Detective Cashel "Cash" Godfrey is big, tattooed, and angry so people typically keep their distance. He's fresh out of the police academy, however, no one is looking to partner with the six-foot-four beast with a huge chip on his shoulder and an inability to trust. When Cash scans the orientation room he wasn't expecting to find sexy hazel eyes locked onto him. Eyes of the handsome Detective Leonidis "Leo" Day.
Leo is charming, witty, hilariously sarcastic and the only one that can make Cash smile. He's proud, out, and one bad-ass detective.
Together, Cash and Leo become the most revered and successful narcotics detectives Atlanta's ever seen. Able to communicate and understand each other, without even having to voice it, they quickly climb up the promotional ranks.
When Cash saves Leo's life in a raid that turns deadly, Leo begins to see something in the big man that no one else does...something special. But Leo fears he'll never break through the impenetrable wall that protects Cash's heart.
Contains mature themes.
Author Bio
A.E. Via has been a best-selling author in the beautiful gay romance genre for five years now, but she’s no stranger to MM. She’s been an avid reader of gay lit for over fifteen years before she picked up her laptop to place her own kiss on this genre. She’s also the founder and owner of Via Star Wings Books, having published a couple great new up and coming MM authors.
A.E. has a Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice from Virginia Wesleyan College that she used to start her own paralegal firm after she graduated in 2008. She spent five years preparing and filing bankruptcy petitions for struggling blue collar workers who couldn’t afford to file with a lawyer. It was a rewarding and satisfying career… but another path called to her. Writing.
A.E.’s writing embodies everything from hopelessly romantic to adventure, to scandalous. Her stories often include intriguing edges and twists that take readers to new, thought-provoking depths.
Now that she’s gotten over her 10 books published hump, she’s kind of known now for her hardcore, play rough and love hard, bad boy, alphas. However, she does like to push herself to step out of her comfort zone, exploring different tropes, but she won’t push herself into a whole other genre. She’s head over heels for gay romance and she has tons of more hot stories to tell.
Be sure to visit Adrienne on her social media pages and subscribe to her newsletter to never miss another release date! Go to A.E. Via’s official website http://authoraevia.com for more detailed information on how to contact her, follow her, or a sneak peak at upcoming work, free reads, VSWB submissions, and where she’ll appear next.
For more than five thousand years, Prometheus has been chained in the underworld. Every day, an eagle tears out his liver. Every night, he heals. When Hermes releases him in a gambit to save himself from his father’s wrath, Prometheus must adjust to a world that’s forgotten him. Hunted by the twins, Artemis and Apollo, he finds help in an unexpected place.
Julian Bell is a vampire lost. He left his Louisiana home in 1936 and hasn’t settled since. Ten years ago he followed his best friend to New York, but the country they came to wasn’t the America he left. After losing his friend, he found himself unmoored in a strange land. As he nears his hundredth birthday, he’s realizing how truly alone he is.
When Prometheus and Julian’s paths cross one fateful night, they find in each other a safe path through the shadows.
Reviewed by Stephanie I enjoyed the first one, but I LOVE this one. I just want to thank these two authors for making me enjoy Hades and actually not fearing the underworld. Also, maki Zuess the bad guy? That's kind of funny, and seemingly accurate. He does seem like a prick. (Don't tell him I said that!) And Ceberes? Oh my gods, I want to scratch his heads!! I also like the updates done to the God's. Like Hermes and emails, etc... what impact social media has on the God's/Goddesses. That being said, don't get your hopes up here for a big Hades entrance, he's only in glimpses of this story, even though they're big impacts. They are so many Gods/Goddesses, it's hard to keep up, but I love these stories, because they aren't confusing at all and explain who each starring God/Goddess is. They also make them kind of fun, or total dicks, but still fun. Prometheus is the sweetest character (almost) ever. Freed by son of Zuess, Hermes (messenger God). He's been locked away so long in Tartarus that this new world brings a new innocence and wonder about him. His need for closeness and contact is endearing. I also love what the authors did with vampires. You're probably like, God's and vampires? But it's all paranormal and can be stretched any which way, really. They did a great job with Artemis' role with the hunters. I also like that she cares, in her cold-hearted bitch sort of way. I'm really curious as to what Hermes is up to, and this Patron of Mercy? What couldn't be!?!? I'm just glad this book pulled me out of my reading funk, at least for a little while. It was such an adventure with some awesome characters. 5* About the Authors
Sam Burns wrote her first fantasy epic with her best friend when she was ten. Like almost any epic fiction written by a ten year old, it was awful. She likes to think she’s improved since then, if only because she has better handwriting now.
