A Stella Review: What We May Be by Vivien Dean

RATING 3,75 out of 5 stars

Fashion is Jared Harvey’s life. Once a top model, now an aspiring designer, he never expects to be attracted to a man who wouldn’t know his Versace from his Valentino. But Rick Paulson makes him rethink everything he’s ever assumed he wanted in a man.

Rick’s generous, built like a brick house, and best of all, hungry to let Jared take control. Together, they ignite passions in each other neither wants to extinguish. So what if Rick doesn’t care about Jared’s Cavalli? Life’s more than a runway, especially with a man like Rick around …

If you love the “opposites attract” trope, you can’t miss this title. Jared and Rick can’t be more different, the first rich, ex top model now a fashion designer, the second one a nurse. They meet at a fundraiser for an AIDS charity and it’s clear they are made for each other. It’s not just lust at first sight, there’s so much more and, althought What We May Be is very short, the author did a great job and showed me how serious the main characters were about building a life together. The story is packed with feelings, quick to read, sweet and well written. I will definetely look out for more releases by Vivien Dean.

The cover art by Written Ink Designs is lovely and fitting, I like it.

SALE LINKS  JMS Books LLC  | Amazon

BOOK DETAILS

Kindle Edition, 76 pages

Published September 21st 2019 by JMS Books LLC (first published February 8th 2009)

ASIN B07XW8LNS6

Edition Language English

An Ashez Review :Anyone But You by Brien Michaels

Rating : 4.5 stars out of 5

Murder is one hell of a drag.
Jack Kieza has a problem. He’s deeply attracted to men, but his homophobic family has left him too afraid to act on it. With his thirtieth birthday around the corner, his curiosity gets the best of him, and he finds himself at a gay club. After spending a fiery night with drag queen Sheila Salute, everything changes. Especially when he discovers her alter ego: his boss, Ryan Swift.Ryan knew he should’ve said no the second Jack approached him. Now he can’t stop himself from texting Jack every chance he gets. But Jack won’t let him take the wig off during sex, and being Sheila off-stage is wearing thin.

The more time they spend together, the more intense their feelings get, but Jack isn’t ready to date a man yet. When drag queens start turning up murdered, it forces Jack to re-examine his feelings, because what if Ryan is next? While Jack wants their burgeoning relationship to work, it would mean having to admit who he is to the world. And that’s an idea as frightening as death.

Review – I love a good thriller, a mystery that you have to try to solve by the end of the book, and make guesses as to “who is it?!”.  It was a very good thriller for me, it was surprising and interesting, the character progression was great as well.
Jack – a little confused … which bothered me at certain points, I like a “coming of age” story but sometimes I thought this was a bit overdone – especially family wise.
Ryan – I adored Ryan and Sheila both, the way that the author makes you feel such compassion for a character, so very good!
The overall plot was great, there were certain moments in the book I thought wow, maybe this was overdone, but it didn’t take away from the story at all in the end it was just a personal issue.
I loved how the guys got together, I love how the  book ended, of course, a thrill to finally know who did it!  A great read.
Cover  by LC Chase: I understand it, the wig, the thriller vibe, I’m curious which of the men is on the cover though if it’s Ryan or Jack
Sales Links:  Riptide Publishing | Amazon
Book Details:
ebook, 223 pages
Published December 9th 2019 by Riptide Publishing
Original TitleAnyone but You
ISBN139781626498907
Edition LanguageEnglish

A Stella Review: Just the Thought of You (Mann of My Dreams #3) by Tinnean

RATING 4,5 out of 5 stars

Quinton Mann and Mark Vincent – still as dangerous, intelligent, and perceptive as they were when they started playing mind games with each other, and still in love. With Quinn having inherited the Mann family estate in a state of serious disrepair, he and Mark with the help of their family and friends decided to fix it up and then live there, together. But when a mystery from the Mann family past intersected with the death that led to Quinn inheriting the estate, Mark and Quinn were determined to solve it, and see Quinn’s cousin DB and his ladies safely married. But there are always eyes watching two such dangerous men. Would they be able to continue their relationship without nosy, judgmental people trying to put an end to it?

This new installment in the Mann of My Dreams series by Tinnean was another success to me, the author continued to show me how good she is with her writing about these two men I learned to love and respect.

