4 stars

Match Point by Leigh Carman: Release Day Review

July 20, 2016 by Denise

synopsis Two stubborn men.

One is a rude jerk. The other, the life of the party.

It was hate at first sight.

Pro beach volleyball players Finn Callahan and Dexter Savage have been rivals since college. While Finn always comes out on top on the court, Dexter’s carefree and fun-loving personality earns him scores of adoring men and women. And as much as Finn fights to deny it, there’s another reason for the tension he feels when Dex is around. Hate wasn’t the only thing he felt when he first laid eyes on his opponent.

When they’re forced to team up, the two men must bury their differences—on and off the court—if either of them is going to succeed professionally.

Title: Match Point
Author: Leigh Carman
Release Date: July 20, 2016
Category: Contemporary
Pages: 200

deanna review

I really enjoyed this book. I have read a lot of sports books that were just ok, a lot of sports action and sex but little to no story. This book is a perfect mix of sports and storyline.

Finn and Dex hate each other both on and off the volleyball court. When Dex ends up needing a partner his coach suggests Finn. The two will need to put their differences aside and play together to keep winning.

I was blown away at the amount of emotion I felt for Finn after just two chapters. The writing really conveyed his loss with believable emotion.

The two MC’s were both likeable characters with great backstory. The plot moved along at a steady pace and kept me on my toes. Both Dex and Finn have pasts to overcome and by working together they do just that.

This was a great start to a new book series. I can’t wait to get my hands on book two.

4 pieces of eye candy

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Dreamspinner Press

Not A Game by Cardeno C : Release Day Review

July 15, 2016 by Denise

synopsis

An accidental meeting and a misunderstanding lead to a life-altering connection.

A new job, a new city, and hopefully a new life. When chubby gamer Oliver Barnaby receives a job offer from the best boutique game developer in the country, he leaves his family and his less than spectacular existence in Oklahoma without a second’s hesitation. Determined to change more than his career and his geography, Oliver implements a plan to finally land a boyfriend. Step one is improving his skills in the bedroom.

A life that looks perfect on paper, but feels empty in reality. Attractive, successful, charismatic Jaime Snow has a life other people envy. His already booming business is growing. He isn’t lacking in friends. And he has no trouble finding a date. But there’s an emptiness in Jaime’s heart and a hole in his life that only the right man can fill.

An accidental meeting, a misunderstanding, and falling in love. When Oliver and Jaime end up at the same bar at the same time, they each see something they want in the other. Going to bed together that first night is easy. Building the lifetime relationship they both desperately crave will require trust, time, and a little misunderstanding.

denise review

If you want an angst filled, nail biter of a story, Not A Game isn’t the book for you. However, if you want what I think is Cardeno C‘s specialty, a romance set in the real world, with characters that you can relate to, then this book is a great choice!

Oliver is a chubby game developer who decides to move across the country to start a new job, and a new life, and decides to press the reset button on his love life by getting lessons on loving from a male escort. In walks Jamie, and they begin a misunderstanding that Jamie is loathe to correct until he can figure out how to do it and keep Oliver in his life.

I really enjoyed getting to know Oliver, and all his quirks. Everything was a numbers game for him, down to figuring out the number of people attending a party. Logic and forthright understanding was how Oliver worked through his life. If he could quantify it, or explain it rationally, then he could understand it, and move on. However, if it made no sense, then his nerves ballooned, and he would shut down. This was so true to how many people deal with every day life situations. It was just one more reason to love the character of Oliver.

Jamie was so sweet and loving, caring for Oliver as much as he could, showing him how important he was, and how attractive he found him. He let Oliver know that his size was desirable to him, not a turn off, emphasizing it when Oliver needed it most. Jamie showed himself to be the boyfriend that Oliver needed and wanted.

I would have liked to see a bit more of a conflict, to see how these men dealt with issues that needed resolution. There were a couple things that I thought needed to be resolved, for Oliver’s comfort level to be where he needed it to be to be comfortable in his relationship with Jamie. However, a sweet read like this doesn’t necessarily need conflict to be enjoyable, and leave the reader wanting the HEA that came at the end.

And of course, we have a great setup to see what is ahead for Jack, as he ventures back into the world of dating after 8 years of a broken heart. Looking forward to that, because CC will no doubt give us what we are craving.

