Tag: Anne Tenino

Review: Good Boy by Anne Tenino

Posted November 13, 2013 by Tracy in Reviews | 0 Comments

Genres: Anthologies (multiple authors)

Brad “Frat Boy” Feller and Sebastian “Toppy” DeWitt have been together for nine months, and their relationship is as hot as ever. The only cloud Brad sees on their horizon is Sebastian’s stress over his thesis. And their uncertain future together after graduation. And how Sebastian sometimes takes Brad for granted. And Sebastian’s unwillingness to introduce Brad to his father.

Other than that, everything’s awesome.

All of Sebastian’s energy is currently devoted to his thesis, and getting into a top-notch PhD program. Fortunately, his boyfriend takes care of all the domestic stuff and Sebastian’s needs. Any minor strain between them will disappear and they’ll return to the status quo after Sebastian graduates. As long as nothing upsets their delicate balance in the meantime.

Then a friend Brad once had a small fling with is forced to take refuge with them, and Frat Boy and Toppy’s delicate balance topples like an elephant on a waterski. Now Sebastian has to face some truths about how he’s been treating Brad, what he wants for their future, and what he has to do to get it.

Brad is not a happy guy. He loves Sebastian more than anything but since he came back from Christmas break with his family Sebastian’s been distant, cranky , inattentive and not a very nice guy. When there’s a fire at the frat house and Brad’s friend Collin needs a place to stay for the night Brad invites him over. Sebastian doesn’t react well to Collin. He knows that Collin is Brad’s friend and that they’re frat brothers but he also knows that Collin is the only other guy that ever had anything to do with Brad sexually (he once gave Brad a blow job in the shower). When they sit down to dinner with Collin Sebastian doesn’t hold back the snark, is rude to Collin and ends up leaving the table.
Brad goes after him and finally tells him how he feels about the way that Sebastian has been acting and how that makes him feel. Brad is much more verbal, in general, about his feelings and Sebastian sees how his actions have been hurting the man he loves. Sebastian then sets out to prove to Brad that he is wanted and to show him that he couldn’t live his life without him.

This was a great follow up to Frat Boy and Toppy. I loved seeing Brad and Sebastian again – even though they were having issues. We all know that in real life people have those problems from time to time and the slice of life that we were shown from these two just made their relationship that much more real.

I loved the way that Brad came out and told Sebastian how he was feeling. Yes, he didn’t come out and tell him when it first started happening but in his defense he thought that it would change and they would go back to the way they were. His insecurities were real and his thoughts about Sebastian not needing him or questioning what Sebastian got out of the relationship were justified and I was happy that he felt comfortable enough to tell him exactly what he thought. 

Sebastian had been living in his own little world and hadn’t realized that he was acting like such an ass. On the other hand he had never been the share-your-feelings type of guy. He was crushed when Brad talked to him and made him realize how much he truly did love Brad and didn’t ever want to lose him. I admired him for admitting to being an ass but just wish that he hadn’t done it in the first place as Brad was such a wonderful guy. He did come through in the end for me, though, and I loved the ending.

Overall this novella was another great story in the Theta Alpha Gamma series and a wonderful revisit into Brad and Sebastian’s lives. If you haven’t read Frat Boy and Toppy yet you should.  That book and this whole series is definitely recommended.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Anne Tenino

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What I Read Last Week

Posted November 11, 2013 by Tracy in Features | 3 Comments

Happy Veteran’s Day! I thank all the men and women who have fought for the country that I love. 

So last week I didn’t have time to post anything (I’ve since updated that post) and two of the things that didn’t get posted were my kids’ Halloween pictures. My youngest was a little football players sans pads, etc. and my oldest was a boxer (of sorts). They were cute! At least imho. 🙂

Alright, on to what I read last week:

I started off the week with Sweet Dreams by Kristen Ashley. I actually started this on Friday and it took me like 4 freaking days to finish it it was so damned long. Lol The story is about Lauren who divorced her husband after she found out he’d been cheating on her for 2 years and then drove around for 4 months trying to find a place that felt like home. She finds that place when she drives into Carnal, Colorado. She applies for and gets a job as a cocktail waitress in a bar where she meets Tate, one of the owners. Tate says some damn mean things about Lauren which she overhears and this creates a ton of tension. They eventually become lovers and while they have their issues all is good in the end. Add in Tate’s crazy ex, Lauren’s stuffy ex, Tate’s 10 year old son, a murderer on the loose and Tate as a bounty hunter and you have a lot of things going on. There were parts of this book that drove me nuts – like Tate cutting Lauren off while she’s trying to talk (and he did this often) and some other things. But other than those issues I really enjoyed the book. 4 out of 5

