Tag: A MelanieM Highly Recommended Story and Series

A MelanieM Review: Deep Edge (Harrisburg Railers #3) by RJ Scott & VL Locey

Rating: 4.75 stars out of 5

One man’s passion, another man’s lies. Can love fix even the darkest of hearts.

Trent Hanson is a figure skating phenom adored by millions around the world. His whole life has been dedicated to the sport he loves even when the sport – and his own family – have turned against him. From the playground to the Olympics to his parent’s living room, Trent has fought against bullies and homophobes to be the out and proud gay man he is. But the constant fighting has left Trent tired, lonely, and skittish. All those fears will have to be shelved though when he’s hired to spend the summer working with the Harrisburg Railers ice hockey team. Who would have guessed that the man fate has decided to pair him off with is Dieter Lehmann, all-around sex god and a man who seems to have everything to prove and doesn’t care who he hurts to get what he wants.

Dieter has spent too many years languishing in the minors and a secret addiction to prescription painkillers means his career is in a downward spiral. His ex is blackmailing him and he’s close to walking away from it all. But when he’s called up in the run for the Stanley Cup to cover injuries he has a taste of what it’s like playing in the NHL and he realizes that a place on the Railers roster is what he wants more than anything. More than listening to his heart, and even more than caring for the infuriating figure skater who gets under his skin. When he crosses the line to get what he wants, he knows he has lost his way. He has to change, but is it too late for both his career and any chance he might have at love?

I’ve fallen in love with this series about the Harrisburg Railers hockey players and the men they love. It has built out from the core couple upcoming hockey star, Tennant Rowe of the famed Rowe Brothers and Coach Jared Madsen (Changing Lines (Harrisburg Railers #1).  Their coming out and romance launched the team into LGBT acceptance and brought in Layton Foxx, the professional to help the Railers with the couple’s coming out to the public and the NHL.  He also found romance within the team, although that’s still a secret (First Season (Harrisburg Railers #2).

And with each story, the characters background has become a little more complicated, and perhaps even layered over with tones of isolation, denial, and abuse. Never does that come more abundantly clear than with Dieter Lehmann, a complex hockey player who’s looking at his last chance  to be the man and player he wants…if he just doesn’t screw it up as he has in the past.  Dieter has been on the edge of our consciousnesses for the last two stories, a vivid irritant of a man who had to come up to be seen.  What a story RJ Scott and VL Locey has for him.

It includes flamboyant, smokey eyed Trent Hanson, a figure skater with his own huge demons to fight.  A tiny powerhouse come to film a reality series amongst the “hockey apes” as he calls them.  Loaded with preconceptions left over from an awful highschool loaded with jocks who bullied him mercilessly, the authors do a beautiful job, first by making this man real and authentic with his story, skating history, and ethnicity (love his grandmother the snippy pumpkin).

So while you could think this is just an opposites attract story, it also includes much  deeper, more serious  layers that speak to addictions, recovery, and therapy.  And does so in a realistic and even gritty manner at times.  For tackling all that, plus the romance, and the continuing overall series arc and pulling them off to a grand effect? Deep Edge (Harrisburg Railers #3) by RJ Scott & VL Locey is a story that’s close to perfect.  Truly with each story this series just keeps getting better and better.  I can’t wait for Poke Check (Stan’s story), to arrive.  

If you love contemporary romance, check out RJ Scott and VL Locey’s Harrisburg Railer’s series.  The writing is great, you’ll love the characters and the plots and there’s more stories to come!  I highly recommend them all.

Cover art by Meredith Russell. Unfortunately not a fan of this cover.  That’s definitely not my idea of Trent Hanson.  Looks like he has two black  eyes instead of the perfectly applied eyeliner he’s known for.  Beautiful and delicate?  Uh no.

Sales Links:

Amazon US | Amazon UK | KOBO | Barnes & Noble | Smashwords 

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 1st edition, 181 pages
Published December 1st 2017 by Love Lane Books Ltd

A MelanieM Review: The Botanist (The Sin Bin #3) by Dahlia Donovan

Rating: 4.75 stars out of 5

When mistaken identity leads a young botanist into trouble, Navy SEALs come to the rescue.

