Tag: Jo’s Reviews

Blog Tour ~ Starting From — The Complete Collection Box Set by Lane Hayes (Review + Giveaway)

05/06/2024

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Blog Tour & Giveaway:
Starting From
Complete Collection Box Set
By Lane Hayes

Starting From Series Boxset Cover

Starting From Box Set Collection

Start from Zero, climb to the Top, and fall in love along the way…

So you want to be in a band, you want to be the best in the world, but you’ve got nothing but a dream. Is it enough?

Take a journey with the boys from Zero who take a chance and song, and build an empire with friends who become family. Age-gap, enemies-to-lovers, second chance, opposites attract, single dad, hurt/comfort.

This collection features the original five novels plus an additional five short stories, one of which is a brand-new Charlie and Ky exclusive!

Five complete novels, five short stories…

Starting From Zero

Starting From Scratch

– Charlie Gets a Cold *Bonus Short Story

– Charlie Does Thanksgiving *Bonus Short Story

Starting From Here

– Starting From Home *Bonus Short Story

Starting From Somewhere

Starting From the Top

– Starting From Family *Bonus Short Story

– Charlie Gets Jealous *Exclusive New Short Story

Starting From Box Set Collection features MM, bisexual, age-gap romance, and more…rock and roll style. The journey begins with a dream, a song, a few friends, and becomes a love story for the ages.

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New Release Review ~ Fen by Barbara Elsborg

05/02/2024

An indecent proposal leads to a future neither guy expected.

Fen is broken but does his best to hide the cracks. His life-changing condition might have stolen his first love—ballet, but he’s kind to old ladies, good at his job, and his mum loves him, even if his famous father refuses to acknowledge he exists.

Ripley’s a top flight barrister who’s used to winning. Mostly by fair means, occasionally not. He’s horrified when he learns his manipulative mother has sent family possessions to an auction house. On his way to retrieve them, he encounters Fen.

Cold, rain-soaked and hungry, struggling with his crutch and auction acquisitions, Fen just wants to get home. What he doesn’t want is to be drenched by a car and minutes later, confronted by the bad-tempered driver demanding he hand over his purchases. Hell no!
Ripley gets back his belongings but finds he wants more. Blue-eyed Fen has sparked something to life. Even as his barrister’s brain screams at him to be careful, he makes Fen an outrageous offer. Sleep with me for money. Fen should say no. Yet as he weighs his options, he realises turning Ripley down could be the biggest regret of his life.

In a tale where the pieces don’t always fit, can two imperfect men mend what’s broken in each other?

Warning
Main character with a life-limiting illness. Suicide of a character before story starts. Brief mention of rape and suicide of a man not in the story.

Amazon  |  Goodreads

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Book Review ~ The Linebacker by Emerson Beckett and Rheland Richmond (Excerpt)

04/30/2024

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Book Review & Excerpt:
The Linebacker
By Emerson Beckett & Rheland Richmond

The Linebacker

Portland Protectors- EHM Security Series,
Book 2

Is it wrong for me to want the world to know I’m in love with Patrick Griffin and have been since we were eight-years-old?

Patrick Griffin

I hurt him. I didn’t mean to.

Now he’s gone, and I deserve it.

As a linebacker in the NFL, I’ve never found the right time to come out of the closet. Not even when I promised Cole I would.

But now, with Cole’s band, Fallen Angel, in the spotlight along with my team, the pressure is mounting. Everyone thinks we’re just best friends, but the weight of my secret is tearing us apart.

And it just might be too late to save us when I can.

Cole Bradley

Is it wrong for me to want the world to know I’m in love with Patrick Griffin and have been since we were eight-years-old?

He is the love of my life, but it’s been years of waiting and excuses.

All our friends, even his teammates, have a public life. So why can’t we?

He promised it would be different in Portland.

But then he tells yet another reporter he’s single. I need a break. It’s perfect timing since our band is heading out on tour.

I don’t know if I can live without him. But I don’t think I can do forever in the closet.

It’s always been Patrick for me, but is it too much to ask for the world to know he’s mine too?

The Linebacker is a secret romance and childhood best friends-to-lovers MM Romance. It is book two in the Portland Protectors-EHM Security Series and the eleventh book in the Package Deal World.

