When Love Comes Back Around by Lisa Marie Davis

This book can be easily define a sweet romance. The story is pretty classic: small town, two sweetheart lovers, one from the most important family of the town, the other orphaned and raised by a drunk, the rejected of good society. They never should be friends, even less lovers. And to add problem to problem, they are both male.

Caleb is the golden son (even if he has dark hair...) and his father wants for him to be a politician. But when he is 13 years old he meets Royce, new in town after the death of his parents. Royce lives with his uncle, an abusive man, and the friendship with Caleb is his only escape from horror. When they are both 16 years old, friendship becomes loves and for four years they bring along a clandestine relationship. Caleb always swears that they will leave together, after college, they will go where they can claim their love. But when the moment arrives, Caleb cheats out, and Royce goes away alone.

Now after ten years, Royce is again in town, but he has no intention to meet Caleb, since he knows that he still loves the man and he will not survive to another farewell. Instead Caleb wants to see again Royce, even if for few minutes, since his life since their departure was an hell and he needs to be with the man he really loved, and actually the only man, or woman, for him.

The story is not so long, 70 pages, and as I said before, it's almost a sweet romance: there is a lot of talk about love, but not even one sex scene. Both Caleb than Royce treasure their memory, but the reader is not put apart of their thoughts. The story flows smoothly, it's easy to read, but since both characters are 30 years old now, I wouldn't mind a bit of more action. Anyway sometime is refreshing to read a sweet romance, and I'm always fond of the bad boy-good boy next door pair.

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What Matters Most by Lisa Marie Davis

Silas was always a strange boy. He saw imaginary friends, or so he thought. When he was a bit older he understood that what he saw were the souls of dead people who had something other to do before leaving, and they asked to Silas for help. Even if so young Silas knew that it was not normal for him to see souls, and from his parents he didn't have help. Lucky him his paternal grandfather, an old Irish man, taught him about the "sight" and that their family sometime gives birth to a special man like Silas.

To add strangeness to oddity, Silas soon realized that he was gay, and as he never hid the sight, he didn't hide his being gay. For his parents it was too much and Silas found himself alone at a very young age. With only a money help by his father he moved in a new city and began the life of a ordinary clerk, and at the same time he continued to help the souls. Always open in all the aspect of his life, when he became friend, or lover, with another man, Silas didn't hide the spiritual side of his life, and this lead to him being alone, since no one actually believed him. Silas got the fame to be handsome and sexy, but a bit odd.

When he spends a one night adventures with Josh, and the morning after he discovers that the man is very much in the closet and without any intention to come out, Silas tries to go on with his life, but Josh's mother has other idea... the problem is that Sarah, Josh's mother, is a soul and help her in her last wish means reveal to Josh that he can see the souls of the dead.

The story is an odd mix of hanging atmosphere and lustful sex. Silas is almost double faced, one side the cool and serene man who sees souls and calmly helps them, on the other side the man who picks up a man for a one night stand and makes passionate love; these are two side that almost crash, but that in a way melt together to draw up the character. Josh instead is a problematic man, with a abusive father and a weak mother, a grown man with still the mind of a child; sadly he needs an authoritative figure beside him, since alone he would not be able to break free from his father's clutches.

Even if there is sex in this story, it's almost like an ethereal experience... again that hanging feeling; the overall sensation of the story is of a continuous flow of energy, without the up and down that usually characterize a romance. In a way, for a story which deals with souls, it's quite a right sensation.

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Unstoppable Force by Lisa Marie Davis

This book has written "Cinderfella" all over the pages... there is also a fairy godmother in the guise of the very special male escort agency owner who matches Cinderfella alias Pretty Man Cale to Multi-Millionaire Prince Charming Ethan.

So, see, I can't be too hard with this story, since it's all about romance, and I can't not like a romance; doesn't matter if the story is unbelievable, if the cynical in me continued to say that a man like Ethan will never and never fall in love with Cale, I want the romance and I get the romance.

Ethan is a very handsome and very wealthy business man; at the beginning of his career he was a runaway guy with a skill for software and a pretty, even if rough, look. With the help of both his virtue, he manages to warm the bed of a middle age and wealthy man who in exchange, taught to Ethan how to be a successful business man. When the man moved on to another young lover, Ethan was enough skilled and independent to make his own success life. Today Ethan isn't searching for commitment, he likes to play the field, and so he usually buys the service of an escort agency when he is in the mood.

Cale is another runaway boy; escaping from an abusive stepfather who unfortunately taught to Cale that he is only worth for sex, Cale ended in the clutches of a little mafia criminal who, at his eyes, was a big treat. Managing to escape also from him, Cale now is under the shelter of fairy godmother Gwen, who sends him to Ethan. It's a match made in... bed? but Ethan pampers Cale like a prince, trying to instill a bit of confidence in the pretty man (and in this case I mean pretty as beautiful, since Cale is really beautiful even if he doesn't realize it).

A little trouble to resolve the issue of Cale's past does nothing to ruin the fairy tale atmosphere and the obviously path toward an happily ever after; if only life would be so simple...

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Loving Lucas by Lisa Marie Davis

Ten years before Lucas was a young high school teacher just out of college; he was the classical teacher who liked to be more a friends than a authoritative figure for his students, but he did that without second thoughts. Problem was that one of his student was an unstable teen who probably would need a psychiatric help and instead his family didn't take with the right seriousness the problem. Riley, the student, approached Lucas and when the man refused him, all went to hell: Lucas was raped and left for dead in a burning cabin. He managed to survive and to denounce Riley, but he also lost his life and his lover, who couldn't suffer his scarred body.

Now Lucas has a new life in a little small town where everyone loves him, above all the local sheriff; Nicholas is an handsome man, with plenty of choice if he wants, but he sets his eyes on Lucas. When they met five years before, Lucas was still too traumatized by his past events and he was not ready for something serious, and so Nicholas accepted the second choice to be his best friend. But now Riley is out of prison and both Lucas than Nicholas know that the man will come for Lucas, and Nicholas is not willing to let the man take the most important thing he has, Lucas; since Nicholas has no doubt that Lucas is his own.

The story is not very long and there is not mystery, since it's clear since the beginning that Riley will try to harm Lucas once again. It's more interesting to read and see how Nicholas will convince Lucas to accept not only his help but also his love. Truth be told, I think that Nicholas takes advantage of the situation to force Lucas to accept something than in other condition it will be years before they arrive to the same point. Probably Nicholas is tired to wait (but not enough to renounce) and above all he is tired to be judge by someone else actions. And this is maybe the point that I understood less: it's true that Lucas is scarred, but only on his back; in his everyday life, with dress on, he is a very beautiful man, and no one can notice his scars. All right, being a gay man, maybe having is back all scarred is a bit more important than a straight man (naughty Elisa, I know), but is it enough of a reason to dump someone? Lucas is clever, handsome, with a good work, is it possible that someone dumped him for some scars? And even if it happened, is it possible that he chose 10 years of chastity upon the action of only one man?

Anyway, the story is quite tender and the sex is good, something I noticed in the previous books by the same author: she mixes well the two elements, never letting the sex take the main role in the story, always letting the tenderness and love being in first line.

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Boy Midflight is a coming of age and coming out story without the angst that usually accompanies both this genres. It shows us a short period in Ashley's life, that moment in life when you have to take some important decisions for your future life, and with the help of some flashbacks it also goes back to his teen years.

When the story starts Ashley is 18 years old and attending a performing art college in Canada. It's quite clear that Ashley is a bit confused about his sexuality, or better about him and his sexuality related to the world. Ashley is not new to the gay world, actually his first sexual impulses were for boys not for girls, and from his memories we also learn that he has had some gay experiences with boys his age or slightly older, some good, some bad, but he has also had some girlfriends in between, and when he meets Chris, his love interest in this story, he is with Rachel. Rachel is only a name, since she disappeared even before the story starts when Ashley dumps her to be free to flirt with Chris.

I think that basically Ashley is an everyday boy, with all the insecurities of his age and the certainty that only a boy his age can have. Ashley faces everything full front, with little second thoughts. He is also very driven by his body and desires, but he always pinks his perspective with the illusion of love. I'm not criticizing him, I like his attitude: for him everything is about love, maybe even the slight tingle of sexual desire that someone else would scratch without thinking too much. Ashley has an innocence and naivete that crash a bit with his older attitude: Ashely is living alone, far from home, and he is facing some very delicate and important issues, as what would be his future, and what he has to renounce to to be himself; Ashley is not weak, but he is fragile, since he hasn't yet built a protective shield from the world, and all his feelings and naked nerves are plainly exposed. It's easy to hurt him, but at the same time it takes to him very little time to heal from the wound: Ashley is not yet a man, but he promises to become a good one in a few years.

In the less than 200 pages of the book, we follow Ashley through all his life experiences that are often paired with a sexual experience: it seems like the turning points on his life are spurred by a boy/man, the little and the important ones, and the length of the relationship depends on the importance of the decision. It seems like Ashley takes with him, or gains force, from the men in his life and from everyone of them he learns something. Ashley is not selfish, he is really searching for true love, for the one who will love him forever like the prince charming he has always dreamed, but he is easily distracted by the glitter of a lesser prince.

I like the style of the author, it's young like his character, and the flowing of words are right in role for Ashley, you are inside his mind and you can see his development from boy to almost man, almost since, even if there is an happily ever after, Ashley in the end is still an 18 years old boy with all the world in front of him. The book is also quite sexy but again, I feel a "strange" innocence: Ashley has various sexual experience, from the simple kiss to the complete intercourse, but the author prefers to linger on the sweetness and cuteness of a kiss, sometime even replayed moment for moment, taste for taste, and skates over with elegance on the more intimate details. I actually didn't understand if and when Ashley looses his "innocence" or if he still had it at the beginning of the story... it's not actually important to know, Ashley faces every new relationship like it's the most important one of his life.

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( Otter Fashion & Gay Top Model present the cover boys for Charlie David's book  )

I was first drawn by this book for the topic of the son of a minister who finds out he is gay. Someone who has always heard that being gay is a sin, that is not natural, how terrible it could be for him to realize that he is gay? And how a negative figure has to be the father, the preacher, who is not kind enough to love his own son, how he could be a "father" for a community?

And so, starting to read the book I was pretty surprised to see that Joseph, Paul's father, was not at all a negative character. A recent widower, he didn't let his pain close his heart, and he is still ready to be a supporting father and a good reverend. He moves to a big church in Dallas, bigger than the one he was used to, but the change is necessary for him and also for his son. He is also very happy when his son finds a friend in Jeremy, a same-age guy of the parish. More, Joseph also starts to date Janet, a divorced mother of two little girls who serves as secretary for the church. If you wonder why I spend so much time talking of Joseph, it's since Joseph is the perfect example of a man who has had no chance to see the "truth": basically Joseph is a good man, a good father and a good reverend, but he is stuck with the old teachings, the ones saying that being gay is a sin, that it's not acceptable. When Joseph learns that depending on the church there is also a "correctional" center, a place where supposed "doctors" teach to young men to not being gay, he only worries that they are not using violence, but medicine and brainwashing are all right. Not even when a young man kills himself, a boy he talked with and said he wanted only to arrive to the day he could leave the "center" to be free, not even then the good reverend questioned his beliefs.

