Category: Contemporary fiction

A Stella Review: Flare (North Star #3) by Posy Roberts

RATING 5 out of 5 stars

A love story and a family worth fighting for. 

Hugo and Kevin strive to put their lives back together after tragedy, doing everything in their power to create a stable life. Hugo’s acting career is back on track, and Kevin hires a nanny to help with the kids as they discover their new normal. But when Erin’s parents seek full custody of Brooke and Finn, that stability is shattered.

With Hugo working in LA or New York, the distance from his new family gets to him. At home, the nanny’s hands-on approach leaves Hugo feeling pushed out, so he leaves his beloved apartment and eclectic neighborhood behind to move in with Kevin.

Hugo has a hard time fitting in with the suburbanites with Kevin’s passive-aggressive “friends” making Hugo feel anything but welcome. As the custody case heads to mediation, Brooke is bullied about having two dads, and Hugo realizes his mere presence might be doing more harm than good.

Hugo must decide to stay and fight for his family or leave and let them live in peace.

This is how every author should write. This is how every romance should be, real, true, filled with feelings and emotions so powerful I was often left breathless. And this is how every series should be, with amazing characters, starting from the main ones until the supportive (and not) second ones. Each single character struggling with the real life issues, like all of us do. Illnesses, love, school, work, friendhip, family, being adult or growing up, first love and second chances at love. You can find all of these in Flare and in the North Star trilogy.

Flare is the perfect conclusion for an already perfect series, I’m so sad to let the characters go on with their lives. They made me cry more than once, they made me laugh and dream. I fought for and with Kevin and Hugo for their big family. I loved them dearly.

I am with no doubt addicted to this series, I will share it everywhere and recommend it to everyone. There was no little detail I didn’t enjoy and the writing was so sublime it was a huge pleasure to read these novels. I already was a fan of Posy Roberts but right now I’m feeling more like a stalker, I can’t wait for her to release more stories to fall in love with.

The cover art by Olive Us Designs is well done, it follows the style of the series and I like its darkness.

SALE LINKS  Amazon

BOOK DETAILS

Kindle Edition, 2 edition, 382 pages

Published August 28th 2018 by Labyrinth Bound Press (first published January 12th 2014)

ASIN B07DMQPKJV

Edition Language English

A VVivacious Review: Love Spell by Mia Kerick

Rating: 3 Stars out of 5

Miss Harvest Moon, Chance César has a crush on The Harvest Moon Pumpkin Carving King, Jasper Donahue and he is going to make Jasper fall in love with him with the help of his bestie, Emily Benson, Today’s Lady Online Magazine’s Ten Scientifically Proven Ways to Make a Man Fall in Love with You and a love spell (or two) to boot!

Chance is very into following the list, though it was kind of distressing to see what Chance’s allegiance to the list was doing to Jasper and the worst part is we don’t even get Jasper’s POV so yeah, I could feel his distress across Chance’s POV. It was painfully obvious that all these tactics made Chance seem like he was running hot and cold and all the mixed signals would mess with anyone’s head. Personally, all I wanted was for Chance to be himself.

I didn’t like Emily’s character. The only thing I would have wanted from her was two things – one, to tell Chance that he needs to be honest in his dealings with Jasper because what is the point of Jasper falling in love with someone who is not even real and two, that he didn’t need to figure out if he was a boy or girl or both or neither he could be anything he wanted to be and he didn’t need a box, he could just be uniquely Chance and that could be his box if he so desired and since, she did neither, I don’t even know why she existed. She doesn’t even contribute much to the plot and felt very much like an unnecessary character. I am pretty conflicted about her, I wonder if I should excuse her on the grounds of immaturity or the fact that she is just a teenager with no life experience but somehow, I can’t absolve her even with those considerations into place. Simultaneously, I also realise that we actually don’t know anything about her which brings me back to my first point, what was her contribution to the story, it felt like she was a character because someone was ticking off a list which said a female best friend was mandatory to a YA novel featuring a gay guy.

