Archives

Slam! by J.L. Merrow (5 Stars)

May5

Witty sarcasm coupled with a sweet romance made for a story that’s hard to put down!

Jude Biggerstaff is a recent college graduate who hasn’t quite started to work on his career. After a bad breakup, he decides to live with his Mom, work on his violin and poetry skills, and hang out with his best friend Keisha. After David saves Jude from being mugged, they begin a lovely romance. Since David isn’t completely out, and Jude’s Mom is dating David’s coworker, there are some interesting antics taking place.

Phenomenal character development with Jude, his best friend Keisha, his Mom, and David. The story is told from Jude’s POV, and he is one of the most sarcastic and funny characters I have ever read with Keisha as a close second. Their relationship was truly the key to this wonderful story. I could have read about them all day and never got tired of their conversations.

Jude’s love interest, David, was a nice guy who was still partially hiding the fact he was gay from the rest of the world. They had a very sweet relationship developing with David trying to get to know Jude through several dates before engaging in a physical relationship. Considering Jude could turn almost any comment into a sexual innuendo, this wasn’t easy for David. For the bulk of the story, you’re basically following Jude around in his daily life, including some fun poetry slams, looking at things from his very interesting perspective. I’m really looking forward to reading this book again!

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Originally reviewed for The Romance Reviews. Complimentary copy provided by author/publisher for an honest review.
Book Blurb

Someone to Keep Me (Collars and Cuffs #3) by K.C. Wells and Parker Williams (2 Stars)

Apr30

He knew to the bottom of his heart that he wanted somebody to keep him.

Scott Keating has been living a very sheltered life with extremely controlling parents. Once the opportunity to leave home and start a new life presents itself, he’s more than willing to take advantage of it. Although things didn’t work out as planned, he’s saved by Ben Winters. Now Scott just needs to see if Ben will keep him forever.

I adored Scott and truly felt sorry for him. His family didn’t treat him with any love, and it appeared that he was kept in his home without any friends for most of his life. It really showed his inner strength and desperation that he was willing to travel around the world to find a new life.

Ben rescues Scott from the airport, but that was one of the few nice things he did during the story. Overall, Ben was not appreciative of anything Scott did for him. They also didn’t have much of a relationship outside of Scott playing the housekeeper. Ben was supposed to be a Dom, but his actions and immature behavior didn’t portray him as a very good one. Ben was temperamental and seemed to lose it at the most inopportune times. I was hoping for a romantic story with Scott finding true happiness, but this felt more like a guide on a poorly handled Dom/sub relationship.

The writing was smooth, and it was impressive that two people wrote this story. Although this is part of a series, and I loved the first one, I think this can be read as a standalone.

A look at the emotional draw of belonging to somebody.

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Originally reviewed for The Romance Reviews. Complimentary copy provided by author/publisher for an honest review.
Book Blurb

Forever Promised (Promises #4) by Amy Lane (4 Stars)

Apr25

Having the support of loved ones can help you deal with any of the changes that life might send your way.

A story that brings us up to date on the lives of the characters from the first three novels. Deacon and Crick are doing great, but they really want children. Crick’s sister, Benny, has just offered to help them fulfill that dream. Jeff and Collin are married and taking everything day by day. Shane and Mikhail are taking care of the teenagers that come to the Promise House. There was a large focus on the Promise House activities and the teens that are living there.

The story is told from multiple points of view, with almost every character getting a chance to speak their mind. I loved this approach and thought it worked so well because the characters were strongly developed in the prior books. Deacon actually talked quite a bit more in this book, and I felt like I got to know him even better and fell in love with him. I really enjoyed the time with Deacon and Crick together, including the steamier scenes in the book. The other characters were true to form, and I loved all of them. Life isn’t perfect for these wonderful people, but they always stick together and do whatever they can to help each other out.

The only thing that really bothered me about the whole story was the underlying reason for Benny to have Deacon’s baby. Since that was a major plot point and I just couldn’t get it to make sense to me personally, I really struggled to just ignore it. Outside of that issue, I enjoyed seeing everybody and catching up on their lives.

If you are a huge fan of the series, and you really want to see how everybody is getting along after several years of being together, then I think you will love this book. You get a true idea of the life that the couples and their friends are living on a daily basis. If you haven’t read the series, I think you’ll struggle to follow everything that is taking place without the history behind it.

A wonderful end to a strong series with a story of love, challenges, and people coming together to truly support one another.

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Originally reviewed for The Romance Reviews. Complimentary copy provided by author/publisher for an honest review.
Book Blurb

New Beginnings by Kyle Adams (5 Stars)

Apr18

Although Kyle Adams is known for his lighthearted and funny stories, “New Beginnings” shows us a different side to his writing. My stomach was in knots and my heart felt like it was being ripped apart as I read the beginning of this lovely story. Fortunately for me, the angst didn’t last too long. I enjoyed getting to know Urban and watching him deal with the emotions of everything that was happening to him.

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Originally reviewed for Swept Away By Romance. Complimentary copy provided by author/publisher for an honest review.
Book Blurb