ARC Review: WANTED, A GENTLEMAN by KJ Charles

  Summary

By the good offices of Riptide Publishing
KJ Charles’s new Entertainment

WANTED, A GENTLEMAN
Or, Virtue Over-Rated

the grand romance of

Mr. Martin St. Vincent . . . a Merchant with a Mission, also a Problem
Mr. Theodore Swann . . . a humble Scribbler and Advertiser for Love

Act the First:

the offices of the Matrimonial Advertiser, London
where Lonely Hearts may seek one another for the cost of a shilling

Act the Second:

a Pursuit to Gretna Green (or thereabouts)

featuring

a speedy Carriage
sundry rustic Inns
a private Bed-chamber

***

In the course of which are presented

Romance, Revenge, and Redemption
Deceptions, Discoveries, and Desires

the particulars of which are too numerous to impart

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Review

Rating: 4 stars!

... and KJ Charles is one of my favorite authors, so -- and I'm sure I've said this before -- any time I get my hands on one of her new books, I'm a happy camper. That's why I feel terrible it took me this long to sit down and write my review. Real life got in the way of talking about fictional worlds, but still I feel like I've been a bad fan.

KJ Charles's books made me fall in love with M/M historicals, and Wanted, A Gentleman falls in that category. It's a historical novella set in London at the beginning of the 19th century. As it turned out even in 1805 people turned to personal ads in search for a lonely heart to match their own, or to play S/M games with or something... And in 1805 there was a young lady, very young and very spoiled, who used those ads to communicate with her fiancé. That fiancé was a gentleman of questionable morals and intentions, and she an heiress to an enviable fortune. Needless to say, her parents were desperate to see that marriage never happened and to end any correspondence between the young lady and the man she was so foolishly infatuated with. Martin St. Vincent was asked to help in the matter. Martin was once that family's slave, but was freed when he grew up and given the funds that helped him become a successful merchant, which left him under the burden of gratitude. His task brought him to the offices of Theo Swann, a man with his own burden and not too enthusiastic about being alive, who ran the Matrimonial Advertiser. There, a deal was made between the two men, a deal that would have them chasing the ill-matched couple across country.
Trying to break them up brought Theo's and Martin's lonely hearts together. 

Wanted, A Gentleman is a novella I enjoyed reading (twice, actually), and Theo and Martin were a couple I liked. This made me wish I met them in a novel... that was part of a series. Yes, KJ Charles's series are my favorite, and there's just something in reading about a group of characters over several books that turns them from characters I like to characters I love. However, as much as I would've liked Theo and Martin got more than a novella, I can't say I didn't get to know them. The author does her job well, and these characters got their backstories and personal traits that made them an interesting couple with interesting stories to tell.

Martin and Theo's love story wasn't without its obstacles, of course. Some truths weren't easy to hear, and they almost ended their relationship before it began, but resolution wasn't far behind. This is a novella -- you don't have to wait long for anything. The resolution was fun as it came from Theo's imaginative scribbler's mind whose villains were apparently superbly written. 

It all ended with a "Wanted, A Gentleman..." ad bringing Theo and Martin back together. Ah, they did make quite a pair. I hope they were happy together for a long time in that fictional past. 

Now, if you'll excuse me I have another KJ Charles book that requires my immediate attention. 

***ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.***



Until next time, happy reading!

XOXO,

 

ARC Review: LOOKING FOR GROUP by Alexis Hall

People you meet online aren't real. Except that they totally are.

So, yeah, I play Heroes of Legend, y’know, the MMO. I’m not like obsessed or addicted or anything. It’s just a game. Anyway, there was this girl in my guild who I really liked because she was funny and nerdy and a great healer. Of course, my mates thought it was hilarious I was into someone I’d met online. And they thought it was even more hilarious when she turned out to be a boy IRL. But the joke’s on them because I still really like him.

And now that we’re together, it’s going pretty well. Except sometimes I think Kit—that’s his name, sorry I didn’t mention that—spends way too much time in HoL. I know he has friends in the guild, but he has me now, and my friends, and everyone knows people you meet online aren’t real. I mean. Not Kit. Kit's real. Obviously.

Oh, I’m Drew, by the way. This is sort of my story. About how I messed up some stuff and figured out some stuff. And fell in love and stuff.

