Monday, 26 June 2017

Cultivating Love by Addison Albright - Release Blitz



Buy Links: JMS | Amazon US | Amazon UK | iTunes | KOBO  

Length: 40,472 words

Publisher: JMS Books 


Blurb

A man of few words, Joe is a hard-working farmhand who likes his simple, uncomplicated life. Ed is satisfied with his existence as an auto mechanic, but thrilled when an unexpected development in his life allows him to help Joe realize a dream.


It forces them, however, to reevaluate the casual, undefined nature of their relationship. They’re too macho to speak of love, and neither would acknowledge he doesn’t really mind when it’s his turn to bottom. When life throws them a curve ball, and the rules of their game get old, Ed tries to take every aspect of their relationship up a notch. Can Joe adapt to the open sentimentality Ed’s injecting into their relationship, let alone the new spice in their bedroom activities?


This is a previously published story that has been rewritten, expanded, and re-edited.


Excerpt

Ed ended the call and set down his phone. He tapped his pencil on the table and swallowed as he reread his notes. It was all arranged. He would meet the lawyer in Mayfield early tomorrow morning, sign a bunch of papers, and get the keys. After that, he and Joe would be pretty much on their own to figure it all out. Keep it, sell it, the lawyer didn’t care; it would be out of his hands. 

He smiled. Apparently, his earlier worries had all been for nothing. Joe was willing to give up city life—such as it was in Omaha—with all its inherent activities, to move to the boonies with him. That had to mean something, didn’t it?


He’d spent too much time simply staring at the lawyer’s cover letter, trembling with a fear he couldn’t quite place, until it had hit him like a runaway freight train. It wouldn’t have been such a big deal to sell the farm and invest the money. Or he could have hired some help while learning the ropes. But the idea of losing Joe had panicked him. He’d never spent time thinking about it before—had taken Joe for granted—but he’d do or give up anything to stay with the man.


The water turned off in the shower. He stood and walked toward the bedroom to strip for his own shower. He kicked off his work shoes and peeled off his greasy coveralls, then ambled into the bathroom.


Joe had already dried off and was combing his short summer-blond hair. Ed’s breath caught in his throat as he watched the flex of Joe’s back muscles. Back, ass, hamstrings, arms—hell—all of him. The potent effect of Joe’s nakedness on his libido never ceased to amaze him.


Ed picked up the nail brush and casually turned on the water at the sink. “Don’t bother getting dressed.”


Joe hooted. His hazel eyes gleamed at Ed in the mirror. “Not a problem. It’s my turn, by the way.”


“Is not.” Ed loaded the brush with grease-removing hand soap and started scrubbing. He yelped when Joe slapped his ass, and attempted a scowl—though it better resembled a leer— at Joe’s self-assured grin reflecting back at him.


“Is too.”


“You have to fix dinner then.” Ed’s stab at a hardline mien wasn’t any more successful than his glower.


Joe snickered again, turning away. “Whatever” came from over his shoulder as he walked toward their bedroom.


Ed smiled as he finished scrubbing his nails. He hurried through his shower and dried off to the beat of the Rolling Stones reverberating from the living room.

Author Bio


Addison Albright lives in the middle of the USA with two peculiar cats. Her stories are gay (sometimes erotic) romance, and tend to be sweet man-love in contemporary settings. Her education includes a BS in Education with a major in mathematics and a minor in chemistry. Addison loves spending time with her family, reading, popcorn, boating, French fries, “open window weather,” cats, math, and anything chocolate. She loves to read pretty much anything and everything, anytime and anywhere.






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Friday, 23 June 2017

Kingdom (Vol 2) by RJ Scott - Release Blitz




Buy Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK 


Length: 76,000 words 

Kingdom Volume 1

Blurb

The Demon's Blood

When Simeon, a mountain lion shifter meets Asher, a blood demon, there is instant attraction. But, how can they act on the way they feel when there is an entire kingdom at stake.


