A Hearts On Fire Review

3.75 HEARTS--Snark, sexual tension and a second chance at romance.

Bruce Rose's "Risky" is a novella that takes a fun trope - second chance romance and makes it sexy and funny. My favorite ingredients this type of novella. I loved reading author's notes and author bios especially when the author makes the effort. Bruce Rose made the effort. Beer and condoms are a great platform.

I was charmed from the warning throughout until the last period.

"Risky" stars geeky club owner Shane. He's broker than broke, in danger of losing his business and in dire straits. In walks in his ex Jake Lang on one of his worst days. Jake comes in with bravado, smooth talking and demanding flair. In short, me and Shane couldn't pant fast enough. There is something about the cocky men with swagger. It's a fine line between cocky and jerk. Bruce Rose did a good job not making Jake a villain.

With a very erotic acquaintance in a semi public place (*wink*), the novella focuses on the men trying to fight their obvious attraction and chemistry while saving Bow, Shane's club. Jake was a selfish trust fund kid the last time Shane saw him. But people change especially when they want to.

With a risky bet, the two become tentative business partners for a month where sex isn't exactly on the table. The story could've easily went into the PWP territory but it really didn't. There's a plot and more than that, a wonderful cast of characters. I enjoyed the entire ensemble - Brandon and Taylor, the twunk and twink bar staff who are loyal to Shane. And Terry, the lumbersexual, gentle giant pastry chef. PLEASE tell me there will be a story starring Terry and his beard. He's a big guy who I picture as a redhead in my head, wearing flannel and suspenders. *fingers crossed* He deserves to find a partner too. All of the characters do.

But I digress (*puppy eyes to the author*)

Another plus in this story's favor is it shows how Jake redeems himself to be a worthy partner. Not just for his personal gains but for himself. The story doesn't go out on a major limb into innovative, but it didn't need to. A great comfort read that can pass away the time with fun.

There are quibbles, however. The story has typos, at one point Jake's last name changed due to a typo (just once). There was a little mush once the HEA happened. There were a few parts where certain characteristics or actions weren't delved into as deep as it could have such as the (light) cyberstalking - how exactly did Jake know all of Shane's business? Also, a scene with Jake discussing his new life now that his wealthy lifestyle is at an end would have been nice to read instead of a secondary character discussing it.

Overall, enjoyable. Definitely my kind of humor. The sex (when it happened) was hot with a capital T! And the sexual tension was a great touch.

I will definitely be reading more from this author and diving into his backlist. ;)

Before Reading : I am living for this book.

I am all about it.

All of it.

All.

After Reading :

4.5 Stars--It's been proven I'm a Lisa Kleypas fan.

So much so, I figured I'd give it time before trying her new historical after her years long break. I read her contemporary return Brown-Eyed Girl earlier this year and I could tell, it wasn't up to snuff. Close but no cigar.

But with Cold-Hearted Rake, the first of the Ravenel series...



I guess she was saving her magic for her historical.

"It's a sin."
"How do you know?"
"Because it feels like one," she managed to say.
He laughed quietly and pulled her hips farther toward him with a decisiveness that drew a little yelp from her.
"In that case...I never sin by half measures."

The Ravenel family as the magic like another famous LK family, maybe you've heard of them? They go by the name Hathaway. Every damn character in this book was just a joy to read, even the ones who were maddening, especially the ones who were brooding.

*coughs*Winterborne*coughs*
Kleypas hit a couple of tried tropes and she made it delicious to read. Kathleen, ginger haired Countess Trenear is a widow only after three days of marriage. The dead earl's cousin and now new earl, Devon is known to be a rake of the first degree. He and his rakehell brother, Weston inherit a massive debt, crumbling estate with a widow and their three female cousins (the former earl's sisters) and about two hundred tenants that are in desperate need. Devon did not ask for responsibility and he certainly doesn't want it in the tiny form of Kathleen.

Kathleen is a tiny force to be reckoned with. Her and Devon do not start on the right foot. In fact, they were combustible from jump. But you know what they say, it's a thin line between love and hate. All their arguments were just precursors to falling in love, flirtations if you will.

"You took Theo's title and his home," West continued in appalled disbelief, "and now you want his wife."
"His widow," Devon muttered.
"Have you seduced her?"
"Not yet."
West clapped his hand to his forehead. "Christ. Don't you think she's suffered enough?"

Devon and Kathleen write angry letters while Devon tries to fix the damn estate he didn't want. His drunk of a brother, West along with the rest of the Ravenels provide comedic relief and keep the momentum going. West, with his redeemed rake angle was just too awesome. He had some of the best lines!

"Has anyone been corrupted or defiled?"
"Since the age of twelve," West said.
"I wasn't asking you, I was asking the girls."
"Not yet," Cassandra replied cheerfully.

