Breann

The mystery was meh. I didn't find myself caring too much about the outcome of the murders.

I did want more of the relationship between Jake and Adrien though. They really had a rocky start and I'm still trying not to want to impale Jake with a butter knife. They had some great moments and even some sexy ones. But still, Jake was such a complete dickwad at times. Can they just be nice to each other for, oh I don't know... a whole day at least? *sigh & eyeroll*

Adrien's snark still makes him one of my favorite characters and I just adore the guy.

3.5 stars

Wait. Did I just read book 1 of a series or book 2? It says book 1, but it really felt like book 2. Oh well, I still enjoyed the hell out of The Dark Horse.

There wasn’t much background given in this story, we’re kind of thrust into the relationship between Sean and Dan and into the mystery. Hence, why this felt like a continuation of a series instead of the beginning. I would have liked some buildup of the relationship or some background on the stalking and was a little confused from the lack thereof.

So I was a tad lost and wasn’t really feeling it for the first, say, 40% or so. But then! Then, shit got intense. The mystery got intense and the relationship got intense and I was loving it. And in true Lanyon style, I was hooked and riveted by every word and then… The End. It was all over when all I wanted was just a little bit more of Sean and Dan! Just a teeny, tiny bit more. I just never felt a true sense of closure and it was all over before the real relationship had really begun. For me, it felt like a HFN, when I really would have liked an HEA (obvs).

Oh, Amy Lane. How you slay me with your words and all the feels you make me feel.

I don’t even know how to express what I loved about this book. Everything, really.

I loved Sonny and his need to be loved by Ace.

"But I ain’t never had anybody keep me for good. I need to know you’ll keep me for good."

I loved Ace with his determination to take care of Sonny.

"I’ll do anything."

I loved Sonny & Ace’s complete devotion and possession of one another.

"I’m the only one who matters. […] I’m the only one you’ll ever belong to again."

I loved how they dealt the pasts they had together and the family they made for themselves.

I love Amy Lane's amazing gift of storytelling and how she maks me fall so utterly in love with every character she writes. She has this quiet and understated way of writing, where nothing is fast paced or loud, but at the same time packs such an emotional punch that I’m left walking around with her characters for days.

Just… everything.

3.5 stars

Can I get a group ‘AAAWWWWWW’? Knowing that was a story about a cop and a mafia boss, I wasn’t expecting something so sticky, icky sweet. But it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Jamie is a cop, and not a very good one at that. I’m stopping here for a second to say, I LOVED THIS ABOUT HIM! It was so refreshing to read about a cop who wasn’t a big, bad alpha man. Okay, so Jamie is a cop and has an undercover assignment to investigate Russian Mafia boss, Dmitri, at his club. Upon meeting, Dmitri is immediately smitten with Jamie and, basically, throws himself at the cop. There were insta-erections, insta-lust and insta-love abound. But it was believable insta, as these guys had amazing chemistry. They were sweet, loving, kind and just wonderful together.

Why only 3.5 stars? This was headed to fives-ville but then the story kept going and going and going, until I was skimming by the end. There was no real conflict in the relationship. There was some, but not 350 pages worth. The sex scenes and dialogue became repetitive and boring after a while and the book could have been half the length.

While I loved these guys and they were adorable together, 350 pages of them was just too much. I was tired of all the cuteness by the end.

3.5 stars

BRAINSHARING ALERT! I basically feel the same exact way as my lovely friend, Natasha, does about this book.

It was fun and sweet and hot, but nothing I haven’t read before.

I mostly liked it, and I especially liked Tony. He’s a great character who (I think) deserves someone better than Mac. Even so, they’re a great couple. One that I’m rooting for and will definitely be reading more about.

What I mostly didn’t like was Mac. I had one huge, glaring issue with him: his job and how he lets it rule his life. When you have to make a choice between your job and being able to take care of and be with your child, there is no choice. There’s no second guessing or thinking. You choose your child, every time. This really bothered me about him, so I’m hoping (and guessing) that this is something that’s dealt with during the rest of the series.

Some things felt rushed. Like Marty’s death. Nobody seemed to really care? And some things felt long. Like the ending, things took forever to get resolved. See, Natasha? Brainsharing.

But, yeah, it was good. I can already tell this is a series featuring two of my future book boyfriends.

Ryan was lonely and found himself growing jealous of the happy couples he's surrounded by. He couldn't ever seem to find the right girl and settle down. On the outside he looked to be the player type, when really, he wanted something real like everybody else. One night at a barbeque, he finally thinks he's found it in his brother's assistant, Martin.

Martin was out and proud and wasn't going back in the closet for anybody. Not even for the one guy who could make him weak in the knees. He felt the chemistry with Ryan and enjoyed the time they spent together, but was wary of the straight guy who wanted to be with him. He tried his hardest to protect himself but eventually couldn't resist Ryan's charms. And really, who could?

