This is actually a book that won me over in time and not from the first pages as usually a book does. I'm very much the reader that, if at page 5 is not yet taken by the book, goes back to the blurb to see if I missed something, than read the last page, maybe the before the last page (I know, I know, shoot me on the place!) and then, if nothing else happens, I close it and open another one. No friends, I'm not such a martyr to finish a book I don't like, and so I don't post of book I don't like at all.

Said that, Stand and Deliver arrived to me with a big handicap, it's a menages a trois. Usually I don't read them, but this was an all male menages and plus it was an historical romance, so, well, I decided to give it a try. Another handicap was the starting point of the story, a young earl kidnapped by two highwaymen who becomes their private sex toy... well, a part from the "highwayman" factor, it didn't seem an accurate historical romance, and I have my idea: or you are perfect in what you write, full details and all, or you are at the opposite, the historical setting is barely there, and you instead focus on the characters. Scarlet Blackwell chose the second way.

Lucien is a young earl indeed, comes to his wealth maybe too soon. At nearly 30 years old, he spent all his life doing nothing, and now he is obviously bored. When his coach is cut off by four masked men, Lucien should be scared, and instead he is bored. He doesn't need the money he has with him, he could be very well give them to the men and being happy and alive, but he instead decides to not "stand and deliver". He dares one of the two leaders of the group and obviously he looses the challenge, managing only to see in face the other man. The same man who now forbids to his fellow highwayman to kill Lucien and instead kidnaps him.

Ambrosius is the man who saves Lucien and instead Dante is the one who would have preferred to kill him. They have a strange relationship, a man linked them, Sebastian, Ambrosius' lover and Dante's best friend, and now that he is died, the two men seem to find in each other comfort. But Dante is full of rage, and he thinks all the wealthy men he robs are the enemy, and instead Ambrosius is more the mourning type. With them there are also Robert and August, two lovers who play the role of silent best friends, usually characters that are not fated to last in the story, but don't worry this is not the case. All four of them live in a cottage in the forest, and no, it's not a retelling of Robin Hood, they don't rob the richer to give to the poorer, from what I gathered that is simply another job for them.

The main focus of the story it's not the "strange" career chosen by Ambrosius or Dante, or the tiredness of life that distresses Lucien, it's instead the play of domino among the three men (and even a bit with Robert and August, even if this couple remain exclusive). Lucien thinks to be in love with Ambrosius, but lusts after Dante. Lucien believes Ambrosius and Dante to be in love, and so he would not be against the idea to be third in the menages, if only for the chance to be with Ambrosius. Dante wants first to kill then to bed Lucien, but at the same time he behaves like he is trying to please Ambrosius, like if he is gifting him with a new toy to distract the man from the pain of losing his former lover. In all of this Ambrosius is the perfect mourning romance hero, with an aurea of sadness and imploring eyes, always trying to "say" something to Lucien, but actually never saying.

That's, the play between the three it was what kept me reading. Oh yes, there is sex, a lot of sex, even a threesome, and it was probably good, but the sex wasn't the main event in the story. The sex was always a tool, to persuade, to comfort, or to barter, and it was always used in the right way. The sex was not free and in this way it was right.

I usually don't like when the sex is too much in comparison of the story, and I'm true, I wasn't expecting for Stand and Deliver to balance it as good as it did. Lucien is for sure the better character, above all since he didn't change: he was and is and will be always a bored son of the aristocracy who has found a new toy; Dante and Ambrosius can believe that Lucien is their captive, but Lucien and the reader know better.

http://www.total-e-bound.com/product.asp?strParents=&CAT_ID=&P_ID=581

The Rainbow Awards: Phase 2: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/823682.html

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

When I first took up this book I was really curious since it was the first time I heard of shapeshifter horses. Yes, yes, it's even too easy to make a naughty joke, and the author knows well, since she did it too.

Oliver Philip meets Bayard Stoddard for a job as safety consultant in the man's horse ranch. First time Oliver lays his eyes on Bayard, the man is lost: Oliver doesn't know if Bayard is gay, but Oliver definitely would like to find out. And when he learns that there is also a twin, Marshall, it's like a forbidden fantasy comes true, two big and strong men to sandwich him. But the second brother, Marshall, is not there and so Oliver limits his daydreaming to the one in front of him Bayard. The meeting goes well and Oliver is on his way home with a possible contract and a lot of fantasies to re-use at the right moment. He has not found if Bayard is gay, but the man was friendly and open to possibilities.

On his way back, Oliver finds a big horse, just like the ones Bayard showed him in his ranch, shackled at a tree along the road. The horse is evidently suffering and Oliver can't help to free him... but as soon as the horse is free, it turns in a very naked man, much like the one he just left... Oliver has found Bayard's brother, Marshall.

From this moment on, I had the feeling that the story rushed a bit. Oliver takes an unconscious Marshall home to Bayard, and Bayard asks Oliver to spend the night... all right I'm not against good sex, and good sex was, but what are Bayard's reasons? Oliver's ones are quite clear, he didn't hide them. During his encounter with Bayard, Marshall wakes up and claims that Oliver is his own. Bayard at first doesn't want to share, and allows Marshall only to witness to their encounter... first, it would be kind to really ask Oliver, and not to make him in front of an impossible decision, when sex is obtruding his mind. Second, it's not nice towards Marshall to let him near the candy but don't give it to him (like an horse with a carrott, pun very much intended).

Bayard probably realizes that he didn't behave good nor with Marshall than Oliver, and now he is willing to share... and I think he again behaves with few delicacy. Lucky for him, Oliver has his secret fantasy of being with two men, and so he is willing to please both men, but this part of the book arrives at the very end. Again I think, like the shapeshifter horses' idea, that it has possibilities, and was a bit sad to see it happens so late in the story. Of my same idea was probably also the author, since the second book in the story will focus again on the same threesome.

Even if Bayard and Marshall are twin, they are very much different in behavior; Bayard is a very authoritative man, and he proves this side of him in the way he behaves with both Oliver than Marshall. He is not a bad man, during sex he is gentle and caring, but I have the feeling that he is the boss and he is not used to be denied. Marshall is more an happy-to-go guy, used to the freedom to roam the fields without worries, since there is his older brother (of five minutes) to take care of everything else. In this perspective, I'm more lean to forget Bayard's initial possessive streak, it's a bit like when an older brother is asked to give his toys to his brother since he is little... but who is thinking to the big one? And then there is Oliver: from every side you look, Oliver is a classical bottom, he loves to be led and ordered around, and so, again, maybe Bayard's domineering attitude is exactly what Oliver wants.

http://www.changelingpress.com/product.php?&upt=book&ubid=817

Reading List:

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

Officially this is the last in the Action! series, and so it should be also the last about Mark Ritchfield, but, as all the books in this series, it closes a story but it's open to be further developed if the author will like it.

As expected from a closing book in a series, it's almost a get together books, with all the characters from the previous books that make an cameo appearance. Plus there are some secondary characters, most of them from the new Heroes series, that as planned was to be started in parallel to the Action! series, and that instead saw its first book just coming out this week from Phaze Books, and also Danny and Donny, identical twins that will be the main characters in Double Trouble, coming soon. So maybe the reader is a little overwhelmed, but in the end, the main reaction I had was to have more than a passing interest in these new characters, and will look forward for their books, above all for the twins.

Dripping Hot takes up from where the previous book ended: Mark is coping with the novelty to have a son, and above all a 19 years old son, who has no intention to be treated like a child. And for a man like Mark, who is all sweetness and paranoia, it's not simple to let his young bird fly away from the cage (no pun intended). Plus Alex has emotional issues for his own, maybe not so deep and rooted like his father, but still he is not a balanced young man you can trust. The lucky of these two wrecked men is to have found partners who compensate their lack, Steve and Oliver.

Mark is facing the middle age; it's not yet there, he is 38 turning 39 years old, but for a man that has always heard about his beauty, it's hard to let that beauty go. Plus, Mark has the complex of who is too beautiful: he doesn't think to be something more than an image. He is like one of those female models married to a good man who start to wonder if their husbands are cheating on them, not since they have some proof, but since they can't stand their image on the mirror, and on the other hand, think that even their men think the same. Most of the people, male or female, who think like that, end to be sour and nasty, but Mark has no bad bone on him, and most of the time, this attitude only does bad only to himself. He is always ready to self-blame if something is wrong, even when it's not his fault.

For a man as faulty as Mark, pairing him with a perfect one would be dangerous. And so it's only right that Steve is not a perfect man. He is without doubt a little more balanced and steady of Mark, but he is not perfect. He has an average courage, more when the danger is real and recognizable than when it regards his feelings. Look at how he deals with his parents, trying to dely the confrontation: a perfect man would have faced them as soon as possible, above all when he decided to marry Mark. And instead Steve decides to ignore the issue, hoping that it will magically disappear.

Then there is Alex. He is now happy living with Mark and Steve, who wouldn't be? he has everything he wants, without fighting to much, and it's only natural that he wants more. Even if he has a good boyfriend in Oliver, Angel Loveday's son, he wants more. He wants to be the centre of everyone love, being them parents, relatives or totally strangers. Alex's issue is with older men, he is almost obsessed; it's not difficult to read in that a reaction to the lack of a father figure during his childhood: missing the love of a father, he now is searching to gain it using sex.

And in the end there is Oliver. Of all the men above, he is probably the best of all; he is steady, good, well-thought, self-confident. Oliver is the boy every mother or father will choose for their son / daughter. He doesn't talk much, but when he does that, it's with wise and knowledge. For what I said before, that being Mark so faulty he needs a not perfect man, I don't know if Oliver is the right man for Alex, I believe that in the pair, it's Oliver who is losing something. But being him so good, and being Alex so young, they can work out the problem together, Oliver is not yet a full man, and he can learn to be a little less perfect; and Alex is not yet a total wreck like his father.

All in all, if the author will decide to end here this series, I will miss Mark. But maybe she can consider to continue it following Alex's evolution from boy to man.

http://www.lindenbayromance.com/product-drippinghot-7343-145.html

Series:
1) The Physician and the Actor: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/154682.html
2) For Love and Money: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/101976.html
3) Secrets and Misdemeanors: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/180102.html
4) Capital Games: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/210160.html
5) Love You, Loveday: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/288895.html
6) When Adam met Jack: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/300519.html
7) Mark Antonious deMontford: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/463899.html
8) Acting Naughty (Action! 1): http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/493312.html
9) Playing Dirty (Action! 2): http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/520179.html
10) Getting It in the End (Action! 3): http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/656487.html
11) Behaving Badly (Action! 4): http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/700268.html
12) Dripping Hot (Action! 5)

Reading List:

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

Gone Surfin' (Cattle Valley 9) by Carol Lynne

In the past books on the Catlle Valley gay soap opera it seemed that everyone found love in this Wyoming small town. But there is one man that has found love elsewhere, and it's just the first citizen, the major of Cattle Valley. During his last winter holiday, Quade fell in love for Kai, a younger professional surfer; their relationship was doomed, 12 years of age difference and thousand of mile of distance divided the two lovers, but that seems not important for their heart. After 10 months Quade is still pining for Kai, and Kai decides to surprise his lover; he arrives in Cattle Valley during one of the worst snow storm ever: not exactly the right impression for Kai to have of the city Quade loves so much. Kai is all in all a tropical flower and to force him to live in Wyoming is like killing his joy.

