Category: 5 star Rating

A VVivacious Review: Ownage by Dale Chase

Rating: 5 Stars out of 5
 
ownage-by-dale-chaseWayne Kerley and Tommy Knox have been together for twelve years but nobody knows it. As players on opposite baseball teams not only do they have to keep their relationship on the down low but they also stay apart for much of the season.
 
As Wayne faces the end of his contract and starts thinking of retiring, things start to slump for Tommy out on the field forcing them to talk about the one thing they have avoided talking about for most of their relationship –the future.
 
I loved this story, it is more novella than novel but as they say good things come in small packages.
 
I love established couple romances and this book epitomizes everything I love about that particular trope that is about seeing couples face their life together with their love a quiet awareness that smolders all around.
 
Wayne is a pitcher nearing the end of his contract and we see him trying to ignore the elephant in the room while still powering-through on the field. This story is told from Wayne’s perspective and I will agree that the fact that we spend so much time with Wayne means that I can’t describe Tommy as well, but it didn’t matter because Wayne and Tommy were an amazing couple.
 
When I first came across this book I was skeptical about their relationship seeing as their relationship is something that can be classified as a long distance relationship and romance (at least romantic books) generally don’t look kindly on long distance relationships, they are always the ones fraught with problems. But what made this book so splendid was the fact that while reading this book that skepticism didn’t enter my mind. Much of this book speaks about Tommy and Wayne and how they keep in touch without it ever feeling like that is what they are doing. They communicate on the same level as people who have been together for years (as they have) do, they have their own routines and couple-y things that make them comfortable and so in-sync with each other.
 
Also what I liked was that Wayne acknowledges all the aspect of their relationships good or bad. The fact that they stay apart much of the time and it is very easy to be shut out of the other person’s life, the lack of mutual friends and how time together is always bittersweet with the tinge of the looming parting and also the fact that coming back to each other is the best feeling ever, like coming home after a long day.
 
The ending of this story is something that can come as a bit of a surprise, like a ‘that’s it!’ when you come across the “THE END” but somehow for me I liked even that and I am a big one for endings. I loathe bad endings, like the good ones and I love the bittersweet ones and somehow I felt that this ending was perfect for this book. In a way I felt that the book ended at the right time because it was going to be like an end of an era for Tommy and Wayne, something new was headed their way, new challenges and maybe even unexplored territory as they live together, and this story contained as it was in a different part of their lives couldn’t possibly have done justice to this new period in their life, having said that I would definitely welcome more on these two.
 
For as short as this book was it really captured by imagination as even though I have talked so much about the story, I have somehow managed to avoid talking about the baseball in this book. I have a rudimentary knowledge of baseball like just the basics and I may be missing a few of those too. So I can say confidently that not knowing baseball that well didn’t affect my enjoyment of this book but I can equally not say if as a baseball fan I might have liked this more (because I would have probably understood more of the nuances of this book) or less (because I would have been more critical of said nuances).
 
Having said it all, I would like to say for me this book kind of added up, with all the nooks and crannies I didn’t understand to the love story I did, to be an amazing read.
 
Cover Art by Written Ink Designs. I liked the cover what with the packed stadium and the bright sun and the pitcher getting ready to pitch the ball.
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Book Details:
Kindle Edition, 68 pages
Published October 15th 2016 by JMS Books LLC
ASINB01LZOFK6X
Edition LanguageEnglish

A Paul Review: The Wolves of Daos 5 by Rebecca James

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

the-wolves-of-daos-5-by-rebecca-james“As difficult as it was to wrap his mind around, Michael couldn’t deny that it all felt like the truth.  He was half-alien, living in an alien civilization, mated to an alien, had an alien inside of him, and evidently other aliens were trying to kill them.  In other words, his life was now a bad sci-fi movie”

Luckily for us readers, The Wolves of Daos 5 is a well-crafted science fiction novel.  Let’s start with the main characters.  Michael has believed he was human all his life.  His mother died in childbirth.  His father left when he was six.  He was raised by his maternal grandmother according to his mother’s wishes.  Through his life, he has suffered from social anxiety.  At his grandmother’s insistence, Michael goes to college but lives outside the city in a cabin in the woods so he does not have to deal with the other students in a dorm. 

Quinn is an alpha werewolf out on a run with a couple of his betas.  He smells what he knows is his mate on the wind.  He goes to investigate.  He sees a young man trying to repair a roof in a driving rain storm.  He howls at his mate, who is startled and falls off the roof.  Quinn goes to check on the man and bring him in the cabin.  When the man wakes up, Quinn tells him that not only is Michael his mate, but also an omega werewolf.  Michael disbelieves the story he has been told as a symptom of a concussion.  That is until Quinn morphs into his wolf.  Michael asks for time to process this and Quinn agrees.  Thus begins Michael’s journey into what he terms a bad sci-fi movie. 

I found Michael charming as he navigates into this alien world into which he is brought into by Quinn.  As with anyone new to a society, he makes occasional social faux pas.  The whole checking out another man’s crotch as a way of greeting just puzzles Michael.  Michael is also introduced to Ezzy, another omega who must be somehow related to Lucy Ricardo.  The schemes that he drags Michael into makes him comment that he shouldn’t be his Ethel.  Author Rebecca James builds an interesting world where Daos 5 is actually superimposed on Earth’s reality through magic.  One of the more interesting beings in the book is that of the doctor that is taking care of Michael.  People who are averse to slimy things will know where Michael’s apprehension with the doctor comes from.  This is an excellent start to what I hope will be a long series of books.

