Tag: Scattered Thoughts Highly Recommended

Review: How to Keep an Author (Alive) by A.J. Sherwood

Rating: 4.25🌈

I was looking for something short to read to keep my morning procrastinating streak going and found it in How to Keep an Author (Alive) by A.J. Sherwood.

Justus LeGrange, a 250 year old South African vampire, uses the Vampire Agency for Mortal Professions in Nashville, looking for a job that will help with the hot housing market.

What he got was a weird assignment for author JD Cooper, who apparently can’t keep any help. But it has a hefty salary and own apartment. So he’s in.

Told entirely from Justus’ POV, the reader is immediately engaged with this funny situation from the minute the door opens and we meet JD Cooper just as Justus does.

“….if I hadn’t been warned ahead of time that Cooper had the personal skills of a squirrel at a rave when it came to hygiene. It wasn’t that he smelled bad, he just looked like he’d dressed in the dark. With one hand tied behind his back. While fighting off ninjas. A sweatshirt dwarfed him, its sleeves ratty around the edges, pajamas pants threatened to fall off slender hips, and he was wearing mismatched slippers. One of which was a pink duck.”

— How to Keep an Author (Alive) by AJ Sherwood

With that meeting, we’re off on a lively romantic comedy! It’s only 49 pages or so but totally delightful.

As Justus rights the messy , unorganized dump of a mansion JD ‘s writing zone has turned his life into, they get to know each other. Learn to love each other.

There’s so much promise here in their relationship that I couldn’t help but wish for a longer story but as it is, it works out so well in the end. Short but sweet.

I’m definitely recommending it! For love and laughter! A great way to spend some time procrastinating away!

https://www.goodreads.com › showHow to Keep an Author (Alive) – Goodreads

Synopsis:

The old days of vampires slinking sexily through the night are definitely a thing of the past. Now, vampires hold day jobs like everyone else, and Justus is no exception. The funny thing about living forever is that you still somehow have laundry and bills to deal with.

Enter stage left: JD Cooper, Justus’s new employer. Supposedly, the man is a writing raconteur, known to craft a mean mystery. His skills excel on paper, but suck in reality because he’s one step away from hoarder level. Justus takes the job as his housekeeper, expecting eccentricity.

Which he gets. And so much more.

Tags:
Vampires with day jobs, Justus has it rough, Cooper is a walking disaster, how self-indulgent should I make this, the answer is very, bite kink, book hoarding, this is the least angsty thing I’ve written all year, smother tested, editor approved

(This was a short story originally published in the Working Stiffs anthology. With the anthology no longer published, I’ve chosen to re-release it as a 10k short.)

Review: The Botanist’s Apprentice ( Flos Magicae #1) by Arden Powell

Rating: 4.25🌈

The Botanist’s Apprentice is the first in Arden Powell’s Flos Magicae series about a world where magic and magical studies exist, if somewhat uneasily.

A slow burn romance builds around the shared love of two mens passion and study of deadly plants. That’s such a fascinating idea that’s gets even more marvelous when the author creates a few charismatic, albeit horrifying deadly flora to add into the story as a main element.

Eli Katz is all young enthusiasm, , his intense passion for and research about deadly plants have led him to the very man and his well known greenhouse that can help him achieve his dreams. Powell ‘s Katz is believable, adorable in his intensity, and grounded in the way he views his new surroundings and Mr . Robert Lord-Harding. It’s both with the highest respect. And , to himself, acknowledging a growing attraction.

Robert Lord-Harding starts off as the lonely stiff researcher, who upon realizing he’s met a kindred spirit , starts to share his passion, watching with a quiet joy.

I love this aspect of the story. The beginning of their journey together as he opens his amazing greenhouse to Eli for the first time…

This story is short but has some unexpected moments and elements to it. Ones that brings chills, a gasp or two, and a lovely epilogue.

I started this trilogy with the much darker Winter’s Dawn so wasn’t expecting the lightness , joy of magic, or a slow burn romance. Even with killer plants. I always appreciate a deadly bit of flora!

Love it! Highly recommending this and the much darker bookend to this trilogy, Winter’s Dawn. Now to finish it up.

