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A Mika Review:  The Devil’s Ride (Sex & Mayhem #2) by K.A. Merikan

Rating:   5 out of 5

The Devil's Ride coverTooth. Vice President of the Coffin Nails Motorcycle Club. On a neverending quest for vengeance. The last thing he needs is becoming a permanent babysitter for a male hooker.
Lucifer. Fallen. Lost. Alone.

After a childhood filled with neglect and abuse, followed by his mother’s suicide, Lucifer set out into the world alone. There was nothing for him out there other than taking it one day at a time. As the bastard son of the Coffin Nails club president, Lucifer never got much fatherly love. So when the Nails show up at the strip joint Lucifer works in, the last thing he expects is to be put in the custody of Tooth, Nails Vice President famous for his gruesome interrogation techniques. The man proves to be the sexiest beast Lucifer has ever met. He is also older, straight, and an itch Luci can’t ever scratch.

Tooth’s life came to a halt twelve years ago. His lover got brutally murdered, police never found the perpetrators, and all leads were dead ends. To find peace and his own justice, Tooth joined the Coffin Nails, but years on, he’s gotten nowhere with the case, yet still lives on with the burning fire for revenge.
Babysitting a deeply scarred teenager with a talent for disappearing is the last thing on his bucket list. He promised himself to never get attached to someone like him again. To make sure the openly gay boy is safe in the clubhouse, Tooth is stuck keeping an eye on him. The big, blue, attention seeking gaze is drawing Tooth in, but fucking the president’s son is a complete no-go, even when both their feelings go beyond lust.

What Tooth doesn’t know is that Lucifer might hold the key to the closure Tooth so desperately needs.

Tooth is my biker hubby! I have spoken exclusively with Kat about my significant hatred of Stitch. I was hoping that the next biker was still a bad ass but loveable. Well, I asked and boy did she deliver. People, Tooth is amazing in every sense of the word. I loved everything about this book. It was a slow burner for sure. It was very different from book 1 in every way it could be. I kept telling myself that this was a rainbow, fluffy biker book. I loved it, I enjoyed the sentimental side of the story. Seriously, I do not know if I’ve ever read a biker book where the treatment, and judgment of such a club was welcoming. Sure everything was peaches and cream, but I expected the worst and I was shocked how easy it was. I love Luci, he was damaged from his past, but he slowly but surely gave himself over. I honestly was right with Tooth in wanting to protect him. One thing I was worried about was the age gap and I wanted it to be far bigger, I do not think 19-32 was that bad. I was hoping for 40’s to early 20’s but I was happy with what we got instead.

Tooth was careful, trusting, and just downright sexy. From his first moments on the page, I was enthralled with him. Every biker character brought something different. For all of Priests’ misgivings I was proud of him. He was not the father that Luci needed in his earlier life but he was adjusting. I kept thinking of how this big bad biker club in Detroit was going to be okay with a cute blond twink living in the club, nothing dramatic happened. I don’t think the derogatory word “f*&” was used more than once. I am really impressed the level of acceptance that was portrayed by the mc club. I liked the Priest admitted he wasn’t perfect, that was a great viewpoint to put forth.

The romance was hot, and at times really beautiful because of both mc’s history. I do not know how I feel about some of the plot storyline. I think it could have been different, but as it was plausible, it didn’t take away from the story for me. I did not know how I was going to feel with the Satanist route, but again it didn’t take away from the story. Every biker had all Lucifer’s different names. It was funny at times, and I honestly will miss Bell. I hope we get a novella, or another book for them. I’m definitely rooting for these two.

I would recommend this book to everyone. It was not that BDSM heavy, it was hurt/comfort at most. It was Tooth needing to redeem himself because of his past, and Luci needing someone to love him. I would recommend this to lovers of all things bikers, this duo made me fall in love with bikers all over. They showed me that not everybody in the biker world has to be nasty or rude. Some people are accepting of certain things.

Cover Art by Natasha Snow. I loved it. I kept looking at the cover, wishing I could see Tooth’s face. I really think it showed  a visual picture of Tooth, his masculinity while he was really caring and sweet.

Sales Links:    All Romance (ARe)      amazon        buy it here
Book Details:
eBook, 489 pages
Published December 5, 2014 by Acerbi&Villani ltd.
ISBN:
Edition Language: English

Time to Go Nuts with Jackie Nacht’s A Paranormal Chipmunk Christmas! (book tour and contest)

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Book Name: A Paranormal Chipmunk Christmas
Goodreads Link
Author Name: Jackie Nacht

Author Bio:

Short, sexy and sweet— where a little love goes a long way.

