Author, A. J. Llewellyn

Forensic audio specialist Steve Maddox is a busy guy who has no time to date. Balancing a strenuous work schedule and time for his cat and dog, he’s ecstatic when his best friend, Silvana, organizes a gay speed dating event, bringing into his life the magnetic and handsome criminal defense attorney, Alexio Manolis.

The two men hit it off instantly, with sparks bouncing off the walls of the Petersen Automotive Museum where the event is being held. Their conversation crackles until Alexio says he has a pet—a bunyip named Norman. Steve feels a little stupid. What the heck is a bunyip? He has no time to ask, though, since he’s onto his next “date.”

Alexio, however, pursues Steve and the two men start dating. Meanwhile, Steve googles bunyips and discovers they are mythical Australian creatures of Aboriginal legend. It’s just impossible. Does this smart and sexy attorney really have an imaginary, violent pet? Or is “bunyip” slang for something else?

Alexio is tight-lipped and keeps putting off the meeting between Steve and his elusive pet. Soon Steve starts to worry when Alexio disappears into his basement all the time and has savage scratches on his body he says Norman gave him by accident.

Is Steve’s fantastic, hot new lover absolutely crackers, or does the cantankerous bunyip actually exist?

Reviews: Kazza, On Top Down Under

http://bookreviewsandtherapy.blogspot.com/2012/11/bunyip-j-llewellyn.html?zx=5e5e4cec994a78c4

A wonderful, fun filled, romantic, M/M short read, that’s about a man and his. …bunyip?

Cute cover.

Steve has been invited to a speed dating event hosted by a friend of his, Silvana. Steve is perplexed and somewhat intrigued, in a car-wreck kind of way, by his fellow speed daters. Including, but not limited to, hair care issues, a heavy metal snake enthususiast, a de-skunking ‘surgeon,’ the next incarnation of Ra, and so it goes –

As first dates went, it wasn’t bad. The guy had his own hair and nothing seem to be nesting in it. Steve glanced at the guy three seats down who was savagely scratching his head. Unlike him….

Cole rambled about his heavy metal music career…Mistaking Steve’s silence for interest, Cole warmed to his apparent favorite topic, his snake, whose name was Fork, for his adorable forked tongue. That’s it. I officially want to kill myself. Somebody shut this guy up!

The reincarnated Egyptian god would have been a lot more entertaining had he not been confused about certain key points in his incarnation as Ra……Steve quickly lost interest when “Ra” claimed that the ancient Egyptians invented pizza delivery.

And then he meets Alexio –

Alexio smiled then, Lord, have mercy. This guy was hot! He shrugged, looking bashful. “I’m a lawyer. Please don’t hold that against me.”

“Steve, do you love pets?”
“Absolutely. I have a dog and a cat.”
“I love both.” Alexio glanced down the row of men to his left. “I was beginning to think this would be the worst evening of my life. Some of these guys don’t even like animals.”

“What about you,” Steve asked. “What kind of pets do you have?”
“A cat and a bunyip.”
“A bunyip?” Steve had no idea what the hell it was and only hoped it wasn’t a snake that liked to bite.

The two genial MC’s, Steve Maddox and Alexio Manolis, are just lovely together. I enjoyed their bonding over their mutual love of pets, family, and the desire to meet that someone special. I loved how Alexio embraced Steve’s beloved pets, Chloe and Scarlet. Steve’s pets embraced Alexio with as much fervour. I smiled when Alexio worried about Steve walking Chloe of a night time without him, because the lighting wasn’t so good. I enjoyed seeing Steve fall for Alexio in spite of the fact that Alexio may have a few sheep missing in the top paddock regarding his ‘pet bunyip’ –

Steve grinned. he was so intoxicated by Alexio he suddenly didn’t care if the man was a complete psychotic who had an imaginary pet.

He checked the readout. A text message from Alexio. I can’t wait to see you when you get here. Need to kiss you. xoxo. Shit. How could he be disappointed when the man sent him texts like that?

So, the jury’s out on whether Norman the bunyip exists, but the way Alexio behaves, the way he lovingly talks about Norman, makes you think he just might. It doesn’t matter. What matters is the sweet love story. The way these men love animals, and (then) each other, makes it worth reading just for that alone.

Are there a few niggles? Yes. But I don’t care. They are totally over ruled by the charmingly infectious nature of the writing and the characters. Plus the writing was tight and the ebook well edited.

I love animals, I love pets, and I love people who love them as well. That bumped Steve and Alexio right to the top of the pile in my reading pleasure. I want to talk about the end… but I won’t. I smiled and sighed. I loved Bunyip. If you love animals, a touch of the mythical, sweet, sexy men, and romance, then it’s all waiting for you in Bunyip.