In a way, being Joseph a good man is even worst for his son, since Paul can't reconcile his feelings for Jeremy with the teachings of his father; his father is a good man, Paul loves him, and if his father tells him that being gay is bad, young Paul can only believe it. And then there is also the fact that Paul is an only son, that he is the only family his father has, and if he leaves his father, he will leave him all alone. When Paul meets Jeremy, he is the perfect good son of a reverend: at 18 years old he is a perfect virgin, he has not even masturbated himself. But if Paul's mind doesn't know, his body well does, and being near Jeremy awakens all the forbidden desires. There is not much struggle on Paul's side, as soon as he realizes that Jeremy is gay, and that he is interested in him, Paul throws himself in the relationship, without second thoughts. It's quite easy, also Jeremy has to hide from his parents, and they can hide together.

At first I found a bit disconcerting all the sex between the two boys; it seemed to me reckless and odd that they were trying to hide from their respective parents, and in the meantime they were spending all possible time together in bed. But then it struck me: they are two teenagers, they don't think as adults, they are not adults at all! They are two boys in love and in that moment, the most important thing is to find a way to consume that love. I don't know if it was an author's choice, or maybe the fact that probably the author is not an erotic, and not even a romance writer, but also the sex scenes were very "bare" and basic, almost clinical; there was not foreplaying, not knowledge how to do "things" to easy and heighten each other pleasure, the main purpose was to get off as soon and as much as possible.

Nor Paul or Jeremy behave as adult men, nor during sex or in the choice they take. Without the help of elder people around, they will not even reach an healthy choice; again someone could question if it was a good behavior, and again I answered myself, it was probably the right behavior for a 18 years old guy in that same situation. Paul and Jeremy are not good "example", they are not two role models for gay teenagers, they are two boys who are in love but are still too young to help that love to grow. They are lucky enough to have other people around wiser than them, and ready to help.

The novel has maybe a simple perspective on the issue, for Paul and Jeremy it's not easy, but all in all it goes better than many other boys in their same situation; Paul's father, Joseph, maybe takes a little too late the right decision, but at least he did. In a perfect world, he should have reached that decision not since he realized that his son was in danger, but since it was the right thing to do, and so neither him proves to be a "perfect" character, but again, maybe it was not the idea of the author to write perfect and unbelievable characters. Paul and Jeremy are 18 years old boy, born and raised in a privileged society, and so they are not ready to face the big bad world alone. Joseph is a good man who believes in certain preachment, and till the moment the bad side of those beliefs don't hurt him, he doesn't realize they are wrongs. Maybe Paul, Jeremy and Joseph are not perfect, but I believe they are right for the society where they live.

The Preacher's Son is not a perfect novel, I still feel like the sex scene where a bit too rough and the ending a bit too fairy-tale and sugary, but all in all, it was a sweet coming of age story (with a scene that remembers both An Affair to Remember or Sleepless in Seattle, an appointment on a skydeck), and if you like to read of young boys in love, with the big bad world just outside but not too threatening, this is the right novel.

Amazon: The Preacher's Son: A Southern Coming-Out Story

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Everytime I heard about this book, it was about how funny it was, how crazy and original. And since it is also tagged as a Gay Young Adult novel, I was really interested in reading it, since usually Gay YA novels are always sad and, let us say, depressing. How I Paid for College, A Novel of Sex, Theft, Friendship & Musical Theater is all but depressing. Edward Zanni's attitude towards life is to full face front it, rather than being depressed by the odds in his path. But, truth be told, this is not even a gay novel; the fact that Edward is bisexual (because he is bisexual, maybe with a more enhanced interest in men, but not an exclusive interest) it's not the main pushing factor of the novel.

Edward is at the end of his high school years and he has already planned all his future life: he will attend Julliard and he will be an actor. Lucky Edward comes from a middle class family, and even if his parents are divorced, he has not suffered much from that: he is living with his father, who sustains him in everything, and his estranged mother is traveling somewhere in the world, trying to find herself. Edward has a cheerleader type girlfriend, Kelly, and a one year older female best friend who is already enrolled to the Julliard; among his circle of friends, there is also a nerdy boy his age, the jock who Edward convinced to play the role of Danny Zucco in their high school drama class, and Ziba, the daughter of wealthy Persian refugee, who acts like a Jackie Onassis replica. The strange things of this bunch of friends is that they are not "ordinary", everyone of them is crazy on his own way, and the craziness is allowed since they haven't to worry for the day after: everyone of them is the son of the middle class environment where they live, going to college for them is to prolong the eternal game that is their life.

When Edward's father remarries with an Austrian immigrate who is obviously looking for his money, for the first time Edward is faced with the reality of every ordinary teenager: his father will pay for tuition only if Edward will choose a "straight" (no pun intended) college. At first Edward tries to do the things as a normal teenager, working odd jobs to save for tuition, but 10.000 dollars is not an amount you can save in an year of afternoon job, above all since Edward seems unable to renounce to his hobbies and time with friends. And so the only other option his to steal the money from his father. Again, how they will do it is not the way of ordinary teenagers, but more a real life comedy played by rich kids.

From the sentimental point of view, Edward is also developing his sexuality. He is more drawn from the aesthetic of his possible lovers than from their gender: Edward loves Kelly since she is glamour, he has a crush on Doug since he is the perfect dream date, he is drawn by his English teacher since he represents the forbidden fruit, another way to rebel to his father. Maybe it's a generalization, but I think that Edward is gay since he loves the gay world more than the gays... he loves the glitter and glamour of that world, he loves the freedom he has to go up a table and sing a musical and being cheered and not sneered at.

Ab absurdo, if Edward and all his friends were more ordinary, the obvious solution to Edward's problem would have been simpler than expected... but if it was like that, there would have been this novel, and it would have been a shame, since it's, as expected, a funny and light read, and as I said, being not strictly connected to a gay teen experience, it has a wider breath.

Amazon: How I Paid for College: A Novel of Sex, Theft, Friendship & Musical Theater

Amazon Kindle: How I Paid for College: A Novel of Sex, Theft, Friendship & Musical Theater

Marc Acito's In the Spotlight post: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/583688.html

The story of Amiri is basically a coming of age, even if it starts when Amiri is already 18 years old. But more than a passage between is young and adult years, it's a passage toward his independence and the path that will lead him to be a man comfortable with his sexuality.

And the important word is "man" since, truth be told, Amiri as young boy is already comfortable with his sexuality, but only considering him and himself. Amiri has no doubt, he is gay, and he is also enough self-confident to be able to find and share his sexuality with boy of his same age. But Amiri is not comfortable with the society where he is living.

Amiri is the son of divorced parents, and at first he lived with his mother; when his mother found out that Amiri was gay, she sent him living with his father. I didn't feel as his father didn't approve him, but probably he was not able to raise a kid (even if Amiri was already 18 years old) and decided to send Amiri to leave with his aunt, Moana. The passage from a small town to a bigger one is probably the best for Amiri, but it was also destabilizing. Amiri has also to leave behind his childhood best friend, Tane, a boy that probably, if they had the chance, could have been Amiri's true love.

Due to his missing basis and support, at first Amiri falls in a not good relationship for him with Jacob; it's not that Jacob is not good, it's that Amiri is not considering himself worthy of something more. After Jacob, Amiri falls for Joe, a straight guy; it's obvious that again, Amiri is choosing the wrong man, not since he is unlucky, but since he is not still at ease with himself. Only when Amiri has the chance to grow and gain confidence in himself, only than he will find the right man, Graeme.

The story is not very long, less than 30 pages, but it has really the feeling of something longer. Despite the few pages, Amiri's character has the chance to develop, and from the start it was already deep and good. Defining Right is a classical discovery journey of a young man in searching of himself.

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This is again, like Times Queer, not a romance and not even a gay novel. It was probably tagged as "gay" (and I'm not saying that as a derogatory meaning), since people think at what was the following life of the author of this book, and they probably identified the 7 years old of the story with the author himself... maybe it's like that, maybe not. In every book there is something of his author, but there is also the evidence of a reality that maybe it's not the one experienced by him.

This is the story of a 7 years old, and I find still very difficult to think at sex linked to that age, above all to sexual orientation. It's true, I read just last night a book where the main character said that he knew he was gay at that same age, but I still believe that at 7 years old, more than a sexual orientation you have a vague idea of what is sex and what you are attracted to, the mystery of it more than the physical representation, the male or female body. There is no doubt that the young boy of this book (no name I believe), is forced to face things that make him question about "that", but he doesn't know what "that" is. His body is changing, and he is starting to feel something, parts of his body that before where only there, without purpose, now make him do strange things.

To the changing happening to his body, he has to add also the big change outside, he is preparing for the "Holy Communion"... another mystery, another strange thing happening to him on which he has no control and that he is not sure to like. Who represents it, nuns and priests, are no people he likes, and it seems a too big weight for his small age. After the Holy Communion you will be no more a child, you will loose your innocence... like doing "those" acts. The boy is not sure that it's something he wants to do, he is not sure that he wants to loose his innocence, in his mind the Holy Communion is not something good, it's at the same level with committing a sin.

And for the boy is not ended here, the only figure he trusts, the only person who seems to love him, his mother, has an accident and she is taken to hospital, far from him, right in the moment when he would need her more. It's not said, but maybe in his mind he sees the estrangement from his mother like a punishment for all is happening around him, all things that he has no power on. The boy is involved in unwilling sexual acts with adults, both men than women, and everytime he runs away, scared. The fear for the unknown will be his salvation, not the Holy Communion: since he is not guilty, he has no sin, and he is safe.

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Setting in a suburban England town, The Nest is an unexpected story. First of all, the blurb is not quite right, hinting to some big bad trouble, really American style, where the big good cop plays the knight in shining armor's role. Instead the style of the story, and the troubles in it, are dry and all too much ordinary, not at all stage effective. The Nest is a story in an undertone, and the two main characters are more ordinary men than heroes. And surprisingly enough, it's almost a sweet romance, with few if nothing sex.

Brendan Cuddy is the new police constable assigned to a poor council estate called the Nest. As the new man, Brendan is seen by all the people who live, and hide, in the Nest, like an intruder, someone you have to not trust, above all by Jay. Jay is a 19 years old guy who is trying to support his younger siblings, two of them under 10 years old, after their mother disappeared 2 years before. Jason didn't say to Social Services that his mother left, since the obviously conclusion would have been for the family to be split up. Instead Jay dropped out of school and now works two job to make the ends meet. He is doing a better job than his mother with his siblings, but it's not the dreamlike family of some romance stories. Jay is not some fabulous older brother that all at once became a perfect parent, he is still mostly a teenager who had to grow faster and sooner. And it's not even the classical teenager who gets himself in some big trouble and needs a good man to help him. As I said, the turning point of the story is not sensational and even the decision one will be quiet and simple, as all the book itself.

So here we have Jay, 19 years old and almost no experience with men, since he has really no time to date or think to something else other than take care of his family, and Brendan, the good constable, who wants only to help. Brendan is not a hero, he probably takes a little more interest in this case since he has a sweet eye for Jay; and really, he doesn't do anything special, if not closing an eye here and there (like with Jay's mother disappearance), and holds out an helping hand when necessary. In the meantime, we have also a proof that Brendan is not exactly a tough and pure perfect hero, since he brings on a fated relationship with Rowan, when he well knows that he is not in love with the man, and worst, he thinks to Jay even when he is with Rowan. But Brendan is not someone who sees things in black and white, and maybe he is also too gentle and caring to clearly say to a man who claims to be in love with him, that him instead doesn't feel nothing... better to let the river flows, than trying to stop it.

