Two Chicks Obsessed with Books & Eye Candy

Sharing our love of M/M Romance

TCO Reviewer: Erin

Saddle Up (Clean Slate Rach book 3) by AM Arthur: New Release Review

by

Reyes Caldero keeps his past buried deep and his emotions buried deeper. But what he doesn’t say he always makes up for with his actions. When the hot chef he once saved from an abusive ex turns up at Clean Slate Ranch, the quiet cowboy is happy to act on their sizzling chemistry, even if he’s not ready to share his secrets—or his heart.

Miles Arlington needs to get the hell out of San Francisco, and heading north for a job near Clean Slate Ranch seems like just the thing. It doesn’t hurt that his secret crush slash onetime rescuer happens to work at the ranch. Miles has never been one for the outdoors, but the superhot Reyes has him ready to saddle up.

Reyes is happy to keep things casual, even though his heart has other ideas. And when Miles is forced to confront his past again, Reyes and Miles will have to put all their trust in each other if they want any chance at building a future together.

Amazon

Carina Press

Please read the first two books in the series. It isn’t 100% necessary, but it will make this one all the more enjoyable.

That being said, I couldn’t wait for Reyes and his story. Always quiet, never with much to say, but always there for his friends. Reyes and Miles have been avoiding flirting since book 1. Avoiding it so much that it was obvious to everyone. And when Miles gets a job at the ghost town and the only available bed is in the 2 man cabin with Reyes, it won’t be easy to avoid each other.

But they do. Their relationship really grows as friends. Miles is up front in that he doesn’t want a relationship but he does want to be friends. Reyes readily agrees because he doesn’t feel worthy of love.

So while this isn’t really a friends to lovers trope, they definitely grow their friendship. And I loved that.

Reyes and Miles have big secrets. Secrets that even their best friends don’t know. And when they finally tell each other- it is painful. Especially Reyes’ secret. I wasn’t expecting that.

OF COURSE A.M. Arthur made me cry. The tears of her readers feed her. But don’t worry, there is a happily ever after.

4 Pieces of Candy

Savior (415 Ink book 2) by Rhys Ford: Release Day Review

by

415 Ink: Book Two

A savior lies in the heart of every good man, but sometimes only love can awaken the man inside the savior.

The world’s had it out for San Francisco firefighter Mace Crawford from the moment he was born. Rescued from a horrific home life and dragged through an uncaring foster system, he’s dedicated his life to saving people, including the men he calls his brothers. As second-in-command of their knitted-together clan, Mace guides his younger siblings, helps out at 415 Ink, the family tattoo shop, and most of all, makes sure the brothers don’t discover his darkest secrets.

It’s a lonely life with one big problem—he’s sworn off love, and Rob Claussen, one of 415 Ink’s tattoo artists, has gotten under his skin in the worst way possible.

Mace’s world is too tight, too controlled to let Rob into his life, much less his heart, but the brash Filipino inker is there every time Mace turns around. He can’t let Rob in without shaking the foundations of the life he’s built, but when an evil from his past resurfaces, Mace is forced to choose between protecting his lies and saving the man he’s too scared to love.

Amazon

Dreamspinner Press

I love books that are set in San Francisco. That is what drew me to book 1 in this series. And while I liked that one, it was very cluttered with getting to know these five “brothers”. But now that that has all been established, the romance and love story between Rob and Mace were the focus.

Mace is one of the brothers who doesn’t work at 415 Ink, although he is one of the owners. Instead he is a firefighter in China town and also lives in the neighborhood. Instead of falling back on stereotypes, the author offers some insight into the neighborhood without it being a history lesson.

Rob is a newer artist at 415 Ink and he and Mace have been doing that strange dance around each other where they act like they hate each other but they really want to rip each other’s clothes off.

Which they finally do in the aftermath of an earthquake.

*Quick note. After the earthquake IT WAS NEVER MENTIONED AGAIN! Like, what? If you go through an earthquake no matter how big or small, you talk about it. With everyone. But nope, just a tool to get Mace and Rob naked together.

Back to the story. Mace broke my heart with his entire backstory. Ugh, gutted. And while I sort of understand Rob’s situation, I don’t completely. But maybe I just misread something.

All of the other brothers are included in the story without taking it over, which I always enjoy. That is one of the great things about reading a series.

Overall, I liked this one a lot more than the first and I am glad I kept reading. And now bring on book 3!

4 Pieces of Eye Candy

Looking Forward by Michael Bailey: New Release Review

by

Owen Hannity was nineteen when he lost almost everyone he thought he could trust. Each loss more painful than the last.

