Category: Uncategorized

A Lucy Review : Team Luker by Nell Iris

Rating: 4 stars out of 5

What if this is the last time we lie like this?

Uncertainty is keeping Ellery Luker awake at night and robbing him of his appetite. It’s been five days since the love of his life and partner of twenty-five years, Jools, went to the doctor. Five days since the biopsy. Five days of going crazy with worry and whatifs?

What if Jools suffer from the same disease that stole Ellery’s mother when he was just eleven?

What if all Ellery’s worst fears come true?

What if…?

This is a super short (14 pages of content) glimpse into a fearful time for Ellery and Jools Luker.  Team Luker “…since that day Jools told his mother about us, told her that he was gay and that we were serious about our relationship.” We get this in a flashback to how they met and how they really became a team.  Ellery is terrified that the biopsy Jools has had for colon cancer will be malignant.  Ellery is a worrywart but with good reason – when he was eleven his mother died of cancer.  Hard to think positive in that case.

It’s endearing that Jools, the one who is actually facing a possible diagnosis of a life-threatening disease, is the calmer one and the one to calm Ellery down. “And if it is what we fear, Ellery, I fight.  I fight like hell, because I’m not leaving you, you hear?”

While this really is just a scene from their lives, it is a powerful one.  More so for me because my husband and I have been through the cancer battle and I can totally relate to those fears and the feeling of uselessness you have when you can’t help or change things.  The love between these two men shines through.   

I thought the author did a superb job in giving us Ellery’s fears and feelings without making him seem over dramatic.  He seems real and that made this powerful.

Cover art is simple, Ellery and Jools in a quiet moment and I thought it fit perfectly.

Buy Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK | JMS Books | Universal Link

Book Details:

ebook
Published August 3rd 2019 by JMS Books, LLC
ISBN 139781634863476
Edition Language English

Love Listening to Your Love Stories? Check Out the Audio Tour for Out in the Field (Out in College #4) by Lane Hayes (audio sample and giveaway)

Title: Out in the Field

Series: Out in College #4

Author: Lane Hayes

Narrator: Michael Pauley

Publisher: Lane Hayes

Release Date: July 11

Heat Level: 4 – Lots of Sex

Pairing: Male/Male

Length: 5 hrs and 31 mins

Genre: Romance, New Adult, College, Coming Out, Baseball, New Adult, Humor, Opposites

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Synopsis

Max Maldonado loves baseball. He knows playing first base at a private college probably won’t get him to the big leagues, but he doesn’t mind. He loves the game and his teammates. If he has to stay in the closet until he graduates, that’s okay. Baseball comes first. Relationships are complicated anyway. And after his recent messy breakup, Max prefers to keep things simple.

Phoenix Bell is a fabulous theater geek. He’s excited about his recent transfer to a new school with an elite liberal arts program. Life has been on hold for a while, but this opportunity feels like the fresh start he was hoping for when he moved to California. And the chance reunion with the hot closeted jock is an unexpected surprise. The two men have nothing in common and their timing couldn’t be worse. However, when their unconventional alliance blossoms into friendship and perhaps something more, it may be time to make some hard decisions. And perhaps risk it all…out in the field.

Listen to a sample

Meet the Author

Lane Hayes is grateful to finally be doing what she loves best. Writing full-time! It’s no secret Lane loves a good romance novel. An avid reader from an early age, she has always been drawn to well-told love story with beautifully written characters. These days she prefers the leading roles to both be men. Lane discovered the M/M genre a few years ago and was instantly hooked. Her debut novel was a 2013 Rainbow Award finalist and subsequent books have received Honorable Mentions, and were First Place winners in the 2016 and 2017 Rainbow Awards. She loves red wine, chocolate and travel (in no particular order). Lane lives in Southern California with her amazing husband in a newly empty nest.

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Bookbub | Amazon

Meet the Narrator

Michael has well over 50 audio book titles currently available for purchase on Audible.com. He is versed in multiple styles and genres including fiction (novels and short stories) ranging from romance to science fiction to crime dramas to thrillers; business strategy books; health and wellness books; and even an occasional children’s book.

Fans of Michael’s narration are welcome to follow him on social media including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and SoundCloud.