Lady Helen, serene, quiet and unassuming...I know still waters run deep. Can't wait to read her book. Marrying Winterborne See who she's paired with?



The twins! They are infuriatingly adorable with their antics - Ladies Cassandra and Pandora.
AND PANDORA'S BOOK WILL BE GOING THE FUCK DOWN WITH ME BECAUSE IT STARS ONE OF MY TOP LK HERO'S SON 

All of the Ravenel magic was mixed in the stubborn-enemies falling in love.

Good God, were Devon and Kathleen hard-headed. First it wasn't kicking the ghost of Theo out of the way, then it was them figuring out their fighting was because they had chemistry - though Devon was away in London for periods of time. I felt like his presence was still there in Hampshire with the girls. Add in a near death experience to slowly turn Devon's head in the right direction:

Brooding over the past wouldn't change the fact that Kathleen had belonged to Theo first.
But she would belong to Devon last.

And when they got together?

Magic...

Tropey but I could care less.

“Time is what I'm giving you," he said, staring down at her. His hand curved beneath her chin, compelling her to look at him. "There's only one way for me to prove that I will love you and be faithful to you for the rest of my life. And that's by loving you and being faithful to you for the rest of my life. Even if you don't want me. Even if you choose not to be with me. I'm giving you all the time I have left. I vow to you that from this moment on, I will never touch another woman, or give my heart to anyone but you. If I have to wait sixty years, not a minute will have been wasted--because I'll have spent all of them loving you.”

Because Kleypas can trope with the best of them in my opinion.

So Kathleen was a ball buster and her pigheadedness got in the way at times. Didn't care.
So Devon wasn't as cold-hearted as the title suggests. Didn't care.

The reader could see they were meant to be together before they finally realized it. And these two crazy kids make their path to love entertaining to read.

There was a little OTT-ness in the last 15% or so but if made the story move. I'm for it.

As for The Ravenels #2: Marrying Winterborne, starring that broody, asshole-ish Welsh hero?

How to describe to describe "A Year Less Three Days" by authors Alyx J. Shaw and Mychael Black:

If I could individually list all of "A Year Less Three Days" missteps, this review would possibly as long as the novella, because I honestly don't know where to begin. It was circling the 1 Heart rating from 20%, but I tend to give books a chance, maybe the plot turns in a different direction, etc

Not so with this book.

In fact, each chapter got progressively worse which is a feat in itself. It was like reading a 'What Not to Put in a Romance' how-to-guide. I have so many quotes and plot holes highlighted...*sigh* This will probably be a spoiler-y review.

What I got from the blurb: a heterosexual woodman (Lias)'s wife is presumed kidnapped and while searching for her, he is kidnapped into slavery. He he is tortured for a period of time and saved by a new Master, a knight who made a deal with a devil. Somehow master and slave, both damaged men, find a way to love one another. A romance.

What this story actually delivered: A mess of the plot. At different points, you can read the authors coming up with extraneous tidbits and plot devices with no explanation as the story moved along. Crazy things such as a wizard who is stuck as a creature, a horse who plays chess or another horse that can climb stairs, open doors and curl in bed like a dog, demons and special demon knights, a knight of some special order with no explanation, a mage that heals strangers by just knowing, a straight man who is raped and tortured but seems to have no PTSD, an adamantly straight man who by the grace of two conversations with different strangers automatically is gay when his homosexual master tells him he wants to bed him...oh while both are deathly ill...so they can have sex.

While the blurb mentions two triggers, here are the additional warnings the book did not give:

- Cannibalism

- Major Character Death

I'm a reader whose limits are pretty open, but not every reader would read a story with those two warnings attached. Or are they supposed to be lumped under the "violence" warning?

Necromis is the master and knight of the white bear in a fantasy land where demons exist. He made a deal with a demon to make an abused, tortured straight slave fall in love with his master. Lias is the fifth slave to enter Necromis's mansion/castle (the dwelling types switched a few times) Lias is saved, but never shows he was traumatized or abused. And hates his master, he fights his master and looks down on Necromis being gay.

Necromis doesn't care because he's the prettiest (no lie) knight in the land, the meanest mean girl knight with long silvery hair down to the floor. Necromis likes to belittle those he deems beneath him (there was an equivalent to a "you can't sit with us" scene), takes his anger out on Lias by nearly killing him and then somehow falls in love. Without showing the reader how it happened. The instalove doesn't stop there, Lias gets told by two strangers that he should love Necromis and he gathers that he should just do it in gratitude for Necromis finding his children...that Lias figured out on his own.

I think a horror fairytale themed romance is what the authors were trying to convey. And there were one or two scenes where it got spooky, but the plot holes and wacky random ideas made the read ridiculous and took away from any semblance to a plot. The best thing going for the book is the cover- though it implies both men are equals and for the majority of the book, Lias is not. He's scarred, whipped and chained more than not...so it's not accurate.

