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
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Cover Art by Anne Cain
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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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
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
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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
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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).
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Amazon Kindle: Mourning Doves
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Cover Art by Anne Cain
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
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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
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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.
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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
Reading List:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bott
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
Reading List:
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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
Reading List:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bott
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
Reading List:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bott
Cover Art by Christine M. Griffin
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
Reading List:
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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
Reading List:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bott
Cover Art by Anne Cain
The circle is close, the last season of this series is began and like most of the plants do in Summer, also the seeds Edor planted in the previous season, are blossoming in this one.As to deny my previous statement that the series is not so sexy, Lee Benoit decides to start this last chapter with a very sweet but erotic sex scene. For the first time I also have a physical impression both of Edor than Cynar, and in this way the author also reinforces the concept that Edor and Cynar are a couple, like Tywyll and Lys. They can share their body with the other two men, but it's more like a pack thing, a way to prove that they are a family, but clearly a family made by two different sets of men.
Other than having a physical impression on Edor, in this Summer I also have also a clear description of Edor as leader of the community that little step by little step is growing around Edor's farm. He seems to have the strange skill to gather homeless and abandoned creatures, they arrive to him like draw by an hidden power: the river that flows beside the farm is the path and when someone in need of shelter is near, he is drawn to Edor... he is like some unwillingly leader, unwillingly since he didn't listen to an holy "call", unless you don't count the call of nature, the necessity to learn again to live accordingly to the nature rules instead of the human ones.
Even if apparently Edor is the alpha male of the pack, both being bigger in body, but also stronger, I believe that Cynar is clever and more aware of himself. Where Tywyll and Lys are almost a "classical" couple, where Lys is the smaller one, the one who needs to be protected and cherished, Cynar has a stronger wit, and at the end he takes Edor around on a leash, always doing what he wants. So apparently Edor is the leader, but really he is only a willing pawn of Cynar's wishes.
http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?m
Series: Servant of the Seasons
1) Autumn: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/30413
2) Winter: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/32312
3) Spring: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/35520
4) Summer
Reading List:
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In a futuristic world Levi is a survivor: his parents were almost slaves in a mine planet and when there was a riot in the planet, first his father, then his mother and sister were killed. Levi was sent in another planet and in the end adopted by a family, but he has never forgotten what he has seen. And his only purpose now is the unveil the hidden truth the corporation which owns the mine was so good to hide. A young reporter with a personal mission, he meets Tiergan, a young doctor in a free clinic in the poorest planet in the Galaxy. Tiergan is the imagine of the devoted doctor, but he is a strange man, once passionate and full of attention, and next aloof and almost sharp. While Levi digs on his story, he finds that the story is bigger than expected and that Tiergan is involved in some way... There is a strange dichotomy in this story: the setting is futuristic, and usually this leads to quite unbelievable events, where all is simplified by technology and where feelings sometime are detached by bodies. For example, Tiergan is a doctor, and the machinery he uses for his work are implanted in him... But this story in particularly has a very earth to earth feeling in it; the world where they live is not aseptic and detached, it smells and has a dark aurea around it, it's not shining and glittering like the shuttles that fly in the sky.
Apart from the story which starts the book, the riot in a mine planet, the loneliness of a young boy and the work of a mourning doctor who wants only to help the poorer, what gave me the feeling of reality was also the relationship between Levi and Tiergan, above all the small details. It's not much the sexual act per se, but more what happens next, how the lovers see each other, how they look at the small details of the other, like a spent penis, or the small scars in the sleeping body next to him, or the smell that pervades the room after sex.
Astrid Amara works more on the details than in the big futuristic picture and she is very good at it. Usually I'm not very fond of futuristic genre, and usually it takes me a lot to finish a book, and instead I devoured the almost 200 pages in only one night.
http://www.loose-id.net/detail.aspx?ID=7
Waiting Reading List:
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As I imagined in the last book in this series, the distance between the pair of amichu, Tywyll and Lys, and Edor, if not physical is for sure emotional. Edor loves the couple, but it could be more a friendship feeling than the type you have for a lover. Edor feels that something is lacking in his life and more he is near to Tywyll and Lys, more he is aware of it. Then Cynar, the other Norvigi who lost his mate, step by step obtains a special place in Edor's heart. Edor can't be for Cynar what Tywyll and Lys are for each other, but Edor and Cynar can be lovers, if both men manage to overcome their natural distrust of feelings. It's not a simple life for the strange little family: nature seems a friend, but everytime other humans enter their little compound, it seems that they bring only problem.
