Guest Review: Love on Location by Lucy Felthouse

When Theo Samuels heads off to film on location in the village of Stoneydale, he’s expecting drama to take place on camera, not off. But when he meets gorgeous local lad, Eddie Henderson, he struggles to ignore his attraction. A relationship between the two of them would be utterly impractical, yet they’re drawn together nonetheless. Can they overcome the seemingly endless hurdles between them? Or is their fling destined to remain as just that?

Note: Love on Location has been previously released as part of the Brit Boys: On Boys boxed set.

Guest Reviewer: Chelsea

Eddie and Theo meet in a small English village where Theo has the leading role in a new film. They have an instant attraction to each other, but due to the fact that they’re both not out yet, they instead start a friendship and a secret affair.

These two were very cute together, they were like shy bumbling teenagers, including all of the emotional outbursts. Unfortunately I felt that the romantic side was rather rushed, but I did enjoy reading about their developing friendship, and the sex scene was extremely hot.

“...all I can think about is parting those pale cheeks, exposing your tight hole, lubing you up and pushing deep inside…”

However, it’s very mean to tease me with a line like this…

“He’d always been fond of rough play in the bedroom—fast, furious fucking, biting, scratching, even some spanking.”

...and not deliver!

The problem with this story was it wasn’t anything particularly special. It had no unique qualities that made it stand out as either a celebrity story or a friends-to-lovers.

There was also a bit of a time jump which took most of the romantic development of their relationship away. I would have loved to have seen the friendship and lust turn into love. It would have made the ending more meaningful as well, if we'd seen their feelings for each other grow, rather than just cutting past it all.

This was a sweet book, I enjoyed the characters and their friendship but the romantic relationship was lacking, it just didn't have that wow factor. Maybe some spanking would have helped ;-)

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Review: Eyes Wide Open (Totally Five Star #1) by Lucy Felthouse

An ordinary girl catapulted into an extraordinary world meets two even more extraordinary men—but what will she do when she discovers their sexy secret?

Fiona Gillespie moved to London shortly after graduating to take advantage of the opportunities the capital could offer. However, months later, she’s still living in a horrid flat and working in a grimy East End pub. The problem is, she doesn’t really know what she wants to do, career-wise. So when she happens upon an advertisement for a job at a plush Mayfair hotel, she jumps at the chance. A great deal of determination and a spot of luck land Fiona her dream role.

But working at the Totally Five Star London is just the beginning. She adores the role and flourishes, impressing her bosses and making her increasingly determined to climb the career ladder.

While her career is flying, though, her love life is non-existent. She hasn’t even thought about men, never mind met or dated one for months, so when she bumps into two gorgeous businessmen in the hotel, she’s surprised to find her head has been well and truly turned. Even more surprisingly, they flirt with her—both of them! She’s drawn to James and Logan, despite feeling that they’re way out of her league.

When a misunderstanding leads Fiona to James and Logan’s sumptuous top-floor suite, she has no idea what she’s about to uncover. Scenes of people-trafficking, drug-pushing and wild sex parties all appear in her active imagination. Yet what she actually sees is something she’d never even considered before, something that piques her interest.

After discovering their sexy secret, what will she do with this new-found knowledge?

Reader Advisory: This book contains elements of BDSM, anal sex and double penetration. 

Duped Again!

I believe this is a case of it's me, not you. This is not a novice author and her ratings are high, so I thought I'd give her another go. But, I believe it's time for us to part ways. Her writing style and my reading preference have a slight... difference of opinion.

There is simply far too much focus on mundane details for me. There is interior decorating and then there's hoarding. The vast majority of Eyes Wide Open reads like a travel brochure extolling the grandeur of the Totally Five Star hotel and/or a love letter to London. Were I contemplating my next vacation destination I'd be compelled to consider adding London. Unfortunately, vacationing was the furthest thing from my mind when I chose Eyes Wide Open.

