Blog Tour: Captivating (Elite Protection Services #2) by Onley James

Join author Onley James and Vibrant Promotions on today's blog tour stop for Captivating (Elite Protection Services #2)! Learn more about the romance today!

Captivating

Elite Protection Services Series Book 2

Onley James

M/M Romance

Release Date: 12.04.19

Cover Designer: Molly Phipps with We Got You Covered Book Design

Blurb

Jayne Shepherd has spent his life blending in. He smiles. He laughs. He’s likable. He’s also a sociopath. His emotions are limited. Love, fear, desire don’t exist in his world. Until he meets Elijah.

Elijah Dunne had everything. Third generation Hollywood royalty. Child star. Untouchable. Until one man ruined it all. Elijah fled LA to try to forget, but now, he’s back on top and back on a monster’s radar. Elijah doesn’t think he’ll ever feel safe. Until he meets Shepherd.

Elijah and Shep only have one thing in common. They both wear masks. Shep makes Elijah feel protected. Seen. Elijah makes Shep just feel. Now that he’s had a taste, he’s not about to let him go.

Everybody warns that what they have isn’t real. Shep is obsessed with Elijah, not in love. But Elijah craves Shep’s obsession. He can’t imagine life without him. In Hollywood, being a sociopath is more a life skill than a diagnosis. Could Shep be the monster Elijah needs to finally slay his demons?

Captivating is the second book in the Elite Protection Services Series and contains age-gap, cum-play, voyeurism and one very sexy interrogation scene complete at 72,000 words with an HEA and no cliffhangers.

Trigger Warnings: This book contains talk of past child sexual abuse

https://amzn.to/2Lni2uE

Excerpt

“What’s wrong?” Shep asked.

Elijah took a shuddery breath and then dragged his shirt over his head, dropping it onto the floor.

The blood rushed from Shep’s brain to his dick so fast it made him dizzy. Elijah locked eyes with him as he hooked his thumbs in the waistband of his pajama pants and slid them off, leaving him naked and hard. The look on the boy’s face was so vulnerable, it kicked up an instinct in Shep that was too primal to name.

Elijah seemed to make some kind of internal decision, closing the distance between them to straddle Shep’s thighs. “Tell me this is okay,” he whispered, gaze pleading.

Shep nodded, his hands already skimming across Elijah’s bare thighs, itching to touch as much of the boy as possible. “Yes. Just tell me what you need.”

“Kiss me.”

Shep complied, capturing his mouth in a kiss that turned dirty. Kissing Elijah ignited something in him. Everything about Elijah turned him on. The way he sucked in a startled breath when Shep’s tongue slipped into his mouth, the way he moaned when Shep bit his bottom lip. His scent, the heat of his skin, all of it. Everything.

“Put your arms around me,” Elijah demanded. Shep did as he was told, his palms finding Elijah’s ass and squeezing. “Fuck. Yeah. Like that,” he gasped against Shep’s lips. “You feel so fucking good. I just need to come.”

Elijah’s words had Shep’s cock aching. “Take what you want.”

Onley James is the pen name of YA author, Martina McAtee, who lives in Florida with her daughter, her daughter-in-law, and a menagerie of animals, both good and evil. When she’s not writing m/m romance or supernatural LGBT young adult books, she’s running 7 Sisters Publishing and attempting to maintain both her sanity and her full-time job as an RN.

When not at work you can find her mainlining Starbucks refreshers, whining about how much she has to do and avoiding the things she has to do by binge-watching unhealthy amounts of television in one sitting. She loves ghost stories, true crime documentaries, obsessively scrolling social media and writing kinky, snarky books about men who fall in love with other men.

Social Media Links

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Website: www.onleyjames.com

Review: A Ladder to the Sky by John Boyne

The new novel from the beloved New York Times bestselling author of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas and The Heart's Invisible Furies , a seductive Highsmithian psychodrama following one brilliant, ruthless man who will stop at nothing in his pursuit of fame.

