Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Tuesday M/M Review Spotlight Boystown Season Four by Jake Biondi


Synopsis:

“From outside the building, flames could be seen and yells could be heard. In the distance, the sound of fire truck sirens gradually grew louder. As the club windows shattered, fire and smoke emerged, working their way up into the sky. The wind pushed the smoke across nearby blocks quickly and it soon passed over the area where Derek’s bloody body rested on the ground. The moon hung high over the city of Chicago, casting its warm glow on everything beneath it.”
-BOYSTOWN Season Three

The horrific night club fire leaves lives and relationships forever scarred. As the flames die down and the smoke clears, survivors struggle to rebuild. At the same time, the race to save Derek Mancini and to bring his shooter to justice begins -- while the search to identify the new Mancini brother continues.

More catastrophic than the fire, a special birthday celebration propels lives in dangerous directions. While some work to end the Mancini-Ciancio feud permanently, others use it as motivation to put a life-threatening plan in place. Meanwhile, two couples prepare for their weddings, one couple struggles to survive its secrets, and a new couple forms an alliance that will ultimately destroy several people around them. Plus, the arrival of a new doctor and his son to Boystown impacts the lives of everyone they meet.

It all builds up to a wedding weekend that will leave the lives of Boystown residents in peril.

There’s no place like BOYSTOWN! 

Goodreads: 

Review:

OMG Boystown is getting better and better with each episode. Man this episode was freaking incredible! Jake keeps you on your toes with each new episode.

In season four we got to meet some new characters that were kick arse and we got to see the boys we love. I mean there was unplanned pregnancies, to new loves, to break ups no one seen coming and best of all the secrets and lies that tore through each couple.

I mean I was like damn every chapter because someone was hiding something or they had hidden agendas and oh yeah the big holy hell was some people we thought were dead came back and some boys we love are gone or maybe not because Jake keeps us on our feet. I need Episode five like ASAP! It comes out June 01, 2016 and I will read all night until I am done.


Synopsis:

“As the bomb exploded, it filled the area with thick, black smoke and flaming debris. It would be a while before the smoke cleared and hotel security could see the extent of the damage. Everyone hoped it would be the best new year ever.” BOYSTOWN Season Two 

It’s a race against time to save those caught in the New Year’s Eve explosion. The survivors may not be the lucky ones as they struggle to restore normalcy to their lives. As the smoke clears, families are torn apart and lives are permanently altered. 

Even more dangerous than the bomb, the Mancini-Ciancio feud heats up as family members fight for control and survival. At the same time, Jesse Morgan faces the fallout from his plan to break up his mother and her husband, Keith Colgan works to keep his past from destroying his future, Rachel Carson begins a plan that may have deadly consequences, and the search for the fourth Mancini brother reveals secrets that threaten to tear relationships apart forever. 

It all culminates in a fabulous fundraiser like none that anyone in Boystown has ever experienced. 

Welcome home to BOYSTOWN!

Goodreads:

Review:

First off I have to say that Jake has created a series that is incredible and should become a TV series because it is so good you need to see the characters live once you have read the book. I started following and stalking Jake after reading Boystown Season One.

The first season describes the characters and builds up to a climatic ending and then season two picks right up where season one leaves off and you start to see the characters for who they are and what they want. In season two you also get lots of twists and turns and things start to kick off before the new year.

Season Three picks up on New Years Eve and lordy lordy I have to say that Jake really had me on the edge of my seat because there are pregnancies, cheating, drinking, attempted murders and maybe the most shocking is one of my favorite love to hate characters is shot and may be dead. All the couples are in the thick of things and we get to meet new characters and find out who mugged Cole. We also get to find out who Jesse's father is.

Stuff is popping off and this is a MUST READ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I need season four right now!


Synopsis:

“As the others scrambled, two more gunshots were fired, echoing throughout the room. Blood splattered on the wall and floor as three bodies fell to the ground.” --BOYSTOWN Season One

In the aftermath of the warehouse shootings, lives are forever changed and relationships are forever altered. As the families of the victims work to put the horrific event behind them, they find themselves at the center of an even larger plan for revenge.

Ciancio twins Marco and Gino are as handsome as they are powerful -- and they arrive in Boystown with a scheme rooted in the bad history between the Ciancio and Mancini families. 

At the same time, Keith Colgan seems hell-bent on getting back the boyfriend he believes was stolen from him, Ben Donovan continues with his plan for Jacqueline Morgan and her son Jesse, and a stranger from the past threatens the future.

It all leads up to a spectacular New Year’s Eve engagement party that no one will ever forget.

Welcome back to BOYSTOWN!