Asherkan Iblis is a blood demon, a slave to elves and a soldier. He keeps the fact he has royal elvish blood a secret. His half brother returns to broker peace but reveals he is actually there for much more and Asher faces a decision that could lead to his death.


Simeon Blue, brother of the leader of the Feline Guild, mountain lion shifter, is tasked to accompany Phin on a mission over the Red Mountains and into the Second Kingdom. He has to talk to the Guild but all they want to do is stay in isolation and his mission is fraught with danger.


When Simeon is wounded Asher hides him and suddenly, next to a kings death, a cousin's hate, and Ludvik's black magic, love falls on the agenda.


The Incubus Agenda


When Nicholas Tarrant sees a broken and bloody Brody Lennox dragged into the Werewolf Coalition he has to decide. Stay under cover or help the incubus live. His decision is simple.


Nicholas Tarrant has worked hard for his position on the Werewolf Coalition. Having access to whatever is happening inside the Coalition is important to the Underground and he's good at blending in.


Brody Lennox is sent to Glitnir to broker talks of peace but is dragged broken and bloody into the Council chambers. Ludvik wants him killed as a traitor.


Can Nicholas save Brody? Or is Brody too broken to be saved?


The Third Kingdom


The story that began as a simple Retriever case, has become the tale of the fight against a thousand years of evil.


The wolf shifters have Niceros to take down. The Vampire Twins have to deal with Cassius. The Second Kingdom is in disarray and Simeon, Asher and Phin are desperate to calm the unrest.


An alpha needs to accept his role, a blood demon has to become the King he was meant to be, and the Vampire twins have to end the war.


Against all this, Reuben and Ethan, lovers separated for a millennium, are thrown back in to a war to end the poison that is Ludvik Peitrol.


In a battle on the barren fields of Arberfan is where this story will end.


How can love survive the evil that is another's hate?





Author Bio

RJ Scott is the bestselling romance author of over 100 romance books. She writes emotional stories of complicated characters, cowboys, millionaire, princes, and the men and women who get mixed up in their lives. RJ is known for writing books that always end with a happy ever after. She lives just outside London and spends every waking minute she isn't with family either reading or writing.

The last time she had a week’s break from writing she didn't like it one little bit, and she has yet to meet a bottle of wine she couldn’t defeat.

mailto:rj@rjscott.co.uk 







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Thursday, 22 June 2017

Scrap (The Bristol Collection #3) by Josephine Myles - Release Blitz




Buy Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK

Length: 80,000 words


Blurb

In a battle of the alpha males, who will end up on top?

On the surface, Derek “Call me Dare” Nelson’s life is simple. He’s happy doing up campervans while living in a slightly illegal caravan in his riverfront yard. But life gets more complicated when a smooth-talking, handsome property developer offers to buy the land out from under his feet—the very same man Dare had to escort from a party nine months ago for causing a drunken scene.


Grant Matravers is living a double life, attempting to adjust to weekends as a single, soon-to-be-divorced gay man while staying in the closet during the week. The strain of keeping up appearances at work while missing his kids is bad enough, but add in an attraction to the shaven-headed, tattooed, totally unsuitable Dare and Grant finds his emotional barriers wearing dangerously thin.


Dare blasts through those barriers in a way Grant isn’t prepared for, challenging everything he thought he knew about himself as a gay man. But as their chemistry heats up and the intimacy between them grows, Grant edges towards a decision that could blow up in his face. Exposing a mess of complications that could destroy any chance for their happily ever after.


Product Warnings: Contains one sharp-suited man desperately in need of redemption, another whose thuggish exterior does a pretty good job of hiding his heart of gold, frotting in camper vans, a sensual head-shaving scene and several (noisy) guest appearances from Mas.


Author Bio

English through and through, Josephine Myles is addicted to tea and busy cultivating a reputation for eccentricity. She writes gay erotica and romance, but finds the erotica keeps cuddling up to the romance, and the romance keeps corrupting the erotica. Jo blames her rebellious muse but he never listens to her anyway, no matter how much she threatens him with a big stick. She’s beginning to suspect he enjoys it.


