Category: M/M Supernatural Fiction

An Alisa Review: Tortoise Interruptus by JL Merrow

Rating:  3 stars out of 5

 

tortoise-interruptus-by-jl-merrowCursed by an impatient witch to turn into a tortoise at inopportune moments, Tip is horrified to find himself tortoise-napped by a customer at the Isle of Wight cafe where he works.

 

Things start to look up when Tip ends up very literally in the capable hands of drop-dead gorgeous Steve, but Tip soon begins to wonder just how far he can trust Steve, who turns out to have a close connection with his kidnapper. Tip’s attempts at a normal life — and love life — seem doomed to remain frustrated in more ways than one!

 

Inspired by a real-life incident. Yes, really.

 

What a sweet and funny story.  Tip has been dealing with the fact that he can turn into a tortoise at any time after he was cursed by a witch.  It has really put a damper on his ability to live his life since he never has more than a few minutes notice.

 

We see Tip’s complete frustration at his situation and knowing there is nothing he can do about it.  When he changes back right in front of Steve he can’t believe his luck that the handsome man would want him.  Steve doesn’t care about the curse and is willing to be patient if it gets in the way, which it like a breath of fresh air to Tip’s most recent dating experiences.

 

The cover art by Written Ink Designs is cute and catches your eye.

 

Sales Links: JMS Books | Amazon | B&N

 

Book Details:

ebook, 33 pages

Published: January 28, 2017 by JMS Books

ISBN: 9781634862851

Edition Language: English

A MelanieM Review: Man and Tree by Wayne Mansfield

Rating: 2.75 stars out of 5

 

man-and-tree-by-wayne-mansfieldNathaniel, a horse-riding traveler in eighteenth century Europe, emerges from a vast forest to see a field of golden wheat. At the centre of the field is a large tree and, at its base, a man. Strangely, the man appears to be talking to the tree.

At the village inn, Nathaniel asks the barman about the man and tree. The barman refuses to tell him anything, so Nathaniel decides to visit the man himself. The following morning he rides back to the field, where he notices the man is still there, talking to the tree.

He introduces himself to the man, whose name is Adam. When questioned about why he sits beside the tree, talking to it, Adam reveals a story so amazing, it borders on being unbelievable. Nathaniel, too, has a similar tale, the conclusion of which is just as bizarre and shocking as Adam’s.

Man and Tree is a short, and quite frankly bizarre little tale about two couples who had the misfortune to run a foul of a witch.  I think had the author tried for more of a fantasy feel, instead of locating the story in 18th century Europe and going for an adult fairy tale, Man and Tale might have come off a little better on the whole.  As it is, its hard to explain the complete lack any awareness of the laws and societal awareness of homosexuality of those times.  Its completely ignored or made little reference to.  Surprising when both couples meet and jump enthusiastically into sex and relationships.  Then things go spectacularly wrong for all four of them.

I like the imagery the author provides when that happens.  Nice, very  nice indeed.  But Mansfield leaves other holes in his narrative.  Some things makes sense, others, not so much, especially when it comes to said witch.  Tell us more about that witch and her background. And that ending?  Wrapped up way too easily and without the requisite answers to some of the  questions the author himself raised about the village and the villagers.

All in all?  Man and Tree had some nice elements to it but more aspects to it that raised questions in my mind.  It sort of felt like an outline to a larger story than a completed short tale.

Cover art is ok but doesn’t really speak to any of the elements in the story.

Sales Links

JMS Books LLC

7104e-waxcreative-amazon-kindle

 

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 47 pages
Published September 10th 2016 by JMS Books LLC
ASINB01L8DXWMA
Edition LanguageEnglish

An Alisa Audiobook Review: Kieran: The Atherton Pack 4 By Toni Griffin and Nick Flint (Narrator)

Rating:  4 stars out of 5

 

ap4-kieran-audio6x6_orig“You need to go to Atherton,” they said. Easy for them. The higher-ups at headquarters don’t have their whole world on the line. When Detective Damon Kelly’s bosses send him across the state on a “simple” cyber fraud case, he never thinks he’d meet his mate, then risk losing Kieran by doing his job. No matter what other possible angles Damon works, his partner Grant Davis is sure Kieran’s best friend Corey’s their guy, and Grant is bent on bringing him in.

