959 Brenton Street by Thianna DurstonMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
It’s been a couple of weeks since I read this book and being as I usually write my reviews shortly after finishing a book, I wanted to skim back over 959 Brenton Street
just to refresh my memory. BIG MISTAKE! I didn’t skim it. I reread the whole book. Considering how much I enjoy the author’s writing, I’m not overly surprised that I found myself sucked back into Trent’s story. And while it didn’t help my review schedule at all, I enjoyed myself immensely on the second read. I’ll be upfront and say that I have very little knowledge of the Mormon church and what I did know about it was not very positive. Because of this, I really didn’t know what to expect as Trent tried to reconcile his sexuality with his religious beliefs because I didn’t know the church’s stance on homosexuality. While the religious aspect plays a large role in the storyline, as it is front and center in Trent’s life, it did not overpower the book in my opinion. I think that was because even though Trent was faced with deciding whether or not he could be Mormon despite being gay, the ultimate focus on the novel was Trent finding out who he was as an individual and what he wanted and didn’t want for his life. And when a frankly frightening policy of overbooking at the college’s dorms leaves him homeless – and this really ticked me off because Trent was a scholarship student whose scholarship covered room and board, so he should have had a guaranteed spot in the dorms – Trent’s scramble to find a place to live lands him in possibly the best place for him to discover himself as a man.
I loved the men of 959 Brenton Street. Going in knowing that Trent would find happiness, at least for a while, with Cory, I wasn’t surprised that I loved Cory’s character. What I was surprised by, was how much I came to love the other residents – Alan, David, and Greg. As the blurb indicates, each man has his own identity that would not be considered normal by much of society and that is precisely why they were so accepting of Trent, which made me love them that much more. I especially enjoyed the relationship that Trent and Alan shared. I was also VERY pleasantly surprised when the domestic discipline (DD) element was introduced. I have enjoyed each of Thurston’s DD novels and its inclusion in 959 Brenton Street merely added to my enjoyment. Obviously my absolute favorite part of the novel was the romance that developed between Cory and Trent because not only were the men perfect for one another, but Thurston took her time in developing the relationship and didn’t rush them into anything (and my thanks to the author for not harping on the age difference). My only disappointment in the book was that I made the mistake of reading the excerpt from book two and now have to wait for its release – boo! Excellent start to a new series.
I received a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
Reviewed by Angela at Crystal's Many Reviewers!
Check out the 959 Brenton Street (Men of Falcon Pointe #1) by Thianna Durston blog post on Crystal's Many Reviewers.
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immensely, despite Danny’s parents’ best effort to ruin Danny’s life (and my reading experience). Thankfully we don’t meet Danny’s parents directly but that doesn’t keep them from meddling in his life even after they kicked him to the curb – and the revelation at the end of the book regarding his parents really shocked me considering how close-minded they were about Danny’s sexuality. What didn’t ruin my happy reading vibe was watching Danny and Phillip’s relationship develop even as they tiptoed around it in the beginning. The chemistry between them is hot and this made for some equally hot sexy fun times – with and without the spanking. But it was watching Phillip teach Danny what it meant to be a gay man, a man who enjoyed erotic spankings, and a man who might want to be in a full-fledged DD relationship that it made it a fun read too, despite the heavier themes. I loved the ending of Delivered to Love and am already looking forward to the next Corbin’s Bend book.
. After spending a decade in a vanilla marriage, never telling her husband of her desire for a domestic discipline relationship, Norah has moved to Corbin’s Bend to start her life anew three years after being widowed. As a lover of books, I was excited for Norah as part of her new start was opening a bookstore in Corbin’s Bend and living in the apartment above it. I was also excited for the community because the new businesses that I recall from previous books have been almost exclusively restaurants, and between the schools and book clubs in Corbin’s Bend and the plans that Norah had for her store, she was filling a hole in the community. Add to that Norah finding herself attracted to yet another vanilla man, Caine, and that spelled good things for the novel.
