Category: Book Reviews

A VVivacious Review: High and Dry (Mate of the Tyger Prince #5) by Shannon West

Rating: 4 Stars out of 5

Renard and Tallon are still at odds following the “incident” but when Tallon suggests a way for Renard to make it up to him, Renard is nervous but eager to regain their former camaraderie. But when all goes horribly wrong, will Renard and Tallon make it?

For the first time in a very long time, Davos isn’t speaking to Blake because that is exactly how pissed Davos is this time around. In all their time together Blake has never backed down and been the one to apologise. It has always been Davos. So it stands to be seen if Blake will salvage their relationship or stand by his pride?

Mikos is set on getting Ryan settled down with another baby, but he has no idea of what is cooking up in Ryan’s head…

This is the fifth book in the series and it is most definitely not a standalone. I don’t think any of the books in this series could be considered standalones but in most of the books prior to this one, the story wasn’t so reliant on already established characters and storylines. This book follows six characters – Mikos and Ryan (who were the couple featured in books 1 and 2), Renard (introduced in book 3 and featured again in book 4), Tallon (introduced in book 4), Blake (who has been a very important character in all the books of this series) and Davos. The only character who I felt I wasn’t intimately familiar with was Davos. Up until now, Davos has been the comic relief the guy who gets the brunt of Blake’s anger, so it was amazing to finally get to know him.

Mikos and Ryan are the much needed comic relief in this book though they are not written as such, they have a sweet short quickly resolved story line that helps put into perspective Blake’s rebelliousness. So even though they are not the main characters of this book their input and their storyline was greatly appreciated by me. I also loved how Ryan handled the issue of pregnancy in this book, with such humour and humility.

Tallon and Renard are one of the main couples in this story. Personally, I felt that their relationship had already developed a lot when the incident happened in which Renard left Tallon high and dry and accused him of rape, to create a diversion, to help Vannos escape and this book didn’t have much content to explore as far as their relationship was concerned. In fact, the conflict that arises in this book between thesetwo had me very annoyed at Tallon, but I was pleased with where these two ended up.

Blake and Davis stole the show. There is so much we still don’t know about Blake and Davos’ relationship, this fact is compounded by the fact that we don’t know much about Davos as a character. Thankfully this book goes a long way in filling up that hole.

I have talked in previous reviews of this series about how much I love Blake’s interactions with his children and while this book offered more of those fantastic gleams into Blake, the kick-ass omak what I loved the most was the insights we got into Davos the father. Davos is such an amazing father. His children’s reaction to seeing him went such a long way in cementing his character. I loved how for him his entire family was so important and how much he was willing to sacrifice for their happiness.

Davos and Blake are at odds but even though Blake doubts Davos’ love for him, even Blake realises that Davos still loves him. However, his uncertainty has him reminiscing about their past. One thing I especially loved was the fact that Blake willingly altered the story of how they met to protect Mikos which was just something so inherently Blake that it had a feeling of warmth rushing through me. The second one was the change in Davos during his initial days with Blake and how he goes from wanting to subdue him to just loving him unabashedly. I also loved Davos’ observation about how each of their kids was Blake’s idea no matter how convinced he was of the contrary. This was another statement that just established all that vague ideas I had of Blake and Davos’ together. I really loved Davos and Blake and getting to know these two characters as they were with each other was an unexpected delight.