This third chapter in the series is more a transit book: like the first was for the second, with Edor who learned to trust and love Tywyll and Lys, this one I think is the transit one for the fourth, where probably Edor will trust and love Cynar, closing the circle. And so this one is also more sweet than erotic, and also the little sex in the book is more light than angst.
Till now Lee Benoit proved that my feeling in the story were right; I always felt like Edor was not a real part on the bond love of Tywyll and Lys, and it was obvious that his fated mate had still to arrive. In this book I believe that that mate arrived. In the next book I hope to read the realization of the bond love between Cynar and Edor, and to finally find a little of peace for Tywyll and Lys.
http://www.torquerebooks.com/zencart
Series: Servant of the Seasons
1) Autumn: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/30413
2) Winter: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/32312
3) Spring
Waiting Reading List:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bott
In a post apocalyptic world where dragons fly in the sky and the human genre live in what now are the ruins of past city, Alan, a former soldier, decides to find out if the ocean really exists. And when he finds a private shore, he thinks to have found the paradise, but it's a very lonely paradise. After a year of this life, he is ready to welcome every living being. Sian is a rather young dragon, "only" five hundreds years old, and his fellow dragons think he is reckless and clumsy, and so they are preventing him from using the portal to return to the dragon lands. Alone and with the wish to find companionship, he arrives to Alan's shore. It's not the first time that a dragon takes a human pet, but Sian is not a very domineering dragon, he is more a type who like to be ordered around. And Alan, with his kindness and nurturing attitude, his the right man.
The Dragons series is made of short stories, this one is less than 60 pages, that have one thing in common: the dragon characters are not fiery and bad dragons, but rather overgrown pets. They remind me a lot of big cat, with the curiosity and the great devotion they could have for their masters, but also with the mischievous attitude... curiosity kills the cat... better the dragon! but in this case the curiosity is a positive thing and led the dragon to find his mate.
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
Waiting Reading List:
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In a post apocalyptic world, Tetsu is a bond worker for the Iyashii Corporation which rules in Tokyo. But Tetsu is also a sideline terrorist and he exchanges information with his fellow terrorist using intricate inks on the geishas who serve the corporation executives and who Tetsu as head of security forces sees almost everyday. But for him they are nothing else that tools to achieve a scope, all of them save for Youran, a male geisha. He is not Japanese, probably Canadian, and his fair skin and blue eyes makes him unforgettable. Youran's, Western Orchid, real name is Gabriel and he is one of the most sought whores, for his beauty and his ability, and Tetsu can't deny that his interest toward him is more than only for his inks. When he realizes that someone is trying to kill the man, he kidnaps Gabe, officially to avoid that someone can see his inks and comprehend their meaning, but in reality since he can't see the man's death.Tetsu has never had the chance to love. In this post apocalyptic world, love is no more a common feelings, and only the wealthier can sustain the cost of paid sex. For Tetsu, Gabriel is an unreachable dream, since the male geisha is a too valueable good for a simple man like him.
Tetsu and Gabriel are two lonely souls. From different origins, and social status, they find a common path in a similar purpose; they have different reasons to search vengeance, but since it seems that vengeance leads to the same point, they agree to team up their forces. In all this, love seems not to be considered, and Tetsu can't believe that a man like Gabriel could truly feel real desire for him.
Tetsu and Gabriel are not "perfect" hero; they could have noble reasons for what they do, but how they reach their purpose is not noble at all. Without giving up the story, I can only say that, for example, Gabriel will do a thing that in a normal and classical romance would be unforgivable, but here, in this twisted world, it seems the only right thing to do.
