Review of Rock my Heart by Garett Groves

by Garett Groves

2.5 stars

A jaded singer. A guitar prodigy. A rock 'n' roll romance.

Jamie “Blaze” Cameron has seen and done it all. As the frontman for the hard rock band HEX, he’s toured the world for the last 20 years — and as a result has managed to avoid coming to terms with his troubled past and the one thing he’s spent his career singing about: love.

At 25, Darren Greene’s ambition and skills at guitar playing have led him to do more in the world of music than many musicians twice his age, but it hasn’t been enough to put his name in bright lights. Without a big break, he’s terrified he’ll wind up stuck in his hometown with nothing but his broken dreams.

When HEX’s guitarist is removed from the band unexpectedly right before the first leg of their 20-year anniversary tour for their first record, Blaze and his bandmates find themselves in dire need of a replacement. The band holds open auditions and Darren rocks their socks off — and his life hits a high note when HEX hires him.

As the group adjusts to performing with their newest addition, Blaze and Darren realize it’s not just their chemistry on stage that’s making their hearts sing. Can the two navigate fame, unresolved grief, and their growing feelings for each other to bring the band into a new, golden era? Or will their budding romance and the controversy it stirs up in the media push them off the charts?

Hmmm, we actually don’t know where to start with the one.  We love Garett Groves, and Rockstars, so think this should have been a big win for us, but it really left us scratching our head.  They were together, they were apart, and so much angst…….

What did we enjoy?

- The Band:  We liked how the book shied away from the crazy rock star lifestyle and instead focused on the band.

- May/December Romance:  This is a great example of a May-December romance that works.

- The beginning:  The beginning of this book was so good.  It is fast-paced and engaging.  But somehow it just looses it’s magic.  The second half drags and we lose the momentum of the first half.  And although it is only 285 pages long it feels so much longer.  

What was the not-so-good?

- Blaze: We are not Blaze fans.  He runs hot and cold.  He worries and internalizes so much, that we actually started skipping his internal monologues.  He loves Darren, hold on, does he just love the idea of Darren and loves love? Ugh.  So much back and forth, round and round.  We were no fans.

- Angst:  Kind of mentioned in the above, but the angst.  OMG so so so so SO much angst.

- The sub-plot:  So there is a serious subplot of Blazes sexuality and a magazine article that’ll be released outing him, but with all the build-up in the end it is anti-climactic.  And don’t get me started on the sub-plot of Darren and his dad?

- Falling in Love:  I get insta-love, and I guess that is what this was, but we missed the journey into love.  All of a sudden Darren and Blaze were life partners in love.  Maybe we missed the chemistry between them?

We so wanted to love this book, but Blaze was a major problem for us, his attitude, his internalizing and really just him.  There were lots of ideas that started but never really came to a conclusion, and it really left us scratching our head.  Sorry to say this but all in all, we felt that Rock my Heart was a big miss.

Review of Red Hot Daddy by Austin Bates

 by Austin Bates

2.5 stars

An Mpreg Romance

You never forget your first love… 

Damien King has made a decent life for himself as an Alpha firefighter in his hometown. Drinking with the crew of Engine #15 and picking bar fights with men who insult omegas keeps him from thinking about his past. 

Back in town for a funeral, the last person Tommy Laurence expects to save him from a burning hotel room is his long-lost heartache, Damien. Seeing his old best friend awakens feelings he had sought to forget, or at least they were best friends… until Damien had confessed his love a decade ago. 

Damien can scarcely bear to see Tommy, but the attraction is too intense, and he can’t seem to stay away. A single steamy night between the two becomes a standing appointment. Damien finds himself torn between the pain of the past and the hope for a future, and when Tommy ends up pregnant, the two can no longer pretend to ignore the deep resentments that exist between them. 

Red Hot Daddy, a paranormal firefighter mpreg novel with a side of second chance romance. Not our usual read, but if omega/alpha relationships are your thing, it should be on your TBR list.

What did we enjoy?

- Alpha / Omega:  there is something really great about Damien and Tommy as an alpha/ omega relationship.  Now, this is a non-shifter book, and the first one featuring mpreg that isn’t animal/shifter based, but honestly we didn’t miss the shifter aspect.

- Push and Pull:  We really enjoyed the push and pull of the relationship between Damien and Tommy, it was fun.

What took away from the book?

