Category: 5 star Rating

A Stella Review: Do Not Disturb: 3 Short Stories of Erotic Romance by Chris Scully

Rating: 5 stars out of 5

do-not-disturbChris Scully is one of my favourite authors. I often come back to her stories when I need to warm my heart. I was very enthusiastic to have Do Not Disturb on my hands and I can honestly say it was so much better than what I was expecting. I usually am not a fan of anthologies or collections of short stories, too many times it happens they don’t satisfy me or are too short to be complete. That wasn’t the case for this new release.

In Watch Me, I met Win, who has started working at the Benton Hotel six months ago. Taking care of his father during the day and working at night, is not easy at all. Especially when days at home are really bad. Lucas works the early shift and it is pretty clear he is interested in Win but every attempt Lucas does at starting something is shot down by Win, unconsciously at first until Lucas, pure sensuality as he is, plans to lure Win to him.

For many and different reasons I could emphatize with both main characters and I was so eager for them to find a happy ending. I couldn’t put the Kindle down for a moment. I loved how I was able to know a lot about them, even in so few pages.

Watch Me was the more “complete” short, I met the characters, I saw the interest, the chemistry, the courtship, the sex, the help. A very well done story.

The second short, Wedded, was the shortest and hottest one. At first it could seem just one little scenes where two strangers meet in a bar, fall in bed together and have (let me tell you) hot sex. But it wasn’t just this and although I can’t spoiler more I want to say it was hot and sweet.  I adored it.

Wanted, the third story, was longer and very very good. I was able to actually know the MCs, Evan and Graham, really well, during a chat, a bath, some hot moments. With great dialogues and the promise of HEA,  the author showed me two beautiful souls, both of them survivors in a different way, both of them in need of someone to love and care for. Wanted was an emotional story and I deeply loved it.

I feel I can recommend Do Not Disturb by Chris Scully, to me it was a winner. A collection of three hot shorts, full of feelings and well depicted characters. I couldn’t ask for more.

The cover art by the same author is pretty simple but it couldn’t have been more fitting.

Sales Link

c60a7-waxcreative-amazon-kindle

Book Details:

ebook, 99 pages
Published January 12th 2017 by Chris Scully
ASINB01NCROTM5
Edition LanguageEnglish

Release Day Blitz: Delayed Gratification by Tamryn Eradani (excerpt and giveaway)

 

delayed-gratification-banner

Title:  Delayed Gratification

Series: Daniel & Ryan, Book 1

Author: Tamryn Eradani

Publisher: NineStar Press

Release Date: January 16th

Heat Level: 5 – Erotica

Pairing: Male/Male

Length: 11300

Genre: Erotica, BDSM; Businessmen; Friends to Lovers

Add to Goodreads

Synopsis

Daniel Brown is a man of routine. You might even call him a control freak. So when the new Director of Marketing, Ryan Cole, starts shaking up Daniel’s routine, Daniel doesn’t know how to react. He finds Ryan intriguing, infuriating and oh so attractive, but he doesn’t mix business with pleasure. As their games start to grow kinkier, dare Daniel give in to his desire to let Ryan top him?

Excerpt

Tamryn Eradani © 2017
All Rights Reserved

There’s another donut on his desk the next morning.

There isn’t even the slightest bit of temptation this time as Daniel picks it up and deposits it on Tracy’s desk. She ate yesterday’s donut, and he doesn’t doubt she’ll eat this one too. Personally, he would never eat something a stranger left on his desk, but he explained the mysteriously appearing donut and she chose to eat it anyway.

He sets the donut down on Tracy’s desk and notices a light on, on the other side of the room, across three rows of cubicles. One of the driving forces behind Daniel’s desire to get promoted was the thought of having an office of his own, of not being hemmed in by cubicle walls or surrounded by people who don’t know how to focus even though that’s what they’re paid to do.

Daniel’s usually the first person in every day and one of the last to leave, and he’s curious who else is here this morning.

He winds through cubicles until he can get a good look at the occupied office.

Ah, Ryan Cole.

