Tag: A Stella Review

A Stella Review: Neon White E4 (A Tooth Claw and Horns Chronicle #4) by Wulf Francu Godgluck

RATING  5 out of 5 stars             ★★★★★

Neon White Episode 4Is the path to vengeance truly worth the secrets it will reveal? Everyone is seeking answers and, more importantly, retribution for those responsible.

Raven’s life is dangling between fine lines. Being forced to face his own demon, one he never knew existed, is proving more deadly than anyone could have predicted.

Jessy works against the clock to keep Raven’s condition hidden from the Caption, but when an acquaintance pays the precinct a visit, she finds time has run out. It’s a man both she and Landon had hoped never to lay eyes on again.

Meanwhile, Bla’Gar seeks out an old friend in hopes of gaining answers to help Raven, wondering if  she might leave a very nasty bite of her own instead.

And Niko reflects on his past, that has brought him to the present; one he could never have foreseen.

Some truths are better left unsaid; others…might be too painful to face.

Some warnings before I give you my thoughts on Neon White Episode 4 by Wulf Francu Godgluck.

First of all, if you haven’t read the series or even the last episode, and you are planning to do it, don’t read this review, it will spoil your reading.

Please be aware the A Tooth Claw and Horns Chronicles series is not for everyone. As I had already said in the reviews of the previous episodes, it’s very dark, violent, hard to understand and complicated. If you are not comfortable with these triggers, don’t buy it. BUT the first book is still free, so if you want,  you can give the series a chance and not make your wallet cry.

This 4th episode seemed to me more complex and full than the previous ones. There is a lot going on, not just in the MCs couple but in the secondary characters too.

Detective Raven is been bitten at the end of episode 3, he has no sire, he is not a human anymore, but a vampire, not a normal one because he burns in the moonlight and not sunlight. Bla’Gar has no idea how to help Raven, he tried everything he knew but nothing worked. He should have killed Raven since his first drink of demon blood, but he couldn’t. He needs to save his Raven before he loses him to the darker nature that will just kill him.

Raven’s point of view broke my heart, I could read his thoughts and see him suffering through a deep agony. He can’t fight it, he’s struggling through two parts of himself, where the Strigoi virus is feeding the darker part. The dualism in Raven is hard to witness till the the ending, unexpected.

This is not only Raven and Bla’Gar’s story, here you can find out how Nick and Bruce met, and  let me tell you, in so much darkness, their scenes were so welcome. Plus there’s still the mystery of the disappearance of Seth, the alpha of Bla’Gar’s Lycan clan, to solve (we get just a glimpse of him and I can’t wait to know more). Then we know a little more of what it is going on into Jessy’s life too.

Just a note on the writing, there are multiple PoVs, a lot, and I’m not a fan of them, but in this case they aren’t  a negative choice because they worked perfectly and were necessary for a plot like this.

The next episode will be the season finale, I can’t wait for it to come out and I really hope the evil author will give a HEA to these troubled characters.

The COVER ART by Wulf Francu Godgluck follows the style of the whole series and it’s well done and different from the usual.

Sales Links:  ARe | Amazon

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 78 pages
Published March 19th 2016 by Wulf Francu Godgluck
ASIN B01D04CNIO
Edition Language English

A Tooth Claw and Horns Chronicle series (with links to Stella’s reviews)

A Stella Review: Patchwork Paradise by Indra Vaughn

RATING  5  out of 5 stars

PatchworkParadise_600x900Oliver and Samuel’s relationship is fairy-tale perfect. They share a gorgeous house in Antwerp, go out with their friends every weekend, and count down the days to their dream wedding. But their happy ending is shattered one late night, and just like that, Ollie is left bereft and alone.

The months that follow are long and dark, but slowly Ollie emerges from his grief. He even braves the waters of online dating, though deep down he doesn’t believe he can find that connection again. He doesn’t think to look for love right in front of him: his bisexual friend Thomas, the gentle giant with a kind heart and sad eyes who’s wanted him all along.

