A PaulB Review: Desert Foxe (Skyler Foxe Mysteries #5) by Haley Walsh

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

While vacationing at Palm Spring’s annual White party, a dead body drops in front of high school English teacher Skyler Foxe’s feet. Skyler, his FBI boyfriend Keith, and the rest of the SFC are thrown into another mystery to solve.

Skyler Foxe and high school biology teacher and football coach Keith Fletcher have been dating for seven months. As spring break approaches, Skyler informs Keith that he wants to attend the annual White Party in Palm Springs. Keith, also an FBI agent on leave, is not really one for the party circuit. However, Skyler informs Keith that plans were made and paid for a year in advance. If they do not go, Skyler and his friends would be out a lot of money. After Skyler assures Keith that he is the only one for him, Keith agrees to go.

Once the members of the SFC (Skyler Fuck Club, a group of Skyler’s exes) arrive in Palm Springs, the action begins. While moving around the hotel they are staying at, Skyler discovers two of his underage students. As they don’t belong there, the group decides that Keith would drive the pair back home while the rest continue to dance. While dancing, a man who looks very much like Skyler falls down at his feet. The group thinks the guy might have just passed out from an overdose until they see blood.

Soon Skyler and Keith find out the dead man is an FBI agent working undercover in the area. It’s not just murder that Skyler and Keith are investigating but much, much more when the FBI want Skyler in a way none of them anticipated!

While this is the fifth installment of the Skyler Foxe mysteries, the author does a good job of giving enough background information so that it can be read alone. The relationship between Skyler and Keith reminds me of the one between Ricky and Lucy on “I Love Lucy.” Skyler wants to help Keith in solving his cases. Keith gets exasperated at Skyler’s attempts to help. But deep down the two love each other. The members of the SFC provide the Ethel to Skyler’s Lucy. No matter how crazy Skyler’s actions are, they reluctantly go along for the ride. Just like Ethel, they do their best to either prevent or minimize Skyler’s plans to no avail. Usually Skyler knows this going in. However, in this book, while Skyler is going undercover with Keith’s permission, they’re out of the loop. So they take it upon themselves to try to prevent another Skyler mishap.

I also enjoyed how the author brought aspects of Native American culture into the book. The discussion about Native American traditions and the previous reverence of “two-spirits” which has been eroded by exposure to modern thought was quite enlightening.

As usual, Ms Walsh provides a solid mystery and fun read. I recommend this book and series if you enjoy amateur detectives to go along with your romance.

The cover art by Winterheart Designs shows Skyler in the foreground next to a group of men partying above a scene of Palm Springs. It does well setting the stage for the book.

Sales Links: MLR Press All Romance eBook amazon Buy It Here!

Book Details
Ebook, 232 pages
Published: November, 2014 by MLR Press
Edition: English

Series: Skyler Foxe Mysteries
Foxe Tail (Skyler Foxe Mysteries #1)
Foxe Hunt (Skyler Foxe Mysteries #2)
Out Foxed (Skyler Foxe Mysteries #3)
Foxe Den (Skyler Foxe Mysteries #3.5)
Foxe Fire (Skyler Foxe Mysteries #4)
Desert Foxe (Skyler Foxe Mysteries #5)

A MelanieM Review: Fever Pitch (Love Lessons #2) by Heidi Cullinan

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

Sometimes you have to play love by ear.

Aaron Seavers is in a world of pain and he doesn’t know what to do about it. His strict controlling father wants him to pick out a suitable college and do it now. But Aaron doesn’t know what he wants to do with his life even if his father had decided for him. His divorced mother won’t support him against his father so Aaron knows he’s on his own and that’s a very lonely place. But no one would guess all that lurks just underneath the exterior of a boy considered one of the popular crowd and its just the tip of the secrets Aaron is hiding.

Giles Mulder can’t wait to get the hell out of Oak Grove, Minnesota. Giles has been through the horrors that middle and high school hold for someone who is different, gay and very different. Bullied, beaten, hospitalized, its all been a large part of Giles’ life, made bearable by the love and support of his parents and family. Now the chance to escape and reboot his life at college looms large. Giles is headed off to St. Timothy’s College where he intends to play his violin, and be everything he wasn’t in high school. Then he meets a drunken Aaron Seavers hiding in a closet at the party and it changes everything.

Aaron is in the closet in almost every way until Giles helps him out and home during a drunken binge at a party. When Giles mentions the college he is going to in the fall, something clicks with Aaron, unbeknownst to Giles and his plans. When Aaron appears on campus,, Giles is afraid that his high school experience is about to repeat itself. For Aaron, Giles rejection is just one more thing to overcome. Neither young man is prepared to the adjustments and changes that college has in store for them both. Giles and Aaron soon realize that sometimes you have to play love by ear in order to find that which you have always wanted.

The title Fever Pitch comes from a quote in the story, advice actually, that if you want something so badly don’t go after it in a fever pitch but slow down, make sure its real, and not just the perception of something you think you want to have. Excellent advice for the title characters here and life in general. Fever Pitch, the second in the Love Lessions series, by Heidi Cullinan, presents two young men on the cusp of adulthood. From starkly different background and families, they represent the best and the worst examples of teenagers dealing with their sexuality and thoughts of the future. Aaron’s childhood is one of stultifying control and restrictions. Even Aaron’s parents divorce, didn’t free him from his father’s oeverbearing, restrictive rules and regulations, especially as his mother lacks the ability to support and parent her son. Every aspect of Aaron’s life has been directed by his father and until his meeting with Giles, that wasn’t about to change. Outwardly, Aaron has everything, including being part of the “in” crowd at school, a faction of which has been tormenting Giles. Inside? Aaron is a mess. Giles, on the other hand, has the love and support of a family who adores him and that includes his homosexuality which they accept. But where Giles has it easy at home, school has been one nightmare after another, so much so that he has ended up in the emergency room at numerous occasions. Two young men, at odds with their surroundings, uncertain about their futures waiting ahead of them.

Heidi Cullinan is one of those writers who is able to take a teenage character and present them in a realistic and complex fashion. Both Giles and Aaron feel absolutely believable, up to and including their histories and back stories. The launching pad of this story is that odd time of panic and anticipation that happens at the end of the high school year, just before you leave for college. Too many paths branching out before you, so many unanswered questions tossing about in your head as you step forward towards your first experience of independence. Cullinan remembers this well and her ability to bring such a time of uncertainty and flux to life makes this story and these characters so moving and memorable.