He’s the new Director of Marketing, hired a month or maybe two months ago. Daniel had stopped by the welcoming party in between calls. His first call had been an average sale. The second ended in one of Daniel’s best sales this quarter. He’s hoping to get a mention at the next all-company meeting.

Daniel doesn’t remember anything about the welcoming party except a vague sense of distrust, because the man has two first names. One of them, ostensibly, is a last name, and Daniel knows you don’t have control over your last name, but it’s something that bothers him. He likes neat rows of boxes and everything to fit in its box.

A person should have a clear first name and a clear last name.

Ryan’s at his desk, dark head of hair the only thing visible as he fiddles with something at his desk.

With a Krispy Kreme bag.

Coincidence, Daniel tells himself, even though there was a donut on his desk this morning, and there’s only one other person in the office here right now, and that person happens to have a bag from a donut shop.

Bribe, maybe, he thinks next. Sales and marketing have always had a tumultuous relationship at best, and maybe the new guy is trying to fix that. Daniel should tell him bribery isn’t the way to go.

Ryan looks up from what he’s doing, and he catches Daniel staring.

Ryan smirks and holds Daniel’s gaze as he pulls a glazed donut out of the bag. Daniel doesn’t know where to look. The donut is dangerous, because his self-control is stretched thin after two days of denying himself something he wants. The man is even more dangerous.

There’s a knowing look in Ryan’s brown eyes, something that suggests this isn’t a bribe either. It’s something else, something deeper, and Daniel shuts that train of thought down right away. It’s not that. He wouldn’t suggest—he couldn’t know—he…

No, Daniel tells himself firmly.

“Good morning,” he tells Ryan, as if that had been the purpose of his cross-office trip, and then he promptly returns to his own office.

He pulls the blinds to the interoffice windows and sits down in front of his laptop.

It takes him 2.4 minutes to put Ryan out of his mind.

Purchase

NineStar Press | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Smashwords

Meet the Author

Tamryn studied English and Creative Writing in school but has been writing since she could first hold a pencil. Recently, she’s turned her focus towards writing erotica. She enjoys writing stories where sex comes first, then feelings, because doing things out of order can be fun.

Tamryn has spent the past few months writing the Daniel and Ryan series with a lovely view of mountains out her window, and she’s now searching for a new mountain range to serve as her backdrop as she begins her next project.

Giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

https://widget-prime.rafflecopter.com/launch.js

Blog Button 2

Save

Save

A MelanieM Review: Lord of Ravens (Inheritance #3) by Amelia Faulkner

Rating: 5 stars out of 5

lord-of-ravensLover. Predator. Killer.

Laurence Riley’s inheritance comes with a price – one he’s not at all sure he can pay. When his urge to hunt grows out of control, he sends a desperate prayer to his ancestor for guidance. But he never expected that Herne the Hunter would answer.

Scion. Target. Victim.

There are horrors lurking in Quentin d’Arcy’s past, but they won’t hide there forever. Something ancient is coming to take him home: a creature of nightmare who feasts on the flesh of children. When the choice is between his own life and the lives of innocents, there is no choice at all.

Honesty is the worst policy.

A legendary horror comes to San Diego, but it’s merely an emissary. Laurence has seen the real monster, and it’s a darkness which will destroy everything he loves – especially if Quentin ever finds out what it did to him as a child.

It’s down to Laurence to prepare for war against a force which far outmatches him. The enemy has the most powerful weapon of all at his disposal, and if they’re to stand a chance, Laurence must master the same power.

He must learn magic.

Lord of Ravens is the third book in the Rainbow Award winning Inheritance series and contains mature themes and events which may be distressing to some readers. It has a moderate heat rating and an HFN ending.

Lord of Ravens (Inheritance #3) by Amelia Faulkner is another spectacular new author find for me as is her series Inheritance.  Lord of Ravens is the third book in the series and the one I read first (the other reviews for the previous books will follow soon).  It didn’t do anything but wet my appetite for the other stories.  I could follow some of the history the author provided of their pasts together but clearly I missed out on a wealth of feeling and relationship building that I will now go back and pickup.