To maximize reader enjoyment, it is highly recommended to read the other books in the Package Deal Series, as well as book one, The Rockstar. Series reading order can be found at the beginning of each book.

Content Warning: Referenced off the page homophobic violence toward an off the page character, and an automobile accident.

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New Release Reviews ~ Wild at Heart by Riley Hart & Christina Lee

04/29/2024

Blurb:

BISHOP SULLIVAN

I’ve always known what my future had in store: inheriting the family ranch and having myself a wife and kids to carry on the Sullivan name. Porter Dixon never factored into those plans. We may have spent our teenage years sneaking away to lose ourselves in each other, but he always held me at arm’s length…until the day he up and left without so much as a goodbye.

PORTER DIXON

After everything I’ve lost in my life, it’s important that I keep myself tightly guarded. Especially around Bishop Sullivan. Dad would be rolling in his grave if he found out I was shacking up with a Sullivan, given the bad blood between our families. But eleven years after leaving, I’m back in Laurel Springs with something to prove: I don’t need the Sullivans, nor their land.

Except, damn it all, Bishop has this way of burrowing under my armor. The magnetic draw between us is still too hard to ignore, and what starts out as boss and ranch hand quickly turns into stolen moments and simmering encounters that make it hard to stay angry.

I want to think that love can conquer all and tame my wild heart…but the past isn’t so easy to forget.

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Release Blitz ~ Elite Connections Anthology (Review)

04/26/2024
Title: Elite Connections
An LGBTQ Romance Charity Anthology
Genres: MM, FF, LGBTQIA+ Romances
Release Date: April 26, 2024
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Every need met. Every desire fulfilled.
Welcome to Elite Connections, the secret, exclusive service where money is no object and your every wish is guaranteed to come true.
Fake dates, arranged marriages, or just some company for the night, whatever it is, with Elite you are covered.
Benefitting Outright International, an organization that works to amplify inclusion and equality across the world, and Lambda Legal, fighting for the civil rights of LGBTQ+ people.
Elite Connections is a queer charity anthology containing MM, FF, and other LGBTQ+ romances and will be available for a limited time only. All proceeds will be split between the chosen charities.
With stories from:
Ana Ashley – BA Tortuga – Colette Davison
Emily Silver – Erin Zak – Jax Calder
Kelex – Frances M. Thompson – Jodi Payne
Rhys Everly – Sarah Zane
Saxon James – V.L. Locey

Review Tour ~ Wingman Score by Crea Reitan

04/26/2024

Wingman Score, the fifth book in the For Puck’s Sake series by Crea Reitan is out now! Snag your copy today to binge the series now!

One Click Today!

Cover Designer: Rebeca Covers

Blurb:

 

It’s time to score.

Zak

When you fight for so long, sometimes it’s just easier to give in. I want to give in to the god before me. Sent to me from the heavens, Owen is the very definition of divine perfection. But he doesn’t know my truth. If he did, he’d know that I don’t belong in his world. 

The shame of seeing the disgust on his face when he figures it out keeps me running from him. Even though fate or destiny or something cruel keeps throwing us together. Maybe he’s the motivation I need to get my shit in order. 

But can I do it before he figures out I’m nothing but a street rat?

Owen

The person who was made for me turns up at the New Year’s Eve party I didn’t want to go to. We’ve been serendipitously thrown together a handful of times since and though I know Zak wants me, he keeps walking out my door and refusing to call. 

I can’t figure out why and it’s driving me insane. When I can’t take it anymore, I chance him thinking that I’m a stalker and show up at the address I dropped him off at last. Zak doesn’t live there but I finally learn his secret. 

Now all I have to do is figure out how to convince Zak that I’ll give him the world if he’ll let me. Should be as easy as winning that elusive Stanley Cup.

***

This is a LGBT+ story with content not intended for those under 18 years of age due to graphic scenes and situations.


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Book Review ~ Stacked by Linden Bell (Excerpt)

04/20/2024

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Book Review & Excerpt:
Stacked
By Linden Bell

Stacked 2

Mars Fitness, Book 2

Sawyer

I’ve been in love with my best friend and roommate since the first day of boarding school over a decade ago. But Preston has always been oblivious, obsessed with his PhD research, and more importantly, straight.

