With a Friend's Strength (Badge and Bullets #2) by Brittany Cournoyer

Amazon Link

Goodreads Link

Blurb

After surviving two brutal attacks that nearly killed him, Bradley Danforth was determined to put them behind him and move on with his life. He moved into a new house on the other side of town and made a new resolve to live his life to the fullest. Only, Bradley can’t seem to get the one person out of his mind who let him down the most, Max Donohue. When he starts receiving threatening messages, Max is the first person Bradley turns to for help.

Max is a homicide detective who quickly learned that the job is about more than catching the bad guy and being a hero. When he’s assigned a cold case he’d rather leave alone. Max knows he must face a past he buried a long time ago so he can close it once and for all. Max is soon immersed in more than just a murder as he discovers evidence of corruption and a massive cover up. The combination of working the cold case and battling his demons is enough to send Max into a downward spiral, but when Bradley comes to him for help, Max finds the strength to do whatever he can to keep him safe.

Will Max step up to the challenge he failed to overcome before, or will someone succeed in ending Bradley’s life once and for all?

With a Friend’s Strength is the second installment of the Badge and Bullets series featuring the same two characters. It is a suspenseful murder mystery that depicts detailed crimes, strong language, and adult situations. While this series will include a romance, it’s a slow burn that develops throughout the series.

Review 

My Rating - 5 Stars!

With a Friend's Strength is the second book in Brittany Cournoyer's amazing Badge and Bullets series.

First, let's all take a moment to enjoy this beautiful cover! Seriously, just damn!
As for the story, if you like suspense mixed with your romance, you will love it. 

Max is assigned to investigate a cold case. Unfortunately, the case has him facing a tragedy from his past. This part is so damn sad, as his struggles are emotional and realistic. 

Bradley's an accountant, which is fun. We don't get enough stories with ordinary people in ordinary professions. Unfortunately for this accountant, he seems to have developed a stalker.

Someone's after Bradley, which is bad enough, but add in Max's search for a killer, and the stakes are raised. Although a thriller and suspense, the author excels in the art of subtle humor. Their story is an emotional ride full of intrigue, action, and danger. The men deal with regrets and a fight for justice. 

I shed many tears with the cold case. The execution of this mystery is perfectly done. Not just well done on it's own, it's also amazingly weaved into Bradley's stalker storyline. 

Overall, With a Friend's Strength is fantastic and I can't recommend it enough. Brittany Cournoyer is an automatic read for me. If you haven't read any of her books yet, what are you waiting for?

RELEASE BLITZ & REVIEW - Center Of Gravity by Neve Wilder

Buy Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK

Length: 98,000 words approx.

Cover Design: Jay Aheer

Goodreads

Blurb

When life comes apart at the seams, love is the only thread that can repair it.

Accountant Rob Macomb has a stable job that he’s good at and… that’s about it. A year of nothing but heartache leaves him seeking refuge from loneliness and grief behind spreadsheets, punishing daily runs, and the occasional anonymous tryst. He wants only to bury the past and focus on his career, but he has one last task to complete: pack up his parent’s quaint beachside house and put it on the market.

Alex Andrews is a budding artist with a penchant for Converse, Cracker Jack, and piercings. Family turmoil sidelines his dreams of finishing art school and building a career in three-dimensional design, and now he’s doing whatever he can to keep everyone afloat.

When Alex shows up as a part of the moving crew hired to help Rob clean out the house, what should be a simple move becomes far more complex. Because it’s not the first time they’ve met, and their last encounter was memorable for all the wrong reasons.

The attraction between them is undeniable and intense, but Rob’s hell-bent on pushing everyone away, and Alex is on the verge of spinning out of control. Can a grumpy accountant and a bootstrapping artist find their center of gravity together, or are they on a collision course to heartbreak?

*An emotionally-charged, slow burn m/m romance featuring an age gap, hurt/comfort themes, and a hard-won happily ever after. This is the standalone first in the Nook Island, Georgia series.*

REVIEW

My Rating - 5 Stars!

Center of Gravity delivers way more feels than I ever expected, as Neve Wilder does a superb job with this romance.

