This short story by A.J. Ryan, another pen name for Geoffrey Knight, author of the Fathom's Five series, is a pure fun and naughty sexy romp. Eighteen years old Tommy and his nineteen years old newly stepbrother Dash are all alone for the summer, since they parents left for the honeymoon, and they promise to stay together and look for each other... like asking to the wolf to look out for the sheep... oh yes, Dash will look good for Tommy, but his idea is not to protect the boy. As the author well says, the two boys are very similar... apart that one is blond and the other brunette, apart that one has blue eyes and the other green, apart that one is a wasp boy and the other an Afro-American from the ghetto... yes they are the same in the desire to get into trouble and get into each other pants. Both Tommy and Dash are into sleuthing and there is a mystery to solve: in a small college twon each month, during full moon, a male virgin is murdered. Dash wants to find the truth and Tommy wants to tag along... there is only a problem: Tommy is a virgin! Obviously there is a way for Dash to protect Tommy, watcha bet how much time will Dash take to understand what he has to do? ;-)
There is really nothing serious in this short story, and even if I had too less pages to fully enjoy these two boys, I can already say that Tommy is one of my favorite character of ever. I don't really know if he is really dumb or if he is the most clever men of all, since, in the end, he obtains what he wants and he is the one who enjoyed all the aspect of their adventures. Tommy is so out of every normal definition of man/boy that I sometime worried for him and his innocence; oh no, not his "physical" innocence, that I was eager to read when he would have finally lost it, but his "inner" innocence; he is so open and friendly that everyone can take advantage of him, but in the end, I don't believe Dash is so much different from Tommy. In the end, the author was right, Tommy and Dash are really the same.
http://www.eternalpress.ca/thedarcyboys.h
Amazon: The Darcy Boys and the Case of the Secret Skulls
The Rainbow Awards: Third (and last!) Phase: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/85035
If you decide to read this book, plan it when you have time, since it's more than 240 pages long and probably you will not want to let it down till the end. Joey is a spin off character from Diving in Deep: he was Noah's ex boyfriend and in that book he was in a new relationship with Mark, a leatherman with the body of a bear and the character of a teddy bear... despite the apparently happiness of that couple, when Collision Course begins, Joey has just moved in a new city and moved on his relationship with Mark. Mark is now ex boyfriend number ten... someone could think that Joey is a bit of a slut. And instead he is a social worker, a man who really likes kids, someone who always cares for the other, he probably wants so much a family... is it true? or maybe Joey is fearing commitment like he is accusing his new boyfriend to do? Despite his independent attitude, for me Joey has still some personal issues to resolve before he is ready to build something steady with a partner.
Yes since Joey is always ready to jump from an ex boyfriend to a new one, and he did so also this time; the lucky chosen is Aaron, a paramedic he meets when he is involved in a car accident, the first of a series of accidents that convince Aaron that it's better if Joey remains with him till he is not again in full health. But Aaron has a pretty bad past experience with social workers and he doesn't like when Joey tries to psychoanalyze him: if Joey wants to stay with him and share his bed, good, but when it's day everyone toward their different path and not mingle with personal matters (like if sex wasn't personal...). Joey is very good to convince himself that he can accept Aaron's rules and still doing is undercover psychological diagnosis, but when he is too involved it's not easy to be an impartial judge.
As I said the story is very long and so it's not easy to summarize all the nice things that made me like it. For example, I liked that Joey, despite his curiosity, didn't use his work influence to dig on Aaron's past before the man feels the desire to talk to him. Another thing I like is that the past is the past and Joey doesn't have a magic wand to undo all the previous mistakes and turn Aaron's family in a perfect fiction happy family. And I like that the book doesn't end when Aaron and Joey discover that they love each other, since love is not the cure for all the problems, and they still have to deal with the fact that they are two independent adult, with different behavior, that need to work out a way to live together.
There is also a lot of sex, actually Joey and Aaron begin their sexual marathon day first and go on, even when they are mad at each other, even when it seems that only when they are having sex they aren't arguing. Sex between them is always easy and good, and so it's for the reader, or at least for me that I didn't skip neither one of their encounters...
http://samhainpublishing.com/romance/col
Amazon: Collision Course
Amazon Kindle: Collision Course
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Cover Art by Anne Cain
First of all, I have to pay my compliments to the author for a choice I think she did: to not write an overtly dramatic story. Unfortunately for Trey, his story didn't start well: of all the men who gather for Poker Night at Zac's house, Trey was to most quiet and shy. A teacher in the same high school where Zac is a coach, he had a crush on the principal but has never found to courage to make a move on him. First Cole, the principal, is much older than Trey, more or less 20 years of difference, and he is also handsome and self-assured, something Trey is not. Second, Trey is an old fashioned guy, from a southern family he is a bit the male version of a southern belle: he was taught that sex is something you do with your partner life and not with the first guy you meet. And so at 29 years old Trey was still a virgin and was probably losing the hope to find the right guy.On a desperate last attempt, he signed in an online dating website and unfortunately saw the worst side of the experience: the first guy he decided to meet was a psychopathic who raped and stabbed him almost to death. Trey survived, and at the end of the previous book in the series all his friends were there to help him to recover. So, starting this book, above all if you read the previous one, you could probably expect a story with an high dose of drama, and with a lot of issue from Trey's side to accept and give another chance to a normal life. It's not that the author doesn't highlight Trey's trouble, but she chooses to be light on them. The first move we see Trey doing is calling Cole, in a way giving a way out to their relationship. Truth, Trey has some problem with touching and being touched by people, even friends, but it's something he is able to overcome with a bit of gentleness and caring.
Cole is both tender and caring but also not too much oppressive; he understands Trey's issues, he tries to ease him on having a sexual relationship, but he doesn't build an house of cards from nothing. He is not overwhelming, he lets Trey having his pace, but he is also always there, ready to let Trey knows that he is ready to help. Someone could question on Cole's attitude towards their relationship, above all when Cole states almost from the beginning that he is not ready to put in danger his 25 years old career in teaching for an homosexual relationship with Trey... Cole in that moment sounds cold and harsh, even more if you consider Trey's situation and his emotional unsteadiness. But truth be told, Cole never brings on his statement and he is always ready to be a steady figure near Trey. So any potential issue the reader could have with Cole is soon forgotten.
As I said, the story is less dramatic then expected and in a way I liked it better in that way. Trey is a gentle soul, he needs someone strong near him, and being Cole older than Trey, makes him the perfect partner for someone like Trey. Not only the age difference, but also the difference in body structure, Trey small and delicate, and Cole big and strong, reinforces the idea that Trey is a "belle" in need of a knight to protect him. Not all the possible layers of the story are fully developed, Trey's relationship with his parents, the trial and its abrupt ending, but again I think the author chose to give more space to the characters than the possible development of the story outside their relationship.
The Poker Night series has a more realistic and ordinary feeling than other series of Carol Lynne, but this doesn't make it less interesting and good.
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Cover Art by April Martinez
All Shook Up by J.M. SnyderEduard is a depraved nineteen century Dutch nobleman who runs a plantation on the Isle of Java. Actually his wife runs the plantation and all Eduard seems to do his to harass all the men servant of the place. Since Eduard was banished from his native Denmark after a trial for homosexuality, a trial he survived only to the fake testimony of his wife. And now they live far from the high society, with the unspoken pact that his wife could be the real master of the house, and Eduard will lead the life as he likes.
In this apparently paradise arrives Reza, Eduard's former lover. Reza was a crewman on the ship that took Eduard on his new homeland, and it was also the first native lover of Eduard. After him, Eduard always sought men like Reza, probably never found one. But sincerely Eduard was not very sad to have to leave his former lover, and actually he even doesn't recognize him when Reza re-enters his life. But Eduard realizes that he was like a child in a candy store: he had in front of him an entire new world full of men who he could finally have without risking his life, but what he didn't understand years ago, is that Reza was his real love and he shouldn't never let him go.
Eduard is not the perfect hero of your usual romance. He is naughty and debauched, a man who is content to be order around by a woman, and actually not a man with a courage of his own: he becomes courageous when he is near Reza, he draws force by the silent man. Reza is a very difficult character to understand: he doesn't speak a lot and he, at first, seems strong and independent, but then you realize that he is a man in love and that he is not whole without Eduard, his first real love. In the end, Reza is a simpler man of what you thought.
A very interesting short historical romance, less than 75 pages, with two original characters... original since nor Eduard or Reza are romance heroes: usually a romance hero is so perfect that he really doesn't respect the reality of an historical character. In this romance instead, I think that both Eduard than Reza are pretty real: Eduard with his laziness and naughtiness and Reza with his simple soul. http://amberquill.com/AmberAllure/AllSho
Amazon: Renegades, Rebels, & Rogues
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Play On is another short story by J.M. Snyder sets around some sport field, this time soccer played by college guys. Sean is a junior at College and also in the soccer team. He is one of the best player but then Cordero joins the team; it's not the competition that distracts Sean from the game, it's the man: Cordero, with his African American look and his cool behavior is like fire for a moth, Sean can't resist to be near the man.Quite daring for someone you don't know well, Sean makes clear his preferences with Cordero the first day, and good for him, Cordero returns the interest. It's hot, fast and often sex till first day, but only after practice; it seems that, other than a great sexual agreement, there is nothing much else between them: they have different friends, different interests... The mood of the story is exactly like that, it's not a romantic love between Sean and Cordero, and I'm not saying that they will have no chance to an happily ever after, it's only that, in this moment, no one of them is searching something more. Now the only problem is to have enough sex to satisfy the initial hunger so that they can also play on the field, instead of playing only out of it. Or the other possibility, is to find the time to meet also out of the practice day, so that when it's time to start the game, they are not horny like two teenagers who have just discovered sex.
Another hint that basically this is an erotic romp, and not a sweet romance (if sex in the shower, on the couch, on the kitchen table is not enough...), is that Sean's attraction for Cordero is very much physical; Sean doesn't even know what Cordero is studying, what he likes, what he wants, he at first doesn't even know if Cordero is gay, but despite all of this, Sean knows that he wants the man; Sean likes African American men, he even tries to melt with the slang, that is not his own, to have better chances at success. So Sean is more attracted to what Cordero represents than to who really Cordero is. But as I said before, for a sexy romp without expectation to be more, this is more than enough and leads to very naughty and enjoyable sex scenes.
http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/Pl
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Mulligans, A Novel, is probably an example of when an adaptation from a movie script is better than the movie. And since the movie was good, you have an idea of how good the book is. I liked Mulligans, the movie, but I felt real sorry for Chase, the young gay man who falls in love for his best friend's father and who, at the end of the movie, walks away from the happiness he found with that family. It was sad, even if probably true, my romantic heart was really weeping for that little boy, since the movie didn't give him any hope. In the book there is an important difference that is completely overlooked in the movie. From this moment on I will talk of the novel, not of the movie, and my remarks on the characters are with that in mind; if you like the story, mind that it's different from the movie, and that difference is centred around Chase's experience, past, present and future.