Flos Magicae:

🔹The Botanist’s Apprentice #1

🔹The Batchelor’s Valet #2

🔹Winter’s Dawn #3

https://www.goodreads.com › showThe Botanist’s Apprentice (Flos Magicae, #1) by Arden Powell – Goodreads

Recent college graduate Eli Katz is desperate to continue his studies in the field of magical botany. When a family friend arranges an apprenticeship for him with the most famous botanist in the country, Eli leaps at the chance without asking questions.

Robert Lord-Harding is a reclusive bachelor with an interest in dangerous plants. What he’s not interested in is another apprentice—especially not after the scandal of his last one. But, intrigued by Eli’s research, he offers Eli the chance to prove himself and earn access to his greenhouse.

Ever the keen student, Eli thrives under the attention. And if Lord-Harding is younger and more attractive than Eli had imagined, and if his teaching methods are more hands-on . . . Well, it’s not the first time Eli has had a crush on an instructor. It doesn’t mean he has to act on it.

But Eli and Lord-Harding aren’t the only ones in the greenhouse. A carnivorous plant that emits pheromones to lure men into its deadly embrace has been watching them flirt for weeks. Its pollen is irresistible, and it has certain effects on male physiology that make it impossible to ignore. Eli and Lord-Harding might be able to resist their attraction to each other, but resisting the man-eater is something else altogether.

The Botanist’s Apprentice is an 18,000-word standalone fantasy short with an HEA.

Review: Puck Drills & Quick Thrill (CU Hockey #5) by Eden Findlay and Saxon James

Rating: 4.5 🌈

I looked for this story after reading these authors’ new series , Puckboy. There ,some events and secondary characters that were referenced in Egotistical Puckboy , drew from this story.

Westly Dalton , who was the NHL player roommate and bestie of D-man Ezra Palaszczuk, is the man who left his career to raise his younger siblings after the death of his parents. Ezra makes an appearance here. Something that’s mentioned in his book.

So with all these crossovers, I needed West’s story. And his romance with math Professor Jasper Eckstein, who also pops up in the Puckboy novels.

Puck Drills & Quick Thrills is the fifth and last book in the CU Hockey series but I didn’t find my lack of reading any of the prior novels a issue.

Probably because the main characters aren’t college students but people who’ve had that experience and now are on campus to teach . For West, he’s back as an assistant Hockey Coach. And Jasper’s an unpopular math professor.

Eden Findlay and Saxon James make both characters very believable, both in their careers and in their current personal situations. For West, the painful reality of losing his dream of playing NHL hockey, of returning home to essentially shoulder the stressful responsibilities of a parent for five kids of various ages still in mourning. Ones he’s unprepared for. That’s realistically conveyed here as West feels overwhelmed, drowning in emotional issues, and a college age brother who resents him.

The personalities are just so well crafted.

Add to that volatile mixture is a Professor who dislikes athletes (with good reasons).

Jasper Eckstein is a man who’s history is full of instances of bullying, including one so horrific that it left permanent damage.

The culprits? Athletes.

This story is as much about letting go of the past, self acceptance, assumptions, as it is about two men so clearly in need of one another to find a way out of their past to a new future and family.

I really enjoyed the dynamics at play here. The barriers each man raised, the fear, and the courage it took for them to go forward.

The younger brother remains a bit of a hockey playing jerk. But as I expect him to show up in the Puckboy series, he’ll probably redeem himself there.

I’m highly recommending Puck Drills & Quick Thrill (CU Hockey #5) by Eden Findlay and Saxon James. It works as a integral part of both the CU Hockey series and Puckboy series. Or as a standalone.

I’m not going to read the others just yet. Too many on my TBR pile. But hockey romances! I’ll get to them. Because these authors write terrific characters, creating great stories, and leave me satisfied with the ending.

As Arnold would say “I’ll be back”.

I’ve put the list of the series below.

CU Hockey

🔹Power Plays #1

🔹Face Offs #2

🔹Goal Lines #3

🔹Line Mates #4

🔹Puck Drills & Quick Thrills #5

https://www.goodreads.com › showCU Hockey #5 – Puck Drills & Quick Thrills – Goodreads

WESTLY

The fall from NHL superstar to domestic disaster was swift and painful. When I became the legal guardian of my five younger siblings, I had no idea what I was doing.