Jo’s novel Stuff won the 2014 Rainbow Award for Best Bisexual Romance, and her novella Merry Gentlemen won the 2014 Rainbow Award for Best Gay Romantic Comedy. She loves to be busy, and is currently having fun trying to work out how she is going to fit in her love of writing, dressmaking and attending cabaret shows in fabulous clothing around the demands of a preteen with special needs and an incessantly curious toddler.



Twitter: @JosephineMyles


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Wednesday, 21 June 2017

Haven’s Creed by Parker Williams



Safe Haven #1
328 pages
Buy links: Amazon US | Amazon UK

Blurb

An act of violence destroys his family and ends the life he knows. To escape his haunted past, he joins the military, where, as a sniper, he is trained to kill with precision and detachment. When a covert organization offers him a new purpose, he becomes Haven, an operative devoted to protecting the innocent when he can and avenging them when he cannot.

After ten years of battling the evil in the world, the life no longer holds the attraction or meaning it once had, and he’s ready to walk away. Then he meets Samuel, a young man forced from the age of twelve to work as a sex slave. If ever a man had a need for Haven, it is this one.

Yet nothing about this growing relationship is one-sided. Sammy gives Haven a stability he’s never known, and Haven becomes the rock upon which Sammy knows he can depend.

When Sammy reveals something about the enemy Haven has been hunting for months, Sammy fears it will destroy what they’ve built and he’ll lose his home in Haven’s heart.

Review

Well now. You know how I always say that I like books that surprise me? How I prefer books that are not like so many other books out there but bring something unique to my reading life? That’s exactly what happened when I opened Haven’s Creed. Sure, if you strip the story down to its barest parts it is a love story telling the tale of how Haven and Sammy got together and how they managed to make what should have been an impossible relationship work. But, it is so very much more than that.

I’m not quite sure how to describe what I’ve just finished reading but the closest I can get is to say this story gives us a study in humanity. It shows us both the worst and the best people can be. And it gives us characters who are so much more than they appear to be at first glance. Allow me to go back to the beginning, so to speak.

Haven. Poor Haven. Forced into an unthinkable act of violence to protect his mother and sister at far too young an age, he is trained, first by the army and then by the organisation that recruits him, to use that violence as a force for good. His acts may be extremely violent, bordering on sadistic at times, but his reasons for hurting and killing his targets are the best; he needs to protect the innocent victims to atone for the fact that he couldn’t prevent the horror that befell his sister. At first glance it would be easy to write him off as some sort of a psychopath, only prevented from being evil by the fact he’s working for ‘the good guys’, but even early on in the story, before he ever sets eyes on Sammy, there are clues that Haven’s deeds are not the result of some inherent blood lust, that there is a softer, needier side to him, even if he refuses to acknowledge that.

Sammy. *Sighs* Sammy tore at my heartstrings from the moment he was introduced. Everything he’s been through should have killed his spirit, turned him into an unredeemable mess, but it didn’t. At least, not entirely. He may be afraid of virtually all people. He may be borderline agoraphobic. He isn’t weak. And despite what I thought at first, he’s also not fixated on Haven like a baby goose who will view whoever they see first when they come out of the egg (or in Sammy’s case, captivity) as their parent or guide. Somehow Sammy managed to hang on to his inner core despite the horrors he was subjected to. And that gives him a stunning form a fragile strength. And, just as Sammy is exactly what Haven needs to allow his full personality to shine, Haven is what Sammy needs in order to find himself again.

And that, what I’ve described in the previous two paragraphs, is what made this book so very special for me. These characters are multi layered. Haven is not ‘just’ a killing machine, and Sammy is so much more than ‘just’ a victim. Like ‘real’ people they have their strengths and their weaknesses. And just as so often happens in ‘real’ relationships, their coming together allows them to grow into their full potential, to allow sides of themselves they weren’t even aware of, to come to the fore and shine.

