Reviewed by Becca

TITLE: Wildfire

SERIES: Sons of Olympus #1

AUTHOR: Sam Burns & W.M. Fawkes

PUBLISHER: self published

LENGTH: 232 pages

RELEASE DATE: October 15, 2020

BLURB:

Wilder Pratt has given up trying to get his life together. Passed up for a promotion, left by his long-term boyfriend, nothing in his life seems to work how he planned. Wilder is just treading water . . . right up until the moment he trips over a dead student outside his office with a golden would-be murderer standing over the body.

Hermes has been running his whole life—from duty and danger, from a father who mistrusts him and siblings who outshine him. But when the students at Banneker College of magic start dropping dead one after another, Hermes’s ass is on the line. He finds himself playing bodyguard to a man who suspects him of murder, but that doesn’t seem enough to keep Professor Pratt’s hot hands off him.

An ancient evil has risen from the depths of Tartarus, and he’s coming for Banneker. The only thing standing in the way of a titanic apocalypse is one disappointing part-time professor and a god who’d rather abandon the world to its fate. But if they work together, they may just save everyone.

Reviewed by Sammy

TITLE: The Little Matchboy

SERIES: An MM Fairy Tale Romance

AUTHOR: Jackie North

PUBLISHER: Blue Rain Press

LENGTH: 201 pgs.

RELEASE DATE: November 10, 2020

BLURB:

One is a Chicago hoodlum. The other is a young man with an abusive father.

One is not looking for love. The other is lost in a swirl of snow and despair and needs to be found. Sean is in Harlin to visit a friend and is uncomfortable with the small town vibe. His plan is to head back to Chicago asap, but after he stops a father from beating his son, the young man catches his heart. Should Sean go or should he stay? Ever since his mom left them,

Roddy is overwhelmed by his Dad’s drinking and abuse as he struggles to keep the family shop afloat. When Dad is arrested, Roddy is left on his own. Will Sean return home? Will Roddy find his way in the snow?

A m/m fairy tale romance retelling of The Little Matchgirl. Includes cameos from Cory and Alex from Hot Chocolate Kisses

Reviewed by Anna Lynn

TITLE:  Finding Home

SERIES:  Finding Series #1

AUTHOR:  Sloane Kennedy

PUBLISHER:  Self-Published

LENGTH: 160 Pages

RELEASE DATE:  June 28, 2015

BLURB:

“I’ve done everything wrong, Finn. From day one. It was the only way I knew how to be with you and still be worthy of you. But I see now that I never really was.” –Callan

Vengeance. It’s the one thing on ex-cop Rhys Tellar’s mind and he’s spent every day of his two year prison sentence planning how he’ll bring down the former lover and partner who sold him out and cost four people their lives. A six month parole stint working at the CB Bar Ranch in Southwestern Montana should be the easiest thing he’s ever done. But the last thing he expects is to feel something for both the charismatic ranch hand who befriends him and the enigmatic foreman who’s pretending to be something he’s not.

A future. That’s what Finn Stewart wants, but to have it he must leave behind the man he wants above all others, his very straight boss and best friend, Callan Bale. As the only openly gay man in a small, homophobic community, Finn has to fight every day to be who he is and walking away is starting to seem like the easier path. Until Rhys Tellar shows up and changes everything.

A Lie. Callan Bale’s entire life has been about hiding the man he really is and it’s about to cost him the one person who’s managed to worm his way past the walls he’s spent years putting up. But choosing Finn would mean giving up everything he’s worked for and breaking the promises he’s made. At least losing the younger man to Rhys means Finn can have the life he deserves.

Three men. Three choices. One chance at finding home.

Reviewed by Donna

TITLE: Lovers

SERIES: Wolves of Royal Paynes #3

AUTHOR: Kiki Burrelli

PUBLISHER: Self Published

LENGTH: 285 Pages

RELEASE DATE: September 17, 2020

BLURB:

