Category Archives: Favorite Reads

July’s Favorite Reads

My favorite reads from July:

Mainstream:

Title: All Summer Long by Susan Mallery
Fool’s Gold Series Book Nine
Publisher: Harlequin
Imprint: Harlequin HQN
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
Length: 384 pages

Summary:

Former underwear model turned entrepreneur Clay Stryker has loved, tragically lost and vowed that he’ll never risk his heart again. After making his fortune, the youngest of the rugged Stryker brothers returns to Fool’s Gold, California, to put down roots on a ranch of his own. But he’s frustrated to discover that even in his hometown, people see him only for his world-famous…assets.

Firefighter Chantal (Charlie) Dixon grew up an ugly duckling beside her delicately beautiful mother, a feeling reinforced long ago by a man who left soul-deep scars. Now she has good friends, a solid job and the itch to start a family—yet she can’t move toward the future while she’s haunted by painful memories.

Clay finds an unexpected ally, and unexpected temptation, in tomboyish Charlie, the only person who sees beyond his dazzling good looks to the real man beneath. But when Charlie comes to him with an indecent proposal, will they be able to overcome their pasts and find a love that lasts beyond one incredible summer?

Read my review HERE.


M/M:

Title: Second Time Lucky by Ethan Day
Publisher: MLR Press
Genre: M/M, Contemporary, Erotic, Romance
Length: 274 pages/Word Length: 80,000+

Summary:

Second chances aren’t easy to come by but for Luke Landon and Owen West, sometimes the best things really do come back to you.

Luke Landon and Owen West already had a once upon a time. They burned hot back in college yet still managed to lose their way. It’s been fifteen years since they drifted apart and while a lot has since changed, they’ve discovered that some things still feel the same. While one calls it fate, the other dumb luck, second chances aren’t easy to come by. Putting the ignorance of youth and life’s baggage aside, they just might find that sometimes the best things really do come back to you.

Read my review HERE.


Erotic:

Title: Storm Bound by Alice Gaines
A Cabin Fever Novella
Publisher: HarperCollins
Imprint: Avon Books
Genre: Contemporary, Erotic, Romance, Ménage
Length: 124 pages

Summary:

Stranded on a steamy tropical island, . . . these three will create their own heat . . .

Christie Lovejoy is normally all business. But when a hurricane bears down on the exclusive resort she’s sharing with two sexy businessmen, it’s time to throw caution to the tropical winds. How often do you find two gorgeous men with the hots for you . . . and the willingness to share?

Wolf Martin and Jon Carlson have been friends for years, and their taste in women has never overlapped . . . until now. Wolf, Jon, and Christie use the luxurious resort to take the kind of sensual journey that only total isolation will allow. But when the storm recedes, will they be ready to leave their island paradise?

Read my review HERE.


Mystery:

Title: The Line Between Here and Gone by Andrea Kane
Forensic Instincts Book Two
Publisher: Harlequin
Imprint: HarlequinMIRA
Genre: Contemporary, Suspense, Mystery
Length: 392 pages

Summary:

The man she loved is gone forever. The child she lives for could be next.

Each day is a struggle for Amanda Gleason’s newborn son as he battles a rare immune deficiency. Justin’s best chance for a cure lies with his father, who was brutally murdered before Amanda even realized she carried his child.

Or was he?

One emailed photo changes everything, planting a seed of doubt that Amanda latches on to for dear life: a recent photo of a man who looks exactly like Paul. Could Justin’s father be alive? The mother in her is desperate to find out. But tracking down a ghost when every second counts is not for amateurs.

Forensic Instincts is the one team up for the challenge.

A behaviorist. A former navy SEAL. A techno-wizard. An intuitive. A retired FBI agent. A human-scent-evidence dog. Together they achieve the impossible, pushing ethical and legal boundaries whenever the ends justify the means.

The manhunt is on for the elusive father. Yet the further FI digs into his past, the more questions are raised about whether the man Amanda fell in love with ever really existed at all.

Dark secrets. Carefully crafted lies. From the congressional halls of Washington, D.C., to exclusive Hamptons manors, there are ruthless people who would stop at nothing to make Forensic Instincts forget about the man Amanda desperately needs to find.

Little do they realize that once Forensic Instincts takes the case, nothing will stop them from uncovering the shocking truth that transcends The Line Between Here and Gone.

Read my review HERE.