When Thomas suddenly discovers he has a son who needs him, he’s ill prepared. Ollie opens up his house—Sam’s house—and lets them in. Ollie doesn’t know what scares him more: the responsibility of caring for a baby, or the way Thomas is steadily winning his heart. It will take all the courage he has to discover whether or not fairy tales can happen for real.

Indra Vaughn continues to amazed me. After the christmas story, The Winter Spirit , I was curious about this new one. I’ll be honest and say I chose to read Patchwork Paradise because from the blurb it reminded me of one of my all time favorite mm book, Second Chance by TA Webb. In fact they have some elements in common, so it was really no surprise I loved this one so much too. From the blurb I understood it had all the things I need to have in a story.

This book is an emotional story, so heartbroken because the author let me meet and briefly fall in love with Sam, and then she took him away from Ollie and me.

I began following Ollie in the great pain that losing the person he shared his life for the last ten years can give. He needed to relearn the daily habits alone and start living again.  Also Ollie had to deal with the attachment to the house he shared with his Sam and the fear of losing it by  the persons he considered his family and are now acting like strangers.

He broke my heart but knowing there was going to be so much more to come, made me fully enjoy even the very bad times. At the end Patchwork Paradise is a second chance at love story and Ollie will heal with the support of amazing friends and an unexpected new love.

The words flew easily, it was a pleasure to read. I loved the story was focused not just on the MCs, it made easy to know the secondary ones pretty well too, even the not so likable ones. Moreover to me the timing was perfect, I think the author did great at balance everything at the right time, it’s a story with no pause, it kept me hooked from the start, still there was no rushing, the events were all very considerate of Ollie life and his grieving.

I really couldn’t find a reason to give Patchwork Paradise less than five stars. I liked all the characters, especially Ollie. I laughed and cried a lot with him. His was a beautiful journey among love, friendships, loss, hurt and love again.

Indra Vaughn wrote another success. Sweet, emotional, developed in time and characters, well written and simply complete in every detail. It’s one of that stories I don’t need to wonder what is going to happen at the end. It truly satisfied me and I’m sure my MCs are living their HEA beautifully.

The COVER ART by Lou Harper won me over in the lower half with the toys and the crib but there is something in the models, I don’t know, maybe the sweaters or their faces. With a story like this, the cover should have been so much better.

Sales Links:  Riptide Publishing | ARe | Amazon

Book Details:

ebook, 275 pages

Expected publication: March 28th 2016 by Riptide Publishing

ISBN 1626493804 (ISBN13: 9781626493803)

Edition Language English

Love Can Find Its Way Again with a Patchwork Paradise by Indra Vaughn (giveaway)

PatchworkParadise_600x900

Patchwork Paradise by Indra Vaughn
Riptide Publishing
Cover Art by Lou Harper

Read an Excerpt/Buy It Here At Riptide Publishing

About Patchwork Paradise

Oliver and Samuel’s relationship is fairy-tale perfect. They share a gorgeous house in Antwerp, go out with their friends every weekend, and count down the days to their dream wedding. But their happy ending is shattered one late night, and just like that, Ollie is left bereft and alone.

The months that follow are long and dark, but slowly Ollie emerges from his grief. He even braves the waters of online dating, though deep down he doesn’t believe he can find that connection again. He doesn’t think to look for love right in front of him: his bisexual friend Thomas, the gentle giant with a kind heart and sad eyes who’s wanted him all along.

When Thomas suddenly discovers he has a son who needs him, he’s ill prepared. Ollie opens up his house—Sam’s house—and lets them in. Ollie doesn’t know what scares him more: the responsibility of caring for a baby, or the way Thomas is steadily winning his heart. It will take all the courage he has to discover whether or not fairy tales can happen for real.

