Tag: Scattered Thoughts Highly Recommended

A MelanieM Review: Red Dirt Heart (Red Dirt #1) by N.R. Walker

Rating: 5 stars out of 5

Welcome to Sutton Station: One of the world’s largest working farms in the middle of Australia – where if the animals and heat don’t kill you first, your heart just might.

Red dirt Heart CoverCharlie Sutton runs one of the largest working ranches in middle Australia, Sutton Station.   It is something he was born to do and Charlie can’t picture himself anywhere else even if he feels his sexuality would make him an outcast not only among the people he works among but the other stations and store owners he does business with as well.  The recent death of his powerful, overbearing father has done nothing to still his father’s voice inside his head that threatens his self worth and instills Charlie with a fear about being gay and out. Then a new arrival at the station upends the status quo, including Charlie’s perceptions of himself and the Sutton Station family.

American agronomy student Travis Craig arrives for a work study internship at Sutton Station.  Travis feels that his background as a Texas rancher and college area of study will help him fit in while hoping his studies will be beneficial to both countries.  While Travis expects to research how the Australian farmers make a living from one of the harshest environments on earth, he doesn’t expect to find that he learns to love not only the harsh beauty and red dirt of Sutton Station but Charlie Sutton himself.

Under the intense desert sun of the red dirt of Sutton Station, can two men find love and the ability to have a future together?

Readers, meet my latest obsession and its author, the Red Dirt Heart series by N. R Walker.   All it took was the first paragraph to pull me totally into the life of Charlie Sutton and the Sutton Station set in the Northern Territory (which is about the same size as Lebanon and based on a real working farm).  This author is amazing.  Walker manages to make the people and places in Red Dirt Heart so believable, so vivid, that you will feel the dust and heat enough to feel the need to brush the red dirt off the pages (or Kindle cover) as you read.

The story is told from  Charlie Sutton’s point of view.  That perspective enables Walker to bring all the Aussie terminology, colloquialisms, culture and frame of mind to life.  It also lets us into the heart and soul of this vulnerable, and marvelously complicated young man.  There is so much to Charlie.  From the insidious voice inside his head left by his father that tells him he will never be good enough or “man” enough to run Sutton Station because he is gay to the considerate, smart, and appealing person others find him to be.  What a  great character!

Travis Craig, is his equal in every manner.  A Texas agronomy student who is openly gay, Travis starts to upend Charlie’s life and life at the Sutton Station from the moment he arrives.  Travis not only works himself into Charlie’s heart but the readers as well.  Their dialog together is serious, humorous, and telling in its many meanings and impact.

Every aspect of life at Sutton Station comes across as authentic and real as the red dirt itself.  From Ma in the kitchen to the drovers that work for Charlie, the reader is immersed into the every day experiences of life lived seasonally and the hard work it takes to exist and succeed under some of the harshest conditions known.  It’s not just the romance but all the layers found here in this story and series that makes it work and  resonate deeply with the readers, myself included.   I did say it was my newest obsession, didn’t I?

Red Dirt Heart is that amazing self published story that you want to go telling everyone about.  I couldn’t put it down and then was lucky enough to already have in my possession the sequel to dive into once the first was finished.  And then I wanted more.  I wanted to move to Australia, experience the red dirt and vastness of the Northern Territory and wander until I found a Charlie and Travis of my own.  Trust me, you are going to feel the same.  The third story in the series is almost here.  Pick up the first two and get ready to fall in love with Charlie, Travis, and the Sutton Station itself.

Cover Artist:  Sara York.  I like it.  It works for the story and series branding.

Author’s Note: Please note: This book is set in Australia, using Australian English and lingo

Sales Links:    All Romance eBooks  (ARe)         Amazon                 Red Dirt Heart 1 $1.50 at Amazon

Book Details:

ebook, 162 pages
Published February 20th 2014
edition languageEnglish
seriesRed Dirt #1

Books in the series to date in the order they were written and should be read to understand the relationships, events and characters:

Red Dirt Heart 1
Red Dirt Heart 2
Red Dirt Heart 3 to be released early October 2014

A MelanieM Review: Dead Things by Meredith Russell

Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Devin never thought he could find hope or love among the ruins of a broken world. Not until he found Noah.

