Tag: Cameron Dane

What I Read Last Week

Posted May 10, 2010 by Tracy in Features | 14 Comments

I hope you all had a great week last week. My week was relatively quiet – until my oldest daughter decided to wake me up at the butt crack of dawn on both days this past weekend. Death to the television. Ok, not death – but maybe some headphones so she can watch movies at 7am and I won’t have to hear them! Or earplugs for myself! lol

Not much happening in life right now so I’ll get right to the books:

This was actually a book I read week before last but forgot to mention – Silent Blade by Ilona Andrews. Very good story about an assassin and the man who falls in love with her. 4 out of 5

My first read was Tall, Dark and Wolfish by Lydia Dare. This is book 2 in the the Westfield brothers trilogy. Unlike book 1, where the hero lied about his Lycan side, Ben came clean pretty quickly about what he was. He shared a bond with Elspeth and I really liked their relationship. Good book. You can read my review at the Book Binge here. 4.25 out of 5

Next was another free read from the GLBT Bookshelf called Crimes of Passion by Mel Keegan. A short story about the in-laws coming to visit. Brad and Frank are happily co-habitating when Frank gets word from his parents that they’re coming to visit. Frank freaks out and Brad can’t seem to figure out what the hell is wrong with the ‘rents as they sound fine on paper. Yeah, not so fine in person. Cute, funny short. 4 out of 5

Dancing in the Dark by Jennifer Dunne is a novella I read for The Book Binge. The story is about a woman who gets invited to a Halloween party at the opera house where she volunteers. She decides to go as a slave girl and orders a costume online sight unseen. She gets the costume and it’s a bdsm slave girl costume. She wears it anyway and decides to become a slave to a man she meets at the party. You can read my review here. 3.5 out of 5

Next up was Finding Home by Cameron Dane. A book where I loved the first part of the book and the second part – not so much. You can read my review here. 3.5 out of 5

One of my FTSP reads for the week was Pack Enforcer by Crissy Smith – book 2 in the Were Chronicles series. This is set in the same world as book 1 but deals with people from another pack than book 1. Unfortunately it’s been some time since I read book 1 so I had to really stop and think about who these people were. I figured it out and enjoyed the story. Werewolf man denying his feelings toward his mate – misinterpreting something that happened while he was away and then regretting his actions. Good story. 3.75 out of 5

Out of the Blue by Josh Lanyon was my next read and one of my Tracy’s TBR Challenge Reads. This was a story about fighter pilots in WWI. The story of Bat who is grieving for his love who was killed in a air fight. Now he’s being blackmailed into having sex with another pilot. As much as I was angered at Cowboy for blackmailing Bat I just knew that there were underlying feelings on Cowboy’s part. The story was incredibly good. The action and fight scenes had me on the edge of my seat and yet the stories of the other pilots dying every day had me tearing up. Just a great novella. 4.5 out of 5

Wicked Becomes You by Meredith Duran has been a book that I’ve really been looking forward to. Unfortunately while a good story I didn’t love it. Gwen, jilted twice at the altar, decides that there will be no more Miss Nice Girl and decides to be Wicked. She is aided in this by family friend Alex. I couldn’t feel the connection with Gwen and Alex on anything more than a superficial level. Alex was an ass most of the time until the end and by then, for me, it was too late. I think Ana from The Book Smugglers spoke my thoughts perfectly in her review here. 3.5 out of 5

The Reawakened by Jeri Smth-Ready is the 3rd book in the Aspect of Crow Trilogy. Why this book sat on my shelf for so long is beyond me. It was so damned good! I loved this trilogy on so many levels. This book takes place 18 years after book 2 but is no less powerful. We see how life has changed for Rhia and Marek, their children and their friends and family. Just a wonderful read. 5 out of 5 (also part of my FTSP)