I like how Carol Lynne built Kai's character: he is young and naivee, all in all the innocent young man you will expect from someone who has always lived day per day in a free style manner. Kai has never really had much trouble in his life, he is content with the few he has and he doesn't wish for more, at least not now. But he is not selfish, he would be ready to turn upside down his life for the love of Quade. Problem is that it's quite obvious that where Quade probably would be able to live everywhere, it's not the same for Kai.

As I already noticed in the previous books, there is an high and down pacing in this series: some books are very moving, almost dramatic, some others are nice and quiet, without too much angst. This one belongs to the second type: Quade and Kai are already in love when the book starts, so there is no play of take and let it go between them, and the reader knows that they have only to find a way to shorten the distance between them (and not only the physical one). The big question is: will Quade leave the winter paradise of Cattle Valley, or will Kai discover that he can be a surfer also in Cattle Valley, maybe with a board on the snow instead that on the sea?

http://www.total-e-bound.com/product.asp?strParents=&CAT_ID=&P_ID=407

The Last Bouquet (Cattle Valley 10) by Carol Lynne

What I started to call probably after the third or fourth episode, the Gay Soap Opera is arrived to its tenth installment. Even if from the blurb it could seem that this was only the story of Hearn and Tyler, it's instead also the story of Nate and his double-the-love partners Rio and Ryan.

One of the thing that I like of this soap opera, and probably the reason why a lot of people continue to buy book after book, is that the author introduces her characters little by little, giving some hints on their story in the book of other couples, to then devote an entire book only to them. In this way, no one of the characters is really dropped after you finish a book, since you continue to find them wandering around the city, Cattle Valley, an utopia city for LGBT people, and maybe come back on the front line like for Nate in this last book.

In one of the previous book we read how Hearn lost his lover Mitch in a car accident that involved also Tyler, his best friend. In following books, we learn how Mitch wasn't exactly a saint, cheating behind Hearn's shoulder, but Hearn continues to mourn his lost lover. People could think that he is destroyed by the pain, and instead he is eating alive by remorse. Hearn didn't love Mitch when he died, and hadn't had for years. Mitch treated him like a lesser man, always putting him down. Hearn had started to have feelings for Tyler and when Mitch died after a bitter confrontation over Tyler, Hearn thought he didn't deserve the love of a good man like Tyler.

Tyler, the florist of Cattle Valley, is a tiny and shy man who can't stand violence. From an abusive family, Tyler needs the peace and quiet that his work as florist allows him to have. He is bringing a torch for Hearn for years, but he has not the courage to confess it. But they live in a small town, and their friend intervene, someone needs to tell to Hearn how Mitch really was. Obviously there is an happy ending for Tyler and Hearn and this is something I like in this series: the author usually didn't spend all her time in letting us read the trouble two men as to face to getting together to end the book when they finally get together. Usually the odds of their relationship are surpassed quite soon, and the reader have plenty to read about their happiness together.

Then maybe Carol Lynne picks up those same characters again later for another story, like Nate Gills. Nate, Ryan and Rio were the first threesome to introduce the new series of Cattle Valley, spin off of a previous series Good-time boys. During all the following books, they grew with the series and the city, and they are almost the core of the series, all turn around them. And now the author decides to give Nate a little more space, telling a bit more on his past. Nate is the naughty elf of Cattle Valley, and his new story serves to Carol Lynne to write some nice and erotic sex scenes. Hearn and Tyler are the sweet couple of this new book, they have their share of sex, but all in all, they tend to be more sweet than erotic; on the other hand, Nate confirms is naughty core, and the scene that involves chocolate sauce and a threesome is quite nice.

http://www.total-e-bound.com/product.asp?strParents=&CAT_ID=&P_ID=419

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: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/405427.html
9-10) Cattle Valley 5

Reading List:

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




Cover Art by April Martinez

I'm not usually drawn by menages stories, but I read and re-read the blurb of this novel, and was so attracted by it. A beautiful fallen Angel, Rion, new-born to the world like a baby after his fall; the farmer sidhe who takes care of him, Rex. A story sets in Scotland, a land I visited and loved... it was too tempting to not read, and I'm very happy to have surrendered to temptation.

It's true, there is some menages inside the story, and probably a female character who has a small role in this book, will take a main role in the continuous of the series, but Falling is basically a manlove book. Rex is a creature of earth, he is bonded to the land he takes care of, and while he nurtures it, he is nurturing back. It's centuries that he is living in the Lowlands, him a creature from the North, and he doesn't know why his People sent him there till the day he finds Rion, a Fallen Angel. Rex knows that he has to take care of Rion as he took care of the land the People gave him, but it's not a simple task; a Fallen Angel can gone mad, and if it happens, the sidhe who takes care of him has to kill his protege.

At first Rion is like a baby, he has no knowledge of his past and neither of the life on Earth. Everything is a discovery, but it's simple enough since they live in a secluded farm. And when Rion finds out that also Rex is a special creature, it's even simpler: Rion is no more alone in a stranger world. But Rex realizes that he is beginning to feel for the beautiful angel, and while for him it can be a choice, Rex has experience of world and different lovers, for Rion it's not. Rion has to make experience and if he will decide that he wants to spend the rest of his immortal life with Rex, then he will do it judging in full cognition of the facts.

The story is basically simple, and the legends involved are ancient, so there is nothing new, but nevertheless it's a very good story. I feel the myths, and the love for them. Rion and Rex live far from reality, but from what little hints I read here and there, I believe the time is middle-late XIX century; the strange thing is that it's not important when the story is set, since it has an immortal feeling: the same story could have been taken and moved at our time, and it would have been the same.

It's also pretty sexy and naughty, the sex scenes between Rion and Rex are always light but good, sometime even kinky, since Rion always maintain his "angel" look, complete with long white feathered wings, and Rex sometime is in his sidhe form, with little colorful wings and a tail. Despite this, the sex is nothing strange or icky, there is only the added bonus that Rex's tail is one more appendage that can be useful... Since I'm talking of the sex, maybe it's right to also spend some word on the het sex scene: as I said there are women in the story, and not only one. Both Rion than Rex, before starting their relationship, have het sex experiences with other sidhe, willingly or unwillingly; there is also a menages a trois, but it's really very short. As I said, all the het aspect of the story are so uneventful that you can really almost forget them.

There are many factors that drew me to this story, the cover (yes I liked it), the Fallen Angel (I'm a bit naught, sex with an angel...), the magic, Scotland... all of them are masterfully blend in a very nice story. So nice that I'm quite interested in reading also the second book in the story, even if it seems from the blurb that it's more an F/F story, and it's not usually my cup of tea.

http://www.changelingpress.com/product.php?&upt=book&ubid=1135

Reading List:

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

All right, I'm sincere, I don't know if I personally like how the series evolved in the last chapter. Please take a good look to that "personally" word, this is an opinion of mine, and it's totally based on my personal taste, it's not a judgment on the value of the writer or the story.

The two cops in this series, Gary and Dan, both evolves in reverse flow. Gary starts like a very troubled man, who is not sure of his sexuality or his life at all. He was a molested child, he denied his homosexuality for a long time, and when he finally admitted his love interested to Dan, he found out that he probably was bisexual, not homosexual. At first both Gary than Dan probably thought that it was a remainder of that denial period, or maybe an hint that Gary was not ready or willing to seriously commit to only one person... but more the time passes, and more Gary realizes that he is not complete with both Dan than Kim by his side. If he is forced to choose, his love for Dan is stronger, and in book 3 he tried to commit to that love only, giving up his relationship with Kim.

On the other side Dan started like a very strong and self-conscious man. He was gay and proud, he was a cop by the book, he knew what it was right and wrong. He was the steady man that Gary needed to heal and flourish... or not? Being Dan so "straight" (no pun inteded), so convinced of his own idea, makes him quite inflexible. To live with Gary you have to comprimise. In the last three book Dan went through all the rollercoast that is a relationship, the happiness, the sadness, the denial of love and the realization that you can't live without. Now it's time for Dan to decide if he is willing to accept Gary as a faulty man, or if he wants to be alone with the icon of a dream man that is not real.

So, this is a menages... no way to avoid the definition. At least the author wrote it as I like it, with the male/male pair stronger, but nevertheless it's a menages. Kim is also a nice character, and in a way, the fact that she really is in love with only one of the two men, Gary, make all the story more real... Kim is in love with Gary, there is no competition inside her, like Dan is in love only with Gary. There is no relationship between Kim and Dan is not friendship... giving that, it's still a menages? Nice point of discussion.

http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&manufacturers_id=15&products_id=1999

Series: Moment of Truth
1) To Serve and Protect: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/560100.html
2) Choosing the Light: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/675731.html
3) Missing the Ocean: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/709828.html
4) Learning to Love

Reading List:

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

With the third chapter in the Moment of Truth series, the author almost made me think that I didn't understand anything of the story... the second book ended with Gary who confessed a betrayal to Dan, he said that there were someone else. Dan stomped out of their home to drawn his sorrow in the alcohol, but he receives the advice to not let it go. Meanwhile Gary was again thinking to suicide, but this time he is stronger and he is able to weight the good and bad side of life. When Dan comes back to him, Gary is also able to let Dan understand that it's not only his fault if their relationship is having trouble, and that Dan has to take upon himself his responsibility.

Now if you haven't read the story and don't like to be spoiled, stop to read NOW.

If not, please continue... at the beginning of the relationship Gary was straight; he was a former abused child, and he denied his homosexuality. In fact he acted as and more than a normal straight man, he had girlfriends and he was quite popular. Then he met Dan and thanks to his love for him, he was able to consider a gay relationship. As often in a "gay for you" themed book, Gary has no interest for other men, he is in love with Dan, and only due to that love, he can have also a sexual relationship with a man. But basically Gary never stopped to like women. And Dan had this fantasy to see him with a woman... it was like putting the straw near the fire! Now Gary has feeling for a woman, and Dan has to decide if he loves enough Gary to share him with another person, a woman... or maybe he has to decide if he loves Gary so much that he can't even consider to share him. According to you, what Gary wants? For someone who doubts to be a good partner choice for anyone, he would prefer that Dan accepts to share him, or he, instead, would like to hear from Dan that he can't share his love? Dan is facing a test, and the more romantic readers just know the answer to the previous question.

http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1877

Series: Moment of Truth
1) To Serve and Protect: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/560100.html
2) Choosing the Light: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/675731.html
3) Missing the Ocean

Reading List:

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

With this last book, G.A. Hauser pushed a bit the boundaries between romance and erotica, and also between reality and fantasy. Her characters are actually behaving badly, walking even more on the border, edging on the verge of a nervous breakdown; if before her characters were "bad" and too emotional, in this last book they reach the final step, they go all crazy, but it's a craziness for love, and so, again, I can forgive them. I actually don't read a G.A. Hauser to have a true and accurate book on gay life, I read one of her books for the glitter of the show business, for the hotness of cops in uniform, for reading of a man that is unsteady and emotional like and more than a woman, who makes mistake, and cries, and in all his craziness, can admit that he is a wrench, but his man loves him all the same, or maybe right for that reason.

Mark has made a descending parabola from the first books in which he appeared. He is still handsome and loved, but he starts to feel the weight of his age. First he had to prove himself having first a threesome and than a foursome with his partner and two very young actor (Acting 2). The he had to be sure of Jack's undying love for him, and to do so, he involved Jack and his partner Adam in another foursome with Steve (Action 3). Actually, this last experiment, other than confirming him that he has a lot of men loving him, served to Mark to convince him that he is still desirable, same reason why he started to modelling at the age of 38. After a youth and young age spent trying to force himself to love women, Mark now seems to not have boundaries, he is becoming all gay, and a bottom, arriving to refuse to top in bed. He has still big issue of self-esteem, and sex is the only way for him to bond people to him. It's not a chance that everytime he fights with Steve, he then enticed him to bed parading himself all naked in front of his lover.

