Category: 5 star Rating

A MelanieM Recent Release Review: Hawaiian Ginger (The Hawaiians #4) by Meg Amor

Rating: 4.75 stars out of 5

Zane Andrews, a striking redhead and severely deaf dancer, has a love of pretty aloha dresses and girly feminine things. He comes from a poor, and extremely sheltered, cultish background. When he and Danny connect after the winning tango, things heat up quickly. But what about Zane’s relationship with Kaleho? Guilt eats at him and he wonders what he’s doing.

Danny’s a fourth-generation Hawaiian Big Islander, from the wealthy Lucerno ranching family. He’s a dark-haired, smoldering mix of Portuguese male and Argentine sensuality who was fighting his attraction to Zane. But even he can’t deny where his heart has taken him.

When Zane decides to face Kaleho, Danny disappears to Las Vegas. Zane’s worried he’s gone back to his old, glamorous life he had with Paolo. Has he lost Danny?

Zane’s first time on a plane to Vegas away from Hawai’i overwhelms him. And what if Danny rejects him? Then Zane’s past catches up with him. His abusive birth parents sue Danny and his adopted family, the Masterson-Mahikoas, sending everyone into turmoil.

Can they finally heal from the past abuse of dysfunctional family relationships? Will Danny and Zane be able to accept each other’s backgrounds, insecurities, and express their deep feelings for each other?

As Hawaiian Fragrance (The Hawaiians #3) was Danny Lucerno’s story, Hawaiian Ginger (The Hawaiians #4) is Zane Andrews.  Zane, as we’ve come to know him, is one of Rob and Kulani’s lost boys (the Masterson-Mahikoas household now).  Zane is deaf, embraces both his male and feminine sides, especially true when it comes to dresses, makeup and jewelry, outward extensions of that part of himself that feels “girly” most of the time while still enjoying the fact that he’s male as well. Getting to know Zane has been an important and rewarding element of this series.  Amor has researched the speech patterns of those with the same level of hearing impairment as  Zane so his conversations “sound” as natural as one would expect from someone who’s severely deaf.  Another realistic narrative touch? That Zane’s thoughts flow as naturally as would someone with full hearing.  Only the misplaced words or misunderstandings make it into both inner and outer dialogs.  After four stories, Zane’s “voice” is one that lingers in my head and heart, complete with missed words and letters from his lip reading or hearing aids on the flux.

Throughout the series the author has given her readers tidbits and clues about each of the  “lost boys” backgrounds and reason for their initial homelessness before Kulani found them and made them into a family.  Here Zane’s history comes out (thankfully not explicit) to the extent that we start to comprehend the deep hell of abuse he suffered and survived.  I get the feeling that the elements left about his shaking, his sister,  and the compound might come out in future stories, something that makes me cringe and want to know more at the same time.  Either way, I don’t think we are done with the horror that is the Andrews family yet.

With Zane you get Danny as this story picks up after their competition and beginning of their romance.  Told from both  perspectives (important when you have a character as impetuous and insecure as Danny), the main focus is on Zane, his path towards self-acceptance and love, and perhaps, the final steps to making the Masterson-Mahikoas a complete family right down to an enchanting cat Mr. Beaumont.  It’s quite the journey, taking all of the family (Rob, Kulani, Zane, Danny and the Twins as well as Beau and Matty) off to New Zealand to see the grandparents and meet new cousins The Twos.  I have to admit the family trip to NZ is  one of my favorite elements here.  From the magical landscape, the two sets of grandparents (I won’t get into them here, but yes,  as grounded and heartwarming as you would want), an unforgettable Christmas beach vacation and two young men, The Twos, who surely we will see again when the twins get their own story.  It’s here that Zane finally gains acceptance and an insight into cultures  who embrace a third gender in their people.  Amor brings in cultures, family, mysticism and more for one more shining example why this series and this story has such depth and becomes what I consider a “must read” for everyone.

