Category: M/M Book Reviews

In the Spotlight with Broken Soldier by Jamie Lynn Miller (excerpt and giveaway

Title: Broken Soldier
Author: Jamie Lynn Miller
Genre: M/M Romance
Release Date: March 5, 2016
Sergeant Connor Finley and Sergeant Shawn Weller are dedicated soldiers working covert ops for Shadow Unit — a joint UK/US anti-terrorism task force.

Partners in the field and out, they had been through hell together for the last four years and made it through standing side by side. But when their latest undercover op to bring down an arms dealer plunges them into a world of drugs, sex and violence, Shawn must literally get in bed with the enemy in order to complete the mission. And Connor is forced to watch, helpless, as his partner is broken into pieces.Will love be enough to put them both back together or will this be their final mission? WARNING: Contains scenes of drug use, graphic sex and realistic situations.




Connor cut himself off as Shawn let out an angry yell and swung a wild punch at him. Connor was forced to release Shawn’s wrist to avoid his partner’s fist, which would have caught him right in the face. He stumbled back a step, hitting the refrigerator, nearly losing his footing on the items strewn about on the floor. Just as he straightened up, Shawn grabbed a coffee mug off the counter and hurled it at Connor’s head. Connor dropped to a crouch and the mug smashed into the refrigerator.

Keeping low, Connor went at Shawn like an American football player, ducking under his partner’s arms and catching him around his middle. Shawn’s back hit the edge of the counter and both of them slid to the floor. Shawn’s fists began pummeling at Connor’s arms and chest as Connor got Shawn first onto his back then flipped over onto his stomach, straddling his waist. Shawn tried to buck him off, yelling angrily and Connor was amazed at the strength the desperate craving for the heroin gave him.
“Please, Connor, please,” Shawn pleaded with him, breathing hard. “I just need a little bit. Just a little and I’ll be fine…”
Connor quickly pulled the syringe out of his pocket and used his mouth to pull off the cap, which he spit out onto the floor.
He swallowed hard. “I’m so sorry, mate,” he said, voice rough, then injected Shawn with the sedative.
“I need it, Connor, I need it…” Shawn mumbled as his eyes closed moments later, succumbing to the effects of the sedative.
Connor slid off of Shawn’s body then, slumping against the counter next to him, his face in his hands, gutted to the core by what had just transpired. A lump formed in his throat as he lifted his head and looked at his partner, lying there unconscious. Shawn’s face was drawn, flushed and wet with sweat, battered and bruised with dark circles under his eyes that had looked at him with such pain and desperation.
Shawn was the strongest, bravest man Connor had ever known, now reduced to this broken soldier before him.
All because of duty and loyalty to his unit and his mission. For the first time Connor feared that Shawn had been shattered into too many pieces to ever be put back together again.
His chest constricted at the thought, the grief and anger inside him suddenly too much to contain any longer. He grabbed for Shawn’s hand and held on tight as he broke down, the first sob tearing through him. He cried for Shawn, who was fighting a battle he might not be able to win and he cried for the two of them, wondering how they’d survive if Shawn didn’t.
He cried until there was nothing left inside him, until his eyes ran dry and his throat burned. He gathered Shawn into his arms then and held him tight, wishing he could take his place, but instead willing every ounce of strength he had into him, the only thing he could do.

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eBook copy of any backlist title

Jamie Lynn Miller has been writing fiction since childhood and decided to take the plunge and go pro in 2008, finding to her amazement that people truly enjoyed her love stories. She’s a romantic at heart, and her tales reflect the desire we all have to find “the one,” persevering through trials and heartache for that happy ending.

 

Jamie has a degree in fine arts and has spent the last twenty years working as a graphic designer, though she’d much rather be writing. She was born in Chicago and still lives there today with her husband and their two furry, four-footed children, er… cats.

 

If she’s not brainstorming story ideas, you can find Jamie at a sci-fi convention, in front of a furnace doing glass blowing, or on a mat twisted into a yoga pose.



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A Stella Review: Sweet by Alysa Constantine

Rating: 3,25 out of 5 stars

SweetNot every love story is a romance novel.

For Jules Burns, a lonely baker, it is the memory of his deceased husband, Andy. For Teddy Flores, a numbed-to-the-world accountant who accidentally stumbles into his bakery, it is a voyage of discovery into his deep connections to pleasure, to the world, and to his own heart.

Sweet is also the story of how we tell stories—of what we expect and need from a love story. The narrator is on to you, Reader, and wants to give you a love story that doesn’t always fit the bill. There are ghosts to exorcise, and jobs and money to worry about. Sweet is a love story, but it also reminds us that love is never quite what we expect, nor quite as blissfully easy as we hope.