Even having said that?  This story is still a 5 plus star rating.  Faulkner clearly loves and knows her mythology.  From Herne, the Lord of the Forest to other gods and goddesses, we travel through a myriad of plains of existence, from modern times to the magical forests and beyond in search of answers and the instruments of revenge for our couple, Quentin and Laurence.

In Lord of Ravens, Quentin and Laurence are still working on a relationship that’s very shaky.  One is prone to running, the other? Well, he has other outlets that he has used in the past and both are trying to overcome their urges to do both to stay together instead.  They are also trying to find their way to a sexual relationship.  The reasons to that slow build to sex lies in their past but we get a horrifying, gut wrenching answer in this story to one of the character’s rejection of all things sexual.  I will have to read the first books to see if there is  even a clue lurking in either of those stories to the revelation here.  But if anything, it just cemented my desire to know more about Quentin, Laurence and pulled me further into their universe and damnable journey together.

So deep did the author pull me into these characters lives, that I was sometimes shaking with fear, frustration, anger..all the emotions that they were feeling as the story moved forward.  Trust me, the glimmers of humor are scarce here.  But when Laurence goes running through the old woods, you feel the rush of the wind, and smell the leaves and rotting wood as he runs on his way, the descriptions are so vivid.   Equally, so when evil comes calling.  As it does several times in more than one form.  Then it becomes by turns chilling and surprising.

Quentin, oh poor scarred Quentin.  How your fear for him will grow.  I had no idea I would love him so.  By the end of the story I was reaching for book 4 only to realize its not there yet.  I wanted to wail in anguish!

Lord of Ravens?  Yes, there is a reason for that title and I won’t spoil the surprise for you.  Let’s just say its just the beginning of another element in this superb series, one I just loved.

There are people, a small group, mystical and otherwise, being pulled into the circle, that will help them do battle.  At least it seems that way.  But against what?  We still don’t exactly know but the vague picture that’s coming together is horrifying enough.

Amelia Faulkner has written a series that’s truly incredible.  Magical, suspenseful, frightening, richly layered, and yet still full of love.  Look for my reviews of Jack of Thorns (Inheritance, #1)  and Knight of Flames (Inheritance, #2) to follow shortly.  I can’t get enough of this author’s imagination, characters, and fantastic world building.  Please, bring on book 4 now!

Cover art is just perfect, with Herne standing outlined in the background as he is all through this story.

Sales Links:

Amazon US: http://amzn.to/2iLjlUM

Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/2iiZRWj

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 327 pages
Published January 5th 2017 by LoveLight Press
ASINB01N4LAAY5
Edition LanguageEnglish
Series: Inheritance

A VVivacious Review: Delayed Gratification (Daniel and Ryan #1) by Tamryn Eradani

Rating – 5 Stars out of 5
 
delayed-gratificationDaniel Brown is being tempted every day with a glazed donut on his desk. When he realises that the new Director of Marketing, the one with the two first names, Ryan Cole is the guy putting the donuts on his desk, he realises what the donuts actually stand for. The only question remaining is if, Daniel is ready to take Ryan up on his not so innocent offer?
 
Daniel Brown is a man of routine. Indeed. Daniel is incredibly prim and proper, his body is in shape; he eats super healthy and denies himself all temptations all week long only to reward himself at the end of the week. He is quirky, borderline-OCD but Oh My God! He was just so prim and proper, I wanted to mess him up! But some of his quirks had me empathizing so much, like the fact that he only went around the left side of his secretary’s desk because that way it was two seconds faster and the way he liked being the first one in his office so that he could soak up the quiet. I mean I was in the story the moment we got to meet Daniel.
 
This book is very well written, like amazingly so. I loved the precise sentences that just cut away all the frills and get to the point. This book is all from Daniel’s point of view but I loved how the author despite being limited by Daniel’s worldview still manages to give us a such a holistic view of Ryan because Oh My God! Ryan.
 
I was amazed my Ryan he is like so relaxed and calm and not exactly laid-back but kind of like at peace with himself and personally I was wondering how that would translate to his Dominant side but my! Oh My! I was not at all disappointed. It was the most amazing transformation because it wasn’t one means I was finding it hard to reconcile these two aspects of Ryan’s character but the author had it spot on. He was not only a relaxed, calm, at peace with himself kind of guy he was also a Dom, it was just that simple.
 
