Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words
Daydreaming! Reviewing LGBTQIA Books, all formats ! Binge Watching A World of Romance
Those of us who celebrate the US Independence Day and those of us abroad are taking the day off to spend it with our families and vacation and such. We hope that everyone has a happy, safe, and awesome day and weekend. Happy Reading and wonderful stories!
Melanie, Barb the Zany Old Lady, Sammy, Stella, Paul, Mika, BJ and Aurora!
We have more than a few covers that just stunned us this month. Look for that post later today!
Rating: 5 stars out of 5
An absolutely wonderful audiobook, this one kept me riveted to my iPhone until I finished. The story, the humor, the angst, the voice of the narrator—all combined to make this one A+ in my book.
Sheriff Lance Beaufort is the principal law enforcement officer in the small town of Mad Creek, California, a sleepy little town that also happens to be predominately populated by dog shifters. These “quickened” dogs have gained the ability to become human, some in this generation, but others are born that way, the children and grandchildren of dogs who’ve been quickened. Descended from quickened Border collies on both sides of his family line, Lance is the best guardian the town could have as he takes his job very seriously and never lets personal issues interfere with his mission.
So it’s no surprise that he’s suspicious when a young man shows up who seems to be without resources and smelling of marijuana. Tim Weston is there to grow a new hybrid rose for a woman who owns a property on the edge of town. In exchange for Tim’s skills as a horticulturist, Tim can live there rent-free for six months. While he’s trying to get the hybrid roses to grow, he’s also planting a variety of vegetables that he plans to sell at farmer’s markets in the summer, an endeavor which he hopes will generate enough money to support himself and to begin to pay rent on the property when the six months is up.
But Sheriff Lance doesn’t take his word for the fact that he’s renting the property. Suspicious should be his middle name, so he shifts into his Border collie persona and goes to check out the grounds for himself. Unfortunately, as he’s leaving, Tim’s pickup truck hits him, and he’s forced to go along with the charade of being a dog under Tim’s care for a while. He then finds that Tim isn’t quite what he thought he was. He’s not a pot-smoking loser trying to get rich by planting marijuana in the fields, instead, he’s a sweet young man, who is only trying to make ends meet, and he seems to be very much in need of someone to snuggle. Lance decides he’ll be that man—um, dog—at least until he can get to the bottom of things.
Tim thought he was getting away from all his troubles when he came to Mad Creek. His former boss had taken out patents on the vegetable and flower hybrids that Tim generated, keeping everything in his own name and pocketing all the profits. And as if that’s not bad enough, his father was physically abusive when he was a child so Tim has no home at all. Of course he welcomes the dog into his life, a dog he names Chance.
Naturally, nothing goes according to plan for either man. When Tim’s greenhouse is destroyed by someone who thinks he’s in competition with their own pot-growing operation, and the true story of Lance’s deception comes out, Tim feels totally abandoned and betrayed all over again. Will Lance be able to overcome his foolish mistakes to make Tim believe that they are mates and that Lance loves him with all his heart? Or will the troublemakers lurking in Tim’s past revisit his life and cause even more havoc than before?
Ack! I loved this story! I have been a devout fan of Eli Easton ever since I first read The Lion and the Crow, a story she created for the Goodreads M/M Romance Group in 2012. There is nothing that she’s written that I don’t like, but this one really touched my heart. The canine element, with their big blue soulful eyes, and the humor throughout the story sold me on this one. There were times I laughed out loud as I was listening to the audiobook. Narrator Matthew Shaw did an outstanding job. His narration was fast-paced, and the timing of the humorous parts of the story was spot-on, yet the narrative for the sadder, lonelier times was equally compelling. When he emulated the hopeless, soulful howl which Lance let out when he thought he had lost Tim for good, it brought tears to my eyes.
I can’t recommend this story highly enough, and I’m excited beyond measure to find out that this is the beginning of a series. The next story is a must buy for me. Bring it on, Eli Easton—I want more of these quickened dogs and their human sides, as soon as possible, please. If you like shifter stories and sweet romance, this is the book for you. And don’t hesitate to pick up the audiobook version. It’s bound to add more to the story than you would get from reading it alone.
