Brooke Blaine

LUST HATE LOVE (Fallen Angel Book 4) by Ella Frank & Brooke Blaine: Release Day Review

December 30, 2019 by Denise

USA TODAY bestselling authors Brooke Blaine and Ella Frank continue the story of sexy Fallen Angel rockers Killian and Levi in LUST. HATE. LOVE.

As the sexy, charismatic bassist for world-famous rock band Fallen Angel, whatever Killian Michaels wants, Killian Michaels gets.
Or at least that was the case until the band’s gorgeous new manager, Levi Walker, shot him down after a blistering first kiss.

For Levi, managing these five guys is the opportunity of a lifetime, and he’s not about to let a case of sexual desire get in his way. He’s efficient, professional, and plays by the book. But tension simmers beneath Levi’s cool exterior every time Killian’s near, and soon enough the passion boils over, consuming them both.

As the Corruption tour takes them from country to country, a heated game of cat and mouse ensues. Levi tries to deny the irresistible pull of Killian’s seductive nature, but with an attraction as strong as theirs, it’s only a matter of time before the lust-filled hate turns to love.

LUST. HATE. LOVE. is the fourth book of the Fallen Angel Series and follows a new couple in the band. It can be read as a standalone or following ANGEL.

Amazon – Kindle Unlimited

The two authors. Whew. They sure can write a smoking hot book. And characters we tend to fall in love with. And while there have been quite a few series of 3, 4 or even more books based on one couple (or throuple), this is one book. Start to finish is their story. No cliff hangers, no questions left unanswered, nothing. And…that makes me super happy. I undoubtedly LOVE the first book in a series. And then I definitely like the second a lot. By the third, I get a little bored. But I still read them because I want to get the story as the authors intended. So ya, one book made me happy.

We met Killian, the de facto “head” of the band with the first book in a previous series. And you don’t even need to read that series before reading this one. It stands alone well.

We also meet Levi, the new band manager, at the end of the last series. This is his absolute dream job- managing one of his favorite bands. Except that he is totally attracted to Killian, Killian is totally attracted to him and Levi has a strict hands off the client policy.

As such, there is a lot of cat and mouse. Killian the cat chasing Levi the mouse.

It was fun to watch, seeing when Levi would give in. How he would give in. Where he would give in. And yep, some seriously hot sexy times there.

We don’t get a ton of Halo and Viper- although their presence is definitely known. And we get a little side story involving three others. That was fun.

So even though this was technically Killian’s story, it was a good wrap up to the series without focusing on Halo and Viper.

4 Pieces of Eye Candy

Viper (Fallen Angel Book 2) by Ella Frank and Brooke Blaine: Release Day Review

March 25, 2019 by Denise

Scorching chemistry. Red-hot lyrics. An irresistible bad boy.
Halo, the new lead singer for Fallen Angel, never stood a chance against Viper, the legendary lead guitarist for the band.

From the moment Halo set foot in Viper’s lair, the match was lit, threatening to consume the two men with the heat of their desire. But when their casual flings begins to morph into more, will it leave the entire band in flames?

After all, it may have been Halo who fell from grace, but it’s only a matter of time before Viper falls for an angel.

VIPER is the second book of the Fallen Angel Series and should be read following HALO. Halo and Viper’s story concludes in book three, ANGEL.

Amazon – Kindle Unlimited

Let me tell ya something. These two, Ella Frank and Brooke Blaine, have probably the hottest covers in all the land. Whether they are co-authoring or not. You know what else they can do? Write a really hot book. *fans self*

Book one we got to know almost everyone (save for the elusive Trent who abandoned the group). The formula was a bit too much like “Try”, but I still enjoyed it. Let’s be honest. Hot rock stars? Ok, yes please.

This next installment definitely did not remind me of the “Try” series. And I absolutely love that they are releasing the books so close together. I have a shit memory, so fast releases help me.

This book picks up right where we left off. They guys are in Florida to make an album. But now Halo absolutely cannot resist Viper. Halo thinks they are being sly, but they aren’t. Viper really doesn’t care if the other guys know or not. But he doesn’t want it in public because he wants Halo to be huge. And he feels like if he comes out as in a relationship- let alone with a man- he will alienate the fans.

But they are in their cozy compound in Florida where everything is perfect. Until they head back to New York.

Learning to navigate the real world again, Halo starting to realize what being famous entails. Back to people who know them and hiding their sexy fun times. And they are super sexy fun times.

