Review: To Touch You by Cardeno C.

to touch you (Mates #4) by Cardeno C.
The Romance Authors
Novel: 260pgs

3 Pants Off

Blurb:  “His name is Salvatore Rossi. He’s a vampire. And he’s my true mate.”

By not relying on anyone except himself, Salvatore Rossi escaped a dead-end existence and reached the height of corporate success. But just when he has everything he always wanted, fate throws Salvatore a challenge he can’t solve alone and a young wolf shifter comes to his rescue.

Since childhood, Yoram Smith’s family was certain he would grow to become Alpha and save their beloved pack from its slow demise. When the time comes for a new leader, Yoram is forced to juggle his duty to care for a splintering pack with his duty to care for an absent mate, and his own strength suffers.

Being turned into a vampire didn’t alter Salvatore’s life philosophy: if you don’t rely on anyone, nobody can let you down. But when the boy who saved his life becomes a man who needs his help, the icy vampire must find his humanity. 

Review

NO TOUCHING AT ALL

All the ways this book could have been great..it started great, progressed like it was going to get epic and then it left me so utterly disappointed. Like actual tears disappointed, and the soul crushing realization that greatness will never be achieved. 

I love shifter books about destined mates, and I have been really enjoying C.C’s books in the “Mates” series. So “To Touch You” had me at hello. Yoram Smith knows his mate as soon as his little eyes land on  him. He knows he needs to keep this man close and alive regardless of the adults around him being all grumpy about it. But getting Salvatore to understand what being a mate means will be the hardest thing Yoram will ever do, regardless of all the things he’s seen and become Yoram remains an after thought to the man who has his heart. 

First of all, I was feeling this. I thought I was getting something along the lines of “Until Forever Comes” that sexy vamp/shifter good good. I got nothing for 70% of the book, and don’t get me wrong the story was good but Salvatore pissed me off something fierce. I found him so ungrateful and overall a gigantic Ahole, he rubbed me the wrong way. Like someone does something amazing for you for years, and this dude doesn’t even drop a “thank you” in person, over email or text. It most definitely irked me.  

Then bada bing bada boom they’re in bed and love and I just wasn’t buying it. Like I get where Yoram is coming from, but that Salvatore needed to be raked over the coals for a bit. He got his nourishment just a bit too easy for my liking. Apart for my complete disdain for the accidental vampire this story was just a sweet read. Some off side pack conflict added a bit of extra dressing but this was a “missing mate” type drama,  “To Touch You” was a bad touch for me. 

Review: Book #1 Wake Me Up Inside
Review: Book #2 Until Forever Comes 

Rating: Book #3 3 Pants Off

Review: Until Forever Comes by Cardeno C.

Until Forever Comes (Mates #2) by Cardeno C.
Novel: 60,702
Amazon, ARe

4 Pants Off

Blurb

A sensitive wolf shifter and a vicious vampire challenge history, greed, and the very fabric of their beings in order to stay together until forever comes.  

 Plagued by pain and weakness all his life, Ethan Abbatt is a wolf shifter who can’t shift. Hoping to find an honorable death by joining his pack mates in a vampire attack, Ethan instead learns two things: draining his blood releases his pain and his wolf, and he has a true mate—a vampire named Miguel.   

Over four centuries old, strong, powerful, and vicious, Miguel Rodriguez walks through life as a shadow, without happiness or affection. When a young shifter tells Miguel they're true mates, destined to be together, Miguel sends him away. But Ethan is persistent and being with him comes so naturally that Miguel can't resist for long. Their challenge is staying alive so they can be together until forever comes. 

 

Review

The second book in the Mates Series and I was all types of excited to read this. Who doesn't love a Vampire/Shifter pairing? Wasn't as angst-ridden as I was hoping but it was an enjoyable read overall.  

