In a futuristic world where people went back to live like in the nineteen century, it's like the industrial revolution never happened, and the work of engines is done by slaves. Slavery is also legal, all cons, at the third conviction, lost their freedom rights and are sold into auctions. Jacob is the wealthy owner of a farm that not only utlize the work of those men on his land, but profits also of their well-endowed body in beds. When David arrives to his farm injustily framed of theft, Jacob suspects that he is innocent, but nevertheless decides to enjoy his new slave in bed.This is probably the most interesting point of the short story: I really don't know if I like so much Jacob, he is not a nice man. But I think that this gives deepness to his character. I have the feeling that Jacob has never had a trouble in his life, even if it's not said, I think he was born wealthy and raised as a spoiled child, everything he wanted he had to have. So Jacob is not a bad man, he is only selfish. And he doesn't see anything wrong in owning slaves, since this is what he has always seen and learned as the only right thing to do to manage the new turn of his futuristic world. When he sees a slave he doesn't see a man, he sees a beast. Even when he starts to care for David, sometime he still refers to him as a stud, a beast, a pony. It's both a way to play kinky, but also his innate perception of things.
On the other hand, truth be told, David is not so strong or independent to help Jacob seeing him in a different way. Oh, he is strong in body, but as attitude, he is very much a submissive. Even the way he was convicted and condemned, I didn't feel like he fought hard to avoid it. He sometime seemed to me a martyr, someone who accepted his destiny since he thought it was right for him to go through all of that. It's not that the story is a real BDSM story, but it has its hints to that: the bench, the almost non-con sex, even if David enjoys his first experience and he doesn't protest, nevertheless he didn't agree to it, and he has no other chance.
The story is really short, less than 40 pages, but I think that, even in so few pages, it manages to build an interesting alternative reality, worthy maybe to be further explored.
http://www.total-e-bound.com/product.asp?s
The Rainbow Awards: Third (and last!) Phase: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/85035
I was really surprised, after reading the previous book and posting about it, to discover that The Katman's Mate was so popular among the M/M romance readers. And no, it was not a surprise due to the fact that the book was not good, as I said in my previous post, despite some typo errors, I really enjoyed that story, but I really thought it was not a story for all. There are some squeack factors that I thought would have taken aback some readers, especially male readers, and instead I have a first hand experience of a male reader who said it loved it... so, maybe, even if I try not to, also I have some preconceived ideas that are wrong.The Katzman's Mate, and Dream Mate even more, are male pregnancy stories. I couldn't say it clearly in the previous post, since the male pregnancy of the main character was the final surprise of that book, but here instead is the central event and even the starting point: Demyan, mate of the Katzmen ruler, Chellak, is pregnant and he wants a doctor from his own planet. Chellak, who dotes on his mate, sends one of his warrior, Trajan, to fetch a suitable doctor. When Trajan arrives on Elquone and sees for the first time Saris, the chosen doctor, he knows that he has found his mate. Saris was a bruter, a genetically changed man who is able to give birth, but he didn't like the side effect, being a property of the sire of the babies, and chose to be a doctor for them, instead. Even if he doesn't like the idea to be the property of a man, also him recognizes Trajan as his mate, since he is the man he dreams at night.
From this moment on the story follows the usual path: the two fall in love, they have to overcome some perils, in between they have the chance to deepen their relationship, even to "mate" a time or two, and then the happily ever after, with full accessories. Again I think the story is very much as an old classic futuristic romance, when I read story like this one, I always think to Johanna Lindsey and her Warrior's Woman, and it's a compliment I'm paying to the books, I loved that old savage futuristic romance.
What struck me is that a story like this one could be of appeal for a man. All right, I can understand the appealing for a woman, seeing a man going through the labor (pun intended) of a pregnancy is like a little vengeance; no, I don't think it's much the idea to "womanize" the man, it's more a thing of "see what it means?". But for a man? maybe the appeal is the idea that, even if in a fictional way, the men are now independent from women, even for that "little" particular that is pregnancy (again reverse pun intended).
What probably it's less "squick" here than in the previous story, is that Saris is a little less feminine; not in body, he is, like Demyan, lithe, small and beautiful, almost cute like Trajan thinks, but at least in behavior he is stronger; he is also more independent than Demyan, he has a strong core that let me think that he would be able to take care of himself even alone, something that I didn't feel for Demyan.
Anyway, again, the story was surprisingly easy to read, and this comes from someone like me that usually is not very fond of Futuristic/Fantasy setting. Truth be told, I was expecting a sequel to the previous book with the two main characters of before as central characters here, and instead this second book is focused on another couple... nevermind, we have still the chance to see what happened to Demyan and Chellak, and from the plan of this story, I think that the author is not yet finished, there are at least 2 other men that could probably be future main characters in other sequels.
http://www.bookstrand.com/product-dreamm
Series:
1) The Katzman's Mate: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/77683
2) Dream Mate
The Rainbow Awards: Third (and last!) Phase: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/85035
On Wings, Rising by Ann SomervilleMy friends know that I'm not an huge fan of futuristic romance, but I can be "converted" if the book is good. And On Wings, Rising is very good. Ann Somerville recreates an entire universe and mixes up legends and technology.
The setting is a post apocalyptic colony planet where people have to live more or less like in a country village of the nineteen century. Energy is a rare goods, things work most thanks to human and animal work, people live on barter but there are still the tax! and also very high! Homosexuality is not a crime, but unnecessary: in a world where procreating means having more hand at work, a man or woman who choose not to gave birth are only weight for the community. Dinun is one of that men, and even if he had three kids with a woman (it's not really said, but probably through artificial insemination...), he didn't marry, mostly since the woman didn't want a man in her bed, and since Dinun prefers to be alone if he can't be in a same sex relationship. He jokes that the childs are tax relief, since a man with offsprings pays less tax.
During one of his searching trip (Dinun collects stones and furs to barter in the village) he makes a stunningly discovery: a injured angel. Angel in Dinun's world are mythical creature but not the fairy men of our tales: they are bigger than an human, with white fur all over their body and leathery wings; their bones are lighter than human ones, and so even if they are stronger than an human, they actually are lighter and apparently delicate... very much like birds I should say.
Hundreds years before, Dinun's forefathers chose to mix Angel's DNA with the human's one to create a stronger breed, a breed who can live in the harsh condition of the newborn colony planet. They were right, since the new breed survive, while the full-blood humans wither and die; with the lost of technology, chimerical humans also lost the knowledge, and so Angels become myth and no one see them again.
Now Dinun has in front of him an Angel who can't speak like him but only shrill, who can read his mind and send him flash of image to communicate, an Angel who was harvesting his child in a pouch like a kangaroo when he was injured by a full-blood human from off-world who stole his child. When Moon, the Angel, is nursered to health, Dinun and him discover that other five Angel childs were stolen and their fathers killed. Dinun sets himself to help Moon, for the good of the stolen childs but also since he is starting to feel something for the beautiful creature.
Moon is not a simple characters; apparently playful and sexy, he is behaving like his similar: Angels live in small pack within the village, they share bodies for comfort and relieve, they don't know the concept of couple like family. Sex is not only a way to procreate, it's also a way to voice joy and belonging: when Moon starts to see Dinun as a fellow companion, it's only natural and right to share also their body. Moon is also young, he is still not a grown Angel, and so it sounds right that his character is somewhat more playful than the others; but the impression the reader can have of him as a tender "puppy" is soon shattered when we see him in battle (probably the scene that gave me more problem...): but again, Moon is behaving like his people always do, according to a natural law that found its fundamentals more in the Nature course rather than in beliefs instilled by traditions.
Dinun is an easy character to like; he is tender and caring, he follows the rule, live and let live. Even if he is alone, he is not really mistreated by the villagers, maybe he is only considered a bit odd. I believe that his loneliness is more due to his own decision rather than to a real ostracism. Sometime I found him a bit too detached from his own relatives, something that maybe allows him to be more at ease when he is far from them.
In the end I would like to add something on the erotic part of the book. I believe that in the past Ann Somerville's works was sentenced as too much cold and not enough graphic detailed... I haven't find lacking on that department this book. It was not an easy task, since we are speaking of men with real different characteristic (fur, wings, pouches...), but I really enjoyed all the sex scenes, but also the playful erotic teasing of Moon... maybe I would like to read something "more", since technically, Dinun is still a virgin, at least in one way as I said in my tags... read no anal sex. But this is book one in a series and then I'm the one who skip the sex scenes if they are too much in comparison to the plot!
http://samhainpublishing.com/romance/on-w
Amazon Kindle: On Wings, Rising: Book 1 of the Encounters series
Reaching Higher (Encounters 2) by Ann SomervilleIn the previous book the pair of lovers were in a way "naivee": Dinun, even if adult in age, was still new to love; being gay in a farmer society where all that matter was how many children you can have, made him a different from his similar, and so it was quite easy for him to accept to share his life with Moon, a wild Angel, a breed of men with white fur and wings.
In this story there is another type of diversity, due to the "alien" nature of one of the main character. More, he is not only "alien", he is also the villain, one of the men that in the previous book tried to kidnap the Angels' babies to study their DNA. To Raelne is now given a chance: life imprisonment or cooperate with the government to retrieve the lost technology knowledge; in exchange of that cooperation, Raelne has a very slim possibility to repair the spaceship and return back home. Since Raelne has just realized that what they did is not exactly an honorable thing, he accepts and as interpreter and colleague he has Suaj. Suaj is an human like Dinun, a breed of men with mixed blood, human and angel together. But in Suaj the Angel DNA is more remarkable, and he is like them, with almost black skin, white fur and he would have also a pair of wings if they were not surgical removed as an infant.
The relationship between Raelne and Suaj is not easy at first; Suaj can't hide the fact that he is not very fond of Raelne's people and what they did. Even if he is not a wild Angel, he looks at them like his real people, and so, in a way, he takes upon himself their rage on Raelne. Raelne instead is fascinated by Suaj, I believe both as a potential lover (even if his interest is a bit fetish like) than as a friend, since Raelne has a very curious mind, and Suaj stimulates his desire of knowledge.
It's more a battle/meeting of mind than body; probably if there was not an intellectual interest, Raelne and Suaj would never come to have also a sex relationship, and the intellectual nature is what lead all their future encounters: neither of them will never arrive to let their heart take their decisions, the rationalism will always be first. Even if, in the end, if really faced to a choice, it's possible that for once... Again there is still the fascination of a relationship between two very different men, not only in culture but also in shape. This time the difference is not so strong, Suaj lost most of his original physical traits, and maybe the author is a bit more reserved in describing him, helped also by the fact that Suaj is dressed (less details to give). Also the language barrier is no more a problem, and so the reader can concentrate more on the characters than on the setting: the two of them and their interaction is not so different from a "normal" one, they bicker like an all too normal couple, and also feign to despise what they really want.
http://samhainpublishing.com/romance/rea
Amazon Kindle: Reaching Higher: Book 2 of the Encounters Series
Amazon: Encounters
Reading List:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bott
Cover Art by Anne Cain
The Night Hunters by Jacques L. Condor: “Lights in the sky, circles in the snow and stolen moose carcasses…in the Alaskan wilderness two former lovers stand together in the face of the unknown.” Frank and Pete are more than 80 years old and former lovers. They are still living together on the account that they haven't any other place where to go. At the beginning of the XX century they moved to Alaska, built an isolated cabin and probably started a life together in a place where no one cared if they were lovers. In the '60 they "divorced", meaning that they decided they were no more in love and tracked a red line in the middle of the cabin. For the following years they continued to live together bitching and questioning, but, for me still loving each other, they have only to find a reason to understand that the love is stronger than the habit.
The "sci-fi" elements in this story are only a nice side effect, the main focus are Frank and Pete and their story. In few words the author told us a whole lifelong experience, and Frank and Pete came out as two wonderful characters. At the beginning, I was thinking for them to be only supporting characters, I'm true, I didn't think to more than 80 years old men as possible "lovers", and so I thought it was their friend Dill to be the hero. And instead Frank and Pete, with all their years, and with their past history, stole the scene and headed together towards a very nice happily ever after... again!
Borrowed by R.J. Bradshaw: “In Borrowed, Pete’s average working day takes a bewildering turn when his hot neighbour pays him an uncharacteristic visit.”
This a very short story and it’s quite funny actually. Pete is a 20 years old guy living in a small country farm village, and he has nothing to do if not fantasizing on his neighbour, Walt. Problem is that Pete has not courage to come out, at least with Walt, and so his situation is without hope. But then he receives an unexpected help from an alien who borrows Walt’s body. As in the previous story, I had the feeling that the sci-fi element was not the main aspect; more in this case, I even felt an old-fashioned taste, like an alien’s story of the ’50, when the alien were still “simple” creature and not the monster of recent imagination.
The Communion Fields by Trent Roman: “Around the world, a group of people find themselves in a strange dreamland when they go to sleep, where the laws of physics are suspended and something lurks over the horizon.”
In Trent Roman’s story, the gay character represents only one of the various examples of misfits in the real world. Michael, as others, sometime awakes in a different world, what he calls the Communion Fields. It’s not a dream, he actually made friends with some of the people he met there, persons he had the chance to meet also in the real world. But till this night, he didn’t understand why him, or the others, have this particular experience. Maybe this story is a bit more alternative dimensions than the previous ones, but still, it’s a very sophisticated type of sci-fi, and again it has an old fashioned feeling, this time more ’70 type, like 2001 Space Odyssey or some other cult movies.
