Summary:
A trip to visit his boyfriend Nate's parents during the holidays leaves Emerson a nervous wreck. Bad weather and an unfortunate mix-up leads to an awkward first introduction, and as things deteriorate from there, Emerson begins to doubt if their relationship will survive the stressful weekend. Can Emerson get their relationship back on track and impress the Collins family in time to have a Merry Christmas?
Review:
I felt for Emerson when he first meets Nate's family. There were so many directions this story could have taken and I loved where the author took the story. Generally I'm not a fan of novellas, I've been reading 300+ page books ever since I was in high school and I just naturally gravitate towards the longer stories. However, I am a forever changed novella fan thanks to Miss Vaughn.
Rating: 5 Stars
Check previous post for author bio & links: Author Info
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Thursday, May 8, 2014
Geeks, Nerds, and Cuddles by Brigham Vaughn
Summary:
Plagued by social anxiety, Paul Conway is content with the online relationship he's built with fellow nerd, Isaac Morrison. Isaac is determined to move their relationship off the screen and into real life but Paul's fears stand in the way. The very thing that causes him anxiety in the first place might help him overcome it in the long run if he's brave enough to face his fears.
Review:
I don't know who I fell in love with more, Isaac or Paul? Just as your heart aches for Paul and his insecurities, you discover that Isaac isn't quite as in control as Paul thinks. I just loved how even though this is a novella, the characters are so detailed and perfect. When I say "perfect" I don't mean perfect in the sense that they are flawless but in the fact that they are so real and everyday, which makes them perfect to me.
Rating: 5 Stars
Check previous post for author bio & links: Author Info
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Plagued by social anxiety, Paul Conway is content with the online relationship he's built with fellow nerd, Isaac Morrison. Isaac is determined to move their relationship off the screen and into real life but Paul's fears stand in the way. The very thing that causes him anxiety in the first place might help him overcome it in the long run if he's brave enough to face his fears.
Review:
I don't know who I fell in love with more, Isaac or Paul? Just as your heart aches for Paul and his insecurities, you discover that Isaac isn't quite as in control as Paul thinks. I just loved how even though this is a novella, the characters are so detailed and perfect. When I say "perfect" I don't mean perfect in the sense that they are flawless but in the fact that they are so real and everyday, which makes them perfect to me.
Rating: 5 Stars
Check previous post for author bio & links: Author Info
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Monday, May 5, 2014
French Toast Emergencies by Brigham Vaughn
Summary:
Arthur Cain has removed himself from a social life littered with mistakes and unhappiness. When a freak April snowstorm hits, he just wants to stock up on the basics so he can get back to writing his thesis. Samuel Richards is a musician with a wicked sense of humor and he knows how to use it. The last thing he expected was to have it save him when he heads out for supplies and everything falls apart. The storm sends both to the grocery store, but neither had a "date" on their shopping list. It's one disaster after another for Samuel, but the history student comes to his rescue. If only Arthur was as good dealing with live men as he was with dead Vikings.
Review:
As someone who has been born and raised in Wisconsin, I have seen first hand the emergency pantry stocking when a blizzard is predicted and it was fun to see it in a book. Arthur and Samuel are wonderfully intriguing characters that I would have loved to read more about but the length, or lack-there-of, is definitely not a drawback. I fell for both guys and the romance that sets in due to their weather triggered circumstances. Definitely another great novella by Miss Vaughn.
Rating: 5 Stars
Check previous posts for author bio & links: Author Info
Purchase Links:
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Arthur Cain has removed himself from a social life littered with mistakes and unhappiness. When a freak April snowstorm hits, he just wants to stock up on the basics so he can get back to writing his thesis. Samuel Richards is a musician with a wicked sense of humor and he knows how to use it. The last thing he expected was to have it save him when he heads out for supplies and everything falls apart. The storm sends both to the grocery store, but neither had a "date" on their shopping list. It's one disaster after another for Samuel, but the history student comes to his rescue. If only Arthur was as good dealing with live men as he was with dead Vikings.
Review:
As someone who has been born and raised in Wisconsin, I have seen first hand the emergency pantry stocking when a blizzard is predicted and it was fun to see it in a book. Arthur and Samuel are wonderfully intriguing characters that I would have loved to read more about but the length, or lack-there-of, is definitely not a drawback. I fell for both guys and the romance that sets in due to their weather triggered circumstances. Definitely another great novella by Miss Vaughn.
