Tag: m/m historical romance

Review: A Rival for Rivingdon (The Lords of Bucknall Club, #3) by J.A.Rock and Lisa Henry

Rating. 4.5 🌈

I quite adore this Regency series. After the last romance with the intense and highly intelligent Lord Christmas Gale and several murders at the center, I wasn’t sure what awaited me here with this couple.

Yes we were given glances of the pair in book 2 but I wasn’t quite prepared for the dry and funny opening here. Honestly, it reads like a Tale of Two Twits, albeit very well dressed and well bred ones.

But this is Rock and Henry , so the twits at hand who are about to make their debut and have their first Season , have a rivalry that starts to spiral immediately into a story of personal growth, a bit of sexy romping about, some madcap adventures and finally true love.

Yes our lovely boyish twits of fashion and the Tonne become young vulnerable and often poignant men who, after some introspection and advice, find the lives they’ve lead a bit lacking in kindness and decide on a new path, together. Happily.

It’s really a kind, sweet, story and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Plus it sets up one I’ve been dying to read. That of Lord Soulden. That’s next up in A Sanctuary for Soulden.

This a just a remarkably great and romantic series, each story contains bits of the others and their characters who are truly noteworthy.

Read them in the order they are written for a simply splendid romantic Regency journey. I recommend all those releases to date.

Series – The Lords of Bucknall Club

A Husband for Hartwell #1

A Case for Christmas #2

A Rival for Rivingdon #3

A Sanctuary for Soulden #4. – coming soon

Synopsis.

He must marry well, to secure his fortune.

The Honourable Loftus Rivingdon is poised to make his debut into Society. He’s beautiful, charming, and quite the catch of the Season. If only he could find the right hat. With the zealous assistance of his doting mother, Loftus has one ambition only: to meet and marry a wealthy peer. And Loftus knows just the peer—the dauntingly handsome, infinitely fashionable Viscount Soulden. Good thing there’s nothing standing in his way.

He must also marry well, to secure his fortune.

The Honourable Morgan Notley is poised to make his debut into Society. He’s beautiful, charming, and quite the catch of the Season. And he has just found the perfect hat. With the zealous assistance of his doting mother, Morgan has one ambition only: to meet and marry a wealthy peer. And Morgan knows just the peer—the dauntingly handsome, infinitely fashionable Viscount Soulden. Good thing there’s nothing standing in his w—

Damn it all to hell.

Their ambitions collide.

When Loftus and Morgan both set their sights on Soulden, the rivalry of the Season begins. Their mutual hatred escalates into spite, sabotage, and scandal, as all of Society eagerly waits to see which diamond of the first water will prevail. Except the course of true loathing, just like true love, never did run smooth. The harder they try to destroy each other, the closer they come to uncovering each other’s deepest vulnerabilities—and the more difficult it becomes to deny the burning attraction between them.

A Rival for Rivingdon is the third book in the Lords of Bucknall Club series, where the Regency meets m/m romance. The Lords of Bucknall Club can be read in any order.

A Rival for Rivingdon (The Lords of Bucknall Club, #3)

Review: Honey from the Lion(Love Across Time #2) by Jackie North

Honey from the Lion(Love Across Time #2) by Jackie North

Rating: 4.5 🌈

One of the series threads of the Farthingdale Ranch series is that of the mysterious disappearance of one of Farthingdale ranch’s first guest or dudes when it opened up for business. A young man called Laurie Quinn vanished without a trace and sends business at the ranch into a downward spiral from which it’s still trying to recover.

At the ranch, people aren’t supposed to talk about it, even mention the ghost story Bill told that night that launched the events, one he’s never told since.

But it does get mentioned, book after book. And I wondered if we were ever going to know what happened.

I was reading through the author’s backlist when this book and synopsis popped up. Huh. My very answer in front of me.

Honestly, there needs to be a link.

Anyway. If you’d asked me what had happened to that young man, bears, wolves , mountain lions, ok, but not time travel would have been my answer.

However, Jackie North has written a very moving , poignant tale of a clash of men, the realistic shock of finding yourself back in 1891 where it’s not as nostalgic or prairie romantic as tv series or books picture it. Nope, the reality is raw, harsh, bone chilling cold, and almost traumatizing. Especially when you’re not sure you’ll get home to your time.

