Smoldering Flame by Andrew Grey ~ Audiobook

Title: Smoldering Flame

Series: Rekindled Flame 03

Author: Andrew Grey

Narrator: Michael Pauley

Genre: Contemporary

Length: 6 hrs, 3 mins

Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (28th March 2018)

Heat Level: Moderate

Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥ 5 Hearts

Blurb: Sometimes the strongest flames take the longest to ignite.

Firefighter Dean’s life revolves around his very ill son, Sammy. Caring for Sammy and working to make ends meet leave Dean time for little else, and romance isn’t something he can even consider – no matter how much he longs for someone special to join their family. Because money is tight, Dean couldn’t be more grateful to the photographer who does Sammy’s session free of charge.

growing up in the foster care system, Marco knows how to rely on himself, and his hard work is about to pay off – he’s poised on the cusp of fame and success he could only have imagined as a lonely child. When Dean brings Sammy into Marco’s studio, Marco can see they’re struggling, and both the boy and his father stir Marco’s heart. The slow burn between the two men isn’t something either expected, but neither wants to lose the possibility of a loving future. With Dean’s dangerous and possibly life-threatening career and Marco’s demanding one, can romance and forever find a place to fit?

Product Link: Audible US | Audible UK | Amazon US | Amazon UK

Reviewer: Prime

Review: Every time I read a book by Andrew Grey I gush about how awesome he is, so I’m not about to go into my usual spiel. Suffice to say, if you’ve never read an Andrew Grey book – you’re missing out. For fans of Grey’s work you will love the third installment of the Rekindled Flame series, Smoldering Flame. This can be read as a standalone book or in order with the other books of the series. Although we do see characters from previous two books, as well as characters Grey’s series The Bullriders it is not vital to have read any of these characters’ books.

The narration for the audio of this series is done by Michael Pauley who has a tone that is just fitting for all the characters. Listening to Pauley’s narration was a pleasure and utterly enjoyable.
In Smoldering Flame, professional photographer Marco meets firefighter Dean and Dean’s very sick son, Sammy (yes, Supernatural fans, I thought the same thing) when they walk into Marco’s studio.

Marco impulsively does a photoshoot of the boy with a toy dalmatian in the studio. Sammy has cancer and at the point where Dean walks into Marco’s studio with his son, Sammy is at one of the worst points of his illness. Marco connects with both Sammy and Dean. There is an instant spark of attraction between the two guys, and he connects with Sammy even more quickly because Marco’s childhood was similar to the sick child’s. However, after the photo shoot, Marco doesn’t see the two charming guys for six months which then follows into what is ultimately a sweet and charming story of Marco and Dean trying to knit their lives together and navigate their attraction. Dean is trying his best to make sure that Sammy doesn’t get hurt and for Marco he has to deal with the baggage of a childhood of loneliness.

Childhood cancer and a single parent is a common theme in Grey’s work. However, the man does these story lines so divine it does not get stale for me. Every kid has a different personality and it is just wonderful to see something so sweet come out of a desperate situation. The kid, like the parent who is a main character, has a well-developed two-dimensional character. Sometimes I even shed the odd tear or two!

Cleansing Flame by Andrew Grey ~ Audiobook

Title: Cleansing Flame

Series: Rekindled Flame 02

Author: Andrew Grey

Narrator: Michael Pauley

Genre: Contemporary

Length: 6 hrs, 9 mins

Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (12th July 2017)

Heat Level: Moderate

Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥ 5 Hearts

Blurb: Life has been grinding Dayne Mills down for almost as long as he can remember. First, he lost the love of his life in an accident that also left him with a permanent injury, and then his mother passed away a year later. When his house burns to the ground, it’s the last straw. He can’t take any more, and if it wasn’t for kind and handsome firefighter Lawson Martin offering him a hand up and a place to stay, he doesn’t know what he’d do. Dayne would love for his relationship with Lawson to evolve into something beyond charity, but he knows going after a man so far out of his league will only lead to yet more heartache. It’s best to just keep his mind on his research.

It’s that research that leads Dayne to an old student journal that not only provides clues to the Native American heritage Lawson has been searching for, but chronicles a century-old love story. The tale that unfolds might be just what Dayne and Lawson need to remind them that no matter how dark life becomes, love can find a way to shine through.