Okay, so this is paragraph is going to be about me speculating about the future of this series because I have some mad theories. So this series is mostly following Davos and Blake’s children more or less in chronological order. I say more or less because Anarr and Vannos are twins and I have no idea who is the older one. So next up should be Derrick’s (whose name is spelt as Darrek in the first book and Derrick in the third one) story. Now you are probably wondering who Derrick is, Derrick is Blake and Davos’ fourth child who has been missing from most of the series because he is undergoing military training. Now knowing Blake and since this issue was addressed in Book 3, we know that Blake isn’t happy about being away from Derrick for so long. But still, the fact remains that he has been mentioned in two books out of five and all this mystery around his character has my mind going into overload because I feel that the reason we haven’t come to know Derrick is that there is a huge secret surrounding him. The wildest theory I have is the possibility that Derrick might be a girl considering Blake’s opinion on gender segregation in Tygeria this theory of mine has me going crazy because just the possibility of Blake giving birth to a girl and then having to give her up seems nigh impossible which begs the question about what would happen if Blake was indeed in such a dilemma. Yeah,crazy ass storyline but I definitely want more on Derrick, this mystery fourth son of his. Also, I feel like we will be getting to know more about Marcus Sept which I am not enthusiastic about because I want the focus of this series to remain on the Tygerian royal family and not shift to follow Marcus’ adventures in space especially if it means time off from Blake and his brood.

This book resolves the security threat that the royal family has been facing in the previous books while stilling leaving the issue of ARes open, to offer more storylines. So in a way, the next book will have lots of new things coming up in it and I can’t wait. As you can see I haven’t taken into account the fact there might not be a sixth book but I am extremely, extremely hopeful.

A shout out to Nicarr who is like the cutest six-foot nine-year-old ever especially when he is jumping on his omak and is supremely confident that his omak will wake up for him, no matter what other people say. Blake with Nicarr and Larz is like cotton candy. I especially love the imagery of Nicarr on Blake’s lap I mean I knew Nicarr was tall but the fact that he was 6 feet to Blake’s 5 feet 9 inches puts a whole new spin on Blake’s baby. Also, this series better not end without Nicarr getting his happily ever after though the series will have to flash forward a few years for that and that particular prospect has me even more excited about Nicarr’s eventual story.

I can’t wait for the next one.

Cover Art by E Connors. I am just going to come out and say it the cover is weird. But keeping in mind the fact that Tygerians and Moravians look so different from humans must make it hard to figure out the covers for this series.

Sales Links:  Amazon

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 248 pages
Published July 4th 2017 by Painted Hearts Publishing
ASINB073QWC7PX
SeriesMate of the Tyger Prince #5

 

Annabelle Jay on Writing, YA Fiction, and her latest release ‘Caden’s Comet’, Book Four in The Sun Dragon Series (Harmony Ink Press guest post)

Caden’s Comet (The Sun Dragon #4) by Annabelle Jay
Harmony Ink Press
Cover artist Stef Masciandaro

Available at Harmony Ink Press

Amazon

✒︎

Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words is happy to have author Annabelle Jay here today talking about writing, YA fiction and her latest in the Sun Dragon series, Caden’s Comet. Welcome, Annabelle!

🐉

Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words Interview

with Annabelle Jay

How much of yourself goes into a character?

I always find this to be a really interesting question, though I’m not very good at answering it. The truth is, I often don’t know how much of myself goes into every character—I think that in some ways my characters all share something with me, and yet at the same time, they’re all very much their own people. Either way, I don’t do it intentionally. Using Caden’s Comet: Book Four in The Sun Dragon Series as an example, I’ve never thought of the main character, Grian, as similar to myself, but when I think about it, I used to have a very defined view of what “true love” meant—that it had to be like the movies—and Grian has to grapple with a prophesy for his own true love that doesn’t work out as he planned. And many of the other characters have shared traits with me—Allanah in Book One, for example, is obsessed with fantasy novels, as am I, and Princess Nimue in Book Three has my love of feminine material objects. So I guess at our emotional cores we’re similar in at least one way, though I’m never consciously writing myself or my own experience. As a side note, I almost never write nonfiction because I prefer to stay away from portraying actual events from my own life. 

Does research play a role into choosing which genre you write?  Do you enjoy research or prefer making up your worlds and cultures?

My style of research is typically “as you go.” I write until I come across something, some fact or detail, that I don’t know—then I research it. For example, I knew almost nothing about Merlin’s backstory and the other characters in his life beyond what I’d seen in movies and shows until I retold Merlin in Merlin’s Moon: Book Two in the Sun Dragon Series. By the end of the book, I’d learned a lot! Even in that situation, though, I used the research as a jumping off point to completely change Merlin’s story to fit my own.