When the new, sexy grad student walks into my gym, I have to wonder… is it time for me to move on?

Preston

Some guy is trying to steal my best friend. I won’t let him. Sawyer’s mine.

Maybe I haven’t appreciated Sawyer enough over the years, but that’s going to change now. I’ll do whatever it takes to keep him by my side. Even if it means kissing him.

Stacked is a best friends-to-lovers, bi-awakening, nerd/jock MM romance between possessive, protective, and co-dependent roommates. Expect the most tender caretaking, slipping into each other’s beds in the middle of the night, and adorable clinginess. It is the second book in the Mars Fitness series and can be read as a standalone.

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Blog Tour ~ Salt by Fearne Hill (Review + Giveaway)

04/17/2024

SALT

Island Love – Book One

by Fearne Hill

Blog Tour

Release Date: April 10, 2024

Cover Design:

Black Jazz Design


Genre: M/M Romance Standalone

Tropes: Bi-awakening, age-gap, hurt/comfort, slow burn, rich man/poor man, troubled past, Synaesthesia

Synopsis

When was the right time to tell someone that silver flames were shooting from their hair? And that your own tranquil green desired nothing more than to tangle with them, if only it could escape a malevolent orange flare hounding your every move?

Over-stressed businessman Charles Heyer is not like most people. With a rare medical condition that scrambles the senses, he experiences emotions as flashes of colour, giving them the power to disrupt, dismay, or delight. Alone in his over-vivid world, a devastating bereavement leaves him mentally scarred and recuperating on the picturesque French island of Ré where, through a chance encounter and a good deed, he is introduced to Florian, a flirty local salt farmer.

What with trying to protect the island salt cooperative from a corporate takeover and keeping a watchful eye on his errant grandfather, handsome Florian is not as carefree as he appears. Falling in love with this odd Englishman is as unexpected as it is welcome. Both exploring new feelings, the lazy days of summer stretch out for miles until a visitor from Charles’s London life throws their peaceful idyll into a kaleidoscope of chaos. And, all of a sudden, the island’s glorious palette of colour turns several shades darker.

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Blog Tour ~ Friends Like Them by Aimee Nicole Walker (Reviews + Excerpt + Giveaway)

04/15/2024

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Blog Tour, Excerpt & Giveaway:
Friends Like Them
By Aimee Nicole Walker

Friends Like Them Cover

Redemption Ridge, Book 4

Owen Doyle’s rough beginnings taught him not to form attachments, yet he’s drawn to Tyler Booth like a magnet. Their relationship has blossomed from strangers to best friends, with each twist in the journey weaving their connection tighter. But Owen has a six-year secret that’s become unbearably painful to keep. As the seams of his resistance fray, Owen will lean into a new mentoring opportunity to keep from ruining the best thing in his life.

Tyler will never regret going to jail and getting sober because meeting Owen saved his life and taught him how to trust again. Their inseparable bond has earned much teasing over the years, but Tyler doesn’t recognize himself without Owen. When he senses a yawning chasm between them, he’ll turn to mutual friends for help. Their well-meaning advice opens Tyler’s eyes to unexplored possibilities and will snap missing puzzle pieces into place.

Some hopes are too big to stifle, and some truths are too big to ignore. A photo booth, smoking-hot kisses, and honest revelations will take Owen and Tyler’s intimacy to a whole new level. But before they can achieve their happily ever after, they must unload the baggage from their pasts. Will the road to discovery guide them to the necessary healing, or are the guys destined for the highway to heartache?

Friends Like Them is book four in the Redemption Ridge series. Though each story features a different couple, reading the series in order is essential. Friends Like Them contains mature themes and is intended for adults.

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Book Review ~ Mint to Be by F.A. Ray (Excerpt)

04/15/2024

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Book Review & Excerpt:
Mint to Be
By F.A. Ray

Print Cover

Boyfriend Café, Book 4

I’ve given up on love by the time tall, dark and handsome sweeps me off my feet — literally.

Mal

Everyone around me is sickeningly in love. And I’m happy for my friends. I really am. But when is my turn coming? Why am I still a disposable hookup?

