Common Goal Review

3.5 Charms This one is tough because I can’t help comparing it to Ilya and Shane’s book which is one of my all time favorite sports romance books. This one just can’t live up to that book nor those characters.The major issue in this book is that Eric is 41 years old and Kyle is 25 years old. Although to me Kyle read younger. He spent so much time mooning over his crush on Kip in the beginning and not really having an idea what he wanted with his life. Eric is wrapping up his hockey career and trying to decide what’s next as well as exploring his bisexual nature and being with a man. The two are of course in a friends with benefits relationship and then feelings get involved.I liked that both characters showed some character growth but the friends with benefits relationship that ended up with them having feelings has been done a thousand times and there was nothing special about this one. I would have liked a bit more time spent in the relationship and a little less spent with them out of their heads as they both spent a lot of time there.My favorite scene of this book was with Ilya were he is pointing out what a screwed up situation Eric has gotten himself into. It’s so Ilya and I absolutely loved it. Every scene he is in steals the show and I absolutely adore his character.So while this one doesn’t live up to Shane and Ilya it is definitely an enjoyable book and I plan to continue the series.A copy of this book was provided to me by Netgalley and the publisher with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book and my comments here are my honest opinion.

• 

• 

• 

Better Than People Review

This was a sweet and less angst then I expected given the topics and the characters background but I enjoyed it a lot. Jack breaks his leg and can’t walk his dogs so he joins a app that matches you with someone who will help with your pets. He is matched with Simon who suffers from extreme anxiety – so much so sometimes he can’t even speak to people. He’s much better with animals and looks forwarding to spending time with Jack’s animals.

There was also a plot point of Jack not being able to draw since he was betrayed by a good friend and business partner. I wish that part of the book was fleshed out more. I was also really intrigued with Jack and his brother Charlie’s relationship and I really wanted more depth with that story – so I’m hoping for a Charlie book eventually.

The romance was sweet and I loved everything about the friends to lovers relationship between Jack and Simon. I loved the way Jack supported Simon for who he was and the way they texted when Simon was struggling.

All in all a very satisfying romance.

 

Boyfriend Material Review

3 I thought I’d love this more stars. The characters were quirky, unique and for the most very likable. There is plenty of British humor (Oliver’s texts were the best part and very funny). Luc one of the MC’s lives a life where nothing seems to go right and he has his foot in his mouth more often then not. But not a lot happens in this book plot wise and the fake boyfriend trope is used a bit differently in this plot as well. No steam (it’s fade to black) and not much angst. It’s actually a bit of enemies to lovers and while Luc did grow on me he’ll never be one of my favorite characters. Honestly, I’m not quite sure what was missing for me except maybe some drama or angst or maybe it was just Luc sometimes seemed a bit whiny to me. Still overall I think a lot of people will enjoy this book if for nothing else then the humor and the diverse cast of characters in the book.

 

 

 

The Unseen Review

4.5 Charms. I was so happy to go back to the Elder Races and specifically Dragos and Pia. They are moving to the Other land of Rhyacia along with a couple of our other favorite characters. There is plenty of wonderful romantic moments, some humor with Dragos and a dog, and of course some adventure. The fact that Pia’s second born son is the same type of Wyr as her makes their decision completely understandable – as keeping him safe will be difficult. Unfortunately not all is at it seems at Rhyacia. The book is a quick read and I loved every minute of it. It does end on a cliffhanger and wow is it a doozy! I hope Thea Harrison writes fast because I desperately want to read the next book!

Cold Wicked Lies Review

4.5 Charms. The plot of this book intrigued me and I was hopeful that the book would live up to the description and it certainly did. I like opposites attract and a little bit of enemies to lovers and this book did both of those really well. Throw in a great suspense plot, plenty of action, some twists and turns and it makes for a great romantic suspense! I love Toni Anderson’s heroines – they are strong, tough and yet don’t go to far – they are still feminine. I didn’t always agree with Charlotte but I always understood where she was coming from. I also loved Payne – he was an awesome alpha male and yet he still had an open mind and was willing to listen to Charlotte. Payne and Charlotte had great chemistry and I loved the way they were forced to spend time together and see each other’s point of view.

This book takes place over a very short time frame and yet I found the romance believable. It’s a great mix of romance and suspense and it’s definitely an edge of your seat, page turning book.

Variable Onset Review

Overall I really enjoyed this enjoyable mystery and romance. I loved the idea of the former student (now FBI agent) who was and still is not for his former FBI professor. These two were interesting and the UST was fabulous! The town was also really interesting with lots of secondary characters that stood out (although sometimes I had to recheck who was who since there were so many).

I enjoy Layla Reyne’s action/mystery books a lot and this was no different however I do have to say that there were a few things that confused me. I still don’t understand how they knew that the killer probably had early onset of gray hair or any other genetic abnormality. The science was interesting but I just didn’t understand how they reached their conclusions. The copycat killer and his motivations could have been explained in more detail as well. His motivations were murky to say the least. I like the CSi aspects and the police procedural I just wanted to understand the logic and the reasons they came to their conclusions better than I did.