That’s the best way to describe Jackie Nacht’s stories. She was introduced to M/M Romance through her sister, Stephani, and read it for years. Then, she thought it was time to put her own stories on paper. Jackie began writing short and sweet stories that ended with a happily ever after.

Thinking back to her own book addiction, where there were many nights Jackie stayed up way too late so she could read just one more chapter— yeah, right— Jackie decided to write short romances for young adults as well as adults. Hopefully, they will give high school and college students, or working men and women something they can read during their lunch hour, in between classes or just when they want to briefly get away from the daily stresses of everyday life.

Where to find the author:

Website: http://www.jackienacht.com
Blog: htttp://www.jackienacht.com/blog
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jackie.nacht?ref=tn_tnmn
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JackieNacht

Publisher: MLR Press
Cover Artist: Zathyn PriestA Paranormal Chipmunk Christmas

Sales Links:    MLR Press LLC

 A Paranormal Chipmunk Christmas Blurb:

It’s time for the chipmunk brothers to take their bear and wolf home to meet the family for the holidays.

A vicious horde of chipmunks? Dallas and Gunner knew that meeting their mate’s family wasn’t going to be a walk in the park. How could it be when they had eighteen brothers and sisters? This bear and wolf are about to be put to the test, surviving this family holiday. Will they be able to escape just the four of them or will they be taking some of the siblings back to White Pine…involuntarily?
Categories: Holiday, Paranormal, Contemporary

Excerpt: Chapter One

Gunner gripped the armrest, stale air brushing over his face from the tiny fan above. He fucking hated to fly, he really did, but the destination was well worth it in the end. His mate, Phillip, sat next to him, smiling out the window as they flew toward Atlanta. Phillip and Nikko had grown up there and their mother had invited him and Dallas to spend the holidays with them. Gunner was all too excited to meet the family of his mate. Phillip talked about them often and Skyped with them frequently. Gunner had talked to a few of them, but he had a feeling that he was ill prepared for meeting eighteen of Phillip’s brothers and sisters.

The plane tilted, and Gunner blew out a breath, feeling his stomach churn, his eyes frantically searching for the tiny bag in the pouch in front of him but coming up empty. The seats had seen better days, and he focused on the tear in the corner of the seat in front of him until the plane leveled off, praying he didn’t throw up in his mate’s lap.

A hand touched Gunner’s sweaty one, and he glanced over at Phillip, who eyed him with concern. “Didn’t you take the Dramamine?”

Gunner swallowed thickly. “I took three.”

“Three!” Phillip shouted in alarm, turning toward him. “You’re supposed to take one, no more than two.”

“I thought…” I was going to crash and die. “Being a bigger guy, it wouldn’t work, and it hasn’t.”

“When did you take it?” Phillip placed his soft hands to his forehead. Silly chipmunk, Gunner wasn’t running a fever, just feeling the effects of motion sickness and fear take hold of him. He might be a bit clammy, but hot he was not.

“Right before we took off, and I’m a big guy. It goes by weight.” Gunner blew out a quivering breath.

Phillip was staring at him, shaking his head as if he’d lost his damn mind. “You’re a doctor…”

“Dentist,” Gunner interrupted.

“You know better. This is going to knock you on your ass,” Phillip hissed at him. Gunner wasn’t sure what Phillip was worried about. His mate should be reading the damn emergency brochure because they were starting to have turbulence.

Oh shit! We’re gonna die!

Nikko stared at them from across the aisle. “What the hell is your problem? It’s not that bad.”

Not that bad.

He was going launch himself out of the seat and choke his brother-in-law. That is if he could unglue his hands from the armrest. Like the pieces of plastic would save him if they plummeted to their death, but the grips were a damn security blanket for him right now, so screw it.

Dallas shook his head from next to Nikko. “He hates to fly.”

“Well, it’s all fun and games until we’re dragging his ass all over Hartsfield-Jackson Airport. You know how big that airport is. Did you hear how much motion sickness medicine he took?” Nikko tattled on him to Dallas.

“They have a train,” Phillip defended him.

Nikko gave his brother an incredulous stare. “Then you carry him to the train yourself. By the time you’re through, you’ll look like fucking road kill.”