Even if it was not what I was expecting, I like the feeling of the book, it was almost like one of those English movies, a la Stephen Frears, about the working class. You usually get to see a movie, or read a book, to see something different from your real life, and so, it's difficult that you willingly decide to see one of those movies, but maybe, one afternoon you are at home doing nothing, and that movie is on the screen, and you stop what you are doing and find yourself glue to the television... You are seeing your life, but, well, it's a good story, and you like it. There are not sensational scenes, there are not big emotional breakdowns, not even the sex, but still, there is something of undefined that draw you to the story... this book is something like that, I can't really find a specific point that made me like the book, it's a continuum thing, a continuum that is not even broke at the end: they are not the characters that lead the story, it's the story that incorporates the characters and makes them move along its placid flow.

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Cover Art by Amanda Kelsey

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.

Amazon: Dumb Jock

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It's never easy to write a book set in the moment in time when Germany was changing, and some of its inhabitants didn't recognize it. Josef Jaeger is the perfect emblem of that arian youth Hitler is promoting: young, blond, blue eyes... but at 13 years old Josef has only his look since he is living with his single mother, an opera singer, in Bayreuth, and money are not so much. Even if Josef doesn't exactly realize it, he is ostracized by his schoolmates and his only real friend is his mother... since the beginning of the book, Josef is playing a role, the little adult in the body of a child, the male partner for his mother (mind you, no incest here, don't get me wrong). It's not maybe a perfect life, but Josef feels safe and protected with his mother.

Then the sudden death of his only parent, the apparition of an uncle he has never known and the moving to Munich, change it all. His uncle Ernst is a very important figure in the Nazi emerging party and Josef sees his life turns upside down. From the poor but safe apartment he shared with his mother, he is thrown in the rich lifestyle of his uncle, private schools, expensive clothes and the discovery of sex. Ernst is living with his partner Ruby, and Ruby is not much older than Josef, 18 years old to 13 years old. Uncle Ernst is not a bad man, probably he is only not used to deal with a child: a former officer, aloof and detached, his only weak is his love for Ruby, a man that clearly is taking advantage of his money; Ernst is not a man used to compromise, and this is clearly shown by his living openly with a man. And also Ruby, even if calculating and profiter, on his way has a good heart. Both men will give to Josef a comparison parameter, and from both of them he will learn something, and again, Josef will play a role, this time the role of the perfect Hitlerian youth.

But another change and another moving will wait for Josef. This time to Berlin, to really play as an actor in a propaganda movie. In Berlin Josef is alone, for the first time without an adult reference by his side, and maybe for the first time he will live without playing a role, while ab absurdo, he is playing a role in the movie. In Berlin he meets David, the son of a Jewish doctor; it's obviously a fated love, David's father is planning to leave Germany as soon as possible, but Josef and David will have time to tight a special bond. Also with David, Josef will play a role, the role of the dream date boyfriend, the movie star, giving perhaps to David something to smile in a moment he has not much reasons to do that.

There are two things that a boy the age of Josef should not be allowed to be involved with, politics and sex, but both of them play an important role in Josef's life. Politics he only sees from afar, even if politics is changing his life forever; politics is also using him for its own reasons and Josef will not understand it till it will be too late; for a political reason he will move to Berlin, and have the chance to meet David, the only good thing politics will do for him. And instead Josef has plenty of chance to discover the various side of sex: as a form of comfort, a way to finally have the feeling to belong to someone, as a way to share emotions with the boy he loves, as a barter to obtain what he wants. Josef is a really "sex" driven person, even if young he has clearly in mind what he likes and what he wants, and what he can obtain; probably since he is always used to play a role, he plays a role also during sex, he is the man they want him to be, everyone of them. Even David, the only boy Josef really loves, doesn't really know the real Josef, but only the fake one Josef wants to show him.

But even if skilled in acting and obtaining what he wants, Josef in the end is only a boy like David, and the history is bigger than him; his only hope is that, seeing the life like a big movie, and him an actor, he will manage to hide behind his makeup and play role after role after role.

http://www.prizmbooks.com/zen/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=12&products_id=47

Amazon: Josef Jaeger

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Cover Art by Rose Lenoir

This is a coming of age story: Kim is 18 years old and his beau, Dash, is 19 years old, so this is the classical story of love  that feels too much and too strong, of difficulties that seem insurmountable, of the awkwardness to find a place where you can be together, when you are still living with your mother or in a dorm with a roommate. The fact that Kim is a gay teenager out and proud who is struggling to finish the last year of high school to finally reach the dreamland that is the college campus, and that Dash is a strange guy, all long trench and eyeliner, would make this already an interesting book, but there is something more.

Kim is not exactly a gay teenager, he is a transgender female to male; the previous year, when he was still underage, he had a breakdown, but the consequences were not so bad, both his mother than his doctors understood that for Kim was not just an attitude, he was really a man trapped in a woman body, and they took the necessary step. Now Kim frequents a new school and both his friends than his family think at him as a guy. And he looks also as a guy, a pretty boy sure, but a boy nevertheless. And so when Dash meets him, he has no doubt that he is looking and a very pretty boy, one he would be interested to frequent.

Dash is a first year university student with a bit of a rebel behavior, but all in all not a bad life. From a wealthy family that seems to have not problem with him being gay, Dash is also quite handsome and so he has no problem to meet guys. Actually Dash is the perfect teenager dream date, all dark and fashion, what fashion define an emo boy, I believe. He has some bad experiences in the past, he lost his sister to illness, and even if not exactly explained, I believe there were some tensions with his family on his chosen path for the future (both as sexual preferences than professional career); but truth be told, Dash comes out like a very lucky guy, even maybe a little spoiled, his family fears to deny him something since having lost a daughter, now they pour all their love on the remaining child. Knowing that, Dash's first reaction to Kim's revelation that he is transgender is almost expected: Dash is not used to have things don't go as he wants, and he is used to have all simple and ready; probably at first he thinks that it's not worth to complicate his life with Kim. But then Dash is not a bad guy, and after the first shock he is willing to try.

Dash is a nice character, but most of the story turns around Kim. The plot doesn't develop Kim's struggle to be accepted as a man, when the book starts he has already the support he needs, now it's only a question for him to really understand if he has to go on with the change. It's not even something related to the outside world, if we arrive to the bone of the matter, Kim is attracted to men, so probably he would have no problem to find a man that would comply with his request in bed even if he was a woman. Kim decides to change since he is not comfortable with himself, he is not comfortable inside his body. It's not a matter of Kim related to the world, it's a matter of Kim related to himself.

As always Laney Cairo chooses a not simple plot, and deals with it with enough analytical approach to make it real, but also with enough romance attitude to make it appealing; while reading you are aware that this is an important issue, that it was not simple for Kim, and that probably it will be not even in the future, but you are also aware that this is a love story, and it's sweet and romantic, and powerful as only a teenager love story can be.

http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1967

Amazon Kindle: Circle of Change

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Cover Art by Pluto

The bad boy and the angel girl, all church and home... It's quite a classical plot, only that here, the angel girl is an angel boy, better the altar boy, and bad boy Jacob sees him the first day at the boarding school where he was sent due to one fight more in public school. Jacob is 16 years old and he wouldn't be a bad student if not for the fact that he picks up too more fight, above all when someone call him names since he likes boys. Jacob has not a problem with liking boys, he is well beyond the phase when it was a doubt, now for him it is a sure thing, but Jacob is like a lot of other teenager, he is easily inflammable.

Avery instead is apparently a saint; but the truth is that he has mastered the skill to not listen to who he is around him. Avery has still one year left in boarding school and then he will be out at college. He made the mistake to have a thing with his roommate, someone who was not at all discreet and who left at the end of the previous year, leaving Avery to live with the consequences of his big mouth. Avery is only waiting for this year to pass, he is not for sure searching for another story inside the boarding school. But then he sees Jacob, and it's love at first sight. Even if Avery is older than an year and with more experience (he had sex 3 times...), he always falls in love: two times before he had a boyfriend, and two times he was in love and he was the first to say the L word. He swore to not do the same error again and then here he is, falling for the new guy since day one.

Jacob is for sure temperamental, but he is also very insecure; it's not that he hasn't a supportive family, they are not happy for him to be gay, but they are not even fiercely against the idea. When his father found out, when he was 14 years old, he beat him, and his mother cried, but then, they reached an unspoken agreement, a family don't ask, don't tell. I believe that most of the rage Jacob feels inside, is only a way for repressed feelings to come out, he has no one to speak to, and the only way he can "communicate" is through his fist. Jacob attacks the boys who call him names only since he still isn't at comfort with whom he is and with who he likes. And when he meets Avery, his balance, Jacob will manage to dissipate a bit of that repressed feelings.

On the other hand, Avery faces better the same situation, since he, first has the support of his mother, and second his a bit older than Jacob, and at that age one year is very important. Avery suffers from the jokes against him not since he is insecure, but since he is lonely; and when he meets Jacob, a soul mate and not before long, also a boyfriend, he fill that loneliness and he is content, he has enough to go through the last year in boarding school. Oh, he loves Jacob, no doubt, the boy is not only a convenience, but Avery knows that they are only teenagers, and what they feel now is only heightened by the feeling to be two alone against the world. When they will be out, when they will have the chance to meet someone else, what will happen then? But I have faith in Avery and Jacob and in their love, their story is so tender and sweet, that I can really believe that they will be happy together ever after.

Without Sin is a really romantic story, very suitable for young gay adult in love, but with that bit of romance with a much more adult feeling in it that can satisfy also an older reader. And then me, an older reader, I have always had a certain thing for young boys in uniform...

http://www.prizmbooks.com/zen/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=12&products_id=46

Amazon: Without Sin

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Cover Art by Rose Lenoir

Ordinary Champions is the third and last book in the Masks series, and it's exactly like I was expecting to be.

The superheroes in the Masks series are not invincible men, they are teenagers and young men at the brink of adulthood, but their actions are more driven by the unsteady feelings more than by an high purpose to do the good for humanhood.

In the second book, Eric was having problem with his boyfriend Peter, since Peter was starting to be acquainted with his superpowers and maybe he was neglecting his new beau. Between adults this would have been not a problem, Eric would have understood that Peter was involved in something bigger then them, but as I said before, they are only teenagers, and Eric is jealous, and Peter is not able to comfort and reassure him. And so Eric falls in the dark side, at the same time being "kidnapped" and going willingly toward the "evil" superhero's side.

But in this mix of ordinary champions and teenager superheroes, even if you are an evil hero, you are not dispensed from being a teenager and from having to do your homework and chores, and so Eric soon realizes that he is missing his family and friends, and having superpowers are not consolation enough for what he lost.

The relationship between Eric and Peter is not as center stage here as it was in the first book. This final installment in the series is more about Eric's growth, of his nearing that brink to adulthood. But it's also the growth of the community in where Eric lives, they learn that they can be their own heroes, and that they can defeat the evil everyday, without any outside help. It's all a question of acquiring consciousness of who you are and of what you are capable to do, even without having superpower: paraphrasing a famous sentence, the force is inside you. It's not that there isn't a love story, it's also that before Eric could fully enjoy his love for Peter, he needs to grow; love as a teenager is not the same as an adult.

