Tag: angst

Enter the World of Ally Blue with The Secret of Hunter’s Bog (giveaway)

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The Secret of Hunter’s Bog by Ally Blue
Published by Riptide Publishing
Cover art by Kanaxa

Read an Excerpt/Buy Link

Hi y’all! I’m Ally Blue. Welcome to my blog tour for my newest book, The Secret of Hunter’s Bog. Thank you for stopping by. Be sure to comment on this post, or any of the posts on the tour, for a chance to win a full set of my Mojo Mysteries series—Demon Dog, A Ghost Most Elusive, and Myth Adventures—in the winner’s choice of electronic format. Read on and enjoy!

About The Secret of Hunter’s Bog

For Koichi McNab, the shop he and his twin sister Kimmy are opening in Hunter’s Bog Mall is a fresh start after their old one burned down. A way to move on. Especially when he meets the hunky owner of the luxury camping goods store next door. Koichi’s never been an outdoorsy guy, but Will Hood just might change his mind.

Will came to Southern Alabama to establish his own life away from his big, intrusive family—and in hopes of finding Anthony, the lover who vanished two years ago. But meeting Koichi throws everything off-kilter. Anthony was a long time ago. Koichi’s right here, smart and funny and cute, and Will wants him.

As Koichi and Will become friends, then lovers, Will’s past and Koichi’s present tangle into a dangerous knot that brings them face-to-face with secrets, theft, treachery . . . maybe even murder. With their lives on the line, their only way to safety is together.

About Ally Blue

Ally Blue is acknowledged by the world at large (or at least by her heroes, who tend to suffer a lot) as the Popess of Gay Angst.

She has a great big suggestively-shaped hat and rides in a bullet-proof Plexiglas bubble in Christmas parades. Her harem of manwhores does double duty as bodyguards and inspirational entertainment. Her favorite band is Radiohead, her favorite color is lime green and her favorite way to waste a perfectly good Saturday is to watch all three extended version LOTR movies in a row.

Her ultimate dream is to one day ditch the evil day job and support the family on manlove alone. She is not a hippie or a brain surgeon, no matter what her kids’ friends say.

Connect with Ally:

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Giveaway

Leave a comment for a chance to win a full set of Ally’s Mojo Mysteries series—Demon Dog, A Ghost Most Elusive, and Myth Adventures—in the winner’s choice of electronic format. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on March 12, 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: Haven’s Creed by Parker Williams

RATING  3, 5 out of 5 stars

Havan's CreedAn act of violence destroys his family and ends the life he knows. To escape his haunted past, he joins the military, where, as a sniper, he is trained to kill with precision and detachment. When a covert organization offers him a new purpose, he becomes Haven, an operative devoted to protecting the innocent when he can and avenging them when he cannot.

After ten years of battling the evil in the world, the life no longer holds the attraction or meaning it once had, and he’s ready to walk away. Then he meets Samuel, a young man forced from the age of twelve to work as a sex slave. If ever a man had a need for Haven, it is this one.

Yet nothing about this growing relationship is one-sided. Sammy gives Haven a stability he’s never known, and Haven becomes the rock upon which Sammy knows he can depend.

When Sammy reveals something about the enemy Haven has been hunting for months, Sammy fears it will destroy what they’ve built and he’ll lose his home in Haven’s heart.

After a year I finally had a chance at reading a new book by Parker Williams. I have to admit as I read the blurb of Haven’s Creed, I was soon curious about it. I understood the story would have been something different from the usual fluffy romance I so love and so I wanted to give it a try.

What surprised me was how much I felt myself into the story, I found hard to put it down and I read it quickly. I liked the premise, the writing, the secondary characters and the development of the general story. That’s why I gave it a high rating, because  I liked it so much.

That said,  I had a lot of issues with Haven’s Creed, the most important one was that the book wasn’t exactly what I was expecting, I was waiting for something different and when I understood I wasn’t getting it, I felt so disappointed.

