You can't never forget your first love...Paul is the perfect All American Boy of a small town USA. Quarterback, Golden Boy, wealthy and handsome, he was the dream of every girls in high school, but also of one boy, Randy. Randy was from the wrong side of the city, he was a bit of a goth and plus he was also gay. Not that he could do nothing in the small town he lived, other than dreaming about Paul. And he would never imagine that also Paul dreamed about him.
But eighteen years old are too few to have the courage to do something and so Randy chose to leave the town and made a own and successful career in the IT department. And Paul returned back to home after college to be a lawyer in his father firm and to become the perfect city major with a barbie doll girlfriend.
Now twenty years later they meet again at the school reunion. Randy is a millionaire businessman who admitted to be gay to colleagues and friends, but not with his mother, his only live relatives. And Paul is still denying his homosexuality. But when Paul meet Randy, denying is not more an option, and Paul needs to find the courage to coming out with his parents, but also with all the small town, and Randy with his mother. But a little surprise is waiting our two heroes.
This one is maybe the most romantic novel I have read by Shayla Kersten. It's a very classical romance, with all the little things that make squeeze a romance lover. And then I always have had a thing for first love turning in everlasting love. Plus both Paul than Randy are very nice characters, and Randy is perfect in his behaviour, he knows when to push Paul, but also when to stepback and give him enough room to make his own choices. My only regret is that this couple has to wait twenty years to be together, but maybe is better in this way, cause they are both enough mature to know what they really want in their life.
A very sweet romance, highly reccomended to who wants to see the world throught pink glasses, and sometime this means to have a better disposition toward life.
PS: HOT HOT HOT cover by Les Byerley, I would buy the book only to have this cover, and since the book is very good, the cover is a very appreciated plus!
http://www.jasminejade.com/p-7722-past-l
Amazon: Past Lies (Ellora's Cave Spectrum)
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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
Rase Illion is a forthy something (maybe fifty) multimillionaire business man. He has not made his fortune, he has inherited it, but he was very good in manage and multiple the millions. A friendly ex wife, a son in college, a new trophy wife, he should be the happiest man, and instead he is living an half-life. He always had an inferiority complex with his father, he was never the son his father wanted him to be. First of all he was gay and second he liked to be dominate; when his father discovered it, in the worst way after he finished in hospital due to a too rough scene, Rase again tried to be the perfect son. He married, he had a son to perpetuate the family name, he took care of business family... for thirty years he tried and he was never good enough. Then his father died without giving to Rase the acceptance he craved, and five years later Rase is still in a limbo, not yet realizing that he finally can be what he wants.Gabriel is a young lawyer who lost his work; he makes both ends meet as stockboy for Race's firm and he draws Race's attention when he is found with a pair of cuffs in his pocket. When Rase goes to him in search of relief, Gabriel thinks the man is like all the others, men who believes to buy him, and he unloads on Rase all his hunger. Rase takes all and ask for more; only one night with Gabriel is enough to trigger a series of events that will change Rase's life.
Rase's character is pretty good developed. We know why he acts like he does and what are the reasons for his insecurity and desperate need of love. Even if I can't relate with his need to be hurt, and badly hurt, it's probably something linked with his relationship with his father, some unanswered questions he needs to close like that. Rase is lucky to find someone like Gabriel, someone that care for him enough to hurt him physically, but not to hurt him emotionally.
Gabriel is a strange and interesting character. He is not a main hero in the story, the story is almost all about Rase. And so we have some bits of information on Gabriel, but not all his story. Why he is without work? What happened in his past? Was he really a whore, as he called himself, or was it a metaphoric expression? Why he wanders around with a pair of cuffs in the pocket?
For how much strange it can be sound, I found Uneven a really tender story. Rase is a very good man, someone easily to hurt in his feelings (it's too simple to hurt him in body, he asks for it) and Gabriel seems to understand it, and even before deciding if he wants or not a relationship with the man, he tries to be careful and not to hurt him.
The sex is good, a bit "hard", with a lot of masochism play, so maybe not for all, but as I said before, in someway it's a caring love.
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You First by Kim DareThis is one of the most nice novella I read lately. And it's strange since usually I don't like BDSM story, but this one is a very slight shade of D / s play, so light that it's more a real "play" between the two men than a real lifestyle.
Luke is 23 years old and he is in love for the first time, even if he still doesn't know it; he is having a perfect relationship with Justin, an 18 years old boy he met in his usual hook up night club. They meet two days per week, on Wednesday and Saturday, and even if Justin in way younger of his usual dominant lovers, he is always able to make their encounter perfect. He is controlled and confident, he leads Luke with a skill that is almost too much for a boy his age; after sex, he is gentle and caring, and he is actually able to have a conversation other than during sex. He cares for Luke's ordinary life, he kindly asks how was his day, if he is tired or worried... Justin is perfect, too perfect.
Luke is a submissive, no doubt about it, but he feels inferior to Justin in everything, not only during sex. It's not right that Luke, older and more experienced, is always the first to come when they are having sex. Luke focuses on this point as the proof that he is not right for a man like Justin. If he is not able to outlast his lover during sex, he is not good to have a real relationship with him. With time, Justin will realize how inferior Luke is, and he will dump him. There are a lot of self-consciousness issues inside Luke that are boiling, and he is not able to overcome them; he is so full deep under them that he is risking the first and only good relationship he is having in years.
Justin maybe is the one that I found a bit too much unbelievable. I don't know, maybe it's only since, from my point of view, 18 years are too young to be so self-confident. Justin is independent, with a good work, a car, a good life, strong basis and positive attitude toward a steady and long term relationship... maybe too much for his age? But there are little chances that he is coming from a good and positive environment, from a supporting family that allows him to grew in the man he is now. If so, it's possible that he is so mature even at only 18 years old. Justin has that aurea around him, the aurea of a boy who is happy and comfortable with himself, an happiness that usually is something you haven't reached but it grew with you. And when the turning point of the story will reveal that yes, Justin is really an 18 years old boy, it's even nicer, since it will prove that he is not some aloof and detached sex machine.
The author is really good in rendering the feeling without making the story full of angst. Luke's issues are real, but he faces them with a light and funny attitude, almost all the time enjoying himself and being good for his lover. If there is a little pouting for not being able to last longer than Justin, it's soon forgotten when Justin cuddles him after sex. Overall the mood of the story is more fun than angst, but fun doesn't mean that the story is not well plotted and good developed; I find it's always a bonus when it happens in a novella, since I believe it's harder to plot and develop a good story in few pages than doing it in a full novel.
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Time To Do by Kim DareThis is one of the most romantic love story I have read lately.
Brennan and Rigby are best friends since forever. It's not clearly said, but I have the feeling that they come from middle-class families that probably lived in the same neighborhood and their parents were probably friends. For all their life, where it was Brennan there was also Rigby: schools, holidays and now college, always together and more or less in the same house or room. Even in college they are roommate. Brennan is the wiser and Rigby the happier. Brennan is gay and Rigby is straight. When Brennan came out to his best friend, Rigby said, cool, lets go eat a pizza. Rigby is so comfortable around Brennan that it's not important for him that his best friend his gay; his love for Brennan goes beyond their gender. They love each other so much, that it's almost incestuous to think that something could happen between them.
While Rigby loves Brennan like a part of himself, Brennan is like a brother, better Brennan is a part of his past, present and future, Brennan loves Rigby like a gay man can love another man. Brennan compares every man in his life with Rigby, and every man looses in the comparison. So when Brennan finds a list by Rigby, a "things I have to do" type of list, and he reads that his friend is open to the chance to have sex with a man, Brennan jumps in: he offers to Rigby to be his training ship. Problem is that Rigby doesn't even remember the list, and when Brennan offers himself, it makes Rigby sees his best friend Brennan with different eyes. Brennan has never talked about sex with him even if he has always listened to Rigby's past experiences with girl. Till that moment, Rigby probably has never ever realized that Brennan has a sex life, and that sex life is something Rigby has no part in. It's some side of Brennan's life that he doesn't know, and he doesn't like that: Brennan is him, and he has no right to give himself to someone else.
Now, don't get me wrong, Rigby is not possessive of Brennan in a selfish way; probably if Brennan had a steady relationship with a good man, maybe Rigby could be fond of the idea. But what he is learning about Brennan is about one night stands with strangers in the backroom of some bar. This is no acceptable, Brennan is better than that. Rigby has really at heart Brennan's good, even more than Brennan himself. For example, while Brennan is willing to let Rigby experiment, for the chance to have at least some fond memories, Rigby feels that it's not right for Brennan. What I liked most is that Rigby didn't jump to the obvious conclusion without thinking, he pondered his choice: Rigby had some expectation on his future, a family, children, things that, if he plans a relationship with Brennan will have to change. But again Rigby proves to be more than the happy-to-go guy that he seemed at the beginning of the story: in a way he is way more wiser than Brennan.
The story is a perfect example of two favorite gay romance subgenre of mine, "Friends with Benefits" and "Gay for You". Rigby loves Brennan despite his gender, Rigby is not gay, but he is not even straight; he could be bisexual, but he is planning to have a monogamous relationship with Brennan... so what Rigby is? He is simply a man in love, a man that wants the best for his partner, even if the best for Brennan means that Rigby has to renounce to something he considered important. In the balance of life, Rigby arrives to the conclusion that it's better to follow his heart.
You probably have understood that I'm very fond of Rigby. It's not that Brennan is not a good character, I like also his mix of pretty boy who has the potential to be a strong man; I like how he was always basically faithful to Rigby, if not with his body at least with his heart. I like him above all since he was able to inspire such a devotion in a man like Rigby. But as I said, I think that Brennan is not so wise as he looks, that he really needs someone like Rigby beside him, someone who forces him to face the truth and not to hide; if left alone, Brennan tends to shield against the world closing himself in a ball and not letting anyone inside.
As I said, this is a very romantic story. I like the setting, College, I like how young the characters are, how everything is still possible for them. I like the feeling I had at the end of the story, that this two boys will become happy and strong men, and that probably the life will be good for them.
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Amazon: Perfect Timing Vol 1
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There is a bit of Cinderfella, a bit of The Beauty and the Beast, and yes, also a bit of the Puss in Boots, all mixed together in a resulting tale that is a winning formula. Often I read historical fantasy tale, but most of the time they have not originality, they are only a way to tell a story of man love in frilly garments without the burden to do an historical accurate research. in Year of the Cat, Selah March is not trying to masquerade an historical tale with the fantasy freedom, she wants to tell you a fairy tale, a naughty fairy tale, and she reaches her purpose. Etienne is the third and favorite son of an old merchant. His father always sheltered him from his older brothers and from the outside world. It's not that Etienne is dumb, it's only that he has a gentle soul and a tendency to obey if commanded, and not willingness to rebel. His father knows that, once he dies, Etienne will not survive at his brothers' rage and tells Etienne to run away, in a isolated cottage in the forest. To this exchange there is a witness, a silver cat.
