Category: Contemporary fiction

A Lucy Review: And The Next Thing You Know by Chase Taylor Hackett

Rated 4.5 stars out of 5

Jeffrey Bornic has this vision of his idea partner.  He will be gorgeous, successful, fit, intelligent, socially adept, etc etc etc.   He was dumped by his musician boyfriend, Roger, months ago and he’s still working on the new partner thing.  Maybe because

“Got up in a bad mood. 

Again. 

It had been a stretch of bad moods lately.  Seriously.  Since like October.

I suppose that means since Roger.  Old boyfriend.  Make of that what you will.”

The thing is, Jeffrey is kind of an arrogant jerk.  He’s a lawyer and he puts a lot of time into that. He has one really good friend, Rebecca, who works at the same law firm, and that’s sort of it.  He works all the time and he can be so rude. 

When his apartment is under construction, this elaborate remodel, he turns to Rebecca for a spot on his couch. Problem is, Rebecca’s firebrand little brother, Theo, has already staked a claim on that spot on the couch.  The first time the two meet is a comedy of errors and Jeffrey comes off looking like an idiot.  Theo is a songwriter and is short, red-haired, snarky and homeless right now.  He will not, however, be jobless.  “As long as you’re sleeping on my couch, you’ll have a job.  Or it’s back to the farm.  This is not the Rebecca McPherson Unemployed Songwriters Retreat.”  Where does Rebecca find him a job?  At their law firm of course!  Jeffrey is facing not only the man who makes him crazy but finds out that Roger’s best friend, Tommy, is now working for the firm as well.

The two of them end up having to share the couch for a while and they spend all their time insulting each other, something starts to change.  At least for Jeffrey it does.  Theo has a maybe-boyfriend named Madison who treats him pretty negligently but he’s got harassing Jeffrey to brighten his days.  I admit, there were a couple times, such as blindsiding Jeffrey at the party with Roger, showing up where Jeffrey was having dinner with parents or the aftermath of Hamilton, where I thought, Theo is too much.  He’s out to hurt people.  Maybe it was because Jeffrey seems to be really in love for the first time (Roger W. Prescott Memorial Project notwithstanding) that he appears the more vulnerable one here.  He’s the one doing the sweet things (the shoelaces, omg) and trying hard.  Of course, his past actions of being a douche come back to bite both of them and that was painful.

Thank heaven for Tommy, who befriends Theo at work and is the voice of reason when Theo needs it.   We really, really need Tommy’s book. 

The story is told in alternating first person point of view and we also get Tommy’s thoughts.  I loved being able to connect with everyone like that.  Getting to see Jeffrey grow as a person, become stronger, was a glorious thing.  There were times I wanted to hug him, such as when he shows Theo his under-construction apartment, and times I wanted to hug Theo and times I wanted to shake them both.  They both do some growing up here and it was wonderful.

I have to admit I read this before the first in this series and I am so glad I did.  The Jeffrey Bornic of this book is snarky, obnoxious and arrogant but he isn’t vile as I thought he was in the first book, Where Do I Start?  Had I read the series in order I wouldn’t have bothered with Jeffrey’s book and I’d have missed out.  The Jeffrey of this book was serious.

Completely recommend this book, especially for those who love characters who redeem themselves and those who love the snark. 

The cover art was sort of middle of the road for me.  Headless torso in a long sleeved t-shirt was, I assume, Theo, with Jeffrey’s hands clasped around his middle.  While I liked the idea of the closeness, I was disappointed we didn’t get the red hair that Theo is so known for.

Sales Links:  Amazon

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 290 pages
Published February 6th 2018 by Lyrical Press
Original TitleAnd the Next Thing You Know . . .
ASINB071VHV289
Edition LanguageEnglish
SeriesWhy You? #2

A Barb the Zany Old Lady Review: Riven (Riven #1) by Roan Parrish

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

Theo Decker is a rock star—his dream come true. But he hates it. Give him his music and he’s happy, but give him paparazzi, crowds of fans, and no privacy and he’s immobilized with fear. He’s even socially awkward around his bandmates. Riven was a three-person band looking for a lead singer who could compose music when they happened to connect—a match made in heaven, or at least in rock star heaven. But they were all friends before Theo joined them so he continually finds himself on the outside looking in. Uncomfortable is almost too mild a word to describe how he feels both on and off stage when he’s on tour with them.

