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review 2020-07-07 08:10

New Release Blitz - Drifter

Kitty's Book Spot!

Title: Drifter

Author: Eden Winters

Publisher: Rocky Ridge Books

Release Date: 7/7/20

Heat Level: 3 - Some Sex

Pairing: Male/Male

Length: 238

Genre: Romance, Contemporary, Rocker

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Synopsis

Some legends never die.

Killian Desmond met his end in the fiery crash that killed his band, or so the newspapers say. Now a nameless drifter, he plays one pick-up gig after another in a haze of pain and regret, moving on the minute someone says, “You sound like that guy from Trickster.”

Getting outed cost Mike Rose his musical family. A bassist without a band, he’ll play any kind of music to earn a paycheck, but Trickster’s music provides light during the darkest moments of his life.

A chance meeting brings together two lost souls who spark enough heat to set their guitars on fire. Their chemistry, both onstage and off, feels like something written in the words of a song and gives them courage to face life again.

But to seize their future, they have to confront their past.

Excerpt

The throbbing beat blended with screams from the crowd; a crowd hidden by bright lights. Sweat and cologne and beer filled Killian Desmond’s nose. Familiar sounds. Familiar scents.

Home.

Did he love this life or hate it? Who cared, he’d never known another. Back to back with his brother Elliot, he shredded his electric acoustic guitar, improvising for the fans. The strings bent to his callused fingertips, note after note falling from his guitar.

Elliot kept up. Elliot always kept up. Others might get lost in Killy’s musical fantasies, but El gauged Killy’s intentions by the way he moved, held his shoulders, or gestures, like pausing to flip his sweat-dampened hair out of his eyes.

The drummer and keyboardist faded away, letting El set the tone with a deep bass beat.

Killy strutted to the front of the stage. Hot lights illuminated him from behind, shining on sweat-soaked skin. “What you wanna hear?” He didn’t need the words to know they’d be sticking to their prearranged lineup. At their manager’s urging, he’d saved the best for last.

Highway!” roared through the arena.

He grinned and cupped a hand to one ear. “What’s that? I can’t hear you.”

Highway!” roughly six thousand voices cried out in unison, louder this time.

“Aw, c’mon, now,” Killy teased. “We’ll play whatever you want, but you gotta tell us.”

The thunderous chant of “Highway! Highway! Highway!” threatened to blow the roof off the building.

Strolling over a few paces and throwing an arm around his brother, Killy said, “Well, I reckon we better do as they say.”

“Since when have you ever taken orders?” Elliot shot back.

Faster than most could follow, Killy slung his guitar back into place and launched into their best-known riff.

The screaming nearly deafened him. He tried again. On his sixth attempt the crowd settled enough to begin.

He grinned. Adoration and energy flowed from the crowd, straight into his veins, to gather strength and escape through his fingers and his voice.

His deep growl purred through the arena, pouring out the melody he’d written in a single night in a hotel room God knew where. High on life, cheap vodka, and the rush of their first big show, he’d settled onto the bed in the dark, except for the flickering image of a black and white movie on the TV, sound turned down, and began strumming.

The words flowed out of him unbidden, leaving him raw, shaken, and in possession of a number one hit.

He didn’t sing or play Highway—the melody made him its bitch, possessing him, demanding release into the world.

Who was he to refuse?

“Some were born to sand and wind, on the sea they make their home

Some may live a hermit’s life, on a mountain all alone

Or in a glass and metal cage, high up in the sky

Packed in tight with a thousand souls, all trying to get by

Nine to five may work for some, but that don’t work for me

Saddled to day in day out, no, I need to be free

Living a life all on my own, free of family, lover or friend

On the highway I was born, it’s there I’ll meet my end.”

Alone, just him and the highway, until the chorus.

“On the highway I was born, it’s there I’ll meet my end.”

Elliot’s sweet tenor wrapped around Killy’s pack-a-day growl, blending together seamlessly.

The audience joined in, chanting, “Highway! Highway! Live and die on the highway!”

Rob kept pace on the drums, a musician not really worthy of the band they’d become, and Ace, a friend and one hell of a musician, wound his way through the twists and turns on his keyboards.

“The only home I’ll ever know stretches from sea to sea

No start, no end, no in between, just miles of road and me

Living a life all on my own free of family, lover or friend

On the highway I was born, it’s there I’ll meet my end

Highway! Highway! Live and die on the highway!

Highway! Highway! Live and die on the highway!”

The mass of humanity might have started chanting again for all Killy knew. His world boiled down to this moment, the music, his brother, his friend, and the life laid out for him long ago, the first time his mother brought him and Elliot onstage.

They’d stayed. She’d gone.

Here they still stood, though she didn’t.

Never would again.

Nope, no bad thoughts. Just the music.

Note after note poured from him like rain, blocking thought and feeling.

He crashed to his knees, striking a chord and letting his guitar speak for him. Caught in the spotlight, he leaned back in a signature move his manager made him practice, making his shirt ride up to show some skin, while his hair fell back, glittering like gold in a strategically placed spotlight.