The bright and cheerful cover art depicts a beautiful black border collie, leashed, and sitting next to his master as they pause to pose. It’s exactly as I’d imagine Chance would look, and though Tim’s face isn’t shown in the picture, it’s evident by his posture that the dog is sitting next to his owner.
Sales Links: Audible | Amazon | 
Audiobook Details:
Audible Audio, 6 pages
Published March 19th 2015 by Pinkerton Road (first published February 28th 2015)
original titleHowl at the Moon
ASINB00UVVHOTI
edition languageEnglish
seriesHowl at the Moon #1
charactersLance Beaufort, Tim West
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Cambridge, 1910
Amateur detectives Jonty Stewart and Orlando Coppersmith seem to have nothing more taxing on their plate than locating a missing wooden cat and solving the dilemma of seating thirteen for dinner. But one of the guests brings a conundrum: a young woman has been found dead, and her boyfriend is convinced she was murdered. The trouble is, nobody else agrees.
Investigation reveals that several young people in the local area have died in strange circumstances, and rumours abound of poisonings at the hands of Lord Toothill, a local mysterious recluse. Toothill’s angry, gun-toting gamekeeper isn’t doing anything to quell suspicions, either.
But even with a gun to his head, Jonty can tell there’s more going on in this surprisingly treacherous village than meets the eye. And even Orlando’s vaunted logic is stymied by the baffling inconsistencies they uncover. Together, the Cambridge Fellows must pick their way through gossip and misdirection to discover the truth.
When I first fell in love with Orlando Coppersmith and Jonty Stewart in Charley Cochrane’s first Cambridge Fellows Mysteries, Lessons in Love (Cambridge Fellows, #1), I had no idea I was letting myself into a long time love affair with these characters and this amazing author. Yes, the attention to time period minutiae was perfection, as was the way the author folded it into the story. Yes, even the conversations were spiced up and made relevant to the era and social strata by the appropriate language and verbiage the author employed to great impact in her narrative. So much so I often had to resort to some research of my own to figure out what certain terms and slang meant to a modern-age American. Some of the elements of the story were steeped in English history and others simply in the English culture but whatever my temporary source of bafflement, my interest in this unique and fascinating couple never wavered…not once.
Orlando and Jonty were so very different in those early days. They had the struggle to adjust to each other’s presence, and then to each other’s attraction and then the unalterable fact they were falling into love…all during a time when this mean jail and often death. And it was carried out in the somewhat cloistered halls of St. Bride’s College, a place of high learning, occasional high spirits and hijinks until murder finds its way there. And then the sleuths were off on a perilous investigation that included self discovery and more than a little affection.
I have laughed and bawled my eyes out along the way as Jonty and Orlando moved through the years and the vagaries of their changing culture and historical events. And with each book, mystery, and time frame, I fell completely under their spell and forever in love. And that’s due to the superb talent and depth of characterization that Charley Cochrane employs.
Like punting along a waterway (as Jonty and Orlando are fond of doing), all can seem serene in one of the Cambridge Fellow Mysteries but it’s what lurks underneath that gives these characters and their stories such dimension and sometimes shocking humanity…and you would never suspect that its there, at least not at first. Because the civility and tone of the story and language lulls you into a state similar to a promenade or arm in arm stroll in the gardens. It’s a lovely feeling, carefree and delightful. Until murder strikes or some horrific fact pops up to let you know that the deep waters were there all the time and you were merely treading water.
Here in the 11th story, that is never more apparent. A simple mystery leads to the deeper, more complex one, and then the smoke and shadows of multiple lies or omissions lead Orlando and Jonty into a maze of betrayals, murder, and complicity. And even as Cochrane is leading us and our Cambridge Fellows on a deep and convoluted trail, she manages to allude to some of this series most horrific elements and facts with a deft turn of phrase or haunted look. I will tell you that Orlando can suffer from deep depression (a fact that figures greatly into the earlier stories). And that something extremely damaging happened to Jonty in his early days at boarding school. And nothing more. For those momentous discoveries, I will send you back to the beginning story and ask that you wind your own way through the various stages of their relationship and personal disclosures. It’s a journey not to be missed and one you will take again and again. And that knowledge will enhance your enjoyment here in Lessons for Idle Tongues (Cambridge Fellows Mysteries #11).
