Tag: M.J. O’Shea

What I Read Last Week

Posted June 11, 2013 by Tracy in Features | 2 Comments

Yo Babies!

How the heck are ya? I’m good. It was actually been a pretty pleasant week and the weather is cooperating so it’s all good.

Nothing much happened last week so I’ll get on to what I read:

I started the week with Coming Home by MJ O’Shea. I’ve liked her stories in the past so I picked this one up and wasn’t disappointed. The story is about Tally who was an ass and bully in high school so the town didn’t think too kindly of him. Then his dad got caught with a young girl and killed himself. He’s back now to live with his grandmother rather than on the streets and he’s a changed person. The only person that will give him a job is Lex at the local coffee shop. Tally doesn’t recognize him as the guy he bullied in high school. Despite the bullying Lex always had a crush on Tally and that apparently didn’t change. This was a great well, coming home story and I really liked the romance between Lex and Tally. 3.75 out of 5

Next up was a western historical called Saving Grace by Sandy James. This was a story of a woman looking for her brother while running from the law. You can read more about the book and my thoughts on it here. 3.5 out of 5

Fire Inside by Kristen Ashley is book 2 in the Chaos MC series. The story is about one of the MC members and a friend of the club. They start out as wanting to have just one night but then fall in love while working out emotional issues. I really liked parts of this but then other parts annoyed the hell outta me. You can read more of my thoughts on the book here. 3 out of 5

Not the Leader of the Pack by Annabeth Leong is the story (novella) of a girl who has been away from her shifter pack and her family for 5 years. Her father’s health is failing and before he dies he hands over alpha duties to her. The Beta of the pack wants to bag the girl but that doesn’t stop him from trying to wrestle the pack leadership from her hands. This was an ok read but the hero in this one really annoyed me and I wanted to hit him. lol (read for Book Binge) 2 out of 5

Ellie’s Gentleman by Georgiana Louis is a May/December romance between a 20 year old girl and a man of 42. I thought I’d be squicked out but it actually worked well and though a very short story it was a good one.(read for Book Binge) 3.5 out of 5

Unforgiven by Anne Calhoun is another coming home story but the hero in this one has ulterior motives for coming home – although he says he doesn’t. Adam is to be best man in his best friends wedding to Adam’s former fiancé. While he’s home he registers for school and also gets back involved with his former girlfriend, Marissa. The story is about finding out who you are and following your dreams. It’s not a funny story at all but not dark and depressing either. More along the lines of solemn but very good. Well written. 4 out of 5

He Belongs to Me by Theresa Rizzo is the story about a 23 year old girl who’s looking forward to her 6 year old son coming to live with her but finds out her parents plan on keeping him and raising him themselves. She enlists her estranged husband to get him back but he’s not necessarily all-in. The story is about the conflict with the parents as well as the issues that Catherine and Thomas have as a couple. Good story – I’ll post my review on Thursday. 3.5 out of 5

Reluctant Mate by Eden Cole is a short story about the Alpha of a wealthy shifter pack who wants his son to mate with another man who will bring their pack political influence. The problem is that neither the son, Gray, nor the other guy, Lucas, is gay. They try sex out so that they can tell Gray’s father that it won’t work but after their initial hesitations they find they like it. The story here was minimal and it certainly wasn’t written wonderfully well but I gotta say I thought the sex was pretty hot. I’m not sure if it was because it was so experimental or what but I liked it. lol 3.25 out of 5

Last for the week was Just What He Wanted by HelenKay Dimon. We’re back in Holloway, Virginia and this time we get Travis’s story. He’s asked to keep an eye on the new manager of the cabins, Andy. Only it’s actually Andie and she’s a woman. A woman that makes Travis drool and lose his head. She’s got a block about their ages since he’s 25 and she’s 34 and she also has self-esteem issues regarding her weight that drive Travis crazy. It was a good story and though short it packed a punch. I’ll post my review this week 🙂 3.75 out of 5

My Book Binge reviews that posted last week:

Ethan by Grace Burrowes

The Look of Love by Bella Andre

Happy Reading!

2 Comments

Tagged: Annabeth Leong, Anne Calhoun, Book Binge, Eden Cole, Georgiana Louis, Helenkay Dimon, Kristen Ashley, M.J. O'Shea, Sandy James, Theresa Rizzo, What I Read Last Week, What I've Been Reading This Week

DFRAT Review: One Small Thing by Piper Vaughn and M.J. O’Shea

Posted June 8, 2012 by Tracy in Reviews | 4 Comments

“Daddy” is not a title Rue Murray wanted, but he never thought he’d have sex with a woman either. Now he’s the unwitting father of a newborn named Alice. Between bartending and cosmetology school, Rue doesn’t have time for babies, but he can’t give her up. What Rue needs is a babysitter, and he’s running out of options. He’s on the verge of quitting school to watch Alice himself when he remembers his reclusive new neighbor, Erik.