I loved how much Ryan wanted Martin. He didn't care that he was a man, he just knew Martin was the one for him. It was refreshing that, in this gay-for-you romance, the entire book wasn't spent on this self-realization. There was a little drama over the issue, but mostly, Ryan just wanted to be with Martin, no matter what. And I just loved him for it.

Both Ryan and Martin have strained relationships with their parents and have experienced heartbreaking losses. They both had some demons from their past to overcome and were able to do this with each other, which brought them even closer and strengthened the bond they had already formed.

While there were some very emotional scenes in RYAN'S HARBOR, there were some very sexy ones as well. I always love reading about a first time, with the fumbling, the awkwardness and the final realization that what they're doing is pretty hot. I was not disappointed at all. These guys can heat up a Kindle.

RYAN'S HARBOR was a great follow up to the first in the series. I would have liked a little more solid ending for Ryan and Martin but, overall, this was a very heartwarming romance.

Wow! I was totally taken surprise by this book. It's been on my TBR for quite a while now, but to be honest, I had no real intention of reading it. I read and liked the first one but didn't feel too compelled to continue. Further proof of why I love reading challenges! They force me to read books I would have otherwise never looked twice at.

Back to the book, Ethan is a rare cougar shifter and is considered feral. He hasn't been human in about 8 years due to some horrific things in his past. He has since been captured by wolves and is being cared for by the pack's omega, Bram.

Poor Bram, being pushed around and forced to do things he knows are wrong. But he did develop a backbone and finally did something about it. He was a very sweet character who never received the affection that he deserved. He kind of felt like the way he was treated was because he did something to deserve it. Luckily, Ethan wasn't going to let him get away with feeling that way.

I really enjoyed these two together and their slow-build relationship. So many times in shifter stories there's the insta-erection and YOU-ARE-MINE-syndrome. *eyeroll* So you can imagine my relief when that didn't happen here.

Lots of action, pretty fast-paced and sexy times were had. Yup, it's a keeper.

4.5 stars

After the second installment this series continues to blow my mind!

I would try to write a review, but... HA! That would mean I'd have my brain wrapped around what's going on. And I don't. I think I might have a clue what's happening, at least I hope I'm on the right track.

But I'm seriously loving this series. It's keeping on the edge of my seat and constantly guessing everything that is happening. It's awesome.

I'm not quite sure all that made sense right now. So if it doesn't, it summarizes my thoughts perfectly.

Big ‘ol dragon with a cute little bunny? Yeah, this was cute. But that’s about it.

There’s some fighting and discrimination happening among shifter kind, so the genius idea was to force shifters to marry outside of their own kind.

So…

 

 

 

 

 

Sebastian the Dragon


marries

Beauregard the Rabbit


Cute premise, big bag marries cute and tiny, but it could easily go from cute to silly. And it did. A lot.

Beauregard was an ornery little bunny so it was a lot of fun seeing him get into trouble and his dragon all riled up. I really liked these two together. They were very sweet and, not to mention, super-hot. I loved how Sebastian took care of his bunny and went all alpha, sexy male on him.

But then something dumb would happen, like apples make rabbits drunk. What? *eyeroll* Or Beauregard would smell Sebastian’s arousal and all hot and horny (which is fine) but he’d be all cave man about it, “Need now. Have it now.” Literally, that’s what he would say. *eyeroll* Or a huge misunderstanding that takes 25% of the book for NO REASON. *eyeroll*

Minus all the stupid, this could have been really good.

I'm pretty sure I said this about the last book in this series, but LITTLE STALKER is my favorite so far.

Coby has had a little stalker for about a month now. Of course, nobody believed him because the sneaky little guy ran off before anyone else could spot him. Not only was the idea of being stalked a little freaky to Coby, but also because he's turned on by this guy who's following him. He's been straight all his life, or at least, trying to be straight all his life. Finally, Coby was able to catch the guy who's been not-so-secretly watching him from behind trees and starring in his fantasies.

Upon meeting, Coby started to realize that maybe he's not as straight as he thinks. This is a huge thing to discover, but it doesn't excuse horrible behavior. He did and said some pretty despicable things to his stalker out of anger. Anger, not towards the stalker, but because he finally admitted to himself that he's gay. It made it a little hard to root for him, especially when his stalker was the sweetest little thing you ever did see.

His stalker was a guy named Grayson. He's not just any guy, but one of the most adorable guys I've ever had the pleasure to read about. He was so loveable and sweet towards Coby. He genuinely liked Coby and just wanted the chance to talk to him. Stalking isn't the most productive or normal reaction, but he's so cute that it's excusable. But make no mistake. While he's shy and sweet, he's no doormat. Grayson's had a hard life and was forced to make some hard decisions in order to survive.

