Tag Archives: m/m romance

A Reason To Believe

Book Review of A Reason To Believe, by Diana Copland

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A Reason to BelieveI bought a copy of A Reason to Believe, by Diana Copland.

Description from Goodreads:
Detective Matthew Bennett doesn’t believe in ghosts. So when the spirit of a murdered child leads him to her body, he’s shaken to the core—and taken off the case. Unable to explain his vision, or to let go of the investigation, Matthew turns to renowned medium Kiernan Fitzpatrick. Though he has doubts about Kiernan’s claims to communicate with the dead, Matt is nevertheless drawn to the handsome psychic, who awakens feelings he thought were long-buried.

Haunted by the lingering spirit of the little girl, Kiernan is compelled to aid in the search for her killer. The chance to get closer to the enigmatic Matt is an unexpected bonus. Although Kiernan’s been betrayed by people who turned out to be more interested in his fame than in himself, with Matt he’s willing to risk his heart. As the two men grow closer, Kiernan helps Matt rediscover that life offers no guarantees—but love offers a reason to believe…

Review:
This was an upper-middle of the road read, meaning I didn’t love it but I was perfectly satisfied by it. I like Matt’s character quite a bit. I tolerated Kiernan. He was basically just too over the top and grated on my nerves. I can’t even count how many perky, puppy-like bottoms I’ve encountered in m/m romances, but he just felt like one more of the same.

I’ll say the same for the token female BFF. They only seem to come in one of two designs, total biyatch or mouthy and nosy, but well intentioned. Sheila fell into the latter category. Meh.

As for the mystery, it was ok. I figured the basics of it out pretty early but was more than happy ride it out and learn the details. Unfortunately, three things annoyed me about it. One, there seemed to be quite a few convenient coincidences. For example, in a town of half a million the token BFF happens to be friends with the single person who can provide them the single piece of the puzzle they don’t even know they’re missing and just happens to think to speak to her. Ummm?

Two, Matt and Kiernan go about doing a lot of stupid stuff to figure out who the murderer is and exonerate the wrongly accused man. But nothing they do is anything they can take to the police, so it’s all basically pointless in the grand scheme of things. Three, the six-year-old ghost is way too smart for her age and Kiernan pretty much said they go into the afterlife with the understanding of their living selves.

The romance was also ok. I liked it well enough, but nothing about it wowed me. It was nice seeing Matt reemerge from his grief. (The scene with the flag at Brad’s funeral almost brought me to tears.) But the way Kiernan threw sexual innuendo in all the time just got annoying.

All-in-all, it was a fine read. I even liked it. But by next week I probably won’t even remember reading it.

According to Hoyle

Book Review of According to Hoyle, by Abigail Roux

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According to HoyleI received a copy of According to Hoyle, by Abigail Roux, from Netgalley.

Description from Goodreads:
By the close of 1882 in the American West, the line between heroes and villains is narrow. Total chaos is staved off only by the few who take the law at its word and risk their lives to uphold it. But in the West, the rules aren’t always played according to Hoyle. 

US Marshals Eli Flynn and William Henry Washington—longtime friends and colleagues—are escorting two prisoners to New Orleans for trial when they discover there’s more than outlawry to the infamous shootist Dusty Rose and the enigmatic man known as Cage. As the two prisoners form an unlikely partnership, the marshals can’t help but look closer at their own. 

When forces beyond the marshals’ control converge on the paddle wheeler they’ve hired to take them downriver, they must choose between two dangers: playing by the rules at any cost, or trusting the very men they are meant to bring to justice.

Review:
I quite enjoyed this. I don’t read many Westerns, so it was a change of pace for me. I liked Flynn’s flustered, brash personality; Wash’s laid-back outlook; Gabriel’s cocky charm and Cage’s silent, honourable atonement. I like that, though this is a romance, it’s not particularly romantic. I liked the witty back and forwards banter and the writing style in general.

However, I also thought that having two romantic pairings diluted the plot. As funny as Flynn and Gabriel’s sniping was, it got old. Wash’s character was never particularly developed. He seemed to exist solely for Flynn to quietly long for. And after finally acting on their feelings after platonic decades together, I would have like at least conversation about it.  I also found Cage inconsistent. He spent 2/3 of the book so quiet and honourable that he almost felt child-like. Then in the last 1/3 he was made out to be all sorts of bad to the bone. It didn’t feel like the same man.

I’m assuming this is the first in a series, as it concludes with an open ending.  I’m not head over heals in love with the book, but I’d be more than happy to pick up a sequel. It’s a serious case of good enough.

Merrick

Book Review of Merrick, by Claire Cray

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MerrickI grabbed a copy of Claire Cray‘s Merrick when it was free on Amazon. At the time of posting, it was still free.

Description from Goodreads:
New York, 1799: the future looks bright for the charming young book dealer William Lacy, until a raucous night of drinking lands him in shackles. He narrowly avoids the brutal prison system thanks to his mother, who negotiates with the judge to secure him a five year apprenticeship in lieu of a prison sentence. And so William finds himself in a carriage bound for the remote woods upstate, where he’ll spend the next years of his life learning a new trade under some old master.

When he first sees Merrick, William thinks he’s been dropped into a medieval horror story. Tall and gruff, dressed in a hooded robe that completely conceals his features, and riding a black mare, Merrick might as well be the Grim Reaper.

But appearances are deceiving. A skilled apothecary and healer, Merrick proves to be a generous host and a gentle teacher, and William soon finds himself surprisingly comfortable in his new surroundings. And yet troubling mysteries abound: Why does Merrick never show his face or hands? Why do his movements seem so young and sure beneath his robes? What lies within the cave behind the stone cottage? 

Something unnatural is afoot. But most alarming by far is William’s own reaction to his new keeper. For Merrick’s strange charms are bewitching enough by day; but by night, in the darkness of the room and the bed they share, William finds himself entirely overwhelmed by desires he never imagined…

Review:
I don’t usually use ratings on this blog, thus forcing people to actually read the review if they want to know my thoughts. But I’m going to for this book. For the first half I was all like, “Hell yeah, this is shaping up to be a 5-star read.” Then not long after the halfway mark it started to falter, but I was still like, “Well, maybe a 4-star.”

Then the inevitable happened (because I’ve read Ms. Cray’s work before and I should have expected it). From one page to the next, essentially mid-scene, the book JUST ENDED—no tapering off, no indication that the end was approaching, no conclusion, no feeling of satisfaction to tide you over until the next book—nothing, nada, nichts. Just poof, we’re done here. It wasn’t even a cliffy, since there was nothing culminating into a cliffhanger. The book just ended at what felt like some random junction and I was like, “Forget that, I’m dropping another star for my basic dissatisfaction.” So, in the end this is a 3-star read.

Now, Ms. Cray calls herself ‘spooky romance writer’ and I think that describes this work. What I liked so much about the beginning of the book and what was lost toward the end was the atmosphere, the spookiness. I really enjoyed that. I even enjoyed William’s unfathomable acceptance of things and Merrick’s confusion over it. With the exception of the ending issue (which I think is one of Ms. Cray’s hallmarks, hate it as I might) it’s a well written piece of m/m romance and I love the cover.

I won’t be continuing the series, though. I learned my lesson with Cray’s Hidden Talents series, where I read seven novellas and still got nothing approaching a satisfying ending, or any ending for that matter. I sometimes wonder if some, otherwise awesome, authors just don’t know how to write conclusions so never, well, conclude a story. If you don’t mind being strung along, this is a good one. I do, so…