Tag: A BJ Highly Recommended Read

Cover Reveal for Leythe Blade by Jaye McKenna (cover reveal and excerpt)

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Leythe Blade by Jaye McKenna
Book Release Date: October 26, 2015
Cover artist: Chinchbug

A Guardians of the Leythe Universe story

 Leythe Blade Goodreads Page

Jaye McKenna is here to reveal her gorgeous new cover for Leythe Blade, a new story in her Guardians of the Leythe Universe series.  Luckily for us, a mini interview ensued.  Welcome, Jaye.

  • Fans who’ve read more than one of your series have noticed that they actually all tie together. You recently posted a timeline on your website, but could you talk about how the series fit together? How does Leythe Blade specifically fit in with the others?

The Guardians of the Leythe series, which at the moment contains only two books: Human Frailties, Human Strengths and Human Choices, take place in the earliest period of Aion’s history that I’ve written about so far, a thousand years or so after humans first arrived on Aion. These stories take place in the Westlands, the lands west of the mountain range called the Dragon’s Spine.

Burn the Sky takes place a few hundred years after the Guardians of the Leythe stories, in the years leading up to the first cataclysmic event in Aion’s history, the Wytch War, a conflict between the Westlands and the Kingdoms of Skanda. The story is set in Altan, a small mountain kingdom located east of the Dragon’s Spine.

Leythe Blade takes place perhaps another thousand years after that, when the Wytch War is a distant memory and the Middle Kingdoms have arisen in the lands that were laid waste to during the Wytch War. Leythe Blade takes place in the Middle Kingdoms, and I have a fantasy trilogy planned that takes place only a few years after Leythe Blade. The characters from Leythe Blade all have important roles to play in the Kingmakers trilogy, so you’ll be seeing them again.

The Guardians of the Pattern series takes place some six hundred years after Leythe Blade, after a second cataclysm has pretty much destroyed the population of Aion.

  • How many more books will be in the Guardians of the Pattern series?

The Guardians of the Pattern series will be six books long, so there are three more to come. Wildfire Psi, book 4, should be out in early 2016.

  • Will there be a sequel to Burn the Sky? Who will be featured?

Yes, the Burn the Sky sequel is my next project. I have already outlined the story and I’m planning to write the first draft for NaNo (National Novel Writing Month) in November. This story will feature Kian, Garrik’s close friend from Burn the Sky, and you’ll be seeing Garrik, Ilya, and Prince Jaire again, as they all have important roles in this story. It will take place in the late winter/early spring following the events of Burn the Sky.

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Blurb

Sasha is a healer forced to take on the role of a warrior when his clan is attacked. Trapped in his caravan, the only weapon he can lay hands on is Ryka, the sword that was once wielded by his great, great grandmother. To Sasha’s horror, the blade takes control of his body and turns him into a ruthless killer. Worse, Ryka sets in motion an irreversible process that will bind them together for life — if he can survive the bonding.

Jace is a mercenary soldier, charged with protecting his commander’s brother, Eredwyn, on a journey through the Middle Kingdoms. When Eredwyn’s sometimes-prophetic visions lead them to the dying Sasha, Eredwyn insists that they must save him.

As Sasha struggles to come to terms with Ryka and his need to avenge his clan, Jace finds himself torn between his orders to protect Eredwyn and his growing feelings for Sasha. Can Jace walk the fine line between duty and desire, or will Sasha’s plans for vengeance lead all three men to their deaths?

Excerpt

Jace’s cheeks burned until he was nearly halfway to the lake, and the words he’d said to Sasha wouldn’t stop bouncing around in his head.

I’d like to see you dance, Sasha.

Where the hell had that come from?

No, he knew where it had come from. Right from his heart, without passing anywhere near his brain. He would like to see Sasha dance, but he’d never meant to say so, and certainly not within Sasha’s hearing. The young man had quite enough to deal with as it was.

Still, it pleased Jace to see him beginning to take an interest in things. The air of grief was still there, but since the day they’d taken Sasha to the massacre site, there had been a subtle change in him. He’d started to help with some of the chores, and even joined in when Jace and Eredwyn talked, offering the occasional quiet comment.

