Category: Publishers

Review: The Gravedigger’s Brawl by Abigail Roux

Rating: 5 stars

When Dr. Wyatt Case admits to his best friend and co worker Noah Drake that he had been hiding under his desk rather than face the acting head of Board of Trustees of his museum about the low attendance, Noah suggests a lunch break to a new bar near their work.  Noah had met the bartender over their mutual love of old motorcycles and thought both the bar and the bartender were just his boss’s type.  The Gravedigger’s Brawl was situated in an old Victorian house in an area called The Fan and the minute Dr. Case enters the bar he feels an affinity for both the bar and intriguing bartender with the kohl ringed eyes called Ash Lucroix.  Ash with his Gaslight dress, finds the history professor with his leather patches and loafers adorable and just as intriguing in his absent minded professor sort of way.  The two men share a love of history,  and their attraction to each other grows every time they see one another.

But there are strange noises are starting to be heard from all corners of the bar, sounds coming from empty floors and things are happening at The Gravedigger’s Brawl that cannot be explained by old appliances and faulty wiring,  Then Ash falls and hits his head and no one believes his explanation about a strange man standing directly behind him. Their friends think it is just all the spooky Halloween decorations and stories they have been telling but Wyatt is not so sure.  His research leads to some disturbing things that happened in the house that is now the bar.  Can the evil Wyatt has read about be coming back to life?  The answer to that question might mean life or death to all involved at The Gravedigger’s Brawl.

Wow, what a wild, spooky ride Abigail Roux turned out and just in time for Halloween.  Abigail Roux delivers a loving tale of romance wrapped in the gossamer threads of a spider’s web of murder most historical, evil deeds and ghosts determined to live once more. Abigail Roux knows how to build a suspenseful atmosphere in her stories. And here she starts weaving the threads of ghostly happenings and otherworldly beings right from the start and the first bang heard from above. The author takes the usual mindset of the average person’s take on ghosts and hauntings  then gives that outlook to most of her characters. From that standpoint the author starts to play, and ups the anxiety level for each person as more and more unexplained things start to go wrong at the bar.  You know the drill, the uneasy laugh you might cough up as the floor squeaks above you and you try to remember where your friend was and when was the last time you saw them.  She plays on our logical disbelief on all things supernatural and then makes them a reality for all involved.  Are we scared close to the end for our favorite characters?  You betcha we are!

I just love the main characters here, a gang of six, actually four with two on the edges who vibrate with life lived very distinctly on their own terms.  Starting with Dr. Wyatt Case, a true absent-minded professor whose love affair with history and his museum has seen every other part of his life slide slowly into the dust.  He even has the suede jacket patches and loafers to prove it, good thing he is also cute and adorably naive when it comes to personal relationships.  Another thing in his favor, he has his best friend looking out for him.  That would be professor Noah Drake, lithe, handsome, intelligent and as socially active as his boss is static.  A meeting with a fellow motorcycle enthusiast who just happens to be a bartender at a bar owned by a man Noah has been dying to get to know better gives Noah the idea of a way to bring both couples together. The bartender would be Ash Lucroix, quirky, preferring his Gaslight inspired suspenders and matching tongue studs (hot, hot, hot) when performing his flair on top of the bar with Ryan, the other bartender. Ash’s ex boyfriends have not always measured up to his expectations and when his attraction to Wyatt turns into a relationship stumbling block for both of them, it is his nature that helps retrieve the situation, along with some very realistic groveling from Wyatt.  And throughout all the missteps, the arguments and very hot sex, I always felt that these two were real.  Their goofy, fumbling, drunken walk home had me in stitches because who hasn’t been there and done that, at least once.  And Abigail Roux  captured that beautifully in every hysterical detail.  Even when they were on the outs and their relationship shaky, it never felt less than authentic. There is also Caleb, the English, grumpy Goth that owns the bar and eventually Noah’s heart, Delilah in her leather corsets and hooker boots, and Ryan, into leather, whips and Delilah. One after another, great characters march across the page, spouting quick, snappy dialog and living life very much on their terms.  I loved them all and have a very new appreciation for tongue piercings.

And finally, there is historical Richmond where Abigail Roux lived for several years and the ghosts that haunt that region and beyond.  With Roux, the setting is always as almost as important as the characters themselves. The author’s intimate knowledge of the city and its settings adds so much flavor and ambience to the story that it acts almost like another character within the story. Ash’s apartment lives for us because Abigail Roux lived in such a one herself for two years.  And I have to admit I was desolate to find out that The Gravedigger’s Brawl was just a glorious figment of her imagination, so vividly did she describe it.  The ghostly tales and hauntings within the story, with few exceptions, are real as well, which is not surprising in an author as dedicated to doing her research as Abigail Roux.

