Tag Archives: romance

Broken SEAL

Book Review of Broken SEAL, by Laura Harner

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Broken SEALI picked up a copy of Broken SEAL, by Laura Harner from Amazon when it was free.

Description:
When former Navy SEAL Draco Kincaid is cut down in a hail of gunfire, he thinks he’s lost everything: his friend, his club, his legs. Strapped to a chair and unable to separate the nightmares of his past from those of his present, Draco must learn to depend on others before the crack in his iron will plays into a killer’s hand and he loses more that he ever thought possible. 

With the arrogance of youth, Noah Middlebrooks believes time can heal old wounds, until his missing brother turns up dead at a sex club in California. Now the sick bastard whose games were responsible for his brother’s untimely death needs to explain what happened—then pay for his crime. Burning his final bridge at work, Noah heads to San Diego. With no job and no more family, there isn’t anything left to lose. 

Regret and retribution put them on a collision course of self-destruction, but nothing can prepare either man for the life-altering impact of their first meeting. As a slow simmer of attraction builds in spite of their best intentions, both men must come to terms with the past or risk any chance of a future.

Review:
I did not until this moment (in reading other reviews) realize that this was a spin off from another series (that I haven’t read). That explains a few little things about it. It did stand on its own, but it still felt like there were things you should know; like the Willow Springs Ranch was referenced but not explained, for example.

All in all I enjoyed this. Draco and Noah were likable characters. They were very sweet together the book flows well, making it an easy read. But if I really stop and think on it I find problems. Draco took to his paralysis far too easily. I appreciate that Harner included a paraplegic as a romantic lead, especially a dominant romanic lead, but you honestly never felt him struggle with this devastation in his life. There were just a couple references to how much he hated depending on others or asking for help. It felt like a plot device.

So, did the BDSM aspect of the book. Draco owned a sex club, got it. But you never found out what his specific kink was and when Noah asked about his brother’s he’s sharply shut down. The BDSM played no real part in the story. Neither did the fact that the men are SEALs, other than to spout off about being SEALs. They could have been cops, or security guards, or any other military men. Again, it just felt like a plot device.

Even worse, Nick felt like a plot device. He was never developed past “the dead brother” and his lack of development made me resent his death to benefit another. Further, there were some important points missing in Noah’s acceptance of his brothers death. He never asked to see his apartment or pushed to know where he was buried. He basically never engaged with the memory of his brother at all and that made the whole scenario unbelievable as a motivating factor. Though no where near as unbelievable as what the reader was asked to believe led to Draco’s dismissal from the Navy. That was just plain too much for my suspension of disbelief. I literally rolled my eyes at it. All in all, it was amusing, but problematic.

Oh, and I have to ask about that cover. Neither person on it matches the description well, but more importantly the book isn’t set on water, no one sails, it doesn’t have a nautical theme. Literally, nothing about that cover makes any sense for the story behind it.

Edit: I’ve been reminded that Laura Harner was caught plagiarizing last year. If I’d remember this I wouldn’t have picked this book up. I don’t believe in supporting this behavior through continued patronization. 

Book Review of Strong Signal (Cyberlove #1) by Megan Erickson & Santino Hassell

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Ok, a warning first. I’m on a family road trip. I spent 7 hours in the car today, which was great for reading (as I wasn’t driving) but the trip means unpredictable access to the internet. I’m currently in Hays, Kansas and have it. So you’ll get a review post. But there is no guarantee that the same will be true tomorrow or the next day. Just know that if I go dark, just know I’ll show back up.

OK, on to Strong Signal, by Megan Erickson and Santino Hassell. I purchased a copy of the book.

Strong SignalDescription from Goodreads:
I was counting down the months until the end of my deployment. My days were spent working on military vehicles, and I spent my nights playing video games that would distract me until I could leave Staff Sergeant Garrett Reid behind.

That was when I met him: Kai Bannon, a fellow gamer with a famous stream channel. 

I never expected to become fixated on someone who’d initially been a rival. And I’d never expected someone who oozed charm to notice me—a guy known for his brutal honesty and scowl. I hadn’t planned for our online friendship to turn into something that kept me up at night—hours of chatting evolving into filthy webcam sessions.