Dead-Things-ebookDevin Reed is one of the last survivors of a virus that has turned the earth’s population into living corpses…zombies.  Devin lives and conducts daily hunts from high security penitentiary in Kansas State that provides his group of survivors with shelter and security.   Devin returned from his last tour in Afghanistan to find the world gone mad.  He lost everyone he loved to the plague, including his long term partner and love.  Broken hearted and enraged by the circumstances he finds himself in, he risks his life daily to leave to hunt for supplies and any other survivors he can find.

One fateful scavenger trip changes everything when Devin and his partner check out what looks to be an abandoned farm house and find Noah Webber, the last of his family and the only person to survive a zombie attack.  Each man has lost so much, and their attraction to each other is bound up in each other’s survivor guilt and fear.  Together Devin and Noah unite to fight the monsters around them.  But it will take more than determination and firepower to win, it  might take finding the courage  to risk all for love and the hope of a future.

Just when I think I’ve about had my fill of all things zombie, along comes a story to remind me why this genre is so pupular.  Dead Things by Meredith Russell manages to combines  the heartbreak of loss, suspense, a post apocalyptic world, zombies and, of course, romance and has us sitting on the edge of our seats while doing it.

I especially liked her character, Devin Reed.  He is the epitome of a survivor, complete with a lost love, a sense of futility about the present and yet he endures and perseveres.  He’s also a warrior, hot, and gay.  Devin feels real,  he is shut down emotionally, allowing only the pain of loss or anger to penetrate the barriers he has erected again any further vulnerability.  There are other characters around that also seem authentic to the direness of the circumstances they find themselves in but Devin comes across as the most believable.

Noah Webber took longer for me to invest in.  His attitude seems at odds with his history and background.  And although we got a good explanation for his actions and outlook, it ended up irritating not only Devin but the reader as well.  Luckily for the story, that faded away under the onslaught of zombies and the events that occur.

Russell adds in high suspense, to go along with the anxiety of survival and the prickling of hope for the future.  The author solidly builds her story and keeps us guessing as we head into the climax and story resolution.  It’s fun, heartbreaking, white knuckle ride all the way to the end.  If you are a lover of zombies and post apocalyptic worlds to go along with your M/M romance, then add this to your TBR list.  It delivers what it promises. And that makes it one of Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words recommended reads.

Like most fiction of this trope, a small group of survivors has banded together in the most secure place they could find, a high security penitentiary.  This place has become their world, complete with a dictator who makes the rules and expects everyone to follow them.

Cover art by Meredith Russell.  Love the cover, it works perfectly for the character and gives a dark tone to the overall look.

Sales Links:  All Romance (ARe)       Amazon        Dead Things

Book Details:

book, Second edition
Published August 29th 2014 (first published August 2012)

A MelanieM Review: A Forbidden Rumspringa (Gay Amish #1) by Keira Andrews

Rating:  5 stars out of 5

When two young Amish men find love, will they risk losing everything?

Forbidden Rumspringa coverIsaac Byler’s life changed when his family moved from their Amish home in Ohio to follow their new bishop to northern Minnesota.   Their previous bishop and settlement, while holding to the Amish ways, was never as strict as the Swartzentruber Amish life they are expected to lead in Zebulon.  All it took to shake up their community was a horrible accident that cost their small Ohio town the lives of several of their teenagers on a Rumspringa.  Now in Zebulon, that outlet and glimpse into the English world is forbidden as is all but the smallest contact with the outside world.  Every aspect of their lives is rigorously charted, inspected and regulated by their bishop and laws.  And Isaac is feeling smothered and guilty about the fact.

Isaac is also turning 18, an age where he is expected to join the church and marry, two things he has been avoiding at all costs.  The reasons behind his continued postponement are ones Isaac refuses to acknowledge.  But that’s about to change as well.  His parents have apprenticed Isaac to the community’s carpenter, David Lantz, a young man supporting his mother and sibling after his father died.  Isaac has been avoiding David too because being near the carpenter raises unseemly and forbidden feelings in him that he is supposed to save for his wife.

