Kairo’s Billionaire slightly backtracks into the last pages of Charlie’s Doctor, recounting the events that happened to launch this story.
That would be the kidnapping of Kairo by unknown persons as he exited the bar where everyone was celebrating the success of the team’s mission.
I’m fully enjoying this series. Even though I’m aware of some of the issues with the realism of two billionaires kidnapped and no one realizes, the easiest escape ever, and other things that are still a wee bit of a stretch to believe in, it’s all such fun entertainment that I am willing to take it as such.
I just enjoy the characters, their relationships, the fact there’s a ferret element, a family of assassins (those that kill together ). I mean it’s just a general sense of mayhem on the loose I find so ingratiatingly satisfying.
Plus love , and HEA , is found for Kairos Jones and the billionaire Isidore Panopoulos. It’s a interesting dynamic . We get to know both men under duress, as well as Izzy’s sister, another wonderful character. This situation makes the quick development in their relationship believable as they are forced into learning about each other and having to trust each other to make decisions to ensure their escape.
The ending sets up Ed’s story, Edison’s Professor, as well as giving us a deeper perspective on Kairo’s life.
I’m looking forward to it.
If you’re a reader who enjoys action packed , ex military, espionage type of romance novels, then this is a entertaining and enjoyable book and series for you.
They should be read in order to understand the relationships and events that have happened.
Someone of his skill should not have been kidnapped at all. Let alone so easily.
But when Kairo Jones wakes up halfway around the world with a reclusive billionaire begging for his help, the mercenary knows he can’t say no.
He also knows that he might be in over his head.
While Charlie and the rest of the team race to locate their missing member, Kairo fights to keep the sexy man with the sad eyes alive long enough to get some answers.
Kairo’s Billionaire is the second full-length novel in the Shadow Elite series and features mercenaries, assassins, danger, explosions, a brooding billionaire with a battered heart, and love on the run in Greece.
———-
Unless it’s noted, all books reviewed have been purchased by the reviewer
Christmas Spirit by Annabelle Jacobs is another delightful holiday romance. Set In Cornwall, a favorite location of mine, this low angst age gap tale has a bit of the magical holiday spirit that takes this a tad into the supernatural with a merry matchmaking ghost!
Dylan tears his Achilles tendon and ends up recovering at his best friend’s uncle’s house In Cornwall.
The uncle is younger that expected and hot! And someone Dylan had met-cute before arriving.
Gareth is drawn to his nephew’s best friend, the first one since his bad breakup. The vet has his newly purchased older house under renovation, with the help of his nephew and others . But it Dylan he can’t keep his eyes off.
The men maneuver through the minefield of emotions that’s the best friend/nephew’s feelings about them, the idea of any permanence, guided by the actions of a ghostly matchmaker.
It’s sweet, funny, and sexy. Accompanied by several side stories that involve Dylan’s dad and Gareth’s ex’s father about moving on with your life. Believable and lovely.
I’m recommending Christmas Spirit by Annabelle Jacobs as another heartwarming holiday read. Add it to your list!
Dylan’s Cornish retreat wasn’t supposed to include a hot bloke and a cupid-playing ghost…
After tearing his Achilles tendon, recuperating by the sea sounds like a fantastic idea, and Dylan happily accepts his best mate’s offer to stay with him and his uncle for a few weeks. But he hadn’t counted on the uncle being smoking hot, or the fierce attraction that blossoms between them.
Swapping the busy streets of London for the easy pace of Cornish life is exactly what Gareth needs to move on with his own life. His new home requires a little TLC, but he’d expected that. What he hadn’t expected was the ghostly resident already living there.
A ten-year age gap isn’t the only issue standing between Dylan and Gareth. Their time together has an expiration date. By Christmas, Dylan will be back home in Bristol spending the holidays with his dad, leaving Gareth all alone. Luckily for them, a matchmaking Christmas Spirit has other ideas.
A Christmas MM romance featuring a meet-cute, pining, a meddling ghost, a teeny bit of angst, and a festive HEA
—-
Unless it’s noted, all books reviewed have been purchased by the reviewer
A wonderful series just continues on its own hopeful, warm-hearted journey with two new characters and latest members of the Vet Shop Boys found family of vets and their partners and pets.
