Reviewed by Valerie

TITLE:  Where There’s a Will

SERIES:  Lost Boys Duet #1

AUTHOR:  Jessie Walker

PUBLISHER:  Self-Published

LENGTH:  497 pages

RELEASE DATE:  October 15, 2021

BLURB:

He was everything I never wanted.

Impulsive. Careless. Self-Destructive. I’m the cliché they all warn you about. The head case with a pretty face. If I’m not chasing the bottom of a bottle, I’m snorting a line off a girl’s ass. That guy you know who plays Russian Roulette at parties? That’s me.

But that all changes when he comes barreling back into my life.
Will Foster.

The boy from my childhood. The boy I told myself was a fluke. A mistake. Nothing.

It’s only a matter of time before he learns the truth. Before he sees me for who I really am under all the bullshit. Broken. Tainted. Worthless.

He wants to love me whole, but shouldn’t he know better than that by now?
Saving someone who doesn’t want to be saved is a recipe for disaster…

And loving someone who doesn’t want to be loved? Fucking hopeless.

* Where There’s A Will is a full-length, slow-burn, emotional MM romance novel. The story continues in If There’s A Way, which is set to release Winter 2022. This book deals with topics that may be difficult for some to read.

Trigger Warnings: Grief, mental illness (including suicidal thoughts/behaviors, and on-page mentions of a death by suicide), substance abuse/addiction, homophobia (internalized and externalized), and trauma as a result of child abuse (physical/verbal/psychological)

Reviewed by Kat

TITLE: Dori & Sonny

SERIES: Men of Memphis Blues (Book 2)

AUTHOR: Sam E. Kraemer

PUBLISHER: Kaye Klub Publishing

LENGTH: 68,000 words

RELEASE DATE: October 15, 2021

BLURB:

♥ M/M Sports Romance ♥ Age-Gap ♥ Boss/Employee ♥ Gay Billionaire ♥ Friends-to-lovers ♥ HEA ♥

★ Dorian “Dori” Holt ★

It’s my lifelong dream to play a game of baseball. When I was thirteen, I thought I was finally going to get the chance to learn. The family driver had offered to teach me to pitch a baseball, but that had ended badly. My father fired him and humiliated me to the point I could never get over it.

Becoming the head of Holt Industries was never the dream – yet here I was, hating my life while secretly owning a Major League Baseball team, The Memphis Blues.

After one of the games, my head coach explains to me that we need to make some changes to the roster. A new pitching coach and bullpen coach are needed, and he has the perfect candidates. One candidate, Cary Brewer, is married to my star pitcher, the other is the man I’ve loved since I was thirteen and he will forever be the only man I’ll ever love.

• •◆◆◆••

★ Harrison “Sonny” Rhimes ★

While getting my masters in sports medicine, I take a job working for one of the most bitter men I’ve ever met. I want to quit at least once a week, but his son is absolutely the sweetest kid and he’s quite lonely. I feel like his only friend, so I put up with Linwood Holt to be there for Dori. Unfortunately, one broken window costs me the job, and I never see Dori again.

My dream has always been to be a major league pitcher, but I don’t have the skills. So, I do the next best thing—I become a pitching coach and a trainer for a Triple-A ball team, the Nashville Blue Notes. I love it, and I’m happy. I meet a young pitcher who has the potential to be a star, and I’m not surprised when he gets called up to the majors after one year on the farm team.

Unsurprisingly, Cash Mitchell takes the Memphis Blues to the World Series, but when my turn comes to get called up, I can’t believe who owns the team!

This fictional story is approximately 68,000 words in length. It is the second book in the “Men of Memphis Blues” series. TRIGGER WARNING: Discussions and a description of physical and emotional child abuse.

Reviewed by Valerie

TITLE:  Sol

SERIES:  Learning to Love #2

AUTHOR:  Con Riley

PUBLISHER:  Figment Ink

LENGTH:  324 pages

RELEASE DATE:  October 14, 2021

BLURB:

Solomon Trebeck’s heart broke the night of his bi-awakening.

Fifteen years later, Sol’s back in Cornwall where it happened, single, shy, and oh-so lonely. Teaching art to kids wasn’t his life plan. Neither is raising a teenage nephew, but with no family left to support him, a live-in job at a boarding school becomes his life raft.

