Reviewed by Anna Lynn

TITLE:  Promises: Part 2

SERIES:  Bounty Hunters #2

AUTHOR: A.E. Via

NARRATOR:  Aiden Snow

PUBLISHER:  Tantor Audio

RELEASE DATE:  January 7, 2020

LENGTH:  9 hours, 16 minutes

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Roman “Quick” Webb is one badass bounty hunter on the crime-filled streets of Atlanta. He’s fearless when it comes to carrying out his dangerous job alongside his longtime best friend and business partner, Duke. However, there is one thing that has begun to cause Quick concern and it’s the dreadful thought of living out the rest of his life alone.

Dr. Cayson Chauncey has been wildly attracted to the big, tattooed hunter for almost a year, ever since he performed the surgery that saved Quick’s best friend’s life. Cayson must’ve mistaken Quick’s gratitude for something more, because the one time he tried to make his desires known, he was harshly rebuffed and left on the man’s doorstep feeling stupid for hitting on an obviously very straight man.

Dr. Chauncey stirred up Quick’s suppressed, most carnal desires from a place deep down inside of him. He’d reacted so badly the first time that now his sexy surgeon wanted nothing to do with him. It was going to take a fair amount of patience and a whole lot of wooing involved as Quick sets out to convince Cayson that he’s worth another chance and that he is the brave lover who Cayson has been looking for.

Reviewed by Anna Lynn

TITLE: Prophesy: Book Two – the Bringer of Wrath

SERIES:  King and Alpha #2

AUTHOR:  A.E. Via

NARRATOR:  Troy Duran

PUBLISHER:  Tantor Audio

RELEASE DATE:  November 19, 2019

LENGTH:  9 hours and 23 minutes

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Shifter and vampire true mates story.

Alek’s older brother, Justice – the Alpha Zenith – was the first shifter to mate with a vampire in many generations, and it was believed the rare, fated pairing would stop at him. But, it hadn’t. Aleksei “Alek” Volkov was second beta, next in succession to the most powerful shifter in the world. He was proud of his title and he took his duties seriously. It was all he had. Until his true mate literally showed up on his doorstep.

Belleron “Bell” Liatos had come to the states for one reason – his best friend and vampire king, Chadwick Bentley. He certainly didn’t come to be pounced on by a wolf that could act independently of its master. Not only was his destined cherished a complicated and confused man, but he was also unaware of the powerful presence that lurked in the shadows of his soul. Bell didn’t know he’d be the key to unlocking an exceptional triad that would play a critical role in fulfilling the prophesy.

Reviewed by Annika

TITLE: The Hidden Law

SERIES: The Henry Rios Mysteries #5

AUTHOR: Michael Nava

NARRATOR: Thom Rivera

PUBLISHER: Audible Studios

LENGTH: 6 hours, 11 minutes

RELEASE DATE: March 4, 2020

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State senator and mayoral hopeful Gus Peña has been gunned down in the parking lot of a restaurant in East Los Angeles. When Chicano teen and ex–gang member Michael Ruiz is arrested for the murder, Henry Rios takes the case. It’s a tough road: Ruiz claims he did it and refuses to help Rios in his defense. But Rios finds inconsistencies in the kid’s story, and is sure Ruiz is covering for the real killer.

Peña had a lot of enemies. As Rios tries to build the case for a different killer, he descends into the dark underbelly of Los Angeles—a hotbed of vice and corruption. Caught between his powerful connection to both suspect and victim, Rios races to prevent a terrible failure of justice.

Reviewed by Annika

TITLE: Guardian Angel

SERIES: Jimmy McSwain Files #4

AUTHOR: Adam Carpenter

NARRATOR: Joel Leslie

PUBLISHER: Tantor Audio

LENGTH: 9 hours, 44 minutes

RELEASE DATE: May 19, 2020

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The dual forces of good and evil take center stage in this, the fourth installment in the Jimmy McSwain Files, one that finds the tortured, sexy detective battling an unforeseen enemy: happiness. Yet murder will soon rear its desperate chill, hurtling Jimmy into the highest society and the lowest of lives.

Winter is nearly upon Manhattan, the holidays right around the corner. Jimmy is hired to escort the infamous tabloid favorite Serena Carson to a charity benefit, intent on guarding her from an abusive ex. Yet the job takes a brutal turn as Henderson Carlyle, the privileged, spoiled lothario, is found sliced to death outside of Serena’s brownstone.

