Category: LGBTQ Book Reviews

Letting Go (Love by Design #1) by Morningstar Ashley Release Day Blitz (excerpt and giveaway)

Letting Go RDB Banner

LETTING GO

Love by Design, Book 1

MORNINGSTAR ASHLEY

M/M ROMANCE

RELEASE DATE: 07.14.17

Letting Go Cover

COVER ARTIST:  Jay Aheer/Simply Defined Art

COVER PHOTO:  StockPhoto

 

GOODREADS: http://bit.ly/2sZFfqC

 BLURB

 Years ago, before tragedy struck, Alex made a child’s promise to always protect and care for his little sister, Evie. Then piece by piece, all the good in his life was taken away until Alex was left alone as guardian to his much younger sister. Suffering and loss scarred Alex, causing him to withdraw from the world. Struggling with anxiety and trust issues, Alex attempts to help Evie heal from their shared traumatic past, but each day is harder than the last. To make matters worse, Alex’s best friend, Ben, is pushing him to get out of his rut, confronting him with the fact that what Alex thinks is contentment is just stagnation and fear. The last thing he needs is for an old acquaintance to reappear in his life, making him feel things he hadn’t dealt with in years.

The executive of the marketing department at graphic design firm Vivid, Kelley has his life together. While not perfect, he’s happy with his career and his three best friends. A chance encounter with Alex, the guy he was once attracted to, is icing on the cake. Fighting through Alex’s defenses to find the breathtaking man underneath will be hard, but Kelley is up to the challenge. Kelley believes that the things most worth fighting for never come easy.

To accept all that Kelley is offering means Alex must drop his barriers. Kelley will need to keep trying and prove that Alex can trust him, even when grief and anxiety try to pull him back.

Alex 2

Kelley 2

EXCERPT

Pushing him back on the couch Kelley straddled Alex’s body, using his weight to hold the squirmy man in place, Kelley put his hands on Alex’s abs, fingers at his sides as his possessed Alex’s.

Shoving Alex’s shirt up as Alex lifted to give enough room for Kelley to pull the shirt off, dropping it to the floor. Attacking his nipples with teeth and tongue making Alex whimper and moan. Fuck! Hearing those sounds just turned him inside out. Turning the heat between up to lava level.

Moving back up to his neck Kelley sucked, tasted as he reached down with one hand greedily rubbing Alex’s dick through his pants. Running his hand up and down giving him the same of the pressure that Kelley’s throbbing cock was begging for.

“Oh, God.” Alex groaned with a rough edge to his voice as he arched his neck giving Kelley even more room to explore and mark. He wanted his mark on this man. Wanted everyone to see that he was Kelley’s. Fearing that with all the pain locked inside Alex he would never truly be his.

“Your shirt. Take off your shirt. I need to feel your skin.”

Kelley did exactly that.

He flattened Alex to the couch again, pressing their chest together once again, Alex had spread his thighs, Kelley slotted himself right there. Their groins meet and slide together. And holy fucking hell did that feel good. The pressure of Alex’s steel length against his rock hard cock sending relief and pleasure throughout his body.

Alex scratched his nails down his back making him growl. He had his legs bracketing Kelley’s body holding him in place. Like he would be so fucking stupid as to move.

He can feel Alex’s heart jackhammering through his chest. Their breaths panting out between kisses and moans.

What had started out slow had built and built until Kelley wanted to say fuck it and rip Alex’s clothes off to get at every inch of his skin. To have their bodies, slippery from sweat, sliding together.

And just like that Kelley knew exactly what he was going to do. Oh, sweet jesus the thought alone sending lust hurtling to his aching balls, making him want to shoot.

He was going to drive Alex to the brink over and over. Making him forget anything and everything except the need that would be coursing through his body. The need Kelley would put there. Have Alex begging and pleading Kelley to let him come.

Within minutes they lay back on the couch completely naked, kneeling between Alex’s thighs once again. All of Alex’s gorgeous fucking skin on display. His cock seemingly begging for attention, the crown purple and leaking pre-come onto his stomach. Kelley mouth waters with the thought of sliding it between his lips. But not yet.

Unable to stop himself he slipped his hands, fingers spread wide, to his ankles, over his thighs, across his chest. Gliding with the lightest touch around Alex’s erect nipples, back down his arms. Over and over he did this, needing to get his fill of this beautiful man. No one should have this effect on another person. He sat there with a naked Alex in front of him in awe of every lean muscle that pushed up to meet his hands, every scar his traced.

