Tag: A Jeri Review

A Jeri Review: Jersey Heat by DC Williams

Rating: 3 Stars out of 5

Jersey HeatI have to admit that I requested to read and review this book because it was set in NJ. And I am born and bred Jersey girl. So while it didn’t have a lot to do with Jersey- unnamed city they live in, unnamed beach town they visit (although I could guess), it was still a decent steamy read. I just have to put my Jersey bias aside.

Austin and Carter are roommates in a one bedroom apartment with very little air conditioning in the middle of a heatwave. In an effort to keep cool, they decide to leave super early to hit the beach. There is a lot of flirting and rubbing, but even though Austin is gay and out, Carter is presumably straight, and nursing a cracked- not slight broken- heart after his girlfriend dumped him.

*Cue porn music*  This was definitely not a thinker type book, but definitely more a porn screenplay in book form. There was a bit of story there, squeezed in so it isn’t all sex. It’s a fun, hot short story with zero angst. Which is sometimes exactly what you need.

The cover alludes to the heat, the coupling and the beach. What more could you want?

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Sales Links

      MLR Press Books  

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 61 pages
Published July 2nd 2016 by MLR Press
ASINB01HOW0QJG
Edition LanguageEnglish

A Jeri Review: The Wicked West Collection (Vol 1) by Shannon West

Rating: 3 Stars out of 5

The Wicked West CollectionHot guy on the cover? Sure! Anything to draw your eye, but it was rather generic. Four short stories by one author. And when I say short- I mean short. They all touched on a different “theme” if you will, and while they were ok, the fluff factor is high.

Getting Plugged

This was by far the most out there of the stories. Charlie, while experimenting, gets himself in a predicament and has to call out sick to work. His boss, Trevor, rushes to his aid. Apparently, they had never really spoken before but Trevor  runs to his house to help him out. What could, and should, be a seriously embarrassing situation turns into Trevor alluding to the fact that he is a dom and Charlie is a sub just waiting to happen. Like I said, it was pretty far out there and besides the self love, there was no sex in this short.

Getting Played

I think this was the most promising of the four stories. Twinky office guy at a police station has to take self defense classes ordered by his boss. The super hot detective Zach has been eyeing just happens to be the teacher. And when Zach mouths off, Cole decides to teach him a lesson.

What follows are a series of pretty hot role playing scenarios between the two. The most entertaining and hottest of the 4 stories by far.

Getting Picked

The trope we all tend to fall for- friends to lovers. In this story we have another Cole, a vet returning from war damaged but not broken. His best friend, the seemingly straight Ben, rushes to see him in the hospital.

After being released from the hospital, Cole and Ben kind of dance around their attraction to each other. Cole is out and proud and has loved Ben for as long as he could remember. But every time something happens between them, Ben freaks out. So Cole gives him an ultimatum.

This was the storiest (yes, I made that word up) of the stories. While it is a tried and true trope, I liked that the out gay guy was the one who served in the military, leaving the “straight” best friend home. I actually really liked the story of how they became friends in kindergarten. I would love for this one to be expanded on as a full novel.

Getting Pierced

This one plays more on the Dom/sub. Ross loses a bet and has to get pierced. But not his ears. And he said not to his belly button and nipples. So that leaves…..

And then he runs into his boss at the bar. His hot boss. We get a bit of back story on Ross and Sloane, which was nice and helped the rest of the story flow. Sloane takes control of the situation, and Ross, by basically claiming him there and then.

There is quite an exploration of the beginnings of a Dom/sub relationship here that held a lot of promise. This story also could go quite a bit further.

Sales Links

 

Book Details:

Available June 30th, 2016 exclusively on Kindle and Kindle Unlimited!

Kindle Edition
Published June 30th 2016 by Dark Hollows Press LLC
Edition LanguageEnglish

A Jeri Review: The First Morning After by Marie Lark

Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5

The First Morning AfterDanny got out of his small town as soon as he could. He headed straight for college and never looked-or went- back. Until his best friend is getting married and he has to.