I’m ready to give up on love entirely by the time a bunch of drunk jocks decide to jump me on my way home from the Boyfriend Café. But before a single punch can fall he sweeps in, my dashing hero, my literal tall, dark and handsome, the most gorgeous man I’ve ever seen.

Please tell me this isn’t a dream.

Omari

The second I hear a scream I run toward it without thinking. My own teammates are threatening someone, and I rush in to stop them. But the man I save is … beautiful. And funny. And smart. And he brazenly gives me his phone number right then and there.

He has no idea that he just gave his number to the most hunted man at this university.

I’m Omari Carter, a football player everyone assumes is destined for the pros. Scouts are hounding me. Coach is pushing me to decide on my future. My whole family is depending on me. But Mal doesn’t know or care about any of that.

With all the expectations weighing me down, I don’t have time for love. So why can’t I walk away from this?

Mint to Be is an opposites attract MM romance with a major size difference, a grumpy/sunshine dynamic, an athlete meeting a lovable fashion nerd and spicy open door scenes.

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Release Blitz~ Higher Demon by Louisa Masters (Reviews)

04/11/2024
Title: Higher Demon
Series: The Collective #1
Author: Louisa Masters
Genre: MM Paranormal Romance
Tropes: Enemies to Lovers/Forced Proximity
Secret Relationship
Release Date: April 11, 2024
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No matter the demon, the hunter’s role is clear…
A thousand years ago, my great-something uncle founded the Collective, a secret organization dedicated to protecting humanity from demons. The hunter tradition has been passed down over the generations, from parent to child, secure in the knowledge that the Collective is a community of safety and knowledge.
But betrayal sucks, and six years ago, it turned my world—and the Collective—upside down. After generations of deception, the hunters left behind are picking up the pieces and trying something we’ve never done before—working side by side with our enemy.
Demons, just to be clear. They’re apparently “misunderstood,” but the jury is still out on that. And I—a twentysomething archivist with an addiction to hoodies—somehow ended up as liaison to the demon ambassador.
If it sounds like a nightmare, that’s because it is. The demon ambassador is a stuck-up, pretentious twat… not to mention he could kill me with a thought. Worst of all, he’s getting under my skin in ways I never expected. But I’m the only hunter who doesn’t actively want to kill him, so… tag, I’m it.
I’ve already been betrayed by those I should have been able to trust the most. How hard can hanging out with a higher demon be?

 

PURCHASE LINKS
AMAZON US / UK / CA / AU
UNIVERSAL
Free in Kindle Unlimited
ALSO AVAILABLE IN AUDIO

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Blog Tour ~ The Marie Sinclair Reader by Marie Sinclair (Review + Giveaway)

04/10/2024

THE MARIE SINCLAIR READER

A Short Story and Novella Collection

by Marie Sinclair

Blog Tour

Release Date: April 3, 2024

Cover Design:

Angela Haddon

Genre: M/M Romance Standalones

Trope: Meet cutes, first times, first loves, low angst, HEA

Synopsis

The Marie Sinclair Reader: six stories and novellas that are the perfect morsels of romance. From first times and first loves to meet cutes, sensuous seductions, and second chances, these stories are sometimes sweet, sometimes steamy, but always with an HEA.

Might Delete Later: An epically clichéd breakup leads to the cutest of meet-cutes with love at first text, delicious pastries, and the best dog face ever.

Chef’s Kiss: A sensuous seduction of wine, food, and desire turns a failed romantic dinner into a brand new chance at love.

Man Down: Unrequited love and frustration as volatile as the whitewater rapids that bring a bar owner everything he’s ever wanted with his ex-head bartender if he can only let nature run its course.

Nothing Like a Summer Romance: First loves. First times. It’s everything you could hope for in a summer romance. Maybe.

Same Old Love: A former child actor turned winemaker and a spiraling, out-of-control rock star get a second chance at the love they were never able to have.

Voir Dear: Jury duty a bore? Not when you find yourself sitting next to the guy you haven’t been able to stop thinking about since he sent your travel mug flying into traffic.

