Blog Tour + Giveaway: The Musician and the Monster by Jenya Keefe

Join in the celebration of the recent release of fantasy romance The Musician and the Monster with author Jenya Keefe & Riptide Publishing. Find out more & enter in the giveaway for a $15 gift card too! Good luck!

About the Book

Hatred is a spell only true love can break.

Ángel Cruz is a dedicated session musician, until loyalty to his estranged family forces him to work for Oberon: the feared and hated envoy from the Otherworld. Overnight, Ángel is taken from his life, his friends, his work, and trapped in a hideous mansion in the middle of nowhere, under constant surveillance, and with only the frightening fae for company.

Oberon’s poor understanding of humans combined with Ángel’s resentment and loneliness threaten to cause real harm to the pair. Then a long winter together in the mansion unites them in their love of music. Slowly, Ángel’s anger thaws, and he begins to realize that Oberon feels alone too.

Gradually, these two souls from different worlds form a connection like none other. But hate and prejudice are powerful things, and it’ll take all the magic of their love to stop the wider world from forcing them apart.

Now available from Riptide Publishing!

About the Author

Jenya Keefe was born in the South. She has an advanced degree in European history, and has spent much of her life working the kinds of jobs a history degree qualifies you for: gift shop employee, lumber grader, classifieds clerk, hot glass artist. She currently lives in the Seattle area, where she works at a library. She has always written stories.

Website: www.jenyakeefe.com

Twitter: @JenyaKeefe

To celebrate this release, Jenya is giving away a $15 gift card to Powell’s City of Books! Powell’s is an independent bookseller located in Portland, but those not in Portland can still shop online. Leave a comment with your contact info to enter the contest. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on October 4, 2019. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries. Thanks for following along, and don’t forget to leave your contact info!

Review: Olive Juice by T.J. Klune

It begins with a message that David cannot ignore:

I want to see you.

He agrees, and on a cold winter’s night, David and Phillip will come together to sift through the wreckage of the memory of a life no longer lived.

David is burdened, carrying with him the heavy guilt of the past six years upon his shoulders.

Phillip offers redemption.

This book simply cannot be spoiled and I don’t spoil books. What I will do is talk about is how this book made me feel and what it made me think about.

The story isn’t one that’s new, sadly enough the basics of it is something we have seen numerous times over our lives and either been affected by it, pushed it aside or tried our hardest to forget it happened, grateful that it wasn’t us or someone we knew. It doesn’t need to directly happen to us to feel the damage, the heartbreak, hopelessness and utter lack of answers it brings. 

This story for me is about the need for closure or to use a psychological term, the Need for Cognitive Closure. *** Closure or need for closure (NFC) (used interchangeably with need for cognitive closure (NFCC)) are psychological terms that describe an individual's desire for a firm answer to a question and an aversion toward ambiguity. The term "need" denotes a motivated tendency to seek out information. ***

Told from the singular perspective of David, we meet him as he is sitting outside a fancy hotel going to meet Philip. From his detailed internal dialogue, we know Philip is someone of great importance to David and someone he loves deeply though they have been separated for years. There is an infusion of a third party that isn’t completely solid as who they are to both men until later. Many times, I thought I knew and while my first guess was right, it didn’t lessen the impact of getting it from David himself.

When something tragic happens to us, no matter what it might be, not knowing is the beast of burden. It’s terrible to have so many questions that cannot be answered by anyone and not getting them can cause people to act irrational. I am not in the field of psychology nor do I have any experience other than my own therapy sessions dealing with the Need for Cognitive Closure but I recognize it in David. I see it the way he decides to live his life after the tragedy, how he treats Philip when he doesn’t act the same as David and in his regrets of what he lost. David feels as if his weekly calls and all that he does is being productive when it’s really a distraction of dealing with… it.

Goodness. I have so much I want to say about this book. So much I identified with about meeting, the food and the people that attend. Though again, my experience isn’t the same, it’s one that can almost be felt on a level of empathy with a side of tangible understanding.

