Review of: Lover by T.M. Smith (audiobook)

TITLE: Lover (audiobook)
AUTHOR: T.M. Smith
SERIES: Survivor Series
PUBLISHER: TTC Publishing
GENRE: Contemporary Romance, MMM
RELEASE DATE: Aug 31 2018

BLURB:

Length: 6 hrs and 40 mins
Life has not always been kind to Shannon Dupree. On the outside he’s carefree and fun loving, but when it comes to his past he’s evasive and secretive. Running away from emotionally bereft parents at just fifteen, Shannon escapes life with them but steps into the waiting arms of the devil.
Rory Landers is a rising star at the Bureau. His personal life, however, is nothing to write home about. He hopes to take his limited relationship with Frank Moore to the next level when they finally solve the Langford murder case, but that doesn’t turn out as planned. On the plus side, he meets free-spirited college senior Shannon Dupree.
Rand Davis finds himself fortysomething and single when his partner of more than a decade is unfaithful. Taking over the Cold Case Squad frees up some of his time, and Rand welcomes newfound friendships within the Langford-Moore family circle. He thinks relationships are not in the cards for him until he meets an agent with an attitude and a vivacious blond that make him want so much more.
Past, present, pain, and suffering collide, ushering in the possibility of a life and love worth fighting for. Although their personalities couldn’t be more different, their three hearts beat the same. Shannon, Rory, and Rand learn the definition of love, commitment, and strength and if they allow themselves, the trio will find all that and more—in each other.

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Narration: Another spot-on narration by Nick J. Russo. He’s wonderful to listen to, and he makes the rhythm of the book come alive. The quality is perfect, and I think he’s one of my new favorites!
Story: This is a series, and you need to read book one first!

I had to listen to book two after hearing book one. I normally stick to audiobooks at work so I don’t go through them too fast, but I had to listen to this over the weekend at home as I unpacked…I just couldn’t wait!

We meet all three characters in book one—Shannon, Rory, and Rand. I wasn’t so sure about Rory in book one. He broke FBI rules he shouldn’t have and hurt Frank’s feelings. But I think he redeemed himself here. Again, T.M. wrote the story following a long time-period showing the love building over time. I’m a big fan!
Here we have a new bad guy, but we know Shannon is running from the start. The underlying story tore at my feelings, pulling me back and forth. At one point, I was even wondering if Shannon was his real name!

Shannon seems like a lively kind of guy on the outside, but on the inside, he’s a hurt guy who just wants a normal life that has someone love him without hurting him. The story starts with him leaving the abuse that caught him at 15, three years before. Then we skip some time and Shannon goes off the rails a little, having fun and enjoying men for a bit. We learn that he’s gotten serious about life and focuses on his future with the support of his best friend Taylor (MC from Survivor 1). And that’s when he meets Rory, and finally Rand.

Rory is an FBI that we met in Survivor 1. He’s working a missing person’s case that turns out to be a lot more sinister. He met Shannon through Taylor and Frank and starts a relationship with him. There’s a slow burn from the two figuring things out. Shannon is still love-shy, and Rory is getting over his feelings for Frank. But it’s a sweet romance with a twist because they both meet Rand and start having feelings for him as well.

Rand is a local cop that was a part of the case in book one and he’s brought onto the task force for the backstory in book two with Rory. The travel and close quarters brought Rand and Rory closer to start, but Shannon is never far from both of their thoughts.

There is no real cheating in this…the thruple evolves over time and in an organic way that’s sweet and believable. The case is intriguing and keeps the reader interested in that part as well as the romance parts.

I have two weeks until my audible credit renews…yeah, book three will be what I use that for!