I’m in the minority here cause readers seem to have loved Sweet. I didn’t love it but I liked it. I don’t think I’ll going to reread it in the next future but I am so grateful to have discovered a new to me author.

Jules is still recovering from the death of his husband Andy, a recovering spent in Buttermilk’s kitchen, his bakery, doing what he knows and does better, be a pastry chef. He doesn’t have a lot of relationships outside her kitchen, apart from the awesome ‘Trice. When he meets and starts to feel something for the cute Teddy he has no idea how to act on it. Maybe he is not ready to leave Andy on the past. But he has to make space in his heart for a new unexpected love or he will lose his second chance at love.

I had little troubles with the book from the start, I liked the writing since it was unusual in some parts and well done, but too many times the sentences were too long and I had to go back and reread them because it was so easy to me to be lost in them. Surely it was just my limit but it was a huge deterrent.

Moreover I didn’t love the MCs, I found them childish and unsure of their minds. I still liked them, I get glimpses of real life in their scenes, tender and romantic till the end. Although all the positive elements, Sweet didn’t fully catch my attention. I have to admit the first half was pretty good, it warmed my heart reading Jules’ blog posts and the teasing with Teddy. Then there was a change, or better an addiction in the cast whose name I’m not going to mention cause I don’t want to spoil it, from that moment to me the story lost its value and credibility and I wasn’t able to find something good to cling on.

I gave Sweet 3,25 stars because at the end I liked it and I’m still curious to read more by Alysia Constantine.

The book design and cover illustrations by CB Messer is simple, clean and different. Nicely done.

Sales Links:  Interlude Press | ARe | Amazon

Book Details:

Published February 4th 2016 by Interlude Press
Kindle Edition, 209 pages
ASIN B01BA0E5SG
Edition Language English

A Barb the Zany Old Lady Review: Loud and Clear by Aidan Wayne

Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Loud and ClearThis is a very, very enjoyable story of a young cab driver, Jaxon, who suffers from dyslexia and has been told how dumb he is all his life. It’s also about a young executive, Caleb, who stutters so much he finds it difficult to mingle socially.

Jaxon likes his job as a cab driver. After all, he gets to meet people from all walks of life, and even though he can’t read, he’s memorized all the streets and important landmarks, so he has no problem getting around the city. One Tuesday night, he picks up a fare at a bar and takes him to Lincoln Towers, a fancy apartment complex that Jaxon remembers from his efforts to remember important buildings. The fare is Caleb, and as each succeeding Tuesday passes with Jaxon being called to pick up Caleb, the two men begin to learn a little about each other. Caleb doesn’t speak much, and when his stuttering is really bad, he resorts to sign language or leaving notes on the cab receipt. When he finds out Jaxon has difficulty reading those notes, he writes them in a way that is more easily read by most dyslexics.

One night when answering a call at a local bar, Jaxon is dismayed to find a drunken Caleb being escorted home by another man. When he learns the man plans to take him to his own place, Jaxon intervenes. Knowing he could lose his job, he confronts the man, demanding to take Caleb to Caleb’s home and telling the man that he knows Caleb well and knows he would want to go home. Though he risked his job for it, he’s actually saved Caleb from non-consensual sex, and when Caleb remembers most of it the next day, he reaches out to get in touch with Jaxon.

Though at first fearing recriminations, he quickly learns that Caleb is interested in treating him to dinner and thus begins a relationship between two men from seemingly completely different worlds. But at the core is the fact that both men are really not all that much different from each other. When Jaxon teaches himself enough basic sign language to make communication with Caleb easier, Caleb is floored. And Caleb forces Jaxon to see that he’s really not dumb or stupid; it takes a very intelligent man to memorize all the streets in the city and to teach himself enough sign language to communicate.

