Tag: A Stella Review

A Stella Review: No Matter What (Sex & Mayhem #4) by K.A. Merikan

Rating:  4.25 stars out of 5

 

— A gentle heart has no place in an outlaw’s chest —



No Matter What coverGhost. Not a member of the Coffin Nails MC. Not a doctor anymore. Not gay.
Luca. Bent, not broken. Will not let go of Ghost. No matter what.

Ghost finds out the hard way that people you meet online aren’t always who they seem to be. When he met ‘Zara’ five years ago, they became inseparable. She’s been with him through the rough and the smooth. He’s been there for her when her abusive boyfriend had her in tears.

She is The One, and despite all his friends considering him crazy, Ghost is about to propose.

But ‘Zara’ turns out to be Luca, and Luca is most definitely a guy. Yet Luca is the same person with big dark eyes, so desperate to be saved that Ghost can’t help but fall head first.

Luca’s so-called boyfriend is not just abusive. He is a Sicilian drug lord, a man dangerous and ruthless. If Ghost is to ever save the person who wreaked havoc on his heart, he has to make a deal with the Coffin Nails MC. But being a member is a destiny he’s always tried to avoid. And when a life of violence becomes too much to bear, he might be the one needing Luca to catch him when he falls.

 

Ghost: I think I’ve fallen in love with you. Please don’t be angry…

Zara:…Angry? Wow, I’m just… I’ve had feelings for you for a while now.

Ghost: I just didn’t want you to feel like it’s the only reason I stick around. I’m not a creep.

Zara: I know you’re not 😉 You’re the kindest person I’ve ever met.

Zara: I love you too…

First of all please read the warning. It’s important you know what you’re going to read. Kat and Agnes don’t write easy books. There’s one scene in particular in this one where I truly wondered for a minute why I was even bothering myself with KA’s books knowing there could be some really “hard to take” parts. I should have known since I’m a huge fan. My hesitation lasted just the length of the scene.

No Matter What is the fourth book in the Sex & Mayhem series and the sweetest one I read by these authors, considering it’s my eighth and considering the setting and the dark plot with a couple of heavy scenes. It was definitely unexpected but so welcome. It was interesting cause I’m used to KA’s dark and hard worlds and now I know they can write something a little different.

It was strange at the start looking at Ghost, grown up in the club, not wanting to live that life and searching for a way out. But falling in love with Luca will bring Ghost to follow in his father’s footsteps and join the club to save and protect his lover.

I loved how there was not so much fussing about Zara being a man, Luca. Apart from the obvious initial shock, Ghost slowly realizes he loves Luca and tries to act on it, cause they already were in love for five years. They supported each other in their dark times, when Ghost loses his medical license or when he was shot in Syria, or when Luca saw suicide as the only solutions to all his problems.

There were great second characters, but my favorite couple in this series is Tooth and Lucky and I met them again in No Matter What. I wanted to kill Tooth, he really is a better person with Lucky, here he was (almost always) a fucker!
About the choice of lightly mixing this series with the Guns n’ Boys one, I appreciated it, don’t expect Dom or Seth in it, but someone I was so hoping to be killed here but nope, I have to meet him again soon.

I particularly loved the ending, I wasn’t so sure I could have this kind of HEA. It will be impossible cause I’m aware these girls have a busy writing time coming (we readers are really happy of it, of course), still I’d so love to know more about them, even in a little story, living their deserved happy ending.

I can’t recommend this book or this series or other ones by KA Merikan enough. When I first started reading their books, I was sure they weren’t for me. Well I was so wrong, I was caught in their amazing words’ web. Give them a try!

Cover art by Natasha Snow. Short version, there isn’t a cover made by Natasha I don’t love.

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

BOOK DETAILS

Published April 25th 2015 by Acerbi & Villani ltd.
Kindle Edition, 307 pages
ASIN B00WHBI318
Edition Language English

POSSIBLE SPOILERS:

Themes:Outlaw motorcycle club, criminal activity, hurt/comfort, abuse, catfishing, independence, sexual orientation issues, mafia, PTSD

WARNING: Adult content. Explicit gay sex, strong language, violence, potentially triggering sexual abuse scenes. Reader discretion advised.

