Category: LGBTQ Book Reviews

The Rainbow Clause by Beth Bolden Audio Tour (excerpt)

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The Rainbow Clause

Beth Bolden

M/M Romance

Audio Release: 09.07.18

The Rainbow Clause Audio Cover 

Narrator: Wyatt Baker

Listening Length: 7 hours and 45 minutes

Amazon: https://amzn.to/2z1zPRd

Audible: https://adbl.co/2Rd2N87 

 

BLURB

Don’t like the athletes. Don’t sleep with the athletes. Don’t fall for the athletes. It had never been particularly difficult to follow the rules, but Nick had a feeling he was about to be tested.

Heisman winner. Member of the national championship team. NFL rookie of the year. Quarterback Colin O’Connor knows he’s become the ultimate romance novel cliché: all the success he’s ever dreamed of but nobody with whom to share it. Too bad it’s not as simple as asking out the next girl who intrigues him – because the next girl to intrigue him probably won’t be a girl at all.

Unexpectedly, the solution comes in one neat package: Nick Wheeler, lead journalist for a leading sports and pop culture blog. Hired by Colin’s team, Nick comes to Miami to shine a spotlight on the NFL’s most private quarterback.

The heat in Miami rises when Nick discovers Colin is nothing like the hollow personality he pretends to be in interviews and he’s even hotter in person than on his Sports Illustrated cover. Nick knows this is the story of his career, and it also hits close to home. What he needs is to help Colin share his story while keeping their growing relationship from boiling over in the press, but what he wants is to tell the world.

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EXCERPT

“Wow,” Colin breathed out, the sheet shifting down his torso as he propped himself up with an elbow. “What a view.”

Even though the ocean and sky and sand were hazy with the golden light of the rising sun, Nick still had trouble taking his eyes off the man next to him.

“Yeah,” Nick said, still staring at Colin. “Fucking fabulous view.”

Colin glanced over and flushed. He rolled over and slid out of bed, bare feet padding on the tile floor as he headed towards the bathroom. “When you look at me that way,” he said, his voice carrying back into the bedroom, “it’s easy to believe I really look as good as you say.”

“You should believe it,” Nick said as Colin returned to bed. Nick knew he needed to use the bathroom, too, at least to brush away his surely horrible morning breath so he could kiss this beautiful man next to him.

Just one problem. Nick glanced at the tile floor with dismay. “Is that as cold as it looks?”

Colin shot him a playful smile and gave him a little shove to the edge of the bed. “Your turn to find out,” he said, and Nick gave a half-hearted smile, expecting to freeze his balls off as he tiptoed to the bathroom. Instead, he found the floor to be shockingly warm against his bare feet.

“Teddy, that rich bastard,” Nick exclaimed as he walked to the bathroom. “Heated floors.”

Nick brushed his teeth and took a piss, returning to bed with warm feet and cold hands, which he proceeded to place right on Colin’s ribcage. But Colin didn’t flinch, only tugged Nick closer, until their limbs were tangled together. Nick shifted up a fraction and hesitated, their eyes locked together and their lips only an inch apart.

“You keep talking about me,” Colin murmured dreamily, his hand smoothing down a wayward tuft of Nick’s hair. “But you’re gorgeous. I stare at you all the damn time.”

It was hard not to notice and impossible not to feel smug that Colin O’Connor spent at least half his waking hours staring at his ass.

A large hand slid around his hip and cupped that ass – but not with the sort of tacky possession that sometimes gave Nick a bad taste in his mouth, but with reverence and a playful affection that made his heart ache.

“I know you notice,” Colin continued, the edge of his lips quirking into a smile. “You’re too nice to call me out on it.”

“What, and make you stop?” Nick asked.

Beth Bolden Logo 2

Beth Bolden lives in Portland, Oregon with her supportive husband. She wholly believes in Keeping Portland Weird, but wishes she didn’t have to make the yearly pilgrimage up to Seattle to watch her Boston Red Sox play baseball. She’s a fan of fandoms, and spends too much of her free time on tumblr.