Next up was The Luckiest Lady in London by Sherry Thomas. I just love Thomas’s books! This one was no different. The story had to do with a man who was thought to be The Ideal Gentleman and a woman who had come out and was pretending to be what every man wanted so that she could marry and save her family from poverty. Their story was wonderful and I loved reading about their romance. 4 out of 5 (read for Book Binge)

Wolf’s Haven by Ambrielle Kirk was a free read recently on All Romance eBooks. The story is about Tamara who escapes from her abusive boyfriend and is saved by a werewolf. They soon become lovers but she’s not exactly welcomed into the pack that he takes over. They have to deal with that as well as the guy that Devin has to fight to take over the pack. This was a decent read. I liked the first part of the book better than the second but it was still good. 3 out of 5

Wolf’s Promise by Ambrielle Kirk is the second book in the Caedmon Wolves series. This book has Tamara’s counselor, Selene driving to Tamara to check on her as Tamara kind of fell off the map. Selene’s worried about her but Selene ends up captured by the bad wolf from book 1, Darius. He wants to rape her and have her birth his pups as his mate is infertile. She manages to stop him and gets thrown in a cell with Nick who has also been captured. He escapes with Selene and while he tries to send her home for her safety she can’t seem to go. They fall in love but Nick is cut off from love as he was betrayed before. This book wasn’t as good as book 1. There were serious, serious editing issues that made me a bit batty. That brought down the quality of the book and the story wasn’t great enough to let that slide. 2 out of 5

The Perfect Match by Kristan Higgins is the story of Honor who thinks herself in love with her best friend. When she’s told she better start thinking about kids as she’s 35 and her eggs start to shrivel she proposes to him. Unfortunately he refuses – and not necessarily in a nice way. This makes her start online dating and even accepts a blind date with a man who ends up being an ass. Tom is a Brit about to be deported as his work can’t renew his work visa. Honor ends up engaged to Tom and falls in love but Tom’s feelings are cut off and when things go wrong in his life he gives up on everything. You can read my thoughts on the book here. 4 out of 5

Frat Boy and Toppy by Anne Tenino was a re-read for me. The story is about Brad who is finally admitting to himself that he’s gay and his desire to date his history teacher’s TA, Sebastian. This is a great story and I loved it as much the second time around as I did the first. You can read my review from 2012 here. 4 out of 5

Good Boy by Anne Tenino is the 4th book in the Theta Alpha Gamma series and is a novella about Brad and Sebastian. It covers a situation that happens 9 months after they’ve been together. I’ll be posting my review of this book on Wednesday so check back in. I will say it was a good one. 4 out of 5

Pretending She’s His by Kelsie Leverich was a novella about a woman who wants nothing to do with love. Eva is the love em and leave em type but when her ex boyfriend, the only man who ever broke up with her (rather than vice versa) is at her best friends wedding she pretends that her friend Trevor is her new boyfriend. What starts out as pretend soon turns into reality for both. I’ll post my review for this one on Friday. Great novella and definitely worth reading. 4 out 5

My Book Binge reviews that posted:
*crickets*

Happy Reading!

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What I Read Last Week

Posted May 6, 2013 by Tracy in Features | 1 Comment

Hello from rainy So Cal!

The weather around here is insane, I’m tellin ya. Last week it was anywhere from 80-100 degrees…until Sunday and then it was overcast and chilly. Today it’s about 50 and raining. I love living here but I gotta say that sometimes the weather just baffles me. lol

It was a quiet week and a lovely weekend. Thank you to all of you who wished me happy birthday on twitter, facebook or on The Book Binge or on Nath’s blog (it was Nath’s birthday too!). I have to say that I felt very loved on Friday. 🙂 The fam and I went out on Friday night to a lovely restaurant called Sabor Cocina. I had a margarita as big as my head (I’ve never had one from there and it was huge – and tasty) and Enchiladas de Marisco (Fresh crab, wild pacific shrimp, spinach, poblano cream sauce, crema and avocado). OMG I was in heaven! Saturday was a running around and shopping day. On Sunday the whole fam went to see Iron Man 3 (which was great) and then we spent the day working on the State Tower project for my youngest, doing laundry, cleaning house and watching Cake Boss on Netflix. Overall it was just a fun weekend. 