Another series finished! Woohoo! The Legend of the Four Soldiers series by Elizabeth Hoyt was completed this weekend by reading To Desire A Devil and loving it. The story of Reynaud – who was thought dead. His fellow soldiers had seen him burn and when he returns after 7 years they don’t know what to make of it. On top of that his father has died which means he’s the new Earl – but when he was presumed dead the title was given to someone else. He’s determined to get the title back and keep his cousin (by marriage), Beatrice, with him forever. Great end to the series. Loved Reynaud and his possessiveness. Sometimes that can go over the line but it didn’t in this book, at least for me, and I was digging it. 4.5 out of 5

Reasons by Tracy Fabre was a book I read for The Book Binge. The story of a woman who goes back to a ranch in Colorado where family friends, the Laughlin’s live. Only she’s found out that the car that hit her 9 years ago in a hit and run was driven by one of the sons of the Laughlin’s. Good story. Witty dialogue. An engaging read of family secrets and new love. 4 out of 5

And last was a yaoi manga – A Foreign Love Affair by Ayano Yamane. Great graphics. The story was ok – about the 3rd highest in a yakuza family that was on a cruise and had just gotten married to a woman who he didn’t even like and she certainly didn’t like him either. He was old fashioned and wore kimono’s. The ship captain had a thing for Japan so was instantly drawn to him. I couldn’t figure out if the Italian captain liked Ranmura or just the fact that he was Japanese. 3.5 out of 5

Happy Reading!

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Tagged: Cameron Dane, Crissy Smith, Elizabeth Hoyt, Ilona Andrews, Jennifer Dunne, Jeri Smith-Ready, Josh Lanyon, Lydia Dare, Mel Keegan, Meredith Duran, The Book Binge, Tracy Fabre, What I Read Last Week, What I've Been Reading This Week, yaoi manga

M/M Challenge Review: Finding Home by Cameron Dane

Posted May 6, 2010 by Tracy in Reviews | 14 Comments

Warning – this does have minor spoilers in it.

Picking pockets and stealing cars, Adam Reyes does what he must to survive. Working Chicago’s O’Hare airport, he feels pretty confident when he spots his next mark.

Security expert Rhone Quinn can’t believe the wiry kid who grabs his cell phone almost gets away with it. Logic says turn the teen over to the cops, but Rhone is a man who trusts his instincts, and his gut tells him to offer the young man a job and a chance to begin a new life. Little does Rhone know that when he makes that choice it will forever change his life, too.

Over the years that follow a mentor relationship turns into a unique, abiding friendship. It eventually leads to true equality between Rhone and Adam when Adam becomes a full partner in Quinn Security. Unbeknownst to Rhone, as time passes by, Adam is also falling deeply in love. With Rhone. Who isn’t gay. And who doesn’t know that Adam is.

Then, one day, Rhone discovers the truth. Will Rhone’s new awareness of Adam’s feelings bind the men together even more intimately, or tear them apart for good?

The blurb pretty much tells the gist of the story so I’ll try not to go into it too much.

Adam has these deep unrequited feelings for Rhone. Rhone has been his mentor and best friend for 10 years and they seem to have a great bond between the two of them. But with Rhone not being gay Adam would rather suffer in silence and watch Rhone go through life with women than ruin their friendship and tell Rhone how he feels.

The beginning of this story was wonderful. Rhone’s meeting Adam the way he did, bringing him into his business and their wonderful friendship had the makings of an excellent story. I was completely sucked into Adam’s plight and wanted so desperately for him to tell Rhone his feelings and I just knew that had Adam told Rhone, Rhone would sit and discuss it with him and then examine his feelings. Rhone had a certain possessive feeling toward Adam so I had no doubt that Rhone would accept him. But other players in the story – namely Rhone’s brother Canin and their other partner, Kasey, had other ideas about how these two men should be together.

