Tag: A Stella Highly Recommended Read

A Stella Review: Caught! (The Shamwell Tales #1) by J.L. Merrow

Rating: 5 stars out of 5

You can run from the past…but the past runs faster.

Shamwell Tales, Book 1

Caught coverBehind Robert’s cheerfully eccentric exterior lies a young heart battered and bruised by his past. He’s taken a job teaching in a village primary school to make a fresh start, and love isn’t part of his plans. But he’s knocked for six—literally—by a chance encounter with the uncle of two of his pupils.

Sean works in pest control, rides a motorbike, and lives on a council estate. On the face of it, he shouldn’t have anything in common with Robert’s bow-tie, classic-car style and posh family background. Yet Robert is helpless to resist Sean’s roguish grin, and a rocky, excruciatingly embarrassing start doesn’t keep the sparks between them from flaring.

Despite Robert’s increasingly ludicrous attempts to keep his past where it belongs, his past hasn’t read the memo. And soon his secrets could be the very things that drive Sean away for good…

Warning: Contains the alarming misadventures of a pest control technician, a stepsister with a truly unfortunate name, and a young man who may have more bow ties than sense.

Okay, confession time for me: I had with JL Merrow a love/hate relationship until last month (of course she didn’t know about it LOL). This amazing author wrote one of the first mm books I read back when I became obsessed with men loving men. The book is called Muscling Through and it still is one of my fave re-read. I fell in love with it and with the great way JL have to put words together. This love brought me to Hard Tail and there, it started my hate. I realized she was too “British” to my poor English. Sure it was my fault but I had to leave it behind and hated it. Three years later here I am, I came back to her, cause I honestly couldn’t resist The Shamwell Tales series anymore. I read it out of order, first Played! and then this one, Caught!

So far I read four of her books and I don’t want to stop! We can discuss about plots, characters, etc, but the feeling I have is the same in every book: satisfaction. That’s the word I have in mind when I think of her works.

Caught! was another winner to me. The story was definitely light, with a lot of humor and some incredible second characters, especially I’m thinking about Rob’s best friend, Rose, who was my favourite one, sometimes I liked her more that Robert himself. She acted exactly as I hope my friend should be: true in her harsh words, cheering and so much funny.

You know, I’m not usually a huge fan of stories based on misunderstanding and miscommunication, but in this case the story flowed so well I wasn’t bothered from the lacking of clarity, most of all because I really couldn’t blame Robert for being scared to share his past. It was so destructive enough for him to bring him to transfer in the new village of Shamwell. It made him more insecure in his love life and when he meets Sean, he is soon worried to not be enough for the bisexual man.

What about the pest control technician? Well first of all I have a thing for red hair, so I was a goner for Sean from the start. And for the little twins too, cute as much as trouble makers. Sean is a really good person, loyal in his love and so caring versus his sick sister, he lives with her to helping with his twin nephews. I loved how he was with Robert, so open and understanding with the formal teacher and so in love with his bow ties.

“I haven’t got any condoms!” I blurted out. Mortified, I clapped a hand over my mouth. I could almost feel the breeze of the stable door slamming shut as the horse flicked its tail in contempt and cantered merrily down the street.

Sean was laughing at me. “Okay, unexpected but to the point. I like that in a bloke.”

Oh God. “I mean, I thought… Just in case we… Not that I was making any presumptions, that would be, um, presumptuous. And I wouldn’t want to, well, presume…”

A rough-skinned hand stroked my face. It was blessedly cool against my heated skin. “Got it. No presuming. Wouldn’t dream of it. You know. Presuming you’d presumed.”

“You must think I’m utterly ridiculous.”

He laughed again. “Well, I wouldn’t say utterly.”

The story is full of funny moments, some cute and some unbelievable too. It was a light read but there were a lot of things going on at the same times (I don’t want to spoiler), which didn’t make the book confusing, just more relevant, poignant.
Of course I still had to use Google for a couple of things sometimes but it was so worth it. My relationship with JL is just a love story now!

