Category: Riptide Publishing

A Barb, A Zany Old Lady Review: Winter Oranges by Marie Sexton

Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Winter Oranges coverJason Walker, former child star and now B-movie regular is sick and tired of Hollywood and the paparazzi cameras that seem to be present wherever he goes, so he buys a ranch in Idaho in the hopes of finding peace and serenity. That may have worked, except for the ghost haunting his guest house who can’t be seen by anyone but Jason.

He nearly passes out when he discovers that the young man, dressed in 19th century clothing, is actually trapped in a snow globe. It seems that the only person who has seen him in over 150 years is Jason, and they eventually discover that it’s likely that Jason is a descendent, and decide that’s the only possible reason for it. Benjamin Ward would have been nearly twenty-one when his sister put a spell on him and trapped him in the globe. She was trying to keep him from enlisting in the Confederate Army when the Civil War began, but before she could let him out, the globe was stolen, and he’s been trapped ever since.

He’s sweet and funny and loves discussing just about everything. He’s been manifesting outside the globe for years, usually in an empty room because he’s confined to the room where the globe is located, but occasionally he’s in a room where someone is watching TV, so he’s hooked on sitcoms, especially those from the eighties when he spent a lot of time living with an elderly woman who loved to watch TV. When Jason accidentally winds the globe in Ben’s presence, they discover that he can also be heard by Jason. He keeps Jason company, helping him work through the issues of feeling lonely and abandoned by his family and the best friend he loves but can’t have. Dylan has been Jason’s best friend and on-again-off-again lover for years, but he’s not interested in commitment, and it breaks Jason’s heart to see him with other men and women when he longs to be the man’s only companion. But he slowly discovers that by spending all his time with Ben, he’s formed a stronger bond with him, and it soon occurs to him that he’s falling in love with the young man.

When they discover a way for Jason to enter the globe and be with Ben sexually, it’s not a simple solution because on his return to the real world, Jason suffers traumatic headaches and severe nausea and vomiting, which when witnessed by the local police chief, lands him in the hospital. Ben is frantic, not knowing where Jason has been taken and even if he’s alive, so when he returns, they decide to stop trying to find a way to be together in the globe. In the meantime, Dylan has also discovered that Jason seems to be talking to himself a lot and that he’s extremely possessive of the snow globe. Fearing his friend is losing his mind, he takes steps to separate Jason from the globe.

There’s so much drama in this story that I wanted to read it with one eye closed. As it was, I had to put it down and walk away a few times because my nerves were shot. I was very afraid for both Jason and Ben, both individually and as a couple. Jason appeared to be losing his grip on sanity, and I thought he was going to be taken from Ben, but the culminating action of the story was even more dramatic and traumatic than I envisioned, and I thought I was going to scream before the finale. I can’t begin to describe the tension I felt and the fear I had for both men, and I honestly could not figure out how the author could possibly resolve this drama. But resolve it she did, and in a most spectacular and satisfying way.