I love that the story, even when developing the fantasy side, never forgets that we are speaking of young adults, of boys with the boundaries of boys, little men that when they have granted their wish of being free and independent, realize that they miss their home and mom; they can have superpowers, but the power of love is always stronger.

http://www.prizmbooks.com/zen/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=12&products_id=44

Amazon: Masks: Ordinary Champions

Series: Masks
1) Rise of Heroes: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/430966.html
2) Evolution: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/483365.html
3) Ordinary Champions

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Cover Art by Pluto

This is a classical coming of age story with a bit less angst than usual. I'm really fond of teens story, I always say that in them I find an innocence and a sweetness that it's hard to find in a normal contemporary story. Teenagers are so eager for love, and the love so hard that it's impossible to not heart for them; problem is that I'm maybe a bit too realistic, and I always wonder if a story that starts when the boys are underage have really a chance to last.

This is the main reason why I liked this book, since it spans almost two years in the life of Wes and Toren, from when they are still in highschool till when they approach their adult life, with college and work and stuff like that.

Toren is a cute nerd little student; he is obviously gay, he has written it all over his face but he is so worried to come out: his parents got divorced since his father fell for a man when Toren was 12 yeard old, and since then he lives with his mother; he loves so much his mom that he fears to hurt her with the truth and so he represses his feelings. But then Wesley enters his life and he can't help to fall hard and love is impossible to hide. Plus Wes has not a supporting family and Toren becomes not only his lover but also all the family he has.

Probably Wes and Toren have to grew too soon and too fast, but as I said this is not an angst story: even if they went through some not nice events, mostly their story is made of tenderness and cuteness; there is clearly a yaoi imprint in it, but not so much as other western yaoi novel I read. Wes is clearly the top in the relationship, he assumes the role of the caretaker, the man of the family, the one who goes to work and comes back home to his little "wife". But he is not an authoritative man, he is not an absolute top, he is only a real good boy; and it's strange since in highschool he had the fame to be a bad boy, the one born in the wrong side of the city. But for most of it was only a role he played as reaction to what he was living at home, with parents that never once supported him, even before they knew he was gay.

Toren instead is the classical bottom, all blushing and tears, but he is not weak, he only needs to find a bit of courage to come out, and not only in a sexual way. But don't forget that Toren is 17 years old when the story starts, he is still mostly a boy and he has plenty of time to grew; I like that he is not forced to take steps he is not ready to do only since around him people don't understand. And I think that Wes, with his protective attitude, somehow helped Toren to walk at his own pace.

There is a lot of sex, and there is clearly the fascination of a woman author for two young boys in love, another legacy from the yaoi influence; not only that, there are also some female characters in the book that probably represent the author herself (actually the female are the strongest characters in the book). But the sex is also tender, as all the book, and so it's very nice to read it.

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Amazon Kindle: Wes and Toren

Amazon: Wes and Toren

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I bought this book months ago, but I always delayed to read it since I had the idea that it was sad and difficult, and if I have to spend my mind in a book, at least I want in the end to be happy. But I was wrong... Oh yes, the book is difficult, almost tragic in some part, but it's not sad, and I'm very happy to have read it and I will recommend it to everyone who wants to end a book with a tender smile on his face. Mind you, the book has not a pink glasses perspective on the world, but it still has hope in it.

Noah is a really good character, but he is not the only protagonist of this book: he shares the role with the other young boy J.D., but also with his mother Virginia, and in a way, also with Donna and Tom, J.D.'s parents. And so I would like to start my post speaking of Virginia: she is the classical strong woman who built a shield around her to not face a dramatic and long buried secret in her past. She managed to find a piece of serenity with her husband, probably a more simple and quite man than her, even less clever, but able to give her the stability she needed. Noah had never seen his parents in intimate behavior, but he felt the positive energy between them, he knew that his family was an haven from the world, a place where he could grow and be the man he wanted to be without fear of rejection. But that haven was destroyed when his father suddenly passed away, and the other plate who balanced his mother disappears.

Now Virginia drags Noah to live in a small town, but it's not the cultural shock who Noah would expect. In a way, the small town way of life replace that safe haven, and the disorientation Noah would probably had in the city, is avoided with this moving in an old Victorian house that needs a lot of work to be inhabitable and in this way distracts Noah from his own problems. And another distraction arrives from J.D., the new neighbor a year young than Noah. It's strange, Noah is way too clever than J.D., and he is also older, but when J.D. enters the scene, he always takes the role of the leader, the one who always seems to be more aware and adult. Even with his parents J.D. has a way too adult behavior for his own age, he is comprehensive and respectful, even if they have obviously a lot of problem and if J.D. will continue to live with them will end in a very bad way.

This is obviously a coming of age story, both of Noah and J.D., but in a way also of both their mothers, who need to make pacts with their past to not ruin the future of their son. But it's also a love story between Noah and J.D., and even if dealt with tenderness and the right dose of eroticism for a young adult book, it's nevertheless a very sweet and satisfying love story. It evolves in a way that maybe makes Noah and J.D. face some decisions before time, but it's right, since also in their personal life they are facing events that no one at that age should face: and since the world asks them to be adult, it's right that also in their sexual life they are adult.

Amazon: Leave Myself Behind

Bart Yates's In the Spotlight post: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/349936.html

It's not often that I read a book so easy... easy to read and easy to like. In an almost utopian world, Paul is a teen apparently without problem: at 5 years old his teacher wrote in his profile that he was absolutely gay, and she did it as a positive thing, Paul was a lot more aware of himself than his fellow schoolmates. After reading his profile, remember at 5 years old, he went at home and said to his mom, "Mom, I'm gay!" and his mom replied, "Oh, dear, you learned a new word!", more or less with these words. Now Paul goes to high school and he is probably the most popular student of the school, even if probably he has to share the throne with Darlene/Daryl who is at the same time the quarterback of the local football team and the queen beauty of the school (in drags!).

So no, apparently Paul has no problem if not since in this moment he has too many guys around him: his best friend Tony, who is gay, but who, unfortunately, lives with uber religious parents who think that their son will be damned forever; his ex-boyfriend Kyle, who dumped Paul in a not so nice way and also said to all the school that Paul tried to turn him gay when he really was straight; and finally his new-boyfriend Noah, who is new in town and so he doesn't really now Paul and all his chaotic life.

Paul stays never put, he is always in motion and he is always involved in something; not that Paul regrets it, he really like to be the center of attention. Paul is a really nice character, but truth be told, he is a very narcissistic guy, but with all the positive side of being so: he shines, he is a real leader, but he also considers people around him, he can never say no when someone asks him help. Problem is that being of all also means really not having someone special only for him. When he meets Noah, Paul knows that the guy is the special one, but Noah needs attention and patience, and Paul needs to be cautious, something that he is not able to be. Being the center of the universe means that everything he does is common knowledge, and everyone he meets ends on the billboard with a bet on how much it will last.

There is a strange parallelism in the book with the real world: Paul's family is a "normal" family according to the story's standard, they are accepting and supporting, they are always available for their son, in this utopian world they represent the classic All American family made of morning pancakes and family holiday; instead Noah's parents are the black sheep, too taken by their jobs to be aware that their son and daughter are alone and probably nurturing future problems. Noah faces his parent's indifference isolating himself from his similar; he is almost transparent until Paul didn't notice him by chance: no one in school had realized that there was a new student among them. As expected, when the school star meets the lone wolf, it's not simple for them to find a common ground.

I like this story since the problem Paul and Noah face are the very normal problems that would face a "straight" couple: family, friends, and school. It's not a problem that they are gay, no one raises a brow; but it's not even under-lighted that they are gay: in this world, gay and straight are alike, and the small town is scattered of gayness, that is imbued in the social texture.

The same easy attitude that is in all the book, is also when it's time to talk of Paul and Noah as a couple; they are the icon of young boyfriends, they are tender and cute, they are all kisses; sex is not contemplated in their relationship, but it's not something they avoid for a conscious decision, it's almost like it doesn't exist in their world. You don't miss it since it's not necessary; there was never a place or a time in the book when the reader expected it, and so I didn't miss it. The only time when something of sexual came in my mind, was when Paul realized that he was gay since he was interested in a game of two of his friends and he was a bit too much focused on their t-shirts and in the way they went up... and Paul was 5 years old, so no, no sex can be possibly part of it!

Amazon: Boy Meets Boy

David Levithan's In the Spotlight post: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/354413.html

This is not at all the novel I was expecting. First of all the characters are much younger than I thought.

Ryan is a 19 years old college student and hockey player who, during a game, was badly injured. Now he is in a wheelchair and ahead of him he has many months, maybe years, of therapy for the hope to walk again, but not more skating for him. He has lost everything: he is not a striking guy, not a good student, he is plain and simple, and maybe a little surly, and being the star of the college hockey team was his change to be someone in college. Now he is a cripped guy living with his parents and with no chance in front of him. And he is also virgin, he likes guys but he has never had the courage to near someone, only an interrupted attempt of blowjob during a frat party.

Dante is a 18 years old boy from the wrong side of the city. After high school he didn't go to college, cause he has no the necessary money, and to be true, neither the inclination. He only loves speed skating, he is very good at it, and his dream is to arrive to Olympics. He works to pay his lessons and the fee to the trials. He is a beautiful latino guy, the dream man of many girls, but he is gay. He has had only a lover, a very bad experience with a schoolmate, but he has not given up the hope to find a boyfriend. Yes, a boyfriend, cause Dante is only an eighteen years old guy, and for him love is someone to call mine, someone to hung out with, someone who, like a knight in shining armour, stand up for him and claim to all the world and above all to the men who bother him, that he is his boyfriend, so hands out from him!

The story is very well written and compelling. Dante's trouble to find the money for simple things but also for the month's rent, his daydreams of glory. Ryan's struggle with the therapy, his bad attitude, very right considering his situation, his relationship with his mother. Oh yes, his mother... cause we are speaking of a nineteen years old guy, not a man, and mothers are still a very present costant in a guy's life. And Ryan's mother is a wonderful character, not the perfect mother of fantasy, but a real mother, bothering but loving.

And then there is the sex, that at that age is the most important thing you have, but it is naive and tender. Sex is also a kiss stolen in the shadow, but sex is also something more, you do careless and with enthusiasm. Condoms are a joke, not a life's necessity... they are teens in heat.

Amazon: Power Play

Although I can't expect much in a very short story like this one, 37 pages, the author manages to make me change my mind on one of the two hero even in few pages.

Garth and Peter went to high school together. I believe that Garth had an hero adoration for Peter: Garth was a nerdy type, all books and school, to much shy to be forward with girls, and so he remained alone by himself; his only link to the outside world was Peter, the bad boy of the school, that parents avoid and that daughters always looked for. Handsome and friendly, he took Garth under his wing (maybe also with a selfish interest, since the boy did his homework) and Garth was more than happy to follow. There was no hint in Garth's recollection of the past to a sexual interest, if not for an only night, when Peter and Garth fooled around with too much beer in body, but the morning after all was like before, and then they went to different college and different life.

Now Garth is a high-paid lawyer specialized in the show business world, and Peter is a famous singer with a problem. It's obvious that Peter asks to Garth to be his lawyer, it's not so obvious that, from the first time they met, Peter shifts their relationship to a personal level and Garth is unable to deny him. Peter has the reputation of a womanizer, in the magazines is not said that he is into men, and Garth has always thought to be a one man type... so why neither of them deny what is it happening between them.

At first Peter is not a very nice character; even when he was a teenager, he was arrogant and even a bit selfish. As an adult, nothing is changed, he still takes what he wants without asking, almost believing that all is due since he is the MAN. Truth be told he is willing to reciprocate, but still, it would be nice if he asked at least once. Anyway, Garth is not the type of man who resents to be treated in a submissive way: there is not a clear reference to a D/s relationship, but it's obvious that Peter and Garth correspond to the classical top and bottom pair. As Peter said, they have a past in common that allows Peter to skip a lot of step in his new relationship with Garth, and maybe this also allows to Garth to be comfortable with Peter in a way he would never be with someone else.