Aled Demers prefers plants over people. He survives an attack in Anguilla alive but emotionally and physically scarred. Back home in Cardiff, he struggles with PTSD and his unraveling life.

Wyatt “Earp” Hardy lives for his SEAL brothers. Retiring from military service brings new challenges for him to face. The last thing he expects is for his next mission to involve falling for the much younger botanist.

If the botanist has the strength to heal, can Wyatt find the courage to love?

If someone wanted a quick introduction to the writing style of Dahlia Donovan and a reason why they should definitely read her stories, then look no further than her novelette The Botanist (The Sin Bin #3).  At 84 pages, it has the emotional heft you would expect of a much larger novel, layered characters and relationships so fully developed that their range and dynamics flow off the page and into your heart.

It starts off with a rescue where Wyatt meet Aled, a victim of mistaken identity.  The result of that leaves Aled a mass of scars, inward and outward, unable to function.  Donovan is able to paint a clear picture of a  man crumbling under the effects of PTSD, it’s painful and you hurt for this gentle young botanist.  So does Wyatt.

This is a gentle story that starts from an act of extreme violence.  Of one man working to free another from the walls of fear and the horrors of his torture that now bind him.  Along the way they fall in love.  It’s the trust, the easing into each others lives, and finally the bravery to go forward…this time in tandem.

This is more a romance, there’s very little actual sex. That makes sense when you consider that most of the story Aled is so damaged that he is not feeding himself.  To have them jump into sex would destroy any authenticity the author is building up between her characters and her readers.  No, the beauty lies in the  conciseness of the narrative and the future unfolding for them both.

You don’t need to read the other stories in The Sin Bin but I absolutely recommend that you do.  The series is about a group of men that  support each other and their partners.  Their lives are intertwined and they make appearances in each others tales.  To read them in order is  to have a great understanding of each man, their “larger family” and back history.  Plus each story is such a wonder in itself, why miss them?

My only reason in not giving this 5 stars is a snippy one, I wanted more.  You will too.

Cover art by Claire Smith is lovely.  I love the Ginko leaf overlay and the faded background that binds all the series together.  Great job.

Sales Links:  Hot Tree Publishing | Amazon

Book Details:

ebook, 84 pages
Published August 26th 2017 by Hot Tree Publishing
ISBN139781925655063
Edition LanguageEnglish
Series The Sin Bin #3

The Sin Bin Series:

1. The Wanderer – BC & Graham

2. The Caretaker – Tens & Freddie

3. The Botanist (short story) – Aled & Wyatt

4. The Royal Marine – Hamish & Akash

5 The Unexpected Santa (short story) – Gray & Scottie

6. The Lion Tamer – Gray & Scottie

7. The Haka Ever After (short story) – Tens & Freddie

8. TBD – Zeb & Silus

Riptide Publishing Tour and Giveaway: Junkyard Heart (Porthkennack #7) by Garrett Leigh

Junkyard Heart (Porthkennack #7) by Garrett Leigh
Riptide Publishing
Cover Artist: GD Leigh

Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words is happy to host Garrett Leigh’s Junkyard Heart tour. Thank you for such a wonderful interview.

~ Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words Garrett Leigh Interview ~

  •  House of Cards featured Calum Hardy and Brix Lusmoore, and Kim Primrose was a part of their story.  Now we have Junkyard Heart, Kim’s story.  How much of that cast returns?

Pretty much all of them. There’s Kim and his BFF/Ex Lena, Lee, Brix, and Calum. Plus new character Jas, and his family. It was a lot of fun to bring them all together again, and add the new faces to the mix.

  •   Since Porthkennack is such a small, ancient village with tight connections everywhere, will those be as visible as they were in the previous story?

Yes. Kim is a Porthkennack native, and Brix’s oldest friend, so he has the same connections and links that Brix had, as well as some unique to him. For example, much of the furniture that comes out of his woodshop is made from materials scavenged on the beaches.

  •    What draws you to write where such a location is as much a character in the story as Porthkennack is?

I was super excited to be invited to write for the Porthkennack series. I’ve never written about a location such as Porthkennack, and unraveling its mysteries was a complex task, especially when there were four other authors to consider. Pulling all our ideas together was awesome.