Stargazing by Inga Gorslar: “The journey might just be the reward.”
In a world where soldiers were turned in half human half beast for being better at fight, Jack has no more a place where to stay. The war is ended, and Jack at 36 years is too old to go back home, a place he left 20 years before. He is now a drifter, without a place, and only a friend, Andy, an android he saved from destruction. Jack and Andy are at the opposite, Jack was a ground trooper and to be so he was given claws and special sight, and scales instead of skin, they made him loose his humanity. Andy instead has the body of a perfect man, but it’s a robot. Both of them now don’t have a reason to exist, if not that they are the only other contact for each other. Wandering together from small town to small town, Jack is trying to regain his humanity and Andy to learn it; in the meantime, they maybe will find also something else, that where no real human will want to be with them, they can be for each other also lovers other than friends.
The Prettiest Girl in the Room by Mallory Path: “Duster Mann adores women–especially when they have XY chromosomes like the woman he fell for at first sight and has been searching for ever since. ”
This is probably the most “futuristic” of all the previous stories, the one I usually refer to as “Apocalypse Now”. The setting is an oppressive and dark future world, that I really hope we will never reach. The difference between people are thinner, there are no more men or women, black or white, but there is still the sex. Duster is a man with a mission, and is mission is called Lyre. Lyre is a whore, she/he works with Faye and they are responsible for Lolly. All of the three “girls” are in between, not yet men or women, not yet adult but no more boys. Probably the story is not your classical M/M romance, as I said, the gender of the characters are very much “uncertain”, and so you can’t define it as gay, lesbian or transgender, it is all of it and at the same time no one of them. It’s also quite sad, I’m not sure if I liked the sadness, I would have probably preferred for an happily ever after, at least a “for now” one.
Time Now by C.S. Fuqua: “Mattie will do anything to change the past… but what if the past won’t let her?”
This is quite a strange story. Mattie and Abby are lovers, but Abby is not stable, she is always on the brink of suicide till the day Mattie arrives too late to save her. But Mattie and her college professor, Dr Davies are working on a time portal and maybe Mattie is not really too late to save Abby. Again another perspective in how you look at sci-fi: here is more a psychological one, and also, probably, the affirmation that destiny somewhat is stronger than science.
The Man in the Mirror by Lacey Louwagie: “In a world of declining male birth-rates, Gina moves to a Ranch searching for love. When Gina’s marriage fails, her best friend Andi takes drastic steps to make sure Gina’s dreams of love still come true.”
This is probably the most sincere of the stories: what are you willing to do for love? Not always the answer is everything. Andi loves Gina since forever; they went school together, they grew up together, and Andi thought Gina was everything she wanted, but for Gina was not the same. In the future world where they live, women outcome men 10 to 1, and finding a man is a so small chance that lesbian couple are an ordinary thing. But Gina wants an old fashioned relationship, doesn’t matter if there is no love in that. She is wrong obviously and in the end she comes back to Andi, with a daughter they can bring up together. But again, Gina is not happy, and Andi thinks that she can do the latest sacrifice, loosing herself for the love of Gina.
The Toti by Michael Itig: “Where can the gay man who has everything find fulfilment? There’s only one possible place: in the arms of a toti....”
This is a very cute story. In a world were everything is synthetic and “fake”, people give birth to people through clones. You are what your “fathers” or “mothers” are, and so, if your father is gay you are gay. Being homosexual is common, as it’s having open relationship. Jay, our hero, has 6 husbands and he is such a good husband himself that he has never had a divorce. But he is lonely. When the story starts, the reader has the idea that Jay isn’t accepting what society is expecting from him, to be gay. He is having payed sex with a woman, but there is something more of sex that he is searching, and only at the end the reader will find his answer, one that is surprisingly as it’s simple: Jay wants to be a normal man, and this doesn’t mean that he doesn’t want to be homosexual.
The Visitor by Fiona Glass: “Can love follow a person through time? When Madoc meets a man from the future he little realizes it will be the catalyst to change his world.”
The Visitor is a strange silver romance. Madoc is a fifty years old man who is searching for a dream. Thirty years before he falls in love for a man, Josh, who was a visitor from the future. He couldn’t stay and when he left, Madoc was only 20 years old and full of life. The world was a bad place where to live and Madoc fought to make it better. Now, 30 years after, the world is better, and Madoc is still alive, but will his love for Josh be enough? I liked a lot this short story, in a way, I think Josh would have been the right man for 20 years old Madoc. Now Madoc is a more interesting man, and maybe, this is exactly what Josh wanted.
Zoogarish by John Randall Williams: “Cole’s panic attacks aren’t about to keep him from a Zoogarish. He fights his fears only to find the hallucinations generated by this Zoogarish are something different, something deadly.”
Cole is living in a world that it’s not real, probably a place where he can be what in reality he has not the courage to be. And in that fake world, Cole is able to do things that real Cole will never do. I don’t know if I like so much “fake” Cole, I think I prefer real “Cole” and his stuttering, and his simple crush for simple and ordinary Johnny.
The Future of Dr Lole San Paulo by A.J. Astruc: “High above the morals and laws of the civilized world, a disgraced geneticist finds a new lease on life when an unusual thief comes to him with an indecent proposal.”
Lole isn’t whole and Bink isn’t real. Lole is a genetic scientist, the type of man that will not stop in front of anything, above all not life. He is quite the mad scientist and he got punished for one to many mistakes with the amputation of his limbs. When Lole meets Bink, he doesn’t know if loving or hating him, Bink is a clone and he can grow again flesh and bones. Together they have a dream, to make enough money to realize their dreams, but the problem is that their dreams don’t match, and the border between love and hate is too thin. More than a sci-fi, this is almost a futuristic Frankenstein and it has an horror side that overcome everything.
The Sister Bush by Joel Best: “A young woman from the distant future, plagued by strange dreams, learns that love and profit can be at odds with one another.”
I think the most interesting aspect of this short story it’s that it’s like reading poetry in prose. It’s not an easy story to read, and I think it has very little hope in the future; it’s also very dark and oppressive, but it’s a lyrics in it that made for a very strange experience to read.
Plumbing the Depths by Angelia Sparrow & Naomi Brooks: “Washed-up Space Exploration Rangers, Cliff Cody and his husband Jake, are sent on a mission to the earth’s core, only to have the nature of their world and relationship shaken.”
Cliff and Jake were space warriors and both of them got seriously injured during a fight. They survived but other than losing limbs and other exchangeable body part, they lost something irreplaceable, their third husband Frank. Now retired officers, they survive but they don’t really live. Jake is resenting Cliff, but above all himself to be alive and Frank not. When they are called back into service, Jake thinks it will be the end of their relationship, and instead, maybe, it will be their only chance to happiness. I really liked this story, above all since it focused more on the relationship between Cliff and Jake than on their space adventure, that, in the end, was even more funny than dangerous.
Off Course by Logan Zachary: “Disaster leads to a close encounter of the best kind.”
Paulis is a space traveller, he flights alone with the only companionship of his computer Martha. He is the perfect man of the future, but there is nothing of futuristic in his passion for Ruark, a very much old fashioned big and strong man who helped him when he is derailed from his original route. I like how from a very aseptic and futuristic setting the story evolves in a very familiar and sexy story, with even the appearance of a mother, who proves that Paulis is not at all so modern as he at first appeared.
Eurydice by James EM Rasmussen: “Eurydice: a world filled with fanatics, lunatics and isolationists where they’d rather kill you than say hello. The perfect holiday stop, only if you’re still young enough to feel immortal…”
This is a very complicated story, but basically I think that Micael doesn’t accept himself, he is always searching for something more, something different. And even if he can have the love of Dary, a perfect man, for that exact reason he can be content with it: Dary is perfect and Micael is not, he wants to change, he wants to be a different man.
Whatever the Risk by Erastes: “Paroche is one planet Teless never wants to go to. When his partner and Captain announces that they are going to be trading there on their next jump, Teless knows it can only end badly.”
Here be Gardens by David Edison: “Jaime’s been living off world when the death of an ex-lover draws him back to Earth–or does he have a different motive for leaving the herbaceous Dyson Sphere he’s called home for two years?”
Jamie’s travel is accompanied by Henry’s letters, the letter of a dead lover. It’s a strange relationship, but stronger than the one Jamie is having in real life, where whose he thinks to be a friend is instead a traitor. Is Jamie’s coming back home to fulfil the last desire of a man he loved, or to find instead his true path?
http://www.queeredfiction.com/queerdimen
Amazon: Queer Dimensions
Amazon Kindle: Queer Dimensions
The Rainbow Awards: Third (and last!) Phase: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/85035
First of all, big warning: if you don't like a chick with masculine "characteristics" (don't let me go into details), you will not like this book. I think we have to be quite sincere, there are books written by men for men AND women, there are books written by women for women AND men, and then there are books written by men FOR men and by women FOR women. It's not impossible that men could enjoy romance only for women, I know there are out there men who read, for example, Danielle Steel, and more recently, Suzanne Brockmann. But they are aware that they are entering an exclusive playfield, a playfield that is open to special admission nevertheless.Enraptured is a romance by women for women. It's a man on man story, but the I would not say that it's gay. True, being setting in a futuristic world where "homosexuality" is not more an issue, there is not even the smallest problem for the "all male" nature of the characters. More, being an inter-breed story, between Demons and genetically modified Humans, the issue is more the difference in race than the same-sex relationship. To add spicy to the thing, the Demons are an all male breed, their women all died for a virus centuries before, and they naturally modified their genetics to be able to reproduce between males. So yes, there is male pregnancy in there, and that is another plus factor for the submissive male to be more a chick than a rooster.
Said all that, it's a good romance? IF you try to read it knowing the purpose for which it was written, then yes: Enraptured is a funny romp, the futuristic setting is light and easy and the story didn't fall in the overadorned style that usually these stories have. The futuristic world is very much like a medieval "romance" setting, not the real Middle Ages, but more the fictional rendering that you often find in a romance novel; the plot is classic, the bastard son of a king raised in a monastery and subject to the lascivious attention of a villain, a powerful mage. Just when the evil father promised the innocent son to the villain for a much abhorred mating, an handsome stranger prince comes to the rescue of the "damsel" in distress. Only that the prince is not exactly a "prince charming", but more a demon with black leathery wings.
Where is the originality of the story? I think it's in the lightness, all events, even when dramatic, are more funny than angst. This is more a sexy romp than a sci-fiction novel. There are also a lot of kind homages to similar fiction out there: the human princes have long and colorful hair, they have to be virgin till they come to age, and so on.
So yes, if read with the right perspective, this debut novel by Scarlet Hyacinth is very nice, and I think I will read also the following books in the saga.
http://www.bookstrand.com/product-enrapt
The Rainbow Awards: Phase 2: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/82368
Second in the Futuristic Regency series by J.L. Langley, this is the story of Payton, the older brother of Aiden, and second in line to the throne of Regelence. Regelence is a planet where men can marry, more it's more common for the peers to marry a man, and they can also procreate in lab an heir with the genes from both male parents and without the female component.Payton is a IT geek and Nate, Aiden's husband, asks him to help in decipher a message which probably hides a conspiracy against both Regelence than Englor, the other planet in the Alliance that lives accordingly to the Regency rules. But in Englor those rules are more strictly than in Regelence, and even if same-sex marriage is not against the law, it's highly discouraged. And so Payton, who is a pampered prince nursed to become a beautiful ornament to the arm of a powerful and rich man, finds himself suddenly free to roams Englor's street without a chaperon, even if it appears that his genetically modified interest in other men is not so welcomed.
But not all the men on Englor are the same, and Payton meets Simon, not other than the heir to Englor's throne. Simon is a friendly and very sexy man, one that, as soon as he spots the pretty new officer, can't help to seduce him. Not that Payton resists so much to the advances... it's almost not clear if Simon seduces Payton or if Payton is the "innocent" seducer.
Even if Simon is the supposed Alpha male, he is really too open and young to be a real dominant character; Simon is the perfect scoundrel, very good in the battle field as well as in the bedroom, no matter that, in his case, the chosen bedroom partner is a male and not a maid. And Payton is not the usual virgin maid type of character; true, he is virgin, but he is a lot older than his 19 years old. In a way, Payton is more ready to be a king than Simon; Simon still needs the advice of faithful counselors, but not since he is prudent, I believe since he is still too young. So Payton and Simon make a good match, and together maybe they will manage to not destroy Englor...
