Category: 5 star Rating

Review Tour for Anna Butler’s The Jackal’s House (excerpt and giveaway)

 

Buy Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK | Dreamspinner 
 
Length: 114,000 words approx. 
 
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
 
Cover Design: Reese Dante 
 
Lancaster’s Luck Series
 
The Gilded Scarab (Book #1) Amazon US | Amazon UK 
 
About The Series


Lancaster’s Luck is set in a steampunk world where, at the turn of the 20th century, the eight powerful Convocation Houses are the de facto rulers of the Britannic Imperium. In this world of politics and assassins, a world powered by luminiferous aether and phlogiston and where aeroships fill the skies, Captain Rafe Lancaster, late of Her Majesty’s Imperial Aero Corps, buys a coffee house in one of the little streets near the Britannic Museum in Bloomsbury.


So begins the romantic steampunk adventures which have Rafe, a member of Minor House Stravaigor, scrambling over Londinium’s rooftops on a sultry summer night or facing dire peril in the pitch dark of an Aegyptian night. And all the while, sharing the danger is the man he loves: Ned Winter, First Heir of Convocation House Gallowglass, the most powerful House in the entire Imperium.


Blurb


Something is stalking the Aegyptian night and endangering the archaeologists excavating the mysterious temple ruins in Abydos. But is it a vengeful ancient spirit or a very modern conspiracy….


Rafe Lancaster’s relationship with Gallowglass First Heir, Ned Winter, flourishes over the summer of 1900, and when Rafe’s House encourages him to join Ned’s next archaeological expedition, he sees a chance for it to deepen further. Since all the Houses of the Britannic Imperium, Rafe’s included, view assassination as a convenient solution to most problems, he packs his aether pistol—just in case. 


Trouble finds them in Abydos. Rafe and Ned begin to wonder if they’re facing opposition to the Temple of Seti being disturbed. What begins as tricks and pranks escalates to attacks and death, while the figure of the Dog—the jackal-headed god, Anubis, ruler of death—casts a long shadow over the desert sands. Destruction follows in his wake as he returns to reclaim his place in Abydos. Can Rafe and Ned stand against both the god and House plots when the life of Ned’s son is on the line?


Excerpt

I like kissing.


Like Ned, I’d spent years in hiding. His constraint had been matrimony and the sense of honor and duty that would never have allowed him to be unfaithful to the mother of his sons. Only her untimely death had released those bonds. Mine had been less noble: I had no desire for a court-martial and a dishonorable discharge from Her Imperial Majesty’s Aero Corps. Most of my encounters over the years had been quick and furtive, but I’d taken every chance I could to practice my technique.


I not only liked kissing, I was good at it.


Fast little kisses to start with, kisses that barely made contact with the skin of Ned’s throat, kisses meant to tease. He tilted his head back to let me in, closing his eyes. His mouth opened on a soft sigh. I hoped he was giving himself up to the pleasure, losing himself in it, that nothing mattered to him at that moment except the feel of my mouth on his throat and lips. I hoped so. I wanted to please him.


I kissed and licked the delicate skin under his ear until he choked with laughter at the tickling. He tightened his grip on my hands and tugged at them until I raised my head. Ha! He’d lulled me into trusting him there and took full advantage of it. He swooped to capture my mouth with his, cutting off breath and thought, bringing a dizzying warmth with his hot tongue, and making me moan.


Of course, they were very manly moans.

 

ns.

For Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 5 star review, visit here.

 

October 30 – Love Bytes
November 1 – Nerdy, Dirty & Flirty
November 3 – Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words, The Novel Approach
November 6 – RJ Scott 
November 7 – Gay Book Reviews
November 8 – MM Good Book Reviews, My Fiction Nook, Jim’s Reading Room
November 9 – Alpha Book Club
November 10 – Drops of Ink, Bayou Book Junkie, Padme’s Library

Anna was a communications specialist for many years, working in various UK government departments on everything from marketing employment schemes to organizing conferences for 10,000 civil servants to running an internal TV service. These days, though, she is writing full time. She recently moved out of the ethnic and cultural melting pot of East London to the rather slower environs of a quiet village tucked deep in the Nottinghamshire countryside, where she lives with her husband and the Deputy Editor, aka Molly the cockerpoo. 



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Giveaway

A Barb the Zany Old Lady Review: Silk (A Material World #3) by K.C. Wells

Rating: 5 stars out of 5

My favorite of the series so far, in this story—which can easily be read as a standalone, by the way—a young male escort and his older client discover much more than a surface attraction when they first down and dirty between the blue silk sheets. 