Each new novel follows the precedent so well, the books need to be red in order otherwise they will make no sense, not just cause you won’t be able to know all the second characters, most of all cause you will surely find yourself lost in the plot.

In Just the Thought of You happened a lot, this is a long novel, full of mysteries, deaths, weddings, no once I was bored or overwhelmed, on the contrary I am always happy to spend a week of my reading time in Quinn and Mark company, it’s lovely to see them so in love, especially now when they are starting to really planning a life together, there’s a house to restore and a family to build. I can’t wait to see what will happen next in their world.

The cover art is not so eye catching in my opinion, I don’t like it.

SALE LINKS  JMS Books LLC | Amazon

BOOK DETAILS

Published August 14, 2019 by JMS Books

Kindle Edition, 416 pages

ISBN 9781310124310

Edition Language English

Series Mann of My Dreams #3

Lucy Review : Dances Long Forgotten by Ruby Moone

Rating: 5 stars out of 5

On Christmas Eve, Dylan, the man of James Pell-Charnley’s dreams, is on the point of walking out. Then they hear the faint strains of a waltz in the library of the empty abbey. The music is said to be heard only by those truly in love, and it gives James the courage to tell Dylan the story.
In December 1841, Lord Hugo Pell-Charnley is in a terrible mess. The youngest son of the late Marquis, youngest brother of the incumbent, never felt to fit. When his life comes crashing down, and his life and his family are threatened, he is forced to face his elder brother and confess his deepest secret. When he arrives at Winsford Abbey he finds he must also confront the shame from his past in the form of Lyndon Cross. The boy he’d loved but betrayed in school.
As they clear the ghosts from the past, they dance in each other’s arms in the library to the soft strains of the waltz, but long buried secrets threaten to destroy their happiness.
Two hundred years later, can those dances long forgotten give James and Dylan the courage to hold on to love? 

This is a story within a story.  James, the current Marquis, must tell the story of Hugo and Lyndon to his own love, Dylan, in order for Dylan to understand how James feels about him.  So we have the modern beginning and end sandwiching the historical story and that worked very well for me.

Hugo is the youngest of the Pell-Charnley family and he believes himself to be nothing spectacular.  He had a terrible time at school, can’t do the one thing he really wants to with his life (own a bookstore) because it is beneath people of his class, and now is being blackmailed.  Things just go from bad to worse when he shows up at his family estate for Christmas only to find three of the bullies from school present, as well as someone he used to like at school, someone who he didn’t treat well because of the bullies.  Lyndon Cross.

It’s funny how people assume things.  Winston, Hugo’s older brother, believes Hugo to have an unencumbered life in London.  “You seemed perfectly happy as you were…” while never realizing “I hated every moment of school.  I never fit in.  I was bullied, beaten, terrified…”  He was bullied to an extreme degree, as was Lyndon.  Now they may have a chance to be together, if only short term.  Of course nothing is that easy.

No secret that I am a huge fan of historical romance but I need it to be believable.  This one hit all my switches.  Sympathetic characters, plot that made sense and with twists that I completely didn’t see coming, and an ending I felt was plausible.

I was thinking four stars for this story until another plot twist showed up, one that I wasn’t expecting yet again, and I had to raise it up.  My heart was breaking for Hugo at that point. “…had talked about him, speculated about him, made him queasy inside.”  I so understood that feeling.  I was angry at people for him – more than he was even! Hugo is a good person and handles things so much better than he believes he does.

“Every Christmas we should definitely waltz in the library.”  “Until we are too old to move….I’ll hold your hand and we’ll sway in time.”  That made me happy, as did the sweetness of the epilogue.

This was so interesting, so sweet and so wonderful.  I especially appreciated a bisexual character in a historical, which may be the first time I’ve read of one in this genre.

The cover, showing Dylan and James dancing against the backdrop of Hugo, is perfect.

Sales Links:   Amazon

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 145 pages
Published December 19th 2019
ASINB082QQ7QGF
Edition LanguageEnglish
Other Editions
None found

Release Blitz with Excerpt for Served with a Twist by Jet Lupin

RELEASE BLITZ

Book Title: Served with a Twist

Author: Jet Lupin

Publisher: Self-Published

Release Date: December 28, 2019

Genre/s: Sci-Fi D/s M/M Romance

Trope/s: Clash of Backgrounds, Opposites attract, Man in Peril, Meet My Dysfunctional Family, Size Difference

Themes: Kink, light BDSM, light D/s themes, collaring

Heat Rating: 4 flames 

Length:  74 000 words

It is a standalone story.