Finally, it’s both Zane and Danny’s story as they work through their issues of acceptance of each other while dealing with their own continuing emotional “ground tremors and earthquakes” left behind by their upbringings and childhoods.  Luckily they have their dads and plenty of support to help them through this rough passage.  Amor also delivers moving, emotional scenes guaranteed to leave you in tears time and again throughout Hawaiian Ginger.  How I adored this book!  The only reason I didn’t give this story a complete 5 star rating was that I thought the surplus of sex scenes at the beginning of the story kept the reader from diving into the plot and new relationship between Danny and Zane.  However, maybe that was the idea.  They were using the newness of their sexual relationship to keep them from talking to each other about the things they knew needed to be discussed.  And the author wanted us to see that as well as deliver some very hot sex!  But I found I wanted to jump right  into the heavier layers and save some of this for later.  But that was just me.

The final pages of this book left me cheering! You will be too.  I highly recommend Hawaiian Ginger and all the stories in The Hawaiian series by Meg Amor but they aren’t standalones and should be read in the order they have been published for the reader to get the full background, relationships and watch the character growth that occurs.  More stories are coming and I can’t wait to grab them up!

For those readers like me who can’t get enough of this family and series, don’t forget to check out Meg Amor’s Hawaiian Ginger page with the referenced flowers, locations, models etc.  It’s not to be missed either.

Cover art by Syneca Featherstone has some of the elements I love although that’s not really Zane I see in my head.

Sales Links:  Loose id LLC | Amazon

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 311 pages
Published June 6th 2017 by Loose Id LLC
ASINB072Q5J4CC
Series The Hawaiians

A Barb the Zany Old Lady Audiobook Review: See Me (Lightning Tales #3) by K.C. Wells and Joel Leslie (Narrator)

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

Narrator: Joel Leslie

Great story and great narration! There’s not much I love more than enemies to lovers, gay men in touch with their feminine side, drag queens, coming out, and stories of redemption. This one has it all, including a new favorite couple brought to life by the very talented voice actor, Joel Leslie.

Marty Cavanaugh is deep in the closet, as the story opens, and only allows himself to have quick oral sex with drag queens, aka men dressed as women. Call it a subconscious attempt to pretend he’s straight, or call it deplorable. Either way, he’s coming to see just how damaged he is. When the new drag queen at his favorite club refuses to meet him for his usual, he’s intrigued. Little does he know, he’s been spotted by her, and she recognizes him as the boy who hung with the pack who made his life miserable in high school. Adrian/Adrienne has never forgotten Marty and now sees her chance to get back at him by shining the spotlight of humiliation on him at her drag show.

But payback doesn’t taste quite as good as revenge usually does, so when remorse and regret begin to eat at Adrien’s conscience he discovers that this Marty is not the same as the boy who was afraid to stand up to his bully buddies to defend Adrien when they were kids. This Marty is willing to come out of his self-imposed closet to stand up for a coworker and to listen to Adrien when he comes to Marty’s house to apologize. And when the two discover just how well they fit together, the romance, which has been waiting in the wings for years, finally blossoms.

In the hands of this outstanding narrator, the story comes to life, and I felt as if I were sitting in the audience at a movie theater watching it unfold. The story itself was terrific as the author filled in the backstory of both characters and incorporated visits from both couples from the first two books as well. I always love a chance to revisit past couples as it adds more dimension to each subsequent story. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this one to anyone who enjoys MM romance, and in particular, stories that include the tags I previously mentioned as well as a bit of fem lingerie, and yes, virgins. Really, what’s not to like about his one? Highly recommended—in audio form, of course!

Cover art is stunning and works for the story.

Sales Links

Amazon US | Amazon UK | Audible US | Audible UK

 

Audiobook Details:

Listening Time: 5 hrs 11 min

Audiobook
Published May 31st 2017 by K. C. Wells (first published January 29th 2016)
Original Title See Me
Edition Language English
Series Lightning Tales #3

A MelanieM Review: Scrap (The Bristol Collection #3) by Josephine Myles

Rating: 5 stars out of 5

In a battle of the alpha males, who will end up on top?