There are so many wounded young men walking through these pages. And while the damage done to them all carries the same hefty emotional weight, each received their wounds in different manners. Aaron and Giles are so different yet the empathy and pain you feel for them both is balanced and heartfelt. Aaron especially with his moments of darkness and depression feels scarily authentic. Giles’s attitude and assumptions also feels right for someone of his age and experience. Sometimes you forget how hard it is to be 18 and this story is a perfect reminder of how tumultuous it can be and how out to sea they can feel.

One of the important aspects of this story and one that is beautifully portrayed is St. Timothy’s music department, along with the acapella songs that choral groups (that Glee and Perfect Pitch brought to everyone’s attention) sing as well as the school competitions and inequalities present among boy and girl groups. The interdepartmental politics and competition among students is laid out in a way that feels as real as every other element here. That includes the songs and arrangements mentioned throughout the novel.

There is angst, oh my so much angst, that your heart will bleed a little along with the characters. Through devastating events and stunning reversals of situations and beliefs, this is a story that creeps into your heart and mind to stay. Characters from the first story, Kelly and Walter, have huge roles to play here as do the characters of Baz and Elijah (yes, that’s Bad in Baltimore’s Elijah). But through all the issues, and swirl of emotions and adjustments, it still comes down to the love and romance of Aaron and Giles as they take their first steps towards adulthood and the life they want for themselves and each other.

Fever Pitch words fine as a stand alone or as part of a series. I missed out on Love Lessons and Frozen Heart and will now rectify that omission. Like me you don’t have to wait for those stories to pick this one up now. Its a must read as far as I am concerned. Heartwarming, deeply moving, and an ending you won’t believe. Get started today!

Cover artist: I couldn’t find it but as lively and fun as that cover it, it didn’t reflect the story inside.

Sales Links: Samhain Publishing All Romance (ARe) amazon Fever Pitch

Book Details:

ebook, 270 pages
Published September 30th 2014 by Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
edition languageEnglish
url http://www.heidicullinan.com/Fever-pitch
seriesLove Lessons #2

Love Lessions Series:

Love Lessons (Love Lessons, #1)
Frozen Heart (Love Lessons, #1.5)
Fever Pitch (Love Lessons, #2)

A MelanieM Review: Cranberry Pi (Linwood Academy #1) by Lee Brazil

Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Saving for a down payment on a house of his own has caused artist Cecil Trace to make a few hard decisions. He has moved back into his parents house and taken a temporary job as the Art Director job at the exclusive Linwood Academy. And while Cecil is trying to figure out his students, assistants and life at Linwood, he is also trying to work on a scheduled art show of his own. To top it all off, Cecil finds out that he is to put on a series of holiday pageants…with the first one celebrating Thanksgiving just three short weeks away. Cecil needs all the help he can get, whether its from students, parents, and even other teachers. Except for that cute mathematician. Everything Cecil does seems to rub that teacher the wrong way, which is a shame because if Cecil was looking for a boyfriend, Reese is cute and different, perfect in many ways except he seems to dislike Cecil. Good thing Cecil isn’t looking for a boyfriend or relationship of any type.

Brilliant, introspective and socially inept math instructor Reese Cavelli’s world has been turned upside down the moment he saw the gorgeous, long-haired, Art Director Cecil Trace. Reese is a man who has always colored within the lines and Cecil? Well, lines and rules clearly have little meaning for this man. He is a source of endless frustration, of many types, for Reese. To hide his growing fascination, Reese has been abrupt even rude, he just can’t seem to help it. Reese is quiet about being gay and has little in the way of relationships in his past. But he just can’t ignore the impact Cecil is having on him. Good thing Cecil’s position is only temporary. Or is it?

Conflicts over the Thanksgiving pageant and an all important Math Contest bring the two men together and the sparks are about to fly. Will their Thanksgiving wishes be answered?

This was such a sweet, heartwarming story, a perfect read for the holidays. Lee Brazil has captured the stress and strain of the approaching holidays at a influential private school, the Linwood Academy. Some mysterious goings on have forced the resignation of a popular Art Director right at pageant time and the resentment and confusion is apparent everywhere in the halls and classrooms.

Into this tumultuous mess, Brazil dumps free wheeling artist, Cecil Trace. I loved Cecil, with his long flowing hair which matches his faded, painted on jeans and artsy shirts. He’s thoughtful, exuberant, and overwhelmed by the needs of his students and new situation as Art Director. Cecil also has a limited time frame to get everything accomplished, including setting up his art show. Brazil completes Cecil’s character by giving him a family anyone would want to be a part of. They are as warm and welcoming as you could hope for without being saccharine sweet or fake. But the character who will break your heart a little is Reese. The more his history and upbringing is revealed, the more his actions become understandable as does his vulnerability. Reese’s mother is quite the creation, all the more upsetting because the author made her believable although never likable. We get the impact her actions and behavior has had and continues to have upon her son, even if she will never be able to understand it herself.

Brazil manages to combine the holidays, school pageants and math contests, families of all sorts from the dysfunctional to the loving, and a romance that you will root for between two men you will adore. I look forward to more stories from the Linwood Academy, so will you. A perfectly heartwarming story for the holidays, one you will want to put on your TBR list or one to give to someone you love. Cranberry Pi is a Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words Warmhearted Recommended Read! Pick it up today.

Cover Art by Laura Harner. I’m not sure who that model is supposed to be? Student or either Reese? Eye catching but sort of confusing because that’s just not my mental image of the math instructor.

Sales Links: All Romance (ARe) amazon Buy it here

Book Details:

ebook
Published November 21st 2014 by Lime Time Press
edition languageEnglish
series Linwood Academy #1

A MelanieM Review: Work in Progress (Belladonna Arms #2) by John Inman

Rating: 5 stars out of 5

Writer Harlie Rose is dumped by his lover, it precipitates a cross country journey to mend his broken heart. Now four months later, Harlie is ready to settle down and start writing again. When Harlie finds himself on the doorstep of the Belladonna Arms, a quirky, perhaps even seedy apartment building on the only hill in San Diego, he knows he’s found home. What he doesn’t know is that the Belladonna Arms has a reputation for romance—and Harlie is about to become its next victim.

