Category: MLR Press

A MelanieM Review: Jackson & Nick (Storming Love: Wild Fire #6) by Laura Baumbach

Rating:4 stars out of 5

Jackson and Nick coverFireman Jackson Kain and ER physician Dr. Nick Kirby would both like nothing better than to leave behind their high-pressure NY City lives for a just a few days in the peaceful wilds of Northern Ca. Two ordinary men exploring their growing relationship in glorious, undisturbed beauty of nature. Before this trip is over, both men will need all their specialized abilities and training to survive their romantic interlude turned WILD FIRE.

Recuperating from an work-related injury, NY City fireman Jackson Kain convinces new boyfriend Dr. Nicolas Kirby to spend a few days at a secluded California cabin in the woods far away from the hustle and bustle of their stressful worlds.

Nick is a cautious man with protective walls around him that persistent, persuasive Jackson is determined to breakdown, scale or tunnel under. These few days are Jackson’s best chance to convince Nick he is sincere and reliable in all things, including matters of the heart. Unfortunately, both men are going to get more opportunities to prove themselves than either bargained for.

What was supposed to be a relaxing break from the world to get to know one another better turns into a struggle for survival, that pits both men against nature and time.

Another story in the Storming Love series by MLR, this one is highlighted by the fact that its author is Laura Baumbach, an author I love.  Secondly, this is the first new story from that author in a long while so I was so happy to get this story and start reading.  I quickly fell into the author’s style of writing and the two main character’s relationship, which is still in the first stages of working things out and seeing if they mesh with each other.  They are at that first crucial big step, the first vacation away with each other.  This time a trip with a cabin in the woods…de-stressing time for one who is a doctor and a last minute relaxing vacation for another who’s been out on work related injury leave.

Baumbach lets us fall easily into their lives, showing us the rush, pressure, and fears of the 24/7 lifestyle that consumes Dr. Nicolas Kirby and the determination of Fireman Jackson Kain to have Nick put that behind him and enjoy the time together.  And they do, for a while.

We get sweet and sexy scenes and then the scramble is one to survive and outrun the forest fire.  Its a white knuckle trip all the way, mixed in with relationship dynamics and personal  revelations.  I had invested enough of myself in this couple that I was with them emotionally as they fought through the fire and their own fears.

My only issue is that the story was too short. I was connected to these men, their situation was dire, their relationship still new and there was so much to explore here and  plus, hey, its was  Laura Baumbach!  I wanted much, much more.

Still I love the Storming Love series.  They are exciting, wonderful romances and really you just can’t go wrong here.

Why not start your exploration of the Storming Love series here with Jackson & Nick (Storming Love: Wild Fire #6) by Laura Baumbach.  It’s a fast, sexy, story and then go find the others.

Cover art by Kris Jacen is a great representation of the story, setting and with a hint of the characters.

Sales Links:  MLR Press |  Amazon

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 73 pages
Published October 8th 2015 by MLR Press, LLC
ASINB016DXVWLS
Edition LanguageEnglish
SeriesStorming Love: Wild Fire #6

 

A Paul B Review: Marking Kane (Werewolves of Manhattan #4) by A.C. Katt

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

MARKING KANEThe fourth book in the Wolves of Manhattan series by A. C. Katt begins at McClellan High School where Kane Brady is refusing to pass two members of the basketball team just because the coach told him to do so.  The two players, along with the coach, decide this young gay teacher needs to be taught a lesson.  The two players, along with the other three starters from the team, brutally rape Kane as he is walking home from school late one night.

Gabriel Martin is the fourth in the Garou Industries, the werewolf owned company.  Though his territory is small, his position within the corporation is important, as the director of technology.  He has been dreaming of his mate lately and with three other board members having found their mates, he hopes that the premonition comes true.  Driving from the Newark airport into the city, the roads become hazardous in a snowstorm.  Traffic moving at a crawl, he notices a young man staggering out of an alley.  Moved to help the wounded man, Gabriel immediately recognizes the man to be his mate.  He informs his betas of this fact to marshal resources to help Kane.  He brings Kane to the hospital where the pack doctor is working and calls the Alpha to inform him of his discovery.