I didn’t figure out all the intelligent clues and facts strewn about the story. How I adore that! There are wonderful literary allusions, more terminology to investigate (Bertillon measurement, anyone), and that magnificent Stewart family as a whole to enjoy and revel in. I laughed, frowned in puzzlement, and throughly enjoyed myself at every page. And then started the story all over again. Lessons in Idle Tongues is amazing, Charley Cochrane’s writing is deftly accomplished, the pace sprightly for a complicated mystery, and the whole story comes together just as it should and will leave you still wanting more. Thank goodness, we are going to get it.
Can you read this as a stand alone story? Probably (I say with great reluctance). There is enough context here that you don’t need to have read the other stories to get great pleasure from Lessons for Idle Tongues. But that statement comes with a caveat…the same cannot be said for the earlier stories. This especially holds true for the books All Lessons Learned and Lessons for Survivors (#8 and #9). Remember as the men are moving into their relationship, the years are changing as is history. Those have to be the two most memorable books Cochrane has yet written for Orlando and Jonty. But their power and impact is built upon the foundation stones of the previous stories. Why not grab up all of them together and binge read? Riptide and Samhain Publishing are working together so that’s possible. Two new books and a complete set of stories…I love it! Charlie Cochrane’s Cambridge Fellows Mysteries remains one of my most highly recommended series. Lessons for Idle Tongues is a marvelous new addition to that amazing group of novels.
I have listed them all for you at the bottom. Use it as a checklist or TBR list, whatever works best for you. Don’t let this story or any of those books pass you by!
Cover art by Lou Harper does the couple and series justice. I love it!
Sales Links: Riptide Publishing | All Romance (ARe) | Amazon | 
Book Details:
ebook, 241 pages
Published June 29th 2015 by Riptide Publishing
ISBN139781626492714
edition language,English
url http://riptidepublishing.com/titles/lessons-for-idle-tongues
series Cambridge Fellows #1
Cambridge Fellows Mysteries in the order they were written and should be read (imo):
Get 30% off books 1-8 of the Cambridge Fellows Mysteries, exclusively in a bundle from Samhain!
It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of Charlie Cochrane and her Cambridge Fellows Mysteries, featuring Jonty and Orlando. It is one of my highly recommended series, and the terrific story, Lessons for Idle Tongues is being published by Riptide Publishing. And to celebrate, author Charlie Cochrane is here and interviewing those incorrigible and loving duo, Jonty and Orlando.
Interview with Jonty and Orlando
While reading her favourite mystery, Death at the President’s Lodging, Charlie Cochrane was struck by some particularly “slashy” scenes and wondered why there were no Classic Era mysteries featuring a pair of gay detectives. There were gay men at the time, so couldn’t they have taken up their magnifying glasses and got sleuthing? Frustrated at finding no answer to her conundrum, she set out to write her own stories. Here she interviews her two sleuths.
CC: Can you tell the readers where you live?
Orlando Coppersmith: Cambridge.
Jonty Stewart: Cambridge in England. There’s another one in America, you know, Orlando.
Orlando: Really? How astonishing.
Jonty: We live here because we’re both based at St. Bride’s College, trying to knock some sense into our students. I teach them about Tudor Literature.
Orlando: And I lecture in Mathematics.
Jonty: Orlando’s worryingly bright.
CC: Did the events of your early life influence you in solving mysteries?
Orlando: Yes. Well. Hm.
Jonty: What Orlando means is that neither of us had that easy a start in life. His family were…not exactly loving. Would that be fair?
Orlando: It would. I’m not as lucky as Jonty, who has an extraordinary family with whom I get on very well.
Jonty: He means I have a very loud mother who’s madly in love with him and a terrifyingly clever father who likes to solves cryptograms with him. He wins all round.
