HEY FRIENDS, I HAVE A DOUBLE REVIEW SPOTLIGHT TODAY, IT IS GONNA BE A BLAST: I HAVE MIMI REVIEWS OF BOOKS 1&2 IN THE ISLAND HEAT SERIES BY E.DAVIES: SPARK AND SIZZLE ARE BOTH WONDERFUL BOOKS: I WILL HAVE MY REVIEWS, AN OVERALL RATING PIC, AND AN EXCERPT OF SIZZLE, JUST RELEASED JULY 31ST, AND EVEN AND AUTHOR Q&A POST, SO LET'S GET TO IT:
MY REVIEW OF SPARK: ISLAND HEAT BOOK 1:
Once a gourmet baker designing elite desserts, Kevin Walker now works at a second-rate bakery and dreams of opening a dessert bar with his best friend, mixologist Troy. When Troy secretly applies for a Main Street storefront on Ember Isle, an exclusive gay millionaires’ retreat, they’re accepted – despite how Kevin’s always said he’s straight. Kevin’s not worried; he’s secure enough in his sexuality. He’s never been with a woman, but then, he’s never found the right one… right?
Billionaire Eli Black thought he had it all until he walked in on his high-rolling actor boyfriend Tom rolling in the hay with another man. His closest friend Dean drags him to Ember Isle to make him have fun while they wait for Tom to make the news public. He doesn’t think he can flirt again, but before he can even set foot on the island, he’s proven wrong. When he later spots a dessert bar and can’t resist a peek before opening time, the man he met earlier catches his eye. He wants Kevin over his knee and in his bed… and he doesn’t believe for a second that Kevin is straight.
Eli and Kevin try to understand their intense mutual attraction at first meeting, and they’re drawn together for fun in the island heat. Wires cross afterwards as they realize they’re more than a one-night stand, yet Kevin thinks Eli is lying to him about being single. Can their budding relationship survive its first test?
I loved the premise of this book, a gay retreat for the very rich, and the fact that Kevin and Eli are worlds apart in terms of how they live, it makes for a great read!
I love this story and I knew I would from the first time I read the blurb. Can Kevin and Eli get over a misunderstanding and see where their intense attraction can lead?
The main characters and even the supporting cast of this one are very well written, 5 stars all the way!!
NOW FOR MY REVIEW OF SIZZLE BOOK 2 IN THE SERIES:
I thought I was going crazy, looking in corners and windows for Tom. And all this time, Kevin could have told me.
Baker and businessman Kevin Walker never expected sparks to fly when he was invited to open a dessert bar with mixologist Troy on Ember Isle, an exclusive retreat for the rich and famous. Before even stepping onto the island, he met a man who made him question why he always assumed he was straight: Eli Black. While Kevin figures his attraction out and navigates petty politics, he's avoiding telling Troy, his closest friend, about the man who's utterly captivating him... but secrets don't last long on Ember Isle.
Heartbreak's fading for billionaire Eli Black after escaping to Ember Isle to get his mind off his cheating ex, Tom. Now Tom is lurking around the island, but nobody will tell Eli why or where. Having Kevin over his knee was just the beginning of what he wants to teach him, but it's not all fun and flirtation. He wants to throw his whole heart into his new relationship with sweet, young, hard-working Kevin and tell his best friend, Dean, that he's committing again... but how can he do that when his ex's hidden agenda still haunts him?
When Kevin overhears Tom's plan and realizes how deeply Eli's ex plans to hurt him, in his effort to protect Eli, he tries to shelter him from the truth... but truth can't stay hidden. Will their love start to sizzle or be doused instantly by misunderstandings and betrayal?
Sizzle is the second book in the Island Heat series. Book three, Scorch, will be released on August 28th, 2015.
I knew this book was gonna be great, but man oh man, it exceded even my expectations! Kevin feels deeply for Eli, so he doesn't want to worry or hurt him when he finds out why Tom, Eli's douchebag ex is on the island, but will good intentions cost him the man he cares so deeply for?
Eli can't help but see Kevin's act as a betrayal, will these two work out their differences and see that what they have is worth fighting for?
