Review: Deal Maker by Lily Morton

Review: Deal Maker by Lily Morton
Amazon
Novel: 335pgs

4.5 Pants Off

Blurb: Sometimes your mouth makes deals that your heart can’t honour.

Jude is a highly successful model, but a very reluctant one. His life is full of casual hook-ups with pretty men in glamorous locations, but it’s still empty. However, circumstances decreed a long time ago that this was his path, so he’s resolutely stayed on it and accepted his fate with good grace. He made a deal with himself and his hook-ups. Get in, get out and no ties with anyone.

However, an accident at home one night leads to him making a new deal and accepting the offer of help from an unlikely source. It leads to an unexpected summer of falling in love with a larger than life man and his child.

But by the end of the summer his reasons for not staying are still valid. Will he turn away? Can he?

Asa is a talented actor who has spent time away from the scene to look after his son. But now he’s back, and the last thing he needs are complications from the gorgeous man who is staying with him. Scarred from too many betrayals, he has no intention of forming a lasting tie with anyone. However, he can’t resist the beautiful man with secrets, and to his horror he develops feelings.

But a deal’s a deal and they said it was just for the summer. What can Asa do with a man who has forever in his eyes and goodbye on his lips?

From the Amazon bestselling author of ‘Rule Breaker’ comes another scorchingly hot romantic comedy. 

Review

 Some Deals Are Meant To Be Broken

First of all, the cover. I am a little in love with it, that turtleneck and cheekbones combo is legit delicious. I’m here for all of it, the cover and the freaking book. Deal Maker has socked Rule Breaker in the face. This book came out of nowhere! Like my curiosity was peaked because of Jude in Rule Breaker, but it played no games and I am all sorts of in love with it. 

Jude is a model barely making ends meet when a bathtub through his apartment roof leaves him without a home. An idea by his hookup Dean to stay over at his stepbrothers sounds ludicrous but beggars can’t be choosers and Jude needs a place to stay until his apartment is in working order. What Dean forgot to mention is that his brother is a big time actor and also very much hates models. Asa Jacobs is gorgeous with a beautiful son and he is everything that Jude doesn’t want but so desperately needs. They make a deal to have summer of lust and at the end walk away from each other, but some deals are meant to be broken. Because Jude and Asa come together in tangled limbs, laughter, and it’s oh so beautiful. But men cannot live on sex alone and sometimes feelings get in the way, and the next thing you know you’re in love. Hey can we change the rules of this deal a little?

Things I Liked: Almost every fecking thing! Like seriously this was just a surprisingly amazing book.

The formula of it all was so on point, the prose, a distinct sense of place, just all came together so well. Jude is such a light funny character with so much personality I’m in love and to think I hated him at first (hangs head in shame). 

Asa, (big sigh) like how do I get one of him. He’s just pure raw sweetness and when you take off his wrapping he becomes a sexy being. Together they lit my pants on fire and filled me with romantic feelings. Legit this book was mad romantic y’all. I want walks on the beach and sh*t now.

Asa’s son Billy. He is one adorable sweet little boy, I couldn’t get enough of him.

Things I Didn’t Like: Only a few little things but still important. I was irked in the beginning by Jude’s stupid persona.  

I knew this was an act but I can’t handle stupidity in any form in any way. 

The little inclusion of a certain Ex. His ass wasn’t need and it made that scene a little too dramatic and campy, I cringed through it all. I get the idea of closure and sticking it to the man, but it serves no purpose in furthering the plot line and therefore I found it insignificant.  

This was a winner for me and is my very first favourite of 2018. It’s nice when you go into a book with no expectations and it blows you out of the water. Deal Maker is funny, sweet, and very sexy. It’s a great contemporary romance and very family orientated. Lily Morton did a wonderful job and I’m on board for anything she writes now. You’ve found a fan in me!!  

SideNote- So where Henry’s book at? I feel like mans got a tale to tell…

     

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: Locked in Silence by Sloane Kennedy

Locked in Silence (Pelican Bay #1) by Sloan Kennedy
Self-Published
Novel: 284pgs

3.5 Pants Off

Blurb: I've spent years hoping someone would finally hear me. It's easier not to try anymore...
Ten years after leaving his small Minnesota hometown in his rearview mirror for what Nolan Grainger was sure would be the last time, life has decided to throw the talented musician a curveball and send him back to the town he lived in but was never really home.

At twenty-eight, Nolan has traveled the world as a successful concert violinist with some of the best symphonies in the country. But success breeds envy, and when Nolan's benefactor and lover decides Nolan has flown high enough, he cruelly clips Nolan's wings. The betrayal and ensuing scandal leaves the violinist's career in shambles and with barely enough money to start fresh somewhere beyond his vindictive ex's powerful reach. But just as he's ready to get his life back on track, Nolan gets the call he's been dreading.