One year later, I’m still lost.

Coaching CU’s hockey team might be the only thing I’m excelling at. But when our star forward is failing math, I have to do what it takes to keep him on the team. Even if it’s going head-to-head with Jasper Eckstein.

One minute I’m confronting the notorious hockey-hating professor, and the next I’m agreeing to be his date to his twenty-year high school reunion.

I don’t know how that happened.


JASPER

My rules are simple. I don’t give extra credit. Ever. No matter how entitled jocks think they are, I refuse to give them special treatment.

It’s not because I hate them. It’s not because a hockey player broke my nose in high school.

It’s fair.

But when Westly Dalton bursts into my office like a hurricane, all my principles fly out the window.

Suddenly I’m giving extra credit.

And I have a date to my reunion.

After one explosive night together, I want more, but his home life is a mess, and I don’t want to get in the way. If all we can have is quick thrills, I’m okay with that.

It’s not like I could ever fall for a jock.

Review: Mountains That Move (Kings of Airlie #2) by Casey Cox

Rating: 4.5 🌈

Mountains That Move (Kings of Airlie #2) by Casey Cox is another excellent book in this series about a incredibly damaged family of kitesurfing champions known as the Kings of Airlie. The title is true as is the little known adrenaline rush of a sport.

What’s missing from the description is the information I believe certain readers should know prior to picking up this story. It has elements of self harm, a main character’s history of childhood sexual abuse, and other issues that may act as triggers.

It’s realistically described while occurring off page, and the character’s actions and dark emotional state to his decades of trauma are believable and devastating.

Troy King is a haunted, broken man. He’s half of the POV here. One of King family of kitesurfing champions, he’s the second oldest but has bourn the worst of everything his damning family dynamics has created. In silence.

The other perspective, except for one odd section at the end, is Kaide Thompson. Security, former love, long time friend, the man Troy loves and sends away time after time.

Kaide is a window into their past and gives us needed insight into Troy’s actions, wildly swinging emotional state. It makes their dynamics relatable when Troy is heavily into denial. Kaide is layered, and believable. But he’s always going to be not as powerful a personality next to the heart of the story which is broken Troy.

Added onto their highly unstable relations, there’s the increase in threats that pushes the issues as security/client. It also brings up a multitude of past events, eventually.

Cox was fantastic when working on the tormented Troy, his relationship with Kaide , and his family. This story is so full of pain, brutality , lies, all set against the high adrenaline sport of kitesurfing. Cox’s scenes of flying over the waters, and executing those jumps are thrilling.

Honestly, YouTube Kings of Airlie championships for some amazing footage.

The last fourth of the novel is packed with quickly mounting plot lines. Another POV is thrown in unexpectedly, carrying with it a huge amount of information about the family, and specific characters.

It’s who’s this? You’re doing what? They did what? Who’s all these people? What’s all this history? What’s going on? Why is this even being thrown in here? Really? You want me to believe that?

I’m starting to blink with narrative overload here. Because holes start to appear, and I’m asking myself why it’s all necessary to have this density now.

There’s another development that involves the villain, then one of our heroes that frankly makes zero sense.

And it all ends on a cliffhanger.

I’m sort of astonished.

This is a terrific book. It really didn’t need embellishments. Or whatever all that is at the end.

The story of one man’s devastating childhood and his ability to admit and ask for help. That’s beyond everything.

Cox had me at that. That’s why it’s gets the rating. That mess at the end almost had me dropping it.

So I’ll continue along because while it gave some sort of resolution to Troy , there’s still that cliffhanger.

Kings of Airlie Trilogy:

✓ Oceans that Swim #1

✓ Mountains that Move #2

Skies That Burn #3- release TBD

https://www.goodreads.com › showmountains that move (Kings of Airlie #2) by Casey Cox – Goodreads

Synopsis:

This season, I’ve got a lot to defend…

He’s known as ‘the angry one,’ the middle brother with a chip the size of an asteroid on his shoulders. Trouble seems to follow Troy King wherever he goes. What no one realizes is that Troy’s broody, angsty exterior masks a lifetime of pain, torment, and trauma––and a long-held secret that threatens to tear his already dysfunctional family even further apart.