Problem: that life raft is sinking.

Solution: Sol’s first love could have the cash to keep it afloat.

Reconnecting with Jace Pascoe might save the school—the one place Sol’s nephew is happy. Asking for his help opens old wounds, but Jace helps to heal them, fusing Sol’s broken heart back together. However, Jace has his own shadows, no matter how brightly his smile dazzles.

Falling for Jace again could be so easy. It could also be a huge risk when neither of them plans to stay in Cornwall forever….

Reviewed by Larissa

TITLE: Never Stay Gone

SERIES:  Big Bend Texas Rangers Book 1

AUTHOR: Tal Bauer

PUBLISHER: Self-published

RELEASE DATE:  October 9, 2021

LENGTH: 361 pages

BLURB: 

Six bodies in a single grave… in the same West Texas country where Dakota left everything behind.

Every beat of my heart belongs to you.

Thirteen years ago, Dakota Jennings thought he’d found his forever when he fell in love with Shane Carson. But one afternoon shattered their love story, and both Dakota and Shane left Rustler, Texas, with broken hearts. Even now, Dakota is still feeling the agony of losing Shane. Sure, he’s a Texas Ranger, but that’s not how he wanted to live his life. All he ever wanted was to love Shane.

Loving you is the only time I feel alive.

Shane’s life was supposed to be different than this. There’d been a plan, ever since he was knee-high to his father. But falling for Dakota spun Shane’s world upside down, and for years, Shane has had nothing but the memories of all that he lost: Dakota’s gentle touch, and the sweetness of his lips, and the star-strewn nights they spent wrapped in each other’s arms.

West of the Pecos, there is no law.

When the Rangers get the call about six bodies being pulled out of a mass grave in West Texas, the governor sends Dakota to run the investigation. Dakota heads back to his hometown and comes face-to-face with the last man he ever expected to see again: only now, he’s Deputy Shane Carson… Dakota’s local partner assigned to the case.

There’s nothing Dakota wants more than a second chance with Shane, but so much is stacked against them: six corpses, a murderer on the loose, and history that refuses to stay buried. And the bodies keep piling up as Dakota and Shane try to run the killer down across the West Texas plains.

In a moment, everything changes: the hunters become the hunted, the past fractures, and all Dakota thought he knew comes tumbling down. Secrets break wide open as Dakota remembers–

This is West Texas, and out here, nothing is as it seems.

Big Bend County is a place of beauty and desolation, of secrets and small towns. Where the past and the present collide, and where nothing stays hidden forever.

This MM romantic suspense is the first in the new Big Bend Texas Rangers series. Come along for the West Texas sunsets, the heart-pounding thrills, and the hard-won Happy Ever Afters.

Reviewed by Kat

TITLE: Waiting for Raine

SERIES: Comet Lake Chronicles #1

AUTHOR: Layla Dorine

PUBLISHER: NineStar Press

LENGTH: 327 pages

RELEASE DATE: September 27, 2021

BLURB:

Every Gathering, Raine hides from potential mates, knowing that in a society where tri-bonds were the expectation, a wolf wanting a mate all to themselves was an anomaly.

Enter Gabriel. They’d met two years before, both left disappointed when no bondmark appeared on their wrists at that time. Gabriel’s been hunting, but there’s been no sign of Raine, outside of the one brief visit that didn’t end the way he’d hoped for.

Fast forward to the present Gathering. He’s stumbled onto Aiden, a wolf miserable in his own pack due to the way he’s treated. Born with a disability, he knows he can’t keep up, but no one has taken the time to teach him where his true potential lies—until Gabriel that is. Gabriel’s protective instincts kick in almost immediately.

Now Gabriel has one wolf he desperately wants to care for and another who has been hiding from him. Unfortunately, it might not be a challenge Gabriel is up for. 

Reviewed by Anna Lynn

TITLE:  Prophesy Book III: His Righteousness

SERIES:  The King and Alpha

AUTHOR:  A.E. Via

PUBLISHER:  Via Star Wings Books

RELEASE DATE:  July 31, 2021

LENGTH:  293 pages

BLURB:

Chaos is inevitable when fate pairs the executioner of evil with a man of righteousness.