 

After the birth of their Alpha’s son, the Atherton Pack needs another beta. Kieran Baxter couldn’t be happier to accept. What Kieran doesn’t expect is for all hell to break loose his first week on the job. Clashing with his mate at every turn, and fighting a human cop who wants to arrest Corey for hacking a government database, wasn’t part of the plan either.

 

As more evidence piles up, a bigger, scarier picture comes into focus that could threaten not only the Atherton Pack, but everything the world knows.

 

This was another great addition to the Atherton Pack series.  Damon is thrown for a loop when he meets his mate while investigating his mate’s best friend while also trying to guide his work partner away from the obvious suspect.  Kieran is excited to meet his mate, but doesn’t know how to reconcile his friendship with his mate’s job.  A lot of other things went on than just Damon and Kieran’s relationship and I can’t wait to see how all the changes in the world of shifters will affect the future books.

 

Damon is determined to do the right thing with his job, while also leading them away from the truth in order to keep the pack safe.  When he is forced to take drastic measures to keep his mate and other shifters safe he hopes it will all work out.  Throughout this story I could feel how conflicted Damon was with his job and mate knowing what he had to do, but he was determined to have a relationship with Kieran despite everything.  Kieran has a lot of trouble accepting the situation he has been put in and knows he has to look at things from all sides to get the whole story.  These two went about the opposite of the others and jumped into sex and then have to learn to make everything work after the fact.

 

Nick Flint did a wonderful job again narrating this story.  I was able to understand the characters through the voices and emotions he portrayed.  We saw a lot more characters points of view in this story and he easily kept them each unique so there wasn’t any mix up what was going on.

 

Cover art is wonderful and follows the pattern for the series.

 

Sales Links: Audible | Amazon | iTunes

 

Audiobook Details:

Audiobook, 7 hrs 27 min
Published: January 6, 2017 (ebook, published October 19, 2016) by Mischief Corner Books
Edition Language: English

Series: The Atherton Pack #4

Release Tour – Lyssa Dering’s fangjunkie27 (giveaway)

Buy Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK 
 
Blurb

One human. One dhampir. Seventy-two hours where anything goes.

Shameless vampire addict Eli spends every waking moment chasing pleasure, securing invites to vampire den after vampire den via the vampire/human social network FangFinder. This weekend, he’s signed up for his most extreme adventure yet, a 72-hour party where a legal contract serves as his voluntary consent to anything and everything the den members decide to do to him…

Strong and silent type Orion is the only member of his den without fangs, a dhampir who wears metal points on two fingers so he can give the human guests what they crave. What he craves is a release for the savage half of his nature; he wants to force a human into submission. When his fellow den members inform him that Eli has signed up for just this treatment, Orion lays claim to him for the weekend.

But Eli would never have agreed to spend three days with a half-breed, and he’ll fight Orion’s touch every chance he gets. Even if the pleasure he finds in the dhampir’s grip is more intense than anything he’s ever felt with a vampire…

February 2 – Joyfully Jay
February 6 – Abbey’s 1-Click Blog
February 10 – Dog-Eared Daydreams, Abibliophobia Anonymous Book Reviews
February 13 – Divine Magazine
February 15 – Making It Happen, MM Good Book Reviews
February 17 – Millsy Loves Books, Wicked Reads
February 21 – Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words, Book Lovers 4Ever
February 22 – Alpha Book Club, From Top To Bottom Reviews

Author Bio

Lyssa Dering is an author of queer erotic romance. She writes about damaged characters in impossible situations who, despite often horrifying struggles, will always get their happy ending.

Twitter: http://twitter.com/lyssaderingGoodreads: http://goodreads.com/lyssaderingPinterest: http://pinterest.com/lyssadering

 Giveaway

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A MelanieM Review: fangjunkie27 (FangFinder #1) by Lyssa Dering

Rating: 3 stars out of 5

fangjunkie27-fangfinder-1-by-lyssa-deringOne human. One dhampir. Seventy-two hours where anything goes.

Shameless vampire addict Eli spends every waking moment chasing pleasure, securing invites to vampire den after vampire den via the vampire/human social network FangFinder. This weekend, he’s signed up for his most extreme adventure yet, a 72-hour party where a legal contract serves as his voluntary consent to anything and everything the den members decide to do to him…

Strong and silent type Orion is the only member of his den without fangs, a dhampir who wears metal points on two fingers so he can give the human guests what they crave. What he craves is a release for the savage half of his nature; he wants to force a human into submission. When his fellow den members inform him that Eli has signed up for just this treatment, Orion lays claim to him for the weekend.