Ethan is a shifter that can't shift. He is ostracized from his pack and just really wants to fit in and be accepted. His body is always in pain waiting for a shift that will never happen, leaving Ethan longing to be a wolf, to becoming a man. He has his family, but he knows that will never be enough, and some way; somehow he has to finally shift. When the opportunity to finally do something with his pack mates finally arrives, Ethan jumps at the chance to be a part of it. Without questioning the dangerous position he will be in, Ethan goes after vampires with his pack mates knowing he most likely will die but the opportunity to prove himself as a man and wolf strong.   

The encounter with the vamps is a bust. They get their ass handed to them, and Etan is about to die. With blood dripping from his neck, his legs weak and his breath shallow Ethan realizes this was a damn bad idea. When it looks like their leader is about to put him out of his misery, Ethan's reaction is one of shock; he finds himself aroused to black haired vamp they call Miguel. Like he's full dick hard turned on, and the Vamp is giving him feels. Not the ones he should have for a bloodsucker but the kind where he wants to crawl into his skin and just live. There was never a sweeter way to die. And before Ethan can question his feeling there's nothing but sweet release and then blackness.  

 From what you already know; the vampire is Ethan's Mate. Which is crazy right, cuz he's a vampire and a dude. Ethan deals with all this quite easily along with shifting for the very first time. The crazy unusual comes with Ethan and his blood and the fact that he seems to produce too much of it (that's all you're getting from me). He has no reservations about leaving his pack and who can blame him he was treated as an outcast. He’s finally found his home with Miguel, and though the vampire is hardly thinking of forever Ethan knows that the mate bond cannot be denied.   

Throw in a little bit of plot with Miguel’s “coven” and it keeps the book from being a fluff fest. While I would have given anything to get a little POV from Miguel, I feel like I know the kind of man he is. Ethan is young, naïve, and sweet. He had this stereotypical small town boy mindset that was sometimes annoying, but it worked for his character. Together they're a little sweet and sometimes sexy. I feel like I liked this one only because it was vamp/shifter story. There were too many things that were glossed over, and the ending was very anticlimactic.   

Overall, a sweet read with some sexy points. I felt like this could have been a great story, but too much about it felt very safe.  


Review: Book #1 Wake Me Up Inside 

Promo Post & Giveaway: He Completes Me by Cardeno C (Audiobook)

He Completes Me: Home Collection

Written by: Cardeno C.

Narrated by: Alexander Collins

Length: 8 hrs and 25 mins 

Series: Home, Book 2

Unabridged Audiobook

Release Date:09-22-15

Publisher: The Romance Authors, LLC

Not even his mother's funeral can convince self-proclaimed party boy Zach Johnson to tone down his snark or think about settling down. He is who he is, and he refuses to change for anyone. When straight-laced, compassionate Aaron Paulson claims he's falling for him, Zach is certain Aaron sees him as another project, one more lost soul for the idealistic Aaron to save. But Zach doesn't need to be fixed, and he refuses to be with someone who sees him as broken.

Patience is one of Aaron's many virtues. He has waited years for a man who can share his heart and complete his life, and he insists Zach is the one. Pride, fear, and old hurts wither in the wake of Aaron's adoring loyalty, and as Zach reevaluates his perceptions of love and family, he finds himself tempted to believe in the impossible: a happily ever after.

©2013 Cardeno C. (P)2015 Cardeno C.

Ebook Links

All Romance eBooks / Amazon / Amazon CA / Amazon UK

Barnes & Noble / iBooks / Kobo / Smashwords
Coupon: EH83R

Cardeno C. - CC to friends - is a hopeless romantic who wants to add a lot of happiness and a few "awwws" into a reader's day. Writing is a nice break from real life as a corporate type and volunteer work with gay rights organizations. Cardeno's stories range from sweet to intense, contemporary to paranormal, long to short, but they always include strong relationships and walks into the happily-ever- after sunset.

Cardeno's Home, Family, and Mates series have received awards from Love Romances and More Golden Roses, Rainbow Awards, the Goodreads M/M Romance Group, and various reviewers. But even more special to CC are heartfelt reactions from readers, like, "You bring joy and love and make it part of the every day."

