Breaking the Ice by A. J. Marcus

Ben Miner is happy with his life as a business major at Colorado University Boulder. For the first time in his life, he’s getting things planned out. He’s about to graduate and ready for anything life can throw at him, as long as he doesn’t have to go home to Hardwood Valley. He’s tired of the shifter community there and wants to stay among the humans.

Felix Chantal is doing his best to support himself and his sister as they struggle to get their degrees. When hunters ambush them at his sister’s work, the two fight back, then find themselves on the run.

When Ben and Felix run into each other, their lives change forever. They have an instant attraction, but with hunters on their tails, do the badger and bat have time to explore the feelings welling up within them before a hunter’s bullet ends everything?

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This is the third of the Hardwood Shifters series. The action continues. This time it’s a brother/sister duo of bat shifters and a badger who are in the hunters’ sights. They not only have to contend with trying to elude the hunters, they have to deal with a Colorado snow storm.

Ben is shocked to learn the identity of two hunters who track them from Buena Vista.

Will they make it home to Hardwood Valley? Will Ben, Felix, and Shelly be able to return to the outside and complete their educations?

This book may be considered erotic by some standards, but the sex is well-handled. It isn’t overwhelming to the point of being ridiculous.

Although this is the third of a series, you don’t have to have read the first two to enjoy it. However, the mention of characters from the previous two books will make you want to read them also.

I was furnished a free copy of this book for an honest review.

5 Stars

 

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Cougar Chaos by A. J. Marcus

“Parks and Wildlife Officer Brock Summers-Weir and his new husband, wildlife rehabber Landon Weir-Summers, are on their honeymoon high in the northern Colorado Rockies when they find an orphaned cougar cub. They quickly discover that there have been a number of cougars injured or killed in the area around Steamboat Springs. Although they are supposed to be on vacation, they work with local officials to try to find out what’s happening to the big cats.

When they get too close to the answers, their camp is ransacked and an ominous message is left. Rather than letting this intimidate them, they step up their investigation in the hopes that they can find the people responsible for the carnage and still manage to have a happy honeymoon.”

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This is the fourth in the series about Brock and Landon, and once again, I was on the edge of my chair. The author knows how to build drama and excitement.

As usual, with little regard for their own safety, Brock and Landon work to ensure the safety of the wild animals of Colorado.

The author has deviated a bit from the usual erotica, but I find it in no way detracts from the story. After all, this is not a romance; it is an adventure and mystery.

People who feel that sex is a necessary ingredient in a story about gay men will probably not enjoy it. However, if you like excitement and drama, don’t miss it.

I was furnished a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

My rating: 5 stars

RANT

Why, why, why, do people think that just because a book is about a gay couple there HAS to be sex in it. A lot of authors of GLBT are getting tired of writing nothing but sex.

“This is well-written, book 4 about a couple who’ve just gotten married, but really, you wouldn’t have said they were newlyweds. There weren’t any sex scenes in this, and only a kiss or two. The entire tale seemed to focus on wildlife and on people who were killing/trapping/maiming animals and raising them so that people could come and track and shoot them.

Not a nice tale, but like I said, it’s well-written. Not a romance – not sure how to classify this.”

This is a mystery book. I know of at least three authors who have written mystery series involving straight couples that have NO sex whatsoever in them. One series is up to twenty books now. The couple met in the first book, dated, lived together, got married, and now have kids – BUT THERE IS NO SEX – and no one thinks anything is wrong. Why should GLBT mysteries be any different?

It’s kind of like when I was advocating for same-sex marriage. People would say, “I don’t care what they do in the bedroom.” I know a lot of gay and lesbian couples and I have no idea what they do in the bedroom. What I care about is how they behave in public (and I don’t mind if they hold hands or kiss). Life is more than sex.

Running With the Pack

Running With the Pack

A.M. Burns/Caitlin Ricci

 

When Finn Ryan’s family moves from Austin, Texas, to quiet Woodland Park, Colorado, the summer before his senior year, Finn struggles to adjust. Even the altitude is hard to get used to. But when he meets Ivan Dubovasky at a farmers’ market, all that changes. Finn begins volunteering at Ivan’s family business, High Mountain Wolf and Wild Dog Center, where he forms a bond with both Ivan and the wolves they protect.

Soon Ivan’s best friend, Adrian, who’s asexual, joins their small pack, and the three of them become inseparable, even after Ivan and Finn begin dating—until a bully’s torment of Adrian goes too far. When Adrian disappears, Ivan and Finn will do anything they can to rescue their boyfriend, including relying on a special wolf to bring Adrian home.

Reviewed by A. T. Weaver

I read an article online after finishing this book about how you sometimes don’t finish a novel for various reasons. Had I not been reviewing this book, it would have been one that I put aside after a chapter or two. However, I’m glad I didn’t give up on it.

It starts rather slowly, but then gets better. Drama builds when Adrian disappears and the families of the three boys learn of the bond they have with each other. The families’ acceptance of the bond is to be commended.

Two things bother me about the plot. The rapid turnaround of Channing, and the fact we are to accept that three seventeen-year-olds will spend the rest of their lives together. Of course that may be cynicism on my part as a senior citizen who has seen too many such dreams be dispelled.

 

My rating — 4 stars