Sex & Mayhem series
Road Of No Return #1
The Devil’s Ride #2
Stripped Raw-Coffin Nails MC California #3 (MF book)
No Matter What #4

 

A Stella Review: Cliff’s Edge (Willow Springs Ranch #7) by Laura Harner

Rating:  3.75 stars out of 5

Cliff's Edge coverNavy SEALs Cliff “Snides” Snyder and Ryan “Rhino” Matthews have been moving comfortably in each other’s worlds for two decades. Best friends since attending BUDs twenty years earlier, and despite playing for different teams, they’re often accused of acting like an old married couple—much to their amusement.

Assigned to shore duty for his final tour before retirement and without Ryan to anchor him, Cliff’s restlessness leads him to a local club and hands-on research that leaves him in a compromising position and a witness to murder—signaling the abrupt end of his Navy career. Needing a place to lay low and lick his wounds, Cliff visits his old friends at the Willow Springs Ranch while he considers making cowboy his new job title.

After six long months on deployment, Rhino returns to San Diego—only to discover Cliff’s gone dark and the unlikely words ‘poor judgment’ hanging in the air. Despite the offer of a prestigious assignment, Ryan opts to track down his best friend first and finds him at the WSR…along with more questions than he ever expected. With the most coveted orders for a SEAL dangling, twenty years of service under his belt, and Cliff determined to move on without him, decisions must be made.

Ryan is certain he has the perfect solution going forward, but Cliff knows he must face the fallout of his actions alone—and the one thing he’s determined to do is protect Ryan from making the biggest mistake of his career—even if it costs Cliff everything. You know what they say—the only easy day was yesterday.

Cliff’s Edge is the seventh book in the Willow Springs Ranch series. I read the first two and something else by Laura Harner. She is a great author, I like her writing style and let me say she writes hot sex scenes. This book was good too. Every book in the series can be easily read as a standalone, so pick whichever you want and give it a try. Remember the first one, Ty Hard is free at major online retailers. I can say I particularly enjoyed this last one.

I’m a fan of friends to lovers and gay for you stories so I soon jumped into this one. Ryan and Cliff were great and hot together, but it took too much for them to see in their heart. Twenty years, what a waste of time!

“Are we having a bromance?” Ryan blurted.
“A bromance?” Cliff laughed, and Ryan’s eyes narrowed. Oh boy, never laugh at a drunk who thinks he’s making an important point.
“Yeah, a bromance. Where two guys hang out all the time, like the same shit, would probably fuck each other if they were both gay—or if one of them was female.”
Fighting off more laughter, Cliff nodded. “Sure, you can call it that. Come on, princess, let’s get you to bed.”

It was a solid book to me, quick but well developed. There was an actual story, a mystery to solve and some important life decisions to take. I particularly liked the writing, it let the reading flow smoothly.

There were a couple of things that bugged me a little. First of all the accurate use of military acronyms forced me to use Google a little too much for my taste, sometimes diverting my attention from the story. But it was my fault, my ignorance.
Then in some scenes Ryan was disconcerting: first when he was still thinking he was straight after their first hot encounter and then once realized he was bisexual, he was too easy in exploring his new acceptance with Cliff. Sometimes he confused me.

Luckly once they cleared the air everything went well, hot, sweet and romantic.

Rhino’s hand fisted in Cliff’s hair and he pulled hard enough to force his head around to meet his gaze. He knew if it had been light enough in the room he’d see the gold flecks blazing in the hazel eyes.
“Tell yourself any lie you want to, Cliff, if you think it will make you feel better. Just remember, I know you as well as you know me…maybe better. You might run, but you’ll never be able to hide. I’ll just drag your ass back. To me.”
His lips closed over Cliff’s, mashing them so hard their teeth bumped.

“You’re never going to be alone as long as I’m alive.” […]“I love you, Cliff. As my friend. As my lover. As my forever.”

What I would have like to know more was the unexplored bdsm aspect, maybe to just have a short scene to see how they will behave. More in the next book, please? Even if I want Draco’s story.

Cover art by Laura Harner. It fit very well the style of all the covers in the series.

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

Book Details:

Published April 22nd 2015 by Hot Corner Press
ebook, 115 pages
ISBN13 9781941841013
Edition Language English
Willow Springs Ranch series #7

Willow Springs Ranch Series:

Come meet the men of Willow Springs Ranch in northwest Arizona. Life isn’t always easy, but these men know the value of friendship and hard work…and will touch your heart along the way.

