First of all, strange events in the publishing industry I'm not aware of, made that the first book in the series was out with Starbook Press, and this second with Cleis Press. True, it's not necessary to read The Cross of Sins to understand and enjoy The Riddle of the Sands, but without it you loose one of the most interesting aspect of this novel, the fact that it's the quintessence of all the gay fantasies, and probably the result of a lively imagination fed with lot and lot of adventures movies and books. There is one for every taste in the Fathom's Five: you like them careless and friendly, like a homemade dish? Shane, the Western modern cowboy is your man. You like them exotic and fascinating, like an ethnic speciality? Eden, brazilian doctor is ready for you. Young and fast, like burger and fries, but served in a china plate? Will, the son of an American ambassador and part time history student, part time pro football player is on the drive through. Traditional and just with that spicy taste? Luca, Italian dongiovanni and former art model, ready to please. And last but not least, you like coffe and donuts? Jake, half mercenary half good hearted man, is always a right choice. All right, now I'm hungry, and Geoffrey Knight's novel is the only one that can satisfy all those fancy ideas.

It's useless that I summarize the story, first since I can't do that without giving to much details and risking to spoil the story, and second since, truth be told, the story is classic, like all the adventure books of the last 100 years, there is something to find, there are the good boys who are always first on the place, and there are the bad boys who always follow closely. The good boys are doing that not for money, but for a bigger and worthier reason, and the bad boys are only interested in finding a treasure. What I probably liked best in this second book is that the adventure seemed more innocuous, there were less dead bodies around, and probably there were also more funny moments. I liked very much Will's scenes with his estranged father, and was very interesting in the apparently sweet love story between Jake and Sam, even if, actually, since it is soo sweet (meaning that without sex or anything sexual at all), I didn't understand if Jake has a fatherly interest in Sam or something more personal. My favorite from the previous book, Luca, has only a secondary role here, but I think the author is thinking at something special for him, and I had the strong impression that, the author himself, through the words of Professor Fathom, let the reader know that Luca is also his favorite. Eden and Shane have their own little story going, and it's Shane's turn to have a little sexy story on the side, as Eden had in the previous book; they are important supporting role, and the author is always kind with them, but they have not yet achieved the upper level like Will, Jake and Luca.

The Riddle of the Sands is a surprisingly easy and fast book to read, I thought to have just started it and when I realized that I was more than half the book away. For me it's a compliment, it means that I was so sucked into the story, that I lost track of the time.

Amazon: Riddle of the Sands

Amazon Kindle: Riddle of the Sands

Series: A Fathom's Five Adventure
1) The Cross of Sins: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/640072.html
2) The Riddle of the Sands

The Rainbow Awards: First Week results: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/811346.html

When I started this book, I had the feeling to read one of my favorite old sweet romance. I confess, I was an avid reader of those old Harlequin Present series, above all the Long Tall Texan series by Diana Palmer. In those romance, the hero was always an handsome and wealthy Long Tall Texan rancher and the heroine was always some sweet virgin, and often it was some family friend's daughter, or a neighbor, or the foster child hosted on the ranch. A bit of age difference was requested, but not so much to be insurmountable. Usually the two lovers were aware of their feelings soon enough, but the wiser and older hero was reluctant to take advantage of someone he considered under his protection.

The Convenient Husband is all of this. Tucker is the oldest son of a Texan rancher; he built his life far from the ranch, but he was often back home to visit, at least until Micah reached his 18 years old. Micah was the nephew of the ranch's foreman, and he has always lived on the ranch since 4 years old. And he was always the shadow of Tucker. But on his 18 years old birthday Micah was suddenly the forbidden fruit and Tucker surrendered to temptation. A night of passion, Micah still a virgin, was enough to make Tucker run away; as usually in this story, Tucker thinks he is doing Micah a favor, he is too old and bitter for a young thing like Micah. Problem is that Tucker doesn't realize that, in a isolated ranch in Texas, there are not so many chance of hapinnes for a gay boy like Micah.

Four years later Micah needs Tucker to be back home: Tucker's grandfather is dying and he wants his nephew near him; plus the old man's will states that he will leave the ranch to the first of his nephews to marry... even if it's not a legal marriage in Texas. Being both Tucker than Micah gays, the obvious solution is for Tucker to marry Micah, so the young man will be able to remain forever on the ranch, and this time even as a real family member... But once Tucker tastes again the forbidden fruit, will he be able to walk away from him again?

The story is mostly funny and it doesn't last long in the life of the two main characters, only few days, but there is a nice Epilogue that let you have a glimpse in their future life. It also avoids almost all the angst usually linked to a gay relationship in a "unwelcoming" setting, only one man has something to say against Tucker and Micah's relationship, and inside their home, all other people around are supporting and happy, like it was the only thing they were expecting. So there is no really trouble among Tucker and Micah, if not only a bit of stubbornness from both side, exactly like on those old sweet romance I loved so many years ago. The Convenient Husband is a modern tale with an old sweet feeling. The only bittersweet feeling I had was for Tucker's grandfather, even if he has not really any scenes, he seemed a very interesting man, and it was very sad to see him gone. Also the other old man of the story, Micah's uncle, Juan, reserves a nice surprise to the reader and even to Micah's himself, and in the epilogue, the author hints to a story that I would really like to read, a love story where one of the characters is 69 years old and the other one 35... a may december relationship with plus a silver romance in it... really something the author should consider to write.

http://samhainpublishing.com/romance/his-convenient-husband

Amazon Kindle: His Convenient Husband: Innamorati, Book 1

Rainbow Awards, The Game is On!: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/807504.html

Sex With Lex by Carol Lynne

Why on earth the last three M/M covers by Ellora's Cave are one worst than the other? A Man for Michael by Sedonia Guillone, Finnegan's Promise by Carol Lynne and now Sex With Lex by Carol Lynne. Ellora's is not a little epubs that has no money to buy some decent covers. And I know, you mustn't judge a book by its cover, but guys, if you are uncertain if buy or not a book, would you buy a book with a cover like that of Sex With Lex.

I know Carol Lynne works, and I buy the book. Carol Lynne is young, and her works is not always a constant. But she writes about characters who are deeply in love and put their relationship before all.

Lex is a 44 years old ranch owner wit a 25 years old son. One summer, Sam, his son, brings home his college roommate, Nick. Nick is 26 years old and he is a foster son. He has no family and when he has the chance to live in a real family, he knows he wants to stay there forever. But Lex is not out with his son, and Nick can't live in a lie and so he left. But love is strong and three years later both Lex and Nick have to admit that their feelings are still strong and that they have to find a way to live together.

The story is simple, and a little "all american dream": Lex is a Native American stud with a wealthy ranch who can buy all he wants to Nick. Nick is young but mature, very serious. He is not in search of Lex's richness, he really love his 19 years older lover. Lex's ex wife is a bitch, no one can like, neither her own son, Sam.

As always in Lynne's books, sex is very down and dirty, loud and rough. It's a strange pair, ultra romantic characters with dirty sex... strange but interesting. And the book is also long enough to gives significance to all the story.

http://www.jasminejade.com/pm-6015-321-sex-with-lex.aspx

Gio’s Dream by Carol Lynne

Gio is the thirty something years old son of an Italian family. From a suburb town of Kansas City he has made a successful career as ad manager in New York, but now he is back home. His widower father needs to take an heart surgery and he probably will be no more able to manage the daily work in his big sport store. And so Gio now has to spend ever more time with his father's business partner and best friend Rafe.

Rafe has been part of the family even before Gio's birth. But since Gio discovered to be interested in men and not in women, his fantasies were fullfilled by Rafe's images. And now at 49 years old, Rafe is still a very handsome man, and someone Gio wants as badly as before. But even if they figure how to tell Gio's father the news, there is someone else who is not happy to this sudden development.

As always in Carol Lynne's story, the men are moving first by their body needs and then by their mind. Sex is a primordial necessity and everything else needs to adapt to it. Here is a book where the erotic part outcome by big lenght the romance one. Both Gio than Rafe behave like teens in heat, and they are almost funny in their eagerness... maybe not very real, but funny.

As I said the sexy scene are a lot and often, but also the little mystery inside the book is dealt in a very good way. I haven't had a clue of the culprit since almost the end, when the author gives us the big input to find out: so congrats to Carol Lynne that even if her book is not a mystery, still she manages to build a good sub mystery story.

http://www.jasminejade.com/pm-5376-321-gios-dream.aspx

Amazon: Forbidden Love

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading+list&view=elisa.rolle

Eye of the Beholder (Cattle Valley 11) by Carol Lynne

The eleventh book in the Cattle Valley series is the classic example of why this is a serial, and it's almost impossible not to read it in the right order. Bo Lawson is a spin off character from another serial, Campus Cravings. He was Lark's first lover, and he had a quite important role in Lark's book, A Biker's Vow. In that book, Lark and Kade were considering to move in Cattle Valley, and Bo tagged along when they went to perusing the area. He liked the place and he decided to stay; in the very first scene in Cattle Valley he set his eyes on Rance, but in the following books there was no indication on what happened to them. In this perspective, you are not forced to read all the Campus Cravings books to enjoy this one, but maybe it would be better if you read at least that book, A Biker's Vow.

Bo is a friendly and handsome man, so friendly that he managed to stay friend with Lark even after their relationship ended and he married with a woman. Bo lived in a Canadian "free love" community, and why he married a woman it's not quite clear, since Bo's preferences are all for men. But in the community the marriage's bond it was not so important, it was almost like a roommate statement, if you are married, you share a room, nothing else. Bo's main characteristic in that story it was his HIV positive status, something he shared with Kade, and this allowed Kade to see that, even if positive, you can still have a normal life, with some precautions more, but still a life. The same acceptance Bo found in the community, he finds also in Cattle Valley, and when his story starts, he is in the middle of wooing Rance, trying to overcome Rance's barriers.

It's not Bo's HIV+ status that put a stop to their story, it's something in Rance's past; I like this taken on the story of the author, she deals with Bo's illness in a light mode, but not underestimating it; I believe that she willingly decided to not make it the turning point of the story but at the same time giving the right importance to the matter. Actually, once the reader finds out Rance's secret, compared to Bo's trouble, I had almost a reaction like, "well, is it all? And you have a problem due to that?" and since I'm quite naughty, I also anticipated the enjoyable conclusion that Bo arrives to... I don't want to give up the story, but it's all a question of right angles ;-)

Book 11 in the series is one of those books that is nice and good, without any breaking event, but nevertheless essential to the story; it serves also to know something more about Jay, the almost androgynous new Cattle Valley's character, and about Asa, the multimillionaire gay man who decided to move in Cattle Valley, but that I still haven't quite framed.

http://www.total-e-bound.com/product.asp?strParents=&CAT_ID=&P_ID=476

Cattle Valley Days (Cattle Valley 12) by Carol Lynne

As I have already had the chance in the past to notice, Carol Lynne can write light and almost unbelievable love story, where everything is perfect and the happily ever after is just there around the corner, and then, she suddenly comes out with a full drama, like Cattle Valley Days.

