Category: Loose id

A Free Dreamer Review: Kanaan & Tilney: The Case of the Arms Dealers by Katey Hawthorne & J. Rose

Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5

Kanaan & TilneyJohn Tilney–praeternatural pyrokinetic and mystery author–has noticed the bottom dropping out of the market for his usual gothic fare, so he goes to Lowell Kanaan, PI, for a crash course in noir. Lowell, the cranky wolf-shifter detective, isn’t sure why he agrees to let John shadow him–though it might have something to do with John’s weirdly endearing honesty… and pretty lips. John thinks he’s found the perfect detective novel hero in Lowell, but it isn’t long before he realizes he doesn’t want Lowell for his book, but for himself.

As they become entangled in a supernatural whodunnit involving the Zombie Mafia, black market body parts, and shady insurance deals, their partnership grows closer–and hotter. But when it comes down to the wire, Lowell’s wolfy protective side threatens to drive John around the bend, or at least out of the office. Good thing John’s as much sunshine as he is fire; hopefully it’s enough to help them catch a murderer before they end up in literal pieces, too.

 When I read the title, I figured this was going to be about an arms – as in weapons – dealer. Instead, it was about an arms – as in body parts – dealer. Definitely a very unusual idea, especially since the arms dealing business isn’t portrayed as evil here.

The authors created a delightfully insane and intriguing world here, with lots of interesting new paranormal praeternatural races/creatures. They obviously put a lot of thought into their world and that definitely paid off. I loved the variety of all those exciting new creatures and the authors’ new interpretation of commonly known ones such as shifters.

The world building was pretty good, even if one of the basics was missing for me. I never could quite figure out if there were normal humans in this world too and if so, whether knew about the praeternaturals.

At times, this was utterly hilarious. I love a book that can make me laugh without making the whole plot ridiculous. Sometimes the humour was a bit too much for me, but I generally prefer darker reads, so it might just have been me.

The mystery part didn’t play that big of a role in the plot, but since I’m more a fan of fantasy than mystery, that was fine by me. Just don’t expect extensive detective work.

What really bothered me was the relationship. It was so very insta. John confesses his feelings to Lowell, Lowell confesses his feelings for John, they make out, John confesses he’s demisexual, they have sex. A little build-up to the big confession and the following sex would have been greatly appreciated. It all seemed very sudden to me and I couldn’t really relate to their feelings.

I also wasn’t too fond of the categorical condemnation of the BSPD, the praeternatural police force. I missed an explanation as to why they were all so incompetent and unwilling to actually help.

I also wasn’t too fond of John. Sure, his powers were pretty cool, but overall he just seemed really weird to me.

Overall, this book was okay. The world was great, but the romance was kind of disappointing. If you’re okay with insta-love and enjoy unique fantasy worlds, then I’m sure you will like this book.

The cover by Dar Albert shows Lowell and John with the skyline of a big city during the night. It fits the story and the MCs match the descriptions in the book.

Sales Links:  Loose id | All Romance (ARe) | Amazon | Buy It Here

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 206 pages
Published October 26th 2015 by Loose Id LLC
ASIN B0178F3JPM
Edition Language English

In the Book Spotlight: ‘Curse of Salar’ by Alexis Duran‏ (excerpt and giveaway)

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Curse of Salar (Masters and Mages #3) by Alexis Duran
 Release Date: January 5, 2016

Goodreads Link
Publisher: Loose ID
Cover Artist: Fiona Jayde

Blurb

In the kingdom of Jahar, the rule of mages has been overthrown. Prince Dezra Luzan is held prisoners in the ancestral palace. In order to stay alive, he pretends to be a drug-addicted wastrel, trusting no one, not even his lovers.

Into his lonely existence comes a man who should be his sworn enemy; Captain Rayn Nevar. Dezra is irresistibly drawn to the rough soldier and his longing for a simple sexual encounter quickly builds into a dangerous obsession.

Captain Rayn Nevar knows he should stay away from Prince Dezra, but his desire for the beautiful young man overrides all common sense. Rayn soon finds himself protecting the prince from a plot to destroy the last of the mages.

When treachery leads to Dezra’s escape, he is at last free to unlock his long repressed powers. Only the arrival of a mysterious monk with powers greater than Dezra’s stops the prince from using sorcery to destroy all who stand in his way, including Rayn.

As Jahar edges toward another war between masters and mages, Rayn must question his devotion to his increasingly deadly lover while Dezra must decide if ultimate power is worth the ultimate sacrifice.

 

Pages or Words: 82,000 words
Book can be read as a standalone
 Categories: Fantasy, Fiction, Gay Fiction, M/M Romance

Excerpt

“Kneel.”

“What?” Dezra asked, incredulous.

“You heard me.”

Nevar stripped off his silk shirt and tossed it aside. The sight of his finely sculpted chest arrested the biting retorts that leaped to Dezra’s tongue. The captain’s skin was smooth and slicked with sweat. A fine trail of curly black hair began at his sternum and disappeared beneath the line of his belt.

