Archive for the ‘Book Review’ Category

Knowing it by Hart

by CB Conwy

Publisher: Torquere Press

Brit’s life is exactly how he wants it: neat, ordered, and disciplined, the way it needs to be if anybody is going to take a thirty-two year old CEO seriously. If that means being so discreet that you’re basically in the closet, then so be it.

Then, at a charity dinner, he meets the good Mr. Hart. A very drunken Mr. Hart. Who gives Brit the kiss of his life. That’s all that happens, of course; Brit has got a reputation to protect. Only, he can’t get Mr. Hart out of his head, and he realizes that it might be time to make some changes.

Knowing it by Hart by CB Conwy

Review by Jasmine

4.5/5 Whips in the Backseat

Knowing it by Hart is certainly sweet.  It is a sweet and nice story of two men who seem like a really great match.  Both a little constrained by their jobs.  Mr. Hart gets a little drunk and decides to recite the sordid past of classical music.  Or maybe I should say the naughty proclivities of the composers.  Watching Brit step out of his shell enough to get closer to the musical historian is heartwarming.  The speed with which this happens though skimmed the depths of Brit’s decision.  Still Knowing it by Hart by CB Conwy puts a smile on your face and that is worth a lot.

- Jasmine

Wolf’s Head Inn

by John Simpson

Publisher: Dreamspinner Press, 2010

Genre: M/M, Erotica,Mystery

Dale Stewart just inherited six million dollars from his now passed penny pinching aunt Ruth. With such sad yet exciting news Dale cannot wait to tell his life partner Terry Cooper they are now millionaires! The happy couple now have to decide the best way to invest such a large amount of money. An advisor suggests investing in property which they consider purchasing a hotel on an island. When the couple visits the Wolf’s Head Inn they see a lot of potential and realize this will be a lot of hard work which they are willing to put into it so they go ahead and purchase their first hotel.

As winter approaches Dale and Terry have a great idea of having a murder mystery celebration for the guest staying at the Wolf’s Head Inn over the holidays. One problem though the guests are actually getting murdered and no one knows who the murderer is! To make things even worse a snow storm has trapped everyone inside the inn with no power making it even easier for the murderer to strike again. Can Dale and Terry find out who the murderer is before it’s too late?

Wolf’s Head Inn by John Simpson

Review by Steph M.

2.5/5 Whips in the Backseat

The beginning starts off interesting with Dale inheriting six million dollars.  Terry quitting his job was funny because this is pretty much every body’s dream, winning a large some of money and telling your boss to shove it! So I was really into the story, but then it started to fizzle, getting too wordy about explaining things.

I hate to say it, but I started to become uninterested in the story. The idea was interesting: a murder mystery celebration that actually turns out to be a murdering spree! That could have been creepy and suspenseful, but it kind of fell flat and started to get predictable. Even some of the erotic scenes were not quite steamy enough compared to other M/M I have read.

Still, I would not give up and continued to read on, but each interaction seemed dull except for Micheal and Mervin’s relationship which was more interesting then the main characters Terry and Dale. Although this may not have been my favorite book, if you like mystery and some M/M erotica, then I say it’s worth taking a look. If you like mostly paranormal romance, then this would not be for you.

http://www.johnsimpsonbooks.com/

Dogged Persuit

By Berengaria Brown

Publisher: Torguere Press

After two hundred years as a werewolf, Dwyer is sure of one thing: gay weres don’t have mates. That bond is for male-female pairs alone. So when the scent of Nelson starts to drive Dwyer crazy, he’s sure that the whisper of “mate” in his mind is just an unfortunate side effect cause by Halloween and the full moon. Besides, Nelson is all too human.

Nevertheless, Halloween night finds them taking a romantic stroll together. When an impulsive moment reveals Dwyer’s true nature to Nelson, will their fledgling bond be snapped?

Dogged Persuit By Berengaria Brown

Review By Jasmine

4.75/5 Whips from the Backseat

Dogged Pursuit by Berengaria Brown is addicting read.  BF had to wait for me at the train station because once I started there was NO stopping.  Be prepared to sit down and read this from start to finish.  Dogged Pursuit is a great mix of the mythical and the realistic.  Being a driver does not seem like an exciting day to day job for a 200 year old werewolf, it is however more realistic than castles and giant secret estates owned by were’s as masses of them live together, but unnoticed. 

The “mate” phenomena  – Wolves mate for life – works really well in this story.  There are a few times where things move a little too fast, but I do buy that there is this mythical/animal attraction between the two heros who meet at a car dealership.  Not where I might have thought to come across tall, dark, and occasionally canine.  Do not flock to your dealership – I think this is an unlikely local for singles, though the Honda dealership by me has a coffee machine and free cookies. On the off chance that wealthy weres might be lounging to sweep me off my feet there I will be going to get my oil changed tomorrow.