Erik Van Nuys is a sci-fi novelist with anxiety issues to spare. He doesn’t like people in general, and he likes babies even less. Still, with his royalties dwindling, he could use the extra cash. Reluctantly, he takes on the role of manny—and even more reluctantly, he finds himself falling for Alice and her flamboyant father.

Rue and Erik are as different as two people can be, and Alice is the unlikeliest of babies, but Rue has never been happier than when Alice and Erik are by his side. At least, not until he receives an offer that puts all his dreams within reach and he’s forced to choose: the future he’s always wanted, or the family he thought he never did.

Apparently Rue got so drunk one night that he decided that he was going to “test” his gayness and sleep with a woman. I’m not sure if they didn’t use a condom or if it ripped or what but a few months after that night the woman came to Rue and let him know that he was going to be a father and she doesn’t want to keep it after giving birth. Growing up without a steady home the last thing that Rue wanted was his child to be put up for adoption and not have a clue as to level of care the baby would receive. He immediately tells the woman that he will take the baby.

We then jump to Rue bringing the baby, Alice, home and the insanity of that. He did have a week off but basically had to go back to school and work almost immediately. He was desperate for a sitter and went to check out the local day cares. He was met with facilities that made him shudder with their lack of cleanliness to places that stuck their nose up at the fact that he was gay to places that would welcome him…when they had an opening in about 6 months. He is getting closer and closer to having to return to normal life and is completely frustrated. His best friend Dusty will watch Alice at night but he had no one for the day. He ends up asking his neighbor for help and is turned down flat. Rue then starts putting fliers around the apartment complex and slowly raising the amount he’d pay.

Let’s talk about the neighbor. Erik is a bit well, high strung. Ok, he’s more than that. Anxiety thy name is Erik. The guy had had to move out of his house of six years and that basically sent him in to a tailspin. He had never been good in crowds, had to have his groceries delivered so he wouldn’t have to go to the grocery store and watched the original Star War trilogy to calm himself down. The thought of having to take care of another person, especially one so small, made him practically have a panic attack. But, here’s the thing. He still had to pay the bills. Erick is an author of sci-fi novels and the royalty checks were getting smaller. He had submitted more work but it wasn’t getting picked up. In order to pay the bills he does some research on babies and decides that taking care of Alice in his own home would be better than having to face the world and get a job. *Shudder*

Erik starts to take care of Alice and Erik, Alice, Rue and Dusty all fall into a routine of sorts. They become friends and Erik slowly starts coming out of his shell. They all find common ground with Alice and eventually with each other. Erik, who’s never been attracted to anyone starts to have thoughts of him and Rue together and eventually falls in love with the other man. Rue’s not sure what’s happening with Erik but he’s afraid to make a move on him because he’s afraid of frightening him off. The pair finally come together and it’s awesome. The problem is that now that Rue is out of cosmetology school his friend in California (they’re in Delaware) has an awesome job for him but of course he would have to move to California. How can he even ask Erik to move with him when he knows how hard it is for Erik to accept change?

I’m not sure what I expected with this story but it definitely went above and beyond anything I might have imagined. Rue was an awesome character. He was thoughtful, kind, generous, loving and just an all around great guy. He was the fishnet & nail polish wearing kind of guy and I imagined him as one adorable twink who’d been around the block. As the story went on I admired Rue more and more. It started when he said he’d take Alice before she was even born without having to give it a second thought and it grew as the story went on and he took such care with her and his friends. He worked hard to provide for his little family and he did it well. He grew a lot in the book and I loved seeing that.

Erik was a mess. lol I loved him but he took a bit getting used to. I guess I’ve never spent a lot of time with someone who was that anxiety ridden so I was on the same mental level as he was at first. But then he became friends with Rue and Dusty and he came out of his shell. Talk about personal growth! He went from a medication taking hermit to a friend and a lover, a caretaker and a protector. He was amazing and I loved reading about him.

The story is very sweet and pretty angst free. It does have its moments but they were worked so well into the overall story that they never felt convoluted just to extend the page count. I felt that the book ended exactly where it should have but I have to say I would love (are you listening authors?) a short or a novella to tell a little about how Erik, Rue and Dusty are doing now. This one was definitely worth the read.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Piper Vaughn

M.J. O’Shea

4 Comments

Tagged: Dreamspinner Press, M.J. O'Shea, Piper Vaughn, Review, Reviews, Tracy's Reviews

What I Read Last Week

Posted June 4, 2012 by Tracy in Features | 2 Comments

Hi ho the merry-o!