Rating: 5 Stars
Check previous posts for author bio & links: Author Info
Purchase Links:
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Saturday, May 3, 2014
Wine Tasting Series by Brigham Vaughn
Spit or Swallow
Rating: 5 Stars
Rating: 5 Stars
Rating: 5 Stars
Summary:
Sean Powell, a wine distributor in his early forties, is having a terrible day. To top things off, his longtime friend, the sommelier at his favorite restaurant, has been replaced by a hot young sommelier with big ideas. Lucas Spencer is determined to liven up the staid and stodgy wine list, but manages to alienate the distributor during their first meeting. Can the two blend their professional frustration and personal attraction without risking their careers?
Rating: 5 Stars
Aftertaste
Summary:
Despite sizzling chemistry when they first met, Sean Powell can't quite believe that the gorgeous young sommelier at Bistro Argent wants him. Anxious about risking his job, Lucas Spencer must decide if the handsome, red-headed wine distributor is worth the risk. Balancing a professional relationship with a more personal one is tricky, but it just might be worth the effort.
Rating: 5 Stars
Finish
Summary:
After four months together, Sean and Lucas have never been happier, but a wine tasting trip to Traverse City, Michigan threatens that stability. Sean's insecurities rise to the surface as Lucas' fears of losing Sean lead to jealousy. Can they repair their relationship before it turns sour?
Rating: 5 Stars
Review:
First off, I have to say I am not a fan of wine nor do I know much about it and quite frankly this series did not improve my outlook on the subject. However, the stories are amazing! I won't lie, they could be longer for my liking, that being said, I don't think I have ever read a novella series that covered such an array of emotions from the first page of Spit to the last page of Finish. Sean and Lucas are both such strong men and yet they each carry around their individual insecurities that really make them unforgettable. If you've never read Miss Vaughn's work before, this is an amazing place to start.
Author Bio:
Brigham Vaughn has always been a voracious reader with her own stories to tell. After many years of abandoned plots, something finally clicked. Now she's eating, sleeping, and breathing writing and is excited to have finally figured out what she wants to be when she grows up. In the little time that isn't spent writing or reading, she loves cooking, yoga, photography, and remodeling her ninety-year old home. Brigham lives in Michigan with her four cats and an amazing husband who has always been her biggest champion.
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Thursday, May 1, 2014
Shock & Awe by Abigail Roux
Summary:
After barely surviving a shootout in New Orleans, Sidewinder medic Kelly Abbott has to suffer through a month of recovery before he can return home to Colorado. He's not surprised when fellow Sidewinder Nick O'Flahtery stays with him in New Orleans. Nor is he surprised when Nick travels home with him to help him get back on his feet--after all, years on the same Marine Force Recon team bonded the men in ways that only bleeding for a brother can. He's very surprised, though when Nick humors his moment of curiosity and kisses him.
Nick knows all of Kelly's quirks and caprices, so the kiss was a low-risk on his part . . . or so he thought. But what should have been a simple moment unleashes a flood of confusing emotions and urges that neither man is prepared to address.
Now, Kelly and Nick must figure out what they mean to each other--friends and brothers in arms, or something even deeper?--before the past can come back to ruin their tenuous future.
Review:
First off, I want to say that I didn't give it a full 5 Star rating simply because I knew the outcome ahead because I had read Ball & Chain (Cut & Run #8) before this. That being said, this was an amazing look into the lives of Nick O'Flahtery and Kelly Abbott, how they went from Sidewinder team members, best friends, kindred spirits, to lovers as only Abigail Roux can tell it. And boy does she tell it. The story may be short in pages but certainly not lacking in story, love, fear, passion, and curiosity fueled desire. This is a sweet, funny, hot, and emotionally charged bridge between books 7 & 8 in the author's Cut & Run series that doesn't have to be read prior to Ball & Chain.
Rating: 4 & 1/2 Stars
Check Previous posts for Author Bio & Links: Author Info
After barely surviving a shootout in New Orleans, Sidewinder medic Kelly Abbott has to suffer through a month of recovery before he can return home to Colorado. He's not surprised when fellow Sidewinder Nick O'Flahtery stays with him in New Orleans. Nor is he surprised when Nick travels home with him to help him get back on his feet--after all, years on the same Marine Force Recon team bonded the men in ways that only bleeding for a brother can. He's very surprised, though when Nick humors his moment of curiosity and kisses him.