Orlando: Meeting Jonty showed me that all sorts of things in life were possible. Love, friendship, going out and using my brains for something other than mathematics. He changed my life.
Jonty: Daft beggar. Meeting Orlando gave me hope at a time when I was a bit low. I had a rough time of things at school and it came back to haunt me at times. He changed my life, too.
CC: Do you see yourselves as policemen?
Jonty: Oh I say, Orlando. Steady there. (He whacks his back.) I’m afraid that the police wouldn’t exactly approve of our relationship. Up before the beak and two years hard labour if they knew what we got up to in private.
Orlando: We’re amateur detectives, although we do work alongside the police when need be. That’s how we got started, acting as the eyes and ears for Inspector Wilson of the local force when there was a series of murders in St. Bride’s. (Lessons in Love)
Jonty: We get commissions, too. People ask us to solve crimes, particularly old ones.
Orlando: Sometimes hundreds of years old.
Jonty: Nearly as ancient as you, Orlando.
Orlando: Very funny.
CC: Do people contact you like they contacted Sherlock Holmes?
Jonty: You said the ‘S’ word. Orlando won’t approve. I like Holmes – and Watson, he’s a marvellous bloke – but old grumpy guts here thinks Sherlock’s a bit of a smarty pants.
Orlando: I refuse to comment. And don’t call me “grumpy guts” in public.
CC: What’s been the most outrageous thing you’ve done in the cause of investigation?
Jonty: What about the time you had to pose as a gigolo?
Orlando: I was not a gigolo. I was a professional dancing partner. Next question, please, before my “friend” finds anything else to make fun of me about.
CC: In the course of your investigations, have you encountered important historical figures?
Jonty: Figures from the past, yes. When we solved the Woodville Ward mystery we ran across Richard III, Henry VII and Elizabeth Woodville. Orlando’s almost old enough to remember being dandled at their knees.
Orlando: Don’t forget, I’ve worked out at least three foolproof ways of murdering you without the risk of being caught. Actually, he’s hiding his light under a bushel, again. He’s the one who got dandled at royalty’s knee. The Stewarts are all very pally with the royal family.
Jonty: That’s what got us involved in the gigolo – sorry, dancing partner – case. The king’s old mistress died under mysterious circumstances and they needed someone of discretion and good sense to put into the hotel where it happened. Nobody like that was available, so they asked Orlando.
Orlando: Excuse me while I resort to method number one.
CC: Presumably you are somewhat familiar with our early 21st century, after conversations with your author. What would you most like to take back to Edwardian times?
Jonty: The freedom to hold Orlando’s hand in public – at least in Brighton. Not that he’d let me, probably, being a shy old stick, but the opportunity would be nice.
Orlando: I’d welcome the chance of entering into a Civil Partnership with Jonty. An official declaration of how much we mean to each other.
Jonty: I’d like to fly in one of your modern aeroplanes. How wonderful to cover the length of the British isles in little more than an hour. And going to Jersey without resorting to a ship would be good, wouldn’t it, Orlando? He gets sick as a dog when we sail.
Orlando: Hm. In his case it might be an Uncivil Partnership.
CC: I’m sure you’d never murder anyone, but is there someone, whom you’d like to murder if you could?
Orlando: Owens, from “the college next door”.
Jonty: He’s St. Bride’s arch-enemy and any decent college man would strangle him with his own bicycle clips.
Orlando: I’ve devised two other foolproof and undetectable methods of murder, just for Owens.
Jonty: I said he was frighteningly clever, didn’t I? If he ever took to a life of crime, we’d all be doomed.
Amateur detectives Jonty Stewart and Orlando Coppersmith seem to have nothing more taxing on their plate than locating a missing wooden cat and solving the dilemma of seating thirteen for dinner. But one of the guests brings a conundrum: a young woman has been found dead, and her boyfriend is convinced she was murdered. The trouble is, nobody else agrees.
Investigation reveals that several young people in the local area have died in strange circumstances, and rumours abound of poisonings at the hands of Lord Toothill, a local mysterious recluse. Toothill’s angry, gun-toting gamekeeper isn’t doing anything to quell suspicions, either.