On the surface, Derek “Call me Dare” Nelson’s life is simple. He’s happy doing up campervans while living in a slightly illegal caravan in his riverfront yard. But life gets more complicated when a smooth-talking, handsome property developer offers to buy the land out from under his feet—the very same man Dare had to escort from a party nine months ago for causing a drunken scene.

Grant Matravers is living a double life, attempting to adjust to weekends as a single, soon-to-be-divorced gay man while staying in the closet during the week. The strain of keeping up appearances at work while missing his kids is bad enough, but add in an attraction to the shaven-headed, tattooed, totally unsuitable Dare and Grant finds his emotional barriers wearing dangerously thin.

Dare blasts through those barriers in a way Grant isn’t prepared for, challenging everything he thought he knew about himself as a gay man. But as their chemistry heats up and the intimacy between them grows, Grant edges towards a decision that could blow up in his face. Exposing a mess of complications that could destroy any chance for their happily ever after.

Product Warnings: Contains one sharp-suited man desperately in need of redemption, another whose thuggish exterior does a pretty good job of hiding his heart of gold, frotting in camper vans, a sensual head-shaving scene and several (noisy) guest appearances from Mas.

Of the three stories, Junk, Stuff, and Scrap of The Bristol Collection, I have to admit Scrap is teetering on my favorite here, primarily due to the character of Derek “Call me Dare” Nelson.  The reader first meets Dare in Stuff when he visits his favorite antique shop Cabbages and Kinks owned by Perry and run by Mas, the couple from that story.  Dare pops up throughout the novel, most importantly at the end where he meets and throws a drunken Grant out of Perry and Mas’ party.

Scrap, the title of the story, seems to come from the yard filled full of scrap metal that Dare uses to refurbish his vans.  Campers to us Americans.  Old VW’s and such, retrofitted with sparkling new counters and curtains, engines and more, ready to take on a new life and new family.  Its a job and life Dare loves, living on the land his family owned, working with his hands using skills his father taught him.   That Dare looked like a “tattooed, skin-headed thug” on the outside?  Well, never hurts when you’re gay and someone thinks  you’re deserving of a beating. Dare Nelson is that character that once you start peeling back the layers, you just love him more and more.  What’s one man’s scrap is another one’s treasure and while Dare may appear to be a human sort of scrap, he shines more than most.

Grant Matravers, well, he was the character that was going to be so hard to like here. Grant was the reverse Dare in a way.  Shiny on the outside but hollow in the inside where it counts. He was ugly, a downright cheating mess of a man in Stuff.  I really couldn’t understand how Myles was going to make him someone we would not only connect with but root for but redeem him she did.  Grant has so many things to work through, apologies to make, decisions to come to, hard choices to make.  While Dare knows who he is and has a solid foundation, Grant is only solid to the eyes but his core?  Needs rebuilding and each moment is pivotal for his character and those he loves.  This also includes his children and his ex-wife.

Josephine Myles always gets me with her well-rounded characters.  They have depth and a humanity that defines them beyond the normal quirkiness and flaws.  You fear for them, you love and take them to heart just as I did here and all the other stories.

The Bristol Collection is a total joy to read.  Each and every couple with their issues and romances to work through before they can get their  HEA is a story that will stay with you.  Scrap has me smiling even now as I remember why I wanted more at the end even as I thought is was great as it was.  Sigh.

Cover: Harper By Design
Buy Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK
Book Details:
ebook, 258 pages
Published March 10th 2015 by Samhain Publishing
Original TitleScrap
ISBN 1619224925 (ISBN13: 9781619224926)
Edition LanguageEnglish
SeriesThe Bristol Collection #3

Release Blitz and Giveaway for ‘Scrap (The Bristol Collection #3)’ by Josephine Myles

 
Buy Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK
 
Length: 80,000 words
 
Cover: Harper By Design
 
Blurb
 

In a battle of the alpha males, who will end up on top?