I don’t know if The Gravedigger’s Brawl is a stand alone story or a start of something new.  The possibility of a new start gives rise to my hope that this is not the last we have heard of this quirky, wonderfully endearing group of six people.  Maybe if we get enough voices together we can see a haunting revival next Halloween.  In the meantime, gather your candy corn, eyeball chewing gum and all the ghostly accouterments and settle down with this wonderful book, perfect for Halloween or any time of the year.

Cover art by Reese Dante.  Reese Dante gives us a wonderfully evocative cover, perfect for the story within.

Thank you, Nationals and the Week Ahead in Reviews

Well, as everyone knows by now, the Cards rallied and the Nats lost.  But oh what a season they gave us!  The Nationals had an outstanding year, giving the city something we haven’t seen in close to a century, a winning baseball team in DC.  We have Davey Johnson, Stephen Strasburg, Bryce Harper, Jason Wurth, Gio Gonzales, Ryan Zimmerman and all the others to thank for all the glorious play, the unbelievable pitches, the outstanding hits and the high drama of the outfield.  It was great!  And now we have all winter to dream of the return of the Boys of Summer.  Great job and thanks for the wonderful memories!

The weather seems more like November than mid October these days with our first frost occurring on Friday.  A portent of a hard winter to come? Perhaps.  We didn’t actually have a winter last year but I just hope Mother Nature doesn’t feel the need to make up for that and give us the snow and ice for two winters.  At any rate, the plants are getting  mulched and the gardens prepared, just in case.  The generator is in, new roof on and gutters as well.  I hope we are prepared but you never know until it comes.  At least I have lots of books to read and pumpkin spice coffee to drink.  Sigh.

Here is the week ahead in book reviews:

Monday:                               Steamroller by Mary Calmes

Tuesday:                               Texas Heat by RJ Scott

Wednesday:                         The Gravedigger’s Brawl by Abigail Roux

Thursday:                             Rocking Out by Emily Veinglory

Friday:                                   Three of Swords by Theo Fenraven

Saturday:                               Theory of Attraction by Cleon Lee  and Just A Summer Fling by Lily Grace

Review: By The River (Elementals #1) by Katey Hawthorne

Rating: 4.5 stars

Adam Kavanaugh has returned to his home town and family after having lived for several years in a series of other cities and towns after college.  A broken relationship, a series of them really, meant he had to start up his life again and this time Ashton, WV called him back home.  But fitting back into the sleepy pace of small town life is not going as smoothly as Adam thought it would.  His young brother TJ is as resentful of Adam’s return as he was of his brother’s leaving town years before.  For TJ, life is should be lived in Ashton, under the shadow of the Appalachians and he has never forgiven his brother for leaving him and the family behind when Adam could have gone to Trinity College right in town as TJ is now doing.  TJ has also never understood Adam’s bisexuality and the relationship between the two is strained.

Now back in town, Adam’s life falls into a strange sort of stasis.  He spends his days painting a mural on the wall in the small clapboard house he bought, he works and games and avoids phone calls from old friends still in town.  And Adam runs a set path through town and along the Ohio River three days a week, trying to make it all seem like home once more.  But a chance encounter with a strange young man floating in the Ohio shatters Adam’s inertia.

Leith Marshall is a member of TJ’s college swim team so Adam recognizes at once the form floating in silence on the surface of the Ohio River. At first, Adam thought that something  must be wrong and races to the river’s edge only to find Leith bobbing contentedly in the current.  Which was odd in of itself.  The Ohio was a fast, snarly, dark river and Leith looked totally at ease within it’s embrace. When Leith emerges from the river to respond to Adam’s shout, Adam admires Leith’s beautiful swimmers body barely covered by a pair of grey briefs. But it’s Leith shy smile and gentle ways that have Adam falling hard within a matter of days.  But the more Leith lets Adam into his life, the more off kilter Leith’s life seems.  Leith and his father live above an abandoned aquarium store that used to belong to Leith’s absent mother.  Leith’s father has some strange ideas concerning his son and water.  Everything about Leith seems connected in some way to water.  Leith cannot stay away from it for any length of time, whether he is swimming in the Ohio or  splashing about in a bathtub.  And when Adam hears Leith sing in a strange haunting language, the idea of a siren’s song springs to mind.  The more Adam falls in love with Leith, the less it matters that Leith might be more than human.  Right up until Leith’s father reminds Adam of his wife’s strange disappearance when the ocean’s call become too strong.  What will happen when Leith says he wants to see the ocean too?