How the heck are you this fine sunny day? Ok, it’s only a little sunny here but it’s still a fine day. 🙂

As most of you have noticed I’m participating in the Digital First Read-A-Thon this month. Along with Book Binge (who has so nicely organized everything), Novel Thoughts and The Book Reading Gals we will be featuring guest posts and giveaways all month at all four blogs. I have to admit that I haven’t actually picked a goal number of how many digital first books I will read this month but hopefully by next week I’ll get my shit together enough to do that. lol I know DFRAT just started on the first but I DID read one digital first book. I read 5 ebooks but only 1 of them was digital first. I’ll do better on that this week. Here’s the schedule for DFRAT for the week. I posted the schedule for the week a couple of days ago. You can see it here if you want to know what author will be where.

My poor kitteh went in to heat this past week. My GOD! lol She never yowled but she meowed non-stop for 3 days. I thought my hubby (who is the lightest sleeper in the world) was going to lose it there for a while. No rest for the wicked, right? We ended up getting her spayed on Thursday and she came through with flying colors. We’ve only had to put the cone of shame on her poor little head twice and she hated it so much both times that she stopped licking altogether. 🙂 Smart kitteh. She was hanging out on the area rug right in front of the stove a lot because the canister light right above it puts off some heat and she was luxuriating in it. My daughter took a picture and because of the flash and the lighting in the kitchen it turned out like this:

Cool, huh? I thought so.

Ok – on to what I read this past week:

First up was Heart of Darkness by Lauren Dane. This is book one in her Bound by Magick series and is about Meriel who is next in line to take over her clan of witches in Seattle. She gets assigned to check out a club that is using the clans font of magick and let the owner know that it’s a big no-no. She meets Dominic who she finds out is her bond-mate and sparks fly. No, they don’t just go at it like bunnies right away – they wait to make sure they get to know each other first. It was a great story and I really enjoyed it. You can read my review at Book Binge here. 4.25 out of 5

Next was Too Tempting to Resist by Cara Elliott. Book 2 in the Lord of Midnight series focuses on a sister who is trying to take care of her no good brother while at the same time trying to save their estate, save money so she can get away from said brother and make a life for herself while still creating the art she loves. She meets Marquess Haddan who is supposedly a rake (though we never see that) who is reforming and writing a book of poetry. Their paths cross and lust blooms. You can read my full review here. 3.75 out of 5

One Small Thing by Piper Vaughn and M.J. O’Shea is the story of a gay man who ends up with a daughter and how he, his best friend and his neurotic next door neighbor make a life for themselves. I’ll post my review on Friday.

Snowbound with a Stranger by Rebecca Rogers Maher has 2 emotionally stilted people meeting during a hike and a snowstorm and spending 3 days together finding themselves and a bunch of passion. I’ll post my review on Thursday.

Echoes at Dawn by Maya Banks is book 5 in the KGI series. This is the story of Rio, one of the KGI members and his team while they head out to rescue Grace who has been tortured almost to death. Rio knows from the first moment he sees Grace that she is his woman but it takes Grace a bit longer to come to terms with Rio and his possessiveness. The story was good but Rio bothered me a bit. Grace was pretty admirable and didn’t have her using her powers throughout the book. 3.5 out of 5 (read for Book Binge – releases 7/3)

Next was Chaos Burning by Lauren Dane. Book 2 in the Bound by Magick series was just as good as book 1. I’m not normally a fan of witch stories but these are pretty darned good. This story had Simon who is a Lycian becoming friends with visiting witch, Lark. Lark is one bad-ass mofo and not to be trifled with. I loved her character. Simon and Lark were friends first before Simon realized that she was the one for him. It’s a good romance and a great story of witches kicking butt and taking names. 4.25 out of 5 (read for Book Binge)

Last for the week was The Baron’s Governess Bride by Deborah Hale. The story is about Grace who is beautiful and a governess. She’s tired of getting hit on and then having to leave her positions. She applies for a job but goes looking as dowdy as possible. She gets the job but then falls in love with the Baron. How to tell him she’s not who he thinks she is? I’ll post my review of this on Sunday.

My Book Binge reviews that posted this past week:

Heart of Darkness by Lauren Dane

Tangle of Need by Nalini Singh

Happy Reading!!