In all the years that Adres Cavalerie has inhabited the earth, he never thought he would discover his connection to the Prophesy within the Volkov Alphas stronghold.

As the oldest living vampire, Adres was also the strongest immortal of his time with abilities that surpassed comprehension. He was a warrior and guardian, a champion for the downtrodden and forgotten. His name was legendary, the brutal ways he killed, notorious. But there was a secret to his madness that no one of this world understood.

Until his evil soul comes into contact with Macauley Volkov’s righteous wolf.

“You may be a master at hiding your scent.” The alpha dipped his head low and pressed his nose to Adres’s temple, breaking through one of his impenetrable shields, “but, I smell the real you… vampire.”

Adres has come to the White Mountain alphas to fulfill a duty and leave, but after one scent of the virtuous wolf he knew he wasn’t going anywhere. The Prophesy led him to Macauley and his light… Adres can’t turn away from the only hope of freeing his cursed heart.
He had to find out who else he was, and why fate has chosen someone as damaged as him to end the Prophesy?

Reviewed by Kat

TITLE: Coffee and Honeybuns

SERIES: Valleywood #4

AUTHOR: Minerva Howe

PUBLISHER: Evil Plot Bunny

LENGTH: 175 pages

RELEASE DATE: September 7, 2021

BLURB:

Reed Conifer has been trying to work his way up in the dog eat dog world of a Valleywood talent broker for a long while, but he’s starting to wonder if he’ll ever be anything than the Lane agency errand boy. He gets the coffee and keeps the schedule, but he’s just an ordinary bear shifter from Colorado who could stand to lose a few pounds. His co-workers call him “Teddy”, and he’s not sure he’s cutthroat enough to be promoted to junior agent.

When he gets coffee from a new shop one day, though, Reed meets grizzly shifter Tyler Ronson, who not only thinks Reed is adorable, he’s pretty sure Reed is his mate. Even though he’s only in Valleywood to open a new Rocky Mountain Java, Tyler wants to make Reed feel better, to help him feel loved and cared for. When it comes time for Tyler to leave Valleywood, he knows he has to convince Reed to come with him.

Reed doesn’t know if he can give up his dream of making it big, the one he’s worked so long to find, but he knows Tyler is the man for him, so he has to decide: should he stay in Valleywood and keep his old hopes alive or go back to Colorado with the love of his life? Bear shifter mpreg with a happy ending!

Reviewed by Cheryl

TITLE: Real Warriors

SERIES: When We Were Young #4

AUTHOR: Maggie Blackbird

PUBLISHER: eXtasy Books

LENGTH: 241 pages

RELEASE DATE: August 20 2021

BLURB:

The courage of a warrior is a must on their new path, or they’ll never grasp their happily ever after.

Just when eighteen-year-old Billy Redsky believes he’s holding his happily ever after in the palm of his hand, he must practice what he’s learned in ceremony to face two more tests—share with the world his love for René, and let go of the past.

But that’s not so easy. René is terrified of exposing their secret to anyone but his family. As for Billy’s brother, he has no intention of changing his criminal ways.

Only a miracle can help Billy reach his final destination on the red road his Ojibway ancestors once walked. For his dream to come true, he must look deep inside himself and trust the creator he follows.

Reviewed by True

TITLE: Romantic Rescue

SERIES: Romantic Series #2

AUTHOR: Blake Allwood

PUBLISHER: Self-Published

LENGTH: 234 pages

RELEASE DATE: September 23, 2021

BLURB:

A nasty fall on a hiking trail represents Daniel’s crumbling life, but a handsome park ranger will rescue him in more ways than one.

Catching your boyfriend and best friend together would be bad for anyone, but being arrested for punching your best friend in the nose makes it much worse. When Daniel heads into the mountains for some alone time, things go from bad to awful as a fall leads to a life-threatening injury.

Ranger Joseph is everything Daniel has dreamed of, but his dreams never involved being carried down a mountain on a stretcher. As Daniel mends he discovers a relationship with Joseph may be his one chance for true love.