Sasha still whimpered in his sleep, though, and Jace wished he could wipe the sadness from those mesmerizing violet eyes, and put a real smile on Sasha’s face.

No, he couldn’t deny — not to himself, at least — that he would very much like to see Sasha dance. And laugh. And he’d most definitely like to see the man smile…

Shaking his head, Jace continued on down the path until he heard something large moving near the shore. He stopped, crouched down, and peered through the underbrush. In the spaces between the leaves, he could just make out a light-colored shape by the water’s edge.

He crept forward and breathed a quiet sigh of relief when the shape resolved itself into a horse, not a soldier or a predator. The white mare stood with her head lowered to drink. Her mane and tail were rough and tangled, but there were a few scattered braids and beads left in both. An Ajhani horse, then, which meant she belonged to Sasha.

“Easy, lady, Easy.” Jace used the same soothing tone he used when speaking to Rakki as he approached her. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

The mare turned her head and gave him a look that Jace chose to interpret as sorrowful.

“Been out here on your own for too long? Would you like to come back with me, pretty one? I can get you fed and get all these dried weeds brushed out of your hair. Come on.”

She snuffled at Jace and allowed him to guide her down the trail toward the shelter. In the stable, he settled her in the empty stall next to Rakki and prepared some feed for her. After she’d eaten, he brushed her down and groomed the tangles and remnants of beaded braids from her mane and tail.

“That’s better,” he said as he stood back to look over his handiwork. “You look like a proper lady now.”

When Jace entered the shelter, Eredwyn looked up from his seat on the floor, where he was sorting bundles of herbs. “That was quick. Did you find us some dinner already?”

“No, something better than dinner. Come, Sasha, come see.”

Sasha gave him a questioning look, but got slowly to his feet. “What did you find?”

“I’ll show you.” Jace led him around the back of the shelter to the stable.

Sasha’s face lit up when he saw the mare. “Dena!”

A long string of soft, lilting words followed. Jace understood none of it, but the mare apparently did. She nickered softly, and when Sasha drew close, she hung her head over his shoulder. Sasha put his arms around her neck and reached up to scratch her, fingers tangling in her blond mane.

“I found her having a drink on the shore,” Jace said. “I wondered if you two might know each other.”

Sasha turned his head toward Jace, still smiling. “She was my Da’s favorite. He’d ride her up and down the caravan line, making sure everyone was all right. She’s the sweetest of all of them.” He frowned then, fingers still working the mare’s mane. “I don’t suppose you’ve seen any more of them?”

“No, I’m afraid not.”

“She would have been tied separately. Da—” Sasha stopped for a moment, and Jace saw his throat working. “He… he kept her by the wagon when we were camped, in case he needed her in a hurry.” He turned back to the mare and murmured softly to her in Djhara.

Jace hung back, taking the opportunity to observe the man. Sasha was slender, and not particularly tall, although he was perhaps a finger’s width taller than Jace. It was his coloring that fascinated Jace, though. The golden skin, violet eyes, and pale, silver-blond hair were an unusual enough combination to make him worth a second — and perhaps a third — look.

Unaware of Jace’s scrutiny, Sasha continued crooning softly to the mare. Jace could have listened to the sound of that deep, husky voice wrapping around those lyrical sounds for the rest of the day.

He didn’t get nearly that long. All too soon, Sasha pulled away from the horse and approached Jace. “Thank you, Jace,” he said softly. “This… it means so much to me. Thank you for bringing her to me.”

Mesmerized by those beautiful eyes, Jace could only stare. When he realized he was staring, he looked away quickly, face flushing. “I… what else would I do?” He swallowed hard, then added quietly, “It’s good to see you smile.”

Sasha didn’t say anything, and when Jace looked up again, his attention was on the mare.

“With her along, we won’t need to limit our baggage quite so much,” Jace said, more to fill the silence than anything. “Maybe… maybe you can pack some of those pretty clothes you set aside this morning.”

When Sasha turned his head and gave him an unreadable look, Jace muttered a curse under his breath and fled.