Website | Facebook | Twitter

Cafe Risqué ~ SharedBlog

Pintrest | Google+ | Youtube

Win an audio copy of He Completes Me !

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Giveaway: Home Series by Cardeno C

“Home” for the Holidays by Cardeno C. 

I love the holiday season – cool weather, glowing fires, hot beverages, and most of all, enjoying time with friends and family. To celebrate this season, I’m offering the box set of all seven of my Home eBooks for a sale price of $9.99. The special offer will begin on Thanksgiving, November 26 and expire on December 2nd. 

The Home Collection: finding love brings you home. 7 full-length, free-standing, feel good, gay romance novels. Amazon buy link: http://amzn.to/1MAxMRn. All Romance ebooks buy link: http://bit.ly/1KQHMp8. B&N buy link: http://bit.ly/1GxHctR. Kobo buy link: http://bit.ly/1DLeRnK. 

Where He Ends & I Begin: For best friends Jake & Nate the question isn't how they ended up in bed together but how they stay there. 

Walk With Me: Serious, responsible Seth longs for sexy, outspoken Eli but must decide if he's willing to veer from his safe life-plan. 

The One Who Saves Me: Boyfriends come & go but best friends are forever has always been Andrew & Caleb's mantra. Can they be both?

Love at First Sight: David must find the courage to share himself & Jonathan must find the strength to tell the truth. 

Home Again: Two men whose love has never faltered relive their most treasured moments in order to secure their future. 

Just What the Truth Is: If Ben wants to find love with Micah, he'll have to own up to the truth of who he is. 

He Completes Me: Aaron has waited years for a man who can share his heart and he insists it's party boy Zach. 

I wish you happy reading this holiday season and all year long! 

CC 

Rafflecopter giveaway of one Home Collection ebook box set: a Rafflecopter giveaway 

AUTHOR LINKS 

email: cardenoc@gmail.com 

Website: www.cardenoc.com 

Blog: (Shared Blog) http://caferisque.blogspot.com/ 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/CardenoC 

FB Profile: http://www.facebook.com/CardenoC 

FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/CardenoC/

Promo Post & Giveaway: Until Forever Comes by Cardeno C. (Audiobook)

Until Forever Comes: Mates Collection

• Written by: Cardeno C.
• Narrated by: Charlie David
• Length: 5 hrs and 54 mins
• Unabridged Audiobook
• Release Date:09-22-15
• Publisher: The Romance Authors, LLC

A sensitive wolf shifter and a vicious vampire challenge history, greed, and the very fabric of their beings in order to stay together until forever comes.

Plagued by pain and weakness all his life, Ethan Abbatt is a wolf shifter who can't shift. Hoping to find an honorable death by joining his packmates in a vampire attack, Ethan instead learns two things: Draining his blood releases his pain and his wolf, and he has a true mate: a vampire named Miguel.

More than four centuries old, strong, powerful, and vicious, Miguel Rodriguez walks through life as a shadow, without happiness or affection. When a young shifter tells Miguel they're true mates, destined to be together, Miguel sends him away. But Ethan is persistent, and being together comes so naturally that Miguel can't resist for long. The challenge is keeping themselves alive so they can stay by each other's side until forever comes.

 

 

Ebook Links

All Romance eBooks / Amazon   

AmazonUK / B&N / iBooks / Kobo / Oyster / Smashwords

Smashwords Coupon: GT46E

Cardeno C. - CC to friends - is a hopeless romantic who wants to add a lot of happiness and a few "awwws" into a reader's day. Writing is a nice break from real life as a corporate type and volunteer work with gay rights organizations. Cardeno's stories range from sweet to intense, contemporary to paranormal, long to short, but they always include strong relationships and walks into the happily-ever- after sunset.

