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Trusting Him (The Retreat #2) by L.M. Somerton: Blog Tour, Excerpt and Review

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Luke Redding’s military background is an asset when it comes to managing The Retreat, but it hasn’t helped him find the submissive he longs for. A secluded life in the New Forest, witnessing a stream of happy couples playing out their fantasies, doesn’t provide much opportunity to develop a relationship either. When a friend’s manipulations lead to him taking on silver-haired Skye as a trainee sub, Luke finds it hard to trust in his own ability to provide the guidance Skye needs.

Skye Ingham wants to explore his submissive nature but the noise and crowds at The Underground are overwhelming. He can’t believe his luck to be taken under Luke’s wing and offered a job at The Retreat. As Luke tests his boundaries, Skye trusts him implicitly, but how can he convince his new Dominant to have faith in himself?

Amid the bustle and excitement of a big house party at The Retreat, Luke and Skye edge their way towards a deeper understanding of each other’s needs and desires. But it will take a final leap of faith to secure their future and open a path to love.

Trusting Him (The Retreat #2) by L M Somerton from April 9 – 13.

RELEASE BLITZ

Book Title: Trusting Him (The Retreat #2)

Author: L M Somerton

Publisher: Pride Publishing

Release Date: April 9, 2019

Genre/s: Contemporary M/M BDSM

Heat Rating: 4 flames

Length: 59 495 words

It is a standalone story within The Retreat series.

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Pride Publishing

It wasn’t dignified, but Luke twisted around in his seat to take a look at his potential employee as he wound his way between the tables. He hadn’t formed an impression of what Skye might look like, but the reality was better than anything Luke’s imagination could have conjured. Skye was slight, delicate, maybe five feet six or seven, no more. His skin was lightly tan, a coloring that Luke guessed came from his heritage rather than the sun. He had no tattoos that Luke could see and considering that all he wore was a short leather kilt, that didn’t leave much room to hide any. The wavy hair Luke had assumed was pale blond was in fact silver-gray, though the boy’s eyelashes and brows were a much darker shade, which made Luke wonder if the silver was natural.

Skye stopped in front of the table facing Luke and Carey. He clasped his hands behind his back and ducked his head. “Gordy said you wanted to see me, Mr. Hoffman.” Skye’s voice was so soft Luke had to concentrate to catch his words.

“I did, Skye. You remember I spoke to you about a job at The Retreat in Hampshire?”

Nodding, Skye darted a quick look at Luke. Luke caught a glimpse of violet-blue eyes before Skye focused his gaze on the carpet once more.

“Well, this is Mr. Redding. He’s in charge of The Retreat. I want you to wait on us over lunchtime and show him what you can do.”

“Hello, Skye,” Luke said, keeping his voice low and trying to project reassurance. “I hear you’ve had excellent training. We have a mixture of guests staying at The Retreat, but they all have something in common. They love their food. We have a dedicated chef and customers can pick their own menus and eat as much as they want. That means a lot of serving both at table and in the guests’ rooms. Do you think you can handle that?”

Skye scuffed his bare toes into the carpet. “Yes, Sir.”

“And you understand that The Retreat caters for men who are in the BDSM lifestyle, just like here at the club?” Skye nodded and a light pink flush bloomed on his cheekbones. “Sometimes, you might be required to wear very little or nothing at all. Does that worry you?”

“No, Sir.” Skye’s response was barely audible.

Luke wanted to make eye contact with the shy young man but Skye kept his gaze lowered.

“Remove your kilt, Skye,” Carey ordered.

Luke tightened his grip on his drink. He expected Skye to bolt but instead he undid the buckle at his hip, let the leather garment drop to the floor then stepped out of it.

“Hands behind your back,” Carey instructed.

Luke glanced around the restaurant. Almost every man in the place had turned to watch. Skye stood absolutely still, clad only in the mesh thong that was issued to all the serving staff at The Underground to wear under their kilts.

“Fetch two menus, please.”

Luke watched, entranced, as Skye walked away, hips swaying. He might as well have been naked for all the coverage his underwear gave him. He had natural grace and if it weren’t for the slight tension in his shoulders, Luke might have believed he was entirely comfortable following Carey’s orders.

“You’re testing him. Why?” Luke didn’t take his eyes away from Skye as he collected two menus and returned to the table.

“Because you need to be confident that he will do as you ask, when he’d prefer to run and hide.”

“He’s attracting a lot of attention.”

“Are you surprised?”

“Not at all. He’s stunning.”

Carey’s smile turned into a smirk. “Then you can handle him from now on.”

I really do enjoy this author’s writing, and this book was no exception. One thing that the author always shows within her books is character growth and change.

Skye, at the beginning of the book, was very shy and seemed to stay away from most people, and throughout the book, although his shyness seemed to dissipate some, he became a friend to everyone at The Retreat. He was able to find himself as the sub he wanted to be, even discovering kinks that worked for him that he had no idea would be a kink for him.

Luke, who seemed to not want any sort of relationship, until his eyes landed on Skye, immediately found the man he wanted. Becoming the Dom for Skye seemed to come naturally to him.