With the unwavering support of his best friend, Andy, Owen put the pieces of his life back together. Now, more than two decades later, Owen owns and operates a successful comic shop. Despite his modicum of success, he still feels like a shell of a man, carrying the emotional scars from his past.

Without warning, Owen’s past returns. Secrets come to light. Secrets that could either destroy Owen or finally give him the strength to re-evaluate everything he thought he knew about Andy, himself, and the way in which he views the world.

To see that he is truly worthy of loving himself and finally begin…

…Looking Forward.

Amazon

 

Oof. This is a tough one for me to write. This is Michael Bailey’s second book. I hadn’t read the first one because I tend to get nervous about new authors who are know readers of the genre. If that makes sense. But I read some of the reviews from the first book and thought- hey! let’s give this one a shot.

Again, oof.

What this story needed (besides several edits) was a hard assed beta reader. Or three. Sure, have your friend beta read it, but tell them to be honest. Like brutally honest. Sometimes honesty hurts when you put your heart and soul into something, but ultimately it will make it SO MUCH BETTER!

Because the bones were there for a good story. And there was a lot there. But it was too much because scenes weren’t long enough to really sink our teeth into and care about these characters.

It’s a love story with angst and pain. There’s a time jump from 1992 to present. I enjoyed seeing the references about how so many silly things were different in 1992. Land lines. Land lines and long distance phone charges. Writing a phone number down. On a napkin. Silly things, but they harken back to when I was in my late teens.

As much as I enjoyed those things, the first “half” of the book in 1992 was entirely too long. And the second half, set in the present, was too short.

I needed more. I needed to sink my teeth in. But there was no meat. Just bones and fat.

2 Pieces of Candy

*** Disclosure of Material: I received a copy of this book from the Author/Publisher with the hope that I would voluntarily leave unbiased and unsolicited feedback. I was not asked, encouraged, or required to leave a review – nor was I compensated in any way. I am posting this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising. ***

Three Stupid Weddings by Ann Gallagher: Exclusive Friday 5-ish Questions and Pre-Release Day Review

by

On the heels of a painful and long overdue breakup, what Victor Nelson needs is time to lick his wounds. What he doesn’t need is everyone in his family trying to play matchmaker so he can find someone new… which is exactly what they’ll do at the three stupid weddings he has to attend this summer.

Fortunately, it’s Dominic Lowe to the rescue. Dom is more than willing to come along to all the weddings as his best friend’s “boyfriend”… even if he’d much rather be there as Vic’s real boyfriend.

Convincing people they’re a couple is easy. The charade is miserable for Dom, though, after years of being madly in love with Vic. But maybe those three weddings are a rehearsal for the relationship he knows they could have for real.

This asexual M/M romance is approximately 38,000 words long.

Trigger warnings: eating disorder, discussions of verbal/emotional abuse

Amazon – Kindle Unlimited

Thank you to Ann Gallagher, AKA L.A. Witt, for stopping by and answering my Friday 5-ish questions. Her answers are just AMAZE-BALLS!!!!

  1. You seem to have plot bunnies, that make more plot bunnies. They seem to replicate like real bunnies! 🙂 Tell us about your inspiration for Three Stupid Weddings.

They really do replicate like real bunnies. I literally have rainbow plot bunnies tattooed on my arm because, well, plot bunnies are my world. I am constantly sending emails to myself with story ideas, jotting notes in my phone’s notepad or on scraps of paper–there are bunnies everywhere, and they always find me.

Three Stupid Weddings came from seeing some tweets from readers who enjoy the “fake boyfriend” trope, and I realized it was one I’d never written before. I’d also been wanting to write another asexual romance, so I started playing with the idea of an ace fake boyfriend. The story pretty much fell together after that.

  1. You have several pen names. You chose Ann Gallagher as the pen name for Three Stupid Weddings, even as it is M/M. What makes you choose one pen name over another? Is there a method to this madness?

LOL Oh yeah the pen name madness. It’s…well, madness is a good word. There is a method to the madness, though if I had my career to do over again, I might have done things differently. I didn’t foresee writing so many genres, or that I would branch out into pairings beyond M/M and M/F. Initially it was L.A. Witt for M/M and Lauren Gallagher for M/F, and then I write an M/M/F and realized it wasn’t that simple anymore. So when a book blurs the line between two names, I have to make a decision.  In the case of Three Stupid Weddings, it was actually easy: Ann Gallagher writes sweet romances. Since Three Stupid Weddings has no on-page sex (none off-page either), it was clearly an Ann Gallagher book. Where it gets tricky is when I’m writing a sweeter — but not 100% sweet — romance, and it feels more L.A. Witt than Ann Gallagher. Because heaven forbid I make things easy for myself.