Mark has barely started to regain a bit of self-esteem and stability with his partner Steve, than another brick falls on his head: a 18 years old boy knocks at his door claiming to be his son. And since Alexander is the spitting image of his father, there is no doubt of it. For Mark is both a dream and a nightmare: he is fiercely protective of his new found son, he wants to give him everything he lacked, above all the love of a father, even more when he discovers that also his son is gay, but at the same time he is scared; Alex represents everything he is losing, youth and beauty, and having him in the same house with Steve is a torture. On the contrary of Mark, Alex retorts to his stepfather's refusal of his sexuality flaunting it, emphasizing all his twinky trait... in a word, Alex is a born teaser and a sex fiend.

If at first Alex comes out like an unpleasant boy, with all his teasing toward Steve and Jack, little by little the reader understands that he is really very young and in deep need of love. And that probably he has not the right perspective on sex; in the past he used sex to "buy" love, now that he doesn't need it to gain the affection from the people around him, Alex is lost. But he will find a young boy, a virgin, that will teach him that sex without real love means nothing. After all, this is a romance ;-)

http://www.lindenbayromance.com/product-behavingbadly-7248-145.html

Series:
1) The Physician and the Actor: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/154682.html
2) For Love and Money: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/101976.html
3) Secrets and Misdemeanors: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/180102.html
4) Capital Games: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/210160.html
5) Love You, Loveday: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/288895.html
6) When Adam met Jack: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/300519.html
7) Mark Antonious deMontford: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/463899.html
8) Acting Naughty (Action! 1): http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/493312.html
9) Playing Dirty (Action! 2): http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/520179.html
10) Getting It in the End (Action! 3): http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/656487.html
11) Behaving Badly (Action! 4)

Reading List:

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

One evolution of the Savage Romance was the Futuristic Romance; futuristic romance is, more or less, a sci-fi story, where essentially, the role of the Viking / Pirate / Warrior of the savage historical romance it's taken on by a big, bold and strong alien man. Usually the alien of the moment is a beautiful speciman who "sees" the earthian heroine with different eyes than the human male. Where for a earthian man the heroine is nothing special, for the alien she is wonderful and a treasure to be cherished.

The Sarran Plague is all above with something more. Tonas and Jonal are bonded warriors; in their culture a bonded male pair needs a female to be complete, to form a triad. It's a genetic thing, and they recognize the third part of their bond when they find her, and she is Anya, an earthian female. There is no predominant bond in the triad, it's not a question if the male / male bond is more strong than the female / male; the male / male bond is formed before, and it's like the beginning of the relationship, when they are old enough, and when their bond is strong enough, they have to find a female to complete the bond. In this perspective, The Sarran Plague is a "true" menages, but it can appeal to the m/m fans since the relationship between Tonas and Jonal has a lot of space and for good share of the book, it's the only one. And then there is also another man, Mark, an earthian doctor who will find his male bond warrior, and so, another chance for the m/m fans to have their share of manlove.

The book is also the classical futuristic romance since it is also almost completely set in a spaceshift. The clash in culture between earthian and alien it's also reflected in their physical appearance: the Alien are big and strong, all in all earthian like but only "bigger", in every sense. The author indulges quite a bit in the physical description of those fine specimen, also intimate details, but then, the sex scenes are not so detailed, so no worries, this is not only another excuse to have otherworldly "sex", there is a plot, and good portion of the pages are spent to tell you a story, it's not only sex.

Truth be told, I'm not a big fan of sci-fi novels, so I can give you only my "novice" impression. I think that the story is good, the sci-fi setting is well developed, but it's not boring. There is also a light side, see the character of Tigger, Anya's cat, that is a real "character", he has his own scenes, and in some of them, you listen also his thoughts and impression; I believe that this is the first time that a cat has a real role in a story.

http://www.eternalpress.ca/thesarranplague.html

Amazon: The Sarran Plague

Reading List:

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

Call me crazy, or hopelessly romantic, but I feel like Michael and Wild Bill are setting down... they are not yet arrived to decide china patterns, but I will not bet that it couldn't happen.

Some of this feelings arrive from the opening scene, where Michael is remembering some good moments of the past, when he had an home and a family, and this is reinforced when his sister Julie comes to visit, bringing a cell phone Michael's mother wants absolutely his son has with him. This cell phone represents a link with the past, but also a bridge to a possible future... again, call me crazy, but I can see a future for Michael and Wild Bill near Michael's family, a future in which Michael finally starts college and Wild Bill... well I don't know, maybe he will play the housewife.

Anyway it's not only the cell phone that gave me that idea, it's also the sex between Michael and Wild Bill (and yes, only between Michael and Wild Bill, not intruder this time); I don't exactly remember if in the past it was so intimate like this time, I remember it was hot the first time they did IT alone, but this time I could almost feel their bodies, Michael's emotions were bare and Wild Bill seemed gentler and more caring. It was also one of the few time that anything of vampire interferes between them, there was not the urge of feeding, but only the strong pull to be together, as near as possible, more one body than two. I don't know, it was almost like if Michael was more aware of his body, and of the things his lover was doing to his body, and above all he was more aware of who was doing that... Wild Bill was no more only his lover, he was his partner, the half share of a whole they can be only together.

There is also another step in Michael's discovery journey for something even him doesn't know what, but it's not the focus of the story; it's an important detail, probably it bears an important clue for the future books, but I was so entranced by the previous sex scene between Michael and Wild Bill, that I read all the rest of the story in a dazed condition, still lingering with the mind on what has happened just before. If someone reading this series has ever doubted on Michael and Wild Bill's love, reading this book he will dissipate all of them.

http://www.changelingpress.com/product.php?&upt=book&ubid=1112

Series: Channeling Morpheus
1) Payback: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/283039.html
2) Vertigo: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/317491.html
3) Manikin: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/360822.html
4) Tainted: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/400039.html
5) Rebirth: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/481762.html

Series: Sweet Oblivion
1) Brazen: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/557632.html
2) Snare

Reading List:

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

Mark Antonious Richfield is the summa of all the faulty characters by G.A. Hauser; he is weak, flirty, fickle and so damned beautiful and innocent that all his faults are nothing compared to his look, or maybe they only add something to it. But his look is also his damnation, Mark is almost trapped inside it, he has all the men around (and a good handful of women too) in love with him, but it's never enough, he always has the feeling that he is not good looking enough, not submissive enough, not "available" enough. Mark has a strong complex with his late father, a man who always criticized him for being to feminine, not a real man. For a good part of his life Mark tried to play the role of the straight man, arriving even to almost marry. Now that he is in love with Steve and his father is long dead, you would think that he should be happy, but years of mind conditioning took their toll, and truth be told, I don't believe that Mark will ever be a "stable" and "safe" man to love. He is almost like a nympho, he has the urge to seduce every men he meets, and above all, he has the need for every men to love him, not only in a physical way, also the real L word, the unconditionally love. Mark has to provide to the loss of love from his father with the love from his lovers, and don't let me start on the freudian implication of this.

Anyway, if I'm to be true, I didn't like the evolution in the previous book, with Mark and Steve in a foursome with Keith and Carl, not since I didn't like Mark, but since I didn't believe Keith and Carl were the right "men" for Mark. Those two are young and hot, but they are still on the beginning of their life, they take all like a big game. Mark instead needs strong and reassuring men, sorry to continue with the example, but probably he needs a fatherly figure. Steve in a way understands that, and he also understands that, if he wants to take Mark for him, or better with him, he needs to allow him to sometime sidetrack from their relationship. And he adopts the philosophy that it's better to be there to see than eat his liver wondering what it's happening. The other man who Mark needs it's obviously his best friend, and long time chaste lover Jack. Already in the past, when we read about Jack and Adam's story, someone probably wondered about the strange relationship between Mark and Jack, with Mark being almost jealous of his best friend Jack, almost wanting for him to not finding a real love for his own since it would have meant for him to loose his exclusivity. Now in this book, Mark seems to get what he wants, what remains to understand is what role will play Adam in all of this.

There is no doubt that this is a book that not all the most conservative gay romance readers will like. But try to read it from Mark's point of view: he is not a normal man, he will never been a normal man; he learned years ago that, to survive, he had to lean on the people near him, and he clings to them like a safe anchor. One man is not enough, two probably will be, but more are better, since more  people around are telling him he is beautiful and unique, more it's probable that he finally will believe it. And if you understand that, you will enter in the fan club of Mark Antonious Richfield, made up of people who decided to judge Mark with a parameter all for him.

http://www.lindenbayromance.com/product-gettingitintheend-7247-145.html

Series:
1) The Physician and the Actor: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/154682.html
2) For Love and Money: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/101976.html
3) Secrets and Misdemeanors: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/180102.html
4) Capital Games: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/210160.html
5) Love You, Loveday: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/288895.html
6) When Adam met Jack: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/300519.html
7) Mark Antonious deMontford: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/463899.html
8) Acting Naughty (Action! 1): http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/493312.html
9) Playing Dirty (Action! 2): http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/520179.html
10) Getting It in the End (Action! 3)

Reading List:

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

Baiting Ben is another short story in the Moon Pack series with potential. Amber Kell is playing with the stereotype of the paranormal genre, in particular the shapeshifter subgenre, re-adapting all of them in a gay point of view. This time is the turn of the menages between two strong alpha males who compete for the attention of a cute pretty thing. And since this is a gay romance, the cute pretty thing is an half human half werewolf redhead twink. Ben was part of an Alaskan pack, and he always thought that his mate would have been Dillon; but when his 25 birthday comes and goes without Dillon claiming him, Ben decides to leave the pack and find his mate in the big bad world. The quest is not so long, and the first time he enters the Moon pack nightclub, Thomas smells him and claims him as his mate.

Thomas is big and bad, but he is not an Alpha male; he has not the attitude of one, and it's quite clear that the one in command in their relationship will be Ben, the classic top from the bottom. The first days are perfect but then Dillon arrives pretending that Ben is his true mate... apparently Ben is part of a tri-mate bond, and Dillon and Thomas have to learn to deal with it: Ben can't choose between them, he is the pivot, and even if Thomas and Dillon don't feel attraction one for the other, they can't deny that both of them are handsome men, and it would be not an hard task to share Ben. And when Ben decides to play director for his personal porn movie, Thomas and Dillon play the role of the main characters for their little man.

This shapeshifter series by Amber Kell is not bad. Sometime play according the rule, the romance rule, allows you to write something nice and enjoyable, even if maybe not so original (but sometime when you try to be a forced original, you risk to be ridiculous or annoying); there is only one little thing that I found distracting, something I have found also in the previous book in the same series, there are here and there little typos, something a mistake in the name of the characters... nothing important, and probably with a second editing all of them would have been detected.

http://www.literaryroad.com/product.php?ISBN_num=140

Amazon Kindle: Baiting Ben

Series: Moon Pack
1) Attracting Anthony: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/558545.html
2) Baiting Ben

Reading List:

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

This is the first novel I read by Nica Berry (I read only a short story before), even if I heard good things about the previous two books (that I have and probably will read). One of the things that prevented me to read her before, was that I have always had the idea that her stories have an high level of angst, that angst that leave you with the feeling that it will not an easy life for your heroes. I'm happy to say that, in the end, Northern Love is more romantic than expected and so for me was easier, even if one thing is confirmed, the women in her books are not exactly "nice" characters (at least in this book Atka gives to my gender some hope).