What’s soon apparent is how Laurie’s nighttime wish plays into this all.

One heartbreaking campfire ghost story that Bill swears is true, one Meteor shower, Iron Mountain, and one man’s wish.

The author ensures the reader’s awareness of the truth breaks wide open as the story unfolds, we start to gather together all the right elements. Anticipation, fear for our couple, awareness of time and history playing out, hope that somehow a new path can be charted, and a total connectivity to everything happening before us.

It’s thrilling, heartbreaking, romantic, and chilling. In a word, wonderful.

Each character here is so faithful to his era that is makes the story feel that more grounded in its universe, no matter which one it is.

My only quibble and I’m not sure it would even work here with the 2 person POV is I desperately wanted Laurie to let the Ranch know. Somehow . Then I thought some things had to have changed like the belt. Hmmmm. A true time travel conundrum.

Just not sure if the author is going to take that into account going forward with the next 3 stories in the Farthingdale Ranch series.

Anyhow that bothered me a bit as you can see. Loose ends….

Outside of that, this is a truly moving story and romance. It gets the era, the rough living and raw feel of the times just right while leaving in the potential for love and tenderness, no matter what time you came from.

A great delight.

And don’t forget to grab up and read all the Farthingdale Ranch series, a must read each and every one. Three to date, more to come.

Soulmates across time. A love that was meant to be.

In present day, Laurie, tired of corporate life, takes a much-needed vacation at Farthingdale Dude Ranch.

The very first night a freak blizzard combined with a powerful meteor shower takes Laurie back to the year 1891. When he wakes up in a snowbank, his only refuge is an isolated cabin inhabited by the gruff, grouchy John Henton, who only wants to be left alone. His sense of duty prevails, however, and he takes Laurie under his care, teaching him how to survive on the wild frontier.

As winter approaches, Laurie’s normal fun-loving manner make it difficult for him to connect with John, but in spite of John’s old-fashioned ways, the chemistry between them grows.

Sparks fly as the blizzard rages outside the cabin. Can two men from different worlds and different times find happiness together?

A male/male time travel romance, complete with hurt/comfort, true confessions, a shared bed, fireplace kisses, the angst of separation, and true love across time

https://www.goodreads.com › showWeb resultsHoney from the Lion (Love Across Time, #2) by

A Case for Christmas ( The Lords of Bucknail Club #2) by Lisa Henry and JA Rock

Rating: 5 🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈

A Case for Christmas is just plain amazing. Sumptuous in period details, incredibly well written, and so full of clever scintillating dialogue that a review could easily be filled with one quote after another, it’s one to remember.

From the unusual cast of characters, to a twisting, devious mystery, and a romance that the reader is never quite sure is actually going to come together, along with the misgivings , miscommunications, and overall misunderstandings by our main leading men. Both of whom feel genuine and genuinely so completely flummoxed by their feelings for each other that it threatens to derail the investigation and the romance.

All the while the reader is steadily pulled into this universe and relationship. We learn to love the Gales, what a mad, wild, incredible bunch they are, the urchins, even the dogs. It’s the whole of the dynamics here that have you not only entertained but emotionally involved.

I’m so heavily invested in the proceedings that I couldn’t stop reading. I needed to finish and then I was sorry I had because it meant leaving everyone behind before I knew what happened next.

I honestly want more. Another in their story, the next stage, another case. Perhaps a marriage. But definitely more.

After this, you’ll feel the same.

Now for the others in the series. Yes need those too.

Series: The Lords of Bucknall Club

A Husband for Hartwell #1

A Case for Christmas #2

Third story comes out in August.

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

See above link for buying choices.

A Barb the Zany Old Lady Audio Review: Nova Praetorian by NR Walker and Joel Leslie (narrator)

Rating: 5 stars out of 5

NR Walker and Joel Leslie have become my favorite duo as they bring us the kind of superb entertainment I once saw on the big screen in my younger years—Lawrence of Arabia comes to mind. This story is a sweeping saga worthy of the big screen but more readily portable as all one needs is a phone app to get lost in the glory days of Rome.

