Category: Book Reviews

A BJ Review: Nelson and Caleb (Storming Love: Hurricane:One Storm, Twelve Men #5) by Kaje Harper

Rating:   4.5 stars out of 5

Nelson and Caleb Storming Love coverNelson’s a retired a cop who now works evenings as security-guard job, while also helping out his community on his days off with his therapy dogs. He’s at the hospital with one of his dogs when Hurricane Lauris comes barreling down on his community. Caleb, an attractive man who works at the building Nelson guards, is at the hospital to get a cast taken off his broken foot. After taking Nelson up on the offer of a lift home, Caleb finds himself stranded in Nelson’s home with three dogs when the storm worsens.

This novella had me from the first scene where Bonnie, the handicapped therapy dog in a wheeled cart, is entertaining kids at the hospital with her big, sweet bear of an ex-cop owner. I adored Nelson from the get-go.

I’m a huge animal lover, so throw together two unique, highly relatable main characters, three dogs, a pregnant cat, a couple adorable kittens and a hurricane and that equals out to one thoroughly enjoyable read for me.

There’s heat and attraction from the start, but the guys run into a few stumbling blocks. For one thing, Nelson’s a dog guy while Caleb’s a cat lover. Then there’s the little fact that both men prefer to bottom. And just for good measure, the author throws in a little twist that sets it quite apart from most books I’ve read in this genre.

A well-written, short but sweetly enjoyable read with some heat.

Cover Artist: Kris Jacen.  While the cover is nice enough, the identical photo is used for all the books in the series. A tiny bit of individualization, maybe even just different silhouettes, would have spiced it up.

Sales Links:   MLR Press LLC         All Romance (ARe)        Amazon         Buy It Here
Book Details:

ebook, 87 pages
Published October 3rd 2014 by MLR Press
ISBN13MLR1020140301
edition languageEnglish
url http://kajeharper.wordpress.com/books/
Series Storming Love: Hurricane, One Storm, Twelve Men:

  • Gage and Collin (Storming Love: One Storm, Twelve Men #1) by S.J. Frost
  • Bradley & Mike (Storming Love: One Storm, Twelve Men #2) by Stephani Hecht
  • Bear & Travis (Storming Love: One Storm, Twelve Men #3) by Parker Williams
  • Austin & Troy (Storming Love: One Storm, Twelve Men #4) by Kendall McKenna
  • Nelson & Caleb (Storming Love: One Storm, Twelve Men #5) by Kaje Harper
  • Doug & Neal (Storming Love: One Storm, Twelve Men #6) by Diana DeRicci

 

A MelanieM Review: Conscious Decisions of the Heart (More Heat Than the Sun #2)

Rating: 4.75 stars out of 5

 Ben Rider and Nikolas Mikkelsen learn that danger comes in all shapes and sizes and often in places you least expect it.

Conscious Decisions of the Heart civIn order to appease an ex friend and covert op whose been hunting Nikolas and Ben, Nikolas heads back to Russia and his past on an errand of mercy, leaving an uncertain Ben  behind with Radulf.  Left at loose ends and missing  Nikolas terribly, Ben lights out on his own, this time to Denmark to learn Nikolas’s language and visit some of the places where Nikolas grew up. Soon Ben settles in, making friends in the small town and become prolific (or so he thinks) in Danish.  Alone and certain that Nikolas is in danger in Russia, Ben doesn’t see the enemy that is much closer to home to the peril of them all.

And when the danger explodes, it leaves them all, including Nikolas, permanently scarred and forever changed.

What an amazing series!  With Conscious Decisions of the Heart, John Wiltshire manages to give his readers a frightening mystery, a suspenseful drama, a heartbreaking romance and an exploration of the island of Aeroe, in Denmark (an excellent reason to google what is said to be one of the most beautiful spots in Denmark), all these things rolled into one gripping tale of love, passion, and suspense.

That cover alone is a clue this is not a story for the faint of heart.  Picking up after Love is a Stranger, both Ben and Nikolas find themselves in uncertain times, their previous lives in shambles and, for the first time, trying to be honest with each other about their feelings and new relationship.  But with these two complicated men who have secrets the way other men have tee times, the past is never completely out of the picture.  It will cause Nikolas to travel to Russia on their behalf so he and Ben may feel safe as well as to find some measure of closure in a relationship from his past.