The cover by Brandyjo Newton is gorgeous.  It fits the book well.

Sales Links

Rebecca James | Amazon | Smashwords | ARe

Book Details

EBook, 195 pages

Edition Language:  English

Published:  September 24, 2016 by Rebecca James

ASIN:  B01M0WFAUV

A Stella Release Day Review: Must Like Spinach by Con Riley

RATING 5 out of 5 stars

8fc5c-mustlikespinach-f2b252812529Jon’s future in New York should be bright. He’s on the corporate fast track as an executive problem solver, yet he can’t help feeling hollow. Yearning for a life spent outdoors makes no sense if he wants to flourish in this city, nor does losing his cool with clients when they make bad decisions. Only leaving the East Coast behind for three months can save his business reputation.

His exile in Seattle has unexpected upsides. Jon’s rented home has a garden where his true passions blossom. It’s overgrown yet idyllic—perfect if he didn’t have to share it with another tenant. Tyler might be as cute as hell, and their landlady adores him, but Jon can’t let himself fall for someone who seems lazy.

Three months could be enough time to see Tyler clearly, but choosing which to nurture long-term—love or a business career—might take Jon longer than one summer.

Con Riley is one of my favorite authors. She never disappoints me and always comes up with amazing stories, I’m thinking of the Salvage Stories and Seattle Stories series, stories and characters unforgettable. Must Like Spinach soon intrigued me as soon I saw it, starting from the title. I began reading it with high hopes but I was a little disconcerted when I saw Con used the present tense. I was almost despairing, I don’t like this verbal form at all and I quite often ended with hating the whole book since I found it hard to follow the plot. So I was reading the first page on my kindle, trying to cheer me up and focus on the words and on my love for the author’s previous works. And forget about the hateful present, until I realized the writing was perfect despite it. Easy to read and really well done. Kudos to the author.

Must Like Spinach is the story of Jon,  who is living in New York and working at one of the most prestigious consultant firms in the city. He’s actually not cut out for this kind of job and when the chance at working on another project in Seattle is offered to him, he’s happy to take it. Three months in another city will help him understand what he really wants for his future. What he isn’t expecting is to fall in love with the owner of the smallest and messiest garage apartment he’s never seen. And this owner is not an hot man but a lovely old lady, who in Jon’s opinion, needs to be saved from the (cute but still a leech) guy named Tyler. And Jon can’t ignore and walk away, he has to know Peggy is taken good care of. While falling in love with Peggy and her flourishing garden, in need of the same care, Jon will learn who is Tyler and what he is really doing for the lovely woman. And he will fall in love again, this time with this tireless cute guy who is slowly showing Jon a different world and future.

What caught my heart were the characters and not just the main ones. I have to say all of them were lovable and well depicted, I want all of them in my life because they can make it better like they did with Jon’s. They have a reality well balanced with a lightness and sense of community and family even where there’s no blood relations, so uncommon in the last books I read. It conquered me till the end. One more thing I like was the pacing, the story was a truly joy to read, easy, light and slow paced with no rushing through scenes after scenes while giving each chapter the right consideration.

If you like enemies to lovers, no angst and slow burn stories, I’m sure Must Like Spinach would be a winner. It’s one of my favorite of the 2016.

The cover art by Natasha Snow is good, I like it, the font, the model, the colors were all right.

Sales Link

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BOOK DETAILS

Kindle Edition, 245 pages
Published October 19th 2016 by Figment Ink
ASIN B01MCW7C0D
Edition Language English

A VVivacious Review: Gryffon Hall by Alexis Duran

Rating: 5 Stars out of 5
 
gryffon-hallWryler Glimmerveen is forced into an unsuspecting alliance with Lord Aeric Rouchet who is well feared for being a monster.
 
Aeric Rouchet is the Lord of Gryffon Hall, a sprawling castle at the edge of the Black Forest, a forest well known for the monsters it spawns.
 
As Wryler makes his journey to the Black Forest he can’t be anything but anxious about the things that await him at
Gryffon Castle but he has no clue as to the mysteries waiting to unfold.
 
This was an utterly delicious read. It was an amazing retelling of “The Beauty and the Beast” and I loved the author’s perspective on this particular fairy tale.
 
Wryler Glimmerveen was the perfect Beauty with a little bit of fae in him. What I loved about Wryler was that neither was he the stalwart hero nor the damsel of distress of fairy tales. He was just perfect, anxious to the point of no return but ready to stand his ground even against his beast of a husband.
 
Aeric Rouchet was an amazing Beast and proud of it. He was like a yummy hero just out of a historical romance and my God was he hot or what?
 
I loved Aeric and Wryler they had the perfect dynamic from the beginning and their chemistry was sizzling hot. They really had that going for them.
 
Personally I loved how this book spins the tale of ‘The Beauty and the Beast’. Here’s a Beauty ready to forge his own path and a Beast proud of his beastly ways, so wait… where is the wrench in the works well as you will know if you have read and seen a lot of faith tales, where there is a fairy tale there is a certain deal maker waiting to profit.
 
I loved how this book is written. It is well paced and all the elements are well established and play out really well as a whole. Overall this book was awesome, amazing and brilliant!
 
Cover Art by April Martinez. I didn’t like the cover as much as I loved the story. Personally the men on the cover in no way fit the Wryler and Aeric in my head.
Sales Links
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Book Details:
ebook, 150 pages
Published August 30th 2016 by Loose ID
ISBN139781682521885