Tag: kink

A Kai Review: Only with You (Only Colorado #1) by J.D. Chambers

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5
 
“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?

Guys! This book ♥… It went directly to my heart, reaaally!

First of all, look that beautiful cover! Lovely, right? I loved the title letters, the colors, the model (hi, handsome!)… Really, Garrett Leigh did an amazing job designing this cover. It’s simple and pretty, suits the book and just invites people to read it. I mean, one of the things that made me try this book was the cover, so it needs credit.

Let’s talk about the story then. Guyyys, what a well-written book! It was fluid, consistent, evolving, with the perfect amount of angst. Once I started I couldn’t stop until I finished.

The main characters were so great! They had layers and felt real. Both had some insecurities and family problems, but one helped the other with throughout the story.

 I loved Zach and Craig connection and how they accepted and loved each other. I was so cheering for them, from the beginning to the end.

Even the supporting characters were amazing and well described. Ben, for example, was so funny. And I loved his friendship with  Zach.

The only thing wasn’t so appealing to me in this story was the kink. I’m not a voyage reader fan, so that didn’t impress, sorry. But since it was truly well written and described, it was kind of interesting to read. Not my cup, but a person who is into this type of kink read would definitely love it! 

Well, I truly recommend this book. Specially if you like kinks. Even if not, the story is so much more than that, so I recommend it anyway. Go there, read it and let me know what you think. Hope you enjoy.

Sales Links

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Only-You-Colorado-Book-ebook/dp/B07778DDJH

Book Details:
Ebook: 224 pages
Published December 5th, 2017

—

Riptide Publishing’s Tour and Giveaway: Outside the Lines by Anna Zabo

Outside the Lines (Bluewater Bay #22) by Anna Zabo
Riptide Publishing
Cover Artist: L.C. Chase

Read an Excerpt/Buy it Here at Riptide Publishing

About Outside the Lines

Miniature artist Ian Meyers has one week to rebuild his damaged set. Needing help, he goes to End o’ Earth, the local comic and gaming shop. Owner Simon Derry pushes all of Ian’s buttons, and he also has steady hands and the skills Ian needs.

Before they can even grab a beer, Ian meets Lydia Derry, Simon’s wife. If Ian had any interest in women, he’d suggest a threesome, but then Simon explains that he and Lydia are polyamorous, and if Ian wants Simon, neither of them will complain. If anything, Lydia encourages the relationship.

Ian’s all in, and it’s fantastic working with Simon to piece together his set and then take each other apart at night. His friendship with Lydia grows too. The only problem is, the more time he spends with Simon, the more he wants everything Simon already has with Lydia: A house. A cat. A commitment. So Ian runs, and shatters the trust he has with them both—right when they need him the most. Piecing their relationships back together might prove harder than a smashed set.

Available now from Riptide Publishing!

About Bluewater Bay

Welcome to Bluewater Bay! This quiet little logging town on Washington state’s Olympic Peninsula has been stagnating for decades, on the verge of ghost town status. Until a television crew moves in to film Wolf’s Landing, a soon-to-be cult hit based on the wildly successful shifter novels penned by local author Hunter Easton.

Wolf’s Landing’s success spawns everything from merchandise to movie talks, and Bluewater Bay explodes into a mecca for fans and tourists alike. The locals still aren’t quite sure what to make of all this—the town is rejuvenated, but at what cost? And the Hollywood-based production crew is out of their element in this small, mossy seaside locale. Needless to say, sparks fly.

This collaborative story world is brought to you by eleven award-winning, best-selling LGBTQ romance authors: L.A. Witt, L.B. Gregg, Z.A. Maxfield,  Heidi Belleau, Rachel Haimowitz, Anne Tenino, Amy Lane, SE Jakes, G.B. Gordon, Jaime Samms and Ally Blue. Each contemporary novel stands alone, but all are built around the town and the people of Bluewater Bay and the Wolf’s Landing media empire.

Check it out at Riptide Publishing!