Has your choice of childhood or teenage reading genres carried into your own choices for writing? Who do you think is your major influence as a writer?  Now and growing up?

Absolutely. I still love young adult fantasy the most, and it’s almost all of what I write. I especially love Patricia Wrede’s novels, and I see a lot of her inspiration in my dragon books.

How do you feel about the ebook format and where do you see it going?

One thing that I never thought about until I started writing YA books with LGBTQIA+ characters was how teens were actually going to get my books. Then I quickly came to realize that most of them prefer hiding their reading choices from their parents—especially when the teen themselves is LGBTQIA and hasn’t come out yet—which is a decision that ebooks allow for. It’s hard for teens to hide a print book from judgmental parents, but it’s much easier to hide an ebook. It makes me really sad that anyone would need to do that, but it makes me very grateful for the ebook platform. 

How do you choose your covers?  

I am so lucky to have an amazing cover artist, Stef Masciandaro, who does all of my Sun Dragon covers. She is a designer Harmony Ink assigned to me when I first started publishing the series, and I’ve requested her every time since! She somehow takes my ideas for covers and makes them into exactly what I had in mind—only ten times more amazing. I also love that all of the books have the same color scheme for the spine and back, but each front cover dragon is completely unique.

What’s next for you as an author?

Just in the last few weeks I signed contracts for two new books with Harmony Ink—one science fiction novel about cloning and one ebook that’s a dystopia. Of course, like all my books, they have LGBTQIA protagonists. I’m thrilled to have future projects with Harmony Ink once the fifth Sun Dragon book, Luminosity, comes out this January. 

 

Back Cover Blurb

Long ago, in the days before King Roland, the four dragon kingdoms—Ice, Sun, Earth, and Bone—battled for dominion over the bountiful planet Earth. Prince Grian, a young dragon, hid aboard a Sun Dragon ship, traveled to Earth, and met Caden, an Earth Dragon who’d run away from his village. Despite falling in love, destiny’s plans for them turned cruel, and both perished in the war.

The Artists who created the universe could not let this tragic loss of true love go unpunished. They wiped out the race of Sun Dragons, exiled the Bone Dragons to Draman, and banished the Ice Dragons to the North Pole, safely away from the Earth Dragons. Only the rebirth of Grian and Caden could break the curse. One day, the return of their love would usher in an age of peace and prosperity for all dragons.

But when Prince Grian is reborn, he finds reuniting with his soulmate on Earth will be no easy feat. As he searches for his lost love, the Earth Dragon Protection Society, or EDPS, searches for him, ready to kill him when they find him. If Grian can elude the EDPS, he might find that the true love he once had isn’t guaranteed to bloom a second time.

Cover Artist: Stef Masciandaro

 

About the Author

If there’s one thing author Annabelle Jay believes with all her heart, it’s that there is no such thing as too many dragons in a book. As fantasy writer with few other hobbies—does being bribed to run with her partner or dancing awkwardly in the kitchen count?—she spends every day following her imagination wherever it leads her.

A hippie born in the wrong decade, Annabelle has a peace sign tattoo and a penchant for hugging trees. Occasionally she takes breaks from her novels to play with her pets: Jon Snow, the albino rabbit who is constantly trying to escape; Stevie, the crested gecko that climbs glass with the hairs on its toes; and Luigi, the green tree python that lives at the foot of her bed despite her best efforts to talk her partner out of the idea.

During her day job as a professor of English, Annabelle is often assumed to be a fellow student playing a prank on the class—that is, until she hands out the syllabus. When people stop mistaking her for a recent high school graduate, she will probably be very sad.

