On tour: Blood’s Song (House Milar #1) by Tempeste O’Riley (giveaway)

Blood’s Song (House Milar #1)
Author: Tempeste O’Riley

Publisher: Encompass Ink, Teen
Release Date: Nov, 24^th, 2017

Blurb/Synopsis:

Even in darkness, love lights the way.

Anya awakens alone and afraid in a new world soaked with blood and terror. The only things she knows for certain are her name and that humans are precious.

Unwilling to give in to her hungers, she sets her feet upon a path of discovery, searching for clues to her forgotten past. Along the way she runs headlong into the unimaginable world of the undead and the waiting arms of Nicholas, a fearless nocturnal defender searching for his love, lost in eternity.

Into their midst stumbles Declán, a young, natural born vampire hunter and Guardian whose passion for Anya is only matched by his draw to Nicholas. His arrival could mark the end of their tale, or with the gift of Anya’s blood kiss, it might bring about the beginning of a new chapter for them all.

Fate has a wicked sense of sensibility…
Edition/Formats Available In: eBook & Print

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About the Author

Tempeste O’Riley is an out and proud pansexual genderfluid whose best friend growing up had the courage to do what they couldn’t—defy the hate and come out. He has been their hero ever since.

Tempe is a hopeless romantic who loves strong relationships and happily-ever-afters. Though new to writing M/M, they has done many things in their life, yet writing has always drawn them back—no matter what else life has thrown their way. They counts her friends, family, and Muse as their greatest blessings in life. They lives in Wisconsin with their children, reading, writing, and enjoying life.

Tempe is also a proud PAN member of Romance Writers of America^®, WisRWA, FFPRWA, and Rainbow Romance Writers. Tempe’s preferred pronouns are they/them/their/theirs/themselves. To learn more about Tempeste and their writing, visithttp://tempesteoriley.com.

Author Links

Other Works by Tempeste O’Riley

Desires Entwined Series
Designs of Desire Book 1
Simple Desires (in the Grand Adventures Anthology)
Bound by Desire Book 1.75 (Novella)
Desires’ Guardian Book 2
Desires’ Pride Book 2.5 (Novella)
Temptations of Desire Book 3
Truth in Lace Book 3.5 (Novella)
Signs of Desire Book 4
Chain of Fate Series
Whiskers of a Chance Book 1
Fangs with a Heart Book 2
House Millar Series
Blood’s Song Book 1

Standalone Titles

Caged Sanctuary
Dreamers’ Destiny
Grand Adventures Anthology (Simple Desires)
Hope and Love Anthology
Turn the Page…. Anthology

Giveaway

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An Alisa Audiobook Review: Whiskers of a Chance by Tempeste O’Riley and Craig Beck (Narrator)

Rating: 3 stars out of 5

whiskers-of-a-chance-audiobook Jason Grant runs his own IT business from home, owns his own home, and has the best friend he could imagine. What he doesn’t have, or believe he will ever have, is love. When Jason catches a glimpse of his new neighbor on moving day, his libido ignites and his fascination in piqued. He even manages to concoct an excuse to go over and meet the man who makes him hope and want for more than he has in years.

Keith Skyler is a shifter in a world where his kind is known only to a few, but they don’t often mix and they never mate. Keith has been hoping for a mate since before he can remember, but gay lynx don’t have true mates. As far as he knows, they don’t have mates at all. However, while moving his little family across Seattle—and away from their tribe—his reality tips and spins more than he thought possible.

When these two men meet over a dish of five-cheese broccoli-noodle casserole, sparks fly.

Who knew a welcome-to-the-neighborhood gift could give both of them their chance at love?

I liked listening to this story. Keith has kept many things about himself hidden for years and hopes that moving his sister and himself across the city will give him the opportunity to live his life as he has always wanted. Jason has been hurt so many times in the past and lives his life pretty much alone except for his best friend.

This story is told from both character’s points of view, which give us the ability to see both characters thoughts and emotions. Jason has a hard time accepting that anyone would love him at all let alone unconditionally, but Keith is willing to do anything to prove it to him. Keith has to learn to work with others, werewolves and vampires, towards a common goal for a better life. I enjoyed the interactions of these two as they worked through their differences to build a life together.

Craig Beck did a nice job narrating this story. The use of different voices for the characters helped me to keep track of the story. He did a good job of portraying the characters emotions in his reading; however, I had trouble with a few of the voices he used for the characters made them sound like dumb jocks, but that didn’t match the words and thoughts of those characters.

Cover art by Catt Ford is very nice and matches the characters in the story.

