Heart Song is a short story that puts a lot in game. Rafe and Charlie were a May and December couple, and plus there was also a difference in social status, being Rafe only a policeman and instead Charlie a wealthy businessman. But Rage really loved Charlie, and since he loved him so much, he had to leave the older man: he felt that that Charlie didn't love him as much as he loved him, there was always something or someone else that kept a big share of the man's heart. When Rage left Charlie for that last time, he was sure this time he wouldn't have changed his mind, but he didn't know that it wouldn't have any other chance to do that, Charlie dies and leaves behind him a lot of unanswered question, and a letter.Charlie had a son, Stewart, who Rafe didn't know and he meets only at Charlie's funeral. It's not exactly the place to meet a possible lover, above all when he is the son of your just dead one, and Rafe is a too good man to try something. But then Stewart finds him and brings with him Charlie's letter; Charlie knew he was dying and he wanted for Rafe and Stewart to look out for each other. He wanted for them something else? Probably. But that is Rafe and Stewart's choice.
This is only a short story, but I really like all the various layers, all hinted but well managed, the May/December relationship between Rafe and Charlie, their difference in social status that was overcome by their love, the new love between Rafe and Stewart, that someone could see as a way for Stewart to finally have something of that estranged father who left him so many years before... Rafe is not older, he can't be a fatherly figure for Stewart, they have the same age, but he was Charlie's lover, and so, in a way, he was more near to him than Stewart, and now Stewart wants at least a little bit of that love that Rafe had for Charlie, it's another bond to his father.
This is the first story by Jambrea Jo Jones I read, and it's only a short story, so I can't be sure about this author, but, from the little I read, I think there is great potential.
http://www.extasybooks.net/ebjmsite/inde
The Rainbow Awards: Third (and last!) Phase: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/85035
This short story by A.J. Ryan, another pen name for Geoffrey Knight, author of the Fathom's Five series, is a pure fun and naughty sexy romp. Eighteen years old Tommy and his nineteen years old newly stepbrother Dash are all alone for the summer, since they parents left for the honeymoon, and they promise to stay together and look for each other... like asking to the wolf to look out for the sheep... oh yes, Dash will look good for Tommy, but his idea is not to protect the boy. As the author well says, the two boys are very similar... apart that one is blond and the other brunette, apart that one has blue eyes and the other green, apart that one is a wasp boy and the other an Afro-American from the ghetto... yes they are the same in the desire to get into trouble and get into each other pants. Both Tommy and Dash are into sleuthing and there is a mystery to solve: in a small college twon each month, during full moon, a male virgin is murdered. Dash wants to find the truth and Tommy wants to tag along... there is only a problem: Tommy is a virgin! Obviously there is a way for Dash to protect Tommy, watcha bet how much time will Dash take to understand what he has to do? ;-)
There is really nothing serious in this short story, and even if I had too less pages to fully enjoy these two boys, I can already say that Tommy is one of my favorite character of ever. I don't really know if he is really dumb or if he is the most clever men of all, since, in the end, he obtains what he wants and he is the one who enjoyed all the aspect of their adventures. Tommy is so out of every normal definition of man/boy that I sometime worried for him and his innocence; oh no, not his "physical" innocence, that I was eager to read when he would have finally lost it, but his "inner" innocence; he is so open and friendly that everyone can take advantage of him, but in the end, I don't believe Dash is so much different from Tommy. In the end, the author was right, Tommy and Dash are really the same.
http://www.eternalpress.ca/thedarcyboys.h
Amazon: The Darcy Boys and the Case of the Secret Skulls
The Rainbow Awards: Third (and last!) Phase: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/85035
This is quite a controversial short story, it plays a lot on the squicky feelings people have with shapeshifter stories and it's also very hot, being very graphic in details when arriving to the sex scene.Scott lives inside a park reserve. He is used to share the park with bears, he knows them well and knows how to avoid trouble. But then poachers start to kill the bears and the beasts become unpredictable. One night, after a very near proximity encounter with one of them, Scott finds the same bear wounded in his stable and calls Luke for help. Luke is a park ranger, a different type of "bear", but one Scott is bringing a torch for long time.
Scott is gay and he has no trouble with that, when he wants sexual relief, he goes into town and finds someone. But the one night stands he has are always with ordinary man, like him, and instead he likes the "bears" (not the beast but the big and strong hairy men), and in particular he likes one bear, Luke. So when fate brings them together, and Luke is not against the idea to share warm with him in a cold night, nature takes its course.
But there is a little catch, the wounded bear in the stable that disappeared and the equally wounded naked man, Bjorn, Scott found in his place. The strange familiarity Bjorn has with Luke, and how Luke doesn't seem to notice nothing of strange in Bjorn's behavior...
Short story, so there is nothing more to say, if not that, I'm not really sure to like so much the closing sentence: it's true, it's an hint more at what I said in the beginning, the fact that the author is very well aware that she is playing with a controversial matter, what's the point to write shapeshifter stories if the shapeshifter characters don't behave a bit like animals? There are some primordial instincts that you have to consider and preserve, otherwise the shifter nature of the characters has no meaning to exist.
http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/Th
The Rainbow Awards: Third (and last!) Phase: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/85035
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 really enjoy the shapeshifter short stories by Michelle Houston, usually they always have something special, a detail that made it worth to read them. In this case she plays a bit on the classical elements of the genre, the Alpha males and omega men. Ben is a turned shapeshifter, meaning that he didn't born to it but was turned by a rogue werewolf. In this paranormal world, otherworldly creatures like shapeshifters law themself with a Council, and that Council first killed the rogue werewolf and then "trained" Ben to be a "good" werewolf. If Ben wasn't able to fit, he would have been killed. Lucky him he fit but there is a catch: Ben is gay and there are no gays in the born werewolves. So he decided to live in an self-imposed isolation in a remote cabin. Years later he receives a call: another innocent man was turned and Ben has to teach him how to behave or he will be killed. Nathan is young and cute, and gay... I don't know if Ben is more interested in training him to avoid him to be killed or for the fear to loose is only chance to have a mate.
This is really only a short story, probably I summarized all the story in those two sentences above. But as I said, it was very nice, and above all I liked Nathan's character: he is a sweet omega werewolf, so sweet and tender that he can be the perfect mate for Ben, that is not a real Alpha male. In a bigger contest, Ben would have been not the leader, but there, in their isolated cabin, he is the king. And as I said, Nathan is perfect for him; for a real Alpha, probably Nathan doesn't fit, he is not enough perky, he is too sweet-tempered, but for Ben he is right like he is.
http://www.king-cart.com/Phaze/product=T
Amazon Kindle: Taming The Wolf
The Rainbow Awards: Third (and last!) Phase: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/85035
This is another twincest story and so probably no up for everyone out there. I actually don't mind read them, as I said, probably due to the simple fact that, being both men, there is no chance of an unwilling pregnancy that could be quite risky. And so, for me, a twincest has a reason to be if the two men involved are in love, and I don't believe it's so hard that it happens between identical twins, as one of the two men in this story thinks in his mind, it's like loving yourself, a modern version of Narcissus. Plus Dominic e Mason, the two twins, have one reason more to be in love of each other, they have been always two alone against the world: abandoned by their mother when they were still children, abused by their father, Dom and Mason went away to find their path as soon as possible, always together, always relying on each other. They have also one another thing in common, other than the physical appearance, they are both gay, and they live in a small town USA where it's not so easy to find a partner. Or at least so they tell to themself, maybe to hide another truth: they are in love with each other but that love is forbidden.
