Category: Contemporary fiction

A Barb the Zany Old Lady Review: Secret Santa by Jay Northcote

Rating: 5 stars out of 5

Jay Northcote’s stories get better and better each year.  This one pokes a bit of fun at dating apps, as Luke, who happens to be working as Santa this year while awaiting the start of a new job, spots a guy on his app who seems to be interested in more than just a quick hookup.  But as Luke’s getting older, he’s getting more interested in finding some permanence—a steady relationship with just one man. 

Theo is thrilled that his first foray into the dating world since his son, Archie, was born four years ago seems to be a potential success.  The only problem is that as they were chatting online, Luke made a comment that indicated he didn’t like kids.  So Theo makes a decision that will drive the plot of this story most of the way to the end—he decides not to tell Luke about Archie.  That can wait until later.  If they hit it off, Theo will then explain that he and his high school girlfriend had a child four years ago and they share custody of the sweet little boy. 

I enjoyed this plot bunny and really liked Archie. He wasn’t overly precocious.  He was just a sweet little fellow.  And when Theo takes his little guy to the mall to visit Santa, Theo is impressed that Santa seems to really like working with the kids.  On the flip side, Luke is shocked when the little boy who comes to see him happens to be accompanied by a gorgeous daddy—Theo!   Luke decides not to tell Theo who he is, thinking he’d wait until their first real date and Theo would share all about his son.  But the more time that goes by, the deeper both men get into the lies and when Archie convinces his daddy to come back to see Santa two more times, Luke starts to get really angry with Theo. 