 

 

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Review

Rating: 4 stars!

So many books, so little time -- that's what 2016 has been like for me. On the bright side, I got to read some authors that have been on my must-read list for too long, and I've been lucky in picking my reading material because the books I did read introduced me to a lot of amazing and lovable characters. Alexis Hall is one those authors, and Drew and Kit, the stars of Looking for Group, are among those characters.

As Drew says in the blurb, this book is sort of his story. About how he messed up some stuff, and figured out some stuff. And fell in love and stuff. And it's a sweet story. A really sweet story that had me a bit worried at the beginning. Drew plays Heroes of Legend, an online game, and the story starts when he joins a new guild. There are entire transcripts of the members' conversations in the book, and descriptions of their raids, and I, well, I had almost no clue what was happening during those raids or what even they were talking about. So, yeah, I got a little worried, but as soon as Orcarella (Drew) and Solace (Kit) started chatting in the game, all my worries vanished. Their chats were so cute they always made me smile.

What came next was the messing up, figuring out, and falling in love. Drew liked Solace from the start, but there was that thing that he believed Solace was a girl. When she turned out to be a he, Drew went through a phase where he was disappointed first because until then he was only into girls, but then he realized that even though Solace was Kit, a boy, he still liked him. Luckily for him, Kit liked him too, and they decided to not only hang out together in HoL, but in real life as well, where they continued to be adorable in building their romantic relationship. Drew had a few moments when I wanted to smack him a little because he was messing up, and I felt bad for Kit. In the end, Drew figured things out, and made his apologies, and everything was adorable once again.

So, yeah, I finally read a book by Alexis Hall and I liked it.


***ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.***

Until next time, happy reading!

XOXO,

 

ARC Review: SLAVE HUNT (The Subs Club, #5) by J.A. Rock

Summary

Thirty people. Two hours. Only the strong will survive.

When Riddle decides to put on a slave hunt, the Subs Club is on board. Tops hunting bottoms in the woods with paintball guns? Yes. Captives strung up on whipping posts, at the mercy of their captors? Hell yes. But on the morning of the hunt, nothing’s going according to plan. Miles and Drix are at odds over Miles’s reluctance to move in together. Dave is determined to show up D, who thinks Dave won’t last two minutes in the woods. Gould finds himself torn between obeying his master’s orders and living out a longtime fantasy. And Kamen inadvertently becomes a double agent when he aligns himself with two different parties.

By the end of the hunt, alliances will be forged and broken, loyalties will be tested, relationships will be strengthened…and someone will barrel roll. Narrated by ten different characters, Slave Hunt tells the story of two hours in the woods that will change everyone forever. Or at least, remind them that love is the greatest victory of all.

 

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Review

Rating: 5 stars!

The Subs Club book V!

FIVE!!!


I wished for this all along.

I haven't written a review in a long time. It wasn't because the books I found the time to read didn't leave me with thoughts about them I would've liked to express, but because putting those thoughts into words proved to be a more difficult task than I remembered. Even if it was a book I loved reading like I did Slave Hunt. I'm rusty. I kind of just want to thank J.A. Rock for writing another story set in that universe and letting me have more precious pages with the characters who have become so dear to me, and say (in shouty caps, of course) that I LOVE THIS WHOLE SERIES, but because I love it so much, I feel I should say a few more words than that, so here goes nothing.

Slave Hunt is about, well, a slave hunt that Riddle organized in the woods on D's property. Tops were hunting bottoms with paintball guns, and the captured slaves were taken to whipping posts and were played with. All in good fun. Of course, the members of the Subs Club were there for the fun games. Except Miles -- he was there hoping to win gift cards. And over the course of that two-hour hunt I got what I hoped for ever since I finished 24/7, and that's to see how Dave, Miles, Kamen, and Gould were doing, what they were dealing with, and how far they'd come after the series sort of ended. Not only that, Maya, Drix, RYAN, Kel, Greg, and D got their own chapters, which made it even better. I wasn't sure how the ten different perspectives would work, but I soon realized that was silly of me. J.A. Rock knows what she's doing. 