Oh my is this a great read also, please grab both of these books, you will be really glad you did! This one is also a 5 all the way!
lovelight press buy link (psst... it's on sale here!)
the 5 colorful cocktail overall rating :)
OH YEAH BOTH THESE BOOKS DESERVE THE 5 COCKTAIL RATING :), HERE IS AN EXCERPT FROM SIZZLE:
Kevin stared at the array of food on the table: a feast of picnic-style foods, from breaded chicken tenders and dipping sauce to pasta salad, strudels, sausage rolls, and lemonade. Everything had a gourmet flair – the tenders were black pepper-crusted, the salad had thinly-flaked fresh herbs, and even the sausage rolls were fresh and not greasy.
“This is... wow.”
Eli grinned. “Too much? Didn't bring your appetite?”
“Oh, I did,” Kevin laughed. “But I didn't expect all of this!” He seemed reluctant to let go of Eli's hand, lingering in front of the table for a moment before letting go to move around to the opposite side.
Eli drew up his own chair and settled down for lunch, unable to keep his eyes off the handsome, brown-haired man. His hair was just a touch longer than when they'd met last week, and Eli wondered if he ever grew it out or kept it at this length. There was so much he couldn't wait to find out about him.
“Are you alone today?” Kevin asked, glancing at the windows into the house as he chose the right fork to start eating the pasta salad.
“Yeah, Dean's down on the beach surfing,” Eli answered casually. “He should be out all day. And probably night...”
Kevin laughed. “Yeah, I know the feeling.”
“Troy still doing his end of the job?” Eli asked, and he was surprised at the defensiveness in Kevin's eyes. That might have come off a little more accusatory than he'd meant; he only wanted to make sure Kevin wasn't working himself to the bone unfairly.
“Yes.”
“Sorry,” Eli hastened to apologize. “I just worry. You're... always at that place. In the morning, to bake... in the afternoon, to plate and prep... in the evening and night to work...”
Kevin seemed relaxed. He hadn't taken offense, then. “I like it,” he answered with a smile. “But thank you for your concern.” In fact, he looked touched. “It's hard work, but bakeries always are.”
The waves gently lapped at the white sand beach below the hill the mansion sat upon. Eli glanced down at the view, then back to Kevin. It was a bit awkward to hear Kevin talk about hard work when he knew how lucky he was not to have to do any ever again.
“What about you? What do you do, then? I mean, you obviously don't work full-time, but there must be something...?” Kevin asked, looking curious as he dipped his chicken tenders into sauce and ate them.
Eli shook his head, his sheepishness coming across in the simple gesture. “Er, not much, to be honest. I have a healthy enough bank account...”
“Right, right.”
“But I invest,” Eli quickly followed up with. He didn't want Kevin to think he had no ambitions at all. “I want to support renewable energy industries.”
That piqued Kevin's interest. “Mm?”
Eli had to finish his pasta salad first. Then, he leaned back. “Solar, wind, and other sustainable technologies. They've all got critical problems, mainly to do with implementing storage solutions for that power. Especially solar power. We can't yet make it the de facto world energy generation method until we discover the best way of storing it,” he explained. “Investing in that research could pay off, both personally and for the future of... well, the planet.”
“Oh,” Kevin answered in what sounded like a teasing tone. “An ethical billionaire. I got lucky.”
Eli laughed richly. He liked that Kevin had the balls to outright say things like that. “To be honest, it was a project Tom and I started.”
Kevin's face flickered with a shadow of something – fear? Worry? Probably discomfort, Eli thought and reminded himself to keep this short. Talking about an ex on a date was always a bad idea. Still, Kevin pressed, “Oh?”
“Yeah. We were interested in world development issues, and that was one area where we felt like we could make a real difference. Now that I'm on my own again...” Eli raised his shoulders in a little shrug. “I still want to do it.”
“I'm glad you're not giving up on a dream just because you lost one part of it,” Kevin answered, a succinct statement that nearly took Eli's breath away. “You don't have to do that.”
“No, I know. You're right,” Eli agreed. “Exactly.”
Kevin looked thoughtful as he leaned back. “I suppose it's my turn to share something...”
“Only if you want to,” Eli answered, but he was curious to see what Kevin would say about himself.
“I've never been in love before.”
NOW YOU KNOW YOU NEED BOTH OF THESE BOOKS! HOW ABOUT AN AUTHOR Q&A POST:
The second book in a trilogy is tricky. Can you talk about your decision to split the story up into multiple books, and where you began and ended each part?
It's funny you should mention series... I actually have a weird catalog in that I have two novel “series” with only two books right now – novel duos, I should call them! I've never shied away from making the series the number of books it needs to be in order to tell a story. I don't like to stubbornly stick to trilogies or quartets just because they're popular. That said, the trilogy format did fit this story, so I decided to run with it!