On to what I read last week: 

 I started off the week with 18% Gray by Anne Tenino. This story is set in the future when the states have been divided and there are Red States and Blue States. The Red states are controlling and conservative, the Blue…aren’t. In a Blue state there is QESA (Queer Extraction Services) and they go into Red states and covertly remove/rescue those who are Queer and in need of extraction. Matt works for QESA and is sent into Idaho to rescue James but James has some funky things going on in his body and it’s not an easy extraction since there are so many people looking for him. The story is about the 2 men getting out of Idaho but also getting to know each other again. They had been friends until the age of 14 when James caught Matt in a compromising position with another man and then teased and ostracized him in high school. This is a good futuristic/sci fi type read. I wasn’t sure what to expect but should have known it would be good because of Anne Tenino. I haven’t read anything by her that I haven’t liked. The story did get a bit slow in the middle as it seemed there were almost too many obstacles for the two men but the rest was pretty darned good. 3.5 out of 5

Next up was The Laird’s Forbidden Lover by Amelia C. Gormley. The story of two men who are distant cousins who fall in love but only see each other one, maybe two times a year. My review for this will go up on Wednesday. 

After that it was Game On by Tracy Solheim. This is the first book in a series about a football team called the Baltimore Blaze. This story has the General Manager’s assistant falling for the new quarterback but he’s got serious relationship issues due to the death of his mother and the abandonment of his father. Throw in a stalker for the heroine and a half-brother for the hero and there you have it. It was a good story but I did have some issues with the heroine as she knew what the hero was like but expected different from him every time. I find that so annoying in a heroine as it seems like she just can’t take him as he is but that’s a whole other issue. lol My review for this will go up on Book Binge tomorrow if you’d like to know about what I thought. 3.25 out fo 5 

KC, at Bat by Tom Mendicino is about two boys who find each other one summer while working for a moving company. KC is one of the summer league’s star players and pretty much bound for the NBL, while Charlie starts the summer being a scrawny thing he soon puts on muscle from the moving company. KC and Charlie fall for each other but it’s an awkward time between the two at first. I really enjoyed this story so, so much. The book says Book One so I’m hoping we get the rest of Charlie and KC’s story as we’re kind of left hanging in the end. This one doesn’t come out til June 6th but I just couldn’t wait to read it after reading the blurb. I put a few of my thoughts down here at Goodreads. 4.5 out of 5 

It continued being a mostly m/m week with Little Stalker by Erica Pike. This novella was about a guy who gets drunk and sleeps with women when he’s not really even attracted to them – because he’s attracted to men. He won’t admit that to himself or anyone else. He’s got a stalker though who follows him around and when they get together it’s explosive. Really cute story that ended with a HFN. 3.75 out of 5 

Welcome, Brother by Erica Pike was a novella about a Freshman in college who applies to The Nova Britannia Brotherhood. He fears he won’t get in but he does – and his mentor Hunter is someone that Kyler has a huge crush on. It gets more intense the longer they’re together but Kyler doesn’t even know if Hunter’s gay. When a gay bashing occurs in the Brotherhood it brings out ghosts from Hunter’s past but Kyler is there to help him out. This was such a good story. I really liked the way the story was set up and how it played out. I thought the characters were very well written and enjoyed every moment of this story. 4 out of 5 

Last for the week was Wild by Zoe Perdita. Wild is a born werewolf who is an omega and was banished from his pack because they didn’t want to waste the money it would take to feed him. Wild has been on his own for 5 years when he’s caught in a trap and saved by Caleb who was bitten by a werewolf. Caleb takes Wild in and gives him food and shelter, and even a position as his assistant but Wild wants more as he knows that Caleb is his mate. They also have to deal with a local wolf pack and werewolf hunters who were brought near by Wild. The story was good but a little repetitive for my liking. Wild really pushed Caleb and I found it got old after a bit. It was definitely a slower paced story but interesting. 3.25 out of 5

My Book Binge reviews that posted last week:
Roses in Moonlight by Lynn Kurland
Unbroken by Melody Grace
Take What You Want by Jeannette Grey

Happy Reading!

