Make a Wish by ED Parr

May 5, 2017 By Leave a Comment


Make a Wish by ED Parr
Publisher: Evernight Publishing
Genre: Contemporary, Holiday
Length: Short Story (36 pages)
Other: M/M
Rating: 3.5 stars
Reviewed by Nymphaea

It’s the day before Christmas Eve and Nick Kringle is making deliveries on the main street of the city when a car breaks down at the intersection. He rushes to help him and comes face to face with the most delicious man he’s ever seen.

Amid the seasonal crowds and inclement weather, Dylan West gets out of his stalled car and tries to push it to the side of the road. Dylan’s down on his luck, but his hero Nick believes in magic and decides to throw a little Dylan’s way.

Can wishes come true? You bet—especially if Nick Kringle has anything to do with it.

A sweet read for a chilly evening.

I’m a sucker for Christmasy stories. This one hit the spot. The writing flowed well and the characters were interesting. For a quick read, it satisfied.

Dylan’s had a rough time. He’s getting over being shot and he’s having a hard time finding a job. Like super hard time. No matter what he does, he can’t seem to get ahead. I could relate to him. I’ve had those days and what seems like week-long moments of nothing going quite right. There were times I thought he got a little too far into his depression, but if that was the author’s purpose then kudos. There were just times I thought Dylan was almost too…he wasn’t even willing to see the bright side. Then there was Nick. Talk about the opposite of Dylan. Positive and willing to help. I liked him and his can do attitude. When the two got together, things heated up. The thing was, the circumstances were a little odd, but I could go with it.

If you’re looking for a short read for the lunch hour or a quiet night, then this might be the book for you.

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Toys for Boys by KD Grace

May 4, 2017 By Leave a Comment


Toys for Boys by KD Grace
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Contemporary
Length: Short Story (50 pages)
Other: M/M, Anal Sex, Toys, Spanking, Exhibitionism
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Reviewed by Nymphaea

Alpha nerd Will Charles teams up with Caridoc ‘Doc’ Jones in a coast to coast walk across England reviewing outdoor gift suggestions for the Christmas edition of Toys for Boys—an online magazine dedicated to the latest gadgets to tickle a man’s fancy. Will is recording their adventures with the latest smart phone technology. Doc is reviewing the latest outdoor gear. The two quickly discover the great outdoors provides even better toys for boys, toys best shared al fresco, toys that, in spite of Will’s great camera work, will never be reviewed in Toys for Boys.

The boys are away and they will play…dirty.

I knew going in this would be a hot story. I had no idea how hot and I’m glad…in a good way. Toys for Boys was a delightful and sweltering surprise. I already liked the work of KD Grace and this one is no exception. She even has written herself into the story!

Doc and Will are great together, even when they don’t want to be that way. I loved how the guys were initially polar opposites. Will has charm to boot and when he turns it on… well… Doc wasn’t the only one helpless. I liked Will from the start. The writing flowed well, even when I wasn’t sure initially why the author had written herself into the story. Trust me, it all makes sense in the end and it’s worth the reward. Now writing herself into the book (or a character called KD) could’ve been considered a show of ego, but in this book it’s not. It feels more like a diary entry or a retelling to a friend rather than something one-dimensional. I’m glad the author took the story in this direction. Well worth the effort.

Did I mention it was a hot read? I’ll never look at tree branches, rocks, or even butter exactly the same way again. I won’t spoil the story, but oh… man… It’s sinful. The only thing that marred the story for me was the few typos. One character’s name changed spelling and it confused me for a moment. With another quick pass by an editor and this story will shine brighter. It already shines, but it can be brighter.

If you want a hot story that’s sinfully hot and involves nature, then this is the book for you. Recommended.

