Book Review: The South Side Tour Guide by Shelter Somerset

Title: The South Side Tour Guide
Author: Shelter Somerset
Genre: Contemporary Romance, M/M Romance
Sensuality Rating: Erotic
Source: review copy from publisher
Published: May 15, 2013 by Dreamspinner Press

Andrew Wingal’s life has become a farce. Unemployed for more than a year, he starts giving tours into the seedy parts of Chicago to tourists eager to witness real-life crime. The local media, politicians, the police department, and belligerent gang members don’t like him. When Andy’s job gets him into deeper trouble, his hotheaded boyfriend insists he flee town for a few weeks until things simmer down. With nowhere else to go, Andy heads for eastern Iowa, where his former brother-in-law, Harden Krane, lives on an idyllic farm with his two school-age children, Mason and Olivia.

Harden has his own specters haunting him. Left with his young daughter and son to raise on his own, he struggles to work full time and build a normal life for them. Yet when Andy shows up after a three-year absence, he hopes that the family’s hardships might ease up, if only temporarily. But during Andy’s stay, a common menace from Harden and Andy’s past appears unexpectedly—and Harden and Andy find solace in each other in a way neither imagined possible.

In My Pocket (26)

In My Pocket is a feature where we share some of the links we’ve collected in Pocket. (To find out what Pocket is and how to use it, check out my tutorial on Pocket.) Some links will be book-related while some may be off-topic. Who knows what you’ll find in our Pocket ;) And if you use Pocket, we invite you to share what’s in your Pocket as well.

Book Review: Adrian’s Librarian by Hollis Shiloh

Title: Adrian’s Librarian
Author: Hollis Shiloh
Genre: Historical Romance, M/M Romance
Sensuality Rating: Erotic
Source: review copy from publisher
Published: May 22, 2013 by Dreamspinner Press

One night at a masquerade party, rakish Adrian Knowles kisses the wrong man by mistake and meets Oliver Windham. Feisty yet wary and broken, Ollie desperately needs a friend. Almost against his will, Adrian finds himself playing the hero… and falling in love.

Adrian hires Ollie to set his library to rights—after having his servants put all the books out of order. He promises himself he’ll treat Ollie only as a friend, but Ollie quickly becomes the only man he wants.

Thursday Thirteen: Books I’ve Been Meaning to Read

Thursday Thirteen is a weekly meme with a simple theme: each Thursday you blog a list of 13 things. What kind of things? Any kind! Just come up with a list theme and run with it.

What I love about this meme is that there is no set list each week. There’s complete and total randomness when it comes to Thursday Thirteen posts. I used to enjoy participating when I had my personal blog  so I thought why not do it here on The Book Vixen. And I totally convinced J9 to join in with me. So here we go! Here’s our first Thursday Thirteen post.

Book Review: Who We Are by T.J. Klune

Title: Who We Are
Series: Bear, Otter, and the Kid, Book 2
Author: T.J. Klune
Genre: Contemporary Romance, M/M Romance
Sensuality Rating: Erotic
Source: review copy from publisher
Published: April 2012 by Dreamspinner Press

Sequel to Bear, Otter, and the Kid Bear, Otter, and the Kid survived last summer with their hearts and souls intact. They've moved into the Green Monstrosity, and Bear is finally able to admit his love for the man who saved him from himself. But that's not the end of their story. How could it be? The boys find that life doesn't stop just because they got their happily ever after. There's still the custody battle for the Kid. The return of Otter's parents. A first trip to a gay bar. The Kid goes to therapy, and Mrs. Paquinn decides that Bigfoot is real. Anna and Creed do... well, whatever it is Anna and Creed do. There are newfound jealousies, the return of old enemies, bad poetry, and misanthropic seagulls. And through it all, Bear struggles to understand his mother's abandonment of him and his brother, only to delve deeper into their shared past. What he finds there will alter their lives forever and help him realize what it'll take to become who they're supposed to be. Family is not always defined by blood. It's defined by those who make us whole-those who make us who we are.

