Review: The Accidental Baker by Clare London

Donnie Watson's baking disasters are legendary, but this Easter, his mismatched chocolate eggs bring accidental but astonishing results to four downhearted gay men. The chocolate sweets spill onto the pavement of a small parade of local shops—and go on a matchmaking tour like no other! From a bankrupt and betrayed baker, to a homeless but hopeful man, to a conceited bar owner in need of a reality check, and finally to the hapless but caring Donnie himself.

After all, Love means you can have chocolate too!

The Accidental Baker is a sweet set of vignettes that gives the meet-cutes for four men as they navigate the unexpected beginnings of potential HEAs. The common thread in this anthology is Donnie and his baking disasters. Donnie is a sweetheart of a man who is perpetually single so he spends a lot of time volunteering and donating baked goods for different fundraisers. His heart is in the right place but his skills in the baking department are seriously lacking.

It’s best to know what you are going into with the Accidental Baker so that you can appreciate what’s here and not get fussy about what’s “missing”. Each tale begins with a meeting and optimism for more and while there is plenty of romance there’s no steam and if you know all that going in, you can enjoy the thrill of the potential romance without looking for more.

The book begins and ends with Donnie and while the stories are short, the author doesn’t skimp on showing you who the characters are. As I said, Donnie is a complete sweetheart and his setup says a lot about him. His giving nature made me want love for him and I wanted him to succeed at everything. The time he spends with Will is honest and their banter is endearing. These two were perfect for each other.

Story two is about Simon who is at a crossroads after losing his partner and his bakery after said partner took off with all the money and left Simon on his own with no place to live, no business and no money. He stops by his old bakery to pick up the last of his things and meets the new owner/baker. The ensuing conversation leads to opportunities for both men on the professional and personal fronts. Simon has been through a lot so the hopefulness in this one was sweet to read.

Jez’s story was my favorite and the one that left me wanting more, more so than any of the others. There was a lot to unpack in this one and the balance the author struck was just right considering the length of the story. This one would take a lot to fully flesh out in novel length, but it’s a story I would love to read.

The final lovelorn soul is Henry, Donnie’s best friend and honestly, when I met him in the beginning, I thought he was a total dick. I mean, that’s his thing, his big issue and he has a good set of baggage to overcome. His story was pretty intense and while I don’t think it was a believable beginning for him, I still wanted him to have it after reading about his hangups.

Overall, none of these stories moved at a super realistic pace. They couldn’t just leave one another after swapping phone numbers and a hope for a future date or anything. There had to be more to give the book the meat it needed. Everything was a bit accelerated, but if you just want to dig into some sweet, sweet romance with potential, then it’s easy to let that go and enjoy the ride.

**a copy of this story was provided for an honest review**

Review: Dragon Fire, Angel Light by Shara Godwinson

William is a dragon shifter who, despite having lived for over two thousand years, has never found a true love. When he meets Evyn, a quirky musician/journalist who wants to be a real photographer, he immediately finds him irresistible.

But Evyn’s a little supernatural too, and an evil brotherhood and a band of soul reavers are after him to destroy his pure soul.

Can William protect his love from evil?

Oh my.

I’m always drawn to dragon stories and I loved the blurb for Dragon Fire, Angel Light. The beginning was promising, set in the time of the Battle of Hastings, the language was formal, a little stiff, but it fit the historical setting. Fine, we’re good. As dragons live for centuries, the story moves ahead with the same characters to modern times and from there on out, the story just fell apart. Well, to be honest, it didn’t fall apart, as it never got off the ground.

We’re introduced to William in the beginning and he meets and falls for Evyn, so we are told and therein lies the problem we’re told everything but shown very little. I never did get the connection between William and Evyn even though I was told they were soul mates. There was little to no relationship building on page and this ended up being one of the least romantic romances I’ve read. The stilted language and clinically described sex scenes were off-putting at best. I was convinced at this point that the romance could not be the apex of this story, but was secondary to the paranormal battle that was coming between the Brotherhood and the “Monsters”.

At one point William agrees to have Evyn locked up “for his safety”. I guess? And William can’t deal, so he bails for a couple of weeks and Evyn is left, chained up as a virtual prisoner in a cage with no explanation, no answers. Evyn has told William about his past, including similar treatment by his family growing up, so on what planet or alternative universe is this OK for the love of your life? William finally gets his guts together, returns and Evyn forgives him in a matter of moments. I mean, What? How? More importantly, WHY?