“Kelley,” Alex bites out as his body trembled under Kelley’s gentle touches.

“Yeah, baby. You need something?”

“Fuck. Don’t be an ass. You know want I want.”

Kelley sank back down on top of him. Licking a path up his collarbone to his throat and then their mouths meet stifling any more words that Alex was going to say. Their cocks align perfectly, and Kelley begins to thrust his cock against Alex’s as their kisses turn desperate and needy.

Kelley pulled away, and before Alex could utter a protest, he moved, swallowing his cock to the back of his throat. Letting his saliva pool in his mouth, needing all the wetness he could get for the slide of their cocks. With every groan that Alex had let out Kelley’s cock would twitch and throb tightening to epic proportions.

Each time he could feel Alex getting close Kelley would back off. Time and time again bringing him to the brink before pulling his mouth and hand away. Alex would whimper and wiggle, unable to lay still. He was so out of it that he words were reduced to grunts and groans.

When Kelley was satisfied that he had sufficiently teased Alex, he pulled off his cock with a pop. Using the spit that was now covering his hand, he coated his own cock with it before laying on top of Alex, lining their cocks up.

His body fitting tightly to Alex’s. Wrapping one arm around Alex’s shoulders, holding as close to him as he could, both needing the closeness this position gave them. Kelley began thrusting his cock against Alex’s.

“I’ve got you, baby. Just feel.”

Profanities had started to spill from Alex’s mouth. Kelley’s whole body was so overwhelmed by the slide and friction of their cocks he felt like he could’ve blown his load at any moment, hoping that Alex was feeling even a silver of what he was.

Alex had begun to counter thrust, writhing his tight body under Kelley. His head was tipped back, the muscles of his neck corded and straining.

“That’s it, baby. Let go.”

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Morningstar Ashley is a transplant from the Yankee-controlled territory of New York, and now finds herself in the heartland of cowboys and longhorns—Texas. Armed with her imagination, wit, and trusty sidekicks in the form of her two crazy kids, devoted dorky husband, big lap dog, and rambunctious cats, Morningstar spends her time reading the books she loves, crafting her own characters, and arguing the merits of hot chocolate over the bitter brew known as coffee (Hot chocolate wins, FYI.).

Morningstar loves graphic design, so much so she returned to school for a degree and regularly tromps her exams and maintains a stellar GPA that occasionally leaves her confounded and pleased. She can while away the hours on new designs, and perfection isn’t too much to hope for when it comes to her art.

Her ideal career would be full-time artist and author, and so far, she hasn’t come up against anything to stop her on her journey. A fierce and devoted friend, Morningstar tries her best to always be kind, always be learning, and always improving. Giving up isn’t an option, and her greatest talent may be in her ability to convince others not to give up, either. After a lifetime of trying to get people to realize her first name wasn’t Ashley, Morningstar decided the best way to settle the debate was to put her name on a book cover. An avid reader and fiction reviewer for the blog and site Diverse Reader, Morningstar harbored a dream to one day join the ranks of her heroes, and she sweeps into the contemporary gay romance genre with her debut novel, LETTING GO. With plans to conquer gay, lesbian and LGBTQA+ romance, Morningstar has her gaze set on the horizon, her determination her own guiding star.

 FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/morningstar.ashley

TWITTER: @starzehashley

 GIVEAWAY

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/c86a967028

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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In Our Contemporary Romance Spotlight: The Other Five Percent by Quinn Anderson (giveaway)

The Other Five Percent by Quinn Anderson
Riptide Publishing
Cover by: Natasha Snow

Read an Excerpt/Buy it Here at Riptide Publishing

Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words is happy to host Quinn Anderson’s tour for The Other Five Percent.  Happy Reading!

Hello, everyone! This is Quinn Anderson, author of The Other Five Percent and the Murmur Inc. series. Thanks so much for following my blog tour. I’m thrilled to be here and to talk about my latest novel, coming out July 10th. Stay tuned for fun facts about The Other Five Percent, an inside peek at writing it, and to find out more about our dashing leading men. Leave comments on the tour posts for a chance to win a $10 Riptide Publishing gift card!

About The Other Five Percent

Logan Vanderveer has a joke he’s been telling since college: he’s ninety-five percent straight. He did some experimenting in school, but none of the men he fooled around with inspired him to abandon “the plan”: meet a nice girl, get married, and settle down, just like his parents always said.