We get a little more info on Trent, but not a ton. And I am not going to spoil anything.

And the ending. OMG THE ENDING!!!!!!!! Seriously. Such a great ending which doesn’t leave you hanging, but still leaves you wanting more.

So yes, BRING ON ANGEL!

4 Pieces of Eye Candy

Halo (Fallen Angel Book 1) by Ella Frank and Brooke Blaine: New Release Review

February 27, 2019 by Denise

Massive world tours. Over a hundred million albums sold. Groupies galore.
Every day is a party for Viper and the guys of TBD, the biggest rock band in the world. But it all comes to a screeching halt when the lead singer walks out of the studio one day and never comes back.

Ear-blistering vocals. Butchered lyrics. Fame chasers.
After months of lackluster auditions, Viper, the lead guitarist and resident bad boy of the group, is ready to find solace in the bottom of a bottle. Time’s running out and the pressure’s on to find a new singer, but it isn’t until an angel walks through the door that the band’s prayers are answered.

Charismatic. Talented. Magic behind the mic. Halo is everything they’ve been looking for.
With a voice to match his stunning good looks, it isn’t long before Viper’s taking notice. But there are several reasons this is a bad idea:

1.Interpersonal relationships in the band are discouraged
2.Viper has already broken rule #1—big mistake
3.Halo is straight

Too bad Viper’s body isn’t listening to his head—at least not the one on his shoulders. But you can’t fake chemistry, not onstage and certainly not off it, and Viper and Halo? They have it in spades.

As both men try to resist the fire blazing between them, and the band is forced to reinvent themselves, it’ll be a complicated rise back to the top. But from the ashes of what was, something beautiful is born. Something better. And when the world finally sees Halo stretch his wings, they’ll discover what it’s like to fall for an angel.

BOOK ONE OF THE FALLEN ANGEL SERIES
A ROCK ROMANCE

Amazon – Kindle Unlimited

Ok. I am a fan of both authors. And I particularly like when they co-author. And this book was fun as hell. And sexy. And a little bit sweet. And super hot. But if you are fans and have read their books before- Viper is the new Logan and Halo is the new Tate. There were A LOT of similarities.

Did I still totally enjoy this book? HELL YES I DID!

I love rock star books. They are just fun. A glimpse behind the scenes. This glimpse being the band, TBD, looking for a new lead singer after their original one walked out with no explanation. There is quite a bit of back story there that we didn’t get and I can only assume we will hear about in the coming books.

Halo, yes apparently that is his real name, auditions and blows the band away. Viper, lead guitarist, is immediately drawn to him. But he is straight.

After their big comeback show is a flop, the band regroups. Viper flirts HARD with Halo, Halo shows off that he is a musical prodigy, and they discover a new sound for themselves.

I didn’t really understand the comeback show flopping because the lead singer took off 7 or 8 months ago. That had to have been common knowledge. I mean, it is the age of social media. In fact, you’d think there would have been a social media blitz to introduce Halo. These little things bug me. Luckily, most of these little things happened at the beginning and I was able to move on. Mostly.

This book is a slow burn. There’s a lot of flirting by Viper. Quite a bit of soul searching by Halo. But for a gay for you book, slow burn in necessary. Keep us turning the pages waiting for the magic to happen.

I really liked that because of the lead singer change that the group went with a whole new sound and band name. Too easily could Halo have just slipped into a role.

The other band mates are fun and play good supporting roles. Two straight, one gay. They don’t seem to harbor as much vitriol for the missing lead singer as Viper does. Which is another big clue that there is way more to that story than we know yet.

So yes, I drew a lot of parallels between this book and Try. But I also really enjoyed reading it and want book two. Because I need answers!

4 Pieces of Eye Candy

A Little Bit Like Love by Brooke Blaine: Blog Tour, Review and Excerpt

August 4, 2017 by Denise

A Little Bit Like Love, an all-new sexy STANDALONE MM romance from Brooke Blaine is available NOW!

A Little Bit Like Love by Brooke Blaine

Publication Date: July 27th, 2017

Genre: Contemporary Romance/MM Romance

What if you had everything in the world you wanted…except the man you’d left behind?

Jackson Davenport, the charismatic, strait-laced heir to the Davenport fortune, has a secret. One he’s been hiding since he graduated from South Haven all-boys academy—and that secret’s name is Lucas.

When a work trip takes Jackson back to his old stomping grounds, memories of the year he shared with Lucas come crashing to the surface. With growing pressure from his father to settle down and take over the family business, Jackson knows he’s on borrowed time, and sets out to find the free-spirited daredevil he once knew.