As usual in a J.L. Langley's book, there is a lot of funny situations, and Payton is the perfect little firecracker, cute and to be handed with caution. Not sure if Simon is strong enough to handle him. So funny and sex as well, but I have to said that the sex it seemed more... dirty, but in a good way. Sex was always an heavy component in the mix for the previous books by the same author, but in this case it was an orgy of sense, down and dirty; with the balance of the humor, the result is a very involving story.
http://samhainpublishing.com/romance/the-e
Amazon: The Englor Affair (Sci-Regency)
Amazon Kindle: The Englor Affair
Series:
1) My Fair Captain: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/10650
2) The Englor Affair
Reading List:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bott
Cover Art by Anne Cain
Cover Art by Anne Cain
Marry Me Or Die is a funny romp and I don't believe it wants to be more. It's a futuristic novella where D.J. Manly rewrites the old classic "shotgun marriage" story: Silus is 24 years old and happy to enjoy the freedom of being a bachelor. In the futuristic planet where he lives, Laden, homosexuality is no more forbidden, and so same-sex marriage; but even if Silus is totally gay, he doesn't want to profit of the chance he has to marry a man, he is more than good alone and free to have sex with as many men as he wants. All of this changes when Laden passes under the control of the Monostones and their king: it's an almost peaceful transition if not for the fact that the Monostones are strictly monogamous, and the new king, as first act, promulgates a law: it's forbidden to be over 18 and unmarried, who will go against the law will be prosecuted, condemned to hard labour and in the worst cases to death... and Silus is a very bad case!But there is an escaping way, Crash the son of the king and the one who is in command to judge the outlaws, will be soon 18 years old and he obviously has to marry. Even if the king believes his soon to be innocent and still virgin, Crash has had the chance to taste what it means being sexual free, and it's not at all happy to have to renounce to that freedom. Since he can't avoid it, he will choose the more experience man he can put his hands on, and Silus meets the requirements. So here is the proposal: or Silus will marry Crash, and remain married to him for at least 15 years, and not cheating around, or he will die. Obviously there is not choice, and then Crash is a little pretty thing, no harsh job to marry him.
As in the best tradition of romance, the shotgun marriage will turn in true and forever love, not before the two young men have the chance to experiment a bit in bed. As I said, I think the author took this as a light and funny story, there is no much drama, and all the events are more funny than really dangerous. Even the time Silus spent in prison wasn't bad, he received so much marriage proposal to last a life. Both men, Silus and Crash, are young and horny, and they behave according to their role; love is a nice cherry on top of the main course that is the sex, and the reason why Crash proclaims he is in love with Silus is that since he can't stand without having sex with him... he doesn't miss Silus' mind or wit, or sense of humor... he misses something specific, and please, don't let me go into details ;-) Anyway, again I think that the author deals with the characters in line with their role: they are two young men at their full sexual potential, and for now, it's more important sex than love.
Said that, and considering that this is a novella, there is no much time left for any other development, but if you are out for a sexy funny romp, this is a good choice.
http://www.extasybooks.net/ebjmsite/inde
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I bought this book since I read in another post by a friend of mine of a particularly development of the story that I was really interested in seeing, but since I'm mean, and since finding out that development is part of the surprise of the book, I will not say what it was ;-) Yes, yes, I know that I had an advantage on you, but still I'm incorruptible. Apart from that first element, the Katzman's Mate has many traits that usually I like in a futuristic gay romance: first of all the "furry" nature of one of the main characters, even more when it's the top of the situation. Truth be told, Chellak, the katzman, has less "fur" than usual, and he has not a tail, only pointed ears and a bit of more hair on his body than a human. And a cat like nose. And long and thick hair like the mane of a lion... said like that he seems not so handsome, but he purrs, so I can accept that.
Chellak is the commander of a small pride who comes back to his home planet to get rid of the usurper who killed his father more or less thirty years before. Having Chellak a bit of feline nature in him, he is all in all the classical "feline" man of a paranormal romance, all instinct and "you are my mate" attitude: when a Alpha Male katzman finds his mate, he gets in a frenzy mating and he has only one thought in mind... well, to be true, not so different from any other male, feline or not. Anyway Chellak finds his mate in Demyan, a small man from an exotic planet who was a slave of the usurper: Demyan is a beautiful little thing and the villain used him as carrot to his stubborn son; if the "Boy" behaved in a good way, he was allowed to play with his "toy", Demyan, otherwise the toy was put in a cage. From that experience Demyan comes out a bit traumatized and also mute, due to an harsh punishment he suffered to have refused unwelcoming sexual advance from his captor.
This is not exactly a yaoi novel, it lacks of some of the main characterizations (big blurry eyes, blushing virgin and so on), but many of the elements that draw female reader to gay romance are there: the Top and Bottom pair, with clear and precise play roles without shifting; the chick with dick bottom, a boy who behaves mostly like a girl, when girl where demure and shy; the exclusive and strictly monogamous couple. In the end the big "why" I was attracting to this book at first, the one I can't say, but that I know it's a big NO for some gay romance readers (especially the "purist"), but that has some fans among other. If I'm to be sincere, I like all of above, true, not always and not in all my books, but sometime I like it; I'm all for a big bad Alpha Male who can pur, and I like Demyan's character, a mix of innocent and teaser, sometime you wonder if he is dumb, but then you realize he is really only very young and not used to deal with strangers.
So yes, I liked it, and please don't take my following comment like a reason to not read it; I feel to write it only as an advice to the author and the editor: being me not English mother tongue, it's hard for me to notice typos, but I found some, one even in the second sentence of the book, first page. They are quite simple mistakes, I believe most due, maybe, to an automatic proof reader that perhaps changed a word in the wrong way. Most of them probably you can find and correct with a second pass from a skilled reader. Since, as I said and want to remark, the story is good and the characters also, I think it's a shame that a reader is distracted by those typos.
http://www.bookstrand.com/product-thekat
Amazon: The Katzman's Mate (Siren Publishing)
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I believe this is the last book in the Dance Wars series, or at least it's a wrapping up book. It's three books already that Lachlan and Adair dance around each other (pun intended); it's a game of cat and mouse, of impossible attraction. They are enemies, they live in different place and are at the opposite side of law. They tried to find a place in the middle, but it was not enough: in the last book both of them realized that, sooner or later, living most of the time apart from each other will tear them apart.
Adair is really a good man inside the body of a very bad guy... he is faithful both to his lover Lachlan than his friends, the crew he dances with. He will never arrive to the decision to leave them, at least not by himself. Lachlan decides to win him over on his ground, with a Dance War... but Lachlan can't dance, at least not the type of dance necessary to defeat a good crew like the one of Adair. But love arrives with reason can't.
There is still a lot of sex, down and dirty, but I believe that this is the most romantic book in the series. Maybe since Lachlan finally admits that it's love what links him to Adair and not only sex. This decision to fight him in a Dance War gives also a sweet spin to the series, I don't know but I can't avoid to smile at the idea, it's almost the plot of a teen musical. Then it's true, they always end in bed doing monkey sex among the sheet, but again, I found it more romantic, maybe for the first time I notice also the aftermath and not only the moment. For the first time I saw and read intimate moments between Lachlan and Adair, moments that lead Lachlan to the decision that he has to win his man over to have the chance of a life together.
All in all I found that all the series moves according to the same tune: from the first book that was highly erotic and explice, and where love had little space, to this last one where Lachlan and Adair are still lusting after each other but sex is no more enough, they have to move to an higher level.
http://www.changelingpress.com/images/co
Series: Dance Wars
1) Left Side of the Moon: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/46419
2) Ruled by You: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/51291
3) Bad Moon Rising: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/65535
4) Last Night Stand
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In a futuristic world, Boston after an apocalyptic disaster, the rich are even richer and the poor are even poorer. Worst, the poorer have no right, and they are used as "meat": to experiment new drugs or to fight in cage as once rabid dogs did. Andreas is the heir of one of the most powerful and wealthy family of New Englandia, the good side of the city; following his friends, that are not exactly role models, he starts to frequent the clandestine cage matches. One night he bets with his friends on a fighter, Andreas is more interested in him as a man, than as a possible source of earnings, and so when he wins the bet, his friends buy him a night with the fighter. Jabez is a former street kid and robber; before being convicted, he hasn't never killed, but now he has no choice, him or the other. And other than fight in the cage, he is also sold out as a whore, obviously with no gain for him, if not the small chance to be free sooner or later. Andreas takes a sympathy on the young fighter and decides to buy his contract: he will offer to Jabez a roof on the head and food on the plate in exchange of fighting lessons. And if in the meantime, Jabez is also willing to share his bed, it is his choice, not a must.The story is pretty simple, the classical Cinderfellas theme, with maybe also a bit of Beauty and the Beast; Jabez is not some noble soul ended in a bad way, he was for real a street kid, and a thief, and he is also uncultured and untrusting. But all in all he is not a bad guy, and not once I felt that he was taking advantage of Andreas generosity. The only think he asked was for something that Andreas did despite his money, a paint. Jabez has a smart mind, and even if he doesn't like Andreas's friends, and in general, his people, he never makes Andreas feel guilty for being born like that, he recognizes that Andreas is a generous soul.
On the other hand is not that Andreas is totally unselfish, I don't think he would have taken Jabez in if he wasn't attracted to the man. Like when they go to choose a puppy: Andreas has the money to buy all the puppies of the kennel, but he makes Jabez choice only one... Andreas has his own reasons, he wants Jabez in his life, and he will do anything to prove to Jabez that he is a better man than he thinks. And if in the course of the demonstration he does also something good, it's a bonus. Doing a good deed or winning a fighting match with Jabez, to Andreas more or less are equal. And it's not either that Jabez realizes that he has the power to manipulate Andreas into doing something good for the people like him... we are only lucky that both Andreas and Jabez are good persons, and so what they do has a positive implication.
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Amazon Kindle: Cage Match
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Dragon's Kiss was a previously released short story in a Band of Thebes theme anthology. So the main focus of the story is the relationship between fellow soldiers, on manlove relationships bring on more on an almost friendship basis than real love. In a futuristic world, a mix of Apocalypse Now and Back to the Future, Bear is one of the survivors from a natural disaster that destroyed the Earth as we know her. People now live among the ruin of the past world, but they are back to an almost medieval era. Bear is born generations after the catastrophe, and so he has not knowledge of the world as it was before, and he lives in a closed community, lead by a Council that considers all past things evil. There is acceptance for the homosexual relationships, more, they are encouraged, but only among the members of the pack. The ostracism now is no more for who is "different", but for who is "stranger". People who dare to cross the pack borders are most likely killed and also who wants to go away.
Bear and his fellow soldier Lynx are sent by their Council leader to capture a trespasser; they find the man, Dragon, a member of a near pack who was banished from his people to be an heretic: he doesn't believe that all the past was evil, he wants to know, he wants something forbidden, the knowledge. Bear knows that, if they bring back Dragon to their pack, the man would be probably killed, and Bear fears this event since the same sin Dragon committed, is haunting his mind.
This is only a short story, so apart set the place and give the chance to the characters to meet, there is nothing much more. But the most interesting thing is how the prejudice is still present: it shifted from the people to the society, the ignorant crowd no more fear the single man, the different (race, sexuality, rank...), they know fear an entire society, past or stranger, everything is outside their community is evil. And the leaders know that, to preserve their powers, they have to maintain the crow ignorant.
http://samhainpublishing.com/romance/dra
Amazon Kindle: Dragon's Kiss: A Mother Earth story.
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Cover Art by Anne Cain
Next of Kin by Astrid Amara In a futuristic world, the type I tagged Apocalypse Now, people live side by side with demons. Actually demons seem to have replace human in the most common jobs, and they are at the command of special men, the sorcerers. There are some big families of sorcerers, they are like the new aristocracy, and every sorcerer have some special powers, who more, who less.
Jay Yervant is one of those special men, but his powers brought more pain than anything else to him. He is a blazing man, like a human torch. He can't touch a human since he leaves deeply burns, and so he "banished" himself from his family. He became an Hell Cop, a special unit to fight the renegade demons. Jay has also another reason to disappoint his family, he is gay. But actually, other than feel desire for men, he has never acted upon it, since no lover can bear his touch.
Enter Brian, a 21 years old naive man... he is like a child in a candy store. Brian has always lived in a rural community which refused the modern technology, and above all the magic. But Brian didn't fit in the community and he left for the big city. Only that he wasn't prepared to what the big city is, he didn't know that demons were real, and not only a bogus the priest on the community used to scare the kid. Among all the caos the only thing normal seems his attraction to Jay, actually I didn't understand where and when Brian acquired all his sexual experience, unless in that community they did something else other than pray ;-)
Anyway it seems that Brian is the only guy able to touch Jay without being injured, and Jay was attracted to Brian even before discovering this "little" particular... maybe the days of Jay as a virgin are limited! If you think I'm joking, you are right, since the novella has a very funny mood on it. It deals with bloody killings, with body parts splattered all around, but I don't know how, it still manages to be funny. Maybe it's Brian's innocence, his fixation on having sex with Jay that makes him forget everything else around. Maybe it's also a bit the Cinderfella theme, since Jay is from a very wealthy family, but he chose to live far from them, and Brian is this poor guy living in a shitty apartment...
Really I don't know, usually I'm not a big fan of futuristic setting and too much blood around, but this time I read it all and would have been willing to read more. And in a nice play of contrast, both men preserve a type of innocence: Brian with his isolated upbringing has an innocent soul, even if he experienced sex, and instead Jay, who has seen too much and lived in a corrupted world, due to his special powers is still a virgin, at least on a physical level.
Red Sands by Nicole Kimberling
The story is set in the same universe as before, and this time has as main hero another Hell Cop, colleague of Jay. Actually Jay makes only a cameo for reference and instead Brina has a little role, where he confirms his naivete. Argent, Jay's colleague, is of a different sort from his friend. From what I understood, Jay comes from a sorcery family, and he has his special powers as a birthright, instead Argent chose to become an Hell Cop and was trained in the art of sorcery. Due to that, Argent, and his story, has a different feeling, it's more simple, and almost not "paranormal".