None of them except Ellis Floyd, who aroused desires and feelings that scared Logan. So much so that he abandoned their burgeoning relationship just as it might have become something. But four years later, Ellis is back, and Logan finds himself questioning his sexuality in a big way.

Ellis doesn’t fit into Logan’s plan. He’s happy being a starving artist, whereas Logan has sold his soul to corporate America. Ellis is ripped jeans, and Logan is tailored suits. And, most notably, Ellis is out. But seeing him again is dredging up memories—like how it feels to kiss Ellis, and that time they almost went all the way. With chemistry like theirs, Logan isn’t sure he can—or should—keep ignoring the other five percent.

Now available from Riptide Publishing! http://www.riptidepublishing.com/titles/the-other-five-percent

About Quinn Anderson

Quinn Anderson is an alumna of the University of Dublin in Ireland and has a master’s degree in psychology. She wrote her dissertation on sexuality in popular literature and continues to explore evolving themes in erotica in her professional life.

A nerd extraordinaire, she was raised on an unhealthy diet of video games, anime, pop culture, and comics from infancy. She stays true to her nerd roots in writing and in life and frequently draws inspiration from her many fandoms, which include Sherlock, Harry Potter, Supernatural, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Buffy, Marvel, and more. You will often find her interacting with fellow fans online and offline via conventions and tumblr, and she is happy to talk about anything from nerd life to writing tips. She has attended conventions on three separate continents and now considers herself a career geek. She advises anyone who attends pop culture events in the UK to watch out for Weeping Angels, as they are everywhere.

Her favorite television show is Avatar: the Last Airbender, her favorite film is Tangled, and her favorite book is Ella Enchanted. She can often be spotted at conventions, comic shops, and midnight book releases. If you’re at an event, and you see a 6’2” redhead wandering around with a vague look on her face, that’s probably her. Her favorite authors include J.K. Rowling, Gail Carson Levine, Libba Bray, and Tamora Pierce. When she’s not writing, she enjoys traveling, cooking, spending too much time on the internet, screwing the rules, finding the Master Sword, guided falling, consulting for the NYPD, guarding the galaxy, boldly going, and catching ’em all.

Connect with Quinn:

● Facebook: www.facebook.com/AuthorQuinnAnderson/

● Tumblr: quinnandersonwrites

Giveaway

To celebrate the release of The Other Five Percent, one lucky winner will receive a $10 Riptide credit! Leave a comment with your contact info to enter the contest. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on July 15, 2017. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries. Thanks for following the tour, and don’t forget to leave your contact info!

Check Out The Escape by Nicky James! Out Now! (giveaway)

Title: The Escape: Soren’s Saga
Author: Nicky James
Genre: M/M Romance Contemporary
Release Date: July 14, 2017
 
Dancing, loud music, drinking and sex… 

 


Who wouldn’t love a job that entailed all these things?

After giving up on school and being cast aside by an unsupportive family, Soren Matheson figured he’d landed every young man’s dream job.

But… there is a catch. 

Not everything is as it seems and at the end of the day… 

Maybe even dream jobs don’t exist.

Remy Moretti lives in a world of precision and order. When a chance run-in with a sassy, sarcastic blond one evening upsets his structured world, Remy needs to find out who he is.

What he discovers makes his hair stand on end. 

The defeat and fear hidden behind the young man’s eyes gives him nightmares.

Someone needs to get to the bottom of this.

Until then, Remy will need to do whatever it takes to keep Soren safe.

Nicky James lives in the small town of Petrolia, Ontario, Canada. She is mother to a wonderful teenage boy and wife to a truly supportive and understanding husband who, thankfully, doesn’t think her crazy.

Nicky has always had two profound dreams in life; to fall back hundreds of years in time and live in a simpler world and to write novels. Since only one of those dreams was a possibility, she decided to make the other come alive on paper.
Nicky writes MM romance books in a variety of styles including contemporary, medieval, fantasy, and historical.

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A MelanieM Review: Werecat: The Sim Ru Prophecy by Andrew J. Peters

Rating: 4.75 stars out of 5

The final installment of the Werecat series, a finalist in the 2016 Romance Reviews Readers’ Choice Awards.