Book Review: Tats of Honor by Vona Logan

Title: Tats of Honor
Author: Vona Logan
Genre: Contemporary Romance, M/M Romance
Sensuality Rating: Erotic
Source: review copy from publisher
Published: May 15, 2013 by Dreamspinner Press

Kegan Andrews wears his heart on his sleeve, or rather his skin—his tattoo is a testimony to those he’s loved and lost. The losses are piling up—like his young cousin’s suicide and his fiancée’s betrayal. He needs perspective, and the New Zealand trip he planned months ago seems to promise him that. Then Kegan meets Dominic, a man wrapped in so much grief and guilt it’s as if his own heart died two years ago with his long-time partner.

Dominic can’t move on—can’t even imagine it until Kegan jumpstarts his frozen heart. Dominic knows Kegan isn’t gay, so he fights his growing feelings, but Kegan embraces his new self-knowledge about whom he might love. Will Dominic stay mired in the safety of past heartbreak and become a distant memory etched into Kegan’s skin, or will he risk himself for the promise of a new beginning?

Book Review: Still by Mary Calmes

Title: Still
Author: Mary Calmes
Genre: Contemporary Romance, M/M Romance
Sensuality Rating: Erotic
Source: review copy from publisher
Published: May 15, 2013 by Dreamspinner Press

What happens when two men who have been together for seventeen years fall out of love? Sivan Cruz, a set director in San Francisco, and Walter Wainwright, a big shot Bay Area lawyer, find out the hard way. Walter loves Sivan with all his heart but rarely talks about it, and Sivan needs to hear the words. The language of the love they have shared for so long, that has enabled them to build a life together and raise two children, stops working. They become—still.
When Sivan asks for a divorce, Walter doesn’t know how to say no. They separate, but while Sivan sees the relationship as over, Walter sees only a temporary setback. He has never lost his passion for Sivan and decides he has to say something before he ends up loving his husband in silence for the rest of his life.

Interview & Giveaway with Bec McMaster

Today J9 is interviewing author Bec McMaster. Welcome to The Book Vixen Bec!

Book Review: Bear, Otter, and the Kid by T.J. Klune

Title: Bear, Otter, and the Kid
Series: Bear, Otter, and the Kid, book 1
Author: T.J. Klune
Genre: Contemporary Romance, M/M Romance
Sensuality Rating: Erotic
Source: review copy from publisher
Published: August 2011 by Dreamspinner Press

Three years ago, Bear McKenna’s mother took off for parts unknown with her new boyfriend, leaving Bear to raise his six-year-old brother Tyson, aka the Kid. Somehow they’ve muddled through, but since he’s totally devoted to the Kid, Bear isn’t actually doing much living—with a few exceptions, he’s retreated from the world, and he’s mostly okay with that. Until Otter comes home.

Otter is Bear’s best friend’s older brother, and as they’ve done for their whole lives, Bear and Otter crash and collide in ways neither expect. This time, though, there’s nowhere to run from the depth of emotion between them. Bear still believes his place is as the Kid’s guardian, but he can’t help thinking there could be something more for him in the world... something or someone.

Book Review: Built 4 It by Daisy Harris

Title: Built 4 It
Series: Love Bots, Book 3
Author: Daisy Harris
Genre: Science-Fiction, M/M Romance
Sensuality Rating: Erotic
Source: NetGalley
Published: January 2012 by Ellora’s Cave

When a riot erupts in Built4’s stein-building lab, the alpha stein Kee drags a submissive young lab assistant into his cage. Kee’s been studying the human. Ben’s sad eyes and slender form call to Kee—urging him to equal parts lust and possessiveness.

Prisoner to the alpha, Ben surrenders to the stein’s fierce determination and gentle seductions. He’s long hated his job, feeling like a monster for following his boss’s orders, especially once he’s seen intelligence flickering in the alpha’s green eyes.

If Kee’s to escape, he needs Ben’s help to learn about the world outside the laboratory—a world full of people, sex and experiences Kee’s only beginning to discover. And guilt-ridden over the things he’s done, Ben can only forgive himself if the alpha forgives his sins first.