art could be perfect but I honestly can’t see Jamie in the model face.

Universal Buy Link: books2read.com/ContourMH

BOOK DETAILS

Kindle Edition, 1 edition, 200 pages

Published January 23rd 2018 by Oceanside Press

ASIN B078WNKVDK

Edition Language English

Series Shape of You #1

A Stella Review: When It’s Time (Go Your Own Way #3) by Zane Riley

RATING 5 out of 5 stars

In the New Adult series that began with Go Your Own Way, Will Osbourne and Lennox McAvoy must now face the challenges of a long distance relationship that will determine their future. Despite the fulfillment of his childhood dream, Will is suffocating in too-loud, too-dirty, too-busy New York City. Lennox, who has always relied on Will for guidance, is thriving in Boston without him. As Lennox embraces his promising new life and rediscovers old family, Will searches for a future of his own that won’t tear them apart.

When It’s Time is the third installment in the Go Your Own Way series by Zane Riley and it follows the relationship between Lennox and Will, the two of them will start college in a few weeks, Lennox will move to Boston and Will to New York. While Will thought and planned his future years ago, Lennox has never even thought college was a possibility for him and now everything seems unreal and confusing. The only anchor in his life is Will and the love they share.

I read the previous books in this series and I already knew how good the author is, so it wasn’t a surprise how much I loved this new release. I was waiting to learn more about these two young men and what life will have in store for them. I was curious to see if they were going to make it once college started. Most of all how they would make it. And just here the author surprised me, I wasn’t expecting the development I read.

As always the writing was superb, the reading flew easily and I was so caught into the MCs lives together and apart, I couldn’t put my Kindle down for a minute. I followed them to their struggles with new places to discover, new friends to meet, new dreams to fulfill (or not). The reason why the whole series is a huge success to me is how real the MCs story is, I found a connection with them since the first time I read about their lives, I felt their emotions clearly, I saw them hurting and be happy. I empathize with Will and Lennox for different reason but both of them took my heart.

I want to recommend the Go Your Own Way series, When It’s Time can’t be read as a standalone but give the series a chance, I’m sure it will be a beautiful journey for you too.

The cover art by Colleen M. Good is beautiful, it follows the style of the previous books and I really like it.

SALE LINKS:  AMAZON   |   INTERLUDE PRESS 

BOOK DETAILS

Kindle Edition 257 pages

Published January 18th 2018 by Interlude Press

ASIN B0776MXR4K

Edition Language English

Series Go Your Own Way #3

A MelanieM Review: Hidden Treasures (A Pinx Video Mystery #2) by Marshall Thornton

Rating: 5 stars out of 5

It’s about a dress. A valuable blue sequined dress worn by a famed actress in a film from the 1940s. For some reason everyone thinks video storeowner Noah Valentine has it. Which might not be a big deal except that it’s connected to the murder of a prominent Hollywood costumer.

In the second of the Pinx Video Mysteries, Noah attempts to solve the mystery of the dress. To do so, he must confront a legendary film icon Wilma Wanderly, hunky police Detective Javier O’Shea, the dowager Queen of Watts and a couple of bitter ex-friends.

I am wild about Hidden Treasures and the Pinx Video Mystery series by Marshall Thornton.  Extremely well written, evocative of an era still so close to ours that we can remember all the telling details that makes this book and series ring with familiarity and yet far enough removed that it feels nostalgic. Ah video tapes cartridges…VHS…some may remember from Blockbuster if you didn’t have the smaller privately owned stores like this nearby?  Clunky black rectangles that you rushed to return?  No?

Thornton’s tales are supplied with the names of songs, tv series, movies, books, and every day “go to” gadgets and calendars you had to have.  Yet, none of it feels false or as though the author is dumping too much “historical” facts into his novel.  No, it’s all woven into this series with an ease and a  “normalcy” that often hardly ripples the narrative.  Maybe a slight double take, an appreciative nod, a “oh I forgot about those” from me…but often I’m so buried in the story and the characters that a mention bubbled up pages later in my mind and a note to go back later to look it up.