 

Links:

Author’s Website: www.annabellejay.com

Twitter: @AnnabelleAuthor

Instagram: @AnnabelleAuthor

Publisher’s book page: https://www.harmonyinkpress.com/books/cadens-comet-by-annabelle-jay-483-b

Goodreads author page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14191901.Annabelle_Jay

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Annabelle-Jay-376249719245415

Release Blitz for Stormy Nights by Jules Jones & Storm Duffy (giveaway)

Title:  Stormy Nights

Author: Jules Jones, Storm Duffy

Publisher:  NineStar Press

Release Date: 7/24/17

Heat Level: 5 – Erotica

Pairing: Male/Male

Length: 45000

Genre: Contemporary, Paranormal, contemporary, paranormal, fantasy, mermen, fae, D/s, leather underwear fetish, older men, public sex, cottaging, menage

Add to Goodreads

Synopsis

Sex and love, lies and truth, shades in between. Happy endings and might-have-beens. Nine tales of these things between men.

Blurbs

Gone Fishing

Mike’s doctor prescribed a few weeks on a lonely beach as a rest cure for a weary mind. But even if the beach is empty, the sea holds more than fish.

Naked

Just how far will a man go to understand his partner’s desires? Will he bare all – including all of his skin to the razor blade?

One Size Fits All

Hugh’s everything that Gavin could ask for in a lover. Everything, apart from his taste in underwear. It’s boring. So Gavin decides to rummage through Hugh’s underwear drawer—and what he finds is so interesting that he tries it out for size.

The Fraudster

A forensic accountant’s job offer to a computer fraudster fresh from prison is a second chance for both.

A Sparrow Flies Through

High tech cottaging provides a few moments of light and warmth on a dark cold night.

If I Offered Thee a Bargain

Just one night of your life in exchange for seven years of love. Would you pay the price?
Jack never dreamed that a reluctant trip back to his home town would thrust him into the world of the sidhe. He finds that the legends are true, but the sidhe have changed.

Any Port in a Storm

A spilt coffee at the tram station on a snowy night leads to a table set for three.

Car Wash

Colin had always loved washing the neighbour’s car for pocket money. Rod’s classic car collection was a boy’s dream. And so is Rod, now Colin’s home from university and not a boy any more. Colin’s had a little fantasy about Rod’s vintage Jaguar and her gleaming curves for a while now…

Purchase

NineStar Press | Amazon | Smashwords | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

Meet the Author

Storm Duffy has a number of erotica shorts published under that and other names in a variety of venues, including “The Mammoth Book of Quick and Dirty Erotica”. As Jules Jones, she has written several erotic romance novellas and novels, including the first M/M romance published by Loose Id.

Amongst the 2500 or so books on shelves in her house, there is room for rather a lot of cross-stitch thread and entirely too many balls of wool. There are also more bits of computer kit than is quite reasonable for someone who doesn’t do that for a living. The two microscopes, on the other hand, are entirely in keeping with a career in science.

Website | Twitter | Authorgraph

 

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A MelanieM Review: Branded by Flames (Dragon Soul, #1) by Sean Michael

Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Meet the Beteferoce brothers. Five dragon shifters, each with a strong elemental power. And each with a fierce desire to find his soul mate…

For years, dragon-shifter-slash-firefighter Jake has been searching for his mate, but he’s beginning to tire of the search. Maybe soul mates are only for the lucky few.

Then he meets Shae.

A former navy welder, Shae is handsome, talented, into power play and rough sex, and covered in dragon tattoos. All of this suits the shape-shifting dragon just fine—until he finds out that Shae literally has Jake’s family crest already tattooed on him. A coincidence? Or something more…

Jake must convince Shae to trust him as a man and as a Dom before the heat between them burns out of control. Becoming a dragon’s mate is not without danger, and Shae will need Jake’s guidance—and love—if he’s going to make it through alive.

 

I found the Dragon Soul series by Sean Michael by reading the second book in the series first, Seduced by the Tide and loved it.  So of course that meant I had to go running back to find the first and get caught up on what I missed out, the world building and the references alluded to in the second story that I didn’t quite understand.  I am delighted to say that Branded by Flames is just as hot (no pun intended), just as sexy as I was hoping while giving me some of the foundation I was looking for this series.  I can see that Michael intends to draw out the information about each brother and the dragons in general over the series, which I’m more than ok with.  I’m full of anticipation now to see how each brother’s story plays out.

