Category: Loose id

A Free Dreamer Review: The Cop and the Drifter by Christiane France

Rating: 3 stars out of 5

The cop and the DrifterWhen they first meet in the woods and Brad takes in Davie’s small stature and pretty-boy looks, he assumes the kid is just another runaway. As a cop, Brad has learned to recognize the signs. But Brad is already in trouble with his superiors, getting suspended for “assuming” something on another case, so now he knows better than to assume anything.

Davie, actually in his early twenties and far from being a child, escaped a horrible past and now lives each day living from hand to mouth as a drifter. Homeless and starving, he meets Brad in the woods, and despite their differences, can’t fight the immediate attraction he shares with the older man.

But with both men still trying to deal with their troubled pasts, they quickly realize it’s just not the right time to begin a long-term relationship. When they meet a year later, however, and they feel the same attraction to each other, will they be able to follow their hearts without their pasts coming back to haunt them?


Before I decide if I’m interested in a book, I normally always check the page count. I don’t like short stories, so I rule out books with less than 100 pages. But somehow I managed to overlook the page count for “The Cop and the Drifter” and only realized it was a short story when I started reading.

As with most short stories, this book lacked depth. The plot idea would have been enough for a full novel and 63 pages just weren’t enough to do it justice.

Davie has suffered horrific sexual abuse. He was raped countless times for many years and even spent several years as a sex slave. Davie tells Brad about his horrible past on the very first night they meet. Brad is a complete stranger to him and yet Davie has no trouble talking about the abuse he has suffered. That’s the first thing that bothered me. It just doesn’t seem realistic.

The author didn’t manage to make me care for Davie. His story left me cold. It all seemed very emotionless to me, as if it happened to some unimportant minor character and not one of the MCs.

Brad remained colourless as well. He’s grieving, but once again, the author didn’t manage to make me care about his pain.

The whole story felt a little hurried. Brad and Davie don’t see each other for months after that first night and yet it’s essentially love at first sight. And then they have sex again, and Davie’s history of sexual abuse doesn’t come up even once. He seemed to have made a full recovery within a few months, all without a single hour of therapy.

Overall, “The Cop and the Drifter” had enough going on to fill a full novel. But rather than give the MCs time to heal and for the romance to slowly unfold, Christiane France pressed it all into a short story that just didn’t do her ideas justice. It could have been great, but turned out just okay.

Cover: The cover by Fiona Jade is sweet, but a little generic. There are plenty of similar covers out there.

Sales Links:   Loose Id LLC |  ARe |   Amazon

Book details:

ebook, 2nd Edition, 68 pages
Published June 28th 2016 by Loose Id (first published May 29th 2010)
Original TitleThe Cop and the Drifter
ISBN139781682521649
Edition LanguageEnglish

Note: This book was previously released by another publisher. It has been revised, lengthened and reedited in this version.

A BJ Review: Deductions (Aberrant Magic #1) by Lyn Gala

Rating:    4.25 stars out of 5

DeductionsDarren is proud of his work on the FBI’s magical Talent unit. However, his own lack of magic means he can never be with Supervisory Special Agent and Shaman Kavon Boucher. The shamanic magic poses a real danger to any mundane who gets too close, so Darren tries to hide his attraction and keep a professional relationship at work. That resolve begins to crumble when a new man sets his sights on Kavon and Darren can’t control his resentment.

Now they have a brutal new case of a suspect targeting magical adepts. Darren tries to keep focused on that crime, but when he starts to show signs of his own magic, he hopes that maybe he can not only be a more effective part of the team but also a real partner to Kavon. He might have a second chance at love if only Kavon can learn to trust his new and unpredictable magic that has changed the rules of the magical game.

Interesting urban fantasy/paranormal world that the author has created here, but then I know she has mad skills in that area from reading and thoroughly enjoying her Assimilations series. Speaking of that series, there’s an analogy that one of the characters uses in this story that related to aliens that I not only liked, but it made me smile because it seemed so very apt.

Well-drawn and likable characters that hooked me early on, which made me extremely joyous to see that a certain annoying little squirrel get moved along as early as he did. I was quickly beginning to want to drop kick him myself. I felt the tension and later the heat between Darren and Kavon perfectly. Intriguing and enjoyable secondary characters of both sexes with much left to explore.

