Reviewed by Dan

TITLE: Guns n’ Boys: A Breath of Innocence

SERIES: Guns n’ Boys – Book 8

AUTHOR: K.A. Merikan

PUBLISHER: Acerbi & Villani, Ltd.

LENGTH: 330 Pages

RELEASE DATE:  May 14, 2018

BLURB:

“I would wait a lifetime for this.”

“You don’t have to wait anymore. I want you.”

Mark is done with flings. He is looking for something real, and he knows just where to find it. Years ago, he fell in love with Charlotte Elswood, but after saving her life, he made the difficult choice to stay in a cartel for the sake of his family.

Now, free of the bloodstained work, he’s ready to rekindle what he’s lost.

But in England, he meets someone who is also blond, blue-eyed, and irresistible. Problem is, Griffith Elswood is Charlotte’s brother. Should Mark even consider putting his hands all over an innocent who would push him away if he knew what kind of monster Mark is?

After years of homeschooling, Griffith wants nothing more than to finally spread his wings at university. Secretly, he dreams of meeting a man he can fall madly in love with. A man he would have all the firsts with. But it’s hard to trust anyone after witnessing his sister’s heartbreak.

When Mark moves in next door, Griffith reaches out despite his sister’s warnings. Mark is mysterious, experienced, cocky, and just oh-so-dreamy. Alternating between hot and cold, Mark’s presence sends Griffith into a frenzy of passion like he’s never known before. So hot in fact, it might just burn him if he isn’t careful.

Reviewed by Kat

TITLE: The Alcove

SERIES: Lavender Shores #7

AUTHOR: Rosalind Abel

PUBLISHER: Self Published

LENGTH: 303 pages

RELEASE DATE: May 29, 2018

BLURB:

Jasper Getty is living his dream as the owner of the charming bookshop, Lavender Pages. For seven years, he’s enjoyed the safety and freedom to be himself, selling books by day and curling up and getting lost in novels by night. But a dark page from the past comes back to haunt Jasper as his ex begins stalking him.
Russell Wallace hit reset on his life in Nashville and became a bodyguard after decades of living according to family expectations. But even years later, he doesn’t believe he deserves happiness. When Russell is asked to travel to the beautiful seaside town of Lavender Shores to protect a friend’s brother, he expects nothing more than a job and a paycheck. 
But Lavender Shores reveals a world Russell never imagined, and his immediate attraction to the adorably geeky Jasper complicates an already difficult job. Jolted by the memory of a shared moment and paths that crossed years ago intensifies the sparks into a bonfire of passion and hope. 
When danger comes pounding at the door, Jasper is in danger of losing his life… and his heart.

(Contains Lavender Shores maps and family trees.)

Reviewed by Danielle

TITLE: Only Need You

SERIES: Only Colorado #3

AUTHOR: JD Chambers

PUBLISHER: Self Published

LENGTH: 214 Pages

RELEASE DATE: April 17th 2018

BLURB:

I am still trying to prove that I am not a hot mess. The last thing I want is to attach myself to someone in even greater need of a personalized TED talk than me.”

Kieran Jones is perpetually ten steps behind in life. Whether it’s his best friend’s advice on how-to-gay properly since he was a little late to the coming out party, another friend giving him a discount on rent so he could escape his horrible roommate situation, or his best friend’s boss rescuing him when his car won’t start, Kieran’s life isn’t just a hot mess. It’s a blazing disaster.

“I don’t think I’ve been giving off greater sad sack vibes than normal, but the more time I spend around Kieran, the more I want things that I can’t have.”

Ted Olson may not be the life of the party, but he is steadfast and dependable, and that will have to do. He’s always looking out for others – his employees, his nephew, and the adorable redhead who hangs out at the store and is way too young for him. It has been almost a decade since his last serious relationship, and Ted is tired of being alone.

When Kieran and Ted end up on a blind date together courtesy of a dating app, they realize a mutual attraction has been lurking behind their growing friendship. But Ted can’t believe someone as young and pretty as Kieran would want a boring, old, video game store owner. And Kieran has never been with a man before and doesn’t trust his own instincts. Both men will have to break free from their insecurities if they want to be what the other needs.

Reviewed by Becca

TITLE: Incubus Adored

SERIES: Gravidam #1

AUTHOR: Ki Brightly

PUBLISHER: self-published

LENGTH: 250 pages

RELEASE DATE: May 14, 2018

BLURB:

Peirs had accepted his life of servitude to an angel. His keeper asked only for a willing body, and in exchange his needs were met and he was fed and clothed. Peirs might have served the angel forever—it was the only life he knew—but one day Peirs discovered something he had no way to plan for. After a millennium, he was pregnant. Peirs now must summon the courage to escape his master and the unbendable angelic law that declared no half-breeds should live, but running into an angelic soldier in the back room of a bar wasn’t part of his plan.
After years of begging to go to the battlefields on Earth, Tabbis, the youngest angel in Heaven, finally got his assignment. Ready for heroics and bloodshed, he was stunned when he found enchanting and seductive Piers instead. Tabbis was duty bound to kill Peirs, but Peirs’s very existence challenged everything Tabbis thought he knew.
Tabbis needs answers. Peirs wants nothing more than to save his baby and live in peace. Can they band together to help each other? Or will the wrath of Heaven tear them apart?

Reviewed by Annika

TITLE: Words

AUTHOR: John Inman

PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press

RELEASE DATE: June 12, 2018

LENGTH: 210 pages

BLURB:

The world of writers, readers, and reviewers is a close-knit family of friends, fans, and fiction fanatics. That’s the world Milo Cook and Logan Hunter reside in—thriving on the give and take of creativity, the sharing of stories and ideas, and forever glorying in their boundless love of books and the words that make them breathe.

But sometimes words can cut too deep. And when they do, there is inevitably a price to pay.

What begins for Milo and Logan as a time of new love and gentle romantic discoveries, becomes before it’s over a race for their lives and for the lives of everyone they know.

Who would ever suspect that an entity as beautiful as the written word could become a catalyst for revenge? And ultimately—murder?

Reviewed by Becca

TITLE: Catch Me

SERIES: Kitchen Gods #2

AUTHOR: Beth Bolden

PUBLISHER: self-published

RELEASE DATE: June 11, 2018

BLURB:

Chef Wyatt Blake is finally ready to move on from his thankless job. He gets no wiggle room, zero praise, plenty of abuse, and on a good day, he might only spend twelve hours in the Terroir kitchens. A friend of his recommends a private chef position, but despite the boost in pay, Wyatt doesn’t want to babysit some spoiled, rich LA family.
Imagine his shock when the family isn’t a Kardashian clone, but Ryan Flores, the only professional baseball player to ever come out of the closet.
Ryan is also at a career crossroads. His team’s management wants to see his more responsible side, which means no more late night hookups and no more adrenaline-charged stunts. When his agent suggests he find a fake boyfriend to give him an air of domesticity, he’s only reluctantly interested.
Until Ryan goes to a local bar and spies the cute private chef he’s supposed to be interviewing the next day. Maybe a quieter life wouldn’t be so bad, as long as Wyatt is part of it?
Wyatt believes Ryan could be more than just a crappy boss, but he isn’t sure about leaving the kitchen for the life of a professional boyfriend. Especially when he wants the reality so much more than the fantasy.

Catch Me is a 85,000 contemporary m/m romance, and while second in the Kitchen Gods series, can be read as a standalone.