Matt Dorning is twenty-seven and works as a waiter at his parents’ restaurant. He’s also an underwear model and an escort.  Does he have to do the escort work? Well, the extra income goes a long way toward his independence in living on his own in New York City, plus he loves sex so it’s win-win in his book.  The personable biracial man has plenty of friends, a hot body, and a keen intellect.  He’s on track to take over his father’s restaurant business—something he’s looking forward to in the future when his dad is ready to step down.  But for now, he’s livin’ life and enjoying every moment, and every repeat client, and every new opportunity.

Lucas Sawyer is forty-six, a highly successful entrepreneur, and unknown to most people, suffers from social anxiety.  It’s much easier for him to hire an escort than it would be to cruise a bar for a date, and he always keeps it simple by never hiring his escort for more than one night. No strings. No regrets.  His Park Avenue apartment is secure, convenient, and comfortable and the boys he hires seem so to enjoy their time with him between his silk sheets in his oversized king bed. And then he meets Matt and all bets are off.  Matt loves his job and he’s not afraid to ask for what he wants and to be a bit bossy in the bedroom—all things that Lucas hasn’t really experienced before.  Lucas is usually the dominant in the bedroom, telling the escorts what to do and when to do it, but Matt just goes for what he wants and that includes telling Lucas what to do and when to do it.  Matt has heard of Lucas from fellow escorts and knows he’s only going to have one night so he figures why not do what he wants? As it turns out, this approach really piques Lucas’s interest and he thinks of Matt long after he’s gone. 

As they see each other again, their dynamic begins to change and they share more than sex. Matt suddenly decides to help Lucas with his anxiety by inviting him to Matt’s brother’s wedding—something Lucas normally wouldn’t enjoy but does—and the bonus is the night they get to spend sleeping together before a nice round of wakeup sex the next day.  Over time, both men acknowledge that they aren’t really escort and client any longer, but Matt faces some huge personal challenges, and without any commitment from Lucas, he’s not sure what to do.  How will Lucas feel when Matt continues to have sex with his other clients?  Is there room for each man in each other’s lives?

This was a terrific story, very different from others I’ve read that featured escorts, and I enjoyed both the writing style and the cast of characters—all well-developed and interesting characters.  My favorite was Diane, Lucas’s grandmother.  I can’t tell you how happy I was to see that she was not portrayed as a faded lily—a little old lady who was on her last leg.  I bowl every week with women in their nineties and I aspire to be like them when I grow up.  Diane can go on that list—I loved her!

I also enjoyed the dynamic between Matt and Lucas and the development of each individual character and the couple as a whole.  They took their time and it wasn’t all about sex, though I must admit there were some smokin’ hot scenes! Whew! Get the personal fans out for this one. 

In all seriousness, however, I must say that I can very easily highly recommend this MM romance to all—and especially to those who enjoy age-gap.  Twenty years here with unforgettable characters.  Don’t miss out on this one. 

“““““`

The cover by Meredith Russell features two men reclining in a bed covered with dark blue silk sheets. The older man has silver hair and the shoulder tats described in the story and he’s staring at the camera, while the younger man is obviously biracial and sound asleep.  It’s hot and delicious and perfect for this story.  Very attention-getting!

Sales Links:  Amazon

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 256 pages
Published September 29th 2017 by Island Tales Press (first published September 2017)
ASINB0762Y7Y1J
Edition LanguageEnglish
SeriesA Material World #3

A MelanieM Review: Jackalopes & Woofen-Poofs (Offbeat Crimes #5) by Angel Martinez

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

Hoax animals and a consulting vampire on the prowl—Jason never thought having a cop boyfriend would be this hard.

All Animal Control Officer Jason Shen ever wanted was a quiet life of rescuing lost kittens and helping animals in need. Having a paranormal cop boyfriend guarantees an end to the quiet part. What at first seems a random encounter with jackalopes in the park might be more than chance and when State Paranormal sends a handsome, charming vampire to consult with the Seventy-Seventh, he finds his relationship with Alex on shaky ground.

Officer Alex Wolf hoped his humaning skills were improving but now he can’t unravel the strange politics at State Paranormal or why Jason’s family seems to hate him. There’s no time to puzzle things out either. Bizarre animals are loose in the city, Jason’s acting strange, and is the vampire captain from State flirting with him? Wolf’s going to have to keep his head in the game if he’s going to have any chance of putting the pieces together and keeping the city safe from the strange critters terrorizing its streets.

You know I’m running out of adjectives here.  I’m going to have to start to resort to the sort of thing like making up words to go along with the made up animals like the Jackalope here and the Woofen-Poofs, among others.  Angel Martinez’s minds a fantabulous place.  Scary, mind-blowing definitely but one I always want to visit with.  Here we return to that hard-working Precinct the 77th and its Paranormal Unit.  Animals are popping up all over and attacking people, animals that don’t exist in nature…like jackalopes.  There’s only one squad to do the investigating.  And since one of their own was on the scene of the first attack, that should help..right?

