Category: Contemporary fiction

A Stella Review: How to Heal (Lovestrong #5) by Susan Hawke

RATING 3 out of 5 stars

Take one former bully, unable to forgive himself for the sins of his past…
Clark Danvers is a wild twenty-one year old who’s trying to prove he’s an adult. With a two-year degree in hand, he manages the family car dealership and seemingly parties by night. Given the amount of times he’s been pulled over for speeding by Deputy Rick Matthews, public opinion seems to be right. But what people don’t see are the scars he carries both inside and out. Scars from a past he can’t run away from and will never be able to atone for, no matter how many times he beats himself over it.

Add one no-nonsense cop who longs to be a Daddy for the right boy…
Jericho “Rick” Matthews never expects the bratty kid who gets on his last nerve to pull at his heartstrings. When he finds Clark battered and fighting for his life in a motel room, Rick’s Daddy mode is instantly engaged. Before he can think of anything else, he must first comfort this hurting boy.

To equal a pair of men who might just be what the other needs.
The two men who thought they couldn’t stand each other are drawn together after a date gone wrong. While Rick tenderly cares for Clark, he decides what this brat needs is a Daddy… someone to help him break free from the past and embrace the promise of many happy tomorrows.


This is the fifth book in the LOVESTRONG series about finding love and being yourself in a small town. Intended only for 18+ readers, this is an mm romance full of all the sweet feels you’d want from an S. Hawke book.

Note: Possible trigger warning for mentions of self-harm and a scene involving a man who’s consented to having himself tied up. What he didn’t agree to was being left that way for an entire weekend. This highly emotional scene is the catalyst to evoke “Daddy’s” protective mode in a tale filled with themes of hurt and comfort and the struggle of overcoming a difficult past.

I wasn’t sure how to rate How To Heal, at the end I settled with a 3 stars. First I have to say, please read the note at the end of the blurb, that scene was so hard for me to read, it broke my heart. Be aware of the trigger too.

Although a couple of things didn’t work with me, this new installment in the Lovestrong series was very well done, I enjoyed till the last chapter. Both Rick and Clark were men with a past, Clark’s one was a little heavier to accept and the young man so far didn’t make a good job at trying to forgive himself and the mistakes he made when he was fifteen years old. If you read the series and in particular How Not To Blend, you know what I’m talking about. Rick seemed to be the right person to be able to help Clark and build a future together. They were characters well defined, loveable, good at the heart.

That said, let’s talk about what didn’t work for me. Since this is part of a series, as often happens, I already met these characters, I ached for Clark because I saw how much he was abused too. I knew there was going to be some kind of redemption for him and I was happy to see some happy times were coming. I already met Rick too and then when I found him here in this new novel, I had trouble to recognise him, I felt him so different from what I already saw of him, it was almost like reading about a stranger-to-me character. Moreover, although I can understand the dynamic the author wanted to create, I think it was too much, too forced and to me it wasn’t ok at all. Clark was too childish, Rick too overbearing.

Still, I hope there will be more coming soon from Susan Hawke.

The cover art by Ana J Phoenix is simple, I can easily see Clark in the model, I like it.

Sales Links:  Amazon

BOOK DETAILS

Kindle Edition, 277 pages

Published April 14th 2019

ASIN B07QRQFHSQ

Edition Language English

Series Lovestrong #5

A MelanieM Review:To Be Continued (#lovehim #3.5) by S.M. James

Rating: 5 stars out of 5

Welcome to Webcon. Where the biggest and brightest internet celebrities come face to face with their fans.

Brought up in the ‘live for likes’ culture, Digi Lynch has amassed an impressive following. His channel is taking off, and Webcon always delivers a boost in numbers, thanks to his rivalry with ex-vlogging partner, Gram Saito.

Gram is popular, confident, and rising to the kind of fame worthy of a second gen internet sensation. And he’s up to his old tricks.

Digi can’t turn a corner for fear of being pranked and his reaction blasted online. And after one of Gram’s most high scale pranks yet, Digi decides it’s time to get even.

The animosity between Digi and Gram heats up as old feelings resurface, and Digi is forced to decide whether a life in the limelight is worth it …

Before they both go too far.