The cat, that Etienne will call Jacques, is a cursed man. More than 50 years before he was cursed by a witch and now he doesn't remember anything of his previous life, he behaves more like a beast than a man, even when he is in his human form. Jacques is damned to be a cat by day and a man by night. And like a cat, he is drawn by pretty things, things with which he wants to play. At first he thinks Etienne being an angel, someone who will surely help him to break the curse. But when he realizes that Etienne is only an innocent boy, he changes his plans: Jacques will play with Etienne, he will use him for his pleasure, always treating him like a precious thing, his precious toy.
And so it's, the relationship between Jacques and Etienne is very strange, their sexual intercourse edges on pain, but then Jacques is always careful to provide Etienne with everything he needs, a shelter, food, books, even music papers. Only that Etienne has to behave, he is Jacques' property, more his slave than his master, even if Jacques tells people that Etienne is a wealthy marquis, and Jacques is his manservant.
It's strange, there is obviously a BDSM tone in the story, but more than a modern thing dipped in a fantasy context, I see Jacques' behavior like something I would expect from a cat, being jealous and protective at the same time of the things he loves. Even the play with knives I found very right, have you ever seen a cat playing with a bird or a mouse he caught? They can be very cruel. So yes, the BDSM tone sounds very good in this fantasy tale, and it didn't ring wrong as other time similar tale did.
And a nice surprise was also Etienne: in many fairy tale, the damsel in distress is not exactly a clever woman... Cinderella, Belle, and other colleagues, if not for the help of some fairy godmother or divine intervention, they were more sacrificial lambs than real heroines. Instead Etienne, even if debauched innocent, has an inner strength that will help him by his own. Etienne is not, and will never be, a leader or a fighter, at least not with his fists, but he is clever, and above all he is in love. But even if in love, he knows where to rely his trust, not on his brothers, or on a wealthy patron... even if in rags and scruffy, his cat / man is the right one. And to add a point to Etienne's cleverness, it didn't take him long to realize that the silver cat Jacques was the same man who appeared to him one night, barely few hours... I do think Belle took longer to find out who the Beast was!
http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/Ye
Amazon Kindle: Year Of The Cat
The Rainbow Awards: First Week results: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/81134
This is the first book I read by this author, and as first impression is a positive one, but I have some trouble in following all the aspect of it. I had almost the impression that this was a story inside a bigger contest, that some characters were already known to the authors and her readers and so she didn't present them. The good point is that, for being a BDSM story, it's very light on that side and so it could be right for a wider audience, also maybe someone who wants to have a taste on the theme, without going too deep into it.Nick is a police officer in Chicago. When the story starts he is barely out of a forced leave due to an injury and he wants to come back work as soon as possible. But then he receives a phone call from home, a place he left months before: his former boyfriend and submissive, Tristan is missing. From Nick's reaction we understand that his feelings for Tristan are not vanished yet, and Nick runs back home. Shift in time: Nick is at Tristan's home and he was found chained in a cabin near home. Why and who did that is not clear, and Tristan doesn't remember anything. It was quite strange to not having any details in those days while Nick was searching for Tristan and the days of his recoveries, plus I would have liked to see Tristan's reaction to Nick coming back home. From what we can collect from conversation and personal brainstorming of the two men, Tristan and Nick didn't have a breakup since they were not good together but for different reasons and due to both men's insecurities.
Nick saw his parents marriage fails due to his mother's mental unsteadiness. Coupling this with his work, Nick wants a reliable partner by his side, someone who can stand the tension and the fear to be a policeman's partner. And Nick is also weary to express his feelings, in a way he is convinced he doesn't love anyone, but probably he doesn't want to love anyone since he is not ready to loose that one. Plus being a dominant lover, Nick tends to be overprotective of his partner without giving him any chance or info useful to understand Nick's actions. On the other hand Tristan is not the usual submissive; he has a business, he is independent, he likes to submit in bed but not in life. He is strong enough to be a policeman's partner, but Nick doesn't believe it. Plus Tristan doesn't pretend too much from a partner if not commitment, and those three words, I love you, that Nick never said.
So no, Nick and Tristan, even if good in bed, are not a perfect couple, at least not till they decide to put aside the too many unsaid "IFs" in their life to give a try to their love.
As I said, for a first time author, at least for me, I did find the story nice, but I wouldn't have minded some connection points between all the events, sometime I felt like I was lost in a labyrinth; most of the story is played inside the two men's mind and the events depend on their inner decision... that's right, it's as it should be, but the two men change idea soo often that also the story is sometime in a buzz: Nick does not love Tristan but cares for him, Tristan does not want Nick with him without commitment, Nick loves Tristan but will leave, Nick loves Tristan and will remain, Tristan loves Nick but will let him go, Tristan loves Nick and will let him stay... In a way maybe it's right like that, we are in the middle of the focal point of a love story, when all is unsteady and the result is still not very sure.
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Rainbow Awards, The Game is On!: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/80750
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.
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Amazon Kindle: Restraint
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Someone could wonder if Remastering Jerna is a romance, and truth be told the publisher doesn't list it as one. When I started it, even I had my doubts, the story of Jerna seemed without hope, harsh and without pity, and love had a very little role. At least the passionate love, since, on the other hand, Jerna loves very much his family, a wife and two daughters, but I saw little passion in it. So for a good share of the book, I remained with my question: if and when I would have found the "romance" part of the book. The if was a legitimate doubt, because nor the author or the publisher promised it to me. Due to all this, you can imagine how glad I was when I finally found THE love I was searching, but, as you can understand, in the end this is not a romance, but more the life journey of Jerna, who starts as a teacher and ends as the taught. Jerna was a submissive for a Master he respected, but I'm not sure he really loved. Even if the Master, Kimis, fulfilled Jerna's need to be dominated, it didn't satisfy his desire to have a family, to have child, and all the other ordinary things of life. Life with Kimis was mundane and good, but not complete. Jerna left Kimis to marry Tyrme, a good woman who, in all the novel, will always have a positive role; but to me Tyrme seems more a good friend, a loving companion, but not a lover. To Jerna's eyes, Tyrme is a whole with their daughters and family, when Jerna is torn apart from them, never once he says he misses Tyrme as individual, but instead he always mourns for his family. With this, I'm not saying that Jerna doesn't love Tyrme, I'm only saying that, as Kimis didn't fulfil every Jerna's need, so it doesn't Tyrme. In a way, Jerna passed from a Master to another, Tyrme is a very authoritative woman, quite the one who leads the family, but he hasn't still found the right one.
When Jerna is framed with a crime he didn't commit, he is forced to divorce from Tyrme and sent to prison. Jerna is a strong man, even if a submissive, and he faces the trial of prison and all the violence inside (also rape), with a strength that seems impossible. It's not a body strength, more a strong will and maybe also something that he learnt from his training as submissive. From the prison Jerna ends to be an endured servant in a brothel, and this means also being a whore: in his mind Jerna doesn't see it as a betray towards Tyrme, since it's only his body involved, not his mind, and above all not his heart.
All above changes when Jerna meets Ria; at first Ria is an untrained Master, who in his fight to find an outlet to his desire to dominate makes more damage than nothing. Ria is not a bad man, but he is not trained. The first bad experience between Ria and Jerna, I believe, is not all Ria's fault. It's true, he is untrained, but Jerna, from his side, has a bit of an aloof attitude, something he has always had from the first. Nor with Kimis or with Tyrme, whom in a way Jerna considers Master, Jerna has ever let this attitude down; he submits with his body, but deep inside, I think he still believes to be superior to them. Same attitude with Ria, even if maybe in this case he is more right than not. Anyway this leads to Jerna to agree to be Ria's teacher, to teach him how to be a good Master. Jerna starts it thinking to teach something to Ria, but I think that, in the end, also Jerna will learn a lesson, and maybe for the first time, he will find the right Master... one who he himself trained to the role. So yes, if someone was wondering why the "remastering Jerna" of the title, when apparently it was Jerna who was remastering Ria, this is the answer: both Ria than Jerna will learn that it's not enough to know how to do a BDSM scene, to have a real D/s relationship it's needed something more.
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Amazon: Remastering Jerna
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Bad Boy Cowboy (Cattle Valley) by Carol LynneAs I just said in the past, the Cattle Valley gay soap opera is a mix of full angst, medium angst and totally funny books. In the fictional gay town of Cattle Valley, every possible type of romance is represented, and this time is the bad boy - good boy play that is on.
Logan is a tattooed, biker and handsome cowboy. He actually is more fond of bikes than horses, but he has also a crush on Jax, his best friend's older brother, and since the man is a born cowboy, Logan chose the same path to be near him. But during the time he spent to grow up and close the 8 years age difference, Jax had a very bad love experience and now he is cautious when he deals with love. And loving a bad boy cowboy is probably not a good choice if he wants a steady relationship.
The book is all spent reading on how both men try to behave in the best possible way to please the other, only ending to make the worst possible errors. There isn't much drama, and also the problems are not so huge to not be easily overcome. The mainly is Logan's trouble with school and his struggle to obtain a GED.
This one could be considered a passage book, a relaxing story between some more exciting and fundamental events happening in Cattle Valley.
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The Sound of White (Cattle Valley) by Carol LynneToday I want to claim a merit to me, the fact to have called for the first time the two on going series by Carol Lynne, Campus Cravings and Cattle Valley, "gay soap opera". After two or three books per each series, they started to remind me a soap opera, with all the characters mixed together, with all the unbelievable events a mind could possible imagine, happening in small town barely able to have a diner, a theatre and a school. But despite the territorial limitation, in Cattle Valley, and its twin small college community that hosts Campus Cravings, you can find former professional football player, Olympic gold medals, wealthy men, war heroes, rodeo champions... try to imagine a dream lover and you are sure to find it in Cattle Valley, the paradise for every gay man.
In this last novel, we have not one, but two stories mixed together: Chad and Richard, respectively the hotel manager and the bar manager of the new mountain lodge which will be inaugurated on New Year's Eve, who spend all their free time arguing and launching lustful gaze to each other, and Collin and Abe, the shyest man on Cattle Valley and the former top-model turned lonely bear in a mountain isolated cabin.
Richard is an old acquaintance for the readers, the man Ezra and Wyn saved from a abusive Master in Oklahoma. Despite his stud body, Richard is a romantic at heart and a submissive for nature. He would do everything for the man he loves, but he learned that dying is a bit extreme. And so now he is wary when coming to love. Chad instead has the classical Napoleon complex: small in height but with a bigger than ever will, he learned that a full frontal attack sometime saves him from the necessity to prove his physical strenght; he reminds me a Chiuaua that wants to control a Danese.
Collin instead suffers from the middle son complex: his big brother was the sport star, his little sister the genius, and Collin was only the good boy, the one to whom everyone smiles to soon after looks up to one of his siblings. He has a lingering crush on Abe, a man who lives in an isolated cabin in the mountain, but even if Abe is not the socialite of the city, Collin thinks neither him could be interested in the shy man he is. On the other hand Abe has chosen a self inflicted isolation, almost a prison to make amends for an horrible sin in his past, and how can a good man like Collin being interested in him? A snow storm that strands Collin to Abe's cabin will help the two to see how much they have in common and how much they were mistaken about each other desires.
As often in the series, there is no drama, no angst (maybe a little in Abe and Richard's past history), a lot of sex and an obviosly and unavoidable happily ever after: if not like this, the reader will now in the next chapter on the soap opera how its charaters are behaving!