From the blurb and the beginning of the story, I was ready to read one of those wrap up books that usually an author writes when a series is going on for so long that she fears the readers could have lost the thread. These books usually are light and funny, a all come together type of story where old and new friends meet, they share happy news and are all good. In this one, Carol Lynne also gets together even the Good Boys, the characters from the Good-Time Boys series from which she span off the Cattle Valley one.

As it should be, the main characters of Cattle Valley Days are once again Nate and his partners Ryan and Rio. Nate is plunged till his head in trouble to organize the Cattle Valley Days, the rodeo weekend during which there are also sports tournaments, carnivals and a great ball on the street. For Nate this is the final test, the time he can prove to the city that he is a good mayor; only that Nate is not able to delegate, and he is taking all the decision on himself, from the big things to the smallest trouble. This reflects bad on his relationship with Ryan and Rio, for different reason: Rio was used to have Nate around him all the time, even if they have an official job as owner of the local gym, they actually spent all the time matchmaking their friends, and waiting for their Alpha man Ryan to come back home. They were like boys at play, taking all with lightness. Now Rio is all by himself and he feels lost; he also fears that he is living again the nightmare of his parents' divorce, when he was forced to choose between them: if put in front with the question if he prefers Nate or Ryan, he really doesn't know what to do.

On the other hand, Ryan at first is supporting of Nate. He knows what it means to be in charge, and he thinks to understand Nate's stress. But then the lack of Nate's availability starts to get even to him. And maybe he starts to feel like he is no more the Alpha man he was before. Nate is trying to do everything by himself, he doesn't search Ryan's counseling, and Ryan doesn't like it, he wants to be there for his man, he likes to be the mainstay of their relationship.

So on, the story was less light than I was expecting, but it was still a simple quarreling among lovers, nothing major and something they obviously can deal with. Then Carol Lynne decides to give a dramatic spin to the story, something that involves not only Nate, Ryan and Rio, but all the town of Cattle Valley. And this is like an earthquake to all the series, since, more or less, Cattle Valley till now was like the Paradise, a place where everything was perfect, where everyone knows everyone else, and where it was only a question of time to find an happily ever after for your own. Maybe after 11 books, Carol Lynne decided to give a taste of reality even to her perfect little paradise place on earth.

It was a surprising read, something unexpected. At the end of Book 11 I was waiting for Jay's story, and when Cattle Valley Days came out, truth be told, I was a bit disappointed: why Carol Lynne felt the need to write something more on an "old" trio like Nate, Rio and Ryan, when she had so many new possibilities with characters like Jay, Enrico, Asa or Mario? Now I understand that she needed to prove that, in Cattle Valley you can dream, but nevertheless, it is a place like all the others, where there are good and bad things. It's a splash of reality that gives deepness to this fictional world.

http://www.total-e-bound.com/product.asp?strParents=&CAT_ID=&P_ID=515

Amazon: Eye of the Beholder & Cattle Valley Days (Cattle Valley, Vol. 6)

Series: Cattle Valley
1-2) Cattle Valley 1: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/211609.html
3-4) Cattle Valley 2: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/285655.html
5-6) Cattle Valley 3: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/326486.html
7-8) Cattle Valley 4: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/405427.html
9-10) Cattle Valley 5: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/528702.html
11-12) Cattle Valley 6

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle


Cover Art by April Martinez


Cover Art by April Martinez

Bad Boy Cowboy (Cattle Valley) by Carol Lynne

As I just said in the past, the Cattle Valley gay soap opera is a mix of full angst, medium angst and totally funny books. In the fictional gay town of Cattle Valley, every possible type of romance is represented, and this time is the bad boy - good boy play that is on.

Logan is a tattooed, biker and handsome cowboy. He actually is more fond of bikes than horses, but he has also a crush on Jax, his best friend's older brother, and since the man is a born cowboy, Logan chose the same path to be near him. But during the time he spent to grow up and close the 8 years age difference, Jax had a very bad love experience and now he is cautious when he deals with love. And loving a bad boy cowboy is probably not a good choice if he wants a steady relationship.

The book is all spent reading on how both men try to behave in the best possible way to please the other, only ending to make the worst possible errors. There isn't much drama, and also the problems are not so huge to not be easily overcome. The mainly is Logan's trouble with school and his struggle to obtain a GED.

This one could be considered a passage book, a relaxing story between some more exciting and fundamental events happening in Cattle Valley.

http://www.total-e-bound.com/product.asp?s=hikloq565222&strParents=&CAT_ID=&P_ID=365

The Sound of White (Cattle Valley) by Carol Lynne

Today I want to claim a merit to me, the fact to have called for the first time the two on going series by Carol Lynne, Campus Cravings and Cattle Valley, "gay soap opera". After two or three books per each series, they started to remind me a soap opera, with all the characters mixed together, with all the unbelievable events a mind could possible imagine, happening in small town barely able to have a diner, a theatre and a school. But despite the territorial limitation, in Cattle Valley, and its twin small college community that hosts Campus Cravings, you can find former professional football player, Olympic gold medals, wealthy men, war heroes, rodeo champions... try to imagine a dream lover and you are sure to find it in Cattle Valley, the paradise for every gay man.

In this last novel, we have not one, but two stories mixed together: Chad and Richard, respectively the hotel manager and the bar manager of the new mountain lodge which will be inaugurated on New Year's Eve, who spend all their free time arguing and launching lustful gaze to each other, and Collin and Abe, the shyest man on Cattle Valley and the former top-model turned lonely bear in a mountain isolated cabin.

Richard is an old acquaintance for the readers, the man Ezra and Wyn saved from a abusive Master in Oklahoma. Despite his stud body, Richard is a romantic at heart and a submissive for nature. He would do everything for the man he loves, but he learned that dying is a bit extreme. And so now he is wary when coming to love. Chad instead has the classical Napoleon complex: small in height but with a bigger than ever will, he learned that a full frontal attack sometime saves him from the necessity to prove his physical strenght; he reminds me a Chiuaua that wants to control a Danese.

Collin instead suffers from the middle son complex: his big brother was the sport star, his little sister the genius, and Collin was only the good boy, the one to whom everyone smiles to soon after looks up to one of his siblings. He has a lingering crush on Abe, a man who lives in an isolated cabin in the mountain, but even if Abe is not the socialite of the city, Collin thinks neither him could be interested in the shy man he is. On the other hand Abe has chosen a self inflicted isolation, almost a prison to make amends for an horrible sin in his past, and how can a good man like Collin being interested in him? A snow storm that strands Collin to Abe's cabin will help the two to see how much they have in common and how much they were mistaken about each other desires.

As often in the series, there is no drama, no angst (maybe a little in Abe and Richard's past history), a lot of sex and an obviosly and unavoidable happily ever after: if not like this, the reader will now in the next chapter on the soap opera how its charaters are behaving!

http://www.total-e-bound.com/product.asp?s=qanxpe652528&strParents=&CAT_ID=&P_ID=398

Amazon: Cattle Valley

Series: Cattle Valley
1-2) Cattle Valley 1: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/211609.html
3-4) Cattle Valley 2: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/285655.html
5-6) Cattle Valley 3: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/326486.html
7-8) Cattle Valley 4

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle




Cover Art by April Martinez

The book is almost parted in two different stories. The first one is a sexy romp, almost a play of domino, where different men were paired one with each other, or even one with two others. The main lovers, Brendon and Eduardo, are still teenager when the story starts; this is probably the only thing that sound a little wrong to my ear, since the nor Brendon or Eduardo behave or talk like teenagers, but then, the story I believe is set in a time and place where being a teenager meant being old enough to be considered a man. Coming back to our heroes, Brendon and Eduardo are lovers, and the first chapter is a long, loud and detailed sex scene en plein air; as soon as the chapter ends, Cal, Brendon and Eduardo's buddy friend, enters the scene, and not only he enters also the sex scene, and the second chapter is another long, loud and detailed sex scene. And to better present all the players in this story, chapter three is another long, loud and detailed sex scene, this time even with some paranormal element, between Calenza, the shaman who will be the puppeteer of the story, and Malone, Brendon's father. Chapter four is about Graham, a ranch hand for whom Brendon has a passing interest, and his almost unwilling sex scene with Brendon, this time not long, loud and detailed, but quite down and dirty... means that it's played in the mud. Finally chapter five is about Galin, Malone's long time lover, and the man who shares Malone with Calenza, or maybe it's viceversa.

After all this overflowing sex, the first part ends and the real story begins... I believe this is quite an original way to deal a story. Usually the cards are lied down, the connections build and then, when the reader is ready and willing, the sex begins. Some stories have few some oher have more, but more or less, who is reading was carefully prepared to it. Here instead the impact is suddenly and immediate: almost without notice, the reader is faced with a variety of partners and positions... he has no idea of what the story will be, he has almost no time to go down from an apex than soon after he is riding again the rollercoast for another one. This is William Maltese, he is overflowing, suddenly, unexpected; he has no embankments or reins, and all his sex scenes are brought on with words that flourish one after the other, stretching the sentence till almost its maximum limit. If you try to read it aloud, you will probably loose your breath in the attempt.

And then William Maltese proves that he is also able to actually write also the story, not only the sex. Again, with a sudden break, from the continuous apexes he was just a moment before, the reader is plunged inside the story. The time is changed, the connections between the men he was just accustomed with are also changed, and he has to learn them all over again. Some of them are long dead, and in a way, it's even more disconcerting since just two chapters before those men were so much alive. Also the mood of the story is different, more dark and oppressive, harsher like those young men of long time ago now are. And also the reasons that push them are now cold, no more the passion for the man you love, but the thirst for gold, the gold that Calenza is trying to protect and preserve for the Ridgemont legacy. This second part is maybe the real story, but I liked better the first one, I liked better the fresh and unreined passion of those young men then the bitterness inside the older Brendon, forced to marry to have an heir, and ending alone, without a wife, an heir and even a lover, and searching in every men he meets the one he lost, Eduardo.

http://www.mlrbooks.com/ShowBook.php?book=RIDEMAN1

Buy at 1 Romance Ebooks

Amazon: Ride The Man Down

Amazon Kindle: Ride the Man Down

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle

I remember with pleasure the first story I read by Jenna Hilary Sinclair. It was not a romance, it was a coming of age story about a teenager who had some real big trouble when he found out he was gay in a small town USA were he was pretty isolated, and about his mother, who wanted so much to help his son. To help these two arrived like two Angels on a Christmas day, Harry and Mike. The time were the late '80 and Harry and Mike were not some out and proud gay men who fight against society. They were two ordinary men that after spending years trying to ignore what they were feeling for each other, decided to take the courage in hand and move together in a ranch just outside the small town. It's true that it's not always easy to be gay in a little town, but sometime it can be easier than in the big city. The period, almost 20 years ago, is not the same as today. If today we are speaking of gay rights and equality, 20 years ago it was almost a miracle to find a place where being allow to be yourself. In the little town where they live, Harry and Mike are on the mouth of everyone, but everyone also knows that they are gentle men, always ready to give an hand to help; the town decided that, since the two of them are pretty much on their own, it doesn't matter what they are doing inside their home. It's not acceptance, it's more turning a blind eye on what you don't want to see.