Maurice Swift is handsome, charming, and hungry for success. The one thing he doesn't have is talent - but he's not about to let a detail like that stand in his way. After all, a would-be writer can find stories anywhere. They don't need to be his own. Working as a waiter in a West Berlin hotel in 1988, Maurice engineers the perfect opportunity: a chance encounter with celebrated novelist Erich Ackermann. He quickly ingratiates himself with the powerful - but desperately lonely - older man, teasing out of Erich a terrible, long-held secret about his activities during the war. Perfect material for Maurice's first novel.

Once Maurice has had a taste of literary fame, he knows he can stop at nothing in pursuit of that high. Moving from the Amalfi Coast, where he matches wits with Gore Vidal, to Manhattan and London, Maurice hones his talent for deceit and manipulation, preying on the talented and vulnerable in his cold-blooded climb to the top. But the higher he climbs, the further he has to fall...

A Ladder to the Sky is my maiden voyage with this author and I devoured it with gusto. I think it was a good place for me, specifically, to start because Maurice Swift is a sociopath. There are no "good" mental illnesses but there are ones far more interesting than others to me. Maurice is many things-amoral, narcissistic, brutally ambitious-but he's not boring. My first reaction to him as a twenty year old ingratiating himself to the aged, lonely and slightly pitiful Erich Ackermann was, 'oh, you're a nasty one, aren't you?'.

He is. He has no redeeming qualities. To be a famous author and a father are the only two things he's ever wanted. Both of which he lacks the necessary skills to attain success either for lack of creativity or lack of empathy. One would think that in and of itself would be some sort of poetic justice but is there such a thing as justice when it comes to a sociopath?

For me, that's what the book came to be about rather than his relentless climb toward fame and fortune at any cost, and in that regard, Boyne really distinguished himself by staying true to the characterization rather than serving up some sort of insipid claptrap.

Maurice is diabolical and lives his life inveigling ideas from others for his own personal gain without remorse. He has several weapons in his arsenal. The most powerful of which are his considerable good looks, sex or the withholding of it, his affection, his time, his money, his business nothing is off-limits. They're all just a means to an end, people are disposable to him and this is his story told in three parts, covering most of his lifespan and how he increasingly contravenes morality to get what he wants.

The first part is told from Ackermann and Gore Vidal's perspectives. There aren't enough superlatives to describe how much I loved this part. Ackermann is a sympathetic character who did a terrible thing but his motivation for doing so is what separates him from Maurice.

Gore Vidal, though, is having none of Maurice Swift and it was fantastic! A long time ago I bought a copy of "Vanity Fair". I'm sure there was some celebrity on the cover that I just had to know all the things about but what I wound up discovering was Dominick Dunne. Immediately charmed by him and his particular brand of storytelling, I found myself signing up for a subscription. Every month I couldn't wait to see what stories Dominick would tell me. He knew EVERYONE and everyone knew him; he was a urbane and people gravitated toward him, myself included. Gore reminded me of Dominick and I found myself feeling bereft that I'd missed out on the Gore Vidal experience. This is not a humorous book but some of what came out of his mouth not to mention his thoughts had me snorting.

The second part is told from Maurice's wife, Edith's perspective. This was the weakest section of the book to me and not for the obvious reasons. It encompasses her work as a newly successful author and professor which made sense since it's her story too but it also involved her family. She has a pathological sister, Rebecca, who is embroiled in a divorce/custody battle that took a significant amount of page time and I couldn't make heads or tails of why it was necessary to the narrative. To illustrate how sociopaths come in all shapes, sizes and genders? True, but not crucial to the story, in my opinion. I liked Edith and her voice but the family drama I could've done without.

The third part we delve into the mind of the sociopath. Entertaining, thy name is Maurice Swift. Truthfully, I could probably write a short story about Maurice but I'll refrain and just say he's ruthless, contemptible and obnoxious, but also cunning and charismatic when he chooses to be, thus is the nature of the sociopath. If I said I wasn't absorbed by him, it would be a lie.