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Amazon: Cattle Valley
Series: Cattle Valley
1-2) Cattle Valley 1: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/21160
3-4) Cattle Valley 2: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/28565
5-6) Cattle Valley 3: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/32648
7-8) Cattle Valley 4
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Cover Art by April Martinez
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.
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There are two worlds in this novel and Brandon behaves in a different way according to the world he is in that moment. Inland Empire is the sequel of Cheating Chance; the first book takes place in Nicky's world (so maybe the worlds are actually three), Las Vegas, where Nicky is out and proud and has no problem with that. He has a tight circle of friends and Brandon, his new boyfriend, enters the circle. It's always Brandon who comes to visit Nicky, since Brandon is not out: he is a Los Angeles police officer, and he stated from the first moment with Nicky that he has no intention to come out. But in the first book Nicky was in danger, Brandon had to call for some favor, and in a way, he came out a bit from the closet. Now, at the beginning of the second book, Nicky is coming to visit and Brandon can't avoid to present him to his friends. It's actually the Pink Elephant who tries to hide in a glass shop, since Nicky is obviously gay, he is staying with Brandon, and you can say seeing them together that they are not only buddy friends. I actually found almost irritating Brandon's stubbornness in insisting that he is in the closet... that closet has bigger hole that a wrecked ship.And so we read of Brandon who tries to live a double life: the mostly submissive partner for Nicky, when they are alone, and the bad big straight cop, when they are among other people. It's quite a contrast since Brandon doesn't change so much in attitude, and so it's strange, but interesting, to see him as the bottom in their relationship, seeking Nicky's comforting body and almost begging his love, without actually saying the word, and maintaining that facade of strong and untouchable man; and it's even more strange to see him denying that Nicky is someone special in his life, when it's obvious that Nicky is among the more important person in his life.
Another nice contrast is seeing as Brandon, all straight attitude, is mostly the bottom in their relationship, and Nicky, not exactly flamboyant, but almost, turns a dominant lover in their intimacy. There is a reason for Nicky's behavior, a bad experience with a past lover that makes difficult for him to submit to a lover, so the contrast is not so strange; basically Nicky was a submissive lover, but he got hurt, and now it's difficult to trust again. And Brandon's attitude doesn't help, since, trying to "hide" Nicly with him in the closet, he isn't proving to Nicky that he accepts him like he is, he is forcing Nicky to do something he doesn't like, and ab absurdo, he is behaving like his former lover, taking advantage of Nicky's trust to force him to do something unhealthy for him.
In the end I would like to spend some words on the setting, the LAPD. It's not a "romance" perspective that we have of the job, there are not lonely hero who arrives and burst into a scene alone and almighty, routing the enemies. Oh yes, Nicky and Brandon can play on how sexy can be Brandon with his former motorbike cop uniform, but all in all, Brandon's job is dangerous and underpaid, brought on in poor neighborhoods and among petty criminals, and at the end of the day, the only reward he has is a small apartment and a take out dinner. And Brandon himself is not some perfect hero, who can live as he wants without facing the consequences of his actions. Only if you meet someone special like Nicky, you can have something more, but you need to have the courage to be true with yourself and the world, knowing that there will be no rainbow flags cheering for you.
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Amazon: Inland Empire
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1) Cheating Chance: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/26073
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Cover Art by Pluto
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.
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I don't know, but I have the feeling that Ava March wanted to prove that she can write an accurate gay historical romance... the previous book, Bound by Deception was really good, but, maybe since it was short, or maybe since it was only the starting of a relationship, when all the odds seem smaller, reader actually didn't indulge in wondering if there was historical accuracy.Lord Oliver and Lord Vincent were in love, Lord Oliver deceived Lord Vincent but only for love, and at the end of the novella they were happily in love ever after... or not? At the end of the previous book Vincent admits to be attracted by men, and in particular to be attracted by his friend Oliver, but a lot of question are still opened; Oliver is still a destitute aristocrat that barely makes the ends meet, he has not the wealth or the means to allow him to be above the law, and he is to proud to accept help from Vincent. On the other end Vincent has the means, but probably not still the willingness; he has barely accepted his preferences for men, maybe helped by the fact that now he can satisfy them easily in the safe haven of Oliver's apartment.
But Vincent is not still at peace with himself, he still considers his desires as a deviance and since him first judge them, he has the idea that everyone around him are judging them. And so if previously Oliver, even if poor and out of fashion, had the chance to frequent Vincent in public as his friend, now Vincent limits their encounters to shabby places or in private. Now Oliver, other than feeling inferior due to his financial situation, feels like Vincent is considering him his mistress. So the happily ever after we thought they found at the end of the first book, is not so happily in the end...
And since this is the second book, the author now has the chance to deal with her characters in society... how they can remain inside the boundaries of the ton even after? The obviously and only answer is: they can't. The author decides to not use the easily short cut of making them both wealthy and noble, and saying that the law is not equal for all, that noblemen are judged with a different parameter; the only concession that the author does to the romance, and the romance reader, is to write that the heroes, and Vincent in particular, are still very young, 24 years old, and so the necessity to marry and produce an heir is not yet so imperative... and maybe it will never be, since Vincent is a second son, like Oliver, and if his older brother does his due, Vincent will have a change to become an old bachelor, with a very special friend by his side like Oliver... but never openly and always with discretion.
And so my final verdict is that Bound to Him is less pink glasses perspective that Bound by Deception, more realistic, and being so, feels truer, and probably will appeal to the more selective historical romance readers. Anyway, again, to be only a novella, the quality standard is very high.
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Amazon Kindle: Bound to Him
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Cover Art by April Martinez
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.
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Pet sitting by Syd McGinleyI was wandering around this sip for a bit. I liked very much another D/S story by Syd McGinley, and the first time I read the blurb of this one I was very attracted. But I have to admit that I don't like very much too much short stories, usually they leave me eager for more. So when this morning I read that it's starting a chaser series on Dr Fell, I took the chance to read also the start point, Petsitting.
John is a post graduate student (I think it's late twenty-mid thirty, maybe more). After the death of his lover and pet, Rob, he took a leave from his studies and he chose to move back home to take care of his mother, fighting cancer. Now he is again alone, and he needs time to finish his thesys.
Ben has the perfect solution: he has to go out of town for work and he doesn't want to leave alone his pet, Charlie, a young guy just out of a detox process. John can leave in his house and complete his thesys and meanwhile take a look on Charlie. But when their cohabitation starts, John realizes that Charlie is not at all a good "pet": he is spoilt and lazy, and he needs a firm hand, just like John.
When Ben returns home he almost doesn't recognize Charlie and the new life of John as Dr Fell is starting...
In less than 20 pages, Syd McGinley decipts a whole universe, where D/S is not only a life style, but it's a necessity to survive: for John to give a meaning to his life, now that he is without Rob, and for Charlie to have something to live, something that preserves him to fall again.
Even if there is sex, this is not a love story. It's a journey of two men that temporarily choose to walk together along the path, helping each other.
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Pet Rescue (Lost and Found 1) by Syd McGinleyFirst of all I finish this one in only a day so it's clear that I liked it but still... I have the feeling that this story will make me feel a lot sad in the future.
Lost and Found is an ongoing series about Dr Fell, John. He is a Dom without pet. His former and true pet was killed during a gay bashing and since then Dr Fell lives without a real meaning in his life. He sometime trains other pets for their too tender Dom, but he is not ready to start again with a real D/S relationship.
Then John finds a scared pet in an alley, Jamie. He ran away from his abusive Master, a Master who went beyond what is "allowed" in a D/S relationship. Dealing with Jamie brings a lot of painful memories in John, of Rob, his former lover, and of how he wasn't able to save him. And now he has a chance to save Jamie, and doing so he maybe can put an end to some guilty issues. But John knows that he can't be Jamie's Master, since he would never be able to "master" him with the right dose of pain and pleasure, since Jamie is "damaged", he has suffered too much in his life and now for him pain can't be no more also pleasure.
This is the main reason cause I feel sad. Even if this is only the first chapter of three, I don't think that the following two will tell us about John and Jamie. I fear that John will choose a different path that will lead him far from Jamie. And since I'm an hopelessly romantic, I would so love too see this two together... But this is a problem of mine, cause if I really am into the D/S matter, I would see that John's choice is the right one.
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Amazon Kindle: Lost and Found I: Pet Rescue
Exotic Pets (Lost and Found 2) by Syd McGinleyLost and Found 2 has an happy underlining mood that makes it lighter than the first installment but also harder to digest if you are not into the D/s relationship.
Dr. Fell is become almost a guru among his Dom friends, and he is also a referring figure for all the submissives. For the fourth of July weeks, all the Doms and subs organize an outdoor activity outside John's cabin: there is entertainments and picnics, like those parties at school where proud fathers look how good are their "sons", but also commitment ceremonies which include branding and inking session.
It's also a way to see different Doms at "work" and how they are able to deal with their little brats. There are the old tested couple, like Mike and Chris, a ten years old relationship, or the new ones like Greg and Rory. There is the pet in training Charlie, alias "twink", and the sub in need to be rescued, Rinnie. And there is also the little but exotic hustler, Tommy, that, in the end, will be Dr. Fell next project... will he be also the new pet that Dr. Fell is searching?
As I said, there are some activities we witness reading this book that heavily test my beliefs on what is romance and what is a committed relationship; for me, who hardly consider romance a threesome, and only in certain condition, a relationship where one of the partners can be borrowed and shared like a common propriety is a very difficult one to accept. Truth be told, the borrowed partner is not against the idea, and sometime he seems also eager to be shared, but still... maybe this is a problem of mine, since this type of relationship implies a total surrender from one side and so also a total trust.
Then there is the emotional involvement of John; even if he worries for Tommy, I still don't feel him totally involved in this relationship: he has too much reasoning power, he analyzes things everytime and in every details... since he will not lose a bit of his self control, I don't think he will find another companion like Rob.
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Amazon Kindle: Lost and Found 2: Exotic Pets
Teacher's Pet (Lost and Found 3) by Syd McGinleyYes! at the third story, plus some novella here and there, about Dr. Fell and his pets, I have finally closed a book and started to write a post without having to say "well, even if BDSM is not my thing...".
I like Dr. Fell, truly, but I always had this feeling about his stories, something like I should not become too fond of a "pet" since at the end he would be not the one. All the previous stories are always quite angst, but truly romantic: a wounded soul who, in the healing power of love and discipline, finds solace and is born again; a soul that, in the end, is ready to love again, but not John.
Why everytime John is not reaty to live again? why he always needs to break my little pink romance bubble? Yes, I was a little angry with John, and I almost skipped the third chapter in his series. But then, I wanted to give him another chance and I was right about it.
The problem with John is that he always takes care of the others, the wounded pets, but he never heals himself. And to heal himself he needs to give up the control to someone else, someone from his past, that knows him well. Only then he will be ready to love again.
And so in Teacher's Pet, John becomes the pupil, and at the same time he meets who has many chance to be his future pet for good.
Teacher's Pet is at the same time more angst than the previous book and more romantic. John is not so stern in it, he probably is learning his own lessons, and he lets go more: if he is doing that since he is learning to grow on the pain of Rob's loss, or since he has really met his truly pet, I don't know, but I like him better in this way.