For 8 years it was enough and then, Harry is starting to think, at their age, it's really necessary to desire something more? To Harry, living most of the time on the ranch, with his horses, it's not a punishment, it's almost the perfect life. He knows that Mike was used to something different, he was more a city man, he went in places and met people, but now he is with Harry, and he took him 12 years to decide to be with Harry and only Harry, and why he should need something more? I don't know if it's a conscious choice, but I have the feeling that Harry prefers to be like an hermit with Mike on the ranch since he fears that, if Mike will have the chance to see what there is outside, how the world is changing, maybe he will change his mind as well, and living only with Harry will be no more enough. On the other hand, maybe Mike is thinking that he is a comfort choice for Harry, that Harry has never had the chance to see something different, to try and taste every shade of life.

And so both Harry than Mike, like two newborn babies to the gay world, starts to shyly "come" out, at the young age of 40/45 years old, to see how the world is changing, how it's possible for them to be together in public, in a pub, even if it's a very secluded "only for men" pub, in an almost abandoned side of the city. Harry and Mike come out from their isolation to see that yes, the world has the chance to be better, but that, in the end, they already have what the other men are trying to reach, an happy life together, a commitment that will last and it's lasting for years, the comfort to know that the really important people in your life accept and love you, unincondionally. There is no need for Harry and Mike to come out, to change what they are, they are already out and proud for the people who really care, they have already found the path to happiness.

Jenna Hilary Sinclair confirm her ability to write a warm and simple story, a story that is near to the fundamental things in life, love, family, home and happiness.

http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/

Amazon Kindle: One Marriage and Three Weddings

Series:
1) Gifts of the Season: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/463717.html
2) One Marriage and Three Weddings

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle

The Convenient Husband by J.L. Langley

When I started this book, I had the feeling to read one of my favorite old sweet romance. I confess, I was an avid reader of those old Harlequin Present series, above all the Long Tall Texan series by Diana Palmer. In those romance, the hero was always an handsome and wealthy Long Tall Texan rancher and the heroine was always some sweet virgin, and often it was some family friend's daughter, or a neighbor, or the foster child hosted on the ranch. A bit of age difference was requested, but not so much to be insurmountable. Usually the two lovers were aware of their feelings soon enough, but the wiser and older hero was reluctant to take advantage of someone he considered under his protection.

The Convenient Husband is all of this. Tucker is the oldest son of a Texan rancher; he built his life far from the ranch, but often he was come back home to visit, at least until Micah reached his 18 years old. Micah was the nephew of the ranch's foreman, and he has always lived on the ranch since 4 years old. And he was always the shadow of Tucker. But on his 18 years old birthday Micah was suddenly the forbidden fruit and Tucker surrendered to temptation. It was only a kiss, but it was enough to make Tucker run away. Four years later Micah needs Tucker to come back home: Tucker's grandfather is dying and he wants his nephew near him; plus the old man's will states that he will leave the ranch to the first of his nephews to marry... even if it's not a legal marriage in Texas. Being both Tucker than Micah gay, the obvious solution is for Tucker to marry Micah, so the young man will be able to remain forever on the ranch, and this time even as a real family member... But once Tucker tastes for real the forbidden fruit, will he be able to walk away from him again?

The story is mostly funny and it doesn't last long in the life of the two main characters, only few days. It also avoids almost all the angst usually linked to a gay relationship in a "unwelcoming" setting, only one man has something to say against Tucker and Micah's relationship, and inside all the other people around are supporting and happy, like it was the only thing they were expecting. So there is no really trouble among Tucker and Micah, if not only a bit of stubbornness from both side, exactly like on those old sweet romance I loved so many years ago. The Convenient Husband is a modern tale with an old sweet feeling.

Seeing You by Dakota Flint

The feeling of this second story is quite different. It's always about a ranch and two cowboy but the ranch is in Montana and the two cowboys are grieving for the loss of the same man. Simon was Dylan's brother and Wade's lover; it was Dylan who presented Simon to Wade and doing that it made of Wade an happy man and of himself a desperate one. Dylan was in love with Wade but Wade never seen him as nothing more than a friend. And when Wade found his happiness with Simon, Dylan was able to accept it since he loved Simon as much as he loved Wade if not more. But than Simon died in a car accident while driving with Dylan, and Dylan had not the courage to stay and see the sorrow in Wade's eyes, he dreaded the question, why Simon died and not you? To not loose also the best friend after the brother, he severed the contact, loosing in this way also his family.

Years later Dylan is called back home: Wade's ranch is decaying as it's doing his owner. Without his lover by his side, and having lost also his best friend, Wade was unable to cope and let it everything go waste. Dylan knows that he can let it happen and he decides to be again Wade's best friend. But when Wade is asking for more, Dylan has to understand if the man is searching a substitute for his lost lover, or if he is ready to love again.

As the previous story, even if more sad, also this one is almost a sweet romance. Again there is more speaking of feelings than sexy scenes. The mood is definitely less light, but the story is not less romantic. And again there is this undisputed acceptance of Wade and Dylan's, and Simon's, sexuality, without trouble, with only love. This time there is not even a lonely opponent. The problem between Wade and Dylan are of different nature, it's a question of too much unsaid questions. The strange thing is that I really think that Simon's death is the only reason why Wade and Dylan have a chance to be happy together, and it's not so obvious; Wade was really in love with Simon and I don't think he would have been the same with Dylan before. Wade and Dylan are too similar, they would have been probably shifted in an ordinary and boring life together, and sooner or later they would have split. Simon is the glue that stick them together now. With Simon Wade had the chance to taste what is a passionate love; without Simon, Dylan had the chance to live outside the ranch. Now both Wade than Dylan know what they want to be happy, and they know that they can have it together.

Side note: Dakota Flint paid an homage to James Buchanan, a supporting character on the novel was reading The Good Thief and was enthralled by the story.

Judas Steer by Kiernan Kelly

Judas Steer is on the same mood of the previous historical western romance by Kiernan Kelly, In Bear Country. As in that one, it's the romance between a young and inexperienced (at least of the cowboy's life) young man and an older and somewhat bitter cowboy. Granger is a cattle driver and he likes that life. Never staying long enough in a town suits him, since in this way he can indulge in his taste, that is more for men than women. And during the long night out herding the cattle, it's easier to find a friendly soul. But this time Granger has his eyes not on a weathered cowboy like himself, but on Billy, a young boy that seems out of place among them. It comes out that Billy is the owner's son, sent out with the men to learn the job. Granger feels pity for the young man, and also a lot of lust, and decides to take him under his shadow, teaching him the job and also something else.

The story is a mix of sex and adventure. While Granger is teaching to Billy what happens at night between men, there are enemies outside that are planning to take their revenge on both Granger than Billy, for different reason. Of the two villains of the story, I'm quite of Sinopa, I have always had a soft spot for Native Americans, but truth be told, Sinopa is not the best example. Probably the most interesting thing of all the story is Granger: he is the good hero, but, all in all, he is also a seducer, I have no doubt that he took advantage of Billy's innocence and that he is full aware of it. But he did it in a way that Billy was not forced, he went willing: Granger presented himself like a full main course to a starving man, and Billy dipped with gusto... and "technically" speaking, it was Billy who "did" Granger.

Buy at 1 Romance Ebooks

Forgotten Favor by Angela Fiddler

If you are wondering why an author like Angela Fiddler is in a western romance anthology... well, stop to wonder and read the story. I don't want to spoil it, enough to say that as usual she adds something "special" to the story, even if it doesn't make it so unbelievable, it makes it only more... gothic? weird? spooky? I don't know, odd maybe. Anyway the story is pretty classic, Mark is the second and spoiled son of a wealthy Canadian rancher. His father his more used to money than cows, and so Mark has not the best of the relationship with him and grew pretty much alone. He went into the rodeo circuit and met Jake; glances, innuendo and Mark was ready to jump the fence with the more experienced man, but that same day, Mark's brother died in a riding accident and Mark's father made him swear that he will never see again Jake. And so it was, but then Mark had an accident himself, he went into rehab and his father sold his beloved horse... you can do everything to a man, but not selling his horse. Jake is the one who rescued Butter, Mark's horse, and now he is also willing to give shelter also to Mark. And to start again from where they were interrupted years before.

As I said the story would have been pretty simple, if not for that spin that links Mark's brother's death and the resolving point of the story: it's almost like the fate was in debt with Mark, and it decides to pay him back allowing him a late happily ever after. And a big one, with all of them happy together and without financial issue. Actually someone could even question Jake's real reason for being so gentle and caring with Mark, but then, they are so good in bed that you can forget that.

Buy at 1 Romance Ebooks

http://www.mlrbooks.com/ShowBook.php?book=STUDSPUR

Amazon: Studs & Spurs

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle

In the first book Adam, a former soldier who came back home from was was not able to return to his old life, found shelter in Calvin's hunting lodges in a small town in Texas. Someone could see Adam's decision as a run from reality, as if he wasn't faced the true. I see it instead as if Adam chose to go back the real meaning of life, and to find it, he had to go in a place where there wasn't  superstructure, where he had only the essential, and so to see and find the real purpose of his life is simpler.

Calvin is like the place they live, simpler and strong, steady. It's exactly the type of man Adam needs, and it's really not important that he is old like Adam's father, worst that he was Adam's father former lover. Calvin is a man of no surprise, he lives his day beat by the world outside, and not by his whims; every single morning Adam wakes up, Calvin is already awake, in the kitchen, it's a constant, it's homey, it's the life Adam wants and needs.

But as the place and the man are true like life, also the feel of the book is true, Calvin and Adam know that they can't promise forever, that Adam is way younger than Calvin and that there will be a moment when Adam will loose Calvin, and not for Calvin's choice. But as dreadful this thought is, it's another proof that this is the life: it's right that Adam, younger than Calvin, is the one that will remain past Calvin, it's not right that a war kills the youngest, it's right that the life flows with its ordinary pace.

The story allows also Adam and Calvin to confront with the outside life; first Adam's father, William, that even if worried, probably accepts the situation since he realizes that it's good for his son, and since maybe he trusts Calvin. Then Adam's mother, with her stubborn refusal to see what is good for her son. Adam and Calvin has also the chance to meet two different type of "stranger": a couple, father and son, from Calvin's world, that allows them to see how their life probably will be in the future, and a group of former soldiers, from Adam's world this time, that shows them that what they are building now is something good and right.

If I go by memory, Recovery Ranch is a very nice sequel to Recovery, but it's also way more accomplished and involving.

http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=2037

Series:
1) Recovery: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/294131.html
2) Recovery Ranch

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle

Joe and Ed are young and living together. To the equation misses only love. It's not that Joe and Ed are not in love, it's probably that no one taught them "how" to be in love, and "what" being in love means. Ed, orphaned at 17 years old, spent all his time to make the ends meet, and Joe was kicked out of home when he came out to his father at 18 years old. When the book starts they are already together, sharing an house and a bed, but it's not said how they met and how they put the boundaries to their relationship, not only love relationship but also life partner. Still the boundaries are there, and even if they are not rules, they are pretty strict, they do fifty / fifty on everything from who has to cook dinner to whom has to top. Joe and Ed are obviously in love, but still no one of them has every spoken the L word, and I don't know how many time would be passed before it would slip to someone if the fate had not forced the hand.