But Eli would never have agreed to spend three days with a half-breed, and he’ll fight Orion’s touch every chance he gets. Even if the pleasure he finds in the dhampir’s grip is more intense than anything he’s ever felt with a vampire…

fangjunkie27 (FangFinder #1) by Lyssa Dering is a  dark, violent short tale of 72 hours in a junkie’s life.  Instead of drugs or alcohol, Eli is chasing the high he felt from his first vampire bite and there’s nothing he won’t do or hasn’t done to get it.  He’s an addict in every way, including the sometime denial, the back history that helps with an addictive nature and the worst of an addictive’s personality.  On top of that?  Eli is somewhat masochistic (he wavers on this), likes being forced, is prejudiced towards dhampirs, in his words…he’s a “mess, a suicidal mess”.

Orion is unusual in this sort of fiction.  He’s a dhampir that is fangless (his solution to that is neat but one I’ve seen before), mortal and angry about that.  That last bit is  quite understandable. Yes, he gets called names under the guise of being “one of the gang”, yes, he’s looked down on for those characteristics by Eli who wants a ‘true vampire’.  Let the beatings and non-con sex ensue. I said it was  dark and violent.  Orion truly doesn’t have that much more going for him at least outside of the job at the den.  All he seems to have is this “den”, no other outside income or place of his own. So in a way he’s as dependent as Eli because of his less than desired stature.

There is a  redeeming factor to Orion.  He wants to give the people who come to him what they want.  Part of the game for him is figuring that out.  Eli is more puzzling than normal and that makes Orion even angrier.  Yes, more beatings and angry sex.

To give Dering some credit, its not quite as basic as that.  There’s some layering going on to both characters which is why this story got 3 stars.  But in the end you’re spending the weekend with a masochistic junkie and the angry, insecure somewhat sadistic Dom in charge of him. Look at that sentence and think hard about that. There’s an unlikely ending tacked on here probably to give reason for a second story but instead it just makes you wonder why this vampire den isn’t charging for this “cure’ for addiction.  To me this just felt unfinished, not enough payment for having to stay with Eli for 72 tortuous hours.  I’m stopping now before I rethink that 3 star rating.

For those of you who enjoy dark fiction, erotica, BDSM without restraints (no restraints here-that’s part of the contract at the den), a dhampir with quirks and fangs of his own and an blood addict on a downward spiral, this book is for you.

Cover art is dark which is certainly suitable for this story.

Sales Links

Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon CA | Amazon AU
Book Details:

 

Kindle Edition, 81 pages
Published February 2nd 2017 by Disobedient Publications, LLC
ASINB01N0WXHMR
Edition LanguageEnglish
SeriesFangFinder #1

Two Publishers Announcements

Announcement clip art

Two Publishers Announcements

 

📚First from Painted Hearts Publishing formerly known as Dark Hollows Press:

painted-hearts-publishing

Dark Hollows Press is thrilled to announce an exciting new change! As of 02.14.2017 we are now Painted Hearts Publishing! Who we are remains the same, but we believe our new name to be a better reflection of our diversity. From sweet to erotic, from paranormal to contemporary, from male/female to LGBT, we remain committed to bringing you the best in romance publishing today.

Visit us on the web at www.paintedheartspublishing.com

📚Secondly and sadly, from Samhain  Publishing, a final announcement:

samhain-logo

Greetings, Samhain Readers.

It’s with a heavy heart that we announce Samhain Publishing will be closing at the end of February. Due to the declining sales we’ve been experiencing with this changing market we’ve come to the sad conclusion it’s time to call it a day.

 

The last of our new titles launch February 21st; I hope you will check them out and support them as you have so many other Samhain titles through the years.”

 

Our site will go dark at the end of the day, February 28th. Please take a few moments and visit, buy what you might have been planning on getting someday in the future, but download and back up your bookshelf because you won’t have access to it after February 28th.

 

Thank you for all your support through the eleven years we’ve been open. It’s been a pleasure to bring to market new voices in publishing and new works from familiar authors. From start to finish, we’ve always kept what the reader wants in mind and hope you enjoyed what we had to offer.

https://www.samhainpublishing.com

 

This is the second time we’ve had a closing announcement from Samhain  Publishing but it looks to be their final one.  Last time, they pulled back and tried to stay open but as you can see, it didn’t work.  Again, we bid them farewell.  Those of you who still have books there or books you wish to buy, please make note of their deadline to backup your Samhain bookshelf.