So yes, the story is nice, even if I would likely kill Peter if I met him in real life. And they spend a lot of time in bed, there is really no time to relate them with the outside world, but well, it's always the same problem when the story is short.

http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/YouWereAlwaysOnMyMind.html

Amazon Kindle: You Were Always On My Mind

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In this second adventure Mikael and Katjin go to the Highlands, in the land where is whispered that demons live, to learn how to live and use their blood bond. They are only young boys, 16 years old, too young to bring on their bond into a physical one, but maybe they are approaching the time when the bond will be no more like a child play (touch me, don't touch me) and more something that involves desire and jealousy.

In the Highlands, Kat has to face the fact that Mik is no more only his, he is no more a secret, he is no more an helpless boy he has to help and treat has a new toy. Mik is someone like him, and he can be also stronger than him. Kat starts to feel new emotions, jealousy toward Mik and his new powers, and jealousy toward Aidan, the Highlander who has an unsettling interest in Mik, an interest that Kat doesn't like.

As you can understand, both Mik than Kat are growing and with them is growing their relationship, even if, for now, it still remains the bud of a possible future real relationship. For now, it's still something new, something to explore and understand. The setting is a fantasy land, the bond they have is a magical thing, but all in all, the problems Mik and Kat have to face are the same an everyday teenager has to face: the strange feelings he feels for the boy that till yesterday was only his best friend, the possessive urges he has to keep him apart from the world, to make him his own possession, even if he still doesn't know how to do so.

In this second book there is more insight in Mikael's past and family, and in this way we can understand better him and his fears; in the previous book, Mikael was in someway the weaker one, he was not in his habit and so he needs more protection; even if Kat was his same age, he was more self-conscious and able to face the world. Now, both Kat and Mik are strangers in a stranger land, and both of them have to learn new ways and custom; and probably, since for Mik is not the first time, he is more ready to mend than Kat, and so he gains force and arises to almost a pair level to Kat, causing the insecurity in the other boy.

Again it's not a conclusive book in Kat and Mik's story, the boys are not yet fully grown, their life journey is not ended, probably it will end only when they will become adult.

http://www.prizmbooks.com/zen/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=12&products_id=40

Amazon: Heart Song

Series:
1) Heart Sense: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/351877.html
2) Heart Song

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Cover Art by Pluto

The second book in the Masks series starts with Eric and Peter in an almost teen comedy relationship. They are young, they are in love, they haven't any problem in their life... well, this is not exactly true. Peter is still learning to mastering his powers and sometime he feels the weight of a responsibility that maybe is too much for a teen. But instead of talking with Eric, he hides behind a cool exterior, making Eric doubts of his love. On the other hand Eric is having financial problem at home, and he would like to help, but he doesn't know how. He would need more than before the comfort that only Peter can give him, but from that side there is no help.

The feeling of the book, as the previous one, is more of a young adult novel than a superhero novel. Maybe since all the superheroes are more like kid with a new toy than real man with a mission. The problem both Peter than Eric face are those of teenagers in love, in a moment in their life when they realize that there is something more than school and their own desires; plus they start to feel something that can really explain, a desire to be with the one you love (even if, in this novel, Peter and Eric spend more time arguing than loving...).

Since neither of those superheroes is adult enough to understand that something is strange, Eric finds himself to face a difficult situation, with his body and his mind that are changing, and he doesn't know if it's the puberty which is hitting or if it's real something abnormal. I feel for Eric, since he has no one to support him: truth be told, I think that Peter is a snob, with a big problem in the communication field, and most of what happened is his fault, to not trying to put aside his own problem and open to Eric; he wants for Eric to be his boyfriend, but then he does nothing for him, not like a superhero but neither like a normal boyfriend. If there is something he can make bad, you are sure that he will do that, like when he takes another girl to dinner at home with his parents, when it's weeks that Eric asks him to do that.

As I said I don't find Peter to be a nice character: he is always in a bad mood with Eric, and I didn't find that Eric deserves to be treated like that; all right Peter could have his own problems, but this is not a reason to be cold with Eric. I hope he will change in the third volume.

http://www.prizmbooks.com/zen/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=11&products_id=38

Amazon: Masks: Evolution

Series: Masks
1) Rise of Heroes: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/430966.html
2) Evolution

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Cover Art by Pluto

This is really an original short story since it's not actually a romance, but more a coming of age from two point of view, mother and son.

In 1990 Elaine is a young mother with a four kids, one of them a teen. Elaine is divorced and remarried with a nice man, but her previous husband was abusive both with her than with their kids. As a consequence, Elaine is very worried for her older son's behavior, so close and brooding. It's not the usual behavior of a teen, Elaine knows that her son wants desperately tell her something but he has no courage. Having moved in a small town probably didn't help since Danny, her son, has real few chance to mix with a variety of people to open him to the world. So when Elaine hears the gossip town about Mike and Harry, two openly gay men who live in a nearby ranch, Elaine listens carefully, eager to maybe learn something that can help her son.

Christmas is near and Elaine and Danny are driving home when they have a car accident; marooned in the snow they are rescued by Mike and bring home with him. Suddenly the point of view switch from Elaine to Danny, who is now the one eager to learn, to finally see how two gay men live together. For sure in his teen mind, they have sex each moment, they have an exciting life, they are... they are perfectly normal, to middle age men who share a quite and lovely life, trying to not listen to the gossip town.

It's a very nice tale, in both its part, when we follow Elaine's musing and worries for her son's care and when we discover along with Danny that being gay is not a so big drama, and that he probably can have the courage to talk with his mother, and his mother probably will not throw him away for not being the perfect son he thought she wants.

http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/advent.htm

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This novel is a mix of "Beverly Hills" or "Gossip Girl" fiction that meets Yaoi World; I have the feeling that the author loves both.

In a American prep school where all people seems to have a double surname, Heyden is the black sheep; it's not clear but probably his divorced parents decided that it was better for him to go to boarding school, since his mother works in Japan and doesn't have time to raise a kid. But Heyden is middle class, not even near to the old wasp wealth of his fellow schoolmates. When he first meets his future roommate he only tries hard to make a new friend.

Blue is pretty and almost feminine, and all the school thinks he is gay, but Blue has really no experience regarding sex. He prefers to spend his spare time alone in his room, watching yaoi anime on his laptop. Yes, probably Blue is gay, but he has never had the chance to be sure.

Put together two eighteen years old pretty boy with not real worries in their life, and it's quite obvious what will happen. The only thing that let me perplexed is Heyden's experience with gay sex; it would be not so important if it was only an hand job, or even a blow job, but full sex experience is something quite important that in the book is not really explained.

Anyway, Heyden and Blue get along well since they are only two half of the same halves, but when they need to interact with the rest of the school, things are not so simple. Heyden is aiming to a full scholarship for sports merit and the jocks circle is not so accepting of gay in general, and of Blue and his friend Peyton in particular. And the other hand, Peyton, who has a little crush on his friend Blue, is not so accepting that Blue is suddenly pairing with one of the same jocks they understimated only the previous year.

Heyden and Blue's relationship gives Blue the courage to finally admit who he is and what he wants, and with that he is blossoming to his newfound seductive power. The new Blue can't stay confined in their room, and Heyden is both jelaous and afraid to be pointed at as gay. Heyden and Blue draw apart, and both of them have the chance to experiment a different type of love, something that maybe could be make they reconsider what they had.

The story is a nice coming of age, in a rich man world very few people could live on. From my perspective it's unreal, but I don't doubt that somewhere in the world there are schools like this one; and then, maybe the setting is richer, but the problems are the same: the desperate needs of the misfits to be part of a group; the need of a lonely boy to be loved, doesn't matter who loves him, only that there is love; the prejudice against who is not like all the others, maybe he is more clever, maybe he is better in sport, maybe he is gay.

There is a lot of sex in this story, the type of careless sex only very young boy could do. At eighteen yeard old the concept of exclusivity is something lame, but Blue tries to be faithful to himself; his body knows who he loves even if his mind maybe in that moment is a little clouded. And then, even Heyden in his little, isn't a saint, and you have to consider that he was the first to betray Blue when he hadn't the courage to claim his love for him. But they are so young, that you can only forgive them for all, and enjoy the fairy tale ending.

Nice supporting role for Peyton, the best friend who always see things in the right way, the Jimmy cricket who no one wants to listen to since his words are too true. It's a really good character considering that he would have his reason to lie to Blue, to finally have a chance with him.

http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/currenttitles/trueblue/truebluebuynow.htm

Amazon Kindle: True Blue

Amazon: True Blue

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I had this book in my reading list since a bit but I was never in the right mood. I was expecting a superhero type of book, and it's not really my cup of tea. Then tonight I decided to give it a try and it surprised me: the story is more "normal" than expected. It's in a way a very classical coming of age novel, and I like it in that way.

Eric is an emo kid, a 16 years old like a lot of other boys of that age, with a quite supportive family. He is out with his parents and sister and they accepted him, blue bangs covering his eyes and strange eating habit. For once, being gay is not an issue for this teen and all in all he has not serious problem in his life. Then one day he is rescued by a train accident by a flying superhero, a Superman style of hero, complete of spandex uniform and bulging muscles... and for a teenager with ranging hormones, the sight is almost too much: Eric develops a desperate crush on this masked hero.

But having a crush on a superhero doesn't change too much Eric's ordinary life; on the contrary, he continues to hang out with his friends, the girl Anthea and the guy Peter. Suddenly something changes: maybe since Eric is paying attention to another potential even if impossible love interest, Peter is staking is claim; the usually shy and introverse guy is all over Eric, kissing him and asking him out on a date... and simple like that, Eric turns from bestfriend to boyfriend, and now he has to be more careful around Peter, since everything he does and says has a new all meaning for Peter.

It's rather interesting to see how the "superhero" problem is processed in almost an ordinary way in Eric's mind, no more important than his trouble with his new boyfriend Peter, or with his strange family. When Eric is involved in some trouble due to the superhero war between Magnifiman and the villain, he comes back home upset in the same way he is when he has lover quarrels with Peter. In his teen perspective, Eric considers at the same way a problem that involves his little personal world than something of bigger proportion and worst consequences.

Another interesting thing that explains how Eric's mind works, is that, since he is gay and out with his family and friends, he doesn't consider it a problem, and so for him is more problematic and freak being a superhero than being gay... gay is normal, superhero is freak...

There is also a little romance between Eric and Peter, with some kisses and a bit of making out in a car back seats, and all is sweet and tender, but not too much detailed. Eric talks a lot about his ranging hormones, and about his daydreams, but actually he didn't do much.

http://www.prizmbooks.com/zen/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=9&products_id=21

Amazon: Masks Rise of Heroes

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Reading a book by Bobby Michaels is an unique experience; sometime it seems to read an "how to do" text for inexperienced gay and sometime an ad campaign for gay rights, but above all you feel the author behind it. Bobby Michaels is well present in all his books, and what he writes is what he is. Don't try to analyze the book from a perfection point of view, don't try to question if what he writes is real or fantasy or too kinky to be available simply through a non pornographic book, when you open a Bobby Michaels' book, you have to know that you will read something that you haven't never read, unless you weren't one of his previous reader.

