ARC Review: Tops Down Bottoms Up by Jay Northcote

Blurb:

Built from the bottom up: one perfect gentleman. 

Rowan is stuck at a folk festival helping out a mate, and it really isn’t his scene. The yoga and singing workshops are bad enough, but morris dancing is the final straw. Bearded men with beer guts prancing around wearing bells—who wants to watch that?

All Rowan’s preconceptions are shattered when he meets Seth—a morris dancer, and the stuff Rowan’s fantasies are made of. Seth persuades Rowan to come to a dancing workshop, and Rowan’s willing to do whatever it takes to get to know Seth better. The attraction is mutual, and a lesson filled with innuendo and flirting leads to an incredible night together.

When Rowan arrives home, he’s gutted to find that Seth has given him the wrong phone number. Assuming Seth did it on purpose, Rowan resolves to forget about him. But fate—and friends—conspire to get them back together. Will they manage to stay in step this time around?

Dani's rating:

Sexy & Fun!

~~One hot burly morris dancer included~~

Rowan thinks all morris dancers are sweaty fat dudes who make a lot of noise. Seth proves him wrong. Seth may be loud, but he carries a big stick.

When Seth talks Rowan into coming to a morris dancing workshop, Rowan is reluctant, but he really wants to polish Seth's stick so he goes along with it.

A small (but potentially catastrophic) misunderstanding ensues, but that's AFTER a midnight swim and hot & dirty sexual encounter in Seth's camper van.

ARC Review: Controlled Burn by Erin McLellan

Blurb:

At eighteen, Joel Smith’s life fell to pieces. His boyfriend died in a car crash while reading a sext from him, the local newspaper outed them both in the aftermath, and his parents got a divorce. Joel did everything possible to outrun his past: he moved to Oklahoma for college, legally changed his name, and started over.

Since then, he hasn’t let anyone get close—not his classmates, not his roommate, and definitely not his hookups. The strategy has served him well for over three years. Why would he change it now?

But Joel doesn’t plan on the articles about his boyfriend’s death being used as a case study in one of his classes. And he doesn’t plan on Paulie McPherson, who is sweet and giving and fun. In Paulie, he finds a home for the first time in years.

But love isn’t simple, and lies have a tendency to get in the way. Joel must figure out if he’ll allow his grief to rule him, or if his connection with Paulie is worth letting all of his walls come tumbling down.

Jewel's rating:





​ ​You can't outrun yourself..​

Controlled Burn​ is about learning that holding onto the past so tightly makes the present and the future meaningless. And it's about guilt. So much guilt.

When Controlled Burn first popped up on my radar, I was drawn to it. The cover and the blurb just called to me. I saw so much potential in the story that I had to read it. And it was good for a debut novel. I do think that this author has seriously good potential, so I will be keeping an eye out for her future books.

Controlled Burn tells the story of two college students who have never really had relationships and who are both damaged by events of their pasts, as they figure out who they want to be to each other and with each other. It's a long road, especially for Joel, who shuts down or deflects anytime conversation wanders into the past.

​​J​oel did his best to run from his past, but at the same time, he held onto it so tightly, it was like Joel of today was just going through the motions. ​​I never really understood why Joel worked so hard to keep his past concealed. Why he held onto his guilt with both hands.

Blogtour: Thunder & Lightning by Patricia Logan

Oh, the stereotypes…

When people ask me what I would change about my first book, Leather Nights, the list is really long. I wrote the book in 26 days and it’s one of my longest books. I think I averaged five thousand words a day. I knew what I wanted to say. I had a detailed outline and I wrote from it almost to the letter. Unfortunately, if I had it to do all over again, Leather Nights would be a very different book.

Leather Nights was written in 2009 when only three states in the US allowed gay marriage. Going into that year, there were only two but when Iowa became the third state to vote to allow same sex marriage, that’s where I decided to send Jake Maxfield and his husband Cade Littlebear to get married. Jake even joked in the book about it, saying something about Cade’s decision to get married there having something to do with corn or some such. There weren’t a whole lot of choices for gay couples back then.