Well, almost latest. There’s been an Aussie vet with marriage issues added but his story is later.
Now we are treated to the heartwarming story of the deepest best friends to lovers romance and a renewal of the Christmas spirit for one and all.
The one lacking in holiday’s cheer (for all the depressing and heartbreaking reasons) is Lawson Barnes, last year vet student and best friend of the ever positive, very handsome Chester Mathews. Chess is also in his last year of vet school and they both apply for the one internship at the Vet Shop Boys. Their interesting interviews and Gus’s big heart sees both of them working together with two internships and suddenly they’re finding a new home and family around them.
The 2-person POV works beautifully to bring the initial mindsets of each man into clarity so as Law and Chess grow and change, we see it reflected in each other’s thoughts and emotions, and actions.
It starts with Chester’s plan to make Law learn to love Christmas, a season Law’s never really experienced due to his parental negligence and sad adolescence. He, obviously, pulls on all the other vets and partners to aid in his plan.
Cox’s storylines shine spotlights on the other couples while giving focus to Chester and Lawson’s journey to HEA.
This is full of fun, joy, love and a reminder of what the Christmas spirit is all about.
I thoroughly enjoyed it and recommend Got Me Merry (Vet Shop Boys Book 6) by Casey Cox . Pick it and the rest of the series up for great contemporary romance reading.
Can my best friend get me to enjoy the holidays? Ho… Ho… Um…No?
Christmas just isn’t my jam. The crowds. The cold. That Mariah Carey song blasting everywhere I go. Thanks, but no thanks.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m no Grinch. The holidays are awesome if you have a great family and money to shower them with gifts. Unfortunately for me, I have neither of those things.
All I want for Christmas (great, now I’m quoting that damn Mariah song) is to focus on my internship at the Vet Shop Boys clinic and hanging out with my best friend and roommate.
Turns out Chester has got other ideas. Along with a crew of loved-up vets, he’s on a mission to get me to enjoy the holidays and fall in love with him.
Wait… What?!
There’s no way I’ll ever become one of those festive people who likes Christmas, but who knows? Maybe this will be the first holiday season that actually gets me merry?
Got Me Merry is book 6 in the Vet Shop Boys series and can be read as a stand-alone. Expect plenty of humor, found family, best-friends-to-lovers, a grumpy Christmas Grinch, a sunshiny Christmas lover, some very wacky Christmas traditions, a sizzling hot fun run on a freezing winter day, a two-legged dog with a heart of gold, meddling vets determined to add a sprinkling of love to the holidays, and a heartwarming happily ever after!
—-
Unless it’s noted, all books reviewed have been purchased by the reviewer
J. A. Rock and Lisa Henry are both excellent writers and their ability to craft believable characters is one of the reasons I automatically grab up any book they co-author.
Unfortunately in Fran Cuthbert Ruins Christmas, it’s one of their believable characters that’s the reason this was so close to being a DNF for me. I barely scraped by, hoping for some improvement in his personality. A false hope as it turned out.
The truth lies in the title. Fran Cuthbert not only ruin’s Christmas but this story. While the other mc is real, vulnerable, and engaging, Fran is that person you can’t trust or the character that begs the question why on earth would either writer craft someone like him to begin with as a main romantic lead.
He’s an inveterate lier, a outright thief of Christmas gifts, incapable of taking responsibility for any kind of irresponsible hurtful behavior on his part, passiveness in a manner that ends up being a weapon to hurt others, and a sense of humor that actually inflicts damage on someone he says he cares about. His only saving grace is his love for his twins girls that he’s so busy lying to.
Honestly. The authors thought Fran was someone we as readers should connect with? Find somehow awkwardly funny and adorable? Because he’s a toxic hot mess with a box load of red flags waving above him.
One of the worst things here? When his long time love (who he wronged), opens up and makes an extremely vulnerable confession to Fran, something that involves a sexual encounter that resulted in an accidental harm, what happens? Fran makes fun of him, makes Cass feel bad about himself and the encounter. By then I was done.
So am I recommending this? No. Only to those fans of these authors and I’m sure you have this on your TBR list already. For the rest of you, I’ll let you make the best choice.