Chase is spending the summer in the lake house of his best friend and roommate Tyler. While Tyler treats Chase has his best friend and maybe as his little brother, Chase doesn't consider himself at the same level as Tyler; it's not only a financial issue, even if it can't be hide that Tyler has another and higher money availability than Chase; it's also the way Tyler approaches life: he is sure, confident and full frontal, it will probably arrive the time when Tyler will realize that life is not that easy, but not yet. Chase instead has already faced that moment; he knows that if he wants to succeed in life he has to do that all by himself, and to add question to question, he is also wondering on his sexuality. Better Chase deep inside knows that he is gay, but he is not confident, and so he has never had the courage to face that notion with himself, and consequently, with the outside world. Chase is in the closet not since he wants to hide, but since he has not the courage to open the doors of that closet. And from inside the closet, he admires Tyler, since he sees in him all that courage that he has not. The important distinction with the movie, is that, from Chase's point of view, before joining Tyler's family to the summer house, he was not hiding anything to his best friend, since he still hadn't admitted it with himself.
At the summer house, to Chase's admiration for his best friend Tyler's attitude towards life, it is now also added a little envy for his family; Chase has no real family, his dad is long time dead, and his mother is inexistent. Basically Chase is alone, and when he meets Tyler's family, mother, father and little sister, they all, as a whole, represent the forbidden fruit. True, he can also recognize that he is attracted by Tyler's father, from an aesthetical point of view, but at the same way he is attracted by Tyler: Chase has no problem to admit that he likes his best friend, and now his best friend's father, in a sexual way, but there is no way that he can consider something with them. It's far from his mind. And so, at first, if he has the idea to "steal" something from Tyler, is not a specifically desire for a man, Nathan, Tyler's father, but more for the whole family, he wants for himself the happiness he sees.
From a sexual point of view, he is instead interested in Jarod, the African American boy who is Tyler's childhood friend. And this is another point where the novel totally diverges from the movie: there is not hint of sexual relationship between Chase and Jarod in the movie, Jarod is supportive to Chase only as a friend. Instead in the novel, Jarod is a main character, since it's due to him that Chase starts to question his own sexuality and desire, and his need to find a way out of the closet. Chase and Jarod have a budding relationship whose sudden abortion cause Chase to question what he wants in life. It forces also Chase to find the courage to come out, with Tyler, with Tyler's family, with the world. As a chain reaction, Nathan, Tyler's father, who for all his life has chosen the easy path to stay inside that closed, is suddenly faced with an alternative: he can take the same path as Chase. In a way, Nathan is taken advantage of Chase, like two men in a snowstorm, Nathan is following Chase's steps on the snow, and the harder job is the one that is making Chase. On this perspective, is right that neither Nathan or Stacey blame Chase for the breaking of their fake marriage happiness, no one forced Nathan to follow Chase's steps. If in the movie, the romantic hearts are disappointed by the failure of Chase and Nathan's love story, reading the book you realize that from the beginning it wasn't a love story; truth be told, if there is a real love story in the novel, it's the one between Chase and Jarod, and from this point of view, the novel gives more hope to Chase than the movie.
All in all this is probably the first time where a novel from a movie is better than the movie, and I highly recommend to whom liked the movie, but not as it ended, to read the novel, they will be not disappointed this time.
Amazon: Mulligans
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Cover Art (photography) by Matthew Mew
This is a collection of three previously published novellas and two short stories but the whole doesn't suffer of this. Reading all the stories collected in one book is on the contrary very nice, since you can see how the love story between Toby and Ven evolves in a natural way. All the feeling of the book is of being nice and quite, of a story taken step by step, without jumping the things. When the first part start, Toby and Ven already met. They have a work and working relationship, Toby is dealing in real estate and Ven is the contractor who restored the previous house Toby sold. Toby real work is as a lawyer, and on the side he buys one house at time, and then he restores and sells it. Toby has no real home for his own, he is just out of a bad divorce, and this situation helps him to not feel committed to one thing, in this moment Toby needs the freedom: I believe the free life style allows him also the mental freedom to finally admit he prefers men over women. But Toby's mourning period over his divorce is already finished, it was probably part of that period when he first met Ven and they did the first house. The story we read turns around how Toby is now willing to "settle" down with Ven, and it's instead Ven that has to come to pact with his own "coming out".
Ven is out with his family and friends, but it's not OUT of his family and friends. He is still living with his brother, Cake, he has a lot of commitment with his parents, he has five dogs to look after... Ven's life is so full of duties, that he has no space for a lover. When Toby enters his life, some of that duties are starting to fade and Ven is suddenly faced with a true: he has no more excuses to not commit with only a man, it's time for him to grow up.
I like the symbolism of the houses they restore: till the moment both of them Toby and Ven, are not ready to settle down, they play with the houses like two kids, they buy, restore and sell, they never do the work for their own. But when their relationship is starting to become something else, deep and steady, in that moment they start to see the houses with different eyes, the houses are no more doll houses, they bring with them the promise of a future together.
As I said the love story between Ven and Toby evolves step by step: first they decide to be exclusive, then then Ven meets Toby's daughters, then Toby presents Ven to his work colleagues, then Ven introduces Toby to his family... nothing is pushed too fast and everything is dealt in a nice and effective way; due to the carefulness they take, everything goes right like an oiled engine, like the careful restoration they bring on their houses. Like the good job they do on restoring an house, they do a good job on restoring Toby's life after the divorce and on building the basis for Toby and Ven's future life as independent men from their family. And it's not a break, it's only another forward step, taken with wisdom.
On a closing note, Renovations I is also a pretty sexy book, with a lot of very nice and good sex scenes, explicit but not vulgar. It's also a multicultural love story, Ven is Afro-American, but this side of the story is not too much highlighted; it comes on front when Ven finds out that also Toby's ex-wife was Afro-American. I actually found quite coherent that, despite the sex, Toby's preferences remain the same.
http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?m
Amazon: Renovations 1: Framework
Amazon Kindle: Renovations 1: Flipping Out
Amazon Kindle: Renovations 2: Playing House
Amazon Kindle: Renovations 3: Moving Day
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Cover Art by Pluto
I'm too old and it's too much time I'm around. Or maybe it's only that I read too much. Z.A. Maxfiled wrote a parody about a man who wrote a parody... I think I'm able to recognize to whom Z.A. Maxfield identifies herself in the novel, enough to say it's not the writer (too simple), and I recognized who was the writer she is paying homage to. The story is actually a comedy of errors: Jae is a literary critic working for an LGBT Magazine, The Adversary (quite clear reference to The Advocate...); Jae is an half Caucasian half Asian man, and his full name is Jae-sun, but he goes for Jae, and this sometime leads people to think that he is a female. Often writers who are pissed off from one of his reviews accuse him to be a woman, and so to being unable to understand a real good piece of Gay Literature. You would think that Jae would be the first to defend himself claiming that he is a man, and instead he has always let it go, finding useful to have the change to play the double role, male or female when it is necessary. Like in this case: Jae is real angry since a woman, Kelly Kendall, dared to write a parody of one of Jae's favourite coming of age novel, Doorways. Doorways was like The Catcher in the Rye or some other breaking coming of age novel for Jae, and seeing a trashy novel like Windows taking and ridiculing it, it's too much. Above all since the author who did it is a woman! (payback is hard to digest…) How does she dare? She can't understand how important that book was for young Jae.
Problem is that Kelly can truly understand, since he is not a "she", he is Kelly Mackay, alias Kelly Kendall, alias Kieran Anders, the author of both Doorways than Windows. He wrote Windows to fulfil a bet with Will, his houseboy / dogs boy, a 20 years old former hustler who he welcomed in his home as secretary and buddy friend with benefits. Where Kelly was probably the angst teenager in Doorways, Will is probably the slut teenager in Windows... they are two different perspective on the same story, and Kelly is also probably overgrown on the teenager he was. At this point I also recognized another gentle homage Z.A. Maxfield probably did, to the movie Finding Forrester; not only Kelly Kendall has the same Irish/Scottish origin of the character in the movie, William Forrester, but he has also the same problem to being trapped by his first novel: people adore Doorways so much, that Kelly is scared to writing something else. To do so, he changed completely the genre and went under another pseudo. Plus Kelly suffers of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and he avoids like a plague everything that is not ordinary or stranger.
Jae is bent on "outing" Kelly Kendall as not only a woman (his publisher maintains the mystery around him) but also a plagiarist. He starts to pestering Kelly with emails from a supposedly female fan, StrawberryFields, mails to which Kelly replies with gentleness but avoiding giving details. Only that, email after email, both Jae than Kelly start to realize that they have much in common, and that they like to talk with the other online... is it possible that a so good online relationship turns in something real? Yes, it’s, since Jae is used to have things to easily, and dating Kelly it’s not easy at all. Someone could say that Kelly is a nut case, but I think that he is only a very special man, and he needs someone to take care of him. Don’t get me wrong, Kelly is not retarded or similar, he is only a man with a lot of odd customs, but it’s what makes him a special man, and he has not to change; he only has to find a man who can deal with him. And learning to deal with Kelly maybe will teach to Jae to see things less in Black and White, to see the shades, to be more flexible, and learning that, to be a better man. Not always being a crusader is a good thing, sometime crusade did a very poor job to humanity.
When I said that being a crusader is not necessarily a good thing, I’m not only referring to Jae’s fight to “out” everyone who hides his homosexuality (which negative side we read in the fate of an actor at the beginning of the book); take Kelly’s OCD… someone like Jae, so strong and used to see only the right and the wrong, probably would try to cure himself, to force nature to submit to human’s will… and doing so you would destroy the real Kelly. The real Kelly it’s not the “healthy” man, the real Kelly is the obsessed one, the troubling one, he is special since he is not normal, level him to the rest of the world, means to kill him.
