Category: M/M Contemporary Fiction

An Ali Audiobook Review: Desert Heat / Native Tongue (Desert Heat #1 – 2) by Lucy Felthouse and Narrator Joel Leslie

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Desert Heat & Native TongueRead the whole story – both books bundled for your reading pleasure, and great value!

Desert Heat:

Their love is forbidden by rules, religion and risk. Yet still they can’t resist.

Captain Hugh Wilkes is on his last tour of duty in Afghanistan. The British Army is withdrawing, and Wilkes expects his posting to be event-free. That is, until he meets his Afghan interpreter, Rustam Balkhi, who awakens desires in Wilkes that he’d almost forgotten about, and that won’t be ignored.

Native Tongue:

They may be back on British soil, but the battle isn’t over.

When Captain Hugh Wilkes fell for his Afghan interpreter, Rustam Balkhi, he always knew things would never be easy. After months of complete secrecy, their return to England should have spelt an end to the sneaking around and the insane risks. But it seems there are many obstacles for them to overcome before they can truly be happy together. Can they get past those obstacles, or is this one battle too many for their fledgling relationship?

I enjoyed both of these stories.  Desert Heat is the first part of this couple’s journey.  As it says in the blurb the two men meet while in Afghanistan. Hugh is a soldier and Rustam works an interpreter. They are attracted to each other but have little time together due to the circumstances of their situation.  Despite the dangerous situation they are in the two men can’t seem to stay away from each other and after months of attraction they end up sharing a night of passion.  They know they can’t continue to be together while they are there, but they also can’t imagine giving up their relationship.  This part of the story was well written and I really enjoyed the chemistry of the two men together.
The second part of the story, Native Tongue, takes place when the men are back England,  Rustam is pursuing his medical studies and Hugh is stationed close by.  After being apart since Afghanistan, the two men feel nervous as they try to have a real relationship.  This part of the story was also well written and was both sweet and steamy.  It was lovely watching these two as they try to deal with being in a place where they can actually date.  They have some things they need to work through and I thought these were realistically presented and worked through.
Overall I really enjoyed both stories.  I liked the characters and the unique plot.  I listened to this on audio and I thoroughly enjoyed the narrator.  He did both of the main characters well and I never had a difficult time telling them apart.  I also liked the various side character’s voices.  I had not previously listened to this narrator but I will definitely look for his work in the future.
Cover:  I liked the cover a lot and felt it fit the stories well.
Sales Links
Book Details:
Kindle Edition, 154 pages
Published May 14th 2015 (first published January 29th 2015)
ASINB00X2UX08E
Edition LanguageEnglish
SeriesDesert Heat #1 – 2

A Barb the Zany Old Lady Audiobook Review: Misfits by Garrett Leigh ~ Audiobook narrated by Craig Beck

Rating: 5 stars out of 5

misfits_audiobook2400Restaurant owner Tom Fearnes has loved his partner Cass for as long as he can remember, but their work often keeps them apart. When he meets a striking young man named Jake on the vibrant streets of Camden Town, their heady first encounter takes an unexpected turn.

Jake Thompson can hardly believe his luck when he wakes up in Tom’s bed. Tom is gorgeous, kind, and…taken. Tom’s explanation of his open relationship leaves Jake cold, but Tom is too tempting, and when hard times force Jake to accept Tom’s helping hand, he finds himself between two men who’ve lost their way.

Cass Pearson is a troubled soul. He loves Tom with all he has, but some days it feels like he hasn’t much to give. Jake seems like the perfect solution. Cass risks everything to push Jake and Tom together, but Jake resists, wary, until the darkness of Cass’s past comes to call. Then Jake finds himself the last man standing, and it’s time to dig deep and shine a light for the men he’s grown to love.

Without a doubt, this is one of the very best ménage stories I’ve ever read, and I’ve read quite a few. After thinking it over, I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s because the established couple did not set out to take on a new man, and it wasn’t all about sex at all. Not even a little.  It was about compatibility, need, circumstance, nurturing, and finally love. 

When Tom first met Jake, Jake was super prickly about being helped in any way.  His Tourette’s Syndrome was flaring and Jake was cursing a blue streak. But Tom was attracted despite the TS and wanted to act on his attraction to Jake, so he pursued him until he got him in bed.  Tom and his partner Cass have an open relationship, each recognizing the need for a different bed partner once in a while. So when Cass walks in on Jake the next morning, after Tom has left for work, he thinks nothing of it. Jake, on the other hand, is freaked out and departs as quickly as he can.

Eventually, Tom convinces Jake about his relationship with Cass, and his continued offers of helping Jake find employment finally take root when Jake admits his TS is the underlying cause of losing jobs, despite the legalities against that.  He and Cass form a tentative friendship via text once Jake starts working for the company co-owned by Tom and Cass, and it’s Cass who finds Jake the day Jake is booted from his apartment for failure to pay his rent.  The stubborn man had refused to take payment from Tom for the work he’s doing on one of their new ventures, and Cass is the one who realizes why he’s now on the street and goes to retrieve him.  From then on, Jake lives with both men, though there’s no ménage sex until near the end of the story. 

