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 Chasing Mr. Wright by Aimee Nicole Walke

 

 by Aimee Nicole Walker

2 stars

Grayson Wright is a man who knows how to do many things. He knows how to follow his dream and create a company, Wright Creations, alongside his brother. He knows how to be a good son, brother, friend, and employer. Grayson doesn’t know how to fix his toxic relationship with his long-time boyfriend.

Grayson decides to throw his boyfriend a surprise birthday party as a last ditch effort to rekindle the old spark, but it’s Gray who gets the surprise of his life when he turns on the lights and learns the ugly truth about his life. Now at age 32, he re-evaluates who he is, what he wants out of life, and the kind of man he wants to give his heart to.

Chase Rivers has an MBA from Georgetown with a minor in marketing. His life starts looking up when he accepts an entry level position at an ad agency. It isn’t his dream job, but it’s a great start and it just feels right to him. He hopes this new beginning in his professional life will spill over into his personal life.

Chase is unlucky in love and draws every loser, liar and cheater like a magnet. He’s an expert at finding the perfect mate for his friends, but strikes out every time for himself. He gives up on finding Mr. Right and agrees to a date with Mr. Right Now out of loneliness and desperation. Chase didn’t expect Mr. Right Now to lead him to the doorstep of his very own Mr. Wright.

If their first meeting was a fluke, then what was the second and third? Twisted fate? Bad luck? Fated hearts? Buckle up for a bumpy ride as these two men travel down a broken road of heartache and discovery.

The first few chapters had so much potential for this m/m insta-love story, but fell apart quickly.

We first meet Grayson Wright, throwing what should be a happy surprise party for his live-in boyfriend of 10 years.  Thinking that this would be a great re-boot for their waning relationship, what he didn’t bank on is being the one surprised.  Chase Rivers is a pretty boy that is unlucky in love, starting a new career at an ad agency hoping that this time things will start coming together. 

Oh there is SO much happening in this book we don’t know where to start; insta-love, bisexual shaming, chick-flick emotions, so many leaking eyes, fate fate and more fate, ridiculous misunderstandings meddling ex-boyfriends, inappropriate grandmas and so many references to ‘God’s plan’. It was a bit much.  Grayson spends 50% of the book being a jerk to Chase, he is hot and cold, going from rejecting him to wanting him.  And chase keeps coming back for the bait; seriously, has he been so broken by other men he will take whatever he is being handed.  I want him, I can’t have him, I want him, I can’t have him…..and repeat. 

This book is also way too long, a couple times it could have wrapped up nicely, but it just kept on going, probably 100 pages too long.  Chasing Mr. Wright also switched POVs, but it was confusing and muddled and more than once we wondered which one of these men was talking, but honestly didn’t care enough to go back and look. 

As we can see we can go on about all our issues with this book, but will just end here by saying, do yourself a favor and skip Chasing Mr. Wright.

Review of Bred for Love by Revella Hawthorne

by Revella Hawthorne, pen-name for SJ Himes

4 stars

In a world where humans are genetically designed, altered and sold for sexual pleasure and breeding, a young prince of the powerful Cassian Dynasty decides to take a mate and sire heirs. Not wishing to saddle himself with royal and meddlesome in-laws, and a wife he would have no desire to bed, Prince Edward goes to Heritage Breeders, and finds far more than just a warm body to sate his lust and carry on his lineage.

Percy is the result of a master DNA architect designing himself his own personal sex slave and breeder. Yet when his creator and Master dies, leaving Percy alone at the mercy of the callous stable masters and the new owner of Heritage, he fears his future. Afraid he'll be bought by a wretched old man or a deviant monster, Percy is terrified when he is dragged from his cell and presented to the most prestigious client Heritage has ever welcomed...a Cassian Royal.

Prince Edward is immediately infatuated with the shy, nervous and enchantingly beautiful Percy, and claims him for his own. Yet not everyone is pleased by a royal purchasing a breeder, especially one like Percy, and tensions rise both in Heritage and in the palace.

Torn between desire, duty, a king's command and the innermost desires of their hearts, Edward and Percy are set on path that is anything but easy. Can Percy trust Edward with his heart as he does his body? Can Edward keep an angry king and unseen enemies away from the young slave who is steadily stealing his heart?

And what happens when Nature takes its course, and sex leads to more than just pleasure?

At 160 pages, Bred for Love could be a short story, but there is so much going on that it really feels like a full length novel.  We liked this story, but were really fascinated with the world, the fantasy.

Prince Edward is a Cassian Blood Prince, but since he has older brothers who have provided heirs to the throne he find himself not willing to get married to produce an heir, and instead turns to Heritage and procuring a breeder to carry on his line.  While perusing the merchandise at Heritage, Edward meets Percy, unlike other breeders, has been built to have conscience thought and be a companion for his mate, not just to produce a child and be stabled afterward. 

See, sounds like a pretty easy story, but throw in self-lubrication,  breeders just to produce heirs, male pregnancies, sex-slaves and poof, our mind was blown, and actually kept us reading because darn, we were just fascinated. It felt like every page turn brought us to another weird revelation, or another head-scratching tid bit of this fantasy world.

 But, let’s talk the relationship between Edward and Percy.  The idea of a breeder is simple; buy a breeder, mount, repeat until they produce and offspring, they are stabled and then repeat  process when you want another child.  Edward goes to Heritage with this intention, but finds Percy; shy, sweet, beautiful, and Edward wants to take care of him, and they soon find themselves falling in love – ahh, insta-love.  It feels a bit like a shifter story, with the alpha/mate connection. 