The entire story is told from the perspective of a vapid and insipid protagonist that I believe could do with a mood stabilizer. The first 20% was spent with her angsting over possibly not getting an entry level PR job at the hotel rather than character building. I wondered if there were a specified word count because a great deal of it was spent informing me of inane "facts" like water preventing dehydration and the importance of eating prior to drinking a bottle of champagne unless your objective is to get ugly drunk, all of which had the effect of making this 182 pg book feel like a 791 pg book. 

However, all of this pales in comparison to the fade to black m/m sex scene. See that singular there. Not plural, you'll notice. One scene! And after the two studs took care of her and were about to get the party started the damn lights got turned off! 

I'm not sure how a book containing an established couple in Logan and James could contain no MANLOVE, and by MANLOVE, I mean butt sex. But somehow there was only one nap worthy blow job. Actually, the sex as a whole was uninspired and predominantly filled with the insipid one's leaking lady garden when what I was looking for was Pound Town with a side of lady garden. 

The kink is humdrum as well. Logan's the dom, James his submissive and Fiona, a novice, is learning that she's a switch. Sort of. If you like BDSM 101 or very little kink in your kink then you will enjoy this book. There is a bit of flogging and spanking and a PVC school girl outfit that gets some mileage.  

I know nothing of these characters or what makes them tick nor do I understand what they see in Mary Sue, I mean Fiona. There's little to no chemistry between them and more telling than showing. Fiona is adored by everyone so much so that she has a coughing fit in a restaurant that almost garners the local news being called. Naturally, she's all, "shucks, fellas. You can't be interested in plain, lil ole me!" despite all evidence to the contrary. Logan and James are in some sort of business together that is lucrative since they can stay at the best most fabulous hotel OF ALL TIME a.k.a. Totally Five Star. They have sex a few times and then suddenly they're in love and want to be an established triad? My suspend disbelief only stretches so far and it did not include stretching to an HEA.

It's cute enough and there's clearly an audience for sugarkink fluff as the ratings attest. I'll likely not be subjecting this author to anymore of my lackluster reviews since I'm not part of that target audience. 

A review copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.


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Review: Uniform Fetish: Manlove Edition by Various Authors

Does the sight of a cop’s badge—or his handcuffs—make your pulse race? Do you drive by your local firehouse just to catch a glimpse of your favorite fireman? Ever peek in the cockpit just to check out the captain?

If you agree the only thing sexier than a man in uniform is a man out of uniform, you’ve come to the right place. We’ve handpicked an assortment of sizzling hot, uniformed heroes to satisfy your uniform fetish.

Rain and Promises by Elizabeth Monvey - 4 Hearts
This was super hot and so very sweet. It's an established couple story done right. The author managed to pack a lot into a short story with lots of subtle showing that I really appreciated.

Fine Dining by Nicola Cameron - 4 Hearts
Classy sexy men are very classy sexy in this one. They were very highbrow which is generally way outside my wheelhouse, but the characters were warm and loving so I fell for them anyway. Maybe not at the dirty cowboy level I normally do, but fell for them all the same I did.

The Layover by Gale Stanley - 1.5 Hearts
Hmmmmm. Well, cheating is my no fly zone <----see see what I did there? And in my mind you don't have to have sex to cheat, so the whole premise of the story wasn't working for me before I even started. It made both MC's unlikable for me and so when they got their happy ending all I could muster up was, "Good for you. I suppose." with a *smh* for good measure. If cheating isn't a hot button for you you'll probably like it, but, if you're like me, you'll have trouble.

Scars by the COX - 5 Hearts
No one writes inner dialog like the COX. I loved Devil and Gabe together. They are each dealing with demons from their time served and as much as Devil wants to hide away Gabe won't let him wither away on the mountain alone. When Devil realizes that he isn't the only one suffering and Gabe needs him, he's able to open up and they both get what they've always dreamed of. I'd read more contemporary by the COX any time.

A Walk on the Wild Side by Pelaam - 2.5 Hearts
It was good, just not real memorable. The mom was a convenient villain. She was a one dimensional caricature and it seemed too easy to blame everything on her. She deserved it, she was a royal bitch, but it was too easy and too extreme so the story lost credibility for me.