The story is not very long, less than 70 pages, but it's very good. I have had in the past the opportunity to read another little story by Ann Vremont, and with this one, she confirms my believe that, in the urban romance genre, she is a very good voice.
http://www.changelingpress.com/index.php?u
Waiting Reading List:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bott
Lys and Tywyll, the two amichu who arrives to Meco's farm in the first chapter of the Servant of Seasons series, are starting to settle into a "normal" life under the lovely cure of Meco. And since the two live according to the seasons, Tywyll is bond to summer and Lys to winter, it's time for Lys to face his "seasonal" sleep. Meco and Tywyll are preparing the turf but at the same time Tywyll and Lys are trying to convince Meco to become part of their couple. Meco has never had the chance to be near another human, nor man or woman, with a love or sexual expectation. When he was an Edor, a construction worker in the city, all the men where sexually inhibited with chemicals, and so he never felt the urge to be with another man. But now, alone in the wilderness, and with two lovely men under his roof, he is beginning to wonder if he lost something, and if he can be part of their love. Probably his reluctance is given by the fact that Tywyll and Lys obviously are one for each other, two part of a same unit.
In this second chapter I understand a bit more both Meco, than Tywyll and Lys's culture. A lot of unanswered question from the first story here find a meaning, and also Meco is a lot more easier to understand. Even if Tywyll and Lys have a great part in the story, I feel like Meco the real main characters.
In comparison to the first chapter, in Winter, other than comprehend better the characters and the setting, there is also a bit more of sex, but always like a supporting way for the men to bond and never like the true purpose of the book. This series is not an erotic series, it's a very complex fantasy tale, and I think that, when it will be complete, all the four part will be a very good long novel.
http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?m
Amazon Kindle: Servant of the Seasons: Winter
Series: Servant of the Seasons
1) Autumn: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/30413
2) Winter
Reading List:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bott
In a post apocalyptic world, Collin is alone: he lost his only friend and wanna-to-be lover even before they can give a chance to their relationship. Nyas is missing in action and now Collin has to convince himself that he has no more hope to see again his beloved. Soon after quited his heart he is kidnapped by Zacharei, a dragon, who brings him in the Dragon lands and in the arms of Avalier, a big dragon with a gentle soul. Avalier was injured in battle and his minds is no more still functioning: he forgets things and he needs assurance. But once he was again at home, he discovered that his human pet, Ka-lyn, went away and no one knows where he is now.
Collin is very similar to Ka-lyn, also their names are similar, and Zacharei mistook him for the other man. Also Avalier thinks he is Ka-lyn, and since the dragon his very similar to his lost lover Nyas, Collin thinks to assume the new identity of Avalier lost lover.
Collin is a romantic, a man who has seen too much and suffer a lot of things, but still he believes in true love and he is able to recognize a noble soul when he meets Avalier. Collin deserves to love again, I'm only a little sad he can't realize his dream with Nyas.
Avalier is a tought but simple dragon. Yes, he has some problems, he has strong reactions, but he is not dangerous: he is too good inside to be dangerous.
The story is very short, less than 60 pages, but it's very romantic. I almost wept while reading of Collin mourning for Nyas, and soon after I was smiling, reading the reaction of Collin to Avalier. The story is an up and down of feeling, and it's truly sweet. I only hope to read more on this series, at its second chapter, and I hope that Willa Okati is thinking to write also of Nyas, maybe giving him another dragon lover, since now Collin is taken by Avalier.
Series: Dragons
1) Dragon's Dare: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/23113
2) Dargon's Delight
Waiting Reading List:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bott
In a futuristic world, I imagine it like a post apocalyptic world where people lost all their technology and are now living like in the nineteen century or before, Edor is a man running away from his previous life, who chooses to live in an abandoned farm. The first winter is really awful but Edor manages to harvest a crop and he gives it to his neighboor to sell and bring back seeds and a beast. Months later, when Edor thinks his neighboor lost, he comes back with seeds and two slaves instead of the beast. Edor can only accept, but when the man goes, he put free the two men, expecting for them to run away.
