A Shot at Forgiveness by Cardeno C. (5 Stars)

May22

What happens when your high school tormentor wasn’t really the bully you thought he was and instead had a major crush on you?

Isaac Jones is a major basketball player who supposedly tormented Rafi in high school. Rafi Steiner is an attorney who is doing well and doesn’t need Isaac back in his life. But Isaac thinks Rafi is the person he’s meant to spend the rest of his life with, and he’s willing to fight for that chance.

The story was told from Rafi’s point of view, and he was a great character with a sarcastic sense of humor. Rafi is intelligent, hard-working, and a bit lonely. Although he has some good friends, he hasn’t fallen in love yet. Isaac might be a major star, but he wasn’t arrogant. Instead, he was kind, loving, and a bit possessive. At first glance, it didn’t make any sense that Isaac liked Rafi based on how he treated Rafi in high school. However, as Rafi starts to remember some of the nice things Isaac did for him, the story took on a different feel. It was almost like a reminder to the rest of us not to let negative feelings cloud our pasts and block the good memories.

There were several extremely steamy sex scenes during which these two continued to grow their relationship. The conversations were wonderful, and I really felt like I got to know the characters. The story takes place over a reasonable period of time, and we get a glimpse into what their future would be like together.

I really enjoyed this wonderful steamy relationship story with a great sense of humor and interesting characters!

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Originally reviewed for The Romance Reviews. Complimentary copy provided by author/publisher for an honest review.
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By Design by Lisa Worrall (3 Stars)

May21

Making your dream come true might not mean as much if you lose your lover in the process.

Robbie Cooper recently opened up his own tattoo parlor. It’s great that the business is extremely busy, but it’s causing serious problems with his boyfriend. He needs to figure out how to keep his dream alive while also keeping the love of his life close by his side.

This is such a challenging storyline to write. During the entire story, you have to either believe that Robbie is cheating on his boyfriend, or that there is something else going on. Unfortunately, if it doesn’t work, then the steamy sex scene is upsetting instead of exciting. The story needed something more to make it really work. Rob spends quite a bit of time giving Shane a tattoo, but they didn’t have any deep and meaningful conversations during that time. A nice discussion might have helped the believability factor. I really liked Rob, and I could feel his frustration with wanting to take care of every customer while also wanting to have a life again. We didn’t learn very much about his boyfriend except that the person was tired of Rob working late. Shane was sexy and sweet, and their sex scene was pretty steamy.

A cute sexy short with a little bit of mystery surrounding the anonymous sex partner.

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