Aria Grace

Travis has always had to take care of himself. He was raised by nannies and lost his only parent when he was young. He was left with a lot of wealth and a caring uncle, but not the kind of affection and personal care he's been craving his whole life. He's there for anyone who needs him and has devoted his life to creating custom "stuffies" for people who need something special that was made just for them. But he has a secret that he can barely admit to himself. There is no way he'll ever be show more able to admit it to someone else...even if that means he'll never truly be happy. Then there is Jared, who has been the head of security at Primal, the local Kink Club, for years. He's never connected with anyone who was right for him. Also, he's coming to terms with the fact that he probably never will. By a stroke of fate, he meets Travis, a sweet "little" who looks out of place in every sense of word, but he can instantly tell what that boy truly needs. The trick is to get Travis to admit it to them both.
Travis, who is a "stuffie", (plush animals), maker, decides that he’s going to go to the BDSM Club, Primal. Primal is own by his uncles and he deliberately waited until they weren’t going to be there to go. He didn’t want his uncles to know that he was "little" for fear that they would reject him. When he shows up, he enters the "little’s" playroom where Jared, who is the club's head of security sees him. Jared notices that Travis was shy but that he wants to play but doesn’t know how to approach the other "littles".

He goes to Travis, and to his surprise he starts to talk with him and asks about his "stuffie". Travis tells him that he had made it. Jared asks him about maybe making one for his little niece. Travis gives him his business card, and the next day Jared sends him an order for a very, very special Zebra. Travis is inspired by Jared's interest and makes Jared's niece the most beautiful Zebra Jared he had ever seen. Finally, Jared gets up nerve enough to ask Travis to go on a dinner date, and Travis quickly accepts.

The chemistry is a little "iffy" with these two but nevertheless they do make a cute couple. To find out how it all turns out for them, you'll have to read the rest of the story yourself:) Its adorable! The only thing that I thought could have helped the story bit more, was if it had been a just a bit longer... but I loved it, so it gets 5 fuzzy stars. show less

The Mistletoe Promise is the story of omega Everett, and Alpha Graham. It’s told in first person through both of their povs.

2.5 Stars



First, I’ll start off with the cover. I like the Christmassy feel of it, it’s pretty. But I don’t think the two men remind me of Everett or Graham.

The plot starts with Graham being stood up for dinner and Everett happens to arrive at the restaurant and they decide to eat dinner together. They have a great time and both are attracted to each other. They show more kiss under the mistletoe then go their separate ways for a year. The reason is Everett is pregnant and he doesn’t want to get involved yet. But they sort of tentatively agree to meet at the restaurant again the next year. In the meanwhile, there is a big jump in time of a year while both men think of the other a lot. I didn’t like the time jump as Everett goes about his life and has the baby. If it was a prologue, I don’t think the jump would’ve bothered me as much, but it wasn’t. Everett made a big deal about getting pregnant, but the whole event was glossed over. Next thing readers know, he has a kid.

The characters are nice, although I don’t remember it being mentioned what they did other than, their jobs were stressful. They seemed to fit together. The daughter, Seri, was cute and wasn’t an annoying child.

As to the story, I honestly have to say, nothing really happens. I’m writing this review and I can’t remember anything significant or anything that pops out about the story. Not even about their relationship except how they meet and the end. What I do remember is the endless monologue. There’s hardly any dialogue or action. Just loads of the characters telling and telling and talking about what they think, what they feel, and what’s going on around them. It’s like listening to a person in your living room or at the water cooler droning on about something, and you not caring what they are saying because their talk doesn’t make you feel anything. And that was a big problem with the story. All the monologue didn’t pull me in, or make me feel. For example, one of the lines said by Everett is: ‘No, I wanted to experience this joy as fully as possible.’ He’s telling me about the joy, he’s not making me feel his joy. The whole story is like this, just telling they felt happy, or sad, but not really conveying it through any of the senses or descriptions. Most authors have a problem with that when they write in first person, and very few can write first person well. When I finished the book, I was bothered by the way it was written and I kept asking myself why? I realized it was because the authors relied on the characters to just ‘tell’ readers about their emotions and the environment without the authors making the effort to really dig into the emotions of the characters and convey it to the readers. It was like surface writing, rather than diving deep. That to me is lazy writing. So, I’m going to be in the minority about liking the book. If the loads of monologue were jettisoned, this would be about one-fourth the length it is now. A short story might’ve been a lot more interesting instead of being full of filler.