There was a lot of references to past hurts and trauma, all of which seemed to be mentioned then dropped with no resolution, including Evyn’s imprisonment. The references seemed to be used and therefore cheapened to make some kind of point but they were not necessarily relevant. The story was trying to have a hurt/comfort plotpoint without the comfort to balance the hurt. William’s relationship with Mark, the dragon he had relations with in one form or another through history was piecemeal and inconsistent. William suffered domestic violence and torture at the hands of Mark and their resolution was brushed off so quickly it added nothing to the story or to William as a character. Why was Mark even still around? It made no sense.

The introduction of secondary characters, with incomplete storylines, would have led me to believe that there are more stories to come, but there is no alluding to it, therefore many secondary’s served no purpose to the plot. So many of them were killed off (with no sadness or mourning by the MC’s, like AT ALL) or left hanging so when I went to the next page and saw “Epilogue”, I was honestly confused. Nothing was really resolved. The bad guys were not defeated, and again, many characters were left with no wrap up, it’s like the author just got tired of the story and decided to end it where it stood.

I was disappointed that the execution of the story didn’t live up to the blurb.

That cover though? Gorgeous!

**a copy of this story was provided for an honest review**

Review: Safe Haven by Caitlin Ricci

Being alone was what Blake had always needed before his new team of bodyguards arrived.

Now things might be very different. At seven years old, Blake’s life was destroyed when he and his parents were abducted and he watched them being murdered. Now, twenty years later, he refuses to leave the house and he lives in a constant state of fear. He has a bodyguard around the clock, a housekeeper who has never seen his face and an uncle who checks on him often but isn’t all that close to him. Blake likes his isolation where only his cat really knows him. 

His bodyguard of eight years is ready to retire, leaving his life in turmoil again. Blake isn’t good with people in general, and new people are the worst. But he needs someone in his house all the time to make him feel safe. His uncle hires a team of bodyguards to replace his old one—Malcolm, CJ and Rex. They come highly recommended, and they’re good at what they do.

They’re also together and it’s a relationship that Blake is instantly fascinated by. He’s never been interested in another person before, and he hasn’t had a real friend since his parents died, because he has refused to leave the house. But with the three of them trying to be there for him, he begins to want a life he has been convinced up to now would be completely impossible.

After I read this one I had to sit on it for a few days. I’ve come to the same conclusion after a couple of days that I had right after I finished. This story is slightly fucked up. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, I mean, if the bodyguard trope with a big side of hurt/comfort is your jam, you’ll eat this one up. I found the blurb a little misleading and you should know that before going in. I had the impression this was going to be a four way relationship story, but it was really more of a character study on Blake. This bulk of the book is in his head and his struggles to work through his trauma. I could have gotten behind that story, it would have been really interesting if incredibly heavy.

That’s not what I got though. Blake struggled and the new bodyguards, Malcolm, CJ and Rex comforted him, in . . . ways . . .I . . .just can’t even. Ok, so you know how we’re all familiar with the magic peen? How the alpha male comes along and solves ALL the problems of the hurt MC with his cure-all boner? That magic peen? Well, considering how incredibly damaged Blake was I was ready to ride the magic peen trope pony into this one, kindle a blazing. I figured it would take all three fantastical dicks to get Blake and I healed by the end. BUT, and this is a really big BUT, there is virtually no peen to be found.

In and of itself, a peen free story is not a bad thing and while it wasn’t what I expected, honestly, as messed up as Blake was, a story chock full of dong would have been super weird. My issue was with how Malcolm, CJ and Rex got through to Blake and how Blake accepted the weirdest crap from them. As I said, the story is all from Blake, so the bodyguards are never really fully fleshed out characters and the only real thing I now about them is how each of them fills a specific void in Blake’s psyche. One’s a comforter, one’s a protector and one pushes Blake to challenge his limits. Sounds pretty good huh?

I am by no means a mental health expert, but FFS, I know when a guy hasn’t had physical contact with anyone or stepped outside in twenty years, one of the bodyguards should not pin him down and tell Blake how much power he has over him and how he could hurt him but won’t and isn’t that great, doesn’t Blake feel safer now? I’m thinking that’s the exact opposite of what your bodyguard should do. Said bodyguard should also probably not beat off in front of the camera that connects to Blake’s room because he’s sure Blake is watching, will like it and “wants” them. Seriously, if I’M saying something is inappropriate, it is really, really, really inappropriate. This all happens during the first week or two they work there and while I was slightly horrified, Blake loved it, so who the hell am I to judge really.