To balance a bit the lack of paranormal event, Argent chosen lover for the story is Michael, an half-demon half-human. From someone with demon blood you would expect from him to be something special, and instead Michael is an average man. He is a college professor, an anthropologist, who spends a lot of time far from his planet in some mission. When he is at home, he is not even a particular affectionate man, he has a family that obviously loves him, but he is detached from them. Michael's father was a famous rocker, and probably he used his relationship with Michael's mother, a demon from another planet, to gain popularity. Even if proud of his son, Michael's father was too much lost on his sex, drugs and rock and roll world to be a paternal figure. How strange that a otherworldly kid like Michael was subjected to the same destiny of the sons of the rich and famous.
Maybe since he is tired to be "different", maybe since he is alone, Michael's relationship with Argent flows in a nice and quite way; there is no paranormal event, no sudden passion, they meet, they like, they love, probably the only ordinary thing amid the extraordinary that is around them. Even Michael's special powers to read people mind by touch are neutralized by Argent's training, putting them on the same level of emotion.
Overall the lasting feeling is of a nice romance cop, and even the final solution is somewhat simple like that.
Touching Sparks by Ginn Hale
The last story is even more ordinary of the previous two, and I'm using the word ordinary in a derogatory way, remember that the futuristic genre is not usually my cup of tea.
No one of the two men involved in this story has special powers or half blood otherworldly lineage. Moran is an Hell Cop, and as all the Hell Cop, he was trained in sorcery, but all his powers are learned not inherited. He is the classical cop of wet dreams, dark, handsome and mourning. And as all the mourning cops, he needs a "fresh" boy to bring him out of his sadness.
James Sparks, Sparky for Moran, was the teenager kid who lived near Moran many years ago. Now he is a successful photographer who is stumbled in a drugs illegal market with illegal fight side entertainment. James is too good boy next door to let it go and obviously he asks help to Moran and forces the man to involve him as undercover spy. Moran has some trouble to match the memories of the skinny teenager with this young man, and he builds in his mind an imagine that is not exactly true: he sees James like a virgin damsel in distress that Moran has to help but not debauch.
This is the shorter of the stories and probably the less light of the three. It's a dark and gothic feeling, a sense of danger probably enhanced by the fact that no one of the heroes involved have special powers to shield them from death.
http://www.loose-id.com/detail.aspx?ID=8
Amazon Kindle: Hell Cop by Astrid Amara, Nicole Kimberling & Ginn Hale
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Cover Art by April Martinez
Dark Robe Edges: Dark Robe Society 2 by Jason Edding Again reading this second novel in the Dark Robe Society series I had the feeling to be brought back in time while instead I was reading a sci-fi story... why the apparently contrasting feelings? Since the futuristic world by Jason Edding has a late '60 feeling in it, like those Star Treck television fiction or 2001: A Space Odyssey. There is a war and there are killings, but it's all aseptic, the killings are neat, the dead bodies almost clean... it's like real emotions are extinct in this futuristic world. But then, between the main characters and inside closed bedrooms, those lost emotions come out again, and the sex, and love, between them is very much physical, the details are almost graphic, and all the repressed feelings burst open. The impact is even more violent due to that aseptic environment the characters move around when they are alone.
In this novel Jack and Edge, from book 1, continue their story and at first they are the only real couple. But then two other men start to sniff around each other. Tees is an important officer, another apparently cold man who well adapts to the world outside. But again when Tees is alone in his bedroom he indulges in the pleasure of "real" life, a glass of red wine and easel, brush and colors to paint: how strange it's to see an old-fashioned visual media like painting in a futuristic world... again the author plays with contrast. Another thing that Tees takes hidden in his bedroom are his feelings for Toren, another officer. Toren has a strange relationship with another man, and other than that, Tees has never had an homosexual relationship, and so, for now, he only dreams of the man. But then a sudden event frees Toren of his bonds, and Tees is finally free to love him. Since Toren is more experience than Tees, you would expect from him to take the lead on their relationship, but, in a way, the military hierarchy are respected also inside the bedroom, and Toren unveils to be a gentle and submissive lover.
Both couple, Jack and Edge, and Tees and Toren, are nicely developed, and their personal story is well balanced with the futuristic plot; there is a rebellion to bring on, and a war to fight, and the book doesn't underestimate it... don't blame me if I'm more interested on the personal side of the plot, enough to say that who likes more the other side, will not be disappointed by the novel.
Series: Dark Robe Society
1) Space Escapes: Dark Robe Heart: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/50895
2) The Edge of Desperation: Dark Robe Edges
Beyond Duty by James Buchanan
The second book in the anthology is exactly at the opposite in feeling to the first. Beyond Duty has not that aseptic emotion, if I had to do a comparison, Jason Edding is a Stanley Kubrick and James Buchanan is a George Lucas. The world of this second book is full of strange creatures, a melting pot of culture. And due to this melting pot, there are no higher or lower classes, only different shades. Alad is an officer, but he is not exactly a by the book one. During a night out, he is searching for a thrill, from sex or fight doesn't matter, even if he had to make a choice, he probably would prefer sex. And when he meets Hirah he finds both and also something else. But even if an odd one, Alad is a soldier, and at the end of the night he has to partake from Hirah; the hope to see him in the future is a nice one, but unlikely... other than discover that his next assignment is under Hirah's command! Alad and Hirah are soldiers of a futuristic Army, but they behave like today man, when it's time to fight, they fight, when it's time to love, they love, and the sex is fast and dirty, without nicety, since you don't know if you have a tomorrow.
After the first initial surprise, practical Alad understands that it would be useless to deny that he is attracted by Hirah, and proposes the man a pact: outside their bunk, they are superior and subordinate, but inside it they can be lovers. Hirah accepts, but this doesn't mean that he will be fully open to Alad, it's not in Hirah's nature. Again it seems that all the emotions are voiced through sex: it seems like Hirah needs the physical contact, like a thirsty man with water, like it's something that he was deprived for too long. Alad doesn't push, he gives without questions, and their mission allows them to be even more near.
Again there is an adventure plot, an old betrayal ready to come out again, and enemies to find and fight... but again, sorry, I was more interested in the romance side of the story. As I said the sex has a main role in it, and again it's hot and detailed. A thing I noticed in both books, despite the futuristic setting, and the odd nature of some of the characters, the sex remains plain and simple, without any strange device or similar. It's like finding something familiar in an unfamiliar situation.
http://www.mlrbooks.com/ShowBook.php?boo
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One evolution of the Savage Romance was the Futuristic Romance; futuristic romance is, more or less, a sci-fi story, where essentially, the role of the Viking / Pirate / Warrior of the savage historical romance it's taken on by a big, bold and strong alien man. Usually the alien of the moment is a beautiful speciman who "sees" the earthian heroine with different eyes than the human male. Where for a earthian man the heroine is nothing special, for the alien she is wonderful and a treasure to be cherished. The Sarran Plague is all above with something more. Tonas and Jonal are bonded warriors; in their culture a bonded male pair needs a female to be complete, to form a triad. It's a genetic thing, and they recognize the third part of their bond when they find her, and she is Anya, an earthian female. There is no predominant bond in the triad, it's not a question if the male / male bond is more strong than the female / male; the male / male bond is formed before, and it's like the beginning of the relationship, when they are old enough, and when their bond is strong enough, they have to find a female to complete the bond. In this perspective, The Sarran Plague is a "true" menages, but it can appeal to the m/m fans since the relationship between Tonas and Jonal has a lot of space and for good share of the book, it's the only one. And then there is also another man, Mark, an earthian doctor who will find his male bond warrior, and so, another chance for the m/m fans to have their share of manlove.
The book is also the classical futuristic romance since it is also almost completely set in a spaceshift. The clash in culture between earthian and alien it's also reflected in their physical appearance: the Alien are big and strong, all in all earthian like but only "bigger", in every sense. The author indulges quite a bit in the physical description of those fine specimen, also intimate details, but then, the sex scenes are not so detailed, so no worries, this is not only another excuse to have otherworldly "sex", there is a plot, and good portion of the pages are spent to tell you a story, it's not only sex.
Truth be told, I'm not a big fan of sci-fi novels, so I can give you only my "novice" impression. I think that the story is good, the sci-fi setting is well developed, but it's not boring. There is also a light side, see the character of Tigger, Anya's cat, that is a real "character", he has his own scenes, and in some of them, you listen also his thoughts and impression; I believe that this is the first time that a cat has a real role in a story.
http://www.eternalpress.ca/thesarranplag
Amazon: The Sarran Plague
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Why, Why, Zed? by Leigh EllwoodIn a futuristic Toronto Zed and Nick are lovers. Zed is an IT genius and Nick a kept man; when they met, Nick was a struggling artist and since Zed was a wealthy man, he convinced Nick to stay at home and take care of him. But one year later, the initially sex frenzy is cooled and Zed is spending and lot of time at work, and even when he has free time, he prefers to spend it alone and not with Nick.
Nick is unable to make clear his uneasiness, and prefers to find comfort with friends and hobbies. But this is leading him astray and the future is not bright. An unexpected call awakes Zed from his torpor. He realizes how much he loves Nick and that he needs to do everything to make him happy and with him. A leisurely afternoon spent together will teach both to Zed than Nick that being happy is easier than expected.
A very short tale, less than 35 pages, but with a good plot and well developed characters. Plus there is a twist in the plot that makes the book even more original.
Very good and fast reading.
http://www.king-cart.com/Phaze/product=W
Making Magic by Jade FalconerTommy is a brat. You can't describe him with any other words. He is 18 years old and a freshman in college and he likes a lot to flirt with every male that caught his eyes. Straight, gay, they are all the same for him, the important thing is that they should be handsome and maybe a bit rough: Tommy likes to be ordered around.
When one of his friends dares him to seduce their professor, Tommy accepts, and then he finds the professor pretty hot, so he doesn't see any harm in doing so. Elliot teachs witchcraft and he really believe in magic, so when Tommy proposes him to help with some experiment, Elliot is very glad to find a so cute pupil. And when the sparks fly between them, Elliot is even more happy to initiate Tommy in the sex magic.
The story is funny and nice. Tommy is a very cute character, so young and bratty. He is careless and "friendly", truth be told also a bit slutty, and he is not afraid to claim it and to gain all the pleasure he can in doing so. But he is not a bad guy and this is a good thing since Elliot, even if should be the strong character in the couple, for me is the more likeable to be wound since he has an open heart and he is too ready to trust people.
Making Magic is not very long, less than 60 pages, but it is fast and smooth, it flows easily. Sure, you don't have to give it too much "importance", it's a light tale and it serves its purpose. http://www.king-cart.com/Phaze/product=M
Amazon Kindle: Making Magic
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If there is a thing that an author can do to displease me is to ruin my Happily Ever After... and so when I read Surrender Love's blurb, I thought, OMG Mrs Allen, what have you done? But since I'm a faithful reader and I remember that I liked the previous book, Wulf, I bought it anyway, and put it in my reading list... only to see it everytime I opened the reading folder to choose a book to read. The ebook was there and it was beckoning me... read me, read me, you know that you will like me... it was like a Mermaid's song, and I did my best to resist, and BTW the length of the book helped, since I always need a lot of courage to sit down and read a novel plus. Till today I was strong, but then I surrendered.And Kayelle Allen didn't even make my surrender easy! Since not only Wulf and Luc have split after the HEA they had in that book I read, but it was not even a break-up due to an uncontrollable fate, like if Wulf is dead or something similar (look? I can accept if you ruin my HEA, but I'm ruthless if you do that!). No, Wulf and Luc were torn apart by the most common trouble, the inability to communicate. Luc thought that Wulf thought that Luc thought... and no one of them really knew what the other thought. At the beginning of the book, Wulf is running away with his new lover, Alitus, and Luc is mourning the loss... for an handful of days! Then he meets Izzorah, and his everlasting love for Wulf is all but forgotten, and he is hot on the trail of a new lover.
Now you would think that I'm a bit hard with Luc, he is not a bad guy, but probably he is too used to loose a lover that he has a calluses around his heart. Luc is a Sempervian, means that he is immortal, and everytime he starts a relationship with someone, he has always to take in account that his lover will age and die, and he will be near him for all the time. Maybe this time he suffered a bit more since Wulf didn't die, he simply left, and Luc feels betrayed, but maybe one of the reason for Wulf's behavior is that he has never really felt like Luc was totally involved with him. The reason why they split seems so stupid, that you really wonder if they were really good together, but I remember they were, at least in that first book. I haven't read the two books in the middle, and probably something happened in them, but one thing I know: in my old fashioned mind, all those sharing your lover with your friends (since you think he wants that) and turning your sex life in a complicated play scene, well, I don't think it helped at all.
