K. Vale

I received the book Crossed Hearts from the author through the M/M Romance group Don’t But My Love program for an honest review. This book is told in third person through the eyes of Kory Vansant and Will Squire.


I’ve read a previous book by this author and I liked the way she wrote and pulled words together, that’s why I was eager to read this story. I don’t normally go for morbid books like this but the characters sounded interesting.

Kory Vansant aka Kory Kent, is a heart recipient and ex-porn star. He was born with a congenital heart defect and at any moment could drop dead. He made a bargain with God, that if he got a heart, he’d turn his life around, leave the porn business, start somewhere new and get a job like a normal person. Kory got his wish and received the heart of a high school football player. Kory is very superstitious, especially about goats and he’s afraid to trust that his new heart won’t stop on him. He also believes that the deal he made with God meant that he shouldn’t have sex ever again, but he is drawn to Will and breaks what he thinks is his deal with God.

Will Squire is a mortician and paramedic. He and his partner happened to be the ones to arrive on the scene when the heart donor collapses. He’s also the one that embalmed the young man. Will has very low self-esteem, which wasn’t helped when he asked Darryl- who he thought was a boyfriend- didn’t want anything to do with marriage to him. Basically Will put Darryl on a pedestal and it took the breakup and the arrival of Kory for him to realize what a jerk Darryl was.

Both men are skittish about revealing their past history to the other, believing the other will find them disgusting. It turns out Darryl has a hand in the revelation of their pasts and Will and Kory have to face what they refused to talk about.

Since Will was a mortician and Kory a heart recipient, this book had the specter of death hovering throughout it. I’ll be honest and say it made me uncomfortable. I prefer light and happy books or adventure books. I skip books with horror and depressing themes, but I decided to read this anyway. Unfortunately, I couldn’t read this in one sitting. I had to put it down frequently because the overhanging cloud of death was depressing. I’m guessing it won’t bother most people. In this case it is definitely ‘It’s me, not you,’ sort of thing. The story was surprisingly romantic however, and the way the relationship and romance unfolded was realistic to me and just how I like to read them.

However, I still enjoyed the writer’s way with words, not too much or too little description. I liked the characters and found both unique, especially Kory. Darryl was maybe a bit over-the-top, but he wasn’t in the story that much to get annoying.

Overall I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to others. I'll most likely read the other books in the series. I give this story 4.5 stars, but since I can’t give half stars I round it to 4 Stars.


… (plus d'informations)

Hard Act to Follow is the third book in the ‘Shooting Stars’ series. Kyrie and Greg are the MC’s and first appeared in, ‘Double Takes.’ Even though the MCs from book two make an appearance in this one, I think this can be read as a stand-alone. The story is told in third person from Kyrie and Greg’s pov.



Kyrie dreams of being an actor. He’s outgoing, flamboyant, tends to be self-centered and selfish, and has a secret crush on his ex-brother-in-law. So much so, that he’s trying to get his sister Jaz, back together with Greg so that Greg and he can still hang out together. He’s part African-American and Asian. Greg is a lawyer. He works so hard at his company that it affected his marriage to Jasmine and they divorced. It was an amicable divorce. But both are annoyed with Kyrie who’s still trying to get them back together. From the description of Greg in the book, he’s Irish. Pale skin, red hair and he calls himself ‘Caucasian.’ He’s big, broad, like a linebacker. Greg has a bad crush on Kyrie also, but doesn’t intend on making a move because he still hangs out with Jaz and Kyrie’s family and he believes his work wouldn’t approve. So nothing happens until one drunken night when Kyrie seduces Greg, who is very willing.

From the description of the characters in the book, I have to say that the cover doesn’t match the characters appearances at all. I couldn’t figure out which was which, but figured the guy in the suit was Greg. He in no way looks like the description. And the guy in the foreground, looks like he’s in his thirties, not around twenty-four, and I don’t remember Kyrie having a beard or mustache. The contradiction between the descriptions and the images conflicted in my mind throughout the story, especially every time Greg’s ginger hair was described. I wish the cover image versus the characters description hadn’t taken away my enjoyment of the story, but it did.