The only place Troy feels in control is in the water, and this year, he’s determined to win his third world championship title. But that dream gets disrupted by a series of anonymous, online death threats. What’s even worse is that the person called in to protect him is the only man who brings him undone: Kaide Thompson.

Kaide’s mission is simple––keep Troy safe. But Kaide and Troy share a seven-year history. One that takes complicated and messy to a whole other level. Their chemistry is electrifying; their attraction undeniable; their dynamic as magnetic and destructive as ever. But they’ve been down this road before… Twice… And it always ends the same way.

Despite Troy doing everything he can to push him away, Kaide isn’t backing down this time. He’s prepared to do whatever it takes to not only keep Troy safe, but also help him find a way to deal with his pain. Even if it means he’ll have to walk away from the only man he’s ever loved.

To achieve his dream, Troy needs to double down and focus on winning the championship. But with his life in danger, the season spinning out of control, his family more dysfunctional than ever, and a lifetime of secrets simmering just below the surface, will Kaide be there for him when the horrific truth finally comes out?

Kings of Airlie is an exhilarating, action-packed MM romance sports trilogy about love, brotherhood and resilience––with a powerful message that dreams don’t die, they just sometimes change.

Each book in the series has a new love story with a happily ever after. With continuing family and competition plots, the books do need to be read in order.

Review: Temporary Partner (Valor and Doyle #1) by Nicky James

Rating: 4.75 🌈

Temporary Partner by Nicky James is an excellent law enforcement mystery that’s has elements of a romance to it. It’s the first of a two part series, Valor and Doyle, featuring Ontario detectives from different departments, often units that see each other as departmental rivals.

Quaid Valor is a Detective with the MPU, that’s missing persons. He’s following the career path of his recently retired father, a decorated detective from the same unit. The tight-knit Valor family of two is a knot of familial love, ingrained police laws and regulations, and a sadness that’s explained as the storylines enlarge.

Quaid himself is full of complications, lonely, burdened, consumed by job and family. He’s undeniably an incredible character.

Aslan Doyle is his counterpart. A excellent detective but in Homicides. Both men queer and out at work but Aslan’s ,bi , very casual outlook on sexuality as opposed to Quaid’s , who’s gay, ongoing issues with his ex make them diametrically opposed. Especially when Aslan’s attitude carries over into work.

They’ve worked together before, successfully professionally. Privately? That harder.

But a shortage of personal , a heartbreaking case with a tight time frame to close it, and a order from their superiors brings them together.

James creates a truly puzzling, heartbreaking case. That of a stolen infant, then proceeds to build a huge investigation around it, with a ticking clock. There’s superb and tedious leg work, lines of questioning that appears to have no results, more data to analyze, small victories that fade, and a fantastic, mesmerizing relationship that’s trying to establish itself between two prickly, damaged men who have trust issues.

The POV alternate’s between Quaid and Aslan, often as the men despair, feel they have it, only to realize, they need another direction. It all feels raw, anxious, heartbreaking, and painful.

Even the ending, when it arrives, is not without, some realistic elements, that have you really looking at everything that’s happened here. There’s no HFN even. But there’s a solution to this case. It’s solved.

It’s up to the reader as to how you think about it.

As to Aslan and Quaid? Book 2 , Elusive Relations, is due out July 25, 2022.

I’m eagerly awaiting their return and the new case that will surely bring them back together again.

This is a wonderful story. If you love mysteries, law enforcement tales, with the promise of a romance, grab this right up.

Outstanding characters, fantastic storylines, and a realistic ending.

Love it.

Valor and Doyle:

🔹Department Rivals: A Valor and Doyle Prequel #0.5

🔹Temporary Partner #1

🔹Elusive Relations #2

https://www.goodreads.com › showTemporary Partner (Valor and Doyle Mysteries, #1) by Nicky James – Goodreads

Synopsis:

Can two rivals work together to solve a case?