CCBadgeTour Dates: December 19th, 2014

Tour Stops: Parker Williams, Gaylist Book Reviews, Cate Ashwood, Molly Lolly, Bayou Book  Junkie, Tara Lain, My Fiction Nook, Christy Loves To Read, MM Good Book Reviews, Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words, Velvet Panic, The Hat Party,  Rainbow Gold Reviews, Love Bytes, Queer Town Abbey, Fallen Angel Reviews, The Fuzzy, Fluffy World of Chris T. Kat, Havan Fellows, Nephylim, Up All Night, Read All Day, Dawn’s Reading Nook, Fangirl Moments and My Two Cents

Enter to win a Rafflecopter Prize: $25.00 Amazon Gift Card. Must be 18 years of age or older to enter. Use the link provided for the entry form and for all additional contest details.

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A Sammy Review: Thunder Snow by Owen Keehnen

Rating: 2 stars out of 5

ThunderSnow_100dpi_cvrJim Franklin lives a life in the closet. With no real connections, he seems to drift as the wind blows him. Where he ends up this time is at Windsor college. He’s got a girlfriend and friends, and while life may not be all butterflies and roses, it’s good enough.

A romantic literature class places Jim and Glenn Martin in each others paths. Glenn is a live-in boyfriend of a rich man. He came from nothing, and now he’ll do anything to hold on to what he’s got.

Snowy nights and alcohol bring them together, but could they also drive them apart?

For the longest time I had trouble distinguishing between a showing narrative and telling one, but this story is the perfect example of full-fledged telling.  Actual dialogue is rare and discussions are often summarized. To make matters worse, there’s no clear point of view, and the story lacks heart.

Within the first few pages I was bored. I didn’t get to know any of the characters, they were all just kind of there. In the end, I didn’t really care what happened to them, but that didn’t stop me from being taken aback with the final chapters. Could the way this ended be more realistic? Absolutely – but the fact is that, like everything else, it was glossed over so easily and without much thought, that it had no effect other than to irritate me.

There was a point in the story where I felt like I was reading the script of a bad soap opera, and I’m sad to say that that’s the impression this book left on me.

So why two stars? Well, there’s a few reasons. The cover art by Wilde City Press is great. It fits the story and was what lured me into reading it in the first place. Secondly, the author must’ve put some effort into the story, even if it didn’t connect with me. And finally, I truly believe that the author has potential. There were some words put together that were lovely, and if you read the bio, it sounds like maybe this author is better placed in a different type of writing – something that isn’t gay fiction for the current M/M fan base. Still, I thank the author for writing the story, and applaud their effort.

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Cover artist:  Wilde City Press.  Just lovely, see comments above.

Sales Links:  Wilde City Press      ARe         amazon             Thunder Snow

Book Details:

Published by Wilde City Press

Release date: 29 October 2014
ISBN: 978-1-925180-58-9
Category: Gay Romance, Erotic, Romantic
Number of words: 15,000
Formats available: ebook only

A MelanieM Review: The Oracle’s Golem (The Oracle #3) by Mell Eight

Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Cover - The Oracles FlameOnce Golem was the proud Dragon of the Earth.  Then the Oracle’s plans for him left him broken and despairing.  In his pain and rage, he left the society he was born into, melding in all ways, including physically, with the mountain they live on. And there the Golem hid deep within its recesses, paying little notice to the passing of years or the actions of the people he came from.

Then one day a child falls asleep in his lap …

That child is Lichen, the gifted problem child of the Earth Caste and he is followed Marl, a lowly Earth caste member who is chosen to look after Lichen and keep him out of trouble.  Marl came out of his testing with only brown dirt and a seed on his back, instead of the more impressive and powerful designs that would have boosted his status and gifts.  Marl has been content to garden and use the gifts he has in gentle ways, including looking after a lonely, intelligent child easily bored with his lessons.

Prodded by the attentions of Lichen and Marl, Golem slowly returns to human form and awareness of the struggles of the people around him.  When the truth of Golem is revealed,  it just might make Marl choose between his duty or the person he has come to love: Oracle or Golem?

