5 Star New Release Review: The Fortune Hunter by Bonnie Dee

Title: The Fortune Hunter

Author: Bonnie Dee

Publisher/GR Link: Goodreadss

Genre: MM Historical

Rating: 5 Stars!

Lock this book up: 3 keys!  Its hot and keeps the pages turning

Length: Novel

Satisfaction: HEA

Cover Impressions: What is not to love??

Summary: A man with nothing finds everything.
Abandoned at birth, WWI veteran Hal Stanton faces bleak employment prospects in post-war London. Desperation spurs him to reinvent himself to hook a wealthy wife, one he will be devoted to even if he feels no real passion. But when he meets his fiance’s cousin, Julian Needham, it’s all he can do to keep his heart in check and his eye on the prize.

From the moment he’s introduced to the charming stranger Margaret plans to marry, Julian suspects the man’s motives yet fights a relentless attraction. He’s determined to reveal Hal as a fraud but must handle the matter delicately to protect his sweet cousin’s feelings. A weekend at the family estate should allow time and opportunity for him to expose Halstead Wiley.

Even as the men match wits in a battle of attempted unmasking, powerful sexual attraction threatens to overcome them both and win the day. Can a true love connection possibly grow between these adversaries without destroying lives and loved ones?

Review: I have been a fan of Bonnie Dee for ages, and I was so excited to get a sneak peek at her newest release, and I was not at all disappointed!

In the Fortune Hunter we meet Hal, desperate to make his life into something better than he has had, he is looking to join the Needham household, a landed gentry family.  When he comes to meet Julian, the cousin of his betrothed, sparks fly.  Hal is so wonderfully sweet and strong, and Julian is so proper and yet so much in need of love and acceptance.  Ms. Dee masterfully walks the line with each character, and these men jump off the page.  I understood Hal and yearned for him to find the stability he had always been denied, and I wanted Julian to find the love he had denied himself.

The secondary cast of characters were great additions, and I loved the setting of the novel which really captures high society in the midst of major changes and adaptations.  I loved the nuances of the setting that really made this novel so realistic.

I cannot recommend this novel enough, especially for historical fans.  If you are an MM historical fan, no doubt your already know Ms. Dee by her work, but make sure not to let this one slip by you!

Express Holiday Review: In Case of Emergency

Title: In Case of Emergency

Author: Keira Andrews

Release date: 11/30/17

Rating: 4.5 Stars

Summary: After years alone, Daniel Diaz is finally ready to shake up his orderly, solitary life. He's about to leave for a cozy Christmas getaway with his new man when he gets the call from the ER that his former stepbrother has been admitted with a concussion and a broken hand—and Cole put him down as his emergency contact. Why the hell would he do that? Daniel barely knows the guy. After all, their parents' marriage lasted less than a year and it was a decade ago! 

fine, Daniel will bring him along on vacation to make sure he doesn't starve or fall into a coma. This is supposed to be Daniel's chance to explore romance again after locking down his feelings for too long—except it turns out his could-be boyfriend is more interested in partying and being an obnoxious jerk. Daniel sends him packing, and now he's stuck with a virtual stranger in an isolated mountain cabin. 

Cole Smith crushed hard on cranky Daniel when they were teenagers. Alone with him in a romantic winter wonderland, those feelings roar back to life. Glimpsing the caring, vulnerable man under Daniel's frosty shell, he yearns to get closer. Christmas is a time for surprises, and Daniel and Cole discover a scorching connection that just might melt their hearts.

This fluffy gay Christmas romance from Keira Andrews features former stepbrothers reconnecting as adults, sexy hot-tub shenanigans, cuddling by the fire, and of course a happy ending. 32,000 words.

Review:  This book is adorable and just what I needed to get me in the holiday mood!  I have a long list of cute holiday reads for the next several weeks, and after decorating my house on Friday, this was the one I chose to kick off my Holiday TBR pile!  It was a perfect choice!

This is pure holiday fluff, but it never becomes sappy or saccharine.  It is the right blend of sweet and oh-so sexy!  

Cole and Daniel are step brothers, but really in name only.  They barely lived together, and this is much more about opposites attracting and a sort of friends (on one side)-to-lovers.  I loved watching Cole get his man, and Daniel warming up to the idea that he needs and deserves one!

Catch this adorable read soon!

5+, BIB Star New Release Review: By the Currawong's Call, by Welton Marshland

Title: By the Currawong's Call

Author: Welton B. Marshland

Publisher/GR Link:Goodreads

Vice: Historical, Priests

Rating: 5+ stars, Best of Banned in Boston


Lock this book up: 4 keys.  This book is sexy, sensual and so romantic!


Length: Novel


Satisfaction: HEA


Cover Impressions: I love it!

