Category: 5 star Rating

A MelanieM Recent Review: Night Drop (A Pinx Video Mystery #1) by Marshall Thornton

Rating: 5 stars out of 5

It’s 1992 and Los Angeles is burning. Noah Valentine, the owner of Pinx Video in Silver Lake, notices the fires have taken their toll on fellow shopkeeper Guy Peterson’s camera shop. After the riots end, he decides to stop by Guy’s to pick up his overdue videos, only to find Guy’s family dividing up his belongings. He died in the camera store fire—or did he? Noah and his charmingly meddlesome downstairs neighbors begin to suspect something else might have happened to Guy Peterson. Something truly sinister.

The first in a new series from Lambda Award-winner Marshall Thornton, Night Drop strikes a lighter tone than the Boystown Mysteries, while bringing Silver Lake of the early 1990s to life.

I remember the Rodney King beating and the riots that followed in Los Angeles.  Here in the Washington, DC metro area we had our own race riots of the 90’s…the Mount Pleasant riots of 1991.  Still both events are in the distant past.  Yet Marshall Thornton brings it vividly to life in his novel Night Drop, the first in his new series Pinx Video Mysteries set in the 1990’s.

Thornton’s main character, Noah Valentine, is the owner of Pinx Video, that relic of the past, consigned to history by new technology.  Ah, VHS tapes, Blockbuster, and late returns!  We meet Noah in his store with his employees wondering if his store will survive the riots currently taking place.  The author seamlessly folds in all the elements and details of the era (old gadgets, movies, topics) into his story without making it a history lesson or info dump.  I lived it and loved the references, noting them yet they never took my attention away from the drama that was Noah’s life and the riots occurring in L.A.  Oh, and the murder too.

Yes, this is a murder mystery and a terrific one wrapped up within the tumultuous emotional times of the 90’s.  Race riots, gay rights, so much more and Thornton captures it all.  Noah starts off as one man who hesitates to get involved because of his own issues and then slowly he inserts himself into the investigation of a murder that no one seems to want solved in a hurry, if at all.  Noah is a man already full of loss and pain, although at first we only are aware of part of the story.  His long term lover, partner at this time in history, has died and they were estranged at the time of his death.  That estrangement has cost Noah his home, their shared friends and more, leaving him with only the video store and his apartment in the Hills.  You are able to emphasize with Noah, seeing a man in stasis, then fall in love with him as he comes back to life the more he investigates.

The characterizations here are superb.  Layered, believable and in some cases, haunting.  These are people who having staying power, whether it’s Noah’s friends in the apartment units around him (love them) or the Detective on the case that Noah makes a connection with.  I was invested in them all emotionally, needing to know what happened to each and everyone.  The verdict is still out on some and I hope to see many of them in the next story.

Then there’s the murder or should I say murders and the wild, twisty case to the revelation that follows!  It was both believable and grounded in the times, yet the suspense kept me riveted to the story!

Yet the tour de force here for me is the overall picture Marshall Thornton paints.  The bigotry and hate of the era, the closeted vs The Castro, the fear vs the bravery, the search for love vs the bittersweetness of the times.  Oh that ending, that was a punch to the heart.  And yet again the author balanced our hopes for Noah against our knowledge of the times, knowing that this is only the first of the series.  We can always strive for the best for Noah can’t we?

I highly recommend Night Drop (A Pinx Video Mystery #1) by Marshall Thornton.  It’s beautifully written, the story is timely given our current political climate, and the characters memorable and deeply moving.  I can’t wait to see where the author takes this series next.

Cover art is amazing, it all has the elements of the 90’s front and center.  I love it.

Buy Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK

Book Details:

ebook, 201 pages
Published September 15th 2017 by Kenmore Books
Original TitleNight Drop
ISBN139781386704850
SeriesA Pinx Video Mystery #1

A VVivacious Review: Caught In Between (Daniel and Ryan #8) by Tamryn Eradani

Rating: 5 Stars out of 5

Daniel wants to be overwhelmed and he wants to know how it will be if they add a third. But thinking about that particular scenario has him overwhelmed in a completely different way. Will Daniel be able to pose his quandary to Ryan and most importantly what will be Ryan’s response?