Father's Ed, whom Ed believed long ago dead, was still alive and living in a farm. Unluckily for Ed he comes to know it when the man dies and Ed is his only heir. Ed inherits the farm, and he doesn't know nothing how to farming, but Joe knows it, having being raised in a farm. Actually Joe's life dream is to be able sooner or later to buy a farm, and this unexpected inheritance seems a sign from heaven. Ed spends only few hours to decide that he is ready to change his life and moves with Joe on the farm (if this is not love...).

The new life they are starting is like a coming back to another place in time: in the small town and inside the walls of their farmhouse, it seems impossible to continue to behave like no more than friend with benefits. The new life forces them to rethink to their priorities and to what it is important for them. More it seems to bring them nearer to what it was Joe's life before Ed, and in a way, shorten the distance between him and his family. Joe's father turned away his son since he didn't understand his choice to love a man, not since he didn't love him; when Joe proves to him that being in love with a man doesn't change so much how he is, and since he is very much like his father, his father can again relate with him on a common ground.

It's not all a paradise on earth for them, moving in a small town has its trouble, where the majority of the townfolks are all right with them being gay, there is still someone who is not so welcoming. But all in all this subplot is not so strong and in first line, and above all the story is about Joe and Ed's evolution from lovers to partners. Due to that, the book is also quite sexy, and it's nice to see how their lovemaking changes with them, more they become intimate and more the sex does the same. Still, in a way or the other, it's pretty detailed but not "acrobatic", the feeling of the novella is more sweet than erotic.

http://www.loose-id.com/prod-Cultivating_Love-972.aspx

Amazon Kindle: Cultivating Love

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle

In the best James Bond or Indiana Jones tradition, the Fathom's Five are five handsome, skilled and clever gay men working for Professor Fathom as treasure hunters. Almost half the book is spent to introduce us to the five:

- Jake Stone, the newest member of the group, is a bit of a lone wolf; he is "for hire", means that if you pay him enough, he will find everything you want. Jake is not a bad man, he is only used to take care of himself, and only himself. His only Achilles' heel is young Sam, a street kid he shelters in his New York loft.

- 19 years old Will Hunter is the spoiled and neglected son of an American diplomat; he has everything he wants in life, but it's never enough. Will is young, friendly and careless and in this moment he has nothing and noone important in his life (well he is only 19 years old!) and so he can play like if life is a big game.

- Shane Houston is your classical western hero, hat and horse and all of it. Always ready for an adventure, he faces every new challenge full front, caring very less for his own safety, but as an old fashioned cowboy, you can always count on him when you are in trouble.

- Dr Eden Santiago is the high head levelled of their group; he seems always in control, always ready to face every events. The less playful of the group, he is probably the one that has less open endings in his life and so, for this reason, he is the more reliable of all of them. Everyone can count on Eden, and loving him will never being an hazard.

- Luca da Roma is the most beautiful of all of them, he is beautiful like an angel, and in fact he has a very special relationship with God. Luca is an orphan and he was raised by three nuns in a remote Italian convent. He doesn't know who were his parents, but, after all, he hasn't had a bad life. When he was still a teen he went in Rome and he became the muse of a lot of artists, on the canvas and on the sheet, and as they took from him inspiration, he drank from them the love for arts. But Luca seems never to be happy, he has quite a mourning attitude and he seems in searching of something that always slips from his hands.

The new quest for this five heroes is to track down an ancient holy cross, a Renaissance artwork who caused the death of his creator since it was framed as sacrilegious. To recover the artifact our heroes have to find two stone tables and an ancient book, the three pieces together will lead them to the treasure. But obviously they are not alone in this hunting party, and their enemies know well how to hit them where it hurts, and I'm not speaking of body parts.

The book is really good in mixing fun, sex and adventure, playing all around the World, from Tonga to Italy, from Turkey to England. Our heroes, when not running away from gunshots and explosions, are involved in sexy escapades along a swimming pool or in poshy five stars hotel. There is a bit of "naughty" talk during sex, but it's never too much to ruin the sophisticated feeling that permeates all the book, and, on the other hand, the fun and careless sex helps to balance the adventure part, so that even a less adventurous reader will find it enjoyable and interesting.

All five heroes are enough developed that the reader could care for them, but from my side, my favorite is Luca, maybe since he is Italian. I have no problem to say that I will look forward to the following book in this new exciting series.

http://www.starbookspress.com/search.php?ID=2814&SEARCH=SINGLE

Amazon: Fathom's Five Volume One: The Cross of Sins (v. 1)

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle

Paxton's Winter is an old classical western romance with the twist to be a male on male love story. But if not for this twist, all the other elements of a good western romance are there: the wealthy and cultured southern man with more ideals than better sense who chose to live in the Far West were he can be who he really wants to be (and due to that twist here it means that he was in love with not only a man, but also a black man); then the villain decided that he didn't like our southern hero, Paxton, and killed his lover Maddox (who was probably an interesting character, but since this is a novella, he is already dead when the story starts). Paxton, obviously, like a good Far West hero is searching for vengeance and the villain, as much as obviously, hires a payed killer... well, a bounty hunter, Zane, but there is not much difference. And since this is a romance, the outlaw falls in love for the bounty killer.

The story even if short, builds a very nice set up: Paxton is maybe a bit too much a romance hero, I don't know how many wealthy southern gay men were leaving in the Far West, but lately I found often in gay romances, that the Far West was a common destination for those men who wanted to run away from the strict rules of society. So maybe there were more than I believed and then, in places where the life for women was not so simple, maybe it was not so strange or talked upon if two men lived together, four hands were better than two, and you also saved wood for fire during the winter!

Anyway, the love story between Paxton and Zane is easy and natural, without regrets from any side, and they start it like something more than friendship but not yet love; two bodies in a snowstorm searching warm and comfort. But Paxton has an easy way, he is so comfortable with himself, that Zane is hooked since the first moment. Paxton is very much the son of the wealthy family he said he is; it's quite clear that he hasn't had many trouble in his life, and maybe for this reason what happened to Maddox is even more terrible, Paxton is not used to the nasty aspect of life. Where in a way or the other we have a bit of background of Paxton and of his preference for the company of men, we don't know much of Zane; it seems that he is not new at having experiences with men, but we don't know what is his past. Here maybe the fact that this is only a novella weights a bit, since I wouldn't mind to know something more on Zane, he is quite the mysterious man.

There is sex, a lot, but not so detailed; it's more romantic than erotic, I had to read two time the first sex scene to really understand if they did something or not. Not that I'm complaining about it, sometime I prefer less than too much, and in a novella lenght, I prefer a bit of story that endlessly sex scenes.

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

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle

The Common Powers series is a "strange" paranormal series; as the name says, it's about common men who have some "special" powers, but not so much to make them extraordinary men. In the first installment, Sammi, a young hustler, has the power to hear the thoughts of the people around him, and when he finds his true love, he shares with him a mind bond. Their friend was Brian, a private investigator who has premonitions. In the second installment Brian meets his man, Rush, a true blood cowboy. The special power of Rush is the night vision, but unlike the powers of the other men, this particular power is not something that has a special role in the story, it's only like another body characteristic of Rush, like the color of his eyes...

There are two plots in the story: the main one is the developing relationship between Brian and Rush, with their struggle to overcome Rush's insecurities; Rush lives in a small town USA and he fears to come out, the only time he did with his father, he was beaten like an animal and forced to stay hidden or leave. Even if now Rush is alone, he still has not found the courage to come out again with his friends and neighboors. The second plot is Brian's research for Sammi's real identity.

Both Brian and Rush are interesting characters. Brian is an old fashioned man, he believes in Mr Right, and even if he isn't a virgin maid waiting for his knight in shining armor, he still believes in wooing and in having a relationship with his lover and not only mindless and no strings attached sex. He wants to be respected, he likes sex, but he needs something else and more with it.

Rush is a troubled man. He spent all his life in hiding, and when he has some urges, he goes far from home, in the big city where he is a stranger. But when he meets Brian he knows that, if he doesn't change his attitude, he will loose the man. Rush makes a lot of error in this relationship, a less constant man than Brian would give up to him with the first mistake. Instead, since Brian as I said believe in true love, he exercises a lot of patience and tames his skittish cowboy with praise and sugar.

The story is sexy, there are a lot of sex scenes, but all in all it's more romantic than erotic. I should say that I like this aspect of the book, and for this reason, I felt almost as not necessary the last erotic encounter... but well, better too much than not much!

http://www.loose-id.net/detail.aspx?ID=780

Amazon Kindle: Common Powers 2: Rush in the Dark

Amazon: Rush in the Dark: Common Powers 2

Series: Common Powers
1) Soul Bonds: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/320917.html
2) Rush in the Dark

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle


Cover Art by Anne Cain

With this novella ends the series of Heath and Vanner. Actually more than a series, the three novellas tell few days in the life of these two twin brothers who in few hours discover to be in love and that their world is crushing around them.

Heath has always been in love with his twin Vanner, and probably he chose the unstable life of rodeo men only to be near him. Vanner is a difficult man, he has great problem to express his feelings, but Vanner sees everything. To their problem of being gay in a world as the rodeo circuit that is not exactly accepting, you have to add also the fact that the twin are the only relatives alive of Marybeth, their older sister who has the mind of a child: if social services find out that they are dragging around a woman in that condition, they will probably take her from them.

The world in which Vanner and Heath are living, it's not the dreamy world of the rodeo circuit of romance; it's a dirty world, made of cheap motel and lack of money, a world in which they struggle even for a meal. And now their sponsor, a vicious man, is blackmailing both Heath and Vanner to have sex in exchange of his silence on them being gay. So no, this is not a light series of sexy cowboys written to entice the fantasy of romantic heart. But Vanner and Heath's relationship is so deep that their bond comes out from the pages in full strenght, like a punch in the gut.

In this last book, Vanner and Heath seal the last knot on their relationship, take the last step towards a direction without return. After this book, they will be no more able to forget and move on. It's an intense and moving story, that I believe it's better read one story after the other, to appreciate in full the strenght and impact of two not simple but very true characters.

http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&manufacturers_id=76&products_id=1200

Series: Taboo
1) One for the Money: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/479156.html
2) Two for the Show: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/517674.html
3) Go, Man. Go

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle

When you start a book, you must have clear in mind what you are reading and what you are expecting, so you will be not disappointed if what you read is not what you expected... is this a sentence to start a negative review? No, not at all. The Cactus League Society is a romp in the dust, a late nineteen century sexual adventure of a young man in search of excitement and sex, and this is what he finds.

