Tag: A Mika Recommended Read

A Mika Review:Scarred Souls (Scarred Souls #1) by T.T. Kove

Rating: 3.25 stars out of 5:

Scarred Souls coverOn a cold, wet afternoon Damian stumbled across a young man huddled beneath a tree crying his eyes out. He’s got more than enough problems of his own, but is compelled to give the bloke a place to crash for at least the night.

Josh is used to being alone, and most days it’s easier than trying to deal with people who can’t, or won’t, understand him. When Damian takes him in for the night, Josh assumes it’s gong to be one more go round of sex and get out in the morning.

Neither of them expects the friendship that develops, and they’re far from prepared when friendship starts to turn into more.

I really like the author’s writing style and that includes her writing in Scarred Souls.  This is my second book by T. T. Kove, and as usual the writing flows nicely. Reading this, I felt like I stepped into the middle of the story based on Damian’s and Josh reaction towards each other. They meet and it’s not a care in the world about getting to know each other. I really liked Damian as a character, I mean he’s 18 years old, but he seems so mature for his age. Also, Damian has gone through a traumatic experience as well. When it comes to his history, I think the author fell short on providing some background history. I would have liked to have seen the way his friendship with Silver progressed from beginning to end. He’s functioning and I think he’s allowed to be angry one day out of the year because of what happened to him. I give him tremendous credit for being mentally strong enough to be in a relationship with Josh.

Josh had so many problems. I felt bad for him. Someone who was supposed to love and care for him took advantage of him and it became this permanent stain on his heart . Sometimes I do feel like Josh used his borderline personality disorder to take advantage of Damian. He didn’t quite respect Damian’s reasoning on some sort. I do feel like all the times that he did harm himself was selfish, as well as givingsomeone else that burden of looking after you. I get it’s he’s mentally unstable. I wish his mother would have pushed the issue on him getting help more efficiently. I do like the side characters that were in the story. I think I’ll continue on the series.

Cover Art by: Aisha Akeju. I think the guy on the cover represents Damian, I’m not really sure since the main guys physical descriptions were hardly talked about. Either way it’s a nice cover since characters go through some traumatic experiences.

Sales Links:   Less Than Three Press (preorder discount)      All Romance (ARe)       Amazon       Buy It here (other links to follow)

Book Details:

ebook, Second Edition
Expected publication: May 20th 2015 by Less Than Three Press (first published July 31st 2012)
ISBN139781620045428
edition languageEnglish
seriesScarred Souls #1, Their Circumstances #1
charactersDamian Fielding, Joshua Slater settingLondon, England, 2003 (United Kingdom)
London, England (United Kingdom)

A Mika Review: More than Anything by T.T. Kove

Rating: 4.5 star out of 5 stars

More Than Anything coverArriving home after work one evening, Jørgen sees a young man who looks adrift and out of place—and who promptly has a seizure on the sidewalk. Jørgen takes care of him until the seizure passes and then, not knowing who to contact, takes care of him for the night. After giving the kid, Geir, a ride home the next morning, he expects that to be the end of it.

He doesn’t expect Geir to be a student at the vocational school where Jørgen works as an electrician. He definitely does not expect to be drawn to Geir time and again, to want things that will never be possible for two people with more obstacles between them than can ever be overcome.

This was a first for me by this author. I truly enjoyed this book. I was taken aback by some things, but I have to remember that there are rules outside North America. LOL. 

I didn’t know how I would feel about a 16 yr old being in a relationship with a 22 yr old, but T.T. Kove surely wrote it beautifully.

Geir was so amazing; all he wanted was a mate. I found myself tearing up whenever he would talking about being lonely, hell they didn’t tease him for being gay, no, these insensitive ass children teased him for having Epilepsy something he has no freaking control over. I was so pissed off at every push, hit, taunting. I know a book has affected me when I want to step inside Geir’s school and deal with the bullies instead of him. I was mad as hell his father left his 3 weeks out the month for work. I understand him having to have a job, but not noticing anything about your only child until he got hit in the face was crazy.

I don’t have children yet, and I am the first to not judge a parent but really liked he was super lonely, and the first person to show him an ounce of kindness outside of family was the tragic boy himself Jorgen. I know he isn’t a boy, but when he was, no one protected him at all. Reading that letter he wrote to Geir literally broke me in to pieces. 