Though I couldn’t get behind Emily’s character I still ended up liking Chance probably because it was easy to see his foibles for what they were and somehow, it’s easy to lose perspective when your own feelings are hanging in the balance and I can somewhat excuse him especially as we see him learn the lesson he needed to learn. I really feel for Chance and being in his head it was really easy to like him because I could see where he was coming from. I really wanted to give him a hug every time he gets conflicted about his gender identity. I really connected with him even though I don’t know how many times I was shaking my head as he went along with things on the list.

I guess my best character in this book has to be Jasper. He was amazing and I loved him truly, I almost think I love him more than Chance. Getting to know Jasper was the real treat of this book and I literally can’t think of one single thing about him that I didn’t like (okay, in hindsight, I can think of one).

I had issues with the book and somehow, I really wanted to shake Chance up and tell him to forget the list and just be himself but despite the list and how much I was dreading the complications of the list the whole time it was in effect, I still found this an interesting read once I got into Chance’s head space. I feel like the ending changed things for me because during the whole list debacle I was like I am going to rate it like two stars or something but then we got to the end and we see Chance learn from his mistakes, learn that he can be himself, uniquely Chance and that significantly redeemed the book in my mind to some extent. I guess what I want to say, is that this book is not a painful read, it wasn’t ever a problem where I had to convince myself to finish the book just because I had to review it, in fact, it was the opposite. I finished it pretty quickly and there was something about this book that had me turning the pages even though I couldn’t stop myself from shaking my head at the words.

Cover Art by Natasha Snow. I love the cover, especially the background which has a kind of magical feel to it.

Sales Link  Amazon   |: Nine Star Press

Book Details:

ebook, 43,300 words

Expected Publication: 2nd edition, August 27, 2018 by Nine Star Press

ISBN: 978-1-949340-50-1

Edition Language: English

Blog Tour for The Billionaire’s Wedding by Geoffrey Knight (excerpt and giveaway)

The Billionaire's Wedding Tour Banner

THE BILLIONAIRE’S WEDDING

GEOFFREY KNIGHT

GAY ROMANTIC COMEDY

RELEASE DATE: 08.18.18

 BillionairesWedding_Cover

 

BLURB

Italy’s Amalfi Coast, overlooking the sparkling Mediterranean Sea, is the dream location for the perfect wedding, and billionaire Calvin Croft is determined to pull out all the stops to make his marriage to Matt Darcy a day that nobody will forget.

But before Matt and Cal can walk down the aisle and say ‘I do’, someone uninvited turns up out of the blue… and turns Cal’s life completely upside-down.

Will Matt ever get to marry the man of his dreams? Will Cal be able to come to terms with his past and get on with his future? Or will an unwelcome guest put their romance on the rocks forever?

You’re invited to the wedding of the year as Matt, Cal, Mrs. Mulroney, Mr. Banks, Tilly and Angus return for more hilarious antics, swooning romance and a surprise that none of them will see coming!

** Sequel to The Billionaire’s Boyfriend

AMAZON US: https://amzn.to/2wqQdKt

AMAZON UK: https://amzn.to/2NAN4OU

AMAZON CA: https://amzn.to/2Ly6XEl

The Billionaires Wedding Teaser 1

EXCERPT

From the balcony of our suite I watched the reflection of the stars twinkle on the water and the lights atop the fishing boat masts bob and sway like fireflies in the night. I stood for a long, lingering moment staring at the view while the warm sea breeze played with the hem of the hotel bathrobe I was wearing.

I could hear the shower running from inside the suite and I imagined Cal standing beneath the running water, sparkling rivulets trickling down his perfect body.

I turned from the view to face our palatial suite with its four-pillar king-sized bed, antique marble writing desk, crystal chandelier and the lavish eighteenth-century Italian sofas with satin trim. On an ornate coffee table between the sofas sat a tray containing the remains of the most delicious cheese platter I’d ever eaten. Leftover figs, crumbling, aged cheddar and gooey gorgonzola lay among the scattered ruskits and biscotti I wastoo full to finish.

In that moment there was no denying I was truly, utterly content.

Sure, there had been other times in my life when I could remember being happy, but not like this.