One of the best lanistas—gladiator trainers—in Rome, Quintus Furius Varus is “tall and strong in build, fearsome in manner, and sharp of wit.” Senator Servius Augendus seeks personal guards, so he comes to Quintus with an offer he literally cannot refuse, and Quintus ends up in Neapolis, contracted not only as a trainer of guards, but head of those assigned to protect Servius. He’s told the contract period is limited, so once the threat is removed, Quintus can go home to his gladiators and resume his peaceful existence.

Kaeso Agorix was abducted from Iberia and brought to Rome as a slave. Purchased by Servius, he’s handed over to Quintus to train. Their attraction is immediate and intense, and he’s given to Quintus as a personal slave for as long as Quintus is in Servius’s employ. When Quintus discovers Servius’s treachery and plot to gain power, not only is Quintus’s life in danger, but also the lives of Kaeso and the other gladiators. What follows is a complex plot of assassination and treachery and involves not only Quintus and his gladiators, but also Servius and his slaves, and the emperor and his royal guard, the praetorian.

This story is very long and very, very complex with characters who have Ancient Roman names, so it takes time to get to know each one, and it takes a while to understand the politics and the atmosphere of the times. That all being said—it is time well-spent. A grand saga, created by the fertile imagination of NR Walker and brought to life by the brilliant and highly talented Joel Leslie, the character development is outstanding in this large cast of mighty Roman warriors and deceitful Roman politicians. Joel is most definitely a man of a thousand voices in this one. How he managed to pronounce each name, give the character a different voice, and keep up with the pace of the story is beyond me. He and the author made this interesting and exciting and the last chapters fly by quickly. The outcome is surprising and very satisfying. I very highly recommend this to all lovers of a grand adventure, MM romance, and of course, history buffs.

The cover features a Roman guard, holding sword and shield, on the battlefield with the sun coming up behind him. Beautifully done, it’s symbolic of the new guard—the nova praetorian.

Sales Links:  Amazon | Audible

Audio Details:

Audible Audiobook
Listening Length: 12 hours and 24 minutes
Program Type: Audiobook
Version: Unabridged
Publisher: Love Lane Books Ltd.
Audible.com Release Date: August 27, 2019
Whispersync for Voice: Ready
Language: English, English
ASIN: B07WS2T7F1

A Stella Review: The Lion and the Crow by Eli Easton

RATING 3 out of 5 stars

In medieval England, duty is everything, personal honor is more valued than life itself, and homosexuality is not tolerated by the church or society.

Sir Christian Brandon was raised in a household where he was hated for his unusual beauty and for his parentage. Being smaller than his six brutish half-brothers, he learned to survive by using his wits and his gift for strategy, earning him the nickname the Crow.

Sir William Corbett, a large and fierce warrior known as the Lion, has pushed his unnatural desires down all his life. He’s determined to live up to his own ideal of a gallant knight. When he takes up a quest to rescue his sister from her abusive lord of a husband, he’s forced to enlist the help of Sir Christian. It’s a partnership that will test every strand of his moral fiber, and, eventually, his understanding of the meaning of duty, honor, and love.

Although Eli Easton is one of my favorite authors, I skipped this title when it was first released in 2013 cause I’m a not a huge fan of historicals in the mm genre. Still with this new edition, I decided to give it a chance. I have to admit I’m still not sure if I liked it or not, that’s why I’m going with three stars as rating.

From the beginning it was pretty clear how much Christian and William were into each other, it was not just an attraction but they were nursing a more important feeling, the kind that last forever, through some difficulties and killings.

The book is surely well done, the author is a guarantee, she can write, she can think interesting plots, she always gives me awesome and well delined characters. I had a hard time with the reading, but it’s my fault, my English isn’t good enough for historicals, I often had to stop and search for words.

The reason why I can’t give the book an higher rating is the ending part, I like happy endings and here of course the characters were lucky to have their own, but the author decided to give me more informations about their time together, I can’t say more because I don’t want to spoil the ending,for me it was too much. And it left me a sour taste, instead of a big smile I usually wear when I finish a book I truly enjoyed.

The cover art by Jane Holmes and Anna Tif Sikorska is eye catching, I love it.