Novella trilogies are a bit more complicated than novel trilogies, because you have a very limited amount of space in the first book to set up the premise for the entire story, create a satisfying plot arc that will stand alone, and decide which threads to leave hanging for book two. That's why I found this book much easier to write than the first or the third: I knew where the story had to begin – the cliffhanger of Eli's nasty ex lurking around – and where it had to end, which I won't spoil!
I tend to approach each book in a series with the view that there should be a satisfying plot that will advance the characters' stories and personal growth – perhaps a lighter story in each book than a full novel arc would contain, but a plot nonetheless. I don't like reading a novella that feels like a few chapters out of a book; it has to properly draw the tension up and release it for me to be happy reading, so I try to write the same way I like to read.
What are your favorite genres to read? Are they the same ones you write?
This is a tricky question! I actually read pretty widely, but I typically stick to M/M when I want something fun. Within M/M genres, I read mostly contemporary books, but I also really like certain paranormal books... usually with werewolves that go light on the paranormal aspect and heavier on the characterization aspect. I prefer to both read and write low-angst books because I don't like to live through too much secondhand anxiety, but they can be hard to find. My own writing to date has focused mostly on relationships with tricky power dynamics, especially the classic “rich boy, poor boy” trope, but I'm shifting into non-billionaire books very soon.
What's coming up in the Island Heat series, and for you in general?
There's one book remaining in the trilogy after Sizzle. Scorch comes out on August 28th, and it will wrap up the story of Eli and Kevin in a hopefully satisfying ending. A few readers have asked if there's a story about Troy and Dean, but all I can say is “maybe” until book three comes out!
Right now, I'm working on two other stories: a light, fun read featuring a prince in disguise infiltrating a thieves' guild and a deeper story featuring two men traveling together to handle a shared, yet divisive grief.
How much of your writing is influenced by your own life?
A great deal of my life winds up in my books in one way or another, but in such small ways that I think only a few people who knew me would realize! It's not a one-to-one “copy and paste” of real life scenarios when I write fiction.
Instead, events I witness or participated in, topics I learn about, or people I care about come out in subtle ways: Kevin's hearing loss is based on my own experiences, while a friend who swims to relieve stress inspired Eli's habit, for example. I'm lucky to have moved often, worked in several fields, and connected with many people to talk about our shared hopes, dreams, and fears, and I hope a little of that can shine through in my work!
What inspires your book settings in time and place?
Time settings: the difficulty of historical accuracy! While I once wrote a piece set in the 1890s, I rarely write historical fiction because time period details are so hard to get right.
Place: wherever the story demands. Most of my billionaire stories are set in states like New York or California where billionaires are frequently found, for example; my upcoming travel story had much more flexibility, and I found it interesting to play with a Canadian small-town feeling and contrast that against the British towns the main characters visit.
Place: wherever the story demands. Most of my billionaire stories are set in states like New York or California where billionaires are frequently found, for example; my upcoming travel story had much more flexibility, and I found it interesting to play with a Canadian small-town feeling and contrast that against the British towns the main characters visit.
For the Island Heat series, I knew the island had to be in a warm tropical setting but not one that existed in real life, since I don't like going to court. Hawaii jumped out as the obvious choice, as it avoids the difficulties of characters having to travel abroad and obtain paperwork to do so.
Any last words?
The middle stages are often the hardest, whether you're forming new habits and goals, settling into a new relationship, or writing a story. Sometimes you get lucky and you see exactly where you came from and where you're headed, but not always. If the light in the tunnel switches off for a bit, don't give up. Keep heading in the direction you were planning, and you'll be back in broad daylight soon!
Thank you for hosting me and reading my post on this blog tour. I hope your summer has few tunnels and many sunny days!
THANKS TO THE AUTHOR FOR SHARING THIS Q&A, IT IS AWESOME!! HERE IS A LITTLE INFO ON SAID AUTHOR E.DAVIES: :)
E. Davies has written romance and erotic romance for years and began publishing her stories in 2013. She believes strongly in character-driven plots with a balance of steamy scenes and emotions, and her stories don't "fade to black" when the going gets good! She prefers lightly dramatic books to existential crisis plots and loves to write happy endings.
THANKS SO MUCH FOR JOINING ME FOR THIS DOUBLE REVIEW GUYS, I REALLY HOPE YOU GRAB THESE BOOKS, YOU WILL LOVE THEM BOTH FOR SURE!!!
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