Dogged Pursuit by Berengaria Brown is a very complete story, and completely consuming.  This is a Hot read, lots of steam sex throughout.  So if you like hot werewolves, m/m romance and a bit of Halloween magic, Berengaria Brown does the genre well. 
- Jasmine

Perchase your copy of Dogged Persuit here http://www.torquerepress.com/fiction/doggedpursuit.html

Insta-Love

By Josephine Myles

Publisher: Dreamspinner Press

When Skip wakes up next to a naked man, his first impulse is to kick the stranger out as quickly as possible, especially when the stranger wants to stay and get to know him better. It turns out that the previous night was Wildman’s first experience with a mood patch, and Skip treats his affectionate advances with cynicism, believing them to be nothing more than the aftereffects of the. But attraction and mixed emotions will fool them both as they learn more about love.

Insta-Love By Josephine Myles

Review By Missy

4.7/5 Whips in the backseat

Insta-Love™ by Josephine Myles takes place in a world where emotions can be controlled by a patch.  It does sound tempting to have happiness just a sticky strip away.  At the same time we get to see Wildman.
  He is all natural, happier, healthier, and better adjusted.  I have to say as much as the patches sound tempting the life in the sun and nature is even more so.

Josephine Myles does a great job with this short story.  The pacing is smooth.  The characters are addicting.   Insta-Love™ is a complete interlude between two strangers that gives the reader hope that these characters have a future together.  My beef with the story?  I would have liked to see the rest of that story.  I am ready to start a campaign – Give us more – We want more – slogans like that come to mind.  I will give Insta-Love™ by Josephine Myles credit.  It is better to leave the reader clambering for more then disappointed with a rushed ending.  Also generating enough interest to leave me making a list of demands takes considerable skill.  Brava!
- Missy  

Find out more about Josephine Myles here http://josephinemyles.com/ or purchase your copy of Insta-Love here http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=52&products_id=2013

Tough Guy

by Bryl R. Tyne

Publisher: Amber Quill/Amber Allure

ISBN # 978-1-61124-008-5

—
Paul Kennedy is set on entering and winning this year’s Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Days’ Tough Guy competition. So why is everyone from Paul’s ex to the Cody, Wyoming, postmaster hell-bent on discouraging him from competing? Each of his friends has his reasons. And among those, one is clear—Tony Austin, the Tough Guy champ for three years running, is sure to kick Paul’s ass.

But Paul’s not worried. He’s book smart and determined…he’ll win, as sure as there’s cowboy in his blood.

Tony Austin, however, has other designs on Paul Kennedy. Designs planned to keep Paul beneath him if only Tony can figure out how to make his desires known. But “Guy Grunt” gets a man only so far, and Tony must rely on the only other language he has a chance of stumbling through…the language of love.

Heat Level: 3  – Length: Novella (18k words)

Tough Guy by Bryl R. Tyne

Review by Missy

4.7/5 Whips in the Backseat

If you like cowboys Tough Guy by Bryl R. Tyne is a great read to pick up when you want some fun.  The story has heart and excitement.  It just made me smile and I really felt for Paul as he deals with his enigmatic Tough Guy competition and lover.

The story is told in the first person which was a little disappointing since I would have LOVED a few minutes/pages with Tony.  He is the Tough Guy champion after all so he has a lot riding on the contest.  I like our main character Paul, but there is something about his interactions with other characters that makes me miss not hearing from anyone else.  Third person would have given a great deal of insight into why people react the way they do to our hero.

Tough Guy by Bryl R. Tyne is a solid read that tempts one to search out a Tough Guy contest though I have never wanted to see a fight before.  All those shirtless hot men, I would not mind seeing them as well as reading about them.

- Missy

BUY TOUGH GUY BY BRYL TYNE – HERE

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Touch of a Wolf

By Jez Marrow

Published by: Torquere Publishing

On a rebound from his cheating lover, Matt Winter has sex in a Philadelphia alley with a man packing a gun and sniffing like a coke addict. When Matt’s stranger from the alley lets himself into Matt’s apartment through the window, Matt learns that the man has a badge to go with that gun. Detective John Channing of the Philly PD has been passing as a dirty cop.

Channing needs a safe place to get himself clean and sober so he can be a credible witness in court against a murderer. And he wants sex. The anonymous encounter was not enough for either of them. As Channing goes into withdrawal the hallucinations start, but it’s Matt who wakes up in bed with a wolf. Matt doesn’t believe in werewolves. But then, he doesn’t believe in love at first sight either…

Touch of a Wolf By Jez Marrow

Review By Missy

4.9/5 Whips in the Backseat

Touch of a Wolf by Jez Marrow is not your average shapeshifter book.  For a big part of the book there is no shifting at all.  It starts with an alley encounter and goes on from a sordid start to a heart jerking read.  Strangers getting off on the side of the road is not very sexy.  Snorting coke isn’t either, guns do nothing for me.  It takes a skillful author to overcome my preconceived notions on all three and write a book I could not put down.