A fugitive from two murder investigations in New York City and a bizarre, big cat attack at a bank in Barbados, Jacks Dowd flees to South America to find the ringleader of a shifter terrorist organization deep in the Amazon. The world is on the brink of all-out war between shifters and humans, and Jacks needs to somehow broker a deal for peace.

But a special U.S. intelligence agency emerges as a new, possibly even more dangerous enemy. Both the terrorists and the U.S. government will stop at nothing to get an arcane codex that could unleash an unstoppable threat to mankind or exterminate werecats everywhere.

While Jacks dodges danger from both sides and decodes the ancient book, he’s left with the impossible choice of how to use it.

Final installment?  Hmmmm, maybe…..

I say that because when I finished the story, the first thing I did was write the author asking if, surely, there was another story just around the corner because you couldn’t leave Jacks and the Werecat series like this.  No, there wasn’t a cliffhanger. But there was left open the possibility that Jacks still had a huge task to accomplish, one I very much wanted to read about because this is a wonderful series.

Werecat: The Sim Ru Prophecy takes up right after the last story, The Fugitive ends, with the threat of interspecies warfare, Jacks trying to track down the head of the murderous werecat splinter group called The Glaring and the world on the edge of exploding.  Peters continues to build his intriguing mythology here, bringing in more ancient history and god elements.  As Jacks investigates how the werecats came into being in his search for the werecat leader Tepe in the jungles of South America, the reader gets pulled deeply into the mysteries the author is constructing.  There are more murders, increasing mystical elements and of course a government/military conspiracy worthy of any major action/adventure movie.

Throw in Jacks and his human lover, Farzan, still trying to steady their relationship, and Jacks realizing the reality of the human/werecat age span, and still have a romance /love affair and this story has oodles to offer.  That is if any of them get out of this alive.  The odds are definitely not in their favor!

I gobbled up this book in one quick read, I couldn’t get to the next scene fast enough.  So much action, so much  suspense and yes, a ton of surprises here.  And I can’t talk about any of them because everything is folded in together, melded like one great riveting mythological tapestry, that to give out one fact, just points to another spoiler and that’s just not going to happen.  Wonderful writing and great storying telling here.  It made me want to smack all four books together for one continuous read.  I just may do that.

The characters are real and believable, the settings vivid and authentic and the situations tense and suspenseful.  Trust me it’s a white-knuckle ride most of the time.

Why not five stars?  Because of that little nudge towards another story.  Peters would only say it’s not in the works yet.  Argh!!!!  We need to know what Jacks is going to do next…the future awaits him and us.  Andrew J. Peters, are you listening?

Until he does, grab up all the Werecat stories and read all the way through to this one.  What an amazing saga!  It’s a series I highly recommend.

Cover art works, especially with that wall in the backdrop.

Sales Links:  Amazon

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 287 pages
Published June 27th 2017 by Vagabondage Romance
ASINB072WT8PPN

An Alisa Review: A New Way to Dance by Sean Michael

Rating:  3.5 stars out of 5

 

Dancer Seth Avery has it all. He’s at the top of his game as a dancer and he’s in love with famous dance director Fayden DelMonaco, the man who is his sub. Seth’s whole world is turned upside down when Fayden dumps him in the nastiest and most public way possible. To compound matters, he’s in near fatal car crash shortly thereafter that leaves him severely injured.

 

Brook Turner is an ex-lawyer turned micro-brewer, baby-brother of Seth’s best friend Lizzie. The two met briefly before Seth’s accident, but it’s when they meet again six years later that they get a chance to act on the attraction they’d initially felt.

 

With Brook’s help, Seth begins to heal not only from his residual physical injuries, but also from the emotional ones inflicted by Fayden. Will it be enough to keep the two of them together?

Join Seth and Brooke as they find a new way to dance together.

 

This was a nice story.  Seth has had a real crap couple of weeks and it’s made even worse when his dreams are shattered in a car accident, he has continued his life but far away from his past.  Brook knows right away when he spots Seth again and can’t help but feel the pull to make him his.

 

Seth hasn’t even had another person touch him other than doctors in more than six years and he know there is now way he could be desirable to another person.  Brook shoots that right out of the water.  Now Seth will just have to believe that Brook is telling him the truth.  Their relationship builds up pretty fast but I didn’t see them jumping to anything willy nilly they worked it all out when needed.

