Tag: contemporary

Review: Limelight (Vino & Veritas #15) by E. Davies

Rating: 3.5🌈

Here I am diving back into the Vino and Veritas series and Burlington,Vermont. It’s like coming home.

A bit of a change here in that the main characters are only peripherally connected to V & V instead of working at either establishment.

Caleb Holt, poet and accountant, adorable nerd , goes to live mic night and reads his poetry. Or does on the night he meets Tag.

That would be Titus “Tag “ Taylor, former famous rocker now bee keeper and meadery owner. The rocker part of his life is behind him and something he’s kept secret since he came to Burlington, giving up. Titus for Tag. An identity he far prefers.

From the moment they spot each other, it’s a story of love at first sight or at least first meeting. These two are almost deeply committed to each other within a week.

And while they do a lot of talking, it’s not completely honest. While Caleb, virgin that he is, is communicating his need for clarity and openness in a relationship Tag is inwardly justifying why he is hiding a huge part of who he was from Caleb. A huge something that has the potential to disrupt his life once again via the internet and paparazzi.

Once they get together, Tag’s inability to tell Caleb is frustrating especially as he is given endless opportunities.

As a reader I far prefer my characters and couples to act like adults. And that means communication. Something missing here.

I love the whole beekeepering and meadery elements. Those just added such richness to this story and depth to the character of Tag. I really could see his love for his craft, the bees, and all the different meads he crafted. In fact, I was ready for a taste testing myself.

I really need to find a meadery.

Caleb’s family, overbearing and loving. Also a genuine plus. As was his poetry.

Don’t get me started on Queenie. Loved her.

But that relationship was quick, and a bit too instant love for me to commit to it immediately. I just was too wary. For Caleb , and then Tag.

I liked the epilogue. That was sweet and heartwarming.

Overall a sweet romance I put in the win column .

Synopsis:Save the bees, ride a rock star.

Formerly famous . . . and planning to keep it that way.

After my band kicked me out, I ran away to Vermont, changed my name, and kept my head down. So far, it’s working and nobody knows who I am. Or who I was. Until I see geeky poet Caleb stumbling through his first open mic night and I can’t help rescuing him. He’s as sweet as the honey my bees make and sexy enough to make me rethink so many things. But I can’t tell him my secret, or I’ll lose the anonymous life I worked so hard to build.

Everyone warns me he’s too good to be true.

I can’t believe a gorgeous, successful winemaker like Tag is into shy, geeky little accountant me. But he helps me blossom and believe in my talent, and works his way into my heart and my bed… not necessarily in that order. I’m falling for a man for the first time, and now I know what the missing number in my equation has always been.

When lies are revealed, though, someone’s going to get stung

https://www.goodreads.com › showWeb resultsLimelight (Vino and Veritas, #15) by E. Davies

Vino and Veritas series to date:

🔵Featherbed (Vino and Veritas 1) by Annabeth Albert

🔵Heartscape #2 by Garrett Leigh

🔵Headstrong #3 by Eden Finley

🔵Undercover #4 by Eliot Grayson

🔵Aftermath #5 by LA Witt

🔵Booklover #6 by JE Birk

🔵Flipcup #7 by Kim Hartfield f/f

🔵Hideaway #8 by Rachel Lacey f/f

🔵Turnabout #9 by Laurel Greer

🔵Unguarded #10 by Jay Hogan

🔵Insatiable #11 by Rhys Everly

🔵Daybreak #12 by Kate Hawthorne

🔵Heartsong #13 by AE Wasp

🔵Stronghold #14 by Ana Ashley

🔵Limelight #15 by E Davis

🔵Unforgettable #16 by Marley Valentine

🔵Showstopper #17 by Regina Kyle

🔵Undone #18 by Leslie McAdams

https://www.goodreads.com › seriesWeb resultsVino & Veritas Series by Annabeth Albert – Goodreads

Review: Operation Meet Cute ( Operation HEA #1) by KM Neuhold

Rating: 5 🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈

If you’re looking for something sweet, light hearted, filled with laughter and love, then grab up Operation Meet Cute, the first book in KM Neuhold’s new Operation HEA series.

Adorable Harlow , his parents ugly divorce haunting him, decides the way to HEA and his true love is through a movie “meet cute” moment. And he’s been busy staging his own for years….to no avail.