Overall, the characters were fine, the daughter cute, the idea behind the plot was good, but was poorly executed. And I don’t like saying that because I love Christmas stories. It’s almost impossible for me to dislike one. I’m guessing many will like this story because of the holiday cuteness, which this does have, but I want more than that in a story I read. I don’t want to be bored by endless monologue that doesn’t pull me in or make me feel. I want to give The Mistletoe Promise, 2.5 Stars, but I can’t for the GR rating system, so I give it 2 Stars.

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When It’s Right is the first book in the ‘Mile High Romance’ series. The three books in this series was gifted to me by the author for honest reviews. This first story was written for the M/M Romance Group’s ‘Love Has No Boundaries’ DRitC event. The MCs are Shane Greenly who left Wyoming because of his family’s homophobia. He’s moved to Colorado with the dream of starting his own dog training ranch. Alex is the other MC and the two men meet because of Alex’s dog Stormy. The show more story is told in first person through both MCs povs.

3.5 Stars

Additional note 2/4/18: This book should not be considered a HEA, rather a HFN. Book 10 includes the death of one of the MCs so as to bring in a new partner for the other. I have no intention of reading Book 10 because I believe it is a terrible thing to do to the established couple whether for emotional impact or to introduce a new couple. Therefore for me, this series will end at Book 9. If you don't like being devastated by MCs torn apart, I'd suggest either skipping the last book in the series, or skipping this book so that what happens to the MCs doesn't hurt. But I would not consider this book a HEA because of what happens in Book 10.



I should mention that I read the third book of this series before I read this story. Since this book is free through the M/M Romance group, All Romance and Amazon, I suggest reading this book first.

Shane and Alex first meet at the vet’s office. The attraction between the two men is instant. Alex’s dog Stormy has injured her leg and will be put in a cast. Unfortunately Alex needs someone to look after his dog while he’s away on a business trip and Shane volunteers. Thus begins their relationship.

I liked Alex. He was flirty, had a good sense of humor and when the serious part of the story came up, the author did a good job of conveying Alex’s anxiety and fear. Shane always had this edge of caution about him and a sadness. A wariness about opening himself up and when he did, he could swiftly close the door to any attachment. The one issue I had with the characters is that Alex was more forward in the beginning and Shane more shy. Then after Shane's first experience with Alex he quickly acts like the more experienced partner and Alex becomes more demure is the only way I can put it. I have a difficult time with characters when authors feel in order to make one character grow and become more outgoing, the other character has to diminish in personality. That was my main issue with this story.

There was a secret in Shane’s past that he hadn’t told Alex about, that came back to bite him later. The author did a good job of hinting about that ‘something’ as the story went on. But, when it was revealed I was still surprised. I felt sorry for Alex about what happened, but at the same time, he agreed. I guess a reader could consider that issue, which happened off page and over a year ago, to be dub-con. This secret created good conflict in the story and I can see how Alex felt shame and guilt about what had happened and how he had to accept responsibility. He makes a decision without telling Alex and creates a lot of pain for Alex. There is a HFN however, which you’ll just have to read to find out how that happens.

As with the other books I’ve read by this author, I like the plots and characters in her stories. I find them to be slightly different from the other M/M romances I’ve read. When It’s Right is a fast, light angst read. I liked the MCs and the secondary characters. I give this book 4 Stars

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I really liked this story. The coming out process of these two young men doesn't match my experience at all, but I've known people who came out later in college. Most of them had some clue about their sexuality before that, but these two seemed to have been clueless. That's the most foreign part for me and the part that's hardest to understand. Having said that, when they do come out, they come out quickly and completely. There is some angst, some relationship drama, some hand-wringing. It's show more all done quite well though. The narrator was great too! show less