  • Ty Hard (Willow Springs Ranch, #1)
  • Hold Tight (Willow Springs Ranch, #2)
  • Taking Chance (Willow Springs Ranch, #3)
  • Ty’d Down (Willow Springs Ranch #3.5)
  • Hanging Chad (Willow Springs Ranch #4)
  • Park’s Lot (Willow Springs Ranch #5)
  • Whit’s End (Willow Springs Ranch #6)
  • Cliff’s Edge (Willow Springs Ranch, #7)

 

A Stella Review: Played! (The Shamwell Tales #2) by J.L. Merrow

Rating 5 stars out of 5

Played coverTristan’s in Shamwell for one last summer of freedom before he joins the family firm in New York—no more farting around on stage, as his father puts it. But the classically trained actor can’t resist when members of the local amateur dramatics society beg him to take a role in their production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Especially as he’ll also be giving private acting lessons to gorgeous local handyman, Con, who’s been curiously resistant to Tristan’s advances. Tristan’s determined to get Con in his bed—not only is the man delicious, there’s fifty pounds riding on Tristan’s success after a bet made with his drama school chum Amanda.

Con’s never dared to act before. A late-diagnosed dyslexic who had a hard time at school, he’s always been convinced he’d never be able to learn his lines—but with Tristan helping him, he might just be in with a chance. Trouble is, the last time Con fell for a guy, he ended up getting his heart broken, and with Tristan due to leave the country in a matter of months, Con’s determined not to give in and start anything that’s bound to finish badly.

Just as Tristan thinks he’s finally won Con’s heart—and given his own in return—disaster strikes. And the curtain may have fallen forever on their chance of happiness.

Warning: contains a surfeit of Bottoms and asses, together with enough mangled quotations to have the Bard of Avon gyrating in his grave.

 

“Hello. I perused your advertisement in our local emporium. All—”

“You what?”

“I read your card in Tesco,” Tristan clarified with a sigh. Some people had no appreciation for the beauties of the English language. “All household job’s—I assume the apostrophe was ironic?—done, reasonable rates.”

“Er, yeah.” The man on the other end of the phone sounded somewhat nonplussed, possibly due to the way Tristan had stressed the “ibble” at the end of reasonable. “What’s the problem?”

“Biblical.”

“What?”

“I have a plague of frogs.”[…] “A frog,” the handyman was saying. There was another pause. “So technically, yeah, that’s a plague of frog. One of ’em.”

“Semantics. The plural, in this case, may be taken to include the singular.”

“Right… Look, I think you want pest control, anyhow.”

“Finally we reach agreement. So how soon can you be here?”

This is where I fell in love with Tristan. He was amazing, hilarious. I loved how Tristan talked.

Let’s start my review saying I read Played!, which is the second book in the Shamwell Tales series by JL Merrow, without having read Caught!, the first one, and I can assure you I didn’t miss anything, it just increased my curiosity about Caught!  Having different main characters, it isn’t exactly a sequel. So if you are interested just in Tristan and Con’s story, you can totally buy it. You won’t regret it.

Tristan has just moved to Shamwell where he is going to spend the the “last summer of freedom”. He is trading is biggest passion for acting with a boring (and hated) career at a desk job, working for his father’s firm in NY, a father who has never supported him in his dream of acting. No one ever supported him in his dreams, apart from his dear grandmother (Nana Geary). She’s just passed away and left him her house. So he’s planning to spend the summer in Shamwell to dispose Nana’s things before starting his new and boring life.

He meets Con when he called for help after a plague of frogs (it was really just one frog!).

Con works as an handyman with Sean (MC in Caught!). He moved to Shamwell where he met Geary the time he went to do some home repairs to her. She took him in and treated him like the mother Con’s has never been.

The first meeting with Tristan doesn’t go well. Tristan is funny but a prick, he’s used to having what he wants, he speaks perfectly and can’t stop himself in correcting the people who don’t. Con can’t stand Tristan. But nobody has ever turned Tristan down, Con is the first one, because he is not looking for just some fun, he needs something real and not casual.

When a new actor is needed for the role of Bottom in the Midsummer Night’s Dream production by the local theater, it  will take Tristan to convince Con to join the play and to help him with his dyslexia.  Con starts to overcome his fears and most of all to see who is the real Tristan hiding behind the snobby one.

There is a great cast of second characters, starting from Heather, Con’s friend. Some seem snobby as Tristan, others simple and sweet and caring as Con. They have some kickass friends.