On the surface, Derek “Call me Dare” Nelson’s life is simple. He’s happy doing up campervans while living in a slightly illegal caravan in his riverfront yard. But life gets more complicated when a smooth-talking, handsome property developer offers to buy the land out from under his feet—the very same man Dare had to escort from a party nine months ago for causing a drunken scene.

Grant Matravers is living a double life, attempting to adjust to weekends as a single, soon-to-be-divorced gay man while staying in the closet during the week. The strain of keeping up appearances at work while missing his kids is bad enough, but add in an attraction to the shaven-headed, tattooed, totally unsuitable Dare and Grant finds his emotional barriers wearing dangerously thin.

Dare blasts through those barriers in a way Grant isn’t prepared for, challenging everything he thought he knew about himself as a gay man. But as their chemistry heats up and the intimacy between them grows, Grant edges towards a decision that could blow up in his face. Exposing a mess of complications that could destroy any chance for their happily ever after.

Product Warnings: Contains one sharp-suited man desperately in need of redemption, another whose thuggish exterior does a pretty good job of hiding his heart of gold, frotting in camper vans, a sensual head-shaving scene and several (noisy) guest appearances from Mas.

Author Bio


English through and through, Josephine Myles is addicted to tea and busy cultivating a reputation for eccentricity. She writes gay erotica and romance, but finds the erotica keeps cuddling up to the romance, and the romance keeps corrupting the erotica. Jo blames her rebellious muse but he never listens to her anyway, no matter how much she threatens him with a big stick. She’s beginning to suspect he enjoys it.


Jo’s novel Stuff won the 2014 Rainbow Award for Best Bisexual Romance, and her novella Merry Gentlemen won the 2014 Rainbow Award for Best Gay Romantic Comedy. She loves to be busy, and is currently having fun trying to work out how she is going to fit in her love of writing, dressmaking and attending cabaret shows in fabulous clothing around the demands of a preteen with special needs and an incessantly curious toddler.


Website and blog: josephinemyles.com/
Facebook: facebook.com/josephine.myles.author
Twitter: @JosephineMyles
Newsletter: eepurl.com/hrQ4s

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A MelanieM Review: Kingdom Volume 1 (Kingdom #1) by R.J. Scott

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

The Vampire Contract

A vampire guilty of murder on the run from justice to prove his innocence. A werewolf sent to retrieve him with one thought – that only the guilty run.

The Guilty Werewolf

Declan Finlay is hunting the guilty werewolf, his friend Connor. The incubus, Levi Tiernan, is his companion on the hunt. If Declan doesn’t track and kill Connor, then Levi will.

The Warlock’s Secret

In a world where magic is rare, Joseph Jamieson is a holder of power. Orophin Tiwele, or Phin to his friends, is the son of the Elf King and has magic of his own. The rules say two supernatural beings with magic cannot be together and Joseph and Phin have lived by that rule despite their attraction to each other.

Let me take the stories of RJ Scott’s Kingdom series Vol 1  one by one.  These tales, the first three in the series, build on each other, each picking up where the other left off.  None should be considered standalone stories because you need all the previous information and character foundation laid out to get the gist of the impact of the search and the issues with the Glitnir Court here.

None of these stories are of great length yet Scott manages to build wonderful  characters and interesting relationship dynamics between them all.  Brother to brother, brother to potential lovers/mates.  There’s frenemies to lovers, second chance at love stories…so many favorite tropes the author visited here within this volume that’s easy to read,  easy to please, and hard to put down.

♦︎The Vampire Contract – 4 stars

A vampire guilty of murder on the run from justice to prove his innocence. A werewolf sent to retrieve him with one thought – that only the guilty run.

Vampire Micah Jamieson is found guilty of killing his human husband. He runs from the execution he is facing to get home. He just has to pray he’ll reach home before supernatural law enforcement, in the shape of a Glitnir Court Retriever close in on him.

