Random Review: Sinner and the Liar by Alice Winters #Review #Giveaway

Title: Sinner and the Liar
Series: Seeking Asylum Book 1
Author: Alice Winters
Self Published
Publication Date: April 7, 2019
Length: 319 pages

Reviewed by Sammy

Synopsis

Sin
The first night I saw the innocent-looking young man in that bar, there was something about him that drew me in. In this crumbling city filled with crime and darkness, the light in his eyes stood out to me. Honestly, nothing has drawn my attention since I stopped working for the police and began doing mercenary work. But the true Eastyn isn’t the timid young man from the bar—he’s smart and he brings brightness into my life for the first time in years. Even him mocking my gruff attitude makes me smile. And I’ve realized that I will fight for him. I would tear this city apart to keep him safe, but maybe the only way to save him is by saving the city from the crime that has consumed it.

Eastyn
I feel trapped. Caught between a man who can save me and one who threatens to destroy me. In Sin, I see freedom for the first time in my life and I feel like I can be myself. I don’t have to hide who I really am because he treats me like a real person, and I will do anything to keep him with me. But Sawyer is threatening to ruin the city, and I fear he’s going to destroy me along with it. Worst of all, I’m afraid of what he’ll do to Sin if he realizes how much he means to me. But Sin promises me a way out and I know that with him, my life could change. If I can be strong enough to stand by his side, maybe someday I’ll understand that even I deserve to be loved.

The Sinner and the Liar is a 107k word gritty romance with lighthearted moments set in a city recovering from war. It has two heroes who refuse to give up, snarky dialogue, and a love that is strong enough to overcome even the most impossible of odds.

Please use the “look inside” feature to see trigger warnings.

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Review

I’m about to try to summarize a three hundred plus page novel that evoked in me a spectrum of emotions from anger to frustration to joy to despair, so I may as well begin this review with the fact that I think author Alice Winters is a brilliant storyteller, a master character developer and a very funny person. Even in the midst of the chaos, murder, abuse and the bleak outlook of this story, the author manages to share moments of humor that saved it from ever falling into a book that I wanted to put aside for any length of time. Yet, with all the action going on the story is rather simple when it comes down to it and that is part of the beauty of this novel.

Sin has lost the one man who made any kind of difference in his life. He is left alone, by choice, bitter, angry and determined to keep his city from falling to the gang lord, Sawyer and his men called the Chromes. They own most of the city and on good days the police can keep some of the crime, prostitution, drug and sex trafficking and random killing in check—a little. Most days are not good ones. It makes one wonder why Sin quit the police force and is basically their gun for hire. He did so because the one man he loved and who he gave his heart to died while undercover—his partner on the force and in life, Lucas. Now he spends his days trying to find ways to keep Sawyer and his army of thugs in check—it is a losing battle. So most nights finds him at the bar drinking away his emptiness and it’s there that he will meet the young man who is about to change his life.

Eastyn has never really known what it means to be safe. His mother didn’t want him, she sold him to the man she tried to convince was his father and since then he has been the plaything and punching bag of none other than Sawyer. The man is a psychopath and uses Eastyn to vent his frustrations. As long as Eastyn obeys and does everything with a smile and subservient attitude then he gets some food, clothes and books. But the cost is his soul and Eastyn wants out—he needs to feel like he has some sort of control over his life so he stages a rape scenario at the bar hoping Sin intervenes and the man does. From there on out all of Eastyn’s focus is on getting Sin to kill Sawyer so he can be free. Little does either man ever expect to have feelings develop that will make it harder to take out Sawyer and free Eastyn.

The Sinner and the Liar is an action-packed crime novel with an age-gap romance and marvelous moments of humor that keep it from being too dark. I adore Eastyn. His life is a mess, he lives through abuse that no one should ever endure, and he still finds the strength to use humor to worm his way into Sin’s dark and twisted heart. There are moments of physical abuse that could possibly trigger some—but they are necessary to the story and very limited. They are also counterbalanced by moments of tenderness and play between Sin and Eastyn that are heart-melting.

