Tag: first in a series

Winter Cowboy (Whisper Ridge,Wyoming #1) by R.J.Scott

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

Winter Cowboy, the first story in a new series by RJ Scott, has a full and varied narrative plot/theme list.

As the first book in the series, it’s required (and does) set in place the history and universe for Whisper Ridge and it’s foundation characters.

We start with Micah Lennox and his sister, Rachel, and her children. The Lennox ranch. The town and its people. Daniel, now the town’s doctor, along with Micah and Daniel’s deeply troubled past. A past that includes a traumatic accident, prison, death, and more.

That’s the past. Turns there’s the present with much for multiple characters to deal with on a daily basis. We see elements of PTSD, past evidence of domestic violence, child battery (never seen but referred to), cults, and murder. The aftermath all that takes on a person, no matter the age. As well as everyone, including Daniel’s family, dealing still with the ramifications of that car accident years ago that shattered lives.

I haven’t even mentioned therapy (thankfully and responsibly the author shows the importance of getting help for all involved).

And we haven’t we begun to talk romance yet. We can talk lovers reunited, enemies to lovers, second chance at love? All fav tropes of mine. Yep. All here. Even hurt/comfort. A bit of that too.

Yes, Winter Cowboy carries a full load but in the very capable hands of RJ Scott it all melds together in a cohesive and moving story.

If I had a wish , it would be that Daniel and Micah had more time as a reconciled couple in the story, well yes maybe more than a bit more. I really wanted to get more a feel of them as a couple as we spent so much time on the deep traumatized past that kept them apart and broke up their lives. It was brutal constantly revisiting that accident while no one had really moved on. When they finally forgave themselves and each other the story was almost over. And I wanted more of them new and exploring what it meant to have a “us” again.

There is a “bridge” chapter/prequel after the end of Winter Cowboy that leads us into Summer Drifter, book 2 , in the Whisper Ridge, Wyoming series.

After reading it, I can see we will be getting deeper into the past events mentioned in Winter Cowboy. Hopefully we will see Micah and Daniel too at the next stage in their relationship.

I’m now looking forward to the next in the series and more of the Lennox Ranch and the tantalizing glimpse I saw of one of the main characters.

Read Winter Cowboy, Daniel and Micah and all the friends and family that’s making Lennox Ranch home!

It’s a wonderful story.

Series: Whisper Ridge, Wyoming

Winter Cowboy

Summer Drifter

https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/38770040

A Husband for Hartwell (The Lords of Bucknall Club #1) by Lisa Henry and JA Rock

Rating: 5 🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈

I started this series with the second book , A Case for Christmas, which was Lord Christmas Gale’s rocky path to love. So my introduction here to that complicated character through his friend’s perspective was a welcome one.

I actually enjoyed the backwards path I took. I knew of course the ending and some of the vaguest details ( that of Gales involvement) but of the depth of the plot and the emotional journey both Hartwell and Warry must take before they get their HEA, as well as Warry’s sister, that is rolled out here in a high-spirited and heartwarming tale.

What a rollicking romance it is. Lusty, entertaining, full of moments of sheer anticipation and angst. Plus those elements of humor I’ve come to expect from Henry and Rock. Just a outstanding combination.

Warry is just the right mix of naïveté, selflessness, and honor while still retaining a normal lusty feeling towards sex. Hartwell is a picture of confusion. Family duty conflicting with new or renewed feelings towards the younger Warry, and the troubling prospects of a loveless marriage with Warry’s sister.

It’s all beautifully laid out before us and we are engaged in the characters as the maneuver themselves through and over all the obstacles in their paths to true love and happiness.

I enjoyed everything about this couple and universe. Especially a new viewpoint on Lord Gales. Fascinating.

Now to wait for the release of book 3 in August. It can’t come soon enough. Consider me heavily in love with this series.

Series – The Lords of Bucknall Club

A Husband for Hartwell #1

A Case for Christmas #2

A Rival for Rivingdon #3 – out in August

https://www.goodreads.com/series/316197-the-lords-of-bucknall-club

See the Goodreads link above for buying options.

Red Heir (Adventures in Aguillon #1) by Lisa Henry and Sarah Honey

Rating: 5 🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈

So many things I could quote to use as examples of just what a brilliant comedy romance Red Heir is if Amazon didn’t forbid the use of certain words. Ah well.

