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Mousou One Room – Umiyuki Lily
A collection of two stories:
1-3) Mousou One Room
Mizuho, a guy who spent his days living off his girlfriend, has been dumped; leaving him penniless, homeless and to top it all off, jobless. He visits his childhood friend’s place to ask for help, and when there, meets his elder brother, Arikawa Sunao – the super popular porn manga artist! To Mizuho’s pleasant surprise, he offers to let him stay over for the time being. But Arikawa keeps sexually harassing him, saying that Mizuho is his material for work?!4) Koinu Datte Otona ni Naru
Shii and Nagi have been friends since childhood. They share a strong bond towards each other. Along the way, Shii started to develop some feelings towards Nagi since he’s starting to get cuter and cuter. However he can’t just let Nagi know his true feelings since he’s four years older than Nagi, not to mention he’s just an innocent child in his eyes! Can Shii eventually express his own feelings? And is Nagi really an innocent child like Shii had always thought?5-6) Koinu wa Otona no Yume o Miru (A Puppy’s Dream of Being an Adult)
After confirming their feelings for each other, Shii and Nagi have officially became lovers, however Nagi just can’t ignore the fact that Shii is 4 years older than him, making him even more conscious about the age gap. Anxiety comes between these two as Nagi tries to lessen the gap by trying to take the relationship into a higher level whereas Shin wants to take the relationship in slower pace. Will light shine upon these two lover-birds? Can they forget all the unnecessary things and try to be honest with each other?Musou One Room: Ugh, I hate dub-con stories! Plus the couple was boring. Mada and Suguri’s story would have been more interesting.
Koinu Datte Otona ni Naru + Koinu wa Otonta no Yume o Miru: Much better! Angsty age gap romance with cute, sweet uke and a nice, gentlemanly seme.
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Trouble Brewing: Imperial Stout – Layla Reyne
Layla Reyne spins off from her pulse-pounding Agents Irish and Whiskey books with Imperial Stout , the first installment in the Trouble Brewing series
It’s a good thing assistant US attorney Dominic Price co-owns a brewery. He could use a cold one. Nic’s star witness has just been kidnapped, his joint operation with the FBI is in jeopardy, his father’s shady past is catching up with him and the hot new special agent in San Francisco is the kind of distraction best handled with a stiff drink.
Kidnap and rescue expert Cameron Byrne has his own ideas about how to handle Nic, but his skills are currently needed elsewhere. The by-the-book FBI agent goes deep undercover as a member of an infamous heist crew in order to save Nic’s witness, break up the crew and close the case before anyone else gets hurt. Nic in particular.
Things heat up when Cam falls for Nic, and the witness falls for Cam. As the crew’s suspicions grow, Cam must decide how far he’s willing to go—and how far into his own dark past he’s willing to dive—to get everyone out alive.
I liked Aidan and Jamie but their series, Agents Irish and Whiskey, as a whole was wonky. I am glad to say that Imperial Stout was much better.
Nic Price, who dated Aidan briefly, piqued my interest before for being sartorially correct and him hooking up with Cam Byrne was something of a pleasant surprise when it was revealed in Blended Whiskey.
Imperial Stout takes you immediately to where the action is as several teams stake out the bad guys. Slight niggle on the part where Nic is part of the stakeout team and started shooting people himself. I agree with one GR reviewer who mentioned that lawyers usually come in after the fact and not while the Feds are in an operation. I also wanted to see Nic doing lawyerly things so a courtroom scene would have been nice.
Cam goes undercover and did what he did best, rescuing kidnapped victims, namely Nic’s star witness, Abby. For this job, Cam digs into his not so stellar past and tries not to get involved in a threesome with Abby and her girlfriend, the main antagonist, Becca who both found him attractive. All the while dancing around his attraction to Nic and the memory of their kiss.
The book could be read as a standalone but I still recommend reading Agents Irish and Whiskey since most of the characters there play significant roles in Imperial Stout. The group dynamics is still as enjoyable as ever and I am happy that Lauren had more page time. She is fast becoming my favorite female character along with Mel. And for some reason, I might be seeing sparks that weren’t there because I was shipping Lauren with Percy Hunter, the B&E guy they nabbed.