When David and Isaac start to work together, their attraction and feelings towards each other grows as does their guilt and confusion over their futures.  David too shares Isaac’s desires, and he harbors another secret as well.  But can their love withstand the pressures of their  families, community, and religion to conform and marry?  Or will they take the chance on a life together outside in the English world and face the possibility of never seeing home and family again?

What a fantastic book!  I had heard rumors about this novel circulating around certain LGBTQ internet groups for a little while but it still I was unprepared for the engrossing stunner of a story that is A Forbidden Rumspringa by Keira Andrews.   Andrews brings us into the heart of the Amish, in particular the  type of Amish known as the Swartzentruber, a super conservative, almost fundamentalist, religious sect within the Amish community that believes in zero contact with the outside world.  I mean a total rejection of anything that could be said to be modern, English, or prideful.  That includes rubber wheels for their buggies, shoes outside of church, and a rigid adherence to a strict “by the bishop” lifestyle where everyone is under constant surveillance and every part of their lives dictated by their bishop and religion.

Keira Andrews introduces us to this society and new settlement through the eyes of Isaac Byler, a 18 year boy, who is questioning their new lifestyle under their bishop and his future as it has been laid out for him by his parents and community. What little freedoms they had in their previous Amish community in Ohio have been left behind them when they fled their settlement because of an accident that killed several teenagers on a Rumspringa.   For those readers unfamiliar with the Amish lifestyle and religion, the Rumspringa is (in some Amish communities) “a period of adolescence in which boys and girls are given greater personal freedom and allowed to form romantic relationships, usually ending with the choice of baptism into the church or leaving the community.”  In other words, a time to get wild and get it out of their system before accepting communion and becoming a part of the church and community.  But due to that tragedy, an Ohio settlement shatters and a splinter group that includes the new bishop and several families leaves, heading to Minnesota in search of an isolated stricter life.

All this information as to their past history is imparted through Isaac’s memories and musings. How I loved and understood Isaac.  He is at a juncture in his life where he is expected to join the church, marry and start a farm of his own. None of which he wants to do.  Not only is Isaac (and his best friend) chafing under the new restrictions but Isaac’s beloved older brother has left for the outside world and been shunned for his actions.  Isaac is a bundle of questions,, guilt, and forbidden attractions towards men, especially the carpenter, David Lantz, to whom he is to be apprenticed.  Andrews pulls us completely into Isaac’s world, so intimately that we feel as though we are his constant companion, privy to all his thoughts and feelings.  We are so much a part of Isaac that we feel connected to him by his interactions with his family, his love for his brothers and sisters, the responsibility he feels towards his parents, everything that he treasures that is now starting to butt up against the clear realities of life in Zebulon.  Because nothing is thriving in Zebulon except the bishop.

Slowly as the narrative proceeds,  the author enlarges the reader’s view of Isaac and Zebulon to include the community’s farms, neighbors, and the group in general as Isaac interacts with various members of Zebulon. What a contrast between the healthy Amish community in Ohio they left and the starving, reduced one in Minnesota.  That no family can grow enough, make enough supplies or have enough resources to survive is adding to the  pressure for Isaac to stay and help support his family.  The portrait of this type of Amish community is startling.  I am sure that the pressures and strains represented here are the last ones to come to mind when you think of an Amish family but this story and its well drawn characters push the reader into forming other opinions or perspectives here.  Another gem of this story and author.

Especially well done is the familial bonds and community ties that hold Isaac and David in place.  You feel the emotions and love that tugs at them at the same time you totally understand the guilt and fear that threatens to overwhelm them.  David’s character is one that straddles both communities, that of the English or outside world and that of the Amish.  But deep within David remains that love and ingrained religious beliefs that continue to frame his life if not his thoughts. He is another great character, someone who is brave, troubled,and confused yet is still the impetus for the actions and events to come.