Add on Goodreads

 

 

Buy Links

Universal Amazon Link 

Amazon US  |  Amazon UK

 

The pretty ones were always trouble…

Blurb

Cut Jones knows Samson from his work, but not really. He knows he’s got money, that he likes his whiskey sours extra sweet, but that’s where his knowledge ends. Samson’s come into the bar every few days for a year but has hardly said more than five words at a time, but Cut didn’t mind. Samson was out of his league. So imagine his surprise when Samson asks for his help with a very personal issue.

The pressures of owning his own company and the expectations of his father had Samson Ba walking a razor’s edge. It was only a matter of time before he tried to find a release, but when he does it’s in the worst way. And he’s found by the last person he wanted to see him this way. But things aren’t all bad. Cut offers to help him relieve his stress, and Samson’s sure he’s just being nice, but some opportunities are too good to pass up. 

 

 

Excerpt 

Samson shifted his gaze to Cut, scanning him from boots to the dark blue locs on the crown of his head. Cut shifted, smoothing out invisible creases in his jeans before Samson said, “You look good to me.”  

He seemed so sure; Cut felt he had to trust him on this. At least, if he was wrong, they’d get thrown out together. Nothing took the sting out of embarrassment quite like sharing it.

Samson stood aside and Cut preceded him into the restaurant, but then he scampered on ahead to talk to the host, making the whole exercise useless. They whispered among themselves, giving Cut ample time to verify that his ass was just as amazing in jeans as dress pants, before the host escorted them to a secluded corner meant for a party of six or more. The other patrons had enough class to pretend that their meals and conversations were more engrossing than the out of place strangers getting a whole section to themselves.

His anxiety subsiding as they took their seats allowed Cut to take things in properly. He saw the wire brush marks on the metal of the sconces that illuminated the room. When he flicked his gaze up, he saw the hand turned wires on the ornaments hanging from the chandeliers. On the glasses, the stems were so delicate and thin, yet when he picked up his to test that theory, it didn’t feel fragile in the hand. Everything was so refined and well-made in a way that made him feel small and cheap. But he’d push through it for now. 

Cut claimed the bench against the wall, preferring to see anything coming his way, while Samson took the chair across from him, his back to the rest of the dining room. He shrugged out of his jacket and set it beside him. Cut took Samson’s when he divested himself of it and did the same. Samson picked up the thin tablet that served as the menu and swiped through it. Cut gave an appreciative glance to those wide shoulders and the bit of collarbone peeking out from the open neck of Samson’s shirt before turning his gaze down to his own menu.

“I recommend anything but the fish. Issues with the suppliers. The beef is very good, though.”

“You really know your stuff.” Of course someone like Samson came here regularly. A high class spot for a high class guy. Cut carefully sipped water from an elegant crystal glass.  

Samson put down the tablet, grinned. “I should. I own the place.” 

Water dribble down Cut’s chin when he nearly choked on it. He quickly mopped it up with his sleeve. It was better his stubble got a little wet than spraying Samson’s face. 

“You own this whole place? By yourself?”

“I hope you don’t mind me showing off a little. Everything you get will be gratis, of course. So go nuts. I needed you to know that I really can pay whatever you ask. I’m serious about this.” 

Cut moved to the edge of his seat. Just because no one was blatantly watching didn’t mean they weren’t listening. “Explain what you mean by this? I have an idea, but we’ve got to be on the same page.” 

“O-of course.” Samson wet his own lips with a little water. 

He seemed a little flustered. That was the last thing Cut wanted.

“Why don’t you start from the beginning?”

 “It’s a bit much to say over the table.” But it had to be said. If they didn’t have honest, open communication from the beginning, there was no point in starting at all. 

But if Samson had concerns about being overheard, Cut had a simple solution. He scooted over on the bench. “Join me. There’s plenty of room on this side.”

Samson froze and swallowed so hard Cut swore he heard it. He thought that might have been a step too far, but Samson came around to his side of the table, and they sat hip-to-hip. The cushion was wide enough to accommodate both of them with room to spare. A server rushed over and repositioned Samson’s place setting before disappearing as quickly as they came. 

