Tag: book review

Comfort Food by Sierra Riley

31435566Author: Sierra Riley
Publisher: Sierra Riley
Word/Page Count: 198 pages epub
Published: August 19, 2016

Comfort Food is the perfect name for Riley’s newest book – it was filled with lovey goodness and a sense of being wrapped up on a GFY love story built around an interesting food-charity-based plot line. Martin is a mostly-reclusive guy, wealthy, without much ambition and scared of anything that could possibly go wrong. When he meets straight former rockstar chef-turned charity owner, Travis, he crushes hard… but can’t get out of his own head to deepen the connection. Thankfully for Martin, Travis is intrigued – and finds himself enjoying Martin’s company and feeling a sense of “comfort” and home with him.

Both characters in Comfort Food were well-developed, filled with unique quirks and their own personalities. I absolutely fell in love with Martin – even if I wanted to help him get his thoughts out into the open more often than not. But his quiet demeanor and approach to taking on the world, was sweet. His match with Travis seemed to work perfectly, even though at first it felt like it could be a disaster – opposites attracted here. With very little angst, the two were able to come together to battle a common “enemy” and create their own perfect happily ever after.

This is a great read for anyone who loves a romantic love story – especially if you’re new to m/m or well-read (like me) in the genre, and looking for an easy HEA read. This won’t disappoint!

Copy of the book provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.

Out of five…
Overall Read: ♥♥♥♥
Sex Heat: ♥♥
Plot: ♥♥♥♥

By the River – Katey Hawthorne

Author: Katey Hawthorne
Publisher: Loose ID
Word Count: 30,388 (72 pages epub)
Published: 2012

This was my first time reading Katey Hawthrone – and I’m glad I picked it up. The summary of the book was a bit mysterious – I couldn’t tell if I was going to get a shifter book or a love story from the description, so I did not have many expectations going in.

The story was about a hometown guy moving back home for no reason other than he was pulled back there. In fact, it seems like he’s lived his life and made decisions because they felt right – without ever looking into the reason behind them. On one of his runs he sees another man that he’s attracted to, and from then on, they are inseparable. Oh, and did I mention that the man lives on the river?

The read itself was intriguing, I kept wanting to see what was next and ended up reading it in one sitting (a very quick, short read). The attraction and pull between the main characters was very well-written. However… I am still unsure how/why/if there was a fantasy element in the book. It was never really explained and that was a bit… peculiar. In addition, this book practiced one of my biggest pet peeves – it ended in the MIDDLE of the story. I still have no idea why he was different, how it ends up, why the craziness is there, what happened to his mom, did they return, and so on. She cut the book way too short and kept me wondering (which is NOT a good thing once I get to the end).

The sex and heat, was good though – it was more about their connection than the actual act most of the time. In fact, I believe they only had “sex” once, but were active along the way. The characters seemed connected and very much into each other – and it was hard to look away!

Out of four…
Overall Read: ♥♥
Sex Heat: ♥♥♥
Plot: ♥

This is a quick read and HOT – vanilla sex for sure, but if you like a strong connection with a little bit of mystery, than this is a great read for you. It combines heat and sometimes graphically describes the actions, and other times hints at what’s going on. If you are able to look over the plot holes (and incomplete story), than I would recommend this.

On the Dotted Line – Alexa Snow

Author: Alexa Snow
 Publisher: Torquere Press
Word Count: 50,330
Published: 2012

While the convention of this story has been told many times before (wealthy doctor falls in love with a poor retail guy), but the story overall was a decent read. Typical instant attraction in a moment of urgent panic, and then stumbling/fumbling to match up correctly, and end with the secret (being poor) being spilled to a happily ever after.

There was nothing earth shattering about this story – in fact, there were a few boring moments, but I liked both of the characters on their own – and together. The one lingering question is I have no clue what the obsession with pens was or why it was in the story – it was never explained (that I can recall at least).

The sex was ok – very vanilla, very middle of the road. There was attraction there which came through nicely, but nothing over the top. Two “normal” guys who liked each other with a small bit of turmoil thrown in, came together when they had sex.

Out of four…
Overall Read: ♥♥
Sex Heat: ♥
Plot: ♥♥

I would recommend for any newbie’s to m/m as this is a very easy love/romance story with very light sex and heat. It’s also a quick read for anyone who’s looking for something a bit more low-key with better character development.

