Review of Never a Hero by Marie Sexton

Marie Sexton

Never a Hero (Tucker Springs #5)

Riptide Publishing | May 13, 2013 | 167 pages

Author’s website | Goodreads | Buy book here

Backblurb:
Everyone deserves a hero.

Owen Meade is desperately in need of a hero. Raised by a mother who made him ashamed of his stutter, his sexual orientation, and his congenitally amputated arm, Owen lives like a hermit in his Tucker Springs apartment. But then hunky veterinarian Nick Reynolds moves in downstairs.

Happy Gay Friday & Hop Against Homophobia

I spent a great afternoon chatting with Leontine about books and blog stuff at my kitchen table. She brought home-baked brownies with strawberries and whipped cream, which were a fabulous treat for our taste buds. Yum!

I’m all satisfied and lazy now and about ready to go take a shower and curl up in bed with my current read: Cinder by Marie Sexton. I’m enjoying it very much because it’s just the cute and lovely story I’m in the mood for atm.


But before I go do just that, I want to give you the link to the Hop Against Homophobia registration page.  You’ve probably seen this button at many sites (including mine).

This hop is about spreading awareness of homophobia and there are over 225 blogs participating already and registration is still open. All you have to do is post on the topic of homophobia on May 17th and offer a M/M-related prize (follow for more information the link).
My prize will be the winner’s choice of an M/M title from an online ebook store that let me buy a gift (like All Romance ebooks).

Hope to see you doing some hopping on the International Day Against Homophobia. :)

Happy Gay Friday everyone!

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Happy Gay Friday & Some Randomness

Friday can never come too soon! I’m always glad when another week has dragged itself along and turns into a Friday again. :) This week’s Happy Gay Friday post is going to be a mildly chaotic one I’m afraid, or at the very best very random.


1.
First, I don’t know WTH is up with my previous post. Its RSS feed doesn’t seem to work (it’s not visible in Google Reader or blog rolls) and the comments don’t show up while they do appear in my email inbox. Weird! It might have something to do with the table thing I used…

2.

For you who know Lis, my friend and one of the reviewers here, you’ll be happy to know that she’s safe. I’m not sure if you knew, but she left the Netherlands last December to seek adventure down under. She’s hopping from one farm to the next place to earn her living and at the moment she’s in Queensland where the rivers are flooding. It’s really bad, as you can see in these pictures.
Lis’s village is evacuated and she’s been helping evacuating animals and people. Isn’t she a heroine? :) My romantic senses are going overdrive ever since I knew she’s been helping out on this farm where she lives with a recently divorced man and his kids. And now that they’ve been evacuated they're all staying in a small mobile home together. How intimate! ;)
But seriously, let’s pray the flood situation won’t get worse.

3.
I’m a bit dazed about the fact that I’ve only read one book this past week. Not even a few short stories or novellas sneaked in, nope, just the one book. That’s pretty unusual for me.
But I must add that it was a truly good one, so that makes up for the minimum reading time that I was granted. It was the third book in the Cut & Run series by Madeleine Urban and Abigail Roux: Fish & Chips.

Sharon and I are going to review it together very soonish. Be aware of lots of gushing from us because we both love, love, love Ty & Zane, we can’t help it. :)

4.
Next week we have a guest author making her first appearance at Rarely Dusty Books. It’s the lovely Ellis Carrington who will be here talking about Romancing the Monster. I had the pleasure of meeting her in New Orleans last October and I’m honored that she agreed to come over to RDB for some fun. She’ll be giving away a copy of her soon to be released novella Immortal Valentine so be sure to check back in on Monday for a chance to win the book.

In the meantime you can have some fun with the soap… ehh… Gaytime Drama she and fellow authors like Damon Suede and Poppy Dennison are writing for the M/M Romance group at Goodreads here. (you must be a member of the group I think).