Anyway, it's not use crying over spilt milk, and maybe someone else is interested in that milk... maybe a little nice kittie? Izzorah is a feline man from an aline planet which has commercial agreement with the Tarthian Empire. He is the drummer of a rock band and they have just signed a contract with Luc's business firm. Izzorah is all you can expected from a man with some feline traits, furry ears, some furry in other strategic places, no tail, but all purrs and little cute quirks. Plus Izzorah's planet is a matriarchal one, and he flew his hometown to avoid a forced marriage with a warrior woman: Izzorah is gay and he couldn't bear the idea to be a woman's lover. But Izzorah is not against the idea to be a warrior's lover, since he is a natural submissive... only that for Izzy, a total virgin, submission is a really simple thing: you find a man who takes care of you in all your needs, and in exchange you give yourself to him. For Izzy, submission is not a shadow dungeon or pain/pleasure games, it's more like be pampered and cuddled. And yes, I like very much Izzy, probably even more than Luc: Izzy is a total innocent character and you can't hold against him the guilt to be the "third" man, the one who splits the perfect couple, also since it was not him.
In the end I have two recommendations: if you are a reader like me arriving from the first book, well, probably after few pages you will manage to pass over your disappointment for the lost romance, and enjoy the new one, that probably has more chance to last since Luc has learned from the past; and instead if you haven't read the previous book, well, I will say that probably you can read directly this one, avoiding so the disillusion about the past romance, and fully enjoying the current one.
http://www.loose-id.com/prod-Surrender__
Amazon Kindle: Surrender Love
Series:
1) Wulf: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/28888.h
2) Alitus
3) Jawk
4) Surrender Love
Reading List:
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Cover Art by Anne Cain
Sincerely I don't remember if the first book in Dragon & Fenyx series had the same strong yaoi influence, but in Swordbrothers it's quite clear; Flame and Storm left together to build their own life as outcast and the first step is to tighten their bond with a sexual encounter, and here is where I felt the yaoi influence, since Flame is a virgin, and a bit the blushing and big eyes virgin type. Another thing that I noticed is that this second book is a bit more light and happy, maybe since the sex scene is the beginning scene and the sex helps to lighten the mood of the story.The book is divided in two part, the first one serves to build the basis of Flame and Storm's relationship, to help them to know each other in the most intimate possible way, and the second one to build the basis of their future clan, including in their little circle two new member, Water and Heart who will bring with them other people, in a pyramidal chain. Plus Flame and Storm befriend an all female clan (a nice add to the story, with some interesting characters, even if they have only small roles).
Usually I'm not very fond of the futuristic setting, above all when it's an Apocalypse Now theme, since they are almost all "cold" story, sad and tragic. Swordbrothers is a bit different, maybe since the sex is good and so it gives another side to the story, more joyous; the introduction of new characters allows to see a future; the sad and tragic aspect is not all forgotten, in particular in the ending, but I believe there is not to worry, this is a continuous series on the same main characters, and so probably we will see more of them in the future books, don't forget that Flame is a Fenyx, and the phoenix re-births from its ashes.
http://shadowfirestore.com/index.php?mai
Series: Dragon & Fenyx
1) Called by Power: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/25173
2) Swordbrothers
Reading List:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bott
In a way a paranormal romance like this one brings on an issue that is quite common in every day life: is it possible to have a long distance relationship? Especially when the relationship is at the beginning and the bonds are not yet tight enough and there is more unbridled passion than deep love?There is no doubt that sex between Adair and Lachlan is good and both of them know that they have something special, but they hardly meet once a month, and this is a bad period for Adair to be left alone, his werewolf nature asks him to mate and Lachlan is not beside him to satisfy that urge. When the book starts, Adair and Lachlan just parted way, Lachlan to a mission with an unwelcomed partner, a psychic, Keith, and Adair in the heat of the mating season, with Cedric, his former lover and sire, that comes back in his life in the worst moment.
Both men will be tempted, Lachlan while dreaming of Adair and having Keith intruding in his mind, as if he is seeing a free porn, and Adair who, despite his hatred for Cedric, can't prevent his nature to desire him, the man who made him the wolf he is now. The tension mounts, and it's interesting that almost all the sex scenes, hot and often, are in the minds of both lovers, reminiscing their past encounters; and it's interesting to guess who will surrender to temptation, the man-man Lachlan, apparently the weaker of the two, or the man-wolf Adair, strong and all alpha male? Who will be the cheater, the who usually is the weaker breed, or the wolf, who is notorious to be a very possessive and one-mate mind breed?
Dance Wars 3 confirms the trend of the two previous books, very pushed on the erotic side of the story, these men tend to think more with their bodies than with their minds, and this sometime drives them to do some big mistakes, but in the end love is the strongest force, and it allows men to forgive, if not to forget.
http://www.changelingpress.com/product.p
Series: Dance Wars
1) Left Side of the Moon: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/46419
2) Ruled by You: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/51291
3) Bad Moon Rising
Reading List:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bott
First of all this book has a wonderful cover, second this is not a romance. So if you start it with the idea to read a kinky story of furry lovers, with the cute boy in the cover as player, think twice. I'm not saying that the book is not good, I'm saying that this is more like one of those futuristic - sci-fic novels aimed to a very young target, or to who still likes to play with videogame and read manga, even if they are no more teenager.Mourning Doves is the entertwined story of three couple; to par condicio, one couple is gay and one couple is lesbian, and the other couple is not a "couple" in the common use of the word, and it's almost a shame, since they are the one on the cover and two I would really like to see together. Anyway the story start with Leander, son of a genetic change, born half fox and half human, with the ability to shift in a full fox, but when he is human he remains with cute fox ears and tails; Leander works for a special agency, a paramilitary organization called TASK, and he is partner with Epsilon. On the contrary of Leander, Epsilon was born a full human, but he was subjected to some genetic experiments when he was still a child, and now he has even more powers than Leander; when he shifts, he becomes an impressive black wolf, but when he is human, he doesn't sport any evidence of his inner beast. Leander and Epsilon are actually the main characters of the story, but they are not life partner; they have a very strong bond, that could lead one of the them to death if forcefully torn apart from his partner, but there is not sexual sparks between them. On the other hand, nor Leander or Epsilon are searching someone else outside their couple: it seems almost like they don't have the normal urges that push men and animals to mate, like they are enough for each other even if they don't share a sexual bond.
The romance part of the book is slightly fulfilled by the other two couples; Wolf and Mercedes are long lost lovers that contingent events allow to meet again, and they are not sure if they have to take this second chance. There is some sparks between Wolf and Mercedes, even a sketchy sex scene in a shower, but nothing of explicit; nevertheless the reader knows that they are having a sexual relationship.
Even less details for the second couple of the story, Madison and Alexandria; they meet at the beginning of the book, Alex is the one who calls the Agency to help her with her former lover turned bad hunter; she is in danger and the Agency takes care of her... through an almost reticent Madison. Madison and Alex shares the only kiss in the book, and they are the sweet side of the story, even if, truly, their story is a fait accompli.
There is a lot of adventures, hunting parties, kidnapping, heroic gestures... but not so much love. I was really hoping in the last scene between Leander and Epsilon, and instead... maybe the author is planning to write something more? To finally give a romance also to them? At this moment, as I said, this one is for sure a good YA book or an adventure book for adults who don't care too much for the smushy parts (since here he will find very few of them).
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/current
Amazon Kindle: Mourning Doves
Amazon: Mourning Doves
Reading List:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bott
Cover Art by Anne Cain
The Wrong Path was a sweet tale setting in a fantasy kingdom I tagged "Back to the Future", since it mixed the common elements of a Regency historical with a fantasy/futuristic setting. Someone could also call it Neo-Regency... Anyway the starting point of the story was one of the most used in a classical Regency, the heir of a wealthy and noble family, Zeke, is forced by his father to married the heir of another wealthy family, to merge the respective wealth. Only that Zeke is not so happy with his father decision, he is an artist and a dreamer and he doesn't want to marry a stranger; not that he has any decision in the matter, and so in the previous book, Zeke was on his path to the near city to meet the prospective fiance. Only that he took the wrong path and ended in the arms of Crispin, instead. Crispin is rich but not noble, he is a middle class man who has just dumped his deceptive lover and wants only to relax in his country cottage.Twists and Turns continues where The Wrong Path ended, from the morning after of the "notorious" debauching of the virgin act led by Crispin on a very willing Zeke. Now Zeke is compromised, and Crispin has to do the right thing, talk to Zeke's father to ask Zeke's hand in marriage. The only problem is that Crispin is only a middle class man and Zeke a nobleman, and Crispin's father is not so happy to loose his commercial agreement with the other family.
This is again another short story, and it's again only a step more in Crispin and Zeke's story; as The Wrong Path lasted half a day and a night, Twists and Turns last only a day. Short story by short story, step by step, maybe in the end we will have a really nice Neo-Regency novel! Due to the strict connections between the two short stories, I recommend to read both in the right order.
http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?m
Amazon Kindle: Twists and Turns
Series:
1) The Wrong Path: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/17252
2) Twists and Turns
Reading List:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bott
Jory is the youngest son of the king of a futuristic planet. Being the youngest and gay, he should be not an obstacle to his siblings' ambitions to the throne, but Jory is well-liked by the people and by his father. And so the king decides to send his son in a "mate-searching" mission: he will travel from planet to planet till he will not find the right man for him, a man wealthy and power enough to protect Jory. Problem is that Jory is not exactly the man who likes to be dominated.Anyway he agrees to his father's plan since the first planet he will visit will be Dragait, the native earth of shape-shifter dragonman, men well known to be real Alpha males, and Jory likes that type of men. Being pretty and cute, as soon as he dismounts on the new planet, he meets Val, a wealthy duke, who is probably his mate. Val doesn't waste time to mate with Jory, but the mating rules expect that Jory has to mate with another dragonman, and the God of Mating will allow the tattoo of the real mate to appear on Jory's body. And so, even if with regret, Val allows Jory to go out and find another man.
The second time, Jory does even better and attracts no less than the king of the planet. Rai is even more possessive than Val, and has no doubt that it will be his mark to appear on Jory. Both Val than Rai are Alpha male, but Val is the silent type, and instead Rai is the growling version. While reading the book, I was really perplexed since I really wasn't able to choice between Rai and Val, both of them were appealing and I liked both of them. The problem was that, even if the men were both attracted by Jory, it seemed impossible to have a bond between them, and so a menages seemed not proposable. And so I liked even better the solution with which the author came out.
The story is not very long, a novella, and it has still some minot fault, probably due to the fact that the author is young, but still, I found that between this one and the other I read, Amber Kell is a nice new voice in the M/M romance overview. It's obvious that she is also a voracious reader of gay romance, since she respects all the main rules of a gay romance written by a woman for women, and her characters are cute or strong, or both. The Dragonmen series is a good mix of paranormal and futuristic (back to the future subgenre), that winks to similar books in the genre, first of all the Sci-Fic Regency series by J.L. Langley, and so if you liked that one, you could try this one.
http://www.literaryroad.com/product.php?I
Amazon Kindle: Dragonmen Book 1: Mate Hunt
Reading List:
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Poison is a very strange novel. I actually can't say if I fully understand it.In a fantasy regency world, Rimania, people are divided in Elite and Workers. They are a closed cast society and only Elite can do politics and have access to high class; they are so strict on their rules that a worker is not even allowed in presence of an Elite if not as personal servant.
Tobias is the nephew of the actual regent. His father attempted to his brother's life and was executed for this reason. Now Tobias prefer to have a secluded life in his manor with a matchmaking mother. He is not interested in politics, but when his uncle is murdered and some days after also his cousin, only another cousin remains between Tobias and the regency. And he is not very happy of that.
Meanwhile Geln, an outworld spy of the Alliance who wants to take over the power in Rimania, infiltrates in the Elite's society through Tobias' mother, posing as her lover. Geln is a spy and also a "whore": he uses sex to reach his purposes; after being the "prostitute" of a revolutionary worker, Arjes, now he is the paramour of Dressia, Tobias' mother. But when Tobias is poisoned, surprisingly Geln saves his life. Tobias is an innocent 23 years old man, who is not aware of all the politic troubles around him: he only realizes that people he loved were killed and he wants to know why. But when he meets Geln, he realizes also something else: he is attracted by a man, even if they said to him that, in this new Elite society, homosexuality is extinct.
Tobias and Geln embark in a strange relationship, where Tobias discovers his sexuality and Geln tries to teach him how beautiful can be sex with a man and meanwhile tries to go on with his plan without using innocent Tobias as a pawn. But Geln is not tough enough as he thinks, and past experiences make him a little skittish when he faces a true and sincere love.
Both Tobias than Geln are unwilling heroes, and truth be told, they don't have the physique du role to be a full figured hero. Tobias is not enough on an idealist, he is more a child who finds himself to play with an "adult" game, and he doesn't know the rule. He could use the help of someone more experienced, but Geln is not that man. Geln is, as Tobias, a man who is thrown in something bigger than him and not even having all the necessary information. But two halfs maybe make an entire, and Tobias and Geln together manage to play in this game. Among betrayals and perils, the reader starts to understand to not trust no one and maybe the less human of all will be the more trustworthy of all.
http://samhainpublishing.com/romance/poi
Amazon Kindle: Poison
Amazon: Poison
Reading List:
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Cover Art by Anne Cain
The setting is the same of a previous book by Angelia Sparrow, Nikolai, there is even a reference to a character in that book, but the feeling of this book is completely different; Nikolai was dark and gothic, I remember that I said it was not a romance. Instead Glad Hands is a classical love story with the nice add that one of the characters is a trucker, a profession that Angelia Sparrow knows well and so she describes it in a very accurate way. There is neither too much angst, an element that usually abounds when one or both characters are young.Chuck Hummingbird is a Cherokee and he lives in the Tribal Lands, an independent territory inside of what it was once the United States of America. Tribal Lands is quite a good place to live, the territory didn't go back in time like other places, there is more freedom for people to be as they like, as for gays that are recognized members of society, but more freedom means also more crime. But from living with a bit more crime and not living at all, since in the Confederacy of South they kill homosexuals, Chuck thinks he is pretty lucky. And with his job as a trucker and his chance to travel the country, he sometimes picks up stray here and there, mostly kids who were kicking out of their home.