Officer Wolf is one of many great characters here.  An actual wolf cursed to be human, he’s dealing with his boyfriend’s unfriendly family, a new case he doesn’t understand, and a new vampire supervisor who’s confusing him. Jason Shen isn’t happy with any of those elements either.  The author is juggling one of the weirdest supernatural romances around (believably so), making us understand a wolf trying to understand human while being a wolf, and continuing an overall series arc that keeps getting more series all the time while maintaining its humorous elements.  And blowing our mind with her creativity while doing it.

Nothing like loving falling down the rabbit’s hole.

Once more the characters are outstanding, here we are dealing with an established couple having “normal” couple issues but with a supernatural twist, along with a case that has implications far beyond just the ones it seems to present.  Angel Martinez never does things simply narratively speaking. Jackalopes & Woofen-Poofs (Offbeat Crimes #5) and all the other stories in this series showcase that on a high worbly way! So there!

I’m addicted.  I admit it.  But these definitely aren’t stand alone stories.  You need to go to the first stories and start building your foundation knowledge of the beings/people/couples and overall series arc.  Trust me, you won’t want to miss out on a book once you’ve started.

Cover art by Posh Gosh works for the story elements.

Sales Links:  Pride Publishing | Amazon

Book Details:

ebook, 225 pages
Published October 3rd 2017 by Pride Publishing
ISBN139781786516367
Edition LanguageEnglish
Series Offbeat Crimes #5
setting Pennsylvania (United States)

Don’t Miss Out on the Halloween collection of stories from NineStar Press! (Giveaway)

Get in the holiday spirit with the Halloween collection of stories from NineStar Press

Releasing between October 9th and October 23rd, don’t miss a single one!

Available October 23rd

Synopsis

It’s been twenty years since the quiet Midwestern town of Lakeview was struck by tragedy. But every year on the anniversary of the event Teddy returns home for ‘The Reunion’. Lakeview, like Teddy, has secrets and not all mysteries should come to light.

Purchase

NineStar Press | Amazon | Smashwords | Barnes & Noble

Synopsis

The path to true love is never easy, especially when you are on opposite sides of the world’s greatest theological debate.

It’s Halloween, and the Demon of Masturbation—Dom, for short—has come to Earth to collect sins and souls for his boss. But a representative from the Interfering Angel Network—Ian—has been sent to put a crimp in his plans. Frankly, though, the two seem less interested in sins and souls than in the three bottles of tequila they down during the night. Alcohol can lower the inhibitions, but it also impacts judgment, and Dom and Ian soon find themselves in the world’s most awkward threesome with a young mortal virgin.

Forget battling for his soul—their real passion seems to be for each other. But Halloween night is waning fast, and the veil between the worlds is only lifted for one night. How can two beings from opposite sides come together when they know they are destined to forever be apart?

Purchase

NineStar Press | Amazon | Smashwords | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

Synopsis

It’s Halloween time in Hawai’i and of course Gabe Maxfield is in business. Gabe owes lu’au owner Hiapo a favor (read Tiki Torches and Treasure to find out why!) so when weird things start happening at his lu’au, strange enough to frighten off his hula dancers, he comes to Gabe for help. Skeptical as always, Gabe steps into a creepy mystery where things are going missing or getting moved around and people are disappearing left and right. Can he solve the mystery before everyone he knows falls prey to the woods?

Purchase

NineStar Press | Amazon | Smashwords | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

Synopsis

Kicked out of private school, Allen has to brave a public high school where most of the kids don’t know supernatural creatures exist. He expects to be miserable, but he finds himself romantically pursued by two people: a shy, but fascinating boy named Jeremy and a spunky girl named Chloe. The demon in Allen wants to feed off Chloe, but the human part of him is falling for Jeremy. Which will win?

Purchase

NineStar Press | Amazon | Smashwords | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

Giveaway

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For all Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words Reviews, see the links below.  We highly recommend them all for your reading pleasure at Halloween or any time of the year:

Hula Dancers and Hauntings by J.C. Long

The Reunion by M.D. Neu

Second Level by Drew Martin Frayne

Half Breeds by Sara Codair

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A MelanieM Release Day Review: The Reunion by M.D. Neu

Rating: 5 stars out of 5

It’s been twenty years since the quiet Midwestern town of Lakeview was struck by tragedy.  But every year on the anniversary of the event Teddy returns home for ‘The Reunion’. Lakeview, like Teddy, has secrets and not all mysteries should come to light.

