Category: B reviews (Page 28 of 74)

Waiting for Clark by Annabeth Alpert

October 22, 2015 / Kaetrin

Why I read it: After the success of some of my other Love is an Open Road reads, I downloaded some other likely winners. This was one of them.

What it’s about: (from Goodreads) My friends and I love cosplay, and this year we’re going all out for our city’s con. Yup, we’re going to go as members of the Justice League. I’m going as Batman, but I can’t figure out who’s going as a Superman. My friends are being a little cagey. What’s going on? How did I go from not knowing who Superman is to making out with the guy?

What worked for me (and what didn’t): I was really charmed by this story, about two guys who had been best friends in college but had been estranged after a passionate kiss and a Rhodes scholarship (it’s complicated but it makes sense in the story!). Five years later, Bryce and his partners in the bar they own together, Gotham Coin, are setting up their own booth in Portland’s (fictional) PDX Comic Con. Bryce is dressed as Batman and other friends of his are in various other superhero costumes. To his shocked surprise, Superman turns out to be Clark Kenmore (I loved the name) – former BFF and the guy Bryce has been in love with since freshman year and has never quite gotten over.
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Full Exposure by Amy Jo Cousins

October 6, 2015 / Kaetrin

Why I read it: The author tweeted the cover and I was pretty much all in after that. It’s FREE!!

What it’s about: (from Goodreads) There’s more than one way to be a rock star.

Evan Pak is a card-carrying geek (he even has the job to prove it), but when his photographer brother invites him to tag along on a photo shoot with rock star Riley Flood, he figures it will be two days of ogling and eye-rolling and nothing more. But the reckless bad boy is nothing like he expected, and Evan is mesmerized by the mix of cocky and sweet he sees in Riley. When a spontaneous idea ends with Evan stripping down under the hot lights for an intimate portrait for Riley’s next album cover, Evan is absolutely sure their connection won’t end when the lights are turned off. Especially since Riley can’t seem to keep his hands off the tattoos Evan hides under his clothes.

Even a spoiled rock star wants to give up control sometimes, if only for a weekend. The world is full of people who want things from Riley and the demands on him never stop. Evan knows exactly how to turn off the noise in Riley’s head and it starts by putting him on his knees.

Together, they will push each other higher and farther than either one of them have ever gone before. It’s easy to take risks when there’s a time limit on the game. But when their time is up, what comes next if they don’t want the game to end?

What worked for me (and what didn’t): This story is told in three distinct parts. Part One is the longest and is where Evan and Riley meet at the photoshoot. It sets up, briefly, that Evan is a devoted son and the reason he lives with his dad is more than money. Riley’s character is a little opaque because the story is told entirely from Evan’s (third person) point of view. I got glimpses of a man who felt there was no-one on his side, one who was mainly being used as a cash cow and felt alone but it was mostly glimpses. Evan might be a “geek” and work from home in IT but he is not a pale, basement-living, never-see-the-sun stereotype, thankfully.
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September Round Up

October 2, 2015 / Kaetrin

Monthly Mini Review

Necessary Force by DD Ayres – B I recently read Primal Force, which is book three in this series. Even though I had some difficulty with it, there was plenty to like and it was enough to make me look up the other books in the series. I bought two and wishlisted the other. Necessary Force is book 0.5. The stories are only very loosely linked so far as I can tell – but they all feature service dogs. Georgie Flynn is a photojournalist who, as a favour to a friend, takes the pictures for a beefcake charity calendar featuring hot servicemen and their K-9 companions. There, she meets a gorgeous and charming man and has an out-of-character and super hot one night stand with him. A couple of months later, her apartment is burgled and the FBI become involved when they believe she is somehow connected to a bomb left in a prominent Washington DC location. Guess who turns up with his service dog, Zander, to search for explosives residue?

The story is pretty clever actually – the villian is a little obvious and the motivations not entirely clear (there are reasons for this) but it all held together pretty well. Our hero is a good FBI agent and acts in sensible ways which fit with his job and Georgie is a smart and savvy woman at the peak of her profession. They have combustible chemistry but don’t let it get in the way of catching the bomber. Continue reading

Tonight by Karen Stivali

September 22, 2015 / Kaetrin

Why I read it: I saw some of my friends had read and enjoyed this one so I downloaded it. It’s FREE!

What it’s about: (from Goodreads) David has loved his older brother Derek’s BFF, Wiley, since the first day he met him, five long lust-filled years ago. But, as Derek never hesitates to point out, Wiley is straight.

When Wiley has a falling out with his roommate and winds up crashing on David and Derek’s couch for a month, he’s a 24/7 reminder of what David wants but fears he’ll never have. Until one afternoon when David has a major art project to finish and a model who’s a no-show. Wiley offers to pose for him—and it sure feels like the heat between them is mutual.