Beth has been writing practically since she learned the alphabet. Unfortunately, her first foray into novel writing, titled Big Bear with Sparkly Earrings, wasn’t a bestseller, but hope springs eternal. She’s published eight novels and two novellas, with Catch Me, the next novel in the Kitchen Gods series, releasing in May 2018.

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Cover Reveal – Irresistible Indigo (D’Vaire # 9) by Jessamyn Kingley (excerpt)

COVER REVEAL

Book Title: Irresistible Indigo (D’Vaire, Book 9)

Author: Jessamyn Kingley

Cover Artist: LJ Anderson, Mayhem Cover Creations

Genre/s: M/M Fantasy Romance, M/M Paranormal Romance

Heat Rating:  3 flames

Release Date: November 15, 2018

Blurb

A young wizard, a noble duke, and the potion that changes D’Vaire forever.

Since arriving at the Draconis Court of D’Vaire at the age of sixteen, Idris has done everything he can think of to make his new family proud of him. After five years of challenging work, he is finally poised to reach the highest rank within the Spectra Wizardry. The only glaring thing missing is his mate. While he may be young, Idris wants to share his heart with his other half, so he asks Fate to send him a nice dragon who will be kind to him and his familiar. He does not want to be demanding but Idris knows without him he won’t be complete.

Duke Macardle “Mac” Stenetdraconis’s days are centered around his amazing grandparents who raised him. When his grandfather suggests he apply for a new duke position at Court D’Vaire, he is intrigued. It is a place that has opened its doors as a sanctuary and he’s drawn to the idea of helping others. When he arrives, he finds himself with a small dragon familiar on his lap. Minutes later, the owner of that familiar saunters through the door and Mac’s heart is instantly hooked on the irresistible wizard. Determined to make Idris his, the pair soon find themselves tested by life. Their love turns out to the anchor Mac cannot do without while Idris opens the door to a new future for his family.

About the Author

Jessamyn Kingley lives in Nevada where she begs the men in her head to tell her their amazing stories which she dutifully writes it all down in what has become a small mountain of notebooks. She falls in love with each couple and swears whatever book she wrote last is her absolute favorite.

Jessamyn is married and working toward remembering to start the dishwasher without being distracted by the scent of the magical detergent. For personal enjoyment, she aids in cat rescue while slashing and gashing her way through mobs in various MMORPGs. Caffeine is her very best friend and is only cast aside briefly for the sin better known as BBQ potato chips.

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A MelanieM Review: Faith (Graphene #2) by Archie Hellshire

Rating 3.75 stars out of 5

 

Tuck is switching dorms. He’s had enough of his roommate’s odd hours, strange behavior, and teasing from his football teammates, who think there’s something more between them. He’s just put the last pad into his duffel bag when the campus goes on lockdown and the police swarm in.

They say that Tuck’s roommate, Sam, is a wanted man, but Tuck knows better. Sam is no criminal; he won’t even let Tuck kill spiders. Tuck takes a risk and helps Sam escape from the clutches of the authorities, and together they try to make it off the campus. As they try to evade the search parties, it becomes clear that they’re after something more than Sam; a secret project Sam’s been working on that has billion-dollar implications.

Tuck’s not sure what’s going on. He’s not sure what the truth is or who to trust. He’s not sure they’re going to make it out of this. And as the night wears on, he’s not sure how he really feels about Sam anymore. Sam is always sure about Tuck, though, and Tuck isn’t going to let him down.

For all that is packed into this story, Faith (Graphene #2) by Archie Hellshire is a short novel.  it feels that you are no sooner deeply involved in the characters that its ending on a somewhat wavering note and this chapter of the characters lives is done.  It’s a very much an installment story with the  characters HFN but everything else seems so shaky.

I admit I didn’t read the first story and even now I’m not sure how important that is here.  Yes Daniel becomes an important factor here but his boyfriend is  nothing but a will o the wisp at the end.  The focus here shines brightly on Tuck, Sam, and the cause at the heart of all the action/intrigue here.

The relationship between Tuck and Sam is a special one and I can’t help but wish we had more of that revealed here to us.  What is we was endearing and heartwarming.  It was so easy to love this pair.  And still relate to the issues Tuck was having at the   beginning of the story.