If you are interested in working with Michael to produce your next audio book, you can contact him directly at voice@michaelpauley.info

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It’s Romance and Audio Time! Check Out the Audio Tour and Giveaway for Will & Patrick Wake Up Married Episodes 4-6 by Leta Blake and Alice Griffiths/Narrated by: John Solo

 

Buy Links: Audible US | Audible UK | Amazon US | Amazon UK
 
Narrated by: John Solo
 
Length: 15hrs 45mins
 
Wake Up Married Series


Episodes 1 – 3 – Audible US | Audible UK | Amazon US | Amazon UK

 
Blurb
 

Continue the fun in episodes 4-6 of the soapy serial by best-selling author Leta Blake and newcomer Alice Griffiths!


Episode Four: Will & Patrick Fight Their Feelings


Will and Patrick have embraced adding hot sexy times to their fake marriage, but as their emotions deepen, they confront whether or not they want to be more than friends-with-benefits. The heat is high (and occasionally kinky) as Will and Patrick struggle to accept their mutual affection.


Episode Five: Will & Patrick Meet the Mob


Patrick has finally accepted that he’s in love with Will, but his newfound determination to do something about that runs up against his father-in-law’s mobster plans. Will must face the truth about his family before he can fully come to terms with his feelings for Patrick. And Patrick has to decide if this whackadoodle world is something he truly wants to be part of forever.


Episode Six: Will & Patrick’s Happy Ending


Sure, Will, and Patrick are in love now, but they weren’t when they got married in Vegas. For Patrick, that’s no problem, but Will can’t shake his doubts that a relationship started through coercion can ever become the real deal. Since the Molinaro crime family has reversed their position on divorce, Will and Patrick have a chance to rectify their drunken mistake. But is divorce the right choice for them?

Author of the bestselling book Smoky Mountain Dreams and the fan favorite Training Season, Leta Blake’s educational and professional background is in psychology and finance, respectively. However, her passion has always been for writing. She enjoys crafting romance stories and exploring the psyches of made up people. At home in the Southern U.S., Leta works hard at achieving balance between her day job, her writing, and her family.

 



Alice Griffiths – Facebook | Goodreads

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A Barb the Zany Old Lady Review: Beautiful Trauma (Queen City Rogues #3) by Aimee Nicole Walker

Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Henry is homeless, rejected by his parents for being gay and HIV positive. When he arrives at Ryan’s Place, set up to help teens like him, he finds his potential, and eventually, with a lot of hard work under his belt, he begins classes at community college toward a degree that will ultimately help him pay back all he’s been given. There, teaching his class on Human Sexuality, is the silver fox professor he spent a one-night stand with on his 21st birthday that summer.

Professor Ezra Meyer never expected to see the young man of his dreams again but there he is, front and center, and though Ezra long ago determined he’d never date or fall in love again, he finds Henry hard to resist. The story encompasses their push-pull, on again-off again move toward a lasting relationship with extra drama provided by an old friend of Ezra’s who wanted to be his lover and does everything he can to break them up—including telling Ezra’s department chair—a move that will cost him his job.

Henry is a sweetheart, strong, smart, driven to make it on his own but with a heart as big as he is and that heart is determined to love Ezra. I enjoyed Ezra’s character too, but he did an about-face midway through the story, and I’m not sure if that was on purpose or how the character evolved as the author wrote. He started out somewhat domineering, strong, determined to be alone, all-knowing of the principles of human sexuality and willing to demonstrate. And along the way, he became softer, more romantic, committed to helping Henry and staying with him through the turmoil created by their relationship. In other words, he was soft and mushy by the end and that had good points and bad.

All in all, I enjoy this author’s writing, and though I haven’t read more than 50% of her work, each story has been enjoyable, with great characters, sexy times, and a HEA, and some days that’s all I need. 

A word about the cover by Jay Aheer: not only is the guy on the cover, who is taking off his shirt and tie, a smokin’ hot silver fox who’d catch anyone’s eye, he just happens to be my favorite narrator in disguise as a model. Go, Joel!

Sales Links: Amazon | 

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 234 pages
Published July 18th 2019 by Chasing Rainbows Press LLC
ASINB07V8K98PP
Edition Language English
Series Queen City Rogues #3

Queen City Rogues Series with links to Goodreads

Broken Halos

Wicked Games

Beautiful Trauma

A Lucy Review : Nothing Ventured by Jay Northcote

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

When Aiden agrees to run the Mad Mucker—a twelve-mile muddy slog over an obstacle course—he’s expecting it to be a bit of a laugh. The training will be tough, but Aiden could use the motivation to regain some fitness.

Matt is the sexy cousin of one of Aiden’s coworkers and a last-minute addition to the team. When he agrees to train with Aiden, Aiden suddenly finds the prospect of regular workouts a lot more appealing.