What there is, however, is a bond born of friendship between all three men, one that grows and blossoms into more until they reach the point where they all can acknowledge their strengths and weaknesses, their support for each other, both emotional and physical, and their need for the strength they get as a threesome. 

I am going to listen to the audiobook again very soon. The narrator was very good, giving each man a different voice, but it was mostly the story itself that impressed me and made way for this trio to worm their way into my heart. 

I highly recommend this book and audiobook for hours of listening and/or reading pleasure. 

The cover by Garrett Leigh features the lower face and tattooed chest of Jake. The dragonfly tattoo symbolic of the name of the new restaurant the trio opened for which Jake was the project lead.  Very nicely done.

Sales Links

Riptide Publishing | Audible |  Amazon | iTunes

Audiobook Details:

Audible Audio, 7 pages, 6 hrs 43 mins
Published August 18th 2016 by Riptide Publishing (first published March 16th 2015)
Original Title Misfits
ASINB01KI5XGIE
Edition LanguageEnglish

Winner: GLBT Menage in the 2015 Romance Reviews Reader’s Choice Awards!

Finalist: Best Gay Romance in the 28th Annual Lambda Literary Awards!

A VVivacious Review: The Buckland in the Vale and Sandstone Tor Gay Book Club (Inaugural Meeting) by John Wiltshire

Rating: 3 Stars out of 5
the-buckland-in-the-vale-and-sandstone-tor-gay-book-clubRory McGrath and Adam Sandstone both figure that a book club for gays would be a great place to meet gay men, what they don’t know is that The Buckland-in-the-Vale and Sandstone Tor Gay Book Club is a gay-book club not a gay book club.
While Rory and Adam’s first meeting couldn’t have been worse, the other nine members of the club have different ideas about Rory and Adam’s future. Well the old dears have decided that Rory and Adam will be perfect for each other and they will do everything to make sure that the only thing in Rory and Adam’s future is each other.
I have really mixed opinions about this book and I guess, with this book it’s definitely me and not the book.
I have read quite a few books by John Wiltshire and I love his books, but this book was very different from anything of his I had read this far. This book is funny and light-hearted; it doesn’t have very intense characters or situations. Overall this book should have been a fun, light, enjoyable read but it didn’t quite turn out that way.
This book starts out really funny and that’s what kept me reading but then Rory and Adam go for an away trip and things get really sad. I mean I don’t know if anyone else felt that way but for me the story went from funny, happy, light-hearted to sad really fast, that it made what would probably have not been so sad even more depressing.
I think the reason this book was a miss for me was because I couldn’t get behind Rory and Adam which is weird because Rory and Adam are great characters. Rory is the guy who wants to find his true love and Adam is all intense and finds Rory kind of hilarious for his ideals, but Adam’s thoughts on gay relationships happen to be tragically influenced by his past.
My biggest problem with this book was that it fails to give a conclusive ending. The ending leaves you hanging and unfulfilled.
But what I loved about this book was the Old Dears – Gertrude, Ivy, Myrtle, Hetty, Mary, Jane, Thea, Hilary and Constance. While writing this review when I was trying to think about the good scenes in this book, all those scenes had these wonderful women in them. I loved these meddling women and how even despite their advanced age they were ready to take on new ideas and try new things. When these nine decide to do something they go all the way and well any tale with them in it is a guaranteed fun ride.
So in not so many words I am trying to say that this book has a lot of good points but none of them have anything to do with the Adam and Rory’s relationship. Their relationship is still kind of up in the air and while it is heading in the right direction, I would have liked to have seen their relationship a bit more consolidated by the end of the book, which is not the case with this one.
Cover Art by Molly Wright. I loved the cover for this book with the big loopy handwriting and the turquoise background it kind of fits with the image I have of the book club in this book.
Sales Links:
6f71e-all2bromance2bbutton7104e-waxcreative-amazon-kindle
Book Details:
ebook
Published August 2016 by MLR Press
Original TitleThe Buckland-in-the-Vale and Sandstone Tor Gay Book Club (Inaugural Meeting)
Edition LanguageEnglish

What Happens When Love Pulls a Switch? Find Out with ‘Into You’ by Jay Northcote (release day blog)

Jay Northcote – Into You

Author: Jay Northcote
 
Cover Design: Garrett Leigh @ Black Jazz Design
Length: 57,000 words
 
Release Date: September 9 2016
 
Buy Links: Amazon US Amazon UK
 

Blurb

 
What do you do when the body you wake up in isnít yours?