One thing I liked is that the age difference between the two men was never a factor. Sometimes, age differences become a large part of the issues in a book like this. It was not. It was mentioned, with a couple of nods to the refractory period of youth 🙂 and then they moved on.

I’ve been enjoying this series, and am hoping to see more of the characters on my kindle very soon.

4 pieces of eye candy

 

 

LM lives in a small village in the English countryside, surrounded by rolling hills, cows and sheep. She started writing to fill time between jobs and is now firmly and unashamedly addicted.

She loves the English weather, especially the rain, and adores a thunderstorm. She loves good food, warm company and a crackling fire. She’s fascinated by the psychology of relationships, especially between men, and her stories contain some subtle (and some not so subtle) leanings towards BDSM.

LM is winner of the National Leather Association’s Pauline Reage Award for best novel and the 2016 and 2018 Golden Flogger Awards for best BDSM novel in the LGBT category. She has received multiple Honorable Mentions in the Rainbow Awards and won the Action and Adventure category of Divine Magazine’s Book Awards.

You can track her down online here:

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Kiss Me, Daddy (Club 83 #1) by Quinn Ward: RDB, Release Day Review and Giveaway

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Andy’s a recent college graduate with a mountain of debt and a load of regret over earning a degree he’ll never use. When he takes a job at a local gay bar, he doesn’t expect the first person to catch his eye to be the man he’s been dreaming about since a chance encounter.

Joshua’s comfortable in his life. He has an amazing son who’s wise beyond his years, an ex-wife who’s one of his best friends, and a great job. Now, if only those closest to him would quit hounding him to start dating again after the divorce.

Joshua finds what’s been missing with the other people he’s tried dating the first time Andy slips up and calls him Daddy. What starts as a slip of the tongue could lead to what both men really need and want.

Length: 70,000 words approx.

Amazon – Kindle Unlimited

Holy insecure insta-love….

While I adored this author and the Kinky in the City series, especially the Daddy kink one, this one just kind of missed the mark for me. See, Andy was just set to graduate college with a degree his father didn’t approve of. I was proud of him, because his parents were the worst kind of people that undoubtedly gave him such low self-worth, and such low self-esteem, but he stuck with it and now he was getting a degree…..

Unfortunately, like many degree holders in our country, the struggle to find a job in your field isn’t easy. So, being broke and jobless, I can understand where he’d be a little insecure meeting such an established and together older man that he’s attracted to when they keep running into each other.

Joshua is a wonderful dad with a strange sort of relationship with his live-in ex-wife. It puts a damper on dating, because being bisexual is hard enough… throw in the 10-year-old genius kid and live in ex, I don’t blame people for running far away from that…. but the ex is nice and the kid, albeit annoyingly smart and just too wise for his age to seem believable, it kind of worked for them all I guess.

When the Daddy gets slipped out the second meeting between these two, and things start getting hot and heavy, it all feels like playtime to me. It was all so sudden and extreme, like Joshua completely flipped into this other person. Maybe that was just me, I dunno… but it just wasn’t working for me.

Then every other minute he was having to reassure Andy about something or other because Andy would flip out and assume the wrong thing and the dialogue was so “woe is me”, and I usually like the wounded bird and sweet caring reassurer…. I dunno… if you’re looking for something along those lines, this one would be a lite, easy read.

There’s little drama, though Andy’s parents are awful, and then literally everyone either man speaks to gives them relationship advice, mostly without even being asked. I’ve never seen so many people with so many opinions on one man’s relationship… but, meh… if you’re looking for an easy read with a little kink…. then I’d say this one might work for you.

I’m not sure I’ll be waiting for the next one in the series to come out, but I’m curious to see who might be next.

3 pieces of eye candy from me

Quinn writes LGBTQ romance with a kick. Their stories center around the relationship building between the characters, but also shows how compatible they are in the bedroom (or wherever else the urge strikes).

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Email Quinn at: quinn(at)quinnwardwrites(dot)com

Website

 

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Black by Quin & Perin: New Release Review

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“Meow!”
There it was.
The sound that made my knees buckle.
He purred, neck stretched, eyes half-lidded.
With those cat ears, in his hair.
And the tail, that he flicked.

A ray of sun in the drizzling rain. I’d been a traveler, floating adrift, while he’d stayed in one place. How was I supposed to know he’d become my anchor? My light. My everything. But would I ever become his?

***As a standalone romance, “Black” features detailed adult m/m content, a hurt/comfort relationship as well as “kitty play.”

Amazon – Kindle Unlimited

Alright, so… a book with kitty play.

Where do I start? …. First, the premise had me like, whaaaaaat? Then I giggled, then maybe I scoffed, then I thought about it and was still like, whaaaaaaat? But I thought, alright, I’ve never heard of this, sounds ridiculous, I laughed and I scoffed and I thought whaaaaaat? But I kinda wanna read it.
Y’all, I am SO. GLAD. I. DID !