After a stroke leaves his father a partial invalid, duty-bound Nolan returns to Pelican Bay and a life he's spent years trying to forget. When he's forced to use the last of his own money to keep from losing the family home, desperation has him turning to the one man he'd hoped never to see again...

Even if I could speak, there wouldn't be anyone there to listen...
Pelican Bay's golden boy, Dallas Kent, had the quintessential perfect life. Smart, gorgeous, and popular, the baseball phenom was well on his way to a life filled with fame and fortune. But more importantly, he had a one-way ticket out of Pelican Bay and far away from the family who used love as currency and whose high expectations were the law of the land. But a stormy night, sharp highway curve and one bad decision changed everything, leaving Dallas with nothing.    

Because the accident that took his parents, his future and his crown as the boy who could do no wrong, also stole his voice.

Despised for the horrific wreck that ended the lives of two of Pelican Bay's most respected residents, Dallas has retreated to a secluded stretch of land where he's found refuge in a menagerie of unwanted animals that don't care that he once had the world at his feet or that he'll never speak again.

But when the quiet, bookish boy he wasn't allowed to notice in school suddenly reappears ten years later at Dallas's wildlife rehab center in desperate need of a job, Dallas is thrust back into a world he's worked hard to escape.

Dallas's silence was supposed to send Nolan scurrying, but what if Nolan ends up being the one person who finally hears him?

Will two men who've been fleeing from the past finally come home to Pelican Bay for good or will the silence drive them apart forever? 

Review

 LOCKED IN A TOWN WITH A BUNCH OF IDIOTS...

 I am both in love and hate with this book. My very first time reading this author, and I have to say it won’t be my last. The story really was entertaining and I found my self not being able to put it down. While I really liked it, I still got a few issues… 

Nolan left his backwards small town behind and became a talented sought after violinist. He’s lived an incredible life for the past 10yrs, being in the spotlight and being someone that matters. But trusting the wrong person has left him with nothing, and now he has to return home with his tail between his legs and eating humble pie. The last thing he ever wanted was to return to a place that was a torment through his childhood and to run into one of his tormentors  (a loose discription). 

Dallas was once the golden boy with a bright future ahead of him. He had the looks, charms, and money backing him. Until a tragic accident leaves most of his family dead and his voice lost. Now he’s the pariah of his town, so he moves alone while running an animal sanctuary. Isolation is his best friend and he liked it, or so he thought… 

Nolan and Dallas both with their own hurts to heal and town so dead set in their ways I’m surprised they didn’t mow them all down. Their coming together is tentative at first and then explosively sweet. They come to rely on each other and in the process saved each other as well. 

Alright, the book is all sweet/cozy and sh*t but let me tell you the anger I felt at everyone in the damn town and at Nolan/Dallas for being so damn passive. Nolan’s parents were a piece of work especially his mom and there was just no redeeming her for me. You know what, let’s just get rid of the whole damn town. So backwards, so malicious, and so stupid x2. 

I loved that Nolan and Dallas got their HEA but it was just too neat for my liking. The story was excellent until it was wrapped up in a nice little bow. I understand the need for happy endings but it works when it feels believable and this felt like tying up loose ends to make the reader happy. I would have been quite content if Nolan/Dallas decided to burn everyone to the ground. But you know they were happy without hate in their hearts and so on and so forth (should have made those spineless biaches suffer). 

Overall, I liked it, would have loved it if not for that neat ending. I will be checking out more of the authors work and I am looking forward to more in the series. 

SideNote- That blurb be telling the whole damn story and that cover has nothing to do with anything... 

     

Review: Rule Breaker by Lily Morton

Rule Breaker by Lily Morton
Self-Published
Novel: 302pgs

3 Pants Off

Blurb: Is it really wrong to want to murder your boss?   

Dylan has worked for Gabe for two years. Two long years of sarcastic comments. Two long years of insults and having to redo the coffee pot four times in the mornings to meet his exacting standards.   

Not surprisingly he has devoted a lot of time to increasingly inventive ways to murder Gabe. From stabbing him with a cake fork, to garrotting him with his expensive tie, Dylan has thought of everything.   

However, a chance encounter opens his eyes to the attraction that has always lain between them, concealed by the layers of antipathy. There are only two problems - Gabe is still a bastard, and he makes wedding planners look like hardened pessimists.   

But what happens when Dylan starts to see the real Gabe? What happens when he starts to fall in love with the warm, wary man that he sees glimpses of as the days pass? 

 Because Gabe is still the same commitment shy, cold man that he’s always been, or is he? Has Dylan had the same effect on Gabe, and has his solid gold rule of no commitment finally been broken? With his heart taken Dylan desperately needs to know, but will he get hurt trying to find the answers?  

 From the author of ‘The Summer of Us’ comes another scorchingly hot romantic comedy, showing what happens between two men when rules get broken.