Of the two, Mason was the first to realize the truth; the shyest and smaller of the two, he was also the one for whom was always easy find a boyfriend. But Mason is hiding behind his "easiness": he is in love with Dom and he knows that, and he is searching to replace his brother in his heart with other men. When that doesn't happen, Mason finds a way to have at least something from Dom: anonymous sex in a bathroom, with Dom that doesn't know who is on the other side of an hole in the wall. But when Dom finds out the true, it's time also for him to finally recognize that truth: why he has never had a steady relationship? Why does he always compare other men to his brother?
This is only a short story, barely a night in the life of the two brother, but it's a very intensive and changing life experience. I like that the author tried to give an explanation to the two brothers' love for each other other than a sex thing. The story has a bit of background, but due to the length, it has not a future evolution: the twins and the reader know that it will be not simple for them, but we don't know, or read, what will happen. It's left to the reader's imagination.
http://excessica.com/index.php/books/tem
Buy at 1 Romance Ebooks
Amazon Kindle: Tempestuous Relations
The Rainbow Awards: Phase 2: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/82368
This short story is a big teaser, and I'm not sure I'm using the word in a positive meaning :-) Joke aside, I like it but after having just finished one of the nicer sex scene I read lately, I'm here eager to read more and the short story is ended, just like that, in a blink of an eye. (big pout).First teasing: the cover. Have you seen that? well obviously you have, I'm posting it very big so you can see it. The cover is actually a big teasing even if it's not fully respectful of the main character, Ankerite is more a lost puppy than a dangerous killer like he appears in the cover. Nevertheless the cover served its scope, since it teased me into getting this short story, even if I usually don't read the shorts by this publisher.
Second teasing: the story. Yes, I know, many of you are skittish when dealing with human and "animal", and thinking at a boy/man who is not fully man and not fully wolf, a guy with eyes, ears and tail like a wolf and all the rest like a man, makes you cringe. Me? it makes me interested. What can I say, I find it cute. Even more when the guy not only has "external" evidences of his nature, but also some inner "urges", like the need to mating, and get all excited around his mate, Linden. And Linden is more a big mutt than a dangerous wolf... right, he can be dangerous if he wants, and he is an Alpha for his pack, but with Anke he is more a both lover than "brother", he represents all the family the boy lost and now he desperately needs.
Third and last teasing... big one this one: the end. Actually also the beginning and all in between. The reader is plunged in the middle of a story, there was something else before, and it seems really interesting, Anke's original family. They need to be wealthy, they hired a bodyguard for their "freak" son, and this bodyguard was a nice man. What happened? where is that nice man? Why Anke felt the need to leave his family when he was only 16 years old? And then what happened before?
On Linden's side: what is his story? Who is Darren? and Cole and Ron? what is his life before that made him such a nice, but strong man? And now that he has found his mate, what will happen to them? This story is just too short to fully satisfy me, I see a lot of potential in this setting, I really hope this is only an excerpt of something longer, just a taste to tease the reader to come back for more. To me, it worked perfectly.
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/p
The Rainbow Awards: Phase 2: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/82368
Cover Art by Evelsys
When I was young there was a cartoon here in Italy that I liked very much. It was about an ipothetical daughter of Apollo, god of Sun, Pollon, and it was Japanese I believe. It arrived in Italy after passing through the censorship and actually very few of the original cartoon survived; I say so since, from what remained, you could understand that the main idea was that all the Olympic gods were highly sexually driven men and women, who practically have sex with everyone (and sometime everything!) was around. Their actual roles were always forgotten and you had to wonder how the human world could function if its gods were like that!From this childish memory, it remains to me a passion for all the related stories about Gods and similar deity, and I enjoy, here and there, a story that mix ancient legends with modern time (see Fantasy Lover by Sherrilyn Kenion).
Venus Envy is something similar to that cartoon, it's setting in Rome instead of Mount Olympus, but basically the gods are the same. Venus in particular, and that is right with her role, thinks to herself like a gift for everyman, and when she is rebuffed by Sancus, god of honesty, she doesn't think twince to curse him with the help of her son Cupid. Now Sancus seems unable to desire, and have sex, with everyone he loves, but has an uncontrollable urge to have sex with evey man he crosses on the street. Being Sancus a good god, with actually a moral, he doesn't find the situation very appealing, even less when he falls in love for Aurelio, a nice man he met one night and is unable to "satisfy" the morning after.
This is only a short novella, so there is nothing much to say. I like one thing in particular, something that is often taught to us in school: in the common imaginary, the Greek gods, and their correspondent Roman version, are always seen as debauched and unstable, always ready to "party" and easy to be enraged, and so also vindictive; the "original" Roman gods instead, always represent something useful and "ordinary", they are more near to the human world than their Greek colleagues, and seems to care more for down to heart things, like jobs and homes and everything related. This is fully respected by this novella, where Venus is a bitch in heat and instead Sancus is more like a library mouse who finds himself in a very embarrassing situation for him.
http://www.cobblestone-press.com/catalog/b
The Rainbow Awards: Phase 2: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/82368
This is the classical example of short story that makes me love so much J.M. Snyder: it's a sweet and tender story, a bit naughty but not too much, and there is no sex at all. It's erotic without being pornographic, and it's all about the feelings, feelings that are simple and warm, like a homemade pie with a spicy taste.Chris and Lee were old time friends, they met when they were still children and never be apart from that moment. Chris is the smaller of the two, in age and body, but he is actually the leader: what Chris wants, Lee does, and every single desire of Chris is like a duty for Lee. It's obvious that Lee is madly in love with Chris, but Chris doesn't really see his friend. Lee is like an old blanket, comfortable and warm, something you always search in the colder nights, but then, the morning after, you leave it at home while you go on with your day-to-day life. And Lee is too shy and unselfish to pretend more from his best friend, it's enough for him that Chris always comes back to him.
But something is changed, Chris has a boyfriend, and now, it's Barry that always comes first. It's on Barry that Chris, a tattoo artist, wants to try new things, Barry is like a blank canvas and Lee instead is already full of their past history together, an history that's inked on Lee's body. Lee is like Chris's photobook, instead of pictures of Chris in different stage of his life, there are his tattoo, from the beginning to the last, all on Lee's body.
