Review: Tribute Act (Porthkennack #8) by Joanna Chambers

Nathan Bridges hadn’t intended to settle down in his home town of Porthkennack—he just ended up staying after saving the family business from ruin. The truth is, Nathan can’t stop himself from stepping in when problems arise. He’s a fixer, the man everyone turns to. But even fixers can’t solve everything.

When Nathan’s sister needs an organ transplant, it’s his stepbrother, Mack, who the family turns to as Rosie’s only potential living donor. Nathan’s curiosity about the stepbrother he’s never met turns to shock when he realises that Mack is his latest—and hottest ever—one-night stand.

Nathan and Mack agree to forget their single night together, but that’s easier said than done. When Mack moves in to Nathan’s place to recuperate after surgery, it’s not just the sexual tension between them that keeps growing. Against all the odds, and despite Mack’s wariness of intimacy, the two men grow close enough that Nathan begins to wonder what it would take to mend the rift that’s kept Mack and his father estranged for over a decade . . . and whether Mack might consider staying with Nathan in Porthkennack for good.

Nathan and Mack first meet when Nathan escapes for one night from his business and family obligations to have fun and blow off some steam. Their one-night stand was great, but both feel more than just a physical connection that night.

However, neither expect to ever run into each other again. That is until an odd family connection brings the two back together in a very awkward and tense situation.

I immediately connected to Nathan. He’s extremely down-to-earth, and his worries are relatable. He’s concerned with his business and his family, and he also thinks that he could stand to lose a few pounds. He’s your average joe.

Plus, Nathan has heart in spades.

Mack comes off as pretty standoffish at first. But it’s obvious that it’s a defence mechanism, the result of a less-than-perfect childhood. There’s an underlying vulnerability behind Mack’s hard exterior that made me root for him from the start.

It’s also obvious from the get-go that Mack isn’t as indifferent to Nathan as he pretends to be.

Despite their hook-up early in the book, Mack and Nathan’s relationship builds quite slowly. Bit by bit, the two become friends. They settle into a routine while Mack recovers from his surgery, neither willing to admit that they’re falling for each other.

I thought they were incredibly sweet together. Nathan has an urge to take care of Mack, while Mack can’t help but respond to someone finally putting him first.

Though there’s a fair bit of angst and lack of communication in this book, the romance was fairly mellow. I found it easy to just sit back and watch Mack and Nathan fall in love.

However, I wasn’t entirely won over by Mack and Nathan’s family. They took a lot, without giving much back. I just couldn’t forgive the selfishness as easily as Nathan and Mack did, even though I thought it was all entirely realistic.

It takes Nathan and Mack time and hard work to get to a place where they can have their happy ever after. But once the two get their act together, it’s obviously the real deal for them.

Overall, I enjoyed ‘Tribute’. Mack and Nathan’s romance isn’t particularly grand, but it’s realistic and relatable. If you’re looking for a slow MM romance with a lot of focus on family, give this book a try!

Review: Snowflakes and Cinnamon Buns by Claire Castle

Cameron Pearce loves to work hard and play hard. Living in New York City, means lots of men and lots of variety. He isn’t looking for love.

When he goes to his small hometown Dickensville for Christmas, food, friends, family and seeing his best friend Levi are what’s on the agenda. He also hopes for some friends-with-benefits enjoyment.

Levi Jones owns and runs his own café in Dickensville. He loves the Christmas season and all that comes with it. Decorating, baking, and snow among other things. Another perk is when Cameron visits home and he gets him all to himself.

What will happen when true feelings are revealed and everything is put on the line. Will their friendship survive? Can best friends go from hooking up to a real relationship? Do they even want to?

This book contains delicious cinnamon buns, a cute westie and sexy hot men to warm up your holidays.

The setup for Snowflakes and Cinnamon Buns was like Jizzmas catnip for me and I was really looking forward to read this BFFs with Benefits to Lovers tale. And, for the most part, it was fine, but it was an opportunity missed for the rest. Snowflakes and Cinnamon Buns is textbook telling and very little showing for the narration. And that was a bummer because the conversations between characters flowed pretty well, but the rest read rather clunkily and the transition between thoughts and chapters was just awkward enough to pull me out of the story.

Even though he came back home to help his parents and I chose to stay and explore the big city, we could always reconnect and start where we’d left off. It was great. A few times Levi came to visit me in New York City and I would show him all the tourist attractions. He loved my condo for some reason. Marketing was my passion and I loved my job, luckily.

I mean, that paragraph is telling me things, but the choppiness of it makes me focus on the periods at the end of each sentence and the flow just stops. While that may be a tougher read for me, it may not be a niggle for you, so take my words with a grain of salt that goes with a pet peeve.