There are quite few things that were challenging for me: the fantasy setting (a genre I'm not really fond of), the menages a trois (but truth be told is an all male menages, so not many problem here) and the non consensual sex (rape is till something that I hardly find erotic). But the author dribbles among all this issues in a way that makes me overcome all my preconceptions. Emmanuel and Jerek are two orphan boys in a fantasy kingdom who find in each other a reason to live; Emmanuel is the body, the force for both of them, and Jerek is the mind, the cleverness that serve to both of them to survive. Jerek has a dream, to find a mythical citadel in the north, a place where they will be never starving or in danger, and to find that citadel they both embark in a privateer ship. Obviously two young boys in the hands of unscrupulous men have no easy life on board, and Emmanuel, with his beautiful body, but maybe with a not so clever mind, is the first to fall prey of the captain. He is convinced that he is doing what he is doing to not harm Jerek, that if he takes all the "punishment" upon himself, he will save Jerek from the same destiny.

Emmanuel is young, and even if he experimented with Jerek, he is also innocent, and along the way the torture becomes almost a pleasure, and this, instead of soothe him, makes him even more guilty at his eyes. If he was not enjoying the torture, he was not betraying Jerek, but if he finds pleasure in the torture, then he is a traitor. And so when Jerek speaks aloud the words, calling him a traitor, Emmanuel is unable to defend himself, and Jerek goes away believing Emmanuel guilty.

Jerek finds solace in the arms of another man, the shapeshifter seal Piaktok, and he also fulfills his dream to find the citadel, but without Emmanuel his joy is not complete. He says to himself that he is searching vengeance, but instead he is missing a part of his heart, only that, when he finds again that missing piece, his heart is shielded in ice, and he is blind to love, as his past lover is became blind for real. There is a strange parallelism in the story, both Jerek's lovers have a physical disability, Piaktok is mute and Emmanuel is blind, and in a way they represent the inability of Jerek to see the true and to speak his true feelings; on the other hand, Piaktok and Emmanuel, even if mute and blind, are able to understand each other and to recognize the love around them.

There is a bit of squirming feelings in the story, when the author ventures to describe Piaktok's physical attribute in shifted form, but she never goes farther on, there is no sex in shifted form, and instead she always dissolves that feelings adding a bit of humor, Piaktok is quite a "funny" lover, always with a smile on his face. And maybe also for this reason, when the nastiness falls upon Piaktok it's even more sad, since of all the characters, Piaktok is the more innocent soul.

http://www.loose-id.com/prod-Northern_Love-922.aspx

Amazon Kindle: Northern Love

Reading List:

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


Cover Art by Anne Cain

All right, this book was quite a challenge; I will not give up the story saying that Cody and Dante, the main characters in Reckless Seduction, are now having a good relationship, six months after the end of the previous book, but promiscuous. Here is where the author pushes one of my sorrowful button, I don't like promiscuous relationships... even more since Cody, in the previous book, even if a bit slutty in behavior, it was not so in the reality, he was on the contrary a virgin that practically seduced the much older Dante, a family friend, and at the end of that book I was expecting for them to walk toward the sunset in blissful harmony. And instead here they are, having threesomes like eating candy... and as almost to add weight to my "pink glasses" perspective on love, they are not happy. Since both of them seem to be unable to voice their discomfort, they continue in that path, but Dante is weary and he is begun to "feel" the age he has, and Cody is tired, at the beginning the novelty was nice, but now he would be content enough with only Dante in his bed.

The novella starts with a live threesome, to continue with the memory of the first time Dante proposed to his young lover Cody to "experiment"; probably this serves to the author to prove that Cody had the chance to "taste" everything and so he is now able to consciously decide that he wants only a lover and a monogamous relationship. Deep down I know that this is right, thinking that young and virgin Cody was in a monogamous relationship with Dante since the beginning, and never ever in his life would taste something different, was really a too much "pink glasses" perspective; a relationship like that was fated to fail, since probably Cody, sooner or later, would have questioned if what he had was really what he wanted, and if not maybe outside there was something different and better.

So yes, my gut says that I don't like how the book starts, but my brain says that it's right and I like how it ends. Other than all my speculation on the almost "educational" behavior of Dante in regard of Cody's good, the book is also a way for Amanda Young to write a really naughty book, full of detailed sex scenes (3 long sex scenes in a novella lenght), so, if you like your sex hot, down and dirty, and a bit kinky, you have a reason more to read this one. Plus there is always the factor that this is a sequel, so if you read the first one, and liked it, probably you should read also this one. Be warned the readers with pink glasses like me, and take in account that, in the end, this is not a bad turn in a romantic story, only a temporary derailment ;-)

http://www.loose-id.com/prod-Reckless_Behavior-929.aspx

Amazon Kindle: Reckless Behavior

Series:
1) Reckless Seduction: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/413821.html
2) Reckless Behavior

Reading List:

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


Cover Art by Anne Cain

Jory is the youngest son of the king of a futuristic planet. Being the youngest and gay, he should be not an obstacle to his siblings' ambitions to the throne, but Jory is well-liked by the people and by his father. And so the king decides to send his son in a "mate-searching" mission: he will travel from planet to planet till he will not find the right man for him, a man wealthy and power enough to protect Jory. Problem is that Jory is not exactly the man who likes to be dominated.

Anyway he agrees to his father's plan since the first planet he will visit will be Dragait, the native earth of shape-shifter dragonman, men well known to be real Alpha males, and Jory likes that type of men. Being pretty and cute, as soon as he dismounts on the new planet, he meets Val, a wealthy duke, who is probably his mate. Val doesn't waste time to mate with Jory, but the mating rules expect that Jory has to mate with another dragonman, and the God of Mating will allow the tattoo of the real mate to appear on Jory's body. And so, even if with regret, Val allows Jory to go out and find another man.

The second time, Jory does even better and attracts no less than the king of the planet. Rai is even more possessive than Val, and has no doubt that it will be his mark to appear on Jory. Both Val than Rai are Alpha male, but Val is the silent type, and instead Rai is the growling version. While reading the book, I was really perplexed since I really wasn't able to choice between Rai and Val, both of them were appealing and I liked both of them. The problem was that, even if the men were both attracted by Jory, it seemed impossible to have a bond between them, and so a menages seemed not proposable. And so I liked even better the solution with which the author came out.

The story is not very long, a novella, and it has still some minot fault, probably due to the fact that the author is young, but still, I found that between this one and the other I read, Amber Kell is a nice new voice in the M/M romance overview. It's obvious that she is also a voracious reader of gay romance, since she respects all the main rules of a gay romance written by a woman for women, and her characters are cute or strong, or both. The Dragonmen series is a good mix of paranormal and futuristic (back to the future subgenre), that winks to similar books in the genre, first of all the Sci-Fic Regency series by J.L. Langley, and so if you liked that one, you could try this one.

http://www.literaryroad.com/product.php?ISBN_num=621

Amazon Kindle: Dragonmen Book 1: Mate Hunt

Reading List:

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

Since I'm not enough M/M focused and I LOVE to go against the preconceptions :-) here is a book to improve that 2% of my feminine side...

All right THIS is a menages, no dancing around the matter, no trying to find some hidden meanings, this is a pure and simple polyamour menages. And probably I wouldn't have read it if, first it wasn't the fifth story in a series I already read all (and one of the stories it's even an erotica M/F), second it wasn't from an author I like. For me these two very important details since even if I like to try new authors, I'm also a faithful reader and like to follow the things, so really, it would have been impossible for me not to read it. Said like that, it seems almost that reading this book was almost like take a bitter medicine, and instead I have to say that it's a nice surprise.

And the nice surprise is not determined by the fact that this is a menages where the M/M side of the couple is stronger than the M/F, but exactly for the opposite thing. Sasao and Kyoru have a very good marriage, two children and a good life; Kyoru's career in the ChildsPrey group is steady and fruitful and Sasao's career as actress is taking a dive toward success. Always would be perfect if not for the fact that Kyoru is bisexual (yes, great taboo, a bisexual man!) and after years of monogamous relationship he is starting to miss something. He always likes to have sex with his wife, but he misses that edge he had while having sex with a man. And the problem is that temptation is there in the house for him, in the beautiful and sexy body form of their bodyguard, Ken.

After being hired to protect Sasao from a stalker, Ken remained with the family as factotum, from security to nanny services all in once. Why a man with his credentials accepted to do that is quite clear: Ken was banished by his family when he admitted that he was bisexual, loosing not only his family support but also his work in the military Corps. And now he probably enjoys to be near a real family, even if he is not part of it. I believe that Ken is not particularly drawn by one of the two, Sasao or Kyoru, he is attracted by them as a whole. They represent what Ken wants but he is not willing to break them as a couple to reach what he wants.

And then there is Sasao. Sasao loves Kyoru, point. She can admire Ken as a beautiful person, both in body than soul, but she do that as if she was admiring a piece of art, she will never even consider to betray her husband. But loving him as she does, she comprehends that her husband has needs that she is not able to satisfy, even with sex toys. Since Kyoru loves her back, and Ken respects her, it's up to Sasao to be the pointer for their relationship. It's a subtle play of balance in this story, and probably it wouldn't have worked, if, as I said, the M/F part of the menages was not so strong. Another thing that allows things to work is that Ken isn't inclined towards one of the two more than the other.

Another warning to the readers (I need to give that since probably there are more M/M minded people between my friends than not), most of the sex scenes are between Sasao and Kyoru (and it's obvious since I said that they are the stronger in the menages), there are then some solo, and only a polyamour scene. But my opinion is that all of them are very nice and well done.

http://www.nobleromance.com/ItemDisplay.aspx?i=33

Series: ChildsPrey
1) Orange Moon: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/52523.html
2) Winter Song: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/34132.html
3) Under a Silver Moon: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/101442.html
4) Secret Moon: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/197456.html
5) Their Lover

Reading List:

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

Sweet Oblivion is the new continuing series in the adventures of goth boy Michael and his vampire lover Wild Bill. At the beginning of this relationship, Michael was the pursuer and Wild Bill the fugitive man: Michael young and naive was fascinated by Wild Bill, a vampire not so old for vampire standards, but old enough to hold a fascination on barely legal Michael. But Wild Bill knew that Michael was not the daring man he wanted to project, Michael was almost a child playing with his parents dresses.

With the growing of the relationship between Wild Bill and Michael, also the perception they have of each other is changing. Michael probably is starting to realize that Wild Bill is not some invincible creature, but that he is quite a normal "man", and as vampire, he is mourning his lost life; Wild Bill was turned when he was too young to be in mood to settle down and make a family, but probably now he wouldn't so against the idea; he is even trying to build a nest in the van they bought, giving an illusion of stability to their relationship. On the other hand Michael is exactly at that phase in which was Wild Bill when he was turned, young and eager to taste all what life could offer. Wild Bill is starting to realize that the young puppy he took off from the street is not a domestic pet, but a wild pup, and while growing, also his hunger is growing. The tables are turning and the maybe the "top" position is shifting from Wild Bill to Michael.