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Deeper Submission (Lost and Found 4) by Syd McGinleyFrom the title of the last novella in the Lost and Found series, you would think that Dave, the new pet of Dr. Fell, is fated to be even more a submissive for the more and more dominant John... and instead I believe that the Deeper Submission of the title is referring to a different type of submission, the one that will see John surrenders to love and to the need to finally have a little family of his own.
Now don't get me wrong, there are no babies or smushy feeling between John and Dave, but there is for sure a different type of relationship than what John is used to. Dave willingly decided to submit to John, but he is not a weak boy who couldn't have a different life if he wants; he is a smart man, with a deep proud, and he will not be the all to dependent man that you usually find in a D/s relationship, and maybe this is the reason why I like this novella, and why I think that finally John has found his match.
John's love for Rob was deep and true, but I don't know if it would have lasted. Rob was the perfect pet, always eager to satisfy his Master, and not only in a sexual way... maybe it would have lasted since John would have not been subjected to years of regrets and ifs. John and Rob together would have been a good item, probably more according the rule of a "classical" D/s relationship. But Rob is dead and John seemed unable to forget him... probably since he searched him in every following pets. When he stopped that uselessly search and accepted a man totally different than Rob, in that moment he starts a new life. Dave is not Rob, and he even wants to be like Rob, and he is exactly what John needs: a man that is young enough to be molded to some of John's quirks, but clever enough to not be totally controlled and dominated.
This is a very nice wrap up of Dr. John Fell's adventures, and the four book is probably the more romantic of them all, since you have finally the chance to see the tender side of John.http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?m
Amazon: The Complete Dr. Fell Volume I: Lost
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Dumb Jock is a coming of age book aimed to an adult target... or maybe I'm too old fashioned, and I really don't know how teenagers are these days. I would really like to be able to go back of 20 years and have the chance to read thise book with a 14 years old mind. Would I be really shocked to read about sex between a 14 years old boy and a 16 years old one? Truth be told there is sex, but it's a mid core level of detailed sex, there is no doubt what is happening between the two, but actually the author doesn't give us very much details. It's not a "behind closed door" type of sex, we are there in the room with the characters, but we have to cover with our imagination where the author doesn't describe something. For example there are blow-jobs, and even an anal sex scene, but actually I believe to have never found the word penis or some equivalent word. I have a clear physical impression of Jeff, small and lithe, a bit on the skinny side, and Brett, tall and muscular, and how Jeff feels protected when he is in Brett's arms, but actually that physical impression never deepens to intimate details (no description under the belt). Soooooo... I'm telling all these since I believe that the novel lacks in something? Not at all. For me it's a merit, since the book, without lacking of the sexy part, it's still innocent enough to be read by a young adult target.Jeff is the classical nerd, a linguistic nerd: he loves to read, he likes books and musics, he is a good student, but all in all he is a pretty ordinary boy. Then all of sudden his life changes: he is asked to tutor in English another student, Brett, the football star of his high school. Jeff is almost blackmailed in doing so from the Physical Education teacher, who clearly tells him that, if he doesn't help Brett, he will not pass his class, and Jeff can't have it, since he needs all good grades to obtain a future full scholarship at College. What the PE teacher doesn't know, is that probably Jeff would have helped Brett anyway, since he has a crush on the other boy. Actually Jeff is not aware of the real nature of his feelings for Brett since in the small town where he lives, there is not hint of such a thing like gay or lesbian.
And now we arrived to the other interesting side of the book, the setting: the novel is set at the beginning of the '80 in a small town USA, this means before AIDS and probably before the rekindling of a string of bashing crimes in the USA. The author clearly stated that he chose to set the story in a ante-AIDS era to not focus on this aspect, Jeff and Brett's trouble are just enough without adding to them also the AIDS plague. But in a way, AIDS also unblocked the conscience of a lot of people, and also thier awareness that being different was not a condition so far from them. AIDS killed a lot of people and changed forever the life of the rest of them, but AIDS also revealed the biggest secret, that gay people are everywhere, even in the small town USA. Without this conscience, we can read of Jeff who, at 14 years old, is still not aware that the wet dreams he is having of Brett are due to his unrequited love for him. And when they fall in love, and it's real love, still Jeff tolerates that Brett treats him like a submissive, like if Brett was the man and Jeff the "fag"; I'm not saying that Brett doesn't love Jeff, but I'm saying that Brett has still big preconceptions on what is straight and what is gay, and those preconceptions can ruin their life.
Where Jeff is an easy character to like, also since he has to go through a lot of sad things so soon in his life, Brett is a bit harder to love. But truth be told, I think he is coherent with himself; he is not a bad guy, but he is for sure a spoiled brat. He has always had an easy life, an only child of a wealthy family, and thanks to his body and his average mind, he would probably have had not any problem in excel in his life, if he chose to live forever in that small town USA. But Brett happens to be gay and being gay in the '80 and living in a small town was not a choice. On the other hand, Brett being gay doesn't immediately makes him a perfect poster boy for gay guys: he still remains a spoiled brat. He still remains the classical jock who likes to be worshiped by his fans and pointed out at school. It's not an easy choice to renounce to all of this in the name of love... and don't forget that we are talking of a 16 years old guy, someone who is still living with his parents and still dependent from them.
Brett's immaturity balanced the even too much maturity of Jeff, that sometime made me wonder if he was really a 14 years old boy. But it's not uncommon that a boy has to grew before his time facing such events, and Jeff went through all the range, from being bullied at school, to having trouble at home, and so on. There are very sad events in the book, but there is also hope in the end... this is not like those gay novels that, to be truth, has to be hard and without romance. Dumb Jock is a nice romance, in the style of Bobby Michaels, but maybe with a little less smelly sex.
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I have some stories that are swirling in my mind that probably I will never fix, and so I was really happy to find this book, that in a way matches with an idea I had: a love story between an apparently "perfect" man, cultured and sophisticated and a "simple" boy, someone who has a special look on life, and a world all of his own in his mind.Dane is a part time janitor in a private college and a semi-professional boxer. He is a little "slow", he was always like that and people never tried to see the world from his eyes, and so he often comes out as dumb or stupid. But Dane is a very special man, with a big heart, and sometime the world is better from his perspective, since he seems unable to see the nasty things of life. A retired boxer, Charlie, took care of him since he was a young boy, and even found him the job as janitor, and through the boxing he is trying to teach him how to be independent and to trust in his own possibility. And so Dane is not a sad man, and he is not really alone, but he misses the companionship of someone special, a "boyfriend". Dane is an handsome man, and if he wants to find easy sex, he has no problem to be picked up in a bar; actually he is so trusting and friendly, that often people take advantage of him. But Dane, even if easily fooled, always realizes when this happens, and time after time, it's becoming more and more difficult to bear it.
Dane decides his boyfriend will be Noel, the little and shy man he always sees studying in the library. Noel is a very beautiful man, but he is crippled, due to an accident he had when he was still a boy, and his leg often causes him great pain. He is living a sheltered life in the care of his father, his only parent alive, but he is almost a captive: his father forbids him to do everything, always telling him that he is too weak. Even if his father is always there for him, he is not a loving man, he is often lead by anger and Noel is missing the kindness of a lover. Giving their background, Dane a boxer and an "experienced" lover, and Noel a scholar and a virgin, you could easily expect the development of their relationship, but here arrives the nice surprise: Dane being so simple and trusting, becomes Noel's protege, and Noel, being for once the one to take care for another, gains a bit of trust in himself. Noel becomes the master and Dane the pet, and doing so, they rebalance their differences in body and strenght.
This is not an easy book to like, there are some points in which my "inner" self was sending me warning alerts, above all, having Dane obviously some "troubles", it was right for Noel to assume the role of the Master in his life? To this my heart replied that Dane has his own perspective in life, and he is well aware of what is wrong and what is right, and he chose to submit to Noel, but still I can't help to feel as if Noel is taking advantage of Dane. The really strange thing is that I never felt as it was happening the opposite, never once I felt like Dane was taking advantage of Noel thanks to his body strenght; it's true, Dane awakened Noel to his physical desires, but from the beginning, he did it in such a way, that it was always like Noel was only waiting for something to happen, Dane never imposed him anything. There is a bit of "gay for you" in this book, since Noel is not really "gay", he is a newbie at sex at all, but how he reacts to Dane's body, makes me think that, as I said, he was only waiting for the right one, and the right one happens to be a man.
The are other minor things that didn't ring right to me, like as they often use the "Daddy" naming for Noel, or when Dane often dismissed Noel's feeling for him, and in doing so, diminishing their story. I'm also not sure that I like how the things evolved with Noel's father and the sudden "revelation" on his past. And truth be told, I always felt "uneasiness" during the sex scenes, but maybe this is due to what I said above.
Now I'm sincere and I said what made me uneasy in the book, but they are all points that made me think, they are not points that I didn't like, and this is an important distinction; on the contrary, I think that they are exactly the points that made this book so interesting. And there are also some points that moved me, almost to tears, especially when Dane was alone and was thinking to his life and how he would have liked it to be. Dane is a very special and wonderful character, and him alone makes it worthy to read this book.
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Amazon Kindle: The Janitor
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Cover Art by April Martinez
Bound by Deception was an unlucky book in my reading list, it slipped day by day till the day I almost forgot I had it, and now that I read it, thanks to the release of a sequel, I'd like to knock myself on the head for allowing so. I knew that I would have liked it, I loved another book by Ava March, an Erotic Regency as this one, so why I waited so much? Mystery of my strange mind... Anyway, Ava March, in this second book, but really her first book, confirms my previous idea of her: she is a very good erotic writer, but above all she is a very good Regency romance writer. Not Traditional Regency, it's obvious, but as many writers of the genre are saying, the Traditional Regency romance genre is languishing, and so welcome to a bit of fuzzy borders, with Mystery, Erotica and even Vampires! And yippie yippie yeah, the M/M Regency Romance! And don't worry, in Bound by Deception you will not find a damsel in distress disguised by in gentleman clothes, the men in it are both men, only that one happens to like to be a bottom, and the other one is a total top... but preferably on top of a man!
Oliver and Vincent had one thing in common, both second sons of the aristocracy, they met at boarding school. They became best friends, even if Oliver really never understood what Vincent found in him: even if second son, Vincent was from a wealthy family and he had chances that Oliver never had: a superior education, a small inheritance that he made thriving and above all a fine appearance and a bearing that Oliver total lacked. Despite this Vincent still considers Oliver one of his best friends, even if with the parameters of the time: a man he is comfortable with, with whom he likes to chat at the club, and a friendly ear that comprehends his striven to try to always please his father, a man that has never even acknowledged his presence in the room, since he has just the heir he needs. Actually I wondered how good the author was, creating a whole family environment for Vincent, without actually presenting any of the members of it, if not as names and outline shadows without cue, and at the same time rendering the desolation of Oliver's life, of whom we never once, neither in his youth memories, meet someone of his family. All Oliver's world turns around Vincent, since the day they met as children, and in the end, Oliver has to do something.
