Category: M/M Paranormal Fiction

A Paul B Review: Nuts About You (Nutty Romances #1) by Kate Lowell

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Nuts to YouNathan works at the bulk store.  He particularly enjoys when one of the regular customers, Vince, comes to buy birdseed for his feeders.  He also feels a bit guilty.  The reason?  Nathan is responsible for Vince buying a lot of that birdseed.  He is a squirrel shifter.  Nathan’s favorite pastime and obsession is shifting into his squirrel form and watching Vince from on top of the bird feeders.  How can he deny his squirrel self some of the birdseed and nuts that happen to be in the bird feeder?  It is just an added benefit of watching this hot man walking around in his house half dressed.

One day, Vince catches the squirrel sitting on top of one of the feeders.  Tired of having the furry creature stealing the seed from the birds.  Vince throws a shoe at the squirrel, knocking him down to the ground.  Thinking that the little guy is seriously injured, Vince feels guilty and takes the squirrel inside.  Getting nowhere after calling a vet, Vince decides to nurse the squirrel back to health.  After the squirrel fails to escape through a window, Vince is surprised when Nathan emerges from his squirrel form.  Nathan wonders what Vince will think of him now that his secret has been revealed.

This was a cute short story.  The author brings us a different form of shifter and uses his nature well.  There is a focus on nuts in all shapes and sizes.  Nathan is as timid as his animal nature.  The scenes once Vince discovers Nathan’s secret are steamy and flavorful.  Vince’s occupation is put to good use.  The one thing that I did not like about this book is that neither character seems to have a last name revealed.  For me personally, I like characters to have full names.  It  seems to make them more real to me.

The cover art by Ana J. Phoenix is quite appropriate.  It shows a squirrel clinging to a trunk of a tree.  It is a very cute cover for the book.

Sales Links:   ARe | Amazon

Book Details

ebook
Published January 7th 2016
ISBN139780994857019
Edition LanguageEnglish
SeriesNutty Romances #1

Series:  Nutty Romances

  • Nuts About You (Nutty Romances #1)
  • Rise of the Alpha Squirrel (Nutty Romances #2)

Go Nutty Over Love with Rise of the Alpha Squirrel by Kate Lowell (guest post, excerpt and giveaway)

RiseoftheAlphaSquirrelfinal

Rise of the Alpha Squirrel (Nutty Romances #2) by Kate Lowell
 Release Date: February 25, 2016

Goodreads Link
Publisher: Kate Lowell
Cover Artist: Ana J. Phoenix

Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words is happy to have Kate Lowell here today. Kate is the author of Rise of the Alpha Squirrel and has brought some lively excerpts for us. Welcome, Kate!

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fake book 2 copyfake book 1 copy

The following excerpts are taken from the best-selling series ‘A Were’s Guide to Living in the Human World’ by Finnley Lakewood, Ph.D, and Gardenner Monk, Ph.D. Please don’t tell anyone where you got these excerpts—I had to take ridiculous risks to get my hands on these books and if they found me, they’d probably eat me.

Appendix B: marking your territory–long-standing tradition or unsightly behavior?

In the were community, scent marking is a common and generally understood occurrence. The differences in styles are generally overlooked, and scent-marking itself is generally encouraged in mixed population areas.  However, the human’s weak scenting capabilities often result in misunderstandings with particularly uncomfortable consequences.

For example, the typical carnivore uses specific pheromones found in urine to mark the perimeter of their established territory. In situations where many weres are living in close proximity, this is an essential step to preventing inter-were violence. However, humans and their essentially inoperative noses will inevitably fail to notice scent markers. Not only does this cause them to invade territories on a regular basis, but the necessary actions required to establish scent boundaries (peeing on fences, doors, walls, furniture, etc) often take on an entirely different appearance and, within their relatively uneducated culture, occasions various, but generally unpleasant, reactions.