Synopsis:  Anglican priest Matthew Ottenshaw receives his first posting in tiny Dinbratten, two days’ ride from his Melbourne home. Determined to honour his calling as best he can, he throws himself into the footy mad, two-pub town, navigating the dusty streets, learning the gossip, and striking up a friendship with Jonah Parks, the resident police sergeant and local bona fide hero. 

A police officer and a priest often find themselves needed at the same place, and Jonah and Matthew’s friendship deepens quickly, as they set about their business of protecting the bodies and souls of Dinbratten’s residents. When a bushfire threatens the town, and Matthew’s inexperience with fire endangers the church buildings, Jonah comes to the rescue, and a reckless kiss in the midst of the chaos takes their friendship to forbidden. 

Neither Matthew nor Jonah can go back to the way things were before, but continuing their relationship puts everything at risk: their jobs, their friends, even their lives. In the outback town of Dinbratten where everyone knows everything about everyone else, how can they ever expect to keep a secret this explosive?

Impressions: This book is really something amazing and special.

I first heard this book described as a cross between The Thornbirds and Brokeback Mountain.  Needless to say, I was sold.  What I found, was really so much more.  

The characters in this novel take on that living dimension that makes you almost guilty to close the book in case they are left frozen in time.  Jonah and Matthew captured my heart, and I felt myself lost in their story.  The setting was beautifully created and I had a vivid picture of their houses, the police station, and even the local cemetery.  The secondary characters are vibrant and realistic, even when they are causing challenges.

This is one of those books that comes along that will sweep you into its world.  It is a wonderful read, and I am sure this will be in my top ten for the year.

Highly recommended!

New Release 5* Review: Kidnapped by the Pirate, by Keira Andrews

Title: Kidnapped by the Pirate

Author: Kiera Andrews

Publisher/GR Link:Goodreads

Vice: Pirates!


Rating: 5 stars!


Lock this book up: 4 keys…like a treasure chest!  This book is HAWT.


Length: Novel

Satisfaction: HEA


Cover Impressions: Do you need to ask?  It is amazing!
 

Synopsis: Nathaniel Bainbridge is used to hiding, whether it’s concealing his struggles with reading or his forbidden desire for men. Under the thumb of his controlling father, the governor of Primrose Isle, he’s sailing to the fledging colony, where he’ll surrender to a respectable marriage for his family’s financial gain. Then pirates strike and he’s kidnapped for ransom by the Sea Hawk, a legendary villain of the New World.

Bitter and jaded, Hawk harbors futile dreams of leaving the sea for a quiet life, but men like him don’t deserve peace. He has a score to settle with Nathaniel’s father—the very man whose treachery forced him into piracy—and he’s sure Nathaniel is just as contemptible.

Yet as days pass in close quarters, Nathaniel’s feisty spirit and alluring innocence beguile and bewitch. Although Hawk knows he must keep his distance, the desire to teach Nathaniel the pleasure men can share grows uncontrollable. It’s not as though Hawk would ever feel anything for him besides lust…

Nathaniel realizes the fearsome Sea Hawk’s reputation is largely invented, and he sees the lonely man beneath the myth, willingly surrendering to his captor body and soul. As a pirate’s prisoner, he is finally free to be his true self. The crew has been promised the ransom Nathaniel will bring, yet as danger mounts and the time nears to give him up, Hawk’s biggest battle could be with his own heart.

This May-December gay romance from Keira Andrews features classic tropes including: a tough alpha pirate too afraid to love, a plucky virgin captive half his age, enemies to lovers, first-time sexual discovery, and of course a happy ending.

Impressions: Keira Andrews is an auto-buy for me, and when I saw the cover reveal and the title of this release, all I could do was make grabby hands at my computer screen.

I was not disappointed for one second.

This could have been just a scrumptious tale about pirates from Andrews and I would have been glued to the page, but in fact I found it to be even more. 

Hawk is a great character.  He is a classic misunderstood, domineering man who yearns for the companionship of a lover.  He seems commanding and yet fair to his men.  He is educated and self-motivated, and he has been done a great wrong that he yearns to address.  He was easy to love and I wanted him to get his much deserved HEA. 

Nathaniel was so much more than the perfect man for Hawk.  Nathaniel was not just a softer, younger partner for Hawk; he was far more complex and he is where Andrews went about and beyond for me.

Nathaniel has a vulnerability to him, and an innocent naivety that makes him so endearing.  He isn’t a weak parody of a swooning Victorian.  He is strong, agile, and skilled, and yet also so sheltered and isolated by his circumstances.  Andrews seized on a great opportunity to make him more than a 2D foil for Hawk, and in his creation she made a wonderfully complex character that really drew me right into the page.

The setting of this novel is gorgeous, and this story pulls you in right from page one.  Plan on a very late night (trust me!) or a wrap yourself up in a comfy spot and get ready to escape into Hawk’s crew.  In the end, you will be the one Kidnapped by the Pirate(s)!