Cover art by Kanaxa. I simply love this cover! It’s exactly how I imagined Robert, his expression, his clothes. Well done.

Sales Links:  Samhain Publishing – All Romance (ARe) – Amazon Buy It Here

BOOK DETAILS

Published August 19th 2014 by Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
Kindle Edition, 276 pages
ASIN B00K1WUBG0
Edition language English

The Shamwell Tales series
Caught! #1
Played! #2

 

A Stella Review: Lonely Hearts (Love Lessons #3) by Heidi Cullinan

 

Rating:  4,5 stars out of 5

Lonely Hearts coverWith the quiet help of his wealthy family, Sebastian “Baz” Acker has successfully kept his painful past at bay. But as the end of college draws near, his friends—his buffer zone—are preparing to move on, while his own life is at a crippling standstill.With loneliness bearing down on him, Baz hooks up—then opens up—with Elijah Prince, the guy Baz took a bullet for last year. The aftershocks of their one-night stand leave giant cracks in Baz’s carefully constructed armor. For the first time, the prospect isn’t terrifying.

Accustomed to escaping his demons by withdrawing into his imagination, Elijah isn’t used to having a happy herd of friends. He’s even less comfortable as the object of a notorious playboy’s affections. Yet all signs seem to indicate this time happiness might be within his grasp. When Baz’s mother runs for a highly sought-after public office, the media hounds drag Baz’s and Elijah’s pasts into the light. In the blinding glare, Baz and Elijah face the ultimate test: discovering if they’re stronger together…or apart.

“People moved on. Everyone did, eventually. Everyone but Baz”.

Elijah Prince is finally in a safe place. He’s really been through hell. After spent some time on the streets and being almost killed by his father, he’s trying to live his life. He’s got a job at a cafeteria for the summer and he’s waiting to move to the White House (not the one you’re thinking about, but if you have read Fever Pitch you already know it). Now it’s starting the real struggling, dealing with a lot of fears and panic attacks. Used to take care of himself since he was just a little baby, he’s not comfortable to receive kindness, to be cared of. He hides himself behind walls so high. Elijah is very lonely and unhappy. He’s not able to accept something, he’s scared of be a friend and have a friend. He always kept his pain closed away.

“[Elijah]I mean, I know I push people away, hurting them first so they can’t hurt me. I’m trying not to do that with most people, but I can’t stop with him. I want” […]“I want…him. A lot.

I maybe get a few good tries at not preemptively attacking him, and I fail…but he actually gets more aggressive then. The more I try to run, the more he wants me. I feel like he’s led me way out into the deep water where I can’t swim, and any second he’ll leave me to drown.”

“What in the deep water makes you so scared?”

It was a raging sea of terrible darkness in his mind. Huge, black, stormy. The emotion shafted him like cold light. “Loneliness. The water is full of loneliness.”

Sebastian “Baz” Acker has already saved Elijah once. But when Elijah’s dad tried to kill his son, Baz took a bullet in the shoulder to save him. And the need to protect the young man is still strong, still there in his soul.

Baz’s family is really rich, his uncle is a senator and his mum is running for a prestigious role in politic. When she wants him to attend a fundraiser with a boyfriend, Baz soon thinks about Elijah. After had sex at Kelly and Walter’s wedding, he had totally ignored Elijah for over a month. Baz is attracted to him cause Elijah is the only one to antagonize and keep him to his toes, to threat him as a normal person, where everyone in his life babies him.

Of course what started as a fake boyfriend is becoming to Baz a real one, he wants more from Elijah for the first time after a long time. He too has a painful past, physically and in his heart too, it’s time for someone to saves him from the daily pains he has to endure due to his disabilities and from the guilty he still feels about a dramatic event he couldn’t control.

“I…love you. I’m scared and I don’t want to, not anybody, but I do. Love you. And I don’t think I can stop.”

Hot breath exhaled on his cheek as Baz sighed, then nuzzled his temple. “I love you too.”