I think the ending was a little shocking in that there was no foundation laid for that sort of element in this story.  Perhaps it exists in Chance, the first in the Graphine series.  I do want want to read the next in this series so it looks as though I will be going back to pick up that one as well.

Also if you are looking for lots of hot sex, uh no, not the book for you.  Sweet kisses is about it.  Remember boys on the run, low, low heat, But soo much sweetness. That makes up for  it. Trust me.

I found the characters able to tug on your emotions, the story well written, and enough loose ends to be considered a minor cliffhanger for the next addition.  If you love your contemporary romance with more than a hint of danger and intrigue but your characters of college age, here is a series made for you.  Especially with those with a hint of the environmental/scientific bent.

Cover Art: Natasha Snow is on point for the story and characters right down to the differences in sizes. Love it.

Sales Links:  NineStar Press | Amazon

Book Details:

ebook, 102 pages
Published October 15th 2018 by NineStar Press
ISBN139781949340952
Edition Language English
Series Graphene

Chance

Faith

An Ashez Review: An Erie Collection by V.L. Locey

Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5
This was surprisingly funny.  I didn’t know what to expect going in but this turned out to be an extremely entertaining book.
Templeton – a skunk shifter – honestly, so original I had never read anything like this before – if the traits hold true to skunks it’s quite a fascinating read.
Mikel – kind of run of the mill wolf shifter, though more entertaining in wolf form than I would have thought.
You follow each as they get to know each other with a bunch of action plots and betrayals thrown in – such an easy read due to the excitement and fast paced nature of the book.
I think all of the novellas could have been combined into one pretty epic book – I found myself losing focus after the first book – I loved reading more of Templeton and Mikel, but I also wished they were all one cohesive story.
It stayed true to the action adventure and humour aspects but it fell flat in character development, Templeton and Mikel felt static as the stories progressed and more people were introduced and more action was had.

That being said, reading one story every few months would actually be preferable than binging the collection in one sitting!

Cover Design: Meredith Russell.

Buy Links: 

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 408 pages
Published October 22nd 2018
ASINB07JLVM37V

A Free Dreamer Review: Roam (Roam #1) by Dez Schwartz

Rating: 3 stars out of 5

Ethan Roam suffers from night terrors and vivid daydreams, which lead him to the doorstep of the eccentric Dr. Grady Hunter, who thrusts him into a world of supernatural misfits. Ethan quickly learns that there’s more reality to his dreams than he suspected.

As Ethan unravels the truth behind his nightmares and falls into his first experience with love, he also finds himself the target of a sinister plan.

Ethan’s trust in his new companions will be tested and he’ll have to decide who he can rely on and who he must defy in order to survive a fatal Halloween night.

„Roam“ promised some really interesting and unusual fantasy ideas. Sadly the actual book was kind of disappointing.

But let’s start with the good parts. I found Ethan’s night-terrors/super vivid daydreams fascinating. It takes a while till we learn what exactly his abilities are, so that made for an interesting plot arc. And I really liked the reveal of his true powers.

Sadly,  Ethan himself wasn’t all that interesting. He really only has two modes: incessant cheerfulness and doe-eyed hero worship. He’s incredibly naive, far too trusting and has his occasional TSTL moment that made me roll my eyes in disbelief. He was also this weirdly perfect guy who everybody immediately likes and who has some serious self-worth issues at the same time. There’s also a scene where he magically develops an amazing singing voice and piano skills. It wasn’t mentioned ever again, neither before nor after that one weirdly specific scene.

I’m not entirely sure what to think about Grady. I don’t think I particularly liked him, though. He’s creepily obsessed with killing supernatural beings that don’t follow his rules. We get some backstory that sort of explains his obsession but he still didn’t feel like a very healthy person.

Then there’s Dacey, Grady’s vampire lover of sorts. He struck up a very weird and very instantaneous friendship with Ethan that made absolutely no sense to me. Both MCs lacked depth and felt pretty shallow.