The biggest thing I’d change in any of my books, if I were to write them all over again, is the sheer quantity of sex scenes in them. I think there are seven in Leather Nights, my first book. The only reason I know that is because when I turned the book into an audio book, I had to listen to it. I hadn’t opened it for five years at the time and hearing all that sex proved to me that a little goes a long way. Once I heard all of that, I was determined to change that in future books. It was way over the top.

When I wrote the Death and Destruction series I was determined to change a lot of the preconceptions some people have about the south. Now granted, I don’t live there, but I have visited Texas, Florida, and Georgia. I sent Jarrett and Thayne to West Virginia, where Jarrett hails from. Sure, there are some ignorant folks in the series but there really aren’t many bigots. Most folks they meet in Jarrett’s home state are good, honest, hard-working folks, working their butts off to make a better life for their families. Of course, the boys aren’t openly gay in West Virginia. Maybe things would be different if they were. We have more than our fair share of bigots in California too.

As an author, I’ve changed a lot of things about the way I write. I research more. I study up on cultural issues more. I’ve always tried to be sensitive to individuals but in older books every once in a while, my characters may say or do something that I wouldn’t allow today. I don’t have any excuses. I’m human. I’m still learning. I’ve come a long way in my writing in the last eight years. I hope it’s gotten better and I know it’s made me a better person.

Patti xo

Buy Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK  | KOBO | Smashwords

Length: 107k words

Cover Design: AJ Corza @ Seeing Static

Blurb

Jarrett Evans and Thayne Wolfe have been partnered in the ATF for nearly two years and their love and commitment to each other has grown over time. Now faced with one final challenge, the boys are headed to Arizona to help Thayne’s mom, stumbling headfirst into a brand new case. When a man is shot on Dot’s sister’s ranch, their informal investigation leads to the Native American reservation bordering the property.

Juggling tricky tribal politics isn’t something Jarrett and Thayne are accustomed to but, as with most things in their lives, nothing is ever uncomplicated. When a surprise sighting shakes Thayne to his very foundation, they call out for help and their colleagues ride to the rescue along with a little help from the FBI. The mystery on the reservation only deepens when they start putting two and two together. Questionable cigarettes at the Ahtunowhiho Trading Post may be the least of their worries.

From the mean streets of Los Angeles to the vast deserts of Arizona, Thayne and Jarrett once again brave the minefields of bad guys, bigshots, and a vicious betrayal that kicks them in the ass. But one thing is certain. Thru thunder and lightning, Jarrett and Thayne are never alone. They’ll fight for each other down to the last man standing, even if it costs them their very lives.

• August 1 - Bayou Book Junkie
• August 3 - MM Good Book Reviews
• August 5 - The Novel Approach
• August 7 - Love Bytes Reviews
• August 9 - Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words
• August 11 - Gay Book Reviews
• August 14 - Making It Happen
• August 16 - My Fiction Nook
• August 18 - Alpha Book Club
• August 21 -Sinfully Gay Romance

Author Bio

Release Blitz: Open Net (Cayuga Cougars #2) by VL Locey

Buy Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK | KOBO |  Barnes & Noble | iTunes 

Length: 54,000 words approx

Cover: Rêverie Design & Formatting

Cayuga Cougars Series

Snap Shot (Book #1) 

Amazon US | Amazon UK | KOBO | Barnes & Noble | iTunes

Blurb

August Miles has the world on a string professionally.

Augie, as his friends and teammates call the unassuming young goaltender, is on the fast track to the pros. The starting goalie for the Cayuga Cougars, he has a year or two in Cayuga to hone his skills and all his career dreams will have come true. Pity his personal life isn’t riding the same high. He’s the only one among his group of friends without that special someone to call his own.
Until he meets Salvatore Castenada at a lakeside party. The attraction is white-hot and more than a little wonderfully overwhelming for the romantically inexperienced goalie. August quickly discovers that Sal is everything he’s dreamed of in a man: mature, settled, sinfully handsome, and filled with gentle humor. Sal is also HIV positive.

Will Sal’s revelation about his status end this budding relationship before it can even begin? Or will the two men be able to handle the challenges life—and a championship run for the Cougars—throws at them?

Author Bio