He should have just kept his mouth shut, and wished he had.

 

 

About the Author

Jaye McKenna icon

Jaye McKenna was born a Brit and was dragged, kicking and screaming, across the Pond at an age when such vehement protest was doomed to be misinterpreted as a “paddy”. She grew up near a sumac forest in Minnesota and spent most of her teen years torturing her parents with her electric guitar and her dark poetry. She was punk before it was cool and a grown-up long before she was ready. Jaye writes fantasy and science fiction stories about hot guys who have the hots for each other. She enjoys making them work darn hard for their happy endings, which might explain why she never gets invited to their parties.

You can contact Jaye McKenna at     Goodreads| Twitter| Website

A BJ Review: The Complications of T (The Actor’s Circle #1) by Bey Deckard

Rating:  4 stars out of 5

The Complications of T coverStuart Leandro is a movie actor who has been taking roles for money rather than art and has recently faced that his marriage is breaking up. One night on the road in a foreign country, he winds up drunk in the gutter. Lucky for him, there’s someone’s there to rescue him before his face ends up plastered all over the tabloids. But is his rescuer male or female? His drunken senses aren’t at all sure, especially after a semi-coherent kiss enters the mix.

When he wakes in a strange apartment the next day, his rescuers gender still isn’t clear. Wary of the motives of the reclusive stranger, Stuart nonetheless can’t deny his curiosity or his attraction. He’s surprised when beneath the mystery, he discovers someone whose life has actually been intertwined with his own for years. But Tim White is unlike anyone Stuart has met before.

Tim’s simple act of kindness soon leads the two men into one of the most intense encounters of both of their lives—but are these two very public individuals willing to weather the media storm their extraordinary relationship will cause?

This story is a bit different than what I’ve come to expect from this author; less dark, lighter and most definitely sweeter. But I enjoyed it immensely.

Stuart and Tim’s romance moved from a strong attraction to sex that sent sparks flying and quickly coalescing into insta-love. It was Stuart’s first gay experience, yet he took it very much in stride. I admired his acceptance and open-mindedness, and the hesitant but determined way he dealt with discovering Tim right alongside experiencing emotions and attractions that were new to him. The sex was light rather than detailed, which actually disappointed me since unlike other trans books I’ve read, it was clear that Tim didn’t eschew taking pleasure by using his remaining female parts.   

After its breakneck start, the relationship slowed down (actually came to a rather screeching halt) at Tim’s request. And I actually liked that. I was enthralled with the hopeful direction it was heading, and then it ended.

Yep, it ended way too abruptly for my liking. I wanted to experience those absence-made-the-heart-grow-fonder moments, wanted their physical reunion right there on the page, wanted to know if the reactions of others that they’d both worried over and dreaded turned out as expected, and if so, how they handled it together. Wanted more.

Sometimes life is all about being in the right place at the right time. Tim White was there just when and where Stuart needed him to be. How he came to be there wasn’t quite clear to me. Coincidence? Or was Tim stalking his favorite actor?

Despite all those nit picks, I couldn’t rate this less than four stars, because I enjoyed Tim’s character so much. His wit, intelligence, self-assurance and strength and low angst level were perfect. And his reclusive lifestyle rang very true to me. And then there’s this:

“You want to know if I have a penis?”

“Yeah,” I confessed, a little embarrassed.

“I do!,” said Tim, but when he saw the look on my face, he just tugged my hair again with a playful smirk. “I was, however, unfortunately born without it, and seeing as what science can offer really, and I mean really, doesn’t appeal to me, I’m forced to keep it in the top drawer of the bedside table. Why? Do you want to see it?”

So yeah, I love Tim, and really, really hope there will be a second book that’s from Tim’s point of view… just as in the F.I.S.T.S. series we got the second from Murphy’s. Please, with puppy dog eyes, can you give me that dear author?

The lovely and sensual cover does this story justice. Love it.