With some of the characters, I was happy to see a change in them, and with some, I was happy to see they're the same as I remembered them. Kamen falls in the latter category. He is a character who always cheered me up. Whenever I got to a chapter with his name, I started smiling, and didn't stop until it was over. Smiles and laughter are a given when it comes to Kamen. RYAN'S CHAPTERS ALSO MADE ME LAUGH. Kamen, Ryan, and Hemsworth -- it's always fun to read about them. Whether it involves manties, hot sauce or Kamen's ballads, fun is guaranteed.

Dave and D were interesting as per usual. I couldn't wait to read D's chapters to see what's in that man's head, and they were very D-like. This book revealed more of D's feelings, and it was so sweet. It gave me warm and fuzzy feelings reading about D expressing more of his feelings for Dave. I believe a perceptive vampyre played a role in encouraging D to be more verbal in his affection. Drix's interaction with D and the other characters were among my favorite parts of the book, especially the one with Gould. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked reading his chapters. Drix's other half, Miles, also needed some courage to express his wishes. He, however, gathered it after playing with someone else, and by the end even he had fun at the slave hunt. As did Gould, which I was incredibly glad for. His story was the most emotional one in the series, and this happier Gould was a welcome change.

It all ended with a very special ballad by Kamen, which is the only way it should have ended. Overall, Slave Hunt wrapped up the series in an even better way than I could have hoped, which only left me wanting more. So when the words Want more Subs Club? Sign up for This Rebus Does Not Work, a Lisa Henry and J.A. Rock newsletter, and receive a free collection of Subs Club short stories with your subscription. came into view, I was over the moon. J.A. Rock made my wish come true again. I've been keeping my eye on my inbox ever since.

***ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.***

My reviews of the previous installments: The Subs Club | Pain Slut | Manties in a Twist | 24/7

Until next time, happy reading!

XOXO,

 

ARC Review: ADULTING 101 by Lisa Henry

Summary

The struggle is real.
 Nick Stahlnecker is eighteen and not ready to grow up yet. He has a summer job, a case of existential panic, and a hopeless crush on the unattainable Jai Hazenbrook. Except how do you know that your coworker’s unattainable unless you ask to blow him in the porta-potty?

That’s probably not what Dad meant when he said Nick should act more like an adult.

Twenty-five-year-old Jai is back in his hometown of Franklin, Ohio, just long enough to earn the money to get the hell out again. His long-term goal of seeing more of the world is worth the short-term pain of living in his mother’s basement, but only barely.

Meeting Nick doesn’t fit in with Jai’s plans at all, but, as Jai soon learns, you don’t have to travel halfway around the world to have the adventure of a lifetime.

This is not a summer romance. This is a summer friendship-with-benefits. It’s got pizza with disgusting toppings, Netflix and chill, and accidental exhibitionism. That’s all. There are no feelings here. None. Shut up.
 

 

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Review

Rating: 4 stars!

Adulting 101 -- I would've read this book for that title alone. That it's about a character who's not ready to grow up yet was another good reason to read it. I knew then I would not only read this book, but that I would also like it. And I did. I liked it a lot. It had a fun main character, adorable BFFs very into cuddling, pizza, and everything! It was like the cutest book ever!

Nick Stahlnecker is eighteen years old, not ready to grow up, and college is only a couple of months away. He has no idea what he wants to do in his life, and that has him in panic mode. All very understandable. Being an adult with the responsibilities and whatnot is so unappealing. I mean...

He has a summer job where the most interesting thing to him is his stapler. Well, the stapler and Jai Hazenbrook. Jai Hazenbrook's ass, to be exact. It's an ass that inspires poetry, and Nick has a notebook to prove it. It also inspires Nick to ask Jai to blow him in the porta-potty. They get caught and that inspires their boss to fire them.

Nick misses his stapler from work, but Jai is in a worse position. Jai needs a job to earn enough money for traveling around the world as he's been doing for years now. Getting out of that town as soon as possible is his goal.

On the bright side, Nick and Jai start hanging out and hooking up. Nick wants to get a head start on the whole adulting thing, and Jai isn't strong enough to resist Nick's charm. Nick continues to be super cute at it, and I of course wish the book had first person narrative, and that Nick told the whole story. Oh, well, moving on...

Nick on his own is adorable. Nick and his BFF Devon are beyond that. I can't even. Sweetness overload. My favorite parts of the book are about them.