There are two things that probably Bobby Michaels love, a gay man and a marine man, and in Weekend Leave he puts together both (like he did in The Veteran and For the Love of the Corps). Rick is a 22 years old Marine just back home from Iraq; a very clever and good guy when he was in high school, he chose to become a Marine to learn how to be a man. Don't get him wrong, Rick knew that he was gay, and he was quite all right with the idea, but he also knew that being gay will get him in trouble sooner or later, and he thought that learning the way of a Marine would help him. Plus he had a not so idilliac relationship with his family, and leaving as soon as possible it seemed a good idea: finding in the Corps the family he didn't have at home was a good perspective, and the recognition and pride in being a Marine would supply to the lack of enthusiasm in his real family for him and his life.

In the same neighbor where Rick lived and attending the same high school now there is Robby, an 18 years old living alone with his single mother. Robby is too clever for his own good; not having a fatherly figure at home, someone with whom speaks of sex and other manly things, Robby has learnt alone all it was necessary... also to hate the fact that he was gay since it made him a "stranger" in his own skin. No one around him actually ambushed Robby, but he is not comfortable with himself, and in this way he cuts off himself from the rest of the world.

When Rick comes back home for a leave, he has the bad surprise to find his parents gone for the all weekend, but the good one of a Robby guy who offers him to spend the weekend with him. Robby is shy and tender, but also friendly and loving; Rick falls hard and soon for the boy and he will spend the weekend in teaching new tricks to him (here the part of the "how to do" text book...). In two days Robby and Rick do more things then most of the couples do in an entire life, included speaking of love and a future together.

Love and future are another constant in Bobby Michaels' work; even if down and dirty, the sex between his characters is always imbued of love, and love is the most powerful aphrodisiac. Especially when he writes about young characters, they claim love aloud and without fear; his characters are always so sure of their feelings, so blind to the ugliness of the world if only they can have that love.

I stopped long ago to question why I like so much this author; it's impossible to say, and questioning with friends made me doing very bad figure, since what for me is impossible, for other is a normal thing of life. The world is good since it's different, and I know that out there there is who will love this book, and who will cordially hate it. It's right, but I hope you will love it.

https://www.loose-id.net/detail.aspx?ID=816

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The story is told in first person by the main character, a teenager, and so we never know his name. I actually realized that I didn't know that name well past the mid of the book, and this is a clue that I was so enthralled by the story to not take care to "small" details like that.

Our hero is a runaway teenager; when he came out with his parents, he was kicked out from home but lucky him he found shelter with his aunt. Probably still suffering from the reject of his family, he retired into his shell, and he only relates with his best friend, a girl named Trace. Both Trace and him have their problems to overcome and in their difference they find a common path: goth teens who go to funerals to spend time, dressing like the adults they still aren't.

Actually our hero was quite lucky and he now has a comfortable and welcoming home with his aunt, and so his problems are the same of a normal teen: the insecurity of a guy who wonders if he is good enough to attract a boyfriend, the daydreams of a young man who is approaching to sex for the first time. Probably since he has this strange familiarity with death, our hero is not so shocked when he meets a ghost: Josh is an 18 years old guy dead in a car accident in 1957. He is not only a teen like our hero, he is also a very handsome guy, a jock; and like every goth teen should do in high school, our hero falls in love for the jock, but this time the jock reciprocates the interest... there is only the little fact that Josh is dead and that his interest in our hero is very deeply, almost lethal.

Meantime our hero realizes that the little brother of his best friend Trace, Mike, is already fifteen years old and rather cute; Mike is clever and tender, with a joy for life that is involving. Where Josh is shadow and night, Mike is full light and sun. Where Josh arises in our hero dark desires (that are actually normal sexual urges in a teen...), Mike inspires him cuddles and playful kiss. From not having the hope to find a boyfriend, our hero now has two boys around him, but it's not a situation he can bring along forever. You could say that Josh represents the dark side of our hero, and staying with him is like choosing to not coming out from the darkness, meanwhile Mike is the light, the future that he could have if he chooses to leave behind his sense of abandonment.

Even if the story deals with quite sad things, dead people (not only Josh), the whole feeling I had of the book is of "lightness". The author is very good in taking the reader glued to the book till the last page, both for the mystery than for the romance; there is also a switch in the story that seems to lead to an angst ending, but still the author chooses for a more "normal" development. All this concurs to the lightness of the story, making it a very good read both for a young adult than for an adult too.

Also the love story between our hero and Mike is light, fresh and sweet; where our hero maybe could be ready for something more, Mike is still 15 years old, and so, for me, it's right that they don't become too involved; they are still boys, not men.

Buy at 1 Romance Ebooks

Amazon: Vintage: A Ghost Story

Amazon Kindle: Vintage: A Ghost Story

Steve Berman's In the Spotlight post: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/463535.html

Taylor is a young teenager from a really catholic family. He really believe in what he was taught, he believes in God and he loves Jesus, and he would be glad to be part of the church, but there is a problem: Taylor is gay and he is also in love with an high school mate, Will, another teenager who frequents the same church as him. They spend an year hiding their love, even if Will would be more bold and brave than Taylor, and he encourages Taylor to not stay in the closet, to come out but without loosing his faith in God, since accordingly to Will, God loves his sons. When Taylor finally finds the courage to come out with his parents, his father's reaction is not as good as he hopes: he send Taylor in a catholic reprogramming group, a place where the motto ora et labora is still the panacea for all the problem, a place where people try to convince Taylor that suicide is better than being gay! With the strenght of his love for Will, and a new strenght he finds in himself, Taylor tries to survive to the 42 days of captivity.

The story is a lot more involving than the previous one by the same author, A Secret Edge: here the boys unfortunately have to face all the problem of being gay in a community that believes it to be a sin, and a mortal sin. Nevertheless it's a big love story, but more than a love story between Taylor and Will, it's a love story between Taylor and Jesus, and through Jesus, with God. Even if Taylor has to face unbelievable things, he never stops to love God, and he never stops to believe. Taylor, Will and some other guys they will meet during the story, will try to build a world where the words of God are still of love and not of hate. With their courage they will change a little part of that world that rejected them, even if, probably, the ending is too much as a fairy tale rather than reality; unfortunately I believe than in the real world, a guy like Taylor would be not so lucky as he was. But it's still a drop in the ocean and a little step toward a better world.

I should say that I like more this second book than the previous one, since, even if it's more angst, and the love story is a bit in second line, all the characters in the book have their personality and concur to create a chorus of voice that represents a good part of the young adult population.

Returning back to the worldly love story, between Taylor and Will, even if it's lived in flashback by Taylor, it seems alive and I found myself searching the little bit of memories which whom the author makes Taylor relive his love. It's also very sexy without being explicit. And also very involving: I almost wept in a scene where Taylor was forced to destroy a note from Will.

Amazon Kindle: Thinking Straight

Amazon: Thinking Straight

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A Secret Edge is a classical Coming of Age novel with teen characters. But it's slightly different from the usual young adult novels since for the first time the characters are pretty open in their sexual experience, and the author doesn't used the rule of don't tell what happened behind the closed doors. So as always when this happens, I have the feeling that this is more a romance for adult with young characters rather then a young adult novel for teens.

Jason is 16 years old and the classical good boy next door. Good at school and good in sports, he is also cute and lucky with girls. He is also the type of boy who gathers around him other boys who want to be his friends to shine in his aurea. But Jason is really a good guy and he is friendly with everyone. Lately however he is troubled since he makes strange dreams by night: a wet dream for a teenager is not a strange thing, but if in the dream there is another boy instead of a girl... So Jason is beginning to questioning his sexual preferences and maybe that friend he had when he was younger, the boy who shared their first sexual discoveries, was not only a friend.

When Jason starts to open his eyes to his new urges, he also opens the eyes to all the other guys around him, and finds out that he is not alone. And when he lays his eyes on Raj, he is smitten. Ray is an years older, with indian origins, and he is "hot": Jason can't stop to think at the exotic beauty of his new friend, and when Raj comes out to him as openly gay, Jason has to face an hard decision: being out himself and so have Raj, or stay in the closet... the choice is not hard when he realizes that he has a supportive family and that also at school he can find a support. True, there are other guys who are not so friendly as before, but the pros are more than the cons.

A Secret Edge is a very good novel since it faces a difficult matter without being too pedantic. When you are speaking of boy of 16 or 17 years old, you can't pretend that they act like adult. True, Raj is a old young, but he has seen a lot in his younger age. But Jason instead had a pretty comfort life, he is the beau of the school, he has big chances in front of him for the future. So he behaves like a simple guy, who likes to date and who likes to kiss and who is open to more. He can discern what it is right and what it is wrong, but he is not the perfect son who always follows the right path, he is, after all, a teenager.

Jason and Raj will not go out from this experience unarmed, but all in all I think they had a simpler life than a lot of other guys in the same situation. Jason and Raj are among the lucky ones, those who can think of a future, and a positive one.

Amazon: A Secret Edge

Robin Reardon's In the Spotlight post: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/789515.html

Half-life is not an easy story, above all for who, like me, has suffered a loss of a dear one: how can Adam behave in that way? The book follows two weeks in the life of Adam (starting the 6 of June 1999, 6/6/99, you can up turn the date and it is always 6699, it's just a case?), a 18 years old gay boy from Angelito, an imaginary suburb town of Los Angeles.

Adam being gay is not the main issue in the story, and this maybe makes this book different from the usual coming of age stories; Adam has not hidden secrets, unbearable pains or vengeance feelings. Adam is gay, but so is his best friend Dart and his friend Fran, who has two "moms" and a girlfriend. Adam is gay and it seems that no one has a problem with it... and maybe this is the problem: Adam craves the attention of his family, but they are inhexistent. When Adam's mother divorced from her husband, she apparently divorced also from her children and now they see her every other weekends, if she is not too taken with her work and with her new up-class lifestyle and husband. Adam's father is depressed, he didn't expect his life to be like that, he loves his children, but now that they start to be independent, he seems to not have any more reason to live. He is clearly in a down fall phase and it seems that only Adam sees that.

Adam wants to be a teen, he has the right to be a teen, but in this situation it's not possible for him; his teen years are running away, high school is near to end and adulthood is around the corner. All his friends are craving to reach the point, all of them but Adam. And to make the thing worst, Adam meets Jeff, 38 years old cop and gay. Where Adam is older than his age, Jeff is younger. He realized later in his life what he wanted to be, and so now he is still in a growing phase, he is still learning from life and he is still building his future.

There are big life changing events in the book, but it seems like they are in an undertone; it's like if you are waiting for something to happen, time is hanging up, but when something happens, it's not yet the trigger event, and so you go on waiting for the next one. In the end nothing happens and all happens... since what it seems big from a near perspective, in the big game of life is only a little piece without importance.

Half-life is more a novel about details than the telling of the "great discovery" of Adam; Adam doesn't need to grow, he just did that. Maybe this is the most unsettling thing of the book... the reader is waiting for something  that will change Adam, and instead all happens around him, and he stays alike; he has so much protective layers around him that nothing apparently arms him... but then, it's only two insignificant weeks... a great loss, graduation, a new lover... for everyone else but Adam, changing life events, for Adam a reason more to add a protective layer around him. What, or who, or when he will let go all his layers you didn't know. 