Getting Off the Ground & Infinity Pools – L.A. Witt

Getting Off the Ground
Author: L.A. Witt
 Publisher: Amber Quill Press
 Number of Words: 20,803
Published: 2011


Infinity Pools
Author: L.A. Witt
 Publisher: Amber Quill Press
 Number of Words: 40,767
Published: 2011

 

I was SO disappointed in the first part of this “series” – “Getting Off the Ground.” It was a super-short story where two people meet while waiting to catch a flight to Hawaii. They instantly hit it off, one character, Elliot, was left at the alter by his fiance the night before and was trying to keep it together and orderly, by making lists. A nearby passenger Derek overhears Elliot’s predicament and decides to start chatting him up. This was a meeting of opposites attract, they had an intense connection, and then it ended 52 pages into the story. I was ANNOYED. It took me awhile to get into the concept and story, which is unusual for me and a Witt story, but I stuck it out and wanted to find out what happened next. As soon as I saw “Infinity Pools” available, I was hoping that it would be better (and longer) than the first one and tell me what happened – and it finally told me what came next! However, these two books such have been published together as one…

The story was a bit basic and very surface level as in none of the bigger issues they were dealing with, were ever really dealt with. The story was a vacation fantasy story with two unlikely men coming together and essentially spending two weeks having sex and falling for each other. Most of the story was carried by the sex which was hot, but got a little boring at times. I found myself drifting and then trying to figure out who was doing who and what was going on. Don’t get me wrong, there was some serious sizzle at times, but about half of the sex scenes could have been taken out of the book and it wouldn’t have been missed.

Out of four…
Overall Read: ♥♥
Sex Heat: ♥♥♥
Plot: ♥♥

This is a great read for someone who is looking for sex, and lots of it. These are two “normal” guys that hook up, and hook up, and hook up – and fall in love through spending time together over two weeks in paradise. It is an easy and engaging read that you don’t want to put down until you get to the end, but it does stay out of some of the areas that would have created deep and interesting characters.

 

By the Numbers – Chris Owen & Tory Temple

(Please excuse the missing book cover and Fictionwise info – their site is down)

Author: Chris Owen and Tory Temple
Publisher:  Torquere Press
Page Length (ePub): 139
Published: 2011

I was glad to see this finally published, as I enjoyed the first firefighter story – and I hadn’t really connected the dots until the main character referenced his boss Chance, and then it all came back to me. Anyway, this was a very quick read and had potential to be a great story, but it continually fell short. The premise of this story is a fireman rescues a pregnant dog from a burning apartment complex, the grateful dog owner seeks out his hero to thank him, ends up befriending him, and then they move in together before, start messing around, and then “overcome” struggles with the fireman’s ex-wife. By the end, there is SO MUCH about the ex-wife that isn’t relevant to their story, that I’m not really sure what the driving force was. This joint writing effort was disjointed throughout, and it seemed like the authors weren’t able to get on the same page to tell this story.

One of the most noticeable flaws, was that he characters seemed to change their core personalities as the book unfolded. For instance, one of the main characters Deuce, opened the story and came across as socially inept, not quick witted, and a bit “dorky.” All of which could have been interesting, but as you read, he became more dominant, had a ton of work friends, was able to socialize fine, and even brazen. The characters were quite surface-level to begin with, so the shifting in personalities broke my connection with their story over and over again. It was also quite far-fetched from reality, but set-up as to be “real life,” which broke down another connection. And fair warning, there is a random daughter thrown in as part and parcel of the ex-wife.

The sex was hot at the beginning, but as soon as the story/characters started falling apart, I found myself wandering through the love scenes. Vanilla with a few over/under tones of Dominance/submission, and there was a varied way in delivering the sex – sometimes the interaction lasted several pages, other times it was briefly mentioned.

Out of four…
Overall Read: ♥♥
Sex Heat: ♥♥
Plot: ♥♥

A middle-of-the-road m/m read. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves a hot sexy fireman, enjoys quick/surface level fun, or is just trying to dip their toes into the m/m action. It is an easy read with nothing offensively wrong with it, just not as tied together for an experienced m/m reader and fan.