If she’s not writing, she’s almost certainly either reading or lost down a Wikipedia rabbit hole while pretending to research for a novel.
W.M. Fawkes is an author of LGBTQ+ urban fantasy and paranormal romance. With coauthor Sam Burns, she writes feisty Greek gods, men, and monsters in the Lords of the Underworld series. She lives with her partner in a house owned by three halloween-hued felines that dabble regularly in shadow walking.
Deranged birds of a feather flock together… leaving trails of blood in their wake. Holland has fantasies most can’t accept. When potential mates discover Holland’s bloodlust, it’s too late for them to refuse. Determined to get what he wants, Holland continues to seek a man to fulfill his deepest desire and he won’t stop at anything Archer is inspired and aroused by the tales he’s heard from his boyfriend. Still, he’s greedy for something that pushes him over the edge. Although this might drive him and his partner apart, Archer’s dark want won’t disappear. Clint’s love for his job has slipped for years, and he’s pondered change. These days he’s cared more about how to please his man, than the rigorous position of solving murder cases. Clint thinks his attitude will eventually get better, thus prompting him to stay aboard. Still, the constant worry of Archer finding someone new niggles at him. Putting sketchy characters behind bars had always been Clint’s forte, but when new feelings arise, Clint’s conscience is tested. Furthermore, what will happen if Clint is forced to choose between the love of his life, his career, and his morality? This book is part of CRIMINAL DELIGHTS. Each novel can be read as a standalone and contains a dark M/M romance. Warning: These books are for adult readers who enjoy stories where lines between right and wrong get blurry. High heat, twisted and tantalizing, these are not for the fainthearted.
REVIEW
When you have an itch, you have to scratch it…right?
Holland has kept his itch at bay for a long time, and now it’s time to scratch.
While on the prowl to find someone to help him with that itch, he finds more than he ever thought he would find, someone that actually got turned on with him scratching that dark, bloody itch.
Archer and Clint have been together for several years, Clint wants more, Archer isn’t ready. Archer decides they need to bring more into their relationship, like in the way of another person. While on the hunt for the third to their relationship, Archer meets Holland.
Archer loves blood and gore, and creates art with the love he has. His boyfriend Clint, being a homicide detective, he has plenty of stories to share to help fuel that love and creativity. Little did Archer know that there was someone to help bring his art to life so to speak.
Clint has a feeling that something just isn’t right with Holland, what he finds isn’t much and he knows its nots all, but he just isn’t willing to give him up or upset the love of his life.
I was really looking forward to this book, but unfortunately it fell a little short for me. But oddly enough, I was left kinda wanting more, because the ending just didn’t feel complete.
Eirik Haldurson is a hitman. Kidnapped at age five and cruelly trained by his captor, he is today one of the most sought-after contract killers alive. Emotional distance from his targets, brutally beaten into him until it became second nature, is now the only way he can function. Lately though, that distance has started to elude him.
And when a Colombian drug cartel contracts Eirik to take out ex-soldier-turned-vigilante, Matt Moreno, distance is suddenly as close as heat to fire. And all hell breaks loose.
This book is part of CRIMINAL DELIGHTS. Each novel can be read as a standalone and contains a dark M/M romance.
Warning: These books are for adult readers who enjoy stories where lines between right and wrong get blurry. High heat, twisted and tantalizing, these are not for the fainthearted.
Excerpt
Match Grade -- high precision firearms, ammunition, or other devices suitable for a competitive match
CHAPTER ONE
If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.
-Sun Tzu
Eirik had been ready to close the contract yesterday, but no one should have to die in the rain. Today the sky was a bright blue, so the last thing the target would feel would be the sun on her face. Irrelevant.