Amazon: Half-Life: A Novel

Aaron Krach's In the Spotlight post: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/761505.html

In a fantasy world Katjin is a fifteen years old guy who travels the country with his Apa, his father. But suddenly Apa needs to go in the Higlands, a place not safe for a boy like Katjin, no more a child but not yet a man. So Katjin remains with his grandparents, and it's not bad, until the day he finds a lost boy, Mikael. Mik is clearly a stranger and a runaway; somehow he manages to reach the territory where Kat's people have their camp and he sings the ailing song to Kat, a song who grants him protection. Mik is now Kat's responsibility, even more when, trying to claim a blood bond, they are literally stuck together.

I was uncertain when I decided to read this one. Fantasy is not up my alley, usually since, sorry to the genre's lovers, the stories are always very long and slow, and if you are not fond for the setting, you get lost in all the details. Heart Sense instead starts from the first with a very easy and smooth style; 200 pages of book flows without problem in few time and the world it builds, even if original, it's not boring.

Kat and Mik have obviously a relationship that, in the future, could be of sexual nature, but in this moment, Kat at fifteen and Mik at sixteen years old, can only recognize the symptoms of desire and be conscious that something is awaiting for them. Even if Kat is the younger, he is the first to acknowledge his desire for Mik, maybe since he has just started to admit that he is more interesting in guys than in girls. Mik instead needs to come to term with this relationship, above all since he is an Heart Sense and human contacts make him sick; and so he needs to learn to be at comfort with having a human body near him, and after that, with the fact that the human body is a male.

The story of Kat and Mik is an adventure, a coming of age journey, but not yet toward romance. In this book they learn that they need to be together, probably in the future (another book?) they will learn that being together means also something else.

Again my compliments to the author for having manage to write a book very easy to read and entertaining without being too complex.

http://www.prizmbooks.com/zen/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=9&products_id=16

Amazon: Heart Sense

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Cover Art by Pluto

Yes, you know, I like teens stories, so you also know that I'm partial with that.

This one is truly a story for teens, and not a story with teens for adult. First of all there isn't sex, but only the mention of it, all we read are some pretty innocent kisses, hands in the backpocket of jeans (and no, not in the front pocket...) and very intense declarations of love, like only a teen could do.

Jamie and Kabe are sweethearts in an all male private high school, where all the adults, both parents than teachers, close eyes in front of the gay boys who frequent the school; actually the school itself is a mix of paradise and shelter where rich families send their "deviant" sons to gain an education and possibly not being beating for their sexuality.

Jamie and Kabe are the princess and prince of the school. Jamie is the prettiest boy, the unreachable guy who all the others want. Kabe is the strong sport hero, maybe not so clever like Jamie, but with a big heart. Plus Jamie has a lot of family issues, and he "adopted" Kabe's family as his own. They are the perfect couple, apparently unbreakable and with a rose future in front of them. And instead both Jamie than Kabe are not so sure and independent as they want to show, and insecurities can mine their relationship: the simple arrival of a new student who fancies Kabe, starts a chain of events that lead to a very dangerous situation.

All the story spans for only few days in the life of Jamie and Kabe, and it's right, since at that age, the lesser event seems huge and insuperable for a troubled kid.

As I said, there isn't sex in this story. Jamie and Kabe have a sexual relationship and the reader knows that they did something, but nothing of it exit from Kabe's bedroom, and you are not invited in.

For the setting, the quite original idea of an all gay highschool, and the characters, I'd like for the story to be a little longer, and instead it's less than 80 pages, but I think the author plans to write more on it, using the same setting and maybe different main characters.

The story is almost all in third point of view, apart some very brief points where all the three main characters, Jamie, Kabe and Sam, the new guy on the block, think in first point of view, giving to the reader their version of the same event.

All in all a pretty interesting book, only maybe too short.

http://www.lulu.com/browse/book_view.php?fCID=2714868

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I always love G.A. Hauser's books, they are easy to read and very romantic, with a "acid" side, it's not easy to explain, but her romances are never too sugary, since there is always a bit of naughty side in her characters.

The Boy Next Door is a coming of age book. I didn't expect that a great part of the book is dedicated to the relationship between Brandon and Zach when they where stil two teens in heat. Brandon and Zach always live next door, and since they were one years old, everything they did they did it together: the first sexual curiosity, the first hot glances to a naked body... and since they did all together, they did also the first sexual experience together and with each other. First kiss and eventually first time sex. But unfortunately their parents were not so glad of it and they torn them apart, sending Zach to Boston and Brandon to New York and Zach's parents managed to lose contact. When Brandon meets again Zach, he is a successful journalist, openly gay, and instead Zach is a soon-to-be divorced womanizer... something is happened in Zach's past. Is he ready to leave the past behind and build something new with Brandon?

I always like the story involving teens, and so I'm very happy to find that most of the book is spent telling us the story of Zach and Brandon as young boys. My only regret is that the book is relative short, 170 pages. I said "relative", since this is not a short novel, but since the two characters are so nice, and I like them, I'd like to read more, and I think it'd be interesting to read about Zach and Brandon as adults, and how they manage to be together; I feel like the second part of the story is too fast, and like I'm not just ready to leave Zach and Brandon and their story.

Brandon is apparently the shier boy, he has already realized to be in love with Zach but he fears to reveal his feeling to the other boy, he doesn't want to be reject by Zach. And so he is surprise, but happy, when the other boy makes the first move. But Zach, even if eager to be with Brandon, and always the first to push the sexual boundaries and to experiment with their young bodies, he is also the first to fear the reaction of the people, above all of their parents, but also of strangers. He thinks to be ready to give free rein to his body demands, but he is not ready to openly claim his sexuality. In this aspect, Brandon is much more adult.

After all, probably nor Zach or Brandon were enough grown for what they had. Since they were always together, they arrived too much soon to something that other people find further in their life. And since they were not ready to claim their love, it was easier for their parents to stop them. But as adults, I don't think the situation is much more different: Brandon is still the more balanced between the two, and Zach is still the one struggling with his own sexuality.

Both Zach and Brandon are not "noble" characters. This is one of the characteristic that I always find in Hauser's characters: they are men who mistake and mistake badly, but more often than not, find a justification for their action and with it an absolution; worst, sometime they also continue to behave badly, if this allow them to obtain what they want, sooner and in an easy way. So why I like them so much? maybe since they are not the perfect hero of the fable and they are more similar to the real people, and so to me.

In all the book I found only one thing that didn't ring right to me: the easiness in which Brandon and Zach approach sex, above all anal sex... it was all too simple, all went to right and without problem... don't know maybe it's only a "female" perception, and for two boys things are different.  

http://www.lindenbayromance.com/product-theboynextdoor-7179-145.html

Amazon Kindle: The Boy Next Door

Amazon: The Boy Next Door

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This is a young adult novel. For teens from 14 years old and up. So reading it I tried to imagine myself like an innocent girl or boy, and then I reprimanded myself: how much innocent are 14 years old boys? Giving that I was 13 years old when I read my first romance, probably not much. All this introduction to say that I didn't find Icarus in Flight a novel strictly for teens, actually I think it is a very good reading for all ages and sincerely I think that an older reader will appreciate it more than an innocent boy.

James is the only son of a wealthy family. He has two sisters, but obviously he will be the heir and so the future master of their life. And so James is pretty self conscious of his role, and let me say, not a very naivee boy. At 12 years old he is well aware of his "importance" and of his influence in others life. When he meets David, 11 years old and orphaned, newly arrived in his boarding school and with a bitter future ahead of him like the target of all the bullies in the school, James decides to take him under his patronage. David has only his brother as relative, and when James offers him friendship and shelter, he readily accepts, turning James in his personal idol to worship.

James's superiority and self-consciousness grows farther on when his father suddenly died, leaving him to his new role as master of the house at only 14 years old. James grows too fast and too soon and he also decides that he will be the caretaker of young David, more so when the boy loses also his brother. Soon before James's departure for college the relationship between James and David shifts from friendship to love, still remaining innocent also for all the period during which James is at college. But when he is again at home, with also more experiences behind his shoulders, also of sexual things, he is ready to tighten the bonds between him and David.

But David, probably tired to be always in charge of someone else, and fearing to lose himself in James' embrace, even if it's desired and cherished, asks for time and space. No good comes from the separation and the two men take different paths risking to lose not only their love but also themself in the process.

Since the young characters begin their coming of age journey when they are still very young, this is probably considered a young adult novel. And probably because there isn't graphic sex... but mind you on the term, I said "graphic", I didn't say that there isn't sex, since in my opinion, what sex you will find in this novel is somewhat more sensual and deepen of what you will find in other romance. This is first of all a love story: even if James and David grow apart, the reader knows that they are star-crossed lovers and that they are right for each other.

This is a Victorian novel and it's finely crafted in details and words: there are not a lot of political events or figure to set the story, apart a note about the Great Exhibition in London, all the story is made more of family interiors and small receivements. I love above all the letters James and David exchange for all the course of the story, lately I notice that I'm fond of love correspondences.

So in the end, I arrive to two possible conclusion: or I have a young soul, and so I can love a tale written for teens, or Icarus in Flight is a novel that can satisfy a wider range of age.

http://www.prizmbooks.com/zen/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=9&products_id=19

Amazon: Icarus in Flight

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Phillip is an All-American boy. Strong, muscular, football quarterback and school star. He has all he wants, even the most beautiful girl, a cheerleader. But what he really wants is the freedom to be gay. In the small town where he lives, it's impossibile for him not to hide; family, friends, all people around him are against who is not like them: strangers, homosexual, who is different is wrong. And so when a strange family move on the old house on the hill, townspeople are ready to judge them as freaks. But Phillip sees different, he sees Julian, the boy who lives there and he is suddenly in love. Julian is a lithe blond guy with wonderful sapphire eyes; he is all the dreams of Phillis come true. But Julian's guardian takes him far from the boy. Fortunately Phillip has the chance to meet Julia, Julian's sister at school, and asks her to be his ambassador with the boy. Julia is an awkard girl, everyone at school treats her bad and only Phillip stands up for her; he even dumps his perfect girlfriend when she deliberately offends Julia.

What Phillip doesn't know is that Julian is not a normal guy, and in this case being not "normal" doesn't mean being gay, as all the homophobic people around him think. Julian is special, and he is a key figure in the world's destiny.

Less than 50 pages, this one is a parody of what means being different and of the power of love. The futuristic element are only a means to underline the apparently difference between Phillip and Julia, a difference you find in an high school, but that it's in greater scale, something you will find also in the real world. And the message is that, with only the power of love, if love is directed to the right person, you can overcome all the odds of life.

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Amazon Kindle: The Invaders

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Rhone stops a young Adam while he is pickpocketing him. Adam is seventeen years old and an homeless; he thinks no one could be interested in him and so when Rhone, instead to bring him to the police, offers him a job, he is at first wary and then openly admiring of this man. While the years pass, Adam also falls in love with the man: Adam in fact his a gay teen thrown out of home by an homophobic father and in Rhone, and his brother Canin, he sees the family he has never had.

But Rhone is straight and he has also open relationship he has no problem to show to Adam, since they live together. Adam can only dream of this man, but when the dreams become also a pain, Adam has to take a decision: far from the eye far from the heart, and so he, ten years later their first encounter, tries to build a life apart from Rhone. But Rhone is not willing to let go a man he has long ago started to consider family himself.

The sex between Adam and Rhone is pretty erotic, the right realization of Adam's teen fantasies, and like all the teen fantasies it's also a bit exaggerated and very "loud", almost like one of that porn flick the young use to read when their bodies are all demands and less patience. 