Wiltshire does such an excellent job with these characters.  Already beautifully fleshed out and believable, he continues to build layers upon layers into each of their personalities and histories, peeling away some traits to reveal others lying just underneath, a pattern that continues with each man’s history and background.  Just when you think you might have some idea of how a character will behave or where he comes from, Wiltshire demolishes that bit of certainty with an astonishing new fact or shocking denouement!

And no, I absolutely won’t go into any of that here.  Sacrilege, indeed.

Conscious Decisions of the Heart feels like a magician’s act, full of sleight of hand tricks that lull you into thinking you know where the dangers are to be found and that you have a handle on the plot, all while the feature illusion has been forming and explodes with a ferocity you didn’t foresee (and neither do the characters).    And there is more than one.  It takes your breathe away.  And every aspect of this story is so well written and plotted, it just works! I loved all the action and adventure and, yes, shear terror, that the author brings to this story.  And some will break your heart.  Really, John Wiltshire, how could you do that to….sigh.

But what is equally astonishing is that while all the major elements are in flux, Ben and Nikolas become steadier, more committed to each other and their relationship. You watch the progress, the small and large steps, and your commitment to these men and their story just gets deeper. How I love this series.

I would have given this book a 5 star rating (it deserves it) but it definitely can’t be read on its own.  Part of the power (and Wiltshire’s puzzle in the making) comes from reading all parts in the order they were written.  Each book continues to build on the  previous story and without some of the back knowledge, balancing and understanding all these pieces and personalities becomes problematic.    So, if new to the series, run, lope, gallop, whatever, back to Love is a Stranger, then move onto to this story.  I am one step ahead and more books (and reviews) will be coming!  Join me along the way!

This is seriously addictive stuff here, and one of my highly recommended reads!

Cover Art by Deana Jamroz is terrifying, stark, and absolutely perfect for this story.  Be Warned, then continue on!

Sales Links:  MLR Press LLC     All Romance (ARe)        Amazon   Buy It Here

Book Details:

ebook
Published July 3rd 2014 by MLR Press
ISBN 1020140265
edition languageEnglish
url http://www.mlrbooks.com
seriesMore Heat Than the Sun #2

More Heat Than the Sun Series Books in the Order they were written and should be read:

Love is a Stranger (More Heat Than the Sun #1)
Conscious Decisions of the Heart (More Heat Than the Sun #2)
The Bridge of Silver Wings (More Heat Than the Sun, #3)
This Other Country (More Heat Than the Sun, #4)
The Bruise Black Sky (More Heat Than the Sun, #5) coming soon

A Stella Review: A Fighting Man (Men of Manhattan #3) by Sandrine Gasq-Dion

Rating: 4 stars out of 5

A Fighting Man coverArmy Ranger Slater Cassidy has a very special – very sexy – target in his sights. Meeting gorgeous, smart, uber-snarky Casper Kennedy was the highlight of Slater’s last trip home to New York. The soldier in him carefully plans his conquest. Unfortunately, Casper’s wearing some seriously strong armor and Slater’s charm offensives bounce right off. Casper’s refusal to fall for him is puzzling – not to mention incredibly annoying. When Slater gets leave again after grueling back-to-back tours in Afghanistan, all he wants is another shot at wooing Casper. He jumps right into the battle for the other man’s heart, but Casper does not intend to entertain the troops.

A heartbreaking revelation changes the rules of romantic warfare, and Slater suddenly realizes he doesn’t just want Casper. He wants to capture his heart, too.

 Casper Kennedy is fighting a losing battle. A certain outrageously demonstrative Army Ranger has been a thorn in his side since his last trip home – and the main character in his steamiest dreams. Now he’s back. He launches an all-out sensual assault and no matter how hard Casper pushes Slater away, the man somehow manages to inch closer. So close, in fact, that Casper’s once-impenetrable defenses are in danger of collapsing. Should he throw up the white flag and take a chance at love? Or start firing back and keep his heart protected? When the handsome Ranger shows his true colors, Casper just might have to surrender the fight

A Fighting Man is the third book in the Men of Manhattan series. You can’t help but love this series. These books are all well written and the characters (main and second ones) are so enjoyable and well depicted, I had the feeling of knowing them forever.

