Category: M/M Romance

A Stella Review: The Fortune Hunter by Bonnie Dee

RATING 5 out of 5 stars

A man with nothing finds everything.
Abandoned at birth, WWI veteran Hal Stanton faces bleak employment prospects in post-war London. Desperation spurs him to reinvent himself to hook a wealthy wife, one he will be devoted to even if he feels no real passion. But when he meets his fiance’s cousin, Julian Needham, it’s all he can do to keep his heart in check and his eye on the prize.

From the moment he’s introduced to the charming stranger Margaret plans to marry, Julian suspects the man’s motives yet fights a relentless attraction. He’s determined to reveal Hal as a fraud but must handle the matter delicately to protect his sweet cousin’s feelings. A weekend at the family estate should allow time and opportunity for him to expose Halstead Wiley.

Even as the men match wits in a battle of attempted unmasking, powerful sexual attraction threatens to overcome them both and win the day. Can a true love connection possibly grow between these adversaries without destroying lives and loved ones?

I rarely read historical mm books, but once in a while a blurb or a cover or an author’s name catches my interest and I have a go. The Fortune Hunter by Bonnie Dee was simply amazing. I will definitely reread it and reread again and again. A huge success. It has all the elements I look for in a historical story, not necessarily in the mm world. It’s a romance, a pure romance, the kind of story that lets you dream and brings you into the MCs’ world. I simply adored it, that’s why it deserves all the five stars.

I’m often dubious about characters set in a non contemporary time, because what I want to find in my books is the chance to empathize with them or to fantasize, and more than once it doesn’t happen. In this case I got both, maybe because the story is set in a not so far away historical period, just after WWI, maybe because the author is very good at writing. Anyway I read her new release in a one sitting, I savoured every single scene, every word, and I deeply loved it.

I saw the attraction between Hal and Julian, I followed them while they struggled with their fears and doubts, and I cheered on them to finally find a way to be together. I learned their pasts and started to love both of them, and actually the second characters too, from the first chapters. Every single one well developed and defined.

I enjoyed the plot, I think the author delivered an amazing story, there is no cheating here, which is something I’m not comfortable with, on the contrary, not just the MCs will get their HEA. I felt every feeling Hal and Julian felt, their desire to be in each other arms. And more important, to me the story seemed very realistic.

I feel to recommend The Fortune Hunter, even if you are not a huge fan of historical romance like me, I’m sure you will love it.

The cover art is likeable and well done.

SALE LINKS    AMAZON

BOOK DETAILS

Kindle Edition, 235 pages

Published January 2nd 2018

ASIN B077XLY1ND

Edition Language English

An Ali Review: Two Man Station (Emergency Services #1) by Lisa Henry

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Gio Valeri is a big city police officer who’s been transferred to the small outback town of Richmond with his professional reputation in tatters. His transfer is a punishment, and Gio just wants to keep his head down and survive the next two years. No more mistakes. No more complications.

Except Gio isn’t counting on Jason Quinn.

Jason Quinn, officer in charge of Richmond Station, is a single dad struggling with balancing the demands of shift work with the challenges of raising his son. The last thing he needs is a new senior constable with a history of destroying other people’s careers. But like it or not, Jason has to work with Gio.

In a remote two man station hours away from the next town, Gio and Jason have to learn to trust and rely on each another. Close quarters and a growing attraction mean that the lines between professional and personal are blurring. And even in Richmond, being a copper can be dangerous enough without risking their hearts as well. 
This author is one of my favorites so I was really excited to see she had a new book coming out and this did not disappoint.  I was drawn in right from the beginning.  The pacing on this story is a bit slow but it works really well for the plot.  Due to the dynamics of their relationship we need the slow burn that happens between the two MC’s.  Anything faster wouldn’t have seemed realistic.
I loved the world building that was done here and the remote town that they live in was almost like it’s own characters.  I felt like I was there with the MC’s and I could picture everything so clearly in my mind.  I really loved how this setting and the side characters were done.
 