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


Book Details:

ebook, 53 pages
Published August 20th 2015 by Bey Deckard (first published August 18th 2015)
ISBN13 9780994790026
series The Actor’s Circle #1

Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words Author Discovery: BJ on Author Lia Black

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BJ on Author Lia Black

With the plethora of competent m/m authors around these days, we fans have a daunting variety to choose from. I’ve sampled and enjoyed a book or two from hundreds of authors, but there’s only a handful whose books I just can’t seem to get enough of. Their books call my name the second they’re released. Lia Black is one of those authors.

She’s published five m/m novels to date, and I’ve devoured every single one with relish. All were five star reads with one exception that I rated 4.25, not because of the writing… oh, wait a minute, maybe it was the writing. Because what else was it but her brilliant writing that got me so thoroughly invested in (or should I say in love with?) the two main characters that I just couldn’t stand it when they were separated for a portion of the book? The frustration of that separation made me want to scream. And that right there is a key to why she’s one of my favorite authors.

Lia Black’s storylines suck me in; her characters fascinate me; and her writing always works its way deep down into the recesses of my neglected, dusty, middle-of-nowhere heart and plucks at my emotions. Hard.

Lia’s writing is a bit hard to pigeonhole. Her goodread’s author page states that her work is fantasy, sci-fi, LGBT romance. But that doesn’t quite tell the whole story. You see, Ms. Black does tend to live up to her name. There are dark parts in each and every story I’ve read by this author. Sometimes very dark indeed. So, if you want light and fluffy with a cherry on top, you should probably look elsewhere. But if you’re okay with a story that can make you gasp, that can smash your heart into the gutter and step on it, then ever so tenderly and exquisitely rip it to shreds before putting it back together—read on. You won’t be disappointed.

This author’s characters are sometimes broken yet not angsty, glamorous yet sad, weird yet beautiful, extreme and even gross yet still awesome and cool in their own right. Some of them even have long hair (well, what can I say, long-haired men are a thing for me so I had to mention that!)

And her writing makes me feel… a lot. Sometimes that means quivering in disgust and wanting to roll into a ball like a pill bug and hide but being too entranced to put the book down and do it. Sometimes it means aww moments when my heart wants to melt in my chest cuz I’ve just fallen in love with a character she breathed such life into that I have a clear picture of them in my head, not of a generic sexy man that could fit for a character in any number of stories I’ve read, but someone I feel like I could pick out in a crowd… one I could pick up my paint brush and paint a portrait of except I usually don’t, because I wouldn’t do him justice since I paint dogs and not people.

Lia Black’s stories leave emotional paper cuts on my heart. They’re by turns exhausting, frustrating, horrifying, amazing, fascinating, and touching. But always riveting, and always, in the end, healing. Deliciously dark stories that somehow light me up inside.

I think this excerpt from my review of Fidelity sums it up well: “Not for the faint-hearted, one particular scene at the beginning took my breath away with its grisly, shocking cruelty. But amidst the bloody battle scenes, there is humor, small joys, and sweet tenderness. Amidst the dismantling, I was put back together. The ride to get there was gut-wrenching, heartbreaking, and painful to read. I absolutely loved it.”

So if you’re looking for something different, something to expand your boundaries or to touch on places that maybe you haven’t explored, something to make you feel and not always in a fluffy, sweet way—look no further. Read Lia Black. And if you need help picking which of her books to start with, check out the links to my full reviews below.

Oh, I have one other thing to say about her writing, and I really hope she’s reading this. I desperately need to read more.

About The Author

Lia Black tends to do everything the hard way; beginning with being born backwards into the world and now Lia Black Iconraising a teenage daughter by herself in conservative Upstate NY. Her career choices are no less extreme, including occupations of fine artist, computer geek, firefighter, and mortician’s assistant— just to name a few.

A fellow Author describes Black’s mind as “a glorious kaleidoscope of f*ckeduppery”; she loves the challenge of writing about people who probably have no business being together on the same planet, and who occasionally deal with questionable sanity/morality. It’s fun to glue broken things together and try to make something interesting and new.
–She especially loves broken boys who have lots of fascinating pieces.

Her characters often suffer through the worlds she creates for them, which leaves them a little cranky and sometimes less lovable than others in a romance genre. Yet Black swears that someday, “there will be comedy.”