This story is emotionally charged, full of grief, mourning, tragedy and attraction. Rob is grieving the loss of his father, as he cleans out his dad's house. Alex is one of the moving guys hired to help out, and the two form a friendship, as Rob hires Alex to fix up some things around the house. 

And Alex is certainly someone who understands what Rob is experiencing, as Alex's dad is dying. The attraction is immediate, but Rob is certainly not ready to be with anyone, as he continues to push everyone away. In the end though, they are both exactly what the other man needs, as they not only work their way through their grief together, but also reassess what they want out of life. 

I absolutely love Center Of Gravity, as it's sweet, touching, hot, and takes on you an captivating journey. Neve Wilder's writing is magnificent as it's realistic and powerful as they two men fight hard for their happily ever after. I highly recommend this book!

Excerpt

In this excerpt, Rob is on the phone arguing with his sister, who oh-so-helpfully set up the impending move with a company called College Buffs Hauling Stuff. Rob is not pleased to begin with. As the truck arrives and the two movers get out, Rob has a moment of awkward realization:

Another door slammed and a guy with short, dark hair ambled around the front of the truck. Cracker Jack opened the door and leaned back inside, soon emerging with a silver clipboard in one hand that he checked before saying something to his coworker. In contrast to the stupid caricature on the side of the truck, Cracker Jack met all the qualifications of college buff from what I could see of his profile. He was an endless summer kind of golden blond, and lean, a bit of leftover sunburn on his cheeks laying over the warm, cabana boy tan beneath. He looked as if he should be holding the handle of a pool net rather than the dolly he deposited at the front gate. “Two Men and a Truck would have worked just fine. Or 1-800-Junk,” I argued.

“The Buffs get five stars on Yelp. Don’t be a stick in the mud,” she replied, knowing it’d get me right in the accountant’s tender spot.

Cracker Jack glanced up at the front door of the house and for the first time I saw his face in full, the dangerously carved cheekbones, the sensually bowed mouth, a bit of silver—incongruous against the golden backdrop of his face—ringed through his lower lip. I froze, first trying to place him, then in frazzled denial. But it was too late: my gut already knew and had twisted up like a pretzel. The memory came in saturated fragments that exploded behind my eyelids.

I narrowly missed being speared by the coat hook as my shoulder slammed shut the faux wood door of the stall. I fumbled the lock with one hand, pulled him to me with the other, fingers spanning and raking the damp sheen of sweat gathered low on his back. A hot wash of breath across my throat, his lips dragging over the curve of my jaw, the tickle of his lip ring against my stubble. He smiled against my teeth and murmured, “A guy who knows what he wants. I like it.”

I felt the color fleeing my face in humiliating mutiny as Cracker Jack stared at the door. I took a backward step. Summer droned on about how she’d just been picking the best option and it was hard to do from far away, that she’d not wanted to interrupt me with something so insignificant during tax season and on and on and on, but it hardly registered.

A rush of cool air over my cock—how had he gotten my zipper undone so fast?—and then the warmth of his touch. The brush of his thumb over my crown. “Fuck, you’re already slick,” he groaned, biting his lip. His forehead bumped my cheek as he looked down at his hand, watching as he stroked me. He paused long enough to spit on his palm then stroked faster, the noise obscene cutting through the piped in music of the club, but the feel of him on me was pure velvet bliss. When I reached for his waistband, he brushed my hand away. “Not yet. I like to concentrate. I’ll get mine in a minute.” He licked at the side of my neck where my pulse was hammering, then tightened his fingers around my shaft, pulling a moan from me. I just wanted him to shut up. Just wanted him to shut up and get me off.

Except he never got his.

And I couldn’t remember his name.

Neve Wilder lives in the dirty South, where the summers are hot and the winters are...sometimes cold. She is a mom to three rambunctious weebeasts who have joined forces in a mission to carpet the family home with toys and small items that really suck to step on at six in the morning.


She reads promiscuously, across multiple genres, but her favorite stories always contain an element of romance. Incidentally, this is also what she likes to write. Slow-burners with delicious tension? Yes. Whiplash-inducing page-turners, also yes. Down and dirty scorchers? Yes. And every flavor in between.