But Lucas isn’t the same man he was eight years ago.

One night. A shattered heart. And an endless parade of nameless faces. Lucas Sullivan is South Haven’s ultimate playboy, a reputation he’s honed since the only boy he ever loved left without a trace. To the world, he’s brash and confident, an in-demand artist who spends his days designing one-of-a-kind pieces and his nights as king of the downtown scene.

Many have tried and failed to get past the barrier he’s carefully constructed, but it’s the shy, studious boy he once coaxed out of his shell who still haunts him.

Maybe it was a mistake. Maybe it was lust. Or maybe…it was a little bit like love.

WITH THE NOTE from Principal Stewart crumpled in my fist, I stalked away from his office, away from the words I knew would haunt me forever.

“I’m sorry, Jackson. Your father is quite…insistent you return to Connecticut immediately.”

Immediately…immediately… With every echo of that word through my mind, my heart battered my chest, the ache to rip itself free of my body a plea I was helpless to honor.

There was only one reason he would’ve demanded I leave South Haven before the end of classes next week. My father had been adamant I receive the best education his money afforded, choosing to ship me down to south Georgia to attend the most prestigious all-boys academy in the country. I’d done him proud, rising to the top of my class, and I’d been practicing my salutatorian speech for days. Skipping out on graduation and the pomp and circumstance and recognition that came with it? Out of the question. Which could only mean one thing.

He knew. Somehow he knew.

That was the only explanation for the letter in my hand, for the abrupt dismissal this late in the evening and this close to the end of the school year. My father hadn’t gotten to where he was by being stupid or blind, and I’d seriously underestimated how many eyes and ears had been watching me during my four years. Although it would’ve only been the whispers over the last few months that piqued his interest, only the last eight that he would’ve had any reason to give me a second thought.

And that reason wasn’t a what—it was a who.

The halls of the St. John’s dormitory were silent when I entered, all the students down at the mess hall for dinner, followed by the final bonfire of the year. So there wouldn’t be anyone around to see me sneak down the hall to where I knew I shouldn’t be going but couldn’t help myself. My feet seemed to move of their own accord, the countdown to my utter devastation causing me to pick up the pace. The private plane would arrive in a handful of hours, giving me just enough time to pack my things, but there was no way I could leave without a goodbye. Not going to happen.

I wasn’t ready. I was supposed to have more time. As a cold sweat of panic seized me, I balled the letter tighter in my fist and chucked it into one of the trash bins as I passed.

Screw my father. Screw the life he’d set out for me, the one I was destined to live and hate with every fiber of my being. I wanted to bottle up every one of his expectations and throw the blasted thing out at an angry sea to swallow up and tear apart instead.

I wished it could be as easy as that. I’d been able to fool myself into a sense of freedom, but the cell door was about to smash shut on every dream I’d let myself have these past few months.

His private dorm was at the end of the long hall, last one on the right, and I rapped on it twice fast, waited a moment, and then repeated the pattern that we used for each other. A few seconds later, the door swung open, and seeing the sole object of my daily and nightly thoughts standing there in front of me with a mixture of surprise and delight in his eyes made me think that coming here had been a mistake. It was only going to sink the dagger in farther.

“Hey…I thought we were meeting la—” Lucas’s words cut off and the smile curling his lips fell as he got a good look at my face. “What’s wrong?”

You should tell him. Tell him what’s going on and that it isn’t your fault. Look him in the eye when you tell him you can never see him again.

A shooting pain tore through my chest as I realized what this goodbye actually meant. I wasn’t saying I wouldn’t be seeing him for the next couple of days or weeks. When I left South Haven’s campus in the early hours of the morning, I wouldn’t be seeing him again…ever.

God, can I do this? Break his heart as well as mine?

No…no, I couldn’t tell him. He’d look for me, find me, and there was no telling what my father would do if that happened. The letter had been my old man’s warning. Disobeying his orders would mean consequences neither of us were prepared for.

“Jackson?” Lucas’s voice dropped low, and then he looked past me out into the deserted hall. When he didn’t see anyone to blame on my current state, he frowned and waited for an answer.