The sex scenes are definitely steamy, so there is no doubt that Cameron and Levi have more than friendship possibilities on the table. And those pieces of the story flowed, so I know it’s a possibility for the rest of the story. My real issue was Cameron’s actions when Levi came clean about his feelings.

I don’t want to get all spoilery, but I do have to ask, what the actual fuck? Cameron went back to New York and basically just bailed out? Seriously? For that length of time?? It was too much to make the reunion believable for me. Way too much. Levi deserved better and if the two of them were such great best friends since childhood, Cameron shouldn’t/wouldn’t have pulled a ghost on Levi like that.

This story had some real positive aspects and then just a couple of left turns that killed it for me. Some additional editing to the narration and transitions and a redo of the Cameron fuckery would bump this story up a star or two easily. The bones and charm are there, but I still haven’t forgiven Cameron so I don’t really get how Levi could. The misunderstanding that wasn’t could have been dialed back by 10 and would have given enough conflict to keep the story interesting and still make it realistic.

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

Review: Snake Snack (Arrowtown #2) by Lisa Oliver

Simon liked the idea of having a Fated Mate; after all, Ra and Seth certainly seem happy enough. A random encounter in Jackson changes his thinking though, making him wonder if he should have thought that mate thing through more thoroughly. As a snake shifter, he was used to being alone. Who cared if he upset anyone or not? But his old behavior wasn’t going to win him any hearts, including his mate’s.

Darwin works three jobs to survive. On his own for more years than he can count, he stays away from shifters and shifter towns. Trusting no one, he works and sleeps and while his life is dull, it’s safe and that’s all Darwin cares about. When he comes across a snake in his apartment, his first instinct is to hit it with his trusty bat. But the mate pull works both ways and Darwin’s forced to consider some changes in his life.

Two stalkers, two kidnappings, life is rarely dull in Arrowtown. With Ra running for mayor and Liam’s and Lucien’s life threatened by their past, Simon and Darwin have their work cut out for them. Being mates is one thing; love is a totally different matter.

Usual warnings associated with stories about men falling in love with other men. If it’s not your cup of tea please don’t buy this. NOTE: This is an MPREG story and includes a scene with a flying mouse, a very clever Fae child and a grumpy snake.

After reading (and loving) A Tiger's Tale, the first book in the Arrowtown series, I had high hopes for this story.  I mean, a mouse and a snake?  Talk about blurring the lines between mate and prey!  Sadly, this didn't live up to my expectations.

It wasn't a bad story.  I did enjoy it for what it was, but it didn't have the charm that the first story did.  I had a hard time liking Darwin for some reason.  He was just... I dunno, brusque? Standoffish?  Whiny?  He was a tough little guy, I'll give him that much, and he had a lot of spunk.  But, it wasn't a charming kind of spunk.  He didn't listen very well and instead of talking to Simon about their issues, he got all bent out of shape, made assumptions and just didn't try all that hard to get to know him.

Simon, I liked.  I liked him from the first story and even though the Simon from the first book wasn't anything like the Simon here, I still enjoyed it when I was in his head.

There was a severe lack of communication between these two knuckleheads.  Simon ended up in a funk and slept all day, every day and Darwin, instead of trying to find out what was wrong, gets all pissy, thinking Simon really doesn't want him.  Well, turns out there was a very good reason for Simon's ennui, and Darwin almost missed out on it due to his lack of care for his mate.  Simon wasn't totally innocent in all of this though.  He could have put forth more of an effort into trying to connect with Darwin.

As for the plot, there seemed to be a lot of missing pieces.  I wouldn't call them plot holes, per se; more like there were parts left out.  The book felt almost like two different stories because of this.  We get the first part, where Darwin and Simon meet and then mate, which was very exciting and I enjoyed it immensely.  But then the story skips to a month later and Darwin and Simon are at odds with each other.  It was very jarring and pulled me out of the story.  There were other scenes throughout the book like this, where parts were just skimmed over and I was left scratching my head, wondering how we got to this point or that place

There were a few redeeming moments in here that I liked.  I was happily surprised with the pregnancy and especially the birth.  I've never read a birthing like that before.  It was pretty damned creative.  And the side story with Liam has my interest piqued.  I really want to read Liam's story.  It was a fast read and I didn't notice any glaring proofreading errors, so that's a plus.

On the brain candy scale, I would say this is like one of those heart shaped boxes of chocolates you get on Valentines Day.  Some of the chocolates are filled with caramel or dark chocolate fudge and you devour their yummy goodness, but then you bite into one that's filled with some quasi-fruit flavored syrupy goo which you immediately spit out.  You move on to the next one, hesitantly take a bite only to discover you got one of those rare ones where they forgot to insert the filling.  So, delicious in some spots, but disappointing or just not to your taste in others.