  •   Would you or do you live in such a small tightly woven community as Porthkennack?  If you don’t, would you like too and why?  If not, why?

I like the idea of a tiny community like that, but I don’t think I’d want everyone knowing my business! That being said, Porthkennack turned out to be far more diverse and welcoming than you might imagine of a small English town.

  •   When you write a character such as Kim who’s a carpenter, how much research do you do into his profession?  Or the professions of all your characters?  Or does sometimes it work in the reverse?  You get interested in a profession and then assign it to a character?

My partner is a jack of all trades, so the carpentry thing wasn’t too hard. He’s also a pro photographer, so that was Jas covered. I usually to pick professions that I have a good knowledge of beforehand. I worked as a chef for many years, and know a lot about tattooing. My brother was in the military, and I know a lot of nurses who work in various hospital departments. I think it’s a dangerous game to set a book in a profession/location that you know nothing about, and getting bogged down in research can really affect your word flow.

  •  How many more stories do you intend to write in this Porthkennanck series?

No more, I’m afraid. To the best of my knowledge, the Porthkennack series is complete.

 

 

About Junkyard Heart

Tired of the London rat race and the heartbreak that comes with it, photographer Jas Manning returns to Porthkennack, the Cornish seaside town where he spent every childhood summer on his father’s farm. Resigned to year-round rain, wind, and homemade jam, he’s sorely unprepared for the impact that artsy carpenter Kim Penrose has on his heart.

Kim’s free-loving reputation precedes him, and he’s as generous with his inked-up body as he is with his time. The sex is hot, the easy friendship even better, and Jas’s time with him building his family’s new farmhouse canteen is everything Jas was missing in his empty city life.

But Kim’s carefree existence isn’t as simple as it appears. He’s worked hard to vanquish his demons and build his dreams, but the devil on his shoulder is ruthless, and when it comes to call, their happy bubble bursts like it was never there at all. The canteen opening looms, but Kim is gone in more ways than one, and it’s down to Jas to shore up Kim’s soul and convince him that he deserves his place in Jas’s heart.

Available now from Riptide Publishing.

About Porthkennack

Welcome to Porthkennack, a charming Cornish seaside town with a long and sometimes sinister history. Legend says King Arthur’s Black Knight built the fort on the headland here, and it’s a certainty that the town was founded on the proceeds of smuggling, piracy on the high seas, and the deliberate wrecking of cargo ships on the rocky shore. Nowadays it draws in the tourists with sunshine and surfing, but locals know that the ghosts of its Gothic past are never far below the surface.

This collaborative story world is brought to you by five award-winning, best-selling British LGBTQ romance authors: Alex Beecroft, Joanna Chambers, Charlie Cochrane, Garrett Leigh, and JL Merrow. Follow Porthkennack and its inhabitants through the centuries and through the full rainbow spectrum with historical and contemporary stand-alone titles.

Check out Porthkennack! http://www.riptidepublishing.com/titles/universe/porthkennack

About Garrett Leigh

Garrett Leigh is an award-winning British writer and book designer, currently working for Dreamspinner Press, Loose Id, Riptide Publishing, and Fox Love Press.

Garrett’s debut novel, Slide, won Best Bisexual Debut at the 2014 Rainbow Book Awards, and her polyamorous novel, Misfits was a finalist in the 2016 LAMBDA awards.

When not writing, Garrett can generally be found procrastinating on Twitter, cooking up a storm, or sitting on her behind doing as little as possible, all the while shouting at her menagerie of children and animals and attempting to tame her unruly and wonderful FOX.

Garrett is also an award winning cover artist, taking the silver medal at the Benjamin Franklin Book Awards in 2016. She designs for various publishing houses and independent authors at blackjazzdesign.com, and co-owns the specialist stock site moonstockphotography.com with renowned LGBTQA+ photographer Dan Burgess.

Social media:

Website: http://garrettleigh.com

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/Garrett_Leigh

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/garrettleighbooks

Cover art enquiries: blackjazzdesign@gmail.com

Giveaway

To celebrate the release of Junkyard Heart, one lucky winner will receive a $20 Riptide credit! Leave a comment with your contact info to enter the contest. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on December 9, 2017. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries. Thanks for following the tour, and don’t forget to leave your contact info!