Caleb Blake Whitman is a formerly famous brilliant musician and a currently recovering drug addict. His fear of relapsing again (his fourth time) is so huge that he’s secluded himself at a cabin in the woods and spends most of his time alone and in his vegetable garden. A former bandmate and lover, Rhys, visits frequently and supports him wholeheartedly. He also has support from his sponsor, Huey, an old codger who says little, but knows much about life.

When the two meet, it’s like the stars collide. Theo is over-the-top excited to meet someone like Caleb and Caleb is in awe of Theo’s talent. As their relationship moves from friends to friends-with-benefits to more, however, Caleb is frightened of the thought of relapse. And he knows it will happen if he allows himself to enter Theo’s world. After all, each time he tried to stay clean in the past, it was something related to touring with his band that triggered him into relapse, and though he wants this time to be different, he’s deathly afraid it won’t be.

What happens along the way makes for a complex and beautiful love story. The author’s treatment of addiction, recovery, triggers, and the need for a sponsor and an outlet for the fears is spot-on. Her portrayal of Theo as a young, insecure musical genius was totally different from what I expected and absolutely perfect for this story. Caleb and Theo belong together and readers should enjoy their journey. It’s not an easy one but there is an HEA and for that I was most thankful.

I highly recommend this story to lovers of MM romance, especially to those who love a story featuring musicians, age gap, hurt-comfort, addiction recovery, and just plain love.

A note about the cover: This is a stunning cover – the best I’ve seen in a long time, unfortunately the cover artist is not listed in the ARC. Most of the cover is solid black with a view of the MC, Theo Decker, through the thick lettering of the title: RIVEN. The author’s name appears below in thin white lettering. This cover is unique and extremely well done.

Sales LInks:  Penguin House | Amazon

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 1st edition, 235 pages
Expected publication: May 29th 2018 by Loveswept
Original TitleRiven
ASINB0755Z3SH1
Edition LanguageEnglish
SeriesRiven #1

An Ali Audiobook Review: The Quarterback by Mackenzie Blair and Greg Boudreaux (Narrator)

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Matt Lancaster is the star quarterback at Bodine College, a small Southern Division II school with an ultra-conservative Dean of Athletics. Matt is also very much in the closet, and he thinks he’s kept his secret well hidden. Until his best friends take him to a happy endings massage parlor and request a male masseuse for him.

In walks Trevor Kim, a gorgeous, pierced, tattooed fellow Bodine student who does massages—without happy endings—to pay for school after his family kicked him out for being gay. Trevor takes one look at Matt and breaks all his own rules about mixing business with pleasure.

Matt needs to keep his scholarship, win the National Championship, and survive his asshole father. Instead, he falls in love. Trevor needs to accept that the football god is meant to end up with him rather than a perky cheerleader. It’s time for a happy ever after for both of them.

I think I may have enjoyed this book more had I read it years ago when I first started reading this genre.  Now, all I could focus on were the never ending stereotypes and the less than politically correct statements.  (The side characters are all kind of horrible every time they open their mouths.)  I feel like in today’s age this type of stuff is not ok and I’m not sure how half of the stuff in this book slipped past editors, especially editors from a LGBTQIA publishing house.   
 
As for the plot itself, it was enjoyable.  Both of the MC’s were likable and I thought their romance was really sweet in places. 
 
This was narrated by Greg Boudreaux and I thought he did a really good job.  I liked his work with both of the MC’s as well as all of the side characters. 
 
I feel like I should have more good things to say about this because the story itself was not bad.  It was in fact pretty good in a lot of ways.  At the end of the day though I just couldn’t get past my annoyance at the stereotypes.  I’m giving it a middle of the road rating because although I found a lot of the dialogue offensive that might not be the same for other readers.
 
Cover:  I think the cover is nice but it does not stand out from many other covers out there.
Sales Links:  Riptide Publishing | Audible
Audiobook Details:
9 hrs 35 mins
Audible Audio, 10 pages
Published April 17th 2018 by Riptide Publishing (first published September 9th 2017)
Original TitleThe Quarterback
ASINB07C7MYH7X
Edition LanguageEnglish

An Ali Review: Returning to the Land of the Morning Calm​ by ​Hans M Hirschi ​

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

Martin is eighty-four years old, a Korean War veteran, living quietly in a retirement home in upstate New York. His days are ruled by the routine of the staff, but in his thoughts and dreams, Martin often returns to the Seoul of his youth, and the lost true love of his life. Two close friends urge him to travel back to search for his love. What awaits Martin in Korea, more than six decades after he left the country on a troop transport back to the U.S.?

Returning to the Land of the Morning Calm is a story of friendship, love and family, in all its many shapes, across time, generations and cultures.