I actually had to wait a few days before writing this review because I was concerned that the stress I felt while reading was going to negatively influence my rating of the story. Now that I’ve had time to breathe and relax, I can only sit back and admire the mind of an author who can be so ingeniously creative. This was a wonderful love story and a unique one at that. If you like paranormal or even just a creative twist to your MM romances, you should love this one. Don’t hesitate to buy it.

~~~~~

Cover Art by LC Chase depicts a winter scene with a young man inside a snow globe. It’s beautifully done and very attention-getting, though it doesn’t quite represent the snow globe described in the story that contained only a log cabin in the woods.

Sales Links:  Riptide Publishing | All Romance (ARe) | Amazon | Buy It Here

Book Details:

ebook, 325 pages
Published November 28th 2015 by Riptide Publishing
original titleWinter Oranges
ISBN 162649357X (ISBN13: 9781626493575)
edition languageEnglish

Twenty percent of the proceeds from this title will be donated to the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender (GLBT) National Help Center.

Founded in 1996, the GLBT National Help Center is a non-profit organization that provides vital peer-support, community connections and resource information to people with questions regarding sexual orientation and/or gender identity. Utilizing a diverse group of GLBT volunteers, they operate two national hotlines, the GLBT National Hotline and the GLBT National Youth Talkline, as well as private, volunteer one-to-one online chat, that help both youth and adults with coming-out issues, safer-sex information, school bullying, family concerns, relationship problems and a lot more.

To learn more about this charity or to donate directly, please visit their website: http://www.glbthotline.org/

A Very Special Charity Spotlight: A Intimate Look at Winter Oranges by Marie Sexton (guest post and giveaway)

Winter Oranges cover

Winter Oranges by Marie Sexton
Published by Riptide Publishing
Cover Artist:  L.C. Chase

This title is part of the Love for the Holidays: A Charity Bundle Benefiting
the GLBT National Help Center collection. 
You can purchase it and learn more about the charity bundle here.

Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words is so happy to have  Marie Sexton here today to talk about the inspiration behind her Christmas novel, Winter Oranges.  Marie is sharing some of her photos from her Pinterest board and thoughts behind her characters.  Winter Oranges is one of Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words Highly Recommended Novels.

Hello, everybody! This is Marie Sexton, and I’m thrilled to be here at Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words today talking about my Christmas novel, Winter Oranges. I thought I’d share some photos that helped inspire the novel.

First things first: I started with the house. I originally planned to set the book in rural West Virginia, so I started out researching older homes. Later, I decided to move the story to Idaho, and I ended up making the house a “revival” built in the 1980s, which meant there was no “servant’s room” on the ground floor. I rearranged the entire dining room/kitchen setup, and added a Winter Oranges House Planspantry/mudroom. The other problem was, I kept picturing the garage on the left side of the property (the left when facing the house, that is). I tried over and over to flip that image in my mind, but it didn’t work. And why would the garage be on the family room side of the property rather than the mudroom side? It didn’t make sense. So I flipped the entire bottom floor. But for the most part, this is Jason’s house. (I’m sure he paid more than $1548 for it, though!)

The next step was the snow globe. Yes, I could have just made it up, but I wanted a photo. It needed to look old-fashioned and have a cottage. So I settled on this one:Winter Oranges_Snow Globe

Now, for the characters.

Winter Oranges_Tom HughesIn my brain, Ben looks like Tom Hughes, minus the bad boy attitude.

Ben’s clothes were based largely on this picture:Winter Oranges_civil war men

And Jason… well, I wasn’t entirely sure what Jason looked like. I was pretty sure he was blond, and I knew he was in his late 20s. That was good enough, until I got to a line where somebody says to him, “You look familiar.” Jason hates his semi-celebrity status, so rather than telling her who he really is, he says, “Some people say I look like [some other celebrity].” The problem was, who did he look like? I spent a stupid amount of time googling actors, but I finally decided on William Moseley.Winter Oranges_William Mosely

