Welcome to the Love Bytes Book of the Week Poll!

Here are the books which achieved a 4.5 or 5.0 review last week from our reviewers. 

As a reminder, the top two books from each week’s poll will roll into our Book of the Month poll at month’s end. Happy Voting!

Please scroll to the very bottom for the voting section.

POLL SCHEDULE:

This poll will remain open until at least 6PM, Amsterdam time next Friday. The actual closing time will vary depending on blog staff schedules…

Reviewed by Becca

TITLE: Ice on Fire

SERIES: Treble & the Lost Boys #1

AUTHOR: G.R. Lyons

PUBLISHER: self-published

LENGTH: 342 pages

RELEASE DATE: April 27, 2018

BLURB:

Zac Cinder is on the verge of making his dream come true. His punk rock band, Inferno, might have a shot at an audition for a record deal. Fame and fortune would mean he could finally help his parents. They’d raised eight kids in a loving household while barely scraping by, so Zac is determined to give back in any way he can.
Keeping Inferno together, though, means keeping his biggest secret. His bigoted bandmates would drop him in an instant if they found out Zac was gay.
Then he meets Adrian Frost, and Zac can’t resist the shy man. Adrian gives up everything to be with Zac, but Zac can’t bring himself to do the same. He doesn’t want to lose Adrian, but he can’t give up Inferno, either. Not when he’s so close to realizing his dream.
When one cruel decision rips Adrian from his life, Zac will have to decide if ambition is worth the price of the greatest happiness he’s ever known.
(Note: This story takes place in a fictional world, the same as in the Shifting Isles Series. There are multiple gods, different names for the days of the week, etc. A glossary is included.)
WARNING: Contains scenes of self-harm that may be disturbing for some readers.

REVIEWED BY CINDY

TITLE: Aftershock

SERIES: Ever After Book 2

AUTHOR: Tanya Chris

PUBLISHER: Tanya Chris Publishing

LENGTH: 198 Pages

RELEASE DATE: August 14, 2018

BLURB:

Being acquitted of Jamie’s murder won’t bring him back. Syed might be free, but he’s lost his lover and his sub, along with his sense of control, his libido, his friends, and the stomach to inflict the kind of pain Jamie thrived on. Even his high-rise apartment doesn’t suit him anymore.

Dashiell is drawn to the handsome man he represented in court, but he’s promised himself never to get involved with another confident playboy. His next boyfriend—if he can find such a thing—will see him as something more than a backup plan for a better offer. And how could he ever give a man like Syed what he wants anyway?

Dashiell fears the day Syed will ask him to bear more pain than he can handle as Syed struggles to reconcile how he’s coming to feel about Dashiell with how he still feels about Jamie. Can their fledgling relationship survive the discovery that Syed’s new sub might be representing the man who murdered his last sub?

Jamie deserves justice, Dashiell deserves love, and Syed wants to be the one to give both these men exactly what they need.

Reviewed by Becca

TITLE: Living on Air

AUTHOR: Susan Mac Nicol

PUBLISHER: Boroughs Publishing Group

LENGTH: 236 pages

RELEASE DATE: February 21, 2018

BLURB:

PIERCING THE NIGHT
Cary Stilwell has been existing since he was ten years old, and each year it gets harder to find meaning in his bleak life. The only exception – his work. As a top-billed aerialist in a popular travelling circus, he enjoys accolades and applause, but little else. When notable photographer, Rhys McIntyre, joins the circus to catalogue its inner workings, Cary fights the attraction that hits him from the moment they meet. But a kind soul wrapped in a beautiful body has a way of battering all the walls Cary has built around his cold, dark heart.
WITH LIGHT
Rhys McIntyre is on his third iteration of reinventing himself. Once a hotdog financier, he embraced his passion for photography and became an eminent war photo journalist. Until one too many bullets lodged in his body, and he gave up the front lines for the softer side of chronicling life. When he accepts the assignment to record life in a circus, the last thing he expects is to find the man crush of his dreams. Except Cary Stilwell is a cold, tortured man who seems incapable of any warm emotion, never mind love. But Rhys is known for his persistence, and this time the pay-off might be more than he could have ever imagined.