Could Derek have been wrong about his best friend for all these years? Would David’s dreams about Wiley finally come true? The only thing David knows is that one way or another he’ll find out for sure…tonight.

What worked for me (and what didn’t): David is out and gay – he’s the kind of boy who didn’t really have to struggle with the decision to come out because it was obvious to everyone early on. He was fortunate in school to have a big brother with an excellent reputation and big muscles who supports him fully – Derek makes it clear that David is not to be made a target and this made his high school experience much better than it could have been. Even though David’s and Derek’s parents aren’t really in the story, it is clear they have an accepting and loving family. When James Wiley moved to the neighbourhood in Derek’s senior year of high school, David fell in love. Only problem – according to all reports and especially to Derek, Wiley is straight straight straight. Continue reading

Ice Planet Barbarians by Ruby Dixon

September 4, 2015 / Kaetrin

Why I read it: Mistress M and Michele Mills ~~told me I had to~~ urged me to read this one.

What it’s about: (from Goodreads) You’d think being abducted by aliens would be the worst thing that could happen to me. And you’d be wrong. Because now, the aliens are having ship trouble, and they’ve left their cargo of human women – including me – on an ice planet.

And the only native inhabitant I’ve met? He’s big, horned, blue, and really, really has a thing for me…

What worked for me (and what didn’t): Some of my friends have really enjoyed the barbarian/alien SFF erotic romances by Ruby Dixon. Originally released as serials, those of us who need instant gratification can now buy them complete.

Florida girl, Georgie, 22, has been abducted by little green men. There are some other kind of aliens on board who serve as prison guards and they are particularly not nice (trigger warning: rape). Georgie is one of 11 other girls (6 of whom are in stasis) “collected” by the green aliens for sale. The girls have little information but they are not looking forward to whatever will happen next. When the spaceship they are on suffers a malfunction, the green aliens dump the pod where the girls are held on an ice planet (which they nickname “Not-Hoth”. Heh) and that is where Georgie meets her big blue horned alien, Vektal. Continue reading

Games of the Heart by Kristen Ashley, narrated by Rachel Fulginiti

August 29, 2015 / Kaetrin

Why I read it: I received a review copy via Audible Studios.

What it’s about: (from Goodreads) From the balcony of his house, Mike Haines can see the quiet, commonplace beauty of the Holliday farm. But what he remembers is the little sister of his high school girlfriend, Dusty, who grew up there. As a teen, Dusty had gone off the rails but when she was a kid, she was sweet, she was funny and she had a special bond with Mike. But after high school, she took off and Mike never saw her again.

Then tragedy strikes Dusty’s family, she comes back to town and Mike thinks she hasn’t changed back to the sweet, funny girl he knew but instead continued to be selfish and thoughtless, leaving her family alone to deal with their mourning. So he seeks her out and confronts her in an effort to understand what went wrong and to force her to sort herself out.

He finds out quickly he’s wrong about Dusty Holliday. Very wrong. And right after Mike discovers that, the bond they had years before snaps back into place in ways he would never suspect.

But Mike Haines had a bad marriage then he played games of the heart for a good woman. And lost. In order to protect himself and his kids, he’s cautious, he’s careful to read the signs and he’s not interested in finding a woman he has to fix.

Then he learns what happened to Dusty and he thinks she needs to be fixed. He swings, he misses and in this new game of hearts, for Dusty, Mike just got strike three.

What worked for me (and what didn’t): When I read At Peace at while ago, I enjoyed the character of Mike Haines. Kristen Ashley has written a few books now where there has been a kind of love triangle. I say kind of because it is always clear who the prime couple is – In Mystery Man, the couple were Hawk and Gwen, and Tack was the one who missed out. In At Peace, it was Joe and Violet and Mike was the guy who didn’t get the girl. Tack, of course, got his HEA with Tyra in Motorcycle Man and now Mike gets his HEA with Dusty. I liked Mike in At Peace. He was a nice guy who really cared about Violet and, if not for Joe, she probably would have had a happy life with him. They could have made it work and they had genuine feelings for each other. Generally, I’m not big on love triangles because either one of the guys (usually it’s two guys and a girl) is a dirtbag or both of the guys are great and one has to miss out. What I really like about the way Ashley does it is that I know that there will be a book for the other guy at some point, that he will get his HEA and that he is a good guy and the feelings he has for the heroine (and hers for him) are respected – even by the hero who ends up with the girl. This seems unusual to me and, apparently, it means that I can enjoy the love triangle as a way of showing more love for the heroine, as showing she is “worthy” of love and that she is in demand, without getting too bent out of shape that she will end up with the “wrong guy” or that the “other guy” will be pining away for the rest of his life/turn into a jerk. Also, the love triangles don’t drag on too long and that helps.
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