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In the Winter Woods

by Isabelle Adler

This book was provided to me for free by IndoGo Marketing in exchange for an honest review.

Driving home for Christmas is a story we are all used to but driving to your holiday residence you inherited from you late parents on your own all alone is something you don’t read about very often when you choose a Christmas novel. But that’s exactly what Declan Kensington does. He struggles with writer’s block; his latest books don’t sell very well and he is not in a festive Christmas mood at all. So, Declan decides spending Christmas all alone in his inherited cabin in the small village Maplewood, Vermont. But obviously not all of the villagers are happy having Declan around and so he soon gets some letters which clearly tell him to get lost.And when, on top of all this, a murder is committed, things really start becoming uncomfortable, especially when he falls into the narrower circle of suspects. But leaving is not an option because first of all he didn’t come here to pack his bags right away and leave again, second, he has a task, and this is finally writing a new book and third, well, the Commissioner investigating the murder case is really damn cute. So instead of driving home, he soon helps the police finding out more about the murder, which of course leads to getting to know Commissioner Curtis Monroe better. But will there be a happy ending? Will they find the real murderer? And will Declan get his cute Commissioner Curtis Monroe or will both men spend Christmas on their own?

One thing is for certain: things mostly aren’t the way the first seem to be.

It’s a real cute Christmas story placed in a cold wintery Canada. It definitely warms your heart while making you shiver when reading about the cold weather and snowstorms the protagonists have to deal with. 

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Starting From Somewhere

by Lane Hayes

This book was provided to me for free by IndoGo Marketing in exchange for an honest review.

This story doesn’t need many words to describe it. – It’s definitely the kind of story I love. Two people find each other, fall in love and get in a relationship without splitting up. Of course there are struggles at both sides since Bobby J. and Cody come from two totally different worlds. At least it seems like it. But while reading the book you start asking yourself: are those two guys really that different?

Starting from somewhere doesn’t need many more words to describe it. It simply is a real cute novel about two cute guys falling in love and throwing all doubts over board.

I really loved it.

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The Bridge to Love

By Lee Colgin

This book was provided to me for free by IndoGo Marketing in exchange for an honest review.

One day the wolf shifter Tobias (Tobi) wants to deliver a message to another village. Therefore he has to cross a bridge, which he actually had crossed several times already. But this time the bridge is guarded by a troll called Arlo who of course wants to have some tribute for letting Tobi pass. Since Tobi hadn’t known that the bridge has its own guard now, he didn’t bring any tribute, but promises Arlo to get him something on the way back. And since Tobi is trustworthy he really does. That’s when the friendship between the troll Arlo and the wolf shifter starts – the friendship that soon becomes love. But does the other feel the same way and could a relationship between a wolf-shifter who mates for lifetime and a troll who must never leave a bridge he guards really work?

The Bridge to Love is a totally cute short Christmas-love story without any angst. 

Arlo is a kindhearted troll who doesn’t like being alone (as trolls normally do) and loves having Tobi around. He’d like to have a big family, too.

Tobi is a super cute wolf shifter with a golden heart. You get the feeling that he’d do everything for the one who’ll become his mate.

I really loved this book. It totally got me into my ‘Christmas mood’.

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The Dancer’s Dilemma

By CJane Elliott

This book was provided to me for free by IndoGo Marketing in exchange for an honest review.

When Tyrone Johnson meets his ex best friend again after several years it’s immediately clear that there is more between them than just friendship. If Tyrone just wasn’t so mad with Nat for walking out of his life after coming together with his then girlfriend. And if there wasn’t also another man from the past back in Tyrone’s life all of a sudden: Arnaud, a French choreographer who Tyrone had an affair with when he was 18 and who left Tyrone heartbroken when he went back to France. 

But it soon becomes clear that Tyrone’s attraction towards Arnaud is, if any, just sexual whereas for Nat he has real feelings, which he of course doesn’t want to admit at the beginning, because as mentioned, he is still mad wit Nat. But eventually Tyrone lets Nat back into his life and soon learns that there was a reason for Nat’s behavior all these years ago. So everything could lead to a smooth love-story. If there wasn’t Arnaud’s offer that Tyrone could join his dancing-tour through Europe as principal…

Reading the cover of the book I first was afraid that it would all be about a love-triangle. But it wasn’t. It was all about Tyrone and Nat and how they could cope with all the problems in their newly found relationship. And there is the thing I loved most about the book. They cope with the problems together without splitting up, which happens in love stories ever so often. But those two talk about their problems and solve them together.

I truly enjoyed the book, although I had slight difficulties finding into it at the beginning since I haven’t read the previous books from this series. And so there were a lot of names at the beginning and hints to the previous parts, which really confused me at the beginning. But of course this was totally my own fault. But eventually I found into the book and got all the relationships. I actually started to like everyone and for sure will read the other parts asap.

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Clear Motives: A Nick Fabian LGBT Thriller

Reis Asher

Nick Fabian used to work as CSI agent until one day he and his team were called to a murder of a transgender sex-worker and it was made clear to him that this case was not a first priority one because sex-workers and transgender people weren’t first priority. This was the moment Nick’s – who is transgender himself – idealistic vision of the police vanished and he quit his job to become a freelance private investigator taking on cold cases nobody ever cared to solve.