The story is detailed,  a specific feature of Heidi Cullinan’s writing style. It follows the MCs’ life together very well, let’s us know them and their feelings, their fears and most of all their incredible family, not the bloody one, but the true, faithful and stronger protective family of amazing friends. While both their families are non existent, there are a lot of people around them, their real family. There is a huge, pretty well-defined second characters cast: Marius and Damien are Baz best friends: Pastor Robert and his wife Liz, I loved how they cared for the boys, how they helped them in their job hunting or in their everyday activities. When Liz told Elijah “Oh, sweetheart. Come inside and let me wrap you in a blanket” I was so ready to let her adopt me too. Besides meeting Kelly and Walter (Love Lessons) and Aaron and Giles (Fever Pitch), Ed from Dance With Me appears in Lonely Hearts. I particularly liked when an author does this kind of mixing of  choices, I always crave to know more and more after the HEAs of my favorite couples. The book starts with Elijah taking part at the wedding of Kelly and Walter (Love Lessons) and I was so happy to know more about them, especially re-meet them at their wedding, a Disney theme wedding!

Apart from the not so ordinary lives Baz and Elijah have, one being trashed and left disabilitated, the other being almost killed by his own father (previous books), the story felt to me pretty real, especially in the dialogues between the characters. Only one thing I didn’t like: the easy way both of them used anxiolytics. Being there and struggling a lot to put them away, I wasn’t so comfortable at reading the easy way they took them and mixed with alcohol. At the same time I could understand the need and I so appreciate how the author chose to develop this need in the end.

I had to think a little about it, cause I honestly can say at the beginning it was hard to me to override what my mind was telling me and just let my heart show me how much I was loving the book, no matter what was happening at the moment. Most of all where the weed, alcohol, and xanax lead to some hot moments between Baz and Elijah. Nothing new in it because Heidi is really the QUEEN of hot scenes (have you read Special Delivery or Dirty Laundry? You know what I’m talking about).

I can’t talk of course of the ending but I want to tell you is just fantastic. It made me cry a little too. Just a little prayer to Heidi, I’m ready to begging, please can I have Lewis/Lejla in the next book, please?

Highly recommended. A great book with perfect writing.

Cover art by Kanaxa. I’m particularly loving this series’ covers. Really well done.

Sales Links:  Samhain Books     –    All Romance (ARe) –   Amazon  →  preorder/ Buy It Here

Book Details:

Warning: Contains sex in a Tesla, sex in a cupboard, sex under a piano, kinky role play, and a cappella RuPaul songs. Just a couple of boys groping, battling, then finally loving their way to becoming men

ebook
Expected publication: August 11th 2015 by Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
original titleLonely Hearts
ISBN139781619226692
edition languageEnglish
urlhttp://www.heidicullinan.com/Lonely-Hearts
seriesLove Lessons #3

Love Lessons series
Love Lessons #1
Frozen Hearts #1,5
Fever Pitch #2
Lonely Hearts #3

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A Stella Review: The Fifth Son by Blaine D. Arden

Rating: 4 stars out of 5

A prince without power…

The Fifth Son cover

In a land where magic is commonplace, Prince Llyskel has none. He can’t command spells, he has never been taught to fight, and as the fifth son of the King, he will never rule. Everyone believes he’s a weakling, most of all himself.

Powerlessness is Llyskel’s problem—and his pleasure. In his secret fantasies, the prince dreams of nothing more than finding himself helpless at another man’s hands… particularly the hands of Captain Ariv of the Guards.

Then Ariv makes Llyskel’s dream a reality, and as the powerless prince surrenders to the soldier’s desire, he finds his own true strength at last. But a web of royal politics is closing around Llyskel, threatening to tear him from his lover, and it will take all his newfound courage to escape…

Contains five shaded black-and-white illustrations by Yana Goya

I can officially say I’m becoming a fantasy girl! I’m reading a lot of fantasy books lately and I’m really loving them. This one too. A really well done short story and the beautiful black and white illustrations helped me to visualize better the MCs. The Fifth Son was only the first book I read by Blaine D. Arden but it surely will not be the last. I loved the writing, the plot, the setting, almost everything, except I’d really like to read a little more about this two young men.