But even with a gun to his head, Jonty can tell there’s more going on in this surprisingly treacherous village than meets the eye. And even Orlando’s vaunted logic is stymied by the baffling inconsistencies they uncover. Together, the Cambridge Fellows must pick their way through gossip and misdirection to discover the truth.
About Author Charlie Cochrane:
As Charlie Cochrane couldn’t be trusted to do any of her jobs of choice—like managing a rugby team—she writes, with titles published by Carina, Samhain, Bold Strokes, MLR and Cheyenne.
Charlie’s Cambridge Fellows Series of Edwardian romantic mysteries was instrumental in her being named Author of the Year 2009 by the review site Speak Its Name. She’s a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association, Mystery People, International Thriller Writers Inc and is on the organising team for UK Meet for readers/writers of GLBT fiction. She regularly appears with The Deadly Dames.
Website:http://www.charliecochrane.co.uk/
Blog: charliecochrane.livejournal.com/
Twitter: @charliecochrane
Facebook profile page: facebook.com/charlie.cochrane.18
Goodreads: goodreads.com/goodreadscomcharlie_cochrane
Riptide Publishing’s Author Page
Every comment on this blog tour enters you in a drawing for a title from Charlie Cochrane’s backlist (excluding Lessons for Idle Tongues.) Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on July 4. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries. Don’t forget to add your email so we can contact you if you win! Must be 18 years of age or older to enter. Prizes provided by the author and Riptide Publishing.
Cambridge Fellows Mysteries Bundle Sale!
Get 30% off books 1-8 of the Cambridge Fellows Mysteries, exclusively in a bundle from Samhain!
If the men of St. Bride’s College knew what Jonty Stewart and Orlando Coppersmith got up to behind closed doors, the scandal would rock early-20th-century Cambridge to its core. But the truth is, when they’re not busy teaching literature and mathematics, the most daring thing about them isn’t their love for each other—it’s their hobby of amateur sleuthing.
Because wherever Jonty and Orlando go, trouble seems to find them. Sunny, genial Jonty and prickly, taciturn Orlando may seem like opposites. But their balance serves them well as they sift through clues to crimes, and sort through their own emotions to grow closer. But at the end of the day, they always find the truth . . . and their way home together.
,[STRW Note: I highly recommend reading them in the order they were written in order to understand the relationship as it builds, the men, and the times. This is especially true for books starting with Lessons in Trust, All Lessons Learned and Lessons for Survivors which hold huge spoilers and surprises for the previous books]
Publisher Note:Cambridge Fellows mysteries may be read in any order but for those who wish to read in release order, they are:
Lessons in Love (Cambridge Fellows Mysteries #1)
Lessons in Desire (Cambridge Fellows Mysteries #2)
Lessons in Discovery (Cambridge Fellows Mysteries #3)
Lessons in Power (Cambridge Fellows Mysteries #4)
Lessons in Temptation (Cambridge Fellows Mysteries #5)
Lessons in Seduction (Cambridge Fellows Mysteries #6)
Lessons in Trust (Cambridge Fellows Mysteries #7)
All Lessons Learned (Cambridge Fellows Mysteries #8)
Lessons for Survivors (Cambridge Fellows Mysteries #9)
Lessons for Suspicious Minds (Cambridge Fellows Mysteries #10)
Lessons for Idle Tongues (Cambridge Fellows Mysteries #11)
Lessons for Sleeping Dogs
The first eight books in the series are with Samhain Publishing. You can purchase them wherever ebooks are sold.
– See more at Riptide Publishing’s Cambridge Fellows Mysteries page.
http://news.yahoo.com/photos/timelapse-white-house-beaming-rainbow-photo-053113143.html?soc_src=copy
Whew! What a day it was yesterday! My Twitter and FB blew up with happiness and excitement as soon as SCOTUS came out with their historic ruling. Even the White House got into the act with a new look! The White House was lit rainbow colors on Friday, June 26, in celebration of the Supreme Court ruling that allows same-sex marriage across the US. The 14 states in which such marriages remained illegal, in the South and Midwest, must now lift their bans. The court’s 5-4 ruling (hell yeah!) is the culmination of decades of campaigning by gay-rights activists. Yesterday, the hopes, dreams, and wishes came true for so many across the nation and we celebrated in our hearts, if not in the streets…dancing with joy! And the media went crazy too!