Wolf shifter and Retriever, Connor Strand easily captures Micah and he’s fully prepared to take the runaway in. But his wolf has other ideas.

Something about Micah challenges Connor and his long held beliefs. What if Micah is actually innocent? Will Connor put to one side his own prejudices, and then risk both his life and career to keep Micah safe?

I loved the Micah and Connor story.  Micah had the most interesting element here because of all of the surprises he had in store for the reader.  They just kept coming.  Poor Connor, his inner wolf had no issues knowing where he stood which made the relationship aspect delectable if a little predictable.  I found this to be Micah’s story all the way, which was fine as he will have a powerful role down the line.  This story started laying down the universe and the issues within it.  Loved it.

♦︎The Guilty Werewolf – 5 stars out of 5

Declan Finlay is the best Retriever that Glitnir has.

Well, he is now that Connor Strand has gone rogue.

He is sent to find Connor – the guilty werewolf. But he doubts that his best friend could ever be guilty and he resolves to track him down and find out why he ran with the renegade vampire.

When the Fae Alliance, reporting to Glitnir, demand that he not go alone he is forced to accept the Incubus, Levi Tiernan, an assassin, as his companion on the journey. If Declan doesn’t kill Connor, then Levi will.

What happens when old lust and love dictate action and suddenly Declan is questioning everything he loves.

The Guilty Werewolf is amazing and it rests on the shoulders of 2 great characters.  I can’t help it.  My favorite?  That incubus, Levi Tiernan, the assassin, who undergoes an amazing evolution here, one he expects in a way.  The other is Declan Finlay, an already troubled Retriever, pursuing an old friend under  circumstances he can’t or won’t believe.  Nothing here is as it seems and the characters and their painful path to romance shine under this layered, twisted narrative approach by RJ Scott

♦︎The Warlock’s Secret 4,75 stars out of 5

In a world where magic is rare, Joseph Jamieson is one of the most powerful holders of power. Orophin Tiwele, or Phin to his friends, is the son of the Elf King and has magic of his own. The rules say two supernatural beings with magic cannot be together and Joseph and Phin have lived by that rule despite their attraction to each other.

The resistance is growing larger each day, but traitors threaten everything Joseph has built. He wants peace, but soon comes to realize the way to peace, is through war.

When the only thing that will save lives is Joseph and Phin working together, it becomes impossible to see where magic and passion end and where love could begin.

The Warlock’s Secret is a story that could have easily doubled in size for all the author  set out to accomplish here.  It’s a huge tale bringing in all the couples from the three stories but the focus is on Joseph and Phin as well as the growing resistance movement to Glitnir.  Secrets are revealed, rescues are undertaken, more horrors are uncovered…it’s one giant thing after another.  And it works to lay down more groundwork for the next three stories coming and the revolution that’s in the air.  The only reason it didn’t get 5 stars is that when you are trying to cover so much narrative ground in so few pages, there are bound to be some holes, are there are some I found here.  I wanted more background on a big character I cannot name (would be a spoiler) and a certain book.  Hopefully that’s coming.

Joseph and Phin?  A lack of communication did them in early on and it almost does again.    Wanted to shake them both, good thing as characters they are magic together, literally.  I also can’t wait to see more of them in the stories in the future.  Should be one wild ride.

What’s better than having three books?  Three books in one volume so you can easily blow through all three in one read as I did. It made for sorting out all the relationships and ties and family dynamics easy.  Loved it and loved these stories.  Now I’m on to Vol. 2.  I’ll let you know what I find.  In the meantime, I highly recommend all three stories in one volume.  Werewolves shifters, vampires, Fae, incubus Oh My!

Cover art by Meredith Russell does a nice job with the characters.