If those ties are all you have known, what amount of courage does it take to even think of leaving it and your families forever behind?  Huge questions posed by the author and characters on an intimate scale.  And every bit of emotional turmoil and pain is relayed from page to reader in believable scene after scene.  The descriptions, the dialog, and the settings are all so authentically elevated and yet on the same level as each other.  It all rings true.  Not one aspect appears more realistic or well researched than another.  The reader will throw their heart into this story and characters.  And that will make it hard to leave them all behind by the time this tale is over.  Luckily for us, Keira Andrews will pick up their story in a sequel to come.

A Forbidden Rumspringa is one of Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words’ best stories of 2014.  As is that remarkable cover, so evocative of the novel and the Amish community found within.   I highly recommend this book to all readers, add it to your TBR list today.

Cover Design by Dar Albert.  Best cover of the month and of 2014. Love it.

Sales Links:    All Romance eBooks (ARe)     Amazon          A Forbidden Rumspringa

Book Details:

ebook, 231 pages
Published September 3rd 2014 by KA Books (first published August 31st 2014)
ISBN139780993859823
edition languageEnglish
seriesGay Amish #1
settingMinnesota (United States)

 

A MelanieM Review: No Fae Is An Island (Endangered Fae #4) by Angel Martinez

Rating: 5 stars out of 5

TNoFaeIsAnIsland_200hree years ago Diego Sandoval was banished from the human world as punishment for the crimes he committed while out of his mind.  With him went his Pookie lover, Finnochad.  Now the time of their banishment is up and Diego and Finn are returning to Tearmann Island, and to all the friends they left behind.  Living amongst the wild Fae has taught Diego many lessons he needed to learn and time to assuage the pain deep inside himself.  But has it been enough?

The human world and Tearmann Island has moved on in Diego’s absence.  Theo Aguilar, the rogue vampire, is now head of Prince Lugh’s security while Zack moved into Diego’s spot as Chief Liaison for the Fae Collective.  What will happen when Diego and Finn return?  It’s not just Diego who is uncertain about what happens next for them all.

To further complicate an already complicated situation, a number of Fae and gifted humans have been imprisoned by country who sees magic as dangerous and forbidden.  A  diplomatic mission mounted to save them turns deadly and its left to  Theo and a surprise stowaway to save the day.  And the stowaway?  Well, that would be a young curious selkie who followed Diego and Finn home from the wild Fae lands.  He wanted to see the world and got far more than he ever expected.  When the world goes crazy once more, its up to the inhabitants of Tearmann Island to find a way out of the precarious position Diego and Finn find themselves in and save them all.

No Fae  Is An Island, the fourth story in the Endangered Fae series by Angel Martinez, picks up three years after Danu’s banishment of Diego to the wild lands of the Fae.  Its been 3 years and 3 days and now its time for Diego and Finn to return home.  During that time Diego has listeneed and learned from many of the Fae in the Otherworld.  From the counsel of dragons to learning about the singular joys of laughter and living in the moment from a pod of selkies, Diego finds himself older, wiser, and finally more at peace with himself and the damage he caused while temporarily deranged.   From the darkness of Semper Fae emerges a quieter, more uncertain Diego and that change in character translates realistically and beautifully here in the opening chapter.

I have been eagerly awaiting this story since I finished Semper Fae, an outstanding novel at every aspect but one that was darker in scope than the previous stories.  Like the rest of the inhabitants of Tearmann Island, the Fae nation locale on the human world, I have waited to see what the banishment and time has done for Diego and his lover, Finn.  I was teary eyed as I “watched” them go, so I was overjoyed to find this story opens up on a sandy beach in the Otherworld with Diego watching Finn play with a pod of selkies in the ocean.  It’s joyful, peaceful, and the Diego found here is the one I was hoping to see.  He’s not yet fully healed but clearly on his way.  I love how believable Diego and his journey towards becoming the man/mage he is capable of being.  Each book has seen Diego become a more nuanced and layered being, complete with moments of depression, pride and arrogance vying with guilt and humility to arrive at a person who acknowledges he is still a work in progress.  I believe in Diego wholeheartedly, and with that, comes a belief in Finn, his Pookie lover who has also made some important transitions of his own.  They change, their relationship changes and deepens and so does their place in the world they have had a share in making.