 

This story is told from both characters’ points of view which helps to understand what both are thinking and how they feel.  It broke my heart to see Seth continue to struggle with feeling as if he was worthy of anything and how he felt that he needed to be the perfect weight in order for him be worth anything.  I loved watching Brook support and help Seth even when Seth felt he was too much for anyone.  They really begin to build their life together complete with dinosaur Christmas lights.

 

The cover art by Anne Squires is nice and shows Seth in his element.

 

Sales Links: Amazon | Evil Plot Bunny 

 

Book Details:

ebook, 262 pages

Published: June 20, 2017 by Sean Michael

ISBN: 9781988377650

Edition Language: English

A Lila Audiobook Review: The Ranchers Son (Montana #2) by RJ Scott and Sean Crisden (Narrator)

Rating: 4 stars out of 5

A man without memories, and the cop who never gave up hope.

When he wakes up in hospital, the victim of a brutal beating, John Doe, has no memories of who he is or who hurt him. The cops can find nothing to identify him and he can’t remember anything to help… except the name Ethan and one recurring place from his dreams. Three words, and they’re not much, but it’s a start. Crooked Tree Ranch.

Cop, Ethan Allens has never stopped searching for his brother and his brother’s best friend who vanished. When a report lands on Ethan’s desk that may give new leads he jumps at the chance to follow them up. The man he finds isn’t his brother, but it’s someone who could maybe help him discover what happened ten years ago.

What neither man can know is that facing the very real demons of the past could very well destroy any kind of future they may think they have together.

The Rancher’s Son has a perfect balance of angst and hope. Ethan’s need to know what had happened, not only to his brother but to his own first love, gets the reader to empathize with him from the beginning. You will want to cheer him up until he gets the answers he needs.

The way he responds to Adam’s return only added to the enchantment. The way he took care of Adam’s needs first was endearing. I wanted to know more about Justine, but Ethan’s and Adam’s new relationship is the real priority of the story.

The author managed to intertwine the characters from the previous book and the overall series plot with this particular volume without neglecting Ethan and Adam. Add to that, all the settings and other descriptions and it makes for an entertaining read.

I did find the travel part of the story a bit too long and repetitive, but overall, it worked with the rest of the action. Plus, we get enough of a hint of what’s to come in the next book and with the next love couple. Definitely looking forward to the next book in the series.

Sean Crisden did an excellent job voicing the characters. It did take me a minute to get used to the different cadences, but after a couple of minutes, it was easy to get into the story.

The cover by Meredith Russell shows Ethan and Adam in front of a nice landscape that can be assumed to be part of the Crooked Tree Ranch. It goes with the main elements in the story.

Sales Links:  Amazon | iTunes | Audible

Audiobook Details:

Narrator: Sean Crisden
Length: 6 hours 25 minutes
Published: June 26, 2017 (Audio Edition) by Love Lane Books Limited
ASIN: B0731PJ8ZC
Edition Language: English

Series: Montana
Book #1: Crooked Tree Ranch
Book #2: The Rancher’s Son

An Author’s Interview with Gene Gant of In Time I Dream About You (author guest interview/new book release)

In Time I Dream About You by Gene Gant
Harmony Ink Press
Cover Artist: Garrett Leigh

 Available for Purchase at Harmony Ink Press

Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words is happy to have Gene Gant here today talking about writing, books and In Time I Dream About You, the author’s latest release from Harmony Ink Press!

How much of yourself goes into a character?

Very little, if anything at all. I strive to make every character as distinct a person as possible. In the process of writing, each character becomes a separate individual to me, with his or her own personality, history, political views and opinions. As such, they often take off in directions that surprise me, pulling the story in an entirely unexpected direction. I always work from an outline of the plot, but I’m forced to be flexible with it when a character takes control of things. There really isn’t much opportunity for me to insert any of my experiences or personal views under such circumstances. (Although a character occasionally likes my favorite food, reads one of my favorite books, or dresses in a style I personally favor.) Besides, I’m not all that interesting. Readers want compelling characters. Unlike Gavin Goode, for example, I’ve so far lived a fairly uneventful life. Or, as Donald Trump might tweet: BORING.

How do you choose your covers? (curious on my part)

My publisher has a team of artists who work with authors to create covers. They begin with a series of questions to get an understanding of the plot, setting and characters along with the writer’s preferences. Using that information, they prepare two or more drafts of what will eventually become the cover. A great cover has to be eye-catching, convey a general sense of the story’s mood and pull the reader in. I usually go for the one that invokes the biggest emotional response in me, the one that makes me want to jump in and inhabit the world it depicts.