A MelanieM Review: The Caretaker (The Sin Bin #2) by Dahlia Donovan

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

Who cares for the caretaker when his burden grows too heavy to bear?

Freddie Whittle devotes his life to his cancer patients, cheese, and his overprotective fathers. His big move to Cardiff is tainted by bigot neighbors and a dismal social life. He wants something more but doesn’t know what until he runs headlong into a Scottish-Maori mountain of a man.

Taine Afoa retires from international rugby feeling restless. He left his career behind and relocates for a change of pace. The last thing he expects is to become infatuated with someone who seems far too young and innocent for him. No matter how hard he tries, it’s impossible to get Freddie out of his mind.

Can Freddie handle the intensity of Taine’s naughty sexual desires?

And when the strong alpha male tangles with the playful nurse, will this May-December romance end before it even begins?

The Caretaker is book two in Dahlia Donovan’s international bestselling gay romance series, The Sin Bin. Each one features hot rugby players and the men who steal their hearts.

The Caretaker is the second story in Dahlia Donovan’s Sin Bin series revolving around a group of retired rugby players and the men they love.  While the name the sin bin refers to the penalty box in the game, here it evolves into a bar named appropriately The Sin Bin, owned and managed by the group.  Freddie Whittle is a character we first met in The Wanderer.  He played an important part in the cancer treatment and recovery of Graham Hodson, one of the main characters there.  Freddie stood out, even as a secondary character and you just hoped that meant he was coming back to get his own romance.  Now here it is.

His romantic match is Taine Afoa, a part Scottish, part Maori retired rugby player who is one of the aforementioned group.  He’s older than Freddie, an element other characters need to work through.  Taine’s has an unusual history of being abandoned as a baby, raised by a local priest, and has a hamster as a beloved pet.  So many layers to this kind man.  A lot of kinks as well as we find out as the story proceeds.

He’s the perfect match for Freddie, a man burdened down by two overprotective fathers (think smothered), a job that comes with heavy grief of losing clients you get close to, and neighbors who seem to be constantly attacking him because he’s gay.  He needs a huge rugby player in his life and gets one.  This is a wonderful romance to watch happen, no instant love.  Just a recognition that they work together as a couple and want to see what happens in the future.  It’s a HFN ending with a story with a HEA coming up further down the series.

I love that sort of realism that Dahlia Donovan deals with here. We see Freddie’s job and it’s effect on him up close. The maturity and strength it takes to handle that job.  Things aren’t perfect, unfortunate or bad things happen to people and they learn to deal.  This is a grownup look at life and romance.  It’s refreshing, realistic, and wonderful.

The sex scenes are wonderful kinky (erotic spanking) and very hot!  It matches the chemistry between Taine and Freddie perfectly.  I thought I had my favorite couple of the series down but Taine and Freddie kept growing on me until I have to admit they are right at the top too.  I can’t wait for their HEA book to arrive, that would be The Haka Ever After.  See the entire list below.

I love this series and all the characters that Dahlia Donovan has created for it.  They are so human, some broken, some brave, all intelligent, quirky, and multidimensional.  Throw romance into the mixture and this series has an unbeatable combination.  It’s one I highly recommend, including The Caretaker.

Cover art by Claire Smith is perfect, and contains an important element of the story.  Great job.

Sales Links:  Amazon

Book Details:

ebook, 244 pages
Published July 8th 2017 by Hot Tree Publsihing
ISBN13 9781925448924
Series The Sin Bin #2
The Sin Bin Series:

1. The Wanderer – BC & Graham

2. The Caretaker – Tens & Freddie

3. The Botanist (short story) – Aled & Wyatt

4. The Royal Marine – Hamish & Akash

5 The Unexpected Santa (short story) – Gray & Scottie

6. The Lion Tamer – Gray & Scottie

7. The Haka Ever After (short story) – Tens & Freddie

8. TBD – Zeb & Silus

9 The Blacksmith (novella) – Ivan, Rolly, & Wes

A MelanieM Review: Texas Gift (Texas #8) by R.J. Scott

Rating: 5 stars out of 5

A gift for every single reader who said they needed to know what happened next for Jack and Riley…

When Hayley arrived on the steps of the D, Riley and Jack knew life would never be the same.