Filed Under: Erotic Romance, Reviews, Romance Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Candy Caned by Kiernan Kelly

May 3, 2017 By Leave a Comment


Candy Caned by Kiernan Kelly
Publisher: Changeling Press
Genre: Contemporary, Holiday
Length: Short Story (37 pgs)
Other: BDSM, M/M, Anal Play, Toys, Spanking
Rating: 4 stars
Reviewed by Fern

For Elves, life at the North Pole is busy but satisfying. Daniel is no exception. He finds great pride in his work as a toy train painter. As the holidays approach, however, the pressures of doing his job push him to the edge. When Santa adds to Daniel’s already overburdened workload by ordering him to plan the annual Workshop Holiday Party, Daniel feels a panic attack coming on and turns to his partner Stephen for help.

Stephen, a Dom who knows Daniel better than anyone else, understands exactly what Daniel needs. In Stephen’s playroom, he blisters Daniel’s ass and balms his soul with the help of a bright, cheery, holiday candy cane.

Now better able to deal with the pressures of the holidays, Daniel plans a party to end all parties for all the Elves at the Workshop. One in which every Elf, including Santa, will be able to get off and let off a little sexy steam.

Christmas time is crazy for the elves, and Daniel hated the hectic stress of it all. His mood only fell further when Santa put him in charge of the annual holiday bash. When Daniel’s lover, Stephen, discovers how stressed Daniel is, he knows exactly the cure to help relieve Daniel’s tension. A good session in their playroom together and they can both enjoy a very Merry Christmas.

This sizzling short story is delightful. I loved both the steamy kink between Stephen and Daniel, but also really enjoyed how well the Dom clearly knew his lover. The familiarity, chemistry and connection between Stephen and Daniel meant I didn’t mind at all when they got intimate very quickly into the story – it was clear they were in a committed and loving relationship, and this made their kinky sex even more delightful to me. I also really enjoyed how the sex – hot as it was – wasn’t the only aspect to the story. I thought it excellent how the author hadn’t just added Daniel organizing the Christmas party as a token or throw-away plot. This got properly followed-through on and I thought it was a hoot. While completely unlike any other North Pole party I’ve heard or read about – the author managed to convince me it was not only suitable, but a heck of a lot of fun to boot.

Definitely not for the faint of heart, get a delicious cocktail or glass of bubbly, turn off your phone, sit back and enjoy this naughty tale. With something that I feel will appeal to everyone this is a fun, frantic and deliciously wicked Christmas story.

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Save Jake Venice by Asher Oswald

May 1, 2017 By 1 Comment


Save Jake Venice by Asher Oswald
Publisher: Torquere Press
Genre: Contemporary
Length: Short Story (41 pgs)
Other: M/M
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by Nymphaea

When I heard Jake Venice had taken his life, I felt like I died with him. Suffocated by the fluff and fakeness of the plastic faces at his funeral, all I wanted to do was join him…wherever he was now.

I woke up the next morning with one last chance. Somehow, I was put ten days back, and I had one shot to try and save Jake. I drove across the country to find him, but when I did…How do you convince someone to hold on who’s already let go? How do you bring light to someone committed to the darkness? I have ten days to try.

A complicated topic tackled in a short story.

I’m a sucker for short stories and even more of one for tortured heroes. This short story certainly delivered on the tortured front. My heart bled for Jake.

I commend the author on tackling a difficult topic. There are some people who look at the world through the lens of depression and can’t see a way out. There are others who need order and logic, but can’t comprehend emotion. That’s Jake. The author wrote him in a fashion that made me both love and hate him. I didn’t like how combative and sharp-tongued he could be, but I’ve known people like Jake, so in that sense he was realistic. As for the other hero, I appreciated his desire to stick with his mission.

That said, this wasn’t the kind of book I might have picked up otherwise. There were rough edges to the characters and the ending wasn’t what I expected. If you’re looking for something fluffy and light, then this might not be the short story you’re wanting. But if you want something a little coarser, then this is the kind of story you’ve probably wanted for quite a while.

