A Barb the Zany Old Lady Pre-release Review: Tongue & Groove by Shae Connor

Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Tongue & GrooveSometimes home is what two hearts make of it.

After fifteen years on the road, rock singer Saul Wilder doesn’t know if he remembers how to stay in one place. While healing from a vocal cord injury, he decides to restore the cozy but neglected Atlanta home his grandmother left him. When home renovation specialist Perry Abrams arrives to assess the job, Saul’s on board with mixing business with a little pleasure. The sex is scorching hot, but the more they learn about each other, the deeper they fall emotionally as well. Trouble is, Saul’s a traveling man and Perry’s a homebody, so finding common ground to share could put the brakes on their relationship before it has a chance to get started.

I enjoyed this story quite a lot. The author created memorable characters—nice guys who have totally different world experiences and outlooks and yet gel well together. 

There’s no insta-sex between them, and Saul is far from being a typical rock star. He seems quite a humble, ordinary man who happens to be extremely talented and a gifted musician on the rise. But he’s sidelined with a vocal cord injury and while recovering at the home where he spent his teen years with his grandmother, he falls in love with the home, the area, and with the designer who is helping him to remodel it.

I loved the addition of the androgynous look on Perry with his silk stockings and garter belt—almost as good as manties!  He was a total sweetheart though a bit mysterious at the beginning. I thought he might be harboring a big secret, but that wasn’t the case as the story unfolded.

The primary issue that kept this from being higher than 4 stars for me was the vocal cord injury. The description was vague and the symptoms were more like those of a sore throat than a vocal cord injury, even though Saul needed heavy-duty drugs and vocal therapy over the course of a three-month treatment. There are a number of disorders the author could have chosen to describe, such as VCD—Vocal Cord Dysfunction—where the symptoms would have been more believable. In addition, I know firsthand that a doctor would be using more than a tongue depressor to check the healing progress. That is definitely a time where a doc would use a scope, and having had to have the procedure for a much less debilitating vocal cord issue, seeing the tongue depressor used threw me too far off base.

I’m not sure how I feel about the fact that there weren’t any major upsets or traumas in the story—sometimes a little turmoil or angst makes for a nice reunion. But this one was pretty smooth and sweet overall, and I found it quite a nice “stay at home and read all day” story—something to relax me and to keep me mellow and in a good mood, so if you’re looking for something like that, look no further. 

The cover by AngstyG has a light green-toned background and features a male singer sitting on a stool and holding the microphone stand across his lap with the mike covered by his fist. Symbolizing Saul’s inability to sing due to a voice problem, it very much suits the story.

Sales Links

        

Coming August 29
And add it to your shelf at Goodreads

Book Details:

ebook, 70 pages
Expected publication: August 29th 2016 by Shae Connor
Edition LanguageEnglish

NEW COVERS for Hands On & Best Chance (More Than Friends Series #5 & #6) by Aria Grace (Teasers and Giveaways)

Enticing Journey Book Promotions presents…

Cover Reveal Week
More Than Friends Series by Aria Grace
Day 3: Hands On & Best Chance
Available Now

 

Patton is new to town and hasn’t met a lot of people outside of the salon he works at as a masseur. He wants a relationship but he’s quick to fall in love and even quicker to scare away most men he’s interested in. When he meets an outgoing bartender named Caleb, he is immediately attracted but isn’t sure he can date someone that has to flirt for tips all night long. Unfortunately, that’s not the worst thing Caleb does to make a living.

 

 

 

Vinnie is happy as a bartender at Ray’s and not looking for anything serious to complicate things. He has great friends and a simple life. When Chance comes into his bar, he brings more than just the possibility of a fun fling.
Vinnie isn’t sure he’s ready to commit, especially when there is a toddler in the mix.
Born and raised in beautiful California, Aria enjoys the year round sunshine and laid back environment of the west coast. Her career started out in tech writing and web development and has evolved into all things marketing with fingers in everything related to book publishing. 
She lives with her husband and two children and more pets than she can keep track of. Despite her crazy schedule, she loves the time she carves out to read and write. Whether it’s on the beach or on the couch at 2am, she is a woman obsessed!