I enjoyed both Gio and Jason.  They were very different but when they finally get together it’s a beautiful thing.  I also liked how Jason’s daughter was done.  She seemed age appropriate and was just a kid.  I liked that she wasn’t precocious and she wasn’t there to provide humor.  I’m frequently disappointed in how children are presented in books and it sometimes seems like authors have never meant an actual real child.  That wasn’t the case here.  
 
If you’re looking for a really good read I definitely recommend this.  It’s a well done slow burn with engaging characters and an entertaining plotline.
 
This cover was done by Natasha Snow. I liked this cover a lot and thought it was not only well done but fit the story perfectly.
Sales Links:  Riptide Publishing | Amazon
Book Details:
ebook, 273 pages
Expected publication: January 22nd 2018 by Riptide Publishing
ISBN 1626497109 (ISBN13: 9781626497108)
Edition LanguageEnglish
Series Emergency Services #1

A MelanieM Review: Tribute Act (Porthkennack #8) by Joanna Chambers

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

Nathan Bridges hadn’t intended to settle down in his home town of Porthkennack—he just ended up staying after saving the family business from ruin. The truth is, Nathan can’t stop himself from stepping in when problems arise. He’s a fixer, the man everyone turns to. But even fixers can’t solve everything.

When Nathan’s sister needs an organ transplant, it’s his stepbrother, Mack, who the family turns to as Rosie’s only potential living donor. Nathan’s curiosity about the stepbrother he’s never met turns to shock when he realises that Mack is his latest—and hottest ever—one-night stand.

Nathan and Mack agree to forget their single night together, but that’s easier said than done. When Mack moves in to Nathan’s place to recuperate after surgery, it’s not just the sexual tension between them that keeps growing. Against all the odds, and despite Mack’s wariness of intimacy, the two men grow close enough that Nathan begins to wonder what it would take to mend the rift that’s kept Mack and his father estranged for over a decade . . . and whether Mack might consider staying with Nathan in Porthkennack for good.

Sometimes, when the writing, the themes, and, the characters all come together, then a place comes alive for a reader.  You feel like you can walk down the pathways, watch the wild seas, look in through the glass windows into the pubs and storefronts of a place and feel you know it intimately because it’s now real for you.  Porthkennack is now that place or me.  Which is more amazing because the series isn’t written by one author but by five (at least for the moment).  Each one adding to the mythology, the foundation of the place, it’s people and its history.

Some are stand alone novels, such as this one, others are not.

All make you wish with all your heart that Porthkennack was a place you can grab a plane or bus to.  Tribute Act is just another reason why.

Tribute Act opens with music from songs from Nathan’s father’s band, one he walked away from, along with his marriage when he married Nathan’s mother in Porthkennackk, giving up music, settling down to have a family and fun a ice cream store.  That’s where we meet Nathan Bridges.  Home to rescue his Dad (awful businessman), his Mom, and sister.   It’s Nathan who is the rock of the family, always giving, sacrificing to ensure the safety and wellbeing of the family.  Nathan’s character is so well defined.  We see how much it takes out of him to continually be the giver, leaving little for himself, including dreams for his future.

Nathan’s sister is in need of a transplant which introduces Mack to the family and a series of startling revelations for all, especially Nathan who’d hooked up with Mack the night before not knowing he was his stepbrother.  Mack also was shocked by that little surprise.  Mack is a torn, bitter young man, hurt by seeing the family before him he never had as he was abandoned by Nathan’s dad.

Ah, that’s the huge weakness at the center.  The roaring musician, the dad who’s basically a coward but still loves his family.  This story is full of flawed people.  Some you will love, some you’ll understand, some you might despise…but all of them feel downright authentic.   They act, talk, yell, and react from places that you expect….deep wells of pain and anguish.  Childhood abandonment and loss.  Lack of familial love.  That’s very powerful stuff and it flows from the very heart of the narrative here.

And when hesitatingly, it all  starts to find a way to  come together, in forgiveness and as a family?  Well, you can’t help but feel joy and love for them all.  And another story and group takes its place in your Porthkennack corner of your heart.  How I love this place.

If you aren’t familiar with the Porthkennack series, Tribute Act (Porthkennack #8) by Joanna Chambers works fine on its own.  I highly recommend it and the others.  Check out the entire series here.  You might find me waiting on the bench by the bus stop waiting to walk with you into town.   You never know what magic can happen there.