Shortly JL Merrow did it again. She gave me another favorite book which is going to join the beautiful Muscling Through. The amazing Tristan will stay in my heart as Al did. I found this book fascinated. As I think I already said I love how the author puts words together in this so British way she has. She delivered a funny and light story, with a plot and great characters, a Tristan full of doubts and fears on his future. Sometime sure convinced that working for his dad will help him mature and become more responsible, other times that theater was just for fun. The relationship with Con will help him grow up so much at the end of the book, I (and Con) couldn’t love him more.

Moreover I can add I’m not a huge fan of slow burn and with almost no sex stories, I like my men to start loving each other pretty quickly in the book I’m reading and rather only a few times, otherwise I bore easily. Well in Played! I had no time to be bored. There was no dead moment, every sentence was full of humor, I laughed so much at Tristan.

Played! was an absolute winner, really really good. I don’t even know what to say to recommend you to buy it. I loved it so much.

Cover art by Kanaxa. You know, I can’t explain why, cause honestly there is nothing special about it, but I really like it.

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

Book Details:

Published January 30th 2015 by Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
Kindle Edition
ASIN B00U3M60TU
Edition language English
The Shamwell Tales series
Caught! #1
Played! #2

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

SALE LINKS

ARE
AMAZON pre-order
SAMHAIN

A Stella Review: An Intrepid Trip to Love (A Little Bite of Love #1) by Charlie Cochet

Rating: 5 stars out of 5

An Intrepid Trip to Love coverTristan ‘Trip’ Hagan is a Husky shifter who was born to be the Hagan Clan’s next Alpha, a position of honor and nobility, a position he never wanted and was all too happy to pass onto his younger brother. But when they discovered his brother couldn’t have pups, the responsibility of continuing the Hagan Alpha line fell back to Trip. Under the weight of the Hagan Council’s demand to fulfill his duty, Trip settled down and produced an heir, but after years of struggling to uphold his family’s traditions, Trip found the courage to do what no other Hagan Alpha had done in the history of the clan: he came out.

Five years later, and Trip is living a happy life with his cheeky pup and their own little makeshift family. True mates within canine shifter clans are very rare, but Trip has had one since he can remember. Despite losing his heart to Boone twenty years ago, Trip holds little hope of ever getting to bond with the sexy Enforcer, as it’s against clan laws for pure-bloods to bond with half-breeds. With the call from their feral halves to seal the bond growing stronger by the day, can Trip and Boone find a way to be together without losing everything?

This story was written as a part of the M/M Romance Group’s “Love Has No Boundaries” event. Group members were asked to write a story prompt inspired by a photo of their choice. Authors of the group selected a photo and prompt that spoke to them and wrote a short story

The blurb tells pretty much everything you have to know about the story so I’m just going to leave some of my thoughts.

First of all it’s free, so picking it will cost nothing, you can give it a chance and I’m sure you’re going to love it. If you are already a Cochet’s fan like me you can’t absolute miss this gem, but if she’s a new to you author, An Intrepid Trip To Love it could be the right book to start knowing how amazingly she writes.

An Intrepid Trip to Love is a fantastic read, it caught me from the start and Robbie got my heart at his first whined Dad!.
The story opens with an hilarious dis-adventure, four grown up men and a seven years old who can’t get rid of a monster of a spider, saved by a woman (of course, we’re awesome!). Robbie is funny and smart, definitely too smart for his age.

“It’s okay, Dad. No one’s going to think any less of you for not being able to kill a spider.”
Trip arched an eyebrow at his son. “You’re the next Alpha, why don’t you kill it?”
“Because I’m seven.” The “duh” wasn’t said but it was certainly implied. “But you, you’re old.”
“I’m thirty-five! In human years, anyway.”
“That’s, like, still super old. Even in human years.”
“Why am I bothering? I have underwear older than you.”
“Gross.”
“They’re clean…”

Trip is the greatest dad ever, even if he makes Robbie feels ashamed of him every day with the unbelievable things trip is capable of. Boone is Trip’s mate since Trip was fifteen years old. Boone has been at his side as his guardian, never insisting to be something more considering the Hagan Clan and its rules. They had some stolen moments sometimes, but Trip can’t take it anymore, being without Boone as his mate is becoming unbearable.

“What did you think you were doing?”
“You always say if we need help or if there’s an emergency to call Boone. You said he’s the biggest, strongest, bravest, most honest, most reliable…”
Trip felt his face burning up as Robbie proceeded to list every one of Boone’s virtues off his little fingers. With a nervous laugh, Trip threw a hand over his pup’s mouth. Mortified didn’t begin to cover it. Boone, on the other hand, seemed thoroughly amused, and his lips quirked up on one side.
“Is that so?”
“Well, you know, you are an Enforcer.”