Gabriel, along with his friends and the previous found alpha mates, try to convince Kane that he would recover better in Gabriel’s penthouse suite while those who abused him are sought out.  After the players and coach have been rounded up, the group convinces Kane to spend the holidays with Gabriel.  Just as things begin to settle down and the big reveal about shifters and mates is to take place, the group receives word that the coach has made bail and is seeking vengeance.  Gabriel and his friends must prepare for the mating ceremony in Atlanta while keeping an eye out for the newly freed coach.  To complicate matters, an alpha with dual citizenship in Russia has recently returned to America to escape the violence brought on by Putin’s homophobic laws.  The Prime Alpha is worried that major trouble for his shifters is just around the corner and must prepare for the upcoming battle.

As usual, this is another fine outing in Ms. Katt’s series.  The story follows the others in that an abused human is rescued by a member of the Garou Industries board.  It is even pointed out by one of the characters that this is a recurring theme in finding the mates.  The mates are also of Irish descent and have various shades of green eyes.  It will be interesting to see if this pattern sticks with the next book.  The supernatural help that Kane receives to help recover from the rape allows for the story to move forward without the trauma of the event preventing the mating from going forward.  The growing bond between all the alpha mates is touching to read as they have all suffered in the past and form a support group amongst themselves.

The cover art by Winterheart Design shows our blond Kane and the dark haired Gabriel above the New York skyline with an image of a wolf superimposed behind our two heroes.  It fits the character of the book well.

Sales Links:  MLR Press | ARe | Amazon

Book Details

ebook, 166 pages
Published March 2016 by MLR Press
ISBN 1020160527
Edition LanguageEnglish
SeriesWerewolves of Manhattan #4

Series:  Werewolves of Manhattan

Early Morning Coffee Sip and Book Break: A.M. Leibowitz ‘What Once Was Lost’ (excerpt and giveaway)

OnceWasLost copy

What Once Was Lost by A.M. Leibowitz
 Release Date: March 11, 2016

Goodreads
Publisher: MLR Press
Cover Artist: Jared Rackler

Blurb

Following a volatile break-up with his partner, Casey has been raising his son, Ryan, mostly on his own. While Ryan is on a camping trip in the Adirondacks, Casey and Brook make another attempt to work through their differences, with disastrous results. But when Ryan and his friend disappear in the mountains, Casey and Brook travel together to find him. The tension leads to an opportunity to listen to each other, reconcile their history, and recover the love they once shared.

 

Pages or Words: 21,000 words
 Categories: Contemporary, M/M Romance

Excerpt

It couldn’t be real. It was a vision or a nightmare or maybe stress-related, but that could not possibly be his former lover standing on the porch with his hand raised to press the bell again. That was not the man who continued to haunt both his dreams and his nightmares. He shuddered; the previous night’s mental sleep wanderings had been a horrifying mix of erotic and sorrowful, and he wasn’t in a hurry to relive them in the flesh. In confusion, Casey slammed the door shut.

“Open the damn door, Case,” the man on the other side said.

Casey growled and opened it again. “What the hell are you doing here, Brook?”

“I came to get my kid for the weekend because you failed to drop him off.”

“We talked about this weeks ago.” Casey glared at Brook. “Ryan’s going camping with Annie, Chuck, and their kids. You knew about this.”

“Maybe I decided the answer is no.” Brook crossed his arms. “You never gave me the choice–you just told me what was going on, same as always. I’d like a say in what happens this time.”

“Not gonna happen. Also, you have no business showing up at my door. We agreed to a neutral location for a reason.”

“Oh, right, because we couldn’t stop pissing each other off every time we were together. I’m glad to see you’ve gained some maturity since then,” Brook shot back.

No, you ass, Casey thought. It’s because if I let you in my house, and you begged to stay, I’d have taken you back and gotten my heart crushed again. “Go home,” he said. He made to close the door again.

Brook blocked it with his foot. “He’s my kid too. I should’ve had a say in it. This is my weekend.”

“First of all, he’s not yours in any legal sense. Second, you lost the right to have a say the minute you fucked someone else in our bed.”

Brook’s mouth dropped open, and his eyes flicked to the stairs behind Casey. When Casey turned his head to follow Brook’s gaze, he sighed. Ryan was standing in the middle of the staircase, staring at them. His mouth was set in a thin line, and he had a deep scowl.