What an utterly beguiling story.  By The River has a quiet, mesmerizing rhythm to it, pulsing with life as it relates the story of a young man who might just be as elemental as water itself.   With her wonderful characterizations and vivid descriptions of a setting that is clearly close to the author’s heart, Katey Hawthorne builds a story of a love between two men that becomes so strong, so elemental in nature that even the idea of loss cannot break it.

I love the mystery that surrounds Leith Marshall from the moment we meet him, floating effortlessly on top of a river whose currents churn around him to little effect.  Even his name Leith means broad river in English, and has a origin in Lethe, the Greek river of forgetfulness.  Leith and water are so intimately intwined that he cannot bear to be parted from it for any length of time and is at his most content when he is immersed in it.  Leith and his father Mr. Marshall, a bitter, isolated man, live in a building that once housed his mother’s aquarium shop, until a flood demolished it and his mother disappeared.   Now just Leith and his father live among the remnants of their former lives, empty dusty tanks and peeling posters of fish still hanging off the walls downstairs, while the sounds of water lapping up against the shore that is their backyard echo around them.    The author pulls us in with her minute attention to the uniqueness that is Leith.  He “smells like fresh rainwater”, his eye color changes in accordance with the nearest body of water, and Leith loves to read in the old store where the sounds of the river is the strongest.  Detail by detail, Hawthorne builds an aura of mystery around Leith’s very nature.  And yet we also understand Adam’s complete acceptance of Leith’s strangeness as a part of someone he loves because we have come to love Leith as well.  The love between Adam and Leith flows like water over everything before it,  including all the obstacles and arguments that others like TJ throw in its path.

I loved Adam as well.  Adam is someone on hold but who can’t figure out the reason for his ennui.  Adam is waiting, poised for change and it arrives in the form of Leith.  Adam has been a serial monogamist with a number of boyfriends and girlfriends right up until his last breakup which really didn’t upset him as much as it should.  Again, it’s as though he knew he was waiting for someone else to come before he could finally commit, focusing inward so much that Adam’ self centered behavior adversely affects his relationship with his brother, TJ.   And then he commits himself to Leith with an ease of effort that sends TJ in a rage even as he fears for them both as out gays in a small West Virginia town not always tolerant of those who are different. Katey Hawthorne adds layer upon layer to her authentic portrait of small town life, until Ashton becomes gritty, real, and memorable as any of her characters.

As Leith surges and flows with life so does Adam but in his own way.  Adam’s tolerant, accepting personality is necessary if Leith is truly to be a part of his life. The weirdness that is Leith continues when Adam meets Mr. Marshall who he views as more of a keeper than father to his lover.  But the man’s torment and  pain over the loss of his Scottish wife  breaks through Adam’s anger on Leith’s behalf.  But the pity he sees in the man’s eyes as he talks about losing his son to the ocean the same way as his wife unsettles Adam when he realizes the pity he sees is for him.  That the father thinks Adam is on the same path he took with Leith’s mother is clear. And when the boys leave town for a short visit to the sea, the scene where Mr. Marshall says goodbye to his son is overwhelmingly painful and sad.

Although the name selkie is never used, it is implied that Leith’s mother was a Scottish Selkie who  resumed her seal form when the call of the ocean became too great.  Or at least that is clearly what the father believes.  Is Leith magical?  He certainly is to Adam, and to his father.  I feel there is a murkiness as well as a mystique that lurks just underneath the surface of the story, just as opaque as the Ohio river that Leith loves so much.  I loved the ending of this story, especially because for me it can be interpreted two different ways.  For me, the nature of the ending of By The River has all the fluidity of water itself as buoyant love the boys feel for each other carries them along with the currents, caught in the ebb and flow of the tides.   The journey to get to this end point was wondrous, sexy and natural for Adam and Leith and the reader. And the last vision we see of Leith is a promise but of what? I think it is up to each person to come to their conclusions as to what happens next, to believe in what has been said between the lovers or the pull of something quite different.  How I loved this and I wait eagerly for the next installment in the series. I know the author won’t let us down.

Cover artist Mina Carter does a gorgeous job giving us a cover that delights from gorgeous male torsos to the falcon tattoo that figures within the story.

The Nationals are in the Playoffs,Teddy Won the Race and the Week Ahead in Reviews!