Reviewed by Jess

TITLE: Paper Love

AUTHOR: Jae

PUBLISHER: Ylva Publishing

LENGTH: 224 pages

RELEASE DATE:  August 15, 2018

BLURB:

Susanne Wolff isn’t thrilled when her mother sends her all the way across the country to Freiburg to save her uncle’s stationery store from bankruptcy. Freiburg is too provincial for her taste, and besides, pen and paper are outdated anyway.

Anja Lamm, Paper Love’s only full-time employee, takes an instant dislike to the arrogant, digital-loving snob who’s supposed to be her temporary boss.

But thanks to a meddling cat, a business trip to a stationery fair, and an armada of origami boats, Anja soon starts to see beneath Susanne’s aloof exterior, and Susanne discovers how sexy pens and notebooks can be—at least when Anja handles them.

As the end of Susanne’s three-month stay approaches, will she stick to her plan to leave, or will she open her heart to more than just paper love?

Reviewed by Roberta

TITLE: Bitten By Her

SERIES: Regent’s Park Pack # 4.5

AUTHOR: Annabelle Jacobs

PUBLISHER: Self-Publish

LENGTH: 187 Pages

RELEASE DATE: August 14, 2018

BLURB:

_Brought together by fate, torn apart by family._

Rachel Tregarrak, Penwith pack beta and daughter of the alpha, has
always called the rugged Cornish coast her home. With its beautiful
landscapes, bracing sea air, and vast spaces to run, she can’t imagine
living anywhere else.

After years of living with her mother in her grandfather’s pack, Sara Gallen returns to Penzance to be with her alpha father and her brothers.
She wants to build their relationships, get to know the rest of her family better than occasional visits allow.

When their paths cross on the full moon, the attraction is immediate and instinctive. But Sara’s father refuses to allow such a union and forbids any further contact. Sara finds solace with her grandmother in her alpha council residence, and Rachel is sent to a London pack to keep her out of trouble. Both women feel the desperate ache of an uncompleted bond, but unless they find a way to be together, it’ll fade to nothing and their connection will be lost.

Reviewed by Becca

TITLE: Come Back to Me

SERIES: The Lost and Founds #5

AUTHOR: Edmond Manning

PUBLISHER: Pickwick Ink Publishing

LENGTH: 322 pages

RELEASE DATE: August 23, 2016

BLURB:

After years of lying, scheming, and dangerous manipulation, Vin Vanbly finally gets what’s coming to him: love.
How can he survive unstoppable, uncontrollable love when his very nature demands he control everything? Clues about his one true love—tantalizingly hinted at in each of the books in The Lost and Founds series—come together in four life-changing stories.
In No Kings, a sex hookup with a parking lot stranger reveals more about Vin’s life as a Lost King and his destiny than he could have dreamed. In King Fitch, Vin meets the last king in his long legacy, one final weekend before he withdraws from the world to an anonymous Latin American jungle. The Lost Ones recounts a terrifying kidnapping by street thugs from Vin’s past. In King Malcolm the Restorer, Vin’s mysterious relationship with his older brother—and the soul-crushing secret which drew them together—is finally revealed.
Through it all, Vin Vanbly struggles to survive. But what if he is destined for more than mere survival? Is he finally ready to embrace the truth and remember who he was always meant to be? Once there were a tribe where every man was the one true king and every woman the one true queen…

Reviewed by Kimberley

TITLE: Tempt Me

AUTHOR: Remmy Duchene

PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press

LENGTH: 96 pages

RELEASE DATE: August 17, 2018

BLURB:

Officer Gabe Ford knows finding love could be a tad problematic—especially since he hasn’t come out to his partner of six years yet. But what’s a guy to do when his body wants what his brain is saying he can’t have?

A year and a half after a breakup, Jason Tomlinson isn’t actively looking for a relationship. Hell, he can do bad all by himself. But Gabe Ford is just too damn yummy to resist. Just as things are beginning to pick up, one bullet may end it all before it even begins.

Reviewed by Chris

TITLE:  Perfect Day

AUTHOR:  Sally Malcolm

PUBLISHER:  Carina Press

LENGTH:  274 pages

RELEASE DATE:  August 13, 2018

BLURB:  

First love conquers all in Perfect Day, a captivating contemporary male/male retelling of Jane Austen’s Persuasion.