Product Link: Audible US | Audible UK | Amazon US | Amazon UK

Reviewer: Prime

Review: This is one of those books where I went in expecting to love it. I love Andrew Grey’s writing: it is so easy for me to relate to his writing. I love how he does sweet romance is totally relatable, real life situations. I love he manages to make me both laugh and cry in the course of a single story. I knew I would enjoy this because I loved the first book, Rekindled Flame and quite frankly, I’ve already read all the books in the series. I’ve now just moved onto the audios because of my first point.

If you haven’t read or listened to book one, don’t worry, it’s not really a prerequisite. There is no overarching story line. However, I think it would be good to go back purely because we do get to see a glimpse of Morgan and Richard and it made me want to go back and reread Rekindled Flame.

As with book 1 of this series, the audio narration is by Michael Pauley, who is now edging towards the top of my list of excellent narrators. The tone he uses fits Grey’s writing perfectly and the voice he gives to the characters was exactly what I expected a few years ago when I first read the books.

The formula for Cleansing Flame is one fireman meets a broken man (both physically and mentally), meets him again at a fire when the broken man’s life goes up in smoke, just to pile on the bad luck.

Here, Lawson is the fireman. He happens to meet Dayne, the broken man, when Lawson tries to do some research on his family history and Dayne is doing research for an assignment. Dayne has had a run of bad luck – a car accident killed the man he loved some years ago, his mother died the year before and only the same day he meets Lawson he loses the home that he and his mother had brought. On top of that, Dayne still has severe pain in his leg from the accident that killed his boyfriend. Now Dayne is determined to become a teacher, even if he feels a little odd for being, seemingly, the oldest guy at college.

Lawson becomes Dayne’s knight in shining armor. It is seriously sweet. The guys also have mutual friends – Morgan and Richard of book 1 – so it’s kind of expected that they would meet. Lawson proceeds to sweep Dayne off his feet and the guys get to know each other as they fall into a romance that makes you sigh happily.

Rekindled Flame by Andrew Grey ~ Audiobook

Title: Rekindled Flame

Series: Rekindled Flame 01

Author: Andrew Grey

Narrator: Michael Pauley

Genre: Contemporary

Length: 6 hrs, 2 mins

Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (7th March 2017)

Heat Level: Explicit

Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥ 5 Hearts

Blurb: Firefighter Morgan has worked hard to build a home for himself after a nomadic childhood. When Morgan is called to a fire, he finds the family out front, but their tenant still inside. He rescues Richard Smalley, who turns out to be an old friend he hasn’t seen in years and the one person he regretted leaving behind.

Richard has had a hard life. He served in the military, where he lost the use of his legs, and has been struggling to make his way since coming home. Now that he no longer has a place to live, Morgan takes him in, but when someone attempts to set fire to Morgan’s house, they both become suspicious and wonder what’s going on.

Years ago Morgan was gutted when he moved away, leaving Richard behind, so he’s happy to pick things up where they left off. But now that Richard seems to be the target of an arsonist, he may not be the safest person to be around.

Product Link: Audible US | Audible UK | Amazon US | Amazon UK

Reviewer: Prime

Review: If you’ve read any of my previous reviews for Andrew Grey books – audio or written – you will know that Andrew Grey is one of my absolute favorite authors. In fact, Andrew Grey is only one of a couple authors who I automatically want to read/listen to anything he writes. I love his characters and his plots – you don’t need to suspend your disbelief for very long and his characters are so damn relatable it’s impossible not laugh or cry at some point in the story.

That’s one reason why I knew that I would love this book, for those of you who are suckers for books with firefighters and disabled heroes (because not all heroes are able and not all heroes wear capes. These guys are always stronger than they think they are and they are always a proper HEA with their own prince charming), this is also the book for you.

I looked forward to the voice that Michael Pauley would lend to the characters as he is a relatively unknown narrator for me. He was absolutely brilliant. Having previously read and loved this book I kinda had an idea what I wanted the characters to sound like, and although Pauley’s interpretation was a little different to what I expected the heart and soul was there and it was perfectly sweet.

The story follows firefighter, Morgan, and disabled ex-marine Richard. After saving Richard from a fire, Morgan realizes that the man is in fact the best friend from his childhood he had been upset about not seeing again when his father made them move to another city. But now the guys are back together and Richard is the center of a series of arson attacks. Morgan is ready to be his friend’s knight in shining armor, and now that they are men he is ready to take their friendship to a whole new level.

For fans of Andrew Grey, you will more than certainly recognize a few minor characters Morgan and Richard run into as couples from other books/series. I love little fan Easter eggs like that. The plot is probably predictable but the pace is pleasing, the characters are totally relatable and generally just pure joy to read.