Haven’s Creed has been added to my extra special list because the story was captivating and the characters fascinating. It deserves its place because Haven and Sammy as well as Kelly and Rook were allowed to develop and grow as characters and show me their full potential. There’s nothing superficial or easy about this story or the characters in it, and that’s what makes it a fabulous book. Bring on Haven’s War, and thank goodness it won’t be a long wait.

Coming June 26, 2017

Sunday, 18 June 2017

The Palisade (Lavender Shore #1) by Rosalind Abel



Lavender Shores #1
243 Pages
Release Date: June 20, 2017
Buy links: Amazon US | Amazon UK
Available on Kindle Unlimited

Blurb

Confident businessman Joel Rhodes sees the small California town of Lavender Shores as nothing more than a business opportunity and a final stepping stone to the position he’s been working toward his entire life. It was supposed to be just one night in town to close the deal, and sleeping with one of the local men, no matter how gorgeous, meant nothing more than a few hours of fun.

Andrew Kelly is perfectly content with the life he has in his hometown. So much so that the only thing missing is someone to share it with. Going to bed with a tourist was never meant to be the answer to his dreams, just a beautiful distraction. He could get back to looking for Mr. Right the next day.

Both Andrew’s and Joel’s worlds are turned upside down when a few hours of pleasure get extended to a couple of days. Even that shouldn’t have been a big deal. You can’t fall in love in that amount of time. That isn’t how it works. However, if destinies collide, a few short days may be all it takes to find your soul mate. Even so, when secrets and motivations get tangled, fate may do nothing more than leave two hearts in pieces. 

Review

The Palisade is a quintessential romance; everything a reader thinks about and expects when looking for a love story. This particular story also happens to feature ‘insta-everything’. Insta-attraction, insta-lust, and insta-love. And while that shouldn’t have worked, or at the very least should have made me role my eyes, I have to admit it not only suited the story and the characters (especially Andrew) perfectly, it also swept me up in the passion of it all and made me forget about the rest of the world for a few very enjoyable hours.

Andrew and Joel are attracted to each other as soon as they lay eyes on each other in a restaurant in Lavender Shore. And from that moment on, they are set on a course that appears fated; as if no power on earth could stop their coming together. But of course, life is rarely that easy, and even for these two men, who obviously are meant to be together, there are obstacles to overcome.

Because we are privy to both men’s thoughts we can see Andrew’s heartbreak and the reasons why it will happen, coming long before it becomes obvious to him. Andrew isn’t naïve, he knows his feelings are too strong and too soon and he tries to stop himself from hoping and dreaming; none of which helps when he eventually discovers exactly why Joel is in Lavender Shore.

Andrew is such a romantic. He has his dreams of meeting the love of his life and having it all: the house with the picket fence in Lavender Shore, kids, dogs, and happily ever after. And no matter how often he's been disappointed, he can't stop dreaming:

"Those fantasies dried up with each little heartbreak and were pounded into dust by the larger ones. But still, I'd visit the palisade, and for a moment, I'd feel a man's strong arms around me, the scruff on his cheek scratch against mine. Maybe that would never happen in real life, but in those moments, in the beautiful, sad moments, those sensations were enough."

I was a bit torn about Joel. I understand that he’s stuck between a rock and a hard place. And nobody throws away a lifetime of trying to become something or someone based on a few days of strong attraction, and yet… The lies he had to tell and the secrets he had to keep bothered me more with each passing page. Not because I didn’t understand why they were necessary, or because his reasons didn’t make sense. No, they bothered me because I couldn’t bear the thought of the pain those lies and secrets would inflict on both of them once they were uncovered. And  while Joel's feelings are as strong as Andrew's, he is all too aware of what's to come:

"It also meant I was even more bonkers than he was. He felt all that shit and didn't know how it was going to end. I did. I knew the end. Hell, I knew the end almost to the hour and minute. And I still felt it.