While some say this isn’t a romance, I beg to differ. Just because a book doesn’t have on page sex or doesn’t begin with the meet cute to the over the top HEA, doesn’t make it not a romance. What David and Philip have will forever be a romance. Their love story is one for the books with how amazing it all has been. What they have been dealing with is beyond their control but with a chance and a want for change, there can be a new romance between them.

I have to admit, I thought I was made of tougher stuff while reading this but I got to a certain part and lost it. Full on tears and snot but it was such a beautiful moment that I couldn’t help it and honestly didn’t care.

Klune is a master with words and his story telling with Olive Juice is stunning. He has taken what should be recognized nationally at the minimum, but is all too often only covered by the few that acknowledge it’s actually happening, and provided readers with a glimpse into the lives it tears apart. Klune provides readers with facts without shoving it down your throat but making you pause and think… what have you seen? It’s a way of opening your eyes to what you don’t want to see in a place you’d least expect it. Well done, sir.

Olive Juice is simply an achingly bittersweet and heartbreaking story that truly makes you feel and makes you think beyond the lines of what you think you should. It’s just… yeah. 

 

Review: Becoming His Master (Neighborly Affection #4) by M.Q. Barber

From rescue to romance…

Teach a wounded submissive the value of his service. The task ought to be an easy one for an experienced dominant like Henry Webb. 


But novice Jay Kress challenges his teacher like no other. Still bearing the bruises of an encounter outside the bounds of safe consensual play, Jay is desperate to submit to the man who saved him—and shamed by his desires. 


Henry recognizes the dangers of a relationship built on hero worship. He’ll teach Jay how to stay safe, that’s all. He won’t take advantage of the younger man’s trust. He won’t share his fantasies about his dark-haired, athletic student. He’ll never claim this submissive for his own...

Excellent hurt/comfort Glitterkink!

Barber is a new to me author and her writing is reminiscent of Kim Dare, an author close to my heart. I liked this so much that I looked back over the previous three books and realized this is a prequel. IF I can eek out the time I'm going to backtrack and read the others.

Jay and Henry are the centerpiece of this installment. Jay is a novice who's been through an ordeal with a problematic dom who ignored Jay's safe word. Henry is an established dom at this club, friends with the manager, Victor, and his wife, Emma, both of whom encourage Henry to take Jay under his wing. Jay is very eager to please and therefore reckless in his decisions, usually putting his needs/desires/wants secondary to his dom's. Henry's primary objective is to instill a sense of safety and a certain level of wariness in the two months they have before the traumatizing dom's suspension expires. The trouble is Henry is smitten and over the course of these two months he comes to the realization that seeing Jay with another dom would crush him. Henry's concern that Jay is hero worshipping him is the fly in the ointment and it's up to Jay to convince Henry of his devotion.

There isn't a lot of kink but the UST is sky high as is the steam. I would've enjoyed more sex but given Jay's recent trauma I respect that the author didn't jump into buttsex. There was a highly satisfactory frottage scene, though. Henry and Jay move very slowly and layer the tension for the reader. What I enjoyed most was Henry's attention to detail towards Jay; he's highly observant and intuitive and the way he cossets Jay resonated. I also enjoyed the way this club is depicted running the gamut from plushies to age play to sadomasochism and the fact that all are accepted regardless of kink or sexuality. Speaking of sexuality, both Henry and Jay are bisexual and there are girl bits in this, so be forewarned.

The secondary characters were a delight and I'd be interested in reading Will's story if that ever comes to pass. Another reason I'd like to backtrack with this series is to see how Jay progresses with impact play and bondage as his relationship develops with Henry.

My only quibble was Jay's behavior towards the end. I had a hard time believing Jay capable of all that mouthiness with his behavior up till that point. It was very jarring.

Recommend to fans of slow burn, UST, Kim Dare and hurt/comfort reads.

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

Find out more on Goodreads!