Has your choice of childhood or teenage reading genres carried into your own choices for writing?

Yes, definitely. I’ve always enjoyed fiction across a variety of genres, some of my favorites being contemporary, romance, mystery, fantasy, science fiction and horror. The stories I write fall mostly in the genres I love to read. I sometimes combine genres, as in the case of In Time I Dream About You, which is a blend of romance and science fiction/urban fantasy. Ironically, as a teenager, I read mostly adult novels by the likes of Stephen King, Peter Straub, James Patterson, John Grisham, J.R.R. Tolkien, Eric Jerome Dickey and Sue Grafton. Now, as an adult, I find myself reading an awful lot of—some would say far too much—young adult fiction.   

Have you ever had to put an ‘in progress’ story aside because of the emotional ties with it?  You were hurting with the characters or didn’t know how to proceed?

I’ve had to put stories aside for a variety of reasons. Sometimes I lose interest in the main character, which is never a good sign. Occasionally, I discover that an idea just doesn’t come together in the writing and needs to be revamped

In Time I Dream About You actually began as a tale more heavily tilted toward romance than science fiction, with Cato as the main character who falls in love with Gavin while observing him from the future. He knows Gavin dies in a tragic event and is torn between letting history take its course or violating the law against changing the past and saving Gavin. Perhaps a third of the way into the story, I found myself getting stuck. I’d fire up my computer and sit there staring at the screen, unable to write a word. I moved on to another project, unsure whether the story would ever get finished. After a few months, I read through what I’d written so far and realized I was focusing more on Gavin than Cato, because Gavin’s life was resonating more emotionally with me than Cato’s. Once I shifted the point of view to Gavin, I finished the story rather quickly. Gavin’s tale was less romantic than Cato’s would have been, but for me, the heart of the story was with him.

What’s next for you as an author?

At the moment, I’m working on a young adult novel about a lonely fifteen-year-old boy who gets dumped by his girlfriend and is surprised to find himself falling for one of his male teachers.  It’s more of a coming of age story than a romance, with the kid having to face certain truths about himself and the people in his life. I also have this idea percolating in my head about a boy who discovers he is adopted when his birth parents surface unexpectedly in his life, just as he is settling into a relationship with his new boyfriend. Beyond that, I have no other stories planned…yet, I should add. Ideas for stories tend to pop out of the blue on me, and I’m sure it won’t be long before my mind is conjuring up new characters and situations.

Blurb

Gavin Goode, a promising high school athlete with good grades, forfeited his future when he joined a brutal street gang called the Cold Bloods. The gang’s leader, Apache, discovered Gavin is gay and framed him for murder. Now in prison, Gavin faces rape and abuse on a daily basis as gang members there attempt to break him. When his father is critically injured and Gavin reaches his lowest point, a mysterious ally appears. Cato is much more than the guard he seems. He has come from the future, and he possesses the technology to undo everything that’s gone wrong in Gavin’s life.

But meddling in the timeline has dire consequences, and Gavin faces an impossible decision: sacrifice himself and his father, or let thousands of innocents die instead.

About the Author

‘m Tennessean by birth, a resident of Memphis for most of my life. I tried living in a few northern cities after graduating from college, but I couldn’t take the brutal winters, and I missed good ol’ southern barbecue. Now I make my home on a country lane outside of Memphis. When I’m not reading, working out, watching movies or spending time with family and friends, you can find me tapping away at my computer.

Website
http://www.facebook.com/?sk=welcome#!/pages/Gen…

A Stella Review: Finding Home by Meg Harding

RATING 3,75 out of 5 stars

Jaden Matthews has never known his father or his father’s family, but he’s about to get a crash course on having siblings. With the recent passing of his grandmother, he’s discovered he has three half-brothers and part ownership of a gym. In Serenity, Florida. His life in New York has hit a rocky road, so maybe this is the vacation he needs to get things back on track.

Chase Michaels lost his future in a car crash almost ten years ago, and he’s made a new one for himself in Serenity. One that doesn’t include getting emotionally involved with people who are just passing through. But Jaden makes his common sense flee and his gut react. He’s got one month with the man who made him believe in taking a chance.

Finding Home is the third book I read by Meg Harding and I’m now ready to say I like this author’s style quite a lot. With this new release she gave me everything I want in a story. The plot and the setting are very well done and the writing is pretty good.

