Tag: m/m romance

Review: The Alpha and his King (The Kincaid Pack #1) by Kiki Clark

Rating: 4.5

Another new to me author as well as a new series to read! The Alpha and his King , the first in The Kincaid Pack series, is a hurt/comfort paranormal romance that I really connected with .

Clark has a wonderful premise to begin with, as Alpha Rick Kincaid establishing a pack of mixed shifters, taking in those kicked out or rejected by their own rigid, old fashioned packs. It has a Tiger, bird species, and witches, along with wolf shifters.

So we start with a large foundation of found family, and a Alpha who’s carrying the weight of pulling together the new and old members into a integrated pack.

Clark’s descriptions and scenes make everyone easy to “see” and become invested in the more we learn about themselves and how the pack was established after Rick took over.

But the story really flourishes when it comes to the abused King teenagers and toddlers. From the moment they are rescued all throughout the story where each continues to work through the trauma they have lived through and have not had any help in moving past it or dealing with it.

The little ones are adorable, but the deeply painful, almost entrenched damage is realistic and emotionally painful enough to hold both Kai and Samantha , his sister back from integrating into a new better place and pack.

On top of all this is a mystery and danger to the pack, and new members.

I was absolutely hooked from the beginning and read on until the story was finished. The terrific storytelling and characters kept me engaged and glued to the page until the end.

I’ll be binging the rest of the stories, and so I’m onto the next in the series.

Kincaid Pack series to date:

✓ The Alpha and his King #1

◦ The Second and His Bonded #2

◦ The Deputy and His Enforcer #3

◦ The Hunter and His Mates #4

◦ The Enforcer and His Heart #5

◦ The Witch and His Doctor #6

The Second and His Bonded (Kincaid Pack Book 2)

https://www.goodreads.com › showThe Alpha and His King (Kincaid Pack #1) by Kiki Clark – Goodreads

Synopsis:

When Kai flies out of a shed, swinging a rake, Rick’s life flips upside down.

As alpha, Rick’s dedication to his pack has never wavered—until Kai. The pull he feels toward the younger man is more than a simple distraction, but Rick won’t let himself lose focus. Not while a hidden enemy is drawing near.

Moving in with the grumpy alpha who saved him is a big change for Kai, and it isn’t long before he begins to ache for something he can’t have. As a half-human shifter responsible for his three younger siblings, he knows he can never be Rick’s mate.

Pushing aside their doubts and insecurities, they grow closer. But when the pack’s enemies strike, bringing their fears to fruition, Rick and Kai have to decide if they’re willing to risk it all to be together.

The Alpha and His King is the first book in the Kincaid Pack series and features a quick-tempered and possessive alpha; a sweet and feisty alpha-mate; shifters, seers, and witches galore; massive amounts of hurt/comfort; and a happily ever after.

———-

Unless it’s noted, all books reviewed have been purchased by the reviewer.

Review: Playing The Player (Miami Piranhas#2) by Beth Bolden

Rating 3.5🌈

This was almost a book I put down within the first quarter. I’ve just read so many of the same type of romances recently with the same themes.

Roommate/Fake boyfriend, discovers he’s actually queer because he’s has a crush/lust/affection for the fake boyfriend/roommate. Who feels the same back immediately. Within the story there’s a drama or something. HEA. Sports NFL/NHL universe. The End.

I believe Bolden has written a few herself but they are all blurring together at the moment because it’s such a familiar trope that unless the characters have exceptionally interesting or strong characters and the storyline is very different then any of the usual that’s out there, then it’s hard to pick one out from another.

Dylan Leonard, kicker, has been traded to the Miami Piranhas and instantly (just walked into the office) acquired a bestie and roommate in Logan Banks. Logan is another recent trade. Another factor ? The Miami team, a queer friendly organization, knows he’s gay, but not out to the public. Dylan? Straight at the moment he becomes a roommate in Logan’s home.

Fast forward, and I mean blink and they go from introduction to best friends, with no exposition within the book, except a few scenes of cooking and vid game playing. Nothing to give them or a relationship any depth.

Still under 35 percent.

And they’re discovering feelings and attraction towards each other. Maybe Dylan’s not so straight. A question or two answered from a queer player about sexuality and Dylan’s ok with his feelings and new status on the spectrum.

I wouldn’t have a issue with that except that there’s no foundation laid for anything that’s happening here. We and the characters are just zooming along the author’s story zip line. Foundation and depth is the stuff whizzing past us underneath.

At 40%, Logan and Dylan are moving past fake. But I’m still waiting for something other than cute. Both men are sweet but I keep waiting for something of substance.