Sales Links:Amazon US | Amazon UK

Book Details:

ebook, 296 pages
Published June 14th 2017 by Love Lane Books Limited
ISBN139781785640643
Edition LanguageEnglish
URLhttp://www.rjscott.co.uk
SeriesKingdom #1

A BJ Review: Winter Kill by Josh Lanyon

Rating:  4.5 stars out of 5

Winter Kills coverFBI Special Agent Adam Darling was moving up the ranks until a mishandling of a high profile operation left someone dead and his career on shaky ground. Now he’s working a serial killer case when him and his partner are sent to investigate a body in the little town of Nearby.

Deputy Sheriff Robert Haskell is laid-back, easy going and a bit of a joker, but an efficient and tough cop. When the town Sheriff calls in the FBI on a cold case, Agent Darling comes to town and him and Rob enjoy an unexpected one-night stand before the man goes on his way. Rob doesn’t figure to see the intriguing man again, but when the curator of a Native American museum is murdered several months later, the Sheriff calls in the FBI a second time and asks specifically for Agent Darling. With the body count rising, it soon begins to appear that they may be investigating more than one serial killer—one past and one present.

There are actually two mysteries here going on at the same time, some cold cases from twenty years prior and some a modern killer. Could the killer be one and the same? Or are have two serial killers made the small town of Nearby their hunting ground?

The beginning of the story happens in the past from a POV that is never revisited (for a very good reason), and then we go to the varying POV of the two MC. That initial different point of view, the time jump, and then the other two points of views threw me off a bit, and I wasn’t sure I was going to like this for the first few chapters. But Lanyon’s writing is excellent as always, so I kept going and it paid off. I was soon sucked in.

The plot/mystery is quite complex. There is a lot going on, at one point almost too much, but it was reeled by in nicely. I enjoyed the setting, winter in a small, rural town, because rural is right up my ‘lives in middle of nowhere’ alley. I also enjoy reading stories with Native Americans and their histories and legends. The tough female cop who had instincts sharp enough to pick up on little things that even Rob had been overlooking was an awesome addition to the cast of characters. And the pairing of the laid-back, somewhat argumentative but humorous Rob with the more uptight, by the book, and troubled-by-past-events Adam worked well for me.

As far as the mystery in this book goes, there is no neatly tied up with bow ending. We do get to know who did what, but the motives, whys and wherefores are not fully explained. Some may complain about it not being scrupulously tied up. But I was fine with it. In real life, I tend to think the arresting cops don’t really get to know all that stuff, especially right away and in a scenario such as this set up. The guys don’t collect all the clues and put it all together to solve the mystery. They start to put bits and pieces together, and then WHAM, events explode and the stakes are instantly high. So maybe later when it comes to trail possibly the guys will find out more, but I accept that they wouldn’t know all that and found it to be just realistic

Towards the end, the focus shifted to the romance rather than tidying up all the loose ends and motives of the crime. The case was over, solved. In their past and time to focus on their own life. YES! I’m all in with that. In fact, the ending was my favorite part, and I don’t want to give too much away. However, I will say that I thought it was sad and yet brilliant the way Lanyon began the book with a hopeful man in love who didn’t get his HEA, and then wrapped it up with a hopeful HFN for the main couple.

There were two things that kept this from being a perfect five for me. First off, most of the sex scenes started off fun but ended as fade to black. Why? I wanted more. And second, for the first time in a Lanyon book, I found editing errors. Gasp.

Oh, and one more thing. I want to ask Josh Lanyon to please tell me the ex named Tucker that Adam Darling mentioned without a last name is NOT Elliott’s Tucker! Tucker and Elliott are a favorite couple.

The cover photo at the bottom gives a sense of place, season, cold; and the photo at top is right in your face–a gun sighted straight on you. ‘Go ahead, make my day.’ it seems to say. And this book might do just that.

Sales Links

Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Kobo
iBooks
Smashwords

Book Details:

ebook, 181 pages
Published May 31st 2015 by Just Joshin
original titleWinter Kill
ISBN139781937909277
edition languageEnglish
urlhttp://www.joshlanyon