Cleansing Flame by Andrew Grey

Andrew Grey - Cleansing Flame CoverTitle: Cleansing Flame

Series: Rekindled Flame 02

Author: Andrew Grey

Genre: Contemporary

Length: Novel (200 pages)

Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (10 March 2017)

Heat Level: Moderate

Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥ 5 Hearts

Blurb: Life has been grinding Dayne Mills down almost for as long as he can remember. First he lost the love of his life in an accident that also left him with a permanent injury, and then his mother passed away a year later. When his house burns to the ground, it’s the last straw. He can’t take any more, and if it wasn’t for kind and handsome firefighter Lawson Martin offering him a hand up and a place to stay, he doesn’t know what he’d do. Dayne would love for his relationship with Lawson to evolve into something beyond charity, but he knows going after a man so far out of his league will only lead to yet more heartache. It’s best to just keep his mind on his research.

It’s that research that leads Dayne to an old student journal that not only provides clues to the Native American heritage Lawson has been searching for, but chronicles a century-old love story. The tale that unfolds might be just what Dayne and Lawson need to remind them that no matter how dark life becomes, love can find a way to shine through.

ISBN: 978-1-63533-488-3

Product Link: https://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/books/cleansing-flame-by-andrew-grey-8272-b

Reviewer: Prime

Review: This is one of those books where I went in expecting to love it. a) I love Andrew Grey’s writing: it is so easy for me to relate to his writing, even if I am a single, straight, female. I love how he does sweet romance is totally relatable, real life situations. I love he manages to make me both laugh and cry in the course of a single story. b) I knew I would enjoy this because I loved the first book, Rekindled Flame. c) Firemen, sexy firemen, are involved in the story, enough said there.

If you haven’t read book one, don’t worry, it’s not really a prerequisite. There is no overarching story line. However, I think it would be good to go back purely because we do get to see a glimpse of Morgan and Richard and it made me want to go back and reread Rekindled Flame.

The formula for Cleansing Flame, just as it was for Rekindled Flame: one fireman meets a broken man (both physically and mentally), meets him again at a fire when his life goes up in smoke, just to pile on the bad luck.

Here, Lawson is the fireman. He happens to meet Dayne, the broken man, when Lawson tries to do some research on his family history and Dayne is doing research for an assignment. Dayne has had a run of bad luck – a car accident killed the man he loved some years ago, his mother died the year before and only the same day he meets Lawson he loses the home that he and his mother had brought. On top of that, Dayne still has severe pain in his leg from the accident that killed his boyfriend. Now Dayne is determined to become a teacher, even if he feels a little odd for being, seemingly, the oldest guy at college.

Lawson becomes Dayne’s knight in shining armor. It is seriously sweet. The guys also have mutual friends – Morgan and Richard of book 1 – so it’s kind of expected that they would meet. Lawson proceeds to sweep Dayne off his feet and the guys get to know each other as they fall into a romance that makes you sigh happily.

Cleansing Flame by Andrew Grey Guest Post & Excerpt!

Andrew Grey - Cleansing Flame Banner

Hi peeps, we have Andrew Grey stopping in for a quick visit today with his upcoming release Cleansing Flame, we have a fantastic short guest post and a great excerpt, so check out the post and enjoy! <3 ~Pixie~

Andrew Grey - Cleansing Flame Cover

Cleansing Flame

(Rekindled Flame 02)
by

Andrew Grey

Life has been grinding Dayne Mills down almost for as long as he can remember. First he lost the love of his life in an accident that also left him with a permanent injury, and then his mother passed away a year later. When his house burns to the ground, it’s the last straw. He can’t take any more, and if it wasn’t for kind and handsome firefighter Lawson Martin offering him a hand up and a place to stay, he doesn’t know what he’d do. Dayne would love for his relationship with Lawson to evolve into something beyond charity, but he knows going after a man so far out of his league will only lead to yet more heartache. It’s best to just keep his mind on his research.

It’s that research that leads Dayne to an old student journal that not only provides clues to the Native American heritage Lawson has been searching for, but chronicles a century-old love story. The tale that unfolds might be just what Dayne and Lawson need to remember that no matter how dark life becomes, love can find a way to shine through.

Release date: 10th March 2017

Continue reading “Cleansing Flame by Andrew Grey Guest Post & Excerpt!”