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Abducted by H.C. Brown

April 24, 2017 By Leave a Comment


Abducted by H.C. Brown
Cops and Floggers book 3
Publisher: Luminosity Publishing
Genre: Contemporary
Length: Short Story (35 pgs)
Other: BDSM, M/M, M/M/M/M, Anal Play, Spanking, Toys, Menage
Rating: 4 stars
Reviewed by Fern

After stripping at Safeword, Thorn is abducted by Master Riley, the tall, blond and sexy Dom he noticed in the audience. Taken to a private dungeon, the last thing he expects to find is three sex-starved Doms waiting to punish him.

During a weekend of incredibly erotic multiple partner scenes, Thorn discovers his idea of BDSM was well off base.

Disillusioned with men after his previous Dom betrayed him, he wonders if Master Riley—Mr. Tall, Blond and Sexy, is the one man to make him fly.

Thorn is a stripper at Safeword – a private BDSM club. Plenty of Masters desire him, but after being betrayed and blackmailed, Thorn has some serious trust issues. When Riley Jacob is introduced to Thorn, he knows he is exactly the sort of Master who can tame Thorn. Riley knows Thorn is into group scenes, so Riley gets two of his good friends – Casey and Dale – to give him a hand. Riley sets out to prove to Thorn that he has what it takes to be the man’s Dom.

I found this to be a super-spicy story. Riley and Thorn are the main pairing for this short story. Casey and Dale are good friends of Rileys and in a committed – but open – relationship. A lot of the book is the four men enjoying themselves together. While Riley “kidnaps” Thorn to start with, there was discussion during the abduction scene, and while Thorn doesn’t know exactly what’s going on initially, I don’t feel the scene was written harshly enough to be a true “Forced Seduction” type of scene – it certainly wasn’t one to my mind. Riley also introduces himself properly fairly promptly and I didn’t feel anything in the story was written to lend itself to be misconstrued as rape. I feel this shouldn’t be a trigger for most people, but the fact there is an abduction-ish scene should be taken into account when considering reading this story. The fact the whole story is written in the first person perspective (jumping back and forth from Riley’s to Thorn’s head) also helped keep any worry of Forced Seduction or true rape/abduction pretty much out of the question – at least from my opinion.

For such a short length I feel the author did a good job establishing the characters. Sadly, though, Riley and Thorn felt a lot more developed to my mind. I feel this was again because we jump a lot between both their heads in the first-person narrative. While I didn’t mind the head-hopping or the first person perspective, I felt this meant I really didn’t know much at all about Casey and Dale. What are their preferences? What were they like as men and not just as extras in the foursome scenes? I didn’t get a very solid understanding of either man and I couldn’t help but feel this was an opportunity the author missed. I really would have enjoyed getting to know them a little better, even though the main relationship was between Riley and Thorn.

I was also a little surprised that neither Riley nor Thorn were more deeply into the various BDSM games. While they both were unquestionably into group sex and exhibitionism, aside from a little flogging there wasn’t a lot of kink involved for either of them. On the one hand I found this refreshing – after all, not all BDSM is about whips, chains and pain – but I think from the blurb and set-up of the story I’d been expecting a story with a lot more kink in it. I still thoroughly enjoyed the BDSM elements here, and the writing was very well done to my mind, but this really felt more like a Foursome erotic romance story, not quite what I’m used to from a story heavy on the BDSM elements. I feel readers looking for a heavy, kink filled BDSM story might not find exactly what they’re looking for here.

With interesting and different characters and a fast-paced, good storyline I greatly enjoyed this short story. I will certainly be looking for more both in this series and by this author.

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Claw And Ollie by Angelique Voisen

April 14, 2017 By Leave a Comment


Claw And Ollie by Angelique Voisen
Publisher: Evernight Publishing
Genre: Contemporary, Paranormal
Length: Short Story (48 pgs)
Other: M/M
Rating: 3.5 stars
Reviewed by Fern

Can a broken cat find redemption?