I like also as the author dealt with Kelly and Will's relationship; true, they are having a sexual relationship, but not from Kelly's side or Will's one there is a real emotional commitment. Both of them know that what is between them it's not real love, problem is that Kelly doesn't know if real love exist, at least not until Jae. I like that, even if at the beginning the author let us in the more intimate details between Kelly and Will, when Jae is becoming something more than an email address for Kelly, that relationship slowly but steadily turns in a real friendship, without benefits. It's made in a way that I don't feel bad for Will, on the contrary, I believe that he needs more Kelly as a friend rather than as a lover. Not only Kelly finds his love, but it happens at the same time when Will's past is revealed (a past of child molestation), and in a strange play of destiny, it's actually a better thing for him that Kelly, who can be a fatherly figure for Will due to the age difference, becomes totally sexually detached.
http://samhainpublishing.com/romance/epi
Amazon Kindle: ePistols at Dawn
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Cover Art by Anne Cain
I was curious to read this novella since somewhere else it was said that a reader was shocked by the sex in shift form inside it... so, since I'm naughty and curious, I was expecting something very odd and a boundaries pushing. But I realized that probably I read too much and of every shade of erotica, since I actually found this one quite mild mannered, and truth be told, I have read books with a lot more of shattered boundaries. Soul Searchers is a nice shapeshifter novella which mainly aspect for me is the relationship between Timber and Micah.At the end of the XVIII century, Timber was the mulatto son of a landowner; thanks to the wealth of his father no one dared to question Timber right to be a gentleman and he went to the military academy. There he met Micah, a same age young man, but this is all they have in common. Where Timber is strong and daring, Micah is more fragile and in need of protection. Micah deeply loves Timber and he would do anything for him, even die. And this is the destiny Timber's father reserves to him, but Timber rescues him, an event that will be repeated time and again in the course of their relationship. That night Timber and Micah are turned into werewolves, and they choose to live alone. Centuries after, Timber is the Alpha leader of a werewolves pack made of various renegade, gays, lesbians and also people who are simple non judgmental. Only that the nearer werewolves pack is not content of their existence.
The following fight for leadership is not so important from my point of view, again what I found interesting is seeing how Timber and Micah in time turned in a "perfect" couple: Micah is not and will never be someone who is able to defend himself, and Timber assumes the role of protector for his mate. In an age of equal right, someone else would probably arrive to regret to have a so weak mate, but instead Timber cherishes Micah and never once I read or feel like he would have preferred something different for his life. The roles are clear, Timber is the strong pillar of their couple, and Micah is the love and heart.
The ending is maybe a bit too much sugary, but I'm not against a bit of sugar here and there.
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This is only a short story, less than 20 pages, but it surprised me with the ability to have an unexpected but well developed turn right in the middle. At the beginning of the story Erik is a leopard shifter who decided to live alone in a property in the wood since he was tired to mourn the lack of a mate. Erik is gay and he loves his pack, he loves his enlarged family made of his brothers, sisters and nephews, but he was tired to be "pointed out" how the unmated leopard. There were no other gay leopard in the pack and in the end Erik chose to stay alone.
Then one night he sees a man swimming in the lake near his home. Erik smells another shifter leopard and decides to make friends; the other man, Brandon, is younger and apparently skittish, but when Erik lets the guard down, Brandon unveils a stronger core and a very alpha attitude. It is not a chance encounter, and Brandon has his own plan on Erick.
The sudden change in Brandon's behavior is reflected in Erik; Erik is older and a strong leopard, but he is a beta, he needs the lead of an alpha man, and living along, he misses that leader. Apparently Brandon is not the right man, he is too young and not enough forceful, but Brandon is playing a role, like a nymph in the wood who is enthralling a passerby with his singing and the otherworldly beauty of his body.
Then the story moves on to an very hot sexual encounter that seal their budding relationship, and from the encounter you can already see how that relationship will be and who will play the top. In the end, a real "bravo" to the author to pack all of that in only 20 pages.
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Amazon Kindle: Embracing The Leopard
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Hershie’s Kiss (Campus Cravings) by Carol LynneAnother little step in the Campus Cravings soap opera. We just knew that Charlie, the supervisor of the all gay KB dorm, and Jack, the retired Marine and now cook, were lovers. And we also knew that, after an hot encounter on the kitchen table, Jack disappeared.
Now Jack is come back, with a fifteen years old son! And Charlie doesn't know if he is ready to be a lover AND a stepfather... plus Charlie has the impression that Jack is ashamed of him: they go pretty well on bed (and actually on any other surfaces) but Jack never once asked Charlie out. And Charlie has had the same experience in the past, with his family, a family ashamed of a blind son... or not? Since Charlie, who was always convinced to be a pure African American man, discovers thanks to Jack, that maybe this is not the real story: green eyes and straight hair don't match good with a pureblood African American. And so Charlie finds out that there is a secret in his past and he needs to go back to Los Angeles to investigate; he also needs Jack's support, but the man can't leave his newfound son alone...
As always, in a Carol Lynne's book, there is a lot of sex, a free enjoyment of life and a big social issue; in this case it's the relationship between a blind man and his lover, but also between a single gay father and his lover. Both problems are dealt with a light hand, not much angst in this story, but as always it's rather enjoyable. And as always we have the chance to meet the next heroes in the series, Theron (the last "straight" standing on the Demakis brothers) and Michael.
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Theron’s Return (Campus Cravings) by Carol LynneIn the fictional college town where Carol Lynne sets her gay soap opera, being gay is the standard and straight men are scarce. And so now it's time for the only straight of the three Demakis to walk on the dark side.
Theron is the older, the wiser and the smaller on the three brothers. He is also the one who self-imposed himself the task to produce an heir for the Demakis family, giving that both his brothers are totally gay. On that matter, Theron is not totally straight, he liked men in the past, but he prefers to take his gay escapades in the closet.
When Michael, one of the residents of the gay dorm founded by Demitri Demakis, is raped, Theron volunteers to be his psychological help. But when the young guy starts to develop a sexual interest in him, Theron runs away: he can't be tempted. Only that for Michael this is a once more rejection he has not the strenght to overcome.
Michael is a young and friendly guy, but for how much big he is in body, he is very fragile in soul. He is also very young, always pampered by his family, and when for the first time he needs to walk alone, he is not ready and falls. He obviously needs a fatherly figure in his life, and Theron is just there, just that figure he needs so much. It's not very fair for Michael to unload a so heavy charge on Theron, but he can't avoid it.
Theron is not so clever as he seems. Being the older brother he takes upon himself the task to be the pater familias, but maybe he didn't realize that it's not necessary, since his father is still very good at it and has never expressed the need to be replaced. In a way Theron hides behind a finger, he tries to substitute his being smaller and less charming than his brothers, with being the wiser.
The story is pretty enjoyable, maybe a bit too simple, since in reality I believe it would not so simple to come out from all the problems (a rape, family pressure, moving in a new place, changing work...). And then I would really like to find a greek conservative family who has not problem in having all of its three son being gay... But well, as I always said, we don't expect reality in the gay soap opera by Carol Lynne.
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Buy from Amazon: Campus Cravings: BK House
Series: Campus Cravings
1-2-3) Campus Cravings 1: On the Field: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/13379
4-5) Campus Cravings 2: Off the Field: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/16506
6-7) Campus Cravings 3: Back on Campus: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/23255
8-9) Campus Cravings 4: Dorm Life: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/30557
10-11) Campus Cravings 5: BK House
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This is a book that, if you sit down to review without doing a little search before, could be easily misinterpreted: Reese Johnson is an African American man, and I gave you two important details to read the book, African American AND man. Why I underlight all of this? since I found the attitude of the main hero, African American Jim, toward sex a bit too much direct for my taste (hard and fast and very Alpha male behavior), but this is right, I'm a woman and the author is a man, and so it's obvious that our perspective is different. And then I also found that Jim was a bit too obsessed by the black and white contrast; sentence like "You ready for this big black dick?" or "I want to feel that chocolate sliding into me" if written by a caucasian woman (or man BTW, I think it would be the same), would lift a lot of eyebrows, but if they are from an African American man is it the same? mmm I don't know.Anyway, the novella is nice, I have always liked the office affairs romances, and this is a classical example: Jim is the new lawyer of an important firm, and he is paired with handsome and friendly Steve, another young rising star of the same firm. At first glance both Jim than Steve recognize the mutual attraction, and it's not long before they start a torrid office affair. And now I will play the advocate devil and will say that I didn't like that Jim, at the beginning of their relationship, when they hadn't yet speak aloud the "commitment" words, had another office affair with an horny secretary... truth be told, it was the secretary that launched herself in Jim's arms, and it was nothing else than a quick entercourse, and Jim didn't think twice at it, it was so uneventful that he didn't even considered it something he has to say to Steve. So why the author put it in the book? I believe since it helps to frame Jim's characters, he is a bisexual man, he is quite free with his sexuality when he doesn't consider himself in a relationship, but he is also willing to be exclusive if he meets the right man... probably it would be more right to say man or woman, but I have the feeling that Jim, even if he professes himself bisexual, is more bend on the gay side, and for a real relationship he will always choose a man.
In all of this talk of Jim, I neglected Steve... how about him? Steve is probably a better man than Jim, he has more restraints, he probably needs more than a pang of desire to sleep with someone. I also have the feeling that he was not so happy when Jim talked about his past relationships, and how he was able to have relationships both with men than women, I had the clear impression that Steve let it go the matter, since he was not happy of what he was hearing. But Steve is not even someone you can use as welcome rug, he has a strong core, and its clear when he didn't accept Jim's moody behavior and searches his own answers when Jim is not giving them (look for the answering machine scene).
As I said Sex & Chocolate is not an easy novella, but I think that above all since it's "only" a novella, it has a great potential: both main characters could be stereotype, but then the author gives them deep and details to make them particular and interesting. Also the supporting character, Jim's ex Alan, is the classic flamboyant gay man, and the author could have played the drama card, but instead he dealt with him with sweetness and compassion. They are all details that make me thing that this is a very good first try for a new author.
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This is a short story, so I had to imagine a lot of things, but there are enough details for me to do that. Eric and Ethan are friends, probably from when they are young: there is a easiness in their relationship, and common memories that allows me to realize that. Ethan has a special power, he is able to "feel" the spark of life of people, and so in the previous years he worked with an special organization devoted to find missing people; but the few times he was not able to find those people alive weighted more than the one times he succeeded, and so he left and now he is trying to loose his mind with alcohol.When Eric asks him to find his missing mother, Ethan doesn't want to do that, but Eric is one of the few friends he hasn't drawn away, and so he can't refuse. And then there is something in Eric that attracts Ethan more than a friendship bond: he has always avoided to think on it, but now that they are together in this mission, Ethan is no more able to be detached.
As I always said with a short story, there are very few things I can say without giving up the story. So I will focus on the two things that remained more in me after the end. First, this is a multicultural love story, but sincerely this aspect is not very underlighted, and I like it; Ethan is African-American, Eric is white, but this doesn't matter for them; maybe it's since they were friends before, maybe it's since when Ethan sees Eric, or when Eric sees Ethan, they only see someone they love, point, the cultural barrier is not overcome since it doesn't exist since the beginning.