Soon attraction flares, and they embark on an intense physical relationship. Matt doesn’t want to fall in love with a man, and Aiden doesn’t want to fall in love at all, but despite their insistence on no strings, they grow closer. As the day of the race approaches, time is running out for them to work out how they feel about each other.

This story is told from Aiden’s point of view and I have to say I liked him immensely.  The whole “wow, it’s really been that long since I’ve been to the gym?” was all too familiar for me.  It is only a night of tequila with coworkers, specifically Liz (who I also liked so much), that got him roped into do the Mad Mucker obstacle course.  Since I also have completed something similar, I felt his pain as he tried to get out of it.

The team is comprised of coworkers of Aiden and Liz, in addition to Liz’s cousin, Matt.  Matt is super fit, hot and as a personal trainer he knows what he’s doing.  Since he’s so into running and fitness and Aiden is, well, not, Liz teams them up together for training purposes. Aiden is pretty laid back and lighthearted while Matt is much more serious and remote.

They start out being just training partners, moving on to friendly and then friends with benefits.  String free, no hearts involved ever.  Matt isn’t out to anyone (he’s bisexual) while Aiden is out (gay) but has no intention of commitment to anyone, let alone a relationship. 

Both of these guys have baggage from their past but it seems to affect Matt’s life and actions the most.  There were times, especially after they started sleeping together and FEELINGS were starting to happen, that I was so aggravated with Matt.  As Aiden starts hiding his feelings – I mean, come on, Matt changes plans because he’s going on a date with a woman from work and then is “…formal and icily polite” when Aiden says he’s going to see Pete, another friends with benefits. “Aiden felt a flare of irritation.  Did Matt honestly think he was such a sad case that he didn’t have anyone else to spend time with?”   I was glad that Aiden has Pete, though.  Even without the benefits, Pete is a friend and about the only one Aiden can talk to about Matt.  Pete calls him out on it, too as Aiden denies what Matt means to him.  “You falling for someone.  Nobody’s immune.”

It is complicated and it gets awkward at times, with both men fighting their feelings.  The struggles they were both going through were interesting, especially as past history was part of the problem.  They had both been hurt and didn’t trust easily.  It was so heartbreaking at times to see Aiden trying to make himself believe he was okay with casual with Matt, particularly since Matt just doesn’t want more than sex with a man. 

I liked this very much and the whole Mad Mucker just added to the interest for me.  It was somehow fitting that things come to a head at the race, since that’s what started it all.  I would recommend this highly.

Cover art, a running man, in my mind was Aiden and fit the story very well.

Sales Links:

Amazon US: https://amzn.to/2Ye6AFm

Amazon UK: https://amzn.to/2LGRciK

Universal Link: https://books2read.com/NothingVentured

Book Details:

ebook, 142 pages
Published November 12th 2014
Original Title Nothing Ventured
ISBN 163216423X (ISBN13: 9781632164230)
Edition Language English
URL http://jaynorthcote.com/coming-soon/

A MelanieM Review:Sword Dance (Sword Dance #1) by A.J. Demas

Rating: 5 stars out of 5

Five years ago, Damiskos’s brilliant military career was cut short, leaving him with a permanent disability and scars that are not all physical. Adrift and still grieving, he tries to find meaning in an unsatisfying job.

Work takes him to the remote seaside villa of an old friend, where, among an odd assortment of guests, he meets the eunuch sword-dancer Varazda. Enigmatic and beautiful but distinctly prickly, Varazda is the antithesis of the straightforward and serious Damiskos. Yet as they keep getting in each other’s way at the villa, their mutual dislike is complicated by a spark of undeniable attraction.

Then the villa’s guests begin to reveal their true characters and motives—no one here is what they seem—and Damiskos finds himself at the centre of a bizarre web of espionage, theft, and assassination. Varazda may need Damiskos’s help, but not as much as Damiskos, finally awakening to a new sense of life and purpose, needs Varazda.

Sword Dance is the first book in the Sword Dance trilogy, an m/m romance set in an imaginary ancient world, with murderous philosophy students, sex acts named after fruit, and love blossoming in the midst of mayhem.

The first story in a planned trilogy, Sword Dance (Sword Dance #1) by A.J. Demas is an engrossing novel that just happens to encompass the beginnings of a relationship between a eunuch and a retired ex warrior, political intrigue and rebellion, religious intolerance, racial purity factions, and even  same sex love condemnation and slavery differing perspectives.  Not enough?  Add in characters each dealing with their own issues of PTSD.  And this is a fantasy novel.

And an incredible one at that.