How this resolves is fun and interesting and just adds to the overall joy of the holiday season.  A very light and uplifting story, with the implied moral of being truthful (even on dating apps!), I found it very difficult to put this down and literally consumed it as fast as a box of chocolates.  It was just as delicious, and I highly recommend it to all lovers of stories of men with children, seasonal romances, and of course, a very happy ending. 

~~~~~

Cover art by Garrett Leigh features a handsome, bearded young man, no doubt representing Luke. Though there is a Santa hat on the page, the cover doesn’t feature a lot of holiday glitter—a good thing in my opinion. 

Buy Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 1st edition, 150 pages
Published November 24th 2017 by Jaybird Press
ASINB077MKNWD1
Edition LanguageEnglish

Review Tour – Secret Santa by Jay Northcote

 

Buy Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK
 
Length: 38,000 words approx.
 
Cover Design: Garrett Leigh @ Black Jazz Design
 
Blurb
 

Keeping secrets is never a good way to start a relationship

Theo hardly has time to date. Between work and caring for his four-year-old son there aren’t many hours left over. He’s lonely though, so he joins a hook-up app and starts chatting to a guy called Luke. Luke seems friendly and they arrange to meet. Theo doesn’t mention that he has a child. It’s early days and he’s worried about putting Luke off before they get to know each other.

Luke is currently working as Santa at the local shopping mall. He figures Theo never has to know. Christmas will be over soon and Luke will move on to a new, less embarrassing job. He’s surprised when Theo and a little boy visit Santa one afternoon. Theo doesn’t recognise Luke, and Luke realises he’s not the only one with a secret.

Despite misgivings on both sides, they start dating, and the chemistry is amazing. But as Christmas approaches their secrets pile up like colourful packages under the tree. If they’re not careful, they’ll lose the best gift of all—each other.

 



November 24 – Gay Book Reviews, Mikku-chan
November 27 – Out Of My Head, Mirrigold: Mutterings & Musings
December 1 – The Day Before You Came, Millsy Loves Books, V’s Reads
December 4 – BooksLaidBareBoys
December 6 – Drops of Ink, Au Boudoir Ecarlate
December 8 – My Fiction Nook
December 12 – Valerie Ullmer, Padme’s Library, Nicole’s Book Musings, Wicked Faerie’s Tales & Reviews
December 14 – Books Lovers 4Ever, Making It Happen, Slashsessed, Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words, Wicked Reads
December 16 – Jim’s Reading Room, Bayou Book Junkie, Xtreme Delusions, The Way She Reads

 

Read Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 5 star Review Here

Author Bio

Jay lives just outside Bristol in the West of England. He comes from a family of writers, but always used to believe that the gene for fiction writing had passed him by. He spent years only ever writing emails, articles, or website content.

One day, Jay decided to try and write a short story—just to see if he could—and found it rather addictive. He hasn’t stopped writing since.

Jay writes contemporary romance about men who fall in love with other men. He has five books published by Dreamspinner Press, and also self-publishes under the imprint Jaybird Press. Many of his books are now available as audiobooks.

Jay is transgender and was formerly known as she/her.

 

Website: https://jaynorthcote.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Jay_Northcote
Facebook profile: https://www.facebook.com/dellamere
Facebook author page: https://www.facebook.com/jaynorthcotefiction
Newsletter: http://tinyurl.com/JN-readers
Jayís books: http://author.to/JayNorthcote

 
 
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A MelanieM Review: Love Happens Anyway by RJ Scott

Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Hiring a boyfriend for Christmas; what can go wrong?

Derek is facing yet another Christmas where his life feels out of control. He has a new career that doesn’t feel like his, and parents who would just love to see him settled down. All he needs is a temporary buffer for the parties he has to attend, and for his parents to leave him alone. Enter, Luke.

Luke is twenty-thousand dollars short for the renovations on Halligans; his family’s bar in New York’s Financial District. A favor for a buddy has him agreeing to play the part of boyfriend to a guy with more money than sense.

But when the spirit of Christmas works its magic on the two men, and they begin to fall for each other, Derek runs scared, and Luke needs space.

It doesn’t matter what obstacles you throw in the way of love, or how much you run in the other direction, because, when you’re least expecting it, whether you want it or not, love happens anyway.

Love Happens Anyway is RJ Scott’s holiday take on that familiar romantic storyline whereas the romantic heroine or hero in our case has been hounded by family and friends for  weeks/months/years/an ungodly amount of time to bring a boyfriend home to the family, makes one up and then for whatever reason has to produce one just in time for a big family event or the family  holidays celebrations.

The Hallmark Channel would go broke if we took this staple of a theme out of their  rotation.

Derek has done his story up right.  It’s so detailed that he needs a notebook to keep all the make-believe elements straight, including all the names of the kittens his firefighter boyfriend rescued and who he gave them to.  Omg!  Yes, the cuteness aspect here is lovely! So the man he needs has to meet his exact qualifications.  As it so happens, one does.

Luke is out of a job (the why’s on this is nice twist in the story), and in deep need of money. I’ll save you on the hows and whys he ends up as Derek’s temporary boyfriend.  That’s the only part that seemed sort of a stretch here.  Everything else? Amazing and nothing I’ll spoil.  It has to do with Luke’s background and a part of NYC’s history.  With Luke’s family and background folded into what starts off as a familiar romantic storyline, RJ Scott deepens it, adding touch of poignancy and reality to a lovely heartwarming romance.  I loved the couple and the family and friends that surrounded them.

The holidays are a wonderful time to curl up in your favorite spot and read some wonderful holiday  romances.  Be sure to put Love Happens Anyway by RJ Scott on your list to read this holiday season.

Cover art is absolutely adorable.

Buy Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK

Book Details:

110 pages
Published December 2nd 2017
Edition LanguageEnglish

A Barb the Zany Old Lady Review: Secrets & Silk: A Holiday to Remember by Nicole Dennis

Rating: 2.5 stars out of 5

(Part of the “A Holiday to Remember 2017 Series”) 

Conscientious and detailed to a fault, David Appleton refuses to leave for the office Christmas party until he finds the error in a report submitted by Marc, one of the workers in his department. Aside from the fact that this guy constantly tries to undermine David, the bottom line is that David won’t allow anything with his department’s signature on it to go out incorrect.  Get the picture?  David is pretty darn straight-laced.  He’s also a nice guy, a gay man who has never had a partner, and a man with a secret underwear fetish that he doesn’t want exposed.  He actually came close to being outed for his sexy pants when CJ, a coworker, happened to see him in the locker room after his workout one day, but so far, CJ seems to be keeping his lip zipped.

After finding the error and having a confrontation with Marc, David heads to Santa’s secret gift exchange.  Marc and his buddies slip a gift into the exchange that’s intended to embarrass David, but CJ, this year’s Santa, spots it and knows it’s not really for David since CJ is the one who drew David’s name.  The clearing up of the confusion over the gifts and over that day in the gym and a consequence for Marc lead to a satisfactory conclusion for this light holiday romance. 

This story had a promising plot bunny, but unfortunately, the execution was poor.  The author is a new author to me, and I’m not sure how experienced, but very definitely her writing style, the transitions from scene to scene, and the missed opportunities for humor or further dialogue were quite below average.  So two stars for the fact that the overall story was okay and an extra half because it’s Christmas, and I don’t like being an Ebenezer who shoots down an author’s efforts at holiday romance. 

