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Falling by D.W. Marchwell (3 Stars)

May20

Light romance with some very sweet emotional moments.

There were several parts of the book I really enjoyed, and several that just didn’t work for me. I thought the excessive descriptions of every single thing that was happening got to be too much at the beginning. Fortunately, that problem disappeared, and the writing started to flow more naturally.

I enjoyed watching Scott and Hank get to know each other better, and I really connected with the characters at this point. Hank was a lonely, unhappy person who was spiraling downward in his actions. Scott wasn’t thrilled with how everything was working in his own life, but he was working toward a solution that became solidified when he met Hank. Unfortunately, once they finally decided to move forward with the relationship, the story dissolved into an almost non-stop sex scene. The ending felt a little abrupt, and I wish a few sex scenes would have been swapped out to add detail to the ending.

I did like learning a little bit about logging, and I thought Scott’s brother, Brian, added nicely to the story as Hank’s boss. In the end, I enjoyed the romance between the two and liked seeing them get their happy ending.

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Originally reviewed for Swept Away By Romance. Complimentary copy provided by Dreamspinner Press in exchange for an honest review.
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At Piper’s Point by Ethan Day (3 Stars)

May17

Coming to terms with the death of a loved one is traumatic, but celebrating their life through your memories can ease the suffering.

Cassidy Winters returns to the home his Grandmother, Sadie Hart, left him upon her death. After fighting with his parents for years to claim the estate, he is finally able to restore the home to its original glory. Before that can happen, he needs to deal with his past, which includes Nate Sommers, his old best friend and first lover while growing up.

The story, which is told entirely from Cassidy’s point of view, takes place over the summer on a beautiful island. Several of Cassidy’s former lovers manage to find themselves staying with him at the home for an extended time. Nate Sommers actually grew up in the house and Cassidy invites him to live there once again since Cassidy is only planning on being there during the summers. There is a lot of time spent reflecting on the amazing Sadie and the wonderful life that she lived. There is also quite a bit of time spent with the group of men interacting with each other. Since Cassidy slept with most of them, that created some interesting moments.

Unfortunately, very little time is spent with Cassidy and Nate actually talking to each other. Considering that they haven’t maintained any contact over the past decade, it made it very difficult to understand the reason that they felt a relationship with each other would or wouldn’t work. It was also hard to understand what they had in common outside of the fact that they grew up together. The story felt more like a tribute to Sadie as opposed to a romance. As a warning, the story includes a descriptive teenage sex scene and teenage drug use.

Overall, an interesting story about a man finding his true place in life.

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Originally reviewed for The Romance Reviews. Complimentary copy provided by author/publisher for an honest review.
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Brainy and the Beast by J.M. Cartwright (5 Stars)

May16

He thought he lacked the IQ to keep the hot researcher, but it was his lack of relationship know-how that almost lost him the prize.

Nick Shelton is an auto mechanic who is taking care of his teenage nephew, Grant, and running his own business. After his sister dumped the poor child into Nick’s life and left, Nick had his Dad move in to help take care of Grant. Henry Travis is an extremely intelligent and kind, but very lonely, person who also loves old cars. They meet when Henry brings his car to Nick’s shop for some repairs. This leads to the start of an interesting and loving relationship, which although not very smooth, also wasn’t filled with too much angst.

The story is told from Nick’s POV and is focused on his relationship with Henry, Grant, and his Dad. The interactions between the characters were realistic. It was hard not to feel bad for Nick, since he is a bit clueless about how to raise his nephew. Fortunately, Nick has a heart of gold, and his Dad and Henry are both very helpful, leading to a much better uncle/nephew relationship as the story progressed.

Nick also struggles with being in a relationship and pretty much messes up on a regular basis. Henry doesn’t have a lot of experience either, but he does seem to be a bit more knowledgeable. Fortunately, the story takes place over a longer period of time, and the improvement in their behavior is believable. The sexual interplay between Nick and Henry was pleasantly surprising. Henry has a slightly dominant edge to him leading to a lot of very steamy scenes with some enjoyable dirty talk.

There was a subplot issue revolving around child and spouse abuse which happened off-page. There were also several open issues which could easily work into a second book, but closure wasn’t necessary for the final HEA to be believable. The addictive writing is what cinched this story as a 5-star read. I literally could not put this book down.

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Originally reviewed for The Romance Reviews. Complimentary copy provided by author/publisher for an honest review.
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See the Light by Cassandra Carr (3 Stars)

May15

The hardest part of playing hockey in the Olympics should be the game, not hiding your sexuality.

Jason Monroe is a young, sexy hockey player who was chosen to play in the Olympics. Patrick Parker, a former hockey player, is now an advisor to the team. Neither of them is openly gay for fear that they won’t be accepted in the sports world. Their instant attraction to each other surprises them both. Although they know it’s risky to start any kind of relationship, their attraction is too hard to ignore, and so begins their affair.

Jason and Patrick are both nice but somewhat lonely guys. They are also a little insecure and not sure where they stand with each other or how far they want to take the relationship. Because of their hectic schedules, they really don’t spend a lot of time together. However, the time that they do spend together is usually spent engaging in sex. The other main focus of the story is on whether they should come out to the public or not, and what impact it will have on their careers.

The dialogue, while witty, was very limited. It would have been great to have the characters more developed and see more depth to their relationship. Although the plot revolves around hockey, there was actually very little discussion about the game. The story was a little bit preachy about the unfair treatment of people who are gay. This can be accomplished better with actions than sermons. The ending didn’t attempt to solve this problem, but gave us a ray of hope and a nice ending for Jason and Patrick. Overall, it was an enjoyable, sweet and sexy read!

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