About Indra Vaughn

After living in Michigan, USA for seven wonderful years, Indra Vaughn returned back to her Belgian roots. There she will continue to consume herbal tea, do yoga wherever the mat fits, and devour books while single parenting a little boy and working as a nurse.

The stories of boys and their unrequited love will no doubt keep finding their way onto the page—and hopefully into readers hands—even if it takes a little more time.

And if she gleefully posts pictures of snow-free streets in winter, you’ll have to forgive her. Those Michigan blizzards won’t be forgotten in a hurry.

Connect with Indra:

PatchworkParadise_TourBanner

Giveaway

To celebrate, Indra is giving away an ebook from her backlist at EVERY BLOG STOP! She’ll also be giving out a grand prize of $25 in Riptide credit. Leave a comment to enter the contest. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on April 2, 2016. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries. Thanks for following the tour, and don’t forget to leave your contact info!

A Stella Review: Fire of the Heart (Hearts of Parkerburg #3) by Havan Fellows and Lee Brazil

Rating:  3 out of 5 stars

Beacon Hill, Boston in snow.
Beacon Hill, Boston in snow.

Craig Gilchrist is the oldest of five siblings, the captain of the Parkerburg Fire Department, and all around buddy his friends run to when they have a problem. Unfortunately, he’s keeping a secret not only from the whole town, but his family as well. Living in the shadows works for him until one fateful night when a hot stranger walks across a smoky barroom, forcing Craig to make a move that could rock the foundation of his existence…and fill the void in his heart he doesn’t realize he has.

Melrose escaped the end of a bad relationship to start over in Parkerburg. With the support of his cousin and a job waiting tables at a great restaurant, he thinks his life is finally going pretty smoothly. That’s when his path crosses that of Craig Gilchrist, local fire captain. The big, beefy firefighter is definitely not his type. So why does he suddenly star in all of Melrose’s fantasies?

With Melrose at his side, Craig finally has the motivation to step out of the shadows and let Parkerburg see the real him…until trouble arises and the truth comes to light that perhaps he doesn’t know the real Melrose.

Lies and fears play havoc with their newly acquired relationship. Luckily, once ignited, the hearts of Parkerburg don’t burn out so easily.

The Hearts of Parkerburg stories can be read as standalones, each with a HEA…but trust me, you’ll want to read about all the sweet happenings in this quaint little town.

I agree with the authors’ note, Fire of the Heart could be easily read as a standalone. Still I don’t feel to freely recommend to start with it, if you can, read the  Hearts of Parkerburg series in order. You won’t wonder (as I did) about the other couples’ stories, IMO you will get a major completeness. And probably this is one of the reasons why I didn’t give it more that 3 stars.

I had some trouble getting into the story at the start because through all of it, there were too many characters to keep track of and I get confused. The relationship between Melrose and Craig was easy to read and light in spite of some important themes (abuses by an ex boyfriend, being in the closet, coming out) that could have been developed more and give the book a depth it missed very much. This authors’ choice made the plot too simplistic to be realistic and deeply appreciated by me.

I said that to explain my rating, but honestly, if you can ignore the criticisms I made, what you will get is an easy and well done reading. I would have preferred some drama, some angst, just a little spice to take the story on another level , a higher one. Nonetheless I quite enjoyed Fire of the Heart, most of all it was sweet and with a well showed feeling of love, in any form you can think of, from friends, family, co workers and nosey acquaintances.

The Cover Art by Author Services works well just because I like the color and with all those hearts is very romantic.

Sales Links: ARe  |  SMASHWORDS   | AMAZON  

BOOK DETAILS

ebook, 175 pages

Published February 2nd 2016 by Appleton Publishing Avenue

ISBN13 9781941841426

Edition Language English

Hearts of Parkerburg series

Christmas in His Heart #1 – Dermot & Xander’s story
Heart on the Run #2 – Chaz & Sprocket’s story
Fire of the Heart #3 – Craig & Melrose’s story

A Stella Review: Spencer Cohen (The Spencer Cohen Series #1) by N.R. Walker

RATING  4,5 out of 5 stars

Spencer Cohen Book 1Spencer Cohen is the guy who gets answers to relationship questions. Playing the role of the new lover, his job is to make his client’s ex realise one of two things: he doesn’t want to break up or he really does. Either way, his client gets answers.