People changed with pictures to reflect this historic ruling and fireworks and incredible memes were everywhere. Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi made the happiest of vids for Vine, (really don’t miss out on that one), George Takei, and it just kept coming in heartstopping wave after wave…and yes, the tears flowed copiously.
This is truly a Gay Pride Month to end all Pride Months! 2015! A toast and a cheer for Equality for All. Now finally is can just be Marriage-not gay marriage or straight marriage…just marriage. Hell to the Yes!
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Jack has a secret hidden in his pants, and Eli thinks he knows what it is.
Jack Cox has a secret he’s kept hidden for years until a fellow hockey player discovers a scrap of silk and lace hiding in his pocket. Elijah Mitten notices how anxious Jack is as the hot-pink fabric makes its way around the locker room, and when Jack throws it in the trash like it means nothing, Elijah guesses what’s beneath his stoic façade and possibly his pants.
When Elijah shows up on Jack’s doorstep looking for answers, Jack won’t admit anything. But when Elijah takes matters into his own hands, Jack has to make a decision: share his secret and risk losing hockey or keep it hidden forever
I absolutely loved Cheeky Hipsters and Jocks by Posy Roberts. I had a smirk on my face the entire way. It features one of my favorite kinks ever. I love MANTIES, it’s always a satisfying feeling reading about boys with a panty fetish. Add Posy Roberts’ writing it, and it’s a sure win in my book. I really love Posy as an author/writer. I’m always eager to read what she writes.
For me in this book she shows a different side of her writing. This is the most erotic I’ve read from her since I started reading her books. Gah, Elijah was a sure win for me. I loved that protective streak he had in him. Then there was Jack with his sweet attitude and his love for manties. Ugh, why couldn’t this be longer? I would love to read about them in a full length novel. I love the camaraderie between the guys on the team; I thought what Jack did took a lot of courage and the scenes between Elijah and Jack were really sweet. You can see the sparks between them on the pages. I’d recommend this to M/M Readers who enjoy contemporary romance. Also readers who just want to smile.
Cover Art ? One of my favorite covers. I like bright colors and the cover model was hot as well as his specific accessory.
Sales Links: Amazon 
Book Details:
50 pages
Published June 12th 2015 by Blanket Fort Press
original titleCheeky Hipsters & Jocks
edition languageEnglish
seriesBFP:The Secrets Collection
Rating: 5 stars out of 5
Jin Church is back where he started, alone, wandering, and uncertain of his path. It’s not by choice but by circumstance, as he remembers he’s a werepanther… but not much else. He knows one thing for sure—he needs to find the beautiful blond man who haunts his dreams.
Logan Church is trapped in a living hell. His mate is missing, his tribe is falling apart, and he’s estranged from the son he loves with all his heart. His world is unraveling without his mate by his side, and he has no one to blame but himself.
If Jin can regain his memory and Logan can overcome the threats to his leadership, then perhaps they can resume their lives. The question is: Is that what they want? Back to the same house, the same tribe, the same troubles? They can choose from various roads leading to their future… or they can forge their own path.
When an author or publisher announces a book that ends a beloved series, it unleashes a flood of mixed feelings. Shock…the series is ending? Sadness…I love this series and can’t bear to seem them go. Happiness…I get to read about some of my favorite couples and characters. Fear…how will the series end and will I be happy? Anticipation…how will the author pull it all together and will I be content to let them go? Mary Calmes gave me the perfect answer to all my questions with Forging the Future, the last in the Change of Heart series.
I fell deeply and totally in love with Jin Raine and Logan Church, Mary Calmes’ panther shifters, from the moment I met them in Change of Heart (Change of Heart #1). Each character had such a rich and varied back history to them, it had a interesting location of Reno, Nevada, and the drama that swirled around them was layered, full of pain, discrimination, and race pride. I couldn’t get enough of them or their story. I read the book twice. Finished it the first time and started rereading it all over again. Yep, hooked.