Other than being neglected second sons, Oliver and Vincent have something else in common, they prefer the company of men. But where Oliver admitted with himself who he is and what he likes, maybe since he likes to be on the bottom, and it's difficult from that perspective deny it, Vincent is still cheating himself with the lie that, since he is on the top, he is not really a sodomite; it's quite a weak excuse, but then, he has to use it only with himself, since never once Vincent shared his segret with Oliver. And Oliver happens to know it only since they frequent the same brothel and the same whore inside it. The deeply knowledge Oliver has of Vincent and his love for him, made the man able to recognize him in the words of the whore and now Oliver has a plan: for one night he will be in the place of the whore and he will finally have the night he wants with Vincent, without loosing their friendship... and here maybe is the only problem I had with the book, since I don't believe that a three days beard, long hair and the absence of the glass he usually wears, is enough to Oliver to not being recognize by Vincent. To excuse the author there is also to say that we are used to modern electric lights, and instead in that time there were candles and firelight, and plus Vincent is not absolutely expecting to find Oliver in the man he payed for sex.
This is only a novella, but it's a finely built novella, and I'm really happy to know that there is a sequel, even if, for once, I didn't find it lacking: all the pages and scenes were properly weighted and in the end, you had the feeling to read a longer book. A sequel will only add more and welcome details to a nice story.
http://www.loose-id.com/detail.aspx?ID=8
Amazon Kindle: Bound by Deception by Ava March
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Cover Art by April Martinez
First of all I'm shallow, but I was enticed by the cover since the first moment I saw it. It's perfect for the book, a story of a young boy who is starting to discover the BDSM world, but he likes it "vanilla", he mostly likes to be spanked, and what is better than a pretty bum to suggest it?Nick is a young art student who is working for a famous male erotica photographer, Damian, to make the ends meet. Since the beginning he is a brat, always answering back to Damian even for the smallest things. Truth be told, if not for the turn in their relationship, there were no real reason for Damian to take Nick around, even if he is a pretty boy. But then Ashley, a quite strange fairy godmother of the Doms and subs, and good friend of Damian, asks to the man to shot his next catalogue of sex toys and leathers, and thanks to the fate, Nick finds himself to model the first innocent pieces for Damian.
Nick is not gay, or at least he thinks so, and he was never interested in the kinky aspects of love, but seeing around all the things and having the chance to be the center of attention for Damian let him eager of more. To Nick, so young and naive, it seems impossible to satisfy Damian, so hard and precise in his work, and maybe, even before this catalogue work comes around, Nick was trying to find a way to impress his boss. Even if he doesn't realize it, Nick is a top from the bottom, he likes to be in center stage and he likes when all Damian's attention is turned toward him. He wants to be the only man in Damian's life, and if this means being a sub, well, he will try. But truth be told, Nick is a real vanilla sub, he likes to dress like a little girl with her mother dress, and he likes to be spanked, but better if possible with bared hands, or at least with nothing that leaves permanent bruises. More than the pain, what Nick likes, and excites him, is being the focal point of their sexual plays. Nick is a bit of an hedonist, and maybe he also needs a strong hand to control and direct him.
Damian on the other hand, has tried all and now is more or less tired of all. He is not searching for a sub, he is quite content with his work and his life, and probably he doesn't want the burden of an untrained sub, on top of than also so much younger than him. So he really doesn't miss anything when he realizes that with Nick he will have to respect some limits, things that a real Dom will never accept. Actually between the two, the one who always risk their relationship is Damian, he is always questioning if he is doing right, and sometime he is so blinded by his own insecurities that he doesn't realize that he is neglecting his sub. Where Nick is not exactly the role model for a sub, Damian is not at all the strong and steady Dom, even if people around him praise his mastery... I have the feeling that Damian is more an artist of the BDSM world more than a real player. Probably if not for the fairy godmother Ashley, they will never get together for good (and Ashley is a very nice supporting character, I like that also him has his personal love story inside the book).
So in the end I have the feeling that both Nick than Damian are more playing to be Dom and sub, than being the real thing. This also allow to the book to be light and funny, and accessible to all type of readers, even those who have some boundaries on BDSM, as I said, the most you will find in this book is a cute spanked pink bum.
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/current
Amazon Kindle: A Strong Hand
Amazon: A Strong Hand
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This is a very short story but with a nice setting and a little surprise for me; it's part of the HeatSheet by Phaze, usually a series of short stories with a common theme, and this one was the shapeshifter nature of one or both the main characters, and for this particular story, there was a warning for the readers on the Bondage and D/s content. So I was really expecting one of that usual story on pleasure / pain play, and even the submissive nature of the shapeshifter was not an original thing, since who read paranormal romances is quite common with the role of the omega males in the pack.But the surprise is that the BDSM elements of the story are almost non-existent, true, the story is set in a BDSM in live club, where scenes and public display of dominance are common things, but our naive little puppy wolf finds an unexpected haven inside it. The first night he is welcomed by Raphael, the owner of the club, and so he is free from the usual charade of finding a suitable Master for his submissive nature. And when Raphael realizes that Nathaniel is not only a virgin to the BDSM world, but to any sexual experience, he decides also to exempt him from all the usual "testing" steps of a new relationship between Master and pet. It's not said that they will not take place in the future, but in this short story we are exempted with Nathaniel as well: the story turns on moving from BDSM to sweet romance, the only sex scene is almost "vanilla".
Another thing that remain in the frame without taking center stage is the shifter nature of Nathaniel. Actually, if not for a very short moment, we have no proof that Nathaniel is a shifter, and he never once shifts. The shifter nature serves to the authors only to give a boundaries more for Nathaniel to overcome, since it's not in a shifter male to be submissive. Knowing that I'm not very fond of BDSM stories, I'm not at all disappointed that this story turned to be more sweet than anything else, and instead, I wouldn't mind to see more developed the shifter nature of Nathaniel.
Anyway, for a short story, it is very well developed, more centered on the characters than the setting (and so it's maybe explained why the BDSM content remained in the shadow).
http://www.king-cart.com/Phaze/product=B
Amazon Kindle: Bound By Leather
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It's not simple to write something on this book as a whole since it's not a whole; they are two completely different stories, not only on the setting, but also on the emotional impact they had on him.The Tortured Secutor is setting in Rome in 270 A.D.; Artimos Traius is the doctor who tends to the gladiators in the Colosseum. Of Greek origins, his great-grand father was personal physician to Emperor Trajan, but also a slave. He was freed by the Emperor at his death, and now Artimos' family is leaving a respectable life in Rome. Artimos is the last of his family, has a comfortable house near the Colosseum and indulges in his love for the men among a strict circle of friends. He doesn't flaunt his homosexuality, but who is near him knows.
During the execution of his duty, to examine the new slaves to become gladiators, he meets Philokrates. Philo was a freeman from Macedonia, but he was unfairly framed of a crime and sold as a slave; despite all the things he has suffered, Philo maintains a proud behavior that attracts Artimos. Even if Philo is proud, and strong, he is of a lower class than Artimos, and this difference will characterize their relationship: Artimos takes care of Philo, he tends his injuries, worships Philo's body as he would do with a wonderful example of human body. Artimos is attract from the strenght and body of Philo, and Philo let him being so. I don't think Philo having a preference between men or women, probably in his mind he has never thought to have a choice, and so when Artimos takes care of him and shows such a love for his body, Philo accepts it without questioning if it's right or wrong, without questioning their difference in social status or in age.
There is a lot of sex, as always in a Jardonn Smith's book, very direct and explicit, almost bared, but it's right like that since reflects the feeling I had of Artimos and Philo's relationship, very based on their physical reactions. Artimos treats Philo like a coveted prize, worrying to have someone to tend him during the day while he is at work, and then worshiping his body by night, with physical therapy and sex, two things that almost mix in one. Even if in a strange way, I think there is a romance between Artimos and Philo, even if it doesn't follow the usual rules; the passion between Artimos and Philo is strong but silent, no many words are needed, the bodies can speak for them.
Amazon: The Tortured Secutor (A Boner Book)
The Bishop of Grunewald is for me very much more difficult to like than The Tortured Secutor. First of all is not a single story between two, or even three men, but it's a intertwined story of different couple in different stage of relationship. At first we meet William and Jonathan, living in a medieval small village. Best friends for many years, William comforts Jonathan when he is forced to marry Helena; Jonathan wasn't even interested in the woman, but he was deceived. What is the relationship between William and Jonathan? At first it's not clear, and the jealousy of Helena seems unjustified. Both William and Jonathan are handsome and good-looking men, but maybe Jonathan is neglecting his wife, or maybe Helena is only a very greedy woman... in a way or the other Helena decides that she is bored by his husband, and when she is rebutted by William, she sets her eyes, on William's younger brother, Tobias, an innocent soul William is trying to protect from everything and everyone.
The village where they live is ruled by Peter Sion with the help of the Bishop of Bethune, Frederick. Helena frames William of raping her with the help of Jonathan, and has both men arrested. Bishop Frederick seems not really interested in making William and Jonathan confess their sins, and leaves the men in the hand of Peter. Peter is a sadist who is leaving in an open menages with Otto, called the little bull, and his two cousins; Peter is fascinated by William and Jonathan, by their strong bodies and even stronger wills. Peter doesn't want to break them, he wants to play and drive them to the edge of sanity. He knows, or at least hopes, that both men are strong enough to bear all he will bestow to them and being even stronger at the end. Peter is not even interested in having William and Jonathan as his for ever, he is quite content with his little bull, Otto. Meanwhile William and Jonathan are going through their unfair torture (unfair since they are not guilty of what Helena accused them, but are they really innocent?), another true comes ashore: Helena's obsession, young Tobias, is not only her. Bishop Frederick has his own plans on the young blacksmith, and now he has the chance he was waiting to reach for the innocent soul. It's quite a bad joke that the real sinners, at least at the eyes of God, are of no interest for the Bishop, and instead he is obsessed by the only innocent soul of this book, Tobias.
All right, at this point you have understood that The Bishop of Grunewald is a saraband of stories and all of them centered around one only emotion, Lust. There is again a lot of sex, this time even more explicit, almost raw and painful, more pain than pleasure aimed to force men to admit their true nature. It pushed a bit my boundaries, and if I'm true, I liked more the first story than this one, maybe also since The Tortured Secutor has a full setting even outside the relationship between the main characters, the Roman Empire and its corrupted society, where connections and money make the difference between being a man or a slave; instead the Bishop of Grunewald has almost a claustrophobic setting, the dungeon and the private chambers of the manor, it seems like there is no life outside.
