Tag: A MelanieM Review

Perils of a Papillon (Fuzzy Love 3) by Tara Lain

Rating: 5 🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈

A series that’s centered around the smarts of a Papillon? One called the Queen of The Universe, aka Batshit Crazy? Love it!

As someone familiar with the breed ( a groomer of mine had 3 he brought to work with him), the author captured their high intelligence and marvelous personality to perfection. Loved the way Lain wove the antics of this wonder dog into her plot of suspense and mystery. With its aspects of academia job applicants , stress/joy of teaching and then the romance with all the characters, human and animal…well, it’s is just so entertaining and quite wonderful.

Animals done well in books always add that extra layer of warmth and layers for me. Here Bat, Harry, and Cat were the perfect characters and plot foils time after time. Paired with their humans, their dynamics allows us a window into each person’s character and sometimes current emotional state, showing us a vulnerability we might not see otherwise.

Cat the abandoned Abyssinian works so beautifully with Jack Sparks, a human being, isolated by history and need. Harry the ingratiating pit bull in love with Bat works perfectly as a foil for the twins, the adorable Toby Albertine and his sister Molly. Toby the twin in need of a fake boyfriend and a real love life. And Batshit the super Papillon who brings everything and everyone together.

Humor is also a lovely part of the storyline, especially with regard to the animals and their association with each other . Bat is after all Harry’s true ❤️.

It’s a fast paced, emotionally satisfying, well written story. And it ties up the 3-book series in a way that everyone will love. Including me.

This is a marvelous story. Read them all and see for yourself which of Bat’s capers come the closest to your heart.

Reviewers And Dog Lover/owners note: Like tv series and movies, a book can make a breed so irresistible that it makes people want one for themselves, without exactly checking out if that breed is right for you and your lifestyle.

Tara Lain does a responsible job here in noting aspects of the Papillon breed that make it not for everyone. They are highly energetic and intelligent. They are territorial, and yes bark…..a lot. Alarm barking, hey look what’s passing by, what’s that sound barking. It’s part of the breed and she had her characters mention that repeatedly, albeit fondly and sometimes with exasperation.

They do outstanding as agility dogs because they need an outlet for that intelligence and energy. Don’t confuse this breed with that of a lap dog. Uh no. 😂

Want to explore more ? YouTube Papillon in agility and Papillon dog facts. They are a fantastic breed….for the right people.

Fuzzy Love Series:

Passions of a Papillon

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50256127-passions-of-a-papillon

Prancing of a Papillon

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54375499-prancing-of-a-papillon

Perils of a Papillon

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58447165-perils-of-a-papillon

Find all your buying options for the series here:

Treble Maker (Perfect Harmony #1) by Annabeth Albert

Rating: 4 🌈🌈🌈🌈

I adore this author and eagerly grab up each new offering as she releases it. Doesn’t matter what trope or character type, I’ll know that the author’s engaging style, her well layered characters and terrific plot will have me deeply entertained and throughly meshed with whatever universe and romance she’s created.

So it was with real interest that I saw a chance to read Albert’s very first story and series. I wanted to see what her first book and couple looks like and how much I could learn about the beginnings of a author I admire.

Here we have the story of a tv singing competition, a cobbled-together singing group and the two wildly different young men in it who go on to romance and hopefully a HEA . One flamboyant, desperately competitive and definitely out gay. The other quiet, from a conservative religious family that accepts he’s homosexual but only within a strict set of guidelines. And away from home for the first time.

That’s the barest story framework. Then Albert works a lovely sort of magic.

All the elements I expect from Annabeth Albert now in her series I can see here. Not fully . Not yet but the rough, lovely start of the complex, flawed people who we will meet in all the stories and series to come.

The messy personal dynamics? Check. The personal growth and self revelation? Check. Here the epiphany and hard choices seem to arrive and resolve themselves too quickly for all the history that both the men have and the sea changes each has to undergo.

But it’s her first book. So yes I get it. All that is a new author, one who’s works will , one after another, settle, show growth themselves, a strength and depth that here glimmers as promise.

Is this still a very sweet and lovely story to read. Absolutely. A must is the list of songs from the author at the end. Don’t miss them or any of the videos she listed. They enrich the story and will make you smile.

So a definite yes. I’m recommending it and will finish the series.