It’s Sunday and the weather has turned much cooler, the wind has picked up and the leaves seem to be  just flowing off the trees. Yes, fall is here.  But all is well, the Nationals are in the playoffs and Teddy has finally won a race.  Now some folks think that until the playoffs were over, Teddy should have kept losing so not as to jinx the series.  I have to admit I am kind of on their  side.  Superstition I know but if the Nats lose, you know who everyone will be pointing the finger at.  Oh my.  So I am looking for a 4 leaf clover and some luck to bind it with.  Now where’s that pesky rabbit?

Mother’s birthday is today so I am off to lunch at the farm(bringing it with me actually). So without further ado, next week’s schedule:

Monday                        Animal Magnetism Anthology

Tuesday:                       Fallen Sakura by April Moone

Wednesday:                 Keeping Promise Rock by Amy Lane

Thursday:                     In Excess by Quinn Anderson

Friday:                           By The River by Katey Hawthorne

Saturday:                       Fair Catch by Del Darcy

The Tin Star – My Favorite M/M Books

Recently I was asked to name my all-time favorite book and I was stumped.  Not because I couldn’t come up with a name but because I came up with far too many and in a multitude of categories.

So we switched gears and was asked to name my top favorite book that I would recommend for someone to read.  Nope.  Still couldn’t do it.  But it was a smaller list this time.  Well, I spent the night mulling it over, then got up and toddled  over to my overloaded bookshelf (pre-Kindle days) for inspiration.  I didn’t have to look long as the stories I loved have the look of someone who stayed too long at the party.  You know the signs, they appear off color from too much wear and tear plus they are a little bent around the edges. Perfect.

The first one I grabbed will be the first I recommend.  The Tin Star by J.L. Langley.  I am so fond of this book that it is a comfort reread for me.  I am sure you have those.  You are home sick, have the sniffles so you haul out the hot tea and curl up in a chair with old friends in a favorite story.  Like Pooh and his Hunny Pot.

The Tin Star is the story of rancher Ethan Whitehall and James Killian, brother of one of Ethan’s best friends.  Ethan is from one of the oldest families in town and his ranch, The Tin Star, makes him one of the most respected and powerful men in town.  Ethan is gay but given the small town homophobic atmosphere, he keeps his sexuality under wraps.

Then Jamie comes out to his family and is promptly kicked off his home, the Quadruple J Ranch and out of the only life he had ever known.  Gone is his home and job as the ranch foreman.  Jamie turns to the one man he has always looked up to and secretly crushed on for years – Ethan Whitehall.  Now Ethan has a choice to make.  Does he stake all he has when it turns out that Jamie needs not only shelter but protection from those whose hatred and bigotry spell danger to Jamie and those around him.

J.L. Langley’s characters are so well written that they eat, breathe, and ooze so much sex appeal that they almost jump off the page.  Ethan and Jamie have their flaws, they are real people.  But the men here have the ability to make you laugh as well as they struggle towards a relationship.  The secondary characters surrounding them, such as John Killian (Jamie’s brother), Bill the foreman and even Spot, Ethan’s ornery horse become real to you as you move into the story.  This book has everything…..love, humor, suspense, and hot, hot men.  What’s not to love?

J.L. Langley has written two books in this series so far, the second is The Broken H which has crossover characters from this novel.  Published by Loose Id in 2006, it is still available from them as well as Amazon and All Romance Publishing.  And don’t miss the Christmas short, The Christmas Tree Bargain, as Jamie and Ethan celebrate their first Christmas together.

 

Winner of My Regelence Rake Contest

I said I would be announcing it on Friday so here it is.  The winner of the free copy of My Regelence Rake is K Anderson.  K, I have your email address.  Please look for an email from me shortly that will tell you how to get your copy from Samhain.

Thanks to all who commented.  This was a great week.  My next contest will be as a part of the Howloween Blog Hop Tour.  How I love October!

Review: Ranch Series by JL Langley

Rating: 5 stars for the series

We’ve looked at JL Langley’s wolf shifters and her Sci-Regency series, so let’s finish up back where I first started my love with all things JL Langley. And that would be with her cowboys which is fitting with an author who resides in Texas and has a state of imagination to equal it.  Tomorrow I will be talking about why I love The Tin Star, the very first Langley book I read.  I have always had a soft spot in my heart for cowboys.  I think it come along with my love for horses and never left.  I spent a summer as a junior wrangler at a dude ranch called Stupid Charlie’s in Colorado at the impressionable and yes, hormonal age of 15. And if I had had a dick, I would have had a raging woody all summer long from being in the middle of a crew of young,handsome (aren’t they all at that age wearing chaps and boots) cowboys more experienced than I was at that age.  I fell in love with a bay horse named Senagita and a cowboy (all of 16) named Lane and wanted to take both of them  home with me at the end of the summer.  Needless to say, my folks said no to both. Aw shucks was I heartbroken, although I can’t begin to tell you whether it was over the loss of the horse or the boy.  All I know is that I was inconsolable for the longest period of time until I found a local stable to hang out at,  Susan a fellow hunter,  and a horse we both loved called Tiptop. But I never stopped dreaming of cowboys and would go to the rodeo whenever it came to town (oh yes they did, even in DC).