~~~

Cover art by Freddy MacKay features a handsome guy in a plaid vest and dark slacks superimposed over a gift box with tissue paper in disarray.  This would be David after opening his gift from CJ.   Very nice representation of the story.

Sales Links:  Mischief Corner Books | Amazon

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 40 pages
Expected publication: December 13th 2017 by Mischief Corner Books, LLC
ASINB07767S6XC

Review Tour – RJ Scott’s Love Happens Anyway (excerpt and giveaway)

 

 
Buy Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK
 
Length: 42,500 words approx.
 
Blurb
 

Hiring a boyfriend for Christmas; what could possibly go wrong?

Derek is facing yet another Christmas where his life feels out of control. He has a new career that doesn’t feel like his, and parents who would just love to see him settled down. All he needs is a temporary buffer for the parties he has to attend, and for his parents to leave him alone. Enter, Luke.

Luke is twenty-thousand dollars short for the renovations on Halligans; his family’s bar in New York’s Financial District. A favor for a buddy has him agreeing to play the part of boyfriend to a guy with more money than sense.

But when the spirit of Christmas works its magic on the two men, and they begin to fall for each other, Derek runs scared, and Luke needs space.

It doesn’t matter what obstacles you throw in the way of love, or how much you run in the other direction, because, when you’re least expecting it, whether you want it or not, love happens anyway.



December 6 – Xtreme Delusions, Valerie Ullmer, The Way She Reads, Gay Media Reviews
December 8 – Lelyana’s Book Blog
December 11 – Hearts On Fire Reviews, Millsy Loves Books, My Fiction Nook
December 13 – Mirrigold:Mutterings & Musings, Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words, BFD Book Blog, Nicole’s Book Musings, MM Good Book Reviews
December 15 – Jim’s Reading Room, Making It Happen, Padme’s Library, Sexy Erotic Xciting, Wicked Faerie’s Tales & Reviews
December 20 – Dog-Eared Daydreams, Book Lovers 4Ever, Au Boudoir Ecarlate, Wicked Reads
December 22 – A Book Lover’s Dream, Bayou Book Junkie

Read Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words Review here.  We absolutely recommend it!

Excerpt

I knew Marcus was six-two, just a little taller than me. I knew he had blue eyes, and dark hair with red tones in certain light. He had a brother, but they didn’t see each other much, being that his brother was in the Navy. His parents were retired in Florida, but they’d had Marcus and his brother Adam late in life. Marcus was twenty-nine, same as me with only a few months separating our birthdays, and he was a firefighter. Oh, and he was a good, kind man who was thoughtful all the time and treated me like a prince.

“That’s such a shame. Anyway, how are Marcus’ kittens?” Mom asked. I pulled myself back to what she was saying. It was never good to not pay full attention to anything Mom said, otherwise you’d end up agreeing to all kinds of things she’d throw at you when your defenses are down. I loved her dearly but she was sneaky like that.

Which is how I got myself into this mess with Marcus in the first place.

“They’re fine.”

“Did he find good homes for them?”

“Absolutely, the last of them went to a widowed grandmother in his apartment block.”

“Socks? The dark one?”

I glanced at my notes. “No, you remember Socks went to his uncle; Spider went to the old lady.”

“Oh yes, of course, although why someone would name a kitten Spider I don’t know.”

“There were spiders in the house where Marcus found the kittens.”

“I still don’t understand how there could be spiders in a burned-out house.”

Shit. “Spiders are hardy.”

“You said the house was razed to the ground, dear.”

Now I was losing the will to live. “Well, maybe the spider was outside. Mom, I need to go, Moira is at the door and she needs me to sign off on the new AbbaLister raisins account.”

“Of course dear, just, please tell Marcus he is welcome at any time. We so want to meet him and thought it’d be better at the house.”

“I will, I know he’s keen to meet you.”

“Oh good,” she said, and I knew I’d fucked up and somehow given her an opening. I’d never mentioned once that Marcus wanted to meet them, because that would just give them the impetus to take matters into their own hands. My worst fears were confirmed. “Oh, I’ve had the most wonderful idea.”

Oh God, what?

“Your dad and I are coming into the city on Monday; book us dinner on any night, or lunch, breakfast, anything. I want to meet this young man of yours and if it has to be in a restaurant then so be it.”