 

She loves to hear from readers so please feel free to drop her a note or visit her at www.ariagracebooks.com.
If you’d like to know when Aria’s next book is coming out or where she’ll be signing, join her mailing list at: http://bit.ly/AriaGraceFanList
Cover Reveal Week
More Than Friends Series by Aria Grace
Day 4: My Name is Luka & Finally Found
Stay Tuned..Coming August 25, 2016

HOSTED BY:

In Our Review Spotlight: Sarah Madison’s ‘Fool’s Gold’

Sarah Madison – Fool’s Gold

 
Author: Sarah Madison
 
 
Release Date: July 29 2016
 
Available on KU
 
Add to you Goodreads here.
 
Blurb
 
Eight years ago, Jake Stanford had it all: a spot on the U.S. Olympic Equestrian Team and the love of his life, Rich Evans. A tragic accident wipes out everything in the blink of an eye. Hard work and sacrifice get him another shot at Olympic Gold, but only if he puts his past behind him and agrees to work with Rich again.

Bound by secrets he cannot share, Rich was forced to give up Jake eight years ago. Now he has a second chance to help Jake realize his dreams. But the secrets that drove them apart havenít changed, and Rich must face them or risk losing Jake forever.
Author Bio
Sarah Madison is a writer with a little dog, a large dog, an even bigger horse, too many cats, and a very patient boyfriend. An amateur photographer and a former competitor in the horse sport known as eventing, when she's not out hiking with the dogs or down at the stables, she's at the laptop working on her next story. When sheís in the middle of a chapter, she relies on the smoke detector to tell her dinner is ready. She writes because itís cheaper than therapy.

Sarah Madison was a finalist in the 2013 and 2015 Rainbow Awards. The Boys of Summer won Best M/M Romance in the 2013 PRG Reviewerís Choice Awards. The Sixth Sense series was voted 2 nd place in the 2014 PRG Reviewerís Choice Awards for Best M/M Mystery series, and 3 rd place in the 2105 PGR Reviewerís Choice Awards for Best M/M Paranormal/Urban Fantasy series.

If you want to make her day, e-mail her and tell you how much you like her stories.

Website: http://www.sarahmadisonfiction.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SarahMadisonFic
Facebook Fan Page: https://www.facebook.com/SarahMadisonAuthor/
E-mail: akasarahmadison@gmail.com

 

A MelanieM Review: A Triad in Three Acts: The Complete Forester Trilogy (Tales of the Forest #1-3) by Blaine D. Arden

Rating: 5 stars out of 5

A Triad in Three Acts“Your Path is muddy, Kelnaht, but don’t think avoiding the puddles will make it easier to travel.”
Kelnaht, a cloud elf, is a truth seeker caught between love and faith, when a murder reveals an illicit affair between two tree elves he desires more than he can admit. Kelnaht’s former lover Ianys once betrayed him, and the shunned forester Taruif is not allowed to talk to anyone but the guide, their spiritual pathfinder.

The guide mentioned puddles, but I envisioned lakes, deep treacherous lakes, and I was drowning.
Then a stripling goes missing from the tribe, and heavy rainfall hides all traces of his whereabouts. With days creeping by without a lead, it’s hard to keep the tribe’s spirits up, more so when Kelnaht’s own future depends on the elders. Taruif has been shunned for almost twenty turns, but now that a possible forester’s apprentice is coming of age, the elders consider reducing his sentence. Taruif could be set free.

“I have great responsibilities, but my path ahead is as foggy and blurred as the path behind me.”
Later, when several children fall ill with more than a summer bug, truth seeker Kelnaht is assigned to investigate. What he finds is deadly and threatens the life of every underage child in the tribe, including Ianys’ daughter Atèn. Then a wounded traveller is found in the forest, left to die after a vicious attack.

