Category: M/M Book Reviews

An Ali Audiobook Review: Where There’s Smoke (Panopolis #1) by Cari Z and Nick J. Russo (Narrator)

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
where-theres-smoke-audioPanopolis is a rough place to be an average Joe. I came here looking for adventure and excitement, but nobody cares about one more normal guy in a city filled with super-powered heroes. The closest I’ve come to glory is working in a bank that villains often rob.

But then I maybe accidentally-on-purpose helped a villain escape the hero who was trying to save the day. Imagine my shock when, a week later, that villain asked me out for coffee. One date turned into more, and now I’m head over heels in love with Raul.

Falling in love with the guy dubbed the Mad Bombardier isn’t without its downsides, though. I’ve had to deal with near-death encounters with other villains, awkwardly flirtatious heroes who won’t take no for an answer, and a lover I’m not sure I can trust. It’s getting to the point where I know I’ll have to make a choice: side with the heroes, or stand fast by my villain.

Either way, I think my days as a normal guy are over.
I really enjoyed this unique and creative story. Panopolis is a city filled with Heroes and Villians (think comic book characters). Edward is an average guy who has never actually met either until his bank is robbed by a villian. The two men have an instant connection and end up meeting again soon after. As Edward finds himself falling for Raul he has to constantly question his own values and what he is doing with a criminal. The story is filled with an interesting background plot of political corruption while the two MC’s give us some adventure, some romance and some smexy times. The world building was really well done and I could totally picture it.  I thought this was a great start to a new series. I love when author’s come up with completely new ideas and this is totally different than the usual love story in the m/m genre.
This audio was narrated by  Nick J Russo and as usual he does a great job with all of the voices.  I find that he is one narrator that I consistently enjoy.  The audiobook is pretty short, under three hours, and is an easy one to follow along with.  It is something that I would definitely recommend.
Cover by L.C. Chase:  I love the cover.  It’s very eye catching and it perfectly captures the world this book is set in.
Sales Links
Audiobook Details:
Audiobook
Published February 2nd 2017 by Riptide Publishing (first published April 25th 2015)
ASINB01N7XRJQM
Edition LanguageEnglish
SeriesPanopolis #1

An Alisa Review: What the Cat Dragged In by Kate Steele

Rating:  3 stars out of 5

 

what-the-cat-dragged-in-by-kate-steeleAn owl and a pussycat? Seriously? Oh yeah. Seriously hot.

 

It’s a case of lust at first sight. The sizzle between Kyle and Bryan ignites into a passionate encounter with an unexpected result. Fun and games between this owl and lynx shifter are all well and good, but love? That’s more than either one expected, and, for this interspecies couple, may be the very thing that tears them apart.

 

This is a cute short story.  Kyle always runs when Bryan is around because he doesn’t know how Bryan will take his attraction.  When Bryan uses Kyle’s games against him things get interesting.

 

I loved how Bryan didn’t care about what others would think of their relationship and just went with being with the man he wanted.  Kyle has more doubts, but when he sees that Bryan won’t hold prejudices against him he opens up.  Both characters make mistakes which we see in their interactions, but want to do right by the other in the end .

 

Cover art by April Martinez is nice and is a standard “fling” cover for Loose Id.

 

Sales Links: Loose Id | Amazon

 

Book Details:

ebook, 48 pages

Published: January 24, 2017 by Loose Id

ISBN: 9781682522943

Edition Language: English

Release Day Blitz: Learning to Want by Tami Veldura (excerpt)

Title:  Learning To Want

Author: Tami Veldura

Publisher: Nine Star Press

Release Date: November 21 2016

Heat Level: 4 – Lots of Sex

Pairing: Male/Male

Length: 30k words

Genre: Romance, Science Fiction, BDSM (spanking, dominance, denial)

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Synopsis

Khoram is an enforcer, a bodyguard, but his boss has just betrayed him. Now he’s stranded on a desert planet he’s never heard of, chained to the only other human around.

Atash grew up in the cracks of Dulia’s complex social structure, where dominance and submission are a man’s worth. He’s struggled for years on a lower caste but Khoram could be his ticket to a better life if they can find common ground.