Drew is the pampered son of a wasp family in New York. Good family, beautiful home, prestigious university... his family gave him all, and now Drew wants more. Drew is homosexual and truth be told has not real trouble with that; oh yes, he pretends, even with himself, to understand that he has to be discreet, but then he seduces a childhood friend in his bedroom when the house is full of guests... and obviously he is discovered. Again his family tries to pamper him, they kick him out, but with a chunk of money to start over somewhere else, as far as possible from New York. Money that Drew, in his careless behavior, due to his young age, refuses and claims that he will find his way in the Wild West... and he finds right his way passing from the arm of a man to another to another till he arrives in California, the dream land.

Even if Drew behaves like a "grown" man, I believe he has still a lot to learn, and he is the classical example of what I call "lucky" guy: he puts himself in great danger, but he seems to have a guardian angel to look over him, and nothing of really nasty happens to him.

Now, lets get a summary, relationships with 3 men in 23 pages, plus a discovery journey throughout the country, from Ivy League boy to Dream Catcher... just the fact that the author packs all of this in a short story is a good thing. So I will pass over to the fact that even if it's an historical romance, there are very few details that allow me to immerse in the "historical" atmosphere; at the end of the story the author hints to something more, a book titles Wonderland, full lenght novel (that I already have in my reading folder), so maybe this one is only a sample taste of what we will find there. But I don't think that the "purists" of historical gay novels would consider this short story as one of their own.

The feeling of the story is more an erotic escapade than a romance, I don't believe that Drew is already in love with his childhood friend, but he could be in the future, and meanwhile he is free to explore.

http://www.ravenousromance.com/ravenous-rendezvous/the-cactus-league-society.php

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle

Stroke of Luck is a novella with the same characters Jourdan Lane used in a previous anthology, Cowboy Up, that I haven't read. But I don't feel like something is missing, since the story is quite nice as it is. It's a "classical" contemporary western tale, with cowboys who are the real type, not the fake commercial one: there is dust and sweat and fatigue, but at the end, there is also the small town way of life, where everyone knows everyone and where your neighbor wants to help you, not to harm you.

Dale and Brandt probably didn't have an easy start, this you can understand from some hints in the story, but now their life is pretty good: the ranch is going well, there is a lot of work but also their share of compensation, and as I said, even if they work hard, at night they are together in the comfort of their house. It's not all idyllic, they fight a lot, but it's that type of fight that doesn't matter, upon irrelevant things, and the morning after it's all forgotten. Dale learned to accept Brandt's tough behavior and Brandt learned to accept the up and down of Dale's character.

But there are still things that make them fight them a lot, as when Dale takes decision he should consult Brandt before doing so. This time he decides to take home Evan, an old friend of him in deer need of a shelter; all right Evan was raped and he is clear out of luck, but still it would be enough for Evan to call Brandt before instead of going straight for his road. And so Brandt pulls out his silent rage more as demonstration than really feeling it.

The story is not very long and there are not a lot of turns in it, but what it's really nice is the atmosphere: I like as Brandt and Dale are not the perfect happily ever after couple, yes, they are happy, but more than star crossed lover, their relationship is built upon a good play of balance between their two different characters; the reader knows that it was not, and it will be not, easy for them, but since there is something strong and steady between them, whatever will happen, they will manage to stay together.

http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&manufacturers_id=43&products_id=1786

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle

In this series of short tales, Willa Okati faces a big taboo, like the name of the series let it know: a twincest relationship. Heath and Vanner are two twin brother who live for each other; truth be told Heath lives for Vanner: when Vanner soon after high school decided to leave home for the life of the rodeo circuit bull rider, Heath left with him. Even then Heath knew that he loved his brother in a way that was forbidden: it wasn't just bad that Heath preferred men, he was also in love with his twin. For all these years Heath spent his time taking care of Vanner, sometime having a fast and dirty one night stand with a wandering cowboy, but then always coming back to Vanner. And Vanner was there, silent and strong, always looking to Heath with strange possessive eyes, but never telling anything... until a day when Vanner reacts almost in a violent way to a man who approached Heath. Vanner doesn't know what he is doing, but he wants to claim Heath, to make the man his and not letting him go. It will be not an easy relationship between them, they know that they can't be open and happy in a normal way, but they can be together at least.

I like both Heath than Vanner's character, since, even if they are twin, they are totally different: Heath probably is clever, more open and easy to be near to, but in a way, he is not strong enough to face the world alone. Vanner is a man of few words, brisk and skittish like a wild horse, but he sees everything, and when he can't express with words what he wants to say, he is willing, even if not skilled, to use his body. In this first chapter, the problem of society, of religion and even of family are not faced, but Heath and Vanner, and the reader too, know that they are just there outside their little world, ready to crash their newborn love.

http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=717

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle

Doug is a bull rider at the sunset of his rodeo career and instead James is a bronco rider at the apex of the career, the loved champion of the public. When the story starts, Doug and James behave as friendly strangers, but bit of info here and there, the reader arrives to know that there is a past history between the two, James recovering from an accident and Doug helping him, only to later pushing him away. Doug is older and openly gay and when he met James, the younger cowboy was apparently straight; Doug doesn't want to restrain the man, both from his rodeo career than from having a normal life with a woman and 2.5 kids.

But James is stubborn and strong and very good in playing the seduction card, and when he realizes that Doug didn't push him away since he didn't love him, but since he loved him to much, he goes for his man, and he is not willing to be denied.

In 45 pages there is barely the time for the two to meet, be together again, and "straighten" out their reason. It would be interesting to read also about that past history, even if, also in this way, we can understand that Doug is the quite and steady man on the relationship and James is the fire that feed their passion. Maybe Doug has some reason, not in believing that he is influencing a younger man in taking some decision before the time, but maybe in fearing that an open gay relationship, like the one James wants, is still a bit to forward for the rodeo circuit. But then, this is a romance, and in a romance you want an happily ever after.

http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/napsizedreams.htm#Riding_Out_the_Bull

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle

This story has a contemporary setting, but it could be well set 100 years before and it would be the same, since things have not changed much in the country.

Justice has a little ranch and little money. He makes ends meet, but barely; his life is not bad, when the season is good he can manage also some extra, but most of the time, he is only him and his farm animals. Justice is gay, but in an isolated ranch near a very small town USA, he can only limit himself to watch the bullriders on saturday afternoon show television and dream of them at night.

Then Tuck knocks at his doors: tall, handsome and good at work, Tuck is a drifter who works for a roof and a meal. Roof and meal Justice can share, and he is more than willing to share also his bed when he realizes that Tuck is interested, but Justice tries to not being used to have Tuck around, since, sooner or later, he will go. And how he can not? What can draw Tuck to remain? Justice has a bit of self-esteem problem, he doesn't see what he can be for Tuck, home, partner and love all together.

The story is pretty and not very long, 52 pages/20.000 words. Justice and Tuck love and sex is easy and simple like the life they have; no impossible dreams of endless and repeated sex in the barn, no Justice who suddenly became a sex pro when having a man beside; Justice and Tuck work and love and work, and sometime they are too tired to love. As always this life fascinates me, since for my culture is something long ago forgotten.

http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1416

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle

It's a bit a Fantasy Cowboy Land the one described in this book by T.A. Chase, but well, sometime it's good to forget that there are places in this world where you can't really be who you are without worrying of the consequences, and it's important to tell the story as you would like it to be, since maybe, time over time, you will change a mind at time.

And so in this story we have Tyler and J.T., twin rodeo cowboys. Both handsome and gay (well actually, J.T. is bisexual...), J.T. is the shiny twin, while Tyler is the shy one. Tyler is also the responsible one, first his mother on her death bed and then his father asked him to take care of his twin, and Tyler always acted as guardian angel. He also left his beloved ranch, and his beloved neighbor Ren, to follow his twin on the rodeo circuit. But eight years after, Tyler is wondering if it's not time to come back at home, J.T. or not J.T. on tow.

At home there is not only is aging father, but also Ren, the older and handsome neighbor who was Tyler's unrequited first love. Tyler has never had the courage to confess to Ren his feelings, instead he talked to J.T. who, soon after, seduced Ren. Now Tyler doesn't know if being happy to have a proof that Ren is gay, or be unhappy to be forced once again to compete with his twin.

On the other hand, Ren is only waiting for Tyler to be old enough, and tired enough of the outside world, to be ready to settle down in their ranches. Ren is the older brother of three, but his two brothers have no intention to stay at the ranch. So Ren is ready and willing to build a family, and Tyler was always is first choice when arriving to a life partner. His relationship with J.T. was only a fling, and something that tired him soon after the first encounter.

Ren has some personality issues, a legacy from his military service during war time, and he needs to be in control in every moment. On the other hand, Tyler needs to let the control sometime, since he is always the reliable twin, the one who everyone expected to take the right decision. In this way, Ren and Tyler are perfect together, being Ren always the top in their relationship, and Tyler the willing bottom.

So no problem in their relationship and no problem also outside their relationship: Tyler's father behaves like a old fashioned father, means that he only asks Ren's intentions toward his son, and he is more than happy when he is assured that they are honest; Ren's brothers are only waiting for their brother to find a partner in order to be able to move out of the ranch without worrying to leave their brother alone... Sure, there is no the time, or the chance, to see the behavior of who is not a strict relative, other than one of Tyler's friend, but the atmosphere of all the book is of a total acceptance of Ren and Tyler's love.

Setting and details are very accurate, with few right positioned words, T.A. Chase gives the reader all the necessary details to be deeply immerse in the rodeo and breeding horse culture.

http://www.samhainpublishing.com/romance/bound-by-love

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle


Cover Art by Anne Cain

Bax and Jason are buddy bull riders in the professional rodeo circuit. Bax is probably at the end of his career, since he has a bad knee that sooner or later will let him home, and instead Jason is the man of the moment, the winner of the day. In their private life, Bax and Jason have built a family of their own, Bax adopted Jason's mum, and Jason considers Bax almost a brother... or maybe something more. But day after day no one has the courage to make that step more into their relationship.

Then Jason is badly injured and now he is blind. Obviously for him is the end of the world; he can't suffer to not being independent, he doesn't want to be a weight on his mum's shoulder. But Bax is there for him, he drags Jason out from his misery, even when Bax himself is again injured at the knee and out of the circuit. With Coke and AJ, two of their best friends, Bax and Jason decide that, even if Jason is blind, he can still ride the bull and they train to reach the goal. Meanwhile their relationship finally deepens to a more personal level.

The story is not very long, 149 pages, and it's only a first book in a longer series. So Bax and Jason's personal story is only at its beginning, but it's a good beginning. The writing style is the same I had the chance to see in previous book of the same author, short sentences, flash of scenes, short chapters, all of it gives the impression of fast paced rhythm. What instead is different is that Bax and Jason's relationship evolves almost in slow motion, they don't jump in bed at the first chance. More than half the book is spent to build the setting and to climate the reader with the two main characters and give right reasons for the two to being together: it's not only a question of sex, Bax and Jason have a the real thing and so it's right that they don't rush all.

The small country town feelings and the rodeo circuit life are described with little details (the morning breakfast, the daily chores, the dogs) that help the reader to understand a life maybe very different from its own; thinking on it, almost all the book is spent in a kitchen or around, that is strange, since usually the main room in a gay erotic romance is the bedroom.

http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1197

Amazon Kindle: Roughstock:Blindride Season 1

Amazon: Roughstock: Blind Ride - Season One

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle

Kenny is a were fox in an Old Far West town at the end of the nineteen century. He works as a clerk in a bank and the owner of the bank is a thief. He has simulated several fake robberies to steal the money of the town people and when he realizes that he could be discovered, he frames Kenny.