JL Langley’s Ranch series gives me plenty of cowboys to love and hang out with, from Jamie and Ethan of The Tin Star to Grayson Hunter and Shane Cortez of The Broken H while bringing back so many fond memories of life on a ranch.  As she does with all her series, she populated her Ranch books with characters flawed, human and still memorable, ones we give our hearts and affections to easily and completely.  In addition to the cowboys, we also get wonderful idiosyncratic animals too.  There is a horse named Spot who plays keep away and a female dog called Fred who steals each and every scene they are in.  Gather them all together in a small town in  Texas surrounded by family and friends who comes across as equally authentic and realistic as the main characters and you have a series that will mean as much to you as your first cowboy hat and boots.

The Tin Star (Ranch Series #1) stars Jamie Killian as the youngest son of Jacob Killian of the Quadruple J and Ethan Whitehall, owner of The Tin Star ranch.  The Quad J borders The Tin Star and the two families have been intertwined their entire lives.  John, Jamie’s older brother has been Ethan’s best friend so as long as they can remember, even going off to college together.  And hopes had run high between the two fathers that one of the Whitehall boys would marry Julia, the Killian sister and bring the ranches together.  But Ethan’s brother was killed overseas on a tour of duty and  Ethan, well, Ethan found out he was gay, something the older Killians were fine with but that Jamie never knew.  Until Jamie comes out to his father and is kicked off the ranch he thought he would never leave.  When Ethan offers Jamie sanctuary and tells Jamie that he is gay as well, then the sparks really begin to fly as Jamie has harbored a crush on Ethan from the moment he knew he liked boys instead of girls.

Ethan has always been circumspect about his sexuality, neither hiding it or rubbing it in the face of their conservative town folk.  But when Jamie comes to the ranch to live, Ethan finds not only a friend but a lover for life in the form of his best friend’s brother.  But the sparks of hate are flying in town too.  Former ranch hands are looking to get even with Ethan for being fired and homophobia presents itself as stores won’t sell grain to the newly outed Ethan.  Langley makes us feel the hatred rising off Jacob Killian and other townspeople so far gone in their homophobia that all reason and humanity becomes lost.  But  where there is the worst of human beings on display, JL Langley is quick to show that others can come forward with their tolerance, and objectivity to welcome Ethan into the town’s fold, and Jamie too no matter their sexuality.  Powerful stuff made real by Ethan and Jamie’s situation as they work towards a loving relationship and a future together.  Great story, great characters, great book.

The Broken H involves several of the people we meet in The Tin Star.  Grayson Hunter was one of the sheriff’s investigation the crimes of hate on  The Tin Star.  The Broken H is Gray’s family ranch, owned by his parents and run by Shane Cortez.  Shane Cortez had been brought onto The Broken H by Gray’s father when Shane was a young boy.  Gray never knew the entire story but accepted Shane’s presence and was soon following him around everywhere, a clear case of puppy love.  But then one summer changed everything between the two men and Gray left the ranch and went to college.  His parents knew something had happened but never pushed either boy for answers.  Now Gray has returned to town and accepted a job in the Sheriff’s office.  It also means a return to his family, The Broken H, and to face the man he ran away from all those years ago,  Lovers reuniting after time spent apart draws me like a moth to a flame and JL Langley’s treatment of this theme will push all your buttons if you love it too.  There is misunderstandings, and one person trying to protect the other, and above all a deep abiding love between the two men involved.  That’s just so wonderful.

And lurking just behind all of this is the theme of the awful price GLBTQ youth pay for coming out to those who mean the most and won’t accept them, their families.  Over and over gay youth are kicked out of homes and families due to hatred concerning their sexuality.  Some survive when others intervene, some do whatever they can to exist on the streets, and some just don’t make it.  The plight of gay youth discarded because of who they love is brought home more forcibly when characters we have come to love have the same backstory as they do and we feel what they have gone through by the power of an author’s writing.  We see Ethan, Jamie, John, Aunt Margaret and many of the other townspeople we came to care for in the previous book and we get a glimpse of a possible couple that people want to see united.  That would be John and Royal.  JL Langley has put the cut pages from the book on her website and they will make you want more, so much more of John and Royal.  She tends to do that with her peripheral characters because they are bursting with life as much as the main couples to our continued appreciation and joy.