SALE LINKS  Amazon

BOOK DETAILS

Kindle Edition, 3rd edition, 153 pages
Published August 26th 2019 by Pinkerton Road LLC (first published June 1st 2013)
Original Title The Lion and the Crow
ASINB07X1V2B3N
Edition Language English
Characters Sir Christian Brandon, Sir William Corbet
setting England

A Lucy Review: The Captain’s Flirty Fireworks by Eleanor Harkstead and Catherine Curzon

Rating: 3 stars out of 5

When a hunky fireman and a gorgeous gold medalist meet on Guy Fawkes Night, sparks are sure to fly!

For fireman Rob Monteagle, this Guy Fawkes Night seems like it’s going to be anything but fun. After all, who wants to spend the noisiest night of the year saving careless cats from trees or rattling a fundraising bucket at Longley Magna’s annual bonfire, the pride of the village’s bad-tempered old retainer?

For Ollie Tresham, the night isn’t looking any better. He might have won gold in the Olympic showjumping ring yet he’s still expected to meet the public at his dad’s charity fireworks extravaganza. But when a rogue rocket heads straight for the showjumper, it takes a quick-thinking fireman like Rob to save the day.

As the flames of the bonfire smolder, Rob and Ollie’s night is just getting started. And it’s sure to go with a bang!

It’s hard to go into much detail about this story, as it is very short (32 pages of content) and the blurb says a lot.  It is a little misleading because it makes both men sounds as if they were dreading their respective plans for the evening and that doesn’t come across.  They do meet in the pub when Ollie needs someone to help rescue Mrs Cooper’s (a neighbor) cat from a tree.  Rob is new in the village and wants to make friends, get to know people.  He is also captivated by Ollie and his jodhpurs.  “…wondering how to strike up a conversation – wondering who would want him to.” He’s seen Ollie on his horse before and fell in lust.

Ollie is a medal-winning rider.  And wears jodhpurs.  I mention it twice because they are very nearly a character unto themselves in the story, being mentioned 24 times!

There’s a little bit of a misunderstanding, falling into bed with some of the cutest conversations every while doing so and a beginning of a possible couplehood.  It was a very quick, engaging read.

The cover, showing Ollie on his horse, seemed a little too serious for the tone of the story.

Sales:  Amazon | Pride Publishing

Book Details;

ebook, 43 pages
Expected publication: November 5th 2019 by Pride Publishing
ISBN 139781913186395
Edition Language English
URLhttps://www.firstforromance.com/book/the-captains-flighty-fireworks

Love Historical Romance? Check Out the Release Blitz for Lost and Found by Liv Rancourt (excerpt and giveaway)

 

Buy Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK | Universal Link
 
Length: 75,000 words approx.
 
Price: 2.99 (4.99 from October 20)
 
Blurb
 

A dancer who cannot dance and a doctor who cannot heal find in each other the strength to love.


History books will call it The Great War, but for Benjamin Holm, that is a misnomer. The war is a disaster, a calamity, and it leaves Benjamin profoundly wounded, his mind and memory shattered. A year after Armistice, still struggling to regain his mental faculties, he returns to Paris in search of his closest friend, Elias.


Benjamin meets Louis Donadieu, a striking and mysterious dance master. Though Louis is a difficult man to know, he offers to help Benjamin. Together they search the cabarets, salons, and art exhibits in the newly revitalized city on the brink of les années folles (the Crazy Years). Almost despite himself, Benjamin breaches Louis’s defenses, and the two men discover an unexpected passion.


As his memory slowly returns, Benjamin will need every ounce of courage he possesses to recover Elias’s story. He and Louis will need even more than that to lay claim to the love – and the future – they deserve.

 
Excerpt
 

The table on the other side of me was empty, at least until I’d poured myself a second glass of wine. Then, crossing the room in a familiar halting rhythm, my neighbor, the man from the café on the Place du Tertre, took a seat.


I raised my glass in a toast of alcohol-fueled enthusiasm. “It’s nice to see you.”


He blinked as if surprised by my words. “I’m not sure I know you.”


His gaze suggested otherwise. “A while ago, you were at L’Oiseau Bleu.” I swirled the wine in my cup. “Are you following me?”


“I had a taste for fish.” Hooking his cane over the edge of his table, he shrugged again. “And I have better things to do than observe the habits of a drunk American.”