Follow Lia Black at:  Goodreads | Website | Twitter |

BJ’s Reviews of Lia Black’s Novels

Spiretown coverFidelity coverA King's Ransome coverWhere The Willows Won't Grow cover

Goodreads Link                          BJ Review Link

A King’s Ransom                              BJ’s Review

Spiretown                                           BJ’s Review

Fidelity                                               Link to BJ’s Review

Where Willows Won’t Grow          Link to BJ’s Review here

A BJ Review: The Downs by Kim Fielding

Rating:  4 stars out of 5

This story was written as a part of the M/M Romance Group’s “Love is an Open Road” event. Group members were asked to write a story prompt inspired by a photo of their choice. Authors of the group selected a photo and prompt that spoke to them and wrote a short story.

The Downs coverPrompt: Dear Author,
He stood, head bowed, body tense, waiting. No matter what happened next, his life would never be the same…
Please give this man his life changing event, whatever that may be, as long as he ends up with his HEA/HFN by the end. Thank you, Aislinn

This story reads rather like a fable or a dark fairy tale. It’s set in a fascinating dystopian world where those convicted of a crime are taken from the city, across the Reach and pitched over a cliff into the Downs where they are told they are being given to the demons for their pleasure.

Nicely done world building. The story begins with a Entian, a criminal who has been wrongly judged then carted across the desert, brutalized and thrown down a cliff, supposedly to the demons. However, he wakes instead to tender care at the hands of the gentle, scarred giant named Rig. Both of the main characters were intriguing. Although he hadn’t deserved what he got, Entian hadn’t been at all an innocent saint in his previous life. And Rig with his sad past and big, sweet bear personality is lovely. Both of their backstories are very developed for a story of this length.

This story had many elements I enjoy: dark, dystopian, hurt/comfort, scarred/broken characters, and a sweet love story. There is action but for the most part it moves at a steady pace that lets us sink gently into the world and the relationship.

This isn’t only a romance, but a fable-like tale of betrayal, second chances, and vengeance. Little truths sneak out from its pages. Like for example how sometimes it’s the unfortunate events that brings us to the exact place where we find what it is we most needed all along. But Entian’s determined desire for revenge even after he’d created a life with Rig was the one sour note in the story for me. I did end up liking how it played out though. So overall a great story with a sweet and fitting end.

The cover is lovely and uses the actual prompt photograph from the m/m romance group which inspired the story!

Free Story which can be found here.

Book Details: 

book, 95 pages
Published June 10th 2015 by M/M Romance Group @ Goodreads
edition language English
url http://www.mmromancegroup.com/?p=276854
characters Enitan Javed, Rig (The Downs)

A BJ Review: Ghost in the Mythe (Guardians of the Pattern #3) by Jaye McKenna

Rating:  5 stars out of 5 ★★★★★

Ghost in the Mythe coverAs a child, Miko Asada was the only survivor of a jump drive accident on a space transport, and the event altered him forever. Beautiful and unable to speak Miko is a bit of an enigma even to those who know him best. Cameron, the man who rescued him from a life of being shared him as a sexual slave, doesn’t even understand or quite believe him when he speaks (voice synth) of dragons and the Mythe. Alone and misunderstood, Miko is losing his desire to remain a part of the human world… until he meets someone who understands and knows all about the dragons and touches the mythe.

Tarrin Rhivana was an Ajhani Guardian, one charged to protect his clan and its artifacts, but was exiled when he used the mythe to kill a thief and save his closest friend, Vaya. Even his mother, a Dragon Speaker, cannot save him from his fate after breaking one of the clan’s strictest laws. When Tarrin attempts to leave his world aboard a ship belonging to the Sky People, he doesn’t realize that in order to get through jump space, he needs to be drugged. But a beautiful ghost comes to his rescue and Tarrin wakes to find himself on Aurora at the Institute for Psionic Research. And there he learns that the beautiful ghost who saved him is very real.

Tarrin learns that one of the Sky People has bonded to one of the ancient artifacts the Guardians are sworn to protect. Now it’s Tarrin’s duty to return to his clan and convince them of the danger the Sky People represent… even if that means he might be killed for violating his exile before he can deliver the warning.