2 Comments

Tagged: Cara Elliott, Deborah Hale, DFRAT, DFRAT 2012, Digital First ReadAThon, Lauren Dane, M.J. O'Shea, Maya Banks, Piper Vaughn, Rebecca Rogers Maher, The Book Binge, What I Read Last Week, What I've Been Reading This Week

What I Read Last Week

Posted October 10, 2011 by Tracy in Features | 5 Comments

Hey there!

I’m writing this lovely post straight from lovely downtown Madison, Alabama. Ok, maybe not exactly downtown but close enough. 🙂 I’m here visiting my sister before I head down to NOLA GayRomLit. I flew in yesterday and got here in the afternoon. My sister and her hubby then took me on a personal tour of United Launch Alliance (where my b-i-l works) and I got to see where the Delta and Atlas rockets are built. I actually stuck my head into a rocket that was about 90% built.

My head was in the center part near the top. lol

It was pretty freakin cool to walk through that huge place and see how each piece is made. I have to say a lot of it was WAY over my head (my brain just doesn’t work that way, ya know?) but I loved it. We then went out for some great German food and I got to eat schnitzel for the first time.

I had to get up at 2:30 in the morning to catch my 6am plane yesterday so I was asleep pretty early (for me) but now I’m rarin to go. We don’t actually have plans for the day but when we do…I’m up for it! Lol

I’m sure there was stuff that I want to tell you about this past week but frankly I can’t remember a thing right now. Lol

Since my brain’s in stall mode I’ll just get to what I read last week:

First up was Archangel’s Blade by Nalini Singh. The story continued from the last book but this one wasn’t about Elena and Raphael this was the story of Dmitri, Raphael’s second. Dmitri gets involved in a case with Honor is a Guild Hunter and they have an amazing connection. They also investigate some murders. I loved this book. I thought Dmitri was a great character and I loved seeing him in a closer way than we’ve seen him in previous books. I read this one for The Book Binge so I’ll let you know when my review posts. 5 out of 5

Next up was What a Duke Wants by Lavinia Kent. This was a great historical that I really enjoyed reading. You can read more about the book and my review here if you’d like. 4 out 5

Next up was Chicken Ranch: Hunger by Amanda Young. The story is about an 18 year old guy who comes out to his father and gets kicked out of the house. After being on the street he finds out about an all male brothel called Chicken Ranch. He decides to check it out as he’s desperate and ends up working there. He’s a virgin until Killian comes along and makes it great for him. Killian and Declan run into each other later and actually start dating though Declan is still working at CR. They have their issues but still fall in love and deal with it all. It was a great story of love and hope and I really liked it. 3.75 out of 5

Next was a free story called Once Upon a Dragon by Jambrea Jo Jones. This was a choose you own m/m story from Kris’s blog and it was a good one. It was simple, short and a destined mates story and it just hit me the right way. About shapeshifting dragons and one finds his destined mate living in a tower that he thought was deserted. 4 out of 5

My next read was If It Ain’t Love by Tamara Allen. Also a free short story, this one took place in the great depression and is about two men who meet in the Bowery and decide to share some time. That time turns into a relationship that sweet and loving. The story was quite poignant in the descriptions of the desperation felt by the people living in that time – the bread lines and need for a job – just very realistic. A great read. 4.5 out of 5

Next was Bridges by M.J. O’Shea – another free short. The story follows Dallas and Brooklyn in their hatred for each other starting in the 3rd grade. The pair grow up hating each other but then start working together after high school graduation. They find that they really can get along and end up falling in love. I loved this story so much! There was just something about the boys and their hatred turned love that really got to me and I couldn’t get enough of them. 5 out of 5

Angels of Darkness by Meljean Brook, Nalini Singh, Sharon Shinn and Ilona Andrews was a book about angels. I really liked all of the stories in this book. I adore Andrews, Brook and Singh’s writing so I knew I’d like those. Shin’s and Andrews ended up being a bit of a surprise. Shin I’d never read but I really liked the story about a blind angel and the woman who helps him deal with life. Andrews’ story was a bit of surprise as well as it was a new world that they introduced about demons and aliens and though it was different I really liked it and can’t wait to read more about it. I read this one for The Book Binge. 4 out of 5

Last on the list for the week was another book I read for The Book Binge called A Bride Unveiled by Jillian Hunter. I really liked this book. It even had some things in it that I usually don’t care for and I still really liked it. It was the story of childhood friends finding each other again. Yes, the woman is engaged when they meet but it’s like she hardly knows her fiancé. No excuse to cheat on him but it still worked for me. I’ll let you know when my review posts. 4.5 out of 5

My Book Binge reviews that posted last week:
Serpent’s Kiss by Thea Harrison

Happy Reading!!