We were interrupted by the arrival of my dinner. There might have been humor in his tone, but still, the sting of his words quashed the impulse to invite him to join me.


Turning to the waiter, slick black hair gleaming, he placed his own order. When the waiter brought his wine, I took the opportunity to raise my glass a second time. “Cheers.” I deliberately did not smile. “Comment allez-vous?” How are you, using the formal “vous,” not the more intimate “tu.”


Tu. In all my time in France, I’d never regularly used the personal form of address. To be honest, if English had an equivalent construction, I could have said the same about my friends and family at home.


“Bien. I am well.”


His tone, and the slight tremor of his fingers on his glass of wine, hinted otherwise. He turned as if to shield himself from my appraisal. I couldn’t help myself. It was my nature to observe. Assess. Diagnose. “I’m Benjamin Holm.” The distance between us was too great to bridge with a handshake.


He raised his glass. “Louis Donadieu.”


I forced my fork through the crisp crust of fish. Juices ran free, and my mouth watered. I ate, hunger keeping my attention fixed on the food on my plate. Though it had been almost two years since I’d last sat at an army canteen, I still attacked each meal as if someone might steal it away.


At my last bite, I glanced at Louis. He watched me, a pool of stillness amidst the confusion around us. “Did you even taste it?”


“Yes.” Swirling my fork through the drippings on my plate, I fought the urge to smile, unsure of the rules for the game he played.


He sniffed. “Bien.” Shifting in his seat, he poured himself more wine. As long as he wasn’t looking, I continued my assessment. He held his right leg extended, as if he was unable to bend it at the knee, but was otherwise quite vigorous, virile even.


I finished my peas and potatoes, bemused by my strange dinner companion. After a week in Paris, I’d had no luck with my main goal, and this conversation, though tentative, intrigued me.


“Were you injured?” I gestured at his feet with my wine.


“What?”


“In the war. Your leg.” His narrowed gaze suggested I’d transgressed. So, no questions about his health. “Pardon. I did not mean to—”


“No, I was unable to participate in the grand conflict.”


He turned his attention away, leaving me confused. This was less a game than a jousting contest. Rather than bring another helping of rudeness on my head, I swallowed the rest of my wine and prepared to leave.


“What are you doing?”


I paused in the act of reaching for my wallet. “I’m finished. I need to be going.” Though I had no real destination beyond the poor comfort of my solitary rooms. Instead of my wallet, I fished out the photograph. “Here.” I stood, leaning over his table and offering him the picture of Elias. “I’m looking for my friend Elias. Have you seen him?”


Always the same words, bringing the same blank response.


“Maybe he doesn’t want to be found.” He tapped the white edge of the photograph, and I snatched it away.


“He’s my friend.”


“So?”


His acid tone burned through my good humor. Who is this man to follow and then abuse me? “Have a good evening.”


“Good evening, though if you give up so easily, you must not really want to find him.”


Surprise kept me planted by his table. “Do you know where he is?”


He tipped his glass in my direction, the corner of his lips curling in what could not truly be called a smile. Though it wasn’t a scowl either. “No, but if I do see him, I will send him to the heavy-footed American man who lives on the floor above me.”


Tired of being the target of his sport, I straightened, falling into the habitual pose of a military officer. “Again, good evening.” Annoyed beyond what the situation called for, I departed.



About Liv Rancourt



Liv Rancourt writes romance of all kinds. Because love is love, even with fangs.


Liv is a huge fan of paranormal romance and urban fantasy and loves history just as much, so her stories often feature vampires or magic or they’re set in the past…or all of the above. When Liv isn’t writing she takes care of tiny premature babies or teenagers, depending on whether she’s at work or at home. Her husband is a soul of patience, her kids are her pride and joy, and her dogs – Trash Panda and The Boy Genius – are endlessly entertaining.Liv can be found on-line at all hours of the day and night at her website (www.livrancourt.com), on Facebook (www.facebook.com/liv.rancourt), or on Twitter (www.twitter.com/LivRancourt). She also blogs monthly over at Spellbound Scribes (https://spellboundscribes.wordpress.com/). For sneak peeks and previews and other assorted freebies, go HERE to sign up for her mailing list or join the Facebook page she shares with her writing partner Irene Preston, After Hours with Liv & Irene. Fun stuff!
 