He quickly checked his wardrobe in the mirror to make sure nothing was out of place. He'd picked the navy blue suit and coat. They were perfect to blend in with the hundreds of business people attending the conference. Or the thousands milling about on the plaza of the office building across the road. Ants. Point was, he would be neither well-dressed, nor shabby enough to be remembered by any one of them. Not to be remembered was the goal.
He pulled his shirt cuffs out below the hem of his jacket sleeves, then slipped his coat on and pocketed the micro syringe he'd filled earlier. The target would be walking across the plaza at 12:15. She was always on time. He liked that about her. There wasn't much else he'd learned to like in the week he'd been studying her movements. She was pissy with baristas and servers, and never had the time of day for the porter in her building.
Focus. This wasn't about likes; it was a contract, nothing personal.
Not liking her made it easier, though. Don't think about targets as people. Gunnar's cardinal rule. How was his brain always forgetting that?
He went over the plan in the elevator. Not because it was complicated or involved in any way, but simply because that was what he did. Good planning made for a smooth contract solution, and he liked smooth. Smooth kept him alive and out of prison.
As the doors opened, he assumed the slightly hunched posture that made his height less conspicuous, then melted into the crowd.
The lobby was packed with a busload of tourists hovering on small islands of luggage he maneuvered around, giving everyone as wide a berth as possible.
"Mr. Kennedy! Good morning! Mr. Kennedy?"
He was almost at the door before a tiny alarm went off in his brain and he remembered that he was Paul Kennedy this weekend, a trader from Butt-fuck, Indiana. Get with the program already, brain.
He turned back toward the reception desk with an apologetic smile and a tap against his temple. "Sorry, my mind was elsewhere."
"No worries." The receptionist handed him a note. "Your office called, Sir. They're asking for a call back."
"Thank you." The office meant the client. And the client was not supposed to call the hotel unless it was an emergency. Eirik crumpled up the note and dropped it in his pocket as he got his phone out. There was a corner behind a planter, away from the tourists, that promised a little more quiet, and he made his way over as he dialled the number he'd memorized.
"Where the fuck are you?" the voice with the heavy Spanish accent said without greeting. "Is it done? What's keeping you?"
"Having to call you back is keeping me," he said quietly. "What's the emergency?"
"Mierda. Call me immediately when you're done." The line went dead.
He inhaled a long breath, counted to ten, then slowly let it out. People who couldn't stick to the plan were top of his shit-list. It doesn't matter. It doesn't change anything. Don't get riled up. You have a job to do.
He checked his watch. 12:07. Eight minutes to rendezvous. He needed to get a move on. He wanted to be in place and have ample time to identify the target. There was a sweet spot just to the left of the plaza's center where the stream of people was thickest between the planted area on the edge and the fountain in the middle. That was where he needed to be.
#
The sunshine was a welcome change from the raw, grey week that had led into October. And for once the Windy City was pleasantly calm. It meant he could choose his position without having to stay out of water spray. People would notice a man oblivious of getting soaked by a fountain. To be noticed meant to be remembered. You're walking too tall, boy.An assassin has to be like a ghost--unseen and unheard.
Well, Gunnar was a ghost now. Eirik just wished his voice had died with the man. But it was always there, still as commanding now as it had been in life. Eirik was used to it reminding him of the technicalities of his job: trajectories, method, weather... Though lately it was displaying a disturbing fixation with Eirik's frame of mind.
He kept his eyes on the entrance of the building over the rim of his phone. Standing with nothing to do would attract attention.
12:14--if she didn't show today, he would try again tomorrow. Nope, there she was, hurrying across the plaza to the little cafe where she ate her lunch. Eirik kept the phone up and started walking.
Gunnar clutching at his throat with both hands as the blood spurted through his fingers.
The memory shockingly unexpected, and vivid enough to blind him. He shook his head like a man emerging from water to get rid of it.
Five steps to target. His free hand dove into his pocket and closed around the syringe, thumb on the shortened plunger. The micro needle barely registered with most people. She wouldn't know anything was wrong until she was already sitting at her table, eating her lunch. And then it would be too late.
He walked straight into her. "Oh Jesus, I'm so sorry." Both arms out to catch her, needle into the meaty part of the arm.