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What I Read Last Week

Posted January 21, 2013 by Tracy in Features | 3 Comments

Good Morning! 
How are you all on this fine Martin Luther King, Jr. Day? I’m happily off of work today and and I wish I could say it’s wonderful but my youngest got the flu so I’m having an….interesting day. 🙂 Hopefully this won’t be one of the really bad cases that has been going around cross fingers. We’ll be spending the day watching movies which will be great – ok laundry and house cleaning will be stuck in there too but I’m trying to ignore those aspects of the day. Lol 

I hope you all had a great week. Did anyone do anything super fun this past weekend? 

Did any of you try to get one of Anne Tenino’s cock sculptures? She’s notifying winners today so if any of you win you need to let me know – maybe take a picture with your new cock when you get it. 🙂 

Oh and stop on Wednesday when I’ll be hosting LA Witt and she’s got a great giveaway as well. 🙂
Ok – On to what I read last week: 

First up was Anne Tenino‘s Too Stupid To Live. I really liked this book for a lot of different reasons. I have to say that I didn’t read The Fix (yet) so I didn’t get to see what an ass Ian was before I opened TSTL (I’ve heard he was a jerk in The Fix). Anyway, you can read all of my thoughts on TSTL here in my review. 4.25 out of 5 
Next up was A Breath of Scandal by Elizabeth Essex. This was the story of a Antigone whose mother tries to engage her to a man twice her age. Antigone refuses but the mother says that they’ll just have an “agreement” for a few month and that Antigone doesn’t have to actually go through with the marriage. Antigone is not your typical heroine and when she meets Will Jellicoe he’s more than happy to show her how to misbehave. Unfortunately she really IS engage to another man so Will and Antigone can’t be together. This was a good yet sometimes frustrating book. I liked Will a lot but sometimes Antigone was just too over the top for my liking. The mother in this book was a complete hag and I disliked her intensely. 3 out of 5 (read for Book Binge) 
Star Crossed by Kele Moon is the second book in the Battered Hearts series. This is about a lawyer named Juliet who meets a cage fighter named Romeo and you got it, they fall in love. There are a ton of things that should keep them apart but Jules and Romeo won’t let anything stand in their way of being together. You can read my full review here. 4 out of 5 
My next read was Something New Under the Sun by LA Witt. This is the second book in the Falling Sky series and continues the story of Daniel and Liam and their fight against Daniel’s father. They work to get the prototypes for a mod that will kill vampires (of which Liam is one) so that they can stop Daniel’s father in his tracks. My review will post tomorrow so you can read more of my thoughts then. 4 out of 5 
Unforgivable by Joanna Chambers was next up. The story is about a woman who marries a man who she thinks wants to marry her. Unfortunately he HAS to marry her in order to get the lands back that his father gambled away. She has been sick and is thin and still has scarring. He is disgusted. He takes her to the country and leaves her there for five years before she decides she’s had enough. She now is a beautiful woman but can she forgive him for his desertion and can he forgive her for a lie she told as well? I really liked the writing in this book A LOT, I really did. Unfortunately I didn’t love the story all that much and the angst made me a bit nuts. I wanted the hubby to grovel so much more than he did and I was bit mad at the heroine that she accepted him so easily. This was read for The Book Binge so I’ll let you know when the review posts. 3.5 out of 5 
Mutegi’s Sweet One by Charlie Richards is book 1 in the Kontra’s Menagerie series. From what Tam told me it’s a spin off from a previous series. All the men in the bike club are gay and they are all various types of shifters. Mutegi is a warthog shifter (snort) and he meets his mate on the side of the road when Ben and his sister and niece’s car breaks down. The bike club help not only with the car but with the evil ex husband of the sister. Ben and Mutegi fall in love pretty fast and there wasn’t a whole lot of depth to the story but it was cute anyway. 2.5 out of 5 
Last for the week was Big Bad Bite by Jessie Lane. This story is about a shifter hybrid who’s half wolf and half demon – the only known hybrid of this sort that’s known to exist. She’s been secluded her whole life but now she’s on a SWAT team and meeting all sorts of various shifters and demons. Her and her new friends are trying to find out information about an Eastern European shifter pack and what they’re up to. In the meantime the Alpha of the nearest pack to her new home, Adam, wants Jenna for his mate but she’s not sure that’s what she wants. I liked the premise of this story but I didn’t care for the writing style. There was a lot of inner thought and introspection, lengthy descriptions and info dumps that really threw me out of the story and frankly bored me. If the authors tighten things up and get rid of excess it would have been a good book. 2 out of 5 