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A MelanieM Review:Love in Every Season by Charlie Cochrane

Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Four seasons, four stories, one connection – finding love.
Two men who hate Valentine’s Day discover they might have been wrong.
A Paralympic swimmer gets an unusual incentive to win gold.
Love and lust flourish under desert skies, but nature’s cruel.
Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night gets a new twist.

When Charlie Cochrane wants to deliver a collection of stories, I listen and am there because I just love this author’s writing no matter what era her characters are visiting or narrative the story thread is taking.  Here in Love in Every Season, the reader is given a true mixture so there is something for everyone.  A little bit of Shakespeare mixed with steampunk!  Love under the desert skies with a archeological dig in the past.  A mere jog back to the 2012 London Olympics and also a story firmly with its foundation in the near  present.

While I enjoyed them all, three were more firmly my favorites. And  while I really didn’t understand why each story was exactly given the season it was located under.  The first was Spring but the men and the story was focused on their anti Valentine (February) sentiments.  So for me Spring was a stretch.  So I pretty much ignored the season, unless Charlie was talking about fresh new starts which then yes indeed, that worked.

Here are the stories in the order they are presented in the book:

Spring:

Horns and Halos:  Rating: 4 stars out of 5

February 14, 2011.  Both  Jame and Alex are attending a Workshop on (as best I could figure out) Human Resources, LGBT, Recruiting, and Rights for their respective schools/or school districts in England.  Not sure how it works over there being from the US, but as I said I was still trying to figure that part out from their conversations.  They end up as workshop partners and the electricity flows while they try to see if each is gay.  The chemistry is cute and the story an adorable HFN as is all the tales here.  Both are anti Valentine and that gets worked into this and resolved as well.

Autumn

Sand: Rating: 4.25 stars out of 5

The time frame is nebulous as is the exact location but you can certainly lock it down slightly  by certain references that Charlie Cochrane is so great at.  We’re pre WWI somewhere in a region that used to be part of the Seleucid Empire, loads of sand obviously  Poor Charles Cusiter has been sent along as a companion/babysitter to grown  manchild and heir Bernard Mottram to whom the female sex has proven an magnetic attraction he cannot stay away from.  It’s been the cause of many scandals and his wealthy mother is tired of it.   Bernard (and Charles as his guard dog  against the fairer sex) has traveled to an archaeology dig in Dahmalia run by Dr. Andrew Parks and his male assistant Yaseen, a place void of women.  Something Bernard’s mother made sure of prior to sending her son there.

Of course, there are slight complications.  While Bernard is dispirited about the lack of women, Charlies fears he has to hide his immediate attraction to Andrew,  Charlies’ homosexuality and the manner in which it is handled here is distinct to that era and “certain types” of gentlemen aboard.  It shows in the language the author uses and the references within the story.   That would include mentions of Mrs. Jellyby, a character in the novel Bleak House (1852–53) by Charles Dickens and Daphne Du Maurier who wrote in the early 1900’s.

The relationship proceeds slowly and only a dramatic event lets the men drop their guards fully.  It ends as only it could, a HFN, with a slight bittersweet knowledge from them (and from us) that they will stay there for only as long as the British are still welcome.  Something we know will be ending soon.  So yes, I guess you could say it is the Autumn of the Empire here. That’s my application for Autumn here.

Summer

Tumble Turn:  5 stars out of 5

Yes, this is my favorite story.  It starts out with the childhood friendship of Matty White and Ben Edwards, who has S9 CP, that would be Cerebral Palsy.  The first chapter is titled Nomination July 2005.  That’s when London is nominated as a possible location for the Olympics in 2012.  The boys desperately want London to win (and of course we know it does).    Ben wants to participate in the Olympics, no matter what anyone says…including the bitter somewhat unpleasant Mrs.White, Matty’s divorced mother. As the story moves forward, the boys age, move apart physically into college and apart in friendship. All the while Ben trains as a Paralympic Swimmer, moving closer to achieving his goals.  No Matty is not the romantic interest here sorry.  But there is one.  For a while I thought he was too.  Nope.  But Matty is the connection.

But the romance that does play out is sweet, heartwarming, authentic, and real.  So too is Ben swimming towards his long held goals.