Second point, I like the fatalism of the story, how all it's resolved without Eric or Ethan doing something that maybe they would have regretted in the future. It's not a perfect ending, but it's an end that allows Eric and Ethan to have a chance.
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Amazon Kindle: Lost
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When I first read the blurb of this book I thought, well another story setting in Hawaii, probably I will find beautiful sands, beautiful beaches, a easy-to-go way of life, a bit of mythology, surf, hula... what else am I missing from the typical Hawaiian postcard? And yes, in Island Song there is all of that but also something more, I really was not expecting to be so moved by the story, and I really was not expecting how easy was to read this book, , the book makes itself read, and you lost the count of the pages to emerge again from the story when it's almost finished and wonder what happens to the last 250 pages? I haven't realized to have read so much.Garrett is the typical mainlander who is searching solace in the loneliness of the island. At first I believed that Garrett was forced to leave his previous life, and instead his story his even more typical, Garrett had all money could buy if not love. Garrett's first lover and only love, Marc, died, and nothing bonded Garrett to the city where they lived, San Francisco. Garrett loves his routine, the Castro district, the Golden Gate Park, the Victorian houses, but every corner of that city is an image of Marc, of how much happy they were together, and Garrett had to run from it. Garrett arrives in Hawaii with the idea of writing a romance book, the love story between him and Marc, and maybe writing it, it will also bury it. When the reader starts to "write" along with Garrett that love story, it seems almost a sweet romance, two young men who meet and fall in love with the easiness of youth. All right, they faced some trouble, they had to move and they lost the support of their family, but they were together. For sure a love like that was broken only by an unmerciful illness, something that nor Garrett or Marc could defeat. For sure there is no blame nor on Garrett or Marc side, and proof is that now Garrett is inconsolable.
But the island is there to help, and help arrives in the form of Songoree, a very young boy. Garrett rents a little villa from Songoree's grandfather, and the boy is hired as "housekeeping": he will cook and tend the house, and he will look after Garrett. At first Garrett is not so happy to have Songoree around, the boy is too beautiful, and Garrett after all is a man, not so young like him, but still not "dead". I really was wondering on Garrett's behavior, if his love story with Marc was so beautiful, how can he be so ready to be tempted by Songoree, even if the boy is beautiful? And then Garrett is "allowing" himself six months to write this book, bury his lost lover once for all, and then come back to his life in San Francisco... there is something that didn't ring right to me, was I sure that Garrett and Marc's relationship was so special after all? And while the reader again discovers another true through Garrett's memories on the paper, Garrett and Songoree's present relationship doesn't evolve as I was expecting: there is no sudden love, no unresistible passion neither of them can control, they almost settle down in a domestic peace. Where is the passion, where is the uncontrollable force of the natural elements that usually in this setting are reflected in a passionate love story between the two main characters?
And then, when almost the reader is used to the story to have this peaceful pace, the drama arrives both in the past then in the present relationship: through Garrett's memories the reader finally knows what happened to Marc, and it's something that I wasn't expected, not in that tragic way, and not with that resolution. I feel almost like Garrett while writing his past love story was also re-playing it in the present: the meeting of two men apparently not fated to be lover, the blossom of a love which held a lot of promises for the future, the tragedy that struck not once but twice, and then the healing power of love... the only thing that can be change, if the two present lovers want, is the ending.
There is another surprise, for me really positive, in the story: from the blurb, and from past experience with similar stories, I was expecting from it to be a lot more "detached", a mystical story at the edge between mythology and paranormal, and instead the story is quite "normal", with only some events that you can also justify as driven by strong emotions... there is not anything really "out of ordinary". This book is a very nice romance, probably the romance Garrett was trying to write, what Marc wanted him to write, a book that proves that a story between two men can be a love story. It's not overly erotic, actually probably there aren't really sex scenes, but truth be told, for me doesn't matter.
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Amazon: Island Song
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Everytime I read a new book by Z.A. Maxfield I wonder how can she manage to write something new everytime, and still be original and better than before. If you pick one per one all the books she wrote in less than a year, and try to compare them, it's almost like they are written by different authors. There is only one thing that is certain, that the two characters will fall in love and that their romance will be wonderful, even if not simple.This last book starts as a funny romp to go through a thriller story and end as a big Hollywood comedy; the middle part reminds me a bit that movie with Cary Grant, North by Northwest, with a simple man that finds himself in a story bigger than him and forced to play the role of an unwilling knight in shining armor. Well to be exact, Rory, our unwilling hero, at first is not so unaware that he is embarking in something big and unknown. From a small town of less than 1000 people, he falls in love with the work of a Japanese artist, Ran Yamane. People who knows him are not surprised: Rory has a big heart and is a very good boy, but he seems to not have the reputation of a very clever man. But he has dreams, and when Katrina upturns down his life and leaves him with nothing, Rory clings to that dreams: he will find Ran Yamane, the artist who draws a comic that is become Rory's only bond to reality, and he will sweep her away in a crazy dance under the moon and she will love him. And they will be happy.
And so when Ran Yamane comes to California for an anime convention, Rory takes all his worldly possession, spends his last money to buy flowers, and stays in line for dazzling the girl with his smile. Only that the girl is not a girl, but a man, a man older than Rory, and way more experienced and not so easily impressed. Yamane is beautiful, no doubt, but Rory is not ready to forget the little details that he is not gay, not even for an handsome man like Yamane.
I like that Rory, without being grossed out or disappointed about Yamane, doesn't either immediately falls at his feet. Rory has dreams, dreams about a girl, and he can't change them without notice when he discover that Yamane is a man; he needs time to assimilate the news and to reprogram his mind on this new turn. But even if he needs time to decide if he wants to go on with his romantic plans on Yamane, he has no doubt on the artist and the man: Yamane needs help, he needs a knight in shining armor, and Rory will be that knight, even if he will not immediately profit of the grace of the damsel in distress. Rory faces this new adventure as if he is playing with a new videogame; he plans his move, he hides his traces, and he for real sweeps Yamane away but not for dancing under the moon, but in a run through the country. As a good player, Rory has aces in the sleeves, means that he has friends scattered all around the country, everyone the face of the state in which they live, from the party girl in Las Vegas, to the mormon in Utah, to the cook in Louisiana, every single supporting character is like a piece in a country puzzle. And when he has not a friend in the place, Rory is ready to tighten new bond of friendship: no one seems able to resist to his southern charm. Neither Yamane.
Yamane is a strange character; at first he probably doesn't believe in Rory, he thinks he is an overgrown puppy, an adoring fan like all the others. And since he doesn't believe in him, he also doesn't believe in their story, and he doesn't fight enough for it. And when their relationship becomes intimate, he approaches it like a carpe diem thing, takes as much as you can since maybe tomorrow it will be over. Again Yamane doesn't trust Rory to be serious. I don't know if Yamane is worried since Rory is too young, too straight, a bit of both... Probably it's also a cultural clash, even if used to live in USA (he is also half American), Yamane is also Japanese, and Japanese man always follows a strict etiquette, in everything they do, and instead Rory is an outburst of energy, always in motion. And then Rory tends to do thing without informing Yamane, and this is not good since, even if he is not aware of it, doing so he is dismissing Yamane as a man and a partner. I really think that Rory is not aware of it, he is only young, and obviously used to having relationship with girls, and above all with southern girls. From what I know, southern girls are really good in making their men doing what the women want believing that it's what the men want to do; they don't talk but they are really good in directing behind the scene. And so Rory is not used to give explanations, but Yamane, on the other hand, is not good in reading between the lines. Even if small and apparently fragile, Yamane doesn't like to be treated as a woman, even if, truth be told, he likes to be the center of of attention.
All right, at this point you have understood that I can go on for thousand of words, always finding something new, some new side, some new perspective for the story. Not only the two main characters are complex and interesting, the book is also full of funny and various supporting characters, don't get me start with Rory's grandparents, or the various police officers, even the evil men have their "positive" side.
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Amazon Kindle: Drawn Together
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Cover Art by P.L. Nunn
Joe is flying from Los Angeles to Chicago to help a friend he hasn't seen in 20 years and talked to more or less the same time. Back in their native small town, Joe and Israel got along at first as best friends and then as lovers. But it was always their secret, the small towm was too small to allow them something different, and then Israel was born on the wrong side of the street, he was a love-child of mixed origins, probably with African American blood, but his mother never told. Anyway with the courage that always have kids, Joe and Israel dared their parents and friends and tightened a bond that seemed impossible to break... and instead it was too simple to. Joe went to College, Israel didn't have the means, and after a year Joe stopped to write and then... life happens. This is probably the part I don't like very much, for sure it's not a good image what we have of Joe, a man who practically dumped his lover without a real reason if not that he grew old of his feelings. Or maybe Joe is in denial, even if he is living out of the closet in L.A., he is actually doing so far from his hometown, and far from who really knows him; in this way, he is still in the closet, since he shut out an important part of his life; he conveniently forgot of Israel's existence till the day he read about him on the news.Israel in the end left the small town for Chicago, to follow his son; he didn't marry, but he had a child with a girl who always tried to get him hooked, and when Joe left, she had her chance. But Israel knew that he wasn't in love with the mother of his son, even if he did all he could to help her and the kid. Teddy was a good kid and a very talented artist, but he lived in the wrong side of the city, as his father did when he was young. He ended killed on the street by a street gang, and the leader of the gang was killed some days later with Israel's weapon. For the police is all too obvious what happened, but Joe is not so sure: he can't believe that the man he knew is able of such a thing, even 20 years later.
The reader has to believe Joe, since for sure we have no enough details on Israel's life in those 20 years to have our own idea. The most interesting thing of all the book, and even the most endearing and tender, are the little introduction scenes at every chapter played by young Israel and Joe, that chapter after chapter help us to make our own idea on both Israel than Joe. They help us to decide that, yes, Israel is not a man that could kill a 16 years old boy, even if a murderer, and that yes, Joe is not the selfish man you can think at first. The long ago lost voices from the past are the only reason we have to justify Joe's behavior 20 years before, but also to understand why the same man, now, don't think twice to come in help of his past lover. That same voices, the one so fragile and fearing of young Joe, and the one so strong and sure of young Israel, are also the reason why Israel accepts Joe again in his life without questioning once... it's like Joe only went out of the door hours before, to come back as soon as Israel needs him.
And so I don't know if I like so much who is Joe now, but I vouch him thanks to his old voice, hoping that the voice is stronger than the adult man, and that will lead him toward the right direction.
