Category: M/M Paranormal Fiction

An Alisa Review: Ginger and the Wolf by Kerry McBoyd

Rating:  3 stars out of 5

Mark Cross is a junior in college working to pay his way through college while forgetting his troubles by partying and hooking up. He meets Scott and finds himself falling head over heels for a wealthy man who couldn’t be any further from his rural background. The mutual attraction is instant, but Mark, unwilling to put himself in a position where his heart is on the line, finds ways to bring up their upper-crust/working-class differences to torpedo their budding romance.

Scott Nolan feels old, even though he’s just thirty-four. Meeting Mark reinvigorates him and gives him a new sense of purpose. After a series of men who were only interested in his wealth and family background, he finally meets a man who doesn’t care about the family he comes from—in fact, Mark seems ready to blow everything up because he thinks they could never overcome their class differences. Scott must fight to show Mark that he doesn’t care about who has how much money, and what matters above all is that they could build something more together outside the bedroom.

Okay, so this wasn’t a bad story but wasn’t great either.  Scott enjoys spending time with Mark but Mark always tries to find an ulterior motive or negative view since he can’t believe that Scot would want him for him.

Mark is so stubborn, I feel bad that he make Scott feel bad for just being a good guy and not listening.  Scott did jump the gun a bit but he doesn’t overstep by any means.  I thought there was a lot of emphasis on Scott’s family and money but we never saw them and only his everyday life.  I was glad that they were able to work things out because I think they both need someone to lean on at times.

I like the cover art by Natasha Snow it gives a nice visual of Scott.

Sales Links: Nine Star Press | Amazon | B&N

Book Details:

ebook, 27,800 words

Published: September 3, 2018 by Nine Star Press

ISBN: 978-1-949340-62-4

Edition Language: English

New Book Release Blitz for BURN (Witchbane #1.5) by Morgan Brice (excerpt and giveaway)

RELEASE BLITZ

Book Title: Burn (Witchbane #1.5)

Author: Morgan Brice

Cover Artist: Lou Harper

Release Date: September 30, 2018

Genre/s: Urban Fantasy, MM paranormal romance

Sexy, satisfying supernatural suspense.

Blurb

One hundred years ago, a sheriff’s posse killed dark warlock Rhyfel Gremory, but his witch-disciples escaped, and their magic made them nearly immortal. To keep their power, each year one of the witch-disciples kills a descendant of one of the men in the posse, a twelve-year cycle that has cost dozens of lives, including that of Seth Tanner’s brother, Jesse.

Seth uncovers the cycle of ritual murders that feed the witch-disciples’ power, and he saves Evan Malone, one of the warlock’s potential victims. Neither Seth nor Evan expected to fall in love, but when the dust settles, they find themselves on the run and on the road together, heading toward Pittsburgh, on the trail of the next killer.

Seth wonders whether Evan will come to regret his choice to stay together, now that he’s living the reality of Seth’s nomadic life and the risks that come with it. He wants Evan to stay, but he’s afraid that Evan would be better off without him, living a normal life. Evan’s whole world has been upended, but there’s one thing he’s sure of, his love for Seth. Evan worries that he’s a liability, not yet able to hold his own in Seth’s rough-and-tumble world, but determined to do whatever necessary to have Seth’s back. On the way to face the next warlock, supernatural threats abound, forcing them to learn to fight as a team.

Fate and danger threw them together. But once the adrenaline fades, will love last?

Excerpt

Chapter One

Evan

“What do you mean, you’ve got a surprise for me?” Evan Malone’s tone was wary. “The last big surprise involved armed men shooting up my apartment before they burned it down.”

His boyfriend, Seth Tanner, winced a bit at that, and Evan wished he could take back the words. “I didn’t mean—”

Seth managed a smile. “It’s okay. And…it’s true. But this is a good surprise. Even if it’s kind of connected to that other time.”

Now Evan was really confused, but he let Seth lead him from the bedroom of the fifth-wheeler RV they shared out to the living room. With an electric fireplace, flat screen TV, and cushy leather furniture, it was easy to forget that their home was on wheels. On the table in the dining area was a large box and two smaller ones.

“It’s not Christmas—or my birthday,” Evan said, glancing at Seth again, who shooed him on with an expression Evan didn’t quite understand, something between pleased and sad.

“Open them.”

Evan saw that the boxes weren’t taped shut, so he went for the big one first, indulging his inner ten-year-old. The new laptop inside made him catch his breath. “Seth—”

“You still have two more.”

Biting back a comment, Evan opened the next biggest box to find a good quality, SLR digital camera, definitely capable of taking professional photographs. Knowing Seth would object if he didn’t finish his task, he opened the smallest box to find a cell phone.

