Pretty Puppy by Morticia Knight

Posted on November 20, 2022 by Book_Endz

Title: ⟫ Pretty Puppy

Author: ⟫ Morticia Knight

Blurb: ⟫ Breaking Daddy Lee’s heart wasn’t intentional, but Ash has paid the price in misery ever since. Surely, a teensy little lie and a bit of scheming to get Lee back won’t backfire…

Ash first met Daddy Lee when he was a young pup and just beginning his kink journey. If only he hadn’t been so flighty and full of himself, he could’ve seen what a rare treasure he had in the handsome older Dom. But now that Ash is back in town, he’s determined to make Lee’s heart go pitter-patter again by being the best doggone boy ever.

Five years ago, luxury resort owner, Lee Petrovsky, fell too hard and fast for the pretty Asher Griffin. Ever since then, he’s resolved to seek out only older, more mature boys. There’s only one problem—no one has ever crushed the walls of steel around his heart the way Ash did. That doesn’t mean he’d ever take him back, though. No one makes a fool out of him and gets a second chance.

Can Ash prove to Lee that this time it isn’t just a case of puppy love?

Note: Pretty Puppy is the fifth book in the steamy Command & Care M/M Daddy romance series and can be read as a standalone. Each book shares a common theme, but no characters overlap. If you like puppy play, a dose of hurt/comfort and a strict Daddy Dom whose heart melts for his boy, then you’ll adore Morticia Knight’s second chance romance.

Review: ⟫ I expected more background when I read this – perhaps more about the relationships Lee had been in since Ash, or just how Ash crashed and burned. Instead, we were pretty much straight into the scheme Ash has concocted to get back into Lee’s life, and how badly it was going to fail.

This was a really fun and easy read, and I especially enjoyed the puppy play and having an insight into Champ’s mindset whilst he was a puppy – I’ve never read an author who’s gone into that much depth and I really appreciated it. There was a scene that perhaps needed a warning (for some people – I didn’t mind it) with a particularly intense sexual act, but overall I got exactly what I was expecting from this story and enjoyed it.

Solid 3/5 and I may look into the rest of the series.

I received an ARC from Gay Romance Reviews.

Just Watch Me by Lee Blair

Posted on November 19, 2022 by Book_Endz

Title: ⟫ Just Watch Me

Author: ⟫ Lee Blair

Blurb: ⟫ My idea of an adventure is logging into my favorite game and meeting up with my online friends from the safety of my couch. I’m happy in my boring and predictable life. I certainly don’t need a gorgeous man moving into my building to mix things up.

When my neighbor brings home a fresh hookup, I mean to close the blinds. I really do! It’s just that he has a tattoo and shows all that skin, and well, I’m ashamed to say I get busted. It’s not my fault he never closes his blinds and our studio apartments stare right into each other’s. I try to ignore my shame until, one day, my neighbor puts on a show, and like the magic of my favorite video games—I forget how to be boring.

Just Watch Me is a 38,000-word low-angst, sweet, and steamy gay romance about a tech geek who tumbles out of his comfort zone thanks to his gorgeous temporary neighbor. This book is for fans of ridiculous T-shirts, secret geeks, all the cheese, neighbors who become lovers, and a homebody falling for someone always on the move.

Review: ⟫ I must admit, I thought I was getting into something kinky when I read the blurb for this book – the idea of watching your neighbour putting on a show was most entertaining. The manner in which it starts definitely matched my thoughts – one MC watches the other with another man and gets off on it.

It took a turn towards the sweeter end of things after that and became a much sweeter story about two men falling in love, finding someone who made them a better person and gave them a chance for a fuller life. It was exactly as described – low angst, very sweet with a side order of steam as they got to know each other and fell in love.

It was a nice, easy and enjoyable read, and I liked how respectful and supportive they were of each other. A very solid 3.75/5, rounded up to 4. I’ll have to look elsewhere for a full on kink-read!

I received an ARC from Gay Romance Reviews.

The Face of the Wicked by J.K. Jones

Posted on November 19, 2022 by Book_Endz

Title: ⟫ The Face of the Wicked

Author: ⟫ J.K. Jones

Blurb: ⟫ Yuli knows a predator when he sees one.

A wide smile, pink lips pulled over rabid teeth.

Ren Hirokazu. A trained assassin who answers to no one.

His stare cripples him. His rough voice unravels him.

Yuli craves exactly what he shouldn’t.

Not a human. An Android.

A criminal. A murderer. A monster.

The sweetest sin.

Then a mysterious discovery forces Yuli to defect from the Yakuza.

Hunted. Branded as a traitor there’s nowhere left to hide.

Yuli must take the devil’s hand. Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.

And Yuli is about to be consumed.

Warnings: Cyberpunk MM romance, third-person present tense, dark MM romance that deals with mature themes of rape and torture with a HEA please be advised.

Review: ⟫ Unfortunately, this wasn’t the book for me. I felt that it showed a lot of promise and loved the story idea. However, the execution just didn’t work for me. I felt like I was reading (bad) fanfiction. There were leaps in the story that made little to no sense, the character development was non-existent and there was little to no world-building.