Dezra forced his gaze up to discover to Nevar smirking at him. Before Nevar could summon an insult to put the captain in his place, Nevar sat on the bed.

“Help me with my boots. Or is that beneath you, Prince?”

Nevar leaned back with his arms behind him, weight resting on his palms. He stuck one foot out. The languid expanse of his body beckoned.

Buy the book: Loose id LLC

 

 

Meet the Author

Alexis Duran was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest. At the University of Oregon, her fascination with people and relationships led her to major in Sociology, but her main love has always been creative writing. She’s worked in museums, fashion, finance and film production. Her favorite job so far was inventorying the collection in a haunted Victorian Mansion. She is the author of the Masters and Mages and Edge of Night erotic m/m fantasy series. Her fiction has won several awards including the Rupert Hughes Award from the Maui Writers Conference. She lives with one dog and four and a half cats. She is currently working on the next Edge of Night novel and several other erotic novellas.

Where to find the author:

 


Tour Dates & Stops:

Parker Williams, Havan Fellows, Full Moon Dreaming, Bayou Book Junkie, Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words, The Hat Party, Book Lovers 4Ever, BFD Book Blog, Wicked Faerie’s Tales and Reviews, Divine Magazine, Jessie G. Books, Wake Up Your Wild Side, Nephy Hart, MM Good Book Reviews, Dawn’s Reading Nook, Inked Rainbow Reads, A.M. Leibowitz, Alpha Book Club, Andrew Q. Gordon, My Fiction Nook, Velvet Panic, Charley Descoteaux

 

Giveaway

Enter to win a Rafflecopter Prize: eBook copy of first two books in the Masters and Mages series, Touch of Salar and Blood of Salar.  Must be  18 years of age or older to enter. Link and prize provided by the author and Pride Promotions.

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A BJ Review: Affiliations, Aliens & Other Profitable Pursuits (Claimings #3) by Lyn Gala

Rating:  4.5 stars out of 5

Affliliations Aliens and Other PPA desire for status has brought Ondry and Liam to a human world to trade, but dealing with humans has brought up all the old pain in Liam’s heart. Even though Ondry would do anything to protect his beloved palteia, he doesn’t know how to protect Liam from himself. Worse, Ondry isn’t sure how to shield Liam from the shifting politics on the Rownt ship where the Calti Grandmothers are nothing like the ones they left behind on the planet.

With everything in their lives changing, Ondry and Liam have only each other. If Ondry can’t find a way to defend Liam from the ghosts of the past and overcome the impossibly short life span of a human, their small family might be over long before either of them is ready to let go. Ondry has always been a dominant and possessive Rownt, and with Liam in danger, those traits are necessary as he challenges the world to protect his lover.

In this third installment, the pace is slow and languid (maybe even a bit too slow at times which is why I couldn’t quite give it five stars), but it’s also full of depth and endeavors on some deeper level.

We get a dual POV with Ondry and Liam this time, which I very much enjoyed. Seeing his side of Liam’s claiming, and all that led up and went after, was fascinating. Diallo is there but not a focus this time, which I was pleased with. The story focuses more tightly back on the relationship of Ondry and Liam, how they interact with each other as well as with Rownts and humans.

The author also explores new territory by taking us off the Rownt home planet and into a huge Rownt where Ondry and Liam plan to advance his status through trade as well as eventually get in contact with a much advanced race to try and extend Liam’s lifespan to be a bit more in sync with Ondry’s.

The sex scenes were hot, and not just because of the tail sex! What I enjoyed most in this one was Ondry learning about. On a trading expedition with humans, Ondry happened to see two humans kissing. After some explanation about this tradition, Ondry, who is ever determined to give Liam everything his palteia wants/needs, proceeds to explore. Wouldn’t you know it, kissing ending up being something they could both enjoy at the same time. Yay.

As for depth, well, I loved the nuance of meanings and Ondry’s protectiveness and pride, and the further exploration of the whole concept of palteia and of value. How amazing to be valued so highly–to have someone always willing to listen. Swoon. Also saw depth because in seeing how humans are so different from aliens, this story also points out to us just how different each individual human is from each other one. Which got me to thinking how much effort we have to invest if we want to truly understand another individual. Unfortunately, in my life experience anyway, there are very few people willing to actually put in the time and effort to attempt to do so.

It’s hard for me to really envision Ondry and the Rownt. On the covers, we’ve seen purple skin and muscles and a tail. In the description, we get height and mass, talk of laying eggs and cracking out of shells (a mention of a claw caught in a shell). For some this this has evidently brought turtles to mind, but I’m not quite seeing that. While thin lips might fit with turtles, most don’t have sharp teeth. Regardless of what Ondry looks like, his other traits are enough to have won me over. Again.

There’s a twist at the end involving the introduction of a new human. I find that interesting and hope that we will get to explore the relationship between Mora and the Grandmother further.

