An Alisa Review : Already Home (Finding Home #4) by Carly Marie

Rating:  5 stars out of 5

By leaving Nashville, Harrison wanted to escape. What he found at home in Oklahoma was better than anything he’d ever had before. Harrison is happier with Greg and Jasper than he’s ever been. When Harrison can no longer avoid his ex and has to go back to Tennessee, he has Jasper and Greg by his side. But being back in Nashville also means facing Neil and Derek. The trio knew the trip would be challenging before they left Oklahoma, but will they manage to get through the trip unscathed?

Greg’s daughter told him to do something crazy. What she meant was for him to find a boyfriend. Well, he found two. Introducing his kids to not one but two men could be a tricky situation to navigate. Will Greg’s kids prove to be open-minded and accepting of their dad’s unconventional relationship?

Jasper still isn’t out, and now he’s dating two men. Jasper, Greg, and Harrison are committed to one another and making their relationship work long term and they know that means Jasper will have to come out to the rest of his family. The Scott family has always been accepting of anything thrown their way, but will Jasper’s relationship with Greg and Harrison be the one thing the rest of the Scotts can’t handle?

As tempers flare and feelings are hurt, can Jasper, Greg, and Harrison navigate the bumps in the road? Or will the reactions of friends and family be too much for the threesome to handle?

I am so sorry to see this series end but this book was the perfect way.  It pulled at my heartstrings from the very beginning, I swear I had tears in my eye throughout most of the story.  This starts right where the last book left off and is mostly about Jasper coming out but also the family coming back together even stronger than ever.

I know some have said that the coming out was repetitive but I think that is more realistic, how often will you have everyone in the room at one time and get it all out then.  However, I think the individual conversations were important to the brothers’ reconnecting again because it gave Jasper the opportunity to have individual conversations with them.  I think the biggest surprise was Jasper’s dad, Brice, all the kids have been wary of his reactions and it seems is really is just as accepting as the others but he just worries for his family like any good dad would.

Once again my heart went out to all of these characters.  I was glad of the easy acceptance of Greg’s kids because it helped to offset the drama of the Scott family.  Having to hear how hurt Jasper was even more in depth than the last book was so heartbreaking and I know it killed him having to explain multiple times but helped him get it off his chest.  I loved the unending support of Harrison and Greg and also how Jasper is willing to give up everything for them.  I loved that they all continue to come together to support each other in their times of need or in celebration.  I will miss these guys but hopefully Carly will write short stories about them every once in a while.

The cover art by Soxational Cover Art is great, I love how they are all similar but different.

Sales Link: Amazon

Book Details:

ebook, 206 pages

Publication: July 25, 2019

Edition Language: English

Series: Finding Home #4

Sports Romance and This Week At Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words

Sports Romances and M/M

We started talking sports and romance last week.  Baseball and hockey primarily.  And what sports are and were featured in LGBT romances. I’ve been reading a lot of MM hockey romance this month, getting caught up on our hockey recs and books/series I had missed.  Last week’s discussions also prompted me to start thinking about what other sports are featured highly in LGBT contemporary romances?  Right away rugby jumped into my brain.  Sean Kennedy’s outstanding series Tigers and Devils as well as Dahlia Donovan’s sexy  The Sin Bin series.  Soccer and rugby, English and Aussie rules, totally different, I know. Hot men in shorts with great legs.  Kill me now.

Don’t get me started on the French Rugby calendar Dieux du Stade  fans self!

So yes, those sports as well as hockey are right up there in romances.  Also ice skating seems to be on the rise as well.  A hockey and ice skating combo?  Hot hot hot.  There is one in the RJ Scott/VL Locey Harrisburg Railers Series.  And a couple of standalones if I could jog my memory.  I really need a better system of recording these stories.

Swimming.  Sean Michael has several of those.  BA Tortuga and her rodeo cowboys, in fact, loads of bull riders and ropers out there.  But NFL and MLB? I can’t think of too many as I said last week.

Some gymnastics….also Sean Michaels….comes into mind.  It might even be the same series.  I wondered what you had to say and this is what HB replied:

 

From HB:Basketball and football in romance seems less frequent to me. I think I’ve only read one basketball sport romance in 10+ yrs of reading m/m fiction and only seen a handful maybe less with ones that have football. I think there are less popular ones out there like soccer, ice skating, lacross, rugby and equestrianism that get even less attention. Swimming I think is a big one after hockey and the focus usually falls over the two.

Yep, forgot about the equestrian sports.  That’s a big one.  Jumping, Polo, Dressage, Racing!  From Mickie Aisling to others.  Horses are well represented in romance along with the men who love them.

So you know what’s coming.

Recommendations. Let’s divide them up by category.

Rugby/Soccer.

Ice Skating

Rodeo

Equestrian (Polo,Jumping, Racing, Dressage)

Water Sports (do not go there!)

Baseball/Football American NFL

Other

Let’s see what we can come up with.

Meanwhile I’m still reading and reviewing my way through Avon Gale’s incredible Scoring Chances series and will finish it up this month.  Stay with me.  Here is our schedule this week.

 

This Week At Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words

Sunday, August 24:

  • Sports Romance and This Week At Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words

Monday, August 25:

  • Review Tour – RJ Scott – Today (Single Dads #2)
  • Release Blitz Tour – Joanna Chambers – Gentleman Wolf
  • Review  Audio Tour Wake Up Married serial, Episodes 4 – 6: Fight Their Feelings, Meet the Mob, Happy Ending (Wake Up Married #4-6) by Leta Blake ( and Alice Griffiths
  • A Barb the Zany Old Lady Review:Today (Single Dads #2) by RJ Scott
  • An Alisa Review : Already Home (Finding Home #4) by Carly Marie
  • A Caryn Review: An Uncommon Whore (An Uncommon Whore #1) by Belinda McBride
  • A Barb the Zany Old Lady Audio Review: Wake Up Married serial, Episodes 4 – 6: Fight Their Feelings, Meet the Mob, Happy Ending (Wake Up Married #4-6) by Leta Blake ( and Alice Griffiths

