Archives

Gay as Mardi Gras by Lily Velden (5 Stars)

May30

A story so devastatingly simple, and yet so wonderfully executed, that it left me with happy tears at the end!

Jesse is just getting over the ending of his relationship with his best friend and childhood sweetheart, Janey. His Nan decides what he really needs is a break before starting his new job so she sends him on a month-long cruise. Since Nan is convinced that Jesse is gay, the cruise ship is filled with men, much to Jesse’s chagrin. He lucks out when his roommate, Daniel, is also there alone, and they quickly become friends.

I love a new-friends-to-lover theme. Jesse and Daniel form a quick friendship discovering that they have a lot in common and enjoy each other’s company. There was the perfect amount of dialogue and descriptions of their daily activities to believe in the developing relationship.

Although everything was only told from Jesse’s POV, it worked very well in this story. Jesse’s character was developed enough that to make sure we fell in love with him and wanted him to be happy. Daniel was presented as a very sweet and considerate person deserving of Jesse’s love. The sex scenes were steamy and fun. The only angst was wondering if Jesse could accept that he really was gay. I read this straight through, enjoying every emotion it pulled from me!

cover

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

Curious Sustenance by Charley Descoteaux (2 Stars)

May29

He lost weight and then lost his boyfriend. Fortunately, there was a better man around the corner.

Ross Jenson spent the last eight months successfully losing weight. Unfortunately, the day he reached his goal, his boyfriend wanted to celebrate with cake. His best friend and roommate, Janet, takes him to a sex club where he meets Miles Shigihara, an apparent expert in Shibari. The two of them begin a sweet romance while dealing with other life events.

The first half of the story focused on Ross and his relationship with his friend Janet. Ross was a nice guy, and he spent his days trying to bring trans-inclusive health plans to the workplace. Miles owned his own landscaping business creating Zen gardens. Once the two of them meet in the second half, the story focused a little bit more on the romance side and gave us both points of view. The Shibari scenes were very interesting.

Unfortunately, the story was very frustrating to read for the most part. There were too many times that a plot point was started and never finished or clarified. Miles is at risk of losing his house and business, but at first it isn’t clear why it’s happening, which made the entire scene confusing.

In addition to Janet, we also met Ross’ brother Rune. It appeared that Rune and Janet were having a relationship. However, at one point they were upset, but we weren’t told why or what happened. Janet and Rune disappeared after a bit of the story so we never found out the final outcome of that relationship. Leaving these as open items, along with several others, made me feel like I kept missing things which took me out of the story.

If you enjoy Shibari, there are some sexy scenes included in this story.

cover

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

If It Drives (A Market Garden Tale #7) by Aleksandr Voinov & L.A. Witt (5 Stars)

May28

I loved every minute of this story! Being in Cal’s head was amazing and made me really feel like I knew him. He truly wanted to understand how to be a good Dom to James, and it came through with his request to be trained by Nick. I adored seeing Nick and Spencer from If It Flies and If It Fornicates. Nick was pure perfection with his psychoanalysis of the situation and his joy of helping out Cal.

There were several extremely hot scenes with the necessary emotional connection to really make it work. I was glad I wasn’t in James’ head, since he was not in a good spot in his life, and it could have really brought the story down.  We got a glimpse into James’ life, but there was still quite a bit left to explore.

Although the story is complete, I hope to see a sequel. These two are just starting their relationship, and there are so many different things they have yet to explore. I would love to see a story from James’ perspective now that he has somebody to truly take care of him.

I highly recommend this extremely hot step into the Market Garden universe with the engaging Cal.

cover

Originally reviewed for Swept Away By Romance. Complimentary copy provided by Riptide via NetGalley for an honest review.
Book Blurb

An Unlocked Heart (Collars & Cuffs #1) by K.C. Wells (5 Stars)

May26

A captivating story of finding your soulmate for both life and love.

Alex Daniels is a painfully shy young man living at home after graduating from college without any job prospects in his field. While working as a waiter to save enough money to get a place of his own, he meets Leo Hart. Leo is part owner of Collars & Cuffs, a BDSM club. He’s also still mourning the death of his lover. Leo and Alex begin to build a relationship together while dealing with life’s little issues.

This was simple relationship-based story with the focus on really getting to know the characters and watching them fall in love. Outside of a little bit of angst here and there, they spent most of their time happily exploring their adoration of each other while also working through the Dom/sub attributes of their affair. I’m not sure I’ve ever read so many amazing kissing scenes. On top of going out on sweet dates, these guys were huge cuddlers.

At the same time, there was a real story taking place that kept it from passing into the overly sweet category. Alex had some family issues to deal with, including a mother who was extremely detached and a weasel for a brother. Although Leo doesn’t dwell on the lover he lost to the point of depressing the reader, it was obviously still affecting his life.

I really enjoyed the other players in this story, including Thomas Williams, Leo’s partner, and Pietro, Alex’s co-worker and friend. I also loved when Alex started keeping a diary. Since Alex was so shy and he didn’t talk a lot, this served as an excellent chance to get into his head even more.

There were little things I would have liked addressed. Alex’s Facebook friend just seemed to disappear, and I never really understood why he was so afraid to come out to his family when he clearly wanted nothing to do with them. The excessive use of the word “boy” became a bit much. But these were minor issues which I easily overlooked due to the incredible storytelling capabilities of this author. Note that they do spend time in the club, engage in some bondage and whipping scenes, and they have sex in front of a crowd.

I was obsessed with reading this slow-burning, deeply romantic love story with realistic angst, scorching sex scenes, and a good introduction to the BDSM world.

cover

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