Wow, considering how much I was dreading this one, it was pretty amazing. In fact, it might be one of the very best of this series.

I know I made a lot of hue and cry in my last review about how things were all of a sudden moving too fast mostly because I didn’t think Ryan and Daniel were ready for this. But what this story unquestionably proves is that they are ready, they are comfortable enough in their relationship with each other that they can bring in a third for a night of fun. 

I loved how the scene was set up. It was delicious. The setup for the scene and scene itself had to be pretty spot on considering my thoughts on the whole affair but I am glad to say that my apprehensions are unfounded. 

But my absolute favourite thing about this book was that the whole storyline was an amazing way to showcase how far Daniel had come along in their relationship because all of a sudden his motivations have changed. Instead of wanting to do what Ryan tells him to do because it makes him happy he now wants to do things Ryan tells him to do because it makes Ryan happy. This was something I never expected would come forward in this particular storyline but seeing how amazingly it was incorporated, made me question how I hadn’t ventured down this particular avenue. Also seeing their relationship at such a turning point really helps contrast Daniel’s feelings very well.

Now I can’t wait for the next one because as Daniel points out all this just proves how far along Daniel is in their relationship but where exactly is Ryan in their relationship and I truly can’t wait to have that question finally answered. 

Cover Art by Natasha Snow. I love Natasha Snow’s covers they are exquisite but this particular one doesn’t only go very well with the theme for the covers but fits the storyline perfectly, like to the point that the cover seems like a scene from the book.

Sales Links:  NineStar Press | Amazon

Book Details:

ebook
Published September 11th 2017 by NineStar Press
ISBN139781947139824
Edition LanguageEnglish
Series Daniel and Ryan #8

A Julia Review: Heat Wave (A Seasons of Love story #3) by Elyse Springer

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Sara Walker’s life is going nowhere fast: she has a job she enjoys but doesn’t love, friends who are too busy to hang out with her, and no boyfriend in sight. Then a phone call on a lonely Friday night changes everything, and suddenly she’s spending her weekends with Laura. Newly single and openly bisexual, Laura makes Sara think decidedly not-straight thoughts.

Laura Murphy, with her red hair, freckles, and killer curves, is any guy’s wet dream. But Laura’s done with guys for now, and it’s Sara who can’t stop dreaming about her. When Sara finally gives in to the curiosity, Laura blows her mind and pushes her further than she’s ever gone before.

But Laura makes it very clear that this is only a rebound fling, and she’s still planning to move to California. She’s more than happy to tie Sara up, but she’s not ready to be tied down. If Sara wants to keep her, she’s going to have to work hard to convince Laura that New York is worth staying for . . . and so is she.

Heat Wave by Elyse Springer is the third volume in the “Seasons of Love” series which I got hooked on after reviewing the second entry “Thaw”. Though having read the previous books will certainly enrich your experience due to the reappearance of several characters, it is not necessary to get into the individual volumes. I’d still recommend checking out all of them as it is well worth it.

What I find particularly appealing about this series is that it features characters from a range of different sexual orientations and addresses this fact in a natural and genuine way. This time the story is told from the point of view of Sara, who is now faced with being sexually and romantically attracted to another woman after she has thought of herself as being exclusively heterosexual her entire life. Sara is a character many can sympathize with, in my opinion. She is relatively content with her current living situation but is also in need of new and more profound experiences both in her work and love life – even if she does not quite realize it or can openly admit it to herself at first. She is a strong person who enjoys organisation and efficiency as well as testing her own limits (though she is still hesitant to give it a try in certain areas).

