Hi there! Today I’m reviewing the second book in a New Adult series from Amity Cross. PULSE is the sequel to BEAT–(click here for my review)–and features two Australian ultimate fighters–Ash and Renee. It’s a sexy, passionate, gritty tale that packs an emotional (and physical) punch!
About the book:
Ren Miller never dreamed her life would turn out quite like this.
On the cusp of qualifying for the brand new woman’s UFC league, she’s finally found the thing that makes her tick. She finally has a whole new life before her, but it’s one that doesn’t include Ash Fuller.
No one has seen or heard from Beat’s Golden Boy in six months, not even Ren. He’s disappeared off the face of the earth and he’s just another person who’s ended up abandoning her when she needed him the most. He broke her heart, but he took the one thing that was hers. Her spirit.
When someone unexpected turns up at Beat with an ultimatum, Ren must make a decision. Go after Ash and her own heart or make her Dad’s dream of winning a Championship come true.
Will Ren choose to fight?
Or sacrifice everything to save the man she loves?
18+ due to mature sexual content
My Review:
Ren has had a rough year. Her mother died, she had to seek out the father who abandoned her at the age of five, for his other family, and he’s not so keen to see her again. Nor is his daughter, Monica. Relegated to closet bedroom at her father’s gym, Ren learns to channel her rage by training in mixed martial arts. She strikes up an uneasy friendship/sex buddy relationship with Ash, the disgraced boxer her father once trained. The more they interact, the more Ren begins to trust that she won’t always be alone.
Banned from the UFC, Ash fights in an underground fight club, and Ren joins him. Well, until Thunder, a title contender, tries to take out Ren. Ash and Thunder both disappeared that night six months ago, leaving a bloody mess of the training gym, and Ren with a broken heart.
In PULSE, Ren is fighting in both the UFC qualifiers, and the underground, needing the brutality of the ring to dull he sense of loss. Then she learns what truly happened between Ash and Thunder, and she’s initially furious. She suspected Ash had killed Thunder, and he’s currently under house arrest, but the story is more complicated.
Thunder is rotten to the core, and there’s only one way Ash and Ren can take him down…in the underground cage fighting championship. Ren and Ash both get the chance to step into the legitimate ring, as UFC fighters, but to do so would scrap their plans for revenge.
It’s a well-told erotic romance, though the romance is a bit back-burnered for the vengeance plot. Thunder makes a perfect villain, antagonizing Ren during her matches, taunting Ash every chance he gets, but he’s not the only problem. Secrets are being kept that could influence the rest of their lives, and no doubt cause a good bit of conflict.
Interested? You can find PULSE on Goodreads, Amazon (US, UK, AU), B&N, iBOOKS.
Also Available
Renee “Ren” Miller was five when her Dad left to go to the shops and never came back.
Left to grow up with a cancer riddled mother, things have never been easy for a teenager who had to be wise beyond her years. Then one day they lose the battle and she’s all alone.
Now twenty-two, Ren reluctantly goes to find her estranged father. He owns the down and out boxing studio, Beat, and Ren finds herself drawn to the ring. She thrives on learning a new way of fighting a life that kept kicking her down…instead of struggling against the current, she kicks it right between the legs.
Then one day, Ash Fuller, her Dad’s star fighter comes back to town. Mysterious, handsome… Dangerous… Everything Ren doesn’t need.
But he’s got other ideas…and so does she.
About the Author:
Don’t send help. She likes it.
Will you Love THE UNDERSTATEMENT OF THE YEAR as Much as I Did? #Doubtful–Review and Giveaway!
Hi all! Today I’m celebrating the release of one of my absolutely fave new M/M romances: UNDERSTATEMENT OF THE YEAR. This book had all the feels I dream of in a love story–and is especially poignant in light of the new revelations of gay players in the big leagues of sports.
About the book:
What happened in high school stayed in high school. Until now.
Five years ago, Michael Graham betrayed the only person who ever really knew him. Since then, he’s made an art of hiding his sexual orientation from everyone. Including himself.