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Eleven years before Damian and Jake were lovers; but there were a lot of obstacles to their happiness: they were professional football players in a period when gay football players weren't even considered to exist; Damian was an African-American man and Jake a white man, and they lived in deep south Alabama... actually I don't know if it is worst that Damian is gay or that he is African-American...; nor Damian or Jake were out of the closet and Jake came from a very bigot family. And so Jake took the easiest solution and gave up their love.There is quite a justice after Jake's cowardice, since he went back home to live a life in the closet without really being the son his father wanted, and instead Damian, even if still mourning his lost lover, found another nice man and built a good life together with him. But now Jake's father is dead, and so is Damian's new lover, in a car accident. And Damian maybe thinks it's time to give a second chance to true love and comes in search of Jake. But old habit are hard to die, and even if he hasn't the weight of his father's inquisition on his shoulder, Jake is not really ready to welcome Damian back in his life.
The story is really short, less than 60 pages, but I found both characters interesting since they are not the strong and pure heroes; Damian probably is the one who is more near to the image of an hero since he is ready to bet on their love, not once but also two time; but he is not a mourning hero, he didn't swallow in sadness when Jake dumped him, he probably suffered for some time, and then went on with his life. Deep inside of him, he probably knew that his real love was Jake, but if he didn't loose his new partner by accident, he probably would have never searched Jake again. And even when we had a glance in Damian and Jake's past together, I had the idea that their was a great sex relationship, but probably it was not real deep love, and this is the reason why Damian could move on with another relationship.
On the other side there is Jake: I actually can't say that I like him so much. He is not a fighter, he always abandon the field. When his relationship with Damian started to give him problem, he left; when he has problem at work, he leaves (have you never heard of unfair discharge?)... actually I believe that he finally gives a chance to Damian, only since it's his last chance, and I don't know if this is so right for Damian.
Anyway, as I often said, it's not important if I like the characters as "person", it's not me that should have a relationship with them!, these characters are right for their story, they are likely, I like the fact that Damian didn't spend 11 years pining for a man he couldn't have, and I like that Jake, if not forced by fate, probably would have spent his life alone in his small town USA (as someone else did in the book...), it's probably what would really happen in real life; but this is a romance, and so, to the real life, the author adds a bit of sugar and gives to this two imperfect heroes another chance at love.
http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/Ja
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The setting is the same of a previous book by Angelia Sparrow, Nikolai, there is even a reference to a character in that book, but the feeling of this book is completely different; Nikolai was dark and gothic, I remember that I said it was not a romance. Instead Glad Hands is a classical love story with the nice add that one of the characters is a trucker, a profession that Angelia Sparrow knows well and so she describes it in a very accurate way. There is neither too much angst, an element that usually abounds when one or both characters are young.Chuck Hummingbird is a Cherokee and he lives in the Tribal Lands, an independent territory inside of what it was once the United States of America. Tribal Lands is quite a good place to live, the territory didn't go back in time like other places, there is more freedom for people to be as they like, as for gays that are recognized members of society, but more freedom means also more crime. But from living with a bit more crime and not living at all, since in the Confederacy of South they kill homosexuals, Chuck thinks he is pretty lucky. And with his job as a trucker and his chance to travel the country, he sometimes picks up stray here and there, mostly kids who were kicking out of their home.
Seven is one of those kid. He is not so young, he is 20 years old, but he went through a very bad experience; in Heartland where he lived, an uber religious place, they still believe that they can heal the gayness from their kids, and Seven was sent in an hospital to have his "therapy". Now he is scared and skittish and he has a tattoo on his hand that prevents him to find a honest job and start a new life. And so he is thinking to leave and like a knight in shining armor arrives Chuck on his truck.
Chuck and Seven go along well since the first moment; it's obvious that circumstances make Seven falls in love with Chuck: he is his savior and he is also the first openly gay man he has met; with Chuck Seven finds again the family he lost, and there is no way that he will let him go. I don't know if meeting Chuck in a different situation would have the same result, but probably yes, since Chuck is really a good man and also very handsome (I always have a fondness for long black hair Native American style).
The book is almost divided in two parts: the first one is a road story, with Chuck and Seven who are too busy to run away from hostile territories to indulge in more than kisses and something more, but it's also the time when their relationship cemented in something more than friendship. The second one is spent with Chuck and Seven trying to find a way to make things work between them, and doesn't matter if this is a futuristic tale, the problem they face are exactly the same of an ordinary couple with more the issue from being from different cultures.
There is sex, but not so much as you would expected from an Ellora's Cave romance; the sex is something nice that happen between Chuck and Seven but it's not something absolutely necessary in their relationship, and so when they can't have it, it's not the big problem that would be in so many other books that base their existence mainly on it.
The futuristic part of the book is not so heavy and if not for the prologue (that leads you think that the futuristic setting would be more important) and the way in which gays can live in Tribal Lands (probably an hope for the future), the story would have had not a problem to be a contemporary: there are no special effects, on the contrary, this futuristic world is almost gone back to the past instead of proceeding toward the future.
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Jeff as Commander and Rell as Colonel are fighting together to bring peace in a world destroyed by years of war. Probably tired of the war and of the coldness of nights spent alone, Jeff is looking toward Rell with different eyes, but it's not simple; it's not a question of being gay that is a problem, but it's more a multicultural barrier between them: even if Rell looks like a human, he is not entirely that, and his breed approaches in different way a relationship; love is not part of the equation. And so Jeff has always hidden his feelings, even if they are grown nevertheless, and he can only express them being Rell's best friend. And in Rell's detached behavior, Jeff sometime can see a spark of something, something special only for him, or maybe it's what he wants to see.When Rell is seriously injured in a fight, it's upon Jeff to decide if subject Rell to a therapy that is against Rell's beliefs, but that is the only way to save him. Jeff has to decide if he wants to respect the decision of the man, or if he wants to save the lover he never had.
I like the feeling of this story since I usually find futuristic stories to be a bit cold and detached, and instead this one is more a love story than a futuristic adventure. Sure, the story has also an elegant "tune", it's never really sexy or erotic, if not in the end, when the author launched herself in an erotic encounter that it would not look out of place in a porn movie: it is almost like all the sexual tension that both heroes repressed before blows up suddenly and uncontrolled.
Of the two characters the one who shines is Jeff, probably since it's also the narrative voice; it's not that the story is in first point of view, but it's through his eyes that we follow their story. Rell is a bit in the background, even since he is mostly catatonic (!), but when he acts, well, he is like a lightning in a clear sky, Rell could have few chances to speak, but more than the words, it's his presence that drives all the story, he is like the puppeteer behind the scene. Since Jeff is so clear in love with him, the reader has to like him as Jeff does, we like him even without a direct proof.
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Amazon Kindle: Upside Down
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Usually I don't like to give up a story, but in this case I'm allowed... First time I heard of latino man Antonio and his blind lover Gabriel was perhaps two years ago. I read a short story by Laura Baumbach, South of Border, no more than a scene in an hot tube, but really hot (as most of Laura Baumbach's books). I don't know, probably it's a fetish, but I always am fascinated by love stories involving a blind partner... there must be a lot of trust on one side to allow someone near you when you are blind, but if you find the right partner, I believe the resulting feeling are much more intense. And so I was waiting for the longer novel the author was writing with the same pair.The story actually starts at the beginning, when Gabriel is still a sighted San Francisco Police Department undercover agent. During his two years as undercover agent, but really even before, Gabriel, alias Giovanni, only allows himself one night stands and possibly well far from the circle he gravitates in: even if in San Francisco, mafia is not a word which match well with gay. And so when one of his one night stand, Miguel, reveals to be the lieutenant of the Mexican drug lord Gabriel's boss is dealing with, Gabriel is a bit disconcerted. How can he be so attracted by a villain? He should be the good guy and not mixing with the evil guys... But maybe Miguel is not so bad boy as he appears.
The first part of the book is good, I really like the way how Giovanni and Miguel met in a club and that first raw sex scene is almost an housemark for Laura Baumbach's books, but truth be told, I like much the second part; it's all over all pure hot romance, but also mushy feeling, and in some part it almost made me cry. How Antonio deals with a wounded Gabriel, how he manages to pull out all the protective layers of the man, to bare his soul... and how Gabriel leans on Antonio, without for this being weak or dependent: it takes a real man to understand when it's the case to call for help.
So sorry to the thriller lover, but I read this book more like a very good romance. Oh, don't worry, there are also the car racing scene, the shootings in the night, and also the classical scene in the warehouse, but I manage to read them in a bit to hurry to my romance scenes... instead, you, thriller lover, could linger on them as you want, you will have plenty.
As for the characters, Laura Baumbach confirms her love for a good Alpha male, Antonio is the classical type: it reminds me one of that chocolate with the dark and hard exterior but with a sweet and molten inside. Perhaps a bit different from the other Alpha males' mates I was used, is Gabriel, but not too much: it's true that Gabriel, as an agent, is independent and strong, but in his private life he prefers not to be the dominant side of the couple; he prefers to be dominate, he fights against his mate, but then, if the mate is worth of it, he surrenders with joy.
The book is the first in a new series with the same characters; good thing since they are both really worth of some more books. And then I still have to read about Christmas at Antonio's family.
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Amazon: Mexican Heat #1 Crimes&Cocktails Series
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When I was a teen I was deeply fascinated by the Native American culture. Two of my favorite books were Dee Brown's Buy My Heart at Wounded Knee (that I searched for a bit since when I was young the Italian version of that book was out of stock) and a book who tried to tell from a different point of view the spanish "Conquest", and for this reason the title was 2941 (1492 on the other verse). Unfortunately they were never light books, since it's not easy to write of the Native Americans and be light, there is so little joy in that period for them. More when you think that most of the tribes were peaceful like the Dinè (Navajo). For this reason I like this book, since it didn't take with lightness the matter, but it gave also hope to the story of the two main characters.William Lee, ex southern son of a preacher, left his home in disgrace after that his father found him in a barn with a young male friend... and it was obvious that they were not only friends. With some luck from his side (or maybe not after he realized in what he ended up), he became apprentice for the Indian Agent at Fort Summer, only to find out that the previous Agent is vanished and he is now the new Agent. But this is not the only surprise for William: he went in the Indian reserve believing to find almost a lost paradise, where the Native Americans are leaving in peace and prosperity, thanks to the unselfish help of the white men. And instead the reserve is more or less a detention field, and the Navajos there are slowly dying from starvation, since there is no way for them to farm the land or the herd the sheep. And if they are not dying from natural causes, they are killed from the soldiers who instead of take them safe, are using them as personal play things.
