Audiobook Review: Set Ablaze by KC Burn

California firefighter Hayden Hurst is starting to realize there’s more to life than fighting fires and drinking with his buddies. He has room in his home and his life for someone special, but no one has stood out among his hookups. And while he’s out at work, admitting he’s gay is very different from showing up at social functions with a man. He’s afraid that’ll be too much for his less-than-accepting “friends.”

Broadway dancer Jez Bouchet hasn’t been mistaken for straight since he was gay-bashed at seventeen. After getting a lucrative job offer in Hollywood, he uproots his life in New York and drives to Los Angeles. His brother, who is Hayden’s best friend, arranges for him to crash at Hayden’s place.

The attraction between Hayden and Jez is unexpected but fiery, and they succumb before they’re even sure they like each other. But Jez hates Hayden’s homophobic friends, and Hayden knows Jez is too flamboyant for him to fly under the radar. Then there’s the complication of Jez’s brother.

Despite those hurdles, they fling themselves into a relationship. But Jez has secrets: a tiny spoiled dog and a determined stalker. If he doesn’t come clean, he might torch their burgeoning relationship before it has a chance to bloom.

Listening Length: 6 hours and 48 minutes
Narrator: Darcy Stark

Reviewer: Shee Reader

Hayden is the big loveable lug who doesn’t realise he’s tolerating a lot of ‘low-grade’ homophobic behaviour from his so called friends until his new roommate (and best friend’s brother) the altogether fabulous Jez gives him a short sharp wake up call. By the time this takes place, Hayden is already more than halfway in love with the beautiful dancer, and it’s not a one-way affection either!

This story is a lovely coming-to-terms-with-himself love story where the two guys Hayden and Jez are exactly what the other needs, but the crazy stalker, awful ‘friends’ and learning to communicate with each other leads to plenty of interest. Plus there is a secret puppy. I mean, who doesn’t love a secret puppy!

One of my favourite bits of the story is Jez coming home to find Fang has escaped from his room and got who knows where. Before he can completely hyperventilate, Hayden comes home with Fang and half the contents of the pet store! The idea that Jez could be jealous of the love and affection Hayden showered on the puppy is adorable.

There is plenty of working through stuff to make this a thoroughly engaging tale, but it is relatively low angst with good communication on the whole. I do really love a book where the is good development of relationships and the characters, but I’m not sobbing myself to sleep!

I’d recommend this to anyone who likes a buff and sweet firefighter hero, and gorgeous and sassy talented partner.

I was given a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Review: Hot Air: A Villainous Love Story by T.J. Land

Bluster is the most incompetent supervillain around. He’s a klutz. He’s forgetful. His schemes never work. He never remembers to plan his escape, which doesn’t matter given that most superheroes don’t even bother sending him to prison anymore. Hardly anyone takes him seriously. That’s why he decided to retire a while ago. It had nothing to do with the fact that his handsome nemesis, Judge Justice, was forced to hand in his superhero license after finally breaking one too many rules. And Bluster’s decision to give up his retirement on the same day Judge Justice gets his license back is purely coincidental.

Judge Justice is the toughest superhero around. He’s edgy. He’s grim. He wears a lot of leather. As far as he’s concerned, supervillains are criminals, nothing more and nothing less. They deserve everything that’s coming to them. Sure, maybe he’s got a reputation for being harsh. So what? His methods work. When you’re dealing with a town full of caped crooks, no amount of force is excessive…except maybe when it comes to Bluster. That guy’s hopeless. It’s not that the Judge has a soft spot for him, but anyone can see that Bluster’s a bigger threat to himself than to the city. Which isn’t to say the Judge isn’t outraged when Bluster comes out of retirement the same day he gets his license back. He’s furious. Not even a tiny bit thrilled, because he’s not one of those imbeciles who actually likes his nemesis. He’s a professional. That’s why, when the Judge learns that Bluster’s in danger, he immediately appoints himself his guardian. After all, it’s a hero’s duty to protect the weak.

Bluster, however, has other ideas… 

Adorably silly...
Utterly ridiculous...
Fabulously funny...

...and just flat out fun.

Judge Justice, the meanest superhero in town, is called back to action after a year of being suspended for getting a bit too friendly with his fists.  Bluster, his archnemesis who went into retirement the day Justice was suspended, can't let the chance of him finding a new nemesis ever happen so he dons his purple supervillain suit and heads back into action as well. 

I had a ball reading this story!  The over-the-top plot and the snarky banter were just the tip of the iceberg.  While the storyline is intriguing enough to have caught my attention, it was the characters and their interactions with each other that really carried the story.  From the surface, this story looks to be just a fun romp filled with shenanigans and ridiculousness but on a closer look you find an amazing amount of depth to the characters.