First of all, be aware, this story is extremely hard and violent, and it could hurt the sensibility of people not used to these kinds of themes. I had been cautioned about them and I started this book knowing it wouldn’t be strictly a romance but I was still hoping to get some kind of love story, in any way possible. The problem for me is that Haven’s Creed IS a romance, meaning the romantic part shadowed the fiction sections greatly, turning it into a simple love story with some violent elements (and not the other way around). And when you approach a reading knowing you are going to get something and then actually got another thing, the frustration is almost certain.

Also this narrative letdown also brought about some issues with the main characters. I was confused about Sammy. I was not sure how someone who went through hell like he did, could be so strong and dominant and open with his sexuality in his relationship with Haven. Not being scared of a new man felt unrealistic and extreme. And I was confused about Haven too. From the moment he met Sammy, he became needy and emotional, he started making mistakes during his job. There was a very improbable and pointless change in his personality that almost depreciated the whole first part of the story. Really a shame.

I was ready for violence, abuses, gritty scenes and a lot of blood.  I was ready for it to be emotional. I wasn’t honestly waiting for a HEA and for me there was one between Sammy and Haven. I was hoping for a love story and I’m happy I got it. But in my opinion the author should have been bolder and pushed more versus what the story promised.

Although it left me with a lot of not so good feelings, I gave Haven’s Creed 3,5 stars because it deserves them. The author was able to keep me glued to his words till the end and I can’t ignore this.

The cover art by Laura Harner could have worked but I already saw this cover around for another book, so to me it’s nothing new.

Sales Links:  Smashwords | All Romance (ARe) | Amazon |

Book Details:

Published December 14th 2015
Kindle Edition, 256 pages
ASIN B0190XCAX2
Edition Language English

A Stella Review: Of Gods and Monsters: Hades (Of Gods and Monsters #2) by Wulf Francu Godgluck

RATING 5 out of 5 stars          ★★★★★

******WARNING*******
Hades of Gods and MonstersThis is not a story about a hero, or some bad boy-badass-antihero.
This is a love story between two monstrous villains and one valiant kid, held together by their entwined heartstrings.
It won’t be pretty.
It won’t be pleasant.
There’s no fluffy good feelings about it.
It will rip out your heart and never give it back.

Breno Hades el Oscuro took no bullshit from anyone. He ruled the crime world of the United States. When the King fell, what was left in the ashes was not the small boy that grew up without his father, not the same kid that chose a life of crime at seventeen, nor was it the King who had killed and clawed through a river of blood to stand at the top.

The King was dragged from his throne of bones into a deep dark pit, leaving only the raw flesh of a savage monster to crawl out of Hell.
One that knew love, but didn’t want it again.

Kemono Orochi was destined to inherit the legacy of his father, known as The Dragon’s Tongue. It was an inheritance he never wanted it, never desiring the power that came with the title of Dragon. Kemono ended it all by tearing off the Dragon’s head, watching the serpent’s remains be consumed in hellfire. Now tormented by the scars of his past inflicted by his father, he is struggling to come to terms with the Akuma he has become.

One that wants to devour everyone in his path to protect the only one that matters to him.

The only person that had ever made his icy heart beat.

His heart. His love. His beautiful pride.

Rex Hunter dreams of becoming a principal ballerino…all fierce, like a Phoenix. But this Phoenix has lost his wings and fallen prey, straight into the clutched claws and callus hands of two vicious beasts. Each bore the blackest of hearts, each desiring to keep him safe, cherished and loved unconditionally. Or was Rex just destined to be the goo that would stick two shattered souls together and prevent them from forever falling to pieces?

There will be blood, gore and nasty shit.

There will be watersports, crude, angry, sometimes sensual and other times just downright dirty and dysfunctional sex.

BUT…

There will always be LOVE…

Because even villains understand the tortured scars love leaves in its wake.

Let’s start this review saying I loved the book a lot and when I finished reading it, I hated the author a lot. As an after thought I should have seen it coming but in my defence I was so enrolled in the story, I was blind to little details I should have been more careful with. Nonetheless in the following days when I was finally able to let the anger go, I realized that maybe it was the right choice and it is one of my favorite books I’ve read lately.

I’m honestly not sure what to write in this review because I don’t want to spoil the story. If you’re a fan of Wulf’s work, you know he is very good at surprising us with unexpected characters and developments, so just two words, be ready. I wasn’t.