Now Chris has to realize that what he has always wanted is right there and he hasn't to search for new shores, he already met the love of his life 20 years ago.
http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/Ta
The Rainbow Awards: Phase 2: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/82368
This is only a short story but it was so sweet that it seemed almost like a full novel, all the events were packed of sweet feelings and perfectly planned.Mason is a former Marine and now carpenter. It was not easy for him to come out, and I have the feeling that he didn't do that until he left the Corps, and now he only chooses partners that are the epitome of "man", tall, muscular and rough. I think it's a double deal: having always the same type of partner let him believe that he is not really "so" gay, and at the same time protect him from a broken heart, those men are not really Mason's liking and so he doesn't risk to fall for them.
But then he meets Avery at an Halloween party; Avery is small, cute, pretty, he is dressed as a fairy! Avery is also a very "domestic" man, he is a baker, and after sex he brings cocoa and cookies in bed! Avery is not a man you can have sex with and forget soon after, not only he is special, he is so sweet that a good man like Mason can't possible think to hurt him in any way. And so Mason, big and sturdy, a fighter, falls into the unwilling trap of the little fairy, a trap made of ethereal bonds, like the colorful wings of his captor.
As I said, this is a short story, but in less than 30 pages, the author manage to have 3 sex scenes in 3 different places, and maybe this is not so hard, but also to actually nestle them in a story, a story that, despite the sex, is sweet and tender. A perfect mix of ingredients.
http://www.king-cart.com/Phaze/product=T
The Rainbow Awards: First Week results: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/81134
Julian is a gentleman of the beginning of the nineteen century. He is wealthy and handsome, and deeply in love with his best friend Richard. But his love is impossible, he knows that, and now Richard is returned from a journey abroad with a beautiful and charming bride. Fortunatey their friendship seems not to be affected from the new marital status of Richard and Julian still have a lot of chance to stay near his love, even if this is a pleasure filled of pain.Richard has understood to be in love with Julian also before his friend. For this reason he has left and searched for a bride to try to forget his love. But one year later his marriage he has to admit that his feelings are still here and deeply than before. And no more he can deny to himself the hunger he bears for Julian. He will do anything to finally have his friend by his side, soul and body.
A very brief novel who explore the hidden world of gay love in the upper society of the nineteen century. The most important merit of this work is that it not underestimate the trouble and the perils to love another man in a place and in a time where this act was a crime punishable with death. Too short to give me a full impression of the two characters, it seems to me that they are sketched with a certain degree of reality.
http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?m
The Rainbow Awards: First Week results: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/81134
It's not the first time that I read a shapeshifter story by Michelle Houston and that I noticed that she is able to put credibility and common sense in a story that is for definition something else, a paranormal story. Her shapeshifter characters are men living in the society, and they have to deal with it. Even if they are otherworldly creature, they are not excused to abide to the human law.And so we have Michael, jaguar shifter that, in a moment of distraction, was taken in shifted form by hunters in search of animal for a zoo. Now it's three months that Michael is forced to be in his jaguar form, to avoid people knowing his true nature and in this way, give away his people secret. While he is in that form, he has a lot of thinking to do, he can do only that, and he realizes how he wronged with his partner, Danny, and the stupid fight they had. But other than these "high" thoughts, he also thinks that he misses the simple things of life, like a shower and television, things that, when he was in human form and recreminating on the loss of his lover, he didn't consider enough to distract him.
This is a short story, 20 pages, but I think it's a very good paranormal story, with two characters, Danny and Michael, that are normal men, in their supernatural nature.
http://www.king-cart.com/Phaze/product=U
Amazon Kindle: Unleashing the Jaguar
Rainbow Awards, The Game is On!: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/80750
With a title like this one I can't no read it as soon as possible! Garett is a cop and a nice guy. He likes is ordinary life and his prim and proper attitude. Late night shifts, a neat and clean house, some sports, a night out with regular friends and his life is pretty full. Not so full that he can't enjoy two nights at his favourite bookstore, managed by two old ladies that treat him like a nephew. And in one of these nights he meets Nate, another regular of the bookstore. Nate is a cook and like Garett he takes off from work pretty late and he likes to pass by the bookstore to rest and relax in the comfy chairs. And when he meets Garett he has one more reason to like the two old ladies who play the matchmaker role.Garett and Nate get along well, even if Garett is a bit uptight and Nate is more a bohemien type. But they have a lot in common, and there are all the premises for a good and lasting relationship to start.
Food and Books is a single shots and so it's not very long, less than 35 pages, but it's nice and erotic. Even if Garett and Nate don't jump at each other bones at first date, much for Garett's decision, they regain the time lost pretty soon at second date. So much of the book is the tale of their second date with two fast and furious sex scenes and a fast glimpse to their future together. But even if the book is only a novella, it's smooth and enjoyable, with two comfy and homey characters, two ordinary people you can easily find in real life.
http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?m
Amazon Kindle: Food and Books
Reading List:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bott
I need to take a decision: or stopping reading any fiction by Rick R. Reed involving the El Train in Chicago or having my heart at peace that when the characters enter the subway anything of normal will happen. In this short story Oliver is coping with the loss of his partner, and husband of only few days, Ryan and he is not doing it well. Ryan was killed on the day they were coming back from their honeymoon, at night, just out of the subway.In the months after the event, Oliver has replayed every moment of that ride on the El Train and the few steps they took before Ryan's killing. That is probably the strength of the story, the author plays with the reader's mind as he is playing with Oliver's: is it all real, or is it only an illusion? The events Oliver is replaying are really happened, or he is slowly descending into craziness. Oliver has even given an hint towards this second option, saying that craziness runs in his family even before all went to hell.
There is a big love story but this is not a romance. It's clear that Oliver and Ryan were perfect together, and probably if nothing happened to Ryan, Oliver would have never shown any mental issue. But the reader has only few chance to enjoy that love, few brief moments before the tragedy. They are not enough for a romantic reader. After that, it's all an horror tale, and even when the incubus comes back to haunt Oliver, it's not love, and Oliver is well aware of it.
So no, if you are a committed romance reader and what your are searching is a fairy tale love story, Incubus is not probably your choice. But if you consider that this is only a short story, and that often short stories lack in originality to be only a sex scene, maybe well written, but nothing more, than Incubus is surely something more than that, and it's worth a try.
http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/In
Amazon Kindle: Incubus
Reading List:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bott
Justin, a commander of a garrison near the Wall in norther Britain meets a man of legend: Falan is a shape-changer, an healer who can shapeshifter in a grey wolf. Justin is not so startled to meet the man, cause he is born in Britain and his mother has raised him with the old tales. Both Justin and Falan prefer men upon women, and so it's pretty clear and simple that they can share something together, without too much problem: they start a relationship, both maintaining their life, but finding a point amid the path to connect.But Justin, even if living far from the politics, is a man of Rome, and when Rome calls he has to respond. But if the call can put in danger Falan and his people, what Justin will do?