While I loved Judge Justice and all his curmudgeonly ways, always growling and sniping at everyone, I adored Bluster.  Bluster is my spirit animal.  He's older, out of shape, has a squinty eye and a penchant for getting himself into the most ridiculous situations.  He can't spell to save his life and he talks to anything.  Seriously.  Cats, birds, zucchini... he can carry on a one-sided conversation like nobody's business.  His failure rate is exponential.  But does that keep him down?  No!  He just picks himself back up and charges right back into the fray.  He's pretty dang fearless.  He's also a bit of a conundrum.  He seems innocent and naive one minute and then wily and sharp-witted the next.

Keeping the pout going full throttle, he raised a thumb to his mouth and nibbled on the nail's edge, eyes flickering to the Leech and away again.  It was an old, favorite move of his, designed to send out the unambiguous message, 'Won't you heal my broken heart with your dick?'

My favorite moments by far are when the Judge and Bluster interact with each other.  Oh, the snark!  The banter!  I laughed so hard and so much while reading this I actually got a stitch in my side.  I could read their conversations for days and never tire of them.

"Don't worry, I can do this."  "The problem is that you've got a history of thinking you can do shit that you demonstrably cannot do.  Remember that time you tried to steal an armored truck?"  "That's not fair.  I was a kid then."  "You were thirty."

This was my first TJ Land story but I guarantee it won't be my last.  This was silly.  It was fun.  It was just what I needed to pull me out of the slump I was in.  I had a blast reading this.  I recommend this to those who like a bit of the ridiculous from time to time.  If you're a lover of shenanigans, you can't go wrong with this charming little tale.

Release Day Review: Witches for Hire (Odd Jobs #1) by Sam Argent

All recovering drug addict and witch Jeremy Ragsdale wants is to shamble on to the next job without any disasters. Instead, the temp agency saddles him with a fellow witch who hates him, an Amazon one violent outburst away from deportation, and a knight from another world as his boss. Even worse, their jack-of-all-trades magic business stumbles upon a conspiracy to kill Desmond the Great, Atlanta’s sexy star magician. Jeremy must prevent it without letting his colleagues know that he not only has ties to the energy vampires behind the plot, but that his past misdeeds might have instigated the attacks.

Despite Jeremy sporting a suit and tie like a good witch, his lies snowball to bite him in the ass. The lack of trust brewing between him and his teammates could cost Desmond his life and Jeremy his progress on the straight and narrow path if his secrets are revealed. Because no matter how much Jeremy has reformed, there’s still enough bad witch in him to kill anyone who messes with him or the people he cares about.

This is gonna be a quick and dirty review ‘cause there’s nothing I can say about it without spoiling the book.

I’ll just come out and say… I. Loved. This. Book.  I loved the characters, the action, the plot, the romance, the world building, the angst and the humor.  But most of all I loved the writing.  Oh, the writing!  If ever there was something to debate about this story, it’s the writing.  There will be some that don’t like the author’s style.  In fact, I think most people will be frustrated by it and potentially abandon it before they reach the halfway point.  Not me.  I was so attuned to it I felt it deep in my soul.

There’s not one single bit of telling in this book.  Everything is show, show, show.  And what a show it is!  The world building is extremely organic.  You’re viewing the world as if you are expected to already know how it works.  The story unfolds in bits and pieces and seemingly unnecessary offshoots, giving you absolutely no clue as to what is going on and feeling like maybe you missed something.  You’re left to discover the secrets on your own.  Once I got about a third of the way in, it all started coming together and suddenly I was riveted.  I could not put the book down!  And the way everything culminated in the end left me breathless.  I was in absolute awe. 

It’s like Sam Argent has direct access to my brain and fine-tuned the words to align perfectly with my patterns.  The story is chaotic and goes back and forth between four or five different points of view.  One minute you’ll feel like you’re getting somewhere with a plot point and then you turn the page and she’s gone off in a different direction.  This is where I feel a lot people will abandon the book because they just can’t wrap their mind around what is going on.  For me, though, my brain is already chaotic; my mind works in this exact way so I was ecstatic to say the least.  Can I just tell you how freaking amazing it feels to find a book that speaks to you in your own personal language?  I mean, just knowing there is someone else out there in the world that thinks the exact same way I do is exhilarating.  I don’t feel so alone in the world any more.

This book is quirky.  So, so, so damned quirky.  Between Jeremy’s snark, the drugged out werewolf who thinks the trees look like angels and his witch mate (who really wears the pants in that family), the Amazon who kicks ass with glee, the absolutely swoon-worthy magician and the wizard who puts up with it all (he’s just trying to get his green card, people, c’mon!) there’s something in here for everyone.  The action is non-stop; you’ll hardly be able to catch your breath between chapters.  I highly, highly recommend this to those who maybe think a little differently than the norm.  If you loved her other book, Family of Lies: Sebastian, then I guarantee you’ll like this one too.

And if all this wasn’t enough to convince you to read this book, I’ll leave you with two words:

Ass goblins

*mic drop*