—-
Unless it’s noted, all books reviewed have been purchased by the reviewer
Cowboy Protection is a terrific story that suffers from being a tale that’s only 1/2 to 2/3’s finished. You get to the ending and feel that there’s multiple chapters missing. So many storylines left dangling or completely neglected. So frustrating that it takes away from the great elements that went before.
First to the things I really loved about this romance.
The rodeo universe and bull riders. B.A. Tortuga and Jodi Payne capture this world in all its gritty, rawness. From the moment we meet the bullfighting team led by “Mackey” Keyes, we’re right in the heart of the game. The dust of the area, the roar of the crowds, the snorting, stomping rage of the bulls and the clanging of the gates swinging wide open as the bulls bust out! It’s vividly alive, scary and terrifyingly memorable.
Just as the men fighting to keep the bull riders safe and the bulls distracted until they can be lead away. These men, this team, from the young rowdy twin brothers to the older scarred veterans, are believable and so realistic that it’s hard to pull our attention away from them to focus on the other second main character.
Maverick “Mackey” Keyes, an older, heavily scarred bullfighter who lives for his team and the sport but now suffers from the consequences of his near constant concussions and other injuries. He’s a charismatic figure and a realistic character. However there’s aspects to his personality and character that deserve greater exploration than the authors deed to him. More on that later.
Sidney Scott, the new TV producer, doesn’t have the layers that the bullfighters have to his character but he’s still plenty interesting. A believable backstory, and a strong personality helps keep Sidney from fading when next to the magnetic bullfighters, their energy, that swoops off the page, even when they are puking their guts out in a bathroom.
Everything about the rodeo world jumps with a vitality and passion that pulls the reader in and makes us commit to the characters and story.
Which is why the less than stellar aspects of the story are so bothersome. Some spoilers below.
1. Bullfighter Injuries. Specifically Traumatic brain injury(craniocerebral trauma) . McKay suffered from a number of concussions. He’s just had another serious injury to the head. Yet this is barely a point of discussion. For a man with a need to protect his team and it’s members going forward, not taking proper care of his body seems counterproductive to that goal and endangering their contracts. Instead it’s puke your guts out, hide your symptoms and continue. Even in the relationship, this aspect is never addressed as a part of their future it is in other books with athletes who play sports (hockey, football) associated with this trauma.
I found this a missed opportunity, a relationship mistake, and unrealistic element for someone who wants a long term relationship but isn’t willing to discuss the issues he’s having with his future partner.
2. Brad. The member of the board who’s made out by the authors to be an important part of the storyline. He’s a malevolent figure, determined to ruin McKay and his bullfighters by any means. This element is built up throughout the novel, as Brad appears to keep approaching people to get dirt or ask them to slander the team to break the event contract. What happens to this dramatic story development? Nothing. Like a deflated balloon or false advertising, it vanishes without a conclusion. What a letdown.
3. Finally, under major narrative flaws, there’s Jack. One of the older bullfighters and McKay’s best friends with benefits before meeting Sidney. Spoiler alert. At the end, Jack, a interesting personality, appears without notice, frazzled and emotionally disturbed, at McKay’s ranch at Christmas time. He’s been in a car crash where there’s been a death and he needs a place to rest up.
Now as a team leader , does McKay gets any details? See if the fact that one of a fairly famous team of bullfighters was involved in a crash that caused a fatality would have caused any other ramifications? Endanger his friend or that ever present contract? Does any of the number of expected responses? No. It’s a matter of no questions and then let Jack walk away when he needed to be alone.
Then that’s it for Jack and that storyline.
There’s other less developed or dropped parts of this story but those are the main ones. And they are so obvious that they take away from the outstanding sections and elements of Cowboy Protection.
It leaves a reader, at least this one, wondering where the rest of the story is and why the authors didn’t follow up on the dropped threads. Especially when I know they are very capable of doing exactly that.
So if you are a fan of Tortuga and Payne, I’m sure this is already on your radar. If not, then consider if you are interested in reading this. I believe there’s better options out there from both authors.
Maverick “Mackey” Keyes keeps the rodeo cowboys safe on his watch and he knows how to make his bullfighting team walk the line. He might be starting to feel his years, but he’s a pro, and he’s not afraid of anything that might happen on the arena floor.