A YA contemporary novella, To Be Continued is the prequel to Not Gonna Lie and will show you where it all began for Gram and Digi.

To Be Continued (#lovehim #3.5) by S.M. James is the last of the available stories in this author’s must read YA series, a fact that’s making me sigh already.  That it’s ending here, on the “first half” of Digi and Gram’s story? Worse because this is not one of those happy stories.  It’s full of pain, the punch in the gut ways only family and those we care for but have blinders on can deal blows. It’s being young and trying to figure things out.  It’s real, sometimes mean and in every way authentic as S.M James gets under these characters skins and emotions like no other.

You have two boys now teenagers who used to be friends only a year ago, their animosity fueled in part by their mother’s  who are competitive in their online blogs and make sure it carries over to their sons, who have blogs and followers of their own.  A twisty world, a heartbreaking way to grow up online and Digi has had enough.

The strength and pain of his feelings come through so powerfully that we are carried swiftly along through several days of events to an abrupt end.  It will make sense and make us want to grab for the story still out of reach until May.  We need to know what happened to everyone next.  But as James tells us in the title  this is To Be Continued….

If you ask me to pick a couple as a favorite, I probably would have swayed towards Brooks and Damien….but there’s something about Digi and Gram.  Well of of them.  They get to you.  In their struggles to find themselves.  Their sexuality and their path to love.  Each and everyone has a deep place in my heart.   This story is just one more reason why.

But don’t start here.  I listed all the books below.  They are short and incredible.  Read them in the order they are written and then wait with them to see what happens with Digi and Gram.  Is it time yet?  Are we there?

 

Cover art: Story Styling Cover Design.  That’s perfect in a way.  Brands the series and has the tone down.

Sales Link:  Amazon

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 114 pages
Published April 4th 2019 by May Books
ASIN B07P3SMSSR
Series #lovehim #3.5

Series #lovehim

That Feeling When (Archie and Landon)

No Big Deal
No Big Deal (Angus and Tyler) 1.5
To Be Continued(3,5) Digi and Gram
In Real Life(4.5)  Archie and Landon  coming soon, hopefully.

An Alisa Review : Escaping Camp Roosevelt by Bryan T. Clark

Rating:  4 stars out of 5

“He’s a bad boy—cocky and damaged. So, why can’t I stop thinking about him?”

Broken Dreams

Sociable and unselfish, eighteen-year-old Tucker Graves loves two things—his darling little sister and the thrill of playing baseball. He never dreamed that he’d be homeless, but after a series of misfortunes, his life is nothing like he could have possibly imagined. Shocked and shattered, Tucker, his mother, and his baby sister now must brave the dangers of a dilapidated homeless encampment called Camp Roosevelt.

A Wounded Heart

Homeless since the age of fourteen, Dancer has mastered the tricks of living on the streets as a sex worker. The quiet, reclusive, and calculating ways of this twenty-year-old, green-eyed Adonis help him to survive. He hides his emotional scars from the world by interacting only with his clients, whose occasional bizarre requests he reluctantly fulfills. Dancer’s past has taught him to trust no one.

A Second Chance

When Tucker and Dancer come face to face on a stormy night, having been thrown together under the same roof, Tucker brings out a feeling in Dancer that he didn’t know still existed in him—desire. Neither man can deny the attraction he feels for the other. But some scars run deep, causing both Tucker and Dancer to question whether falling in love is even possible, especially when survival is on the line.

This story really gives a look into homelessness and how they live.  I was able to see the characters frustration and hopelessness when it came to their situation and not knowing how to break out of the cycle they have been in.  It was nice to see Tucker give Dancer a reason to break out of it and them give each other hope.

Tucker has been staying with his mom and sister to protect Mattie from his mom’s addiction.  Though it seemed horrible at the moment I was very glad that his mom ended up being arrested and it looks like she was doing better in the rehab she is in, though I wasn’t seeing any remorse for how she acted but would hope that would come in time and with the distance apart.  Though Tucker loves Mattie I was glad that she is able to be with their mom since it takes a large burden off his shoulders.