Sara is made aware of her own ambitions and hesitations when she gets closer to Laura who is by now the ex-girlfriend of Sara’s ex-boyfriend. Laura, who identifies as bisexual, is a very open and direct person who makes no secret out of her physical attraction towards Sara and the fact that she is only looking for a friendship with sex and nothing more (at least at first). Her directness challenges Sara to re-examine aspects of her life and herself that she had previously thought to be set in stone. And it was just the thing that Sara needed in her current situation. It is inspiring and quite admirable to witness how Sara finds at last the motivation to give it her all and take her life into a new direction she had not anticipated up to this point – especially her fight to keep Laura in it.

As I mentioned, we also encounter other characters from throughout the series – most notably Nathan, the protagonist of the first book and Sara’s best friend, who acts as a source of encouragement and support. I found it quite endearing to meet familiar faces again and learn a bit about how they have been getting on with their lives.

The sex scenes here are much more numerous and explicit than in the previous book (which is only appropriate considering the characters involved). We are treated to some steamy lady on lady action with light elements of sexual submission and domination as well as a cheeky scene of public sex in a dance club.

While I greatly enjoyed the previous entry to this series, I enjoyed this one even more. The author has a clear, expressive style of writing that gives the characters very distinct voices. They are depicted as realistic and relatable with their own individual sets of strengths and challenges. The frequent reappearance of characters – one time as a protagonist facing the ups and downs of their own relationship troubles and another as a supporting friend – makes you invested in them more and more. I can honestly recommend this series to anyone who enjoys a heartfelt and motivational love story.

The cover design by Natasha Snow is quite pretty and fits in well with the rest of the series.

Sales Links:  Riptide Publishing | Amazon

Book Details:

ebook, 262 pages

Published July 31, 2017

by Riptide Publishing

ISBN: 978-1-62649-515-9

Edition Language: English

A Stella Review: How To Save A Life (Howl at the Moon #4) by Eli Easton

Rating: 5 stars out of 5

Howl At The Moon by Eli Easton is one of my favourite series in the mm world . And it gets better with every new installment the author releases.
It’s really unavoidable to fall in love with each new character introduced and add to this, meeting all the “old” characters you loved in the previous books, that’s what makes the series a winner to me.
In How To Save A Life I learned to love Rev and the cute Sammy, two very different souls. Rev comes from money but walked away from his successful life in the family business when he realised how dirty his father’s affairs were. And then he starts a new life as the owner of a dog refugee in Arizona, until he meets first Milo and his friends (in book #3) and later a scared chocolate Labrador in a kennel. And piece by piece he understands he is missing something important. So he tracks down the dog and finds himself in the mysterious Mad Creek, the same town Milo lives in. And here he will see the same scared eyes of the cute Labrador in the hot Sammy. . From that moment Rev life will change again and it will collide with new people, a new unexpected love for someone who is new to human life and the desire to help a whole community.
It was a joy to read How To Save a Life, an engaging and well written story, full of love for dogs. There wasn’t a little detail I didn’t like. Highly recommended but I suggest to read the series in order to better enjoy the lovely world Eli Easton has created.
Cover art by Reese Dante is adorable and matches that of the rest of the series.
Buy Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK
Book Details:
ebook, 238 pages
Published August 28th 2017 by Eli Easton
Original TitleHow To Save A Life
Edition LanguageEnglish
Series Howl at the Moon #4

A Caryn Review: Midlife Crisis by Audra North

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

This is the first book I’ve read by this author, and I’m so happy to have discovered her.  The book was everything I hoped it would be, and then some.

There is something so special about finding love when you’re older – whether you’ve lost a partner, or never had one, it always, to me anyway, feels like getting more than you thought you could expect.  I think when we’re young, there is a part of us that feels life owes us true love, but by the time we hit middle age, we realize life doesn’t really work that way, and finding it then is a true gift.  Which is why I love these older men!