About Anna Zabo

Anna Zabo writes contemporary and paranormal romance for all colors of the rainbow. They live and work in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which isn’t nearly as boring as most people think.

Anna grew up in the wilds of suburban Philadelphia before returning to their ancestral homelands in Western Pennsylvania. As a child they were heartily disappointed to discover that they couldn’t grow up to be what they wanted (a boy, a cat, a dragon), so they settled on being themself whenever possible, which may be a combination of a boy, a cat, and a dragon. Or perhaps a girl, a knight, and a writer. Depends on whom you ask. They do have a penchant for colorful ties and may be hording a small collection of cufflinks.They can be easily plied with coffee.

Anna has an MFA in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University, where they fell in with a roving band of romance writers and never looked back. They also have a BA in Creative Writing from Carnegie Mellon University.

Twitter: @amergina

Giveaway

To celebrate the release of Outside the Lines, one lucky winner will receive a $25 Riptide credit! Leave a comment with your contact info to enter the contest. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on December 23, 2017. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries. Thanks for following the tour, and don’t forget to leave your contact info!

A Jeri Review: A Sniper’s Devotion (Cuffs, Collars and Love #5) by Christa Tomlinson

Rating: 4.5 Stars out of 5

Miguel has managed to get himself out of an abusive relationship and he is in need of help and who better to provide it then the very guy who protected him on the schoolyard and who Miguel always thinks of as his protector.

Hector and Miguel were close prior to Miguel’s relationship with his now ex-boyfriend. As Hector finds himself in close quarters with Miguel, a lot of those old feelings are coming up along with a whole lot of suppressed desires.

One crazy night opens a whole new can of worms. Is Hector ready to embrace his sexuality? Is Miguel ready for another relationship given how his last one ended? Is their relationship going to take off or is it doomed to fail before it even starts…

Okay, first of all, I just need to get this off my chest. That epilogue is on fire. Oh My God! It has been two days since I finished this book and the first thing that comes to mind when I sit to write this review is that epilogue. On Fire! I tell you. God it just gets me, how confident and secure Miguel is in their relationship like nothing can touch him. It is actually a pretty good indicator of how their relationship turned out and I must say it was one hell of a ride.

Friends-to-Lovers is one of my all-time favourite troops and this book just took it to another level. Miguel and Hector were such amazingly well-written characters and what I loved most about this book was that it let these two characters develop outside of their relationship as well, especially with regards to Miguel.

Miguel has just gotten out of a bad relationship and he needs to stand on his own two feet before he can commit to another relationship and I personally loved the fact that he stood up for himself every time. It was so good to see Miguel find his way back to being self-confident and independent.

I loved Hector and I have no idea why. I never paid much attention to him in the previous books and I had no special interest in Hector’s story as such, it would have been okay for me if the series ended with “An Officer’s Submission” though I will never say no to more Logan and Clay. So reading this book and liking Hector so much was a surprise. Hector is a bad-ass and I loved his character so much. I especially loved all his soul-baring conversations with Clay and Ryan and it was damn good to see the team.

Hector and Miguel always had chemistry, like off the top sizzling chemistry, so, I loved the fact that what they struggle with is not how to get in a relationship or be in it but how to get rid of their own hang-ups before they can commit to each other. Personally, I loved the book and how it plots out each characters’ journey and I especially loved where they end up.

The only reason this book is not a 5-star read is because I am docking half a star for getting me all hot and bothered and not delivering on it.

All in all an amazing book in a very amazing series.

Cover art by Melody Simmons of eBook Indie Covers. I really like the cover, it really fits the aesthetic of the series.