Nick knows all of Kelly's quirks and caprices, so the kiss was a low-risk on his part . . . or so he thought. But what should have been a simple moment unleashes a flood of confusing emotions and urges that neither man is prepared to address.
Now, Kelly and Nick must figure out what they mean to each other--friends and brothers in arms, or something even deeper?--before the past can come back to ruin their tenuous future.
Review:
First off, I want to say that I didn't give it a full 5 Star rating simply because I knew the outcome ahead because I had read Ball & Chain (Cut & Run #8) before this. That being said, this was an amazing look into the lives of Nick O'Flahtery and Kelly Abbott, how they went from Sidewinder team members, best friends, kindred spirits, to lovers as only Abigail Roux can tell it. And boy does she tell it. The story may be short in pages but certainly not lacking in story, love, fear, passion, and curiosity fueled desire. This is a sweet, funny, hot, and emotionally charged bridge between books 7 & 8 in the author's Cut & Run series that doesn't have to be read prior to Ball & Chain.
Rating: 4 & 1/2 Stars
Check Previous posts for Author Bio & Links: Author Info
Don't Trust the Cut by Kade Boehme
Summary:
Tucker Gray is a Baltimore, MD waiter, hailing from the deep south, whose mental health issues and past relationships have made it hard to trust more than the cut. After he hits what he thought was rock bottom Tucker decides to keep close to the ones who stood by him and keep his head down, until he finds something to prove it can get better.
Jesse Bauer is unsure what his future holds after an injury forces him to retire from the marines. With all of the decisions he has to make in his civilian life with all of its freedoms and possibilities, he feels staying closeted and keeping the people in his life happy will keep down the chaos.
Until the night he met Tucker Gray at a party he though that'd be possible, but both of them are instantly and strongly in lust. As their relationship grows Jesse has to prove himself and Tucker has to learn to trust more than the cut.
Review:
I won't lie there were some moments in this book that I could see coming. That being said, I still found myself hungering for every turn of the page, even in those few scenes that I was expecting. I say this a lot but for me it's the ultimate compliment and there are only so many ways you can put it into words. Tucker and Jesse sucked me in from page one and even now that it's been nearly a day since I read the last page, they still haven't let go of me.
Yes, ultimately most of the drama comes from serious misunderstandings and lack of communication but at the same time, the real heart breaking moments come from what's behind the lack of communication. On one hand you just want to grab hold of their hair and bang their heads together and scream "wake up and talk to each other!" but the reader is let in on the inner monologues of both Tucker and Jesse, so we know what's keeping them from opening up. Knowing doesn't always make it less frustrating for the readers but the author does an amazing job at helping us understand it.
There were so many roads the author could have taken with the subject matter, and any one of those roads would have made an interesting story but the author took us down a road that not only made it interesting, but also dramatic, funny, loving, sexy, but most importantly, emotionally satisfying.
Rating: 4 & 1/2 Stars
Check previous post for author bio & links: Author Info
Tucker Gray is a Baltimore, MD waiter, hailing from the deep south, whose mental health issues and past relationships have made it hard to trust more than the cut. After he hits what he thought was rock bottom Tucker decides to keep close to the ones who stood by him and keep his head down, until he finds something to prove it can get better.
Jesse Bauer is unsure what his future holds after an injury forces him to retire from the marines. With all of the decisions he has to make in his civilian life with all of its freedoms and possibilities, he feels staying closeted and keeping the people in his life happy will keep down the chaos.
Until the night he met Tucker Gray at a party he though that'd be possible, but both of them are instantly and strongly in lust. As their relationship grows Jesse has to prove himself and Tucker has to learn to trust more than the cut.
Review:
I won't lie there were some moments in this book that I could see coming. That being said, I still found myself hungering for every turn of the page, even in those few scenes that I was expecting. I say this a lot but for me it's the ultimate compliment and there are only so many ways you can put it into words. Tucker and Jesse sucked me in from page one and even now that it's been nearly a day since I read the last page, they still haven't let go of me.
Yes, ultimately most of the drama comes from serious misunderstandings and lack of communication but at the same time, the real heart breaking moments come from what's behind the lack of communication. On one hand you just want to grab hold of their hair and bang their heads together and scream "wake up and talk to each other!" but the reader is let in on the inner monologues of both Tucker and Jesse, so we know what's keeping them from opening up. Knowing doesn't always make it less frustrating for the readers but the author does an amazing job at helping us understand it.