In this novella, Wild Bill and Michael experiment with having a third in their bed; and again it's Michael who leads the choice to whom invite in their bed, and it's Michael who, in the end, becomes the center of the playing; Damien, the third part, is almost a "mute" partner, no more than a sex toy used by Wild Bill and Michael. I'm true, I don't know if I like so much that an "odd man out" enters between Wild Bill and Michael, but truth be told, as I said, he is almost inexistent, I didn't feel nor from Wild Bill or Michael's side a bit of interest in opening their relationship more than only for a night of play.

http://www.changelingpress.com/index.php?uaid=ISFUDNYA

Series: Channeling Morpheus
1) Payback: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/283039.html
2) Vertigo: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/317491.html
3) Manikin: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/360822.html
4) Tainted: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/400039.html
5) Rebirth: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/481762.html

Series: Sweet Oblivion
1) Brazen

Reading List:

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

All right, this book is quite a challenge for various reasons, and so you are warned, don't continue to read if you don't like spoilers, since I probably am not able to explain all this book left to me without using a bit of them.

First of all please tell me where is the small town USA where the two main characters live; it's a wonderful place, where everyone knows everyone else, where a widow mother brings up not only her two sons, but also another runaway boy. A place where that same mother doesn't freak out when her teenager daughter gets pregnant and she doesn't ever know who is the father, and that becomes her son's best friend when he comes out. A place where a teenager crush could last 15 and more years and could, at last, become the real thing.

Cameron is a photographer and he has a pretty good life, a nice independent house, a loving family and good friends. He is just out an abusive relationship, but he was good enough to realize that it was not good for him and got free; now yes, he has some self-esteem issues, but nothing serious. And so when he has the chance to meet again Jeremy, his teenager crush, he is open and ready to accept him in his life. On the other side Jeremy is finally happy that things happen at the right moment: also him his bringing a torch for Cameron since their teenager years, but for a reason or the other he has never made a move. Now both of them are free and willing, and for Jeremy is pretty easy to convince Cameron to give him a chance: flowers, restaurant and a good night of sex and Cameron is totally convinced. And here is the first moment when I was a bit perplexed on Cameron: for a man who is just out of an abusive relationship, he is quite "friendly", but then, the reader knows that Jeremy is Cameron's first and real love, and so maybe it's better for us not to wait to much for seeing them happy together.

I was almost drowning in sugar, with a perfect picture of family happiness, when a stalker from Cameron's past decides that instead he is not at all happy that Cameron found his true love. And so reader please enter Patrick, Cameron's best friend and the runaway boy that Cameron's mother welcomed in her family. Patrick was the first person that Cameron informed of his blossoming relationship with Jeremy, and he did so calling Patrick at 2 in the night while the man was in bed with another man. All right they are pretty close so at the moment the reader, me, didn't find strange that Patrick was not angry, and then he had the chance to have another round of sex with the man in his bed, that almost made me thing that Patrick and Keith were another couple in the story. But no, Patrick disappeared only to enter again when Cameron is threatened: he is right there for him, he encourages him, and when something very nasty happen, he comforts him while Jeremy is temporarily not available... wait a moment... is Patrick bringing Cameron to bed? Oh no, no, no... ah, phew, no, they are only lying in bed, one under the cover and one on it. For a moment I fear that... NO! now Jeremy is back and they are having a threesome?!? Oh well, Cameron is willing, Jeremy is willing, Patrick is willing (Patrick is a slut, he is always willing!), all right I can accept it... But wait: Cameron went out and he is supposedly in danger, and Jeremy is having sex with Patrick?!? All right, all right, I know that Cameron knows it, and that it is only a way to let it go fear and tension, but still, it's really hard to accept for me.

Joke apart, what I want to say is that I'm not totally convinced that the "sex with all" turn the book took was all of my liking, but this is something that arrives from my gut. Otherwise, the book is quite full of both funny than interesting characters, not only Cameron, Jeremy and Patrick "the slut" (sorry I have to say it, but don't get me wrong, I like Patrick), have their development, but also all the other characters around, from Diane, Cameron's mother, to his niece Emily, to friends Ben and Kennedy, all of them, even till the less important like Jeremy's employees or Patrick's colleagues. And don't forget that I said that I like the "sugary" atmosphere of this small town USA, it's a good place where to live, so also the setting is nice. I'm not disappointed by this book, you can't always read the same story, and probably if Jeremy and Cameron met, made love, and walked toward the sunset in perfect harmony, this would be only another sappy story. In this way, it's different, and maybe better... but still, if I was a man and I had a boyfriend, I would take him far from that slut of Patrick ;-)

http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/currenttitles/pictureperfect/pictureperfectbuynow.htm

Amazon Kindle: Picture Perfect (Lost Boys and Love Letters )

Amazon: Picture Perfect

Reading List:

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

Claire Thompson brings a lot in this new gay romance: the "menage a trois" (fortunately with all male participant), the only "gay for you" attitude of one of the lovers, and finally the all too evident, but seldom faced, problem of the jealousy inside a menages.

Tuck is in love with Brendan: the first time he realized it was a year before when both of them where in a research camp with other researchers. But Tuck and Brendan had a special alchemy, something that Tuck finds again one year later when both of them are involved in another research project in Antarctica. But Brendan is straight, he even had a girlfriend or two in the past, and other than seems quite comfortable around Tuck, he never lets it go anything to allow Tuck to imagine that he is gay or at least curious. So now, their six week project is almost finished and once again Tuck is letting Brendan go without saying anything.

Enter Jamie, the young researcher in the same project with Tuck and Brendan. While Brendan is straight, and Tuck bisexual, Jaime is all gay; he doesn't flaunt his preferences, at least not inside his work, and till now he has only fantasize about Tuck and Brendan. They are both very handsome man, and for 25 years old Jamie it's impossible to not imagine an hot threesome between them. But probably he wouldn't do anything to make it happens, since as Tuck, he is not sure that Brendan could be interested, and even if he suspects that Tuck could be, they live and work in the same University town, and it would be embarrassing once they are again at home if things go wrong.

But fate plots to help all of them: a sudden snow storm traps the three of them in Antarctica, will all their fellow researchers gone. At first the charade plays only for two: Tuck and Jamie, the simpler pair, Tuck and Brendan, the romantic pair, and finally Jamie and Brendan, the unlikely one. Why this last pair is unlikely? Since where Tuck and Brendan are obviously in love, and so Brendan has at least an year to realize that he is interested in another guy, he approaches his interested to Tuck as something born from love; the "gay for you" definition applies correctly to this relationship, since Brendan loves Tuck despite Tuck being a man. And then the fact that Tuck is bisexual, in a way helps Brendan, since Tuck is not so "different" from him. Instead for Brendan to admit that he is interested also in Jamie means for him take a bigger jump: he is not only interested in a man, he is interested in a openly gay man and to worst things, he is interested while he is apparently in love with another one.

It would be not simple for the three of them to reach a balance, and strange thing, even if Tuck is the mainstay between Jamie and Brendan, who ignites everything and also who has the more active role in the menages is Jamie, the young one, the "freshman" in their work field, but probably the more experienced in dealing with a gay relationship. Tuck and Brendan have both nice roles, but for me the one who comes out better is without any doubt Jamie.

http://samhainpublishing.com/romance/polar-reaction

Amazon Kindle: Polar Reaction

Reading List:

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


Cover Art by Anne Cain

I want to try an experiment, I want to write this post on the second book in a continuous series without reading what I wrote of the first book. Why I want to do that? Since I have the clear feeling, soon after finished the book, that this second one has left me a deeper impression in comparison to the first one.

Carl and Keith are both young actors in a cable drama. The tone of the show is quite sexy and they play two gay men in love: the first book was about the two of them finding out that the role they play on video was not so far from what they really felt: not Carl or Keith were gay but they were irresistibly drawn to each other and at the end of the book they started a relationship that seemed doomed by the public opinion.

In this second book, it is soon obvious that they can't pretend to be straight, they live together, they spend every free moment they have together, they work together: Carl and Keith seem to be joint to the hip. Problem is that around them there are discording opinion: the show wants for them to continue to walk on the edge of the dark side, and if they want they can also plunge deep inside, and instead their agents want from them to deny, deny, deny, and maybe also date some fake girlfriends only for the sake of the media. Maybe stronger men will be able to take their own decision, but well, let me say that nor Carl or Keith are strong men, they are quite young and also a lot naivee.

All in all Carl is not a so bad character, he is the more steady in the couple, he is probably also the one who has more to loose. He is not a novice to the show business, before this new show he had some other experiences and a taste of how it could be if he was a star. So probably he is the one who is more cautious when it's time to risk everything in the name of love. But despite all this, Carl is the one who I feel more involved in the relationship, maybe he is the one who is not used to burst his feeling to the wind, but I believe that his feelings are the ones which run deeply, at long distance probably he would be the one who would take more seriously their commitment.

And then there is Keith: he is not only new to gay love, he is new at love at all. He has never had a serious relationship in the past and for him all his a game. He is discovering a world of which he doesn't know nothing and he wants to experiment, even when experiment means open their couple to a third man (speaking of flying low and trying to avoid publicity...). Anyway he is like a baby with a new toy, he maybe doesn't realize how bad it can go, but he doesn't do that with malice. Since he is on the open with Carl, and he doesn't hide anything, he doesn't see it like a cheating. In a way I believe that Keith is behaving like a great majority of young gay men: being faithful and exclusive it's maybe a mental boundaries of mine that I'm trying to projecting to the characters of the book, and instead I should try to read them as they are, and not as I would like them to be.

In this book G.A. Hauser returns to her beginning style, with two young and hot man in love who haven't anything in mind if not doing it down and dirty. If it's consensual and if they don't do anything to arm other people, why they shouldn't play and be happy together? And so there is plenty of sex, scorching and loud, very "vocal". But there is also a novelty, finally a female character that it's not so bad, almost sympathetic with the two heroes, a character in which sometime I believe I could recognize the author herself; but don't get me wrong, this woman is far from being a fairy godmother. She is quite similar to the sister in The Kiss, probably the only other female character by G.A. Hauser that I really liked.

http://www.lindenbayromance.com/product-playingdirty-7249-145.html

Amazon: Playing Dirty

Series:
1) The Physician and the Actor: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/154682.html
2) For Love and Money: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/101976.html
3) Secrets and Misdemeanors: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/180102.html
4) Capital Games: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/210160.html
5) Love You, Loveday: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/288895.html
6) When Adam met Jack: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/300519.html
7) Mark Antonious deMontford: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/463899.html
8) Acting Naughty: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/493312.html
9) Playing Dirty

Reading List:

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

It was an hard fight against myself to convince me to read this book. When first I saw it released I had almost an immediately compulsive need to click the buy button, but then I wavered, and made a pro and and cons list: pro, it's an historical, I know the authors and liked what I read by them, it's a new epublishers and I like to try new things; cons, for sure there will be a rape. 3 against 1 and my compulsive clicking stopped. I was in the right mood to read about rape? and even if I managed to go through it, what about the obvious menages? Yes since the story is about two men who find themself enslaved by the same lord, and so this lord should be consider in the total... And so I admit, I didn't buy it since someone told me: why haven't you read it? And I felt guilty, since I hadn't given to a book, and to the authors, a chance they deserve, given that it's not simple to write an historical with a rape... late (and very missed) Kathleen E. Woodiwiss and her The Wolf and the Dove still bear the weight after 25 years.