I had some serious issues with the romance in this book. It was pretty much insta-love on Ethan’s side and I really didn’t get that. I never felt that spark of attraction that makes a love story interesting to read. Then there was of course this HUGE secret Grady kept essentially the entire time. It really, really bothered me how forgiving and understanding Ethan was about that.

While the idea of the fantasy parts had great potential, the worldbuilding was lacking. Once again, there was no real depth to it. I guess there might be more to come, as this is only the first part in a series, but it still just wasn’t enough for me.

Overall, “Roam” was an okay read. The entire story and all the characters could have used way more depth. Everything was just a little too shallow for me. There’s a chance that there’ll be more depth in the following book(s), but I won’t be reading those. This first part was more than enough for me.

The cover by Natasha Snow is alright, if a bit generic. And it promises a spookier read than the book delivers.

Sales Links:  NineStar Press | Amazon

Book details:

ebook
Published October 1st 2018 by NineStar Press (first published January 2016)
ISBN139781949340839
Edition Language English
SeriesRoam #1

A Chaos Moondrawn Review: A Dance of Water and Air (Elemental Magicae #1) by Antonia Aquilante

 Rating: 3.75 stars out of 5

Due to rising tensions with their neighbor, Tycen, the King of Thalassa is pushing an alliance with Aither on their western border. The king’s son Prince Edmund is to marry Aither’s Queen Hollis and conceive within two years. The author nicely sets up some political intrigue at court in an understated way that will germinate in later books. The prince and his secretary, Peregrine, travel to Aither for the wedding to take place in three months time. Since the Queen’s father died and she is still in mourning, the wedding can’t take place any faster. This allows the author to also set up political intrigue for this court.

The queen’s brother, Prince Arden, is told to spend time with Edmund–time the queen should be spending to get to know her betrothed, but is avoiding. We meet Arden’s best friends, Larkin and twin brother Ciaran, who are the eyes and ears for court politics. The alternating POV between Arden and Edmund allows the reader to know he is unhappy about being attracted to Edmund and that Edmund don’t really allow himself to admit or understand he might feel it too. As they get to know each other better, the ways of Aither being open to people of all elements, challenges everything Edmund has learned from his father and the way he rules Thalassa. This also plants seeds for future books. We get to know a little bit about Edmund’s affinity with water and Arden’s affinity with air and how that magic can be used. Their common enemy Tycen is know for their affity with fire. We know little about the earth affinity, so I guess that will be in future books.

This author is known for high fantasy and political intrigue so I expected the world-building to be good and it was, but I have hopes there will be a lot more detail later. I was enjoying the story, the court, the politics, the slow burn as they were getting to know each other, yet nothing is in great detail. When someone with an affinity with water tries to kill the Queen, Edmund is arrested and after spending so much time with him, Arden is in a precarious position. We are told Hollis and Arden were close once, but we never see it. There could have been more done with that plot-wise. We only get a glimmer of Arden’s feelings of muted hurt. If fact, we know little of the queen or any of the characters beside Arden, Ciaran, Peregrine, and Edmund.

Once they flee the castle, it was like the author no longer knew what to do with them. Edmund and Arden are suddenly stumbling around when they already know how they feel about each other. It was all handled in an awkward, drawn out way. I liked the depictions of Edmund as a demisexual, and Arden, who reads as non-binary (the publisher’s tag is trans). Their love scenes were sweet, yet circumspect and while explicit, were not really erotic. At this point even Ciaran, who has grow up in political intrigue and has a spy network, starts to act childish. He shouldn’t be failing apart about something he knew would happen. Then, all of the sudden they start writing in code as he communicates with his sister. As if this had never occurred to him before whilst they are fleeing for their lives? Ciaran and Peregrine are also in a relationship now which seems to consist of a lot of handholding. For me, this read as high fantasy that turned into YA.

As Tycen prepares for war, Arden and Edmund meet with Queen Hollis along the border, whereupon she acts like an unreasonable child. This is the most we get to see of the queen and I was not impressed. Unless we get to see her POV in future books and a lot more backstory, I am not sure how this character can be redeemed for me at this point. Maybe she won’t be, but everything is so sweet and slots into place so easily, I expect the sister and brother will eventually make up, somehow.