There were so many roads the author could have taken with the subject matter, and any one of those roads would have made an interesting story but the author took us down a road that not only made it interesting, but also dramatic, funny, loving, sexy, but most importantly, emotionally satisfying.
Rating: 4 & 1/2 Stars
Check previous post for author bio & links: Author Info
Monday, April 28, 2014
The Resistance by S.L. Scott
Summary:
You don’t choose when.
You don’t choose where.
And you don’t get to choose who you fall in love with.
The minute he opened his sexy mouth, Holliday Hughes should have known Jack Dalton was trouble. His smooth pickup lines, broad shoulders, and ridiculously handsome face charmed her right out of her clothes. She gave into her desires, the instant attraction blinding her to the obvious.
One night. That was all it took for Holliday’s world to be flipped on its axis. Jack Dalton was cocky. Smug. Volatile. Demanding. He ignited something deep inside her like no other, but there was something more to this brooding bad boy. There was a dark side to him she couldn’t help but be drawn to.
Torn between what she knew about him and a mysterious side he tried to hide, could she walk away or was he simply too hard to resist?
“Wait.” He reaches to the nightstand one more time and grabs his phone. Scrolling, he smiles when he finds what he’s looking for. With one push of the button, a song I’m all too familiar with begins. I know every word and every riff. “Stairway to Heaven” was the soundtrack to a lot of trouble I got into back in high school. “Led Zeppelin?”
With a smirk in place, he nods. “This is great fucking music.”
“Great fucking music or great music for fucking?” I ask as his hands squeeze my breasts.
“Both.” He lays back, his hands sliding up the outside of my thighs, and says, “Take me to that place that keeps you from getting jaded. That place where you find peace without the demons destroying everything you thought you wanted. Take me there.”
Darkness fills his eyes, his gaze alluding to everything he doesn’t have to be any longer. I lift up and sink down on him, my hands pressed flat against his chest, wanting to smother the dark and cover it with light. Slowly rocking back and forth like the tempo calls for, his words lyrics to my ears, invading my thoughts. I drop my head back as his hands grab my hips, holding me down. The resistance causes inner turmoil as my insides begin to coil. Wanting more, my hands fall behind onto his legs, balancing me on top of him as we move against the other.
I let my mind drift with the melody, the fullness of him overtaking all other feelings. The music builds and my body reacts to the rhythm he’s creating inside me. The song becomes our anthem, a soundtrack to our moans and heavy breaths.
When I look down at him, his eyes are open, watching me, one hand roaming my body freely. The other caressing my tattooed skin.
The song speaks of winding roads, shadows and souls… I’m flipped onto the mattress. Dalton’s inside me again, moving over me. Our bodies become slick with sweat, emotions begin swirling between us. Feelings that this could be more than just one night plant themselves like seeds in the depths of my mind.
Review:
I was pleasantly surprised with the direction this story took. I was expecting to enjoy the book but I was also expecting the typical bad boy, drug addicted rocker meets good girl. What I got was so much more. I'm not one for spoilers so sometimes I find it very difficult to leave a very in depth review, and this is one of those times.
Both Jack and Holliday will surprise you, tug at your heart, and quite honestly they will both suck you in and even though you can't wait to find out how the story ends, you will not want to let them go with that last page.
I have a different opinion of angst versus drama, what many writers and readers term "angst" I only see "drama". With that said, there is an amazingly even blend of angst/drama, romantic-comedy/flirty banter, extremely hot sex without becoming gratuitous smut, and of course HEA. Although, who is to say what constitutes a HEA, as I said, I don't do spoilers.
If you've read Miss Scott before than you know that she definitely knows how to bring a story to life. If you haven't read her before, this would be an excellent first foray with a new author.
Rating: 5 Stars
Author Bio:
S.L. Scott is a former high-tech account manager with a journalism d egree pursuing her passion for telling stories. She spends her days escaping into her characters and letting them lead her on their adventures.
Live music shows, harvesting jalapenos and eating homemade guacamole are her obsessions she calls hobbies.
Scott lives in the beautiful Texas hill country of Austin with her husband, two young sons, two Papillons and a bowl full of Sea Monkeys.
Her novels include Naturally, Charlie, Good Vibrations, and A Prior Engagement.
She welcomes your comments.
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Purchase Links:
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She welcomes your comments.
Author Links:
Amazon
Goodreads
Website
Purchase Links:
Amazon
iTunes
Barnes & Noble
Time-Sensitive Giveaway: Rafflecopter
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