Tuesday, August 26:

  • BLOG TOUR Heel by KM Neuhold
  • PROMO Mason Thomas
  • Book Blitz – Ann Lister – A Rhythm You Feel (The Rock Gods: East Coast Label Book One)
  • A MelanieM Review: Omega from the Ocean (Heron Manor Book 1) by Amy Bellows
  • A Chaos Moondrawn Review The Witchstone Amulet by Mason Thomas
  • An Alisa Review Heel by KM Neuhold

Wednesday, August 27:

  • BLITZ A Noble Cause by Mickie B. Ashling
  • Review Tour for Escape (Rebellion #1) by Annabelle Jacobs
  • PROMO Belinda McBride
  • A MelanieM Review :Escape (Rebellion #1) by Annabelle Jacobs
  • A Lila Review: Soul on Fire by Tal Bauer

Thursday, August 28:

  • Release Blitz – Marshall Thornton – Code Name: Liberty
  • TOUR LOVE UNDER GLASSE by Kristina Meister
  • An Alisa A Alisa Audio Review :In Safe Hands (Heroes and Babies #1) by Victoria Sue
  • A MelanieM Review:Overtime (Scoring Chances #3.5) by Avon Gale

Friday, August 29:

  • Audio Blitz Dirty Mind – Roe Horvat
  • A Chaos Moondrawn Review : Hitting Black Ice by Heloise West
  • A MelanieM Review: Empty Net (Scoring Chances #4) by Avon Gale
  • A Stella review If You’re Going Through Hell Keep Going (Mann of My Dreams #1) by Tinnean

Saturday, August 30:

  • Blog Post – Joanna Chambers – Gentleman Wolf
  • A MelanieM Review:Coach’s Challenge (Scoring Chances #5) by Avon Gale

Heidi Cullinan with a Special Excerpt from her Trilogy finale ‘The Doctor’s Orders (Copper Point Medical #3)’ (author guest blog and excerpt)

 

The Doctor’s Orders (Copper Point Medical #3) by Heidi Cullinan

Dreamspinner Press
Published August 20th 2019
Cover Art: Kanaxa

Buy Links

Goodreads • Publisher • Audible • Ripped Bodice • Barnes & Noble • Google Play Ebook • Google Play Audio • Apple Books • Kobo (US) • Kobo (Canada) • Amazon (US) • Amazon(Canada) • Amazon (UK) • Powells

 

 

Hi, and thanks for having me here today. I’m going to share a little information about my latest release, The Doctor’s Orders, available August 20 from Dreamspinner Press and wherever books are sold.

The Doctor’s Orders is book three in the Copper Point: Medical series, the final book in that trilogy. In this installment, we get to know Jared, an openly gay pediatrician, and Nick, the very closeted CEO of the hospital. Though Nick and Jared secretly dated in high school, it was clear nothing was ever going to happen between them again…until Jared and Nick are trapped in an elevator together, where sparks fly.

Here’s a little snippet from the book, a few sparks flying between Jared and Nick at a welcome reception for a new doctor. I hope you enjoy this excerpt, and I hope you give The Doctor’s Orders a try!

*

There weren’t many people on the balcony. The temperature had settled into something far more tolerable, but the fish flies were starting to come out. Not enough that the outside lights had to be turned off, but enough to make most people think the bay would be better viewed through a window.

Jared had never cared about the fish flies. When they’d been boys, they’d run off together to watch them swarm, laughing at how gross the insects were. They lived for the weeks when the eggs hatched and the bugs were so thick the city had to shut off streetlights or risk traffic accidents because so many bugs were drawn to the glow.

When they’d been a little older, they’d learned fish fly nights were good cover for other activities they didn’t want discovered.

Nick studied Jared’s profile in the early sunset, bay breeze whipping his blond hair until its baby-fine strands glinted like gossamer spider threads. He had a whisper of a goatee, common for him during the winter. It was nearly summer now, though. Nick wondered why Jared hadn’t shaved it off yet. It looked soft, though Nick suspected it wasn’t.

He wanted to find out.

He didn’t want Matt Engleton to.

Jared leaned on the railing and stared out at the water. “So are you going to date one of those women?”

Nick blinked. What brought this on? He glanced around, ensuring they were alone.

This apparently annoyed Jared. “The only other people out here are Mr. and Mrs. Larson, and they’re both so hard of hearing you’d have to shout into their ears for them to eavesdrop. Are you dating one of them or not?”

“Am I dating Mr. and Mrs. Larson?”

“Oh, don’t get cute.”

“Well, I don’t know who else you’re talking about. Who am I supposed to be dating?”

You. I’ve been thinking about dating you.

There was no way he could say that out loud, though. If he hinted he was thinking about such a thing, Jared would….

Well, he didn’t know what Jared would do anymore. That was the problem.

“I’m talking about your damn harem.” Jared gestured vaguely at the building behind them.

“My harem?”

Jared turned around, patience lost. “The women who’ve been hanging on you all night long.”

The women…? What women? Nick frowned at Jared. “You’ve been drinking too much.”

Jared laughed. “You’re kidding me. You’re so gay you can’t tell when a horde of women are hitting on you? All they’ve done all night is try to climb you like you’re a tree, or unwrap you like a Big Mac.”

Oh. He meant the group of people who had gathered around him inside, complimenting him on his accomplishments, who had clearly been attempting to make contact with him to further the interests of their families’ businesses. He supposed several of them had been women.

And of course Cynthia Ryan was a woman. She certainly wasn’t unwrapping him, though. Had anyone done that? What did that mean?

While it pleased him to hear Jared had kept such tabs on him, he didn’t appreciate being outed, even if there didn’t seem to be anyone around. “Keep your voice down.”

With a hmpf, Jared faced the bay.

Nick leaned against the rail beside him, daring to stand close enough to let their elbows and upper arms touch as he spoke softly. “None of them wanted me. They only wanted connections. St. Ann’s has the most growth in Copper Point right now. For decades the hospital has been hanging on by threads, held together by shady backroom deals. Now it might truly move forward. I’m trying to make sure that’s what actually happens.”