4 pieces of eye candy

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Lock and Key by Z. Allora: Release Day Review

July 15, 2016 by Denise

synopsis

Rejected. Heartbroken. Devastated.

Zack Davis wanted to serve only one man, Andrew Nikeman. He was denied because Andrew thought he was too young and because their brothers were together. So Zack crushed his submissive tendencies and focused on being the perfect Dom, giving every sub he played with something he couldn’t have.

After years of denying his submissive side, Entwined’s charity auction “Are you Dom Enough to be a sub?” gives Zack an excuse to get a little of what he’s always craved.

Andrew doesn’t know when his infatuation turned into more, but it kills him to see Zack with a constant parade of submissives. He’d refused to jeopardize his brother’s relationship or become Zack’s regret; however, Zack isn’t a kid anymore, and his brother’s relationship is unbreakable. Now Zack’s popularity and success as a Dom might ruin Andrew’s dreams of collaring him, but he can’t wait any longer to confess his feelings or he risks losing the man he loves forever.

Title: Lock and Key
Author: Z. Allora
Release Date: July 15, 2016
Category: BDSM, Contemporary
Pages: 300

deanna review

I really got into this book. I love a story told over a long period of time and this one spans years.

Zack has been in love with Drew since the moment he saw him. Drew brings out Zack’s submissive side and he longs to give himself to the older man. Drew thinks Zack is too young and since their brothers are dating he doesn’t want to rock the boat.

Zack finally gets up the courage to tell Drew what he wants and he is rejected instantly. Zack and Drew both belong to the BDSM club Entwined and Zack decides if he can’t be Drew’s sub than he will be the best Dom anyone has ever seen and help subs find what he never can.

For two years Drew watches Zack grow and mature in Entwined. The easy friendship the two had is now awkward and uncomfortable. Entwined is hosting a charity event “Are you Dom enough to Sub for a night?” Zack decides the cause is worthy and he is willing to see if anyone can offer him what he was hoping for with Drew.

When nerves get the best of him Zack decides to wear a blindfold during the charity auction. Drew decides he will win Zack no matter the cost, the two spend an explosive weekend together. Both of them try to withhold their feelings and expectations which leads to each of them misunderstanding what the weekend means to them.

Once they collectively pull their heads out of their asses they realize they were meant for each other. But just because the are now together doesn’t mean the communication needs to stop. Zack is terrified to put himself out there again after Drew’s initial rejection and Drew incorrectly assumed that Zack needs to take it slow. It will take their brothers to help keep them on the right path to happiness.

I really enjoyed this story. The BDSM books I have read recently have been all sex and very little plot, but this was the exact opposite. Don’t get me wrong, there was sex. Really hot sex, but the story was well thought out and moved along at a steady pace.

There were a ton of supporting characters and sometimes my feeble brain confused them. This book wasn’t listed as part of a series or the first in a spin of series but all the supporting characters already have their own books. You don’t have to read those stories to enjoy this one. I’m off to read about some of those other books.

4 pieces of eye candy

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Dreamspinner Press

Last Mechanic Standing by L.A. Witt: Release Day Review DSP

July 6, 2016 by Denise

synopsis

Everyone at Jim Irving’s garage is gung ho about Wrench Wars, a new reality show featuring mechanics. Everyone, that is, except talented mechanic Chandler Scott, the sole employee who has refused to sign the contract. The rest of the mechanics are pressuring him too, because without Chandler—and his volatile interactions with his boss—no one’s getting on the show.

Chandler’s one ally is Jim’s son, Mark, who’s being forced to work for his dad until he pays down his student loans or finds a better job—and who’s been Chandler’s secret lover for a while.

Then a playful tryst in the garage blows up in their faces, giving the network ammo to blackmail Chandler by threatening to out Mark to his father. Now Chandler is backed into a corner, and Mark needs to decide how far he’s willing to go to protect the man who’s been sharing his bed… and may have stolen his heart.

Title: Last Mechanic Standing
Series: A Wrench Wars Story
Author: L.A. Witt
Release Date: July 6, 2016
Category: Contemporary
Pages: TBC (Novella)

denise review

I was surprised by this one. And I’m not sure why, because every single time L.A. Witt hits the mark for me. She has an incredible ability to not only create characters that I care about, but to put them in situations that are challenging in ways I can’t always understand, and make them fall in love, still giving me my HEA.