Probably William didn't arrive at the reserve with noble idea of being a saviour, even if a bit of his father's lessons probably still are inside him, but now that he is there, he can't help to feel sympathy for this people, even more since among them he meets Hasbaa, a Two-Spirits, a man who has inside him also the spirit of a woman. Hasbaa considers himself a widow, since he lost his warrior's lover and to show his grief he chose to wear only as a woman and to renounce to all the physical joy that he can find with another man. Since no one among the Native Americans treats him in a different way or looks at him in a strange way since he dresses like a woman, no one outside the reserve knows that Hasbaa is a man. William is deeply surprised, but also fascinated, to see that there is a way for him to love a man, and live happy. I don't know if William decides to help the Native Americans to have a chance with Hasbaa or if he really wants to help them, but in a way or another, William makes his the right of his new people.
As I said, I like this book, because, even if faithful to the story, it's not a sad book. It was really an easy ready that will make happy the history lover as well as the romantic reader. I believe that Hasbaa is a really historic accurate character, and even if he is a very good romance hero, he still remain faithful to his time and period. This good blend between history and romance probably is due to the good mix of the two authors that arrive from different origins, but come together to write a very moving but at the same time tender book.
http://www.lethepressbooks.com/gay.htm#W
Amazon Kindle: Two Spirits: A Story of Life With the Navajo
Amazon: Two Spirits: A Story of Life With the Navajo
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Gabriel has recently moved to Hawaii; usually he doesn't regret his decision, but during Christmas season he misses the snow and the real Christmas trees, and also the cold weather! Maybe he would be less of a grudge if he had someone near him to share the Christmas joy, but Gabriel is alone, until Keoni enters his sweet shop: a beautiful Hawaiian man from an influent family, Keoni is a dream comes true, but Gabriel can't imagine that the man is interested in him. Truth be told, Keoni is alone like Gabriel, and he misses to have a partner beside him. He is also tired to travel to world for business and he would like to finally settle in a place. Maybe during this Christmas season both men will see realize their wishes.The story is nice, Gabriel is somewhat a character full of surprises, since he starts as a shy man, almost dreamy and not very upfront with what he wants, and then suddenly he becomes almost a vixen, teasing and sexy, and seduces poor Keoni with almost the man doesn't realizing it. To be sincere, I didn't understand fully Keoni: he is a very handsome man, but also unselfish and generous, not with his money but with his feelings, that is better; I believe Keoni likes the idea of love, and he is ready to fall in love, and it's not important if his partner his a male or a female. This is why I didn't understand him, I didn't understand if it is his first gay experience with Gabriel or not... but in the end it doesn't matter.
I was also surprised by the end, not since it's not an happily ever after, but since it's almost too normal after the dream comes true scene we read before; Keoni is coming back home from a tiring business travel, he would like to spend some quality time with Gabriel, but he realizes that he is too tired... all right love is the most powerful force in the world, but if you are sleep deprived...
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/advent.h
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Sullivan is an African American restaurant owner. He is happy that his new launched restaurant is going well and he is in full activity on New Year's Eve. All his employees are adult and skilled professionals but they turn into giggling girls when in the restaurant enters Quinn Lawrence, big Broadway star; Quinn is a dominant figure, outside and inside the bedroom and when he sees Sullivan, he sees someone that he wants and who he wants he gets.The story is not so short, 40 pages, but it spans only a night and a day: Quinn sees Sullivan, Quinn conquers Sullivan and Sullivan surrenders happily. A lot of sex, easy and messy (dark chocolate involved...) and a nice naughty story. It could be a nice starts for a love story, but what will happen in the New Year is not written in this story. On my side I would like to read more since there are the basis for a good story: show business world, long distance relationship (Quinn lives in New York, Sullivan in Atlanta), multicultural lovers (Sullivan is African American, Quinn is the classical wasp).
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/advent.h
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Theo and Christian are in love but for different reason they never had the courage to come out one with the other. Then on Christmas time, the worst period of Theo's life, Christian finds that courage, and the between explanation, kisses and love making, they try to build something that will not end with Christmas.The story is short, 29 pages, but nice; I have only the feeling that these are not two characters of a short story, the author lets slip details here and there that gave me the idea like this is only a scene in the middle of a longer story. Christian is an African American man, and this is an issue for him and Theo's family, but we understand it only through a phrase he snapped to Theo during a love quarrel. Theo is an orphan and his adopted family is not quite happy of him being gay, but they probably are more dangerous than a simple family disapproval, Christian said that they could arrive to kill Theo for being in love with a black gay man... but it's only an exaggeration of Christian or it's a real danger? Theo has an Italian American surname, so it could be a mob related thing?
Anyway, I like the two characters, they remind me two grown baby who play with the new toys on Christmas time with all the careless behavior of a baby; they are easy together since they know each other so well, that everything is simpler and a lot of things remained unspoken since they are not necessary.
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/advent.h
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Eros Rising by Ally BlueYou know? I have a tender point for this title, cause my father's name was Eros, and I like it very much.
BTW Eros is the art's name of Keegan, a stripper in a private club, Ganymede's Grotto. He is a beautiful man, although not so young (29 years old). He has gorgeous long blond hair and a lithe body. This are the first things Scott sees in him. But he has also a past who haunted him.
Scott is in a dead end relationship with Logan: Logan needs a dom partner, but Scott doesn't like this type of love. He wants a real and simple lovemaking, without "scenes".
With Keegan at first is only friendship: Scott has a partner, and he is not the type to cheat. But... what will happen if is Logan who is cheating around?
A story in Hearts from the Ashes anthology, Eros Rising is the tale of a man who wants love and of another who has to learn how to love again. Even if in a rather short story (100 pages), Ally Blue is the queen of angst: she can draw characters who arrive to us with a luggage of bad experiences and that we see growing stronger during the course of the story.
http://samhainpublishing.com/romance/ero
Amazon Kindle: Eros Rising
With Love by J.L. LangleyI absolutely love the "funny" werewolves of J.L. Langley. After Without Reservation, now is the turn of With Love: Dev is a strong werewolf who arrives to Asheville for business. Like every good werewolf he wants to meet the local Alpha to give his respect to the leader. But the local alpha is a really piece of shit: when he meets him the alpha is trying to rape Lainey, an omega werewolf. So Dev saves Lainey only to find that he is his mate.
Lainey is a little tiny beautiful man with red hair and amber eyes and with a propension for making trouble. But he is also an eager puppy in bed and Dev likes him very much, so does it matter if he will spend his life saving from troubles his mate?
Here, like in the other books of J.L. Langley, the humor is a main aspect of the novel. She has a way to make you happy and to leave you with a smile in your face and also eager to read more. I can't wait to read the next chapter in this wonderful series.
http://samhainpublishing.com/romance/wit
Amazon Kindle: With Love
Series: With or Without
1) Without Reservation
2) With Love
Cafe Noctem by Willa OkatiApparently Nicholas and Grey are a perfect couple: they manage the Cafe Noctem in Asheville, Nicholas the night shift and Grey the day ones, but when they are both in the apartment above the cafe, it's a comfortable and warm life. Nicholas helped Grey when he was mourning the lost of his lover, Jimmy, a man who was also Nicholas' friend. In a way it was almost natural for Nicholas to take Jimmy's place in Grey's heart. But Nicholas has always wondered if Grey really loves him or, if he could have Jimmy back, he would prefer it.
All of them, Nicholas, Grey and Jimmy have Cherokee origins, but despite Nicholas being the one with most mixed blood, it's him that knows how to evoke all the old legends. And so he summons Sint Holo, the Snake god, the one who can resuscitate the dead...
It's a bittersweet tale this one by Willa Okati, as often is in her style. The reader feels for Nicholas, but honestly you can't hate Jimmy. And Grey is in the middle: if he is faithful to his lost lover, he will make suffer Nicholas, if he decides to start again with Nicholas, Jimmy in a way will be forever lost... it's a not simple situation, and in every way the author chose to end this story, I believe that a romantic like me will never be happy.
Anyway, you can feel the love of Willa Okati for the simple life and the old traditions, it's in all this book.
http://samhainpublishing.com/romance/caf
Amazon Kindle: Cafe Noctem
Amazon: Hearts from the Ashes
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Cover Art by Anne Cain
Cover Art by Anne Cain
Cover Art by Anne Cain
Ray is a New York police officer who has to be the "guardian angel" of a Japanese inspector during his business related visit. Ray is not happy with the idea, but when he sees "Miki", the wonderful Japanese woman he needs to escort he changes his mind. And he needs to change it again when he discovers that Miki is not a woman, but a man, and that he is also a Master in BDSM dungeon. Miki is not new to New York, he studied in the city during College and he still has some friends who would like to visit. Friends who manage a club outside the city limit. And he wants Ray to be his partner for the night.Even if Ray has never had an homosexual experience, he has no problem to admit that he is attracted by Miki, maybe helped by the fact that the man is really handsome and almost without gender. But when it arrives to sex, Miki is not female at all, and Ray has to arrive to pact with his inner side, not only to surrender to a man, but also to surrender the upper hand in the sexual relationship.
I don't know if Barbara Sheridan is planning something else for these two characters, but it seems to me that Ray's step toward the dark side it would not possible or right only for a week-end fling. For Ray is more difficult to accept the type of D/s relationship that Miki is offering, than to accept to have sex with another man; and it's not strange this approach, since having sex with a man could be a passing thing, above all since Miki is so beautiful that is over the boundaries of sex, but entering the BDSM world is not something to take with lightness.
Anyway the story is not so long, 44 pages, and so it's possible that this is only prologue of a longer story.
http://www.nobleromance.com/ItemDisplay.a
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All right, I admit that I bought this novel more for the author than for the story... but have you read Ben Patrick Johnson's personal story? How similar is to the blurb of the book? So you can imagine how curious I was to read how the main character of this novel behaves since in a way it would be like spying on Johnson's life. But all in all, I believe that Johnson's output in life is better than Freddie's, the hero of this novel.It's an unusual novel for me to read, since more than a love story is a life story, the adventures of gay Freddie in the glittering and fake world of Hollywood. Freddie is an openly gay radio DJ who lives in West Hollywood with his hunk jamaican boyfriend. Perfect, isn't it? Well, not exactly... Freddie's work is not so exciting and his relationship with Xavier is slowly wearing down. And so when he is talent scouted on the street and in two days offered with the chance to be the host in a new television show, he jumps at the possibility. Freddie, now renamed Daniel, is groomed and taught to be the perfect anchorman, all people around him praising him for being fresh, new and green! Posh hotels, limousines, all around him is glittering and friendly. But Freddie makes a big mistake: he doesn't hide his boyfriend, he brings him to official events... no, no, no dear Freddie, you can be gay at Hollywood, but you should be asexual, it's not good for families to have the proof that you actually have sex with men!