The Christmas Tree Bargain is the third story in the series.  It was published as a stocking stuffer by Loose id.  A heartwarming short story, it brings together all the cast of characters from the two novels at Christmas time.  We get to catch up in their lives on a very special occasion.  This story is not to be missed if you love the other two as much as I do.

So there you have it, the Ranch series by JL Langley.  Her fans have been screaming for more, especially John and Royal’s story but so far to no avail.  She says she’s busy with Sterling and Rhys, Trouble and Rexley, and Bannon and Lord Demon among others.  Since I want all those stories too I wouldn’t think of interrupting her.  If they start speaking to her, I know she will listen, eventually.  I’m good with that.  I have these books and all the rest to reread until a new one comes out.  Pick out a series and start from the beginning and I know you will feel the same.

Review of With or Without Series by JL Langley

ating: 5 stars for the series

My first introduction to JL’s shifters came when I picked up the Hearts From The Ashes anthology and read With Love, the first in Langley’s shifter series.  It featured a young clutzy Omega wolf named Laine Campbell who was perpetually in hot water over things he said or creating chaos with the things he did.  Everything about Laine was adorable, from his hair to his manner of speech and I fell in love immediately.  So did Dev, the Alpha wolf moving to Ashton with his betas and business partners.  He was hooked on Laine and I was hooked on Dev.  I could not believe it when the story was over. I wanted more shifters, specifically I wanted JL’s shifters and I wanted them now. This is a reoccurring theme with JL Langley’s books so be prepared.

Then came Without Reservations in 2007 and my addiction was official.  Without Reservations is the story of Chayton Winston, a veterinarian living in New Mexico.  He is also a shifter and all his life he has been dreaming of a fair haired mate, much to his Native American  parents chagrin.  His entire life Chay has considered himself heterosexual until an injured wolf is brought into his office.  The wolf is a gorgeous male shifter and his mate.  He is also Caucasian something he is sure his mother will never accept.

Keaton Reynolds wakes up in a veterinarian ‘s office to find himself injured and being treated by his mate.  He should be overjoyed except he just got out of a relationship from a shifter who had a girlfriend on the side but also said he was Keaton’ mate.  Keaton is not one to repeat his mistakes and a hetero shifter is not someone he wants to take a chance on, no matter what his body and even his heart may think.  But Chay won’t give up on Keaton and finally Keaton agrees to get to know Chay better.  And slowly they start to build a relationship together.  But there is Chay’s mother’s disapproval to overcome and a power struggle in Keaton’s Georgia pack that threatens them both.  How will they overcome the odds to find the happiness they both deserve?

I reread this book all the time.  Chayton Winston and Keaton Reynolds are such wonderful creations that I return to their story time and again.  Chayton is one of the nicest people you will meet in the author’s novels.  He is both elementally patient and rock solid in his beliefs so that when presented with a man as a mate, he accepts it.  If it switches his sexuality over to gay, ok as long as he gets his mate, something no wolf shifter would ever turn down.  And you believe this paradigm shift absolutely as being in character for Chayton because he is so real from the moment we meet him.  Keaton also engages our hearts and affections with his prickly nature  and forceful personality packed into a slight build.  A small white wolf, he has the personality and power of an Alpha without needing to lead. Keaton would rather teach and help educate so the fact that his mate would be a healer, a veterinarian makes complete sense.  JL Langley surrounds these two with people as authentic and believable as they are and gives us a mystery to boot.  Just an outstanding novel.

With Caution came next.  It remains my favorite of the series and again one I read over and over again.  With the characters of Remington Lassiter and Jake Romero, JL brings a level of complexity and depth to her characterizations that I had not seen before.  And added to our main characters, she introduces us to the rest of the men who will become their pack.  Each man is a unique unforgettable creation as they sit astride their motorcycles and roar into our hearts.  Remy is a shifter we meet in Without Reservations and he makes a rather disastrous first impression upon us in that story.  But here we discover the dark background that surrounds him in shocking detail as well as the reasons for his actions.