Of Gods and Monsters: Hades is a story about betrayal, about second chances at love, enemies to lovers, about a monster with a cold heart that can maybe still beat for someone. It’s about a beautiful young man and the need to be human again. It’s the story of three lives, interwoven in times and fate.

The story of Hades takes place four years after Menoetius. In these four years, Hades has found and let go of who could have been the love of his life, he was betrayed by a brother and forced to live in a prison fighting ring.

Four years has passed from the day Rex has left Japan and the place that was his home and life for twelve years, where he kissed Kemono, the young man he watched become a cold hearted killer. The day he was escorted to the airport and put on a plane to the States. With his cat, Bacon, he’s now living under the Dragon’s Tongue “care”, a powerful criminal organization.

And four years ago, Kemono has killed the one who kept him away from Rex and turned him into a monster, the new dragon.

After four year spent in hell, Hades comes back to his apartment and find it occupied by a little ginger, Rex. And of course he needs to scare the young man to death. First impressions matter.

There is a lot going on this book, there are quite some second characters to keep track of, but it’s never chaotic because every new event, every new person is welcomed and fully explained.

The characters in this story are not easy, all of them have really heavy baggages on their shoulders (no one excluded), all of them are fucked up in different ways. I love knowing there are more books planned and that I’m going to meet them again and follow them in their journey to the love land. Cause they are all getting their HEA.

The story is a continuous story of messy, hard scenes. Not for everyone. It’s on the line of Menoetius but different and in my opinion so much better.

There are some things I’m very strict about in my MM books and they are often have been a deal breaker to me, this second installment has a couple of them, but I didn’t care. As I already said, the story took me completely, I couldn’t put it down for a moment. My opinion on the author is the same, he’s amazingly talented.

I can’t wait for the next one. I want to know more about Richard (and James I hope), but it seems that Monroe, a NYPD chief, has just fallen in love with someone.

Cover Art by Wulf Francú Godgluck. It’s well done and fitting, I can totally see Hades in it. And I like the black and the red together.

Sales Links:   All Romance (ARe) | Amazon

Book Details:

Published January 22nd 2016 by Wulf Francu Godgluck
Kindle Edition, 319 pages
ASIN B018WUWI18
Edition Language English

Of Gods and Monsters series

In The Spotlight: A Restored Man (The Men of Halfway House #3) by Jamie Reese

Title: A Restored Man
Series: The Men of Halfway House #3
Author: Jaime Reese
Genre: M/M Contemporary Romance
Release Date: February 17, 2015
Cole Renzo thinks his greatest challenge is to behave for the remainder of his term at Halfway House. Until he meets his new boss, Ty Calloway, a man who ticks off every box on Cole’s list of interests.
A sought-after restorer and customizer of exotic and collectible cars, Ty had enough confidence to command what he wanted in life, until one fateful night changed everything. Almost two years later, he’s slowly rebuilding his life with great control. He’s defied the odds and works tirelessly to be the man he once was—but he still feels broken.
Cole’s candor and unfiltered personality awaken Ty’s barely-remembered desire to greet each new day with a smile, while Ty’s unwavering acceptance of Cole’s quirks and brash humor makes Cole feel as if he fits in for the first time in far too long. When a nemesis threatens Ty’s personal restoration and the things he holds dear, Cole is determined to protect their relationship, even if that means sacrificing everything he’s worked so hard to achieve.
But Ty will have to let his guard down, surrender control, and admit he needs Cole first, even if that puts himself at risk of breaking beyond repair.

 

Available at the following:

Chapter 1 – A Restored Man © Jaime Reese 2015
The music reverberated off the walls and
filtered back through Cole’s body. The sounds of Pitbull’s “Timber”
had him gyrating in the kitchen as he reached into the refrigerator. He grabbed
the mozzarella then did exactly as the song commanded after shutting the door.
He spun his body around repeatedly, holding the bag of cheese above his head
while his hips arched up and down, completely seduced by the pounding beat of
the song.
He closed his eyes. His heart thumped in unison
with the beat, guiding his thick, compact, toned body in the fast-paced thrust
of his hips as if he were pushing into the welcoming heat of a lover.
The pace slowed and so did his body, in
complete sync with the rhythm. His hips rounded deeply, seductively, giving a
show that would always excite more than the traditional foreplay.
Cole Renzo had some moves and he knew it.
The song sped up again and he glided barefoot
across the tiled kitchen floor to reach the garlic cloves from the basket in
the corner.
“Hey, you,” Matt said, entering the
kitchen, speaking loud enough for his voice to travel above the music.
Cole looked over at Matthew Doner, owner of the
halfway house where he stayed, and smiled as his body moved to the rhythm of
the song, not faltering a single beat with the interruption. He knew Matt loved
to dance and had caught him doing his own version of a solo when he thought no
one was watching. He dropped the garlic cloves on the counter and bent his
finger in a come here motion,
swinging his hips in a fluid Salsa-like move as he walked toward Matt slowly.
Matt laughed and took two steps forward. Cole pulled him closer, spun him once
then wrapped his arm around Matt’s waist and started to dance to the faster
thump of the song.
The laughter echoed in the kitchen as they moved
in perfect time with the fast-paced rhythm nearing the end of the tune. Matt
held up his arm and Cole circled with the expert elegance of a seasoned dancer,
then pulled Matt close, stepped to the side and spun Matt in the same fashion.
“What the fuck!” Julian thundered
when he entered the kitchen.
They froze at the sound of Julian’s tone, just
as the song ended. Cole’s hand still rested on Matt’s waist as they tried to
settle their breathing, the absence of music magnifying the harsh puff of each
exhale.
“Hey!” Cole responded cheerfully. “Matt
and I were getting it on in here. Matt’s got some hip action that would make a—”
Matt’s hand came up around the back of Cole’s
head to cover his mouth, stopping him midsentence. What the hell? He was just going to compliment Matt on his
seductive dance moves.
Cole glanced at Julian. His golden skin glowed,
and he looked as if he had actually swelled an inch or two while standing there.
His nostrils flared like a bull’s. His usual intimidating green-eyed glare was
more vicious than usual.
“What. The. Fuck,” Julian said in
that controlled tone that couldn’t hide the undercurrent of his bubbling rage.
He looked like he wanted to murder someone. Correction. Based on the white-knuckled
fists he held at his sides, he was probably going to beat the shit out of some
poor soul.
Murder would show mercy.
Matt’s hand couldn’t hide the smile Cole
imagined was plastered on his face. Poor
sorry ass idiot who dared piss off Julian Capeletti. He looked up at the green-eyed guy who towered over
Cole’s five-nine stature.
“J, calm down,” Matt said to his
partner in his usual calming tone.
Yeah, good luck with that. Julian was about to
go ape shit on someone and Cole was going to have a front row seat to that
show. Cole’s stomach fluttered and he started shifting his weight from foot to
foot. He couldn’t wait to see Julian actually lose it for once.
Julian’s jaw clenched and his fists tightened.
Wait a
minute.
Cole looked back and forth between Julian and Matt. Julian’s not pissed at
Matt—he never was. They had one of those sickly sweet, always romantic I love
you lick fest relationships you secretly want but would never openly admit. Why
was Julian so mad? And who the hell was he mad at? There was no one else in the
kitchen.
Shit. Cole slowly
registered how his actions or words may have been received. He instantly
released Matt as if his fingers were singed and put his hands behind his back.
Matt removed his hand from Cole’s mouth. Cole took a few steps back and raised
his hands in a surrender-like fashion, hoping to calm the golden beast that
seemed to be growing in width with each passing second.
“We were just dancing,” Cole said
calmly. He knew better than to joke with Julian while he was in this state of
mind. Stick to the facts. “I was
making dinner…your favorite actually.” He walked over slowly toward the
stovetop like someone stepping away from a wild animal. He kept his focus
trained on Julian as he lifted the pot tops on the stove.
Matt neared Julian and placed his hands on the
stretched black T-shirt covering his broad chest. “J, I heard the music
and came in here. You know I can’t resist a dance,” he said teasingly as
he stroked Julian’s chest. He then smiled and placed a kiss on Julian’s neck.
Julian’s focus shifted quickly from Cole to
Matt and back to Cole. Within a second, his glare had changed. Matt kissed him again
and Julian’s eyes partially closed but snapped open, re-focusing on Cole as his
target.
Matt’s hand reached up Julian’s neck to the
back of his shaved head.
Julian’s eyes closed and his head lolled to the
side, seeking Matt’s kisses up his neck then along his jawline. In a flash, he
grabbed Matt by the hand and pulled him out the kitchen. Matt quickly glanced
back to Cole with a huge grin on his face.
Cole sighed with relief as his entire body
relaxed.
Crisis averted.
He always seemed to get a rise out of Julian
but it was never intentional. Not really. He wouldn’t deny he occasionally had
some fun at Julian’s expense. He just had the worst case of foot in mouth syndrome. It seemed his
mouth worked much faster than his brain. He would never say or do anything to
intentionally hurt someone, his mother had taught him better than that. But
with a thousand different thoughts racing in his mind at any given moment,
picking the right thing to say didn’t always work out in his favor.
Or as Julian said, he had no social filter
between his brain and mouth.
Cole returned his focus to the dinner he was
preparing. Food. God, he loved to cook and was thankful as hell Matt and Julian
allowed him to tinker in the kitchen. He didn’t want to stir anything up—aside
from the sauce he was preparing—but he needed to burn off the nervous energy
that thrummed through his body on a constant basis. He pressed the button on
the iPod docking station to jump to the next playlist and lowered the volume.
The smooth sounds of Maroon 5 streamed through the speakers and eased his
nerves as he continued to stir the sauce. Visions of Adam Levine singing and
dancing came to mind. Mmm. The things
he’d love to do to that man.
He was placing the garlic rolls in the oven
some time later when Julian walked into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator
to grab a bottled water. Cole closed the oven and stilled, hoping for some
magic superpower that would render him invisible. He couldn’t abandon dinner
and risk it getting ruined or, even worse, messing up Halfway House, the place
he had called his home for the last two months. Shit.
Cole turned, feeling as if he should say
something, but shut his mouth almost as quickly to avoid aggravating the
situation. He sucked at apologies and usually ended up shoving his other foot into
his mouth as well.
Julian glared at him just as Matt entered the
kitchen with flushed cheeks, a dreamy smile, and swollen lips. Matt hummed as
he tugged his shirt to straighten it. When he looked up and saw both Cole and
Julian looking at him, his eyes rounded and he quickly turned and exited the
kitchen.
Midday
booty call. Busted.
A slow smile began to spread across Cole’s
face. He glanced over at Julian who still had a death glare focused on him.
Julian pointed a finger at him. “Don’t you
dare go there,” he said before turning away. “And pull up your pants.
I can see your damn Spider-Man underwear.”
“Hey, don’t rag on the superheroes. Oh,
and by the way…”
Julian turned and gave Cole a pointed glare.
Cole did a chin up gesture toward the door
where Matt had been only moments ago. “You can thank me later.”
The muscles in Julian’s jaw flexed. He inhaled
sharply, shook his head, and left the kitchen without saying another word.
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ARe

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Jaime Reese is the alter ego of an artist who loves the creative process of writing, just not about herself. Fiction is far more interesting. She has a weakness for broken, misunderstood heroes and feels everyone deserves a chance at love and life. An avid fan of a happy ending, she believes those endings acquired with a little difficulty are more cherished.

 

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A MelanieM Review: The Truth as He Knows It (Perspectives #1) by A.M. Arthur

Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5

Lies are the chains that keep you weighed down at rock bottom.

The Truth As He Knows It coverNoel Carlson is now living as a police officer in the town of Stratton, Pennsylvania.  The scars he carries, on body and in mind, are not the only reminders of the gay bashing in college.  It also left his first love and best friend Tristan institutionalized with brain damage. And Noel his only visitor.  Weekly visits to Tristan and some of the comments Noel has overheard at work have kept him firmly in the closet, even to his partner.  Then an official call to an apartment building on a nuisance violation changes all that.

The loud noises from an out of control female bachelor party brings Off. Noel Carlson and his partner face to face with a tied up, dazed male stripper. Since the stripper had violated no laws, Noel lets him go.  Later Noel finds that he can’t forget the gorgeous man in the thong with the butterfly tattoo.

Shane Joseph has had a terrible life and it has left him with overwhelming debts to repay, especially to the brother who sacrificed nearly everything for him. His two jobs, in a deli and as a stripper, leave him no time for a social life.  But when his last job brings a gorgeous cop to his rescue, Shane thinks his might be missing out on something.  Another encounter at the deli reinforces that impression, especially when it seems that Noel wants more than sex and a quick hookup.  Soon a shaky bond is formed and Shane and Noel start to hope that they might even have a future together.

But Shane has huge secrets that he is hiding from everyone, including his brother.  And past history has taught him that lying brings less pain than telling the truth.  But now those lies are piling up and threatening to drown Shane.  Shane wants to come clean to those he loves, including Noel.  But when the revelations are done, will Shane still have anyone to come home to?

Whew!  What an emotionally wrenching read.  A. M. Arthur certainly knows how to build a story complete with strong, vulnerable characters you grow to care about.  A carryover from Arthur’s Cost of Repairs (book and series), the reverberations of the events and gay bashing continue to spread through the storyline here.  The Truth As He Knows It is the first in Arthur’s new Perspectives series that will feature characters from the Cost of Repairs books and new characters such as Shane.  But honestly, as well written as this story is, I’m not sure I’m going to continue on.

As I stated before this author creates believable, viable human beings for her stories.  The settings, locations, and events that occur translate as authentic and real.  For example, the beaten-up old trailer and disreputable, grungy trailer park where Shane and his brother Jason, reside, is so vividly described that the reader will have no problem visualizing such a desperately poor and hard scrabble sort of existence both brothers have been living.  That aura of desperation and near poverty coats Jason and Shane, leaving them both with a grayness that can’t be washed off.  That’s marvelous writing.  And it continues with Noel and Tristan’s relationship, and carries over into all the interchanges and dialog between every main character here.  So why wouldn’t I want to continue? Why? Because of the unrelenting angst and pain these characters go through.

These characters have been abused, raped, imprisoned, beaten, left brain damaged, scarred, impoverished, victimized in almost every way and it’s not just in the past.  Its past, present, (and if I read the clues right), it continues well into their future…books that is.  The pain and abuse rains down on these people like a 40 year flood that’s just getting started.  Just when you think there’s a possibility of something positive happening or a hopeful turn of events,  the author beats the crap out of that bead of light with a steel baseball bat.  It’s not just the characters that are left reeling, but the reader as well.

I can take angst if it is balanced out with scenes that leave the characters and the reader feeling happy or hopeful or even satisfied that all the time spent reading that story was worthwhile.  And for me, that just didn’t happen.  I felt as beaten up as the characters when it was all over.  And the hints and clues laid down by A.M. Arthur for Tristan’s story made me feel worse.

There are other elements that some readers will have issues with like the constant lying and the out of relationship sex, neither of which bothered me. A. M. Arthur lays out a rational and logical reason for both of those things happening, including an abusive background for Shane that makes his bad decisions seem realistic if sad.  No, it’s that I want more in a romance, more love, more hope, less constant  sorrow.  So, I am leaving this story and series right here.  Not all readers will feel the same.  Others will have a higher tolerance for hurt/comfort or near constant angst then I do, and they will adore this story and most like the series too.  Plus its just that well written that you shouldn’t be surprised to find the tears flowing as certain scenes unfold. So…what’s left to say.

I’m not giving any recommendations one way or the other.  Instead, you know what type of reader you are so I will leave the decision up to you.  I have read and loved A.M. Arthur’s stories in the past, including some in the Cost of Repairs series like Foundation of Trust.  Arthur is a terrific writer. I will continue to pick up and read Arthur’s new books as they arrive (mostly).  I will let you all into what I discover!

Cover artist: ?  I loved that cover, intimate and sexy.  Too bad I have no idea who created it.

Sales Links:  Samhain Publishing      All Romance (ARe)         Amazon   Buy it here

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 289 pages
Expected publication: February 10th 2015 by Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
ASINB00ODW2IEM
edition languageEnglish
urlhttp://amarthur.blogspot.com.au/
seriesPerspectives #1