I was standing on a balcony overlooking the Mediterranean, full to the brim with fine wine and cheese, listening to the shower run and knowing at any moment it would stop and the love of my life—the man I was about to marry—would step out of the bathroom wearing a hotel robe… or perhaps just a towel… or perhaps nothing at all, before crossing the room and kissing me on the lips.

If this was a dream, I would have done anything to never wake up from it.

The shower stopped.

My heart fluttered with anticipation.

I saw Cal’s shadow moving about the bathroom.

And then he appeared in the doorway.

Yes, he was naked.

Sort of.

On his head he had a towel wrapped around his hair like a woman from a 1950s beauty salon.

On his feet he paraded two ridiculously fluffy white slippers that looked like stuffed rabbits, compliments of the hotel.

“What do you think?” he said with a grin, gesturing at the slippers as he stood there completely naked between his forehead and his ankles.

I had to smile.

Then I had to laugh.

“You don’t like them?” he asked, feigning offense.

I shook my head. “You know something. Even when you strive to be imperfect, you do it perfectly.”

“I don’t even know what that sentence means.”

“I’m not entirely sure I do, either.”

“Then why don’t you stop being a writer and start making your way over to the bed, my future Signor Croft-Darcy.”

“That’s future Signor Darcy-Croft to you, thank you very much. We’ve had this chat.”

“Just so long as our names are side-by-side that’s all I care about. I want the world to know you’re mine.” He kicked off the slippers and pulled off the head towel and strutted confidently over to me, standing before me on the balcony naked and unafraid who might see.

“Aren’t you worried the paparazzi might be watching through a telescopic lens?

He pretended to be offended once again. “What are you saying? That someone needs a telescopic lens to see my cock?”

“Good Lord, no,” I grinned, reaching down for his flaccid dick before I began stroking it. “Although right now it’s seems to be a little short of its full potential.”

“That can be rectified,” Cal said, taking hold of the fluffy cords on my robe and pulling me back into the suite toward the bed.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Geoffrey Knight is the author of more than 30 gay fiction novels, novellas and short stories, ranging in genre from gay adventure, gay romance, gay suspense and gay comedies. He is the recipient of two Rainbow Awards including Best Mystery Winner and Best Overall Gay Fiction Runner-up. His work has been featured in several anthologies including Best Gay Erotica 2013, and he appeared as Guest of Honor at the inaugural Rainbow Con in Florida, 2014.

Geoffrey has worked in advertising, politics and journalism, but nothing is as fun as telling stories. He lives with his partner, their baby daughter, two dogs and two cats in a rambling old house in North Queensland, Australia, where the paint is fraying and life is good.

Amazon Author Page

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Review Tour – Flare (North Star Trilogy #3) by Posy Roberts (excerpt and giveaway)

 

Buy Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK
 
Cover Design: Olive Us Designs
 
North Star Trilogy
 
Book #1 – Spark – Amazon US | Amazon UK
Book #2 – Fusion – Amazon US | Amazon UK
 
Blurb
 

After tremendous loss, Hugo and Kevin seek stability for themselves and the kids. They never expected family and friends to toss obstacles in the way of their happily ever after.


Love and family to fight for.


Hugo and Kevin strive to put their lives back together after tragedy, doing everything in their power to create a stable life. Hugo’s acting career is back on track, and Kevin hires a nanny to help with the kids as they discover their new normal. But when Erin’s parents seek full custody of Brooke and Finn, that stability is shattered.


With Hugo working in LA or New York, the distance from his new family gets to him. At home, the nanny’s hands-on approach leaves Hugo feeling pushed out, so he leaves his beloved apartment and eclectic neighborhood behind to move in with Kevin.


Hugo has a hard time fitting in with the suburbanites with Kevin’s passive-aggressive “friends” making Hugo feel anything but welcome. As the custody case heads to mediation, Brooke is bullied about having two dads, and Hugo realizes his mere presence might be doing more harm than good.


Hugo must decide to stay and fight for his family or leave and let them live in peace.