Tabby shifter Ollie can charm his way into any safe and into the pants of any eligible bachelor…once upon a time. Now Ollie’s merely a shadow of his former self, terrified of facing the outside world. Ollie craves seclusion, until his heart starts longing for a mate to make him whole again.

One glimpse is all it takes for jaguar shifter Claw to know Ollie’s the one man he’s been searching for his entire life. Knowing Ollie needs time to heal, Claw’s kept his distance. When an enemy from Ollie’s past resurfaces, it’s up to Claw to get his hands dirty. Claw doesn’t mind, as long as he gets his reward in the end. Ollie will become his, no matter what happens.

Ollie was an ex-thief and had made plenty of mistakes in the past. Having more than paid for them, he’d hidden himself away, determined not to be involved with anyone or anything ever again. Only his brother, Orange, had kept in touch, trying to not let Ollie lose touch entirely with the outside world. Eventually Orange brings Claw around to Ollie’s apartment, determined that together, Ollie might finally try to reconnect with his life again if Claw is by his side to keep Ollie out of trouble. Can the two shifters come to some kind of arrangement?

I found this to be an interesting short story. I really enjoyed the depth and complexity of Ollie’s character. There was plenty of back-story to him which I found a little difficult to follow at times, which I presume would have been far clearer had I read the previous stories. That said, I could understand enough to follow along, I was just left with questions. Ollie had been captured and tortured while performing his last job (I didn’t really ever understand why – or how that connected to Ollie’s brother, Orange) and was rescued by Orange, Orange’s mate, Mal and their friend Claw. This understandably had left Ollie with emotional and physical scars and plenty of baggage. Watching Ollie try to deal with that, and learn how to move forward again, was interesting and an excellent set-up for this book.

I found Ollie’s character to be interesting, layered and complicated, which I loved. Also because of this I could similarly appreciate Claw being a fairly simple character in contrast. I was pleased Claw tried to walk a balance between being genuinely sympathetic of Ollie’s situation and difficulties, without walking on eggshells or pandering to (a very understandable) well of self-pity. I think the author did a really good job of helping Claw negotiate between these two things and I ended up really liking and respecting Claw and feeling like he was exactly what Ollie needed to come out of his shell and start living life again. I couldn’t help but feel, though, that Ollie made some stupid decisions – going out alone at night to the enemy territory after having multiple death threats – I really felt Ollie should have known better than to act so stupidly – especially considering he’d already been kidnapped and tortured in the not too distance past.

I also found a number of grammatical/editing errors that jarred me somewhat from the flow of the narrative and this certainly lessened some of my enjoyment of the story. But I have to say that the characters were interesting and kept my attention, and most importantly I continued to want to know what happened next. A little over half way through I had to just disconnect my brain, suspend disbelief and simply go with the story, and as a bodyguard-slash-paranormal-mate style story this really was mostly enjoyable.

Readers who are sticklers against “too stupid to live” sort of moves and find even small editing errors ruin a book for them might want to give this a miss, but I genuinely feel readers who just want something fun, sexy and full of alpha-hero-shifter type characters can probably find a lot to like with this sexy paranormal story.

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A Perfect Beginning by Casper Graham

April 11, 2017 By Leave a Comment


A Perfect Beginning by Casper Graham
Publisher: Evernight Publishing
Genre: Contemporary
Length: Short Story (65 pgs)
Other: M/M, M/M/M, Ménage, Anal Play
Rating: 4 stars
Reviewed by Fern

Brandon Miller is attracted to his superior, Jacob Connors, and the man’s boyfriend, Harold Collins, but he doesn’t want to insinuate himself into another couple’s relationship. Unexpectedly, the two men ask him out on a date and invite him into their lives.

Jacob Connors is having problems with his boyfriend, but neither men is willing to end things between them. Instead of working things out in an ordinary manner, their relationship becomes more complicated when they decide to add Brandon Miller into the mix.