Halfway, Bolden’s storyline and characters gets more dimensional and with the arrival of the foundation we’d been missing at the start.

These men are starting NFL players in a new team in a changeover framework, with a coach under scrutiny. There’s a team that needs to work on its dynamics and line chemistry. A team that needs to win. This is where the story energizes, as it locates back to the locker room, the playing field, and the team’s players.

This section of the book felt believable with Dylan’s search for stability and confidence in his role, Logan’s not exactly being comfortable with his public face as a out gay player after being outed by a hookup, and the player ‘s issues as they work to pull together as a team.

What fell flat was the resolution about the person who’s been creating such a huge media embarrassment and potential legal issues that all the following storyline were fabricated to counterattack him. But he’s just a nonentity that’s handled in a few paragraphs. Basically a disposable villain. SMH.

So back to what did work.

Bolden has a good grasp of the issues and stresses that press in on players at this level, and her writing conveys that emotional and physical cost to each of them.

As cute a instant couple Dylan and Logan prove to be, it’s the team and their problems and battles to win that finally kept me reading.

I believe most readers who love contemporary romance will enjoy Playing The Player (Miami Piranhas#2) by Beth Bolden. They will find the roommate/fake boyfriend/sexual awakening theme a favorite trope and grab it immediately.

For me, a small wish. That authors decide to take a new path, maybe create a whole new trope, to bring their characters to romance and whatever else is in store.

That’s a really exciting thought. I’m just casting it out there!

Meanwhile, here the Miami Piranhas series so far.

Miami Piranhas:

✓ Playing for Keeps #1

✓ Playing the Player #2

✓ Playing by the Rules #3 -Release Date: October 12,2022

PREORDER ON AMAZON

ADD TO GOODREADS

Synopsis:

Center Logan Banks didn’t come to Miami looking for a best friend.

He came for football and for a chance at freedom—the freedom to live out of the closet.

But after a water main break, he lands an unexpected roommate, the new Piranhas kicker, Dylan Leonard. Between practices, games, and too many late nights on the couch, a best friend is exactly what he gets.

When Logan’s past rears its ugly head and threatens to destroy the freedom he’s hoped for, Dylan becomes more than just a friend. He becomes a lifeline.

But then their friendship gets incorrectly labeled as something more, and Dylan shocks Logan by suggesting they play along with a fake relationship.

Logan knows it’s off limits to fall in love with Dylan. He’s supposed to be straight, he’s his best friend, his roommate, and his teammate. But the closer they grow, and the more he and Dylan fake falling in love, the more real it feels.

The more real Logan wants it to be.

Making a play for love is the biggest risk he’s ever taken, but he wants it all and he wants it with Dylan.

———-

Unless it’s noted, all books reviewed have been purchased by the reviewer.

Review: Chef Vs Chef (Sizzle in the Kitchen #2) by M.J. O’Shea

Rating: 2.5🌈

Chef Vs Chef is the second of the four book Sizzle in the Kitchen series by M.J. O’Shea and it’s the one I’m stopping on.

Honestly I’m dumbfounded by this book. All the characters and elements I admired and found charming in the first book, which set the foundation for the series,have been deconstructed to fit a new narrative path for this and the following novels.

I see the author’s rationale for this. It’s the only way to make the other plots and characters work now. But it changes the person I loved the most, at his most fundamental level.

That’s Peter Baldwin Powell.

When we left him. And throughout Chef in the Wild, he was done. All Peter wanted was to cook, go home, get involved once again with his family’s lives, have his restaurant.

“”I don’t want to be somewhere high pressure again. I don’t want to have to care about Michelin stars or shaking hands with celebrities, but I miss cooking for people.””

— Chef in the Wild: Sizzle in the Kitchen Book One by M.J. O’Shea

There’s quotes after quotes to the same depth of feelings.

Here? Peter’s turns his beloved now successful Hearth&Oak restaurant in Montpelier, Vermont, over to be run by others. Why? He’s become a TV Food Network Celebrity Chef filming a TV show back in NYC, and more.

He’s the opposite of the man we saw at the end of Chef in the Wild. Content, home. With family and a new love at his side, every bit a man fulfilled and passionate again.

While you can connect with the men, Peter, Murphy, and Bobby, his former sui chef now almost a partner, a threefold force in the Hearth&Oak kitchen and restaurant, that strength is quickly lost in the story.

Murphy and Peter leave to NYC and TV, while a shaken Bobby remains behind to deal with a badly handed decision to bring in another chef to fill the void.