“So what you’re saying is you weren’t looking at these women at all, you were fixated on work, and it was me who was acting a fool, sitting alone in a corner getting jealous.”

Nick’s heart quickened at that confession, and he closed his eyes, taking in a deep, slow breath. A fish fly hit the top of his head, tangling briefly in his curls, and another smashed into his chin, but he didn’t care. It only further served to take him back to his youth, to the times they’d stood together like this, daring to touch each other more and more, until one day… one day….

Maybe this time I can get it right….

Maybe, somehow, this time it’ll all work out….

But the moment broke as Jared moved away, and when Nick opened his eyes, he saw Jared frowning at the bay, heard the iron in his voice when he spoke. “I should just date Matt and get over you. Date anyone and get over you.”

Nick’s breath caught.

Get… over me?

He gripped the rail as his thoughts tangled into each other. Jared wasn’t over him? After all this time? But they’d just been a fling. Youthful indiscretion. Nick’s mistake. His greatest lapse of judgment.

I’m the one who can’t get over you. But if you’ve been thinking of me all this time too….

Nick shut his eyes on a long blink, head spinning.

Jared kept talking. “It’d be a lot easier if I didn’t have to see you every damn day. And if you didn’t look like Idris Elba.”

“I look like Idris Elba?”

Jared waved impatiently at him. “You know you’re hot as hell. Don’t fish for more compliments.”

Nick wanted to whip out a net and collect them all. He wanted to scoop up Jared too.

All this time… have you really thought about me, all this time?

He lifted his hand, tried to speak.

No words came.

The door opened, and Kathryn appeared with a smile and two bottles of water. Jared pushed off the railing, weary and sad. “I’m going inside with Kathryn. Please leave me alone for the rest of the night.”

Nick didn’t want to let Jared go. He wanted to take him into his arms and confess everything, to tell him how he felt, how he’d always felt. Except he didn’t know what came after that confession.

I can’t change everything. Not now.

He watched Jared walking away and felt his heart tug.

I can’t change, but I want to.

Blurb

The elevator at St. Ann’s is out of order…but the chemistry between the doctor and CEO is working just fine.

Once upon a time Nicholas Beckert was the boy who stole kisses from Jared Kumpel beneath the bleachers, but now Jared’s a pediatrician and Nick is the hospital CEO who won’t glance his way. Everything changes, however, when they’re stranded alone in a hospital elevator. Ten years of cold shoulders melt away in five hours of close contact, and old passions rekindle into hot flames.

Once out of the elevator, Jared has no intention of letting Nick get away. It’s clear he’s desperate for someone to give him space to let go of the reins, and Jared is happy to oblige. But Jared wants Nick as a lover in a full, open relationship, which is a step further than Nick is willing to go. They’ve traded kisses under the bleachers for liaisons in the boardroom… and it looks like the same arguments that drove them apart in high school might do the same thing now.

Jared’s determined not to let that happen this time around. He won’t order Nick from his shell—he’ll listento what his friend says he needs to feel safe. Maybe this time he can prescribe his lover a happy ever after.

About the Author

Author of over thirty novels, Midwest-native Heidi Cullinan writes positive-outcome romances for LGBT characters struggling against insurmountable odds because she believes there’s no such thing as too much happy ever after. Heidi is a two-time RITA® finalist and her books have been recommended by Library Journal, USA Today, RT Magazine, and Publisher’s Weekly. When Heidi isn’t writing, she enjoys cooking, reading novels and manga, playing with her cats, and watching too much anime. Find out more at heidicullinan.com.

Awards

Copper Point: Medical Series

The Doctor’s Secret

The Doctor’s Date

The Doctor’s Orders

A Barb the Zany Old Lady Review: The Doctor’s Orders (Copper Point Medical #3) by Heidi Cullinan

Rating: 5 stars out of 5

Nearly twenty-four hours after finishing this story, the last in the series, I feel bereft, as if I’ve lost good friends. Not only do I miss Jared and Nick, I miss Erin and Owen, and Jack and Simon. How will I go on without the cast from Copper Point in my life? That may sound a bit dramatic, but the truth is that I’ve stopped what I’m doing a number of times today to think fondly of Jared and Nick and wonder how everything is going at St. Ann’s. 

This book is not at all like the first two, but this couple has known each other a long time, were once high school lovers, and still love each other deeply though they take great pains to keep their feelings hidden. That’s especially true of Nick, the hospital CEO. A handsome black man in his late thirties, he lives with his mother, grandmother, and sister in his childhood home, supporting them financially and emotionally and trying his best to live up to the ideal man they and his late father planned for him to be. Those plans did not include being gay, falling in love with a doctor, or being open about it. In a word, Nick is torn. 

His matriarchal household provided his firm foundation in his religious and family beliefs and it’s not something he can shed easily, even when an accident literally throws him back into Jared’s arms, twenty years after the last time they were together, and the flames glow again from the embers they’ve kept banked. There’s no escaping their attraction now and Jared is willing to give Nick time this time, unlike the ultimatum he gave Nick in their teens. But giving him time takes its toll on Jared and the smiling doctor begins to crack on the inside. The key point, per Jared, is community. Nick belongs to his family and his church in a way Jared had never known and likely never would.

I love the way the author weaves in the characters from books one and two, including secondary characters—board members and friends. There’s a whole community here, not just the two principal stars in this drama, and in a way, the ending when the whole community is present for what happens at the Founders Day parade is fitting for this couple. I have a note to myself at the 25% mark that although I already knew the characters from the early books, the author sealed my reading enjoyment with the elevator accident. And another note: the author’s style is so polished that even when a character does something I don’t like, I’m still interested because the writing has pulled me in.

All in all, this is a book—and a series—that is so worth reading. There’s no cookie-cutter prose here. Each book has a different couple, a different style, a different feel—but all have a happy ending. I highly recommend this series to all who love MM romance.

The attractive cover by Kanaxa is similar to others in the series in that it features a single character against a white background. In this case, it’s the very handsome Nick Beckert, hospital CEO and Jared’s lifelong love. 