Dancer has had to make tough choices over the last six years and you can see how it has ate at him.  I was glad that him finally letting down his walls was a big help in breaking free but unfortunately it was mostly due to his mother making an appearance in his life again.

I unfortunately didn’t connect much with these characters and I don’t think was way anything about the situation they were in.  These two just so quickly switched there moods or flipped how they were feeling, I just felt much of it was disingenuous.  I was glad they get out of their situation but it was mostly due to the luck of Dancer’s mom finding him and her having the money to change things.  I’m not sure what they would have done if that didn’t happen.

The cover art by Karrie Jax is nice, giving a visual of the two man characters.

Sales Link: Amazon | B&N

Book Details:

ebook, 252 pages

Published: May 1, 2019 by Cornbread Publishing

Edition Language: English

Release Blitz and Giveaway for Love Kills (Criminal Delights: Serial Killers ) by Michael Mandrake

 

 
Buy Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK | Universal Link – Exclusive to Amazon and Available to Borrow with Kindle Unlimited.
 
Length: 56,600 words approx.
 
Cover Design: Natasha Snow
 
Blurb
 

Deranged birds of a feather flock together… leaving trails of blood in their wake.


Holland has fantasies most can’t accept. When potential mates discover Holland’s bloodlust, it’s too late for them to refuse. Determined to get what he wants, Holland continues to seek a man to fulfill his deepest desire and he won’t stop at anything


Archer is inspired and aroused by the tales he’s heard from his boyfriend. Still, he’s greedy for something that pushes him over the edge. Although this might drive him and his partner apart, Archer’s dark want won’t disappear.


Clint’s love for his job has slipped for years, and he’s pondered change. These days he’s cared more about how to please his man, than the rigorous position of solving murder cases. Clint thinks his attitude will eventually get better, thus prompting him to stay aboard. Still, the constant worry of Archer finding someone new niggles at him.


Putting sketchy characters behind bars had always been Clint’s forte, but when new feelings arise, Clint’s conscience is tested. Furthermore, what will happen if Clint is forced to choose between the love of his life, his career, and his morality?


This book is part of CRIMINAL DELIGHTS. Each novel can be read as a standalone and contains a dark M/M romance.


Warning: These books are for adult readers who enjoy stories where lines between right and wrong get blurry. High heat, twisted and tantalizing, these are not for the fainthearted.

 
About the Author
 

Michael Mandrake pens complex characters already comfortable with their sexuality. Through these, he builds worlds not centered on romance but rather the mainstream and/or obscure plots we might encounter in everyday life and beyond.


Website: https://michaelmandrake.wordpress.com/
FB Page: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorMichaelMandrake/
FB Profile: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100004610177001
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/MichaelMandrake
Follow me on Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/michael-mandrake
Triad Newsletter – https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/z7f2c7
Triad Fangroup – https://www.facebook.com/groups/275083546529760/

 

Giveaway

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Review Tour and Giveaway for Bryan T. Clark’s Escaping Camp Roosevelt

Buy Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK | Universal Link
 
Length: 87,000 words approx.
 
Cover Design: Karrie Jax
Blurb
 

“He’s a bad boy—cocky and damaged. So, why can’t I stop thinking about him?”


Broken Dreams
Sociable and unselfish, eighteen-year-old Tucker Graves loves two things—his darling little sister and the thrill of playing baseball. He never dreamed that he’d be homeless, but after a series of misfortunes, his life is nothing like he could have possibly imagined. Shocked and shattered, Tucker, his mother, and his baby sister now must brave the dangers of a dilapidated homeless encampment called Camp Roosevelt.


A Wounded Heart
Homeless since the age of fourteen, Dancer has mastered the tricks of living on the streets as a sex worker. The quiet, reclusive, and calculating ways of this twenty-year-old, green-eyed Adonis help him to survive. He hides his emotional scars from the world by interacting only with his clients, whose occasional bizarre requests he reluctantly fulfills. Dancer’s past has taught him to trust no one.


A Second Chance
When Tucker and Dancer come face to face on a stormy night, having been thrown together under the same roof, Tucker brings out a feeling in Dancer that he didn’t know still existed in him—desire. Neither man can deny the attraction he feels for the other. But some scars run deep, causing both Tucker and Dancer to question whether falling in love is even possible, especially when survival is on the line.