Seven is one of those kid. He is not so young, he is 20 years old, but he went through a very bad experience; in Heartland where he lived, an uber religious place, they still believe that they can heal the gayness from their kids, and Seven was sent in an hospital to have his "therapy". Now he is scared and skittish and he has a tattoo on his hand that prevents him to find a honest job and start a new life. And so he is thinking to leave and like a knight in shining armor arrives Chuck on his truck.
Chuck and Seven go along well since the first moment; it's obvious that circumstances make Seven falls in love with Chuck: he is his savior and he is also the first openly gay man he has met; with Chuck Seven finds again the family he lost, and there is no way that he will let him go. I don't know if meeting Chuck in a different situation would have the same result, but probably yes, since Chuck is really a good man and also very handsome (I always have a fondness for long black hair Native American style).
The book is almost divided in two parts: the first one is a road story, with Chuck and Seven who are too busy to run away from hostile territories to indulge in more than kisses and something more, but it's also the time when their relationship cemented in something more than friendship. The second one is spent with Chuck and Seven trying to find a way to make things work between them, and doesn't matter if this is a futuristic tale, the problem they face are exactly the same of an ordinary couple with more the issue from being from different cultures.
There is sex, but not so much as you would expected from an Ellora's Cave romance; the sex is something nice that happen between Chuck and Seven but it's not something absolutely necessary in their relationship, and so when they can't have it, it's not the big problem that would be in so many other books that base their existence mainly on it.
The futuristic part of the book is not so heavy and if not for the prologue (that leads you think that the futuristic setting would be more important) and the way in which gays can live in Tribal Lands (probably an hope for the future), the story would have had not a problem to be a contemporary: there are no special effects, on the contrary, this futuristic world is almost gone back to the past instead of proceeding toward the future.
http://www.ellorascave.com/productpage.a
Reading List:
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Jeff as Commander and Rell as Colonel are fighting together to bring peace in a world destroyed by years of war. Probably tired of the war and of the coldness of nights spent alone, Jeff is looking toward Rell with different eyes, but it's not simple; it's not a question of being gay that is a problem, but it's more a multicultural barrier between them: even if Rell looks like a human, he is not entirely that, and his breed approaches in different way a relationship; love is not part of the equation. And so Jeff has always hidden his feelings, even if they are grown nevertheless, and he can only express them being Rell's best friend. And in Rell's detached behavior, Jeff sometime can see a spark of something, something special only for him, or maybe it's what he wants to see.When Rell is seriously injured in a fight, it's upon Jeff to decide if subject Rell to a therapy that is against Rell's beliefs, but that is the only way to save him. Jeff has to decide if he wants to respect the decision of the man, or if he wants to save the lover he never had.
I like the feeling of this story since I usually find futuristic stories to be a bit cold and detached, and instead this one is more a love story than a futuristic adventure. Sure, the story has also an elegant "tune", it's never really sexy or erotic, if not in the end, when the author launched herself in an erotic encounter that it would not look out of place in a porn movie: it is almost like all the sexual tension that both heroes repressed before blows up suddenly and uncontrolled.
Of the two characters the one who shines is Jeff, probably since it's also the narrative voice; it's not that the story is in first point of view, but it's through his eyes that we follow their story. Rell is a bit in the background, even since he is mostly catatonic (!), but when he acts, well, he is like a lightning in a clear sky, Rell could have few chances to speak, but more than the words, it's his presence that drives all the story, he is like the puppeteer behind the scene. Since Jeff is so clear in love with him, the reader has to like him as Jeff does, we like him even without a direct proof.
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/novella
Amazon Kindle: Upside Down
Reading List:
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Both these couples have problem to overcome to be happy together: Dinun finds out that he can't live in Moon's world due to his health condition, and he wants pretend from his lover to be captive in his "narrow" world: Moon is not used to live in the confined space of an home, he is born to live in the open spaces where he can fly. On the other hand Raeln, even if deep in love with Suaj, and more than happy in their relationship, misses home; he is aware that he will not find anything better at home for him, but still he longs for a world that he still considers his own. When an spaceship from Raeln's planet asks to land, it's the change for all of them to test their bonds.
There is a clear shift in the story at the middle: the first part has almost an utopian mind, made of "friendly" scientists who want only to learn and develop new ways for living better; the second part almost ends in a nightmare. Unfortunately what happens in this futuristic world, is what always happened when different cultures meet and don't "mix"; there is always one part that believes to be better and to be allowed to judge and bring pain in other life in the name of the wellness of their people, doesn't matter if this means to injure others.
Said that I would like to spend a bit of good words on the characters. In this last book there are two characters that I believe had the space to develop and grow as they hadn't had in their own story. Dinun, in the first book, was a nice character, but he was almost too naive, smitten by the powerful Angel who was his lover, he didn't have the chance to have on the reader a strong impression. Now instead he is the leading man in the relationship, he is maybe more angry and mourning, but he proves a strenght that I hadn't found before. Sure Moon is still the stronger in body, but finally Dinun behaves as an adult.
The second character that I see in a different way is Suaj; oh yes, he is still a bit detached, but now I can see that he cares for his human lover. He is not obviously the passionate character as Raeln, but at least I have no more the impression that for him Raeln is only a nice benefit deriving from his work, I finally have the impression that Suaj would not be happy if Raeln should decide to go back home. Probably he would be find a way to overcome the pain, but at least he would feel it.
There is clearly more passion and more open feelings in this last book than in the previous two. It's not necessary a question of sex, if I remember well there is only one real sex scene, but the characters are more open, they arrive to the reader in a more direct way, and so they leave a deeper impression.
http://www.lulu.com/content/5940701
Series: Encounters
1) On Wings, Rising: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/39306
2) Reaching Higher: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/48594
3) Bound to Fall
Reading List:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bott
Blaise Risner, the captain of a small cargo ship, was in the wrong place at the wrong time. The Confederation Army is dealing with some nasty attack to their ship and space colony, and they blame the pirates, and so the attention is very high. In normal time, probably Blaise would skip the control, but now he is arrested for smuggling, piracy and other minor violation. Since he can't avoid to admit the smuggling crime, he tries to negotiate for the other two accusation and Admiral Peter Keller is willing to listen to him. Peter is not new to similar arrangements with his prisoners: a sentence to hard labor commuted to service him as personal assistant... very personal assistant. More the prisoners are stubborn, and more Peter likes to bend them (pun intended).If you stick to the romance rules, what Peter does to Blaise could easily be classified as non consensual sex, since Blaise at first claims that, if he had a choice, he would have never submitted to Peter. But truth be told, he doesn't protest so much, and for what I can understand, he enjoyed every single encounter with Peter, even the first one. What I like of the story is that the sexual relationship evolves with them: at first it's obviously only sex, Peter has not a personal interest in Blaise if not since the man is an interesting sex partner that gives him a lot of satisfaction. But more they are together and more their relationship deepens, but always remaining primarily a sexual one: there is not many chances for Blaise or Peter to know each other other than in a sexual way, they don't speak a lot; who they are and what they like is all communicated through sex.
Peter is obviously the domineering character, even if he is not the stronger in a physical way, actually I have the feeling, even if I'm not sure, that he is even leaner and smaller than Blaise. But he has for sure the attitude of a leader and he is used to the command; he lives his personal life as he lead his spaceship: no one questions his orders. Problem is that, on the other side, Blaise instead has the classical behavior of a rebel, he is not used to be ordered around, but he will find out that, in some cases, he likes it. It's not clear if Blaise, before Peter, have already realized that he has a submissive nature in bed, but he will discover it with Peter. There is not doubt that in bed this two work in a very good way, all the trouble arrives when they are out of the bedroom. They are both very stubborn, and they don't know how to communicate; they arrive to hasty conclusion even before having taken the time to analyze all the possible side of a problem.
The book is quite long and it's a very classic futuristic novel, even if the reader has not many chances to see the two heroes among other people or outside the bedroom, but in the few cases when it happened, the setting is light and enjoyable, there is not the usual heavy use of detailed description to force the reader to understand a different and fictional world.
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/current
Amazon Kindle: Hot Cargo
Amazon: Hot Cargo
Reading List:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bott
There is a clear tribute in this series that I almost missed in the previous book, this is very much a Romeo and Juliet's type of story, but not the classical drama play, more the West Side Story Broadway's version: do you remember yes that one of our hero, the thug and werewolf Adair is also a dance warrior? He challenges the other posse in dance fights on a stage, and he is pretty good at it. But as side work he and his crew are also predatories, almost like the eighteen century highwaymen, they hunt the motorbike Pony Express who pass from their territory.In the previous book Lachlan was one of those biker, and he was not so good to avoid Adair and his men... on the contrary he fell full in their trap and he was almost raped by Adair; what Adair was not expecting was that Lachlan liked very much Adair, and even more his forceful behavior, and like an addicted with drugs, he came over and over begging for more (even if Lachlan will never admit the begging part).
Now Lachlan and Adair are almost a "steady" couple, Lachlan passing by from Adair's warrior zone every full moon during the two days Adair spends alone in the wood due to his little "problem" of his shapeshifting nature. Lachlan is more than willing to be Adair's outlet, even if it means starting to neglect his works and his safety.
Again the story is mostly a never ending sex scene, with Lachlan that, willing or not, entices Adair to let it go every safety as long as he has the chance to be one more time with his biker. There is not much setting to analyze, nor supporting characters worth to be mentioned, the lion share is all of Lachlan, neither Adair can overshadow him. Lachlan is all in all a top from the bottom hero, he knows how to use his weapons with Adair, and he has no need to use anything else than his body, the most powerful of all weapons with Adair. The problem is that Lachlan is also quite reckless, and he doesn't see when he pushes too far; not with Adair, for how much Adair is a big and bad wolf, never once I had the feel that he could hurt Lachlan, but the world outside is not the same as him. I have the feeling that the once to be ruled (as it says the title) is Adair, ruled by Lachlan.
http://www.changelingpress.com/index.php?u
Series: Dance Wars
1) Left Side of the Moon: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/46419
2) Ruled by You
Reading List:
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There various type of futuristic romance, but I have in mind three main genre: the one I tagged Back to the Future, in which the futuristic setting resembles a past world, where people are back to living as in the eighteen century or even Middle Ages; then there is the Apocalypse Now setting, where the world that we actually know doesn't exist no more and people lives in an eternal war zone; finally there is the aseptic future, where people are deprived of emotions, where every single planet, or star, or moon in the universe is a "new" colony, but where the real world is only a cherished memory. Both stories in this collection fall in this last setting. Dark Robe Heart: Dark Robe Society 1 by Jason Edding: Jack Harrow is the endless clone of himself. He is more than four hundred years old, but only his brain remembers it, his body is sparkling new, designed to please the whims of his owner. Jack Harrow is a very wealthy man, with the chance to live forever, how many lifes he likes, but he is not happy. Being immortal has an high price and Jack is not so sure that he is still willing to pay it. But leaving the Dark Robe society is like signing your death sentence. Jack is running away, trying to reach a new colony by the name of Europa: everything in this story has a long lost memory flavor, even the name of the planet that could be Jack new land (how strange, in the past when people went searching for a New World they were leaving Europa, and here instead Jack is searching to reach it). During his travel he meets Edge, a young cadet that is travelling toward Europa to start his term of service; like the new life Jack is searching, Edge is new and somewhat innocent, he tickles feelings in Jack that he has never felt in a long time, maybe he never felt. Problem is that Jack knows that there is an assassin out there sent to kill him, and he doesn't want to involve Edge in his run for life. The story is strange, for how much aseptic is the world in which is setting, and detached is Jack with this world and his life, when Jack and Edge are together, they are even too much "down and dirty"; they do things that only in a porn movie you can find... I wonder if this is a metaphor... when you are so detached from your true feeling, you can only feel through your body, and more physical stimulus you can find, more real will feel what you are doing?
The Bright Side of Midnight by Angela Fiddler: this is almost a tragedy; a man whom father and brother betray the colony in which they were leaving, returns back to that same colony to study a virus killing the miners. The man who finances his research is the same man who wants to find his brother at every cost. And Tavish, our hero, falls in love with the man's son, Jordan. But as in all tragedy worthy of this name, also Jordan is dying from that same illness and to delay the unavoidable, he had become addicted to the Dope, a drug that has the power to modify the mood. Who is really Jordan? What does he want from Tavish? Is he another weapon in the hand of his father? There are a lot of characters that came out from this story, Jordan, Fox (Jordan's father's pet slave), Thomas (Tavish's brother), even Royal, Tavish's former lover, but of all of them, the one that really doesn't come out is Tavish. He is a reclusive hero, very few time we share his feelings and emotions, and I really didn't understand his reason to come back to the mining colony. The story ends quite abruptly, something is explained but a lot of points are still pending. I have the feeling that the author is not yet finished with these characters.