Ok I’ll just say it here. Fuckery stool. 🙈🤣🤣 nope can’t go further. My sides are still too sore.

That just means you’ll get the pleasure of reading first hand the sentences and passages that had me in tears! Tears! Holding my stomach, outright guffawing from almost the very beginning of the story.

And once the laughter came it never stopped. The amazing characters, the outstanding plot that’s so full of the oh so well crafted lines that it will have you spewing out whatever you so cluelessly thought to munch on or drink while reading this tale ( big note to you all, don’t eat or drink anything…just saying….you are warned). Also grab a box of tissues if you’re a snotty laugher.

Really it’s as if a great bar joke came to life and suddenly it’s THE tale you always wanted to read full of characters you always wanted to meet (well maybe not Scott ) and it’s perfection!

A elf, a dwarf, a prince, a pickpocket, a orc, a human, and a dragon walk into a bar…. Nope scratch the bar…. But the rest? Priceless adventures and hmmm the encyclopedic mention of sex positions fantastical.

So incredibly well written I’m still laughing at lines as I write this ( and realize I’m going to go back and read it immediately again), the characters so beautifully fleshed out that I can see them all so clearly before me, funny, engaging, sometimes fragile but always full of the unexpected.

And while I was contemplating the ending (which is fabulous) the authors give us the gift of a second book coming in the series. Be still my heart. What a glorious journey awaits.

How I wish I could run around shouting, read this book! Because it, the characters and the authors deserves it.

Btw? My sides still hurt. Well done, Red Heir! I haven’t laughed that hard and long in ages. Love, love this book

Series:

Red Heir (Adventures in Aguillon #1

Elf Defense

Socially Orcward

https://www.goodreads.com/series/299397-adventures-in-aguillon

See the Goodreads links above for all the buying options

Would that it would contain a link to a travel service that would transport me into this universe directly!

Review: Bite Me (Kitchen Gods #1) by Beth Bolden

Rating: 🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈 5

Grab a great Chardonnay and a chocolate sweet of your choice before you settle in to read the delightful romance of pastry chef Miles and producer Evan.

Honestly, these stories of Beth Bolden’s just make you want to grab for a wine glass and a bite of something sinful to go along with her heartwarming romances such as Bite Me, Miles and Evan’s tumultuous road to HEA.

As with all of this series books, you get the entire circle of characters from the series included in the storyline as well as the main characters, their backgrounds, and current dynamics.

In this case, it’s the development of the online cooking show Pastry by Miles,with all the elements it takes to develop a successful show. Between that and the rough and tumble romance, Bite Me is a hugely entertaining story with a great couple at its center and recipes to make one drool.

I loved the ending and the epilogue sets up Wyatt for his story and romance while giving Miles and Evan a terrific ending for theirs.

Bite Me is a another winner is a series I can’t stop reading. Love this!

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

Go above for the complete series ~ all recommended

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

A Caryn Review: The Artist’s Touch (Art Medium) by E.J. Russell

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Do you like ghost stories?  Do you like creepy ghost stories?  I have to say I didn’t think I did, but this book (and maybe the others to follow in the series) changed my mind.  The review, though, was kind of hard to write without giving significant spoilers, and although as you read you can guess what’s going to happen on the next page, I couldn’t predict the outcome from the beginning.  You can read this book in one evening, so just sit back and enjoy….

Luke Morganstern is an art fraud investigator who had been at the top of his field until one big mistake, and he’s been struggling ever since.  He can’t afford to turn down a job anyway, but when a mysterious client contacts him about a possible forgery, he can’t resist when he finds out the artist being imitated.

Jeremiah Arcoletti.  He was a rising star of the American realism movement, until he disappeared without a trace, taking with him his last 13 paintings.  Paintings that he meticulously described in letters to friends, but were never seen.  Paintings that Luke has been able to picture in his mind after studying Arcoletti for so long.  Paintings that were inexplicably starting to turn up in a remote gallery in Oregon.

Stefan Cobbe is an artist with a very promising start to his career, until a tragedy destroyed his paintings and left him with literally only the clothes on his back.  Worse, he found he was completely unable to produce any art at all.  Homeless and destitute, he was taken in by a man who provided him with room, board, art supplies, and a studio.  And Stefan produced finished canvases, miraculously complete in hours – hours that Stefan had no memory of.