My Book Binge reviews that posted last week: 


Happy Reading! 

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Review: Too Stupid To Live by Anne Tenino

Posted January 17, 2013 by Tracy in Reviews | 3 Comments

It isn’t true love until someone gets hurt.

Sam’s a new man. Yes, he’s still too tall, too skinny, too dorky, too gay, and has that unfortunate addiction to romance novels, but he’s wised up. His One True Love is certainly still out there, but he knows now that real life is nothing like fiction. He’s cultivated the necessary fortitude to say “no” to the next Mr. Wrong, no matter how hot, exciting, and/or erotic-novel-worthy he may be.

Until he meets Ian.

Ian’s a new man. He’s pain-free, has escaped the job he hated and the family who stifled him, and is now—possibly—ready to dip his toe into the sea of relationships. He’s going to be cautious, though, maybe start with someone who knows the score and isn’t looking for anything too complicated. Someone with experience and simple needs that largely revolve around the bedroom.

Until he meets Sam.

Sam’s convinced that Ian is no one’s Mr. Right. Ian’s sure that Sam isn’t his type. They can’t both be wrong . . . can they?

Sam is trying to rush home with a new romance novel hidden in his jacket when he is hit with a rugby ball and goes down. That’s what he gets for not paying attention and walking across the field! lol He’s helped back up by Ian who is a complete hottie in Sam’s book, but when Sam asks Ian out for coffee Ian tells him that he’s not his type. Awww – very sad.

Sam and Ian run into each other again at Sam’s best friend Nik’s party. Turns out that Nik’s boyfriend Jurgen is Ian’s cousin. Small world, isn’t it? Ian and Sam have some hot sex after the party but then don’t see each other again. In fact Ian had no intention of seeing Sam…ever. When they run into each other again Ian realizes that Sam’s a lot hotter than he thought at first. Not as tall and awkward as he first thought – and he’s got a mouth to die for. After yet another interlude Ian proposes that he and Sam have casual sex a couple of times a week with the knowledge that nothing more will come of it. Sam knows that he shouldn’t say yes because he’s holding out for Mr. Right and not Mr. Right Now but Ian’s hot and they have great sex together so he goes for it. He really doesn’t want to be the TSTL heroine but he can’t help himself with Ian.

It doesn’t take long for the pair of men to start to see more and more of each other and start falling in love. Ian has some emotional issues, however, and those need be worked through and before he can truly commit to Sam.

So when I read the blurb to this book I was definitely intrigued and knew I wanted to read it. I love Anne Tenino’s stories and knew it would have some humor in it but this was really an all out romantic comedy. Yes, there were definitely periods of seriousness and those were really well done, but for the most part this book kept me in stitches.

Sam is a writer (though we don’t see him writing all that much) and loves romance novels (yay Sam!). He has his ideas of his perfect hero and he’s A-OK with being the heroine. He loves them Highlanders and a man in a kilt just yanks his chain. His inner monologue sometimes just had me laughing out loud and my kids were looking at me like I was nuts when I would just burst out laughing.

As I said there were periods of seriousness and those, for the most part, were on Ian’s side. He hadn’t come out until recently and even then only to those who asked. His father is bastard who wants him with a woman and Ian is working though a bunch of emotional crap and his own roadblocks he’d put up when it came to actually dating and possibly having a long term relationship with a man. Sam and Ian really worked this stuff out together and I thought that they each brought something special to the relationship and helped each other in ways that they couldn’t have done on their own. I loved the very real aspects of the story and the characters and this book definitely floated my boat. (Does anyone say that anymore? Well, I guess I do. lol) This is one not to be missed.

Rating: 4.25 out of 5

Anne Tenino

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