Roman is a bed slave for a northern English thane (actually the authors never mention English or England, but I need to place him, and don't know enough of English ancient history). Roman, as the name let guess, was the young son of a Roman citizen who made a huge mistake some years before and now is a lifetime slave; it's quite interesting to read how the proud but careless young roman turned in an apparently willing pet for his master. Maybe it helps that Wulfgar (yes, same name as the main character of The Wolf and the Dove) is not a truly villain... oh, yes, he is merciless and he first forced Roman, and now Aron, into slavery; not only that, he used them without remorse, in bed and out of it, parading them as beautiful pets, his treasures, as he calls them. But we have not to forget that Wulfgar is a warlord of a pre-medieval period, it can't be a gentleman, he has to be pitiless and strong. And clever.

Cleverness is something that Wulfgar knows well, on the contrary of young Aron. Aron is the son of a crofter who didn't pay what he was due to the thane; when Wulfgar comes to ask reasons, Aron challenges Wulfgar's champion and loses. Wulfgar gives Aron two options: burn down his father's home or being Wulfgar's thrall for an year, serving him in anything he wishes... and here is where Wulfgar is clever and Aron not, since Aron doesn't ask to Wulfgar what he meant in details and accepts to be a thrall. And so Aron finds himself forced to share Wulfgar's bed. His only aid is Roman, who can only mitigate the discomfort, but not prevent the rape, since of rape, even if we don't read it, we are speaking: doesn't matter that Wulfgar was not a bad character, doesn't matter that he is true to his history setting, it's a rape, but well, what else can you expected? The unlikely expedient that Mrs Woodiwiss used 25 years ago (who read the book knows it); no, sorry, even if I'm a romantic at heart, that was an expedient that clashed with all the historical reason, and I loved it, but it was not realistic.

And so also Aron faces his sad fate, but he does it in a very different way than Roman; he didn't surrender like him. Roman is a cultured man, he is strong but he is also very proud, and culture and proudness together would have killed him if he hadn't found a way to shield himself from the reality: Roman killed his proud self to not kill himself. Aron is as proud as Roman, but he is less cultured; I don't want to say that he is not intelligent, only that he is not so fine like Roman, and maybe even less careful, and so he fights against Wulfgar, and yes, maybe Wulfgar feels guilty for what he did to Roman, and so he treats Aron in a different way, he doesn't try to break him, but allows him to take his proud, even if he steals him the possess of his body.

Anyway there is a love story, and the love story is between two men, Aron and Roman, and Wulfgar is not part of it. When the love is still absent, there is in some way a threesome, with Wulfgar in the role of the puppeteer and Aron that is still driven by his body and by his newfound desire for a man, Roman. When love comes between them, both for Aron than for Roman, having Wulfgar between them becomes almost intolerable, but they still can't do nothing to prevent it. With their bodies... but with their minds it's all another question, and yes, even if in a world that is only for lovers, they find a way to be faithful to each other, even if with their bodies they still have to play the role of Wulfgar's pets.

The story is very long, I can't possible write all it left me, but is enough to say that the book, and the authors, convinces me that they deserve the chance I gave them; I'm happy to have read it, maybe since it reminded me so much a genre I was very fond of, the savage romance.

http://allromanceebooks.com/product-beeamongtheclover-12428-145.html

Reading List:

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

Kasey, Mitch and Warren are colleague and best friend, of different age and predisposition: Kasey is 25 years old and bi-curious, Mitch is 30 years and bisexual (even if it came out to me more as gay) and Warren is 38 years old and straight. They plan to spend a weekend in a mountain cabin and a snowstorm forces them to stay inside the cabin and in near quarter. Kasey is an erotic romance in disguise, and when they are forced to find a way to spend the afternoon, he decides to write a bit: Mitch and Warren realize that he is writing a gay sex scene, but Mitch questions the reality of that scene. Kasey dares him to show how it should be done, but not on the paper, but for real. Mitch is willing, but he is worried for Warren, who seems a bit flustered to have an impromptu porn movie acted in front of him. But then the stupor turns in excitement and also straight Warren falls in the trap of curiosity.

The story is not very long, 66 pages, and it spans for only a night, so there are no clear answer at the end of it. Anyway, I like very much Mitch's character, so open and friendly; just in the past he was a bit interested in both his friends, but he probably never thought to have a chance with them. I don't  believe that in this moment he is searching the true love, maybe he is willing to play and if something follows, he is not against the idea. Kasey on the other hand sees a chance to try his hand in something he probably was interested before, and the possibility to play with two men he trusts is too good to let go. Warren is the more puzzling character... he should be the one that never in the past thought about such a thing, but, truth be told, he is not so skittish to the idea.

We don't know what it will happen next, they could stay good friends (with benefits) or they could build something more, and, maybe, the one who was the less likely, is the one who would be something more for the three of them.

http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/novellas.htm#Snowed_In_

Amazon Kindle: Snowed In

Reading List:

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

The last in the Facets series is, like the title says, the story of how Jules, Six and Paul set down a life for all of them. Paul is now a young suit and he needs to find a place to life outside the dorm, Jules and Six need to find a new place since they "forgot" to pay the rent (due date are not on top of their list of important things...): it seems only right that they find something together since Six and Jules adopted Paul and now he is an important element in their relationship.

The last chapter of the series only strengthen the idea I had in the previous books: Six and Jules like Paul, they are gentle with him, but the real love relationship is between them, Paul is like a pet, but not since they treat him like a Master / pet relationship; Paul is young and bouncy, he is a burst of energy, probably he reminds to Six a younger Jules. They are more than willing to welcome him in their bed, and they really try to be a bit more normal to give Paul an appearance of a steady life, but I believe that, if Paul should ever decide to move on and leave them, they will return to live on a day-to-day basis, an easy going attitude, having each other more than enough to make them happy.

http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=766

Series: Facets
1) Rough Cut: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/455039.html
2) Polishing: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/467560.html
3) Setting

Reading List:

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

Six and Jules have almost adopted Paul. The life of the long-term couple is not changed much, but during the weekends and holidays they make space in their life and bed for young Paul; but it's Paul that molds his lifestyle on Six and Jules and not the way around. Six is still mostly a nightlife being and he is not at all a morning person; Jules is more or less a day per day man, not planning ahead what he will do. And so Paul, even if grateful with the couple for admitting him, sometime finds himself edgy and nervous, wanting to straighten the day to day life of a couple that is all other than straight.

The menages moves to another level: now it's a full relationship in all the possible combination, Paul is no more an eager spectator of the love between Six and Jules, but all this is only on a sex level; when it arrives to living outside the bedroom, Six and Jules have still their routine and Paul is still trying to have a normal life, with a day job, and meals at normal hours. Between the three is not yet a real relationship, Paul is still the "intruder", a nice and sweet intruder, but still almost an alien.

In the second chapter of this series, Paul looses his innocence, he is no more a new toy for the exclusive couple who were Six and Jules in the first chapter, but as I said, I still don't consider this a threesome. Six and Jules are still a steady duo, and Paul instead is a nice third party element who nicely fit when he is there, but could be gone the day after without unbalancing Six and Jules' relationship.

http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=715

Series: Facets
1) Rough Cut: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/455039.html
2) Polishing

Reading List:

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

Have you ever wonder what happen after an happily ever after? Of course you have, and this is the reason why so manu authors write a sequel to a good story.

Nate and Kyle met in the previous book. Kyle was a nice guy with some problem of self consciousness and thought that some session with a Dom, in a very exclusive club, could help him to better understand his own persona. The chosen Dom is the best the house could offer, Nate; Nate is not only a perfect Dom, he is also a psych major and in a point in his life where his profession as paid Dom is not enough for him. Finding Kyle and helping him to be the real man he knew he can be was only a pleasure, more since it drew Kyle into his life and bed.

Two years later Nate and Kyle are still an happy couple, but Kyle is still somewhat naivee to all the possibilities in their relationship. When Nate spies an interesting reaction of Kyle on a threesome tale, he thinks to organize a nice surprise to him: a weekend in an isolated cabin with a male escort to fullfill all their desires. But Kyle's reaction is not what Nate expects: oh, don't get me wrong, Kyle is not so much worried on the threesome in itself, but since he had a bad breakup with his former boyfriend after the man behaved pretty bad during a threesome. And so Kyle, in his mind, probably matches threesome with trouble.

When Kyle realizes that Dakota, the escort, his not an innocent man in need of whoring himself to survive, he changes a bit his mind. More he starts to worry more for his reactions to the man, than for Nate's behavior. Step by step he allows Dakota to enter their bad, drawing a line on anal intercourse, but more or less allowing everything else. Even if he likes Dakota as a man outside the bedroom, in bed Kyle treats him more like a high paid toy. At the end of the weekend, Kyle understands that the man he loves his Nate and that even if he physically wants another man, this doesn't mean that he is cheating on Nate, above all since Nate is there with him to share everything... well said that, I don't know if I like the fact that Kyle lost his innocence...

http://www.loose-id.net/detail.aspx?ID=818

Series:
1) A Master's Love: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/81235.html
2) A Gift Worth Sharing

Reading List:

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


Cover Art by April Martinez

Six and Jules are a perfect couple of idler... well, not true, Six has a work as tattoo artist in a parlor, but in the 12.700 words (33 pages) of this short story, we don't have the chance to know what Jules does, apart loving Six. Yes since Six and Jules are in love and it's pretty obvious, they kiss and cuddle every chance they have, but don't get me wrong, they are not two tender sweetheart, they are two hot gay men full of piercings and tattoos, and sometime they "adopt" a boy, and yes, with all the worst intention, to play with them. But this time they bring home something new... a virgin!

Paul is just out of college and he wants a tattoo to mark his rites of passage. It's not only the passage from young to adult, from college to work, but also a promise to himself that he will follow his heart desire as out of the closet gay man. And when he sees Six and Jules together it's almost too much for him, it's an overload of physical sensation, he is like a child in a candy shop, he wants to touch and taste everything.

But the funny thing of this book is that Paul has the chance to see and try a lot, but at the end of the book he is still virgin! Six and Jules play with him, they teach him one thing or two, but all the hard stuff they do together, letting Paul be an eager spectator... I like it, since in this way, Paul could see and understand what he wants and what he likes, but Six and Jules remain faithful to each other. True this is only the first book in a series of three, and I don't know what it will happen next, but to me feel right that, at their first encounter with Paul, Six and Jules "limit" themself, for me it means that they are not real players, they don't put at risk their relationship for a sweet face. If Paul will remain around enough time to be judge worthy, only then they will let him inside their circle, inside their relationship.

http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=652

Reading List:

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

Aoi and Aya are buying the last Christmas gifts and they need to find something special for Itsuki, their foxy lover. Aoi brings Aya in a sexy shop and among all the toys he is amused to see that Aya is still really shy, almost if having an elves and a shapeshifter fox as lovers is not enough to "outing" him.

But Aya is barely twenty, and Aoi and Itsuki were his first lovers and even if he is now in a threesome, he still considers sex a private matter. Browsing to find a special present for Itsuki is not the time to debauch the young man, and then, all in all, Aoi likes him like that, all blushing and cuddling.

This is really only a sip, sixteen pages of enjoyable and funny sex. There is no need to feature the characters, since this is the last of a series of short stories with the same characters, and so this can be consider a Christmas gift for the readers of the series. A series that, despite the threesome matter, that usually I don't like, instead is among my favorite, maybe since Aoi, Itsuki and Aya have found a balance in their relationship that it doesn't make one of the three an "intruder" in the main relationship.

http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&manufacturers_id=107&products_id=1669

Series: Between a Fox and a Hard Place
0) Naughty: Sex and Presents
1) Threesome: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/287881.html
2) Geas: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/288448.html 
3) Home: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/333612.html
3.1) Tail-tell Signs of Trouble: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/334233.html
3.2) Naughty: Last Minute Shopping

Reading List:

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

The story is really nice despite it having two of the things that are not really my cup of tea, a D/s relationship and a menages.