Affectionately referred to as, the twins, Jagger and Huntley aren’t related, but that’s the only thing the two alphas don’t have in common. Eerily identical, if it weren’t for the scar Jagger earned saving Huntley’s life as children, no one would be able to tell them apart. Together, there isn’t a challenge they won’t face. Breaking into a hellish laboratory where enemy scientists are conducting gruesome experiments is no different. Their mission is clear, save who they can and burn the rest, but when they come upon a locked door behind a barricade that looks months old, they know that whatever is inside, isn’t like anything they’ve faced yet.
Ripped from his mother’s arms and thrown into a cell as a child, Sitka hasn’t seen a living person in years. He sees their footsteps under the door when they slide in his food, but no one has dared face the crazed nephilim who can hop shadows—not after what he did to the last two who entered his cell. Still, his life is far from peaceful. Sitka can’t stop seeing dead people. They scream at him without rest, their voices angry and loud enough to make living a normal life impossible—even if he hadn’t spent most of it locked away. When the room to his door randomly bursts open, Sitka assumes the two men are there to finally kill him.
Huntley and Jagger knew something unusual was behind that door, but they didn’t expect their mate. He swings at them like a wrecking ball, making them realize what they had was just one half of the equation. Sitka completes them, but Sitka’s own angelic power is his worst enemy.
When strange things start to happen around the hotel, no one wants to blame the flighty nephilim who can jump shadows and talk to ghosts, but the list of suspects is short. And Sitka wasn’t the only victim rescued from the labs. As the reclusive wolf pack learns how to live with growing numbers, they can’t forget the danger looming over all their heads. A powerful force wants them all dead.
Lovers is the third book in the Wolves of Royal Paynes series. It is an action-packed, magically-infused, swelteringly hot, mpreg romance that continues a world of angels, demons, mystery, and magic. For maximum enjoyment, this series should be read in order.

Reviewed by Anna Lynn

TITLE:  Discordant

SERIES:  Iron Heretics MC #3

AUTHOR:  Michelle Frost

PUBLISHER:  Self-Published

LENGTH:  93 pages

RELEASE DATE:  September 17, 2020

BLURB:

My life has been a series of cages—indifferent foster home walls, mocking school hallways, the finality of a police cruiser’s back seat.

It’s a miracle prison didn’t kill me. A miracle with an Iron Heretics MC tattoo on his shoulder and enough clout to protect a snot-nosed kid with a lisp from getting his head bashed in. The old man taught me to fight and hooked me up with his club once I was on the outside.

At least in this cage I can move around freely. For the first time in my life, I’m forging my own path with people I trust to have my back. When Zach—a Prospect with the Heretics St. Louis charter—walks into my training gym with his boyish smile and movie-star good looks, I start aching for more than I have the right to ask for: a home and someone to share it with.

Zach is skittish and focused on earning his full patch, and I’ve never been in a relationship. Between Heretics enemies, learning to communicate, and an endless string of cage fights, we agree to try and make a go of it. Could be a knock-out. Could be my next big disaster.

At the end of the day, a cage is a cage, and somehow, the Prospect is the only one holding the key to mine.

Reviewed by Cheryl

TITLE: Toy Soldiers

SERIES: When We Were Young #2

AUTHOR: Maggie Blackbird

PUBLISHER: Devine Destinies

LENGTH: 209 pages

RELEASE DATE: 9 October 2020

BLURB:

Once a thief, always a thief, and if he can’t win the heart of the boy he loves, he’ll steal it.

Billy Redsky’s made one of his biggest dreams come true, but there’s a problem. Even though the boy he loves is mere footsteps across the hall from his bedroom, they might as well live a country apart because claiming René Oshawee’s heart is more difficult than Billy anticipates.

Much to Billy’s disgust, René can’t accept his true self, so he’s incapable of loving someone else. And all he cares about is living a life the chief and his wife foresee for their youngest son.

If Billy is to finally have what he truly desires, he must stop René from running away from who he really is and face the man in the mirror, or what they share will never blossom into true love.

Reviewed by Valerie

TITLE: Bat Boy

AUTHOR: Christine Lee

SERIES: Easton U Pirates

PUBLISHER: Self Published

LENGTH: 222 pages

RELEASE DATE: November 10, 2020

BLURB:

Brady Donovan

With a baseball scholarship to Easton University and awesome family and friends, my life is pretty golden. Except, things have never come together for me in the romance department. Until Kellan Crawford walks onto the field as the team’s newest bat boy. Bells and whistles go off in my body, and just like that, I’m totally crushing on a guy for the first time in my life. Too bad he’s the coach’s son and officially off-limits.

Kellan Crawford

I’m working toward my statistics degree, so landing the bat-boy position with the Easton U Pirates is right up my alley. It keeps me close to the action on the field, even if that means hauling equipment, picking up sweaty jockstraps, and putting up with the players’ antics. My dad’s the coach, and his number-one rule is never to play favorites…which probably includes getting too friendly with the team captain. But Brady Donovan’s annoyingly perfect smile and protective nature are making that nearly impossible.

When something shifts between us at an away game, everything is thrown off-kilter. Donovan’s never been with a guy before, and I certainly don’t want to be his test case. But I can’t seem to help myself. He’s sweet and hot and somehow charms the baseball pants right off me. If Coach ever catches wind of this, he’ll bench us both. Disappointing my dad might kill me, but so would losing the guy who makes my heart pound harder than a home run in the bottom of the ninth.

So much for not playing favorites.