I don’t want to tear this down, so will leave it as a 1.5/5 from me, rounded up to 2.

I received an ARC from Booksprout.

Sins of Yesterday by Romeo Preminger

Posted on November 19, 2022 by Book_Endz

Title: ⟫ Sins of Yesterday

Author: ⟫ Romeo Preminger

Blurb: ⟫ The first book in Preminger’s Southern Gothic, family secrets epic: the Arizona series.

It’s 1984, and fifteen-year-old Arizona is doing his best to take care of his younger brothers and sister while their daddy drives a truck cross-country and spends his pay-check on booze and gambling. In small town southeastern Louisiana, his family is known as the lowest of the low, and they say it’s on account of a family curse that’s so ugly, no one would dare speak of it.

Then Arizona’s daddy loses his job, and things go from bad to worse. He baits Arizona into a fight, and their brawl results in him and his brothers and sister being split up by Social Services. Arizona is determined to make a better man of himself and take care of his siblings, but he’s up against a world controlled by adults, small town prejudices, and unfathomable family secrets that will change everything he thought he knew about himself.

Review: ⟫ I had no clue what I was getting into reading this story.

It sucks you in with it’s almost casual telling of events, events so horrific that there were a couple of times I had to go back and re-read what I had taken in. This poor boy goes through so much it’s just awful, and it seems like every single time he gets a break, things get worse.

When he finally found love, real love, my heart lifted. Even when it became apparent that Nicholas wouldn’t be able to follow Arizona out into the world, the fact that Nicholas was happy for him to fly and thrive, trusting that he would come back, made it all worthwhile.

School was just how I imagined it to be – perhaps because Arizona is only two years older than me I could imagine just the type of thing he faced. But to find that school wasn’t the worse thing that was going to happen to him – I didn’t expect that. And perhaps I should have been prepared, but I wasn’t.

It does end on a bit of a cliffhanger, which I think people should be warned about, but I am heading into the second book once I’ve taken an emotional break.

The writing is engaging – almost slowly hypnotic in that you can ‘hear’ the accents and how people spoke. I haven’t read any Southern Gothic books before so didn’t know what to expect. Depending on how this trilogy ends, I may dip my toe further into the genre.

A very solid 4/5 for me and I am looking forward to reading more.

I received an ARC from GRR in return for an honest review.

Pretty for Master by Skylar Sweeney

Posted on November 19, 2022 by Book_Endz

Title: ⟫ Pretty for Master

Author: ⟫ Skylar Sweeney

Blurb: ⟫ Can a sociopath learn to love? Master plans to find out, and his captive agrees to lend a hand. But will Pretty lend his heart, too?

PRETTY

They call him the Mad Master. A giant in fancy clothes with a flower on his lapel, he rules his world like a king. He’s as terrifying as he is enthralling and as cruel as he is kind.

All I’ve ever known is pain, so the way he loves to hurt me is nothing new. It’s how he holds me that makes me wonder if I could be more than a redneck biker working the street corner. Like his pretty boy?

I won’t get the chance to find out if the man trying to kill me catches up first. Or worse, Master might realize what an unlovable loser I am and not want me at all. Can a man that no one wants to love really win the heart of someone like him?

MASTER

I’m obsessed with a love I can’t feel. I’m not sure what romance is, but it’s all I think about—when I’m not thinking of pain. Because pain and torture are kind of this sociopath’s thing.

Everything changes when I kidnap the most beautiful boy in the world to save him from a killer. I’m determined to give him the love he deserves, with lace and glitter and maybe a little pain on top, but how will that happen when I can’t love?

Warnings: ⟫ This book centers on forced feminization and humiliation with a TWISTEDLY SWEET HEA.

Review: ⟫ This book was all the way bonkers!

Prerequisite I haven’t read this author before so wasn’t sure what to expect – probably an average BDSM romance. This was nothing like that! It was like falling down a rabbit hole! Master is a psychopath who has been asked for a favour by a previous ‘friend’ in the form of kidnapping a young man and keeping him prisoner. This is knowing that Master has a habit of treating his young men badly – think whips, chains, etc. And that was the normal part of the story!

I don’t want to spoil anything so I’m actually not going to say much else about the plot. I will say that in spite of myself, I actually kinda liked Master – he had the money to be able to do whatever the heck he wanted so he did. No compromises, no hiding from himself, nothing. And Pretty? Pretty needed someone like Master to help him see who he really was and figure out what he actually liked. I had a lot of sympathy for Pretty – he had an awful start in life and things just got better. Imagine being kidnapped by a psycho being the best thing that could happen to you!

I laughed – a lot – sometimes at the misunderstandings between Pretty and Master, sometimes at the situations, and I also really enjoyed how bloodthirsty certain parts were, which surprised the heck out of me!

I would wholeheartedly take notice of the warnings that come with the book – this is so not safe, sane and consensual – but I finished this in one go because I really wanted to know what was going to happen! I will happily read something else by the author, especially as I now think I have an idea about how their mind works!

3.75 rounded up to 4/5 from me!

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.