The blue streak, his own addition, voiced his defiance at being a commodity.

He should’ve been exhausted after the show they’d put on, but in that moment, he swore he could go all night.

He jumped to his feet, racing across the stage and running through part of the guitar solo for those seated to the left of the stage, then reversed course to the right, repeating the solo.

Arms reached for him, a thousand voices calling his name.

Rejoining Elliot centerstage, he launched into the chorus and let the others join him.

After extending the song by two more choruses, he finally wound down.

An announcer stepped up on stage, to catcalls, whistles and ear-splitting shouts. “Let’s hear it for Trickster!”

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Drifter by Eden Winters
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Killian has already lost so much. After tragedy, you look for the little things that mean a lot. He decides the music means the most. Until he meets someone who gives him a reason to have hope.

Mike too has lost so much. He is excited to find someone who he actually has so much in common. Is it worth it to get your hopes up? Maybe there is a future with another lost soul who knows how it feels to lose.

This story felt to me like the epitome of a slow burn. Slower than I actually preferred, but the build was worth it as the backstory pays off as you read. Such sad lives until they come together and you know it is meant to be. Great book for a good cry, and two truly realistic characters that make you feel in such a genuine way for them.

***This copy was given in exchange for an honest review.

View all my reviews

Meet the Author

You will know Eden Winters by her distinctive white plumage and exuberant cry of “Hey, y’all!” in a Southern US drawl so thick it renders even the simplest of words unrecognizable. Watch out, she hugs!

Driven by insatiable curiosity, she possibly holds the world’s record for curriculum changes to the point that she’s never quite earned a degree but is a force to be reckoned with at Trivial Pursuit.

She’s trudged down hallways with police detectives, learned to disarm knife-wielding bad guys, and witnessed the correct way to blow doors off buildings. Her e-mail contains various snippets of forensic wisdom, such as “What would a dead body left in a Mexican drug tunnel look like after six months?” In the process of her adventures she has written twenty gay romance novels, has won Rainbow Awards, was a Lambda Awards Finalist, and lives in terror of authorities showing up at her door to question her Internet searches.

When not putting characters in dangerous situations she’s a mild-mannered business executive, mother, grandmother, vegetarian, and PFLAG activist.

Her natural habitats are airports, coffee shops, and on the backs of motorcycles.

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | eMail | Bookbub

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review 2020-07-07 07:47

Found

Kitty's Book Spot!

Killian has already lost so much. After tragedy, you look for the little things that mean a lot. He decides the music means the most. Until he meets someone who gives him a reason to have hope.

Mike too has lost so much. He is excited to find someone who he actually has so much in common. Is it worth it to get your hopes up? Maybe there is a future with another lost soul who knows how it feels to lose.

This story felt to me like the epitome of a slow burn. Slower than I actually preferred, but the build was worth it as the backstory pays off as you read. Such sad lives until they come together and you know it is meant to be. Great book for a good cry, and two truly realistic characters that make you feel in such a genuine way for them. I give this read a 3/5 Kitty's Paws UP!

***This copy was given in exchange for an honest review.

Contemporary Music Travel review coming of age Eden Winters Eden MM BookReview KU mmromance winters drifter edenwinters rockstsar

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review 2018-08-21 03:05

A Near-Perfect Thriller Debut that You Won't Want to Miss (and I can't believe that I almost did)

Irresponsible Reader

Peter pushed the truck hard toward downtown, the city roads rough with potholes, trying to get to Lake Capital begot they closed the doors for the day.

One eye on the rearview, watching for the black Ford. But it would be easy to miss in heavy traffic. And Peter’s truck would be easy to follow. Unless he was willing to rent a beige sedan, he couldn’t do anything about it.

He didn’t have a plan for Lake Capital. But the principle wasn’t complicated. It was the same principle he’d operated under for years.

Poke a stick into something and see what happened.

This approach to problem solving isn't new -- Philip Marlowe employed it, Spenser loves it, Harry Dresden has invoked it -- and I'm pretty sure a certain homeless former MP has mentioned it a time or two. It may be tried and true -- but that's only because it works really well (at least in fiction). Peter Ash is one of the leading candidates for "the next Jack Reacher," so he might as well employ it, too. It's a very effective stick in this instance, I should add.

Now Reacher, as you probably know, was a career Army MP, the son of a career Marine officer -- he'd spent his entire life living on military bases until his discharge following the Army's downsizing after the fall of the Berlin Wall. In reaction to that kind of living, he's taken to walking all over the US, getting to know the country. Peter Ash is a recently discharged Marine Lieutenant, with a couple of degrees in economics, who is wandering around the country a little bit. His reason for it differs from Reacher's, since coming back to the States after tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, Peter has panic attacks anytime he's indoors -- he calls it "white static."

This has led to him essentially living in the woods for the past few months, until he heard that his former sergeant and friend, Jimmy Johnson, has killed himself. Peter quickly came to Milwaukee to visit Jimmy's wife, Dinah. He wasn't around to help his friend, but maybe he can assuage his guilt by helping out with some much needed home repairs on his behalf.