The cops warn Jimmy away from the case, including his former lover, Captain Francis X. Frisano. Jimmy has his hands full anyway, as his visiting cousin Kellan was found beaten by one-time family friend, Mickey Dean, a Hell’s Kitchen thug with a dark past and even darker threat.

As the snow falls and answers remain buried, Jimmy finds himself thrown into the midst of two conflicting cases, one of which will expose a dormant clue to the long-unsolved murder of his NYPD cop, Joseph McSwain.

Complicating matters is a new man in Jimmy’s life, who promises Jimmy security and safety, neither word easy for him to accept. When fate sends Jimmy’s world into turmoil, he realizes there’s a devil at work in a season usually owned by angels.

Reviewed by Anna Lynn

TITLE:  Rules to Ignore

SERIES:  Davey’s Rules #7

AUTHOR:  Susan Hawke

NARRATOR:  Michael Dean

PUBLISHER:  Grape Ape Productions

RELEASE DATE:  March 18, 2020

LENGTH:  7 hours, 24 minutes

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Davey’s revised rule nyumber one: A good Daddy will love his boy with all his heart.

Davey Hendrickson doesn’t mind being forever single when he’s got his bestie at his side. It’s not that he wants to be single. He’s spent most of his adult life searching for his own perfect Daddy. Even if he’s not naturally submissive, someone that fabulous is obviously meant to be a boy…right? Over the years, he’s dated every type of Daddy imaginable but not one of them could come close to meeting the requirements from his ridiculous list of rules.

After losing his husband, Sammy Robustelli has learned to be strong while raising two children on his own. No matter what life has thrown his way, nothing seems too hard with his best friend and roomie Davey at his side. When the two friends learn that people believe they’re a couple, they can’t help but laugh. The very idea is a big joke…until it isn’t.

It only takes a few wake-up calls before Davey wonders what happens if a guy might be in love with the best friend he can never have. It could never work for a pair of boys in need of a bossy top, right? Except…maybe Davey doesn’t know himself – or Sammy – as well as he thinks.

This is the final book in a series about not-so-perfect Daddies, adorable “boys”, and one sassy brat with an insane list of rules. Grab your fan and tissues because this series comes with both a high heat advisory and all the squishy feels you’d want from a Susan Hawke book.

Reviewed by Anna Lynn

TITLE:  Inked in Vegas

SERIES:  Heathens Ink #5

AUTHOR:  K.M. Neuhold

NARRATOR:  Kenneth Obi

PUBLISHER:  Self-Published

RELEASE DATE:  January 9, 2020

LENGTH:  3 hours, 7 minutes

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“We’re going to be married in a week. You’re going to be my husband, and we’re going to live happily ever after.” Madden

It feels like I’ve been waiting to marry Thane my entire life. And with our big day only a week away, our friends insist on a bachelor party in Vegas.

An outrageous scavenger hunt, an unexpected trip to the altar, and a wild night with an ex-boyfriend. You know we don’t do anything half-assed.

Please note: This is a multi-POV novella with lots of sexy times (including one MF and one MMF scene). Unlike the rest of the Heathens Ink series, this one cannot be listened to as a stand-alone.

Reviewed by Sadonna

TITLE:  Oz

SERIES:  Finding Home #1

AUTHOR:  Lily Morton

NARRATOR:  Joel Leslie

PUBLISHER:  Self-published

LENGTH:  9 hours and 6 minutes

RELEASE DATE:  April 30, 2020

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What happens when temporary becomes forever?

Oz Gallagher does not do relationships well. Bored and jobless after another disastrous hook up, he decides to leave London for a temporary job in the wilds of Cornwall. Surely managing a stately home on a country estate will be easier than navigating the detritus of his relationships at home. Six months there will alleviate a bit of his wanderlust and then he can come back to London as footloose and fancy free as the day he left it.

However, when he gets there, he finds a house in danger of crumbling to the ground and a man who is completely unlike anyone he’s ever met. An earl belonging to a family whose roots go back hundreds of years, Silas is the living embodiment of duty and sacrifice. Two things that Oz has never wanted. He’s also warm and funny and he draws Oz to him like a magnet.

Oz banks on the fact that they’re from two very different worlds to stop himself falling for Silas. But what will he do when he realizes that these differences are actually part of the pull to one another? Will falling in love be enough to make him stop moving at last and realize that he’s finally home?

From best-selling author Lily Morton comes a romantic comedy about two very different men and one very dilapidated house.

This is the first book in the Finding Home series but it can be listened to as a standalone.