Oh, man, these characters.  Especially the pragmatic yet wounded Noah.  I have a hard time coming up with the right words not only to describe him but also how much I love this character.  And it’s a love that is growing deeper by the book.  He’s admirable, intelligent, courageous, and often kind.  He’s not hopeful, not yet.  I’m not sure he ever will be in these times.  But each book is proving to be a revelation about him and for him.  I won’t say more.  You need to read the first story Night Drop (A Pinx Video Mystery, #1 to understand what’s going on with Noah and his history.   To say anything more spoils that incredible story and this one. And that just won’t do.

Noah is surrounded by friends equally memorable.  You got to know them in Night Drop but here they actually feel like family.  As does a certain Detective.  They feel alive, believable, authentic, and in some cases, haunting.  This was the 80’s after all.

Marshall Thornton has won awards for his writing.  I hope he’s won them for this series.  If not, he should because they are incredible.  The writing is superb, the characters beyond memorable, the mysteries complicated and entertaining, and the stories  themselves have staying power, an emotional heft that carries far beyond those little words The End.

Now to wait and see what’s next in store for Noah and Pinx Video.  I can hardly wait.  If you haven’t discovered Marshall Thornton, pick up his Pinx Video series, both of them.  I highly recommend them both, including Hidden Treasures.

Cover art is amazing.  I just love the covers for this series. Interesting, pertinent, and great for branding.

Buy Links: Amazon |     books2read.com/HiddenTreasures

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 229 pages
Published January 28th 2018 by Kenmore Books
ASINB0773ST2KB
Edition LanguageEnglish
SeriesA Pinx Video Mystery #2

 

 

A MelanieM Review: And God Belched by Rob Rosen

Rating: 5 stars out of 5

In this riotously funny romantic adventure, Randy and his younger brother, Craig, find themselves in a different universe, on a strange planet, desperately searching for Milo, a handsome stranger in imminent danger, all while being chased by the heavily armed local authorities. And that’s just the start of this epic journey. But what else does fate have in store for our brave heroes? And can one human save two worlds, the handsome alien he’s fallen in love with, his entire family, and a self-aware watch? Read on, dear Earthlings, to find out!

Wow!  Another Rob Rosen fantabulous whackadoodle tale!  I mean you know that going in…because, hey…it’s Rob Rosen…but that’s exactly why I love to read him.  For stories like And God Belched!

And God Belched has Rob Rosen running happily amuck through the science fiction universe, devising his only theories of Creationism and the Origins of the Universe  in detail (God belching out the planets and universes, and then the consequences of two of the universes crashing together.

Yep, they meet in the bedroom of a young man named Randy (which also suits his sexual nature), who just so happen to live in a unique house on the top of a hill that’s now having earthquakes.  Then Randy spies a reflection in his bathroom mirror.  The reflection looks like him, only the eyes are blue and his are brown.  Huh.  Not him.  It take younger genius brother Craig to give Randy the answers to his questions and the ability to talk to Milo, the stranger in the mirror.

Before I knew it I was sucked into Rosen’s stranger and wonderful   world where there are portals in bathrooms, universes connect through waterfalls, and a watch named Tag becomes someone you care about as much as anyone else in the storyline.

I give up really trying to tell you all what’s going to happen here, other than saying it’s a exhilarating, crazy,  did they really just stop and have sex in the middle of the action, why yes they did, hilarious science fiction story.  There’s some poignancy, because Rosen also roles that way but mostly statements on governments, boredom, genetics, and the future of the human race.  Oh yes, and paste vs fruits.  Had to throw that in there too.

When it’s all over, I finish the story smiling, having thoroughly enjoyed myself after falling in love with his characters and been deeply immersed in this world or worlds of his where any goes and often does.  This is exactly why I read Rob Rosen and will continue to do so.  Have you found him yet?  No?  Well, start here.  I highly recommend it!

Cover art is perfect for this story.  Love it!

Sales Links:  MLR Press  | Amazon

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 204 pages
Published January 26th 2018 by MLR Press (first published January 2018)
ASINB078GG9L4P
Edition LanguageEnglish