That’s it for my primary sources of inspiration, but for more pictures, check out my  Winter Oranges Pinterest Board. Have an image you’d like to add? Leave your Pinterest user name in the comments, and I’ll send you an invitation to add to the board.

And be sure to check out Winter Oranges! 20% of the proceeds go to the GLBT National Help Center.

About the Book

Jason Walker is a child star turned teen heartthrob turned reluctant B-movie regular who’s sick of his failing career. So he gives up Hollywood for northern Idaho, far away from the press, the drama of LA, and the best friend he’s secretly been in love with for years.

There’s only one problem with his new life: a strange young man only he can see is haunting his guesthouse. Except Benjamin Ward isn’t a ghost. He’s a man caught out of time, trapped since the Civil War in a magical prison where he can only watch the lives of those around him. He’s also sweet, funny, and cute as hell, with an affinity for cheesy ’80s TV shows. And he’s thrilled to finally have someone to talk to.

But Jason quickly discovers that spending all his time with a man nobody else can see or hear isn’t without its problems—especially when the tabloids find him again and make him front-page news. The local sheriff thinks he’s on drugs, and his best friend thinks he’s crazy. But Jason knows he hasn’t lost his mind. Too bad he can’t say the same thing about his heart.

Winter Oranges is one of Riptide’s 2015 charity titles.

Twenty percent of the proceeds from this title will be donated to the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender (GLBT) National Help Center.

Founded in 1996, the GLBT National Help Center is a non-profit organization that provides vital peer-support, community connections and resource information to people with questions regarding sexual orientation and/or gender identity. Utilizing a diverse group of GLBT volunteers, they operate two national hotlines, the GLBT National Hotline and the GLBT National Youth Talkline, as well as private, volunteer one-to-one online chat, that help both youth and adults with coming-out issues, safer-sex information, school bullying, family concerns, relationship problems and a lot more.

To learn more about this charity or to donate directly, please visit their website:  “http://www.glbthotline.org/“

HYPERLINK “http://www.riptidepublishing.com/titles/winter-oranges“http://www.riptidepublishing.com/titles/winter-oranges

About the Author

Marie Sexton lives in Colorado. She’s a fan of just about anything that involves muscular young men piling on top of each other. In particular, she loves the Denver Broncos and enjoys going to the games with her husband. Her imaginary friends often tag along.

Marie has one daughter, two cats, and one dog, all of whom seem bent on destroying what remains of her sanity. She loves them anyway.

Connect with Marie:

WinterOranges_TourBanner

Giveaway

To celebrate the release of Winter Oranges, Marie Sexton is giving away two titles from her backlist and a $50 Amazon gift card! Your first comment at each stop on this tour enters you in the drawing. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on December 5, 2015. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. Entries. Follow the tour for more opportunities to enter the giveaway! Don’t forget to leave your email or method of contact so Riptide can reach you if you win!  Must be 18 years of age or older to enter.  Happy Reading and Good luck!

A Stella Review Redux: Blueberry Boys by Vanessa North

Rating: 4. 5 stars out of 5

Blueberry Boys coverConnor Graham is a city boy—a celebrated fashion photographer in New York. When his uncle’s death drags him back to the family blueberry farm, all he wants to do is sell it as quickly as he can. Until he meets his uncle’s tenant farmer.

Jed Jones, shy and stammering, devout and dedicated, has always yearned for land of his own and a man to share it with. Kept in the closet by his church, family, and disastrous first love, he longs to be accepted for who he is. But now, with his farm and his future in Connor’s careless hands, he stands to lose even the little he has.

Neither man expects the connection between them. Jed sees Connor—appreciates his art and passion like no one else in this godforsaken town ever has. Connor hears Jed—looks past his stutter to listen to the man inside. The time they share is idyllic, but with the farm sale pending, even their sanctuary is a source of tension. As work, family, and their town’s old-fashioned attitudes pull them apart, they must find a way to reconcile commitments to their careers and to each other.

“You confuse the hell out of me.”

Jed cocked his head to the side and stared. “Why?”

“Are you gay?”

Jed wouldn’t meet his eyes. “That’s a c-complicated question.”