Since I can't cover all of the problems with this book, I'll try to summarize the main areas with a few examples.

The Plot (or lack thereof) - to say it was rushed is the least of this story's problems. There were so many random things added to the tale, that it made no sense.  Lias was remarried and lost his wife, who he loved. I get the plot was supposed to entice the 'make a straight man gay' theme, since it was stressed, Necromis would need to get a straight slave to end his curse. But there was no effort into trying to show either man falling in love. It goes from I hate you--I'm dying-okay, I'll fuck you because someone told me to--and fuck me too while you're at it, because butt sex will cement a relationship that literally started at 70%. Since the previous 70% was filled with the horse farts and many side characters that added nothing to the weak plot.

What was up with all the horse farts? Every other page would have a description of someone or something farting. If it was supposed to be funny, the timing is way off. And if this was supposed to be a parody...it should have been clear. I can't see this story as something serious.

The Plot Holes - they were abundant, they overtook the story.

Here are a few:

- Since the story tried to jam in an entire novella's worth of sex in roughly 20%, it seemed that the men didn't spend enough time together previously to know how the "exact way" Necromis would want to be stroked off during their first hand job scene.

Too vague?

- How about Necromis making a deal with Bonecracker, the big bad demon in this story to be rich enough to buy his original love...and becomes a white bear knight. Does being a knight automatically mean you're rich? I'm guessing not if there weren't as many rich knights? Is there a parallel the reader should just assume?

- It's told that Lias comes from a modest section of the country, where nakedness is kept behind closed doors. He even reacts to Necromis's exhibitionist side negatively. How is it that Lias's comfortable to be naked and fondling another naked man in front of his children? And his children from the same part of the land don't react to the nakedness? They're cool about it? No hiding their faces? No reaction?

Here's a better question: why wouldn't the adults cover up in front of the children? Is their fucking that important? Must everyone see their big ol' dicks?

- The tortured, abused, raped slave has no problems with having sex, gay sex at that. In fact, he can deep throat without an issue.

I won't even touch the actual penis sorcery performed to make an already humongous dick into tree trunk proportions. Because sex can't make up for the lack of development which leads to...

The Characters - they were as dimensional as a pocket of air. No explanation as to what the knights did. Necromis is a knight of a white bear. What does that mean? Someone was a knight of a boar. Why are animals being thrown out without explanations? These "knights" were worse than children. All of the adults read like sulky, bratty teens. We have the head knight telling any one how beautiful he was with his long silver hair to the floor, which makes no sense in battle to me, but I guess makes sense in this world. The characters just like the plot holes and plot were random and flat. Any emotion couldn't and wasn't shown, just told. Lias kept talking about how uneducated and straight he was. I guess to hype up the GFY/ slave angle. If written differently, he could deliver more than that. There was promise in the beginning but the poor writing style ruined any chance of the promise being realized. More yelling at the slave, threatening him and treating him like an animal rather than talking to him. It just was a big...horse fart bubble.

The Writing Style - All telling and junior high school telling at thatt with nothing shown. I will give the story something, it read like one voice rather than two, so at least the tones melded. But the story couldn't stick to one lane - horror, erotica, a mystery, paranormal, fantasy. It's not like it couldn't be done - I've read it written in more competent hands.

I had an imaginary red pen going through just about every paragraph and was left too many questions. Simple questions could have easily shaved this novella in half - did this add to the story? No? Then, it's a throwaway.

An example:

"It is as my mistress says, men who favor other men are all romance and foolishness."

Why this quote was even used in a gay romance novel when it adds nothing to the plot or overall story? It was said by a tertiary character who basically had one scene and did nothing for the plot.

This was a throwaway scene and character. Not needed and inflammatory for no good reason.

I've read one of the authors in this pairing in the past and enjoyed. But this...was a mess all around. I don't know if it was a first draft? The lowest that I can rate on Netgalley is one and I feel it's still too high. It's memorable for all the wrong reasons. The romance is dumped the moment the former slave who said he will never fall in love with another man other than Necromis...does the opposite and falls for another man after his lover dies.

Not recommended to anyone I know who can read.

Maybe not even non-readers either.

A copy provided via Netgalley for an honest review.

3.75 Hearts--I'll admit it...I read the blurb and honed in on the "socially awkward, closeted virgin" and "hot drifter" parts like a heat seeking missile.

I was in the mood for major deflowering and figured it would be a romantic PWP.

Boy, was I wrong.

Not Just Passing Through is just like the blurb promises and more. It is a deceptively simple story that is character driven with characters in their early twenties whose lives are still in the molding stage.