Angel Martinez manages to temper her moments of seriousness and angst with those of laughter and joy.  Attaining that balance can be tricky but Martinez handles that beautifully here in the form of Limpet, a young selkie (150 years young) who is one of the most endearing characters of recent memory. Limpet is the levity and heart of innocence of this story.  It’s his pod that’s playing with Finn in the opening chapter but the pod’s life has gotten too small for Limpet who wishes to see the human world of Finn’s stories and tall tales.  Limpet is the balm to Theo’s pain and watching those two beings connect and establish a relationship is one of this story’s strengths and delights. He may come across as simple at first but nothing in this series is ever as simple as it appears.  The author does a tremendous job in providing layer upon layer to her story and characters, The characters change and grow as the plot twists and turns in a pattern as complex as a mandala.

To all the other mythic lore Martinez has introduced in the previous stories, in No Fae Is An Island adds yet another culture’s myths, this time those of the Middle East and Tales of the Arabian Nights.  Here it makes sense and brings a whole new cast of characters to fold into her universe and Fae collection.  And what a startling group it is.  Especially Nusair but I will let you discover him on your own.

The author’s on-going themes of identity, self awareness, and the journey towards a completeness of being continues in No Fae Is An Island and not just in the character of Diego.  Others are on that path too.  Its a tortuous journey but a believable one.  Is it tough to suspend our belief in our universe to take in all the mythical creatures Martinez brings to her world?  Not at all.  You slide into this world and universe building with an ease and pleasure that never lets up. I love this story and series.  And I can’t wait to see where it goes next, some place dark if any of the portents I read here are an indication. I will be waiting to see where these amazing characters and series go next.  It’s an astonishing trip, make sure you come with us every step of the way.

No Fae Is An Island is a story I can highly recommend as I do the entire Endangered Fae series.  Pick them all up today but make sure you read them in the order they were written, a must to understand the characters, their growth and relationships.  I will leave you an excerpt at the end of this review.  Succinct and charming…meet Limpet!

Cover art by Winterheart Designs.  Love that cover.  That is Theo and Limpet to perfection.

Sales links:   MLR Press        All Romance eBooks (ARe)       Amazon          No Fae Is An Island

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 255 pages
Published September 5th 2014 by MLR Press
ASINB00NBI2UP6
edition languageEnglish
seriesEndangered Fae #4

I have listed all the Endangered Fae stories in the order they were written and should be read to understand the events and character development. Put all on your must read list today!

Finn (Endangered Fae #1) (includes Finn’s Christmas)
Diego (Endangered Fae #2)
Semper Fae (Endangered Fae #3)
No Fae Is An Island (Endangered Fae #4)

No Fae Is An Island Excerpt

“You don’t need to come with me.” Theo fought clenched teeth. The selkie was a friend of Mr. Sandoval’s and Finn’s, too—Finn who had been so kind to him after accidentally squashing him in dragon form. No need to be rude.

“Quite all right. I’ve nothing better to do.”

“You can’t come with me,” Theo said in the chilliest, sternest tone he could muster.

“Oh, of course I can. I see quite well at night.”

Theo squeezed his eyes shut against the headache. It shouldn’t have been there. He’d fed that morning and napped the rest of the day in lethargic, sated bliss. Fine. He’ll get bored and leave soon. “All right. But you have to be quiet.”

“Yes, yes, of course. In case something bad is here. A pack of nixes maybe. Oh, they’re bad. Or a kraken tries to swim close and ambush you, yes? You’re a real warrior, then? Have you seen many battles? Do you have scars? I have scars, but only because I was very young—”

“Limpet.” Theo stopped and took the selkie’s chin in his hand, holding his head still. “Whispering is not being quiet.”

“Right you are. Sorry. You have beautiful eyes.”

Theo dropped his hand and walked away, shaking his head. It was going to be long night.