Will Brandon be the missing puzzle piece that completes the relationship between Jacob and Harold? Or will the three men crash and burn together?

Jacob and Harold had been together for years, their rough, aggressive sex belying just how deeply they loved each other. As good as their relationship is though, it lacked any tenderness and they both knew they needed to add some to even though both out. Jason decided adding one of his employees, Brandon, into the mix might be exactly the sort of thing they needed. Harold isn’t as sure, but is willing to try anything to help their relationship be as perfect as possible.

I found this to be an interesting take on how a committed, solid, long-term couple could include a third person and alter their relationship into becoming a ménage. Jacob and Harold were both very self-aware and honest about the issues in their relationship, and while it certainly isn’t conventional to add a carefully selected third party to balance – they were certain it would work for them. And they proved to be correct. The two strong-willed, alpha males understood themselves enough to know they couldn’t – wouldn’t – change, and Brandon acted as quite the buffer between them. I have serious doubts this would work very often (if at all) in reality, but the joy of fiction is that – for me at least – it only needs to be logical, not necessarily realistic.

This short story also appealed to me as it showed and explained quite a few of the structural changes that need to occur when two become three. Jacob and Harold were both very open to each other of what sort of fantasies they were having when they decided to include Brandon, which I found helped greatly open their lines of communication – which is critical in a ménage. Also, they didn’t rush to immediately include Brandon in every aspect of their life. I was pleased to see that they took a more careful and realistic pace to the whole matter.

With a nice slow pace, I enjoyed watching Jacob, Harold and Brandon integrate their lives together and become a threesome. With plenty of steamy, descriptive sex and plenty of alpha like passion I feel this is sure to appeal to a large audience of M/M readers.

Filed Under: Erotic Romance, Reviews Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Orion’s Way by DC Juris

April 7, 2017 By Leave a Comment


Orion’s Way by DC Juris
Publisher: Torquere Press
Genre: Paranormal, Contemporary
Length: Short Story (45 pgs)
Other: M/M, BDSM, Spanking, Anal Sex
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by Nymphaea

Orion is a vampire with a tragic past. After running away from abusive parents at the tender age of sixteen, he was turned by a ruthless elder vampire and forced to torture and sexually abuse human feeders and submissive vampires. Though that’s all behind him now, he still lives in the shadow of what he was, and it’s cost him the loyalty of Xavier, the human feeder he loves. Malagan is Orion’s closest friend–the vampire who saved him from brutality all those years ago. Malagan knows the dominant side of Orion–the side Xavier needs–is still there, lurking below the surface. But if Orion’s going to find his way back to who he ought to be, he’ll need help. And Malagan is just the man for the job.

Angsty vampires? Sign me up.

I like the work of DC Juris. I have for a while. I know I’ll get hot characters who can’t wait to get together and will probably have lots of sex before the story is through. This short story was no different. Well, no. It was different, but it worked. The writing was good and I read this in one sitting, so it was a great way to spend the lunch hour.

That said, I had a few quibbles. There were a couple of spelling errors that bugged me (form versus from, for example), but once I got to the next sentence, it wasn’t as much of a problem. Another one was the story itself. Malagan and Orion are solid characters and I suspect there are more stories in this world. If there are, then reading those would definitely be a good thing. I wasn’t lost, but I kept thinking I’d missed a few things along the way. This is a very short read and while one character is pining for one character, the interaction is with another. Now, its HAWT interaction. I loved Malagan. Strong, tough, but he knows what he’s doing. Solid. Orion was plenty angsty and was good for the story. But this felt like a taste test instead of a fully fleshed story. I hope there’s another story in this world, because that door is certainly left open.

Still, it’s a hot read and anyone who likes a short, meaty BDSM story won’t be disappointed. Grab a copy and see for yourself.

Filed Under: Erotic Romance, Reviews Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,
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