Atash wants to teach Khoram the art of submitting by choice and maybe make a name for himself along the way. Khoram, however, isn’t here to play Atash’s political games. He’s going to escape, if his former employer doesn’t see him killed first.

Excerpt

Learning to Want
Tami Veldura © 2016
All Rights Reserved

Khoram couldn’t help testing his bonds. The metal chain between his hands and feet rattled, laughing at his attempts. The line of slaves shuffled forward one space, and Khoram was dragged along whether he wanted it or not. A lot of things were happening whether he wanted them to or not. The food he ate, the beer he drank, the clothes they took, the hands that verified he was in working condition. He flinched at the memory.

To distract himself he looked up and tried to count the days. Four behind bars on Elliot’s ship thanks to good-for-nothing Nik, six on the small space hopper, three in the holding cells while he and the Ohiri waited for another connection, two in the transport that left them here on Dulia, five—no, six now—at the auction house. Twenty-one days for Nik to cover his tracks. Almost a full cycle for the trail to go cold. Khoram grit his teeth. At the very least something different was happening.

The slave line shuffled forward.

Here, off stage, they kept the rooms mostly dim. It didn’t diminish Dulia’s oppressive heat in the slightest, but the closer Khoram was guided to the glowing roll-up door of the slave block, the more he longed for home. His fitful dreams tortured him with visions of Avois’s wet jungles and waterfalls. He hadn’t actually been home in over a decade, too busy making his fortune as an enforcer and bodyguard, but he was starting to see the error of his ways. Or at least the error of Nik’s.

Khoram licked his lips. He pressed them together, already regretting it. They’d been chapped dry for days. His wrists and ankles chafed under the iron. These were better discomforts than the lingering slick between his legs and exactly what lay on the other side of that bright doorway.

A Dulia lizardman flared the red frill around his neck as he walked the slave line, clicking orders in his native tongue and emphasizing them with a small electric prod. Khoram had tested the prod’s worth enough times to know it could knock him on his ass without much effort. He looked away from the mercenary and shuffled forward with the line.

He wasn’t exactly inconspicuous. The group he was chained to consisted largely of Ohiri natives: light-skinned, five-foot average, and generally docile. They were just as likely to stay in line without the chains and prod. Khoram stood out among them: a tall, dark, massive human furious in his captivity. Khoram was highly trained and just waiting for a chance to show it. In a fair fight, the lizardmen would fold like paper and they knew it. He’d never been unchained, left alone, or handled by fewer than four, and they were always armed with their electric prods. Always on alert.

Khoram grit his teeth. From capture to sale, he hadn’t managed a single successful bid for freedom, and he’d tried more than a few times. Now he took a breath and let his patience steady his hands, let the line of slaves tug him along. If the lizardmen couldn’t be overcome, whoever purchased him could be. Khoram wasn’t entirely familiar with Dulia’s customs, but if the easily dominated Ohiri were slaves of choice, Khoram wasn’t going to fetch much interest or profit.

The slave in front of him was unleashed from the line and yanked out the bright door. A lizardman pointed at the vacated spot, and Khoram shuffled forward to occupy it. The heat pulsed through the door in bright waves, bringing scents of sand, sweat, and a light spice that was unfamiliar. He could hear voices, now: the auctioneer yelling in rapid Duliana, the crowd barking their bids in turn, the sound of rhythmic smacking, a chorus of cheers. Another winning bid.

Then Khoram’s chains were unleashed and, flanked by two lizardmen with prods, he was led through the door. Hot metal rattled under his feet, and the blinding sun limited his view of more than the circular platform onto which he was pulled. A lizardman unhooked his wrists from his ankles, instead latching the chain to something that hoisted his arms suddenly overhead. His breath whooshed out. They tightened his ankle chains to the platform, and with a metal screech, it slowly began to rotate. They were showing him off. A tingle of awareness tripped over his skin and exposed groin—the attention of a hundred eyes.

Khoram squinted. The auctioneer espoused in Duliana for several minutes, likely explaining why the hell this bear of a human was on the block instead of a lithe Ohiri, spinning his assets to garner the crowd’s favor. Khoram knew a snake-oil salesman when he saw one, even if he didn’t share their language.

