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Not Safe for Work by L.A. Witt (5 Stars)

Dec17

As a huge fan of kissing, this story was made for me! Two middle-aged men, who knew what they wanted in life, fall in love, and it couldn’t have been more perfect.

Jon McNeil builds models to scale for an architectural firm, but it’s a job that is quickly getting replaced by technology. Rick Pierce is a wealthy property developer who is trying to improve the city. Although they’ve been working with each other, they don’t really get a chance to talk to each other. Jon’s bosses don’t allow him to talk to their biggest client. That all changes when they discover they’re both on the same website searching for the right partner.

I enjoyed learning about Jon’s job. There was just enough detail to keep it interesting and add to the story without overwhelming it. There was a nice edge to the relationship since they had to keep it under wraps. Jon was afraid he would lose his job or cause problems for Rick. It was realistic and gave the story a bit of drama.

Jon oozed sex appeal in and out of the bedroom. Their scenes together were both hot and romantic. The feelings they had for each other seemed sincere. They were always thinking of each other and struggled to stay focused on their jobs. Even though it wasn’t their first love affair, they both knew they finally found the “one”. There’s plenty of kink to go with it, including bondage, pinwheel use, and hot wax, but the multiple romantic kissing scenes were the highlight.

The epilogue was perfect and had me in tears. Jon’s ex-wife and college students play a role in the story and give a back-drop for some of his actions. It was all positive, which was nice. Outside of the evil owners of Jon’s firm, which were a bit over the top, the story was pretty realistic.

It doesn’t matter how old you are, when you find the right person, you do everything you can to keep them.

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

Rated: XXXmas by Lisa Henry, J.A. Rock, E.F. Mulder (3 Stars)

Dec7

Fall On Your Knees by Lisa Henry & J.A. Rock

What happens to a couple when playing with a third person starts to mean more to both of them?

The story was mostly very kinky sex with lots of pain involved. Asa and Javier have been in a long-term committed relationship. They are both Doms, and they regularly bring a third person, a sub, into their night of fun. Asa has been crushing on Drew, his coworker, for the last six months and wants to invite him to play. You can already see the potential for some serious issues with the relationship happening. Fortunately, that aspect was not a major focus and limited the angst of the story.

My biggest issue with the plot was that it tried to be more than just a kinky story, but it wasn’t able to sell me on the new relationship. Drew really didn’t know Javier or Asa very well, and even though they all acknowledged that fact, it still didn’t feel right. There weren’t enough conversations for it to be believable, leading me not to buy into the relationship progression. The BDSM aspects included bondage, a molasses enema, and using a pinwheel, cane and wooden spoon to inflict pain.

This writing team is excellent, and if these elements work for you, then this should definitely be an enjoyable story.

Shepherd, Wise Man, and the Little Drummer Boy by E.F. Mulder

Shep, Rusty, and C.J. are about to make some decisions that will change their lives. They’ve all lived through some tough times, but together they can face all of their challenges and make a better life for themselves.

The characters all seemed like nice guys, and I thought they got along great. C.J. captured my heart with his cheerful and optimistic view on life even though he was in the midst of fighting cancer and learning to live without a few of his limbs. I would have liked to have gotten to know the characters better through dialogue instead of being told what was happening.

There were also too many other characters in the story. They added very little value but took away from the main relationship. I never developed strong feelings for Shep or Rusty and had a hard time understanding why they all fell in love with each other. I also really struggled with the sex scenes. Part of it related to the descriptions which didn’t feel sexy. The other part was the result of the missing emotional connection.

In the end, these three seemed happy together, and it certainly seem believable that they would find some way to make it work. Allowing themselves to rely on each other opened the door to love.

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

Reclamation (Love is an Open Road) by Cari Z. (4.5 Stars)

Nov25

Set in the future, in a world that is filled with despair and crime, Grayson and Matt are both fighting to make it a better place. They meet under unusual circumstances while Matt is working undercover as a stripper. As they begin to develop a relationship, Matt needs to figure out when to come clean with Grayson. Fortunately, this aspect of the story didn’t overwhelm the story. The depressing lives that they both lead was also lightened up by their developing relationship. I enjoyed watching them spend time together and support each other.  As usual, the author always manages to make me feel like I’m living in the story’s world with her incredible descriptions.

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Link to free download.

This story was written as a part of the M/M Romance Group’s “Love is an Open Road” event. Group members were asked to write a story prompt inspired by a photo of their choice. Authors of the group selected a photo and prompt that spoke to them and wrote a short story.

Book Blurb

Candy Man by Amy Lane (5 Stars)

Nov20

A lovely holiday treat that’s light on angst and heavy on hope.

I loved this magical holiday story! Darrin runs Candy Heaven, and he has some strange ability to see bits of the future. His pixie stick is telling him that he needs to hire Adam Macias in order to give him the help he so desperately needs. I thought it was interesting to get two points of view in this story with only one from a main character. It worked very well in this story. Adam has a lot of issues to deal with, and I loved getting to know him better. Since Darrin runs the store, and also has to step in a few times to save the day, it was great hearing his thoughts, too.

I adored Adam. He has not had a great life, and things continue to go wrong for him. However, that doesn’t stop him from trying so hard to move forward. Every time a new obstacle is thrown in his way, he just moves it and carries on. The only thing he’s really bad at is accepting help of any kind from anybody, and after hearing about his upbringing, I could certainly understand why. I loved the different ways the author used Adam’s drawing skills to further the story along. Meeting Finn was the best thing to ever happen to Adam, and he isn’t quite sure what to do about it. Thank goodness Finn wasn’t easily put off by Adam’s behavior. These two were made for each other, and I enjoyed every minute that they were together.

I loved how the author managed to touch me with this story without a horrendous amount of angst or anything over the top, but with a very beautiful story about how love and friendship heals.

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