Tywyll and Lys instead decide to stay with Edor, and they seem bent to make a better life for him, helping him with the harvest and the house. Tywyll and Lys share a bond, also sexual, and Edor sometime envies them, but he has no courage to intrude between the two men, even if Tywyll, and above all Lys, would like it.
Tywyll knows that Edor is like the crop, he needs time to grew and a lot of care to do it in the better way. The first Autumn of their life together is ending and the Winter is near and with it a lot of change in thier life.
Servant of the Seasons is a continuing series, I believe of four stories, following the seasons and with them, the life of Edor. Probably he will grew like the crop and at the end he will be ready to embrace his new life. The first story is setting the basis for all the series and so there are a lot of open points in the end. Plus, I don't know if this will be the trend also of the other enstallment, but this one is almost "chaste", with very few "hints" of sex... well, not that I'm saying that without sex the story is not worthy, only that the author is teasing me with some bratty attitude of Lys, and I'd like to "see" more.
All in all Lee Benoit has teased me enough to leave me eager for the next chapter.
http://www.torquerebooks.com/zencart/
Amazon Kindle: Servant of the Seasons 1: Autumn (Sevant of the Seasons)
Reading List:
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The Regent's Knight by J.M. SnyderIn a fantasy medieval kingdom, Amery is the young regent; his father was lost in battle two years ago and his counselors want him to take the crown and with that the duty to marry and generate an heir for the throne. But Amery cannot do that, since he is in love with Tovin, a young knight he knows since childhood. Tovin is his first and only love and Amery can't bear the idea to lose him, even if for a throne.
During the day, Amery and Tovin hide their love behind quarrels and high shouts, but at night they share passionate and playful love. They are all for each other, they have never known other lovers and they are so lost in their love that sometimes are also reckless and selfish.
This is obviously a fantasy, not weighted by the real history which would have condemned these lovers to be torn apart by royal duty. Instead the story is almost joyous, and Amery is a very funny character: he is so childish and spoilt that only a man blinded by love like Tovin can suffer him without killing the brat. Amery is beautiful and he is grown with the idea that he is the center of his small world. He is not the brave and honorable man who usually plays the role of a king: he is a brat, a spoilt but beautiful child. And he is wanton and naughty; even during lovemaking he proves this side of his character. You have to love the cute uke to love him, but for me he is irresistible.
Tovin is a strong man, but I think he is too often driven by his body than by his mind. I don't want to say that he is dump, no, but maybe he is still young and reckless. And in love.
The Regent's Knight is another tale where the yaoi influence is really strong, with the classic top-bottom couple. And it's funny and lighthearted: a very enjoyable reading, that has left me with a smile.
P.S. Since last time I commented on Amber Allure's cover I don't like, this time I will comment on a cover I like very much and that I noticed on J.M. Snyder's website even before buying the book: this is a cover that would drawn me to buy a book even if I didn't know the author.
http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/Re
Persistence of Memory by J.M. SnyderIn an postapocalictic world the army takes people from the civils and transforms them in killing machine. To prevent every rebellion, they erase their memory. One of this man, Joah, was able to maintain one memory, his name, and with that in mind he escapes.
For destiny or something other, he returns home where Tobin, his partner, still lives. Tobin his more than happy to have the chance to rebuild their love, but Joah doesn't remember him, or their lives, or their love. He only knows that he feels good when he is with Tobin. But nobody who escapes the army still live. Joah will success?
I like the postapocalict tales by J.M. Snyder. They are romantic and angst, but always tender. In this tale we know two boys grown men together, and with them also is grown a love who goes beyond all is known in this world. Tobin is a beautiful characters, but Joah is fantastic: even if weaker in the body, he is the strenght of the couple, he manages to go over his fears to give another chance to their love.