The author moves the story along quite quickly as the men’s dates are detailed, but the time in between the dates advances rather fast. The characters are so well done and so endearing, I would have liked this story to have been longer. There’s no explicit sex—just a budding romance and the chance for both men to find their soulmates with the most unlikely people. But it works, and they work, and I’m very impressed by this story from an author I haven’t previously read.

~~~~~

Cover art by L.C. Chase features a cab in motion with a blurred background reminiscent of the speed of the cab driving down the street and with bright dots symbolizing snow or freezing rain. It’s bright and colorful and perfect for this book.

Sales Links:  Riptide Publishing | ARe | Amazon

Book Details:

ebook, 93 pages
Published May 23rd 2016 by Riptide Publishing
Original TitleLoud and Clear
ISBN 1626494347 (ISBN13: 9781626494343)
Edition LanguageEnglish

Celebrate the Release of Loud and Clear blog tour with Aidan Wayne (giveaway)

Loud and Clear

Loud and Clear by Aidan Wayne
Riptide Publishing
Cover art by L.C. Chase

Read an Excerpt/Buy it Here

About Loud and Clear

Jaxon is getting by fine, severe dyslexia or not. Being a cab driver means he doesn’t need to read much, and the job has its perks. The pay isn’t bad, the people can be interesting, and having memorized the city streets keeps him from feeling too stupid.

When he picks up Caleb, a quiet fare in a nice suit, Jaxon doesn’t think anything of it. Then he ends up driving Caleb home the next week too, and the next, and the next. Eventually Caleb tries to communicate—by writing things down. Turns out that Caleb has such a bad stutter he spends most of his time mute.

If only Jaxon had an easier time reading what Caleb had to say. But he’s interested in trying, and Caleb seems interested back. They discover that, with a little bit of effort, it isn’t so hard to make themselves understood. Especially when what’s growing between them is definitely worth talking about.

About Aidan Wayne

Aidan Wayne is a big believer in character-driven stories with happy endings. This is not to say that stories can’t contain a little (or a lot) of grief, just that at the end of it all expect there to be bandages and hugs. They particularly like to write about minority characters because damn it, they deserve happy endings too.

When not writing, Aidan enjoys practicing aerial, martial arts, and ASL, and watching reality cooking shows. They are probably in the middle of twelve projects as you read this.

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Giveaway

To celebrate the release of Loud and Clear, Aidan is giving away $15 in Riptide credit. Leave a comment to enter the contest. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on May 28, 2016. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries. Thanks for following the tour, and don’t forget to leave your contact info!

A MelanieM Review: A Place to Call Their Own by Dean Pace-Frech

Rating:  4 stars out of 5

A Place To Call Their OwnFrank Greerson and Gregory Young have been discharged from the Army and are headed to their childhood homes. They both defied their parents in 1861 when they joined the Army. After battling southern rebels and preserving the Union of the United States of America, the two men set out to battle the Kansas Prairie and build a life together. Once they find their claim, they encounter common obstacles to life on the Kansas Prairie in 1866: Native Americans, tornadoes, wild animals, and weather.

When a prairie fire destroys their crops and takes their neighbor’s lives, Frank and Gregory are instructed to find their young son’s aunt. Faced with leaving a destroyed claim, the railroad coming through their land, and dwindling funds, Frank and Gregory must decide whether to leave the place they have worked hard to make their own or fulfill their friends’ dying wishes.

When I first started into A Place to Call Their Own the pacing and style of the story was at once both so different from all the other stories I’ve read  (or am reading) and yet so  oddly familiar as well.  It was in the matter of fact tone of the narration, the “plain speaking” manner of its characters, and the precisely lived hours of their days that Dean Pace-Frech lays out for us that niggled at my brain, telling me I recognized, not the story or characters, no…but the old style, slower approach of storytelling and the affection for the past in the author’s heart.

Then it hit me…the author already laid it out for us…right at the beginning…something I had glossed over too quickly.

“Six miles beyond them, two bachelors were living in one house. They had taken two farms, and built the house on the line between them…they cooked and ate together in the middle of the house.” —Laura Ingalls Wilder, Little House on the Prairie

Dean Pace-Frech may have used that quote from my beloved Laura Ingalls Wilder as inspiration but maybe he loved the matter of fact every day descriptions too.  For some of A Place to Call Their Own conjures up visions of the Little House on the Prairie sage, M/M style, in a wonderful way, making history alive again through the lives of two men who love one another.

As we enter the story, Frank Greerson and Gregory Young are already a couple, albeit a hidden one, and have decided on a course of action, taking their savings and  heading out to the 1861 Kansas territory and making a land grab for the free land where they figure they can be themselves,  a “safe” couple.