Mitchel was the star baseball player who, while he did not actively bully Danny in school, he sure did nothing to stop it.

Danny has had a crush on Mitchel since forever. And Mitchel has been hiding a very important part of himself. Thrown together at the wedding, Danny takes it upon himself to talk to Mitchel. And when no one is looking, Mitchel hits on Danny.

This entire book was over the course of 2 days. The wedding day and the day after. And although a book with such a short time frame could feel overly packed with superfluous information to get the word count up, I never felt this way. In fact, it definitely kept me turning the pages. Danny has come into his own, unafraid to let the world know he is gay. But Mitchel is the opposite. The glory days of high school are over, he is single and in line to take over his father’s car business, which he hates, and travels to other towns to hook up with men in bathrooms.

You could easily not like either of these characters for different reasons. But I DID like them. Even when they did stupid things. Because people do stupid things. It is what makes us human. Perhaps Danny was a bit too forgiving. Or Mitchel was a bit too closeted and clueless. But together, they really were adorable.

My biggest complaint would be that it was too short. I wanted more. I wanted to see how Mitchel would deal with his sexuality and his job he hated. I wanted to see Danny taking Mitchel out in Philadelphia where no one knew him. So we get a happily for now, but I wanted a happily ever after.

Cover art by Valerie Tibbs.

Sales Links:  Loose id | ARe | Amazon

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 129 pages
Published June 6th 2016 by Loose Id LLC
ASINB01GQN1IR8
Edition LanguageEnglish

A Jeri Review: Wolf, en Garde (Wolf #2) by A.F. Henley

Rating: 3 Stars out of 5

Wolf en Garde Front CoverThree years ago Lyle made a mistake that cost him his freedom, and almost his life. Now, sick to death of watching his father love the man that Lyle wanted, Lyle accepts an offer to leave Wolf, WY behind and see what life in Washington, D.C. can do for him instead.

When Lyle comes across a seductive, attractive stranger with a fascinating yet terrifying view of humanity, he’s more than intrigued. It doesn’t take Lyle long to realize that Arius isn’t just playing games, though, and when Lyle runs across a secret in Arius’ lair he has no choice but to flee, even knowing his actions will enrage Arius.

On the run, with only a psychic’s second sight and his own instinct to help him, Lyle has nowhere to go but home. The only question is, will they have him when he shows up.This book is a follow up to Wolf, WY. In that book father and son shifters were vying for the same man- although that man was only interested in one of them. Fast forward a bit to this book.

Lyle and family head to Washington, DC to visit his dad’s boyfriend’s family. Lyle has never been out of Wyoming and although he is completely uninterested in the “family” part of the family trip- he is beyond excited to see a new place. Even though his father forbade him from shifting while there. But Lyle was never really one to listen. After shifting and sneaking out his first night, Lyle comes across an old vampire who is determined to woo him. Young, impressionable, never out of WY Lyle falls right into his spell. But the vampire has some dark secrets.

So when I started reading the story I assumed that Lyle and the vampire, Arius, were the couple to fall in love against all odds, yada yada. I was wrong. In fact, we don’t meet the man Lyle is going to fall for until about two thirds into the book.

Honestly, this book kind of felt like a super fleshed out outline that was basically just setting us up for book three. Tons of things were left up in the air, too many questions left unanswered. And the instalove between Lyle and BOTH guys (ok, instalust?) was just a bit much.

Why did Arius taunt Lyle about Randy? How was Randy’s dad so clueless about Randy’s mom? Why was Randy’s mom so incredibly cold toward her son?

Too many questions which beg for a book three, but I really don’t know if I will invest my time in book three.

The dark cover with only bright green eyes and a full moon visible is catching, yet not unique for a wolf shifter book.

Sales Links:  Less Than Three Press |  ARe | Amazon

Book Details:

ebook, 254 pages
Published May 18th 2016 by Less Than Three Press
ISBN 1620047748 (ISBN13: 9781620047743)
Edition LanguageEnglish

SeriesWolf #2 settingWashington, D.C. (United States)