Each section was given its own tone and voice which is what I was most dazzled by. Even the writing style changes to fit each person. If that's not embodying a character, I've no idea what is. I did notice the words 'crestfallen' and 'daresay' often but maybe these are mainstays of the literary types? A minor quibble in an otherwise outstanding and infinitely readable story. Flow is certainly in Boyne's wheelhouse and I would recommend A Ladder to the Sky to those who can appreciate an unsympathetic protagonist.

Also, to whomever came up with this tongue in cheek cover, you're a genius.

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

Review: Gideon (Order of the Black Knights, #1) by Ashe Barker

Gideon Maybury enjoys a life of wealth and privilege, not to mention the advantages his position offers him in his career as a merchant banker and his less public life as a high-class, skilled, and very well-paid assassin for Her Majesty’s government. When his brother dies unexpectedly, he becomes the Duke of Westmoreland.

Michael Mathison has hated Gideon since they were at university together. He’s convinced Gideon had a hand in the death of Michael’s college lover, Christopher, and that he had something to do with the death of his own brother. So he gets a job as Gideon’s driver, enabling him to investigate the circumstances surrounding the death of the elder Maybury sibling. At first his suspicions seem to be confirmed, but clues emerge that suggest all is not as it appears at Maybury Hall.

As the mystery deepens, so does the attraction between the two implacable enemies, as does the feeling that they have met before—under dark and terrible circumstances. Each has reasons not to trust the other, but neither is averse to a bit of kinky play. Gideon and Michael end up owing each other their lives, and it results in consequences neither could have imagined.

I liked this. Gideon was a pretty interesting character, and the story, while simple was fun and definitely a unique concept.


I like immoral characters and Gideon definitely starts off as one! He enjoys killing and has no need for friends or silly sentiments such as regret or sympathy.

He loved the sense of power he derived from holding a life in his hands, quite literally, and deciding whether it was to continue or be extinguished. His choice. His call. He used poison, asphyxiation, withholding food or water.

His development throughout the book would have been set at a good pace, but because of Gideon’s character in the prologue, it seemed rushed. He was one evil bastard in the prologue and the change in his character throughout the rest of the book (even though he remained a bastard) seemed like a saint in comparison. It wasn't such a drastic change that people will be put off, I think it's just personal preference.


I think most of the aspects I didn't like, or found average about this book were personal preference and not based on anything objective or substantial within the plot or writing. The other ‘personal preference’ qualm I had was with the connection between the MCs. I understood the insta-lust but I didn't really see why they started to feel more for each other. There was just something missing for me to fully understand their love for each other.


I liked the sex though, it was very rough which was pretty hot.

His entry wasn’t gentle. There was nothing slow and easy in Gideon’s approach to fucking. He was hard, decisive, brutal, and, to Michael’s way of thinking, utterly sublime. His lubricated cock slammed deep into Michael’s ass and speared him against the bed. Michael grunted in pain and then gasped his pleasure. He loved it, hated it, and loved it more as he began to writhe and gyrate, and ground himself against Gideon.

Unfortunately there wasn't really any sexual tension because they get it on so quickly after meeting. There wasn't even any real anger/hate-fucking which is what I suspected there would be. They were already a bit too smitten for it to be fully hate… it was more like mildly distasteful fucking?


The mystery side of the story was a little simple, but I rather like that and it did kept opening up different aspects to the ‘who/how’ which I wasn't expecting. The whole supernatural concept behind Gideon was also quite interesting and I liked that concept.


Ok I feel like I've slammed this a bit harder than I intended to. This was good and I liked it, but maybe for me, it was one of those books that for everything I liked there was something I didn't quite connect with… on a purely personal level. It'll be different for everyone who reads it, just like any book really.

Dreamspinner Press
Goodreads