When an infant is taken from his carriage in broad daylight, missing persons detective, Quaid Valor, must race against the clock to find the child and bring him safely home to his family. Unfortunately, Quaid’s partner isn’t available, and his team is spread thin. Begrudgingly, Quaid must accept the help from his rival, homicide detective Aslan Doyle, if he wants to get the job done.


Aslan is Quaid’s opposite in every way. He’s bold, outspoken, arrogant, and the office playboy. And much to Quaid’s chagrin, Aslan seems to have set his sights on Quaid as his next conquest.


Quaid doesn’t have time to deal with Aslan’s flirty behavior when he’s trying to solve a case and juggle his cheating ex’s incessant interruptions.
It doesn’t matter how attractive Aslan is or the undeniable chemistry they seem to have. Getting involved with Aslan would be a huge mistake.
But as tension with the case builds, Quaid keeps forgetting he’s supposed to hate this new partner. Maybe Aslan is exactly the kind of distraction he needs.
Temporarily at least.
Right?

**Temporary Partner is the first in the Valor and Doyle Mysteries. Please view any trigger warnings by using the Look Inside feature**

Review: How To Summon a Boyfriend by Aja Foxx

Rating: 4.25 🌈

A combination of adorable cover, new author, and fun title lead me to How To Summon a Boyfriend by Aja Foxx . It was everything I had hoped for.

Foxx actually had me at the idea of someone summoning a potential fake boyfriend but throw in the moniker Herby for the cute guy in need ? I’m all in.

A two person POV, we get a wide-eyed Herby who definitely sees things through a uniquely wonderful “Herby” perspective as well as a bored Hades, who’s role as the Ruler of the Underworld had gotten a tad tedious. It’s Herby who’s arrival shakes things up fundamentally.

The characters are well done, the dialogue snappy and the plot extremely well paced.

There’s so many terrific secondary characters from Lionid, to Abigor, Cerberus, and other figures of mythology.

I wish there was a bit more about Herby’s family, and those books. But it’s shorter length works against that.

I’m still so happy to have read this book. It was entertaining, a fun romance, with an exciting storyline.

I look forward to reading more from this author.

I’m recommending How To Summon a Boyfriend by Aja Foxx !

https://www.goodreads.com › showHow to Summon a Boyfriend by Aja Foxx – Goodreads

Synopsis:

Herby
I needed a boyfriend to keep my father from marrying me off to a man handpicked by him. What better way to get one than to summon a demon? When I found a book of shadows in my grandfather’s attic, I knew I’d found the answer, but something went wrong. Instead of summoning a demon, I ended up in hell. What was I supposed to do now?

Hades
Judging souls was boring. Ruling the underworld was boring. Everything was boring. I needed something to happen to keep me from going insane. I never imagined the fates would answer my unspoken prayer by dropping a human into the underworld, and I’d certainly never met a human quite like Herby. He confused me, amused me, and drove me crazy. Why else would I agree to be his boyfriend?

Note: This story was originally part of the Fate’s Call Anthology – Manlove Edition. It has been revised and extended by 21,000 words.

Warning: Gay erotic romance. The material in this book contains explicit sexual content that is intended for mature audiences only. All characters involved are adults capable of consent, are over the age of eighteen, and are willing participants.

Review: A Kiss To Revive Me (The Magi Accounts 1.5) by Michele Notaro

Rating: 4.25🌈

A Kiss To Revive Me is a account of the events that occur in the first novel, The Scars That Bind Us, but from the perspective of Cosmo Ono-Nai , the alpha of the pride of shifters working with the dyad Mages, Madeo and Jude Driscoll.

This must be read after that first story or it won’t make any sense at all. For it jumps from event to event, and things that we know have already occurred, but this time, it’s viewed from Cosmo’s POV.

Whereas Mads stands in as the voice for not only himself but for Jude too, and all mages that endure all the brutal, inhuman treatment and abuse they’ve barely lived through to their status as government weapons, nothing more.

Cosmo and pride comes into the team thinking of mages much as the Government’s military campaign has made the population think of mages…as entitled beings, living a life of wealthy magicians. Covering up the truth and hiding the horrific tragedy and torture that’s continuing now.