He starts with the front porch -- and while he's working on it, discovers a hidden suitcase filled with money, and four bricks of plastic explosive. This seems strange, Peter hides the bricks, and gives the money to Dinah. Around the same time, a mysterious figure comes by looking for something (probably the suitcase, but he never mentions is). The two of these together gets Peter's curiosity piqued -- and he sets out to find out what his friend was up to before he died. He barely beings this before someone tries to kill him.

Peter survives, and becomes even more certain that something is going on -- Jimmy was on to something just before he died. Peter has to find out what -- to honor Jimmy's memory, protect Dinah and her two sons, and maybe get a little peace for himself -- maybe find some forgiveness for failing to help Jimmy.

This isn't just guy wanders into town, finds trouble and starts hitting/shooting things and people until the problem is solved. Peter has to think, he has to investigate, he takes wrong paths, he really needs to find a shower and a way to clean a very large dog -- which isn't saying anything about the investigation, it's just another thing he has to do along the way (still, harder problems than you might expect when you throw in his white static). There's plenty of hitting and shooting, but it's not the focus.

Yes, Peter is very much in the Reacher mold -- but he's different in very significant ways. The ways in which he's not Reacher make him a fascinating character on his own. He has a sense of humor, he's lonely, he's a bit more self-reflective -- he knows that he didn't come back from the wars whole and intact, and is seeking to fix that. Maybe. He's got a different kind of education, and a different way of looking at the world. The ways he's similar to Reacher (good with weapons, devastating to hand-to-hand combat opponents, fast thinking, strategic, etc.) simply ensure that he's fun to read about. Both of these sides together give us a Thriller protagonist that's a sheer pleasure to read.

So Peter has "White Static", Jimmy clearly had problems adjusting to being back home, but they're not treated as the only ones -- there are many others seen and talked about in this book. It's not done exploitatively, it's done to highlight the problems and the many, various ways they can be addressed successfully. Nor are they talked about in a way that suggests everyone who comes back from combat service comes back damaged. Nothing is universalized or generalized. I'm certainly not speaking from any kind of first, or even second-hand, experience here -- but it appears to me that Petrie dealt with these psyches in just the right way -- compassionate, understanding, and accepting.

As there is an element of mystery to the story, I'm not going to talk about the villains much. But they are just as good as the rest of the book -- wide-ranging motivations, differing levels of commitment to the enterprise, they're not all cookie-cutter types. They are not cartoonish, they are not super-villains. They are straight-from-the-headlines evil though. I could absolutely see something like this happening and it working.

I could have spent more time with just about every other supporting character -- not in a "hey, you could've developed them better" way, but in a "I liked them and enjoyed Peter's interactions with them" kind of way. Sure, that would've involved more character development, but not because they were lacking anything, it just would have worked out that way. Dinah's an ER nurse with a lot of grit, and isn't sure what to think of her late husband -- but is dedicated to being the best mom she can to their kids. Charlie, their oldest, has learned a lot from his dad and is trying his pre-teen best to live like he should and be "the man of the house." There's a woman from the Veteran's group that tried to help Jimmy who is a wonderful character, too. I could say more about her and the other supporting characters, but you should meet them yourself.

The last advantage that this one has over any of the Jack Reacher novels -- and frankly, most Thrillers, is Mingus. He's a very large dog that Ash finds living under the porch at his friend's house (that porch led to the discovery of a lot) -- he's a bigger, nastier version of Walt Longmire's Dog. Just as friendly, too -- toward people not being threatening, anyway.

Okay, I obviously found this fantastic. The tension was high throughout; the pacing was fantastic; the actions scenes were fast, furious and believable; the story was clever and yet sensitive to current events, and the people represented by the characters; the stakes were real and believable; Peter's code and the code(s) of those around him are wonderful to think about, examine and possibly try to adopt. They don't get much closer to perfect than this -- I'm definitely picking up the next two in the series as soon as I can, and I can't wait to talk about them without nearly so many references to Jack Whatshisname.

Source: irresponsiblereader.com/2018/08/20/the-drifter-by-nicholas-petrie-a-near-perfect-thriller-debut-that-you-wont-want-to-miss

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review 2017-07-27 00:00

The Drifter's Mail-Order Bride: (A Sweet Western Historical Romance) (Dalton Brides Book 4)

mollysmommyreads

This book automatically wins an extra star simply due to the fact that Cassie Hayes uses the word flibbertigibbet!

Bonnie and Bart are by far my favorite couple from the first three books. A very good read.

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review 2017-03-25 01:22

jbarrett5 book reviews, etc

The Drifter by Christine Lennon
Book starts out in 1980's where the girls are attending college in FL.
Much detailed encounters as they go through the years, the parties they attend and where they work and how to come to meet one another at the sorority.
Time the three lived together and melded and then at times grew apart but still friends. Story follows them further as they age... quite tragic.
Many secrets and mysteries from their college years that come to light near the end. Also includes discussion questions, author's reason for writing this book, playlist and her favorite books to read.
I received this book via LibraryThing: Early Reviewers from the February 2017 batch.