– it was just okay. There were several things about the book that kept me from enjoying it more, the biggest being Aaron. I had a really hard time reconciling the hard-nosed ADA Aaron was supposed to be with the child-like brat that often appeared when things didn’t go his way. At one point in the story, Aaron pouts because Peter gets called in to work a homicide – this was too childish, especially for an ADA who prosecutes homicide cases. This is not a matter of Aaron being submissive to Peter, but more that Aaron’s work personality and brat personality are so contradictory that it didn’t ring true for me. There’s a difference between submissive behavior and childish behavior and Aaron’s behavior was often too juvenile for the adult he was purported to be. Now had Groomzilla been marketed as age-play rather than (or in addition to) spanking, it would have perhaps been more believable. I wouldn’t have read it because I don’t enjoy age-play books and while I won’t say that it’s full-on age-play, it is close enough for me to keep me from enjoying it. Those who do enjoy age-play books may find this to be a very enjoyable read.
I am sad that its release marks the end of this season of Corbin’s Bend, but oh what a way to go out!
. Venia has been an ever present force within the community, always ready to mentor new Taken in Hands and help out wherever needed, so to see her get her own book was an absolute treat. I don’t know if it escaped my notice or it was never revealed before, but I had no idea that Venia was an author. As a blogger, I have “met” several authors via social media over the course of the past two years and I loved getting to see how Venia dealt with every author’s fear – writer’s block. 
, but even if I had I’m not sure I would have picked up on the subtle suggestion within it that points to age play. Truth be told, I’m glad I didn’t because if I had this probably would have been the first Corbin’s Bend book I opted not to read and I would have missed out on a really great book otherwise. 
and know without a doubt that I will be rereading it. As a full-figured gal myself, I connected to Zinnia immediately. I felt badly for her that she was forced to change her name and move because of a stalker, but at least she found a wonderful community to move to. As Brent pointed out later in the book, what better place to hide out from a stalker than a community filled with highly observant Alpha males? Yep, Corbin’s Bend was the best place for her to go. And the fact that its namesake happened to move to the community within a week of her just made it that much better. 
to be even more enjoyable than its predecessors. Part of my enjoyment was in seeing how Deeka’s father Barrett had become such an integral part of the Straynar household and provided DeLynn and her siblings paternal support without “taking over” as the entire family’s Head of Household. But most of my enjoyment came from watching DeLynn blossom and come into her own over the course of the book. 
was a delightful addition to the In Hyacinth series. I found the opening scene absolutely hilarious. I cannot imagine who was more mortified – Deeka or Cami. The situation became even funnier when Deeka confessed what happened to her father, who was laughing so hard he nearly lost his breath, only to find out that the phone call from Jerod was not about that and her confession earned her a punishment for trespassing. Not only was the entire situation comical (because I wasn’t the one being spanked), but it made for a nice introduction to Deeka as we learned that she obviously wasn’t a gossip (otherwise she wouldn’t have alerted Jerod and Cami to her presence), she was honest by owning up to her actions to her father and the Kinsleys, and she was a hard worker because not only did she assist Jerod with the task he assigned her as her way of making up for trespassing, but she continued to help him after her penance was paid. 
is a quick read with a well-developed story, a good amount of spanking, and some seriously hot sex. Ms. Vale does a very nice job of providing us enough background for both Ellen and Ryder to move the story along without getting bogged down in unnecessary details. The reader first meets Ellen shortly before she is to arrive in August Point, Montana and meet her husband. Through her inner musings, we learn that Ellen was forced to flee Minneapolis to avoid unjust murder charges and because of the circumstances she changed her name and became a mail order bride. Suffice it to say, when she meets her husband for the very first time she, her apprehension over starting a life with a man she knows almost nothing about is quickly replaced by the trepidation of learning that he is the town sheriff. For his part, Ryder is quite pleased with the looks of his new bride and even more so with her response to him once he whisks her home to consummate their marriage. While he disliked the circumstances that led to it, he was even happier with her emotional and physical responses the first time he found it necessary to spank her as punishment for not listening to him and endangering her safety. 