5.
This week it finally got a bit colder in our little country. It’s freezing for a couple of days now and today we also got some decent snow. It’s still beautifully virginal although it’s not really much yet, as you can see in this picture taken from my warm and snow-free kitchen. :)

6.
You all know the blog Coffee and Porn in the Morning, right? It’s run by Marie Sexton and Heidi Cullinan and these ladies had a Birthday Bash last month with free stories which I happened to stumble upon. I happily spread the joy of free pretties (even if I’m always too late for the party ;)) so here are the links to the ones I’ve found:
Dirty Laundry, by Heidi Cullinan | Seven Years, by Lynn Flewelling | Chapter Five and the Axe-Wielding Maniac, by Marie Sexton | How much for the whole night? by RJ Scott | Pole Star, by Josephine Myles | A New Reality, by Andrea Speed | The Beginning of the End, by Ethan Stone | The Drifter’s Song, by Z.A. Maxfield | Not a Whore, by Jaime Samms | 9:05, by KC Burn | Interlude, by SA Meade | Tomfoolery, by Lou Harper | When the Sea and the Sky Turn to Blood, by Amy Lane | Method Acting, by Clare London | Too High a Price, by JP Barnaby.

So, this should be enough randomness for one day I think. :)

Happy Gay Friday!

~

GayRomLit in pictures & getting ready for the After Party

There are already many GayRomLit posts out there. Yet, I like to add my little contribution, a bunch of pics of the wonderful time I had.

And on top of that, I invited a few friends and authors (all Riptide published) to write a guest post for me with their reflections on GayRomLit. Rachel Haimowitz will kick off the GayRomLit After Party & Riptide Party tomorrow. The other authors that will visit my place are: Cat Grant, Bryl Tyne, Brita Addams, Damon Suede and Aleksandr Voinov.

And the friends that have agreed on doing a blog post for me are the fab girls I shared a house with in New Orleans: Kris, Leontine, Tam, Kassa and Tracy. The seventh friend who was there, Chris, didn’t accept the invitation… Here we are:

Standing (from left to right): Tam, Kassa, Tracy, Chris

Sitting: me, Leontine, Kris

It’s impossible for me to describe everything that happened during the 4 days of GayRomLit. The schedule was packed, with parties, author readings, a book signing boat cruise, a vampire & ghost tour, a lunch with an author (mine was Simone Anderson), a cemetery tour and a pub crawl, among other things.

The most amazing thing for me was meeting the people behind all those names that I only knew from the internet or the books I read. I had so many fan girl moments, it's ridiculous, really. A good second place on the list of awesome things is reserved for the time we spent in gay bars, and not only because of the nekkid guys. ;) The girls and I had so much fun. I miss them and the rest very much!

Patti, me, Leontine

Ethan Day

me, Clare London, Marie Sexton, Kate McMurray

Chris, Tam, Clare London (unsuccessfully hiding behind the pole), Kassa

M.L. Rhodes, me, Stephani Hecht

me & Cole

Tracy, me, Heidi Cullinan, Leontine

Z.A. Maxfield (in blue, reading)

me, Damon Suede (in kilt *swoon*), Leontine

Kris, Tracy, Kassa, me, Tam, Leontine

me & Devon Rhodes

me & John

me, Leontine, Tracy

Rowan Speedwell, me, J.P. Barnaby

 me & Ellis Carrington

Disclaimer: If you want me to remove your picture shoot me an email and I'll remove it asap

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August m/m releases I don't want to miss

One of the first things I did when I got home from our vacation, was shopping for ebooks. A few of my auto-buy authors – like Stephani Hecht, James Buchanan, ML Rhodes, Shawn Lane, TC Blue, Anne Brooke, Mary Calmes, JL Merrow, Cameron Dane, Heidi Cullinan and LA Witt – had a book release in July when I was without internet access (how dare they huh?).
While I was shopping, I also wrote down a list of the books that are going to be released in August and that I must have. As I’m packing for the move in a few weeks, I’m bound to lose this list. So I’m being smart and I’m going to post it here, and who knows, maybe you have a few recommendations as well for upcoming releases that I can add to my list. ;)

Out Of Focus

Release Date: August 2

Three to Get Ready

Release Date: August 5

Ashton and Justice

Release Date: August 7

A Solid Core of Alpha

Release Date: August 8

Abercrombie Zombie

Release Date: August 10

Life, Love and Lemon Cookies

Release Date: August 16

After the Sunset

Release Date: August 17

Finding Eden

Release Date: August 19

On The List

Release Date: August 21

Song of Oestend

Release Date: August 22

For The Attention Of

Release Date: August 28

Fall Into the Sun

Release Date: August 29

As you can see, my list is limited to m/m releases (and one ménage) but I’d love to hear what books you’re looking forward to, regardless if they’re m/m or m/f!
~