Told through Riley and Jack’s eyes, this is ten years in the life of their family and watching Hayley grow up, fall in love, and start her own life. Hurricanes, illness, babies, happiness, sadness, work, play, the barn, the office, horses, friends, enemies, and above all love.

Texas Gift (Texas #8) by R.J. Scott is exactly that, a wonderful gift to all of her readers, myself included, who fell in love with Riley and Jack from book one of her Texas series.  Through seven stories, starting with The Heart of Texas, we have been through heartache, blackmail, murder, misunderstandings, accidents, illnesses, adoptions, and so much more.

We’ve watch their love grow from a business deal wedding to a deep abiding love that spans decades and expands to include children and friends cobbled together from all walks of life.  It’s been such an amazing journey.  It’s included  Max their autistic son, a character that RJ  Scott has  handled with such joy and loving authenticity that Max was at first both a poignant yet quietly awesome young man, someone we loved from the moment he entered their lives.  Of course we watched Hayley grow up and then there’s the twins as well.

Now in Texas Gift we get to see what happens…watch the years go by.  Hayley goes off to college with the appropriate parental meltdowns.  The twins grow up and we get to see what adulthood has in store for them…prepare to have your tissue boxes nearby. There are family crises, some of the other characters we have come to love over the course of the years at the DoubleD Ranch also  go through some life altering changes that will gladden your heart.  Texas Gift is like sitting down on a  couch with your family with their family albums and going through it with them as they tell you the stories from each picture, pointing out every loving detail with laughter, some sniffles and oh, so much joy.  It fills your heart with happiness and a warm glow because you’ve made such a connection with these men and their family over the course of these stories that they feel real and part of you.

Now as RJ Scott  closes the final chapter on Texas we get to see their whole story…what an amazing journey, what a marvelous gift. You’ve left me smiling and full of heartwarming memories.  I’ll miss you.

Cover art by Meredith Russell is absolutely perfect, framing out Riley and Jack when they were young and their family. Sniffles.

Buy Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK | Barnes & Noble | Smashwords

Book Details:

ebook, 180 pages
Published November 12th 2017 by Love Lane Books Ltd
ASINB077DJB1K8
Edition LanguageEnglish
SeriesTexas #8

Texas Series

Book #1 – The Heart of Texas – Amazon US | Amazon UK

Book #2 – Texas Winter – Amazon US | Amazon UK

Book #3 – Texas Heat – Amazon US | Amazon UK

Book #4 – Texas Family – Amazon US | Amazon UK

Book #5 – Texas Christmas – Amazon US | Amazon UK

Book #6 – Texas Fall – Amazon US | Amazon UK

Book #7 – Texas Wedding – Amazon US | Amazon UK

A MelanieM Review: Lucky (Twirled World Ink #4) by J.M. Dabney

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

 

Welcome to Twirled World Ink where the crazies run the asylum.

When someone was asked to describe crazy, if they knew Lee “Lucky” Trenton they’d point at him. Accident prone and without a filter of any kind to tell him to shut up before he says something inappropriate he’s no one’s idea of a perfect partner. Growing up with parents who subscribed to a philosophy of Radical Honesty Lucky and his siblings were doomed from the womb. Lucky found a home away from home at Twirled World Ink, but he didn’t just find a place to belong. He’d found Priest.

Matthew “Priest” Beall ran away from his judgmental family the second he’d earned the money. He’d come in search of Gib Phelps a legend in the tattoo industry. If you wanted to learn the craft, then Gib was the man to beg an apprenticeship with, and he’d begged. Priest might have left the violence of his past behind, but when he closed his eyes it came back to torture him. The only place he felt safe was when his best friend Lucky let him sleep in his arms. He wanted more, but he didn’t think he deserved it.

Priest left his family behind without regret only to find a new one with the crew of Twirled World and the super weird Trenton family. Could he grab onto his new life or would the memories of the past ruin the happiness he’d gained?