“There is always a way.”
Kelnaht, Taruif, and Ianys are meant to be together, but old promises and the decree of the elders prevent them from claiming each other openly at Solstice. Kelnaht can investigate murder and foul play, but he can’t see how he can keep both his lovers without breaking the rules. But if he believes in the guide’s words and trusts his faith in Ma’terra, they will find a way to clear the fog and puddles from their paths.

I read The Forester, the first book in The Tales of the Forest series by Blaine D. Arden when it first came out and promptly  fell in love. Drawn to the story by the lush, incredible cover by Simone’ and then by the tale of fae, a thwarted love and a triad, other elements in these tales drew me in and made me a complete adoring follower of the series.  The second book, Lost and Found: Forester Triad Act Two (Tales of the Forest, #2), just cemented that place in my mind and heart.  Now I got the final book in the trilogy and in a complete volume.  What a joy for me and those who have never read the series. So what were those elements you ask?

One, the use of a mystery or mysteries as a major plot point that Kelnaht, a truth seeker must solve  in each story, that brings out a truth or past histories about himself, or the other elves that he loves.  That would be his former lover Ianys and the shunner forester, Taruif.  Each of which is such an intriguing character that you are as drawn to them as Kelnaht is and these books let you see what it is he finds to love about each. Arden brings out the depths of character, the rage, the grief,  the flaws and you see them as Kelnaht sees them as his is the point of view of the stories.

Kalnaht is also such a mainstay as well as weaver of the tales and the triad here.  A cloud elf, he demonstrates incredible strengths…of character, of magic, and endurance and yet he too has his moments of fragility.  He is just a stunning main character and, for me at least,  the soul of these stories.

But Arden has surrounded Kalnaht with a  richness of culture. His village, his elders and village guide.  Its healers and its children.  They all play a huge part here and the author has imagined them brilliantly.  They live, work, laugh, and to our heartbreak, sometimes die and we feel everything that happens as though it is real.

And that  brings me to the last story in the series.  Its outstanding.  Full Circle: Forester Triad Act Three (Tales of the Forest, #3) starts off with first one, then another of the village’s children falling ill.  A heartbreaking scenario, especially true when the village has lost their children in the not too distant past. Then it sweeps up our triad, newly back together but keeping it a secret when Ianys’ daughter falls ill as well.  Yes, another mystery to solve, one so close to the heart for all three lovers that it threatens to tear them apart once more.

Arden makes us feel every bit of the direness of the situation, the pain of the parents, the building anxiety of the village as they wait to see whose children will fall next and the mystery as to where the illness is coming from.  You will be there in the square with them as the fear and anger builds, the hopelessness too.  Its such an incredible story because it also is where all the answers to the triad’s problems will arrive and all the history will be finally revealed.  Really, its one of those page turners I just couldn’t put down once I started.  I just love this series. Its amazing.

Love stories about fae and  romance?  How about ones with a mystery thrown in as well?  Here is a trilogy you just shouldn’t pass up.  I highly recommend  A Triad in Three Acts: The Complete Forester Trilogy (Tales of the Forest #1-3) by Blaine D. Arden.  All three stories are  amazing.  So are the covers.  Grab this 3 in 1 volume up and prepare to fall in love three times over.

Cover art by Simone is one of the best covers of the year as are all three of the other  covers of the trilogy.

Sales Links

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Book Details:

ebook, 1st Edition, 309 pages
Published August 15th 2016 by Cayendi Press
ISBN139789082296686
Edition LanguageEnglish
URLhttp://www.cayendi.nl/?page_id=199
Series Tales of the Forest #1-3, The Forester Trilogy #1-3
CharactersKelnaht, Taruif, Ianys

The ForesterLost and FoundFull Circle

 

An Alisa Review: Softpaw (Smilodon Pride #1) by Beryll Brackhaus and Osiris Brackhaus

Rating:  4 stars out of 5

 

SoftpawConnor’s life could have been the dream of any cultured werecat. He is spending his days in Paris’ gay quarter with comfortably little real work, playing the piano, surrounded by art, fine food and good friends. It could have been, if not for a feral vampire preying on the prostitutes of ‘his’ quarter, killing the boys of the Marais one by one.