Happy Gay Friday & The Letter A

And another week went by… My mini-break is turning out to be not so mini at all. In fact, I’m still enjoying the A-Z Reading Challenge and now that I’m not spending as much time online as I used to do, oddly enough my social calendar seems to become a bit overwhelming. Or maybe it’s not so odd…
Somehow invitations for fun dates with friends keep coming in and they’re making my calendar for the month of May look like one big busy feast of colors (since I’m using different pencils for all the dates). It must be the wonderful, sunny and warm weather that we’re having here for weeks now. It makes people want to plan parties, barbeques and other get-togethers. And also, all the national holidays during this time of year are a great cause for fun things, there are plenty of musical and cultural festivals you can go to.
Yesterday for example, we had a national holiday here in the Netherlands what’ll probably translate as ‘Liberation Day’ or something like that (we celebrate the end of WWII because by then, in 1945, most part of our country was liberated by the Canadians and Americans). And we went with a couple of friends to one of the many rock and pop festivals that are organized in the larger cities each year on May 5th.
Between the beautiful weather, all the holiday events and the upcoming deadlines at work, I’m afraid there probably won’t be much time for my online activities left. So don’t start to worry if you don’t see me around much, I’ll be back *wink*. Every now and then…


My reading groove is still not what it used to be, but the A to Z Challenge is at least helping me with picking my next book. I moved on to the B last week, no C books in sight yet, but here are a few reviewettes (not as short as Chris's ones but alas) of the A titles I’ve read:

Anything For You by Ethan Day

This is a hilarious and endearing story which shows realistically and makes very palpable how terrifying it is/can be to come out of the closet. Jason is the first person narrator of Anything For You and he is uniquely funny but extremely in the closet. Finding true love makes brave so that Jason can continue being hot and sweet together with his super hero gay rights activist Chad. Highly recommended! 4.75 stars

Alex's Appeal by Jude Mason & Jenna Byrnes

Book three in the Kindred Spirits series. Cute story about a younger cook winning the heart of an older lawyer who recently lost his lover. Although this books has its own main characters the setting is the same as in the previous books in this series: an inn where ghosts feel happy to show themselves. This time the ghost was the deceased lover of the lawyer Alex, which felt a bit farfetched: I didn’t get why he would ‘show up’ now, one year after he died, and at this place far from home. I did like the bedroom scenes between Alex and Logan but cared less for their insta-love. 3.5 stars

A to Z by Marie Sexton

Zach and Angelo's relationship starts out as an endearing friendship, which finally turns into a sweet and hot love story that comes to full bloom in the second half of the book. Their engaging and well-written story is about giving each other space, being able to be yourself, finding your own strength in the other's strength, the balance between give and take, having patience to let trust build and stimulating each other to live your life to its fullest potential. Zach and Angelo complete each other in the most beautiful way and I just loved their emotional interaction and physical chemistry. 4.5 stars

All or Nothing by James Buchanan

This final installment in this series is an explosive finale of Nicky and Brandon’s ongoing relationship which has been a rollercoaster of emotions from the start. Very raw and deeply felt feelings are threatening to destroy them when this moving couple has to deal with the mother of all nightmares. This was one of the most emotional books I’ve read within this genre so far. And yet, despite everything that’s going on in their lives, the author managed to throw in a couple of sexy scenes which involved some wicked rope work again. And these scenes even supported the plot and weren’t just inserted for hotness sake. I’m kinda sad that this was the last of the Nicky and Brandon books (and free stories) I had on my shelves. It’s hard to say goodbye to this unbelievably hot couple. *sob*. The entire series (Cheating Chance and Inland Empire are the previous books) has been an enthralling reading experience. Highly recommended: 5 stars

Happy Gay Friday everyone!

~

Review of Strawberries for Dessert by Marie Sexton

Marie Sexton
Strawberries for Dessert
Dreamspinner Press, 2010

Series:
This is #4 of Marie Sexton's Coda Books, but can be read as a standalone because it has 'new' main characters. There’s a tiny reference to the characters from the previous books but they don’t play an active role in this fourth book.

