Charisma Check (Table Topped #2) by Alex Silver

Amazon Link   - Available in KU  

Goodreads Link

Gui’s the best friend I ever had. I love him like a brother, too bad I’m falling for his little brother.

Jude is a walking talking temptation, everything I never let myself want. He’s sweet as chocolate, wickedly funny, and he gets me. The sex, well, it’s worth a repeat and that’s something I never do.

When he visited Gui, I thought I could settle for a one night stand, but then Jude moves to my city to work at my studio. Gui gets him to join my gaming group and suddenly he’s all I see. Now Jude’s looking at me with hearts in his eyes and I’m terrified that I’m going to break his heart.

Charisma Check is the second M/M romance in the Table Topped series. It features Jude, a hopeless romantic with diabetes who makes animation and Theo, a commitment-phobic trans man with depression who runs tabletop games for his friends.

CW: for severe depression, gender dysphoria, mention of past suicidality, surgical recovery, injection medications/needles (insulin dependent diabetes)

My Rating - 4.5 Stars!

Charisma Check is the second book in the Table Topped series by Alex Silver. It's easily read as a standalone. I was immediately drawn into this story.

This is a best friend's brother's romance, as Theo is attracted to his best friend's younger brother Jude. 

I appreciate the layers of these characters. Theo's a trans man and I love the way his packer issues and sexual experiences are handled. It's nothing heavy, but well representative of his needs and gender dysphoria. All of this is written in a fabulous manner, with knowledge and care. I appreciate it all.

A large part of their tale is the conflict of Theo's intentions. He's always been one who can't commit, but he finds himself not wanting anyone else either. His backstory is well explored, with his fear and pain well explored. I love it. 

As for Jude, he's a diabetic who issues with his health are well illustrated. I appreciate the way the author not only has the character talk about it, but also shows the steps he needs to take when dealing with his health. It's extremely well written. 

I expected this book to be super short like Roll For Initiative, but this one is much longer, at 178 pages. Thus it's much more detailed and the author has a chance to add a lot of depth to the story, which is great.

As with the first book, there's plenty of gaming conversations, which again bored the hell out of me, but it's easy enough to skim over those parts.

This is a story of two men who fight their feelings along the way. Two men who are terrified of being vulnerable and letting themselves fall in love. Two men who can't stop themselves from opening their hearts and letting the other in. 

In the end, I love Charisma Check. Alex Silver delivers with an emotional and deep read. This tale of two men who have had relationship issues in the past, finding love and strength with one another, is beautiful. 

Disciplinary Action by Onley James

Amazon Link - Available in KU
Goodreads Link

LEOPOLD GIDEON spent his childhood as the poor kid in a rich school until he met an older man who took him under his wing and into his bed, teaching him to not only survive but thrive among the elite and to never submit to anybody…except him. For fifteen years, Gideon had everything, but then tragedy strikes, leaving him alone once again.

CALLUM WHYTE was raised with every conceivable luxury but one: loving parents. When his father is indicted for federal crimes and his assets frozen, Cal has to learn to survive with nothing. When a friend offers him money to spend the night with the hot older man they all call Daddy, Cal has no choice but to say yes or literally risk going without medication he needs to stay alive.

One night with Daddy Gideon leaves Cal’s head spinning and his body longing for something he never thought he’d want: discipline. Too bad Gideon never plays with the same boy twice, not even ones who beg as sweetly as Cal.

Just when Cal thinks all hope is lost, he discovers Gideon is the new headmaster for his school, leading him to devise a plan to get what he wants by blackmailing the older man into spending the next six weeks with him. But Cal is about to learn it doesn’t pay to blackmail someone who doles out his punishments.

Will this battle of wills end in a ceasefire or heartbreak?

This book contains BDSM, Daddy Dom, Age-Gap, Teacher/Student and Domestic Discipline and is complete at 70,000 words with no cliffhanger and a HEA.

My Rating - 5 Stars!

Onley James' Disciplinary Action is a impressive book. It's a complex read that explores some tough and relevant issues. 

At it's heart, this is a forbidden relationship between two people who definitely belong together, but have a long journey to get there. It combines some BDSM, Daddy kink, age gap, and a serious medical condition, with hot sex and tender emotions. 

At first it seems like it will just be an intriguing BDSM read. But then...then it gets so complex and more emotional than I could have ever anticipated. This story is extremely hot, but despite the many sex scenes, each scene serves a purpose. Each scene brings them closer together, further cementing their bond. 

When we meet Cal, he's working his first job as a prostitute. Upon being hired to service the quirky Gideon, he finds more than he could have ever anticipated. These first scenes are marvelous. Heavy on the BDSM factor at the time, the emotions are always front and center. Gideon won my heart early on with his extreme kindness. Neither man expected more than that one time together. But life has other plans. 