The words didn’t come, though, so I stood there staring at him, taking a mental snapshot that I’d store away in a place no one could find and destroy. His black hair was casually tousled, and I knew him well enough to know he’d worried his hands through it, maybe wondering if I wouldn’t follow through on our plans tonight. He wore a simple grey t-shirt and low-slung jeans on his long and lean frame, and the swirl of black tattoos he’d recently inked on his tanned skin could be seen peeking around his right bicep before disappearing from view behind the thin material of his shirt. He was striking, both in looks and personality, and to say I hadn’t been expecting the force that was Lucas Sullivan when he’d transferred to the academy eight months ago was an understatement.

Quite simply, I’d been lost to him the first time I laid eyes on him.

Forcing myself to shake off my dread, I said, “I’m okay,” and tried to believe it for his sake.

“Well, you look like hell.” He leaned against the doorway, one of those charming half-grins cocking up one side of his lips. “Hell on wheels, anyway. What’d you do, run all the way here?”

Not too far off there. I didn’t even remember crossing campus to get to his dorm until I was in front of the building.

When I didn’t laugh at his teasing, Lucas’s expression fell again and his brows pulled down, a crease forming between them as his eyes, the color of a stormy sky, gave me a thorough once-over, looking for the source of my pain. He was silent for a long moment, but he must’ve seen something he didn’t like, because he stiffened and his jaw clenched. Then he took a deep breath and let it out in a rush.

“Tell me.”

“Tell you what?” I asked.

Lucas shook his head, his arms going over his chest. “I’m not helping you out here. If you came here for a reason, get out with it.”

Did he know? He couldn’t. I’d only just found out myself, and… No. There was no way. “It’s…complicated.”

“Complicated?”

“Yes.”

Lucas gave a humorless chuckle. “Jackson Davenport, I knew you were scared, but I never took you for a coward. If you don’t want to do this, you can man the hell up and tell me to my face.”

“What are you… I’m not…” I ran my hand over my face, struggling to understand the conclusion he’d come to for why I was standing at his door. My lack of a poker face had put him on the defensive. He thought I was here to reject him. An idea so completely unfathomable to me that it made my stomach turn thinking about it. “Lucas…you’ve got this all wrong.”

“Do I?”

“Yes. I’m not here to—“ I almost said “end things with you,” but I didn’t want to lie to him. I never had and I never would. Instead, I said, “Fight with you. I don’t want to fight.”

“Then why are you here, Jackson?” he asked, and my gaze fell to his lips. I’d tasted those lips only a few times, not nearly enough to quench a starving man’s hunger. All these months I’d wasted, warring with myself in my head, never letting myself have the thing I wanted most. And now I was down to a matter of hours. It wasn’t enough, not nearly enough. But it was all I had, and I wasn’t wasting another second.

If I couldn’t tell Lucas how I felt about him, then I’d show him.

Finally.

Irrevocably.

And starting now.

A Little Bit Like Love is a good read beach type read (especially because of where it’s located…oh and that hot scene IN the water). Fairly low on angst, it allows the reader to enjoy some time with a second chance love, lost through no fault of their own.

These two men found each other in high school, then forced apart, find each other again 8 years later. Very different men, they still clearly have strong feelings towards each other. The issues between them were fairly predictable for the story, but still enjoyable to see how the unpredictable Lucas reacted to having the very predictable Jackson come back into his life.

The scene at Gram’s grave hit me hard in the feels. Lucas’ love and respect for his Gram was so obvious, and to have Jackson be there and appreciate that time, and have them come away from it better was very satisfying. As well, as the scene with Jackson’s father, that was more than satisfying.

An enjoyable read, although likely not a re-read. The secondary characters of Shaw and Bash were very well written and fleshed out. I am definitely looking forward to the more gritty feeling book 2, which is Shaw’s book. That one is probably going to be a man who butts heads hard with his future man.

(Free in Kindle Unlimited)

Amazon US: http://amzn.to/2h40Ltx

Amazon International: myBook.to/ALBLLebook

Add to GoodReads: https://goo.gl/ShbNqD

You could say Brooke Blaine was a book-a-holic from the time she knew how to read; she used to tell her mother that curling up with one at 4 a.m. before elementary school was her ‘quiet time.’ Not much has changed except for the espresso I.V. pump she now carries around and the size of her onesie pajamas.

She is the author of Flash Point, a romantic suspense standalone, as well as the co-author of the erotic series, A Desperate Man, with Ella Frank. The latter has scarred her conservative southern family for life, bless their hearts. Licked, a romantic comedy, will be released November 11th, 2015 and is the first in the L.A. Liaisons series.

If you’d like to get in touch with her, she’s easy to find – just keep an ear out for the Rick Astley ringtone that’s dominated her cell phone for ten years.