About the Author

Morgan Brice is the romance pen name of bestselling author Gail Z. Martin. Morgan writes urban fantasy male/male paranormal romance, with plenty of action, adventure and supernatural thrills to go with the happily ever after. Gail writes epic fantasy and urban fantasy, and together with co-author hubby Larry N. Martin, steampunk and comedic horror, all of which have less romance, more explosions. Look for her other books—Witchbane and Badlands. Coming soon—Dark Rivers (Witchbane novel #2) and Lucky Town (a Christmas Badlands novella).

Social Media Links

Blog/Website

Facebook: The Worlds of Morgan Brice 

Twitter: @MorganBriceBook 

Pinterest:  Morgan Brice board

Amazon Author page

Goodreads

Giveaway

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A MelanieM Review: Claw Marks & Card Games (Stallion Ridge #2) by Maz Maddox

Rating: 3.75 stars out of 5

Cooper Woodlock is a man who can’t seem to stay out of trouble. Between his gambling debt and being a widowed father, he can never seem to get Lady Luck back on his side.

Desperate for a winning hand, Cooper starts hitting saloons and tempting fate in order to keep the bloodthirsty Spades at bay.

When a black-clad gunslinger enters the game promising a slice of freedom, Cooper realizes all too late what he is actually playing for.

Claw Marks & Card Games (Stallion Ridge #2) by Maz Maddox started off a decidedly mixed bag for me.  Touted as a standalone novel in a series it quickly become apparent that this novel is the furthest thing from a standalone creature that you can get.

You get thrown into a universe that you have no understanding of and that, quite frankly, you never get filled in on.  The world building is completely missing.  Somewhere in the past there was a major war with what? Shifters and humans?  Shifters and shifters?  You don’t know because it never get the background.  Plus this is a western. Just because.  When you enter this universe, there’s a tentative, not tentative peace between humans and shifters.  I never figured that out.  Some of the shifters were accepted, some not. Seemed to have to do with the history we weren’t getting.

A big part of the main couple’s history seems to reside in the first story, Heartache & Hoofbeats (Stallion Ridge #1).  It’s the reason for the entire “main action element” that launches the characters and plot.  The characters (couple) and their storyline is crucial to this novel and how it plays out as  well as being intimately connected.  Soooooo.  How is this a standalone again?

By now you all must be wondering why did I give it such a high rating with my obvious irritation with the lack of worldbuilding and introductory confusion.  Two words.  The characters.  Even with all the narrative holes in the foundation and downright bewilderment about the plot, my need to be with the characters drove me on until everything settles down to just them, the people (beings) around them, including one little spitfire of a daughter who may just take over the world.

Whatever else my arguments with Maz Maddox (or their editor), the characters here stole my heart.  They are real and believable.  Their truly awful start to a relationship continues and their misunderstandings/missteps are on both ends even as they try to figure out how to make it work out between them, one young kid included.  Both have no idea how to make this work with each other yet others and the reader want to try…that’s the key…even given that start.

There are other story threads here to contain your interest. Plus killers, and more shifters, and one hell of a shocking ending that is going to leave you wanting the next story asap.  No it doesn’t involve our couple.

I am definitely going back to read the  first story.  I think had I been prepared knowing that this must be read as part of a series, I would have done that first.  I need to see what information that one fills in that this book lacks.  But anyway, the author has me hooked.  I need to know what happens next.  I will be onto the third story.

For all of you who love shifters, this is definitely a twist on shifter romance.  A bit of western, a bit of action/adventure and mystery, and 100 proof strong on characters.  I will let you know what I find in book one.

 

Cover art: Shaleah Poster.  Nice job with the western style and story elements if not particularly eye-catching.

Sales Links:

Amazon US

Amazon UK 

Blurb

Book Details:

Claw Marks & Card Games is book 2 in the Stallion Ridge series but can read as a stand-alone.
While this is a western romance, be prepared for a little paranormal with your sixshooters, my friends**.

ebook, 1st, 250 pages
Published October 1st 2018
** I disagree totally.  This is not a standalone and needs either more foundation work or the first story as additional grounding and world building.

Release Blitz for Claw Marks & Card Games (Stallion Ridge #2) by Maz Maddox (excerpt)

RELEASE BLITZ

Book Title: Claw Marks & Card Games (Stallion Ridge #2)

Author: Maz Maddox

Publisher: Self-Published

Cover Artist: Shaleah Poster

Genre/s: m/m romance, paranormal, western, action/adventure

Length: 74 000 words

Heat Rating: 3 flames

Release Date: October 1, 2018

Can be read as stand-alone story.

Add on Goodreads

Buy Links – Available on Kindle Unlimited

Amazon US

Amazon UK 

Blurb

Cooper Woodlock is a man who can’t seem to stay out of trouble. Between his gambling debt and being a widowed father, he can never seem to get Lady Luck back on his side.