There are parts of this novel so bleak and despairing your hearts will bleed for Remy and his brother Sterling  even as our hero bleeds out from the abuse.  Remy’s sexuality and his acceptance of a male mate is a huge part of this story and his past as well.  I cannot give Langley enough credit for the sensitive way she deals with child abuse and recovery as an adult.  There is also a murder mystery to be solved, and the exploration of a naturally submissive nature.  There is some mild bdsm that works beautifully within the plot of the story and the glimpses of new couples, mates, for future stories.  One couple in particular has had the fans clamoring for their story since this book was published.  This story has depth, multi-layered characters and a multitude of themes running through it, not the least of which is how Reservaton law can also isolate the members it is supposed to protect, control issues and child abuse.  Heavy themes indeed but this book is also packed with love and redemption.  With Caution is an incredible read you won’t want to put down.

Next comes a series of free stories that can be found on the Fiction With Friction website until JL Langley’s site is back up and running.  These are in order:

A Lot To Be Thankful For (With or Without Series 3.1) Sterling Lassister and Rhys Waya (the fans just wouldn’t shut up for their story)

A Sterling New Year (With or Without Series 3.2)  with Sterling Lassister and Rhys Waya (love, love these two and so will you, get on the bus)

With Abandon (With or Without #4) brings back Aubrey Reynolds and the rest of the Georgia pack that we met in Without Reservation.  Aubrey is Keaton’s brother and our introduction to him in Without Reservation was not exactly a positive one.  Matt Mahihkan, one of Gadget’s sons from With Caution is back and going to college in Georgia. Matt was a quirky young man who we got to know only superficially but JL Langley brings him together with  Aubrey Reynolds and that combination sparks all sorts of problems not the leasts of which is that Aubrey is not out to his family or the pack. And Matt is not only out and proud but turns out he is Aubrey’s mate. It took me a while to like Aubrey, perhaps some of that was left over emotions from Without Reservation.  But his reluctance to accept Matt officially as his mate made him hard to like.  He has to grow on you, something none of the other characters has had to do.  Matt, of course, is absolutely adorable and we entrust our affections with him from the get go.  And with Matt, comes some of the members of the New Mexico pack we have come to love as well.

Next come three free short stories in succession. I am convinced JL Langley thought the fans would be showing up on her doorstep if she didn’t at least throw them all several bones. I will admit to being one of them:

Christmas Dinner at Reynolds Hall (With or Without, #4.1)

Attack of the Killer Dust Bunnies (With or Without, #4.2) 

Christmas Cookies and Garland (With or Without, #4.3)

So what and who are coming next?  That would be Sterling and Rhys.  This is the story everyone has been yelling for, myself included. I believe JL Langley said it will be done in a few month from now but isn’t sure when it will be published. That will depend upon Samhain Publishing’s schedule.  Be still my heart.

Without Fear (With or Without series #5) – coming from Samhain Publishing.

So that’s JL Langley’s shifters in a nutshell.  I am not sure I did them justice.  Shifters of all species hit my buttons. Native American shifters hit them twice.  I don’t care if they are wolves, big cats or even weresloths of London (thank you, Charlie Cochrane for that memorable story).  But thinking back to the beginning, it all started with JL Langley’s wolves who come to life on the pages of the With and Without series, grabbed both my attention and my heart and have never let them go.  I have these books in paperback (prior to my Kindle) and I have them now in eBooks as well.  From their killer covers to their outstanding characters and plots, I return to them often.  To reacquaint myself with old friends and find comfort in their presence.

Some find JL Langley through her cowboys and others through her sci-Regency series.  I found her through her shifters.  If you are new to JL Langley as an author, try them all.  Start from the beginning of each series and work your way down.  You will find yourself with a new  addiction just as I did.  Write me. Let me know what you think. I will be waiting.

Review of My Regelence Rake (Sci-Regency #3) by JL Langley

Yes, I know this should have come later but I couldn’t help it.  I loved this book.  The contest winner will still be announced on Friday.  Enjoy.

Rating: 5 stars

Prince Colton Townsend has loved Lord Sebastian Hastings since he was fifteen.  The Captain of the Guard is everything Colton has ever wanted.  He’s handsome, dashing, and an excellent horseman.  His affections have never been returned by Hastings but Colton has never figured out if that was because the Captain sees him still as a young boy instead of a man or perhaps because Sebastian has declared never to remarry.  Still his crush  continued right up until the day he and his brothers spied Captain Hastings in a tryst in a garden during a ball.  Now  Colton decides to focus only on his horses and opening a racing stable will help him forget about his love for the Captain of the Guard.