Historical:

Title: The Woman at the Light by Joanna Brady
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Imprint: St. Martin’s Griffin
Genre: Historical, Romance
Length: 346 pages

Summary:

One afternoon in 1839, Emily Lowry’s husband vanishes from Wreckers’ Cay, an isolated island off the coast of Key West where he tends to the lighthouse. As days stretch into months, Emily has no choice but take charge of Wrecker’s Cay and her husband’s duties tending the light to support her three children–and a fourth on the way. Unexpected help arrives when a runaway slave named Andrew washes up on their beach. At first, Emily is intensely wary of this strange, charming man, whose very presence there is highly illegal. But Andrew proves himself an enormous help and soon wins the hearts of the Lowry family. And–far from the outside world and society’s rules–his place in Emily’s life, as steadfast now as the light, will forever change their futures. When Emily’s family is ripped apart once again, she faces untold hardships that test her love and determination and show how the passionate love of a defiant, determined woman can overcome any obstacle.

Read my review HERE.


Inspirational:

Title: My Stubborn Heart by Becky Wade
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Imprint: Bethany House Publishers
Genre: Contemporary, Christian, Inspirational, Romance
Length: 352 pages

Summary:

Kate Donovan is burned out on work, worn down by her dating relationships, and in need of an adventure. When her grandmother asks her to accompany her to Redbud, Pennsylvania, to restore the grand old house she grew up in, Kate jumps at the chance.

Upon her arrival in Redbud, Kate meets Matt Jarreau, the man hired to renovate the house. Kate can’t help being attracted to him, drawn by both his good looks and something else she can’t quite put her finger on. He’s clearly wounded–hiding from people, from God, and from his past. Yet Kate sets her stubborn heart on bringing him out of the dark and back into the light… whether he likes it or not.

When the stilted, uncomfortable interactions between Kate and Matt slowly shift into something more, is God finally answering the longing of her heart? Or will Kate be required to give up more than she ever dreamed?

Read my review HERE.


Favorite Non-Reviewed Book:

Title: Cherry Pie by Samantha Kane
Publisher: Loose Id
Genre: M/M, Contemporary, Erotic, Romance
Length: 41,388 words

Summary:

John Ford packed up his life a year ago and moved from LA to small Mercury, North Carolina after the death of his long-term partner. He’s been living in a kind of suspended animation, fixing up the old house he bought there, reclusive and alone. Until the day Connor Meecham appears.

Conn Meecham has returned home, only to find it isn’t his anymore. Someone else owns his mother’s house now. But Conn needs that house to find the man he left behind more than eight years ago–before the drugs, before prison, before his life derailed. Lonely, desperate, lost, Conn finds in John a kindred soul.

Mercury is a dying town. But John sets out to change that when he learns what it means to Conn. Through home improvements, sex, old friends, sex, misunderstandings, sex, and homemade cherry pie, John and Conn may finally discover that where they are now can be heaven on earth if they want it to be.

Publisher’s Note: This book contains explicit sexual content, graphic language, and situations that some readers may find objectionable: male/male sexual practices.


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June’s Favorite Reads

My favorite reads from June:

Mainstream

Title: Midnight Promises by Sherryl Woods
The Sweet Magnolias Book 8
Publisher: Harlequin
Imprint: HarlequinMIRA
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
Length: 384 pages
Book Rating: B

Summary:

When Elliott Cruz first courted struggling single mom Karen Ames, it it was a romance worthy of any Sweet Magnolia fantasy. The sexy personal trainer made it his mission to restore Karen’s strength—physical and emotional—and to charm her children.

Now, a few years into the marriage, colliding dreams threaten to tear a few years into the marriage, colliding dreams threaten to tear them them apart. Elliott’s desire to finance the business opportunity of a lifetime with their hard-earned “baby money” stirs Karen’s deep-rooted financial insecurities. It’s the discovery that their brother-in-law is cheating on Elliott’s sister—and thinks it’s justified—that puts their irreconcilable differences into perspective. Will their own loving fidelity be a bond so strong they can triumph against all odds?

Read my review of Midnight Promises HERE.


M/M:

Title: Power Play: Awakening by Rachel Haimowitz & Cat Grant
Power Play Series Book Two
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Genre: M/M, Erotic, BDSM, Contemporary, Romance
Length: 292 pages/Word count: 95,000
Book Rating: B

Summary:

Brandon McKinney is a man reborn. Newly awakened to the notion of consensual power exchange and the submissive urges inside him, he begs for a second chance from the man who opened his eyes to this world: Silicon Valley superstar Jonathan Watkins. But no birth is absent pain, and Brandon’s is no exception. He fears he’s not strong enough to see it through.