Taming the Mountain Mist is a smooth tale, you have a feeling of peace reading it. It's true, there is a clash between two world, but Justin seems to be a man that can conciliate these two worlds. I'd like to read a bit more on this story, less then 40 pages, cause, even if it's a paranormal tale, it's also an historical one, and I have always liked the Roman tales setting in Britain (beautiful one, Born of the Sun by Joan Wolf).
http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?m
Reading List:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bott
Stone is a 36 yeard old historian professor. He is also an historical fiction writer and he has had a sudden success with one of his novel. He has agreed to do a on the road tour all along US and now he needs a personal assistant, cause Stone is blind.Him and his last partner have friendly taken different paths one years ago. Stone is quite independent when he is at home or in familiar places, but in unknow territory he is lost. So here comes Mason, an ex army soldier and then boduguard, who needs something more in his life. And Stone could be the right man. Since the first day they meet, it's immediately sex and fun.
Mason and Stone are the perfect pair, Mason just a little overprotective and Stone not so sorry to allow Mason the up hand in their relationship. Stone has not the usual behaviour of the man who wants to demonstrate that he can do all alone: he has no problem to admit that he likes to be cuddle and spoilt.
Even if this is a sip, it's pretty long, about 100 pages, but it spams for a little period of time and it's almost all spent in the bedroom. But the sex is hot and the characters are interesting. I like a lot how Sean Michael has decipted Stone and his positive attitude toward life.
http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?m
Reading List:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bott
This is a very little jewel. Martin is an american doctor who travels to Cuba on a research mission. He is 32 years old, latin-american with only the appeareance of latin man and all the attitude of an american. He has suffered for love and doesn't want to take another risk. But the very first day he meets Alexei, a twenty years old guy, all love and need.
Alexei is like a stone puppy: do you think this is a strange definition? but no, cause he is strong and determinated but also wants desperately a lover like Martin. A tender and caring lover who can give him an hope for the future.
Even if Martin tries to negate also with himself the growing feelings for Alexei, he cannot leave him alone and when Alexei searches for him, he will run to him, like a knight in shining armor.
I hope to read more by Lee Benoit, cause this Single Shot has left me with a strong curiosity.
http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?m
Reading List:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bott
Even if the cover suggests something else, Restraint is a man on man story. So this is not the trouble I found reading it, my trouble was more on the nature of the story, a very deep intake in the BDSM world to its extreme. True, the publisher warned the "innocent" reader, since this short story is part of a collection called "Raw" (and so it's also explained the cover, that is common for all the stories in the collection). My friends know that BDSM is not my cup of tea. A light BDSM I can read, but as a newbie in the world, I have always said, no blood please and no real pain... So yes, it was difficult for me to read this story since the main focus of it is the "blood sports", Luke, one of the main characters, is into pleasure/pain games brought one with the use of knife. He has always had a fascination with vampires, but more to the aesthetic idea of it than the real meaning of being a vampire. Luke likes to see the blood on white sheets, on pale skin. He has also dreams of having sex with a man who is bleeding to death, and this side of the book left me even more perplexed... I really don't know if I liked Luke so much, I think he is a bit to nut and crazy for my like.
I think the author pushed so much the boundaries for a reason, she wanted to prove that, if these "games" are done by people with a lot of "restraints", then it's possible to enjoy them without danger. She had to describe Luke as a crazy man, to prove that, for real, he isn't. More, she paired him with an innocent looking man, to give a bit the idea of the wolf with the innocent prey, but the innocent was more than willing. It's Evan, the white lamb, who neared Luke and proposed the game. Luke has always behaved in the right way, forcing Evan to face his decision, and being sure that he was 100% willing.
I think that, for a story of less than 20 pages, the author did a good job with the characters and their reason, and there is also space for an unexpected turn, something that reinforces even more the concept that Luke, all in all, is not as dangerous as he wants to appear. But, I still feel to have to warn my friends, if you are not into BDSM things, this one could be a little too far into the world for you.
http://www.king-cart.com/Phaze/product=R
Amazon Kindle: Restraint
Reading List:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bott
Play On is another short story by J.M. Snyder sets around some sport field, this time soccer played by college guys. Sean is a junior at College and also in the soccer team. He is one of the best player but then Cordero joins the team; it's not the competition that distracts Sean from the game, it's the man: Cordero, with his African American look and his cool behavior is like fire for a moth, Sean can't resist to be near the man.Quite daring for someone you don't know well, Sean makes clear his preferences with Cordero the first day, and good for him, Cordero returns the interest. It's hot, fast and often sex till first day, but only after practice; it seems that, other than a great sexual agreement, there is nothing much else between them: they have different friends, different interests... The mood of the story is exactly like that, it's not a romantic love between Sean and Cordero, and I'm not saying that they will have no chance to an happily ever after, it's only that, in this moment, no one of them is searching something more. Now the only problem is to have enough sex to satisfy the initial hunger so that they can also play on the field, instead of playing only out of it. Or the other possibility, is to find the time to meet also out of the practice day, so that when it's time to start the game, they are not horny like two teenagers who have just discovered sex.
Another hint that basically this is an erotic romp, and not a sweet romance (if sex in the shower, on the couch, on the kitchen table is not enough...), is that Sean's attraction for Cordero is very much physical; Sean doesn't even know what Cordero is studying, what he likes, what he wants, he at first doesn't even know if Cordero is gay, but despite all of this, Sean knows that he wants the man; Sean likes African American men, he even tries to melt with the slang, that is not his own, to have better chances at success. So Sean is more attracted to what Cordero represents than to who really Cordero is. But as I said before, for a sexy romp without expectation to be more, this is more than enough and leads to very naughty and enjoyable sex scenes.
http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/Pl
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This is only a short story and it's basically a boy meets boy, boy does boy and... nothing else :-) But all in all in only 26 pages you can't expect more.The starting point of the story is a identity mistake: Orion, a rapper, is searching for a female model for a video. Among the stock of photos the agency sent him he picks up Darien, a dark haired beauty with long straight hair. In the rush he doesn't understand to his personal assistant who are trying to tell him that Darien is a boy not a girl. When Darien receives the call from his agent he wonders why a rapper, a category that usually is not exactly LGBT friendly, wants him for his video. The day after Darien wents to the shot and realizes immediately that Orion believes him a girl. He tries to leave without further problems, but Orion stops him, and not for doing the shot.
While Darien's character and his motivations are quite explained, it's not the same for Orion. Darien is a model, and as all the models maybe he is also a little vain. He knows that he looks like a girl, but he likes himself; he doesn't want to change his imagine most of all since he loves his image. And in his job, it's not a problem, so he has never had to face that problem. When he meets Orion, he likes him as a man, above all since Orion is so manly and strong, a nice and big contrast to himself. Since Darien is not ashamed of being a boy, he never once thinks to continue with the mistaken, he wants only to go and don't have trouble.