Once more Mell Eight has delivered an enchanting fairy tale in The Oracle series, an imaginative and wholly captivating universe.  The Oracle’s Golem is a prequel (in a manner) to The Oracle’s Flame (The Oracle #1)  and The Oracle’s Hatchling (The Oracle #2) as the events that take place in this tale start off in the years preceding those stories.  In fact, Golem is the prime figure in the main drama of The Oracle’s Hatchling, something that the reader will easily recognize early on.

Every part of Mell Eight’s enchanting universe is fascinating and fully developed to include rich details and layers of mythology.  Four castes of Elementals, and which caste you belong to is decided at a ritual testing ruled over by the Oracle.  Where a person falls within the  Caste they are ordained for is revealed by a  tattoo or pattern that appears on their back, much like a tattoo.  Only these tattoos change and come to life.  At the pinnacle of each Caste is a Dragon, whether it be the Dragon of Fire (first story), the Dragon of Ether (second story), the Dragon of Water (still to come) and the Dragon of Earth which is featured here.  Then the levels (and people) drop in status and power and are given names accordingly.

Here is another brilliant element of this author’s universe, the names.  The name corresponds to a element of each person’s caste.  All Earth caste members have names that come from the Earth.  Marl’s name (he is a lowly caste member)  describes the clay and calcium deposits that fertilize soil.  Lichen?  That’s a composite of a number of organisms and has many uses so, yes, high on the scale.  I love how inventive this author is when it comes to naming the characters.  And then there is those fascinating patterns that appear on the back proclaiming each person’s gift and future.  Poor Marl…only a field of brown dirt and a seed, a pattern that makes all the others looks down on him with distain or ignore him all together.  If you find yourself a tad gleeful with anticipation when pondering that design, then this is the book for you.    There are so many layers of meaning to be uncovered and appreciated here.  This is a fairy tale universe for all who love champions, worlds in peril, and unexpected heroes.

Mell Eight’s narrative will draw you in completely into this world and Golem’s pain.  You can almost feel the weight of the earth on top of him as he sits, so a part of the mountain that his appearance is that of stone and soil, just another boulder for a lonely, bored child would use to climb and sit on when escaping his lessons.   Which is exactly how Lichen finds him.   We move from past to present and back again easily, sliding through the years and memories of the characters.

I really have only two issues with this story.  One, it felt that the ending came a little too quickly, and secondly, that rushed feeling made it feel a tad incomplete.  I could have wished for a chapter wherein it seemed like only pages, a slight flaw in my opinion.  But the world and stories Mell Eight has created for The Oracle series is far too rich and complex to let such a small issue pull it down.

You could read these stories out of order but you might find yourself saying things like “pirates? where did the pirates come from?”.  That won’t happen if you read them in the order the author has written and released them.  I love this series and eagerly await the next installment.  Pick them all up today, including The Oracle’s Golem.  It’s the perfect present to give yourself for the holidays.

Cover artist London Burden does a great job of branding this series with the stylized dragons on the covers.  Love it.

Sales Links:   Less Than Three Press  (preorder now)            All Romance (ARe)      links to come      amazon             buy it here

Book Details:

ebook
Expected publication: January 21st 2015 by Less Than Three Press
original titleThe Oracle’s Golem
ISBN139781620045152
edition languageEnglish
seriesThe Oracle #3

Book in The Oracle series:

A MelanieM Review: Otter Madness by Winnie Jerome

Rating: 3 stars out of 5:

All I Want For Christmas Otter MaddnessOtter shifter Bryon is not happy.  His terrible boss wants him to work on Christmas and his mage boyfriend has been distant and uncommunicative lately.  What is an wereotter to do?  Get in trouble, that’s what.  When Byron goes snooping around his boyfriend’s workshop, he accidentally unleashes a second Bryon.  Now with two Bryons on the loose, can his boyfriend Lucas handle two mischievous, highly-sexed shifters just in time for Christmas?

Uh…wow.  Otter Madness is a perfect title for this wild concoction of a holiday story.  It contains nothing less than two wereotters ( should I say one were otter and one wereotter doppleganger), a homophobic boss, a mage boyfriend who is also a Dom, and quite a bit of bdsm toys and kinky sex scenes.  Mix that all together in 27 pages and you end up with a wild mess of a Christmas tale with some very funny elements, some sexy kinky bits and some things that are just so discordant that the story goes awry.