Jonathan knows better. He’s seen the iron core inside his new submissive, and the wounded heart inside him too. He means to teach Brandon to heal the one with the other. They have five months left on their contract, after all, and Jonathan has done more with less before.

It’s tough to stay objective, though, when you’re falling in love. Shame Brandon doesn’t feel the same. He’s only there for the three-million-dollar payout at contract’s end—a fact that Jonathan, nursing his own wounded heart, reminds himself of each day. For even as Brandon’s barriers break and his mind expands, even as he grows to love his place at Jonathan’s feet, he’ll never love life with a sadist—especially one who cannot escape the public eye.

This title is #2 of the Power Play series.

Reader discretion advised. This title contains the following sensitive themes: heavy kink.

Read my review of Power Play: Awakening HERE.


Erotic

Title: Forfeit by Zara Stoneley
Publisher: Xcite Publishing
Genre: Contemporary, Erotic, Romance
Length: 168 pdf pages
Book Rating: B

Summary:

An erotic romance novel with themes including sex in public, spanking, exhibitionism and ménage.

Cat’s life is falling apart – her boyfriend’s dumped her, she’s lost her home and she’s about to quit her job. Her boss, Brent, has a solution: become his wife for a year, to help him land a big promotion. But Cat’s had a taste of Brent before, and she knows he’s a bad boy who loves women and leaves them. So she agrees to marry him, but tells him there’s to be no sex. He adds his own condition: if she as much as talks to another man in that time, she must pay, by acting out 12 of Brent’s kinkiest sex fantasies. When she breaks the rule, the forfeit is on: but opening up and letting Brent into her heart, as well as her bed, could be the most dangerous game of all …

Read my review of Forfeit HERE.


Mystery

Title: The Monet Murders by Jean Harrington
Murders by Design Book Two
Publisher: Carina Press
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery
Length: 71,000 words
Book Rating: B+

Summary:

Interior decorator Deva Dunne never dreamed she’d see a Monet hanging on someone’s dining room wall. Then she snags a client with two Monet seascapes. Her thrill lasts until she finds one of the paintings missing, cut from its frame, and the cook shot dead.

Rough-around-the edges, but gorgeous all-around police lieutenant Victor Rossi insists Deva leave the sleuthing to the police. But what could it hurt to come up with a list of suspects that doesn’t include herself? Like the owners of the Monets, a rich man and his trophy wife, and their frequent guests. Even the cook’s husband is suspect. Then Deva finds another victim, clutching a very strange set of clues.

Desperate to save her business amid the negative publicity, Deva helps Rossi investigate. And when he needs advice decorating his bedroom, she just might find a client for life. Unless a killer gets to her first.

71,000 words

Read my review of The Monet Murders HERE


Favorite Non-Reviewed Book

Title: The Cool Part of His Pillow by Rodney Ross
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Genre: M/M, Contemporary, Romance
Length: 340 pages

Summary:

The midforties are that time in a gay man’s life when his major paradigm shifts from sexy to sensible. But when Barry Grooms’s partner of twenty years is killed on Barry’s forty-fifth birthday, his world doesn’t so much evolve as it does explode.

After navigating through the surreal conveyor belt of friends and family, he can’t eat another casserole or swallow much more advice, and so, still numb, he escapes to Key West, then New York. He embraces a new mantra: Why the hell not? He becomes so spontaneous he’s ready to combust. First, he gets a thankless new job working for a crazy lady in a poncho, then has too many drinks with a narcissistic Broadway actor. Next, it’s a nude exercise class that redefines flop sweat, and from there he’s on to a relationship with a man twenty years his junior, so youthfully oblivious he thinks Karen Carpenter is a lesbian woodworker.

Yet no matter how great the retreat from the man he used to be, life’s gravity spins Barry back to the town where he grew up for one more ironic twist that teaches him how to say good-bye with grace.


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January’s Favorite Reads

Here are my favorite reads from January.

M/M:

Title: Galley Proof by Eric Arvin
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Genre: M/M, Contemporary, Erotic, Romance
Length: 200 pages
Book Rating: B+

Summary:

Fiction writer Logan Brandish is perfectly happy in his peaceful small-town routine with his best friend, his cat, and his boyfriend—until he meets the editor of his next book, the handsome Brock Kimble, and the lazy quiet of everyday living goes flying out the window. Faced with real passion for the first time, Logan becomes restless and agitated, and soon his life and his new manuscript—a work in progress he’d always thought would be completed—are in a shambles.