The only thing missing here is a map and I sort of wish the author had supplied one of those so I could geographically place the various countries in my mind, otherwise the world building, which I suspect the author will continue into the next story, is superb. From the different cultures to the cities and towns discussed/or used as a setting, it all has the feel of an authentic, well thought out world.  It feels familiar, although it’s a place we will never step foot in. And its peopled with nuanced characters as vivid and believable as the locations they inhabit.

It all starts with our weary, hurting traveler,Damiskos.  His history will unfold along with the story, and as we find out, everyone here has multiple layers to their personage.  Even down to the slaves that serve the Mistress and owner of the Mansion that he has traveled to, their hidden depths appear as the book progresses.  But none so great as with the eunuch Varazda.  His complexities are equal to those of Damiskos, perhaps surpass it.  Their pasts full of anguish, their present full of surprises.

Even with that blurb there are many twists and turns here within this story that I just adored.  It’s full of action and a relationship that’s introspective as well as passionate on its own terms. The author treats the element of Varazda being a eunuch with respect as well as within the culture of this world.  That turns out to mean Varazda’s emotions and feelings about  his physical state and much more.  It’s a sensitive and beautiful portrayal of a person who’s undergone an horrific act of mutilation and survived.

What A.J. Demas does is create authentic, connectable people.  Strong, flawed, wonderful characters, men and women,  who pull you into their lives and this story and make you wish you had the next novel right in your hands when Sword Dance is over.

Because as it ends on the precipice of another journey.  One I can’t wait to take with them both.   If it’s half as splendid as this one, it will be a magnificent tale.

If you love fantasy stories, ones with high adventure and twists and turns you don’t expect?  Pick up Sword Dance (Sword Dance #1) by A.J. Demas.  I highly recommend it.

Cover art: Aud Koch, Cover design by Lennan Adams. Love this cover.  It’s different yet I can clearly see both characters within the moving artwork. Gorgeous.

Buy Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK | Universal Link

Book Details”Kindle Edition, 265 pages
Published July 31st 2019 by Sexton’s Cottage
ASIN B07VPDNCRG
Edition Language English
Series Sword Dance #1

 

Check Out the Review Tour for Nothing Ventured by Jay Northcote

 

Buy Links:

Amazon US: https://amzn.to/2Ye6AFm

Amazon UK: https://amzn.to/2LGRciK

Universal Link: https://books2read.com/NothingVentured

Cover Design: Garrett Leigh @ Black Jazz Design
 
Blurb
 

Mud, sweat, and reluctant romance. Can Aiden and Matt sort out their feelings before race day?

When Aiden agrees to run the Mad Mucker—a twelve-mile muddy slog over an obstacle course—he’s expecting it to be a bit of a laugh. The training will be tough, but Aiden could use the motivation to regain some fitness.

Matt is the sexy cousin of one of Aiden’s coworkers and a last-minute addition to the team. When he agrees to train with Aiden, Aiden suddenly finds the prospect of regular workouts a lot more appealing.

Soon attraction flares, and they embark on an intense physical relationship. Matt doesn’t want to fall in love with a man, and Aiden doesn’t want to fall in love at all, but despite their insistence on no strings, they grow closer. As the day of the race approaches, time is running out for them to work out how they feel about each other.

 Check out Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words review here. We highly recommend it.

Jay lives just outside Bristol in the West of England. He comes from a family of writers, but always used to believe that the gene for fiction writing had passed him by. He spent years only ever writing emails, articles, or website content.

One day, Jay decided to try and write a short story—just to see if he could—and found it rather addictive. He hasn’t stopped writing since.

Jay writes contemporary romance about men who fall in love with other men. He has five books published by Dreamspinner Press, and also self-publishes under the imprint Jaybird Press. Many of his books are now available as audiobooks.

Website
Twitter
Facebook profile
Facebook author page
Facebook author group
Newsletter
Jay’s books

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Check Out the Release Blitz and Giveaway for Team Luker by Nell Iris

 

Buy Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK | JMS Books | Universal Link
 
Length: 5,500 words approx.
 
Publisher: JMS Books 
 
Blurb
 

What if this is the last time we lie like this?


Uncertainty is keeping Ellery Luker awake at night and robbing him of his appetite. It’s been five days since the love of his life and partner of twenty-five years, Jools, went to the doctor. Five days since the biopsy. Five days of going crazy with worry and what ifs?


What if Jools suffer from the same disease that stole Ellery’s mother when he was just eleven? What if all Ellery’s worst fears come true?


What if …?