Casper Kennedy is a 25-year old administrative assistant. He lost his lover, Mason, three years ago, they were engaged when Mason died in the field. He’s still missing Mason badly, so it’s hard to him to fall for the stubborn Sergeant that has his eyes on Casper.

Slater Cassidy is an Army Ranger in Afghanistan, and from the first time he saw Casper, he knew he had to have the man. Now is coming home on leave for a month. Can it be enough to conquer Casper? He will try everything, from sending him a fake police officer to made a striptease, to a serenade with the Casper film’s theme song.

After losing Mason, Carter is afraid to fall in love again, specially with a military guy, but thanks to an ad campaign and a little jealousy, Slater is slowly making his way into Casper’s life. Will Casper surrender to Slater?

As I already said at the start on this review I really loved this book. First of all it’s a funny and easy reading, I particularly liked the dialogue parts, they were fast paced and entertaining. The double POV use is my fave, cause I need to know what goes through my characters’ mind and in this case, seeing them both struggle with their feeling till almost the end and overcome their fears was heartbreaking and hard to watch without being able to hug and reassure them, but so worth it.

Some parts were really emotional, I’m thinking for example at the family aspect in this story. I ached for Casper, he was very unlucky with families. His parents don’t speak with him since he came out, Mason’s family didn’t even let him know Mason was dead. Finally he has found a new family in Slater’s mum, Raquel,(she rocks!) and in Blaine and Spencer.

There’s a great support cast, funny and strong as Casper and Slater. I can see more couple in the future books.

Highly recommended!

Cover artist by Wilde City Press. Nothing special in this cover and all the others in this series. They are nice to look at but nothing more.

Sales Links:   Wilde City Press     All Romance (ARe)     Amazon      Buy It Here

Book Details:

ebook, 103 pages
Published May 7th 2014 by Wilde City Press
ISBN139781925180022
edition languageEnglish
seriesMen of Manhattan #3

 

The Men of Manhattan Series:

  • A Betting Man (Men of Manhattan, #1)
  • A Marrying Man (Men of Manhattan, #2)
  • A Fighting Man (Men of Manhattan, #3)
  • A Working Man (Men of Manhattan, #4)
  • A Healing Man (Men of Manhattan, #5)

A Closer Look at Alex Beecroft and Trowchester Blues (contest)

magnifying glass and focus

Trowchester Blues cover

 Trowchester Blues by Alex Beecroft

Here today is Alex Beecroft talking about Trowchester Blues, the first in a new series and one of Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words’ highly recommended reads.  Here Alex is talking a little bit about why England as a setting…

I’ve answered so many questions and written so many blog posts about this book that I’ve got to admit I’m running out of things to say, so I’m going to start plundering the questions people have asked me already.

In an early interview, I think with Riptide for their featured author spot, I was asked “Why do you choose to set your books in England?” I gave a short answer there, but I’ve got more to say, so I’m going to flesh it out a bit here.

The first factor, of course, is the simple requirement to “Write what you know.” When I write historicals or fantasies, that part isn’t really important. I imagine things hard, or I do as much research as I can, and – and this is the crucial thing – nobody else knows any better. So I can write whatever I like and nobody can say ‘pah, what do you know?’

But in contemporary life, if I wanted to write a story set in the USA, there would be thousands of people who knew that setting better than me. I’d be working from research and imagination, they’d be working from a knowledge that had settled into them over a lifetime. How could I, a stranger, ever draw a portrait of a location that was anything but a shallow veneer compared to the reality experienced by someone who actually lives there, someone who knows what the nights smell like, and how the dust on the pavements (sidewalks) squeaks under the shoe.

Much better to choose a setting that I know that intimately, so that when my editor says “You’ve said he left his sledgehammer ‘in’ the porch. Don’t you mean ‘on’ the porch?” I can reply “No. The kind of thing you call a porch we call a verandah. “This is a porch in the UK.”