Truth be told, both stories have not a real ending point, but I know that Jason Edding has ready a new chapter in his series. Of the two, his story was the one that was heavier on the futuristic setting, he also gave a lot of details to explained the past story of his characters, and the reason why the world is like that; Angela Fiddler's story instead is almost ageless, it could be well being set even in an historical era and still sounds the same: the reason why of its existence it was not the futuristic setting, but the betrayal that lies inside the inner circle of a family, a story old like the time.
http://www.mlrpress.com/ShowBook.php?boo
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Trev is a 400 years old vampire that in a futuristic setting is now a respected member of society. A space engineer he is on a mission with a small crew; he is hardly a favorite of society, but he is accepted inside the community. And this day could be also a nice one since Ash, one of the pilots, made him clearly understand that he is interested in an enjoyable fling during their mission. So Trev is happily taking on his offer and they playfully spend a night together... to wake up to the not so nice discovery that they are the only members alive in all the spacecraft. During the night there was a lack of oxygen, and since Ash has lung problems, he slept with an oxygen mask and survived, and Trev doesn't need to breath to live.Now Trev and Ash are forced to suddenly shift from almost buddy friends without strings attached, to partners for life. They not only have to find a way to repair the spaceship, they also have to navigate it in a place where they could find help. It's a fight against time, since Ash has only few hour of oxygen and he is not considering to accept Trev's offer for another solution.
The story is not very long, 53 pages, but it surprised me: it's very well plotted, both characters are interesting and involving. Trev is not the usual dark and brooding vampire, he is a man who had the time to arrive to pact with life, and found his path; his vampire nature is no more something to hide, but it makes him still someone different, but maybe, for some men, also more interesting. Ash is an easy to go guy, he likes to play, he is probably not ready to settle down, but he is forced to accelerate his journey in his life to commit to a man, that yes, probably would be his choice, but maybe not right now.
I like this book, since it has a strange atmosphere, like an old classic sci-fic movie, once made more by the characters than by the setting, since, not having enough budget for the setting (read book lenght), the author prefers to concentrate on the characters' development instead.
http://www.changelingpress.com/index.php?u
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In a postapocalyptic world, more or less one hundreds years in the future, the AIDS plague has evolved to its seventh stage; now to contract the virus, only a simple contact is needed, worst, even an indirect contact trough an object. Also the world is degenerated, and an extremist church has taken the power: the more tradiotionalist churches, Catholics, Jews and Baptists are considered heretics, and the homosexuals are relegated in ghettos, with the same confinement rules that are even too familiar for who knows history. But people don't know history: they can't learn from the past, since the past is lost. People remember bits of history and recreate their own personal history. San Francisco has one of the biggest ghetto, Angel Land, former The Castro, and among the people living there, legends and tales flow; the Parade is a big holiday, no one remember for what, Harvey Milk is a prophet, and people are waiting for his return, the Historic Landmarks (the Victorian House, the Golden Gate Bridge, the Headlands) are places that bound the captivity or the freedom...Among all this, almost a Romeo and Juliet story takes place: Harvey Milk Walton brings a heavy name on his shoulder and starts the story like someone who cares only for his safety; but perhaps his name, or his good conscience, drives him toward another destiny. Elder Aram Johnson should be the enemy, one of those who push people like Harvey in the ghetto, but he is enthralled by Harvey; love for Aram is the power that will change his life.
The story is very complex and long, more than 220 pages of futuristic tale, but it's not at all boring. It has also its tender moment, along with some funny ones also. The love between Harvey and Aram, even if opposed, is easy, and they are really tender together; this is strictly a romance, not an erotic romance: there is not gratuitous sex, but only love. Love is a gentle companion of Harvey and Aram's path toward a different future, but it's not the main event in the story. And once again Victor J. Banis proves that he believes in bitter happily ever after: there is hope at the end of the path, but it's not simple and easy to reach it, and not at all immediate.
The book carries on a lot of messages: learn from the past, don't forget what was before you, be open to all the people, even to those who should be your enemy, never cease to fight and be always careful even when it seems that you have won, the evil can raise its head in every moment.
http://www.mlrbooks.com/ShowBook.php?boo
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John is a space pilot stranded in a strange planet without memory of his past life. He is hold in captivity by Tryl, a strong and domineering cat man who makes him his sex slave.In this strange planet couples are made by a master and a slave and Tryl has decided to finally pairs with this blond hair and pink skin man he calls Yai. Yai is tender and cute, he fears everything, but not this big and impressive cat man, who makes love to him so tenderly. And he also takes care of him and Yai, for the first time, feels like someone loves him.
Yai is more than willing to accept his new state of slave. He likes Tryl and not objects to be his sex toy. He wants to please him, he likes to please others, and the reward he receives pleasing Tryl is very sweet. Yai is a strange character, I can't understand how old he is, but he looks to be very young and very innocent.
Tryl is a very self-conscious man. He has no doubt he will take Yai as slave and that Yai will not deny him. He is a leader and he really thinks that being his slave Yai will have a better quality of live than he had previously. If not for the gentle manners he has with Yai, he would be a very irritating character. But he is so gentle and caring with Yai, that you forgive everything to him.
This is a really classical yaoi story. The very elements of the genre are abundantly used in the plot: the cute uke, with watery eyes and shy behavior, the strong seme, tall and powerful, who pleased his slave but also punished him when necessary, bringing pleasure with pain.
Even if pretty short, it is an arousing tale with two complete characters who remind me of an old "bodice-ripper" romance, The Warrior's Woman by Johanna Lindsey.
http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?m
Amazon: Cat Toy
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Well, well, well, it's not easy to write something on this book and let you understand the mixed feelings it gave me. Hajiri is a former gunwhore (a mix between a paid bodyguard and a whore) and now a zonewarrior, a man paid for resolving other people problems maybe not in a legal way. In one of his nightly wandering in the wealthy zone of an apocalyptic Tokyo, Hajiri finds himself with something he is not sure to want, a pet, a genetically engineering mix between a human and a snow leopard. Kenshin, as he named the pet, was trained to protect his Master, and to please him in every way, in and out of bed. He is used to be considered an animal, to live in a cage and to behave like a pet in every moment of his life; worst, he has a chip that, if he "behaves" badly, releases in his system a pain that can arrive to kill him.Kenshin has absolutely need for a Master, he can't live without one, and so he decides that Hajiri will be his next Master, and if he is good enough, he will be the last. And here Kenshin proves that he is not as all the other pets, he is faulted, he has a working brain! And here is my guilty pleasure in reading this story: I liked Hajiri and Kenshin's relationship, I liked when Kenshin behaves like a little kitten, I liked when he purrs and kneals his Master... all right, I'm guilty! My mind continued to send discording messages, saying that Kenshin is not a pet, he is a man, and he deserves to be treated like a man, but then, Hajiri didn't force him to behave like that, and so it's Kenshin's choice; but it's not his choice, he was brainwashed, he has chip in his brain that prevent him to disobey. Here the big dilemma: to be pet or not to be pet? Probably this is the same dilemma someone like me will always have reading a full yaoi style novel.
Other than a strange love story, there is also a lot of violence in this novel, violence that doesn't save anyone, men, women and children alike: the futuristic apocalyptic world recreated by this duo (that will be familiar to whom read Michael Barnette's work at Mojocastle Press) is not a clean and spotless futuristic world lead by technology, but it's more like a big slum with few and elite safe zones. Everything can be bought and sold, above all the human (and not human) life.
http://www.king-cart.com/cgi-bin/cart.cg
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Cover Art by P.L. Nunn
First of all about this ebook it's the nice surprise that it's quite long for a Changeling Press' typical book lenght, 62 pages but small type. Second surprise: it's a very strong but very erotic book, not romance, not dancing around, but full and graphic detail sex.Lachlan is a futuristic Pony Express in an apocalyptic United States. In this world, some places are safer than other: Washington is among the not safe and Lachlan should pass as fast as he can. And instead he stops, not only he enters a downtown pub that it's all than safe and as soon as he enters the place, he is challenged. But the type of war they make there is not the type he is used: they dance! Dance war to challenge each other and determine who is the best. Adair, the leader of one of the gang, is not out typical dancer: he is strong and very handsome, a man who probably could fight also with his fists other than with his legs on a stage.
And when Lachlan questions Adair's skill outside the pub, he asks for an almost rape scene; they have sex rough and fast, Lachlan surrenders all he has to Adair, begging for more. And when Adair sends him away after his best ever sexual experience, Lachlan comes back to ask more and more. There is no romance, there aren't nice words, Adair is a strong alpha and Lachlan is a begging omega, without any intention to question who has the upper hand in their sexual relationship... in private life I don't know, since Adair and Lachlan seem to always being in bed when they are together.
All in all the story surprise me, for its forceful sex, but also for the characters that are not at all as you can expect: Lachlan manages to remain a strong character despite being a "beggar" in bed, and Adair is a total top despite his dancing fight skill... yes, I know, I'm influenced by my culture, I know that if a man begs in bed or can dance it's not said that he should be a bottom, but for me this means that the author was able to go outside the usual boundaries.
Side note: despite the cover and Adair being a werewolf, there is not any hint on sex in shift form.
http://www.changelingpress.com/index.php?u
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Another tale in the Dragons series by Willa Okati, a gay futuristic series where humans mate with dragons. The strange thing in all the tales, is that the dominant character is not, as expected, the dragon, but instead is the human, usually a former soldier or similar. The dragon instead is young and quite cute, and in his human form is a pretty boy, with a witty behavior, but mostly in need to be protected by his mate. Here Kenth is a former soldier who is chosen by a group of people as their leader; the small group of humans, mostly women, children and elders, leaves the unwelcomed destroyed city to find shelter in an isolated cave and Kenth plays the role of leader, chief hunter and healer. During one of his hunting party he finds a very special prey in one of his traps: a red dragon that changes in a pretty dark haired boy when Kenth tries to free him from the trap. Kenth is not afraid of dragons, on the contrary, he has always admired those beautiful shapes in the sky. And when he frees the dragon, he almost hopes for the boy to remain with him; and when the dragon flies away, he makes a wish for him to return.
Baen, the dragon, is a lonely warrior; after to many wars, Baen is scarred and mute, and he fears humans and dragons alike. But this human, this healer, is different, he is gentle and caring, and Baen recalls all the legends among dragons of human and dragon matings. And maybe he would give a try to the mating.
The Dragons series is made of short tender stories, less than 50 pages, setting in a post apocalyptic future.
Side note: since in the past in the comments of the previous posts in the series more than one person wondered about the image in the cover, all the sexual encounters between the two mates happen when both are in human form...
http://www.changelingpress.com/index.php?u
Series: Dragons
1) Dragon's Dare: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/23113
2) Dragon's Delight: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/31134
3) Dragon's Deal: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/35382
4) Dragon's Devotion
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Starting to write my impression on this book, while still all the idea were storming in my brain, probably I realized one of the meaning of the title: Second Thoughts, since all the story in this anthology were previously published elsewhere and Steve Berman collected them and added his second thoughts on them, the author's note, that in a way, I read with more eagerness than the stories, since they told something more on the author, and his interrupted love story with a college roommate, Michael "Mike" Carte, to whom is also dedicated the book, using Catullo's poem "Odi et Amo".Bittersweet: two very young boyfriends, one of the two is sadly ill and needs to have a serious surgery. The other one cheats on him during his absence, just a fling, but it's a way to loose all the tension he has on his too young shoulder. He is not the bad hero, he is only a 17 years old guy who, maybe for a time, wants to love as his age would let him. On the Author's Note, Steve tells us as this story was inspired by a real guy he met once and as in the story, probably for that guy there was a happily ever after on his personal story, but not with Steve.
Secrets of the Gwangi: these are actually flashes of story with two couples and a man divided by time. Two lovers in the Old West, a director of some decades ago, and two stuntmen of the present. I would like to read more about the two lovers even if I think that there is not an happily ever after there. On the Author's Note, Steve tells us of his first tentative sexual experience when he was still a child, and how it was a consequence of telling stories, quite right giving what he became after.
Kiss: this is the bittersweet tale of a guy who is in love with his roommate, but his can be only an unrequited love, since the other guy loves more and with too more people at the same time. I hoped for the guy in love to find something better, if he survives to his second kiss... On the Author's Note, Steve tells us of his first crush and kiss, and one of the first time when he probably should have stopped to think and grasp the moment.
Always Listen to a Good Pair of Underwear: in this nice short story we meet for the first time Mike and young Steve, sharing an apartment as student, the place where Steve's love grew in strenght to probably never leave him after. On the Author's Note, Steve presents us Mike, the man who will inspire him for so many story.
The High Cost for Tamarind: in an apocalyptic world two lovers are too young and tender to be together... I don't know but when you read about lover like that you know that they have no chance... On the Author's Note, Steve tells us when he proudly sold his first story and how he presented it to Mike like a precious gift.
The Price of Glamour: this is a fantasy tale, probably the more light and joyous of the anthology, as you can expected when fey and faires are involved. A fairy and a changeling meet and tighten a relationship that for now is only a partnership but maybe in the future... On the Author's Note, Steve tells us of his college experience, as he tried to socialize, but as, at the end, he cared only for Mike.