Issues here immediately:

1. Bobby is a close knit friend and part of the trifecta that runs the restaurant. But he’s not involved in the decision process or Informed that another is coming into the management?

This again seems to be storytelling by drama lottery. It happens throughout this book and the next which I just stopped at partway. It’s as though a drama was needed at this point in the story, so regardless of whatever went on before, a new narrative was created to fit the picture.

All of a sudden, Peter’s a different type of careless personality, the type to hurt his friends. He will change again with regard to a “old enemy “.

Continuity has little impact here.

Unless it’s the author’s fondness for characters that are unable to communicate and run constantly from any conflict.

That was Murphy in book 1. It’s Cal here.

That’s a dynamic O’Shea’s couples follow in the two books I’ve read in this series . One’s a steady , established personality, the other someone who uses their past history as an excuse not to communicate and to run from the relationship at each moment possible.

Then of course come back and be immediately forgiven.

With little discussion.

I like Bobby. But there’s very little building here when it comes to a relationship to make the reader care about them and their future. Especially Cal.

And the manner in which he returned and who he works for. Nothing made sense except the author needed it that way for the next even more unreadable and unrealistic novel.

These are supposed to be contemporary romance not fantasy. Narratively speaking, things should at least make sense, have some exposition, and a little character depth.

And without deconstructing a previous story to get it.

“Baldwin didn’t know how to say that when he pictured his restaurant, it wasn’t in New York. Not anymore. He didn’t see flashing lights and packed houses. He saw something a lot more laid back and gentle. In the country, maybe. Or, at home.

He’d been daydreaming about it more and more–a small town restaurant, touring farms and working with local producers. He’d imagined waking up every day with Murph, creating new dishes with Murph and Bobby… watching his nieces grow up from a few blocks away instead of hundreds of miles.”

— Chef in the Wild: Sizzle in the Kitchen Book One by M.J. O’Shea

That’s the character and book I remembered and the one that’s vanished from the series here.

I think I’m going too.

If you’re a fan of this author, then pick it up and decide for yourself. As I said, I’m stopping here.

Sizzling in the Kitchen:

✓ Chef in the Wild #1

✓ Chef Vs Chef #2

◦ Chef On Top #3

◦ Chef In Love #4

https://www.goodreads.com › showChef vs Chef (Sizzling in the Kitchen, #2) by M.J. O’Shea – Goodreads

Synopsis:

They say oil and water don’t mix.. with these two it’s more like oil and a blow torch.

Bobby Diaz has worked his whole life to get where he is – running a restaurant with his two closest friends, no boss, no stress. When his best friend Baldwin gets the opportunity of a lifetime, he asks Bobby to take over the restaurant while he’s gone. Bobby can’t wait to see if he has what it takes to do it on his own.That is until Baldwin tells Bobby his cousin Cal is coming to help run Hearth&Oak.

Awesome.

Bobby and Cal don’t exactly hit it off—to put it lightly. Bobby resents getting Cal dumped in his lap. Cal doesn’t appreciate Bobby’s frosty attitude. They’re stuck together day and night, and their chemistry is undeniable… but will it be sweet summer love or a case of too many chefs in the kitchen?

———-

Unless it’s noted, all books reviewed have been purchased by the reviewer.

Review: Chef in the Wild (Sizzle in the Kitchen #1) by M.J. O’Shea

Rating: 3.5🌈

Chef in the Wild by M.J. O’Shea has a number of good elements going for it as a contemporary romance. The first of a series, Sizzle in the Kitchen, it’s center is a recently fired celebrity chef trying to climb his way out of burnout and a stressed out talented food truck chef fighting for his family’s approval. All taking place in the expensive, highly competitive location of Manhattan, NYC.

I really like the character of Chef Baldwin Powell. Recently fired from the restaurant he raised up to culinary fame and Michelin 2 stars, he’s a depressed man scrambling to find himself and his passion again. While O’Shea doesn’t dwell on this time in any depth, it’s not just a light matter either. It’s enough to give Peter Baldwin Powell dimension. He needs a new path back to his love of food and cooking.

And he finds it on a stroll and a food truck owner who’s been enticing him with delicious aromas and the offers of fantastic wraps.

Food trucks are a marvelously current element. Every city has its share of fabulous trucks and outstanding food. Even in my small town here there’s a Food Truck Thursday with just great offerings.

Shout out to Boombas Kitchen Food Truck and The Corned Beef King food truck should you ever be in Olney,Md!

So the next character, Murphy Haynes, is the chef of That’s A Wrap food truck. Murphy is younger, a talented chef from a rich family that doesn’t value his life choices.

