Review Tour: Whisper by Garrett Leigh #Review #Giveaway

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Cover Design: Black Jazz Design

Length: 260 pages

Skins Series

Dream (Book #1) - Universal Buy Link

Blurb

Standalone second book in the Skins series.
Lonely physiotherapist Harry Foster has the world at his feet. A full client list, a six figure
Instagram following, and a publishing deal for a book he doesn’t have time to write until
his agent offers him a break—a retreat to the wild south west coast.
Cornish horseman Joe Carter is lonely too. Rescuing horses and managing Whisper
Farm takes up most of his days, and by night he plays chicken with the farm’s perilous
bank accounts.
At his sister’s unwelcome suggestion, he rents his only bedroom to a bloke from the
city, and when Harry arrives, he’s everything Joe isn’t—calm, patient, and gorgeous
enough to be exactly the kind of distraction Joe doesn’t need.
Harry doesn’t have time for distractions either—even shirtless farmers riding bareback
past his bedroom window—but his moody host proves impossible to ignore.
On paper, they have nothing in common, but Joe is beautiful…glorious, and when an
accident puts his life in Harry’s healing hands, the whisper of true love is inevitable. If
the trouble that put the farm on its knees in the first place doesn’t get in the way.

Review

I always feel a bit like a broken record when I sit down to write a review of one of Garrett Leigh's books. I mean there are only so many ways to say, 'the book hit me in all the feels in all the best ways', or 'I loved character A and character B so much', or 'Garrett's books always deliver the perfect mix of angst and romance'. Her newest book, Whisper, book 2 in the Skins series, is all of this and so much more. Harry and Joe have got to be two of the most unique and interesting characters I've read in quite some time, and honestly, Garrett's writing and storytelling just keeps better and better.

In Whisper we meet Harry Foster who is a physiotherapist and life coach. For those of you who have read Dream, the first book in the series, you'll remember that Harry is Dylan's physiotherapist and made a few brief appearances in that book. Now we get to find out more about big, muscular Harry and boy is he ever something! Harry is trying to write a book in the middle of treating his patients and posting on his very popular blog and needs a bit of quiet to get it done. After some searching he winds up at Whisper Farm which seems like the answer to his prayers-a quiet place to escape so that he can gather his thoughts and get the book finished. What he doesn't expect-or particularly need-is the moody, gruff Joe as a distraction. 

Joe Carter doesn't really like people, except his family, and even at that, it's more a most of the time kind of thing. Horses by all means yes, but people? Not so much. So, when Joe finds out that his sister has rented out his only bedroom to bring in some much needed cash flow to the struggling Whisper Farm, well, he figures it's pretty much a disaster waiting to happen. Instead, Harry helps Joe realize just how lonely he's been. As the one in charge of the horse rescue farm, Joe spends all his time managing and juggling bills and taking care of all the day to day things leaving very little time to do much else but sleep occasionally and eat. Joe for sure never imagined someone like Harry would come into his life. 

This is a very much opposites attract kind of book. Harry, for all his outgoing personality is really quite lonely and Joe is one big ball of grumpy and growly. But as the two get to know one another, they realize how much the need each other. The romance is a slow building one, starting more as a friendship with an underlying intense attraction but then builds into so much more. Garrett Leigh has an extensive backlist but one of the things that sets her SO far apart from other authors is how different each of her characters always are.  

Ultimately, Whisper is a book about hope and about wishing for more, and being brave enough to grab on to the future you want and not letting go. It's about family and trust and so, so much love. Harry and Joe will no doubt embed themselves into your heart and you'll be rooting for them the whole way. The cameo of Dylan (my baby!) and Angelo was an extra special treat and I can't wait for the next book in the series!

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Garrett Leigh is an award-winning British writer and book designer, currently working for Dreamspinner Press, Loose Id, Riptide Publishing, and Fox Love Press.