Thomaihda Papa, MM Good Book Reviews

Steve and Alexio meet at an “Animal lovers” speed date event and from the minute they lay eyes on each other they feel a deep connection between them. Alexio seems to be everything Steve has ever wanted. He’s loving with animals (very, very important quality), sweet and caring for him, extremely sexy and when they make love it is beyond passionate. He even seems to know exactly what Steve is thinking or wanting every single moment. Everything is extraordinary easy and beautiful with Alexio, it feels almost too good to be true. Almost! Alexio is the proud owner of a bunyip named Norman… Yes, a bunyip! That mythical creature we hear on old Australian Aboriginal legends. Steve finds himself in an odd situation; he can’t believe that the perfect man of his dreams might not be so perfect after all. He looks so normal, well “perfectly” normal that the bunyip must be something entirely different, a new breed of animal perhaps…
While their relationship advances and they discover to be perfectly compatible for each other Steve starts to feel the “one” emotion he’s been looking for. Love!! He loves Alexio, he loves his cat, he loves his brother and sister in law and they love him back. Except Norman. Steve still hasn’t met Norman and the fact that Alexio keep canceling it is itching Steve’s mind. He decides he should see Norman one way or another, with or without Alexio’s permission… Will he find this creature in the basement where it’s supposed to live or is it all a figment of Alexio’s imagination and the love he’s been hoping for is about to be lost forever..?
A great story from A. J. Llewellyn, sweet, passionate, with lots of suspense and a good notch of magic, it captured me from the very beginning. I loved Alexio and his “magical” family, admired Steve for his courage, got a bit pissed off with Silvana and envy eats my heart for Norman. I want one too
So fans of paranormal/romance/magic animals and all sorts of animals I recommend this story to you and I am sure you will enjoy reading it.

Becky Condit, Mrs. Condit Reads

Bunyip is a wonderful story, brilliantly told, with characters, human and otherwise, that you care deeply for. The suspense is just enough to hold your interest while causing nothing more than curiosity rather than anxiety. As Steve and Alexio take their relationship to the next level (bed) the sex is scorching hot. Their love of pets is an overarching theme that holds up well throughout the book. And if you can’t wait until the end of the book to find out what a bunyip is, there’s always Google. But I recommend reading AJ Llewellyn’s book instead, so you get the full experience.

Serena Yates, Rainbow Book Reviews

This is a very special story that will easily work its way into your heart. It touched me so much because I remember having an imaginary friend when I was a kid – and it used to devastate me that nobody else could see him. In this story, Steve deals with the fact that the man he’s just met and totally likes, Alexio, claims to have a bunyip – which is a mystical pet. Thus, the story of Alexio’s ‘imaginary pet’ unfolds. I think it is a wonderful variation on the imaginary friend theme.

Steve, his speed dating experience, and what he goes through once he meets Alexio made me laugh out loud. I loved his sense of humor, the way he looks at things and I totally adored how he loves his animals. Like any proud pet owner, he will not even consider dating someone who doesn’t like his animals. He adores Alexio from the very beginning, but the ‘bunyip situation’ has him more than a little worried. Not that he lets that stop him from enjoying every second he get with Alexio!

Alexio is a wonderful guy, almost too good to be true. Good looking, attentive, a great lover, and totally devoted to Steve. There is only one problem – and by the time I got to the middle of the book I was so curious, I couldn’t put it down. Alexio just doesn’t seem to be the ‘nutty’ type and imaginary pet would make him out to be.

Bunyip is a great book. It held me in suspense from the start, it made me laugh and when the solution emerged, I was happily surprised at the elegant simplicity of it. This is a wonderful mystery without any of the ‘traditional’ murder or mayhem, and it will enthrall you if you like to read about hot men and how they learn to understand each other and their idiosyncrasies. And if you want to know what a bunyip is – don’t just Google it, read this story. It’s way more fun, and I am sure you won’t regret it.

Silver Pixies’ Review

Is there such a thing as love at first sight? Is perfection too perfect??? Doesn’t a Mr. Right Always Have to have something wrong and can you live with something that makes the perfect someone not so perfect? These Questions and more await you in AJ’s new novel Bunyip. Steve Maddox is a Forensic Audio Specialist working for a wonderful production company and on a lark or maybe it was the shoving of a good friend he attends a Gay speed dating event, while weeding through all the duds Steve Meets Alexio, a hot Greek of a man who seems Prefect in almost every way. Well you know what they say about perfection. It’s never perfect and While Alexio is everything that Steve could have ever wanted in a man on a personal level. Even more on a sexual level there is that pesky little matter of Alexio’s Pet Bunyip. Can these too work through everything and get their happily ever after? Well you have to read it to find out.

OK!!!! I cannot recommend this book enough! There are many reasons why this book touches me personally. But I want to say if you know anything about the writer you know of his great love of his dearly departed Dog Venus. She has a starring role in this novel and AJ’s love for all things furry truly shines through every page. I have to also say that yes I did Google Bunyip and it tickles me when AJ sets out to teach something. Knowing how creative AJ’s mind is I wanted to know of this Bunyip was something from his active imagination or was it real! Low and behold the Aboriginals do have stories about them and they are an important part of their history (like Nessy, Fairies and Banshees are to others)

I feel that Bunyip is a step in a different direction for AJ as well. This book has everything in it that every other book of his has but it’s different too. There is always an element of truth or a story from his experiences in it But in Bunyip AJ is in it. I know your thinking I have gone off the deep end but it’s something you need to read for yourself. Maybe it’s because his love of Venus and how much it pained him to watch her slowly slip from him it for me make this book that much more real. By NO means did it make it less hot, sexy, Funny or entertaining… All those things and more are enhanced by the realism of his feelings.

On my Scale of 1-10 Erect Peni Bunyip gets a 10+++++++.. It doesn’t Lack for Hot Men, and even Hotter Sex! The Love and Attraction these men feel for each other nearly instantly is realistic and human while being whimsical and cute.

On my Scale of It can wait to pay Day and Sell the kids… Sorry Folks its Another Sell the damn kids and get this book!!! You will not be Sorry and At least you will get a couple hours of quiet to read before they are returned to sender lol.