The end of the book really points to learning more about the various magics and how they can be utilized together. Right now, they are like kids studying and playing with magic. We’ll see if that changes if war actually happens. I would have liked a lot more of the elements and their creatures that magic wielders can communicate with. I wanted this to have more detail and depth about everything. While I liked the MCs, I didn’t feel emotionally attached to them. This is a nice, sometime sweet, easy read for a couple of evenings and I recommend it be enjoyed as such.

The cover art by Natasha Snow is fitting for the story, showing a blend of the two main elements covered in this story and a castle. The color palette fits with the dark intrigues. Although most of the story takes place in Aither, this seems to be the palace in Thalassa, where the story starts and finishes.

Sales Links:  NineStar Press | Amazon

Book Details:

ebook
Published October 1st 2018 by NineStar Press
ISBN139781949340853
Edition LanguageEnglish

Release Blitz – Dark Rivers (Witchbane #2) by Morgan Brice (excerpt)

RELEASE BLITZ

Book Title: Dark Rivers (Witchbane #2)

Author: Morgan Brice

Publisher: Darkwind Press

Cover Artist: Lou Harper

Genre/s: Urban Fantasy, MM paranormal romance

Length: approx. 85 000 words

Buy Links

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Kobo

B&N

 

Add on Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42433862-dark-rivers

 

Blurb

One hundred years ago, a sheriff’s posse killed dark warlock Rhyfel Gremory, but his witch-disciples escaped, and their magic made them nearly immortal. To keep their power, each year one of the witch-disciples kills a descendant of one of the men in the posse, a twelve-year cycle that has cost dozens of lives, including that of Seth Tanner’s brother, Jesse.

Seth uncovers the cycle of ritual killings that feeds the power of the witch-disciples, and he’s hell bent on getting vengeance for Jesse and stopping the murders. His fledgling romantic relationship with Evan Malone complicates his mission, but Seth can’t walk away. Seth and Evan are learning to navigate their partnership—as lovers and monster hunters—while they chase the next witch-disciple and avoid attracting the wrong kind of attention.

When the hunt takes Seth and Evan to Pittsburgh on the trail of the next killer, they’ll have to save the intended victim and take down the powerful witch. If the skills they possess and the bond between them isn’t enough, the evil will remain unchallenged, and more people will die…

 

Excerpt

“If the sun hasn’t set yet, and there’s no moon, where’s that blue glow coming from?”

Clouds covered the sky, blotting out the dull, late-afternoon sun, and the overhead branches dimmed the light even more. Yet beneath the trees, the snow reflected a twilight indigo, and the shadows all around beneath the trees seemed to have grown darker.

Seth wasn’t a medium, and he had no talent for seeing or hearing the dead. But his experiences hunting supernatural creatures attuned him to the presence of things that went bump in the night, and now he was certain that they weren’t alone.

“We mean you no harm,” Seth said to the blue glow and the empty forest around them. “We’re just looking for information about the witch. Can you help us?”

A sparkling haze gradually filled in between the leafless trees, and as it shifted on the wind, Seth thought he saw forms and faces. Evan was already laying down a salt circle around where they stood, reinforcing it with iron filings. Both substances interfered with ghosts’ ability to manifest and sapped their strength to cause harm.

“Seth, look.” Evan pointed toward the hanging tree. Where only moments ago, it had been nothing but bare branches, now, a shadowed form swung slowly, suspended by a rope around its neck, the head tilted at an unnatural angle.

“We’re here to end the killing,” Seth said, forcing himself to look away from the hanged man, pushing back the memories of Jesse’s body, suspended like that, soaked with blood. As if he could guess Seth’s thoughts, Evan placed a hand on Seth’s forearm, grounding him to the here and now. “We want to stop the witch that caused your pain, keep him from hurting anyone else.”

Overhead, a cold wind stirred the branches, and the trees creaked and rattled. Seth shivered as the temperature dropped. Figures now stood amid the headstones in the old cemetery, and their stance suggested that they were ready for a fight.