Desperate for a winning hand, Cooper starts hitting saloons and tempting fate in order to keep the blood thirsty Spades at bay.

When a black clad gunslinger enters the game promising a slice of freedom, Cooper realizes all too late what he is actually playing for.

Excerpt

His cards were a sure thing. He was winning. He was about to double his winnings, and it was making his stomach dance, even as he kept his face schooled. This would ease the tension in his shoulders for a good month after tonight. The Spades would be off his back, and he could figure out his job situation. Hell, he’d even get Marybell some sweets to celebrate. His daughter deserved something nice. 

This beautiful stranger not only saved his life, but was also about to make some of his troubles ease for a little while. As their cards were tossed onto the table and Cooper drank in the sight of each hand, a cold pit formed in his gut. 

He had lost.

Everything.

All the winnings of the night were swallowed up by one goddamn game. Cold sank into his bones as the blood drained from his face, his eyes locked on Gunner’s winning spread. The man didn’t make a move to collect everything. Instead he sat back and pulled a rolled cigarette from his vest and put it between his teeth.

“Guess you were right about your luck,” he said casually, striking a match and lighting his cigarette. The flare of the fire close to his face made his green eyes seem to glow as he focused them on Cooper’s devastated face.

“Fuck,” Cooper whispered, putting his head in his hands, fisting some of his hair in heartbreak. He had been so damn close to getting some peace in his life, and he blew it all in one stupid game of chance. Hell, he had almost died for that pot, and now it was all gone.

Smoke curled around Gunner’s face as he exhaled some smoke from his lips. “Win it back.”

Cooper shook his head, pulling his glasses off to rub at his tired eyes. “I ain’t got it in me. Not after all this.” Cooper huffed. “My head’s turned inside out, and my stomach’s in knots.”

“You have a chance to not leave empty-handed.” 

Cooper glanced up as Gunner reached into his pocket, taking out a stack of rolled bills and tossing it onto the table. If Cooper’s jaw was able to reach the floor, it would have bounced off his boots. That stack was probably hundreds of dollars. Hundreds. Something that would actually put a real dent in what he owed the Spades and give him and Marybell a slice of life back.

Working some saliva back into his cottonmouth, Cooper finally croaked, “I ain’t got that much to wager.”

“What else do you have to wager?” Gunner asked, pulling from his cigarette, his tone deceptively calm. Cooper narrowed his eyes and pulled his glasses back on, sitting up taller to not look so defeated. 

“What are you asking me, exactly?”

About the Author

Maz is an m/m romance fanatic, dabbles in yaoi, adores dinosaurs and writes romance stories with a healthy heaping of adventure mixed in.

When she’s not pairing up Centaurs with bank robbers, she’s plotting new stories and sending inappropriate texts to her friends.

Author Links

Blog/Website

Facebook

Twitter: @mazmaddox  

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A Free Dreamer Review: Burn (Witchbane #1.5) by Morgan Brice

Rating: 4 stars out of 5 

One hundred years ago, a sheriff’s posse killed dark warlock Rhyfel Gremory, but his witch-disciples escaped, and their magic made them nearly immortal. To keep their power, each year one of the witch-disciples kills a descendant of one of the men in the posse, a twelve-year cycle that has cost dozens of lives, including that of Seth Tanner’s brother, Jesse.

Seth uncovers a cycle of ritual murders that feed the witch-disciples’ power, and he saves Evan Malone, one of the warlock’s potential victims. Neither Seth nor Evan expected to fall in love, but when the dust settles, they find themselves on the run and on the road together, heading toward Pittsburgh, on the trail of the next killer.

Seth wonders whether Evan will come to regret his choice to stay together, now that he’s living the reality of Seth’s nomadic life and the risks that come with it. He wants Evan to stay, but he’s afraid that Evan would be better off without him, living a normal life. Evan’s whole world has been upended, but there’s one thing he’s sure of, his love for Seth. Evan worries that he’s a liability, not yet able to hold his own in Seth’s rough-and-tumble world, but determined to do whatever necessary to have Seth’s back. On the way to face the next warlock, supernatural threats abound, forcing them to learn to fight as a team.

Fate and danger threw them together. But once the adrenaline fades, will love last?

“Burn” is a novella in the Witchbane series, making this part 1.5. As such, it really doesn’t work as a standalone and you should absolutely read part 1 first.

The thing that probably bothered me most about “Witchbane”, the first book in the series, was the rather sloppy editing. I hate bad editing with a passion. But I’m glad to say that the editing in “Burn” is much, much better.

This novella picks up right after where book one left off. I have a thing for established couples. I like to see what happens after the HEA (or the HFN). “Burn” didn’t disappoint in that regard. Daily life as nomadic hunters of supernatural creatures is hard. Where before, Evan felt like the more insecure one, it’s now Seth who’s struggling to believe in their relationship.