If I set a novel in the UK then suddenly I am the one who has a lifetime’s experience with the mores, assumptions and unstated expectations that rule the characters’ lives. As Oscar Wilde says, Britain and America are two great nations separated by a common language, but we’re also separated by different assumptions and cultures. Fifty Shades of Grey, from what I’ve heard, is written by a Brit who doesn’t really understand how the culture in the US works, and it shows. (Her characters wear dressing gowns instead of robes, and make cups of tea for visiting workmen, which is de rigueur over here but I hear is not done in the US.)

Plus, I know what the evening sunlight looks like on the Peaks, and I’ve experienced the intimidating unassailable politeness of your average policeman, and I have tasted the food, and attempted to hold my own in the relentless banter of your average pub, and I know whereof I speak.

All of that aside, why not set a story in the UK? It’s not the done thing to say so – patriotism is considered a bit suspicious in Britain, a bit vulgar and worrisome, as if it’s a sign that you’re also a closet UKIP member – but I kind of like my country. Admittedly, I don’t know any better, because I’ve never lived anywhere else. But although I hated London, as soon as I moved out into the countryside I felt like I’d come home.

Do you watch Miss Marple? With the gossipy neighbours in their beautiful, twee little villages. Murder, surrounded by dahlias? Those twee little villages actually do exist still. The churches and the ancient monuments, the landscape covered in ruins and history, the summer fetes in which the local vicar has to award a prize for the grower of the best marrow? It’s all true. And having plunged myself into that lifestyle eagerly and discovered the joys of the yearly agricultural shows, harvest festival, Plough Monday and the pagan weirdness of things like the “Straw Bear Festival”, I wanted to celebrate the charming eccentricity and the continued survival of that way of life.Straw Bear Festival

Variety is the spice of life, after all. And despite our reputation for the blandest food on the surface of the earth, you can’t go into a UK curry house and not realize that we also love our spice. There’s a lot to be explored in a country where the accent and the culture can change completely within five miles. Who better to explore it than someone who’s lived it all of their lives?

About Trowchester Blues:

Michael May is losing it. Long ago, he joined the Metropolitan Police to escape his father’s tyranny and protect people like himself. Now his father is dead, and he’s been fired for punching a suspect. Afraid of his own rage, he returns to Trowchester—and to his childhood home, with all its old fears and memories. When he meets a charming, bohemian bookshop owner who seems to like him, he clings tight.

Fintan Hulme is an honest man now. Five years ago, he retired from his work as a high class London fence and opened a bookshop. Then an old client brings him a stolen book too precious to turn away, and suddenly he’s dealing with arson and kidnapping, to say nothing of all the lies he has to tell his friends. Falling in love with an ex-cop with anger management issues is the last thing he should be doing.

Finn thinks Michael is incredibly sexy. Michael knows Finn is the only thing that still makes him smile. But in a relationship where cops and robbers are natural enemies, that might not be enough to save them.

– See more here at Riptide Publishing.  And you can follow the tour here.

About Alex Beecroft…

Alex Beecroft is an English author best known for historical fiction, notably Age of Sail, featuring gay characters and romantic storylines. Her novels and shorter works include paranormal, fantasy, and contemporary fiction.

Beecroft won Linden Bay Romance’s (now Samhain Publishing) Starlight Writing Competition in 2007 with her first novel, Captain’s Surrender, making it her first published book. On the subject of writing gay romance, Beecroft has appeared in the Charleston City Paper, LA Weekly, the New Haven Advocate, the Baltimore City Paper, and The Other Paper. She is a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association of the UK and an occasional reviewer for the blog Speak Its Name, which highlights historical gay fiction.

Alex was born in Northern Ireland during the Troubles and grew up in the wild countryside of the English Peak District. She lives with her husband and two children in a little village near Cambridge and tries to avoid being mistaken for a tourist.

Alex is only intermittently present in the real world. She has led a Saxon shield wall into battle, toiled as a Georgian kitchen maid, and recently taken up an 800-year-old form of English folk dance, but she still hasn’t learned to operate a mobile phone.

She is represented by Louise Fury of the L. Perkins Literary Agency.