Connor sat again, not caring if their legs touched. “There’s nothing complicated about it. You like dick or you don’t.”

“I’m a Christian.”

“The two aren’t mutually exclusive.”

“In th-this town? In my family? Yeah. They are.”

Blueberry Boys is the story between Connor and Jed, two young man living in two very different worlds that will collide under a meteor shower.

Connor is a famous photographer of NY, who has just lost his uncle Bruce and inherited his blueberry farm with his older, bully of a brother Scott. He is gay and out and comes back to what was at one time his home, Blandford, a close-minded town, for his uncle’s funeral.

Jed is the farm boy who is growing organic blueberries on Connor’s new farm soil. He’s shy and cute with his stuttering, he’s incredible attractive with a jaw to die for. He’s gay but in the closet. He is soon attracted to Connor, still they don’t rush into having sex after the first kiss but take their time.

I was surprised the author chose Jed to be a Christian and I loved how she showed me things. The Sundays at the church, the time after spent with his close family, not a perfect one but supportive and caring. Most of all Jed’s strong faith mixed with his need to be accepted.

There were a lot of elements I liked in this book but there was one I freaking loved, so much it brought tears to my eyes and it’s enclosed in Pastor Brenda’s words to Jed.

“Jed, this church is your home. Your faith is as welcome here as it has always been.”

I’m writing this review the same day the Vatican is shaken by the coming out of an important priest  closed to the Holy See. Allow me to please quote his words: “I want the church and my community to know who I am — a homosexual priest, happy and proud of his own identity,” and “It’s time the church opened its eyes and realized that offering gay believers total abstinence from a life of love is inhuman”.

When I read Blueberry Boys and I realized Jed was a Christian, I was a little dubious. I’m always wary when authors approach the religious’ themes cause I’m afraid they will focus on the bad side of the Church and I don’t want to read about it (it’s already showing me its worse side every day, I don’t need more). So you can imagine my joy when I found such a beautiful example to follow in Pastor Brenda in this story, the acceptance, the support, the “no need to be forgiven because there’s nothing to forgive”. I cried with Jed and his finally feeling lighter after having the weight of years of fears and “lies” on his shoulders. There was a ton of positiveness in this book that simply fill my heart.

The story felt real, so real I don’t know how to explain but I was lost in it sometimes. So beautiful real like few things I read. And I love when I’m so lost in a story I forgot everything else.

Blueberry Boys, a standalone contemporary out for you romance lovers, is sweet, hot, emotional, full of hope. I read only one more book by Vanessa North, called Rough Road, still she became a guarantee to me. I like her style, simple, clean, normal. Now I just need to rush through The Dark Collector to know Oliver’s story. I think it’s clear the author simply got under my skin.

Cover art by L.C. Chase is great, it just made me want to read the book cause it made me curious. I especially love the colors’ choice. And all the layout work with blueberries on every chapter was very well done.

Sales Link:  Riptide Publishing |  All Romance (ARe) | Amazon | Buy It Here

Book Details:

ebook, 186 pages
Expected publication: November 30th 2015 by Riptide Publishing
ISBN13 9781626493414
Edition Language English

A Coffee Sip and Book Break with Vanessa North’s Blueberry Boys (giveaway)

Blueberry Boys cover

Blueberry Boys by Vanessa North
Published by Riptide Publishing
Cover Artist L.C. Chase

Buy It at Riptide Publishing 

 

Hello! I’m Vanessa North—welcome to the Blueberry Boys blog tour! At various tour stops, I’ll be sharing character interviews, blueberry recipes, a confession about a certain guilty pleasure that partly inspired this story, and more. Comment on each stop to be entered in a drawing for a $30 Amazon gift card. Thanks for joining me on the tour!

About Blueberry Boys by Vanessa North:

Connor Graham is a city boy—a celebrated fashion photographer in New York. When his uncle’s death drags him back to the family blueberry farm, all he wants to do is sell it as quickly as he can. Until he meets his uncle’s tenant farmer.

Jed Jones, shy and stammering, devout and dedicated, has always yearned for land of his own and a man to share it with. Kept in the closet by his church, family, and disastrous first love, he longs to be accepted for who he is. But now, with his farm and his future in Connor’s careless hands, he stands to lose even the little he has.