- Miscommunication and Angst:  Ugh - 10 years of miscommunication.  Really?  And add the angst, so much angst, it was so much and we really wanted these boys to pull their heads out and TALK.  Ugh

- Disjointed story: There was a lot going on in this little book, and we felt it jumped around a bi in plot and them left quite a few cliff-hangers.  Like the hate-crime that the book was centred around just kind of went away???? We ended up skimming just to make it through the inconsistencies.

So, Red Hot Daddy was a miss for us, it is fast-paced easy read, with not a lot of meat to the story.  But, if you are looking for a Red Hot fireman, a sexy omega and a mpreg story without shifting, pick up this second chance romance! 

Review of Lace by KC Wells

 By KC Wells

2.5 Stars

 When Shawn’s best mate Dave breaks up with his girlfriend, Shawn tries not to get his hopes up. After all, Dave’s still straight, right? Wrong. Dave reveals he’s bisexual, and that pounding you hear is Shawn’s heart. He’s loved Dave for so long, but he’s not about to jeopardize their friendship by telling Dave how he really feels.

But when Dave discovers Shawn’s little kink, it opens up a whole new chapter for the two friends. Except Shawn can’t help but worry – if there was no kink, would Dave be there? And is Shawn brave enough to find out?

A standalone short story of lust, lace – and love….

A cute short story that deals with a taboo subject – men in panties!  

Shawn is an out gay man who likes lacey things against his skin, and love love loves his best friend Dave.  Dave has newly discovered he isn’t as straight as he thinks he is when he starts thinking about Shawn in all sorts of hot encounters.  But when Dave stumbles upon Shawn’s secret kink, they admit their lust and fall into bed.

We really like the premise of this short story, best friends that fall into bed, brought together by a little kink.  And we really liked the first few chapters, but fell apart for us for the second half.  The POV switches between Shawn and Dave, and you feel that attraction they have for one another, and their nervousness to take the next step and ruin a friendship.  But after they finally get over themselves they jump into a serious sex-fest.  We found the transition between their friendship and the between the sheets action a little stark.  One minute they are shy and sweet and the next, some hardcore kink and hardcore between-the-sheets. 

Don’t get us wrong, it was hot and we really enjoyed the kink.  We haven’t read much that features men in panties, but really enjoyed how main stream KC Wells attacked the kink.  Be warned that this is a book that will make you blush, woohoo, it is hot between Shawn and Dave.

But outside of the bedroom I didn’t feel the chemistry, and the mis-communication, or rather, lack of communication made the story just too predictable.  This book starts with BEST FRIENDS yet, they never seem to be able to talk?  Like how Dave deals with his bi-sexuality, by not talking to his GAY BEST FRIEND?  Okay, you get our frustration.  Just left us felling, well, disappointed.

Lace deals with an interesting subject, and makes it easy for the reader; unfortunately that wasn’t enough to save this book for us.  We believe this is going to be a series, and although felt Lace missed the mark, we are excited about the next in the series.

Review of Off Campus by Amy Jo Cousins

 Off Campus by Amy Jo Cousins

2.5 stars

With his father’s ponzi scheme assets frozen, Tom Worthington believes finishing college is impossible unless he can pay his own way. After months sleeping in his car and gypsy-cabbing for cash, he’s ready to do just that.

But his new, older-student housing comes with an unapologetically gay roommate. Tom doesn’t ask why Reese Anders has been separated from the rest of the student population. He’s just happy to be sleeping in a bed.

Reese isn’t about to share his brutal story with his gruff new roommate. You’ve seen one homophobic jock, you’ve seen ’em all. He plans to drag every twink on campus into his bed until Tom moves out. But soon it becomes clear Tom isn’t budging.

Tom isn’t going to let some late-night sex noise scare him off, especially when it’s turning him on. But he doesn’t want any drama either. He’ll keep his hands, if not his eyes, to himself. Boundaries have a way of blurring when you start sharing truths, though. And if Tom and Reese cross too many lines, they may need to find out just how far they can bend…before they break.

Let’s start off by saying how much we like college boys, sign.  And this roommates to lovers romance fits the bill, but gets waylaid with too many other storylines.