This is a rather short novel but will leave you with a smile in your face and with the believe that love is the most powerful feeling.
http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/Pe
Amazon Kindle: Persistence Of Memory
Amazon: Forever After
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In a post apocalyptic era, similar to Mad Max universe, the world is divided in City and outside clan.Stormdragon, of the Dragon clan, is a renegade. He lost his swordbrother and lover in battle and he wanted to die with him; but his brother rescued him, not for love, but to denigrate him among his clan, a man not willing to reach his swordbrother in death. And so Stormdragon chose the life of the lone wolf, with only his warbike and sword as companionship, only searching the fast way to die with honor.
Flamespirit is a pariah of his clan, which never accept him as a clansman. He is a healer and has the power to ignite the fire on the stones. And he is also a beautiflu man, with hair the color of the flame like his name. He is also an empath and knows that Stormdragon has a desire of death inside him.
But Sandrunner, the former lover of Stormdragon, appears in dream to him and claims that Stormdragon is not ready to die and he has beside a new swordbrother to look after. And so starts the new life of this two men, one who had all and lost it, and another who had nothing and now has the chance to bond with a powerful warrior.
Called by Power is only the prequel of a more complex story I believe. It ends like the old western movies with the hero who ride toward the sunset in search of a new adventure... only that here the heros are two and they ride a motorbike and not an horse. This book is a pure fantasy, with a lot of magic and also a bit of sex, but not much. I hope that in the next book we will see the bond mating of this two warrior, cause I was teasing a lot during the book: all right, Stormdragon was wounded and he couldn't do his due as "macho man", but still... the headache excuse can be use only one or two times...
There is a bit of yaoi in this novel, with Flamespirit in the role of the cute uke, blushing and pouting, and searching for compliments from his man, and Stormdragon in the role of a reluctant seme, first not willing to find another mate, but still protecting him and caring for his health and safeness.
All in all a very enjoyable reading, and I would be glad to read more on it.
http://shadowfirestore.com/index.php?mai
Reading List:
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Noah is a soldier in a fantasy future world where wars after wars have nearly destroied human beings. In a parallel world, Dragons leave peacefully, and they are also strong and rich, and so humans think to grant their favour with a sacrifice, a virgin. Noah is the chosen pawn, but he is not virgin and is not so willingly to be devoured by a dragon.But when he arrives to the dragon land, Zacharei, "his" dragon, is more interested in knowing the human custom than to eat him. An he is also very interested in mating with Noah, and to do so he changes in a very handome young man. But he has forgotten to alert Noah of one thing: mating with a dragon is a forever commitment...
The story is very funny and lighthearted, pity it's also very short, less than 45 pages. It's all played in the dialogue between a witty dragon and an man who is helpless in front of his very handsome captor. At the end of the story, Willa Okati let us believe that we will read more about the peaceful "relatonship" between dragons and humans. I will hope so.
http://www.changelingpress.com/index.php?u
Waiting Reading List:
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First Question: is it a romance? Mmm, I don't know. Well, yes define a romance is always difficult, and usually the only common points I can find are: two main characters, a love between them and an happily ever after. And with these parameters, Steel Sleet is a romance. But I can feel in this book that writing romance is not the mainly work of Eric Del Carlo.Nickerson is a genetically shifted warriors. He lives Off-World, patrolling the Earth colonies on space and preventing the earth criminals to bring their business up there. But then he is sent again on Earth and he finishes in a trap. Now he is on run for his life and he finds a companion in BlaqJaq, a streetmuscle, a type of mercenary who has a moral code, he only works for the goods. And now he is drawn by this man, double his age, but handsome and with a gentle touch he is not used.
The story is mostly about their run amond the underwolrd tunnels to avoid the hunters who are after Nickerson, and only in two brief moment we can taste the passion between the two man, so this is my concern in classify it as a romance. But if you want to read a good fastpacing novella, this is your book.
The book is pretty good even if a little short (less then 90 pages). And I have the feeling (and hope indeed) that this is not the final point of this story, cause even if it has the HEA, it's also an open ended story, so I really want to know what happend next.
http://www.loose-id.net/detail.aspx?ID=6
Reading List:
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Cover Art by Anne Cain
Kendrick and Byron were soul mates and lovers in the middle of the twenty century. They were ancient vampire, living in the human world even before Jesus Christ's birth and death. But Byron was missing during WWII and after 360 years Kendrick is still searching for his lover, cause he has promised to wait for him and a covenant between vampires can't be broken without the death of one of the two lovers.