Garrett's debut novel, Slide, won Best Bisexual Debut at the 2014 Rainbow Book Awards, and her polyamorous novel, Misfits was a finalist in the 2016 LAMBDA awards.

When not writing, Garrett can generally be found procrastinating on Twitter, cooking up a storm, or sitting on her behind doing as little as possible, all the while shouting at her menagerie of children and animals and attempting to tame her unruly and wonderful FOX.

Garrett is also an award winning cover artist, taking the silver medal at the Benjamin Franklin Book Awards in 2016. She designs for various publishing houses and independent authors at blackjazzdesign.com, and co-owns the specialist stock site moonstockphotography.com with photographer Dan Burgess.

Website: http://www.garrettleigh.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/garrettleighauthor/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Garrett_Leigh

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Hosted By Signal Boost Promotions

Release Blitz: Whisper by Garrett Leigh #Giveaway

Universal Buy Link

Cover Design: Black Jazz Design

Length: 260 pages

Skins Series

Dream (Book #1) - Universal Buy Link

Blurb

Standalone second book in the Skins series.

Lonely physiotherapist Harry Foster has the world at his feet. A full client list, a six figure Instagram following, and a publishing deal for a book he doesnít have time to write until his agent offers him a breakóa retreat to the wild south west coast.

Cornish horseman Joe Carter is lonely too. Rescuing horses and managing Whisper Farm takes up most of his days, and by night he plays chicken with the farmís perilous bank accounts.

At his sisterís unwelcome suggestion, he rents his only bedroom to a bloke from the city, and when Harry arrives, heís everything Joe isnítócalm, patient, and gorgeous enough to be exactly the kind of distraction Joe doesnít need.

Harry doesnít have time for distractions eitheróeven shirtless farmers riding bareback past his bedroom windowóbut his moody host proves impossible to ignore.

On paper, they have nothing in common, but Joe is beautifulÖglorious, and when an accident puts his life in Harryís healing hands, the whisper of true love is inevitable. If the trouble that put the farm on its knees in the first place doesnít get in the way.

Garrett Leigh is an award-winning British writer and book designer, currently working for Dreamspinner Press, Loose Id, Riptide Publishing, and Fox Love Press.

Garrett's debut novel, Slide, won Best Bisexual Debut at the 2014 Rainbow Book Awards, and her polyamorous novel, Misfits was a finalist in the 2016 LAMBDA awards.

When not writing, Garrett can generally be found procrastinating on Twitter, cooking up a storm, or sitting on her behind doing as little as possible, all the while shouting at her menagerie of children and animals and attempting to tame her unruly and wonderful FOX.

Garrett is also an award winning cover artist, taking the silver medal at the Benjamin Franklin Book Awards in 2016. She designs for various publishing houses and independent authors at blackjazzdesign.com, and co-owns the specialist stock site moonstockphotography.com with photographer Dan Burgess.

Website: http://www.garrettleigh.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/garrettleighauthor/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Garrett_Leigh

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Hosted By Signal Boost Promotions

Release Day Review: Whisper by Tal Bauer #Review #Giveaway

Author: Tal Bauer
Title: Whisper
Self Published
Publication Date: April 26, 2018
Length: 951 pages

Reviewed by Jenn

Synopsis

The truth is complicated.

On September 11th, 2001, Kris Caldera was a junior member of the CIA’s Alec Station, the unit dedicated to finding and stopping Osama Bin Laden.

They failed.

Ten days later, he was on the ground in Afghanistan with a Special Forces team, driven to avenge the ghosts that haunted him and the nation he’d let down. On the battlefield, he meets Special Forces Sergeant David Haddad. David – Arab American, Muslim, and gay – becomes the man Kris loves, the man he lives for, and the man he kills for, through the long years of the raging wars.

David Haddad thought he’d be an outsider his whole life. Too American for the Middle East, too Arab for America, and too gay to be Muslim. It took Kris to bring the parts of himself together, to make him the man he’d always wanted to be. But the War on Terror wreaks havoc on David’s soul, threatening to shatter the fragile peace he’s finally found with Kris.

