Category: Samhain Press

An Alisa Review: Sins of the Past by Amanda Young

Rating:  4 stars out of 5

 

Sins of the PastTwo men bonded by love. A long forgotten secret neither knew they shared in common.

Andrew Vought is a wealthy single parent who’s all but given up on love. Ryan Ward is an up-and-coming landscape architect, who’s never believed true love exists.

In each other’s arms, they find the love they’ve sought. But can a budding new love survive the secrets both men harbor?

 

Amanda Young did a great job with this short story.  Ryan believes he will never know true love because of how he behaved in his younger years.  Andrew has been looking for love for a long time and continues to hope.  Their connection isn’t instant, but they are both willing to work for their relationship.

 

I connected with both of these characters.  They both slowly approach their relationship, but don’t know what to do when some past decisions come back to haunt them.  I could feel Ryan’s heart breaking when he felt that he would lose Andrew when he realized their connection to each other.

 

The cover art is very nice and caught my attention.

 

Sales Link: Amazon

 

Book Details:

ebook, 97 pages
Published: 2nd Edition May 14, 2016 by Amanda Young
ISBN: 9781599985992
Edition Language: English

A Lila Review: To Live Again (The Distance Between Us #6) by L.A. Witt

Rating: 4.25 stars out of 5

To Live AgainGreg Douglas moves in with friends after his wife of almost twenty-five years asked him for a divorce he didn’t expect. After they finished moving Greg into the house, Rhett and Ethan — MCs in The Distance Between Us — decided to take Greg out, giving him the opportunity to explore his bisexuality.

At Wilde’s, Greg is overwhelmed by the amount of men around him and how comfortable they all seemed with their sexuality. He tries to escape the chaos and instead meets Samoan deejay Sailo Isaia. The attraction between them is mutual and instantaneous. And from that night on, we think about them as an item.

The story concentrates on how Greg deals with his divorce, his sexuality, his grown kids, and his new found relationship with Sailo. We get to see his day-to-day struggles and how Sailo becomes the force that gives him the strength to move forward.

To Live Again is a story to read in one sitting, especially if you enjoyed all the previous books in the series. This installment is all about Greg’s journey after his divorce, and Sailo is an integral part of it. They’re great together and from the beginning, we get to see how much they will mean to each other.

Their relationship starts as a one-night stand, but before the end of the night, it turns into something more. They didn’t label it, just live their relationship day to day. Greg’s life is morphine as the chapters go by and Sailo is his only constant. He’s always there for him, letting him talk, experiment, and giving him the type of relationship he missed.

As with the other books, the sex scenes are smexy and significant. Each time they were together they got a little closer. It also allowed Greg to discover something new about his body and sexuality. Yes, he gets his bisexuality really well, perhaps too fast, but we get to see the questions behind his actions.

The author did an excellent job portraying Greg and Sailo according to their age. The blurb mentions a difference of almost twenty years, but it’s actually ten. They think before they act and even when some of their decisions can be considered irrational, they took the time to look beyond their individual wants and needs. Sailo’s son was always his priority.

The ending was rushed and the central conflict between Greg and Sailo a little over the top, but it worked. I’m not a fan of the issue between Greg and his ex-wife, it felt unnecessary in relation to their previous encounters. But his relationship with his grown children compensated for it.

All the new characters take an important role in the story, and the returning cast makes us feel like we are meeting with old friends again. We also get snapshots of the lives of the main characters in the previous books. We learn a little about where their lives are at the moment and how their relationships evolved.

Overall, a nice, easy read.

The cover by Angela Waters matched the previous books in the series. Plus, the two men on the cover are exactly as described in the story. Very well done.

Sale Links: Samhain | Amazon | ARe

Book Details:

ebook, 253 pages
Published: April 12, 2016, by Samhain Publishing
ISBN: 9781619231733
Edition Language: English

Series: Wilde’s
Book #1: The Best Man
Book #2: The Distance Between Us
Book #3: A.J.’s Angel
Book #4: The Closer You Get 
Book #5: Meet Me in the Middle
Book #5.5: Missionary
Book #6: No Distance Left to Run
Book #7: No Place That Far
Book #8: To Live Again

Its All About the Heart’s Perspective in The Heart As He Hears It By A.M. Arthur (excerpt and giveaway)

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The Heart As He Hears It (Perspectives #3) by A.M. Arthur
 Release Date: April 19, 2016

 Goodreads Link
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Cover Artist: Lyn Taylor

Blurb

While most of his friends have moved on to “real” careers, Jon Buchanan is content skating through life as a part-time waiter and gay porn star. Firmly single thanks to a previous relationship disaster, he focuses his spare time on Henry, a dear friend dying of cancer.