Excerpt


Rude Awakening

A sharp knock followed by the doorbell clanging woke Kevin and Hugo. They yanked on last night’s discarded clothes and headed downstairs, Lulu trailing behind, her tail wagging a mile a minute.

When Kevin opened the door, a man he didn’t recognize gave him a nod. “Are you Kevin Magnus?”

“Yes.”

Hugo struggled to scoop Lulu into his arms; she was desperate to meet this stranger.

The man handed Kevin a manila envelope. “You’ve been served.”

“What the hell?” Hugo asked as he shut the door.

“I don’t know. Let’s see.” Kevin opened the envelope and pulled out papers. “Notice of Motion and Motion for Change of Custody,” he read, not believing his eyes. He flipped through the pages, scanning to see what this was really about.

“Erin’s parents are trying to get custody of my kids. No way in hell is that happening. No way in hell.”

 

Read Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 5 Star Review here.
Author Bio


Posy Roberts started reading romance when she was young, sneaking peeks at adult books long before she should’ve. Textbooks eventually replaced the novels, and for years she existed without reading for fun. When she finally picked up a romance two decades later, it was like slipping on a soft hoodie . . . that didn’t quite fit like it used to. She wanted something more.


She wanted to read about men falling in love with each other. She wanted to explore beyond the happily ever after and see characters navigate the unpredictability of life. So Posy sat down at her keyboard to write the books she wanted to read.


Her stories have been USA Today’s Happily Ever After Must-Reads and Rainbow Award finalists. When she’s not writing, she’s spending time with her family and friends and doing anything possible to get out of grocery shopping and cooking.

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In the Spotlight: Polished (Polished #1) by Alyssa Turner

MMF Menage full of real emotion and characters you’ll know.

Read it and get lost in their story…Listen and find yourself in the center of it!

Start with Book One, Polished.

It seemed like they had everything, but they didn’t have Jack.

Without question Spencer Hartley burns hot for his girlfriend, Rory, but his other desires are hidden down deep. He might blow things up for a living and climb mountains for kicks, but the scariest thing in his life is the truth about his sexuality.

Jack Rothman works hard and plays dirty. After long, demanding days in his family’s engineering firm, he indulges in the pleasures of silk restraints and fine wine. Lots of hot meaningless sex helps him forget that he’s suffocating, with no one to give him a reason to breathe.

When a catastrophic accident traps Spencer in a flooded subway tunnel with Jack, they need each other to survive. But something strong stirs down there in the darkness, and it’s more than their desperation to live. There’s a spark between them that’s impossible to ignore.

Rory Campbell would love to give Spencer the one thing he doesn’t have, the freedom to explore his secret desires. But how does that fit into her picture-perfect relationship? When Jack invites the couple to his sprawling Hamptons beach house, Rory realizes that she has secret desires of her own—the kind only Jack’s Dominant hand across her bare bottom can satisfy..

**SAMPLE Polished in Duet Audio: http://bit.ly/PolishedAudioPreview
**LISTEN to Polished: http://bit.ly/PolishedAudiobook
**READ Polished: https://amzn.to/2MmIRxN

About the Author:

Alyssa Turner‘s books address a woman’s desire to really have it all–including the things she’s not supposed to want. Her stories often deal with challenging circumstances and are explicit and emotional, because erotic romance should leave you with lingering images and a thoughtful smile. She knows her way around a menage romance and doesn’t spare the tough stuff along the way. If you want to make a few new friends, get to know the characters in her books. She hopes their triumphs and struggles will stick with you.

Links:

Mailing List: http://alyssaturnerwrites.com/p/loading.html

Website: http://alyssaturnerwrites.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/imagine.alyssa

Book Bub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/alyssa–turner

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/AlyssaTurner

Twitter: https://twitter.com/alyturn

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/alyturn/

Amazon: http://amazon.com/author/alyssaturner

You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/user/0alyssaturner0

In the Spotlight: Private Charter by N.R. Walker

 

 

 

Private Charter by N.R. Walker

Published August 24th 2018

Sales Links:  Amazon

 

M/M Contemporary Romance, 252 pages

 

About Private Charter….