Sales Links:Goodreads • Publisher • Audible • Ripped Bodice • Barnes & Noble • Google Play Ebook • Google Play Audio • Apple Books • Kobo (US) • Kobo (Canada) • Amazon (US) • Amazon(Canada) • Amazon (UK) • Powells

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 1st edition, 384 pages
Expected publication: August 20th 2019 by Dreamspinner Press
Original Title The Doctor’s Orders
ASIN B07QVKSLPN
Edition Language English
Series Copper Point Medical #3

Copper Point: Medical Series

The Doctor’s Secret

The Doctor’s Date

The Doctor’s Orders

Chris T. Kat on Romance and the new release Nemesis (Alpha Unit One #2) ~ author guest blog

Nemesis (Alpha Unit One #2) by Chris T. Kat

Dreamspinner Press
Published August 16th 2019
Cover Artist: Cate Ashwood

Buy links:

Dreamspinner PressAmazon  

 

Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words is happy to have Chris T. Kat here today talking  about Romances and the new release Nemesis (Alpha Unit One #2).  Welcome, Chris!

 

✒︎

 

Romances

Thanks so much for having me on your blog today! Dreamspinner Press has released my new m/m shapeshifter novella, Nemesis, Alpha Unit One: Book Two, on August 16th. It’s a continuation of Alpha Unit One, New York.

I don’t know about you, but when I was a child, and even as a teenager, I never read romance books. I read suspense and horror stories, and if the author dared to put in a romantic element into “my” books, it would make me really mad. I actually hated those parts when characters professed their love for one another because it took me away from the suspense part. Even as an adult, I read those parts with gritted teeth and was happy when the romantic parts were over.

After my first child was born, my reading interests started to shift slightly, so that I didn’t mind the romance parts so much anymore. I still wasn’t a fan of them, but they didn’t drive me crazy anymore either. After my second child was born, I realized that I had started to enjoy the parts where people found out they loved each other, and books without a romantic element in them began to bore me. When I found my “home” in the m/m world, I needed the story to have a romantic part. It didn’t need to be sexual, simply that these guys found love and happiness. Nowadays, I rarely read books without romance in it. If I do, I’m always waiting for someone to fall in love with someone else and, if that doesn’t happen, I feel let down. I don’t necessarily need the falling in love part in my books, established relationships work just fine for me.

I guess nowadays I need my fill of warmth and joy and I hope that’s comes across in my own writing as well. Nicky is definitely a bundle of happiness, especially when he’s in his cub form, and Sam adores his partner and would do anything for him.

Blurb:

Nicky Reed may have won the battle regarding baby shifters working as policemen, but he’s not so sure about the war. His mate and superior officer, Sam Black, is still overprotective with a capital O. As a result, Nicky sometimes finds himself repressing some of Tiny’s—his snow leopard cub other half’s—natural urges. Which leads to frustration on Nicky’s part.

With a new drug called Nemesis killing in record numbers, Alpha Unit One must find out who’s behind this horrible narcotic and get it off the streets—a tall enough order without press accusations that baby shifters are to blame for the team’s lack of success.

Their investigation into Nemesis leads Nicky and Sam and the rest of the team into unexpected waters. Will the stress rip the squad apart? The baby shifters may find themselves unable to perform the job they love: protecting the people of New York City. And Nicky may be in over his head—in more ways than one.

Excerpt from Chapter One:

Nicky

Where did you hide it? I shrieked. I couldn’t help myself. This couldn’t be asked in a normal tone of voice—not anymore. Where the hell did she put it?

You’re obsessed with that freaking ball, you know that? Connor prowled along Annie’s back in his shifted form as a polar fox kit, his white fur a stark contrast to her orange-and-black stripes. He seemed so very small in comparison to Annie, and it didn’t help one bit that a pregnant Annie was an even bigger Annie than normal.

Where is it? If I’d been in my human from, my lower lip probably would’ve wobbled. Although maybe not, because in my human form, I wouldn’t lose it about my most favorite ball—ever.

It has to be here somewhere, Annie replied in a startlingly soothing voice. She only used that tone when she played with Connor and me in our baby-shifter forms. We’d dubbed it her mother-voice, which she hated. Of course we liked to tease her mercilessly with that. But… but not now. Now I needed to find my ball!

You kicked it away, I muttered, you go and find it. I want it back!

“Having trouble with the kids, darling?” Jake, Annie’s human mate, crouched low and petted her head, grinning. Annie gave him a withering stare that would’ve sent anyone else fleeing, but not Jake.

Connor proceeded to walk back and forth on Annie’s back, sometimes jumping and barking. Very funny. Why was no one helping me find my ball? It was bright red and fit perfectly in my mouth. Didn’t they see how important it was to find it?

I plunked my butt dejectedly on the floor and tried to control the urge to cry. Lunch break was supposed to be fun, not the end of the world. Which it was. At least for Tiny—my name for my snow-leopard-baby-shifter form—who very much ran the show at the moment.

A big hand lifted me up in the air, and Roland’s mangled face came into view. While strangers still shied away from him and I still caught the others sometimes throwing pitying looks at him, I had no qualms. When he held me close, I reached out with my paws and pressed them against his cheek. He smiled, and I gave the tip of his nose a swift lick.

“Ugh.”

That certainly wasn’t the reaction I’d hoped for. He liked me doing this. Sometimes. I think. Or not?

My ears drooped and my whiskers trembled as I stared at him. Roland settled me against his chest and repeated, “Ugh.” Not aimed at me, then.

Curious, I turned my head, and sure enough, Annie had shifted back into human form and was now assaulting… uh, kissing… Jake. I mirrored Roland’s “ugh” with a protesting mewl. Jake’s hands were tangled in Annie’s long reddish braid while she held him as closely as possible to her body.

Connor shook himself as he too shifted back to human, causing his white-blond hair to fly around wildly. “Please,” he groaned. “Get a room. We’re supposed to be tough cops, not some lovey-dovey… I don’t know whats.”