Neither man expects the connection between them. Jed sees Connor—appreciates his art and passion like no one else in this godforsaken town ever has. Connor hears Jed—looks past his stutter to listen to the man inside. The time they share is idyllic, but with the farm sale pending, even their sanctuary is a source of tension. As work, family, and their town’s old-fashioned attitudes pull them apart, they must find a way to reconcile commitments to their careers and to each other.

Blueberry Boys at Riptide Publishing. “http://www.riptidepublishing.com/titles/blueberry-boys

About the Author

Author of over a dozen novels, novellas, and short stories, Vanessa North delights in giving happy-ever-afters to characters who don’t think they deserve them. Relentless curiosity led her to take up knitting and run a few marathons “just to see if she could.” She started writing for the same reason. Her very patient husband pretends not to notice when her hobbies take over the house. Living and writing in Northwest Georgia, she finds her attempts to keep a quiet home are frequently thwarted by twin boy-children and a very, very large dog.

Connect with Vanessa:

Website:  “http://vanessanorth.com/”
Facebook profile page:  “https://www.facebook.com/AuthorVanessaNorth”
Twitter:  “https://twitter.com/VanessaNWrites”
Goodreads:  “https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6436063.Vanessa_North”

Giveaway

To celebrate the release of Blueberry Boys, Vanessa North is giving away a $30 Amazon gift card! Your first comment at each stop on this tour enters you in the drawing. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on December 5, 2015. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. Entries. Follow the tour for more opportunities to enter the giveaway! Don’t forget to leave your email or method of contact so Riptide can reach you if you win!  Must be 18 years of age or older to enter.  Good luck!

A Barb, A Zany Old Lady Review: Stranded by HelenKay Dimon

Rating: 3 stars out of 5

stranded_250What happens when two hired assassins who each believe the other is dead find out they’re not? Lots of anger, lots of action, lots of sex, and then more anger.

Cabe nearly died when the mission he was on to release a kidnapped woman fell apart, and the man he was trying to bring down was able to trace the names of all those involved in the mission. When he’s finally hunted down and faces the barrel of a gun, it’s his lover who pulls the trigger. Betrayed and hurt, Cabe’s current goal is to find Brax Hughes and bring him down.

Cabe arrives at a remote cabin in Alaska, sent there by his boss on a last mission before he retires. His boss claims he’s the only man who can get the code from the man holed up in the cabin, so imagine Cabe’s surprise when the man turns out to be his former lover. Brax pulled some strings to get his former boss to help him set up this meeting with Cabe in a very remote area of Alaska. He figures he has only a few days to convince Cabe that he planned to shoot him to save his life, and he never intended to kill him. He also hopes to win Cabe’s heart and convince him of how much Brax loves him.

But when another of the boss’s operatives shows up, and Brax agrees, behind Cabe’s back, to keep the operative’s presence hidden, he’s actually sealing the deal on Cabe never being able to believe Brax is capable of telling the truth. The two go around and around with the shame and blame, he said-he said, and they have lots of sex—hard, punishing sex. They don’t demonstrate the love they supposedly feel, and Brax continues to screw up to the point where Cabe finds out about the latest deceptions, and it’s doubtful he can ever forgive Brax.

This story was okay, some of it even good, but I didn’t care for the alpha man, angry sex scenes over and over again. Nor did I like their backstory. It was complex and complicated, and with the number of times that either one or both found out the other had been deceiving them, it became difficult to follow. And, although the setup was there for an assassin to attempt to kill them while at the cabin, and certainly both were hated by many enemies, there was no shoot ’em up action in the story at all, making it feel incomplete.

On a positive note, most of the later action in the story takes place around Christmas, and there is indeed a HEA to bring a warm holiday note to the finale. I would recommend this to those who like stories of assassins, spies and mercenaries and big, beautiful men fighting it out for mastery of their relationship. In fact, with the added bonus of the Christmas season in this story, it would be a good stocking stuffer for friends who like that type of story.