“Give me something I can use to stop the witch,” Seth begged the ghosts. “He went by many names—Thane. Carmody. Brunrichter. Wiegand. Whatever he called himself—we want to make him stop.”

The wind carried the whispers of spectral voices, and the blue mist roiled with internal energy. Evan yanked off his gloves, then withdrew a small slate writing board and a piece of chalk from the pocket of his parka. As Seth continued to talk to the ghosts, he saw out of the corner of his eye as Evan carefully drew one of the sigils he’d been practicing, a bit of rote magic that was likely to come in handy.

Seth feared they might need to fight their way clear since the ghosts seemed more interested in intimidation than supplying information.

Seth’s eyes widened as he saw movement. An invisible hand traced shaky block letters on a snow-covered embankment beside the road. W-A-T-C-H.

“Watch?” Seth repeated aloud. “Watch out?  Watch for something?”

He could feel the press of spirits all around them, and Seth remembered that the ghosts of Blue Mist Road had a reputation for being unfriendly to intruders. Whatever their cryptic message meant, Seth had the feeling they had worn out their welcome.

The mist grew thick around them. Seth realized that the ominous figures from the cemetery had moved closer and that the hanged man was no longer suspended from his noose. He and Evan were safe for the moment within the salt circle, but they were also trapped inside their sanctuary.

“Ready?” Evan asked. He’d been practicing the small magicks that involved drawing arcane symbols and activating them with concentration; those had come more easily to him than the spoken spells Seth had learned. Seth recognized the drawing Evan made on the slate and hoped to hell the banishment sigil worked.

“Go for it,” he said, crossing his fingers.

Evan closed the last line on the sigil and placed his fingertips on the magical symbol, imbuing it with his will and life energy. The drawing flared gold and then white, so bright Seth and Evan had to avert their eyes as a blast wave of light radiated all around them.

When they opened their eyes, the blue mist and the spirits it harbored were gone, as was the writing in the snow.

“Come on,” Seth said, grabbing Evan by the arm and pulling him toward the truck. “Let’s get out of here before they decide to come back.

 

 

About the Author

Morgan Brice is the romance pen name of bestselling author Gail Z. Martin. Morgan writes urban fantasy male/male paranormal romance, with plenty of action, adventure and supernatural thrills to go with the happily ever after. Gail writes epic fantasy and urban fantasy, and together with co-author hubby Larry N. Martin, steampunk and comedic horror, all of which have less romance, more explosions. Look for her other books—Witchbane, Burn (a Witchbane novella #1.5 ), and Badlands.

 

Author Links

Blog/Website

Facebook Group: The Worlds of Morgan Brice 

Twitter: @MorganBriceBook 

Pinterest:  Morgan Brice board

 

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A Lila Review: Ben’s Bakery and the Hanukkah Miracle by Penelope Peters

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

Adam Bernard’s love-life is on ice.

Adam gave up his dreams of professional hockey when his mom died ten years ago; now his only focus is being the Jewish son his dad’s always wanted. Problem is, the pee-wee hockey team he coaches is in Boston for an international tourney the same week as Hanukkah. Now he’s stuck in a foreign city without so much as a candle. Enter Ben Daniels, the super-cute owner of the local kosher-style bakery. All Adam wants is a chance to celebrate the holiday away from home – but sweet and sexy Ben could light more than just Adam’s candles.

Ben Daniels’s love-life is on the back-burner.

Ben hasn’t stepped on the ice in three years. The official reason is that he’s too focused on making his kosher-style bakery a success. Problem is, he’s never kept kosher in his life, and internet searches only take you so far. Enter Adam Bernard, in town for one week only, with all the cultural touchstones anyone could want. All Ben wants is Adam’s Certified Jewish Opinion on his sufganiyot – but Adam could be the one to light Ben’s desire for ice again.

This Hanukkah, Adam and Ben find their miracles aren’t only on the ice.

Their fling was only meant to last for the holiday. But Adam’s about to get the chance to rewrite his history – and Ben’s dreams of business success are about to come true. Will they be so willing to extinguish their relationship in eight days – or will their Hanukkah miracle last for a lifetime?