Now Byron is back, but he has no memories of his past life and of his being a vampire. He, like all other people, thinks to vampires like demons, instead they are fallen angels and Kendrick is hoping to rebuild life in post apocaliptic world where life is a rare treasure. But Byron has problems to see feeding on humans like a good thing even if it brings pleasure to that humans. And there are the vladimires, the opposite of vampires, who hunt on humans and kill them, and for common people his difficult to distinguish between vampires and vladimires.
The book is presented like a yaoi genre. I have difficult to find in this book the classical yaoi element. Kendrick is not seme or uke, like Byron. During sex there isn't a bottom or a top, they changes role on occasion. Even the physical appeareances don't remind the classical yaoi scheme. Say this, if you stop to search similarity to a yaoi genre, and read it like a vampire romance, you can appreciate it. It's original (true the coupling between vampires and angels is not original, but present vampires as angels yes), and Kendrick and Byron are two really interesting characters. Even the fast start, without preparation to the story, is interesting: from the beginning you are immersed in the new world and has to struggle to caught all the details. And then the epilogue, without mercy for the main characters, and with an open point or Josiah and Alvaro... so I.M. Cupnjava is not gentle with her characters, she makes them suffer and deserve every sweet moment.
http://www.ladyaibell.com/
In a futurist planet the men are divided in upper-worlders and under-worlders and they live apart. But then a man from upper-world develop a lethal virus and escape in the under-world. Brandish and four other men are sent to the Council of under-world to ask help. And the Council ask Vee, a powerful empath, to help Brand in his hunt. Vee has always avoided the contact with other men, cause his gift is so powerful that he feels sick among the other people, but Brand seems to be a shield for the pain. And Brand his more than happy to claim this young man... only a little problem... Vee is not soo young as he looks.Brand is a man driven by emotions. Even if he is a soldiers, he seems to follow more his heart (or another muscle of his body, if you understand what I mean) than his brain. And Vee is unable to resist to this man, he is stunned and helpless in front of Brand's passion.
The story is rather short and it is only a first enstalment of a series: it ends so abruptly that I will sure buy at least another chapter, to know how this two men, from different world, and with very different lifes, could be manage to stay together.
http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?m
In a post apocalict Seattle, Yuki is an orphan who was raised and sent to a lab to be genetically modify in a beautiful young man. Now, three years later, nineteen years old, he tries to survive working as strip dancer in a downtown club. His colleagues make extra money whoring themself but this is not the choice of Yuki. Until the night he meets Oram. He is a little older and wealth and asks Yuki to make a private dance for him in his home a week later. Yuki is fascinated by this alluring man and goes to the appointment. But Oram is not a common man.
A very interesting story, but really too short. I don't understand well Yuki's past and also that of Oram. I can imagine the future of the two but some more words can help. The characters description is enthralling, the story not original, but with some good point. I think this was a first enstallment of a series or a tentative for the authors.
http://www.changelingpress.com/index.php?u
In a world where people live more than 20 hours in the stream, Orry, a jacker, finds some files he was better not to find. In an heartbeat his house is destroyed, his mom killed and he is trapped, spiders and auths near him.
And suddenly Dar, a not jacker, and Cents, a former jacker, arrive to rescue him. They talk of a place without stream but with real things, water, wind, colour... And they make love, between them and with him. For the first time in his life Orry feels something real and it's beautiful and frightful.
Orry is a fragile character, he is like a butterfly, could fly near to you, but you are to be very careful not to scare him. He needs a warm touch and someone who takes care of him. Cents is all energy and sassy behaviour, but he is also generous: he is jealous of the love of Dar, but he knows that Orry needs that and he is willing to share. Dar is like a rock: he is the real thing in a world goes mad; he is the anchor for his boys, without him they will drift in the stream.