Here Jake (of course I have the benefit of the second story) seems to understand the significance of all the dragons that decorate Shae’s skin and occupy his mind and art.  We will too after a while.  Shae has a past with a Dom that’s left him alone, outside of the leather community.  Part of this story is all about trust issues, breaking trust and rebuilding it.  How do you do that when one of you is a dragon?  Interesting situation.  There is a lot of kinky sex play here as Jake and Shae start to explore boundaries and issues of trust.  If you’re not into BDSM or D/s, this is not the series or book for you.  If you are, read on!

I find the two of them incredibly sexy together, combustible even (ok someone had to say it).  Jake the dragon needed more work for me as a character than Shae the man, Shae having more depth, more poignancy given his past history and pain.  However, we get to see them again in Seduced by the Tide and there they come together even better as a couple.

Branded by Flames is the first of at least five stories as there are five Beteferoce dragon brothers looking for their soulmates.  I have to admit Mark’s story is the one I want the most. But that’s not to be. Park ranger Luke Beteferoce is the next brother to get his story.  See you in September!  Until then, if you love dragons, hot sex and kink, here’s a series for you!

Cover art is hot and perfect for the story.

Sales Links:  Carina Press | Amazon

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 1st edition, 216 pages
Published January 30th 2017 by Carina Press
ASINB01LLOUAVM
Edition LanguageEnglish
SeriesDragon Soul #1
CharactersJake “Beteferoce,, Shae O’Reilly.

Dragon Soul series:

Release Blitz for Barging In by Josephine Myles (giveaway)

 

Buy Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK
 
Length: 93,000 words
 
Cover: Harper By Design
 
Blurb
 

When the boat’s a rockin’, don’t come knockin’!

Out-and-proud travel writer Dan Taylor is a city boy who can’t steer a boat to save his life, but that doesn’t stop him from heading into the English countryside to write up a narrowboat holiday. Compared to London, the canal seems dull as ditchwater. Until he crashes into the boat of a half-naked, tattooed man whose bad-boy, penniless appearance doesn’t fit with his posh accent. Dan is intrigued, and he always gets his man.

Still smarting from a past betrayal, Robin Hamilton is firmly closeted in his narrowboat—his refuge from outrageous, provocative men like Dan. But as circumstances keep throwing them together, he can’t help himself from coming to the hopelessly out-of-place city boy’s rescue. Exposure to Dan’s sunny charm starts to melt Robin’s resolve and he’s tempted by the idea of a brief, harmless fling.

After all, in less than a week, Dan will have left the canal and be back to his diet of casual hook-ups and friends with benefits.

Determined not to fall in love, both men dive into one week of indulgence…only to find themselves swept away by a current of escalating intimacy and emotional intensity. Troubled waters they didn’t anticipate… and haven’t a clue how to navigate.

Warning: Contains one lovable tart, one posh boy gone feral, rough sex, alfresco sex, vile strawberry flavoured condoms, intimate body piercings, red thermal long-johns, erotic woodchopping, an errant cat, a few colourful characters you wouldn’t touch with a bargepole, and plenty of messing about on the river.

Author Bio

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

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



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

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A Jeri Review: Saving Sebastian (Custos Securities, #3) by Luna David

Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5

This is book three in the series but can be read as a stand alone. Tons of character cross over, but really the story lines are completely separate.

While I did enjoy this book more than the first two, it is plagued with many of the same issues. Way, WAY too wordy- too much irrelevant information and too much repetition. So once again there was quite a bit of skimming. We are also led to believe that Sebastian’s health problems are a port wine stain on his face and neck and although we find out it is much more than that, it wasn’t like a big aha moment at all.

That being said, I really did like the story.  This book really deals with BDSM in a way the first two didn’t. Again though, the contract between them and how often they saw each other for scenes was a bit similar to a well know mainstream BDSM novel. At least in this one they both really stuck to the contract to keep it impersonal.

