Tag Archive | Medium Sexual Content

Frankie & Al by Sue Brown (4 Stars)

Jul14

Frankie’s strong, quirky, take-no-prisoners personality brings this enjoyable story to life.

Frankie Mason is getting over yet another break-up and starting to wonder if he’s getting too old to keep partying so hard. After being rescued multiple times by a mysterious sexy man with green eyes, he’s determined to find out who the stranger is. Fortunately, fate is on his side, and Frankie has the pleasure of meeting Al Stoneham at a work function. Now they need to determine if they can take their relationship to the next level.

Frankie’s character completely hooked me for the entire story. I fell in love with his sense of humor, sarcasm, and willingness to stand up for his beliefs. The story is told from his point of view, which worked perfectly since he was such a treat to be around. Al was sweet, and the kind of person that likes to take care of others. The interactions between these two were fun to watch, especially with Frankie’s slight temper. Since Al works at the team building session that Frankie is participating in, we get to see the two of them interact quite a bit to the amusement of their co-workers.

The addictive writing style had me reading this in one sitting. I did have two minor issues with the story. I felt the pacing was a bit off with too much time spent at the beginning before Frankie met Al, and not enough time spent at the end to shore up the romance. I also thought that too many of the other characters in the story were openly homophobic, repeatedly throwing out offensive slurs and comments. Since it didn’t seem necessary for any of the plot points, it just got to be too upsetting. Neither of these issues stopped me from liking the story, and I will definitely read this author again.

An entertaining story with an amazing character that kept me completely engaged from start to finish.

cover

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

Whiskey & Wry (Sinners #2) by Rhys Ford (3 Stars)

Jul6

On the run from a killer, can these two guys find time to fall in love and deal with old wounds?

Damien Mitchell was in a horrible car accident and is now suffering from amnesia. He’s still pretty sure that there’s something wrong with the people who are supposedly his parents visiting him in the psychiatric ward. After escaping, he goes in search of his best friend and band mate Miki. While trying to find Miki, Damien meets the owner of a bar, Sionn Murphy, who over time becomes a good friend and lover. Now they just have to survive the multiple death threats to see if they can have a real relationship.

The romance between Damien and Sionn was done nicely with a lot of time spent developing their characters and relationship through action and conversations. Sionn was a nice guy surrounded by a large and wonderful family, and he just wanted to take care of Damien. Unfortunately, Damien was such a beaten down character that it was a struggle to enjoy his story. He was severely abused as a child, almost died in a car accident and suffered from severe amnesia, lost 2 of his best friends in the same car accident, and is now being hunted by a psychotic killer. Any of those could be devastating, but having all of them come into play got to be a bit much.

I had issues with the flow of the story. For instance, during their first sex scene, there was a break in the middle of it to take us to a gory crime scene. During the sex scene, we were reminded once again about how Damien was tortured as a child. Needless to say, this really eliminated my enjoyment of the first time they made love.

This story spent about half the time on the romance and the rest in the mind of a psychotic serial killer. The details surrounding the killings are very graphic and gory. The romance started out strong with the focus on Damien and Sionn, but then the focus moved to the murders. It wasn’t really a mystery as to why it was happening, since that was explained fairly early on. The biggest question was about who would get killed next, since everybody was up for grabs.

I liked seeing Damien reconnect with his best friend Miki from the first story and get a feel for how that friendship worked since so much was mentioned about it in the first book.

If you enjoy your romance mixed with evil, psychotic killers, then I think you’ll really enjoy this thriller.

cover

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

Tuck & Cover (2nd Edition) by SJD Peterson (5 Stars)

Jul4

An amazingly enjoyable story about finding your true love while pursuing a shared passion.

This book is broken down into two parts with each part running in parallel timelines, but told by different characters. The first section was told by Shane Tucker, and the second by Owen Bradford. Shane has written an account of his life in the army and his relationship with Owen. Owen proceeds to clarify some of Shane’s comments, and provide us with details of what was happening in his own life at the same time.

I absolutely loved and adored both of these interesting and unique characters. Shane was shy, afraid to take what he wanted, but still a powerful man on his own. Owen was cocky, assertive and used to getting what he wanted. These two together created a visual in my mind that I would love to see in reality. The sexual tension during the first story was off the charts, but nothing compared to the heat once they got together. An extremely well-written steamy scene with the perfect emotional connection. Fortunately, it wasn’t the only scene, but the sex certainly didn’t overwhelm the story. I loved their dedication to becoming Rangers and serving their country. Their fear of coming out in the army and being discharged was both realistic and tragic.

There wasn’t as much dialog as I usually prefer in my romances, but it somehow still worked on the emotional level because of how the story was told. By getting both of their stories, I felt like I really got to know each of the characters. There was a touch of humor as Owen continuously egged poor Shane on. I was crying happy tears at the end knowing these two would somehow manage to spend the rest of their lives together.

If you enjoy military romances, then I highly recommend this enjoyable, touching and sexy love story.

**Review for the 2nd edition

cover

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

Turbulence (Turbulence #1) by Lyn Gala (5 Stars)

Jun30

Phenomenal and romantic adventure in deep space with wonderful characters and an intriguing plot that kept me completely entranced from the beginning to the end.

Corporal Jacqs Glebov and Commander Zeke Waters are stationed on the Candiru, a spaceship patrolling the borders while humans are at war with the Ba’kel. As Jacqs and Zeke begin to develop their relationship, they must also deal with their crew, ship politics, and changes in the war climate.

The entire story is told from Jacqs’ point of view, and he has definitely been added to my list of favorite characters. I loved the way he was always so blunt and honest. He told you how it was and never played games. Once he knew what he wanted, he went after it. He took his work seriously, and quickly became frustrated when others didn’t do the same. In his opinion, he wasn’t book smart, but I thought his street smarts were worth significantly more in this world. He also had a heart of gold and was always protecting those weaker than him without giving it a second thought. Listening to everything from his viewpoint was addictive.

I also adored Zeke! He was the perfect complement to Jacqs. He was patient enough to truly get to know how amazing Jacqs was, and he always made sure he understood whatever point Jacqs was making. To top it off, the sex scenes were incredible. They would have full-blown knockdown fights leading to hot and heavy sex, and it was amazingly steamy because it matched their lives and personalities.

I simply couldn’t get enough of this world the author built. It had the perfect balance of science fiction and reality without an excessive amount of new terminology. Although there were quite a few people on the ship, I actually felt like I knew most of them which is pretty amazing for me. The ending of this story was brilliant and realistic.

Extraordinary storytelling and incredible character development made this science-fiction adventure a definite keeper!

cover

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