Jake freed himself from Annie. “If you can be a tough cop and a baby shifter, I don’t see why I can’t be a tough cop and a lovey-dovey something or other.”

I gazed back at Connor, waiting for a witty reply, but none came.

Turning my attention back to Roland, I wondered why he had picked me up in the first place. Which reminded me—my ball!

A cry escaped my mouth—it was supposed to be a growl, but try growling when you’re a snow leopard cub—and I climbed up on Roland’s shoulder for a better vantage point.

“There’s no need to cry, kiddo. I saw that ball go underneath Sam’s desk.”

I bunched my muscles to jump to the ground, but Roland closed both hands around my middle and stopped my forward momentum. Irritated, I wriggled in his hands. Let me down!

Before Roland had a chance to say anything, the office door banged open, revealing a wild-eyed Sam. My Sam, to be precise.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Chris T. Kat

Chris T. Kat stumbled upon the M/M genre by luck and was swiftly drawn into it. She divides her time between teaching, taking care of her family, reading, and sometimes writing. She enjoys a variety of genres, such as romance, paranormal, and suspense. She also buys way too many fabrics and spends a ridiculous amount of time behind her sewing machine.

Links:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/christi_kat1

e-mail: christi_kat25@yahoo.com

My Guilty Pleasure ~ Sports Books and This Week at Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words

My Guilty Pleasure ~ Sports Books

I blame and applaud The Washington Post.

Dan Jenkins and his daughter Sally Jenkins who writes now, Jonathan Yardley, Tony Kornheiser, Michael Wilbon, Ken Denlinger,Thomas Boswell, Angus Phillips (omg Angus Phillips), Tracee Hamilton , Tom Wise, …just to name a few of The Washington Post sports columnists I lived and live for each day who helped drive my love for sports reporting and “the name of the game:.  Look up some of their columns and prepare for a literary feast.

The incredible sports columnists that have come ….and sadly gone…through the years…at the newspaper I have considered my own for decades.  Talk about high standards!  These men and women never stuck exactly to the scores at hand but ranged off into topics such as racism, social inequality, injuries, or whatever needed to be spoken about.  Or sometimes their articles were just downright humorous, tickling the intellect while informing and keeping score.

They pointed out the quirky, the extraordinary, and those not quite up to snuff with the same passion, in depth love of the games they were reporting on, and yes compassion for the players as well.

They also made me want to know more.  More about each sport, each team, and, indeed, each player.

They made me range out and start reading books like the hilarious and informative The Wrong Stuff and Have Glove, Will Travel by Bill “Spaceman” Lee (Lee was also known as The Ace from Space…baseball), and Semi Tough and You Gotta Play Hurt by Dan Jenkins  (football) for starters, then Ball Four by Jim Bouton and the great The Soul of Baseball: A Road Trip Through Buck O’Neil’s America by Joe Posnanski,

Books rec’d and talked about in the sports section of The Post.  My list started there.

There were a great many other baseball books, and still are.  My shelves groan under the weight of them, but for other sports?  Not so much. Hard to say why exactly.Maybe because football players never had the romance or the journey or something about them that the boys of summer did. That always seemed more of a business less a love affair.  A launching pad to wealth and something else…but maybe that’s just my perception.

Until I found LGBT romance and hockey love stories.  Now don’t get me wrong.  I have always loved hockey.  But never read the books about them like I did my boys of summer.  My bad.  Because the comparisons between the two and the way both sports bring up (or don’t) from the minor leagues are astonishing.  The players that toil their entire careers playing in small towns for tiny wages, living in hotels, and barely making it for the love of the game…that’s baseball and that’s hockey.   You don’t hear about those players and the lives they live. Well, not often.

 

Unless you read about them in stories like those from Lee and Posnanski for baseball.  And as I have been lucky to find out from Avon Gale’s recent recommendations like the Journeyman: The Many Triumphs (and Even More Defeats) Of A Guy Who’s Seen
by Sean Pronger and Hockey Night in Dixie: Minor Pro Hockey in the American South by Jon C. Stott.  I’m working on the first and have the 2nd one lined up.  Then on to books about Martin Brodeur (Brodeur: Beyond the Crease by Martin Brodeur) and Bobby Orr.  From those that were journeymen to the greats.

Why?  Besides my love of these books and these men and the sports of course?

Because it helps me appreciate the research and love the authors themselves bring to their stories and series.

Authors to be found on our LGBT hockey recommendations list like Gale,  Piper Vaughn, RJ Scott, VL Locey, Jeff Adams, Amy Aislin, AE Wasp, Samantha Wayland, and Rachel Reid.  I know I’m leaving others out.

LGBT romance stories about baseball players are less frequent, usually college players and not professional ones.  So my comparisons are left to the wonderful authors above who I’ am continuing my journey with this week.

Can you all think of other sports that compare to these two?  Especially in the way the players train and spend time in the lower leagues?  Have romance books written about them?

Chime in….and more about this topic next week.

 

This Week at Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words

Sunday, August 18:

  • My Guilty Pleasure ~ Sports Books
  • This Week at Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words

Monday, August 19:

  • Retro Review Tour – CID by S. L. Danielson
  • Release Blitz – Terry O’Reilly – Love Or The NFL
  • BLITZ Hitting Black Ice by Heloise West
  • PROMO Chris T. Kat + Giveaway
  • An Alisa Review: CID by S. L. Danielson
  • A Vivacious Review: Heel (Working Out the Kinks #2) by K.M. Neuhold
  • A Barb  the Zany Old Lady Review: The Doctor’s Orders (Copper Point Medical #3) by Heidi Cullinan

Tuesday, August 20:

  • Blog Tour Appeal to You by Jaclyn Quinn
  • Book Blast  – Eighteen Moons by Andi Webb
  • BLITZ Coffee by Matthew J. Metzger
  • Blog Tour – Beauregard and the Beast by Evie Drae
  • A Chaos Moondrawn Review: Heart Strain by Michele Notaro & Sammi Cee
  • An Alisa Review: Appeal to You (Beyond the Cove #3) by Jaclyn Quinn
  • A Lila Review: I Dare You to Break Curfew (Inshari Chronicles #1) by Eva Munoz