There was that scent again, sweet and thickened by Samson’s natural aroma. Cut was suddenly aroused and uncomfortable. He shifted to adjust his cock into a more comfortable position, and his thigh brushed against Samson’s. The bigger man snapped his leg away for an instant before he relaxed again. Somehow, knowing he was nervous too helped Cut relax. Maybe too much. 

He rested a hand on Samson’s knee and squeezed. When he realized what he’d done, Cut pulled away and set both his hands on the table.

“So,” he coughed. “Let’s start with the alley and why you were there.”

 

About the Author 

Stories longing to have words put to them were in Jet’s heart from an early age. Jet enjoys exploring the connections and similarities between people whether they be shifters, vampires, or aliens, rendering the unknowable very knowable indeed.

Jet’s days are spent toiling away at a keyboard, slumped over a pen and paper hunting for those words, or playing around on twitter with a partner, and two rambunctious cats for company in the temperamental North Eastern US.

 

Social Media Links

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A Stella Review: Model Christmas by Jaime Samms

RATING 3 out of 5 stars

Sebastian’s ideal Christmas looks nothing like his picture-perfect childhood experiences, but neither should it be spent wandering the cold streets alone and homeless.

Cody has no time for the holidays if he wants to eat. He needs a new model for his next commission–and he needs him now.

Seb can’t go home and Cody’s model took his pay and left. Both men are in dire straits, so when they meet over soup-kitchen chili they each see the answer to their problems in the other.

They never expected more than a means to an end, but now, that perfect Christmas might be as simple as seeing what’s right in front of them.

Although this is a second edition, it was clear to me Model Christmas was one of the first stories released by Jaime Samms, I say this as a compliment, I read some of her titles and they were all so much better. Still this holiday story was a pleasure to read, maybe just a little too short to be better delivered, I don’t know. What I do know there was a feeling of melancholy and defeat in some scenes I didn’t like, choices made by Terry (a second character we actually didn’t meet) and Cody that left a sour taste in my mouth.

I knew nothing about Cody and quite enough about Sebastian. I definitely preferred the ending part and would have so loved to have a little epilogue just to see what the two young men were able to become as individuals and as a couple.

Overall Model Christmas was an interesting reading, I love the author so much and I hope she will release new titles in the future.

The cover art is awesome, it’s eye catching and I love it a lot.

SALE LINKS  Amazon

BOOK DETAILS

Kindle Edition, 40 pages

Published December 6th 2019 by Jaime Samms (first published December 11th 2010)

ASIN B082FQ8JZL

Edition Language English

A Stella Review: Socks for an Otter by Posy Roberts

RATING 3,5 out of 5 stars

He fell from his ivory tower and landed in the gutter… But Sebastian would rather be homeless and hungry than clueless.On his way to the food pantry, a guy on his cell phone runs into him and triggers his prickly side. As a sign of goodwill, Louis offers to cook for him. But all Sebastian sees is the privilege he used to have.
This isn’t a fairytale. Louis isn’t Prince Charming. And Sebastian can make it on his own.But it’s been days since he’s had a hot meal. And a blizzard is coming.Will Sebastian’s pride be his appetizer?

Socks for an Otter is a heartwarming riches-to-rags MM romance brewed with hurt/comfort, comedy, a second chance at love, age gap, millionaires, and men from different worlds who will give you all the feels.

I waited so long fo a new story by Posy Roberts I was so happy to see this new release, moreover a Christmas one, which I’m a sucker for. And then I read the blurb and thought she couldn’t have picked a better theme. I have read so many books, still I actually can’t remember one with an homeless character that was so well done, full of details and everyday little struggles we take for granted each minute of our lives. I so appreciated to be able to follow Sebastian, and Javon too, when they were looking for work and food,  I learned about what kind of food was more filling and right for fighting the cold. And then there were the socks, some of the scenes and talks about the socks truly got to my heart.

Socks for an Otter felt very real to me, the author did an awesome job at portraying the everyday life of homeless people, without turning the book into something too heavy. Seb and Louis pasts and presents caught my heart from the beginning, still the story is packed with a sense of hope that enlightened the reading.

That said I am not giving the novel an higher rating because I didn’t feel strongly the main characters. I loved them dearly, they were smart, strong, positives, even though they went through unthinkable events. I liked their souls and disposition to help the others. But from the first time they met it seemed to me something was missing, I didn’t feel a connection, a click between them. And till the ending I hoped for it but I couldn’t find it.