“Ry, I’m sorry,” Casey said. “You don’t need—”

“I don’t need what?” Ryan asked, crossing his arms. “The truth? Is that why Pop left?”

Both men were silent, but from the look on Ryan’s face, neither of them had to say anything else. Ryan scoffed and turned around to thunder back up the stairs.

“Charming as always, I see,” Brook said.

“Fuck off. I didn’t invite you here today. You showed up unannounced right before Ry’s weekend trip. But hey, I guess you don’t care whether you ruin it for him. Kind of like everything else.”

“God, I forgot what a whiny ass you are,” Brook said, sneering.

Casey wanted to punch him, but that wouldn’t do anything to improve things with Ryan. “Look, this isn’t the time. You want to have some drawn-out argument where we both accuse each other of random shit from the whole span of our relationship? Great. I’ll pencil you in for noon tomorrow, when my son is happily off in the woods with his best friend’s family. Until then, get the hell off my porch.”

Buy the book

MLR Press | Amazon | ARe | Barnes&Noble |  Kobo

Meet the author:

A.M. Leibowitz is a queer spouse, parent, feminist, and book-lover falling somewhere on the Geek-Nerd Spectrum. Ze keeps warm through the long, cold western New York winters by writing about life, relationships, hope, and happy-for-now endings. In between noveling and editing, ze blogs coffee-fueled, quirky commentary on faith, culture, writing, books, and hir family.

Where to find the author:

 


Tour Dates & Stops:

Parker Williams, Divine Magazine, My Fiction Nook, Oh My Shelves, BFD Book Blog, Bayou Book Junkie,

Wicked Faerie’s Tales and Reviews, The Jena Wade, Kirsty Loves Books, Alpha Book Club, Unquietly Me,

Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words, MM Good Book Reviews, Happily Ever Chapter, Mikky’s World of Books,

Nautical Star Books, Making It Happen, Full Moon Dreaming, Molly Lolly, Three Books Over The Rainbow,

Velvet Panic, Fangirl Moments and My Two Cents, Outrageous Heroes, Louise Lyons, Dawn’s Reading Nook

 

Giveaway

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The Storming Love Series Continues with Mario Kai Lapinski’s Jakob & Ivo (excerpt and giveaway)

SLMeteor_JakobIvo_Lipinski

Jakob & Ivo (Storming Love: Meteor Strikes #2) by Mario Kai Lipinski
 Release Date: March 4, 2016

Goodreads Link
 Publisher: MLR Press
Cover Artist: Kris Jacen

Blurb

Dr. Jakob Feldmann is a renowned German geneticist at Research Hospital Essen… and a recluse par excellence.

Ivo Andersson is a male nurse working at the same hospital as Jakob. His outgoing personality and good looks have earned him the nickname Sir Grin-a-lot.

They both have a crush on each other that everyone except the two of them seems to know about. But when the German Federal Police shows up with two patients suffering from a suspected alien infection, their voluntary exile in the high security research complex shifts their relationship into fast-forward mode.

Just when they find the courage to open up to each other, Jakob discovers the true nature of the infection. He has to make a decision that will change everything.

How much can love endure?

 

Pages or Words: 29,500 words
This book can be read as a standalone as each is a self-contained story
 Categories: Contemporary, M/M Romance, Science Fiction

Excerpt

“Emergency, emergency on floor seven! Dr. Feldmann’s eyeballs are about to drop out.”

Jakob flinched. “Shhh, not so loud.” He spun around. “Not everyone has to know.”

Marc may have been a capable physician, but he made a bull in the china shop look like a well-behaved customer interested in a delicate porcelain service.

“I think apart from the both of you,” Marc chuckled and that sound got Jakob’s ear canals dirty, “everyone else in the hospital is aware of your crush on each other.”

“He isn’t interested in me.” Jakob turned back and looked down the hospital hall again. Ivo was still talking to the other nurse, Sandra Gronder, right? How could such a cute guy be interested in Jakob “Average Guy” Feldmann? It took one look from those blue eyes, one sweep through that dark blond mass of hair, one smile with those perfectly white rows of teeth, and every man would drop down to his knees begging for a date, regardless whether that guy was gay or not. “I’m not in his league.”