Luke and Stefan have a complicated history together, with guilt and blame on both sides that led to their separation years ago.  Stefan is now the most likely suspect for the forgery, and Luke has to decide what exactly he is going to do about that, especially when Stefan claims innocence.

The pace of the story was constant and the tension just kept building and building, with a few surprise twists, and I couldn’t put the book down until I finished (fortunately it’s not too long!).  Well written, great plot, outstanding characterization with significant growth of both MCs and excellent secondary characters, and throughout a perpetual sense of foreboding.  There are definitely some dark places in this book, and seeing Luke and Stefan struggle to escape those places – some of which were in their own minds – was exciting, and a little scary.

Highly recommended, and I’m looking forward to the next in the series!

Cover art by L.C. Chase is fine, though I’m not quite sure which character the model is supposed to represent…

Sales Link:  Riptide Publishing | Amazon (link to follow0

Book Details:

ebook, 2, 130 pages
Expected publication: February 12th 2018 by Riptide Publishing (first published September 23rd 2013)
ISBN139781626497580
Edition LanguageEnglish
Series Art Medium

An Alisa Review:Alpha Dragon: Taran (Treasured Ink #1) by Kaz Crowley & Kellan Larkin

Rating:  4 stars out of 5

 

Tattooing is Taran’s passion, and opening a shop with his four best friends is a dream come true. But when his fated mate walks right in the door on day one, he realizes life is gonna get crazy.

 

And then a rival tattoo shop opens right across the street. This alpha dragon’s got too much to handle, and if he’s not careful, he’s going to lose his passion, his friends, and his fated omega.

 

All Nosko wanted was a tattoo to remember his grandmother by. He didn’t think he’d meet the man he’d been waiting his whole life for. Is it the right time, though? His art gallery’s sales are dropping, and he needs to focus.

 

Just when he thinks he has it all under control, he gets mugged by someone who has a bone to pick with dragon shifters. How can he raise a family if he doesn’t feel safe in his own home?

 

With a rogue criminal targeting dragons and a flagging business, he needs to get his head on straight. And on top of that, Taran gets him pregnant.

 

What’s a guy to do?

 

This was an interesting story.  I’m not sure how they know who other paranormals are as they can’t seem to really sense them.  I understand this is the beginning of a new series, I think it leaves a lot of questions like; what is Annika and how did they quickly become such good friends, paranormals are hiding from humans but how is Taran hiding his pregnancy.

 

Taran and Nosko did a lot of flip flopping of their emotions near the beginning.  Nosko wasn’t looking for a mate but then in the next scene was always hoping for that loving connection.  Taran seemed all in and then pushed Nosko away and quickly jumps in again and they are suddenly having a baby.  I enjoyed the story and will probably read some more of the series but something was just missing from the building of the characters and story.

 

The cover art is nice and gives some nice visuals.

 

Sales Link: Amazon

 

Book Details:

ebook, 152 pages

Publication: January 16, 2018

Edition Language: English

Series: Treasured Ink #1

Spotlight on Only with You (Only Colorado #1) by JD Chambers (excerpt)

Only with You (Only Colorado #1) by JD Chambers
Publication: December 5th 2017
Cover designer – Garrett Leigh; blackjazzdesign.com

Available for Purchase at:

Amazon global link: http://getBook.at/OnlyWithYou

Goodreads

Blurb

“I guess if the worst thing I’m doomed to in life is mediocre sex, my life isn’t too bad.”

Self-starter and business analyst Zach Keller is living his dream life. He spends his days working from home in his favorite Tolkien t-shirts and pajamas while mothering his best friend-slash-roommate. The fact that his sex life is a bust and his love life is nonexistent? Unimportant. After his college boyfriend berated him for his unconventional desires, Zach doesn’t plan on sharing that part of himself ever again, anyway.

“I’m tired of feeling like I missed out on something by not going to college.”

Craig Pela isn’t lonely. He has tons of friends and weekends packed with activity. He hasn’t needed anyone since he left home at eighteen and never looked back. But everyone around him is moving forward in life, while he still works the same retail job at the same video game store, and it’s making him question his life choices. After all, he doesn’t want to be the loser still playing video games at fifty, does he?