I work with the elderly and spend a lot of time listening to them as they do life review so I was really excited about this book.  I thought it had the potential to be an amazing book.  Unfortunately the execution did not work for me.
The story goes back and forth between the past and the present and that aspect was fine.  My major complaint was how detailed and drawn out everything was.  The majority of the book is about what Martin is doing at the assisted living he lives at, how he meets his friends, the conversations they have, what they eat and their meals, what they drink at their meals, what they say to the waitress at those meals.  On and on the minor details went.  I was quickly bored and found myself skimming entire sections.  I did not care what they ate or what they did for Christmas.
 What I wanted was more time with Martin and the man he loved.  I wanted to see them fall in love in the past sections and I wanted to see them reunited in the present sections.  I didn’t get any of that.  We barely see the couple in past and what scenes we do see are filled with uninteresting detail.  There’s not emotions, no feelings.  In the present we get a ton of detail on how Martin makes the friends he travels to Korea with but we get zero time with him and Ji-Hoon once again.
Unfortunately this did not work for me at all.  While the technicality of the writing was fine, the content was dry and overly detailed in my opinion.
Cover:  The cover was done by Natasha Snow and I think she did a good job on it.  It’s a lovely cover.
Book Details:
 Kindle Edition, 200 pages
Published May 21st 2018 by Beaten Track Publishing
ASINB07C8FFR4D

An Alisa Review: Veiled Dominance (Club Rebellion #2) by Evelise Archer

Rating:  3 stars out of 5

Shane Wise is a Dom and part owner of a popular BDSM club in Rittenhouse Square, Club Rebellion. A tumultuous past has led him to an almost perfect present, except Shane has a secret. A secret that could destroy his reputation in the world in which he loves to live-BDSM.

 

Deacon Archer is also a Dom and part owner of Club Rebellion and he is in love with Shane Wise. Together Shane and Deacon must decide if the love they feel can withstand the scrutiny they fear if their relationship is revealed.

Can two dominants truly forge a relationship? Will secret desires open up a new world and allow Shane to be the man he was intended to be or will veiled dominance get in the way?

I had read the first book in the series quite a while ago before it was republished but never got around to this one.  Shane is always second guessing himself about his and Deacon’s relationship having kept it secret for and unknown amount of time.  Deacon is ready to share their relationship with everyone but he is sensitive to Shane’s feelings as well.

Shane hasn’t had a great life before he met his friends in college but has made the best of his situation and has succeeded.  I didn’t feel quite the connection to Deacon as I did Shane because there wasn’t anything big to connect with but I loved watching him care and love on Shane when the man needed it and how willing he was to show Shane that he can be whoever he needs to be.  They have a wonderful group of friends who seem to fully support each other.  I am interested to see if this author continues this series now that they are being republished to maybe include Tony, the bartender and others in the club.

The cover art by Winterheart Design just didn’t work for me, I think if the model had been in a different pose it would have helped a lot.

Sales Links: MLR Press | Amazon

Book Details:

ebook, 73 pages

Published: April 13, 2018 by MLR Press

ISBN: 978-1-641-22-1306

Edition Language: English

Series: Club Rebellion #2

A Lila Review: Object of Desire by Dal Maclean

Disclaimer: If promiscuity, open relationships, or perceived cheating are deal breakers for you, this isn’t your book. 

Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Tom Gray is one of the world’s top models–an effortless object of desire.

Self-contained, elusive and always in control, he’s accustomed to living life entirely on his own terms.

But when Tom comes under suspicion in the gory death of his employer, his world spirals into chaos.

Someone’s framing him. Someone’s stalking him.

And as old secrets come to light, Tom finds his adversary always one step ahead.

Will Foster is the only man Tom trusts to help. But Tom brutally burned all bridges between them two years before, and Will paid a bitter price.

If he wants to survive, Tom must prove his innocence to Will–and to the world.

Object of Desire should not be confused with a romance novel. It is a well-written mix of police procedural and a thriller with romantic undertones. I used the same disclaimer than above when reviewing Bitter Legacy and it applies here quite well. By the way, I didn’t make the connection between the two books until I was done reading. And to be clear, there’s no need to read them one after the other. They just complemented each other.

In this story, we don’t get to see Will and Tom falling in love and having a fairytale HEA. We get to accompany them in their search to uncover the reasons behind the collapse of Tom’s life and are witnesses to all the machinations and actions that resulted in a new path to their worlds. There’s a lot of exposure at the beginning of the story and it doesn’t stop until the end. I would have been happy with a bittersweet ending too.

