Tag Archive | 4 Stars

Winter Ball by Amy Lane (4 Stars)

Mar17

A lovely winter treat with two friends realizing they were truly meant for each other.

Skip (Christopher) Keith is a nice but very lonely guy who didn’t have a great childhood and now doesn’t have any family. Fortunately, he coaches his recreational soccer league and has a small group of friends because of it. He’s known his best friend, Richie Scoggins, since they went to tech school together. Skip is great at calming Richie down, and Richie makes sure Skip enjoys life. Richie works for his dad’s junkyard, but he doesn’t really have a great life either. His dad’s new wife and step-brothers make life challenging for Richie, but misplaced loyalty to his dad keeps him working there.

One night, Skip and Richie get carried away while in a car and the results completely change their relationship. Now they have to figure out whether this can be permanent or not. Neither had been with another guy before, and coming out to their family and friends could definitely have negative consequences. The majority of the story was built around Skip and Richie getting to know each other better even though they were already really good friends. This included plenty of sex, but also plenty of conversations. There was plenty of drama with Richie’s family and some fun with Skip’s job providing tech support.

It was a sweet story with relatively low angst for this author. I shed a few happy tears when these two recognized their love for each other with some heartfelt comments.

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Originally reviewed for The Romance Reviews. Complimentary copy provided by author/publisher for an honest review.
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Dangerous Territory by Cari Z. (4 Stars)

Mar10

A futuristic western mixed in with shifters makes for an exciting story.

Carter Bly just buried his father, and now he’s on the verge of losing everything he owns due to his sister’s bad choice of a husband. He needs to get his cattle to town and get top dollar before his brother-in-law beats him to it. If he’s not successful, he won’t make enough money to keep his home. He’ll need help to do it, and he gets it from the shifter community. Rani is the son of the new chief of the local shifter tribe. He’s trying to prove that he can eventually lead his tribe by helping Carter in return for some cattle. The two form a tentative friendship until trouble strikes.

The story takes place in the future when the world is filled with shifter communities, and a very unstable relationship exists between most shifters and full humans. Although it wasn’t heavy in the romance department, it was an interesting and unique tale. I really enjoyed the well-written action scenes. At one point, I felt like I was in the canyon with Carter and Rani fighting off snakes and floods. I liked both of the characters, although I wish I would have gotten to know Rani better. Based on how well he took care of Carter when he needed help, we knew he was a caring person. Carter was strong and passionate, and I was rooting for him to be successful.

The conversations between Carter and Rani were pretty adorable. I liked Keena and Gertrude, who worked on the ranch before Carter was born and acted as a second set of parents to Carter. They added a nice element to the story and gave Carter a stronger reason to go through the danger of traveling with his cattle.

A fun adventure with cowboys, shifters, love, and friendship.

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

Too Stupid to Live (Romancelandia #1) by Anne Tenino (4 Stars)

Mar3

An enjoyable story about a relationship between two people who seemed unlikely to get along.

Sam is a very sweet young man who is also a huge reader of romance stories. He tends to relate a lot of things in his personal life to how it would happen in a typical romance. Hence the title, “Too Stupid To Live”, is one of his common thoughts about activities taking place around him. He is also a fairly happy person with an enjoyable personality and a supportive group of friends and family. Ian, on the other hand, was a troubled young man. After an accident left him unable to continue as a fireman, and a family that clearly didn’t support the fact that he was gay, he decided to move to a new town. He realized that he lacked common emotional social skills and was actively trying to improve himself. He would have been an unlikable character except that we got to hear what was going on in his head. It was very apparent that he cared deeply for Sam and was just horrible at expressing himself. I enjoyed his therapy sessions where he exposed his deeper thoughts and fears.

The plot moved along nicely, the dialog was witty and enjoyable, and the sex scenes were very steamy and slightly kinky. It took quite a bit of time for them to move from just having sex to having a relationship. I think if that had happened sooner, and we could have enjoyed their relationship longer, it would have been an amazing book.

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Book Blurb

First by K.C. Wells (4 Stars)

Dec28

Can an aging porn star and a young college student find enough common ground for a relationship?

Tommy Newsome is living at college and finally accepting that he’s gay. Growing up in a very conservative and religious home made this an extremely difficult decision. Fortunately, Tommy has an amazing roommate, Ben, who is helping him learn to enjoy his freedom. Mike Scott is reaching the end of his career as a porn star, and with all of the changes in the industry, he’s starting to think it might not be a bad thing. He also works as a bartender which is how he and Tommy first meet.

At first, Mike is convinced that Tommy is way too young for him. However, Tommy doesn’t see the 20-plus year difference as anything to even consider. I think this is the biggest reason why I believed in their relationship from the beginning. Although Tommy was naive in some ways, he was also very smart. He knew what he wanted, and he wasn’t afraid, in his own patient way, to go after Mike. I really enjoyed watching Tommy and Mike spend time together. They were both interesting people and the relationship was developed nicely. It was hard, though, watching Mike having sex with other people while making porn movies since he hadn’t told Tommy about his other job. I liked how the author resolved this major issue.

I enjoyed seeing Tommy grow and mature by making serious decisions for himself, while Mike became less selfish. Watching Tommy come out to his family and face rejection was heart-breaking. Fortunately, Tommy had Mike, Ben, and Ben’s family. I loved Ben’s Mom and thought it was sweet that she took it upon herself to watch out for Tommy.

A sweet romance between two people who were willing to work through their obstacles to find true love.

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