Needing a job to pay the rent, Harlie finds a job as a baker’s apprentice at the bakery just up the street. The grumpy but gorgeous baker is the owner’s son, Milan, and Harlie finds himself attracted to the man despite Milan’s attempts to push him away. Why? Milan too is nursing a broken heart. Soon the men find themselves hopelessly attracted to each other, despite their histories and internal walls.

The Belladonna Arms cupid has its work cut out for it, but luckily there’s plenty of help from the other residents, from Sylvia, on the verge of her final surgery to become a woman, Charley and PJ- the kleptos in 3C, to Arthur, the aging drag queen who is about to discover a romance of his own, and Stanley and Roger, the handsome young couple in 5C who lead by example, Harlie soon learns that at the Belladonna Arms, love is always just around the corner waiting to pounce. Whether you want it to or not.

I loved Work in Progress by John Inman. It is a heartwarming, wonderful sequel to another favorite of mine, Serenading Stanley (Belladonna Arms #1) by John Inman. That story was our first introduction to this shabby, delightfully quirky apartment building on a hilltop in San Diego and its eccentric, almost bizarre inhabitants. After obseving the Belladonna Arms’ owner, Arthur, in full drag taking out the trash, these are the thoughts running through Harlie’s head:

Yep. It was time to finally settle down and pull those notes together. And time to somehow squeeze The Great American Novel out of them. I was home now to do exactly that, or I would be home as soon as I found a home to settle in.

That’s why I was standing in the rain in front of the Belladonna Arms. The old sign had caught my attention while I was tooling aimlessly down Broadway looking for a place to light. Broadway, by the by, is San Diego’s main thoroughfare. It bisects the city from east to west, and at the moment I could see it a bit down the hill from where I stood.

But back to the sign. When I first spotted it, I had immediately liked the cheesy orange lettering on the rattletrap neon contraption. I even liked the way it stood slightly askew atop the boxy, less than elegant 1940s-era apartment building the old drag queen had ducked into. The whole misaligned package of tattered neon and weathered construction, perched one upon the other on this out-of-place hill on the southernmost tip of the California coast, somehow shrieked home to me. Go figure.

Even Arthur realizes immediately that Harlie belongs there and hauls him in to live in Apartment 2A. By then a love affair has started between the reader and these characters, including the Belladonna Arms, a romance that gets better, deeper and more memorable as the story progresses.

Truthfully, all I would have to do to get you to pick up this story is quote Chapter 1 over and over again. It’s hilarious, and touching, and downright addicting. John Inman’s descriptions are so wildly funny that you will find yourself laughing until the tears flow. Yet those same colorful descriptions, while perhaps being blunt and containing truthful observations of everyone involved, are never cruel or stoop to cheap shots at the characters expense. No, John Inman loves and understands these unconventional people who have all the same hopes and dreams for themselves as everyone else, despite their outlook, outward appearances and even their kleptomania. And he makes you love and understand them as well.

The title appears to be about Harlie’s ongoing attempts to “butch” up drag queen Arthur so Arthur can finally find true love. So initially it appears that Arthur is Harlie’s work in progress. But nothing is ever that simple at the Belladonna Arms, for everyone there is in transition of one sort or another, including all the people we met in Serenading Stanley as well as the new characters too. There’s the fragile, beautiful Sylvia completing her transition to female with her devoted fiance Pete at her side, Stanley and Roger (the main romance in Serenading Stanley) more deeply in love and looking towards the future, kleptomaniacs Charley and P.J. now happily together whether stealing or on their meds, Chi Chi and Ramon who provide the fire as well as the pathos, even the Belladonna Arms cat whose name changes depending upon whose apartment he’s visiting at the time. This tight family of people are all so important to the story that no one really feels like a secondary character. That’s because the Belladonna Arms is a sum of all its parts and we need them all in order for this story to work its magic. And believe me it does. Magic, tacky, glittery, over the top, sort of dusty, magic, is scattered throughout this story like the feathers from a boa tossed in the wind.

John Inman’s comedic narratives always make me smile if not outright guffaw. Believably, those laughs come attached to some of life’s hallmark moments. Some scenes are realistically painful. They will bring up memories of being dumped, sometimes for no discernible reason at all. Or make you remember feeling that you will never find someone to love you for your true self. The sadness and the feeling of loneliness that is part of living…its here as it needs to be. And just as quickly as the poignancy sets in, up pops scenes out of everyday ordinary moments that are rendered touching, affectionate, and somehow very precious. Trust me, I have never looked at Toll House cookies in the same way after Sylvia. Now just a mention brings a smile to my face.

Inman’s new characters are as strongly crafted and layered as the ones we were already fond of. Milan, his father Mr. Berger, each new person fills a void for someone within the Belladonna Arms. And yes, with all the love and laughter that bubbles off these pages, the author balances it with life’s loss and pain. This element is real, raw, and very necessary in order to appreciate the glow and radiance achieved at the end.

Could you read Work in Progress as a stand alone? Sure, but please don’t. Part of the satisfaction and joy contained within this story is finding out how all the relationships of the people we met in Serenading Stanley have progressed. Meet them in that story and then join up with them again here. It will feel like a homecoming, an especially happy one, complete with Toll House Cookies and a disco ball.

I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that I love and recommend this book (ok, yes, I just did that), it should be obvious. So instead I will leave you with another short excerpt, still from Chapter 1. Harley has just settled in and is heading out for a grocery run.

Lives don’t write themselves any more than WIPs do. Nosirree. Might as well get started living mine right now. And to live it, I needed food.

I locked the apartment door behind me, taking a moment to brush my fingertips fondly over the 2A screwed onto the front of the door in something that resembled copper but probably wasn’t. I trotted my way down the one flight of stairs to the front door, wondering if I’d see Arthur along the way, which I didn’t.

I had a feeling I was going to like the Belladonna Arms. I wasn’t sure why. The place was actually kind of a dump. But hey, I thought, popping open the umbrella and ducking underneath it as I strolled out the door and into the rain, it’s kind of a happy dump. And happy is exactly what I need right now. Christ knows I’ve been morose long enough.