Amazon: The Bishop of Grunewald: A Tale From the Dungeon (A Boner Book)
Amazon: Let's Get Medieval: Jardonn's Erotic Tales - Two Books In One - The Tortured Secutor - The Bishop Of Grunewald
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Keta Diablo likes the unpolitically correct characters. I had just a little taste of it in a previous short story in which one of the character was a man who cheated on his lover for fear of commitment; as you all know, for me a cheating man is something I can hardly forgive, even if, truth be told, in that book the man was doing everything possible to be forgiven.In this new book Frank is the most possible anti-hero you can find. A mix of Inspector Callaghan meets Yaoi, Frank is a private investigator who has a little help from the otherworld: he sees dead people... not so original, you will think, there is even a series (Eye Spy by Drew Zachary) in which not only the private investigator sees ghosts, he has even a ghost partner (partner as lover). But let's start from the beginning: when Frank was still a rookie in the police department he was taken under the wing of an older police officer, Quinn; he was like a father for Frank and welcomed him in his home where Frank met Rand, the 17 years old gay son of the man. Since Frank was gay, and Quinn knew it, and Rand was in need of a firm hand, Quinn and his wife encouraged Frank towards Rand, but Frank did the only right thing he will do in all the book, he didn't take advantage of the young boy (even if with he had the consensus of the parents). And, as I said, that was the last time Frank behaved as a good man; soon after Quinn died in the line of duty, and Frank resisted only few months near the widow and her two sons, and then left her alone with all her trouble, even if the woman welcomed him in her home. Five years he acted as he didn't know that the woman needed him and that her son Rand considered him a role model, and loosing him at the same time of his father was not probably for the best.
After five years the widow calls him since her son Rand is disappeared since three months without notice. The woman knows that probably the young man, now 22 years old, is in some trouble and asks Frank to find and bring him home again. Due to his sense of guilty and the respect he had for his father, what do you think Frank should do? find the boy, teach him a lesson and bring him safe and sound at home, right? Oh yes, Frank finds him all right, but also breaks into his apartment at night wearing a hood, chains the boy at the bed, gags him and plays with him using a martial weapon as sex toys, to end all with a thoroughly sex session, the part that remembered me a yaoi manga, whimpers, blushing and tears all together.
So no, Frank is not exactly a private investigator by the book, and Rand is not probably the innocent boy who Frank remembers, but one thing you can say of this book, it didn't play according the rule. And so if you are searching a lot of sex, down and dirty, and a very bad boy character, that is unrepentant till and beyond the end of the book, probably this one could be an interesting and unusual choice. I can't say more on the story since this is only a novella and if I say more on the mystery part, I will risk to give up the book. And then, truth be told, with two long and detailed sex scenes, there is not much space left.
http://www.king-cart.com/Phaze/product=C
Amazon Kindle: Crossroads
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I have some authors in my auto-buy list, for different reasons. Matthew Haldeman-Time is on my auto-buy list since I love his young, beautiful and hot characters, their easy-to-go way of life, the joy of life they always have, their positive attitude and the inner innocence they maintain even when they are doing the most naughty things.Matthew Haldeman-Time is one and trine: he is the amazing author of Off the Record, a lost pearl he self-published on Lulu Press and that I highly recommend; he is the fantasy author of the continuing series In This Land, a weekly appointment you can subscribe for a small monthly fee, and that now is also available in print book; and finally he is the generous author of many short stories, you can read for free on his website, or sometime you can buy from some epublishers. Affair in Paradise enters in this last category, it's a very nice short story, a new release from Matthew Haldeman-Time that I was eagerly waiting and my only regret is that it's only a short story. But even in a short story I can find the author I know, and again two characters who are innocent and naughty at the same time.
Both Adam than Brett are the odd participants to an organized tour in a tropical island. Adam joined a female friend who at the last time was dumped by the other woman who had to go with her, and Brett decided to go on the tour even after he brought up with his partner. So now Adam and Brett are both gay (I believe the only gay in the group), without partners and available for a nice affair in paradise. But there is something that didn't click right for them.
Adam is nice and forward, he teases and makes clear his interest in Brett, and Brett seems to enjoy all this. But more Adam pushes and waits for Brett's answer, and more he is frustrated since Brett welcomes the attentions but never makes the counter move. On the other side, Brett is frustrated like and maybe more than Adam: Adam teases him on every chance he has, always bringing him to the edge, but never taking the final step to finalize all the teasing. What is the final brick on the wall? what is the magic word to open the door to Brett (no pun intended). The reader is along with Adam to try to understand what he is missing, and clue after clue we arrive to the realization and to the final climax, that is even more strong due to all the teasing we endured with Adam in the days before.
It's always difficult to judge a 30 pages long story, and it's always difficult to write something without giving out the story. What I can say is that as always Matthew Haldeman-Time managed to write a really nice and enjoyable story in "only" 30 pages, a story that is complete like it is, but that I wouldn't mind to see developed in something longer if the author fancies to play again with these characters.
http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?m
Amazon Kindle: An Affair in Paradise
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I haven't read all the stories in the Games People Play line by Torquere Press, but I have to say that the ones I read are really good. Like this one by C.B. Potts, about the secret fantasies of Graham: he wants to find the perfect domineering partner (who doesn't want it?), but Graham is pretty vanilla, and his fantasies are not hard core or similar. He is a bit like me, I don't mind to fantasize, but probably I would be scared if my fantasies lead to a dangerous path.Graham is also quite lucky, he logs on a social network site where you can write your secret fantasies, and share comments with other users. When Graham writes his first fantasy, to be mastered by a strong and unknown man, he has his wish granted the same night. It's pretty obvious that Graham was immediately spotted and targeted, but as I said, he is lucky, since the mysterious man pushes him only till certain edge, without really causing him any trouble. Truth be told, Graham is not playing safe, following a stranger in dark alleys and allowing him to enter his house, all of that without even knowing his face, but still, I never felt as Graham was really in danger, this mysterious man always felt safe to me.
I like Graham, he is this mix of nerd and twink, he still has not the courage to display his real self, but he is daring enough to experiment. And when gently pushed toward the right direction, he is eager to follow. And the level of sex in the story is a bit like him: sensual but not all in display, maintaining a bit of secrecy that I like.
I often said that I'm not into too much BDSM and similar, but this novella has the right amount of it for me; some mild blindfold play, a little spanking here and there, and a bit of public display of affection, but never too much. The games remain between the two men, and I prefer the things like that; this story is right for whom likes the sex a bit naughty and kinky, but not too extreme.
http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?m
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The novella by Willa Okati turns around the setting of I Heart That City bar, a place where stories and life mix like the cocktail. I haven't read the previous story by Mechele Armostrong (it was an het romance), but this one is about Zach, bartender and at the same time philosopher of live; but as often happens, Zach is very good at giving advice to other people and instead is not so good to follow them for his own life. Zach is a runaway "lover", he abruptly dumped his live-in lover in Los Angeles without even gave him a reason and continued to run till he reached New York, where he is now living almost in stasis, waiting for something to happen. And something finally happen, since Josef, after giving Zach all the time he needs to think, is ready to claim again his lover.The main reason why Zach left was that Josef was into the Master / pet relationship and Zach was not sure to be ready for that. Truth be told, Josef was not at all the domineering Master I ofter read in such relationship, he allowed Zach to have a life outside their home, to take his own decision regarding his work and similar, he only wanted for Zach to consult him and to wear an ownership collar in private. Put things like that I really can't understand why Zach freaked out, if not for the only reason that Zach is a really independent character who doesn't like to be told what he has to do... not really the right behavior to be a sub in a D/s relationship. And so the fact that Josef is not really a Master and Zach is not really a pet could be a good input for their relationship to work out.
I like the story even if it's really short. Both characters are enough developed to give me space to like them: Josef is a silent type, he is not a Master since he talks and behaves as a Master, he is a Master since his lover knows that Josef knows better than him what it's right and what it's wrong for him. Josef doesn't force any decision on Zach, on the contrary, he wants for Zach to arrive to the same conclusion Josef arrived, but with his own pace. Josef is also ready to admit his own mistakes, not in what he did, but in the time he did it: he was in too much of an hurry to "claim" Zach, he didn't give the man the time to realize that Zach wanted to be possessed. As I said Zach is a really independent man, but in a way he needs someone to drive him; Zach is always questioning his own decisions, he seems to have not a right in-sight in what he wants and needs, and he needs direction: so more than a Master that tells him what he has to do, he needs a Master who helps him to see the right direction and then lets him decide if he wants to take that direction.
There is not a strong BDSM component, both in the dialog than in the sex, so this story could appeal also those readers who usually don't like this type of relationship.
http://www.loose-id.com/detail.aspx?ID=9
Amazon Kindle: I Heart That City: Razzle Dazzle
Series: I Heart that City
1) Body Shots
2) Razzle Dazzle
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Cover Art by April Martinez
Reading this book I realized that I don't know much about angels and demons, and about the Creation and the Fall of Lucifer. These are five stories about love between angels and demons, and about the power of clean all the mistakes that sometime love has.Hunter and the Prey: Lev is an Angel. He trains the young Angel to be warriors and to destroy the evil creatures that roam the human world. But he can't destroy one of these creatures, the demon Alael, cause he loves him. And when Alael decides that it's time for them to be together, no one can deny them.
Angels of Blood: Irael is a fallen angel who proclaims himself god of a tortured world. The Order of Chaos is not happy with the angel's behaviour and want to destroy him. But Adon, one of the Angel of Creation, has his own plans on Irael, and he will do as he wants and the winner takes all.
Unholy Need: Nichael is an angel who has to hunt and kill a powerful mage, but during his mission he stumbles upon Nias, a young demon. It seems that Nias displeases Lucifer and he was sent in a mission where he clearly can't survive, and Nichael has to help the young demon, cause now he can't let him go.
Order of the Highest: Talah is a demon spy, former lover of Sepha, a powerful ancient demon, he has to lure one of the Highest, a powerful group of angel warrior. But when he meets Aridas, he knows to have found the only thing missing in his life. But can he be free from the binding he has with Sepha?
The True Fall of Lucifer: After years and years of loneliness, Lucifer has to admit that he misses his former lover, Michael. And since also Michael wants Lucifer back, what prevent the fallen angel to reunite with his true love?
All the stories are pretty short, more or less 30 pages each, but are full of details and reading it you have a feeling of light and shadow, of deep black and flash of blinding colour. There are also many hints of bondage and submission, of pain that enriches the love making.
All the book is setting in a fantasy world, so it's not strange to see all these angels and demons around, they are not some otherworldly creatures in a normal world, they are normal creatures in a mythical world.
http://samhainpublishing.com/romance/rea
Amazon Kindle: Realms of Fantasy
Amazon: Realms of Fantasy
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Cover Art by Anne Cain
This a very short story less than 20 pages and a D / s' story. Actually it's not really an hard core type of BDSM's story, I read a lot more in the past; in this one the main characters limit themself to some spanking (all right, with a paddle, but still only spanking) and some power games, like "you can only come when I said it". The main reason for it to be a D / s' story is to test the relationship between the heroes, and the trust there is between a Master and his submissive.Deke made a very big mistake: lacking in trust completely his Master, he preferred to cheat on him to stir up the obviously consequence, being banished from his life. But a month later, on Valentine's Day, Deke is ready to beg his Master, Val (as for Valentine) to take him back; he realized that living without Val is a lot harder than trust him completely. Truth be told, it's not so difficult to convince Valentine to give him another chance.
I have the feeling that nor Deke or Valentine are really into the whole BDSM's world. They are more "players", they like to play the role of Master and submissive, but no one of them is really into the pain thing. What Val does to Deke to punish him, for other more convinced BDSM couple will be a more appetizer. And then Valentine never pushes Deke till his limit to test the boundaries, he never makes Deke admit that he is a submissive to Val's love; what Deke does it's exactly what Deke wants to do.