Their back story will come along later.  Its their journey, their relatives, their wagons, cows, building the cabin, interaction with the local Osage Indians, that will have a lovely (and well researched ) feel. The author includes the expansion of the railroad and the Homestead act and the villainy associated with claim jumping. Such a life always included its perils, and angst.  And both young men still have much growing up to do, even having served in the Civil War and survived.

This story is low on sex and high on love and survival, in a place where they find that having used their energy to make an extra bed in their first prairie house just might ensure that their reputations stay intact enough for their neighbors to lend them a hand when necessary.

I sank into this story much that same as I did the Little House in the Prairie books and when I came to the end, I was saddened to see that there was not another waiting for me so I could know how the journey continues for Frank and Gregory and others.  That was really my only issue here, that the story  ends too abruptly.

I hope that Dean Pace-Frech  will consider taking it further, letting us know what the next leg in their journey was and how it turned out.  A new M/M Western Historical Saga is just the thing I’ve been looking for.  I’m sure I’m not the only one.

Consider  A Place to Call Their Own by Dean Pace-Frech a story I absolutely recommend if you love historical stories and a look into the past.  Or even are, as I am, totally fond of Little House on the Prairie.  Pick this up, and prepare to fall in love all  over again.

 

Cover art by Written Ink Designs.  I like the cover but its too generic and I could swear I’ve seen it used before.

Sales Links:  JMS Books LLC  |  Amazon

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 156 pages
Published May 31st 2015 by JMS Books LLC (first published July 1st 2012)
ASINB00X64JP0S
Edition LanguageEnglish

An Ali Audiobook Review: There’s Something About Ari by L.B. Gregg, Nick. J. Russo Narrator

Rating:  3 stars out of 5

 There's Something About ARi audioBuck Ellis’s future seems pretty damn bright. With a full college scholarship in hand, he’s going to ditch Bluewater Bay and pave the way for his kid brother Charlie to do the same. The only fly in Buck’s ointment is his ten-year addiction to his best friend since second grade, his true love, and his Achilles heel: Ari Valentine, Mr. Least Likely to Succeed.

 

But then Buck’s mother dies, changing everything, and five years later, his future is still on hold. It’s a struggle to keep food on the table, a roof over their heads, and Charlie on the straight and narrow. Buck can’t afford any temptation, especially in the form of the newly returned, super hot, super confident, super successful television star Ari Valentine.

 

ADHD poster-child Ari Valentine left for Hollywood and lost everything, including his bad reputation. Then the breakthrough role of his skyrocketing career lands him back in Bluewater Bay, to the stunned disbelief of, well, everyone. But there’s only one person Ari longs to impress—the only person who ever really mattered to him, the person he left behind: Buck Ellis.

 

Nothing has gone right for Buck in years; his mother died, his best friend left and he was left alone to take care of his younger brother.  He has pretty much spent the last five years in standstill, still working at the coffee shop and just surviving and suddenly his best friend decides to come back to town and move in next door upsetting everything.  Ari is not willing to give up on Buck and is determined to keep pushing till he gets what he wants.

 

This was a nice story, if a bit short.  Most of the book was spent with Buck determined to stay away from Ari and keep everything the same.  There isn’t much of a conclusion to their problems, just Buck deciding not to fight it anymore.  I wish there had been a bit more to the story and that I had been able to see them actually work through their problems a bit more.

 

Nick Russo once again did a wonderful job narrating this story.  I could connect with the characters through the voices and emotions he portrayed.

Cover art by LC Chase is nice and follows the pattern for the series.

Sales Links:  Riptide | Audible | Amazon | iTunes

Audiobook Details:

Audiobook, 2 hrs 41 min
Published: May 9, 2016 (ebook first published November 10, 2014)
Edition Language: English

Series: Bluewater Bay #2

Sunny Moraine On Writing Pain, Characters and ‘Sword and Star’ (guest blog and giveaway)

Sword and Star

Sword and Star (Root Code #3) by Sunny Moraine
Riptide Publishing
Cover art by Kanaxa

Read an Excerpt/Buy It Here

Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words is happy to have Sunny Moraine here today to talk about writing, characterization and her latest novel in her Root Code series, Sword and Star.  Welcome, Sunny!.

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Welcome to the SWORD AND STAR blog tour! 

 

SWORD AND STAR is the conclusion of a trilogy I started (with my co-author for LINE AND ORBIT Lisa Soem) over a decade ago. It’s been a long, strange journey and now it’s over. It’s not the first book trilogy I’ve finished, but it’s certainly the closest to my heart.

 

It’s been amazing getting to know this world and these characters over the course of three books, and it’s been even more amazing getting to share it all with readers. Adam Yuga and Lochlan d’Bideshi’s story is done, Eva Reyes and Kyle Waverly have found their own conclusion, Kae and Leila’s part in this tale is over (though you’ll see those two again in the forthcoming LINEAGE), and I’ve bid a fond farewell to the Bideshi seer Nkiruka. Goodbyes are never easy, but when you arrive at a good one, it’s immensely satisfying.

 