Everything about this story just connected with me.  Ben’s family, the boyfriend, and the Olympics.  Loved it.

Summer was easy to apply to this story. Summer Olympics.  Why of course!

Winter

What You Will (A Shakespeare and Steampunk fusion): Rating 3 stars out of 5

Charlie Cochrane’s version of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night given a steampunk twist with airships versus sailing ships that wreck.  A m/m romance with Captain Antonio and the airship-wrecked Roderigo who is also looking for his twin sister (and all the usual twists you find within the story), excerpt that Olivia had to go off and find another love. Somehow I never connected with any of the characters and the romance here.  I did with the original version, mind you.  But here, something, perhaps, the language itself is lacking.  Neat idea though..  Just didn’t work for me.

Cover art is a bit innocuous for a Charlie Cochrane story.  Bland but I’m not sure what you could do for such a wide variety of stories.  But I would never have chosen this..

Sales Links:  Amazon Precorder

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 158 pages
Expected publication: July 22nd 2019 by The Right Chair Press
ASINB07SFYTPZ9

A Stella Review:The Reluctant Husband (Goddess-Blessed #2) by Eliot Grayson

RATING 4,5 out of 5 stars

Disowned, disgraced, and with nowhere to turn, Tom Drake is willing to barter anything — even himself — for a reprieve from starvation and despair. Years spent lying to protect his secrets have left him longing for someone to value him, even if it’s only for his body and the blessing of his patron goddess.
Mal Leighton’s cousin and heir is dying. Only a miracle can save him — and if a miracle doesn’t appear, Mal’s damn well going to create one. Marrying Tom for his blessing is his last desperate hope to preserve his family. And if Tom happens to be as irresistibly seductive as he is untrustworthy? Well, Mal can focus on more than one goal at a time.
Tom doesn’t fall in love, and Mal knows better than to believe he’s the exception. But when Tom’s blessing doesn’t provide the quick cure they’d hoped, it’s clear that the goddess expects them to have a marriage in more than name. To save Mal’s family and find their own happiness, they will both need to sacrifice their pride and risk their hearts.

I was a little dubious when I read the blurb of the second installment in the Goddess Blessed series, it’s not easy to fall in love with a main character you already met in the first book and deeply despised. To find Tom here in The Reluctant Husband was a shock. Then I started the reading and saw how a great job the autor did at redime this young man. I soon realized Tom was not at all the one I thought I knew, sure, he did a lot of mistakes and he’s now in need of some help, even if he’s not ready to accept it.  When Mal discovered who Tom really was, he knew the other man was his only chance at saving the life of his dear cousin.

What both of them ignored was the power of the fake wedding they were taking so ligh, was so strong they will unavoidable fall in love.

The Reluctant Husband was a lovely novel, I quickly finished it and it was too soon, I found the MCs interesting and well mixed together, the double POV help me understand better their stubborn minds and hearts.

A short note on the writing style, I said in the review of The Replacement Husband I usually had a hard time with this author, not this time,  the reading flew to me very easily. Not once I was lost, on the contrary I devoured it every word.

I really hope the author will give me more in this series.

The cover art by Fiona Jayde is lovely, I like it a lot.

SALE LINKS  Amazon

BOOK DETAILS

Kindle Edition

Expected publication: June 7th 2019 by Smoking Teacup Books

ASIN B07RWJVB3N

Edition Language English

A Lucy Pre release Review :The Reluctant Husband (Goddess-Blessed #2) by Eliot Grayson

Rating: 4.25 stars out of 5

Disowned, disgraced, and with nowhere to turn, Tom Drake is willing to barter anything — even himself — for a reprieve from starvation and despair. Years spent lying to protect his secrets have left him longing for someone to value him, even if it’s only for his body and the blessing of his patron goddess.

Mal Leighton’s cousin and heir is dying. Only a miracle can save him — and if a miracle doesn’t appear, Mal’s damn well going to create one. Marrying Tom for his blessing is his last desperate hope to preserve his family. And if Tom happens to be as irresistibly seductive as he is untrustworthy? Well, Mal can focus on more than one goal at a time.