This is book three (okay, four if you count the short Facing the Mirror) of the series and it’s my personal favorite so far. I’d give this book TEN stars if I could, but since I only have five to give, I wish I could make them all shiny and bright and drape them with tinsel.

First, I’ll touch on the characters because they are the heart of this story. You know how in a series, if you have a favorite character, then you wait with baited breath each novel to learn more about that character and then finally… finally there comes a point where it’s their time to shine and grow and find love. This was that book (well, for Miko… still waiting on my other fav, Draven). We met both of these guys in book 0.5. I was patient, and it does not disappoint. I cannot tell you how much I adored the resolution of Miko’s inner struggles (well, his main one I guess, as he does continue on to have important work in the series).

Miko is a bit of an enigma in the first stories, but that’s because they are from other’s POV and no one truly understand Miko. Which meant the we, the readers, were intrigued but didn’t totally either. In this book, we finally get to be inside Miko’s head. And omgosh was it ever worth the wait. Miko is stunning and every bit as broken as he’s been painted through the eyes of the other characters but he’s also strong and such a pivotal characters to the whole series. Love Miko.

As I was reading all the other books, I’m thinking, who in heck is ever going be able to get through to Miko? I needn’t have feared. Enter Tarrin. The man is a saint… okay, he’s not really. He has his flaws, but he’s just perfect for Miko. I loved them together, love the slow burn of their romance, and their tender, sweet sex scenes. And what brought them together initially? Finally someone could understand and relate to him rather than thinking he was a mysterious, broken, powerful psion who was also a nut job. Which he so is not. The way the author handled Miko and Tarrin’s love story was perfect, and given Miko’s background there was just no other way I could have seen it going. They were beautiful together.

Parts of this book had me in tears, because Miko’s journey toward the end, which I will not give away in spoilers on as you must read it for yourself… its that perfect. It’s about accepting all the parts of ourselves, and I absolutely freaking loved that. So yeah, it had me in tears, I admit it. And I am not a crier.

The plot of this series as a whole is fascinating and so complex. I, personally, think that this series is really best read in order as each builds on the other with a central plot woven throughout. None of them end in cliffhangers. Although we are sometimes left with a little tease after the main conflict is resolved, as in this book. And I eat that shit up.

I feel like I know all of these guys and in nearly each story I meet someone new and fascinating and find myself hoping that we will hear more about him. (In this story, that would be both Tarrin and Vaya… oh, I do love me a lost boys). But I am absolutely chomping at the bit for Draven and have to wait until book six. Huge groan.

Miko first appears in book 0.5 right at the beginning of the series and his journey so far is beautiful. I am so glad it’s not totally over; he does continue to appear in the series as he has a big role.

And the cover by Cinchbug… okay… this is me standing up and cheering because I love that image of Miko so much. Beautiful, alluring but innocent and you can even sort of see the sadness there. Love the colors and the fractals representing the mythe behind him. It’s damn close to perfect.

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

Book Details:

ebook, 331 pages
Published June 6th 2015 by Mythe Weaver Press (first published June 2015)
edition languageEnglish
seriesGuardians of the Pattern

Guardians of the Pattern series
4 authors, 4 primary works

Guardians of the Pattern is a science fiction series in which the line between science and magic blurs. In the galaxy-spanning Federation, psions are still fighting for basic human rights. Some worlds adopt a live-and-let-live policy, but on others, psions are hunted down and murdered because the public fears their psychic talents. When ancient weapons of mass destruction are unearthed on a planet populated by primitive nomads who still believe in magic, psions may be the Federation’s only hope for survival.

Can the people of these two very different cultures come together to prevent disaster? Or will the Federation’s hunger for power trigger a psionic chain-reaction that has the potential to threaten all of humanity?

Guardians of the Pattern Series:

Facing the Mirror (Guardians of the Pattern 0.5)
Psi Hunter (Guardians of the Pattern, #1)
Gremlin’s Last Run (Guardians of the Pattern #2.0)
Ghost in the Mythe (Guardians of the Pattern, #3.0)

Guardians of the Pattern Series in the order they were written and should be read.