Through Mads recounting to Cosmo of his past horrors, the abuse, the torture they endure if they don’t behave, the gruesome outcome of others that have tried to leave, Cosmo and the reader gain an explicit picture of what life as a magi means.

While the torture, abuse, and other horrors are committed off page, for those for whom this is a trigger, pls note and make the decision for your self if this is a story you are comfortable with.

For me, this was a terrific addendum to the first story, adding another essential layer to what’s going to be a raw, gripping battle and journey for a ever growing found family of shifters and magi in a terrifying world.

I’m eagerly awaiting The Shackles That Hold Us #2, out June 7, 2022.

Until then read them all in the order they’ve been written. I’m highly recommending them all to date.

The Magi Accounts:

🔹Our Hearts That Tie Us #0.5

🔹The Scars That Bind Us #1

🔹A Kiss To Revive Me #1.5

🔹The Shackles That Hold Us #2 – June 7,2022

https://www.goodreads.com › showA Kiss to Revive Me (The Magi Accounts #1.5) by Michele Notaro | Goodreads

Synopsis:

A prickly mage has me under his spell, and I think I kinda like it.

The first time I met him, I knew I was in trouble, but I hadn’t known just how much. I hadn’t been looking for a relationship, hadn’t wanted one, but it seems that a stubborn little mage did it for me because he’s impossible to resist.

When the NHSO goes on a manhunt for an unregistered mage, I can tell it’s upsetting for Mads and Jude. It’s upsetting for me, too, but even more so when I find out exactly why Mads is so worried about this kid. The more I find out about Madeo’s past and his world, the more I realize how special he is. No one who’s gone through what he has should come out the other side sane, let alone as kindhearted as him. I just hope he wants this thing between us to continue as badly as I do. And I want it to. Bad.

A Kiss To Revive Me is a 30K word MM urban fantasy novella and meant to be read AFTER The Scars That Bind Us (The Magi Accounts 1). It’s from Cosmo’s perspective and takes place between books 1 and 2 of the main series. This is a companion novella, NOT a standalone or the start of a new series.

*Intended for adults only. Please read the trigger warnings at the beginning of this novella.

Review: Royal Lines (Boston Rebels #4) by R.J. Scott and V.L. Locey

Rating: 4.5 🌈

As a book I really ended up looking at it at two different ways once I completed it.

First let’s talk about Royal Lines as a contemporary romance. As a love story, it soars. The men are throughly seated in their prospective cultures and personal histories.

Marquis Miller is completely grounded in his Detroit family and city. His father and uncle, the Miller twin brothers , now in bad health, have worked their entire lives to bring their families, their business into the international company it is now and Marquis is it’s expected heir to head it after hockey. However, this is all about Marquis’ appreciation for his family and the City, black history, and his awareness of his family’s company abilities in promoting diversity. Marquis is a great character. Charismatic with depth.

Prince Kaleb, young son to a Royal family in mourning , is also well defined. He’s also grounded by a family in turmoil, a recent death of a not so loved Royal consort, necessary Royal marriages, unnecessary marriages, media intrusion, a moldering castle, and a Queen mother who’s in need of a son to handle everything as the heir seems unwilling or unable to do so at the moment. A family overwhelmed by circumstances yet always in the public eye. There’s no way not to feel for him. And when both men collide over a construction bid to replace the broken plumbing in said castle? You feel the sparks down to your toes!

This love story is stumbling hot! Marquis and Kaleb trying not to have an affair, discussing faulty pipes, and all they want is to bounce into the nearest Royal bed! Incendiary!

There’s various subplots about the other Royal siblings, also emotional messes, that get nicely tied up.

While this is a lust/love at first sight, it absolutely works. You buy into it completely because the way these characters are crafted, their personalities, you can totally see it happening.

As a love story, including the HEA ending? It’s a 5!

Now to the other part. Is this a hockey story? Um , in my opinion, no.

With the exception of a charity game that’s basically there to bring in Dunny for the next book, hockey isn’t here at all.