Cardeno's Home, Family, and Mates series have received awards from Love Romances and More Golden Roses, Rainbow Awards, the Goodreads M/M Romance Group, and various reviewers. But even more special to CC are heartfelt reactions from readers, like, "You bring joy and love and make it part of the every day."

Website | Facebook | Twitter

Cafe Risqué ~ SharedBlog

Pintrest | Google+ | Youtube

Audible copy of Until Forever Comes by Cardeno C.

  a Rafflecopter giveaway

presented by:

Review: Wake Me Up Inside by Cardeno C

Wake Me Up Inside (Mates #1) by Cardeno C
Novel: 74,755
Amazon, All Romance

3.75 Pants Off

Blurb:

A Mates Series Story  A powerful Alpha wolf shifter and a strong-willed human overcome traditions ingrained over generations and uncover long-buried secrets to fulfill their destiny as true mates.   

Regarded as the strongest wolf shifter in generations, Alpha Zev Hassick is surprised and confused by his attraction to his best friend. His very human, very male best friend. A male shifter has to mate with a female shifter to keep his humanity, so shifters can't be gay. Yet, everything inside Zev tells him Jonah is his true mate.   

Maintaining a relationship with the man he has loved since childhood isn’t easy for Jonah Marvel, but he won’t let distance or Zev’s odd family get in their way. When unexplained ailments begin to plague Jonah, he needs to save his own life and sanity in order to have a future with Zev.  

 Zev and Jonah know they're destined for each other, but they must overcome traditions ingrained over generations and long-buried secrets to fulfill their destiny. 

 
Review

I haven't read much Cardeno C but the author is quickly growing on me. While the formula isn't always perfect for me in the writing. There is something endearing and engaging about the characters that pull me right in, and this Mates series is pulling me right in. I'm a big fan of shifter books with mates. This overwhelming need to bone and possessiveness that comes with it. It makes me happy to ditch my pants, and leaves me with a girl boner. 

Zev Hassick is being groomed to be the next Alpha. He comes from a line of proud wolves whose lead their people with a firm hand and strong traditions. From a small boy it was clear that Zev would be powerful and make a very strong Alpha. His first series of shifts leads Zev to a human boy with an amazing scent and the two begin an unlikely friendship that carries them through the years. Zev knows he shouldn't become attach to humans but there is something about the boy he knows as Jonah and he will do anything to get close to him. So he does what any young boy would do to get his way. A little bit of manipulation with his parents and he gets to spend time with Jonah who is his best friend when he's both man and wolf. 

Zev can't quite figure out his feelings for Jonah, and deep down this feels like more than friendship. It feels important, it feels vital, and that scares him. So when a little rough playing leads to an awakening in both body and mind Zev realizes he's found his true mate. Which is crazy as feck cuz Jonah is a man, he's a man and somethings not adding up. But finding a true mate is a gift and Zev accepts it for what it is. Jonah is his, and he must claim him. Easier said than done. Shifter/human relationships is a big no, and alphas are meant to mate only with females and the last time he checked Jonah was all male. Thus begins a long distance relationship and two men almost perishing for keeping it in their pants for a long time. Doesn't mean they can't have a little fun to ease them over. 

Alright, so this started off real strong from me and along the way I created expectations. I didn't call anything on the relationship. I was expecting angst and pining but overall it was actually very sweet. Not like anything is wrong with sweet but I really wanted angst. Zev is…he's big, he's kind, and not a horrible character (man is super naïve though). Like I'm talking “what is this butt sex” between males naive. Jonah is Jonah. There's nothing really standout about him and in all honesty he's a very forgettable character to me.  

The story would have done amazing with a little sizzle but the conflict was resolved quickly and overall quite predictable. Yet, I did really like it, and enjoyed Zev and Jonah together sometimes those two really brought the heat. While it did get a little draggy at the end I was never bored and remained intrigued. In all honesty I'm a sucker for the true mates shit and this had it in folds. I will say it ended quite abruptly and I never got the crazy that was supposed to come with the Alpha being mated to man, but in all honesty the book had run out of time. Anymore would have been too much. 