The platform turned him, and he faced the crowd. More of a species mix than he expected. Lizardmen were not the primary slave-owners if this was a decent selection. Mostly tall Frea, in fact, their black scales draped in white gossamer. They were members of Dulia’s refined upper caste, and other than video, this was the first he’d seen them. They weren’t known to ever leave Dulia, though they profited from the wider galaxy’s trade gladly. Pockets of Slone-dogs made the most noise in the crowd. They barked in their hybrid dialect, likely obscene things Khoram didn’t want translated. He curled his lip at the closest pack, and they yipped at each other.

Purchase

Nine Star Press | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | iTunes | Smashwords

Meet the Author

Queer romance, sci­ence fic­tion, fan­tasy, steam­punk, and YA fiction author. I’m only here until I reach escape velocity. Artist. Gardener. Gamer. Raynauds. Asexual.

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | eMail | Instagram | Patreon

 

 

 

 

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A Barb the Zany Old Lady Review: The New Wolf (Building the Pack #1) by RJ Scott

Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5

the-new-wolfThis was an interesting twist on wolf shifter stories and the beginning of a trilogy that will be completed by two other authors, so it’s definitely not a standalone.

Veterinarian Josh Nolan and his partner, Connor Vincent, move to Black Creek, Vermont, after a shooting incident in their former location severely injured Connor, who was a cop in that city. Hired by the Sheriff’s Department in Black Creek, Connor finds life here a lot quieter than in the city so starts to look through cold-case files. What he discovers is a series of injuries, deaths, and disappearances in the late sixties to early seventies that were never solved, though they did abruptly end. But he’s cautioned by the sheriff to leave the mysteries alone.

One night, however, Josh is severely injured when he stops to help a large dog who was hit by a car. The driver disappeared, and as Josh was struggling to help the large animal that looked remarkably like a wolf, someone attacked him. Fortunately, Connor arrives on scene quickly to care for him, Josh having called him when he stopped to help the animal. Shortly afterward, the sheriff and a few deputies arrive, and by the time Josh gets treatment at the local hospital, he’s been convinced that he imagined some of what he saw and that the attack couldn’t have happened that way at all.

This sets the scene for most of the story, in which much of what occurs to Josh, and later to Connor, is covered up and secretive. Ultimately, we discover that there are indeed wolf shifters in the area, and that some of the principal “human” characters are wolves who are members of a fairly new pack.

I enjoyed the story, though it felt introductory and incomplete, since the “big, bad wolf” was not taken down in this installment in the series. The established couple, Josh and Connor, were good characters, but I didn’t feel the closeness that I anticipated. They certainly had their quiet times and their sexy times, but maybe it was because of what happens to Connor, and the distance that injury created, they didn’t feel as strong a couple as I would have liked.

Nevertheless, those who enjoy paranormal/shifter stories will likely enjoy this introductory look at what promises to be an interesting and exciting series.

Cover art by Meredith Russell depicts one of the characters front and center with the full moon in the background. A nice cover but not outstanding among all others which feature a cover model as opposed to artwork or other interesting symbolism.

Sales Links

Amazon US: http://amzn.to/2jseies

Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/2jUYgGJ

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 78 pages
Published January 16th 2017 by Love Lane Books Ltd (first published August 1st 2013)
ASINB01MUBNP7M
Edition LanguageEnglish
SeriesBuilding The Pack #1
CharactersJosh Nolan, Connor Vincent settingBlack Creek, Vermont (United States)

TJ Nichols on Research, Writing, and ‘Warlock in Training’ (author interview and DSP Publications Guest Post)

warlockintrainingfs_v1

Warlock in Training (Studies in Demonology #1) by T.J. Nichols
DSP Publications
Cover Artist: Catt Ford

Available for Purchase at

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Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words is happy to host T.J. Nichols here today in our authors interview chair.  Welcome, T.J.!

~Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words Interview with T.J. Nichols~

Does research play a role into choosing which genre you write?  Do you enjoy research or prefer making up your worlds and cultures?