An interesting futuristic tale, somewhat dark but not to heavy. Mike Shade manages to write a story that doesn't slide in the dark side. It is rather short and you will read it in one session, thanks also to the fastpaced rhythm.
http://www.torquerepress.com/
Trin is a mechanic who lives in an roadpost in a postapocaliptic world. There is no laws and no more cities, only desert and preybirds who prowl on men. The Gunners are men who hunt the preybirds and keep the humans safe. Gerrick is one of this gunners, a free spirit and an easy lover. Trin falls in love of Gerrick although he has never seen him. He asks to everyone about him, gives sexual favors for stories about this man, much older than him. And one day Gerrick comes to see this boy and obviously asks him much more than Trin has given to other gunners: he asks him, without words, his body, his love and his soul. Only to let him soon after.
But Trin will do everything to take this man with, even cut his wings so he cannot fly away from him: but can you catch a free spirit? and if you manage so, Gerrick's spirit will survive?
This is a very melanchonic story, about love and jeaously, about want and need. Gerrick is a strange character, you can love him but easily you can hate him: he is careless and use the old man motto: I love you so I leave you to not hurt you... Trin is young and deeply in love and doesn't want to listen to savy words: he only listens to his heart, even if it led him to a wrong path. He led him to an end that leave you with a bitter taste in mouth, but it is the only real end you can have, cause it is inside the characters.
http://www.aspenmountainpress.com/male-m
Amazon Kindle: Trin
And then another corrupted cop, his superior, and gay in the closet, got freaked he can reveal his secret and sends him in the zone of a biker gang and to a certain dead. But Ice, the gang's leader, save him but also hold him in captivity in his... bedroom. Ice is openly gay and needs him to destroy the corrupted cop and maybe needs him also in some other ways.
Brian is a contradicted character: he looks strong, but he is emotionately fragile. He denies his desires, worse when these desires are for an outlaw like Ice. Ice is the "classical" bad boy outside, good boy inside: if only he was born in the right side of the city he would be the boy next door who help the grannies to cross the street.
A story setting for the most part in a bedroom, it is an enjoyable reading.
http://www.mojocastle.com/
But one night David wants something different, he wants a gunswhore, a mix between a whore and a bodyguard, born in the Liberty Zone, the poor district of this post apocalyptic city. A gunswhore can be a woman or a man, and that night his gunswhore will be Bells, a beautiful boy, even too little and handsome and innocent looking to be a zoner.
But Bells is an enhanced warrior and also deadly. He was hired by the former firm of David to kill him. So he takes him in the Zone, and introduces him to the Sweet Sisters, Pleasure and Pain. And David is like adicted, he can no more live without them and without Bells. And Bells decides not to kill him, but to return with him in his apartment, having another mind blowing lesson of Pleasure and Pain, and... To be continued!
Two brief novel who introduces us to the very imaginific world created by Michael Barnette. Through Nean Eyes was a series who knowingly mix BDSM and futuristic and who features two wonderful characters: the angel looking Bells, with a deadly behaviour, and the geeky Jessman, with a sinful soul.
http://www.mojocastle.com/
Amazon: Through Neon Eyes
Morningstar by Jade FalconerDaniel is a vampires hunter: he is little and cute, with long black hair and pale skin, and no one seeing him could believe he is the best vampires hunter of all. But it is so. Cause under his pretty look, he is deadly and fast and strong. But not quite like a vampire.
And so one night he is cornered by Scott, an old vampire who has managed to survive more than most of the others and who was alive when the world was like we know. Now, in this apocalyptic world, he has long lost the reason to be live and only his inner strenght prevent him to look for the death. But that night maybe he has found that reason again, in the form of a damned pretty man.
They are enemies but they are also lovers. Homosexuality is illegal and Daniel is heager for the touch of another man. He can be a submissive in their relationship but he is a very demanding sub. He is hungry for love, a love he has never known.
Scott maybe is the strongest of the two in the body, but he is, for me, the weakest in the soul: he is alone, and he has lived when the world was a better place, and so now he is haunted by the memories. He needs the love of Daniel to bear his life.