Overall a very cute story that had some high and very low points. Eye roll numerous was out in full swing for this one. Sometimes I was just like "slow your roll. You asses are being a bit to much". But I still freaking liked it and look forward to reading the others in the series.                                                           

Review: Perfect Imperfections by Cardeno C.

Reviewed by Whuppsy
Perfect Imperfections by Cardeno C.
Dreamspinner Press
Novel: 210pgs
4.5 Pants Off

Blurb:
Hollywood royalty Jeremy Jameson has lived a sheltered life with music as his sole focus and only friend. Before embarking on yet another international concert tour, he wanders into a bar in what he considers the middle of nowhere and meets a man who wins him over with his friendly smile and easy-going nature. Accountant slash bartender slash adventure-seeker Reg Moore has fun talking and drinking with The Jeremy Jameson and can’t say no when the supposedly straight rock star makes him a once in a lifetime offer: keep him company on his tour by playing the part of his boyfriend. 

Listening to music, traveling the world, and jumping off cliffs is fun. Falling in love is even better. But to stay with Jeremy after the stage lights dim, Reg will need to help him realize there’s nothing pretend about their relationship.

Review
So, let’s start out saying that I have read Cardeno C.’s books before and I’m a fan. So, I jumped at the chance to read her new book and BOY AM I GLAD THAT I DID!!

Jeremy Jameson is like any other child of Hollywood & Rock royalty; he’s been sheltered from the worst of the business until he had turned 18. He’s a Superstar Musician and he’s getting ready to go on tour again and he just needed to get away for awhile. Jeremy is the kind of person that wants to be so much better than his parents. Jeremy actually is really kind and so loving. It’s just that he’s used to not really trusting others. Jeremy doesn’t think that he’s worth falling in love with. As Jeremy has been told by his former lovers and what his childhood was like with his parents. So, he just assumes that he’s going to be alone for the rest of his life. He’s been told that he’s needy and that he’s high-maintenance. He’s not as bad as he’s been led to believe.

Reg Moore is this zen-like guy who is bartending in Munds Park, AZ where he still has family. Reg has had a career in Accounting and decided that it wasn’t for him, so bartending it is. He’s also this adventurer who loves doing new things. Exploring what this life has to offer. Reg is just the coolest guy that I’ve read about in a long time. He’s so zen-like and he’s so kind and so very generous and yet, his loyalty and his love are the two best qualities that he has, IMHO. Reg is so much fun and he’s just so sweet and I just love the way he finds his way to acceptance on things. I liked him A LOT!!

The secondary characters in this book were pretty good. I loved Jeremy’s manager, Bill, he was in parts funny and in others, and he gave hard truths. This is part and parcel of who he is. He made me laugh out loud a couple of times. I got who he was and I admired that he was so very honest about what he was saying and doing. Becky Parks was such a great character. She’s smarter than all get out and has this wonderful personality. She was such a cool woman and didn’t’ have designs to do anything other than her job. It was really nice to see.

This was such a character driven story. I liked that it was a slow burn book. That Jeremy and Reg took the time to be friends before they became lovers. It was sweet and sexy and it was just right. There wasn’t much angst in this story and It would have been so wrong to have it there. This book was just perfect the way it was. These two guys were so sweet together. I loved how they took their time falling in love with each other. They had a nice basis of friendship and allowed their feelings to grow from there.

This was a really nice feel good book and you will not be disappointed in reading this story. If you’re looking for something fun and sweet and just a bit sexy….this is the book for you.

4.5 Pants Off

Review: Wake Me Up Inside by Cardeno C

Reviewed by Fehu
Wake Me Up Inside (Mates #1) by Cardeno C
Dreamspinner Press
Novel: 250pgs
3.5 Pants Off

Blurb:
A Mates Series Story

Zev Hassick is surprised and confused when he finds himself attracted to his best friend. His very human, very male best friend. Zev is the son of the pack Alpha, regarded as the strongest wolf in generations, born to lead. And everyone knows a male shifter has to mate with a female of his own kind to keep his humanity. So shifters can't be gay, right?