By the time I sloshed my way to the car, I was surprised to hear myself whistling. And wasn’t that a stunning revelation.

You will find yourself whistling along with him. Perhaps even doing a little dance step or two. These characters and this story will have that effect on you. Make your acquaintance with John Inman today and pick up both stories! Happy Reading.

Cover artist: Aaron Anderson. I feel this cover is a bit of a miss. There were so many elements to choose from for this cover and yet this is the content?

Sales Links: Dreamspinner Press eBook & Paperback All Romance (ARe) amazon buy it here

Book Details:

ebook, 226 pages
Published October 6th 2014 by Dreamspinner Press
ISBN 1632161966 (ISBN13: 9781632161963)
edition languageEnglish
seriesBelladonna Arms #2

Belladonna Arms series:

Serenading Stanley

Work In Progress

A MelanieM Review: Chestnuts Roasting Anthology (Mischief Corner Anthologies #5) by Mischief Corner Books

Rating: 4.75 (rounded up to 5) stars out of 5

Christmas means different things to everyone, but most often it’s all about pulling loved ones close and brightening the gloom. The fire’s crackling. The snow is piling up outside, even if it’s only in your dreams. Time to snuggle up with some cocoa and some stories carefully crafted by the Mischief Corner Crew to warm hearts and cockles.

Mischief Corner Books is comprised of four authors, Toni Griffin, Angel Martinez, Freddy MacKay and Silvia Violet who met on a Tennessee Mountain top and (in their own words) “…and decided since we probably were too easily distracted to rule the world that we’d settle for causing a bit of mayhem instead.  ” That’s how Mischief Corner Books was born.

In this holiday anthologies, their four different perspectives has never had a better showcase for their talents. It’s a heartwarming collection that veers from bear shape shifters to contemporary romance then on to the supernatural and back again. Chestnuts Roasting gets the flow and placing of the selections just right, an issue I find most anthologies have a hard time perfecting. This is such a strong collection that while I had my absolute favorites, I loved them all. So will you.

The first story from Toni Griffin, Wreath of Fire: Smokey Mountains Bears 2, concerns a young bear shifter still trying to recover from years of family abuse, a forlorn young man, one in need of hope and love. The second story is A Christmas Cactus for the General By Angel Martinez. Talk about totally unexpected and wonderfully quirky. It’s told from an alien’s pov, and yes, its a wonderful holiday story. Next up? Holly Jolly By Silvia Violet, that’s the “bah humbug” tale of the bunch. You know you need one and Silvia Violet delivers her Scrooge into the holiday spirit via romance and coffee! Oh, but its that last story that will bring out the tears, the hankies, and the scores of music you want to listen to at this time of year. Chestnuts Roasting ends as it should, on reflections of love and family, of life and death, and perhaps something more. The last and utterly memorable tale is Snow on Spirit Bridge By Freddy MacKay. Never has blowing my nose and weeping away made me so happy.

Here are the stories in the order they appear in the book with a few comments by me.

1. Wreath of Fire: Smokey Mountains Bears 2 – Toni Griffin
Michael’s trying to start a new life away from his abusive father, but he’s drifting and not sure what he wants. When he accidentally starts a kitchen fire, the hot new fireman who comes to the rescue is not only another bear shifter. He’s Michael’s mate. Michael desperately needs to get his act together and figure out what he wants if he has any hope of claiming the bear fated to be his.

A heartwarming story that captures the pain of a young man feeling like an outsider at the holidays. Everything he attempts goes off course until Michael is almost ready to give up. Then another outsider arrives to how him the way home. I loved Griffin’s group or sleuth of bear shifters, such a welcoming family. It makes Michael’s background and family history even more poignant. A lovely introduction to this marvelous anthology.

You can read this story as a stand alone, or if you would like, you can read about the first Smokey Mountains Bears in A Bear in the Woods

2. A Christmas Cactus for the General – Angel Martinez
Exiled to Earth for perhaps the worst failure in Irasolan history, General Teer must assimilate or die. Earth is too warm, too wet, too foreign, but he does the best he can even though human males are loud, childish louts whom he can’t imitate successfully. When a grieving seaplane pilot strikes up a strange and uneasy friendship with him, he finds he may have been too quick to judge human males. They are strange to look at, but perhaps not as unbearable as he thought.

Angel Martinez is a favorite author of mine. Her ability to weave mythology and folklore into her contemporary stories is beyond amazing. Here Angel Martinez explores the idea of humans and American culture as seen through the eyes of an exiled alien. The character of Teer is a wonder. He never thinks or reacts like a human being at any point in the story, his alien persective is kept intact as he tries to understand and adapt to his strange new world that is his home. But if Teer is a true alien, than the man that falls into a friendship with Teer and then love, Bruce, is almost as much or more of an outsider from the people in the town they both live in. Snarly, rude, perpetually brusk and alone, Bruce also stays on the outskirts of community. His alienation is by choice while Teer’s was forced. This story is full of humor, pathos, and romance of an unlikely yet wondrous sort. And yes, this is one of my favorites although I loved them all.

3. Holly Jolly – Silvia Violet
I’m not gay. I just notice men sometimes. Everybody does, right? I notice Dane a lot, like every time I’m near him, but just because I think he’s an attractive man that doesn’t mean I like him, does it?

Holly Jolly is a cute, contemporary holiday romp with a heart. Every holiday collection needs a “Scrooge” type character and Tom the narrator fills the bill nicely. Only later do we find out the source of Tom’s harsh outlook and then everything about Tom snaps into place and he becomes more than just a formulaic persona. In fact, Tom’s past and actions make him not only admirable but courageous. Totally worthy of a hunky Dane who works at The Coffee Bean. I really enjoyed the layers the author added to Tom, Dane, and even Tom’s best friend Shelley.

And the idea of putting Holly Jolly in between the alien Teer of A Christmas Cactus for the General and the wildly enchanting and mystical characters of Snow on Spirit Bridge By Freddy MacKay gives the reader a little break from the angst and pain that both stories contain. Great job of placement all the way through this collection.