Wednesday, August 21:

  • Cover Reveal – Yours, Forever After by Beth Bolden
  • Release Blitz – Change of Plans by Riley Long
  • Release Blitz Signal – Annabelle Jacobs – Escape (Rebellion #1)
  • Blog Tour Guest Post – Heidi Cullinan – Doctor’s Orders
  • BLOG TOUR Mason’s Run by Mellanie Rourke
  • An Alisa Review: Mason’s Run by Mellanie Rourke
  • A MelanieM Review: The Captain and the Theatrical (Captivating Captains #3) by Catherine Curzon and Eleanor Harkstead

Thursday, August 22:

  • Cover Reveal – The Marshal’s PI by Este Holland
  • Review Tour-Sara Dobie Bauer-Broken News
  • Release Blitz- Last Call in Wonderland by Rob Browatzke
  • PROMO Eva Muñoz on I Dare You To Break Curfew
  • An Alisa Review: Forever Nine by Kris T. Bethke
  • A MelanieM Review: Empty Net(Scoring Chances #4) by Avon Gale
  • A Barb the Zany Old Lady Review : Broken News by Sara Dobie Bauer

Friday, August 23:

  • Review Tour – RJ Scott & Meredith Russell – Kaden (Boyfriend for Hire #2)
  • New Release Blitz Kept in the Dark by Charlie Cochet
  • Blog Tour – Behind the Stick, The Speakeasy #3 by K. Evan Coles and Brigham Vaughn
  • Release blitz Bike Business: A Holeshot Novel by Lynn Michaels
  • A MelanieM Review:A Rhythm You Feel (The Rock Gods: East Coast Label #1) by Ann Lister
  • An Alisa Audio review The Spirit Key (Lock and Key #1) by Parker Williams and Collin Carcy (Narrator)
  • A Barb the Zany Old Lady Review:Kaden (Boyfriend for Hire #2) by R.J. Scott and Meredith Russell

Saturday, August 24:

  • Release Blitz Tour – RJ Scot’s Today (Single Dads #2)
  • A MelanieM Review: Mainly by Moonlight (Bedknobs and Broomsticks #1) by Josh Lanyon

A MelanieM Pre Release Review: The Musician and the Monster by Jenya Keefe

Rating: 4.75 stars out of 5

Hatred is a spell only true love can break.

Ángel Cruz is a dedicated session musician, until loyalty to his estranged family forces him to work for Oberon: the feared and hated envoy from the Otherworld. Overnight, Ángel is taken from his life, his friends, his work, and trapped in a hideous mansion in the middle of nowhere, under constant surveillance, and with only the frightening fae for company.

Oberon’s poor understanding of humans combined with Ángel’s resentment and loneliness threaten to cause real harm to the pair. Then a long winter together in the mansion unites them in their love of music. Slowly, Ángel’s anger thaws, and he begins to realize that Oberon feels alone too.

Gradually, these two souls from different worlds form a connection like none other. But hate and prejudice are powerful things, and it’ll take all the magic of their love to stop the wider world from forcing them apart.

Honestly, I am still going back and forth between a 5 star rating and 4.75 for this new twist on a fantasy Beauty and the Beast story from author Jenya Keefe.  The writer’s take on fae is quite unique and it not only makes this story but the comparison between our human visually oriented species and the harmonic Fae is  one that not only fills this story with amazing scenes and possibilities but can power an entire series.  How I hope it does.

The Musician and the Monster by Jenya Keefe is as I said is a slight take  Fae take on the wonderful Beauty and The Beast storyline.  Here the Beast is represented by a lone fae whose come through a portal from his world to the human one and now he’s sequestered away, alone, in a mansion, wanting a companion.  The Beauty of this tale?  A hispanic session musician named Ángel Cruz, who becomes the Fae’s companion through messy dealings of his father’s.  That’s the plain facts that this incredible story and romance is built upon.

I will admit I am more enthralled here by Keefe’s world building and her clear understanding of species differences than by the romance.  Oberon’s excitement and understanding of the way human’s communicate visually through facial movements, clothing choices, tattoos, hair colors, etc.  is fascinating and spot on.  Especially as it’s something “alien” to his own species and world which operates harmonically and communally….a wide cultural canyon stretching between humans and Fae is both acknowledged and understood.  To a degree.

The relationships here are built slowly as acceptance is hard won, as it should be, as cultural differences and misunderstandings are exposed and explained..  I really wanted so many parts of this story to be expanded, because they delighted and made me think of more possibilities.  I love the interchanges between Oberon and Angel, especially when it came to music as a bridge and the use of the Podcasts was a brilliant element.

I don’t want to reveal more about the story or characters but just to say this cries out for more.  A sequel, a series, just more.  I found the characters astonishing, the world building not enough because it just threw up questions I needed the answers to.  What I got?  Imaginative and thoroughly compelling in its ability to make me start drawing my own outlines and  ideas as to what awaited on the other side of that portal.  I really need to know.

If you love fairy tales combined with a new twist and a wildly different take on Fae, I absolutely recommend The Musician and the Monster by Jenya Keefe.  it’s exciting, very well written, with great characters and a fast paced plot.  A must read for all fantasy lovers.

Cover By: Shayne Leighton.  What a beautiful, haunting cover.  Just perfect for this story.  I love it.

Pre order Sales Link:  Riptide Publishing

Book Details:

Soon to be published by Riptide Publishing
SBN: 978-1-62649-886-0
Release Date: 09/30/2019
Word Count: 80,000
Page Count: ~300
eBook and paperback

A VVivacious Prerelease Review: Nemesis (Alpha Unit One #2) by Chris T. Kat

Rating: 5 Stars out of 5

Nicky and Sam are back and there is a new drug on the streets, Nemesis. As the team works to stop Nemesis from claiming more lives, Nicky finds himself rethinking his every move.