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Audiobook Details:

Audiobook, 7hrs 14min
Published September 20, 2016 (ebook first published September 30, 2015)
Edition Language: English

A Barb the Zany Old Lady Audiobook Review: Signs of Desire by Tempeste O’Reily ~ Audiobook narrated by Jeff Gelder

Rating: 3.75 stars out of 5

When a night out turns into a matchmaking scheme, they thought communication would be their biggest challenge to their happily ever after….

Simon Tyler knows his job as a gay romance author makes his lack of faith in love more than a little ironic, but he’s tired of being used for his wallet. When a night out turns into a matchmaking scheme orchestrated by his best friends—though he’s not the target—Simon’s not thrilled, but since he’s sworn off happily-ever-after anyway, he goes along with it… until he meets the object of their efforts, Adrian, and finds perhaps he hasn’t given up on love after all.

Professor Adrian Keys has tried to date hearing men before, but being deaf himself, he’s never had any success at making a connection. After his friends con him into going out and Adrian realizes it’s all an elaborate plan to set him up, he braces for yet another failure, only to discover there is a spark—except it’s not with the man his friends had in mind, but with Simon Tyler instead.

Not all their friends have found a way past their romantic failures, but Simon and Adrian might be on the path to happily-ever-after.

My fourth audiobook in this series and it’s the one I liked best. Both MCs are sweet and special in their own way. Adrian is a professor at the local college and a computer expert. He’s deaf but that doesn’t stop him from doing whatever he wants to do. He’s the cutie we met in Chase’s story when Chase was trying to date him and Rhys got super jealous.

Simon is his newest love interest. Simon, one of James’s friends, has been around from the beginning of the series. He’s sweet and shy and an LGBTQ+ romance writer. He’s also extremely wealthy from a rich and powerful family who are pushing for reform that will counteract all the work done by gay rights groups. Needless to say, Simon doesn’t associate with them, but he’s been burned before by guys who only wanted his money, and he’s at the point where he doesn’t trust easily. When he meets Adrian, though, things change for the better.

From Adrian’s perspective, Simon is a great person to get to know better. He seems unlike many of the men in his past who treated him as if he was inferior, and he’s far from that. Simon immediately signs up to learn sign language and spends as much time as he can with Adrian so they can get to know one another.

The angst in this story comes primarily from Simon’s family and from both MCs’ distrust of relationships based on their past experiences. Overall, it’s a great romance and one that I would recommend to those who want to read something sweet and hopeful.

The narration was not bad, the vocalizations varied, but it could be better. This is the same narrator as books 2 and 3, and I finally figured out what I don’t like about his narration—he makes an extra-long pause at each comma. But it’s not just at each compound sentence comma—it’s each and every comma. This means he pauses for the commas used in direct address, appositives, and interrupters. It becomes annoying quickly. If I could wave a magic wand, I’d ask that he not do that, and then I’d be able to say the audiobook was perfect.

Cover art by Reese Dante is similar to the other books in the series with a soft, watercolor background. In this case a man’s hand, with forefinger and pinky raised, symbolizes sign language. The hand rests against books that symbolize romance writing, thereby capturing the spirit of both men.

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Audiobook Details:

Audible Audio
Published July 27th 2016 by Dreamspinner Press LLC (first published November 30th 2015)
Edition LanguageEnglish
SeriesDesires Entwined #4

A Barb the Zany Old Lady Audiobook Review: Temptations of Desire (Desires Entwined #3) by Tempeste O’Riley and Jeff Gelder (Narrator)

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

temptations-of-desire audio This story overlaps the action that took place in Desire’s Guardian, the previous one in the series so I would highly recommend reading that before starting this one. Dal Sayer, cop and brother of Rhys Sayer (Desire’s Guardian) meets a gorgeous young man at the local LGBTQ center. The man, Alexander James Noble, introduces himself as Alex and tells Dal he’s the chef who volunteers there to prepare meals on Saturdays.

A personal chef for a businessman, Alex, who Dal nicknames Lexi, is gender fluid, switching back and forth to his female persona as the mood strikes him. However, Dal is unaware of that until one night he surprises Lexi when he drops by to see him. Lexi opens the door in his female wardrobe, and with the shock of seeing Dal there, he runs into his bedroom, locking the door behind him. It takes a while, but eventually Dal gets the story of heartbreak, pain and abandonment at the hands of his family who rejected him when they found out he liked to dress in his sister’s clothing. Dal slowly but surely wins Lexi’s trust as he remains supportive and faithful to him and assures him he accepts Lexi completely.