Cover art by Garrett Leigh is spectacular.  Moody, it captures the tone, location, and character and pulls you in.  I love it.

Sales Links:  Riptide Publishing | Amazon

Book Details:

ebook, 206 pages
Published January 15th 2018 by Riptide Publishing (first published January 13th 2018)
ISBN139781626496842
Edition LanguageEnglish
SeriesPorthkennack #8

This title is part of the Porthkennack universe.

Riptide Publishing Tour and Giveaway for Tribute Act by Joanna Chambers

Tribute Act (Porthkennack #8) by Joanna Chambers
Riptide Publishing
Cover Art: Garrett Leigh

Available for Purchase/Read an Excerpt at Riptide Publishing

Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words is happy to host Joanna Chambers here today on her tour for Tribute Act, another great release in the Porthkennack series from Riptide Publishing.  Welcome, Joanna.

✒︎

Hello, book lovers! I’m Joanna Chambers and this is the blog tour for Tribute Act, my new romance which is book #8 in the Riptide’s Cornwall-set Porthkennack series. I’ll be sharing thoughts on writing my first full length contemporary, writing Christmas songs as an extreme form of authorly procrastination and my love of men with sad eyes. Please join me for a chance to win a copy of the book and a $25 Riptide gift card!

About Tribute Act

Nathan Bridges hadn’t intended to settle down in his hometown of Porthkennack—he just ended up staying after saving the family business from ruin. The truth is, Nathan can’t stop himself from stepping in when problems arise. He’s a fixer, the man everyone turns to. But even fixers can’t solve everything.

When Nathan’s sister needs an organ transplant, it’s his stepbrother, Mack, who the family turns to as Rosie’s only potential living donor. Nathan’s curiosity about the stepbrother he’s never met turns to shock when he realises that Mack is his latest—and hottest ever—one-night stand.

Nathan and Mack agree to forget their single night together, but that’s easier said than done. When Mack moves in to Nathan’s place to recuperate after surgery, it’s not just the sexual tension between them that keeps growing. Against all the odds, and despite Mack’s wariness of intimacy, the two men grow close enough that Nathan begins to wonder what it would take to mend the rift that’s kept Mack and his father estranged for over a decade . . . and whether Mack might consider staying with Nathan in Porthkennack for good.

Available now from Riptide Publishing!

About Porthkennack

Welcome to Porthkennack, a charming Cornish seaside town with a long and sometimes sinister history. Legend says King Arthur’s Black Knight built the fort on the headland here, and it’s a certainty that the town was founded on the proceeds of smuggling, piracy on the high seas, and the deliberate wrecking of cargo ships on the rocky shore. Nowadays it draws in the tourists with sunshine and surfing, but locals know that the ghosts of its Gothic past are never far below the surface.

This collaborative story world is brought to you by five award-winning, best-selling British LGBTQ romance authors: Alex Beecroft, Joanna Chambers, Charlie Cochrane, Garrett Leigh, and JL Merrow. Follow Porthkennack and its inhabitants through the centuries and through the full rainbow spectrum with historical and contemporary stand-alone titles.

Check out Porthkennack! http://www.riptidepublishing.com/titles/universe/porthkennack

About Joanna Chambers

Joanna Chambers always wanted to write. In between studying, finding a proper grown up job, getting married and having kids, she spent many hours staring at blank sheets of paper and chewing pens. That changed when she rediscovered her love of romance and found her muse. Joanna’s muse likes red wine, coffee and won’t let Joanna clean the house or watch television.

Connect with Joanna:

● Website: www.joannachambers.com

● Facebook

● Twitter: @ChambersJoanna

● Goodreads

Giveaway

To celebrate the release of Tribute Act, one lucky winner will receive an ecopy of the book and a $25 Amazon gift card! Leave a comment with your contact info to enter the contest. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on January 20, 2018. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries. Thanks for following the tour, and don’t forget to leave your contact info!

Cover Reveal for Selina Kray’s In Wild Lemon Groves (giveaway)

 

Add to Goodreads.
 