Real Life Role Play by Tamsin Baker - 2.5 Hearts
Tayte pissed me off. I felt bad for Lachlan because I really didn't see what he was doing so wrong for Tayte to be so irritable. He kind of came around in the end, but I didn't see enough of the good to reconcile the dickish behavior and internal dialog.

Mile High Rebound by L.D. Blakely - 4 Hearts
This one was completely charming. Being inside Will's head for his Mile High Rebound was pretty fun because his inner dialog cracked me up. "When your day starts out with such a heavy dose of suck, ambiance isn't nearly as important as alcohol content." No truer words were ever writ. Des is adorably slutty and I mean that in the best possible way. It's really just a story about a hot hook up with a smidge of optimism that they may meet/bone again. Good enough for me in a short story.

The British Are Coming by Lilith Duvalier - 3.5 Hearts
I liked this unique take on the uniform theme. Elijah is a historical reenactment volunteer and the annual event is extra significant this year as we gradually find out about his families struggles as the story evolves. His best friend Colin, is a total charmer and at first I thought those two were going to hook up. That would have been too obvious and convenient though and I liked what the author did with Elijah and his love interest Jasper. Jasper turns out to be the perfect guy at the perfect time.

Fired Up by Lucy Felthouse - 3.5 Hearts
A sweet story about second chances and not too overly convenient coincidences, but the coincidences did come in handy. I loved the conversation between Lucas and Greg as they got to know one another again. There was shy honestly that was incredibly sweet to read. Then it got damn hot.

**as previously posted on GR**

Review: Desert Heat by Lucy Felthouse

Their love is forbidden by rules, religion and risk. Yet still they can’t resist.

Captain Hugh Wilkes is on his last tour of duty in Afghanistan. The British Army is withdrawing, and Wilkes expects his posting to be event-free. That is, until he meets his Afghan interpreter, Rustam Balkhi, who awakens desires in Wilkes that he’d almost forgotten about, and that won’t be ignored.


Please note: this book was previously published as part of the Unconditional Surrender bundle.

I'm about to sound 16 different kinds of sexist. Apologies in advance for any butthurtedness I may cause.

This felt very m/f to me. Let me just clarify my position here. I've worked with soldiers. I have ex-military in my family. I've befriended active duty and veterans alike and the common denominator between them is they're all (to varying degrees) prickly hard-asses. They don't talk about their feelz unless there's some sort of dire consequence. In fact, let me tell you a story. A friend of mine's husband, a commissioned officer, had been on multiple tours to Iraq. At one point, the military made it "mandatory" that all returning service men and women have a psych eval. He didn't go. Ever. Neither did any of his friends/acquaintances/soldiers and that shit was MANDATORY. 

So the fact that the first time Wilkes and Balkhi take the fuck truck to Pound Town one of them brings up The L Word didn't strike me as very authentic. 

And the second time they're talking about their future? Together? After Wilkes has been mostly avoiding Balkhi since they got to the FOB? Maybe the falling into the love happened primarily off the page because it caught me off guard.

"I think I love you, Rustam Balkhi. Now please, make me come."

I'm not saying it couldn't happen I'm just saying I had a hard time believing a career soldier, a Captain no less, and a Muslim Afghani interpreter would be so forthcoming. I'm thinking their masking capabilities and stuffing their emotions would be highly attuned, so my suspend reality button didn't fully engage.

Anyway… the first 50% or so reads as a very dry account of military life on the FOB in contemporary Afghanistan in a fizzling war in a country still fraught with danger. Ms. Felthouse seems to have a firm grasp of military speak and the level of dexterity sometimes required interacting with a chain of command that showed but didn't make for an exciting read. 

The dialogue felt stilted more often than not and there was an excess of superfluous information that didn't serve a purpose. Case in point:

Reaching down, he grasped the base of the condom, holding it as Balkhi clambered off. Casting around for the wrapper, he removed the rubber and carefully stuffed it inside, then placed it on the sideboard, out of the way.

I didn't hate it and I would likely read something else from this author. I'm guessing she's fairly new to the m/m genre and I like where her head's at with choosing military MCs. That shows promise.

Recommend to military fans and those interested in dipping their toes into the m/m pond.

A review copy was provided in exchange for an honest opinion.

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