Kasey brought Adam to the office and did what she had apparently been doing to Adam for about a year – and that was basically satisfying his sexual need – but with a dildo. Rhone, thinking he had a meeting at the office, walked into this scene and freaked – that possessiveness showing through – and kicked Kasey out of the office so that he and Adam could talk. (I have to tell you that I honestly thought this was dream sequence while it was happening. I paged forward thinking that Adam was going to wake up and it was not reality because it just seemed so odd. I was more than stunned when I realized this was where the book was going.) What ensued was not what I expected at all. Instead of only a discussion, it was a discussion and sexfest. Rhone jumped right in to sex with Adam and then examined how he was feeling and I couldn’t help but think that what started out as a fabulous story lost more than a little something with that. Yes, feelings were accepted – but almost too easily for my liking. That is explained with Rhone’s thoughts and feelings about Adam (which were incredibly sweet and tender) but I didn’t finish the book thinking that Adam was confident in their relationship.

So while I didn’t love the second part of the book I did love the first part. I have to say that it was a well written book though and I did love her characters. I will be reading book 2 in this series to see what happens with Kasey and Canin.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

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Tagged: Cameron Dane, m/m challenge review, Review

Review: Knowing Caleb by Cameron Dane

Posted April 26, 2009 by Casee in Reviews | 3 Comments

Caleb Hawkins has watched his brothers fall in love, all the while knowing that for him, it can never be. Caleb has terrible secrets locked in his soul, events in his past for which he can never atone or be forgiven. Someone discovering that he is a demon is the least of what leaves Caleb trembling with nightmares.

Jake Chase lost his wife six years ago and has never recovered. He doesn’t want to fall in love again and has shunned even a simple date, let alone something more with a woman.

Caleb needs a foreman, and Jake needs a job that will get him off the rodeo circuit. Caleb hires Jake. Problem solved. Only Caleb starts noticing little things about Jake he never has in a man before…things like hard lips and a honed, muscular body. For Jake, six years of celibacy have pushed him to a place of sexual need and he finds his gaze straying Caleb’s way…and watching, hungrily.

Can two straight men overcome their pasts to find love with each other? Even if they can, Caleb will be risking his soul for a chance at their forever.

I’ve read and enjoyed m/m romance in the past, but this blurb really caught my eye. I mean, two straight guys falling for each other? Sounds epic.

I have this bad when I’m bored at work. I hop on Fictionwise and start browsing the erotica section. I read blurbs until I find one or more that I’m interested in. This blurb caught my eye b/c it’s two previously straight guys falling for each other.

Two things I didn’t realize when I started the book. First, it’s paranormal. I dealt w/ it b/c the paranormal aspect is pretty small and it didn’t overtake the plot of the book. Second, it’s like the 3rd in a series. So I missed a few books. I figured the case as I was reading it, but I didn’t want to go back and find the previous books.

Caleb Hawkins likes helping people that are in trouble. When he sees Jake Chase in a bar about to get in a fight w/ a bouncer, he intercedes. When Chase gets Jake in a motel room for the night, he finds that he can’t leave such a morose, even suicidal person alone. Jake can’t stop talking about his dead wife, nor can he stop saying that he has no reason to live. For that reason, Caleb can’t leave him alone.

Caleb doesn’t consciously realize he’s attracted to Jake until after he convinces Jake to return to his ranch as the foreman. It’s only when he realizes that he looks forward to seeing Jake every day, that he’s actually attracted to another man. He has no idea how he can be attracted to a man, physically or otherwise. And it’s not like Jake is the best man to fall for. The guy carries a major torch for his wife and Caleb knows Jake will not let anyone in (figuratively speaking, of course).

Even after Caleb and Jake admit that they have feelings for each other, they don’t consider themselves gay. They’re not attracted to men, only to each other. I kind of got that, but I kind of didn’t. I guess it was supposed to be that their souls were drawn to each other and it didn’t matter what kind of body that soul was in.

If I had a problem with anything in this book, it was Jake. His guilt over his “betrayal” just annoyed me. I understand that his wife died unexpectedly and he loved her deeply, but the fact that he really thought she would deny his happiness after her death really didn’t jive for me. Other than that, I thought the book was great.

4 out of 5.

This book is available from Loose Id, LLC. You can buy it here in e-format.