Cam McGhee is 54 years old, and has left his home town of Bitter, Texas, for basically the first time in his life.  Bitter is an all-black farming town that’s existed for generations.  The community has learned to survive the Southern racism surrounding it by being self-sufficient, trusting and relying on each other, which has always meant behaving within a certain set of unspoken rules.  Following those rules kept them safe, and if it restricted the denizen’s freedom a little bit, well, it was worth it.  Cam grew up in this town of very conservative ideals, and though he knew he was gay from the time he was a young teenager, he also knew that he couldn’t ever admit it and still be accepted.  He started dating LaVerne in high school as a cover, but with small town expectations being what they were, he ended up marrying her, having two children, and staying with her faithfully until she died.  He left his successful feed and grain business in Bitter in his son’s hands, and moved to Austin, Texas, for 6 months, where he hoped to finally experience life as a gay man, at least temporarily, before he buried it all again and moved back to Bitter.

Cam met Dave Montoya at a coffee shop.  Cam had no idea how to approach a man, and his shyness was almost crippling, but Dave made things easy for him.  Dave is a successful, independent man from Connecticut who found his home in Austin, and who has lived his entire life as an out gay man.  Dave had his own reasons for not wanting to jump into casual hookups, and so moving slowly with Cam was natural and easy.  Almost without realizing it was happening, and certainly not intending for it to happen, they fell in love.  Which would have been wonderful, but Cam’s stay in Austin had an expiration date.

The story is told with alternating scenes from Cam’s present in Austin, and flashbacks to his life in Bitter.  I know flashbacks get a bad rap, but in this case, they were the perfect vehicle to show the stark differences between who Cam was, and who he wanted to be, and why he struggled so hard to reconcile these parts of himself.  As Cam and Dave meet and start dating, the story flashed back to Cam and LaVerne’s meeting, and Cam’s conscious decision to use LaVerne as a beard.  When Cam kissed Dave for the first time, he inevitably compared his physical response – as amazing as he’d always hoped kissing a man would be – to his sexual life with LaVerne.  As he started falling in love with Dave, Cam thought of the love he had for LaVerne – platonic, but strong despite the continual guilt he felt for not loving her the way a man should love his wife.  Cam was faithful, generous, and had a strong sense of responsibility and duty – attributes which kept him in Bitter for over 50 years, and when he saw the opportunity to have a different type of life with Dave, he still struggled with the choice:  could he stay in Austin with the man he loved, and life the life he’d always wanted, when doing so meant abandoning his friends and family in Bitter?

Another aspect of the book that I really appreciated was that racism was not front and center.  While it certainly made Bitter into the community it was (and what an interesting choice of name for the town!), once Cam came to Austin, he was just another man, not primarily a man of color.  There was a lot more homophobia mentioned than racism, but again, Dave’s friends and family showed Cam that homophobia wasn’t ubiquitous, and a full life as an out gay man was indeed possible.

Very highly recommended!

Cover art by LC Chase is perfect for the book

Sales Links:  Riptide Publishing | Amazon

Book Details:

ebook, 205 pages
Published August 28th 2017 by Riptide Publishing
ISBN139781626496453

A Stella Recent Release Review: Be My Best Man by Con Riley

Rating: 5 stars out of 5

Con Riley is one of my favourite authors, since she wrote After Ben, one of the first MM books I read and one of the few books I won’t ever forget. The joy when I saw she had a new release coming out soon was enormous. Let me tell you the author delivered another deep, strong, full of feelings and well written story. Go buy Be My Best Man now and you won’t be disappointed.
Apart from the plot, which in this particular time it’s fitting and sadly very real, what actually conquered me it’s how packed with emotions and love the story is. Especially when not even two characters are blood related, just another proven fact that often blood means nothing.
Starting from the love between Vanya and Kaspar, the first Russian, the second Estonian. The need of protection Kaspar feels for Vanya is so strong he is working as much as he can to support his best friend who can’t work. The same love Jason and Andrew share, both in their forties, they grew up as foster brothers with an beautiful woman as mother.
 And then there’s the love every character has for the person it fell for. The author showed me all these feelings, between the MCs and the second characters, which I adored as much as the MCs. And this is another element that brought the story to be a success to me. The whole cast is amazingly well done. I was able to learn quite a lot about all of the characters and I have to say, maybe it’s the first time I make a request like this, but I wouldn’t mind at all to have a couple of MF books on the het couples. That’s the prove how much I liked Be My Best Man by Con Riley. Highly recommended.