Other than a few areas where I felt a slight drag into too much detail, this is a fast-paced story full of magic, action, tension, and heat with a small helping of fun dialogue and banter thrown in. While the romance arc was tied up and the mystery of who did the kidnapping is solved, although I have a feeling there is far more to it than was revealed. The story is far from wrapped up in this volume, but I would not call it a cliffhanger. Rather an ending to a story that has me eager to read the next book and see what happens to Boucher and his team next as far as the case goes, as well as to see the two men deepen and work out their new relationship.

The cover by Mina Carter is great because it clearly shows the magic, location, and interracial plus both of the guys are hot.

Sales Links:  Loose id LLC | ARe | Amazon


Book Details: 

ebook, 225 pages
Published June 21st 2016 by Loose Id
ISBN139781682521595
Edition LanguageEnglish

SeriesAberrant Magic #1

A Jeri Review: The First Morning After by Marie Lark

Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5

The First Morning AfterDanny got out of his small town as soon as he could. He headed straight for college and never looked-or went- back. Until his best friend is getting married and he has to.

Mitchel was the star baseball player who, while he did not actively bully Danny in school, he sure did nothing to stop it.

Danny has had a crush on Mitchel since forever. And Mitchel has been hiding a very important part of himself. Thrown together at the wedding, Danny takes it upon himself to talk to Mitchel. And when no one is looking, Mitchel hits on Danny.

This entire book was over the course of 2 days. The wedding day and the day after. And although a book with such a short time frame could feel overly packed with superfluous information to get the word count up, I never felt this way. In fact, it definitely kept me turning the pages. Danny has come into his own, unafraid to let the world know he is gay. But Mitchel is the opposite. The glory days of high school are over, he is single and in line to take over his father’s car business, which he hates, and travels to other towns to hook up with men in bathrooms.

You could easily not like either of these characters for different reasons. But I DID like them. Even when they did stupid things. Because people do stupid things. It is what makes us human. Perhaps Danny was a bit too forgiving. Or Mitchel was a bit too closeted and clueless. But together, they really were adorable.

My biggest complaint would be that it was too short. I wanted more. I wanted to see how Mitchel would deal with his sexuality and his job he hated. I wanted to see Danny taking Mitchel out in Philadelphia where no one knew him. So we get a happily for now, but I wanted a happily ever after.

Cover art by Valerie Tibbs.

Sales Links:  Loose id | ARe | Amazon

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 129 pages
Published June 6th 2016 by Loose Id LLC
ASINB01GQN1IR8
Edition LanguageEnglish

An Alisa Review: The Gift of Gravity by Sage Holloway

Rating:  4 stars out of 5

 

The Gift of GravityWhen Julian Shaw’s friend Katie, an at-risk transgender teen, disappears, Julian takes it upon himself to find her. However, after arriving in Milwaukee, nothing goes according to plan. He struggles with boyfriend issues, suddenly finds himself playing foster dad to a kitten, and develops an adversarial relationship with mohawked, tattooed rebel Dashiell, who he keeps bumping into during his search.

Dashiell Sutherland hasn’t had it easy. His broken family has made him an outcast, and he’s sick of trying to fit in, sick of relationships, and especially sick of running into that entitled redhead everywhere he goes. But something about Julian makes him take notice, and soon he is entangled in the quest to find Katie.

When Julian’s world falls apart, Dashiell is there to help pick up the pieces, and an unlikely romance develops between them. But with the clock ticking on the search for Katie, and between Julian’s self-esteem issues and Dashiell’s less than stellar social skills, their relationship may have been doomed from the start.

 

This is my first story by Sage Holloway and I was definitely not disappointed.  Once I started reading I did not want to put the book down wanting to see what would happen next.

 

Julian is very shy and has a hard time talking to strangers, which doesn’t bode well when he is looking for his friend, who he has not actually met in person.  His first meeting with Dash is not the best the best and both of them don’t have good impressions of the other.  When they meet again Dash is quickly pulled in and is helping Julian to find his friend.  They become closer when Julian leaves his boyfriend and has nowhere else to go.

 

I loved both of these characters. Julian is so shy and unsure with everything since he has had to go through so much being transgender while Dash is brash and pushes everyone away.  Julian is trying so hard to get to know Dash better while Dash is trying to stay at arms length so he can’t be hurt again.  I loved the ending of Dash coming to get Julian after he leaves when he believes he isn’t wanted.

 

Cover art by Natasha Snow is great and perfect for this story.

 

Sales Links: Loose Id | Amazon | ARe

 

Book Details:

ebook, 228 pages

Published: June 20, 2016 by Loose Id

ISBN: 9781682521410

Edition Language: English