As I said, I didn't frame so much Orion. What it is clear is that he likes Darien, both when he thought him a girl than now that he knows that he is a boy. What it's not clear is if Orion was bi-curious even before; I believe not, I think he maybe had some interest but never acted upon it, and Darien, with his androgynous look is a perfect point to start exploring. On this perspective, I don't know if this will be forever love, but for sure it's a nice romp.
http://www.king-cart.com/Phaze/product=D
Amazon Kindle: Dude Looks Like a Lady
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Bought and Paid For is, as the title suggests, a bit of Cinderfella story mixed with Romeo and Jules. Deacon and Parker were in love, both young, successful and happy, Deacon an art dealer and Parker a young promising oncologist. True, their life was not perfect, Parker worked long hours, but Deacon loved him so much that was always ready to comfort and wait for him. Then Deacon's father, a Senator, put a veto on this relationship, it was unacceptable for his son to be gay, and he swore to destroy every man in Deacon's life. Here maybe is the only side that I didn't like so much about Deacon, he had not the strength to oppose to his father, but, as the story was planned, it was also maybe the only good thing to do. Deacon staged a fake cheating and obviously Parker left him with a broken heart, but still with his beloved work as a doctor.Two years later Deacon's father is dead, and without being missed by his son or his employees, and Deacon is free to try to conquer Parker again. A charity bachelor action is a good chance and now Deacon has also the money to be sure that he will be the higher bidder. From that moment on, the story is pretty much a sweet romance, with the revelation that, despite two years apart, both men are still deeply in love.
Both Deacon than Parker are apparently strong men, tall and handsome, but they are also easily wounded when feelings are involved. Basically they are two romantic hearts, they believe in forever and only love and being forced to be apart was almost their death, at least from a emotional point of view. They are like those animals that bound only one time in their life and when one of the mate dies, the other soon follows him.
The author has the chance to push a lot on the angst button, but she chooses to dose it; with Parker's job it would have been easy to arise sympathy for him, and instead she only gave a glimpse on it when serves her to describe how caring Deacon was for his lover. Other than that, more than on the angst button, she chooses to push on the emotional one. Deacon's choice how to use his inherited money, his actions towards Parker, but also Parker's easy conquest, due to his love for Deacon, are all thought to make the reader smile and dream, more than make him cry.
http://www.total-e-bound.com/product.asp?s
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There is no way to hide that Love Bites is a vampire story. It's in the title, it's in the cover, it's in the way the main characters met. Love Bites is a perfect little vampire story, with the classical romance twist: old ancient vampire meets young gothic boy; young gothic boy falls in love with old ancient vampire; old ancient vampire and young gothic boy live happily ever after. So it's not in the originality of the plot that you have to search the interest of this story. It's maybe in the old inner meaning of falling in love with a vampire, that is denying the actual world that no more represents you and searching solace in the night and shadows. Peter, the vampire, represents Matthew's escape from reality; Matthew lost his lover Kevin and for his own reason he feels guiltiness for that loss. Even if he has good friends and a pretty nice life, he can't no more bear the weight of his guilt. When Matthew meets Peter at a party, a total stranger, he knows that following him means doing a very dangerous thing, something that will put at risk his life. But Matthew does that anyway, since he unconsciously doesn't want no more that life. If Peter wants, he is free to take that life: at first Matthew doesn't know what exactly he is offering, but when he knows, he doesn't change his mind. Matthew will become Peter's property, in body and mind.
There is a lot of sex, with some yaoi elements, hair pulling, seme/uke playing, but it's not too much, probably an yaoi inexperienced reader will neither notice them. The sex is a mix of yaoi, BDSM and vampire gothic play, neither of them so enhanced to make the story exactly one theme or the other, and in this way, the story could appeal to different readers.
http://www.king-cart.com/Phaze/product=L
Amazon Kindle: Love Bites
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The Gallery On Main Street by Christiane FranceThe book has a strange feeling, like a river which flows without interruption, sure of its target at the end of the path.
Martyn is an easy-to-go gay guy; he has yet no decided what to do in his life, and maybe he is counting a bit too much in the inheritance from his late Uncle Jack. But when the legacy occurs, it's bounded: he can't sell the Antiquity shop of his Uncle Jack for at least 10 years, and meantime he has to co-managed it with the other partner, the up-tight Simon.
From the first time he saw Simon, Martyn is attracted by the man, but they are like oil and water, they can't mix. There is something in Simon that irresistibly draws Martyn, but at the same time, when he is near the man, they seems to bounce off like opposite magnets. The something happens, Martyn suddenly decides that, instead of repel the man, he would like to go nearer to him, and from a dinner to a sunday spent working together, they find each other in an almost matrimonial routine.
Probably the main contrast issue in the story is Simon and Martyn's differences. Martyn is a young man still in that phase of life when he is not sure of what he would like to do as an adult, and instead Simon is arrived to the phase in which he wants to settle down and tighten some free ends. But after they overcome this problem, all the other aspects of their life match in a very smooth way, and nothing else prevent them to walk together hand in hand toward an happily ever after: I can really image these two, the emblem of the happy gay couple, two handsome antiquarians living peacefully together with a cat they treat like their baby.
This is a quite enjoyable short story, less than 45 pages, good if you want to rest and relax for a bit.http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/Ga
Amazon Kindle: The Gallery On Main Street
Amazon: Les Hommes, Vol. 2
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The reader is plunged in the middle of a strange relationship between Brock and Dakota. Brock is a vampire slayer, but he has a secret, he is an half blood vampire; Dakota is a full bloodied vampire that after spending a one night stand with Brock, found out the truth the morning after, when is attempt to kill the man went wrong. After that night, Brock and Dakota have an agreement: they make favors to each other in exchange of sex... it's a strange relationship, as I said, I think that they are at the point that they find fake reasons to go to the other and ask for sex as payment.But this time no, Brock is really in trouble, he received the order as vampire slayer to kill his own mother. To not bring on the deed, he has to pay off her debts, and Dakota offers the money, but not freely. Dakota is tired of their on / off relationship, he wants Brock all for his own, he wants a life together. It's strange that the one who should be the cool bloodied killer, the vampire, is the one who wants romance and sweet words. But even if Brock fakes reticence, he is till too much ready to accept the last barter.
The relationship between Dakota and Brock is easy, probably due to their past together. The sex is hot but "simple", it's already something steady between them, it doesn't need more; what it's still to be built is the intimacy, the aftermath to the main event. And so the plot is focused more on this.
Forever Yours is only a short story, but it has some interesting turn of events, a thing that I find always a plus. Nor Dakota or Brock are stereotype, the author manages to reverse the situation, making Dakota, the vampire, the hero in search of love and Brock, the human, the disenchanted hero who will find his match.
http://www.total-e-bound.com/product.asp?s
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Without doubt this short story winks at the tv fiction Charlie's Angels. As in the fiction, an unknown man who speaks only through a phone, Simon, owns a P.I. agency lead by three different "angels", three gay men: Cary, the it nerd, Marco, the macho ex-cop, and Rafe, the former actor and make up artist. Marco and Rafe had something in the past, but after a police case ended very badly, Marco ditched the job and the lover. Rafe has never had a real reason for Marco's betrayal, and probably he is still in love with the man. And so when years later, the agency asked him to work with Marco and Cary, I believe that Rafe accepted to have the chance to be again near Marco. In the agency the role are quite clear: Cary is the brain, Marco is the muscle and Rafe is the pretty; and so when a killer starts to target en-travesti man, it's quite obvious that Rafe will take part to a transvestite beauty pageant as bait... what it's not so obvious is that also macho man Marco will have to dress as a beauty contestant.