The cover art by Black Jazz Design is awesome, I love the colors, the font, the model, so perfect.

SALE LINKS  Amazon

BOOK DETAILS

Kindle Edition, 270 pages

Published December 17th 2019 by Boho Press

ASIN B082PTX7NP

Edition Language English

99c Book Blast with Excerpt for Little Red (Big Bad Wolves Book One) by Queenie Wise

99c BOOK BLAST

Book Title: Little Red (Big Bad Wolves Book One)

 Author: Queenie Wise

Publisher: Self-Published

Cover Artist: Reese Dante

Genre/s: Paranormal M/M Romance 

Trope/s: Enemies to lovers, Hurt/Comfort 

Themes: Werewolves, Coming Out

Heat Rating: 2.5 flames

Length: 117 500 words/351 pages

This is the first book in a series.

It is on sale for $0.99 for a limited time (Dec 27 – 31)

to celebrate the release of its sequel on December 27, 2019

Add on Goodreads 

 

 

Big, sexy werewolves + sassy, gay protagonist + fun worldbuilding = Little Red!

Blurb

Peter “Penis” Caldwell (nickname bestowed courtesy of popular jock, Jackson Davis) didn’t necessarily have a lot of things going for him.

  1. See “Penis”.
  2. He attended high school in a small town that was as bigoted as it was boring. (Having the audacity to stand out was considered a major character flaw.)
  3. He was maybe, sort of, a little bit (a lot) gay. Not that anyone knew that last one.

None of that meant, however, that Peter was prepared for the consequences when he is bitten by a giant wolf during a reckless night of teenage adventure.

Consequences that smack him right in the face when he is simultaneously saved and snatched by a (hugely-muscled, obscenely handsome)… mentally-imbalanced man who’s convinced that he’s a long-distance relation of Jacob Black. That’s right: werewolf.

Mr. Big and Bad claims Peter is one, too, now that he’s bitten him.

The only thing worse than being kidnapped by a crazy person? A crazy person who’s right.

Forced to adjust to pack life in a hidden society, Peter’s not sure what he longs to do more: throttle the man who’s bitten him and ruined his life so conclusively, or throw himself on Mr. Big and Bad’s ridiculously firmlap.

Yeah, lap

 

Buy Links – Available on Kindle Unlimited 

99c for a limited time (Dec 27 – 31)

Amazon US  |  Amazon UK

 

Excerpt 

​For the first time in his life, Peter realized that people had ​scents​. He wasn’t referring to the funky smell that always followed around his history teacher, Mr. Herbert, or even the flowery perfumes that his mother often saturated herself in.

No, people had scents beneath all that.

Like his dad, who smelled a bit like worn leather, or his mom, whose natural fragrance more closely resembled lemons.

Not everyone had a pleasant aroma, however. Jackson’s smell, for example, was putrid – not unlike the stink of sour milk.

No one’s scent was overpowering, and Peter often only caught whiffs of people as they walked by – and that was only when he put his mind to doing so. It was when he spent a lot of time with people, like his parents, or even Scott, who smelled a little like freshly cut grass underneath his Axe body spray, that he really noticed it.

Peter sighed, forcefully pulling himself from his thoughts. He couldn’t be certain, of course, but none of the books his parents – mostly his mom – had bought for him and his older sister about puberty mentioned the strange ability to ​smell​ other people. (He knew because he’d wasted an entire half hour searching the section about body odor.)

Realizing that as he had daydreamed, the sun had risen (and the heat index along with it), Peter glanced down to discover he had sweat through his shirt. Yanking his ear buds out of his ears and stuffing them into his pocket along with his MP3 player, Peter began tugging his shirt off his head.

He probably should have stopped running to do it. But he didn’t.

Which was why, shirt blocking his vision, Peter completely missed the man who suddenly appeared in front of him. By the time he had yanked the shirt completely off, it was too late, and he collided full speed into him.

He didn’t even have time to brace himself. One second, he was running, and the next, he was practically ricocheting off the solid mass of the man’s chest, his body flying backwards. It was a battle to stay upright– a battle he was losing – until firm hands grasped his hips and righted him, allowing Peter’s equilibrium to return to him.