Sidney Scott knows how to go with the flow, so when his dream job passes him by, he grabs the chance to work the bull riding circuit as a TV producer. He’s going to do the job right, traveling with the show, even if he hears some rumbling from the riders.
Mackey and Sid butt heads more than once, but when it really counts, they manage to get on the same page. When Mackey is injured, Sid steps up to help, and things take a far more personal turn. They might have been able to ignore the growing attraction between them at work, but a long road trip over the Christmas holiday and time away from the other cowboys lets them find something together that neither of them expect, but both of them need.
Cowboy Protection is an opposites attract, rodeo romance featuring a bullfighter and a corporate suit, with a side of holiday magic.
—-
Unless it’s noted, all books reviewed have been purchased by the reviewer
Vow Maker is the fourth and supposedly final book in Lily Morton’s Mixed Messages series. After 7 years together, Gabe and Dylan (Rule Breaker #1) , are finally getting married. If they can agree on a wedding planner.
In true Morton style, what ensues is a story that embraces all the aspects and emotional elements a complicated couple brings to the decision to get married. In turn, it’s downright hilarious, sobering and deep when their discussions turns to the past and the barriers that had come between them, warm-hearted, and sexy.
The Gabe and Dylan here have settled into their relationship with a deep love and understanding of each other. Mixed in with interactions with the close friends and family we’ve gotten to know through the previous books, it’s a joy to jump back into this universe like a old friend.
Morton’s beautiful writing and exquisite way with characters and relationship dynamics connects the reader immediately with the issues that have blocked the couple’s successful journey to marriage. Gabe’s old nightmares, his fears , become real to us as his past rises up to haunt him.
What he does and how he believably works through this damage pulls us emotionally even more into this couple and their future.
One of the greatest new elements and characters is their chosen wedding planner. To go further with any reveal on him is to spoil some truly guffaw inducing moments. He’s a gem and I’m hoping he gets his own romance.
It’s hard to believe that Vow Maker would bring an end to our journey with this charming, complicated crew of men. I’m hoping not. I not ready to let them go.
I am highly recommending this story but please read their beginnings in Rule Breaker to see how it all started. I’ve listed them out below.
However, after seven years of being engaged, that’s looking slightly doubtful. After going through ten wedding planners, they’re gaining a reputation somewhat akin to Henry the Eighth on the wedding circuit.
Gabe has vetoed symbolic dove releases, forests of flowers, fire-eating performers, and puce as a wedding colour. He’s confounded an army of wedding professionals, and now Dylan, the man who knows and loves him better than anyone, has joined the ranks of the confused. Can anything please his fiancé and get them to the altar?
From bestselling author Lily Morton comes the sequel to Rule Breaker. A romantic comedy novella full of family chaos, meddling friends, sexy bathroom encounters, and love. Always love.
—-
Unless it’s noted, all books reviewed have been purchased by the reviewer.
The finale story of the Hit and Run trilogy, Double Play brings back Herve Truffaut, the ex boyfriend of Pietro and ex best friend/employer of Thierry as a main character. Herve’s been a truly villainous person and his actions have caused enormous emotional pain as well as huge harm physically to both those men. He’s been hated and his narcissistic, self destructive personality gave no indication he would be redeemed.
Usually, that’s a iffy proposition for an author after making a character so reviled in previous stories. Most of the time it honestly doesn’t work.
Even here, Herve’s prior actions and the severity of the damage he’s caused to others is brought up often, as well as the fact most believe he’s not deserving of forgiveness.
That adds a rawness to the perspective and a darker side to the story and characters.
But Lindsey is able, by creating a fully balanced and multi layered being in Herve, to make us believe in his desire to change.
Now we get the complicated background, the abusive mother, the tormented adolescence, and the deep damage that left on him that helped create the monster he became. And is now trying to redeem.
The illnesses Herve suffers from , narcolepsy and cataplexy, are woven expertly into his life and character. I had little knowledge of both diseases until they were described in detail by Herve’s actions and emotional status throughout this story. The utter vulnerability and scary nature of these Illnesses are well portrayed.
Orion Coulter’s pain and situation derives from a different type of anguish and overwhelming sense of impending loss. That of a man he considers his brother due to ALS. His brother in law is dying and his grief is overwhelming him.