Daniel can’t seem to catch a break; just as his life starts improving, he’s attacked by an unknown assailant. With his life now in jeopardy, can the fledgling relationship survive or will everything he cherishes be lost?

Romantic Rescue is part two of the MM/gay Romantic Series. If you like instant love, hurt to comfort gay romances, and just a touch of suspense, then you’ll enjoy this heartwarming novel by Blake Allwood.

Reviewed by Becca

TITLE: The Groovy Alpha

SERIES: West Coast Wolves #4

AUTHOR: Susi Hawke

PUBLISHER: self-published

LENGTH: 278 pages

RELEASE DATE: July 29, 2021

BLURB:

An omega raised as a wealthy human in the lap of luxury… A Harley riding alpha who rules a pack of pot-growing wolves in a commune… what was fate thinking?

Sky Blackwood is an omega wolf who’s only ever lived a fabulous, all-too-human existence in the wilds of… Beverly Hills. A place where your best friend will smile in your face while stabbing you in the back if there’s money or fame involved.

He’s heard about fated mates and the old-school shifters who still live in packs, but those were just stories. Until they aren’t. Sold by his family, Sky’s saved from the auctioneer’s block by Devon—a sexy alpha wolf who looks like surfer Thor, drives an even sexier Harley, and smells like everything Sky never knew he wanted.

If fated mates are real, what if all those other stories about packlife are as well?

Sky feels like he’s on the best adventure ever as he learns to live like a shifter. With Devon’s help, he’s ready to settle into the peaceful commune life. Only problem? Even paradise can be a camouflage for something darker.

Having grown up among people who hid their evil behind friendly smiles and designer clothes, Sky soon realizes Devon needs help if they’re to survive the unseen threat. He’s not worried, he was taught to “handle people” from the cradle, a few hippies with criminal intentions shouldn’t be too difficult, right?

The pack’s problems are easy to fix, but his real issue… not so much. What exactly is expected of an omega and how is he supposed to actually do it? Fortunately, his mate’s brothers know a few omegas who are all too happy to help.

The West Coast Wolves is an mpreg series about five alphas. A small pack of bikers who spent years riding the highways and helping those in need until fate gave them each a pack to lead. This full-length novel is Devon’s story. Prepare yourself for a dual pregnancy, an omega discovering his power, and more giggles than are appropriate during violent scenes. But then again, this is a Susi Hawke book, so what else can you expect?

Reviewed by Valerie

TITLE:  Elliot, Song of the Soulmate

SERIES:  Love, Austen #5

AUTHOR:  Anyta Sunday

PUBLISHER:  Self Published

LENGTH:  264 Pages

RELEASE DATE:  October 11, 2021

BLURB:

When you have the love of your life, you hold on tight.
You don’t let go.

Debate champ extraordinaire Elliot Anneston is a master in persuasion. He wins at everything. Until he meets sexy Scottish transfer Wentworth McAllister. Suddenly he doesn’t know what’s up and what’s up. The world is a whirlwind of feeling, and when it comes to the debate of his life, to lose is inevitable. How can he not, when his argument is a lie?
I can’t love you. I don’t.

When you lose the love of your life, you don’t get a second chance.
Or do you?

“Elliot, Song Of The Soulmate” is a contemporary gay retelling of Jane Austen’s “Persuasion”.

Reviewed by Sadonna

TITLE:  Ex-Beefcake

SERIES:   Local Beats #4

AUTHOR:  Zoe Lee

PUBLISHER:  Foolish Endeavors, LLC

LENGTH: 239 pages

RELEASE DATE:  September 30, 2021

BLURB:

Halston Stern
When my best friend Sam invites me to be his platonic plus-one for his friends’ destination wedding, I jump at the chance since we live in different cities now. I shouldn’t be nervous, but I’m not exactly the beefcake action movie star he teases me for being anymore.

Sam Radcliffe
Even though I haven’t found my forever man and don’t think he’s out there, I have the greatest friends in the world. I can’t wait to spend a week celebrating this wedding with all of them. It’s been awhile since I saw Halston, but he’s the sweetest, most thoughtful man and he’s never let me down.