An embarrassed flush bursting across his cheeks, Peter quickly stepped out of the man’s grasp, finally getting a good look at him, and… ​oh.

Jesus.

He’d almost plowed down a god, or a half-god, or ​something,​ because there was no way it was possible to be that naturally good-looking without having a parent named Aphrodite.

The handsome stranger – the man was definitely a stranger, Peter would know if he had seen ​this particular face before – had perfectly symmetrical features. He had an attractive nose and strong jaw, and his face was framed by dark, disheveled hair, longer on the top than it was on the sides.

Not only was the man absurdly handsome, he was also tall (​well​ over six feet), and judging by the way his shirt-sleeves bulged, he was positively covered in lithe muscle.

Which you are very rudely staring at,​ a voice in the back of Peter’s head pointed out. Unfortunately, jerking his eyes away from the display of tanned muscle only served as a reminder that Peter’s less-muscled body was also on parade.

“I-I wasn’t,” Peter stuttered, clutching his shirt to his chest like an old lady holding a rosery in church, “I mean, I ​was​… and then you, and I… I’m really sorry!” he eventually managed to spit out.

Determined not to embarrass himself any further – because apparently people related to Greek gods made him a little tongue-tied – Peter directed his gaze to the ground.

“Are you alright?”

Half-expecting to have been ignored, or worse, laughed at, Peter was taken off-guard by the concern-laced question. (It didn’t help that it was asked in such a cultured timbre. Peter had no idea it was possible to be physically attracted to a voice until that very moment.)

Unable to resist, he allowed his gaze to flicker back up. And promptly froze.

Peter had been so preoccupied with the man’s handsome features earlier that he had somehow missed the most striking of them all: his eyes.

Framed by black lashes, they were an intense blue. Peter’s poetry-obsessed mother would have probably called them sapphire or cobalt or something equally fanciful. But their color wasn’t what had Peter’s entire body tensing.

No, that was due to the fact that the eyes were strangely familiar. Like Peter had seen them somewhere before.

Except Peter was completely certain he had never laid eyes on this man before.

For one hare-brained moment, he thought of the pair of eyes that had been haunting his dreams for over a week now. ​They’re the same​, his subconscious all but screamed at him, ​they’re the same!

But that was ridiculous.

The eyes in his dream were red. And they belonged to a wolf. They weren’t blue and set in the face of a Michelangelo statue come to life. A statue that was currently frowning at him, a troubled crease in his brow. “Well, are you?”

Peter blinked. “Am I…?” “Are you alright?”

Oh.

That’s right.

The man had asked Peter a question, and instead of answering it like a normal person, Peter had just stared rudely.

Face burning, he half-wished the ground would open up and swallow him whole. “Yeah! Fine. Great. Dandy, even.” ​Dandy? What. the. hell.​ “It’s not like I fell or anything.” Although Peter wasn’t so sure he hadn’t somehow concussed himself by running into the man’s chest of solid muscle, what with his mouth moving without consent from his brain and all. “I mean, you stopped me before I could. Fall, that is. Grabbed me by the waist, which would usually be sort of creepy, in a bad-touch way, but, I mean, you’re obviously not… you wouldn’t… you know what? I’m just going to shut up now.”

By the time Peter had finished inserting both his feet firmly in his mouth, the man’s frown had increased in severity. He seemed confused.

You and me both, buddy.

After a moment, he just shook his head. “You should really watch where you’re going,” he said somberly.

Yeah, can’t be smacking into god-like entities every time I take my shirt off,​ Peter thought sarcastically. What he actually said was: “I’ll do that.”

“See that you do. You never know when you might run into… someone dangerous.”

For some reason, a shiver tingled down Peter’s spine at the remark. It wasn’t a​ scared​ shiver. Sure, the statement could have been threatening – Peter had just run smack into ​this​ man, after all – but somehow, it was something… ​else.

Peter found himself staring again, almost involuntarily, into the man’s eyes. Dark blue drilled right back into muted green. It was a staring contest Peter was desperate not to lose for reasons beyond his grasp.

 

About the Author

 

Queenie Wise is a happily married mother of four. (Yes, that is four ​human ​children.)

When she is not busy wiping noses or magically kissing away “boo-boo”’s, she is obsessing over M/M romance. Original stories, fanfiction; she reads it all. She is especially fond of sassy protagonists and huge, burly love interests who have tough-as-nails exteriors, but are actually giant marshmallows on the inside. She loves all the tropes: hurt/comfort, enemies to lovers, and May/December being some of her favorites.