Teddy, his neighbor upstairs, has been watching Harlow’s search go unrewarded for 4 years, the same amount of time Teddy has been Harlow’s best friend. Only his heart wants more.

This best friends to lovers story is funny, engaging, full of great lines and captivating characters. Alternative POV work beautifully to move both the storylines and romance forward.

By the time we’ve reached the ending, both the couple and reader are satisfied and ready for the next step.

Which is arriving in December.

I can’t wait.

What a winner and a truly wonderful read.

Operation HEA series:

Operation Meet Cute #1

Operation Meet the Parents #2- coming in December

https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/58027717-operation-meet-cute

Review: Passions of a Papillon (Fuzzy Love #1) by Tara Lain

Rating: 5 🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈

Tara Lain’s stories always leave me with warm, happy feelings. I certainly adore the characters she introduces her readers to in her books and series. And her storylines are well plotted and end satisfactory.

So it was with real anticipation that I started her Fuzzy Love series . The central character being a Papillon, huge bat earned tiny ball of high intelligence and energy. Yep, I’m all in immediately as I love books with animals as main or largely secondary characters.

Can I say right now I absolutely love Bat? That’s Batshit Crazy, the Queen of the Universe, yes, she’s amazing.

The rest of the universe and main couple, Em, the vet and the defense attorney, Finn Morgenstern, are so engaging and heartwarming that they not only deserve Bat but clearly each other and a HEA.

This story is full of suspense, action, character growth, romance, and dog on criminal adventures. It’s fast paced and so much fun.

I was fully involved with everyone and their relationships, and their HEA.

That includes the delightful glimpses we get of the people in the next books who inhabit Em’s sitting room .

I’m absolutely recommending this book and the series. The cover is on point. Look at that dog! The coloring exactly and the attitude! Pure sass! And the butterfly ears the breed is named for. Love it.

So grab up one or all 3 and get reading.

Fuzzy Love series.

🏆Passions of a Papillon

https://www.goodreads.com/series/292832-fuzzy-love

🏆Prancing of a Papillon

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54375499-prancing-of-a-papillon

🏆Perils of a Papillon

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58447165-perils-of-a-papillon?from_search=true&from_srp=beKY1UPLYv&qid=1

Reviewers And Dog Lover/owners note: Like tv series and movies, a book can make a breed so irresistible that it makes people want one for themselves, without exactly checking out if that breed is right for you and your lifestyle.

Tara Lain does a responsible job here in noting aspects of the Papillon breed that make it not for everyone. They are highly energetic and intelligent. They are territorial, and yes bark…..a lot. Alarm barking, hey look what’s passing by, what’s that sound barking. It’s part of the breed and she had her characters mention that repeatedly, albeit fondly and sometimes with exasperation.

They do outstanding as agility dogs because they need an outlet for that intelligence and energy. Don’t confuse this breed with that of a lap dog. Uh no. 😂

Want to explore more ? YouTube Papillon in agility and Papillon dog facts. They are a fantastic breed….for the right people.

Review: Cowboy Logic by BA Tortuga

Rating: 5 🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈

There’s no literary voice like BA Tortuga’s . As I read one of her stories, the richness of the regional dialect that rolls out from the mouths of her characters rings with such authenticity that I can still hear those words and sentences even now.

It’s not just a muttered “sweet baby Jesus” or a “all you all”. Nor is it all the many local dishes eaten, barbecue grilled ( btw I’m definitely taking up the pickled mustard seed tyvm), or even the Tex mex delicious drool worthy food her characters devour, nope, it’s more. It’s small town Texas itself, the good, the heartwarming, and yes, the ugly. BA Tortuga knows the land and it’s people on a truly cellular level and is able to take that knowledge and love and pour it into her books.

I always feel as though I honestly know these people, these flawed human beings she writes so well. Here it’s Jericho and his children, a rancher neighbor of Bailey’s. She’s got a stalker and called her brother Anderson back in California for help. A brother bullied as a youth in school there in that small Texas town and now reborn as Logic, a highly successful tv robotics Star, writer, and robot builder. The renewal of acquaintance sparking more, being in town pulling up old memories.

Both the sister and Jericho have children and again, these kids are so well written. Perfect for their ages, each voice memorable and funny, engaging and sweet. When Travis meets his hero Logic for the first time and thinks he’s being punked? Perfection!

I could read that and enjoy their relationship over and over.