I need to know how it ends. So will you

Perfect Harmony series;

Treble Maker

Love Me Tenor

All Note Long

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6477494.Annabeth_Albert

A Case for Christmas ( The Lords of Bucknail Club #2) by Lisa Henry and JA Rock

Rating: 5 🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈

A Case for Christmas is just plain amazing. Sumptuous in period details, incredibly well written, and so full of clever scintillating dialogue that a review could easily be filled with one quote after another, it’s one to remember.

From the unusual cast of characters, to a twisting, devious mystery, and a romance that the reader is never quite sure is actually going to come together, along with the misgivings , miscommunications, and overall misunderstandings by our main leading men. Both of whom feel genuine and genuinely so completely flummoxed by their feelings for each other that it threatens to derail the investigation and the romance.

All the while the reader is steadily pulled into this universe and relationship. We learn to love the Gales, what a mad, wild, incredible bunch they are, the urchins, even the dogs. It’s the whole of the dynamics here that have you not only entertained but emotionally involved.

I’m so heavily invested in the proceedings that I couldn’t stop reading. I needed to finish and then I was sorry I had because it meant leaving everyone behind before I knew what happened next.

I honestly want more. Another in their story, the next stage, another case. Perhaps a marriage. But definitely more.

After this, you’ll feel the same.

Now for the others in the series. Yes need those too.

Series: The Lords of Bucknall Club

A Husband for Hartwell #1

A Case for Christmas #2

Third story comes out in August.

https://www.goodreads.com/series/316197-the-lords-of-bucknall-club

See above link for buying choices.

A Husband for Hartwell (The Lords of Bucknall Club #1) by Lisa Henry and JA Rock

Rating: 5 🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈

I started this series with the second book , A Case for Christmas, which was Lord Christmas Gale’s rocky path to love. So my introduction here to that complicated character through his friend’s perspective was a welcome one.

I actually enjoyed the backwards path I took. I knew of course the ending and some of the vaguest details ( that of Gales involvement) but of the depth of the plot and the emotional journey both Hartwell and Warry must take before they get their HEA, as well as Warry’s sister, that is rolled out here in a high-spirited and heartwarming tale.

What a rollicking romance it is. Lusty, entertaining, full of moments of sheer anticipation and angst. Plus those elements of humor I’ve come to expect from Henry and Rock. Just a outstanding combination.

Warry is just the right mix of naïveté, selflessness, and honor while still retaining a normal lusty feeling towards sex. Hartwell is a picture of confusion. Family duty conflicting with new or renewed feelings towards the younger Warry, and the troubling prospects of a loveless marriage with Warry’s sister.

It’s all beautifully laid out before us and we are engaged in the characters as the maneuver themselves through and over all the obstacles in their paths to true love and happiness.

I enjoyed everything about this couple and universe. Especially a new viewpoint on Lord Gales. Fascinating.

Now to wait for the release of book 3 in August. It can’t come soon enough. Consider me heavily in love with this series.

Series – The Lords of Bucknall Club

A Husband for Hartwell #1

A Case for Christmas #2

A Rival for Rivingdon #3 – out in August

https://www.goodreads.com/series/316197-the-lords-of-bucknall-club

See the Goodreads link above for buying options.

Review: Fairytale of LaGuardia by Beth Bolden and AE Wasp

Rating:5 🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈

Combine two of my fav authors, Beth Bolden and AE Wasp, and the theme of holiday romance, throw in sports as well and I have to say “Yaaaaaasssss,”! It’s a winner.

We get not one but two sports, MLB and the NHL, in our two lead men, both athletes. One older and thinking of retirement. The other just called up to The Game and on his way to his NHL team.

Two men in flux meeting in a snowed – in LaGuardia in NYC on Christmas Eve and it’s magic.

We are given the pain of upcoming loss and the excitement of a shiny new future. The age difference showing in outlook as well as stages in careers. Poignancy meshes gently with hope and the growing attraction between them.

Everything’s here, the crowded airport, the holiday frenzy, the men felt realistic. As did the relationship that grew unexpectedly along with the feelings that flared up.

And that beautiful ending…. So wonderful and heartwarming. Just what you’re wanting out of a holiday romance. Perfect

Love sports romance? Holiday contemporary love stories? Age difference and just that touch of magic? Grab up Fairytale of LaGuardia and enjoy!

https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/43062575

See link above for buying options.