 

 

A BJ Review: Winter Kill by Josh Lanyon

Rating:  4.5 stars out of 5

Winter Kills coverFBI Special Agent Adam Darling was moving up the ranks until a mishandling of a high profile operation left someone dead and his career on shaky ground. Now he’s working a serial killer case when him and his partner are sent to investigate a body in the little town of Nearby.

Deputy Sheriff Robert Haskell is laid-back, easy going and a bit of a joker, but an efficient and tough cop. When the town Sheriff calls in the FBI on a cold case, Agent Darling comes to town and him and Rob enjoy an unexpected one-night stand before the man goes on his way. Rob doesn’t figure to see the intriguing man again, but when the curator of a Native American museum is murdered several months later, the Sheriff calls in the FBI a second time and asks specifically for Agent Darling. With the body count rising, it soon begins to appear that they may be investigating more than one serial killer—one past and one present.

There are actually two mysteries here going on at the same time, some cold cases from twenty years prior and some a modern killer. Could the killer be one and the same? Or are have two serial killers made the small town of Nearby their hunting ground?

The beginning of the story happens in the past from a POV that is never revisited (for a very good reason), and then we go to the varying POV of the two MC. That initial different point of view, the time jump, and then the other two points of views threw me off a bit, and I wasn’t sure I was going to like this for the first few chapters. But Lanyon’s writing is excellent as always, so I kept going and it paid off. I was soon sucked in.

The plot/mystery is quite complex. There is a lot going on, at one point almost too much, but it was reeled by in nicely. I enjoyed the setting, winter in a small, rural town, because rural is right up my ‘lives in middle of nowhere’ alley. I also enjoy reading stories with Native Americans and their histories and legends. The tough female cop who had instincts sharp enough to pick up on little things that even Rob had been overlooking was an awesome addition to the cast of characters. And the pairing of the laid-back, somewhat argumentative but humorous Rob with the more uptight, by the book, and troubled-by-past-events Adam worked well for me.

As far as the mystery in this book goes, there is no neatly tied up with bow ending. We do get to know who did what, but the motives, whys and wherefores are not fully explained. Some may complain about it not being scrupulously tied up. But I was fine with it. In real life, I tend to think the arresting cops don’t really get to know all that stuff, especially right away and in a scenario such as this set up. The guys don’t collect all the clues and put it all together to solve the mystery. They start to put bits and pieces together, and then WHAM, events explode and the stakes are instantly high. So maybe later when it comes to trail possibly the guys will find out more, but I accept that they wouldn’t know all that and found it to be just realistic

Towards the end, the focus shifted to the romance rather than tidying up all the loose ends and motives of the crime. The case was over, solved. In their past and time to focus on their own life. YES! I’m all in with that. In fact, the ending was my favorite part, and I don’t want to give too much away. However, I will say that I thought it was sad and yet brilliant the way Lanyon began the book with a hopeful man in love who didn’t get his HEA, and then wrapped it up with a hopeful HFN for the main couple.

There were two things that kept this from being a perfect five for me. First off, most of the sex scenes started off fun but ended as fade to black. Why? I wanted more. And second, for the first time in a Lanyon book, I found editing errors. Gasp.

Oh, and one more thing. I want to ask Josh Lanyon to please tell me the ex named Tucker that Adam Darling mentioned without a last name is NOT Elliott’s Tucker! Tucker and Elliott are a favorite couple.

The cover photo at the bottom gives a sense of place, season, cold; and the photo at top is right in your face–a gun sighted straight on you. ‘Go ahead, make my day.’ it seems to say. And this book might do just that.

Sales Links:   All Romance (ARe)  |  Amazon  |  Buy It Here
Book Details:

ebook, 181 pages
Published May 31st 2015 by Just Joshin
original titleWinter Kill
ISBN139781937909277
edition languageEnglish
urlhttp://www.joshlanyon

A BJ Review: Gremlin’s Last Run (Guardians of the Pattern #2) by Jaye McKenna

Rating:  4.75 stars out of 5

Gremlin's Last Run coverCaptain Rhys Tyler is so sensitive to the feelings and pain of others that it’s impossible to be around them without drugs. A simple human touch can send him into a seizure. As the Captain and sole crew of the Gremlin, he hauls cargo through the emptiness of interstellar space. His ship, left to him by his deceased uncle, is all that’s allowing him to survive… and now the Gremlin is coming to the end of her useful life.