And with Henry’s happiness paramount, Jon is on a mission to help Henry meet his recently discovered grandson.

Isaac Gregory hasn’t set foot outside for the past year. He has everything he needs delivered, and his remaining family knows better than to visit. When a complete stranger shows up claiming to be his grandfather—with a distractingly handsome younger man in tow—his carefully structured routines are shaken.

Despite his instant attraction, Jon senses Isaac is too fragile for a relationship. Yet tentative friendship grows into genuine companionship. And when Henry’s health begins to fail, they realize Fate brought them together for a reason.

 

Pages or Words: 253 pages
Can be read as a standalone

 Also available in audiobook format with Guy Locke as the narrator
 Categories: Contemporary, Fiction, M/M Romance, Romance

Excerpt

Jon studied him, his gaze taking in…something. “May I ask you something?”

“Of course.” His chest flushed with anticipation.

“How do you feel when you’re with me?”

Isaac tried to push aside the anxiety still attempting to blur his thoughts, an old friend that wanted to be part of the conversation. Only anxiety wasn’t allowed in, not this time. He shuffled through different words, emotions and adjectives, searching for the one that best described how he felt about Jon. How Jon made him feel, despite being a near-stranger, bigger, stronger and far more experienced in pretty much everything. Jon still made him feel… “Safe,” Isaac said.

Jon’s eyebrows crept up. The corners of his mouth quirked into something not quite a smile. “Really?”

“Yes. The first time I saw you on my security feed, I noticed how beautiful you were.” His cheeks warmed.

Jon flat out grinned. “Yeah?”

“You’re kind and patient, and I feel safe because you don’t try to fix me, and you don’t act like I’m broken. My family thinks I’m broken, and I don’t want them to fix me. I just…” Something in Isaac shifted, accepting this new truth. “I need to feel safe, Jon. That’s why I hide. But you make me not want to hide.”

Jon’s eyes glittered. His expression melted into something so warm, so sweet, that it burned in Isaac’s blood in a way he didn’t understand at all. The strange sensation urged him to reach out, to initiate contact of some kind. Deep-rooted fear kept Isaac still, unable to make that first move. Unable to do anything except soak in the wonderment on Jon’s face.

“I think that’s the greatest compliment I’ve ever gotten,” Jon said. His voice was hoarse, strange. Almost difficult to hear, so Isaac paid more attention to his lips. “Is it cheesy to say your strength makes me want to be better too?”

Isaac shook his head. “I’m not strong.”

“You’re stronger than you think. You proved that by letting me and Henry in two weeks ago. You proved it again by going out to rescue a kitten. Twice, by the way. You told me you want to get better, get into the world, and that takes a fuck-ton of courage when you’ve lost as much as you have. I know it won’t be easy, but I still want to help you do that.”

“I know you do. I want that too.”

  Buy the book:  Amazon  | Barnes & Noble

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Meet the Author

A.M. Arthur was born and raised in the same kind of small town that she likes to write about, a stone’s throw from both beach resorts and generational farmland.  She’s been creating stories in her head since she was a child and scribbling them down nearly as long, in a losing battle to make the fictional voices stop.  She credits an early fascination with male friendships (bromance hadn’t been coined yet back then) with her later discovery of and subsequent love affair with m/m romance stories. A.M. Arthur’s work is available from Samhain Publishing, Carina Press, Dreamspinner Press, and SMP Swerve.

When not exorcising the voices in her head, she toils away in a retail job that tests her patience and gives her lots of story fodder.  She can also be found in her kitchen, pretending she’s an amateur chef and trying to not poison herself or others with her cuisine experiments.

Where to find the author:


Tour Dates & Stops:

Parker Williams, Divine Magazine, Oh My Shelves, Unquietly Me, The Jena Wade, Full Moon Dreaming,

Making It Happen, Book Lovers 4Ever, BFD Book Blog, The Hat Party, Alpha Book Club, V’s Reads,

Two Chicks Obsessed With Books and Eye Candy, Bayou Book Junkie, My Fiction Nook, Happily Ever Chapter,

Wicked Faerie’s Tales and Reviews, Sinfully Addicted to All Male Romance, A.M. Leibowitz, Outrageous Heroes,

Elisa – My Reviews and Ramblings, Nephy Hart, Boys on the Brink Reviews, MM Good Book Reviews,

Molly Lolly, Gay Media Reviews, Kirsty Loves Books, Jessie G. Books, Havan Fellows, Anna Butler Fiction,

Dawn’s Reading Nook, Fangirl Moments and My Two Cents, Mikky’s World of Books, Inked Rainbow Reads,

Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words

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Giveaway

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