But it wasn’t just the characters that drew me in, it was the fascinating culture and enthralling species history that Mary Calmes built book by book that had its origin in Egypt and egyptian mythology. Especially when the plot and characters ended up on Sobek, Egypt, ancestral home of their kind, then I was riveted. Calmes wove the plight of her characters (often horrific and gutwrenching) into the idea of Egyptian myths come alive and an ancient shifter tribe on the brink of change and the result was gripping and magnificent.
So what does Mary Calmes do with her last Jin and Logan story? She terrifies us! From the very first sentence, the reader is plunged into a living nightmare. It’s Jin at his most heartbreaking and horrific. Jin has been stripped of everything he fought so hard and so long to have. He’s alone, amnesiac, and heartsick, although he doesn’t know why. No Logan, no family or friends or tribe. Its chilling, and his panic and uncertainty becomes ours from the outset. And overtop of what Jin is feeling is the fact that we can imagine just what Logan and the others must be going through at Jin’s absence. Above all, the question looms for Jin and us….what the hell happened to blow everything to bits?
That answer comes slowly and with great suspense. Mary Calmes’ approach here is masterful. It is suspenseful, gripping, and excruciating in the anticipation it creates along the way. I loved it. And when the reunion comes, the scene explodes with just the sort of power and emotion we have come to expect from this story and characters. My heart was pounding along with Jin’s. But it doesn’t stop there but just starts gather more strength and energy as the pieces start to fall into place and Jin’s memory returns. I went back and forth reading and rereading passages for the shear amazement and total enjoyment that brought to me as a reader and fan of this series.
What else did I love? That the author brings her saga full circle, back almost to the beginning and then launches it upward with new direction and hope for the future. This story has all the elements I look forward to in a Change of Heart story and then some. Calmes gave us more mythology and also filled in some world building that was extremely practical and down to earth. Things made sense at the end. I found myself nodding “yes” at certain turning points and crosspaths in the narrative.
And it all made me want to go read it from the start all over again. Which I am going to do.
What can I say? I thought this was perfection. It ended better than I hoped, with a smile and laughter and utter joy in all the characters and the new future ahead for them all. Am I sorry its over? Absolutely. But did Mary Calmes give Jin, Logan, Yuri, and all the rest the ending they deserved? Without question. Change of Heart remains a series close to my heart and Forging the Future is one of the Best of 2015! I highly recommend this book and the entire series. Now you must excuse me, I have a series to reread!
Cover art by Anne Cain is just perfection. Perfect for the last cover in the series.
Sales Links: Dreamspinner Press eBook & Paperback | All Romance (ARe) | Amazon 
Book Details:
ebook, 180 pages
Expected publication: June 29th 2015 by Dreamspinner Press
ISBN139781634763042
edition languageEnglish
seriesChange of Heart
Books in the Change of Heart series in the order they were written and should be read for character and plot development.
Happy Father’s Day to all the fathers out there that have made such a huge impact on their children’s lives. That includes my father whose sterling qualities, indomitable will, intelligence and loving heart has always had a large part in my life and that of my daughter. I’ll be heading over to the farm shortly to help celebrate with all the family – together, boisterous, and loving.
But June is Pride Month. That combined with Caitlyn Jenner’s brave coming out, the ABC Family Channels series “Becoming Us“, “The Foster’s“, and more has me thinking about names, identities and the need for choice and change. What happens to the Mother’s Day and Father’s Day celebrations when one parent is transitioning? Or is Genderqueer or Genderfluid? Don’t those Greeting Card appellations become exclusionary instead of celebratory? I’m thinking that perhaps they do and unnecessarily so.
Why not combine the two and have a universal Parent’s Day? Or “Thank My Guardian” Day, ” Thanks for all the Love, Support, & Sacrifice-Love You” Day ? Yeah, yeah, I know, none of those have the zing and emotional tone that Mother’s and Father’s Day have. But a change in attitude and outlook might supply the needed patina of familial love and memories over time that it lacks now. And then there are the children to think about.