Both of these guys stepped outside themselves and decided to trust each other.

I like Daniel & Thomas. I wish we had more fathers, uncles, and role models like this in the world. 

I had a couple of issues but they were my personal beliefs so I couldn’t factor those into my rating. Why not 5 stars? Well I really wanted to know more about Kay, since he was brought up more times. I also would have liked an epilogue. What is happening since Geir moved it? At the end of the day I truly loved this book, I devoured it and surely I want more. Can’t wait for book 2.

Cover Art by T.T. Kove. I actually liked the cover a lot. I liked that it showed Geir right in his moment; it showed him going forward in his life.

Sales Links:  Less Than Three Press       All Romance (ARe)       Amazon        Buy It Here
Book Details:

ebook, 380 pages
Published September 24th 2014 by Less Than Three Press LLC
original titleMore Than Anything
ISBN139781620044292
edition languageEnglish
seriesMore Than Anything #1
charactersJørgen Lister, Geir Berger settingSmall town (Norway) (Norway)

A Mika Review: This Other Country (More Heat Than the Sun #4) by John Wiltshire

Rating: 4 stars out of 5 

This Other CountryNikolas is the sanest, straightest, person he knows, so can anyone tell him, why he’s on a gay therapy course?

Nikolas Mikkelsen could make a very long list of unpleasant things he’s endured in his life. Then order it from ‘nearly killed me’ to ‘extremely horrific and don’t want to do again’. And what did it say about his forty-five years that being hit by a tsunami would be a considerable way down this list? But nothing, not torture, imprisonment, nor starvation has prepared him for what he now has to endure for Ben Rider’s sake-attendance on a residential, gay therapy course. At least he has a new contender for the top spot on his ‘my awful life’ list.

This Other Country starts off right where The Bridge of Silver Wings ends. Right from the start, I was worried. I mean I wasn’t use to this side of either guys. My heart was beating fast because of all the ideas that were running through my mind based on what I was reading. After a while, I was relieved. No worries from me now on, because I know John Wiltshire would never break my heart like that. I thoroughly enjoyed the circumstances pertaining to Nikolas and Ben ending up in couple’s therapy. Never worry, folks, this is the same vulnerable, difficult, and loving Nik and Ben we are used to. This installment lacked the natural disasters, and attempted assassinations but it never digressed from it’s usual level of emotions and dedicated plot.

I found myself at times sitting back and thinking of all the things that Nikolas has done over the last 8 years and I wouldn’t change a thing. This road that they have found themselves on is their destiny and journey. No matter how things turned out for the better or worst this Ben and Nikolas are the only ones that matter. This book we got a lot of “I’m not gay” responses. I didn’t know how I felt like that, and because I’m not a gay man I can’t say what I should feel like. I can say I liked how each one’s reasoning. Maybe they aren’t gay but for each other. Either way I loved that instead of the action we had to actually deal with “real life” things like how they are perceived. It was a scary reaction for both but I was confident enough that they would come out winning on some accounts.

(Spoiler Links)

I love guiltless Nikolas but damn I wanted cut throat Nikolas out in an instance involving Kate, I can’t talk about the deed but it shows the amount of growth he had by not putting her head on a spike. I was so angry and blood thirsty because of her betrayal that I expected actions to be taken. What do we know; Nikolas has turned over a new leaf.

Wiltshire continues to impress me with his growth of Ben. Just when we think Ben has lost his marbles literally he does the unexpected. I was smiling through tears at that point because it took a lot for him to do that. This goes to show that Ben is still that pure angel in my mind. While this one is somber than the last 3 it might have been the most impactful to me. The message of accepting one’s voice is bright and powerful in itself. I really do enjoy reading these books, and can’t wait to see what John Wiltshire has in store for us next.

Cover Art by Deanna Jamroz. Definitely goes hand in hand with the battling of others and yourself. I truly do like these covers.

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

Book Details:

ebook
Published November 22nd 2014 by MLR Press (first published November 21st 2014)
edition languageEnglish
seriesMore Heat Than the Sun #

More Heat Than The Sun Series in the order they were written and should be read: