Tag: author Marie Sexton

An Ali Review: Second Hand (Tucker Springs #2) by Heidi Cullinan and Marie Sexton, Iggy Toma (Narrator)

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Second Hand audiobookPaul Hannon moved to Tucker Springs for his girlfriend, but she’s left him with a house he can’t afford and a pantry full of useless gadgets. All Paul wants is to get back to normal, even if he’s not sure what that is anymore. When he wanders into Tucker Pawn for a gift to win her back, he meets El Rozal, pawn shop owner and all-around cynic.

El Rozal doesn’t do relationships, especially not with clueless straight boys still pining for their ex. El may make his living dealing in castoffs, but that doesn’t apply to men. Still, when Paul starts clearing out his old life, pawning kitchen equipment he never wanted in the first place, El is drawn to Paul in spite of himself.

Paul and El have nothing in common except a past full of disappointments. There’s no reason to believe the two of them could fit, but in El’s line of work, one man’s junk is another man’s treasure. When it comes to love, El and Paul may learn that secondhand doesn’t mean second best. 
 
This was an average story. Nothing really wrong with it but nothing that made it stand out either. Paul has gone through a bad break up and while looking for a gift for his ex-girlfriend he meets Eli. The two men become friends and while Eli realizes immediately that he has feelings for Paul, Paul just cruises along cluelessly. Paul bordered on getting on my nerves with his cluelessness. At other times though I felt for him and I thought the internal discussions/fears/etc he has over his sexuality were probably pretty realistic. Eli I liked throughout the entire story.  I didn’t really feel the emotional attraction between the two men.  It just felt like they were friends unless they were in the bedroom.  The bedroom scenes though were great.  The chemistry just jumped off the pages.  Unfortunately hot sex scenes isn’t enough to carry an entire book for me.  I needed more relationship development.  Again, I didn’t love this book but I didn’t dislike it either.  

The narration by Iggy Toma was just ok.  Overall I did not really care for the narrator.  He did a wide range of voices and did them all differently which is a plus.  I didn’t like some of the voices though.  This is probably a matter of taste.  While it didn’t work for me it might for others.  I suggest listening to a sample of the audio first.
 
Cover art by L.C. Chase. I like the cover.  I think it is a good representation of the main characters and their story.
Sales Links:  Riptide Publishing | Audible | Amazon
Audiobook Details:
Audible Audio
Published January 22nd 2016 by Audible (first published September 1st 2012)
Original TitleSecond Hand
SeriesTucker Springs #2 settingColorado (United States)

A BJ Review: Cinder: A CinderFella Story by Marie Sexton

Rating:  5 stars out of 5       ★★★★★

CinderEldon Cinder would give anything to see Prince Xavier one last time, but only women are invited to the royal ball. When the local witch offers to make Eldon female for just one night, he agrees.

One spell.

One night.

One dance.

What could possibly go wrong?


I adored this short, well-written story based on the fairy tale, but with a M/M twist. This book drew me in and was an smooth and easy read. The way the couple fell in love was all I could have asked for. The prince (THE PRINCE! for heavens sake) was the one to treat Eldon like he mattered when his real family treated him like dirt. Xavier showed him what it felt like to simply have someone care what he thought and felt. . . and when you’ve lived a life where no one much cares what you feel or would ever think to notice and question your emotional state. . . . well, it was touching and insightful and perfect for me.  This book so cute I wanted to pinch it’s cheek.


This short novella is a gorgeous little GFY with just the right amount of angst and romance with the barest sprinkling of sex. There are a bit of girly bits since Eldon’s fairy godmother turns him into a girl to attend the ball, but the breasts/bits are just temporary and Eldon is very much a male. I enjoyed the ending (wasn’t sure that it would end well!), but YAY Prince Xavier saves the day! And the descriptions of how Eldon felt during the brief stints of being in a female body were done well (not over the top as could have been).

All the elements of the fairy tale were there, the magic, the slipper, the ball, the fairy godmother (well, witch in this case). But we were also given a fun, goofy dog (Milton), humor, fishing and two men in love who got their HEA. A perfect fairy tale that made me dream and smile and swoon.

The cover with its magical forest at night, the soft blues tones, the lovely topography, and the slipper/boot is all around awesome. But the slogan on front is kick-ass and made me smile. It says “It’s all fun and games until somebody loses a shoe.”

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


Book Details:  

Kindle Edition, 86 pages
Published February 16th 2014 by Marie Sexton (first published February 4th 2012)
ASINB00IHQEYOW
Edition LanguageEnglish
CharactersEldon Cinder, Augustus Alexandre Kornelius Xavier Redmon

A Barb, A Zany Old Lady Review: Winter Oranges by Marie Sexton

Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Winter Oranges coverJason Walker, former child star and now B-movie regular is sick and tired of Hollywood and the paparazzi cameras that seem to be present wherever he goes, so he buys a ranch in Idaho in the hopes of finding peace and serenity. That may have worked, except for the ghost haunting his guest house who can’t be seen by anyone but Jason.

He nearly passes out when he discovers that the young man, dressed in 19th century clothing, is actually trapped in a snow globe. It seems that the only person who has seen him in over 150 years is Jason, and they eventually discover that it’s likely that Jason is a descendent, and decide that’s the only possible reason for it. Benjamin Ward would have been nearly twenty-one when his sister put a spell on him and trapped him in the globe. She was trying to keep him from enlisting in the Confederate Army when the Civil War began, but before she could let him out, the globe was stolen, and he’s been trapped ever since.

He’s sweet and funny and loves discussing just about everything. He’s been manifesting outside the globe for years, usually in an empty room because he’s confined to the room where the globe is located, but occasionally he’s in a room where someone is watching TV, so he’s hooked on sitcoms, especially those from the eighties when he spent a lot of time living with an elderly woman who loved to watch TV. When Jason accidentally winds the globe in Ben’s presence, they discover that he can also be heard by Jason. He keeps Jason company, helping him work through the issues of feeling lonely and abandoned by his family and the best friend he loves but can’t have. Dylan has been Jason’s best friend and on-again-off-again lover for years, but he’s not interested in commitment, and it breaks Jason’s heart to see him with other men and women when he longs to be the man’s only companion. But he slowly discovers that by spending all his time with Ben, he’s formed a stronger bond with him, and it soon occurs to him that he’s falling in love with the young man.

When they discover a way for Jason to enter the globe and be with Ben sexually, it’s not a simple solution because on his return to the real world, Jason suffers traumatic headaches and severe nausea and vomiting, which when witnessed by the local police chief, lands him in the hospital. Ben is frantic, not knowing where Jason has been taken and even if he’s alive, so when he returns, they decide to stop trying to find a way to be together in the globe. In the meantime, Dylan has also discovered that Jason seems to be talking to himself a lot and that he’s extremely possessive of the snow globe. Fearing his friend is losing his mind, he takes steps to separate Jason from the globe.

There’s so much drama in this story that I wanted to read it with one eye closed. As it was, I had to put it down and walk away a few times because my nerves were shot. I was very afraid for both Jason and Ben, both individually and as a couple. Jason appeared to be losing his grip on sanity, and I thought he was going to be taken from Ben, but the culminating action of the story was even more dramatic and traumatic than I envisioned, and I thought I was going to scream before the finale. I can’t begin to describe the tension I felt and the fear I had for both men, and I honestly could not figure out how the author could possibly resolve this drama. But resolve it she did, and in a most spectacular and satisfying way.

I actually had to wait a few days before writing this review because I was concerned that the stress I felt while reading was going to negatively influence my rating of the story. Now that I’ve had time to breathe and relax, I can only sit back and admire the mind of an author who can be so ingeniously creative. This was a wonderful love story and a unique one at that. If you like paranormal or even just a creative twist to your MM romances, you should love this one. Don’t hesitate to buy it.

~~~~~

Cover Art by LC Chase depicts a winter scene with a young man inside a snow globe. It’s beautifully done and very attention-getting, though it doesn’t quite represent the snow globe described in the story that contained only a log cabin in the woods.

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

Book Details:

ebook, 325 pages
Published November 28th 2015 by Riptide Publishing
original titleWinter Oranges
ISBN 162649357X (ISBN13: 9781626493575)
edition languageEnglish

Twenty percent of the proceeds from this title will be donated to the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender (GLBT) National Help Center.

Founded in 1996, the GLBT National Help Center is a non-profit organization that provides vital peer-support, community connections and resource information to people with questions regarding sexual orientation and/or gender identity. Utilizing a diverse group of GLBT volunteers, they operate two national hotlines, the GLBT National Hotline and the GLBT National Youth Talkline, as well as private, volunteer one-to-one online chat, that help both youth and adults with coming-out issues, safer-sex information, school bullying, family concerns, relationship problems and a lot more.

To learn more about this charity or to donate directly, please visit their website: http://www.glbthotline.org/

A MelanieM Review: Winter Oranges by Marie Sexton

Rating:  5 stars out of 5    ★★★★★

Winter Oranges coverJason Walker is a child star turned teen heartthrob turned reluctant B-movie regular who’s sick of his failing career. So he gives up Hollywood for northern Idaho, far away from the press, the drama of LA, and the best friend he’s secretly been in love with for years.

There’s only one problem with his new life: a strange young man only he can see is haunting his guesthouse. Except Benjamin Ward isn’t a ghost. He’s a man caught out of time, trapped since the Civil War in a magical prison where he can only watch the lives of those around him. He’s also sweet, funny, and cute as hell, with an affinity for cheesy ’80s TV shows. And he’s thrilled to finally have someone to talk to.

But Jason quickly discovers that spending all his time with a man nobody else can see or hear isn’t without its problems—especially when the tabloids find him again and make him front-page news. The local sheriff thinks he’s on drugs, and his best friend thinks he’s crazy. But Jason knows he hasn’t lost his mind. Too bad he can’t say the same thing about his heart.

Ever looked at a cover, read a blurb and just known, known that the book had a story you just needed to read?  Winter Oranges by Marie Sexton did that for me.  I’ve long held a fascination with snow globes, especially the idea that the people and things  inside them were alive, existing in a world we could only look at.  Add to that the elements of love and a man trapped out of time and I was hooked. Plus it was Marie Sexton writing the story!

Marie Sexton’s character of Jason comes across as believably real and lost,  his old career dying or maybe its Jason who tired of dealing with being a Hollywood actor and the problems that comes with it.  We feel his weariness, his loss, and his uncertainty now that he’s fled to the backwoods and this peculiar house.  Because quite frankly we are wondering if he made the right choice too.  As charming as Sexton makes the house seem on first appearances, she also manages to bring a air of eeriness and oddity with it as well.

With those elements flowing through the narrative from the beginning, when Jason’s actor friend with benefits, Dylan, makes his appearances into the scene, its acts as a jarring, albeit lively,  interruption into Jason’s new isolated life.  Just as I suspect Sexton meant it to be.  At first we welcome Dylan short visits into Jason’s new life, and then slowly everything changes when Ben and the globe enters the story.

Such a magical element.  A snow globe. All those possibilities of what could lie inside.  Here they contain a young man, trapped outside of  time, the reason why I will let the story explain for itself.  The romance that develops between Ben and Jason is so real, so heartfelt and fragile that each moment they are together in the story is one you  treasure as much as they do.

How does it end?  With stunning danger, heartbreak, tears and laughter.  And love, so much love.  I adored this story.  Winter Oranges by Marie Sexton is its own delightful treasure.  One to be taken out, reread for its magic and romance, and love against all odds relationship.  Perfect for the holidays no matter what holiday that would be.  I highly recommend this story and this author.

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Twenty percent of the proceeds from this title will be donated to the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender (GLBT) National Help Center. Love for the Holidays: A Charity Bundle Benefiting the GLBT National Help Center – See more at:  Riptide Publishing

Cover design by L. C. Chase  is  perfect, just perfect for this story.  I loved it because it drew me in and made me need to see what  was inside.

Sales Links:  Riptide Publishing  preorder  Other links to follow closer to  release  date

Book Details:

ebook, 325 pages
Expected publication: November 30th 2015 by Riptide Publishing
original title Winter Oranges
ISBN13 9781626493575
edition language English