A Dance Too Far by H.L. Day

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Blurb

Love can be dangerous!

Valentin Bychkov, rising star of contemporary Russian ballet, appears to have everything: wealth, talent, success, and a face and body to match. Not that anyone can get close. Bypass the entourage and there's still Valentin's sharp tongue and acerbic wit to deal with. He may give his body freely, but his emotions are kept tightly locked away.

Max Farley's life is a simple one. All he's interested in is work, drinking, and picking up the latest in a long line of one-night stands. The way he chooses to live may not be to everyone's taste but it suits him down to the ground. He's never met anyone who's made him want to confront the demons from his past. Until now.

A show in London brings the two together. Lust brings them closer still. But if rumors of Bratva connections turn out to be true, then dangerous men wait in the wings. One dangerous man in particular, who's used to people following his orders without question.

Difficult choices need to be made on both sides. Valentin and Max need to stop playing with fire and let each other go, or face the consequences. But letting go isn't that easy where love is concerned.

And some things are worth the risk.

Warning: This book contains a snarky ballet dancer with an aversion to clothes, a little too much wall sex and an overabundance of Russian heavies.

Review 

My Rating - 5 Stars!

A Dance Too Far is an amazing story by HL Day. It's spectacular, hooking me immediately, and keeping me on the edge of my seat throughout. 

Valentin and Max are instantly attracted to each other when they meet. Unfortunately, Valentin's stuck living under the thumb of Dimitri, who treats him as a possession. He has to do what Dimitri says, when he says to do it. 

I love how Max is enamored by Valentin, despite his cold and indifferent persona he portrays. Max knows there's more to Valentin than he shows, if he can just see the true man behind the stoicism. Of course, if he's ever going to see the real Valentin, first he has to face a whole lot of danger. 

I found their relationship to be wonderful and full of passion. They both help the other to overcome some serious issues. It's all wonderfully developed and is executed in an excellent way.

My heart hurt for Valentin for many reasons, including his injury. He's a fascinating character who's stuck in a no win situation. His past, as well as his present, is heartbreaking. 

I loved this story. It's the perfect combination of a character we can't help but to route for, and a tender romance that will save him, mixed in with some danger. The fact that it has a ballet dancer as one of it's main characters is just a delightful bonus. The suspense and fear will keep you intrigued throughout. 

A Dance too Far is a definite recommendation for anyone looking for a good comfort/hurt story. There's a whole lot to keep you interested and the characters are wonderful. Honestly, the book is as amazing as it's cover!

The Runaway Gypsy Boy (Irish Runaway Series Book 1) by Brina Brady

Book #1 - The Runaway Gypsy Boy - Amazon US | Amazon UK

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Blurb

Twenty-year-old Daniel Serban loses his dancing job and threats of being outed to his family force him to flee Limerick, Ireland. Daniel fears his father and the other gypsy men will force him to marry his betrothed, or bring bodily harm to him for being gay.

As chance would have it, he ends up in Cleary’s Pub, a gay leather bar in Galway where he meets the grouchy, ginger-bear Ronan O’Riley. Daniel had no idea how much meeting the Dom would transform his life.

Ronan O’Riley has been unable to move on since the death of his sub a year ago, that is until a troubled gypsy boy steps into Cleary’s. Ronan’s lonely existence is about to change.

Can Ronan convince Daniel to trust him or will Daniel’s fears of his past ruin any chance of a relationship? Unexpected heated attraction in the barn ignites their relationship to move forward. Though the two men have many of the same dreams, Daniel’s secrets and Ronan’s need to gain Daniel’s trust are just a few of the many challenges they must overcome if they are to be together.

Review 

My Rating - 4 Stars!

The Runaway Gypsy is a unique, fun romance by Brina Brady.

How often do we get to read about a romance with a gypsy? This is definitely a first for me. Daniel's a gypsy boy, who's run away from his gypsy family, fearing their reaction when they discover that he's gay. I find all of the gypsy scenes, and people's reaction to a gypsy to be well written.

What follows is an entertaining romance when Daniel tries to find a job and meets Ronan.

There's a lot to appreciate in this book. Daniel's character get a fresh and interesting look at the real world, as there's so much for him to learn. The most fun, of course, is Daniel's education of the BDSM leather scene. 