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Release Blitz ~ Making Waves by Harper Robson (Review)

04/10/2024
Title: Making Waves
Series: Getaways #1
Author: Harper Robson
Genre: Contemporary M/M Romance
Tropes: Frenemies to Lovers, Opposites Attract
Only One Bed, Grumpy/Sunshine
Release Date: April 10, 2024
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Penn
I’m the wild friend. The social butterfly who always knows where the party is (hint: it’s usually at my place). After getting my heart stomped on, I end up with a pair of non-refundable tickets for a super-luxurious cruise vacation. The thought of going solo makes me want to puke, but the only person available to come with me is the one guy who’s completely unimpressed by my trust-fund lifestyle and wild antics.
Hunter
Penn and I have nothing in common. The guy’s never even had a job, while my career is one of my top priorities. He’s into glitzy parties, designer clothes, and fancy cars, while I’m more comfortable behind my keyboard writing code, or hitting the neighborhood pub with our friends for a beer. Sharing a room with the guy for an entire week is going to be one helluva challenge.
Making Waves is a spicy, frenemies-to-lovers, tropical vacation M/M romance set on a cruise ship. It features only one bed, loads of beachy shenanigans, friends who are family, and plenty of proof that opposites do, in fact, attract.

Blog Tour ~ Mike Bravo Ops: Zeus by Eden Finley (Reviews + Giveaway)

04/05/2024

MIKE BRAVO OPS: ZEUS

Mike Bravo Ops #4

by Eden Finley

Blog Tour

Release Date: March 28, 2024

Cover Design:

Cate Ashwood Designs

Genre: M/M Romantic Suspense Standalone

Trope: Found family

Synopsis

CALLIE

After constantly looking over my shoulder as I run for my life, I’m on the brink of giving up.

On happiness.

On love.

On life.

Which is why, when a familiar face shows up where I’m hiding, I shock myself by running again. Though, probably not as shocked as Zeus is when I run him off the road with my car.

For some reason, my survival instinct is stronger than my mind is, and I find myself fighting for the life I’m not even sure I want.

On the run and nowhere to turn, I flee into the arms of the last person I should. Suddenly, I find myself involved in one of the worst crime syndicates in Las Vegas, and no way to get out.

ZEUS

Why would Callie run away from me? I’m delightful, damn it. I mean, sure, he probably thinks I’m trying to kill him, but I’m not. I’ve been hired to make sure he’s okay and that he’s surviving after escaping an abusive relationship, making mistakes, and putting multiple people’s lives in danger.

He screwed up, but he doesn’t deserve to die for it. And now, because of me, his life is at risk yet again.

Technically, my job is done. Callie is still breathing. That’s all I was supposed to find out. But I can’t sit by knowing he’s selling his soul. His body. I need to get him out, and I’ll go to any lengths to do it.

**Mike Bravo Ops Zeus deals with some sensitive topics. Please check the Look Inside feature for trigger warnings**

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Blog Tour ~ Bridging Hope by Greyson McCoy (Review + Excerpt)

04/03/2024

BLOG TOUR

Book Title: Bridging Hope (Bridging Hearts Series, #1)

Author: Greyson McCoy

Publisher: DreamSpinner Press

Release Date: March 26, 2024

Genre: Contemporary M/M romance

Tropes: Hurt/Comfort, forced proximity, small town romance

Themes: New dads

Heat Rating: 3 flames

Length:  58 pages

It is a standalone book and does not end on a cliffhanger. It’s a HEA

Goodreads

Buy Links

DreamSpinner Press  |  Amazon US  |   Amazon UK 

Blurb 

When workaholic Pierce Simms’s sister passes, he suddenly finds himself unemployed, back in the hometown he fled, and raising his niece and nephew. Despite that, he’s confident he has things under control—at least until his sister’s high-school sweetheart shows up.

With his teaching grant ended, Dalton O’Dell is at loose ends and tight purse strings. Just as the world crashes down on him, he learns his ex-girlfriend has passed and named him guardian of her two young children. Chaos ensues when he and her brother, Pierce, are forced together to raise the toddlers in Pierce’s family farmhouse.

Nestled in the enchanting beauty of the farm, Pierce and Dalton bond over the challenges of co-parenting and their shared grief as unexpected love blossoms. Love might not be enough, however, if they can’t learn to bridge the gap between their different worlds and overcome the trauma of their pasts.

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