Sales Link:  Amazon

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 268 pages
Published November 7th 2017
ASINB076GP7TDK
SeriesCuffs, Collars, and Love #4 settingHouston, Texas (United States)

A MelanieM Recent Release Review: Tender with a Twist (Rainbow Cove #2) by Annabeth Albert

Rating: 5 stars out of 5

One kinky wood carver. One younger chef looking to try new things. A series of lessons that bring both men more than they bargained for…

Curtis Hunt has made a name for himself as a chainsaw wood carver, winning national competitions and operating a small business in Rainbow Cove, Oregon. As winter whittles away his tourist traffic, his goal is just to survive the season and try to not get lost in grief for his dead lover. It’s been two years, but he’s sure he’ll never be over the love of a lifetime. However, his body has a certain restlessness that he doesn’t quite know how to calm.

Logan Rosner knows a thing or two about restlessness. It’s what drove him to Rainbow Cove to be a chef at a bar and grill run by his friends. And it’s what drives him to a single sizzling encounter with the local legendary lumberjack. Both men get far more than they expected and learn that first impressions aren’t always accurate…

But when Logan proposes a series of sexy lessons, Curtis must decide how much he’s willing to risk. He knows he can’t afford to get attached to Logan’s good cooking, his easy smiles, or his caretaking, but he keeps going back for more, even as deeper emotions become involved. Soon, Curtis must decide whether to risk his heart again or risk losing Logan for good.

Tender with a Twist is a 75,000 word stand-alone gay romance with a May/December theme, featuring a second chance at love, opposites attract, loads of sexy times with mild BDSM elements, and one emotionally-charged, guaranteed happy ending with no cliffhangers.

With the release of Tender with a Twist by Annabeth Albert cements Rainbow Cove as one of my favorite destinations for love and romance.  Of course it started with Trust with a Chaser (Rainbow Cove, #1) where Mason Hanks with his friends Adam and Logan Rosner open a bar and grill in an Oregon seaside town desperately in need of revival.  Mason finds love with the town’s Sheriff Nash Flint while they struggle to keep their new restaurant alive.

In Tender with a Twist,  we find both the town and the restaurant all still trying to survive.  The restaurant is trying to make it through the off-season until the tourists return and the town is trying to adapt and understand what it would mean to be an LGBT destination point if the new resort opens up and the influx of new  businesses arrive.  Not all the townspeople are happy with the new developements.  In every way change appears as a force to be faced here in this story.

For both Curtis and Logan, the need for change is at the heart of the issues both men are facing.  With Annabeth Albert, there’s never any “telling” in her stories.  The author’s ability to telegraph the deep confusion, grief, frustration, and pain these men are going through to the reader is real and amazingly vivid.

For Curtis, he’s caught in place by the loss of his husband, held in stasis by his mother-in law’s grief as well as his own,  plus her guilt that refuses the let them both move forward towards anything like a life without her son. That’s she is also his last remaining tie to the man he loved? Just another knot on the ropes holding him in place…the fear that if he moves forward he will lose her too. He’s let everything go, abandoned their old friends, their pleasures, even houses.  Only one thing he has left personally…his need to be a sub.  And that has just been pulled away from him when the Dom he’s been using has said they can’t continue.  Plus his best friend, Nash, has just found a partner.  So now Curtis truly feels alone and isolated.  Albert makes us feel every bit of the pain and heartache emanating from Curtis Hunt.

Then there’s the surprising bundle of character traits that is Logan Rosner.  He is one of the most amazing characters and one I absolutely adored.  Logan too is bound by a past that won’t let go.  This time it’s his parents who refuse to see him as an adult, keeping him firmly planted in his painful past, binding him in their fears and in their image of him.  But Logan has strengths he has kept hidden, including the fact that he’s a Dom. An untried one, basically, but still a Dom and Curtis fits everything he wants in a sub.  And more…Curtis fits everything Logan wants in his life.

How Annabeth Albert works these two complicated men past the age barrier, the grief, their backgrounds, their families that are holding them back, all the realistic elements and then moves them forward into a relationship that the readers see lasting for the rest of their lives?  Well, it’s one of the most heart warming stories that I’ve read in awhile and one that’s made me love the Rainbow Cove series even more (if that’s possible).

