Rosco is an emergency room doctor with a daughter who relies
on him. Between his career and family, he has little time for any type of
personal life. But he finds himself flirting with one of the ambulance EMTs
and, to his surprise, he gets flirted with right back.
Miguel is surprised the handsome ER doc even knows who he
is. His own life is a little dull, but making eyes at Doc and getting a
response supercharges his days. After he’s injured on the job, Miguel gets a
firsthand look at Doc Rosco’s incredible bedside manner, not to mention the
rest of him.
As the two men tentatively start exploring the attraction
that has simmered for months, the head of medicine takes exception to their
budding relationship. Pressure builds, and the two men must make decisions
about their lives, their jobs, and the one thing that could make each of them
happy… each other.
I read 134 books this year (so far) and I’m still reading. But the following is a list of all the fiction books that received 5 Sparklers in reviews. That doesn’t mean the 4 Sparklers were bad books – they just didn’t have that special something for me that meant I’d read it again. So here are my top reads of 2021 in alphabetical order by title:
A Tale of Two Cookies by Eve Calder
Adrenaline Shots by Natalie Damschroder
Aftershocks by Natalie Damschroder
Arborview by Karen Guzman
Don’t Wake the Dead by C.C. Wood
Endless Secrets by Natalie Damschroder
Every Death You Take by Misty Simon
Fate’s Attraction by Dirk Greyson
Fortune Cookie Christmas by Jeanne Kern
Frayed Alliance by Natalie Damschroder
Heavy Lifting by Andrew Grey
Homicide in Hardcover by Kate Carlisle
If Books Could Kill by Kate Carlisle
Lost Souls ParaAgency and the Three Witches by K.M. Waller
Former mobster Richard Marsden grew up scrounging on the streets of Detroit. This Christmas, for the first time, he has a family and the means to provide an abundant Christmas, and that’s what he intends to do.
But his husband, Daniel, grew up with everything. For Daniel, Christmas isn’t about receiving gifts, but the opportunity to help others. With his son in the hospital recovering from a tonsillectomy, Daniel knows just who he wants to help this year.
Both Daniel and Richard make plans for their family Christmas assuming the other is on board, leaving their holiday dangling on the precipice of disaster—unless they can remember that family, love, and the holidays mean compromising to give each other what they need.
First grade teacher Desiree Tucker is on the brink of winter holidays with her new, romantic boyfriend when danger encroaches on her joy. Ominous, untraceable texts buzz on her cell phone. Terrifying secret Santa gifts show up for her in the classroom. As the stalker moves closer to the prey, Desiree doesn’t know who she can trust. Her charming new man is a prime suspect. Is he a deadly stalker? If not him, who? What can she learn from the legend of the snow kiss cookie? Just when she’s starting to believe in magic again, she finds herself fighting for her life.
Author: Andrew Grey Series: Bad To Be Good (Book 3) Genre: M/M
Contemporary Romance, Gay Romance, LGTBQ Publisher: DreamSpinner Press Release Date: Nov 23 2021 Edition/Formats Available In: eBook & Print Blurb/Synopsis:
For glass artist Ashton Weller, Longboat Key seems like the perfect place to start over. It’s warm, sunny, and far from the dangerous ex he left behind in Chicago, even if his glass studio does get even more uncomfortable in the Florida heat. It’s also home to Terrance Manetti, a man who turns into Ashton’s inadvertent hero when he saves him from some unsavory types at a local restaurant…and may turn into more than that.
Former mobster Terrance has been in Witness Protection with his “brothers” ever since they turned state’s evidence against their former employer. His brothers have a different life here, filled with family and small-time, honest jobs, and Terrance doesn’t know whether to be jealous or derisive.
Not until he meets Ashton, anyway. With Ashton, Terrance could build the kind of life he’s never dared to want—the kind of life where he won’t need the skills he learned in organized crime. Or so he thinks—until Ashton’s past comes looking for him….
I’ve been lax as I and my fellow writers from The Wild Rose Press promote our holiday cookie stories. If you haven’t checked them out yet, please do! They’re great little stories. None is longer than 100 pages so you’ll read them quickly and enjoy them! I know I have been.
Also, you’ll note the menu at the top is much less cluttered. I’ve moved all the review pages to “Reviews” and you’ll find the individual links there. I know it’s one more click, but it’s much easier for some people to read this way.
Now, to reviews:
Under LGBTQ, Andrew Grey has two coming out and they’re both in the “Bad to be Good” series. And both are good. 🙂 They are Bad to be Merry (a 4 Sparkler short Christmas-themed story) and Bad to be Noble (4 Sparklers).
Under Mysteries:
Thanksgiving Pizza Murder by Pattie Benning (3 Sparklers). Short, with a good ending, but a little bit slow in the beginning.