An Intrepid Trip To Love is funny, sweet, with a great second characters cast and a huge sense of family. There is also a lot of hatred but the HEA is assure so don’t worry, you are going to read a light story.

I reread An Intrepid Trip To Love to refresh my memory of this funny couple and be ready for the second one in the series, Healing Hunter’s Heart, and I loved it more than the first time if possible, cause I already gave it a five stars review.

There is a short free Valentine story too, called The Perfect Valentine’s Day (you can find it here if you are interested. Here we meet Trip and Robbie looking for a present to Boone for the Valentine’s Day. Trip is our usual dork and Robbie is our lovely too smart kid who knows the difference between underwear and a hairband (I’m starting to doubt he’s really Trip’s son!). A super sweet and funny little story, adorable as the first one, in which we can get a glimpse of Trip and Boone life together.

Cover art by Charlie Cochet. Sweet and cute as the story.

Sales Links:  It’s Free here at Goodreads M/M Romance Group    All Romance (ARe) 

Book Details:

Published May 26th 2013 by M/M Romance Group @ goodreads
ebook, 84 pages

A Little Bite of Love Series
An Intrepid Trip To Love #1
The Perfect Valentine’s Day #1,5
Healing Hunter’s Heart #2

 

A Stella Review: A Boy Called Cin by Cecil Wilde

Rating 3 stars out of 5

A Boy Called CinOn the search for a cup of coffee before the guest lecture he’s giving, Tom spies a tired, half-frozen young man who looks even more need of coffee than him. On impulse, he buys the man a cup—but an attempt to strike up conversation ends in the young man walking off, seemingly put off by Tom Walford—the tabloids’ favourite billionaire—buying him coffee. But when he reappears in Tom’s lecture, all Tom knows is that he doesn’t want the man slipping away a second time.

Agreeing to dinner with a man he only knows from internet gossip columns isn’t the wisest decision Cin’s ever made, but he wants to like the infamous Tom Walford and he can’t do that if he doesn’t give the man a fair chance to be likeable. Which he is, almost frustratingly so, to the point Cin wishes maybe he hadn’t been so fair because he never had any intention of getting attached to Tom, who seems to come from a world far too different from his own for anything between them to last. Little does Cin know, they’ve got a lot more in common than he imagines—including their shared discomfort with their assigned genders, and all the complications that go with it.

A Boy Called Cin by Cecil Wilde is the story between Tom, a famous forty years old billionaire, genius of the tech industry and Cin, a twenty years old broke, smartass art student. They are attracted to each other from the first time they meet in the coffee shop of the campus where Tom works and Cin studies. Theirs will be a slow burn story, full of fears from both of them. Tom is basically a lonely man, apart from his sister Poppy. He is a mess, living a life he’s not comfortable with anymore.

“I have been so uncomfortable for so long without knowing how to fix it. I tried ignoring it, pretending it wasn’t there, and then when that didn’t work, I just tried hiding it. And then you came along and gave me a word for what I was feeling and took me seriously, and I don’t deserve any of it, because I’ve done absolutely nothing for you except annoy you.”

Tom finds in Cin the first person he can finally confide in and trust. Cin got him from the start, he is the only one to keep in mind Tom’s needs and feelings. I like how they are supportive of each other.

I can honestly say this is not my favorite book of the author. It was sweet, but not so sweet as the other two I read by Cecil, it was instructive to me (Cecil has the power to make me feel stupid every time I read one of their books). My problem with it was my impossibility to like the characters. Tom seems so young, so fragile, while Cin is too cynical for be just twenty. I don’t like my characters to be perfect, I love to read about damaged and normal persons just like us, but Tom and Cin were not for me. Especially the dialogues between them didn’t seem real at all.

As I already said in my review of Defying Convention, I loved how the author addressed various transgender issues, especially in this book. I liked the writing, even if I often have a hard time read a book written using the simple present. At the end I’m sorry, I’m a little disappointed by it. I was really hoping in something more.

Cover art by Aisha Akeju. Really well done, simple and different.

Sales Links:   Less Than Three Press (pre order )       All Romance (ARe)     Amazon      Buy It Here other links coming closer to  release

Book Details:

Published July 8th 2015 by Less Than Three Press
ebook, 169 pages
ISBN13 9781620045589
Edition language English