The D/s element is so well done here, especially as it can’t be part of the romance, at least not at first.  Curtis can’t handle that.  So it’s woven into a different part of their lives as they discover more about that aspect of each other.  That level of trust then allows an openness for other revelations to follow.  And yes, it’s sexy and very, very hot!

But for me it’s the healing of two hearts and the love that these two men find together that even now starts to send me back to the beginning of their story to start to read it all over again.  Rainbow Cove is a very special place and as much as I love all of Annabeth Albert’s series, I suspect that this one has found it’s way to the top of the list.   It’s certainly my top destination location.   Make it yours!  You don’t have to have read the first in the series to read Tender with a Twist but it helps to give you that additional background knowledge on the place and characters you will meet here.   Plus it’s another fantastic story.  I highly recommend this one and the series.

Cover design: Sloan J Designs.  I love this design.  It’s perfect for the character and I love the tone that comes across.

Purchase at Amazon

Book Details:

ebook
Published October 2nd 2017 by Annabeth Albert
SeriesRainbow Cove #2 settingOregon (United States)

A MelanieM Review: Scratch the Matchmaker by Austin Daniels

Rating: 2 stars out of 5

After his boyfriend moves out of state without telling him, Jay wants only to indulge in a weekend of drunken self-pity. Before he can get started, though, he is rescued by a stray dog.

While obtaining the necessary food and supplies he needs to take care of the dog, named Scratch, he meets Richard, a veterinary student. Better still, Richard offers to meet up to talk to him about caring for a dog.

Lessons in taking care of a dog lead to lessons Jay never expected, but Jay isn’t the only one with a sour past, and all the two men hope to learn from and with each other may be cut all too short.

Well, I only wish the story I found had been half as cute as the premise and the cover.  I think just about everything here needs to be addressed from the format to the multiple points of views that take you immediately away from the main characters story into various side vinaigrettes of dog matchmaking and sex.  There is a weird element of “yes, let’s immediately be boyfriends and D/s even though I just met you” that’s disconcerting as well as downright less than sexy.

Honestly it makes you want to take Jay to therapy and remind him about not talking to strangers.

I wish I could say Scratch the Matchmaker by Austin Daniels is all about perspectives. That its just me. But I really feel that it would be hard pressed to find readers to overlook the faults I found. This needs more than another looksee from a editor or two.  And that’s from someone who adores a dog story within a romance!  It’s just disorganized, the writing is poor and the characters are one-dimensional.  I’d give this one a pass.

Cover design by Michelle Seaver.  Just adorable, from the dog to the design.  Great job.

Sales Links:  Less Than Three Press | Amazon

Book Details:

ebook, 164 pages
Published September 13th 2017 by Less Than Three Press
ISBN139781684310975
Edition LanguageEnglish

A VVivacious Review: Sex in C Major by Matthew J. Metzger

Rating: 4.5 Stars out of 5
 
I really can’t write an adequate blurb for this one. My fumbling attempt at writing one for this book yielded this –
“Stefan is a transgender male who has fantasies that could get him killed especially combined with his mile long issues. When a chance encounter with Daz seems to get him exactly what he wants, will he finally come to terms with what he wants or will it take something very different to force Stefan to recognise himself?”
…just read the blurb, its pretty spot on.
 
I finished reading this book on the 4th of June and as I sit down to write this review it is the 8th of June. I have taken a lot of time to assimilate my thoughts regarding this book and I still don’t think I have grasped them all. Reading this book feels like an experience. It’s the kind of book that pulls you kicking and screaming into its world and wrings you out till all you can do is absorb everything this book has to offer. This book is a sensory overload and that might be the most truthful thing I think there is to say about this book.
 
Regarding the warnings that come with this book, while this book is pretty dark and overwhelming with emotions and frankly pulls you in a million different directions it didn’t even come close to my limits so I on the whole didn’t have to deal with discomfort when I read it, but I feel that for a lot of people this is going to be a significant aspect of this book. This book is bare bones reality it doesn’t cover up anything nothing fades to back and everything is starkly defined so there is no getting away. So when you pick up this book heed the warnings.
 