***I would like to thank the author for the privilege and opportunity of listening this ARC. My review is an honest opinion of the book ***

Review edited by : Laura McNellis

Review of: The Geek and His Bad Boys by R. Cayden

TITLE: The Geek and His Bad Boys
AUTHOR: R. Cayden
SERIES: –
PUBLISHER: Self
GENRE: Contemporary Romance, MMM,
RELEASE DATE: June 25, 2019

BLURB:

Can his tender heart handle their scorching passion?
Some people have to fight like hell for their love.
Striker and Dante? They come out swinging.
Frances:
I thought I was just going to get a tattoo.
It was so out of character. All of my gaymer friends thought I was going to chicken out because I’m afraid of needles.
But I was done being scared of things. I had spent enough of my life being scared.
Scared of bullies. Of my father.
Scared of every jerk who put me down.
The thing is, Striker and Dante? The tattoo artists?
They scare me.
They scare me because of how amazing it feels when I’m with them.
They scare me because, once we get together, I’m doing things I never thought I would do.
And most of all, they scare me because of how much they love each other.
Could I dare to be loved like that, too?
To be theirs?
The Geek and His Bad Boys is a 60,000+ word standalone MMM romance. It is a high heat novel, with loads of passion between our three men. Childhood bullies get faced down, a geek gets a spicy tattoo, and the story ends HEA for all three characters. Enjoy!

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I loved The Geek and His Bad Boys by R. Cayden. I read this book after finishing Out for Sugar by R. Cayden. I was a little bit disappointed in that book, but I definitely wasn’t disappointed in this book. It was scorching hot, hot, hot. I loved the plot, how the book flowed, and the chemistry between the three main characters. I also loved that Frances had scenes with Striker and Dante separately in addition to when they were all together. And the same for Striker and Dante having scenes together without Frances.

Dante and Striker are in a closed relationship and have been for a while. But Dante keeps bringing up opening their relationship. They have had many violent, passionate arguments on the subject, and Striker finally gives the go-ahead in a fit of rage. It’s something that he’s done before because, in the heat of an argument, he tends to speak first and think about what he’s said after calming down and then taking it all back. However, this time, he doesn’t take it back. They did decide that if they hooked up with someone else that neither of them wanted to know about the other’s hookup. They have major jealousy issues that they are both dealing with. And they both come from a small town where violence and yelling is the norm. So their relationship and how they deal with issues is a little bit toxic, regardless of how much they love each other. It doesn’t help that they also work together in their tattoo shop with Dante’s sister, Penelope. So they are constantly together. I also loved that their sexy scenes rarely take place in bed.

Dante ends up meeting Frances first when his motorcycle runs out of gas. Frances ends up pulling over to see if he needs help and they end up hooking up on the side of the road, and then Dante siphons enough gas to get to where he’s going. They figure they will never see each other again since no phone numbers were exchanged. Striker ends up meeting Frances when he comes in for a tattoo consultation. After getting his tattoo done, they end up hooking up in the tattoo chair since they are the only ones at the shop and are caught by Dante when he comes in. They have one of their famous fights, and Frances is gone in a second. Once they calm down, they realize how badly they frightened Frances and want to apologize to him, so they go to his apartment and do just that. And they realize that if they are seeing the same person at the same time that they aren’t jealous, they don’t have as many fights, and they are both falling for Frances.

Frances is 100 percent geek. He collects postcards, which is what he was doing when he stops to help Dante on the side of the road. He plays Dungeons and Dragons and Magic with his other gaymer friends. He also comes from a small town where he was bullied in school and by his dad until he left to go to college on a scholarship at the age of eighteen. He works with numbers for his day job. I think it was data analyses or something like that. So he’s pretty timid, but he wants to get a tattoo. His friends don’t think he will go through with it cause of the needles and pain, but Frances proves them wrong. They also don’t believe him when he tells them about his hookups with the big tattooed motorcycle type. I loved how once they’re in an established relationship, Frances integrates them with his gaymer friends and teaches them how to play their favorite games. They are clueless, of course, but it’s fun to see them try.

The only downfall to the story is that the names sometimes got mixed up during the story, especially during the first three-way scene between them. I read an arc copy of this story, so I’m hoping that it got caught and fixed before it was published. I didn’t penalize it though in my rating. I still thought it was worth five stars.