 

Nell Iris is a romantic at heart who believes everyone deserves a happy ending. She’s a bona fide bookworm (learned to read long before she started school), wouldn’t dream of going anywhere without something to read (not even the ladies’ room), loves music (and singing along but, let’s face it, she’s no Celine Dion), and is a real Star Trek nerd (“Make it so”). She loves words, poetry, wine, and Sudoku, and absolutely adores elephants!


Nell believes passionately in equality for all regardless of race, gender, or sexuality, and wants to make the world a better, less hateful, place.


Nell is a forty-something bisexual Swedish woman, married to the love of her life, and a proud mama of a grown daughter. She left the Scandinavian cold and darkness for warmer and sunnier Malaysia a few years ago, and now spends her days writing, surfing the Internet, enjoying the heat, and eating good food. One day she decided to chase her lifelong dream of being a writer, sat down in front of her laptop, and wrote a story about two men falling in love.


Nell Iris writes gay romance, prefers sweet over angst, and wants to write diverse and different characters.


Email contact@nelliris.com
Web www.nelliris.com
Twitter @nellirisauthor
Facebook page www.facebook.com/nellirisauthor
Facebook profile www.facebook.com/nell.iris.12
Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/nelliris
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/nell_iris/
QueeRomance Ink https://www.queeromanceink.com/mbm-book-author/nell-iris/

 

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A MelanieM Review: Stand In Place by Mary Calmes

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

One summer won’t be enough….

Kaenon Geary was done fighting the small minds in his sleepy Texas town when he made his escape and never looked back. But now, for the first time in more than a decade, he’s returned to Braxton to spend the summer with his beloved grandmother—her final summer—and no longer recognizes the home he’d left behind all those years ago.

Everything has changed.

Everything but the man he’s never stopped wanting.

Brody Scott was the local football hero who became a gridiron champ, but he retired from the fast lane to forge a new life as the Chief Constable of Braxton. He longs to put down roots in the community he is now sworn to protect. Though he’s not at all sure he can protect his heart from the quiet, earnest boy he once knew. The boy who has come back a man.

Starting something would be a mistake. Kaenon plans to fly away at summer’s end, but his love is something Brody desperately wants to have…and to keep. Their days together are numbered. Unless some simple hometown magic can make all the right things bloom and show them the true definition of love.

Stand In Place by Mary Calmes is a sort of fantastical mix of romance, forgiveness, family, and love.   Of all sorts.  Familial, friends, houses, gardens, the land they stand on, and of course, romantic love.  All lightly laced through with the aromas and touch of the mystical and magic.  Had that Practical Magic sort of feel about it….sans the murder mystery of course!

It starts with a phone call to Kaenon Geary from his beloved grandmother, asking him to come spring her from the hospital in his home town of Braxton, Texas.    It’s a phone call he can’t and won’t say no to.  Even though the town is a place he has nothing but bad memories and swore he wouldn’t return.  But it’s his grandmother and there’s nothing he won’t do for her.

The setup here is both heartbreaking and life affirming.  It’s about a journey that both looks back, inward,  and, eventually forward.  And it’s all centered in Kaelen who returns to the family, school kids, town who treated him so horrifically when he came out as gay,  All excerpt for his coach, two best friends and his grandparents and Aunt Peg who he went to live with when his parents kicked him out.

The setup is enough to rend one’s heart.  The impending loss of the last person he considers family, the return to the town who beat him for being his true self, and finally having to deal with all the memories and people Kaenon thought were deeply buried in the past.

Then come the gardens, the fireflies, and the magic.

All of which Calmes swirls around her characters like a witch with a wand.  A narrative one at that.

Kaeon is another one of the author’s golden boys she does so well, here given a glow imbued by a land that missed him so.  I believe in that, totally.    Just as I did in the romance between Kaenon and Brody Scott.   And the forgiveness that followed.  Character by character.

Too soon?  Too much forgiveness?  Others will admittedly hate that Kaenon forgave  so easily perhaps , but within this setting and context. I think the author made her case.

Did I want more?  Yes.  Of Aunt Peg, their relationship, the town, even more of Brody and Kaenon but I’m glad it ended where it did.  I didn’t need it to go past the summer and the vibrant return of the garden.  I was content to leave all three right where they were.  In that small house, facing the garden, savoring the summer night and the magic in the air.

And yes, I highly recommend this story.

Cover art: Reese Dante.  Love that cover, perfect for this story.

Sales Links:  Amazon |

Book Details;

Kindle Edition, 311 pages
Published July 17th 2019
ASINB07VCM4QK1
Edition Language English