Tearjerker: truth be told, I didn't understand so well this story, other than it's really sad... On the Author's Note, Steve tells us how he started to losing Mike way before he really lost him.
Well Wishing: a fantasy story about a salesman, a farmer, and his two sons, a boy and a girl. The salesman is more interested in the boy than in the girl, but he probably didn't do the right choice. Another story with a sad ending. On the Author's Note, Steve tells us how it was hard to think to have really lost Mike and how he tried to replace him with another impossible love. Till they are far from him, it's easier to love them and to see them realize their dreams. One side note: who is the porn actor?
Caught by Skin: in a futuristic world where love is chemical and aseptic, someone realizes that maybe he is losing something when it's too late to grasp and hold him. But maybe there is hope to still have something real. On the Author's Note, Steve plays.
A Rotten Obligation: an hustler is on the road to maintain a promise but he is derailed by love. Will he maintain the promise or will he finally seize his chance to happiness, burning all the bond with an horrible past? On the Author's Note, Steve tells us his own personal hustler story, and as everyone who saw Pretty Woman, also him probably would like to find a Richard Gere for every Julia Roberts (male or female) out there on the street.
Hidden in Central Asia: a gay boy leaving country on a cultural trip, maybe thinks that so far from his real world, things could be different and he can really straighten himself. But what on vacation seems possible, in reality is impossible. On the Author's Note, Steve tells us his own personal het story, and we also know as Mike was again Steve muse, being the lost boy on a dark night in Vintage. Mike with his repressed love and with his anger against life who didn't allow him to be what he would like to be. Mike so strong outside, and probably so scared of life inside.
Kinder: a man is so bound to the past that he probably can't see that he has a different future beside him. I didn't understand if, in the end, he seizes his chance. On the Author's Note, Steve tells us as he always tries to save Mike.
A Troll on a Mountain with a Girl: in a fantasy world a man is chasing monsters... but maybe the reason why he is chasing them is not what you can expected. On the Author's Note, Steve tells us why he is telling us stories...
This anthology is not accordingly to any standard a light anthology. And accordingly to me is not even something you can read one story detached of the others. It's a love declaration and like that you need to read it all together. Giving that the stories were originally published elsewhere and detached, it's also a confession on how the author probably pours all of him in his stories. Some of the stories I like a lot, some a bit less, but I absolutely love all the Author's Notes.
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The title has a double meaning: Pablo is an hustler in a futuristic world. In this apocalyptic setting, the profession of whore is centrally controlled as every other profession, but obviously is not a revered one. There are different level of prostitution, and Pablo unfortunately is on a low level, he walks the street by night. When one of his clients expresses a bit too much of interest in him, bordering on violence, Pablo knows that it's time to change line of work.He replies to an ad by a coven of three magicians in search of a Touch: here the first meaning of the title, a Touch is a human being able to arise and direct sexual powers; obviously this could imply physical contact and maybe also sex, but Pablo is not worried of that. Better being an independent worker with the possibility of choice, than depending on the will of strangers night after night. And here is the second meaning of the title, since Pablo is looking for some touch, but not a physical ones, he wants a connection with someone, something that goes beyond the merely sex act.
The three of the coven are quite different: Zee is gentle and caring, always with a tender touch for Pablo; Tole is brisk and rude, not violent, but he almost seems to despise Pablo; and finally Win, the man from which Pablo wants more touch of everyone else. He can't resist to the beautiful man, but it's not only a physical reaction: Win is among the few who, seeing Pablo, are not only seeing a whore. He is actually interested in what Pablo likes and wants, and put Pablo's needs and desires in front of his own.
The story has a paranormal turn almost at the end, and maybe all the question is not so well explained. In the story there is far less sex than expected and this maybe is not even a bad thing, but above all it's not the multiple menages it was hinted in the blurb. There are only three sex scene, and one you can forget since it's Pablo's work before meeting the coven, the second is the only full and for me interesting one, and the third is more or less a making out with multiple partners but with not full sex included. So, strange to say, the book is more my cup of tea than expected.
http://www.loose-id.net/detail.aspx?ID=8
Amazon Kindle: Utopia X: Looking for Some Touch
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Cover Art by Christine M. Griffin
Lately I was neglecting this furry lovers series by Jade Buchanan for a very silly reason: I don't like menages and even more when the menages is among two male and a female. This is the fifth book in the series, but I only read the first one and skipped the following three since they are all menages. Now finally Jade Buchanan returns to a male on male story, and so also I'm returning to read her. Khalid and Pran's characters are actually spin offs from the previous series, The Felidae. Pran is the Tigris who challenged Rajiv in a tribal tournament in Usama's Journey's book. Khalid is the half breed Tigris and half breed Leo named in Navin's Master's book, the estranged brother of one of the Tigris, actually the only one who has some power on Pran.
I remember that I was intrigued by this possible story and wondered how it could be: till now, the books I read on these two series always paired a strong alpha male to an omega male; sometime the alpha males where two, but always they were balanced by an omega male between them. Here instead both Pran than Khalid are alpha males, but there is not a clear dominant between them. The author chose to balance them in the two most obvious way: Pran is older than Khalid, and so the age difference gives him points, and Khalid is bigger than Pran, and so the physical appearance gives him his points. Since this is a society where the physical strenght is a strong component of the political power, maybe Khalid has some more points than Pran, but not so much.
As always the story is not very long, 71 pages, and after the two main characters resolve their conflict, there is a lot of sex, very physical and with an heavy dose of brutal force, but always tempered by love. Jade Buchanan doesn't forget that, at the end, she is writing about half beast, and so her characters can't be shrinking violet, and they must be driven by instinct.
http://www.changelingpress.com/index.php?u
Series: The Pridelands
1) Darren’s Surprise: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/15629
2) Zula’s Stand
3) Sheer's Choice
4) Griffin's Joy
5) Khalid's Challenge
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Nikos lives in a futuristic apocalyptic world. Earth is regressed to a primitive stadium, and people live in tribes, without all the modern technology. Paranormal creatures are seen as monsters to be hunt like the primitive men used to do with dinosaurs. When young men arrive to the threshold of adulthood, they need to face a monster, a Nightling.Nikos is a Secret Keeper, almost a shaman for his tribe. He is mated by the tribe to Rand, an hunter, but he doesn't love the man. Nor the man loves him back, he uses Nikos only like a sexual relief body. Then one night during an hunt, Nikos meets Alexei and from that moment Nikos realizes that he is different from Rand and from all the people on the tribe, he craves for something more than Rand could give him. Alexei return back a second time and this time he wants to bring back Nikos to what he calls their world; Alexei claims that Nikos is his real mate and that they are fated to be together.
The story is really too short, less than 60 pages, to fully develop all the elements it has: the futuristic world, the paranormal beings, the time travel... it can be only a fast taste of something bigger. So what I liked in it is above all the characters: Nikos is a nice man, with his own desires but with a very unselfish attitude; probably if for him, he would let them go, and lives the life other wants for him. Alexei instead starts as a dominant character to soon turn almost a comedian; he is not at all a leader, he is only a man in search of love. He has not the attitude or the predisposition of a warrior, probably, at the end, Nikos is stronger than him.
The story unfortunately stops quite quickly, and there is not so much insight in Nikos and Alexei's future life. I had the feeling that probably Willa Okati was planning to write more.
http://www.changelingpress.com/index.php?u
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This is the classic apocalyptic futuristic tale. In the previous book, Nickerson, an enhanced paid assassin for the government, was sold for an illegal hunt from his employers; Nickerson is more than forty years old and for the legal government he is too old to do the job, and so, since he has feline genes in him, he is the right target for an illegal hunt. Only that Nickerson was not of the idea to willing go to death, and with the help of a streetmuscler, BalqJaq, a young con who lived in the underneath city, he fough against his old alleys and won.The story is set in a three way world: there are the underneath cities, almost an hell where people try to survive, there is the superficial terrain, a wild zone abandoned by human beings, and there are the space colonies, the civil and "legal" new world. The last book dealt with Nickerson and BlaqJaq's adventures in the underneath world; this one is the tale of their experiences in the superficial world... I have the impression that the next one will be set in the new space world.
Nickerson and BlaqJaq are at the opposite. Nickerson is older, wiser and more experienced, while BlaqJaq is younger, impulsive and a bit naivee, even if he has seen more thing a boy of twenty should see. On the other hand, BlaqJaq is stronger, with a very impressive body, while Nickerson has the grace of the felines of whom the genetic is in his body. Those counterbalanced elements make them a complete couple: no one of them is the master or the slave, no one is the boss or the boy; they have their own duties, Nickerson put the experience, BlaqJaq the refreshing thirst of life, something that Nickerson thought to have lost.
There is sex in this tale, but it's not the main event of the story, it's almost a pass by event, something that is good, but not something that you absolutely need to enjoy the story.
Again the story is not too long, less than 120 pages, and again it has an open ending, to make you want to read the next book in the series.
http://www.loose-id.net/detail.aspx?ID=7
Series:
1) Steel Sleet: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/20635
2) Blood in the Water
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Cover Art by Anne Cain
In a futuristic world, Leon is a manager of one of the Earth station of the Tube, the highway that allows Aliens to cross the universe. It's not a bad job, but Leon is most of the time alone, and he can't prevent himself to fantasize on a particular alien, Endil. Endil is almost like an human, if not for his special tattoo, a symbiotic parasite who lives embedded in his torso. Leon can't help himself to imagine what Endil can do with that tattoo, since there are stories around.Anyway Leon must stop to think since it's forbidden for a station manager to familiarize with Aliens, let alone become intimate. Usually Endil passes through the station without second thoughts on Leon, but this time he seems to have a personal purpose.
Can't say much more on this story, since it's less than 20 pages long, and there is not much development on the characters. We know something on Leon, on his desires and dreams, but nothing about Endil. The story is interesting, the tattoo element quite original, above all for the use that Endil did of that tattoo.
I had in the past the chance to read other work by Helen Louise-Carroll, and they were both original and interesting, but always too short.
http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/Hu
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elisa_rolle- elisa_rolle
- Elisa
Appointments
Sunday: Gay Romance Movie
Previous Appointments Visual Summary 1 Previous Appointments Visual Summary 2Monday: Man Candy Day
Previous Appointments Visual Summary 1 Previous Appointments Visual Summary 2 Previous Appointments Visual Summary 3Tuesday: Behind the Cover
Previous Appointments Visual Summary 1 Previous Appointments Visual Summary 2Wednesday: In the Spotlight
Top 100 Gay Novels List - Simple Top 100 Gay Novels List - WantedThursday: Erotic Art
Previous Appointments Visual Summary 1 Previous Appointments Visual Summary 2Friday: Gay Commercial
Saturday: Around the World
Previous Appointments Visual Summary 1 Previous Appointments Visual Summary 2Adopt a Movie
Excerpt Days
Referrals Program Top 10
The Inside Reader
Previous Appointments Visual Summary2009 LGBTQ Rainbow Award
Main Tags
Characters: Alpha Males, Cinderfellas (from rags to riches...), Friends (with benefits), Multicultural Lovers, Pretty... Men! (hustlers) & Virgins (at least in one way)
Dream Lovers: Cowboys, Pirates & Sheikhs
Erotica (M/F)
Genres: Contemporary, Fantasy, Futuristic, Historical & Paranormal
Length: Short Story, Novella & Novel
Men in Uniform: Cops / Detectives / PIs, Firefighters & Military
Non Conventional Lovers: Elves, Gods, Deity & Witches, Furry Lovers, Shapeshifters & Vampires
Otherwordly Lovers: Angels, Demons & Ghosts
Possible Futures: Apocalypse Now & Back to the Future
Relationships: Bondage / Submission, Breeches Rippers, Coming of Age, Disability, Gay for You, Male Pregnancy, May / December, Ménage a trois (or more...), Silver Romance & Twincest
Settings: Art World, College, Medical Romance, Office Affairs, Show Business & Sports
Yaoi (manga)
From Movie to Novel (and viceversa)
Top 100 Gay Novels List
Amazon Profile
My Associate Amazon Store
Goodreads Profile
Top reviewer
Top librarian
Best Reviewer
Top User
Library Thing Helper Badgers
(Gold Medal) Helper for contributions to any area of LibraryThing (Gold Medal) Common Knowledge for contributions to Common Knowledge (Gold Medal) Work Combination for help maintaining LibraryThing's work system
(Silver Medal) Author Combination for help combining author names together
(Bronze Medal) Distinct authors for splitting homonymous authors into distinct authorsPublishers
List of LGBT publishers (for reviews look the Tags section)
Detailed ListEgo Surfing
Who links me
Statistics
ClustrMaps
| Elisa - My Reviews and Ramblings Country Share |
| Elisa - My Reviews and Ramblings This Year's Visits by Month |
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Disclaimer
All cover art, photo and graphic design contained in this site are copyrighted by the respective publishers and authors. These pages are for entertainment purposes only and no copyright infringement is intended. Should anyone object to our use of these items please contact by email the LJ's owner.
All post tagged as "My Blog" are only announces for the full post on "Rosa is for Romance" (http://rosaromance.splinder.com/).
This is an amateur blog, where I discuss my reading, what I like and sometimes my personal life. I do not endorse anyone or charge fees of any kind for the books I review. I do not accept money as a result of this blog.
I'm associated with Amazon/USA and 1 Romance Ebooks Affiliates Programs.
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