We’ll first start with Tony, who had quit his job as a lawyer and developed a gyspy soul that made for leavin. He stayed long enough in one place to make a little money and then he was off to something new, experiencing new things and being fortunate enough to write about it. All this happens off page, we’re only told about it in the beginning, but you get a good look at his life from before he made it town to visit his sister and niece. I adored Tony, with hipster beard, his man bun and his tattoo’s. I also loved his confidence, his patience and sweetness, I believe you will too.

So, upon one of his first days in town, he sits on the beach, taking in this new place, where he runs across Dima. Dima is snarky, also confident, almost too confident, and doesn’t give Tony the time of day, even if he does appreciate the way he keeps coming back each day to try to impress him. But, it’s mostly an act for Dima, because Tony’s exactly someone that Dima would like in his life, he’s just been smacked down too many times, the last boyfriend he had, taking the cake, so he knew better now. Nobody stays. Everyone leaves him. It was so understandable. I really felt for him. He had his reason’s and once you get to know him, you’ll understand why……. Lemme tell ya, I got hit with right hook there in beginning, and I loved it! I adored Dima.

So, just like a kitty you wanted to keep, if you kept coming back, kept doing little things to gain it’s trust, they’ll eventually stop swatting at you, and let you live in their world. That’s what Tony did. He kept coming back, he didn’t let Dima tell him no, didn’t let Dima push him away, and he tried. Ooooh, how he’d tried.

The kitty kink was something that neither of them had tried before and it was cute watching them both figure it out. It seems so weird, and I don’t mean to kink shame…. But cats? I am NOT a cat person. But ya know who is? Tony…. LOL
They never got weird with it, it was never something taboo or gross. It was sweet, really hot and once you got to know Dima, it was perfect. The way he cuddled into Tony was so feline like, the way he purred when he was happy or had Tony’s hands on him. It didn’t start out a purr, it was just a noise he makes that sounds like a purr… A content sound, and Tony loved hearing it. Dima also had claws, that liked to come out when he was riled up with Tony, both in bed and out of it. So, if you keep an open mind, you’ll see all these things that make what they’re doing something that they both need. Weird as it may seem, it just really wasn’t.

Then, a surprise from an ex and my heart gets broken. I wanted to punch him in the face and skin him alive. It’s still fresh, seeing as I just finished the book, and I want to rant until all the bad words about him tell you enough to get the picture. But, I’ll not get ranty in this one, and let you all read it for yourself, because you need to…. Because experiencing it like I did, had me crying and scoffing and again, saying whaaaaaaaaaat are you doing!!?? But in the end, you won’t be disappointed, (even though I would’ve liked to have seen Dima tell the ex where to shove his impatience and snooty attitude)…. It worked out beautifully in the end, and I honestly am going to say right now, that I cannot recommend this book enough. It’s so much more than kitty play, and I can promise you by the first page, you’ll be sucked in.

I’d absolutely love to see more from these two. I’d love read more about their lives together, so, just throwin that out there! Overall, it was an excellent read, and I really, really enjoyed it!

5 pieces of eye candy from me!

Ghost Train by L.M. Somerton: New Release Review

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The ride of your life could be your last.

Garth’s summer job running the ghost train at the local amusement park is supposed to be a stress-free way to earn some much-needed cash. His Goth looks are a bonus as far as his boss is concerned. The sunshine is a stark contrast to the macabre, spooky scenes inside the ride, but when one of the corpses proves to be more realistic than it should be, shadows are cast on the summer.

Clem sees potential in the moody fairground assistant with spiky hair and pretty blue eyes. He can’t wait to explore Garth’s submissive nature. But Clem isn’t quite what he seems and he might be all that stands between Garth and a violent death. Earning Garth’s trust won’t be easy in a world where secrets can mean survival.

General Release Date: 13th November 2018

ISBN: 978-1-78651-696-1

Imprint: Pride Publishing

Pairing: MM
Book Length: Novella

Genre: BONDAGE AND BDSM; CONTEMPORARY; EROTIC ROMANCE; GAY

Amazon

Pride Publishing

 

I liked the premise of this new series, as well as loving this author’s previous work (grab Serving Him, if you love BDSM), so I grabbed this one to see what L.M. Somerton has up her sleeve for this series. It’s a promising start on this series.

Although it’s a novella, it does contain some very strong BDSM scenes. There is some points of Dub Con (dubious consent) that I thought should have been more strongly emphasized as there having been consent at the beginning. This did perturb me throughout the novella. However, it did become apparent quickly that Garth was consenting to Clem, and it was Dub Con. I would have just rather have it spelled out a little more clearly.

There is a mystery included here, which I enjoyed, and since it’s a novella there really wasn’t much time to have a romance, bdsm scenes as well as a mystery solved completely. My guess is the mystery will continue throughout some, if not all, the series.

One thing that was very pleasantly surprising was Garth’s character. Having a Goth MC is something you just don’t see in romance novels, especially m/m romance. And he was a sweetheart, clearly someone who adored his friends, and was willing to acknowledge not only his submissive side, but his relative inexperience with BDSM. It was very refreshing to see a very different MC than you normally would.

I’m looking forward to seeing where this series goes.

3.5 pieces of eye candy