Marc groaned through his closed lips. “Oh fucking Jesus.” He reached into his pocket, got his cell out, and held it to his ear before offering it to Jakob. “It’s for you. The nineties’ rom coms are calling and want their clichés back.” He let his hand sink down. “You’re a doctor and he’s a nurse. You look at a nucleic acid sequence and give a perfect description of the person it came from. I won’t sleep with any chick for a month if you can name a better geneticist in the world than you, and I’m damn jealous. And he? He cleans bedpans and chauffeurs meals.”

“You’re a snob and a jerk.” Jakob would never become one of those demigods in white. That’s what he had promised his father and he would stick to that promise. “He’s twenty-seven. I’m thirty-three. And I don’t even know if he’s into guys.”

“Six years? You’re kidding me, aren’t you?” Marc huffed, blowing his nostrils. “As a male nurse, he most probably is gay or has been asked that question so many times that he doesn’t give a crap anymore. It’s the twenty-first century, you know? You can talk about who you fuck in public.”

Jakob closed his eyes, pushed down his glasses, and massaged the bridge of his nose. Marc was a snob and a jerk for real, but however much this turned Jakob’s stomach, he was also right. Jakob opened his eyes again. “That just isn’t me, approaching him and asking him out.” His elbow began to itch. Damn psoriasis! He didn’t need any reminder that he was nervous.

“I can ask him for you.” Marc took a step forward, but Jakob grabbed him by his arm.

“Are you crazy? No, no, please, no.” The embarrassment would kill Jakob. Slowly pining away, yearning for Ivo, didn’t seem to be that bad of an alternative to death.

Marc shrugged and tilted his head, a smug grin on his lips. “I only want to help.” Another filthy chuckle fouled the air around them. “Seriously, Jakob, get a grip on yourself and ask him. It’s not that difficult.”

For normal people, asking that simple question may have been a piece of cake, but for “Four-Eyes Jakob” and “Crumble Cake Skin Feldmann”? “I’ll consider it.” Perhaps another month and the crush would go away all by itself. They always did. He eyed Ivo again and sighed. This infatuation, however, might need some harder medication.

With another huff, Marc shook his head. “Okay. While you’re considering,” he drew quotation marks into the air, “let me share the newest rumors with you. A few minutes ago, two white vans with federal license plates pulled up at the security lock. Our friends of the BKA are back.”

The German federal police had paid them a last visit about a year ago when they had arrested a criminal with a suspected Ebola infection. It had turned out to be a false alarm though. “Did you hear anything about why they are here?”

“Nope.” Marc let the p plop. “I’ll be dicked anyway because they definitely won’t need an orthopedist unless Queen Angie sprained her ankle on a secret holiday in the Dolomites.”

Maybe they needed a geneticist? Helping to convict—or exonerate—a criminal would distract Jakob from Ivo at least. Was hijacking a doctor’s thoughts a felony? If so, Ivo was guilty: a cute rogue with a killer smile. Jakob lowered his head until his chin touched his chest. He had to stop spending all of his weekends reading fantasy graphic novels at home. At the age of thirty-three, he should have something better to do. With real people. He sighed once more.

Buy the book:

 

Meet the author:

Mario K. Lipinski (born in November, 1975, in Germany) lives in Herne, Germany.

He is a spare-time author and, in “real” life, is a mathematician teaching at university level. Does it show in his books? Yes, it does.

English is not his native language, and a frequent question is why he does write in English. For more than 15 years, most of the books he has read have been in English. So, it felt natural for him to write in English, too.

He is into romance with a capital R.

Where to find the author:

 


Tour Dates & Stops:

Parker Williams, Divine Magazine, Chris McHart, Velvet Panic, MM Good Book Reviews,

The Hat Party, Bayou Book Junkie, Inked Rainbow Reads, Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words,

Bonkers About Books, Wicked Faerie’s Tales and Reviews, Outrageous Heroes, Alpha Book Club,

Iyana Jenna, Jessie G. Books, BFD Book Blog, Cheekypee Reads and Reviews,

Fangirl Moments and My Two Cents, Mikky’s World of Books, Unquietly Me

 

Giveaway

Enter to win.  Must be 18 years of age or older. Link and prize provided by the author and Pride Promotions.

 

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