I don’t want to linger on the story, the blurb tells you already enough and being a short one, I don’t want to spoil your reading. What I’d like to talk about is the writing. I was really impressed, it’s not only well written book but what I loved the most was the feeling I got while I was reading about the prince and the captain. I was able to feel myself in the story, to see the places they were, the author was very good at bring me with her in a beautiful, colorful world full of magic.

Moreover I wasn’t expecting the little kink aspect in the story. The sweet Llyskel and the protective Ariv were explosive in bed. Having no magic powers at all, Llyskel is almost consider an outcast, but never from his lover and his family. The captain was so supportive of the prince in and out of the bed. And the courting ritual was romantic and cute.

The Fifth Son by Blaine D. Arden is sweet fairytale with some mystery and action thrown in it, nothing too heavy, but a little something that made the story not just a sweet romance but a really interesting and engaging one. I was conquered! Now I’m just hoping the author will give me a chance to read one more installment in this great world building. Highly recommended!

Cover art by Simoné. In this case it was the cover that caught my attention. I love it, the colors, the details, everything fit the story perfectly.

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

Book Details:

Published November 28th 2014 by Cayendi Press
2nd Edition, ebook, 76 pages

A Stella Review: Bratty Angel by Chris T. Kat

Rating: 4 stars out of 5

A bratty angel…

Bratty Angel coverFirst Patrick is accosted by a hellhound with a yen for fries and ketchup. Then he encounters a beautiful, but bratty, angel who doesn’t seem to understand the concept of ‘no’… or personal space. Not to mention he demands Patrick pleasure him, which Patrick refuses to do. So why does Patrick feel a connection to this unruly seraphim? And why can’t he forget him?

Two weeks later, the brat is back, making more demands. But Patrick makes it clear he doesn’t do demands. That should be the end of it, right? Or not… Maybe there’s more to this bratty angel than meets the eye. If Patrick has the patience to get past his bratty ways.

A bratty angel with a hellhound as pet!

Forget everything you know about angels and hellhounds. Chris T Kat rewrote all the rules, showing us an hellhound scared of a little cat and an angel specialized in pouting.

In a world where the humans and the supernaturals aren’t separated anymore, Patrick is been trapped in his human form for twenty-three years. Now he is escaping from a creature, a hellhound hungry for his fries with ketchup. King Kong is the “pet” of a beautiful naked angel with no name, an arrogant and spoiled brat, who demands a reward since he rescued Patrick from his (not scary at all) hellhound. Does a blowjob work? Patrick can’t believe Angel’s request and leave him, but the sparkle is already on. They meet again after two weeks when Angel goes to Patrick’s home with the same request. Used to get what he wants, even with spells, Angel doesn’t know otherwise, he can only demand and order.

“I swear if you’re going to use the phrase I demand of you or even just the word demand one more time, I’ll put you over my knee.”

Angel gazed at him in confusion. “Why would you do that? Is that a good position for me to be in to receive my reward?”

After spending the last twenty-three years mourning the loss of his lover, Patrick is intrigued by this angel, naive about the human world. But the bratty-angel is not so bratty at the end.

I’ve  read other books by this author and I’m a huge fan of her works, especially her writing style.  I simply love how she writes. This little story was no exception, funny and easy to read but well done.

The author created an intricate world of angel, demons and hellhounds. Of course this incredible world could be better explained in more pages, this story is really short, just 47 pages.  But I loved how everything developed and was explained at the end, I wasn’t left with questions or doubts. Still we got a lot of details that I’m sure didn’t get enough space.

Be ready for a little surprise at the end, totally unexpected but very welcome. Now I’m just hoping for more.

Cover art by Latrisha Waters. This cover didn’t win me. I’m not sure I like the choice of the colors and the wings don’t seem real.