Ronan's a complete control freak, and Daniel just left a insanely controlled environment, making for some interesting situations. Living under Ronan's control takes some getting used to. Eventually trust becomes the key to their relationship. Of course, the author does a wonderful job of explaining the differences between the gypsy's need to control and Ronan's need to control.

Their romance isn't easy, as they have to survive betrayal, violence, pain and grief. Some of the scenes are heart-wrenching to read about. Luckily, we also see healing and trust.

The Runaway Gypsy Boy definitely makes for a good, emotional read. I am impressed with Brina Brady's vision for this story.

GRL 2018 SPOTLIGHT - Eden Winters - Angel of 13th Street

In my attempt to cover some of the attending authors for this year's GRL,
I am reviewing 

Eden Winter's Angel of 13th Street!

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BLURB

Noah Everett shed his rent boy existence for a bar and helping young men get a second chance at life. Haunted by those he couldn’t save, he keeps others at bay until his self-imposed loneliness is shattered by ambitious but homeless Jeremy Kincaid.

Aged out of the foster system, Jeremy’s the perfect target for a ruthless pimp like Willie Carnell. He wants no part of any future that includes working for Willie, but without a strong ally, he may not have a choice.

Noah knows exactly what Willie’s capable of, and if he’ll fight for strangers, he’ll fight harder for Jeremy.

Even if it takes confronting his own past.

REVIEW

My Rating - 4 Stars!

Angel of 13th Street is a unique, sweet romance by Eden Winters.

When Noah meets Jeremy, the young man reminds him of someone from his past. Jeremy's a street kid, who is trying his best to rise above his circumstances, and Noah wants to help him. 

This story packs a whole lot into it's pages. Jeremy's on the streets after aging out of foster care. This alone could be the basis for a whole book. But, he's dealing with running from Trent, as Trent wants him prostituting again. Jeremy's feelings for Trent are complicated, as he once trusted him and gave him his virginity.

As Noah continues to help Jeremy, Jeremy is unsure of Noah's motives, as he's not used to someone doing something out of kindness. He's used to people expecting something in return.  

Noah and Jeremy find themselves in a multitude of complicated situations, due to the street pimps and their fight for power. 

Angel of 13th Street is captivating, as it's well written and well developed. It contains angst, backstabbing, murder, fighting for dominance, street kids, heroes and lost boys. 

Ultimately, Noah had never thought himself worthy of love, and then he meets Jeremy. Jeremy forever changes his life, as Noah falls for the young man, and is willing to sacrifice his own happiness for Jeremy's safety. I don't want to give away the story, but OMG, the twist, the unexpected twist, is phenomenal! 

Angel of 13th Street is definitely worth a read, as Eden Winters has combined some wonderful, sympathetic characters and some complex villains, with romance, love and some steamy scenes.

Eden Winters

You will know Eden Winters by her distinctive white plumage and exuberant cry of “Hey, y’all!” in a Southern US drawl so thick it renders even the simplest of words unrecognizable. Watch out, she hugs!

Driven by insatiable curiosity, she possibly holds the world’s record for curriculum changes to the point that she’s never quite earned a degree but is a force to be reckoned with at Trivial Pursuit.

She’s trudged down hallways with police detectives, learned to disarm knife-wielding bad guys, and witnessed the correct way to blow doors off buildings. Her e-mail contains various snippets of forensic wisdom, such as “What would a dead body left in a Mexican drug tunnel look like after six months?” In the process of her adventures she has written fourteen m/m romance novels, has won several Rainbow Awards, was a Lambda Awards Finalist, and lives in terror of authorities showing up at her door to question her Internet searches.

When not putting characters in dangerous situations she’s a mild-mannered business executive, mother, grandmother, vegetarian, and PFLAG activist.

Her natural habitats are airports, coffee shops, and on the backs of motorcycles.