Ben’s Bakery and the Hanukkah Miracle is an amazing treat to start the holiday season. The prologue was a bit hard to read since it felt as an omniscient narrator took over but in the end, it worked. After the first chapter, it’s easier to follow the author’s vision.

This story reads like a Hallmark Holiday movie. It’s sweat, steamy, interesting, and filled with hope and well wishes. All the characters were well-rounded and had a roll in moving the plot forward. The secondary characters are diverse but not simple tokens. They added color to the story.  The kids were perfect and acted their age, a mix of curiosity and innocence that balanced the adults and the drama.

Ben and Adam had great chemistry from the instant they met. All their matchmakers gave the reader a little window into their personality. They are both Jewish but were brought up differently. It took them several nights to get over the majority of their differences but they made it work.

I can’t tell you everything the author shows is accurate but she did an excellent job bringing culture and religion to the forefront of the story without making it feel as a soapbox. I loved the little details and how much they meant to Ben and Adam. I haven’t tried any of Ben’s dishes but I will love to do it now, even the eggplant 😉

This is definitely the way to start the Holidays this year.

The cover by Creativindie goes perfectly with the story. The characters are exactly as the author described them, and all the other little elements are present in the book. Great color and composition.

Sale Links: Amazon | Nook | iBooks

Book Details:
ebook, 242 pages
Published: November 13, 2018, by Penelope Peters
Edition Language: English

A Barb the Zany Old Lady Review: Honeymoon For One by Keira Andrews

Rating: 5 stars out of 5

Amazing! Kiera Andrews brings home another hit and strikes it out of the ballpark.

The day before his wedding, Ethan comes home early to surprise his fiancé before they head out to their bachelor party. Though he’s not looking forward to the crowds because he’s hard of hearing, going deaf at an early age due to a genetic anomaly, he’s a bit distracted when he first walks in. But what and who he finds in his bed is exactly what you’d imagine. His fiancé and his best friend have been carrying on for several years and the proposition his fiancé makes nearly floors him.

Gutted, and with no immediate family left and now no best friend either, Ethan makes the decision to go to Australia alone. Intended to be his honeymoon trip, a visit to Australia is something his mother always wanted, and he chose the destination in part to honor her, so why not go alone? Better than staying in big, noisy New York City, where he’s not happy anyway and half the time can’t hear what anyone is saying due to the cacophony of sound echoing from building to building.

Clay Kelly drives bus tours on Australia’s East Coast. Living in Sydney with his adult daughter, the 46-year-old divorced father of two is pretty happy with life as it is, though he never does much more than work and watch cricket—his all-time favorite sport. When a hard of hearing young man joins the tour alone, Clay decides to befriend him—especially after he overhears the man explaining that he’s alone because his wedding was called off. He figures the least he can do is help by doing as the young man asks: speak slowly while facing him so that he can understand what’s being said. So many others talk too fast or put their hands in front of their face or turn slightly away. The author makes this point really well by adding mumble, mumble to the dialogue when in Ethan’s POV so we can appreciate how difficult it is for him to hear.

The author also takes time with this subject, educating without preaching, and she develops Ethan into such a loveable character that I just wanted to take this sweet young man under my wing and show him he’s not alone.  Fortunately, that’s what Clay does. He’s never been with a man, though he had a brush with neighborhood homophobia toward a nice young man in his childhood and suspected he might have felt an attraction before the boy was run out of the area. But he’s most definitely drawn to Ethan and decides to act on his attraction, despite the fact he has to tell his kids, his ex-wife, and his parents. 

This story has all the elements I love: age gap, man over forty, first time with a man, a sweet MC (or two), ordinary—yet complex—people doing extraordinary things like falling in love with someone who lives half a world away. Just lovely and I highly recommend it.

The cover by Dar Albert is perfect for this story and features a young man sunbathing at the beach and another walking past behind him. The colors of the sky and ocean are bright blue and the title in hot pink. I think I might have picked this up for the cover alone, but the contents are definitely a solid win.

Sales Links:  Amazon

Book Details:

ebook, 286 pages
Published September 27th 2018 by KA Books
ISBN139781988260372
Edition Language English