New Release: Inversion Point (Chaos Station #4)

Title: Inversion Point (Chaos Station #4)

Author: Jenn Burke and Kelly Jensen

Publisher/GR Link: Carina Press, GR

Genre: MM Futuristic, Science Fiction

Vice: Science Fiction, Space Travel, PTSD

Rating: 5 stars out of 5

Lock this book up: 4 keys.  This is a hot, sexy series that builds on an incredible love.

Length: Novel

Satisfaction: HEA, with some more to follow!

Cover Impressions: I love the look of this whole series.

Best Line: “Never letting go.”

Synopsis: Zander and Felix's relationship has been to the brink and back: the Human-Stin War, imprisonment and an actual death/resurrection. Zander's death, to be specific, and the experience has left him…changed. The mysterious race known as the Guardians chose to revive him and appointed him as their emissary. A high honor, but he could do without the group of would-be cultists following him around the galaxy.

When a recently discovered species destroys a stin probe, Zander's new role soon commands all of his time and focus. The human ambassador—Felix's ex-lover, much to Zander's annoyance—pulls them into strategy talks aimed at preserving galactic peace. Soon everyone is relying on Zander's Guardian tech to telepathically communicate with the strange aliens.

Only Felix seems concerned with the strain piling up on Zander, but he has his own resolve tested when the very stin that imprisoned him show up to a summit. Zander and Felix will both have to find a way to face their doubts and preserve their love—while preventing another galaxy-wide war.

Impressions: I could write for hours about this series, but the simple truth is that this is everything that is wonderful about a great science fiction adventure, a great romance, and a great story all in one amazing series.

This book was non stop action and had me glued to each page.  In fact, I was up about 3 hours past my bed time finishing it!  I was about 44% into the story, convinced I was going to read to the end of the chapter, and then- BAM!  I couldn’t dream of putting the book down until I had seen how things progressed.

Zed and Felix are such complex and real characters, and I love learning more and more about them as each book gives us more of their past, and shows us more of their future.  Seeing more about Zed’s family in book 3 really helped me to understand him, and in this book I was really eager to learn more about Felix’s past.  Burke and Jensen expertly weave backstories into the current plotlines as they develop the love and relationship between Zed and Felix.  With each new chapter of this series we get to see more of what makes Felix and Zed so hurt, and so perfect for each other. 

What I really loved in this book was the continued world, or universe, building.  I have been in love with the Ashies, and I loathe the Stin, and I was captivated by the new discoveries that I unfurled in this book.  The plot moves along at a perfect pace, and the new developments in action and plot help to highlight the evolutions of the main characters that we love.  These stories have an amazing cast of secondary and tertiary characters that I love, hate and love to hate.  I hope we see more in book 5!

I closed this novel with a great feeling of satisfaction, eagerness and anticipation.  I gleefully suffered a terrible book hangover all day, and I cannot wait until book 5 in May so I can see where these wonderful characters will leave us.  I trust Burke and Jensen will make book 5 as amazing as 1-4, but I don’t know if I can let these guys go!  They are some of my all time favorite MM pairs, and this might be one of my all time favorite series in ANY genre.

New Release: Unquiet, by Melanie Hansen

Title: Unquiet (Resilient Love, book 3)

Author: Melanie Hansen

Publisher/GR Link: Dreamspinner, GR

Genre: MM Contemporary

Vice: Cops, Recovery, Mental Health

Rating: 4.5 Stars out of 5

Lock this book up: 3 keys, this book is hot and very sexy

Length: Novel

Satisfaction: HEA, but well earned!

Cover Impressions: Very fitting

Synopsis: Loren Smith has been in love with Eliot Devlin almost his entire life. During their turbulent childhood and teen years, Loren didn’t always understand Eliot, and sometimes he could be a challenge, but Eliot was the only one to ever truly ease Loren’s deep loneliness and accept him. When Eliot’s increasingly erratic and self-destructive behavior culminates in a suicide attempt at seventeen, Loren is devastated.

Upon meeting again by chance nine years later, Loren is enjoying a successful career as a police officer while Eliot’s life has been a constant struggle for stability. In and out of mental hospitals, with a rap sheet a mile long, he continues to be buffeted by the twin storms of mania and depression. Loren’s love and protectiveness for Eliot are deeply ingrained in him, however, and their feelings for each other are quickly rekindled.

Loren has issues of his own he’s dealing with, and trying to understand and cope with Eliot’s bipolar disorder isn’t easy. They believe they’re meant to be, and Eliot brings a fulfillment to Loren’s life that no one else will ever match. But as they both come to realize, love by itself can’t cure all.

Impressions:  This was a wonderful book that made me work for the well earned HEA at the end.  This book was hard to read at times, but Eliot was such a wounded and raw character, and Loren was such a loving, but also struggling, counterpart, that I couldn’t put the story down until I went through their challenges with them.

I really appreciate that Hansen didn’t gloss over mental health issues, and she didn’t simplify the very real struggles that people with mental health issues, and those who love them, go through.  Loren has his own journey to go in this process, and I really loved that he was not a perfect cardboard cut out of an MC that “rescued” Eliot from his disorders.  Hansen didn’t shy away from the raw parts of this love story, and it really set this novel apart from others who have touched on these struggles. 

This was a wonderful story, and even during the challenges, I was so invested in these guys that I wanted them to get their HEA and Hansen kept the story moving at a great pace.  The epilogue us heartbreaking and uplifting, and I think that must be how Loren’s life and Eliot’s life will be.

New Release: Rock and Soul by Lauren Sattersby

Title:  Rock and Soul

Author: Lauren Sattersby

Publisher/GR Link: Riptide, GR

Genre: MM Contemporary

Vice: Musicians, Paranormal, OFY

Rating: 5 Stars out of 5

Lock this book up: 4 keys.  Who knew a ghost could be so sexy?!

Length: Novel

Satisfaction: HEA, I’d say J

Cover Impressions: Gorgeous

Synopsis: I’m Tyler Lindsey, and until recently, I had an okay apartment, an okay girlfriend, and an okay job as a bellboy at a respectable Boston hotel. Then rock star Chris Raiden died right before I brought his room service—stiffing me on the tip, by the way—and my life went to hell. My fifteen minutes of fame was more like five seconds, and my girlfriend left me in disgust.

But even worse—Chris is haunting me. Not the room where he died, like a normal ghost. No, somehow he’s stuck to me and is insisting on taking care of a bunch of unfinished business in California. So now I have to traipse across the country with the world’s most narcissistic ghost.

But . . . I keep having these weird thoughts. Thoughts about how much I like the way he makes me laugh. Thoughts where I kind of want to kiss the emo-narcissist, even though he’s a ghost and an asshole and I can’t touch him anyway. And even if I could, what will happen when he finishes his business and nothing’s keeping him here anymore?

Impressions: This book’s blurb was really intriguing to me, and I was lucky enough to receive an ARC for review.  I could not put it down, and I was so excited at the end of the day when I could jump back into Tyler and Chris’ story.

I periodically like paranormals, but I wasn’t sure if this one could get to an HEA where I would feel like these guys could have the future I would hope for them, but Sattersby never let me down!  I was so pleasantly surprised!

The ghost element was really cute here, but what made this book so amazing and fun was the adorable banter between Chris and Tyler, and the slow blossom from slightly irritating to inseparable.  Ghosts, drugs, and unresolved pasts aside, this was simply a great romance and Tyler and Chris pulled me into their love story very quickly. 

This was a very different and special love story, and it had me smiling and eagerly curling up until I could figure out how Tyler and Chris could make all of their hopes come true.