When Connor invites a newly arrived hooker to stay on his houseboat, the last thing he expects is Michel to be a member of the Brigade Criminelle – a troubled, hunky rookie cop sent undercover to explore Connor’s connection to the murders, picked mostly because he had been a boy of the Marais himself, not so long ago.

Hiding their true nature becomes a problem for both when they realize there maybe is more to their initial attraction. But in order to bring down the serial killer and maybe have a chance at making their relationship work out, one of them will have to
take the first, critical leap…

 

Connor has been living a quiet life in Paris while trying to figure out what he really wants to do with his life.  Connor is surprised when Michel takes him up on his open invitation for a place to stay.  Both hide important information about themselves from the other while opening their hearts to the other.

 

This story is told from both of the main characters’ point of view, which helps to understand them a bit better.  Connor does everything to be helpful to others and do what he feels is right it personally hurts him when the vampire begins its’ killing spree.  Michel wants to do his job, but has trouble believing Connor’s connection to the murders is anything other than coincidental.  When Connor uncovers Michel’s duplicity I could feel how betrayed he feels and how much more determined he is to take care of the vampire.  Connor and Michel get a wonderful HFN ending that they both deserved.  There was a look at the next book in the series and I look forward to reading it in the future.

 

Cover art is nice and portrays the story setting nicely.

 

Sales Link

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Book Details:

ebook, 229 pages
Published: July 14, 2016
Edition Language: English

Series: Smilodon Pride #1

Those Hot August Days and This Week At Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words

 

Those Hot August Days and Nights

In tropical climes there are certain times of day
When all the citizens retire
To tear their clothes off and perspire
It’s one of those rules that the greatest fools obey
Because the sun is much too sultry
And one must avoid its ultra violet ray

The native grieve when the white
Men leave their huts, because
They’re obviously definitely nuts!
Mad dogs and Englishmen
Go out in the midday sun…*

(find all lyrics here)

Mad dogs and Englishmen,written by Noel Coward and also later sung by Joe Cocker, summed up some of what the ancients already knew.  The hot summer skies could drive you batty.  It drove the lions and other predators out of the high mountains looking for water and food, telling the local populace that just by looking up at the night sky and the constellations looking down upon them that it was time to pen up their livestock or bring them down out of their highland pastures.  Or if you were honest like Jane Austen, you wrote this:

“What dreadful hot weather we have! 
It keeps me in a continual state of inelegance.”
  Jane Austen 

But if you look further, our poetry and books are full of lyrics and rhymes where the summer night air is forever perfumed and full of song (its crickets and cicadas, damnit, laughing)  and romance is waiting for lovers everywhere.  The fact that you were sweating away is somehow forgotten.  I sort of love that, since I’m sitting in my air-conditioned room writing this.  Plus, yes, I know, they didn’t know what air conditioning was.  They used fans or what have you.  It was still hot, they napped.  Hot is hot. Dry heat included.  Don’t get me started on Delta Dawn heat.

So before I start in on this week’s schedule I’ll leave you with two contrasting views of summer.  Not that the first author couldn’t write some startling views of humankind, but here he’s in a kinder frame of mind. Then there’s Henry Rollins.

“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”
– William Shakespeare

“The streets lie, the sidewalks lie, everything lies
You can try and read it but you’re gonna get it wrong…all wrong
The summer evenings burn and melt and the nights glitter but you’re gonna get it wrong
And it’s gonna sink its teeth into your flesh and pull you to the bottom.”
– Henry Rollins

Why bring them up?  On August 9th, its National Book Lovers Day.  From William Shakespeare to Henry Rollins, and Jane Austen to Walt Whitman. And in M/M fiction, from Ethan Stone to Devon Rhodes, to Amy Lane and Rick R. Rick and so many more. To any author you have ever loved and read and reread.  Grab up an extra book or two, or three or four.  I know I’m going for that new Harry Potter story too.  So many books.  Plus did you know that Rhys Ford has a new one coming out?  Shhh.  More about that later.  In the meantime, here is our schedule this week.  We have so many release day  reviews, I’m sure you will find books to add to you TBR pile.  Check them all out.