  1. Following you on twitter (Peeps! If you don’t you should!) I know you have been doing research on incel, as well as terrible bosses. What can you share about your current WIPs?

The terrible bosses research is for a non-fiction book that I’m hopefully not botching too terribly, and as for the incel research…Oh Lord, I am so glad to be done researching that “community”. That was SUCH a toxic experience. In the end, though, I’m pleased with the resulting suspense novel, INCEL, which will be out later this fall. It’ll be under my fourth pen name, Lori A. Witt, because of course it will. That name used to be exclusively for more mainstream SFF, but I decided to expand to mainstream suspense too; INCEL has a romance subplot, but it’s not really the focus of the book. That and by its very  nature, the subject matter meant delving into some hardcore misogyny and rape culture, and I decided the book (and the other books in the series) should be under the name that focuses less on romance.

Anyway, that book is in edits right now. I’m currently working on a historical novella to go with a Christmas-themed multi-author series later in the year, as well as the final book in my Cruising trilogy (a fluffy M/M trans vacation romance).  My main WIP, however, is a M/M contemporary that will also be playing with the fake boyfriend trope, and I’ve assembled A DREAM TEAM OMG of narrators for the audio version, so I’m basically writing it with their voices in my head. No details on that one yet. 😉

  1. Is there a plot bunny that you’ve had that you were afraid/concerned to write, or maybe felt you couldn’t do justice to it, if you did write it? Why?

Oh, there have been a few. Once Burned involved a character who’s an undocumented immigrant at risk of deportation. When I wrote Static waaaaaaay back in like 2012 I was terrified I’d screwed up the genderfluidity, trans characters, etc. I literally had nine trans* beta readers for that one. Lead Me Not, a Christian M/M romance, was definitely a risk for me because I had no idea how anyone — the Christian community, my readers, my Christian readers, etc — would take it.

So yeah, sometimes it’s scary diving into a book, but I’ll usually write it anyway, and just make sure I have someone else read it.

  1. Always the fun questions! What cartoon character best represents your personal philosophy?

I’m probably some very weird mix of Sterling Archer and Stewie Griffin…

Ah-stinkin-dorable!

This was short, but oh so sweet. The fake boyfriend trope will just never grow old with me. And because these guys are asexual, there was no drunken sex that they felt guilty about after even though they both wanted it.

Instead it was like a slow romance. Building with each wedding they went to. Best friends who slowly acknowledge that they really are in a relationship and love each other.

The book was separated by wedding, which was fun. Besides the beginning of the story establishing character, the rest of it takes place at each of the three weddings.

There is a little bit of angst with Vic dealing with the repercussions of a caustic relationship he is newly out of, but nothing that bogged down or turned the story serious.

This was the perfect, fluffy, sweet, romantic book that is short enough to be a nice fast read, but in depth enough to make you care about the characters.

4 Pieces of Candy

Feel: An Omegaverse Story (Breaking Free Book 6) by AM Arthur: New Release Review

by

Single omegin Brogan Dale is jealous of the loving, stable relationships his omega friends have with their alpha mates. For years, he’s longed to find his own bondmate and create a family, but that hasn’t been in the cards. Just when he’s determined to take the first alpha who’ll provide for himself and his young son Peyton, Brogan scents him across a crowded coffee shop. Too bad his bondmate is the unstable alpha who nearly killed Brogan’s best friend last year.

Mikel Tovey is taking it one day at a time, adjusting to life on his own, away from the oppression and abuse of his cruel sire. All he wants is to complete his probation, make sure his omegin and brothers are safe, and find a way to live with all the mistakes he’s made. When he scents his omega bondmate, Mikel is initially terrified of the older omegin and his adorable toddler. But Brogan is handsome, kind, and Mikel is completely enamored of little Peyton.

With his bondmate in his sights, Brogan does everything in his power to prove Mikel can be a good alpha, a good mate, and a fantastic father to Peyton. But when Brogan’s past comes roaring into his present and puts Peyton’s future at risk, Mikel’s resolve is shaken. He wants to love and support his omega during this crisis, but he doesn’t know how. With Brogan surrounded by friends and chosen family who love him, he doesn’t need Mikel’s insecurities weighing him down, too—but Brogan has found his mate, and he isn’t letting Mikel walk away without a fight.

This time, Brogan has too much to lose…

NOTE: This is a non-shifter Omegaverse story with alpha/omega/beta dynamics, heats, knotting, and mpreg. In this world, omegas are second-class citizens with few civil rights and almost no protections under the law—although times are changing for the better. Trigger warnings for physical, emotional, and sexual abuse. This series is best read in numerical order.