In cases where your roommate or another human has caught you in the process of leaving scent pheromones in place, and in the situation where it causes an undesired reaction on the part of the human, your first line of defense should be…

Now more about Rise of the Alpha Squirrel….

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Blurb

Nathan’s met Vince’s family, but Vince hasn’t met Nathan’s, and Nathan would like to keep it that way. Holy smoked almonds, what else do you do when you know how completely nuts your relatives are?

Why, you ease your man into it, by introducing him to normal shifters. Assuming you can find any.

But with a gossipy werehummingbird spreading the news, and a pair of young red pandas wreaking havoc with their fainting goat friends, Nathan’s about ready to climb into a pine cone and pull it in after him.

Then the local playboy weremoose hears about Vince, and Nathan has to find his inner alpha or the consequences will be worse than moldy hazelnuts.

 

Pages or Words: Approximately 24,000 words
Series should be read in order for maximum enjoyment
 Categories: Contemporary, Fiction, Gay Fiction, Humor, M/M Romance, Paranormal, Romance, Urban Fantasy

Excerpt

“Breakfast,” Vince said and waved a hand toward the table.

It was a squirrel’s wet dream. Or it would have been, if good-enough-to-lick-all-over-then-eat Vince hadn’t been sitting on the other side of the table. Maybe he could say it was any other squirrel’s wet dream—whatever, it was the breakfast of Roman squirrel emperors.

A pile of thick, deep brown pancakes waited for him in the center of his plate. Raspberries and shaved almonds sprawled seductively over the side of the stack, glistening with sweet, sticky maple syrup. Some of the less audacious ones hid decorously beneath the edges of a heavy daub of whipped cream, but Nathan knew they were there, waiting for him to discover them. He could see them peeking diffidently out, uncertain whether they wanted to attract his attention or not.

And the best part—the most gorgeous massage therapist in the world was sitting across the table from him, watching him with eyes that were dark in more than just the usual way. He looked at Nathan like Nathan was a maple walnut ice cream with a peanut dip. Like he wanted to lick him all over and suck bits of him deep inside his mouth…

Buy the book: ARe  | Amazon

 

Meet the Author

Kate Lowell lives on the east coast of Canada, in an old farm house that has way more personality than it has any right to. During the winter, she spends her time dreading snow, cursing at snow, shoveling snow, and scheming ways to shove it down the kids’ necks. During the summer, she prays not to have snow. 🙂

Kate likes to play in ALL the sandboxes. While her main genres are paranormal and contemporary suspense, she is also interested in science fiction, fantasy and–weirdly–romantic comedy. She’s willing to pay large amounts of money to anyone who can come up with a Time Turner, or find her an agreeable Time Lord to sort out her scheduling problems.

You can contact her at katelowellbooks (at) gmail.com . If you think you’d like to try writing gay romance, come visit her critique group (Link can be found at http://katelowell.com). New members are always welcome.

Where to find the author:

 


BannerTemplate Tour Dates & Stops:

25-Feb: A.M. Leibowitz, Hearts on Fire, Velvet Panic, Nautical Star Books, MM Good Book Reviews

26-Feb: Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words, Wake Up Your Wild Side, Inked Rainbow Reads, KathyMac Reviews

27-Feb: Happily Ever Chapter, Molly Lolly, Love Bytes

29-Feb: Nephy Hart, Man2ManTastic, Bonkers About Books, Open Skye Book Reviews, My Fiction Nook

1-Mar: BFD Book Blog, Dawn’s Reading Nook, V’s Reads, Boy Meets Boy Reviews

2-Mar: Bayou Book Junkie, Jessie G. Books, Alpha Book Club

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Giveaway

Enter to win a  Rafflecopter Prize: http://www.stuffedsafari.com/Plush-Ruby-throated-Hummingbird-Audubon-Bird-p/wr-83900.htm.   Must be 18 years of age or older to enter.  Link and prize provided by the author and Pride Promotions.
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A Paul B Review: Quentin Heart, Vampire Bounty Hunter by Amber Kell