Charles was Nicky's master for the last five years. When they started the D/s relationship of Master and pet 24/7 it was Christmas time but Charles asked Nicky to come to live with him from the first of January, and so they lost their first Christmas. After that, every year, Nicky did his best to celebrate the holiday, trying every year to find something to please his Master, but to his eyes, Charles is only suffering all his enthusiasm.

But this Christmas, Charles receives a visit from the Spirit of Christmas Past; the spirit, a young and handsome man who seems to have a soft spot for Nicky, shows to Charles all the trouble Nicky went through in the last five years to make his Master happy. Seeing all those Christmas one after the other, makes Charles realizes that his pet has a real love for him and for the Christmas season, a love this last that he is not really sharing with Charles since Nicky doesn't believe that his Master really likes it.

Nicky is really a sweet character; he is the perfect epitome of the good pet, always trying to satisfy every whims of his Master, always putting his Master's desires in front of his owns. Probably the story should show us how cold and aloof his Master is, but actually I only see a gentle man, maybe not so demonstrative, that always tries to understand his pet's needs. Charles is gentle and caring, he likes to dominate Nicky, but he is always aware of Nicky's limits, and he is the first to reprimand him if he thinks that he is pushing himself to far. Charles is not a negative character, but maybe he is not expansive, and instead Nicky is a man who lives to feel cherished and loved.

Accordingly to what I said, the problem of me not liking a D/s relationship is no more important, since between Charles and Nicky there is a deep and true love, and so how they choose to demonstrate that love is their own choice and I don't judge it. It remains the little problem of the menages, that I really didn't feel necessary, but it's a very little scene, and almost "chaste" and in the context of the story, an only event, and so, in the end, also this problem is overcome.

Again a very nice Christmas story.

http://www.total-e-bound.com/product.asp?s=x98oz2638766&strParents=&CAT_ID=&P_ID=391

Reading List:

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


Cover Art by April Martinez

This is the story of a menages, clear and simple.

Greg and Phil are in a long-term relationship, 2 years as lovers and another 2 years as committed partner. It's a very good relationship, Greg a librarian, Phil a chief inspector for the local police department at Cambridge, England. Always seems perfect if not that lately Phil is pretty taken with his job, working odd shift. But Greg never has expressed any complaint, he is happy with their life; Phil is not a simple man to love, he is reserved and taciturn, but he is also very attentive; Greg feels cherished and protected when he is with his lover and on the other hand, Greg knows when his lover needs to be comforted and embraced in the warm arm of his lover and their house, to shut down the world outside.

Then arrives Jim, an American pilot who tests prototypes in the near Air base, recently moved on the neighbor. Jim is outspoken, friendly and handsome. And he has no problem to make clear to Greg that he finds him very attractive. Greg is not blind, and he can see all the good sides on Jim, but he really loves Phil and he would do nothing to compromise their relationship, neither a little kiss. And when at first Phil is sharp and detached toward Jim, Greg thinks that he can only offer a friendship to Jim, and better if the friendship arrives from both of them, Greg and Phil, without allowing to much private meeting between Greg and Jim. But then Phil's behavior changes, he seems to push the boundaries of Greg's fantasies, letting him imagine and taste how it could be with Jim and Phil together; not only that, Phil seems to desire that Greg builds something with Jim's only, trying to imagine what it would be if Phil was not there with him...

It's not simple to read of Greg's interest in Jim without reading it like a cheating on Phil, even if Phil is aware and consenting. There is never a moment in which Phil makes Greg feel guilty for what he feels for Jim, so I have not the feeling I used to when reading a menages, that one of the men is a cheater; but it's also true that Greg remains the "center" man, the link between Phil and Jim. True, the author tries all the possible combination, Phil & Greg, Phil & Greg & Jim, Greg & Jim, Phil & Jim, but she doesn't linger when the three are not together, making so stronger the menages and not the simple couple.

The feeling on the story is that Phil and Greg probably would be an happy couple also without Jim, Phil is the stronger man on whom Greg lean to, and Jim adds to the couple a new breeze, a bit of lightness, but probably Greg and Jim alone would not work out; for Greg, Jim would be a flirt, someone he could be happy for a bit, but not the man he would choose for a long-term relationship. In all this, Phil emerges as the master, the puppeteer of both Greg and Jim, but he reaches this rank without being nasty or aloof.

http://samhainpublishing.com/romance/falling-in-controlled-circumstances

Amazon Kindle: Falling in Controlled Circumstances

Reading List:

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


Cover Art by Anne Cain

First introduced in Light My Fire, Paul is a demon hunter; previous lover of Craig, the main character of Light My Fire, we found him again in Tall, Dark, Tattooed and Twisted, in the last scene when the demon hunters arrive to investigate on a zombie attack. Wild, Wicked and Haunted starts exactly where Tall, Dark, Tattooed and Twisted ended, with Paul ringing the bell to Nick's house, just in front of the crime scene.

Nick is an Hollywood young director whose lover was killed one year before in the front garden. It was not a "neat" murder and the ghost, Carter, still haunts the house. Carter is deeply in love with Nick, in his life he was an older man, more than 20 years older than Nick, and he believes that he was not able to protect his lover. So now, as a ghost, he is fiercely protective.

Nick can't see Carter, but Paul can. More, he can feel Carter's emotions, even when he is having sex with Nick. The unwillingly threesome needs to find a way to live peacefully together, or to clean break this situation.

As all the previous book, this one is rather short, less than 50 pages, and there is not much space to develop the characters. All the strenght of the book lies in the use of paranormal events in a funny way, splattering blood and violence in every corner, but never making the book really horrific... the book is like one of those movies which gather all the classical Hollywood scenes to edit a comic movie.

The most interesting thing for me is Volmere: I was already fascinated by this tall white haired vampire with an impressive... attribute, in the previous book, and now I'm even more interested in reading his story.

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

Amazon Kindle: Wild, Wicked, And Haunted In Hollywood

Series:
1) Light My Fire: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/340520.html
2) Sex Scene: Take One: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/396857.html
3) Tall, Dark, Tattooed And Twisted: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/397261.html
4) Wild, Wicked, And Haunted In Hollywood

Reading List:

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

Another of my error due to the fact that I click the buy button too fast! This one is part of Del Fantasma series, short story setting around the Del Fantasma night club, managed by Cody, a vampire matchmaker, a series I like very much. And it's written by Sharon Maria Bidwell, an M/M author not such prolific, but among my favorite. And so when I saw the book, and the genre M/M on the Aspen Mountain Press website, I click on the buy button without even read the blurb... and it is a menage! (sob)... I don't like menage.

But well I had the book and I know that Sharon Maria Bidwell is good, so I thought "why not? give it a try". I'm quite happy of my decision, but I have to say that in this M/M/F menage, for a time, the stronger pair is the M/F one.

James is a suicidal man; he lost his beloved girlfriend even before they had a chance to savor life. Both from very conservative upbringing, they decide to wait for sex after marriage and they never reached the time. So James now is alone and virgin and without a reason to live.

Seth and Hannah are centuries years old vampire. Seth loved Hannah and Hannah loved Seth but also Seth's best friend, Edward. And so Hannah convinced Seth and Edward to share her and after sometime, she convinced them to start also a M/M relationship. Both men loved Hannah and so they agreed, but probably the real love of their life is what they felt for Hannah. Then Edward was killed and Seth and Hannah lost their balance.

Cody thinks that Edward is the answer to their need: a man without attachments, someone who can be forged to become the perfect balance for Seth and Hannah. But it's Hannah who seduced James, it's Hannah who convinced the man, it's her who introduces him to sex. Seth is almost a detached spectator, waiting for his woman to obtain what she wants. Seth and James' relationship exists only in relation to Hannah, much like it was with Edward.

So if you decide to try this one, as I did and I'm not regretting it, be aware: it's not a classical M/M romance (how strange to use the "classical" word for a M/M romance), it's more an heterosexual romance with a twist.

http://www.aspenmountainpress.com/new-releases/del-fantasma-virgin-special/prod_156.html

Amazon Kindle: Del Fantasma: Virgin Special

Series: Del Fantasma (m/m)
1) A Slow Fuzzy Screw by Sharon Maria Bidwell: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/161239.html
2) Black Wolf by Jade Buchanan: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/219302.html
3) Undertow by J.M. Snyder
4) Virgin Special by Sharon Maria Bidwell

Reading List:

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

Vintage (Calendar Boys - July) by Jamie Craig

Alain is a two Michelin star chef in Paris. He spent almost all his life for his restaurant and he is very proud of it, but lately he is lonely. Almost fifty years old and without a man near him, he is tired of all the young twinks he has always sought. When he decides that he is ready for commitment only a man pops in his mind: his long time friend Simon, a retired English business man who lives in the French country two hours from Paris. And here is the problem: Alain is bound to his restaurant, he can't imagine to leave it forever, and Simon is content with his country life and hates the city. He only goes in Paris to visit Alain, and lately always lesser. But for the festivity of the 14th of July, Alain wants to surprise his friend: he will go to the country and he will propose to Simon... but if Simon is an harder conquest than expected?

The story is very interesting: two almost fifty years old friends who finally have the courage to admit that, if for so many years they manage to stay friends, when all the other men in their life disappear, maybe is since they have something more than friendship between them. But two "old" wolves are hard to lose their vices... Even if Simon seems the more steady and quite of the two, he is also a little grumpy, he is content with his quite country life and above all he fears to lose the only real friend he has: love could be a fleeting feeling, instead their friendship is very strong. But Alain has had a lot of time to re-think his life and he is sure that Simon is the right man for him, and his seductive powers are very good.

A very good story which manage to rebuild the right atmosphere of the lazy and wealthy life of a retired English business man in the lustful French countryside; it seems like you can savor the wines and the good foods Alain used to vow Simon, and you can also smell the flavor of their relationship; the setting is idyllic and the two characters really original.

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

Scorched (Calendar Boys - August) by Jamie Craig

Aaron is a mid twenty small town boy. He always did the right thing, he went to College but he came back to his hometown to tend his aging mother, he picked up an underpaid job to not have to move to a big city. He spends his free time helping in various association and he is also a volunteering firefighter. Always the right thing other when he fell in love with his brother's best friend, Xander. But Xander left small town for big city 10 years before and Aaron didn't expect to see him again. And now Xander is here, a real firefighter in town for all summer to help taming a big fire. Aaron tries to hide his real feeling for the man, but avoid him is impossible: how can he explain his sudden reticence to be near Xander, when 10 years ago he would pay to be with him?

What Aaron doesn't know is that Xander left town since he was gay, and life in a small town was impossible. He went to New York hoping for the true love, and instead he is still alone. He didn't regret the small town, if not for only one thing: Aaron. Ten years ago Xander didn't consider Aaron in a sexual way, he was only a skinny teen who tagged along, but now he is a very handsome young man, and Xander believes him wasted for the small town.

The story is sexy but at the same time homey. The love between Aaron and Xander is easy, being together is the simple part; but also when they have to decide if their was a simmer fling or true love, there are not so much problem. It's not the relationship between Aaron and Xander which causes trouble. It's more a problem of Aaron to admit what he wants and what he is and to face the small town judgement and his family. For one time Aaron should stop to be the good next door guy and he needs to be a bit selfish and reach out for his piece of heaven.