But, the painful and somewhat angsty part of the story is minimal compared to the pure joy of seeing these two men coming together. The passion between them is searing and the rapidly developing and growing feelings they have for each other touched me deeply, especially because even Andrew and Joel were fully aware that it shouldn’t, couldn’t be possible to feel love after only a few days.

While obviously Andrew and Joel are the star performers in this book, the cast"of secondary characters are almost as fascinating as they are. For starters, there is Lavender Shore itself. And yes, I do consider the location a character in this book. What’s not to love about a town created to provide a safe haven for LGBTQ… people? And I do like the idea of a community that hangs on to its integrity by resisting commercialism. Among the ‘secondaries’, Andrew’s father took a star role. His sense of humour and outspokenness made me laugh out loud on several occasions. He also serves as a stark but perfect contrast to Joel’s tyrannical and uncaring — almost but not quite to the point of being a caricature — father.

Long review short: The Palisade is a wonderful, hot, and captivating romance in the purest sense of the word. The characters will capture your attention within the first few pages and refuse to let you go until you’ve accompanied them on their mostly joyful and passionate journey towards a happily ever after. As summer reads go, this one is pretty much perfect. 

If my review has made you curious about Lavender Shores and the people who live there, why don’t you visit its website and find out all about it. I’m sure you’ll enjoy the site and the only risk you take is that you might find yourself heading over to Amazon to get your hands on the book(s) asap. All is revealed here: Lavender Shores

"When my dreams came true, I noticed." - Andrew

Saturday, 17 June 2017

Connor & Ash (Barista Boys #3) by A.E. Ryecart - Release Blitz




Buy Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK 

Barista Boys Series 

Danny & Jude (Book #1) Amazon US | Amazon UK  
Stevie & Mack (Book #2) Amazon US | Amazon UK

Length: 84,500 words

Blurb

When you live in the shadows, it’s hard to believe in the light.


Each time Ash Hemsby strips off for a stranger in a hotel room or gets down on his knees in a back alley, a little piece of his soul dies. But debt is a hard task master, and money lenders don’t take IOUs.


From a shadowy corner of a hotel bar, Connor O’Brian watches the rent boy’s clumsy attempts to ply his trade. Beneath the younger man’s brash exterior Connor senses desperation and vulnerability, and his heart goes out to him – because he too bears the scars of living crushed and defeated.


A whispered conversation, a key exchanged, and the deal is struck. Yet the night turns out in a way neither expects.


A chance meeting brings Connor face to face with the man he can’t stop thinking about, and he’s determined not to let him get away a second time. Ash owes Connor for what happened that night in the hotel, but what was meant only to be the fulfilment of a promise begins to feel like something more.


Step by step, they begin to mend what is broken in the other. But life has a habit of tripping up the unwary. A random discovery, a scribbled, desperate note and a race across London brings each man face to face with the secret shame they have only ever wanted to keep hidden.


Secrets and half-truths have kept Connor and Ash in the shadows. Only the raw, heart wrenching truth can lead them out of darkness and into light. But is it already too late, and will the shadows reclaim them?


Author Bio


A E Ryecart writes mm romance/gay fiction about complex, multi-faceted men who don’t always make the right decisions. Filled with angst, high drama and emotional tension, she writes the books she likes to read. An avid people watcher, most of her writing takes place in a local café amidst the background hum of hissing coffee machines, where she can check out the other customers for character and story inspiration!


A born and bred Londoner, she may have moved to someplace more leafy but the city is still very much part of her DNA, which is why her books are set in and around present-day London, providing a thrilling, metropolitan backdrop to the main action.






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Friday, 16 June 2017

An Unexpected Truth by S A Meade - Review Tour






Buy Links: Pride (Early Download)| Amazon US | Amazon UK (Out July 11) 

Length: 58,591 

Publisher: Pride Publishing


Blurb


A trust destroyed is a trust that is hard to recover…


Brendan Matthews is happy training racehorses for a living. He thinks he’s hit the jackpot when a wealthy orthopedic surgeon, Adam Ahmadi, sends six yearlings his way. Not only are the horses a cut above the rest, their owner isn’t too shabby either.


