Most Emotional Reads of 2014 *GIVEAWAY*

This breaking up the best reads of 2014 has been difficult. Not because I don't know what I like, I don't do categories like other people do. That said: Next up is Most Emotional Reads of 2014! These brought out ALL the feels. Gave me a book hangover and made looking for the next read near impossible! Here we go...


Queers by AJ Rose

Within her walls are stories. Love. Laughter. Tears. Lives lived to the fullest, and sometimes cut short before they really get started. She’s seen it all, from homelessness to super-stardom, boys dressed as girls, girls dressed as lamps, and boy, does she have secrets she could tell. Her one truth is that everyone who darkens her doors is accepted with open arms and a song.

Her name is Queers, and for one of L.A.’s few dueling piano bars, she has a lot of heart. On her stage, the beautiful voice of Duff McKinley rings so true he captures the shattered heart of his boss, Brad Mosely, who checked out of life three years ago. But even lifelong dreams have untold consequences.

Duff came to L.A. to chase his musical aspirations, but his best friend Garrett Slater accompanied him to chase a wish of his own: finding The One, his white knight. He believes Landon Kennedy fits the bill. Suave, handsome, and powerful in the music industry, Landon can show Garrett a life he's only seen in movies. But even as Landon helps Duff realize his dreams, he brings Garrett into a nightmare he may never leave, one from which Garrett's roommate, Jackson Moriarty, is determined to rescue him. If Garrett repays Jackson by seeing his own charms, so much the better.

Yes, within her walls, Queers has long history. Unrequited love, sinister intentions, fame, fortune, and a group of friends and lovers who would do anything for each other no matter the cost.
My Review:
Queers is an emotional roller coaster of epic proportions. AJ Rose weaves you through the lives of many characters with perfection. I laughed, I cried, I swore, plotted murder and cried some more. My heart was singing right along with Duff in this book. Every feeling that you experience throughout Queers is delivered with an entrancing poetry. It is so very rare you get attached to multiple characters in a story, but with this one, it's damn near impossible not to. If I could give it ten stars I would! OUTSTANDING!

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Bad Things by Varian Krylov

Xavier makes a lot of people nervous. The rest, he flat-out scares. More than his hulking, tattooed body, it's his predator's gaze that makes people feel vulnerable, as if he had the power to read their thoughts and see their soul. For his lovers, it's Xavier's ravenous appetite for all things carnal—for the taste of flesh under his tongue and the feel of a trembling body under his control, for whispered pleas and muffled cries—that makes him dangerous.

But recently, driven by a festering rage against the men who attacked his sister a decade ago, Xavier has developed a taste for a different kind of hunt and conquest: stalking men who do truly bad things and punishing the predators he sniffs out. The problem with vigilante justice, though, is sometimes the man in your trap is innocent.

Carson suspects he's playing a risky game with dangerous men. But the lies are convincing, especially when they're slipped to him among hundred dollar bills. He never guessed how big and dark the secret hidden under all the lies and money could be. And he has no idea he's not the predator, but the prey, until it's too late.

And you can't beg for mercy when there's a gag in your mouth.

But when Carson escapes from Xavier's trap, he's forced to accept that Xavier is far from his most dangerous enemy. Xavier may even hold the key to overcoming the painful past that has kept Carson prisoner for almost two decades.

My Review
I've started this review about 10 times desperate to get it right. I realize my book hang over will not do it justice. It's one of the best books I've ever read. I read Dangerously Happy which was Dario and Aiden's story and thought WOW no way can Xaviar's be better. I was so eager for his story though. I got it and read it and it consumed me. It's dark, passionate, suspenseful, sexy, gripping, exhausting, riveting, reviving, gritty... and so on and so on. It's everything EVERYTHING I long for in a book. You really HAVE TO I mean it HAVE to read it! A powerful tale!

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Smoky Mountain Dreams by Leta Blake

Sometimes holding on means letting go

After giving up on his career as a country singer in Nashville, Christopher Ryder is happy enough performing at the Smoky Mountain Dreams theme park in Tennessee. But while his beloved Gran loves him the way he is, Christopher feels painfully invisible to everyone else. Even when he's center stage he aches for someone to see the real him.

Bisexual Jesse Birch has no room in his life for dating. Raising two kids and fighting with family after a tragic accident took his children's mother, he doesn't want more than an occasional hook-up. He sure as hell doesn't want to fall hard for his favorite local singer, but when Christopher walks into his jewelry studio, Jesse hears a new song in his heart.



 My Review:
Brilliant! The love I have for this story is gigantic. Right from the start I was pulled in. Christopher broke my heart. Tore it to shreds, then dipped it into lemon juice. Then he met broken Jesse. They pulled through all the darkness because they had each other. They experienced loss and they are true fighters. I loved how Leta Blake took all these avenues and placed them perfectly so when they met it was a smooth road in the end. There's always battles, whether it be not only falling in love with someone but falling in love with their kids, or realizing the road to forever is paved in shards of glass only true love can heal. I just am amazed by this book

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Heart by Garrett Leigh

Cornish pastry chef Seb Wright dreads the summer tourist season. The cash injection to his artisan fudge pantry is more than welcome, the extra work, less so. Then one summer, a shadowy Good Samaritan catches his eye. Irish Traveller Dex is bewitching, a beautiful sullen enigma who turns Seb's world upside down until he disappears in the night, vanishing like a mystical summer rain.