It's quite hard to accept that Val forgives Deke's cheat so easily, but then probably you have to consider that Val loves Deke. Val's family is not so accepting of their son, and in Deke Val not only found a lover, but also a family, since he almost "adopted" also Deke's mother. Letting Deke go, means loosing not only a lover, but also the fragile stability that Val managed to build in his new life. Considering this, probably it's not so strange that Val is so ready, almost eager, to forgive Deke.
http://www.nobleromance.com/ItemDisplay.a
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Blaise Risner, the captain of a small cargo ship, was in the wrong place at the wrong time. The Confederation Army is dealing with some nasty attack to their ship and space colony, and they blame the pirates, and so the attention is very high. In normal time, probably Blaise would skip the control, but now he is arrested for smuggling, piracy and other minor violation. Since he can't avoid to admit the smuggling crime, he tries to negotiate for the other two accusation and Admiral Peter Keller is willing to listen to him. Peter is not new to similar arrangements with his prisoners: a sentence to hard labor commuted to service him as personal assistant... very personal assistant. More the prisoners are stubborn, and more Peter likes to bend them (pun intended).If you stick to the romance rules, what Peter does to Blaise could easily be classified as non consensual sex, since Blaise at first claims that, if he had a choice, he would have never submitted to Peter. But truth be told, he doesn't protest so much, and for what I can understand, he enjoyed every single encounter with Peter, even the first one. What I like of the story is that the sexual relationship evolves with them: at first it's obviously only sex, Peter has not a personal interest in Blaise if not since the man is an interesting sex partner that gives him a lot of satisfaction. But more they are together and more their relationship deepens, but always remaining primarily a sexual one: there is not many chances for Blaise or Peter to know each other other than in a sexual way, they don't speak a lot; who they are and what they like is all communicated through sex.
Peter is obviously the domineering character, even if he is not the stronger in a physical way, actually I have the feeling, even if I'm not sure, that he is even leaner and smaller than Blaise. But he has for sure the attitude of a leader and he is used to the command; he lives his personal life as he lead his spaceship: no one questions his orders. Problem is that, on the other side, Blaise instead has the classical behavior of a rebel, he is not used to be ordered around, but he will find out that, in some cases, he likes it. It's not clear if Blaise, before Peter, have already realized that he has a submissive nature in bed, but he will discover it with Peter. There is not doubt that in bed this two work in a very good way, all the trouble arrives when they are out of the bedroom. They are both very stubborn, and they don't know how to communicate; they arrive to hasty conclusion even before having taken the time to analyze all the possible side of a problem.
The book is quite long and it's a very classic futuristic novel, even if the reader has not many chances to see the two heroes among other people or outside the bedroom, but in the few cases when it happened, the setting is light and enjoyable, there is not the usual heavy use of detailed description to force the reader to understand a different and fictional world.
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/current
Amazon Kindle: Hot Cargo
Amazon: Hot Cargo
Reading List:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bott
This is the third and last short story I had to read by Gavin Atlas; it would be interesting to see how he works in a longer novel. The starting point is always the same, a young boy, a bottom for nature, that starts wanting a romance and ends having a bedroom full of men ready to fu*k him, but I'm not sure to love him. Probably again the problem is that I'm searching romance where romance has no reason to be: this is a pure erotic piece, without any hint of romance, and if I have to be sincere, it's also arousing in some part; but be warned, if you are not able to put aside the romantic in you, this isn't for you. At least in this short story, Derek is tricked in giving up his bottom for a lot of men, but at least he is able to understand that it's exactly what he wants. He has even the chance to stop the men, even if a very small and maybe too fast dropped chance, but he decides to not catch it.Derek moves on a small town hoping to find love. He is tired to be considered only a sex toy, and in a big city he has not the characteristic to be other than that. But the first man he meets in Richmond, Virginia, is not exactly searching a real boyfriend, and when he finished with Derek, the boy has a reputation to be simple and easy. And truth be told, Derek is not a very clever man... He is only 22 years old and in the end, he realizes that he is not ready for romance; I have still a doubt on this story, that probably if Derek was lucky enough to meet a different man, he would have the chance to find the romance he was searching.
At least, Mike, the man who tricked Derek, is not so bad: yes, I believe that he has little consideration for Derek's needs, he is only lucky that what he wants is for now what Derek thinks to want. But for sure, Mike can't be the real thing for Derek, sooner or later the boy will change again his mind and Mike is not the man he will choose for good.
http://www.forbiddenpublications.com/boo
Reading List:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bott
As expected the second story (but the last to be released) on the Between Friends story is for now my favorite. It's the story of Sammy, the tiny and very flamboyant college roommate of Jason. Sammy is a little pretty thing who apparently everyone should love and instead he always falls in love for the wrong guy. Maybe the problem is that Sammy falls in love and the other guy only sees a way to have an housekeeper for free. Sammy wants so much a family that he always tries so hard to build a beautiful nest for the man he loves; he cooks, he works hard, he is the perfect lover; he is so focused in loving that he forgets to love himself.When Jason realizes that one more man is treating very bad his best friend, he asks help to his boyfriend Harry (since, let me say, Jason is not exactly the man who can be a knight in shining armor...). And with Harry this time arrives also Peter, a buddy friend of the good cop. But Peter is not a saint as Harry, he is a leather man in disguise: an antique dealer by day, he is almost a control freak by night. But what can be a fault for someone else, it's exactly what Sammy needs in his life. Sammy, now Samuel only for Peter, learns little by little the lesson: for being happy he hasn't to disappear in the love for his man, he has to blossom and shine. And Peter is the right man to do that since he fullfil every Samuel's desire inside their home, and can give a dream work to Samuel by day.
In the previous book there was the novelty, at least for a Sean Michael's book, of the sex that was delayed on the novel; here instead Peter and Samuel let it go at the very first night, and they continue for all the book. But again the sex is not the only reason for the novel, there is a story, and a very good character's development in Samuel. Samuel is all I was expecting and maybe something more. Peter is a very nice character, gentle and caring; I believe that the author didn't give him an actual age, but I have the feeling that he is older than Samuel: he has the behavior of a man who knows exactly what he wants for his life and has the maturity to reach for it. I like the fact that he didn't force Samuel to take a decision, but he gently maneuvers him toward the right direction.
http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?m
Amazon: Between Friends: Sammy's Place
Series: Between Friends
1) When Harry Met Jason: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/47661
2) Sammy's Place
Reading List:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bott
Cover Art by Pluto
In a very short tale, only 11 pages, Vic Winter plays with the stereotype of a D/s relationship. Don is older, wealthier and the boss, but in the private life he is Alex's submissive; it's not clear how all it started (well, in only 11 pages it's almost impossible to know all), but now Don and Alex's relationship is 4 years older and since two years they are also living together. Outside their apartment, Don is still the boss, and he is still a too much busy business man, always working late and such things. But if he can he follows Alex's rule and his desires, if not, Alex is quite good in punish Don, and not in a way Don likes. This night Alex is preparing a nice surprise for Don, but Don is again late. When he arrives at home, and sees the collar on the doorknob, Don only hopes to have not ruin everything.The main scene is quite a classic D/s scene, with the required leather, harness and rings. What I like is that Alex didn't exaggerated, he masters Don with a firm but gentle hand, being dominant without being selfish. In a way Alex is always thinking to Don's good, and so the power play has a nice twist that I find nice and tender.
http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?m
Reading List:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bott
John is a space pilot stranded in a strange planet without memory of his past life. He is hold in captivity by Tryl, a strong and domineering cat man who makes him his sex slave.In this strange planet couples are made by a master and a slave and Tryl has decided to finally pairs with this blond hair and pink skin man he calls Yai. Yai is tender and cute, he fears everything, but not this big and impressive cat man, who makes love to him so tenderly. And he also takes care of him and Yai, for the first time, feels like someone loves him.
Yai is more than willing to accept his new state of slave. He likes Tryl and not objects to be his sex toy. He wants to please him, he likes to please others, and the reward he receives pleasing Tryl is very sweet. Yai is a strange character, I can't understand how old he is, but he looks to be very young and very innocent.
Tryl is a very self-conscious man. He has no doubt he will take Yai as slave and that Yai will not deny him. He is a leader and he really thinks that being his slave Yai will have a better quality of live than he had previously. If not for the gentle manners he has with Yai, he would be a very irritating character. But he is so gentle and caring with Yai, that you forgive everything to him.
This is a really classical yaoi story. The very elements of the genre are abundantly used in the plot: the cute uke, with watery eyes and shy behavior, the strong seme, tall and powerful, who pleased his slave but also punished him when necessary, bringing pleasure with pain.
Even if pretty short, it is an arousing tale with two complete characters who remind me of an old "bodice-ripper" romance, The Warrior's Woman by Johanna Lindsey.
http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?m
Amazon: Cat Toy
Reading List:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bott
It's not the first time that I read a fantasy romance regarding Angels and Demons, but usually they didn't effect me too much, I didn't find any fascination in them. Instead this short novel by Molly Church, only 29 pages, has the feeling of a longer novel and it appealed to me in a strange way, since it mixed another element usually I'm not fond of, the D/s role play.Yare'ach is a warrior angel, mortally wounded during a battle. The female Hellborn who finds him, instead of pitying killing the angel, decides to take him to her lord, Ayve. Ayve is a demon, a fallen angel, and he has a sadness inside of him that nothing seems to soothe. The Hellborn feels that this wounded angel and the demon have something in common and maybe she hopes to please her master with a new toy.
But for Yare'ach being used to live in Hell is not simple. As an Angel he was incorporeal, his body had no needs, nor for food or sex, and so he is totally unprepared when it slowly start to make request apparently without consent from its own owner. Yare'ach and Ayve start a D/s relationship where Yare'ach learns to be the perfect submissive, since it's in the Angel's nature to follow the orders of a superior lord. I like Yare'ach's character since his uncertainty and unsteadiness seem true, even if, in a way, he is not a full grown or independent man: he doesn't discern between good and evil, he doesn't know what they are, he is happy only when someone else could tell him what to do and give him directions and a safe place. Ayve is a complex character not fully developed in this short story: we know he is a brooding man, that he is sad and not happy, but that he finds comfort in Yare'ach, in taking care of the Angel, sometime more like a father than a lover.
I like also the setting, a medieval fantasy world, Hell is an huge stone castle without any of the modern comforts, always surrounded by an eternal night. Other than some hint on the characters having wings, there is nothing that make this a fantasy novel, no magic, no paranormal events, and also for this I liked the book.
http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?m
Reading List:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bott
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
Eros Rising by Ally BlueYou know? I have a tender point for this title, cause my father's name was Eros, and I like it very much.
BTW Eros is the art's name of Keegan, a stripper in a private club, Ganymede's Grotto. He is a beautiful man, although not so young (29 years old). He has gorgeous long blond hair and a lithe body. This are the first things Scott sees in him. But he has also a past who haunted him.
Scott is in a dead end relationship with Logan: Logan needs a dom partner, but Scott doesn't like this type of love. He wants a real and simple lovemaking, without "scenes".
With Keegan at first is only friendship: Scott has a partner, and he is not the type to cheat. But... what will happen if is Logan who is cheating around?