Stuart Jenner’s job is high stress, high stakes, and everything he’s strived for. So why, when the apex of his career is within reach, does he stumble? At his doctor’s insistence, he books a privately chartered yacht to sail around the Whitsundays for two weeks of sun, surf, and sex. When his friend-with-benefits bails on him at the last minute, Stuart decides to go alone.

Foster Knight left the rat race behind six years ago, bought a yacht, and now calls the Great Barrier Reef his home. Sailing tourists around tropical waters is all in a day’s work, and he’s never been happier. When his next client arrives alone, the two-week charter will be the most private job he’s ever had.

Foster can see how stressed and exhausted Stuart is, and he promises him extensive rest and relaxation. Stuart slowly realises his original plan for two weeks of sun, surf, and sex might not be lost yet. Confined to a yacht, isolated by aqua-coloured oceans and the sweltering sun, Stuart and Foster are about to find out just how hot the tropics can get

About the Author

Author also writes as A. Voyeur

N.R. Walker is an Australian author, who loves her genre of gay romance. She loves writing and spends far too much time doing it, but wouldn’t have it any other way.

She is many things; a mother, a wife, a sister, a writer. She has pretty, pretty boys who she gives them life with words.

She likes it when they do dirty, dirty things…but likes it even more when they fall in love. She used to think having people in her head talking to her was weird, until one day she happened across other writers who told her it was normal.

She’s been writing ever since…

Website
http://nrwalker.net/
Twitter
NR_Walker

https://www.facebook.com/N.R.WalkerAu…

A MelanieM Review: Private Charter by N.R. Walker

Rating: 5 stars out of 5

Stuart Jenner’s job is high stress, high stakes, and everything he’s strived for. So why, when the apex of his career is within reach, does he stumble? At his doctor’s insistence, he books a privately chartered yacht to sail around the Whitsundays for two weeks of sun, surf, and sex. When his friend-with-benefits bails on him at the last minute, Stuart decides to go alone.

Foster Knight left the rat race behind six years ago, bought a yacht, and now calls the Great Barrier Reef his home. Sailing tourists around tropical waters is all in a day’s work, and he’s never been happier. When his next client arrives alone, the two-week charter will be the most private job he’s ever had.

Foster can see how stressed and exhausted Stuart is, and he promises him extensive rest and relaxation. Stuart slowly realises his original plan for two weeks of sun, surf, and sex might not be lost yet. Confined to a yacht, isolated by aqua-coloured oceans and the sweltering sun, Stuart and Foster are about to find out just how hot the tropics can get.

I hate to admit how many times I’ve reread this story already, especially that ending!   Something about Private Charter by N.R. Walker has just gotten under my skin.  When I need something happy to think about before closing my eyes, I reach for my Kindle and that fabulously moving ending that I know now by heart.  True, I believe I can recite it!

If you had asked me if I would have had that reaction from reading that blurb, I probably would have said no, not even with N.R. Walker as the author.  The timeline seems too short and the plot a little light. I should have known better.  This is N.R. Walker after all, one of my favorite author’s and this story is so much more than it seems.

Stuart isn’t just stressed out and exhausted.  He is at a crossroads in his life and a particular set of circumstances have led him to a sailing yacht and man who might be the only one to understand his dilemma and situation.   Against a gorgeous background of sailing and the ocean, Walker brings us two men oddly not that different from each other.  The characters of Foster Knight, owner and Captain of the White Knight and Stuart Jenner, corporate financier, are carefully crafted and so well layered that I was into both men immediately.  I was pulled onto their lives as they sailed the Whitsundays, exploring each other, letting Stuart experience the f freedom of being himself and revelling in it.

We did as well.  The chemistry that builds with them is amazing.  We feel the power and beauty of being under sail, the awe of the sea, and the joy it brings them both.  Plus the terrible pull of the deadline that the end of the voyage has on them both.

I was so caught up in every part of this story that I didn’t realize how quickly it was flying by.  When that incredible ending came (not the epilogue mind you, love that) but the ending that made my heart swell …well I wasn’t ready to let go of these men.  I wanted a movie, another book, anything!!!