Throughout most of this story, the author weaves in the events that occurred concurrently in Desire’s Guardian, so much of what we learn is repetitive. However, one fresh piece of information is the arrival of Lexi’s twin sister, Lyric, and her family, including her husband who used to spout hatred toward Lexi when they were in high school. Apparently Ly is moving away from their hometown due to her husband’s job, so she arrives to share her good news with Lexi. What I found odd is it appeared that these twins had not kept in touch after he was dumped in front of a hospital by his father years before, and yet when she shows up, she’s fully supportive of his life and embraces both his male and female personas and her husband is as well!

The overused trope that disturbed me the most was the pressure Dal’s parents put on him to find a female, marry, and reproduce in order to give his father grandchildren so he’d want to survive his cancer and be happy. This issue was present in the previous story, but there was more time spent on those conversations in this one. And to be honest, I found the whole situation quite bizarre and sickening. Dal is not a teen—he’s a professional man in his thirties, and having to listen to the whole ridiculous argument from both of his parents was distasteful.

During the last twenty minutes of the story, we finally get fresh information as this is the point where Dal had been injured by helping Rhys rescue his lover. And though what happens with the couple is sweet and worthy of several sighs and “Ahh” moments, it doesn’t save the rest of the book. Topping all this was the ever-speedy narration by Jeff Gelder, who gave both Lexi and Lyric the same voice and narrated the book as if he was reading it for the first time. The narration did not add to the story at all, so I can’t honestly recommend it in audiobook format.

If it didn’t seem as if the whole story was just a rehash of the second book, I believe I would have liked it much more. I love cross-dressing men, and there were a few glimpses of “manties” so there was some redeeming value there. And I really liked Dal, until his way of dealing with his demeaning parents left me feeling ill. Lexi was a sweetheart through and through, and by the end I wasn’t so sure Dal deserved him. I’d recommend the e-book to those who want to complete the series, but as I said previously, it’s not a standalone.

The cover by Reese Dante is done in the same soft watercolors as the others in the series and features a set of scarves and multicolor bracelets—both symbolic of Lexi and very beautifully done.

Sales Links: Dreamspinner Press | Amazon | Audible | iTunes

Audiobook Details:

Audiobook
Published June 15th 2016 by Dreamspinner Press (first published September 22nd 2014)
ASINB01H2JDU0S
Edition LanguageEnglish

SeriesDesires Entwined #3

Barb, A Zany Old Lady Review: Desire’s Guardian by Tempeste O’Reily ~~ Audiobook narrated by Jeff Gelder

Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5

desires-guardian audio Chase Manning, the BFF of James Bryant from Designs of Desire, looks and acts like a twink on the surface, but once someone gets to know the man below the surface, they are shocked at the strength of character and dominant nature they find. And that’s what Rhys Sayer, James’s bodyguard, finds out when he stops being offensive to Chase and starts to allow himself to see with his eyes and not just his prejudices.

When they first met, Rhys had just broken up with his cheating boyfriend, and when the gregarious Chase approached him, he shunned Chase’s advances. That was enough for Chase because he’s no one’s fool. The problem is that he’s still attracted to the big hunk of manhood and finds Rhys incredibly sexy. Even so, he resists the job offer made by Rhys and his partner Mark who need a good IT man. He only capitulates when they sweeten the deal with office space for his new business and after a lot of arm twisting by James, who is now friends with Rhys.

This is not just a simple love story. There’s plenty of danger and intrigue when Rhys and his police officer brother, Dal, connect the dots on a current murder case and realize most of the young victims are Chase’s former boyfriends. Unfortunately, Chase inadvertently puts himself in harm’s way.

I enjoyed this story, though not quite as much as I did the first one. On the flip side, this narrator did a better job than the one who did the first one. However when he narrates, he speaks too quickly and often sounds as if he’s reading the story to a library audience, rather than putting in the necessary drama to bring the book to life. So, as with the first book in the series, I would recommend this story to lovers of MM romance, particularly if you enjoy a story where the big, muscular guy is dominated by the smaller, more effeminate man. However, it might be best to invest in the e-book rather than the audio version.

Cover art by Reese Dante is similar to the first book with a soft, watercolor background. In this case, a man’s hand and wrist are featured with a prominent black cuff on the wrist. This has a direct link back to the story so makes the cover both beautiful and appropriate.

