Tag: Tessa Cardenas

Throwback Thursday Guest Review: The Strongest Shape by Tessa Cardenas

Posted September 3, 2020 by Tracy in Reviews | 10 Comments

Throwback Thursday Guest Review: The Strongest Shape by Tessa CardenasReviewer: Tracy
The Strongest Shape by Tessa Cárdenas
Publisher: Self-Published
Publication Date: November 28, 2009
Genres: M/M
Pages: 232
Add It: Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books
three-half-stars

After his boyfriend breaks up with him, fashion photographer Caleb Moss finds himself alone in Los Angeles looking for work and friends. He finds both in a group of aspiring musicians, who offer help through their connections. But while building a strong friendship with Scott and Chris, a startling sexual tension flares to life among the three men, and Caleb is afraid the new friendships will fall apart.

It won't be easy for Caleb, trying to find his way when Scott and Chris invite him into their relationship. They face criticism from their friends, but they'll struggle to stay together because they have discovered a three-fold love.

This review was originally posted on August 10, 2011.

This story centers around 3 men, Caleb, Scott and Chris. Caleb is a fashion photographer who followed his boyfriend out to California from New York and then got dumped. He meets Jason who introduces him to Scott. Scott is dating Chris but Chris is on tour (Scott and Chris are both singer/songwriters) and Caleb is warned to not get too chummy with Scott as Chris will be extremely jealous.

When Chris gets home, however, he’s not jealous and the trio become friends. Caleb finds himself liking both men but he doesn’t want to set Chris’s jealousy off so he avoids the couple for a couple of weeks. Chris and Scott go looking for him and bring him back into their fold. They want to be closer friends, in fact, they both like Caleb and want to be a trio instead of a pair. Caleb isn’t sure it will work but he decides to go for it. The trio have their work cut out for them but it’s the work that makes the book…work.

This story really has one main focus and that is the relationship between these 3 men and all of its quirks. Chris and his possessiveness, Caleb and his insecurities and Scott and his devil may care attitude. I really like that aspect of the book as we got to see in depth stuff about the men. How they dealt with letting their friends know about the relationship, as well as their parents, or not. I loved how the men stuck together through thick and thin. Yes, Caleb had to have his breathing time and his space at some points but it was good.

Were there things about the story that I would have liked to have seen? Of course. I would have loved to have known more about the men and their jobs. We know that Chris and Scott are singer/songwriters but not to what level. Near the end Caleb mentions something about what would happen if they were ever signed so I assumed they weren’t at that level. Yet, Chris was on tour at one point and recordings were mentioned. It was a bit confusing for me and I either wanted to know more…or less. lol

One of the things I wish for in most of the books I read is more communication! In this story the guys were horrible at it – especially Chris and Caleb – and didn’t want to be “girly” and share their feelings. If you can’t share them with the ones you love who can you share them with? Of course the non-communication fed into Caleb’s doubts about his place in the relationship but I very much liked how the men worked it out.

Overall it was a good book. I’m not usually a fan of m/m/m stories but this one definitely worked for me.

Rating: 3.75 out of 5.

three-half-stars


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What I Read Last Week

Posted August 15, 2011 by Tracy in Features | 7 Comments

Greetings on another lovely Monday!

My hubby got back from his trip to Sturgis on Friday and it’s business as usual today and back to work for him. The poor guy did not want to go in. I don’t blame him at all. He had a great time on his trip so that was nice.

My Squee for the week: I inherited a Kindle! No, no one died and left it to me in their will but Nikki (of So Cal Blogger fame) got a new Kindle plus she has a NookColor and other gadgets so she gave me her “old” Kindle! Is that awesome or what? I think it is. There are a lot of things that I love about my Astak EZreader like all of the many, many file formats it accepts and the removable sd card that makes creating separate folders for each author a wiz…but the Kindle is so damned fast! I created folders or “collections” as they’re called on the Kindle but the books still stay in the main directory even though they’re in the collection…which makes many pages to have to go through to find what I need.
I took some time this weekend and reformatted a ton of books to go on the reader (most originated in epub or pdf so I changed them to mobi) and they looked great on the Kindle. I re-downloaded all of my netgalley books straight to the Kindle and that was really nice although I have to say the formatting wasn’t quite as up to par as I thought it would be. I purchased my first book from Amazon (Wild and Steamy by Brook, Crane and Myles for only .99) and it was uber easy and super fast which I loved. I don’t know how much I’ll be buying straight from Amazon but if I do it will definitely satisfy my instant gratification need. lol
Any of you out there with Kindles I’d love to know any tips and tricks you’ve discovered.

I got a bit more reading in this week than last:

First up was The Strongest Shape by Tessa Cárdenas. This was good m/m/m story that I really enjoyed. You can read my review here. 3.75 out of 5

Next up was a free read by Sloan Parker called Swept Away. This was a short story about 2 men who had been together for 15 years and every year they spend their anniversary the same way. Between jobs and stress the two men, Eddie and Mike, have been too tired to spend any quality time together but Mike decides to change things up a bit and give Eddie a trip he’ll never forget. This was a very sweet story and quite romantic. 4 out of 5

My next read was The Perfect Play by Jaci Burton. This is book 1 in the Play by Play series and it was a good one. The story is about NFL quarterback Mick Riley who is chasing event planner Tara Lincoln and she’s definitely avoiding him after their hot and steamy night of sex. Mick wants to date her and Tara wants to build her business and take care of her 14 year old son. The chase is worth the read and the revelations about both Tara and Mick were eye-opening. I did have a couple issues with Tara and her jumping to conclusions but overall a good book that’s worth the read. 4 out of 5 (A Book Binge read)

Next was another free read from Sloan Parker called A Lesson in Truth. David is in love with his advisor who is 15 years older than he. They’ve been best friends and David thought he and Michael were moving on to the next level but when Michael says it has to end David takes things the wrong way. This was great sexy little short story that had romance as well. Good stuff. 4 out of 5

My next read was When Beauty Tamed the Beast by Eloisa James. I haven’t read but a couple of James’ books but I’ve really liked what I’ve read. This one was a great retelling of beauty and the best with a, dare I say, crotchety young doctor and the woman who tames him. You can read my review here. 4.5 out of 5

Crying for the Moon by Sarah Madison was my next read. The story was about a vampire, Alex, who is trying to get away from the typical vampire life. There are things that a vampire can do to extend his life but they take his soul and he wants no part of it. He moves to the mountains and hangs with his werewolf friends. He meets his neighbor, Tate, and though he tries to discourage the friendship it, along with romance, blooms despite his attempts to stave it off. It was a good story about friendship and love. 3 out of 5

My Tracy’s TBR Challenge read for the week, On These Silken Sheets by Sabrina Darby, is actually the book I read for my monthly TBR Challenge I’ll post my review of this book on Wednesday.

Last on the list for the week was Anna Doubles Down by Missy Martine. This was a novella that I read for The Book Binge about a girl who visits a ghost town with her friend and ends up time travelling to 1871. She is ends up in a saloon with 2 beautiful men who are more than willing to keep her forever. But Anna thinks she’s only there to save the town from losing its mill in a fire and then she’ll head back. She doesn’t plan on falling in love with 2 men but that’s exactly what happens. This was a cute book that was short and sweet. The two men, Zeke and Beau were together for 10 years before Anna showed up. After reading so much m/m I wondered why they’d want a woman in the mix but they did and it worked for them. 3 out of 5

My Book Binge reviews that posted last week:
Never Cry Wolf by Cynthia Eden
The Chase by Erin McCarthy

Happy Reading!


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