Twelve months later Dex is in the midst of a dark storm. A slave to his master, 'Uncle' Braden, he spends his days cleaning caravans and his nights working in Braden's other businesses. His short summer with Seb seems a lifetime ago. Lost in the savage violence of the murky underworld, he doesn't dare dream he'll ever find his way back, until one night, a brutal crime opens the door for a chance escape. A new life beckons, old faces emerge, and immersed in the heady vibe of London’s East End, new love begins to heal his fractured heart.


My Review:
I am a Garrett Leigh fan!!! HUGE! I can say, without a doubt, Heart is my favorite book of hers! What an absolutely fantastic book. It's dark, and heartbreaking but somehow, some way, in pure Angst Queen way, Garrett Leigh manages to make it stunning, beautiful. Tragedy with a poetic remedy. I am so in love with this story!!!   

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 The Butterfly King by Edmond Manning

Terrance Altham doesn’t know why he’s been arrested. He’s committed no crime and the cops aren’t talking. Sadly, the man sharing his holding cell talks too much. Known only as Ghost, he is a young grifter, apparently familiar enough with this police station to convince Terrance a break out is possible, and pushy enough to leave Terrance no choice but to follow Ghost into the underbelly of New York City.

Terrified by the unjust imprisonment and the possibility of a life behind bars, Terrance searches for proof of his innocence while Ghost seeks the elusive Butterfly King. But neither man seems in control of the weekend’s direction and the consequences of mistakes are life-changing. As Ghost’s manipulations come to an explosive head, each man must decide amid danger and street violence what kind of man will triumph, lost or found?

Narrator Vin Vanbly (a.k.a Ghost) returns in the most revealing King Weekend yet, where he faces the dark side of his dangerous manipulations, and learns missteps can be deadly. Vin must confront sinister dealings from his past—and a future promising disaster—as he waltzes Terrance across Manhattan in spring, searching for the elusive and charismatic, Butterfly King. 


My Review:
Vin Vanbly is everybody. I often find myself wondering what king is he? This is book 3 in The Lost and Found Series and Vin still has me captivated. Interestingly it was one line in this book that truly tethered our personalities. It was his confusion on the use of Former and Latter. I too am always perplexed by it. And in that one sentence I realized. VIN IS ALL! He is not one person but an amalgamation of many. How do you king a person like that? I don't know how Edmond Manning will do it. As I followed Terrance (The Butterfly King) and a younger Vin Vanbly I was once again whisked away to a world I wish was real... I hope it is. Because believing in that, believing we are all lost yet to be found is such a hopeful thing. This story, like all the others, had me beyond emotional because it truly touches your heart and soul. It's more than written, it's felt. Edmond has once again blown my mind.

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A Walk Through Fire by Felice Stevens

 Years after running away from an abusive foster family, Asher Davis still struggles with the guilt of leaving his foster brothers behind. He’s climbed to unimaginable heights as a ruthless, high-powered attorney, creating a life of power and control. He takes whatever and whoever he wants.

Blaming himself for the death of his parents, Dr. Drew Klein retreats into a shell of loneliness, merely going through the motions of life. After a disastrous, short-lived marriage, Drew decides to leave his lucrative medical practice to set up a clinic for abused young men and women. The decision has more repercussions than Drew could ever imagine when the dark and sensual Ash Davis volunteers to help.

Although Drew isn’t gay, Ash is inexplicably drawn to him. He vows to simply bed him and forget him like he's done with every other man. However, Drew's sweet and caring nature and unexpected passion both stun and frighten Ash, who questions his right to any happiness at all. And when Ash befriends an abused young man who unwittingly draws the clinic into danger, threatening Drew’s safety and that of his beloved grandmother, Ash discovers that there is nothing he won’t sacrifice to protect the love he never thought he’d find.

My Review:

This book was emotional. These characters were shattering to me. Each one with a story, each one with struggles. I will say there was a twist in this book I didn't see coming and once it hit me I couldn't stop crying. But there was so much beauty. So many of these characters overcame so much and I can see some will now have to. The support they all have is immense and you just know it's going to work out. I am HOPING there will be a sequel to this book because it is just THAT GOOD! I want more. I need to know. Asher has my heart. Easily! And I'm beyond curious of the future for some of these others. I highly recommend this book!

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Splinters by Thorny Sterling

Waking up in a strange place isn't a first for model and actor Allan Seville, but discovering himself alone and bound to a rough plank in the middle of an open Texas range certainly is. With no memory of who did this to him or why, panic sets in, until rescue comes riding up on a big, brown horse.

There’s more to Duke Walters than a handsome face and sexy drawl. In the arms of this rugged cowboy, Al discovers a peace and safety he never knew he needed, and now doesn't want to be without.

But someone wants Al out of the way and drugging him during a movie junket in Houston is only the beginning. A world of differences may separate this cowboy and diva, but when danger strikes again, Duke might be the only one who can get them out alive.

My Review:
There is so much to love about this book! I impatiently awaited the release of Splinters and is was above and beyond what I hoped. Thorny Sterling brought every emotion there is, put it in a pot, stored it, baked it and created a masterpiece. Laughter, tears and gasps were all that came out of me while I read this book. Al and Duke were wrapped around my little finger from the start and the more I read their story the more deeply I fell! This is an outstanding book by an equally outstanding and talented writer.

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Now YOU have a chance to win one of these ebooks from AMAZON! Enter below. Contest goes until January 14th! Winner will be notified via email so check your spam! Winner will be allowed to choose ONE of these books in ebook form via Amazon. Good luck and remember to review! It matters
 
 
  
 

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