ORDER YOUR COPY TODAY - www.JakeBiondi.com


Synopsis:

One of the most diverse and lively neighborhoods in the country, Chicago's BOYSTOWN has something for everyone. So it's no wonder that Jesse Morgan and Cole O'Brien chose to live there upon graduating from college. Ready to begin the next phase of their lives in an exciting new city, Jesse and Cole quickly find themselves at the center of a new group of friends. Joyelle and Derek Mancini have been happily married for years, but Derek is harboring a secret that could tear them apart. Derek's brother Emmett is about to discover that his boyfriend Keith Colgan has a past that will haunt them both. Long time couple Logan Pryce and Max Taylor must face a crisis that neither of them expected. And, before they realize it, Jesse and Cole find themselves at the center of it all in the adult playground known as BOYSTOWN.

Goodreads:

Review:

Okay, so let me start this review out by saying I have typed this review 11 times and deleted it 11 times because after reading this story I was amazed, shocked, stunned, and everything in between! I mean I was literally brain fu&^%$! I mean, I have never read a story like this one. 

BOYSTOWN is written in "episodes," each ending in a cliffhanger. As you go through the episodes things start to heat up and you're like, holy eff what the hell is going on? 

So we have Jesse and Cole who are in college and they are graduating and looking for jobs. They have both found their dream jobs in Chicago and are looking forward to graduating and starting their new lives.

Then you have the happy couple Joyelle and Derek. They are the perfect couple as Derek travels for work and Joyelle is an ER nurse and loves her job. They have been married for years and Joyelle is ready for more. She wants to make her family complete. But there is one thing about one of these individuals that will rock this relationship to the core. Will they survive this or will they walk away from each other?

Emmett and Keith are the perfect couple. They are so in love and do everything together. So much so that Keith is planning on doing something special for Emmett. But just as Keith thinks he is going to get his HEA, someone has decided that he will not get his HEA yet, and they plan on doing something very very naughty. Will Keith and Emmett survive this new (or old) threat to their relationship? Will someone try and hurt them? I will say this I LOVE Emmett and if something happens to him I will be flying to Chicago a lot sooner.... hint hint Jake!

Max and Logan have been together for a long time and everything seems to be spiraling out of control. One of them has a drinking problem and the other is left trying to help him when he does not want help. So what do you do when the person you love does not want you anymore? Do you move on quietly or do you fight like hell for the person you love to keep them even though you know they don't want you?

See what I mean? So much going on with these characters and then we add to the mix some other characters like Jacqueline who is one of the character's mother who finds herself in a relationship with someone younger and when her son finds out who it is, all hell is going to break lose because that guy has a HUGE secret and when it comes out, I don't think anyone will be left standing.
Then we have Ben who is connected to two of the characters and is falling in love with one of them but when the secrets and lies come to the forefront, all hell is going to break lose. Whoop whoop! What drama we get from my man Ben. He is a chocolate God, sex on wheels but I would not want to be him when shit happens.......

Then we have Nick, Todd, and Justin who are related to some of the characters by blood and by relationships and boy oh boy when the drama unfolds and shit hits the fan and the police are called who will be left standing and who will be dead??

Oh and that police officer is actually detective Michael Martinez and boy does he have a story to tell. Lord, makes me need some ice cold water something fierce because I was feeling very feverish reading about Michael. lordy....... lordy..... lordy.... CALIENTE! 

So Boystown is a real place in Chicago and after reading this book, I told my husband I need to go there and visit because I have this image in my head that Jake put in it and I just have to go there and visit and get my book signed by Jake. I am so fan girling it is not funny. I mean I want to be in his brain so bad because that ending was like WTF? Really Jake? No you did not! Man oh man why is one of my favorite characters there? 

This is a MUST READ male/male and male/female book but most of all I felt like I was there right in front of the characters living their lives with them, going through all their ups and downs and all their pain and grief they had. Jake you are BRILLIANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Growing up in the suburbs of Chicago, Jake Biondi fell in love with "The Windy City" at an early age. He left the Chicago area for four years to attend the University of Notre Dame, from which he graduated with degrees in English and Business. He was awarded the university’s prestigious William Mitchell Award for Playwriting. Upon graduating from Notre Dame, Biondi returned to Chicago where he attended and graduated from the Loyola University Chicago School of Law. He has been living in Chicago's Boystown neighborhood for over 20 years.

While studying literature, Biondi became a huge fan of Charles Dickens whose novels were originally released in installments, each ending in a cliffhanger to keep readers coming back for more. Because of his love of those novels as well as television dramas such as Dynasty, Knots Landing, Dallas, and Revenge, Jake Biondi decided to create a serialized saga for contemporary audiences. Thus, the BOYSTOWN series was born.