All I can say is, if you’re going in, leave reality at the door. All the reality. Blake’s a really likable character and I couldn’t help but root for the guy, plus the story is well written and easy to get sucked into. And Blake did get his HEA, which made me happy. The four ended up with an epilogue that made all their dreams come true. We don’t really know how they got there, but they did and Blake deserved it no matter how unrealistic the journey.

For more information on Safe Haven, check it out on Goodreads.

**a copy of this story was provided for an honest review**

Release Day Review: What the Carpenter Saw by Vicki Reese

Wounded warrior Jake Cramer returned from the Middle East missing part of one leg and with a partially paralyzed left arm. He feels useless in his family’s construction business, but carpentry is all he knows. He needs to relearn how to work and how to live. He can’t even consider finding a man to love. Who would want him this way?

Alex Ford is a top-of-the-line architect who’s tired of big cities and wants to settle down, maybe run a small inn. The mansion he inherited from his grandparents might be the ticket to his dream, but it needs a lot of work. When he meets the handsome builder, he knows he’s made the right decision. He just needs to convince Jake that his scars don’t matter. Unfortunately Alex’s greedy family has other ideas, and they’re determined to ruin Alex’s plans and take the inheritance for themselves—even if they have to kill to do it.

If you like Lifetime movies, this book will be for you.

Unfortunately I do not.

The story of Alex and Jake just skimmed the surface of every plot point so everything got wrapped up quickly and cleanly, but there was no true conflict, no meat to dig into and make the characters relatable. It’s hard to connect with one dimensional MC’s and I was bummed because I wanted to connect with these guys.

The set up was gold. A wounded veteran, Jake, is back home and working his way back into civilian life, his family’s construction company bids on a remodel of a historic mansion which happens to be owned by a world renowned architect, Alex. There’s attraction, because, of course there is, but Jake doesn’t think he could ever be worthy of someone like Alex and Alex is longing for a quiet life with someone who loves him for himself. And THAT is where the focus should have stayed. While the idea is not overly original, it’s one that many readers love. Character depth would have been enough to carry this story as is.

But, there was a murder mystery and a LOT of family time thrown in there that detracted from the Alex and Jake time that I wanted. The two actually spent little alone time together so I never got a real feel for them as individuals much less as a couple.

The murder mystery was unnecessary and the evil villain/s were textbook. I don’t want a textbook villain, I want someone with motives more than money, if a book is going to have a bad guy I want one with issues, I want a bit of a character study, I want to feel some empathy and then feel icky for feeling it. With this one I got some money hungry, jealous caricatures and little else but a distraction from Alex and Jake.

The family involvement wasn’t just present it was excessive. I think I knew more about Alex’s sister than I did about Jake. The conversations between Alex, his sister and Jake’s family were so familiar, so fast that it read false. No one makes that many confessions and observations at a first get together or a second or even a third. And then there were so many dialogues that ended with one character making a crack and “everyone laughed” it felt like I was reading a laugh track that wasn’t necessarily funny, just forced.

What was really good was the writing overall. It read easily, it flowed well and it wrapped up all the random strings that were presented throughout the story. For that reason alone I’d read another book by this author. I’m hoping with some additional stories there will be more of a unique voice to the writing and the characters.

For more info on What the Carpenter Saw, visit Dreamspinner Press

**a copy of this story was provided for an honest review**

Release Day Review: The Winter Prince by R. Cooper

His heart stolen by a powerful pari’s magic, a young prince’s veins slowly fill with ice. That is what the stories say. Three years have passed since, and all efforts to save Kisin have failed. He won’t survive another winter. To save the prince’s life, Razin, the court wizard and Kisin’s childhood friend, plans to seek out the pari. But unbeknownst to Razin, Kisin’s heart was never stolen; he gave it freely to escape the pain of impossible love—his love for Razin. Razin won’t accept Kisin’s fate, for reasons obvious to anyone who knows anything of love.

Kisin agrees to the desperate quest, out of duty and a need to protect Razin. But it isn’t long before Razin realizes saving his prince will require more than simply retrieving his heart. Razin will have to convince him to want it.