There is a great deal of violence in this book—some rather graphic and yet again it is integral to the overall plot in order to understand just what the police and Sin are up against and how deeply depraved Sawyer really is. There is a scene with a young girl that had my heart in my throat until it’s conclusion and it solidified why Eastyn admired and loved Sin so very much. This is no fast moving romance—it is almost a glacial slow burn but done so very well that you enjoy every moment that produces another tiny crack in the armor Sin has around his heart. There are so many amazing scenes in this story and I wish I could tell you all of them but that would give away too much of the plot and ruin the novel for you. Suffice it to say that there is a cemetery scene that made me cry and want to hug both main characters and that is just one of many moments in this book that made it so outstanding

This was so very good that I cannot wait to read the next in this series. For me, Alice Winters is an auto-buy writer and The Sinner and the Liar is just another stellar example of why.

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Random Review: The Mysterious and Amazing Blue Billings by Lily Morton #Review #Giveaway

Title: The Mysterious and Amazing Blue Billings
Author: Lily Morton
Self Published
Publication date: November 14, 2019
Length: 278 pages 

Reviewed by Sammy 

Synopsis

Levi Black is at a crossroads. After suffering a loss and breaking up a long-term relationship, he’s looking for a change. When he receives the news he’s inherited a house in York, he seizes the opportunity to begin a new chapter in his life.

However, when he gets there, he finds a house that has never kept its occupants for very long. Either through death or disinclination, no one stays there, and after a few days of living in the place, Levi can understand why. Strange noises can be heard at all hours of the day and night, and disturbing and scary things begin to happen to him. He never believed in ghosts before, but when events take a sinister turn, he knows he must look for help. He finds it in the unlikely form of the blue-haired leader of a ghost tour.

Blue Billings is edgy, beautiful, and lost. Utterly lost. He conceals so many secrets that some days it’s a miracle he remembers his own name. He knows that he should ignore Levi because he threatens the tenuous grip Blue has on survival. But there’s something about the kind-eyed man that draws Blue to him. Something that demands he stay and fight for him when he would normally run in the opposite direction.

As the two men investigate the shocking truth behind Levi’s house, they also discover a deep connection that defies the short length of time they’ve known each other. But when events escalate and his life is on the line, Levi has to wonder if it was wise to trust the Mysterious and Amazing Blue Billings.

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Review

Levi is both excited and trepidatious about his new home. There’s lots of renovations to be done to the place he’s inherited before he can actually move in but still it signifies a new beginning in his personal life. His ex-boyfriend cheated on him after five years of being together and Levi is ready to put it all behind him and start over. It’s odd though how both the estate man and the contractor are hesitant to tell Levi much about his new home. When most of the dust settles and Levi moves in he quickly realizes why. There is someone or something else in the house with him and it wants him gone. Levi has never really given much credence to the idea of ghosts but York has a history of ghost sightings. So when Levi needs help he turns to one of the men who make their living giving tours—Blue Billings.

Blue has never had an easy life—he’s done things to survive which he is not proud of but he gets by—barely. When the flustered man who now lives in the notoriously famous murder house asks him for help he can’t help but agree. That decision sets off a series of events that lead Blue and Levi deeper and deeper into the unknown and further into danger. Along the way Levi will unlock Blue’s secretive past, fall in love with him and try to convince the man that some things do stay—and he intends to be one of them.

Lily Morton stands out for me as an author who not only writes incredibly good stories but develops characters with depth and charisma. The Mysterious and Amazing Blue Billings is an outstanding example of this author’s amazing talents. Not only is this a gripping tale that begs one to leave the lights on while reading it, the two main characters and plethora of side personalities are so interesting and intriguing that one is immediately drawn into the story. While Levi is almost a near perfect individual with kindness and understanding to spare, he never feels unrealistic to me—rather he is the kind of person we all want to have in our life—one that never judges and always remains faithful no matter how bizarre things get. For Blue, he is the first man who both overlooks his somewhat tawdry past and also believes in the extrasensory abilities that Blue has always had. Finally Blue finds the one person who gets him who desires him as a whole person with all his baggage, and not just as an easy lay one can later discard. So many have discarded poor Blue-it is heartbreaking to learn his backstory but Levi turns out to be a sort of  redemption for Blue in so many good ways. Now if only Blue can accept what Levi is offering.