Now Kenny is on the run and the only place he feels safe is a cave complex near his hometown. He knows well the place since he was used to play there with Nigel, his childhood best friend. The same Nigel he later realized was his first love, only that Kenny moved to another town when he was too young to consciously be in love.

Nigel is now the town sheriff and when he is asking to hunt his old best friend Kenny, he is in trouble. He can't believe that Kenny is guilty, since he remembers the man as one with a spotless reputation and he deeply honesty core. And then, he has also personal reason to not want Kenny being a thief, since he has always had special feelings for the guy.

The story is really short, 50 pages, and it has a lot of elements on the fire: the historical setting, the issue of the same sex relationship in a unwelcoming society, and the shifter nature of Kenny. All these elements are dealt in a good way: there are enough historical details to build the setting but not so much to make you cringe on the inconsistency.

The homosexual relationship is not lived in the open, and once a time, not all the people around them cheer to their love; even Mariah, Nigel's sister, for how much she loves her brother and likes Kenny, can't be totally accepting of their love; she can try to understand, but she is not immediately open to the possibility.

Last the shifter nature: Shayne Carmichael chose to build a setting in which the paranormal nature of Kenny is only a possible physical characteristic; shifters are a breed as white men or Native Americans, they have their tribes but live among humans in a peacefully cohabitation. Free of the boundaries of the paranormal, the author prefers to give relevance for the reader to another aspect of a relationship between a human and a shifter: the shifter is half-beast, and as an animal, he needs his time in "natural" form. And when Kenny is in fox form, he behaves as a fox: the scenes in which Kenny wanders around as a fox, could be a little hard to digest, since he is almost a puppy, and Nigel treats him like a lap dog... but probably it's the only way in which you can deal with this type of relationship: no hint of sex, on the contrary, give to Kenny an almost asexual behavior to be as far as possible to temptation.

http://www.king-cart.com/Phaze/product=Unjustly+Accused/exact_match=exact

Amazon Kindle: Unjustly Accused

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle

The Chap In Chaps by Deirdre O'Dare

At the beginning of the twenty century, Charles, a classical Englishman, inherited a ranch in Arizona. He is glad of the distraction, since his "gentle" friendship with another man in England is not ended in a good way, and he wants something new. Maybe also a new man... maybe a commanding one, what his noble friend was not.

When Charles arrives in Arizona, he understood since the first moment that the real boss at the ranch is Sombra, an handsome and dark man, with a lot of secrets and hidden layers. Sombra is not a rough and simple cowboy, he is right the man Charles is searching, and lucky him, Sombra is more than happy to give to Charles what he needs.

The story is very very short, 40 pages. It's always strange to read an historical so short, since I'm always expecting for it to be longer, to have enough space to describe the setting, to give the details I need to immerse myself in a different era. Here there is very little, some hints to the fact that in England Charles needed to be discreet with his sexual preferences, another hint about a scandal in Sombra's past life... but other than that, there is very few to make this an historical romance.

The same thing that left me perplexed about the book, probably is also the thing that make it right. Without giving too much details, the book also doesn't make mistakes, and so you can read a romance setting in another era without cringing for the historical mistakes.

As for the story, it's quite simple: the two men meet, they like each other, they have matching needs, and so no problem with their romance. This is a fast and enjoyable reading, smooth and simple.

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

Amazon Kindle: The Chap In Chaps

Amazon: Daring Desires

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle

Another story where the romance happens between two very normal men, not at all heroes. Tate is an old cowboy, how much old we don't know, but between 30 and 50 years old, and since 30 years old is too much young to feeling old and having problem in recover after sex, I'm inclined to believe that he is more near 40 years old. He lives alone in an old decayed ranch he struggles to save from taxes and he judges himself decrepit like the ranch.

Dave is a young army man, probably mid-twenty or so. He is stationed in a base near Tate's ranch and meets him in the only pub around. At first Dave helps a drunken Tate to go back home without accidents and he has no second ends, but when he meets him again, he starts to have some naughty thoughts on the man. Only that Tate, even if friendly and always up to a mutual jerking, is a bit reticent to move the things on. Tate is very self-conscious both of the age difference, than of the different upbring; Tate is of the old way, he is not used to be touchy feeling with strangers, and for him Dave, who is not from the surrounding, is a stranger. And then maybe Tate has never had the chance to near a man for enough time to deepen the acquaintance.

Anyway the story between them, even if progresses slowly, it's fated to be steady and strong. So strong that, when Dave begins to have problem at the base, is even too simple to link it to the infringement of the "don't ask don't tell" policy.

The story is medium lenght, 128 pages, but it's quite good, even if sometime I feel like missing something; it's built of fast scene, not linked between them, and sometime not reading what happens between two scene let me with the feel that I'd like to know. For example, for Dave is starting to be a problem not move their relationship in a more intimate phase, and when finally Tate agrees to it, the scene ends letting me hanging on... and when starts again Tate is shopping for grocery!

All right, now I'm a little too picky since I also thinks that the story has a right lenght, just good to be read in a night without straining. Even more since it is expected a sequel at the beginning of the 2009.

http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1573

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle

Who said that an hero should always be perfect, self-confident and infallible? Real life is not in this way, and in this book both heroes fail, in a way or in another.

Chance is a photographer; he always felt the itch to moving in the past, and for that itch he left behind Kit, his lover. From the same small town, practically grown together, despite their love Chance chose to leave to discover the world and Kit to remain, to farm the land and build something solid for the future. But they don't lose their love, and Chance writes a letter every month to Kit, always asking him to visit, always knowing that Kit will not come.

But this time Kit arrives to his front door. He is a broken man, and he is searching the warm embrace of his lover. He has lost his ranch and home to the bank, and he has nothing if not the love for Chance. He is not begging for money, he only wants to feel good again, and this means be with Chance. The tables are turning, Kit who was the steady and firm part of the couple, is now the one in need of help, and Chance is more than happy to give it. But it's not yet time for them to be happy...

I like this little story, less than 40 story. It's tender and sexy, but it's above all real. Kit and Chance are two men who can be great together but that, at the same time, risk to be apart forever. There is not declaration of eternal love, there is not bitter feeling for one who went away, there are only two men who know each other and who know when to catch and when to let go. They are both very proud and very stubborn, but the love is stronger.

http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&manufacturers_id=10&products_id=1499

Amazon Kindle: Worth the Work

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle

Caleb is the last of the Hawkins brothers to be still a demon. The Hawkins are not really siblings, they found each other and called themself brothers since all three of them were shapeshifter demons, even if of different breed. And in fact Caleb is the less "devilish" of all of them, and when he is in demon form he is not as much different, only his features change. Due to his nature Caleb needs to hunt living prey, usually wild animals, and his sexual urges are very strong. Usually he has no problem to find a willing woman to satisfy them, but one night a unexpected event prevent him to finalize his hunt; Jake, one of the dearest friend of his sister-in-law Risa, is in trouble: six years before he lost his beloved wife and he is still grieving; in this night all he wants i to reach his wife... Caleb can't let him alone, and he spends the night with him, looking after the sleeping man. This cemented a friendship between the two men and the morning after Caleb offers a job as foreman to Jake. Having the man around on the ranch serves only to Caleb to take more and more notice of him, not like a friend but as something more. The problem is that nor Caleb or Jake has never imagined possible to desire another man, and they are moving on a shifting territory. Plus Jake is still mourning his lost wife.

The story is very very long, almost 350 pages, and has a lot of sex scenes among with an interesting plot, with some unexpected turns. It's true that there is a lot of sex, but it's not the only reason of the story, the sex is well balanced in the story.

Caleb and Jake's relationship is very intense, and both men approach it at the same way: they are not gay, they are not realizing something of them that it was always there ready to be unveiled, they only happen to fall in love with another human being, and the fact that the other is a man is only a details. Moving in an unknowing territory, it's only natural that at first they are not at all comfortable with the idea, but I like their approach. I like also Caleb's way to deal with the memory of Jake's lost wife, even if maybe, he reacts in that way since he doesn't judge himself worthy of the full love of Jake: if Jake retains something of him in their relationship, Caleb is feeling a little less guilty for him, a demon with a dark past, to love a good man like Jake.

I also felt a bit sad for Gabriel (I don't want to say more to not give up the story); I'd be glad if Cameron Dane would take in consideration the idea of writing also his story.

http://www.loose-id.net/detail.aspx?ID=789
 
Series: Hawkins Ranch
1) Demon Moon
2) Falling: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/216740.html
3) ReneCade
4) Knowing Caleb

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle


Cover Art by April Martinez

First of all let me say that I like this book, is not what I was expecting but I like it.

It's an historical and this was not so clear reading the blurb. It's setting more or less at the end of the nineteen century, when Native Americans where pushed in reserves to let space to the settlers. Lee is a cowboy without a place: he likes men and he made the huge mistake to be discovered with another man; he lost his work and he was lucky to not lose his life. He wanders till he finds a nice place to set for the summer, a mountain plain near a lake. The very first day he also meets Tatanka, a Dakota who left his tribe for the same reason: Tatanka is a two spirits, he likes men. For the custom of his tribe he has two choice: being a warrior and marry a woman, or choosing to be a two spirits, and maybe being the second or third wife of a warrior; but if he chooses this second option, he will have to behave like a woman, dress as a woman and do the things of women. Tatanka is not a woman, he wants to be a man with a man, and so he chose to be alone, until he meets Lee.

They are happy during their summer, but with winter they need to make a choice. They first try to live with Tatanka's tribe, then in an English settlement: everytime they are men walking in two worlds, they never find the right place to live, where they can really stay together and love each other.

I like this book since probably for the first time I read both point of view of the two cultures. Usually the white man who was rejected from the civilized world, is embraced by the Native Americans who welcome him as a Two Spirits, a good sign for the village. But we never know how his life could be in that village. The theory of Walking in Two Worlds is more or less than in every world there is the right and the wrong, in every world Lee and Tatanka could live more or less without problem, but in neither world thay could be really what they are. In a world with structure and custom, they need to follow the rules settled before them, they need to respect others belief. If they are not ready to do so, they need to build their own world.

I like Tatanka, even if he is probably like the good savage our culture would like to find: a man with a strong culture, but with an open mind ready to listen to and accept other cultures; he is clever, but he is not a man of much word. He is more ready than Lee to follow his nature and his feelings, but he is also very cautious, and maybe a bit too bound to traditions. Lee maybe is more careless, but he is capable of great love; he is generous and friendly, maybe even a bit too much... he loves Tatanka, but he is not blind and he "sees" the other men.