One day he gets a call form Emely Bright stating that her friend Sabrina was murdered. Although her death was classified as a suicide Emely is sure that it was a hate-crime because Sabrina didn’t just hang herself. The body was also burned – and how can you burn and hang yourself at the same time and why would you do that? 

So Nick decides taking the case and finding out the true story behind Sabrina’s death. But he quickly realizes that there isn’t just one suspect – no, everyone he interviews seems to hide something and doesn’t want him to look into Sabrina’s death properly. And soon the hunter becomes the hunted. But not even a concussion and damaged ribs stop Nick from solving the case. And so he starts resolving the secret of Sabrina’s village. He has to take one step after the other while making new friends. But can he trust his newly found friends and will he make it to the end to solve the riddle about Sabrina’s death?

OMG I loved this story. It was short and straight forward. But although the story developed really quickly you could feel into Nick and solve the case with him. You got his anxieties and feared with him and you were happy with him when he found someone who he could bond with. 

I wouldn’t change a bit on that book – it’s interesting, exciting and emotional from the beginning to the end.

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INCADESCENCE

Elena Leman

This book was provided to me for free by the author in exchange for an honest review. 

When I got the e-mail from the book’s author, saying that she’d have the feeling that I could enjoy her book I was kind of dubious about it. Could someone really know my taste in books just because of reading through my reviews? Yes, obviously she could. This book totally hit me. Although I had some difficulties at the beginning finding into the story. The main problem was that I somehow couldn’t imagine the surroundings and the looks of the characters, but after the third chapter the story totally had me and I could see everything right in front of me. 

Sweet little Orobella is a crystal collector aka Crystellian, who travels from planet to planet to collect different crystals. Crystals are collected through sharing with another being – of course the opponent doesn’t know about the crystal sharing since he or she doesn’t see them. But he or she feels the joy of sharing. Since this is Orobella’s main gift, she gets what the other has to offer – mostly good feelings like hope or passion.

One important thing for Orobella is to never change crystals more than once with a person and to never get attached to anyone since her time on each planet is limited.

Arriving at a new planet is like being born. She never knows what or whose body she is into – the only thing that counts is that the body was free and available. 

This time Orobella arrives on the planet Instaar in the body of Ruskala – a water nymph. She starts her journey with her given companion Smoku – a lizard only she can see.

Soon she crosses path with Sambor, the leader of the Lasota tribe and a spiritual tattoo artist, whose tattoos turn into spiritual animals once he has finished his work on someone’s body. Somehow Orobella feels drawn to Sambor and asks him for a tattoo which he eventually agrees to. In exchange she promises teaching his babysitter how to sing and so the love story begins. 

Two beings that are used to going through life on their own – one of them because of the species she is, the other because things he had experienced through life had made him like that – meet each other and have to admit their feelings. 

Orobella is full of joy and goes through life light-hearted, has her own point of view, cares about others, wants ‘people’ (beings) to be happy and seems to be fearless. But so far bonding with someone or having a partner for life has been unimaginable for her due to her way of life to exchange as many crystals as possible and therefore changing locations and acquaintances a lot.

Sambor is a worrier and the leader of the Laosta tribe. He was born into a society that believes in the one and only sole mate for everyone. Sambor saw his father going crazy after his mother had left him. Therefore he promised himself to stay on his own.

Can two beings with such stories really find their way together?

I really loved the book and how Orobella and Sambor started to feel for each other – although Orobella tried to deny it for a long time – Maybe because she didn’t have any experience with the feeling ‘love’ before.

I also loved the side characters – especially Smoku, Orobella’s companion, and Sambor’s little sister ‘Child’ aka ‘Damdamin’.

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Saved: an omegaverse story

By A.M. Arthur

This book was provided by the author via indieGo Marketing and Design in exchange for an honest review.

Actually this story is about the Alpha Tarek and the Omega Braun.
Braun‘s father has just died and so he is on his own now which isn’t actually allowed in the city he lives because Omegas are seen as third-class people who have no rights and mustn’t live on their own. Braun hasn’t found his Alpha yet and he is a orphan. So, he either has to go to prison until the heat is over or to a halfway-house which is kind of an orphan-home for young Omegas who are abandoned or left alone because of any other reason. Although he doesn’t want to do any of that, Braun is happy that he isn’t mated yet because he thinks all Alphas are rude like his father and his brother Kell’s husband.
Braun is eventually taken to the halfway-house but then he finds out that something awful is happening there and he flees. This is when he meets Serge again, who has nursed him at hospital. He and his husband Dex save Braun‘s life. They take him home to their place and introduce him to the Alpha Tarek. Now the lovestory starts. Tarek gives Braun all the time he needs to really trust him and commit to their bonding. And while they are trying to build the relationship they have to solve the crimes that happened in the halfway-house and rescue some Omegas, struggle through Braun‘s heat, the first birthgiving of Braun‘s brother, which nearly kills him and some other stuff. And during all that their friends Serge and Dex are always right behind them.
So it’s actually a good and exciting story but in the end so much stays unsolved. All the problems of Braun’s brother are still there and I had the feeling that the halfway-house case isn’t solved completely either. I mean the book is written like a thriller-romance so I’d wished for more conclusion of the thrilling parts too.
But now that I have finished this review, I’ve seen that there is a second part featuring Kell’s story coming soon. Can’t wait to get my hands on that!