Love doesn’t burn out just because the timing’s wrong. It grows. It never leaves. 

When Joshua Newton, prodigal son of one of New Milton’s elite, fell in love with ambitious young actor Finn Callaghan, his world finally made sense. With every stolen moment, soft touch and breathless kiss, they fell deeper in love.

Finn was his future…until he wasn’t.

Love stays. Even when you don’t want it to, even when you try to deny it, it stays. 

Eight years later, Finn has returned to the seaside town where it all began. He’s on the brink of stardom, a far cry from the poor mechanic who spent one gorgeous summer falling in love on the beach.

The last thing he wants is a second chance with the man who broke his heart. Finn has spent a long time forgetting Joshua Newton—he certainly doesn’t plan to forgive him.

Love grows. It never leaves. 

Reviewed by Donna

TITLE: Love It Like You Stole It

AUTHOR: Ki Brightly

PUBLISHER: NineStar Press

LENGTH: 334 Pages

RELEASE DATE: July 9, 2018

BLURB:

Michael Levine is backed into a corner. He started tearing apart cars for the local mob with the best of intentions—to save up money to pay for his mechanic certifications and impress his crush and mentor, Ben. But Michael soon finds himself in way over his head. He knows stealing is wrong, but it’s only cars, and the insurance will pay to replace them, right? What started out as a small job to make some extra bucks soon turns into a nightmare he’s not sure he’ll ever be able to find his way out of.
Ben Jelen isn’t sure where his life is going. On the surface everything looks fine. He has a successful business, he’s raising his niece into a strong person, and he has a boyfriend most guys only dream of—sexy and rich. But nothing feels right. The only things that really keep Ben’s attention anymore are his classic Road Runner, his niece, and Michael—his Meeko. Ben took him under his wing forever ago, and their love of old cars and fast driving has forged a strong bond. Ben’s days don’t feel right if he doesn’t get to see Meeko at least once. But something seems drastically wrong in Meeko’s life, and Ben hopes he can put the pieces together to help him before it’s too late.

Reviewed by Becca

TITLE: Stumbling in the Dark

AUTHOR: Deja Black

PUBLISHER: eXtasy Books

LENGTH: 34 pages

RELEASE DATE: June 14, 2018

BLURB:

Summer fun. Summer sun. What’s a knife thrower to do when the lion tamer he wants doesn’t want him? Well, go out and get his groove thing on, of course. Unless…that lion tamer turns out to be his mate. Then the fireworks will really start.
The circus is a place for the unusual, a sanctuary for the wanderer. For the circus knife thrower Jake Gallinari, it was the place he stumbled to as a child. He arrived broken in spirit and body, hungering for affection. He found love, acceptance, and a family to call his own.
Blaine Leander needed a sanctuary as well. The lion tamer had no idea that he would one day see his mate in the circus, no less. For seven years he’s watched Jake grow into a man, afraid to take the step to make Jake his own.
It’s summer, and with the bright sun and the blue sky, these two men have a chance for life to change.
Just what will it take to make that happen?

Reviewed by Chris

TITLE:  To See the Sun 

AUTHOR:  Kelly Jensen

PUBLISHER:  Riptide Publishing

LENGTH:  293 pages

RELEASE DATE:  August 11, 2018

BLURB:  

Survival is hard enough in the outer colonies—what chance does love have?

Life can be harsh and lonely in the outer colonies, but miner-turned-farmer Abraham Bauer is living his dream, cultivating crops that will one day turn the unforgiving world of Alkirak into paradise. He wants more, though. A companion—someone quiet like him. Someone to share his days, his bed, and his heart.

Gael Sonnen has never seen the sky, let alone the sun. He’s spent his whole life locked in the undercity beneath Zhemosen, running from one desperate situation to another. For a chance to get out, he’ll do just about anything—even travel to the far end of the galaxy as a mail-order husband. But no plan of Gael’s has ever gone smoothly, and his new start on Alkirak is no exception. Things go wrong from the moment he steps off the shuttle.

Although Gael arrives with unexpected complications, Abraham is prepared to make their relationship work—until Gael’s past catches up with them, threatening Abraham’s livelihood, the freedom Gael gave everything for, and the love neither man ever hoped to find.