I do a lot of research even though I write (mostly) urban fantasy. It could be simple things like the physical location of the story if I’m setting it in a place I’ve never been through to different poisons that were common in the Middle Ages, or even the different types of werewolf lore.

When creating Demonside (the realm where demons live in Warlock in training) I had to research how desert dwelling people survived in those harsh conditions. I had to look up the life cycle of desert plants and animals which are dependent on the rains when, or if, they come.

Research is one of those things that I do all the time, even if I don’t know where the knowledge is going to come in handy.

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

Definitely. I read mainly fantasy novel when growing up, and I love that escape to new worlds. These days I love creating those new worlds and mixing magic into our world.

Do you like HFN or HEA? And why?

I like both as a reader and writer. Some stories need everything to be tied up with a bow and other stories need to be left undone. I’m generally happy as long as I think the couple has the chance to give being together a good shot. As a writer crafting the perfect ending can take a while. I try to know the last scene of the book by the time I’m ¼ of the way through writing the first draft. Sometimes I know that final image when I start plotting…then the trouble is working out how to get there. I must confess I’m not a fan of the ‘two years later epilogue’, I’ve never read one that’s made me love the story more (but I’ll read it if it’s there).

Do you read romances, as a teenager and as an adult?

I didn’t discover romance novels until I was in my twenties. These days I read both. It all depends on what I want from a book (sometimes I want the happily ever after, sometimes I want the bigger world of an urban fantasy/fantasy, and sometimes I just want something I can read in 2 hours so I read a novella). I like the uplifting nature of romance novels and that love wins every time. Love should win and everyone should get their happily ever after, but that doesn’t happen in real life.

How do you feel about the ebook format and where do you see it going?

I don’t think ebooks will go away. I love them. The convenience of having a library on my ereader is great. I still buy print books, usually it comes down to price and availability as to which format I buy (I live in Australia).

Do you have a favorite among your own stories?  And why?

I love all my stories but for different reasons. A Wolf’s Resistance is set in WW2 which is one of my favorite time periods so the research was really just reading for pleasure. Warlock in Training was just fun to write—not all stories are like that (I’m working on a novella at the moment which is like pulling teeth).

What’s next for you as an author?

I’m busy working on book 3 in the Studies in Demonology series (book 2 is with my crit partner at the moment). In September-ish Olivier (an Order of the Black Knights novel) will be out. If you haven’t checked out the Black Knights multi author series do, as it’s a mix of romantic suspense, past life repercussions and curses (some of my favorite things).

warlockintraining_fbbanner_dspp

Blurb

Angus Donohue doesn’t want to be a warlock. He believes draining demons for magic is evil, but it’s a dangerous opinion to have—his father is a powerful and well-connected warlock, and Angus is expected to follow the family tradition.

His only way out is to fail the demon summoning class. Failure means expulsion from the Warlock College. Despite Angus’s best efforts to fumble the summoning, it works. Although not the way anyone expects.

Angus’s demon, Saka, is a powerful mage with his own need for a warlock.

Saka wants to use Angus in a ritual to rebalance the magic that is being stripped from Demonside by warlocks. If Angus survives his demon’s desires and the perils of Demonside, he’ll have to face the Warlock College and their demands.

Angus must choose: obey the College and forget about Demonside or trust Saka and try to fix the damage before it’s too late. Whatever he does, he is in the middle of a war he isn’t qualified to fight.

About the Author

TJ Nichols is an avid runner and martial arts enthusiast who first started writing as child. Many years later while working as a civil designer TJ decided to pick up a pen and start writing again. Having grown up reading thrillers and fantasy novels it’s no surprise that mixing danger and magic comes so easily, writing urban fantasy allows TJ to bring magic to the everyday.

With two cats acting as supervisors TJ has gone from designing roads to building worlds and wouldn’t have it any other way. After traveling all over the world and Australia, TJ now lives in Perth, Western Australia.

Website: tjnichols-author.blogspot.com

Twitter: @TobyJNichols

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TJNichols.author/

Ebook: 978-1-63533-267-4

Print: 978-1-63533-266-7