So many issues stemming from that sentence. He’s a good character with that one personality defect, doesn’t communicate well, that usually keep me from connecting with him.

That plus his need to run away instead of talking through any issues that arise between them as a couple.

When they are together, cooking or , well, eating, Baldwin and Murphy are a cute couple. But at the first hint of a problem or a discussion, Murphy shuts Baldwin down. Won’t come home with him when asked. Doesn’t want to listen to any plans. Won’t explain his feelings to Baldwin. And then essentially runs away. More than once.

Murphy has understandable issues but is a character/personality with a inability to communicate.

So this becomes essentially a one sided relationship. One lacks maturity, and his continuing inability to talk about his issues ends up hurting himself and the relationship.

As well as my need to connect with this character too. This type of behavior in a character or relationship is one almost guaranteed to remove my continued in a storyline.

Especially ,since the fight and run response is big with Murphy . Then a enormous repeat of said actions with an immediate reconciliation. Boom done.

For me, that relationship was appearing a tad toxic. Murphy was ghosting Baldwin then showed up, after majorly running away for a lengthy amount of time.

Hmm. This scenario just didn’t work for me. Talk about a forced happy ending.

Only the town of Montpelier, Baldwin, and the cooking kept this rating from sinking.

There’s four books in the series. I will continue on at least to the next story.

If you like books about chefs, contemporary romance, give this a try and see what you think.

Sizzling in the Kitchen:

✓ Chef in the Wild #1

◦ Chef Vs Chef #2

◦ Chef On Top #3

◦ Chef In Love #4

https://www.goodreads.com › showChef in the Wild (Sizzling in the Kitchen #1) by M.J. O’Shea | Goodreads

He would’ve never guessed he was one perfect burrito away from falling in love…

Chef Baldwin Powell has everything he could ever want.

Until he doesn’t.

Fancy parties, celebrities, magazine write-ups, his own little empire of stainless steel and fire – he thought all of it was forever. It only takes one awful meeting for everything he’s worked for to be yanked out from underneath him. And one fateful meeting with the owner of food truck, of all things, to realize maybe what he thought he wanted isn’t what he needs after all.

They’re opposites in nearly every way – On paper it should be a disaster. But life and love in the wilds of Manhattan rarely work out the way anyone expects.

———-

Unless it’s noted, all books reviewed have been purchased by the reviewer.

Review: Where There’s a Witch There’s a Way (Cadenbury Town #2) by E. Broom

Rating: 3🌈

Where There’s a Witch There’s a Way dives right into a instant mate situation, albeit between two people who’ve known each other for a while.

One is Titus Compton, of the town’s Witches Council. The other is one of the many werewolf Stone brothers, Kean Stone, brother to the Alpha/Mayor Adhan.

There’s little background, Broom assumes you’ve read the first book in the series, The Crazy Bookshop, where everyone and everything was established.

You really do require that history there because all the drama and mystery coming into play here stems from the events there. You’re going to be pretty much lost without it.

All the characters, the warm-hearted relationships are back! The mystery, the villain and yes, the sex are all on the soft, PG-13 side. The group works together to learn magic, become a found family, and confront what looks to be a deepening series arc piece of villainy.

It’s fun, mostly light hearted, and not really scary.

I did have several issues here. Especially at the end , when the group goes off to discover what and where all the dark magic is coming from, they split up. The reader gets one group’s side of the action. The other more fabulous tale? With waaay more interesting things that occurred? It’s as told to.

I was absolutely dumbfounded. If I’d had the author there, this is how it would have gone.

Me: so there’s was zombies, an apocalypse, flames, ghouls, everything underground. Magical fighting galore?

Author: yup

Me: you gave us two , maybe 3 sentences. Of the best stuff?

Author: yup

Me: *blink blink* huh.

Walks to door, door closes.

Author: you’re coming back, right?

Hmmmm.

So utterly disappointing.

It also introduces a couple of new characters but we get nothing?

So either that going to be a whole new book to describe those happenings or we in the dark but either way, it’s a majorly flawed component here.

And it reduces the impact of that whole event. As does the way the author leaves many of the new and secondary characters.

So for me, Where There’s a Witch There’s a Way keeps adding new characters and new bits to the overall arc but I’m not sure it’s made the series any better. It’s lost some of the original charm, some of the whimsy and goofiness that I enjoyed so.

I’m sure I’ll be continuing on if only to see if it can recapture some of the joy that brought me into it.

If you’re a fan of this author, or of light fantasy, I’ll leave that decision up to you as well.