We didn’t particularly like Percy, he was meek, subservient, and docile, never meeting anyone’s eyes, but he is essentially a slave, and acts as one should.  And if he cried one more time we might have just hit him! We wish sometimes he would stand up for himself a bit more, or grow a backbone, but again being a breeder put him as a certain level in this society, and we felt that looking through our perspective , we just didn’t understand where he was coming from some times.  The breeder thing made us a bit itchy as well.  Percy self-lubricates (umm, yes) and the sex is very vigorous, descriptive, explicit, and HOT.  But, fair warning, there is a lot lot lot of sex.  So much for such a short read. 

Honestly we couldn’t put this book down, and read the other 2 in the continuing story the next day, there is a flow to the writing, it grabs you and keeps you, folding you in this weird world.  It is easy to read and ends on a satisfactory note that you want to pick up the next books. 

Review of To Love and Protect by Kay Simone and Jason Collins

 by Kay Simone and Jason Collins

2 stars

Hank Bartlett dreams of something more than his sleepy Ohio hometown, where the work is back-breaking and the money he makes goes straight to his family. He's only 25—way too young to end up stuck in the same tiny town for the rest of his life... Especially when he's the only gay guy in a 100-mile radius.

When he walks into The Spike on his first night in San Diego, a gorgeous older man catches his eye across the bar. But Ben turns out to be more than just a handsome stranger—he's also kind, generous, and inspiring. And soon enough, Hank is head over heels.

Now if they could just figure out what to do about those pesky death threats...

"Get married and you're a dead man..."

When Bennett's father disowned him for being gay, Ben turned his back on his family's wealth. He relied on his intelligence and drive to build a business and a life that he's proud of. Ben refuses to be told what to do by an old bigot, and he's definitely not interested in fulfilling a ridiculous marriage requirement just to inherit money he doesn't want anyway.

So why the hell is he getting threats designed to keep him from the altar?

It was easier to ignore the threats when he was single and reeling from a nasty breakup. But that was before Ben fell for Hank—sweet, open-hearted, optimistic Hank who tugs at parts of Ben's heart he didn't even know existed. Suddenly, Ben isn't quite so sour on romance after all. But the closer he gets to Hank, the worse the intimidation gets.

Whoever's sending the threats will stop at nothing to break the two men up. Will Ben and Hank find a love to have and told hold, or will death do them part before they can even get started?

We finished this a few weeks ago and have put on reviewing cause, ugh, we were so disappointed.  We pick up EVERYHTING by Kay Simone and well, love all her work, but To Love and Protect was too much everything for us and we struggled to finish.  We struggled to hear Kay’s voice in wither character and with so many themes and twists, this one did not work at all.

Hank Bartlett is a gay 25-year old man leaving, for the first time his small Ohio family home, and stiking out to San Diego to rope himself a wealthy husband.  On his first night in town he meets Bennett, a handsome older man who seems just his type.  But Ben was disowned by his father when he came out, only to find out that his father willed him his entire estate, but he has to get married.  Ben doesn’t really seem to care if he inherits the millions, but his family benefits if he doesn’t get married. And just as he starts getting closer to Hank, he starts getting death threats.

SO many things going on, we have a Virgin May/December insta love – oh yes.  Even though Hank and Ben don’t hook up the first night they meet, they basically fall in love and Ben installs Hank as a permanent feature in his life; helping to fid somewhere to live, giving him a job at his company. Of course with the age-gap, Hank is also a virgin, and Ben finds himself wanting to keep and protect Ben forever.   And then there is the mystery – who wants Ben dead?  There is ex-boyfriend trouble and family infighting, and twists and turns which we found confusing.  Unfortunately in the end when the perp was uncovered, we were kinda like – really, hunh???

Needless to say we struggled.  To Love and Protect was too sappy, confusing, and lacked a flow.  Honestly we ended up skimming just to finish this book.  As hard as we tried to like To Love and Protect, we didn’t enjoy this author team up.

Review of Wake up Inside me by Cardeno C.

 By Cardeno C.

3.5 Stars

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.

Well, we love Cardeno C., picking up one of these stories you know you are in for a sweet sappy, insta-love story, some work and some don’t but Wake up Inside Me, the first on the Mates Series delivers on all good Cardneo C. things. We aren’t usually fans of shifter stories, but this story of love between an Alpha shifter and a human works in so many ways.

Zev is the Alpha of his pack, and his family is pushing him to claim a mate, but Zev knows that he isn’t like all the other males who crave a female, he is gay.  His childhood best friend Jonah is a regular human, byut Zev knows deep down that they are mates, destined to be together.  This story follows them over many years, from when the meet as children well into adult hood.  It is sweet to see their journey, but a few stops along the way we wish we could move a little faster.  When they finally do get tighter it is great, love, hot-between-the-sheets, and so so good.

There were a few things that created a few ummm moments for us.  Zev keeps Jonah in the dark for 12 years.  They are ‘together’ but not really???  And by in the dark we mean, he doesn’t talk about being the alpha, why he needs to stay in his small town and why they can’t jump between the sheets.  I get about fate, and love and all that, but 12 years for Zev to keep stringing Jonah around seems a little ridiculous, especially if they are really bound as mates. 

But to be honest we are just being picky, we really enjoyed this Wake up Inside Me.  It is a great shifter romance full of all good things in the genre, alpha males, insta-love and hot-between the sheets!