The ex would either apologize and beg, or turn and walk. But in the end, Spencer’s client won. If he wanted his ex back and got him, it was great. If the guy walked away, then as hard it was for the client, he knew it was over. Regardless of the outcome, Spencer’s work was done.

Andrew Landon’s ex left him without so much as an explanation. But his sister can’t stand to see him miserable, so, much to Andrew’s dismay, they hire Spencer to be Andrew’s new boyfriend to get the ex back.

For Spencer, it is never personal. Merely a business transaction. No emotions, no strings, no complications.

Yeah right.

Even a blind man could see how this would end.

Spencer Cohen is the first book in a new series  by N.R. Walker and it was an amazing start. It was quite some time since I’ve read this author and I’ve honestly missed her style. This book gave me a so needed rush of fresh air.

I soon connected with the characters. This is a specific trait of N.R. Walker’s style. She always does this element great. She has a unique style, very recognizable, the words flow so easily it’s a joy to read it. I soon found myself into the story. There wasn’t time (as often happens to me) to adjust to a new book. I was there with Spencer and Andrew from the start.

The characters were all enjoyable. Especially Andrew. His not knowing well himself and his abilities, not understanding the care and kindness Spencer treated him with, was cute to watch but hurtful too. A special guy like him should have been more aware of himself. The attraction between them was clear since the first meeting and it develops exponentially through the story. Plus they are funny together, smart and sweet in their dates.

Two things left me a little dubious during the reading and they are the reason why I didn’t gave Spencer Cohen the full five stars: one is the use of the single point of view (Spencer’s one) and I’m  not sure it was the right choice because I am still curious about what was going on Andrew’s mind. The second was the fact that two days after their first meeting Spencer realized he had feelings for Andrew, maybe it was really too soon but  at the end it worked pretty well.

I  highly recommend this new book by N.R. Walker, it’s easy, beautiful and well written, I want more. Yes, it’s a light book but there is a lot going on in Spencer life that I want to know more in the next book.

The cover art by Sara York is simply fantastic! I love this style and I would love to see more of  covers of this kind.

Sales Link:  Amazon

BOOK DETAILS

Kindle Edition, 137 pages
Published February 18th 2016 by BlueHeart
ASIN B01BOB6L56
Edition Language English

The Spencer Cohen Series #1

A Stella Review :Lucky In Loveland (Welcome to Loveland #1) by K-lee Klein

RATING  3,5 out of 5 stars

Lucky In LovelandLoveland, Colorado is a special place all year around, a community of creativity and art, with scenic views and majestic mountains. But the town really shines once a year, on Valentine’s Day.

Lucky Roberts has lived in Loveland his whole life. He has good friends, strong family support, and is all about keeping his community fun and alive. The only thing Lucky has been “unlucky” with is love. But rather than avoiding February fourteenth in his hometown, he throws himself into helping others deliver their messages of love.

Enter Jack Canon. Jack moved to Loveland for a fresh start, in both his personal and professional lives. After a tough year, he’s finally hoping to just blend in, maybe carve a little niche for himself that his parents would have been proud of. What he didn’t expect was a pseudo-lumberjack with a killer body and shy smile to turn his world upside down – and he sure didn’t expect to like it so much.

When Lucky meets Jack, he feels like a thirteen year-old with his first crush. He’s clumsy, stammering, and the first greeting out of his mouth is a less than articulate, “Wow!” Words like adorable and manbun suddenly become part of his vocabulary as he discovers a deep, hidden need to romance the hell out of Jack.

And what better way to do that than during the most romantic season in the City of Love?

