Posts rated 5 stars
Review - The Prince's Frog by Eden Winters
My rating:
Prince Bob - his full name is one of the reasons this is a novella and not a short story - has a problem. His parents want to marry him off to the princess of a neighboring kingdom. Bob dislikes the demanding young woman. Actually, everybody does, but they're too afraid to say so. To make matters worse, Bob doesn't really like women. He would much prefer the company of the blacksmith, or the jousting team.
Tags: Fairy Tales Novella Humor
Review - Deserted by Cara Dee
My rating:
Spoiler alert: If you haven't read the first two books of this series, this review of the third may disclose some of what has already happened. Gray made a promise to Jonah, one of the other young me who had fallen prey to the human sex trafficking ring. As Jonah lay dying from a gunshot on the island where the men were hiding, Gray vowed to find Jonah's little brother Jayden and ensure he was safe.
Tags: Thriller
Review - Fang'd by Vin George
My rating:
Charley is on the run from the biker gang he works for because they think he killed one of their members. The young man may be a bit odd, but he's no killer. When Charley runs across a country lane trying to escape his pursuers, he's nearly run over by Luc's SUV. The slightly older Luc is instantly attracted to Charley and sympathetic to his problem, so he offers to help out.
Tags: Fantasy Shifters Vampires
Review - Potential Energy by Kim Fielding
My rating:
Haz Taylor is down on his luck, and he's been there for a year now. He managed to get his heavily damaged ship to a backwater planet, but without the use of the vessel, he has no way to make money to pay for repairs. Hope for escape seems to come from the most unlikely quarter: His old commander from the Earth-based Coalition, who offers to cover the cost of fixing Haz's ship and hire back his old crew.
Tags: Science Fiction
Review - Genie in a Vodka Bottle by Rob Rosen
My rating:
Paul is on his way to Spain, on a vacation he booked with his now ex-boyfriend and forgot to cancel. Through a series of seemingly random encounters, Paul ends up in Gibraltar and then Morocco, where a bartender insists on serving him a bottle of vodka, which just happens to hold a genie. Once the magical being is released, the fun really begins, taking Paul, the genie, and even Paul's ex on a ride around the world and back in time.
Review - Ansariland by J. Alan Veerkamp
My rating:
In a dystopian future where the gulf between rich and poor is even greater (if you can imagine that), Arad is a “slug” — the common slang term for someone who's poor, homeless, and assumed to be uneducated. They are considered the dregs of society, and there are a lot of them. Most work is mechanized so jobs are scarce. The challenge is especially hard for Arad, whose true identity has been erased.
Tags: Science Fiction
Review - Reinventing Cato by Barbara Elsborg
My rating:
After a few disastrous relationships, Cato decides to avoid romantic entanglements, never spending more than a night with people he meets in bars, often not even knowing their name. But as midnight approaches on New Years Eve at a party he'd rather not be at, Cato resolves to become a better person, to “reinvent” himself. Vigge is not quite out at work, where he's a police detective. He doesn't trust easily and has some rather heavy baggage from his childhood.
Tags: Contemporary UK Setting Mystery
Review - A Long Way Back by Barbara Elsborg
My rating:
Having finally woken up from a semi-comatose state 14 months after Jonty's psychopathic wannabe boyfriend pushed him off a ladder, Tay is anxious to get his life back, on his own terms. He decides to move to London, away from the memories of Northumberland which include the realization that Jonty was more to him than just a best mate. But Tay doesn't yet have enough mobility to be completely independent, so his parents insist he get a live-in helper.
Tags: Contemporary UK Setting
Review - The Walls Between Hearts by L.A. Witt
My rating:
After burying two partners, Terry isn’t interested in another relationship. He doesn’t want to face the possibility of going through the loss of another man he was close to. Gene feels much the same way. He hasn’t had to face the death of a partner, but after two divorces and a lot of failed relationships, he’s not looking for love. Friends with benefits might be nice, though. When Terry and Gene meet at a Las Palmas Fencing Club event, there’s an instant attraction, and since neither of them is looking for a relationship, they think they’ve found just what they’re looking for.
Tags: Contemporary
Review - Heat for Sale by Blake Moreno
My rating:
In a world made up solely of males, university student Adrien is an omega, a male capable of bearing a child, and he is about to experience his first heat. Most omegas would have close family to arrange for an alpha to handle the delicate situation, but Adrien is all alone. Since he’s also in need of money to pay for the rest of his education, he has little choice but to auction off his first heat, and the possibility to be bred, to the highest bidder.
Tags: Speculative Fiction M-preg