. I really wasn’t sure how Ms. Knight was going to successfully integrate a Domestic Discipline relationship into a futuristic setting and make it believable. Truth be told, the first time that Hayden spanks Olivia had me rolling my eyes due to its timing. However, because the author got right into the action within the first few pages of the book, I was already hooked by the sci-fi romance portion of the storyline so I continued on without hesitation. I thought that at the very least, I would find my enjoyment in that portion of the story and just deal with the spanking scenes as they occurred. However, the farther into the relationship that Ms. Knight took the reader, the more natural and more believable the spanking became to me. 
and the second-chance romance that it offered with a side order of spanking. When Mikayla returns home for her best friend’s wedding, she falls victim to a snowstorm and ends up at the front door of her childhood crush’s home. Fortunately for Mikayla, Sam is a paramedic who received additional medical training while in the military so he is more than capable of patching her up. Unfortunately the weather is so bad that she is “forced” to stay with him until it clears – or is that unfortunate? Mikayla’s not sure because her feelings for Sam are still a jumbled mess just as they had been when she left town years ago. Great premise, right? While most of the book was good, there were a few things that prevented it from fully delivering on its promise in my opinion.
and realized that it was the same Kyle and I was going to get to read his story. The opening scene was priceless and had me hooked on Tiffany’s character almost immediately. That girl was trouble with a capital ‘T’ but the kind that left me laughing at her antics rather than worried about how things could go badly. Although after that first spanking as an adult, you would think Tiffany would have learned to tread more carefully around Kyle, but then how would that have made for an entertaining read? 
was another great addition to season three of Corbin’s Bend. Not having read A Perfect Partnership from last season, this was my first encounter with Ginger, Beau, and the Ginger Paddle. I do not know whether or not I would have gotten a pre-pregnancy look at Ginger in the previous book, but it mattered not as Ms. Jamison provided a very clear picture of how Ginger was before Hazel’s birth both through Ginger’s self-defeatist thoughts and Beau’s worries over the drastic change in his wife.
and need to read more about Traci’s downward spiral and how Troy and Hallie got together. Admittedly, as an individual whose degree is in psychology and whose career requires a large amount of data collection and analysis, I expected to enjoy the book as Traci’s focus of research absolutely fascinates me – honestly, I’m jealous that I couldn’t attend her keynote speech. But as has been the case with every book I have read so far this season, there’s a lot to love about Psychology of Submission.
felt a lot like meeting up with and hanging out with an old friend. In fact, I felt so comfortable with Ever’s character that I did something I don’t normally do when reading a book – I read Ever Lasting Hope while reading other books. I would read a couple of chapters, put it down for a day or two to read a book that was due on my review schedule, come back and read another chapter or two, read another book, rinse and repeat. This is not something I can normally do. Unless I am reading two entirely different genres, I generally finish a book before starting the next one. But because of how well I remembered Ever, I was able to stretch out my time with her and I enjoyed that immensely. 
to a 5-star read for me. But that doesn’t mean I had to like her grandmother’s negativity before she took the time to get to know Marcus and his daughter Vanna.
makes it two out of two books with an added suspense angle as Jess and Colleen make their way to the spanking community to hide out from the mob. Jess and Colleen, now known as Russ and Debi, moved to Corbin’s Bend with no clue what Domestic Discipline was and for a couple in their fifties it proved to be quite a shock. How pray tell does a vanilla-couple end up hiding out in a spanking community? That’s what happens when your U S. Marshall handler happens to be brothers with the community founder and is able to get your application fast-tracked. Yes, we got to meet Brent’s brother Jack and I can only hope his comfort with moving the couple to Corbin’s Bend is indicative that he will eventually get his own book. 
may be my favorite of the In Hyacinth series to-date. As much as I love the perfect hero and heroine, I also adore those that feel like real people and Dora and Gaelic are perfect examples of people I would befriend. With her short stature, plus-size figure, and the complete lack of interest by the courting males of Hyacinth, Dora has relegated herself to spinsterhood at the ripe old age of 20. While I hated that Dora felt this way about her future, I loved that she threw herself wholeheartedly into working with Chris at the Inn, which gave us a chance to see how their sibling-style relationship has continued to develop since Courted by Trouble. Actually, because Dora works with Chris and because Chris and Stephanie still live with Dora, fans of the series get to catch up with both of them.