I did love watching Sebastian’s growth from complete loner to accepting that he does have friends and people who genuinely cared for him. It was really sweet when he allowed himself to be loved, helped and cared for by other people.

Gideon’s switch flipped too quickly for me. From “omg I am a horrible person who did horrible things and don’t deserve love” to “omg I love him so much” really fast. A bit too fast.

Overall it is a good story. I think you will enjoy it if you enjoy BDSM stories. What they ultimately give each other as far as love and confidence was beautiful.

Cover art works great for the storyline and characters.

Sales Links:  Amazon

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 525 pages
Published July 6th 2017
ASINB073S99K3H
SeriesCustos Securities #3

A Jeri Review: Protecting Braden (Custos Securities #2) by Luna David

Rating: 3 Stars out of 5

This next book picks up right where the first left off. The cliffhanger is tied up fairly quickly and then the story continues as Cade and Braden continue their smooshy love fest while he has a stalker on the loose.

Honestly, this book didn’t offer much more than the first did. More of the same but different circumstances really. We get more of Cade’s family- I really liked all of them.

In the first book there is the small issue of Cade living in and owning a business in Denver and Braden living and owning a business in San Francisco. Well that is fixed quite tidily by just moving Cade’s business to SF. Uhm, ok. What about ALL the other employees? Details like this make me crazy.

And as Cade is renovating a huge warehouse to use as his businesses new headquarters, Braden is tasked with designing the top floor for them to live in together. On Cade’s dime. No expense spared. Again, this just harkens back to bodice ripping romance novels to me.

As with the first, there is SO MUCH DETAIL. Way, way too much. I was skimming pages and pages after a while. And it wasn’t just the detail, but the stories that didn’t add anything to the main story. While I appreciate that Cade was finally opening up to Braden about some of his time in the military, we didn’t need to hear all of the stories he was telling Braden.

The epilogue was nice, but a bit tidy. That isn’t going to happen in real life. But that is why we read books, right? To escape real life.

Nice cover with tie in to the characters.

Sales Link:  Amazon

Book Details:

328 pages
Published July 6th 2016
Edition LanguageEnglish
SeriesCustos Securities #2

A Jeri Review: Trusting Cade (Custos Securities #1) by Luna David

Rating: 3 Stars out of 5

This was the debut book by Luna David. And for that, well done. But… edit. Edit some more. And then edit again. Then send it to an editor to edit.

For the most part, it was a good story. Cade fell WAY too fast for Braden and jumped in head first. Now, I am hardly a personal security expert, but I am guessing that you shouldn’t be emotionally involved with the person you are trying to protect.  But, I am just a reviewer not a body guard.

From that point, most of the story was about Cade and Braden falling more in love with each other. Which was sweet and cute, but just too much. Something was bugging me about the cadence of the book as I was reading. And then it hit me. Swap out some pronouns and switch up the sex scenes and this could easily have been a “traditional” romance story when the big alpha guy comes swooping in to save the weak woman who needs help. There was a lot of talk about how Braden WASN’T weak, but the way that Cade coddled Braden constantly was cringe worthy at times. Like this guy has lived with diabetes for a long time. He doesn’t need to be reminded to check his blood sugar constantly. It just rubbed me the wrong way.

As for the stalker part of the story, that wasn’t a big shock at all. We pretty much knew who it was from the beginning so when it was revealed it was a bit ho hum. There was a bit of a twist in how the stalker came face to face with Braden again and I did like that.

The supporting characters were great. I loved Braden’s best friend Zoe, Cade’s best friend Cooper and I adored Nana. They added a lot to the story that helped the pages keep turning.

The book is left with a bit of a cliff hanger…. Review for that book next

Cover art is hot and steamy.  Definitely eye-catching.

Sales Link:  Amazon

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 380 pages
Published February 13th 2016
ASINB01BR1U1WC
Edition LanguageEnglish
SeriesCustos Securities #1