Yep, hooked but good.

So I settle for rereading it.  Over and over.

Yes, I absolutely recommend this to all lovers of contemporary romance.  It’s turned out to be one of my favorites.    See if it will be one of yours.

Cover art is sexy, hot, but doesn’t really make me think of Stuart.

Sales Links:  Amazon

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 1st edition, 244 pages
Published August 22nd 2018
ASINB07GSKKVTT
Edition LanguageEnglish

A Lucy Review: Stumbling in the Dark by Deja Black

Rating: 3 stars  out of 5

In this novella, 94 pages on my iPad, we have Jake, a 12-year-old boy who has been abused by his stepfather and his mother.  While on a camping trip Jake runs away,  knowing that to stay would be tantamount to worsening abuse.  His stepfather sounds like a pedophile and has been watching Jake a little too much, between all the verbal and physical abuse.  “He’d had to struggle to move out of Brad’s spidery touches when they were just a little too much to the left of weird as he gripped Jake and yanked him close…” Jake is lucky enough to run to the circus, where a lovely circus couple, Colleen and Leonardo, realize the abuse and take him in as their own.   They become the mom and dad Jake should have had. I loved that immediately, when Jake’s biological mother and stepfather come looking for him, Colleen asks if Jake’s family had come.  “No, amore mio. Not his family.  A woman and a man.”   He knows right away there’s something not right.

Fast forward ten years and Jake is now 22 and a knife thrower in the circus.  He has been in love with Blaine, the lion tamer, since he was young but Blaine has never shown any interest in him.  We are told this has happened but we don’t see it, we don’t see their history. Jake says Blaine treats him like a child but again, we aren’t shown that.  Since Blaine doesn’t want Jake, Jake tries to soothe himself by sleeping around.

What I loved were Jake’s parents, especially Colleen.  She is the catalyst for Blaine getting his head out of his butt.  “Now, we can continue this conversation, or you can intercede before he’s found another vapid fool to dip his cock in.”  She pulls no punches and she wants her boy happy.

There were things that just didn’t work for me.  Blaine not bothering to even attempt to mention the shifter aspect until after he’s done something permanent, the whole dream aspect, and the fact that Blaine says “I wondered what to do because I couldn’t envision leaving you…” yet that was exactly what he had planned to do, so that was confusing.

All in all, it was probably just too short to make the story rich.  I needed more backstory of the Pride, to be shown more instead of just told, and even more of Jake’s biological parents. They just drop out of the picture. I wish the book had been longer with more detail, I would have connected with it more.

The cover art, a headless very muscled torso, must be a stock cover because I just read another book, Lush Lunches, with the exact same cover.

Sales LInks:  Extasy Books  | Amazon

Book Details:

ebook, 34 pages
Published June 14th 2018 by Extasy Books
ISBN139781487419325
Edition LanguageEnglish

Release Blitz and Giveaway – Nightwings Collection by V.L. Locey

 

Buy Links:

Amazon US: https://amzn.to/2Q3kzLf

Amazon UK: https://amzn.to/2Q0N1NI

 
Cover Design: Sloan J Designs
 
Blurb
 

The Nightwings Complete Collection contains all three novellas in the New York Nightwings MM hockey romance trilogy. The first two—On Broadway and Rookie Moves—were previously available in the Changing on the Fly charity anthologies. The third novella—Transitions—is a brand-new story written just for this collection. All three books are filled with passion, romance, humor, and fast-paced hockey action!


The set includes –


On Broadway (New York Nightwings #1)
Rookie Moves (New York Nightwings #2)
Transitions (New York Nightwings #3)

V.L. Locey loves worn jeans, yoga, belly laughs, Dr. Who, Torchwood, walking, reading and writing lusty tales, Greek mythology, the New York Rangers, comic books, and coffee. (Not necessarily in that order.) She shares her life with her husband, her daughter, one dog, two cats, two Jersey steers and a flock of assorted domestic fowl.


When not writing lusty tales, she can be found enjoying her day with her menagerie in the rolling hills of Pennsylvania with a cup of fresh java in hand.

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