I wasn’t sure if I was going to enjoy a book about a reality series, and men that are mechanics, but I really did. Chandler was an honorable man, willing to stand up for his reputation, and not allow himself to be bullied into doing something he had no desire to do. But his downfall was being in love with Mark, who not only needed the show, but needed his job under the crushing student loans he had. Blackmail, however, only ever hurts people and clearly it does nothing but hurt these two men.

I loved though, that they found a port in the storm of this reality show in each other. They didn’t turn on each other. Instead, they turned to each other when they needed to be centered, and to feel safe. That was refreshing. It showed that their relationship could stand the difficult challenges that come with a work romance, in a highly stressful situation. They supported one another, and didn’t allow others to pull them down.

Every read by L.A. Witt is one in which I am continually surprised, not because she is not a fantastic writer, but because she makes me care about characters that I might not have ever thought of as one’s I would connect with.

4 pieces of eye candy

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Dreamspinner Press

Anthony by J.P. Barnaby: Release Day Review DSP

June 27, 2016 by Denise

synopsis

Aaron Downing worshiped his mother. She saved his life. She did everything for him. But Anthony Downing has a different perspective. He sees the woman who tossed him into a basement for eight long years and forgot he existed. When Anthony decides he’s done being invisible, he packs up and heads for Detroit to stay with his Internet friend Jay, but fate intervenes.

Brendan Mears lost everything the day the man with a gun came into his father’s store. Now, he’s tethered to a business he can’t manage and a brother who resents him.

Different in all the ways that matter, Anthony and Brendan struggle to overcome their psychological obstacles, until a crushing betrayal sends them running for cover and each other.

Title: Anthony
Series: A Survivor Story
Author: J.P. Barnaby
Release Date: June 27, 2016
Category: Contemporary
Pages: 200

paula review

This is definitely a book you want to read with a box of tissue. Anthony and Brendan were two heartbreakingly beautiful characters. The author did a wonderful job of making me feel their pain and root for them. Anthony was so neglected and felt so invisible in his own home that he was dying to get out. I really like how he kept trying to make things better in his life. He may not have always done it in the best way but he tried. Then he met Brendan. Brendan survived something very traumatic but it wrecked him. However, as the story progresses we see these two slowly but surely begin to help put each other back together. The story was well written and the characters were believable. Start to finish this was an amazing book.

4-pieces-of-eye-candy

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A Dandelion for Tulip by R. Cooper: Release Day Review

June 24, 2016 by Denise

David is in love with Tulip, a kind and unusually quiet fairy in his social circle. But everyone knows Tulip doesn’t date humans. David tells himself he is happy to be Tulip’s friend, because he doesn’t believe a fairy could love him and Tulip has never tried to “keep him”—as fairies refer to relationships with humans.

Fairies are drawn to David, describing his great “shine,” but David knows only too well how quickly fairies can forget humans, and thinks he’s destined to be alone. He can’t see his own brilliance or understand how desperately Tulip wants him, even if Tulip believes David can do better.

But exhausted and more than a little tipsy at a Christmas party, David makes his feelings too obvious for Tulip to deny any longer. Because of a past heartbreak involving a human, Tulip is convinced someone as shiny as David could never want a “silly, stupid fairy” in his life. Now, if he wants to keep David, he’ll have to be as brave as his shiny, careful human.

Title: A Dandelion for Tulip
Series: A Being(s) in Love Story
Author: R. Cooper
Release Date: June 24, 2016
Category: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, High Fantasy
Pages: 200

I really enjoyed this book. I haven’t read any Fae books before so it was something new for me to try. The whole thing was just really cute. David and Tulip were very endearing characters. I thought R. Cooper did a good job keeping me interested in the story. While there was some angst it was pretty lighthearted. The interactions between David and Tulip were very sweet. This is the sixth book in this series and I wasn’t lost even though I haven’t read the other five. That being said the book was good enough for me to want to read the previous ones so I will be picking them up. For me there wasn’t a lot of depth in the book, it was simply light and entertaining. R. Cooper did a good job of creating realistic characters(as realistic as you can get with a fairy in the story) that you could connect with.

4 pieces of eye candy