Reviewed by Anna Lynn

TITLE:  Shattered Pieces

SERIES:  Heathens Ink #4

AUTHOR:  K.M. Neuhold

NARRATOR:  Kenneth Obi

PUBLISHER: Self-Published

RELEASE DATE:  February 14, 2018

LENGTH: 5 hours 44 minutes

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I was sure my heart had withered away years ago, but then you smiled at me, and I felt it beat again.

Years ago, I fell in love with my best friend’s little brother. Then, he took his own life, leaving me shattered and unable to piece my heart back together. I’ve been a zombie for nine long years. Until a crazy, gorgeous man walked into Heathens Ink and injected color back into my world of gray. No matter how hard I try to resist Beck, he just won’t give up on me. I would need steel willpower to withstand his gorgeous long legs in those high heels and his drawer full of lacy lingerie. But is this just a kinky hook up or does it have the possibility for more?

Reviewed by Sadonna

TITLE:  I Buried a Witch

SERIES:  Bedknobs & Broomsticks #2

AUTHOR:  Josh Lanyon

NARRATOR:  Kale Williams

PUBLISHER:  JustJoshin Publishing

LENGTH:  6 hours and 21 minutes

RELEASE DATE:  February 5, 2020

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Something old, something new, something borrowed…something blacker than the darkest night.

Cosmo Saville adores his new husband, but his little white lies and some very black magic are about to bring their fairy tale romance to an end. Someone is killing San Francisco’s spell casters, and the only person Cosmo can turn to – the man who so recently swore to love and cherish him – isn’t taking his phone calls.

The only magic police commissioner John Joseph Galbraith believes in is true love. Discovering he’s married to a witch – one with something alarmingly like magical powers – is nearly as bad as discovering the man he loved tricked and deceived him.

John shoulders the pain of betrayal and packs his bags. But when he learns Cosmo is in the crosshairs of a mysterious and murderous plot, he knows he must do everything in in his mortal power to protect him.

Till death do them part. With their relationship on the rocks, Cosmo and Galbraith join forces to uncover the shadowy figure behind the deadly conspiracy.

Can the star-crossed couple bring down a killer before the dark threat extinguishes love’s flame?

I Buried a Witch is the second book in the smart and sexy Bedknobs and Broomsticks romantic gay mystery trilogy. If you like endearing characters, spell-binding conflict, and spooky, good fun, then you’ll love Josh Lanyon’s tale of a modern white knight and his slightly wicked witch.

Reviewed by Annika

TITLE: Daddy Needs a Date

AUTHOR: Sean Michael

NARRATOR: Steve Balderson

LENGTH: 5 hours, 53 minutes

RELEASE DATE: March 28, 2018

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With four girls, single dad Ryan Withers has his hands too full to look for romance. He’s not complaining—he loves his daughter and the three nieces he adopted when their parents died, and he would do anything for them. He’s caught off guard when his mother and daughter decide to play matchmaker.

Alex Bernot works in disaster relief, his job taking him all over the world, helping others, for extended periods of time. He’s staying with his aunt while he’s home, and she sets him up on a blind date. Finding a special someone isn’t really on his mind, but he goes to make his aunt happy.

Ryan and Alex enjoy each other’s company more than either of them expected, and they soon make a second date. Their lives are complicated, though, in very different ways, and soon family needs and their jobs conspire to pull them apart. They’ll need to figure out how to work through the things keeping them apart, but first they’ll have to decide if they even want to….

Reviewed by Annika

TITLE: Howtown

SERIES: The Henry Rios Mysteries #4

AUTHOR: Michael Nava

NARRATOR: Thom Rivera

PUBLISHER: Audible Studios

LENGTH: 7 hours, 49 minutes

RELEASE DATE: March 4, 2020

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Howtown finds Rios back in his hometown of Los Robles, California, defending Paul Windsor, a boyhood acquaintance accusing of murdering a pedophile. Windsor is himself a pedophile, and the police believe the murder was the result of an extortion scheme gone wrong. It’s up to Rios to prove otherwise, if he can. To do that, he has to confront the ghosts of his past that still linger in the sleepy river town. Simultaneously, the novel explores Rios’ relationship with his HIV-positive lover, Josh Mandel.

This is a revised edition with an author’s endnote

Reviewed by Annika

TITLE: Blue on Blue

SERIES: Bitter Legacy #3

AUTHOR: Dal MacLean

NARRATOR: Gary Furlong

PUBLISHER: Tantor Audio

LENGTH: 13 hours, 27 minutes

RELEASE DATE: May 12, 2020

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After three years working as a private investigator, newly reinstated Detective Inspector Will Foster still holds himself responsible for the death of an officer under his command. But he’s returned to the Met bent on redeeming himself and that means bringing down gangland boss Joey Clarkson.