Backblurb:
When Jonathan Kechter agrees to a blind date with Cole Fenton, he expects nothing more than dinner and a one-night stand... but he gets more than he bargained for in Cole. Cole is arrogant, flamboyant, and definitely not Jon’s type. Still, when Cole suggests an arrangement of getting together for casual sex whenever they're both in town, Jon readily agrees.
Their arrangement may be casual, but Jonathan soon learns that when it comes to Cole Fenton, nothing is easy. Between Cole’s fear of intimacy and his wandering lifestyle, Jonathan wonders if their relationship may be doomed from the start—but the more Cole pushes him away, the more determined Jon is to make it work.

Genre & Keywords:
M/M romance, Contemporary

Why I read it:
I received a review copy from the publisher

My opinion in short:
This was my first acquaintance with Marie Sexton’s work and I loved it. It’s going to be one of those books that nestle themselves on the books-with-unforgettable-characters shelf. What appeared to be an okay read at the beginning of the book, turned out to blow me away in the end. The unusual relationship building between Cole and Jonathan was intriguing. And the author succeeded in making me adore a hero type that is usually not my favorite type: the flamboyant, femininely build gay hero. Cole just seems too much, but I was on the same path as Jonathan, gradually falling more and more for his complex personality. The increasing intimacy and tension between them kept me reading and reading. This book literally cost me a night’s sleep because I couldn’t put it down. I guess it won’t be a surprise that I highly recommend it.

~~~~~
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Heat level: 2.5 out of 3 flames
~~~~~

What’s more to know about this book:
• Characters
Cole and Jonathan appear to be a mismatch at first. Jonathan even admits as much as that Cole isn’t his type at all. He himself is a tall, broad shouldered, strong looking guy and he prefers his lovers to be as well. Cole is thin, small build and swaying instead of walking. The way he speaks screams gay. He loves to call everyone honey, sugar, sweetie, doll or darling.
But there’s so much more to these guys than a look at first sight reveals. They keep seeing each other, initially in a casual way, and layer by layer their personalities are peeled down to the core. The character development was excellently done and Ms Sexton succeeded in creating two unforgettable heroes for me.
• POV
The story is told in first person from Jonathan’s point of view. This was interesting and worked well for me. Together with Jonathan we experienced the shift in their relation from casual to more intimate to love, and learned to appreciate and understand Cole more and more.
• Plot
The plot is well developed and steadily paced. The emotional tension is gradually introduced and never gets too overwhelming; it just kept my eyes glued to the pages. It didn’t matter that it was getting later and later, my brain just didn’t seem to remember it needed sleep, it was too involved in Jon’s and Cole’s feelings. At the end the author elongates our anticipation of the HEA a little bit more; to the point I wanted to scream in frustration. In a good way.
• Smexing
At first I thought this was a book in which all the sexy things would happen behind closed doors, because in the beginning all we got was a sort of a recap from Jonathan of what took place in the bedroom. But to my pleasant surprise the sex scenes became more elaborate and explicit with the increase of their intimacy. The result is mind-blowing, not to say scorching hot. And in a subtle way the love scenes start to reflect the development of this couple's relationship, which leads to incredible dynamics.
• Writing style
Ms Sexton's writing has a way of evoking emotions and feelings. When I’m absolutely honest I didn’t even take much notice of her writing style because of that. So I actually don’t know how she does it. I think it must be her authentic dialogues (there are quite a few in this book) and the natural way of putting the thoughts of her main character into words.

Favorite quote:

“No dessert, I’m afraid,” Cole said. “I cook, but I don’t bake.”
“Is there a difference?”
“Honey, they’re like night and day. Cooking is an art—you can substitute, improvise, experiment. But baking is a science. Everything has to be exactly right or it all falls apart. So many rules. It’s terribly boring.” I was thinking how that statement illustrated a great deal about Cole’s character when he turned to me. “You should try it, sweetie,” he said, with a hint of venom in his voice.

PS
After finishing Strawberries for Dessert I read the first Coda book, Promises, which I bought ages ago but was still unread on my ereader. And this book had the same sleep-depriving effect on me, the emotional tension was marvelous again and I ended up loving Promises as much as Strawberries for Dessert.

Linking:
Marie Sexton’s website | on Goodreads
Buy Strawberries for Dessert here

Books in this series:
#1 Promises (Jared & Matt)
#2 A to Z (Zach & Angelo)
#3 The Letter Z (Zach & Angelo)
#4 Strawberries for Dessert (Cole & Jonathan)