Avery Malcolm, the awkward orphaned virgin is already stuck in a job managing a New Mexico motel and hiding in the closet. He only has one friend, can't stand being touch and already signed for being celibate since he didn't being out would gain him any possible hookups or suitors. Enter twenty-one year old cocky as all hell drifter, Chase Lancaster. He rides into the motel parking lot on a motorcycle, full of freckles, dark hair and blue eyes. Imagine the reaction from Avery...are you licking your lips? Because I was already on line to buy tickets to Pound Town.

But not so.

See, the young men have to get to know each other. Avery has only one person he counts as a friend and doesn't let anyone else get as close. Chase is a smooth talker and friendly guy and...straight. He considers himself a ladies man. The thing about Chase is that he knows he is good looking and loves the attention especially from Avery.

This made me think he was going to be woefully strung along. And in a way, Avery was. There is Avery pining for the long term motel customer who kept telling him he was straight (thankfully not in a douchey way) There is a few off page encounters from Chase but the story is strictly told from Avery's POV. We don't see the other side of the coin and remain blissfully ignorant and stuck in heavy pining mode with Avery.

This story starts slow and I was going to write it off as dull with the way the first half was. The reader gets to experience mundane tasks that is Avery's life...but you know what? Some could have been edited or summarized but it works for Avery's character now that I've read this novella. And there was a point when Avery sort of sacrificed himself that made me realize, this story might be simple but I'm hooked because I cared about this kid.

And then...I noticed I was touching that soft and pink phase. It was romantic! Avery might seem boring but his feelings run deep. His friendship with Chase blossoms to be the focal point of his life and he isn't a doormat. Chase was a lovable jerk but there were vulnerable moments that made me like him.

This is 100% Avery's story and for a novella it read complete just based on the romance and HEA. There were a few moments when my feels cavity were tickled...gently.

 "There's only four things in the world I'm scared of losing. I just put two of them together for safe keeping."

There were a few items I wish were detailed more - the runaway sister & state she was in, the entire Lancaster reunion, Avery's aunt, and Chase's hustling. The story focuses on the characters but a little more detail to the rest of the story wouldn't have been remiss.

There was sex that progressively got better, but did not take over the entire story. No PWP to be found here. I think the payoff is worth the wait with the pace.

I will say Chase...hiding that important part of himself gave me pause. That's not a good indicator usually with a relationship. But he's 21, so maybe he'll grow out of that. New Adult is the type of genre that I can see bonehead moves and understand they're still learning to adult. Maybe a POV switch would have worked for some parts.

I liked the ending overall, wish the boys much success. Not Just Passing Through was straightforward for the most part-- a simple strangers to friends to lovers romance that didn't have added unnecessary drama. Just a romance between an socially awkward guy and a smooth talking hustler that learned things about themselves and made the best of it.

My first time reading Jamie Dean and I think I'll be checking out the rest of his work.

Recommended for fans who don't mind a simple story, don't mind cocky main characters or slow burn and enjoys New Adult.



A copy provided for an honest review.

I normally frown on companion novels. BUT I am so there for Vivica Blue.



4.5 Stars--This is a companion novel that didn't lose its luster.

L.H. Cosway has proved she can write. She's written an interesting hero in Nicholas Turner aka drag queen Vivica Blue and fleshed him out some more. He is hands down one of my favorites ever written: owns a dirty mouth, tows the gender bender line and damaged. Also, doesn't hurt that he fucks like a champ, eh?



"Killer Queen" is told from Nicholas's POV. Though this book could be read as a standalone, I think Painted Faces is stronger and the better choice to start with first. Killer Queen is like a condensed Painted Faces with new parts of Nicholas's past and HEA explored but I'll be honest, while I love him and enjoy being inside his head...it's Fred that I think sold it for me.

Fred aka Freda, the cupcake baking, smartassed heroine that I can genuinely say I like. I would like to hang out with her, I would definitely love be in her shoes and can say she's worthy of my respect. Is she a bleeding feminist? No, but to compared to a lot of tripe that gets passed for romantic heroines...she's cool. She had a few iffy moments but overall, she's a solid heroine.



Now "Killer Queen" read quick, maybe because I ate every single word of new parts of Nicholas I got learn: how his life before his mother died was, how he met Phil, how deep his drug use was, how he ended up in Dublin. Then we get his perspective of the pivotal Freda moments. (Hint: He's a horny and kinky little shit. Love it) Sometimes he read feminine, sometimes masculine but it's a mess of Nicholas and it works for his character. And it's not verbatim of "Painted Faces", if you're worried.

And then the future past "Painted Faces" HEA?! I should have guessed. I read the book and I still can't believe that happened. These are characters that I had in the back of my mind and Painted Faces is usually a book I rec to friends. So it was like revisiting a favorite trip in "Killer Queen" where a broken man and semi-broken girl become friends and find love along the way.



One of my favorite reads of the year. Love the cover too. :)