Cadenbury Town series:

🔹The Crazy Bookshop 1

🔹Where There’s a Witch There’s a Way 2

https://www.goodreads.com › showWhere There’s a Witch There’s a Way by E. Broom – Goodreads

Synopsis:

Who knew letting my walls down would change my life?

Titus Compton works for the Witches’ Council. He has nothing in his life but work with the occasional town witch meeting in Cadenbury thrown in.

However, Titus has a secret. He’s in love with Kean Stone, the sinfully handsome, fun-loving wolf shifter.

What would Kean want with a pompous, workaholic witch?

A phone call from his mother telling him his father is sick leads Titus back home, but no way are his new friends letting him go alone.

With secrets revealed and dark witches causing trouble, Kean is happy to lend his support to Titus and be his safe harbour. But it will take all his family and friends to stop disaster from striking, and along the way, they might just score perfect tens.

———-

Unless it’s noted, all books reviewed have been purchased by the reviewer.

Review: Hard Job (A List Security #2) by Annabeth Albert

Rating: 3.75🌈

I enjoyed Tough Luck , the first in Annabeth Albert’s new A-List Security series about a group of ex-SEALS now running a private security company. The books are connected not just by the company it seems but by relationships outside of their own military lives.

Lt. Duncan Lubov, co-owner of A-List Security , half brother to the famous child actor Danny, is one half of the leads here. For me he’s easily the most connectable and likable personality, although both are extremely well written.

In a well known trope of romances with the following combination of opposites attract, age gap, rock star/hard nose security guy, Albert’s romantic grouping of Duncan and Ezra almost do it.

Duncan is asked by his younger brother, Danny (as a favor), to take over the uber famous rocker star, Ezra Moon’s security, and give it and him a needed security rehabilitation .

Plausible. They have a history and a realistic touch with Moon’s music as a surprise supporting element.

All great.

Ezra is the musician who’s the wild one. Unthinking, childish, self involved. Loves his family. Can’t see past his issues with his label so he’s constantly at odds with them.

If you’re thinking I’m not exactly in love with this character, you’d be correct.

Ezra is also very well defined. Just for me it’s not someone I like very much. Every word out of his mouth is a utterance that’s either undermining something Duncan is trying to do or whining about his job. Just couldn’t relate. He’s all mouth service but no action when it counts, as he’ll admit at the end. Just that oblivious.

Duncan’s reputation and that of his firm is on the line with this high profile job. Something Duncan has mentioned to Ezra and it’s been disregarded as nothing really meaningful. Over and over , until the book is almost complete, does Ezra not realize that he’s never considered anything that’s of importance to Duncan a priority. What’s been the drive for Ezra? Ezra. And his assumption that everyone will be ok with that. That his actions might destroy Duncan’s business, his relationships with his men and family? A brief pause.

That’s a narcissistic outlook . And while it’s one you might expect from a rockstar, here it’s not a character I’ll gravitate towards. Even at the end, he’s still talking about how it’s going to benefit him the best while setting up house and home. New songs, a rest from burnout. So happy for him.

Yeah. So loved Duncan. He’s really someone I related to. The romance and story, perhaps not as much . But it’s well plotted and executed as well as one most will enjoy. Loved Ezra’s parents. Plus Danny and Cash make appearances.

I wonder who Harley will end up with . That’s who’s story is coming next. I’ll meet you there.

A-List Security:

✓ Tough Luck #1 (Danny and Cash)

✓ Hard Job #2 ((Duncan and Ezra)

◦ Bad Deal #3 – Oct. 6, 2022

https://www.goodreads.com › showHard Job (A-List Security #2) by Annabeth Albert – Goodreads

Synopsis:

How hard can it be to guard the country’s biggest rockstar?

As a SEAL officer, I’m no stranger to danger, but running my own security firm is a new challenge. Finding the right bodyguard for each client isn’t easy. Our next gig? My little brother’s best friend, rock god Ezra Moon, has a security crisis. Ezra is convinced I’m the right man for the job, but I’m not so sure.

From crowd surfing to infamous pictures, Ezra is known for taking risks. It’s no wonder his record label thinks he needs a keeper on tour.

But there’s not a tour bus big enough to contain our incendiary attraction. Ezra and his antics push every last one of my buttons, but the real problem is how much I want to kiss some sense into him. He’s a client, and angry make-out sessions aren’t the answer. Yet we keep finding ourselves alone and burning up the sheets until our secret fling threatens to scorch both of us.

I’ve spent my whole life running from the spotlight, trying to distance myself from my notorious father. Ezra wants to live his best life on the biggest stage. A future seems impossible, but our feelings are undeniable. Can I admit how hard I’ve fallen for Ezra without losing everything?