***I would like to thank the author for the privilege and opportunity of reading this ARC. My review is an honest opinion of the book ***

Review edited by : Laura McNellis

Review of: My Boss’s Boss by R. Cayden

TITLE: My Boss’s Boss
AUTHOR: R. Cayden
SERIES: Taught by Two, book 3
PUBLISHER: Self
GENRE: Contemporary Romance, MMM
RELEASE DATE: May 19, 2019

BLURB:

Three men, one office, and a summer internship that is about to get very spicy…
Tony
A rough-and-tumble guy like me might seem out of place in the corporate world, but that doesn’t mean I can’t succeed at my summer internship. I just need to make sure I’m not too distracted by the hot office manager, bossing me around and making me deliver the mail every day.
But then I meet the drop-dead gorgeous owner of Carwell Tower, too…
I know there’s no place for my submissive tendencies in the board room, but I feel like I was born to serve these men, and I can’t deny my heart.
Terrence
Working as his office manager, it’s hard enough to keep my relationship with Warren a secret. The owner of Carwell Tower, he’s powerful and handsome, and I want nothing more than to tell the world that he’s my dominant boyfriend.
I can keep our love a secret for the sake of the company, just like I can keep the office running without a hitch to make him happy.
But with a new hot intern demanding my attention, the line between work and play keeps getting thinner.
Warren
When I inherited the company after my father’s death, Carwell Tower was falling apart the seams.
It’s playing with fire to carry on a secret relationship with the office manager at a time like this, but I love Terrence, and can’t imagine my life without him.
When a new intern shows up at our door, looking hot as hell and submissive to boot, I know indulging our fantasies is a bad idea. I need to keep acting like the straight and macho head of the company, and can’t let anything get in the way of success.
Not even passion, and especially not love.
My Boss’s Boss is a standalone, 60,000 word MMM romance novel. It features secret office relationships, dominant businessmen and submissive interns, and three characters who find a happily-ever-after together. Like all of the Taught by Two books, it is filled with heart, lots of heat, and a little bit of kink. Enjoy!

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My Boss’s Boss is the third book in the Taught by Two series by R. Cayden. I loved reading this book also. I love reading books with interoffice relationships that have to be kept hush-hush. It’s even better if one of the main characters is in the closet. And then to find out that they also have a Dominant/submissive relationship. Yep, it’s a home run for me. The cover and the blurb hooked me, and then I started to read the story. I got sucked in, and the story just wouldn’t let me go until I’d gotten to the end.

Warren inherited the company after his father’s death. Only then did he realize that Carwell Tower was falling apart at the seams. His grandfather had been a progressive thinker, and the company had been flourishing, his father, however, was more conservative and took the company in a different direction, catering to bigots and homophobes. It is for those reasons that Warren has never come out of the closet to his father and later when he takes over the company. He does have a secret boyfriend, Terrence, that he’d made the Hub office manager when he took over the company. They also have a Dominant/submissive relationship that they sometimes indulge in at Warren’s office. They have an open relationship because Warren feels bad about how busy he is and doesn’t want Terrence to feel neglected.

Terrence is the office manager for Carwell Tower. His boyfriend is the owner of the company. He would like nothing better than to tell the world about his dominant boyfriend, but he has to keep their relationship a secret. Terrence is also a switch, but he never gets to express his dominant tendencies with Warren since Warren is strictly a dominant. Terrence also is in charge of the new summer intern, Tony. Tony, who just so happens to be a complete submissive even if his body type says that he should be a top/dominant. He brings out all of Terrence’s dominant urges, and he can’t help but want to play with him. And it’s not against the rules because Warren has given him the okay to play outside of their relationship.

Tony is a rough-and-tumble guy. He grew up with blue-collar workers and so felt out of place in a suit and tie. But he dreams of owning his own business and is going to college to get a business degree. And for him, Carwell Tower is the place to work to learn about running a business. So he takes a summer internship there and manages to be late and drench the owner of the company with coffee on his first day. But Tony isn’t a coward, and he shows back up the next day. He has no idea what he’s doing and doesn’t get a lot of help from Terrence, his boss. He does get some help from a coworker, Dominique, and they build a fast friendship of going out for a drink after work. Dominique also happens to be best friends with Terrence. So sometimes Terrence comes along also. Tony also has a huge crush on his boss and makes a couple of passes on him. And so their relationship begins.