Nor Aaron or Xander try to bring along a pride battle. Xander chose years ago the anonymity of the big city who allowed him to be "free"; but with it he also found the loneliness. He is still a small town guy and a romantic at the heart; helping Aaron out from the small town is not only an unselfish act, he is, at the same time, filling a void he probably felt when he moved out, leaving behind family and his best friend, Aaron's brother.

The story is not very long, less than 90 pages, but with a right dose of eroticism and romance.

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

A Simple Truth (Calendar Boys - September) by Jamie Craig

Divorced gay man in the closet Charlie has always had a soft point for his best friend Bryce. Bryce is younger and handsome, and openly gay. When Charlie's son is old enough to understand, Charlie decides that it's time to coming out of the closet, and to tell Bryce the true. He is not expecting that Bryce is so comprehensive, and even offers to help Charlie to start dating again, this time in the gay scene. Since Charlie fears the loud and crowd gay clubs, they set out for a quite gay friendly bookstore, and Charlies gets lucky at first try. Problem is that Bryce is not so sure to letting go Charlie.

Bryce is a very nice character, a good friend and also unselfish. He always liked Charlie, but giving that the man was married and apparently happy, he contents himself with being a good friend. And when the man reveals the truth, he again puts his friend's desires in front of him. But being unselfish and being stupid are two different things, and Bryce realizes soon that if he allows to a fine man like Charlie to enter the gay scene, he will lose the man forever.

Charlie is a bit less nicer than Bryce. True he was just through a difficult phase of his life, but it was really his own choice to get married when he already knew that he was gay. And when he finally has the courage to coming out, and he is so lucky to have his interest in Bryce reciprocate, he doubts of his feeling and of those of his friend. I believe that Charlie should be more firm and strong in his behavior.

Anyway, the story is nice and good, with little angst and even some funny moment; the love story is simple and homey like a barbecue at home: pretty romantic and without really big obstacles in the path. A good example that sometime, when you are searching true love, is not necessary to go far from around you.

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

Amazon: Calendar Boys, Vol. III (July-September)

Reading List:

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

The circle is close, the last season of this series is began and like most of the plants do in Summer, also the seeds Edor planted in the previous season, are blossoming in this one.

As to deny my previous statement that the series is not so sexy, Lee Benoit decides to start this last chapter with a very sweet but erotic sex scene. For the first time I also have a physical impression both of Edor than Cynar, and in this way the author also reinforces the concept that Edor and Cynar are a couple, like Tywyll and Lys. They can share their body with the other two men, but it's more like a pack thing, a way to prove that they are a family, but clearly a family made by two different sets of men.

Other than having a physical impression on Edor, in this Summer I also have also a clear description of Edor as leader of the community that little step by little step is growing around Edor's farm. He seems to have the strange skill to gather homeless and abandoned creatures, they arrive to him like draw by an hidden power: the river that flows beside the farm is the path and when someone in need of shelter is near, he is drawn to Edor... he is like some unwillingly leader, unwillingly since he didn't listen to an holy "call", unless you don't count the call of nature, the necessity to learn again to live accordingly to the nature rules instead of the human ones.

Even if apparently Edor is the alpha male of the pack, both being bigger in body, but also stronger, I believe that Cynar is clever and more aware of himself. Where Tywyll and Lys are almost a "classical" couple, where Lys is the smaller one, the one who needs to be protected and cherished, Cynar has a stronger wit, and at the end he takes Edor around on a leash, always doing what he wants. So apparently Edor is the leader, but really he is only a willing pawn of Cynar's wishes.

http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1525

Series: Servant of the Seasons
1) Autumn: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/304135.html
2) Winter: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/323128.html
3) Spring: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/355200.html
4) Summer 

Reading List:

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

This is a multi-author series, so I don't know if the futuristic world was an original creation by Jade Buchanan or not, but in a way or the other, this short story, 70 pages, is a funny erotic romp.

It's a menages, an you know that I'm not really fond of menages, but since the three men got together at the same time, there is not the problem of the odd man out who interfere with a previous pair. Chet is a Nil Raja, an alien race which still lives in caste; every caste is identified by the blue swirl patterns in their skin, and since Chet belongs to a pleasure caste, his swirls are sensuous and delicate, made to enthrall and entice. He doesn't have a protector and when Dinesh arrives to the same Spaceport where Chet lives, the lithe Nil Raja thinks that the big Nil Raja Warrior would be a perfect protector.

Dinesh is a very conservative Nil Raja warrior. He doesn't like when he is forced to leave his planet, but when he witnesses to a murder attempt of the Councilor of the Spaceport he doesn't think twice to protect the man, even if this means that, from that moment on, he has bound his life to Ainsley. And when the fate brings to him also the little Chet, Dinesh thinks that where there is space for one, there is also space for two, and so he only widens his protective embrace.

Even if Ainsley is a clever politician, he is not a prudent man; he puts himself in danger without thinking when deal with politic matters. But not when it arrives to personal relationship: usually he faces that matter in an aloof way. But this time he has not choice in matter: he is between Dinesh and Chet, and he can't disentangle himself from the two, and truth be told, he doesn't want to.

Dinesh and Chet's characters are at the opposite: Chet is the omega male, lithe, sensual and graceful; he reminds me a cat, content to purr in the lap of his big warrior, but with a wit of his own that it's not easy to control. Dinesh is the alpha male, stocky and of not much words, he prefers to grunt fast order and he doesn't see the reason for long speech. Ainsley is in the middle (pun not intended...), he is usually a man of control, but his force is more based on his social status than in his body strenght.

Even if there is a minor adventure plot, the story is for the most part a sexy tale, with a lot of erotic encounters, and if you reason that the story spans for only a week and tells on two days of that week... well you realize how much space is devoted to the sex!

http://www.changelingpress.com/index.php?uaid=ISFUDNYA

Reading List:

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

Peck of Pickles is a little story of seduction. Linc is a true farm boy in deep North Dakota. Not a place to be gay like him. And so Linc mostly dreams and sometime goes to the near town to scratch an itch. His dreamlover is Pol, blond hair and blue eyes like him, but where Linc is big and clumsy, Pol is lean and handsome.

And today he has the chance to be with Pol alone, using the tools in Pol's office to turn the cucumbers in pickles. But Pol has other idea, and like him his college friend, and lover, Marc: they want to include Linc in their game, and Marc will be the middle in a sandwich of blond farm boy.

A short story in the Hot Flashes series, a serial of little erotic scenes. Like this one, where all turn around the final sex scene, and the plot is only a supporting tool for it.

The most interesting thing in these 27 pages is the funny tone of all the story with the slow seduction of Pol and Marc of big Linc, like he was a virgin waiting for his beau.

http://www.changelingpress.com/index.php?uaid=ISFUDNYA

Waiting Reading List:

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

As I imagined in the last book in this series, the distance between the pair of amichu, Tywyll and Lys, and Edor, if not physical is for sure emotional. Edor loves the couple, but it could be more a friendship feeling than the type you have for a lover. Edor feels that something is lacking in his life and more he is near to Tywyll and Lys, more he is aware of it. Then Cynar, the other Norvigi who lost his mate, step by step obtains a special place in Edor's heart. Edor can't be for Cynar what Tywyll and Lys are for each other, but Edor and Cynar can be lovers, if both men manage to overcome their natural distrust of feelings.

It's not a simple life for the strange little family: nature seems a friend, but everytime other humans enter their little compound, it seems that they bring only problem.

This third chapter in the series is more a transit book: like the first was for the second, with Edor who learned to trust and love Tywyll and Lys, this one I think is the transit one for the fourth, where probably Edor will trust and love Cynar, closing the circle. And so this one is also more sweet than erotic, and also the little sex in the book is more light than angst.

Till now Lee Benoit proved that my feeling in the story were right; I always felt like Edor was not a real part on the bond love of Tywyll and Lys, and it was obvious that his fated mate had still to arrive. In this book I believe that that mate arrived. In the next book I hope to read the realization of the bond love between Cynar and Edor, and to finally find a little of peace for Tywyll and Lys.

http://www.torquerebooks.com/zencart

Series: Servant of the Seasons
1) Autumn: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/304135.html
2) Winter: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/323128.html
3) Spring

Waiting Reading List:

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

Aoi is at home and safe... apparently. In the third installment of the series, Aoi and his two lovers, Aya and Itsuki, back home from Japan, need to find a new balance: Itsuki is costantly worried for the safeness of his lover Aoi, and Aya is searching to be a mediator. At first everything seems all right but a stupid accident puts Aoi in temporary leave from work and he doesn't know when he will be able to work again. From the one who was supporting the family, now he feels himself like a stepping stone and Aya and Itsuki need to work hard for convincing their man that he is still sexy and loved as before.

There is as always a lot of sex, joyous and funny, and without heavy and angst feelings. But maybe now Aoi is starting to understand that he can't repair everything with a good sex session and he also needs to grow a bit: even Aya, who for age can be his son, seems to be more adult than him. And also reality make an appearance in this "fantasy" tale, a reality represented by the bills that should be paid, and so Aya and Itsuki finally need to find a work themselves, since Itsuki is still of the idea that "his" Aoi should whore himself only to him and Aya.

This series is light and funny, it's the right thing if you want to rest and relax.

http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&manufacturers_id=107&products_id=1359

Amazon Kindle: Between a Fox and a Hard Place: Home

Series: Between a Fox and a Hard Place
0) Naughty: Sex and Presents
1) Threesome: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/287881.html
2) Geas: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/288448.html 
3) Home

Reading List:

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

The sequel of Goldilocks and His Three Bears is a very long one, and it's like two books in one. In the first part Brian (alias Goldilocks) learns how to settle in this new relationship of him: Paul (alias Daddy Bear) is again far from hom for works, six months of leave and Brian, who is studying at College, can't have the chance to be with him. So he is at home with Jim (alias Momma Bear), who also he is far from his beloved, Scott (alias Teddy Bear), travelling with his truck in the north. Brian behaves badly to call attention to him and Jim is not sure to be the one to properly castigate him. On the other hand Scott is sulking, believing that he is not an important piece in the puzzle of their relationship, and so also him behaves very badly. Paul with Brian, and Jim with Scott will have to tight the leash on this two bottom brats.

In the second part of the book, Scott takes home Joshua, like a child could take home a stray dog. Joshua is a young and frightened guy, needing a master figure in his life. But Paul and Jim are not the right person to do that, they have their plate full with their two brats. Luckily Paul meets an old friend, Freddie, a top without a domestic relationship in this moment.

As the previous one, this book is a funny romp: there is a lot of sex, but it's always a very relaxing and funny type of sex; even when it arrives to some pretty kinky and heavy erotic stuff, the description is always more light and funny, than angst. I'm not against some kinky stuff, here and there, but sometime, reading certain books, it's like reading an "how to do" books, full of clinical details that risk to ruin all the romanticism of the story. In this case, A.M. Riley gives us all the necessary inputs to understand what it's happening, but doesn't indulge in the description, preferring a light tone.

Of all the characters, the lion share is taken by the bottoms. Brian, as in the previous book, has a very prominently role in the first part of the book, and instead Scott, who really didn't shine before, in the second part of the book is the incontrastated hero. Seeing the two brats conspiring and involving also Joshua in their plans, allows the reader to fully understand who are the real puppeteers in this strange multipartner relationship. 

http://www.torquerebooks.com/zencart

Amazon Kindle: A Man, A Jersey, and a Tight End

Series:
1) Goldilocks and His Three Bears: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/327881.html
2) A Man, A Jersey and a Tight End

Reading List:

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