This sensitive issue is beautifully handled from many aspects. From that of the man himself who’s death is swiftly coming, his wife who is Orion’s sister, and then Orion who loves them both and does what his best friend wishes. He’s leaves for a vacation planned for the couple that they will never take.
Bring on the tissues. Because this is a heartbreaking aspect of this story.
The men, Orion and Herve , meet, talk, and begin a complicated realistic relationship, one with a man who’s prone to falling down, has a tight medication schedule and health requirements. Somehow, Lindsey makes it plausible, sexy, and hopeful.
As Orion is a MLB player on the same team as the other couples in the previous books, all those characters make important appearances here.
This is a tale of life, love, and redemption. It’s beautiful and tightly crafted.
I loved the ending and I’m highly recommending it. It’s the finest story, imo, of the trilogy.
If self-destruction is an artform, then Hervé is a master artist.
After all, he’s perfected self-sabotage since he was young and full of promise.
He’s spent his life running from his past and pushing away anyone who might break down his walls, but it wasn’t until his body betrayed him that he realized just how lonely his present had become. Now he’s in the countryside, trying to figure out if anything is worth salvaging, and wondering if he’s the sort of man who will ever be worth a second chance.
Even when Orion Coulter—one of the star pitchers on the Denver Vikings—shows up in his little village like some sort of predestined knight on a white horse, Hervé doesn’t trust him. How can he when Orion is close to all the men Hervé hurt?
But Orion’s situation is more complicated than Hervé realized, full of pain and grief, looking for some kind of escape. And while Hervé knows that he hasn’t quite earned meeting the man of his dreams, Orion’s quiet voice, tender hands, and impossible promises has him wondering if maybe—just maybe—the universe is willing to give him the chance he doesn’t deserve.
Double Play is the final book of the Hit and Run MM baseball romance series. It features countryside kisses, grief, redemption, long walks, careful handling, and a painfully tender happily ever after.
—-
Unless it’s noted, all books reviewed have been purchased by the reviewer.
The Real Kaimana by Xenia Melzer is a must holiday read. It’s a falling movie snowflake, a much needed hug, and that sexy fireplace burning ever so brightly in the cabin of your dreams. It’s the story that leaves you smiling, full of love and warmth at the thought of this couple and their happily ever after.
It’s low on angst, right on target with the balance between serious discussions about subjects such as body positivity, acceptance of one’s sexuality, and an emotional openness to life’s choices and new beginnings.
Melzer is a new author for me and I believe this is her first LGBTGIA story. I need to seek out what else this author has written because this is an amazing story.
The characters sing of life and joy while always staying grounded in a realistic foundation where families are capable of approving a son’s choices about his sexuality or career, and positivity about self image has no age restrictions or body types.
Travelogue blogger Quirin Brukmiller and businessman Kaimana Tilo will capture your heart from the start. They are so beautifully crafted, multidimensional personalities that I was swept into their lives and developing relationship and never stopped until the end.
I laughed with joy, stumbling along with them through all their discoveries and talks . And left them , far too soon, with their HEA.
I’m absolutely recommending The Real Kaimana (A Snowed Inn Romance) by Xenia Melzer and this collection. What a fantastic way to get into your holiday spirit!
When a travel blogger with a serious love for color and a billionaire with the most gorgeous dark eyes serendipitously meet at a hotel in the Colorado mountains, could it be the start of a true holiday romance?
Quirin Brukmiller grumbles when he is told he must go into the snow and cold to write a travel report about The Retreat, aka The Rainbow Inn, an LGBTQ-friendly hotel high up in the mountains. After some gentle persuasion in the form of free clothing from his favorite company, he packs his bags and is now ready to brave the snow for the first time. At the hotel, he has the most perfect meet-cute ever to be written for a rom-com and chooses to make the best of this golden opportunity fate has given him.
Kaimana Tilo just sold his biotech company for several billion dollars and came out to his parents. Both decisions went down like lead balloons with his conservative, money-loving family. To get some distance, a clear head, and to have his first appearance as an out gay man, he takes a trip to a charming inn deep in the mountains of Colorado. Before he has a chance to check into his room, he meets the man of his dreams. For once, life is smiling down on him, and Kai has every intention of keeping the colorful man who practically landed in his lap at his side.