Sales Links: Dreamspinner Press | Amazon | Audible | iTunes

Audiobook Details:

Audiobook
Published June 14th 2016 by Dreamspinner Press (first published June 5th 2014)
ASINB01H0HAS66
Edition LanguageEnglish

SeriesDesires Entwined #2 settingMilwaukee, Wisconsin (United States)

A Barb the Zany Old Lady Audiobook Review: Designs of Desire by Tempeste O’Reily ~ Audiobook narrated by Max Lehnan

Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5

designs-of-desire audio Dreamspinner Press, book 1 in the Desires Entwined series

James Bryant suffers from a joint disorder and has to use crutches to get around. The crutches aren’t just because of the disorder, though—they are the result of an attack by a former lover. James is an artist, but he’s currently working for a design firm so that he’ll have a safety net income and benefits. As a junior in the firm, he’s surprised when he’s given a prestigious job to design the interior concepts for a hotel catering to LGBTQ couples. And that’s where he meets Seth Burns—the gorgeous, wealthy, CEO of Carrington Enterprises, and unfortunately, also a dominant personality. And the last thing James wants is to get involved with someone like his former lover. Too bad, too, because this one is super hot and apparently very interested in James.

Seth Burns can’t believe his luck when he’s assigned the very talented James Bryant for his project, but he’s quickly on the defensive when he learns what happened to James in the past. Willing to put his need for control on the back burner until he and James get to know one another, he finds that the sweet young man is not only more talented than he originally assumed, he’s also more emotionally fragile. And when James is confronted with his ex-Dom again and further injured, Seth helps James pursue having the man prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

After Seth and James initially become involved, Seth encourages him to pursue his career as an artist and cut back at the design firm. Not long after that Seth learns that the sister of his heart has been killed in an accident, and he’s been named guardian for her daughter, the daughter for whom Seth was the sperm donor. James immediately opens his heart and his home to both Seth and six-year-old Dani, and the journey toward the formation of their new family begins. But the journey is not without multiple bumps along the road, including yet another threat to James’s life—this time from an unexpected source. Will these men ever be able to overcome all the odds against them? It’s difficult, but with the help of the bodyguard Seth hired and James’s BFF, Chase, they manage to overcome the odds against them and find the path to their happiness.