A story in Hearts from the Ashes anthology, Eros Rising is the tale of a man who wants love and of another who has to learn how to love again. Even if in a rather short story (100 pages), Ally Blue is the queen of angst: she can draw characters who arrive to us with a luggage of bad experiences and that we see growing stronger during the course of the story.
http://samhainpublishing.com/romance/ero
Amazon Kindle: Eros Rising
With Love by J.L. LangleyI absolutely love the "funny" werewolves of J.L. Langley. After Without Reservation, now is the turn of With Love: Dev is a strong werewolf who arrives to Asheville for business. Like every good werewolf he wants to meet the local Alpha to give his respect to the leader. But the local alpha is a really piece of shit: when he meets him the alpha is trying to rape Lainey, an omega werewolf. So Dev saves Lainey only to find that he is his mate.
Lainey is a little tiny beautiful man with red hair and amber eyes and with a propension for making trouble. But he is also an eager puppy in bed and Dev likes him very much, so does it matter if he will spend his life saving from troubles his mate?
Here, like in the other books of J.L. Langley, the humor is a main aspect of the novel. She has a way to make you happy and to leave you with a smile in your face and also eager to read more. I can't wait to read the next chapter in this wonderful series.
http://samhainpublishing.com/romance/wit
Amazon Kindle: With Love
Series: With or Without
1) Without Reservation
2) With Love
Cafe Noctem by Willa OkatiApparently Nicholas and Grey are a perfect couple: they manage the Cafe Noctem in Asheville, Nicholas the night shift and Grey the day ones, but when they are both in the apartment above the cafe, it's a comfortable and warm life. Nicholas helped Grey when he was mourning the lost of his lover, Jimmy, a man who was also Nicholas' friend. In a way it was almost natural for Nicholas to take Jimmy's place in Grey's heart. But Nicholas has always wondered if Grey really loves him or, if he could have Jimmy back, he would prefer it.
All of them, Nicholas, Grey and Jimmy have Cherokee origins, but despite Nicholas being the one with most mixed blood, it's him that knows how to evoke all the old legends. And so he summons Sint Holo, the Snake god, the one who can resuscitate the dead...
It's a bittersweet tale this one by Willa Okati, as often is in her style. The reader feels for Nicholas, but honestly you can't hate Jimmy. And Grey is in the middle: if he is faithful to his lost lover, he will make suffer Nicholas, if he decides to start again with Nicholas, Jimmy in a way will be forever lost... it's a not simple situation, and in every way the author chose to end this story, I believe that a romantic like me will never be happy.
Anyway, you can feel the love of Willa Okati for the simple life and the old traditions, it's in all this book.
http://samhainpublishing.com/romance/caf
Amazon Kindle: Cafe Noctem
Amazon: Hearts from the Ashes
Reading List:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bott
Cover Art by Anne Cain
Cover Art by Anne Cain
Cover Art by Anne Cain
Have you ever wonder what happen after an happily ever after? Of course you have, and this is the reason why so manu authors write a sequel to a good story.Nate and Kyle met in the previous book. Kyle was a nice guy with some problem of self consciousness and thought that some session with a Dom, in a very exclusive club, could help him to better understand his own persona. The chosen Dom is the best the house could offer, Nate; Nate is not only a perfect Dom, he is also a psych major and in a point in his life where his profession as paid Dom is not enough for him. Finding Kyle and helping him to be the real man he knew he can be was only a pleasure, more since it drew Kyle into his life and bed.
Two years later Nate and Kyle are still an happy couple, but Kyle is still somewhat naivee to all the possibilities in their relationship. When Nate spies an interesting reaction of Kyle on a threesome tale, he thinks to organize a nice surprise to him: a weekend in an isolated cabin with a male escort to fullfill all their desires. But Kyle's reaction is not what Nate expects: oh, don't get me wrong, Kyle is not so much worried on the threesome in itself, but since he had a bad breakup with his former boyfriend after the man behaved pretty bad during a threesome. And so Kyle, in his mind, probably matches threesome with trouble.
When Kyle realizes that Dakota, the escort, his not an innocent man in need of whoring himself to survive, he changes a bit his mind. More he starts to worry more for his reactions to the man, than for Nate's behavior. Step by step he allows Dakota to enter their bad, drawing a line on anal intercourse, but more or less allowing everything else. Even if he likes Dakota as a man outside the bedroom, in bed Kyle treats him more like a high paid toy. At the end of the weekend, Kyle understands that the man he loves his Nate and that even if he physically wants another man, this doesn't mean that he is cheating on Nate, above all since Nate is there with him to share everything... well said that, I don't know if I like the fact that Kyle lost his innocence...
http://www.loose-id.net/detail.aspx?ID=8
Series:
1) A Master's Love: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/81235.h
2) A Gift Worth Sharing
Reading List:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bott
Cover Art by April Martinez
Ray is a New York police officer who has to be the "guardian angel" of a Japanese inspector during his business related visit. Ray is not happy with the idea, but when he sees "Miki", the wonderful Japanese woman he needs to escort he changes his mind. And he needs to change it again when he discovers that Miki is not a woman, but a man, and that he is also a Master in BDSM dungeon. Miki is not new to New York, he studied in the city during College and he still has some friends who would like to visit. Friends who manage a club outside the city limit. And he wants Ray to be his partner for the night.Even if Ray has never had an homosexual experience, he has no problem to admit that he is attracted by Miki, maybe helped by the fact that the man is really handsome and almost without gender. But when it arrives to sex, Miki is not female at all, and Ray has to arrive to pact with his inner side, not only to surrender to a man, but also to surrender the upper hand in the sexual relationship.
I don't know if Barbara Sheridan is planning something else for these two characters, but it seems to me that Ray's step toward the dark side it would not possible or right only for a week-end fling. For Ray is more difficult to accept the type of D/s relationship that Miki is offering, than to accept to have sex with another man; and it's not strange this approach, since having sex with a man could be a passing thing, above all since Miki is so beautiful that is over the boundaries of sex, but entering the BDSM world is not something to take with lightness.
Anyway the story is not so long, 44 pages, and so it's possible that this is only prologue of a longer story.
http://www.nobleromance.com/ItemDisplay.a
Reading List:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bott
Michael and Neil are apparently a perfect couple, but there are a lot of things twirling in Michael's mind. He doesn't like the city in which they live, that forces them to behave as roommates and not as lovers when they are in the open; he doesn't like the cold weather that always forced them to stay inside during the long winter... but above all he doesn't like the vanilla relationship he has with Neil. Oh, he likes Neil, he is a very gentle and caring boyfriend, always trying to understand Michael's desires, but not understanding at all that Michael wants and needs to be dominate. Probably Neil is worried since he is a lot stronger than Michael, and he fears to not be able to stay in control if things go wild.Then on Christmas Eve Michael receives the visit for a ghost of the Christmas future, a man who claims to be Michael's future lover, his Master. Thorne, the spirit, shows to Michael how is live can be if he dumps Neil: a full D/s relationship, a life as slave of a very wealthy man, parties and travel all around the country. Michael is thrilled to see all his desire fullfilled, and he enjoys it all even if he realizes that Thorne's love is not gentle and caring as Neil's was. Thorne is not really trying to fulfill Michael's desires, he is only enjoying his life and if Michael likes it, he is allowed to share with Thorne.
I believe that the meaning of the book is to show that a D/s relationship without deep love and trust is only a show, and not really a relationship. Thorne and Michael don't have a real bond, Michael is almost a convenience and like him everyone could be at Thorne's side. Instead if he has the courage to speak with Neil, and unveils his hidden desires, he can have something special with the man he loves.
There is a lot of sex in this story, and I don't like the sex between Thorne and Michael: it's cold and detached; probably this is exactly what the author wants to convey and probably I would accept that if Michael's final decision was taken only out of his love for Neil. And instead, in a way, the decision was taken from him, letting him with only an obvious right choice... he would be really stupid if he did something different.
http://www.total-e-bound.com/product.asp?s=f
Reading List:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bott
Cover Art by April Martinez
The story is really nice despite it having two of the things that are not really my cup of tea, a D/s relationship and a menages.Charles was Nicky's master for the last five years. When they started the D/s relationship of Master and pet 24/7 it was Christmas time but Charles asked Nicky to come to live with him from the first of January, and so they lost their first Christmas. After that, every year, Nicky did his best to celebrate the holiday, trying every year to find something to please his Master, but to his eyes, Charles is only suffering all his enthusiasm.
But this Christmas, Charles receives a visit from the Spirit of Christmas Past; the spirit, a young and handsome man who seems to have a soft spot for Nicky, shows to Charles all the trouble Nicky went through in the last five years to make his Master happy. Seeing all those Christmas one after the other, makes Charles realizes that his pet has a real love for him and for the Christmas season, a love this last that he is not really sharing with Charles since Nicky doesn't believe that his Master really likes it.
Nicky is really a sweet character; he is the perfect epitome of the good pet, always trying to satisfy every whims of his Master, always putting his Master's desires in front of his owns. Probably the story should show us how cold and aloof his Master is, but actually I only see a gentle man, maybe not so demonstrative, that always tries to understand his pet's needs. Charles is gentle and caring, he likes to dominate Nicky, but he is always aware of Nicky's limits, and he is the first to reprimand him if he thinks that he is pushing himself to far. Charles is not a negative character, but maybe he is not expansive, and instead Nicky is a man who lives to feel cherished and loved.
Accordingly to what I said, the problem of me not liking a D/s relationship is no more important, since between Charles and Nicky there is a deep and true love, and so how they choose to demonstrate that love is their own choice and I don't judge it. It remains the little problem of the menages, that I really didn't feel necessary, but it's a very little scene, and almost "chaste" and in the context of the story, an only event, and so, in the end, also this problem is overcome.
Again a very nice Christmas story.
http://www.total-e-bound.com/product.asp?s=x
Reading List:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bott
Cover Art by April Martinez
I'm sincere, I was very in doubt if writing something about this book since it let me very perplexed... I don't know if like it since, in a way, it's true and too open, or dislike it since it's cruel and too open. In a small mine town the old "gays" gather in a pub lamenting the lack of interest they arise from the nearby prep school students. And what can you expect? Men older than fifty years against wealthy young students? no chance. But then one of the old man has a chance encounter with Danny, a young and cute student who can't literally say no. After being dumped by one of his professor, Danny searches solace in the anonymous sex, with only one condition: his lovers should be way older than him. At first Danny tries to have safe sex, he has always ready a condom for his visitors, but it's clear that his behavior his quickly leading him to a very dangerous field.
Then a man takes an interest in Danny more than passing. He finds himself captivated by the young boy, a boy that never asks and always does. The older man would like for Danny to be more selective, to be able to say no when he wants to say no, but soon he realizes that Danny is unable to say no, and so he decides to take that decision from him, to be Danny's caretaker and to be the one who will direct the traffic! Please? He will not protect Danny, a boy that obviously has some unsolved trouble in his past, he will only control from that moment on that the people who will take advantage of him, will pass though him first.
I can understand that this could be a till true situation, but who cares of Danny in all this? Danny is asking in a very loud way to be helped and I don't think that this is the way to help him.
http://www.forbiddenpublications.com/boo
Reading List:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bott
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