Don’t Wake the Dead by C.C. Wood (5 Sparklers)
Food, Fools, and a Dead Psychic by Maria Grazia Swan (3 Sparklers)
Witch Way to Halloween by Misty Simon (5 Sparklers)
After an undercover mission goes awry, DEA agent Jarrett Brandt hides out in the last place he wants to be—his hometown. Now he’s stuck with his judgmental parents and the memory of his perfect brother hanging over his head. His one bright light? Marissa Reinn Brandt—his high school sweetheart and former sister-in-law.
Marissa lost Jarrett once before. No way will she let him back in; then her son offers him their guestroom. His wicked charm and smoldering stares are hard to resist, but she’ll make him work to reclaim his spot in her bed.
When his enemies close in, how will Jarrett keep Marissa and her son safe, or will he lose his shot at redemption?
– Triggers: drug use (discussed) and a brief assault of the heroine
– A Hero’s Heart is a smoking hot second chance, romantic suspense novella. No cheating. HEA guaranteed.
– Second edition. Newly revised and edited.
Excerpt
“You can trust me, Jarrett. I won’t tell your parents anything you don’t want me to.” She sighed and stood as well. “You used to tell me everything. We never kept secrets.”
Jarrett paced between the coffee table and fireplace. “My parents’ opinion doesn’t matter. Dad would still throw up my juvie record or the fact that I’m not a cop, even if I was a model citizen. I’m not that lost, angry kid anymore. I know who I am now, and it’s not someone you’d want to know.”
“I disagree.”
“God, you don’t understand. Marissa, I’ve missed you so damn much. I’ve laid awake so many nights wondering what my life would’ve been like if I’d stayed here.” When he made love to other women, he imagined Marissa beneath him or above him, panting his name. When the nightmares of blood and gore faded, he dreamed of her. Those bittersweet memories and what if scenarios were almost worse than the nightmares. “I’ve done things I’m not proud of.”
“I hated you after you left, but I’ve gotten over it. Everyone feels regret and guilt over something. It’s all about being human.” She dashed away her tears. “I told you mine last night. Will you please show me the same courtesy?”
“I can’t.”
“At least tell me what you did last Christmas. Jason made it crystal clear that he didn’t want you alone. He wants you to have a tree.” She pointed at the Douglas fir. “Well, there you go. What did you do last year?”
Jarrett licked his dry lips, heat swelling in his cheeks.
He’d joined the Consuelo gang last December and spent the holiday in a slummy apartment with five thugs who sold cocaine on the streets of Albuquerque. Living around his drug of choice had nearly destroyed him.
“What about your last birthday?” Marissa blocked his path and braced her hands on her hips. “Did you have cake or go out with a bunch of buddies and get drunk? Did something horrible happen? Why won’t you tell me anything?”
He shoved a hand through his hair. “Damn it, Marissa. Yeah, I got drunk. A few of us went to a strip club where I fucked two dancers in a backroom. Is that what you wanted to hear?”
Her eyes widened as she stepped back.
Way to go, you fucking idiot. He brushed his shaky hands on his button-down shirt to steady them. “Marissa—”
She strode past him with a high head and left the room.
Her cold shoulder skewered him, but he didn’t deserve better.
Amber Daulton is the author of the romantic-suspense series Arresting Onyx and several standalone novellas. Her books are published through Daulton Publishing, The Wild Rose Press, and Books to Go Now, and are available in ebook, print on demand, audio, and foreign language formats.
She lives in North Carolina with her husband and demanding cats.
Social Media Links {Please choose the universal link or the individual links, but not both.}
Blurb: Haley can’t face Christmas. Her super-critical family hate her presents and her life. It’s her turn to prepare the holiday diner, but her apartment kitchen is too small for anything but toast. Which is the only think she knows how to cook. When her cookie fortune turns out to be an ad—Madam Zelda, Fortune Teller—she makes a desperate decision. Zach is the mastermind behind the ad. He and Zelda show Haley that a fortune cookie can be full of surprises, solutions, and love.
Note from Sparkling Book Reviews: this got a 5 Sparkler review. For a short, fun read with jut a little heat, pick this one up. See the full review under “Holidays”
First grade teacher Desiree Tucker is on the brink of winter holidays with her new, romantic boyfriend when danger encroaches on her joy. Ominous, untraceable texts buzz on her cell phone. Terrifying secret Santa gifts show up for her in the classroom. As the stalker moves closer to the prey, Desiree doesn’t know who she can trust. Her charming new man is a prime suspect. Is he a deadly stalker? If not him, who? What can she learn from the legend of the snow kiss cookie? Just when she’s starting to believe in magic again, she finds herself fighting for her life.
Sparkling Book Reviews 