Jonah Marvel wants a relationship with Zev, his best friend, the man he has loved since childhood. It wasn’t easy to maintain that relationship over years spent living apart while Jonah studied to become a doctor. And then things grow more difficult when Jonah becomes his own patient. Before he can make a life with Zev, he has to understand his past and cure the unexplained ailments that plague him.

Zev and Jonah know they’re destined for each other, but they’re facing traditions ingrained over generations and long-buried secrets that may threaten any future together.

Review:
It’s the first paranormal book for this author and it has a new take on the shifter theme. The writing of this author is usually my guilty pleasure, because it’s a lot of fluff but it’s well done. They are like a cake, sometimes you want to indulge, you want to have something good or need something sweet after a rough day. Wake Me Up Inside is still sweet but it has some surprises in store for the reader. For one Zev is a shifter and a shifter can only mate with shifters to bind their human side, so they don’t get lost in their wolfform. This happens when they mate with a woman, since women cannot access their shifterform without a male and sex, at least that’s what all shifters are told. Therefore there cannot be gay shifters and certainly no true mate can be male, that’s what Zev’s family assures him. I was looking forward to see how Cardeno would solve this problem and was not disappointed. The world Cardeno created, is quite interesting and I’m looking forward to reading more about it and the characters and I honestly wish this book had ended differently, there are some question left open, which I hope will be addressed in the next books!

Most of the story is told from Zev’s point of view and the reader can watch how the two boy meet as small children (well child and wolf cub) and how the friendship grows and their feelings mature. Zev in his shifter form follows an enticing scent which leads him to a human child. Their time together consist of stolen moments at first, because shifters do not like to mix with humans if they don’t have to. It’s not after they start school that they can openly interact together. First they become friends and their relationship is really sweet. For example, Zev wants get to know Jonah in his human form so he brings him a leaflet for the children sports league, in his wolf form until Jonah got him and singed up. That was just cute!

I loved to see the boys mature and their relationship deepen. Of course there were problems and rough patches caused by the separation of both characters. Zev is the future Alpha so he couldn’t go to college and Jonah wanted to be a doctor so he had to go away to study, which put a strain to their relationship. At the beginning I got the wrong impression about how this book would be told and about the development in Zev and Jonah’s relationship, because Zev thought that Jonah went away for twelve years, I assumed it would be a lovers reunited story, which was not the case. Zev and Jonah saw each other over the years and stayed in touch, which the reader will know after all the discussion with Zev’s parents about him taking a mate.

This brings me right to the part I didn’t enjoy as much and that is the flashbacks, usually I don’t like them if they are not well done and used sparingly, here the whole relationship is retold in flashbacks. Only the last part is completely set in the now and this part is short and left me with a lot of questions. Also the flashbacks are unexpected and they are not introduced into the story, one moment one reads about the present then it shifts to past, though to be fair sometimes it’s a new chapter but still, no introduction and this did throw me a bit out of the story.

There are no big conflicts in this story, if there is a problem it’s solved pretty quickly so there is not exactly a lot of angst. Usually in shifter stories the Alpha is a bit overbearing, not so here, Jonah is not treated like a thing, there is no overuse of the word “mine”. Zev and Jonah’s romance is quite sweet and slow building. What I found a bit hard to believe was Zev’s naivety about sex between men, I had to laugh that he was older than 18 years and still couldn't believe about the mechanics.

I really would have enjoyed the story more if it was about the present and set in present, thought. The ending is pretty much open, because while one problem was solved, Zev and Jonah still have to meet the pack as a mated couple. I wanted to rate it higher but then I turned the page and it was the last, which made me stare at my ereader in disbelief. The ending had no closure, because mostly the story played in the past and I was looking forward to the present and that part ended abruptly, which was not satisfying.

3.5 Pants Off