This book has drama, suspense, and most importantly emotional depth.  After such a abrupt meeting between our heros the story needs to convince me that these two men have a romance, not just horny tendencies.  At first their attraction is on the surface a improbable match, but sometimes you do meet someone that you are instantly comfortable with.  It happens.  Where the story goes after that needs to get you to the HEA.  Jez Marrow’s book do that and more.

It is a rare, rare book these days that makes me stand up, run to the computer, and say, “I need every book this author has written.  NOW!”  I will be doing that after I write the review because I truly enjoyed Touch of a Wolf by Jez Marrow.

Pool Hall Green

By Sara Bell

Publisher: Torquere Press

Drew Harris is a master when it comes to the game of pool, but family is always a crap shoot and Drew rolled snake eyes. His parents want little to do with him. The only time they call him is when they need money, or when they want him to bail his gambling-addict brother, Vic, out of a jam. So when Drew’s mother calls in a panic to let Drew know that Vic owes a local casino owner two-hundred and fifty grand, Drew’s not exactly shocked. Not shocked, that is, until he learns that the guy Vic owes doesn’t want the money: he wants Drew.

Casino mogul Evan Stacie never thought he was the kind of man to resort to blackmail, but the death of his brother two years ago changed a lot of things. He needs Drew’s skill with a stick to ruin the man who sent Evan’s brother to an early grave, and if Evan has to fight dirty to make that happen, so be it. Nothing, not his growing attraction to Drew or the soft spot Evan feels for the guy, is going to stand in his way.

Pool Hall Green By Sara Bell

Review By Jasmine

4.3/5 Whips in the Backseat

Pool Hall Green by Sara Bell is an example of realistic storytelling and an engaging read.  I admit the world of pool betting is one that I had not thought would be quite so captivating.  Gambling addiction is one you hear less about then drugs or alcohol.  This was an eye opening look at what damage a gambling addiction can have.

The realism of this tale forces readers to accept that two hundred and fifty thousand dollars is not too much for a wealthy, trust fund type kid to forgive when he has his own agenda.  To one as poor as me it was a little mind blowing.  Casino mogul Evan Stacie must have enough money not to blink an eye at a quarter of a million, which makes him a little hard to understand.  The story being with Drew in first person does not help us get a lot of insight into Evan.  This lack of connection to Evan as a character and his minimal presence for the first half of the book makes the romance come out of nowhere for me.  That being said I really enjoyed these two as a couple.  I just wish the romantic story line had been more subtly laid in throughout the book giving it time to tease and build from their first meeting till the end of the story. 

This is an emotional read.  Pool Hall Green by Sara Bell is hard to put down whether you have ever picked up a pool cue or not.  I am thankful gambling addiction has not been something I have personal experience with.  Sara Bell paints a graphic picture of the struggle and how things can turn out for good or bad.

Unbound: Bonded II

by Jay Lygon

Publisher: Torquere Press

Fionn has waited six hundred years for revenge against Brandr, the vampire who turned him. The first part of his plot goes so well. He kidnaps Kyle, Jamie and Henry from Brandr’s house. That’s all that goes according to plan, though. Usually, the kidnapper makes demands, but this time it’s the hostages who do, and they plan to make Fionn’s life hell until they get what they want. After a couple nights of suffering at their hands, Fionn begins to worry that Brandr won’t take the boys back.

Revenge – it seemed like such a good idea at the time…

Unbound: Bonded II by Jay Lygon

Review by Jasmine

3.9/5 Whips in the Backseat

Bonded II by Jay Lygon is a bit of a conundrum.  It is not really a romance.  More a fun romp that gets a little spicy and has some laughs  Lots of group sex and multiple partners and a group of guys all living together.  It is definitely a neat journey and a little boyrific.  To quote the book “Brandr calls us the unending go-go boy slumber party from hell,”

I confess I did not read the first in the series, so there is obviously more that came before and so this could just be a visit into the slumber party not the whole start to finish.  I have not done so myself but I recommend reading book one first, though all these boys do sound yummy and the laughs are there whether you have read Book I or not.  So if the go-go boy party sounds like your kind of a read pick this one up!

The Brass Box

by K.M. Mahoney

Publisher: Samhain Publishing

Is it real, or just smoke and mirrors?

As a member of the British gentry, Marcus Fleetwood-Smythe’s life is an endless round of responsibility and duty. Charged with finding a magician for his sister’s upcoming wedding, he ventures out into the pouring rain and finds Teague, whose free spirit calls to Marcus. And makes him hunger for anything and everything his position won’t allow him to have.

