Book Review: Caught!

Title: Caught

Author:  JL Merrow

Publisher/GR Link: Samhain, GR

Genre: MM

Vice: Contemporary, teachers

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Lock this book up: 3 out of 5 keys. Sex supports the romance.

Length: Novel

Satisfaction: HEA

Cover Impressions: Adorable.  Totally fits.

Best Line: "Things always went wrong when I started to get attached to someone." (But really, I could not pick just one!)

Synopsis: You can run from the past…but the past runs faster.

Shamwell Tales, Book 1

Behind Robert’s cheerfully eccentric exterior lies a young heart battered and bruised by his past. He’s taken a job teaching in a village primary school to make a fresh start, and love isn’t part of his plans. But he’s knocked for six—literally—by a chance encounter with the uncle of two of his pupils.

Sean works in pest control, rides a motorbike, and lives on a council estate. On the face of it, he shouldn’t have anything in common with Robert’s bow-tie, classic-car style and posh family background. Yet Robert is helpless to resist Sean’s roguish grin, and a rocky, excruciatingly embarrassing start doesn’t keep the sparks between them from flaring.

Despite Robert’s increasingly ludicrous attempts to keep his past where it belongs, his past hasn’t read the memo. And soon his secrets could be the very things that drive Sean away for good...

 Warning: Contains the alarming misadventures of a pest control technician, a stepsister with a truly unfortunate name, and a young man who may have more bow ties than sense.

Impressions: Anytime I see a JL Merrow title, I know I am in for laughs and great characters.  This was no different!  Trying to pick a "best" line in a Merrow book is near impossible.  Her characters are unfailingly witty and likable, and her stories are a welcome escape from the real world into the lives that she has created.

Robert is delightfully awkward and stuck in his ways, and Sean is a great counterpart to his staid and sometimes stuffy attitude.  Robert's friend Rose is a hysterical counterpart and voice of conscience for Robert.  Merrow is adept at creating British villages and towns that are full of eccentric and interesting characters, and as in other books of hers, I feel like I know this town and its citizens.

The romance is this story is adorable, and a little lighter on angst than some of her other stories.  I would love to hear more from these guys, and their village.  I loved the way Sean's sexuality is explored and discussed, and the way Robert tries to handle things on his own, despite his need to open up.

Merrow is an auto buy for me, and you should definitely check this one out.  I will be going back to read the sequel to Pressure Head, which somehow escaped my attention!  Merrow always writes the kind of MC's that I love, and if you have a soft spot for snarky, yet sensitive boys, give these books a go!

Review posted on Amazon and Goodreads. 

Book Review: Bliss

*** This title was kindly provided by Riptide Publishing via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. *** 

Title: Bliss

Author: Lisa Henry, Heidi Belleau

Publisher/GR Link: Riptide Press, GR

Genre: MM, dystopian

Vice: Dubcon, futuristic

Rating: 4.75/5

Lock this book up: 4 out of 5 stars.  WOW this book is HOT.  The sex definitely supports the story in a meaningful way.

Length: Novel

Satisfaction: HEA

Cover Impressions: I love it.  Totally fits the story.

Best Line: "Because I told you I wasn't done with you yet." 

Synopsis: They're always happy.

Rory James has worked hard all his life to become a citizen of the idyllic city-state of Beulah. Like every other kid born in the neighboring country of Tophet, he’s heard the stories: No crime or pollution. A house and food for everyone. It’s perfect, and Rory is finally getting a piece of it.

So is Tate Patterson. He’s from Tophet, too, but he’s not a legal immigrant; he snuck in as a thief. A city without crime seems like an easy score, until he crashes into Rory during a getaway and is arrested for assaulting a citizen. Instead of jail, Tate is enrolled in Beulah’s Rehabilitation through Restitution program. By living with and serving his victim for seven years, Tate will learn the human face of his crimes.

If it seems too good to be true, that’s because it is. Tate is fitted with a behavior-modifying chip that leaves him unable to disobey orders—any orders, no matter how dehumanizing. Worse, the chip prevents him from telling Rory, the one man in all of Beulah who might care about him, the truth: in a country without prisons, Tate is locked inside his own mind.

Impressions:  I have been excitedly awaiting this book, as I love both Ms. Henry and Ms. Belleau's work, so put them together...in the future...with microchips and dystopias?!  Oh, hell yes.  Sign me up.  I was not wrong, but this was even more than I imagined!

First of all, let me warn you this book is HAWT.  Like, steaming up the kindle screen hot.  That being said, the sex isn't gratuitous and it totally fits in the story.  The sex is dub con, given the context of the book, but given Rory's ignorance of the situation, the moral ground is really gray.  I enjoy dub con in the right context, and this worked great for me.  Tate is also then faced with an aspect of his own personality that he had never considered before.

I found that aspect to be one of the most interesting.  This book really made me think about the moral grey ground that Rory and Tate are experience.  I thought their ability to deal with the aftermath of this situation was realistic and believable.  

The world building is really well done here.  I found Beulah to be a world that I could easily imagine, and I would have loved to learn more about Tophet (maybe in a future book?) because the settings of this book are detailed and realistic.  