Yep, that seems about right. That's why it seems so wrong to separate them.

So aside from Jai and his perfect ass, this is not a great time for Nick, but Nick is Nick and will make one laugh even when he's not at his best.

What Nick does in the end, and where he goes, well, you should find that out for yourselves.

From what I understand this isn't the type of books Lisa Henry normally writes, but I hope she'll do it again. I would like a short story with Nick just to check how he's doing adulting.

***ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.***




Until next time, happy reading!

XOXO,

 

ARC Review: THE SILVERS by J.A. Rock

Summary

What humans want from the Silver Planet is water. What they find is a race of humanoids who are sentient, but as emotionless and serene as the plants and placid lakes they tend.

B, captain of the mission, doesn’t believe that the “Silvers” are intelligent, and lets his crew experiment on them. But then he bonds with Imms, who seems different from the others—interested in learning, intrigued by human feelings. And B realizes that capturing, studying, and killing this planet’s natives has done incalculable damage.

When a fire aboard B’s ship kills most of the crew and endangers Imms, B decides to take him back to Earth. But the simplicity of the Silver Planet doesn’t follow them. Imms learns the full spectrum of human emotions, including a love B is frightened to return, and a mistrust of the bureaucracy that wants to treat Imms like a test subject, even if they have to eliminate B to do it.
 

 

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Review

Rating: 5 stars!

The Silvers isn't the type of book I usually read. Had it not been written by J.A. Rock, I probably never would have read it. That would've been my loss because like everything else I've read by this author, this book was incredible. I was once again blown away. This was my fifth J.A. Rock book, and I am amazed by how differently written they were, and how each time it was perfect for the main characters. 

Some of Rock's books were so much fun to read, and some were more serious and emotional. The Silvers was one of the saddest, definitely the most thought-provoking. I had tears in my eyes for the bigger part of the book, but I didn't mind. I do like to read something with that effect from time to time, and in any case I couldn't mind it even if I tried because this book introduced me to Imms, a sentient being from another planet who could teach the human race a thing or two about humanity. Imms was what I loved most in this book. I doubt I'll ever forget his character.

The story begins on the planet humans called the Silver Planet where a crew from Earth came for its water. There they found a race of humanoids living simple, peaceful lives, and of course humans being humans they couldn't leave them alone; they had to examine them more closely. One crew member spent time with them in their habitat and read them books, and taught them a language they didn't know, but that wasn't enough for them. They went as far as cutting them open alive. The Silvers quickly learned it was best to keep away from the humans, but one was too curious to stay away. Imms. His curiosity was repayed with cruelty. That was when B, the captain of the mission, stepped in to save him, and hide him from the other crew members. From there on B and Imms became closer. They became so close that when an opportunity to bring Imms to Earth presented itself, B grabbed it, and curious to find out what Earth was like, and feeling affection towards B, Imms accepted. There was also the fact that if he had stayed on his home planet he would've been alone and forgotten forever, so the remaining members of the crew and Imms went to Earth, where the second part of the book is set.

Imms on Earth was anxiety-inducing for me. Even if he had been presented to humans as a hero, they wanted to perform tests on him. Many tests. And they were willing to do anything to get him to consent. Spending time in public places wasn't great for him either. At least he lived with B who was assigned to look after him, but even that wasn't too easy as they were both learning how to be in a relationship with each other while dealing with the rest of the world who demanded more and more of Imms, when B's protection of him became less effective. And all that time Imms was discovering human emotions, some of which weren't pleasant experiences. The reason why all this caused me anxiety and why I was so teary-eyed while I was reading The Silvers was because of Imms. He reminded me of a sweet, innocent child, one I wanted to lock away someplace to protect him from the dangerous world. Unfortunately, I couldn't, and things kept getting more complicated and unsafe. There were some parts with the side characters I didn't fully understand. I think it was because Imms didn't understand it. No matter, all I cared about was Imms's safety and happiness. That's why I choose to believe he found those things.

Overall, this was a beautiful piece of fiction, and Imms was a wonderful character, and I seriously doubt I've managed to do this book justice with this review, but at least I tried. 

As always, I have to say I look forward to reading more books by this talented author.

***ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.***

Until next time, happy reading!

XOXO,