4. Snow on Spirit Bridge By Freddy MacKay

Alone in Japan, Finni is struggling against the constant distrust, avoidance, and xenophobia he experiences every day. He misses home. He misses his family. Nightmares come all too frequently because of the stress, and well, Christmas is just not Christmas in Japan. Not how he understands it.
Distressed by how miserable Finni is, his roommate, Mamoru, offers to be Finni’s family for Christmas. Little does he know how much one agreement would change everything between them, because both of them kept secrets neither ever dreamed were true.

Oh, this story. I can’t even begin to describe all the astonishing facets and elements that appear in Snow On Spirit Bridge. On first glance what appears to be a contemporary holiday story of a lonely, homesick exchange student, Finni, one who happens to be huge, blond haired and blue-eyed, traipsing through the streets of Japan on the eve of Christmas. Again we have an outsider’s perspective on a different culture. This time the setting is Japan with the Japanese peoples wariness and sometimes dislike of outsiders playing a huge part in Finni’s sense of isolation. But as the snow swirls around him and his sadness deepens something magical and unbelievable happens. MacKay combines several mythologies into her story and it works perfectly. Snow on Spirit Bridge addresses great pain and loss for several characters. And the last chapter will leave you smiling even as you weep your way through a box of tissues. A marvel of love, holiday cheer and the vastness of possibilities that just might exist make this my favorite story of the collection just as I expect it will end up as yours. This should have been the last story in any collection. And as the last story here, it works to make this one of the more memorable anthologies of this or any other season of the year.

I adored Chestnuts Roasting and absolutely recommend it for your Holiday reading pleasure. But the authors and their stories are so good, it makes wonderful reading at any time of the year. Pick it up today!

Cover artist Catherine Dair cover is lovely and brings the warmth of the holidays in its design.

Sales Links: Mischief Corner Books All Romance (ARe) amazon buy it here

Book Details:

ebook
Expected publication: November 27th 2014 by Smashwords Edition
ISBN139781311874092

A MelanieM Review: Manipulation (Diversion #4) by Eden Winters

Rating: 5 stars out of 5

Lucky Lucklighter has a new life. His old life wants him back.

From the jail cell courtesy of a life of crime, complete with drug lord lover, Lucky Lucklighter surfaced with a new life, a new name and a new career as an agent for the Southeastern Narcotics Bureau. Now Simon “Lucky” Harrison, Lucky even has a new boyfriend and partner,Bo Schollenberger. Bo Schollenberger arrived at the Southeastern Narcotics Bureau in much the same way as Lucky. As a pharmaceutical chemist, Bo ended up with a drug addiction and his illegal deeds brought him to the attention of the head of the Bureau looking for just the right or wrong type of men for his narcotics team.

Through perseverance and charm, Bo worked his way under Lucky’s defenses and his “I-Get-Along-Fine-Alone” mindset until Lucky starts thinking the unthinkable…that they might just have a future together.

But now Bo is missing. Their last case involved unexpected ties to bigger crime syndicates, and a voice from Lucky’s past who whispers ““Did you miss me?”

Now Lucky must figure out who is lying and who he can trust? The voice belonged to someone he was told was dead and now seems very alive. And there is more to Bo’s absence than people are telling Lucky. Is Bo missing by choice or by abduction? Every clue, every trail Lucky follows leads him back to the drug Corruption and the syndicate flooding the US markets full of this dangerously addictive drug. With temptation all around, what won’t Lucky do to find the man he loves and bring him safely home?

Eden Winter’s Diversion series captured my heart from the moment I met Lucky Lucklighter and Bo Schollenberger in Diversion (Diversion #1). I love complicated wounded men and here were two that not only fell into that category but did so in a way I had never seen before. There are so many layers to these men. Lucky’s background is a patchwork of hot cars, adrenaline rushes, and poor choices that led from boosting cars for drag racing to major involvement with a crime lord as employee and lover. Lucky is highly intelligent, walled off, and confident, while still leaving space in his heart for his sister, her children, and finally Bo.

Bo Schollenberger. Where to start? Each book reveals more complications and dimensions to this already convoluted personality. At first glance and meeting, Bo came across as extremely affable and gentle, a victim of his addiction and circumstances. A far cry from Lucky and his unrepentant outlook who when given a choice between continuing life behind bars or freedom as an agent chose freedom. Certainly a choice made from expediency instead of a need to “do right”. But nothing is as it seems, and the more that Lucky (and the reader) got to know Bo, the more we realized that Bo has depths and pain to him and his past then he was ready to reveal or deal with.

Oh the joy of discovery. Each new story and case has uncovered new insights into each man and their past. Bo and Lucky’s interpersonal dynamics has deepened and expanded along with their relationship. It’s hot, sexy, at times tender and rough. You never know from moment to moment what to expect when they get together. And to their chagrin and our delight, neither do they. Uncertainty, hesitation, an emotional neediness…all that is new to Lucky and it has contributed to his inability to commit to just about anything. I love it when a reader can’t predict what the main characters will do in any given situation. It keeps us on the edge of our seats as the plot swivels and swoops through dangerous highs and deceptively deadly lows. This is a E Ticket ride in every way.

Eden Winters has also chosen a highly unusual subject and law enforcement agency, in this case the Southeastern Narcotics Bureau, as the foundation for this series and as professions for Lucky and Bo. Think hard, how many series and books are developed around pharmaceutical corporations, over/under the counter drugs, and the criminals associated with the shipping and stocking of known medications? I can only think of one. Eden Winter’s Diversion series. That aspect of this series has been an eye-opener about the giant pharmaceutical corporations, and not in a good way. More than once it has sent me running to research different elements that have popped up during Lucky and Bo’s cases, ones that left this reader thinking about new issues far into the night. This series world building is as quirky, complex, and believable as the characters living out their messy lives within it. I obsess over the characters relationships, the plots, the surprises and then go back and start them over again to see what clues and secrets I missed out the first reading. And then wait for the next book to arrive.

This story contains quite a few stunning revelations, more layers of deception than ever before and angst by the boatload. Once started I couldn’t put it down until it was finished…right around 2:45am. And could I sleep after that? Uh no. Manipulation contains shocks that will shake the foundations of Lucky, and Bo, and even Walter their boss. Where there had been certainty, now is left nothing but fog and questions. The narrative is concisely told, the tension and suspense increasingly exponentially until the plot feels as tightly wound as a coiled spring. It explodes with all the dangerous impact one might expect and the ramifications will still be unfolding right into the next book in the series, Redemption (which is being written now).