I loved how they all interacted with each other, and their chemistry was off the charts. My favorite scene was when Warren told Terrence that he could do whatever he wanted to do with Tony and that then Warren would do what Terrence had done to Tony to Terrence. It was so hot. But the book isn’t just sex. There is a really good plot, too.

I thought it was a great book, and I can’t wait for another book in the Taught by Two series to be released so that I can devour it just like I did this one.

***I would like to thank the author for the privilege and opportunity of reading this ARC. My review is an honest opinion of the book ***

Review edited by : Laura McNellis

Review of: Wisdom’s Allegiance by M.D. Grimm

TITLE: Wisdom’s Allegiance
AUTHOR: M.D. Grimm
SERIES: The Shifter Chronicles
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
GENRE: MMM, Paranormal
RELEASE DATE: May 28, 2019

BLURB:

The Shifter Chronicles: Book Thirteen
Can a loyal and sensual owl shifter couple woo a human mate who’s convinced he’s an ugly duckling?
When socially awkward Dexter Fortis rescues an elf owl blown off course by a storm, he has no idea the bird is a shifter named Orion. Or that his life is about to change.
Orion falls in love with the kind custodian, but he must convince his long-term partner, Talon, that Dexter is just who they’ve been searching for to establish a permanent ménage. Even if they can gently break down Dexter’s walls, they’ll have to contend with a dangerous cult rising in the shifter community and a hidden enemy determined to keep Dexter from them

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Wisdom’s Allegiance is the thirteenth book in the Shifter Chronicles series by M.D. Grimm. The books are mostly standalone. Two of the books are sequels to previous books and so aren’t counted in the series numbers. Those two wouldn’t be standalone, but the others are. I loved the cover of the book and was sucked in by the blurb, and although I saw that it was the thirteenth book in the series, I decided I wanted to review it. I’m so glad that I did. I absolutely loved the book and promptly went out and bought the series bundle so I can go back and read the first nine books. The book was everything I was looking for in a paranormal shifter book. There was fated mates with a human being one of the mates, a great plot with villains from both the shifter community and the human community trying to protect their species, and for once, I found a paranormal book that I loved that didn’t have any male pregnancy in it. Usually, I love m-preg, but with this book and its plot, I found that I didn’t miss it.

I loved how bubbly Orion is. He’s this cute, cuddly elf owl that Dexter rescues from a bad snow storm on his way home from work. Orion falls in love quickly, but he’s sure that Dexter is his true mate. All he has to do is convince his long-term partner, Talon, that Dexter is who they’ve been searching for to establish a permanent ménage.

I loved Talon. He’s a great-horned owl, and he’s fierce and protective of the people he loves. And he’s as opposite as can be from his long-term mate, Orion. Hence them trying to find a third mate to bridge the gap and give them both what they are missing in their relationship.

I also loved Dexter. He’s human, painfully shy, unloved by his family because he can’t live up to their expectations even though he went to Notre Dame just like his perfect younger brother. He has two strikes against him in his family’s eyes. He’s overweight, and he’s gay. He has a couple of friends, has never had a date or a boyfriend, has a little bit of sexual experience but not much, and has enormous self-esteem and self-worth issues. He can’t believe that two handsome men are interested in him being their friend let alone their boyfriend. I love how fierce he is about protecting Orion when he believes he’s being insulted or in danger. I also loved how Orion is able to pull Dexter out of his painfully shy shell and how Talon’s steady presence and approval help also.

I also loved when Dexter spends New Year’s Eve with Talon and Orion’s family, and he was instantly accepted and found a new family to love and be loved by.

Overall, a fabulous book and if this book is any indication of what I can look forward to in the series, then I can’t recommend this book or this series enough.