All in all I believe that this is a very good western historical romance, don't know if it's historically accurate, but in the romance side it don't lack anything.

http://www.aspenmountainpress.com/new-releases/walking-in-two-worlds/prod_153.html

Amazon Kindle: Walking in Two Worlds

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle


Cover Art by Amanda Kelsey

Last time I read a short cowboy story (this afternoon actaully...) I congratulated with the author to have written an erotic story with a plot, even if the sex was more than the plot... fate wanted that the next one I read was exactly the contrary, a story with almost no sex, and if you don't consider a blow job like "real" sex, then you can say that this story has no sex, and if instead you consider it, take in account that, in 60 pages lenght, you will find it at the very end. But, strange to say, you didn't miss it, since the exchange between the two male characters is funny and sparkling, and you would be happy to read it even if they didn't jump in bed at first occasion.

Rebel is a true Texan: he manages a shelter for mistreated horses and in his position, he needs to deal with donors and paperworks, but really it's not his thing. He prefers the manual work and the outdoor life. So it's really bad luck when the first day in months he takes off, he is dumped by his horse in the middle of nowhere with a fractured ankle. His savior is Kai, the man who is just arriving to the ranch to help him with the managing details of his work.

Kai is young, friendly, funny and a freak for order and organization. If not for the chemistry between them, the cohabitation would be unbearable. And instead Kai and Rebel go along pretty well and since the first moment they know, and the reader as well, that they will finish together... so enjoy the ride!

The story is not so short, 60 pages, but actually it "spans" short: it describes only 1 day and half in the life of Rebel, and the most interesting thing is Rebel's tale of how he decided to found the shelter, the story of Spirit, the Palomino for with the ranch became a Sanctuary. Second it comes Kai, with his joviality and open behavior, and above all, his sketch with the bathroom bottles...

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

Amazon Kindle: Spirit Sanctuary

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle

This short story, less than 50 pages, is quite interesting since it mixes some very good sex scenes with a quite interesting plot. Actually the erotic part has a lion share on the story, but sometime this is not a bad thing.

Cam "The Professor" Chester, is a former bull-rider, now pick-up man in the rodeo circuit by day and country song-writer by night. He is gay and out, and this leads to him a bit of trouble here and there. Cam is not a simple man, he is a lonesome rider type, he likes his life like it is; from a rather poor childhood, he manages to build a comfortable life and he wants to keep it like that. Than he meets Wyatt Knott, young bull-rider and gay in the closet. Between them there is no misunderstanding, Wyatt likes men, and he likes Cam even better; he also like the slight domineering behavior of the man. But Wyatt is not ready, or willing, to come out.

As I said there is a lot of sex in the story, sometime maybe a little too much, like when Cam "came" two time in a row soon after being banged in the head... but well, I suppose this is principally an erotic story, and then if there is a plot, it's better. And in this case there is a plot, and the two main characters are also enough developed, as much as you can in a short story. I like the playful behavior of Wyatt, and also the fact that all seems to slide on him, he never takes offense, he is always ready to play... like a puppy, if you think, and you can't not like a puppy. Cam is more the brooding type, but all in all, he is not a bad guy, and also him can't resist in front of the disarming behavior of Wyatt.

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

Waiting Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=waiting reading list&view=elisa.rolle

I haven't read the other seven books in the Cave Creek Cowboys series, and so maybe, I'm at loss of information on the main character, Spence. For what I understand, Spence is a wasp boy who instead of using alcohol and drugs to loose himself, chose sex. But apparently not even pure sex is safe enough (pun not intended) and one of his last adventures ended pretty badly. So Spence decided to change his life, to become a "chaste" man and also to finally start a work, even if he doesn't need money to live. But for him being chaste, doesn't mean give up to sex, it means only that from this moment on, he would limited himself to male partner: he can renounce to women, but he can't give up to men. And when he sees Paul, he thinks to have found the man with whom starting something real and lasting. Too bad that he is the brother of one of the last women he has slept with, and that that woman is now pregnant and that the father is... guess who?

In less than 50 pages Brit Blaise packs a lot, and so it's not strange that I feel like the second part of the story a bit rushed. The first encounter between Spence and Paul is sexy and funny, maybe a bit unbelievable due to the marathon of sex, but well, Spence was chaste for a bit and so maybe he needs to recuperate the lost time. But then, when Paul's sister, Lupe, enters the scene, I feel to detached and rushed both Spence than Paul's reaction. The plot is good, I like the idea, but I would like it better if I had the time to enjoy all the event... this is not a story of only 50 pages.

So I hope to have the chance to read more by this author in the future, and for more I mean a longer book, since I believe that she has good idea that deserve much time.

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

Series: Cave Creek Cowboys:
1) Cave Creek Cowboy
2) Another Cave Creek Cowboy
3) Cave Creek Cowboy in Vegas
4) Cave Creek Cowboy Too Many Brides
5) Cave Creek Cowboy Christmas
6) Cave Creek Cowboy Kama
7) Cave Creek Cowboy Menage
8) Cave Creek Cowboy Total Top

Waiting Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=waiting reading list&view=elisa.rolle

In the Old West, Leon is a outlaw, but not one of importance; where the big outlaws have rewards on them of 10 thousand dollar, Leon is worthy more or less 500 dollars. Nevertheless when Thomas, a bounty hunter, sees him on a train leading in California, he decides to kill two birds with one stone and take Leon to the marshall while he is searching another more dangerous criminal.

It's not the first time that Leon and Thomas meet; usually Leon travelled with a partner, a younger man who was both criminal fellow than sexual partner. But where Leon has to admit that he prefers male companionship, Kenneth, is partner, fell in love for a woman and Leon realized that he has no more a place beside him. When Thomas saw Leon for the first time, he was giving a blow job to Kenneth in an alley. So Thomas knows what are Leon preferences, and they are the same as him. Once he catches the man, without too much trouble, he decides to "play" with his captive, above all since the captive is not so against the idea. On their way to the city, and the marshall waiting for Leon, Thomas takes advantage of Leon everytime he can, and Leon sometime even stirs up trouble to be "punished" by the man.

It's obvious that Leon is a small criminal, a man most of words and lively will, than a real danger for the society. I don't know if men like him really existed in the Old West, but he is nice to read and steals the sympathy of the reader. Instead at first I was not fond of Thomas: he behaves in a very selfish way with Leon, but he is also a smooth talking man, and so he is safe from appear a really bastard. But then, luckily for him, he changes his attitude and becomes almost a nice man, full of attention and tender caring for Leon.

I like the idea of the criminal and the bounty hunter who fall in love, one of my favorite romances of all the time was Satan's Angel by Candace Camp, where a criminal falls in love for an innocent girl and drags her from brothels to saloon to the desert, but I doubt that the story is historically accurate, above all since the two men indulge in some sexual activities that I believe in that times were not so common, and also quite unpractical without the right equipment.

But if you decide to close an eye on the historical details and enjoy the characters, I think you will like Leon as much as I liked him, and the story is the right lenght, 100 pages, to not leave you unsatisfied.

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

Amazon Kindle: Stealing West

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle

Kris Killborn is a wanna-be country singer who tries to make both ends meet working as hand in a dude ranch in Montana. He is not a bad man, but probably at 27 years old he needs to give up to his glory dreams and finds a real work.

Blake is a 24 years old med student from the East. Wealthy south family and gay he is just recovering from a nervous breakdown: his best friend and roommate Charlie dead in a car accident while they were arguing about their relationship; shattered by the sense of guilty, Blake tried to commit suicide. Now, months later, he and three of his friends, are taking the vacation that Charlie organized for them two years before, for the end of the college.

Kris knows that Blake is in a fragile emotional phase, but at first he doesn't care: Blake is cute and gentle, and it's an easy target for a summer fling. But more he is near the guy, more Kris feels his conscience arise: Blake is not a man he can seduce and leaving soon after. But a cowboy from Montana and a wasp boy from Biloxi can have a common path together?

As I said Kris is a good man, pretty simple and open; instead Blake is more shadowy, and maybe still young. But Blake is ready to move on, after his mourning period, and Kris is just there to help him.

Wild Horses is the sequel of Seven Year Ache, the story of Rafe and JT of the Lacy C, the same dude ranch where Kris works. Actually I have the previous book, but I didn't read it since I thought it was a menage M/M/F and instead, reading Wild Horses, I was intrigued by this couple, that in the second book sometime steals the scene to the main characters. Wild Horses is a real sequel, since the real plot is about Rafe, JT and Lilah, and Kris and Blake are almost an audience, which sidelong live its own little story.

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

Amazon Kindle: Wild Horses

Series:
1) Seven Year Ache
2) Wild Horses

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle

Physical Therapy (Cattle Valley 5) by Carol Lynne

With this one Carol Lynne manages to make me cry. Maybe in these days I'm particularly weak, maybe it's the hot night and they are not tears, but sweat drops... but well, while I'm writing this, my eyes are blurry and I continue to blow my nose...

Matt was an army paramedic in Iraq. He saw a lot of things that no one should see, not one time, but day after day. His only friend and support was his fellow army buddy Danny. Danny was wonderful, handsome and nice and straight. But being Danny straight didn't prevent Matt to fall in love with him. But Danny died, in the only day Matt was not with him, and obviously Matt is torn with guilty.

Now Matt is living in Cattle Valley, he is the town new physical therapist and he is living in the above garage apartment of the two town doctors and lovers, Isaac and Sam. Sam is 52 years old and a very quite man; he likes his works and likes his home; comfort and peace are radiating from him. Isaac is 47 years old and a bit of a bull; strong and always in motion, maybe he is too much for Sam. And here is the problem: Sam and Isaac are together since 25 years and Sam always wondered if he is enough a man for Isaac; not that he ever doubt Isaac's fidelity, but well, he has always tried to accomplish every desire of his man, even when it was against his mood or wish. And now here there is a 27 years old man, handsome and nice, and in dear need of help. Sam wants to help him, but at the same time he fears that, allowing Matt to enter their couple, he will lose Isaac.

Well, I hope that you understand that I didn't cry for Sam's dilemma, but for Matt's journey to be able to move on his war trauma and the lost of his friend. Carol Lynne pushes all the right bottoms of emotion, the same bottoms that make you cry even if you are aware that you are reading a book, and that all you are reading is only fiction, but still you cry since you unfortunately know that what you read is not only fiction, but it happened and maybe is still happening somewhere in the world.

And now, after my emotional breakdown, I also want to try to analyze another aspect of the book: why when I read of a threesome between two men and a woman I hardly like it, and when it involves three men it doesn't bother me? I'm fully aware that I have a prejudice, and I also believe that it's a feminist thing (please, male friends don't shoot me, here I'm admitting one of my weakness...): since in my culture, the woman gives birth and the woman is identified with family, when there is a woman in the threesome, it's obvious for me that she is the center of the threesome, and at least one of the two man, if not both, depending on her. So when there is love between the two men, I feel the woman like an intruder, since I'm always expecting that she will broke the male bond. In an all male threesome, without this strong female figure, they are all equals, and I think they can build something together without never arriving to a break up.