Among tortured souls, Priest is up there among the top of J.M. Dabney’s abused characters.  A gentle, sweet bear of a man, he’s been one of the walking wounded for three books now and with Lucky’s story we get his.  In every series, every novel, Lucky and Priest almost devolve into one word because to get one is to get the other.  It’s been that way from the moment Priest stepped into Twirled World Ink and felt safety within the friendship and arms of Lucky.

Lucky and his family are so far outside any box of definitions that I can’t begin to imagine how J.M. Dabney cobbled them together.  They blow my mind in a totally great way.  From mother and dad to Lucky’s siblings, dress, house and the Radical Honesty (absolute openness about sex) that the family practices, this is a family that makes an indelible impression.  On the readers and on Priest.

What happened to Priest is not addressed in details outright, thankfully, but it’s impact on him emotionally, mentally, the nightmares, inability to sleep etc., is dealt with in a sensitive and responsible manner.  There is no instant miracle recovery, but therapy and respect for Priest’s boundaries which I thought authentic and made me love this story more.

It had to be included in any move forward in a relationship between Lucky and Priest and it was.

Lucky too has a few obstacles to overcome in his pursuit of Priest, and he needs advice and support from his family, and “crew” of friends all around him who care just as much for Priest.  That’s the thing about these books, it is a tapestry of characters that you’ve come to love.  They come together for each other in everyone’s novels, none of them feeling like a secondary cast member, but full fledged believable person.  Violent yes, a bit on the psychotic side at times, damaged, wonderful men.  And now their kids and partners.

I loved seeing Lucky and Priest get their HEA.  It was a wonderful, heartwarming story.  It ends the first series and with Twitch and Crave dancing around here sort of launches us into the Brawlers series that follows it.    I highly recommend this story, this series, and all the wonderful series that follow it.  Check them all out below.

Cover art by Reese Dante can do no wrong.  That’s Lucky to a T.  Perfect!

Sales Links:  Amazon

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 152 pages
Published February 14th 2017 by Hostile Whispers Press, LLC
ASIN B01N9D55XR
Edition Language English
Series Twirled World Ink #4
Characters Lee “Lucky” Trenton, Matthew “Priest” Beall
setting Powers, Georgia(United States) 

A MelanieM Review: Scary (Twirled World Ink #3) by J.M. Dabney

Rating: 4.75 stars out of 5

Welcome to Twirled World Ink where the crazies run the asylum.

Gene Sheridan earned the appropriate nickname when Legend Gib Phelps employed him at Twirled World Ink—Scary. No one made it out of his old neighborhood without scars both mental and physical. At one time, Scary thought he had a chance that is until his ex-boyfriend discovered slumming with someone like him wasn’t worth his trust fund. No-strings hookups became his go-to when he needed to relieve some tension. Co-owning a bar called Brawlers with his best friend, Tank, made it easy to find a body to use for the night. If not happy he was content with his life, but one man made content seem like such a terrible thing.

Elijah Vaughn worried about everything. His life was put on hold at eighteen when his mostly-absent parents died on one of their many adventures leaving him to raise his six-year-old brother, Brody. He’d never had anything or anyone that was just his. When Brody met a tattoo artist named Trouble, Elijah hadn’t realized how much it would change his life too. He met a huge man named Scary and how the man made him feel terrified him.

Tank Davis lost his voice the night he was attacked and had this throat slit ear-to-ear. It kept him in a world of silence. Silent and intimidating, he scared off more men than he drew to him. His best friend Scary and him made a life for themselves in small town Georgia with their bar Brawlers. Most night everyone could find him working security at the door. Scary called in a favor, and Tank met the one man he couldn’t resist, proper and upstanding Elijah Vaughn.

Can one man accept that there’s not one perfect man for him, but two damaged souls who need him to be whole?

These three men get referred to as the first threesome throughout the second and third series because there is another triad that arrives late in Brawlers.  But the strength of the bonding and relationship you find between Scary, Tank and Elijah here often makes you forget, even later on, that another threesome even exists.