I’m a big fan of fairy tales and especially the ones that have a little extra grit to keep them interesting. I’m also a big fan of R. Cooper’s writes, if you haven’t read Dancing Lessons yet, you really need to. So, I was really looking forward to reading this one. The premise sounded unique and in that way the book did not disappoint. The language the author used was beautiful and there was symbolism aplenty.

The Winter Prince himself goes by a few names, see, in his culture their names change as they age. It sounds like it would have been hard to follow, but it really wasn’t. I still don’t really get/remember what every incarnation meant so some of that was lost on me, but for the majority of the book he was Kisin. I He was also known, from his younger days, as Arrow and I liked that name best. It suited him.

The rumor is Kisin gave his heart away to a pari, a kind of angelic fairy dude. (I had to GTS – google that shit) but I could figure it out from the context. It was generally assumed that his heart had been seduced away from him and he was left without any means to keep him warm not just physically, but emotionally. The author did a really good job with the descriptions here. I was cold just reading it and my heart really hurt for Kisin. You know how, when you’re REALLY cold and how much it hurts when you’re exposed to too much heat too fast? It’s almost like the cold is better because you’ve gotten used to it? That’s how Kisin feels ALL the time. He’s incredibly loyal and noble, he is a prince and the leader of the immortal guards after all, so he tries not to let anyone in on how bad his condition has become. Everyone knows though and before long the conclusion is reached that Kisin will likely not survive another winter without his heart and he and the wizard’s apprentice head out on their quest to retrieve his heart.

Now, the wizard’s apprentice, Razin, is everything warm to Kisin’s cold. All words to describe him ring of warmth. He’s described as “slight, and brown as rosewood . . . “ with “eyes the color of cassia”. Rosewood being found in tropical climates and cassia being the bark of the “true” cinnamon tree, both things that brought warmth to my mind. He dresses in robes the color of pomegranate and it’s pretty obvious that Kisin is a smitten kitten for Razin. And vice versa. This is where I had my troubles with the story. I had the complete setup for an epic adventure of a fairy tale.

The only thing that left me wanting by the end of this book, was actually less. I wanted less.

Let me try to explain. The first 60-ish% of the book is the setup and conversations between the two MC’s, lots of conversations that didn’t move the story forward. Neither of them opened up to share their feelings beyond reminiscence of their childhood friendship, and they were both obviously a little fussy about being together. Being near the one they wanted most but didn’t think they could ever have for all kinds of royalty rules reasons made for snippy traveling companions. They had all manner of slightly cryptic conversations that said lots of words without saying much and then just when the conversation miiiiight move forward and enlighten the other MC (and me) as to why they’re in the situation they’re in . . . .BAM! Interruption! And then they continued questing without a new hint to keep me hooked on the WHY??? I would be OK with it if I learned a little something new each time, but it was not to be. It felt much longer than it actually was and that was frustrating.

Once the book went past the 60% mark, things really got rolling and my interest was all in. A couple new characters had been introduced that made everything more interesting and the two MC’s finally, FINALLY, started talking. The beautiful language continued, it had some meaning to it, and the story moved forward. There was some pretty good heroic action that was fun to read and a factor that every good fairy tale should have.

The ending came pretty quickly and I wished I could have had a little more of them together to get my brain wrapped up in an HEA for Kisin and Razin. I liked them together a lot, Razin’s snarky endearments for Kisin, when he would call him his “dull Arrow” or his “sharp Arrow” depending on the conversation were really cute. Just when I got my reading reward of the two of them finally together the book was over. It’s hard for me to get completely invested in a relationship when it took most of the book for them to even admit their feelings. In the end I just needed less conversation in the beginning and more at the end to balance out the story.

One last note about the cover, not something I would mention and I digress from the story here, but I’m not sure which of these guys is supposed to be Razin but neither is how he was depicted in the book. Or even Kisin for that matter. Neither of those guys is him either. That’s a bummer, because I loved how they were described and even slightly more representative pictures of them would have been a real plus. Kind of an opportunity for an amazing cover wasted considering how visually descriptive and visceral the writing was. This book deserved better representation on its cover.

For more information and purchase information on The Winter Prince, visit Dreamspinner Press.

**a copy of this story was provided by the publisher for an honest review**