From that moment on, the mood of the short story is light and most of the time funny; Rafe is all coquettish on Marco, Marco has not the will to resist to his ex-lover, and he more than once surrenders to temptation. Rafe adopts the tactics to put out everything and always, to let Marco know what he is missing. And never once replies to Marco's late rebuttal with anger or offence: Rafe knows that he is in love with Marco and that he is the only man he wants, and so he doesn't see reason to hide it.
Even if there is a killer on the loose, and some casualty on the course, the mood of the short story is always light; I think the author is not taking very seriously the mystery plot, she is more interested in the love story between Marco and Rafe. And then, all the PI agency and mystery subplot is more tv fiction "fake" than realistic, wireless boobs transceiver and unbodied voices directly on the ears.
http://www.total-e-bound.com/product.asp?s
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Onyx is a BDSM night club where willing subs can meet good Doms. Ian was one of the first Dom to join the club, but he is now probably tired of the lifestyle... he is not tired of the D / s plays, he is tired to do that in public, he is more for private games. So he returns to Onyx not to find a new sub, but only to look around. Kale is a 24 years old sub who has recently brought with his Master; it's not said, but I have the feeling that it was Kale who ended the relationship. Kale is not a normal sub, he is blind, and this means that he has special needs... are you thinking that he needs for his Master to be gentler than usual? to be less forceful? On the contrary, Kale needs added stimulation, he needs that everything is done with more intensity and he needs variety.
Basically the short story is the detailed narration of the two scenes in which Kale and Ian are involved. They are particularly boundaries pushing, and where some "kinky" play I have already read before (wax and similar), some other were quite new (medical techniques turned in sex games... don't know if I personally would have liked to be involved in them...). Anyway it's not Ian who pushes Kale, it's Kale who asks for more, and so, if he is willing, it's all right. I think that Kale is trying to overcome his disability trying to feel more with all his other senses. Maybe I felt Ian a bit detached, but he is really caring with Kale, also and above all, before and after their games. He takes care of him, and he is sweet and tender.
For being a short story, it has quite a lot on course, and even if not all the past and the reason of the main characters are developed, it's said enough to be not only a way to read of kinky sex. And above all, I'm always interested to see how disability is dealt in a romance, and I think that this time it was done in a nice way.
http://www.king-cart.com/Phaze/product=O
Amazon Kindle: Onyx
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A Kinky Orgasm is a sweet tale, a bit naughty, yes, but not so kinky after all. There is nothing of kinky in Briar: he is a fine, even if short, man who manages the family pub. After the death of his father he took over the pub and changed something to do it more "young", like adding drinks to the tab, but basically his is still a small town family business. Only that Briar is not a "family", and probably will never be: Briar is gay and he was out also in high school. This led to two things: people around him learned to accept him for who he is, and he had quite a rusty period in high school.Briar as a teenager had a crush on Truman, the local jock. Obviously he didn't say anything, first since Truman was among those high school mates who was giving him an hard time, and second since Truman was straight, always with a cheerleader at his arm. And so when adult Truman enters his pub almost at closing time, Briar decides to hide the fact that he recognized him; but one thing is telling to his mind that he has to ignore Truman, and another thing is convince his other little head... and here is maybe the naughtiness I mentioned before: even if Briar was a skinny teenager, he is grown in a very nice man, and he is self-conscious. He decides to not approach Truman, not since he doesn't judge himself worthy, but only since he thinks that Truman is straight. His teenager crush is a nice memory, but no more something he feels pain for. On the other side, Truman doesn't behave at all as a straight man...
This is only a short story, but it's nice and light, very enjoyable to read. And I always like stories where dreams come true.
http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/Ki
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The Vampire King's Husband is a stand alone book by Amber Kell, an author that in the past used me to short stories inside a series. Instead I believe this short story was planned as a one shot. It has a fantasy setting, an apparently medieval town: the young hero is searching work as apprentice from a blacksmith, there is a castle overlooking the town, the life inside the castle has a strict order level... all hints that the way of life is somewhat historical. Then, here and there, I found some pieces that goes against this idea, one of the young blood donors of the castle wants to be a musician and he plays a guitar, Bastion, the young hero, studied 20 foreign language and he was taught the bare hand fighting... All right, being this a fantasy tale, they are not point that are so important, it's only to let you have an idea of the feeling of the story.Another thing that makes it a fantasy and not an historical story, is that Vasska, the king, is a centuries old vampire. He is still unmarried and he asks the Goddess to send him a mate, Bastion. As Vasska said to the Goddess, woman or man doesn't matter, and so the homosexual nature of their relationship is not something that arises trouble. It's more a question of vicious relatives that were almost convinced that Vasska would have never been able to find a mate. Beside, Bastion is an impoverished nobleman, he is cultured and pretty, so he is the perfect "bride" for the king. There is some "rebellion" from Bastion's side, who doesn't like to be treated like a pretty boy, but basically it's what he is, and the only thing he has to do his to be pretty and to love Vasska.
The story is not very long, less than 40 pages, and all the dangers Bastion has to face are always resolved quickly and without loss... but, truth be told, in so few pages you can't expect nothing more.
http://www.literaryroad.com/product.php?I
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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
This is only a short story, a sexy romp in fancy dress, or better naked, since the two main heroes are mostly in bed than not. Warin is a sorcerer but this time not even his magical power can help him, his sister was kidnapped and he has to pay the ransom. Being a poor sorcerer, a mix between a bandit and a rogue, the only solution he finds is to himself kidnap another person, and the chosen prey is a sad prince. Benedict is the beloved bastard son of a king, but he is not happy; his father doesn't take him in captivity, but he is so worried about the danger around his son, that it almost the same. Benedict has no chance to be what he really wants to be and to love who he wants, another man. Warin met him an year before, he stole an intimate encounter with the prince in a dark corner of the palace and then, like a good rogue, he flies away, leaving the sad prince even sadder than before.
Now that Warin has Benedict all for himself for a few day, there no idea in Warin's mind to behave like a honored man, he has every intention to debauch once for all the prince... only that the prince is not at all against the idea. Moreover, he is a willing participant in his debauching.
The real plot of the story, the kidnapping of Warin's sister and the one of Benedict is soon forgotten in favor of the romp between the sheets of the two men. Actually sometime it seems that the real reason for Warin to kidnap Benedict is not a ransom, or at least not a ransom in gold... the treasure that Warin wants, and that he steals is of a more physical nature, and Benedict has no regret in giving it away: Benedict is like the princess in the tower who, instead of repel the dangerous man, throws down a rope from the window for the dashing and dangerous rogue to have an easiest access to his room.
http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/So
Amazon Kindle: Sorcerer's Lover
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This is the classical story of Prince Charming. In modern time prince charming is Tristan, the loved gay son of a wealthy family; apparently Tristan has had very little trouble coming out with his family, if not having to escape his mother matchmaker scheme to find the perfect boyfriend for his son. But all in all Tristan loves his mother, and so he is again ready to have dinner with his parents and the candidate of the time. Only that for once his mother seems to have find a very possible right man for the role of boyfriend, Cody.Cody was the son of family friends, but it is ages that Tristan didn't see him. And from the last time Cody is very changed. When his mother openly talks of their sexuality, "dear, come to know Cody, you have plenty in common, he is gay like you..:", Cody seems to react in an unexpected way. Only to offer sex and nothing less as soon as they are alone. Maybe the shift from Tristan being pissed off from his mother matchmaking plan, and him declaring love to Cody is a bit to sudden for my taste, I haven't had the chance to feel the change in Tristan, but he explains it as love at first sight, something that seems to recur quite often in his family.