The boy losing his grip on the grocery bag when the shot rang out, oranges rolling everywhere. The father dropping to his knees, a red mark like a third eye between his brows, the back of the head disintegrating in a spray of debris.
"...you're going, you dumb ox!" Her shrill insult brought him back. Shit, he couldn't deal with memory flashes now. He needed his eyes and ears in the present, not the past.
"Sorry again. That was entirely my fault."
You have to pay more attention, Rikki. Don't read and walk at the same time.
Eirik barely stopped himself from clapping his hands over his ears to keep his mother's voice out. More ghosts. But this one was more recent. And much more distracting. He didn't have to fake his confusion, or how shaken he was.
"You're darn right it was." She shrugged his hands off and took a step away. "One of these days those stupid phones are going to kill someone."
One of these days? He didn't say that, though. Stood there, contrite without commenting. Without looking back at her. Trying to will his brain into compliance.
Finally she turned away. She would remember him, but it didn't matter. She wouldn't be around to answer questions.
He watched her enter the cafe, then pocketed his phone and the tiny syringe that was perfectly invisible in his palm.
His hand was shaking.
Why the fuck was his hand shaking?
With a glance around he assured himself that no one else was watching, then strode to the other end of the plaza. And further. He couldn't remember where he'd planned to go after. All he could do was walk, walk away from the ghosts of the past, the shaking hands. Like a wounded animal, he was looking for a cave to hide out in until he was better. Because he would get better. Right? REVIEWED BY MELANEE
Eirik had suffered a severe past that is now haunting him in the present. Mateo Marino is just what Eirik needs to make him feel. The Match Grade had all the action I expected accompanied by a wealth of romance. This story was not what I expected in a "dark romance", I went in to the story a little scared but came out with a few "awww" moments.
Regardless of the lack of "dark", I still enjoyed this enemies/assassins to lovers story. I Highly recommend this book and I give it a 4*
G.B.Gordon worked as a packer, landscaper, waiter, and coach before going back to school to major in linguistics and, at 35, switch to less backbreaking monetary pursuits like translating, editing, and writing.
Having lived in various parts of the world, Gordon is now happily ensconced in suburban Ontario with the best of all husbands.
For more than five thousand years, Prometheus has been chained in the underworld. Every day, an eagle tears out his liver. Every night, he heals. When Hermes releases him in a gambit to save himself from his father’s wrath, Prometheus must adjust to a world that’s forgotten him. Hunted by the twins, Artemis and Apollo, he finds help in an unexpected place.
Julian Bell is a vampire lost. He left his Louisiana home in 1936 and hasn’t settled since. Ten years ago he followed his best friend to New York, but the country they came to wasn’t the America he left. After losing his friend, he found himself unmoored in a strange land. As he nears his hundredth birthday, he’s realizing how truly alone he is.
When Prometheus and Julian’s paths cross one fateful night, they find in each other a safe path through the shadows.
About The Authors
Sam Burns wrote her first fantasy epic with her best friend when she was ten. Like almost any epic fiction written by a ten year old, it was awful. She likes to think she’s improved since then, if only because she has better handwriting now.
If she’s not writing, she’s almost certainly either reading or lost down a Wikipedia rabbit hole while pretending to research for a novel.
W.M. Fawkes is an author of LGBTQ+ urban fantasy and paranormal romance. With coauthor Sam Burns, she writes feisty Greek gods, men, and monsters in the Lords of the Underworld series. She lives with her partner in a house owned by three halloween-hued felines that dabble regularly in shadow walking.
Bestselling authors Sarina Bowen & Elle Kennedy return with their first Male / Male romance in 3 years.
****
LobsterShorts, 21
Jock. Secretly a science geek. Hot AF.
LobsterShorts: So. Here goes. For her birthday, my girlfriend wants…a threesome.
SinnerThree: Then you’ve come to the right hookup app.
LobsterShorts: Have you done this sort of thing before? With another guy?
SinnerThree: All the time. I'm an equal opportunity player. You?
LobsterShorts: [crickets!]
SinnerThree, 21
Finance major. Secretly a male dancer. Hot AF.