The book is not very long, 100 pages, and since the main part is spent telling us of Adam's growth, the romantic side of the story takes on only few pages... this is maybe the only disappointment I have, I'd like to read more about Adam and Rhone as a couple, after having read a lot about them as friend. I would add without regretting it at least another 50 pages or so.

http://www.loose-id.net/detail.aspx?ID=719

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Cover Art by Anne Cain

Luke and Slater are best friend since they were kids. Now eighteen years old they have to face a separation: Luke is heading toward a big college in the north and Slater will take on the family business and will remain at home. There is also another reason cause Slater can't follow his friend to college: he is a werewolf and his pack thinks it's not good for him to be so far from them. But him being a werewolf is not the only secret that Slater is hiding to his friend: Slater is in love with Luke, but he hasn't the courage to reveal his feelings to him fearing to lose a friend without gaining a lover.

But one beautiful and heartbreaking afternoon, the love between them is so strong that reveal itself without notice: an embrace to comfort and a kiss that steal their soul and Luke and Slater discover that they have mutual feelings. No more than a kiss and a promise to talk, and since they are young and innocent, they take separate path to go home before their moms worry. That is the last time Slater sees Luke safe and health: he is stabbed by a thief in the parking lot and struggles against death in a hospital bed. Slater decides to turn him in a werewolf to save his life, but when Luke awakes, he fears what he is become, and ran away from all he knows, family and friends.

Three years later Slater has the chance to meet again Luke, and this time he will claim his mate forever.

A classical werewolfes story with the added bonus to have very young characters: I liked the innocence of their youth, the first kiss and the easiness they have together, something born from years of friendship and from being grown together. Plus this is a freebie you can download from the epub website, so it's even more appreciated.

http://www.cacoethespublishing.net/?q=node/81&book=48

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One of my favourite stories by J.M. Snyder is Power Play, a story about two teens who fall in love despite the different social status and the young age. Another one is Scarred, a story where a young man, brutally and continuously raped by a gang, preserves his kisses, the only thing he could freely give to a lover.

Conflict of Interest reminds me of both these stories. Alex accepts to serve as volunteer in a youth shelter; he has to play as big brother for a kid in need, and Father Nate thinks he can be a good example for Jamie. Alex is a  20 years old college student with a part time job and he is gay; but he isn't the type to search for one night stands or to go cruising at the clubs, instead he would like a steady relationship and a simple and comfort life. Jamie is 18 years old and he thinks that sex means acceptance and belonging; he has not friends but only boyfriends, young guy like him with whom he shares sex and let the time pass without scope. But none of them means something to him, and he has still a dream, to find a boy only for him, someone to give his kisses, that he doesn't want to share with others.

When Alex sees Jamie, he immediately falls in love, but Alex can't be like all the other, he can't pretend to have sex with Jamie and at the same time convince the boy that he is more than a quick rub in an alley, that he can have a real life and a future in front of him. But maybe what Alex doesn't see is that Jamie needs someone that loves him more than a "big brother".

The story is not very long, little more than 100 pages, but it's very romantic. There is no real sex, but well, you don't miss it, since there is an erotic tension building all along the book that it's all the same satisfying. This is a very classic story, the bad boy that can be reformed by love. I like all I read, but I'd also like to read more: how happens to Jamie? will he see his dreams come true? how will be Jamie as an adult? And what will happen when Jamie needs to return to his day-to-day life, like college and work? when he can't be all the time with Jamie?  

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Amazon Kindle: Conflict of Interest

Amazon: Conflict Of Interest [Large Print]

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When I bought this book its genre was mystery teen. So not romance. And I usually don't buy any other genre than romance. But I like teen stories, I have always had, teenagers are so young and innocent and full of hope. And so I was very tempted to buy this book, but I hesitated a moment, since the blurb said that a young guy was killed in the first part of the book. But then I though, how much can I feel for a character who stays on the book for only few pages? And so, thinking that I would have been not touched by the fact I bought the book. And I was wrong. Oh no, not in buying the book but in thinking that I would not been involved by Seth's death. I almost cried, and if I really didn't cry in that moment, I cried some pages later.

Killian is an average 16 years old guy in a small town USA. He is from a wealthy family, an apparent happy family. But lately Killian starts to see his father with different eyes and he thinks his mother is only a paper doll wife without personality of her own. And then the first day of school he meets Seth, new on town. Seth is up front from the first day, he is gay and he wants to be friend with Killian. Killian knows that he will have trouble frequenting Seth, but then maybe it's a way to prove who he is, that he is different from all the other guys, people who treat him like wallpaper.

But then Seth kisses him and Killian is shocked: Seth says that he believes that also Killian is gay, and maybe he is right. Killian has to answer to some questions by his own and then maybe he will ask to Seth something else. Yes, cause if Killian is gay, then he is for sure not in love with Seth, since the guy he pictures in his mind is Asher, his best friend from childhood. But Asher is straight, worst he hungs out with the guys who harrass Seth. And so, since Killian is a young boy, and very curious, he will allow to Seth to do something more than a kiss... but before they can do anything else, Seth is killed and Killian stabbed soon after.

The police thinks that Seth's murder is a muggling gone wrong, Killian and Seth's father think different, and then Killian's father throws his son out of home when he learns that his son is gay. Adam, Seth's father, takes Killian with him and for Killian will start a new life, with him experimenting his newfound sexuality, and making a lot of mistakes but also having some nice experiences with whom he least expects. But Seth's killer is out there and he has not finished yet.

There are a lot of kisses in this book but not even a little sex scenes... I'm disappointed? Hell, no!!! I like a lot all that kisses and above all I like a lot who Killian chooses to exchange that kisses with, even if I will not say who he is, you should read the book to discover it. Yes, since another very interesting side of the book is that it's a mystery inside another mystery: there is the big one question, Who is Seth's killer, but there is also the other little question around, Who will be Killian's boyfriend? I for sure, as romantic as I am, liked better to find out the second one, but for who loves a good mystery, I dare you to find out before the end the answer to the first one.

Josh Atevoris is a relly good discovery: I found him since we share some books in LibraryThing and when I saw his profile, and I saw he wrote two books, I decided to give him a try. And when one of my discovery comes out to be a soo good one, I'm even more happy!

Now I have to read the second in the Killian Kendall mystery and I read that Josh Aterovis just wrote also 3 and 4 even if I still don't know how to find them. 

Amazon: Bleeding Hearts, 2nd edition (Killian Kendall Mysteries)

Reading List:

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I should confess, I was uncertain. Even if I liked a lot Blue Ruin 1, I don't like very much menages (even if they are M/M/M menages), and so when I saw the new cover of Blue Ruin 2 I was perplexed (even is it's a wonderful cover by the very good cover artist P.L. Nunn): I will like this new ones like the previous ones? And the answer is yes.

Close to Me is a litlle less yaoi then Blue Ruin 1, and maybe because Blue, the uke and pet of the first book, in this one is growing and is forming a own personality apart from his seme and master Derek.

After Blue was kidnapped in the first book, Derek is worrying for him a bit much; he also restrains himself during lovemaking and treats Blue like a porcelain doll. This is not something Blue can accept and after proving to Derek that he can still hold on thier pleasure/pain games in the bedroom, he wants also to prove him that he can be independent. This leads to him returning school to obtain his GED. And here he meets again Cameron.

Cam was Blue's nemesis at high school. He is the boy who always beat Blue, sometime with severe physical consequences for the smaller guy. But now Cam seems a different guy, and he wants to apologize. Worst he wants to be with Blue, since he has finally admitted to be gay and that all his violence in the past was only a way to hide his feelings toward Blue.

Blue is torn. He loves Derek, he has also vowed a commitment to the man, but he can't deny his feelings for Cam. He has long admitted that even if the boy treated him like a punching ball, he was drawn by him in the past. And now he has the chance to be with him. Don't forget that Derek was Blue first man, and Blue is a almost naivee 19 years old guy, where Derek is a 30 years old man with a very long lived past. I think Blue's uncertainity is very understandable, and also Derek's reaction at first is so: he doesn't want to share Blue, let alone leave him go. So what can he do to keep the boy with him?

As I said "Close to me" is more romance than yaoi. The seme/uke relationship is less strong and also the master/pet ones. Blue is growing, and doing that he is shortining the distance between him and Derek, if not in age for sure in experience. But Blue is a clever guy and he knows how to do it right. Still it's tender to see him act like the teenager he is, sharing a kiss while eating an icepop.

I also have to make my compliments to Katrina Strauss to have written a menage that it's not really a true ones, since the main couple maintains its integrity and closeness, and above all a menage that I, who don't like this type of relationship, have read with pleasure and also enjoyed.

http://www.loose-id.net/detail.aspx?ID=707

Amazon Kindle: Close to Me (Blue Ruin 2) by Katrina Strauss

Series: Blue Ruin
1) Some Kind of Stranger: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/221831.html
2) Close to Me

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Cover Art by P.L. Nunn

This is maybe the best western yaoi style novel I have read till now. Even if there are a lot of M/M romance classified as yaoi, I really have the feeling to read a yaoi style novel in the past with the works by K.B. Forrest and Jet Mykles (even if the characters of Jet Mykles are a little too old to be exactly on the role). How are our "classical" yaoi characters? Well one is young, possibly in his late teens, and one is slightly older and possibly a business man or someone with a good position. One is lithe and cute, the other is handsome and strong. One is smart and pouty, the other his severe but not cruel, au contraire sometime has a weak point that make him even more charming.

So here are our perfect yaoi characters: Blue is a eighteen years old guy, a bun, his father has kicked him out of home when he has discovered that his son prefers men to women. He is pretty and lithe, with blue dyed hair and blue eyes. Derek is a thirty years old software programmer, who works for himself. He lives in a fashion loft in a bohemian district and he has two new-flower parents who have no problem with him being gay. And Derek's weak point is his love for the pleasure/pain games, but till now he hasn't found a partner to really share his love. A one stand night can't be the right one, cause in that relationship you haven't had the change to really now your partner and what are his boundaries.

Blue works in the club where Derek is searching the man who has abused of him some weeks before. What has happened to him is exactly what he doesn't want to have with a partner: someone who inflicts pain during non consensual sex. So when Derek sees the same man trying to go out with Blue, he reacts and beats nearly to death the man and takes Blue home with him. He has the idea to release Blue the next day, after being sure the boy hasn't seen nothing of important. But Blue has not intention to leave the cocoon he has found in Derek's home and arms. When he awakes in a warn and cozy bed (even if handcuffed and blindfolded) he has every intention to make this a permanent situation... speaking of topping from the bottom...

And so starts this relationship with Derek who finally can test his passion with a willing partner and Blue who learns as to relive in the BDSM setting, forgetting all the past bad experience. In the end I have found that Blue is the strongest character: he learns Derek and his taste, and how to use them to tighten the bounds. And learn is the right word, given that Blue is a virgin (at least in one way...). Sometime I have the feeling that Derek doesn't fully understand how Blue is using him, even if in a good way.

The sex is very hot, but not too kinky. The book has plenty of BDSM situations but it doesn't indulge in the more angst aspect of them, making the reading enjoyable and within reach also of whom is not too fond of this genre.

P.S. Wonderful cover of P.L. Nunn, who has created the right mood of the story.

http://www.loose-id.net/prod-Blue_Ruin_1__Some_Kind_of_Stranger-635.aspx

Amazon Kindle: Some Kind of Stranger (Blue Ruin 1) by Katrina Strauss

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Cover Art by P.L. Nunn