Plus we are still looking for reviewers.  Send us a email at scatteredthoughtsandroguewords@gmail.com if you want to review for our blog.

 

Books lined upThis Week At Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words

 

Sunday, August 7:

  • Those Hot August Days and Nights
  • This Week At Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words

Monday, August 8:

  • Starting New Blog by SC Wynne – Riptide Publishing Tour and Giveaway
  • Confessions by Ethan Stone – author Guest Blog and Dreamspinner Tour
  • An Alisa Release Day Review: Confessions by Ethan Stone
  • A Paul B Review: Crash (Demon Elite 1) by April Kelley
  • A Barb the Zany Old Lady Release Day Review: Starting New by SC Wynne

Tuesday, August  9 – National Book Lovers Day:

  • Nash Summer’s Poison Tongue Book Release Author Blog
  • An Alisa Release Day Review: One Step Forward by Tia Fielding
  • A Barb the Zany Old Lady Release Day Review: Stranger in Black by Devon Rhodes
  • A Paul B Review: Wolf (Demon Elite 2) by April Kelley

Wednesday, August  10:

  • Nine Star Press Blog Tour – To Fight His Heart by Alex Nortan
  • An Ali Release Day Review: Poison Tongue by Nash Summers
  • A Paul B Review: Cosmo (Demon Elite 3) by April Kelley
  • An Alisa Release Day Review: Running Hot by Yolande Kleinn
  • A MelanieM Review: Blind Date by Kay Doherty

Thursday, August 11:

  • Posy Roberts’ North Star Anthology Blog Tour
  • A MelanieM Release Day Review:   North Star Anthology by Posy Roberts
  • An Alisa Review: Safe with You by Catherine Lievens
  • A Paul B Review: Tanner and Shade (Demon Elite 4) by April Kelley
  • An Ali Release Day Review: Spindrift by Amy Rae Durreson

Friday, August 12:

  • Ash by April Kelley –  Blog Tour and Giveaway
  • Review Tour & Release Blitz – Catherine Lievens – Safe With You
  • A Barb the Zany Old Lady Release Day Review: Expanded Hearts by Logan Meredith
  • A Paul B Review: Ash (Demon Elite 5) by April Kelley

Saturday, August 13:

  • An Ali Audiobook Review: Gambling Man by Amy Lane
  • A VVivacious Review: Orientation by Rick R. Reed

 

summer images with book

 

 

 

A Jeri Review: Fight the Tide (Kick at the Darkness #2) by Keira Andrews

Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Fight the TideYou really, really must read Kick at the Darkness first as this is the follow up book. And I am guessing (hoping?) that there will be a book three.

Fight the Tide picks up right where Kick at the Darkness leaves off. Adam and Parker are aboard a sailboat trying to survive. They have no idea where they are really going or what to do. But they want to survive. One day while Adam is on shore getting supplies, Parker is victimized by modern day pirates. Feeling like less of a man, a broken person, he puts on a brave face for Adam. When they hear a distress call, Parker absolutely does not want to help, fearing the worst. But Adam can’t leave these people with 2 children when they are sinking. And so we meet Craig, his daughter Lilly, and Abby and her so Jacob.

This installment is no longer a romantic love story, but one of survival and making your way in an unknown world. In book 1 it was Adam who was untrusting of the world. In book 2, it is Parker. That flip kept this book very interesting. Adam has a whole new “coming out” when he admits to the others that he is a werewolf.

While I really enjoyed this book, it was a bit of a hybrid of The Walking Dead and Waterworld.  There were tears, gasps, sighs and oh my gods. At times I was a bit lost in the sailing jargon, but then on the edge of my seat wondering what was going to happen next. We still get moments of romance between Adam and Parker, but this is far from a love story.

I admit I like book 1 more, but book 2 was a necessary bridge to the story coming for us in book 3. A story I cannot wait for.

The cover is gorgeous and a perfect representation of Parker and Adam and their sailboat, seemingly alone on the open seas.