As the force adapts to baby shifters working among them, Nicky finds himself curbing some of his natural urges as a baby shifter. Over time, this seems to make Nicky unable to do the job he loves. With things coming to a head in the search for Nemesis’ creators, things take an unexpected turn and it is up to the team to deliver justice.

I loved this one. It has been a year since I read the first book in this series and I wasn’t even aware that there would be a sequel, but my glee at knowing that this book exists was way over the top. I just couldn’t wait to get my hands on it and the moment I started reading I found myself back in this world and it was like I never left. I loved how the story just picks up and you find yourself caught in the flow.

At the beginning of this book there was just so much to fix that I was overwhelmed. Nicky is hiding things from Sam and this fact had alarm bells ringing in my head and I realised that while things were better they were no where near settled. People on the force are still getting used to working alongside baby shifters and as the team comes under scrutiny for having baby shifters on board, Nicky finds himself second-guessing his ability to do his job.

The amazing thing about this book was that despite the fact that, there was so much up in the air at the starting, everything is handled exquisitely. Just seeing things work out so perfectly for Nicky and Sam made me so happy. The best thing was that their compromise was so flawless it didn’t even appear to be a compromise, it just felt like a part of being an amazing mate.

Nicky and Sam were so amazing in this book. I love these two so much. There entire team is so so good. Connor and Jesse are still working out things but I love where we leave them by the end of this book. I would really love for them to work things out between themselves. In fact, dare I say, I would love to have a book with them as the main characters. I really want to know more about these two. Roland is amazing, I love him, I love how good he is at supporting everyone in his team and seeing him with Nicky and Connor at the end was so heartwarming. He is so good. We get more of Annie who is as fearless as ever, Jake, Julie, Chris and Reese and I appreciated them all.

I can’t wait to delve more in this world and the ending makes me optimistic that we might just get another book in this series. I have said this before and I will say this again, I love the world the author has created for this series, it is so ingenious. If you liked the previous book in the series, this is one you definitely don’t want to miss.

Cover Art by Cate Ashwood. The snow leopard steals the show in a pretty magnificent cover. I like how the covers of the books in this series give off the same vibe despite being different.

Sales Links:   Amazon
Book Details:
ebook, 1st edition, 164 pages
Expected publication: August 16th 2019 by Dreamspinner Press
ISBN13 9781644054246
Edition Language English

A MelanieM Review :Save of the Game (Scoring Chances #2) by Avon Gale

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

After last season’s heartbreaking loss to his hockey team’s archrival, Jacksonville Sea Storm goalie Riley Hunter is ready to let go of the past and focus on a winning season. His new roommate, Ethan Kennedy, is a loud New Yorker with a passion for social justice that matches his role as the team’s enforcer. The quieter Riley is attracted to Ethan and has no idea what to do about it.

Ethan has no hesitations. As fearless as his position demands, he rushes into things without much thought for the consequences.Though they eventually warm to their passionate new bond, it doesn’t come without complications. While trying to financially help Ethan, Riley must hide his family’s wealth so as not to hurt Ethan’s immense pride. For their relationship to work, Ethan will need to learn when to keep the gloves on and let someone help him—and Riley will have to learn it’s okay to let someone past his defenses.

As much as I love baseball, hockey and hockey players have slowly become my new boys of summer.  The NHL’s “Hockey for Everyone” campaign during Pride month just further solidified that position.  And we have some outstanding LGBT hockey romances to read and fall in love with, including Avon Gale’s Scoring Chances series.

Save of the Game by Avon Gale is the second story in that series (one I had somehow overlooked and now catching up on).  And it’s another winner of a romance, contributing to the series and universe the author is building for this series and just an overall giangatic pleasure to read.

Picking up with the ECHL teams involved with a fierce rivalry and loss from last season (book one Breakaway), Save of the Game picks up with the aftermath with goalie Riley Hunter and his new roommate and teammate, Ethan Kennedy.  Riley is one we started to get to know in Breakaway.  There he was still a bit of an enigma.  But here, we get the man and it’s everything I was hoping for.  Complex, quirky as goalies are, unexpected, and compelling in his strange upbringing.  I liked him to begin with and then fell in love the more the layers pulled back to reveal the heart of this man.

Where Riley is all quiet and  interior walls, Ethan is all loud, prickly, and defensive in other ways.  His barriers are obvious, his emotions thrown out there but as a man he’s as irresistible as Riley.Maybe it’s because Gale has written this man with a heart as big as the team he loves so fiercely.  Given their diverse personalities, the march towards a  relationship is as quirky, loud, funny, painful, and just plain amazing as they are.

There are wonderful other characters here.  The teammates that will become important players in other stories or already have been, the families of both men  who  are vibrant characters in their own right.  No one here is someone you will easily forget.  Trust me on that.  Everyone makes an indelible impression on you.  On and off the ice.

Oh, but when they get on the ice!  The action here is incredible, the pace as fast as you would expect, the games and flow is actually thrilling.  Avon Gale can write hockey!

If I could buy a crazy Jacksonville Sea Storm jersey I would.  I’m that nuts about this team.  Even their rivals.  There is something about the ECHL (Easy Come Hard to  Leave as the East Coast Hockey League is known as ) that pulls you in and makes you a rabid fan.  Avon Gale is one.  She’s made me one too.   This great series will go a long way to making you one as well and picking up the phone to see where your own ECHL team may be.

If you aren’t familiar yet with either Avon Gale or any of her hockey stories, here is a series to start with.  I highly recommend them.  Including Save of the Game, which I love.  But start with Breakaway and work your way through.  I have listed them all below!  Enjoy!

Cover Artist: Aaron Anderson,  I love these covers.  Perfect for the characters and do a great job branding the series.

