Tag: A MelanieM Review

A MelanieM Review: Blind Date by Kay Doherty

Rating: 3.75 rounded up to 4 stars out of 5

Blind DateDekker Callan is content with his life though he knows something is missing. Wanting the kind of love his friends share with their partners, Dekker is talked into taking part in a modeling and dating show as part of a fundraiser. He immediately falls in love with the anonymous, sexy voice on the other side of the wall, but fate has a surprise in store–his mystery man isn’t single.

Slade Gannon wasn’t supposed to take part in the dating show. That spot was for his roommate, Phil, who becomes ill and asks Slade to take his place. Slade has just recently gone through a breakup with his cheating boyfriend, George. Shocked and pleased when he wins the interest of handsome Dekker Callan, before he can go on the obligatory blind date, his ex asks for a second chance. Believing Dekker can’t possibly be as good on the inside as he looks on the outside, Slade agrees.

Dekker and Slade hit it off immediately, drawn to each other despite Slade being involved with someone else. They finally get their opportunity to be together when Slade finds out his boyfriend is still cheating, but just as they seem to discover the happiness they’ve been waiting for, George throws them one last hurdle—and this one may prove to be insurmountable.

Blind Date by Kay Doherty was an enjoyable fun contemporary romance, that starts off with a blind date that goes incredibly right and then incredibly wrong.  What fun!

Dekker Callan’s best friend talks him into a charity modeling show and sort of Dating Game fundraiser.  I thought this was a nice element and its handled with a light and sexy touch by the author.  You don’t get to see the men just as Dekker doesn’t.  Just here their questions and listen to Dekker’s mention descriptions of their voices and how they make him feel.  Delicious.

Then comes his choice and date, Slade.  Its going well until both the reader and Dekker find out that Slade went back to his cheating ex, something that makes us all extremely unhappy.  Then the waffling begins.  Will Slade go back permanently or won’t he?  Will Dekker will out or won’t he?  Dekker is such a terrific character that its a bit of a no brainer here.  He’s charming,outgoing, owns his own Adult Toy Business.  Yes, he’s a catch.  Plus he’s gorgeous.  Slade however is someone I wished had a little more…gumption or backbone or something.  I’m not sure what exactly. But the dithering here lasted a little too  long in several passages for me to be completely on Slade’s side.  This is without spoilers.

However, love is not without bumps and larger hurdles, and this author gave this couple their fill.  They survived them, and their romance and ending came together just as it should.  I got to see Dekker happy and his Slade and that’s all that counted in the end.

Did I enjoy this story? Absolutely.  I went to check to see if there were other stories about the secondary characters here because they were so entertaining and worth their own tales.  Did I find any? No, but I hope that means that this first time author is intending to bring more stories out, starting with this circle of friends I thoroughly adored.  I can’t wait to see what Kay Doherty writes next.

Cover art is vibrant and eye-catching although a little too generic for me for the storyline.

Sales Links

NineStar Press

 

 

 

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Other Links to Follow closer to release date

 

 

Book Details:

ebook, 113 pages
Expected publication: August 29th 2016 by NineStar Press
ISBN139781911153757
Edition LanguageEnglish

 

A MelanieM Review: Lime Gelatin and Other Monsters (Offbeat Crimes #1) by Angel Martinez

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

limegelatinandothermonsters_800Kyle Monroe, his irritating new partner, and their fellow freaks at the 77th Precinct must learn to work together to stop a vicious murderer that might not even be human.

Kyle Monroe’s encounter with a strange gelatinous creature in an alley leaves him scarred and forever changed, revealing odd abilities he wishes he didn’t have and earning him reassignment to a precinct where all the cops have defective paranormal abilities.

Just as he’s starting to adjust to his fellow misfit squad mates, Kyle’s new partner arrives. Tall, physically perfect, reserved, and claiming he has no broken psychic talents, Vikash Soren irritates Kyle in every way. But as much as he’d like to hate Vikash, Kyle finds himself oddly drawn to him, their non-abilities meshing in unexpected ways. If they can learn to work together, they might be able to stop the mysterious killer who has been leaving mutilated bodies along the banks of the Schuylkill.