Returning to the book in question, obviously Matt is the main character. All the book turning around him and his trouble, but there is still enough space to appreciate also Sam and Isaac. Maybe Sam is better outlined, and also is reasons pro and against the threesome are clearer. I still need to understand better Isaac... there is a strong sexual need that lead him to Matt, maybe a need that Sam is not ready or willing to satisfy, but I hope that he also loves Matt. If not, Sam will be the link between them, even if physically he is weaker than the two, probably he is stronger in will. 

http://www.total-e-bound.com/product.asp?s=6k5owo321278&strParents=&CAT_ID=&P_ID=273

Out of the Shadow (Cattle Valley) by Carol Lynne

Resisting to temptation is not a sought virtue in Cattle Vally, the Montana fictional LGBT small town. And so this new installment in the ongoing soap opera is another story of a man who gives up to temptation. Shep is a former bull rider who left the rodeo circuit when the sixteen years old son of his best friend came to live with them. Young Jeremy was too much a temptation for the man, and a "providential" knee injury gave him the right excuse to open a bull breeding ranch in Cattle Vally. But one year before, Jeremy came to the ranch searching a work and Shep couldn't refuse him. Jeremy now is 22 years old and more than ripe to be pick.

Jeremy is looking to seduce Shep since he was 16 years old. Now that the man of his dreams seems open to his seduction, he will not stop in front of nothing to have his way with him.

As always love triumphs in this small town and the main characters have little problem to consummate their love as soon as the book began. In less than 110 pages, our heroes make love in bed, in the barn, in the kitchen, in the truck... I believe they didn't forget any available surface... But this is the quirk of this series, and the reason why it is so sought after: it's refreshing and enjoyable to read of a love between two people, when the gay issue is not an issue at all.

Usually Carol Lynne raises a social issue, without therefore being boring or pedantic. In this one there is not, if not maybe the age difference between Shep and Jeremy (even if it's not too much highlighted) and the generational jealousy between Jeremy and his father. But all in all, I think that with this one Carol Lynne takes a leave, and the real purpose is only entertaining.

http://www.total-e-bound.com/product.asp?s=sctdir513854&strParents=&CAT_ID=&P_ID=341

Amazon: Cattle Valley

Series: Cattle Valley
1-2) Cattle Valley 1: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/211609.html
3-4) Cattle Valley 2: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/285655.html
5-6) Cattle Valley 3

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle


Cover Art by Anne Cain


Cover Art by April Martinez

Ryan is a math teacher without a school. He was dismissed from his last work since there was a staff cut. After this, his lover since eight years dumped him cause they have incompatible aspirations: means that John, the ex, wants a more successful man as a lover and wants to move in a bigger city, and Ryan instead wants a family and remains near his native ranch.

Without a work and an home, he moves on that ranch: Clay, his brother, lives there with his family and he also engaged a ranch hand, Teo, a single father; him and Tony, his son, could be the family Ryan wants, and when he discovers that Teo is bisexual (even if monogamous), Ryan thinks to have found the perfect man. Teo is a solid and quite man, all work and family; he is gentle and caring, he works hard and loves harder. But he is also a man who pretends a lot from his lover and a stupid mistake by Ryan can ruin everything.

The book is pretty long and flows smoothly. There aren't many bitter surprises or sudden events, all the story is more on the characters than the plot. And the characters are simple men, earth men like the setting of the story: a ranch, a small town, family interiors.

Ryan is open and ready to love. He is not a man with great expectations, he only wants a good man beside him. He probably would be still with his former lover, even if he probably didn't love him so much, if not for the man who dumped him: Ryan likes the passion and the sex, but he values more a steady relationship and the comfort of a mate.

Teo is a good father. First of all he is a father. And he also values a lot friendship and honor. He likes Ryan, but he fears the man only wants a rebounding man, and Teo is not for casual relationship: he can afford it, with a son to raise, and he also doesn't have time to waste.

As I said the story is simple but good. It left me a sense of warm and comfort. It's not a fast-paced plot, it's more a slow and quite tale, probably like the ranch life it decipts. If you like this setting, you will like this story.

http://www.king-cart.com/cgi-bin/cart.cgi?store=linda018&cart_id=5480918.86665&product_name=Fortune's+Return&return_page=&user-id=&password=&exchange=&exact_match=exact

Waiting Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=waiting reading list&view=elisa.rolle


Cover Art by David Burton

This tale has an homey taste. Adam is returning home from Iraq after spending the last two years far from home. Probably when he signed in soon after high school, he really didn't understand what he would do and see. And reality was maybe too much for a now nearly twenty-one years old guy. Again at home he has lost all the link he had with his previous life, and the links he has made on army seem to disappear one at home: Tom, the man that has shared a secret love affair with him abroad, is now ready to marry and get pregnant his girlfriend.

Adam is hurt but he also doesn't have an idea of what he wants to do in the future. After some not so happy discussions with his father, he decides to go away for a season, helping an old family friend to renovate an hunting resort. Calvin is a lonely man, older than Adam (he is of Adam's father age) but still handsome. And for a man like Adam, without reasons in his life, helping and loving Calvin can be a nice way to spend the days. What they have to understand is if this will be only a seasonly thing or if Adam has fully recovered from his depression, and he is ready to start again with something completely new.

As I said I like the taste of this novel. It's totally peaceful, in fully contrast with the war that Adam has escaped. Also the love between Calvin and Adam is nice and quiet: it's not a sudden flame, but it's a everlasting fire, something that will always be there for Adam.

The author tell us the story of a man who looses everything and finds more than he lost.

http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1253

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading+list&view=elisa.rolle

First of all, for who likes me is not into horse racing and similar... FEI is the Fédération Équestre Internationale or in English, the International Federation for Equestrian Sports, is the international governing body of equestrian (horse) sports. Recognized competition disciplines include: dressage, combined driving, endurance riding, eventing, para-equestrianism, reining, show jumping, and vaulting.

For what I understand reading this book and also the Home series by T.A. Chase, dressage and show jumping is made with an English saddle (those little saddles used by men in tight white pants and high boots...) and reining is made with an American saddle (by men with leather chaps and cowboy hats). And it seems also that Dressage and Show Jumping competitions are held in the East Coast and instead Reining competitions are more a thing of West Coast and fair events.

The differences in the sport are turned and represented in the two main characters of this book. Andreas is a professional horseman, award winning in the Dressage discipline. He has spent all his life in the professional circuit, and also in Europe, and so the fact that he is gay seems not important, almost irrelevant. Rock instead is a former rodeo cowboy, a winner in the rodeo circuit but someone who needs to prove himself again in the FEI competitions. And he has had pretty bad experiences in the past when people knew of him being gay.

Two different men for life and experience, but equal in their desire to have someone with whom share the love for horses and the love for another man. In bed and alone from the world, Rock and Andreas go along well, they have a perfect harmony, but in the arena it's another matter. Rock needs to learn that even if controlled and cool, Andreas' discipline is not less difficult than his own, and Andreas needs to learn that control and coolness is good riding a dressage horse, but to ride a real cowboy, he needs to lose a bit.

There is a lot of sex in this book, but the author is very good in mingling it with a bit of information on the FEI world that arouses the reader's curiosity and gives importance to what happens outside the bedroom. I'd like also a little more of interaction with the other characters of the books (almost inexistent) like, for example, Charles and Derek, main character of Riding Partner, another book setting in the same universe I have still to read.

http://www.ellorascave.com/productpage.asp?ISBN=9781419915512

Series:
1) Riding Partner
2) Cowboy Up

Waiting Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=waiting reading list&view=elisa.rolle 

Sweet Topping (Cattle Valley) by Carol Lynne

Sometimes when Carol Lynne decides to talk about a delicate matter, she does it with so much details that, if not be for her ability to write romance, it could be almost like read a clinical papers. And instead reading this book, I was involved by the characters and not distracted by the details.

Kyle is the young baker of Cattle Valley. He is from a wealthy family but he has left his comfort life after a bad accident which has left him tetraplegic. Even if Gill has proved in every way his interest in Kyle, he is still reluctant to start a relationship with the man, cause he seems not to be able to have a normal sexual life and his day-to-day needs are so embarassing for him, he has no desire to share them with another man.

But Gill is very stubborn and he will not let go until he has not conviced Kyle to give him a chance.

Even if Kyle should be the protagonist of the story, and usually I have a soft spot for the bottom, I think that Gill steals a bit the scene this time. Gill is a big Afro American man, with a big heart, and he is very tender and caring. He is almost too good to be true.

Only one question remains in my mind... why the title, Sweet Topping? Maybe cause Gill is a sweet man?

http://www.total-e-bound.com/product.asp?s=azmzqw564695&strParents=&CAT_ID=&P_ID=222

Rough Ride (Cattle Valley 4) by Carol Lynne

Fourth episode in the Cattle Valley gay soap opera. Cattle Valley is the gay fantasyland for all the men searching a soul mate of the same sex (techinically also for women, but Carol voted herself to the manlove romance).

Since the first episode we meet Wyn, the high-maintenance store owner who is just out of an abusive relationship with the former minister of Cattle Valley. Wyn is a little skittish, being a small man; and he is not a young stud, he borders to forty or even a little more. And since the first episode we know that something is going on with Ezra, the big ranch owner. Ezra is almost a giant, 6 feet and 11 inches tall with a unkept bears that makes him the best next thing to a real bear. No one would think that Wyn and Ezra could be a couple, but the two of them seem unable to stay far from the other and when they are near to each other, they seem unable to not argue.

But when Wyn needs to go back home, in his omophobic home town, and the welcome home kid party is not a good one, Ezra like a knight in shining armour, comes to rescue. From this moment on, Wyn and Ezra are a steady couple, but back in Cattle Valley not all the townfolks are happy of this new development.

This episode is a nice one. Not too much drama, two nice characters and a little sexy story. You know from the start that Ezra and Wyn will be a couple, we were waiting three books for this to happen, and so we are ready to be plunged into the real story without much notice.

As always we have also the chance to know the future characters in the series: Matt and the doctors, Richard, also an Olynpic Gold Medal and probably Smokey and Neil. In the past we met also the chef of the only restaurant of Cattle Valley, but in this episode he doesn't make an appereance. So who will be the next? the soap opera continues...

http://www.total-e-bound.com/product.asp?s=azmzqw564695&strParents=&CAT_ID=&P_ID=250

Amazon: Cattle Valley (volume 2)

Series: Cattle Valley
1-2) Cattle Valley 1: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/211609.html
3-4) Cattle Valley 2

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle




Cover Art by Anne Cain

Blue is the son of a wealthy cattle baron in Wyoming. Probably young (the author doesn't give us an age) he has a fling with a wandering cowboy, Jack. Since Blue is not yet ready to come out with friends and family, Jack decides to hit again the ground and joining the rodeo circuit. A year later, Blue is out with his family, but obviously they haven't took the news very well and now Jack is back in town, but he will remain only if Blue is giving him something more than a fling.

The story is very short, less than 25 pages, and in this few pages I can't really have an idea of Blue and Jack. But I like the setting, a small country town, and also the idea of Jack's character, this old-lived cowboy who falls for the good boy Blue.

Sincerely I'd like to read a bit more, I feel this one like a lost chance to have a very good book. But if you search for a fast and nice break, this one is a good one.

http://www.loveyoudivine.com/

Waiting Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=waiting+reading+list&view=elisa.rolle