In fact all the interplay between the families just draws you into this incredible dynamic and makes you want to be a huge part of it as well.

There’s drama, hurt/comfort elements. But also for me there’s that great ending..

I’ve really debated with myself over how much to say here about it. Because at one point I thought BA was going to go a certain way with it ( shame on me, should have known better) because hey, isn’t that what happens with romances like this.

I know I know. Wet noodle time. Trust in the Tortuga.

So yep, fantastic ending….. ok I wanted more but I say that about all her stories. Can’t stop now. That’s because I never want them to end. Sue me.

But this one? It’s so special. One of my favorites out of so many of hers. Read it and I think you’ll agree.l

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58563910

Treble Maker (Perfect Harmony #1) by Annabeth Albert

Rating: 4 🌈🌈🌈🌈

I adore this author and eagerly grab up each new offering as she releases it. Doesn’t matter what trope or character type, I’ll know that the author’s engaging style, her well layered characters and terrific plot will have me deeply entertained and throughly meshed with whatever universe and romance she’s created.

So it was with real interest that I saw a chance to read Albert’s very first story and series. I wanted to see what her first book and couple looks like and how much I could learn about the beginnings of a author I admire.

Here we have the story of a tv singing competition, a cobbled-together singing group and the two wildly different young men in it who go on to romance and hopefully a HEA . One flamboyant, desperately competitive and definitely out gay. The other quiet, from a conservative religious family that accepts he’s homosexual but only within a strict set of guidelines. And away from home for the first time.

That’s the barest story framework. Then Albert works a lovely sort of magic.

All the elements I expect from Annabeth Albert now in her series I can see here. Not fully . Not yet but the rough, lovely start of the complex, flawed people who we will meet in all the stories and series to come.

The messy personal dynamics? Check. The personal growth and self revelation? Check. Here the epiphany and hard choices seem to arrive and resolve themselves too quickly for all the history that both the men have and the sea changes each has to undergo.

But it’s her first book. So yes I get it. All that is a new author, one who’s works will , one after another, settle, show growth themselves, a strength and depth that here glimmers as promise.

Is this still a very sweet and lovely story to read. Absolutely. A must is the list of songs from the author at the end. Don’t miss them or any of the videos she listed. They enrich the story and will make you smile.

So a definite yes. I’m recommending it and will finish the series.

I need to know how it ends. So will you

Perfect Harmony series;

Treble Maker

Love Me Tenor

All Note Long

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6477494.Annabeth_Albert

Review: Catch Me (Kitchen Gods Book 2) Kindle Editionby Beth Bolden

Rating: 🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈 5

I had been reading all the other stories in several series that mentioned this couple, chef Wyatt Blake and out MLB player Ryan Flores (Food Truck series and Kitchen God) but had never quite gotten around to their story.

Until now.

What a wonderful story it is. I’m so sorry I’ve missed out on all the references, not understanding what they meant until now. So many 🤦🏼‍♀️.

Because now I get them, and the impact on this couple as their relationship continues.

It’s only a sports story in that Ryan plays MLB. It does discuss his continuing impact as the first out MLB player and his negotiating with the team owner. Nothing about his dynamics within the team. Shame

Unlike other stories with hockey and football where the sport itself is a featured player, baseball here is missing as a story element. I sort of wished that had been more of a stronger aspect of Ryan’s character here but , as it wasn’t really a passion of his, I get leaving it out.

There’s a lot here to dive into, food , food /recipes of Puerto Rico ,inability to trust and communication, even to understand what it is to truly love and commit to another person. That’s an enormous narrative load for any couple and book to carry.

There’s so much to unpack here narratively speaking. It’s funny, real, harsh, heartbreaking, and ultimately so warm and loving.

It’s exactly why I read this author’s stories.

Honestly I should have gotten to Wyatt and Ryan sooner but better late than never.

Don’t you make that mistake. Read about their love story now. I highly recommend it and this author.

Kitchen Gods Series:

Bite Me – Miles and Evans story

Catch Me – Wyatt and Ryan

Worship Me – short about Matt and Alex

Savor Me – Xander and Damon

Indulge Me – Kian and Bastian

https://www.goodreads.com/series/224661-kitchen-gods

See the link above for the buy links to all the stories.