Olly and Scott promised to be best friends forever. They grew up on the same street, went to the same school, and did everything together. But one hot summer night, teenage experimentation caused hurt feelings and confusion, and their friendship was destroyed.


Four years later theyíre both eighteen years old and in their final term at school. Scott is a football star and Ollyís preparing for a main role in the school play. After a heated argument in the streetówitnessed by their mysterious, elderly neighbouróthey wake up the next morning stuck in each otherís bodies.


With no idea how to get back to normal, they have to co-operate in order to hide their secret. Spending time together rekindles their friendship, yet feelings run deeper for both of them. With the end of school fast approaching, the clock is ticking. Unless they discover how to change back, they could be stuck in the wrong bodies forever.

 

 

Excerpt


The sound of music playing pulled Scott from a thick blanket of sleep into wakefulness. He lay curled on his side; his room was darker than usual, as though someone had come in and closed the blinds while he slept. His bed felt weird, softer than it should be, and it smelled different.

He sat up, blinking in confusion as he looked around. He took in the room, the details unclear in the half-light that crept around the edges of the blind, but it was enough for him to realise where he was.

The posters on the wall were new, but the layout hadn’t changed in four years.

What the fuck?

It wasn’t possible. Logic told Scott there was no way this could be happening.

He’d gone to sleep in his own bed—he hadn’t been drunk or high. So why the hell was he waking up in Olly’s room with no recollection of how he got there? And where the hell was Olly? The music that had woken him was coming from a phone on a docking station by the bed. He picked it up and pressed some buttons until it stopped. His brain was fogged with sleep and he couldn’t think clearly.

Scott got out of bed on shaky legs. His hip ached as though it was bruised.

Actually, his whole body felt weird. Perhaps he was sick? Maybe this was all some bizarre hallucination?

Pulling the cord to raise the blind, Scott flooded the room with light. He looked down at himself, only….

He closed his eyes and shook his head. When he opened them again, he still didn’t see himself. His body was too thin, his skin too pale, the hair on his legs darker than usual, and he definitely didn’t own any snug purple briefs like the ones he was currently wearing.

Stomach roiling with disbelief and terror, Scott turned to the full-length mirror on the wall and blinked.

Olly’s reflection stared back looking as horrified as Scott felt. Scott raised his hands to his face, and so did Olly in the mirror.

“This isn’t happening,” he said.

The voice was Olly’s too, softer and a little higher-pitched than Scott’s own.

It was the weirdest, most vivid dream Scott had ever had.

He pinched himself hard. “Ouch!”

Why wasn’t he waking up?


Beep beep beep beep beep beep beep!

Olly shot up, heart pounding at the shrill sound. He opened his eyes and blinked in the sunlight.

Ugh. Too bright.

He looked around wildly and closed his eyes again, refusing to believe what he saw. Obviously he wasn’t awake yet because he couldn’t be in Scott’s room. He hadn’t set foot in Scott’s house in years.

Olly cracked his eyes open again but still saw the white walls, the posters of Scott’s football heroes that Olly remembered from years ago, and the freakishly tidy desk that definitely wasn’t his.

The alarm clock by the bed was still making an awful racket, so he found the button to silence it.

“Scott?” he said hesitantly, then coughed.

What the fuck was wrong with his throat? His voice was deep and rough sounding. Oh God, no, please don’t let him be getting a cold. He couldn’t afford to lose his voice with all the play rehearsals coming up.

He pushed the duvet off and swung his legs around to get out of bed. He’d find

Scott and work out what the hell was going on. Maybe he had some weird amnesia after his accident yesterday, although he hadn’t hit his head. There had to be some explanation for why he was apparently in Scott’s bed rather than his own.

Then Olly looked down at his legs—and froze.

They were thicker and more muscular than they should be. Olly only dreamed of having legs like that. The hairs on them were light brown instead of dark, the skin more tanned. He looked at his hands, they were all wrong too, thicker and sturdier than they should be. He lifted one to run it through his hair, the way he often did in times of crisis.

“What the fuck?” No long floppy fringe falling in his eyes. Instead he found short-cropped hair and his ear piercings were gone.

Now convinced he was dreaming, because that was the only possible explanation, Olly got up to look in the mirror. Scott’s handsome face stared back at him, the mouth slack with surprise and the blue eyes wide.

Olly shook his head in disbelief. No way could this be happening. No way. This was the stuff of Hollywood movies, not reality. But cold, creeping panic rose in his gut, because apart from the fact that he appeared to be in the wrong body, everything else felt normal. Way too normal for it to be a dream.

“No,” he said loudly, putting his hands up and touching Scott’s nose, Scott’s cheekbones, Scott’s lips. He felt every brush of his fingertips. “Oh, Jesus Christ on a bike, this is not happening. No.”

 

Author Bio:

 
Jay lives just outside Bristol in the West of England, with her husband, two children, and two cats.
 