“I’m not sure—”

“Derek, he can’t be busy every night next week, and every lunchtime, goodness me, we’ll even take a quick coffee if that is all he can manage.”

Shit. Shit. And double shit.

“I’ll see what I can organize.” I kept my tone regretful, to at least give the impression I would try to organize them meeting Marcus, but that it would be unlikely.

We finished the call, and I replaced the handset in the cradle, fighting the urge to throw it against the wall, sit and cry at my desk, or maybe, less drastically, move to Montana and become a cowboy.

So many lies.

There was no Moira standing at my door. It was still closed and I’d lied to my mom.

There were no kittens, I made those up, and the spider story. The word spider came about because when I’d been talking to my mom about Marcus and the kittens, a tiny spider had crawled over my notes.

I closed the notebook in which I had the names of five kittens with their various characteristics listed.

Mom wanted to meet Marcus, any night, any lunch, anytime.

Which sucked big hairy balls.

Because that was another thing I had made up.

There was no Marcus either.

 

RJ Scott is the bestselling romance author of over 100 romance books. She writes emotional stories of complicated characters, cowboys, millionaire, princes, and the men and women who get mixed up in their lives. RJ is known for writing books that always end with a happy ever after. She lives just outside London and spends every waking minute she isn’t with family either reading or writing.

The last time she had a week’s break from writing she didn’t like it one little bit, and she has yet to meet a bottle of wine she couldn’t defeat.

mailto:rj@rjscott.co.uk
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A MelanieM Review: The Unexpected Santa (The Sin Bin #5) by Dahlia Donovan

Ratings: 4.5 stars out of 5

When a rugby bad boy butts heads with a retired Marine, which alpha male becomes top dog?

Scottie Monk came out of the womb angry at the world. He’s selfish and bitter. “Bah humbug!” rolls off his tongue far easier than “Happy Christmas.”

Gray Baird has dedicated his life to public service as a Marine Corps officer and later as a police chief. The decorated hero finds it impossible to ignore autistic twins in desperate need of holiday spirit. He’ll be the grumpiest Santa in the world if it puts a smile their faces. And he’ll drag a reluctant Scottie along for the ride.

This December, Gray and Scottie collide while unexpectedly playing Santa.

The Unexpected Santa (The Sin Bin #5) by Dahlia Donovan is more like a prelude to the next story, a setup really,  to the much anticipated full blown clash that’s coming between Scottie Monk and Gray Baird in The Lion Tamer.

However, taken within that context?  It’s a wonderful anticipatory delight of a short story.  For all of the previous four novels, Scottie Monk’s atrocious behavior within the close group of ex rugby players has gone from extremely annoying to using hate language, stalking,  and throwing punches.  He’s constantly drunk and when sober, his behavior is sometimes even worse.  One by one his former teammates and friends are excluding him from their circle and events.  His  reaction is anger and self pity.

I’ve wondered what Dahlia Donovan was going to do with Scottie.  An unflattering character in the first book, he’s progressed to a horror of self indulgence and denial, certainly not someone a reader could connect with.  When we last saw him, he was being thrown out of a wedding by Gray Baird (laughing…yes love that  name).  The Unexpected Santa picks up directly after that incident.

The autistic twins in the story come from The Royal Marine (The Sin Bin #4, one of my favorites in the series.  They worked then for Akash Robinson, a baker. It’s he who is marrying his former marine, Hamish Ross, friend of Gray Baird.  Yes, the two groups are now deeply intertwined and no story within this series is a standalone.   Like a rich tapestry, the narrative threads run heavy through each tale and couple, twisting and twirling about, tugging the groups closer until they are forming a mesh of relationship dynamics that can’t really be separated out from one another.

Gray is a fascinating character, he has his hidden needs and has been wondering if he will fit in within this group and new location.  Once he sees Scottie Monk, Scottie’s pain, and his actions that seem a cry for stability as well as a cry for someone to take control of his life, well,  Gray responds to Scottie with his corresponding need to do just that. Yes, there will be hot kink involved…most likely in their story The Lion Tamer.  Again, this is just the beginning.

Here we start to see  just how badly messed up Scottie is and what has brought him to this state.  But it’s clear that for Scottie and Gray this is but the tantalizing first dance.  There are so many lovely scenes between Gray and the twins here, (they now work for Aled the Botanist).  The author contrasting the delicacy of paper cranes with the fragility of the twins.  In many ways it is a Christmas story.