Tom doesn’t fall in love, and Mal knows better than to believe he’s the exception. But when Tom’s blessing doesn’t provide the quick cure they’d hoped, it’s clear that the goddess expects them to have a marriage in more than name. To save Mal’s family and find their own happiness, they will both need to sacrifice their pride and risk their hearts.

This is the second book of the Goddess Blessed series, which is Regency with Goddess flair in a time where all marriage is the same – whether same or opposite sex – except for the goddess blessed, who bring all good luck to those they love.  In the first book, The Replacement Husband, Tom is a loathsome, awful person and I came into this book fully prepared to keep hating him because how could you not?

The book begins by showing where his behavior has taken Tom – he’s been thrown out of the family, disowned, broke and friendless. His secret, that he has been Goddess marked, is one even his brother doesn’t know because their father abused Tom for it.  So much was explained about his atrocious behavior in the first book here and it definitely made Tom more understandable.

Mal runs into Tom accidentally at a gaming club and Tom is desperate enough to offer himself out for money.  Except Mal sees the Goddess mark and has this surge of hope that his beloved cousin, who is more a brother than anything, can be saved by Tom and his Goddess blessing.  He needs Tom.  Mal is the reason I didn’t rate this 5 stars because he repeatedly is so mean to Tom that he fell from my favor more than a few times.

Mirreith, the goddess who’s mark Tom bears, grants good fortune to her chosen but at a price.  They are required to yield “…to another in body and soul.”  Since his father had tortured him with this fact as being disgusting, (and my heart broke for an eight-year-old Tom crying over the dictionary as he looked up the word his father called him, catamite), he has tried everything to not do so, to disastrous results (book one).  “If men or women with her blessing tried to marry one another, or anyone of either sex couldn’t subjugate their strength properly, their luck turned to a curse.”   He tried with both Owen and Caroline, to the pain of all of them.

Mal starts off right away being insulting. “Leighton has just relegated him to a status lower than that of a servant by presenting him to Preston, rather than the other way around.  It was a calculated insult. It was designed to put Tom in his place.”  I was very gratified to see that however low Tom might have fallen, he does still have some sense of self.  “Tom held his ground.  He had nowhere to go, and nothing to lose, and if Leighton strangled him here in the street it would matter to no one, least of all to him.

William, the cousin Mal is so desperate to save, is so very ill and yet is still gracious and sweet. He is so happy for Mal and Tom when he finds out they are married, although Mal doesn’t tell him why they married.  And Mal continues to hurt Tom.  Calling him a whore, putting him down and generally acting just like Tom’s father did.  “I’ll need to be convincing indeed when not even your own wife could keep up the pretense of loving you long enough to bear your child.”  For the life of me I kept wondering why this lovely man, William, was so close with someone who could be so mean.

Tom has so much respect for Mal’s love for William.  “No one in his own family would sit this kind of vigil for him, were he in William’s place. His own father had told him early and often how he wished Tom had died at birth…”   Tom grows close to William as well, reading to him on the sick bed, talking and willing to do anything to make William well.

The good fortune that comes to those Tom loves doesn’t happen because they are faking the marriage. So they have to move forward and try to make a marriage out of it.   Mal has the most distance to cross, as he is the most hurtful.  “…(Mal) could wonder why Tom offered such a generous ration of kindness to Will when he could spare not a whit of it for Mal.  But he knew damn well why.  It was Mal’s own doing.  He’d never given Tom the chance to be anything but the callous rake the world believed him to be, sneering at and berating him, seducing and mocking him….He had no one to blame but himself.”   Because he is good at knowing himself, Mal redeemed himself somewhat for me. “The knowledge that he himself had destroyed his own changes of any kind of happiness through his own cruelty brought him anything but satisfaction now.”

That it takes an act of honor on Tom’s part to turn things around seemed very fitting to me. By the end, honestly, I was astonished that this author was able to take a character I so loathed in the first book and make me love him and care what happened to him in the second.  To me, that is the sign of talent.

Cover art, showing a shirtless Mal? Tom? is a little too generic for me and didn’t do justice to the story.

Sales Links:  Amazon

Book Details:

Kindle Edition
Expected publication: June 7th 2019 by Smoking Teacup Books
ASINB07RWJVB3N
Series Goddess-Blessed #2

The Replacement Husband