So it’s a shock when his past strolls right into the Harkness College locker room, sporting a bag of hockey gear and the same slow smile that had always rendered Graham defenseless. For Graham, there is only one possible reaction: total, debilitating panic. With one loose word, the team’s new left wing could destroy Graham’s life as he knows it.
John Rikker is stuck being the new guy. Again. And it’s worse than usual, because the media has latched onto the story of the only “out” player in Division One hockey. As the satellite trucks line the sidewalk outside the rink, his new teammates are not amused.
And one player in particular looks sick every time he enters the room.
Rikker didn’t exactly expect a warm welcome from Graham. But the guy won’t even meet his eyes. From the looks of it, his former… best friend / boyfriend / whatever isn’t doing so well. He drinks too much and can’t focus during practice.
Either the two loneliest guys on the team will self destruct from all the new pressures in their lives, or they can navigate the pain to find a way back to one another. To say that it won’t be easy is the Understatement of the Year.
Warning: unlike the other books in this series, this heartbreaking love story is about two guys. Contains sexual situations, dance music, snarky t-shirts and a poker-playing grandmother.
My Review:
K. So. Sometimes a book just fills my head and my heart and makes songs on the radio speak to me in a new way because I’m thinking of this story.
That’s is exactly how I felt about this book.
First, I was sure that Rikker and Graham were going to be buried by their FLAWS
They seriously made me feel the hole in my soul. Rikker is a gay athlete–he survived a hate beating as a teen, and being shipped off to his grandmother’s care after coming out, but reuniting with his first love, Graham, might just kill him. Five years have passed and, while Rikker’s physical wounds have healed, he’s still emotionally scarred by Graham’s abandonment.
He’s a great hockey player and a newly transferred student at Harkness ready to hit the ice. Despite being a transfer, Rikker is not subject to a yearlong suspension of play–because his previous coach violated the non-discrimination clause kicked him off the team when he was outed.
In order to avoid all the drama, Rikker reveals his orientation at the outset, and is subject to casual and overt homophobia–as well as some GREAT teammate support. Except, the one teammate he wishes to be there for him, well, won’t: Graham.
Graham is so deep in the closet he might be able to sit tea with Mr. Tumnus. He is attracted to men, and denies this at every turn. He seeks out women, always under the influence of alcohol. To hear his thoughts, when experiencing the slights and slams of Rikker–both direct and indirect only cements in Graham’s head what a coward he is.
People like Big-D have it wrong. They think that the gay guy is going to be the one who’s slowly soaping up his dick, watching you shampoo. But that’s not how it works in a varsity locker room on planet Earth. The gay guy is the one who discreetly goes about his business, showering quickly and then getting the hell out of there. He puts his underwear on when his skin is still damp, even though it will stick up his ass crack for the rest of the night.
He isn’t staring at you, and he’d rather eat broken glass than sport some wood in the locker room.
Still, Graham simmers with attraction for Rikker, and uses lots (and LOTS) of alcohol to quell it. Rikker himself can’t let go of the affection he held for his once best friend (and first love) even as he expects the taciturn Graham hates him, now. Imagine his surprised delight when Graham lets his defense shields slip…only to have them nearly discovered.
With shaking hands, he stumbled into his jeans.
I pulled the blanket up from the foot of the bed, mostly covering myself. And I watched a freaked-out Graham prepare for a hasty exit from my room. I could almost hear the worry loop trailing around inside his head. Never should have done that. Never should have done that.
Whatever. If he wanted to freak out and run away after hooking up with me, that was his loss. That’s what I was going to tell myself, anyway. What’s one more bruise on a battered heart? Mine probably already looked like a veteran NHL player’s face.
Before the door closed on him, he said one word to me. “Sorry.”
I was tired of hearing that word from him.
On the campus Rikker is mostly a pariah. He keeps to himself, attending classes and team events/practices only. He eats alone, and lives in a single room in a dorm filled with foreign students to whom he cannot relate. He longs for connection, and after one drunken hook-up he reaches out for Graham again, and Graham reaches back–only when it’s a clandestine meeting, however. And Rikker accepts this–because, well…
In the dark, he studied me. “Rik,” he whispered. “I had fun tonight.”