Previously published, I somehow missed this the first time around and now got to enjoy a new adventure into the creative mind of Angel Martinez with Lime Gelatin and Other Monsters, the first in her Offbeat Crimes series.  Its another wild lollapalooza of creatures and mysteries thrown together and it starts with the 77th Precinct, also known as the “Island of Misfit Freaks”.  Its the precinct where any paranormal cop with a non-useful talent gets stuck, aka…the reject pile.  One cop can hear the unhappiness of waterfowl, another? Well, they’re not sure what he is or does.  He just is.  One’s a ghost who’s job is to maintain coffee pot and he’s bad at it.  And so it goes at the 77th Precinct.  Then we arrive at our main couple.  Kyle Monroe, on the short side, although he maintains he’s average who absorbs any paranormal talent nearby without control.  And Vikash Soren who’s at first reticent about why he’s been transferred…until he connects with Kyle and all hell breaks loose.

Half the fun and the charm of a Angel Martinez story is the inventiveness and down right quirkiness of the characters involved.  A cop that hears the unhappiness of waterfowl?  Thats sort of amazing and something I can picture as are all the other inhabitants of that Island of Misfit Freaks.  I grew downright fond of them all as the story progressed and I got to know them better.  Another?  The mysteries, murder cases actually, that the squad must investigate.  Often horrible, its a wonderful avenue for personal exploration for the reader as well as for themselves.  And it works beautifully here.  I enjoyed seeing the case being solved as much as I enjoyed the romance progress too.

As this is the first in a series, its a HFN which is fine.  There is so much more exploring to do as far as the Precinct and the characters go.  I can’t wait.  If the supernatural, the paranormal, murder mysteries, and romance is something you are looking for, here is a story that combines all of them to my delight.  That its written by Angel Martinez just seals the deal.  I highly recommend it.

Cover art by Posh Gosh really doesn’t relate as well as it should to the story line.  Its just ok.

Sales Links:  Pride Publishing | Amazon

Book Details:

ebook, 2nd Edition, 91 pages
Expected publication: August 16th 2016 by Pride Publishing (first published May 24th 2015)
ISBN139781786514691
Edition LanguageEnglish

SeriesOffbeat Crimes #1, Tales From The 77th Precinct

A MelanieM Review: Beta Test (#gaymers #2) by Annabeth Albert

Rating: 4.75 stars out of 5

Beta TestPlayer vs. Player. Fight!

Brilliant graphic designer Ravi Tandel is ahead of the game—he’s just been asked to present a top secret project at a huge conference in Seattle. All systems are go…until he learns his buttoned-up office nemesis is coming along for the ride.

Tristan Jones isn’t really the gamer type, but he knows the back end of the video game business inside out. Together, he and Ravi will give an awesome presentation. If they survive the cross-country trip first.

Tossed together in close quarters, Ravi’s shocked to see Tristan’s sexy, softer side emerge from such a conservative shell. He’s less shocked to learn his handsome colleague’s prominent family would never support an out-and-proud son. But Ravi didn’t struggle through his own coming out to hide who he is now. To be together, Tristan will have to push past his fear and ultimately decide: Does he want a future with Ravi? Or is it game over before they’ve even begun?

A rock solid fan of Annabeth Albert, the first story in this series, Status Update. also made me one of the series.  It couldn’t be helped really.  The series theme was a hook.  Gaymers?  You bet.  Plus Albert then went on to delight/frustrate me by creating a game that was both real enough that I could believe in it yet couldn’t download it and play the heck out of it.  That would be the popular videogame, Space Villager.  So I couldn’t wait to see where the author was going to take this series, and potentially, the game next.  My answer was Beta Test, a story I loved almost as much as the 5 star story that preceded it.  It was only a tiny smidge less, barely noticeable.

Geoarchaeologist Noah Walters and video game designer Adrian Gottlieb of Status Update are a hard act to follow-they had dogs (and we run into them again here) but once again Albert creates two layered, flawed and absolutely interesting men to connect with.   We meet both of them on their first day in the employee conference room at Space Villager.  And two more difference men upon appearance you couldn’t ask for.  Ravi is gorgeous, outgoing, graphic designer…so vibrant he leaps from the page.  Tristan is all tightness, awkwardness personified, and walled in.  The buttons on his shirt should probably go over his head he’s so buttoned up.  Yet, he’s also so appealing in his need to be there and his fears are understandable even if they don’t show to his colleagues.  The fact that we know these two will find each other starts the anticipation building.  Which brings up a plus for me.

