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Never Hollowed By The Stare
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  • Uncategorized

    RELEASE BLITZ: How To Say I Do by Tal Bauer (Excerpt & Giveaway)

    June 12, 2023 / No Comments
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    October 18, 2023
  • Uncategorized

    RELEASE DAY BLITZ: The Rest of the Story by Tal Bauer (Excerpt & Giveaway)

    January 9, 2023 / No Comments
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    April 2, 2025

    FLICKer: Arrangement

    November 28, 2020
  • Uncategorized

    LAST YEAR I WAS READINGโ€ฆ(July 13, 2022)

    July 13, 2022 / No Comments

    Here are the rules:

    Take your current read and compare it to what you reading this exact time last year. Which one do you like better? What is different about the books? Any special facts/things you want to make note of or bring attention to?

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    LAST YEAR I WAS READINGโ€ฆ(November 18, 2020)

    November 18, 2020

    BLOG TOUR: Life Support by Elouise East (Excert & Giveaway + Q&A with Author)

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    BLOG TOUR: Feral Hearts by Melissa E. Costa (Excerpt & Giveaway + Q & A with Author)

    August 19, 2021
  • Uncategorized

    RELEASE BLITZ: Secret Service by Tal Bauer (Excerpt & Giveaway)

    June 18, 2022 / No Comments
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    FLICKer FADE SUNDAY: Rose Canyon

    May 3, 2020

    RELEASE BLITZ: The Prince’s Poisoned Vow by Hailey Turner

    May 2, 2022

    NEW RELEASE BLITZ: Roanoke River Omegas by Will Okati (Excerpt & Giveaway)

    January 14, 2023
  • Uncategorized

    BLOG TOUR: Heart2Heart Anthology Volume 5

    February 16, 2022 / No Comments
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    June 17, 2021

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    February 3, 2025

    RELEASE BLITZ: Smoke Signals by B. Harmony (Excerpt & Giveaway)

    July 4, 2021
  • Uncategorized

    RELEASE BLITZ: Heart2Heart Anthology Vol. 5

    January 31, 2022 / No Comments
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    July 25, 2020

    FLICKer FADE SUNDAY: The Date

    December 8, 2019

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    August 15, 2024
  • book,  Uncategorized

    REVIEW: Never Stay Gone by Tal Bauer

    January 28, 2022 / 1 Comment
    59223355. sy475

    Big Bend Texas Rangers: Never Stay Gone – Tal Bauer

    Six bodies in a single graveโ€ฆ in the same West Texas country where Dakota left everything behind.

    Every beat of my heart belongs to you.

    Thirteen years ago, Dakota Jennings thought he’d found his forever when he fell in love with Shane Carson. But one afternoon shattered their love story, and both Dakota and Shane left Rustler, Texas, with broken hearts. Even now, Dakota is still feeling the agony of losing Shane. Sure, he’s a Texas Ranger, but that’s not how he wanted to live his life. All he ever wanted was to love Shane.

    Loving you is the only time I feel alive.

    Shane’s life was supposed to be different than this. There’d been a plan, ever since he was knee-high to his father. But falling for Dakota spun Shane’s world upside down, and for years, Shane has had nothing but the memories of all that he lost: Dakota’s gentle touch, and the sweetness of his lips, and the star-strewn nights they spent wrapped in each other’s arms.

    West of the Pecos, there is no law.

    When the Rangers get the call about six bodies being pulled out of a mass grave in West Texas, the governor sends Dakota to run the investigation. Dakota heads back to his hometown and comes face-to-face with the last man he ever expected to see again: only now, heโ€™s Deputy Shane Carsonโ€ฆ Dakota’s local partner assigned to the case.

    There’s nothing Dakota wants more than a second chance with Shane, but so much is stacked against them: six corpses, a murderer on the loose, and history that refuses to stay buried. And the bodies keep piling up as Dakota and Shane try to run the killer down across the West Texas plains.