HARD JOB is book two in a brand-new SEAL bodyguard series. It features a reluctant SEAL bodyguard, a mouthy rock star with a heart of gold, molten chemistry, and pie. Lots of pie. Also, all the high heat, big emotions, and found family feels readers expect from this fan-favorite military romance author. Join A-List security for this new series featuring former SEALs and the celebrity clients who win their hearts. Happy endings and no cliffhangers guaranteed!

———-

Unless it’s noted, all books reviewed have been purchased by the reviewer.

Review: Roommate Arrangement (Divorced Men’s Club #1) by Saxon James

Rating: 4.25🌈

Roommate Arrangement (Divorced Mens Club #1) by Saxon James was a lovely contemporary romance. The first in a new series revolving around a group of newly divorced men, James manages to set the foundation by introducing the group, grounding them in a interesting small hometown who’s abandoned penitentiary now serves as a tourist attraction, and a useful location for scenes to the characters themselves.

The first couple we meet begins with a man who’s returning to his hometown after a devastating discovery that his husband has been cheating on him for years. Now in the process of getting a divorce, he’s fleeing home to his friends and a place to recover.

That’s Payne Walker. Feeling lost, without a job, home, and until the apartment is sold, little savings. While his brother and family are acting as his support and cushion, we , through James’ lovely writing , empathize with Payne as he returns to Kilborough.

Waiting there, at the Kilborough Brewery , a town draw, are Griffin, Art de Almeida, owner of the brewery and startup of the DMC (Divorced Mens Club) and Orson. Plus Marty, Payne’s brother. The kil bro group of their adolescence years.

On the outskirts is Beau, Marty’s best friend and a successful fantasy writer. Beau has always harbored a deep crush on Payne when they were growing up. But his own social awkwardness and younger age always made him feel him unable to say anything.

Beau’s a terrific character. A socially awkward person, who’s passion for writing and own innate nature makes for a messy and lonely home life. When writing, he’s buried in his characters and plots, unaware of time passing. When blocked and unable to move forward, everything grinds to a halt, again forgotten.

When Marty suggests Payne as a roommate to help Payne get some needed breathing room from Marty’s overcrowded house, it looks to be a great way for both men to temporarily solve some problems.

James’s plot of a slow forming friendship that also turns into a romance is so charming. From a blanket fortress to a walk through the famous penitentiary, the men start to move towards something real and substantial.

There’s not a lot of deep angst after the beginning. But more a thoughtful removal of obstacles and a heartwarming romance that’s sure to engage you.

As this is just the beginning of the DMC series, it’s such an enjoyable start that I’m looking forward to the rest of the stories.

Need a new contemporary romance to read? Here’s one I’m recommending!

Divorced Men’s Club :

🔹Making Him Mine #0.5

🔹Roommate Arrangement #1

🔹Platonic Rulebook #2

🔹Budding Attraction #3 – Nov 23, 2022

https://www.goodreads.com › showRoommate Arrangement (Divorced Men’s Club, #1) by Saxon James – Goodreads

Synopsis:

Payne:

In search of: room to rent.

Must ignore the patheticness of a forty-year-old roommate.

Preferably dirt cheap as funds are tight (nonexistent).

There’s nothing sadder than moving back to my hometown newly divorced, homeless, and lost for what my next move is.

When my little brother’s best friend offers me a place to stay in exchange for menial duties, I swallow my pride and jump at the offer.

I need this.

I also need Beau to wear a shirt. And ditch the gray sweatpants. And not leave his door ajar when he’s in compromising positions …

Beau:

In search of: roommate.

Must be non smoker and non douchebag.

Room payment to be made in meal planning, repairs, and dumb jokes.

Since my career took off, I barely have time to breathe, let alone keep my life in order. I’m naturally chaotic, make terrible decisions, and scare off potential dates with my “weirdness”.

So when Payne gets back into town and needs somewhere to stay, I offer him my spare room with one condition: while he’s staying with me, I need him to help me become date-able.

And while he does that, I can focus on my other plan: ignoring that Payne is the only man I’ve ever wanted to date.

———-

Unless it’s noted, all books reviewed have been purchased by the reviewer.

Review: Mage Bond by Eden Winters

Rating:4🌈

Mage Bond is Eden Winters’ new fantasy romance that expands into what could be the beginnings of a epic fantasy series.

The novel’s first chapters are also the characters upheavals out of their familiar lives, putting them ,as well as the reader , on their own personal journeys to bring them together.

We’re introduced to two boys, initially so different in backgrounds and families. Arkenn’s small family life is one of secrets, hiding high in the mountains, and, his fleeing in pain and loss.