(Watch Me) Unmask You (Run This Town #3) by Avril Ashton

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Blurb

With one tug the thread unravels, and a world built on lies will come tumbling down

Too many bodies. Rivers of blood. Elias Kote sees them all in his sleep. Only the love of his husband and daughter keeps him alive and fighting. This contract killer is exhausted and weighed down with all the lies he tells every day. Who he is. What he does. How he came to have all he has. Elias can attest to nothing remaining hidden forever, but his secrets, when they do drop, shatters everything. Everyone. And leaves him scrambling to make his family whole again.
Ten years together. Three legally wed. One with their daughter. And in one night Lucky Mousasi’s world just…stops. What he thought was a random home invasion turns into way more. Masked men not only brutalize him, but they come armed with knowledge about Lucky, his husband, and the life he thought he knew. It seems nothing is coincidental, certainly not meeting and falling in love with Elias. Bruised, battered, heart ripped open, Lucky walks away.
An intimate rival will stop at nothing to neutralize the threat Elias poses, and the life he built out of guilt and desperation becomes collateral damage. When Lucky takes their daughter and disappears, Elias goes on a rampage. He will get his family back, but first he’s on an elimination mission. One bullet at a time.



REVIEW
My Rating -  5 Stars!

Avril Ashton's (Watch Me) Unmask You has wrecked me! As with the previous books in this series, this book is deep, gut-wrenching and remarkable!

This story is truly amazing, with Elias and Lucky, a couple who have no right to be together, yet are drawn to each other body-and-soul.

Their relationship covers many years, starting with Elias helping to comfort Lucky when he's young, through Lucky's early twenties, and beyond.

In the beginning, Lucky is devastated as Elias flits in and out of his life, leaving him lost each time he leaves. Lucky's alone in the world, having lost his parents, and then his aunt. Elias is the only steady person he has, yet he is never around, going years between visits.

The strength of the bond and chemistry between these men is breath-taking and riveting. But they are drowning in their issues. Even if Elias is able to give himself to Lucky, he still isn't giving Lucky the real Elias, as Elias is living a life of lies.  

The beauty of this romance is the way that Avril Ashton can once again have us falling in love with a man who does awful, unforgiving things. How does she do this so darn well? How can we fall so hard for Elias, before even knowing the full truth, and rooting so hard for him? It is a testament to the strength of her writing, that's how. Elias is so broken, and breaks Lucky in return, yet I love every second of it, and I am thrilled to have found these amazing men.

This story contains suspense, extreme chemistry, action, violence, and more. The beauty comes in the strength of love and the ability to listen, understand, and forgive.

(Watch Me) Unmask You is as powerful of a story as I've read. Avril Ashton's Run This Town series is a must read for anyone who loves an action romance.

Mended Monday - Broken Pieces by Riley Hart

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This book was another amazing one from Riley Hart.

The book is broken down into 3 parts:

1. Josiah and Mateo meet in foster care while they are teens. Mateo looks out for and protects Josiah.  This starts what becomes a beautiful bond between the two. It was innocent and sweet, and exactly what both boys needed.  Until Mateo is forced to send Josiah away, which is truly heart-breaking.

2. During his time away from Mateo, Josiah meets Tristan.  He also has had a tough life and one cannot help but love Tristan.  His past makes you want to cry for him. He finally lets Josiah into his life, after years.  They become friends, then roommates, and finally lovers.  As this is happening, you can feel they depth of how much they have come to mean to each other.  

3. Then Mateo returns.  And things have changed.  Josiah is not a weak person who needs to be cared for anymore.  Josiah is now the person that keeps Mateo and Tristan from falling apart. Josiah loves both men and cannot imagine a life without either of them in it.  These 3 men completely belong together.  And the title of this book is PERFECT.  Separate, they are all broken pieces, but together they are whole.


All 3 men are so damn lovable.  

Josiah is just so sweet and so completely vulnerable as a teen.  As an adult, he is just so broken.  He has only 1 friend and is terrified of losing another person.   One cannot help but to feel his pain, feel how broken he is and to want to see him healed.


As a teen, Mateo's life was full of violence, and he couldn't get close enough to someone to actually trust them.  But he found that Josiah was different, and he felt like he needed Josiah.  He wanted to be a better person because of Josiah.  He wanted to care for him and protect him, to the point of risking everything. As an adult, he was a survivor for having lived through everything that he had to endure.   He still found Josiah to be his reason for living and for becoming a better person than he was raised to be.

We don't meet Tristan until he is older.  But he too has lived a life of heartbreak and struggle.  And as a man, he lives with the guilt that he could not help save his mother.  He only has himself, as he won't trust another person.
I can't say it enough.  This book is amazing.  It is honest, raw and heart-breaking.
Riley is an amazing writer who manages to captivate you completely with this book.

The best part - this is only Book 1!