Each year a book from this series has found its way, deservedly so, onto the Best of lists for Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words and others. This year is no different. Manipulation will be high on my Best of 2014 lists, just as I expect Redemption to be there on the list for 2015. All are highly recommended and Must Reads that should be on everyone’s TBR stack of stories.

If you haven’t discovered this series yet, please, please, don’t start here. The pleasures and joys that come from the character growth and relationship dynamics is best enjoyed if you start at the beginning and Lucky and Bo’s first meeting in Diversion. I have a list for you below. Make it your check list of stories to read. Eden Winters is a remarkable author, and the creator of Lucky and Bo is certain to find her way onto your automatic buy list if she is not there already.

Tag this story and series one of Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words Highly Recommended Must Reads! Happy Reading!

Cover artist: L.C. Chase. Terrific cover perfect for the character and story inside.

Sales Links: Rocky Ridge Books All Romance (ARe) amazon buy it here

Book Details:

ebook,
First Published November 1st 2014 by Rocky Ridge Books
seriesDiversion #4

Books in the Diversion series in the order they were written and should be read:

Diversion (Diversion, #1)
Collusion (Diversion #2)
Corruption (Diversion #3)
Manipulation (Diversion, #4)
Redemption (Diversion, #5) coming in 2015

Barb, A Zany Old Lady Review –Third Eye by Rick R. Reed

Rating: 5 stars out of 5

A riveting, nail-biting, thought-provoking, frightening thriller, this story is much more than an M/M romance—it’s a brilliant tale worthy of recognition on the NY Times Bestsellers List.

Cayce D’Amico is just a regular guy raising his seven-year-old son on his own, holding down a job as a waiter at the local diner in the economically-repressed town of Fawcettville, Pennsylvania. He’s young, gay, divorced, and totally focused on his son, Luke. One evening, when he realizes Luke is no longer in his back yard, he sets out to find him just as a thunderstorm hits the area. At the edge of the woods, he’s struck by a broken limb as lightning strikes the tree next to him. Luke is okay, but Cayce isn’t.

Waking in the hospital, he finds it odd that he knows something personal about the aide who touches his arm, and next, he’s struck with images that he soon learns are from a missing girl—one who Cayce can see is dead. It happens again the next day—this time with visions of another kidnap victim. Frightened, but knowing that if it was his son who was missing he’d want help, he goes to the home of the latest victim to offer assistance in finding her but is promptly turned away. Later that night he receives a call from the mother of the first victim, who claims the other mother called her in warning, but that she’s willing to listen to him. The two set out to find the girl, following Cayce’s visions.

Dave Newton is a reporter, if you can call it that in this small town of very little news. A native of England, he followed his lover here years ago—a lover who left him here with only the company of a bottle and a handful of drugs to get by. He’s kicked the drugs but still toys with the booze occasionally—anything to get through the boredom of his life. He’s intrigued by the story of the man who was hit with the limb and when he went to the hospital to say hello, he became even more intrigued by the man himself. Cayce is a nice guy, one who could possibly thaw his heart if he allowed it. It’s Dave who Cayce turns to when he and the mother of the missing girl find her grave. And it’s Dave who offers a shoulder for Cayce to lean on as the story develops, and Cayce is hounded by the press and shunned by the police.

It’s also Dave who supports and assists Cayce as he tries to solve the most important mystery of his life when someone close to him is taken. And when the two rush headlong into an exciting, nail-biting search they get results, just not the results they were looking for.

In this story, the author leads us on an emotional journey fraught with danger and more ups and downs and hairpin turns than an out-of-control eighteen-wheeler. It’s completely different from any of his other works and absolutely brilliant in its execution. Seriously, this ranks right up there with any of the world-renowned mystery writers of our time. The complexity of the storytelling, the attention to detail and the hold-your-breath plotline make this story outstanding. The author keeps the reader on the edge of their seat with flashbacks via Cayce’s visions alternating with scenes of what’s happening in real time to Cayce, and then scenes of the kidnappers and their victims, telling us just enough in each chapter to make the move to the next chapter vital to the reader’s need to breathe. Seriously, this book is very difficult to put down!

The romance in this story is secondary to the major plot with no explicit sex scenes. The attraction between Dave and Cayce develops as more of a true support of one partner for another with some kissing and handholding rather than the hot and heavy sex “on page” that could have been portrayed but would have detracted from the core story.

I can’t recommend this story highly enough. To be honest, I’m not a person who normally reads thrillers, and I never watch horror movies unless I’m forced to do so, and even then I peek through my fingers. I desperately wished I could peek through my fingers at some points in this story, but I was compelled to keep going and I’m so glad I did. The ending was all I had hoped it would be, and the possibility for a happy future for Dave, Cayce, and Luke was set in place. All is well in my world. Don’t miss the chance to read this book.

Caution: This book contains graphic violence and hetero rape with some scenes through flashback and some in real time.

Cover art by Aaron Anderson. Cover depicts a bright light superimposed over the figures of a man and a clock. The light may have been meant to illustrate the visions the man had, and the clock would symbolize time running out. Although I can understand that, I did not find the cover particularly attractive or attention-getting.

Sales Links: amazon buy it here

Book Details:

ebook, 2nd Edition, 266 pages
Published November 11th 2014 by DSP Publications (first published January 2008)
ISBN139781632163400

A MelanieM Review: Sand and Ruin and Gold by Alexis Hall

Rating: 5 stars out of 5 (for story and cover)

Once upon a time . . . that’s how the old stories always begin.

And so this one begins, in a land both foreign and familiar, it’s a tale of princes, and merfolk and love…of a sort.

Once upon a time there was a king of a fallen kingdom. He was just and he was beloved. Or so the numbers said. One day, he gathered together the greatest, wisest minds in all the land—not sorcerers, but scientists—and he bade them fashion him a son. A prince. A perfect prince to embody his father’s legacy.

But as fate would have it, nothing ever turns out as planned and the golden perfect prince had other ideas for his future. After gazing upon the dances of the mer in a performance, our prince runs off to join the circus, the Cirque de la Mer. Once there the prince trained the merfolk, he performed with them, and thought he was happy…for a year.