Cover Design: Garrett Leigh @ Black Jazz Design.  Love the cover design and the model is striking.

Buy Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK

Book Details:
ebook, 316 pages
Published September 7th 2017 by Figment Ink
Original TitleBe My Best Man
Edition Language English

A Julia Review: The King and the Criminal (The Heart of All Worlds #2) by Charlotte Ashe

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

What happens when the fairytale ends but the journey continues? Book II of the Heart of All Worlds series finds Sehrys and Brieden living peacefully in Khryslee. But when King Firae breaches an ancient, spellbound pact by crossing The Border into Villalu in pursuit of a convicted criminal and is trapped there, Sehrys is forced to ascend the throne in his absence, a role he was once groomed for, but Brieden fears and dreads. Meanwhile, Firae must rely on the very criminal he was after to help him reach home alive—a man his own mother exiled long ago but who awakens something in his heart more potent than his sworn duties as king.

As each man struggles to understand his own destiny, devotion, and legacy, a deeper and more urgent truth confronts them all: Their world is in far greater danger than they realized, and each of them plays an integral part in its fate.

The King and the Criminal by Charlotte Ashe is the second novel in the author’s “The Heart of All Worlds” series. I had previously reviewed the first entry “The Sidhe”, which was a favourite of mine, and I’m happy to say that this one is a more than worthy successor.

While Brieden and Sehrys still play a pivotal role and there is quite a bit of character development for them, we now get to follow the journey of another pair of characters who both have already been introduced in the first book: ruler of one of the Sidhe nations and Sehrys’ former fiancée Firae and Tash, a Sidhe who has been exiled to the human lands for his crimes. But even more so than in the first book the romance part of the story is intricately intertwined with greater narrative of political upheaval and a more imminent threat to the whole of Villalu. The author did a fantastic job in balancing out the change of focus. Not one scene feels superfluous or out of place here.

Tash and Firae are both really interesting and engaging characters and I have greatly enjoyed following the progression of their relationship. I’m especially fond of Tash because unlike Sehrys or Firae he was not naturally gifted with powerful magical abilities or influence but relies mostly on his wits and aptitude for learning to work through a tricky situation. Firae on the other hand is rather impulsive and temperamental. You can see how there is much for them to learn from one another. While theirs is definitely not a love-hate type of relationship, there is quite a bit of wariness (but also mutual sexual attraction) between them at the beginning of their journey. The pacing is really well done and I found it quite believable that these two would eventually develop stronger feelings for each other.

Much to my delight the human twin sisters Cliope and Brissa are getting more attention this time as well as they keep on working towards uniting Villalu under the rule of the latter. And though they seem to be making good progress in that regard, things aren’t as simple as an ancient magic threatens to destroy all of humanity and it is up to a select few to prevent it from happening. The world building is quite detailed and this time we get to see more of what’s going on behind the barrier and learn in greater detail about the culture, society and magic of the Sidhe.

If you’re a fan of Fantasy and are looking for a well-written story with detailed world building and engaging characters, I can only recommend this series and you can be certain that I’ll be eagerly awaiting its continuation.

I simply adore the cover and interior illustrations by Sarah Sanderson. They are so unique and beautiful. I especially like that if you compare the covers of the two books, you can clearly see the difference in the dynamics between the two couples based on their gestures and facial expressions alone.

Sales Links:  Interlude Press | Amazon

Book Details:

ebook, 325 pages

Published December 8, 2016

by Interlude Press

ISBN: 978-1-941530-87-0

Edition Language: English