One of the things that I really liked about the book was how tight the plot was.  Both authors did a great job of setting up a complex story.  The MC's were three dimensional and flawed, and their unique situations (being from Tophet, other medical issues in Tate's case) explained why they had a unique experience when it came to dealing with these chips.  Rory is an outsider, and I could see how he would be swept into the beauty that Beulah seemed to be, and yet still maintain his ability to question.  The character of Aaron was  great piece of this, as it forced Rory to really question what he sees.  I loved that Beulah was not a land full of villains, but it was a city where people who are given too much power can abuse it.  

I stayed up until 2:00 AM to finish this book (and those of you who know me, know I am an old lady with a regular bedtime!) so this says a lot about how much I found myself captivated by this great story and these likable, complex MC's.

My only want would be more information about their future lives, and maybe a little bit of a bridge from the end to the epilogue, though I loved seeing Rory and Tate together, I wanted to see a little bit of how that work was done by them.  

This is a highly recommended read!  If a dystopia is a little outside of your comfort zone, you have to go for it!  The romance and character building in this book will not let you down!  If you already like dystopias and hot men...what are you waiting for?!

Highly Recommended!

This review is posted on Amazon and Goodreads.

COMING SOON: Paint the Sky, by Lily G. Blunt

I am so excited to welcome author Lily Blunt to the Watch and Word Society today!  Her newest release, Paint the Sky, is coming out August 30th (aka T-10, in internal my countdown!)

I have been eagerly awaiting this new release, and the cover alone looks like it is worth the purchase!

(See what I mean?!)

Here are the pre-lease links from Amazon.  Mine is already on its way!

BUY/PRE-ORDER LINKS:

Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Paint-Sky-Bob-Loving-ebook/dp/B00MSYA1JQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1408336547&sr=1-1&keywords=Paint+the+Sky

Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MSYA1JQ

(See what I mean?!)

Check out the blurb (AND EXCERPT) and begin the countdown with me!  

Paint the Sky

by

Lily G. Blunt

Genre: M/M, Contemporary Romance and Erotica

Length: 65,000 Words/230 pages

Release Date: August 30, 2014

ASIN: B00MSYA1JQ

BLURB:

A love of art...

A mutual interest in art draws two shy university students together. Ben admires Vinnie’s painting of the university building, so Vinnie invites him to an exhibition of his artwork. From a wealthy family, Ben purchases some of Vinnie’s art and arranges for the artist to personally hang the paintings in his apartment.

Starry, starry night...

Ben commissions Vinnie to paint his portrait, in order to spend more time with the artist. On the night of the sitting, Vinnie fingerpaints the starry night on Ben’s chest... and they kiss. They begin a relationship beneath the night sky, God’s own canvas.

But every relationship has its ups and downs and so it is with theirs. When Ben thinks Vinnie spends too much time with a fellow artist, his jealousy drives a wedge between them and forces Vinnie into the very thing Ben dreads.

Hold tight to your dreams...

Ben and Vinnie will have to walk through fire before they can find one another again. But if they believe, and if they keep their faith in the night sky and each other, just maybe they can make their dreams of love come true.

EXCERPT:

Vinnie led me across the room, pulling me by the shirt. “Lie back on the sofa for me and I'll paint you.”

As if in a dream, I settled my head against one arm of the sofa, my legs dangling over the other end, scarcely breathing now. Vinnie knelt on the floor beside me with an open pot of paint in his hand.

Teasingly, he dipped his index finger into the dark blue paint as if it were cream he would lick off. His finger connected with my skin and he made short strokes across my chest, the coldness of the paint making me shiver.

Mesmerised by the closeness of his beautiful face, the view of the night sky through the window, and the picture forming upon my chest, I watched as dab after dab and stroke after stroke he built up a mix of shades, until a dark night sky with the moon and stars were there to be seen—a masterpiece, drying on the warmth of my blazing skin, a transient thing of beauty. His fingers skimmed my skin causing gooseflesh to ripple in waves down my arms and thighs. My nipples pebbled in response to his touch.

And when he was done, his lips met mine in a languid kiss; how our first kiss should have been—sweet, innocent, and full of promise. He pulled away, smiling down at me.

This was the beginning of something special.

LILY G. BLUNT’S BIO:

Lily G. Blunt writes contemporary gay romance and erotica. She loves to explore the relationship between two men and the intensity of their physical and emotional attraction. Angst often features in her stories as she feels this demonstrates the depth of the men’s feelings for each other. Lily is forever writing imaginary scenes and plots in her head, but only a few ever make it to the page—there never seems to be enough hours in the day despite having left the teaching profession to concentrate on her writing!

Lily discovered the wonderful world of m/m romance novels four years ago via fan fiction and went on to write stories in her spare time. With the encouragement of her friends and readers she decided to publish some of her work.

Lily has several self-published stories available on Amazon. She is also published with Torquere Press and Wayward Ink Publishing.

Easily distracted from her writing, Lily makes videos using clips from gay-themed movies and posts gorgeous pictures of men kissing or making out on her tumblr and Facebook pages. Lily is also an avid supporter of GLBTQ rights and advocates equality for all.

Lily lives in central England with her rather bemused husband, two twenty-something children, and a ‘mad as a bag of frogs’ Shetland Sheepdog.

LILY G. BLUNT’S SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS:

WordPress: http://lilygblunt.wordpress.com

Blog: http://lilygblunt.blogspot.co.uk/

FB Page: http://www.facebook.com/LilyGBlunt

FB Profile: http://www.facebook.com/lily.blunt.75

Tumblr: http://bobloving.tumblr.com/

Tumblr: http://lilygblunt.tumblr.com