This is a story of finding someone who makes you feel loved, wanted, taken care of, and desired. Cal has never felt these things. Ever. Until he meets Gideon. 

Both men have heart-wrenching back stories. Both men are sympathetic and lovable characters. Cal is young, sick, homeless, and an outcast at school.
Gideon is alone, grieving, and floundering in his personal life, with some deep emotional scars. 

Their story involves a thrilling web of events that I won't spoil here. It's all well developed, pulling the reader in and keeping them on the edge of their seats at times. 

This story spends time exploring homelessness, both the struggles to survive each night, and the judgements placed upon the homeless. As well, the horrific problem with prescription drugs is well illustrated. The way Cal is treated is vile, and the struggles with his health are terrifying. As for the people at the school, they are horrid. To harm a young man the way they do is appalling. It is frustrating, maddening, and leaves the reader with a total sense of helplessness. I applaud the author for the way this is written.

The author continues to impress me in general, with her writing style, extraordinary characters, and thrilling story lines. So far, each book is a must read. Although BDSM stories are not for everyone, this one excels in exploring the emotions behind BDSM, and ends up being so much more than just a BDSM read. 

My favorite line is "Who cares what people think? They don't live your life. They don't pay your bills, so they can keep their opinions to themselves." Awww, so true. Too bad we can't all remember this in our daily lives.

In all, Onley James' Disciplinary Action is an amazing and accomplished tale. The tenderness, the emotions, and the beauty all combine to make this a remarkable story. It's riveting, intriguing, and I couldn't put it down. 

REVIEW TOUR - The Edge of the World by Garrett Leigh

Buy Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK | Universal Link

Exclusive to Amazon and Available to Borrow with Kindle Unlimited

Cover Design: Black Jazz Design

Length: 60,000 words approx.

Goodreads Link

Blurb

Shay Maloney is living his dream—on tour with his pirate/folk-rock band. But you can’t know where you’re going until you know where you’re from, and that’s where moody filmmaker and researcher Ollie Pietruska comes in.

The band’s management persuades Shay to let a television company film a documentary about his roots beyond his adoptive Irish family, and Ollie comes into his life knowing more about Shay than Shay’s ever known about himself.

But while Ollie holds the key to Shay’s past, he’s also hiding deep scars. Even as the hardships of the tour bring them closer, Ollie’s demons threaten the blossoming romance. They might both reach the breaking point before Ollie realises he’s been standing on the edge of the world for too long, and it’s Shay who holds the key to his future.

A friends-to-lovers, rock star, road-tripping romance, with a guaranteed happily-ever-after.

Review 

My Rating - 4.5 Stars!

It took me a while to get invested in Garrett Leigh's The Edge of the World. Her books are heavy and continue to be multi-layered, complex, and slow going.

Shay and Ollie are two complicated men. Ollie's sent to record a series about Shay's ancestry, while Shay's a rocker who wants nothing to do with the project. What follows is an emotional story. Ollie struggles with letting Shay in, with bearing all his scars. Shay meanwhile struggles with everything from his health, to his relationships, as well as his career. 

Poor Ollie has to recover from everything he's been living with for years. Suffering from PTSD, he's barely living. His story is way more than I was expecting. It's written with both care and compassion, and makes him a completely lovable character.

The look into Shay's ancestry is interesting, as I'm an avid fan of digging into my family's pasts. The way Ollie handed over the information is fascinating. It's the romance, however that took me a bit of time to get into. A slow burn romance, the men slowly get to know each other while working on this project.

The Edge of the World is a beautiful story of finding love, fighting to keep it, and fighting to be deserving of it. This Garrett Leigh read has great writing but it's definitely a slow read. The character and story development takes a while, but in the end, it's a beautiful read. I highly recommend it when you have some time to invest into a deep book.

Garrett Leigh is an award-winning British writer and book designer.

Garrett's debut novel, Slide, won Best Bisexual Debut at the 2014 Rainbow Book Awards, and her polyamorous novel, Misfits was a finalist in the 2016 LAMBDA awards.

When not writing, Garrett can generally be found procrastinating on Twitter, cooking up a storm, or sitting on her behind doing as little as possible, all the while shouting at her menagerie of children and animals and attempting to tame her unruly and wonderful FOX.

Garrett is also an award winning cover artist, taking the silver medal at the Benjamin Franklin Book Awards in 2016. She designs for various publishing houses and independent authors at blackjazzdesign.com, and co-owns the specialist stock site moonstockphotography.com with renowned LGBTQA+ photographer Dan Burgess.

Website: http://www.garrettleigh.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/garrettleighauthor/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Garrett_Leigh

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