As their relationship develops, Zach’s shy nature melts away to reveal an irrepressible geek that charms the pants off Craig. And Craig’s kind patience and ability to match him obscure quote for quote leaves Zach wondering if he’s finally met the man he can be his true self with. After all, how can someone else love you when you keep a part of yourself hidden.

Book length – 230 pages
Preorder price – $3.99
KU enrolled? – Yes

Excerpt

PROLOGUE

THREE YEARS EARLIER

“Look at that pretty boy watching us,” Eric says with a nod to a slim blond in skinny jeans and leather bracelets that’s been eye-fucking us on the dance floor. Eric’s dick grinds against my ass, and I lean heavily against him, throwing back another shot that miraculously found its way into my hand. They keep appearing, and I keep drinking them without question.

“Uh huh,” I slur and lock eyes with the man Eric pointed out. The blond lifts his drink to his lips and licks them slowly after a suggestive swallow, but his eyes never leave mine.

“Wouldn’t you like to take him home with us? Fuck that pretty mouth?” Eric’s breath is hot against my ear, making me feel even stickier from the sweat of the dance floor. “I bet he’d look so good, laid out between us.”

This is it. Every fantasy I’ve ever had, come to life. Sharing my body with my boyfriend and a stranger who wants me, wants to use me just for a night. Letting my boyfriend take pride in what I’m able to give him, taking what is his and allowing some lucky stranger to see a tiny glimpse, share a small part of me, but never be able to really have me. I’ve been sporting wood all night on the dance floor, but Eric’s murmurings have me diamond hard and tenting my pants as I stumble across the floor to reach our admirer.

“Wanna hang out with me and my boyfriend?” I try to teasingly trail a finger down his arm, but my hands are kind of tingly and I end up palming his biceps instead. I notice Eric rushing past and out the door, so I don’t even wait for a response.

“Come on.” I receive a stunning grin in return for my obviously expert flirting, and he hurries with me out the door to find Eric.

“Are you kidding me right now?” Eric yells, and the giddy feelings that have been bubbling up from my stomach and scattering around my brain like champagne crash faster than a bottle cork in hypergravity.

“Get away from me, freak!” Eric pushes at my sternum, not bothering to hide his disgust.

“But you said …”

“Everyone says it.” The thumping of the club music just around the corner almost drowns out Eric’s snarls. The cute guy with the straight blond hair and leather cuffs left me to Eric’s wrath at the first hint of his displeasure. Fuck. It took so much liquid courage to approach him in the first place. “But it’s just a fantasy. You really are a slut, aren’t you?”

“No, I …” I have no ready response for him, and I need to stop talking anyway. I can’t hide the wavering of my voice the longer this drawsout.

“Lose my number,” Eric says, and I slump against the brick wall of the alleyway as he storms back through the heavy steel doors. Not back to the dorms, to drown his sorrows about my betrayal or his disappointment in the slutty things his now ex-boyfriend wanted. No, he’s returning to the club, probably to pick up where we left off with the twink I approached for him. Or to continue dancing like we were not ten minutes ago, only this time without the shackles of me as his dance partner holding him back.

And now I’m alone, always alone, dizzy and drunk and trying to figure out how to get back to campus. With both Eric and the blond gone, I have no choice but to call CSU’s stupid Ram Ride to get back to the dorms. I’m so fucking stupid. To think I had a real shot with Eric. To think anyone would actually want a guy with the fucked-up desires that I have.

The waves of nausea hit me with barely enough time to lean from my spot on the curb and puke into the gutter. A white car with the tiny green logo pulls up, and it’s a girl’s voice that mutters, “Please don’t puke in the car” under her breath.

I hold onto that one, solitary goal as we make our way back to campus, as if succeeding at not puking in the free drunk-student car suddenly makes me not a total loser.

 

 

About the Author

JD Chambers wanted at various times to be Indiana Jones, Pat Benatar, and Wonder Woman when she grew up. She never considered writing down the stories she crafted in her head. They provided nothing more than entertainment for long drives or sleepless nights, until one particular story insisted it didn’t want to reside only in her noggin.  She hasn’t stopped writing since.

JD finds unlikely heroes, humans courageous enough to be themselves, and spreadsheets incredibly sexy — the last one much to her husband’s chagrin.  Together, they raise three teenagers and the world’s most mellow Chihuahua on the Oregon Coast.

Author website – http://www.jdchamberswrites.com/