What it's nice in this short story is the contrast between Cody and Tristan's upbringing, and how it influenced their adult life. Tristan, to be gentle, is a spoiled son; he is sure and at ease with himself due to the fact that he has received all the possible love from his parents. He is a dominant, or at least he declares so, but he is not a master in the strict BDSM way; he likes to play the role in the bedroom, but he doesn't push it into real life; he takes lightly all the aspect of that world, safe words, collars, dominance, and so he seems more someone who is playing that someone who is taking seriously all the matter.
On the other hand, Cody has had a very bad experience with his family, he was rejected when he was only 15 years old. For nature he is a submissive, but first he had to learn how to be independent very soon, and so, in a way, this ruined him for a real submissive role, and second, he doesn't trust no one, not even his supposedly master. I believe that Cody would never been able to be in a real D / s relationship, he can force himself only so far to accept someone like Tristan, someone who plays a mild version of the game.
The merit of the book is to have a wider breath than a short story, actually when I closed it, I had the feeling to have just read a nice novella, even maybe a nice beginning of a longer book. There is still plenty to say about these two, and I would like to read it.
http://www.total-e-bound.com/product.asp?s
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I have the idea that there are two Rick R. Reed out there; one that tends toward the horror side when he writes long novels, and one that prefers hot and dirty erotica when he writes short stories. Then I know that he is the same person since, long or short, his characters are always deep, with a background and a future, even if their story lasts only 30 pages.Josh is a young college student at the end of the '70. At 18 years old he has not enough money to pay for College and so he takes a summer job in a pottery. Nothing fancy or artistic, he basically shifts crates. Josh is also gay but still in the closet, and at the end of the '70 it's not like you can come out and live happily ever after. And so to Josh, the summer is like a torture, being near so many sweaty bodies and not being able to "taste" any of them. He fantasizes about Dale, another young man working there, but he has no the courage to speak to him... Dale is all "straight" man and probably a blue collar worker, so what young Josh, gay and scholar, could have in common with him? To distance them even more, Dale discovers Josh while he is giving head to Kevin, their boss. From that moment on Dale spends the summer avoiding Josh, and Josh is fearing his last day at the pottery, when he will loose Dale and all his summer wet dreams.
Even if short, there is almost a "scary" twist right at the end of the story (and here the "usual" Rick R. Reed comes out again), that actually makes it something more than a simple piece of erotica. I continue to use the word erotica instead of romance, since it's not love that Josh is searching, he is an horny 18 years old guy, and in that moment of his life, he needs more a sex than love. And also the period is right, end of the '70, when the plague of AIDS was not yet fell down on people, and so the only trouble Josh has is to find someone like him.
http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/Po
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This is only a short story, less than 20 pages, but it surprised me with the ability to have an unexpected but well developed turn right in the middle. At the beginning of the story Erik is a leopard shifter who decided to live alone in a property in the wood since he was tired to mourn the lack of a mate. Erik is gay and he loves his pack, he loves his enlarged family made of his brothers, sisters and nephews, but he was tired to be "pointed out" how the unmated leopard. There were no other gay leopard in the pack and in the end Erik chose to stay alone.
Then one night he sees a man swimming in the lake near his home. Erik smells another shifter leopard and decides to make friends; the other man, Brandon, is younger and apparently skittish, but when Erik lets the guard down, Brandon unveils a stronger core and a very alpha attitude. It is not a chance encounter, and Brandon has his own plan on Erick.
The sudden change in Brandon's behavior is reflected in Erik; Erik is older and a strong leopard, but he is a beta, he needs the lead of an alpha man, and living along, he misses that leader. Apparently Brandon is not the right man, he is too young and not enough forceful, but Brandon is playing a role, like a nymph in the wood who is enthralling a passerby with his singing and the otherworldly beauty of his body.
Then the story moves on to an very hot sexual encounter that seal their budding relationship, and from the encounter you can already see how that relationship will be and who will play the top. In the end, a real "bravo" to the author to pack all of that in only 20 pages.
http://www.king-cart.com/Phaze/product=E
Amazon Kindle: Embracing The Leopard
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The second in the theme sports series by J.M. Snyder, Playing the Field, is a bittersweet story which is perfectly set in the golf course world. I don't know, but I always link golf with quiet and also a bit of sadness, maybe since ofthen the movie industry influence that idea.And so here we start along the memory lane with Greg, a man that has always dreamed to live of golf and that he has always felt more at home in a golf club than everywhere else. He has now the perfect life, he lives and works for a golf club and he can enjoy its atmosphere every single moment of his life... but maybe the golden cage is more like a real cage, above all when prevents Greg to meet and seriously set down with a man. He has plenty of opportunity to meet willing men, but Greg has a point to not have relationship with customers, and the people who work for the club like him, are mostly temporary worker, today here, tomorrow perhaps.
Greg has never realized as the life is fast flowing through his fingers till the moment he meets again Trey. Trey was the son of the first man for whom Greg was a caddie, the man who helped Greg to realize his dream. Trey was four years younger, and Greg has never seen him as nothing more than an annoying kid. Not even when Greg started to have feelings for other men, he thought twice to Trey. But now Trey is back again in his life, all grown up and willing... where all those years went? Is it possible that, while Greg was living in his golden cage, the world outside move one? The meeting of the two men should be a nice chance for Greg to have some fun, and instead it starts a chain in Greg's mind that will lead him to wonder if what he has is what he really wants, and if Trey could be something more of a weekend fling. At the same time, the thought to having a relationship with Trey means, in a way, to close a chapter of his life that probably Greg is not yet ready to do, if Trey remains the little annoyng kid of his memories, Greg will remain forever the young man with great expectation.
For a 40 pages long short story, Tee'd Off has two round characters and a nice set, and it's really an enjoyable story, above all, as I said, for the setting in an exclusive golf club, and for the taste of a life that not all people can have.
http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/Te
Series: Playing the Field
1) Faceoff: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/58298
2) Tee'd Off
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This is a funny little romp, less than 20 pages and all a show of the skill of the author in puns intended. The Old Santa Claus is passed away, bless him, and a new Santa Claus is needed; since the time has changed and the grandpa look is no more fashion, the Committee chooses a 23 years old hunk who likes to be called Kid Christmas... he loves all the Old Western things, and he has a very interesting six "shooter"...But there is also a villain that doesn't like Christmas, Snow Globes (and yes he has very big globes) and kidnaps the Kid. Only that, even if full of initiatives, our Kid is easily distracted by big... globes, and so he has no easy way with Snow Globes and his army of icy willie...