Teague’s stock in trade are his wandering feet and the rather odd lineage that takes the wonders he performs on stage beyond the ordinary. But there’s nothing more magical than the sparks that fly between him and Marcus. Except the duty-bound Marcus fears letting go of a life that’s smothering him almost as much as he fears discovery.

Desire fans the flames until it flares into forbidden passion, leaving Marcus poised on the precipice of the most frightening choice of his life. Risk everything for the man who holds his heart…or watch his one chance at forever vanish in a puff of smoke.

The Brass Box by K.M. Mahoney

Review by Jasmine

4/5  Whips in the Backseat

The Brass Box by K.M. Mahoney is a fun historical that takes advantage of London’s fascination with Magic to slip in a little bit of the real thing.  Subtle and in general a nice element, but on the whole very secondary to the story of a man tied by duty and one with feet that want to keep walking.  Or maybe just a soul that needs new sights and excitement.   Either way it is their journey to come together that drives The Brass Box.  The hot love scenes don’t hurt.

K.M. Mahoney has an enjoyable voice and I think this story shows great potential for future magic.  Purple sparks in the bedroom and one disappearing man trick is just the beginning of where this historical could have taken the supernatural/paranormal element.  Saying that I hope to return to this same time and see more of the world just a little more mysterious then our own.   Romance, sparking in a time that holds the images of long coats, top hats, and sexy Brits and Irish men.  I like the way this author thinks.

Love Slave for Two
Love Slave for Two, Book 1

By: Tymber Dalton

Heat Level: SCORCHING
Published By: Siren-Bookstrand, Inc.

[Ménage Amour: Erotic Contemporary Ménage a Trois Romance, M/M/F, M/M, M/F, BDSM]

Nevvie Barton has never truly felt loved or like she belonged anywhere–ever. Abandoned by her adopted family and trapped in an abusive relationship, she takes a job with Tyler Paulson and Thomas Kinsey as their cleaning girl.

Nevvie knows her fantasies about “the boys” will always be just that–the two handsome men are devoted, loving life-partners. Then Tyler and Thomas fall in love with Nevvie and hatch a secret plan to seduce her and make her their permanent third.

For the first time in her life, she feels attractive and wanted. When they ask her to move in and be their personal assistant, Nevvie jumps at the chance. Her planned escape doesn’t go without a hitch, and the boys must rescue her from a brutal man who would rather kill her than let her go.

Can Tyler and Thomas heal Nevvie’s wounded body and soul and prove to her that she really is their dream come true?

“I love this book because I fell in love with the characters as I got deeper into the story. They really surprised me, and the dynamics between them as they related to each other were fascinating. They heal each other in different ways, and while they’re all independent people, they’re truly complete and stronger when they’re together.” ~ Tymber ~

A Siren Erotic Romance

Love Slave For Two Book Review

Review by Armenia

5/5 Whips

Have you as a youngster ever read a book past your bedtime sneaking under bed sheets with a flashlight to find out what happens at the end of the story? I have to admit Love Slave For Two made me do just that. I read in the glow of my netbook while on my bed in a dark room. Hours later I met the sunrise. I felt naughty, exhausted and thoroughly satisfied. LOL, if I smoked I would have lit one. All kidding aside this is one story that should not be missed.

Tyler Paulson and Thomas Kinsey have been life partners for eleven years. The guys need help around the house now that Tyler is a successful novelist and Thomas runs his own architectural business and  Nevvie Barton comes to them as a part-time housekeeper. From the beginning both Tyler and Thomas are attracted to Nevvie. The men extend their friendship providing a safe environment for Nevvie whenever she is with them. She’s wary though of the feelings simmering just below her heart. Her feelings for them deepen after a few weeks but fantasizing about a relationship outside of their friendship is near impossible. Or so she thinks.

Tyler plans a long seduction along with Thomas to make her their own. I loved this part of the story; how insightful, caring Tyler and Thomas were when it came to considering Nevvie’s fragile ego. Right in front of me I saw a heroine go from battered, low self-esteem victim to a loving, assertive, confident woman. I was jumping for joy when “her boys” finally let it known they wanted her as a permanent third in their family. Tyler, Thomas and Nevvie were such perfect complements to one another, providing whatever the other could not.

Tymber Dalton pens a wonderfully loving story in Love Slave For Two. This is a super-length novel but don’t let that deter you. Its rich in emotion, has well defined characters that make you fall in love with them, and steamy inventive love scenes. Its fast paced, very light reference to BDSM, and the hot sex scenes done tastefully. Ms. Dalton did throw an unexpected twist towards the end I did not see coming. My stomach was in knots, I felt impending distress wrapping itself around my psyche, and I shouted “Oh. No! You are not going to kill off the heroine!” I had to laugh at myself because I completely fell into her trap. Well done Ms. Dalton.