Why make it necessary for a child to explain that they have 2 dads on Mother’s Day or two mothers on Father’s Day when asked to “make cards for (insert name here)” in school, church, or whatever organization is asking the kids to do this as a craft? A universal day of thanks, joy and family for those that raised you would make those explanations unnecessary, as they should be. And it would include all those parents and caregivers that are part of the LGBTQIA community.
It’s time to enlarge our thinking along with our hearts. The world has gotten bigger, let’s hope it grows more inclusive and loving as well.
So last Sunday I posted the need for LGBT YA books for the Prince William PFLAG library and the books started to arrive. The response has been wonderful. And the books and the donor’s large hearts so deeply appreciated. There is nothing better than giving the gift of a book! One book can make such a huge difference. It can show you new worlds, give hope and encouragement, let you know that you aren’t alone in feelings or identity, or just take you away for just a moment from the pressing issues and stress that you might be facing.
Opening a book to me is similar to opening a TARDIS (yep, flying the Geek flag here). The contents inside are so much bigger, surprising, endlessly fascinating and stimulating….an interior not guessed by the cover on the outside. Why? Because its also what we bring to it that can’t be quantified or known. Who we are and what we bring to the books we read and what we take away from them. From the comfort of Winnie the Pooh to the joy and pain of self discovery of C Kennedy’s Slaying Isidore’s Dragons, the gift of a book is often immeasurable. Let’s keep them flowing. Here is the link again to Lynn Schmitz, Prince William PFLAG facilitator and head of the donations to the PFLAG YA Library.
We also added a new feature on Author Discoveries. Reviewer BJ started it off with her discovery of author Jaye McKenna and BJ will be reviewing several of her books this week and next. What new authors have you discovered? Write us, tell us about their books and let us add them to our list of New Authors to read!
The first time I picked up a book by Jaye McKenna was during the 2014 Don’t Read in the Closet event put on by the Goodreads M/M Romance group. It was a free story, and it was awesome. Then I found out it was the second of a series, so I went back and read the first freebie book, Human Frailties from the previous year’s event. Then another freebie, Facing the Mirror. I enjoyed all three. I requested a review copy of her newest book, Burn the Sky, and promptly fell in love with the broken ice dragon, Ilya. But it was when I went back and read the expanded version of Human Frailties, Human Strengths that I completely fell in love, irrevocably and head over heels. Ashnavayarian has stolen my heart and its for so many reasons but really, really its just like that quote by Michel de Montaigne, “because he was he.” There is just something magical and unique about him—so strong, yet he has his vulnerable moments. He’s imperfect, starts out self-centered and snarky but he’s growing and changing. And its so fun to see.
This author pushes some of my buttons big time, because I love angst and broken boys. Especially ones with long hair (ok, it’s a fetish of mine!). This author’s boys never have an easy time of it, they go through the wringer a few times over for their HEA. I eat that right up. The heat and sexual tension buildup that I love is always there. There’s snarky characters and witty dialogue.
Then there is her world. Most of McKenna’s stories are set in the same well-developed and nuanced fantasy world. The fantasy stories are separated from the more sci-fi ones by thousands of years, but it all ties in and builds… it sucked me in.
Jaye McKenna serves up magic meets science. Its lovely, nuanced broken boys getting slowly put back together and finding love. With a hefty dose of hot and sexy on top.
Jaye McKenna was born a Brit and was dragged, kicking and screaming, across the Pond at an age when such vehement protest was doomed to be misinterpreted as a “paddy”. She grew up near a sumac forest in Minnesota and spent most of her teen years torturing her parents with her electric guitar and her dark poetry. She was punk before it was cool and a grown-up long before she was ready. Jaye writes fantasy and science fiction stories about hot guys who have the hots for each other. She enjoys making them work darn hard for their happy endings, which might explain why she never gets invited to their parties.
You can find Jaye McKenna at the following:
Website , Twitter, Goodreads Author Page
And look for the following books and their reviews from BJ in the upcoming weeks…
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 