Saturday, September 2, 2017

AotM: Home Again & He Completes Me by Cardeno C. (Reviews+Giveaway)

After a month-long hiatus, we are back welcoming Cardeno C. as our Author of the Month for September! We love her books and we hope you all will join us as we feature her books and audiobooks throughout the month and enter the giveaways we have planned for you.

Home Again

Written by: Cardeno C.

Series: Home, Book 1

Word Count: 53,096

Audiobook narrated by: Alexander Collins

Length: 5 hrs and 26 mins

Unabridged Audiobook

Imposing, temperamental Noah Forman wakes up in a hospital and can't remember how he got there. He holds it together, taking comfort in the fact that the man he has loved since childhood is on the way. But when his one and only finally arrives, Noah is horrified to discover that he doesn't remember anything from the past three years.

Loyal, serious Clark Lehman built a life around the person who insisted from their first meeting that they were meant to be together. Now, years later, two men whose love has never faltered must relive their most treasured and most painful moments in order to recover lost memories and secure their future.

Amazon / Amazon UK / Audible / Payhip

This book is a bit angstier than the rest of the Home series, but it was balanced with impeccable writing, a lot of sweetness and the smoking hot chemistry between Noah and Clark.

The storyline is engaging and intriguing. I've read other books in which one of the characters suffers from amnesia, but even if it's not an original concept, it was a compelling one and I loved that Cardeno C. gave it a neat twist in the sense of Noah and Clark having been estranged at the time of Noah's accident and after several years finding their way back to one another. It was a story that focuses on having a second chance at happiness, about a love that is strong enough to overcome almost any hurdle that life threw at them and about two men that will do just about anything for each other.

The narration was great. Alexander Collins has been doing a great job with the Home series. His tone is pleasant and he always does a pretty good job with all the different characters that appear in the book, be it male or female. And really, you can't go wrong with how he reads some of the very hot scenes Cardeno C. is so good at writing!

Story: 4.5 Stars

Performance: 4.5 Stars

Overall: 4.5 Stars

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He Completes Me

Written by: Cardeno C.

Series: Home, Book 2

Word Count: 94,711

Audiobook narrated by: Alexander Collins

Length: 8 hrs and 25 mins

Unabridged Audiobook

Aaron has waited years for a man who can share his heart and he insists it's party boy Zach.

Not even his mother’s funeral can convince self-proclaimed party boy Zach Johnson to tone down his snark or think about settling down. He is who he is, and he refuses to change for anyone. When straight-laced, compassionate Aaron Paulson claims he’s falling for him, Zach is certain Aaron sees him as another project, one more lost soul for the idealistic Aaron to save. But Zach doesn’t need to be fixed and he refuses to be with someone who sees him as broken.

Patience is one of Aaron’s many virtues. He has waited years for a man who can share his heart and complete his life and he insists Zach is the one. Pride, fear, and old hurts wither in the wake of Aaron’s adoring loyalty, and as Zach reevaluates his perceptions of love and family, he finds himself tempted to believe in the impossible: a happily-ever-after.

Audio Sample

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4 Stars

After running away 10 years ago from his abusive stepfather and neglectful mother, Zach returns home after his older brother, Dean, begs him to attend their mother's funeral. Zach only plans to stay one night, but when he walks into Dean's kitchen, he is taken aback by the beautiful man sitting at their kitchen table.

Aaron is tall, buff, blond and beautiful. Zach is immediately attracted to Aaron, who turns out to be his brother and sister-in-law's friend and business partner. If there is one thing in life Zach knows he doesn't want, it's a relationship. But he can't seem to help the attraction and even affection he feels for Aaron. Zach returns home to WeHo, but he and Aaron start talking almost every night. Eventually, Zach makes a second trip back to his hometown and has to decide if he will give love, monogamy and fidelity a chance or go back to his slutty ways.

Aaron, there is a difference between being patient and loving and being everyone's doormat. I wanted to just shake him and tell him to get a damned backbone! Stand up for yourself, man!! Zach had no couth whatsoever!! He was slutty, rude and obnoxious. Reading some of his actions made me cringe.

Overall, I thought the premise of the book was good. It had a good story line and plot. But there were things I didn't like about it. For example, I felt the book was slow in places and I think the author needed to rein the characters' personalities in a little. They were too extreme and they needed to be more balanced, in my opinion. What I did like was that there wasn't a ton of inner dialogue, most of the book was actual scenes between the MC's. Aaron and Zack had good chemistry and although I wanted to rage at one or both MC's at one time or another, the book made me feel and I'd definitely recommend it.

**This book was provided to Bayou Book Junkie in exchange for an honest review**

Meet CC

Cardeno C.—CC to friends—is a hopeless romantic who wants to add a lot of happiness and a few awwws into a reader’s day. Writing is a nice break from real life as a corporate type and volunteer work with gay rights organizations. Cardeno’s stories range from sweet to intense, contemporary to paranormal, long to short, but they always include strong relationships and walks into the happily-ever-after sunset.