All right, how can I be serious in a tale like that? You can only read and enjoy and play with the author with the all too obvious puns and dreaming that, if wars would be fight in that way, it would be a more interesting world!
I like Eric Arvin's work; he is desecrating and funny, sometime also creepy (but not in this tale); I believe that he loves the old classic (movie and similar) and he enjoys to give them a new "twist".
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/advent.h
Reading List:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bott
Cover Art by AbsolutBlue
Amber Kell continues in her paranormal series this time exploring another classical hero of the genre, the vampire lover.Calvin is a young carpenter who is working for Anthony, the architecture who is building a paranormal posh hotel. Anthony's consultant for all it's vampire is Alesandro, a fashionable and very handsome vampire, who since the first moment is attracted by Calvin. But Calvin has two reasons to avoid Alesandro's attention, one he doesn't see what a gorgeous vampire like Alesandro could see in a simple man like Calvin, and two, he has an hidden plan to kidnap Anthony. Calvin's sister was taken in captivity by a stranger and the price for her freedom is Anthony.
In comparison to the other two books in the series, Courting Calvin is a little less sexy and a bit more simple. I think it's almost a passing book, a little step more in the series; Calvin and Alesandro are side characters in the series, friends of friends, and so it's their story, almost a side story in the main series.
As always I think it has potential, but in this case the potential is more linked to the whole series than in this single story that nevertheless it's necessary you read if you want to follow the series. And finally I have a little doubt: in book two the author says that Anthony's grandfather is Zeus; in this book Anthony's grandfather is Odin... they are two different grandfathers, one by his mother side and one by his father side, or the author gets a bit confused? Probably I have to read the following books in the series to have an answer.
http://www.literaryroad.com/product.php?I
Amazon Kindle: Courting Calvin
Series: Moon Pack
1) Attracting Anthony: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/55854
2) Baiting Ben: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/64030
3) Courting Calvin
Reading List:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bott
Sam has just lost his job as IT engineering, but sincerely he is not so much worried. He takes those days at home as an unexpected leave and decides to enjoy his time; he starts gping every matinee to the near theater where they air old Hollywood movie, like Casablanca... actually they air "only" Casablanca, and after few days Sam is more interested in Marc, the dogsbody of the theater, and finally one day he asks him out.Sam is a nice guy, maybe a bit too carefree, at 33 years old he is still living like there is no today, but all in all he is also a romantic guy (he likes old movies) and he can be easily convinced to set down if he finds the right guy. Marc on the other hand is an enigma; he is not so young, 44 years old, but he is still living like in the past. He is at comfort inside the theater but he seems quite reluctant to leave those walls. At one moment I almost thought that there was some paranormal element that bonded Marc to the theater, but it was only a feeling due to the fact that Marc is really skittish and almost scared outside the theater, and instead inside he is a total different man, dominant and confident.
I believe that the main interest in the story is that the two main characters are not so young, but they seem "suspended" in time: Sam due to his momentarily job break and Marc with his working for a "dying" place like that old fashioned theater. For their relationship to work, they probably have to break that binding spell, to start to live in the real world. The story is short, less than 40 pages, and also quite daring on the erotic side (two sex scenes and an almost solo under a shower), but I like the feeling of it, in particular Marc was a really romantic hero.
http://www.king-cart.com/Phaze/product=P
Reading List:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bott
Baiting Ben is another short story in the Moon Pack series with potential. Amber Kell is playing with the stereotype of the paranormal genre, in particular the shapeshifter subgenre, re-adapting all of them in a gay point of view. This time is the turn of the menages between two strong alpha males who compete for the attention of a cute pretty thing. And since this is a gay romance, the cute pretty thing is an half human half werewolf redhead twink. Ben was part of an Alaskan pack, and he always thought that his mate would have been Dillon; but when his 25 birthday comes and goes without Dillon claiming him, Ben decides to leave the pack and find his mate in the big bad world. The quest is not so long, and the first time he enters the Moon pack nightclub, Thomas smells him and claims him as his mate.Thomas is big and bad, but he is not an Alpha male; he has not the attitude of one, and it's quite clear that the one in command in their relationship will be Ben, the classic top from the bottom. The first days are perfect but then Dillon arrives pretending that Ben is his true mate... apparently Ben is part of a tri-mate bond, and Dillon and Thomas have to learn to deal with it: Ben can't choose between them, he is the pivot, and even if Thomas and Dillon don't feel attraction one for the other, they can't deny that both of them are handsome men, and it would be not an hard task to share Ben. And when Ben decides to play director for his personal porn movie, Thomas and Dillon play the role of the main characters for their little man.
This shapeshifter series by Amber Kell is not bad. Sometime play according the rule, the romance rule, allows you to write something nice and enjoyable, even if maybe not so original (but sometime when you try to be a forced original, you risk to be ridiculous or annoying); there is only one little thing that I found distracting, something I have found also in the previous book in the same series, there are here and there little typos, something a mistake in the name of the characters... nothing important, and probably with a second editing all of them would have been detected.
http://www.literaryroad.com/product.php?I
Amazon Kindle: Baiting Ben
Series: Moon Pack
1) Attracting Anthony: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/55854
2) Baiting Ben
Reading List:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bott
Best Unspoken is a really short story, less than 20 pages and barely a night in the life of Rob and Levi, but it has some interesting points. Levi is a 25 years old social butterfly; in the space of the night we haven't the chance to understand what Levi does for living, we only know that he is living with Rob, a 44 years old high executive. Rob has the beautiful car, the beautiful apartment and the beautiful boy at this arm... and in a way Rob is also the classical "daddy" type: he takes his boy out and let him play with his buddy friends, also naughty games, since Rob knows that at the end of the night, Levi will come home with him.All people around Levi, from his family to his friends, tell him that they don't understand how Levi can be with a reserved man like Rob; Levi is full of live, he likes to go out and dance, he likes to tease and be at the center of the stage, and Rob seems unmoved by Levi's behavior. But they have an agreement, an Levi knows that Rob is pretty much interested in what Levi does, Rob is always there, looking even if not talking. And what at a first glance can appear like a daddy and boy's relationship, in the private of their bedroom can reveal some unexpected turns, that work good since they are best unspoken. There is no need of words between Rob and Levi, they understand each other perfectly, and those few times when Levi doubts Rob, mostly due to the fact that Levi is young and probably wonders what Rob finds in him, Rob is always ready to prove to Levi that they are perfect together.
What is between Rob and Levi is one of the possible evolution of a May / December relationship; Rob proves to be a very wise man, since he can't break the wings of a young butterfly like Levi, but he knows that, if he let him fly around, Levi will always come back in his arms, if he is near and ready to welcome him back.
https://www.nobleromance.com/ItemDisplay.a
Reading List:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bott
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
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- Elisa
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