Alek McKinnon is a Federation agent whose latest mission has gone terribly wrong. He’s managed to escape after being kidnapped and used for illegal psi experimentation, but the after effects have left him psi crippled, in pain, and with very limited options available to get home and report to his superiors.

Alek stows away aboard the Gremlin and is surprised when the Captain turns out to be another psion, a powerful empath that has no idea what he is. As the two men struggle to keep themselves (and each other) alive, they form a bond much deeper than either had expected.

This story grabbed me by the throat from page one and would NOT let me go, something I cannot honestly say about very many books. The pacing is outstanding, enough so that it was hard for me to put it down.

Alek and Rhys are nuanced, real, and vividly alive. I’d already met Alek in a prior book, and I adored Rhys from the start. When faced with a stowaway, Rhys’s initial response was to either send him into space or return him to the authorities, but one look at the man’s face as he pleas for his help chances his mind. Not enough that he isn’t still careful though. When Alek discovers that Rhys is an psion and explains it to him, offering him a way to finally live a more normal life, Rhys understandably doesn’t immediately believe him, which I’d expect from his background. But as they work together to help each other, the development of the feelings and trust between them seems natural and right. I adored Rhys. He grew so much, going from being almost suicidal due to his lonely and hopeless existence, to learning to trust and love. And I adored his voice in this story.

By the way, for those who find series in which many people who know each other are gay to be unrealistic, then please read this book. Because yeah, there are a large number of gays in this particular organization, but this author tells you exactly why in a totally believable way that I just adored.

This series continues to draw me deeper and deeper into a fascinating world and the characters that populate it. I’ve read other series that concentrate on one couple in each book with nearly the entire focus being on the main couple and others just cameos, but that isn’t the case in this series. In each book, I’m getting to know new guys, but there are also the old favorites that are still growing and changing. No little snippets thrown in just as an update here. It’s a richly interwoven world where everyone we keep seeing nuances of character revealed that we didn’t see before.

For example, I enjoyed book one, but Kyn was quite an asshat at times and hard for me to love. In this book, I can see the growth in him that has come from accepting himself as he is and also from being in a stable loving relationship over the few years since the prior book. And Luka… wow, he has matured and is now a teacher who is a far cry from that frightened lost boy. Yet he’s the same in all the ways that make him uniquely him. Two of my favorite characters have yet to have their own story, and I can’t wait. One of them was a very bad boy in this book, which gave me some grief, but only intrigues me more. I adore anti-heroes and cannot wait to see the world through his eyes.

The cover shows Rhys on the Gremlin and does a good job of setting the tone of the story.

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

Book Details:
ebook, 299 pages
Published October 20th 2014 by Mythe Weaver Press (first published October 19th 2014)
ISBN139781311912886
edition languageEnglish
seriesGuardians of the Pattern #2.0

Guardians of the Pattern series

4 works, 4 primary works

Guardians of the Pattern is a science fiction series in which the line between science and magic blurs. In the galaxy-spanning Federation, psions are still fighting for basic human rights. Some worlds adopt a live-and-let-live policy, but on others, psions are hunted down and murdered because the public fears their psychic talents. When ancient weapons of mass destruction are unearthed on a planet populated by primitive nomads who still believe in magic, psions may be the Federation’s only hope for survival.

Can the people of these two very different cultures come together to prevent disaster? Or will the Federation’s hunger for power trigger a psionic chain-reaction that has the potential to threaten all of humanity?

Guardians of the Pattern Series:

  • Facing the Mirror (Guardians of the Pattern  0.5)
  • Psi Hunter (Guardians of the Pattern, #1)
  • Gremlin’s Last Run (Guardians of the Pattern #2.0)
  • Ghost in the Mythe (Guardians of the Pattern, #3.0)