Cover Design: Tiferet Design
 
Length: 110,000 words approx.
 
Blurb
 

A telltale knock on a quiet winter night is a sound no husband wants to hear.

Sébastien Osaki has spent the past three years surviving the loss of his beloved Henry. When Seb lands in Amalfi, Italy, for their would-have-been tenth-anniversary trip, he’s haunted by the memory of the man he loved. Following Henry’s notebook leads him to some breathtaking coastal views but also right back to his despair. Seb’s there to get his groove back, not let the past wrong-foot him at every turn.

Enter Andrea Sorrentino, chauffeur, part-time pet whisperer, a Bernini statue in a soccer tee and tight shorts. From the moment Andrea picks Seb up from the airport, he knows just how to soothe Seb’s case of the sulks. But Seb isn’t sure he’s ready for Mr. Right Now, let alone a potential Mr. Right, in a part of the world where all roads lead back to Henry.

Can sun, sea, and eating your weight in pasta mend a tragedy-stricken heart? Will wine-soaked Amalfi nights and long walks through lemon groves work their magic on Seb’s wounded soul? Or will he slink back into the shell of his grief once his grand Italian adventure is over? 

Author Bio

Selina Kray is the nom de plume of an author and English editor. Professionally she has covered all the artsy-fartsy bases, having worked in a bookstore, at a cinema, in children’s television, and in television distribution, up to her latest incarnation as a subtitle editor and grammar nerd (though she may have always been a grammar nerd). A self-proclaimed geek and pop culture junkie who sometimes manages to pry herself away from the review sites and gossip blogs to write fiction of her own, she is a voracious consumer of art with both a capital and lowercase A.

Selina’s aim is to write genre-spanning romances with intricate plots, complex characters, and lots of heart. Whether she has achieved this goal is for you, gentle readers, to decide. At present she is hard at work on future novels at home in Montreal, Quebec, with her wee corgi serving as both foot warmer and in-house critic.

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A Stella Review: Composing A Family (Mannies Incorporated #6) by Sean Michael

RATING 4 out of 5 stars

Tenor Abriole has just finished his stint as nanny for the Wilsons. He was with the family for twenty-one years, ever since he was eighteen. Now he’s looking for a new family, but finding that at thirty-nine, many people think he’s too old, and those who don’t think that’s a problem are balking at the fact that he’s a man, or that he’s gay, or both. He finally turns to Mannies Inc. for help finding a new position.

Daniel Thorpe is a well-known composer who lives and breathes music. He very much wants to be a father, so he goes the surrogate route, and winds up with triplets on the way. He turns to Mannies Inc. well before his girls are born, but so far has not been happy with any of the men who have applied, until Tenor shows up for an interview. Tenor’s experience being nanny to five children, as well as the fact that he stayed with a single family that long are both pluses in Daniel’s book.

Could it be that Tenor is the last note Daniel needs to compose his greatest work yet – his family?

Sean Michael is one of my favorite authors in the mm genre and being a sucker for stories with children in the plot, his Mannies Incorporated series has always been a winner to me. That’s why I was enthusiastic as soon as I saw he had a new installment coming out.

Composing a Family was a joy to read, sweet and light and cute just how I like books like this. The author presented well done characters, I found Tenor and Daniel well defned, what I knew about their lives was enough for me to like them a lot and then to like them as a couple. I saw how they trusted each other, how they could count on each other and how much they completed each other, and finally when the babies were born, how they made a lovely family. And then there were the second characters, the people all of us should have by their side, supporting and caring.

The reading flew easily because the story is well written, no surprise because Sean can write and deliver excellent works, as he has done in all his previous books I read. His name is definitely a guarantee to me and I am satisfied with this new release.

For your information, although Composing a Family is part of the Mannies Incorporated series, it can be totally read as a standalone, so don’t miss it. I feel to recommend it.

The cover is lovely and simple, I like it

SALE LINKS  AMAZON 

BOOK DETAILS

Kindle Edition, 157 pages

Published December 18th 2017 by Sean Michael

ASIN B078H9VJ7Z

Edition Language English

Series Mannies Incorporated #6