Lumber Jacked (a Rainbow Cove novella) by Annabeth Albert

Rating: 🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈 5

Sometimes it takes a new book announcement to get me to remember a series I really like (this author is highly prolific with a great many series I already devour 🙈).

Rainbow Cove is one of those series by Annabeth Albert that sometimes gets lost among the so many popular and outstanding series Albert writes. Solders, gamers, chefs….I crush so hard on her many characters.

So when I saw the upcoming new release Hope On the Rocks (Rainbow Cove #4), I went hmmmm…. had I read the third book in the series. Why no, I hadn’t. And set off to correct that.

Can I say hot? Unexpectedly hot? I don’t remember rope play, extremely well done rope play, in other of Albert’s storylines. It’s been a while so I could be wrong.

But this? Down to the knot variations, apparatus, scene setting, and after care all while making it feel tender, sexy, vulnerable, and such an integral part of a burgeoning relationship? Just amazing on multiple levels,

Rope play, makeup, pink fuzzy sweaters, glitter! Sexy oh my! These men !

A short story with a extra scene that is so necessary but will still leave you wanting more of lumber jack/photog rope Dom Johnny and younger pretty makeup vlogger Cam. Age difference, mild bdsm in that Cam realizes he has a submissive side, one that rope play allows him to express .

People uncomfortable with kink and bdsm should give this story a chance. I think you’re going to surprise yourself by the feelings expressed by Cam, a complete newcomer to being tied up and how moving both the experience and their relationship makes you feel.

Albert writes characters so realistic and layered that you often forget they are fictional as are the town they live in and the issues that confront them. I’m so quickly pulled into their lives and romance that the story is over far sooner than I wish it to be.

Here’s hoping I see them pop up in the next book to come.

Every visit I make to Rainbow Cove and each new couple I meet has been a complete joy. Johnny and Cam were definitely my favorites.

Highly recommended.

Rainbow Cove series:

Trust with a Chaser

Trust with a Twist

Lumber Jacked

Hope On the Rocks (Rainbow Cove #4)- see link below for all the stories and buy links

https://www.goodreads.com/series/210691-rainbow-cove

The Rivalry (The Riptide) Kindle Editionby Beth Bolden

LGBTQ2+ Sports Romance

Rating: 🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈

Romance amongst the men of the LA Riptide Football team! How sexy, endearing, and just outright wonderful it is.

The first in a series, The Rivalry is typical Beth Bolden. Beautifully written, characters of charm and depth, and a story with many layers that grip you from start to finish.

It’s also typical in that along with a love story that engages your heart, the author explores more serious issues of child abuse, parental alcoholism and child abandonment. That’s for starters. But it’s never with a heavy narrative hand but as elements that are revealed through one man’s struggles to achieve happiness and love.

Realistic, painful, and eventually so rewarding to watch as Heath battles through both his emotional and physical trauma. And Sam , there with his own path to tread, needing support in his own battle with insecurity and new position and team.

What a story! What men and couple!

You find yourself cheering, laughing, and crying a bit for both men as they fight their way towards their happy ending. And what a delightful one it is. I could spend books upon books with the Riptide men.

Consider this a fantastic starting point and one I highly recommend.

Books In This Series (2 Books)- both highly recommended

The Rivalry

Rough Contact

by Beth Bolden

https://www.goodreads.com › showWeb resultsThe Rivalry by Beth Bolden – Goodreads

https://www.goodreads.com › showWeb resultsRough Contact by Beth Bolden – Goodreads

Review: Top Shelf (Boston Rebels #1) by RJ Scott and VL Locey

Rating: 🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈

Top Shelf (Boston Rebels #1) by RJ Scott and VL Locey is the first book is a new hockey romance series by two of my must read authors

Long and eagerly awaited, as is any new LGBTQ2+ hockey romance tale, Top Shelf more than delivers

As you all know hockey is my jam! And Rainbow 🌈 hockey love stories? Well, be still my heart 💜! There are many excellent authors in this genre and the writers RJ Scott and VL Locey are at the top of my list among them.

Why? Because like the others, they are passionate about the sport of hockey, it’s players and teams. They know the sport and it’s translates into excellence in fast, accurate action on ice scenes that gets the reader going and engaged with the team and it’s season while still threading through the storylines, full of romance, rocky paths and heartwarming emotions.

That’s all presented here as we meet a team in need of rebuilding. That’s a highly volatile situation for all involved. It means saying goodbye to older players not yet ready to go and learning to accept new younger players stepping into holes in teams not ready for them to be filled.

