Tag Archives: Garrett Leigh

ARC Book Review: Rented Heart – Garrett Leigh

Posted on August 20, 2016 | Leave a comment

Rented HeartDate of Publication: September 12, 2016
Genre and Themes: LGBTQI, Romance, Contemporary
Format: 228 pages, ebook
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Cover Artist: Garrett Leigh
ISBN: 9781626493919
Characters: Liam Mallaney, Zac Payne

How I enjoyed reading this one! So far, I’ve read three books from the author just this year (including this one) and I enjoyed them all!

First though, can we just take a minute to admire the book’s beautiful cover?

Now with the story; it’s actually pretty simple but with a lot of angst from its main characters. We have Liam languishing in his lonesomeness months after his husband’s death and we have rent boy Zac who shoulders the responsibility of looking after his best friend, Jamie who apparently saved his life in the past. When they made their initial ‘transaction,’ they didn’t expect the spark that will ignite between them. Liam thinks that he’ll never fall in love again. Zac on the other hand doesn’t think he deserves Liam’s attention. When Zac’s life was put in peril, Liam had to decide whether he’d allow love to find its way between them and heal Zac’s rented heart.

Okay, so that’s my version of the blurb ^^ sounds more dramatic yeah? But I just loved Liam and Zac! They have such likability that you’d really root for them right off the bat. The plot of this story has been told several times if I’m being honest but the way Leigh told Zac and Liam’s story is just beautiful. There’s vibrancy in it, there’s the emotional depth with her characters and there’s consistency from start to finish so you’d really have to be on a comfy couch or bed before reading this one because I’m telling you, once you started this one, you’d want to finish it right away!

I am now getting the drift of Garrett Leigh’s writing style. She’s the kind of author who loves her character damaged and needed saving, she loves a good story of redemption, she’s the kind of author who writes about second chances. This feels like her own kind of sub-genre and she’s just so good in it. I am highly recommending this book! It’s just worth every minute reading it!

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

About The Author
Garrett Leigh is an award-winning British writer and book designer, currently working for Dreamspinner Press, Loose Id, Riptide Publishing, and Fox Love Press.

Garrett’s debut novel, Slide, won Best Bisexual Debut at the 2014 Rainbow Book Awards, and her polyamorous novel, Misfits was a finalist in the 2016 LAMBDA awards.

When not writing, Garrett can generally be found procrastinating on Twitter, cooking up a storm, or sitting on her behind doing as little as possible, all the while shouting at her menagerie of children and animals and attempting to tame her unruly and wonderful FOX.

Garrett is also an award winning cover artist, taking the silver medal at the Benjamin Franklin Book Awards in 2016. She designs for various publishing houses and independent authors at blackjazzdesign.com, and co-owns the specialist stock site moonstockphotography.com with renowned LGBTQA+ photographer Dan Burgess.

ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley for an impartial review.

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Book Review: Between Ghosts – Garrett Leigh

Posted on March 25, 2016 | Leave a comment

Between GhostsPublished March 14, 2016
Format: Novel
Genre And Theme: LGBT Romance, War
Length: 226 pages, ebook
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Ebook ISBN: 9781626493513
Cover Artist: Garrett Leigh
Characters: Connor Regan, Nat Thompson

Connor Regan is a journalist who found himself embedded in the war-torn Iraq trying to find closure after his brother’s death three years before. There he meets, Nat Thompson, a veteran SAS soldier who claims to not feel anything anymore until he and Connor started falling for each other.

I thought the whole premise of the story was interesting. At first glance, it was already predictable and when it really did go with the route that I was expecting it to go, I found myself yearning for more. I mean, I love a “good” predictable story and this is one of them, but I also want something that will, perhaps shock me or wow me – just one thing that will make it different from any other stories.

Also, there’s not much to go on with Nat’s character. We only know about how he loves his bestfriend ‘Pogo’ and how he’s been in the military for more than a decade but aside from these information, there’s not much of a backstory. There’s that little tidbits about his childhood but we didn’t really get a feel of the more “civilian” side of him. Although if you look at it in some way, it may not really be that relevant but I figured that since we know so much about Connor throughout the course of the story, why not explore Nat in the process right?

More than the romance, we see here a stark portrayal of the effects of war from both sides of the spectrum. Regardless of which side, war is never good but that’s reality for you.

Garrett Leigh’s Between Ghosts is a very much enjoyable read in a sense that it does not require too much thinking. The whole plot is just there, it was very structure, very predictable but enjoyable nonetheless.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

About the Author
Garrett Leigh is a British writer and book designer, currently working for Dreamspinner Press, Loose Id, Riptide Publishing, and Fox Love Press. Her protagonists will always always be tortured, crippled, broken, and deeply flawed. Throw in a tale of enduring true love, some stubbly facial hair, and a bunch of tattoos, and you’ve got yourself a Garrett special.

When not writing, Garrett can generally be found procrastinating on Twitter, cooking up a storm, or sitting on her behind doing as little as possible. That, and dreaming up new ways to torture her characters. Garrett believes in happy endings; she just likes to make her boys work for it.

Garrett also works as a freelance cover artist for various publishing houses and independent authors at blackjazzdesign.com

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Book Review: Only Love – Garrett Leigh

Posted on September 5, 2014 | Leave a comment
via Goodreads

via Goodreads

This is my first book by Garrett Leigh and I just really find it a  wee-bit depressing – it being written in a melancholic fashion.

The diagnosis of a chronic stomach condition leaves thirty-two-year-old Sergeant Jed Cooper with little choice but to call time on his Army career. Then on the dusty streets of Kirkuk, an ambush gone tragically wrong decimates his team, and he returns to the US with a shattered leg and the memory of his best friend dying in his arms.

Life in his sleepy hometown proves intolerable until he finds solace in a lakeside cabin with vivacious young carpenter, Max O’Dair. In the shadow of the epilepsy that periodically plagues Max, he and Jed form an unspoken bond. After a late night episode, Jed realizes how much Max means to him, and life has taught him not to waste time.

But the lines between contentment and complacency are blurred. Things left hidden resurface to tear through their world, and before they can repair the damage, death comes to call again. Faces, past and present, rally around them to weather the storm, but before long, they are left with only love. via Goodreads

I loved both MC’s and the tenderness of how they have found solace from each other but I can’t seemed to let go of that ill-feeling about their future. The way it was written was like that. The pacing isn’t a problem at all. The flashbacks were properly positioned. I guess what I don’t like about it is the approach of the author on her main characters. Overall, the book is a well written story that I believe still deserves a good read.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

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