The ghostly paranormal aspect of this novel is downright terrifying and the mystery surrounding it all is not one that is easily unraveled by the reader. I loved that. A good mystery is worth its weight in gold and this story offers that in spades. So we have romance, macabre goings on and an evolving mystery all rolled into one in this novel and the author keeps all the different plot pieces floating effortlessly.

With a friendship that grows into more for both Blue and Levi hanging in the offing, it is imperative they rid the house of whatever or whomever has taken deadly ownership of it. That is the gist of this marvelous story, The Mysterious and Amazing Blue Billings, and if you have not yet read this incredible book then I suggest you do so at once. I can only hope that the author writes the sequel to this one soon.

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Random Review: Ride The Lightening by Aimee Nicole Walker #Review #Giveaway

Title: Ride the Lightening
Series: Sinister in Savannah #1
Author: Aimee Nicole Walker
Self published
Publication date: June 23, 2020
Length: 274 pages

Reviewed by Jenn

Synopsis

Truth seeker. Promise keeper. Guarded heart.

By day, Jonah St. John is a criminal analyst for the Georgia Bureau of Investigations. By night, he produces Sinister in Savannah, an investigative podcast, with his two best friends. Jonah’s life revolves around three principles: a man’s word is his oath, friendships are priceless gifts, and love is for other people.

When the Sinister in Savannah team delves into the thirty-eight-year-old murder of a drag queen, they quickly discover that the story doesn’t end with the alleged killer’s confession in 1995. Continuing the investigation could have fatal consequences for Jonah and everyone he holds dear, including his irresistible intern.

To love is to lose: a lesson Jonah has learned the hard way. For a decade, he has embraced solitude as his penance for a past mistake. Then came Avery Bradford, a man whose warmth and sunshine infuses Jonah’s battered soul and challenges his resistance. Over the past eight months, Jonah has soared closer and closer to Avery’s flame until the thing he’s feared the most becomes the one he can’t live without.

The chill of danger merges with the heat of desire, forming a deadly superstorm. Will Jonah seek shelter or ride the lightning?

Sinister in Savannah series is a fictional podcast exploring the city’s most nefarious crimes with Southern-fried snark. The books explore friendship, love, loss, and the irrepressible human spirit. Ride the Lightning is book one of three. While each book is written about a different couple, the series should be read in order. Sinister in Savannah is an LGBT romantic suspense series with mature language and sexual content intended for adults eighteen and older.

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Review

Ride the Lightning is Aimee Nicole Walker’s first book in her new Sinister in Savannah series and it’s off to a great start!

Jonah St. John is a criminal analyst for the Georgia Bureau of Investigations (GBI) by day and at night, he produces the Sinister in Savannah podcast with friends. Jonah is a character I was so excited to get to know better having met him in the Zero Hour series. He is what many would call a “gentle giant” in some ways, but still waters do run deep in this man. Jonah is living in his deceased grandparents’ house and has a nice life, even if it’s become a little predictable. When Jonah comes home one night and his next door neighbor has a favor to ask of him…his life will start to change quickly. When the Sinister in Savanna group agree to look into a thirty-eight year old murder of a drag queen, they stir up a surprising amount of trouble. Luckily, Jonah has some extra help in the form of his intern, Avery Bradford.

Avery has been working beside Jonah for eight months on a project that could help change how crimes are solved. Avery is a genius on the computer and bringing him in to help with the old case becomes necessary. Jonah and Avery have been tiptoeing around their attraction to each other from the beginning. Both have their reasons, but soon those reasons go out the window. As the case and Jonah and Avery’s relationship heat up…things get real interesting!

I loved this book, I love when Aimee Nicole Walker has a suspenseful twist to her novels because she’s just so good at writing them. This book is no exception, the action, the mystery are on point and we do t lose the relationship in the mix. The friendships as well as the romantic relationship are the heart of this book. We meet new friends and see familiar faces and it’s a fantastic ride. I absolutely cannot wait for what comes next in this series…this next book is going to be so much fun to read. I’m so highly recommending this one and hope you love it as much as I did.

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