Will’s prepared to put in long hours and make sacrifices for his work, even if it comes at a cost to his nascent romance with international model, Tom Gray. After all, Tom has a history of wandering but crime is a constant in London. And Will has committed himself to the Met.

But when a murder in a Soho walkup leads Will into the world of corruption, he finds himself forced to investigate his own friends and colleagues. Now the place he turned for redemption seems to be built upon lies and betrayal. And someone is more than willing to resort to murder to keep it that way.

Review by Sadonna

TITLE:  The Hitman’s Guide to Staying Alive Despite Past Mistakes

SERIES:  The Hitman’s Guide #2

AUTHOR:  Alice Winters

NARRATOR:  Michael Ferraiuolo

PUBLISHER:  Self-published

LENGTH:  10 hours and 28 minutes

RELEASE DATE:  April 20, 2020

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Jackson

Now that Leland’s decided to give up his life as a hitman and take a walk on the mild side, we’ve been enjoying a simple life of taking down bad guys the legal way. I didn’t know he would be just as reckless as a PI, but it’s not my fault if I happen to enjoy helping him hunt down the occasional criminal. If only I could keep the house from being overrun by Leland’s gun shrine – or stop him from making our cases “more exciting” by terrorizing people into confessing. Overall, life seems perfect, right?

Wrong.

We’ve been called in to investigate a suspicious murder committed by someone claiming to be the Sandman. When we find a note on the victim’s body, we realize that this could ruin our lives forever.

Leland:

I wasn’t involved in the murder. It might look like my writing and my note, but I wouldn’t do that to Jackson -especially after I promised him that I wouldn’t take a hit ever again. At least, not without telling him. I’m finally starting to learn that we’re stronger together, and I’m not going to jeopardize that.

Luckily for both of us, this copycat doesn’t know who he’s dealing with. Game’s on, fake Sandman. You think you can mess with me? Well, maybe you can, but that’s beside the point, because I will protect Jackson no matter what, even if I almost drown him in the process. (Really, that wasn’t my fault. He should learn how to swim better.)

This audiobook contains: Disco ball piñata, camping with Sasquatch, an acrobatic housekeeper named “Mr. Cleanyface”, a questionable massage table, weapons everywhere, Jackson’s nemesis – the fence, a turkey showdown, aerial silk antics, a reappearance of Blow-up Randy, over-the-top body armor, too many hitmen, and so many emotions that Leland’s chest might explode. This is the second book in a series – while you could listen and enjoy it on its own, you really should listen to The Hitman’s Guide to Making Friends and Finding Love for maximum enjoyment.

Reviewed by Sadonna

TITLE:  Caulky

SERIES:  Four Bears Construction #1

AUTHOR:  K.M. Neuhold

NARRATORS:  Tim Paige & Liam DiCosimo

PUBLISHER:  Self published

RELEASE DATE:  April 21, 2020

LENGTH:  6 hours and 39 minutes

BLURB:  

Ren is in desperate need of a rebound fling. Lucky for him, the smoking hot contractor he hired has just the tool for the job.

The last thing I want is another relationship or another broken heart.

All I need are my bees and the occasional hookup to scratch the itch.

Okay, maybe meeting up with my hot contractor weekly is a little more than occasional. And maybe the way I’m starting to feel about the guy I’ve been anonymously chatting with online should concern me.

But CaulkyAF doesn’t want to meet, and Cole doesn’t want anything serious, so what’s the worst that could happen?

Caulky is book one in the Four Bears Construction Series and can be listened to as a stand-alone. This is a funny, steamy MM story guaranteed to make you laugh and swoon. Absolutely no cheating and no love triangle. This series does not contain shifters, it’s the other kind of bears.

Reviewed by Annika

TITLE: Carved in Bone

SERIES: The Henry Rios Mysteries #2

AUTHOR: Michael Nava

NARRATOR: Thom Rivera

PUBLISHER: Audible Studios

LENGTH: 9 hours, 10 minutes

RELEASE DATE: March 4, 2020

BLURB:

Was Bill Ryan’s death an accident? Henry Rios has his doubts.

The first new Henry Rios novel in 20 years from six-time Lambda Literary award winner Michael Nava is a brilliantly plotted mystery that weaves together the gripping story of two gay men against the backdrop of 1980s San Francisco as the tsunami of AIDS bears down upon the city.