Connect with Alex:
Website: alexbeecroft.com
Blog: alexbeecroft.com/blog
Facebook: facebook.com/AlexBeecroftAuthor
Twitter: @Alex_Beecroft
Goodreads: goodreads.com/Alex_Beecroft

Giveaway

Every comment on this blog tour enters you in a drawing for an e-book from Alex Beecroft’s backlist (excepting Trowchester Blues). Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on February 15. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries.

TrowchesterBlues_TourBanner

It’s Cover Reveal Time for Lissa Kasey’s “Inheritance”! (contest)

EMBanner300x250

Its time to peel back the curtain and check out the gorgeous cover for Lissa Kasey’s “Inheritance”!

Cover Reveal for Inheritance (Dominion #1) by Lissa Kasey
Release Date: March 3, 2015

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Author Lissa Kasey Bio:

Lissa Kasey lives in St. Paul, MN, has a Bachelor’s Degree in Creative Writing, and collects Asian Ball Joint Dolls who look like her characters. She has three cats who enjoy waking her up an hour before her alarm every morning and sitting on her lap to help her write. She can often be found at Anime Conventions masquerading as random characters when she’s not writing about boy romance.

Where to find the author:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lissa.kasey
Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorLissaKasey
Twitter: parisbvamp
Other: google.com/+LissaKasey

Publisher: Lissa Kasey
Cover Artist: Simone Hendricks

Sales Links:  Amazon

About Inheritance…amazon-Inheritance

Seiran Rou’s life is complicated—he’s the only male in the world allowed to take magic classes in a female-dominant society, his vampire boyfriend, Gabe, is hinting that he wants more, and his mother is demanding a grandchild. But when a co-worker turns up dead on his doorstep, Seiran realizes his problems are only beginning.

With the police dogging his steps, a stalker-like bartender watching his every move, and a magic groupie following him around, Seiran is finding it hard to hide his power—a power that if revealed could get him killed. The Dominion, the ruling body of elemental magic, seems to have started a deadly game to control the rare magic he possesses.

Someone is pulling strings, murdering witches, and gathering power. When Seiran finds himself next on the hit list, he doesn’t know whether to run and hide or prove himself to be the powerful witch he is. If he stands up and fights, he’ll have to decide what is more important—hiding his power or protecting the ones he loves.
Categories: Alternate Universe, Contemporary, Fantasy, Gay Fiction, M/M Romance, Mystery, Paranormal, Urban Fantasy

Inheritance Excerpt:

Professor Wrig gestured to the stump. “Seiran, if you will demonstrate, please?”

Rose looked like she’d swallowed a lemon. “I can show them how it’s done, Professor,” she said.

“I’m sure you can, Miss Pewette. However, I already asked Mr. Rou.”

I took a deep breath and stepped up to the stump, wondering if I was allowed to actually focus with the earth this time. “Can I kneel?” I asked Wrig quietly.

“Whatever you feel is necessary.”

I knelt and waited for instructions.

Professor Wrig explained, “As Mr. Rou is showing you, he is putting himself in close contact with his element. He will be pulling power from the earth. Should he accidentally pull too much, he can give it back without causing damage to us or the surrounding area. He will take the time he needs to focus his power, and then he will place his hands to the stump. All witches with a measurable level will make something grow. A level one will produce moss or ivy. A level two will create flowers or even a small bud of a new tree. His level is set by what grows. Whenever you’re ready, Seiran.”

“Try not to kill any of us,” Rose sneered from behind me.

I sighed, closed my eyes, and left all their scattered whispering behind. It didn’t matter that Rose didn’t shut up or that Blond Hair looked at me like he was imagining what sex with me would be like. The earth and I knew each other well. I let it flow through me, like I was nothing more than a pebble in a lake to be shaped and guided by it. Each breath brought renewed life. I set my hands to the stump, remembering the last time, when I’d made wildflowers burst forth from the dead tree. This time I didn’t even look. The earth would grow what it wanted to with me as its conduit.

The power flowed through me in natural peaks and waves. The crowd gasped. The wood shifted and moved beneath my hands. I let the earth move as it wanted until the final wave subsided. Letting go, I opened my eyes and stared at a giant oak tree, leaves growing to a rich, vibrant green. No wildflowers this time. I smiled at the tree and patted its strong, new trunk, which split the old stump in half.