LITTLE STALKER is a very emotional read. This series has been so light and fun that I didn't expect to get teary-eyed, but I did. Some things came out about Grayson that were terribly sad, and since he's so darn loveable, it made it all the more heartbreaking to read about. I love some angst in my romance, so this was a very nice surprise for me.

I do wish it were a tad longer, just a chapter more would have been great. I like to read about my guys basking in the HEA afterglow and, in this series, the books are over too soon for me.

I've really enjoyed what I've read of this series so far, so I knew this would be a winner, and it was. I can't wait to see what else Ms Pike has in store for these cute college guys!

"What makes you think I'm gay?" [...]
"Uh...nothing actually. [...] Unless you count all the hope in my soul of souls?"

These two were so completely adorbs, I couldn’t stop smiling. Could. Not.

Mark was kind of a douche in Private Eye and he was still kind of a douche in this book. Surprisingly, I liked that. He didn’t magically turn into The Perfect MC just because he’s starring in his own book. He still freaked out and still made stupid decisions. However, he was a very likeable guy and I was rooting for his HEA from the beginning.

So, Zane is this uber- famous actor guy and is tired of being used for his money. When he meets Mark, he’s relieved to find someone who is down to Earth and wants him for him, not his fame or money. Zane was so cute and sweet. He was instantly attracted to Mark but was so shy! His pure excitement for Mark was so precious. I just wanted to hug him.

I was really enjoying this story, but then, The Conflict. I could see it coming a mile away. It was so predictable and could have been so easily avoided if Mark had controlled his douchey tendencies. Ah well. Despite the major predictability, it was still very emotional and the author did a good job with how it all played out.

These guys together were awesome and cute and sweet and funny and sexy and, AND! I really, really liked this and can’t wait for Christian’s story. If Mark was redeemed, I’m sure Christian can be, too.

4.5 stars

Fantasy and urban fantasy are my first book loves. These genres hold a special place in my bookish heart and I’ve never found a M/M series that can compete with those series of the M/F variety.

WELL, I FOUND ONE! RIGHT HERE!

The world building rocked my effing socks. This was so fast paced and action packed I was riveted from the beginning to the very end. I’m just left with so many QUESTIONS. Questions about this world they’re in, about why they’re there, who they are and who they should trust. I love all the gray areas and uncertainty. Anyone could be a good guy or a bad guy at this point.

I don’t want to give too much away but basically there are two worlds. One that is like our own and another that is so full of creeptastic awesomeness that I think everyone should go in not knowing much about it so they can experience all the creeptastic awesomeness on their own. There is some gray area in between the two worlds that we don’t know much about… yet. Questions!

Then there’s Kahlil and John. Roommates, but not really friends. Kahlil is sent to watch over John. Why? We’re not 100% sure yet. Questions! We know that John has a special purpose that he may or may not have to fulfill, but we don’t completely know what the purpose it yet. Questions! John and his friends, Bill and Laurie, get pulled into this adventure of his. I loved the three of them together and their dynamic. Their banter was fun and they’re, obviously, in this mess they made for themselves together. I’m thinking that their involvement wasn’t chance and they have a purpose as well. But, I don’t know. Questions!

Questions, questions, questions. Questions I needed the answers to, like, yesterday.

Nikolai is the Master of Manipulation. Hands down, without a doubt, nobody can pull one off like he can.

I can’t even believe how he totally played Mat & Dougie and they had no idea! Not even Mat, who has more of a sense of reality than Dougie, at the moment.

Dougie. *sob*

That last line was… heartbreaking. I hope Dougie's not lost to Nikolai forever.

I just want a tiny, little, smidgen of hope that these guys will make it through and that Nikolai will DIE a long and painful death.

Twice.

So… 3 stars.

*hides*

As I told my wonderful buddy readers, this is so my problem and not the book. With it’s crazy high ratings and reviews? C’mon! I should have loved it!

I don’t have much to say about Captive Prince, which that in itself can tell you my thoughts about this book. With the complex characters and the changing dynamics between them I should have tons to say. But I don’t. I’m trying to rack my brain for some insightful, deep thoughts (heh, I said deep) but I’ve got nothing.

My conclusion: I’m much too shallow to enjoy this. I love some romance in my romance and there wasn’t any that I felt in Captive Prince. I'm destined to forever enjoy a meet-cute, hard throbbing shafts and some rubby rubby in my M/M.

But! I am going to read the second one. I have faith in my fellow buddy readers that my opinion will change.

This was absurdly entertaining.

There were tails, a rainbow cock, an alien species with TWO dicks and FOUR balls… let that sit for a minute… okay, a man of feline nature, one who is canine and a king with salty, cinnamon cum.

Not to mention all the weeping, oozing and leaking cocks.

Dick and cum for everyone!

Don’t let my 4 stars fool you. This is strictly PWP. Those stars are purely for the entertainment value of Handsome Hero Wanted.