Boston isn’t mentioned. The team the Rebels are non existent except as a line where Marquis says he finished out his contract in the Epilogue. Nothing.

Marquis mentions that he’s a player for the team once. That’s the extent of it.

I’m sort of perplexed about a series called Boston Rebels when the last several books the team’s a ghost. And the story is more about what happens to players or ex players after they’ve left the team.

When you think about such wonderful series as Harrisburg Railers or Arizona Raptors or even the Owatonna U Hockey series, Cayuga Cougars series, those are absolutely about the team, ice on ice action, team dynamics, as well as players and their lives.

Here in this series, Boston Rebels barely exists. It serves only loosely as a something to tie these men together. Not a solid framework.

This pattern looks to continue with Dunny in the next story. Unfortunately it he’s seems he will have a life changing event. Read no hockey. Or , as I’m guessing, no Rebels.

So not sure why the team even continues to be even a element here.

These stories are excellent on their own. They can certainly be standalone novels. As a love story it’s amazing.

As a hockey romance? Not so much as that’s the element that’s almost totally missing.

I’m definitely recommending it. Loved the characters and the story.

The rest was just me wondering about the series. Take it for what it’s worth.

Boston Rebels:

🔹Top Shelf #1

🔹Back Check #2

🔹Snowed #3

🔹Royal Lines #4

🔹Blade – August 2022

https://www.goodreads.com › showRoyal Lines (Boston Rebels #4) by R.J. Scott – Goodreads

Synopsis:

They’re setting fire to the sheets, but a romance between an out and proud hockey star and a closeted playboy prince could end up burning them both.

Marquis Miller might be one of the NHL’s best players, single, wealthy, and open about his sexuality, but he knows his future lies in taking over the reins of the family’s multimillion-dollar company after retirement. Jumping on the family jet, he heads to Europe, tasked with schmoozing a prince into accepting his company’s bid on a significant castle renovation. Assuming he’d be faced with a dusty old monarch well into his dotage, Marquis is stunned to find out that Kaleb is a young, sophisticated, beautiful man with an impressive work ethic, to-die-for eyes, and a certain flair that captures Marquis’s attention.

Dragging the royal palace into the twenty-first century is one battle after another for the King’s youngest son. Juggling renovations, his royal duties, and attempting to reverse his former playboy prince reputation is impossible when no one seems to want to give Kaleb a chance. His chaotic life takes yet another turn when an American hockey player arrives at the castle to discuss a renovation project. Marquis is the antithesis of Kaleb’s newly minted, responsible outlook on life, a jock, a player, willing to take chances. Although the forbidden sex is hot, Kaleb is not ready to turn on his family responsibilities for a pretty smile and a smart mouth.

For both men, family is everything, and romance will always come in second until they open their hearts to love.

Review: The Anti-Quest (The Pudding Protocol Universe) by Angel Martinez

Rating: 4.5🌈

“It’s a simple old story—princess, dragon, knight—simple unless they’re all the same person”

— The Anti-Quest (The Pudding Protocol Universe) by Angel Martinez

And just like that , we’re wonderfully, imaginatively, wandering, narratively, through another Angel Martinez universe.

It’s a urban fantasy, fairytale of a f/f sci fi romance! Uh , got that? Bumblebee dragons, a Royal advisor called Kipcup, a discouraged post doc Professor needing field work on probably extinct Tarrabotian dragons who calls herself after a ancient earth cheese, and half human/half Dzedek Palladin Snillek, who never thought she’d be the heir to inherit a planet.

Into the mesmerizing Martinez mixing bowl goes all sorts of wild and crazily authentic sounding elements to bring about a journey of self acceptance, personal exploration, and love.

It also has its share of the Palladin being strong, shiny scales awesomeness! She is a warrior after all. And Gruyère gets to be the wonderful researcher she is , all while trekking through splendid back territory full of surprises.

With gentle tweaking, and a couple of subtle twists, the author’s characters and plots show how quickly assumptions are formed, what judgements the characters (and readers) might make based on appearance, actions, even names.

The story flies by quickly. It’s so entertaining and I throughly enjoyed it. I loved the couple, each with their amazing personalities.