Sales Links

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Book Details:

ebook, 250 pages
Published July 26th 2016 by KA Books
ISBN139781988260068
Edition LanguageEnglish

Series: Kick at the Darkness – add it to your Goodreads here

Barb, A Zany Old Lady Release Day Review: Fallow (Whyborne & Griffin #8) by Jordan L. Hawk

Rating: 4.75 stars out of 5

FallowFans of the Whyborne & Griffin series will love the fact that this story is principally about Griffin and his relationships in his hometown of Fallow, Kansas, especially his relationship with his mother, Nella.

As the story opens, Whyborne is still struggling with what he learned about himself a few months before when he touched the Maelstrom and realized he is an otherworldly being, and he’s worried about Griff’s reaction as much as he’s worried about not being human. Refusing to tell Griff, he becomes cool and aloof and actually causes Griffin more worry than if he had simply told him the truth.

When a visitor from Griff’s hometown arrives and seeks out Whyborne at the museum, they never get to find out the real reason behind the visit as the man is slain before he can even speak. And he’s slain by a man Griffin recognizes from his hometown. The mystery gets stronger when they discover the man’s roommate, also from Fallow, seems to be afflicted by the same malady as the other man. It’s quickly evident that the couple has to travel to Fallow to find out what’s really going on, and there’s no way Christine and Iskander will allow them to go alone.

In Fallow, they discover a plot to pave the way for the return of the Masters. There’s a mysterious disorder that seems to be spread by the well someone drilled on the land for which the town was named. Due to his gift of second-sight, Griff is the only one who can see the people affected by this malady, and he’s shocked to discover that the woman who married the man he once had sex with is now married to his cousin and is very definitely infected. And—she lives in his mother’s home. The mystery is even deeper than the foursome at first fear, but it appears Whyborne’s usual talents are not able to be used to rid Fallow of the menace. What happens to the foursome, as a group and individually, kept this reader riveted to the book to the end.

A nail-biter like others in the series, this story is highly intriguing, and at the same time, it’s very revealing of Griff’s past relationships and the reasoning behind his eviction from the town. How the author manages to weave such interesting, interwoven, and twisted mysteries always astounds me. In this case, I can only say that I am once again in awe.

Cover art is by Lou Harper who just took over the cover art and is redoing the series. I like it in that it’s colorful, and I like the depiction of Whyborne, though I always liked the previous images which seemed to suit his tall, gangly, awkward personality better. But I don’t like the look of Griffin at all. He seems too slight and too homely to be the man I’ve been reading about for years.

The eighth book in the Whyborne & Griffin series, I very highly recommend Fallow as I have others in the series. Those who haven’t started should pick up Widdershins and catch up to this fascinating series—as soon as possible!

Sales Links

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Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 210 pages
Expected publication: August 5th 2016
Original TitleFallow
ASINB01I2DQORO
Edition LanguageEnglish
SeriesWhyborne & Griffin #8

A MelanieM Review: Seeing Red: Scorched by T.C. Orton

Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5

Seeing Red- ScorchedDown the twists and turns of the London alleyways, where Chinatown meets the highstreets, lies a small venue where unknown rock bands often play to crowds of less than one-hundred.

Isaac is nineteen, living on the sofa of his best friend’s brother – Eric – after his bible-loving parents tossed him aside because of his sexuality. After two years of struggling to make sense of his life, Eric and Charlotte convince Isaac to attend Red’s gig; an up and coming rock band with a small cult following.

All hell breaks loose and Isaac is left injured, with the whereabouts of his friends unknown and his body crippled on the ground. It’s then that the four members – Troy, Nicolai, Kyle and Moss – aid Isaac by infecting him with a ‘magical’ virus that grants immortality in exchange for consuming blood.

The ‘Paranorm’ world is exposed to Isaac. Vampires, werewolves and warlocks lurk in the depths of the city he has lived in his entire life, but he won’t become one with the night until he completes his nine-month transition, leaving him in the hands of the band and at the mercy of vampire politics.

This story is part of the Omega Moon universe, but is a standalone tale.

