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 I would sing in the night for him. 100 to 1000 words to tell us, please. Directions here.

Manipulation by Eden Winters

Title: Manipulation (Diversion #4)
Author: Eden Winters
Purchase at Rocky Ridge Books
Purchase at Amazon
Purchase at All Romance eBooks
Cover Artist: LC Chase
Genre: contemporary, action adventure
Length: 71k
Formats: epub, mobi, pdf, print (coming) ebooks preorder until Nov 1, 2014

Lucky Lucklighter has a new life. His old life wants him back.

He traded trafficking for taking down criminals with the Southeastern Narcotics Bureau, and a drug-lord lover for a man on the right side of the law. Bo Schollenberger found the way past the thorny defenses of Lucky’s heart, and made Mr. I-Get-Along-Fine-Alone think about his and his closets, stevia in the sugar bowl, and a picket fence—with a good lock on the gate.

Now Bo is missing, and a voice long silenced asks, “Did you miss me?” Lucky must deal with a devil from his past to get Bo back.

And if Bo isn’t willing to come? A drug ring needs its back broken before flooding the US with a designer high, seductive and undetectable. But there’s a fine line between good and evil, and a truckload of temptation urging Lucky to cross.

Oh yay! Bo and Lucky are back for more stomach-churning, heart pounding adventures. This fourth installment in the Diversion series lets Bo shine as an undercover narcotics operative when a figure out of Lucky’s past and current nightmares turns out to be behind the influx of drugs in their case from the third book (Corruption).


Bo’s cover hasn’t been breached when he’s taken to Mexico at the orders of the drug lord with big plans. But he’s there with no backup, no communications, nothing that an undercover operation should have, until Lucky charges down south. Lucky’s no longer willing to do things by the book, since Walter Smith, head honcho of the Southeastern Narcotics Bureau, has compromised his integrity in Lucky’s eyes. Nothing is exactly as it seems, and the world tilts farther sideways when Nestor Sauceda, a cartel leader and former associate of Lucky’s late lover, Victor Mangiardi, takes an interest in the new designer drug and the remains of Victor’s empire. (How Lucky goes from boy toy to a drug lord to narcotics agent is backstory presented in Book 1, Diversion.)

Deep undercover work is hard on Bo’s psyche—he still slides from one persona to the other, being Cyrus Cooper when he needs to be a tough leader of tough men, and wobbling through Bo Schollenberger when questions of right and wrong arise. Here, little is simple, and loyalties mean something different than they did back in the States. Add to that Bo’s forced dependence on a terrifying new drug, and it could all fall apart in a heartbeat.

The prose is strong and gritty, told from Lucky’s POV. He has to watch Bo’s disintegration, maintain his own ever more fragile hold on his new life, while still sinking just far enough into new criminality to convince the cartels that he’s going to help peddle their designer poison. He’s among those who “knew him when” and it would be so easy to slip into the role he’d been prepared for all those years ago.

The entire series is good reading, with action, law enforcement, a reluctant romance between two guys who love each other desperately and are terrified of needing each other, and thrilling twists through the drug trade going in unexpected directions. With this fourth book, the author seems to have found an even higher gear, with death breathing down Bo and Lucky’s necks at all times, and their reliance on each other both the stuff of strength and the stuff of heartbreak.

I can depend on the Diversion series for a pulse-pounding adventure with a heaping side of romance. Manipulation is the best yet. I'm greedy for the next book already. 5 marbles

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There has to be a story here. Tell us? 100 to 1000 words to tell us, please. Directions here.

Cutting Out by Meredith Shayne

Title: Cutting Out
Author: Meredith Shayne
Purchase at Bottom Drawer Publications
Purchase at All Romance eBooks
Cover Artist: Mumson Designs
Genre: contemporary
Length: 222 pages
Formats: epub, mobi, pdf

A twenty-year veteran of the shearing shed, Aussie Shane Cooper loves his job, and the home he’s made for himself in New Zealand. If he’s a little lonely, he’s got good mates to keep his spirits up. When a hot, cocky young shearer named Lachlan Moore catches his eye at a competition, he’s content to look but not touch, knowing the young man is out of his league.

Lachie wouldn’t mind a piece of Shane, but the gorgeous gun shearer from Australia is soon forgotten when the Christchurch earthquake hits, and tragedy strikes Lachie’s family. Lachie deals with it the best he can, cutting himself off from all he knows. A year later and he’s back in the shearing shed, out of practice and lacking confidence. That Shane’s there to watch him flounder doesn’t help his nerves.

As Lachlan struggles to re-acclimatise, Shane can’t resist giving him a hand to get back on his feet. As they move from friends to something more, Shane finds himself wanting to know everything he can about Lachie. But Lachie’s got secrets he desperately wants to keep, and when things come to a head, those secrets might just mean the end of them before they’ve truly begun.

New Zealand’s half a world away, known to most of us as spectacular scenery with hobbits and a vague idea of Maoris and sheep. Meredith Shayne’s added detail and dimension and given life to those ideas.

There’s a very, very slow burn between Lachie, a rising star in the shearing world, and Shane, the acknowledged master. It’s not just competition, these men keep an entire industry moving, they’re an essential link between wooly animals and winter coats. It’s a world Lachie loves, and hates leaving.


The earthquake in Christchurch changes Lachie’s life and family forever, forcing him to step up to being the head of his family and the only one holding things together. He can’t manage this out on the shearing circuit, so he does what he must, and since Shane’s only a broad grin after a competition, any thought of pursuing more goes by the wayside. Once he’s back on the circuit, things can change.