The actual scene actually took my breath away because it was so simple and in a way it was all in Daniel’s head. But somehow that entire scene just put everything into perspective.
 
I honest to God screamed when this book ended because it is really short, like a short-story short but despite being so short it has this wealth of words that impart so much meaning and I am going to ignore the fact that this got over so soon because I know there is a sequel and I just can’t wait to get my greedy hands on it.
 
Cover Art by Natasha Snow. It is an amazing cover! I loved the dark colours and their dark overtones, it looks amazing and perfectly fits the story.
Sales Links
c60a7-waxcreative-amazon-kindle
Book Details:
Kindle Edition, 43 pages
Expected publication: January 16th 2017 by NineStar Press
ASINB01MS1XD9D
Edition LanguageEnglish
SeriesDaniel and Ryan #1

A MelanieM Review: Switched by N.R. Walker

Rating: 5 stars out of 5

switched-by-nr-walkerIsrael Ingham’s life has never been easy. He grew up in a house devoid of love and warmth. Nothing he ever did was good enough. The fact Israel is gay just added to the long list of his father’s disappointments.

Then a letter from Eastport Children’s Hospital changes everything.

A discovery is made, one of gross human error. Twenty-six years ago two baby boys were switched at birth and sent home with the wrong families.

Sam, Israel’s best friend, has been his only source of love and support. With Sam beside him every step of the way, Israel decides to meet his birth mother and her son, the man who lived the life Israel should have.

Israel and Sam become closer than ever, amidst the tumultuous emotions of meeting his birth family, and Sam finds himself questioning his feelings toward his best friend. As Israel embraces new possibilities, he needs to dissect his painful relationship with his parents in order to salvage what’s left.

Because sometimes it takes proof you’re not actually family to become one.

Switched is such a deeply moving story, different in some respects from what I expect from this author and yet so similar in the feelings it will pull from the reader that you know you are reading a  N.R. Walker story.  It hits so close to the heart that it brings up comparisons to my favorites, especially my beloved Red Dirt series.

In Switched we have a superb friends to lovers tale, with Israel Ingram also known as I.I. or Captain and his best friend, Sam.  Israel, wealthy, raised by his nannies, gardeners and other staff than by his cold emotionally removed parents has relied on the support and friendship of Sam and his family to supply him with the love and care he so needed and lacked growing up.   Sam, not wealthy in money, but in every other way, has been there, watching the cold disapproval and disinterest eat away at Israel, hoping to staunch those wounds made by Israel’s parents with his own love and support.

Immediately we get this turmoil, all this emotional cost and years of abuse that has gone on, through Walker’s descriptive, vivid  scenes and believable dialog.  It brings us intimately into these peoples lives and keeps us there.  Our connections to these characters become tight and our hearts are tied to their futures and happiness.

Then comes the shattering moment when Israel and his family find out that he was switched at birth.  And Israel falls apart. As does his world.

To move through this situation that fractures a man, and watch him put himself back together again, with the love and support of Sam, Sam’s family and much more?  Its a true joy.  It takes such a moment for  Israel and Sam to move past friendship into the love that’s been theirs all along.  And in the hands of N.R. Walker, you’ll sob, and laugh, and sob some more as Israel struggles to figure out who he is and where he now stands in this new realigned world.

I have to mention all the layers of supporting characters because there are so many.  All believable, all so important to this story.  From the father who has behaved so cold as to be abusive, the mother equally coldly detached?  They too have layers and, while they must answer for those years, not all is black and white.  Walker recognizes Israel’s right to be angry over his upbringing and has him seeing a therapist.  Again and again in the story, the right choices are made in the narrative, no holes are left, people move forward with their lives while dealing with the past as best they can.  Such a remarkable book.

I just loved Switched by N.R. Walker.  I recommend it highly as I do its author, N.R. Walker.

Cover art accurately reflects by idea of Israel, I just love it.

Sales Link

7104e-waxcreative-amazon-kindle

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 269 pages
Published December 25th 2016
Original TitleSwitched
ASINB01N7M3PBW
Edition LanguageEnglish