When an avalanche blocks the road to the hotel forcing them to stay together longer, it is just the last sign that what they have is bound to last forever.
All the books in the Snowed Inn collection are standalone stories and can be read in any order.
—-
Unless it’s noted, all books reviewed have been purchased by the reviewer
Snowed Inn story Collection:
All the books can be read as standalones and in any order and all are available to buy or pre-order
Second chance at love along with lovers reunited are among my favorite tropes. I get both with a storyline that involves several long-time mysteries, stealthy mercenaries, explosions, many shootouts, and a extremely entertaining romance to boot.
It all starts with a mission in Buenos Aires , Argentina, with the former CIA, now mercenary team lead by Charlie Sands. They’re looking for leads on a missing famous artist for a friend. But soon their interests intersects with that of someone from Charlie’s past. The only man he’s ever loved and had to leave.
Drake has created two men who’s experiences in the time since they separated in Paris have seen profound changes in them personally and professionally.
Dr. Will Monroe, temporarily filling in for a friend in a poor clinic in the darker of districts in the city, hasn’t seen his former love in years. Then Charlie left him with an explanation that gutted him.
We follow the separate threads that ties Will to a past and present danger, and the group of men he’s reunited with.
Hint. It’s not a happy reunion. Realistically, it shouldn’t be with all the deep feelings and secrets still to be revealed. Plus the men are grown and changed since the initial romance. That’s real too.
I was kept throughly invested in the reignited romance, the mysteries, the investigations and the team dynamics.
It was a non-stop reading and the ending sets up the next character’s story while putting this couple’s relationship in very permanent happy status .
Charlie’s Doctor is a very entertaining, and solid story. I’m definitely recommending it to those who love action and suspense with their romance.
When paintings for an artist who disappeared roughly fifty years ago suddenly surface, Charlie and his friends decide it might be worth looking into what really happened. Besides, who isn’t up for adventure and fun in Buenos Aires?
But things go horribly sideways when Charlie stumbles across Dr. William freaking Monroe—the only man to claim and then destroy Charlie’s heart.
Now they’re on the run, dodging bullets and digging for the truth. Charlie wants nothing to do with Will. It’s his heart that’s screaming for a second chance.
Is it too late to get past years of anger and misunderstandings to grab the love that still burns between them?
Charlie’s Doctor is the first full-length novel in the Shadow Elite mercenary series and features stubborn men with poor communication skills, second chances, meddling brothers, explosions, and love on the run in Argentina
—-
Unless it’s noted, all books reviewed have been purchased by the reviewer
My holiday reading continues with the heartwarming romance by Keira Andrews, The Christmas Leap.
Containing a number of favorite themes, best friends to lovers, fake boyfriends, bisexual awakening, this sweet romance is low angst and high on good feelings.
Long time friends ,Will and Michael , reunite after a two year separation caused by Michael’s relationship and his determination to lose his unrequited love for Will. A breakup, a breakdown (a car), and a business holiday weekend ensues to reinstate their tight bond and turn it into something else, a HEA.
Andrews gives us two remarkably engaging characters, surrounds them with a supportive cast of charming personalities (especially Will’s boss and her family), two fantastic locations, and all the right elements to make real Will’s bisexual awakening as well as Michael’s bravery in finally confessing his love.
I loved ending my night on the happy feelings this story left me with. For those looking for a holiday story, I’m definitely recommending A Christmas Leap.
Sure, I’ve thought about it. Wondered. Daydreamed. Imagined. But I wasn’t ready to take the leap.
I have a reputation as a “ladies’ man.” No one has any idea how curious I am about men—not even my openly bi best friend. Make that former best friend. Michael ghosted me, and I have no idea why.
Michael: The man I love is straight.
It hurt like hell when I had to distance myself from Will. I’ve tried desperately to grow up and get over him, but my carefully constructed life just fell apart—and Will rushes to my rescue.
Now we’re pretending to be a couple to impress his boss at a holiday retreat. We’re holding hands and hugging.
We’re sharing a bed.
And Will just kissed me.
Is my best friend falling in love with me after all?
The Christmas Leap by Keira Andrews is a Christmas romance featuring friends to lovers, bi awakening, first times, and of course a happy ending. This standalone novel takes place in the same universe as The Christmas Deal.
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 