“Me too, G.”He moved then, hitching across the seat to reach me. “One more,” he breathed. “For old time’s sake.” Then he turned my face toward his, capturing my mouth in a kiss.
Stupid or not, I just went with it. If you stripped away all the confusion and the old heartaches, I’d had an almost perfect day. And this right here was pretty much all I’d ever wanted from Graham. I wanted his friendship, and then I wanted him to reach for me at the end of the night. So for those few minutes, I had everything.
Yeah. I got super melty over this book. The first loves. The separations. The reconnection and healing of woulds long scabbed over. The comic relief! Oh, I think we all needs a “Skippy” in our lives. He’s Rikker’s effeminate ex who’s known for spouting his opinion, getting his way, and wearing t-shirts with outrageous slogans like Power Bottoms for Jesus. I loved him. And, of course there’s a girl with a Graham-crush who’s gonna get hurt..a bit. But, she takes it all well.
Hearing Milky Chance croon “I want you by my side/ so that I never feel alone again” and lament the lost years of affection due to the actions of others…well, I was glad Rikker and Graham got a Stolen Dance with each other…
The anxiety factor is tremendous. I couldn’t fault Graham for his closet-case antics. He’d seen the worst of homophobia up close and personal, and never recovered. Rikker helped Graham to see the better side of coming out–in some ways. It wasn’t easy for Rikker by any stretch. The media attention wasn’t pleasant, and Graham certainly didn’t want such a spotlight on his love life.
By the end, I swear, I was hearing OneRepublic banging their drums in my brain and I was drinking the sweet, sweet nectar of a satisfying read where the Love [never] Runs Out.
This was a fave book for me–gay, straight, erotic, whatever. It’s a powerful read and handles homophobia, closet-cases, unintentional outing, isolation, and sports in such a commanding way. There is little sex, but when it’s there it is amazingly rendered in the emotional context of the story. I hoped so hard for these two men to find their path together, and I think the arrangement they contrive at the end is more HEA than Happy For Now. (Well, I HOPE it is!)
Interested? You can find THE UNDERSTATEMENT OF THE YEAR on AMAZON, B&N KOBO, and iBOOKS. It is the third book in the Ivy Years series, but it reads as a standalone.
Previous books in the series:
#1 The Year We Fell Down (March 2014)
#2 The Year We Hid Away (June 2014)
#2.5 Blonde Date (July 2014)
#3 The Understatement of the Year (October 1st, 2014)
About the author:
Sarina Bowen makes her home in the Green Mountains of Vermont, where she lives with her family, eight chickens and a large pile of skis and hockey equipment. She is a graduate of Yale University. You can catch up with Sarina online via Email, her website, Twitter, and Facebook.
***GIVEAWAY***
Click the Rafflecopter link below for your chance to win
a signed copy of one IVY YEARS book (4 winners, win choice)
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Good luck and keep reading my friends!
Four Men. Four Loves. Gold Medals. WATER MUSIC–A Review
Hi all! Today I’d like to share a contemporary M/M romance that is on the darker edge. WATER MUSIC, by Georgette Gouveia, just shook me up. It stirred me. It spilled me into an ice-filled glass and left me punch drunk.
Four points of view. Four young virile men. Four tragic stories of love and loss and abuse and hope.
About the book:
Rivals, friends, lovers
Daniel and Dylan are the top swimmers in the world; Alex and Alí, the top tennis players. They play for God, country, family, and the need to escape their troubled pasts. In their quest to be the best, they also harbor a secret: Each is in love with his rival.
The four hit it off at the Summer Olympics in New York and reconnect on an island vacation that gives new meaning to doubles, round-robin, and preliminary heats. By then, the shifting professional fortunes of each couple have begun to signal a change in their personal relationships as well, one that will lead to new alliances and betrayal and engulf them in tragedy.
Told from their alternating viewpoints, Water Music is about power, jealousy, dominance, and submission. It’s about how the past informs the present and the future and how the choices made by nations, our families, and ourselves color our lives. Ultimately, it’s the story of how we come to accept those choices and learn to live with loss through love.