Sales Links:  Amazon

Book Details:

book, 200 pages
Published January 29th 2016 by Dreamspinner
Original Title Save of the Game
ISBN 1627980474 (ISBN13: 9781627980470)
Edition Language English
Series Scoring Chances #2
setting Jacksonville, Florida (United States)
New York State (United States)
Florida (United States)

Scoring Chances Series

Breakaway

Save of the Game

Power Play

Overtime

Empty Net

Coach’s Challenge

Qualifications of a Perfect Romance Novel Continues and This Week at Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words

Qualifications of a Perfect Romance Novel Continues

Thoughts on what makes the perfect romance novel continues into this Sunday with some of our readers chiming in on favorite books and their own romance book qualifications.  I’ve been thinking a lot about it myself this last week, mentally shuffling over titles and thinking about what made them so powerful and so lasting…

One thing, one factor that appears and vanishes like a will o’ the wisp from story to story is, oddly enough, humor.  Some are bereft of it.  There is no levity to be found in Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë or Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, two stories that left a great impact on me to the point I can quote sentences and passages from each of them.  Pride and the Prejudice by Jane Austen?  Or Sense and Sensibility?  What humor there is is gentle or should that be upper class?

But I have also read romances that have left me crying with laughter, lighthearted and filled with love for the story and couple.  See Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston for the most recent story.  Or going back?  Arabella by Georgette Heyer (or anything by Georgette Heyer (M/F Regency Romance).  Amy Lane’s series often veer from the hilarious to the angst full on a dime, breaking our hearts in the bargain.  Don’t get me started on one of my favorite series of hers, The Granby Knitting Series.  There are the wonderful historic romances of WWI of Charlie Cochrane and her inestimable Orlando Coppersmith and Jonty Stewart in her Cambridge Fellows series that spans decades in a relationship and major changes in England and the world around it.  This series has a deep, abiding place in my heart.

So it begs the question …to humor or not to humor?  Should that be a element in a great romance novel?  Let’s continue to chime in….

And now let’s hear from one of our readers:

H.B. :

I agree with the assessment of whether you can have a great story was too much story and no or not enough sex scenes. Sometimes a story just doesn’t need it to get the idea of intimacy and love across.

I think everyone had one or more books that have stuck with them over the years. I’ve been reading romance for a long time and have plenty that i can still recall the story of without going back and rereading it and still love today.

M/F:
Shades of Twilight by Linda Howard
Breath of Scandal by Sandra Brown
A Man to Call My Own by Johanna Lindsey
Romancing Mister Bridgerton by Julia Quinn
Violet by Lauren Royal

Fantasy:
Summers at Castle Auburn by Sharon Shinn
Mystic and Rider by Sharon Shinn
Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier
Nine Kingdom series by Lynn Kurland

SCI-FI:
The Giver by Lois Lowry
Ender’s Shadow by Orson Scott Card

LGBT:
Kirith Kirin by Jim Grimsley
Valdemar: Last Herald-Mage series by Mercedes Lackey
All for the Game trilogy by Nora Sakavic
Dreams of Fire and Gods series by James Erich (YA)
Cut & Run series by Abigail Roux (and Madeleine Urban)
Chronicles of Ylandre by Eresse
A Simple Romance by J.H. Knight
Cethe by Becca Abbott
He Speaks Dead by Adrienne Wilder
Mercury’s Orbit by Lia Black
The Men of Halfway House series by Jaime Reese
all of Anyta Sunday books…

I can name so much more but the list keeps on going.

 

Thanks, HB, and let’s keep the conversation going….what books do you have on your list?  I gave you just a sampling of mine. More to come.  Meanwhile, here is our schedule for this week. Check it out and happy reading and listening!

This Week at Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words

Sunday, August 11:

  • Qualifications of a Perfect Romance Novel Continues
  • This Week at Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words

Monday, August 12:

  • Review Tour – Jay Hogan’s Digging Deep
  • Release Blitz – RJ Scott & Meredith Russell – Kaden (Boyfriend for Hire )
  • PROMO Amy Lane
  • A Stella Review : Digging Deep by  Jay Hogan
  • An Alisa Review: Anticipating Disaster (Anticipation #1) by Silvia Violet
  • A Chaos Moondrawn Review: Ignite (Unbreakable Bonds #7) by Jocelynn Drake and Rinda Elliott

Tuesday, August 13:

  • RELEASE BLITZ – Wanderlust by Quin Perin
  • Release Blitz – After The Final Curtain – TL Travis
  • New Release & Tour: Here Comes the Son by Dahlia  Donovan
  • Guest Post and Tour – Elyse Springer World Turned Upside Down
  • An Alisa Release Day Review: Mischief Maker (Animal Lark #1) by Andi Lee
  • A VVivacious Prerelease Review: Nemesis (Alpha Unit One #2) by Chris T. Kat
  • A MelanieM Audio Review: Out in the Field (Out in College #4) by Lane Hayes and Michael Pauley (Narrator)

Wednesday, August 14:

  • BLITZ Stray by Nancy J. Hedin
  • PROMO Andi Lee on Mischief Maker (Animal Lark #1)
  • Release Blitz  – Repeat Offence by Jackie Keswick
  • BLOG TOUR Out of the Office by Louisa Masters
  • An Alisa Review: Relationship Material by Jenya Keefe
  • A Vivacious Review Repeat Offence by Jackie Keswick
  • An Alisa Review Anticipating Rejection (Anticipation #2) by Silvia Violet

Thursday, August 15:

  • Cover Reveal for V.L. Locey ‘s The Good Green Earth
  • Book Blitz – – Jesus Kidj by Kayleigh Sky
  • Blog Post – Jay Hogan on Digging Deep
  • A Chaos Moondrawn Review: The Exile Prince (The Castaway Prince #2) by Isabelle Adler
  • A Lila Audio Review: Cash Plays (Seven of Spades #3) by Cordelia Kingsbridge
  • AN Alisa Review: Mad About the Boy by Beth Laycock

Friday, August 17:

  • Blog Tour Heart Strain by Michele Notaro & Sammi Cee
  • “The Stones of Power” series by M.D. Grimm Tour
  • A MelanieM Review:Save of the Game (Scoring Chances #2) by Avon Gale
  • A Stella Review Release Day Review: Nemesis (Alpha Unit One #2) by Chris T. Kat
  • An Alisa Review Anticipating Temptation (Anticipation #3) by Silvia Violet

Saturday, August 18:

A MelanieM Review: The Musician and the Monster by Jenya Keefe