    In a moment, everything changes: the hunters become the hunted, the past fractures, and all Dakota thought he knew comes tumbling down. Secrets break wide open as Dakota remembers–

    This is West Texas, and out here, nothing is as it seems.

    Big Bend County is a place of beauty and desolation, of secrets and small towns. Where the past and the present collide, and where nothing stays hidden forever.

    This MM romantic suspense is the first in the new Big Bend Texas Rangers series. Come along for the West Texas sunsets, the heart-pounding thrills, and the hard-won Happy Ever Afters.


    Never Stay Gone is the first book of the romantic suspense, police procedural series, Big Bend Texas Rangers. The Texas Rangers are the badass officers who patrol the West Texas desert areas up to the border.

    The story opens with Deputy Sheriff Shane Carson stumbling upon a grave of six women in various stages of decomposition. With talks of a serial killer being bandied about, the Texas governor tasks ex-military Texas Ranger and, also her personal guard, Dakota Jennings to investigate.

    Shane and Dakota were friends turned secret boyfriends back in high school. Shane broke things off because of pressure from his over-bearing dad just when Dakota was about to tell him of his plans after they graduated. With his world crashing down around him, Dakota disappeared. After 13 years, he’s back in Big Bend, a changed man but somehow still in love with the same boy.

    This book has all the hallmarks of what I have come to recognize as the Tal Bauer style. There’s the thrilling suspense, the twisty-turny plot, people in high places with the dirtiest secrets, the swoony second chance romance, the mysterious pivotal event the characters agonize over but would turn out to be different from what their internal monologue seem to convey. Let’s not forget the amazing John Solo emoting the heck out of everything.

    I loved how it was done in The Murder Between Us and The Night Of. Both of these were rated 5 stars. Here, it took me a while to get into the story. The opening chapters weren’t hooking me as much as I wanted them to. Descriptions of landscapes tend to make my eyes gloss over from boredom. I was propelled by John Solo’s performance. I’m glad I stuck around because things picked up once the investigation started.

    Drama was on an all-time high, with many highly emotional scenes. And when the tears came, they kept on coming. This is quite possibly, the weepiest MM romance I’ve ever read! Waterworks from manly men could be deeply moving but very annoying when they start bawling at every other scene. Shane, in particular, was very weepy. The guy had it rough but jeez!

    Shane was the golden boy, the quarterback, and his dad’s only hope of reclaiming the family legacy. He lived under his father’s thumb, his entire life already planned out by the older man. His only act of rebellion was his relationship with Dakota.

    After his football career fizzled out, Shane worked as the deputy sheriff. This is where he is at his best. He’s a bit green when it comes to murder investigations, but he knows how to connect with people. He’s always ready to share a kind word.

    Dakota was the cowboy son of drifters Shane befriended during high school football tryouts. Since then, the two were inseparable, mutually pining after one another until Shane struck up the courage to make a move.

    If there was ever one guy made to be a book boyfriend, Dakota’s your man. He was completely devoted to Shane then, he’s still devoted now. Even as a teenager, he planned his whole life on how to support Shane’s dream of becoming a pro football player. As an adult, he built a house for his man. With his own hands.

    I’ll never forget that flashback to their last day in senior year where he presented his meager budget for his and Shane’s living expenses, a.k.a. his heart on a plate, with all the earnestness of a youth in love, only to have it handed back. It was one of the most heartbreaking scenes ever! The sensation of falling and shattering to pieces was palpable. My chest hurt for Dakota. I nearly started sobbing myself.

    The reconciliation scene? Hooboy, people were flayed raw! That’s how intense it was. I was glad the book is written in 3rd person dual POV. The emotional impact of a 1st person POV would have been too much.

    I was super happy they grabbed that second chance and made the most of it. But then I got paranoid that the author might pull another plot twist and pull the rug out from everyone’s feet. This was still halfway through the book and I don’t think I could bear any more relationship drama.