“Very good, Mr. Rou,” Professor Wrig told me. She offered me a hand up. I stood, dusted off my pants, and went to the back of the line. “Next,” she said.

And so began the testing.


Pages or Words: 65,000 words

EMBadgeTour Dates: February 13, 2015

Parker Williams, Rainbow Gold Reviews Inked Rainbow Reads, My Fiction Nook, Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words, Molly Lolly, MM Good Book Reviews, Bayou Book Junkie, The Hat Party, Elisa – My Reviews and Ramblings, Lee Brazil, Divine Magazine, Christy Loves 2 Read, 

Bending The Bookshelf, Multitasking Mommas, Wicked Faerie’s Tales and Reviews, Velvet Panic

 

Contest: Enter to win a Rafflecopter Prize: One of three print copies. Must be 18 years of age or older to enter.

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A Stella Review: Wrong Number, Right Guy (Celebrity #1) by Mia Watts

Rating 2 stars out of 5

Wrong Number, Right Guy coverA wrong number with a sexy voice on the other end… What are the chances a regular guy has just hooked the hottest actor on the silver screen?

 Ryan Pierce is in town shooting the latest romantic action movie and attending all the right publicity parties. He wasn’t expecting to pick up the phone to an easy laugh and real conversation. So, when he discovers that his caller has misdialed, it surprises him even more that he doesn’t want the man to hang up.

Dar Phillips is the last man to get star-struck, yet his best friend drags him out to be an extra on a movie set. It’s a chance to meet the guy on the set who he accidently called, but he has to admit the lead actor is hot stuff. Could the loping mega-star be his phone-a-friend? And, when they kiss, is Dar ready for the paparazzi and accusations of betrayal by the man who now stars in Dar’s every dream?

 Who did Dar fall for?  The elusive Ryan Pierce, who can’t be seen with him, or the quiet, gentle man who’s just a phone call away?

This book is one of my few two stars. This review will be really short because I admit I’m a little uncomfortable writing it. I’m sorry to say I don’t even know where to start, there isn’t a thing I liked.

Reading the blurb I thought the story looked interesting, too bad it wasn’t delivered in the writing. Instead, I found the book boring for most of the story and the other times it was just surreal. Some dialogues between the main characters seemed childish. And everything in the relationship went so fast, they talked on the phone, they fell in love, then they meet, Ryan comes out of the closet, they split up, they’re back together. Wow.

I enjoy a lot insta-love/lust stories but this one was so unlikely, I couldn’t even understand why they were attracted or in love with each other. It makes no sense at all.

As I already said a thousand times I love my books to be sweet, in this case it was too much. I was waiting for something to change all the way to the end, but it continued to be disappointing and flat.

Cover Artist by Posh Gosh. I like everything about this cover, even the font. Really well done. Finally something in this book fits the blurb.

Sales Links:   Totally Bound       All Romance      Amazon      Buy It here

Book Details:

ebook, Second Edition, 83 pages
Published January 30th 2015 by Totally Bound
(first published March 25th 2011 by Amber Allure)
original title Wrong Number, Right Guy
ISBN139781784303907
edition languageEnglish
Series:  Celebrity

 

A MelanieM Review: The Truth as He Knows It (Perspectives #1) by A.M. Arthur

Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5

Lies are the chains that keep you weighed down at rock bottom.

The Truth As He Knows It coverNoel Carlson is now living as a police officer in the town of Stratton, Pennsylvania.  The scars he carries, on body and in mind, are not the only reminders of the gay bashing in college.  It also left his first love and best friend Tristan institutionalized with brain damage. And Noel his only visitor.  Weekly visits to Tristan and some of the comments Noel has overheard at work have kept him firmly in the closet, even to his partner.  Then an official call to an apartment building on a nuisance violation changes all that.

The loud noises from an out of control female bachelor party brings Off. Noel Carlson and his partner face to face with a tied up, dazed male stripper. Since the stripper had violated no laws, Noel lets him go.  Later Noel finds that he can’t forget the gorgeous man in the thong with the butterfly tattoo.