Although Queenie began her writing career as a M/F author (under a different pen name), she has recently returned to her true passion: M/M.

While she has a penchant for torturing her favorite characters, all of her stories feature HEA’s. Just because there are not enough of them in the real world doesn’t mean the fictional world should be denied.

(In other words, Queenie is as soft and gooey on the inside as her giant, marshmallow men.)

 

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A MelanieM Review: Christmas Lights (Owatonna U Hockey #4) by RJ Scott & V.L. Locey

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

Under the Christmas lights strung outside a snowy Minnesota cabin, Ryker and Jacob face a future where nothing will be the same again.

Fortunate timing means that Ryker and Jacob can spend a few days together over Christmas in a cabin on the family farm. What’s better is that Scott and Ben are coming as well, with Hayne and Ethan in tow. Ryker can’t imagine a better way to spend time with the man he loves, and the friends he misses, and somehow he knows that this Christmas will be the best one ever. Hockey on a frozen pond, kisses under Christmas lights, and sharing time with Jacob are the best gifts he could ever receive.

Long distance relationships are brutal, Jacob can attest to that fact. So, when Ryker gets a few days off over the Raptors’ Christmas break, the hard-working Minnesota farmer is beyond thrilled. When they find out that their buddies from Owatonna U. are making the trip as well, the holidays are looking to be just about perfect. Jacob has a question for Ryker burning in his heart, and he isn’t asking for much—just a few fun-filled days with old friends and a yes from the man of his dreams.

The authors brought all the couples from the Owatonna U series together in a cabin at Christmas, and focused the short holiday tale on Ryker and Jacob, the effects their long distance relationship is having on them, the realistic hardships of running a small family farm, the combination isn’t the glowy, glittery Chrismassy story you might expect.

Instead, from this short heartwarming addition to the Owatonna series, you get an unexpected window into Jacob’s family and a farm in trouble, two men who desperately love each other and are separated for most of the time, and hard decisions so painful that a box of tissues will seem inadequate.

It is oh so wonderful.  Because as you watch Ryker and Jacob grapple with the realities of their situation, the support (realized and not) that swirles about them, well, the authors bring the true spirit of the season and strength of family out in force.

This isn’t a standalone story.  The reader needs to have read the other books in the series to understand all the relationships casually mentioned here and all the dynamics at play.  Those stories are listed below.  Happy reading as I recommend them all as well as this wonderful holiday story.

Cover Design: Meredith Russell.  Happy and bright, a perfect cover.

Book Details:

ebook
Published December 20th 2019
ISBN13 9781785641954
Edition Language English
Length: 26,000 words approx.
 
Owatonna U Series

Book #1 – Ryker – Amazon US | Amazon UK | Universal Link
Book #2 – Scott – Amazon US | Amazon UK | Universal Link

A Chaos Moondrawn Review: A Christmas Yarn by CC Bridges

 Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5

Librarian Gavin MacCauley isn’t expecting any surprises this holiday season. It’s the usual rush of helping patrons, and knitting items to donate to the local hospital. But his world is turned upside down by the cutie who walks into knitting club looking to learn how to crochet a scarf.

Jonathan Mercier has just moved to town and is desperate to find a new craft for his traditional, handmade gift for the aunt who adopted him. When his elderly neighbor strong-arms him into attending the library’s knitting and crochet club, he falls hard for the kind (and hot!) librarian running the class.

But with Christmas coming, and time running out to finish the gift, will these two find the time for each other?

This is a heartwarming short story about a librarian named Gaven who meets Jonathan due to Mabel playing matchmaker when she invites her neighbor to the knitting club at the local library. It’s told in dual point of view so the reader sees how caring they both are. While the club is knitting and crocheting gifts for the hospital, Jonathan is trying to make a gift for his aunt. It’s a tradition that they always exchange handmade gifts but something threatens to ruin his plans until Gaven rushes to save the day. This meet-cute has a moderate amount of heat at the end to bring us all some holiday cheer.

The copyright page doesn’t specify who made the cover art. It is adorable, eye-catching, and completely appropriate for this story.

Sales Links:   Amazon | Barnes & Noble

 

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 53 pages
Published December 11th 2019
ASIN B0827282WZ