The Unexpected Santa is a terrific Christmas prelude for all fans and readers of Dahlia Donovan’s The Sin Bin series.  It’s that delicious taste of what’s to come, combined with the sweetness and joy of the holiday season when the twins come into the picture.

I highly recommend this entire series.  I have listed them all at the bottom of the review.  Read them in the order they were written, enjoy the characters and the men they love.

Cover art by Claire Smith again works beautifully.  Love the coloration and the single snowflake that stands for the book.

Sales Links: Hot Tree Publishing | Amazon

Book Details:

Kindle Edition
Published November 11th 2017 by Hot Tree Publishing
Edition LanguageEnglish
SeriesThe Sin Bin #5

The Sin Bin Series:

1. The Wanderer – BC & Graham

2. The Caretaker – Tens & Freddie

3. The Botanist (short story) – Aled & Wyatt

4. The Royal Marine – Hamish & Akash

5 The Unexpected Santa (short story) – Gray & Scottie

6. The Lion Tamer – Gray & Scottie

7. The Haka Ever After (short story) – Tens & Freddie

8. TBD – Zeb & Silus

A Barb the Zany Old Lady Audiobook Review: Dyeing to be Loved (Curl Up and Dye Mysteries #1) by Aimee Nicole Walker and Joel Leslie (Narrator)

Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5

This story is divided into two parts.  In the prologue, Josh, aka Jazz, Roman, owner of a salon called Curl Up and Dye, witnesses a murder from across the road as he’s taking out the trash one night. Shocked, he immediately calls 9-1-1 to report the crime.  And then he swoons when Gabriel Wyatt, a tall, sexy, and handsome detective arrives on scene.  Though he’s ostensibly not attracted to Gabe, who is way too straight and too uninterested in the effeminate Jazz, it’s Gabe he calls when the murderer shows up a few nights later to take out the eyewitness—Jazz.   Nothing happens, other than animosity, between the two as the prologue, and an epilogue, ends before the actual story begins. 

Jazz has taken a comment Gabe made about Jazz being too femme to heart, and in the early pages of the story, he goes to great lengths to avoid the detective.  That one comment beautifully set up their antagonism, and it returns to haunt them throughout most of the book.  The two share a push and pull attraction as the mystery drama unfolds, even after they find their way to the bedroom.

Jazz is one of those guys who this reader loves to fall in love with—fierce, strong, full of pride and sass. Independent, he also forms strong friendships with those who are his family of the heart, and when one of them is murdered, he’s all-in to help solve the crime—even though he might have to work with Gabe.   

Gabe really likes Jazz, despite his first impression, and he can see what a strong and fiercely independent and loving soul lurks beneath Jazz’s antagonism toward him.  Watching this couple as they push and pull their way to romance is interesting, to say the least.

But it’s Joel Leslie’s narration that saved this book from being just an ordinary MM romance mystery.  The somewhat femme voice he used for Jazz and the deeper, sexy voice he used for Gabe made this a very enjoyable listening experience.

The beginning of the audiobook is a prologue in which a woman who sells potions and predicts future events is murdered.  It’s told from her POV and then is immediately followed by an epilogue.  I’m really not sure why the book was set up this way, and I found it very confusing to listen to in audiobook format. Perhaps if I also had the e-book available I could have looked that over to clear up the point of doing a prologue and epilogue before the main story, but without it, I was not on firm foundation when the main part of the story opened.

The mystery plot in this MM romance was good with lots of twists and turns and possibilities, however, the writing style and execution were poor. There were many adverbial and prepositional phrases out of place—in other words, the way the sentence was structured made the phrase modify the wrong thing or the wrong person.  In my opinion, it needed tighter editing.  I could also “hear” misplaced words and errors.  After all, the narrator can only perform what is on page and sloppy edits show up in audiobooks as well as in e-books. 

But, because of the entertaining narration, I do recommend this to lovers of a fun, sexy, light-hearted mystery romance, and I bumped it up a half star to acknowledge that it’s the audio edition I recommend.

~~~

The cover features a photo shot of two sexy men in an embrace.  Very attractive and definitely representative of the two MCs in this story. 

Sales Links:  Audible | Amazon

Book Details:

Audible Audio
Published November 7th 2017 by Aimee Nicole Walker (first published November 8th 2016)
ASINB07773X51N
Edition LanguageEnglish
SeriesCurl Up and Dye Mysteries #1 settingOhio (United States)