Bryan T. Clark is a multi-published, Rainbow Award-winning author and LAMBDA finalist.


*** One hundred percent of the royalties from the first year of this novel’s publication is being donated to the Larkin Street Youth Services/Castro Youth Housing Initiative. The CYHI provides transitional housing in the city of San Francisco, California, for LGBTQ youth experiencing homelessness. Fear of being raped, abused, or murdered should not be a part of anyone’s youth.


 

 

Bryan T. Clark is a Lambda Literary finalist and Rainbow Award winning author of gay romance, and contemporary books. He is also a funny, loving, family-oriented, and proud member of the LGBT community. Behind his computer, working on his next novel, Bryan writes romance with an emphasis on moral dilemma. His multicultural characters and riveting plots embody real life, filled with challenges, personal growth, and, of course, what we all desire—love.


In his work, he is known to push the boundaries with brilliantly crafted stories of friendship, love, complicated relationships, and challenges all woven into a hard-earned happily-ever-after.


When Bryan is not writing, he enjoys reading a great book, traveling, lying by a body of water soaking up the sun, and watching a good movie while snuggled up with his husband on the couch with their loyal companion Nettie, the Sheepadoodle.


Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Bryan has made his home and life in the Central Valley of California.


Author’s website: www.btclark.com
Twitter: @BryanTClarkx2
Facebook: BryanTclarkauthor@facebook.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/romanceauthor/
Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/author/show/7875459.Bryan_T_Clark.com

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Read Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words review here.  We definitely recommend it!

A Lucy Review: Made for You (Love and Family #2) by Anyta Sunday

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

Ben wants to find a new home.
Twenty-four-year-old Ben McCormick is the primary caregiver for his brother Milo after their parents’ death. A year into the job, he’s totally got the hang of it. Mostly. Sort of. Not at all?
Defeated and thoroughly chastised for his lack in parenting skills at teacher-parent night, Ben slumps away with the resolve to finally get his life sorted: be a better role model, and sell their parents’ house for a fresh start.
But first, he needs to spruce up his house to hit the market. He’s no DIY king, but Milo’s hot-as-hell woodwork teacher is…

Jack wants an old home to fix.
Thirty-nine-year-old Jack Pecker is waiting for the home of his dreams to come on the market in the summer. What better way to wait the interim months than working on a small renovation gig?
Only trouble is, the gig is for the McCormick brothers. And working in close quarters to red-haired Ben McCormick won’t be easy. Not with the attraction that simmers between them. Attraction Ben makes no effort to hide.
But Jack’s professional. Dating a parent is highly discouraged at Kresley Intermediate, and he’d never cross the lines…

Ben and Jack. Two guys searching for a home – 
– a home that might just be where their hearts lead them.

It is no secret that Anyta Sunday is a favorite author of mine and it is characters like Ben, Milo and Jack that reinforce that for me.  Ben is big brother to Milo, age 11, and they lost their parents a year ago.  Ben is doing his best to make a stable home for Milo, even as he is grief-stricken himself.  Ben is 24, works at a museum with a fairly unsympathetic boss, is addicted to orange Fanta and has some interesting, to put it kindly, parenting techniques. He also has some very lovely worded t-shirts.

The one issue between Milo and Ben is their parent’s house.  They are living in the guest cottage, too small and cramped, because Ben’s heart can’t handle the hurt of being in his parent’s house without his parents there.  You really feel for both of them because they may be grieving in different ways but they are both so wounded. Ben is trying so hard to be a good parent and he beats himself up when he misses things.  “I’m the one who should be sorry. I should’ve seen it, Jack saw it, while I blindly ignored the signs, too caught up in myself. In what I wanted.”  Yet, he’s so good.  I could go on and on about the loveliness of these characters.

Jack, the handyman who is going to renovate the parent’s home for resale, is also a teacher at Milo’s school.  Despite being attracted to Ben, the fourteen year age difference is nothing compared to the unwritten rule about not dating caregivers of the students.  Add in that he’s been waiting eight years for his dream villa to be for sale and the owner of said villa is uncle to the principal of the school.  There can be nothing between them.  Nothing.