But it did. And now I can’t stop thinking about him. In my mind, our real life meeting is perfect. We kiss, we fall into bed, and it’s love at first sight.

Except, like most things in my life, it doesn’t go as planned.

Review:
This was incredibly sweet, much sweeter than I anticipated actually. I expected a lot more angst from a grump-faced soldier and an anxiety-ridden gaymer, but I’m not complaining. I have a pretty low threshold for hearts and flowers and rainbows in my romance, but this was just the sort I could handle—hot, dirty and heartfelt without being schmaltzy. Seeing Garrett’s marshmallow center and his legitimate attempts to control his overbearing instincts was really endearing. As was Kai’s much more expressive puppy-like love.

And I have to make a confession here. Everyone has their own kink, right? Something in smexy literature that cranks their shaft just right? Well, for me it’s masturbation scenes. For real, that shit is often better than the all out sex scenes for me and here we had two people falling in love over ~9 months while half a world apart. You know my toes were curled in just the right way for much of the book.  And that’s before I even get into how inappropriately titillated I am by the idea of what men get up to when there simply are no women about. That whole brotherhood of arms thing added to getting off together is another hot button for me. Totally objectifying, I admit, but there it is.

The book also deals with a lot of the shite that LGBTQI+ individuals have to put up with on a regular basis. Every once in a while I felt the agenda in this, more in the language than anything else—when ‘proper’ terms were used instead of slangy words, for example. But it was never enough to put me off more than I was happy to see some of it addressed.

I’ve read books by both Erickson and Hassell before. I’ve enjoyed them both, will again in the future. But as a team, they are one hell of a dynamic duo.

The Vintner's Luck

Book Review of The Vintner’s Luck, by Elizabeth Knox

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The Vintner's LuckI purchased a physical copy of The vintner’s Luck, by Elizabeth Knox.

Description from Goodreads:
One summer night in 1808, Sobran Jodeau sets out to drown his love sorrows in his family’s vineyard when he stumbles on an angel. Once he gets over his shock, Sobran decides that Xas, the male angel, is his guardian sent to counsel him on everything from marriage to wine production. But Xas turns out to be a far more mysterious character. Compelling and erotic, The Vintner’s Luck explores a decidedly unorthodox love story as Sobran eventually comes to love and be loved by both Xas and the young Countess de Valday, his friend and employer at the neighboring chateau. 

Review:
I have a confession to make. I have a secret soft spot for trashy novels. You know the sort—shallow, not particularly thought provoking, usually cheesy enough to make me snort-laugh—the literary equivalent of late night, B-grade sci-fi. The problem with such books is that they so often overlap with books I would call trash—poorly written, weakly plotted, the cheese isn’t purposeful or snort inducing. Lately, a disappointing percentage of my reading has fallen into that latter category and I decided I needed, NEEDED something with some substance. This book came highly recommended and boy did it fill the bill.

It isn’t a book you just fall into. It’s choppy, whole years sometimes covered in a page or one single event representing an entire year, as the narrative flies through Sobran’s WHOLE life. (But I have to add that the prose is stunningly beautiful.) It’s often confusing. It’s sad. It has a dubiously happy ending. But it’s also heart-felt and evocative. I teared up more than once. While I didn’t love the book until about 2/3 of the way through, by the end it had me wholly wrapped around itself.

I’ll admit that the narrative style made the characters feel distant and the large gaps in time that the characters spent apart made it difficult for me to feel their love, but I never doubted it. It just took on a form I had to think deeper to grasp. And I don’t just mean the love between Xas and Sobran. There are several types of love shown between different characters in the book, though often subtly and unremarked upon. Also, because so many chapters are presented as mere vignettes, I often was left scratching my head at the significance of certain events.

Most unusual of all, I rather enjoyed the religious aspects of the book. Xas’ relationship to/with God and Lucifer, as well as his purpose between them was intriguing. I never felt preached at, as I don’t think anyone ever preached.

All in all, I needed the ‘See, I can read smart books too’ reboot and had the added bonus of truly enjoying the read. I’m well up for more of Knox’s writing in the future.

For an alternative view, from someone who didn’t like the book but whose points I can completely take and largely agree on, check out this review. Isn’t interesting how two readers can agree on not liking certain aspects of a book, but still come away with different final verdicts.