Tom is a former rich boy whose father is in prison for essentially embezzlement, although all assets are frozen he is working as a cabbie to finish up school.  Assigned to a new roommate he meets up with Reese, who is none too happy about being assigned this former jock.  They both have secrets in their past, and agree that keeping distance from each other is the best way to co-exist.  But Reese really wants a single room and will do almost anything to get Tom to leave.

Fun idea – right?  But a few things get in the way of making this a great read.  Tom is struggling with letting people help him, and is trying to pay his way through college himself.  However even when teachers want to help find him scholarships he pushes everyone away, almost becoming a hermit.  He has run ins with a few other students, and it causes him to pull back further to himself.  I guess it could be believable, but thinking that Tom really wants to accomplish his degree would he not be looking for help? 

And Reese, we struggled with his character.  Reese was raped a college a year ago, and now brings everyone and anyone home.  Trying to get Tom to move out, he resorts to bringing home twinks, and starts this voyeur thing between Tom and himself.  We lived in Rez and ewww, this turned us off, a roommate having sex 10 feet away, no, nope, no way.  We really expected more the the raped storyline to come through, yes, it explains why Reese always wants control, but I was expecting more.

The story is a long one and the back and forth between Tom and Reese makes it drag.  Tom isn’t sure if he is comfortable being open or out with Reese, he doesn’t want to bring more attention to himself. Reese isn’t sure he wants to be Tom’s dirty little secret.  Back and forth, back and forth.  But, not that they are celibate during this time, nope, these are some horny bunnies.  There is lots of sex in this book, and it was hard in the beginning to see Reese, one of the main characters, sleeping with others.

So all in all, a great idea for a story, but just didn’t pan out for us.  Off Campus felt like a circle of a story that never quite found it’s groove.

Review of Your Fallen Star by Raleigh Ruebin

Your Fallen Star by Raleigh Ruebin

2.5 stars

 A decade and a half ago, Leo Stone was famous. Fans galore, and money pouring in like a waterfall. Music industry royalty.

…And then the band broke up.

Leo went from a prince to pauper, and now he’s trying to make a comeback. To clean up his image and grab a little publicity, his manager hires Jamie Sheffield to write his biography.

Straight out of college, Jamie can’t believe his luck. He’d never quite gotten over his teen-aged crush on Leo, and now here he is, talking with Leo, thinking about Leo. Sleeping with Leo. And the heat between them is enough to set paper on fire.

But Leo’s afraid to commit to Jamie, no matter how much Jamie wants it. Not with the tabloids standing by, waiting for their next serving of scandal. And all the while, the book is getting closer to being finished. Will their story be cut short, or can they make it last forever?

This is such a great premise for a story, a fallen boy-band member and the man tasted with writing his biography, how could they not fall in love?  But Your Fallen Star had a few too much angst and twists for our liking.

Leo Stone is an ex boy-band member, now in his 30’s he is struggling with who he is and where to go from here.  His agent comes up with a brilliant idea to release his biography and hires Jamie Sheffield, a budding screenplay writer fresh out of college.  They meet and the sparks fly.  Leo is wrapped up in someone who actually wants to be with him for him and Jamie is star struck that this famous man wants him. 

This book starts with so much great potential, the sparks between Leo and Jamie are sizzling, but it starts to fizzle.  There is the usual attraction, and their beginning love is sweet, hot and so believable. 

But then it starts to slide into ill-communication angst.  Leo rebounds between wanting Jamie and pushing him away.  The May/December romance isn’t a new idea but this one doesn’t seem to work.  Both of these men waffle, Jamie – am I good enough to be a screenwriter, am I right following my dreams, should I give up and go home?  And Leo – why would Jamie want me, I am going to ruin his career, what am I going to do with the rest of my life?  They are so on-again-off-again it is a bit like whiplash.   And truthfully gets a little annoying, I just wanted one of them to set up and own their relationship, but nope, back and forth we go.  They both seem to think they know what is best for each other, without even talking about what they both need. 

All the angsty stuff aside, there is some chemistry between Leo and Jamie, and it makes Your Fallen Star hot.  There is a weird sex scene in a guest bedroom (that someone is staying in) at a huge Hollywood party that one of the more successful members of the boy-band is throwing, that well, is weird.  And we spend the 5 pages before in Leo’s head going over the reasons why he can’t let anyone know him and Jamie are tighter.  So, weird. 

Your Fallen Star is the start of a new series, and we see so much potential, but this May/December Romance just fizzled for us.