Suspension of disbelief is still necessary at some instances but the story as a whole was entertaining. One of my issues before with Aidan and Jamie, aside from the plot holes and long drawn out investigations, was that they were too emotionally compromised to do their jobs properly as working partners. With Nic and Cam, there was less of that complication since they were from different departments. Overall, their book was simply better written compared to the original series.
P.S.
Meh ratings on Agents Irish and Whiskey here.
Rating:
3.5 Stars – that place between like and love
Soundtrack: Overnight
Artist: Parcels
Album:(source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39672580-imperial-stout)
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[spotify id=”spotify%3Atrack%3A1kgws2l8gsvDhtsVyzWbu9&view=coverart” width=”540″ height=”620″ /]Soundtrack to Trouble Brewing: Imperial Stout by Layla Reyne
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Never one to back down, the prosecutor had argued back, as was their way, but with his tongue instead of words.
Layla Reyne -
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEVonh8bjC0?feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1&origin=http://safe.txmblr.com&wmode=opaque&w=500&h=281]
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Bebe-san no Koibito –
Katsura Komachi
Bebe is an elderly cat nearing the end of his life. He reflects on his beloved Isuku, the human he loves most, and of the unspoken love that Isuku feels for his best friend, Hibiki. When Bebe is no longer around, will Isuku be all alone?
Hug your cat!
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SPECTR: Reaper of Souls – Jordan L. Hawk
When an incubus murders the powerful ally of an anti-paranormal senator, it’s up to hotshot Federal exorcist John Starkweather to catch the demon before it can kill again. Fortunately, he has backup, in the form of his boyfriend Caleb, a telekinetic possessed by the vampire spirit Gray.
As the political pressure mounts and bodies pile up, John discovers an old enemy protecting the incubus: the Fist of God, a group that believes all paranormals are evil. But why would the Fist work with a demon? And why would they let it kill one of their own allies?
John and Caleb need to find out fast. Because the incubus lurks at the intersection of love and longing, and it’s willing to turn their deepest desires against them.
For Reaper of Souls, our SPECTR agents are dealing with an incubus and deepest darkest desires is the theme for this installment.
Caleb got a snazzy new leather coat which didn’t impress Tiffany.
“They aren’t going to give out a warrant against a senator on the say-so of a possessed hippie,” Tiffany replied. “Or are you a goth now, with the coat and boots? Way to live the vampire stereotype.”
“Tiffany,” John said, a warning edge in his voice. “Can we keep the personal insults out of it, please?”
“Fine.” She settled back in her seat, arms crossed over her chest. “But if he starts writing morbid poetry and hanging out in graveyards, I’m staking his ass.”
But it certainly got John’s blood running, John who has a dark secret desire (which doesn’t take much to figure out given his reactions). He’s keeping it from everyone including Caleb. I wonder how Caleb and Gray would react if they know. I think all readers saw it coming but I can’t wait for the moment he drops the bombshell.
Finding out who the possessed human was was a bit blah because there wasn’t much action on this part but the climax took it to the max.
Powers were amped up as Gray battles the incubus on top of a lighthouse.
The scenes where Caleb vamps out and Gray comes out to play were major hellyeah! moments. I say unleash the drakul!
P.S.
Reviews of SPECTR books here.
Reviews of Jordan L. Hawk books here.
Rating:
4 Stars – minor quibbles but I loved it to bits
Soundtrack: The Hollow
Artist: A Perfect Circle
Album: Mer de Nom(source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17999898-reaper-of-souls)
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[spotify id=”spotify%3Atrack%3A4XDBEoD6QFnzDY5oMmNVXN&view=coverart” width=”540″ height=”620″ /]Soundtrack to SPECTR: Reaper of Souls by Jordan L. Hawk
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I knew what was like to finally be seduced by the thing you hunted. Mine just happened to be a more traditional seduction. Okay, at least I was still among the living.
Laurell K. Hamilton -