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars               ★★★★★

Quentin Heart Vampire Bounty HunterQuentin Heart basically has no time for a social life. Between finishing up his wizardry degree and taking care of his mother who has had a relapse with cancer, life seems to pass him by. To make matters worse, bill collectors are demanding payment for his mother’s treatments, none of which seem to be working. Quentin spots a flyer advertising bounty hunting services for paranormals. As he is entering the wizardry lab at the university, his best friend Glenn calls him and demands that Quentin joins him at the club that evening. After several hours of research, Quentin leaves the lab building only to find a pack of bone wolves (werewolves made from the hides of dead animals) that lead him to the body of his friend Glenn. After dealing with authorities,

The next day, after guest lecturing for a class at the university, Quentin visits his mother at the hospital. She explains that his father was a fae who was part of the royal family. One of the wolves that has been following him around is actually his father trapped in a spell along with his uncles. Quentin next goes to claim the body of his friend to arrange for burial when he is informed that it is no longer in the morgue. It has walked away. Pissed that a reckless vampire turned his friend, Quentin decides to work for the bounty agency in the hopes of making sure no one else suffers Glenn’s fate.

His first assignment is to bring in the leader of the local vampire clan. Quentin marches into the clan’s mansion, casts a spell and transports the vampire to the local police station. The clan’s second, who has now become leader due to Quentin’s actions, thanks Quentin for getting rid of the leader nobody liked. Jakinson, the new leader, states that since the bounty hunter has done him a favor, he owes a favor in return. He gives Quentin a necklace that Quentin would later find out marks him as Jakinson’s mate. Quentin must now deal with a very possessive vampire on top of finding his wayward newly made vampire friend, the rogue vampire that attacked Glenn, and deal with his mother’s declining health and the bills that are associated with her care. If you throw in somebody who seems to be after him, life just got a lot more complicated for Quentin.

Amber Kell is one of my favorite authors and this book did not disappoint me. She has a way with books about powerful wizards. Quentin Heart is your typically preoccupied nerd researcher that has his world turned upside down but circumstances that are beyond his control. He shows his strength in that he makes Jakinson realize that he will not be the submissive mate that most vampire leaders expect. He is faced with some tough decisions that involve his family but comes through them in the end. I also enjoyed the fact that the author has given Quentin enough possible enemies that there should be several more books in the series to come. I highly recommend the first book in this new series.
The cover art by Meredith Russell shows our hero wearing his glasses holding one of his spell balls with the city landscape in the background. It is how I would picture Quentin would look like. It is an excellent cover for the book.

Sales Links:  ARe  | Amazon

Book Details

EBook, 314 pages
Published: January 29, 2016
Edition Language: English
ISBN: 978-1-311-09104-8

A Sammy Review: Cronin’s Key III (Cronin’s Key #3) by N.R. Walker

Rating: 4 out of 5

“For every birth of light comes the birth of darkness. It is an honor to call you our enemy.”

Cronin's Key IIIAlec, Cronin, and the entire gang come back for one last epic battle. They’ve dealt with mummies and terracotta armies, not to mention the stress of Alec’s change. He’s just starting to get the briefest understanding of his powers when the world throws another potentially earth-ending situation their way.

This time it’s a legend that’s spanned ages and cultures. What they’re up against now come with many names – lycans, Zoan – all doing little justice to just how wretched the actually creatures are. Once again, Alec must use his powers as the key and get a little help from his friend to save the world and maybe finally get a little bit of peace.

Humans confuse mythology and fact. What they choose to believe as myth and folklore quite often is the truth, but that truth is horrific and frequently unexplainable, so they choose to paint it as a fairytale.

The third and final book in the series is a bit bitter sweet. It’s been an awesome journey to follow Cronin, Alec, and all their friends through so many adventures. This book delivers just as the previous did. It has a nice combination of alternate history that makes you think and a nice dash of heat to spice everything up.