Watching these guys try to do what’s best for each other, try to be a family with officially being a family and yet still sharing fun and love was such a great ride. I so appreciated that Milo acts like an eleven-year-old.  He talks like one, is bratty like one and responds to love like one.  There were so many moments I wanted to hug them all.  The fact that it is Milo who brings things to a head worked perfectly for me.  “He whispers, “For someone who claims to love us, you’re really stupid.”  He’s so young and so smart.  “I have four words for you, Mr. Woodpecker.”  I brace myself for them but they plough guilt through me.  “Shortcuts never end well.” 

The fear of driving Ben has after losing his parents to a car accident was real.  The grief they both feel about it was real.  Jack’s story of his family, unfortunately all too real.

We get to revisit Sam and Luke from Taboo For You here and I was reminded just how much I love Luke.  Loved him in that book, love him here. Awkward situation when Jack was living with Sam and Luke, definitely.  But they are the greatest friends. “But with every sunrise comes a fresh start.”  So true, Luke, so true. 

Some favorite moments:  “Farts wouldn’t smell so bad if we moved to the main house.  The extra space would thin them out.”  What Milo saw on the computer.  “If life gives you lemons…”  What Jack thought Milo and Ben were looking at through binoculars.   Jack explaining to Milo why Ben is the best.  Most of all, the brother love that just shines through the whole story.  They aren’t perfect, no, but they love each other and are trying. “I take you as my brother for richer, for poorer, in sickness and health until death do us part.  He rolls his head up and looks at me for a long beat.  “I do.”  Love.

The not so favorite? Mrs. Devon.  “Is she about to tell me I’m doing a bad job raising Milo? Tell me anything else.  I can’t hear that.  I’m afraid I’m doing a bad job too.” So that the last parent conference was with her was very fitting.  I am assuming the next book is about another not-favorite character, Felix.  Is he closeted? Experimenting?

This was a great follow up to Taboo For You and I loved it.

Cover art, showing Jack and Ben snuggling is sweet and fitting.

 

 Sales Links: https://www.anytasunday.com/projects/made-for-you/

https://amzn.to/2XIAB0a

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 258 pages
Published May 1st 2019 by Anyta Sunday
ASINB07QQ4TZLW
Edition Language English
Series Love and Family #2

An Alisa Review: A New Leash on Life by Deirdre O’Dare

Rating: 2 stars out of 5

Beaten by the IT recession, Justin has come back to his hometown where he’s inherited a small house from his mother. Surely Barry, his old crush and sometime nemesis, is long gone. Jobs are scarce, so impulsively Justin seeks to buy into a pet grooming business. But when he has to visit the local bank for a loan, who sits behind the big desk but Barry?

Justin’s appearance jolts Barry out of his miserable rut of a life. What if they were to pick up where a brief boyhood attraction abruptly ended? Then his mother’s sudden stroke throws his whole life into a tumbled ruin.

Juggling business and pleasure can be a complex, risky endeavor. Will Justin resist Barry’s charms and flee again, or will fate give them a new leash on life?

Another story that just did not work for me and I don’t think it’s a good omen when I feel like I have to force myself to finish a book around 50 pages.  Justin is going back to his hometown in a last ditch effort to survive since losing his job.  Barry has been living his life per his mother’s wishes for so long that seeing his boyhood crush seems to throw him out of his mundane life.

These two seem to have the lingering lust from their teens but other than that they don’t do anything to actually be in a relationship.  They both ran as teens in fear of being gay but the way Barry just assumes and kinda forces himself to be in Justin’s lifealong with his attitude didn’t endear himself to me.  His attitude about finding out he was adopted didn’t help me like him anymore.  Justin just seems to let himself be led by Barry in some ways and though he kinda stands up for himself at one point it doesn’t last long.

The cover art by Written Ink Designs has a nice visual of Justin and his dog.

Sales Links: JMS Books | Amazon | B&N

Book Details:

ebook, 16,988 words

Published: March 23, 2019 by JMS Books

ISBN: 9781634867610

Edition Language: English