But as Logan is learning, you can’t always get what you want… at least not right away. To take his mind off the mess, he takes a trip, but even the beautiful Italian, um, scenery can’t keep his thoughts from his erstwhile editor for long. Logan just might have to admit there are some things you can’t run from.

Read my review HERE


Mainstream

Title: The Bro-Magnet by Lauren Baratz-Logsted
Publisher: TKA Distribution
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
Length: 213 pdf pages
Book Rating: B+

Review Copy Obtained from Publisher Through NetGalley

Summary:

Women have been known to lament, “Always a bridesmaid, never a bride.” For Johnny Smith, the problem is, “Always a Best Man, never a groom.”

At age 33, housepainter Johnny has been Best Man eight times. The ultimate man’s man, Johnny loves the Mets, the Jets, his weekly poker game, and the hula girl lamp that hangs over his basement pool table. Johnny has the instant affection of nearly every man he meets, but one thing he doesn’t have is a woman to share his life with, and he wants that desperately.

When Johnny meets District Attorney Helen Troy, he decides to renounce his bro-magnet ways in order to impress her. With the aid and advice of his friends and family, soon he’s transforming his wardrobe, buying throw pillows, ditching the hula girl lamp, getting a cat and even changing his name to the more mature-sounding John. And through it all, he’s pretending to have no interest in sports, which Helen claims to abhor.

As things heat up with Helen, the questions arise: Will Johnny finally get the girl? And, if he’s successful in that pursuit, who will he be now that he’s no longer really himself? THE BRO-MAGNET is a rollicking comedic novel about what one man is willing to give up for the sake of love.

Read my review HERE


Erotic

Title: One Hit Wonderful by Hannah Murray
Publisher: Ellora’s Cave
Genre: Contemporary, Erotic, Romance
Length: Novel
Book Rating: B

Summary:

Being a bridesmaid is a dull job. But when the groom gets caught with his cummerbund around his ankles, dull isn’t in the cards.

Lily Michaels is happy to help her best friend cancel her wedding. But since the groom with the broken nose is also her landlord, it means she’s looking for a new apartment. Enter Nate MacIntyre—former boy-band member and current composer—his mostly St. Bernard dog Beau and the apartment over their garage. Nate is sexy, Beau is adorably charming and the apartment is gorgeous. Things are looking up!

But things get complicated when Max, the former groom, starts hassling Lily for the location of his jilted bride. Nate thinks Max is dangerous, Lily thinks Nate is silly, and while she’s enjoying where her attraction to him is going, her independent streak simply won’t let her lean on him too much. What do you get when you mix an overprotective man, an independent woman and the confusion that comes with falling in love? Whatever it is, it’s not dull.

A Romantica® erotic romance from Ellora’s Cave

Read my review HERE


Mystery

Title: Shatter by Michael Robotham
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Imprint: Mulholland Books
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery
Length: 496 pages
Book Rating: B

Review Copy Obtained from Publisher Through NetGalley

Summary:

Joe O’Loughlin is in familiar territory-standing on a bridge high above a flooded gorge, trying to stop a distraught woman from jumping. “You don’t understand,” she whispers, and lets go. Joe is haunted by his failure to save the woman, until her teenage daughter finds him and reveals that her mother would never have committed suicide-not like that. She was terrified of heights.

What could have driven her to commit such a desperate act? Whose voice? What evil?

Having devoted his career to repairing damaged minds, Joe must now confront an adversary who tears them apart. With pitch-perfect dialogue, believable characters, and astonishingly unpredictable plot twists, Shatter is guaranteed to keep even the most avid thriller readers riveted long into the night.

Read my review HERE


Favorite Non-Reviewed Book

Title: Papi by J.P. Barnaby
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Genre: M/M, Erotic, Contemporary, Bittersweet Dreams
Length: 27 pages

Summary:

Kyle Lang just got out of a marriage that lasted too goddamned long. He knew when he married her that he shouldn’t have. For the last few years, he’s been haunted by daydreams of the perfect feel of another man’s skin. The problem is, the bar scene isn’t working so well for him. When Kyle picks up Jesse, an eighteen-year-old illegal who turns tricks for cash, he finally finds something to scratch that desperate itch. For Jesse, who is only gay-for-pay to support his sister, it’s the first time he’s ever been aroused by another man’s touch. The consequences will change his whole world.

A Bittersweet Dreams title: It’s an unfortunate truth: love doesn’t always conquer all. Regardless of its strength, sometimes fate intervenes, tragedy strikes, or forces conspire against it. These stories of romance do not offer a traditional happy ending, but the strong and enduring love will still touch your heart and maybe move you to tears.

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