My Review:
Dylan and Daniel are Olympic-caliber swimmers. They meet at training camp in their late teens and end up being roommates. Dylan has suffered great losses: his mother suffered early onset dementia, and his father became abusive in his frustration. Dylan took the brunt of the abuse before his mom committed suicide and Dylan and his younger brothers were cared for by their aunt. Dylan’s father is wealthy, but he won’t take any support, and uses his swimming endorsements to supplement his brothers’ care, and eventual college tuition. Daniel’s parents divorced years ago, splitting Daniel from his twin sister who was later killed in a horseback riding accident. Daniel feels like the less worthy child. When he and Dylan connect, they experience the first real affection they’ve had since childhood. Daniel insists to stay closeted, and compels Dylan to, as well. In their relationship, Daniel would be the Top, but he’s physically and emotionally abusive to Dylan–something that starts small and grows, particularly as Dylan become the better swimmer of the two.
Alex and Ali are professional tennis players. Alex is closeted, and Ali has had a horrific life which he keeps closeted. Ali learned tennis in Iraq under the American “occupation” when he is befriended by a soldier. For years he plays there, entertaining the troops, until his pal is killed and Ali is “adopted” by a pedophilic defense contractor. Through this man’s connections, Ali’s family is able to obtain asylum with relatives in France–meanwhile Ali suffers molestation for years in the US. He is despised by his molestor’s family, but can’t escape as he is constantly being promoted in the media as a tennis phenom and he fears loss of his visa. When Ali’s abuser dies suddenly, his widow kicks Ali out with a check of “hush money” and a promise to ruin his reputation if Ali ever tells his story. Ali invests his money in his training so that he can become a top pro.
In reaching his peak Ali encounters Alex, the Number One pro on the tennis tour. Alex is attracted to Ali, and they begin a relationship–in the closet. This benefits them both, but things sour as Ali continues to climb the ranks and soon bests Alex.
Daniel and Dylan meet Alex and Ali in the Olympics. They hit it off and become very friendly. (Expect ménage though it’s subtle) their joined experience marks an end–and a new beginning. Dylan sees that Daniel can’t be the man he needs. Ali and Dylan become closer, and potential exists between them, however both Ali and Dylan receive unwelcome health news that shatters one life and cripples the other.
Just when Daniel realizes that he can’t live without Dylan is exactly when he learns he’ll have to. And Alex, the ironic one, loses the biggest competition of his life–with his own ego.
So many lives intersect in this book. The secondary characters, even the “ghosts” of Dylan’s mother and Daniel’s sister, become necessary. The writing is fluid and beautiful. Each man is so well-characterized I could almost expect to see any of them lifting a gold medal to the sky. The triumphs and travails were so outrageously conceived: who could envision a war waif becoming the top pro in tennis? Who could envision a swimmer who fears the ocean? And yet all of these made perfect sense here. I was simply captivated.
Smexytimes were brief and understated, in keeping with the down-low types of relationships the men preferred. The internalization of abuse, by both Dylan and Ali, was heartbreaking. Too many times I just wanted to hug Dylan. I know I wept for him. For Ali, I was chilled.
Books like this remind me to wonder what happens behind the veil of sports and celebrity. Bravo! I obtained this book from NetGalley. This is my honest review.
Interested? You can find WATER MUSIC on Goodreads, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble.
About the author:
Georgette Gouveia was the senior cultural writer with Gannett Inc. and currently is editor of WAG magazine. She graduated from Sarah Lawrence College where she studied with Grace Paley and earned a bachelor of arts degree and a master of arts in critical writing. She is the author of “The Essential Mary Cassatt”.
“Water Music” is her first published novel.
When she’s not writing and editing, Georgette likes to sing coloratura arias, decorate her home, do yoga and lift weights, indulge her passion for beautiful things, including men, collect Hello Kitty, argue with her uncle about sports and revel in her spinsterhood.
You can find Georgette on her website, Facebook, and twitter.
Thanks for popping in, and keep reading my friends!