Probably if his relationship with Xavier was happier, Freddie would fight for it, and instead he decides to play along what the network requires, and he slowly is pushed behind the scene, from the front line to the Z position, despite his good works and his clearly predisposition to be on video.
Freddie is a strange character, I don't know if I like him so much; in a way he is not a fighter, and he is also a cheater... well, this last I don't know, it depends on his relationship with Xavier, I don't know what are their agreement, and well, he plays around since Xavier is behaving bad, but still... Lucky for Freddie, he meets a good guy, Charlie, who maybe, gives him the right reason to fight back, even if, maybe, he takes his decision at the very last. Probably I'm a bit too harsh with Freddie, I have in mind this "hero" image, and instead Freddie is probably only a man facing something bigger than him; sometime I almost feel tenderness for him, I almost want to comfort and saying that all will be right. Truth is that he didn't meet so many nice figure, and some of them are disguising so well that you almost mistake them for the bad guy... and what you think a good guy is fake like sometime Hollywood is.
Anyway, the book is a good mix of real life with some nice add of romance; I wouldn't mind for the sex scene to be a bit hotter, but still, they are nice, even if all behind closed doors.
Amazon: In and Out in Hollywood
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The Letter is part of an old series by Willa Okati about a little community of artists in which strange things happen. In the first book, A Year and A Day, the desperation of a man allows him to resurrect his late lover. In Unspoken, a wandering minstrel brings back love and hope in the life of a lonely man. In this last, Brandon and Luke are taking different path in life. They were an happy couple, but Brandon has a job that doesn't allow him to leave, and Luke is taking a job offer that will bring him far from their community. They talked and both agreed that it's better like that, to not having regrets in the future. But the truth is that Brandon has not express his real feelings and he is deeply in pain from Luke's decision. On the other hand, Luke is only waiting for Brandon to say him "don't go", since he himself is not so sure of his decision.But in this world where communication seems so easy, for real people don't talk. And so without a otherworldly intervention, Brandon and Luke will loose all they have. And the intervention, the sign, takes the form of a bunch of letters: it's quite nice to see that, what the modern world (the technology, the fame of success) is destroying, an old fashion thing like a letter will save.
The book is really all here, not much more: the fashion of this short story, lies all in the words, both said in the past by old Brandon and Luke, who talked through their letter, and said in the present by this new couple who will learn from the mistake of their predecessors.
I like very much when Willa Okati writes fairy tales, since the only possible definition of this tale is fairy. It's not a full paranormal story, there are not angels or demons who make their appearance, it's more a feeling, it's almost like one of those old tales that people tell beginning with "you will not believe it but..."
http://samhainpublishing.com/romance/the-l
Amazon Kindle: The Letter
Amazon: Mountain Magic
Series:
1) A Year and a Day
2) Unspoken
3) The Letter
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Cover Art by Anne Cain
Apparently Derek and Chase were a perfect couple; love almost at first sight, common interests and an up-class life that allows them to have an happy relationship, supporting families... but maybe Derek was too used to have Chase around and Chase was too used to be the center of Derek's life.When Derek suddenly announced to his lover that he would be gone for a three months work trip, Chase put up a grudge three months long. Now it's Christmas time and Derek is back in town, since this is a season very dear to Chase, but Chase's grudge is still on. Will the holiday season and a bit of wooing allow Chase's grudge to go away? And Derek will learn to consider Chase's feelings when he makes his decisions?
The story is short, 22 pages, but very tender. It's one night span, so it's really only a long scene between Chase and Derek, but it recreates well the Christmas season and the good feelings that it inspires. Nice discovery of a new author for me.
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/advent.h
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AJ and Tyrone are work colleague and friends, both pianomen in a Reno Casino. They have a personal show where they "duel" on stage using music, and on the stage they have a perfect alchemy. Off the stage instead there are some problems... since AJ is desperately in love with Tyron and instead Tyrone is a playboy who doesn't discern on the gender, men and women are the same for him, if they help to warm his bed.AJ is a shy guy who lives for his music; and since he met Tyrone, now he also lives for the man, from afar. He has never had the courage to unveil his feelings to his friend, and every night he suffers on seeing him pick the choice for the night. Tyrone is a very handsome African-American man, open and friendly with everyone. After the show, AJ drinks his beer alone and goes home, Tyrone parties till the few hour of night. They are like Ebony and Ivory, and not only for the color of their skin.
Then everything changes: Tyrone has the chance to a big engagement in Las Vegas and he wants for AJ to go with him. Change city, home and friends. It's a big step, but not doing that means fo AJ to loose Tyrone and so it's not really an option. But in Las Vegas also Tyrone changes... all his attention is devoted to AJ, but it's only the spur of the moment or it's the real thing?
The story is pretty simple and not very long, 60 pages more or less. It's a pretty classical theme, two friends, one of the two hopelessly in love with the other, and then, BUM, the big revelation: my best friend is also in love with me! And instead of joying at the idea, AJ is scared, he can't really grab the opportunity, since having it for a bit, and then loosing both friend than lover, is worst than not ever having to lover but always having the friend.
A nice reading, good for a rest and relax break.
http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/In
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The story is really short, 42 pages but with big characters, so it's actually only few scenes.Tao is a Canadian detective who is following a serial killer who ran away in Jamaica. When he arrives in Kingston he is assigned a police officer, as a guide and roommate. Ken is an handsome African-American young man, hot like the land in which he lives. In Jamaica homosexuality is not something you can live in the open (is it like so? I didn't know...), and so Ken has devoted himself to a chaste life, until Tao arrives. Ken's gaydar works very well, and he spotted the man as soon as he lands. And so Tao is chasing the killer and Ken is chasing Tao. But their relationship is domed since Tao will soon return in Canada.
It's quite a task to write a thriller in only 40 pages. And actually if not for the end, I was wondering about a scene I read that, in a way, was almost detached from the rest of the story. It's this link between the first part and the last pages that, in a way, justifies all the thriller component of the book. The romance instead is quite simple and easy, Ken likes Tao and Tao likes Ken, so it's not difficult for them to be together. There is a bit of multicultural spicy, both in Ken's look than in his speaking: Remmy Duchene decided to not profit of the usual expedient of the foreign man that perfectly master a second language like a mother tongue speaking; here Ken forgets verbs, mistakes spelling and so on.
A few typos (evidents since the story is not so long) don't weigh so much to ruin a nice story.
http://redrosepublishing.com/bookstore/p
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The book is not very long and it's more sweet than erotic, but it has also an analytic glare on a very delicate matter.Tony is gay and he is a marine; the best of the marine, since he really loves the Corps. When all his gay friends said that he was nut, he went for his path and enrolled. And when he was sent in Iraq he went and fought... and got wounded. But losing a leg was not the only injured he has, only the most visible. Now that he is no more a marine, Tony doesn't know who he is.
When he was in hospital, he dreamed about his friend and lover George, but also George is a marine, and a crippled lover is not on his plans for the future. So when Tony most needs a loving hand, he is alone. Not all alone, truth be told. He has his sister Claire, and his sister is not a woman who lets go. She pushes him and at the end she hires a physical therapist, Marcus.
Marcus is a wet dream for Tony; he is handsome, tender and caring. He is always there for Tony, pushing him in every way, also in a sexual way. Not that Marcus explicitly hints something sexual with Tony, but having near a so fine man is enough of a spur for Tony to always doing better. Maybe if he is good enough, Marcus will notice him.
As I said the story is not very long, and maybe is a bit rushed in the second part. But all in all I liked it; I like Tony's attitude, true at first he tries to hide, but it's only natural; but then the strong man inside of him, the proud marine, raises his head and also when all seems to crash again around him, he doesn't let go. And this time is not for the feeble hope of love, but for himself.
It's an enjoyable personal story, since all the book is about Tony. Marcus is a very nice character, but he is a side character; we know very little about him, his reasons are only hinted, but not developed. We can only guess that he is very unselfish and easy to be hurt, despite his gruff external look.
http://www.loose-id.net/detail.aspx?ID=8
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It's almost an impossible thing write a complete story in less than 35 pages, but Nathan James manages to do that in Check Ride.Gilbert, Gil, is a 29 years old airplane pilot for a private company. He has the hots for Mario, an African American 32 years old fellow pilot. Mario is the wet dream of Gil, strong, handsome, skillful and gentle. When Mario asks Gil to accompanying him in a check fly of a newly renovated 727 boeing, Gil can't believe his lucky. And when, after a near deadly fly accident, Mario "comforts" Gil having mindless sex in the private bedroom of the Boeing, well, Gil is in heaven, and not since he is on air.
But the accident was not casual, and Mario and Gil need to face a nasty enemy. Waiting to confront the evil, they deepen the relationship exploring a bit of D/s plays: Gil sees fulfilled all his sexual dreams by a commanding Mario, who is more than happy to play the role of the Big Black Man for his "little" white captive. Not only the author planned a plot, but he even gave to the characters a background, arriving to hint some "youthful" complex in Gil.
All right, I hope that you "read" between my lines, and understand that I found this story more funny than other. I was true at the beginning, I'm really impressed by the ability of the author to write a complex plot in only 35 pages, packing a lot of scene, included two sex scenes involving once an hot tub and the other a shower plus a bit of hanging from the ceiling. The only thing that I didn't like is that, being a first point of view narration, Gil "feels" the necessity to speak in every moment, above all during sex, telling us when he is panting, slurping, sucking... well sometime it was a bit too much, it would be better if he remained in silence.
http://www.forbiddenpublications.com/boo
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Faith and Vice are a bonded fighting unit of half-demon, half-human beings. Despite the name, Faith is not less dangerous or crazy than Vice; when they fight, the don't fight with an honor code, everything is allowed, and feisting on the dead is the normal ending for a good battle. The pair is no more good than the evils they fight, they could be consider the good part only since they work for The Guild, a secret organization devoted to destroy all the evil demons on earth. And to destroy demons what is better than using even more dangerous creatures? matched demons who relive in their bond.Vice is the more crazy, born from a madman who enjoy the killings of innocent soul. Vice can't reason well without his mate beside, and only the soothing presence of Faith makes him an useful weapon for the justice, otherwise he will be one of the hunted. Faith instead is born from a lust demon, so he uses the lust to control and direct Vice and at the same time to satiate his inner demon. Only a crazy like Vice is enough for Faith, and only a strong demon like Faith is enough for Vice. Alone they would be dangerous, together they are deadly.
