Tag: A Paul B Recommended Story

A Paul B Review: Golden Son (Tidal Crest #2) by Jeff Erno

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Golden SonThere is but one heir to the throne, one Golden Son.

At thirty-two, Ari loves his life in small town northern Michigan, running his aquatic pet store, but he’s always yearned to visit a coastal state. Inexplicably, he’s felt a connection with the ocean his entire life, and when his cousin Todd calls to ask him to be his best man at his California ocean-side wedding, Ari jumps at the chance for a much needed vacation. When he arrives in San Diego, however, he makes some discoveries about himself and finds love in the process. He also finds himself embroiled in a disturbing murder mystery that he ultimately helps to unravel.

Golden Son picks up about two weeks after the end of Deep Dive ends.  Sam and Prince Percy are wrapping up their honeymoon and facing the fact that they must return to reality.  Meanwhile, their friends Todd and Amy are preparing for their own wedding.  Todd calls his best friend Ari, who lives in Northern Michigan.  Ari, who has always had an attraction to the sea, decides it is about time he visits the ocean and accepts Todd’s invitation to be his best man.  Todd wonders once Ari has fulfilled his lifelong dream if he will return to his home on Lake Michigan.

As Sam and Percy visit the castle in the underwater city of Palaemon, an assassin tries to kill Percy’s father, the king.  His life is spared when one of his bodyguards jumps in front of the bullet, killing him.  Unbeknownst to anyone, the crown that determines the next ruler of merpeople was stolen during the confusion of the assassination attempt.  It also causes the royal family to return to their home on the California mainland for their protection until this mystery is solved.

Richard arrives on shore near Todd and Amy’s beachfront home.  Armand, the guard that was killed was his best friend and lover.  He goes to Todd’s place to grieve his loss as both his and his lover’s families are celebrating the sacrifice that Armand in protection of their king.  However, when he reaches the shore, he finds Ari.  He feels pull to Ari that is stronger than the one he had with Armand.  While Ari feels the attraction too, he realizes that Richard is hurting and gives him space to grieve.  The two must deal with their budding attraction while helping those around them figure out the reason Armand lost his life.

Jeff Erno has built upon his mer world with the second book in his Tidal Crest series.  The concept of three distinct classes of mermen sets up conflict within the species.   This allows expansion of the series as the three classes of mermen live in different parts of the oceans.  Overall, I thought this was a stronger book than the first.   It has strong soap opera plots to it to help the story move along.  I was a little put off on how quickly Richard got over his lover Armand and began to take up with Ari as these are not fate mates that most shifter books have.  But otherwise the story was quite enjoyable.

The cover art by Angela Waters shows a shirtless merman with his golden tail.  It fits the description of the title and book well.

Sales Links:  eXtasy Books | ARe | Amazon

Book Details

ebook, 111 pages
Published February 1st 2016 by eXtasy Books
ISBN139781487406219
Edition LanguageEnglish
Series Tidal Crest

  • Deep Dive (Tidal Crest #1)
  • Golden Son (Tidal Crest #2)

A Paul B Review: Crash (Demon Elite #1) by April Kelley

Rating: 3.75 stars out of 5

CrashElijah Spade’s life got complicated after his mother’s death.  Having had virtually no contact with his mother’s relatives due to their criminal activities, Elijah is now caught up unwillingly in their plans.  Forced to help kidnap another gay man at a club, Elijah decides that is one man is going to die do to his actions, it should be him for helping out his relatives.  However, the attempted escape fails and Elijah and the victim are both captured.  Not knowing what happened to the mark, Elijah is thrown into the family dungeon where he lingers for weeks on end.  Hope comes when a fellow prisoner escapes and sends in help to rescue Elijah.

Crash Morgan is an assassin for the Demon Elite team.  His job is to kill the worst of the worst in society.  Those who die by his hand need to die.  So when his boss tell him that his next assignment is to watch and question a young man who is in the hospital, Crash initially objects.  When goes to the hospital room to watch over Elijah, Crash feels instantly protective of him.  Crash realizes that the man in the hospital bed may have to go to jail so any feelings are inappropriate.  Besides, it is against company policy.  As Crash gets to hear Elijah’s story, he cannot help but feel sorry for the guy.  His feelings for him start to grow also.  So when a pair of dirty cops sent by Elijah’s family show up, Crash takes matters into his own hands and escapes the hospital with Elijah.  Now can he keep them both alive to see if what both men are beginning to feel will grow?

This is the first book in the Demon Elite series by April Kelley.  The story revolves around an elite squad of men who contract out their services to right injustices in the world.  I thought her portrayal of what would be symptoms of PTSD in Elijah was well written.  Elijah’s anxiety attacks and his fear of Crash leaving him were realistic given the circumstances of his imprisonment.  Crash’s mother, who seems to act as a mother to the team, immediately bonds with Elijah after she learns what has happened to him.  The author also sets up future books with a twist that puts the integrity of the Demon Elite team in question.   It will be interesting to see how Crash and company takes on “the big bad.”

Sales Links:   eXtasy Press |  Amazon

Book Details

Kindle Edition, 122 pages
Published January 8th 2016 by eXtasy Books
ASINB01A2O3KZU
Edition LanguageEnglish
SeriesDemon Elite #1

Series:  Demon Elite

A Paul B Review: Setting His Owl A-Twitter (Wolves of Stone Ridge #33) by Charlie Richards

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Setting His Owl A TwitterRocky Nelson is a bouncer at a bar about an hour from Stone Ridge.  For the past few weeks, a young man has been hanging around the bar.  Each night, the young man would ask Rocky to dance.  However, he refuses each time.  It would break two rules.  First, he never dances at the club where he works.  Second, he does not get involved with party boys.  As he has seen this guy every shift he has worked the past few weeks, the guy must qualify, right?

Hector is one of the bird shifters that was rescued a couple of months ago in Europe.  The self made flock was then moved to Stone Ridge under the protection of the wolf pack that rescued them.  While travelling to Stone Ridge, the flock stop sat a club to release tension of being held captive for a number of years.  There, Hector meets his mate in a bouncer named Rocky.  However, every time he asks Rocky to dance, his mate turns him down.  The rest of the flock convinces Hector to let the mate pull work and not to give up hope.

When a co-worker tells Rocky that he thinks Rocky has misread the cute guy hanging around the bar, Rocky rethinks his position.  The next time Hector comes up to ask him to dance, he once again refuses but then asks Hector out for a bite to eat.  While he finds it strange that Hector does not have a cell phone, he chalks it up to one of the gay’s idiosyncrasies.  Then he thinks that he himself has a past that will have an impact on any future relationship with Hector.  Will each man accept the past the each brings to the relationship?

This story continues to explore the members of the flock that was rescued by the Stone Ridge pack.  I have a feeling that the focus on the series will be centered around these bird shifters as most of the wolf shifters in the pack have been mated.  The innocence of Hector almost requires a strong man both physically and mentally to protect him and he finds this in Rocky.  Rocky has been burned by a past relationship, which fuels his mistrust of club people for dates.  The story is solid, which I expect from Ms. Richards.  I look forward to see which of our birds is next to be mated.

Cover art.  Strong cover, gorgeous photograph of owl and man.

Sales Links:  eXtasy Books | Amazon

Book Details:

ebook, 106 pages
Published January 15th 2016 by Extasy Books
ISBN139781487406097
Edition LanguageEnglish

Series:  Wolves of Stone Ridge

Goodreads link:

https://www.goodreads.com/series/63445-wolves-of-stone-ridge