Lord Sebastian Hastings’ schedule changed from busy to overwhelmed when asked by King Steven to provide security for all of the Royal Family on a constant basis, including Prince Colton.  Sebastian isn’t certain when exactly he became aware of how handsome the young man had become.  Sebastian knew the young Prince had a crush on him as the lad followed him around like a puppy when younger.  But lately, Colton has seemed distant, even downright curt and that bothered Sebastian more than he wanted to admit.  Then an argument with Colton over disobeying his orders flared into a kiss, and then another and all of Sebastian’s carefully erected barriers began to fall.

During a visit to Tattersalls to bid on horses for his stable, Colton and Sebastian find an abused horse and determine to save it.  The consequent events turn the horse’s abusive owner into a enemy who spreads rumors about the men and their relationship throughout society.  When the nasty gossip causes people to shun Colton at a ball, Hastings acts to quell the rumors by asking for Colton’s hand in marriage.  But instead of solving things, the marriage is only the beginning of the problems for the couple, as Sebastian is keeping secrets from Colton, an old flame reappears, and a family close to the Admiral and Sebastian have disappeared, perhaps murdered as part of the INS conspiracy against the throne. Colton  hopes that one day he will have a marriage like his fathers, one with two men deeply in love with each other.  Colton knows his marriage is only halfway there.  Now if only Sebastian would help make the rest come true.

With My Regelence Rake JL Langley has done it again.  She has given us a book not only worth the wait but one that leaves us immediately clamoring for the next in the series as soon as we have finished reading it.  All the elements that make this series so addictive are present and accounted for.  Great world building – check, outstanding characters – check, hot, hot sex – check, ongoing intrigue and mystery – check and finally romantic love – oh absolutely check.  Yes, all there and then some.  We are back on the planet Regelence after the events in The Englor Affair which took us off planet in search of more information about the political unrest being instigated between the planets.  Each subsequent book  finds new suspects in the sinister  happenings in the INS (the galactic navy)  and points to corruption at the highest levels of the service.  The royal Townsends of Regelence are being backed into a corner and no one is certain who is to be trusted.  And with each new piece of evidence that appears, another mystery surfaces to widen the scope of the investigation and make the infiltration of the royal family defenses an easier target.  As she builds the suspense, Langley ups our anxiety for the safety of the people we have come to care about greatly.  The terror of loss is never far from our thoughts when Aiden is giving chase down a alley way or Sebastian is attacked in the streets.  Is it part of the conspiracy or something entirely different?  Langley keeps us guessing and on the edge of our seats the entire time.

And then there are all those marvelous characters we have come to love over the series and new ones as well.  Everyone is present here, except perhaps for Simon and Payton.  Yes, this is Colton and Sebastian’s book and their romance is terrific.  We have watched Colton grow up in the last two books and the tantalizing glimpses we had of Sebastian come to fruition here.  Sebastian is a complex character.  His background is muddied and his marriage, which left him a widower, unhappy. Together they form a new endearing couple for us to cheer for. But we also get a closer look at the relationships of Nate and Aiden, and Steven and Raleigh.  We see clearly how well Nate and Aiden have settled into a marriage still so passionate and full of love but now time has allowed them a new security in with all things shared between them as a loving established couple.  Steven and Raleigh are here, demonstrating their love and passion in ways  both humorous and joyful while still exhibiting the strength of their feelings for their children and family.  How I love these two and I am thrilled JL Langley will give them their own story.  The real surprise here?  A closer look at Trouble and Rexley’s relationship.  Even now, I just feeling giddy over the scenes and revelations about them in MRR.  I will not spoil this for you all but trust me, it is worth the price of the book alone for these reveals!  Oh, and I have to mention Apollonia, the star of the stable and a new favorite character of mine.  I want one just like her.  She is adorable and a great addition to the family.  JL Langley’s characterizations never feel anything less than real, their emotions always come across as authentic as ours and their relationship issues ones we can relate to and understand.  All these and more are reasons why the author’s characters stay with us long past the end of the books.

Does this book, all hot and sexy, all romance and love have a happily ever after?  Why yes it does!  But JL Langley also raises some much larger questions about the INS and those arraigned against the Townsends and their allies.  She has left us some mystery concerning Sebastian and his family, given us a far more complex Rexley than I had imagined, and as to that missing family? Well, they too have a larger part in this conspiracy puzzle JL has created and now there is an encrypted computer chip to decipher.  So the mystery snowballs along with the romance.  How I love this series.  More please, JL, much, much more!

Cover:  Another hot cover by Angela Waters to go along with those of  My Fair Captain and The Englor Affair.  Definitely some of the hottest naked torsos in the business.