Time brought strange thoughts and emotions to the prince the closer he got to the merfolk. Then Nerites arrives, a mesmerizing merman who refused to be trained or tamed. Nerites was something far more than the prince ever expected. Nerites was savage and unknown.

How does the tale end? Ah, there’s the rub. For every prince, there exists a beast, and for every love, there exists a forever heartbreak. Sand and Ruin and Gold has them all.

Sand and Ruin and Gold hearkens back to the olden stories. Not the comforting ” Disneyfied” fairytales but those of Grimm and Hans Christian Anderson. Here the darkness and unknown reign supreme, not happy endings or light. Less a tale of romance, this beautifully written short story builds an atmosphere of creeping foreboding, a sense that not everything is as it seems. The poetic nature of the narrative combined with an imagery that will enchant, then leave you haunted by the possibilities, make Sand and Ruin and Gold by Alexis Hall a short story that refuses to be limited by category or trope.

The feeling of something just off kilter is already present at the beginning. Hall’s prince isn’t born, he’s a genetically perfected young man, created to be the ideal heir to a “good” king who resides over a fallen land. The clues and telling phrases are slipped in sparingly at first, then in ever increasing numbers. As new descriptions of the circus and the shows appear, a far different picture emerges from our original assumptions of the merfolk and the circumstances at the Circus. And along with it comes the feeling one gets when the hairs rise off your arm when frightened or the queasiness that originates in your stomach when it dawns on you that something you thought was happily normal or ordinary turns out to be fearfully, horrifically wrong.

Alexis Hall understands how to build a powerfully evocative story, one that runs more along the lines of those classics passed from bard to bard, told around fires in great halls and forests alike. Whether those bards be from the past or perhaps even our future, that is but one more chilling aspect of this story, a tale that exists in the mists and ocean eddies of the dark seas of this unknown world. But its Hall’s stylistically vivid and powerful narrative with its lush descriptions that makes this story so stunning, so poignant. This is how it starts out:

“I must have been very young when I saw the mermaids at the Cirque de la Mer because it was the nurse who took me and her place in my life was soon surrendered to tutors. I don’t think my father ever found out. He would not have approved.

The day is little more than a sensory haze, of pastel children, the laughter of strangers, and the burn of salt and chemicals at the back of my throat.

The mermaids, though. They are as vivid as stained glass, even now.”

Told from the prince’s pov, we feel his assumptions of his life and the circus fall slowly away as comprehension and understanding arrive building block by building block as events unfold around him. It is a tale of deep love faced amidst horrifying truths. One reading will not be enough to capture all the incredible and terrifying moments as sudden realization, and insight sets in.

And then there is that ending, the one that will refuse to let you go. Its in the words and feelings that emerge, and the tears that will run down your face as you try to decide the implications of words strung like pearls, luminescent and beyond value. An ending that will send you back to the beginning of the story and start this tale once more.

I highly recommend this story to all readers. This is a story that should be on everyones shelf, whether it be made of wood or eReader. This is one of Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words Best of 2014 as is its cover.

Cover Artist: Simone. The artwork for Sand and Ruin and Gold is every bit as lush and haunting as the story itself. One of the best covers of the year.

Sales Links: Riptide Publishing All Romance (ARe) amazon Sand and Ruin and Gold

Book Details:

ebook, 39 pages
Published September 22nd 2014 by Riptide Publishing
ISBN139781626492318
edition languageEnglish
urlhttp://riptidepublishing.com/title

A MelanieM Review: Radiant Burn (Fighting Fire #5) (Pulp Friction 2014 #17) by Laura Harner

Rating: 5 stars out of 5

Scott McGregor almost has it all. He’s finally living with the man he loves, Rob Hammond along with Rob’s children. And the group of diverse group of people who live at Mountain Shadows Campground have become a family to one another. But still problems lurk all around waiting to destroy his happiness and new life. His nightmares are increasing and Scott realizes that he needs to uncover the truth and face his fears before he can put that part of his life behind him.

Twelve years ago, Scott and Rob Hammond’s relationship exploded, and torn them apart. Now Rob and his children are happily living with Scott and Rob is about to leave his job to help Scott run Mountain Shadows. But even as Scott and Rob’s relationship continues to deepen, Rob must help Scott work through his PTSD and the path to recovery leads to Phoenix and the only other firefighter that survived that day.

As Scott and Rob struggle to help Scott finally put his past behind him, another danger appears on the horizon. Scott and Rob are so close to their HEA. Can they overcome the last obstacles and finally get the future they want and deserve?

So close. With Radiant Burn (Fighting Fire #5), we are so close to the HEA Laura Harner has been promising us since we first met Scott MacGregor and Rob Hammond in Firestorm (Fighting Fire #1). We’ve delved into their painful past, watched the tumultuous climb to a new relationship in the present and hoped for a bright future for them all. Now, its almost here and the anticipation and buildup is enough to make any reader a little crazy.

Why? Because as we all know, nothing is ever easy or straightforward in a Pulp Friction or Laura Harner series. There’s never just one barrier to overcome, more a veritable obstacle course of hurdles that the characters must leap over or work through to get to their HEA. That’s the joy and more than a little of the frustration (in a good way of course) that we find with these stories and characters.

One main element has been Scott’s PTSD. His days and nights are riddled with nightmares and flashbacks, which are providing a barrier of their own to a happy future. Scott needs to face the truth about that fire and the circumstances that caused his injuries and those of the only other survivor. Harner has dropped hints and clues about that fatal wildfire and now we are all about to get some answers. They will be startling, shocking even, while leaving Scott and the readers with a well earned sense of relief and closure. But as I said, with this series and Laura Harner at the helm, nothing is ever resolved that simply.

Why? Because there is a larger scheme at work at Mountain Shadows, one that has been alluded to in some scenes, hinted at in others. This mystery has no shape or definition yet. Instead it has been creeping like a dense fog over the campground and its inhabitants. And with each story and series, it has been gaining in complexity and size. What it is and who is behind it…well, we have no idea. Just vague suggestions and assumptions, nothing concrete. That’s to be left to the series finale, the last story to be written by all four authors to pull the myriad plot threads and relationships together in one explosive and ultimately satisfying crescendo of multiple tales.