The author seems to have used two real events as her basis, which is great for verisimilitude but may have had an adverse effect on the timeline, because a lot of time passes without much changing. (Christchurch is in a seismic hotbed and if you want to see a really cool demonstration look here: http://www.christchurchquakemap.co.nz/february )(Yeah, I look stuff like this up if the book intrigues me.) The sheep-shearing cycle may also have played into the timeline issues.

Lachie’s Maori, or part Maori, and the culture does come into play. While his mother is understandably devastated, she also retreats, and is allowed to remain in retreat, way past grieving and into self indulgence. I had high hopes for change after Jade and the other women from the marae came to visit, but alas, no. The result is a story that encompasses a lot of time but where plot and relationship advance at a glacial pace.

The writing is smooth enough to take some of the sting out of the pace, and once the guys do get into bed, they’re in bed a lot, but not talking. Not even the barest bones of something as important as “I have family to take care of,” which boots this into Big Misunderstanding territory.

Frankly, I was ready to slap Lachie and his entire family just to get their attention. Ngaire and Kenny, his sister and brother, read much younger than their stated ages and very helpless. While the mother’s depression was understandable, and may be a real course for some people, she lost reader-sympathy fast for essentially abandoning her kids for most of the long timeline. The whole seemed like artificially inflating the reasons for Lachie to avoid a relationship and to feel guilty for even wanting one.

Shane and Lachie do eventually expose their hearts to one another, and then cut to the HEA, which accentuated the timeline issues for me. I can’t help but think events could have been better balanced. Shane’s family issue had little foreshadowing, and came out in a rush. His help and encouragement without favoritism in the shearing shed was lovely, and he seemed like a really nice guy, if not quite as fleshed out as Lachie.

Still, this was an interesting look into an industry we mostly don’t think about, with two guys who catch at the heart in spite of or because of their flaws. More June/November than May/December makes for an experience gap that isn’t hugely wide, wide enough that I believed Shane felt too old to be a choice for a twenty-five year old in his prime, and was really wrong. These guys will be good together. 3.75 marbles

Coming this week

This last week was a little different. The usual, reviews and and a hot prompt pic, but I also got interviewed at Jamie Lake's blog, which is a first.

Some good reading: Olivia Helling's Damon Snow and the Nocturnal Lessons gave us a Regency era m/m... I hesitate to call it a romance, but there were guys and there was sex and there was love. And Must Loath Norcross from Summer Devon unraveled a plot and got the two hotties together, always good.

Coming up: YAY! One of my favorite authors has a new one out! Eden Winters' fourth in the Diversion series is out now! Manipulation has Bo and Lucky in more danger than ever before. And Meredith Shayne's Cutting Out gives us a look at love in the shearing sheds. Two very different reads, but both good.

Also, I'm revving up for the Blogoversary, finding out which of our favorite authors and reviewers have something to say about our favorite genre. There will be wise words, there will be funny words, there will be my words which I don't promise fall into either of the other categories. ;) There will be giveaways and goodies. If you sign up to follow the blog, either via email or with Google Friend Connect (scroll down, it's on the right) you'll see all the posts for sure. Spread the word.

Must Loathe Norcross by Summer Devon

Title: Must Loathe Norcross
Author: Summer Devon
Purchase at Samhain
Purchase at Amazon
                 Preorder until November 25, 2014
Cover Artist: Kanaxa
Genre: Contemorary
Length: approx  180 pages
Formats: epub, mobi, pdf


When it comes to love, there’s no such thing as traveling light.
Born wealthy and ambitious, Grady once worked hard and played hard—so hard, it brought him to the brink of ruin. Now, after a five-year retreat into the contemplative life, he’s dipping a toe back into the real world.

Assigned to write a series of articles about a Connecticut valley’s small towns, Grady checks into a local hotel. And meets a bellhop who seems determined to show him around…and maybe indulge in a more intimate tour later on.

When Josh’s boss half-jokingly suggests he get on a first-name basis with the writer who could make or break their town’s reputation, Josh jumps at the chance. He dreams of seeing the world, but the man he thought might be his ticket out turns out to be less influential—and more attractive—than he expected.

Together they uncover a strange plot to detour Norcross’s tourist dollars, a plot that leaves Grady bruised and angry. Now they’ll have to decide how far they’ll go to save the town…and how far they’ll fall for each other.

Warning: Steaming-hot room service, delivered by a cute bellboy in uniform. Stolen towels will not be tolerated, but stolen hearts? Help yourself!

It should have been simple: Grady was supposed to come into the old mill town that would rather remake itself than fade away, write up the few attractions, and amble on to the next would-be vacation spot. Josh should have been content with an evening or two with a cute stranger, and leave him happy enough to write something positive. But neither man is exactly who he appears to be, and their secrets end up dovetailing in the oddest way.


The crossed purposes and the ulterior motives come fast and furious. Everyone from Grady’s travel-writer cousin to the guys in the bar have agendas. Sorting out what issue belongs to whom keeps the guys off-balance, even after identities have been cross-checked. They are cute together, once they finally get the larger issues Josh is desperately concerned with, where Grady’s sense of fairness and some long unused skills can help.

The external plot of why the town of Norcross requires loathing wraps around the couple. Both of them find some wholeness in themselves, a nice touch, and are better able to be together.

The relationship has something of a missing middle. While the end is cute and full of happiness, it skips so far ahead in time that anything beyond the hopeful beginning is lost. The story reads very short because of this, and while the epilogue is cute, it also glosses over some of the more interesting elements. A HFN is really okay, and was what the story supported.

As we expect from this author, the writing is fluid, the characters vivid, and they occasionally embarrass themselves. It’s a charming read. However, it’s either missing some middle or has too much end. 4 marbles