But not everything is as it seems. Adam has many secrets, most of them dark and deadly. When Adam’s past returns with a vengeance, he disappears, leaving Brendan confused and hurt.


If Adam survives, will his past destroy their future?


Review


This book surprised me in the best possible way, and I live for books that do that. It’s not so much that the blurb doesn’t cover the content, because it does. The description hints at a love story hindered by Adam’s secrets and disappearance, and that is exactly what this book delivers. But it gave me so very much more than a suspenseful love story. The writing is beautiful, the storytelling captivating, the characters charmed their way into my heart, and the setting — those racing stables — were a joy in and of themselves. But, allow me to get back to the beginning.

The story starts off so cute, with both Brendan and Adam nervous about what should just be a business weekend but feels to both far more like an exciting first date. But even then, in those early days, when the two men are only getting to know each other, there’s something about Adam that made me, the reader, weary. As charming and, if I’m honest, genuine, as he appeared, there was something not quite kosher about him or his motives lingering just below the surface. I was well and truly intrigued and also somewhat scared; I wanted Adam to be a good guy, I liked him and loved how happy he made Brendan. I yearned to be able to continue trusting Adam, but I wasn’t quite sure. I was scared long before the story got scary. J

As much as Adam charmed me, Brendan was the one to steal my heart. He’s down to earth, uncomplicated, honest, but by no means a walk-over. He’s good, but nowhere near too good to be true. He’s willing to listen and forgive, but has his limits. He’s the sort of man I’d want in my life if I didn’t already have a husband I adore.

I liked the layered way in which this story unfolded. When Adam disappears, fairly early on in the story I expected that to somehow lead to the pivotal moment, but it didn’t, and before we’re 50% into the book, Adam is back with Brendan. And of course, the reader knows — I knew — there had to be more. Poor Brendan on the other hand thinks he’s reached his personal ‘all’s well that ends well’.

And that’s really all I want to say about the story. For me one of the huge joys was the way the story kept on surprising me, and I wouldn’t want to rob another reader of that pleasure. All I’ll say is that just when I thought things were good, the best was yet to come.

I loved the pacing of this story. We’re not fed any unnecessary details, and yet the story is filled with beautiful, atmospheric, and vivid descriptions.

“The world faded away to nothing but the subtle creak of the mattress, the rustle of bedclothes and the juniper scent of his lover’s cologne. Light slipped into the room from the hallway, casting a dancing shadow on the wall. Outside, the rain continued to fall, whispering against the window.”

And thanks to that wonderful pacing, this story almost read itself and was impossible to stay away from for longer than absolutely necessary.

Grace and her husband Chris were great secondary characters. Not just because Grace was a wonderful, no nonsense, force of nature who wouldn’t allow Brendan to wallow in his pain, but also because their personal history isn’t too far removed from what Brendan is now going through and that added perspective both to the story and for poor Brendan.


So this review comes with a wholehearted ‘go and read the book’ recommendation from me. If you like your books well written, your stories unpredictable and very well told, and your characters charming and intriguing, you’re going to love An Unexpected Truth.

Author Bio

S.A. Meade lives in deepest Wiltshire with her son, a dog and two cats. She is still partial to gin and tonic and loves to cook. When she's not working, she stares at her laptop and waits for inspiration to strike, preferring that to mowing the lawn or weeding. When parked in front of a computer, she can be found wandering the streets of her village, dog in tow.



Thursday, 15 June 2017

Romancing the Ugly Duckling by Clare London - Review Tour




Buy Links: Dreamspinner | Amazon US | Amazon UK 

Length: 63,000 words 

Publisher: Dreamspinner Press 

Cover: Bree Archer

Blurb

Is this the makeover of a lifetime?


