Lost Boy ~ M. Robinson

In a world where I had no say, violence became my refuge, and nothing else mattered. Not even my own life.

Until her.

Skyler Bell.

It all started the first time I heard that voice. Giving me hope for tomorrow. My first love was everything all at once.

Consuming.

Maddening.

Forever.

Mine. 

Except, I never imagined there were secrets that needed to be shared. Lies that needed to be confessed. Truths that needed to be told. Demons that needed to be buried. Once I realized the depth, the longing, the sadness and sorrow in her eyes mirrored mine, it was too late. Love didn't come to me as heartbreak, it came as everything I've ever wanted. Walking away wasn't an option, but it was the only choice I had.

I finally found the price of love and it cost me...

My soul.

 

I don't know how Skyler and Noah could survive this, because I almost didn't. My heart broke over and over. The roller coaster of emotions was almost too much. The angst, heart-break and tragedies were devastating. 

I always liked Noah, but seeing how much Skyler destroyed him, but he chose to keep moving....well he has all my respect. He never had it easy. Everyone was leaving him or choosing something/someone else over him. I don't blame Noah for the decisions he made. Frustrated and screaming at the book because of them, absolutely. But I didn't blame him. I am surprised he remained as stoic as he did. 

Skyler has been misled her whole life. It just breaks my heart to hear all her secrets revealed and what she went through, even as a child. How does someone come back from that? How could she heal? How could her and Noah ever heal from all the tragedy??

I kept pushing because I knew M would pick up the pieces, but as my heart and jaw laid on the floor, it was really hard. I just wanted them to be happy for five minutes before something else tore them to shreds. I was very proud of Noah and Skyler even-though I was frustrated with their decisions. I loved this cover and Noah's place in my hear grew. I'm happy for this Lost Boy. 

Priest (Confessions #3) ~ Ella Frank

I am complex.
My love is all-encompassing.
And when it comes to my heart, there is only one rule:
Don’t mess with what’s mine.

Until the age of seven, I was Joel Alexander Donovan, son of Jimmy. The man who terrorized a town and made its citizens fear the very ground he walked on. Including me, the day I realized that ground ran red with blood.

At age eighteen, I became Priest.
A man without a past.
A man determined to right the wrongs of my father.
A man who never believed anyone could love the son of such a monster.

But then a thief stole my heart.
A sweetheart lit up my world.
And I forgot for a moment you should never turn your back on your enemy.

And thus begins a lesson to those who would seek to harm: Never underestimate what the Priest will do to protect the Princess and the Prick. 

I love Priest. That's it! I've said it! From the beginning, we've been annoyed, frustrated and pissed off at him. But, I was wrong!! His love is intense and fierce. He is passionate about everything and that includes the men he loves. There is no middle ground with Priest. He is full-fledged, 100% in when he commits. 

The angst, the what-ifs, the OMG moments had me flying through the pages. I couldn't get enough of Priest's troubled past and the men who are his future. The intensity of their love and fear was palpable. 

Ella is just a fantastic writer and she keeps me engrossed in the story. I feel like I am right there living this journey with them. I cannot wait for the next book and the continuation of the Prick, the Priest and the Princess!

"Your love is exactly what Julien said - powerful. It's intense, all-consuming and takes two men to return it."

Beauty Found (Hades Hangmen #6.5) ~ Tillie Cole

EVEN IN HELL, THERE IS BEAUTY TO BE FOUND.

There is life before the Hangmen. There is life before your soulmate is found.

There is life even when all seems lost.

Shane ‘Tank’ Rutherford is just seventeen when, escaping his father’s lethal fists, he ends up on the streets. Fighting for survival, he finds himself suddenly saved. Saved by a group that takes him under their wing.

A group that everyone knows . . . the Texas Ku Klux Klan.

Years later, Tank is disillusioned from the Klan and what they stand for. Recently released from prison, he is lost in a world he no longer knows. He is on his own. Until he picks up a woman hitchhiking on the side of a road. A beauty queen dressed in pink.

Susan-Lee Stewart is done with the crowns. She’s done with the glitz and glamor of pageant life. And she’s done with the bruises . . . the bruises gifted by the one person who should love her unconditionally—her mother.

Seconds after taking yet another pageant title, Susan-Lee makes a split decision and flees the stage. Flees the glossy life of a pageant queen, flees her violent mother . . . and jumps straight on the back of a tattooed muscled god’s motorcycle . . .

And never looks back.

As Susan-Lee holds tightly to Tank’s waist, neither of them know it’s a chance meeting that will change both their lives, and their hearts, forever.

There are stories of how you find your other half. There are stories of how someone can save your soul when all hope is lost.

Before they were Tank and Beauty, they were Shane and Susan-Lee. Two lost hearts who, together, were finally found.

Contemporary dark romance. Contains scenes of violence, offensive language, mature topics and sexual situations.

Beauty Found: A Novella (Hades Hangmen 6.5) is to be read AFTER Crux Untamed. Recommended for ages 18 and over.

Just when I think I cannot love these Hangmen anymore, we get a glimpse in to Tank and Beauty's story.  ::Sigh:: Their lives did not start out pretty, but their love is beautiful.

Both Beauty and Tank made decisions or choices that they were not proud of. So, there comes a time where both are just DONE. They're out. They leave and crash right in to each other. Tank is not a saint, but Beauty doesn't need that. Beauty is just the kind of passion and light that Tank needs. 

From reading the other Hangmen books, I knew I liked Tank and Beauty, but I just fall more in love with them in Beauty Found. Tillie is an amazing writer that makes you feel like you are a part of their lives; that you are walking step by step with them through this journey.  I just love these Hangmen, their old ladies and their love stories!