What was lacking a bit in this book were some of the fighting scenes. They felt less tangible and tense. To a certain degree, it makes sense that the author wouldn’t draw them out, but the last fight scene in particular felt like it was over in the blink of an eye. Unfortunately, I also had issues visualizing it.

Still, the book was a lot of fun. It also was somewhat sad, which I didn’t expect. I’ve grown to have little notches of love for each of the characters. They have such personality. That in itself speaks volumes because there are a whole lot of characters in this, but a reader can get a grasp for pretty much all of them. Not everyone makes it out of this book, and that’s quite simply sad, but also understandable and fitting.

While I understand N.R. Walker is done with this particular series, I wouldn’t mind if she gives us some more of stuff from other covens and couples. Might be fun! I’d love to see more of Kennard.

The cover by Sara York fits well with the others and does a nice job of capturing the topic of this book.

Sales Links:  ARe | Amazon

Book Details:

175 pages
Published September 18th 2015 by BlueHeart Press (first published September 1st 2015)
Edition LanguageEnglish
SeriesCronin’s Key #3

A MelanieM Review: Sharing the Pond by Alex Whitehall

Rating: 2 stars out of 5

Sharing the Pond by Alex WhitehallBrent shows up on Corey and Shane’s doorstep in the dead of winter needing a place to stay—and hopeful his mates will provide it, and not mind he’s a frog shifter.

Being a shifter is nothing new to Corey and Shane, but neither is being mates. They’ve been together since before they first met Brent ten years ago—back when Brent was Brenda. Bringing a third into their relationship is more than a little complicated, but they’re willing to try.

But change is always easier said than done, and Brent wonders if he ever really stood a chance at being happy with the men he has always loved and admired.

So much wrong with this story, its hard to know where to start.  Maybe with the things I did like. The cover was cute.  And Whitehall’s use of a female transitioning to male but in an entirely different biological take was imaginative and full of possibilities.

None of which really worked well here unfortunately.

Reading through to the finish was actually a fight.

I found the characters of Corey, Shane and Brent blurred together, so similar in tone narratively speaking, that after certain plot points were made, they became interchangeable in my mind (especially two of them),   But Whitehall asks  so much from his readers, those already arriving expecting a shifter story true.  But one where a frog comes from wolf shifter parents?   Hmmm, without much back-history or biological groundwork laid-out?  Then he expects us to believe there is a pull of a mate bond between these two men as well when one is already happily mated?  And doesn’t make a case for it in the interactions between them in the scenes that play out.

With all my diminishing interest in the story playing out, I started to notice other things…such as the huge difference in species. Corey and Shane are Northern Leopard frog shifters. Brent is a Common Reed Frog, a west African frog species that have been known to spontaneously change sex from female to male. A plot element that makes sense, but why did Whitehall have the other two be a pond species?If you are going to go to the trouble to  give your shifters specific frog species you ought to make them compatible.  Green frogs and Bull frogs,  Northern Leopard frogs with Pickerel or Wood frogs, and most certainly a Common Reed Frog with fellow tree frogs like even a African foam-nest tree frog or green Congo tree frog?

But a Common Reed Frog and two Northern Leopard frogs.  Now that might present a problem right there.  the Common Reed Frog?  A small tree frog, found in Burundi (I just love saying that name) and other parts of Africa.  The Northern Leopard  frogs? A once common and now rapidly disappearing pond frog of Northern America.  So yeah, that’s not really happening in a splash about in a bathtub.

Why all this preoccupation with the natural history of the frogs?  Because my mind and interest needed something, anything to grasp onto.  The story wasn’t doing it for me, neither were the characters.

Let’s just  say this was one tough read, from shifter history I couldn’t wrap my head around to characters I just couldn’t connect with.  Even the plot was one tough slog, narratively speaking.  And I love shifter stories.

But that cover was really darn cute.

Sale Links:  Less Than Three Press |   Amazon

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 154 pages
Published November 16th 2015 by Less Than Three Press
ASINB0184EQ5BG
Edition LanguageEnglish