Add in several players admission of LGBTQ2+ identification when one player comes officially out? And for everyone the team becomes a new uncertain future for all, especially management.

This is the universe we are meeting throughout this story. Various players, a team and people in transition

First it’s the tight friendship, on and off the ice, of Xander and Eli. Brothers in all but name and Railers, they’ve had a third tagging along most of their lives. Mason, Eli’s younger brother

Mason, never much interested in hockey past the fact that Eli and his forever crush Xander played, is now grown. And determined to make Xander see him in a new light.

Xander has recently come out after hiding his sexuality. Here the authors excelled at showing Xander’s confusion and fragility over how exactly he becomes a truth he’s never allowed himself to have or be. He’s raw, more than a little depressed, and no one is picking up on his uncertain emotional state.

The team’s turmoil is adding stress all around to major players and again the elements and reactions feel so realistic. Our own emotions fall readily into the storylines filling out before us. We not only want more of these teammates histories but we need to know

That’s on top of Xander and Mason’s romance which has its own tensions with Mason’s new business (that remains unresolved in my mind) and Xander’s future

I honestly thought the realism here, all the various issues raised as well as the feeling that the relationship needs more work and communication was wonderful. After all, it’s new. Both men have so many new elements to deal with as well as making their relationship work that leaving this a HFN, a work in progress to return to makes sense

It’s great and leaves me wanting to bribe the authors for much much more. Not just the next couple in the series which is coming in Back Check- see below.

So yes, I loved my story, the new series, and team

So yes, I loved my story, the new series and team.

Top Shelf: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56990636-top-shelf

Back Check:https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57875135-back-check

Review: Top Shelf (Boston Rebels #1) by RJ Scott and VL Locey

Rating: 🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈

Top Shelf (Boston Rebels #1) by RJ Scott and VL Locey is the first book is a new hockey romance series by two of my must read authors

Long and eagerly awaited, as is any new LGBTQ2+ hockey romance tale, Top Shelf more than delivers

As you all know hockey is my jam! And Rainbow 🌈 hockey love stories? Well, be still my heart 💜! There are many excellent authors in this genre and the writers RJ Scott and VL Locey are at the top of my list among them

Why? Because like the others, they are passionate about the sport of hockey, it’s players and teams. They know the sport and it’s translates into excellence in fast, accurate action on ice scenes that gets the reader going and engaged with the team and it’s season while still threading through the storylines, full of romance, rocky paths and heartwarming emotions.

That’s all presented here as we meet a team in need of rebuilding. That’s a highly volatile situation for all involved. It means saying goodbye to older players not yet ready to go and learning to accept new younger players stepping into holes in teams not ready for them to be filled.

Add in several players admission of LGBTQ2+ identification when one player comes officially out? And for everyone the team becomes a new uncertain future for all, especially management

This is the universe we are meeting throughout this story. Various players, a team and people in transition

First it’s the tight friendship, on and off the ice, of Xander and Eli. Brothers in all but name and Railers, they’ve had a third tagging along most of their lives. Mason, Eli’s younger brother

Mason, never much interested in hockey past the fact that Eli and his forever crush Xander played, is now grown. And determined to make Xander see him in a new light.

Xander has recently come out after hiding his sexuality. Here the authors excelled at showing Xander’s confusion and fragility over how exactly he becomes a truth he’s never allowed himself to have or be. He’s raw, more than a little depressed, and no one is picking up on his uncertain emotional state.

The team’s turmoil is adding stress all around to major players and again the elements and reactions feel so realistic. Our own emotions fall readily into the storylines filling out before us. We not only want more of these teammates histories but we need to know

That’s on top of Xander and Mason’s romance which has its own tensions with Mason’s new business (that remains unresolved in my mind) and Xander’s future

I honestly thought the realism here, all the various issues raised as well as the feeling that the relationship needs more work and communication was wonderful. After all, it’s new. Both men have so many new elements to deal with as well as making their relationship work that leaving this a HFN, a work in progress to return to makes sense

It’s great and leaves me wanting to bribe the authors for much much more. Not just the next couple in the series which is coming in Back Check- see below.

So yes, I loved my story, the new series, and team

Bring it On! Highly recommended!

Top Shelf: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56990636-top-shelf

Back Check:https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57875135-back-check