Dal Maclean knitted a wonderful set of characters with deep backgrounds and interrelations. We are given enough information to make our own conclusions and to switch those conclusions with every new piece of information presented. There’s not one single suspect or lead to followed. It is a complex web of possibilities that keeps the reader guessing until the last minute. Only to have them question if they arrived at the right conclusion.

The plot leads change often enough to make the story engaging. The reader is always trying to figure out if they have the right players and set of events right, or if they have been misled. Trying to figure out the end gets harder with each page, and there’s no way to know until the last part of the story. Anything before that would be wrong, and even then, it’s hard to know if you are correct.

All the descriptions, from clothing, decorations, smells, locations, food, etc. added to the flavor of the story. Cars, traffic, day & time, weather, and many other items make Object of Desire more than a tale and more of an experience. I’m glad to see the author didn’t Americanize this book either. There’s no need to provided comparisons about the two country systems or explain terms or phrases. It makes the whole package credible and authentic. I would love to hear the audiobook to be further submerged in this world.

The characters were marvelous, sophisticated, and intricate.  I do have a sweet spot for Nick and I need to accept is due to the great work the author did to bring him to life. He’s definitely my favorite. At the same time, it was hard for me to warm up to Tom. Which is also due to a great characterization by the author. Unfortunately, it’s the reason why this is not a perfect five stars’ book for me; even if the overall book is stellar. Every other character in between has a purpose, a story, and is more than a generic name on a page. I’m still impartial about Will.

If you are not used to complex books with intense psychological turns, this book can be overwhelming. But, at the same time, it’s rewarding to get to the end to understand how everything comes together. It would definitely make a great TV movie or show. It has the potential to be more than a once read.

The cover by KaNaXa matches the previous book by this author and it has the same issue. At first glance, it’s hard to understand the content of the cover. Especially if looking at a thumbprint. When taking the time, all the elements are present in the story.

Sale Links: Blind Eye | Amazon | Nook 

ebook, 396 pages
Published: May 22, 2018, by Blind Eye Books
ISBN: 1935560549 (ISBN13: 9781935560548)
Edition Language: English

A Lila Review: Swings & Roundabouts (The Power of Zero #4) by Jackie Keswick

Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Jack Horwood. Vigilante, hacker, security specialist. Partner to Gareth Flynn. Adoptive father to their two teenage boys. Happily juggling long days and short nights.

Gareth Flynn. Ex-army officer. Ace negotiator. Righter of wrongs. Family man. Away from home more often than he likes.

Desperate for a relationship reset, Jack treats Gareth to a romantic getaway and Sweden’s frigid peace gives them the break they both need. But Jack’s a trouble magnet and the next dead body just a wild skidoo ride away.

Can love, teamwork, and trust survive the troubles that follow them around? Can Jack save what’s become so important to him?

Swings and Roundabouts shows the family Gareth and Jack have created during this series. I love Gareth and it’s interesting to see how much he had changed, and at the same time, has stayed the same as he makes Jack his priority. Jack has grown as a person too but his quirky personality still intact.

The story has three parts, not equally divided but well-balanced. The story starts pretty much into Jack’s and Gareth’s day to day routine. With how Nico and Daniel are integrating into regular life and how they are adjusting to the up and downs. The second part includes the romantic getaway, and the last part shows how everything comes together in the end.

There’s a lot of introspect and some self-recrimination from Gareth’s and Jack’s points of view. Dealing with the kids, their jobs, and their relationship is taking a toll on them, but at the same time is making them get closer. They have a great support system which is also present in this story. It’s nice to see everyone back for this installment.

As always, the author descriptions are great. Especially, anything related to food. Once again, this book has made me hungry, even if I’m not adventurous enough to try to half the recipes.  The weather was another nice integration in the story, as well as the small details as clothing and decorations. And the humor it’s on spot as always.

Overall, this is a great addition to the series. I hope this is not the last time we get to enjoy this couple and their band of misfits and adventures.

The cover by Maria Fanning shows all the elements from previous books–colors, silhouettes, and Jack’s tattoo–to create a cohesive cover. Even when it’s not too appealing.

Sale Links:  Amazon | Nook

Book Details:

ebook, 340 pages
Published: May 13, 2018, by Jackie Keswick
ISBN: 9781717103819
Edition Language: English

Series: The Power of Zero
Book #1: Job Hunt
Book #2: Ghosts
Book #3: House Hunt
Book #4: Swings & Roundabouts