Shane Joseph has had a terrible life and it has left him with overwhelming debts to repay, especially to the brother who sacrificed nearly everything for him. His two jobs, in a deli and as a stripper, leave him no time for a social life.  But when his last job brings a gorgeous cop to his rescue, Shane thinks his might be missing out on something.  Another encounter at the deli reinforces that impression, especially when it seems that Noel wants more than sex and a quick hookup.  Soon a shaky bond is formed and Shane and Noel start to hope that they might even have a future together.

But Shane has huge secrets that he is hiding from everyone, including his brother.  And past history has taught him that lying brings less pain than telling the truth.  But now those lies are piling up and threatening to drown Shane.  Shane wants to come clean to those he loves, including Noel.  But when the revelations are done, will Shane still have anyone to come home to?

Whew!  What an emotionally wrenching read.  A. M. Arthur certainly knows how to build a story complete with strong, vulnerable characters you grow to care about.  A carryover from Arthur’s Cost of Repairs (book and series), the reverberations of the events and gay bashing continue to spread through the storyline here.  The Truth As He Knows It is the first in Arthur’s new Perspectives series that will feature characters from the Cost of Repairs books and new characters such as Shane.  But honestly, as well written as this story is, I’m not sure I’m going to continue on.

As I stated before this author creates believable, viable human beings for her stories.  The settings, locations, and events that occur translate as authentic and real.  For example, the beaten-up old trailer and disreputable, grungy trailer park where Shane and his brother Jason, reside, is so vividly described that the reader will have no problem visualizing such a desperately poor and hard scrabble sort of existence both brothers have been living.  That aura of desperation and near poverty coats Jason and Shane, leaving them both with a grayness that can’t be washed off.  That’s marvelous writing.  And it continues with Noel and Tristan’s relationship, and carries over into all the interchanges and dialog between every main character here.  So why wouldn’t I want to continue? Why? Because of the unrelenting angst and pain these characters go through.

These characters have been abused, raped, imprisoned, beaten, left brain damaged, scarred, impoverished, victimized in almost every way and it’s not just in the past.  Its past, present, (and if I read the clues right), it continues well into their future…books that is.  The pain and abuse rains down on these people like a 40 year flood that’s just getting started.  Just when you think there’s a possibility of something positive happening or a hopeful turn of events,  the author beats the crap out of that bead of light with a steel baseball bat.  It’s not just the characters that are left reeling, but the reader as well.

I can take angst if it is balanced out with scenes that leave the characters and the reader feeling happy or hopeful or even satisfied that all the time spent reading that story was worthwhile.  And for me, that just didn’t happen.  I felt as beaten up as the characters when it was all over.  And the hints and clues laid down by A.M. Arthur for Tristan’s story made me feel worse.

There are other elements that some readers will have issues with like the constant lying and the out of relationship sex, neither of which bothered me. A. M. Arthur lays out a rational and logical reason for both of those things happening, including an abusive background for Shane that makes his bad decisions seem realistic if sad.  No, it’s that I want more in a romance, more love, more hope, less constant  sorrow.  So, I am leaving this story and series right here.  Not all readers will feel the same.  Others will have a higher tolerance for hurt/comfort or near constant angst then I do, and they will adore this story and most like the series too.  Plus its just that well written that you shouldn’t be surprised to find the tears flowing as certain scenes unfold. So…what’s left to say.

I’m not giving any recommendations one way or the other.  Instead, you know what type of reader you are so I will leave the decision up to you.  I have read and loved A.M. Arthur’s stories in the past, including some in the Cost of Repairs series like Foundation of Trust.  Arthur is a terrific writer. I will continue to pick up and read Arthur’s new books as they arrive (mostly).  I will let you all into what I discover!

Cover artist: ?  I loved that cover, intimate and sexy.  Too bad I have no idea who created it.

Sales Links:  Samhain Publishing      All Romance (ARe)         Amazon   Buy it here

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 289 pages
Expected publication: February 10th 2015 by Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
ASINB00ODW2IEM
edition languageEnglish
urlhttp://amarthur.blogspot.com.au/
seriesPerspectives #1