For me the best scenes in this story are the ones with Bryon in his otter form.  Jerome manages to convey the playfulness, the joy, and willy-nilly scatteredness of an otter in motion during these scenes.  But for every scene that reveals just how great it must be to be an otter rolling about in the towels, Jerome then gives us something to shudder at. A homophobic boss who is so unpleasant (calling Bryon and his boyfriend the “f” word and more) that you wonder why Bryon still wants to be employed there. . It’s just such an ugly segment, ok that whole restaurant segment is awful, that I can’t begin to understand why it was included.

Then there is the Bryon on Bryon sex, the D/s relationship between Bryon (and eventually Bryon) and Lucas, that  D/s relationship that never quite works because you don’t get enough of the personalities behind it to make it viable.  Otters are smart, playful, inventive, and high energy.  Submissive?  What is it about Bryon that makes that a part of his emotional makeup?  We haven’t a clue, especially when the second Bryon shows up and doesn’t quite seem to have the same personality even though they are supposed to be identical.  The story just continues on its messy way, dilly dallying over the kinky sex through a story that never quite comes to an end.

A wereotter is a terrible shifter to waste.  The mere creation of such a wonderful shifter elevated this story to a 3 star rating.  It’s antics, in his human form, kept it there.  It’s the holidays.  If any of the above appeal to you, then this is the story for you.  Other than that, treat it as the otter madness it is.

Torquere Holiday Sip generic cover is used, the artist is not given credit in this release.

Sales: Torquere Books        All Romance        amazon             buy it here

Book Details:

ebook, 27 pages
Published December 11th 2013 by Torquere Press (first published December 10th 2013)

A MelanieM Review: Altered States (Altered States, #0.5) by Laura Harner

Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Altered STates coverNew Orleans Police Detective Sam Garrett is having a bad day.  Sam can’t stand working with partners, yet he’s been assigned an aggravating, hot, and most-likely-straight partner, Travis Boudreaux,.  Travis pushes all his buttoms, including the one that says Sam finds Travis seriously attractive, not good when the man in question is straight.

When Sam and Travis are assigned to investigate a string of gay-bashings turned deadly in the French Quarter, the last thing Sam expects is that Travis plans to use him as bait. The worst part? They’ve got no back-up because the rest of the city is preoccupied by another series of killings — the victims drained of blood.

It should be a simple thing to close this case…but this is New Orleans where the deadly, the mystical, and the unknown can combine in lethal ways as Sam and Travis are about to find out.

Altered States started out as a story prompt in the Goodreads M/M Romance’s Love is Always Write, Don’t Read in the Closet Events.  But Altered States was to be a springboard to an addictively absorbing new series from Laura Harner and T.A. Webb.  It all starts with the wonderful creation of New Orleans Police Detective Sam Garrett.  Sam is gay, biracial, and physically slight, or should that be wiry.   He’s complex and not terribly popular down at the Precinct, which is a mixture of characters, not all of which are exactly upstanding representations of the law.

Adding to his woes of too many hours, not enough sleep, and aggravation at work is the fact that Sam has been assigned a new partner.  Travis Boudreaux is more of an enigma, a question mark of a persona that looms larger at the shocking end.  The case they are assigned too is horrific in nature.  Young gay men are being tortured and killed and its up to them to stop it.

Harner and Webb weave a fascinating tale of wary men, unacknowledged appetites, and murder.  Then they overlay it all with a touch of the supernatural when victims in another salacious crime spree start turning up dead, drained entirely of their blood.   It’s a great plot, and that twist at the end is shocking.  I loved it!  So will  you.

The kicker comes at the beginning of the next story that really starts this series, Deep Blues Goodbye (Altered States #1).  That one?  Oh my!  This series is like a bowl of bon bons, once you start in on them, they are so delicious and rich that you won’t be able to stop.  I quite happily read my way through all three available stories and am now anxiously waiting for the next.

Altered States is one of my highly recommended reads as is the series.  Grab it up, along with all the others and drop yourself in the New Orleans world of crime, passion, and the supernatural!

Cover Art by Laura Harner.  Dark, kind of noirish.  Perfect!

Sales Links:     All Romance (ARe) (free)         amazon             get it here

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 41 pages
Published May 27th 2012 by Hot Corner Press
ASINB0086Y9MM4
series  Altered States

Books in the Altered States Series:

  • Altered States (Altered States, #0.5)
  • Deep Blues Goodbye (Altered States #1) by L.E. Harner, T.A. Webb
  • Deadly Shades of Gold (Altered States, #2) by L.E. Harner, T.A. Webb