The power of Scary (Twirled World Ink #3) by J.M. Dabney lies in the enormous ability of Dabney to create such vivid, strong, damaged men and then launch them and their lives  directly into our hearts.  Triply so here with Scary because the  dynamics that have to be worked out involve relationships multiple ways.  Scary and Tank have known each other as friends for years, they have shared men separately but when their attraction to Elijah threatens their old arrangements and perhaps more, something needs to change…quickly.  And then it proceeds to change even further into an area neither was aware they wanted or needed between them.

While these old friends are redefining their friendship, Elijah is there in their midst trying to figure out how he has jumped from no boyfriends and commitments to two and a family. Elijah is also working through major life changing issues, not just his romantic ones.  Every element here feels believable and authentic. We get multiple povs, a staggering amount of supporting secondary characters (Twirled World Ink characters and Brawlers characters) none of which are superfluous.  When one man is hurting and confused, you feel it in your heart, when Tank starts to withdraw from his men because of certain events and guilt, you feel every bit of his pain.

That’s due entirely to the superb writing and depth of characterizations you find here.  And with every detail and new additional character (such as Juvie, how I love Juvie, a foster child whose role I won’t reveal) I found I just wanted more. More of Princess, all of the other people that make up this gritty, wonderful world.

There is one couple left in this series. That would be Lucky and Priest in Lucky (Twirled World Ink #4).  Then the wait is on for King, the third book in the Executioners series.  Be here with me for Lucky, that’s next!  For now, I absolutely recommend Scary for everyone who love romance and gritty, hardened men finding their HEA, this one times three.

Cover art by Reese Dante.  That cover is perfection.  First Scary, then Tank, then Elijah.  Each one exactly as I have them pictured in my head.  Gritty, dark perfection.

Sales Link:  Amazon

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 196 pages
Published January 17th 2017 by Hostile Whispers Press, LLC
ASIN B01N5B9YX6
Edition Language English
Series Twirled World Ink #3
Characters Gene “Scary” Sheridan, Tank Davis, Elijah Vaughn
setting Powers, Georgia(United States) 

A MelanieM Review: Trouble (Twirled World Ink #2) by J.M. Dabney

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

Model perfect Jimmy “Trouble” Carver had never heard the word no. Tattooed, sexy and the quintessential bad boy Trouble had men falling over themselves to get to him. What people didn’t know about him was he was self-conscious even if life was easy for him. He’d started out as an apprentice at Twirled World Ink after college and never looked back. Trouble was exactly where he wanted to be, although there was one speed bump, his crush refused to go out on a date.

Brody Vaughn worked in a dead-end job, barely making it from paycheck to paycheck. He didn’t have much time for anyone other than his five-year-old daughter Mina and besides he’d never quite found a place in this world he fit. Chunky and average, that’s how he felt, except for when Trouble came into the grocery store where he worked. The flirty, gorgeous man asked him out every week with a sexy smile, but Brody had to refuse. It wasn’t as if he wanted to say no, it was just how could he date a man Brody knew he had no business trying to keep.

The Crazies of Twirled World Ink excel at one thing, matchmaking, and they are determined their resident bad boy would get his man. They just had to make sure that neither Trouble or Brody screwed up their plan.

Out of J.M. Dabney’s enormous cast of amazing characters you know there are just some that you latch onto more than others, just a tad more…and you do it immediately.  For some reason, something about them just resonates with you, making you want to hold them closer, want to get to know them better, and yes, see them to their HEA.  Trouble is one of those for me.  Full name Jimmy “Trouble” Carver, someone who may look perfect on the outside but feels so broken inside where it counts.  Even when you meet him in other stories, he drifts around in your consciousness waiting to pop up again.  Now you get his story.

Trouble is a dichotomy on two feet, and just the sort of character that J.M. Dabney delivers so realistically and so well.  Everything about Trouble is guaranteed to shift any judgements you may make about him.  Beautiful, tattooed, he looks, if you are judging him,  as though he should have everything.  Looks are deceiving. One reason being because his family has delivered enough punishing, brutal judgements of their own, enough to break him.  Dabney makes us feel the impact on Trouble of that familial abuse, not just his past upbringing but the continuing, constant stream of mistreatment that comes from that direction.  It will not be what you expect.