SinnerThree: Well, I’m down if you are. My life is kind of a mess right now. School, work, family stress. Oh, and I live next door to the most annoying dude in the world. I need the distraction. Are you sure you want this?
LobsterShorts: I might want it a little more than I’m willing to admit.
SinnerThree: Hey, nothing wrong with pushing your boundaries...
LobsterShorts: Tell that to my control-freak father. Anyway. What if this threesome is awkward?
SinnerThree: Then it’s awkward. It’s not like we’ll ever have to see each other again. Right? Just promise you won’t fall in love with me.
LobsterShorts: Now wouldn’t that be life-changing...
Q&A about Top Secret:
Q: Have we met these characters before in another book?
A: No! These guys are brand new, and we can’t wait for you to meet them.
Q: Is this story MM? Or is it a MMF / MFM / menage?
A: This book is MM.
Q: Is this a love triangle story?
A: Not really. You’ll see.
****
REVIEWED BY ADELE
Top Secret by Sarina Bowen/Elle Kennedy
I don’t read a lot of M/M books & this was my first college aged M/M so I was interested to see the difference the age would make to the story for me.
Keaton Hayworth III & his girlfriend Annika are the perfect couple, they appear to have everything, their families are beyond wealthy & they are the couple everyone wants to be. They have been together since high school were each other’s firsts & are best friends. So, when Annika tells Keaton for her 21st birthday present she wants a threesome with another boy although surprised at first, Keaton’s only too happy to set it up.
Keaton is a pretty amazing character, he’s extremely likable, is on the football team, is loyal, funny & is open for any new experiences.
Luke Bailey is Keaton’s polar opposite & competition in the upcoming presidency of their frat house. Luke is a finance major has a full scholarship for college but is unsociable, un-trusting & absolutely broke. His Dad is out of the picture, his brother is a convicted felon & his Mum is indifferent to him. He’s only living at the frat house because his brother is out of prison & living at home isn’t an option for him so he works 2 jobs to pay for his rent & living costs.
Keaton uses a hook up app called Kink to find a possible third for Annika’s birthday present & ends up connecting online with someone a lot closer to home.
I absolutely loved watching the relationship build between Keaton & Luke & all the different emotions & hurdles they went through.
“You’re a yellow lab.”
“I’m....what?”
“A dog. A big, happy dog chasing Frisbees on the beach with his pals. You’re a pack animal.”
I snort. “And you’re .....a pit ball?”
“Not even. I’m a tomcat in the alley’” he says. “Just passing through. No collar. Not very friendly. No good at catching Frisbees...”
I particularly liked the messages exchanged on Kink they were genius & hot!
The writing was exceptional I fell into the words & the story took over. I absolutely loved everything about this book it was so much more than I thought it would be.
I just want to point out the chapter titles they were very funny & summed up the particular chapter perfectly.
I thoroughly recommend this book, read it, I promise you won’t be disappointed!
“Gladiator or toy?” Kaspar asks, as if it’s the easiest choice in the world.
It might be an easy answer for someone branded, brainwashed, and who remembers no other life. But that’s not me, not yet anyway. I’m a cop—or at least I was until my cover got blown.
Now, I’m one of the trafficked people I vowed to save.
Kaspar’s a toy —a pleasure slave— content to warm our sadistic owner’s bed; he laps up the abuse he’s conditioned to associate with affection.
He’s my only way out. To gain our freedom, I must play the hardest undercover role of my career and be everything his fractured mind needs: a more controlling bastard than the man who turns people into grateful slaves for a living.
Officer Jiao Sweatt thinks I’m a victim.
He has a lot to learn.
And it’ll hurt.
This book is part of CRIMINAL DELIGHTS. Each novel can be read as a standalone and contains a dark M/M romance.
Warning: These books are for adult readers who enjoy stories where lines between right and wrong get blurry. High heat, twisted and tantalizing, these are not for the fainthearted
He accepted, absorbed, and floated in the serenity of obedience. His physical pain became walled up in a corner of his mind. The only thing that mattered was his master’s will.
“Fuck, I didn’t see you down there. Why didn’t you say something?”
“It’s not my place to disturb my master.”