This is my first book from this author and I enjoyed the story, even with all the twists and turns. I liked the characters, both MC and secondary, and I was pleased to see there’s more coming up in this series. My major disappointment was with the audiobook narration of Max Lehnan. The poor narration placed a burden on the story that I found difficult to overcome. His narration was so poor I can only give it one star. However, rather than average that with the four stars I’d give the story, I am going with 3.5 stars overall because I hate to penalize the author’s rating for something like this. I see that there’s a different narrator for the last two books in the series so I’ll definitely be moving to them next. And I recommend the e-book version to MM readers who enjoy stories with family drama, especially those who find happiness with family of the heart.

~~~~~

The cover by Reese Dante is done in a very soft, soothing, watercolor with a faded background headshot of two men about to kiss. In the forefront is a hand holding a paintbrush and with rings on each finger of the hand, signifying the ring splints worn by MC James—the perfect cover for this book.

Audiobook Sales Links: Dreamspinner Press | Amazon | Audible | iTunes

Audiobook Details:

Audible Audio, 7 pages, 6 hrs 18 mins
Published December 4th 2013 by Dreamspinner Press, LLC (first published July 28th 2013)
Original TitleDesigns of Desire
ASINB00H3945LQ
Edition LanguageEnglish
SeriesDesires Entwined #1 settingMilwaukee, Wisconsin (United States)

An Ali Review: Dreamers’ Destiny by Tempeste O’Reilly

Rating: 5 stars out of 5

Liam Grady is the owner of the Feathered Quill, a quirky little bookstore in Asheville, and—though he doesn’t realize it yet—a dream walker. His last relationship failed almost a year ago, and he’s not had the interest or nerve to pursue anyone he’s met since.

Cameron Danu is a tattoo artist from rural Georgia. Cameron is left without a job after his boss, José, is forced to close the shop after a heart attack. When Cameron learns José has set up an interview for him at a small tattoo parlor in Asheville, he hopes for a fresh start in a new town.

Fate brings Cameron and Liam together, and they realize they’ve met before—in their dreams. A chance encounter and a winged tattoo might lead them to their destiny—if fear doesn’t turn their dreams into a nightmare

This is another wonderful story by Tempeste O’Riley. I have enjoyed her contemporary romances and was excited to read a paranormal by this author.

Liam and Cameron have been meeting in their dreams for years and when they actually see and meet each other in the real world it throws everything into a tailspin. When Liam learns that he is a dream walker and dream weaver he begins to learn about his gift while getting to know Cameron in the real world. When someone begins to attack them in their dreams they have to work together to get to the other side unharmed.

This was an emotional story and it was nice being able to feel both Liam’s and Cameron’s feelings on what was going on. The different points of view were helpful in understanding the characters. They both had to struggle with keeping their dream world and the real world separate from the other and when the dream world begins to invade into the real world they work together with the help of friends to get everything back on track.

This was a great story and I loved how their relationship came together. Everything wasn’t perfect for either of them and they each had to learn how to be there for the other. Their sex scenes in their dreams were hot, but once they actually knew each other they got even better. The story had a great conclusion with them looking towards the future after they conquered the man from their dreams.

Cover art by Reese Dante is wonderful and depicts one of the main tattoos in the story. Plus, a man with tattoos is always great to look at.

Sales Links: Dreamspinner Press | Amazon | ARe

Book Details:

ebook, 200 pages

Published: May 13, 2016 by Dreamspinner Press

ISBN: 9781634772136

Edition Language: English

A Mika Review: Desires’ Guardian (Desires Entwined #2) by Tempeste O’Riley

Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5

Most people see Chase Manning as the party-boy twink he seems on the surface. Only James, Chase’s BFF, knows the depth of his loyalty and the extent of the wounds Chase carries inside. When Chase meets Rhys Sayer things don’t go well, but he can’t shake his attraction to the huge, sexy man.   Rhys is a man of contradictions and fear—a strange combination for a PI and bodyguard. He’s in a bad place emotionally when he sets eyes on Chase for the first time. When Chase puts the moves on him, Rhys insults him, thwarting any possibility of a relationship. Rhys doesn’t see himself as a complicated man, but he dreads the very kind of connection he desires.   Just as they’re trying to overcome their uncertainties, Chase is put in harm’s way. Luckily Rhys and their friends have all the right talents to help Rhys save the man of his dreams.

While this was a big step up from Designs of Desire (Desires Entwined, #1), it still left me unsure of some things about the characters and their relationship. I liked Rhys and Chase from Designs of Desire. I honestly felt like this was one big role reversal in this book. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not basing it on both of their physical appearances either. I felt like Chase’s character in the first story was so approachable and happy all the times. I understand people aren’t always happy and he was a secondary character. It wasn’t alot for me to base much on Rhy’s character because he just seemed like a body guard.

I liked the story a lot. However it felt like the mystery was just thrown in there for aesthetics purposes only. I understand Rhys needing a reason for Chase being in his life because of his work, but I felt like there were other ways it could have happened.

My biggest issue with the story was the lack of communication. Come on, you want me to believe that you two weren’t able to talk about why you weren’t talking to each other after 1 night of coming together. I didn’t feel like these two would have that issue. They just seemed to fix their issues magically. What did Rhys exactly do, because based on few terms he used I felt like the “issue” didn’t get rectified.

I did like how protective Chase friends were, oh my goodness. It was like the Twink Gang, they were all over threatening Rhys about treating their friend right. I appreciated it a ton, I loved how both guys had supportive families on both sides. Rhys parents were amazing, and sure his dad giving Dal an ultimatum hurt but we’ll see where that leads in Temptations of Desire (Desires Entwined, #3) . With the intensity of these two, I was happy with the ending. They both wanted to pace their relationship and just get to know each other well.

I recommend this for people reading the series; we do get to see some of Seth and James from Designs of Desire (Desire Entwined #1). I definitely noticed the author’s growth as far as the writing went.

Reese Dante created this cover, and like both previous covers it had symbolism written all over it. The cuff meant something, I would have liked bikes instead but I could appreciate the cuff based on the “mystery thriller” aspect of the book.

Sales Links: Dreamspinner Press eBook & Paperback All Romance (ARe) amazon buy it here

Book Details:

ebook, 200 pages
Published June 6th 2014 by Dreamspinner Press (first published June 5th 2014)
ISBN 1627989277 (ISBN13: 9781627989275)
edition languageEnglish
urlhttp://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store
seriesDesires Entwined #2
setting Milwaukee, Wisconsin (United State

Books in the Desires Entwined series in the order they were written and should be read:

Designs of Desire (Desires Entwined, #1)
Bound by Desire (Desires Entwined #1.75)
Desires’ Guardian (Desires Entwined, #2)
Temptations of Desire (Desires Entwined, #3)
Truth in Lace (Desires Entwined #3.5)

Blood’s Song (House Milar #1) Author: Tempeste O’Riley

Publisher: Encompass Ink, Teen Release Date: Nov, 24th, 2017

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Blood’s Song (House Milar #1)
Author: Tempeste O’Riley

Publisher: Encompass Ink, Teen
Release Date: Nov, 24^th, 2017