Archives

Nothing Ventured by Jay Northcote (4.5 Stars)

May30

Aiden Watson has just been tricked into running the Mad Mucker, a challenging obstacle course. Fortunately, Matt is going to help him train for the event. As they work out together, they quickly become friends and then lovers. Unfortunately, Matt isn’t out and they have to keep the relationship a secret from their friends and family.

Aiden and Matt are both interesting characters. Since it’s only told from Aiden’s point of view, we didn’t get to know Matt as well as I would have liked. Aiden was a nice guy who didn’t have anything but bad memories when it came to relationships. Both of these guys decided they could easily hook up on a regular basis for enjoyable sex without any concern about taking it further. However, both of their hearts had much different ideas.

I really enjoyed watching them train together, and it served as an interesting backdrop to their developing romance. It also gave them plenty of time to work through their emotional issues and have plenty of steamy sex.

The only thing I didn’t understand was why Aiden wasn’t interested in a relationship with his best friend, and frequent sex partner, Pete. They seemed to get along extremely well and enjoyed having sex together. Although he had the same relationship with Matt, I didn’t see any better chemistry there. I think additional dialogue between Matt and Aiden would have solved that concern for me.

I really liked this sexy, fast paced romance and adored this author’s writing style.

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

Welcome, Brother (College Fun and Gays #5) by Erica Pike (4 Stars)

May25

A simple romance with some college fraternity drama leads to an interesting tale.

Kyler Morris applies to the most sought after fraternity on campus. Hunter Kingsley, their leader, accepts Kyler and takes him under his wing to teach him the ropes. Some of the fraternity brothers don’t like to play nice, and the two new friends must cope with their budding romance and fraternity troubles.

Kyler Morris and Hunter Kingsley are both very nice people. They come across as charming young men who want to make a difference in the world. They also both love art very much, giving them something significant in common. Neither of them has been in a relationship before so it was fun watching them dance around each other without playing any games.

The story takes place over several months so there is ample time for them to get to know each other. There was also enough dialogue for us to get to know the characters. There were a few events that brought some heaviness to the story surrounding some of the other fraternity brothers and their bigotry.

Overall, a sweet romance between two young college students who are experiencing a relationship for the first time.

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

The Curtis Reincarnation by Zathyn Priest (5 Stars)

May20

A captivating love story between a world famous rock-star and his newest and biggest fan!

Tyler Curtis, aka Alec, is arguably the most talented musician in the world, but his bad-boy persona creates a lot of problems. Fortunately, it’s all an act, as Jordan Braxton quickly discovers. Their chance meeting quickly leads to a strong emotional connection and a lovely relationship. Together they will face an evil manager, rotten mother, Alec’s epilepsy and serious emotional challenges.

The story is mostly told from the POV of Alec and Jordan, which allowed us to get to know both characters extremely well. Periodically, we would hear from somebody else and get a different perspective.

Alec is a very kind person down to the bottom of his soul. Although the emotional abuse he suffered left him in a very insecure state, once Jordan came into his life, he quickly began to stand up for himself. Jordan was a strong person who was happy on his own until the moment he met and fell for Alec. Their love for each other was beautiful and never in doubt. Their heartfelt dialog, including poems and songs, was very emotional and beautiful.

All of the angst of the story was outside of the relationship. The limited sex scenes were mostly just sensual. There were several other characters who contributed nicely to the story including Jordan’s sister and one of the tabloid writers. The story takes place over the course of a year and included a perfect epilogue. This was an absolutely amazing and riveting story which just went on my favorites shelf!

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

The Half of Us (Family #4) by Cardeno C. (5 Stars)

May15

A beautiful love story between two people who slowly came together to become a perfect pair.

Jase was such an interesting and well-developed character. Although he’s a brilliant surgeon, he’s jaded with life and a bit of a temperamental loner. He knows he was a horrible husband after cheating on his wife for so long. After the divorce, he’s not ready to settle down with anybody else, and instead he spends his time with one-night stands. Everything changes when he meets Abe. Abe is an absolute sweetheart with a pleasant disposition. He teaches math, has plenty of friends, and really knows how to relate to other people. Jase is completely smitten with Abe and doesn’t even begin to know how to handle all of these feelings. These two were perfect together. The sex in this story was extremely steamy with a touch of rough play. The time they spent getting to know one another was fascinating. My favorite part of the story was watching Abe slowly become a permanent part of Jase’s life without Jase even realizing it.

I also loved how Jase spends time with his ex-wife as a friend and gets advice from her and other family and friends about starting a relationship with Abe. The family drama with Jase’s son at the end was played out extremely well with no simple answers.

Another amazing and engaging story by Cardeno C. Although they don’t have to be read in order, I have read and loved every single story in this series and recommend all of them.

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