I read The Reunion by M.D. Neu last of the 4 stories I had and I’m glad I did because I’m still thinking about it.  It’s beautifully written, I fell in love with the characters and the format in which the story is told is guaranteed to leave a chill in your heart and your mind running in circles.

I thought I knew where the author was going with the story and time after time, they proved me wrong.  And that ending….

Yes, this is a must read.  Grab it up now.  And let me know what you think!

Cover art by Natasha Snow is perfect.

Sales Links:

NineStar Press | Amazon | Smashwords | Barnes & Noble

Book Details:

ebook
Expected publication: October 23rd 2017 by NineStar Press
ISBN139781947904156
Edition LanguageEnglish

A MelanieM Release Day Review: Second Level by Drew Marvin Frayne

Rating: 5 stars out of 5

The path to true love is never easy, especially when you are on opposite sides of the world’s greatest theological debate.

It’s Halloween, and the Demon of Masturbation—Dom, for short—has come to Earth to collect sins and souls for his boss. But a representative from the Interfering Angel Network—Ian—has been sent to put a crimp in his plans. Frankly, though, the two seem less interested in sins and souls than in the three bottles of tequila they down during the night. Alcohol can lower the inhibitions, but it also impacts judgment, and Dom and Ian soon find themselves in the world’s most awkward threesome with a young mortal virgin.

Forget battling for his soul—their real passion seems to be for each other. But Halloween night is waning fast, and the veil between the worlds is only lifted for one night. How can two beings from opposite sides come together when they know they are destined to forever be apart?

Second Level by Drew Marvin Frayne has to be one of my favorites simply because I laughed so much.  And it had such a neat twist at the end.  But mostly because of the humor and the wonderful characters.  Dom the Demon of Masturbation is priceless, especially when he’s musing on how beauty and body image has changed over the centuries.  What’s a short, chunky demon to do?

However, it’s in the swing towards poignancy towards the end where the depth of the story really kicks in and pulls at your heart, surprisingly so after sort of labeling the story a comedy.  No there’s more to this little gem than just that.  Read it and find out for yourself why I highly recommend it.

Cover art by Natasha Snow is again just perfect.

Sales Links:

NineStar Press | Amazon | Smashwords | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

Book Details:

ebook
Expected publication: October 23rd 2017 by NineStar Press
ISBN139781947904101
Edition LanguageEnglish

A MelanieM Review: Last Marine Standing (Heroes #2) by R.J. Scott

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

Former Marine Recon, Mackenzie ‘Mac’ Jackson has secrets. The things he did for his country, the things he saw, must never be spoken about. Until, that is, his team is targeted.

A shift in political alliances means one particular mission undertaken by Mac and his Fire Team needs to be wiped from the history books. Starting with the team itself.

Forest Ranger Samuel Larson wants to find the Marines who saved his life. He just wants to say thank you. What he can’t know is that he’s walking into a firestorm of betrayal and murder.

When Samuel arrives at Mac’s place he throws Mac’s plans for hiding out of the window. Abruptly Mac has to protect a man who threatens his heart, only this time he can’t be sure he will succeed in keeping Sam alive.

When the people you trusted turn on you, when you are the last one standing, should you take your secrets to the grave? Or make the murderers pay?

Heroes is turning out to be an incredible series.  A spinoff from the amazing Sanctuary stories,A Reason To Stay hooked me in with RJ Scott delivering romance, murder mystery along with  her hardened SEAL on leave and his second chance at love police officer.  Last Maine Standing though kicks it all into high gear.  There’s an absolutely horrific mission in the past that starts the story.    I’ll say no more about that.

But these two men haunt each other and the reader with their combined pasts.

On top of that, RJ Scott has thrown a conspiracy of deceit and murder against our heroes.  It’s heinous, it’s murky, and the suspicions and suspense of everyone drives this story, sometimes pushing the romance aspect to a secondary element.   Still, RJ Scott is so great with it comes to interpersonal dynamics that even when suspense and espionage is driving a certain portion of the story, she gets to work in the magnetic attraction and heat that brings these two men together and makes their relationship work.   You certainly understand by Sam needs to find Mac after all these years and you can see Mac’s need as well.  The balance works.

Really, I thought this story had it all.  Action, drama, hot men, sex and yes, romance.  I loved this story.  Heroes is a wonderful series and Last Marine Standing is the prime example why.  I highly recommend both.

Cover art by Meredith Russell is terrific.

Sales Links:  RJ Scott Books | Amazon

Book Details:

ebook, 211 pages
Published October 8th 2014 by Love Lane Books (first published October 6th 2014)
Edition LanguageEnglish
SeriesHeroes #2