I’m so grateful to everyone who’s traveled with me, and just as grateful to the people coming to the story now. Whatever category you fall into, I hope you’ll find this final volume a fitting end.

 

Thank you for being here!

 

 

Character Pain

 

One of the things that ends up being most necessary in a story, I think, is the willingness to make your characters suffer.

 

Which can be hard, because – ideally – you love these people. They’ve come to mean an enormous amount to you. You also identify with them; writing them is going to mean getting into their heads, their thoughts, feeling what they feel. If you’re going to put them through pain, writing it means experiencing that pain, at least to some degree. At least if you’re going to write it well.

 

So it’s natural to be inclined to not do so. But that’s a mistake.

 

It’s a mistake in part in terms of the amount of story. An easily resolved problem doesn’t give you much scope for plot. But even more it’s a mistake because it means there’s nothing at stake, and in order for a story to be engaging, the stakes have to be high. Usually the higher the better. Which means danger, severe consequences if things go wrong – and things pretty much have to go wrong, or the danger won’t seem real.

 

Though the entire Root Code trilogy, I’ve been trying to raise the stakes. LINE AND ORBIT ends with a climactic battle; SWORD AND STAR begins in the midst of a buildup to war, and the story as a whole is the story of that war. You don’t get stakes much higher than that – the war itself has the potential to be a war wherein the human race destroys itself. But that’s only a backdrop for the fear and suffering I put my characters through. I tried to put them through as much as I reasonably could, pushing them to their limit – which is important, because when you push a character as far as you can, you get to know them in a way nothing else allows for.

 

Throughout the course of the book, my characters have to decide what they’re willing to fight for, what they’re willing to die for – and even more, whether they’re willing to sacrifice their chance to be with the people they love. Because wondering if you’ll have to choose between saving what you have with those people and saving the lives of millions… I can think of worse things than that, but it’s pretty bad.

 

Especially when the story is ultimately about love, about what love costs, and in the end about how love can heal.

 

So I put my characters through hell. It wasn’t necessarily fun, but it was necessary, and at the end of the book I believed I had given them something meaningful to fight through, to fight for, and that whatever victory they managed to attain was truly worth something as a result. And that the love they all had for each other was worth something as well, because these people are all family more than anything else. I believed the destination justified the journey, but also the other way around.

 

I hope, if you take that journey with them, that you’ll feel the same.

 

 

Sword and Star

About Sword and Star

 

Three months after a brutal battle at Peris, Adam Yuga, Lochlan D’Bideshi, and their rebel fleet are embroiled in a new conflict. But things aren’t going well. Even with Lock’s homeship, Ashwina, at the head of the fleet, the Protectorate forces are adapting to their tactics. Before long, two devastating blows send the ragtag rebels on the run. But the greatest threat may come from within.

 

Since the battle at Peris, Protectorate loyalist Isaac Sinder’s determination to eliminate the rebel fleet has only intensified—along with his ambition. The Protectorate is decaying, and it’s clear to Isaac that only he can save it, by any means necessary.

 

As the situation worsens for the rebels, the strain begins to tell on everyone. But more than exhaustion grows within Adam. Something alien has started to change him. Lochlan fights to hold on, but even he may not be able to follow Adam down the dark road ahead.

 

As Isaac’s obsession turns to insanity, it becomes evident that more sinister plans than his are at work. Bound together by threads of fate and chance, Adam and Lochlan turn their eyes toward a future that may tear them apart—if they’re lucky enough to survive it at all.

 

 

About Sunny Moraine

 

Sunny Moraine’s short fiction has appeared in Clarkesworld, Strange Horizons, Nightmare, Lightspeed, Long Hidden: Speculative Fiction from the Margins of History, and multiple Year’s Best collections, among other places. They are also responsible for the novels Line and Orbit (cowritten with Lisa Soem), Labyrinthian, and the Casting the Bones trilogy, as well as A Brief History of the Future: collected essays. In addition to authoring, Sunny is a doctoral candidate in sociology and a sometimes college instructor; that last may or may not have been a good move on the part of their department. They unfortunately live just outside Washington DC in a creepy house with two cats and a very long-suffering husband.

Connect with Sunny: 

 

 

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Giveaway

 

To celebrate the release of Sword and Star, Sunny is giving away a signed copy of the book and a handmade necklace. Leave a comment to enter the contest. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on May 28, 2016. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries. Thanks for following the tour, and don’t forget to leave your contact info!

 

This title is #3 of the Root Code series.

This title is part of the Songs of Slipstream universe.