~~~
Cover Art by LC Chase features a handsome man in winter gear standing against a background of snow-covered trees. This is a nice representation of the MC in the story.

Sales Links: Riptide Publishing | All Romance (ARe) | Amazon | Buy It Here

Book Details:

eBook ISBN: 978-1-62649-363-6
eBook release: Nov 23, 2015
Print ISBN: 978-1-62649-364-3
Print release: Nov 23, 2015
Word count: ~41,000,Page count: ~155

This title is part of the Love for the Holidays: A Charity Bundle Benefiting the GLBT National Help Center collection. Check out the collection discount! – See more at: http://riptidepublishing.com/titles/stranded#sthash.z3PXwBF8.dpuf
Twenty percent of the proceeds from this title will be donated to the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender (GLBT) National Help Center.

Founded in 1996, the GLBT National Help Center is a non-profit organization that provides vital peer-support, community connections and resource information to people with questions regarding sexual orientation and/or gender identity. Utilizing a diverse group of GLBT volunteers, they operate two national hotlines, the GLBT National Hotline and the GLBT National Youth Talkline, as well as private, volunteer one-to-one online chat, that help both youth and adults with coming-out issues, safer-sex information, school bullying, family concerns, relationship problems and a lot more.

To learn more about this charity or to donate directly, please visit their website:glbthotline.org

Can Love Find Its Way Back? Find Out with Stranded by HelenKay Dimon -part of Love for the Holidays Charity Bundle (giveaway)

stranded_250

Stranded by HelenKay Dimon
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Artist: L. C. Chase

Release Date: November 23
This title is part of the Love for the Holidays: A Charity Bundle
Benefiting the GLBT National Help Center collection – See more here.

It can be purchase here at Riptide Publishing

About the Book

Cabe got out of the gun-for-hire business the hard way—by nearly dying. Except then his former boss calls in one last favor for one final job. The mission should be simple: get a message to a retired operative in Alaska. But it puts Cabe face-to-face with the one man he doesn’t want to see and can never forget. Not after all the secrets and lies. Not after Brax almost killed him.

Brax Hughes lived hard and retired young to a cabin in the middle of nowhere. Well, that was the plan, but before he can hang up his sniper rifle, he has one last mission: win back Kyle Cabe. Brax wants another chance, wants to come clean, but after months of lying to Cabe, he knows he could face a bullet—or worse—when they meet again. And they will meet. Brax made sure of that.

With a storm moving in and someone lurking outside the cabin, time is running out. Brax needs to talk fast and keep his weapons ready. And his best weapon is the truth.

Stranded is one of Riptide’s 2015 charity titles.

Twenty percent of the proceeds from this title will be donated to the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender (GLBT) National Help Center.

Founded in 1996, the GLBT National Help Center is a non-profit organization that provides vital peer-support, community connections and resource information to people with questions regarding sexual orientation and/or gender identity. Utilizing a diverse group of GLBT volunteers, they operate two national hotlines, the GLBT National Hotline and the GLBT National Youth Talkline, as well as private, volunteer one-to-one online chat, that help both youth and adults with coming-out issues, safer-sex information, school bullying, family concerns, relationship problems and a lot more.

To learn more about this charity or to donate directly, please visit their website: http://www.glbthotline.org/

“http://riptidepublishing.com/titles/stranded”

About the Author

HelenKay Dimon is a former divorce attorney turned full-time romance author.  She has sold over thirty novels and novellas to numerous publishers, including HarperCollins, Kensington, Harlequin, Penguin, Carina Press and Riptide Publishing. Her nationally bestselling and award-winning books have been showcased in numerous venues and her books have twice been named “Red-Hot Reads” and excerpted in Cosmopolitan magazine.

Website: “http://www.helenkaydimon.com/”

Stranded_TourBanner
Giveaway

To celebrate the release of Stranded, HelenKay is giving away a $25 Amazon or B&N gift certificate (winners choice)! Your first comment at each stop on  “http://riptidepublishing.com/events/tours/stranded-blog-tour-helenkay-dimon“this tour enters you in the drawing. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on November 28, 2015. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. Entries. Follow the tour for more opportunities to enter the giveaway! Don’t forget to leave your email or method of contact so Riptide can reach you if you win!  Must be 18 years or older to enter.

A MelanieM Review: With This Bling (Romano and Albright #3) by L.B. Gregg

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars ★★★★★

With This Bling coverCaesar Romano’s catering career is doing better than he’d ever dreamed. And so is his love life—even if his boyfriend’s house in Staten Island is way too far from civilization for his liking. But then in short order, Caesar is duped into helping his cousin propose, is tricked by his best friend and business partner into appearing on live television, and is harassed by a thug-like personal trainer and his far too beautiful wife. In fact, Caesar is almost too busy to notice that something is troubling his PI boyfriend, Dan Albright.

Almost.