    I got so anxious about it I stopped reading. It wasn’t until I read a review saying things went well for the couple after that reunion that I breathed a sigh of relief and picked it up again. The rest of the story focused on the mystery.

    I’d like to say the mystery was predictable. In hindsight, it followed the usual pattern of the author. But I was the gullible fool who fell for the red herring, suspecting the loner who was actually going above and beyond his duty. So good job on that nice bit of redirection!

    When I thought about it, Never Stay Gone is written like Shane and Dakota’s favorite country songs. Full of lonely cowboys, small-town life, first kisses, devastating heartbreaks, and sappy love declarations that make you cringe and make you smile too. This is truly a book that doesn’t pull its emotional punches. They hit you, hard, straight in the kokoro. It’s not my favorite, but it will stay with me for a long time.

    Rating:
    3.5 Stars โ€“ that place between like and love

    Soundtrack: Lost & Found
    Artist: The Midnight
    Album: Lost & Found

    P.S.

    This book comes with an official soundtrack. Check out the songs from the CD Dakota gave to Shane. Because he’s dorky like that.


    If you like my content, please consider using my Amazon affiliate links below to buy your copy of Never Stay Gone. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying Amazon purchases at no additional cost to you.

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    NEVER STAY GONE

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  • Uncategorized

    LAST YEAR I WAS READING…(January 19, 2022)

    January 19, 2022 / 1 Comment

    This meme was created by Reading Marie. Itโ€™s a great meme because itโ€™s nice and easy to do.

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  • Uncategorized

    MY TOP 10 READS OF 2021

    December 31, 2021 / No Comments
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    COVER REVEAL: Heart2Heart Anthology Vol. 5

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    REVIEW TOUR: A Bit of Me by Kent Lowe (Excerpt)

    May 9, 2020
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DISCLAIMER

Book images and promotional materials are from Goodreads or media kits provided for blog tours, cover reveals and release blitzes. Manga covers and other images are sourced through Google image search. The two dorks in the header image is from a manga by TogaQ & Kikuchi Neko. The cat logo is my own design. Reviews and other writings found in the blog are mine unless otherwise stated. All Buy Links to Amazon and Bookshop in my posts contain affiliate links.

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neverhollowed Never Hollowed By The Stare @neverhollowed ·
10 Jun

๐๐ซ๐ž๐ฆ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐ž๐ซ๐ฏ๐ข๐œ๐ž ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ž๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฌ๐ข๐ฏ๐ž ๐œ๐ก๐ž๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐ฒโ€”๐ฌ๐จ๐ฆ๐ž ๐ญ๐ข๐ฉ๐ฌ ๐š๐ซ๐ž ๐ฉ๐ซ๐ข๐œ๐ž๐ฅ๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ.

COVER REVEAL: Shaken and Stirred by Lilly Atlas



https://neverhollowed.com/2025/06/10/cover-reveal-shaken-and-stirred-by-lilly-atlas/

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neverhollowed Never Hollowed By The Stare @neverhollowed ·
10 Jun

NEW RELEASE BLITZ: The Spy by Mell Eight (Excerpt & #Giveaway)


https://books2read.com/the-spy

https://neverhollowed.com/2025/06/10/new-release-blitz-the-spy-by-mell-eight-excerpt-giveaway/

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neverhollowed Never Hollowed By The Stare @neverhollowed ·
9 Jun

Unrequited love can make you blind.

COVER REVEAL: Doink by Crea Reitan



https://neverhollowed.com/2025/06/09/cover-reveal-doink-by-crea-reitan/

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neverhollowed Never Hollowed By The Stare @neverhollowed ·
9 Jun

Sometimes growing up means growing apart in this queer take on As You Like It featuring first loves and friend breakups, from award-winning author Julia Drake.

BOOK TOUR: Lovesick Falls by Julia Drake



https://neverhollowed.com/2025/06/09/book-tour-lovesick-falls-by-julia-drake/

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