I’m a huge fan of the slow ride to romance and love which Annabeth Albert does so well.  No slam bam thank you sir…which is fine too btw.  But I love the long path to relationships, the figuring things out, the slip-ups, the two steps (or more) back for every one going forward.  And yes, there’s plenty of that here, with both mens backgrounds and families. In the first book, and again here, its a road trip that serves to cement the men together.  Albert has either been to these places (most likely), done her research or both and its shows.  Wait ’til you visit Weed with Ravi and Tristan!  But its so much more. Its the game, its the pulling together for the show, and other employees…who also feel as real as everything else in this outstanding story.

My only complaint?  Annabeth Albert is making me wait for the next story in the series!  I want more.  More of these couples.  More of Space Villager.  More most certainly of this terrific writer whose stories flow so effortlessly from page 1 to the end, keeping me captivated, hooked on the couple and game right up until the last period.

Love contemporary romance?  Annabeth Albert?  Any combination of those?  Pick this and the story that starts the series up.  I love them and highly recommend them both.

Cover is terrific and perfect for the story.

Sales Links:   | Amazon

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 178 pages
Published May 30th 2016 by Carina Press
Original TitleBeta Test
ASINB014PG5A0Y
Edition LanguageEnglish
Series #gaymers 

A MelanieM Review: Kissing Alex (Bodyguards Inc. #6) by R.J. Scott

Rating: 4.75 stars out of 5

Kissing AlexMartial arts expert Lewis is the kind of bodyguard who slips under most people’s radar. Quiet, reserved, but constantly on alert, he’ll do his job, keep his charges safe, then relax by reading Shakespeare in his spare time.

When he’s given a case involving a spoiled celebrity singer, Lewis isn’t all that impressed. The job is nothing but babysitting a pretty boy, and he’s used to diplomatic postings with depth and challenge. What could he possibly have in common with the man he’s being forced to look after?

Alex became the envy of many when he and his fellow bandmates won second place in a huge TV talent show. He has more money than he knows what to do with, no life goals, an ex-boyfriend selling a sex tape and now, someone who wants him dead, or at the very least maimed.

Can Lewis keep Alex safe, even when things usually in his control go to hell? Is running to a remote Scottish island the only way for them to stay alive?

I’ve missed several stories in R.J. Scott’s Bodyguards, Inc. series but if Kissing Alex is any indication of this series, I’m going to have to rectify that asap.  I loved this story.  Its everything I look for in a romance and more.  It has two wonderful MCs with a combustible connection to each other, a location that called to me, and a storyline that had outstanding secondary characters that I wanted to know more about.  It also had several other threads running through it to keep it interesting and moving along at a fast clip.

Although this is part of a series, you can read it as a standalone and come at the characters blind as I did.  Scott gives us a complete portrait of each, filling in bits and pieces of each character’s history along the way until each man is fully alive, breathing before you on the page.  I had no favorites here.  Both Lewis and Alex each won my heart equally.  But the real piece of perfection here was putting the two men down on the island of  Stoirmeil, isolated away from  most things we take for granted like wifi but on home ground for Lewis.  R.J. Scott made me see that island, from the magic of the stone circle to the daily lives of its small group of its inhabitants.  She  also made me feel their fierce, heart deep love for their land and history.  I got to watch Alex fall for the island as much as he did for Lewis, it was the perfect backdrop for their love to grow and for the story to take place.

Quite frankly, I forgot about the rest of the story, the bodyguard aspect so drawn in by the magic of the location and their romance.  It was wrapped up nicely and I loved the ending.  But was I ready for this to end?  Never.  I wanted more of their lives.  I want them married, I want more of this island, and that family.  R.J. Scott created something special here.  And it was difficult to let it go even as happy as I was with the ending.

So, RJ, if you are listening, a side story please?  Let’s return to Stoirmeil….on a bonny summer day, for a wedding on the beach, maybe two.  In the meantime, I highly recommend this story.  Its romantic, it has men in kilts, its sexy and it will make you want to book a plane ticket to Scotland and then a ferry ride to the next island out.  Trust me on this.

Cover art by Meredith Russell. The model is the perfect representation of Alex. But a huge opportunity was missed by not showing us something of the beauty of the Scottish island of Stoirmeil.  That makes this cover way too bland and not tied into a main theme of the storyline.

Sales Links:  RJ Scott  | ARe | Amazon

Book Details:

ebook
Published April 25th 2016 by Love Lane Books
ISBN139781785640414
SeriesBodyguards Inc. #6