The other? Petran’s lives aboard a pirate ship, the Seabird, with his Captain father, and a host of seafaring mates.

The energy and sense of a fantastic adventure is here with the youth at the beginning of their journeys. You get a real idea of mystery, and the fate pulling them towards each other.

Each will realize great personal loss, and achieve enormous growth through challenges they undertake, but it’s on paths they take separately away from each other for a while.

And this is where Winters lost me momentarily.

While the young men are together and exploring their backgrounds, powers, and sexuality, Mage Bond has a real chemistry and dynamic energy.

But as soon as a brown cloaked priest can say , “you’ll see each other again one day” , and pushes each away towards different “journey “, the story starts to loose something.

Now as Arkenn becomes Martin and Petran becomes Peter, each needs their own book in a way. In trying to insure that the main characters acquire all the necessary elements for their powers to be believable, Mage Bond ‘s middle section’s overly packed exposition reads more as a told to which slows down the momentum of the narrative.

For me, at least, it’s not until, Martin and Peter are brought back together that we regain the original energy and the storylines their strengths.

From that moment on, it just starts pouring on the narrative speed as we learn more about all the monsters, the Grand Evil that’s plagued the world, and the real identities of some of the characters who have been playing major roles in everyone’s lives.

The resolution to the end of all the battles is one that’s left me thinking. I can’t exactly roll out doubts here without giving away major spoilers. But while the battles were splendid, the final solution had a few patchy tears in it . Logically speaking. If that’s all it took to take “care” of the villain at the end, then why not just do it at the beginning? It doesn’t follow all the arguments for the reasons it starts at all. I don’t know. Just wasn’t satisfying as a logical, thoughtful ending.

It does set up the possibility for a series of stories with quite a few characters from this book going forward.

I really liked Martin/Arkenn and Peter/ Petran. They have the potential to continue to grow into a even more powerful couple. There’s several other people and beings that helped make this a enjoyable experience.

I found Mage Bond entertaining and it’s lead couple easy to connect with. If you’re a lover of fantasy and this author, this is a story you’re sure to want to pick up.

Synopsis:

A long-ago meeting sets fate into motion…

As captain of the city guards, Martin protects E’Skaara by day. At night, he creeps in shadows to defend the citizens from predators most cannot see. He’s escaped from his past as a mage-born lad who’d nearly destroyed a village in self-defense. The three things he can’t so easily elude? Rage at a deity who condemns mages to death, memories of a pirate who saved him, and the magic he must conceal.

Tavernkeeper Peter keeps secrets. Secrets that can get him killed: his desire for men, a pirate past, and magical abilities. He should run from the one place mages cannot be safe, but yearning for a lost love binds him to where they shared their last kiss, waiting for one more glimpse of a dear face.

When dark forces reunite them, the magic both men try so hard to hide might just be their salvation. 

Mage Bond is now available for preorder on Amazon

This reviewer was given a copy to review by the author.

Review: Good Intentions (Intentions Duet #2) by Ella Frank

Rating: 4.5🌈

“GABRIEL ROMERO HAD just hung up on me. No goodbye. No “we’ll talk about this when you get back.” That charming, persistent young man had called me up, lobbed several accusations my way, and then ended our conversation before I was through talking to him.”

— Good Intentions (Intentions Duet Book 2) by Ella Frank

Good Intentions slides immediately into the moment after Bad Intentions ends, when Gabe hangs up on Marcus.

This is exactly why these novels make fantastic binge reading. Because they really are two halves of a whole story.

Where Bad Intentions was the beginnings of Marcus and Gabe, Good Intentions is precisely that. The place where both men realize how important each is becoming to them and the huge difference each other are making in their emotional lives.

This story is the place for revelations, character growth, and an overall internal examination by both Gabe and Marcus of their present lives, as well as future goals.

That includes if they are willing to take chances with their hearts.

Once again, Ella Frank moves Gabe and Marcus forward, across current obstacles raised by business opportunities, by challenges of borne of personal insecurities and varying relationship goals. Frank does it with intelligent dialogue, believable emotional storylines, humor, and heartwarming romance.

They make mistakes with each other, they acknowledge it, and then work through it in the best way that is suitable to them both. Often accompanied by very hot sex!

Such a terrific couple and two-book series. Just enough to be absolutely enjoyable and thoughtfully romantic.

Gabe and Marcus are surrounded by couples and people who have had

or will have their own series.

It’s a very connected universe. So if you’re intrigued by a couple, check out their stories!

I’m highly recommending Intentions Duo. Read them in the order they were written to grasp the entire story relationship dynamics.