And from person judged by his physical looks to another character who has a problem with his body.  That would be Brody Vaughn, who can’t  see how much he shines because of the way he looks at his body image.  Getting them together is a wonderful journey of mind, and heart, and bravery.  Plus a little girl called Princess (how she gets to be called that is part of the charm of the story).

Trouble (Twirled World Ink #2) by J.M. Dabney is a tale that has such depth as it deals with body image, emotional and familial abuse  and still be such a wonderful love story, adorable child and Twirled Work Ink crew included.  I love this series and all the series that come after it.  See the links I’ve listed below.  I absolutely recommend them all, including this one.

Cover art by Reese Dante (old cover above). Honestly, while I like both  covers, the one here just speaks to me.  That’s Trouble looking right at you.  Be still my heart.

Sales Links:  Amazon

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 132 pages
Published December 13th 2016 by J.M. Dabney
ASINB01MXU41P4
Edition LanguageEnglish
SeriesTwirled World Ink #2
Characters Jimmy “Trouble” Carver, Brody Vaughn settingPowers, Georgia (United States)

New Cover (reedited version)

A MelanieM Review: Jackalopes & Woofen-Poofs (Offbeat Crimes #5) by Angel Martinez

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

Hoax animals and a consulting vampire on the prowl—Jason never thought having a cop boyfriend would be this hard.

All Animal Control Officer Jason Shen ever wanted was a quiet life of rescuing lost kittens and helping animals in need. Having a paranormal cop boyfriend guarantees an end to the quiet part. What at first seems a random encounter with jackalopes in the park might be more than chance and when State Paranormal sends a handsome, charming vampire to consult with the Seventy-Seventh, he finds his relationship with Alex on shaky ground.

Officer Alex Wolf hoped his humaning skills were improving but now he can’t unravel the strange politics at State Paranormal or why Jason’s family seems to hate him. There’s no time to puzzle things out either. Bizarre animals are loose in the city, Jason’s acting strange, and is the vampire captain from State flirting with him? Wolf’s going to have to keep his head in the game if he’s going to have any chance of putting the pieces together and keeping the city safe from the strange critters terrorizing its streets.

You know I’m running out of adjectives here.  I’m going to have to start to resort to the sort of thing like making up words to go along with the made up animals like the Jackalope here and the Woofen-Poofs, among others.  Angel Martinez’s minds a fantabulous place.  Scary, mind-blowing definitely but one I always want to visit with.  Here we return to that hard-working Precinct the 77th and its Paranormal Unit.  Animals are popping up all over and attacking people, animals that don’t exist in nature…like jackalopes.  There’s only one squad to do the investigating.  And since one of their own was on the scene of the first attack, that should help..right?

Officer Wolf is one of many great characters here.  An actual wolf cursed to be human, he’s dealing with his boyfriend’s unfriendly family, a new case he doesn’t understand, and a new vampire supervisor who’s confusing him. Jason Shen isn’t happy with any of those elements either.  The author is juggling one of the weirdest supernatural romances around (believably so), making us understand a wolf trying to understand human while being a wolf, and continuing an overall series arc that keeps getting more series all the time while maintaining its humorous elements.  And blowing our mind with her creativity while doing it.

Nothing like loving falling down the rabbit’s hole.

Once more the characters are outstanding, here we are dealing with an established couple having “normal” couple issues but with a supernatural twist, along with a case that has implications far beyond just the ones it seems to present.  Angel Martinez never does things simply narratively speaking. Jackalopes & Woofen-Poofs (Offbeat Crimes #5) and all the other stories in this series showcase that on a high worbly way! So there!

I’m addicted.  I admit it.  But these definitely aren’t stand alone stories.  You need to go to the first stories and start building your foundation knowledge of the beings/people/couples and overall series arc.  Trust me, you won’t want to miss out on a book once you’ve started.

Cover art by Posh Gosh works for the story elements.

Sales Links:  Pride Publishing | Amazon

Book Details:

ebook, 225 pages
Published October 3rd 2017 by Pride Publishing
ISBN139781786516367
Edition LanguageEnglish
Series Offbeat Crimes #5
setting Pennsylvania (United States)