Review

All the ways I was excited to read this, because there is nothing more I enjoy in a book than an authentic asshole. Gabe had the potential to be that asshole and there were moments his assholery (owning this word) shined but I felt like he was playing a character instead of being the character. he had the potential to be meaner and I just didn’t feel it. He was soft, like a cinnamon bun. 

Not to delve too deep into the plot because the blurb pretty much shares what the book is about. Man is in love with boss, boss is an asshole, and boss also has an asshole boyfriend. They do this back and forth dance while remaining professional towards each other but at certain times I found Gabe very unprofessional and insensitive (cough- f*cking in his office). He’s like food you didn’t microwave properly. Hot in some parts and cold in others.  

The story itself is something we’ve all read already. I know I’ve read the same scenario in many a books and this one didn’t excite me. I’m not saying it was horrible, I’m saying there was no “wow” factor and it all played out like you would expect it to. I did like the relationship between Dylan and Gabe. I think that was one of the seeking points in the book. Their relationship felt natural and I could feel the respect they have towards each other (unless Gabe was feeling petty and took his big boy pants off). 

Overall, it was an alright read for me. The story was engaging, some of the characters were likeable and it kept me entertained. Honestly and truly it could have been better, some characters could have been less stupid and the ending could have been less predictable. Alas, I enjoyed it and really am looking forward to reading the series and new to me author Lily Morton.

Review: Duck Duck Ghost by Rhys Ford

Duck Duck Ghost (Hellsinger Series #2) by Rhys Ford
Dreamspinner Press
Novel: 214pgs

4 Pants Off

Blurb: Paranormal investigator Wolf Kincaid knows what his foot tastes like. 

Mostly because he stuck it firmly in his mouth when his lover, Tristan Pryce, accidentally drugged him with a batch of psychotropic baklava. Needing to patch things up between them, Wolf drags Tristan to San Luis Obispo, hoping Tristan’s medium ability can help evict a troublesome spirit haunting an old farmhouse.

With Wolf’s sister handling Hoxne Grange’s spectral visitors, Tristan finds himself in the unique position of being able to leave home for the first time in forever, but Wolf’s roughshod treatment is the least of his worries. Tristan’s ad-hoc portal for passing spirits seems to be getting fewer and fewer guests, and despite his concern he’s broken his home, Tristan agrees to help Wolf’s cousin, Sey, kick her poltergeist to the proverbial curb.

San Luis Obispo brings its own bushel of troubles. Tristan’s ghost whispering skill is challenged not only by a terrorizing haunting but also by Wolf’s skeptical older cousin, Cin. Bookended by a pair of aggressive Kincaids, Tristan soon finds himself in a spectral battle that threatens not only his sanity but also his relationship with Wolf, the first man he’s ever loved. 

Review

Oh! How I’ve missed a Rhys Ford book. Duck Duck Ghost was a roller coaster ride of scares, thrills, and sexy men. This by far has to be scariest and craziest book by Rhys that I’ve read so far and that’s saying something.

We first met Tristan and Wolf back in Fish and Ghosts. Where Tristan ran a sort of ghost hotel and skeptic debunker of all things supernatural Wolf Kincaid visited to the hotel to prove that Tristan was all types of bat shit crazy. He went looking for ghosts but found love instead. The second book finds the boys relationship on the rocks and Wolf is out again telling Tris he’s still sort of bat shit crazy even after seeing definitive prove that ghosts are real and sometimes they’re out to kill you. 

With Tris being all mad at his lover, and the hotel losing some of its ghostly mojo, a rekindling of love needs to happen. My boys decide to once again to go do a little ghost hunting and they get more than what they bargained for. What sounded like a mild (maybe haunting) turned out to be something that would freak anybody’s freak. 

This book brought us an eclectic mix of characters and ghosts and I was just so in love with it all. I love Tristan’s interaction with his ghostly guests and Rhys does such a remarkable job of making them so memorable that I found myself wanting to know their stories -how they fell in love, how they lived and how they died-. They each brought humour and craziness to an already wonderful story.
  

Duck Duck Ghost, was one action packed scene after another, and lets keep it 100 I was legit spooked in some scenes there. There ain’t nothing scarier than bat shit crazy kids, and this had one hell of bat shit crazy kid. While I was in love with all those elements I wasn’t a fan of how it all ended. I wanted an epic throw down and the build up felt like it was inevitable but overall I was let down. I felt like it just ended and kept thinking that, this whole ghost thing could have been solved 70pgs are so in. The legit introduction to an actual ghost hunter served no purpose and provided filler or something, like don’t get me wrong I liked him and am intrigued but bud needs to go back to the school of ghostbusters. 

Overall, an entertaining read which left me wanting more especially with that ending (shooketh). DDG is authentically Rhys Ford and it will provide a nice creepy read on a bright sunny afternoon and if you dare a very creepy read in the dead of night while in the dark of your bedroom.  

Review: Book 1 Fish and Ghost