However, despite that I really enjoyed this story and these two characters. I liked the town and I liked the action/mystery. I’m definitely hoping we get more from these two and the crazy town they were in.

Burn Zone Review

Let me start by saying I’m a big fan of Annabeth Albert. She writes really awesome, strong men who fall for other men. They is usually a lot of character depth and almost always an interesting background and of course fantastic chemistry and hot sex.

This book hit most of those things but felt a little off in the character depth department or maybe I just feel that way since I just couldn’t reconcile Linc’s thought processes. His best friend is seriously homophobic and we are told that he doesn’t hold back and makes bad jokes and homophobic slurs even though he knows Linc is gay. Linc feels like he owes Wyatt since he saved him by befriending him and giving him a surrogate family since Linc’s was crap. I really disliked Wyatt. So when Wyatt’s brother comes out he makes Linc promise that he’ll never be with his brother, Jacob. Now at first I can understand this if it was an age related thing since there is some years in between them and at the time Jacob is 19 and seems to be a sheltered 19. But later we are told that Wyatt seems to somehow blame Linc for turning Jacob gay which is just so ridiculous. But even more ridiculous is that Linc has this unfailing loyalty to Wyatt and it doesn’t matter what Wyatt says/does he stands by it. I just didn’t understand the depth of why this was the case. I needed more on why Linc felt he owed Wyatt so much especially once he realized how much he cared about Jacob and after Wyatt died. Secondly, Linc also feels like he isn’t good enough for Jacob and again we never really find out where his lack of self esteem comes from. Of course it isn’t just Wyatt who is homophobic but the rest of Jacob’s family as well which is apparently another reason Linc thinks they can’t be together even though Jacob admits his family will have a problem with it but doesn’t care. Jacob has a ton of self esteem and no issues even though his entire family is homophobic he doesn’t seem to struggle at all with this or that his family has issues with his sexuality.

Now this might seem like I didn’t like the book and that isn’t the case. The connection between Jacob and Linc was amazing. You could feel it from the opening scene throughout the book. I also loved the smoke jumper background and found that part very interesting. I just wished the conflict keeping them apart made sense to me.

Murder at Pirate’s Cove Review

This book was definitely more mystery than romance but I very much enjoyed it. Ellery is a really interesting character and I really loved him. I felt bad for him as he tries to fit into a new town and discovers that he is a suspect in a murder primarily due to his outsider status and the fact that the dead guy is found in his book store. It was nice that he wasn’t so much investigating the murder but talking to people and trying to discover motives that he could pass on to police chief Jack Carson. There were some fun secondary characters and although I figured out who the killer was and why I still enjoyed the mystery. I liked Ellery and Jack but we really didn’t get to know much about Jack at all and I wanted a bit more about him. The relationship really plays a backseat to the mystery in this book but not in a bad way. I hope that we get more of Jack and more of them together in the next book.

Badger to the Bone Review

4.5 Stars! I love the humor of these books and I really adore Max and her sisters. There were things I loved about this book but it wasn’t quite a 5 star read for me. The plot was entertaining but it did jump around quite a bit and it wasn’t until the end that I figured out how it was all tying together. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing but at times I thought it did take away from Max’s story. I LOVED seeing a lot of the previous characters from The Pride series but it’s been awhile since I’ve read all those books and sometimes I found myself pulled out the book trying to remember the characters storyline from their books. I loved Ze but we didn’t get a lot of time with Max and Ze and the romance was a very small part of this book with everything that was going on. I would have liked a bit more with the two of them.

I’m hoping that we get another group of books featuring Mairi and her brothers next. Love this world and I look forward to more.

 

Russ Morgan, PI Review

“Russ Morgan, PI” has two previously published stories combined into this book. “Engima” and “Blood and Dirt.”

“Engima” is a novella that introduces Rhys (Russ) Morgan who is a 50 year old private investigator. We quickly learn that Russ is a recovered alcoholic who lost the man he loved due to his drinking. In this case he is hired to find out who is blackmailing a televangelist who has a gay son who was supposedly cured in a conversion camp. There is no real romance in this short story but we learn quite a bit about Russ and his ability to read auras and how that helps him solve his cases. It’s an interesting mystery with secondary characters that are intriguing. There was actually quite a bit of emotion packed into this novella and I really loved it. Russ is a complex character that I connected with and wanted to see more of. He’s complicated, with an interesting backstory and his ability to read auras was fascinating. He’s also a lonely man and the author’s ability to convey that was incredible.
“Some nights I wanted another chance at love so bad the longing was a metallic tang along my tongue.”

“Blood and Dirt” is a longer story with more romance although the mystery is definitely the forefront of this book. Again another very interesting mystery with secondary characters that stand out. A few twists and turns and questions that kept me turning the page without putting the book down. This book also has a romance story between Russ and a much younger man Colin who we briefly met in “Engima.” If I’m honest I didn’t love Russ and Colin together as much as I wanted to and found the mystery and the family dynamics of the Landry family more compelling. I also really loved Deputy Sheriff Heath Baker and would love to read a story focused on him as well.

I enjoyed these stories and the complex character that is Russ Morgan and hope to read more from this author.