Jiao frowned. “Don’t call me that. I’m nobody’s master, and you’re nobody’s slave, Kaspar. Come on, up you get. You don’t have to kneel to me.”
Kaspar didn’t move. He didn’t know if he could get up, but they needed to establish something first.
“I do have a master, and right now, it’s you.” He handed Officer Sweatt the Chorbaji’s note. He hoped Officer Sweatt wouldn’t mind that it was a little damp and crumpled from being in his hand all this time.
Jiao glanced at it and scowled. “Well then, as your master, I order you not to kneel to me.”
Kaspar didn’t resist smiling. A pet’s duty was to adapt to his master’s needs. Officer Sweatt clearly liked teasing, playfulness, that he could do.
“That’s going to make blow jobs a little uncomfortable, but–”
“You don’t have to do that either; now get up and talk to me like a man.”
“Can’t men kneel?”
“Just get up, will you? You make me feel uncomfortable.”
That got him moving. Making your master uncomfortable, unless it was to entice him to pleasure, was not good pet behavior. He tried for his normal graceful, hands-free stand, but ended up on his ass; his sore, bruised, battered, and cut ass. Rolling to his side he sucked in a breath, trying to contain the bright flare of pain while expected a kick for his lack of grace.
“Shit, how long were you down there? Never mind.”
With surprising strength, his new master lifted him to his feet, one hand on his bicep, one across his chest, under the brands, and helped him limp across to the bed. He climbed up and lay on his side, head resting on one fist while he balanced himself with the other in front of him. He hoped he looked at least a little enticing. Flirty and playful, that’s what had put a smile on his new master’s face in the gym.
“You’ve been on a drip.” Jiao nodded toward the small cotton ball taped to his inner arm.
“Not a lot gets past you, does it, Ma–” he paused at Jiao’s frown. “Well, what would you like me to call you? Sir? Officer Sweatt? Chief? Boss? Please, don’t say Daddy, anything but–”
“Would you shut up?”
Kaspar’s mouth snapped shut. At least he’d got him to give an order.
A hand pushed through the inky black hair. “Look, Jiao is fine. I got called ‘Sweaty’ enough as a kid never want to hear ‘Sweatt’ again.”
Kaspar frowned. “I’d never call you that, and your first name hardly seems respectful. I–”
“This is important to you, isn’t it?”
Kaspar’s frown deepened. Understanding this new master was a challenge. “Of course it is. The higher the status of my mas–” he paused, grinning “–special friend, the higher I–.”
As he spoke, his new master grabbed a bathrobe from the back of the bathroom door and draped it over him.
Humiliation hammered. He dropped his forehead to the mattress. He was useless, unworthy, and unwanted. He disgusted this man he had been instructed to please. His failures swirled and thickened in his mind like fog.
You deserved what Azur did to you; he should have finished it. Put you down like a useless old dog.
Reviewed by Stephanie:
4*
This was a deliciously dark book. The further down the rabbit hold you went, the darker it got.
The other books had an underlying"sweetness" to them. This one, I think the only "sweetness" was Jaoi's morals and the fact that hesh still very determined to save everyone. Perhaps maybe even his strange curiosity towards the beautiful demented "pet" of the Rong leader, Kasper.
Kasper's pretty special. I won't get into too much of the why's as I feel you need to take you on that journey yourself.
This book also has a fantastical feel to it. Underground Secret Society type brotherhood's that will leave you almost feeling medieval. Or maybe you're just being brainwashed? ;)
This book does not end here. There will be more, so if you're looking for some kind of HEA, uou won't find it, not now.
Anyway, if you love truly dark books, than this book is for you. If not, then back away slowly .
About the Author
I have a reputation for writing dark, angst filled stories in a swathe of genres, from Sci-fi and paranormal, to contemporary romance and erotica with m/f, m/m and multiple partners. I blame my rebellious muse (who looks like Chris from the Paint Series) for the erotic aspects tickling the angst, and the humour cuddling up with the erotic. You’ll find all this and more in my books! No matter the genre, I can promise different characters, dark themes, steamin’ sex, laughs and a HEA or HFN.
When I’m notwriting or reading, in leafy Sussex, England, I herd Birman cats and sons. Both groups argue that the other is too large.