Biondi began BOYSTOWN in June of 2013 as an online story and intended to release one "episode" online per month, each ending in a cliffhanger. The story became so popular -- and the online reading audience grew so quickly -- that people from all over the country began to email him demanding to know what happened to their favorite characters and wanting the episodes to be released faster. They also had suggestions for future storylines. Excited by and grateful for his readers’ responses to BOYSTOWN, Biondi began to write and release installments more quickly. 

In November of 2013, Biondi moved BOYSTOWN offline and published the first ten installments in book form as BOYSTOWN Season One. The book became an international hit, with fans all over the globe clamoring for more. BOYSTOWN Season Two was published in July of 2014, BOYSTOWN Season Three was released on May 1, 2015, and BOYSTOWN Season Four was released on November 13, 2015.

Because of the popularity of the book series, fans have suggested that BOYSTOWN be turned into a television series. Biondi recently completed the TV scripts for the first season of BOYSTOWN and hopes to bring the series to television in the very near future. 


In the words of others...

"Occasionally one comes across something unexpectedly that knocks your socks off and this book is one of those. At first I wasn't sure, but I went ahead and purchased Boystown and, man, am I ever glad I did. What an awesome story with smoking hot characters and even better action. At times it got so intense that I had to put my reader down and walk around to come back this great story. Boystown has a rather large cast of characters but that's not a problem at all because Jake Biondi brings them all to life equally so no one gets lost in the shuffle. I love the episodes instead of chapters. I got enamored into the various stories and how they intertwine. It was fast paced and thrilling. There were gay and straight characters in the book and they were all written to be realistic and honest. It was very refreshing. The sex scenes were hot and there were many twists in the book. Then of all things comes a shocking cliff hanger. This will leave you addicted and wanting more." 
-Mitch Sandusky, reviewer

“When I first started reading BOYSTOWN on my 10 hour flight to London, I was expecting to use it as a tool to fall asleep, as most gay-themed books have that effect on me. It reminded me a lot of Queer as Folk, but the characters were different. They were more relatable. Most writers seem to write ‘types’ where the character has one domineering personality trait and can be categorized. Jake Biondi managed to create a cast of BOYSTOWN characters that are human, meaning that they operate on multifaceted levels. Sex and sexual power, control, and politics seem to be the driving force behind this book. But it is something that is true of our community and how we communicate. Needless to say, I read the entire book on my flight and could not put it down! It leaves you hanging at the end to form your own conclusions which I absolutely love in a book.” -Billy Santoro, actor

“Jake Biondi is a great guy and his writing style is so deep with emotions that when you’re reading, you are so invested in the characters that you can't get enough. Jake has this flawless way of writing that grabs you and keeps you. He has a God-given talent! Anyone who meets or talks to Jake will fall in love with him because he is so open and answers any and all questions without hesitation. He loves to hear from his readers and offers them a great deal of gratitude.” -Teneesha Freidus, reviewer

"It’s always fun to read a story set in a place you’re familiar with, and so yes, this was fun for me; but even if you aren’t familiar with Chicago’s Boystown, I think a lot of gays will relate to this story.

I was drawn in and it felt like a group of friends I’ve known or could have known. All the drama, all the partying, all the mix of relationships and people, all the ins and outs of gay life. His characterizations go beyond stereotypes and as the action and situations develop, so do the people. The relationships, situations, actions and emotions are varied, realistic, and true-to-life.

Jake Biondi’s style is easy to read and fast paced with a sprinkle of humor and emotions here and there. For any of you who 'read to travel' like I do, his descriptions of the settings are right on. I can’t compare it completely to Tales of the City but having just re-read that, I did see similarities in their diverse groups of friends and lovers, describing so well the locale in which it is set, mixing in some mystery with the romance and sex, the jumping from one situation to another taking the drama with you, and maybe that was a result, interestingly, of both being first written in serial installments.

All in all, an engaging romp with friends and lovers many would love to join in on."
-Steve Wroten, GoodReads.com

"What a fantastic read. It was such an easy, addictive read. I was hesitant about starting a book with a leading female character (as I'm really into m/m romances exclusively) but it is done brilliantly.

The predominant characters in the book are male, complicated, flawed and well-fleshed out. I enjoyed getting to know each character, and was amazed while reading to see how the intricate chords were woven by Biondi to tie all the characters' stories together. The intimate scenes are hot and the characters diverse.

One thing I'm not particularly a fan of is cliffhanger endings, but this one was done so well and I was kind of expecting it since the follow up to Boystown season 1 is already receiving a lot of attention.

One of my sinful indulgences that I enjoyed so incredibly was what happened to one of the characters near the end. I thought the author might just cop out and not let it go all the way, but he went there and I enjoyed it immensely, especially because it was fitting to the story, too.

I am so looking forward to the next installment and will be 1-clicking it as soon as it becomes available. Well done, Jake!"
-Louis Stevens, author, GoodReads.com

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