When a botched mission rips David from Kris’s life, Kris’s world falls into ruin and ash. A shell of the man who once loved with the strength to shake both the CIA and the world, he marks time on the edges of his life. The days bleed together, meaningless after losing the love of his life.

After being captured, tortured to the edge of his life, and left for dead by his comrades, David doesn’t know how much of himself is left. He vanished one day in the tribal belt of Pakistan, and the man who walks out almost a decade later is someone new: Al Dakhil Al-Khorasani.

But strange rumblings are whispering through the CIA. Intelligence from multiple sources overseas points to something new. Something deadly, and moving to strike the United States. Intercepts say an army from Khorasan, the land of the dead where the Apocalypse of Islam will rise, is coming.

And, at the head of this army, a shadowy figure the US hasn’t seen before: Al Dakhil Al-Khorasani.

David is coming home. 

Links

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Review

I’m not quite sure what to say about this book other than it truly is one of the best books I’ve ever read. I could tell you how much research the author did, how incredibly detailed the story is or even how much I learned about the events leading up to and following 9/11. There is much to say about all of those things, but instead, I want to tell you how this book made me feel.

We first met Kris Caldera in Tal Bauer’s book Hush as a secondary character. Henfun, he’s flirty, he’s sassy, and he’s sexy. What we don’t know is how much pain he carries and how much of the world’s ugliness he has seen. Kris was a junior CIA agent assigned to the Alec Station, the unit dedicated to finding and stopping Osama Bin Laden. They failed and 10 days later he’s on the ground in Afghanistan. He’s just a kid really, but knows the language, the culture, and the country more than anyone else on the team. While there, Kris meets Special Forces Sergeant David Haddad-he’s an Arab American, he Muslim and he’s gay. The two form a partnership from day one with David making a stand at Kris’s back. He’s his friend, his comfort, his confidant and his protector. Soon he will be his lover, the man he’ll do anything for, his everything. Seeing these two fall in love on the battlefield during the worst time in their lives is utterly beautiful. They each see and appreciate the beauty of the country of Afghanistan, they find these moments to hold on to each other and on to their humanity.

As the war rages and the years pass, the couple remain steadfast in their mission and in their love. When a mission goes terribly wrong, David is torn from Kris’s arms, from his life. Kris loses purpose, he grieves so deeply for so long. Losing David is a pain he seems unable to bear.

David is captured, tortured, and believed to be dead. He is left by his captors in a remote area in the tribal belt of Pakistan. David believes Kris to be dead, he’s badly wounded and he must find a way to survive. Almost 10 years go by before he emerges and when he does, he is no longer David, but Al Dakhil Al-Khorasani. This new man is causing rumblings of something deadly and coming for the United States. That something is David and he’s coming home.

This book, this author manages to take you back to those days and those feelings stirred by 9/11. We’re given a what feels like a behind the scenes look at the inner workings of our government and our military. We don’t see the nameless people on the news, but the real story of the men and women who helped change our world, both good and bad. The love between Kris and David is a thing of true beauty. Their love lives in the moon, it’s strong and true, a love worth dying for. More importantly though, it’s a love worth living for. These men fall in love in a time and a place where they are surrounded by hare and death. While everything and nearly everyone is against them, love wins. I was completely gutted at times reading this book, there is so much going on that you sometimes don’t know the bad guys from the good guys. One thing I knew for certain the entire time I was reading was that I was reading something special and something important. The story being told about war, loss and love is a story that needed to be told. We cannot forget those who have sacrificed all to try and give others a better life. Whether that sacrifice takes place on a battlefield or proudly living your truth in the middle of a world that considers you less than. 5 Stars is not enough for this book, but it’s all I’m able to give it. If you’ve not read Tal Bauer before, now is a perfect time to start. 

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