Elf Defense (Adventures in Aguillon #2) by Lisa Henry and Sarah Honey

Rating: 4.5 🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈

Red Heir would be tough for any tale to follow, not just that rollicking couple but that sheer magnificent whackiness and frivolity of all that great oddity mixed together.

So Elf Defense takes its own path to happiness. Much like the elves themselves, the quest- minded, Houses & Humans playing Calarian and the abrasive, ever rebellious political anarchist Benji, this story is completely different.

Given a quest by Kings Loth and Quen the elves, friends with benefits, set off to solve a mystery of marauding trolls. A quest that goes spectacularly wrong immediately. Enter the gorgeous Lars.

The tale unfolds through alternating POV, the most interesting for me being the prickly Benji. While both Calarian and Benji have known each other for literally ages, they haven’t really “known” each other. Until the events of their quest start multiplying and Lars becomes more to each of them then just an attractive lay and solution to a problem.

Yes, we will get an encyclopedic list of sexual positions, including the reverse double paladin and of course the ever popular dirty alchemist, but we are also given thoughtful, believable character growth. Especially from two young elves and a culture not given towards love or lasting relationships.

While we might miss the guffaws, we are given plenty of heartwarming moments, including some with cows. Many outstanding characters and other couples also follow as well as the quirkiness and weird elements I expect now from this series. None of which I’ll spoil for you here.

But I’ll say that I’ll never look at a certain movie the same again. Just saying.

The authors do give me the laughs similar to those from the first story by including a snippet story at the end. It includes Loth and Quen, Calarian and Benji, and well the gang from Red Heir. Marvelous!

Next up is Dave’s story. I expect it to be as sweet as Dave is. Can’t wait.

Until then, read the engaging, warm-hearted Elf Defense. I highly recommend it

Series:

Red Heir (Adventures in Aguillon #1

Elf Defense

Socially Orcward

https://www.goodreads.com/series/299397-adventures-in-aguillon

See link above to buying options at Goodreads

Red Heir (Adventures in Aguillon #1) by Lisa Henry and Sarah Honey

Rating: 5 🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈

So many things I could quote to use as examples of just what a brilliant comedy romance Red Heir is if Amazon didn’t forbid the use of certain words. Ah well.

Ok I’ll just say it here. Fuckery stool. 🙈🤣🤣 nope can’t go further. My sides are still too sore.

That just means you’ll get the pleasure of reading first hand the sentences and passages that had me in tears! Tears! Holding my stomach, outright guffawing from almost the very beginning of the story.

And once the laughter came it never stopped. The amazing characters, the outstanding plot that’s so full of the oh so well crafted lines that it will have you spewing out whatever you so cluelessly thought to munch on or drink while reading this tale ( big note to you all, don’t eat or drink anything…just saying….you are warned). Also grab a box of tissues if you’re a snotty laugher.

Really it’s as if a great bar joke came to life and suddenly it’s THE tale you always wanted to read full of characters you always wanted to meet (well maybe not Scott ) and it’s perfection!

A elf, a dwarf, a prince, a pickpocket, a orc, a human, and a dragon walk into a bar…. Nope scratch the bar…. But the rest? Priceless adventures and hmmm the encyclopedic mention of sex positions fantastical.

So incredibly well written I’m still laughing at lines as I write this ( and realize I’m going to go back and read it immediately again), the characters so beautifully fleshed out that I can see them all so clearly before me, funny, engaging, sometimes fragile but always full of the unexpected.

And while I was contemplating the ending (which is fabulous) the authors give us the gift of a second book coming in the series. Be still my heart. What a glorious journey awaits.

How I wish I could run around shouting, read this book! Because it, the characters and the authors deserves it.

Btw? My sides still hurt. Well done, Red Heir! I haven’t laughed that hard and long in ages. Love, love this book

Series:

Red Heir (Adventures in Aguillon #1

Elf Defense

Socially Orcward

https://www.goodreads.com/series/299397-adventures-in-aguillon

See the Goodreads links above for all the buying options

Would that it would contain a link to a travel service that would transport me into this universe directly!

Lumber Jacked (a Rainbow Cove novella) by Annabeth Albert

Rating: 🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈 5

Sometimes it takes a new book announcement to get me to remember a series I really like (this author is highly prolific with a great many series I already devour 🙈).