What I truly loved were the characters, all of them, not just Chase and Jaden but the three brothers too, Zane, Elliott and Phoenix. How they were inclusive versus a new brother never seen and who is ready to take off them their grandmother’s inheritance, the same grandmother he never actually saw. Nonethless they were ready to show Jaden the beautiful town they lived in, hoping they will be  able to persuade him to stay and live close to them. I think they set a good example and very few people in their places would have thought with the heart and not  with the wallet.

I just hoped to have a little more about their own personal stories, I know Finding Home isn’t the three brothers’ book, but a little more would have made the story more complete. The same critic I have to move to the MCs and that’s the only reason why I haven’t rate the title higher. Although I enjoyed the novel a lot and I knew some of the MCs’ backgrounds, I missed something I can’t quite put my finger on to truly connect with Jaden and Chase, I saw their hearts but I wasn’t able to feel them. But this is just a sensation I had due probably to just my mood.

Anyway if you’re looking for a sweet and light story to relax, give Finding Home a chance. I can’t wait to read more by this author.

I love the cover art, it’s simple and clean but eye-catching and easy to remember.

Buy Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK

BOOK DETAILS

Kindle Edition, 200 pages

Published July 3rd 2017 by Oceanside Press

ASIN B0711ZG4W9

Edition Language English

A MelanieM Review: Broke Deep (Porthkennack #3) by Charlie Cochrane

Rating: 3 stars out of 5

A Porthkennack novel

Morgan Capell’s life is falling apart by small degrees—his father’s dead, his boyfriend dumped him, and his mother’s in the grip of dementia. His state of mind isn’t helped by his all-too-real recurring nightmare of the wreck of the Troilus, a two hundred year old ship he’s been dreaming about since his teenage years.

The story of the Troilus is interwoven with the Capell family history. When amateur historian Dominic Watson inveigles himself into seeing the ship’s timbers which make up part of Morgan’s home, they form a tentative but prickly friendship that keeps threatening to spark into something more romantic.

Unexpectedly, Dominic discovers that one of the Troilus’s midshipman was rescued but subsequently might have been murdered, and persuades Morgan to help him establish the truth. But the more they dig, the more vivid Morgan’s nightmares become, until he’s convinced he’s showing the first signs of dementia. It takes as much patience as Dominic possesses—and a fortuitous discovery in a loft—to bring light out of the darkness.

I’m such a huge fan of Charlie Cochrane that I rush to pick up anything she writes and this sounded full of elements she could put her unique spin on.  It had historical aspects up the wazoo!  A wreck of the Troilus on the Cornish coast that seems to haunt this one family and village.  So modern times and the past combined, plus a romance between two unique spirits (something Cochrane thrives at – see Jonty and Orlando) and this ought to have been a smash hit.  But after I finished reading it, even the clever parts, I was left feeling a bit let down.  That’s so unusual after one of her stories.  And I’ve been trying to figure out why.

I think it all comes down to a build up that never happens.  It all centers around that unlucky frigate the Troilus and the Capell family.  Cochrane builds up the suspense of what exactly is happening to Morgan (his headaches, nightmares, etc), the dementia of his mother, the past dementia of his maternal line as the story continues.  Dominic, a lovely character btw, adds to the tension with his disbelief yet need to further pull Morgan into more investigations into past history of the wreck and the dead…making things worse.  Things ramp up….until…violins at a pitch ala Hitchcock style…Cochrane then proceeds to narratively undo everything she’s just accomplished.

To say I was astonished was putting it nicely.

What Cochrane did was clever.  But not satisfying.  I went ‘huh, so that’s it?’.  Utterly disappointed and sort of sad.  And you’re left sort of up in the air about Morgan in some matters.

So what to say about Broke Deep?  Its well written, clever certainly.  The village and setting comes alive in the story as does the people who live there as well as Morgan and Dominic.  The mystery needed to be better clarified and for me, I wish my original thoughts about the blurb had been the right ones.  On to the next Charlie Cochrane story!

Cover by: G.D. Leigh.  Dramatic and works for the  story.

Sales Links:  Riptide Publishing | Amazon

Book Details:

ebook, 249 pages
Published June 5th 2017 by Riptide Publishing
ISBN 1626495424 (ISBN13: 9781626495425)
Edition LanguageEnglish
SeriesPorthkennack #3