Seeing Red: Scorched by T.C. Orton represents both a new author and a new universe for me.  I had not read any other books by this author so I was unfamiliar with the Omega Moon universe that this story is set in.  That said, its true you don’t have to have read the other novel to be able to understand or enjoy this vampire tale of romance as it has very little to do with the werewolves of the Omega Moon story except for one thin plot thread.

I think what I enjoyed best about this story was the format and interesting manner in which Isaac is turned into a vampire.  Its not an automatic process but one that takes nine months…sort of like birthing a baby. And it moves forward in increments of time just as you mark it off in a baby’s book.  I liked that sort of progress chart.  Funny, sort of ironic in comparison.  At least I hope that’s what the author was going for.  It marks the changes, inward and outward, that Isaac, really a 19 year old,  has to go through.  And that includes vampire royal politics, his old conservative family who kicked Isaac out, and so much more.  Like puppy love and maybe the real thing.

I very much liked the four members that made up the band Red –  Troy, Nicolai, Kyle and Moss.  Each individualistic enough that I wanted more of each and didn’t get enough  pages of this story to satisfy my need for that.  Kyle?  Adorable.  And Troy?  Yes, another favorite.  Moss…darkness you want to follow down every alley.  But Nicolai?  He is most likely the weakest link here yet that’s the one that Orton pairs Isaac up with.  I just couldn’t see it.

But I won’t spoil the story for so much happens that is coming as Isaac changes and matures.

But what did hold me back? Some of the more florid language.  The pulsating members…yes…the purple prose that turns a sexy scene into something that starts me giggling instead.  Luckily it wasn’t in every sex scene or I wouldn’t have made it through the book, but in enough that I snorted and snickered in certain places when I should have been fanning myself and that brought the rating down.

Still Seeing Red: Scorched by T.C. Orton had some very interesting elements as well as characters that I enjoyed.  Love a vampire romance, like a new twist or two on the vampire culture and romance?  Pick up Seeing Red: Scorched by T.C. Orton and see what you think about his  idea of vampire love and HFN relationships.  Then let me know…I’m curious as to what you think about it too.

Cover art represents Isaac well but this model is everywhere.  Cute but really overused these days.

Sales Links

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 337 pages
Published May 6th 2016 by T.C. Orton
ASINB01F9WHM5E
Edition LanguageEnglish

Barb, A Zany Old Lady Audiobook Review: Treasure by Kim Fielding ~ Narrated by Joel Leslie

Rating: 5 stars out of 5

Treasure AudiobookI first read this fantasy tale in 2014, and I was so impressed I shelved it on my “to reread someday” bookshelf. Well, the time has come, and this time, I had the privilege of listening to the audiobook version and found it even more amazing than the first time I read it.

Julien is a sweet, self-effacing, unpretentious young man who has always been considered sickly by his family so is sent to Urchin Cove for the healing properties of the fresh air along the coast. When the handsome man who washes up on shore turns out to be in need of help, Julien steps in to care for him. After all, he knows all about doctoring, having been a patient for most of his life.

What Julien finds out about himself during the time he cares for Kit Archer is that he’s stronger and more loveable than he ever expected he could be. He and Kit fall in love, and despite the intervention of kidnapping and pirate attacks, they ultimately find a way to be together for a happily ever after that rivals my favorite fairy tales.

The main characters are well sketched and endearing, and the townsfolk are an amazing group of wonderful and varied secondary characters. And the voices? Oh, my! Joel Leslie constantly made me forget that I wasn’t listening to a variety of different people, and the personality he infused into each of them was outstanding.

Take one part amazing author who provides detailed characterizations and one part outstanding voice actor who truly does much more than simply narrate a story, and you have the most excellent audiobook to come along in quite a while.

Audiobook Sales Links

Audiobook Details:

Audible Audio, Length: 4 hrs and 5 mins
Published July 6th 2016 by Self-Published (first published June 12th 2013)
ASINB01HZLFBNW
Edition LanguageEnglish
SeriesDon’t Read in the Closet Events