Rainbow Cove is one of those series by Annabeth Albert that sometimes gets lost among the so many popular and outstanding series Albert writes. Solders, gamers, chefs….I crush so hard on her many characters.

So when I saw the upcoming new release Hope On the Rocks (Rainbow Cove #4), I went hmmmm…. had I read the third book in the series. Why no, I hadn’t. And set off to correct that.

Can I say hot? Unexpectedly hot? I don’t remember rope play, extremely well done rope play, in other of Albert’s storylines. It’s been a while so I could be wrong.

But this? Down to the knot variations, apparatus, scene setting, and after care all while making it feel tender, sexy, vulnerable, and such an integral part of a burgeoning relationship? Just amazing on multiple levels,

Rope play, makeup, pink fuzzy sweaters, glitter! Sexy oh my! These men !

A short story with a extra scene that is so necessary but will still leave you wanting more of lumber jack/photog rope Dom Johnny and younger pretty makeup vlogger Cam. Age difference, mild bdsm in that Cam realizes he has a submissive side, one that rope play allows him to express .

People uncomfortable with kink and bdsm should give this story a chance. I think you’re going to surprise yourself by the feelings expressed by Cam, a complete newcomer to being tied up and how moving both the experience and their relationship makes you feel.

Albert writes characters so realistic and layered that you often forget they are fictional as are the town they live in and the issues that confront them. I’m so quickly pulled into their lives and romance that the story is over far sooner than I wish it to be.

Here’s hoping I see them pop up in the next book to come.

Every visit I make to Rainbow Cove and each new couple I meet has been a complete joy. Johnny and Cam were definitely my favorites.

Highly recommended.

Rainbow Cove series:

Trust with a Chaser

Trust with a Twist

Lumber Jacked

Hope On the Rocks (Rainbow Cove #4)- see link below for all the stories and buy links

https://www.goodreads.com/series/210691-rainbow-cove

Review: Bite Me (Kitchen Gods #1) by Beth Bolden

Rating: 🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈 5

Grab a great Chardonnay and a chocolate sweet of your choice before you settle in to read the delightful romance of pastry chef Miles and producer Evan.

Honestly, these stories of Beth Bolden’s just make you want to grab for a wine glass and a bite of something sinful to go along with her heartwarming romances such as Bite Me, Miles and Evan’s tumultuous road to HEA.

As with all of this series books, you get the entire circle of characters from the series included in the storyline as well as the main characters, their backgrounds, and current dynamics.

In this case, it’s the development of the online cooking show Pastry by Miles,with all the elements it takes to develop a successful show. Between that and the rough and tumble romance, Bite Me is a hugely entertaining story with a great couple at its center and recipes to make one drool.

I loved the ending and the epilogue sets up Wyatt for his story and romance while giving Miles and Evan a terrific ending for theirs.

Bite Me is a another winner is a series I can’t stop reading. Love this!

https://www.goodreads.com/series/224661-kitchen-gods

Go above for the complete series ~ all recommended

The Rivalry (The Riptide) Kindle Editionby Beth Bolden

LGBTQ2+ Sports Romance

Rating: 🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈

Romance amongst the men of the LA Riptide Football team! How sexy, endearing, and just outright wonderful it is.

The first in a series, The Rivalry is typical Beth Bolden. Beautifully written, characters of charm and depth, and a story with many layers that grip you from start to finish.

It’s also typical in that along with a love story that engages your heart, the author explores more serious issues of child abuse, parental alcoholism and child abandonment. That’s for starters. But it’s never with a heavy narrative hand but as elements that are revealed through one man’s struggles to achieve happiness and love.

Realistic, painful, and eventually so rewarding to watch as Heath battles through both his emotional and physical trauma. And Sam , there with his own path to tread, needing support in his own battle with insecurity and new position and team.

What a story! What men and couple!

You find yourself cheering, laughing, and crying a bit for both men as they fight their way towards their happy ending. And what a delightful one it is. I could spend books upon books with the Riptide men.

Consider this a fantastic starting point and one I highly recommend.

Books In This Series (2 Books)- both highly recommended

The Rivalry

Rough Contact

by Beth Bolden

https://www.goodreads.com › showWeb resultsThe Rivalry by Beth Bolden – Goodreads

https://www.goodreads.com › showWeb resultsRough Contact by Beth Bolden – Goodreads