There is a lot of blood, sliced body parts and sex in not so hyginic condition... it's like one of those Z-level horror movie, where the blood is so red that can be only tomato juice and the setting so unbelievable that it's obvious that is the basement of some young and penniless director, but despite all, you enjoy the show and cheer for the main characters to be even more cruel and blood-thirsty.
I really like Stephanie Burke's books, but they are always too short. Maybe this one is not among my favorite, I prefer the more fairy tale and aseptic Space Opera saga, or the tender and involving Shadow Hunter, but it's obvious that she is very original, never happen that one of her books disappoints me.
http://www.changelingpress.com/index.php?u
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This is a short story, less than 25 pages, but it's really sweet. Kit is a 30 years old guy; of Thai origins, during the day he is a college literature professor and during the night a Muay Thai fighter. He almost brings on a double life, not permitting his fighter personality to mix with the teacher one; Kit holds a deeply love for his origins, but since they are seen like something brutal from common people, he never speaks aloud of them: in a way Kit, openly gay and fighter in the closet during the day, is a proud fighter and a gay in the closet during the night... he hasn't yet found a balance for his two side.
Now the problem is that he is becoming to be serious with Drew, the perfect boyfriend, an African American teacher like him. They are like highschool sweetheart, dating and kissing and making out on the couch, but they haven't still reached the big step. Kit wants, but before that he needs to show to Drew who he is really, risking to lose him.
As I said the story is not very long, and I believe that there is worthy material for something more: how Kit and Drew met? why they are waiting for the next stadium in their relationship (since they are not really teenagers...)? What is the background of Drew (since we don't know much about him)?
http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?m
Amazon Kindle: At the Sign of the Ancestors
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This is a classical light comedy, the type that, if it was a movie, you would go to see with your friends to enjoy a night with a smile.Tai and David are together since two years. Tai is a 28 years old medicine genius: of Chinese origins, he left San Francisco for New York to pursue his doctor career and he met David, ten years older independent financial advisor. Their first chance encounter turned in afternoon of sex; for Tai it was something extraordinary, actually he never had before a serious sexual relationship, and instead for David it started like an enjoyable one "afternoon" stand, to become the love of his life.
Now two years after, Tai and David want to legalize their relationship and decided to sign a legal partnership and to celebrate the event with few friend. Unexpected arrives the call of Tai's mother, a woman who refused to talk with his son when she discovered his homosexuality, and that never once has admitted that David is Tai's partner. Now she wants to come to New York for his son's "wedding". Obviously the event is not a joyous one, the woman, when decides to recognize David's presence, treats him like the "daughter-in-love" arriving also to pretend that he wears a red wedding dress! It's quite funny to see David, older, bigger and with an authoritative behavior to be treated like the "woman" of the couple.
The story is not long, less than 80 pages, but it's very enjoyable. All the three main characters, since also the mother is a main character, are well developed even if the story is short. It would be interested if the author decided to bring along the story a little more, in a way closing the circle with the real ceremony... but maybe she is thinking to write another book? Who will wear the red dress?
Really beatiful cover by Les Byerley even if maybe the second man, probably Tai, is a bit too muscle to be a lean chinese man.
http://www.ellorascave.com/productpage.a
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http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bott
This book is really strange. It's a mix of myth, paranormal and erotica. Big Tom is the Orca King, a shape-shifter whale of the Native American mythology. In his human form, Big Tom is a big Native American man of middle age. He lives in the Orcas Island, beloved by the residents who know him as the old Orca King. But Big Tom cannot shift no more; apparently he has misused his sexual prowess: Big Tom could heal through sex and at the same time gain energy to shift, and shifting he heals also the nature around him. Only that Big Tom loved too much his particularly power, and he has "healed" too much women. Now he is castigated, and he can't reach orgasm with a woman, and so he can't shift. Due to his incapacity to shift, the Orcas Island are suffering, and tourism and local business are in trouble.Then Big Tom meets Devon de la Cruz, an mixed blood of Jamaican, Spanish, French and probably some other heritage. Devon is openly gay and openly attracted by Big Tom. And Big Tom "reacts" to Devon in a way he only has for a woman in the past. Big Tom has not so many problem to accept his feelings, better urges, toward Devon, I believe that for him, women, men, are all the same, if he can scratch his itch... But a cosmic justice is upon him, and Big Tom has to suffer its punishment.
There is a bit of chaos in this novel, a mix of horny middle age men with young studs almost in season, melting together with mythological matings... Truth be told, I didn't like very much the brief male/female sex scene I had to read, for me it was superfluous, not since I didn't like the scene in itself, but since I really don't understand what was the meaning of that. And then also Big Tom's reason to love Devon are quite obscure. I understood very well the first part of the book, in a way I understood also Big Tom's reason to be attracted by Devon (why not? he is young, handsome, and available), but then the book descends on a paranormal level that left me a bit disconcerted... Probably for me it would be better if the novel remained to a most "ordinary" level, with some hint of paranormal events. One or two good sex scene between two male who feel attraction, even maybe one in semi-shifted form if you like.
On the other hand, maybe the novel has more power and originality in this way, since if it remained only contemporary M/M romance with a switch it would be like a lot of other books around. I don't know... maybe you need to read by yourself and make your own judgment.
http://www.king-cart.com/cgi-bin/cart.cg
Series:
1) The Orca King
2) The Orca King II
Reading List:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bott
Cover Art by April Martinez
First of all let me say that I like this book, is not what I was expecting but I like it.It's an historical and this was not so clear reading the blurb. It's setting more or less at the end of the nineteen century, when Native Americans where pushed in reserves to let space to the settlers. Lee is a cowboy without a place: he likes men and he made the huge mistake to be discovered with another man; he lost his work and he was lucky to not lose his life. He wanders till he finds a nice place to set for the summer, a mountain plain near a lake. The very first day he also meets Tatanka, a Dakota who left his tribe for the same reason: Tatanka is a two spirits, he likes men. For the custom of his tribe he has two choice: being a warrior and marry a woman, or choosing to be a two spirits, and maybe being the second or third wife of a warrior; but if he chooses this second option, he will have to behave like a woman, dress as a woman and do the things of women. Tatanka is not a woman, he wants to be a man with a man, and so he chose to be alone, until he meets Lee.
They are happy during their summer, but with winter they need to make a choice. They first try to live with Tatanka's tribe, then in an English settlement: everytime they are men walking in two worlds, they never find the right place to live, where they can really stay together and love each other.
I like this book since probably for the first time I read both point of view of the two cultures. Usually the white man who was rejected from the civilized world, is embraced by the Native Americans who welcome him as a Two Spirits, a good sign for the village. But we never know how his life could be in that village. The theory of Walking in Two Worlds is more or less than in every world there is the right and the wrong, in every world Lee and Tatanka could live more or less without problem, but in neither world thay could be really what they are. In a world with structure and custom, they need to follow the rules settled before them, they need to respect others belief. If they are not ready to do so, they need to build their own world.
I like Tatanka, even if he is probably like the good savage our culture would like to find: a man with a strong culture, but with an open mind ready to listen to and accept other cultures; he is clever, but he is not a man of much word. He is more ready than Lee to follow his nature and his feelings, but he is also very cautious, and maybe a bit too bound to traditions. Lee maybe is more careless, but he is capable of great love; he is generous and friendly, maybe even a bit too much... he loves Tatanka, but he is not blind and he "sees" the other men.
All in all I believe that this is a very good western historical romance, don't know if it's historically accurate, but in the romance side it don't lack anything.
http://www.aspenmountainpress.com/new-re
Amazon Kindle: Walking in Two Worlds
Reading List:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bott
Cover Art by Amanda Kelsey
I haven't read the other seven books in the Cave Creek Cowboys series, and so maybe, I'm at loss of information on the main character, Spence. For what I understand, Spence is a wasp boy who instead of using alcohol and drugs to loose himself, chose sex. But apparently not even pure sex is safe enough (pun not intended) and one of his last adventures ended pretty badly. So Spence decided to change his life, to become a "chaste" man and also to finally start a work, even if he doesn't need money to live. But for him being chaste, doesn't mean give up to sex, it means only that from this moment on, he would limited himself to male partner: he can renounce to women, but he can't give up to men. And when he sees Paul, he thinks to have found the man with whom starting something real and lasting. Too bad that he is the brother of one of the last women he has slept with, and that that woman is now pregnant and that the father is... guess who? In less than 50 pages Brit Blaise packs a lot, and so it's not strange that I feel like the second part of the story a bit rushed. The first encounter between Spence and Paul is sexy and funny, maybe a bit unbelievable due to the marathon of sex, but well, Spence was chaste for a bit and so maybe he needs to recuperate the lost time. But then, when Paul's sister, Lupe, enters the scene, I feel to detached and rushed both Spence than Paul's reaction. The plot is good, I like the idea, but I would like it better if I had the time to enjoy all the event... this is not a story of only 50 pages.
So I hope to have the chance to read more by this author in the future, and for more I mean a longer book, since I believe that she has good idea that deserve much time.
http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/Ca
Series: Cave Creek Cowboys:
1) Cave Creek Cowboy
2) Another Cave Creek Cowboy
3) Cave Creek Cowboy in Vegas
4) Cave Creek Cowboy Too Many Brides
5) Cave Creek Cowboy Christmas
6) Cave Creek Cowboy Kama
7) Cave Creek Cowboy Menage
8) Cave Creek Cowboy Total Top
Waiting Reading List:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bott
When I Dream of You is a bit of a novelty in the usual production by Black and Carmichael, since it's pure romance, without paranormal or horror elements, without angst or kinks; only two men who meet, like and love, simple and smooth. Daniel is 22 years old and unhappy; he has a very bad relationship with his father and lost his mother many years before. Daniel's father can't accept that his son is gay and he thinks to be able to beat it out of him. When Daniel meets Karl, actually his not Daniel's father who is beating him, but two strangers in an alley. Daniel is a little guy, pretty and cute and he is not up to a fist fight. Karl instead is a very big man, a former professional body builder, now gym owner, and only his presence is enough to intimidate people. He helps Daniel and offers him shelter when the other guy doesn't want to go immediately home and face another fight. Even if Karl is a big boy, he is gentle and caring and he has also a very funny little female dog who immediately takes in sympathy Daniel.
The story is not very long, 45 pages, but it's sweet and romantic. It's easy and nice, not too much angst and very enjoyable. There is sex, but only a little bit, most of the time the two main characters are together is spent in a peaceful and comfortable family picture, two lovers and a dog playing little house
http://www.king-cart.com/Phaze/product=W
Waiting Reading List:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bott
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