As soon as I see Halston, I’m a little bit awkward… and maybe a whole lot attracted. Something as shallow as looking different for a movie role shouldn’t change how I feel about him, but it does. I can’t lose his friendship, so how can I figure out if he feels this new spark like I do? If he does, then how do we seize this chance when we have to go back to our real lives?

This is a best friends to lovers, bi awakening MM romance featuring a top who looks like a twink, an ex-beefcake action star, and a hotel room with only one bed. It is the fourth book in the Local Beats series, which can all be read as standalones, but this one is even better if you’ve read the others! It has a guaranteed HEA.

Reviewed by Cheryl K

TITLE: Outlawed: Lords of Chaos MC

SERIES: Road to Carnage Series

AUTHOR: Nicholas Bella

PUBLISHER: Dark Desires Publishing

LENGTH: 215 pages

RELEASE DATE: October 1, 2021

BLURB:

Bikers, Bullets, and Blood.

Noah “Ace” Murphy, Sergeant at Arms, brother, and son. He’s a Man of Carnage, who is loyal to his club. One night, coming home from visiting his brother, Diego, in prison, he almost literally runs into a young man desperate for help. Kenshin Yamoto is everything Ace knows he should stay away from. But one look into those pleading, soft, brown eyes and he finds that he can’t turn Kenshin away. Now, they just have to hope the threat Kenshin is running from doesn’t destroy everything Ace holds dear, including Kenshin.

Diego “Dragon” Murphy, who’s doing a nickel upstate, is looking forward to the day he can give the prison his middle finger. But before he can do that, he gets a visit from his brother, Noah, and is given a mission to eliminate an imprisoned DEA snitch before he can testify against a powerful mob boss. With his plate full, he doesn’t expect to get a new cellmate. To his shock, Richard Harrison stokes a fiery desire within Dragon that he’s never felt before. Richard claims he’s straight, but Dragon wants to put that to the test…

Warning: Serial series. Mature readers only. Outlaw MC life, Prison life, Mafia, Dark themes. Graphic violence. Strong adult situations. Colorful and intense language. Reader discretion is advised.

Reviewed by Sadonna

TITLE:  Dirty

AUTHOR:  Rain Carrington

PUBLISHER:  self-published

LENGTH:  160 pages

RELEASE DATE:  August 24, 2021

BLURB:

Lines are always blurred in the streets, especially blue lines.

Cliff Stevenson crossed all the lines and blurred them until they were mere smudges. He was a dirty cop, taking what he could from crime scenes before those higher up the food chain could do the same. He and his partner had a good thing going, and his life was just as he wanted it, plenty of men and time to himself.

Then, at a bust where he found a nice stash of cash, he found something else as well. Someone else, to be exact. A homeless young man under a bed, with big, doe eyes that drove into the center of hard-edged Cliff, chipping away his defenses.

Unable to turn him away, especially because he witnessed him taking the stash, Cliff took him home to his apartment and started to see that his life wasn’t as cut and dry as he thought.

Jimmy chiseled away at his tough shell, but more than that, he began aiding him in his crimes. Jimmy knew where all the dealers and pimps held their cash, and he let Cliff know. Together with Cliff’s partner, they set out to make a mint, but what Cliff didn’t count on, was falling in love.

Reviewed by Larissa

TITLE: Baby and the Panther

SERIES:  Shifter Rescue Book 2

AUTHOR: Victoria Sue

PUBLISHER: Self-published

LENGTH: 223 pages

RELEASE DATE:  October 5, 2021

BLURB: 

Marco knew Kai was his true mate, but to keep him alive, he had no choice but to let him go.

On the run from his panther clan and family, Marco had tried to bury his shifter side and settled into a near-human existence, working as a medic for the ranger service. All that had gone to hell when he met Kai and fell instantly for the gorgeous omega, putting them both at risk from the torture and death he had escaped from.

Nobody had ever wanted Kai—not his family, not the alphas he’d been sold to, and now not even his true mate. Rejected and humiliated, Kai runs right into the exact trouble Marco had tried to save him from.

Finally, just as Marco gets him back, a betrayal he never saw coming hits them both harder than either of them were ready for. Marco won’t just need to battle to save Kai and their unborn child—he’s going to have to start a war that’s never been fought.

And he’s going to have to win.