A very passionate tale setting in a gothic world mix with yaoi elements... and with an open ending that leave you eager to read more.
http://www.king-cart.com/cgi-bin/cart.cg
Amazon Kindle: Morningstar
Sanctuary by Jade FalconerScott has changed Daniel into a vampire, the very beings Daniel was used to hunt. But Scott can't possibly survive without Daniel and so he has had only a choice: turn his lover.
Now Daniel has to learn how to live as a vampire, how to feed on humans and hide from light and from everyone else. He has to learn a life of loneliness with only Scott by his side: cause Scott will remain with him forever.
But Daniel wants something more from the life: he dreams of a world where humans and vampires could live together, where men who loves men are not imprisoned or forced to live alone.
And then they meet another couple, Jack and Chris, who accept to try to build a life together, an utopian community, and then other people join and other and other... even better then that Scott and Daniel are so handsome vampires... they don't need to lure people with special power, his enough to kiss them (and make something other...)
This second enstallment his more lightly and less gothic than the previous, and also a little more sexy. Like in the other story, even if in their sexual relationship Scott is the dominant character, is Daniel who lead the story, with his beautiful face and with his dreams.
http://www.king-cart.com/Phaze/product=S
Amazon Kindle: Sanctuary
Amazon: Morningstar: Death and Life
The Professor's Secret Passion by M.L. RhodesNate is a postgraduate student of 27 years old, openly gay and with a brilliant future career. And he is in love with his mentor, Aidan, a 36 years old professor.
And Nate has decided to speak clearly to Aidan and to let him know his feelings and, with good chances, to start a relationship with him. Doesn't matter if he is his mentor, and if he has a position of authority on him. Like all the youth, he wants all and now.
But Aidan, after a night of passion, is abrutply awaken and try to quit his feelings for Nate: he fear not for himself, but for Nate and for his future. But Nate has no intention to accept a no, when the eyes and body of Aidain proclaim a loud "yes".
Nate is young and intense, obviously to all his against what he wants. He is a positive character, who not easily accept a no like answer, and he is able to read beyond the words to the real feelings of Aidan.
Aidan, even if older, is still unsure in the matter of love; but he is not blind to the feelings of Nate and sure doesn't want to hurt him.
Short but intense, this is a story I would like to continue.
http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/Pr
Amazon Kindle: The Professor's Secret Passion
Souls Deep by M.L. RhodesGriffin is a man on flight. His family wants him dead and he has no one and no where to go. He is young and smart but in an post apocaliptic world he is alone. And one night, in an alley, he is shot dead. Or he thinks so. But then Jarrah arrives to help him.
Jarrah is a vampire. A former doctor he cherishes the human life above all. And he hates himself to be a vampire. And like Griffin, he is alone.
Griffin is immediately drawn by the vampire, better by the man, although it is the first time he feels sexual desire for a man. But it is not a gay thing, it is the need of a lonely soul to share its feeling. And doesn't matter if this soul is of a man. Love is above the gender.
A very beautiful novel, very intimate and close: for the most part shared between the two characters, it has also very well written sex scenes.
http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/So
Amazon Kindle: Souls Deep
Amazon: Couplings
In an post apocalyptic world, Dae owns a diner in an almost abandoned city. No law reigns unless the regulators' law, biker gang who patrolling the zone. Dae must protect his younger sister and so he takes on him all the brutality of the gangs member, in particular of the leader. So now Dae is alive but his body is scarred, like his soul. He no more has hope.
But one day a new regulater arrives in the city: Coby is younger but he is also a born leader. But when he is with Dae, he has a gentle touch. He promises not to hurt Dae. He says he will return to Dae every night, and every night he returns. So maybe Dae can find some hope inside him.
This is a wonderful story, of a love who blossoms among the pain. Cody is so tender and caring, Dae, even if he is older, is like a baby who reborns with the gentle touch of Cody. It is also an over romantic story, and of passion, even if you will not find the mere act of sex: the passion is all in the magic touch of Cody, and a kiss will be the ultimate gift.
http://www.aspenmountainpress.com/romanc
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Amazon Kindle: Scarred
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