When I started reading the book it was like reading the book you love to hate. I had a million problems with this book when I started it but if I have to be true to myself I realise that I loved the book then as well. But at that point, in the beginning, there was so much I had a problem with. Stefan harps on normal so much in the beginning of this book that I hated seeing the word come up in the text and it comes up a lot. Also Stefan has some extremely outdated views on woman and it felt really wrong to hear those from him. One of the biggest wins for me in this book was when Daz sets the record straight on that account. It instantaneously made me respect Daz even when I was in the love to hate phase with this book. Initially I felt like this author isn’t for me because I have read another book by this author and I didn’t like that much but this book proved me wrong in that regard.
 
The best thing this book has to offer is undoubtedly Yannis. Reading a character like him made me realise why diversity is so important because looking at the world from a different perspective can be beyond enlightening it can be transcendent. He is the kind of character that you don’t even know you want to read about till you have met him and then you realise how much you were missing when you finally do. When Yan fights it’s something so amazing.
 
Yan and Daz’s relationship has got to be the most mind boggling relationship of all times because it is missing all the tradition elements that you find in relationships. It is a sexual and romantic relationship but only from one side of the equation and the other side is completely indifferent. While indifferent is the word that comes to mind it has also made me realise that love is more than romance and sex and while those are the two things that love is most often related with and for some people romance + sex = love it is nice to meet a couple that doesn’t fit the former part of the equation at all but still manages the latter. I loved the fact that these two characters loved each other without their Love being love. It’s truly made me realise that Love is so much more than our mind can comprehend and it truly is something else, more than you know, more than you can imagine and is the most unclassifiable thing in the world.
 
Daz is a quintessential male. While writing this review the thing that comes to mind when I think of Daz is a classical romance hero who is nice but dark except Daz’s so called darkness isn’t an indefinable something but something you are made familiar with in the very beginning of the book. He is dangerous and he is sweet. I loved his sweet and cuddly moments and it’s very funny to think of the fact that he is the only romantic one in the relationship he shares with Yan because he is kind of the guy in books who is the least interested in romance but in this book if he wants romance he has to grab it with both hands. Irony thou art funny.
 
Stefan is the one character in this book who was not an instant favourite. Initially his very skewed view on cis gendered people was really getting to me and then his obsession with normal was maddening. The only thing that I could understand of Stefan’s initially was his kink. I got his need for it and I also got his hatred for it and how he would let his want for it made him go crazy but when the want was fulfilled it would leave him defiled. One of the things that Stefan learns during the course of this book was to let be, to not let his impression of normal prevent him from living his life the way he wants to live it. There is a conversation between Daz and Stefan which in a very overly simplified manner amounts to Stefan harping on the fact that he wasn’t normal and Daz telling him to get over it, to get over the fact that he enjoyed things others wouldn’t consider normal because the fact was that he enjoyed them, so he should and fuck anyone else who thinks otherwise. Surprisingly I have been on Stefan’s end of this conversation and while what Daz was saying to Stefan is exactly what I wanted to say to Stefan I also understand how hard it is to just let go of your beliefs no matter how wrong they may be, so Stefan’s struggles made a unique impact.
 
There is this scene at the end of the book which is really intense. I read two reviews that I read before reading this book both in their own way propelled me to read the book. I only read one line of the second review and that said DNF @98%. Now this was really surprising for me and insanely for who would possibly stop reading a book just before it’s about to end. So yeah there is something at the end of the book that could possibly be distressing enough to just DNF the book on the spot, but for me while the scene is intense it also fits the story and the characters, it is not jarring and it didn’t feel unreal in fact I am very surprised how naturally that scene flowed. But I guess this scene will be the source of quite a lot of debate. Personally for me Daz and Stefan’s sex life is something I completely understand. I get both the desire to submit to the extent Stefan wants to as well as the desire to call something someone yours.
 
Whenever I think of this book I think of colours so bright you feel you can touch them.
 