The editing was pretty good, I didn’t really notice any glaring errors. The writing was smooth just like in the previous book, although I did like the plot line better in book two than in this one. There were the typical miscommunications and assumptions of what the other MC thought which could have been easily solved if Greg and Kyrie just spoke to each other. Instead, Kyrie goes into drama mode which creates one of the angst points. Another thing I didn’t like was that Kyrie outed Greg to Kyrie’s family at the end. He was so anxious for them to know that they were a couple he kept insinuating through comments until Jaz and their mother figured it out. I’m really against someone outing another person and I think Kyrie was selfish and wrong. He should’ve discussed it with Greg and let Greg explain while supporting him.

I’m sure that some people will dislike the idea that Greg became the boyfriend of Kyrie after being married to Jaz. I agree it’s kind of weird, but it didn’t seem to bother the family and I guess that’s all that matters, although I think to be more realistic someone should have said, ‘this is odd, give me a little time to get used to the idea.’ And then I think the situation would’ve been more realistic to swallow. Me, personally, I think I’d be wondering if Greg went out with Kyrie because he had some sort of kink on getting together with siblings.

I enjoyed Hard Act to Follow. It was a fast, easy read with smooth writing. I wasn’t keen about the typical miscommunications and the quick way that Kyrie’s family accepted him dating Greg after Greg had been married to Jaz, it didn’t seem realistic. This book can be read as a stand-alone, but comparing this story with book two, I prefer book two. I give this story 3 Stars.


… (plus d'informations)

I received Balancing Act through the Don’t Buy My Love group in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. This is the fourth book in the ‘Shooting Stars’ series, but the second book dealing with the relationship between Greg Dwyer, a lawyer, and Kyrie Li, an aspiring actor. It’s told in third person from both Greg’s and Kyrie’s povs.



It’s best to read this series in order, especially books three and four if you just want to read about Greg and Kyrie, because this story takes up right after the last one left off. Greg has quit his job in Boston and moved to New York to be with Kyrie. Kyrie works at a restaurant and as a stage hand while waiting for acting gigs. He ends up getting a modeling job with a very famous androgynous model, Anders Berglund. The designers love Kyrie and ‘Andy’ together, so Kyrie is booked for more jobs and ends up spending more time with Andy. This makes Greg jealous and more insecure. He knows it’s him because he’s still unwilling to come out. In private with close friends, Greg’s okay if they know, but not for the whole world to know, and this causes more and more tension between Kyrie and Greg, especially when Greg’s mother comes to stay with the two of them for a while.

I thought this book flowed a lot better than the previous story. The subplots didn’t seem as contrived as in book three and the writing was smoother. Greg’s internal conflict was good and Kyrie again annoyed me when he outed Greg like he did in the previous book. I would never trust him with a secret because he would use it against you when he was upset or angry or just wanted his way. Greg has his issues, but I don’t remember Kyrie ever apologizing for outing Greg the times that he did it. There’s an issue that comes up with Andy that Kyrie gets caught in, and I’m wondering if Anders will get his own book. The story ended ambiguously with Andy. I detected the possibility that he was suffering from bulimia because he’d make trips to the restroom after eating. He was also pale and thin. We never hear anything about it in the book, so I’m wondering if this will be covered in a later story. I’d like to read what happens to Andy.

As with the previous book, the chosen characters on the cover don’t look like the characters in the story. Kyrie, who I’m guessing is the one in front, looks in his thirties whereas in the book he’s twenty-two years old. I may have missed the part of him having facial hair, but I don’t remember it mentioned. And Greg is a flaming ginger, so the guy in the background doesn’t look like him. I know many readers may not be concerned with the cover images, but for me, it carries a lot of weight and creates a dissonance with the written characters if they aren’t at least close to the same image.

In the end, I liked Balancing Act better than I did Hard Act to Follow. Greg grew in this story, but I think Kyrie pretty much stayed the same. I liked the introduction of Anders and wouldn’t mind reading a story about him. This is a fast, enjoyable read and I would recommend it. I give it 4 Stars.




… (plus d'informations)