The cover adds very little to what we’ve already been shown of the guys but does give the feel of being in space.

Sales Links:  Loose Id LLC | All Romance (ARe) | Amazon | Buy It Here


Book Details:  

ebook, 186 pages
Published November 24th 2015 by Loose Id
ISBN139781682520024
Edition LanguageEnglish

Series Claimings with links to BJ’s reviews:

Like Your Romance Superpowered? Check out ‘Stronger, Better, Faster, More’ by Carlin Grant and Katey Hawthorne (guest post and giveaway)

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Stronger, Better, Faster, More by Carlin Grant and Katey Hawthorne

Publisher: Loose Id LLC
Release Date:12/29/2015
Cover Artist Mina Carter

Buy it here at Loose id or other links here

Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words is so happy to have Carlin Grant and Katey Hawthorne here today to talk about their latest story, Stronger, Better, Faster, More and Superpowers.  Welcome, Carlin and Katey!  Tell us more!

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Superpowers we Love by Carlin Grant and Katey Hawthorne

Thanks so much for letting us stop by today, Melanie. For our book birthday, Carlin and I decided to talk about a major theme of our new book, Stronger, Better, Faster, More: SUPERPOWERS. What we love, both personally and to write. Read on, and remember to enter our giveaway.

Katey: So, obviously I love superpowers, and obviously Carlin does too, since we met geeking out over Marvel characters. But when it comes to favorites I think I have two clear winners, both of which I have now written about: Pyrokinesis and Superspeed.

Superspeed, at last at last, is featured in Stronger, Better, Faster, More. As the title might imply. I love this power because there are so many great iterations of it and how it affects the character who has it. Some can turn it on and off, which is convenient. Others are constantly sped up, though, which is Vel Chandrasekhar’s ability/problem. So he’s constantly feeling like the whole world is moving in slow mo, constantly having to slow down how he talks, eats, walks, constantly being super impatient with everything. Except he’s actually mega-patient, in his world.

That has been, by far and away, one of my favorite things to write about ever. I’m glad this book and Vel gave me the chance!

Carlin: I actually love superspeed too, when presented the way Vel’s was in Stronger, Better, Faster, More where the character’s entire world is sped up. I’ve found that, in both reading and writing, I’m drawn most to superpowered characters whose abilities either come with drawback when using it, like Beau’s endurance, or is something they have to manage in their everyday life, like Vel’s superspeed.

When writing superhumans, you always run the risk of creating a character that’s too large or powerful to relate to, and I feel like drawbacks help a character stay accessible to the reader. When you see a character struggling to manage the side effects, it makes you want them to succeed. When they go into a fight or rescue situation knowing it’ll mean intense pain for them later, it makes that sacrifice and risk a lot more meaningful.

As for me? I’d go with teleportation. It’s hard to beat fast, free travel.

Title  Stronger, Better, Faster, More by Carlin Grant and Katey Hawthorne

 

 

Book Blurb

When he gets super-endurance powers out of nowhere, being a culinary student and kids’ soccer coach isn’t enough for Beau CGKH_StrongerBetterFasterMore_coverinWarren–he has to be a superhero too. A sweet, hardworking trans man from a close knit family, it’s important to Beau to use his new abilities to stand up for people who can’t protect themselves. When he runs into a speedster at a fire rescue, he doesn’t expect it to be his high school crush, Vel Chandrasekhar. Turns out Vel got superspeed when Beau go his endurance, so they decide to make their single supe act into a duo.

With their immediate attraction and superpowered libidos, it’s not long before Beau and Vel are roommates-with-benefits. That’s the idea, anyhow, if only Beau can keep from falling back into his old crush hard, since Vel’s self-esteem issues have left him skittish about relationships. Just when things are at boiling point between them, though, their search for their own superhero origin story leads them and their families into mortal danger. The only way to survive the truth is to depend on each other–and admit they’re a lot more than friends.

  • Genre: M/M,  Paranormal, erorom
  • LengthNovel (72k)

About the Authors

Carlin Grant is a queer writer who likes to put the focus on LGBTQIA+ characters and has a sweet tooth for romance. Growing up in backwoods North Carolina left them with a love for the characters, culture, and folklore that is common in the rural South, and these themes often show up in their stories. When they’re not writing, Carlin enjoys reading, video games, superheroes, mixtapes, and visiting the beach. They currently reside in coastal NC, where they spend most of their time chasing after their toddler.
Katey Hawthorne is an avid reader and writer of superpowered romance, even though the only degree she holds is in the history of art. (Or, possibly, because the only degree she holds is in the history of art.) Originally from the Appalachian foothills of West Virginia, she currently lives in Ohio. In her spare time she enjoys comic books, B-movies, loud music, Epiphones, and Bushmills.

Giveaway

Must be 18 years of age or older to enter.  Link and prize provided by the authors.  Good luck and happy reading!

RAFFLECOPTER:

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