This book is like notes on a page when you play the notes some will hear a noise while others will hear the symphony.
 
Cover Art by Written Ink Designs. I loved the attention to detail in the cover. It is an amazing cover.
Sales Links:  JMS Books LLC | Amazon
Book Details:
Kindle Edition, 426 pages
Published May 27th 2017 by JMS Books LLC
Original TitleSex in C Major
ASINB06Y1QZP55
Edition LanguageEnglish

A Barb the Zany Old Lady Release Day Review: Lace by KC Wells

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

Oh, nice one! This short story was a hot romp between two men who’ve been friends for a long time, but never lovers—until now. Dave has never come out as bisexual until he finally gives in to his attraction to his best friend, Shawn, and breaks up with his girlfriend.

Unfortunately, though he gets the courage to tell Shawn he broke up with the woman because he’s bisexual, he chickens out before he can tell Shawn that he desires only Shawn.

Shawn has loved Dave for years—the principal reason he hasn’t had a long-term boyfriend—but when he hears Dave’s announcement, he’s shocked speechless and then upset when Dave runs out. How can he let Dave know he’s attracted if Dave runs away?

When Dave finally musters the courage to return and tell Shawn, he discovers lacy underwear in Shawn’s drawer while helping to put his laundry away, and from there on, the inhibitions evaporate. The two discover each other’s bodies and eventually realize their mutual romantic attraction. It’s too bad Shawn thinks it’s only because of the kink, and when he tries to explain it to Dave, MISUNDERSTANDING occurs. Caps intentional. Readers will enjoy just how they finally get back together for their HFN.

K.C. Wells delivers yet again. Be her stories long or short, I’ve discovered that I am a fan, and I count this shorter story among my favorites from her to date. I definitely recommend this one. Of course, I have a place in my heart for manties, so it was fairly easy to interest me in starting this, but these great characters kept me riveted to their story to the end.

The cover by Meredith Russell is a fantastic and drool-worthy view of a male torso clad in lingerie—from lacy undies to a lacy garter belt leading to, I can only guess, perhaps lace-topped stockings. Yummy.

Sales Links:   Amazon

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 100 pages
Published May 17th 2017 by Island Tales Press
ASINB071S8XQCG
Edition LanguageEnglish

Release Blitz: Lace by KC Wells

 

Buy Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK
 
Cover: Meredith Russell
 
Length: 24,400 words
 
Blurb
 

When Shawn’s best mate Dave breaks up with his girlfriend, Shawn tries not to get his hopes up. After all, Dave’s still straight, right? Wrong. Dave reveals he’s bisexual, and that pounding you hear is Shawn’s heart. He’s loved Dave for so long, but he’s not about to jeopardize their friendship by telling Dave how he really feels.

But when Dave discovers Shawn’s little kink, it opens up a whole new chapter for the two friends. Except Shawn can’t help but worry – if there was no kink, would Dave be there? And is Shawn brave enough to find out?

A standalone short story of lust, lace – and love…

Author Bio
 

Born and raised in the north-west of England, K.C. WELLS always loved writing. Words were important. Full stop. However, when childhood gave way to adulthood, the writing ceased, as life got in the way. K.C. discovered erotic fiction in 2009, when the purchase of a ménage storyline led to the startling discovery that reading about men in love was damn hot. In 2012, arriving at a really low point in life led to the desperate need to do something creative. An even bigger discovery waited in the wings—writing about men in love was even hotter….

K.C. now writes full-time and is loving every minute of her new career. The laptop still has no idea of what hit it… it only knows that it wants a rest, please. And it now has to get used to the idea that where K.C goes, it goes.

And as for those men in love that she writes about? The list of stories just waiting to be written is getting longer… and longer….

K.C. loves to hear from readers.



K.C. loves to hear from readers.
E-mail: k.c.wells@btinternet.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KCWellsWorld
Twitter: @K_C_Wells
Website: http://www.kcwellsworld.com

Giveaway