I enjoyed getting caught by an assumption or two of my own making. So much fun in overturning faulty thought processes!

Love Angel Martinez? Love any or all those elements I mentioned? The Anti-Quest (The Pudding Protocol Universe) by Angel Martinez is the book for you.

Pudding Protocol Universe

🔹Safety Protocols for Human Holidays

🔹The Solstice Pudding

🔹The Anti-Quest

https://www.goodreads.com › showThe Anti-Quest by Angel Martinez – Goodreads

Synopsis:

Brave paladin. Royal princess. Fierce dragon. Simple. Bring all three at once? Way too complicated.

Paladin Snillek’s mother was human and ruled a planet. That’s about the extent of her knowledge since they didn’t see each other much. When her mom dies in a freak accident, her father tells Snillek she’s inherited the title, and she has to learn how to pass as the mostly human Princess Siel for a planet she never thought about much. The dresses alone are horrifying and the courtiers aggravating.

In a moment of frustrated rage, Snillek’s princess persona slips and frightened palace staff misinterpret what they see. Now Paladin Snillek has been called upon to rescue Princess Siel…from herself.

Gruyere wants desperately to journey into the wilds of Tarribotia, but it’s too dangerous to go alone and so far, everyone’s laughed at her for suggesting it. When she spots a Dzedek paladin sulking in a tavern, she offers her services, hoping to pass herself off as a rogue guide.

Two women with secrets and possibly opposing goals head out into the hinterlands of a planet neither one of them knows well. They might both make it back by Winterfest if nothing eats them first.

This book contains one out-of-her-element paladin, the perils of academia, deadly cake, and unconventional dragons.

Review: So Into You (The PI Guys #2) by S.E. Harmon

Rating 4.5🌈

So Into You (The PI Guys #2) by S.E. Harmon is a book I enjoyed far better than the one preceding it. That one, Stay With Me, had so many flags for me I thought I was at a heavily contested football play at 4th and down at NFL Sunday.

The relationship here between PI Drew Rodriguez and Screenwriter Noah Ashley is more balanced and, frankly, nuanced.

Both have issues with their childhoods, mostly stemming from one of their parents. The traumatic wounds drive their behaviors and determine their relationships. How they maneuver through and around these emotionally laden issues and barriers each has erected (in one case, the barrier is sitting himself in a chair in the living having arrived unannounced), is wonderful to read and a pleasure to be connected to.

Drew and Noah argue over the expected trust issues, work timorously towards something real, and it feels believable. The men work as a couple and as friends.

The cases they investigate are mundane, boring, sad, and, occasionally scary.

Drew’s home life mirrors just how quickly complicated things get and how they get handled. With resigned frustration that also feels as real as it comes.

The first couple makes appearances here but honestly I hardly noticed them. The real people, the ones putting in the work were right in front of me. And I was loving every bit of time I was spending with them.

So Into You (The PI Guys #2) by S.E. Harmon is a terrific realistic contemporary romance. It has people with damaged childhoods, working through their issues, and moving forward to have healthy relationships and hopefully a HEA.

I really loved them. I’m highly recommending this story. Check it out!

PI Guys series:

🔹Stay With Me 1

🔹So Into You #2

So Into You (The PI Guys, #2) by S.E. Harmon – Goodreads

Synopsis:

Screenwriter Noah Ashley has a few four-letter words for his agent when she suggests he improve his script by shadowing a PI. Still, because he’s an artist dedicated to his craft and she knows where the bodies are buried, he agrees. Then he spends a little time with the gorgeous PI, and suddenly it seems like a really good plan. The PI doesn’t seem to entirely love the idea, but Noah has never been afraid to go after what he wants.

PI Drew Rodriguez is used to people depending on him. He’s the classic rock for his family. Responsible. Dependable. The classic rock would never succumb to the borderline sleazy temptation of friends with benefits, no matter how sexy that temptation is. Drew is looking for something enduring.

Despite Drew’s misgivings, it’s not long before they’ve got all the requisites for friends with benefits going. Friendly, good conversation? Check. Fun times in and out of bed? Check. Hot, electrolyte-sapping sex? Double check. Falling in love? Yeah. About that….