She comes from a family of writers, but she always used to believe that the gene for fiction writing had passed her by. She spent years only ever writing emails, articles, or website content. One day, she decided to try and write a short story, just to see if she could, and found it rather addictive. She hasn’t stopped writing since.

A Barb the Zany Old Lady Audiobook Review: Like a Lover by Jay Northcote – audiobook narrated by Mark Steadman

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

 like-a-lover-audiobookJosh has a plan: get through uni with a good degree and no debts. Focused on his goals, he’s working as an escort to pay his way. He enjoys the no-strings sex and doesn’t have the time or inclination for a relationship. Falling in love definitely isn’t part of the deal—especially not with a client.

When Rupert meets Josh in a bar, he’s smitten on sight. He’s never paid for sex before, but when Josh propositions him, he can’t resist. He should have known one night would never be enough. Luckily for him, he has an inheritance to support his addiction to Josh, because his job in IT wouldn’t cover the cost.

With each appointment the lines get increasingly blurred. Something is developing between them that feels more like a relationship than a business transaction, but they come from different worlds and to go from client-and-escort to lovers seems impossible. If they want a future together, Josh and Rupert have a lot to overcome.

This book is a complete story and can be read as a standalone.

Josh happens to be a flatmate of Jez and Mac, the young men we met in Helping Hand. Josh always seemed to have his act together, out and proud, with plenty of dates, staying out late at night a few times a week, and no one suspected that his real job as a rentboy.  He decided to pursue a professional interest in what he’s good at so he’d not only have rent and food, he’d also have tuition fees so that he could finish uni on his own since his deadbeat father refused to help him.

When his favorite client stands him up, he settles for hooking up with a good-looking guy who caught his attention at the bar where he was waiting, and the two pursue an evening of sexy times in the hotel room the first client had prepaid.  From here, Rupert, the new client, continues to pursue Josh, paying him every time, even though he’s starting to fall for his rentboy.  The issue is that Josh is also falling for Rupert and is afraid that they can’t have a future based on their rocky foundation.

I enjoyed this audiobook immensely.  Not only was the story very good, the narration was outstanding. Mark Steadman brought the characters to life.  All characters, including Rupert’s high society mother, had different voices, and that’s a treat I enjoy but don’t always find.  Both MCs were well-developed and I found myself coaching each on how to win the other over.  Thankfully, I live alone because I found myself literally talking to them when they were too obtuse to move forward. 

I recommend this to all who enjoy a lighthearted MM UK-based romance.  Kudos to both the author and the narrator.  By all means, pick this one up in audio.

The cover features a black-and-white close-up photo of the side profile of a handsome, young, bare-chested man, who fits the description of Josh perfectly.

Buy links:
Audible.com
Audible.co.uk
Amazon.com
Apple

Audiobook Details:

Audiobook, Listening Length: 4 hours and 47 minutes
Published August 15th 2016 by Jaybird Press (first published August 14th 2015)
Original TitleLike a Lover
ASINB01KAF9USC
Edition LanguageEnglish
SeriesHousemates #2 settingPlymouth, England (United Kingdom)

An Alisa Review: Put Five Rings on It by David Connor and E.F. Mulder

Rating:  3 stars out of 5

 

Put Five Rings On ItNumbers mean everything to an Olympic marathoner, but for Gordon O’Dooley, his obsession with one number in particular might get a little out of hand.

 

Gordon literally comes running into Marty Walsh’s family diner one day, and their mutual attraction is instant. He comes on too strong, though, and Marty quickly slams on the brakes. When Marty suggests they take things slow, Gordon races off, and any hope of a relationship goes right along with him.

Four years pass, and Marty does his best to move on. But fate brings them back together as Gordon is preparing for another Olympic bid. They agree to start over, slowly this time.

 

As they get to know each other, Marty comes to realize how strong Gordon’s obsession with the number five is. Will Marty be able to handle Gordon’s OCD? And what will Gordon do when he realizes the reason behind Marty’s reluctance at intimacy?

 

This was a nice story.  Gordon and Marty meet when Gordon comes into Marty’s family diner and continues to everyday.  Both are attracted to the other, but are afraid to act on it.  They spend a good chunk of the book dancing around each other or apart.

 

This story is told from Marty’s point of view, so it’s hard to see what makes Gordon afraid to be together until they finally take the time to sit and talk when they see each other 4 years later.  Marty is a sweet man and just wants to be happy with that one person meant for him, he just never thought about how it would happen.  Both of the characters have their own quirks and flaws and once they can see that they don’t matter to the other can they fully grow their relationship.

 

The cover art is nice and catches your eye.

 

Sales Links: JMS Books | Amazon | ARe

 

Book Details:

ebook, 87 pages

Published: August 6, 2016 by JMS Books

ISBN: 9781634861021

Edition Language: English