Laura Harner’s Fighting Fire stories, Radiant Burn among them, has been a wonderful angst filled, sexy, white knuckle ride. Our companions have been men who have been believably complex human beings who continue to strive for a happily ever after, no matter what wounds life and experience has inflicted upon them. It’s been a wow of a trip and we are almost at our destination. One final station to go….I can hardly wait.

Radiant Heat (Fighting Fire #5) and the entire Elemental Connections Pulp Friction 2014 joint series is one of Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words most highly recommended reads. They will all occupy a special place on our Best of 2014 List this year.

If you are new to the series or Pulp Friction 2014, run, don’t walk, to the first stories in each series. I have listed them all below for your convenience. This is one spectacular journey you won’t want to miss! Happy Reading!

Cover Art by Laura Harner. Terrific cover that works to brand the series and the characters Scott and Rob.

Sales Links: All Romance eBooks (ARe) amazon Buy it Here

Book Details:

ebook, 69 pages
Published September 12th 2014 by Hot Corner Press
ISBN139781937252892
edition languageEnglish
seriesPulp Friction 2014 #17, Fighting Fire #5
charactersScott McGregor, Rob Ham

About Pulp Friction 2014

Pulp Friction 2014 Authors: Laura Harner ~ Lee Brazil ~ Havan Fellows ~ T.A. Webb
The Pulp Friction 2014 Collection. Four authors. Four Series. Twenty books. One fiery finale. Spend a year with an eclectic group of strangers brought together through circumstances, as they are tested by life, and emerge as more than friends.
The strongest bonds are forged by fire, cooled in air, smoothed by water, grounded in earth.

Although each series can stand alone, we believe reading the books in the order they are released will increase your enjoyment. All stories have been read and reviewed at Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words.

The Pulp Friction 2014 series in the order they were written and should be read to understand the characters, events and plot:

Round One:
Firestorm (Fighting Fire: 1)by Laura Harner
Cold Snap (In From the Cold: 1) by Lee Brazil
Blown Away (Whispering Winds: 1) by Havan Fellows
Higher Ground (Earthquake: 1) by TA Webb

Round Two:
Controlled Burn (Fighting Fire #2) by Laura Harner
Cold Comfort (In From the Cold #2) by Lee Brazil
Blown Kisses (Whispering Winds #2) by Havan Fellows
Moving Earth (Earthquake #2) by TA Webb

Round Three:
Backburn (Fighting Fire #3) by Laura Harner
Cold Feet (In From the Cold #3) by Lee Brazil
Blown Hard (Whispering Winds #3) by Havan Fellows
Tremors (Earthquake #3) by T.A. Webb

Round Four:
Flare-up (Fighting Fire #4) by Laura Harner
Out In The Cold (In From the Cold #4) by Lee Brazil
Blown Chance (Whispering Winds #4) by Havan Fellows
Aftershocks (Earthquake #4) by T.A. Webb

Round Five:
Radiant Burn (Fighting Fire #5) by Laura Harner
Cold Day in Hell (In From the Cold #5) by Lee Brazil
Final Blow (Whispering Winds #5) by Havan Fellows
Terra Firma (Earthquake #5) by T.A. Webb

Sixth Book Series Finale Written by all the Authors coming in December.

Side Stories or Interludes:

Taking Chances by Lee Brazil (a In From the Cold story)
Wicked Winds (Whispering Winds 3.5) by Havan Fellows – bonus book, Whispering Winds
Frankie’s Knight (Elemental Connections: IV) (Earthquake #3.5)
Kismet & Cartwheels – bonus book, Fighting Fire

A Aurora YA Review: Under the Stars by Geoff Laughton

Rating: I give this book 5 out of 5 stars

DSP : “Ethan Tanner is an out and proud, fastidious, and fashionable sixteen-year-old vegetarian who likes theater and musicals. This year, it’s his sister’s turn to pick the vacation destination, so he ends up on a dude ranch he knows he is going to hate. What with the dirt, animals, and germs, he can’t possibly be happy.

Jason McCoy is the closeted sixteen-year-old son of the ranch owners and is trying to find his place in a world that doesn’t seem to fit him. He takes an interest in Ethan, shows him around, and gets him to ride a horse. When he invites Ethan camping, Ethan thinks Jason must be joking. But Ethan takes a risk, and the two boys bond under the stars.

After that, Ethan and Jason are inseparable. Their friendship grows into something deeper as they begin to figure out what they want from life. But Ethan’s home is in Chicago, and the distance might be more than the two teenagers—and their blossoming relationship—can withstand.”

Under the Stars follows a sixteen year old boy, Ethan, as he goes on a vacation with his parents and little sister to a ranch. At first, Ethan is reluctant to go and doesn’t think he’ll enjoy the trip much at all, but because it was his sister’s turn to choose where they wanted to go, he didn’t have much choice. When he actually arrives at the ranch, Ethan quickly connects with the owner’s son, Jason, and the two of them develop a close relationship.

As someone who isn’t usually much of a fan of contemporary, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. Within the first few pages I was completely drawn in, and I related to Ethan immediately. One thing I absolutely loved about this book was the representation of Ethan’s parents and the close relationship they had, even though they didn’t all necessarily agree throughout the entire book. It didn’t go the route of representing parents as being completely unsupportive, which I think could be a great thing for young adults who are reading this book and might be considering coming out to their parents to see that positive dynamic represented.

Jason and Ethan were both great characters who I loved seeing interact with each other, and all of their discussions and the things they did seemed very real. Ethan’s growth, especially, throughout the book, was something I really enjoyed, because he did change, but he held onto who he was and he didn’t make a one-eighty turn around. All in all, I really enjoyed this book and I would definitely read it again any time.

Cover Artist: L.C. Chase

The cover art is simple, but pretty and well suited to the book. I think the dark color scheme definitely makes it appealing, while the bright color of the fire draws the readers eyes to the bottom of the page where the artist wants them to look.

Sales Links: Dreamspinner ebook & Paperback All Romance eBook amazon Under the Stars

Book Details:

ebook, 180 pages, YA young adult title
Published October 9th 2014 by Harmony Ink Press
ISBN139781632163080

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Rating: I give this book 5 out of 5 stars

Sales Links: Dreamspinner ebook & Paperback All Romance eBook amazon Under the Stars

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