Sales Links: eXtasy Books    Amazon             Buy It Here

BOOK DETAILS

Published February 15th 2015 by eXtasy books
ebook, 47 pages
ISBN13 9781487402327
Edition language English

 

A Stella Review: How to Howl at the Moon by Eli Easton

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

How to Howl at the moon coverSheriff Lance Beaufort is not going to let trouble into his town, no sir. Tucked away in the California mountains, Mad Creek has secrets to keep, like the fact that half the town consists of ‘quickened’—dogs who have the ability to become human. Descended on both sides from Border Collies, Lance is as alert a guardian as they come.

Tim Weston is looking for a safe haven. After learning that his boss patented all of Tim’s work on vegetable hybrids in his own name, Tim quit his old job. A client offers him use of her cabin in Mad Creek, and Tim sees a chance for a new start. But the shy gardener has a way of fumbling and sounding like a liar around strangers, particularly gorgeous alpha men like Sheriff Beaufort.

Lance’s hackles are definitely raised by the lanky young stranger. He’s concerned about marijuana growers moving into Mad Creek, and he’s not satisfied with the guy’s story.

Lance decides a bit of undercover work is called for. When Tim hits a beautiful black collie with his car and adopts the dog, its love at first sight for both Tim and Lance’s inner dog. Pretending to be a pet is about to get Sheriff Beaufort in very hot water.

I simply love this author, everything she writes is perfect. This book is no exception. How to howl at the moon is the first book in a new shifters series, but not the usual shifters I’m used to. It was definitely something new to me and so interesting I can’t wait for the next one. If you are familiar with Eli’s writing you already know you’re going to read something special, well written, fun and entertaining.

How to howl at the Moon is the story of Lance, the Sheriff of Mad Creek, a city full of secrets to hide from the world. He’s a quickened dog, a border collie that has never bounded with a human. Quickened dogs are dogs that don’t born with the ability to take the human form but the love of their human owners gave them the ability to shift. Lance is investigating in a drug growers setting up in the neighboring counties, which are causing lot of violence. So when at the diner he meets a stranger who smell of pot and with no money, he soon becomes suspicious about the newcomer. He will do everything he can to expose him, even using his dog form.

Tim is a young man who just moved to Mad Creek after leaving Santa Barbara in hurry. He owned a gardening service since he was twelve. The man who though was his business partner deceived him. He stole all Tim’s hard work, the copyright of all the wonderful and rare varieties of roses, and confined him as an employee. He’s in this new town living in a friend’s cabin for free for six months and hoping to use this time to set up a new business. After a bad childhood and the betrayal of his old boss, Tim is ready for a new beginning. One night while coming home from a trip to buy more gardening supplies he hit a black dog with his car. It’s love at first sight.

Tim leaned down to look into Lance’s eyes with warm concern and stroked his head. “I’ll be right back, buddy. Okay?”

Lance narrowed his eyes. Well, duh.

“He seems really… I dunno… intelligent for a dog,” Tim said with admiration.

“You think so?” Bill(the vet) said dryly. “I’d have thought it was unaccountably stupid to run out in front of a truck, and way out here of all places.”

Eli Easton is a great writer, she explained the quickened world really well and the relationship between MCs and second one are magnificent. I especially enjoyed Lila, Lance’s mom. She’s hilarious but most of all  truly a troublemaker. I loved the dialogue, I found myself laughing so much and was never bored. Tim was so cute when his nervousness around Lance brings him to some funny attacks of verbal diarrhea.

I’m waiting for the next one in this new amazing series, hoping the wary Roman will get his HEA. I can totally recommend How to Howl at the Moon to all of you, you wouldn’t regret it. Really well done!

Cover art by AngstyG. Considering border collie is my fave dog breed I couldn’t be not in love with this cover as soon as I saw it. I didn’t even read the blurb, once I knew it was a eli easton’s book ans saw the cover, I was so ready to read it. This artist never disappoint me.

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

Book Details:
Published February 28th 2015 by Pinkerton Road
ebook, 200 pages
ISBN B00T12QQOW
Edition language English

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