Ambitious fashionista Perry Goodwood lands the project of his dreams—track down a celebrity family’s missing brother in the Scottish Highlands and bring him back to London for a TV reality show. But first he must transform the rugged loner into a glamorous sophisticate.


Greg Ventura has no use for high fashion. He lives on the isolated island of North Uist to escape the reminder that he’s nowhere near as handsome as his gorgeous brothers and avoid the painful childhood memories of being bullied.


Greg wants nothing to do with city life, and Perry’s never been outside London. When Perry is stranded on North Uist, this conflict seems insurmountable. But Greg is captivated by the vivacious Perry, and Perry by both the island and his host. However, Perry’s one heartfelt wish remains: that ugly duckling Greg fulfill his potential as a swan.




Review



You know how sometimes you read a book and it just works on every single level? Romancing the Ugly Duckling was that sort of a read for me. The story and I just clicked; almost as if the book had been written to my personal specifications.

The premise is something we’ve all read before; City-slicker Perry meets anything but suave Greg and while their differences should have kept them miles apart, the magnetism of opposites kicks in and the two men stand no chance in the face of that mutual attraction. That in and of itself would have been more than enough to make me a happy reader, but once the ‘ugly duckling’ trope was added to the mix I was well and truly a goner.

Perry and Greg are both wonderfully drawn and thoroughly adorable characters. Perry’s optimism and determination, even when faced with a not altogether happy host (Greg) and a location and community he doesn’t recognise or understand, was a pure delight. Nothing appeared to faze him; least of all Greg’s grumpy, at times borderline rude, behaviour.

At first glance there appears to be more depth to Greg; a personal history which makes his choice to live in almost seclusion understandable, just as it explains his insecurities when it comes to his appearance and his worth. Don’t we all know how hard it can be to shake off those casual but hurtful remarks others throw our way when we are young and impressionable? Sure there were times when I wanted to slap him for his inability to open up, for his refusal to trust Perry’s feelings. But given his history, him keeping his heart locked away made perfect sense. And, of course, his reluctance to embrace the gift that is Perry only served to make the moment when he does accept himself and the man he’s fallen for all the more beautiful. (There are other reasons why I adored that particular scene, but sharing those would mean spoiling the story, so you’ll just have to read the book if you want to know more).

But, just as Greg turns out to be far more than a grumpy man old before his age, there are more layers to Perry too. The first impression may be one of a possibly empty-headed socialite; it soon becomes clear he is anything but, not to mention a lot more. In fact, it was impossible not to fall hard and fast for Perry who refuses to take no for an answer and tackles whatever life throws his way head on.

There was a wonderful cast of secondary characters in this book, especially those we meet on North Uist. The balance between humour, romance, sexiness, and heartfelt drama (I wouldn’t go so far as to call it ‘angst’) was just about perfect.

To summarize, Romancing the Ugly Duckling was a charming, fun and delightful read. I thoroughly enjoyed Romancing the Wrong Twin a few months ago (click here for my review), but I loved this one just a bit more. And a lot of that was due to…

“Greg. Wonderful, honest, argumentative, antisocial, sexy Greg.”


I do hope there will be more ‘Romancing the…’ titles to come.

Author Bio

Clare London took her pen name from the city where she lives, loves, and writes. A lone, brave female in a frenetic, testosterone-fuelled family home, she juggles her writing with her other day job as an accountant.


She’s written in many genres and across many settings, with award-winning novels and short stories published both online and in print. She says she likes variety in her writing while friends say she’s just fickle, but as long as both theories spawn good fiction, she’s happy. Most of her work features male/male romance and drama with a healthy serving of physical passion, as she enjoys both reading and writing about strong, sympathetic, and sexy characters.


Clare currently has several novels sulking at that tricky chapter three stage and plenty of other projects in mind... she just has to find out where she left them in that frenetic, testosterone-fuelled family home.



E-mail: clarelondon11@yahoo.co.uk




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