***The ARC was provided by Dreamspinner Press. My review is an honest opinion of the book ***

Review edited by : Laura McNellis

Review of: Sugar for Two by R. Cayden

TITLE: Sugar for Two
AUTHOR: R. Cayden
SERIES: Sugar Mansion #1
PUBLISHER: Self Published
GENRE: Contemporary Romance, MMM
RELEASE DATE: Apr 9, 2019

BLURB:

Meet Elliot, the twenty-something with more sugar daddies than he can count. But don’t let the day spas, designer bags, and luxury vacations fool you. It’s hard work maintaining a life so fabulous that other people will pay for it.
Meet Vincent, aspiring sugar. He’s scrappy, he’s mouthy, but he gets the job done. Vincent has big dreams, and he’s aiming for the richest men in Los Angeles to make them come true.
Enter Don. Real estate mogul. Billionaire. Legendary sugar daddy.
Don likes Elliot.
And Don likes Vincent.
And Don? Don has a lot of mansions.
Vincent knows that Elliot is his rival, the one thing that could get in the way of Don’s lavish attention. And Elliot knows that, no matter how charming he is, a wild card like Vincent could bring the whole sugar bowl crashing down.
The only problem is, Vincent gets a special stirring when he sees Elliot, and Elliot can’t stop thinking about Vincent’s infuriating hotness. And now that Don seems to enjoy both of their company, it’s not so easy to avoid those feelings, or what those feelings might mean.
A mansion is pretty sweet. But love? That’s a whole different kind of sugar.
Sugar for Two is an Enemies-to-Lovers Romantic Comedy. At 60,000+ words, it is the first novel in the Sugar Mansion series, featuring impassioned arguments, high fashion luxury, and one dominant real estate mogul. A Happy-for-Now MM novel in a Happily-Ever-After MMM series, this book has heart, lots of heat, and a little bit of kink.

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Elliot is a professional sugar baby. He has a lot of sugar daddies who provide for his needs, but Elliot has one particular sugar daddy in sight. Don Anders, THE sugar daddy. He’s rich, confident and hot.
Vincent is a sugar baby in progression. He wants a mansion for him and his grandma, and he wants the saint-grail of all the sugar daddies, Don Anders. But Vincent will have to deal with Elliot.
Elliot and Vincent aren’t friends. They’re enemies in the conquest of Don Anders’ attention. But Don has other ideas for them.
Sugar for two is book 1 in the Sugar Mansion series by R. Cayden.

Elliot is a professional sugar baby and has a lot of sugar daddies. He’s educated, smart with good manners and he’s beautiful. Elliot is a professional with rules and boundaries. No sex and no love with his clients are the two most important. But Elliot is out of his comfort zone when Don Anders request his services and puts him in direct competition with Vincent.
Vincent has a big mouth—he’s sassy, loud and smokes weed. He isn’t delicate and well poised like Elliot. He’s flamboyant. He wants a mansion from Don, and he’s ready to do anything to have it, including dealing with the unnerving Elliot.

I liked them together. They are exact polar opposites, but in the meanwhile, they’re the same. They have the same background, growing up in a small town in the middle of nowhere, and decided to become a sugar baby to escape their poor childhood and the traumas attached to it. They’re also very different. While Elliot is a freak control, Vincent is flamboyant. They complement each other more than what they think, and I love it about them.

The book is the first in the series, and it settles the main and secondary characters and gives us the background of the series. It was well written, and the sugar daddy/baby world was well explained. It’s not a role age-play book, they don’t call each other daddy/son, and there’s no daddy kink in their sex scenes. It was hot by the way, and I look for more of it.
I will read the next book because I want to know more about Vincent, Elliot and Don’s arrangement, I want to see more about their dynamics as a couple and ménage and look forward to discovering more about the other characters like Jules and Henry.

It’s a 3.5 stars for the sugars and their daddy.

***I would like to thank the author for the privilege and opportunity of reading this ARC. My review is an honest opinion of the book ***

Review edited by : Laura McNellis