She believes David Bowie was the sexiest musician to ever live, and she's always game to nerd out on anything from music to writing.


And finally, she believes that love conquers all. Except the heat index in July. Nothing can conquer that bastard.

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Change For You (Oahu Lovers #2) by Crystal Lacy

Amazon Link

Goodreads Link

BLURB

Silver fox Stephen Webb doesn’t mean to start a workplace fling with the cute new intern. Stephen Webb has a pivotal tax season ahead of him and he doesn't have time for distractions. At least that's what he thinks—until Minoru "Max" Kamigawa walks into his life and disrupts all his plans.

Max secretly wants to follow his love of music, but family obligations keep him rooted in Hawaii. Tax supervisor Stephen Webb makes his spring internship a little sweeter, but the man's priorities don't seem to include Max. Is it only a fling or something worth staying for when his dreams come calling?

Stephen and Max must decide whether to stick to their goals or risk everything and change their course for love.

A May-December MM romance with a HEA and no cliffhangers set in Honolulu, Hawaii. 87,000 words.

REVIEW 

My Rating - 4 Stars!

Change For You is a lovely May to December office romance by Crystal Lacy.

This romance revolves around Stephen, a grumpy, workaholic accountant and one of his new interns, Max. Both men take an instant liking to each other and keep checking one another out. But, Stephen knows he can't get involved with an intern. As well, he is 20 years Max's senior. 

I enjoyed both men's stories and what made them who they are. Stephen is a complicated guy, and his past is slowly revealed over time. Max's situation is certainly complicated, as he is learning accounting for the money, since his family needs it. But his dreams center around his music.

Essentially, both men have to decide if it's worth changing for love. When you have someone who completes you and who you don't want to lose, you start to re-evaluate your circumstances and your dreams. The author tackles this in a thoughtful and beautiful manner. 

If you don't like reading about indulging in alcohol, stay away. Neither are alcoholics, but they certainly use alcohol as a way for being honest with one another and taking chances. 

This book contains some great laughs (Max's grandmother!), some tender and sweet moments, and some extremely steamy moments (the spilt coffee scene. Hot damn!) It's well developed, has some great surprises (Stephen's ex) and some great board game scenes. I adore Stephen and Max together. Crystal Lacy perfectly captures the differences in their ages, while also perfectly closing that gap and bringing them to equal footing. Well done!

Change For You is definitely worth a read. I can't wait to see what Crystal Lacy comes up with next for this series!

Slap and Tickle (With a Kick #3) by Clare London

Amazon Link


Blurb

Bryan Harrison is a successful accountant and a man who admires order and self-discipline. It’s a startling break from his routine when he literally bumps into Phiz Bussman outside With A Kick. Phiz’s lifestyle and behaviour are in complete contrast to Bryan’s, and appear totally chaotic. But they each recognise something in the other that they need.
Bryan has been helping With A Kick with its financial difficulties, and is finding it difficult to balance his professional persona with friendship with the owners. But then he’s always found it tricky to expose his more vulnerable feelings. His cool facade hides loneliness: he believes he’ll never find a lover who accepts and welcomes his secret desire.

Whereas Phiz is all about exposure! He’s defined by his cheerful but clumsy liveliness, his open-hearted emotions, and his physical needs. Despite that, he’s lonely as well. He craves someone who will help him bring purpose and focus into his life, and admits freely he needs a firm hand – in every way.
If they can both accept a friendship that’s destined for more, Bryan may be just the man to provide it.


REVIEW
My Rating - 4 Stars!

Slap and Tickle is another fun contribution to the With A Kick series, this one by Clare London. The beauty of this series is the shoppe itself, as it's customers and the zany ice cream flavors, make each story fun!

I enjoyed Bryan and Phiz's story, but it took me a little while to warm up to them. In the end, I adore Phiz and Bryan, who are such opposites, yet really lend a lot of each other.

As always, we have humor, some great characters and a good dose of romance. Phiz and Bryan are unique, as are all of the With a Kick crew, and I definitely enjoy how much they compliment each other.

If you haven't checked out the With A Kick series yet, do so!