While the relationship is definitely once more a very important part of the story, we now also get to see more actual hunting. We meet several new different creatures and at least one of them was completely new to me. There was also more world building in general, with a more in-depth view into the way magic works in this world. It’s no secret that I have a thing for myths and legends, so I really liked those parts.

There was quite a lot of sex once again. The two occasionally behaved like horny teenagers with very little self-control. It was a bit too much for me at times, tbh.

All in all, I enjoyed “Burn” more than “Witchbane”. It actually made me curious to find out what happens next, so I think I’ll keep reading this series. If you liked the first part of the series, you’ll like this novella too. It’s absolutely worth reading.

The cover is very similar to that of the first part, it has the same spooky look to it.

Sales Links:  Amazon

Book details:

Kindle Edition, 114 pages

Published September 26th 2018 by Darkwind Press

Blog Tour for SYN Consulting: Dragon War Chronicles Book One by AG Carothers (excerpt and giveaway)

 SYN Tour Banner

SYN: Consulting

Dragon War Chronicles, Book 1

A.G. Carothers

Release Date: Aug 17th

Page Count: 189

Gay Urban Fantasy/Paranormal

SYN Cover 

BLURB

Continue to hide or help save the very kin she’s hidden from?

Welcome to SYN Consulting, the top business strategy consulting firm in Europe, home to a motley crew whose leader has a life changing secret. CEO, Danica Lestrange, is the first female dragon born in the last 800 years. Hidden from the rest of her kin and raised in the human world, she built a life that she would defend until her death.

A devious plan is unearthed while working on a new business deal that could plunge the dragons into another war with the humans. The humans may have forgotten the last dragon-human war, but the dragons have not. Will the war reveal this hidden world to the humans, or will the clans come together to defeat their enemies and maintain their anonymity?

Danica must gather her allies and help the very dragons she’s hidden from her whole life. She can only hope that she’ll be strong enough to protect her chosen family.

This is the first book in a new series about dragons who want nothing more than to live in peace, but refuse to be subjugated. In war there’s also love, and love is blind. Love doesn’t care about gender, race, species (in this case), or sexuality.

Warning: This book contains explicit sexual content between consenting adults. The sexual scenes are MM, MF, and MMF. There are romantic relationships depicted that are MM. There is also a high level of explicit language, snark, kink, and possibly bad puns and fart jokes.

This book does end in a cliffhanger. Book 2 will be released in November 2018.

AMAZON US: https://amzn.to/2xXrAoK

AMAZON UK: https://amzn.to/2IoModj

AMAZON CA: https://amzn.to/2DN97l0

 

SYN Teaser 2

SYN Teaser 1  

EXCERPT

Matthew finished the last bit of his sandwich as he stood up going over to a wall of glass that overlaid the actual wall. The glass was one large computer interface, much like most of the glass in the building from the table they were eating on to elevator walls, to all the glass panel monitors of various sizes. Matt tapped on the panel bringing up several windows and enlarging them so that everyone could see. He pulled a photo of Kollin Olsen and moved it to the center.

He reached back, grabbing his bottle of water. Swallowing a mouthful, he cleared his throat and started his report. “I finished my preliminary research into KleanTech and Global Gas. You’ll never believe who Kollin Olsen is.” Danica was completely occupied with a large mouthful of her sandwich and gestured for him to continue. “He’s the next alpha to the Norwegian Dragon Clan, son of none other than Hafthór Ormsson, making him Jǫkull Ormsson, The Glacier himself.”

“Fuck!” Danica thought, looking over at Xander, who could hear her thought clearly.

“Fuck is right,” he answered out loud.

Danica took another bite of her sandwich and looked around the table at the family she had created, mulling over that bombshell. Matt, thankfully, let her take her time and waited silently while she came to terms with that disturbing news.

These SLIPs who stood by her, supported her, and loved her were, for the lack of a better word, her pack as motley as they were. They were hers to protect as much as they protected her. She thought about that as she continued to eat. Xander placed a hand on her thigh and squeezed it reassuringly. If she took this job, she risked exposure of what she was. With that, she risked not just her life, but all of their lives.

AG Carothers Logo

A.G. Carothers is actually a dragon very cleverly disguised as a human. They are a non-binary author of LGBTQIA Urban/Paranormal Fantasy, who enjoys writing original and entertaining stories. They are very excited to share the worlds they’ve created with you.

A.G. currently lives in Tennessee with their platonic life partner, who is not a dragon. They yearn to live back in Europe and will some day. In their spare time they are addicted to losing themselves in the lovely worlds created by other authors.

A.G. is committed to writing the stories they see in their head without restrictions. Love is blind and doesn’t see gender, race, or sexuality.

Website: https://www.agcarothers.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AGCarothersAuthor/

 

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