Sporty Romance Double Feature? Game On!
Since opening my blog I’ve had the best time interacting with authors and other bloggers and publishing folks or many stripes. For an aspiring author it’s been such a kick to learn all the stuff that happens AFTER you finish a book. Building these connections is a wondrous benefit to doing something I love–reading.
In this way, I feel blessed to find authors who reach out and embrace bloggers and what we do/how we support and nurture their work in a very real sense. Karen Erickson aka Miss Monica Murphy is one such author–and when she was offering up her newest release for review? I was all:
GAME FOR TROUBLE is the second in her Game For It series–and I seriously loved it. It drops TODAY–so here’s a sneak peek!
But, before I chat about it, perhaps we should set the scene with GAME FOR MARRIAGE–the one that started it all…
Jared Quinn is a Super Bowl winning quarterback and a rake. Yeah, he’s not just been around the block, he freaking owns the block, and could have limos drive him and his gals around and around. His team’s new owner isn’t happy with his bad boy image. Too much negative publicity and a nagging injury are threatening his contract. The PR department has a brilliant plan: get Jared married–toot-sweet…
Sheridan Harper is an artist with a funding problem. Though she has a beautiful studio, she can barely pay the expenses. It’s make-it-or-break-it-time and she’s not sure she has what it takes to make it. She meets Jared at a local festival and his admiration for her paintings lulls her into a drink, and another, and a wild night of well…hot monkey love.
Little could she have predicted Jared appearing at her studio the next morning with an (in)decent proposal.
One year of marriage + Non-disclosure = Money and publicity for her studio.
All she has to say is: I do…
Well, she does. Before you all start yelling “Sell out!” and burning your PRETTY WOMAN VHS’s in protest, Sheridan negotiates a No Sex clause in the contract thinking this will protect her from actually becoming attached to Jared. See, she’s smitten. Jared’s a bona fide studmuffinsexgodextraordinaire, and Sheridan’s horrified that she’ll fall totally heart over heels only to have Jared walk away after 365 days of fake wedded bliss.
Only, she has no idea he’s smitten too.
Oh! It’s a fun, fun, FUN read. The usual complications ensue with a push-pull of sexual tension and eventual crash-and-burn. But yeah, it’s handled well and the HEA is de-lish.
Interested? Pick it up here: GOODREADS AMAZON Barnes & Noble
For part deux, GAME FOR TROUBLE, Jared’s teammate and BFF Nick Hamilton has it bad for Willow 
Cavanaugh–the BFF of Sheridan Quinn.
Willow’s the stereotypical poor little rich girl. Her daddy’s a powerful entertainment lawyer and her mommy’s long gone to Europe. Willow’s desperate to make it on her own–and is finally finding success as a specialty caterer. All she needs is a great property to kick her business plans into fast-forward. Right now, it’s all about her career, and not at all about her love life, which pretty much sucks since she was royally dissed by Nick Hamilton six years ago.
Reunited by their mutual friends, Nick Hamilton is finally in finally in position to reclaim the girl he let go–at her father’s strong request [read: blackmail]. He may have moved on in body, but never in spirit and Fate seems to have aligned their stars. He owns the VERY property Willow wants to lease. And he’s willing to rent it at a discount, if she’ll agree to 10 dates–with him.
The negotiations are fierce, and in the end they settle on 8 dates, but the die is cast. These two are gas and blowtorch. When they aren’t fighting, they’re naked. Okay, slight exaggeration. But seriously, there’s plenty of naked times…
Still, Willow can’t fully trust Nick, he’s surely going to abandon her–again–just like everybody else has. As steadfast as Nick tries to be, he’s put-off by her constant reticence. The break-up-to-make-up isn’t long and the HEA is as believable as any other.
Interested? This book comes out TODAY–Pick it up here: GOODREADS AMAZON Barnes & Noble
As these two stories follow the love-lives of two football players, it’s clear that our next Game For It novel will feature another teammate. What do I say to that?
HIKE!
So, if you read either of these books remember to let me know what you thought of them in the comments.
And, as always, keep reading, my friends! 🙂
V's Reads... 