Desires’ Guardian by Tempeste O'Riley: Guest Post #Review #Giveaway @TempesteO

Desires’ Guardian

(Desires Entwined, Book 2)

by Tempeste O’Riley

Genres: M/M, Erotic, Contemporary, Romance

Most people see Chase Manning as the party-boy twink he seems on the surface. Only James, Chase’s BFF, knows the depth of his loyalty and the extent of the wounds Chase carries inside. When Chase meets Rhys Sayer things don’t go well, but he can’t shake his attraction to the huge, sexy man.

Rhys is a man of contradictions and fear—a strange combination for a PI and bodyguard. He’s in a bad place emotionally when he sets eyes on Chase for the first time. When Chase puts the moves on him, Rhys insults him, thwarting any possibility of a relationship. Rhys doesn’t see himself as a complicated man, but he dreads the very kind of connection he desires.

Just as they’re trying to overcome their uncertainties, Chase is put in harm’s way. Luckily Rhys and their friends have all the right talents to help Rhys save the man of his dreams.

Looking Past First Impressions
by Tempeste O'Riley

When I first found the characters for the Desires Entwined series, they each were slow to reveal themselves, their hearts and souls, to me. A problem as I’m the author and kind of need those kinds of details, lol. 

I ran into issues from the start about readers not seeing past initial impressions with some of the characters, something that a few characters then strove to prove themselves not to be only what their façade showed the world—think Chase here ;) However, sometimes, we fall into the trap of not only failing to see past first impressions in others, but begin to believe the front we put up to protect ourselves from the world.

In Desires’ Guardian you get to delve much deeper into Chase’s live and get to see why he appears the way he does and that no that’s not all there is to him. Most see Chase Manning and think ‘air head’ ‘party boy’ ‘twink’ or even ‘slut’. But if you’ve read much about him, you know there's so much more than meets the eye. There’s another first impression issue in Desires’ Guardian that is very pivitol to the characters and story... the one that happened months ago, off page, and neither Chase nor Rhys (said Rise, not Reese) want to look past, much less own up to. 

What do you do when everything you believe to be true about a person, based on a false first impression, turns out to be wrong? When the shallow party-boy turns out to be a deep, scared, and loyal friend? When the lumbering asshat turns out to be protective, driven, and nothing like the prejudiced bully you first thought?

Sometimes, our first impressions are the least true, and if that’s where we stop looking we can miss the best friend, truest love, and most heartfelt family we can ever have. That’s the crux of the issue at the start of Desires’ Guardian. It’s not all there is, of course, but how can these two men find love and happiness when they can’t even see the other clearly? 

Oh, and then of course, there’s the issue of being willing to reveal the truth, even when you know you should... Yeah, my guys were batting a thousand throughout Desires’ Guardian, lol. In fact, how about a little snippet just to show you?...

“What the hell, Rhys?” Mark asked, his voice so incredulous Rhys fought to not laugh.

“That would be the effect of Garrett stopping by and pissing Chase off.” He absentmindedly touched the bites on his shoulder, remembering the fire in Chase’s eyes as he’d shown his displeasure.

“Garrett was here? I thought you swore not to take the slut back!”

“I didn’t take him back. Ass. He stopped by to talk to me, trying to convince me he wanted us together again. I threw him out, but not before he called Chase my boy toy, among other things. Chase, um, took exception to that and to how Garrett looked,” Rhys added with a shrug. He knew he deserved Chase’s anger for the lies and mistreatment, even if he sorely regretted his actions now.

“How he looked? Do I want to know, Rhys?” Mark stooped and started to pick up the scattered items, as did Rhys. “I never understood why you liked him to begin with, but they’re both twinks, so what’s the problem?”

“You remember I met Chase before we got the contract with Seth to guard James and Danni?” He waited for Mark to nod. “I blew Chase off at a club and insulted him for being a twink. In my defense, it was right after I threw Garrett out, but….”

“You never told Chase the truth, so when the slut stopped by, you looked like a liar on top of being a total ass. Way to go, Rhys.”

“I know. Believe me, I know. But he stopped packing up his things and let me apologize.”

“You better hope you didn’t just cost us the best tech we’ve ever had. Kailee was good, but Chase really is as good as James said.”

“He didn’t stay mad, Mark,” Rhys said defensively as flashes from the night before again flickered through his mind. 

“What’d ya do to your shoulder? You keep messing with it.” Mark quirked an eyebrow at him. “And what’s with the weird—”

Rhys slapped his hand over the marks he knew were partly visible with only his T-shirt on. Dammit, knew I shoulda put my jacket on before I came down. “It’s nothing. Don’t you have something to do?”

“Uh-uh, let me see,” Mark demanded as he grabbed Rhys’s shoulder. The wide grin told Rhys Mark already knew what he would find, much to his irritation.

After wrestling for a few minutes, Rhys pinned Mark. “Forget it. I’m not explaining what’s there, Mark.”

“Spoilsport. Fine, I need to go prep for tonight anyway.” He stood when Rhys released him and scowled. “I hate cheating spouse cases,” Mark muttered as he stomped off to his office.

Rhys did too, but money was money, and bills didn’t care what kind of job was used to pay them.

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Chase meets Rhys and is instantly attracted to the handsome and well built private investigator. Contradictory to the impression his small build and flamboyant personality leaves, Chase loves to top and can't help but imagine how sexy it would be to dominate the muscular Rhys.

Unfortunately for Chase, Rhys has had his fill of twink-like boyfriends and viciously rebuffs Chase's advances. Any hope of a relationship between the two complex men is instantly crushed, but fate has bigger plans in mind. Unable to deny their persuasive friend, James, Chase and Rhys are thrown together repeatedly. As their mutual animosity is slowly worn down by attraction, the two seemingly opposite personalities are irresistibly drawn together like magnets.

Second in the Desires Entwined series, DESIRES' GUARDIAN is a well written and emotionally complex story about first impressions, forgiveness and looking past outward appearances and focusing instead on the treasures that are found in the heart and soul. I fell in love with Chase and Rhys in DESIGNS OF DESIRE and their story exceeded my every expectation. I was also thrilled to read more about James and Seth and the tantalizing glimpses into the blossoming relationship between Alex and Dal that lead up to TEMPTATIONS OF DESIRE are irresistible.  Fast becoming one of my favorite series, the diverse characters, complex personalities and emotionally charged life journeys place it on my must read list for 2014!

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Tempeste O’Riley is an out and proud omnisexual / bi-woman whose best friend growing up had the courage to do what she couldn’t–defy the hate and come out. He has been her hero ever since.

Tempe is a hopeless romantic that loves strong relationships and happily-ever-afters. Though new to writing M/M, she has done many things in her life, though writing has always drawn her back–no matter what else life has thrown her way. She counts her friends, family, and Muse as her greatest blessings in life. She lives in Wisconsin with her children, reading, writing, and enjoying life.

Tempe is also a proud PAN member of Romance Writers of America®, Rainbow Romance Writers, and WisRWA.

Learn more about Tempeste and her writing.

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Watch for my review of Caged Sanctuary on December 29th!