Intentions Duet:

🔹Bad Intentions #1

🔹Good Intentions #2

https://www.goodreads.com › showGood Intentions (Intentions Duet, #2) by Ella Frank – Goodreads

Synopsis:

Gabriel Romero made me hungry for things I’d never wanted, and starved of the things I didn’t think I’d ever need.
Until now…
Until him…

I was never the man who believed in love, romance, or happily ever afters. I was married to my work, and happy to be that way. Until one night, not too long ago, when an audacious young man lied his way into my life and showed me what I’d been missing.

Bold and sexy, with a face that could melt through the iciest of exteriors, Gabriel Romero is the one factor I never saw coming. There are so many reasons we shouldn’t work—my age, his, our career goals in life—and yet we are drawn together by a passion for music, and each other, that neither of us can deny.

I’ve always been the one to think things through, to follow my head instead of my heart. But if I don’t open myself to what’s possible, instead of thinking of all the ways this seems impossible, I might miss out on the best thing that has ever happened to me.

So I’m taking a chance, and laying myself at his mercy, opening my heart with nothing but good intentions. Only time will tell if Gabriel Romero decides to let me back in.


Good Intentions is the second book in the Intentions Duet.

Review: Bad Intentions (Intentions Duet #1) by Ella Frank

Rating: 4.5🌈

I go into writing a review for a Ella Frank2 book series fighting the impulse to combine my reviews for both stories into one. Usually I’ve read both novels, one right after the other. And also because each story is truly one half of the same book.

Good Intentions (Intentions Duet #2) literally starts with Marcus’ perspective on the phone call that Gabe just hung up on at the end of this story.

So the flow is virtually seamless.

Bad Intentions marks the start of the relationship between Gabriel Romero, a soon to be PA at a law firm, and Marcus St. James, President of cable news giant ENN.

It starts off on what was supposed to be a hot encounter at an exclusive work party where Gabe used someone else’s name to get close to a powerful, but hugely gorgeous man he wants to meet.

What could go wrong?

Frank gives us the consequences of that action in such deliciously awkward, yet clever scenes that pack a emotionally powerful punch. It’s full of chemistry, confusion, and the sheer need to keep pursuing the other man. For both Gabe and Marcus.

One of the many elements I enjoyed about this Duet of novels is the surprises the author has in store for both the readers and her character when it comes to the layers she’ll peel back with regard to who these men really are and what they’re looking for in the future.

They are much deeper then they originally appear. I really appreciated that depth of personality.

Another is the age gap. Although there’s a large one as the men are written, the difference in ages isn’t a barrier because it’s a plus as far as Gabe is concerned. And any reference is a playful and interesting one.

The same goes for the notable difference in wealth and achievement. It’s talked about, and instead of a inequality that’s a barrier, Gabe’s looks towards Marcus’s wonderful achievements as goals of his own he also fully intends to realize. A healthy understanding, that includes a great recognition of his own brilliance.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. That’s part of having read both stories.

The story here is their struggles to figure out what they want to be to each other and how that would work given each other’s goals.

All big realistic questions. Especially when both men have little, or in the case of Marcus, no experience being in a relationship.

Ella Frank’s writing is crisp, often humorous, with a clever turn of phrase that had me grinning page after page.

I have such affection for these characters.

They are entertaining and their stories interwoven with those of the couples around them. So you can finish these and then go binge on their series as well.

But first, gather up both Bad Intentions and Good Intentions. Then read them, one right after the other for a marvelously entertaining, and quite lovely romance!

I’m highly recommending both!

Intentions Duet:

Bad Intentions #1

Good Intentions #2

https://www.goodreads.com › showBad Intentions (Intentions Duet, #1) by Ella Frank – Goodreads

Synopsis:

My name isn’t Logan Mitchell, but Marcus St. James doesn’t know that…

When I showed up at my roommate’s work party, the last thing I expected was to find a man straight out of my dreams. But when the crowd parted and the fates aligned, there he was, waiting for me. Marcus St. James, president of ENN WorldWide News.

Sexy and powerful, with a stare that could freeze you in place, Marcus was the perfect reward for securing a job at Mitchell & Madison, the best law firm in Chicago. To play with the big fish, however, one must become a big fish, and that’s where my little white lie began.

It was one night. I was never going to see him again, and from the second we spoke, I knew he was interested. It was there in his eyes, the same fire in my veins. It was there in his voice, whenever he said my name.

The only problem? It wasn’t my name, and now I wanted more—much more.

But how can anything good come out of something that started with such bad intentions?


Bad Intentions is the first book in the Intentions Duet.