As I already said in my reaview of Textual Attraction (https://scatteredthoughtsandroguewords.com/2016/01/04/a-stella-review-textual-attraction-by-k-lee-klein/), I’m a huge fan of K-lee Klein. Her writing style is great and always exactly what I like to read.

Lucky in Loveland is her first self published story and the beginning of a new series called Welcome to Loveland and in my opinion she did well. I think the perfect adjective to describe it is adorable. It’s exactly the feeling I got through  all the reading.

The story starts with Lucky volunteering in the local kindergarten school where the handful little Daniel goes and most of all where the new-in-town Jack has begun teaching. He just moved to Loveland after the death of his parents.

The characters are cute and sweet together in their dates, the teasings, the stuttering, the blushing. Sweet but not childish. And the setting was unexpected, Loveland, the little town where the Valentine’s day is high celebrated. The atmosphere was magical and it carried me there with the MCs.

I honestly am looking forward to the second book to come out. If you’re looking for a light story with no drama and angst, quick and humorous, Lucky in Loveland is your book. Give it a try!

The cover designed by Karrie Jax is a winner. I particular like the colors and the style. Well done.

Sales Links:  Smashwords | ARe | Amazon

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 120 pages
Published February 11th 2016 by K-lee Klein Books
Original TitleLucky In Loveland
ASINB01BPQJ2G0
Edition LanguageEnglish
SeriesWelcome to Loveland #1

A Stella Review: Strong Side (Eastshore Tigers #1) by Alison Hendricks

RATING  3,5 out of 5 stars

Strong SideTheir chemistry on the field is undeniable. But can they ever be more than friends?

Jason Hawkins is about to throw the biggest Hail Mary pass of his career.

If he can’t turn NFL recruiters’ heads this year, he’ll lose his shot at the one thing he’s ever been good at. But every quarterback needs a man he can count on down-field. For Jason, that man just might be the Tigers’ new receiver, Derek Griffin.

Four years ago, Derek nearly lost everything after being outed by his teammates.

Now he finally has a chance to get it all back as a walk-on for Eastshore College… if he can resist his immediate attraction to the gorgeous and very straight star quarterback.

An instant connection during practice leads to an easy friendship that only grows stronger off the field. Derek is convinced friendship is all it’ll ever be, but a very confusing moment of impulse leaves both of them fumbling for answers about their relationship.

As curiosity gives way to passion and passion gives way to something deeper, Jason and Derek will have to tackle their own personal demons to bring home the win and earn their happy ending.

I’m always curious about new authors, so when I saw this debut book by Alison Hendricks I soon picked it, even though I’m not a huge fan of sport themed stories but I couldn’t resist. Plus the cover wasn’t bad at all.

Strong Side was a joy to read, light, quick and lovely, there wasn’t any drama or angst.  Everything flew by easily, the coming out, the relationship between Derek and Jason, I really appreciated all of these. Sometimes  a book like this one is exactly what I want to read.

Everything about the story was believable and realistic, especially in their friendship  that first developed, and in  the love that came later. It is truly a story I had no trouble liking characters I cared for. I was waiting for the so called shoe to drop and when I understood no drama was going to happen, I fully enjoyed the rest of the story.

I usually am a little wary about the new adult genre but in this case the author did great cause both Jason and Derek are sure of themselves and what they want, ready for the future to come, even when it’s a hard one, they never fall down.

I must add, there were some mistakes, editing issues I noted even with my poor English, but I pretty much ignored them, it’s a debut book and at the end it was well done in my opinion.

Strong Side really satisfied me. I have to say I relaxed and enjoyed it a lot. I can’t wait for the second book in this new series!

The cover art is well done and eyecatching to me.

Sale Link:  Amazon

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 264 pages
Published January 20th 2016 by Amazon Digital Services
Original TitleStrong Side
ASINB01AWVK8QC
Edition LanguageEnglish
SeriesEastshore Tigers #1