Amazon

 

AM Arthur has me completely sucked into her Omegaverse books! I had only ever read one before hers- and wasn’t impressed- but since I love her books, I gave book 1 a shot as soon as it came out. Or maybe I had an arc. Either way, I fell in love with these guys. And I am still in love. Even though she makes me cry every. damned. time.

Brogan was the last Omega from the fight ring who hadn’t found his mate. Although he and his son were living with amazing beta guardians, Brogan was ready to mate and move on. He was even flirting with placing an ad for a mate, even if he wasn’t his bondmate.

We met Mikel in the previous book as a hook up of Jaysan’s. There was a lot more to that story but I won’t go into it in case you haven’t read it. I mean read it YET. Mikel is a broken man and he wants to fight his bond with Brogan but he just can’t.

Brogan and Mikel decide to pursue a friendship at first. I love that Brogan was totally ok with that. As much as he wanted a mate, and then to find his bond mate but still be willing to wait- I thought it was great.

It wasn’t all roses though with Brogan’s group of friends because of what had happened between Mikel and Jaysan. But they were all willing to give him a chance. They were wary, but willing. They call Mikel out when he has shades of being an alphahole, but some of the other alphas explain to Brogan where Mikel is coming from.

And for those who like seeing cameos, every single previous character makes an appearance. These guys are interwoven and can’t be separated.

I have a couple of nit picky things- but nothing that takes away from the story at all. And I really really enjoyed this story. And of course I want the next book RIGHT NOW!

You cannot read this as a stand alone. Trust me. I’ve read them all and I still have to think back at times to what happened when. Start with book 1. Even if you’ve never dove into the Omegaverse pool, you will really enjoy these stories.

4 Pieces of Candy

Their Ruthless Sadist (Office Intrigue Book 5) by Nicole Edwards: Release Day Review

by

By definition, a Sadist is one who receives sexual gratification from causing pain and degradation to another.

That’s me to a T.

I only play with those who understand what it means, those who are willing to indulge my devious desires.

Any masochist who seeks me out knows that if they trespass, I will gladly shatter them and walk away, leaving them for someone else to put back together.

Yet the cowboy and the pretty boy have given themselves to me. They have agreed to play by my rules and there is only one: THERE ARE NO RULES.

I have warned them. I’m not looking for companionship or love. I don’t want to be their friend, their confidant, or their lover. I’m in it for pleasure only. In the form of pain.

I am ruthless.

I am a Sadist.

And I make no excuses for it.

Amazon

Let me start by saying that I’ve not read the previous books in this series because they are either MF or MMF. I just don’t read “romance” with a female lead any longer. I am fairly competent about extrapolating information from what I am given though.

But I have some questions:
Not only are their BDSM lifestyles openly discussed at work, you can bring your subs to work? And play with them? Because Zeke had to make sure he could bring his dog to work, but no mention of bringing two subs?

Moving on.

This book was a big nope for me. And not for the reasons you would expect. I really enjoy reading BDSM books and so few of them focus on the S&M aspect. So I went in knowing what was ahead and looking forward to it. But it was honestly, so blah.

There is zero emotional connection. Not only between any of the characters, but between me, the reader, and the characters. Part of that is because Brax goes along with this for Case and Zeke walks away after a scene. No aftercare at all. Apparently that is his “thing”. I think it is BS.

Beyond that, the devil is in the details. Brax and Case move to Chicago so Brax can be the head chef of a new restaurant the PR firm is opening, (a pr firm is opening a restaurant?) but says he has nothing to do really until it is almost open. So wrong. A head chef given carte blanche would be at that restaurant 24/7 making sure things were exactly as they wanted them.

Case at least seems to still do his job of personal training at times.

The dialogue could be so incredibly cheesy at times.

“Well, ladies,” Case said with a smirk. “That’s our cue. It seems our Sadist is ready to inflict some pain.”

Quite often Brax complains in his head about being “forced” to do something, but then says how much he loves it.

Basically, for me, this book was a hot mess. From the story line, to the details, to the characterizations and complete lack of emotion. Nicole Edwards shouldn’t give up on MM books or even MMM or MMF. But stick to more romance and away from BDSM. Because if the previous 4 books were anything like this “I have to go see what my Master wants! I hope my ass hurts after!” (ok, not a direct quote, but similar), just no.

2 Pieces of Candy 

*** Disclosure of Material: I received a copy of this book from the Author/Publisher with the hope that I would voluntarily leave unbiased and unsolicited feedback. I was not asked, encouraged, or required to leave a review – nor was I compensated in any way. I am posting this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising. ***