Laid-back, open, charming—that’s the impression hunky former NYPD Detective Dan Albright gives everyone. Caesar can add sexually adventurous and a bit of an exhibitionist. But he also knows that Dan is hiding something—something dark and a little dangerous—and when Dan’s silence over his mysterious past threatens to harm them both, it’s Caesar’s turn to save the day.

But then again, a break-in, a gallery party, an heirloom ring, a new suit, and a stalker with bad BO are all just a typical week for Caesar Romano.

In 2010, L. B. Gregg released a story, Catch Me If You Can (Romano and Albright, #1) which introduced me and so many other readers to Caesar Romano and P.I. Dan Albright.  And I fell in love.  The second novel, also 2010, saw that love affair deepen and become an addiction.

Then the stories stopped.

But I was hopeful.  And patient.  Now I’ve finally been rewarded along with all the other fans of this author and amazing series.  Romano and Albright are back and better than ever!

We dive right back into confirmed city dweller Caesar’s life.  He’s out on Staten Island, staying in boyfriend Dan’s house.

“Sunshine poured into the kitchen, warming a row of spiny potted herbs on the windowsill. Outside, the neat suburban backyard burst with green shrubbery and midsummer flowers. A plump gray bird sat on the clothesline and a squirrel frolicked in the grass, both a reminder that I needed to get the hell back to the city because honest to God, it was like the country out there.”

Yep, nothing suits Caesar so well as the smell of the city and the congested, exuberant life he leads there.  To him, the quiet of a Staten Island neighborhood screams country, even though his beloved city is with well within eyesight.  From that wonderful start, L.B. Gregg’s lively, snarky narrative takes off, her dialogs a perfect match for each and every one of her memorable characters.  A mystery popped up almost immediately (this is Caesar and Dan) and we are off on another case and misadventure.  I was grinning from the very beginning in anticipation and L. B. Gregg didn’t let me down!

Dan’s personal background has always been a bit of a question for Caesar (and the readers).  Some of those are answered here. I had to double check the timeline and it appears its still been about 6 months since the first time they met, so that feels about right in a relationship still working on its foundation.  The author’s characterizations are so good, her plots so well thought out, that everything just comes together just as it should.  We know that Dan and Caesar belong together…no matter how scary it gets.  And yes, it can get plenty scary here.  But the action and suspense never overwhelms the relationship between Caesar and Dan, or any of  the other interpersonal ties going on at the moment.  Plenty of those too.  The connections here are all about the family.

New York City and its neighborhoods is easily not just a setting but a character all of its own.  Gregg’s familiarity with each borough and their unique “feel” gives this book another layer to flavor.  This also carries over to  Gregg’s characters, all of the Romano family (and they are many and varied) to the Albright upright clan and everyone in between.  Lots and lots of in between.   His cousin Joey and Caesar’s business partner, Poppy, uncles Tino and Vito, among the large and hugely entertaining cast.  How I love them all.

But the heart of the series and this story will always be Caesar and Dan, a relationship that continues to flourish and grow.  Here Caesar makes enormous emotional strides forward…even if it comes at the end.

I whipped through this story because I was starved for it, then started through once again.  It got even better the second time around.   I’m not sure I would call this a standalone.  I’m sure you could read it that way but why would you?  Don’t you want to see how it all started?  Watch Caesar meet Dan, watch Dan loosen up Caesar more than a little?  Watch Dan (a ex NYPD Detective) meet the huge Romano family whose connection to the law is somewhat loose and shaky?  The humor in these novels will have you laughing out loud in places.  Romano and Albright!  A couple that sexy, intelligent, fun and full of action in the best sense of the word.  What more could you want?

I highly recommend this story and all in the series.  Now begins the wait for the next story.  I can be patient.  I know it will be worth the wait.

Cover art by L. C. Chase is absolutely perfect.  Whether its Joey or Caesar (they look almost identical).  Chase has them down.

Sales Links:  Riptide Publishing | All Romance (ARe) | Amazon | Buy It Here (other links to come)

Book Details:

ebook, 264 pages
Expected publication: December 7th 2015 by Riptide Publishing
original titleWith This Bling
ISBN139781626493599
edition languageEnglish

Series Romano and Albright